This paper considers time-delay systems with bounded disturbances. We study a new problem of finding an upper bound of an absolute value function of any given linear functional of the state vector starting from the origin of the system. Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii method combining with the recent Wirtinger-based integral inequality that has just been proposed by Seuret & Gouaisbaut (2013. Wirtinger-based integral inequality: application to time-delay systems. Automatica, 49, 2860-2866), sufficient conditions for the existence of an upper bound of the function are derived. The obtained results are shown to be more effective than those adapted from the existing works on reachable set bounding. Furthermore, the obtained results are applied to refine existing ellipsoidal bounds of the reachable sets. The effectiveness of the obtained results is illustrated by two numerical examples.


The fetal neurobehaviour helps to evaluate the integrativity of the brain function. The distinctive signs of the fetal motor patterns allow us to diagnose developmental disorders at early stages. The purpose is to review literature related to the study of the integrative activity of the central nervous system, the development and use of modern methods of fetal neuropsychological ultrasound diagnostics - the antenatal test of neurodevelopment after A. Kurjak (Kurjak Antenatal Neurodevelopmental Test - KANET). The results and conclusion. Using ultrasound of pregnant women at different gestation periods helps us to directly observe and evaluate fetal movements reflecting activity of the maturing central nervous system. The KANET test based on the observation of the fetal motor pattern according to the Prechtl's method allows us to evaluate the fetal motor activity and predict development and functioning of the central nervous system after birth. The fetal antenatal neuropsychological diagnostics is used for timely detection of the disorders of central nervous system and early implementation of preventive and curative measures for the consequences of CNS damage: neurological, emotional and behavioral disorders in older children.


Youths' affinity for snack foods is well-documented; in various contexts, they sell chips, candy, and other goods. Adults may frame such sales as either entrepreneurial or deviant, which can contribute to positive youth development (on one hand) or cycles of disengagement and criminalization (on the other). Drawing on ethnographic and interview data from Hamilton High School, I show how adults' criminalization of snack sales led the activity to more closely resemble that which they feared: drug sales. Snack sales constitute one way in which youth exercise agency in the face of broad institutional control, leading some to challenge the legitimacy of the school overall. These findings represent a case of how youth experience "criminalized childhoods" in a school context.


In this thesis we study how we can apply machine learning techniques to improve source code plagiarism detection. We present a system, InfiniteMonkey, that can identify suspicious similarities between source code documents using two methods. For fast retrieval of source code similarities, we use a system based on n -gram features, tf-idf weighting and cosine similarity. The second part focuses on applying more complex neural network models trained on a large synthetic source code plagiarism dataset to classify source code plagiarism. This dataset is created using an automatic refactoring system we developed for learning this task. The methods are evaluated and compared to other tools on a number of different datasets. We show that the traditional approach compares well against other approaches, while the deep model on synthetic data does not generalize well to the evaluation tasks. In this thesis we also show a simple technique for visualization of source code similarities.


Virchow, it will be remembered, considered the giant-cell tumours sarcomas, and accordingly called them myelogene schalige Riesenzellensarkome. This theory early met with opposition from several prominent scientists, who pointed out the benign character of these growths, but this latter opinion has gained a more general acceptance only in the last twenty years or so. Blood-good suggested that the ominous name giant-cell sarcoma should be replaced by the designation giant-cell tumour. He still considered these formations true neoplastic growths, however, and this opinion is shared by the majority of American scientists.

European writers, chiefly German, have gone still further, and even question the neoplastic character of these lesions (Lubarsch, Konjetzny, Oberndorfer, and others). Their opinion is supported by the observation of similar changes around blood exudations in the marrow, in delayed callus formations, in the peripheral zone of chronic osteomyelitis, etc. The process is regarded by these authorities as a formation of granulation tissue.

Geschickter and Copeland, who still support the neoplastic theory, regard the vessels and giant cells found in giant-cell tumours as corresponding to the tissue which in embryonal life penetrates from the perichondrium into the cartilaginous skeleton and changes this into bone. The giant cells are osteoclasts, and the bone resorption characteristic of giant-cell tumours is their work. This theory is based, inter alia, on the observation that these tumours occur only in such parts of the skeleton as are preformed in cartilage.

The interpretation of the giant-cell tumour is intimately associated with the theory of normal bone formation and bone resorption processes. Swedish scientists have largely based their arguments on a theory advocated by Virchow, Retterer, Haggqvist, Bjarne Dahl and others, formulated by Haggqvist, as follows:


LB-94 Increasing evidences suggest that the existence of a subpopulation of drug resistant tumor initiating cells or cancer stem cells likely attributes to the failure of clinical cancer treatment and disease recurrence. Development of new strategies to effectively eliminate the cancer stem cells is critical to improve treatment outcomes. Based on our recent observations, we hypothesize that tumor initiation cells (or stem-like cells) favor hypoxic conditions and maintain the stemness through high glycolytic activity, and that glycolytic inhibition might represent a novel approach to eliminating cancer stem cells. To test the hypothesis, we established a CD133+ enriched cell model (U87-SC) by isolating tumor cells from human malignant glioma U87 xenograft pre-selected in vivo by doxorubicin treatment, and maintaining the cells in a simplified brain tumor stem cell medium. At earlier passages, U87-SC cells readily formed neuroshere-like clusters in hypoxia but not in normoxia, indicating that hypoxia significantly favored the maintenance of neurosphere-forming capacity. There was a 2-fold increase of expression of CD133 in hypoxic U87-SC compared with normoxia as analyzed by flow cytometry. Interestingly, the neurosphere phenotype was eventually lost when cells were cultured in regular DMEM with 10% FBS. The neurosphere-like cells highly expressed nestin, a neural progenitor cell marker, suggesting that the neurosphere-forming capacity may reflect a stemness stage in proper culture conditions. Colony formation and anchorage-independent assay in soft-agar showed a higher colony formation capacity for hypoxic U87-SC cells. Furthermore, in vivo tumorigenecity of the hypoxic U87-SC cells was 100-fold higher than the parental U87 cells as quantitatively tested by by inoculation in nude mice. MTT assay showed that hypoxic U87-SC cells were less sensitive to doxorubicin, vincristin, and BCNU compared with normoxic conditions. The residual U87-SC cells after doxorubicin treatment re-grew when the drug was removed. Importantly, the sphere-forming U87-SC cells exhibited less oxygen consumption, and were highly sensitive to glycolytic inhibition, leading to severe ATP depletion. Combination with glycolytic inhibition with doxorubicin was able to eliminate the residual cells and abolish cell re-growth. Apoptosis induction by the combination treatment was confirmed by PARP cleavage and caspase activation using Western blot. Furthermore, this in vitro drug combination treatment effectively eliminated the tumorigenesic capacity of the hypoxic U87-SC cells to form tumors in vivo. Our data suggest that the chemotherapy resistance phenotype of hypoxic brain tumor cells is likely due to an enrichment of highly glycolytic tumor-initiating cells, which can be eliminated by a combination treatment of chemotherapeutic agents with glycolytic inhibition.


A framework for the modelling of enterprise operations is presented, aiming at enabling a conception of enterprise operations in three explicitly aligned perspectives: its what, or morphology; its when, or temporal position; its where, or spatial position. It is derived from the precepts of a General Systems Theory and its General Process Theory. The practical and empirical benefit of this framework is indicated by a real-life case, a so-called 'Transatlantic Shopping Process', where the models constructed enable management of complexities emerging from enterprise operations.


Museums have a great, though still not fully acknowledged nor always used, potential to create diverse socioeconomic benefits at different spatial scales. The aim of the paper is to discuss important social and economic implications of museum activities which make it worthwhile to look at them not only as cost-generating enterprises and a ballast to public budget, or as institutions with an economic impact limited to supporting the tourism sector through providing the core of a tourism product. Departing from the consideration of museums as specific non-profit institutions producing a complex offer, the author points to a broad variety of museum stakeholders and defines various spheres of potential impact of museums. (original abstract)


IntroductionFabry disease (FD) is a rare metabolic disorder caused by the genetic deficiency of the lysosomal hydrolase alpha-galactosidase A, causing common and serious kidney complications. We report the first case of Fabry disease detected in Malaysia. Clinical ScenarioA 35-year-old man had an incidental finding of proteinuria during routine health screening. His symptoms included frothy urine and intermittent lower limb swelling. Renal biopsy showed features of Fabry's disease which was confirmed with genetic testing. He had classical hemizygous Fabry disease of c.610 C>T with Fabry nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, and cornea verticillata. He was then started on be Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT) with agalsidase till date. ConclusionProteinuria is the predominant factor in Fabry nephropathy predicting renal disease progression rate. Early Fabry Disease diagnosis could prevent kidney disease progression through the timely initiation of treatment which will help enhance the quality of life of the patient, as the disease progresses.


The social problem faced by the community is poverty which causes inequality in community groups. The government has conducted community empowerment in the joint business group program to improve the standard of living of the poor. One of them is KUBE Melati 3 which is located in Johar District, Galur Village, Central Jakarta. The results showed that the participation of KUBE members and the role of companion. Member participation is described in the involvement of realizing group business skills, the hope of building groups, decision making collaboration, contributing ideas through deliberation, managing supplementary feeding, competitions, and financial contributions. And the companion roles is facilitative, educational, representative, and technical role in empowerment efforts. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach with descriptive research type. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 informants who were selected through purposive sampling technique.


Before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) introduced revalidation in 2016, the proposed model for revalidation was piloted in 19 healthcare organisations in the UK. Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) was among the pilot sites, and invited more than 1,000 registered nurses and midwives to take part. One of these participants, a member of the ABUHB practice facilitator team, used this experience to identify links between mentorship activities and the NMC requirements for revalidation. This article discusses how becoming a mentor and maintaining mentor status can provide registered nurses and midwives with evidence to assist them in their revalidation.


Objective. It is often difficult to determine the pathophysiology of childhood diabetes at onset, particularly in overweight children, because obesity has been associated with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. We compared children at the diagnosis of diabetes in a multiethnic population-based registry to understand the epidemiology of the disease during a time of rapidly changing diagnostic and treatment norms. Methods. Incident diabetes was ascertained in Chicagoans who were aged 0 to 17 years from 1985 to 2001. We classified as type 2 those with polycystic ovary syndrome, acanthosis, or a physician's note indicating type 2 or those who reported subsequent use of oral agents (n = 203); 73% of them were also obese. Patients with obesity at onset but no other indicator of possible type 2 (n = 197) were classified as having obesity-related/undetermined type. The remaining 842 cases were classified as type 1. Logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results. Fully 32% of cases were classified as non–type 1, including 37% of non-Hispanic blacks, 30% of Latinos, and 14% of non-Hispanic whites. The proportion of obesity-undetermined and type 2 increased over the 17 years. Comparing the 3 patient groups, type 2 cases were more often female, non-Hispanic black, and older and had a first-degree diabetic relative, whereas Latino boys were overrepresented among the obese/undetermined. Conclusion. Obesity is prevalent in youths with newly diagnosed diabetes, particularly during recent years. The growth in non–type 1 diabetes in children since 1985 likely reflects both a true increase and greater physician awareness of the possibility that type 2 diabetes may occur in children.


We present a coarse grained parallel algorithm for planarity testing and planar embedding. The algorithm requires O(log p) communication rounds and linear sequential work per round. It assumes that the local memory per processor, N=p, is larger than p for some xed > 0. This assumption is true for all commercially available multiprocessors. Our result implies a BSP algorithm with O(log p) supersteps, O(g log(p) p ) communication, and O(log(p) p ) local computation. Our algorithm is based on the general structure of a previous PRAM method presented by Klein, using a parallel implementation of PQ-trees. The main contribution of this paper lies in the study of many of the individual PRAM steps that are very inefcient on existing commercial parallel machines. We present non-trivial, eÆcient, CGM implementations of the various parts of the overall strategy proposed by Klein. Our main result is a parallel planarity testing algorithm which is much more practical and eÆcient on commercially available multi-


Currently, pension providers are running into trouble mainly due to the ultra-low interest rates and the guarantees associated to some pension benefits. With the aim of reducing the pension volatility and providing adequate pension levels with no guarantees, we carry out mathematical analysis of a new pension design in the accumulation phase. The individual's premium is split into the individual and collective part and invested in funds. In times when the return from the individual fund exits a predefined corridor, a certain number of units is transferred to or from the collective account smoothing in this way the volatility of the individual fund. The target is to maximise the total accumulated capital, consisting of the individual account and a portion of the collective account due to a so-called redistribution index, at retirement by controlling the corridor width. We also discuss the necessary and sufficient conditions that have to be put on the redistribution index in order to avoid arbitrage opportunities for contributors.


Several metal nanoparticles have been developed for medical application. While all have their benefits, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are ideal in cancer therapy and diagnosis as they are chemically inert and minimally toxic. Several studies have shown the potential of AuNPs in the therapeutic field, as photosensitizing agents in sonochemical and photothermal therapy and as drug delivery, as well as in diagnostics and theranostics. Although there is a significant number of reviews on the application of AuNPs in cancer medicine, there is no comprehensive review on their application both in therapy and diagnostics. Therefore, considering the high number of studies on AuNPs' applications, this review summarizes data on the application of AuNPs in cancer therapy and diagnostics. In addition, we looked at the influence of AuNPs' shape and size on their biological properties. We also present the potential use of hybrid materials based on AuNPs in sonochemical and photothermal therapy and the possibility of their use in diagnostics. Despite their potential, the use of AuNPs and derivatives in cancer medicine still has some limitations. In this review, we provide an overview of the biological, physicochemical, and legal constraints on using AuNPs in cancer medicine.


The role of negative affectivity on patients' perceptions of and behavior during asthma attacks was explored among 47 asthmatic subjects. Patients completed 17 to 30 daily questionnaires assessing negative affect, asthma perception, additional drug intake, search for medical assistance, and peak-flow measures of respiratory distress. Asthma perceptions were correlated with negative affect and educational level; the perception of the asthma severity, but not negative affect, did predict behavior during an attack. The importance of symptom perceptions for the clinical management of chronic asthma is underscored.


: Growth kinetics of equine influenza virus-A1, equine herpesvirus-1, and equine rhinovirus-1 were determined in susceptible cell monolayers and in organ cultures of equine fetal tracheal and nasal turbinate epithelium. Equine influenza virus-A1 was replicated in cell and organ cultures and was released more readily and for longer periods from nasal turbinate epithelium than from tracheal epithelium. Equine herpesvirus-1 was also replicated in cell and organ cultures. During the first 24 hours after inoculation, equine herpesvirus-1 was released more readily from tracheal epithelium than from nasal turbinate epithelium. Beyond postinoculation day 1, virus was released more readily and for longer periods from nasal turbinate epithelium than from tracheal epithelium. Equine rhinovirus-1 replicated in cell and organ cultures, but almost exclusively from nasal turbinate epithelium.


The socio-economic situation in the mono-cities of the Arctic zone of theRussian Federationis not favorable for permanent residence, including due to the rather strong dependence of all aspects of the life of the population on the activities of the city-forming enterprise. Therefore, the regional government should have a tool for assessing the impact of the results of the activities of the city-forming enterprise and the sustainable development of the territory. At the same time, it is necessary to assess not only the economic and social effects of the enterprise's activities (sales, profits, job creation, etc.), but also the impact on the ecological environment at all stages of the production cycle. Thus, the integration of the principles of sustainable development into the management system of a city-forming enterprise on the basis of the developed documents on the development of corporate social responsibility and the assessment of the result from the implementation of the relevant activities is currently a rather topical issue in the Arctic regions.  The scope of this article discloses the essence of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The necessity of applying this concept for the territories and enterprises of the Arctic zone of theRussian Federationis substantiated. The methodology for assessing the impact of the company's activities on sustainable development development is described. The impact of the social and environmental policy of ALROSA Group on the sustainable development of theSakhaRepublic(Yakutia) was assessed.


Background Tests that can diagnose COVID-19 rapidly and predict prognosis would be significantly beneficial. We studied the ability of breath analysis using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) for diagnosis of COVID-19 and as a predictor for subsequent requirement for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). Methods We undertook a single centre prospective observational study in patients with COVID-19, other respiratory tract infections and healthy controls. Participants provided one breath sample for GC-IMS analysis. We used cross validation analysis to create models that were then tested against the original cohort data. Further multivariable analysis was undertaken to adjust for differences between the comparator groups. Results Between 01/02/2021 and 24/05/2021 we recruited 113 participants, of whom 72 (64%) had COVID-19, 20 (18%) had another respiratory tract infection and 21 (19%) were healthy controls. Differentiation between patients with COVID-19 and healthy controls, and patients with COVID-19 and those with other respiratory tract infections, was achieved with high accuracy. Identification of patients with subsequent requirement for CPAP was completed with moderate accuracy and was not independently associated on multivariable analysis. Conclusions We have shown that GC-IMS has a high capability to distinguish between acute COVID-19 infection and other disease states. Breath analysis shows promise as a predictor of subsequent requirement for CPAP in hospitalised patients with COVID-19. This platform has considerable benefits due to the test being rapid, non-invasive and not requiring specialist laboratory processing.


In effort to identify novel genetic components that play important roles in abiotic stress response and tolerance, a forward genetic mutant screen was established by using a highly sensitive imaging system monitoring luciferase reporter gene expression driven by the stress-inducible promoter from the Arabidopsis SOT12 gene encoding a sulfotransferase. A number of mutants showing increased luciferase expression in response to abiotic stresses were isolated and named as shiny (shi) mutants. Among all shiny mutants, shi2, shi6 and shi3/sta1 were selected for map-based cloning and further detailed characterization in this study. All three mutants harbor single recessive mutations resulting in elevated expression of the luciferase reporter gene with or without the NaCl treatment when compared to wild type.
 Map-based cloning of shi2 identified a mutation in a gene encoding a DEAD (Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp) box RNA helicase. SHI2 contains the conserved DEAD box and other motifs characteristic of RNA helicases and belongs to the largest family of helicase proteins known to be involved in gene expression from transcription to translation. Our results revealed that shi2 mutant is more sensitive to ABA in seed germination, exhibits inhibited growth at low temperature, and is hypersensitive to LiCl when compared to the wild type. GFP fusion experiments establish that SHI2 is nuclear localized and plays a role in pre-mRNA splicing in Arabidopsis.
 Map-based cloning of shi6 revealed a mutation in a gene known to be involved in embryo development. SHI6 is a large gene encoding a protein containing 2171 amino acids with two tandem repeats of DEAD box-like RNA helicase motifs. shi6 mutant displays a dwarf phenotype at normal growth condition, is more sensitive to ABA in seed germination, and shows inhibited growth at low temperature. Genetic complementation confirmed that the mutation in shi6 is indeed responsible for the mutant phenotypes.
 Four alleles of shi3/sta1 were isolated from the shiny mutants. SHI3/STA1 encodes a nuclear protein similar to the human U5 small ribonucleoprotein which functions in pre-mRNA splicing. SHI3/STA1 is previously reported to play an important role in pre-mRNA splicing in Arabidopsis, which is further supported by our experimental results. shi3/sta1 displays a dwarf phenotype under normal growth condition, serrated leaves with pointed leaf tips, hypersensitive to ABA in seed germination, growth inhibition at low temperature, and is also sensitive to LiCl treatment.
 All these three SHINY genes, SHI2, SHI6, and SHI3/STA1, are essential genes for plant growth and development in Arabidopsis. Null T-DNA knockout mutants of SHI6 and SHI3/STA1 are embryo lethal, and null T-DNA knockout mutant of SHI2 seems to have deleterious effects on pollen development. Through detailed molecular and biochemical characterizations, the roles of these SHINY genes in gene transcription and co-transcriptional processes were studied. The possible function of these genes in abiotic stress response and tolerance is…


ABSTRACT Apoptosis is a fundamental process controlling normal tissue homeostasis by regulating a balance between cell proliferation and death. Predicting the subcellular location of apoptosis proteins is very helpful for understanding the mechanism of programmed cell death. Predicting protein subcellular localization with bioinformatic techniques provides quite a few opportunities in related fields. In this work, we propose the use of a hierarchical extreme learning machine (H-ELM) to make a classification of high-dimensional input data without demanding a dimension reduction process, which yields acceptable results. An attempt is made to extract features from different perspectives, and a feature fusion process is accomplished. Regarding the position-specific scoring matrix, the first type depicts the correlation within the sequence with the autocorrelation function for relatively random sections from the sequence; and the second type is the Kullback-Leibler (K-L) divergence of the two distributions formed by the amino acids' constitutuent proportions. It is illustrated in an experiment with features from different sources mixed by simple concatenation yielding a poor result, but the synthetical feature fused with stochastic nonlinear embedding (t-SNE) greatly improved the classification. Finally, the highest overall accuracy of ZD98 is 87.5% by adjusting the hyper-parameters of H-ELM, and of CL317 is 92.4%.


The article presents the author psycho-pedagogical technology of effective interaction of family and school, which includes the following blocks: informative, analytical, instrumental and productive. The base of this technology is two principles: the system principle and the principle of active approach. Essential conditions for implementation are: appropriate organization of the educational process and family education; rational, coordinated and evidence-based management of child development. This all allows achieving the highest possible results in technology implementation. Author made a detailed consideration of the analytical part of technology which includes psychodiagnostic examination of children, teachers and parents. It is expected that psychodiagnostic examination of children is undertaken at the beginning and at the end of the school year. This will afford to see the dynamics of children development. The author also specifies the structure of the analytical block of the technology, shows how to make diagnostics, and explains the elements of analytical block. This structure and elements assist in performing some tasks: detecting the internal emotional atmosphere in family, and the family type, parenting style, specifying the character of communication between children and parents, as well as personal characteristics of the parents; making diagnosis of cognitive, emotional and personal sphere of the pupils, their communication skills, identifying their strong skills; exploring the individual characteristics of each teacher, and doing the assessment of professional activity of teachers and exploring compatibility students and parents. Keywords: psycho-pedagogical technology, psychodiagnostic assessment, family, school, interaction of the family and the school. * * * * * Download/read PDF


An electrochemical DNA biosensor for DNA determination of genetically modified (GM) soybean (CaMV 35S target genes) was developed utilizing a new detection concept based on the adsoption of anthraquinone‐2‐sulphonic acid (AQMS) on the reduced graphene oxide nano‐particles (rGO) during DNA hybridization events. The aminated DNA probe for CaMV 35S was immobilized onto poly(n‐butyl acrylate) film modified with succinimide functional groups [poly(nBA‐NAS)] via peptide covalent bond. Nanosheets of rGO were entrapped in the poly(nBA‐NAS) film to form a conducting [poly(nBA‐NAS)‐rGO] film of the DNA biosensor. Besides facilitating the electron transfer reactions, the rGO also functioned as an adsorbent for AQMS. The sensing mechanism of the proposed DNA biosensor involved measuring the oxidation current of the AQMS adsorbed on the electrode surface at −0.50 V using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) before and after a DNA hybridization event. Under optimum conditions, the DNA biosensor demonstrated a linear proportionality between AQMS oxidation signal and logarithm cDNA concentration from 1.0×10−15 M to 1.0×10−8 M target DNA with a detection limit of 6.3×10−16 M. The electrochemical DNA biosensor possessed good selectivity and a shelf life of about 40 days with relative standard deviation of reproducibility obtained in the range of 3.7–4.6% (n=5). Evaluation of the DNA biosensor using GM soybean DNA extracts showed excellent recovery percentages of 97.2–104.0.


Given two point sets, the problem of registration is to recover a transformation that matches one set to the other. This task is challenging due to the presence of the large number of outliers, the unknown non-rigid deformations and the large sizes of point sets. To obtain strong robustness against outliers, we formulate the registration problem as a partial distribution matching (PDM) problem, where the goal is to partially match the distributions represented by point sets in a metric space. To handle large point sets, we propose a scalable PDM algorithm by utilizing the efficient partial Wasserstein-1 (PW) discrepancy. Specifically, we derive the Kantorovich-Rubinstein duality for the PW discrepancy, and show its gradient can be explicitly computed. Based on these results, we propose a partial Wasserstein adversarial network (PWAN), which is able to approximate the PW discrepancy by a neural network, and minimize it by gradient descent. In addition, it also incorporates an efficient coherence regularizer for non-rigid transformations to avoid unrealistic deformations. We evaluate PWAN on practical point set registration tasks, and show that the proposed PWAN is robust, scalable and performs more favorably than the state-of-the-art methods.


This paper examines the implementation of technology enhanced learning which is based on digital resources and its benefits specifically in a reading course at an English prep school. The paper describes the findings that contribute to the impact of technology tailored teaching on students' learning. Positive impacts are evident if the lesson is carefully planned, structured and integrated. In particular, it provides that there is a direct relationship between the way lessons are presented with the use of digital resources, and the progress students showed during a limited period of time. By no means, technology guarantees significant change in the students' progress in learning English. This study employed a structured questionnaire, classroom observations, and student interviews to examine the impact of technology tailored teaching. The results indicated that as the level and length of time digital teaching increases, students' attitudes towards the lessons show more positive results. The data collected in this study support the idea that technology combined with effective instruction can show positive results for students and teachers. However, although the data are promising, they are preliminary


Yoghurt is one of the classical products of milk made by fermentation process to convert milk into yoghurt. It also converts valuable components of milk into more desirable and easily digestible constituents. It contains many bioactive peptides and it is suitable for all age groups and lactose intolerant people. Quinoa is an excellent gluten free cereal with maximum availability of protein and many essential minerals and vitamins. Antioxidants in quinoa protect against variety of chronic diseases. With these properties it's a good choice to incorporate in yoghurt. This study is designed to develop new and innovative cereal based dairy product. In this study yoghurt will be manufactured by using quinoa at different concentrations (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0%) and resultant product will be stored at 6-80 C and will be evaluate for different physiochemical analysis, microbial, textural, functional and sensory profile. Result shows protein % range was found 3.546 at T0 and 7.113 at T1. Fat % results are in range of 3.500 at T0 and 7.633 at T1. pH range was found 4.400 at T0 and 4.576 at T1. Mold count was found 0.67cfu at T0 and 0.33cfu at T4. After whole testing influence of quinoa on all concentrations were good on all aspects.


A child with a febrile exanthema is a complex medical problem involving diagnostic challenges, epidemiological threats and a great concern for the parents and any physician, should be prepared to deal with it. Many of the classical ones (measles, rubella, chickenpox) have now a decreased incidence due to a high vaccine coverage, which makes even harder for the physician to establish an early diagnosis. To the untrained eye most of them are difficult to differentiate. Their prompt recognition is necessary in order to manage them adequately and to prevent spreading of the disease.


A one-year-old girl visited the hospital due to limb torsion and developmental regression for one month after hand, foot and mouth disease. At the age of 11 months, she visited a local hospital due to fever for 5 days and skin rash with frequent convulsions for 2 days and was diagnosed with severe hand, foot and mouth disease, viral encephalitis, and status epilepticus. Brain MRI revealed symmetric abnormal signals in the bilateral basal ganglia, bilateral thalamus, cerebral peduncle, bilateral cortex, and hippocampus. She was given immunoglobulin, antiviral drugs, and anticonvulsant drugs for 2 weeks, and the effect was poor. Blood and urine screening for inherited metabolic diseases were performed to clarify the etiology. The analysis of urine organic acids showed significant increases in glutaric acid and 3-hydroxyglutaric acid, which suggested glutaric aciduria type 1, but her blood glutarylcarnitine was normal, and free carnitine significantly decreased. After the treatment with low-lysine diets, L-carnitine, and baclofen for 1 month, the patient showed a significant improvement in symptoms. Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common viral infectious disease in children, and children with underlying diseases such as inherited metabolic diseases and immunodeficiency may experience serious complications. For children with hand, foot and mouth disease and unexplained encephalopathy, inherited metabolic diseases should be considered.


1. In all patients of African descent, and above all in all children of three months and older, the attention of the radiologist should be directed to the possibility of sickle cell anaemia in the presence of bone lesions with the following characteristics:--either diffuse pseudo-tumoural, signifying erythroblastosis secondary to anaemia;--or pseudo-osteitic, signifying thrombosis secondary to sickling. 2. These appearances from part of a rich and misleading pathological spectrum, in particular in rheumatology and pulmonary medicine, and even surgery. 3. The presumptive radiological diagnosis may be complemented by electrophoresis of haemoglobin which, alone, makes confirmation of the diagnosis possible.


TCR V beta promoter contains a highly conserved decamer homologous to cAMP response element (CRE). Recent studies have identified this CRE decamer as the dominant transcription-activating element within the TCR V beta promoter. We have isolated cDNA clones, TCR-ATF1 and TCR-ATF2, encoding DNA-binding proteins that recognize this CRE motif. The nucleotide sequence of TCR-ATF1 has not previously been reported, whereas that of TCR-ATF2 was homologous to CRE-BP1, ATF-2, and mXBP. Both TCR-ATF1 and TCR-ATF2 shared a conserved leucine zipper and DNA binding motif with other CRE-binding proteins. TCR-ATF1 and TCR-ATF2 were expressed in all cell lines examined and in mouse embryos as early as 12.5 days. Despite binding to the same CRE motif, TCR-ATF1 and TCR-ATF2 were different from CREB in the fine nucleotide specificity. TCR-ATF bound methylated CRE and CRE mutant M4 (4C----G) that were not recognized by CREB. Additionally, TCR-ATF1 weakly recognized two other single nucleotide mutants of V beta-CRE that were not bound by TCR-ATF2 and CREB. We have further demonstrated that TCR beta-chain expression was immediately activated by cAMP. Such induction is likely mediated through V beta-CRE sequence, because the inclusion of V beta-CRE in a vector with minimum promoter (pBLCAT2) conferred the cAMP inducibility of CAT activity.


In recent years, the concept of market orientation has become an attractive avenue for research in marketing. Despite an array of applications of market orientation in the context of religious organisations, an empirical examination of the role of market orientation in affecting church participation remains limited. The purpose of this research is to develop and test a model that explains the role of market orientation in a church participation context. Data were collected from a particular church denomination in Australia using a self-administered questionnaire. This yielded a useable sample of 344. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity and reliability of the measures, while structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. The findings suggest that market orientation is significantly related to church participation. Further, competitor orientation was found to be negatively associated with church participation. These findings suggest that it is important for church leaders to: (1) understand the needs of church members (customer orientation), (2) ensure that the various ministries in the church are perceived as delivering significant value by its members (interfunctional coordination), and (3) ensure that the range of ministries offered by the church is not perceived as the strategic tools to compete with other churches (competitor orientation), but rather as the means to serve its members effectively.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A robust and reliable semantic segmentation in adverse weather conditions is very important for autonomous cars, but most state-of-the-art approaches only achieve high accuracy rates in optimal weather conditions. The reason is that they are only optimized for good weather conditions and given noise models. However, most of them fail, if data with unknown disturbances occur, and their performance decrease enormously. One possibility to still obtain reliable results is to observe the environment with different sensor types, such as camera and lidar, and to fuse the sensor data by means of neural networks, since different sensors behave differently in diverse weather conditions. Hence, the sensors can complement each other by means of an appropriate sensor data fusion. Nevertheless, the fusion-based approaches are still susceptible to disturbances and fail to classify disturbed image areas correctly. This problem can be solved by means of a special training method, the so called Robust Learning Method (RLM), a method by which the neural network learns to handle unknown noise. In this work, two different sensor fusion architectures for semantic segmentation are compared and evaluated on several datasets. Furthermore, it is shown that the RLM increases the robustness in adverse weather conditions enormously, and achieve good results although no disturbance model has been learned by the neural network.


The productivity of pulse crop is low due to two reasons ; cultivation on agriculturally marginal soils and little application of any crop inputs. Among production inputs, irrigation plays a crucial role in enhancing productivity levels. Population maintenance is one of the essential criteria by which yield is affected very much. Three-year research (2015-2017) was conducted at AEC&RI, Kumulur during summer season. Among method of establishment, seeding by machine at raised bed has achieved higher plant population (39.50/ m2), higher number of branches (3.81) per plant, higher number of seeds (3.95) per plant and higher seed yield per (2.61 g) plant, whereas method of sowing by machine at flatbed also on par with the performance on number of branches per plant, number of seeds per pod, per plant seed yield in all the three years. Increase in the quantity of seed rate has achieved increase in plant population, but the seed rate @25 kg/ha has achieved higher number of branches per plant (4.13), higher number of pods (4.50) per plant, per plant seed yield (4.33). Sprinkler method of irrigation required eight numbers of irrigation with the quantity of 431.2 mm and achieved water savings of 14.5% compared to conventional method of irrigation and recorded higher water use efficiency of 2.08kg/cm3. Considering the cost of cultivation, net return and BCR, the treatment combination of sowing by machine at flatbed with the seed rate of @25 kg/ha under sprinkler method of irrigation, has achieved the higher yield (1298 kg/ha) and BCR (4.96).


In this study a robust iterative technique is developed for solving the one-dimensional human arterial blood flow problem by adopting Locally Conservative Galerkin method (LCG). Using Newton method with two different linear solvers (i.e. Gauss elimination and Jacobi methodologies), the non-linear governing equations are solved. Such strategies result in rapid convergence and fast solution without excessive memory cost for semi and full implicit LCG discretizations. In the proposed methods, the numerical strategies require computing a 4 x 4 matrix per element to determine blood flow characteristics. The novel methods developed are employed to study the blood flow through the major vessels of a complex human systemic circulation network. The validity and stability of the present methods are investigated by comparing the results against the available data in the literature.


BACKGROUND
Whether extragonadal germ cell tumors develop primarily in the retroperitoneum or whether they are essentially metastases of a primary testicular tumor has long been debated and remains controversial.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Three patients presenting with apparent primary extragonadal retroperitoneal germ cell tumors are reported. Ipsilateral testicular evaluation was extended with palpation, ultrasonography and finally histological examination.

RESULTS
The retroperitoneal extragonadal tumors were found during abdominal MSCT. It was a fortuitous finding in the two first patients.The third patient presented with abdominal pain attributed to necrosis of the large mass which was subsequently firstly drained through endoscopic ultrasound-guided transduodenal puncture. The seminomatous nature of the retroperitoneal tumors was obtained through transduodenal echoendoscopic-guided cytopuncture in the first case, celioscopic resection in the second case and delayed percutaneous CT guided biopsy in the third symptomatic case. The first two patients had a history of cryptorchidism with substantial clinical testicular atrophy; ultrasonography showed microlithiasis and a small intratesticular tumor in the first patient and an hypoechoic but rather homogeneous atrophic testis in the other; orchiectomy confirmed small seminomatous intratesticular tumors in the two cases. The third patient had an atypical hypoechoic area on testicular ultrasound and histopatholgy revealed a burn-out primary tumor.

CONCLUSIONS
So-called primary extragonadal retroperitoneal germ cell tumors are extremely rare and should first be considered as metastases of a viable or burned-out testicular cancer until proven otherwise. All ipsilateral testicular abnormalities revealed by the patient's history, clinical examination and mostly by testicular ultrasound must be treated adequately with orchiectomy because they may act as a sanctuary for later tumor growth.


The time and depth of oil generation from petroleum source rocks containing type II kerogens can be determined using time-temperature index (TTI) graphs based on the Arrhenius equation. Activation energies (E) and frequency factors (A) used in the Arrhenius equation were obtained from hydrous pyrolysis experiments on rock samples in which the kerogens represent the range of type II kerogen compositions encountered in most petroleum basins. The E and A values obtained were used to construct graphs that define the beginning and end of oil generation for most type II kerogens having chemical compositions in the range of these standards. Activation energies of these standard kerogens vary inversely with their sulfur content. The kerogen with the highest sulfur content had the lowest E value and was the fastest in generating oil, whereas the kerogen with the lowest sulfur content had the highest E value and was the slowest in generating oil. These standard kerogens were designated as types IIA, B, C, and D on the basis of decreasing sulfur content and corresponding increasing time-temperature requirements for generating oil. The (summation) TTI[ARR] values determined graphically with these type II kerogen standards in two basin models were compared with a computer calculation using 2000 increments. The graphical method came within +/- 3% of the computer calculation. As type II kerogens are the major oil generators in the world, these graphs should have wide application in making preliminary evaluations of the depth of the oil window in exploration areas.


We present a novel method to register three-dimensional echocardiography (echo) images with magnetic resonance images (MRI) based on anatomical features, which could be used in the registration pipeline for overlaying MRI-derived roadmaps onto two-dimensional live X-ray images in electrophysiology (EP) procedures. The features used in image registration are the surface of the left ventricle and a manually defined centerline of the descending aorta. The MR-derived surface is generated using a fully automated algorithm, and the echo-derived surface is produced using a semi-automatic process. We test our method on six volunteers and three patients. We validated registration accuracy using two methods. The first calculated a root mean square distance error using anatomical landmarks. The second method used catheters as landmarks in one clinical EP procedure. Results show a mean error of 4.24 mm, which is acceptable for our clinical application, and no failed registrations were observed. In addition, our algorithm works on clinical data, is fast and only requires a small amount of manual input, and so it is applicable to use during EP procedures.


The game of Cops and Robber is traditionally played on a finite graph. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and analyse the game that is played on an arbitrary geodesic space (a compact, path-connected space endowed with intrinsic metric). It is shown that the game played on metric graphs is essentially the same as the discrete game played on abstract graphs and that for every compact geodesic surface there is an integer $c$ such that $c$ cops can win the game against one robber, and $c$ only depends on the genus $g$ of the surface. It is shown that $c=3$ for orientable surfaces of genus $0$ or $1$ and nonorientable surfaces of crosscap number $1$ or $2$ (with any number of boundary components) and that $c=O(g)$ and that $c=\Omega(\sqrt{g})$ when the genus $g$ is larger. The main motivation for discussing this game is to view the cop number (the minimum number of cops needed to catch the robber) as a new geometric invariant describing how complex is the geodesic space.


N2O sensors made with ZnO-based ZnCdO films were grown on Pyrex substrates by using the RF co-sputtering method. The structure of the N2O sensor was electrode/sensor/glass/illuminant. The mechanism of the photo-assisted oxidation and reduction process on the surface of the N2O sensors was investigated using light from a UV lamp and violet light emitting diode (LED). For photon exposure wavelengths of 365 and 405 nm, the sensitivity of the ZnO-based ZnCdO sensors was measured. From these measurements, the values of the sensitivity of the sensors with x = 0, 0.01, and 0.05 were found to be S = 1.44, 1.39, and 1.33 under LED light with a wavelength of 405 nm, respectively. These sensitivities were compared to those of SnO2 and WO3 materials measured at operating temperatures of 300–600 °C. Also, under exposure with UV light, the response times were observed to be 130 to 270 sec. These response times were slightly slower than that for the traditional method of thermal heating. However, they indicate that the described photon exposure method for N2O detection can replace the conventional heating mode. Consequently, we demonstrated that portable N2O sensors for room-temperature operation could be fabricated without thermal heating.


Abstract Solanum ptycanthum plants putatively resistant to acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors were identified in a Wisconsin Glycine max field in 1999. Three- to four-leaf-stage S. ptycanthum plants in the greenhouse were 150, 120, and 5.9-fold resistant to imazethapyr, imazamox, and primisulfuron, respectively, compared with susceptible plants. In vivo ALS was 170- and less than 20-fold more resistant to imazethapyr and primisulfuron, respectively. These results suggested that the S. ptycanthum accession was highly resistant to imazethapyr and imazamox, and that resistance was associated with insensitive ALS. This is the first confirmed occurrence worldwide of S. ptycanthum resistance to ALS inhibitors. Nomenclature: Imazamox; imazethapyr; primisulfuron; Solanum ptycanthum L. SOLPT, eastern black nightshade; Glycine max L., soybean.


In this work the two-site Bose–Hubbard model is studied analytically in the limit of weak coupling u and large number of particles N. In particular, the difference in the occupation between the two sites, where initially all particles are at one site, was calculated analytically. This quantity exhibits collapses and revivals that superimpose rapid oscillations. Excellent agreement with the exact numerical solution was found. The semiclassical approximation where 1 N ?> plays the role of Planck's constant was used and perturbation theory to order u 2 ?> was applied. The occupation difference was calculated also for the case where initially both sites are occupied provided that the difference in occupation is sufficiently large. This work provides an analytical description of results that were so far found only numerically. Similar behavior and analysis are expected for a large variety of physical situations.


Study Objectives: To compare the survival benefits and cost effectiveness of cefepime-levofloxacin (C-L) as an alternative empirical antibiotic therapy for ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) with the most widely recommended combination of piperacillin-tazobactam and amikacin (P-T-A). Design: Prospective, observational, cohort study. Materials and Methods: A total number of 879 patients were admitted in the ICU during 1st April 2004 to 31 st March 2005 and were screened for the study. Ninety-three patients were clinically suspected to develop early onset VAP. The patients were randomly divided into two groups receiving Cefepime-Levofloxacin (C-L) or Piperacillin-Tazobactam-Amikacin (P-T-A) as empirical antibiotic therapy. Treatment outcome was compared between the groups, which included ICU mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of ICU stay and total cost incurred on antibiotics. Results: The epidemiological characteristics including mean age and APACHE II score were comparable between the two groups. The mortality rates in the two groups were similar. The duration of mechanical ventilation was shorter in C-L group (5-8 days) as compared to P-T-A group (6-11 days). Also, the mean duration of ICU stay was reduced in C-L group (16±2.1 days) as compared to P-T-A group (19±3.4 days). Further, the overall cost of antibiotics in C-L group was 1/3 rd of the cost in P-T-A group. Eleven patients were found to be receiving inappropriate antibiotics and seven patients developed ARF during the course of antibiotic therapy. These patients were excluded from the study. Conclusion: Cefepime-Levofloxacin combination is an effective alternative to piperacillin-tazobactam-amikacin for empirical treatment of VAP. It reduces the duration of mechanical ventilation, number of days of ICU stay and overall cost of antibiotics


The projection operators that project the potential energy of electron interactions onto the lowest Landau level of a fractional quantum Hall state are considered for both disk and spherical geometries. The study has been performed by using the Laughlin, the quasi-hole and the quasi-electron wave functions. In the case of spherical geometry, the form of the coordinate-operator transformation obtained in a recent article has been amended. The results obtained are expected to be useful in the calculation of the quasi-hole energy, the quasi-electron energy and the energy gap.


BACKGROUND
One of the most promising uses of whey permeate (WP) is the synthesis of prebiotic oligosaccharides. Herein, commercial WP was submitted to chemical isomerization catalysed by sodium borate at an alkaline pH and subsequent purification using anion-exchange resins to remove boron. Subsequently, purified mixtures were used to synthesize prebiotic oligosaccharides using β-galactosidase from Bacillus circulans.

RESULTS
Isomerization of concentrated WP (200 g L-1 lactose) gave rise to levels of lactulose up to 155.5 g L-1 after 30 min of reaction (molar ratio of boron/lactose, 1/1; pH 12; 70 °C). Boron was removed from the isomerized WP (IWP) using the combination of a strong acid (IR-120, H+ ) and a weak base (IRA-743) anion-exchange resins, reducing its level to <1 ppm, without loss of lactulose. During the transglycosylation reaction of purified IWP (lactose/lactulose ratio, 1/2.4) maximum content of prebiotic compounds was achieved, i.e. 690 g kg-1 WP after 3 h of reaction.

CONCLUSION
This study shows that combined chemical-enzymatic reactions together with the purification of IWP results in an efficient synthesis of prebiotic oligosaccharides. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.


A simple method has been devised to analyze a common type of nonionic surfactant (nonylphenol ethoxylate with an average of 8-15 ethylene oxide units) on wool. The advantages of this method are its insensitivity to the presence of processing oils and wool grease and its ability to detect concentrations as low as 0.02% on wool. The method involves isocratic, high-pressure liquid chromatography on a diol-bonded silica column. The amount of surface surfactant is determined from a dichloromethane extract of a dried wool sample, and the total amount of surfactant is found from a 40°C methanol extract of another wool sample. This method follows the adsorption and desorption of two nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactants from aqueous solution onto wool under various conditions, as well as the diffusion of one of these surfactants from the surface into wool fibers.


Land tenure patterns reflect a society's structure at its most fundamental - for one class they signify power and prestige, for the other disenfranchisement and destitution. This collection of essays attempts to distil the lesson learned from 25 years of policy experience, examining the successes and failures of land reform efforts in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Mexico, the Caribbean, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. The book would be of interest to researchers in Latin America's society, policymakers and those practicing in the field of politics and development.


A large number of studies have documented a strong correlation between size at birth and subsequent height, although the reported incidence of catch‐up growth and consequently the impact on final height has varied with time and between countries. These variations may be real, but could also be related to a number of methodological problems. The aim of this study was to explore two important aspects related to postnatal growth after disturbed fetal growth: first, the definition of small for gestational age (SGA), including the selection of cut‐off points in defining shortness; and, secondly, the importance of the general socio‐economic status of the population with regard to the incidence of growth faltering in early life. Data were analysed from two longitudinal population‐based studies, one from Sweden and one from Hong Kong. Of the Swedish cohort, 3.8% had a birth length below –2 SD scores; in the Hong Kong population the corresponding value was 11.9% (Swedish reference values were used in both studies). The following conclusions were made. Size at birth is important for postnatal growth, and the difference in length at birth of 9–10 cm between the two extreme birth length subgroups remains, on average, until maturity. This seems to be true for the two study populations with different degrees of socio‐economic development. However, the rate of catch‐up growth is highly dependent on the definition of SGA, on the rate of catch‐up growth in early life and on the incidence of growth faltering between 6 and 18 months of age.


The ultimate goal of magnetic-based storage is to create ultra-high density memory based on energy-efficient manipulation1 of the remnant magnetization state of nanomagnets. Magnetic skyrmions as well as magnetic atoms on surfaces have emerged as candidates for atomic-scale magnetic storage. Spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy has long been used to characterize magnetism of surfaces with ultra-high spatial resolution, but it poses limitations that can unintentionally reverse the magnetization, and convolute the magnetic, electronic, and structural properties. Here, we show simultaneous detection of the spin-polarization and local exchange force of nanoscale skyrmions, with or without the flow of current, by combining scanning tunneling microscopy and non-contact atomic force microscopy. We utilize a monolayer of iron on an iridium surface and disentangle the structural, electronic, and magnetic effects within the nano-skyrmion lattice. We resolve the square magnetic lattice by employing magnetic exchange force microscopy, demonstrating readout of individual skyrmions without the application of spin-polarized current. Utilizing force and current spectroscopy, we compare the exchange force and spin-polarized current as a function of distance. For strongly spin-polarized probes, we demonstrate the manifestation of a detectable indirect exchange force at a larger separation regime than the direct exchange force.


Methionine mutants of \(Neurospora crassa\) were isolated by a filtration concentration technique following ultra-violet irradiation. These and other mutants were classified by the physiological tests of precursor utilisation and heterocaryon complementation.
Precursor utilisation data are in agreement with the present outline of methionine synthesis from cysteine but provide little information on the pathway of sulphate reduction and incorporation of sulphur within a carbon skeleton to yield cysteine.
Seven cysteine and eight methionine loci are represented on the basis of heterocaryon complementation tests. Four of the cysteine loci and either one or two of the methionine loci, associated with the methylation of homocysteine, have not been reported previously.
Two of the eight methionine loci had already been located but five of the remainder were associated with definite chromosome regions. No evidence for the tight clustering of either these or the cysteine loci was obtained.
Inter-allelic complementation has been observed at two loci and the fine structure of one of these loci (me-2) has been studied in some detail by analysis of prototroph formation in inter-allelic crosses. The use of "outside markers" has facilitated the demonstration of intra-genic recombination and "conversion". Furthermore, these studies provide evidence for a linear arrangement of mutable sites within the locus with additive prototroph frequencies to yield a site map which can be correlated with a complementation map. The results also show that some alleles are more prone to "conversion" than others.


Comprehensive pathology reporting of cancers is important for patient management, tumor staging, and prognostication. Standardized cancer datasets are essential in guiding pathology reporting in a consistent and concise manner and this facilitates effective global cancer information exchange and comparison. The International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR) is an alliance of several national and international pathology societies in many countries as well as bodies which are involved in tumor classification and staging. One function of the ICCR is to develop evidence-based, standardized reporting datasets for each cancer site. Herein, we report the development of an evidence-based cancer dataset by an ICCR panel of international experts for the reporting of primary uterine gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. We present the core elements that should be included and noncore elements that are recommended for inclusion in pathology reports. Lists of the response values are provided for each element, along with explanatory commentaries. The dataset also discusses controversial issues in the reporting of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. Such evidence-based and structured pathology datasets developed through an international effort will facilitate consistent and accurate exchange and comparison of epidemiological and pathologic parameters among different populations and countries. This will ultimately improve gestational trophoblastic neoplasia patient care and facilitate future research.


This work deals with the detection of ethyl alcohol using the natural stilbite zeolite. Ethanol sensors, which are essential for various industries are fabricated using natural stilbite as a host material and ZnO as the guest material. The composites of ZnO/Stilbite material are prepared by adding ZnO with variable wt% to stilbite via mechanical mixing. The pure and composite stilbite samples are characterized by XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) and FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) techniques. Thick films of ZnO / Stilbite, developed using screen printing technique are employed as ethanol sensors. The XRD profiles confirm the presence of stilbite zeolite and the incorporation of ZnO into the stilbite matrix. Sensing studies show that the ZnO/Stilbite films are sensitive to ethanol. The operating temperature of composite film is found to be a function of ZnO concentration. ZnO with 50% concentration reduces the operating temperature from 111C to 75C. The composite film with 50% ZnO concentration gives response to ethanol within 120 seconds and can sense ethanol with a minimum concentration of 250 ppm. The study reveals that ZnO/Stilbite composite thick film can be employed as an ethanol sensor which can be operated at lower temperature.


Jim Smith presented a paper describing results of the modelling of radioactive phosphorus in river systems in particular regarding the concentration of these radionuclides in fish. Concentration factors for these radionuclides have historically been derived by the use of stable versions and radioactive decay significantly decreases the concentrations of these radioactive forms in the higher trophic levels of river ecosystems, relating directly to fish that humans eat.


Developing cost-effective, active and robust electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in the same electrolyte still remains a crucial challenge for boosting the efficient conversion of sustainable energy resources. Here, based upon rapid solidification and the dealloying inheritance effect, a eutectic-derived self-templating strategy is reported to fabricate hierarchically porous Mo-doped Ni–Fe oxide nanowires for catalyzing overall water splitting. The advanced catalyst exhibits a remarkably low overpotential (only requires an overpotential of 231 mV for 10 mA cm−2) and low Tafel slope (39 mV dec−1) towards the OER in 1 M KOH. Comparing with the Ni–Fe oxide without Mo-doping, the Mo-doped Ni–Fe oxide nanowires show enhanced activities towards the HER with 84 mV less overpotential to drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2. Strikingly, an alkaline electrolyzer assembled by using the Mo-doped Ni–Fe oxide nanowires as both the anode and the cathode consumes a cell voltage as low as 1.62 V (at 10 mA cm−2). The exceptional properties of the catalyst can be ascribed to its well-designed hierarchically porous nanowire network, and enhanced electric conductivity profiting from the remaining Ni metal in the oxide, as well as the synergistic effect of Mo and the Ni–Fe system. These favorable factors concurrently contribute to the boosted active surface area, facilitated electron/electrolyte transport, and accelerated reaction kinetics of water splitting.


In this introductory chapter, we first provide some background on the two major recurrent themes of the volume, i.e. learning strategies of individuals, and social and demographic characteristics of populations. This is followed by a brief summary of each chapter. Then, we conclude with some thoughts on why and how the methods and findings presented in this volume are relevant to, and might inform our understanding of, the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans (Homo sapiens).


Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that primarily affects the joints, leading to disability. There are tools such as the HAQ for assessing the patient's disability but few studies associate this parameter to objective measurements. Biomechanical studies are an effective tool for determining functional capacity, so it would be useful to correlate them with other disability evaluation tools such as HAQ, as well as disease activity parameters. Objectives To analyze the correlation between biomechanical studies of the hand with disability, disease activity and structural damage in RA patients. Methods We have included 81 RA patients. The DAS28 score was used as a measure of disease activity and HAQ as a disability indicator, evaluated at the same time as the biomechanical study. Structural damage was measured using the Van der Heijde-Sharp score. Hand muscle strength was measured with a hand-held dynamometer. The data were analyzed using linear regression, robust regression and logistic regression. Results We included 81 RA patients with DAS28 scores ranging between 1.25 and 7.61, and HAQ scores between 0 and 3. The erosion score was 0-51 (mean of 0 for both hands) and grip strength between 0-52 (means of 6 for right hand and 4 for the left). Using a biomechanical assessment, the disability and relative strength index (RSI) percent values are shown in the table. Relative strength Index (%) Disability (%) Handgrip strength 51.9±26.06 17.02±12.49 Key pinch 23.11±22.61 6.99±7.6 Palmar pinch 39.99±24.95 13.66±10.54 Biostatistical analysis shows that for every point that the HAQ increases in the hand, there is an increase of about 5% in RSI and 2% in percentage of disability with a p-value less than 0.0001. There is also a statistically significant direct relationship between the increase in the DAS28 score and increasing LSI and hand disability. In addition, a statistically significant positive relationship is seen between LSI and disability, with structural damage, grip strength and erosions in the hand. Conclusions There is a direct relationship between increased disability as assessed by biomechanical parameters with increasing HAQ scores, as well as disease activity and structural damage in RA patients. This result shows that disability can be measured more objectively in clinical practice since there is a correlation between the HAQ score, disease activity and structural damage to the hand on biomechanical measurements. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.4977


Infections caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae and carbapenemases producing bacteria are a growing phenomenon which is one of the leading causes of death among elderly or immunosuppressed patients and is also associated with a higher cost of hospitalization. As worldwide, also in Italy a steady and alarming increase of these microorganisms is reported. With the present paper we present a brief review of the prevalence of ESBL-producing and carbapenemase strains isolated at the Hospital - University Campus - Hospital "Luigi Sacco" in Milan between January 2007 and June 2012. Samples ESBLs positive (Vitek2: bioMerieux, France) were subjected to phenotype confirmation by E-test method (bioMerieux, France). In addition 34 K. pneumoniae carbapenemases producing strains collected between 2011 and 2012, were firstly confirmed with an Hodge test and then tested with a NASBA EasyQ KPCv1.0 test (bioMerieux, France) able to detect the bla KPC gene. The data collected showed a high prevalence of ESBLs and carbapenemases producing strains. 1828 out of 15585 were positive for ESBL with the following distribution: 15.6% E. coli, 13.0% K. pneumoniae, 3.6% Enterobacter spp, 7.7% P. mirabilis and 6% P. aeruginosa. Out of 1828, 193 samples (10.5%) were confirmed as positive and respectively 89.4% were E. Coli, 80% were K. pneumoniae and 89.5% were P. mirabilis. The 3.6% of strains were positive for carbapenemase: 45.3% were A. baumannii and 41.8% were P. aeruginosa. K. pneumoniae strains carbapenemase positive were confirmed in 100% of cases by the Hodge test and in 97% of cases by molecular investigation.


The sensitivity of the Bragg-case interferometer, formed from a thin highly mismatched epitaxial layer of composition A sandwiched between material of composition B, to changes in the spacer (A) layer thickness is discussed. It is shown that for thick cladding (B) layers, the interference fringes can modulate the double-axis X-ray rocking curves sufficiently to cause distinct splitting of layer peaks. Such large intensity changes can form the basis of Bragg-case moire topography, which in principle has a resolution capable of detecting monolayer changes in spacer layer thickness across a large area. The effect of relaxation is examined and it is demonstrated that this may result in an additional Bragg peak associated with the changed strain in the capping layer.


We report on an apparently new syndrome in a consanguineous family with seven members, three of whom have cerebral anomalies including pachygyria and arachnoid cysts along with mental retardation and seizures. The two patients with seizure disorders also had multiple enlarged perivascular spaces seen in the white matter of the centrum semiovale. Our data provide a contribution to the accumulating knowledge on familial cerebral anomalies including arachnoid cysts and lissencephaly. Given the lack of mutation in known lissencephaly genes such as LIS1, 14‐3‐3ε, and DCX, this syndrome may constitute a new phenotype with autosomal recessive inheritance. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The HIDROCAT is an all electric small ship that uses energy from three sources, namely: the hydrogen stored on board via fuel cells, the solar energy and energy stored on batteries. In this sense, it is a hybrid propulsion system composed of two electric motors, a system of lithium batteries, a hydrogen fuel cell and photovoltaic cells. A control unit does the management of the energy fluxes. The objective is to maximize the use of solar energy, therefore the system of batteries is important to store the converted solar energy when it is not immediately used by the motors. The hydrogen fuel cell guarantees that energy is available on board at the expense of a relatively small weight when the solar irradiation is insufficient due to intensive use of the motors for long periods, or when the solar irradiation is low. The concept described above is implemented in a preliminary project of a tourist catamaran and it is demonstrated that not only the operational requirements are accomplished by the project, but also that a demonstration project can be implemented with the existing technology. The preliminary design includes the hull bodylines, propulsion system, general arrangement, weight estimate, vessel speed, and autonomies. Several scenarios of operation are investigated for the Alqueva Lake in Portugal and it is concluded that the Hidrocat satisfies the design requirements in terms of autonomies. Furthermore, it is concluded that if the operational scenario is not very demanding, during summer the vessel may carry out its mission using solar


Food labeling was originally developed to help consumers make the right decision in choosing at food products. It (food labeling) is also helpful in consumer's education. The aim of this study was to analyze the consumers' preferences concerning foods' labeling products. The type and the form of the information and of course the information itself were analyzed. The study was carried out in the form of a questionnaire among 295 people who were the consumers of supermarkets. The only criteria for the chosen subjects were that they agree to take part in the study and that they are the heads of their families. It came out that 54% of the subjects accepted the current information about food products. More than 23% said that they didn't understand the information provided by the food labels. 66% said that food labels should have educational information concerning the role of an ingredient in health and nutrition. Everyone wanted "negative" information, for example: "this product is not recommended for..."). More than 87% stated that they want information like "this product is recommended for...". (That kind of preference doesn't go along with the current law concerning food products). The best motivation for using food labels is sickness or illness. 89% of the subjects said that the information about the food products and the nutritional value are more important than the information about the producer. Informations concerning the nutritional values in 100 g and in 1 portion of a product were easiest to understand for 71% of the subjects. The results of this study show that food labeling is very important form of consumers education.


Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need for an effective vaccine to combat the spread  of the virus. However, less  attention has been paid to vaccine hesitancy and acceptance, particularly among healthcare students in Africa. The study aimed to  assess vaccine hesitancy and acceptance among clinical year  students of a novel COVID-19 vaccine in Sierra Leone.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 250 healthcare students at the University of  Sierra Leone. Descriptive  statistics and chi-square test were applied to analyse data.
Results: Our findings showed that 46 (18.4%) of the medical students and 6(2.4%) of pharmacy students  doubted the COVID-19 vaccine's  safety. 34(13.6%) of medical students questioned the effectiveness of the  vaccine, while 25 (10%) of medical students, 53  (21.2%) of nursing students, and 4 (1.6%) of pharmacy  students feared the side effects that were still unknown. 28 (11.2%) of the medical  students, 7 (2.8%) of  nursing students, and 21 (8.4%) of pharmacy students feared that some types of vaccine would have adverse  effects on their health.
Discussion: The study found that a significant proportion of medical and pharmacy students expressed doubts  about the safety, effectiveness, and side effects of the vaccine. A small proportion of the students also feared  adverse effects of certain  types of vaccines on their health. These findings suggest that there is a need for  targeted education and communication campaigns to  address the reasons for vaccine hesitancy among  healthcare students


Many outstanding studies have reported promising results in seizure forecasting, one of the most challenging predictive data analysis problems. This is mainly because electroencephalogram (EEG) bio-signal intensity is very small, in $\mu \text{V}$ range, and there are significant sensing difficulties given physiological and non-physiological artifacts. Today the process of accurate epileptic seizure identification and data labeling is done by neurologists. The current unpredictability of epileptic seizure activities together with the lack of reliable treatment for patients living with drug resistant forms of epilepsy creates an urgency for research into accurate, sensitive and patient-specific seizure forecasting. Most seizure forecasting algorithms use only labeled data for training purposes. As the seizure data is labeled manually by neurologists, preparing the labeled data is expensive and time consuming, making the best use of the data critical. In this article, we propose an approach that can make use of not only labeled EEG signals but also the unlabeled ones which are more accessible. We use the short-time Fourier transform on 28-s EEG windows as a pre-processing step. A generative adversarial network (GAN) is trained in an unsupervised manner where information of seizure onset is disregarded. The trained Discriminator of the GAN is then used as a feature extractor. Features generated by the feature extractor are classified by two fully-connected layers (can be replaced by any classifier) for the labeled EEG signals. This semi-supervised patient-specific seizure forecasting method achieves an out-of-sample testing area under the operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 77.68%, 75.47% and 65.05% for the CHB-MIT scalp EEG dataset, the Freiburg Hospital intracranial EEG dataset and the EPILEPSIAE dataset, respectively. Unsupervised training without the need for labeling is important because not only it can be performed in real-time during EEG signal recording, but also it does not require feature engineering effort for each patient. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of GAN to seizure forecasting.


The same advantage that technologically advanced businesses have over their competitors-their advanced information technology infrastructure-has become a major new vulnerability. As businesses adopt increasingly sophisticated information infrastructures, the complexity of protecting those infrastructures becomes enormous. And the problem isn't helped by the misunderstandings between business and government over what protecting the infrastructure means. So what should you do about hackers? There are three types of problems to be solved: technological, legal, and financial. An overall solution requires effective solutions in each of these three areas.


Description with details of an operative procedure for anterior resection (A.R.) of rectal carcinoma, with low colorectal anastomosis using circular stapling device. It is quite always possible. Is it desirable? The number of local and regional recurrencies after A.R. for Dukes B and C carcinomas of the mid third of the rectum, higher than in case of Miles operation, incite to ask the question. The five year survival being the same in the two groups make the answer uneasy, regarding handicaps induced by Miles operation. Would, the association to A.R. of pre-operative radiotherapy and/or immunotherapy, be one step to the solution?


A nondestructive technique for measuring minority carrier diffusion lengths in GaAs and other single crystal solar cells is described. The technique relies on the measurement of EBIC (electron beam induced current) from a cell. As the primary beam voltage is varied, the penetration depth of the beam changes. Using a Monte-Carlo simulation of the carrier generation produced by the beam, and solving the minority carrier continuity equation, one can model the current collection. Adjusting the diffusion lengths used in the model, to fit the experimental data, one can determine, with good accuracy, diffusion lengths in the actual device. The technique has been applied to as-made and irradiated cells and used to determine material degradation coefficients.


With the increasing complexity of VLSI devices, more complex faults have appeared. Many methods for diagnosing the single stuck-at fault have been studied. Often multiple defects on a failing chip better reflect the reality. So, we propose an efficient diagnosis algorithm for multiple stuck-at faults. By using vectorwise intersections as an important metric of diagnosis, the proposed algorithm can diagnose multiple defects using single stuck-at fault simulator. In spite of multiple fault diagnosis, the number of candidate faults is also drastically reduced. For fault identification, positive calculations and negative calculations based on variable weights are used for the matching algorithm. Experimental results for ISCAS85 and full-scan version of ISCAS89 benchmark circuits prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.


INTRODUCTION: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a common skin cancer, second in incidence only to basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The incidence of SCC increases significantly with age; thus, it is rarely diagnosed in young patients. In this paper, we present two cases of young patients who presented clinically with purulent lesions that were later diagnosed as large primary SCCs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A review of the medical records of two patients who were admitted to the department of plastic surgery with a final clinical diagnosis of cutaneous SCC was conducted. Information of the review included history, physical examination, laboratory tests, imaging studies and histology. A literature review was also conducted and discussed. RESULTS: Two female patients under the age of 45 presented with large, purulent lesions that were initially clinically suggestive of an infectious etiology. The lesions were surgically treated by incision and drainage without sending tissue samples to pathology. Biopsies of the lesions were performed to obtain a tissue diagnosis due to recurrence approximately one year after the initial treatment. Histological evaluation revealed well differentiated squamous cell carcinomas. Surgical intervention with wide excision with adjuvant chemotherapy was recommended based on biopsy and CT scan results. DISCUSSION: Aggressive behavior of SCC in young patients is uncommon. The patients in this report were diagnosed only one year after the first sign of the lesion. One patient was first diagnosed with an abscess, and the other with necrotizing fasciitis. The delayed diagnosis of SCC in these two patients is a potential contributing factor to the aggressiveness of the tumors. Therefore, it is imperative to perform skin biopsies of chronic or persistent purulent lesions to rule out malignancies including Marjolin's ulcer. CONCLUSION: Aggressive SCC should be suspected in cases of persistent and relapsing purulent lesions in all patients. © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of IJS Publishing Group Ltd. This is an open access article he CC under t


Abstract Yield loss was related to weed species composition and density in permanent plots, recorded several weeks after sowing of spring cereals in southern Sweden. A range of agronomic situations was included by experimentally varying fertilizer application and sowing density in 33 field trials in different locations during 3 yr. Direct gradient analysis, using yield loss as the sole predictor, arranged weed community composition in the spring along a gradient of small to large yield losses. Yield loss could be explained, to some extent, by the species composition in the spring. Species associated with situations with large losses were hempnettle and wild radish, whereas several benign species were identified based on their association with lack of yield loss. The results suggest that possible predictive tools using spring species composition would be improved if they also considered soil type and seed rate. Some agronomically important weed species were not identified as associated with yield loss when assessed in terms of their abundance in the spring, which may limit the possibilities of basing management decisions on weed plant density in the spring. Nomenclature: Hempnettle, Galeopsis spp.; wild radish, Raphanus raphanistrum L. RAPRA; nightflowering catchfly, Silene noctiflora L. MELNO; scarlet pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis L. ANGAR; spurge species; Euphorbia spp.; Polygonum spp.; prostrate knotweed, Polygonum aviculare L. POLAV; wild buckwheat, Polygonum convolvulus L. POLCO; common lambsquarters, Chenopodium album L. CHEAL; field violet, Viola arvensis Murr. VIOAR; spring barley, Hordeum distichum L.; spring wheat, Triticum aestivum L.


Abstract In this paper we provide an empirically-based way to address the general question of the broad-scale spatial relationship between poverty occurrence and areas of interest to those seeking conservation of large wild areas. We address the question of the spatial relationship between poor people and areas less impacted by human activity by asking three questions about the global spatial relationship between poor people and ecological intactness and how it varies by major biome and geographical region. We use infant mortality rate as a proxy for poverty and the Human Footprint as a proxy for ecological intactness, comparing global terrestrial maps of both. The analysis shows that the vast majority of the world's poor people live in extremely urban and very transformed (peri-transformed) areas. Only a small percentage of the world's most poor are found in areas that are somewhat or extremely wild: about 0.25% of the world's population. This fact has implications for the calls being made for conservation organizations to undertake poverty alleviation, suggesting that at a global scale those groups with interest in conserving wild areas would be able to contribute little to globally significant poverty alleviation efforts. However, these conservation groups are well positioned to develop new partnerships for delivery of benefits to some of the least accessible poor people in the wildest places of the world.


Sample Contents (A-B) Abbe, Ernst Karl Abdullah Freres, Whichen, Kevork and Hovsep Abney, William de Wiveleslie Ackland, William Acres, Birt. Actinometers and Exposure Measurement Adam-Salomon, Antoine-Samuel Adamson, John Advertising of Photographic Products Advertising Uses of Photography Aerial Photography Africa Africa, North Agfa Agnew, Thomas and Sons Aguado de las Marismas, Comte Olympe Clemente-Alexandre-Auguste and Vicomte Onesipe-Gonsalve Ahrendts, Leopold Albumen Print Alexandra, Queen Alinari, Fratelli Allegorical Photography Allen, Frances Stebbins and Mary Electa Alma-Tadema, Sir Lawrence Alophe, Menut A. Altobelli, Gioacchino and Molins, Pompeo Amateur Photographer (1884- ) Amateur Photographers, Camera Clubs, and Societies American Journal of Photography Amici, Giovanni Battista Anderson, James Andrieu, Jules Angerer, Ludwig and Viktor Animal and Zoological Photography Annan, James Craig Annan, Thomas Anschutz, Ottomar Anthony, Edward, and Henry Tiebout Anthropology Appert, Eugene Archer, Frederick Scott Architecture Archives, Museums, and Collections of Photographs Arctic and Antarctic Argentina Arnold, Charles Dudley Arnoux, Hippolyte Art Photography Art Photography and Aesthetics Art Union Artaria, Ferdinando Artificial Lighting. Artists' Studies Asser, Eduard Isaac Astronomy Atget, Jean-Eugene-Auguste Athenaeum Atkins, Anna Aubert, Francois Auction Houses and Dealers Australia Autotype Fine Art Company Babbitt, Platt D. Bacot, Edmond Baker, F.W. Baldi, Gregor and Karl Friedrich Wurthle Baldus, Edouard Ball, James Presley Bambridge, William Barkanov, V. Barker, Alfred Charles Barker, George Barnard, Edward Emerson Barnard, George N. Barnardo, Thomas John Barnett, Henry Walter Bartholdi, Frederic-Auguste Bassano, Alexander Baudelaire, Charles Bauer, Francis Bausch & Lomb Bayard, Hippolyte Bayliss, Charles Beals, Jessie Tarbox Beard, Richard Beato, Antonio Beato, Felice Bechard, Henri and Emile, and Delie, Hipployte Becquerel, Edmond Alexandre Bede, Cuthbert Bedford, Francis Beere, Daniel Manders Behles, Edmondo Belgium Belitski, Ludwig, and von Minutoli, Baron Alexander Bell, William Bell, William Abraham Bell, William H. Belloc, Auguste Bemis, Samuel Benecke, Ernst Bennett, Henry Hamilton Bentley, Wilson Berggren, Guillaume (Wilhelm) Bernoud, Alphonse Bertall, Charles Albert, vicomte d' Arnoux Bertillon, Alphonse Bertsch, Auguste-Adolphe Bey, Mohamed Sadic Beyer, Karol Bibliotheque Nationale Biewend, Hermann Carl Eduard Biggs, Colonel Thomas Bingham, Robert J. Biot, Jean-Baptiste Biow, Hermann Biro, Lajos Bisson, Louis-Auguste and Auguste-Rosalie Black, James Wallace Blackmore, William Blair, Thomas Henry Blanchard, Valentine Blanquart-Evrard, Louis-Desire Bock, Thomas and Alfred Bogardus, Abraham Bolas, Thomas Boldyrev, Ivan Bonaparte, Roland, Prince Bonfils, Felix, Marie-Lydie Cabanis, and Adrien Bonnard, Pierre Books and Manuals about Photography: 1840s Books and Manuals about Photography: 1850s Books and Manuals about Photography: 1860s Books and Manuals about Photography: 1870s Books and Manuals about Photography: 1880s Books and Manuals about Photography: 1890s Books Illustrated with Photographs: 1840s Books Illustrated with Photographs: 1850s Books Illustrated with Photographs: 1860s Books Illustrated with Photographs: 1870s Books Illustrated with Photographs: 1890s Bool, Alfred and John Botanical and Plant Photography Boettger, Georg Bourdin, Jules (Dubroni) Bourne, John Cooke


The present work forms part of a detailed investigation of the upper end-point region of the tritium β-spectrum, aiming at improved information on neutrino mass, neutrino degeneracy and on the ft-value of the tritium β-decay, the latter being of interest for judging the applicacability of PCAC for obtaining the modification of the axial-vector matrix element due to pion exchange. By the application of high-efficient β-spectroscopic methods a considerable improvement in basic accuracy of data has been achieved, making it necessary to inspect in a more detailed way than previously done how the interplay between a β-decaying nucleus and its atomic surrounding affects the observed β-spectrum. The β-decay of an atom leads to a distribution in atomic final states; the present work is essentially concerned with the various quantitative consequences of this circumstance for the case of the tritium decay. The distribution in atomic final states is found to imply a mean square energy spread as large as (27 eV)2 in the end-point energy of the spectrum from the tritium atom. This inherent spread in end-point energy is comparable in magnitude with the experimental resolution width now reached in the investigation of the tritium β-spectrum and has to be considered when interpreting the exprimental data with respect to limits on neutrino mass and neutrino degeneracy. The spread in end-point energy found will present a severe inherent difficulty in any effort to improve further the experimental information on these two entities. The distribution in atomic final states also affects the interpretation of the extrapolated end-point energy in terms of the H3-He3 nuclear mass difference and further is found to imply that the proper screening potential to be employed in the Fermi function differs by no less than 50% from the value conventionally assumed. An approximate treatment of the β-decay of the T-H molecule indicates that no drastic change in the atomic effects on the tritium spectrum should result when the tritium atom is not free but chemically bound in some more complex atomic surrounding. Some consequences of a minor residual ambiguity in the magnitude of the atomic effects in this case are commented on.


Ceramic aerogels, which present a unique combination of low thermal conductivity and excellent high-temperature stability, are attractive for thermal insulation under extreme conditions. However, most ceramic aerogels are constructed by oxide ceramic nanoparticles and thus are usually plagued by their brittleness and structural collapse at elevated temperatures (less than 1000 °C). Despite great progress achieved in this regard recently, it still remains a big challenge to design and fabricate intriguing ceramic aerogels with enhanced mechanical strength and remarkable thermal stability at ultrahigh temperature up to 1400 °C. To this end, we herein report a facile and scalable strategy to manufacture ceramic nanorod aerogels (CNRAs) with hierarchically macroporous and mesoporous structures by the controllable assembly of Al2O3 nanorods and SiO2 nanoparticles. Subsequently, the high-temperature annealing treatment of CNRAs significantly maximizes mechanical strength and promotes thermal tolerance. The obtained CNRAs demonstrate the integrated properties of super-strong heat resistance (up to 1400 °C), low thermal conductivity (0.026 W/m·K at 25 °C and 0.089 W/m·K at 1200 °C), high mechanical robustness (compressive strength 1.5 MPa), and low density (0.146 g/cm3). We envision that this novel nanorod-assembled ceramic aerogels offer considerable advantages than most of the state-of-the-art ceramic aerogels for thermal superinsulation upon exposure to extremely harsh environments.


Method: A database search using the MeSH search terms: hypertension, risk factors, nurses, nurse–patient relations, health behaviour, patient compliance, lifestyle, patient education, health promotion, self-care, attitude, motivation, adaptation, models, social support, communication and ambulatory care facilities. Results: Factors related to the patients' predispositions and abilities to change lifestyle and adhere to treatment were attitudes and beliefs, view of health, personality and traits, need for autonomy, and level of perceived vulnerability, hardiness, self-efficacy, control, sense of coherence, and social support and network. Values can be considered the basis for decision-making and the concept of health is tied into one's belief systems. Traits are factors that persistently determine our conduct in many different situations. Patients' need for autonomy should be respected through informed consent to help patients making own decisions. The degree of vulnerability changes with the degree of environmental support and personal resources. Scoring high on locus of control, hardiness and sense of coherence buffer the impact of stressful life-events. Self-efficacy is a belief in oneself to use and implement available skills. Social support is a feeling of belonging and being valued. Having social networks is crucial for psychological health. In the counselling session it is essential to obtain a shared decision-making made in concordance between patient and nurse. The outcome of the counselling should be behavioural change with the goal of adherence to treatment and maintenance of new behaviours. To achieve this the patient has to develop self-care agencies through coping resources by means of nursing agencies, i.e. interventions. A model, according to Orem's self-care deficit theory of nursing, was constructed to describe factors influencing patients in the communication with the nurse in counselling sessions. The organising nursing system facilitating patients' self-care resources in hypertension care should be added. Conclusion: To have knowledge of patients' predispositions to change behaviour and to adhere with medication are prerequisites for successful nursing in hypertension care.


The United States is a global leader in the development of innovative medical devices that improve patient care and reduce long term healthcare costs. The changing political and economic climate, however, presents challenges for the domestic medical device industry. These challenges include, for instance, the new healthcare reform bill and medical device tax, patent reform, potential changes to the premarket review process and an increased focus on post-market surveillance. As a result of these challenges, many technologies fail to reach the market as industry participants struggle to develop and commercialize their products. This monograph will provide a comprehensive look at the various challenges faced by the medical device industry and will explore cutting-edge solutions that promote innovation from the legal, patent, regulatory, industrial and academic fields. After understanding the issues presented from the various fields, industry participants will be better prepared to develop and implement strategies for overcoming obstacles faced by medical devices in today's challenging political and economic climate.


The authors present a parallel algorithm for solving the next element search problem on a set of line segments, using a BSP like model referred to as the coarse grained multicomputer (CGM). The algorithm requires O(1) communication rounds (h-relations with h=O(n/p)), O((n/p) log n) local computation, and O((n/p) log n) storage per processor. The result implies solutions to the point location, trapezoidal decomposition and polygon triangulation problems. A simplified version for axis parallel segments requires only O(n/p) storage per processor, and they discuss an implementation of this version. As in a previous paper by Develliers and Fabri (1993), their algorithm is based on a distributed implementation of segment trees which are of size O(n log n). The paper improves on the work of Develliers and Fabri which presented a CGM algorithm for the special case of trapezoidal decomposition only and requires O((n/p)*log p*log n) local computation.