In the new global economy, information seeking behavior of halal food products has become a central issue for Muslims. Muslims in Malaysia form two-third of the entire population who makes the significance of consuming halal food products. This paper presents a conceptual framework on the information seeking behavior of Malaysian Muslim consumers while searching for halal food products. This conceptual framework presents the potential factors that might influence the information seeking behavior for halal food products among Malaysian Muslim consumers. This paper assumes that there is a relationship among human information attributes, namely: attitude, habit and awareness of individual and sources of information as factors that may lead to an effective information searching process. This study provides insights into how Malaysian Muslim consumers seek information for a halal food product that offers an effective searching process.


Herbal supplements are used increasingly in both developed and undeveloped countries for purposes of prevention, delaying onset, decreasing overall severity, and potential reversal of mental illness. The purpose of this overview is to present the latest empirical findings regarding the efficacy of various herbal and nutraceutical supplements in the prevention, treatment, and delaying onset of symptomology in relation to schizophrenia and other schizoaffective disorders, as well as further to explore their potential role in the future of psychiatry and related health practices. The supplements and their efficacy examined in this literature overview are Omega-3 fatty acids, Curcumin, Folic Acid, B12, B6, vitamin D, N-acetylcysteine, SAM-e, Bocopa Monniera, Ginkgo Biloba, Iron, Glycine, (−)–Stepholidine, Yokukansan, Orengadoku, and Ficus Platyphylla.


Based on literature about motivated reasoning, this article proposes that choosing a public service provider from among competing options may bias service users in a positive direction when evaluating the performance of their chosen provider. Users are expected to defend their choice through processes of goal reprioritization, meaning that they will alter the weight they assign to given pieces of information depending on the (in)convenience of that information. This article uses nine experimental studies to test this expectation on students who had recently chosen to study at one university instead of competing universities. As expected, findings show signs of biases in students' evaluations, but the biases are small and not consistently significant. Thus, prior research may have been too pessimistic regarding the general potential of performance information in the public sector.


SUMMARY We develop a method to obtain confidence intervals of earthquake source parameters, such as stress drop, seismic moment and corner frequency, from single station measurements. We use the idea of jackknife variance combined with a multitaper spectrum estimation to obtain the confidence regions. The approximately independent spectral estimates provide an ideal case to perform jackknife analysis. Given the particular properties of the problem to solve for source parameters, including high dynamic range, non-negativity, non-linearity, etc., a log transformation is necessary before performing the jackknife analysis. We use a Student's t distribution after transformation to obtain accurate confidence intervals. Even without the distribution assumption, we can generate typical standard deviation confidence regions. We apply this approach to four earthquakes recorded at 1.5 and 2.9 km depth at Cajon Pass, California. It is necessary to propagate the errors from all unknowns to obtain reliable confidence regions. From the example, it is shown that a 50 per cent error in stress drop is not unrealistic, and even higher errors are expected if velocity structure and location errors are present. An extension to multiple station measurement is discussed.


Language is a fundamental tool for communication of ideas between people, and so is an essential input into production and trade. In general, a society will possess more production and consumption opportunities when all its members share a common language. Neighboring societies and communities likewise have a strong incentive to utilize a common language, and indeed there are countless examples of language assimilation, especially in the last one hundred years. Hence, it is puzzling that more assimilation has not occurred. History has recorded numerous examples of communities that coexist with distinct languages and limited economic interaction. ; This paper presents a stylized model to reconcile both assimilation and non-assimilation. We abstract from cultural and historical factors, which are of course significant, but are present in both. The model has two languages, two locations, and two time periods. Agents are initially endowed with one or both languages and a location. Agents choose whether or not to learn the other language, and subsequently choose whether or not to move to the other region. Language facilitates production: an agent can produce output only in conjunction with others who share the same location and language. Consequently, there are strong incentives to locate with others who share the same language, and to learn the language that others speak. The cost of learning is endogenous: agents who are learning cannot produce. ; Our model delivers a full assimilation equilibrium, as well as geographic and linguistic isolation equilibria. In the latter equilibria, location and language barriers prevent economic interaction from occurring. Increasing returns and strategic complementarities are present, but sometimes they operate locally, in addition to globally.


The aim of the study is to examine the opinions of music teachers working in special education schools about special education music lesson. For this purpose, the teachers in question; Their views on the special education curriculum, the special education textbook, the special education music lesson hours, the physical conditions of the school they work in, the music classroom in the school, the tools and equipment in the classroom where they teach music lessons were determined.

The research is a descriptive field study in the scanning model. The study group of the research was determined by random method in the province of Samsun in the 2019-2020 academic year Muzaffer Tahmaz, Canik, Carsamba Municipality, Altinkum, Bafra, Fahriye Kemal Kizilot inculuding six II. in special education school; 50th anniversary, Samsun Canik Fatih, Ertugrulgazi, Sehit Mete Yahsi Mehmetcik there are five special education classes including consists of 11 music teachers working in secondary school.

The data of the study were collected with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers by taking expert opinions. In line with the research findings, it was concluded that the teachers in the study group found the curriculum sufficient, the textbooks insufficient, the music lesson hours insufficient, the physical conditions inadequate, the classroom inadequate, the equipment inadequate.


Galectin-4 (Gal-4), a multifunctional lectin, is presented at both intracellular and extracellular sites. Recent studies have shown that Gal-4 plays certain role in attenuating cancer progression and metastasis. We have also observed that patients with urothelial carcinoma (UC) with the lower Gal-4 expression were at higher grade and stage. In addition, the Gal-4 expression is inversely associated with lymph node invasion and prognosis. Since how Gal-4 attenuates the cancer metastasis in UC has not been well investigated, the goal of the present study is to understand the role of Gal-4 in UC progression. We ectopically expressed Gal-4 in UC cells and found that increased Gal-4 significantly inhibits cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion. We also demonstrated that Gal-4 overexpression leads to a significant decrease the adhesion of UC cells to the basement membrane substrate laminin. Mechanistically, we found that Gal-4 overexpression significantly reduces the expression of the laminin receptor integrin α6β4. Besides to downregulation of integrin β4, Gal-4 overexpression also reduces phosphorylation of Src and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and promotes anoikis. Together, the present results revealed that Gal-4 reduces the metastasis activity of UC cells by interfering integrin β4/Src/FAK cascade, which are of essential to prevent the suspended cells from anoikis. These results suggest that Gal-4 could be considered as a pivotal factor in the migration and invasion of UC cells. Key words: Galectin-4, integrin β4, migration, invasion, metastasis, anoikis, urothelial cancer Citation Format: Li-Fang Lin, Meei-Maan Wu, Te-Chang Lee. Galectin-4 interferes with the integrin β4/Src/FAK cascade and attenuates metastasis in urothelial carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1616.


The ability to control the relative motion of two orbiting spacecraft from the ground is approximately a function of four key parameters: relative state knowledge errors, maneuver execution errors, environment modeling errors, and the time delay between the execution of successive maneuvers. Based on these four parameters an assessment of the ground's capability to control relative position can be made and a minimum safe-approach distance can be determined. Approximate analytic expressions for minimum ground-controlled separations are presented and then validated with a detailed linear covariance analysis. The analytic expressions are shown to be accurate to within ±25%.


The paper considers questions of energy storage devices used in electric transport, especially in electric traction drive of trolley bus, in order to provide an autonomous motion, overhead system's load leveling and energy recovering. For efficiency of the proposed system it is used a bidirectional DC-DC converter. During the simulation regulation curves of the bidirectional DC-DC converters were obtained.


Predicting the spray evolution using simulations requires accurate modeling of the turbulent gas-phase flow field. In this study, the high-order spectral-element method (SEM), implemented in the code Nek5000, was used to provide highly-resolved solutions to the turbulent flow field. Spray modeling capabilities were implemented into the Nek5000 code. The spray is modeled in a Lagrangian-Eulerian (LE) framework, where the liquid is represented by discrete parcels of droplets. The method for coupling liquid and gas in the context of SEM is described, which allows for very fine meshes to be used without affecting the stability of the solution. Large-eddy simulations (LES) of the eight-hole ECN Spray G gasoline injector were conducted. Numerical results are compared against experimental data for liquid penetration, droplet size and gas velocity. The morphology of the multi-plume spray is compared against experimental data. The effect of different spray injection inputs is analyzed. It was found that using a plume direction of 33° and an injection cone angle of 30° produced the best results overall. This work shows the applicability of SEM for spray modeling applications, where use of a high-order flow solver can help us understand the multi-plume spray aerodynamics and how it leads to plume collapse under certain conditions. Results also highlight the need for tuning spray input parameters in the LE framework, even when high-fidelity gas flow solutions are possible.


A successful high-level gymnastics performance is the result of the coordination and inter-relation of body segments to produce movement prototypes. In this context, the exploration of different movement prototypes, as well as their relations with judges' scores, can aid coaches to design better learning and practice methodologies. Therefore, we investigate if there are different movement prototypes of the technique of the handspring tucked somersault with a half twist (HTB) on a mini trampoline with a vaulting table and its relations with judges' scores. We assessed flexion/extension angles of five joints during fifty trials, using an inertial measurement unit system. All trials were scored by international judges for execution. A multivariate time series cluster analysis was performed to identify movement prototypes and their differential association with judges' scores was statistically assessed. Nine different movement prototypes were identified for the HTB technique, with two of them associated with higher scores. Statistically strong associations were found between scores and movement phases one (i.e., from the last step on the carpet to the initial contact of both feet with the mini trampoline), two (i.e., from the initial contact to the take-off on the mini trampoline) and four (i.e., from the initial contact of both hands with the vaulting table to take-off on the vaulting table) and moderate associations with movement phase six (i.e., from the tucked body position to landing with both feet on the landing mat). Our findings suggest (a) the presence of multiple movement prototypes yielding successful scoring and (b) the moderate-to-strong association of movement variations along phases one, two, four and six with judges' scores. We suggest and provide guidelines for coaches to encourage movement variability that can lead their gymnasts to functionally adapt their performance and succeed when facing different constraints.


E-Governance is considered as a high priority agenda in India, as it is considered to be the only means of taking Information & Communication Technology (ICT ) to around 800 million "Aam Aadmi" who are at the bottom of the pyramid. E-Governance provides opportunities to harness the power of ICT to make the government transparent, value for money, qualitatively responsive, and truly encompassing. Standard practices & trends for effective implementation of E- governance were highlighted in the paper. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate vital E-Governance aspects viz core concepts, implementation and hindrance to target achievement. In a country like India who is characterized by diversities such as digital divide, language, geography & religion, issues and challenges for E-Governance projects were also highlighted.


McN-3495 [chemical name: N-(1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinylidene)-N'-phenyl-1-pyrrolidinecarboximidamide], a new, oral, effective hypoglycemic agent that is structurally distinct from the biguanides, has been shown to be mechanistically distinct from the biguanides and to lack comparable side effects in animals. The biguanides (phenformin, buformin, metformin), which were active when glucose was given orally to fasted rats and dogs, failed to lower fasting blood glucose or improve glucose tolerance when the glucose was administered parenterally, thus suggesting that biguanides inhibit intestinal glucose absorption. McN-3495, however, lowered the fasting concentrations of glucose and increased glucose disappearance whether the glucose was administered orally or parenterally. Furthermore, intestinal glucose transport, measured by use of the everted sac technique, was inhibited after oral pretreatment of rats with buformin and phenformin but not with McN-3495. However, both phenformin and McN-3495 inhibited glucose transport when added directly in vitro, although McN-3495 did so at higher concentrations. The reasons for the differing actions of McN-3495 and the biguanides on intestinal transport in vivo and in vitro are discussed. New models for biguanide-induced lactacidemia using normal and streptozotocin-diabetic rats were developed. In addition, a number of the gastrointestinal side effects of phenformin use were observed in animal experiments. McN-3495, at doses above projected therapeutic doses, however, did not produce lactacidemia or comparable gastrointestinal side effects. Thus, McN-3495 is a novel oral hypoglycemic agent, probably safer than phenformin, that could provide better control of blood glucose in diabetic patients.


Nonlinear switched circuits are usually analyzed in the time domain. The use of frequency-domain methods to analyze the steady-state of switched circuits is usually restricted to linear circuits and, although Volterra series approaches are applied to the distortion of nonlinear switched circuits, the use of harmonic balance (HB) methods in nonlinear switched circuits seems to be marginal if not discarded. In this paper, we analyze the nonlinear class-E amplifier with an ideal switch by means of the HB method. We show how the switching function may be carefully chosen to improve the accuracy of the solution. When the circuit achieves actual class-E operation, the method converges better and is more accurate than classical time-domain methods. We conclude that the HB method is an alternative to time-domain methods that can be used to analyze the class-E amplifier in its expected operation mode.


In theory, Indic religious traditions rigorously differentiate the realms of householder and renouncer, with movement only permitted from former to latter and only for certain individuals. The presence of castes with renouncer names (Yogis, Naths, Vaishnavas) suggests that realities on the ground may not conform to this stereotype. Using fieldwork material from West Bengal, India, this article considers connections between the Caste Vaishnavas and renunciation. Not only do Caste Vaishnavas often follow renouncer practices, male Caste Vaishnava status is conferred by renunciation
rituals in which the loin-cloth is functionally equivalent to the Brahmin sacred thread. Contrary to most textual accounts, there is constant movement of renouncers as well as other householders, in groups as well as individuals, into this 'open caste' (Risley, 1891). The relation of joint renouncers
(a male and female pair) to Caste Vaishnavas is examined, as is the status of women within the caste.


This paper shows for a panel of 32 developing countries that political and governance institutions matter for private investment decision. This linkage is empirically verified for a broad number of institutions. This is the case for corruption, quality of bureaucracy, judiciary, security of property rights, regulations and taxation, political stability, as well as political rights and civil liberties. This result is obtained by estimating a simultaneous model of private investment and political and governance quality, where economic policy and other variables explain concurrently both variables. In MENA, the deficiencies in the administration quality, the political instability and the low public accountability contributed significantly to the low investment decisions of the 1980s and the 1990s. This paper shows as well that, although political and governance institutions constitute first order importance for private investment, economic reforms in the form of financial development and trade openness, and human capital affect private investment decision directly, as well as by enhancing the quality of political and governance institutions.


Many proapoptotic and antiapoptotic proteins have been involved in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. As the first identified antiapoptotic protein, apoptosis repressor with caspase recruitment domain (ARC) is highly expressed in terminally differentiated cells, and its functions and expressions in striated muscles and cancer cells have been widely studied. However, the expression alterations of ARC in amyloid &bgr;-induced early hippocampal neurotoxicity are less known. In this report, we not only confirm previous reports that ARC is expressed in the hippocampal neurons but also demonstrate for the first time that ARC is also expressed in the hippocampal astrocytes. Furthermore, we extend the findings to show that, contrary to the time-dependently decreased ARC levels in the hippocampal neurons, ARC in astrocytes is strikingly increased in A&bgr;25–35-induced early neurotoxicity. Our data suggest that ARC has distinct roles based on cell type and stimuli. Our results provide valuable information for further exploring the complicated functions and related mechanisms of ARC in amyloid-related diseases.


This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of communication differences in effective and ineffective teams. It investigates task and socio-emotional verbal behaviours over time and its relationship to team effectiveness and team members' self-perceived member viability. The author used an aural observational method to examine verbal communication of three teams. Participants were post-graduate students formed into teams, working on a complex and dynamic task over a project duration of five days in a classroom setting. Spoken interaction was audio recorded and analysed using Bales' (1950) Interaction Process Analysis (IPA). Three questionnaires were developed, mainly by combining existing measurement instruments from communication and small group research, measuring team effectiveness and member viability. The analysis of selected team meetings with IPA displayed interesting task and socio- emotional communication differences in effective and ineffective teams. These differences were more visible in socio-emotional interaction than in task-related interaction. Observed interaction patterns changed over time, although communication behaviours were more stable in the effective teams. Findings indicate that a consistently high level of positive socio-emotional communication in combination with a consistently low level of negative socio-emotional interaction seem to facilitate team effectiveness, while a high level of negative socio-emotional interaction or constantly changing socio-emotional behaviour seems to inhibit team effectiveness. It seems to suggest that communication behaviours impact upon team effectiveness and member viability. When communication behaviours could be described as task focused with a consistent level of positive reactions, outweighing negative reactions, effectiveness and member viability can increase. Opposite behaviours, shifting from task to interpersonal issues in combination with negative reactions outweighing positive reactions can lead to low levels of perceived member viability and a lack of effectiveness. The results lead to the suggestion that communication behaviours and member viability, particularly cohesion and willingness to continue as a member of this team, seem to be indicators for a team's "well-being" and impact upon its effectiveness. These factors seem to be especially visible at the beginning and the temporal midpoint of a project. During these two periods, monitoring of the team process is recommended, either self-managed or with support from outside the team in order to prevent communication problems impacting on team effectiveness.


Dr. ZUELZER'S excellent discussion of the normal and the pathologic physiology of bone marrow provides a rational basis for applying this information to a clinical setting. Historically, the conception of bone marrow as a functioning tissue is of relatively recent date. It was regarded as performing the purely mechanical function of filling the medullary cavity of the bones until about eighty years ago, when Neumann contended it functioned as a site of blood formation in postnatal life. Postmortem investigation of the effects of various diseases of the bone marrow soon followed. Lack of correlation and apparently conflicting findings in examination of the blood during life and changes in the bone marrow after death led to attempts to study bone marrow in living patients by means of surgical biopsy. Originally, biopsy of the bone marrow was mainly undertaken as an alternative method of splenic puncture in the diagnosis of malaria and


In a genetic algorithm, a population of strings (called chromosomes), which encode candidate solutions (called individuals or creatures) to an optimization problem, is evolved toward better solutions. Better solution is usually attained in form of succeeding generations. These generations are evolved using techniques inspired from the real world viz. , selections, mutations and crossovers. Till date, selections were performed using the most basic technique called natural selection, in which, the fitter population has a better chance of getting selected to become the parents of the successive generations. This 'natural selection' can be directly mapped to naturalist Charles Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. However, Darwin also mentioned another method of nature's selection process called the 'Artificial Selection'. This paper is indented towards mapping the methodology of artificial selection in Artificial Intelligence to develop a new algorithm that aims at the same goal of survival. In this method, only the required traits or combination of traits of the population will be carried forward. This is done by introducing a factor which decides which traits are needed and which are not. This factor can be implicitly included in the program or can be explicitly decided by the user input. This method differs from the existing natural selection in the way that it does not depend totally on fitness of the generations but seeks mainly the required traits or combination of traits needed to solve the problem, and also that the generations evolve according to the factor which can sometimes be user itself who decides which traits he wants to be prominent and which are to be discarded. As a result, the successive generations are a product of selective breeding by the factor. Also, the generations can completely be different in terms of traits of their parents.


BACKGROUND
Endothelial dysfunction is an important feature of sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and other infectious conditions. Previously, we reported an in vitro model to study endothelial dysfunction, in which endothelial cells are induced to form capillary tube networks by culturing on a basement membrane matrix (Matrigel). In this study, we defined the signal transduction pathways that lead to endothelial cell function and capillary disruption characteristic of sepsis and other infectious conditions.

METHODS
Human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) were cultured on a laminin-rich matrix to form capillary-like networks. The HAECs were treated with a protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor (sodium orthovanadate), a phosphoinositon-3-phosphate inhibitor (wortmannin), or a protein kinase C inhibitor (bisindolylmaleimide) before capillary tubes had formed or after the capillary tubes had matured. The degree of capillary tube formation was quantified by counting the intersection of capillary networks in triplicate wells. Statistical significance was determined by analysis of variance.

RESULTS
Endothelial dysfunction occurred after inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase or protein kinase C. Whereas inhibition of phosphoinositon-3-phosphate did not cause endothelial dysfunction, sodium orthovanadate (2-20 microM) and bisindolylmaleimide (2-10 microM) significantly reduced capillary networks. The mean +/- SD of the number of capillary tubes in the control, sodium orthovanadate-treated, and bisindolylmaleimide-treated groups were 251.0 +/- 7.0, 65.6 +/- 9.9 (p < 0.001), and 181.7 +/- 0.1 (p < 0.001), respectively. Sodium orthovanadate (20-200 microM) and bisindolylmaleimide (10-100 microM) inhibited capillary tube formation. At higher concentrations, sodium orthovanadate (> 200 microM) and bisindolylmaleimide (>100 microM) disrupted mature capillary tubes.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that PKC and protein tyrosine phosphatase play a role in endothelial dysfunction by interfering with the phosphorylation signals within endothelial cells. These mechanisms may be important in the endothelial dysfunction in sepsis and other infectious conditions.


Researching with young and developmentally young children offers opportunities and challenges for researchers in relation to issues concerning competency, understanding, vulnerability, power relationships and the role of various gatekeepers. The ethics of gaining consent and ensuring that children understand what is being asked of them requires a balance between preventing harm and ensuring adequate protection whilst at the same time ensuring all children have the opportunity to be included and have their voice heard. This article will discuss the social, cultural and contextual aspects of consent and understanding for including young and developmentally young children in research.


This study was carried out to evaluate the influence of different levels of digestible energy and digestible protein in diets of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) broodstock on offspring growth during sex reversal stage. A total of 2,700 post-larvae (8.2±0.001 mg) derived from breeders fed nine diets with distinct levels of digestible protein (28, 34 and 40% DP) and digestible energy (2,800; 3,400; and 4,000 kcal DE.kg-1) were stored in twenty-seven 70 L tanks. After 30 days of growth, their average final weight (AFW, g), average weight gain (AWG, g), final standard length (SL, cm), condition factor (CF), specific growth rate (SGR, %/day), stock uniformity (UNI, %), survival (SUR, %) and sex reversal rate (SRR, %) were measured. Although female nutrition is thought to influence the performance or quality of progeny during early life stages, no influence of diets supplied to broodstock was detected on any parameter. Nonetheless, the offspring presented commercially satisfactory growth rates. Thus, diets containing 28% of digestible protein and 2,800 kcal of digestible energy.kg of diet-1 can be used to feed Nile tilapia broodstock without jeopardizing offspring performance during the sex reversal phase.


A striking black-and-white hybrid of film noir and science fiction, "Alphaville" (1965) is now one of the most enduringly popular of Jean-Luc Godard 's films of the 1960s. Working without sets, special effects, or even a script, Godard created a dystopian vision of a technocratic city of the future, which resonates with filmmakers today. "Alphaville" pits secret agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) against Alpha 60, the super-computer that presides over a city where weeping is outlawed, poetry goes unrecognised and the words 'conscience' and 'love' have ceased to exist. Lemmy's mission is to capture the renegade scientist Professor von Braun (Howard Vernon) but is complicated when he falls in love with the Professor's ravishing daughter, Natasha (Anna Karina). In this first ever exploration of Godard's masterpiece, published on the fortieth anniversary of its release, Chris Darke uncovers the film's unique combination of genres and styles and draws on new interviews with the director's collaborators to chronicle the film's production. Analysing "Alphaville" in its historical context, he also examines how the film in fluenced Godard's later work, as well as exploring Alphaville's 'afterlife' in the work of other filmmakers and artists.


In a recent paper (Iannuzzi et al 2006 Monolithic fiber-top sensor for critical environments and standard applications Appl. Phys. Lett. 88 053501) we have presented the principle of the fiber-top position sensor, having a monolytical structure carved out of a single-mode optical fiber. The device alleviates sensing in a critical environment via interferometric readout, and because of its monolithic construction, facilitates plug-and-play utilization without alignment. In this paper we describe the fabrication method of a similar device which, however, was also equipped with a pyramidal tip on the top of the cantilever, an important detail for future implementation in scanning probe microscopy. A silicon surface was then periodically put in contact and moved out of contact with the device. The output signal resembles force curves that can be similarly obtained with atomic force microscopes.


Recent work establishes dataset difficulty and removes annotation artifacts via partial-input baselines (e.g., hypothesis-only models for SNLI or question-only models for VQA ). When a partial-input baseline gets high accuracy, a dataset is cheatable. However, the converse is not necessarily true: the failure of a partial-input baseline does not mean a dataset is free of artifacts. To illustrate this, we first design artificial datasets which contain trivial patterns in the full input that are undetectable by any partial-input model. Next, we identify such artifacts in the SNLI dataset—a hypothesis-only model augmented with trivial patterns in the premise can solve 15% of the examples that are previously considered "hard". Our work provides a caveat for the use of partial-input baselines for dataset verification and creation.


Introduction: the main research results of the authors, about the study of pedagogical oral communication and the position that it occupies in the professional training are discussed. Objective: to analyze epistemologically the main theoretical elements defined that are addressed in the national and international literature on the oral pedagogical communication category and its importance in the context of the training of professionals. Method: a descriptive study was carried out from a bibliographic review and from the theoretical point of view the methods used were: historical-logical, analysis-synthesis and inductive-deductive, which allowed the analysis of concepts on the subject from different approaches. Development: in the work, relevant concepts and theories were systematized that take pedagogical oral communication into account in the communicative process, from the importance of communication as a universal human activity, which presupposes a set of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that go beyond the linguistic components to establish and maintain effective communication in the professional field. Conclusion: the incorporation into the study curriculum of Higher Education was sought for their continuous attention; it is essential because it is so necessary for the success of the subjects in the interaction process in the different contexts of professional performance that allow the graduation of better prepared and truly competent professionals. DeCS: COMMUNICATION; PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION; TEACHING.


Prothioconazole is a type of broad-spectrum triazole thione fungicide developed by the Bayer Company. Prothioconazole-desthio is the main metabolite of prothioconazole in the environment. In our study, enantiomeric separation of prothioconazole and prothioconazole-desthio was performed on various chiral stationary phases (CSPs) by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was found that polysaccharide CSPs showed better ability than brushing CSPs in enantiomeric separation. The successful chiral separation of prothioconazole could be achieved on self-made Chiralcel OD, commercialized Chiralcel OJ-H and Lux Cellulose-1. Chiralpak IA, Chiralpak IB, Chiralpak IC, Chiralcel OD, Chiralpak AY-H, Chiralpak AZ-H, and Lux Cellulose-1 realized the baseline separation of prothioconazole-desthio enantiomers. Simultaneous enantiomeric separation of prothioconazole and prothioconazole-desthio was performed on Lux Cellulose-1 using acetonitrile (ACN) and water as mobile phase. In most cases, low temperature favored the separation of two compounds. The influence of the mobile phase ratio or type was deeply discussed. We obtained larger Rs and longer analysis time with a smaller proportion of isopropanol (IPA) or ethanol and more water content at the same temperature. The ratio of ACN and water had influences on the outflow orders of prothioconazole-desthio enantiomers. This work provides a new approach for chiral separation of prothioconazole and prothioconazole-desthio with a discussion of chiral separation mechanism on different CSPs.


Uranium isotope ratios can provide source information for tracking uranium contamination in a variety of fields, ranging from occupational bioassay to monitoring aftereffects of nuclear accidents. We describe the development of isotope selective laser ionization spectrometry for ultratrace measurement of the minor isotopes (234)U, (235)U, and (236)U with respect to (238)U. The inherent isotopic selectivity of three-step excitation with single-mode continuous wave lasers results in measurement of the minor isotopes at relative abundances below 1 ppm and is not limited by isobaric interferences such as (235)UH(+) during measurement of (236)U. This relative abundance limit is attained without mass spectrometric analysis of the laser-created ions. Uranyl nitrate standards from an international blind comparison were used to test analytical performance for different isotopic compositions and with quantities ranging from 11 ng to 10 microg total uranium. Isotopic ratio determination was demonstrated over a linear dynamic range of 7 orders of magnitude with a few percent relative precision and detection limits below 500 fg for the minor isotopes.


Abstract Home cooking has been suggested as a key to healthy dietary intakes. However, little is known about the association between cooking behaviour and nutrient intake among young-to-middle-aged women. We aimed to investigate the association between home cooking frequency and nutrient intake adequacy among married Japanese women. Self-administered questionnaires were used to assess the weekly frequency of cooking dinner at home and habitual nutrient intake during the preceding month. We evaluated nutrient intake adequacy by comparing the self-reported intake with two indices of the dietary reference intakes for Japanese (2015): the estimated average requirement (EAR) of fourteen nutrients, and the 'tentative dietary goal for preventing lifestyle-related diseases' (DG) of seven nutrients. A total of 143 participants (25–44 years old) completed the questionnaires, with 32·9 % of participants reporting a weekly home cooking frequency of seven times/week. Women with a higher home cooking frequency (seven times/week) were more likely to have children (P = 0·001) than those with a lower home cooking frequency (0–6 times/week). Of the nutrients evaluated, there was no significant difference between the two groups in meeting EAR and DG. Our findings suggest that daily home cooking may not be necessary to achieve adequate nutrient intake, specifically among married, young-to-middle-aged Japanese women.


This technical note develops a unified Lyapunov approach to analysis of self-induced oscillations and stability for systems with piecewise linear elements. For self-induced oscillation within a global or regional attractor, invariant level sets of a piecewise quadratic Lyapunov function are obtained to bound the attractor via linear matrix inequality based optimization. The analysis results for self-induced oscillations are easily adapted to global or regional stability analysis.


Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are the gold standard in producing clinical evidence of efficacy and safety of medical interventions. More recently, a new paradigm is emerging—specifically within the context of preauthorization regulatory decision‐making—for some novel uses of real‐world evidence (RWE) from a variety of real‐world data (RWD) sources to answer certain clinical questions. Traditionally reserved for rare diseases and other special circumstances, external controls (eg, historical controls) are recognized as a possible type of control arm for single‐arm trials. However, creating and analyzing an external control arm using RWD can be challenging since design and analytics may not fully control for all systematic differences (biases). Nonetheless, certain biases can be attenuated using appropriate design and analytical approaches. The main objective of this paper is to improve the scientific rigor in the generation of external control arms using RWD. Here we (a) discuss the rationale and regulatory circumstances appropriate for external control arms, (b) define different types of external control arms, and (c) describe study design elements and approaches to mitigate certain biases in external control arms. This manuscript received endorsement from the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE).


Inelastic neutron-scattering spectra were measured to obtain the phonon density of states (DOS) of nanocrystalline fcc Ni3Fe. The materials were prepared by mechanical alloying, and were also subjected to heat treatments to alter their crystallite sizes and internal strains. In comparison to material with large crystallites, the nanocrystalline material shows two distinct differences in its phonon DOS. The nanocrystalline DOS was more than twice as large at energies below 15 meV. This increase was approximately proportional to the density of grain boundaries in the material. Second, features in the nanocrystalline DOS are broadened substantially. This broadening did not depend in a simple way on the crystallite size of the sample, suggesting that it has a different physical origin than the enhancement in phonon DOS at energies below 15 meV. A damped harmonic oscillator model for the phonons provides a quality factor Qu, as low as 7 for phonons in the nanocrystalline material. The difference in vibrational entropy of the bulk and nanocrystalline Ni3Fe was small, owing to competing changes in the nanocrystalline phonon DOS at low and high energies.


ROBOT LOCALIZATION USING UNCONVENTIONAL SENSORS Robert Oliver Advisor: University of Guelph, 2015 Professor Simon X. Yang This thesis explores the problem of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) with a focus on combining di↵erent sensors to build a more robust, accurate, and reliable localization framework. Localization without prior knowledge of the environment is considered to be one of the most challenging problems in the field of robotics. The core contribution of this thesis is the development of a high-level sensor fusion solution, which enables simple integration of unconventional sensors not typically used for robot localization. A capacitive sensor for sensing floor joists directly under the robot is proposed as an example of an unconventional sensor. A neural network is implemented to fuse multiple measurements and build a model of likely joist locations in unexplored regions. Two di↵erent sensor fusion approaches are proposed. The first solution explores robot localization with a-priori map knowledge. Prior map knowledge removes the requirement for map learning and focuses the problem on fusion of the di↵erent sensor maps. With this focus a high-level scalable sensor fusion architecture is implemented. Results show an improvement when using this algorithm to incorporate new sensors into the robot localization configuration. The approach also resolves the problem where the map is known but the starting location is not. The second fusion approach proposes a complete multi-sensor SLAM algorithm without a-priori map knowledge. The capacitive sensor is incorporated into the algorithm to demonstrate the scalability of the approach. After incorporating multiple sensors information into the solution, the peak error and average error of the estimated robot position are both reduced; while simultaneously enabling greater robustness through redundant sensors.


Several mechanisms are likely to be involved in the solar radiation-mediated modifications of cellular DNA. Direct excitation of DNA bases by the UVB component (290-320 nm) of solar light gives rise, mostly through oxygen independent reactions, to the formation of dimeric pyrimidine lesions including cyclobutadipyrimidines, pyrimidine (6-4) pyrimidone photoproducts and related valence Dewar isomers. In addition, photoexcitation of cytosine and guanine may lead to the formation in relatively minor yields of 6-hydroxy-5,6-dihydrocytosine and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine, respectively. A second mechanism that requires the participation of endogenous photosensitizers together with oxygen is at the origin of most of the DNA damage generated by the UVA (320-400 nm) and visible light. Singlet oxygen, which arises from a type II mechanism, is likely to be mostly involved in the formation of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine that was observed within both isolated and cellular DNA. However, it may be expected that the latter oxidized purine lesion together with DNA strand breaks and pyrimidine base oxidation products are also generated with a lower efficiency through Fenton type reactions. A more definitive assessment of these mechanisms would require further studies aimed at the identification and quantification of the different DNA photolesions including both dimeric pyrimidine photoproducts and photooxidized lesions.


Abstract Camogie is one of Ireland's national field sports. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of protective equipment by camogie players and to identify the most common injuries resulting from playing camogie. A questionnaire was distributed to 180 camogie players at randomly chosen clubs in two Irish counties to establish use of protective equipment over the preceding 12 months and what injuries resulted from playing camogie over the same period. Direct observation of players in action was undertaken looking at protective equipment use to confirm reliability of the self-reported data. One hundred and thirty-nine questionnaires were returned and 120 players directly observed. In total, 74.8% of players reported wearing a helmet every time and 84.9% that they never wear a handguard. Reasons for not wearing protective equipment include discomfort and the belief that it is unnecessary. Thirty-seven percent of players reported injury; hand injuries were the most common (42.3% of all injuries). One in six players experienced a hand injury over the 12-month period. Generating awareness of the prevalence of hand injuries and the lack of hand protection in camogie is required.


Stelio Cro's revealing work, arising from his more than half dozen previous books, considers the eighteenth-century Enlightenment in the context of the European experience with, and reaction to, the cultures of America's original inhabitants. Taking into account Spanish, Italian, French, and English sources, the author describes how the building materials for Rousseau's allegory of the Noble Savage came from the early Spanish chroniclers of the discovery and conquest of America, the Jesuit Relations of the Paraguay Missions (a Utopia in its own right), the Essais of Montaigne, Italian Humanism, Shakespeare's Tempest, writers of Spain's Golden Age, Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and the European philosophes.


Abstract The aim of this paper it to derive general coordinate-invariant forms of the Eliassen–Palm flux tensor and thereby characterize the true geometric nature of the eddy–mean-flow interaction in hydrostatic Boussinesq rotating fluids. In the quasi-geostrophic limit previous forms of the Eliassen–Palm flux tensor are shown to be related to each other via a gauge transformation; a general form is stated and its geometric properties are discussed. Similar methodology is applied to the hydrostatic Boussinesq Navier–Stokes equations to re-derive the residual-mean equations in a coordinate-invariant form. Thickness-weighted averaging in buoyancy coordinates is carefully described, via the definition of a volume-form-weighted average, constructed so as to commute with the covariant divergence of a vector. The procedures leading to the thickness-weight averaged equation are discussed, and forms of the Eliassen–Palm flux tensor which arise are identified.


A total of 700 different samples were collected from dairy cows and their surrounding environment from different dairy farms located in Kafr El-Sheikh including; milk (150 samples from clinically suspected cases and another 150 samples from apparently healthy cows) and swabs from teats, milking machines and hands of workers as well as bedding materials (100 samples/each) for isolation and identification of Streptococcus species. It was found that 82 samples were positive for California Mastitis Test (CMT) indicative for subclinical mastitis. Also, it was found that the frequency of isolation of Streptococcus species from clinical mastitis milk samples was 44 % (66 isolate) and 37.8% (31 isolate) in milk subclinical mastitis milk samples while the frequency of isolation of Streptococcus spp. from environmental samples revealed that the highest frequency was recorded in the examined samples of bedding materials (57%) followed by milking machine swabs (43%) and teat swabs (42%) then lastly hand swabs (23%). Moreover, the biochemical identification of the obtained Streptococci clarified the presence of Str. agalactiae, Str. dysgalactiae, Str. bovis and Str. uberis with various rates. Antibiogram pattern of S. agalactiae demonstrated high level of resistance against Chloramphenicol (90%) followed by Co-Trimoxazole (78%) while the highest sensitive antibiotic was Spiramycin (72%) followed by Gentamicin (70%) while that of S. uberis demonstrated high level of resistance against Amoxicillin (78%) followed by Amoxyclav (72%) while the highest sensitive antibiotic was Spiramycin (78%) followed by Cefotaxime (64%) and Gentamicin (60%). Finally, four commercial types of disinfectant commonly used in dairy farms including Iodine, Phenol, Virkon S® and TH4; beside Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) which was a herbal agent rich in phenolic compounds with high antimicrobial activity were tested against the obtained isolates of Streptococci.


Lawyers are proud of their skills in drafting as their skills are unique and people go to them not only for litigation but also to get their most valuable documents to be drafted by those skilled persons. Regrettably those lawyers themselves forget that they are not skilled in legislative drafting but only in legal drafting. Their skills and knowledge in legal writing remains half unless they learn legislative drafting. By reading this book lawyers can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in legislative drafting. As there is no any academic course in legislative drafting in the universities, people are deprived of learning legislative drafting institutionally. The only chance to learn legislative drafting is in-house training which is available only for those who are already in the profession. This book provides a firsthand knowledge of legislative drafting, its basic principles and techniques. Therefore those who want to enter the profession of legislative drafting and who are already in the profession can both be benefited by reading this book. The book also provides for the techniques of implementing International Conventions and EU Directives into national laws.


Context: Traction splint (TS) use during emergency medical system transport has been theorized to relieve pain, limit continued injury from loose bone fragments, and decrease potential bleeding space in the injured thigh. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the benefit of prehospital TS (PTS) application, using data from the trauma registry at a large Level 1 trauma center. Methods: A retrospective review of patients from the NTRACS© and Trauma One© registry at an American College of Surgeons-verified Level 1 trauma center was conducted. All patients treated between the years 2001 and 2011 who were assigned a diagnosis International Classification of Diseases-9 code of 821.01 (closed fracture of shaft and femur) and 821.11 (open fracture of shaft and femur) (femur fracture [FF]) were included. Statistical Analysis: All categorical variables between the first groups were compared using Pearson's Chi-square and Fisher's exact test analysis. Comparisons were made using unpaired t-tests and Mann–Whitney test or Kruskal–Wallis one-way ANOVA, followed by Dunn's post hoc pairwise comparisons. Results: Patients with a TS and those without indicated that the patients with no traction split (NTS) had sustained injuries beyond a FF (14.43 ± 9.740 vs. 18.59 ± 12.993, P < 0.001). The three groups of TS placement (PTS, hospital, and NTS) only used patients with Injury Severity Score < 9 (n = 218). Hospital length of stay (LOS) was found to be significant (P = 0.05) between the patients who received a hospital TS (3.10 ± 1.709) and NTS (5.42 ± 5.144). Conclusion: PTS can lower LOS and mortality. Further research is needed to confirm these findings.


Carrier removal profiles have been measured in annealed, oxygen implanted, n-type GaAs samples. The implants were performed at room temperature with an ion energy of 400 keV. A dose of 1015 O+/cm2 produced a resistivity of about 108 ?/? over a layer 0.6 ?m thick, but no significant electrical compensation was observed from doses less than 1013 O+/cm2. However, doses of 1011 to 5×1012 O+/cm2 produced resistivities of 108 to 109 ?/? without subsequent annealing.


Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have emerged as a promising strategy for enhancing the membrane permeability of bioactive molecules, particularly in the treatment of central nervous system diseases. CPPs possess the ability to deliver a diverse array of bioactive molecules into cells using either covalent or non-covalent approaches, with a preference for non-covalent methods to preserve the biological activity of the transported molecules. By effectively traversing various physiological barriers, CPPs have exhibited significant potential in preclinical and clinical drug development. The discovery of CPPs represents a valuable solution to the challenge of limited membrane permeability of bioactive molecules and will continue to exert a crucial influence on the field of biomedical science.


Vapor growth conditions for small (<10 nm) lead whiskers have been studied in a sealed cryogenic chamber with base pressure below 10−14 torr. Using a field emission technique developed by Gomer for mercury whiskers we have investigated the temperature range for exponential whisker growth; the crossing temperature (250 K) where two dimensional nucleation is thought to occur, and lower temperatures where nonexponential growth is observed.


Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common complication after aortoiliac surgery. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence of ED in patients with aortoiliac occlusive disease or aneurysm and evaluate the effect of revascularization by means of open surgery or iliac angioplasty/stenting upon erectile function by using the new International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire. All male patients who had previously undergone open aortoiliac reconstruction or iliac angioplasty/stenting and who were alive at the time of this study were first contacted by telephone. Those who agreed to take part in the study were sent anonymous IIEF questionnaires. Patients were asked to recall their sexual function before and 3 months after the procedure. ED was defined as IIEF score of <11. After telephone interview, a total of 116 patients agreed to take part in the study. The response rate was 61%. Two patients, one in each group, had ED preoperatively. The preoperative IIEF scores were no different in surgery and angioplasty/stenting groups (p=0.3). Overall, 46/63 patients reported worsening erectile function postoperatively. In the surgery group (n=37), 32 patients reported deterioration of their sexual function, 3 no change, and 2 improvement, while in the angioplasty/stenting group (n=26), 14 patients had deterioration, 11 no change, and 1 improvement. In both groups, the IIEF score decreased significantly postintervention; however, the deterioration was much more pronounced after open surgery (p<0.001). Of the 61 patients with "normal" erectile function (IIEF= 11), 10 patients (28%) developed ED following surgery, but none after angioplasty/ stenting (p=0.003). As judged by the IIEF, a significant proportion of patients undergoing open and endovascular procedures experience worsening sexual function.


In the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University, USA, an upper-level course has been developed that focuses on the creative design and implementation of a complete engineering system. In this course, the students design small mobile robots to perform a task specified at the beginning of the quarter. The designs are evaluated by how well they complete the specified task. The mobile robot systems are developed through a sequence of subsystem design projects. These subsystems are developed and demonstrated in the laboratory component of the course. The lectures focus on providing the information required to design the system, on the more practical aspects of engineering practice, and on showing how more theoretical concepts learned in other courses can be applied in practice. This course has been offered twice and we deduce from the students' designs and evaluations that it has been successful.


The Clebsch–Gordan coefficients for the coupling of certain degenerate representations of SL(n, C) are expressed as generalized hypergeometric functions. These coefficients define the baryon 'current' which is coupled to the lowest state of a meson tower in the SL(6, C) theory of elementary particles. The asymptotic behaviour of the coefficients for high states in the baryon tower is determined. Orthogonality and completeness relations are proved which lead to an explicit formula for decomposing a two-particle state into a direct integral of 'currents ' which belong to the principal series of meson representations. The relation between SL(n, C) Clebsch–Gordan coefficients and SU(n) 9–j symbols is explored.


Nucleobases are water-soluble compounds that need specific transporters to cross biological membranes. Cumulative evidence based on studies using animal tissues and cells indicates that the carrier-mediated transport systems for purine and pyrimidine nucleobases can be classified into the following two types: concentrative transport systems that mediate nucleobase transport depending on the sodium ion concentration gradient; and other systems that mediate facilitated diffusion depending on the concentration gradient of the substrate. Recently, several molecular transporters that are involved in both transport systems have been identified. The function and activity of these transporters could be of pharmacological significance considering the roles that they play not only in nucleotide synthesis and metabolism but also in the pharmacokinetics and delivery of a variety of nucleobase analogues used in anticancer and antiviral drug therapy. The present review provides an overview of the recent advances in our understanding of the molecular basis of nucleobase transport systems, focusing on the transporters that mediate purine nucleobases, and discusses the involvement of intracellular metabolism in purine nucleobase transport and chemotherapy using ganciclovir.


Objectives –The study highlights the story of Heaven Restaurant & Bar, Kigali (capital city of Rwanda), owned and managed by Alissa Ruxin, an American woman who has been doing business in a foreign country since 2006. The study develops a teaching case using the narratives of Alissa who sought to overcome the liability of foreignness as a minority entrepreneur.Prior Work – The case builds upon previous studies from the 2010 ISBE conference; an article published in Enterprising Matters (an ISBE Magazine) in 2010; as well as a literature review on the subject matter (Zaheer, 1995; Sethi, & Guisinger, 2002; Eden & Miller, 2004; Chen, Griffith & Hu, 2006; Schmidt & Sofka, 2009; Barnard, 2010; Moeller, Harvey, Griffith & Richey, 2013; Madichie and Hinson; 2013; 2014; Madichie, 2015; Held and Berg, 2015).Approach – The case was developed over a 6-month period (June-December 2012), on the back of personal observation. Heaven first came to light as part of a Cable News Network (CNN) documentary with a focus on developments in Rwanda – dubbed Africa's Singapore. It is typically framed around a qualitative analysis, which unpacks the coping strategies and realities of an ethnic minority business through insider accounts (Ekanem, 2007) of its founder.Results – Given Rwanda's tourism plan in its Vision 2020 commitment to improving hospitality and supporting tourism, the story of Heaven, provides an ideal contribution to the realities of doing business abroad and the attendant liability-of-foreignness (LOF) usually attached to such enterprise.Implications – The case highlights how Heaven, despite the observed portmanteau of challenges, overcame its LOF. Going by Alissa's narrative, "sustainability [...] to be both a restaurant & school [despite lacking] the time or resources…" overcoming LOF in entrepreneurship discourse is worthy of research study. Indeed further scholarly enquiry on how to cope with the realities of ethnic minority enterprise – in a small business sense as distinct from multinational enterprises that have received more research attention in the literature – remains one scholarly area in need of exploitation.


Wireless communication is increasing along with improvements in chipset performance. New applications associated with the Internet of Things (IoT) often involve self-organization and collaboration among many autonomous wireless devices for which traditional infrastructure-based wireless networks are not suitable. Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs), with their infrastructure-less, spontaneous and arbitrary multi-hop features are considered a popular approach for such scenarios, although they also face certain inherent challenges. These include: the limited communication range of each mobile node, power supply restrictions and frequent link breaks due to node movements. In this paper, in order to address the lack of a systematic cooperative routing scheme, we propose a novel protocol called Cooperative Relay Routing Protocol (CRRP) for data transmission in MANETs. Since node mobility can cause frequent radio link breaks, one of CRRP's pivotal design features is to enhance resilience, therefore improving the overall network throughput. This is achieved by forming localised cooperative (COP) topologies where appropriate. Furthermore, as nodes are often battery-powered, CRRP reduces the energy consumption when packets are forwarded by exploiting cooperative diversity. We assess the performance of CRRP via simulations and the results confirm its favorable operation compared to both classic and newer energy-aware MANET routing protocols.


In the first part of this paper the notion of dynamic inverse problems was introduced and two procedures, namely STR and STR-C, for the efficient spatio-temporal regularization of such problems were developed. In this part the application of the new methods to three practically important problems, namely dynamic computerized tomography, dynamic electrical impedance tomography and spatio-temporal current density reconstructions will be presented. Dynamic reconstructions will be carried out in simulated objects which show the quality of the methods and the efficiency of the solution process. A comparison to a Kalman smoother approach will be given for dynEIT.


Purple Soil distributes extensively and mainly in China. Because of abundant easily weatherable parent rocks/materials and unstable soil structure, and also influenced by parent materials, usage systems, and slope gradients, erosion and sediment production of purple soils are very severe with main fashions of water erosion and gravitational erosion. Basing on observed data in small watersheds, rainfall erosivity,vegetation coverage, previous soil water content, flow and relating; factors such as climate, topograph of small watershed,land usage, and soil kinds are all the influence factors of erosion and erodibility of purple soil as well as sediment production and transport in small watershed of purple hilly areas.The effective technological countermeasures of ecosystem restoration, agricultural tillage for water conservation and erosion prevention, agriculture project, and soil changing for fertility and anti-erosion were provided.


ABSTRACT. The effects of liver disease, fat malabsorption and sunlight exposure on serum vitamin D levels were determined in 21 optimally treated preadolescent cystic fibrosis (CF) children over a 12‐month period. Manifest liver disease and fat malabsorption appeared not to affect the vitamin D level. However, the level fell significantly in winter, although not below the normal range, suggesting that sunlight exposure is a more important determinant of vitamin D levels in preadolescent CF children than liver disease and fat malabsorption.


We theoretically investigate the possibility of stimulated light force deceleration and cooling of the diatomic magnesium fluoride molecular beam with near-cycling transitions in the bichromatic standing light wave of high intensity. The weighted degeneracy and force reduction factor are considered due to the behavior of the optical bichromatic force (BCF) in near-cycling transitions with internal degeneracies, and the two-level optical Bloch equations can estimate the actual behavior of the BCF. Our simulation shows that the stimulated force exceeding the spontaneous force by a factor of 2.8 can slow down the molecular beam to several m s within centimeter-scale distance, and this slowing mechanism can eliminate the need of compensation of Doppler shift during the longitudinal deceleration of the molecular beam.


Pulseless electrical activity (PEA) is considered an enigmatic phenomenon in resuscitation research and practice. Finding individuals with no consciousness or pulse but with continued electrocardiographic (EKG) complexes obviously raises the question of how they got there. The development of monitors that can display the underlying rhythm has allowed us to differentiate between VF, asystole, and PEA. Lack of clear understanding of the emergence of PEA has limited the research and development of interventions that might improve the low rates of survival typically associated with PEA. Over 30 years of studying and practicing resuscitation have allowed the authors to see a substantial rise in PEA with variable survival rates, based on the patients' illness spectrum and intensity of monitoring. This paper presents a small case series of individuals with brain death whose family members consented to the echocardiographic observation of the dying process after disconnection from life support. The observation from these cases confirms that PEA is a late phase in the clinical dying process. Echocardiographic images delineate the stages of pseudo-PEA with ineffective contractions, PEA, and then asystole. The process is contiuous with none of the sudden phase shifts seen in dysrhythmic events such as VF, VT or SVT. The implications of these findings are that PEA is a common manifestation of tissue hypoxia and metabolic substrate depletion. Our findings offer prospects for studies of the development of interventions to improve PEA survival.


Hemodynamic performance of a polyurethane heart valve prosthesis was evaluated in comparison with that of Björk-Shiley Monostrut mechanical valve in steady and pulsatile flow. Pressure losses through the valves were obtained from the streamwise pressure distributions downstream of the valves under steady flow condition. Unsteady and turbulent flow through the heart valve prostheses were investigated using PIV in conjunction with the opening behaviors of valve leaflets. Direct measurements of the wall shear stress by hot-film anemometry (HFA) were compared with the PIV data. By examining the velocity field downstream of the polyurethane heart valve, it is known that high shear stress regions exist at the interface between strong axial jet flows along the wall and vortical flows in the central area. In addition, there are large recirculation regions near the valve, where thrombus formation can be induced by accumulation of damaged blood cells. A correlation between the flow pattern downstream of the valve and the corresponding opening posture of the polyurethane valve leaflet gives useful data necessary for improved design of the superstructure and leaflet geometry of the valve.


The search for new drugs is an extremely time-consuming and costly endeavor. Much of the time and cost are expended on generating data that support the efficacy and safety profiles of the drug. Because of ethical constraints, relevant pharmacological and toxicological assessments must be made in laboratory animals and in in vitro systems before human testing can begin. In support of the efficacy and safety evaluation during drug development, two fundamental challenges facing industrial drug metabolism scientists are (1) how to "scale-up" the pharmacokinetic data from animals to humans and (2) how to extrapolate the in vitro data to the in vivo situation. This review examines the applications and limitations of interspecies scaling and in vitro extrapolation in pharmacokinetics.


In the international literature on today's urban condition, Flanders is presented as prime example of urban sprawl, generally described as unplanned incremental development induced by the quantum leap of private car ownership. The research on rural-urban landscapes in south-west Flanders qualifies and substantiates this assertion by analysing pre-war keystone processes of infrastructure planning in relation to land-use patterns and landscape transformations. The research reveals that not only the development of rural-urban landscapes reaches back far beyond the welfare state, fuelled by railways prior to highways, but also shows that the supposedly chaotic hybrid landscape has its roots in drawn-out landscape ideologies inscribed in public works policy. The analysis-which crosses the divides between disciplines (landscape and infrastructure planning), concepts (rural-urban, modern-traditional), and geographical scales (national, regional, local)-reveals consistently planned mechanisms of public works policy and landscape change underlying both the diffuse regional urbanisation patterns and local landscape transformations, which are generally perceived as spontaneous or vernacular developments. Infrastructure planning facilitated a spatial organisation that attributed centrality to the transport network rather than the metropolis, and that conceived a resilient infrastructure framework rather than a stylistic spatial constellation in order to steer and geographically root heterogeneous modernisation processes within the landscape.


Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), usually with sufficient cyclic prefix (CP), has been widely applied in various communication systems. The CP in OFDM consumes additional resource and reduces spectrum and energy efficiency. However, channel estimation and signal detection are very challenging for CP-free OFDM systems. In this paper, we propose a novel artificial intelligence (AI)-aided receiver (AI receiver) for a CP-free OFDM system. The AI receiver includes a channel estimation neural network (CE-NET) and a signal detection neural network based on orthogonal approximate message passing (OAMP), called OAMP-NET. The CE-NET is initialized by the least-square channel estimation algorithm and refined by a linear minimum mean-squared error neural network. The OAMP-NET is established by unfolding the iterative OAMP algorithm and adding several trainable parameters to improve the detection performance. We first investigate their performance under different channel models through extensive simulation and then establish a real transmission system using a 5G rapid prototyping system for an over-the-air (OTA) test. Based on our study, the AI receiver can estimate time-varying channels with a single training phase. It also has great robustness to various imperfections and has better performance than those competitive algorithms, especially for high-order modulation. The OTA test further verifies its feasibility to real environments and indicates its potential for future communications systems.


Abstract The purpose of this paper is to describe the current activities, results to date, and future activities of the European Space Agency (ESA) Robust AOCS technology program in support to the Phase A of BIOMASS, candidate as Earth Explorer Core Mission 7. Due to the specificity of the chosen BIOMASS configuration this activity is driven by the expected interaction between the large flexible reflector antenna structure and its attitude control system. Currently ESA has developed a technology program to enable the capabilities of integrating the structural sizing and control system design in order to avoid interactions problems. The objective is the development of an Integrated Modeling, Control and Analysis framework IMCA: it incorporates uncertainty modeling via LFT's, robustness analysis via the Structured Singular Value μ and various robust control synthesis techniques such as H ∞ and μ methods. This framework results as natural multivariable extensions of the classical Bode frequency domain techniques. It shall be integrated with a structural design loop into an unified computational framework to exploit control structures interactions in order to increase the spacecraft capabilities, such as better pointing stability, and to improve the overall design when compared to the traditional approach. In the execution of this program two parallel activities will be presented, respectively one by Astrium Limited, UK, and the other by ThalesAlenia Space (TAS), Italy.


The process of 3D reconstruction is a basic problem in Computer Vision. However, recent researches have been
successfully addressed by motion capture systems with body worn markers and multiple cameras. To recover
3Dreconstruction from fully-body human pose by single camera still remains a challenging problem. For instance,
noisy background, variation in human appearance and self-occlusion were among these challenges. This thesis
investigated methods of 3D reconstruction from monocular image sequences in dynamic activities such as sports.
Six recent methods were selected based on they focused on recovery fully automated system for estimating 3D
human pose for 2D joint location. These researches have been developed the algorithm that be able to solve illposed problem. Evaluation of the methods was divided in two sections. First, the theoretical and comparative
study of each method was disclosed to identify the technique used, the problems that enquired and the results
achieved in their approach. After that, the advantages and disadvantages of each method were listed. Also, several
factors such as accuracy, self-occlusion and so on have been compared amongst these methods. In Second stage,
based on the advantages found in the first stage of evaluation, three methods were chosen to be evaluated using
specific data set. Initially, the codes of the three methods on PennAction dataset (tennis) were run and the
performance of the methods in 3D reconstruction is showed. Then, the methods were tested on a mixed activities
sequence from the CMU motion capture database. The novel of this study is evaluation of recent methods based
on the accuracy of their performance on the specific dataset of tennis player. Also, we proposed a technique which
combining specific advantages of each method to create a more efficient method for 3D reconstruction of 2D
sequential images in the context of outdoor activities.


Although low resting heart rate has been linked to frequent aggressive conduct in childhood, little is known about the interaction of this biological risk with social emotions that protect against aggression across development. With a sample of 5-, 8-, and 12-year-olds (N = 110), we tested whether the negative link between resting heart rate and physical aggression was offset by high guilt and sympathy. Caregivers reported their children's physical aggression and sympathy. Children's electrocardiogram data were collected while they viewed a nondescript video, after which they reported their guilt-or lack thereof-in response to vignettes depicting social transgressions. Lower resting heart rate was significantly associated with higher physical aggression in 5-year-olds who reported low-but not medium and high-levels of guilt, and in 8-year-olds with low-but not medium and high-ratings of sympathy. Neither guilt nor sympathy moderated the resting heart rate-physical aggression link in 12-year-olds. We discuss how social emotions may help children with low resting heart rates navigate social conflicts and avoid aggressive physical confrontations.


Nowadays, securely erasing deleted files has become one of the necessary tasks for users who want to protect their deleted data from malicious attackers. Nevertheless, existing secure deletion approaches are considered inefficient for erasing deleted files permanently because the file systems and storage devices do not share their file information or data layout with each other. On the emerging shingled magnetic recording (SMR) drives, the inefficiency of existing secure deletion approaches is exaggerated by the inherent sequential-write constraint of the high storage density SMR technology. On SMR drives, tracks are overlapped via utilizing the size difference between disk read/write heads to increase the storage density. Due to the overlapped track layout, secure deletion requests may induce a significant amount of write amplification and serious performance degradation if the data layout is not properly configured. Such observation motivates this article to come up with a file-oriented fast secure deletion (FFSD) strategy to deal with the sequential-write constraint of SMR drives and improve the efficiency of secure deletion operations on SMR drives. The experimental results show that the proposed strategy can effectively reduce the secure deletion latency by $286.15\times $ on average when compared with the conventional approach.


Space–frequency modulation (SFM) signal is a potential waveform for multifunction radar with high degrees of freedom of space, time, and frequency. However, the introduction of the additional communication function will modulate the transmitting signal, which will severely deteriorate the autocorrelation function (ACF). Here, a modified CLEAN method is proposed to eliminate the influence of undesired sidelobes in ACF on the air target detection. In the proposed method, undesired sidelobes are treated as extra features of real target to obtain more precise estimation of its complex reflection coefficient. Moreover, by considering about the sparsity of air targets, the authors employ the sparse representation method to estimate the response of the current strongest target. Then the target occlusion is eliminated by iterative cancellation. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed detector is reliable and effective for the SFM-based integrated system.


A Network model of an ultra-wide band, intrachip
wireless link is presented. Numerical data of Zparameters,
obtained from full wave simulation of the structure,
are used to obtain a rational function representation via
the Vector Fitting procedure. Brune's circuit synthesis is applied
to generate the network model from rational functions.


Background: Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition that can negatively affect a patient's quality of life (QoL), often hindering social functioning. ISA247, a novel psoriatic agent, has shown clinical efficacy in moderate to severe psoriasis sufferers, but its effect on QoL is currently not reported. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of ISA247 on the QoL in patients with stable, plaque-type psoriasis. Methods: A phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter study assessed the effects of ISA247 doses of 0.5 mg/kg/d (n = 77) or 1.5 mg/kg/d (n = 83) compared with placebo (n = 41) for 12 weeks. QoL was assessed using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Psoriasis Disability Index (PDI) scales. Results: ISA247 treatment (pooled groups) significantly improved QoL scores as assessed by both the DLQI and the PDI compared with those receiving placebo (p < .05). Treatment with the higher dose of 1.5 mg/kg/d demonstrated a significantly greater response to many of the QoL scales compared with the 0.5 mg/kg/d group (p < .05). Conclusions: ISA247 appears to improve the QoL while also providing effective treatment for chronic, moderate to severe, plaque-type psoriasis.


The upper limit of local and global energy losses of alpha particles induced by TAE instability is evaluated. Both numerical results and a simple analytical expression for the lost fraction are presented. It is shown that the increase of particle resonance velocities with radius minimizes the alpha losses, preventing the escape of alphas from the plasma core


Abstract
Background: Commercial truck drivers stay behind the wheel for long hours. Fatigue is thus a major safety concern among such long distance travelling drivers.
Objectives: Primarily, the study explored the effects of driving duration on commercial truck drivers' visual features and fatigue awareness. It also examined the association between visual variables and subjective level of fatigue.
Methods: Participants of the study were 36 commercial truck drivers. During the study, the participants were grouped into nine on the basis of the differences in their age and were made to participate in the naturalistic driving test. In the driving test, the participants were asked to finish 2h, 3h, and 4h continuous driving tasks. Ten visual indicators and self awareness of fatigue level of the drivers were recorded during the driving hours. One-way ANOVA and Pearson product-moment correlation were used to analyze each visual indicator's variation by age groups over time, and its association with subjective level of fatigue.
Results: The statistical analysis revealed that continuous driving duration had a significant effect on changes of visual indicators and self-reported fatigue level. After 2h of driving, both the average closure duration value and average subjective fatigue level changed significantly. After 4h of driving, other than the average number of saccades and average pupil diameter, all of the driver's visual indicators had a significant change. In addition, the change of fatigue level is positively associated with the variation of pupil diameter, fixation duration, blink frequency, blink duration, and closure duration. On the other hand, the change of fatigue level was negatively related to number of fixations, search angle, number of saccade, saccade speed, and saccade amplitude.
Conclusion: Driving duration has a significant effect on driver's visual variation and fatigue level. For commercial truck drivers, traffic laws and regulations should strictly control the amount of their continuous driving time. Moreover, driving fatigue can also be evaluated through the change rate of driver's visual indicators. Awareness of the rate of change in their driving fatigue level alerts drivers to the risk of fatigue and rest moment. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2018;32(1):36-45]
Key words: Commercial truck drivers, visual behaviors, fatigue level, Stanford Sleepiness Scale, Pearson correlation


BACKGROUND
Insulin resistance can lead to the metabolic syndrome, which may have cardiovascular and metabolic consequences. The study aimed at verifying the serum concentration levels of the adipose tissue proteins adiponectin, adipocyte-fatty acid binding protein (a-FABP) and acylation stimulating protein (ASP), and the potential use of these markers for early diagnosis of insulin resistance.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Healthy subjects (Group A, n = 53), overweight subjects (Group B, n = 29) and obese subjects (Group C, n = 51) were studied. Those in Groups B and C had symptoms of insulin resistance. The subjects were selected based on clinical and laboratory findings. The concentrations of adiponectin were highest in the healthy subjects in Group A (14.18 ± 6.99 mg/), lower in the overweight subjects in Group B (11.12 ± 4.46 mg/l) and lowest in the obese subjects in Group C (8.15 ± 2.70 mg/l). The a-FABP values were lowest in Group A (20.23 ± 7.95 mg/l), higher in Group B (32.22 ± 15.56 mg/l) and highest in Group C (40.43 ± 23.31 mg/l). The concentrations of ASP were lowest in the Group A healthy subjects (43.01 ± 22.78 nmol/l), higher in the Group B overweight subjects (50.58 ± 25.57 nmol/l) and highest in the Group C obese subjects (54.70 ± 26.41 nmol/l). Statistically significant correlation coefficients in subjects from all groups among the markers studied describe the highest correlation is between a-FABP and BMI (r = 0.48), adiponectin and QUICKI (r = 0.42), adiponectin and triacylglycerols (r = -0.35), ASP and BMI (r = 0.33) and adiponectin and BMI (r = -0.31).

CONCLUSIONS
The concentrations of all studied markers were different in the healthy subjects as compared to the overweight or obese ones. Adiponectin proved to be a good indicator of insulin sensitivity, the low concentration of which could signal the initial stage of insulin resistance. A-FABP proved to be a prominent marker of "adiposity" in association with the development of insulin resistance. ASP did not prove to show significant differences between the overweight and healthy subjects, but significant differences were found between the obese and healthy subject.


It has been recently shown, that manufacturing p-n-junctions, field-effect and bipolar transistors, thyristors in a multilayer structure by diffusion or ion implantation under condition of optimization of dopant and/or radiation defects leads to increasing of sharpness of p-n-junctions (both single p-n-junctions and p-njunctions, which include into their system). In this situation one can also obtain increasing of homogeneity of dopant in doped area. In this paper we consider manufacturing a field-effect heterotransistor without pn-junction. Optimization of technological process with using inhomogeneity of heterostructure give us possibility to manufacture the transistors as more compact.


Purpose. To study the protecting effects of dexamethasone on thymus of rats with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Methods. The SAP rats were randomly assigned to the model group and dexamethasone-treated group, the other normal healthy rats were assigned to the sham operation group. The rat survival, thymus pathological changes, apoptotic index, as well as expression levels of NF-κB, P-selectin, Bax, Bcl-2, and Caspase-3 protein of all groups were observed, respectively, at 3 hours, 6 hours, and 12 hours. The contents of amylase and endotoxin in plasma as well as the contents of TNF-α, PLA2, and NO in serum were determined. Results. There was no marked difference between the model group and treated group in survival. The contents of different indexes in blood of treated group were lower than those of the model group to various degrees at different time points. The thymus pathological score was lower in treated group than in model group at 12 hours.The treated group in Caspase-3 protein expression of thymus significantly exceeded the model group at 12 hours. The apoptotic index was significantly higher in treated group than in model group. Conclusion. Dexamethasone has protecting effects on thymus of SAP rats.


Presentacion realizada en el congreso "COST D32 Action: Final Meeting (Chemistry in High-Energy Microenvironments)", Cracow University of Technology, Krakow, Poland, March 29-April 1, 2009.


Over the last few years, increase in the number of financial crisis cases has attracted the attention of a great number of investors and creditors to the prediction of these cases by using the data available from financial statements of the corporations in order to prevent losses which are caused by them. Many of the studies about the earning management only focus on identifying the factors which affect the earnings management and relation between earnings management and these factors and not on using these factors in order to predict the earnings management. On the other hand, in the present study, 12 influential factors, which are introduced by former studies, are used to evaluate the predicting ability of the neural networks for prediction of earnings management and its different levels. Multilayer perceptron neural network with 2 hidden layers is used for prediction. Moreover, the required data is obtained from the financial statements of the listed companies of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The results show that the applied neural network method has an acceptable ability for the prediction of earnings management and its different levels in all different studies industries. Research paper Keywords: Earnings management, Neural network, Multilayer perceptron, Accrual items Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mahmoudi, S., Mahmoudi, S., & Mahmoudi, A. (2017). "Prediction of Earnings Management by Use of Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks with Two Hidden Layers in Various Industries", Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 216–236.


This book attempts to understand the commercial and social history of erstwhile Bengal in terms of its links with it neighbouring countries in the northern region of the Bay of Bengal. It touches upon the key issues in both maritime and territorial history such as the early medieval trade revolution and its impact on the borders of Bengal. The discussion focusses on Southeast Bengal - the most economically developed area of Bengal in terms of transport networks, agriculture, artisan products and trade. Most of this area underwent two major transformations in the twentieth century: once as a result of the formation of East Pakistan in 1947 and a second time after the formation of Bangladesh in 1971. The volume concludes with certain major issues of concern between India and Bangladesh at the turn of the twenty-first century.


The following musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSK US) curriculum was developed by the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) to provide a pathway by which a sports medicine fellow can obtain adequate MSK US training during their fellowship to meet the requirements of competency outlined by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) Training Guidelines for the Performance of MSK US Examination. Many fellowship programmes may not be able to follow all of the recommendations outlined by this document owing to their available resources. However, this curriculum can be used as a suggested/potential guideline for MSK US training within a sports medicine fellowship, and may assist programmes in developing or modifying their own internal training methods.


High levels of robot autonomy are a common goal, but there is a significant risk that the greater the autonomy of the robot the lesser the autonomy of the human working with the robot. For vulnerable populations like older adults who already have a diminished level of autonomy, this is an even greater concern. We propose that human autonomy needs to be at the center of the design for socially assistive robots. Towards this goal, we define autonomy and then provide architectural requirements for social robots to support the user's autonomy. As an example of a design effort, we describe some of the features of our Assist architecture.


At the invitation of the University of Exeter and of Professor J. W. Murray of the Department of Geology, the Twelfth Regional Meeting of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society was held at Exeter. The topic of the Meeting, "Methods of Investigation in Engineering Geology", was reinforced by a trade exhibition and field demonstrations of some of the techniques discussed in the lectures.


We have developed a simultaneous electronic and structural characterization method for studying the formation process for Au nanowires. The method is based on two-probe electronic transport measurement of free-standing Au nanowires and simultaneous structural characterization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We measured the electronic currents during the electromigration (EM)-induced narrowing process for the free-standing Au nanowires. A free-standing Au nanowire with a desired conductance value was fabricated by EM. Simultaneous SEM and conductance measurements revealed the EM-induced narrowing process for the Au wires, in which material transfer in the nanowires caused growth towards the positively biased electrode and contact failure at the negatively biased electrode. The narrowed free-standing Au nanowires were stable and could be maintained for more than 10 h without their conductance changing. These results indicate the high stability of the EM-processed Au nanowires compared to Au nanowires fabricated by mechanical elongation or the breaking of Au nanocontacts.


This article presents the design of a conformal printed antenna array on a conical surface; two prototypes have been fabricated with a conventional technology and with the Protopaint-LDS® technology; our results are found to be in good agreement with the numerical ones and both technologies are compared, showing the benefits and drawbacks of each one.


Glutelin, the major storage protein of rice seed, consists of microheterogenous subunits and partially exists in a macromolecular form that is polymerized by intersubunit disulfide bonds. In order to analyze the glutelin subunits using high‐throughput CE, we first identified a sample preparation procedure suitable for CE. The polymerized glutelin treated with a reductant could not dissociate into its constituent monomer subunits when it was dissolved in an acidic solution. However, the glutelin dissociated into its subunits and component α and β polypeptides when it was denatured and reduced by an appropriate amount of urea and 2‐mercaptoethanol at a specific incubation time and temperature. The molecular species of the completely dissociated α and β polypeptides were identified and quantitatively analyzed by CE using glutelin mutants. The CE analysis also demonstrated that the actual subunit variation in terms of the charge and/or size of the β polypeptides is much smaller than predicted when compared with that of α polypeptides, even under denaturing and reducing condition. Thus, the combined analytical system described here will be useful for basic and applied research, such as the kinetic characterization of higher‐order structure and the quantitative evaluation of glutelin in a large number of diverse rice varieties.


The suggested ripper tools relies on a hybrid transformer to include the resonant operation mode right into a traditional high boost ratio active-clamp coupled-inductor pulse-width-modulation electricity-electricity ripper tools, achieving zero-current-switching (ZVS) turn-on of active switches and nil-current-switching turn-from diodes. The current stresses around the active switches and diodes are maintained in a low-level and therefore are in addition to the wide altering PV voltages because of the resonant capacitor in series within the energy transfer loop. This paper presents a no isolated, high boost ratio electricity-electricity ripper tools using the application for photovoltaic (PV) modules. Because of the inductive and capacitive energy being transferred concurrently inside the whole switching period, power device utilization (PDU) is improved upon and magnetic utilization (MU) is enhanced. The raised PDU enables decrease in the plastic area needed to understand the ability devices from the ripper tools. The enhanced MU cuts down on the electricity-bias of magnetizing current within the magnetic core, resulting in smaller sized magnetic. Because of the high quality over wide power range, the opportunity to operate having a wide variable input current little size, the suggested ripper tools is definitely an attractive the perception of PV module applications. Because the magnetizing current has low electricity-bias, the ripple magnetizing current may be used to help ZVS of primary switch, while keeping low root mean- square (RMS) conduction loss.


In March 2022, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) hreleased a request for papers (RFP) for a special issue of its Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS), devoted to identifying solutions to situations of protracted displacement. The co-editors selected 10 papers for this special issue by authors from a dozen countries, including two refugees. The papers cover several large populations in protracted displacement, as well as other less-publicized groups. The former include: Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh; Internally displaced persons (IDPs) living on the outskirts of Baku, Azerbaijan; Afghans in Pakistan since the 1970s; Syrians in Turkey since 2011; Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni, Sudanese, Somali, and Iranian refugees in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon; IDPs and Venezuelan migrants in Colombia; Somali refugees in Ethiopia and Kenya; Central Americans seeking protection in Mexico and the United States; and IDPs in Northern Mexico who have been displaced and stranded due to violence, deportation, and US and Mexican asylum policies. This paper introduces and integrates the themes and recommendations from this special issue. Section 1 provides a short overview of the scope, growth, and consequences of protracted displacement. Section 2 situates this phenomenon in a legal context and examines traditional and complementary solutions to displacement. Section 3 outlines topline findings, recommendations, and cross-cutting themes from the special issue. Section 4 offers conclusions and final reflections.