Wearable technology application has become one of the important part in the development of Body Centric Wireless Communications Systems (BWCS). Wearable antenna is an important device aimed at those applications in particular for medical purposes, safety purposes, and so on. However, most of the antenna design is still focused on the electrical type antenna, while the magnetic type antenna is rarely explored in many studies so far. In this paper, a multiband wearable antenna with magnetic characteristics is proposed for biomedical applications, especially for wireless patient monitoring, which works on multiband frequency of 0.924 GHz (RFID), 2.45 GHz (WLAN) and 5.8 GHz (WLAN). The proposed antenna is constructed of a textile substrate and a copper patch on the substrate. Based on the link budget that we have calculated, the antenna is specified by the magnitude of reflection coefficient (in terms of S11 parameter) less than -10 dB (VSWR ≤ 2) and the required gain according to each technology at each operating band. In addition, in order to investigate the effect of the proximity human body on the performance of the antenna, a phantom model is used, consisting of three types of emulated tissues: skin, fat, and muscle. To numerically simulate the antenna design, CST Microwave Studio is used to get robust antenna performance in two main conditions, i.e., without and with the phantom model. We have also study about the magnetic characteristics of the antenna by characterizing the electric and magnetic field distribution in the near field environment, which the dominant magnetic distribution is obtained. To ensure the antenna performance when it works in the vicinity of human body, the antenna is simulated on the phantom model. Since the antenna is magnetic type, it generally does not change the antenna basic parameters significantly, especially in terms of resonant frequency, bandwidth, pattern and gain. In addition, to limit harmful effect to the human body, specific absorption rate (SAR) characteristic is investigated at a distance by 0 to 20mm from the phantom to the body surface.


In her article "The Perils of Desire in Roth's Early Fiction" Victoria Aarons posits that Philip Roth's first collection of stories Goodbye, Columbus is the prototype for a host of characters who emerge throughout his oeuvre: characters who are engaged as the inveterate Nathan Zuckerman insists, in "an exchange of existences" abandoning willingly "the artificial fiction" of an inherent, essential self." From the stories in Goodbye, Columbus to the "final" novels comprising the Nemesis tetralogy, Roth's characters perform a spectacle of selves engaged in the making of character. The making of character in Roth's fiction appears in two ways: 1) the developing of protagonists who emerge throughout the trajectory of Roth's extensive literary career and 2) each protagonist's individual psychic project of making himself his own favorite character. For Roth, character is all about motive, those oppositional and ambivalent impulses which drive people to perform acts of desperate selfassertion, all part of the masquerade of self-reinvention. Victoria Aarons, "The Perils of Desire in Roth's Early Fiction" page 2 of 10 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 16.2 (2014): Thematic Issue History, Memory, and the Making of Character in Roth's Fiction. Ed. Gustavo Sanchez-Canales and Victoria Aarons


In the usual theory of gratings, upon the lines laid down by Fresnel, the various parts of the primary wave-front after undergoing influences, whether affecting the phase or the amplitude, are conceived to pursue their course as if they still formed the fronts of waves of large area. This supposition, justifiable as an approximation when the grating interval is large, tends to fail altogether when the interval is reduced so as to be comparable with the wave-length. A simple example will best explain the nature of the failure. Consider a grating of perfectly reflecting material whose alternate parts are flat and parallel and equally wide, but so disposed as to form a groove of depth equal to a quarter wave-length, and upon this let light be incident perpendicularly. Upon Fresnel's principles the central regularly reflected image must vanish, being constituted by the combination of equal and opposite vibrations. If the grating interval be large enough, this conclusion is approximately correct and could be verified by experiment. But now suppose that the grating interval is reduced until it is less than the wavelength of the light. The conclusion is now entirely wide of the mark. Under the circumstances supposed there are no lateral spectra and the whole of the incident energy is necessarily thrown into the regular reflection, which is accordingly total instead of evanescent. A closer consideration shows that the recesses in this case act as resonators in a manner not covered by Fresnel's investigations, and illustrates the need of a theory more strictly dynamical. The present investigation, of which the interest is mainly optical, may be regarded as an extension of that given in 'Theory of Sound,'* where plane waves were supposed to be incident perpendicularly upon a regularly corrugated surface, whose form was limited by a certain condition of symmetry. Moreover, attention was there principally fixed upon the case where the wave-length of the corrugations was long in comparison with that of the waves themselves, so that in the optical application there would be a large number of spectra. It is proposed now to dispense with these restrictions. On the other hand, it will be supposed that the depth of the corrugations is small in comparison with the length (λ) of the waves.


A major challenge in processing 7xxx series aluminum alloys is their limited formability at room temperature. In this paper, for the alloys EN AW-7020 and EN AW-7075, various variants of the W-temper forming process are investigated. For both alloys, a good cold formability and a high strength after aging can be achieved. The effects of solution heat treatment or retrogression temperature and holding time, as well as the influence of plastic deformation after quenching, were studied. For various combinations of process parameters, the formability of the as-quenched materials and the hardening performance during artificial aging were examined. For this, hardness measurements and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments were performed along the entire process chain, to reveal the development of the hardening precipitates. After solution heat treatment and quenching, the yield stress and hardness of both investigated alloys were drastically reduced in comparison to their initial T6 states, while the ductility was significantly increased. By a subsequent simple artificial aging treatment, the same hardness as in the T6 state could be restored. It was observed that plastic deformation immediately after quenching significantly decreased the artificial aging time to achieve the peak hardness. Besides the conventional solution heat treatment process, an alternative retrogression and re-aging procedure was identified for the alloy EN AW-7020. While the heat treatment temperature can be reduced as compared to the conventional solution heat treatment, the formability and hardenability are equally good. In contrast, no such alternative process could be identified for the alloy EN AW-7075.


This article reports on an elementary school teacher's research project that evaluated a new teaching practice for
 Japanese elementary school students. The project was conducted in two fifth-grade classes comprising a total of 59 students. The
 teacher-researcher designed a computer-mediated instructional activity consisting of four-steps called ondoku, which
 engaged individual students in reading a given story aloud. It involved the students (a) studying a model reading-aloud video, (b)
 video-recording their own reading-aloud performance, (c) receiving teacher corrective feedback on their pronunciation and (d) studying the
 feedback and recording and then submitting a second performance. All the steps were carried out in sequence using individual iPads. The
 teacher also administered a questionnaire to examine students' engagement in and perspectives regarding the activity. Analysis involved
 comparing the pronunciation in the first and second corrected video files. The results showed that feedback led to successful repair 62
 times out of the 108 corrections. In 16 instances, the students were aware of the error and attempted repair but still produced an incorrect
 utterance. In 30 instances, the students made no repair. Reflecting on the results and the students' responses to the questionnaire, the
 teacher proposed some changes to the activity.


The identical parallel batch machine scheduling problem is addressed in this paper. Incompatible job families and dynamic job arrivals are considered, and the objective is to minimize total weighted tardiness. A memetic algorithm is proposed to assign the batches to machines and to determine their processing sequences. The proposed approach is shown to outperform an existing approach in terms of solution quality and computational efficiency through comprehensive experiments.


PROBLEM
  Little is known about effective nursing interventions for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. The purpose of this study was to discover which aspects of nursing care are most effective, according to nurses, in recovery of normal body weight in adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

METHODS
  A qualitative descriptive research design was applied with individual in-depth interviews and a focus group. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

FINDINGS
  Nurses state that they are in a key position in guiding patients with anorexia nervosa toward a path of weight recovery. A good therapeutic relationship is essential to the implementation of targeted nursing interventions in the areas of eating and exercising, social support, and parent counseling.

CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this research can be used to define more detailed nursing interventions, the effectiveness of which can be tested in follow-up research.


The pH-independent effect of PPI such as lansoprazole(LPZ) on cell restitution was shown in vitro. After wounding, addition of LPZ significantly promoted the cell restitution rate. While the addition of MEK inhibitor significantly attenuated the cell restitution rate in the LPZ groups, suggesting that mechanism of cell proliferation and migration promoted by LPZ might involve the activation of p44/p42 MAPK.


Big data is defined as data sets that are too large and/or complex to be processed by classical data processing methods. Big data analysis is essential because it enables more competent business movements, more efficient operations, and higher profits by using the data of institutions and organizations. However, large datasets are difficult to analyze because they are produced quickly, require large storage areas in computer systems, and the diversity of their data. In this study, a new approach using the denormalization method is proposed to accelerate the response time of the database in database systems where large volumes of data containing historical information are stored. Denormalization is defined as the process of adding rows or columns that are not needed to increase the reading performance of the database to the database system that has been normalized. In the proposed approach in this study, a large-volume dataset consisting of real spatial data belonging to Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, containing temporal information and having approximately 96,000,000 row records, was used. In the proposed approach, the response time of the query is accelerated by recording the time information as numbers to increase the query performance of large volumes of data recorded in date format due to the temporal query process. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the performance of the normalization method using actual data on Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle database systems. The method proposed in the experimental evaluations shows that it works approximately eight times faster. In addition, the experimental results showed that the proposed method improves query performance more than the normalization-based method as the data size increases.


Twice-exceptional (2e) students demonstrate both high ability and a disability. With their unique combination of advanced abilities and academic challenges, 2e learners do not fit neatly into a single category and often tend to get lost in the system. In spite of the fact that 2e students have been estimated to make up 2–9% of students with disabilities, they often remain unidentified due to the masking effect, in which one exceptionality masks the other, as well as their remarkable ability to compensate for areas of weakness. Once identified, programming presents challenges; for example, remediation may become the focus and the learner's strengths ignored. In addition to providing enrichment and remediation, teachers have to consider the social-emotional needs of 2e students and how they learn. Problems with time management, organizational, and study skills not only result in frustration for students, parents, and teachers but also have a direct effect on 2e students' academic performance. These students are characterized by a pattern of strengths and weaknesses, and programming should include support in their areas of need and validation of their strengths. When both exceptionalities are addressed successfully, 2e learners can reach their full potential.


Discovering biomarkers using mass spectrometry (MS) and microarray expression profiles is a promising strategy in molecular diagnosis. Here, the authors proposed a new pipeline for biomarker discovery that integrates disease information for proteins and genes, expression profiles in both genomic and proteomic levels, and protein-protein interactions (PPIs) to discover high confidence network biomarkers. Using this pipeline, a total of 474 molecules (genes and proteins) related to prostate cancer were identified and a prostate-cancer-related network (PCRN) was derived from the integrative information. Thus, a set of candidate network biomarkers were identified from multiple expression profiles composed by eight microarray datasets and one proteomics dataset. The network biomarkers with PPIs can accurately distinguish the prostate patients from the normal ones, which potentially provide more reliable hits of biomarker candidates than conventional biomarker discovery methods.


An obligately anaerobic, non-motile, Gram-negative and rod-shaped strain (AGMB03916T) was isolated from faeces of a 2-week-old piglet raised at the National Institute of Animal Science in Wanju, Republic of Korea. Growth of strain AGMB03916T occurred at 30-45 °C (optimum, 37 °C), at pH 6-9 (optimum, pH 8) and in the presence of 0.5-1.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Based on the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses, strain AGMB03916T was closely related to two validly published species of the genus Phocaeicola, Phocaeicola plebeius and Phocaeicola coprocola. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of strain AGMB03916T compared to P. plebeius M12T (=KCTC 5793T) and P. coprocola M16T (=KCTC 5443T) were 96.3 and 95.0 %, respectively. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain AGMB03916T was 46.4 mol%. The average nucleotide identity values between strain AGMB03916T and the reference strains were 74.9-78.5 %. Cells were able to utilize d-glucose, lactose, sucrose, maltose, salicin, aesculin hydrolysis, cellobiose and raffinose. The major end product of metabolism was acetate. The major cellular fatty acids (>10 %) of the isolate were iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0, C16 : 0, C16 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 11 (iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and/or C18 : 2 DMA). On the basis of the genotypic, biochemical, chemotaxonomic, phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain AGMB03916T represents a novel species of the genus Phocaeicola, for which the name Phocaeicola faecicola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is AGMB03916T (=KCTC 25014T=GDMCC 1.2574T).


The latest trend in the automotive industry is to develop light weight vehicles. Every automotive industry is looking to reduce the weight of the vehicle as it helps in the better handling of the vehicle and increases the efficiency of the vehicle. Today, the heavy vehicles are known for producing a large amount of harmful gases like CO2, SO2 etc. which act as the major source for global warming. So research is going on to find a light weight vehicle which does not pollute the environment. One of the alternatives is the use of compressed air to generate power to run an automobile. Due to the unique and environmental friendly properties of air, it is considered as one of the future fuels which will run the vehicles. So in this paper an effort is made to study the extent of research done and the potential advantages and disadvantages of the compressed air technology.


We explore the task of sentiment analysis on Hinglish (code-mixed Hindi-English) tweets as participants of Task 9 of the SemEval-2020 competition, known as the SentiMix task. We had two main approaches: 1) applying transfer learning by fine-tuning pre-trained BERT models and 2) training feedforward neural networks on bag-of-words representations. During the evaluation phase of the competition, we obtained an F-score of 71.3% with our best model, which placed $4^{th}$ out of 62 entries in the official system rankings.


Diarrhea is a major health problem throughout the world and it has become more problematic in developing countries like Ethiopia. People, in several parts of the world, use different traditional medicines for treating diarrhea and it has been reported that the roots, leaves, and flowers of various species are used for the same purpose. Diarrhea is the second most common cause of death in children under five years. It causes more than 5‐8 million deaths each year in infants and children below 5 years old. An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals are used against fungi. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of microorganisms to persist or grow in the presence of drugs designed to inhibit or kill them. These drugs, called antimicrobials, are used to treat infectious diseases caused by microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoan parasites.


Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) can enhance the recanalization of thrombosis during the progression of cerebral infarction. Prazosin plays a therapeutic role in expanding the peripheral vasculature and regulating infarction cardiosclerosis by inhibiting phosphoinositide signaling. However, the possible mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of prazosin have not been fully explored. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the anti-apoptotic effects of prazosin on EPCs in a rat cerebral infarction model. The results showed that prazosin treatment decreased apoptosis of EPCs. Prazosin treatment decreased the serum expression levels of the inflammatory factors, interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α in rats with cerebral infarctions as well as in EPCs in vitro. In addition, prazosin reduced the expression levels of Akt, NF-κB, phosphorylated (p)-Akt and p-NF-κB in EPCs and the middle cerebral artery of rats with cerebral infarction. These findings demonstrated that prazosin inhibited EPC apoptosis in the cerebral infarction rats through targeting the Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway. In conclusion, these results indicated that prazosin has a preventive effect on cerebral infarction by inhibiting EPC apoptosis and by inhibiting the inflammatory response in vitro and in vivo through regulating the Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway.


Repeated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (RTMS) therapy is one of the modern treatment methods for various neurological and psychiatric diseases. With the clinical advancement of new therapies, there is a need to increase nursing knowledge, various practical skills, and new ways of organizing care. This study aims to review the rTMS, and the role of psychiatric nurses before, during and after rTMS. The search was conducted in IranMedex, PubMed, Elsevier, Google Scholar, Ovid, and SID databases using the keywords: Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation, long-term potential, mental nerve, psychiatric nursing both in English and Persian. Initial search yielded 42 articles, of which 24 were selected for the review. Treatment with rTMS can cause significant treatment effects. It has low complications, and is non-invasive and painless. The patient is conscious during the treatment process and is safe from the effects of anesthetic drugs. This method is also effective for people who are resistant to treatment. The psychiatric nurses play an important role in rTMS and teach patients on the formation of realistic expectations and the establishment of systems that ensure the continuity of safety and care. Moreover, they can assess clinical problems and work with the patients to create a therapeutic environment.


In order to further clarify the molecular basis for the mechanism of action of the antitumor Pt(II) complexes, this work represent a study of the interaction of Pt(II) complex with calf thymus DNA and Human Serum Albumin (HAS) using UV-spectroscopy in vitro, this technique was used in order to gain quantitative information regarding the relative binding affinity of the platinum compounds for calf thymus DNA versus HAS. Spectra of solution of Pt(II) complex (0.07 mM ) at pH7 was recorded at regular intervals in the absence and presence of calf thymus DNA (0.05mM) and HAS (0.16μM). The present study reveals that the UV spectrum of Cis-dicloro(tetracycline) platinum(II) complex [(Tet.)Pt Cl2] at pH7 pale yellow solution shows a maximum absorbance at 272nm and a shoulder peak at 364nm after 0.25h and 1 hr . These peaks are rapidly diminished with time due to rapid hydrolysis of the nephthacene rings to give a precipitate and loss of the pale yellow color of the solution after 24hrs. In contrast, the absorbance of platinum complex in the presence of calf thymus DNA and HAS is significantly altered compared to the control experiment. The shift in the maximum absorbance to 291nm and 290 (for complex with DNA and HAS respectively) from 272nm implies that the tetracycline ligand is in a different environment, consistent with formation of platinum – DNA and platinum-HAS complex. No precipitation occurred in solution, of platinum complex in the presence of calf thymus DNA and HSA at pH7 over 24h.


The authors review the literature on the clinical and economic impact of unrecognized and inadequately treated bipolar disorder, highlighting the need to improve identification and treatment of this disabling disorder. Epidemiologic data on prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of bipolar disorder (including subthreshold conditions) are presented, including data from the recent National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Clinical factors that contribute to misdiagnosis and resulting inappropriate treatment of bipolar disorder are reviewed as well as negative clinical consequences of such misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. The economic impact of underrecognized and inadequately treated bipolar disorder is discussed. The data provide empirical support for screening all patients diagnosed with depression for evidence of bipolar disorder before initiating treatment, to ensure that bipolar illness is not misdiagnosed and treated as unipolar mood disorder. Readers are referred to performance measures and treatment resources assembled by the STAndards for BipoLar Excellence (STABLE) Project to help clinicians screen more accurately for bipolar disorder.


Data envelopment analysis is a technique for measuring the relative efficiency of a set of decision making units with crisp data, but in this paper we explain a new method for evaluating of decision making units with fuzzy data. At first, we introduce fuzzy data envelopment analysis models with parameters as trapezoidal membership function. Then we extend this method for solving models with general parameters. AMS Subject Classification: 90C70.


This research was conducted in order to determine the role of the Librarian in the process of optimizing performance and also to find out the quality and quality provided in library service at IAIN Kediri, East Java. This type of research is conducted using qualitative research. This research uses observation and interview techniques with the resource persons, the librarian who is also the head of the IAIN Kediri library. In this study, the results are obtained regarding the fact that good management and management of a librarian in providing library services is very important and gives a very big influence on the satisfaction of users and the achievement of the goals of a library. Like a librarian who must always be friendly and provide the best service and always be innovative in managing library materials in the library. Thus the suggestion for the head of the library is to 1) always provide quality and accurate library materials, 2) the user as a source of information must be able to maximize the use of available resources in order to provide the best and optimal service performance.


Summary

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of yeast to the volatile profile of beverages obtained by the fermentation of lychee must through inoculated (Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains UFLA CA116, UFLA CA1183 and UFLA CA1174) and spontaneous fermentation. Higher alcohols and esters were the primary volatiles detected by SPME/GC–MS. A Principal Component Analysis indicated similarities between UFLA CA116 and UFLA CA1183 and between UFLA CA1174 and spontaneous fermentation. Changing the yeast strain used in the fermentation process has the potential to modulate the volatile profile of fermented beverages. The beverage produced by the inoculation of yeast CA1183 showed the most complex aroma profile compared to the other beverages.


ABSTRACT With the wide use of social media and other online services, people are getting more concerned about online privacy. Social media platforms and other online companies are collecting users' information for various purposes, including targeted advertising. While these data are anonymous, it is possible to identify people through publicly available information and machine learning algorithms. Members of some groups are more vulnerable to such privacy attacks and more likely to be identified. This raises a concern regarding the fair or equitable protection of online privacy, or the protection of all online users' instead of most users' private information. This research addresses this relatively new topic from the sociological perspective and focuses on fair privacy protection in online datasets. Questionnaire data show that college students rate the current privacy protection in online datasets low, but they have great support for general privacy protection and greater support for fair privacy protection. Factors that affect their support for general and fair privacy protection include prior cautious online behavior and how essential they rate company practice and government policies that ensure fair privacy. When they perceive a lack of fair privacy in online datasets, most of them would reduce or stop using certain online services. Factors affecting such reactions include prior cautious online behavior, hours on social media, the perception of being included in online datasets, and perceived importance of fair privacy policies. The findings highlight the pivotal role of institutional privacy measures, namely fair privacy company practice and government policies, especially the latter.


The magnets and vacuum chambers, which are the main facilities of the Pohang light source are installed on the storage-ring girders. System safety and reliability should be taken into account for the precise operating of the main facilities, so vibration analysis is essential to do this. Static and seismic analyses were performed for the design of structure considering safety, and also frequency and response spectrum analyses were performed for the precise alignment. With these results, the effects of surrounding vibration were checked. This paper explains about the design and vibration analysis of girder systems.


OBJECTIVE
Using anti-transforming growth factor-beta(1) antibody binding to transforming growth factor-beta(1) (TGF-beta(1)) in conditioned supernatant obtained from alveolar macrophages (AM) in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in bleomycin-induced rats, we investigated the effect of binding of TGF beta(1) to anti-TGF beta(1) antibody on proliferation and synthesis of collagen by fibroblast in pulmonary fibrosis.

METHODS
Bleomycin (0.75 mg/100 BW) was instilled intratracheally into wistar rats, then broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL) was performed 7 days later. AMs (5 x 10(5)/ml) were cultured in 0.2% FCS RPMI-1640 medium in vitro for 24 hours and conditioned medium was obtained. L929 fibroblast (7 x 10(3)/well) was cultured in 96-well microtiter plate with conditioned medium and in different doses of anti- TGF beta(1) antibody (1, 5, 10, 20 microg/ml) and IgG for 24 hours respectively. (3)H-Tdr was added 1 microCi per well for 6 hours before culture finished. The proliferation of fibroblast was studied by (3)H-Tdr incorporation rate and synthesis of collagen type IV was tested by ELISA.

RESULTS
(1) Fibroblast proliferation which was induced by AM conditioned medium could be significantly depressed by anti-TGF beta(1) antibody in vitro (P < 0.01), and it appeared in a dose-dependent manner. (2) Synthesis of collagen type IV was depressed about 32% by 10 microg/ml anti-TGF beta(1) antibody.

CONCLUSIONS
Fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis could be depressed by anti-TGF beta(1) antibody in vitro. It seems possible to provide a new way for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.


Many species of Odonates inhabiting in agro-ecosystems, play a crucial role in controlling pest populations and can be considered as a pollution indicator. Damselflies are important bio-control agents especially in the control of mosquito larvae. Individual Odonata species have a wide range of environmental tolerances, and are good indicators of ecosystem health, particularly for wetlands. Odonata are also known to be highly responsive to ecosystem conditions in relation to broad-scale factors such as climate and urbanization. Huge knowledge gap displays in ecology of Odonata species and this preliminary study would provide a considerable knowledge on formulating conservation strategies and ecosystem services of dragonflies. The ecological survey examined the Dragonfly & Damselfly (Odonata) species diversity and habitat preference in different land use types at low country wet zone of Colombo district, Sri Lanka. Five (05) main land use patterns were selected as sub-urban land set up at Waga Area: a natural forest (Indikada Mukalana), a rubber plantation, a paddy field as an agricultural land use; Urban land setup: The Open university premises (OUSL) at Nawala,Colombo and "Diyatha Uyana" Battaramulla. The ecological survey was carried out with layout of belt transect (100m×2.5 ) adjacent (5-15 m distance) to selected water ways in each different sampling areas of different land use patterns which adapting purposive random sampling technique. Visual observations will be carried out adapting internationally accepted techniques for sampling of flying insects to identify and quantify of Dragonflies. Dragonfly and damselfly species specific parameters were recorded in selected sampling sites.Total number of 26 Odonata species including 09 endemics was recorded in all land using patterns all land use patterns. Species diversity (richness and abundance) measured within study sites using Shannon wiener index indicated that the paddy field (2.185), rubber plantation (1.885), natural forest (0.9507), OUSL along polluted Wellawatte canal (0.6745) and Diyatha Uyana (0.619) respectively. The number of dragonfly species and abundance is remarkably higher in urban sites while number of damselfly is higher in sub-urban paddy field and rubber plantation. Neurothemis tulia and Rhyothemis variegata species were recorded at all study sites except natural forest. Brachythemis contaminata is the most abundant species which is only recorded in urban sites. A considerable species diversity and variation of Odonata species among study sites were recognized. As a conclusive remark, further studies on find limiting factors for diversity, distribution and abundance of dragonfly & damselfly species is recommended. Keywords: Dragonfly diversity, Different land uses, Lowland wet zone, Colombo


A new behavior descriptive entity type called spec is proposed, which combines the traditional interface with test rules and test cases, to completely specify the desired behavior of each method, and to enforce the behavior-wise correctness of all compiled units. Using spec, a new programming paradigm is proposed, which allows the separation programming space into 1) a behavior domain to aggregate all behavior programming in the format of specs, 2) a object domain to bind each concrete spec to its data representation in a particular address space, and 3) a realization domain to connect the behavior domain and the object domain. Such separation guarantees the strictness of behavior satisfaction at compile time, while allows flexibility of dynamical binding of actual implementation at runtime. A new convention call type expressiveness to allow data exchange between different programming languages and between different software environments is also proposed.


In many Eastern Churches, there is tension between the language that is used in worship and the actual vernacular tongue. This issue has to do with cultural and religious identity, questions of unity and uniformity of ecclesiastical worship, and with the intelligibility of liturgical rites. In this article, firstly, I sketch the current situation in diverse Eastern Churches (Syriac, Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian-Eritrean Christianity, Byzantine-rite Churches, and the 'diaspora' in the Western world). Secondly, I discuss some fundamental theological and ritual-liturgical considerations on our subject.


Learning in the nudibranch mollusc Hermissenda shows many features of vertebrate associative conditioning. Pairings of light and rotation produce conditioned suppression of phototaxis, which is retained for days, shows savings, extinction, contingency sensitivity, and, recently, temporal specificity. In addition, specific features of the behavior have been shown to undergo classical Pavlovian conditioning. Extensive analysis of the neural networks mediating the flow of visual and graviceptive information have demonstrated convergent pathways at specific cellular loci. These cells are critically implicated for a primary role in the conditioned modifications of behavior. A variety of experimental approaches consistently support the proposal that reductions of specific K+ currents in the Type B photoreceptor soma play a causal role for several different behavioral expressions of the conditioning. In this article, we review several of these behaviors to show how the demonstrated close temporal correspondence of cellular and behavioral functions further implicates certain causal relations. For example, studies of the shadow withdrawal behavior of Hermissenda suggest a causal relation between the long-lasting depolarization of the Type B photoreceptor and the animal's reduced ability to turn towards the light at light/dark boundaries. Whereas the shadow response corresponded to cellular events at the end of a light step, responses to the onset of light or rotation were largely unexplored. By using a different approach, we identified behavioral responses during the first few seconds of stimulation with light and rotation. These responses, for which Pavlovian conditioning was demonstrated, correspond closely in time to known cellular correlates.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Background Despite numerous observational studies on the association between serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels and cutaneous melanoma, causal inferences remain ambiguous due to confounding and reverse causality. This study aimed to elucidate the causal relationship between serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels and melanoma incidence using Mendelian randomization (MR). Methods A two-sample MR was conducted using genetic variants associated with serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels as instrumental variables. Summary statistics for these variants were derived from genome-wide association studies, and those for melanoma risk were obtained from a comprehensive melanoma case-control study. Robustness of the results was assessed through sensitivity analyses, including the "leave-one-out" approach and tests for potential pleiotropy. Results The MR analysis provided substantial evidence of a positive causal relationship between serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels and the incidence of cutaneous melanoma, suggesting that each unit increase in serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels corresponds with an increased risk of melanoma. Tests for pleiotropy showed minimal effects, and the sensitivity analysis confirmed no disproportionate influence by any individual single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Conclusion The findings indicated a potentially causal positive association between serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D levels and melanoma risk, challenging traditional beliefs about vitamin D's role in melanoma. This emphasizes the need for a balanced and personalized approach to vitamin D supplementation and sun exposure, particularly in high-risk populations. These results should be interpreted with caution due to potential unrecognized pleiotropy and confounding factors. Future research should focus on validating these findings in diverse populations and exploring underlying biological mechanisms.


The carbonization of lignocelullosic waste to obtain wood vinegar (WV) was investigated in this work. WV was used as a botanical insecticide against armyworm (Spodoptera litura), which is known as a major pest of soybean crops in Indonesia. This study includes the following: (i) the assessment of potential use of lignocellulosic waste from mahogany wooden-sandal home industry; (ii) the determination of the yield of various components of carbonization process, from each unit of the waste; and (iii) the application of the produced WV as larvicide on S. litura larvae in the laboratory. The experiments were arranged in a completely randomized design, and the observed variables included mortality and anti-feedant activity of S. litura larvae. The data were analyzed using analysis of variance with Duncan's multiple differences test. The results showed that the amount of wood waste generated at wooden-sandal craftsman level was 16.12%. Carbonization of 1,000 g of the wood waste yielded WV, tar, bio-oil, and char in quantities of 442.68 g, 36.5 g, 4.04 g, and 251 g, respectively. The treatment using WV concentration of 1.5% to 3.0% showed low larvacidal action, which gave LC50 value of 12.82%, but it had adequate anti-feedant activity.


To maintain software and to adapt it to changing requirements, one needs to have a solid understanding of both its structure and behavior. While there are a number of reverse engineering tools that aid in understanding the runtime behavior of programs, these are mostly based on variants of UML sequence diagrams or statechart diagrams. We propose a new model for understanding runtime behavior that presents several advantages over the more traditional models: it has a simple syntax (a very small subset of UML). Second one can tailor the same type of model to different abstraction levels while maintaining traceability. Third, they have a clearly defined semantics that makes them executable. Finally they capture both static and dynamic aspects of a system. We present three scenarios where our model - named EOP-model - aids with program comprehension: (1) high-level debugging, with which one can observe the execution of the program at a higher level of abstraction; (2) high-level program slicing, which allows to identify the data items in our model that may influence an operation, regardless of the abstraction level, and (3) generating abstract views at varying levels of detail while maintaining traceability between model elements and the code.


Abstract A Rogowski coil based sensor for current measurement in a cryogenic environment and results of its application for paralleled high temperature superconducting (HTS) coil current sharing are presented. The current sensor consists of a Rogowski coil and an integrator, where the coil output voltage is proportional to the derivative of primary current and the integrator transfers the differentiation to normal state. The Rogowski coil has promising applicability at cryogenic circumstance because its body is made of low temperature materials. The integrator ensures a large bandwidth with feasible magnitude, which is vital for dynamic current measurement during the quench of the HTS coil. The proposed current sensor is used for current sharing measurement of two paralleled Bi2223 HTS coils, and the experimental results show that the measurement precision is better than 0.5%.


Abstract. We have found that quasi-periodic (QP) echoes in the E region were well defined when medium scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) in the F region were present. The appearance and disappearance of the MSTIDs observed with the dense GPS receiver network are well correlated with the development and decay of QP echoes observed with the Middle-and-Upper atmosphere (MU) radar. Interferometric imaging of the QP echoes obtained using the MU radar shows that bands of echoing regions aligned northwest to southeast drift southwestward, and their wavefront and propagation direction are the same as those of MSTIDs. This result confirms the expectation of Hysell et al. (2002) who observed band structures in QP echoes by using the MU radar and suggested their relation to MSTIDs. We found observational evidence that the midlatitude E- and F regions are coupled through the geomagnetic field line, although we could not clearly ascertain which of the two regions is the source.


Summary Background The aim of this study is to examine the relationship among the changes in activities of paraoxonase (PON), arylesterase (ARE) and homocysteine thiolactonase (HTLase) enzyme having antioxidant properties and the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN), one of the most common complications of diabetes. Methods Normoalbuminuric type-2 diabetic patients (Group II, n=100), microalbuminuric type 2 diabetic patients (Group III, n=100) and the control group (Group I, n=100) were included in the study. The age and gender of the patient groups matched with the age and gender of the control group. HTLase, PON and ARE enzyme activities were measured by the spectrophotometric method using a g-thiobutyrinolactone, paraoxon, and phenylacetate substrates respectively. In this study, an autoanalyzer application was developed in order to measure HTLase enzyme activity for the first time. Results Serum HTLase, ARE and PON activities of Group III and Group II were significantly low compared to HTLase, ARE and PON results of Group I (p<0.05). Conclusions Based on our results, PON, ARE and HTLase enzyme activities were found to be decreased due to the increase in the degree of DN.


Development of anti-melanogenic agents from natural sources has long been the research project of our laboratory. In this study, ethyl acetate extracts of Oreocnide fruticosa (Gaudich.) Hand.-Mazz. branches (OBE) were examined for their melanin synthesis inhibitory activities using B16 melanoma cells. Our results indicated that OBE down-regulates melanin production in a dose-dependent pattern. To clarify the target of OBE action in melanogenesis, we performed Western blotting for the key melanogenic enzymes; tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein-1 (TRP-1) and TRP-2. The results showed that OBE efficiently inhibited tyrosinase, TRP-1 and TRP-2 in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, OBE is a good candidate for the further study including identification of the effective chemical constituents as well as their working mechanism for the application of whitening agent in the human skin.


Cells residing in mesenchymal state are often associated with stem cell properties. The phenotypic changes from epithelial to mesenchymal cell state, or from non-stem-like to stem-like cell state contribute to tumor heterogeneity and play important roles in tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. To systematically interrogate the modulators of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, we performed a genome-scale ORF screen to identify regulators of mesenchymal and stem-like cell states using a barcoded human ORFome expression library in human mammary epithelial cells. In the screen, we used flow cytometric analysis of the CD44 cell surface marker and identified 68 ORFs that can switch cells from CD44 low state to CD44 high state in 7 days. Among these genes, the RNA splicing factors were highly enriched as analyzed by GO terms and Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA).We employed six different assays for candidate validation: 1) Induction of CD44 cell surface markers; 2) Evaluation of the expression of EMT markers; 3) Test of the ability to form mammospheres; 4) Investigation of the expression during EMT induction; 5) Test of the necessity of these splicing factors for EMT and stem-like states; 6) Examination of the ability to promote tumor formation in vivo. We discovered that QKI and RBFOX1 were both necessary and sufficient to promote EMT and stem-like states. MBNL1, MBNL2 and CELF4 were sufficient to induce some mesenchymal markers. We further investigated the downstream targets of these splicing factors by RNA-sequencing analysis. We found that QKI and RBFOX1 regulated the alternative splicing of genes in 5 functional modules: 1) Cell motility and ECM/cytoskeleton organization; 2) Stem cell fate determination; 3) Oncogenic signaling; 4) Epigenetic targets; 5) cell polarity. Strikingly, using molecular and biochemical assays, we found that QKI and RBFOX1/2 interacted and cooperatively regulated the alternative splicing of a large number of overlapping transcripts, including Filamin B (FLNB). QKI and RBFOX1 induced a shorter isoform via exon skipping. which plays a key functional role in the regulation of EMT. Importantly, the expression of QKI, RBFOX1/2 and the short isoform of FLNB are elevated in basal B type of breast cancer cell lines and in basal-like breast cancer patient samples, the subtype of breast cancer that displays higher degree of mesenchymal and stem-like traits. In conclusion, alternative RNA splicing plays a key role in the regulation of EMT and stem-like cell states. QKI and RBFOX1/2 are both necessary and sufficient to promote EMT and stem-like traits. Alternative splicing of FLNB controlled by QKI and RBFOX1/2 is one of the key downstream targets that regulates EMT. Thus, the molecular targets and mechanism identified in this study may aid in the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for breast tumors, especially for basal-like breast cancer. Citation Format: Ji Li, Peter Choi, Christine Chaffer, Katherine Labella, Jong Wook Kim, John Doench, Chao Dai, Andrew Giacomelli, Seav Huong Ly, Justin Hwang, Andrew Hong, Nina Ilic, Ole Gjoerup, Matthew Meyerson, Angela Brooks, Robert Weinberg, William Hahn. A genome-scale ORF screen reveals an alternative splicing program that regulates mesenchymal and stem-like cell states in breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5020. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5020


We describe the design and physical realization of a novel branching continuum robot, aimed at inspection and cleaning operations in hard-to-reach environments at depths greater than human arm lengths. The design, based on a hybrid concentric-tube/tendon actuated continuum trunk core, features two pairs of fully retractable continuum branches. The retractable nature of the branches allows the robot to actively change its topology, allowing it to penetrate narrow openings and expand to adaptively engage complex environmental geometries. We detail and discuss the realization of a physical prototype of the design, and its testing in a simulated glove box environment.


Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that diets rich in fruits and vegetables can prevent or delay the onset of many chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease (CVD). While more current research has begun to focus on the effects of specific polyphenol compounds found in fruits and vegetables, mechanistic insights have been hampered by the multiple simultaneous effects these compounds may have on the disease process. In this article, we review the basic research studies that have evaluated the effects of citrus flavonoids to: improve dyslipidemia, normalize glucose homeostasis, prevent oxidative stress, and attenuate inflammation, which collectively have the ability to enhance metabolic health and improve CVD risk.


Purpose: We investigated the role of candidate tumor suppressor and proapoptotic WOX1 (also named WWOX, FOR, or WWOXv1) in UVB-induced apoptosis and formation of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). Experimental Design: Expression of WOX1 and family proteins (WWOX) in human primary cutaneous SCCs was examined by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and reverse transcription-PCR. UVB irradiation–induced WOX1 activation (Tyr33 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation), apoptosis, and cutaneous SCC formation were examined both in vitro and in vivo. Results: Up-regulation of human WOX1, isoform WOX2, and Tyr33 phosphorylation occurred during normal keratinocyte differentiation before cornification and death. Interestingly, significant reduction of these proteins and Tyr33 phosphorylation was observed in nonmetastatic and metastatic cutaneous SCCs (P < 0.001), but without down-regulation of WWOX mRNA (P > 0.05 versus normal controls), indicating a translational blockade of WWOX mRNA to protein. During acute exposure of hairless mice to UVB, WOX1 was up-regulated and activated in epidermal cells in 24 hours. In parallel with the clinical findings in humans, chronic UVB-treated mice developed cutaneous SCCs in 3 months, with significant reduction of WOX1 and Tyr33 phosphorylation and, again, without down-regulation of WWOX mRNA. Human SCC-25 and HaCaT cells were transfected with small interfering RNA–targeting WOX1 and shown to resist UVB-induced WOX1 expression, activation, and apoptosis. Conclusions: WOX1 is essential for UVB-induced apoptosis and likely to be involved in the terminal differentiation of normal keratinocytes. During UVB-induced cutaneous SCC, epidermal cells have apparently prevented the apoptotic pressure from overexpressed WOX1 by shutting down the translation machinery for WWOX mRNA.


Organic hyperinsulinism causing hypoglycemia in adults is caused by insulinoma, islet hyperplasia, or a combination of adenomata and hyperplasia. We present a patient with long‐standing symptoms of postprandial hypoglycemia occurring within 15 minutes of meals in the absence of fasting hypoglycemic symptoms. An intravenous glucagon stimulation test resulted in a rise of plasma insulin from 194 to 21,883 pmol/L at 7.5 minutes. Blood glucose simultaneously rose from 4.9 to 5.9 mmol/L. A glucose tolerance test revealed an exuberant insulin response. A euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp demonstrated incomplete suppression of plasma C‐peptide. At surgery, three nodules were found and a 50–60% distal pancreatectomy was performed. The pancreas revealed a combination of multiple β‐cell islet adenomata and islet hyperplasia with no evidence of nesidioblastosis. The coexistence of islet adenomata with hyperplasia must be considered in the differential diagnosis of postprandial hypoglycemia. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The authors examine industrial needs and the university environment. They report the results of three years' work at creating a university-based laboratory for expert systems. They describe sample projects illustrating successes and failures at properly balancing the universities' role in technology transfer, and they suggest an approach enabling schools to develop significant relationships with outside groups. The authors believe that this approach will interest small and medium-sized companies, groups and departments in large corporations, secondary companies supporting large corporations, and universities seeking effective ways to interact with local industry.<<ETX>>


Neuropsychiatric syndromes associated with systemic lupus erythematosus are common, but diverse in etiology and presentation. Cognitive dysfunction is prevalent among these syndromes, but exhibit a significant degree of heterogeneity both within and between patient variability. Earlier studies of SLE-associated cognitive dysfunction addressed its identification and description. Common associations were repeatedly acknowledged, including concomitant or past neuropsychiatric disease, use of corticosteroids, disease activity, emotional disturbance, and antiphospholipid antibodies. The past several years have focused more on elucidating the relative strengths of various risk associations, patterns of cognitive abnormalities, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally (ie, clinical course), and novel means to identify cognitive impairment, both functionally and biologically.


This paper presents a modified neural model for topic detection from a corpus and proposes a new metric to evaluate the detected topics. The new model builds upon the embedded topic model incorporating some modifications such as document clustering. Numerical experiments suggest that the new model performs favourably regardless of the document's length. The new metric, which can be computed more efficiently than widely-used metrics such as topic coherence, provides variable information regarding the understandability of the detected topics.


These investigations were intended to identify the influence of parental flock age at heavy hybrid Ross 308 (usage period) on more important reproductive capabilities (carrying eggs intensity of brood eggs, egg mass, one day old chick mass, relative chick mass share in complete egg mass) and consumption of food per processed – hatched chicken (final product of production cycle). Flock usage period lasted for 40 weeks (all eggs), respectively, 38 (brood eggs) weeks and there was possibility, based on achieved results, with evaluation of phenotype correlation, to get some concrete conclusions about the age influence on analyzed parameters during mentioned flock rising period. Phenotype correlation among investigated characteristics has been identified since second half of parental flock using period, since 41st week age (20th carrying eggs week) up to the end of production process when parental flock was 61 week old (41st egg production week). Flock age has statistically important positive (P < 0.05) influence on carrying eggs intensity of brood eggs until 49st week (rp = 0.391) and on percentage of chicken feasibility regard the complete number of inputted eggs until 50th week (rp = 0.434). There was statistically significantly increasing of egg mass and one-day old incubated chicken mass (P < 0.001) as parental flock was older. Complete correlation connectivity has been identified between egg mass and absolute chick mass (P < 0.001), while very strong (P < 0.001) or strong (P < 0.01) correlative connectivity between egg mass and relative chick share [(chicken mass/egg mass) x 100]. Further more, we determined negative correlation between eggs age and food consumption per hatched chicken for all time of breeding broiler parents, except 61st week when we determined positive coefficient of phenotype correlation (rp = 0.062), but statistically inconsequent.


Differences in the timing and intensity of sounds arriving at the two ears provide fundamental binaural cues that help us localize and segregate sounds in the environment. Neural encoding of these cues is commonly represented asymmetrically in the cortex with stronger activation in the hemisphere contralateral to the perceived spatial location. Although advancing age is known to degrade the perception of binaural cues, less is known about how the neural representation of such cues is impacted by age. Here, we use electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate age-related changes in the hemispheric distribution of interaural time difference (ITD) encoding based on cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) and derived binaural interaction component (BIC) measures in ten younger and ten older normal-hearing adults. Sensor-level analyses of the CAEP and BIC showed age-related differences in global field power, where older listeners had significantly larger responses than younger for both binaural metrics. Source-level analyses showed hemispheric differences in auditory cortex activity for left and right lateralized stimuli in younger adults, consistent with a contralateral activation model for processing ITDs. Older adults, however, showed reduced hemispheric asymmetry across ITDs, despite having overall larger responses than younger adults. Further, when averaged across ITD condition to evaluate changes in cortical asymmetry over time, there was a significant shift in laterality corresponding to the peak components (P1, N1, P2) in the source waveform that also was affected by age. These novel results demonstrate across-hemisphere cortical dynamics during binaural temporal processing that are altered with advancing age.


This study investigates some problems of PhD applicants in their entrance exams in the case of answering the reading comprehension questions. To this end, the researchers considered the item types and text types as main effects and their interaction effect using generalizability theory for examining the variability; the answer sheets of a mock-test from 321 applicants, from all parts of Iran, enrolled in an institute were randomly selected. Using a partially nested design of G-theory in the GENOVA program, the researchers identified five variance components in the two different passages with distinct items and investigated various sources of error that are involved in the measurement process. The results of the study showed that the main effect for items cannot be separated from the interaction between items and texts, and clarified that the items facet had a noticeable amount of variance, and therefore, they impacted the applicants' performance. However, the results of D-studies showed that the main effect for text types was zero, and both texts were at the same level of difficulty. Also, the persons had effects on the texts in their interaction. This study can motivate the researchers, test developers, and test designers to consider their work more carefully.


Results: Onset time and maximum level of the sensorial block and the onset of motor block in the control group receiving saline were signifacantly longer, whereas the 2 segment reversal of block was shorter in comparison to the other groups. Resolution time of motor block was slow in the control group and longer in the meperidine group. Nausea was found more in the control and meperidine groups, whereas pruritus was frequent in fentanyl group and sedation in the midazolam and ketamine groups. Duration of postoperative analgesia was found to be short in control group and longer in the fentanyl and meperidine groups.


The author asks for the attention of leaders and all other stakeholders to calls of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the UK National Health Service (NHS) to promote continuous learning to reduce harm to patients. This paper presents a concept for structured bottom-up methodology that enables and empowers all stakeholders to identify, prioritize, and address safety challenges. This methodology takes advantage of the memory of the experiences of all persons involved in providing care. It respects and responds to the uniqueness of each setting by empowering and motivating all team members to commit to harm reduction. It is based on previously published work on "Best Practices Research (BPR)" and on "Systematic Appraisal of Risk and Its Management for Error Reduction (SARAIMER)". The latter approach, has been shown by the author (with Agency for Healthcare AHRQ) support), to reduce adverse events and their Research and Quality ( severity through empowerment, ownership and work satisfaction. The author puts forward a strategy for leaders to implement, in response to national and international calls for Better health, Better care, and Better value (the 3B's of


Community-driven question-answering (CQA) services on the Internet let users share content in the form of questions and answers. Usually, questions attract multiple answers of varying quality from other users. A new approach aims to identify high-quality answers from candidate answers to questions that are semantically similar to the new question. Toward that end, the authors developed and tested a quality framework comprising social, textual, and content-appraisal features of user-generated answers in CQA services. Logistic-regression analysis revealed that content-appraisal features were the strongest predictor of quality. These features include dimensions such as comprehensiveness, truthfulness, and practicality.


BACKGROUND
High comorbidity rates among emotional disorders have led researchers to examine transdiagnostic factors that may contribute to shared psychopathology. Bifactor models provide a unique method for examining transdiagnostic variables by modelling the common and unique factors within measures. Previous findings suggest that the bifactor model of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) may provide a method for examining transdiagnostic factors within emotional disorders.

AIMS
This study aimed to replicate the bifactor model of the DASS, a multidimensional measure of psychological distress, within a US adult sample and provide initial estimates of the reliability of the general and domain-specific factors. Furthermore, this study hypothesized that Worry, a theorized transdiagnostic variable, would show stronger relations to general emotional distress than domain-specific subscales.

METHOD
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the bifactor model structure of the DASS in 456 US adult participants (279 females and 177 males, mean age 35.9 years) recruited online.

RESULTS
The DASS bifactor model fitted well (CFI = 0.98; RMSEA = 0.05). The General Emotional Distress factor accounted for most of the reliable variance in item scores. Domain-specific subscales accounted for modest portions of reliable variance in items after accounting for the general scale. Finally, structural equation modelling indicated that Worry was strongly predicted by the General Emotional Distress factor.

CONCLUSIONS
The DASS bifactor model is generalizable to a US community sample and General Emotional Distress, but not domain-specific factors, strongly predict the transdiagnostic variable Worry.


Structural and functional defects within the lungs of children with cystic fibrosis (CF) are detectable soon after birth and progress throughout preschool years often without overt clinical signs or symptoms. By school age, most children have structural changes such as bronchiectasis or gas trapping/hypoperfusion and lung function abnormalities that persist into later life. Despite improved survival, gains in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) achieved across successive birth cohorts during childhood have plateaued, and rates of FEV1 decline in adolescence and adulthood have not slowed. This suggests that interventions aimed at preventing lung disease should be targeted to mild disease and commence in early life. Spirometry-based classifications of 'normal' (FEV1≥90% predicted) and 'mild lung disease' (FEV1 70%–89% predicted) are inappropriate, given the failure of spirometry to detect significant structural or functional abnormalities shown by more sensitive imaging and lung function techniques. The state and readiness of two imaging (CT and MRI) and two functional (multiple breath washout and oscillometry) tools for the detection and monitoring of early lung disease in children and adults with CF are discussed in this article. Prospective research programmes and technological advances in these techniques mean that well-designed interventional trials in early lung disease, particularly in young children and infants, are possible. Age appropriate, randomised controlled trials are critical to determine the safety, efficacy and best use of new therapies in young children. Regulatory bodies continue to approve medications in young children based on safety data alone and extrapolation of efficacy results from older age groups. Harnessing the complementary information from structural and functional tools, with measures of inflammation and infection, will significantly advance our understanding of early CF lung disease pathophysiology and responses to therapy. Defining clinical utility for these novel techniques will require effective collaboration across multiple disciplines to address important remaining research questions. Future impact on existing management burden for patients with CF and their family must be considered, assessed and minimised. To address the possible role of these techniques in early lung disease, a meeting of international leaders and experts in the field was convened in August 2019 at the Australiasian Cystic Fibrosis Conference. The meeting entitiled 'Shaping imaging and functional testing for early disease detection of lung disease in Cystic Fibrosis', was attended by representatives across the range of disciplines involved in modern CF care. This document summarises the proceedings, key priorities and important research questions highlighted.


A new technique for measuring the drift carrier mobility is described. A boxcar integrator was modified to enable a delay-time scan using simple decimal counters. The transient photocurrent was integrated repeatedly using the modified boxcar integrator. After simple signal processing, the original photocurrent was recovered with enhanced signal to noise ratios. The hole mobility of a 4,4(')-bis[N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenylamino]biphenyl (NPB) thin film was measured using the new method. The mobility of NPB under an electric field as low as 2.5x10(4) V cm(-1) was calculated to be 5.84x10(-4) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). This method may be a useful measurement technique when either the electric field or signal to noise ratio is very low.


LiNbO3-coated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 spinel was fabricated by two methods: using hydrogen-peroxide as activating agent and sol-gel method. The structure of the obtained cathode materials was investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the electrochemical properties of the prepared cathodes were probed by charge-discharge studies. The morphology of the coating material on the surface and the degree of coverage of the coated particles were investigated by SEM, which showed that the surface of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 particles is uniformly encapsulated by lithium innovate coating. The influence of the LiNbO3 coating layer on the spinel's properties was explored, including its effect on the crystal structure and electrochemical performance. XRD studies of the obtained coated active materials revealed very small expansion or contraction of the unit cell. From the capacity retention tests a significant improvement of the electrochemical properties resulted when a novel chemically activated coating process was used. Poorer results, however, were obtained using the sol-gel method. The results also revealed that the coated materials by the new method exhibit enhanced reversibility and stability compared to the pristine and reference ones. It was shown that the morphology of the coating material and possible improvement of communication between the substrates play an important role.


OBJECTIVES
Dural based Marginal Zone MALT-type B-Cell Lymphoma (MZBCL) is an intracranial tumor that can mimicking meningioma both from a clinical and a radiological point of view. A standard treatment protocol is still lacking. Aim of the present work is to provide an update of the present literature regarding this rare neoplasia.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We report the case of a patient with a dural-based lesion mimicking a meningioma of the tentorium. After surgical treatment, the diagnosis was of MZBCL. A literature review is performed to highlight the typical characteristics of this rare intracranial lesion and to define the best therapeutic approach.

RESULTS
Literature review included 38 articles describing 126 cases of intracranial dural-based MZBCL. No clinical trial has been found. Clinical and histopathological features are properly collected to provide a guide for future cases. Different treatment options have been attempted. Combination of surgery with adjuvant radiation therapy is the most used option.

CONCLUSIONS
MZBCL should be considered in differential diagnosis for dural-based intracranial lesion. Surgery followed by radiation therapy is the most reported treatment. As a consequence of the rarity of this disease, of its indolent progression and of the lack of adequate follow-up, it is not possible to define it is the best treatment option.


The reduction of nitrogen oxyanions is critical for the remediation of eutrophication caused by anthropogenic perturbations to the natural nitrogen cycle. There are many approaches to nitrogen oxyanion reduction, and here we report our advances in reductive deoxygenation using pre-reduced N-heterocycles. We show examples of nitrogen oxyanion reduction using Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, and Zn, and we evaluate the role of metal choice, number of coordinated oxyanions, and ancillary ligands on the reductive transformations. We report the experimental challenges faced and provide an outlook on new directions to repurpose nitrogen oxyanions into value-added products.


Abstract. Anthropogenic climate change is now considered to be one
of the main factors causing an increase in both the frequency and severity of
wildfires. These fires are prone to release substantial quantities of
CO2 into the atmosphere and to endanger natural ecosystems and
biodiversity. Depending on the ecosystem and climate regime, fires have
distinct triggering factors and impacts. To better analyse this phenomenon,
we investigated post-fire vegetation anomalies over different biomes, from
2012 to 2020. The study was performed using several remotely sensed
quantities ranging from visible–infrared vegetation indices (the enhanced
vegetation index (EVI)) to vegetation opacities obtained at several passive-microwave wavelengths (X-band, C-band, and L-band vegetation optical depth
(X-VOD, C-VOD, and L-VOD)), ranging from 2 to 20 cm. It was found that C-
and X-VOD are mostly sensitive to fire impact on low-vegetation areas (grass
and shrublands) or on tree leaves, while L-VOD depicts the fire
impact on tree trunks and branches better. As a consequence, L-VOD is probably a
better way of assessing fire impact on biomass. The study shows that L-VOD
can be used to monitor fire-affected areas as well as post-fire recovery,
especially over densely vegetated areas.


Contrary to the popular assumption that television viewing is a very different process from book reading and inhibits reading in a variety of ways, the author argues that in fact the two activities can be mutually supportive and involve many of the same strategies. It may have implications for teachers as the book offers a research-based view and calls for a new emphasis in school practice which will include television as text and which supports children's developing abilities to make meaning from a range of texts. The author highlights the need for teachers to consider television in the same way as print media.


We find that profit-warning announcements elicit a strong negative market response that is not sensitive to timing the warning in advance of the earnings announcement. Share prices begin to adjust about five days before a profit warning, and the market response is not complete until about five days after the warning. The accumulated response over the 11-day period ending five days after the announcement is - 21.7%. The profit warning effect over the two-day announcement period is 32 times the valuation effect upon subsequent release of the actual earnings. There is no evidence of a reversal after this period, and therefore no sign that the market response is excessive. Copyright 2003 by the Eastern Finance Association.


Context: Development of resistance in human pathogens against conventional antibiotic necessitates searching indigenous medicinal plants having antibacterial property. Twenty-seven medicinal plants used actively in folklore, ayurvedic and traditional system of medicine were selected for the evaluation of their antimicrobial activity for this study. Eleven plants chosen from these 27 are used as spices in local cuisine. Objective: Evaluation of the effectiveness of some medicinal plant extracts against clinical isolates. Material and methods: Nonedible plant parts were extracted with methanol and evaporated in vacuo to obtain residue. Powdered edible parts were boiled three times and cooled in sterile distilled water for 2 min each and filtrate collected. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of plant extracts and filtrates/antibiotics was evaluated against clinical isolates by microbroth dilution method. Results: Water extract of Syzygium aromaticum L. (Myrtaceae) buds, methanol extracts of Ficus carica L. (Moraceae) and Olea europaea L. (Oleaceae) leaves and Peganum harmala L. (Nitrariaceae) seeds had MIC ranges of 31.25–250 µg/ml. S. aromaticum inhibited growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. F. carica and O. europaea inhibited growth of S. aureus, S. epidermidis, and S. pyogenes whereas P. harmala was effective against S. aureus, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Candida albicans. Ampicillin, velosef, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline and ceftazidime, cefotaxime, cefepime, which are used as control, had MIC ≥50 and 1.5 µg/ml, respectively, for organisms sensitive to extracts. Discussion and conclusion: Mono/multiextract from identified plants will provide an array of safe antimicrobial agents to control infections by drug-resistant bacteria.


We propose a method for text retrieval from document images without the use of OCR. Documents are segmented into character objects. Image features, namely the vertical traverse density (VTD) and horizontal traverse density (HTD), are extracted. An n-gram-based document vector is constructed for each document based on these features. Text similarity between documents is then measured by calculating the dot product of the document vectors. Testing with seven corpora of imaged textual documents in English and Chinese as well as images from the UW1 (University of Washington 1) database confirms the validity of the proposed method.


Carbon nanoarchitectures are versatile platforms for advanced electrode structures in which the carbon edifice serves multiple simultaneous functions: a massively parallel 3-D current collector with an interpenetrating structural flow field that facilitates the efficient transport of electrons, ions, and molecules throughout the structure for further functionalization or high-performance electrochemical operation. We fabricate carbon nanofoam papers by infiltrating commercially available low-density carbon fiber papers with phenolic resin. The polymer-filled paper is ambiently dried and then pyrolyzed to create lightweight, mechanically flexible, and electronically conductive sheets of ultraporous carbon with an electronic conductivity characteristic of the paper support (20–200 S cm−1) rather than RF-derived carbon (typically 0.1–1 S cm−1). The resulting composites comprise nanoscopic carbon walls that are co-continuous with an aperiodic, 3-D interconnected network of mesopores (2 to 50 nm) and macropores (50 nm to 2 µm). Macropores sized at 100–300 nm have not been adequately explored in the literature and offer ample headspace to modify internal carbon walls, thereby introducing new functionality without occluding the interconnected void volume of the nanofoam. Increasing the viscosity of the polymer sol and matching the surface energetics of the carbon fibers and aqueous sol is necessary to avoid forming a standard carbon aerogel pore–solid structure, where the pores are sized in the micropore (<2 nm) and mesopore range. Carbon nanofoam papers can be scaled in x, y, and z and are device-ready electrode structures that do not require conductive additives or polymeric binders for electrode fabrication. This one class of nanofoams serves as a high-surface-area scaffold that can be segued by appropriate modification into multifunctional nanoarchitectures that improve the performance of electrochemical capacitors, lithium-ion batteries, metal–air batteries, fuel cells, and ultrafiltration.


The aim of the present study was to synthesize various samples of activated carbon (AC) from different agricultural sources as precursors, like orange peels, tea stalks, and kiwi peels, as well as sucrose. The synthesis of AC was achieved with chemical activation using H3PO4 and KOH. The produced AC samples were tested as adsorbents for the removal of a pharmaceutical model compound, pramipexole dihydrochloride (PRM), from synthetic aqueous synthetic solutions. The produced-from-sucrose AC presented the higher yield of synthesis (~58%). The physicochemical features of the materials were analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy, N2 physisorption, and SEM imaging. More specifically, the AC sample derived from sucrose (SG-AC) had the highest specific surface area (1977 m2/g) with the total pores volume, mesopores volume, and external surface area being 1.382 cm3/g, 0.819 cm3/g, and 751 m2/g, respectively. The effect of the initial pH and PRM concentration were studied, while the equilibrium results (isotherms) were fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich models. The maximum adsorption capacities were found to be 213, 190, 155, and 115 mg/g for AC samples produced from sucrose, kiwi peels, orange peels, and tea stalks, respectively.


ABSTRACT Higher education institutions have been identified as inequitable for historically marginalised student and staff populations. Student–staff partnership has recently emerged as one approach to redressing such inequities. To what extent are institutional partnership schemes considering or achieving this goal? Using two phases of qualitative data collection, we explored the perceptions of staff administering student–staff partnership schemes regarding the inclusion of diversity across eight UK higher education institutions. Results highlight conceptual and practical challenges for and strategies to striving for equity in student–staff partnership initiatives. These results are discussed by drawing on the identities of the research team to highlight intersectional approaches to inclusion in partnership.


Background: Aim of the study was to compare the speed of response, false-alarm rate, and subject preference of different response methods i.e. raising a hand, using response switch, and oral response mode for measuring pure-tone thresholds. Methods: Forty five participants (female-21 and 24 male) were included in the study with sensorineural hearing loss of various degree. Response method order was randomly assigned to 3 different sessions. Air-conduction thresholds were measured thrice for each participant in octave intervals between 250 Hz and 8000 Hz. The 2 nd and 3 rd session were performed for different response method on a different day but within 2 weeks of the 1 st session. Results: Difference in the time was noted when compared with the extent of time required to complete the test for each response method. On an average, using the pushbutton method took 3.02 to 3.42 minutes less than using hand-raise or verbal response methods. There was also a significant participant preference for using the response button. No significant difference between response method for threshold level and number of false positives (P = 0.15) was found. Conclusion: This study supports the use of the response button when measuring auditory thresholds for sensorineural hearing loss.


Recent discoveries by VERITAS, H.E.S.S., and MAGIC indicate that very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-rays may be produced in all types of blazars, including radio-loud quasars. In the dense nuclear radiation fields (BLR, dust torus IR) in these objects, VHE gamma-rays may be efficiently absorbed and initiate Compton-supported pair cascades. We have developed a Monte-Carlo code following the full 3-dimensional development of pair cascades in AGN environments. We have shown that even very weak magnetic fields may lead to efficient quasi-isotropization of the cascade emission, escaping predominantly in MeV – GeV gamma-rays. We propose this as a potential contributor to the Fermi gamma-ray flux from several radio galaxies, and present model fits to the Fermi-detected radio galaxies NGC 1275 and Cen A.


Autoimmune hepatitis is a chronic liver disease, and both genetic background and environmental factors are related to its pathogenesis. Here, we report that out of five members of a family with similar human leukocyte antigen haplotypes, two developed autoimmune hepatitis, one was positive for antinuclear antibody, and the remaining two had no features of autoimmunity. The two patients with autoimmune hepatitis had a history of medication use, whereas the other family members did not. Our familial study suggests that in addition to genetic background, medication use and other environmental factors may be related to the onset of autoimmune hepatitis.


Objective The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) is a widely recognized measure used to assess the functional abilities of cancer patients and predict their prognosis. It plays a crucial role in guiding treatment decisions made by physicians. This study aimed to build a stacking ensemble-based prognosis predictor model for predicting the ECOG PS of a liver cancer patient undergoing treatment. Methods We used Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) as the meta-model, and five base models, including Random Forest (RF), Extra Trees (ET), AdaBoost (Ada), Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). After preprocessing the data and applying feature selection method, the stacking ensemble model was trained using 1622 liver cancer patients' data and 46 variables. We also integrated the stacking ensemble model with a LIME-based explainable model to obtain model prediction explainability. Results According to the research, the best combination of the stacking ensemble model is ET + XGBoost + RF + GBM + Ada + LightGBM and achieved a ROC AUC of 0.9826 on the training set and 0.9675 on the test set. Conclusions This explainable stacking ensemble model can become a helpful tool for objectively predicting ECOG PS in liver cancer patients and aiding healthcare practitioners to adapt their treatment approach more effectively.


In order to feed an increasing world population with good and safe food it is important to reduce the amount of food waste. The global population is expected to grow to 9 billion and over the same period food production will be under threat from climate change, competing land uses, erosion and diminishing supplies of clean water. Packaging plays an important role in containing and protecting the food as it moves from agriculture to households. This work is a summary from an international literature review and interviews from 15 organisations in the Australian food and packaging supply chain. It considers food waste in the supply chain with emphasis on food waste prior to consumption, and also food rescue through charities.A number of global trends and there effect on packaging development for reducing food waste was identified and analysed, these include:Longer supply chains-With longer supply chains there are increased risks of product damage which make the packaging even more critical. Distribution packaging should provide better protection and shelf life for fresh produce as it moves from the farm to the processor, wholesaler or retailer. This may require the development of tailored solutions for individual products. This also requires more collaboration between manufacturers and retailers to improve the industry's understanding of food waste in the supply chain. More use of intelligent packaging and data sharing can be useful .More on-line shopping- Online expenditure in Australia was estimated to be around $8.4 billion in 2010 and is forecast to reach $26.9 billion by 2016. Online shopping requires more secondary packaging to protect the product during transport from the retail or manufacturer to the household, but it doesn't need to be 'shelf ready' which may save resources. This increases the amount of packaging requiring recycling in the home but there could be some potential benefits for food waste.Consumption of meals out of the home- This trend shifts waste away from the home to a restaurant and/or processing facility and may give both pros and cons for reducing food waste and how packaging are recycled. More small households- Product and packaging development need to cater for smaller households. Single and smaller serve products will reduce waste by meeting the needs of single and two person households, however this need to be environmentally analysed in relation to increased amount of packaging. . More convenience- The trend from loose fresh produce to more pre-packed and processed food products has implications for packaging. With a better primary packaging a simpler and less robust secondary packaging may be sufficient. This may require adoption of new packaging materials and technologies, such as modified atmosphere packaging and oxygen scavengers, to extend the shelf life of foods.Food recovery for charity- It is important with distribution packaging that supports recovery of surplus and unsaleable fresh produce from farms and redirects it to food rescue organisations. These packaging systems will need to be flexible to accommodate the transport of bulk quantities from farm to food recovery organisations, as well as smaller orders from distribution centres to individual charities. The issue need to be addressed when developing new secondary packaging.The packaging itself also needs to be recoverable to minimise overall environmental impacts in the country where it is consumed.


Cellular distributions of the sphingolipid ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P) impact essential biological processes. C1P levels are spatiotemporally regulated by ceramide-1-phosphate transfer protein (CPTP), which efficiently shuttles C1P between organelle membranes. Yet, how CPTP rapidly extracts and inserts C1P into a membrane remains unknown. Here, we devise a multiscale simulation approach to elucidate biophysical details of CPTP-mediated C1P transport. We find that CPTP binds a membrane poised to extract and insert C1P and that membrane binding promotes conformational changes in CPTP that facilitate C1P uptake and release. By significantly disrupting a lipid's local hydrophobic environment in the membrane, CPTP lowers the activation free energy barrier for passive C1P desorption and enhances C1P extraction from the membrane. Upon uptake of C1P, further conformational changes may aid membrane unbinding in a manner reminiscent of the electrostatic switching mechanism used by other lipid transfer proteins. Insertion of C1P into an acceptor membrane, eased by a decrease in membrane order by CPTP, restarts the transfer cycle. Most notably, we provide molecular evidence for CPTP's ability to catalyze C1P extraction by breaking hydrophobic C1P–membrane contacts with compensatory hydrophobic lipid–protein contacts. Our work, thus, provides biophysical insights into how CPTP efficiently traffics C1P between membranes to maintain sphingolipid homeostasis and, additionally, presents a simulation method aptly suited for uncovering the catalytic mechanisms of other lipid transfer proteins. Author summary Critical cellular processes require spatiotemporal regulation of sphingolipid levels among organelle membranes. Programmed cell death and inflammation, for example, are impacted by the distribution of ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P). C1P levels are specifically altered by ceramide-1-phosphate transfer protein (CPTP), which mediates C1P intermembrane transport. Using a multiscale simulation approach tailored to studying lipid transport, we elucidate key steps in the molecular mechanism used by CPTP to rapidly transport C1P between membranes: Through conformational changes that are coupled to membrane binding, CPTP significantly disrupts C1P's local hydrophobic environment in a membrane and catalyzes its extraction. Since this catalytic mechanism is biophysically related to that of passive lipid transport, it may be ubiquitously used by lipid transport proteins to rapidly traffic lipids between membranes and ensure membrane homeostasis. Our multiscale simulation approach offers a framework to test this hypothesis and, thus, further our molecular knowledge of how lipid transfer proteins function to regulate cellular lipid distributions.


Sarcopenia is a condition that is characterized by a progressive loss of muscle mass, strength, and function, resulting in reduced quality of life. The aim of the study was to analyze the significance of pro-inflammatory markers in the prognostic diagnosis of sarcopenia. The participants were divided into two groups: the main group of 146 people and the control—75 people. The complex of examinations included neuropsychological testing (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), quality-of-life questionnaire for patients with sarcopenia (SarQoL), and short health assessment form (MOS SF-36)), a 6 m walking speed test, manual dynamometry, bioimpedancemetry, and metabolic markers (nitrates, fibroblast growth factor 21, and malondialdehyde). When analyzing metabolic markers in the main group, a twofold increase in nitrates in the main group was recorded in a subsequent analysis adjusted for multiple variables, there was a negative association between the nitrate levels for weak grip strength and appendicular muscle mass. An additional analysis revealed that the complaint of pain in the lower extremities was more frequent in patients of the main group, as well as constipation and the pathology of thyroid gland, and they were more frequently diagnosed with arterial hypertension. At the same time, patients from the main group more frequently took vitamin D. When conducting body composition, the main group recorded a higher weight visceral fat content, as well as a decrease in appendicular and skeletal muscle mass; these changes were accompanied by a decrease in protein and minerals. Among the markers that differed significantly were nitrates, and it was this that was associated with decreased muscle strength and appendicular mass, which may indicate both a possible mechanism and a possible predictive marker. The results of this study can be used to develop a screening method for diagnosing sarcopenia at the outpatient stage.


This paper presents a method for generating a 3D point-cloud map using multilayer lidar mounted on twowheeled vehicle. The vehicle identifies its own 3D pose (position and attitude angle) in a lidar-scan period using the normal distributions transform (NDT) scan-matching method. The vehicle's pose is updated in a period shorter than the lidar-scan period using its attitude angle and angular velocity measured by an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The pose estimation is based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) under the assumption that the vehicle moves at nearly constant translational and angular velocities. The vehicle's pose is further estimated in a period shorter than measurement period of the IMU using a linear interpolation method. The estimated poses of the vehicle are applied to distortion correction of lidar-scan data, and a pointcloud map is generated based on the corrected lidar-scan data. Experimental results of mapping a road environment using a 32-layer lidar mounted on a bicycle show the efficancy of the proposed method in comparison with conventional methods of distortion correction of lidar-scan data.


This paper focuses on digital behaviour, self-assessment of vulnerabilities to digital disinformation, and patterns of trust as exposed by Romanian citizens. By corroborating the data of the first national public opinion survey on fake news and disinformation (implemented between February and March 2018) with the Special Eurobarometer no. 464 – Fake News and Disinformation Online – implemented in the same time frame (February 2018), we capture the perceptions and attitudes of Romanian citizens over the use of new media and news trustworthiness, and we also compare the Romanians' online behaviour with the average European's. As similar research reveals, digital disinformation affects resilience of citizens in Member States and in the European Union overall, it "threatens the democratic political processes and values" (European Commission, 2018: 12), the integrity of elections and political processes, and should therefore, be approached as a legitimate public concern. Our paper opens the floor for more dedicated research and applied policies - at both the Member States and EU levels - aimed at mitigating the rising and ever worrying fake news phenomenon.


Superpower development of tactical nuclear weapons appeared to alter the nature of land combat in the early 1950's. By 1954, the military and the Conservative party ad vocated acquisition of such weapons for Sweden's defense. The other political parties and the Government were ambivalent. In particular, conflicting opinions within the ruling Social Democratic party threatened party unity at a point when the party could least afford the cleavages an atomic weapons decision would create. Seizing on the dual issues of nuclear disarmament and inadequate technical capabilities, the Government successfully pursued a policy of postponing a decision for nearly fif teen years. By the late 1960's, the vast arsenals of the superpowers and progress in disarmament efforts made it possible for the Government to officially decide not to acquire nuclear weapons.


Within a standard risk-based asset pricing framework with rational expectations, realized returns have two components: Predictable risk premiums and unpredictable shocks. In bad times, the price of risk increases. Hence, the predictable fraction of returns – and predictability – increases. "Disagreement" (dispersion in analyst forecasts) also intensifies in bad times if (i) analysts report (close to) risk-neutral expectations weighted by state prices, which become more volatile, or (ii) dividend volatility changes with the price of risk – for example, because consumption volatility changes. In both cases, individual analysts produce unbiased forecasts based on partial information.


The aim of this study was to examine the bactericidal effects and bactericidal time of an acidified sodium chlorite compound gel (ASC-Gel) on bacteria isolated from the peri-implant sulci of 10 patients who received implants 3-27 years previously, and the depth of each peri-implant sulcus was 5 mm or less. Porphyromonas gingivalis (ATCC33277) was used as the control bacterium. Five ASC-Gel preparations were created by adding 3.3%, 5.0%, 7.0%, 9.0%, and 11.0% citric acid (CA) (condition a, b, c, d, and e, respectively) into an oral moisturizing gel containing sodium chlorite. The concentrations of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) generated in ASC-Gel under conditions (a) to (e) were 12.1, 14.1, 17.2, 21.2, and 39.3 ppm, respectively. We examined the bactericidal effects of the 5 ASC-Gel preparations at volumes of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mL, and measured the bactericidal time when 2.0 mL of ASC-Gel was used under condition (e). The bactericidal effects of ASC-Gel became significantly greater with increased concentrations of CA and ClO2 and with increased usage (0.5-2.0 mL) of the gel. All bacteria were killed by using 2.0 mL of ASC-Gel under condition (e). ASC-Gel also needed between 45 and 90 minutes to kill all microbes under condition (e). Within the limits of the present investigation, these results suggest that ASC-Gel is useful as a chemical disinfectant against bacteria in the peri-implant sulcus. Further studies are also required to protect teeth, the surface of hydroxyapatite-coated implants, and the surrounding soft tissues from effects of chemical dissolution such as acid erosion due to the low pH of ASC-Gel.


The beam of an electron microscope has been used to dehydrate single crystals of magnesium hydroxide to magnesium oxide. Electron diffraction photographs and electron micrographs were taken at various stages to follow the crystallographic and morphological changes which accompany decomposition. The decomposition may be considered to occur in two stages. First, there is a small shrinkage in the basal plane, and the resulting strain causes a maze of cracks in the crystal. This change is followed by a collapse of the planes down the original [0001] of magnesium hydroxide. The collapse is controlled by the migration of water molecules from between the planes to a surface where they can escape. The product is a highly oriented aggregate of micro-crystallites of magnesium oxide. More intense irradiation in the electron beam occasionally causes bulk movement of the solid.