Objective: To empirically test the hypothesis that the 10 roles on the Revised Role Checklist are represented in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health participation areas. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Subjects: Investigators from Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States recruited a total of 295 adults from the general population. There were 103 (34.9%) male and 191 (64.7%) female participants with one participant not indicating gender. The age distribution of participants was from <25 (n = 68) to 75+ with a mode of 25–34 years. Main measure: The Revised Role Checklist Part 1 was used to assess perceived incumbency in 10 roles. In addition, subjects were asked to provide role examples. Results: Of the 7087 examples provided by participants, 6578 (92.8%) fit the original hypothesis that the roles in the Revised Role Checklist were covered in participation areas. Fit was determined when the role example was either named in the associated International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health participation area or when the criteria of: "does this example conceivably fit in the respective area as 'a person's involvement in life situations' fit relative to each role." Slight modification of the scope of three roles of the original hypothesis resulted in a 97.6% match. Conclusion: The roles in the Revised Role Checklist are well represented in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health categories of participation.


Acute Herpetic Gingivostomatitis (AHG) is an infect-contagious disease caused by a virus called Herpes simplex. This illness demonstrates important frequency among very young children (varying age from 0 to 6), presenting specific symptoms and auto-limited clinical manifestations during a period of ten to fourteen days. The knowledge of the referred pathology is of fundamental importance to the dentist, even more its contamination levels, morbidity and down general patient health condition plus the possible adversed progression of the AHC in immunocompromised or immunologic immature patients.


The report was prepared during the implementation process of the international project "The University of Tomorrow: internationalization of the educational process at the University of Gdansk via cooperation with the University of Houston-Downtown". The project was conducted by the University of Gdansk in the years 2014-2015 and it was cofinanced by the European Social Fund. The main objective of the project was: increasing of the educational potential of the University of Gdansk by adapting the partner's solutions in terms of education quality and adaptation of the educational offer to the requirements of the international labour market. The analysis below refers to activities implemented within the Taks 2: enhancement of students' qualifications (internships organization) and conducting the surveys among enterprises in the USA and Poland. The main objective of the surveys was to investigate the relationship between business and science (universities).


Population dynamics and sexual maturity of Neomysis japonica (Ishikawa and Oshima, 1951) were investigated from a shrimp farm in Tae-an, Korea. N. japonica was collected monthly at the shrimp farm belonging to the Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, the Soonchunhyang University from October 2002 to September 2003. The proportion of female was higher than that of male. The mean carapace length of male (2.42 ㎜) was larger than that of female (2.31 ㎜). Brood size increased with increasing female body size. The size of N. japonica at 50% sexual maturity was approximately 4.4 ㎜. N. japonica females grew faster and reached larger size than males. The mortality rate (z) calculated by length-converted catch curves was 3.46 yr?¹. The annual recruitment pattern of N. japonica had two major peaks. Log-transformed total length was significantly related with log-transformed carapace length.


West directed subduction zones show common characteristics, such as low structural elevation, deep trench, steep slab and a conjugate back-arc basin that are opposite to those of the east directed subduction zones. The tectonomagmatic and metallogenic setting of the Lut Block is still a matter of debate and several hypotheses have been put forward. Despite some authors denying the influence of the operation of Benioff planes, the majority propose that it occurred beneath the Afghan Block, while others consider that oceanic lithosphere was dragged under the Lut Block. Cu-Au porphyry deposits seem to occur in an island arc geotectonic setting during the middle Eocene while Mo-bearing deposits are coincident with the crustal thickening during Oligocene. We introduce new trace element and isotope geochemical data for granitoids and structural evidences testifying the two-sided asymmetric subduction beneath both Afghan and Lut Blocks, with different rates of consumption of oceanic lithosphere.


This paper proposes a new approach that can integrate fuzzy logic and neural networks in a "natural" manner. Unlike most existing fuzzy-neural models which usually makes use of the structure of feedforward multilayer networks, the proposed model takes advantage of the structure of a kind of modular networks. We show that fuzzy models have a direct correspondence with the modular networks. Based on this correspondence, we develop an efficient hybrid learning scheme which combines an unsupervised learning algorithm (fuzzy-c-means algorithm) and a supervised algorithm (LMS algorithm). The utility of the proposed approach is illustrated using the well-known Zimmermann and Zysno data.<<ETX>>


Fe–29.9 at.% Pd shape memory ribbons have been manufactured by means of the free jet melt-spinning method. The microstructure, the shape memory effect and the texture of the manufactured melt-spun ribbons have been studied. Some of the results are compared with those obtained in similar studies on Fe–Pd shape memory melt-spun ribbons.


The use of encapsulating healing agents that allow the self-healing of concrete has emerged as a potential solution to the current decay and costly maintenance of concrete infrastructure; however, many healing agents are expensive. The objectives of this study were to develop a procedure for the production of urea–formaldehyde microcapsules of calcium nitrate and to evaluate the effects of the microcapsules on self-healing efficiency in concrete. Calcium nitrate was selected for microencapsulation, given its low cost and its effect on acceleration of the setting of unhydrated cement. The results indicated that the agitation rate and the temperature had a linear correlation with the microcapsule diameter and the shell wall thickness, respectively. A higher agitation rate resulted in a smaller microcapsule diameter, whereas a higher temperature resulted in a thinner shell wall. The morphology of all microcapsules synthesized was virtually the same throughout the experimental matrix, with the shell walls of all the microcapsules observed having a smooth exterior surface and a rough interior surface. All microcapsules produced were also observed to have a broad particle size distribution. This characteristic was attributed to the type of surfactant used in the process. Analysis of the effects of the microcapsules on the self-healing efficiency of concrete showed that the modulus of elasticity increased after healing for all concrete specimens prepared with self-healing agents. The largest increase in the modulus of elasticity was observed at a microcapsule content of 0.50%. The results also showed that concrete specimens into which microcapsules were incorporated at any concentration had greater surface resistivities than control specimens.


A mathematical method of reverse engineering to determine the basic geometry for manufacturing of external parallel-axis cylindrical involute gears by means of workshop measurement tools is presented. This procedure proposes a practical method to obtain the fundamental gear parameters in order to have a reference for calculating the load capacity of cylindrical gears or when a "copy" of an external parallel-axis cylindrical involute gear is necessary for recreating other new gear according to ISO standards by generation cutting.


Recombinant human adenovirus serotype 5 (HAd5V) vectors are gold standards of T-cell immunogenicity as they efficiently induce also humoral responses to exogenous antigens, in particular when used in prime-boost protocols. Some investigators have shown that pre-existing immunity to adenoviruses interferes with transduction by adenoviral vectors, but the actual extent of this interference is not known since it has been mostly studied in mice using unnatural routes of infection and virus doses. Here we studied the effects of HAd5V-specific immune responses induced by intranasal infection on the transduction efficiency of recombinant adenovirus vectors. Of interest, when HAd5V immunity was induced in mice by the natural respiratory route, the pre-existing immunity against HAd5V did not significantly interfere with the B and T-cell immune responses against the transgene products induced after a prime/boost inoculation protocol with a recombinant HAd5V-vector, as measured by ELISA and in vivo cytotoxic T-cell assays, respectively. We also correlated the levels of HAd5V-specific neutralizing antibodies (Ad5NAbs) induced in mice with the levels of Ad5NAb titers found in humans. The data indicate that approximately 60% of the human serum samples tested displayed Ad5NAb levels that could be overcome with a prime-boost vaccination protocol. These results suggest that recombinant HAd5V vectors are potentially useful for prime-boost vaccination strategies, at least when pre-existing immunity against HAd5V is at low or medium levels.


T he years of the Great Depression resulted in unparalleled worldwide disaster. Dictatorial centralization of power occurred most notably in Germany when Hitler and his Nationalist Socialist Party took control of the government. In the United States in 1933, unemployment was estimated at 12 million people, and all social groups experienced the consequence of economic catastrophe. Payment to physicians was least in the order of priority of those able to pay their bills. During the Depression years, neurology was there.


The results of computer simulations of the absorption of diffracted X-rays in single-phase powders measured at cylindrical (or Debye–Scherrer capillary) geometry taking into consideration the size of the powder particles are presented. The samples are simulated by random dense packings of equal spheres. The calculations are carried out for different values of the ratio, Da, of particle size to cylinder diameter, the product, κ, of linear absorption coefficient and cylinder radius and the scattering angle 2θ. Strong deviations of the absorption factor from the values for the ideal case of very fine particles are found in the region 0≤2θ≤30°, and for medium and high values of κ,(κ≥5) and Da (Da≥0.002). The consequences for the experiment are discussed.


Dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles (DENs) containing averages of 55, 147, and 225 Pt atoms immobilized on glassy carbon electrodes served as the electroactive surface for the underpotential deposition (UPD) of a Cu monolayer. This results in formation of core@shell (Pt@Cu) DENs. Evidence for this conclusion comes from cyclic voltammetry, which shows that the Pt core DENs catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction before Cu UPD, but that after Cu UPD this reaction is inhibited. Results obtained by in situ electrochemical X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) confirm this finding.


The present study was conducted in 100 promising chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes using Mahalanobis D 2 Statistics. The divergence (D 2 ) analysis revealed that the 100 chickpea genotypes were grouped into nine significant clusters. The intra-cluster distance values were ranged from 5.3 (cluster IV) to 77.8 (cluster VIII). The highest inter cluster distance were observed between genotypes of cluster I and cluster VIII (874.5) followed by cluster I and cluster II (837.4), cluster I and cluster V (759.3), cluster I and cluster III (480.4), cluster I and cluster VII (413.7), cluster IV and cluster VIII (390.9), cluster II and cluster IV (377.5) and Cluster II and cluster VI (309.4), cluster I and cluster IX (300.4), cluster I and cluster IV (295.2), cluster IV and cluster V (287.2). The lowest inter cluster distance (81.6) were found between cluster VI and cluster IX followed by cluster II and cluster VII (81.8), cluster III and cluster VII (87.4), cluster IV and cluster VI (90.6), cluster II and cluster III (93.6), indicating existence of closer proximity between these clusters. Based on inter cluster distances and Per se performance, hybridization among the genotypes from these clusters which showed maximum distance might produce high yielding varieties having broad genetic base. In general the genotypes JV-11, IE-16-059/1, iccx-090013-f2-p215-BP, DZ-2012CX-0028, iccx-060045-f3-p5-BP, iccx-060039-f3-p182-BP may serve as potential parents for grain yield. IE-16-109/2, iccx0900013-f2-p107-BP, icc-6279, JG-62, icc-15614, IE-16-059/2 can be also a parental line for earliness, while iccx-090013-f2p265-BP, iccx-090013-f2-p107-BP, iccx-090013-f2-p103-BP, iccx-090013-f2-p215-BP for hundred seed weight. IE-16-109/2, icc-14778, icc-510, DZ-2012-CK-0253, icc-5135 also be a potential parental line for quality character of crude protein. Generally genotypes listed above may serve as a parental lines for hybridization program in the improvement of chickpea grain yield and its contributing trait.


The editor of the African Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance honours the works of Professor Abe Briloff who passed away recently. The article has an introduction of Briloff's life to African scholars and students and decision-makers. The rest of the paper is about what Briloff wrote in his Alice in GAAP Land. In 1970s and 1980s, Briloff visited the US Congress regularly to discuss the urgent reforms in American accounting, GAAP. Abe sit down with US senators and lawmakers to educate them. He is one of the rare Professors of Accounting, to the notable exception of critical accountants, to see the problems of ENRON, WorldCom, Xeros, Vivendi, Parmelat, and Tyco. All these big corporations were involved in financial scandals, hence the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Act of which Abe was the main author. We believe this article can be useful for Africa.


This paper provides a theoretical framework which integrates the conventional methodology for measuring the productive efficiency and the monetary assessment of social welfare changes associated with public sector performance. Two equivalent measures of social welfare changes generated by an improvement (or worsening) in productive efficiency are deduced using duality theory. The first one is obtained from the cost function, while the second one arises directly from the production function. Moreover, the paper induces the application of the theoretical framework proposed to empirical analysis.


Sedimentary provenance studies based on detrital zircon ages have proved to be a powerful tool for elucidating detailed patterns of erosion and sediment dispersal on and adjacent to the continents. This approach is commonly used to examine processes that occur over discrete intervals of geologic time, but it can also be used to address fundamental questions concerning the longer-term evolution of the continental crust. Central Asia, for example, consists of a Palaeozoic accretionary collage that contrasts with the cratonal cores of continents such as North America, which were fully consolidated during the Proterozoic. Detrital zircon provenance may thus provide important insights on the comparative evolution of these distinctly different styles of continental growth. The Tarim sedimentary basin is interpreted to be underlain by a micro-continental block that accreted to central Asia during the late Palaeozoic. Detrital zircon in pre-Permian strata of the northern Tarim basin includes Precambrian grains derived from Tarim basement, and Palaeozoic grains related to active tectonism along its margins. During this phase of tectonic amalgamation, overall sediment maturity increased up-section, consistent with similar observations from other cratons. However, in Tarim these trends reverse dramatically in Mesozoic and Cenozoic strata deposited after amalgamation of Tarim with central Asia. Palaeozoic zircon grains derived from the Tian Shan become dominant, Precambrian grains drop to trace abundances, and sandstone composition shift abruptly to immature litharenite. Moreover, a progressively increasing temporal gap occurs between zircon age and depositional age, reflecting the near absence of post-amalgamation magmatic or high-grade metamorphic rocks within the Tian Shan. Collectively, these observations support a model of Tarim and other central Asian basins as islands of long-lived tectonic stability, within an orogenic collage that has remained mobile for >250 million years.


Activities of pyridine nucleotide oxidases and transhydrogenase have been examined in heart, liver and rectus femoris muscle of guinea pigs native to sea level and high altitude. There was found an enhanced reduced form of diphosphopyridine nucleotide oxidase (DPNH-oxidase) and transhydrogenase activity in heart and muscle from animals adapted to high altitude. In muscle the higher activity at altitude was due solely to increase in ratio of red to white portions. Both groups showed the pigmented portion twice as active as the white one. In liver, neither the DPNH-oxidase system nor the transhydrogenase were significantly changed in their activities on a fresh weight basis. Nevertheless, the DPNH-oxidase is higher at altitude when the activity is expressed per gram of nitrogen. The reduced form of triphosphopyridine nucleotide oxidase activity was not appreciably changed in any of the studied tissues. It was concluded that adaptation to high altitude is associated with apparent changes in the magnitude of the electron transport pathway. Increased activity in skeletal muscle is probably related to the tissue pigment content.


Since the Ministerial Conference on Malaria in 1992, which acknowledged the urgent need for worldwide commitment to malaria control, efforts have been directed to implementation of a Global Malaria Control Strategy. Vector control, an essential component of malaria control, has become less effective in recent years, partly as a result of poor use of alternative control tools, inappropriate use of insecticides, lack of an epidemiological basis for interventions, inadequate resources and infrastructure, and weak management. Changing environmental conditions, the behavioural characteristics of certain vectors, and resistance to insecticides have added to the difficulties. This report of a WHO Study Group provides guidelines for the planning, implementation and evaluation of cost-effective and sustainable vector control in the context of the Global Malaria Control Strategy. It reviews the available methods - indoor residual spraying, personal protection, larval control and environmental management - stressing the need for selective and flexible use of interventions according to local conditions. Requirements for data collection and the appropriate use of entomological parameters and techniques are discussed and priorities identified for the development of local capacity for vector control and for operational research. Emphasis is placed both on the monitoring and evaluation of vector control to ensure cost-effectiveness and on the development of strong managerial structures, which can support community participation and intersectoral collaboration and accommodate the control of other vector-borne diseases. The report concludes with recommendations aimed at promoting the targeted and efficient use of vector control in preventing and controlling malaria, thereby reducing the threat to health and socioeconomic development in many tropical countries.


STUDY AIM
The aim of this study is to demonstrate the reliability of silicone prosthesis for the replacement of ureters. This prosthesis derives from the biliary prosthesis developed after a personal experimental study continued by Triboulet.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
In 38 patients suffering from a malignant disease, a right silicone prosthesis was used for the replacement of an ureter during a 20-year period. There were 30 female and eight male patients. The mean age was 71 (range: 51-88 years). Forty one prostheses were used; one patient underwent two successive operations on the same side with a change of prosthesis, and two patients required a bilateral prosthesis. There were 12 gynaecological carcinomas (three with ureteral fistula), three prostatic carcinomas, 16 cancers of the rectum and recto-sigmoid junction, four cancers of the right colon with retroperitoneal carcinomatosis, and three ureteral fistulas after extended colonic resection.

RESULTS
Early complications were limited to ureteral fistulas (n = 6, 16%) in patients who had already a preoperative fistula (n = 3) and in patients with peritoneal metastases on the superior wall of the bladder. The secondary destruction of the kidney (four secondary nephrectomies) occurred when the function of the kidney was already impaired at the time of the procedure. There were no secondary fistulas, no secondary obstruction of the prosthesis. The longest follow-up was 69 months.

CONCLUSION
The silicone prostheses used for the replacement of ureters are reliable and still permeable beyond 5 years. The protection of the renal function in patients often submitted to chemotherapy improves the duration and quality of survival. These prostheses must be reserved to advanced malignant diseases with a rather long life expectancy.


Ade Tiara Yulinda: The objectives of this research is to analyze the influence of customer relationship management (technology, people, process and knowledge) on customer's loyalty at PT. Indosat Bengkulu. Using survey research, analysis techniques using a likert scale and using multiple linear regression analysis. Samples used were 100 respondents. The result of this research, can be concluded that the customer relationship management in the variable of technology, people, process, knowledge influenced the loyalty to the company, and partially the knowledge influenced the loyalty of the customers, while toward the technology, people, process didn't influence the loyalty of the customers significantly. Key Words : Customer Relationship Management, Technology, People, Process, Knowledge.


Aims: Dobutamine-gated SPECT imaging allows simultaneous perfusion and function assessment and is an alternative stress method for evaluating coronary artery disease in patients unable to perform treadmill exercise. In some patients, a paradoxical decrease in heart rate has been observed during high dose dobutamine infusion. The purpose of this study was to describe the paradoxical decrease in heart rate observed during dobutamine perfusion scintigraphy and determine its relation to inducible ischemia and angiographic coronary artery disease. Methods and Results: We studied 52 patients who underwent dobutamine-gated 99mTc sestamibi SPECT imaging and coronary angiography within 30 days. Paradoxical deceleration was defined as a decrease in heart rate ≥5 beats/min lasting at least 3 min during dobutamine infusion. Perfusion was graded on a five-point scale (0 = normal; 4 = absent uptake) and wall motion on a four-point scale (0 = akinesia/dyskinesia; 3 = normal) using the 20-segment model. Significant coronary artery disease was defined as ≥50% narrowing of lumen diameter of a major epicardial artery. Paradoxical deceleration occurred in 10 patients (19%, 95% CI 8–30%). A decrease in systolic blood pressure [8 patients (80%), 95% CI 56–92%] with angina [5 patients (50%), 95% CI 23–71%] often accompanied the decrease in heart rate. All 10 patients with sinus deceleration had an inferior wall perfusion defect and 8 of them had a corresponding wall motion abnormality on gated images. Significant coronary artery disease was present in all 10 patients with sinus deceleration, with an increased incidence of right coronary artery stenosis (p = 0.007). Conclusions: Paradoxical deceleration observed during dobutamine perfusion scintigraphy is associated with inducible ischemia and angiographic coronary artery disease and the underlying mechanism for this phenomenon may be the activation of the Bezold-Jarisch reflex.


July 2004 saw the publication of two important documents in palliative care—the World Health Organization's Palliative Care: the Solid Facts1 and, in the UK, a report from the House of Commons Select Committee on Health.2 Both highlight a gap between patients' expressed wishes about where they should be cared for and die and what actually happens. There is consistent evidence showing that well over 50% of patients would choose to die at home.3 Yet in many countries hospitals are the places where most people come to the end of life, and the percentage for England and Wales stands out as particularly high (Figure 1). The average proportion favouring home conceals substantial variation between studies but the differences seldom favour hospitals. In some, the proportion expressing preference for death at home has been as high as 80–90%.4,5 However, when hospices are brought into the equation, the perspective may change: in a longitudinal study in the North West of England, only 36% favoured home and 32% had an equal preference for home or hospice.6 Is greater choice in this matter a realistic aim? The Select Committee, while expressing support for the aspiration to allow all patients to die at home if they choose, declared that the option 'will only be realisable if there is a guarantee of 24-hour care and support, with back-up from appropriate specialists'.

Figure 1

Preliminary data on place of death by country. ▪Home; Hospital;Nursing home; □Inpatient hospice. [Source: Palliative Care: the Solid Facts, WHO 2004 (1)]

Data from the UK Office for National Statistics suggest that home deaths in patients with cancer are not rising but falling—27% in 1994, 22% in 2001—and such a widening of the gap between preference and reality is hardly what we would expect at a time when Government policy is to give patients more choice. Some may say that it is too soon for these policy efforts to have impact; others that insufficient Government funds have been assigned to this purpose. Whatever the answer, we seem at present to be failing patients in a fundamental aspect of healthcare.

To echo the Parliamentary Select Committee, can we realistically aim to meet patients' wishes on this matter? Clinicians, researchers and policy-makers need to look at three issues. First, the 'contextual' factors that hamper or facilitate home death operate as part of a complex web of clinical circumstances (including quality and quantity of resources), personal preferences, demographic determinants, and informal support networks. Moreover, contextual conditions are not static. They change as the disease progresses: clinical conditions usually get worse while resources for care tend to become eroded as time passes. Thus healthcare support needs to be increased over time to meet needs for care at home, and contextual factors become increasingly relevant to preferences, intentions and decisions—not just for patients but also for families and clinicians. When plans are made for palliative care these patterns of decline have to be recognized.

Second, are we making the best possible use of resources that already exist? Take community hospitals— the subject of the article by Professor Payne and colleagues on p. 428 of this issue.7 This report indicates that many community hospitals do possess the necessary professional expertise, though special beds are commonly lacking and few have written policies on palliative care. These aspects could be developed. Unlike district general hospitals, community hospitals can offer continuity of care by general practitioners and (sometimes) accommodation for families. They also represent a means to reach out to groups at present under-served—for instance, those living in rural areas, those with non-malignant diseases, and the old. Another resource is the informal carer, who often provides critical support. The Select Committee, looking at experience in Canada, wishes the Government to consider paid time off work for carers, on the lines of maternity leave. This idea, which would need careful evaluation before legislation, might offer a creative and fair means to nurture informal support networks.

Third, there are crucial gaps in our understanding of how a preference is formed, how and why it changes, and how to organize care to meet it. Of the many studies on people's preferences regarding place of care and death, most have been cross-sectional, assessing preferences at a specific point in time, usually during hospital admission. The few longitudinal investigations suggest that choices change over time, shifting slightly from home towards hospital death.6,8 People adjust their choices and renegotiate their priorities, and five aspects seem particularly influential in shaping patients' and carers' preferences regarding place of death—informal care resources; symptoms and physical management; patients' experiences of services and environments; existential perspectives; and quality of life.6,9,10 For many patients one of the greatest tensions arises from worry about being a burden to others yet wanting to be with them.9 On the matter of experiences, it must be recognized that an expressed preference for home care/death may not always be a positive judgment based on the 'intrinsic' qualities of a home environment. The decision may be driven by negative impressions of other care environments; thus, the gap between wishes and reality might be narrowed in the other direction, by attention to care environments other than home. Equally, the shift over time away from home care may be brought about by failings in care while patients are at home. A host of factors bear on these decisions, including cognition, emotions and social expectations.11

There will always be unknown variables, but we urgently need a better understanding of patients' priorities on place of death and why they sometimes change their minds. Meanwhile, choices—for home or hospice or community hospital or hospital—must be respected as far as possible. New initiatives such as wider use of community hospitals and paid leave for carers deserve rigorous investigation. The place of end-of-life care and death is just one of the many choices in which clinicians struggle to involve patients and carers. If we could find better ways to resolve these issues, we would probably be helped in coping with other perplexing choices, such as those on timing of care and treatment. 'Meeting individual preferences should be the ultimate measure of success.'1


Abstract White (Mg-rich) and green (Ni-rich) clay infillings ("deweylite"/"garnierite") found in serpentine veins of faulted peridotite formations from New Caledonia consist of an intimate mixture of fine-grained and poorly ordered 1:1 and 2:1 layer silicates, commonly referred to as non-expandable serpentine-like (SL) and talc-like (TL) minerals. New data on the swelling and shrinking capacity of these layer silicates were gathered from X‑ray diffraction (XRD) after saturation of the clay fractions with different cations (Ca2+, Li+, K+), ethylene glycol (EG) solvation, and heat treatments. Simultaneously, layer charge distribution and vacancy density, respectively, were investigated by FTIR spectroscopy on NH4-saturated clay fractions and XRD on Li-saturated clay fractions before and after heating (Hofmann Klemen treatment). Five clay infillings, with dominant 2:1 layer silicates and variable Ni contents, were selected for this study, from a large set of veinlets, according to their swelling capacity. The crystal chemistry of these samples was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and bulk chemical analyses. The swelling ability of the clay infillings is attributed to the 2:1 layer silicates. It does not seem to be affected by the relative fraction of Mg and Ni in their octahedral sheets. In XRD patterns, the swelling ability is reflected by slight shifts of the basal reflection of the 2:1 layer silicates toward low angles for bulk samples and by splitting of the peak into two contributions for clay fractions saturated with Ca (or Li) and solvated with EG. The split increases with the swelling capacity of the sample. It originates mainly from octahedral-layer charge generated by vacant sites. Such results lead us to consider the 2:1 layer silicates of the infillings as an intimate mixture of non-expandable (TL) and expandable (stevensite) phases. In agreement with previous studies that suggested a contribution of hydrothermal processes in the alteration of serpentine species into 2:1 layer silicates, we propose that the proportion of expandable phases in the clay infillings (or vacancy sites in the octahedral sheets of the 2:1 layer silicates) could be used as an efficient means for assessing the temperature of their formation. Clay infillings mostly made of stevensite would have formed at ambient temperatures, whereas those consisting mainly of non-expandable TL would have formed at higher temperatures.


Seismic Hazard Assessment (SHA) of the entire seismically active NW Himalayan Fold and Thrust Belt that incorporates both probabilistic and deterministic approaches has been carried out for the first time. Additional information in the form of earthquake catalogue, delineation of 40 active faults in a structural map, their relationship to the seismicity, focal mechanism studies of 45 events, establishment of seismotectonic zones has also been undertaken.

Distribution of 813 events within study area indicates that seismicity (≥4.0 Mw) appears to be associated with both the surface and blind faults. At the same time, clustering of events in specific parts along the surface faults shows that some fault segments, especially in the hinterland zone are more active. In parts of the active deformational front like Salt Range, southern Potwar and Bannu, lesser seismic activity (≥4.0 Mw) could be due to the damping effect of the thick Precambrian salt.

Majority of the earthquakes (86%) range in magnitude from 4.0 to 4.9 Mw followed by 107 events (13%) having magnitude ranging from 5.0 to 5.9 Mw. The remaining 1% range from 6.0 to 6.7 Mw. There is a predominance of shallow seismicity (50 km focal depth). Even within this depth range, about 81 % of the events have focal depths of <25km. Larger magnitudes events are more in the hinterland zone. In contrast, based on distribution of 683 (≥4.0 Mw) events from the adjoining areas, a deeper level of seismicity (50 to 200 km) prevails especially in the Hindukush Range of Afghanistan.

Focal Mechanism Solutions (FMS) of 45 earthquakes (Mw≥4), including 21 from the Hinterland zone and 24 from the Foreland zone show dominance of strike slip faulting (27 being strike slip solutions). 11 indicate thrusting, 6 reverse faulting and 1 normal faulting solution. Tectonic complexity seems to be due to interplay of a variety of factors. Thrust and reverse solutions near the northern collisional boundary have mostly NE-SW directed P-axis orientations. Imbricate thrusting, breaking and thickening of the crust is believed to be occurring due to the steep bending of the underthrusting plate at the collisional boundary. Another compressional E-W direction in the southwestern portion suggests the presence of a restraining bend in the Chaman Fault (the western plate boundary). A similar direction of compression is obtained for a basement fault (one thrust solution in HKS) in the eastern portion of the study area.

Out of 27 strike slip solutions, a total of 15 FMS from the Foreland and 12 from the Hinterland zone have been obtained. The relatively deeper events (10-52km) are from the hinterland zone and shallower ones (mostly to a depth of less than 17km) from the foreland zone. In the hinterland zone, strike slip solutions are related to the ongoing uplifting in the Nanga Parbat-Haramosh massif and the Besham dome. Two major, nearly N-S trending sinistral faults, the Chaman Fault and the Jhelum Fault at the western and eastern margins respectively form a regional shear couple developed in this study in order to explain the strike slip deformation in the Foreland zone. Deformation within the Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis on the eastern side is also having an influence. Most of the FMS are interpreted as Synthetic shears (Riedel shears) with a few being Secondary synthetic shear (P shears). The kinematic change from convergence to transpressional especially in the Foreland zone is more pronounced in the upper portion of crust as indicated by shallow focus events. The basement seems to be involved in the deformation process indicating that the thin skin models implying the presence of a decollement may not be valid.

Four seismotectonic zones i.e. the Swat-Astore (SASZ), Peshawar-Hazara (PHSZ), Kohat-Potwar-Salt Range (KPSZ) and the Surghar-Kurram (SKSZ) Seismic Zones have been identified. The b value for the seismic zones shows that PHSZ has the highest value of 1.16 followed by the SKSZ with a value of 1.12. The other two seismic zones (SASZ and KPSZ) have identical values of 0.95 and these lower values indicate that the occurrence of more events of relatively higher magnitude as compared to the other two seismic zones. Mean activity rate of earthquakes (A.) ranges from 4.26 to 1.73. In decreasing order the values are 4.26, 2.62, 2.07 and 1.73 for PHSZ, SASZ, KPSZ and SKSZ respectively. Using 4 regression relationships, the maximum potential magnitude (m1) has been determined for the 40 Quaternary faults. In each seismic zone the highest value within the seismic zone represents its m1. Results show that the m1 is greater in the hinterland zone (SASl and PHSl) i.e. 7.8 as compared to the foreland part (KPSl and SKSl) i.e. 7.4.

SHA incorporating both deterministic and probabilistic approaches has been undertaken at 10 sites (Astore, Bannu, Kaghan, Kohat, Mangla, Malakand, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Talagang and Islamabad) representing the different parts of the investigated area. Pakistan does not have an attenuation equation of its own. The two equations of Ambraseys et al., (1996) and Boore et al., (1997) have been used and the results obtained using the equation of Boore et al (1997) have been preferred. Firstly applying Deterministic Seismic Hazard Assessment (DSHA), the PGA values have been estimated considering the maximum potential magnitudes of the line sources and their shortest distance to a particular site within a radius of 100km. Results for the 84-percentiles show higher PGA's, for Muzaffarabad (0.79g), Islamabad (0.75g), Kohat (0.75g) and Peshawar (0.64g) as compared to the other sites. Earthquake activity along the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) can potentially be hazardous for Muzaffarabad, Islamabad and Kohat where as the Khairabad Fault is identified as the main danger to Peshawar. Lowest value obtained for Bannu (0.27g) indicates that the affect of the nearby active Karak Fault is negligible. For the sites of Malakand (0.5g), Astore (0.47g) and Kaghan (0.46g) future seismic activity on MMT can be hazardous. In the case of Talagang (0.47g) and Mangla (O.4g), the DiI Jabba Fault and Kalar Kahar Fault respectively are identified as the critical tectonic features.

In the Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA), the PGA values with 10% probability of exceedance in the 50 years i.e. the return period of 475 have been determined using the El-FRISK (6.2 beta version) software. Best-estimated seismic hazard parameters (A, m1, mo and the p value) of the four seismic zones were used as the input parameters. Results of PSHA were in the form of total hazard curves for the same ten sites used for DSHA. PGA range from 0.08g (for Bannu) to 0.21g (for Malakand and Kohat). For other sites they are: Astore (0.082g), Kaghan (0.12g), Muzaffarabad (0.13g), Islamabad and Peshawar (0.15g), Talagang (0.16g) and Mangla (0.18g). Due to high population density the sites of Islamabad and Peshawar have been considered more hazardous. Peshawar and Rawalpindi (twin city of Islamabad) with more poorly constructed structures were regarded even more hazardous. Disaggregation at the assigned amplitude of 0.2g has also been carried out for the ten sites. Finally the seismic design parameters i.e. Operational Basis Earthquake (OBE) and Maximum Credible Earthquake (MCE) accelerations have been determined.


Tennis elbow is a common disease. The current research showed that the basic pathology of tennis elbow is not inflammation, but lateral elbow tendinopathy. Ultrasound image has been frequently used for diagnosis of tennis elbow, it can evaluate the condition of disease and show prognosis. Tennis elbow needs a comprehensive treatment. Most patients can obtain satisfactory effects by non-operation, especially the application of the Sodium hyaluronate, autologous blood and botulinum toxin. The principle of operation is to clear the common extensor tendon and repair or rebuild the tendon dead centre if necessarily. The arthroscopic surgery has the advantages of less invasion, rapid recovery,and become the new chioce for the treatment of tennis elbow. Both open operation and arthroscopic surgery can obtain good effects.


The thoracic wall consists of a bony framework that is held together by twelve thoracic vertebrae posteriorly which give rise to ribs that encircle the lateral and anterior thoracic cavity. The first nine ribs curve around the lateral thoracic wall and connect to the manubrium and sternum. Ribs 10-12 are relatively short and attach to the costal margins of the ribs just above them. Ribs 10-12, due to their short course, they do not reach the sternum.The first seven ribs are termed true ribs and attach to the manubrium and directly attach to the body of the sternum. Ribs eight to ten only attach to the inferior part of sternum via the costal cartilages. Ribs 11-12 are termed floating ribs because they do not attach directly to the sternum. Ribs eight to ten are known as false ribs because they lack direct attachment to the sternum. At the level of the spine, the ribs articulate with the costal facet of two opposing vertebrae. An articular capsule surrounds the head of each rib, and the attachment to the transverse process is made with the help of the radiate ligament. Once the ribs leave the vertebrae, they gently curve around the lateral thoracic wall and approach the anterior wall of the thoracic cavity.The vertical bone of the chest, the sternum, defines the anterior chest wall. The three separate bone segments of different size and shape that make up the sternum include 1) the thick manubrium, 2) long body of the sternum, and 3) the xiphoid process. It develops independently of the ribs. In sporadic cases, the sternum may not fully form, and the underlying heart may be exposed.The most superior portion of the sternum is the manubrium, and it is also the first to form during embryogenesis. The sternal body and xiphoid process soon follow the manubrium in development. Anatomically, the manubrium is located at the level of thoracic vertebral bodies T3 and T4. The manubrium is also the widest and thickest segment of the sternum. During a physical exam of the chest, one noticeable feature of the manubrium is the presence of the suprasternal notch. On either side of this notch, one will feel the thick attachment from the clavicles. For access to the superior mediastinum, suprasternal goiter or thymus, some thoracic surgeons will only make a midline incision in the manubrium.The sternal body is located at the level of vertebral bodies T5-T9. It covers a significant portion of the mid-chest and is very strong. To access the chest cavity, surgeons usually cut through the sternum with a mechanical saw.The xiphoid process is a thin and very small bone. Its size may vary from two to five cm, and its shape is also variable. The xiphoid may appear bifid, oval or be curved inwards/outwards. In younger individuals, the xiphoid is mostly cartilaginous but is nearly wholly ossified by age 40. By the age of 60 and over, the xiphoid is almost certainly completely calcified. To perform pericardiocentesis safely the needle has to be placed directly underneath the xiphoid because the heart is just a few fingerbreadths below.


Abstract—Pick and place machine is an important component of automatic assembly lines. This paper proposes a way for recognizing and localizing the objects which are moving on a conveyor belt. This Machine has an image processing system with 2D vision, a low cost 2D mono CCD camera to recognizing and localizing the objects by conduct image processing algorithms. Then a motion planning is generated to pick and place the different objects to different positions consequently. The experiment shows the proposed system has an excellent performance.


FCS8641-Span, a 2-page fact sheet by Jennifer Hillan, is the Spanish version of "Facts about Vitamin E" (FCS8641). It explains the importance of vitamin E in our diets, how much we need, and how to get this vital nutrient. Published by the UF Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, June 2007.


The constitutive and inducible expression of MHC class II genes is known to be regulated by multiple upstream promoter elements. Transient transfection assays implicate the proximal promoter region as both necessary and sufficient for appropriate tissue-specific and inducible expression. However, transgenic mouse experiments suggest that additional control regions are important. In this study we tested the hypothesis that additional regulation of class II expression occurred at the level of RNA polymerase II elongation. Nuclear run-on analysis using single-stranded probes spanning the entire Eb gene was performed on a variety of class II-positive, class II-negative, and class II-inducible cell lines. The results demonstrate that, while there is not an even distribution of RNA polymerase along the gene, there is no evidence for a regulated block in elongation. These data further support the idea that the primary mechanism of class II gene regulation is at the level of transcriptional initiation.


In the library, recognizing the behaviors of readers can better excavate the reading habit of the readers and bring convenience to the book management. We present the design and implementation of a reading activity recognition approach utilizing passive RFID tags. By collecting and analyzing phase value distribution feature, our approach can recognize which book has been picked up. We give a detailed analysis of factors that can affect phase value in theory and combine these factors with relevant activities. And then we infer the activities in real time through monitoring the phase of tags. Besides, we implement our approach with off-the-shelf RFID equipment.


Fuzzy controller's design depends mainly on the rule base and membership functions over the controller's input and output ranges. This paper presents two different approaches to deal with these design issues. A simple and efficient approach, namely, Fuzzy Subtractive Clustering is used to identify the rule base needed to realize Fuzzy PI and PD type controllers. This technique provides a mechanism to obtain the reduced rule set covering the whole input/output space as well as membership functions for each input variable. But it is found that some membership functions projected from different clusters have high degree of similarity. The number of membership functions of each input variable is then reduced using a similarity measure. In this paper, the fuzzy subtractive clustering approach is shown to reduce 49 rules to 8 rules and number of membership functions to 4 and 6 for input variables (error and change in error) maintaining almost the same level of performance. Simulation on a wide range of linear and nonlinear processes is carried out and results are compared with fuzzy PI and PD type controllers without clustering in terms of several performance measures such as peak overshoot, settling time, rise time, integral absolute en-or (IAE) and integral-of-time multiplied absolute error (ITAE) and in each case the proposed schemes shows an identical performance.


Traffic signs support road safety and managing the flow of traffic, hence are an integral part of any vision system for autonomous driving. While the use of deep learning is well-known in traffic signs classification due to the high accuracy results obtained using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) (state of the art is 99.46\%), little is known about binarized neural networks (BNNs). Compared to CNNs, BNNs reduce the model size and simplify convolution operations and have shown promising results in computationally limited and energy-constrained devices which appear in the context of autonomous driving. This work presents a bottom-up approach for architecturing BNNs by studying characteristics of the constituent layers. These constituent layers (binarized convolutional layers, max pooling, batch normalization, fully connected layers) are studied in various combinations and with different values of kernel size, number of filters and of neurons by using the German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark (GTSRB) for training. As a result, we propose BNNs architectures which achieve more than $90\%$ for GTSRB (the maximum is $96.45\%$) and an average greater than $80\%$ (the maximum is $88.99\%$) considering also the Belgian and Chinese datasets for testing. The number of parameters of these architectures varies from 100k to less than 2M. The accompanying material of this paper is publicly available at https://github.com/apostovan21/BinarizedNeuralNetwork.


Due to the special importance of food in the emergence of acute intestinal infectious diseases and bacterial food poisoning, special attention is paid to the microbiological purity monitoring of food raw materials and food products. Ionizing radiation processing of food – is a promising technology for combating both microorganisms causing spoilage and pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms – pathogens of dangerous diseases. However, work with vegetative forms of these microorganisms to study the effects of ionizing radiation is difficult because of the need to use in experiments only actively growing culture, which is sensitive to various environmental factors. When studying the effect of ionizing radiation on the microflora of food products, this study describes the investigation of the possibility of using as a test-culture the ascospores of the fungus Aspergillus fischeri instead of vegetative forms of pathogenic and opportunistic cultures. Ascospores of the fungus Aspergillus fischeri are used as a test culture in the development of pasteurization regimes of fruit and vegetable products. A. fischeri ascospores have been shown to have higher resistance to ionizing radiation in the range from 1 to 5 kGy at capacity 10 MeV in comparison with Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes cells. Therefore, in the development of ionizing radiation food processing regimes it is recommended to use ascospores of the fungus A. fischeri as a test culture instead of vegetative forms of bacteria.


In this paper we present the theorem on Lie integrability by quadratures for time-independent Hamiltonian systems on symplectic and contact manifolds, and for time-dependent Hamiltonian systems on cosymplectic and cocontact manifolds. We show that having a solvable Lie algebra of constants of motion for a Hamiltonian system is equivalent to having a solvable Lie algebra of symmetries of the vector field defining the dynamics of the system, which allows us to find the solutions of the equations of motion by quadratures.


Introduction Suicide in bipolar disorder (BD) is a multifaceted behavior, involving specific neuroendocrine and psychological mechanisms. According to previous studies, we hypothesized that suicidal BD patients may exhibit impaired dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) variability of hippocampal subregions and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, which may be associate with suicide-related personality traits. The objective of our study was to clarify this. Methods Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were obtained from 79 patients with BD, 39 with suicidal attempt (SA) and 40 without SA, and 35 healthy controls. The activity of the HPA axis was assessed by measuring morning plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol (CORT) levels. All participants underwent personality assessment using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). Results BD patients with SA exhibited increased dFC variability between the right caudal hippocampus and the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) when compared with non-SA BD patients and HCs. BD with SA also showed significantly lower ACTH levels in comparison with HCs, which was positively correlated with increased dFC variability between the right caudal hippocampus and the left STG. BD with SA had significantly higher scores of Hypochondriasis, Depression and Schizophrenia than non-SA BD. Additionally, multivariable regression analysis revealed the interaction of ACTH × dFC variability between the right caudal hippocampus and the left STG independently predicted MMPI-2 score (depression evaluation) in suicidal BD patients. Conclusion These results suggested that suicidal BD exhibited increased dFC variability of hippocampal-temporal cortex and less HPA axis hyperactivity, which may affect their personality traits.


The interaction between people and sound and the way how people consciously perceive their environment are central approach to soundscape research. In this respect, this paper aims to clarify the relationship between water-sound level and recognition region in urban area. As a passive soundscape facility, fountain is a useful way to give place such as public square, park identity and vitality. In this study, to know the optimistic distance and sound level range from fountain, sound levels due to distance were measured and subject responses were checked by questionnaire. As a result, levels from 63 dB to 67 dB were recommended by subjects and moving forward to fountain less satisfactory than backward. Moving forward 5 m and backward 5 m(total range 10 m): there was a difference in satisfaction ratio by 2,5 out of 10. The results of this study could be used for street furniture location design and P.A. system output level.


This study empirically investigates the effect of the addition of Indonesian firms in the sustainable and responsible investment index (SRI-KEHATI index) on stock performance. This study applies an event study methodology using a single index model. The empirical results reveal that there are two days with significant abnormal returns, namely d+1 and d+3. This finding implies that the Indonesian stock market is efficient in a semi-strong form. This study also finds that there is no difference in abnormal returns before and after the SKI announcement. The implication of this study is the investors do not have to consider their investment decisions based on the inclusion of a corporation in the SKI.


The serum cholinesterase activity of the rat is low at birth, increases rapidly during the first week of suckling and later decreases. In the male rat this decrease continues to maturity at which stage the level of activity is similar to that of the new bom rat. The level of the female rat after weaning shows a second period of increase, and in the nonpregnant, non-lactating female is between three and four times that of the mature male. After mating the level of activity in the female increases steadily until 5 to 3 days before parturition, then decreases rapidly until the middle of lactation when a slow increase to the non-pregnant, non-lactating level begins. The rat, therefore, shows variations in serum cholinesterase activity characteristic of its age, sex and, in the female, its stage in the reproductive cycle.


An Investigation into the Provision of Quality and Effective Instruction to Students With Suspected Disabilities in a Private Primary School for Special Children in the Port of Spain and Environs District – Trinidad Anna La Roche-Samaroo This study investigated six stakeholders' perceptions regarding the issues in the provision of quality and effective instruction to students with suspected disabilities at a private primary school in Trinidad and Tobago. Data were collected through interviews with a focus group, and individually with six stakeholders comprising one board member, the administrator/principal, three teachers, and one parent. Other data were collected through observations and document analysis. The findings revealed four main issues that impacted the delivery of quality instruction: 1) disconnect between the school system and service providers, including parents; 2) students have a range of disabilities that are difficult to cater to; 3) the lack of trained and qualified staff in the area of special educational needs; and 4) the lack of adequate resource acquisition and allocation.


This paper highlights the current state of open access repositories of Asian universities. It describes their characteristics in terms of types, contents, disciplines, language, technical and operational issues, and policy. The web performance of Asian institutional repositories as reflected through global visibility and impact of the repositories in Open Directory of Open Access Repository (OpenDOAR), is also examined; as well as the performance of Asian top-ranked universities in the archiving and sharing their research output through institutional repositories, based on the Ranking Web of World Repositories (RWWR). Findings signify Japan as the biggest contributor of Asian repositories, followed by India and Taiwan. An investigation of the status of these universities revealed that out of the 191 Asian organizational institutional repositories identified in this study, only 48 are listed in the Top 400 RWWR. This implies that only 12% of Asian institutional repositories are visible and incorporate good practices in their web publication as extracted from the, quantitative webometrics indicators used by the ranking. Out of these 48 institutions, 29 are among the Asian Top 200 universities. However, only 14 of these 29 universities were ranked top 100 in the RWWR. It is revealed that some of the top ranked universities in Asia are not actively contributing to the open access movement. It is suggested that if the web performance of an institutional repository of a research institution is below the expected position, the university authorities should reconsider their web policy to increase the volume and quality of their intellectual output / research publications through institutional repositories


Additive manufacturing is emerging as a promising alternative to traditional manufacturing methods for use in RF applications. With new areas such as 5G and IoT applications, the need for inexpensive, rapidly deployable and high performance RF systems necessitates the need for additive manufacturing to be incorporated into the fabrication process. Various RF components can be fabricated utilizing additive manufacturing techniques and are summarized in this article which includes cutting edge SiP, SoP and smart module encapsulation.


On the Reunion Island, family farming is a long-standing model. Promoted within the framework of land reform at the end of the 60s, it substituted itself to the agro-industrial model of declining sugar plantations. Contrary to the latter, the family farming model takes various forms depending on social and cultural origins, family composition, choices made regarding farms and land ownership. The various local configurations which stem from the reform testify to their significance for the development of the territory when they are considered interdependent.


Word recognition occurs across two sensory modalities: auditory (spoken words) and visual (written words). While each faces different challenges, they are often described in similar terms as a competition process by which multiple lexical candidates are activated and compete for recognition. While there is a general consensus regarding the types of words that compete during spoken word recognition, there is less consensus for written word recognition. The present study develops a novel version of the Visual World Paradigm (VWP) to examine written word recognition and uses this to assess the nature of the competitor set during word recognition in both modalities using the same experimental design. For both spoken and written words, we found evidence for activation of onset competitors (cohorts, e.g., cat, cap) and words that contain the same phonemes or letters in reverse order (anadromes, e.g., cat, tack). We found no evidence of activation for rhymes (e.g., cat, hat). The results across modalities were quite similar, with the exception that for spoken words, cohorts were more active than anadromes, whereas for written words activation was similar. These results suggest a common characterisation of lexical similarity across spoken and written words: temporal or spatial order is coarsely coded, and onsets may receive more weight in both systems. However, for spoken words, temporary ambiguity during the moment of processing gives cohorts an additional boost during real-time recognition.


Visual system was examined in 3 beagles given clioquinol for a long period and in 2 control beagles. Ophthalmoscopic examination revealed the decreased diameter of the optic disks of the treated dogs except for one dog. There were degenerative changes of the optic nerves in all of the treated dogs. The changes included disruption of the axons and the myelin sheaths. It was difficult to observe the morphological change of the retinae of the treated dogs. The findings demonstrate that the changes in the visual system after clioquinol administration are severe in the optic nerves rather than in the retinae.


Midroc automation uses databases for many different projects, both internally and in customer projects. At present, they are mainly using relational databases. There is an interest in researching different types of databases not based on the relational model. Midroc automation wants to know if there are any advantages of using a non-relational database.This project will compare two different databases. To make this comparison Microsoft SQL and MongoDB has been selected. MongoDB is a document type database which belongs to the category of non-relational databases commonly referred to as NoSQL. An application with a GUI and CRUD operations for each database has been implemented. This implementation was done using C# .NET in Visual Studio.The result of the comparison shows that MongoDB is more flexible while developing a database. It is also easier to make changes to an existing database while working with MongoDB. It is however harder to find information and support online when working with MongoDB.


Biomineralization ubiquitously occurs in plankton, featuring hierarchically nanostructured shells that display several properties that benefit their host survival. Nanostructures' shapes and many of these properties are tunable through in vitro or in vivo modification of microorganisms, making their shells very appealing for applications in materials sciences. Despite the abundance of shell-forming species, research has focused mainly on diatoms and coccolithophores microalgae, with current scientific literature mostly targeting the development of photonic, biomedical and energy storage/conversion devices. This prospective article aims to critically overview potentialities of nanomaterials from biomineralizing plankton, possible outcomes and technological impact relevant to this technology.


Parasitic flatworms of the genus Schistosoma are the causative agents of schistosomiasis, which afflicts more than 200 million people yearly in tropical regions of South America, Asia and Africa. A promising approach to the control of this and many other diseases involves the application of our understanding of small non-coding RNA function to the design of safe and effective means of treatment. In a previous study, we identified five conserved miRNAs from the adult stage of Schistosoma japonicum. Here, we applied Illumina Solexa high-throughput sequencing methods (deep sequencing) to investigate the small RNAs expressed in S. japonicum schistosomulum (3 weeks post-infection). This has allowed us to examine over four million sequence reads including both frequently and infrequently represented members of the RNA population. Thus we have identified 20 conserved miRNA families that have orthologs in well-studied model organisms and 16 miRNA that appear to be specific to Schistosoma. We have also observed minor amounts of heterogeneity in both 3′ and 5′ terminal positions of some miRNA as well as RNA fragments resulting from the processing of miRNA precursor. An investigation of the genomic arrangement of the 36 identified miRNA revealed that seven were tightly linked in two clusters. We also identified members of the small RNA population whose structure indicates that they are part of an endogenously derived RNA silencing pathway, as evidenced by their extensive complementarities with retrotransposon and retrovirus-related Pol polyprotein from transposon.


In the course of WTEC site visits to organizations in Europe and Japan, very little attention was given to the subject of switching and routing in wireless communication networks. The draft site reports of October 1999 had only two short references to the subject. This is not for want of questions, but rather that the sites the panel visited. The researchers were focused on RF circuitry, modulation and (some) coding, software issues, and the design of the user terminal. There is perhaps a feeling, with exceptions, of course, that the core network is there anyway, so let that be a given. This report therefore, incorporates ideas expressed by a limited number of individuals who had opinions on this issue. In the interest of making this report somewhat more complete than simply a recitation of a small portion of the site visits, it is supplemented by a perusal of the literature and by off-line conversations with others knowledgeable in the subject.


Optimality arguments and modifier theory are reviewed as paradigms for the study of the evolution of recombination. Optimality criteria (such as maximization of mean fitness) may agree with results from models developed in terms of the evolution of recombination at modifier loci. Modifier models demonstrate, however, that equilibrium mean fitness can decrease during the evolution of recombination rates and is not always maximized. Therefore, optimality arguments do not successfully predict the conditions under which increased or decreased recombination will evolve. The results from modifier models indicate that decreased recombination rates are usually favored when the population is initially near a polymorphic equilibrium with linkage disequilibrium. When the population is subject to directional selection or to deleterious mutations, increased recombination may be favored under certain conditions, provided that there is negative epistasis among alleles.


Abstract:This paper argues that in the mid-nineteenth century, practitioners of the nascent discipline of racial science sought to create an empiricist praxis that was divorced from feelings to describe the so-called facts of race. And yet, while scientific race was framed as a taxonomic system that might label, order, and know what race is, this knowledge system depended upon an understanding of how certain races feel. This paper examines the works of James Hunt and Robert Knox, prominent race scientists whose writings suggest a future of empirical mastery over the racialized and their allegedly chaotic affects. Unruly racial feeling, however, is also essential to the structure of this ostensibly empirical discipline. While race science suggests the eventual containment of disruptive racial feeling, this promise is forever deferred because the foundation of the praxis relies on the very emotion it disavows.


This paper presents an extended overview of the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and its applications in higher generation wireless networks as a cost effective solution to address both fixed broadband services and broadband wireless access (BWA). It looks at the technology behind WiMAX and networks design and deployment factors that impact WiMAX coverage. A cell site coverage simulation at different frequency bands using simulation tool for WiMAX planning and design is presented.


The ability to provide accurate, rapid and dynamically-controlled impedance matching offers significant advantages to a wide range of present and emerging radio-frequency (RF) power applications. This work develops a new type of tunable impedance matching networks (TMN) that enables a combination of much faster and more accurate impedance matching than is available with conventional techniques. This implementation is based on a narrow-band technique, termed here phase-switched impedance modulation (PSIM), which entails the switching of passive elements at the RF operating frequency, effectively modulating their impedances. The proposed approach provides absorption of device parasitics and zero-voltage switching (ZVS) of the active devices, and we introduce control techniques that enable ZVS operation to be maintained across operating conditions. A prototype PSIM-based TMN is developed that provides a 50 Ohms match over a load impedance range suitable for inductively-coupled plasma processes. The prototype TMN operates at frequencies centered around 13.56 MHz at input RF power levels of up to 150 W.


In the first 2 experiments, laying hens were fed a diet containing .30% phosphorus for a preliminary period of 3 days. At the beginning of the experimental period, hens were fed .30, .75, or 1.40% phosphorus with 3.50% calcium. Another group of hens was fed .75% phosphorus and 1.40% calcium. Specific gravity of the eggs and blood serum inorganic phosphorus were determined and compared with those from control hens continuously fed a diet containing .75% phosphorus and 3.50% calcium. Both high phosphorus and/or low calcium decreased the specific gravity of eggs and increased the serum phosphorus level. In experiment 2, hens were fed different levels of phosphorus at different times of the day. Birds receiving 1.40% phosphorus between 0700 and 0930 hr and .30% phosphorus between 0930 and 2000 hr (Treatment 2) laid eggs with higher specific gravity than hens fed .30% phosphorus between 0700 and 0930 hr and 1.40% phosphorus between 0930 and 2000 hr (Treatment 3). there was no further improvement in egg shell quality over that from hens fed .75% phosphorus for both time periods (0700 to 2000 hr). In both experiments it was apparent that the dietary phosphorus level affected egg shell quality.


This paper explores the implications for trade relations of the greening of world politics. It modifies the standard theory of changing comparative advantages in a growing world economy to show the effects on trade of taking into account the fact that the demand for domestic environmental policies increases as economies expand. The demands for environmental policies would not be a problem if they were confined to first-best policies. Trade problems arise, however, when those policies undermine an industry's competitiveness (from which protection is sought), or when a trade policy measure is adopted in an attempt to impose one's own standards on another country's environment, or when trade liberalization is opposed by environmentalists. The paper shows how all three unnecessarily threaten to undermine the global trading system and how, in the cases of coal and food, trade liberalization could well improve rather than worsen the global environment.


In this paper a performance analysis in a cluster system of the parallel single front genetic algorithm (PSFGA) is carried out. The PSFGA is a parallel evolutionary optimizer for multiobjective problems that use a structured population in the form of a set of islands. The SFGA, an elitist evolutionary algorithm with a clearing procedure that uses a grid in the objective space for diversity maintaining purposes, is performed on each subpopulation (island) associated to a different area in the search space. Experimental results show that PSFGA outperforms SFGA and SPEA (strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm) in the cases studied.


Abstract Currently, many countries are establishing goals for substituting fossil fuels with biomass. This global trade in solid biofuels, which is to some extent already taking place, will have a major impact not only on other commodity markets like vegetable oils or animal fodder but also on the global land use change and on environmental impacts. It demonstrates the strong but complex link between biofuels production and the global food market, it unveils policy measures as the main drivers for production and use of biofuels and it analyzes various sustainability indicators and certification schemes for biofuels with respect to minimizing the adverse effects of biofuels. Biomass is seen as a very promising option for fulfilling the environmental goals defined by the European Commission as well as various national governments. We have measured selected physicochemical properties of several the most common oilseeds and the residue materials in the form of cakes, moisture, fat, heat of combustion, the calorific value and ash content. The results showed that the considered plants and waste derived therefrom can be a good energy source. Examples include sunflower oilcake, sesame, pumpkin and rapeseed cake, for which the calorific value amounted to respectively: 28.17; 27.77; 26.42 and 21.69 MJ·kg−1.


DNA isolated from skin epitheliomas containing papovavirus induced lymphomas within four to eight weeks in 40 to 50 per cent of newborn Syrian hamsters injected. This DNA effect was eliminated by DNase but not by RNase and was not induced by DNA preparations of transplanted epitheliomas or the induced lymphomas. Lymphomas were similarly induced by cellfree filtrates from certain human tumors such as gastric carcinomas and ovarian tumors. Little or no lymphoma effects were observed following injections with filtrates derived from normal human or animal tissues or human blood. The lymphomas induced by DNA and human tumors were transmissible by cell-free filtrates to newborn Syrian hamsters; however, successful serial passage, like the primary lymphomas induced by the DNA preparations, depended upon the use of a newborn hamster from a special breeding colony of hamsters.


We have explored the use of data from the Commission on Professional and Hospital Activities-Professional Activity Study ( CPHA -PAS) for ascertaining information on cancer incidence, with regional breakdowns. Extirpative surgical procedures were linked with discharge diagnoses to provide estimates of numbers of incident cases. We calculated incidence rates for four cancers: breast, colon, ovary, and testis. CPHA -PAS inferred rates corresponded closely to those of other reporting systems for breast cancer in most age groups, and for colonic and testicular cancer in some age groups. Ovarian cancer rates were consistently underestimated. We conclude that a cancer incidence reporting scheme based on hospital discharge data can work for certain cancers, and be very inexpensive and efficient. It must, however, be used with care.


BACKGROUND: Education mediated by simulation is a widely used method for teaching basic life support (BLS). The American Heart Association recommends protocols based on scientific evidence to reduce sequelae and mortality. We aimed to assess learning and retention of knowledge of BLS in students of the first semester of the medical course using teaching methods of dialogic expository class (group 1), expository and demonstrative class (group 2), and the two previous methodologies associated with simulated practice (group 3), and after 3 months, memory retention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an experimental, prospective, randomized study. Participants were assessed in terms of performance in theoretical and simulated practical tests, satisfaction with training (Likert scale), and knowledge retention. RESULTS: The practical test results were analyzed by two experienced observers. Students had 20% progression in knowledge and 80% retention of knowledge after 3 months of exposure comparing the theoretical pre- and posttest. The students in group 3 performed better than the others (P = 0.007) in the posttest. With the simulated practice, the knowledge acquired was maintained after 3 months with a mean performance of 90%, but in the test of the infant age group, there was a loss of learning retention by 10%. There was no difference of the results between the two evaluators (P < 0.001). The training was positively assessed by the participants. CONCLUSION: The use of different methodologies promoted knowledge progression, with emphasis on simulated practice. Learning retention was maintained after 3 months. In order to teach BLS to infants, it may be necessary to improve teaching techniques.


Tick-borne encephalitis (TE) clinical features have been observed for the Middle Urals since 1940. With alimentary infection routes, focal forms of the disease and Kozhevnikov epilepsy were common. Lately, more severe TE cases have been observed; a progredient course is more frequent. There are cases with lumbar spinal motoneuron involvement and development of a cerebellar syndrome in acute phase.


OBJECTIVE
Establish a protocol of management of acute appendicitis (AA) in ambulatory surgery (AmbSurg) on the basis of preoperative criteria.

BACKGROUND
Ambulatory laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) for AA has not been yet reported.

METHODS
All patients who underwent LA between 2010 and 2012 were reviewed. A multivariate analysis was performed to create a predictive score of discharge within the first 24 hours. The score was prospectively used on every AA from January 1, 2013, to December 15, 2013. All patients with 5 or 4 points were proposed for AmbSurg.

RESULTS
A total of 468 patients were included retrospectively, 181(38.7%) were discharged within the first 24 hours. In multivariate analysis, predictive factors of early discharge were body mass index less than 28 kg/m, white cell count less than 15,000/mL, C-reactive protein less than 30 mg/L, no radiological signs of perforation, and appendix diameter of 10 mm or smaller. Rate of discharge at day 1 was 72%, 45%, 39%, 21%, 0%, and 0% according to the score 5 to 0 (P < 0.0001). Prospectively, 184 patients had AA and 103 (56%) had a score of 4 or 5. Thirty-eight underwent ambulatory LA [16 (42%) patients were postponed to the next day and went back home]. All patients were directly discharged from recovery room, except 1 (2.6%) patient, after a mean hospital stay of 8.4 hours ± 6.9 hours. A total of 146 patients underwent LA in conventional surgery and 58% were discharged at day 1. Rate of early discharge was significantly associated with the score ranging from 0% to 92% for a score 0 or 5, validating prospectively the score (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
We establish a simple validated predictive score of early discharge. When applied to AmbSurg, it allowed us to select patients eligible with a success rate of 97%.


Graphene can be prepared from a graphite intercalation compound (GIC) with acceptor-type intercalator, FeCl3. When the FeCl3–GIC is treated with primary amines at 90 °C for 6 h, the GIC expands to a few layers. The expansion is further facilitated, as the alkyl chain of primary amines becomes longer, while tertiary amines cannot penetrate inside the GIC because of their structural steric hindrance. The primary amine adsorbed in the GIC is oriented to form a bilayer by an indirect reactions among FeCl3–graphene–amine, and this process plays an important role in the expansion of the GIC, in contrast to the reaction of primary amines with donor-type GICs. Then the expanded-GIC is sonicated to exfoliate the graphene sheets. The obtained material exhibited a superparamagnetic property due to the remaining iron compounds. This approach using FeCl3–GIC and primary amine is preferable for the mass production of graphene because of the mild reaction conditions and the short treatment time for exfoliation from the chemically stable FeCl3–GIC. Moreover, the magnetization of graphene nano-composites could be useful for magnetic-recovery processes, electromagnetic heating, and the other applications.


Contrast- induced nephropathy (CIN) is an elevation of serum creatinine of ≥ 0.5 mg/dL from baseline after two to three days of exposure to contrast substance if there is no other cause for acute kidney injury. Atorvastatin may protect normal kidney physiology from contrast- induced
kidney injury by effects unrelated to hypolipidemia termed pleiotropic effect by decline of endothelin production, angiotensin system down regulation, and under expression of endothelial adhesion molecules. This study was conducted to assess the strategy by which atorvastatin can achieve protective effect for kidneys after exposure to contrast media in an animal model. A 40 male rats were distributed randomly into 4 groups; ten rats for each: group (1): given normal saline; group (2): CIN group given iopromide as contrast media; group (3): given atorvastatin (20mg/kg) and iopromide; and group (4): given atorvastatin (40mg/kg) and iopromide. Blood collected by cardiac puncture for detection of serum glutathione, malondialdehyde, matrix metalloproteinase-9, and interleukin-18. The results have shown a significant increase in inflammatory and oxidative stress markers in contrast media group, and significant reduction in these markers in atorvastatin treated groups, in a dose-dependent manner. As conclusion, atorvastatin mechanism for protection against CIN in a dose-dependent manner can mediate by anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.


This paper provides an introduction to "human factors engineering", an applied science that seeks to optimize usability and safety of systems. Human factors engineering pursues this goal by aligning system design with the perceptual, cognitive, and physical capabilities of users. Human factors issues loom large in the diabetes management domain because patients and health care professionals interact with a complex variety of systems, including medical device hardware and software, which are themselves embedded within larger systems of institutions, people, and processes. Usability considerations must be addressed in these systems and devices to ensure safe and effective diabetes management.


Recent years have witnessed the rapid advance in neural machine translation (NMT), the core of which lies in the encoder-decoder architecture. Inspired by the recent progress of large-scale pre-trained language models on machine translation in a limited scenario, we firstly demonstrate that a single language model (LM4MT) can achieve comparable performance with strong encoder-decoder NMT models on standard machine translation benchmarks, using the same training data and similar amount of model parameters. LM4MT can also easily utilize source-side texts as additional supervision. Though modeling the source- and target-language texts with the same mechanism, LM4MT can provide unified representations for both source and target sentences, which can better transfer knowledge across languages. Extensive experiments on pivot-based and zero-shot translation tasks show that LM4MT can outperform the encoder-decoder NMT model by a large margin.


Taking Yangmai 18, widely cultivated in south of Huaihe River, as experimental material, this study investigated the effects of application of 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 m3 x hm(-2) pig farm slurry (PS) at the wintering stage combined with the application of 0, 30, 60, 90 kg x hm(-2) urea at the heading stage on medium- and micro-element contents and quality of wheat. The results showed that the Ca, Mg and Fe contents of plant firstly decreased then increased with the extension of the growth period, but the Cu, Zn and Mn contents decreased continuously through the growth period. Ca, Mg, Cu and Zn reached the highest value at every growth stage except the jointing stage when applying 120 m3 x hm(-2) PS with 90 kg x hm(-2) urea. Fe and Mn reached the highest value at every growth stage when applying 120 m3 x hm(-2) PS with 90 kg x hm(-2) urea. The contents of Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn all increased with increasing PS application across the growth period. Regarding the quality of wheat, applying 90 m3 x hm(-2) PS with 60 kg x hm(-2) urea was the best fertilization pattern. Combined applications of anaerobically treated PS with N fertilizer could increase medium- and micro-element contents and quality of wheat. Generally, it was recommended to apply 60-120 m3 x hm(-2) PS at the wintering stage and 90 kg x hm(-2) urea at the heading stage under field conditions.


The Montana Bird Conservation Partnership is a consortium of representatives from state, tribal, and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and individuals who are dedicated to conserving birds and their habitats in Montana. Our goals are to work collaboratively to keep common birds common and to conserve, protect and restore sensitive species and habitats. We work to recognize the social and economic value of birds to the people of Montana. We also use the best available science to identify conservation opportunities. Over 300 species of birds regularly breed, winter, or migrate through Montana. Of these, 82 are considered to have sensitive or at-risk populations. Montana's birds are threatened by habitat loss stemming from changing land use practices and energy and subdivision development. Global climate change may exacerbate these threats. We will present current Montana Bird Conservation Partnership projects, our action plan, focal species initiatives, and examples of successful conservation-in-action projects. Find out how you and/ or your organization can get involved at the local or state level. Learn more about the most exciting and forward-thinking bird partnership in the region!


During the past decade, a structured financial product called "Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO)" has been drawing much attention of researchers and practitioners, and is now traded with growing liquidity. However, the approach for CDO pricing has been rather limited in the literature, largely because it is necessary to evaluate the time dependent distribution of the underlying cumulative loss so as to find the pricing scheme satisfying the non-arbitrage condition of the derivatives market. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by describing the CDO model in terms of a semi-Markov modulated Poisson process. Based on the theoretical results of Huang and Sumita (6) as well as the Laguerre transform method, numerical algorithms are developed for evaluating the time dependent distribution of the cumulative loss up to time t, which in turn enables one to evaluate the price of a CDO tranche. Some numerical results are presented, demonstrating the power of the algorithms.


A new nonlinear destabilization process is found in the nonlinear phase of the double tearing mode (DTM) by using reduced MHD equations with helical symmetry. The nonlinear destabilization causes the abrupt growth of the DTM and subsequent collapse after long timescale evolution in the Rutherford-type regime. The nonlinear growth of the DTM is suddenly triggered, when the triangular deformation of magnetic islands with a sharp current point at the X-point around the outer rational surface exceeds a certain value. Decreasing the resistivity increases the sharpness of the triangularity and the spontaneous growth rate in the abrupt growth phase is almost independent of the resistivity. Current point formation is also confirmed in multi-helicity simulations, where the magnetic fields become stochastic between two rational surfaces.


The authors tested the hypothesis that the response-attenuating effects of affiliation under stress are limited to conditions that involve high social threat. Ninety-six young adult women were exposed to standardized psychological challenges in one of four conditions that involved two levels of social affiliation (alone or accompanied by a close friend) and two levels of social threat (variations in the social behavior and perceived status of the experimenter). Social affiliation was associated with attenuated blood pressure responses to the challenges but only under conditions of high social threat. Affiliation was not associated with differences in self-reported emotional response to the challenges nor with alterations in cognitive task appraisal. Exploratory analyses suggested that some of these effects were stronger in hostile or socially avoidant individuals. Implications of these findings for interpreting the literature on social support and cardiovascular reactivity, and for understanding the potential role of social support in reducing stress-related disease pathogenesis, are discussed.


: It is now 20 years since the term proteomics was first coined and soon thereafter began appearing in the scientific literature. In this review, we describe the opportunities and challenges in proteomics as an approach to understand disease at the molecular level. Proteome complexity is a fundamental challenge, which limits our ability to perform a comprehensive analysis of protein expression in cells or tissues. Not surprisingly, most progress has been made in homogeneous model systems, such as cell lines, using approaches that reduce the size and complexity of the proteome under investigation, eg, by affinity enrichment strategies. Targeted protein profiling methods are another approach to tackle this complexity. Here, antibody-based arrays can play an important role, because of their exquisite selectivity and sensitivity, even in complex matri-ces where mass spectrometry-based methods are not suitable. We conclude that in the future successful proteomics studies will combine discovery and targeted platforms, to obtain new insights as well as ensure robust validation. will not make it into a mass spectrometer and is not detected. The actual mass spectrometry analysis of peptides proceeds in a recurring cycle of three steps. The process starts with a full scan (MS1) to survey all the peptides that are eluting from the HPLC column at that time point. Subsequently, one peptide (selected by mass) is passed through to a collision cell (CID, for collision-induced dissociation) where the peptide is collided with an inert gas, resulting in fragmentation of the molecule, primarily at the peptide bonds. Finally, the masses of these fragments are measured in a second mass analyzer (MS2) to determine the peptide sequence. The fragments starting from the N-terminus or C-terminus are called b-ions or y-ions, respectively. In the spectrum shown, the y-series is dominant and allows a partial sequence read. In practice, both the accurate mass determined from the MS1 spectrum and the MS2 fragmentation pattern are used for identification. If the mass is determined with high accuracy (eg, 10 ppm, 0.01 Da per 1,000 Da), the number of potential sequences fitting that mass is limited. Next, the software generates a theoretical fragmentation pattern based on the sequence and compares that with the measured MS2 spectrum. The best match is determined by statistical means. each MS1 scan is typically followed by 5–20 MS2 scans of the most intense peaks to identify as many peptides as possible. Such a cycle takes 1–5 seconds, depending on the speed of the mass spectrometer. Hence, in theory, tens of thousands of peptides can be identified per hour.


This present paper includes a detailed evaluation of specific biomarkers together with stable carbon isotope (δ13C) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and Gas Chromatograph–Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC–IR–MS). Eight crude oil samples were collected from the A, B, H (east) and H (west) Fields, located in the Murzuq Basin, Libya. Stable Carbon isotope data (δ13C) together with biomarker ratios data of individual hydrocarbons, n-alkanes, isoprenoids, terpenes, hopanes, steranes and aromatic have been determined in crude oils to delineate their bacterial degradation, source facies, organic matter precursors, depositional conditions and a variation of maturation. Based on source-specific parameters including n-C19 alkane, % C27S, %C28S, %C29S, %C23TT, %C30αβ, %rC28, DBT/P, CPI, Pr/Ph, Ts/Tm, dh 30/h 30, 1 MN, 2 MN,         26-27 DMN, 15 DMN, 236 TMN, 146-135 TMN, 125 TMN, 136 TMN ratios and δ13C‰ of saturates and aromatics fractions. Such oils showed non-biodegradation, n-C19 peak proved oils generated from a Lower Palaeozoic source rocks as emphasizedvian-C19 peak, the dominance of C29steranes over C27 and C28 with light Carbon isotope ratio (δ13C‰) values. The abundances of isosterane C29, C27, C28.Tricyclohexaprenol and bacteriohopane polyols and aminopolyols, recommended as mixture bioprecursors of tricyclic terpenes and hopanes, furthermore regular sterane ratio gives values characteristic of Lower Palaeozoic marine source rocks and holding green algae and most likely a quantity of contribution from acritarchs. Carbon preference indices (CPIs)>0.9 pointed to an anoxic deposition, dibenzothiophene to phenanthrene (DBT/Prange 0.49 - 0.58) recommend a siliciclastic source rather than carbonate and/or evaporate saline deposition. The ratios of CPIs, pristane/n-C17 and phytane/n-C18, n-alkanes (C16 to C22) against (C23 to C33), Ts/Tm, C30diahopane/C30hopane, methylnaphthalene, dimethyl naphthalene and trimethyl naphthalene indicated that the oils analysed are mature except the B Field oil being slightly less mature than the A, H (east) and  H (west) Fields oils.


Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) hold promising application in electronics and optoelectronics because of their excellent photo-stability, tunable photoluminescence and high quantum yield. However, the absorption and emission mechanisms have been debated for years. Here, by employing time-dependent density functional theory, we demonstrate that the different N-doping types and positions give rise to different absorption and emission behaviors, which successfully addresses the inconsistency observed in different experiments. Specifically, center doping creates mid-states, rendering non-fluorescence, while edge N-doping modulates the energy levels of excited states and increases the radiation transition probability, thus enhancing fluorescence strength. More importantly, the even hybridization of frontier orbitals between edge N atoms and GQDs leads to a blue-shift of both absorption and emission spectra, while the uneven hybridization of frontier orbitals induces a red-shift. Solvent effects on N-GQDs are further explored by the conductor-like screening model and it is found that strong polarity of the solvent can cause a red-shift and enhance the intensity of both absorption and emission spectra.


Laminin, a noncollagenous glycoprotein component of basement membranes, was measured in human serum by radioimmunoassay for the laminin P1 fragment. The concentration of immunoreactive laminin increased during pregnancy. Before delivery it was nearly twice the level found in nonpregnant women. After delivery levels dropped. Decreased serum concentrations were detected in placental insufficiency whereas increased concentrations were found in sera of preeclamptic women. Immunoreactive serum laminin seems to correlate with the amount or degradation of placental basement membranes in pregnancy.


Considering the strategic importance of satisfying customers and the high costs of conducting customer satisfaction research, deeper understanding of the determinants of customer satisfaction information use seems important. In this paper, we aim at predicting intentions of selectively using satisfaction-related information from decision-maker attitude strength by applying latent variable modelling. The results suggest that two dimensions of attitude strength, commitment and embeddedness, contribute directly and indirectly to selective customer satisfaction intelligence use. Indirect effects occur through cognitive processes and selective judgment of satisfaction-related information.


The oil bearing rose (Rosa damascena) is the most important rose species in terms of fragrances and flavourings. Due to the very short blooming period and excessive amount of flowers, considerable amount of the rose flowers wait for a long time until dis- tillation. There are losses of essential oil yield and quality use of before waited petals. The cold storage and drying applications may be alternative method for evaluate of excessive amount of flowers. Therefore in this study it was aimed to determine the effects of storage on cold (4°C) and room condition (25°C) and convective drying with different tempera- tures (40, 50 and 60°C) in terms of changes in volatile compositions of oil rose flowers based on direct hexane extraction. Totally 20 volatile compounds were identified in fresh, stored and dried rose petals. The detected compounds varied according to the various storage and drying conditions. It was determined that phenylethyl alcohol, citronellol, geranyl acetate, nonadecane were predominant compounds on all treatments. In the study, storing treatments led to increase on the percentage of oxygenated monoterpenes (OM) while drying treatments led to decrease on OM. It was determined that storing and drying treatments led to increase on the percentage of benzenoid compounds (BC) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (AH).