Purpose. To simulate the effect of low-intensity exercise in early rehabilitation, we investigated the effect of a 7-week low-intensity norm duration hand rim wheelchair training on the physical capacity in untrained able-bodied individuals. Method. Twenty-five able-bodied participants were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group: 10 participants exercised 7 weeks, three times a week at 30% heart rate reserve (HRR) for 30 min (experimental group). The control group consisted of 15 participants who did not receive training. Physical capacity (maximal isometric strength, sprint power, peak power output and peak oxygen uptake) and submaximal performance [heart rate (HR), oxygen uptake (VO2), mechanical efficiency (ME)] were assessed pre- and post-training. The levels of upper-body discomfort were determined with the use of a Local Perceived Discomfort scale. Results. Compared to the control group the experimental group significantly improved on sprint power (+31.2%), peak aerobic power output (+34%), submaximal HR, VO2 and ME (+16.9%). The participants did not experience high levels of local discomfort in the upper body during the training. Conclusions. Low-intensity norm duration hand rim wheelchair training which significantly improved peak aerobic and sprint power output, efficiency and physical strain in able-bodied untrained individuals. Training at 30% HRR (3 × /week, 30 min/session) may be appropriate in untrained individuals, such as novice wheelchair users at the start of their rehabilitation, to prevent early fatigue and overuse and enhance motivation.


The idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (Hakim – Adams syndrome) is characterized by the expansion of cerebrospinal cavities, which is clinically manifested by triad symptoms: cognitive impairment, impaired gait and urination. In this research the severity and modality of cognitive impairment, the pattern of gait changes and the levels of protein biomarkers of amyloidosis and neurodegeneration and neuroimaging changes was evaluated for idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, Alzheimer's disease and their combination. It has been established that for patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus the most characteristic is the dysregulatory type of disorders of higher brain functions, while for patients with a combination of Alzheimer's disease and idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, mnemonic disorders are also detected. The specific changes of cerebrospinal fluid in patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus are higher levels of amyloid beta, a decrease concentration of tau and phosphorylated tau-protein compared to patients with Alzheimer's disease. In the case of a combination of diseases (comorbidity), it was characterized by intermediate results by cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. We also revealed patterns of transformation of moderate cognitive impairment into dementia (according to the ratio of tau/Aβ‑42 and ftau /Aβ‑42). The value of evaluating the results of magnetic resonance imaging using special techniques that evaluate both the expansion of the ventricular system and atrophy of the brain parenchyma. Comorbid patients are characterized by a combination of these processes based on the results of neuroimaging. That is why it is necessary to use complex visually analog neuroimaging scales for differential diagnosis and establishing diagnosis. Also, in the course of this work, an algorithm is proposed for mandatory clinical-neuropsychological and laboratory-instrumental examination of patients with cognitive impairment in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus, Alzheimer's disease and their combination.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Interstitial cystitis/bladder painful syndrome (IC/BPS) is still an ″enigma″ due to its elusive etiology and lack of curative therapy. An innovative approach in the management of chronic pain is represented by the ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide (um-PEA), a cannabimimetic compound existing in different formulations. Um-PEA has been investigated as an analgesic agent in animal models and in clinical trials across a variety of conditions with favorable results. This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of um-PEA combined with Polydatin (Pelvilen®) add-on therapy in the management of pain-resistant patients suffering from IC/BPS. METHODS: 23 patients affected by IC/BPS, poorly responsive to conventional pharmacological agents, were included in this exploratory study. Patients underwent history, physical examination, urinary symptoms and pain intensity evaluation on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). They started assuming um-PEA/Polydatin 100 mg tablets (once daily, sublingually administered) while continuing their previous pharmacological treatments. Clinical evaluation with the 3-day voiding diary, uroflowmetry and VAS were repeated at 3 and 6 months follow-up. RESULTS: There were 10 males and 13 females; mean age: 60.7±14.2 yrs. All patients were under different oral and intravesical poly-pharmacotherapies for IC/BPS, i.e. amytryptiline, pregabalin, tapentadol, skeletal muscle relaxants, hyaluronic acid, botulinum A toxin. At baseline 34.7% of patients had bladder pain/ burning (P/B) sensation, 30.4% had urethral P/B, 17.6% had dyspareunia, 13% had anal P/B, and 4.3% had prostate P/B. 12 cases presented with urgency and 5 with urgency urinary incontinence (UUI). At the 3 mos follow-up, 20 patients (86.9%) showed a significant reduction in pain intensity (mean±SD VAS score increased from 3.6±1.3 to 6.8±1.3, p<0.01); urgency persisted in 6 pts and UUI in 3. Three pts stopped assuming um-PEA/Polydatin due to lack of efficacy. At the 6 mos follow-up, pain significantly decreased in 75% of patients and it completely disappeared in 25 cases (5/20). No side effects have been recorded. CONCLUSIONS: This observational study provides preliminary evidence on the efficacy and safety of um-PEA/Polydatin as an add-on treatment to conventional pharmacological regimens in patients with IC/BPS. The significant pain intensity reduction could be attributed to the downregulation of must cell degranulation via an ″autacoid local inflammation antagonism″ effect of um-PEA/Polydatin. Future studies should be addressed to investigate the benefits of this pharmacological agent, alone or in combination, in the treatment of patients with IC/BPS. Source of Funding: None


This study is about the health professionals' mental health, aiming at identifying the perception they have of main problems that favor alterations in mental health, according to class leaders and coordinators of undergraduate courses in nursing, medicine, nutrition, dentistry, speech therapy, psychology, physical therapy and occupational therapy. A descriptive and exploratory method was used within the qualitative approach chosen. The research was accomplished through semi-structured interviews, by means of a form containing 41 open questions that were adapted to each interviewee's function. Through content analysis, a lack of investments of the referred organs in relation to the mental health of the studied professional categories was revealed. However, these organs are aware that these professionals are stressed out, overloaded and some are even frustrated with the profession, compromising the attendance to the population. Keywords: Mental health; Health Professionals; Stress.


Various intrusion detection systems (IDSs) reported in the literature have shown distinct preferences for detecting a certain class of attack with improved accuracy, while performing moderately on the other classes. In view of the enormous computing power available in the present-day processors, deploying multiple IDSs in the same network to obtain best-of-breed solutions has been attempted earlier. The paper presented here addresses the problem of optimizing the performance of IDSs using sensor fusion with multiple sensors. The trade-off between the detection rate and false alarms with multiple sensors is highlighted. It is illustrated that the performance of the detector is better when the fusion threshold is determined according to the Chebyshev inequality. In the proposed data-dependent decision (DD) fusion method, the performance optimization of individual IDSs is first addressed. A neural network supervised learner has been designed to determine the weights of individual IDSs depending on their reliability in detecting a certain attack. The final stage of this DD fusion architecture is a sensor fusion unit which does the weighted aggregation in order to make an appropriate decision. This paper theoretically models the fusion of IDSs for the purpose of demonstrating the improvement in performance, supplemented with the empirical evaluation.


In order to study the thermal stability of accelerated-curing PF resin, the curing behavior of fresh PF resin was investigated in the presence of single accelerator of methylolurea derivatives (MMU), magnesium hydrate (Mg(OH)2), 25% aqueous solution of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), and propylene carbonate (PC). Also their optimum combination was added in fresh PF resin. The thermal stability of cured phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins was studied using thermogravimetric analysis TG/DTA in air with heating rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 °C min-1. Thermal degradation kinetics were investigated using the Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods. The results show that these accelerators can promote fresh PF resin fast curing, and the degradation of accelerated-curing cured PF resin can be divided into three stages. Single accelerator MMU, Mg(OH)2, and Na2CO3 can promote fresh PF curing at low temperatures in the first stage, while the structure of PF resin which was added with MMU and PC was more rigid, according to thermal degradation kinetics. A novel fast curing agent which is compound with MMU+Na2CO3 for PF resin is proposed; not only can it maintain the advantage of fast curing of the single accelerator Na2CO3, but it also improves the thermal stability of PF resin.


Abstract : The general purpose of this study was to deepen and broaden thinking about the nature and implications of possible Multi-Skilied Soldier (MSS) Concept implementation. Specific objectives were (1) to determine applicability of the MSS to the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), as it might be implemented in Initial Entry Training (IET) and (2) to prototype MSS Concept implementation for the SBCT, considering possible implementation for the Future Force. The report also defines the MSS; shows how the MSS Concept might fit conceptually within a larger Army training, education, and professional development model for Soldiers of all ranks; offers an MSS Program design for IET; and crafts actionable recommendations regarding general MSS implementation for IET. The study concludes that the MSS Concept is fully applicable to the SBCT, as well as the so-called Current Force. It also concludes that MSS implementation would have a significant salutary effect on unit training readiness postures across the force. This study relied heavily on insights and analysis gained from interviews with groups of senior NCOs and officers within the 3rd Brigade (SBCT), 2nd Infantry Division, Ft. Lewis, WA, during September 2002.


Coal fly ash (CFA) that is discharged from coal-fired power plants has characteristics of fine particles, a small specific gravity and a large pore ratio. The dust suppression and strengthening of CFA is usually carried out by spraying water in the ash storage yard, but this practical approach is unsatisfactory. The strength of the CFA filling material affects the construction safety and operational safety of the ash dams. To carry out effective CFA material utilization and dust-pollution control, this paper applied the microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) method to enhance the strength of CFA under two curing conditions of natural evaporation (NE) and in a moisture cylinder (MC). The microbial-reaction mechanism, strengthening characteristics and influencing factors were studied. The results show that: 1) the calcium carbonate that is produced by microorganisms in the CFA is calcite, and the calcium-carbonate content increases from 7% to 18.9% and 15.3% under the MC and NE curing conditions, respectively; 2) MICP can improve the CFA strength, and the unconfined compressive strength can be increased by 6.55 times to 97.63 kPa under the MC curing conditions; 3) the solidification strength of CFA varies significantly with the concentration of CaCl2.2H2O and CH4N2O nutrients. The peak stress increases initially and then decreases with an increase in nutrient salt concentration. The optimum nutrient concentration was 0.5 mol/L and 1.0 mol/L for the MC and NE curing conditions, respectively; 4) calcium carbonate that was induced by microbial reaction can reduce the water loss in the ash specimen, and allow the ash surface to form a better water-retention effect, with good prospects for dust suppression.


This study investigates the optimal production system in Japan using a large-scale sampling survey of laptop assembly production firm. In Japan, many companies adopt a cell production system which is studied and emulated by other manufacturing companies around the world. Companies which successfully introduced the cell production process have improved their manufacturing, but related processes such as parts supply have not been optimized. If the supply of parts is inefficient, overall efficiency suffers even if cell production works optimally. In fact, it is absolutely necessary to pursue a total optimization. Thus, this paper considers the manufacturing system's needs in terms of the most suitable number of material handlers to supply parts(= Mizusumashi) from receiving area to the cells as it is linked to efficient cell production for laptop assembly using simulation.


A method of braked pivot turning an aircraft (1), the aircraft (1) comprising a fuselage (3) and a landing gear assembly (9, 10) located to one side thereof. The landing gear comprises a bogie (17) with wheels (19, 20) mounted thereon, at least one wheel being located on a first side of the bogie (17) and at least one wheel being located on a second side of the bogie (17). The method includes the steps of applying thrust (7'') for moving or turning the aircraft, and via the braking of at least one wheel, applying a greater braking force to the first side of the bogie (17) than to the second side. The first side is located closer to the centre of turning (13) of the aircraft than the second side. The method thereby generates relatively low torque loads in the landing gear leg, reducing fatigue damage. A brake control system is also provided for selectively braking wheels during a turn.


This paper deals with the weight estimation of the wing box of a commercial aircraft by means of a procedure suitable for very large liners and/or unconventional configurations for which statistical data and empirical formulas may not be sufficiently reliable. Attention is focused on the need to account for aeroelastic interaction from a very preliminary stage of the design cycle. The procedure exploits the first of three levels of a multilevel structural optimization system conceived for the preliminary design of the wing primary structure and a simplified evaluation of the cross-sectional properties. The comparison between weight estimates obtained with the present procedure and predictions supplied by available literature shows a satisfactory agreement.


Fludara I.V. (fludarabine phosphate) (2-F-ara-adenosine monophosphate [2-F-ara-AMP], NSC 312887) is the 5'-phosphate of 2-F-ara-A-(9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-2-fluoroadenine), a derivative of ara-A that is resistant to deamination and selectively inhibits DNA synthesis. Concurrent with the phase I evaluation of 2-F-ara-AMP administered as a single intravenous (IV) bolus every 21 days to patients with advanced malignancy, plasma pharmacokinetic profiles of 2-F-ara-A were determined in 30 patients following the rapid infusion (2 to 5 minutes) of doses of 2-F-ara-AMP ranging from 80 to 260 mg/m2. The parent drug was almost quantitatively converted to 2-F-ara-A by apparent first-pass metabolism, with maximum levels of 2-F-ara-A and very low levels (less than 1 fmol/L) of 2-F-ara-AMP observed only in the plasma samples obtained shortly after dosing (2 to 4 minutes). The plasma concentration-time profiles exhibited three exponential phases. Plasma concentrations were computer fitted to a three-compartment open model using a zero-order input function for the injection period. The 2-F-ara-A harmonic mean half-lives were t1/2 alpha = 4.97 minutes, t1/2 beta = 1.38 hours, t1/2 gamma = 10.41 hours, and the mean residence time was 10.51 hours. The rate-limiting process for elimination of the drug from the body appeared to be release from tissue binding sites. The mean total-body plasma clearance was 67.98 +/- 19.58 mL/min/m2 (mean +/- SD). The mean central compartment volume of distribution (V1) was 7.49 L/m2 or 0.20 L/kg. The mean steady-state volume of distribution (Vdss) was 44.17 L/m2 or 1.19 L/kg, indicating that 2-F-ara-A is distributed and bound to the tissues of the body. Total-body clearance and the volume parameters Vdss and Vd gamma decreased with an increase in serum creatinine, indicating that these pharmacokinetic parameters depend upon renal function. Dose reduction in patients with renal dysfunction is recommended.


This study evaluated the effect of the herbicides fluazifop-p-butyl and fomesafen in five concentrations (0.0; 1.05; 2.10; 4.20 and 8.40 μg g-1) and their mixture (Robust®) on microbial activity in soil submitted to no-tillage system (NTS) and conventional planting system (CPS). Samples in Erlenmeyer of 250 mL were treated with herbicide and wetted to field capacity. After every four days, microbial respiration was quantified through CO2 left by the soil. Metabolic quotient (qCO2) and carbon of microbial biomass (CMB) were determined 20 days after incubation. Under NTS, microbial activity increased with fluazifop-p-butyl and decreased with up to 4.20 μg g-1 of fomesafen. Herbicide effect on soil microbial respiration and CMB under CPS was below that observed under NTS.CMB increased with the increase of fluazifop-p-butyl concentration and decrease of fomesafen concentration. The mixture (Robust®) did not influence CMB under NTS, but it was reduced under CPS in higher concentrations. Under NTS, qCO2 increased with the herbicide concentrations, without, however, varying between them. Under CPS, herbicide mixture provided a higher qCO2. In general, the herbicides provided a negative effect on microbial biomass, proportional to the concentrations applied, being smaller in soil under NTS than in soil under CPS.


AIM: To understand how variations in precipitation and topographic wetness influence tree community assembly at both regional and landscape scales in tropical forests. LOCATION: New Caledonia (SW Pacific). METHODS: We sampled 40 tree communities in 0.04‐ha plots laid along topographic gradients within two landscapes with contrasting precipitation. Within a dry ( 2,500 mm/year) landscape we used the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) to sample communities in topographic position with low (e.g., ridges) and high (e.g., valleys) water accumulation. For each sampled species, we measured five functional traits involved in drought resistance and resource acquisition (wood density, leaf area, leaf specific area, leaf dry matter content, and leaf thickness). We first examined trait covariation across species. We then analysed how the functional composition of communities varied between landscapes (according to precipitation) and within landscapes (according to TWI), using trait‐based statistics and null models. RESULTS: We identified two ecological trade‐offs driving trait variation across species: (i) one opposing high hydraulic efficiency to drought resistance, related to a wood economic spectrum; and (ii) the other opposing resource acquisition to resource conservation, related to a leaf economic spectrum. Across landscapes, species with drought resistance strategies were favoured at lower precipitation. Within landscapes, drought resistant species were selected under low TWI in the dry landscape, while low TWI increased the abundance of species with conservative strategies in the wet landscape. CONCLUSIONS: Precipitation and topography jointly shape the functional composition of tree communities. At low precipitation, hydric constraints prevailed on ridges and upslopes by filtering drought resistant strategies along the wood economic spectrum. Contrastingly, higher precipitation relaxed the hydric constraints and resource availability became a primary driver of changing strategies along the leaf economic spectrum. Thus, the landscape scale influence of topography on processes driving community assembly and functional composition critically depends on the regional climatic context.


Introduction: Currently, cities are responsible to provide rapidly growing population with housing, job, and services. In practice, sustainable development approach can be considered in the utilization of natural resources (renewable and nonrenewable), efficient and optimal utilization of resources, less environmental pollution, and sustainable society. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the factors effective on indicators of sustainable development and evaluate sustainable development in Parand Industrial Town. Materials and Methods: This study used an applied descriptive survey. Participants of this study included residents of Parand Town. Sample size (384) was calculated by Krejcie and Morgan Table using simple random sampling method. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive and analytic statistics including mean, median, and t-test. Results: Findings showed that sustainable development indicators (social and environmental) were evaluated average and above in Parand Industrial Town. Conclusions: Urban management is recommended to consider the above indicators to promote the development in Parand Town.


Ultrasound is commonly performed to diagnose pathological processes of the neck and the salivary glands. In contrast, pathological changes of the sinuses and the bony structures of the face are only rarely examined sonographically. This paper deals with the diagnostic scope of ultrasound in the case of orbital and nasal fractures as well as for cases of sinus pathology excluding acute sinusitis. 51 patients with different diseases of this area were examined using US and X-ray or CT scan. Fractures of the nose could all be diagnosed correctly by ultrasound, which is of clinical importance if children or pregnant patients are examined. Blow-out fractures of the orbit were not detected. In contrast, pathological changes of the orbit itself could be distinguished sufficiently well from those infiltrating the orbit and originating from the sinuses. Real-time examination allows the detection of infiltration of orbital muscles and the bulb of the eye better than any other imaging method.


It is now more than twenty years ago that I was first introduced to the Urdu ghazal —the classical Urdu lyric—and found with something like dismay that there was almost nothing about it which I understood and liked. This was not because I had not an adequate command of the language. I had begun speaking Urdu in 1942, and from about 1945 had acquired some competence in the language of prose literature. Nor was it because I was not moderately well read in the love poetry of various cultures and civilizations, from Sappho and Catullus to Shakespeare and Burns, not to speak of later poets. But this was a new, strange experience. From that day to this I have been convinced that to understand and appreciate the ghazal is the most difficult task that confronts the modern Western student of Urdu literature; and as my own understanding increased I have become equally convinced that this is a task which, once accomplished, brings the greatest reward. Such conclusions of my own about the ghazal as I have put into writing fall short of a comprehensive study of the form, and I have never entirely ceased to hope that others more knowledgeable than I would, either in Urdu or in English, write something in which one would find at least most of the answers to the major problems which the ghazal presents to us who study it with the values of the modern West. Hitherto this hope has not been realized, and for that reason I now attempt to set out my own views—spurred on, I should confess, by Muhammad Sadiq's judgement in his History of Urdu Literature (Oxford University Press, 1964)—the latest, longest, and (so far) best history in English—that the ghazal stands "very low in the hierarchy of literary forms" (p. 19). This judgment could hardly be more completely opposed to my own.


The Lebanese Shi`ite resistance movement, Hizbullah, is going through a remarkable political and ideological transformation. Hizbullah was founded in 1978 by various sectors of Lebanese Shi`ite clergy and cadres, and with Iranian backing as an Islamic movement protesting against social and political conditions. Over the years 1984/85 to 1991, Hizbullah became a full-fledged social movement in the sense of having a broad overall organization, structure, and ideology aiming at social change and social justice, as it claimed. Starting in 1992, it became a mainstream political party working within the narrow confines of its pragmatic political program. The line of argument in this dissertation is that Hizbullah has been adjusting its identity in the three previously mentioned stages by shifting emphasis among its three components: (1) from propagating an exclusivist religious ideology (2) to a more encompassing political ideology, and (3) to a down-to-earth political program.


Fusarium proliferatum and F. verticillioides are mycotoxin-producing, seedborne pathogens of maize. They are often asymptomatic in seed, eluding symptom-based detection. Experiments were conducted in nonsterile soil to determine whether interspecific competition influenced establishment in maize plants of an introduced isolate of F. proliferatum or F. verticillioides. Hygromycin-resistant, green fluorescent protein (GFP) transformed (GFP-tagged) F. proliferatum (F. proliferatum-green) and hygromycin-resistant, monomeric red fluorescent protein (mRFP) transformed (mRFP-tagged) F. verticillioides (F. verticillioides-red) strains were developed to provide molecular markers to track fungal establishment. Heat-killed Fusarium-free maize seed, colonized with F. proliferatum-green or F. verticillioides-red by immersion in a spore suspension for 16 h, served as the source of inoculum. The ability of F. proliferatum-green and F. verticillioides-red to colonize viable maize plants already colonized by the other species was determined. Maize plants were retrieved from soil after 14 days and DNA was extracted from three consecutive root segments and three consecutive stem segments. A TaqMan multiplex real-time quantitative PCR protocol was developed to identify and quantify F. proliferatum-green and F. verticillioides-red from each plant segment from each treatment; the experiment was repeated three times. This experiment confirmed that F. proliferatum-green and F. verticillioides-red effectively colonized roots and stems of the maize plant already colonized with the other species. Prior colonization of maize tissues by F. verticillioides-red (P = 0.6749) and other seedborne microorganisms (P = 0.1910) reduced but did not prevent subsequent colonization by F. proliferatum-green. Similarly, prior colonization of maize tissues by F. proliferatum-green (P = 0.7032) and other seedborne microorganisms (P = 0.1447) reduced but did not prevent subsequent colonization by F. verticillioides-red.


The survey, which took place from May to June this year, gathered the predictions of 215 professionals working in accounting, consultancy, education, financial ser vices, insurance, legal and other sectors in China.


The commercial engines retrieved the appropriate documents by user's keyword. Therefore, they reduce user's effort and time to find appropriate information. However, the web page list retrieved from the engines is still not enough for user effort free. It is because the search target for each user is usually different according to user profile. Thus, it is need to reorder web page list according to user profile. In this paper we propose a system of reordering web pages retrieved from a search engine based on the keyword weights in user's interested documents. Each keyword weight is updated by some user's behaviors. So, the retrieved actions of search engines are repeatedly doing according to those weights at next time.


Providing adequate nutrition to critically ill pediatric patients is essential and positively impacts outcomes. Critically ill infants and children receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy are nutritionally vulnerable, yet there are challenges to reliable assessment of nutrition requirements and to the delivery of optimal nutrition in this cohort. In this review of the relevant literature, we present the current evidence and guidelines for the optimal prescription and delivery of nutrition for pediatric patients receiving ECMO. We also discuss nutrient delivery considerations in ECMO survivors and identify areas where further study is needed.


This research aims to explore the role and typology of innovation intermediation in the context of technological regime and service pattern, especially focusing on the difference of functional roles in each category. To answer the research question concerning innovation intermediaries, the research consists several parts utilizing both qualitative and quantitative approaches of factor analysis, cluster analysis, and expert interview, respectively. In light of this research design, the results of this research are therefore threefold, namely, constructing a framework of technological regime, providing a typology and business model analysis of innovation intermediaries in terms of technological regime and service pattern, and identify the specialized roles of public intermediary, private intermediary and TLOs in university in this typology.


The ability of nonmodulated Bvg+ phase cultures, temperature modulated Bvg- phase cultures, and a Bvg- phase-locked mutant of Bordetella bronchiseptica to colonize the rat upper respiratory tract was investigated. Initially, greater numbers of the temperature modulated Bvg- phase bacteria adhered to the nasal cavity of the rats. The temperature modulated Bvg- phase bacteria appeared to be quickly cleared to levels lower than the Bvg+ phase bacteria by 4 h after inoculation and stayed lower until 48 h after inoculation when colonization levels were equal to the Bvg+ phase bacteria. The level of colonization with the Bvg- phase-locked mutant of B. bronchiseptica was lower than both the nonmodulated Bvg+ phase and temperature modulated Bvg- phase cultures and declined over time during the experiment. These findings suggest that there may be increased adherence from an environmental phase to ensure bacteria survive initial clearance mechanisms until the switch to the Bvg+ phase occurs.


This paper addresses the prioritization problem of parameters for making consensus on the combination of risk-reducing plans. The exisiting method supports reducing times of adjustments by prioritizing parameters in descending order of the gaps in "preferences" of parameters among experts. However, the existing method can not prioritize the parameters correctly when the disagreement is caused by the mutual effect among risk-reducing plans. So, we propose a prioritization method of adjusting parameters by mutual effect analysis. The proposed method defines the rate of the preference as the magnitude of the mutual effect when a value of a parameter of risk-reducing plan is changed. The magnitude of the mutual effect is defined as "independent score" and whether the mutual effect works or not is decided. The risk-reducing plan which has no mutual effect is prioritized based on the existing method. On the other hand, the risk-reducing plan which has strong mutual effect is prioritized in descending order of the magnitude of the mutual effect. As a result of evaluation experiments, the proposed method can improve averages of the recall rate by 30% and the precision rate by 28% compared to the existing method.


ABSTRACT Since the ratification of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD PoA), the importance of promoting men's participation in childcare has been recognized as an international priority. This study documents national policy efforts undertaken during the ICPD PoA timeframe to increase men's participation in childcare in Croatia, India, and Mexico. Results of our policy analysis suggest that although between 1995 and 2014, the governments of Croatia, India and Mexico applied diverse policy approaches to promote paternal involvement, more efforts are needed to challenge the traditional division of childcare responsibilities between parents, recognize and value unpaid care work, and increase men's opportunities to participate in the lives of their children in these countries.


Here Benzimidazole analogues have been used to correlate the inhibition activity with the Eccentric Connectivity index (ECI), Fragment Complexity (FC) and McGowan Volumes (MG) descriptors for studying the quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) against methionine aminopeptidases for the development and evaluation of anti-cancer agents. Correlation may be an adequate predictive model which can help to provide guidance in designing and subsequently yielding greatly specific compounds that may have reduced side effects and improved pharmacological activities. We have used Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) for developing QSAR model. For the validation of the developed QSAR model, statistical analysis such as cross validation test (LOO-CV), quality factor, fischers test, root mean square deviation (RMSD), variance, standard deviation etc.; have been performed and all the tests validated this QSAR model with fraction of variance r2 = 0.8906 and LOO-CV q2 = 0.8904.


Purpose Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) is defined as hearing loss in one or both ears of ≥ 30 dB, developing within 3 days, affecting at least 3 contiguous frequencies. It is rare in children, but if untreated can cause significant morbidity. Hearing loss during critical periods of development may cause life-long social, behavioural and mental sequelae. However, little is known about its aetiology, management and prognosis. Methods A systematic literature review of paediatric SSNHL on PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane CENTRAL database was performed on 31st June 2019 according to the PRISMA recommendations. 620 papers met appropriate MESH criteria, of which 14 met inclusion criteria for further analysis. 13 of these were level 4 evidence (retrospective records reviews) and 1 was level 2b evidence (prospective cohort study). A pooled patient population of 754 individuals was analysed. Results Most cases of SSNHL in children were idiopathic in aetiology. Other reported aetiologies included viral infection, trauma, ototoxic drugs and structural abnormalities. Systemic steroids were the mainstay of treatment in all included studies. Recovery was defined as any improvement in hearing following the initial episode of hearing loss, from 'slight' to 'complete' recovery. Recovery ranged from 20% to 100% in the included studies, with a pooled rate of 47%. Only one study reported a recovery rate without treatment, of 6.25%. Conclusion Paediatric SSNHL is an important condition of which little is known. Even with current best practice, fewer than half of children with SSNHL will recover their hearing.


Urbanization is an ongoing trend in developed and developing countries. With particular reference to Nigeria, studies have shown that many urban centres have been experiencing rapid and continuous growth over the years, as people tend to migrate from rural areas to urban centres in order to better their living conditions. However, there has been an inadequacy of the necessary infrastructures to meet the needs of the increasing urban populace. Empirical studies have also shown that about 75% of the urban settlers live in slums and improper housing, which is antithetical to human dignity. Therefore, this study aims at exploring the causes, advantages, and disadvantages of urban slum dwelling in Nigeria, and similarly proper possible solutions to the prevailing urbanization challenges in the country. The authors agree that the policy can bring about an effective provision of affordable housing, thereby meeting the needs of housing and helping to solve most of the problems of urbanization in Nigeria. It is recommended that each element of an effective housing policy, as entrenched in the National Housing Policy 2012, should be critically explored towards the delivery of affordable housing, which would in turn go a long way in solving urbanization problems in Nigeria.


Results of 21-year-long (1989–2010) observations of the concentrations and the spatial distribution patterns of nine heavy metals (HMs) in topsoils of the Eastern district of Moscow are presented. The quantitative parameters of soil pollution include the annual increase rates of HM concentrations in several land-use zones. The maps of geochemical anomalies were compiled using the data collected in 1989, 2005, and 2010. The growth of the total volume of industrial and vehicles' emissions between 1989 and 2005 caused significant deposition of Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd. The additional input of Cd to the soils is attributed to the application of sewage sludge as fertilizers. The relative increment of concentrations was the highest for Pb, Co, Cu, Ni, and Cr. In 2005–2010, the relative annual increment rate was the highest for Cr, Cd, Co, and Ni, and it increased by an order of magnitude as compared to the previous period. By contrast, Pb and Cu concentrations decreased owing to the soil reclamation, the exclusion of leaded gasoline as a fuel for vehicles and closing some hazardous enterprises. Joint analysis of snow and soil geochemical maps allows identification of the zones of actual, permanent, and relict pollution.


We investigate the accelerating phases of cosmologies supported by a metric, scalars and a single exponential scalar potential. The different solutions can be represented by trajectories on a sphere and we find that quintessence happens within the 'arctic circle' of the sphere. Furthermore, we obtain multi-exponential potentials from 3D group manifold reductions of gravity, implying that such potentials can be embedded in gauged supergravities with an M-theory origin. We relate the double exponential case to flux compactifications on maximally symmetric spaces and S-branes. In the triple exponential case our analysis suggests the existence of two exotic S(D − 3)-branes in D dimensions.


ABSTRACT Self-regulated learning, reflective thinking, and meta-cognition have been given greater emphasis in Singapore's education system as central to the development of 21st century competencies and lifelong learning capacities. This study explores students' perceptions of their Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) strategies in Secondary Social Studies after engaging in a Computer-Based Learning Environment (CBLE) lesson with online information sources. Semi-structured group interviews were used to tease out the SRL strategies utilised by students from two different schools. SRL strategies were embedded in the CBLE as instructional prompts created for the purpose of assisting students during task completion. Students were then asked to reflect and comment on their work to identify SRL strategies they utilised in their learning. Findings demonstrate a range of SRL behaviours conveyed by students in the areas of planning for learning tasks, monitoring their learning, and reflection on their learning. The study highlights the importance of SRL strategies in Social Studies education to improve student learning.


Access to secondary education in public secondary schools in Kenya has not been fully achieved due to rising costs in education. The Kenya government has therefore devised policies to help address issues of education access and retention through establishment of cost subsidies. The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was established in 2003 through an Act of Parliament. The main objective was to mitigate the imbalance in regional development and provide people at the grassroots an opportunity to make expenditure choices that maximize their welfare in line with their needs and preferences. A key focus of CDF was to provide a devolved system of financing education. However, the extent to which CDF has succeeded in achieving this noble aim has not been evaluated. The focus of this study therefore was to find out the extent to which CDF as a means of financing education has succeeded in improving physical facilities, enhancing enrolment and reducing dropout rates in secondary schools in Ndaragwa Constituency, Kenya and to determine whether the impact is related to school type, enrolment, age and sponsorship. The study adopted an Ex-post facto research design where data were collected using self-administered questionnaires to 25 principals. Data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Hypotheses were tested using ANOVA and t-test at an alpha level of 0.05. The study established that there is no significant relationship between the impact of CDF in financing education and school type, enrolment, age and sponsorship. Based on the findings, the study recommends that CDF framework should be revised in order to assist schools to address pertinent issues facing them and to improve the quality of education in all secondary schools in Kenya.


It has been found that female progeny with the early feathering (EF) phenotype rarely emerge in late feathering (LF) strains of chickens. However, few detailed studies on the incidence of reversion have been reported. The present study was conducted to examine the incidence of reversion across three generations (G7-G9) in an LF line of the Nagoya breed and to investigate the characteristics of DNA structures of the revertant EF females. A total of five EF revertant females were observed (G7: 3 out of 376, G8: 1 out of 383, G9: 1 out of 411), and the incidences observed in G7, G8, and G9 were 0.80, 0.26, and 0.24%, respectively. Results of two PCR and one RFLP-PCR analyses indicated that there were two types of EF revertants in the Nagoya breed (3 birds were Type I and 2 birds were Type II), and that the reversion to the EF phenotype might be accompanied by the loss of either an OR (occupied repeat) or a UR-K region (unoccupied repeat on the K locus), which were homologous DNA regions produced by insertion of an avian endogenous virus gene (ev21) and duplication. Moreover, phenotypes of full-sib and half-sib sisters of the EF revertants confirmed that the sires of the EF revertants have never harbored excision of either OR or UR-K at the ev21-K complex locus on one of two Z chromosomes, suggesting that the reversion event occurred in spermatogenesis.


Limited availability of human capital data on the internal audit function (IAF) has constrained research on this topic. This study overcomes certain data limitations by using LinkedIn data from Revelio Labs. Using longitudinal data on individual IAF employees, we document that IAF experience, education, and size are associated with higher financial reporting quality. Specifically, we find that IAF competency is inversely associated with the propensity for material weaknesses and misstatements. We further document that firms respond to these adverse reporting events by investing in IAF competency, and these results are driven by improvements to IAF experience and size. Finally, we find that improvements in IAF competency are positively associated with the remediation of material weaknesses. Our findings can help internal audit leaders focus on shaping their functions and aid them in garnering support for investment in the IAF from management and the board.
 JEL Classifications: M40; M41; M42.


The labour market from the point of view of its development in the digital environment, where the main focus is the provision of qualified personnel and updating of personnel potential in the sphere of application of digital technologies, has been analyzed. The structure of employment by branches of economic activity has been considered, the regularities, reflecting a role of information and digital technologies, which change a qualitative component of the labour market from both the employee, and the employer, have been revealed. The role of changes in the level of knowledge for the development of professional potential of the employee in the digital economy due to the development of this sphere has been shown.


Online bidding and auction are crucial aspects of the online advertising industry. Conventionally, there is only one slot for ad display and most current studies focus on it. Nowadays, multi-slot display advertising is gradually becoming popular where many ads could be displayed in a list and shown as a whole to users. However, multi-slot display advertising leads to different cost-effectiveness. Advertisers have the incentive to adjust bid prices so as to win the most economical ad positions. In this study, we introduce bid shading into multi-slot display advertising for bid price adjustment with a Multi-task End-to-end Bid Shading~(MEBS) method. We prove the optimality of our method theoretically and examine its performance experimentally. Through extensive offline and online experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our method, and we obtain a 7.01% lift in Gross Merchandise Volume, a 7.42% lift in Return on Investment, and a 3.26% lift in ad buy count.


Background Metatranscriptomics has been used widely for investigation and quantification of microbial communities' activity in response to external stimuli. By assessing the genes expressed, metatranscriptomics provide an understanding of the interactions between different major functional guilds and the environment. Here, we present de-novo assembly-based Comparative Metatranscriptomics Workflow (CoMW) implemented in a modular, reproducible structure, significantly improving the annotation and quantification of metatranscriptomes. Metatranscriptomics typically utilize short sequence reads, which can either be directly aligned to external reference databases ("assembly-free approach") or first assembled into contigs before alignment ("assembly-based approach"). We also compare CoMW (assembly-based implementation) with assembly-free alternative workflow, using simulated and real-world metatranscriptomes from Arctic and Temperate terrestrial environments. We evaluate their accuracy in precision and recall using generic and specialized hierarchical protein databases. Results CoMW provided significantly fewer false positives resulting in more precise identification and quantification of functional genes in metatranscriptomes. Using the comprehensive database M5nr, the assembly-based approach identified genes with only 0.6% false positives at thresholds ranging from inclusive to stringent compared to the assembly-free approach yielding up to 15% false positives. Using specialized databases (Carbohydrate Active-enzyme and Nitrogen Cycle), the assembly-based approach identified and quantified genes with 3-5x less false positives. We also evaluated the impact of both approaches on real-world datasets. Conclusions We present an open source de-novo assembly-based Comparative Metatranscriptomics Workflow (CoMW). Our benchmarking findings support the argument of assembling short reads into contigs before alignment to a reference database, since this provides higher precision and minimizes false positives.


Unlike traditional machine learning methods, humans often learn from natural language instruction. As users become increasingly accustomed to interacting with mobile devices using speech, their interest in instructing these devices in natural language is likely to grow. We introduce our Learning by Instruction Agent (LIA), an intelligent personal agent that users can teach to perform new action sequences to achieve new commands, using solely natural language interaction. LIA uses a CCG semantic parser to ground the semantics of each command in terms of primitive executable procedures defining sensors and effectors of the agent. Given a natural language command that LIA does not understand, it prompts the user to explain how to achieve the command through a sequence of steps, also specified in natural language. A novel lexicon induction algorithm enables LIA to generalize across taught commands, e.g., having been taught how to "forward an email to Alice," LIA can correctly interpret the command "forward this email to Bob." A user study involving email tasks demonstrates that users voluntarily teach LIA new commands, and that these taught commands significantly reduce task completion time. These results demonstrate the potential of natural language instruction as a significant, under-explored paradigm for machine learning.


NOVELTY - The green liquor clarification method involves filtering of flowing suspension containing solids and bringing in contact with a first filter unit (4). The filter unit consists of filter elements (12) with filter bodies having filter channels. A part of the suspension is forced to pass through the filtering layer to forming a filtrate while the solids substantially remain in a residual part of the suspension forming a slurry. The filtering layer is made of a membrane material with pores having a pore size of 0.1-10 micrometer (um), more preferred 0.1-5 um and most preferred 0.2-1.0 um. USE - Green liquor clarification method for cellulose pulp production. ADVANTAGE - Provides a filtering process which is a continuous process with no build up of a filter cake and is very effective in leading to a very high separation degree of dregs which is up to almost 100 percent and the filtrated green liquor is almost free from slurry. Characteristic green color of the green liquor is removed with the dregs which simplifies the identification both of disturbances in the filtration process and in the recovery flimace under normal operating conditions. Investment costs for the cross-flow filtration equipment is very minimal. The space required is much smaller than the space required for the sedimentation tanks. Minimizes oxidation of the valuable sulfide content of the green liquor since there is no contact with the surrounding air, nor is pressurized air used in the equipment. The closed system with no contact with surrounding air or use of vacuum shows that the temperature of the green liquor is maintained at a high level. The modular design of the filters facilitates an incremental capacity increase with minimal investment cost. Provides a simple system with minimal moving parts so less labor is needed for oversight and maintenance. Provides less lime make-up or decreased content of inerts in the lime at the same make-up rate due to less particles in the green liquor Less dregs carryover improves clarification of white liquor and improves mud dewatering and lower energy consumption. Enables efficient removal of non-process elements for minimum operation cost and low landfill volumes. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for an arrangement for green liquor clarification. DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a schematic of an arrangement for cleaning green liquor using cross-flow filtration. First filter unit (4) Filter elements (12) Conduit (21) Tank (40) Collecting tank (42)


Lamb wave has many applications in non-destructive testing as its advantages of the capability for long-range testing from a single location. Electromagnetic ultrasonic technique also has many advantages, such as being free of couplant and preconditioning. So, electromagnetic ultrasonic Lamb wave possesses great superiority in inspection. However, Lamb wave's characteristic of multi-modes and dispersion, like other guided waves, is a significant problem for practical applications. In order to obtain clear signals that can be reliably interpreted, a method for optimizing excitation of electromagnetic ultrasonic Lamb wave has been studied. Based on the fundamental characteristic equation of Lamb wave, the exciting equation has been deduced and the exciting curves have been plotted to instruct the design of electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) for choosing reasonable operating points in the curves. The optimization method verified by experiments can effectively remove the effect of multi-modes and dispersive and the zero-order modes are of great engineering value in real applications.


This paper investigates the learning of Kihnu Estonian, a minority dialect of Estonian (Balto-Finnic). I propose a set of constraints to account for Kihnu Estonian vowel harmony patterns, and show that they can be used to produce a restrictive grammar for Kihnu Estonian vowel harmony. With this constraint set, I model the acquisition of Kihnu Estonian vowel harmony via the application of the Gradual Learning Algorithm (Boersma and Hayes, 2001). Antagonistic constraints in the set I adopt pose obstacles to successful learning of the vowel patterns attested in the learning data. These obstacles can be circumvented via use of the update rule from the Calibrated Error-Driven Ranking Algorithm (Magri, 2012).This update rule has been argued to be detrimental to learning variation in stochastic OT. However, though it was originally proposed to address the Credit Problem (Dresher, 1999), I show that it is in fact an elegant solution to the learning problems caused by oscillating constraints when modeling acquisition of Kihnu Estonian vowel harmony.


Storage of water in copper vessels is traditionally followed in past and many reports have been published about the antibacterial growth in copper vessel. It is essential to determine the water purity for drinking purposes in daily life through low cost approach. In the present work an attempt has been made to investigate the effect of storage of different drinking water in copper vessel for two week. The corresponding values of pH and TDS meter for different waters were recorded and analyzed. The optical properties such as UV-Vis and Raman studies along with physio-chemical parameters like pH and TDS were analyzed for 3weeks against different water sources kept in copper vessel. The Raman spectra provide information for different water sources. Similarly the UV-Vis spectroscopy provide the peak variation for different waters, however the effect of days and copper concentration analysis are in investigation. The Results obtained in this study reveals that water stored in copper vessel reduces the TDS level of bore water Tirunelveli and maintains its pH at 8.0 after 2 weeks. The bore water in Krishnan kovil (virudhunagar district) shows no variation in TDS after 1 week, but in 2nd week there is sudden decrease in TDS from 1050 to 944ppm and pH level decreases to 8.3 showing alkaline nature. Throughout the experiment we have noticed that the colour of copper vessel changes in case of bore water. For variation in studies we have also studied the pH and TDS of Drinking water at Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education. There is no change in colour of copper vessel and TDS and pH remains same up to one week, but in second week TDS increases to 100ppm while the pH remain constant at 7.4. These studies will help future researcher for designing of copper vessels and will help them to analyze the Physio-chemical studies of water. Moreover the chemical mechanism and reaction between copper vessel and leaching out of copper into water data base will be generated in future based on UV and Raman studies.


Despite the well-known positive effect tobacco taxes on health outcomes, policy makers avoid relying on such taxes because of their possible regressive impact. Using an extended cost-benefit analysis to estimate the distributional effect of cigarettes in the Russian Federation, this paper finds that the long-run impact may in face be progressive. The methodology applied incorporates the negative price effect cause by an increase in tobacco taxes, combines with a presumed future reduction in medical expenditures and a rise in working years caused by a reduction in the rate of smoking among the population. The analysis includes estimates of the distributional impacts of price rises on cigarettes under various scenarios, based on information taken from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey--Higher School of Economics for 2010-16. One contribution is the qualification of impacts by allowing price elasticities to vary across consumption deciles. Overall, cigarette taxes exert long-term effect on household incomes, although the magnitude depends on the structure of the conditional price elasticity. If the population is more responsive to tobacco price changes, then it would experience greater gains from the health and extended work-life benefits.


Abstract : Research into the effects of alcohol on engine lubrication and wear has investigated four alcohol-containing fuels; pure methanol, pure ethanol, methanol in unleaded gasoline, and ethanol, in unleaded gasoline. This research work has indicated that during low-temperature engine operations such as winter commuter service and warmup, use of pure methanol may result in increased engine wear. This increased wear appears to be primarily a low-temperature problem. With the engine warmed to normal operating temperatures, this increased wear has not been observed. To this point, the research with ethanol-containing fuels has not detected any wear increases. This may be due to the short duration engine tests being conducted, but nevertheless indicates that increased wear should be of less concern with this fuel. Wear mechanism studies have indicated that corrosive attack within the piston ring and cylinder area by alcohol combustion byproducts is partially responsible for the increased wear. Investigation of alcohol and lubricant compatibility and physical removal of the lubricant films by liquid alcohol have provided additional insights into these wear phenomena. (Author)


The similarity in composition of families, genera, and species of vascular plants was analyzed from existing published data belonging to 12 localities of fir forests located on the transmexican volcanic belt. The similarity analyses were performed using classification and ordination multivariate statistical techniques. The vascu- lar flora of these forests contains 76 families, 222 genera, and 510 species. From the analyses, It was possible to detect patterns in both com-position and structure of the forests which are important for their management and conservation: a small percentage of the most common families contains a very high proportion of genera and species; a small percentage of the most constant genera contains near 50% of the species; a scarce percentage of the species is common to the 12 fir forests localities which also define their fundamental structure. Most of the species distribution were not uniform among localities which stands out the importance of past and current local environ- mental conditions.


Dental impressions must be considered the potential to transmit the serious diseases to all dental personal who routinely handle them; it is therefore recommended to disinfect dental impressions for all patients. Materials and methods: Five alginate impressions were made of bronze model with a complex surface of small pyramids and flat surface in the middle part using perforated acrylic resin trays. These impressions were treated separately with selected disinfecting agent (Hexyl tiethyl ammonium chloride salt, Tetra butyl ammonium iodide salt, Iodophor, Ethanol and 2-propanol). Dimensional accuracy, surface detail reproduction, setting time was investigated after disinfection of alginate. The data was analyzed by a computerized statistical program. Results: The results showed that the dimensional change was statistically in significant for most of the dimensions at 5 percent level except some measurement show slight significant difference related to dimensional accuracy. Regarding reproduction of surface details, the results showed insignificant difference of the mean scores of experimental groups among the three evaluators. It was found that treating the alginate with the selected disinfecting agents will accelerate the setting time of the material. Conclusion: The testing disinfecting agents can be used safely regarding dimensional accuracy and surface detail reproduction, although setting time will be influenced compared to control alginate.


Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a degenerative and fatal prion disease affecting cervid (deer and elk) populations in North America. While the disease exists in captive herds throughout the western United States and southern Canada, the only free-ranging populations afflicted are in northern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, and the western panhandle of Nebraska. CWD, similar to other prion diseases such as scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans, attacks the central nervous system via an accumulation of abnormal prion proteins. For this investigation, we use both analytical and computational approaches to model the dynamics of the disease in mule deer populations. We focus on modifying the structure of an existing model by integrating sources of infection previously excluded. We proceed to model the effects of two interacting populations and the subsequent impact on disease dynamics. We hope that our analysis and simulations will help in the development of spatial models to be used in CWD management, a central goal of wildlife management agencies.


Holding a license in a given profession does not guarantee competency. To help define criteria for periodic competency assessment of dentists, the American Association of Dental Examiners assembled a committee in 1993. In this article, the authors outline the criteria the committee established for such assessments and discuss several assessment models proposed by the committee.


Drug Gliclazide (Glz) has limited solubility and low bioavailability. In order to obtain a controlled release of this drug and to improve its bioavailability, the drug has been loaded into poly(caprolactone) (PCL)/poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) hydrogels, prepared by free radical polymerization of acrylic acid in the presence of poly(caprolactone) in acetone medium using azo-isobutyronitrile as initiator and N,N′ methylene bisacrylamide as cross-linking agent. The swelling behaviour of these hydrogels has been investigated in the physiological gastric and intestinal fluids to obtain an optimum composition suitable for delivery of a biologically active compound. The gels were loaded with anti-diabetic drug Glz and a detailed investigation of release of drug has been carried out. Various kinetic models have been applied on the release data. Finally, the Albino wistar rats were treated for Streptozotocin plus nicotinamide – induced diabetes using a Glz-loaded PCL/PAAc hydrogel. The results indicated a fair reduction in the glucose level of rats.


There are several types of rules playing an important role in database systems. As opposed to simple database systems where the only reasoning service is query answering, more advanced database systems offer number of advanced reasoning services such as deductive query answering based on deductive rules and active input processing based on active rules. In this article we discuss the concept of active and deductive rules and describe a simple model that uses both of them.


THE STANDARD SOURCE of information on a nationwide scale is Keesecker's biennial reviews of educational legislation. In the latest number of this series (48) the following trends in school finance were noted: (a) increased state participation in school support, (b) increasing use of taxes other than the property tax as sources of state school revenue, (c) increasing state control of school budgets, expenditures, and indebtedness, and (d) the establishment of minimum state aid foundation programs of statewide application. Less comprehensive, but reaching the public more promptly, are the frequent articles on school legislation by Chambers (18, 22, 23). For complete and well-organized annual digests of judicial decisions throughout the nation, one turns to the Yearbooks of School Law, written by a group of some twenty competent contributors and published by the American Council on Education (25).


A dual-channel, ground-based microwave radiometer, working at the frequencies 21.0 and 31.4 GHz, an infrared spectral hygrometer, and radiosondes have been used for comparative measurements of the integrated amount of precipitable water vapor in the atmosphere over a period with zenith water vapor contents varying between 6 and 26 mm. The microwave radiometer was found to give comparable or better formal accuracy than the radiosondes, the absolute accuracy of which is believed to be about 1 mm. The rms difference of the integrated amount of water vapor in the zenith direction measured with the microwave radiometer and with radiosondes was 1.2 mm for all data, and 0.8 mm for a selected group of good weather data. These are lower formal errors than previously reported. It is shown that the simplified relation between the radiometer antenna termperatures and the integrated amount of water vapor in this case contributes with a formal error of about 0.3 mm. It is suggested that mean ground weather data can be used to adapt this relation to other sites and seasons.


The authors would like to thank the financial support of CERC (Combustion Engineering Research Center) and NRL (National Research Laboratory) projects of Korea.


This study is focused on the main activities on provision of the radiation safety as a part of sanitary surveillance and radiation terrorism counteraction during the 2018 World Football Championship. The main activities at the preparatory stage are collection and analysis of information on the potentially dangerous sources of ionizing radiation in the regions of the Russian Federation hosting the 2018 World Football Championship; control of compliance to the sanitary rules of the projects of the allocation of X-ray screening units and their commissioning; radiation control as a part of the commissioning of the sport facilities after construction/reconstruction; sanitary control of the allocation of X-ray screening units on the sport and infrastructure facilities; organization-methodical activities. During the World Football Championship it is planned to carry out the radiation control in monitoring points and the control of the concentration of radionuclides in water and food stuff samples. In the framework of the radiation terrorism countermeasures, the main activities of the provision of the radiation safety are the radiation control on the infrastructure facilities, remote points of inspection and entry points to the sport facilities; full-time emergency preparedness. A brief evaluation of the equipment of the Rospotrebnadzor radiation control laboratories in the regions of the Russian Federation hosting the 2018 World Football Championship and their preparedness for the provision of the radiation safety is also presented in the paper.


The crops grown under rainfed agriculture are described as farming practices that rely on rainfall for crop production and their seed systems describe, how farmers in these regions are sourcing seeds for cultivating these crops. The objective of this publication is to share information and experiences of some success stories of seed value chain models developed for production and supply of improved varieties of seed of rainfed crops to resource poor farmers in the semi-arid tropical regions to enhance productivity. Majority of legume crop varieties grown under rainfed agriculture system are open pollinated varieties or self-pollinated crops especially, cereals and legumes grown in semi-arid tropics of the globe. The importance of rainfed agriculture varies regionally but produces high percentage of food for poor communities in the developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa more than 95% of the farmed land is rainfed, while the corresponding figure for Latin America is almost 90%, for South Asia it is about 60%, 65% for East Asia and 75% for the Near East and North Africa...


Using a micropipette adhesion frequency assay, we are able to determine the affinity of polyclonal and monoclonal T cells without needing to isolate the TCR. This assay allows for the direct measuring of adhesion between a T cell and a surrogate APC, which is a human red blood cell that has been coated with peptide:MHC monomers. Utilizing this two dimensional measure of affinity, we determined the effective affinities for the following CD4+ TCR transgenic clones: 2D2, BDC2.5, and SMARTA for their cognate antigens. For the 2D2 cells, we assessed both MOG38-49:IAb and NF-M18-30:IAb monomers since it has been shown that 2D2 cells can cross-react with both of these CNS antigens. Our results demonstrate a wide range of affinities for these various transgenic cells. The hierarchy of the affinities from highest to lowest for the clones (clone:peptide) was; BDC2.5:1040-63, SMARTA:GP-61, 2D2:NFM18-30 and 2D2:MOG38-49 and roughly correlated with their responsiveness to antigen. The affinities ranged from 10-4 µm4 to less than 10-8 µm4, which is below the limits of detection for this technique. These data demonstrate that there is a wide range of affinities for CD4+ T cells that are capable of responding to antigen.


Compact heat exchangers have high compactness and efficiency, which is achieved by joining a stack of chemically etched channeled plates through diffusion bonding. In the diffusion bonding process, compressive stress is applied on plates at elevated temperatures for a specified period. These conditions lead to atomic diffusion, which results in the joining of all plates into a monolithic block. The diffusion bonding temperatures are above recrystallization temperatures, which changes the mechanical and microstructural properties of the bonded metal. Hence, diffusion bonded material needs mechanical and microstructural property evaluation. In this study, Alloy 800H is selected to study the influence of the diffusion bonding process on mechanical and microstructure properties of base metal. A series of tensile, fatigue, creep, and creep-fatigue experiments are conducted on base metal 800H (BM 800H) and diffusion bonded 800H (DB 800H) to explore the mechanical properties. Microstructure evolution during diffusion bonding is studied and presented in the paper. The mechanical and microstructural observations indicated ductile fracture at room temperature and brittle failure with bond delamination at elevated temperatures. The microstructure evolution during diffusion bonding is studied through tensile, fatigue, creep and creep-fatigue tests, and the implied root causes for the mechanical property changes are investigated. Efforts are made to correlate the microstructure change with mechanical property change in DB 800H.


We have studied an incipient ferroelectric BaZrO3 single crystal with perovskite structure by terahertz time-domain and Raman scattering spectroscopies. The phonon-polariton dispersion relation of the low-frequency infrared active TO1 and TO2 modes was studied from the real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric constants at room temperature. The experimentally observed complex polariton dispersion relations are discussed by a damped harmonic oscillator model. First-order Raman active modes, forbidden in cubic Pm3m symmetry, have been observed in a BaZrO3 single crystal, indicating the lowering of cubic symmetry.


Residual charge method", which has been developed for detection of non-bridged water tree, is well known as a high reliability water tree deterioration diagnosis technique for XLPE cable, and it has been applied for on-site cable system diagnosis. Traditional residual charge method measures the amount of electrical charge, and the information of cable length is required to evaluate the result. In this paper, we would like to introduce our development of the new technique of residual charge method which does not need the information of cable length to evaluate the deterioration degree.


Programmed death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a negative co-stimulatory molecule in immune responses. Previous reports have indicated that inflammatory cytokines can upregulate the expression of PD-L1 in tumor cells, which in turn suppresses host immune responses. Periodontitis is characterized by persistent inflammation of the periodontium, which is initiated by infection with oral bacteria and results in damage to cells and the matrices of the periodontal connective tissues. In the present study, the expression and function of PD-L1 in periodontal tissue destruction were examined. Periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) were stimulated by inflammatory cytokines and periodontal pathogens. The expression and function of PD-L1 on the surface of PDLCs was investigated using flow cytometry in vitro. Periodontal disease was induced by the injection of Porphyromonas gingivalis in mouse models. The expression levels of PD-L1 in the periodontal tissues of the mice were analyzed using flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. PD-L1 was inducibly expressed on the PDLCs by the inflammatory cytokines and periodontal pathogens. The inflammation-induced expression of PD-L1 was shown to cause the apoptosis of activated T lymphocytes and improve the survival of PDLCs. Furthermore, in the mouse model of experimental periodontitis, the expression of PD-L1 in severe cases of periodontitis was significantly lower, compared with that in mild cases. By contrast, no significant differences were observed between the healthy control and severe periodontitis groups. The results of the present study showed that the expression of PD-L1 may inhibit the destruction of periodontal tissues, indicating the involvement of a possible protective feedback mechanism against periodontal infection.


Suspended sediments from groundwaters were recovered from two undisturbed massive sulfide deposits (Halfmile Lake and Restigouche) in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Canada. Suspended sediments in most groundwaters are dominated by quartz and aluminum silicate minerals. Fe oxyhydroxides are probably present as surface coatings in addition to amorphous phases. Suspended sediments from groundwaters recovered from boreholes that intersect the Restigouche orebody near its surface expression consist primarily of Fe, Pb, and Zn sulfate and Fe sulfide minerals. In general, suspended sediments are depleted in the mobile elements K, Rb and Cs compared to host rock-types from both deposits. Suspended sediments show generally flat element-enrichment patterns normalized to respective felsic host-rocks for most other elements, but exhibit strong enrichments in Pb, Fe, Co, Zn, Ag, and Eu. Iron-oxide-rich suspended sediments from a borehole that penetrates massive sulfide gossan at the Halfmile Lake deposit are more strongly depleted in most elements relative to other sediments. At the Restigouche deposit, the degree of enrichment in Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ag in the suspended sediment is greater than for the deeper Halfmile Lake deposit. Compared to coexisting groundwaters, suspended sediments are relatively enriched in Al, Fe, Pb, and relatively depleted in Ca, Sr, and Mg. Potassium and Rb are generally more strongly fractionated into the suspended sediment phase than other mobile elements, suggesting that their abundance in the groundwaters is controlled by secondary phases (illite – white mica), consistent with SEM and XRD data. Comparisons of groundwaters, suspended material and host rocks yield important information regarding relative fractionation of major and trace elements among these reservoirs. Suspended sediments proximal to massive sulfide ore have elevated Fe/Ti and base-metal contents; with increasing distance away from mineralization, Al/(Al + Fe + Mn) values increase, base-metal contents decrease, and Zn/Pb values increase. The elevated base-metal content of suspended sediments associated with massive sulfides is important, as mining activities in the Bathurst mining camp can result in changes in groundwater Eh–pH conditions, potentially resulting in greater dispersion of metals that are presently strongly sorbed onto sediments.


FSO technology has attracted a lot of popularity for a variety of applied telecommunication fields. It presents a wide range of advantages that place it in the frontier of high data rates applications, last mile problem and bottleneck issues. It has been preferred for its ease of deployment without fiber cables, no extra tariff fees, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency. FSO excels in performance when compared to contemporary RF technology. On the other hand, there is an increased demand for alternative rail communications solutions. In order to deliver a safer, reliable and fast internet access. In this paper, performance evaluation of a ground-to-train Free Space Optical link communication (G2T FSO) was performed. The system was simulated at 2.5 Gb/s link under several weather conditions. Receiver and geometrical loss were included as well. Furthermore, performance was evaluated in terms of received power, Q factor, BER and eye diagram. Substantial vulnerability to severe fog attenuation was found. Although the system was able to operate with acceptable eye height with min BER of 10-38.


1 Current clamp studies using two patch electrodes and morphological observations have been performed in guinea‐pig mesenteric arterioles to evaluate intercellular electrical couplings. 2 In electron micrographs, preparations were found to have a single layer of smooth muscle cells. Typical gap junctions were readily observed between endothelial cells only. 3 While immunoreactivity to connexin 40 was strongly expressed on the membranes of endothelial cells only, that to connexin 43 was expressed on both smooth muscle and endothelial cell membranes. 4 Neurobiotin injected into a smooth muscle cell diffused into several neighbouring smooth muscle cells while that injected into an endothelial cell diffused into many endothelial cells. 5 Acetylcholine‐induced hyperpolarizations were conducted from endothelial cells to smooth muscle cells with a relative amplitude of 80.1 %. Ba2+‐induced action potentials were conducted in the opposite direction with a relative amplitude of 92.4 %. 6 An electrotonic potential produced in a smooth muscle cell by current injection diminished steeply with distance as it spread along the muscle layer, plateauing at distances beyond 25 μm. An electrotonic potential produced in an endothelial cell spread within the intima with virtually no reduction. Electrotonic potentials could conduct through myoendothelial couplings, which seemed to behave as ohmic resistors without rectification. 7 The coupling resistance between adjacent smooth muscle cells was estimated to be at least 90 MΩ and that between a smooth muscle cell and the whole endothelial layer to be 0.9 GΩ. 8 The results indicate that although the resistance of myoendothelial couplings is appreciable, the endothelium may be important as a low resistance path connecting many smooth muscle cells.


Visual assessments are very relevant in the study of architecture since this is a profession that relies immensely on the visual sense of humans. This study contributes to the understanding of visual perceptions, as well as to the wider field of environment and behaviour studies. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the aesthetic perceptions of public buildings among design professionals with a view towards understanding the mindsets of different design professions towards façade designs. The study considered three types of design professionals: architects, engineers and industrial designers/artists. Two hundred questionnaires were analysed using a mixed methods approach. The variables used in analysing the façades of public buildings were roof design, façade colour, entrance design, fenestration arrangements and innovation in building form. Twelve images of public office buildings in Alagbaka in Akure, Nigeria, were selected for study using random selection and cluster classification methods. A photo-interviewing analysis method was adopted for analysing visual images of the buildings: first-hand visual data were obtained from the study site using digital photographs of each building, and questionnaires were then administered to respondents regarding the images. Data were measured using five-point semantic differential scales, and relevant information obtained through this method was analysed using descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages. Also, inferential statistics using the Kruskal Wallis test was used to determine whether there existed significant differences within the groups of design professionals. Findings from the quantitative analysis showed that there were no significant differences among the groups, although qualitative interview sessions did reveal that while architects and industrial designers/artists exhibit similarities in aesthetic perceptions of public buildings' façade designs, the perceptions of engineers differ slightly. While these results need to be treated, interpreted and considered with care, design professionals can learn from these subtle differences in the results. The views of each design profession are important during a design process as the final outcome of the design is greatly dependent on the collective contributions of individual professions due to their peculiarity.


Americans thought "the travel experience of nineteenth-century America" was. White is clear that his "volume is not for scholars or specialists but was written for students and the general reader" (p. xiv), so his privileging of description over analysis, and his reluctance to engage with the latest historiographical disputes in the fi eld, may be forgiven. I am afraid, though, that in his rush to write an accessible and entertaining book, White has profoundly misrepresented the nineteenthcentury United States, and presented a model of historical causation that is decidedly one-dimensional. "Students and the general reader" deserve more.


Thirty patients affected by previously untreated high risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) were treated with human recombinant gamma-interferon (r-IFN-gamma): 15 of them with a higher dose (HD) of 0.1 mg/sqm, three times a week and 15 with a lower dose (LD) of 0.01 mg/sqm, three times a week, both doses administered subcutaneously (s.c.). The therapy was fairly well tolerated and few major toxic events were documented. Sustained improvement of one or more clinico-hematologic parameters was observed in 43.3% of the patients (26.6% and 60.0% for the lower and higher dose, respectively). Median survival time from the start of IFN-gamma therapy was 15+ months (range: 1-26) for patients with refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) versus 5 months (range 2-12) for patients with RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t); 15+ months (range 1-26) for HD patients versus 8 months (range 2-23) for patients treated with LD regimen; 16+ months (range 9-26) for responders versus 7 months (range 1-22) for nonresponders. All these three variables (diagnosis, treatment, and response to treatment) turned out to be statistically significant (p = at least less than 0.01) at Cox's analysis.


Language operates as a form of differentially valued cultural capital that is an influential factor in educational and employment outcomes. English in particular represents a valuable form of linguistic capital in both the broader world market and many regional and local contexts. This article, focusing on one group of professionals, draws on an exploratory study carried out with overseas-born bilingual social workers residing in Australia, who reflect on how their language identities intersect with their professional identities in the human services workplace. Although most informants identified tangible benefits associated with being bilingual, especially in terms of working with a diverse clientele, they were equally aware of how being categorized as a 'non-native' speaker of English could diminish their professional credibility and thwart their chances of upward mobility in the workplace. In this regard, this article highlights inconsistencies in how difference is valued in the human services workplace, implicating a more covert process of linguistic othering.


Objectives Self-administered questionnaires are used in many studies. The aim of this study was to compare the threshold for reporting neck-shoulder or arm pain, and the tendency to attribute the pain to work, between subjects of high and low socioeconomic position (SEP), and between women and men. Methods A sample of 217 employed participants in the Oslo Health Study, aged 30, 40, and 45 years, who reported neck-shoulder or arm pain in the past month, underwent a health examination. A criteria document was used by the physicians to establish clinical diagnoses and assess the work-relatedness of pain. We compared the odds of clinical diagnosis, using high SEP and men, respectively, as reference groups. We also measured agreement between the participants and physicians on whether pain was work-related. Results The odds of clinical diagnoses were higher in low SEP than high SEP subjects with pain, especially for the elbow-forearm (OR 4.73, 95% CI 1.64 to 13.68), and higher among women than among men, but only for neck pain (OR 2.74, 95% CI 0.90 to 8.34). Pain reported as work-related was more frequently assessed as work-related by the physicians in low SEP than high SEP subjects (93% vs 51% for neck-shoulder pain, and 89% vs 70% for arm pain), and in men. Conclusions The results suggest that the threshold for reporting pain is higher in low SEP subjects and among women, and that physicians are more likely to agree about work etiology in low SEP subjects and men.


Rumen microbial crude protein (MCP) supply is a vital element in the rumen models to predict respond of ruminants to a certain feeding regime. Data from tropical patures always below predicted results from the existing rumen models due to the fact that database used in the models are derived mainly from temperate pastures. Thus, quantification of the rumen MCP supply from tropical pastures is expected to improve predictive rate of the models under tropical feeding condition. Four Brahman crossbred steers (457±20.1 kg) were used in a metabolism study to quantify efficiency of microbial protein synthesis (EMPS) in cattle consuming a freshly harvested tropical grass. Pangola grass (Digitaria erianthe cv. Steudal) was harvested every morning and fed to the animals soon after. Data were collected over 1 week after the steers were previously adapted to this diet for 2 weeks. Parameters regarded were EMPS, intake, fractional passage rates, and rumen ammonia concentration. Passage rates were estimated using dual marker (chromium-EDTA and ytterbium) technique. The EMPS was estimated using purine derivative excretion in urine (total urine collection method). The EMPS value obtained was compared to the values in the feeding standards. Mean crude protein (CP) and water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) were 6.3 and 7.4 of dry matter (DM) respectively. Mean DM intake was 1.6 % W. Average rumen ammonia (NH3-N) concentration was 69 mg NH3-N l -1 whilst rumen passage rates were 7.48 and 6.92% h-1 for fluid and solids resdpectively. Mean EMPS in the steers was only 72 g microbial crude protein (mcp) kg-1 digestible organic matter (DOM). It might be concluded that EMPS in steers consuming freshly harvested pangola grass, with the above nutritional characteristics, was below the minimum level for forage diets adopted in the current feeding standards.


This work reports on the use of a gain-switched vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) optical frequency comb (OFC) to generate multiple optical carriers for applications in future wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) passive optical network (PON) systems. The VCSEL-based OFC system was tested for its ability to simultaneously transmit error-free data signals up to 30 Gbps, and a 50 MHz clock signal proposed to be used for latency monitoring of the network. The system was demonstrated over a fiber distance beyond 20 km. Four optical carrier signals were filtered from the generated OFC. Three of the four optical carriers were combined and amplitude-modulated with 5 and 10 Gbps on–off keying (OOK) data signals. The fourth optical carrier was amplitude-modulated with a 50 MHz clock signal. These four modulated optical carriers were multiplexed and transmitted over 21 km of standard single-mode fiber. When the three data-carrying optical carriers were modulated with 5 Gbps OOK data and multiplexed with the clock-carrying carrier, a negligible transmission penalty was achieved after fiber transmission. When these three data-carrying optical carriers were modulated with 10 Gbps OOK data and multiplexed with a clock-carrying carrier, a maximum transmission penalty of 4.8 dB was achieved after fiber transmission. The system was investigated at a minim bit error rate (BER) of 10−9. A receiver sensitivity of less than −11dBm was achieved at both bit rates. The clock signal suffered little effect when transmitted with the three optical carriers at both 5 and 10 Gbps data rate. A power penalty of 15.37 dB, mainly due to fiber attenuation, was experienced in the clock after fiber transmission. Due to the unavailability of the numerical system to quantify the clock performance in terms of phase noise, the phase-noise results could not be provided. Nevertheless, the provided qualitative results were able to show that the transmitted clock integrity was able to be retained after being multiplexed with transmission on the 21 km fiber channel. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we have simultaneously reported on data and clock transmission results using a low-power, VCSEL-based OFC to realize a WDM-PON system. These results are attractive as they demonstrate and motivate the possibility of using gain-switched VCSELs as OFC sources in future WDM-PON networks requiring enhanced channel capacity and stringent network latency monitoring to realize intelligent, simple, and power-efficient PON networks.


The conversion of optical and electrical energies in novel materials is key to modern optoelectronic and light-harvesting applications. Here, we investigate the equilibration dynamics of photoexcited 2,7-bis(biphenyl-4-yl)-2',7'-ditertbutyl-9,9'-spirobifluorene (SP6) molecules adsorbed on ZnO(10-10) using femtosecond time-resolved two-photon photoelectron and optical spectroscopies. We find that, after initial ultrafast relaxation on femtosecond and picosecond time scales, an optically dark state is populated, likely the SP6 triplet (T) state, that undergoes Dexter-type energy transfer (rDex = 1.3 nm) and exhibits a long decay time of 0.1 s. Because of this long lifetime, a photostationary state with average T-T distances below 2 nm is established at excitation densities in the 1020 cm-2 s-1 range. This large density enables decay by T-T annihilation (TTA) mediating autoionization despite an extremely low TTA rate of kTTA = 4.5 ⋅ 10-26 m3 s-1. The large external quantum efficiency of the autoionization process (up to 15%) and photocurrent densities in the mA cm-2 range offer great potential for light-harvesting applications.


The endoscopic or percutaneous placement of a stent in the palliative treatment of the malignant obstructions of the biliary tract is a very well established and accepted method in our country. In the last few years the placement of metallic stents has been preconized because they offer advantage over the standard ones. The first three cases where this type of material was used by our team are presented. Effectivity and facility of the method is demonstrated and no early complications were related to it. We make a critical analysis of the presentation world it be advisable to write about this analysis?


Identification of potential lead antibodies in the drug discovery process requires the use of assays that not only measure binding of the antibody to the target molecule but assess a wide range of other characteristics. These include affinity ranking, measurement of their ability to inhibit relevant protein-protein interactions, assessment of their selectivity for the target protein, and determination of their species cross-reactivity profiles to support in vivo studies. Time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer is a technology that offers the flexibility for development of such assays, through the availability of donor and acceptor fluorophore-conjugated reagents for detection of multiple tags or fusion proteins. The time-resolved component of the technology reduces potential assay interference, allowing screening of a range of different crude sample types derived from the bacterial or mammalian cell expression systems often used for antibody discovery projects. Here we describe the successful application of this technology across multiple projects targeting soluble proteins and demonstrate how it has provided key information for the isolation of potential therapeutic antibodies with the desired activity profile.


How to implement effective event-processing solutions

Business people and IT professionals understand well the benefits of corporate agility and fast response to emerging threats and opportunities. However, many people are less familiar with the techniques now available to help accomplish those aspirations.

Event processing has emerged as the key enabler for situation awareness and a set of guiding principles for systems that can adapt quickly to shifts in company and market conditions. Written by experts in the field, this prescriptive guide explains how to use event processing in the design of business processes and the systems that support them. Event Processing: Designing IT Systems for Agile Companies covers:

The role of event processing in enabling business dashboards and situation awareness
Types of event-processing applications and their costs and benefits
How event-driven architecture (EDA) complements conventional request-driven SOA
How to implement event processing without disrupting existing applications

Table of contents
1 Event Processing Overview
2 Event Processing Patterns in Business
3 Using Event Processing in Business Applications
4 Costs and Benefits of Event Processing Applications
5 Types of Event-Processing Applications
6 Event Processing Architecture
7 Events and Complex Events
8 From Architecture to Applications
9 The Role of Event Processing in SOA and Application Development
10 Positioning Event Processing in the IT World
11 Best Practices
12 Future of Event Processing
App A Books and Other Resources
App B Glossary


The Outstanding performance and growing size of Large Language Models has led to increased attention in parameter efficient learning. The two predominant approaches are Adapters and Pruning. Adapters are to freeze the model and give it a new weight matrix on the side, which can significantly reduce the time and memory of training, but the cost is that the evaluation and testing will increase the time and memory consumption. Pruning is to cut off some weight and re-distribute the remaining weight, which sacrifices the complexity of training at the cost of extremely high memory and training time, making the cost of evaluation and testing relatively low. So efficiency of training and inference can't be obtained in the same time. In this work, we propose a task-oriented Pruning-Adapter method that achieve a high memory efficiency of training and memory, and speeds up training time and ensures no significant decrease in accuracy in GLUE tasks, achieving training and inference efficiency at the same time.


How should music therapists engage with the enormous potential of neuroscience research? The methodological rigors usually employed in such research complicate this highly attractive arena, requiring operationalizing music and removing it from the context in which it is usually experienced (Fachner and Stegemann, 2013). Deconstructing music in this way merely addresses the neural processing of music perception and action, ignoring the holistic experience of music, which unfolds over time and is embedded in personal and situational context (Fachner, 2002). Furthermore, because music therapy by definition is an interpersonal experience involving client and therapist, and the therapy process depends "upon not merely the music, but also the client's experience of it" (p. 115, Bruscia, 2014), research methods which isolate the research subject from this interaction neglect an important component in the clinical dynamic of music therapy.

From a broader perspective, emerging research into the effects of early relationships on brain development and behavior (Schore, 2012), shows that individuals' brains have unique patterns of interacting with the world as well as perceiving and responding to the world. While cognitive neuroscience can identify some global responses to music as stimuli, the high degree of variability across individuals continues to be a serious confounding factor. In response, new research methods are exploring ways to account for individual experience in conjunction with neuroimaging (Varela, 1996) as well as how interpersonal musical interaction correlates with brain activity (Lindenberger et al., 2009).

Therefore, in this piece I will discuss researching and interpreting the behavior of the human brain in relation to music therapy contexts. I will delineate the boundaries of research methods employed in the neurosciences and discuss ways in which new, alternative methods have the potential to meaningfully elucidate clinically relevant information for music therapists.


As an alternative to removing the pressure field in regularity arguments for strong solutions of the 3D periodic Navier-Stokes equations, the authors show that if the pressure field P is assumed to be uniformly bounded for all t in L158+ in / ( in >0), then the Navier-Stokes equations are regular. The method of proof uses a so-called 'lattice theorem' which gives a set of differential inequalities for the quantities HN,m identical to //DNu//2m2m (m>or=1). As a parallel result, this thereom also gives Serrin's L3+ in regularity result for the velocity field.