Using a three-fluid model, a set of equations describing nonlinear lower hybrid wave propagation in two-ion-species magnetized plasma is obtained and investigated. Localized solitary waves are found. Besides ordinary smooth solitons with density humps, under certain conditions deep cusped density dips can exist.


Collecting high‐resolution data to quantify the sedimentary architecture within contemporary alluvial channels remains one of the outstanding challenges in fluvial sedimentology. Here, we present data collected using a new geophysical method, the parametric echo sounder (PES), which can meet this challenge. From surveys over a field of sand dunes in the Río Paraná, Argentina, we demonstrate the unique ability of PES to image the subsurface structure within active channels at a decimetric resolution. These data reveal the bounding surfaces between bars and dunes, as well as the foresets and reactivation surfaces within them. This provides quantitative in situ data for recent work that suggests cross‐strata preserved by dunes may be more related to flow depths less than the commonly assumed bankfull level. These surveys demonstrate that PES can provide hitherto unobtainable data from alluvial channels and presents significant opportunities for more detailed coupled studies of fluvial processes and their deposits.


OBJECTIVES
the study aimed to determine age and gender specific levels of lipids and lipoproteins in New Zealanders. Participants were randomly selected from 20 general electoral roles, and from a sample of 15-18 year olds.

METHODS
plasma cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measured in 2941 men and women aged 15-99 years.

RESULTS
mean (SD) plasma cholesterol was 6.0 (1.3) mmol/L in men and 6.1 (1.3) mmol/L in women. There was a marked variation in total cholesterol and calculated LDL cholesterol with age, and the pattern was different in men and women. There was also a considerable regional variation; levels tending to increase from north to south. Overall mean cholesterol levels adjusted for age and geographical distribution were 5.8 and 6.0 mmol/L for men and women respectively.

CONCLUSION
the fact that approximately a third of the adult population in New Zealand under 65 years have cholesterol levels greater than 6.5 mmol/L indicates the need for effective diet and lifestyle changes to reduce the high rates of CHD.


We believe that sufficient evidence exists to justify 3 classes of Rh antibodies based on their reactivity. These are the classical agglutinin, the blocking antibody, and the proposed "cryptagglutinoid." Sufficient distinction exists to retain the blocking antibody as determined by Wiener's original blocking test. This antibody is further characterized by failure to act in Chown's capillary technic. The identity of this antibody with its important role in reawakening investigation in this field of immunology should not be lost through inclusion in the broader group of those antibodies determined by the albumin test and similar methods. The proposed third order antibody or "cryptagglutinoid" which is usually, but not always, detected by these more inclusive tests, and the capillary technic, appears to be of great clinical importance because of the frequency with which it appears in significant titres. Detection of isoimmunization and closer correlation of antibody titre with clinical severity of disease should be possible through study of this "cryptagglutinoid" antibody.


This paper examines Islamic ethical teachings on modesty and decency through the instrumentality of Hijaab for Muslim women. The aim is to reconceptualize religious ethical teachings which provide a moral platform that enhances societal growth and development. Adopting the analytical, descriptive and evaluative methodology, the paper reveals that Hijaab dress is a reflection of modesty and decency in dress pattern and attitude which reflexes spirituality on both genders. It states further that the ethic of decency through the wearing of Hijaab enhances restraint from emotional sexual thought that could lead to promiscuity, sexual harassment and rape. The work recommends concerted effort towards the teachings and re-emphasizing of Islamic religious ethics which help to reduce moral laxity in the society. For a society with high scientific and technological development without corresponding moral values emphasis and adherence is doomed for destruction. The paper finally summits that a balanced society would be achieved when both Arts and Science disciplines flourished in tandem, and that any attempt to relegate one at the expense of the other could spell negative consequences that are detrimental to achieving optimum development for the society.


In this paper the capability of PSO is employed to deal with the ANFIS inherent shortcomings to extract optimum fuzzy If-Then rules in noisy area arisen from application of nondimentional variables to estimate scouring depth. In the model, a PSO algorithm is employed to optimize the clustering parameters controls fuzzy If-Then rules in subtractive clustering while another PSO algorithm is employed to tune the fuzzy rules parameters associated with the fuzzy If-Then rules. The PSO models objective function is RMSE by which the model attempts to minimize the error of scouring depth estimation with respect to its generalization capability. To evaluate the model performance, the experimental data sets are used as training, checking and testing data sets. In the dimensional model the mean current velocity, mean grain size, water depth, pipe diameter, shear boundary velocity while in the nondimensional model the pipe, boundary Reynolds numbers, Froude number and normalized depth of water are set as the as input variables. The results show that the model provides an alternative approach to the conventional empirical formulas. It is evident that the PSO-FIS-SO is superior to ANFIS model in the noisy area that the input and output variables slightly related to each other.


Different types of skin disorders are prevalent among kidney transplant recipients. The development of nodular skin lesions in these patients would usually raise a suspicion of Kaposi's sarcoma. We report a patient, who presented with nodular skin lesions one year post transplant, but the biopsy revealed a rare diagnosis - Mycobacterium fortuitum (M. fortuitum) infection of the skin, subcutaneous, and renal allograft. He was treated successfully with an initial two-week course of intravenous cefoxitin, followed by a six-month course of ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, and co-trimoxazole. There are a few reported cases of M. fortuitum infection in renal transplant recipients in the literature - notably urinary tract infection, allograft infection, and psoas abscess, but to the best of our knowledge this is the first case demonstrating extensive infection involving the skin, subcutaneous tissue, and renal allograft. Physicians vested with the care of renal transplant patients should be aware of this rare infection in these patients.


The evidence about the clinical effectiveness of reconsolidation and consolidation therapies for the treatment and prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is uncertain because these therapies include a wide range of interventions and the study results varied widely.
The results from 1 systematic review suggest there were significantly greater improvements in PTSD severity in patients treated with reconsolidation therapy versus control. However, 3 other systematic reviews reported conflicting findings with some reconsolidation therapies indicating significant improvements in PTSD symptoms or severity versus control, whereas other reconsolidation therapies had no significantly different outcomes than the control groups.
There was limited evidence suggesting that multi-modular motion-assisted memory desensitization and reprocessing therapy reduced PTSD symptoms in veterans with treatment-resistant and combat-related PTSD; however, the significance of these results was not reported.
There was limited evidence suggesting a significant difference in PTSD incidence in favour of adults exposed to trauma treated with hydrocortisone versus control. There were no significant differences in PTSD incidence between adults exposed to trauma treated with any 1 of propranolol, omega-3 fatty acids, gabapentin, or paroxetine versus placebo.


Abstract Bacteria that enter the bloodstream will encounter components of the cellular and soluble immune response. Platelets contribute to this response and have emerged as an important target for bacterial pathogens. Bacteria produce diverse extracellular proteins and toxins that have been reported to modulate platelet function. These interactions can result in complete or incomplete platelet activation or inhibition of platelet activation, depending on the bacteria and bacterial product. The nature of the platelet response may be highly relevant to disease pathogenesis.


The aim of this study was to investigate that thermal imaging is objective and effective to evaluate the severity of Bell's palsy. We investigated 19 cases of patients in college of Oriental Medicine, Iksan Oriental medical hospital at Wonkwang university who were diagnosed with Bell's palsy. The degree of palsy was evaluated with House-Brackmann grading system(HBGS) before treatment, then the thermal difference of the face was calculated by thermal imaging, and finally the correlation between HBGS and thermal difference was analyzed. The significance correlation was found between HBGS and thermal imaging's thermal difference. According to the images taken from 17 patients' DITI's temperature value and HBGS's palsy grade, they significantly were correlated. As thermal imaging's thermal differences got larger in number, the palsy grade had increased. These results suggest that thermal imaging identified to be a relatively objective examination method for evaluating the severity of Bell's palsy. 


Image fusion is a process of combining complementary information from multi modality images of the same patient in to an image. Hence the resultant image consists of more informative than the individual images alone. In this paper, a novel feature level image fusion is proposed. In feature level fusion, source images are segmented into regions and features like pixel intensities, edges or texture are used for fusion. The feature level image fusion with region based would be more meaningful than the pixel based fusion methods. The proposed fusion method contains three steps. Firstly, the multi modal images are segmented into regions using automatic segmentation process. Secondly the images are fused according to region based fusion rule. Finally the regions are merged together to acquire final fused image. The performance of the proposed method can be evaluated with fusion symmetry, peak signal to noise ratio both quantitatively and qualitatively.


The oxidative addition of H2 to Vaska-type complexes, transIrX(CO)(PR3)2, are investigated with ab initio quantum chemical calculations. The direction of addition in these complexes is controlled by how the ligands in the plane od addition react to a close encounter with concentrations of charge density around the metal center as the complex evolves from a four-coordinate to a six-coordinate species. Strong electron donating ligands destabilize the five-coordinate transition state while electron withdrawing ligands stabilize the transition state. When X is a weak electron donor ligand such as Cl-, H2 adds in the Cl-Ir-Co plane. When X=Hor Ph-, however, H2 adds in the PR3-IR-PR3 plane; the destabilizing influence of these strong electron donating ligands on the transition state outweigh those of the PR3 ligands. The electronic contribution to the relative stabilities of the six-coordinate final products can be predicted based on the relative orientations of the strongest trans-influence ligands. The isomers in which these ligands are facial are lower in energy than those in which they are meridional.


Objective Oculoplastic surgery is a highly specialized subspecialty that studies pathologies of the orbit, lacrimal system, and eyelids. Although it is an independent ophthalmological subspecialty, many procedures fall within the shared scope and anatomical area of oculoplastic surgery, otorhinolaryngology, and plastic and reconstructive surgery, which tend to confuse physicians and patients seeking medical advice. In this study, our goal is to evaluate the perception of oculoplastic surgery among the public and physicians. Methodology A cross-sectional study in which data were collected from an online questionnaire formulated by the authors. The questionnaire included 18 questions divided into two categories: demographics and targeted questions that serve the objective of the study. Each answer option to targeted questions was encoded with either one or zero points, and each participant's response was scored accordingly, with the maximum score being 22 points, reflecting the highest perception rate according to the questionnaire. Results Data were collected from 1029 questionnaire responses, with 202 of the respondents belonging to physicians. The highest number of responses was from females which consisted 82% of our sample. Perception scores were higher among physicians with a mean of 12.3 ± 2.9 points compared to a mean score of 11.2 ± 2.9 among the public. Age played a statistically significant factor in both physicians and the public as younger participants' scores were higher. Conclusion Insufficient knowledge of oculoplastic surgery subspecialty was observed among the public and physicians. Moreover, core aspects of oculoplastic field such as lacrimal system pathology and orbit pathology were less recognized by participants of our study, which highlights the importance of raising awareness of oculoplastic surgery and the diversity of the field, to enhance referral patterns among physicians and improve medical advice seeking among the public resulting in better health care.


The antimicrobial activities and some chemical properties of the traditional Turkish food called mesir paste were studied. Results of chemical analysis for moisture and volatiles, water-insoluble components, refractive index, soluble solids content, raw fiber, invert sugar, total ash, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, acidity, and pH were calculated as 17.06%, 2.55%, 1.491, 80.2%, 0.70%, 40.54%, 0.13%, 44 mg/kg, 0.9% anhydrous citric acid, and 3.6, respectively. Mesir paste was extracted individually by six solvents with different polarity, and antimicrobial activities of each extracts were determined against 12 microbial strains, mostly food-borne, including pathogens, by the agar well diffusion method. All extracts obtained showed antimicrobial activity ranging from 8 mm to 40 mm, and the butanolic extract displayed stronger antimicrobial activity against all tested microorganisms; Gram-positive strains were found to be more sensitive than Gram-negative strains. Antimicrobial potency of n-butanol extracts of mesir paste was determined in term of minimal inhibitory concentration and minimal bactericidal concentration for the sensitive microorganisms. In addition, some commercial antibiotics such as ampicillin, gentamicin, and nystatin were used as positive controls to determine the sensitivity of the strains.


Abstract : Situational Awareness has become the central quest of U.S. Army force developments as the nation's ground combat arm of decision seeks to leverage greater effectiveness on the battlefield through information technology. As the term implies, situational awareness provides a combatant knowledge of his battlefield environment. A commander with complete situational awareness will know with certainty, among other elements of information, the status and disposition of his own forces as well as those of his opponent. Battlefield commanders throughout time have required some measure of situational awareness in order to impose their will on the enemy. Army leaders hypothesize that information age technology can be used to achieve information dominance over the enemy and that units equipped with greater situational awareness will fight more successfully than units without the added capability. In an effort to test this hypothesis the Army conducted an Advanced Warfighter Experiment (AWE) which began at Ft. Hood, TX and culminated in a focused rotation at the National Training Center, Ft. Irwin, CA. Although many initiatives in the area of information dominance were tested in the AWE, the centerpiece of the program was a test case unit designated as Task Force Twenty-One (TF XXI). TF XXI was a normal heavy maneuver brigade out of Ft. Hood, TX. The Army equipped and trained TF with the most promising prototype technology designed to provide commanders real-time situational awareness and information dominance. TF XXI was then tested against an opposing force at the NTC in live simulated combat.


This study was carried out to clarify the response of butterfly communities on forest degradation in the Gwangneung Forest, Korea. We monitored butterfly communities with varying degrees of human activities by conducting a line transect twice a month in 2011. A total of 70 species and 4676 individuals of butterflies were observed in four sites: natural forest (NR), two plantation forests, and the Korean National Arboretum (AR). The result on niche breadth, habitat breadth and habitat type of butterfly was not consistent with our predictions. Species richness of habitat type was only significantly different between NF and AR. Species diversity was significantly different among sites. Butterfly diversity associated with landscape patterns based on aerial photographs supported a mosaic concept. A forest management plan to conserve butterfly diversity in forests is necessary to maintain various habitats and to ensure that grasslands are protected.


We present, Naamapadam, the largest publicly available Named Entity Recognition (NER) dataset for the 11 major Indian languages from two language families. The dataset contains more than 400k sentences annotated with a total of at least 100k entities from three standard entity categories (Person, Location, and, Organization) for 9 out of the 11 languages. The training dataset has been automatically created from the Samanantar parallel corpus by projecting automatically tagged entities from an English sentence to the corresponding Indian language translation. We also create manually annotated testsets for 9 languages. We demonstrate the utility of the obtained dataset on the Naamapadam-test dataset. We also release IndicNER, a multilingual IndicBERT model fine-tuned on Naamapadam training set. IndicNER achieves an F1 score of more than 80 for 7 out of 9 test languages. The dataset and models are available under open-source licences at https://ai4bharat.iitm.ac.in/naamapadam.


Prawn farming in the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu had led to eviction of tenants and loss of agricultural land and fishing areas for poor people. There is no study that has analysed land relations in prawn farming in West Bengal. This paper analyses land relations in prawn farming in West Bengal on the basis of data collected from a household survey in a village in the Sunderban estuarine region. The analysis of the structure of ownership holdings showed that there was inequality in the distribution of land in Tentultala. The Gini coefficient of distribution of ownership holdings was 0.66. Fish farming had led to concentration of land among the big farmers of fish in Tentultala. These households had almost 70 per cent of total operated area in Tentultala. The Gini coefficient of distribution of operational holdings was 0.93. The development of a land lease market had enhanced livelihood security of small land owners and bargadars. Thus, unlike many other areas in India, prawn farming had led to improvement in livelihood security for a section of poor people that had ownership and cultivating rights over land.


Background Linear Extrapolation (LE) is a frequently applied method to impute missing radiographic data in trials. However, there is frequent critique that LE overestimates overall progression. Therefore, "Last Observation Carried Forward" (LOCF) has been suggested by regulatory bodies as a more conservative method. Objectives In the OSKIRA-1 trial (NCT01197521), radiographs were taken at the 12 week (wk) time point, where early escape was possible, in all patients thus providing an excellent opportunity to compare extrapolations based upon LOCF and LE to the truly observed radiographic progression. Methods The phase 3 OSKIRA-1 trial enrolled rheumatoid arthritis patients (pts) with an inadequate response to methotrexate. Films of hands and feet were obtained at baseline, wk 12 and 24 in those pts still on study, and were assessed by two readers in random time order using the van der Heijde modified total Sharp score (mTSS). Ten datasets with an artificially, randomly selected sample of 20% missing wk 24 data were created, based upon pts with complete sets of films. First, these missing data were imputed using LE as (mTSS at wk 12 + progression wk 0 – 12, corrected for the actual days between films). Second, the missing data were imputed using LOCF. This approach was iterated for 10 random samples with 50% missing data and 10 random samples with 80% missing data. The datasets obtained with LE and LOCF were compared to the dataset with truly observed data at week 24. Results Complete sets of films were available for 579 pts. All our analyses were essentially similar in the 3 treatment arms, so here we present the analysis on pooled data. Mean (SD) observed progression from baseline to wk 24 was 0.33 (2.42). Table 1 shows the average (SD) and range of the mean radiographic progression in the 10 random samples. Using LE, the mean progression estimates were close to the observed data, and not affected by the proportion of missing data. The SD however increased by increasing proportions of missing data. Using LOCF, the mean progression estimates were consistently lower than the observed progression. LOCF increasingly underestimated observed progression by increasing proportions of missing data. As expected, the SD of the LOCF estimates remained stable by increasing proportions of missing data. Conclusions In contrast to LOCF, linear extrapolation gives a more accurate impression of true mean radiographic progression at a group level and is less influenced by the proportion of missing data. Since LE inflates the standard deviation of progression scores, the statistical power to detect a significant difference between active treatment and placebo may decrease by increasing proportions of missingness. LE does therefore not overestimate mean treatment effects and is a more robust method than LOCF in this respect. Disclosure of Interest I. Markusse: None declared, R. Landewé Consultant for: Director Rheumatology Consultancy bv, M. Ho Shareholder of: AstraZeneca, Employee of: AstraZeneca, M. Jenkins Shareholder of: AstraZeneca, Employee of: AstraZeneca, D. van der Heijde Consultant for: AstraZeneca, Employee of: Director Imaging Rheumatology bv


The contributions to this volume, selected papers from several conferences held in conjunction with the centenary of Karl Jaspers's birth, constitute the first reassessment of his significance as philosopher and scholar since his death in 1969. The contributions are grouped in eight parts, according to topic. An appendix lists conferences on Jaspers held during the centenary period, publications about Jaspers in the same period, and institutions and societies devoted to the study of his work. The volume also includes a self portrait by Jaspers. Sections include: Perspectives on Karl Jaspers; Leading Motives; Philosophy with a Cosmopolitan Intent; The Truth and Value of Science; Aspects of Philosophic Faith; The Politics of Freedom; Jaspers Among is Peers; and The Reception of Jaspers. Co-published with the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology.


The current study aimed (1) to analyse teachers' view profiles from positive to negative based on the analysis of influencing factors and (2) to investigate the most studied concepts and methods in this context. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines, we conducted a comprehensive review of 25 peer-reviewed articles published between January 2010 and December 2022. Our findings show a landscape in which concepts related to mathematics teaching and learning often intersect with other domains. Never-theless, a distinction exists in the definition of the fundamental concept, with limited attention given to mathematics learning and the role of students in contrast to the focus on mathematics teaching and the role of teachers. Our research highlights the necessity of thorough exploration of the dynamic factors that influence these views and their associated outcomes, categorised as (A) mutual consistency, (B) weak consistency, and (C) inconsistency, each providing distinct implications for support needs. Additionally, from an ontological perspective on affect, many studies overlook the notion of 'view' as a state or trait characteristic, potentially leading to inappropriate method selection. Therefore, we propose recommendations for future research, advocating for methodological precision, expanded object exploration, dynamic profiling, and the inclusion of diverse teacher categories.


Aim of the study: to develop a tactic of surgical treatment of cicatrical lesion of the middle larynx depending on the localization and length of stenosis. Materials and methods: from 2014 to 2019, 43 patients with cicatrical stenosis of the folded larynx underwent surgery. The average age of the patients was 39 years and ranged from 18 to 78 years. Depending on the clinical situation, patients were divided into 4 groups, in which different methods of surgical treatment were applied – removal of scars of the middle larynx using CO2-laser and additional application of keel-shaped implant (n = 21), microflaps in the area of commissure (n = 10) and intraretynoid region (n = 4), endoprosthesis covered with xenopericord (n = 8). Results: in the postoperative period endoscopic examination of the larynx was carried out in dynamics during the period up to 1 year. Patients were examined daily while in hospital, then monthly. In addition to endoscopic examination, the study of voice function was carried out by the method of determining the time of maximum fonation. The estimation of respiratory and voice rehabilitation was carried out and stable positive effect was received in 90% in the first group, 70% - in the second, 75% - in the third, 75% – in the fourth. The obtained data allow to develop an individual approach to surgical treatment of cicatrical stenosis of the larynx depending on the localization and extent of cicatrical lesion. Discussion: the optimal method of treating cicatrical lesion of the middle larynx is to create conditions that prevent the contact of wound surfaces and their separation. For this purpose, methods that are individually addressed to the main clinical situations in this problem have been developed. In addition, the use of CO2-laser in the surgical treatment of cicatrical lesions of the middle larynx significantly expands operational capabilities due to high accuracy and low level of damage to surrounding tissues. Conclusions: in case of cicatrical lesion of the middle larynx up to 4 mm in length, in the absence of a tracheostoma an effective method of restoration of respiratory and vocal function of the larynx is the use of microflaps formed by microsurgery with th e help of CO2-laser; stenoses in the area of middle larynx commissure of more than 4 mm require additional stenting for the period of epithelization of the wound surface and remodeling of the scar, which is 3–4 weeks. In the presence of a tracheostoma in patients with prolonged stenosis of the middle laryngeal commissiure, an implant coated with xenopericardium and chlorhexidine ionic-covalent immobilization, which helps to avoid inflammatory changes during the period of stenting, has proved to be a good choice.


To train the next generation of construction professionals, we must address teaching approaches so students can have the best opportunity to excel on multidisciplinary teams. Faculty and researchers are piloting an assessment method for an introductory construction class entitled Building Construction Materials, Methods and Equipment. The assessment employs student-developed games to achieve course learning objectives, including mastery of 140 construction-oriented terms, and has the potential to replace the previously assigned photo glossary project in which students summarized how these terms were relevant to real-world construction projects. The team-based game approach, conducted in three stages over three class days, presents an assessment of the games developed in this course via evidence of Bloom's levels of intellectual behavior in game design and accuracy in connecting course concepts to one another [1]. Preliminary results show that students' reaction to learning objective assessment via game-design days is overwhelmingly positive; students have met the game design material and activities with enthusiasm and have already shown excitement in demonstrating mastery of concepts through the team-based, active and experiential learning game design approach. All classroom game development instructions developed during this project will be made available to download and use in classes at other universities.


The insect cell-baculovirus vector system has become one of the favorite platforms for the expression of viral vectors for vaccination and gene therapy purposes. As it is a lytic system, it is essential to balance maximum recombinant product expression with harvest time, minimizing product exposure to detrimental proteases. With this purpose, new bioprocess monitoring solutions are needed to accurately estimate culture progression. Herein, we used online digital holographic microscopy (DHM) to monitor bioreactor cultures of Sf9 insect cells. Batches of baculovirus-infected Sf9 cells producing recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) and non-infected cells were used to evaluate DHM prediction capabilities for viable cell concentration, culture viability and AAV titer. Over 30 cell-related optical attributes were quantified using DHM, followed by a forward stepwise regression to select the most significant (p < 0.05) parameters for each variable. We then applied multiple linear regression to obtain models which were able to predict culture variables with root mean squared errors (RMSE) of 7 × 105 cells/mL, 3% for cell viability and 2 × 103 AAV/cell for 3-fold cross-validation. Overall, this work shows that DHM can be implemented for online monitoring of Sf9 concentration and viability, also permitting to monitor product titer, namely AAV, or culture progression in lytic systems, making it a valuable tool to support the time of harvest decision and for the establishment of controlled feeding strategies.


The Meshless Local Petrov Galerkin (MLPG) method is used to solve the non-steady two dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. Transient laminar flow field calculations have been carried out in domains wherein certain surfaces have: (i) a sliding motion, (ii) a harmonic motion, (iii) an undulatory movement, and (iv) a contraction-expansion movement. The weak form of the governing equations has been formulated in a Cartesian coordinate system and taking into account the primitive variables of the flow field. A fully implicit pressure correction approach, which requires at each time step an iterative process to solve in a sequential manner the equations which govern the flow field, and the equations that model the corrections of pressure and velocities, has been used. The temporal discretization of the governing equations is carried out by using the Crank-Nicolson scheme. The moving Least Squares (MLS) scheme is used to generate, in a local standard domain, the shape functions of the dependent variables. The integration of the entire set of flow equations, including those equations of an elliptic elastostatic model which is used to update the position of the MLPG nodes in domains with moving surfaces, is carried out in the local standard domain by using the Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre quadrature rule. The weight function used in the MLS scheme, and in the weighted residual MLPG process, is a compactly supported fourth order spline. We conclude that the MLPG method coupled with a fully implicit pressure-correction algorithm, is a viable alternative for the solution of fluid flow problems in science and engineering, particularly those problems characterized by non-steady fluid motion around flexible bodies with undulatory or contraction-expansion movements.


In Punjab rice is cultivated mainly through transplanting method which is more laborious, time consuming and water demanding. Aerobic rice is becoming popular among the farmers to overcome these problems and Muktsar district has adopted maximum area under this technology in the state. Therefore a study was conducted to assess the knowledge of farmers regarding agronomic practices of aerobic rice cultivation covering four villages viz Chattiana, Guri sangar, Dhulkot and Kauni of selected district. A sample of 30 farmers was selected in each village by using random sampling technique. Therefore the total samples size for study was 120 farmers. A knowledge test was developed with 11 items related to different agronomic practices of aerobic rice cultivation. One score was given to correct answer and zero score was assigned to incorrect answer. Majority of the farmers had medium level of knowledge. So, more training programmes should be organized to increase knowledge level of farmers regarding aerobic rice cultivation which will help to make a change in present traditional rice cultivation practices. The tvalue of correlation coefficient indicated that education, operational land holding, annual income, innovativeness and risk taking capacity characteristics of the farmers were positive significantly correlated with their knowledge level regarding aerobic rice cultivation


Consider equilateral pentagons $V_1,\ldots,V_5$ in the Euclidean plane. When we identify pentagons that differ by translation, rotation, and magnification, the moduli space of possible shapes that we get is an oft-studied polygon space: a 2-manifold $E_5$ known topologically to be a quadruple torus (genus 4). We study $E_5$ geometrically, our goal being a conformal map of that terrain of possible shapes. The differential geometry that we use is all due to Gauss, though much of it is named after his student Riemann. The manifold $E_5$ inherits a Riemannian metric from the Grassmannian approach of Hausmann and Knutson, a metric $e_5$ under which $E_5$ has 240 isometries: an optional reflection combined with any permutation of the order in which the five edge vectors $V_{k+1}-V_k$ get assembled into a pentagon. Giving $E_5$ the conformal structure imposed by $e_5$ yields a compact Riemann surface of genus 4 with 120 automorphisms: the 120 isometries that preserve orientation. But there is only one Riemann surface with those properties: the Bring sextic. So $(E_5, e_5)$ conformally embeds in the hyperbolic plane, like the Bring sextic, as a repeating pattern of 240 triangles, each with vertex angles of $\frac{\pi}{2}$, $\frac{\pi}{4}$, and $\frac{\pi}{5}$. That conformal map realizes our goal. To plot pentagons on our map, we compute an initial pair of isothermal coordinates for $E_5$ by solving the Beltrami equation \`a la Gauss. We then use a conformal mapping to convert one of those isothermal triangular regions into a Poincar\'e projection of a $(\frac{\pi}{2},\frac{\pi}{4},\frac{\pi}{5})$ hyperbolic triangle.


Proteins are essential components in human nutrition, and animal products are usually the primary sources of human ingestion. However, the number of adherents to vegetarian and vegan diets has grown significantly, highlighting the need for alternatives to replace animal proteins. Meat substitutes aim to mimic the nutritional value and sensory characteristics of meat. However, studies suggest differences in their composition. This study is the first to evaluate Brazilian meat substitutes' nutritional quality and ingredients. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was performed in three steps: (i) Sample mapping of products commercialized nationwide; (ii) Ingredients and nutritional data collection and classification; (iii) Statistical analysis. One hundred twenty-five meat substitutes were included and described. The primary protein sources were soy, gluten, and pea protein ingredients. Vegan meat substitutes presented similar energy and protein values, with few exceptions among samples, with vegan canned fish alternatives presenting less protein than their counterparts. Overall vegan products did not differ regarding sodium levels but showed high amounts to compose a lunch or dinner meal. Vegan meat substitutes showed higher carbohydrates, dietary fiber concentrations, and few differences regarding total and saturated fat. Vegan meat substitutes may contribute to the adherence and maintenance of vegan and vegetarian diets. However, future studies about the implemented ingredients are needed.


An empirically based family assessment can help family therapists understand how a family functions. In systemic therapy a family is seen as a dynamic system in which the family members form interdependent subsystems. The Social Relations Model (SRM) is a useful tool to study such interdependence within a family. According to the SRM, each dyadic score is viewed as the sum of an unobserved family effect, an individual actor and partner effect, and a relation-specific effect. If dyadic data are obtained for a specific family using a round robin design, these different SRM effects can be calculated using an ANOVA-approach. To gain insight into the functioning of a particular family, the family-specific SRM effects can be compared to those from a norm sample and it can be deduced whether that family has deviating scores on a particular SRM effect. Currently, such a family assessment relies on the mean and variance of the SRM ANOVA scores in the norm sample. However, family therapists may not always have access to these data, making the current approach of SRM family assessment not as useful in practice. In this article, we introduce a user-friendly web application that uses an alternative method for SRM family assessment. This alternative strategy requires as input the population parameter estimates of SRM means and variances more commonly described in SRM family literature.


Sixty specimens of Sairu Cyphocharax gilbert (Quoy and Gaimard, 1824) from River Guandu, (22 degrees 48'32'S, 43 degrees 37'35''"W), State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were studied for their metazoan parasites during May 2004 and February 2005. A total of seven species of metazoan parasites were collected and identified: Sphinctero- diplostomum musculosum (metacercariae), Diplostomum (A.) compactum (metacercariae), Zonocotyloides haroltravassosi, Cosmoxynemoides aguirrei, Travnema araujoi, Raphidascaris sp. (larval) and Placobdella sp. Sphincterodiplostomum musculosum (Diplostomidae) founded in the eyes, was the more prevalent (40%) with highest mean intensity value (11.2). The nematodes C. aguirrei and T. araujoi (Pharyngodonidae) showed prevalence higher than 10%. Only S. musculosum showed significant correlation between the host total length and the parasite abundance. The parasite species richness showed a mean value of 0.9 + 0.88 (0-3). The evaluation of the effect of host sex on parasite prevalence and abundance not showed significant results. The metazoan parasite community of C. gilbert is characterized by the low species diversity and for dominance of species with low values of prevalence.


Deep learning has been successfully applied to solve various complex problems ranging from big data analytics to computer vision and human-level control. Deep learning advances however have also been employed to create software that can cause threats to privacy, democracy and national security. One of those deep learning-powered applications recently emerged is "deepfake". Deepfake algorithms can create fake images and videos that humans cannot distinguish them from authentic ones. The proposal of technologies that can automatically detect and assess the integrity of digital visual media is therefore indispensable. This paper presents a survey of algorithms used to create deepfakes and, more importantly, methods proposed to detect deepfakes in the literature to date. We present extensive discussions on challenges, research trends and directions related to deepfake technologies. By reviewing the background of deepfakes and state-of-the-art deepfake detection methods, this study provides a comprehensive overview of deepfake techniques and facilitates the development of new and more robust methods to deal with the increasingly challenging deepfakes.


We present first-principle calculations on the initial stages of SiC homoepitaxial growth on the beta-SiC(111)-(sqrt[3]xsqrt[3]) surface. We show that the nonstoichiometric reconstruction plays a relevant role in favoring the attainment of high-quality films. The motivation is twofold: On one hand, we find that the reconstruction controls the kinetics of adatom incorporation; on the other hand, we observe that the energy gain upon surface stability can induce the reorganization of the deposited material into a crystalline structure, thus revealing that a surface-driven mechanism is able to stabilize defect-free layer deposition on Si-rich surfaces.


Abstract Infectious diseases caused by pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and parasites, pose a serious threat to human health worldwide. Frequent changes in the pattern of infection mechanisms and the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains among pathogens have weakened the current treatment regimen. This necessitates the development of new therapeutic interventions to prevent and control such diseases. To cater to the need, analysis of protein interaction networks (PINs) has gained importance as one of the promising strategies. The present review aims to discuss various computational approaches to analyse the PINs in context to infectious diseases. Topology and modularity analysis of the network with their biological relevance, and the scenario till date about host–pathogen and intra-pathogenic protein interaction studies were delineated. This would provide useful insights to the research community, thereby enabling them to design novel biomedicine against such infectious diseases.


We demonstrate a high-throughput fluorescence based microfluidic flow cytometer with 64 microfluidic channels with each channel capable of detecting 1600 droplets/sec. This cytometer is realized by utilizing solid immersed high N.A. microball lens array for high sensitivity, parallel, and low chromatic aberration detection across a 6 mm distance.


This paper compares the performance of tail drop and three different flavors of the RED (random early detection) queue management mechanism: RED with a standard parameter setting, RED with an optimized parameter setting based on a model of RED with TCP flows, and finally a version of RED with a smoother drop function called "gentle RED ". The performance is evaluated under various load situations for FTP-like and Web-like flows, respectively. We use measurements and simulations to evaluate the performance of the queue management mechanisms and assess their impact on a set of operator oriented performance metrics. We find that in total (i) no performance improvements of RED compared to tail drop can be observed; (ii) fine tuning of RED parameters is not sufficient to cope with undesired RED behavior due to the variability in traffic load; and (iii) gentle RED is capable of resolving some of the headaches on RED but not all.


The original van Laar's theory has been modified. The internal pressures of components and mixture are expressed by Frank's relation and the excess entropy for mixing of components is also considered. A new activity coefficient equation, which can be satisfactorily applied to polymer solutions, is obtained. The calculated results for the VLE of 179 polymer solutions show that the accuracy of fit is evidently superior to UNIQUAC equation.


Several species of diurnal birds are nocturnal migrants. The activation of nocturnal activity requires major physiological changes, which are essentially unknown. Previous work has shown that during migratory periods nocturnal migrants have reduced night–time levels of melatonin. Since this hormone is involved in the modulation of day–night rhythms, it is a good candidate regulator of nocturnal migratory activity. We studied whether melatonin levels change when nocturnally active blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) are experimentally transferred from a migratory to a non–migratory state. We simulated a long migratory flight by depriving birds of food for 2 days, and a refuelling stopover by subsequently re–administering food. Such a regimen is known to induce a reduction in migratory restlessness ('Zugunruhe') in the night following food reintroduction. The experiments were performed in both autumn and spring using blackcaps taken from their breeding grounds (Sweden) and their wintering areas (Kenya). In autumn, the food regimen induced a suppression of Zugunruhe and an increase in melatonin in the night following food reintroduction. In spring, the effects of the treatment were qualitatively similar but their extent depended on the amount of body–fat reserves. This work shows that the reduction of night–time melatonin during migratory periods is functionally related to nocturnal migration, and that fat reserves influence the response of the migratory programme to food deprivation.


Abstract. The Gulf of Riga is a relatively shallow bay connected to the deeper central Baltic Sea (Baltic Proper) via straits with sills. The decrease in the near-bottom oxygen levels from spring to autumn is a common feature in the gulf, but in 2018, hypoxia was exceptional. We analyzed temperature, salinity, oxygen, and nutrient data collected in 2018 and historical data available from environmental databases. Forcing data from the study year were compared with their long-term means and variability. The year 2018 was exceptional due to occasionally dominating north-easterly winds supporting the inflow of saltier waters from the Baltic Proper and meteorological conditions causing fast development of thermal stratification in spring. Existing stratification hindered vertical transport between the near-bottom layer (NBL) and the water layers above it. The estimated oxygen consumption rate at the sediment surface in spring-summer 2018 was about 1.7 mmol O2 m−2 h−1 that exceeded the oxygen input to the NBL due to advection and mixing. We suggest that the observed pronounced oxygen depletion was magnified by the prolonged stratified season and haline stratification in the deep layer that maintained a decreased water volume between the seabed and the pycnocline. The observed increase in phosphate concentrations in the NBL in summer 2018 suggests a significant sediment phosphorus release in hypoxic conditions counteracting the mitigation measures to combat eutrophication. We conclude, if similar meteorological conditions as in 2018 could occur more frequently in the future, such extensive hypoxia would be more common in the Gulf of Riga and other coastal basins with similar morphology and human-induced elevated input of nutrients.


We examined the genotypes of two polymorphic genes involved in the detoxification of several mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds in relation to tobacco smoking-associated urinary mutagenicity. The genes studied were the glutathione S-transferase-encoding GSTM1 gene and acetyltransferase-encoding NAT2 gene. Smokers with no GSTM1 gene (n = 7) had urine that was several times more mutagenic than that of smokers with the gene (n = 10). The mean level of urinary mutagenicity in presence of metabolic activation was 2527 +/- 958 revertants/100 ml urine for GSTM1-smokers compared to 766 +/- 560 revertants/100 ml for GSTM1+ smokers (P < 0.001) using the bacterial strain YG1024. The corresponding values using the TA98 strain were 336 +/- 124 and 123 +/- 75 (P < 0.001). In contrast, we failed to show any difference in the level of urinary mutagenicity between slow-acetylator and fast-acetylator NAT2 genotypes among smokers (n = 17) or non-smokers (n = 35). Our results offer one explanation for the recent findings that GSTM1 polymorphism is a risk modifier in smoking-related cancers, especially bladder cancer.


In this paper, a micropower low-dropout regulator (LDO) for a low-power capacitive sensor interface fabricated in a 0.25 mum BiCMOS process is presented. The LDO with on-chip voltage and current references, and an on-chip programmable load capacitor, occupies an active silicon area of 0.18 mm2. It is stable with zero load current over the load capacitance range from 0 to 1 nF. The input voltage range extends from 1.2 to 2.75 V, while the designed output voltage is 1.0 V. The measured quiescent current of the LDO including the on-chip references is 7.6 muA. According to the measurements, the regulated output has a temperature coefficient (TC) of 57.2 ppm/degC, a line regulation of 2.71 mV/V, and a load regulation of 1.64 mV/mA. The rms output noise integrated over the bandwidth ranging from 1 Hz to 100 kHz is 1.365 mV.


Bicyclic hydrocarbons, bicyclo[1.1.1]pentanes (BCPs) in particular, play an emerging role as saturated bioisosteres in pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and material chemistry. Taking advantage of strain release strategies, prior synthetic studies have featured the synthesis of bridgehead-substituted (C1, C3) BCPs from [1.1.1]propellane. This work describes a novel approach to accessing multi-substituted BCPs via a new type of intramolecular cyclization. In addition to the C1, C3-disubstituted BCPs, this method also enables the construction of yet underexplored tri-substituted (C1, C2 and C3) BCPs from readily accessible cyclobutanones. The broad generality of this cyclization is examined through synthesis of a variety of caged bicyclic molecules, ranging from [1.1.1] to [3.2.1] scaffolds. The modularity afforded by the pendant bridgehead Bpin resulted from the cyclization is demonstrated via several downstream functionalizations, highlighting the ability of this approach for programmed and divergent synthesis of multi-substituted bicyclic hydrocarbons.


Background  In Japan, there is a large regional disparity in plastic surgery availability. In order for plastic surgery to be widely available for all citizens, it is essential for at least one plastic surgery facility to be located in each secondary medical zone. Methods  Using the Japan Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery homepage and some databases, we extracted data on secondary medical zones that do not have a plastic surgery facility. The national and regional coverage rates were calculated. The coverage rate for each group divided by the degree of population concentration was also calculated. Results  We found that 147 of 344 secondary medical zones did not have a plastic surgery facility, and the area coverage rate was found to be 57.27% nationwide. The coverage rate in terms of population was 87.07% (correlation coefficient of area and population coverage = 0.983). The area coverage rates in Hokkaido-Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku-Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa districts were 47.46, 72.15, 76.47, 62.79, 52.08, and 32.81%, respectively. The corresponding population coverage rates were 79.92, 91.62, 94.27, 90.59, 80.68, and 69.54%, respectively. The area coverage rates in metropolitan areas, provincial cities, and rural areas were 98.08, 75.90, and 15.87%, respectively. In contrast, the area coverage rate of dermatology was 62.79% and that of orthopaedics was 97.09%. Conclusion  Unfortunately, it is estimated that more than 40% of secondary medical zones are underserved by plastic surgery, and 13% of the population is not able to fully benefit from this specialty in Japan.


Abstract. This work starts from the request to have a physical high-resolution 3D model of the external, anthropoid coffin of the scribe Butehamon, held at the Museo Egizio, Turin. At the time of writing, a replica of the coffin, based on this survey work, functions as final and focal installation of the temporary exhibition Archeologia Invisibile of the Museo Egizio, Turin, running from March 2019 to January 2020. The replica acts as support for a micro-mapping installation meant to re-project a pattern of images onto the coffin's surface, including the results of different radiometric and colourimetric analyses performed in the recent past by Museo Egizio and Musei Vaticani. This collaborative work encouraged a thorough discussion on the interaction between scientists and humanists engaged in the study of archaeological finds, on the needs and expectations of both sides, and on the technical problems relating to handling objects of different sizes.


The present study tested whether the D-linked object moves from its thematic position over the subject or it originates where it appears in non-canonical sentences in Japanese. To this aim, we conducted acceptability judgment experiments that employed island effects as a diagnosis of movement and assessed whether the D-linking status of an extracted object of non-canonical OSV sentences escaped island effects. The results revealed that D-linking did not improve an acceptability of island violations, and therefore, a D-linked object of OSV does have a status of a moved constituent. The present result contributes to an understanding of a relationship between syntactic representation and processing of filler-gap dependencies. According to recent event-related brain potential (ERP) studies, non-canonical sentences with a filler-gap dependency elicits a P600 effect when there is no felicitous context, but they do not reveal any effect when the filler is discourse-old information. The present result is inconsistent with the interpretation that the D-linked filler does not have a status of a moved constituent, thereby resulting in no filler-gap dependency formation in Japanese sentence comprehension. Instead, the present result is consistent with the view that the P600 effect is not a neural cost of the reconstruction but is elicited by other cognitive processes, such as the resolution of the unsatisfied presupposition encoded by scrambling.


Low terminal costs and single cable operation make this the first economically practical carrier system for medium-haul telephone circuits. Performance is not sacrificed for economy.


Emotion-regulation perspectives on procrastination highlighting the primacy of short-term mood regulation focus mainly on negative affect. Positive affect, however, has received much less attention and has not been considered with respect to social temptations. To address this issue, we examined how trait procrastination was linked to positive and negative affect in the context of social temptations across two prospective studies. Action Control Theory, Personality Systems Interactions Theory, and a mood regulation theory of procrastination served as guiding conceptual frameworks. In Study 1, moderated mediation analyses revealed that low positive affect explained the link between trait procrastination and time spent procrastinating on academic tasks over a 48-hr period in a student sample (N = 142), and this effect was moderated by the presence of social temptations. Parallel results for goal enjoyment assessed at Time 2 were found in Study 2 with a community sample (N = 94) attempting to make intended health behaviour changes over a 6-month period. Our findings indicate that procrastinators are at risk for disengaging from intended tasks when social temptations are present and positive task-related affect is low.


A hybrid system was analyzed and optimized to produce electric energy in non-interconnected zones in the Colombian Caribbean region, contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the improvement in efficient energy management. A comparative analysis of the performance of hybrid was conducted using a proposed model, built with historical data for meteorological conditions, wind speed, and solar radiation. The model is integrated by a Southwest Wind Power Inc. wind turbine AIR 403, a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM), an electrolyzer, a solar panel, and a regulator based on proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controllers to manipulate oxygen and hydrogen flow entering in the fuel cell. The transient responses of the cell voltage, current, and power were obtained for the demand of 200 W under changes in solar radiation and wind speed for each day of the year 2013 in different meteorological stations, such as Ernesto Cortissoz airport, Puerto Bolívar, Alfonso Lopez airport, and Simon Bolívar airport. Through the adjustment of the hydrogen and oxygen flow into the fuel cell, the maximum contribution of power generation from the fuel cell was presented for the Simon Bolívar airport in November with a value of 158.35 W (9.45%). Multiobjective design optimization under a Pareto diagram front is presented for each place studied to minimize the levelized cost of energy and CO2 emission, where the objective control variables are the number of panel and stack in the photovoltaic (PV) system and PEM.


In 1993, pulmonary fat embolism occurred in 92 cases (17%) out of 527 clinical autopsies. It was found in 62% of patients who had suffered bone fractures, in 9% with soft tissue surgery and in 53% after resuscitation; non-traumatic fat embolism was present in 6% of the cases. The comparison group of 50 persons with lethal polytrauma revealed pulmonary fat embolism in 52% of the cases. Bone-marrow embolism and microthrombi accompanied fat embolism of the lungs; furthermore some of the persons with pulmonary fat embolism also expressed minor degrees of renal (55%) and cerebral (25%) fat emboli. A retrospective analysis of the clinical data revealed no specific symptoms: a so called fat embolism syndrome had not been discovered clinically in any of the cases with histologically proven fat embolism. The significance of pulmonary fat embolism as a cause of death with regard to histological and clinical findings is discussed.


McDonough summarizes his results and offers 'tentative steps towards theology', engaging briefly teachings about Jesus as mediator of creation in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Athanasius, Pannenberg, Moltmann, and Barth. To my mind, perhaps the most debatable part of McDonough's study is chap. 2, where he contends that 'memories of Jesus' as miracle-worker contributed to the belief that he had participated in creation. I also think that he could have underscored more the likely significance of the logic of apocalyptic thought, final things seen as also first things, redemption related to creation, so Jesus as eschatological redeemer suggesting that he was somehow part of the divine plan from the beginning. But McDonough's study deserves the attention of anyone working in NT Christology.


Objective Long-term social distancing, isolation, and economic fallout may be significant psychological triggers during pandemic, such as COVID-19, especially for those with underlying psychiatric illness. This study was conducted to address the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic among patients with depression based at a teaching hospital in Malaysia. Methods This is a cross-sectional online study among patients with depression from University Malaya Medical Centre, using Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale-Self Assessment (MADRS-S), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP), and Social Media Addiction during COVID-19 Pandemic (SMACOP). Results One hundred seventy-eight patients participated in this study. The mean total of the KAP score is 12.65 (SD = 2.65), with knowledge section (mean = 7.34 [SD = 2.13]), attitudes section (mean = 2.63 [SD = 0.58]), and practices section (mean = 2.69 [SD = 1.00]). They scored moderately on the MADRS-S (mean = 21.03 [SD = 4.62]) and ISI (mean = 20.25 [SD = 4.62]) but had high GAD-7 scores (mean = 16.8 (SD = 6.27]). From the multiple logistic regression analyses, depressive symptoms of greater severity (MADRS-S 18–34) are significantly associated with more severe insomnia (P < .001, adjusted OR = 9.101, 95% CI: 3.613–22.924). Furthermore, the high anxiety level is associated with the younger age group (P = .029, Adjusted OR = 2.274, 95% CI: 1.090–4.746), greater severity of insomnia (P < .001, Adjusted OR = 22.9, 95% CI: 6.145–85.343), and higher risk of COVID-19 related social media addiction (P = .011, adjusted OR = 2.637, 95% CI: 1.253–5.550). Conclusion This study demonstrates the high levels of sleep disturbances and anxiety symptoms experienced by outpatients with depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are closely linked to the younger age group and at-risk social media addiction related to COVID-19.


Internal and external stigmas are often lumped together while addressing issues of stigma and HIV-testing, not considering that one of them may actually affect the disposition HIV-testing than the other. This study, therefore, investigated the effect of HIV/AIDS-related internal and external stigma on the disposition of pregnant women in the Limpopo Province of South Africa to go for voluntary HIV-testing. Four hundred and fifty seven (457) pregnant women from randomly sampled antenatal clinics in the province participated in the study. Using a quantitative method of research, a questionnaire which inquired about some of their demographic information, their disposition for voluntary HIV-testing uptake, and HIV/AIDS-related internal and external stigma, was administered to them in clinic/hospital settings. Data were analysed using the SPSS computer programme. Linear Regression analysis was employed. Results show that the majority of the pregnant women (88.6%) agreed to go for HIV testing, 4.6% of them did not agree, and 6.8% were undecided. Furthermore, HIV/AIDS-related internal stigma came out to be a significant factor. The more HIV/AIDS-related internal stigma expressed by the pregnant women, the more they are indisposed to go for HIV-testing. Although most of the pregnant women in the province would agree to go for voluntary HIV testing, the issue of HIV/AIDS-related internal stigma needs to be adequately addressed in any clinical psychological or health promotional programme designed to increase voluntary HIV testing uptake among pregnant women, and minimize mother-to-child transmission of the HIV. Often, both internal and external stigmas are equally addressed in health promotional programmes, but this result suggests that among pregnant women, more emphasis should be placed on internal stigma. Key words: Pregnant women, Stigmatization, HIV-testing uptake, South Africa. *This research project was sponsored by the Medical Research Council of South Africa.


Growing investment in information technology applications creates a need to understand the proper integration of these tools into strategic decision making of the firm. This study discusses the impact of global information and communication technologies on competitiveness and performance of Brazilian trading companies. Using resource based theory as a starting point, we examine how information technology, as an internal resource, can provide competitive advantage and what impact information technology produces on competitiveness of Brazilian export intermediaries. The study implements a replicable model (CAPITA) developed by Sethi and King (1994), to investigate these relationships in the emerging market of Brazil. The empirical findings reveal that superior export performance depends on the ability of managers to interpret and utilize some CAPITA dimensions that have a strong relationship with the trading company's performance. The results corroborate previous research confirming that information technology application has a strong impact on performance. This research extends previous work on this topic within the North American hemisphere, to the South American hemisphere. The development of a strong network of export intermediaries in the emerging market of Brazil can be enhanced by a better understanding of the impact of technology applications, and corresponding government policies endorsing growth.


The electrochemical behavior and determination of antihistaminic drug loratadine using a cathodically pretreated boron-doped diamond electrode (BDDE) are proposed. This is the first voltammetric method using a carbon-based electrode material. The anodic peak potential for loratadine at the BDDE was 1.67 V (vs. Ag/AgCl (3.0 mol L−1 KCl)) by cyclic voltammetry in a 0.50 mol L−1 HClO4 solution, whereas at the glassy carbon electrode (GCE), no peak potential was observed, due to the narrow potential window of this electrode. Using the square-wave voltammetric technique (f = 50 Hz, a = 40 mV and ΔES = 2 mV), the obtained analytical curve was linear for loratadine concentrations ranging from 0.98 to 19 μmol L−1. This simple, rapid and green analytical method was successfully applied to the determination of loratadine in pharmaceutical formulations. The results were in close agreement, with a 95% confidence level, with those obtained using comparative spectrophotometric method.


In healthcare the term "guideline" is used in numerous circumstances and for different purposes. The most commonly accepted definition is provided by the American Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which defines guidelines as "recommendations developed in order to assist doctors and patients in the decision-making process, while choosing an appropriate assistance in specific clinical circumstances". At present, in Italy and foreign countries, guidelines are considered an effective tool. Guidelines contribute with a qualitative improvement in performances, standardizing healthcare criteria, enabling also rationalisation and optimisation in both human and economical resources. The achievement of these aims depends on a thorough examination of both meaning and role played by guidelines in clinical practice, and of the essential methodological criteria of their processing. Unfortunately, these objectives can be attained only after the overcoming of obstacles, due to both limits in the formulation of such documents (use of inadequate methodology, choice of the paper-based collection of documents rather than computer-based data-processing support), and to the opposition of the medical personnel. The latter problem being caused by a poor knowledge of the role played by guidelines and by the difficulty of a critical evaluation of their validity. In fact, the success of a guideline is also determined by its development, implementation and introduction strategies, and by the consence of the medical community. Once formulated by an interdisciplinary group of experts, a guideline should be necessarily revised according to already coded procedures. A reliable contribution to the diffusion of such guidelines derives from the use of computer-based data-processing supports, which contribute to their interactivity, user friendliness, user-adaptivity and updatebility. The above illustrated procedures represent an unquestionable contribution to the clinical decision-making process. In fact, these represent the basic development tools for the harmonisation of cultural qualification and clinical practice, aiming at quality improvement and rationalisation in health-related activities.


Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants. Bob B. Buchanan, Wilhelm Gruissem, and Russell L. Jones, Eds. American Society of Plant Physiologists, Rockville, MD, 2000. 1407 pp. $149.95. ISBN 0-943088-37-2. Paper, $99.95. ISBN 0-943088-39-9. This comprehensive and up-to-date text will serve as an essential reference for researchers in plant biology. Contributions from over 50 authors cover cell biology, reproduction, energy flow, metabolic and developmental integration, and the extension of plant biochemistry to agricultural and environmental problems.


The question of health and safety at work is a central issue for trade unions. In Britain it is an area of concern where there were important legislative initiatives in the 1970s and 1980s, although surprisingly this has received relatively little attention in the debates about trade unionism. This neglect results in an aspect of union activity about which little is known. Explores through a detailed longitudinal study of a middle‐range engineering firm, from the late 1970s into the 1990s, the ways in which trade unions organize and act on health and safety questions. Argues that it is almost "routine" that workers face dangers and hazards at work, a central feature of the work and employment experience of most workers. However, this is often difficult to deal with as individual issues, or as matters which are subject to collective consideration. On the one hand, workers often appear to accept the dangers and hazards they face. On the other hand, managements are preoccupied with questions relating to production and finance, rather than the day‐to‐day problems faced by workers. This tension suggests that the future wellbeing of workers in unionized workplaces lies not so much with legislative provisions and rights at work, but in education and the organizing ability of workplace unions, raising and addressing what often seem like individualistic problems in collective ways.


Oestradiol induces uterine eosinophilia and oedema, both in the intact immature rat and in the adult ovariectomized rat. These responses are decreased in ovariectomized-adrenalectomized adult rats, in adrenalectomized immature rats and in medullectomized immature rats. Pre-treatment with L-epinephrine restored both oestrogenic effects. Insulin inhibits oestrogen binding by uterine eosinophils and concurrently decreases oestrogen-induced uterine oedema and eosinophilia. These phenomena do not occur with inactive insulin. Insulin also induces blood eosinopaenia, suggesting an explanation for the findings in the uterus.


Incubation of cultured rat hepatocytes with sodium nitroprusside or SIN-1, two nitric oxide (NO) donors, inhibited the mitogenic action of hepatocyte growth factor in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of 100 microM reduced hemoglobin, which is known to absorb NO, or the presence of 20 microM 1,5-isoquinolinediol, a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, decreased the cytostatic effects of SIN-1. By labeling the hepatocytes with [2-3H]adenine we studied whether nitric oxide induces ADP-ribosylation of proteins in a whole-cell system. At 0.4 mM, sodium nitroprusside increased the [3H]adenine labeling of two proteins of 116 and 130-135 kDa. This effect was time-dependent and was detected after 2 h. Only the 116-kDa protein was recognized by three different antibodies against poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase in Western blot assays. These results demonstrate that NO has antimitogenic effects in cultured hepatocytes and that its action could be mediated by PARP activation.


This study investigated the effect of far-infrared ray (FIR) illumination on performance, blood biochemistry, and faecal microflora of laying hens at different production stages. A total of 360 Hy-line brown laying hens were randomly allocated in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with six replicates. Hens were distributed in two production stages (30–39 and 45–54 weeks-old). Each group was exposed to two light types (light emitting diode; LED and LED+FIR) in separate rooms. The LED treatment illuminated a wavelength of 650 ± 10 nm (0.65 ± 0.01 μm), while LED+FIR treatment emitted 15 ± 10 μm with an LED wavelength. The results showed an interaction between egg production stages and light types on the serum triglyceride concentration. The hens exposed to the LED+FIR and LED treatments showed similar egg production, feed intake, egg weight, feed conversion ratio (FCR), as well as albumen height, haugh unit, and shell thickness of eggs. LED+FIR substantially decreased the concentration of serum cholesterol (CHOL), HDL cholesterol (HDLC), and triglyceride (TG) compared to LED lighting. LED+FIR substantially reduced the number of total microbes, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella in faeces compared to birds exposed to LED light. These findings suggest that LED+FIR lights may improve hen health and the hen house environment.


This paper discusses the emotions experienced by subtitlers who subtitle sensitive audiovisual material. "Sensitive audiovisual material" refers to audiovisual texts which deal with controversial and emotive topics, such as abuse, war, torture. This topic has remained under-researched in subtitling, despite having been sporadically explored in other fields of translation (Hubscher-Davidson, 2017; Rojo and Ramos Caro, 2016; Tabakowska, 2016).
The data presented in this paper expand upon and complement the findings discussed in Perdikaki and Georgiou (2020) based on an online survey completed by 170 subtitlers. For the current paper, the data discussed come from an online focus group with three professional subtitlers and face-to-face interviews with one freelance subtitler as well as a team interview with two in-house quality control editors. Having confirmed in our previous study that many subtitlers are affected by the sensitive AV material they subtitle, this paper aims at a more nuanced exploration of how subtitlers regulate emotions elicited on-the-job, offering specific examples as well as emotion management techniques. Finally, the perspective of emotional responsiveness, depending on socio-economic contexts as well as the linguistic arsenal of the subtitler, is briefly discussed.


In utero hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (IUHCT) is an attractive approach and a potentially curative surgery for several congenital hematopoietic diseases. In practice, this application has succeeded only in the context of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disorders. Here, we review potential immunological hurdles for the long-term establishment of chimerism and discuss relevant models and findings from both postnatal hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and IUHCT.


Because the cadherin‐mediated signaling pathway promotes cancer progression, we assessed associations between genetic variants in 109 cadherin‐related genes and risk of pancreatic cancer (PanC) by using genotyping data from publically available genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) datasets comprising 15,423 individuals of European ancestry. After initial single‐locus analyses and subsequent meta‐analysis with multiple testing correction for 29,963 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 11 SNPs remained statistically significant (p < 0.05). In the stepwise logistic regression analysis, three independent PanC risk‐associated SNPs (KIF5B rs211304 C > G, FMN1 rs117648907 C > T, and MGAT3 rs34943118 T > C) remained statistically significant (p < 0.05), with odds ratios of 0.89 (95% confidence interval = 0.82–0.95 and p = 6.93 × 10−4), 1.33 (1.13–1.56 and 2.11 × 10−4), and 1.11 (1.05–1.17 and 8.10 × 10−5), respectively. Combined analysis of unfavorable genotypes of these three independent SNPs showed an upward trend in the genotype‐risk association (ptrend < 0.001). Expression quantitative trait loci analyses indicated that the rs211304 G and rs34943118 C alleles were associated with increased mRNA expression levels of KIF5B and MGAT3, respectively (all p < 0.05). Additional bioinformatics prediction suggested that these three SNPs may affect enhancer histone marks that likely have an epigenetic effect on the genes. Our findings provide biological clues for these PanC risk‐associated SNPs in cadherin‐related genes in European ancestry populations, possibly by regulating the expression of the affected genes. However, our findings need to be validated in additional population, molecular and mechanistic investigations.


In an age of high-paced design, a need arises for engineers to quickly estimate the feasibility of their ideas without spending weeks developing a computer model. At the same time, the use of machine learning models, or neural networks, in the maritime industry has grown substantially over the past years. By further extending the use of these predictive models in the design phase, marine engineers and naval architects can expedite their work.
 This paper focuses on the creation of a neural network that can estimate the Response Amplitude Operators (RAOs) of a vessel given its characteristic properties such as length, beam, and draft. A dataset was collected through a parametric design analysis of box barges using ANSYS AQWA, and the RAO was simulated for all 6 degrees of freedom. A critically damped spring equation was generated for each degree. A Keras Neural Network Model was trained on the three parameters and the wave heading angle, with the hidden layers and neuron count being adjusted to optimize the loss and maximize R-squared.
 To validate the results, a series of box barges with dimensions that were not a part of the training dataset were simulated in ANSYS, while the virtual model with identical characteristics was simulated with the Neural Network. The resulting RAOs were compared to validify the accuracy of the Neural Network.
 With this predictive model, engineers can quickly determine a hullform's RAOs, and compare the response with the common sea states along the intended route. Additionally, the model can assist in design iteration. As the hull shape gradually changes, the new RAOs can be estimated to ensure that the design is progressing in an appropriate direction.


Two novel chiral dimer and trimer strands composed of m-terphenyl groups linked through p-diethynylbenzene units with the chiral amidine group and achiral piperazine group introduced at the terminus or center of the strands, respectively, and its complementary achiral carboxylic acid dimer and trimer were synthesized. The complementary chiral/achiral strands form an excess-handed double-helical structure as supported by intense split-type Cotton effects in the absorption regions of the conjugated backbones biased by the chiral amidinium-carboxylate salt bridges. The double-helical trimer was found to catalyze the direct aldol reaction of cyclohexanone with 4-nitrobenzaldehyde and produce the products with a moderate enantioselectivity despite the fact that the catalytically active bifunctional piperazine/carboxylic acid pair introduced in the middle is achiral, indicating the key role of the one-handed double-helical framework for supramolecular bifunctional organocatalysis.


The increasing interest in digital leisure with virtual reality has led to the emergence of digital based urban theme park. Since there were some game type based digital theme parks, which ended up failed in Korea, we analyzed game and space factors for game based digital theme park by drawing upon Maslow's need theory and the hero's journey by Joseph Campbell. We anticipate our research for analysis of game based theme park provides important groundwork on designing various digital urban theme park.


AIMS
Recent studies suggest a worryingly high proportion of final year medical students and new doctors feel unprepared for effective and safe prescribing. Little research has been undertaken on UK junior doctors to see if these perceptions translate into unsafe prescribing practice. We aimed to measure the performance of foundation year 1 (FY1) doctors in applying clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) knowledge and prescribing skills using standardized clinical cases.

METHODS
A subject matter expert (SME) panel constructed a blueprint, and from these, twelve assessments focusing on areas posing high risk to patient safety and deemed as essential for FY1 doctors to know were chosen. Assessments comprised six extended matching questions (EMQs) and six written unobserved structured clinical examinations (WUSCEs) covering seven CPT domains. Two of each assessment types were administered over three time points to 128 FY1 doctors.

RESULTS
The twelve assessments were valid and statistically reliable. Across seven CPT areas tested 51-75% of FY1 doctors failed EMQs and 27-70% failed WUSCEs. The WUSCEs showed three performance trends; 30% of FY1 doctors consistently performing poorly, 50% performing around the passing score, and 20% performing consistently well. Categorical rating of the WUSCEs revealed 5% (8/161) of scripts contained errors deemed as potentially lethal.

CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that a large proportion of FY1 doctors failed to demonstrate the level of CPT knowledge and prescribing ability required at this stage of their careers. We identified areas of performance weakness that posed high risk to patient safety and suggested ways to improve the prescribing by FY1 doctors.


Mycobacterium gilvum PYR-GCK, a pyrene degrading bacterium, has been the subject of functional studies aimed at elucidating mechanisms related to its outstanding pollutant bioremediation/biodegradation activities. Several studies have investigated energy production and conservation in Mycobacterium, however, they all focused on the pathogenic strains using their various hosts as induction sources. To gain greater insight into Mycobacterium energy metabolism, mRNA expression studies focused on respiratory functions were performed under two different conditions using the toxic pollutant pyrene as a test substrate and glucose as a control substrate. This was done using two transcriptomic techniques: global transcriptomic RNA-sequencing and quantitative Real-Time PCR. Growth in the presence of pyrene resulted in upregulated expression of genes associated with limited oxygen or anaerobiosis in M.gilvum PYR-GCK. Upregulated genes included succinate dehydrogenases, nitrite reductase and various electron donors including formate dehydrogenases, fumarate reductases and NADH dehydrogenases. Oxidative phosphorylation genes (with respiratory chain complexes I, III –V) were expressed at low levels compared to the genes coding for the second molecular complex in the bacterial respiratory chain (fumarate reductase); which is highly functional during microaerophilic or anaerobic bacterial growth. This study reveals a molecular adaptation to a hypoxic mode of respiration during aerobic pyrene degradation. This is likely the result of a cellular oxygen shortage resulting from exhaustion of the oxygenase enzymes required for these degradation activities in M.gilvum PYR-GCK.


An accelerated alpha-decay damage study of a glass-bonded sodalite ceramic waste form has been completed recently. The study was designed to investigate the physical and chemical durability of the waste form after exposure to 238Pu alpha decay. The alpha-decay dose at the end of the four year study was approximately 1.0 × 1018 decays/gram of material. The ceramic waste form (CWF) was developed to immobilize fission products accumulated during the treatment of spent nuclear fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor II performed at Argonne National Laboratory-West in Idaho. Small quantities of actinide elements are also found in the waste form. The CWF is currently undergoing qualification testing and characterization for acceptance by the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management for geologic disposal. Methods used to monitor the 238Pu-loaded CWF material in this study included: immersion density determination to measure possible macroscopic swelling, chemical durability by leach testing, microstructural analysis by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and phase composition and stability by powder X-ray and electron diffraction. After four years of exposure to alpha decay, the investigation observed little alteration to the CWF. Specifically, the 238Pu-loaded CWF maintained its physical integrity, the density remained constant, no cracking or phase debonding was observed by microscopy, and the material's chemical durability did not change significantly over the duration of the study. The only significant measured change was an increase of the unit-cell lattice parameters of the plutonium oxide and sodalite phases of the material, but these were very small and did not lead to any loss of waste form durability.


We identified a system, the TT human medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line which contained 74.5 +/- 26.0 ng (mean +/- SD) immunoreactive SRIH/mg protein, for studying the products of SRIH gene expression. The close homology between man and rat for the entire proSRIH and complete homology for a portion of the amino terminus (proSRIH-NTP) permitted the application of a RIA directed toward the amino terminus of rat proSRIH. Immunohistochemical studies of the human TT cell line showed that SRIH and proSRIH-NTP immunoreactivities were present in the same cells. RIA of gel filtration fractions showed that the major cellular proSRIH-NTP-containing species lack SRIH and had an apparent mol wt of 8000. A 10,000-dalton SRIH-containing species coeluting with proSRIH-NTP immunoreactivity, putative proSRIH, also was found. Similar species were found in culture medium. The major cellular and secreted form of SRIH immunoreactivity had a mol wt of 1600 (SRIH). High pressure liquid chromatography revealed that both cellular and secreted 8000-dalton proSRIH-NTP-containing material consisted of a major and several minor species. None of the species contained SRIH. The precise structure of these proSRIH-NTP-containing species and their physiological roles are not known. The fact that proSRIH-NTP-containing species are secreted suggests that they may be functional. Since the processing of proSRIH and consequently the final products appear to be tissue specific, alterations in the relative presence of different forms might reflect specific pathological processes.


Abstract Technological information, knowledge transfer, research and innovation are factors of success in the contemporary economy. Romania is on the last place in Europe in terms of innovation, and the Romanian regions occupy the last positions the picture of the European innovation at the regional level. The paper presents a presentation of the situation of the innovation in Romania, with aspects concerning the need for innovation of SMEs. Domestic companies need innovation to cope with the European and international competition. The collaboration with the university/research institutes and the patent/license acquisition have a low share, showing the lack of technology transfer and of certain partnerships between the business environment and the research area. The establishment of networks specialized in technological transfer, with government support, can be a solution for the sustainable growth of the national economy.


historical and Forest management of eastern Oregon and Washington began in the late 1800s as extensive utilization of forests for grazing, timber, and irrigation water. With time, protection of these values developed into active management for these and other values such as recreation. Silvicultural and administrative practices, developed to solve problems at a particular time have lingered and created confusion and consternation when knowledge, values, and vegetation conditions have changed. The present condition of most eastern Oregon and Washington forests is the result of disturbance and regrowth processes coupled with historical management practices. Most areas contain high levels of insects, diseases, and fuels. Without many, diverse, cre-ative, and active solutions, large fires and insect outbreaks will occur-with local loss of ecosystem and human values.


This paper had two aims: a) to provide a review of studies investigating how children with migration backgrounds perform in tests examining their skills in the majority language of a country as well as their skills in a 3rd language learnt either in regular language-as-subjects lessons or in bilingual programmes such as those following the immersion approach, and b) to present the results of a pilot study investigating how primary school children with and without migration backgrounds enrolled in a partial immersion programme in Germany performed in tests examining their skills in the ambient language German and in the immersion language English. The review of previous research suggested that compared to children without a migration back-ground, children with a migration background living in Germany often achieve relatively poor results in studies examining their skills in the ambient language German. In studies examining migrant children's skills in a new language such as English learnt in foreign language classrooms or in a bilingual secondary school setting, students with migrant backgrounds have, on the other hand, sometimes been found to perform equally well as or even better than students without a migration back-ground. However, there is a paucity of studies examining migrant children's academic achievement in primary schools with bilingual programmes. The pilot study pre-sented here examined children in primary grades 1 to 4 who were enrolled in a partial immersion programme in Germany and who participated in tests examining their cognitive abilities, their literacy skills in the ambient language German and the immersion language English as well as their comprehension of English vocabulary and grammar. The results obtained in the different tests suggest that primary school immersion programmes may not only be suitable for children without, but also for children with migration backgrounds, including children with migration back-grounds whose parents are less inclined to education.


BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular risk (CV) factors associated with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) may vary in different populations. In some, hypertension may be the major determinant, in others are low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), high triglycerides, or another component.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Subjects included in this analysis were identified in 2006, among those attending the Lipid Clinic of the Niguarda Hospital, and followed up through to 2013. Patient characteristics (including the occurrence of CV events) were obtained from electronic medical records. MetS was diagnosed according to the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI) guidelines. The carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) was also followed in these patients over the years.

RESULTS
After 7 years a total of 858 subjects had a complete follow-up; 271 of those had MetS. Patients developing a CV event showed elevated baseline cIMT (e.g. cIMTmax ≥ 2.4 mm in males and ≥ 2.2 mm in females); moreover the cIMT in MetS patients was higher at baseline and the rise over 7 years was larger compared with patients without MetS. By examining each body variable for MetS we found that a waist to height ratio (WHtR) ≥ 0.5 was present in nearly all subjects with a CV event.

CONCLUSION
The follow-up data of a series of Italian patients with and without MetS, clearly indicates that the former have a raised cIMT and their arterial IMT progression is greater and the presence of a larger WHtR is apparently linked to a higher incidence of CV events.


When I wrote two prominent European historians of western Africa that I was planning a trip to São Tomé and would check out the national archives, one replied: "Are there really local archives? The Cape Verdes seem to have lost theirs." The other remarked that "[i]t would certainly be worth finding out whether any of the old archives are still on the island." Even the person who would be my host there, a resident American official, had the impression that the Portuguese had carted off all the colonial records when São Tomé and Príncipe became independent in 1975. I am happy to report that the Arquivo Histórico of the new nation is alive and surprisingly well. On my visit in March of 1996 I met two dedicated and cultivated young women who were doing their utmost against long odds to organize and preserve all that is left of their country's written records. They are Maria Nazaré Ceita, a trained historian who is Director General of Culture of São Tomé e Principe, and, under her, Anabela Barroso, Director of the Arquivo Histórico. Since December of 1995 they and a tiny staff have been moving the archives into spacious, if spartan, new quarters in the heart of São Tomé city. The modernistic one-story building used to be the offices of the Prime Minister. When I visited the place, much had already been done. Long neat rows of boxed and dated dossiers were up on shelves, though jumbles of papers remained to be sorted. The archives also contains a small library for researchers and space for a large, as yet unfurnished, reading room.


The unstructured data available on the websites of manufacturing suppliers and contractors can provide valuable insights into their technological and organizational capabilities. However, since the capability data are often represented in an unstructured and informal fashion using natural language text, it is not easy to efficiently search and analyze the capability data and learn from it. The objective of this work is to propose framework to enable automated classification and ranking of suppliers based on their online capability descriptions in the context of a supplier search and discovery use case. The proposed text analytics methods used in this work are supported by a formal thesaurus that uses SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System) that provides lexical and structural semantics. Normalized Google Distance (NGD) is used as the metric for measuring the relatedness of terms when ranking suppliers based on their similarities with the queried capabilities. The proposed framework is validated experimentally using a hypothetical supplier search scenario. The results indicate that the generated ranked list is highly correlated with human judgment, especially when the search space is partitioned into multiple classes of suppliers with distinct capabilities. However, the correlation decreases when multiple overlapping classes of suppliers are merged together to form a heterogenous search space. The proposed framework can support supplier screening and discovery solutions by improving the precision, reliability, and intelligence of their underlying search engines.


This paper presents a globally-coupled low-density parity-check (GC-LDPC) coding scheme with high throughput for multiple-input and multiple-output transmission. To design rate-compatible length-scalable GC-LDPC codes, a novel superposition construction of GC-LDPC codes is proposed. To reduce the complexity of the two-phase decoding (TPD) method, we propose a modified TPD method based on partial check matrices. Numerical results show that our coding scheme can divide the decoding of a large code into 4 and 5 parallel decodings of short codes and increase throughput by 4 and 5 times at the frame error rate of $10^{-5}$ for code rates of 0.49 and 0.66, respectively. Besides, the modified TPD method reduces the global decoding complexity to almost 1/4 and 1/5 of the TPD method at the frame error rate of $10^{-5}$ for code rates of 0.49 and 0.66, respectively.


Two patients receiving low dose methotrexate, one with rheumatoid arthritis and the other with pityriasis rubra pilaris, developed disseminated histoplasmosis and Mycobacterium avium intracellulare pneumonia, respectively. Twenty-three cases of opportunistic infection in patients receiving low dose methotrexate have been reported previously, with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia being the most common infection (10 of 23, 43%). Patients receiving low dose methotrexate are at risk for opportunistic infection despite normal leukocyte counts.


Due to global population expansion and climate change impacts, the development of a stable yielding variety that adapts well to unfavorable conditions for rice cultivation, can contribute to sustainable and stable production in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Understanding genetic differentiations to ecotypes for rice cultivations, such as upland, rainfed lowland, and irrigated lowland, is very important to develop the breeding materials for adapting to each environmental condition. The upland landrace variety basically has low tiller/panicle numbers and a large panicle, and the plant architecture is different from that of the lowland variety. The tiller and panicle numbers have been considered as one of the most difficult traits for genetic changes artificially in rice breeding. A low tiller recessive gene ltn2 originated from a New Plant Type variety, IR 65600-87-2-23, harboring segments from an upland variety, Ketan Lumbu (Tropical Japonica Group), was found on chromosome 7, and the other QTLs for culm length, culm weight, panicle length, panicle weight, seed fertility, harvest index, and soil surface rooting were also detected in the same chromosome region. These low tiller genes and the other QTLs were estimated to play an important role in developing the architecture for upland rice. Some QTLs for root growth angle, DRO3 and qSFR7, were also found in the same chromosome region from upland varieties categorized into the Tropical Japonica Group, and the QTLs may also be relevant to upland adaptation together with other traits. Previous studies using high throughput re-sequencing (whole genome variation data) of a large batch of rice accessions could identify the ecotype differentiated genomic regions (EDRs) and Ecotype differentiated genes (EDGs) such as Os07g0449700, a type response regulator, which is critical in upland adaptation in the same region of chromosome 7. Two selective loci, E3735 and E4208, for upland and lowland differentiation, and their corresponding genes Os07g0260000 and Os07g0546500 were also detected on chromosome 7 by drought-responding EST-SSRs. These findings indicate that the region on chromosome 7 is highly possible to related to the plant shoot and root architecture in the upland rice variety that has an important role and differentiates between upland and lowland ecotypes.