Abstract Many traits including trophic niche parameters are attributed to species. However, generalist species may vary in trophic niches with environments, making species‐based knowledge hard to extrapolate beyond local food webs. Here we tested trophic consistency in oribatid mite species (Acari), one of the most abundant arthropods that occupy all trophic levels in soil food webs. We used stable isotope analysis to compare trophic niches of 40 Oribatida species that co‐occur in litter (OL) and soil (0–5 cm, mainly OF/H, AH) of five forest types (native European beech, non‐native Douglas fir, range‐expanding Norway spruce, two beech–conifer mixed forests). Although stable isotope signatures of bulk material differed between litter and soil, 13C and 15 N values of Oribatida species were remarkably stable irrespective of soil depth. Furthermore, Oribatida were more enriched in 13C in European beech than in coniferous forests, but forest type little affected 15 N values of Oribatida across a range of site conditions. We conclude that Oribatida species occupy virtually identical trophic niches (δ13C and δ15N values) irrespective of the soil depth they colonize and that forest management including non‐native tree species little affects trophic position (δ15N values) of oribatid mites. Our findings suggest that the trophic position can be used as a trait in community analysis of Oribatida across forest ecosystems. Our results further indicate that trophic niches of generalist species can be highly consistent irrespective of environment.


The volume of the levator superior rectus muscle complex was determined from computed tomography scans of 152 orbits from 76 patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy. Clinically observed lid retraction and lid lag did not correlate with the levator/superior rectus muscle volume and did not correlate with limitation of vertical eye movements or inferior rectus muscle volume. These results do not support previously published hypotheses that muscle hypertrophy or levator/superior rectus muscle overaction secondary to inferior rectus muscle restriction are major causes of lid retraction and lid lag. Local adhesion of the levator muscle to fixed orbital tissues is postulated to be the most likely basis for the characteristic lid retraction and lid lag of Graves' ophthalmopathy.


This paper presents a novel approach towards Arabic handwritten word recognition using the zone-wise material. Due to complex nature of the Arabic characters involving issues of overlapping and related issues like touching, the segmentation and recognition is a monotonous main occupation of in Arabic cursive (e.g. Naskha, Riqaa and other comparable scripts written for Holy Quran). To solve the issues of this character segmentation in such cursive, HMM founded on sequence modelling relying on the holistic way. This paper proposes an efficient framework word recognition by segmenting the handwritten word features horizontally into three zones (upper, middle and lower) and then recognise the corresponding zones. The aim of this zone is to minimise the quantity of distinct component classes associated to the total a number of classes in Arabic cursive. As an outcome of this proposed approach is to enhance the recognition performance of the system. The elements of segmentation zone especially in middle zone (baseline), where characters are frequently tender, are recognised using HMM. After the recognition of middle zone, HMM Based in Viterbi forced Alignment is performed to mark the right and left characters in conjoint zones. Next, the residue components, if any, in upper and lower zones are highlighted in a character boundary then the Components are joint with the morphology of the character to achieve the whole word level recognition. Water reservoir created the main properties that had integrated into the framework to increase the performance of the zone segmentation especially for the upper zone for the character to determine the boundary detection imperfections in segmentation stage. A new sliding window-based feature, named hierarchical Histogram OFOriented Gradient (PHOG) is suggested for lower and upper zone recognition. The comparison study with other similar PHOG features and found robust for Arabic handwriting script recognition. An exhaustive experiment is performed of other handwriting using different dataset such IFN / IFNT to evaluate the rate and the recognition performance. The outcome of this experiment, it has been renowned that proposed zone -wise recognition increases accuracy.


A patient with a history of early onset preeclampsia and repeated fetal death, high titer IgG anticardiolopin antibodies and prolonged aPTT was treated during her third pregnancy with intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) from the seventh month of pregnancy onwards. Every month--after a loading dose of 30 g immunoglobulins--a daily infusion of 3 g immunoglobulin was for three days was given during six consecutive cycles. The patients pregnancy ended preterm with a life birth, delivered by cesarean section, because of a severe preeclampsia. The 1600 g weighing boy was in good health. Each treatment with IVIG resulted in a reduction of anticardiolipin-antibodies. During the seventh months observation period, a gradual increase in PAI activity/factor VIIIR:Ag was found. A partial transient reduction of antiphospholipid-antibody levels was observed immediately following each treatment course resulting in an accelerated fetal outcome.


Abstract. We perform a source attribution for tropospheric and ground-level ozone using a novel technique which accounts separately for the contributions of the two chemically distinct emitted precursors (reactive carbon and oxides of nitrogen) to the chemical production of ozone in the troposphere. By tagging anthropogenic emissions of these precursors according to the geographical region from which they are emitted, we determine source/receptor relationships for ground-level ozone. Our methodology reproduces earlier results obtained through other techniques for ozone source attribution, and also delivers additional information about the modelled processes responsible for intercontinental transport of ozone, which is especially strong during the spring months. The current generation of chemical transport models used to support international negotiations aimed at reducing the intercontinental transport of ozone show especially strong inter-model differences in simulated springtime ozone. Current models also simulate a large range of different responses of surface ozone to methane, one of the major precursors of ground-level ozone. Using our novel source attribution technique, we show that emissions of NOx from international shipping over the high seas play a disproportionately strong role in our model system to the hemispheric-scale response of surface ozone to changes in methane, as well as to the springtime maximum in intercontinental transport of ozone and its precursors. We recommend a renewed focus on improvement of the representation of the chemistry of ship NOx emissions in current-generation models. We demonstrate the utility of ozone source attribution as a powerful model diagnostic tool, and recommend that similar source attribution techniques become a standard part of future model inter-comparison studies.


if only to wish her a proper farewell, and along the way are joined by the various people Beedy has affected. An award-winning book originally published in the Netherlands, this is an odd little tale that has more potential to appeal to adults than youngsters, particularly as the language becomes increasingly metaphorical in its imagery and allusions. Fortunately, the whimsy of the book's premise will most likely be enough to get young readers' attentions, and, like Michelle Cuevas's recent The Masterwork of a Painting Elephant (BCCB 12/11), the book might provide a pleasing read-together possibility, prompting discussion about the differences between love and possession, imagination and reality. The translated prose is a bit stilted at times, but van Leeuwen's line drawings, reminiscent of Shel Silverstein and Quentin Blake in their frenetic, dashed energy, bring a bit of levity to what is otherwise a quiet, contemplative tale. KQG


Text simplification is the process of splitting and rephrasing a sentence to a sequence of sentences making it easier to read and understand while preserving the content and approximating the original meaning. Text simplification has been exploited in NLP applications like machine translation, summarization, semantic role labeling, and information extraction, opening a broad avenue for its exploitation in comprehension-based question-answering downstream tasks. In this work, we investigate the effect of text simplification in the task of question-answering using a comprehension context. We release Simple-SQuAD, a simplified version of the widely-used SQuAD dataset. Firstly, we outline each step in the dataset creation pipeline, including style transfer, thresholding of sentences showing correct transfer, and offset finding for each answer. Secondly, we verify the quality of the transferred sentences through various methodologies involving both automated and human evaluation. Thirdly, we benchmark the newly created corpus and perform an ablation study for examining the effect of the simplification process in the SQuAD-based question answering task. Our experiments show that simplification leads to up to 2.04% and 1.74% increase in Exact Match and F1, respectively. Finally, we conclude with an analysis of the transfer process, investigating the types of edits made by the model, and the effect of sentence length on the transfer model.


The hydrodynamic diameter of Aum(pMBA)n [(m, n) = (102, 44) and (144, 60)] clusters in aqueous media was determined via DOSY NMR spectroscopy. The apparent size of the same (n, m) cluster depends on the counter ion of the deprotonated pMBA(-) ligand as explained by the competing ion-pair strength and hydrogen bonding interactions studied in DFT calculations. The choice of the counter ion affects the surface chemistry and molecular structure at the organic/water interface, which is relevant for biological applications.


Thirty-one patients with severe mechanical infertility were treated with clomiphene citrate and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) at the start of our in vitro-fertilization and embryo-transfer program. Laparoscopies were performed 34 to 36 h after HCG administration in 32 cases, oocytes were recovered in 29 (91%) and in 19 (59%) at least one oocyte was fertilized. Embryos were transferred to the uterus in 12 cases (38%) and a pregnancy was established in a woman in whom 3 embryos were transferred. This pregnancy terminated at the 39th week of gestation with the delivery of a healthy female baby.


The aim of this study is to develop a computational model to analyze thermally induced stress and deformation in a heat generating solid rod. The rod is initially at zero temperature, but for times greater than zero heat is generated internally at both space and time dependent rate. As the rod is heated up slowly an uncoupled solution is realized. The heat conduction equation with a variable generation rate is solved by a finite element collocation method. Two different generation rates are handled. The numerical solution of thermoelastic equation is achieved by a shooting method. The computational model is verified in comparison to analytical solution for a special case.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the auricular projection results across 3 different techniques of sulcus construction in microtia repair (using a temporoparietal fascial flap, a retroauricular fascial flap from the mastoid region, or a superficial muscular aponeurotic system advancement flap).

METHODS
All the patients had been photographed at least 3 months after the second stage (construction of the retroauricular sulcus) in auricular reconstruction for microtia. The auricular projection of each patient was measured, and the results of 3 different techniques were compared.

RESULTS
No statistically significant differences in the auricular projection results were observed among patients operated on using the 3 techniques.

CONCLUSIONS
The superficial muscular aponeurotic system advancement flap is suitable for patients requiring middle ear and auricle reconstruction. The performance of this flap is easier, quicker, less expensive, and associated with fewer perioperative complications compared with the other 2 techniques described herein.


The mean squared value of the photonic disorder is found to be reduced by a factor of 100 in a typical GaAs based microcavity when exposed to a circularly polarized continuous wave optical pump without any special spatial patterning. Resonant excitation of the cavity mode excites a spatially nonuniform distribution of spin-polarized electrons, which depends on the photonic disorder profile. Electrons transfer spin to nuclei via the hyperfine contact interaction, inducing a long-living Overhauser magnetic field able to modify the potential of exciton polaritons.


Unprecedented advances in secondary prevention have greatly improved the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs); however, CVDs remain a leading cause of death globally. These findings suggest the need to reconsider cardiovascular risk and optimal medical therapy. Numerous studies have shown that inflammation, pro-thrombotic factors, and gene mutations are focused not only on cardiovascular residual risk but also as the next therapeutic target for CVDs. Furthermore, recent clinical trials, such as the Canakinumab Anti-inflammatory Thrombosis Outcomes Study trial, showed the possibility of anti-inflammatory therapy for patients with CVDs. Osteopontin (OPN) is a matricellular protein that mediates diverse biological functions and is involved in a number of pathological states in CVDs. OPN has a two-faced phenotype that is dependent on the pathological state. Acute increases in OPN have protective roles, including wound healing, neovascularization, and amelioration of vascular calcification. By contrast, chronic increases in OPN predict poor prognosis of a major adverse cardiovascular event independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Thus, OPN can be a therapeutic target for CVDs but is not clinically available. In this review, we discuss the role of OPN in the development of CVDs and its potential as a therapeutic target.


We thank Dr Stow for highlighting a potential source of error in the monitoring of end tidal CO2 in neonatal intensive care. He is correct in surmising that we were using time cycled pressure limited ventilators with continuous gas flow (Vickers Neovent and SLE Newborn 250). It is the practice in this unit to use a flow rate of 7 1/minute in all cases unless high pressure and ventilator rates dictate a higher rate. All except two readings were at this rate and it is of interest that these (at 10 1/minute) were both inaccurate. This infant did, however, also have severe respiratory disease (alveolar/arterial oxygen difference 660 mm Hg) and so it is difficult to separate the two effects. We did find good correlations between end tidal CO2 and paCO2 measurements in some infants with milder respiratory disease despite the continuous gas flow, and so we felt that the effect of dilution was probably minimal. Our impression is that the effect of parenchymal lung disease far outweighs other effects in these infants. The use of time cycled, pressure limited ventilators is almost universal in neonatal intensive care units. They are cheap and simple to use, and seem to be more effective in infants with hyaline membrane disease and its complications. Experience suggests that results are better than with volume cycled devices.' Sampling of end tidal CO2 from the tip of the endotracheal tube may well minimise any error due to gas flow. The majority of very low birthweight infants with hyaline membrane disease are ventilated using a 2-5 mm endotracheal tube. The luminal diameter is already critically small and considerably increases total respiratory resistance.2 Any further impingement on the lumen should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. We have already acknowledged3 the important role of end tidal CO2 monitoring in anaesthetics, when most of the patients have normal lungs. This is clearly not the case in infants ventilated in a neonatal intensive care unit, in whom we feel end tidal CO2 monitoring to be inappropriate.


Monte Carlo simulations are used to demonstrate that a very attractive tax-based trading strategy is to realize all capital losses, using excess losses to offset realized gains to rebalance the portfolio. This strategy increases the mean and median return by taking advantage of the tax-deductibility of losses, and mitigates risk by allowing low-cost portfolio rebalancing. This portfolio rebalancing also restarts the basis and time clock, thereby planting the seeds for a future harvesting of capital losses that can be deducted from income and used to rebalance the portfolio perpetually. © 2008 Academy of Financial Services. All rights reserved. JEL classifications: G11; H24


The MPC (Model Predictive Control) is one of the techniques that can be used to control an unmanned vehicle. It predicts the future vehicle trajectory using the dynamic characteristic of the vehicle and generate the control value to track the reference path. If some obstacles are detected on the reference paths, the MPC can generate control value to avoid the obstacles imposing the inequality constraints on the MPC cost function. In this paper, we propose an obstacle modeling algorithm for MPC with inequality constraints for obstacle avoidance and a method to set selective constraint on the MPC for stable obstacle avoidance. Simulations with the field test data show successful obstacle avoidance and way point tracking performance.


Here, we investigated the capabilities of a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetric point cloud for estimating forest biophysical properties in managed temperate coniferous forests in Japan, and the importance of spectral information for the estimation. We estimated four biophysical properties: stand volume (V), Lorey's mean height (HL), mean height (HA), and max height (HM). We developed three independent variable sets, which included a height variable, a spectral variable, and a combined height and spectral variable. The addition of a dominant tree type to the above data sets was also tested. The model including a height variable and dominant tree type was the best for all biophysical property estimations. The root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) for the best model for V, HL, HA, and HM, were 118.30, 1.13, 1.24, and 1.24, respectively. The model including a height variable alone yielded the second highest accuracy. The respective RMSEs were 131.74, 1.21, 1.31, and 1.32. The model including a spectral variable alone yielded much lower estimation accuracy than that including a height variable. Thus, a lightweight UAV photogrammetric point cloud could accurately estimate forest biophysical properties, and a spectral variable was not necessarily required for the estimation. The dominant tree type improved estimation accuracy.


Research background and hypothesis. Many athletes know the benefi ts of low carbohydrate diets these days, but recently healthcare specialists have paid much attention to high carbohydrate diets and safer methods of losing weight. Research aim was to investigate Lithuanian Olympic Sport Centre female basketball players' (n = 10) actual and special nutrition and their physical condition. Research methods. Athletes' food records were analyzed and assessed. We determined plasma triacylglycerol, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, glucose. Physical Working Capacity (PWC 170 ) test was conducted to determine aerobic fi tness before and after moderate weight reduction. Research results showed that the basketball players received too little carbohydrates, linoleic acid, amino acid methionine and too much fat. Vitamins D, PP, B 1  and folic acid intakes were insuffi cient. During moderate bodyweight reduction basketball players signifi cantly decreased in their BW (–2.2 ± 0.3 kg, p < 0.05), BF (–1.6 ± 0.3 kg, p < 0.05) and minerals (–0.1 ± 0.4 kg, p < 0.05), but they non-signifi cantly decreased in BP (p > 0.05). Furthermore, lipid panels markers (triacylglycerol, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol) experienced non-signifi cant improvements while glucose levels (p < 0.05) and PWC 170  (p < 0.05) resulted in signifi cant decrease following a 12-day hipocaloric diet. Discussion and conclusions. The results indicate that hipoenergetic moderate weight loss at < 30 kcal· kg –1  · day –1 , < 5 g · kg –1  · day  –1  carbohydrate is not recommended for athletes as it can affect aerobic fi tness.Keywords: nutrition, female basketball, bodyweight reduction.


In this paper we examine the benefit of performing named entity recognition (NER) and co-reference resolution to an English corpus used for text segmentation. The aim here is to examine whether the combination of text segmentation and information extraction can be beneficial for the identification of the various topics that appear in a document. NER was performed in the English corpus in two ways i.e., a) by using already available NER and co-reference resolution tools, b) by manually annotating text to cover four types of named entities and substituting every reference of the same instance with the same named entity identifier. The benefit of performing manual annotation instead of using a combination of already existing tools was performed by using two well known text segmentation algorithms. The comparison leads to the conclusion that, the benefit highly depends on the segment's topic and length, the number of named entity instances appearing in it, as well as the model in which each NER and co-reference resolution tool was trained to.


The invention discloses a fixing device for plurality of sheets for absorbent article, and a fixing method. The device that superimposes in the width direction an elastic sheet (8a) that is transported in a transport direction and a low-stretchability sheet (9a) that has lower stretchability than the elastic sheet, and fixes said sheets via a plurality of fixed parts (j). The device has: a rotating member (15a) that rotates in the transport direction and that has a plurality of projections (15at) on the outer surface thereof that are for forming the plurality of fixed parts; and a sandwiching member (15h) that is arranged at a prescribed location in the rotation direction of the rotating member and that, when the projections pass the prescribed location, uses a surface part (15hs) that is larger than the top surface of the projections to sandwich, in cooperation with the projections, the elastic sheet and the low-stretchability sheet and to form the fixed parts. At the location where the sandwiching member and the rotating member cooperate to sandwich the elastic sheet and the low-stretchability sheet, the low-stretchability sheet is located between the elastic sheet and the top surface of the projections of the rotating member.


Computational efficiency of stochastic kinetic algorithms depend on factors such as the overall species population, the total number of reactions, and the average number of nodal interactions or connectivity in a network. These size measures of the network model can have a significant impact on computational efficiency. In this study, two scalable biological networks are used to compare the size scaling efficiencies of two popular and conceptually distinct stochastic kinetic simulation algorithms--the random substrate method of Firth and Bray (FB), and the Gillespie algorithm as implemented using the Gibson-Bruck method (GGB). The arithmetic computational efficiencies of these two algorithms, respectively, scale with the square of the total species population and the logarithm of the total number of active reactions. The two scalable models considered are the size scalable model (SSM), a four compartment reaction model for a signal transduction network involving receptors with single phosphorylation binding sites, and the variable connectivity model (VCM), a single compartment model where receptors possess multiple phosphorylation binding sites. The SSM has fixed species connectivity while the connectivity between species in VCM increases with the number of phosphorylation sites. For SSM, we find that, as the total species population is increased over four orders of magnitude, the GGB algorithm performs significantly better than FB for all three SSM compartment models considered. In contrast, for VCM, we find that as the overall species population decreases while the number of phosphorylation sites increases (implying an increase in network linkage) there exists a crossover point where the computational demands of the GGB method exceed that of the FB.


In this article, the author analyzes eco-education from a transdisciplinary perspective, as part of the "new education", referring to its current dimensions, its goals and its utility in shaping the attitudes and behaviors of contemporary humans towards their environment and towards sustainable living. The goals and content of eco-education are dependent on a new philosophy, on a new axiological and ethical orientation that is, opposed to rationalistic philosophy, which guided the age of machinism and industrialization. The new view regarding humans' (anthroposphere) relations with nature (biosphere and geosphere), is inspired from the fundamental rights of the human being, as part of nature, from universal values which harmonize sociosphere and biosphere, the ecological awareness of contemporary society with regard to the objective laws of nature, biodiversity conservation and environmental protection by juridical laws. These goals are meant for the entire population, especially children and young people, with the aid of schools and other educational factors (church, mass – media, cultural foundations, non-governmental organizations etc.), an ecological awareness, positive feelings and attitudes with respect to the environment, skills, abilities and capacities for efficient action in the sense of protecting nature and conserving ecological circuits. The author lays an emphasis on the idea that ecological education, in all its forms, will not yield the results expected by experts and future generations if it is undertaken randomly, fragmentarily, incoherently – regardless of how diversified and quantitatively extended it might be. As a global issue of today's society – the efficiency of eco-education is dependent on the philosophy of nature and life, materialized in a global strategy, such as that of durable and knowledge-based development, which will facilitate the harmonization of various public policies launched by contemporary organizations and authorities. Generally speaking, any public policy has an ecological component, and the obtainment of performance in ecological policies necessarily involves an adequate ecological education.


We propose a simplification of the Theory-of-Mind Network architecture, which focuses on modeling complex, deterministic machines as a proxy for modeling nondeterministic, conscious entities. We then validate this architecture in the context of understanding engines, which, we argue, meet the required internal and external complexity to yield meaningful abstractions.


ABSTRACT Evidence indicates that galactosyl ceramide (GalCer) and its 3′-sulfated derivative, sulfatide (SGalCer), may act as alternate coreceptors for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in CD4− cells. Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) may also be necessary for fusion of HIV-1 and host cell membranes. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine which GSL was the best ligand for both recombinant and virus-associated gp120, we found that SGalCer was the best ligand for each rgp120 and HIV-1 isolate tested. Therefore, novel multivalent glycodendrimers, which mimic the carbohydrate clustering reportedly found in lipid rafts, were synthesized based on the carbohydrate moiety of SGalCer. Here we describe the synthesis of a polysulfated galactose functionalized, fifth generation DAB dendrimer (PS Gal 64mer), containing on average two sulfate groups per galactose residue. Its ability to inhibit HIV-1 infection of cultured indicator cells was compared to that of dextran sulfate (DxS), a known, potent, binding inhibitor of HIV-1. The results indicate that the PS Gal 64mer inhibited infection by the HIV-1 isolates tested as well as DxS.


Mind-wandering (MW) is a common phenomenon, defined as task-unrelated thoughts. This study is based on event-related potentials (ERPs), using modified sustained attention to response task (modified SART, mSART) to discuss the neural patterns of different types of MW. In the current study, we defined the MW realized by participants as self-caught MW, and the MW measurement acquired by probes as probe-caught MW. The behavioral results showed that the reaction times (RTs) during self-caught MW were greater than those during non-self-caught MW. The ERP results showed that during self-caught MW, the mean amplitudes of N1 decreased significantly, indicating that the participants' attention had deviated from the current task. The increase in the mean amplitudes of P2 during self-caught MW indicated lower vigilance. We also found that the mean amplitudes of N300 reduced during self-caught MW, which indicated that cognitive control or monitoring might be affected by self-caught MW. The average amplitudes of P300 were significantly lower during probe-caught MW than during on-task, indicating the impact on high-level cognitive processing. In addition, the amplitudes of N1, P2, and N300 in anterior regions were greater than those in posterior regions. P300 amplitudes during probe-caught MW in the right hemisphere were greater than those of the left hemisphere. In summary, our research results demonstrated that alertness and cognitive processing decreased during both self-caught MW and probe-caught MW. ERPs were statistically different under the conditions of self-caught MW and probe-caught MW. The current study provided new insights into the relationship between MW and neural markers. It was the first study exploring the ERP correlates between self-caught MW and probe-caught MW based on mSART.


A nonsurgical root canal retreatment was initiated for the upper right second premolar in a 35-year-old healthy female patient as part of her comprehensive dental treatment. She reported severe pain during the treatment, and then the procedure was discontinued due to time limitations. The next day, she returned back to the clinic complaining of a skin injury on the right side of her face. According to the patient's history, she felt a burning sensation during the procedure when the treating clinician began using a solution from a syringe. Extraoral clinical examination revealed a dry, pink-brown skin injury extending from the right labial commissure to the middle cheek area. Since the only solution used during the first visit was chloroform, the skin injury was diagnosed as a first-degree chemical burn due to accidental chloroform skin exposure. The patient was reassured and instructed to use petroleum jelly (Vaseline) until healing was complete. After 2 weeks, the burn had healed completely without scarring, with only slight hyperpigmentation remaining in the affected area. Chloroform use should be limited to cases in which mechanical gutta-percha removal is ineffective. It should be handled with extreme caution. Chemical burns can be prevented if exposure is detected immediately and the area washed thoroughly. This clinical case is made to increase the clinicians' awareness of the hazards of chloroform.


A speech content integrity verification scheme integrated with ITU G.723.1 speech coding to minimize the total computational cost is proposed in this research. Speech features relevant to the semantic meaning are extracted, encrypted and attached as the header information. This scheme is not only much faster than cryptographic bitstream integrity algorithms, but also more compatible with a variable of applications. The speech signal could go through recompression, amplification, transcoding, re-sampling, D/A and A/D conversion and minor white noise pollution without triggering the verification alarm.


ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized in a horizontal furnace at 500°C using different zinc nitrate hexahydrate concentrations (0.01 and 0.1 M) as reactive solution by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. The physical-chemical properties of synthesized ZnO nanoparticles have been characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). With the TGA is has optimized the temperature at which the initial reactive (Zn(NO3)2·6H2O), is decomposed completely to give way to its corresponding oxide, ZnO. SEM revealed secondary particles with a quasispherical shape that do not change significantly with the increasing of precursor solution concentration as well as some content of the broken spheres. Increasing the precursor solution concentration leads to the increase in the average size of ZnO secondary particles from to nm; XRD reveals the similar tendency for the crystallite size which changes from to nm. HRTEM implies that the secondary particles are with hierarchical structure composed of primary nanosized subunits. These results showed that the precursor concentration plays an important role in the evolution on the size, stoichiometry, and morphology of ZnO nanoparticles.


The Hourly fetal urine production rate (HFUPR) was measured by ultrasound to evaluate the relationship between qualitative amniotic fluid volume (vertical depth of amniotic cavity) and fetal renal function. A positive correlation was found between HFUPR and neonatal birth weight (r = 0.625, p < 0.01), and between HFUPR and the vertical depth of the amniotic cavity (r = 0.615, p < 0.01). In three cases of IUGR complicated by fetal distress, the cyclicity of micturition disappeared and the vertical depth of the amniotic cavity was less than 30mm. The values for urinary beta 2-microglobulin were significantly higher in three neonates with fetal distress (15.00 +/- 1.00mg/L) than in healthy neonates (1.51 +/- 1.48mg/L) (p < 0.01). The mean value for vertical depth of the amniotic cavity in normal pregnancies was stable during pregnancy (mean +/- 2SD; 30-80mm). Thus patients with an amniotic cavity vertical depth less than 30mm were classified as decreased. In the IUGR group, the vertical depth of the amniotic cavity was normal in 81 patients, 14 of whom gave birth to a fetus with fetal distress. In contrast, the vertical depth of the amniotic cavity was decreased in 34 patients, 26 of whom gave birth to a fetus with fetal distress. The difference was significant (76.5% vs 17.3%, p < 0.01). The incidence of fetal distress was significantly related to the vertical depth of the amniotic cavity in the IUGR group.


The data from 33 responses to the more than 100 survey forms that were sent out to north American universities are tabulated and analyzed. The following information was selected: program statistics, including number of faculty, faculty hiring, number of Ph.D and Masters students, Ph.D graduation statistics, and research funding levels and funding trends; instructional aids, i.e. software used for computer-aided instruction and DSP laboratory hardware information; and course information, including course title, undergraduate/graduate enrollment, and subject area coverage. Statistics and various graphs and charts on program information, CAI software adoption, DSP laboratory facilities, and course subject area coverage are presented. It is concluded that not enough is known about DSP education at this time to speculate on its future.<<ETX>>


Minimum distance approaches are considered for the reconstruction of a real function from finitely many linear functional values. An optimal class of distances satisfying an orthogonality condition analogous to that enjoyed by linear projections in Hilbert space is derived. These optimal distances are related to measures of distances between probability distributions recently introduced by C.R. Rao and T.K. Nayak (1985) and possess the geometric properties of cross entropy useful in speech and image compression, pattern classification, and cluster analysis. Several examples from spectrum estimation and image processing are discussed. >


Objective: To develop a three-dimensional body image stimuli suitable for middle-aged people in China, and verify the validity and reliability of the body image stimuli. Method: According to China and World Health Organization body mass index classification standards of adults, a set of three-dimensional body image stimuli of Chinese middle-aged males and females with different body size was developed by using 3D Studio Max and Adobe Photoshop CC based on the literature and expert consultation method. Forty-two 45- and 59-year-old middle-aged people in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province were recruited to verify the three-dimensional body image stimuli. Through questionnaire survey and physical examination, the coincidence between the selected body type and the actual body type was tested; the body composition was measured by dual-energy absorptiometry (DXA), and the structure validity of the image was tested; the body size satisfaction was investigated by the body image stimuli and the standard questionnaire, and the empirical validity of the image was tested. The repeated survey was conducted 14 days after the initial survey, and three experts were invited to score the current somatotype of the subjects to test the test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability of the body image stimuli. Pearson, Spearman, Kendall correlation and Kappa consistency analysis were used to evaluate the validity and reliability of the body image stimuli. Results: The average age of 42 subjects was 52.7 years old, including 13 males and 29 females. A group of three-dimensional body image stimuli of middle-aged men and women were developed, and each group included 8 images. 73.8% of the subjects chose the body size consistent with the actual body type, and the weighted Kappa coefficient was 0.755 (P<0.01). The selected somatotype was positively correlated with body weight and body composition indexes such as fat content, and the Pearson correlation coefficient of construct validity was 0.623-0.717 (P<0.05). The results of the two surveys were positively correlated, and the Spearman correlation coefficient of test-retest reliability was 0.784-0.821 (P<0.05). The scores of the three experts on the current somatotype of the subjects were positively correlated, and the Kendall correlation coefficient of inter-rater reliability was 0.818-0.878 (P<0.05). Conclusion: The development of principle and reference basis of three-dimensional body image stimuli of middle-aged people is reliable, and the validity and reliability of the body image stimuli are good.


Gadolinium-DTPA complex (Gd-DTPA) is a potential clinical magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agent that enhances images primarily by decreasing spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) in tissues in which it localizes. This study was designed to determine the immediate tissue distribution of intravenously administered Gd-DTPA in selected organs of interest as a function of administered dose and tissue Gd-DTPA concentration. An intravenous bolus of Gd-DTPA with a tracer quantity of Gd-153 was administered to three groups of rabbits at the following doses: 0.01 mM/kg (n = 6); 0.05 mM/kg (n = 6); 0.10 mM/kg (n = 6). A control group received sham injections. Five minutes after Gd-DTPA was administered, all animals were killed; samples of serum, lung, heart, kidney, liver, and spleen were analyzed in a 0.25 T MR spectrometer to measure T1, and then in a gamma well counter to determine tissue concentration of Gd-DTPA. Tissue distribution (per cent dose/tissue weight in g) at five minutes after injection was proportionally constant over the range of doses given. Tissue concentration varied linearly with injected dose (r greater than 0.98 for all tissues). Relaxation rate (1/T1) varied linearly with injected dose and with tissue Gd-DTPA concentration (r greater than 0.97 for all tissues). The order of tissue relaxation rate response to a given dose was: kidney greater than serum greater than lung greater than heart greater than liver greater than spleen. We conclude that because of its extracellular distribution and linear relaxation rate versus concentration relationship, Gd-DTPA enhancement in MR images may be a good marker of relative organ perfusion.


The semianalytic mode matching (SAMM) algorithm is a quick and efficient computational method that models wave scattering from multiple objects in half-spaces. This algorithm re lies heavily on appropriate choices of coordinate scattering centers (CSCs) for various modal expansions. Here, SAMM is used to simulate scattering from irregularly shaped 2-D lossy objects embedded in realistic half-space media with rough ground surfaces. Because the CSC locations for complex scatterers are much more dependent on object or interface geometry than frequency and are independent of the dielectric contrast between scatterer and back ground, it is worthwhile to carefully analyze particular scattering object shapes and store the optimal CSC locations for future use. In addition, scattering from multiple targets buried beneath rough ground surfaces can be constructed from simpler simulations of the individual targets taken separately, where combining these simpler simulations correctly can increase robustness in large SAMM simulations. Excellent results are found by comparing 2-D SAMM with 2-D finite-difference frequency domain for multiple scattering objects on the order of a fraction to several wavelengths in size located within rough half-space dielectric backgrounds.


Background Hereditary fructose intolerance (HFI) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by aldolase B deficiency. Treatment consists of elimination of fructose, sucrose and sorbitol from the diet. There are a lot of medicines with sweeteners but there is disagreement about their tolerance. Purpose Our purpose was to provide information to health professional (pharmacist and doctors) and patients about excipients for HIF patients. We collaborated with the Spanish HIF Association. Material and methods We reviewed Spanish and European legislation about excipients and dietary recommendations for HIF patients. Results We checked European Guidelines (2003) and Spanish legislation (2008). Contraindicated: fructose, sucrose, invert sugar and sorbitol are a significant source of fructose and the label must contain an alert. Patients with rare hereditary problems of fructose intolerance should not take this medicine. High fructose corn syrup, sucromalt or tagatose (metabolised by aldolase B) are not used in the pharmaceutical industry but they should be avoided. Allowed. There is agreement about glucose, dextrinomaltose and glucose syrup, synthetic sweeteners (acesulfame, aspartame or saccharin), sucralose, erythritol and xylitol. In these cases, there is no need for an alert on the label for HIF patients. Caution. Legislation does not recommend maltitol, lactitol, isomaltitol (polyols: sorbitol disaccharides) but the dietary recommendation is not unanimous. Because of the low affinity of the disaccharidases, sorbitol release in the intestine is low and variable. Legislation does not have an alert about mannitol (unknown hepatic metabolism), inulin (fructose polysaccharide), polydextrose (10% of sorbitol) or polysorbates. Also, they could release some fructose or sorbitol. In this group it is necessary to evaluate benefit and risk according to the characteristics of the patient and excipient (purity, metabolism and quantity). Conclusion Excipient and sweetener recommendations (especially polyols) do not match between legislations (contraindicated) and references. Furthermore, excipient legislation does not warn about mannitol, inulin, polydextrose or polysorbates. Because there are no unanimous recommendations, we have developed materials for health professionals in collaboration with the HIF Spanish Association. References and/or Acknowledgements Excipients in the label and package leaflet of medicinal products. EMA. 2003 Información sobre excipientes: etiquetado, prospecto, ficha técnica. Circular 2/2008 Edulcorantes en pacientes con IHF. Acta Pediatr Esp. 2014 Errores congénitos del metabolismo de la fructosa. Diagnóstico y tratamiento de enfermedades metabólicas hereditarias. Ergon. 2010 No conflict of interest.


INTRODUCTION AND AIMS
We aimed to evaluate and compare the effect of different intravenous doses of naloxone on reinforcing effect of intravenous buprenorphine (2 mg) in patients stabilised on sublingual buprenorphine.

DESIGN AND METHODS
This is a double-blind, within-subject, randomised, crossover study. Opioid-dependent patients, with history of intravenous drug use, stabilised on buprenorphine maintenance treatment were included after informed consent (n = 14). We administered and assessed the reinforcing effects of six test conditions: buprenorphine and naloxone co-formulation (BNX) in 4:1, 2:1 and 1:1 dose ratio (i.e. buprenorphine 2 mg + naloxone 0.5, 1 and 2 mg, respectively), buprenorphine alone (2 mg), pheniramine maleate (45.5 mg) and saline at 24 hourly intervals.

RESULTS
No significant opioid withdrawals were precipitated during any test conditions. Compared to buprenorphine alone, 4:1 BNX had comparable euphoria, drug recognition, subjective opiate sensations and drug liking (P > 0.05); 2:1 BNX condition had significantly different subjective euphoria (P = 0.001), opioid recognition (P = 0.002), subjective opioid sensations at 60 min (P = 0.027) and drug liking (P < 0.001), while 1:1 BNX had significantly different objective euphoria (P = 0.002), opioid recognition (P = 0.030), subjective opioid sensations (P < 0.001) and drug liking (P < 0.001). No significant difference was noted on sedation scores between buprenorphine alone and all three combinations of BNX.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The 4:1 BNX condition did not impact the reinforcing agonist effects of buprenorphine. None of the intravenous BNX combination ratios precipitated opioid withdrawals. Findings emphasise the need for exploring more abuse deterrent mechanisms.


Objective To outline the facilitators and barriers to patients' self-management of predialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD). Design Qualitative. Setting Three polyclinics in a public primary care institution in Singapore. Participants 20 patients entered and completed the study. Inclusion criteria were: (1) English speaking, (2) aged 40 years and above, (3) identified by clinical coding as 'DM (diabetes mellitus) nephropathy-overt' and 'DM nephropathy-incipient', by their physicians in the polyclinic, with an estimated glomerular filtration rate of less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (based on electronic health records) and (4) aware of their CKD illness. Exclusion criteria were: (1) receiving dialysis or had received a kidney transplant, (2) suffered from any visual, auditory or cognitive impairment which could hinder their ability to participate in the study or (3) pregnant. Results We found that the major barriers to CKD management were a lack of knowledge and awareness of CKD, a passive attitude toward self-management and insufficient patient-physician communication. Major facilitators included patient trust and satisfaction with the physician and family support. Many patients reported that there was an overload of information and too little guidance on how to manage their condition, especially regarding dietary recommendations. Conclusion We identified several barriers and facilitators to the management of predialysis CKD among patients. A multi-pronged approach for raising CKD awareness is required: improving patient-physician communication, implementing CKD workshops and home-visits and disseminating accurate online information about CKD. Strategies should also focus on increasing patient engagement and optimising family support by involving family members in patients' care. Furthermore, clear dietary recommendations and patient-specific advice are needed to empower patients to manage their own condition.


T2DM increases the risk of cognitive decline, especially in women. Sex-specific associations between lipids and cognition have been reported, though underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Disruptions in the cytochrome P450-soluble epoxide hydrolase (CYP450-sEH) pathway have been linked to both T2DM and cognitive dysfunction. CYP450s convert long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids into epoxides which are anti-inflammatory and help resolve inflammation, however sEH metabolizes these into inactive or cytotoxic diols, limiting their benefits. We hypothesized that oxylipin epoxides and diols of arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) would be associated with cognition in people with T2DM, particularly in women. Women and men with T2DM were recruited as part of the study. Twenty-two fasting serum free oxylipins were quantified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Executive function was assessed using a composite z-score from the following tests: Stroop Colour-Word Interference Victoria Version, FAS Verbal Fluency, Digit Symbol Substitution, and Trails Making Test Part B. All analyses controlled for age, sex, BMI, HbA1c and years of education. Among 72 individuals with T2DM (mean age 61.8±9.2, mean HbA1c 7.4±0.1%, 53% women), demographic characteristics, oxylipin concentrations and cognitive performance did not differ between women and men. Some CYP450-derived epoxides of DHA and AA were associated with lower executive function scores in women, but with higher scores in men. Epoxide × sex interactions were found for 3 of 4 DHA epoxides (16(17) [F=20.2, p<0.001]; 13(14) [F=8.5, p=0.005]; and 10(11) [F=7.4, p=0.009]), and for the 14(15) AA epoxide [F=3.9, p<0.05]). Circulating concentrations of the corresponding diols were not associated with executive function. These associations between epoxides and executive function suggest a sex difference in the relevance of the CYP450 pathway to cognitive performance in T2DM.

 S.Ryoo: None. B.R.Shah: None. J.Gilbert: Speaker's Bureau; Abbott, AstraZeneca, Amgen Canada, Bayer Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., Sanofi, Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, HLS Therapeutics Inc., Novo Nordisk Canada Inc. A.Assal: None. I.Halperin: Advisory Panel; Sanofi, Speaker's Bureau; 3Boehringer Ingelheim Canada Ltd./Ltée, Abbott Diabetes, Dexcom, Inc., Novo Nordisk. A.Taha: None. W.Swardfager: None. N.Z.Anita: None. C.Major-orfao: None. W.Lin: None. S.Noor: None. F.Kwan: None. K.L.Lanctôt: Consultant; Exciva, GW Pharmaceuticals, ICG Farma, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Novo Nordisk, Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd., Other Relationship; BioXcel, Cerevel Therapeutics, H Lundbeck A/S. N.Herrmann: None. P.Oh: Advisory Panel; Novartis Canada.

 Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Banting & Best Diabetes Centre; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases


Summary form only given. Commodity clusters have enabled ambitious multiphysics or coupled modeling of complex, mutually interacting, computationally intensive systems in science and engineering. Each individual sub-system is represented as a component with its own parallel processor layout and requirements for temporal advance. A central challenge in developing such systems is the parallel coupling problem, which involves overall system architecture and the automation of component registration, distribution of the processor pool between individual components, parallel data transfer and transformation. There currently exist efficient mechanisms for automating parallel data transfer and transformation such as MCT and MPCCI. Mechanisms for top-level system integration, including component registration and resource allocation, scheduling, and control at runtime are less mature and face even greater challenges in heterogeneous environments. We will discuss the numerous architectural choices faced in framework and parallel coupled application development, and will illustrate them through a comparison of these mechanisms in four scientific application frameworks: the community climate system model, the space weather modeling framework, the earth system modeling framework, and the weather research and forecasting model. We will then discuss a more sophisticated set of requirements for automating these functions in application frameworks for heterogeneous clusters and computational grids


Currently, empathy and the 'humanisation' of medical care are of particular concern in the wake of high-profile reports. These include the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry; Dying Without Dignity , a report by the Health Service Ombudsman into end-of-life-care; and the Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People report, One Chance to Get it Right .1–3 These reports all pointed to an empathy deficit in clinical care. A disheartening aspect of the current situation is that empathy deficit is not a new phenomenon.

In 1927, in a seminal study Peabody wrote: 'One of the essential qualities of the clinician is interest in humanity, for the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient.' 4

Twenty years ago, Weatherall argued that many of the ills of the medical profession reflect a lack of 'whole person understanding'.5 More recently, Spiro observed that doctors who used to listen to patients now looked at a screen. He wrote: 'Empathy has always been and will always be among the physician's most essential tools of practice.' 6

Spiro argues that physicians must have the time to listen to patients.7

However, medicine's positivist view prioritises technical progress, evidence-based medicine, targets, and efficiency, so risking a view of patients solely as objects of intellectual interest.8 Mattingly suggests that, because the medical culture does not consistently support the practice of empathy, it becomes easy for doctors to see empathy as 'nice' but not an essential part of practice.9

Doctors have always struggled to achieve a balance in their relationship with patients between connection and distance. Doctors can choose between a narrow technical approach based on their competence, or a broader humanistic approach that is more ambiguous and less reductionist.10 The way in which …


In the Artificial Society, this study focuses on the Teaching of Elementary Taiwanese textbooks to support teaching and web design, and to explore multi-media web design accessibility of language teaching. In this study, the textbooks in the third and fourth grade Kangxuan versions are going to be explored. through the personal involvement of the teachers actually teach and voice recording of the assistance, we use an interesting animation design, will be the language of the classroom learning process through multi-media rich changes and lively animation to enhance the motivation to learn and to provide the instructor, and students have an after-school review of the supporting environment. Guided by animated images to text through reading the story dialogue, and the game unit to increase students interest in learning.


In a follow-up to the investigations of soft ticks identified from seabird nest soil and litter collected from coastal islands of the Republic of Korea (ROK), Ornithodoros sawaii and Ornithodoros capensis were assessed for the presence and identification of rickettsiae. Ticks collected from samples of 50–100 g of nest litter and soil from seabird nests were identified individually by morphological techniques, and species confirmed by sequencing of the mt- rrs gene. Subsequently, tick DNA preparations were screened for the presence of rickettsiae using a genus-specific nested PCR (nPCR) assay targeting the 17 kDa antigen gene. The amplicons from the 17 kDa assay and two additional nPCR assays targeting the gltA and ompB gene fragments were sequenced and used to identify the rickettsiae. A total of 134 soft ticks belonging to two species, O. sawaii Kitaoka & Suzuki 1973 ( n = 125) and O. capensis Neumann 1901 ( n = 9), were collected. Rickettsia lusitaniae DNA was detected and identified among O. sawaii ticks ( n = 11, 8.8%) collected from nest litter and soil of the Japanese murrelet ( Synthliboramphus wumizusume Temminck 1836) at Gugul Island along the western coastal area of the ROK. This study confirmed for the first time the presence of R. lusitaniae associated with O. sawaii collected from migratory seabird nests in the ROK.


Non-stoichiometric colusites Cu26+xNb2Ge6−xS32 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.7) were prepared by mixing elemental constituents in evacuated quartz tubes at 1323 K followed by hot-pressing at 973 K. Their thermoelectric properties were investigated over the temperature range of 300 K–670 K. X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that all the samples have a well crystallized structure and consist of the ordered colusite phase in which Cu, Nb, and Ge cations occupy their respective atomic positions in the structure. Energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis showed the presence of sulfur-poor and cation-rich chemical compositions in all the samples. We demonstrate that the increase of x (Cu-rich and Ge-poor) leads to an increase of the carrier concentration, resulting in a high power factor of ∼830 μW m−1 K−2 at 670 K for the sample with x = 0.5. High-temperature sintering led to significant defects of sulfur and interstitial cations, which resulted in a low lattice thermal conductivity (∼0.4 W m−1 K−1 at 670 K). A ZT of 0.7–0.8 was achieved at 670 K irrespective of the value of x.


The Mobile Ad-hoc Network is decentralized and consisting of numerous different communication devices. Its distributed design and lack of infrastructure are the means of numerous network assaults. For personal computer users, companies, and the military, network security has become more important. Safety becomes a significant issue with the rise of the internet, and the past of security enables a better understanding of the evolution of security technology. Via the audit and monitoring phase, the implementation of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) in ad-hoc node securities was improved. This framework is made up of clustering protocols that are extremely efficient in finding intrusions with low resource and overhead computing costs. Current protocols have been related to routes that are not popular in intrusion detection. The cluster is barely impacted by the weak road layout and route renewal. The cluster is unpredictable and results in processing maximization together with network traffic. In general, battery-based ad hoc networks are organized and dependent on power constraints. To detect and react rapidly against intrusions, an active monitoring node is required. Only if the clusters are strong and extensive maintaining capabilities can it be accomplished. The routes also shift as the cluster shifts and it would not be feasible to prominently process the achievement of intrusion detection. This raises the need for a better clustering algorithm that addresses these disadvantages and guarantees the protection of the network in any way. A powerful clustering algorithm that is ahead of the current routing protocol is the cluster-based Intrusion Detection Method. Regardless of routes that perfectly track the intrusion, it is permanent. This streamlined technique of clustering achieves strong intrusion detection speeds with low processing as well as memory overhead. It also overcomes the other limitations of traffic, connections, and node mobility on the network, regardless of the routes. In detecting the attack or malicious node, the individual nodes in the network are not active.


We propose a robust method for estimating the orientation and displacement of an inertial measurement unit undergoing planar periodic motion. Such movements is a common approximation to human gait and running. We formulate the problem introducing a sparse vector of outlier errors and l1-regularization. The problem thus becomes robust to outliers in the data. The problem can be rewritten as a quadratic programming problem which can be solved efficiently using existing software for convex optimization.


Abstract : This paper aims to reveal the state policy in instilling moderate Islamic ideology to its citizens through education, by examining the education system in several countries. In Indonesia, the state tries to form moderate Muslims in a relatively 'subtle' way, namely through the inculcation of the basis and ideology of the state (Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution) into all aspects of education, including through the establishment of the basis and function of religious education, the obligation to study Pancasila and PAI. (which is designed to produce moderate Muslims). The government of Turkey and Singapore has taken a different approach, which seems to be frontal and firm. In these two secular countries, the strategy of realizing moderate Muslims is carried out by controlling educational institutions, especially Islamic educational institutions, both formal educational institutions (schools and universities) and non-formal (such as Friday sermons, religious lectures, books, and magazines).


Aim: To evaluate the oral hygiene-related knowledge, oral hygiene practices, self-efficacy and motivation towards periodontal Health of the rural population of Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Methodology: Comprehensive structural questionnaire was distributed among 138 people. The questionnaire was based on their oral hygiene related knowledge, practices, and behavior pattern. Results: The results of this study show an acute lack of oral hygiene awareness and limited knowledge of oral hygiene practices in Peshawar Conclusion: There is an immediate need for comprehensive educational programme and health activity to promote oral health. Key words: Oral health, Behavior pattern, motivation


We derive a general lower bound on distributions of entropy production in interacting active matter systems. The bound is tight in the limit that interparticle correlations are small and short-ranged, which we explore in four canonical active matter models. In all models studied, the bound is weak where collective fluctuations result in long-ranged correlations, which subsequently links the locations of phase transitions to enhanced entropy production fluctuations. We develop a theory for the onset of enhanced fluctuations and relate it to specific phase transitions in active Brownian particles. We also derive optimal control forces that realize the dynamics necessary to tune dissipation and manipulate the system between phases. In so doing, we uncover a general relationship between entropy production and pattern formation in active matter, as well as ways of controlling it.


This paper reports the Raman scattering analysis of Cu(In,Ga)Se2(CIGS) thin films with Cu/(Ga+In) ratio ranging from 0.748 to 0.982. CIGS thin films were prepared by magnetron sputtering and subsequent selenization process. Frequencies of CIGS Raman peaks do not shift obviously as Cu/(Ga+In) varying around 0.9. Otherwise, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the A1 peak reaches its minimum at Cu/(Ga+In) near 0.9 due to better crystallinity and less disorder. Similar phenomena of Raman peaks at 64 cm−1and 72 cm−1were also observed. Since the Cu/(Ga+In) ratio of most high efficiency CIGS solar cells is around 0.9[1,2], the FWHM-Cu/(Ga+In) relationship derived from Raman spectra can be used for non-destructive composition measurement and crystallinity assessment. Furthermore, Cu-poor film shows a broad shoulder at around 150 cm-1 as a result of ordered vacancy compounds (OVC)[3], and Cu-rich film exhibits a peak at around 260 cm-1 corresponding to Cu2Se phase[4].


The most important fullerene is buckminsterfullerene C 60 , obtained by leap-frog transformation of the fullerene C 20 . The second smallest fullerene obtained by leap-frog transformation is C 72 (obtained from C 24 ). It is surprising that C 72 is unstable. The standard explanation of this fact is based on steric strain resulting from the existence of two hexagons, each surrounded by 6 hexagons. By analyzing the π-electron content, it is demonstrated that these hexagons show some »pentagon-like« behavior that may be the cause (or an additional cause) of the instability of C 72 . Hence, it is shown that there may be topological (non-steric) reasons for the instability of C 72 .


Self monitoring of diabetes requires technical knowledge and suitable diabetes oriented behaviour; the latter arises from the patient's psycho-affective functioning, maturity and self sufficiency. A group of 9 insulin dependent ambulatory, adult, diabetics met 15 times over 5 months. The somatic and psycho-affective aspects of the disease were approached by an original methodology. Group animation was focussed on the participants themselves. Dynamic mobilisation of the persons was sought by listening to their explicit and implicit requests, by acting out (case studies and role-playing), by restatement and questioning. Diabetes oriented and psycho-affective behaviours were assessed on the basis of questionnaires and statements. At the end of the study, the psycho-affective attitude of the participants towards their illness was modified. The aggressiveness, mockery and rejection of diabetes and diabetics, initially noted, were progressively replaced by self-awareness and acceptance. As a result, better adjustment of technical behaviour responses was noted. Without precluding any psychodynamic explanation (reunification of the person), this study suggests that the participant's reactions towards their own image can be improved with consequential educational benefit.


OBJECTIVES:After the withdrawal of some cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) selective inhibitors, traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use has increased, but without additional prevention strategies against upper gastrointestinal (GI) complications in many cases. Here, we report the effect of antisecretory drugs and nitrates on the risk of upper GI peptic ulcer bleeding (UGIB) associated with nonselective NSAIDs, aspirin, antiplatelet agents, and anticoagulants.METHODS:This case–control study matched 2,777 consecutive patients with UGIB (confirmed by endoscopy) with 5,532 controls (2:1). Adjusted relative risks (RR) of UGIB are reported.RESULTS:Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) (RR 0.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.27–0.39), H2-receptor antagonists (H2-RAs) (RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.50–0.85), and nitrates (RR 0.52, 95% CI 0.38–0.70) reduced UGIB risk. PPI use was associated with greater reductions among both traditional NSAID (RR 0.13, 95% CI 0.09–0.19 vs RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.17–0.53 with H2-RAs; RR 0.48, 95% CI 0.19–1.24 with nitrates) and low-dose aspirin users (RR 0.32, 95% CI 0.22–0.51 vs RR 0.40, 95% CI 0.19–0.73 with H2-RA; RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.36–1.04 with nitrates), and among patients taking clopidogrel (RR 0.19, 95% CI 0.07–0.49). For patients taking anticoagulants, use of nitrates, H2-RA, or PPIs was not associated with a significant effect on UGIB risk.CONCLUSION:Antisecretory agent or nitrate treatment is associated with reduced UGIB RR in patients taking NSAID or aspirin. Only PPI therapy was associated with a marked, consistent risk reduction among patients receiving all types of agents (including nonaspirin antiplatelet agents). Protection was not apparent in patients taking anticoagulants.


The increased demand and consumption of coal has intensified problems associated with disposal of solid waste generated in utilization of coal. Major utilization of coal by-products has been in construction-related applications. Since fly ash accounts for the part of the production of utility waste, the majority of scientific investigations have focused on its utilization in a multitude of use, while little attention has been directed to the use of bottom ash. As a consequence of this neglect, a large amount of bottom ash has been stockpiled. However, the need to obtain safe and economical solution for its proper utilization has been more urgent. The study presented herein is designed to ascertain the performance characteristics of bottom ash, as autoclaved lightweight foamed concrete product. The laboratory test results indicated that tobermorite was generated when bottom ash was used as materials for hydro-thermal reaction. According to the analysis of variance, at the fresh state, water ratio affects on flow and slurry density of autoclaved lightweight foamed concrete, but foam ratio influences on slurry density, while, at the hardened state, foam ratio affects on the density of dry and the compressive strength but doesn't affect on flexural and tensile strength. In the results of response surface analysis, to obtain target performance, the most suitable mix condition for lightweight foamed concrete using bottom ash was water ratio of 70~80% and foaming ratio of 90~100%.


Migration has been a regular feature in Europe since before the Romans. However, an acceleration of this process in the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in the breaking down of old affinities and alignments and the emergence of new formations that challenge traditional group definitions. Many Europeans experience strong senses of exclusion from the mainstream society to which they have migrated. Some have explored this challenge of liminality in writing. The essay focuses on auto/ethnographies that have been penned in a liminal context with particular reference to the concept of Europe. How do migrants translate their own memories and stories from one region of Europe into a new cultural setting? What is the composite picture of Europe that is created in these migrant writings and how significant is the experience of liminality?


Age is one of the important parts of the identification process, which could be a requirement in legal framework, criminal investigation, and to provide significant information for diagnosis and treatment planning in health care. Age estimation is a major study in forensic, especially when the information related to the deceased is unavailable. Dental is one of the strong variables which could be used in estimating the age of living or deceased. Dental age estimation methods were mainly based on the changes in tooth development which influenced by diverse internal and external factor. Therefore, studies of dental age estimation of various population showed different discrepancies. This paper reviews about studies of dental age estimation, specifically in Indonesian population, including the population age, age estimation methods, study sample, and studies' findings.


Education is expected to play a major role in explaining the gains from migration because it may be more valuable at the destination. This paper constructs a simple rural-to-urban migration model. In the model, urban jobs reward migrants for their education, and the higher return to schooling gives rural agents an incentive to migrate, encouraging the less educated to invest in further schooling before joining labour force, conditional on the initially endowed level of education. Depending upon where learning opportunities are available, some migrate to seek more education, and others migrate after obtaining it and the investment process of migration and schooling eventually leads migrants into higher earnings. The model has important implications for an empirical analysis. If the migration effect on an outcome (earnings or consumption) is entirely attributed to the higher return to schooling at the destination, the effect will disappear by controlling for the current level of education and allowing for the difference in the return between the origin and the destination in the outcome equation. This suggests that those who cannot afford the cost of schooling (as well as the cost of migration) cannot reap the benefits of migration. On the other hand, if the migration effect remains in the presence of a full set of controls, then, the evidence points to the migration effect operating other than through education. Using long-run household panel data from rural Tanzania, Kagera from 1991 to 2004, this paper investigates the extent to which education can explain migrants' income and consumption gains by estimating those outcome equations. Empirical difficulty arises from the endogeneity of migration and schooling decisions. To address the endogeneity, this study takes two approaches: an IV approach (structural modelling approach) and a control function (CF) approach. Controlling for initial household fixed effects, we find that individuals are positively selected into both migration and further schooling based on their pre-migration level of education. In consumption, we provide evidence that the return to schooling is indeed higher at the destination, but that a large significant migration effect remains after controlling for education and allowing for the endogenous selection into migration and schooling. Evidence on earnings is rather ambiguous due to the difficulty in controlling for the endogeneity, but the analysis still provides some evidence to reveal a similar story to consumption. These suggest that income and consumption opportunities are higher at the destination, and that some mechanisms, operating other than through education, prevent individuals from exploiting the arbitrage opportunity. While education plays a role, it does not appear to be a major factor in limiting the internal migration as a source of raising income and consumption.


Organic sulfides form the core scaffold of a wide range of pharmaceuticals, natural products, and materials, and serve as key intermediates in synthesis. Prior methods to organic sulfides require the use of transition metal (TM) catalysts, prefunctionalized or chelating group-containing substrates, and elevated reaction temperatures. A general TM-free C–H thiolation protocol using readily accessible sulfur source is highly desirable. Herein, we disclose a direct C(sp)–, C(sp2)–, and C(sp3)–H thiolation reaction using β-sulfinylesters as the versatile sulfur source. The key step of this protocol is chemoselective C–S bond cleavage of the sulfonium salts that is in situ formed from the corresponding (hetero)arenes, alkenes, alkynes, and 1,3-dicarboxyl compounds with β-sulfinylesters. The successful capture of acrylate byproduct supports a retro-Michael reaction mechanism. This method is expected to be used widely because of several advantageous aspects including TM-free, mild reaction conditions, and broad substrate scope including drug molecules.


Through-silicon vias (TSVs) are required for transmitting signals among different dies for the 3-D integrated circuit (IC) technology. The significant silicon areas occupied by TSVs bring critical challenges for 3-D IC placement. Unlike most published 3-D placement works that only minimize the number of TSVs during placement due to the limitations in their techniques, this paper proposes a new 3-D cell placement algorithm that can additionally consider the sizes of TSVs and the physical positions for TSV insertion during placement. The algorithm consists of three stages: 1) 3-D analytical global placement with density optimization and whitespace reservation for TSVs; 2) TSV insertion and TSV-aware legalization; and 3) layer-by-layer detailed placement. In particular, the global placement is based on a novel weighted-average (WA) wirelength model, giving the first published model that can outperform the well-known log-sum-exp wirelength model theoretically and empirically. Also, a scheme is proposed to enhance the numerical stability of the WA wirelength model. Furthermore, 3-D routing can easily be accomplished by traditional 2-D routers since the physical positions of TSVs are determined during placement. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our algorithm. Compared with state-of-the-art 3-D cell placement works, our algorithm can achieve the best routed wirelength, TSV counts, and total silicon area, in shortest running time.


Background: Over the past decades we have witnessed an increase in expenditure on health services in the various military systems. One of the ways to curb costs is by means of outsourcing. Based on this idea the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) promoted a project allowing soldiers to receive medical care from a nearby civilian HMO (Meuhedet). The medical basket provided to the soldiers is more extensive than that to civilians, furthermore the soldiers received all the health services they needed from the HMO without copayments.
Objectives: The overall-objective of this study was to examine the consumption of medical services by conscript and standing army soldiers in comparison to that by the civilian population of similar age.
Methods: A retrospective study comparing consumption of medical services between the population of soldiers and the civilian population.
Populations and samples: The military population included 4530 IDF soldiers, who were ascribed to Meuhedet over the course of 2012. The civilian population included members of Meuhedet who do not have any disabilities.
Data analysis: Using SPSS software, we used a comparison of averages test using the independent-samples T-test with a level of significance of 5%.
Results: The military personnel tend to consume considerably more medical care than their civilian counterparts.
Conclusion: In order to maintain the outsourcing of medical services for military personnel by the HMO, either the HMO's revenue on their account must be higher or a system curbing their consumption of medical services must be put in place.


Australia, 5(2), So-S4. Jacobs DR, Moxley DP (1993) Anticipating managed mental health care: implications for psychosocial rehabilitation agencies. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 17(2), 15-31. Learnard L, Devereaux E (1992) Occupational therapy update: a model for community practice. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 43(9),869-71. Maslend D (1982) Rehabilitation training for community living skills, concepts and techniques. Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 2,33-49. Morgan S (1993) Community mental health: practical approaches to long-term problems. London: Chapman and Hall. Nathan J (1982) Community occupational therapy in the mental health field. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45, 3-S. Parker G, Rosen A (1989) Life skills profile. Randwick, NSW: School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales. Presley A, Grubb A, Semple D (1982) Predictors of successful rehabilitation in long-staypatients. Acta Psychiatric Scandinavia, 66, 83-88. Queensland Health (1993) Mental health services in Queensland 1993. Policy document five. Brisbane: Queensland Health. Queensland Health (1994) Queensland Mental Health Plan 1994. Brisbane: Queensland Health. Rappaport J (1984) Studies in empowerment: introduction to the issue. Prevention in Human SerVices, 3(2/3), 1-7. Rappaport J (1985) Collaborative research with a mutual help organisation. Social Policy, Winter, 12-24. Stroul B (1989) Community support systems for persons with longterm mental illness: a conceptual framewor1<. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 12(3), 10-26. Tessler R, Manderscheid R (1982) Factors affecting adjustment to community living. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 33(3), 203207. Turner G, Ten Hoor D (1986) The NINH community support programme: pilot approach to a needed social reform. Community Mental Health Journal, 22(1), 4. Watts JH, Kielhofner G, Bauer D, Gregory M, Valentine D (1986) The assessment of occupational functioning: a screening tool for use in long-term care. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 40, 231-40.


The use of biogas in micro gas turbines (MGTs) generally requires invasive structural modifications to fuel compression units, control valves and combustor. Costs associated with the modifications significantly reduce the benefits of a rational and sustainable exploitation of energy resources of lower value as the biogas.
 In order to overcome this aspect, in a recent paper the authors proposed a dual fuel approach, identifying a structurally non-invasive and cost-effective technical solution to increase the CO2 concentration in the fuel and to extend the operation domain of the MGT when low calorific value fuels are used. In that study, it has been evaluated, implemented and tested an innovative management strategy of fuel feeding and combustion. Experimental preliminary tests validated the idea of a new supply strategy for exceeding the current limits of biogas exploitation as MGT fuel.
 With this approach the MGT operating domain has been extended, increasing more than twice the CO2 concentration limit than experimentally validated limit available in literature.
 In this study the authors present a more extensive investigation concerning the energetic performance and the environmental impact of a 100 kWe MGT Turbec T100 when fuelled with a mixture of natural gas and carbon dioxide (synthesis biogas) in the dual fuel approach, by varying CO2 concentration in the fuel at part load condition.
 The data acquired by an extensive experimental campaign, in terms of thermodynamic parameters and gaseous exhaust emissions, are presented and compared with the results of numerical simulations.
 A 3D CFD analysis of the combustion process is also presented. Initial and boundary conditions of the numerical approach were obtained from a previous validated 0D thermodynamic matching model.
 The synergistic activity between numerical modeling and experimental work allows to analyze and explain the overall behavior of the micro gas turbine in the dual fuel mode with biogas fuel.
 The study shows that the micro gas turbine can stably operate in a dual fuel mode until the CO2 content rises above 25%.


The process of size segregation in a model system of granular matter, consisting of 1600 spherical polydis-perse particles stirred by a rectangular bar moving periodi-cally in the horizontal direction, was modelled by the dis-crete element method under different values of dynamic friction coefficient of the particle material. It has been shown that the dynamic friction coefficient influences the size segregation process in poly-disperse granular systems. The equation was proposed that characterises the evolution of segregation intensity approaching exponentially a cer-tain steady state value.The dependence of the rate of segregation inten-sity upon dynamic friction coefficient μ is nonmonoto-nous: the rate of segregation intensity is higher at lower values of the dynamic friction coefficient and attains a minimum value as the dynamic friction coefficient in-creases up to 10.≈μ, but starts to increase again for the higher values of the dynamic friction coefficient. This de-pendence indicates the presence of competing segregation mechanisms, one of which dominates at the given experi-mental conditions and material properties. The averaged velocity fields and flow lines demonstrate different pat-terns of collective flow of the granular matter at different values of dynamic friction.


Abstract : This report documents the scale development process and properties for the 2007 Workplace and Equal Opportunity Survey of Reserve Component Members (WEOR2007). This report describes advances from previous surveys and presents results on scale development as obtained from respondents to this survey. The body of the report is comprised of a description of each scale, including individual items, background information, and psychometric analyses. Statistics are reported for Reserve component members overall and by race/ethnicity.


Noether's theorem is familiar to most physicists due its fundamental role in linking the existence of conservation laws to the underlying symmetries of a physical system. Typically the systems are described in the particle-based context of classical mechanics or on the basis of field theory. We have recently shown (2021 Commun. Phys. 4 176) that Noether's reasoning also applies to thermal systems, where fluctuations are paramount and one aims for a statistical mechanical description. Here we give a pedagogical introduction based on the canonical ensemble and apply it explicitly to ideal sedimentation. The relevant mathematical objects, such as the free energy, are viewed as functionals. This vantage point allows for systematic functional differentiation and the resulting identities express properties of both macroscopic average forces and molecularly resolved correlations in many-body systems, both in and out-of-equilibrium, and for active Brownian particles. To provide further background, we briefly describe the variational principles of classical density functional theory, of power functional theory, and of classical mechanics.


This paper describes the fabrication process and the method to determine the membrane tension and defects of an inkjet-printed circular diaphragm. The membrane tension is an important parameter to design and fabricate an acoustic sensor and resonator with the highest sensitivity and selectivity over a determined range of frequency. During this work, the diaphragms are fabricated by inkjet printing of conductive silver ink on pre-strained Mylar thin films, and the membrane tension is determined using the resonant frequency obtained from its measured surface velocity response to an acoustic excitation. The membrane is excited by an acoustic pressure generated by a loudspeaker, and its displacement (response) is acquired using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). The response of the fabricated membrane demonstrates good correlation with the numerical result. However, the inkjet-printed membrane exhibits undesired peaks, which appeared to be due to defects at their boundaries as observed from the scanning mode of LDV.


The emergence of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, has garnered significant attention, particularly in academic and scientific circles. Researchers, scientists, and instructors hold varying perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of using ChatGPT for research and teaching purposes. ChatGPT will be used by many scientists going forward for creating content and driving scientific progress. This commentary offers a brief explanation of the fundamental principles behind ChatGPT and how it can be applied in the fields of hydrology and other Earth sciences. The article examines the primary applications of this open artificial intelligence tool within these fields, specifically its ability to assist with writing and coding tasks, and highlights both the advantages and concerns associated with using such a model. Moreover, the study brings up some other limitations of the model, and the dangers of potential miss‐uses. Finally, we suggest that the academic community adapts its regulations and policies to harness the potential benefits of LLMs while mitigating its pitfalls, including establishing a structure for utilizing LLMs and presenting clear regulations for their implementation. We also outline some specific steps on how to accomplish this structure.


Curcumin (Cur), a traditional Chinese medicine extracted from natural plant rhizomes, has become a candidate drug for the treatment of diseases due to its anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities. However, the poor water solubility and low bioavailability of Cur limit its therapeutic effects for clinical applications. A variety of nanocarriers have been successfully developed to improve the water solubility, in vivo distribution, and pharmacokinetics of Cur, as well as to enhance the ability of Cur to polarize macrophages and relieve macrophage oxidative stress or anti-apoptosis, thus accelerating the therapeutic effects of Cur on inflammatory diseases. Herein, we review the design and development of diverse Cur nanoformulations in recent years and introduce the biomedical applications and potential therapeutic mechanisms of Cur nanoformulations in common inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases, respiratory diseases, and ulcerative colitis, by regulating macrophage behaviors. Finally, the perspectives of the design and preparation of future nanocarriers aimed at efficiently exerting the biological activity of Cur are briefly discussed.


Examinations
provide discriminatory criteria for individuals and evaluate whether
educational goals are being achieved. To guarantee equity, fair evaluation must
be devoid of all malpractices. The KNEC has put in place policies aimed at
reducing cases of examination malpractices; however there has been a rise in
reported cases of examination malpractices with the release of every examination
results. The current study sought to determine the effectiveness of the
examination handling and distribution procedures in addressing the examination
malpractices. A sample size of 511 subjects was involved in the study. The
study was conducted using descriptive survey research design. Reliability of
instruments was determined using cronbach coefficient alpha method. The study
established that the management of the examinations is dominated by the male
gender. Handling and distribution of examinations was blamed for examinations
malpractices. The researcher recommends training for all personnel involved in
the management of the examinations.


Opioid growth factor (OGF, [Met5] enkephalin), is a tonically active, negative growth factor, and interacts with a nuclear-associated receptor, OGFr. The OGF-OGFr axis mediates cell proliferation by targeting cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitory pathways. Overexpression of OGFr by pharmacological modulation of several human cancer cell lines in tissue culture has been shown to result in decreased cell replication in response to either elevated endogenous OGF or exogenous administration of this inhibitory peptide. The present study examines tumor progression in nude mice whereby established tumors of human squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck are treated by 2 methods of upregulation of the OGF-OGFr axis: imiquimod or low dosages of the opioid antagonist naltrexone (LDN; 0.1 mg/kg naltrexone). Tumor volume was monitored 3 times weekly. Some tumors were assessed for immunohistochemical levels of OGF and OGFr. Imiquimod, a promoter of OGFr gene activity, was administered topically either 1X or 3X each week. LDN was given systemically 1X or 3X per week, or daily. At the time of death, tumor volumes for the 1X and 3X imiquimod treated mice were 18 and 47%, respectively, smaller than controls, and tumor weights were decreased 36 and 43%, respectively relative to controls. All LDN treatment regimens effectively reduced tumor volume relative to mice receiving vehicle, with a regimen-related decrease in tumor growth noted throughout the study. At termination on day 35, mean tumor volumes of mice exposed to LDN were reduced from vehicle-treated controls by 35%, 61% and 84% when given 1X/week (p Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 697.


In MANET multicasting, forward and backward secrecy result in increased packet drop rate owing to mobility. Frequent rekeying causes large message overhead which increases energy consumption and end-to-end delay. Particularly, the prevailing group key management techniques cause frequent mobility and disconnections. So there is a need to design a multicast key management technique to overcome these problems. In this paper, we propose the mobility based key management technique for multicast security in MANET. Initially, the nodes are categorized according to their stability index which is estimated based on the link availability and mobility. A multicast tree is constructed such that for every weak node, there is a strong parent node. A session key-based encryption technique is utilized to transmit a multicast data. The rekeying process is performed periodically by the initiator node. The rekeying interval is fixed depending on the node category so that this technique greatly minimizes the rekeying overhead. By simulation results, we show that our proposed approach reduces the packet drop rate and improves the data confidentiality.


Abstract: The major part of technicians with knowledge in the productions systems for goats and sheep are concentrated in Northeastern and South regions of Brazil. However, in recent years, the goats and sheep industries expanded to other areas of Brazil that suffer with the absence of professionals trained with these animals. GENECOC is a breeding program coordinated by Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa Goats and Sheep, and has among the objectives to assist in training of human resources with specific skills on the animal breeding and production systems of meats goats and sheep. The program had supported the training of 36 students, being 14 graduate students and the development of 16 master projects and 6 PhD theses and it also has abroad actions. A breeding program with its dynamic process can help the education of the young preparing them to their professional life.


In the modern media age, the number of media venues, along with the types of information and programming those venues carry, is exploding. Nowhere is that explosion more evident than with the Internet. On the positive side, the Internet offers a wealth of information and communications opportunities. But, on the negative side, it brings a boundless store of harmful material within easy access of children. In recognition of the destructive effects of such material - especially obscenity and pornography - Congress on several occasions has tried to curb the accessibility of this material to children. The Supreme Court, however, has struck down these attempts using a strict scrutiny approach. Part I of this Article outlines the case against the Court's current use of strict scrutiny. This approach hinges on a single factor: whether or not a regulation of speech hinges on a content distinction. Once such a distinction is found, the law is almost always struck down, regardless of the speech burdens actually imposed by the law, whether the subject speech is in plentiful supply in other media venues, or whether the laws would result in a banishment of certain ideas from the public discourse. This myopic focus on content discrimination is outmoded in today's multimedia world and prohibits regulations of speech even when the burdens imposed by the law are slight and the speech remains available and accessible in the broader marketplace of ideas. Part II of the Article proposes a new judicial model for evaluating content-based laws regulating media programming that is not political speech. This new model examines the actual burdens placed on the subject speech. It also considers perhaps the most vulnerable freedom in the current media environment - the freedom of the unwilling recipient to avoid unwanted and offensive media speech. Furthermore, the new model - a variation of the intermediate scrutiny approach now used for so-called content-neutral regulations of speech - takes into account and incorporates the realities of the modern media world. It does so by recognizing that there is a vast array of media channels through which any one type of speech can flow, and that a restriction of speech in one venue may not rise to the level of an unconstitutional censorship.


In this paper we present a social platform that empowers real-life social experiences by using the crowd to help people discover interesting events around a particular location and make the best of the actual experience. We demonstrate how current systems cover only partially the social and individual motivations on deciding and teaming up for events, and propose i) a system of implicit and explicit incentives that rewards intention and experience sharing within circles based on friendship or interests and ii) a discovery algorithm that combines the importance of coming along with friends with the personal interests to recommend events. The resulting platform has been applied to generic events as well as domain-specific ones such as shows in movie theaters.


In this paper we consider the process of a chemical species diffusing into a thin homogeneous film which contains fixed sites on to which the species can reversibly bind. We consider the situation in which the interaction of the diffusing species and the sites is described by the Langmuir isotherm. The differential equations that describe this nonlinear diffusion reaction problem are studied. We find that the problem may be conveniently divided into six cases. Each case is presented and approximate analytical solutions for the concentration profiles are given as a function of time for both adsorption and desorption. These solutions are relevant in situations of practical importance, including the binding of substrates to immobilized enzymes, the operation of polymeric gas sensors, and the vapour phase doping of conducting polymers.