Abstract The article addresses the implications of Prevent and Channel for epistemic justice. The first section outlines the background of Prevent. It draws upon Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd's concept of the collective imaginary, alongside Lorraine Code's concept of epistemologies of mastery, in order to outline some of the images and imaginaries that inform and orient contemporary counter-terrorist preventative initiatives, in particular those affecting education. Of interest here is the way in which vulnerability (to radicalisation) is conceptualised in Prevent and Channel, in particular the way in which those deemed 'at risk of radicalisation' are constituted as vulnerable and requiring intervention. The imaginary underpinning such preventative initiatives is, I argue, a therapeutic/epidemiological one. If attention is paid to the language associated with these interventions, one finds reference to terms such as contagion, immunity, resilience, grooming, virus, susceptibility, therapy, autonomy, vulnerability and risk—a constellation of images/concepts resonant with therapeutic and epidemiological theories and practices. I outline some of the implications of this therapeutic/epidemiological imaginary for epistemic injustice. If people, in this case, students, teachers and parents, feel that their voice will not be given credence, this leads to testimonial injustice. If one group is constituted as a suspect community, this risks hermeneutical injustice for that group—a situation facing Muslims at present. Given the requirements for educators and educational institutions to enact this particular iteration of preventative counter-terrorist legislation, the way in which vulnerability (to radicalisation) is understood and operationalised has direct bearing upon education and the educational experience of all stakeholders, in particular in relation to the conditions for epistemic justice.


In-phase/quadrature (I/Q) imbalances are front-end impairments which may greatly complicate the synchronization task in a low-cost direct-conversion receiver (DCR). In this paper we investigate the possibility of using the space-alternating generalized expectation-maximization (SAGE) algorithm to recover the carrier frequency offset in OFDM terminals with a DCR architecture. Our study leads to a novel scheme that operates in a recursive fashion and exploits a conventional OFDM training preamble composed by several repeated parts. At each iteration, interference arising from I/Q impairments is subtracted from the received samples before updating the frequency estimate. The performance of the new scheme is assessed in terms of estimation accuracy and processing load by considering a wireless local area network (WLAN) compliant with the IEEE 802.11a standard. The main goal is to check whether the SAGE approach exhibits some advantages compared to existing alternatives.


The structure evolutions of Al83Ni10Ce5Si2, Al83Ni10Ce7, Al85Ni10Ce5, Al87Ni7Nd6 and Al87Ni5Co2Nd6 metallic glasses have been studied in detail. The studies establish a relation between the amount of medium range order (MRO) and crystallization mode. An increased amount of MRO suppresses the precipitation of primary fcc-Al and transforms the crystallization mode from a primary crystallization (Al87Ni7Nd6) to a eutectic crystallization (Al87Ni5Co2Nd6); while a decreasing amount of MRO promotes the precipitation of primary fcc-Al and transforms the crystallization mode from a eutectic crystallization (Al83Ni10Ce7 and Al85Ni10Ce5) to a primary crystallization (Al83Ni10Ce5Si2).


T.Y. Lin and T.C. Wu (1999) gave a (t, n)-threshold verifiable multisecret sharing scheme ((t, n)-VMSS) of the following kind. A secret dealer (SD) issues secret shares to each of n participants, and any more than t participants can cooperatively reconstruct the secrets. The purpose of this paper is to paint out that the claim made previously by the authors, that their scheme is secure against cheating by a participant, is false. Further, the cheater might also be the only one who obtains the secret.


The foundation of Indian economy is agriculture. To remove unemployment and remove poverty from rural areas government launched various scheme. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was established in 2006, as the first step toward employment generation in rural India and provides 100 days work guarantee to Individuals and households under right to work involved in agriculture and seasonal employment in a financial year within the radius of 5 km. It helps in reducing poverty in rural India and raises the economic status of workers. MGNREGA provides employment opportunities to women workers and decreases migration from urban areas to rural areas. The study tries to focus on pre covid and post covid era in employment generation through MGNREGA. The secondary data of last five years is used to perform the study. The finding of the study show decline in employment opportunity in pre-covid and post-covid era but shows increase in during pandemic and also increasing women employment percentage. MGNREGA through its various categories of projects provides autonomy to unskilled workers to choose their preference of work. MGNREGA was reflected as the worlds greatest and striving programme of social security and public works. The data collected through the secondary source by various newspaper articles, mgnrega website and research papers. Maximum numerical data has been collected through MGNREGA website. The analysis shows that there is an increase in employment generation under MGNREGA scheme during covid 19in rural areas and the reason is migrationof rural people from urban areas. The statistics also portrays that there is an continuous increase in the wage rate system under MGNREGA. The main idea of MGNREGA is to scrutinize the reliability and success is of the employment policy. It is really difficult to reflect that any other programme worked well with potential in employment generation for rural people in earning their livelihood


An extended Kalman filter estimator for the identification of systemic circulation model parameters during cardiac ejection and cardiac filling is described. The estimator has been developed for use in the control of a cardiac ventricular assist device. A lumped element circuit with a time-varying capacitor was used to represent the systemic circulation and the left ventricle. Since the haemodynamic variables that are measurable in patients with impaired cardiac function vary dramatically as the patients move through different levels of care, the estimator was designed so that it can be used with different sets of blood pressure and flow measurements. Preliminary evaluation of the performance of the estimator using data from a computer simulation and from a patient during open-heart surgery is presented. The robustness of the estimator to variations in parameter initialization is also described.


Abstract

Ignoring cultural differences can cause unfavourable situations and negatively influence the success of production internationalization projects. A decision to subcontract part of the production or to produce in a foreign country, requires identifying and controlling the risks related to cultural differences. Our research objective was to study these risks and the business practices used to face them. In order to reach this objective, we studied eight (8) Canadian manufacturing companies, that outsourced part of their production to China. Results show that the risks related to cultural differences, can provoke an important divergence between requirements of the Canadian company and the resulting products manufactured by the Chinese subcontractor and cause an additional unexpected manufacturing cost. The risk of misunderstanding and difficulty communicating in addition to difficulty applying quality control practices were critical for most of the studied companies' managers. However, the identified risks could be controlled with different business practices, which we classified according to their role of mitigation or contingency. Frequent interaction with Chinese partners, developing a good trust-based relationship with them and finding ways of encouraging them to get more involved in the partnership and to suggest solutions and innovations represent some of the important practices to adopt.

JEL classification numbers: M1.
Keywords: Cultural differences, Production internationalization, International outsourcing, Outsourcing in China, Risk management, Cross-cultural management.


Conventional transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) could improve arousal in disorders of consciousness (DOC). However, the comparative effectiveness of anodal stimulation of the left DLPFC and the electrophysiological effect of tDCS are yet to be determined. In this randomized sham-controlled design, patients were separated into three groups (left/right anodal tDCS, sham). Data on the clinical assessments and EEG were collected at baseline and after 2 weeks of tDCS. The outcome at 3-month follow-up was evaluated using the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended. Results showed that sessions of the left tDCS facilitated the excitability of the prefrontal cortex, whereas only one patient had a positive outcome. Targeting the right DLPFC was less effective, merely leading to activation of the stimulation site, with no effect on the state of arousal. Moreover, sham stimulation had minimal or no effect on any of the outcomes. These results provide evidence for a hemispheric asymmetry of tDCS effects in patients with DOC. Left anodal tDCS might be more effective for modulating cortical excitability compared to tDCS on the right DLPFC. However, future studies with large sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings. This trial is registered with NCT03809936.


An investigation was made of a laser (Nd : YLF/Nd glass) laser system generating pulses of 1.5 ps duration and up to 0.4 TW power at the 1053 nm wavelength. Chirped pulse amplification in a multipass amplifier was used. The amplifier had a misaligned conjugate cavity and a net gain of ∼ 4 × 106 , as well as two additional amplifiers with an output aperture 20 mm in diameter. After optimisation of the parameters of this multipass amplifier the angular divergence of the output radiation was close to the diffraction limit and the average intensity was up to ∼ 1017 W cm-2 in a focused beam. This laser system was developed as the frontend component of a multiterawatt laser facility under construction for research on the interaction of ultrastrong fields with matter.


The effect of an electric field on a pinned charge density wave (CDW) is considered in analogy with the mechanical deformation of crystals. At low fields, the commensurate CDW is elastically displaced and CDW defects pinned by impurities are distorted, giving rise to large dielectric constants. At the threshold field, CDW defects are nucleated and begin to move, leading to a permanent plastic flow which is identified with the CDW excess current. This interpretation is supported by the striking similarities observed between crystal plasticity and those recently found especially in the blue bronze K0.3MoO3.


The alcohol supply (a 16% and a 32%, v/v, ethanol-in-water solution) for eight male rhesus monkeys, who already have had free access to water and ethanol solutions concurrently for about one year, was interrupted for 1, 2 or 7 days. The previously acquired ethanol consuming behaviour appeared very resistant to extinction, because ethanol consumption was immediately resumed after renewed access, even at a temporarily increased level. Since physical withdrawal distress was not observed and the increase was higher when interruption lasted longer, the observed behaviour could be attributed to the reinforcing effects of ethanol, leading to specific ethanol-directed behaviour.


Background. The adipose tissue renin-angiotensin system (RAS) contributes to regulation of fat mass and may also impact systemic functions such as blood pressure and metabolism. Methods and results. A panel of mouse models including mice lacking angiotensinogen, Agt (Agt-KO), mice expressing Agt solely in adipose tissue (aP2-Agt/Agt-KO), and mice overexpressing Agt in adipose tissue (aP2-Agt) was studied. Total body weight, epididymal fat pad weight, and circulating levels of leptin, insulin, and resistin were significantly decreased in Agt-KO mice, while plasma adiponectin levels were increased. aP2-Agt mice exhibited increased adiposity and plasma leptin and insulin levels compared to wild type (WT) controls. Angiotensinogen and type I Ang II receptor protein levels were also elevated in kidney of aP2-Agt mice. Conclusion. These findings demonstrate that alterations in adipose RAS activity significantly impact both local and systemic physiology in a way that may contribute to the detrimental health effects of obesity.


Attachment theory was built around the idea that infants rely on others to survive, and often, forgotten, that survival hinged on coping with environmental demands. Adult attachment reports have instead been organized around people's subjective experience of safety and security in relationships. To resolve the gap between infant's physical needs and adult attachment experiences, we made a first step, by developing the Social Thermoregulation and Risk Avoidance Questionnaire (STRAQ-1) in 12 countries (N=1510), providing a complementary measure to identify biological drives formative to attachment. We conjectured that co-regulatory patterns of temperature and stress are foundational to attachment styles and on this basis used a naïve bootstrapping method to find a robust solution, conducting seven exploratory factor analyses in an exploratory-confirmatory fashion. We identified 23 (out of 57) items in 4 subscales: Social Thermoregulation (Total Omega =.83), High Temperature Sensitivity (.83), Solitary Thermoregulation (.77), and Risk Avoidance (.57). In terms of external validity, we also found that the STRAQ-1 relates to emotion regulation strategies broadly and, importantly, relates to individual differences in attachment specifically, which in turn mediates the relationship with stress and health (making the scale face valid). Our approach provides a robust first effort in identifying biological mechanisms underlying attachment formation.


One hundred eligible patients with inoperable, locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region following prior therapy were randomized to receive im methotrexate (50 patients) or iv cisplatin (50 patients). Methotrexate produced a complete plus partial response rate of 16.0% and cisplatin produced a partial response rate of 8.0%, with median durations of response of 18 and 8 weeks, respectively. The corresponding median survival times were 20 and 18 weeks. Methotrexate responders survived 60 weeks, versus 17 weeks for nonresponders. The corresponding survival times for cisplatin-treated patients were 38 and 18 weeks. Good pretreatment performance status had a significantly positive effect on survival (P = 0.04), but prior therapy did not. Toxicity secondary to either agent occurred with the expected frequency. The two agents examined showed comparable antitumor activity in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who had not previously received chemotherapy.


We propose a stochastic extension of deformation quantization on a Hilbert space. The Moyal product is defined in this context on the space of functionals belonging to all of the Sobolev spaces of the Malliavin calculus.


Compiled data for more than 440 natural human hemoglobin mutants with single amino acid substitutions indicate that molecular properties (oxygen binding, structural stability, ease of autooxidization, etc.) of more than half of them are altered in some way and that the mode of alteration is closely related to the region within the hemoglobin molecule in which the substitution takes place. The present study gives a quantitative basis for the correlations. By means of protein engineering, including site-directed mutagenesis, several artificial mutants of human hemoglobin were prepared and their oxygen binding properties were studied to investigate the functional consequences of the amino acid substitutions which have not yet been isolated in natural mutants. These artificial mutants gave straight-forward information regarding the major factors regulating the oxygen affinity of heme and the identification of a Bohr group in the alpha chain. On the other hand the mutants, which were designed to test some hypotheses for the molecular evolution in hemoglobin, did not necessarily give the results predicted from accumulated structure-function data obtained from the study of natural mutants and X-ray crystallographic analyses.


This research analyzes the lexicon regarding the subject of slavery employed by the various religious orders responsible for preaching in colonial Brazil. We identified some terms used in sermons and related to the concept, such as slavery and slave captivity, and explain the meanings attributed to them and their use in the context of sermons. We also compared the concepts expressed by religious preachers with the practice of slavery of their respective communities. The results show that tolerance for this practice in convents was accompanied by a formally contrary doctrine. It is possibly from this that stem the ambiguities and contradictions detectable in the words of preachers on the subject and, above all, the ever-clearer distinction between the enslavement of the body and of the soul.


Calcium silicate-based cement has garnered huge interest in recent years, due to its versatility and potential in mass fabrication of a variety of bioceramics. For this study, the main objective was to fabricate functionalized calcium silicate (CS) powder integrated with a simple bio-inspired surface modification using polydopamine (PDA), to regulate cellular behaviors such as cellular adhesion, and subsequently cell differentiation and proliferation. For this study, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques were used to analyze the chemical compositions and observe the surface characteristics of our PDA coated CS cements. Such modifications were found to enhance Wharton Jelly's mesenchymal stem cells (WJMSC) in various ways. Firstly, PDA-coated CS cements were found to significantly enhance cell adhesion with higher expressions of cell adhesion markers, such as focal adhesion kinase and integrins. This was further supported by morphology analysis of the cells. This enhanced cell adhesion, in turn, led to significantly higher secretion of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, such as collagen I and fibronectin, which directly promoted cell attachments and proliferation. In our osteogenesis assays, it was found that secretion and expression of osteogenesis related genes and proteins were significantly higher and were dependent on the PDA content. Therefore, these results demonstrated that such simple bio-inspired modification techniques of synthetic degradable CS cements can be applied as a future modification, to modify and convert inert surfaces of synthetic bone grafts to enhance and modulate the cell behaviors of WJMSCs. This in turn can be used as a potential alternative for further bioengineering research.


Two favourite themes in Nigérien literature Critics tend to generalise in their analysis of African literature by presenting it from two main angles: anti-colonial literature and the literature of disenchantment focused on a criticism of the political regimes that came out of independence. However, not only did Nigérien literature emerge after independence, but writers from Niger tend to emphasise certain themes addressing practical concerns that are specific to their community; they do not focus on political satire per se. Hence, Niger's novelists pay attention to essential themes like drought and famine, rural exodus and emigration. Such themes, while constituting the originality of their writing, unfortunately also preclude the usual generalisations of which critics are so enamoured.


This study is concerned with the application of key perspectives in industrial sociology to the problem of the social control of work in industrial organisations, a problem central to many issues affecting the quality of industrial relations in our society. It is argued that the achievement of effective plant systems of social control depends upon the compatibility of decisions taken by management and trade unions with both the system requirements of industrial organisations and the social requirements of employees whose consent to these decisions is crucial. In the first part of the work an attempt has been made to demonstrate how a balanced treatment of systems, order, conflict and social action perspectives in industrial sociology can be used in the consideration of what constitutes the concept of control. A model of control is outlined which emphasises the necessity of exploring the nature of managerial and labour values and decisions as these define the scope and content of the control process over a period of time. The model also illustrates the sensitivity of these values and decisions to system and social influences surrounding the organisation and its participants, and which set constraints within which the control process must move if it is to remain stable. Aspects of the model are applied to the analysis of control in an integrated steel plant. This analysis constitutes the second part of the thesis. The emphasis is upon the determinants of stable control, but the model is also applied to indicate the sources of instability and strain. Ultimately the thesis draws together within one framework concepts derived from the separate but interrelated analytical areas of systems and social integration. In this way, it is envisaged that the work as a whole makes some contribution to a more systematic study of social problems in the world of work.


Marine bioinvasions are potential threats to biodiversity and ecosystems services, being one of the major environmental, human health and socio-economic problems throughout the world. In 2005, a sponge species never reported before to the Atlantic Ocean was detected in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). This species was initially considered new to science and in less than a decade its populations became very abundant and widespread in the Brazilian coast. In the present work, we performed detailed morphological and molecular analyses of this supposedly new species and found out that it is in fact the Indo-Pacific calcareous sponge Heteropia glomerosa (Bowerbank, 1873). Heteropia glomerosa is the third alien species of calcareous sponge reported in the Atlantic and the second one that allegedly came from the Indo-Pacific. To confirm the taxonomic identification of the Atlantic specimens, we used morphological and molecular tools and re-described the holotypes of H. glomerosa and Uteopsis argentea (Poléjaeff, 1883). We discuss the possibility that biofouling is the introduction source for sponges and present the known distribution of H. glomerosa. Moreover, we verified that H. glomerosa fits seven out of 10 criteria proposed for recognizing alien species. Although this species can be recognized as introduced in the Atlantic Ocean, studies on population genetics, phylogeography, reproduction strategies, larval behaviour, and ecology will be necessary to allow a better evaluation of its invasive potential.


3038 The potent antiproliferative/antitumor compound RAD001 (everolimus) is an mTOR pathway inhibitor in phase II cancer clinical trials. The mTOR pathway is involved in regulation of proangiogenic factor production by tumors and modulation of VEGFR signaling in endothelial cells. The antiangiogenic effects caused by RAD001 were examined, using tumors derived from cell lines considered sensitive (B16/BL6 melanoma, 0.7 nM IC50) or resistant (KB-31 epidermoid 1.8 μM IC50) to RAD001 in vitro. At 5 mg/kg/d, p.o., RAD001 elicited potent antitumor activity in mouse tumor models (T/C: B16/BL6, 24% in primary tumors [P] and 9% in lymph node metastases [M]; KB-31 26%) despite sub-optimal drug exposure in the resistant models (tumor Cmax ∼106 nM). RAD001 treatment reduced tumor vascularization (versus controls, B16/BL6 P, ∼50%, M, ∼65%, and KB-31, ∼54%), and also reduced plasma and tumor VEGF levels, and These effects of RAD001 on angiogenic processes may explain its activity against tumors formed by cells resistant to mTOR inhibition. Comparison of the anti-angiogenic effects of RAD001 with those of PTK787/ZK222584 [PTK787] (a potent, selective small molecule inhibitor of VEGFR tyrosine kinase in phase III clinical trials), indicated overlapping effects on VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation but not endothelial cell migration consistent with an integral role of the mTOR pathway in the VEGFR proliferative signaling. The two agents differed in their effects on vascular permeability (significantly reduced by PTK787, while RAD001 was without effect) and the vessel-associated smooth muscle cell population (absence in RAD001-treated tumors, but only reduced in PTK787-treated tumors). Combining RAD001 (1 mg/kg/d and PTK787 100 mg/kg/d) produced profound antitumor effects in the RAD001-sensitive B16/BL6 model (T/C: P 2%, M 9%) as compared with single agents (T/C: RAD001, P 45%, M 33% and PTK787 38% for both P and M). This also occurred with tumors from the RAD001-resistant KB-31 line (T/C, RAD001, 47%, PTK787 61%, combination 31%). In the B16/BL6 model, the combination potently inhibited tumor VEGF and tumor vascularization as compared with single agents. The differential effects of mTOR and VEGFR inhibition on antiangiogenic processes likely contribute to the drug combination effects. Hence, the combination of RAD001 and PTK787 holds strong promise for the treatment of human cancers.


Over the last two decades a new scholarship on alchemy has emerged, leading to a fundamental reformulation of knowledge about alchemists and their activities. We now know that medieval and early modern alchemists employed experiment in concert with theory to demonstrate the existence of stable "chymical atoms," which were thought to combine with one another according to a hierarchical theory of matter. Employing laboratory-based analysis and synthesis, alchemists were among the first explicitly to enunciate the principle of mass balance and to show that materials are compounded of the ingredients into which they can be physically decomposed. Perhaps even more surprisingly, these convictions and practices arose out of the interaction of alchemical practice with scholastic Aristotelianism, long viewed by historians of the Scientific Revolution as antithetical to experiment. Thus the new historiography challenges both a long-standing marginalization of alchemy itself and a commonplace view of Aristotelianism as inimical to the early modern growth of experimental science.


Crossborder Karavanke/Karawanken UNESCO Global Geopark was established in 2011, and in 2013, it became a member of the European(EGN) and Global Geopark Network (GGN). Its administrative boundary follows the boundaries of 14 municipalities on the Slovenian and Austrian sides. Since the early beginning, the sustainable tourism throughout the region has been developed. An important component of the Geopark activities is applying for various funding to support the regional development through the transnational cooperation between European Geoparks or through Geopark-specific projects. An example of the transnational cooperation is the project Valorisation of geo-heritage for sustainable and innovative tourism development of Danube Geoparks. Eight Geoparks of the Danube region participate in this project with the acronym Danube GeoTour, implemented in the INTERREG Danube Transnational Programme 2014-2020. The main goal of the project is establishment of the joint Danube GeoTour designed to strengthen cooperation between the regions' Geoparks and act as an innovative tourism product to accelerate visibility and tourist visits in the Geoparks. Common strategy for sustainable management of tourism pressures will form the basis for creating innovative geoproducts. Sharing experiences, testing pilot geotourism products and new interpretative approaches should increase local inhabitants' engagement, Geopark management capacities and lower the quality gap between Danube and other European Geoparks. Within the Danube GeoTour project, Karavanke/Karawanken UNESCO Global Geopark implemented a research "New competences in geoheritage interpretation". The aim of the project is to find out how to improve skills and quality of the heritage presentation in the participating Geoparks by transnational learning interaction, and to complement the uniqueness and character of the overall Danube GeoTour product. The main research objective was the introduction of new interpretation trends, techniques and methods which are used in the presentation of geoheritage, observed within and outside the participating Geoparks.


Reflection of ion-acoustic waves and solitary signals at a wall consisting of a grid and a plate is demonstrated in a DP-machine plasma. A velocity comparison is made between the signals supporting the identification of the nonlinear solitary pulses as solitons. The reflection coefficient for both kinds of signals is found to lie near 100%.


Ministernotomy (MS) is a well-known procedure developed in the past ten years along with the rise of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Upper, mid, or inferior partial sternotomies allow coronary surgery, as well as aortic and mitral valve approaches. Contrary to anterior thoracotomy, access to the great vessels is sometimes easy, which renders central cannulation possible. In opposition to total sternotomy (TS), MS could procure better postoperative stability that would aide in reduction of wound infections. Nevertheless, upper MS can be responsible for the lesion of the internal thoracic arteries (ITAs). Moreover, little evidence exists regarding blood sparing in MS approaches. MS presents the problem of hiding a part of the cardiac structures. For example, in the case of aortic surgery by way of upper sternotomy for example, left venting is risky or even impossible. However, partial inferior sternotomy can be interesting for aortic valve surgery in patients with in situ right ITA passing in front of the aorta, protecting the grafts during dissection. In coronary surgery, inferior T sternotomy and C sternotomy allow perfect access to the coronary network. Some authors also have described inferior "T" sternotomy for various congenital lesions. If mini-invasive cardiac surgery can offer reduced postoperative morbidity and faster rehabilitation, the advantages of MS upon TS--except for cosmetic aspects--remain to be defined. Thus, this approach should be reserved for selected patients and lesions.


Many healthcare professionals in Hong Kong are now working in dementia care, but little is known about their informational needs in this area. This study explored the level of knowledge about dementia that healthcare professionals perceived themselves as having, and the informational needs of dementia care. 320 respondents, who were primarily nurses, social workers, and rehabilitation therapists, completed a questionnaire designed for this study. While 65% reported having sufficient knowledge of dementia, only 40% expressed having adequate knowledge of dementia-related services. Respondents who had relevant clinical experience demonstrated a significantly higher self-perceived knowledge level of dementia ( p = 0.000) and dementia-related services ( p = 0.000). The respondents ranked information leaflets (68%), the mass media (65%), and workshops (53%) as the three popular sources for obtaining dementia-related information. Similar to their western counterparts, over 75% of respondents expressed the need to learn more about clinical management and service provisions for people with dementia and their families. To enhance the knowledge of healthcare professionals about dementia care, it is recommended that healthcare professionals be encouraged to participate in continuing education programmes, and that education/resource centres for dementia care be developed to address the learning needs of local practitioners.


Abstract. We explored the breeding biology of the Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma) from 2007 to 2009 in a forested reserve in Portland, Oregon. Large body size is often assumed to give animals reproductive advantages, and we tested whether body size affected timing of breeding and examined variation in diet, breeding date, clutch size, and reproductive success to explore whether the presumed benefits of large body size are evident in this species. The average size of 13 clutches was 5.8, and nest success was high (92%); 22 successful nests fledged an average of 5.2 young. Dates of first laying varied over an 18- or 19-day period in each year and averaged 3 weeks earlier in 2008 than in 2009. Early breeders laid larger clutches. After the effect of breeding site was controlled for, small rather than large female pygmy-owls bred earliest. The same pattern of small size was evident in all years. Diet varied by year in regard to whether mammals (2008) or birds (2007 and 2009) were the dominant prey taken, and the owls bred earlier in 2008 occurred when mammals dominated their diet. Although small females tended to breed earlier in all years, it was only in 2009 when pairs bred very late and birds dominated their diet that small females also laid larger clutches and fledged more young. These data suggest that the merits of small or large body size may vary with stages of the breeding cycle and ecological conditions.


Special diseases with hemorrhoid hemorrhage are intractable cases in clinical practice. Surgery may result in serious trauma and high risk, such as higher morbidity of postoperative complication, delayed hospital stay, and even death. These patients usually underwent conservative therapy or injection therapy. In 2017, our Professional Committee standardized the procedure of Shaobei injection and established the clinical guideline, but still lacked guidance for special diseases with hemorrhoid hemorrhage. In view of this, based on current medical conditions, combined with years of clinical practice, after repeated discussions, comprehensive multidisciplinary perspectives on patients with special diseases such as coagulopathy, hypertension, diabetes, portal hypertension, renal dysfunction, immunodeficiency, and antithrombotic therapy, the experts of this guideline-writing committee formulate the corresponding clinical management strategies, mainly emphasizing on preoperative management of underlying disease, choice of anesthesia methods, and precautions during surgery.


In 1962, Douglas Pike, the Professor of History at the Australian National University, published a book called Australia: The Quiet Continent. As the title indicates, Pike describes a land only awakened from its historical slumber by the arrival of Europeans at the end of the eighteenth century. Aboriginal participation in the nation's story is quieted in Pike's work. Aboriginal people are barely mentioned in 233 pages of text, other than being referred to as "native people [held] in stone-age bondage" (1) or as "primitive food-gatherers [who] were no match for the white invader" (36). Passages stating that "the Australian communities took shape as peaceful outposts of British civilization" (3), ignore or suppress any suggestion that the land was taken from Aboriginal people by force. This was entirely in keeping with the fashion of Australian historical narrative for the time.


The nascent Islamic finance industry is still facing the challenges of uncertainties in legal regimes, Sharī'ah interpretations, the right of investors, and remedies in default circumstances. The event of Sukūk default is one of the significant challenges faced by the Islamic capital market. The recent Dana Gas Sukūk default triggered by Sharī'ah compliance interpretations has shown the extent of danger that moral hazards could cause to the entire Islamic finance space. Scholars have argued that the Sharī'ah-compliant arguments witnessed in the industry were because of the nature of the capital market framework of any particular jurisdiction and were not significantly Sharī'ah issues. This study aims to carry out a brief comparative analysis of the default cases in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study compares the legal jurisdiction and regulatory framework in summary-background of the judges and court decision samples based on these structures and how they have influenced Sukuk default regulations in the jurisdiction. This study employs a comparative analysis by considering fundamental elements in the regulatory framework.


&NA; The capacity of the central nervous system (CNS) for processing vestibular signals during passive whole‐body rotations to update the internal representation of a visual target position in relation to the body was assessed. Results showed that subjects mislocalized previously presented visual targets after body rotations in complete darkness. Detailed analysis of the results suggested that the large target mislocalization stemmed not only from a systematic underestimation of rotation magnitude but also from the incapacity of the CNS to use the vestibular signals to accurately update the internal representation of the target position in relation to the body after passive rotations.


In this paper, a field programmable analog array (FPAA) is proposed. The proposed FPAA consists of seven configurable analog blocks (CABs) arranged in a hexagonal lattice such that the CABs are directly connected to each other. This structure improves the overall frequency response of the chip by decreasing the parasitic capacitances in the signal path. The CABs of the FPAA are based on a novel fully differential digitally programmable current conveyor (DPCCII). The programmability of the DPCCII is achieved using digitally controlled three-bit MOS ladder current division network. No extra biasing circuit is required to generate specific analog control voltage signals. The DPCCII has constant standby power consumption, offset voltage, bandwidth and harmonic distortions over all its programming range. A sixth-order Butterworth tunable LPF suitable for WLAN/WiMAX receivers is realized on the proposed FPAA. The filter power consumption is 5.4mW from 1V supply; and its cutoff frequency is tuned from 5.2 MHz to 16.9 MHz. All the circuits are realized using 90nm CMOS technology from TSMC. All simulations are carried out using Cadence.


Abstract Vascular calcification (VC) is a pathological process characterized by abnormal deposition of calcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite and other mineral substances in the vascular wall. Hyperphosphorus is an important risk factor associated with VC in the general population and patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, there is still a lack of early biomarkers for hyperphosphorus induced VC. We established a calcific rat aorta vascular smooth muscle cells (RASMCs) model by stimulating with β-glycerophosphate. Then we performed label-free quantitative proteomics combined with liquid chromatograph–mass spectrometer/mass spectrometer (LC-2D-MS/MS)analysis and bioinformatics analysis to find the potential biomarkers for VC. In the current study, we identified 113 significantly proteins. Fifty six of these proteins were significantly up-regulated and the other 57 proteins were significantly decreased in calcific RASMCs, compared to that of normal control cells (fold-change (fc)>1.2, p < .05). Bioinformatics analysis indicated that these significant proteins mainly involved in the placenta blood vessel development and liver regeneration. Their molecule function was cell adhesion molecule binding. Among them, Smarca4 is significantly up-regulated in calcific RASMCs with fc = 2.72 and p = .01. In addition, we also established VC rat model. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis confirmed that the expression of Smarca4 was significantly increased in the aorta of calcified rat. Consistent with the up-regulation of Smarca4, the expression of VC associated microRNA such as miR-133b and miR-155 was also increased. Consequently, our study demonstrates that Smarca4 is involved in hyperphosphorus-induced VC. This finding may contribute to the early diagnosis and prevention of VC.


Sewage sludge is a high-volume and low-cost waste commonly generated worldwide, so its utilization is a vital issue. The application of this waste in the manufacturing of lightweight aggregates was investigated. The process was performed using intensive mixers with volumes of 5 and 30 L, as well as the industrial 500 L mixer. Then, granulates were sintered in a tube furnace. The influence of composition and mixer size on the particle size, microstructure, mechanical performance, and stability of lightweight aggregates in different environments was analyzed. The best results were obtained for a 500 L mixer, enhancing the industrial potential of the presented process. Increasing the share of sewage sludge in the composition of aggregates enhanced their porosity and reduced the specific weight, which caused a drop in compressive strength. Nevertheless, for all analyzed materials, the mechanical performance was superior compared to many commercial products. Therefore, sewage sludge can be efficiently applied as a raw material for the manufacturing of lightweight aggregates. The presented results confirm that a proper adjustment of composition allows easy the tailoring of aggregates' performance and cost.


A biological method for determination of geliomycin activity using agar diffusion is described. A nutrient medium containing Hottinger broth up to 35 mg per cent of amine nitrogen, 1.5 percent of agar-agar, tap water, pH 7.8 to 8.0 was used. Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 served as the test-culture. Geliomycin was dissolved in 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution.


Clonal cytogenetic abnormalities have been reported among 30-80% of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); however, 20-70% of patients with MDS show a normal karyotype that may nevertheless harbour a cryptic genetic alteration. Earlier reports have suggested that the distribution of specific chromosomal aberrations varies among Western and Asian countries, with geographical and ethnic differences in the frequency of specific chromosomal aberrations. This article compared the cytogenetic data of 36 adult Omani patients with MDS to previously reported data from other populations. Differences were noted between the percentages of clonal aberrations and the median age of Omani subjects at presentation in comparison to individuals of different ethnicities and from various geographical locations. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report to describe the cytogenetic data of patients with MDS from Oman.


PURPOSE
Muller's muscle-conjunctival resection (MMCR) is a well-known approach for ptosis repair. In its standard fashion, it involves resection of Muller's muscle and conjunctiva, followed by suturing of the conjunctiva and Muller's muscle to the tarsus with absorbable or nonabsorbable sutures. The authors herein present their experience in performing MMCR without sutures.

METHODS
The study was conducted as a retrospective review of 19 patients (34 eyelids) undergoing sutureless MMCR. Thirty-three eyelids had acquired ptosis and 1 eyelid had congenital ptosis. Surgery consisted of a standard approach and placement of a Putterman clamp. Following excision of the clamped tissues, no internal sutures were placed. Preoperative and postoperative upper margin-to-reflex distances were measured and patients were evaluated for symmetry within 1 mm and the incidence of any complications.

RESULTS
Nineteen patients underwent 34 sutureless MMCR procedures. Of these, 13 patients had bilateral ptosis repair. Thirty-three of 34 eyelids (97%) showed improvement in margin-to-reflex distances, with an average improvement of 1.4 mm (range, 0-3.5 mm, SD = 0.64) among all patients. Eighteen of the 19 patients (94.7%) showed postoperative symmetry of margin-to-reflex distances within 1 mm (p < 0.001, χ test). One patient who underwent unilateral surgery demonstrated a Herring's response postoperatively, leading to the single case of asymmetry. There was 1 case of corneal abrasion seen postoperatively.

CONCLUSIONS
The sutureless technique is a rapid and effective method for performing MMCR. This technique is especially useful as an adjunct to blepharoplasty where mild ptosis exists for an added rejuvenating effect. It is low-risk and potentially corneoprotective when compared to the standard suture technique. Further studies could determine if a modified algorithm needs to be applied.


A 4-year-old boy with muscle weakness underwent skeletal muscle biopsies. Light microscopy showed distinct eosinophilic inclusions within the majority of muscle cell nuclei, but none in the cytoplasm. Electron microscopy revealed crystalline, round to rod-shaped inclusions in the muscle cell nuclei. The inclusions stained positively for alpha-actinin. Intranuclear inclusions identical to those seen here have been described in rare cases of nemaline rod myopathy, though almost always together with classic intracytoplasmic rods. This case illustrates the importance of electron microscopy in the diagnosis of rare myopathies and in the characterization of cellular inclusions of unknown origin.


In this paper, we present the Predicting Media Memorability task, which is proposed as part of the MediaEval 2018 Benchmarking Initiative for Multimedia Evaluation. Participants are expected to design systems that automatically predict memorability scores for videos, which reflect the probability of a video being remembered. In contrast to previous work in image memorability prediction, where memorability was measured a few minutes after memorization, the proposed dataset comes with short-term and long-term memorability annotations. All task characteristics are described, namely: the task's challenges and breakthrough, the released data set and ground truth, the required participant runs and the evaluation metrics.


A new formulation of the Hamiltonian dynamics of the gravitational field interacting with (non-dissipative) thermo-elastic matter is discussed. It is based on a gauge condition which allows us to encode the six degrees of freedom of the `gravity + matter'-system (two gravitational and four thermo-mechanical ones), together with their conjugate momenta, in the Riemannian metric and its conjugate ADM momentum . These variables are not subject to constraints. We prove that the Hamiltonian of this system is equal to the total matter entropy. It generates uniquely the dynamics once expressed as a function of the canonical variables. Any function U obtained in this way must fulfil a system of three, first-order, partial differential equations of the Hamilton - Jacobi type in the variables . These equations are universal and do not depend upon the properties of the material: its equation of state enters only as a boundary condition. The well posedness of this problem is proved. Finally, we prove that for vanishing matter density, the value of U goes to infinity almost everywhere and remains bounded only on the vacuum constraints. Therefore the constrained, vacuum Hamiltonian (zero on constraints and infinity elsewhere) can be obtained as the limit of a `deep potential well' corresponding to non-vanishing matter. This unconstrained description of Hamiltonian general relativity can be useful in numerical calculations as well as in the canonical approach to quantum gravity.


A retrospective study conducted in Gweru, Zimbabwe, investigated the trend and its associated factors in measles mortality between 1967 and 1989. Measles and malnutrition surveillance data were analysed in SPSS version 8.0 using the Forward Stepwise Linear Regression method. Measles case fatality rates ranged from zero to 48.2% (median: 4.2, Q(1) = 1.2, Q(3) = 12.9) and they significantly linearly declined [slope = -1.686; 95% confidence interval (CI) -2.327, -1.044; R(2) = 59%]. Rates of mortality among complicated measles cases (slope = 0.546, 95% CI = 0.133-0.345) and rates of mortality from malnutrition among children aged <5 years (slope = 0.459, 95% CI = 0.031-0.099) independently predicted (R(2) = 87%) measles case fatality rates. It was concluded that decline in rates of mortality among complicated measles cases, probably due to good management of such cases, and decline in rates of malnutrition among children aged <5 years may have contributed to the decline in measles case fatality rates.


The safety of medicines is an essential part of patient safety. Global drug safety depends on strong national systems that monitor the development and quality of medicines. Poor quality medicines do not meet official standards for strength, quality, purity, packaging and labelling. Hence, this study determines in-vitro quality attributes of glibenclamide 5mg tablet marketed in Addis Ababa according to USP-38 drug monograph specifications. All tested brands meet the requirements for physical inspection & complied specification for friability and hardness. Besides, the tested brands met USP 38 specification for assay (99.96% to 108.85%) and for content uniformity (AV values ranges from 3.35 to 10.04). In-vitro release tests were carried out in phosphate buffer of 7.5 and 8.5 pH and showed drug release of ≥ 75%, met USP 38 requirements. However, significant difference with respect to dissolution profile among tested brands GL4 and GL6 were confirmed with comparator product through model independent approach. Moreover, DE values were studied and confirmed that GL4 and GL6 were not therapeutically interchangeable with innovator product.


The present work shows the results obtained in collaboration with the government of the state of Guanajuato in Mexico in a project that looked to include the acoustical analysis of Archaeological sites as a tool for gathering information regarding the historical social use of the areas in question. To that end, the acoustical characterization of 3 archaeological sites recently opened to the public in the state was in order: Canada de la Virgen, Peralta and Plazuelas. Results include the 3D modeling of the areas of interest and the simulation of the acoustic response of them using the software EASE. Specific acoustic parameters were extracted from the simulations and then analyzed in comparison to archeological hypothesis of the use of such spaces as areas of public appearances, performance, ethno-musicological reports on the type and use of musical instruments and other archaeological findings in the area in order to support or disprove such hypothesis.


Abstract Although mountain regions are thought to be at lower risk of plant invasions, the diversity and cover of non-native plants is increasing in many alpine ecosystems, including the Andes. We reviewed vegetation surveys in Aconcagua Provincial Park in the dry Andes of Argentina to determine what non-native plants occur in the park and if their distribution is associated with tourism use. This high-altitude park is a popular tourism destination for hikers, with nearly all access by foot and pack animals (mules and horses) that are used for transport. Non-native plant diversity was low (21 species in the region, 16 species in the park) compared to some other mountain regions but included common mountain species from Europe, most of which can be dispersed by tourists and commercial operators on clothing and by pack animal dung. Nearly all non-native plants were restricted to lower altitudes, with no non-natives found above 3420 masl. Most non-native plants were restricted to sites disturbed by tourism use, particularly areas trampled by hikers and pack animals, except for 2 common non-native species, Taraxacum officinale and Convolvulus arvensis, which were also found in undisturbed vegetation. The relatively low cover and diversity of non-native plants at higher-altitude sites may reflect one or a combination of the following: climatic barriers, less human disturbance, and a lag in the dispersal of non-native species from lower altitudes within the park. This study highlights that even protected mountain areas with limited prior human use and nearly no road access can be invaded by non-native plants because of their popularity as mountaineer destinations. Management actions that could help minimize the further spread of non-native plants include limiting the introduction of non-native seeds on vehicles, clothing, and equipment and in dung; reducing trampling damage by restricting visitor use to designated trails; and restoring damaged sites.


In this article, I investigate the strength of intergenerational transmission of volunteering for non-profit associations in The Netherlands. Data from the Family Survey of the Dutch Population 2000 reveal that there are significant relations between current volunteering and parental volunteering in the past. While the transmission of volunteering for religious and quasi-religious (`pillarized') associations is due largely to the transmission of religion and social status from parents to their children, parental volunteering for pillarized associations has increased the likelihood of children's volunteering for secular associations, even controlling for parental and children's religion, education, wealth and personality characteristics. Consistent with a value internalization explanation, this spillover effect was not due to the direct social pressure of parents.


The aim of the study is to characterize the phenotypes of CD4+ CD25+ T regulatory cells within the liver granulomas and association with both Foxp-3 gene expression and splenic cytokines. Naïve C57BL/6 mice were intravenously injected with multiple doses of the soluble egg antigen (SEA) 7 days before cercarial infection. The immunized and infected control groups were sacrificed 8 and 16 weeks post-infection (PI). Histopathology, parasitological parameters, splenic phenotypes for T regulatory cells, the FOXP-3 expression in hepatic granuloma using real-time PCR, and the associated splenic cytokines were studied. Histopathological examination of the liver revealed remarkable increase in degenerated ova within hepatic granuloma which decreased in diameter at weeks 8 and 16 PI (P<0.01). The percentage of T regulatory cells (CD4+ CD25+) increased significantly (P<0.01) in the immunized group compared to the infected control at weeks 8 and 16 PI. The FOXP-3 expression in hepatic granulomas increased from 10 at week 8 to 30 fold at week 16 PI in the infected control group. However, its expression in the immunized group showed an increase from 30 at week 8 to 70 fold at week 16 PI. The splenic cytokine levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IFN-γ, IL-4, and TNF-α, showed significant decreases (P<0.05) compared to the infected control group. In conclusion, the magnitude and phenotype of the egg-induced effects on T helper responses were found to be controlled by a parallel response within the T regulatory population which provides protection in worm parasite-induced immunopathology.


The food and agriculture industry employs 15% of the female industrial work force in France. Workers in this industry are exposed to a variety of environmental and organizational constraints: cold, uncomfortable postures, assembly-line work, irregular schedules. In 1987 to 1988, a medical examination and questionnaire were administered to 726 menstruating women who had not been pregnant during the 2 previous years, as part of a study of French workers in 17 poultry slaughterhouses and 6 canning factories. Dysmenorrhea during the previous year was more prevalent among younger women and smokers, and less prevalent among users of oral contraceptives. After adjustment for nonoccupational variables, dysmenorrhea was significantly related to several parameters expressing cold exposure and physical work load. Other parameters such as job satisfaction and hours of domestic work were not associated with dysmenorrhea.


The influence of the Hubbard interaction on the lattice structure of two half-filled Su-Shrieffer-Heeger chains coupled by constant electron hoppings is examined using a linked cluster expansion of the Gutzwiller variational wave function as well as second-order perturbation theory. Parallel and antiparallel dimerized crystal structures are considered. In the uncorrelated system the metallic undimerized and the insulating parallel dimerized phase compete. However, the state of lowest energy is antiparallel dimerized. In the case of finite Hubbard interaction both the variational and the perturbational approach yield a stabilization of the parallel dimerized configuration. For the parallel dimerized model, the Gutzwiller ansatz signals a new ordering of the electrons in the bands: holes are present in the highest occupied single-particle states; the upper valence band is occupied and the lower conduction band is empty even in the 'metallic' phase characterized by crossing bands.


Current pair-conversion event generators, e.g. in Geant4, have been developed mainly for the simulation of electromagnetic showers in calorimeters. They don't sample the five-dimensional differential cross-section (5D DCS), but a product of 1D DCSs. Most of them use high-energy and/or small angle approximations. Also the e+ and e- polar angles are generated independently so energy-momentum is not conserved. None of them can simulate the conversion of polarized photons correctly.

 In the past I wrote a generator that is sampling exactly the 5D Bethe-Heitler DCS. I used the VEGAS method: at a given energy, for a given target nucleus, after a 5D grid has been optimized, the DCS is tabulated, something that needs several seconds. Then zillions of conversions can be generated quickly at that energy and for that target. That software has undergone an extensive validation campaign. With an appropriate definition of the event azimuthal angle it was shown that the polarization asymmetry of the conversion agrees nicely with the low- and high-energy known asymptotic expressions.

I have developed a VEGAS-free version that allows the fast generation of the conversion of a photon of a given energy on a given target, with the same other properties as for the VEGAS-based generator.


The
purpose of this study was to establish a new methodology for customer
satisfaction analysis by using Taguchi Signal-to-Noise Ratio to assess service
quality performance to effectively improve customer satisfaction. This study
applied the Taguchi Signal-to-Noise Ratio methodology to process the Ordered
Categorical Data, and took into account simultaneously the impact of average
and variance as well as satisfaction and dissatisfaction information to
correctly identify the improvement direction of quality attributes. With
Taiwan's standard hotel as the research subject, this study discussed the
methodology and benefits of applying Taguchi Signal-to-Noise Ratio to customer
satisfaction analysis.


Abstract Frontogenesis and geostrophically forced secondary circulations in the vicinity of jet stream-frontal zone systems are treated, assuming that the motions conform to the geostrophic momentum approximation and that the secondary circulations are confined to the cross-front plane. Absolute momentum is used as a frontal defining parameter as its spatial discontinuities are shown to bound the tow hyper-gradient domain of upper jet-front systems. The solution of the Sawyer-Eliassen secondary circulation equation for simulated and observed frontal zones illustrates the importance of the geostrophic shearing deformation of an along-front thermal gradient in forcing strong subsidence within and to the warm side of upper fronts. The Miller frontogenesis equations are rederived with the frontal processes partitioned into those arising from geostrophic and ageostrophic motions. The transformation of the frontogenesis equations into geostrophic momentum, isentropic coordinates is introduced to further simplif...


Nowadays, vocational education development is a matter of great urgency in China. Because of starting later, vocational education cannot establish a stable system of running school, serving the society, training talents and teachers; it should propose the successful experience of the world to promote the effective healthy and fast development. On the base of analysis of German vocational education mode, especially take an example of DHBW curriculum of Event Management, this study was performed to find its reference for the modern vocational education development in China. The references are also new and original; they are promoting the depth of the cooperation of the industry and vocational colleges with the government guidance, reforming the mode of talent cultivation and strengthening the policy support and supervision to guarantee. Keywords—German vocational education mode; China present situation; enlightment; developement


Industry is facing a crisis in the design of complex hardware/software systems. Due to the increasing complexity, the gap between the generation of a product idea and the realisation of a working system is expanding rapidly. To manage complexity and to shorten design cycles, industry is forced to look at system level languages towards specification and design. We report on the system level modelling language called POOSL. The language is very expressive and is able to model dynamic hard real time behaviour as well as static (architecture and topology) structure in an object oriented fashion. The language integrates a process part, based on the process algebra CCS, with a data part, based on the concepts of traditional object oriented programming languages. Unlike many modelling languages today, POOSL is equipped with a complete mathematical semantics. Currently a number of automated software tools (model editing simulator and compiler tools) are available. It is shown how the language and tools allow the estimation of a performance parameter of a datalink protocol.


Tectonic deformation of the land surface is known to influence the gradient, water and sediment discharge and the grain‐size of modern fluvial systems. Any change in these variables alters the equilibrium of a fluvial system, potentially causing a change in channel morphology. 3D seismic data from the Tertiary (Miocene) age, Upper Frio Formation, Kelsey Field, South Texas, in the US are used to examine changing fluvial channel morphology through time during a period of active growth of a rollover anticline in the hangingwall of a normal fault (the Vicksburg Fault). The studied interval varies between 22 and 47 m thick, and spans several hundred thousand years. It consists of an alternation of fluvial sandstones, overbank mudstones and coal. Seismic extractions show the evolution of sinuous fluvial channels during a phase of growth fault activity. Prior to growth, a single sinuous channel is imaged. During growth, the fluvial system became decapitated by a developing rollover anticline, and a highly sinuous drainage network formed, with frequent avulsion events, headward propagation of streams and related stream capture. Increased channel sinuosity was spatially associated with increased avulsion frequency in the area down dip to the east of the rollover anticline, more than 10 km from the active fault. More than 25 m of relative accommodation developed on the flank of the growing rollover anticline compared with on the crest. The increased channel sinuosity is interpreted as reflecting an increase in longitudinal valley slope analogous to observations made in flume experiments and modern river systems. The increase in avulsion frequency is attributed to increased aggradation as the rivers adjusted back to equilibrium grade following the increase in slope.


Abstract: The Treaty establishing the European Community (and its successor, the Functioning of the European Union (FEU) Treaty) nearly exclusively contains rules of a public law character. However, some of its central provisions have also acquired significance for private law, because the Court of Justice has interpreted them in such a way that they have become directly applicable to relationships between individuals, in the sense that they create subjective rights and obligations between them. Put in another way, those provisions now produce a direct horizontal effect in private law relationships. Direct horizontal effect must be distinguished from indirect horizontal effect. Unfortunately, in legal literature, these concepts do not have a clear and commonly accepted meaning. This article tries to bring some clarity by proposing a specific definition of horizontal direct effect and explaining the differences with some other types of effect in relationships between individuals, in particular the review (in disputes between individuals) of the compatibility of national legislation with EU law, the concept of 'positive obligations', and the concept of harmonious interpretation. The discussion takes place against the background of some well-known cases, such as Defrenne, Walrave, Delhaize, Schmidberger, and (AG Poiares Maduro's opinion in) Viking.


We report on the application of a silicon micromachined lamellar grating interferometer in a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer for the detection of gases in the mid-infrared (MIR) region. The FTIR spectrometer was equipped with MIR optical fibers for light coupling. Gas measurements in the MIR region were focused on specific gases (CO2, CH4) in order to determine the limit of detection and the selectivity that could be obtained using such a micro-spectrometer. The influence of humidity on the gas response has also been investigated. Using two different spectral regions we were able to detect concentrations of carbon dioxide over a span from 100 ppm to 9000 ppm with a theoretical detection limit evaluated at 10 ppm. The performed gas measurements showed the proof of principle of a miniaturised FTIR gas analyzer based on a micromachined spectrometer.


One of the critical success factors for soilless culture is the sequestration of FeIII-ions, making Fe available for plant roots. Chelates are used primarily, but other compounds, like polyphosphates are also able to bind Fe-ions. A new group of Fe-polyphosphates have recently been developed by Prayon chemical company. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the utility of these products in nutrients solutions for soilless systems using cucumber as test crop. Three different poly-phosphate formulations were compared with Fe-DTPA as reference, at two pH levels: low pH (5.2-5.6) and high pH (6.4-6.8). The plants were grown in substrate-free nutrient solution for six weeks, starting from the seedling stage. The first test was conducted in spring with 25 µmol Fe l-1 and the second test in summer with 15 µmol Fe l-1. In the first experiment, no differences in biomass production were found. Light chlorosis symptoms appeared throughout the growing season at all treatments, tending to be less at the reference treatment with high pH. Fe contents in plant tissue were lower at the high pH treatments for both the reference and the polyphosphate treatments, whilst the Fe contents were significantly higher at low pH with the polyphosphate treatments. In the second experiment the biomass production for all treatments was significantly lower at the high pH, the lowest for the polyphosphate treatments. Chlorosis was closely related with the biomass production and was most severe in the polyphosphate treatments at high pH. Fe contents in the tissue were not different among treatments at low pH, but at high pH these were clearly lower for the polyphosphate treatments compared to the reference. Interestingly, tip-burn symptoms, commonly ascribed to Ca deficiency, were observed and were significantly more severe in the reference treatments than at the polyphosphate treatments. Polyphosphates can be used as complexer agent for the delivery of Fe3+ ions to plant roots grown in nutrient solutions. However, the combination of high pH and low Fe supply concentrations should be avoided. Further investigation with this type of fertilisers is necessary to evaluate the applicability in commercial practice


In the heart, alpha-adrenergic agonists have long been known to produce a positive inotropic effect that is rate dependent and associated with action potential prolongation but is not accompanied by adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) elevation. The ionic mechanism of these effects is unknown. We report that a transient outward K+ current, a major determinant of plateau duration in rabbit and human atria, is strongly inhibited by norepinephrine and the alpha-adrenoceptor agonists methoxamine and phenylephrine. These effects of alpha-stimulation can be blocked by prazosin. The reduction in the transient outward current substantially slows action potential repolarization. These results can explain the regional and species-dependent positive inotropic effects of alpha-adrenergic stimulation in the heart and give important new insight into the autonomic regulation of cardiac function. In addition, reduction in this repolarizing current during the enhanced alpha-adrenergic responsiveness of myocardial ischemia may be a factor in the genesis of arrhythmias produced by catecholamines.


The detection of HP infection by means of non invasive methods such as breath test and urease test, which are adopted alternatively to histological examination, can delay the diagnosis of early lymphomas. On the other hand the proved regression of gastric low grade Malt lymphomas after a successful HP eradication strongly suggests the need for early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to report the results of our experience with regard to clinical, endoscopic, histopathologic, and immunohistochemical features of gastric MALT lymphomas. We studied twenty-seven consecutive cases of gastric Malt lymphoma. HP presence in gastric mucosa was detected in all cases but endoscopy only in 40.7% of cases giving a diagnosis of suspected malignancy. In conclusion, it is very important to sample gastric mucosa in HP positive patients because the histological examination represents the most effective tool to detect lesions at the earliest and curable stage.


In spite of the dynamic nature of air transport, air route networks, i.e. the backbone used to organise aircraft flows, are expected to be mostly static, with small changes occasionally being introduced to improve the efficiency and resilience of the system. By leveraging a large data set of European flights comprising years 2015 to 2018, we analyse its structure and evolution from the perspective of complex networks, with the aim of firstly describing it, and secondly to confirm its static nature. Results depict a highly dynamic system, with major topological changes happening at the end of 2017. Peripheral links are usually more vulnerable, due to the lack of effective reroutings, as well as central regions; additionally, the overall resilience of the network is almost constant throughout time, in spite of an increase in traffic. We further test several hypotheses regarding the design considerations driving such evolution. Beyond specific operational insights, these results highlight the importance of taking into account the evolution of this network in the study of traffic flows.


In the preface of this text, the editors state that the book was written "...with the objective of having a single reference on clinical pharmacology to serve as a guide to drug development with a focus on cancer therapy." Accordingly, the structure of the text, which comprises 34 chapters in 622 pages, follows, in general, the path of drug development of anticancer drugs beginning with the identification of susceptible molecular targets and culminating with 2 chapters on clinical trials of promising anticancer agents. Actually, the final chapter discusses pharmacogenetic counseling which, although a topic of growing importance, somehow does not fit the original asserted book plan. Thus, early chapters explore preclinical screening of putative compounds and the use of mouse models as a guide to determine the initial dose in man. The latter calculation repeats arguments for dosage based on body surface area. The design of Phase I trials is addressed, and there is a courageous inclusion of bioanalytical methods that incorporate validation of assay methods. Having established a validated drug assay, the editors are now freed to present chapters on clinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic modeling, plus an additional chapter on pharmacometrics. The last appears to incorporate the previous topics with the addition of further population pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Following these chapters, the editors provide reviews of more basic science topics a propos to the clinical pharmacology of anticancer drugs. These chapters include protein binding of anticancer drugs, drug metabolism, polymorphism in the genes of drug targets and metabolizing enzymes, drug interactions, and transporters, such as the ABC transporters. A chapter on the application of microdialysis to measure drug concentrations within tumors is also included. Next is a section focusing on regional delivery of drug therapy. These chapters include continuous hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion, as well as vascular isolation and perfusion techniques, isolated lung perfusion, and targeting drugs to the brain. A useful section of the book is devoted to more novel and, in particular, biological approaches to treating cancer. Specifically, this includes the combination of angiogenesis inhibitors coupled with radiation, gene therapy, vaccines, antibodies, and immunotoxins, as well as the use of other biological agents, such as interferons. The final section of the book addresses regulatory issues and cancer drug clinical trials, with a very thorough presentation by Bruce Chabner and colleagues. Overall, this is an excellent book providing an overview of the issues involved in the conception of a new anticancer agent or a novel delivery method, evaluating its therapeutic efficacy, and ultimately confirming its suitability as a significant contribution and advance to the current anticancer armory. If there is to be a complaint, it would be minor grumbling at the presence of spelling errors in the text. I identified 19 such errors on first reading, which is modest, yet somewhat surprising with computerized typesetting. This book is, in many ways, unique in the field of texts on anticancer drugs in that it is an encyclopedia of techniques and methods essential to optimizing current and emerging active anticancer agents and associated therapies. It will be a particularly useful resource for individuals involved in both the basic and clinical pharmacology of anticancer drugs. In most cases, the authors are well published and internationally recognized for work in their respective areas. The book is an excellent companion to the several texts describing the basic and clinical pharmacology of individual anticancer drugs or drug classes.


This work investigates pretrained audio representations for few shot Sound Event Detection. We specifically address the task of few shot detection of novel acoustic sequences, or sound events with semantically meaningful temporal structure, without assuming access to non-target audio. We develop procedures for pretraining suitable representations, and methods which transfer them to our few shot learning scenario. Our experiments evaluate the general purpose utility of our pretrained representations on AudioSet, and the utility of proposed few shot methods via tasks constructed from real-world acoustic sequences. Our pretrained embeddings are suitable to the proposed task, and enable multiple aspects of our few shot framework.


This article concerns the numerical simulation method of heat transfer in a compact system box housing the assembly of a 672-pin plastic ball grid array (PBGA) package and a printed circuit board (PCB). A computational model for the PBGA/PCB assembly was developed to account for complex phenomena of three-dimensional heat and fluid flow, and conjugate heat transfer in tiny package components. Simulation results for a sample parameter set were compared with experimental data, and their agreement was confirmed. Then, the modeling approach was applied to a wide range of the parameter domain and effects of some operative and geometric parameters were investigated.


Forty-two patients with acute pelvic inflammatory disease were treated using aztreonam, a monobactam, and clindamycin. Sixty-four percent of protocol patients were culture positive for Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and 26% had positive endometrial cultures for other organisms. Fifty-one percent of patients had ultrasound findings consistent with a pelvic abscess. One patient with a tuboovarian abscess palpable to the umbilicus became afebrile and improved on treatment, but ultimately was treated surgically. All other protocol patients responded rapidly to the aztreonam-clindamycin regime, giving a 97.7% cure rate.


Background We were approached by the charitable hospital, Cancer Centre Welfare Home and Research Institute of Thakurpukur, Kolkata, to assist planning and delivery of a teaching programme introducing palliative care to their area. Until a few months earlier there had been no palliative care provision in Kolkata, but with a newly established domiciliary team and plans for a palliative care ward within the cancer hospital, staff needed to raise awareness among other healthcare professionals (HCP). A key barrier they identified was the commonly held belief that treatments/medical interventions must continue to the end of life, even if no longer benefiting the patient. Aims to devise and deliver a 3 day programme on palliative care, particularly focusing on attitudes towards medical interventions at the end of life. Method Small group workshops were the preferred method of teaching – encouraging discussion among participants. Help the Hospices Toolkit was used as the course handbook, workshops modified to suit a 3 day programme. A team from the UK (palliative care consultant, nurse educator, oncologist and oncology nurse) were joined by experienced palliative care practitioners from elsewhere in India. 150 HCP attended – doctors, nurses, social workers and physiotherapists. Results Participants were asked to complete a pre and post course questionnaire designed to detect a change in attitude: 53% of participants before the course felt that medical interventions should continue even when the patient was not responding and was close to death, compared with 31% after the course. Participants also completed a knowledge test and evaluation – which revealed immense enjoyment and satisfaction with the programme. Conclusion The project has confirmed it is possible to change attitudes with a 3 day programme. Following its success and popularity, a repeat event is planned for 2012, alongside growth of local palliative care teams in the area.


Visual language such as charts and plots is ubiquitous in the human world. Comprehending plots and charts requires strong reasoning skills. Prior state-of-the-art (SOTA) models require at least tens of thousands of training examples and their reasoning capabilities are still much limited, especially on complex human-written queries. This paper presents the first one-shot solution to visual language reasoning. We decompose the challenge of visual language reasoning into two steps: (1) plot-to-text translation, and (2) reasoning over the translated text. The key in this method is a modality conversion module, named as DePlot, which translates the image of a plot or chart to a linearized table. The output of DePlot can then be directly used to prompt a pretrained large language model (LLM), exploiting the few-shot reasoning capabilities of LLMs. To obtain DePlot, we standardize the plot-to-table task by establishing unified task formats and metrics, and train DePlot end-to-end on this task. DePlot can then be used off-the-shelf together with LLMs in a plug-and-play fashion. Compared with a SOTA model finetuned on more than>28k data points, DePlot+LLM with just one-shot prompting achieves a 24.0% improvement over finetuned SOTA on human-written queries from the task of chart QA.


We study direct CP violation of tau -> K pi(eta,eta')nu decays. By studying the forward and backward asymmetry, the interference of L=0 and L=1 amplitudes of the hadronic system can be extracted.
By including the scalar and vector mesons into the chiral Lagrangian, we compute the form factors which correspond to L=0 and L=1 angular momentum state of the hadronic system. We include real and imaginary parts of the one loop corrections to the self-energies of the scalar and vector mesons.
The direct CP violation of the forward and backward asymmetry is computed using a two Higgs doublet model in which a new CP violating phase is introduced. We show how the CP violation of the forward and the backward asymmetry may depend on the new CP violating phase and the strong phase of the form factors.


This is the first reported case of COVID-19 associated optic neuritis (ON) presenting with classic Uhtoff's phenomenon typically associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Uhthoff phenomenon, also known as Uhthoff sign or syndrome, is a transient worsening of neurological function lasting less than 24 hours that can occur in multiple sclerosis patients due to increases in core body temperature.

There have been some case reports of ON associated with COVID-19 infection but no reports of ON mimicking MS.

The patient's symptoms resolved very slowly and was not affected by receiving a vaccination against COVID-19.


By W. BIERMAN, M.D. Bailliere, Tindall & Cox. London. 1938. Price 22s. 6d. Short-wave therapy has aroused so much interest in recent years that it already has an extensive bibliography but this addition to it in the form of Dr. Bierman's "The Medical Application of the Short-Wave Current" is very welcome because it is both practical and well-balanced. Dr. Swartzschild has contributed chapters on the physical and technical aspects that form a sound scientific basis for the rest of the book. The chapters on technique are well worth careful study as in this subject results may be marred by an incomplete understanding of the importance of different methods of submitting the body to the application of the current. The illustrations in this section are most carefully thought out but the unusual angle from which some of the photographs are taken is apt to throw stress on some unimportant item. The management of fever treatment by means of the short-wave current is well described and the practical details associated with this are not overlooked. Clinical applications are referred to very fully and although the range of conditions mentioned is very wide, the excellent index allows any subject to be found quickly and easily. The busy practitioner will appreciate this and he will also value the author's impartial comments on the occasionally conflicting reports of results given by other workers. The field covered by the author is so wide that it includes most of the needs of the general practitioner but there is an extensive bibliography by means of which it is possible to refer to other works giving further details of specific points of interest.


BACKGROUND
The scarring of the heart that results from myocardial infarction has been interpreted as evidence that the heart is composed of myocytes that are unable to divide. However, recent observations have provided evidence of proliferation of myocytes in the adult heart. Therefore, we studied the extent of mitosis among myocytes after myocardial infarction in humans.

METHODS
Samples from the border of the infarct and from areas of the myocardium distant from the infarct were obtained from 13 patients who had died 4 to 12 days after infarction. Ten normal hearts were used as controls. Myocytes that had entered the cell cycle in preparation for cell division were measured by labeling of the nuclear antigen Ki-67, which is associated with cell division. The fraction of myocyte nuclei that were undergoing mitosis was determined, and the mitotic index (the ratio of the number of nuclei undergoing mitosis to the number not undergoing mitosis) was calculated. The presence of mitotic spindles, contractile rings, karyokinesis, and cytokinesis was also recorded.

RESULTS
In the infarcted hearts, Ki-67 expression was detected in 4 percent of myocyte nuclei in the regions adjacent to the infarcts and in 1 percent of those in regions distant from the infarcts. The reentry of myocytes into the cell cycle resulted in mitotic indexes of 0.08 percent and 0.03 percent, respectively, in the zones adjacent to and distant from the infarcts. Events characteristic of cell division--the formation of the mitotic spindles, the formation of contractile rings, karyokinesis, and cytokinesis--were identified; these features demonstrated that there was myocyte proliferation after myocardial infarction.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results challenge the dogma that the adult heart is a postmitotic organ and indicate that the regeneration of myocytes may be a critical component of the increase in muscle mass of the myocardium.


We proposed a new end-to-end motion correction method based on conditional generative adversarial network (GAN) and minimum entropy of MRI images for Fast Spin Echo (FSE) sequence. The network contains an encoder-decoder generator to generate the motion-corrected images and a PatchGAN discriminator to classify an image as either real (motion-free) or fake(motion-corrected). Moreover, the image's entropy is set as one loss item in the cGAN's loss as the entropy increases monotonically with the motion amplitude, indicating that entropy is a good criterion for motion. The results show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the artifacts and obtain high-quality motion-corrected images from the motion-affected images in both pre-clinical and clinical datasets.


In April of 2009, leaf blight symptoms were observed on field peas (Pisum sativum L.) grown in Söke, Torbali, and Ödemis counties in the Aegean Region of Turkey. Field inspections revealed disease incidence as high as 45% and the disease was found in 13 commercial fields. Initial symptoms consisted of small, dark green, water-soaked lesions on leaves, stipules, and stems near ground level. Lesions often enlarged and coalesced and turned chocolate brown with a water-soaked margin. Stem infections usually coalesced and girdled the stem spreading upward to stipules and leaflets forming a fan-like lesion on the stipule. A fluorescent, gram-negative bacterium was consistently isolated from diseased tissues onto King's B medium. Twelve strains (five from cv. Early Sweet, three from cv. Geneva, two from cv. Bolero, and two from cv. Carina) from thirteen pea fields were obtained. All strains metabolized glucose oxidatively, and their reactions in LOPAT tests were +, -, -, -, +, and thus classified as belonging to Pseudomonas syringae LOPAT group Ia (1). The 12 strains utilized homoserine, inositol, sorbitol, sucrose, mannitol, and mannose but did not utilize erythritol, trehalose, and L-tartarate. All showed ice nucleation activity but variable results were obtained for gelatin liquefaction and esculin hydrolysis. Identification of P. syringae pv. pisi was confirmed by sequencing the 16S rDNA with primers Univ-1390R (3) and 27F (2). Sequences of the three local strains (Bz2, Bz4, and Bz8) were 100% identical to a type culture strain. The nucleotide sequence of strain Bz4 was submitted to GenBank (Accession No. GU332546). Pathogenicity tests were performed on greenhouse-grown 2-week-old pea plants cv. Geneva as three replicates in 12-cm pots containing a steamed sand/peat/soil mixture. Plants were stab inoculated by puncturing the main stem at its junction with the stipules at the second node from the apical end with a 26-gauge needle through a 5-μl drop of 108 CFU/ml bacterial suspensions. Control plants were inoculated with sterile water. After 10 days of incubation in a growth chamber at 24 ± 1°C with a 14-h photoperiod, stems inoculated with pea isolates resulted in water-soaked tissue spreading from the site of inoculation along the veins on stipules and leaflets that were identical to symptoms seen in the field. Control plants remained symptomless. Isolates recovered from the symptomatic stems showed the same morphological and biochemical features of the original isolates. All physiological and biochemical tests as well as the pathogenicity assay were performed at least twice and the type strain of P. syringae pv. pisi (NCPPB 2585) was used as reference. On the basis of the physiological, biochemical, genetic, and pathological characteristics, all strains were identified as P. syringae pv. pisi. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. syringae pv. pisi causing bacterial blight on pea in Turkey. Turkey currently produces approximately 93.000 t of peas annually and three-quarters of that is produced in Western Anatolia. The new disease may represent a limiting factor for future production. References: (1) R. A. Lelliott et al. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 29:470, 1966. (2) W. G. Weisburg et al. J. Bacteriol. 173:697, 1991. (3) D. Zeng et al. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62:4504, 1996.


In this book, one of the world's leading medievalists provides us with a single vision of the shape and direction of Geoffrey Chaucer's entire career. Chaucer's interest in individuality was strikingly modern. At the same time he was profoundly aware of the pressures on individuality exerted by the past and by society - by history. It is this tension between the subject and history that Patterson explores. The book begins by showing how Chaucer's understanding of history as a subject for poetry - a world to be represented and a cultural force affecting human action - began to take shape in his poems on classical themes, "Anelida and Arcite" and "Troilus and Crisyede" . Patterson's brilliant analyses of these profound yet deeply conflicted explorations of the relationship between "history" and "the self" provide the basis for understanding Chaucer's shift to his contemporary world in the "Canterbury Tales". There, in the shrewdest and most wide-ranging analysis of late medieval society we possess, Chaucer investigated not just the idea of history but the historical world intimately related to his own political and literary career. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers of medieval literature and history.


Dermatophytoses refers to superficial fungal infection of keratinized tissues caused by keratinophilic dermatophytes. According to observations worldwide, dermatophytoses are the most common of the superficial fungal infections. It is common in tropics and may present in epidemic proportions in areas with high rates of humidity. This prospective, longitudinal, observational study was conducted at SKHMC, Jaipur for a period of 1 year (April 2018 to March 2019), aiming to ascertain the effectiveness of homoeopathic medicines in the treatment of Tinea corporis and Tinea cruris. In this study, 65 cases of Tinea Infection (33 cases of Tinea cruris & 32 cases of Tinea corporis) were treated with homoeopathic medicines prescribed on the basis of totality of the symptoms. Treatment outcomes were assessed using Clinical Symptom Score, designed for this study & approved by Institutional Ethical Committee. Out of 65 patients, 41 patients (63.1%) got improved; 19 patients (29.2%) were at status quo and 05 patients (07.7%) became worse. Maximum patients were found to be in the age group of 11-40 years (n=50; 76.9%). Males were observed to be affected more as compared to females. Paired t-test was conducted on the Clinical Symptom Scores obtained before and after treatment and the result showed that p value is < 0.05 & value of t (11.623) is greater than the tabulated value in t-table at df = 64 (1.997), which was statistically significant and which also concluded that homoeopathic medicines were effective in treating Tinea corporis and Tinea cruris.


Abstract : Under certain conditions the state space of a discrete parameter Markov Chain may be partitioned to form a smaller lumped chain that retains the Markov property. The problem of formulating lumpability hypotheses when the transition probability matrix P is not known and, hence, must be estimated is discussed. An approximate test of these hypotheses is described based on well known non-parametric methods. The procedure is illustrated by an example. (Author)


AIMS
A pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model, with Bayesian parameter estimation, was used to retrospectively predict the daily International Normalized Ratios (INRs) and the maintenance doses during the initiation of warfarin therapy in 74 inpatients.

METHODS
INRs and maintenance doses predicted by the model were compared with the actual INRs and the eventual maintenance dose. Cases with drugs or medical conditions interacting with warfarin or receiving concurrent heparin therapy were not excluded. As the study was retrospective, model predictions of the maintenance dose were not those that were administered. Mean prediction error (MPE) and percentage absolute prediction errors (PAPE) were used to assess the model predictions.

RESULTS
INR MPE ranged from -0.07 to 0.06 and median PAPE from 10% to 20%. Dose MPE ranged from -0.7 to 0.17 mg and median PAPE from 16.7% to 37.5%. Accurate and precise dose predictions were obtained after 3 or more INR feedback's.

CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that the model can accurately predict daily INRs and the maintenance dose in this sample of cases. The model can be incorporated into computer decision-support systems for warfarin therapy and may lead to improvement in the initiation of warfarin therapy.


This article is the first of a series of research articles aimed at proposing tools aimed at determining the repercussion and impact that the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has on education, these tools being useful in great measure. measured in all educational stages —from childhood to university stages. In this specific research, a detailed recapitulation of how Information and Communication Technologies are related to interest has been carried out (specifically, to determine if the use of ICTs increases the interest of students towards the realization of activities), as well as with the motivation (study if ICTs promote student motivation) of the students, for whose field research two specific questionnaires are proposed for each of the aforementioned associations. For the creation and implementation of the instruments proposed in this study, we have carried out two major stages: firstly, the construction of the items of the scales themselves and, secondly, an analysis of the judges —experts— and the validation of the instrument for collecting information by them.


Certain atoms on proteins and other molecules resonate at unique frequencies in a magnetic field, giving off signals that can indicate what these molecules are made of. But these signatures are weak, so researchers "listening" for them with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy struggle to make out the fine details. In this issue (p. 1848), scientists report a way to get hydrogen atoms to sound off at a higher level, using xenon gas as a "preamplifier." The xenon atoms are pretreated to give off a powerful magnetic signal, and they in turn raise the volume of the hydrogens when the two types of atoms come in contact. The result may be a boon not only for those interested in molecular structure, but for medical imaging as well, which uses similar methods.


Studies of a spatial magnetic field variation within a contact gap of the reed operated under heavy load are reported. The influence of such factors as reed and driving coil parameters as well as contact current value have been investigated. The calculations were carried out using the electronic theory of magnetism and were verified by experiment. On the basis of the results, conclusions about the admissible contact loading of the available standard dry reeds are formulated.


Long-term and short-term electrical properties of impregnated paper and polymeric insulating materials employed in oil-filled HVDC cables, that is, paper and paper-polypropylene-paper laminates, are investigated in this paper. Specimens were subjected to electric strength tests, life tests and space charge measurements, at different electrical field and temperatures. The results indicate that PPPL is by far superior to paper in terms of time-to-breakdown. As regards, space charge, paper accumulates more charge than PPPL but, generally, it is able to expel it at a slightly faster rate.


This paper presents a hybrid scheduling technique for generating the predictive schedules of passenger trains. The algorithm, which represents a combination of simulated annealing and a constraint-based heuristic, has been designed using an object-oriented methodology and is suitable for a primarily single-track railway with some double-track sections. The search process gets started from a good initial solution created by the scheduling heuristic and continues, according to the simulated annealing search control strategy. The heuristic is also used in the neighborhood exploration process. This hybrid approach solves the problem in a short span of time. Simulation experiments, with the real data of manual timetables and two corridors of Iran's railway, show the superiority of the hybrid method to the heuristic designed and the manual system, in terms of the three performance measures used.