Objective: To explore the value of a two-stitch continuous suture in single- lumen ileostomy. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. Data for 98 patients who underwent single-lumen enterostomy were retrospectively collected between 1 January 2021 and 1 May 2022 at Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University. All patients met the indications for prophylactic single-lumen ileostomy. Those older than 80 years of age, with complex underlying diseases, extremely poor systemic conditions who could not tolerate surgery, poor blood supply at the end of the bowel, and severe edema or severe infection at the end of the bowel were excluded. Among the included patients, patients who underwent surgery before 1 October 2021 underwent ileostomy with interrupted suture (control group, n=60), and patients operated on and after 1 October 2021 routinely underwent two-stitch continuous suture ileostomy (two-stitch stoma group, n=38). Two-stitch continuous suture ileostomy is performed as follows: the first continuous suture is used to suture the intestinal seromuscular layer, peritoneum, posterior sheath, and anterior sheath from deep to superficial layers. The bowel wall is then opened. The second continuous suture is used to suture the full thickness of the bowel and the skin. The differences in postoperative ostomy-related complications and operation time were compared between the groups. Results: There were no significant differences in baseline data between the groups (all, P>0.05). The operative time in the two-stitch stoma group was shorter than that of the control group (16.6±2.2 minutes vs. 25.1±2.4 minutes, respectively; t=-17.874;P<0.001). The incidences of mucocutaneous separation, dermatitis, and stoma rebound in the two-stitch stoma group were lower than those of the control group [5.3% (2/38) vs. 31.7% (19/60), χ2=9.633, P=0.002;5.3% (2/38) vs. 28.3% (17/60), χ2=7.923, P=0.005; and 2.6% (1/38) vs. 18.3% (11/60), P=0.026, respectively], while the incidences of parastomal hernia and stoma prolapse, and the postoperative visual analog scale scores in the two groups were similar (all P>0.05). Conclusion: Compared with traditional single-lumen ileostomy, two-stitch continuous suture ileostomy has the advantages of short operation time, simplicity, esthetic appearance of the stoma, and a significant reduction in the postoperative complications associated with ileostomy.


Followers of Martin Opitz like Hudemann, Rist, Koler, Plavius, Schneider and Sibylla Schwarz build their new poetics partly on the influence of Dutch literature. Schwarz's adaptations of two poems from Daniel Heinsius' Spiegel van de doorluchtige Vrouwen (1606) range between translatio and aemulatio. A further poem ("Nacht-Klage") is compared to an adaptation before Opitz by Peter Lauremberg. Beginning in 1634 Schwarz found innovative ways of processing her knowledge of Jacob Cats' marriage guide book, Houwelyck (1625), in poetic and pragmatic texts, so that the data by Ziefle need to be corrected. These documents of Dutch influence open up new perspectives on north-eastern Pomerania in the 1630s, especially with regard to the history of the book and the history of education.


Two soil samples were obtained from a Farm on the roadway of Qalyub district (QF soil) and Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams Univ., Qalyubia Governorate (AS soil). Lead concentration was determined in the two soil samples. It was found that QF soil has more concentration of lead (300 mg Kg soil) 1 than AS soil (35.57 mg Kg soil). In a pot experiment, lettuce seedlings were transplanted in two sources of 1 lead contaminated soils during the seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 to study the effects of Pb on growth parameters, some biochemical constituents in lettuce and the efficiency of rice or quinoa straw in reducing Pb uptake from the contaminated soils. Increasing Pb level in soils caused a gradual decrease in plant fresh and dry weights, average leaves number, stem diameter and head circumference. Ascorbate peroxidase (ASP) activity and total soluble phenols, N, P, K and Ca concentrations were decreased. Whereas, hydrogen peroxide (H O ), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), oxalic acid and Pb concentrations and the activities of 2 2 guaicol peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) were increased. Adding rice or quinoa straws as an agricultural residue to both Pb contaminated soils enhanced plants tolerance under lead stress by improving the growth vigor, increased uptake of N, P, K, Ca ions and soluble phenols concentration and reduced proline, H O , MDA, GSH, oxalic acid, Pb concentrations and activities of ASP, POD and PPO enzymes. The results 2 2 concluded that rice straw is more effective than quinoa straw in most morphological and biochemical components.


On March 19, 2010, mathematics lost one of its leading geometric analysts, Johannes Jisse Duistermaat. At age 67 he passed away, after a short illness following a renewed bout of lymphoma the doctors thought they had controlled. 'Hans', as Duistermaat was universally known among friends and colleagues, was not only a brilliant research mathematician and inspiring teacher, but also an accomplished chess player, very fond of several physical sports, and a devoted husband and (grand)father. Erik van den Ban and Johan Kolk look back on Duistermaat's life and work in this contribution; it is followed by remembrances and surveys by some of his friends, students, and colleagues.


Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) makes 'first contact' with a host in the alveolar space, an interaction largely inaccessible to experimental observation. We establish a lung-on-chip model for early tuberculosis and use time-lapse imaging to reveal the dynamics of host-Mtb interactions at an air-liquid interface with a spatiotemporal resolution unattainable in animal models. By reconstituting host physiology in a modular manner, we probe the role of pulmonary surfactant secreted by alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) in early infection. This is difficult to study directly in animal models, as surfactant-deficient animals are either non-viable or develop acute lung pathologies. We demonstrate that surfactant deficiency results in rapid and uncontrolled Mtb growth in both macrophages and AECs. In contrast, under normal surfactant levels, a significant fraction of intracellular bacteria are non-growing. The surfactant-deficient phenotype is rescued by exogenous addition of surfactant replacement formulations, which have no effect on bacterial viability in the absence of host cells. Surfactant partially removes virulence-associated lipids and proteins 1,2 from the bacterial cell surface and consistent with this mechanism of action, we show that attenuation of bacteria lacking the virulence-associated ESX-1 secretion system is independent of surfactant levels. These findings may partly explain why individuals with compromised surfactant function, such as smokers and elderly persons, are at increased risk of developing active tuberculosis.


This paper explores novel predictions from the spontaneous overtraining interpretation of human discrimination shift learning (Sirois & Shultz, 1998a). Results from six experiments where adults perform a discrimination shift task with or without a cognitive distractor are reported. In three experiments with a concurrent distractor task (Experiments 1A, 2A, and 3A), performance of adults is comparable to what would be expected from preschoolers performing only the learning task. These adults show no dimensional transfer from initial learning, unless new attributes are introduced in shift learning. On the same tasks without a cognitive load (Experiments 1B, 2B, and 3B), performance is typical of normal adults. The discussion focuses on the relative ability of competing theoretical models (i.e., levels of processing, attentional mediation, and perceptual differentiation) to account for these data.


The soft law has various functions. The soft-law instruments add to the existing legal norms by the means of references, interpretations or direct reproduction of soft-law provisions in the official sources of international law. The soft law often serves as a «stepping-stone» to legal rules, as a direct original «predecessor» of hard law. The most important function of soft law is the help it provides in interpreting the official sources of law. The soft-law instruments and their sustainable compliance can help generate widespread and consistent state practice and/or provide evidence of opinio juris for a customary norms.


When different stakeholders share a common resource, such as the case in spectrum sharing, security and enforcement become critical considerations that affect the welfare of all stakeholders. Recent advances in radio spectrum access technologies, such as cognitive radios, have made spectrum sharing a viable option for significantly improving spectrum utilization efficiency. However, those technologies have also contributed to exacerbating the difficult problems of security and enforcement. In this paper, we review some of the critical security and privacy threats that impact spectrum sharing. We propose a taxonomy for classifying the various threats, and describe representative examples for each threat category. We also discuss threat countermeasures and enforcement techniques, which are discussed in the context of two different approaches: ex ante (preventive) and ex post (punitive) enforcement.


In this article, we address both security and safety requirements and solve security-aware design problems for the controller area network (CAN) protocol and time division multiple access (TDMA)-based protocols. To provide insights and guidelines for other similar security problems with limited resources and strict timing constraints, we propose a general security-aware design methodology to address security with other design constraints in a holistic framework and optimize design objectives. The security-aware design methodology is further applied to solve a security-aware design problem for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications with dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) technology. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approaches in system design without violating design constraints and indicate that it is necessary to consider security together with other metrics during design stages.


Background: Osteoporosis (OP) affects around 200 million females in the word, and it has become major health burden for healthcare providers. Aim of the Study: The aim of this study is to determine the knowledge level and health habits among patient with osteoporosis. Subjects and Methods: A total of 120 samples were collected from Mansoura Hospital University Outpatient clinic of Rheumatology. Sample includes both male and female osteoporosis. Results: Univariate analysis was performed to know the baseline knowledge level, and t-test, ANOVA was used to find the significant knowledge and lifestyle hobbits which revealed stress induced osteoporosis were high among individuals 92%, lowest in checking Vitamin D 2%. The Magnitude of impact of healthy lifestyle behaviors and education level on Osteoporosis is very significant. Conclusion and Recommendation: Osteoporosis is a preventable disease. Through appropriate education and lifestyle changes, the incidence of osteoporosis can be reduced. Public health leaders should perform community-based public health programs for osteoporosis protection and incorporate osteoporosis exercise based on successful evidence-based researches, however giving support for more research that is a requirement to further examine and advance the effectiveness of various programs in various public.


The present study is focused on the problem of reconstruction of the magnetic configuration in the magnetic reconnection electron diffusion region (EDR). The problem is addressed in the frame of electron magnetohydrodynamics with kept electron inertia term. We introduce the new reconstruction model independent of divergence of the electron pressure tensor and reconnection electric field. The model is tested on the magnetotail reconnection event of July 11, 2017 observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft in the course of crossing the very core part of the reconnection region, the internal EDR. This new model demonstrates considerably better accuracy of the longitudinal electron velocity reconstruction due to the lower sensitivity to the configuration deviation from the two‐dimensional time‐independent model adopted in our study. We suggest also a new technique to estimate the guide field, implementing the reconstruction of magnetic potential of the in‐plane magnetic field and relying on symmetric properties of magnetic reconnection.


This study was designed to assess the gastroprotective and secretory effects of ebrotidine, a novel H2-receptor antagonist, in humans. Two groups (A and B) of male subjects with normal gastric mucosa were used. Group A (six subjects) was treated for 3 days with either ebrotidine or placebo in a randomized, crossover study, and on the 4th day 100 ml of 50% ethanol was sprayed on the mucosa via an endoscope. Pretreatment with ebrotidine significantly reduced the endoscopic score of mucosal damage and deep hemorrhagic lesions caused by ethanol as compared with those in placebo-treated subjects. In group B (six subjects) the 24-h pH-metry was assessed with an intraluminal pH electrode placed in the gastric corpus and connected to portable recording apparatus. A single oral dose of ebrotidine (800 mg) caused a significant reduction in circadian acidity and resulted in a marked and significant inhibition of acid secretion for about 6 h on administration. We conclude that ebrotidine is highly effective as a gastroprotective agent, and as an H2-receptor antagonist shows a potent inhibitory effect on gastric acid secretion in humans.


Abstract This article analyses the Mauritian regulatory framework on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and highlights its shortcomings, with the aim of improving the regulation of the approval and monitoring of the use of GMOs in Mauritius. It examines key issues regarding the application for a GMO permit, risk assessment requirements, identification and labelling obligations, post-market monitoring, and liability and redress in the case of damages. There is a need for greater public participation in decision-making on the approval of GMO permits and the monitoring stage procedure, specific civil liability provisions for damage as well as regulation of the coexistence of genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops in the Mauritian biosafety framework. Pending the proclamation of the entire Mauritian GMO Act 2004, relevant transitional provisions should also be provided. Beyond legal provisions on biosafety, a national policy on GM products and GMO-related activities should be elaborated.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether horses living in tick-infested areas of northeastern United States with clinical signs of borreliosis or granulocytic ehrlichiosis had detectable serum antibodies to both Borrelia burgdorferi and Ehrlichia equi.

DESIGN
Prospective study.

ANIMALS
Serum samples from 51 clinically normal horses, 14 horses with clinical signs of borreliosis, and 17 horses with clinical signs of granulocytic ehrlichiosis.

PROCEDURE
Serum B burgdorferi or E equi antibodies were measured by use of an ELISA, immunoblot analysis, or indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) staining.

RESULTS
Of the 82 serum samples tested, 37 (45.1%) and 13 (15.9%) had detectable antibodies to B burgdorferi or E equi, respectively. Test results indicated that 12 horses had been exposed to both agents, 11 of these horses had granulocytic ehrlichiosis. The ELISA regularly detected antibodies to the following recombinant protein (p) antigens of B burgdorferi: p29, p37, p39, and p41-G. The use of immunoblot analysis confirmed ELISA results by indicating antibody reactivities to antigens of whole-cell B burgdorferi having molecular masses of predominantly 31, 34, 37, 39, 41, 58, and 93 kd.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Horses living in areas where ticks (Ixodes scapularis) abound are sometimes exposed to multiple pathogens. Analyses for specific recombinant borrelial antibodies using an ELISA can help separate horses with borreliosis from those with granulocytic ehrlichiosis, even when antibodies to both etiologic agents are detected in serum samples. Analysis using immunoblots is sensitive, and along with ELISA or IFA procedures, is suitable for confirming a clinical diagnosis of each disease.


This paper is concerned with a combining technique of adaptive array antenna and multiple access interference (MAI) cancellation to increase system capacity in wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) systems. With fading vector channels and base stations using coherent demodulation, the performance of the proposed combining multi- user detector is analyzed through several simulations and the effects of power and cross-correlation thresholds of interfering signals are also analyzed. The experimental results show that the combining array antenna system achieves improvement in overall system capacity with reduced system complexity.


In this thesis I present explorative work that shows how sounds beyond speak can be used on the input side in the design of interactive experiences and natural interfaces. By engaging in explorative approaches with a material view on sound and interactive machine learning, I've shown how these two counterparts may be combined with a goal to envision new possibilities and perspectives on sonic natural interfaces beyond speech. This exploration has been guided with a theoretical background of design materials, machine learning, sonic interaction design and with a research through design driven process, I've used iterative prototyping and workshops with participants to conduct knowledge and guide the explorative process. My design work has resulted in new prototyping tools for designers to work with sound and interactive machine learning as well as a prototypes concept for kids that aims to manifest the material findings around sound and interactive machine learning that I've done in this project. By evaluating my design work in contextual settings with participants, I've conducted both analytical and productive investigations than can construct new perspectives on how sound based interfaces beyond speech can be designed to support new interactive experiences with artefacts. Here my focus has been to engage with sound as a design material from both contextual and individual perspectives, and how this can be explored by end-users empowered by interactive machine learning to foster new forms of creative engagement with our physical world.


Although marvelous advancement in drug delivery, oral route remains the preferred route for the administration due to higher levels of patient compliance. Tablet is the most popular among all oral dosage forms existing today because of recently, fast-dissolving drug delivery systems have started gaining popularity and acceptance as new drug delivery systems, because they are easy to administer and lead to better patient compliance its convenience of self administration, compactness and easy manufacturing; however hand tremors, dysphasia in case of geriatric patients, the underdeveloped muscular and nervous systems in young individuals and in case of uncooperative patients, the problem of swallowing is common phenomenon which leads to poor patient compliance. To overcome these drawbacks, mouth dissolving tablets (MDT) or orally disintegrating tablets; (ODT) has emerged as alternative oral dosage forms. These are novel types; of tablets that disintegrate/dissolve/ disperse in saliva within few seconds'. According to European Pharmacopoeia, the ODT should disperse / disintegrate in less than three minutes. The basic approach used in development of MDT is the use of superdisintegrants like Cross linked carboxymelhylcellulose (Croscarmeliose), Sodium starch glycolate (Primogel, Explotab). Polyvinylpyrrolidone (Polyplasdone) etc. which provide instantaneous disintegration of tablet after putting on tongue, thereby releasing the drug in saliva. The bioavailability of some drugs may be increased due to absorption of drugs in oral cavity and also due to pregastric absorption of saliva containing dispersed drugs that pass down into the stomach. Moreover, the amount of drug that is subject to first pass metabolism is reduced as compared to the standard tablets.


The article analyzes the incorporation of applied learning modules for undergraduate students of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos' Administration career to learn more efficiently and dynamically. The Methodology considers the evaluation and review of the criteria taken in a survey to carry out the E-learning Implementation modules. The objective is to determine the factors that influence virtual teaching by validating the students' ability to use a new teaching process to apply any educational topic through this platform. As a result, five factors that influence virtual teaching were determined, validating students' capacity and predisposition to acquire new knowledge through new learning methodologies using virtual media;using these E-learning modules is recommended in conjunction with the Flipped Classroom or B-Learning methodology. It was also determined that only 30% of the students who have taken several virtual courses within their curriculum feel comfortable with this methodology since it requires an entirely didactic and easy to handle system to teach the subject matter..


A description of the general principles involved in remote sensing is followed by a review of instruments designed to sense properties of the Earth's atmosphere and surface from near-Earth orbiting and geostationary satellites. These include instruments for measuring atmospheric temperature, clouds, winds, precipitation and composition (water vapour and trace constituents). Emphasis is on general principles, but a few instruments are described in detail as examples. A list of space-borne atmospheric remote-sensing instruments is included. Methods for data reduction are outside the scope of this review.


This paper examines the stability of some benchmarks on the main campus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and reports the deformation studies of the area around the University dam. This dam serves as the main storage reservoir for the water supply to the University and surrounding communities. In order to study the deformation around the University dam and the stability of benchmarks, several surveys were carried out between 1976 and 2006. Within the period under review, it was revealed that the maximum downward displacement (settlement) of 96.44mm was recorded between 1976 and 2006 for a monitoring station (CP4) situated centrally along the embankment of the dam. The maximum upward displacement (uplift) of 8.03mm was recorded between 1976 and
2002 at a ground point (CP12) located in a roundabout in front of Faculty of Medicine of the University. The monitoring Station CP4 had the greatest average absolute displacement of 3.22mm per annum over the period of thirty years. Detailed results and analysis will be discussed in this paper.. The Information Manager Vol. 7 (2) 2007: pp. 28-39


Concurrently with the advance of urbanization, many urban problems have increased in our everyday life. It is said that there has been a decrease in the number of crimes committed in Japan, but the number of urban crimes is, on the contrary, increasing. Accordingly, crime prevention has been one of the biggest issues in city planning. A number of arguments about CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) or other crime preventive methods have been already carried out. While most papers show the relationship between macroscopic geographical aspects and the occurrence of a specific crime, the impact of more microscopic objects and/or spatial design in the crime site as the spatial vulnerability against a crime has not been clarified. Moreover, there is a clear need to find resilience, in other words the difficulty to commit a crime. Therefore, this paper's purpose is to reveal the vulnerability and resilience against one specific crime, arson, in Fukuoka and more specifically in Haruyoshi district, through consecutive researches from urban planning and environmental psychological viewpoints. As a result, we found that there are temporal and spatial vulnerabilities against arson in Fukuoka and Haruyoshi which remain to be improved intensively. However, at the same time, Haruyoshi has some resilience against arson, and we conclude that the human traffic, observability and inanonymity are high in the district. Consequently, at the end of this paper, based on the knowledge about both vulnerability and resilience of the district, specific suggestions are proposed on the way to install CPTED in Haruyoshi against arson.


The polyamine content of the intestinal mucosa is increased with mucosal proliferation. Our purpose was to determine if urine and jejunostomy polyamine content increases after refeeding and correlates with intestinal length and carbohydrate absorption after intestinal resection. Five patients with intestinal remnant lengths ranging from 1.5 to 8 feet after intestinal resection and jejunostomy formation were studied after refeeding of an elemental diet. Mean putrescine and spermidine levels in the jejunostomy effluent but not in the urine increased significantly after refeeding (p less than 0.05). These changes correlated with intestinal remnant length and carbohydrate absorption. Carbohydrate absorption correlated with polyamine levels in a single patient studied longitudinally. The polyamine content of intestinal fluid may serve as a marker of the status of the intestinal mucosa and may prove useful in the dietary management of individuals with the short bowel syndrome.


Usually, the Reserve Fleet, or Spare Fleet, of passenger urban buses, is based on indicators used in some international relevant companies and extrapolated for many others, almost as a dogma. However, it must be taken into consideration pragmatic variables intrinsic to the buses namely their maintenance and in a more pragmatic approach, indexing their availability and by consequence the reserve fleet indexed to the maintenance policy used in each company. The paper discusses these subjects and presents a global model that integrates the maintenance planning policy, based on a condition monitoring model, maintenance Key Maintenance Indicators (KPI), and an economic life cycle model. The paper presents some results based both in theoretical considerations and also in real data from an urban fleet of a European Countr


The natural wealth that Allah endowed to earth at the time of its creation is called minerals and natural resources. Man is aware of the significance and importance of minerals since the ancient times and since then he has been benefitting from the minerals. But during the last two centuries, the way man has been benefitting from minerals, perhaps the ancient man had never thought of that. In future, the progress and prosperity of mankind will largely depend on the natural resources, and economy will depend on minerals; therefore, it becomes imperative that minerals and the land rich with minerals should be under vigilant protection. These should be spared from the clutches of the international powers in every possible way. The injunctions given by the Sharia regarding minerals should be followed and implemented in every humanly possible way. The lands rich with minerals should be in the control of a government instead of individuals so that people may benefit from the blessings of Allah collectively, and as a nation instead of seeking help and assistance from other developed nations, we should inculcate in ourselves the capacity to extract them, refine them, and get maximum benefit ourselves from them so that we could avoid dependence of others. The wealth got from the minerals should be used for welfare of the masses. Moreover, dishonesty and misappropriation of every sort should be avoided. Collective benefit should be supreme to the individual benefit.


Motivated by the biosynthesis of azamerone, we report the first example of a diazo-Hooker reaction, which involves the formation of a phthalazine ring system by the oxidative rearrangement of a diazoketone. Computational studies indicate that the diazo-Hooker reaction proceeds via an 8π-electrocyclization followed by ring contraction and aromatization. The biosynthetic origin of the diazoketone functional group was also chemically mimicked using a related natural product, naphterpin, as a model system.


Home Safe is a temporary residence that is used to provide protection against victims in accordance with the prescribed standards. Safe house strongly is needed immediately to be built in accordance with the provisions of the law because the victim can tell and feel safe in the safe house. Integrated service center women and Children Empowerment have the task and function to prevent and handle domestic violence that the victims suffer. The problem formulation in this research is that it has not fulfilled the protection of domestic Violence as it has not been formed a safe house in Aceh province. In the discussion of researchers use the type of normative administrative research that is library Research (library) and field research (field) and use qualitative method of data derived from interviews, report notes, documents and others. Based on the research can be obtained the following results: the form of domestic violence that is the cause is economic factors in the family, factors of infidelity, drug factors, the innate factors of the perpetration itself, and Relationship between a married couple who is not balanced. While the P2TP2A effort in reducing domestic violence is to do socialization to Gampong-Gampong to the public about the laws of PKDRT law so that people know about the realm of law that occurs over violence Women. It can be concluded that domestic violence has decreased with the socialization and other performance of the P2TP2A institutions and is advised to immediately build safe houses for victims of domestic violence.Key words: Safe House, Domestic Violence Victims, Aceh


Abstract Radiocontaminants deposited on the soil in a temporally-localized contaminating event, such as a major nuclear-reactor accident, can become incorporated into vegetation and thence into the human diet, as a result of absorption from the soil by plant roots. Models are presented to describe the time-development of such dietary contamination by radio-isotopes of strontium and cesium. The characteristics of the local soil are represented in each model by parameters whose evaluation is complicated by their known strong dependence upon soil type (and hence upon geographic location). It is shown how these poorly-determined soil parameters can be specified with some confidence by taking full advantage of predictive formulae which have been developed empirically (by UNSCEAR and by others) from analyses of two decades of localized fallout data; this is achieved by using the models to predict contamination levels due to hypothetical, protracted fallout and comparing the resulting expressions with UNSCEARs predictive formulae.


Human NLRP1 is a multifunctional inflammasome sensor predominantly expressed in skin and airway epithelium; however its function in skin-specific immunity and its mechanisms of activation are not fully understood. Here we report that human NLRP1 is specifically activated by the ZAKɑ- driven ribotoxic stress response pathway (RSR) induced by ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation or select microbial ribotoxins. Biochemically, RSR-triggered NLRP1 activation requires ZAKɑ- dependent hyperphosphorylation of a human-specific linker region of NLRP1 (NLRP1DR), leading to the 'functional degradation' of the auto-inhibitory NLRP1 N-terminal fragment. Additionally, we show that fusing NLRP1DR to the signaling domains of CARD8, which in itself is insensitive to RSR, creates a minimal inflammasome sensor for UVB and ribotoxins. In summary, these discoveries resolve the mechanisms of UVB sensing by human NLRP1, identify ZAKɑ-activating toxins as novel human NLRP1 activators, and establish NLRP1 inflammasome-dependent pyroptosis as an integral component of the ribotoxic stress response in primary human cells. UVB-induced NLRP1 activation in human keratinocytes involves a nuclear DNA-independent stress response involving photodamaged RNA ZAKɑ kinase is required for UVB-triggered, but not VbP- or dsRNA-induced human NLRP1 activation ZAKɑ-activating microbial ribotoxins specifically activate the NLRP1 inflammasome in multiple primary human cell types Hyperphosphorylation of a linker region (NLRP1DR) is required for RSR-dependent human NLRP1 activation


We review and summarize the features of collapse and fragmentation of isothermal interstellar clouds. When a cloud collapses by its self-gravity, fragmentation occurs at a stage which is early or late, depending on the cloud mass. Fragmentation occurs at an early stage of collapse if a cloud is massive compared with the initial Jeans mass. On the other hand, a small cloud does not fragment at least until the central core becomes opaque and ceases to be collapsing. A sheet-like or a filamentary cloud is likely to fragment. The typical size of a fragment is several times the thickness of a sheet or the radius of a filament. Most fragments of a sheet are elongated, and massive enough to collapse if the external pressure is negligible. Accord· ingly they collapse and become filamentary. After a filament becomes opaque and stops collapsing, it fragments to form blobs with small masses of the order of 10-1M. -10-3M •. If there is some rotation, a collapsing cloud forms not filaments but spiral arms. It is possible that the central part of these spiral arms eventually fragments to blobs with the masses of the order of 10-' M. -10-3M •.


In current greenhouse climate control, temperature set points follow a pre-set trajectory based on absolute or solar time parameters, adapted only to instantaneous and daily radiation. CO2 is supplied during a well defined period of the day until a maximum concentration is reached. However, the rate of CO2 supply is strongly limited by the heat demand, since flue gases are the most commonly used source of CO2. Interactions between effects of light, temperature and CO2 concentration on photosynthesis and crop growth are usually not taken into account. This study aims to make more efficient use of temperature and CO2 by developing an optimised climate control system in which temperature and CO2 are deployed such that energy use is minimised while maintaining crop production. Firstly, the diurnal temperature course resulting in a predefined daily mean value was optimised while minimising the heat demand. Most of the time, this resulted in higher day temperatures and lower night temperatures. Secondly, using the heat storage tank, the partitioning of the CO2 associated with the daily heat demand was optimised, aimed at maximised photosynthesis. Simulation results showed that in the optimised climate control system 7% less energy was used and 2.5% more production was realised than in a standard climate. Testing the optimised climate control in a greenhouse experiment showed that in a sweet pepper crop 6% more energy could be conserved compared to that in the standard climate with similar production levels and fruit quality between the climate control treatments.


Endosulfan is a widely used pesticide despite its extreme toxicity to a variety of taxa and its worldwide ban. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the acute and chronic toxicity of endosulfan on the embryonic‐larval development of the common South American toad Rhinella arenarum. The results showed that lethal and sublethal effects increased with concentration and exposure time. The sensitivity to endosulfan increased during the larval period, the complete operculum stage (S.25) being the most sensitive (504‐h median lethal concentration [LC50] = 0.01 mg endosulfan/L; 10% lethal concentration [LC10] = 0.004 mg endosulfan/L). Endosulfan exposure caused morphological abnormalities such as general underdevelopment, edema, gill malformations, and cellular dissociation as well as neurotoxicity. Our results also showed that larvae exposed to concentrations of 0.005 mg endosulfan/L and 0.01 mg endosulfan/L completed metamorphosis earlier than controls, but with underdevelopment. The 240‐h teratogenic index was 6.13, implying a high risk for embryos to be malformed in the absence of significant embryonic lethality. Because the hazard quotients for chronic exposure were over 1, the level of concern value and toxicity endpoints obtained in the present study for R. arenarum occurred at concentrations lower than the levels of endosulfan reported in the environment, this pesticide should be considered a potential risk for this species. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:875–881. © 2013 SETAC


Patients with incurable carcinoma of the esophagus or the cardia have a miserable life, without being able to swallow and with a risk for pulmonary complications secondary to aspiration of secretion from the esophagus. All efforts should be made to give these patients relief from dysphagia. Our experience indicates that the quality of life may be dramatically improved after dilatation or intubation which restores the ability to swallow, thereby reducing the risk for pulmonary complications.


INTRODUCTIONMaternal use of alcohol drinks during pregnancy is associated with a risk of congenital malformations, functional disorders or immunosuppression. Maternal use of alcohol drinks leads to fetal alcohol syndrome.1,2The majority of chronic alcoholics suspect there might be association between their longstanding alcohol intake and their children's failure to develop well. However, the feeling of guilt and psychic instability caused by alcohol make them refuse admitting their alcohol dependence. These patients may decide to admit their alcohol dependence only upon successful elimination of the guilty feeling and reassurance that it will help their children.3,4The prevalence of alcohol induced lesions is hard to assess; according to French statistical reports, it is estimated to 1:21 2 pregnancies, showing a three times greater possibility of the prevalence of the Down syndrome.4The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of maternal alcohol use and the rate of congenital malformations in neonates exposed in utero to this xenobiotic.SUBJECTS AND METHODSThe part of the study performed at the Genetic Counseling Unit, Institute for Children and Adolescents, University Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the Department of Pathology and Histology, Clinical Center in Novi Sad, Serbia, included pregnant women who came to the Genetic Counseling Unit because of risky pregnancies and pregnant women hospitalized at the University Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics for delivery or abortion (part 1).The other part of the study was performed in four maternity hospitals in Zagreb, Croatia: at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Zagreb University Hospital Center; Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital; Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Merkur University Hospital; and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Sveti Duh General Hospital (part 2).The study included 6099 pregnant women from Novi Sad and 893 pregnant women from Zagreb. Informed consent of their participation in the study was obtained from all study subjects.Data were collected from the following sources:1) Questionnaire for pregnant women, filled in by a physician, containing two types of data: hospital records and information obtained by the interview;2) Thorough physical examination of the neonate, performed by a neonatologist according to standard protocol; and3) Thorough pathologic examination of the fetus, performed by a pathologist according to standard protocols.Vital data on the newborns, maternal data on previous deliveries, as well as the medication taken between hospital admission and delivery were collected from hospital records. The other part of the questionnaire contained data on the mother's age, level of education, use of contraception, ultrasound (US) studies during pregnancy, x-rays during pregnancy, and use of drugs, alcohol, nicotine and opioid substances during pregnancy. Only pregnant women using alcohol during pregnancy were included in the final analysis, i.e. 21 women (7 women from Novi Sad and 14 women from Zagreb). After the delivery or abortion, the newborns and fetuses were thoroughly examined and monitored for the occurrence of minor or major malformations.The use of alcohol drinks and the existence of congenital malformations in newborns and fetuses exposed in utero to this xenobiotic were monitored according to gestational trimesters.RESULTSData analysis showed the use of alcohol during pregnancy in 21 (0.3%) of the 6992 investigated women. Malformations were found in 2 (9.5%) fetuses.Unlimited daily use of alcohol drinks in pregnancy was recorded in 3 (14.3%) cases, whereas another 4 (19.0%) women reported occasional use of small amounts of alcohol drinks until becoming aware of pregnancy, and occasional alcohol intake at meals during pregnancy was recorded in 14 (66. …


In this paper we formulate a generalized stepping stone model with $\Xi$-resampling mechanism to describe the evolution of relative frequencies for different types of alleles in a population with migration between two colonies. For a $\Xi$-coalescent and a jump type mutation generator $A$, such a probability-measure-valued Markov process is dual to the $(\Xi, A)$-coalescent process with geographical labels and migration. The existence of the generalized stepping stone model is directly established from a moment duality by verifying a multidimensional Hausdorff moment problem, and its probability law is also uniquely determined by the moment duality. Further, we characterize the stationary distribution for this model and show that the model is not reversible when the mutation operator is of uniform type.


The Fourier Transform is one of the most important linear transformations used in science and engineering. Cooley and Tukey's Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) from 1964 is a method for computing this transformation in time $O(n\log n)$. Achieving a matching lower bound in a reasonable computational model is one of the most important open problems in theoretical computer science.
In 2014, improving on his previous work, Ailon showed that if an algorithm speeds up the FFT by a factor of $b=b(n)\geq 1$, then it must rely on computing, as an intermediate "bottleneck" step, a linear mapping of the input with condition number $\Omega(b(n))$. Our main result shows that a factor $b$ speedup implies existence of not just one but $\Omega(n)$ $b$-ill conditioned bottlenecks occurring at $\Omega(n)$ different steps, each causing information from independent (orthogonal) components of the input to either overflow or underflow. This provides further evidence that beating FFT is hard. Our result also gives the first quantitative tradeoff between computation speed and information loss in Fourier computation on fixed word size architectures. The main technical result is an entropy analysis of the Fourier transform under transformations of low trace, which is interesting in its own right.


The objectives of this contract are to develop a technology for the production of active and stable iron (Fe) Fischer-Tropsch catalysts for use in slurry-phase synthesis reactors and to develop a scaleup procedure for large-scale synthesis of such catalysts for process development and long-term testing in slurry bubble-column reactors. With a feed containing hydrogen (H{sub 2}) and carbon monoxide (CO) in the molar ratio of 0.5 to 1.0 to the slurry bubble-column reactor, the catalyst performance target is 88% CO+H{sub 2} conversion at a minimum space velocity of 2.4 NL/hr/g Fe. The desired sum of methane and ethane selectivities is no more than 4%, and the conversion loss per week is not to exceed 1%.


A real coded genetic algorithm (RCGA) for parameter optimization of multiarea automatic generating control (AGC) has been proposed. Instead of using a traditional analysis algorithm to obtain the controller parameters, GA optimization technology is introduced and the MATLAB Simulink model is designed as an AGC parameter optimization tool to deal with the interconnection of the AGC loops. Utilizing GA's parallel strings searching in many peaks, the multi variable optimization of multiarea power systems AGC is processed quickly. The nonlinear objects such as generation rate constraint (GRC) and deadband of the turbine governor are treated easily by combination of GA with Simulink. The simulation of a two-area power systems with PID controllers is reported and the results are reasonable.


ABSTRACT The creep compliance is one of the main material characteristics used to describe low temperature behavior of the asphalt mixtures. It also serves as a primary input to the current thermal cracking model in the US that is used to predict thermally induced cracking in asphalt pavements over their service life. The current standard method in the US to determine creep compliance of asphalt mixtures is the Indirect Tensile (IDT) test. This paper investigates the feasibility of using the Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) device to determine the low-temperature creep compliance of thin asphalt mixture beams (127x12.7x6.35mm). The BBR was used to evaluate 20 different asphalt mixtures and the results were compared with the standard IDT results. Direct comparison of the BBR and the IDT results indicate that both methods produce slightly different creep compliance curves and the relative ratio between the BBR and the IDT results varies with time and temperature. A simple phenomenological relation was proposed that gives good predictions of the IDT results based on the BBR creep compliance. Furthermore, short-term aged asphalt binders used in the mixtures were also tested in the BBR. Modified Hirsch model was applied to the BBR results on both mixtures and binders and it was shown that this model is capable of producing quite accurate results in forward and inverse predictions using considered dataset. It was concluded that the BBR can be used in practical and surrogate estimation of the mixture creep compliance but proposed scheme requires validation on other mixture types.


SUMMARY: In mixed cultures where Chilomonas paramecium and Tetrahymena Pyriformis W were in competition for the same dissolved food, the population size of both species (expressed in terms of total number of organisms), as well as the size and shape of individual organisms, were all affected by the presence of the other species. The size of the Chilomonas population was significantly larger in mixed than in single cultures up to the stationary phase, after which the Chilomonas rapidly decreased in numbers and finally died out. The Tetrahymena population was also larger in mixed cultures in the early stages, though by the beginning of the stationary phase this was not so. Only when the Chilomonas had died out did the Tetrahymena population again reach the size of that in single cultures. In terms of total volume of organisms, the growth of the Tetrahymena population was not as good initially as in single cultures. Later, when the Chilomonas population became very small, the total volume of the Tetrahymena population increased and finally reached the size of the population in single cultures.
Chilomonas paramecium and Tetrahymena pyriformis were both more slender in mixed than in single cultures, the differences being statistically significant. Variability of the organisms was greater in mixed cultures and changed with the age of the population. During population growth, the individual size of the Chilomonas and the Tetrahymena changed; but the time-course of change was different for the two species. While the size of the Chilomonas increased in the logarithmic phase and then decreased, the size of the Tetrahymena decreased in the logarithmic phase and increased in the phase of negative growth acceleration. In old cultures, the size of both species was smaller than at the beginning of the stationary phase.


The common cause principle says that every correlation is either due to a direct causal effect linking the correlated entities or is brought about by a third factor, a so-called common cause. The principle is of central importance in the philosophy of science, especially in causal explanation, causal modeling and in the foundations of quantum physics. Written for philosophers of science, physicists and statisticians, this book contributes to the debate over the validity of the common cause principle, by proving results that bring to the surface the nature of explanation by common causes. It provides a technical and mathematically rigorous examination of the notion of common cause, providing an analysis not only in terms of classical probability measure spaces, which is typical in the available literature, but in quantum probability theory as well. The authors provide numerous open problems to further the debate and encourage future research in this field.


Majority of the Ethiopian farmers depend on rain-fed agricultural practices. The rainfall in general is low and variable even in rainy seasons in semi-arid and arid area causes insufficient soil moisture. Moreover this amount of rain during the season lost by runoff without efficiently use by the farmer. The moisture deficient and uncontrollable natural incidence in addition to unwise use of nature leads the districts people to low agricultural productivity, seasonal food shortage, and high incidence of poverty and food insecurity. To resolve this problem the Ministry of Agriculture and some non-governmental organizations have promoted rain water harvesting structures in the district, most commonly trapezoidal type rain water harvesting structure. But, after promoting these structures, the desire of many farmers on use of rain water harvesting micro-pond not encouraging and as such not strong as expected in the study area. Therefore, the major concern of this study was identifying determinants of adoption of rain water harvesting micro-pond in the district generally.


ABSTRACT
 Birds are the specific hosts of many tick species and may contribute to the dissemination of ticks and tick-borne pathogens throughout the world. Determination of ticks infesting birds and their pathogens are important for the detection of natural foci of human pathogens. Unfortunately, there is very limited information about the occurrence of ticks on birds and associated pathogens in Turkey. We performed a tick survey on three passerine bird species; Parus major, Sylvia atricapilla, and Turdus merula. Ticks collected from these birds were identified to species and tested for the presence of Borrelia, Ehrlichia, and Rickettsia species. Ixodes arboricola Schulze & Schlottke, Ixodes frontalis Panzer, and Ixodes ricinus L. were found on the birds. This is the first study reporting the presence of I. frontalis and I. arboricola on S. atricapilla and P. major, respectively, in Turkey. In addition, the results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers specific for gltA and ompA genes and DNA sequence analysis of positive PCR products indicated the presence of Candidatus Rickettsia vini in I. arboricola ticks. In conclusion, this is the first record of both I. arboricola and Candidatus Rickettsia vini in Turkey. Therefore, future studies needed to be conducted on the ticks infesting birds and their pathogens to elucidate the role of birds in the dispersal of tick species and tick-borne pathogens in Turkey.


In this paper, an algorithm for multifocus image fusion is presented. In this algorithm, the discrete multiwavelet transform (DMWT) has been used as decomposition tool to obtain multiresolution data. A major advantage of this method over discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is its sensitivity to different kinds of object features in digital images. The developed algorithm consists of a registration step followed by a decomposition step using DMWT. Then, an optimized coefficient selection algorithm consisting of coefficient grouping and consistency verification is used. Finally, the fused image is obtained by reconstruction of the selected coefficients using inverse DMWT. The algorithm has been applied to some multifocus images. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the results demonstrate higher performance of the algorithm compared to the same method using DWT.


Pruritus is a major symptom of several dermatological diseases but has limited therapeutic options available. Animal models replicating the pathophysiology of pruritus are needed to support the development of new drugs. Induction of pruritus by chloroquine (CQ) in mice is widely used, although, as with similar models, it has low throughput and does not distinguish between antipruritic effects and confounding factors such as sedation. To overcome these issues, we incorporated into the model an automated system that measures both scratching and locomotor behaviour simultaneously. We combined this system with the determination of CQ levels in different tissues to understand the impact of the route of CQ administration on the pruritogenic response. We concluded that whereas oral CQ does not induce pruritus due to insufficient skin levels, the bell‐shaped curve of pruritus observed following subcutaneous administration is due to toxicity at high doses. We validated the model with several drugs currently used in humans: nalfurafine, aprepitant, cyproheptadine and amitriptyline. By comparing the effects of the drugs on both scratching and locomotor activity, we concluded that nalfurafine and aprepitant can exhibit efficacy at doses devoid of central effects, whereas central effects drove the efficacy of the other two drugs. This was further confirmed using non‐brain‐penetrant drugs. Moreover, as anticipated, anti‐inflammatory drugs showed no efficacy. In conclusion, the use of an automated integrated behavioural assessment in CQ‐induced pruritus makes the assay suitable for screening purposes and allows for a correct interpretation of the antipruritic effect of the compounds evaluated.


Open lamellar systems such as layered double hydroxides (LDHs) can be used to generate new intercalation compounds. We report the synthesis of nanocomposite materials consisting of organopolymer molecules encapsulated between ultra-thin mixed-metal hydroxide sheets which are propped apart by spacers [terephthalate or hexacyanoferrate(II) ions acting as pillars]. The oxidising host matrixes [Cu(1 –x)2+Crx3+(OH)2]·[(C6H4-1,4-(CO2)2)x/22–·nH2O] and [Cu(1 –x)2+Alx3+(OH)2]·[(Fe(CN)6)x/44–·nH2O] were used as hosts for the interlamellar oxidative polymerisation of aniline. The materials were prepared using chimie douce pathways and characterised by conventional physical techniques (XRD, FTIR, TG, DTA), which indicated the presence of polyaniline molecules and the retention of the host framework after incorporation of the organopolymer.


The natural oestrogen, 17β-oestradiol, has been implicated in protection from atherosclerosis, a chronic systemic vascular disease with an inflammatory component accounting for the majority of morbidity and mortality in Western countries. Despite the protective effects of 17β-oestradiol in premenopausal women and experimental evidence demonstrating inhibitory effects of oestrogen on atherosclerosis progression, it is currently unclear whether hormone replacement therapy can affect cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal women. The recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of oestrogen action demonstrated roles for different oestrogen receptors and oestrogen metabolites in the pathogenesis of vascular injury and endothelial cell dysfunction. However, their respective role in the process of atherogenesis remains yet to be elucidated. Moreover, the availability of novel drugs with tissue- and/or receptor-specific actions will help to understand the role of oestrogen in cardiovascular diseases. Several ongoing large-scale clinical trials using opposed or unopposed replacement therapy with natural or synthetic oestrogens, or selective oestrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) will resolve the question whether the drugs currently available have therapeutic potential to interfere with the progression of atherosclerosis and its complications.


We propose a model to explain how a gamma-ray burst can take place days or years after a supernova explosion. Our model is based on the conversion of a pure hadronic star (neutron star) into a star made at least in part of deconfined quark matter. The conversion process can be delayed if the surface tension at the interface between hadronic and deconfined quark matter phases is taken into account. The nucleation time (i.e., the time to form a critical-size drop of quark matter) can be extremely long if the mass of the star is small. Via mass accretion the nucleation time can be dramatically reduced and the star is finally converted into the stable configuration. A huge amount of energy, on the order of 1052-1053 ergs, is released during the conversion process and can produce a powerful gamma-ray burst. The delay between the supernova explosion generating the metastable neutron star and the new collapse can explain the delay inferred in GRB 990705 and in GRB 011211.


Aim: To describe the cost of palliative day care (PDC), assessing the value of all resources whether paid for or not. To examine different patterns of resource use resulting from attending PDC. Methods: Five PDC centres in southern England provided detailed cost and resource use data, both paid and unpaid for. The PDC group were consecutive new referrals to a PDC centre who were well enough to be interviewed. The comparison group were recruited from home care teams. Data were collected at baseline, six to eight weeks and 12–15 weeks, on health and social care utilization in the month prior to interview. Data were divided into cohorts based on time from first interview to death and analysed separately. Main outcomes: Annual cost of running a day care centre, and cost per patient per day. Use of all health and social care resources over time, stratified by time from death. Comparison of health and social care by stage of illness, and by PDC attendance. Results: PDC cost around £54 per person per day in 1999, rising to £75 including unpaid resources. 145 patients had data on health and social care use. The patterns of care showed that, overall, patients accessed few services other than PDC. Comparison group patients did not access similar services elsewhere. PDC might substitute home nursing and GP care for patients who attend PDC at least three months before death but this data is not conclusive. Inpatient care was negligible for both groups. Conclusions: A full economic evaluation could not be undertaken without robust evidence of the effectiveness of PDC. PDC centres made use of resources that were not paid for and shared resources with inpatient units, reducing costs. Service use was different for patients who attended compared with patients who did not. Similar services were not accessed elsewhere in the community; PDC does not appear to replicate other services for this group of patients.


Determining the magnitude of particular fault signature components (FSCs) generated by wind turbine (WT) faults from current signals has been used as an effective way to detect early abnormalities. However, the WT current signals are time varying due to the constantly varying generator speed. The WT frequently operates with the generator close to the synchronous speed, resulting in FSCs manifesting themselves in the vicinity of the supply frequency and its harmonics, making their detection more challenging. To address this challenge, the detection of rotor electrical asymmetry in WT doubly fed induction generators, indicative of common winding, brush gear, or high resistance connection faults, has been investigated using a test rig under three different driving conditions, and then an effective extended Kalman filter (EKF) based method is proposed to iteratively estimate the FSCs and track their magnitudes. The proposed approach has been compared with a continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and an iterative localized discrete Fourier-transform (IDFT). The experimental results demonstrate that the CWT and IDFT algorithms fail to track the FSCs at low load operation near-synchronous speed. In contrast, the EKF was more successful in tracking the FSCs magnitude in all operating conditions, unambiguously determining the severity of the faults over time and providing significant gains in both computational efficiency and accuracy of fault diagnosis.


An enantioselective three-component reaction of α-propargylic-3-indolymethanol with diazoindolinone and alcohol under cocatalysis of Rh(II) and chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) has been reported. It proceeds through the regio- and enantiospecific addition of the in situ formed oxonium ylide to the α-propargylic indole iminium ion that is generated from 3-indolyl propargylic alcohol with CPA. This work features an asymmetric counteranion-directed propargylation of oxonium ylide, and provides an efficient access to chiral propargylic indole derivatives with high yields and enantioselectivities.


We consider the problem of using observational data to estimate the causal effects of linguistic properties. For example, does writing a complaint politely lead to a faster response time? How much will a positive product review increase sales? This paper addresses two technical challenges related to the problem before developing a practical method. First, we formalize the causal quantity of interest as the effect of a writer's intent, and establish the assumptions necessary to identify this from observational data. Second, in practice, we only have access to noisy proxies for the linguistic properties of interest—e.g., predictions from classifiers and lexicons. We propose an estimator for this setting and prove that its bias is bounded when we perform an adjustment for the text. Based on these results, we introduce TextCause, an algorithm for estimating causal effects of linguistic properties. The method leverages (1) distant supervision to improve the quality of noisy proxies, and (2) a pre-trained language model (BERT) to adjust for the text. We show that the proposed method outperforms related approaches when estimating the effect of Amazon review sentiment on semi-simulated sales figures. Finally, we present an applied case study investigating the effects of complaint politeness on bureaucratic response times.


Abstract Published data indicate that spawning seasons for the Asian oyster Crassostrea ariakensis and the eastern oyster C. virginica overlap. Hybrids can form, but the larvae are not viable. If C. ariakensis is introduced into Chesapeake Bay and synchronous spawning occurs with native C. virginica, hybridization could reduce the production of viable larvae (=gamete sink). We examined the effects of gamete age, sperm concentration, and ratios of heterospecific gametes on fertilization rates and hybridization between the two species. Interspecific fertilization rates were consistently lower than intraspecific rates. Fertilization rates decayed linearly with gamete age, though intraspecific fertilization rates remained above 50% for 4–6 h, indicating that long dispersal of viable gametes is possible. Fertilization rates decayed in a log-linear manner with decreasing sperm density for intra and interspecific crosses. Fertilization rates declined significantly when sperm were (1) given a choice of eggs from each species to fertilize or (2) required to compete to fertilize eggs from a single species. Hence, a gamete sink will likely occur if these two species spawn synchronously. The magnitude of the gamete sink will depend on both gamete concentrations and the relative proportion of interspecific gametes in the water column. Furthermore, genetic analysis of individual 2-day old larvae indicated that C. virginica sperm was more likely to fertilize C. ariakensis eggs than any other interspecific cross. All else being equal, the removal of C. ariakensis eggs through this mechanism may provide C. virginica with a competitive edge.


Recent studies have shown that the heliospheric magnetic field can be much more radial than the standard Parker spiral in the rarefactions of co‐rotation interaction regions (CIRs). This effect can be explained by the motion of open magnetic field foot points at the Sun across the coronal hole boundary. Such motion causes magnetic field lines to be connected and stretched across the CIR's fast‐slow wind transition, creating a less transverse, "sub‐Parker" magnetic field spiral. Here we include foot point motion at the Sun in a steady‐state magneto‐hydrodynamic (MHD) model to quantify the formation and evolution of such sub‐Parker spirals out to 5 AU. We compare these results with Ulysses CIR observations during its first polar orbit, and find that sub‐Parker spirals consistent with our model are almost always present in CIR rarefactions. Thus, we explain the existence and frequent occurrence of the sub‐Parker spiral structure of heliospheric magnetic field.


Objective To prepare xanthatin (XA)-loaded polydopamine (PDA) nanoparticles (PDA-XA-NPs) and to investigate their adhesion and bioavailability. Materials and methods PDA-XA-NPs were synthesized and characterized using transmission electron microscopy, zeta potential analysis and encapsulation efficiency analysis. Their in vitro release kinetics and inhibitory effects on gastric cancer were studied. The adhesion of PDA-XA-NPs was evaluated by in vivo imaging atlas. The pharmacokinetics of PDA-XA-NPs and XA was compared. Results PDA-XA-NPs had a spherical shape, a particle size of about 380 nm, an encapsulation efficiency of (82.1 ± 0.02) % and a drug loading capacity of (5.5 ± 0.1)%. The release of PDA-XA-NPs in PBS was stable and slow, without being affected by pH. The adhesion capacity of PDA-XA-NPs for mucin was significantly higher than that of bulk drug. The gastric mucosal retention of PDA-XA-NPs reached 89.1% which significantly exceeded that of XA. In vivo imaging showed that PDA-XA-NPs targeting the stomach were retained for a period of time. The pharmacokinetics study showed that PDA-XA-NPs had a longer retention time and a slower drug release than those of XA. In vitro experiments confirmed that PDA-XA-NPs exerted similar inhibitory effects on gastric cancer to those of XA, which lasted for a period of time. Conclusion High-adhesion NPs were constructed. Gastric cancer was targeted by orally administered PDA-XA-NPs, as a potentially feasible therapy. Eventually, the bioavailability of XA was increased.


This thesis describes the environmental loading and motion response prediction methods of mooring systems. The first chapter presents existing Single Point Mooring Terminals and gives a summary of previous studies carried out on this subject The main objectives of the study are also explained. Finally the structure of the thesis is given. The second chapter is concerned with the motion response prediction of moored buoys. Wave forces acting on the buoy are calculated using Morison's Equation. Catenary equations are utilized to derive cable forces. Two different buoy geometries, cylindrical and conical, are considered in the study. Experimental measurements are compared with time and frequency domain modellings. In the third chapter, diffraction theory used to derive the wave forces is explained. The tanker is modelled as a vertical elliptical cylinder with a finite draught. Calculated wave forces are compared with Oortmerssen's experiments and with the results of a 3-D program developed by Chan. The water depth effect on wave forces is investigated. Program results for various angles of incidence and for different elliptic cylinders are presented. The second order mean force is calculated using the far-field approach, introduced by Maruo. Also the radiation problem of the tanker which is modelled as an elliptical cylinder is solved. Program results are compared with Oortmerssen's experiments and with Chan's 3-D program results. Program results for different cylinders and for different water depth/draught ratios are presented. Chapter 4 describes a time domain model used to predict the motion responses of a tanker-buoy system under wave, wind and current loading. Motion equations of the tanker-buoy system are derived by using Cummins' method. Frequency-independent hydrodynamic coefficients and time histories of wave forces in irregular seas are calculated. Experimental measurements are compared with the time domain simulation results. Chapter 5 presents the results of a series of parametric studies. A computer program developed to predict the motion responses of the coupled tanker-buoy system is run for different parameters, such as; wave, wind and current angle of attacks, wind and current speed, elasticity of the mooring lines and the hawser line, buoy and tanker geometry, water depth, draught of the ship. Numerical aspects of the program, such as the solution of the differential equations and the evaluation of the convolution integral are discussed. In chapter 6 a description of model tests performed in regular waves is presented. Two sets of experiments are conducted. The first set of experiments aims to predict the motion responses of conical and cylindrical buoys, the second to predict the motion responses of the tanker-buoy system and the hawser line forces. In the final chapter general conclusions are drawn and some recommendations for future work are made.


A technique is described for perfusing the parametrial fat pad of the rat. The rate of flow through the tissue was dependent on temperature, pressure, and the protein composition of the perfusing fluid. The latter also had a pronounced effect on the rate of edema formation in the tissue. The rate of fatty acid release by perfused adipose tissue was affected by the nutritional state of the fat donor and by the composition of the perfusing fluid. Tissue from fed rats did not release fatty acids. Adipose tissue from fasted rats released fatty acids when the tissue was perfused with diluted blood (1.10) or 4% albumin solution but not when perfused with 8% albumin. Perfused tissue released fatty acids at a much faster rate than did incubated tissue. Diluted blood and serum inhibited the release of fatty acids by incubated adipose tissue.


Calcium ion uptake into otoconia and bone mineral of the young adult rat was studied by use of 45Ca and liquid scintillation spectrometry. Results showed that saccular and utricular otoconia take up 45Ca in a time course generally comparable to bone but on a much lower scale. Saccular otoconia showed greater uptake than utricular. The results are interpreted to indicate the dynamic nature of saccular and utricular otoconia and their possible importance in preserving ionic homeostasis of the inferior and superior parts of the labyrinth, respectively.


Context: Indomethacin is the most commonly and widely used nonsteroidal antinflammatory analgesic and antipyretic drug. Though it is effective drug in various diseases, indomethacin causes inhibition of spermatogenesis by lowering the pH of seminal fluid leading to infertility. On the other hand, vitamin E enhances spermatogenesis by increasing pH of the seminal fluid. Therefore, the present study was designed to observe the protective role of vitamin E on indomethacin induced low pH of seminal fluid in testicular damage. Objective: To observe the effects of vitamin E on indomethacin induced low pH of seminal fluid in testicular damage in Long Evans rats. Study design: An experimental study. Place and period of study: The study was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka in the period of August, 2005 to June, 2006. Materials and methods: Eightyfour mature Long Evans male rats were divided into four groups (I, II, III and IV). The rats of group I, II and III were treated with indomethacin at different doses and duration. Group IV rats were treated with indomethacin plus vitamin E at different doses for 49 days. The pH of seminal fluid were measured biochemically. Results: There was significant reduction (P<0.001) of pH of seminal fluid when the rats were treated with indomethacin at low (2 mg/kg body weight/day) and high (10 mg/kg body weight/day) doses for 7, 14 and 42 days, respectively. On the other hand, rats treated with indomethacin plus vitamin E for 49 days showed increase in pH of seminal fluid compared to other groups (P<0.001). Conclusion: It can be concluded from the study that vitamin E has potential role in the prevention of the antispermatogenic effects of indomethacin by increasing the pH of seminal fluid. Key words: seminal fluid; indomethacin; vitamin E DOI: 10.3329/bja.v8i1.6103 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy January 2010, Vol. 8 No. 1 pp. 13-15


For a successful international technical cooperation through the government has tried many alternatives. However, international technical cooperation through international exhibitions Activation did not occur yet in our country. In this paper, accompanied by the Germans in 2009 states "Year of Korea" through the international technical cooperation to enable the policy to run the case study suggests implications for the government to find us through the aims of the study. For this paper, the researchers direct 20 to 30 April 2009 Hannover Messe, Germany Visit, officials and Interviews were conducted with officials. This paper consists of five chapters is the total. Chapter 2 describes the characteristics for Hannover Messe and Chapter 3 of 2009 "Year of Korea" was through a case study. Chapter 4 Messe Hannover, Germany, examined through the results and outcomes Section 5, we derive policy implications.


Sphingolipids such as ceramide are important mediators of apoptosis and growth arrest triggered by ligands such as tumor necrosis factor and Fas-L binding to their receptors. When LM (expressing p53) and LME6 (lacking p53) cells were exposed to the genotoxinN-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), both cell lines underwent cytolysis in a very similar manner, suggesting the presence of a p53-independent apoptotic response to this genotoxic stress. To determine whether sphingolipids such as ceramide might serve as mediators in this system, the responses of these cells to exogenous sphingolipids as well as their changes in endogenous sphingolipid levels after DNA damage were examined. Treatment with exogenous C2-ceramide and sphingosine led to cell death in both LM and LME6, and treatment of the LME6 cells with MNNG resulted in a transient increase in intracellular ceramide of ∼50% over a period of 3 h. Finally, treatment with the de novo inhibitor of ceramide synthesis ISP-1 protected LME6 cells from MNNG-triggered cell death. This MNNG-triggered induction of ceramide was not observed in the p53-expressing LM cells, suggesting that it may be down-regulated by p53. Although ceramide-mediated cell death can proceed in the absence of p53, exogenously added C2-ceramide increased the cellular p53 level in LM cells, suggesting that the two pathways do interact.


The eukaryotic initiation factor 4E binding protein (4E-BP) family is involved in translational control of cell proliferation and pro-angiogenic factors. The zebrafish eukaryotic initiation factor 4E binding protein 3 like (eif4ebp3l) is a member of the 4E-BPs and responsible for activity-dependent myofibrillogenesis, but whether it affects cardiomyocyte (CM) proliferation or heart regeneration is unclear. We examined eif4ebp3l during zebrafish vascular development and heart regeneration post cryoinjury in adult zebrafish. Using morpholino injections we induced silencing of eif4ebp3l in zebrafish embryos, which led to increased angiogenesis at 94 h post fertilization (hpf). For investigation of eif4ebp3l in cardiac regeneration, zebrafish hearts were subjected to cryoinjury. Regenerating hearts were analyzed at different time points post-cryoinjury for expression of eif4ebp3l by in situ hybridization and showed strongly decreased eif4ebp3l expression in the injured area. We established a transgenic zebrafish strain, which overexpressed eif4ebp3l under the control of a heat-shock dependent promotor. Overexpression of eif4ebp3l during zebrafish heart regeneration caused only macroscopically a reduced amount of fibrin at the site of injury. Overall, these findings demonstrate that silencing of eif4ebp3l has pro-angiogenic properties in zebrafish vascular development and when eif4ebp3l is overexpressed, fibrin deposition tends to be altered in zebrafish cardiac regeneration after cryoinjury.


Oxford in search of history is a ground-breaking course which provides a wealth of textual and visual sources. The course encourages critical thinking and historical analysis. Within the course, learners explore the complexity of historical understanding and investigate the relevance of History in their lives today.


the effect of culture and religion on spatial configuration of organic cities is well noticeable in formation of the islamic Malay Traditional Towns, In the process of formation and evolution of those towns, thoughts, beliefs and emotions of the public were manifested. Accordingly, the aforementioned towns were located in the river mouth or 'Kuala' and the town shape expanded from the town center. In its most basic form, the traditional towns consisted of six components, which are; the river, the palace, the mosque, the open field, the commercial centre and the indigenous settlements. Out of these six, the three basic elements; the Palace. Mosque and Field or 'Padang' formed the planning base of the Malay towns thaht displayed the relationship between the religion, the ruler and the people. Rapid urbanization and development has brought about irreplaceable changes to the Islamic Malay traditional Towns. Although some features of the traditional town can still be traced, it is feared that by the end of this area, there will be any evidences of such significant identity. The discussion of Islamic malay Traditional Towns are hampered by three interconnected factors-inadequacy of research interest and input, rehabilitation and conservation of old city areas and monuments received little attention in urban development policy, lack of understanding of formation of these towns with respect to tradition, religion and beliefs of the people. The principle objective of this paper is to present empirical overview of the significant attributes and formation of Malay Traditional Towns. The paper finally presents an urban model of morphology and spatial organization with considerations on the need for area rehabilitation of Malay traditional town. Their sustainability and revitalisation will be most feasible if they are integrated into new concepts of the present day requirements.


While literature indicates that strong intellectual property (IP) protection is needed to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries like Guatemala, the literature fails to address adequately the economic, social, and political considerations facing developing nations in the reformation of their IP laws. This article addresses those considerations by applying John Rawls' Difference Principle. Rawls' Difference Principle depicts justice as an issue of fairness, which focuses on the distribution of resources and permits an unequal distribution only to the extent that the weakest members of society benefit from that inequality. This article finds that Rawls would reject the findings from the literature and support a weak IP regime in Guatemala for three key reasons. First, economically, Guatemala's weakest members would have immediate access to otherwise price-prohibitive products. Second, socially, Guatemala could reallocate resources to service Guatemala's weakest members more pressing needs. Third, politically, Guatemala's IP weak regime would be entirely consistent with the letter of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and improve relations with its trading partners. According to Rawls, Guatemala's approach to maintain a weak IP regime would be ethically sound.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate changes in the incidence, prevalence, severity, and onset age of visual impairment (VI) due to diabetic retinopathy (DR) and compare these trends in the screening and treatment of diabetes during 40 years based on Finnish national register data. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We included people with VI with nonproliferative DR (NPDR; n = 2,490, 73% women) or proliferative DR (PDR; n = 2,026, 53% women) as the main diagnosis for VI during 1980–2019 in the Finnish Register of Visual Impairment. The number of patients with treated diabetes during 1986–2019 was obtained from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland registers based on reimbursed medication data. RESULTS The annual incidence of reported VI due to DR has decreased since it peaked in the 1990s: regarding NPDR, it decreased from 102.3 to 5.5 per 100,000 patients with treated diabetes between the 1990s and 2010s; regarding PDR, the respective change was from 39.9 to 7.4. The incidence of patients with diabetes treated for DR increased during this period. Annual prevalence of reported VI and differences between sexes steadily decreased in the 2000s and 2010s. The severity of reported VI has decreased, and the age at the onset of reported VI increased during the 40 years. CONCLUSIONS Prevalence and incidence of VI due to DR have dramatically decreased and shifted to older age during the 40 years despite the increasing prevalence of diabetes. These positive trends highlight the successful development and effectiveness of screening and therapies for diabetes and DR.


The article compares the advantages and disadvantages of ways completion of surgery for peritonitis. Abdominal drainage is not able to adequately sanitize the abdominal cavity. Active effect on the infectious process in the postoperative period can be accomplished using laparostomy and programmed abdominoscopy and abdominal cavity sanation. Using programmed sanation laparoscopy in the treatment of peritonitis significantly shortens hospital stay, enables to avoid a number of postoperative complications.


UNLABELLED
Designing and building a pharmaceutical facility requires the owner, engineer of record, and constructor to be knowledgeable with regard to the industry codes and standards that apply to this effort. Up until 1997 there were no industry standards directed at the needs and requirements of the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to that time it was a patchwork effort at resourcing and adopting nonpharmaceutical-related codes and standards and then modifying them in order to meet the more stringent requirements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 1997 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) published the first Bioprocessing Equipment (BPE) Standard. Through harmonization efforts this relatively new standard has brought together, scrutinized, and refined industry accepted methodologies together with FDA compliance requirements, and has established an American National Standard that provides a comprehensive set of standards that are integral to the pharmaceutical industry. This article describes various American National Standards, including those developed and published by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and how they apply to the pharmaceutical industry. It goes on to discuss the harmonization effort that takes place between the various standards developers in an attempt to prevent conflicts and omissions between the many standards. Also included are examples of tables and figures taken from the ASME-BPE Standard. These examples provide the reader with insight to the relevant content of the ASME-BPE Standard.

LAY ABSTRACT
Designing and building a pharmaceutical facility requires the owner, engineer of record, and constructor to be knowledgeable with regard to the industry codes and standards that apply to this effort. Up until 1997 there were no industry standards directed at the needs and requirements of the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to that time it was a patchwork effort at resourcing and adopting nonpharmaceutical-related codes and standards and then modifying them in order to meet the more stringent requirements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 1997 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) published the first Bioprocessing Equipment (BPE) Standard. In its initial development and ongoing maintenance it works with other American National Standards developers to harmonize the many standards associated with the design, engineering, and construction of bioprocessing facilities. This harmonization effort has established a comprehensive set of standards for the betterment of the pharmaceutical industry at large. This effort is, and will remain, very important as technology, along with new and improved product and processes, evolve into the future.


The distributions of SET pulse-widths produced by heavy ions in 130-nm and 90-nm CMOS technologies are measured experimentally using an autonomous pulse characterization technique. The event cross section is the highest for SET pulses between 400 ps to 700 ps in the 130-nm process, while it is dominated by SET pulses in the range of 500 ps to 900 ps in the 90-nm process. The increasing probability of longer SET pulses with scaling is a key factor determining combinational logic soft errors in advanced technologies. Mixed mode 3D-TCAD simulations demonstrate that the variation of pulse-width results from the variation in strike location.


Background. Wheat is a staple food crop and easily accessible to the population, so the biofortification of wheat grains is substantial to mitigate malnutrition. Objective. To evidence and select wheat genotypes based on nutritional multi-characters of grains based on genetic parameters. Methodology. Experiments were carried out in the 2019 agricultural season in five wheat areas of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in two sowing seasons, in the municipalities of Cachoeira do Sul, Cruz Alta, Santo Augusto, São Gabriel and Vacaria. The experimental design was randomized blocks, organized in a factorial scheme with 10 cultivation environments (5 sites by two sowing dates) and 30 genotypes, with three replications. To carry out the selection of genotypes, the WAASB, AMMI, GGE and BLUP methodologies were applied. Results. In terms of lipids and fibers, three mega environments were formed, highlighting the genotypes BRS 327, CD 1550, Ametista, CD 1303 and BRS 331, respectively. For mineral material, there was the formation of two mega environments and the genotypes that stood out were Quartz and Tbio Toruk, while for carbohydrate there was the formation of a mega environment and the genotype that stood out was CD 1550. The Tbio Mestre and LG Prisma genotypes were the ideal genotypes, with high performance in the Cachoeira do Sul environment – Sowing 2nd fortnight. Tbio Iguaçú expressed high levels of lipids in Santo Augusto – Seeding 1st fortnight, São Gabriel – Seeding 2nd fortnight and Vacaria – Seeding 2nd fortnight. ORS 1405 and Tbio Iguaçú expressed high levels of carbohydrates in the Vacaria - Seeding 2nd fortnight environment. Heritabilities without interaction effects were high, which characterizes high genotypic additive variance. Implications. The current results indicate that there is genetic variability, making it possible to select genotypes with greater expression of nutrients in the grains. Conclusion. The TBio Mestre, CD 1440, LG Prisma and Marfim genotypes expressed greater performance and stability of the evaluated traits.


ABSTRACT Over the past three decades, the higher education landscape in many Asian countries has witnessed various changes, many of which have resulted from foreign influences and the interactions of local education policy discourse with neo-liberal globalisation, market forces and the demand for a market economy. This article provides nuanced insights into how foreign forces have influenced the practices related to teaching-learning, research and community engagement in three Vietnamese universities. The analysis of university leaders' and academics' perspectives reveals positive changes in university practices as a result of this interaction and learning from foreign partners, including the shift towards practice-based and student-centred teaching, fairer treatment of students, stronger awareness of the value and principles of undertaking research and the closer connection with social demands in teaching and research. The analysis also indicates the ways foreign practices clash with Vietnamese higher education structures, Confucian values and the Communist leadership. The article discusses implications for Vietnamese universities to creatively learn from and localise international practices, while avoiding being colonised by foreign forces.


Various concrete mixtures were produced using crushed limestone and river gravels with four different maximum sizes of 10, 15, 22, and 30 mm (0.39, 0.59, 0.87, and 1.18 in.). The 28-day cube strength of concrete mixtures ranged between 28 and 43 MPa (4061 and 6236.6 psi). Beam specimens were cast by these concrete mixtures and cores were drilled from the beams. Compressive strength tests were performed at the ages of 7, 28, and 90 days on a total of 2268 core and cube specimens and the effect of core diameter on concrete core strength was examined. The strength correction factors were determined to convert the strength of a core with a diameter of 144, 69, or 46 mm (5.67, 2.72, or 1.81 in.) to that of a core having a diameter of 94 mm (3.70 in.). As the maximum aggregate size increased, the strength of the core decreased and, consequently, the correction factors increased. The effect was more pronounced for smaller diameter cores. The correction factors were somewhat higher for cores drilled from river gravel concrete. The age of the concrete was found to be an important factor in the strength correction of different diameter cores, that is, the older the concrete, the lower the correction factor. It should be noted, however, that it is very difficult to use age-versus-correction factor relation in practical terms. Additionally, test results showed that the length-to-diameter ratio of the specimen is more significant for small-diameter cores.


Abstract A new pyrrolidine alkaloid named Punigratane was isolated from the rind of Punica granatum. This is the first report of a pyrrolidine-like structure from the rind. The activity of this compound was tested in a representative MDR Klebsiella pneumoniae strain which exhibited high efflux pump activity. At a concentration of 6 mg, this compound Punigratane was found to have efflux inhibition activity.


Along with the rise of artificial intelligence and the internet-of-things, synthesized voices are now common in daily--life, providing us with guidance, assistance, and even companionship. From formant to concatenative synthesis, the synthesized voice continues to be defined by the same traits we prescribe to ourselves. When the recorded voice is synthesized, does our perception of its new machine embodiment change, and can we consider an alternative, more inclusive form? To begin evaluating the impact of aesthetic design, this study presents a first--step perception test to explore the paralinguistic traits of the synthesized voice. Using a corpus of 13 synthesized voices, constructed from acoustic concatenative speech synthesis, we assessed the response of 23 listeners from differing cultural backgrounds. To evaluate if perception shifts from the defined traits, we asked listeners to assigned traits of age, gender, accent origin, and human--likeness. Results present a difference in perception for age and human--likeness across voices, and a general agreement across listeners for both gender and accent origin. Connections found between age, gender and human--likeness call for further exploration into a more participatory and inclusive synthesized vocal identity.


Introduction: Over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics including aspirin-containing powder formulations (BC Powder, Goody's Powder) (ACPFs) are commonly utilized in the United States. While the ACPFs have been associated with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, we describe a case series of patients presenting with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) within 24 hours of ingestion. Methods: We reviewed all ICH patients presenting to a comprehensive stroke center from September 1, 2014 through June 30, 2016 to identify patients who reported taking BC Powder or Goody's Powder within 7 days of their stroke. Baseline characteristics, medication use, stroke risk factors, clinical imaging, and laboratory testing were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Of 334 patients admitted with ICH during the study period, 6 (2%) reported use of OTC analgesic powders within 1 week of their index stroke. All had consumed at least 1 packet within 24 hours of their ICH. All patients were African American and all except 1 patient were females. Three patients had no identified traditional stroke risk factors and 3 other patients had evidence of mild hypertension history. Conclusions: Over-the-counter analgesic powders containing high doses of aspirin including BC Powder and Goody's Powder may contribute to ICH in patients with no or minimal risk factors. Providers should inquire about the use of these powders in ICH patients particularly among African Americans.


Electromembrane extraction (EME) is an extraction method on the micro scale, in which charged compounds are extracted from a donor phase (sample solution) into an acceptor phase via a supported liquid membrane (SLM) containing a water-immiscible organic solvent. To enhance the extraction efficiency and selectivity in this method, some studies have focused on the modification of the SLM, and thus many strategies have been reported for this purpose. One of these techniques is the introduction of nanomaterials in the SLM structure, which can enhance the extraction efficiency. In the current study, the different nanostructures used for SLM modification in the EME method are reviewed. Furthermore, the related analytical parameters of the developed techniques are classified and tabulated. It is hoped that this review will motivate further research in this field using other nanostructures.


Liberia's newly approved water and sanitation policy states that 'water is life' and 'sanitation is dignity'. These powerful statements signal a welcome commitment in a country where safe water and decent sanitation have long been absent for the vast majority of the population, with catastrophic impacts on life and social welfare. The key challenge for the Government of Liberia, and the donors who support it, will be to turn this commitment into positive outcomes for Liberia's 3.5 million people. This report therefore focuses on the questions that will be crucial in this process. Firstly, is the water and sanitation sector in Liberia prioritised to reflect this commitment? Are there clear, actionable plans to make this commitment a reality? Does Liberia have resources and sufficient support to ensure that communities stop risking their lives and dignity? Finally, what challenges remain and what can be done to address them?


Optical non-linearity of cobalt oxide with SiO 2-TiO2 additives was investigated, and the change mechanism of the refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k), based on the relation between band structure and optical non-linearity of the thin films, was discussed. Refractive index and extinction coefficient of Co30 4 thin films in the ground state were 3.17 and 0.42, respectively. Both n and k decreased by irradiation from a pulse laser with 650 nm of wavelength (1.91eV). These values in the excited state were 2.91 and 0.41, respectively. n2 estimated from the change of n and k was -2.8 x 10m/W. The film had a band gap corresponding to 2.06eV, indicating that it was widened by the band filling effect during the laser irradiation at 1.91eV, and this led to the decrease in absorption coefficient and refractive index.


Drift waves and drift vortices are low-frequency phenomena that occur in inhomogeneous plasmas embedded in strong magnetic fields. They propagate in the direction perpendicular to the density gradient and to the background magnetic field with phase velocities that are characterized by the diamagnetic velocity. Drift waves and vortices propagate in complementary velocity intervals. Most probably, they play an important role in the anomalous cross-field transport in magnetically confined plasmas. These phenomena can be described by a plasma model in which the electrons and ions are treated as separate fluids that are coupled through the electromagnetic field.