In this paper we describe the design of novel, ultra-thin piezoelectric speakers for mobile phones. Due to the expansion of the slim mobile phone market, ultra-thin speakers providing high-quality sound are in strong demand. Piezoelectric speakers are much thinner than the electrodynamic speakers generally used in mobile phones. However, to achieve high-quality sound, the rigid structure and low internal friction of piezoelectric speakers must be improved. In this study, we have successfully developed highly reliable 0.9-mm-thick piezoelectric speakers that consist of a piezoelectric bimorph transducer and an elastic support structure and that provide high-quality sound. We have also successfully used these ultra thin speakers in a slim mobile phone.


Abstract 1. Herbicide atrazine (ATR) poses harmful effects on human health. The purpose of this study is to study potential biomarkers used for monitoring the toxic effects after chronic exposure to ATR by studying urine metabolites. 2. Rats were assigned into clinical chemistry and metabonomics arms, and each arm was divided into low-dose, high-dose and control groups. ATR was administered to rats along with their feed. At the end of 16, 20 and 24 weeks, clinical parameters and histopathologic changes was assessed to monitor the toxic effects. Twenty-four hour urine samples was analyzed by UPLC-MS, to find the significant alterations in metabolic profiling. 3. The body weight of rats in ATR group was lower than that of control starting from 12th week; abnormal levels of serum biochemistry and histopathologic alterations of organs were found initially from 16th and 20th week, respectively. Five exogenous and five endogenous metabolites were found which showed significant differences between ATR groups and control group at above-mentioned time points. 4. These metabolites may be used as potential indicators to monitor ATR toxicity, and also may provide some clues for understanding the mechanism of toxicity of ATR. The exact relationship between endogenous metabolites and ATR toxicity needs further investigation.


The aim of this study is to identify the level of test anxiety among students of Faculty of Educational Sciences and its relationship with some variables such as academic excellence and specialization. The study sample consisted of (90) female students from the Faculty of Educational Sciences/ Al-Hussein Bin Talal University which  has been divided into two groups: the first group:  outstanding students   (45 students ) and the second group : non-outstanding  students  (45 students ) , all are selected randomly. The results showed that:-   The level of test  anxiety of female students at the Faculty of Educational Sciences is a medium - The outstanding students have a higher level of  test   anxiety compared with   non-outstanding  students. - The students of The classroom teacher specialization suffer from test  anxiety more than students  of  kindergarten and special education specialization - The outstanding female  students in three specialization  have greater  tests anxiety than non-outstanding  students  , but all differences are insignificant at level (0.05). Keywords: outstanding  students; Academic achievement ; performance ; self-confidence; female ; specialization


The purpose of the study is to examine the feasibility of a self-learning neural network to predict the risk of hemo-static disorders in newborns and their mothers. Material: To solve the problems 214 patients have been under the study, of which — 107 women on a day of labor and 107 of their infants. Morphofunctional state of platelets was assessed by automatic hematological analysis, computer cytomorphometry and platelet aggregation. These laboratory studies of patients were used as a training set for a neural network. This study used a neural network with classical structure «layer perceptron.» Results: Testing of the neural network was carried out on two female patients with physiological pregnancy and signs of imbalance of the hemostatic system. At the output of neural network based on laboratory confirmed the presence or absence of pathology of the hemostatic system in two specific patients and their newborns. Conclusion: The introduction of practical obstetric program being developed based on the neural network will reduce and prevent the development of thrombohemorrhagic complications, the protocol will optimize diagnostic and treatment activities, and an opportunity for the state of hemostasis monitor on a background of pathogenetic therapy for women and their newborns during childbirth and neonatal period.


Bali cattle (Bos javanicusd'Alton) which are reared for meat production have been considered as superior meat animals with their reasonably high dressing percentage. In this study, a 120 days feeding trial was conducted to examine the effects of calcium soap of fatty acids as protected energy supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics, rumen fermentation and meat fatty acid composition of Bali cattle subjected to feedlot system. Twelve male Bali cattle of 24 to 30 months old were randomly selected and assigned to 2 groups of 6 animals in each and fed with basal and protected energy supplemented diets. The basal diet consisted of 43.75% (of dry matter, DM) palm kernel cake (PKC) pellets + 56.25 % (of DM) corn stover, whiletheprotected energy supplemented diet consisted of 40.62 % (of DM) PKC pellets + 3.13 % (of DM) calcium soap of palm oil fatty acids + 56.25 % (of DM) corn stover. Theanimals subjected to protected energy supplemented diet yielded significantly (p 0.05) in carcass length, carcass circumference and carcass compactness measured between the dietarygroups. In addition, carcass composition, rumen fermentation and fatty acid composition of skeletal muscles (supraspinatus, longissimus dorsiand semimembranosus)did not differ(p>0.05)between the two dietarygroups. In conclusion, the inclusion of calcium soap of palm oil fatty acids as protected energy supplement in thefinishing diet had improvedgrowth performance and carcass quality of Bali cattle without affecting the rumen fermentation and fatty acid composition of skeletal muscles when subjected to feedlot system.


The boom of chemical industry has made China heavily demanding for hazardous chemicals. In response to this, the security of road transport for hazardous chemicals has become even more important, while in the academic circles, the great challenge is to study how to ensure the security in the course of highway transportation of hazardous chemicals. It is suggested that the consequences of possible accidents occurred in transition be predicted accurately and effectively, by which a safer route can be chosen for transporting these chemicals. The most effective ways of how to reduce the probability of accidents resulting from hazardous chemicals and how to mitigate the consequences of road transport accidents resulting from hazardous chemicals are nothing but choosing an ideal transport route for these. This paper simulates the leakage of dangerous chemicals with the Gaussian plume model to determine its affected area, analyze the key factors affecting the choice of transportation routes and the route tuning objective. There are two problems: how to reduce the road transport risk and how to optimize the transport route for dangerous chemicals. We should settle both of them to provide the clues to improving the security of road transportation for dangerous chemicals.


Ad hoc, actuator and sensor wireless networks normally have critical connectivity properties before becoming fault intolerant. Existing algorithms for testing k-connectivity are centralized. In this article, we introduce localized algorithms for testing A-connectivity. In localized protocols, each node makes its own decision based on the information available in its local neighborhood. In the first proposed local neighbor detection (LND) algorithm, each node verifies whether or not itself and each of its p-hop neighbors have at least k neighbors. In the second local critical node detection (LCND) protocol, it also tests if the subgraph of its p-hop neighbours of a given node is k-connected. The third local subgraph connectivity detection (LSCD) protocol is based on communications between neighboring nodes to exchange the local decisions starting from k=l. All nodes declare themselves locally 1-connected. For k=2,3,..., iteratively, local decisions are propagated to p-hop neighbors. If node A is (k-1,)-connected, all its p-hop neighbors are (k-1)-connected, and the graph consisting of p-hop neighbors of A (excluding A) is (k-1,)-connected, then node A declares its neighborhood as k-connected. The experiments are carried with two ways of uniform generation of connected unit disk graphs. They show low percentage of false 'alarms', ability to locate critical areas in k-disconnected networks, and increased accuracy with increased local knowledge.


The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical scoping and exploration of sensory ethnography. It combines a literature survey with some relevant fieldwork reflections. It aims to both recognize and appreciate the rise of sensory ethnography as a creative turn. In short, the essay provides a series of provocations and challenges around doing different descriptive ethnography. It is organized into three sections. The first section frames and unpacks sensory ethnography. The second section articulates sensory ethnography in action by outlining the author's autoethnographic journey in both martial arts and bouncing. The final concluding section, considers the future of sensory ethnography as a radicalizing and imaginative lens within organizational ethnography and related fields.


As feed accounts for a significant proportion of a farm's expenditure, animal nutrition is one of the key profit determinants. Attributed to the size-dependent market value, enhancing shrimps' growth is essential to maximize profit. Despite not being the best option, antibiotics are often used as growth-promoting agents in farming. Although this trend is less explicit in aquaculture, increasing production yield is paramount, especially when intensive aquafarming compromises animal growth and increases disease prevalence. However, the environmental and clinical pitfalls of indiscriminate antibiotic usage are surfacing. Fortunately, increasing evidence demonstrated probiotics as a safer, more sustainable, and environmental-friendly substitute for antibiotics. Nonetheless, most studies are observational, and the growth-promotion mechanisms of these agents are yet to be elucidated. In this light, this review aims to decipher the growth promotion mechanisms of probiotics in shrimps based on the primary works conducted. Evidently, probiotic treatment modulates the gut microbiome composition. The growth promotion effect of probiotics is partly mediated through the production of bioactive compounds such as short-chain fatty acids, vitamins, and polyamines. Besides, elevated digestive enzyme activities following the introduction of probiotics may help enhance digestibility and utilization. Histological changes at the hepatopancreas and intestine were evident. Furthermore, probiotics may reinforce the protective mechanisms in the gut and strengthen immune function. Treated shrimps demonstrate better appetite and exhibit superior metabolic and growth-related genes profile. Contrasting these recognized mechanisms with antibiotics helps construct the initial framework for designing high-quality probiotics for growth enhancement in farmed animals.


The research will explore views on inclusive design policy implementation and learning strategy used in practice by Local Authorities' planning, building control and policy departments in England. It reports emerging research findings. The research aim was developed from an extensive literature review, and informed by a pilot study with relevant Local Authority departments. The pilot study highlighted gaps within the process of policy implementation, a lack of awareness of the process and flaws in the design guidance policy. This has helped inform the development of a robust research design using both a survey and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire targeted key employees within Local Authorities designed to establish how employees learn about inclusive design policy and to determine their views on current approaches of inclusive design policy implementation adopted by their Local Authorities. The questionnaire produces 117 responses. Interestingly approximately 9 out of 129 Local Authorities approached claimed that they were unable to participate either because an inclusive design policy was not adopted or they were faced with a high workload and thus unable to take part. An emerging finding is a lack of understanding of inclusive design problems, which may lead to problem with inclusive design policy implementation, and thus adversely affect how the built environment can be experienced. There is a strong indication from the survey respondents indicating that they are most likely to learn about inclusive design from policy guides produced by their Local Authorities and from their colleagues.


A switch module includes at least one switch exhibiting at least two states of operation, provided for connecting at least two conductor segments of an electrical power supply network, the electrical power supply network including one or more power sources and one or more electrical loads. One control unit is provided per switch and is operatively coupled to the switch for controlling the states of operation of the switch. Each control unit includes a selection unit for selecting a state of operation of the switch coupled to the respective control unit. A method for operating such switch modules and an electric power supply network are also provided.


The Oheyama plant of Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., Ltd. was built here at Miyazu city in 1942, for treatment of low grade nickel oxide are (0.4-0.7% Ni) from nearby Oheyama mine by Krupp-Renn process. but at the end of war in 1945, the nickel smelting operation was stopped.In 1950, the Kawasaki plant of Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., Ltd. succeeded in producing stainless steel for the first time in Japan by oxygen top blowing in an arc-furnace, paving the way to mass production of stainless steel. This achievement quickly increased the demand for nickel, an important raw material of stainless steel, making the Oheyama plant resume its operation in 1952 by switching to higher grade nickel oxide ores imported from New Caledonia. Thus Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., Ltd. established a vertically-integrated production process from Ni smelting to finished stainless steel products for the first time in Japan.Since then the process of the Oheyama plant has been greatly modified and developed to establish "Nippon Yakin Oheyama Process", the only method in the world that uses a rotary kiln for smelting nickel oxide ores.The nickel ores are first ground by both dry and wet methods and blended well with anthracite and limestone, to be formed into briquets. They are first dried and preheated efficiently in a grate directly connected with a rotary kiln and then charged into the kiln, where all the metallurgical reactions such as dehydration, reduction, slag-formation and refining by excess air near discharge end, occur to form ferro-nickel nodules (0.3-20mm).The Oheyama Process is considered a very useful method to obtain nickel material for stainless steel production, because its low energy cost as well as individuality of its product, easy to handle and almost free of impurities, help significantly reduce the cost of stainless steel production.The Oheyama plant is now producing 1, 150t of Ni as ferro-nickel a month, and besides, 35, 000t of byproduct, "NAS Sand" a month from slag, which is mainly used as public works materials such as asphalt aggregate, concrete aggregate and so on.Situated near Amano-hashidate, one of Japan's Three Famous Views, the Oheyama plant pays full attention to protecting the surrounding environment and to existing in harmony with nature.


Abstract Careful mineral and structural analyses have revealed the characteristics of volcanic ash in the nine horizons of an 80.2 m ice core from Collins Ice Cap, King George Island, Antarctica. Under the assumption of steady state, the Dansgaard-Johnsen flow model was employed to date the core. The volcanic eruptive sequence established for the South Shetland Islands region since AD 1650 shows seven volcanic eruptive cycles during the past 340 years covered by the ice core. It seems that during the period 1875-1925 there was frequent volcanic activity, with perhaps many eruptions at Deception Island. The years 1650-1800 appear to have been a quiet period, followed by a more turbulent century. The past century is basically a tranquil era except for two turbulent epochs at the beginning of the century and in the 1950s-70s. Many of the volcanic eruptions in the ice-core sequence are found in the previously reported records for this region. The few that are not in the records should be further investigated. The absence of any 1967-70 eruption trace in the core suggests that this period may represent a minimum in volcanic activity.


Citizens' tax compliance should not only respond to the quality of formal institutions but might also be culturally driven. We contribute to this literature by investigating whether tax morale, an individual's intrinsic non-pecuniary motivation to comply with taxes, is associated with the cultural values (following Hofstede's typology) held by this individual. The analysis exploits four waves of the European Values Survey (1981 to 2010) across 48 countries. The cultural dimensions are constructed through a polychoric Principal Component Analysis on a set of relevant survey items consist ent with Hofstede's definitions. Ordered logit estimations suggest that while values of individualism and femininity are associated with higher individual's tax morale, power distance and uncertainty avoidance are associated with lower tax morale. These results remain consistent as we increase the level of granularity of our investigation through within-region analyses and, subsequently, within-cohort analyses. We argue that these results inevitably enrich the emerging debate about cultural values and citizens' compliance with formal institutions. They also indicate that societal culture as well as individual values should be considered when designing policies aiming to improve tax compliance. and significance our key relationships does not change in specifications with or without controls for religiosity, pro-sociality and institutional trust. This thus shows that we investigate se tax and not a


The morphological characteristics of fossil foraminiferal tests are the basis for making phylogenetic and taxonomic, as well as paleoecological inferences about fossil species. A complete understanding of the taxonomic and paleoenvironmental information contained in morphology of foraminifera depends heavily on quantitative methods to describe phenotypic and ecophenotypic variation. Automated image analysis is used to quantify the shape characteristics of planktonic and benthic foraminifera. There are three main components to the authors' quantitative image analysis system: (1) computer based image digitizer; (2) Fourier series analysis in closed form; and (3) multivariate statistical analysis. The advantages of such a system are that shape characteristics can be objectively determined and that large numbers of specimens can be analyzed. The focus of their research has been to improve the utility of foraminifera in paleoenvironmental and biostratigraphic application. The Globorotalia menardii/Globorotalia tumida group and the Globigerinoides obliquus/Globigerinoides extremus complex from Neogene sediments from DSDP Site 502 in the Caribbean have been examined via image analysis. In both groups they were able to determine distinct morphotypes that change relative proportion with time. This information is utilized to define morphotypes within each group that are independent of taxonomically defined zones. Changes in the proportions of each endmore » member are also correlated with paleoceanographic events of the Neogene such as the initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation and the Messinian event. Signal processing techniques, such as cross correlation, spectral analysis, and cross spectral analysis are also used in their investigations. Applying these techniques to the data in conjunction with stable isotope record for Site 502 allows them to determine correlations with the isotopic record and the similarities in the frequencies in the morphological records.« less


Abstract People diagnose themselves or receive advice about their illnesses from a variety of sources ranging from their family or friends, alternate medicine, or through conventional medicine. In all cases, the diagnosing mechanism is the human brain which normally operates under the influence of a variety of biases. Most, but not all biases, reside in intuitive decision making, and no individual or group is immune from them. Two biases in particular, bias blind spot and myside bias, have presented obstacles to accepting the impact of bias on medical decision making. Nevertheless, there is now a widespread appreciation of the important role of bias in the majority of medical disciplines. The dual process model of decision making now seems well accepted, although a polarization of opinions has arisen with some arguing the merits of intuitive approaches over analytical ones and vice versa. We should instead accept that it is not one mode or the other that enables well-calibrated thinking but the discriminating use of both. A pivotal role for analytical thinking lies in its ability to allow decision makers the means to detach from the intuitive mode to mitigate bias; it is the gatekeeper for the final diagnostic decision. Exploring and cultivating such debiasing initiatives should be seen as the next major research area in clinical decision making. Awareness of bias and strategies for debiasing are important aspects of the critical thinker's armamentarium. Promoting critical thinking in undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education will lead to better calibrated diagnosticians.


In this paper I evaluate a number of training, recruitment and employment programmes. The evaluation method is a combination of a quasi-experimental design (a simple pre-treatment-post-treatment design) and a stochastic process model to describe the response variables. I conclude that the programmes have no effect on older workers. Female and minority workers benefit most from the programmes. The training programmes are less effective than the recruitment programmes, which are in turn less effective than the employment programmes.


Introduction: The rose spotted snapper (Lutjanus guttatus) is a highly consumed marine fish and of commercial interest in Costa Rica, under a strong fishing pressure that can affect the genetic diversity of the population creating problems related to inbreeding depression. Objective:  To evaluate the genetic diversity of the spotted snapper (Lutjanus guttatus) population in Costa Rica using microsatellites. Methodology: Samples were collected from two locations (Golfo Dulce and Golfo de Nicoya) in 2019, and 44 individuals from each site were studied. DNA extraction and amplification of 10 microsatellites by PCR were carried out for subsequent genotyping for genetic diversity and population structure analysis. Results: The genetic diversity parameters show a high polymorphism, associated to a high number of alleles per locus, but low levels of observed heterozygosity in comparison to the expected heterozygosity (Ho = 0,774 and 0,800 and He = 0,948 and 0,954 for Gulf of Nicoya and Gulf Dulce, respectively). The study of population differentiation indicates that there is not enough evidence to ensure the two populations are different (FST = 0,00264, p > 0.05). The significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium obtained indicated the possible presence of organisms in the population that does not come from the wild. Conclusions: The rose spotted snapper in Costa Rica shows high levels of genetic diversity, without evidence of differentiation in genetic subpopulations, that should be considered as a single panmictic population for fishery management purposes. The possible mix of individuals of a distinct origin found in the wild suggests the presence of organisms that come from a stock enhancement program or from commercial aquaculture carried out in the region. The use of genetic markers is recommended to keep track of the genetic characteristics of the wild population, to follow-up stock enhancement programs, and eventually, asses their effect.


The purposes of this study were to develop the standard indicators to evaluate the food and nutrition systems in hospitals and to test the validity of those items scientifically. The results were as follows: First, the conceptual validity was examined with recognition degrees of importance from the hospital nutrition department managers. All of the hospital nutrition department`s operation evaluation standards and the indicators` conceptual validity tested were in the range of 3.71∼4.93 out of 5.0, and the mean score was 4.36. Therefore, the conceptual validity was verified. Second, to verify the factor validity of the items of the standards and indicators for the hospital nutrition department`s operation evaluation, the standards and indicators were analyzed as key-factors. Key-factor analysis after vertical rotation showed that four factors appeared and were composed of (a) facilities management, (b) sanitation management, (c) operation & foodservice management, and (d) nutrition management. Third, the reliability of the standards and indicators for the hospital nutrition department`s operation evaluation was analyzed and resulted in a score of 0.98, which showed good internal consistency. Fourth, the discriminative power of each item of the standards for the hospital nutrition department`s operation evaluation was tested by checking the differences between groups with first quartile and forth quartile of total evaluation scores. The indicators having low distinction power were modified into obligatory items or eliminated for better differentiation.


Often the effort in Power Electronics is concentrated in the design of control and active power components. However inductors and transformers have to be designed as well and are often specific for converters. Usually the core is still selected within available shapes, but the winding type has to be designed on purpose. In today transformers and inductors for power Electronics, almost no design is possible any more without taking eddy current losses in account. This is true for transformers, but even more for inductors where the air gap results in an induction heating of wires close to it. Here a method is described to calculate the eddy current losses for inductors and transformers made with round wires. It fulfills the exact limit cases of known analytic solutions and is tuned by finite elements. The method is based on three field types which is extended to high frequencies taking horizontal and vertical filling factors and field type in account. It is compatible with the book [1] of the same author, but formulated in a different way. In inductors it helps to take a distance from the air gap. In transformers interleaving is a good solution.)


The advent of cheap and fast digital integrated circuits permits, at least in principle, the application of digital processing directly to PCM coded telephone signals. At present, the following applications look most promising: channel filters; digital conference circuits; receivers for MFC or touch-tone signals; and sampling rate conversion. Following a review of these fields, an account is given of the problems which exist specifically in a PCM telephone system.


This study compared three reading tests commonly used in research for screening, descriptive, and educational purposes with alcohol and other drug-abusing individuals. To that end, 82 male and 41 female substance abusers were administered the Slosson Oral Reading Test-Revised, Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised, and the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised in random order. Results revealed that the tests have high concurrent validity, provide approximately the same grade-equivalent level scores, and yield raw scores that, when standardized, do not differ significantly from one another. However, if used for screening purposes, the three tests result in different proportions of subjects meeting specified criteria, particularly at lower grade levels. Specific test selection depends on the purpose of testing. For example, when the entire range of possible scores is of interest, the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised has a distinct advantage, because it has the widest range of grade-equivalent levels. Other considerations for test selection are discussed.


Incidence rates of infections caused by environmental opportunistic fungi have risen over recent decades. Aspergillus species have emerged as serious threat for the immunecompromised, and detailed knowledge about virulence-determining traits is crucial for drug target identification. As a prime saprobe, A. fumigatus has evolved to efficiently adapt to various stresses and to sustain nutritional supply by osmotrophy, which is characterized by extracellular substrate digestion followed by efficient uptake of breakdown products that are then fed into the fungal primary metabolism. These intrinsic metabolic features are believed to be related with its virulence ability. The plethora of genes that encode underlying effectors has hampered their in-depth analysis with respect to pathogenesis. Recent developments in Aspergillus molecular biology allow conditional gene expression or comprehensive targeting of gene families to cope with redundancy. Furthermore, identification of essential genes that are intrinsically connected to virulence opens accurate perspectives for novel targets in antifungal therapy.


Melita Ulbl, Martin Smodiš | PRENOVA SISTEMA MNOŽIČNEGA VREDNOTENJA NEPREMIČNIN V SLOVENIJI | RENOVATION OF THE REAL PROPERTY MASS VALUATION SYSTEM IN SLOVENIA | 325-343 | real estates, mass valuation, valuation units, special circumstances, valuation models, impact on value, ZMVN-1 This paper presents the effects of the International Monetary Fund's audit report, which triggered changes in the mass valuation system and the creation of a uniform property tax. A comparison of the content of the mass valuation laws from 2006 and the update from 2018 is made. Presented are also three databases: the established real estate market register (ETN), the register of evaluation models (EMV), which replaces the existing property valuation database (ZVN), and a completely new evaluation register (EV). The key changes brought by ZMVN-1 (2017) are the introduction of the concept of a valuation unit, the possibility for owners to influence generalized real estate market value, greater transparency, new models with new value calculation formulas, and a new valuation register. The article presents the essential innovations of the new law and new models of evaluation.


This paper studies the unintended consequences of failure-to-pay (FTP) driver's license suspensions. Unlike other traffic enforcement papers which focus on the public benefit to increases in enforcement we focus on the private returns. Drawing on a unique administrative dataset and institutional features that result in as-good-as random assignment of FTP suspension we estimate the effect of these suspensions on the probability a driver receives additional tickets. We find that financial penalties and FTP suspensions reduce the probability of reoffence for White drivers. However, among Black drivers' financial penalties have no effect and FTP suspension increases the probability of reoffence by six to nine percentage points. A series of additional analyses fail to produce evidence of racial differences in driver's response to FTP suspension, leading us to conclude that following suspension drivers make behavioral adjustments to minimize the probability of future tickets. However, these behavioral adjustments are only effective for White drivers. JEL Codes: K1, K40, K42, J15


Abstract An idealized model of a vortex interacting with an initially straight frontal zone is developed. The nondivergent vortex flow is a smoothly varying analog to a Rankine Combined Vortex. Local advection and frontogenesis are calculated analytically at the initial time and used to approximate the temporal evolution of the system, during its early phases. Intuition suggests that the maximum deformation of the frontal zone should occur near the radius of maximum winds. Results confirm our intuition, but also provide insight into how frontogenesis proceeds in a real vortex. The calculations yield patterns surprisingly similar to observations of vortex interactions with zones of high gradient on several scales, and seem to explain the compelling similarities between observed vortex phenomena on widely different scales.


We study the panel DOLS estimator of a homogeneous cointegration vector for a balanced panel of N individuals observed over T time periods. Allowable heterogeneity across individuals include individual-specific time trends, individual-specific fixed effects and time-specific effects. The estimator is fully parametric, computationally convenient, and more precise than the single equation estimator. For fixed N as T approaches infinity, the estimator converges to a function of Brownian motions and the Wald statistic for testing a set of linear constraints has a limiting chi-square distribution. The estimator also has a Gaussian sequential limit distribution that is obtained first by letting T go to infinity then letting N go to infinity. In a series of Monte Carlo experiments, we find that the asymptotic distribution theory provides a reasonably close approximation to the exact finite sample distribution. We use panel dynamic OLS to estimate coefficients of the long-run money demand function from a panel of 19 countries with annual observations that span from 1957 to 1996. The estimated income elasticity is 1.08 (asymptotic s.e.=0.26) and the estimated interest rate semi-elasticity is -0.02 (asymptotic s.e.=0.01).


Objective: N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), a mucolytic drug with insulin sensitizing properties, has been proved useful as an adjuvant therapy in subjects with infertility due to anovulation associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome The objective of the present study is to determine the possible beneficial effect of NAC and to develop a rationale to its use in such cases as an adjunct to clomiphene citrate (CC) which remains the gold standard for ovulation induction. Material and Methods: In this placebo-controlled clinical study, 90 patients with anovulatory PCOS related infertility were randomly divided into two groups for induction of ovulation. Patients in group 1 received CC 50/day for 5 days plus NAC 1.2g/d and patients in group 2 received CC only for 5days starting at day 3 of the cycle. On the 12th day of the menstrual cycle in the presence of at least one follicle with an 18 diameter in ultrasound evaluation, 5000U hCG was injected intramuscularly and timed intercourse was advised 36h after hCG injection. Serum β-hCG level was measured on the 16th day after hCG injection. Results: The number of follicles >18mm and the mean endometrial thickness on the day of hCG administration were significantly higher among the CC+NAC group (P-value=0.001). The ovulation and pregnancy rates were also significantly higher in the CC+NAC group (P-value=0.02 and 0.001, respectively). No adverse side-effects and no cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome were observed in the group receiving NAC. Conclusion: NAC as an adjuvant to CC for induction of ovulation can improve the ovulation and pregnancy rates in PCOS patients and may also have some beneficial impacts on endometrial thickness. NAC is well-tolerated, safe, and inexpensive and may be a novel adjuvant treatment to improve the induction of ovulation outcomes in PCOS patients.


The polarization of radar antenna vary with scan direction. This phenomenon is called Spatial Polarization Characteristic (SPC) of antenna. Based on the SPC of single polarized antenna, a novel polarization estimation method is established. Comparing with the traditional estimation method, this one has the following advantages: (i) It does not need dual-polarization channels to estimate the signal polarization; (ii) The polarization and angle of arriving(AOA) of a periodic signal can be estimated simultaneously; (iii) The full-polarization pattern of the antenna can be matched automatically during the estimation. The feasibility of this method is proved by simulation.


The Researcher has made an attempt to find out the usages and effectiveness of INFLIBNET N-LIST Programme of senior collage libraries in Kolhapur city Affiliated to Shivaji University. The study focused on to know awareness about INFLIBNET N-LIST the faculty consortium and evaluate satisfaction level of faculty and students while using N-LIST consortium. Data were collected from 70 respondents using structured questionnaire. Results indicate that mostly respondents used N-LIST programme. Keywords: INFLIBNET, N-LIST, UGC-INFONET, INDEST-AICTE. Cite this Article Nagu N. Bansode, Navanath V. Burungale. Usages & Effectiveness of INFLIBNET N-LIST Programme: A Study. Journal of Advancements in Library Sciences. 2019; 6(Special Issue 1): 272s–278s.


To the Editor: We read with interest the recent article entitled "Pharmacokinetic study of intravitreal aflibercept in humans with neovascular age-related macular degeneration" by Do et al.1 With the exception of an earlier (uncited) abstract by two of the authors (D.V. Do and Q.D. Nguyen),2 there have been virtually no experimental data publicly available on the pharmacokinetics of aflibercept in human eyes. After carefully reviewing Table 1, we believe that the reported median concentrations contain multiple errors, and the half-life value of 11 days derived from them is incorrect. The erroneous median values apparently resulted from inclusion of the time points along with the concentrations. Using the five individual subjects' data reported in Table 1, we recalculated the median values for each time point and obtained the following: 0, 104, 65.9, 51.5, 42.0, 20.3, and 9.35 mg/L, shown in the semilogarithmic plot (Figure 1). Fitting these data to an exponential function (noncompartmental analysis, Certara Phoenix software v. 6.4) yielded a decay rate of 0.072 day21 and a corresponding half-life of 9.6 days. Similarly, an noncompartmental analysis half-life of 9.5 days was obtained using the mean concentration data. Noncompartmental analysis of individual data showed high intersubject variability, with half-life estimates ranging from 3.7 days to 13.2 days (median and mean: 8.8 days). In aggregate, our analyses suggest that the correct ocular half-life of aflibercept in the human eye is circa 9 days, consistent with what Do and Nguyen2 reported in their earlier published abstract. In view of the importance of the ocular half-life as a factor in determining the duration of biological and clinical effects after intravitreal injection,3 it is important to obtain and report accurate pharmacokinetic data on such ophthalmic products. Although the experimental study by Do et al1 seems to have been well designed and performed, the analysis and conclusions reported in the article are flawed. We hope the authors will also perform a reanalysis of their data and correct this.


Author(s): Lin, Athena | Advisor(s): Marshall, Wallace F | Abstract: Cells need to be able to regenerate their parts to recover from external perturbations. The unicellular ciliate Stentor coeruleus is an excellent model organism to study wound healing and subsequent cell regeneration. The Stentor genome became available recently, along with modern molecular biology methods, such as RNAi. These tools make it possible to study single-cell regeneration at the molecular level. The first section of the protocol covers establishing Stentor cell cultures from single cells or cell fragments, along with general guidelines for maintaining Stentor cultures. Culturing Stentor in large quantities allows for the use of valuable tools like biochemistry, sequencing, and mass spectrometry. Subsequent sections of the protocol cover different approaches to inducing regeneration in Stentor. Manually cutting cells with a glass needle allows studying the regeneration of large cell parts, while treating cells with either sucrose or urea allows studying the regeneration of specific structures located at the anterior end of the cell. A method for imaging individual regenerating cells is provided, along with a rubric for staging and analyzing the dynamics of regeneration. The entire process of regeneration is divided in three stages. By visualizing the dynamics of the progression of a population of cells through the stages, the heterogeneity in regeneration timing is demonstrated. The molecular mechanism for how Stentor regenerates is a complete mystery, however, the process of regeneration shows striking similarities to the process of cell division. On a morphological level, the process of creating a second mouth in division or a new oral apparatus in regeneration have the same steps and occur in the same order. On the transcriptional level, genes encoding elements of the cell division and cell cycle regulatory machinery, including Aurora kinases, are differentially expressed during regeneration. This suggests that there may be some common regulatory mechanisms involved in both regeneration and cell division. If the cell cycle machinery really does play a role in regeneration, then inhibition of proteins that regulate the timing of cell division may also affect the timing of regeneration in Stentor. Here we show that two well-characterized Aurora kinase A+B inhibitors that affect the timing of regeneration. ZM447439 slows down regeneration by at least one hour. PF03814735 completely suppresses regeneration until the drug is removed. Here we provide the first direct experimental evidence that Stentor may harness the cell division machinery to regulate the sequential process of regeneration. Despite its conservation through many species, Vault's function as a ribonucleic protein remains unknown. Many theories including signaling, immunity, and drug resistance have been questioned. Here we explored their role in Stentor. Knockdown of vaults have no effect on regeneration in Stentor. Knockdown of vaults did not increase sensitivity to holospora, a ciliate parasite. Stentor coeruleus is a useful model organism to study single-cell regeneration. They have a distinctive cell shape and large size. They can stretch to 1mm in length. At their anterior end, they have a membranellar band consisting of tightly woven layers of long cilia that beat in synchrony. They have an oral apparatus where they phagocytose unfortunate microorganisms caught in their flow. On the posterior end, they have a holdfast to attach themselves to underwater surfaces (Figure one). And, when cut in half, they can regenerate. The process of regeneration takes eight hours and their transcriptome during regeneration has been characterized. The next step to understanding their regeneration is to have an account of proteins so that we can see the building blocks of Stentor. Because of the size of Stentor, we are able to dissect them into parts and look for enrichment and depletion of proteins in each part. We analyzed over 4000 proteins, providing an inventory of proteins that Stentor will use for regeneration, as well as the proteins required to make a new membranellar band.


Epileptic seizures require differential diagnosis with other paroxysmal conditions, including metabolic seizures. A variety of electrolyte changes can result in central nervous system dysfunction, including that as convulsive seizures. The paper describes electrolyte disorders leading to seizures, as well as their clinical features. It separately presents the  syndromes accompanied by hypocalcemia, in which there may be  convulsive paroxysms. The paper describes three clinical cases of  hypocalcemic seizures. It gives recommendations for the diagnosis and  management of patients with suspected metabolic seizures.


Abstract An observational study on the motion of the uneven structure on the surface of convective clouds is carried out using a lime-lapse video recorder. The development of the uneven structure shows that the mixing near the cloud-environmental interface occurs through outward motion of the projected part (turret) and inward motion of the depressed part, which are quite different from the winding billowlike motion. The theory presented here predicts the growth direction of the turret in its growing stage. Namely, two angles, one between a vertical line and the growing direction of the turret (=α) and the other between the normal to the mean cloud surface at the place of the turret and the growing direction of the turret (=β), are equal (α = β). Nine turrets are selected from three cumuli to compare the observation with the prediction, and a reasonable result was obtained. Average values of 2α/(α + β) and 2β/(α + β) over the nine samples are 1.11 and 0.89, respectively, with the standard deviation 0.26.


This paper addresses issues related to output feedback control, including sensor placement, for a model of an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle. The model presents a number of control challenges, in particular because of strong couplings between the propulsive and aerodynamic forces. Because of the vehicle's low weight, slenderness, and length, the vehicle's flexibility has a large impact on stability and control of the vehicle. Two output feedback control methods are developed. One applies reconstruction of the flexible body system states, toward applications of state feedback control. The other uses a robust design that does not rely on an observer to ensure stabilization and performance throughout a given flight envelope. A rate gyroscope and an accelerometer have been modeled, incorporating the flexible effects, and strategies for sensor placement have been developed for the hypersonic vehicle model to enhance observability or to preserve certain system structures that are favorable for robust control design. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the sensor placement strategies and output feedback control performances.


SummaryIn vitro plants of lemon grass were established, starting from shoot apices derived from plants cultivated under field conditions. The effect of the immersion frequency (two, four, and six immersions per day) on the production of biomass in temporary immersion systems (TIS) of 1 liter capacity was studied. The highest multiplication coefficient (12.3) was obtained when six immersions per day were used. The maximum values of fresh weight (FW; 62.2 and 66.2 g) were obtained with a frequency of four and six immersions per day, respectively. However, the values for dry weight (DW; 6.4g) and height (8.97cm) were greater in the treatment with four immersions per day. The TIS used in this work for the production of lemon grass biomass may offer the possibility of manipulating the culture parameters, which can influence the production of biomass and the accumulation of secondary metabolites. We describe for the first time the in vitro production of Cymbopogon citratus biomass in TIS.


To assess the effect of environmental factors on the sustainability of cultured production shellfish, we investigated the habitat characteristics of tidal flat (Namhae-po in Taean). We measured the physiochemical parameters (temperature, salanity, pH, dissolved oxygen and nutrients) and the geochemical characteristics (chemical oxygen demand, ignition loss, C/N ratio and C/S ratio). Surface sediments were collected from several site of tidal flat to examine the geochemical characteristics of both the benthic environment and heavy metal pollution. The grain size for research area of tidal flat were similar at the ratio of silt and clay in comparison with the other site of it. The C/N ratio was more than 5.0, reflecting the range arising from the mix of marine organism and organic matter. The C/S ratio (about 2.8) showed that survey area had anoxic or sub-anoxic bottom conditions. The enrichment factor (Ef) and index of accumulation rate (Igeo) of the metals showed that those research areas can be classified as heavily polluted, heavily to moderately polluted, or more or less unpolluted, respectively. Adult surf clam (Mactra veneriformis) density was highest at St. 2 (middle part of the Namhae-po), on the other hand, surf clam spat density was highest at St. 3 (lower part of the Namhae-po). Heavy rain, terrigenous suspended clay with fresh water from neighboring agricultural land, and severe high air temperature during summer could be thought as detrimental causes of spat and adult mortality in Namhae-po tidal flat. We suggested that the growth of shellfish in the tidal flat was effected by the various environmental conditions, so an improvement in the cultured method was needed.


This paper reports a life evaluation method for a carbon monoxide (CO) shift process in the steam reforming process for PAFC. A CO shift reactor simulation was developed to evaluate the whole performance of the CO shift process. The calculation results of the simulation almost coincide with the experimental data obtained from a demonstration plant. By evaluating and grasping the sintering trend of the catalyst, and by simulation calculation of the reactor, it became possible to evaluate the performance at targeted operation hours.


The lattice structure two-channel orthogonal filter bank structurally guarantees the perfect reconstruction (PR) property. Thus, it is eminently suitable for hardware realization even under severe coefficient quantization condition. Nevertheless, its frequency response is still adversely affected by coefficient quantization. In this paper, a novel recursive-in-width depth-first tree search technique is presented for the design of lattice structure PR orthogonal filter banks subject to discrete coefficient value constraint. A frequency-response deterioration measure is developed to serve as a branching criterion. At any node, the coefficient which will cause the largest deterioration in the frequency response of the filter when quantized is selected for branching. The improvement in the frequency response ripple magnitude achieved by our algorithm over that by simple rounding of coefficient values differs widely from example to example ranging from a fraction of a decibel to over 10 dB.


This paper describes a novel controller for a High Temperature Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (HTS-SMES) that can ensure (a) fast return of energy to the superconducting coil under constant current mode and (b) a constant and sinusoidal input supply current irrespective of the varying load demand with and without harmonics. A special feature of this controller is its ability to smoothly charge the superconducting coil using constant current charging so that it can be ready for the next discharging operation as soon as possible. Analysis of the circuit operation under hysteresis control is presented in details. Simulation and experimental results are presented demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed power conditioning system.


Summary Statement This study assesses the service provision of viscosupplementation within an NHS (British National Health System) hospital. The results of this study show long term efficacy of the treatment, when provided by a dedicated, orthopaedic unit. Introduction The service provision of viscosupplementation for osteoarthritis within the National Health System (NHS) remains controversial. The treatment was recommended in the 2007 NICE guidelines but support was withdrawn the following year. Furthermore, whether it should be provided by orthopaedic surgeons or in primary care is also a matter of debate. St Helens and Knowsley Trust, runs an orthopaedic outpatient clinic dedicated to the administration of viscosupplementation to patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. This study aims to assess the efficacy of viscosupplementation for knee osteoarthritis when that is provided by a highly specialised, orthopaedic, dedicated service Patients and Methods Between January 2011 and June 2011, 103 patients underwent Ostenil® intra articular knee injections in our clinic. The viscosupplement used is Ostenil®, a 20mg/2ml sodium hyaluronate as an isotonic solution contained in a single syringe. Patients are given a regimen of 3 × 20mg/2ml Ostenil® injections. The time interval between injections is two weeks. They were all given a "pain diary" and were asked to document their pain score on a Visual Analogue Scale (from 0 to 10), prior to the treatment, the day of procedure and up to 3 months after the procedure. 72 patients (M:F 34:38, Mean age: 60.3 years) participated in the study (Right knee 31, Left 22 and Bilateral 19). Mean pre treatment and post treatment score amongst all patients were calculated up to three months post treatment. Results Results show a continuous decreasing trend in pain scores up to three months after the procedure. Indicatively, mean pre treatment pain score was 6.88, mean pain score on day 3 (2 days post first injection) is 4.89, mean pain score on Day 31 (2 days after 3rd injection) is 4.37. Pain levels are maintained low at Week 6 after treatment (4.43) and Month 3 (4.37). A small peak in pain score was identified up to 48hrs after the injections but that has been already identified in current literature as a result of short term inflammation due to the injection process. Conclusion Viscosupplementation for knee osteoarthritis is an efficient treatment when provided by an orthopaedic, dedicated service. The duration of the reduction in pain with a three injection course is at least 3 months. This study also demonstrates that an overall 3 injection course with a time interval of 2 weeks between injections is sufficient to produce long lasting results.


The article contributes to the discussion on the informal economic activity in post-socialist countries. Quite often this activity is related to state regulation. We provide evidence from rural Russia suggesting that state shirking also can give rise to informal economic relations. Empirical data from Altai Krai show that informal transfers from farms to rural municipalities are used to provide rural social sector. Despite the collapse of socialist agricultural system, when rural communities existed under patronage of collective farms, substantial part of the privately owned post-Soviet farms still donate to rural municipalities and population. The article is based on the fieldwork conducted in Altai Krai in 2013 when qualitative data (informal interviews, group discussions, observations) were collected by the author and his colleagues. Gift-giving relations between agricultural producers and municipalities could be described as "natural" bottom-up pattern. We perceive these Soviet-style gift-giving relations as the way to mitigate the weaknesses both of the Russian state rural policy as well as market self-regulation mechanism. Despite it could slow down economic performance of farms, it is the way to prevent rural degradation and depopulation.


Spore germination of some fungi was studied in EMF-tieated water samples. Water samples were exposed to 9.575 GHz microwave modulated with square waves of different pulse repetition frequencies. The study indicates varying inhibitory effects of different modulation frequencies on spore germination of Alternaria alternata, A. tenuissima, Fusarium udum, Helmin thosorium oryzae, H. turcicum, and Ustilago cynodontis. The pulse repetition frequency-dependent variation in spore germination caused by irradiated water illustrates that water may have the capability to store EMF frequency effects. EMF-treated water might have caused the effect by either changing the activities of and/or deactivating the spore enzymes.


A scaling model of the concentration profiles of both condensed and free counterions is presented for solutions of spherical and cylindrical charged nanoparticles of different charge valences, nanoparticle sizes, and salt concentrations. The distribution of counterions for both spherical and cylindrical charged particles in salt-free solutions is determined by the condensation parameter γ0 defined as the ratio of nanoparticle valence Z0 to the number of Bjerrum lengths lB = e2/(εkT) per nanoparticle size (γ0 = Z0lB/(2r0) for spherical nanoparticles with radii r0 or γ0 = Z0lB/L for cylindrical particles with length L), where ε is solution dielectric permittivity, e is elementary charge and kT is thermal energy. Depending on the magnitudes of the condensation parameter γ0 and nanoparticle volume fraction ϕ, we find three qualitatively different regimes for the counterion distribution near charged particles: (i) weakly charged particles with no condensed counterions, (ii) regime of weak counterion condensation with less than half of the counterions condensed, and (iii) regime of strong counterion condensation with the majority of counterions condensed. The magnitude of electrostatic energy of a condensed counterion with respect to solution locations with zero electric field is larger than thermal energy kT, and the fraction of condensed counterions increases from less than half in the weak condensation regime to the majority of all counterions in the strong condensation regime. The condensed counterions are not bound to the nanoparticle surface but instead are localized within the condensed counterion zone near the charged particle. The thickness of the condensed counterion zone varies with the condensation parameter γ0, the nanoparticle shape and volume fraction ϕ, and the salt concentration and can be as narrow as Bjerrum length (∼nm) or as large as the particle size (∼L the length of charged cylinder).


From the beginning of studies on the behavior of the avocado flower by Nirody (7) and Stout (10), considerable attention has been focused on the role of bees in avocado pollination and fertilization. Nirody's and Stout's studies clearly showed that the avocado flower undergoes a dual opening cycle —stage I, the first opening or female stage when the stigma is receptive, and stage II, the second opening or male stage when pollen is shed. They also found that in some varieties (type A) stage I occurs in the A.M. and stage II occurs in the P.M. of the following day. In another group (type B) the flowers function as females in the P.M. and as males the following A.M. In view of his studies on the avocado flower, (11) recommended the use of bees to facilitate cross pollination and thus increase the fruit set of avocados.


Background and Purpose: Elevated production of BAFF seemed to be involved in the development of autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's syndrome (SS). We have demonstrated that BAFF and IL-6 were abnormally produced in SS monocytes upon stimulation with IFN-gamma. In the present study, we investigated a regulatory mechanism of the production of these cytokines in SS monocytes. Materials and Methods: Peripheral monocytes prepared from SS patients and normal individuals were stimulated with IFN-gamma or soluble BAFF (sBAFF). The expression levels of sBAFF, IL-6 and transcription factors were analyzed by ELISA and/or semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Results and Discussion: IFN-gamma induced the production of sBAFF and IL-6 in SS monocytes. The production of IL-6 in SS monocytes was significantly suppressed by an anti-BAFF antibody or rBAFF receptor. In addition, stimulation of SS monocytes with sBAFF induced robust increase in the production of IL-6. Moreover, expression of BAFF receptor was also enhanced in SS monocytes upon stimulation. These data suggest that the production of IL-6 in monocytes is induced partly through a signal transduction pathway triggered by sBAFF. We found that the expression levels of several transcription factors, such as NF-kB2 and NF-IL-6, were aberrantly elevated in SS monocytes. These data strongly suggest that sBAFF produced in monocytes activates the expression of IL-6, and that signal transduction triggered by sBAFF may be impaired in SS monocytes.


In this paper, it was proposed a method of forming on-chip high precision resistors in the CMOS technology from active devices. The high precision resistor, which is composed of three NMOS FETs with controllable gate voltage. The simulation results, using Cadence's SPECTRE software and TSMC's library of 0.25 μm CMOS mixed model, indicate that the on-chip high precision resistors could be used to terminate the USB cable in a matching impedance of 45 ohms.


The light-cone Fock representation encodes the bound-state quark and gluon properties of hadrons, including their helicity and flavor correlations, in terms of universal process-independent and frame-independent wavefunctions. It also provides a physical factorization scheme for separating hard and soft contributions in both exclusive and inclusive hard processes. A new type of jet production reaction, self-resolving diffractive interactions can provide direct information on the light-cone wavefunctions of hadrons in terms of their QCD degrees of freedom as well as the composition of nuclei in terms of their nucleon and mesonic degrees of freedom.


In this letter, we propose a novel algorithm for reconstructing unreliable spectrographic data, a method applicable to missing feature-based automatic speech recognition (ASR). We provide quantitative analysis illustrating the high compressibility of spectrographic speech data. The existence of sparse representations for spectrographic data motivates the spectral reconstruction solution to be posed as an optimization problem minimizing the lscr1-norm. When applied to the Aurora-2 database, the proposed missing feature estimation algorithm is shown to provide significant improvements in recognition accuracy relative to the baseline MFCC system. Even without an oracle mask, performance approaches that of the ETSI advanced front end (AFE) , with less complexity.


Most of researches for large-scale parallel structural analysis have focused on iterative solution methods since direct solution methods generally have many difficulties and disadvantages for large-scale problems. However, due to the numerical robustness of direct methods that guarantees the solution to be obtained within estimated time, direct methods are much more desirable for general application of large-scale structural analysis, if the difficulties and disadvantages can be overcome. In this research, we propose the domain-wise multifrontal solver as an efficient direct solver that can overcome most of these difficulties and disadvantages. By using our own structural analysis code IPSAP which uses the proposed solver, we can solve the largest problem ever solved by direct solvers and can sustain 191 Gflop/s with 256 CPUs on our self-made cluster system, Pegasus. By implementing the block Lanczos algorithm using our solver, IPSAP can solve eigen problems with 7 millions of DOFs within one hour.


We report the design and performance characteristics of GaAs-based low-power phototransceivers which offer large optical gain and very low power dissipation. In these monolithically integrated circuits we have integrated modulated barrier photodiodes with quantum dot-based microcavity LEDs. Quantum dots promise higher quantum efficiency, higher power, together with a more directed emission profile.


In this paper, we present a method of pattern recognition based on obtaining the photoanisotropic copies of object images. Such copies are induced on the dynamic polarization-sensitive material when the amplitude image of the object formed by a spatial light modulator is transilluminated by linearly polarized light with a wavelength actinic for the used material. In this case, the distribution of the intensities over the amplitude image is converted into the distribution of photoanisotropy over the sample of a polarization-sensitive material. In the recognition process, this copy is illuminated by parallel circularly polarized nonactinic light. The distribution of elliptical polarization occurs directly behind the photoanisotropic copy, and it is reduced to a summary ellipse in the Fraunhofer diffraction region. It has been shown that the parameters of this ellipse are related to the characteristics of the object and uniquely identify the initial object. The polarization-holographic diffraction element that we developed enables determining the polarization state of a summary ellipse to obtain all the Stokes parameters in real time. The obtained results were compared with the Stokes parameters of the recognizable object in the database. The method invariance with regard to the position, scale, and rotation of the pattern were investigated. In addition, the resolution and sensitivity of this method were determined. The polarization-sensitive materials used to obtain copies are reversible, with practically an unlimited number of recording-deleting cycles. To obtain a photoanisotropic copy of another object on the same material, the previous copy should be deleted with a pulse of circularly polarized actinic light, and then the next copy can be recorded. A laboratory model of the recognition device and the appropriate software were created, and a theoretical model was developed. Databases were obtained for the images of various objects.


Abstract We investigate the effect of dipole-dipole and quadrapolequadrapole interaction of a weakly interacting Bose gas near the transition temperature on the energy spectra of the thermal and condensate parts. We use the two fluid model and mean field approximation. We show that the effects of the condensate part on the shift of energy is greater than the case of contact potential


We extend our model of chemical evolution that successfully account for the main observables in the solar neighborhood (Alibes, Labay & Canal 2001) to the whole Milky Way halo and disk. We assume an inside-out scenario for the assembling of the Galaxy through the infall of external material. Two different compositions of the infalling material have been considered: primordial and slightly metal-enriched (0.1 Z_{\sun}). Our calculations follow the evolution of 76 isotopes up to the Iron peak, but we only present here results for the elements having well-measured gradients: C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Al, Si, S, Ar and Fe. The calculated current radial distributions of these elements are compared with large samples of data from HII regions, B stars, planetary nebulae and open clusters. We also discuss the time evolution of the abundance gradients. Good fits are achieved with both infall compositions, closer to the observational data in the case of primordial infall. We show that contributions from intermediate-mass stars allow to reproduce the measured abundances of C and N, but the profiles of their ratios to oxygen leave still open the nucleosynthetic origin of these elements. In agreement with several previous works, our models predict a flattening with time of the abundance gradients, most of which taking place during the early galactic evolution.


Several dihydridoborate group 7 metal complexes have been synthesized and their structural aspects have been described from various N,S-, N,N-, and N,O-chelated borate species, such as Na[(H3B)mp] (mp = 2-mercaptopyridyl), Na[(H3B)amt] (amt = 2-amino-5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazolyl), Na[(H3B)hp] (hp = 2-hydroxypyridyl), Na[(H2B)bap] (bap = bis(2-aminopyridyl)), and Na[(H2B)bdap] (bdap = bis(2,6-diaminopyridyl)). Room temperature photolysis of [M2(CO)10] (M = Mn or Re) with these borate species afforded dihydridoborate complexes [(CO)3M(μ-H)2BHL] 1-6 (1, M = Mn, L = mp; 2, M = Re, L = mp; 3, M = Mn, L = amt; 4, M = Mn, L = hp; 5, M = Mn, L = ap; 6, M = Mn, L = dap, ap = 2-aminopyridyl, dap = 2,6-diaminopyridyl). In complexes 1-3, the corresponding (H2BHL) units are coordinated to the metal centers through the (κ3-H,H,S) mode. However, in complexes 4 and 5 (or 6), the connection is via (κ3-H,H,O) and (κ3-H,H,N) modes of coordination, respectively. Complexes 1 and 5 underwent hydroboration reactions with terminal alkynes that yielded trans-hydroborated species [Mn(CO)3(μ-H)2(NC5H4E)B(PhC═CH2)] (7, E = S; 8, E = NH). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out to investigate the electronic structures of these dihydridoborate species as well as the nature of bonding in them.


Predicting violent activity with a youth violence profile in schools raises a host of legal concerns focusing on the validity and use of profiles as social science evidence: the impact of potential discrimination, search and seizure, and the implications for privacy. Schools differ from airports or other settings where profiles are used. Profiles are useful if they properly establish reasonable suspicion to stop an individual. They raise more problematic constitutional issues when they support referring a student to alternative educational services. Where a profile identifies students based on race, gender, or proxies for these characteristics, it is invalid. It can also be invalid if it is not a reasonable method of achieving the government's interest in safe schools. In addition, profiles present significant problems for confidentiality. These issues rest on fundamental concerns about the general validity of profiles as scientific tools: their objectivity, accuracy, sensitivity, overinclusiveness, and general scientific acceptance. Consequently, the use of profiles in a school setting is highly problematic and controversial. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


An examination is made of the degree of scaling observed in inclusive pion production from high energy nuclear collisions. While apparent scaling does occur for forward pion production, the scaling limit is not reached in backward ..pi.. production between 0.7--8 GeV/nucleon. We show that the shapes of the pion inclusive cross sections in both the forward and backward directions can be explained by a simple, hard scattering model employing elementary proton-proton ..pi.. production rates, or alternatively, in terms of elementary proton-light cluster ..pi.. production rates. The essential features of this model are an invariant parametrization of the elementary subprocess, the proper handling of kinematical effects, and the use of a long-tailed internal momentum distribution function for nucleons or clusters. We find that much of the ''apparent'' scaling in the forward direction can be attributed to kinematical effects. The importance of final state interactions on the interpretation of the internal momentum (Fermi) distribution is emphasized, and the connection to quasi-two-body scaling is examined.


This research aimed at extracting and characterizing the phytochemistry of the essencial oils from Spondias mombin L. (Cajá), Spondias purpurea L. (Ciriguela) e Spondias sp (Cajarana do sertão). We selected five vigorous and healthy trees located in the city of Patos, PB. The leaves were collected and taken to Natural Products Research Lab (NPRL) in the Regional University of Cariri URCA in the city of Crato, CE. The extraction method was the steam-dragging distillation through a Clevenger extractor. The chemical analysis of the oils were done by means of a Shimadzu spectrometer. The greatest components found in the Cajá essential oil were: octadecane (43.51%), heptacosane (21.98%) e hexatriacontane (15.37%); the predominant substances in the Cajarana do sertão oil were: Octadecane (31.5%), Indene (22.53%) and tetraacantane (10.51%), and in the Ciriguela, there were: heptacosane (28,80%), nonadecane (19,47%) e tetracosane (17.02%). Among the terpenes, we emphasize the βcaryophyllene (Cajá e Cajarana do sertão) e o α-humuleno (Ciriguela), that present important antimicrobial action. In the Cajarana do sertão, we identified the phytol, known for enhancing the tenacity and balancing the flow of skin natural oil, causing great anti-aging benefits.


Abstract This wide-ranging conversation with Black cultural theorist Saidiya Hartman—occasioned by the twenty-fifth anniversary of her groundbreaking first book, Scenes of Subjection, to be republished this year in an edition by Norton—explores the author's shifting approaches to the visual over time, the limitations and potentialities of the archive for its discontents, and the models she has both turned to and herself invented—most notably the concept of "critical fabulation"—in the ongoing attempt to find ethical modes of engaging African/Diasporic life, thought, and form in an anti-Black world.


This paper proposes a new method of ranking near-synonyms ordered by their suitability of nuances in a particular context. Our method distincts near-synonyms by semantic features extracted from their definition statements in an ordinary dictionary, and ranks them by the types of features and a particular context. Our method is an initial step to achieve a semantic paraphrase system for authoring support.


The aim of this study was to measure the area of the coronary ostia, assess their localization in the coronary sinuses and to determine the morphology of the stem of the left and right coronary arteries in the domestic shorthair cat. The study was conducted on 100 hearts of domestic shorthair cats of both sexes, aged 2–18 years, with an average body weight of 4.05 kg. A morphometric analysis of the coronary ostia was carried out on 52 hearts. The remaining 48 hearts were injected with a casting material in order to carry out a morphological assessment of the left and right coronary arteries. In all the studied animals, the surface of the left coronary artery ostium was larger than the surface of the right coronary artery ostium. There were four types of the left main coronary artery: type I (23 animals, 49%)–double-branched left main stem (giving off the left circumflex branch and the interventricular paraconal branch, which in turn gave off the septal branch), type II (12 animals, 26%)–double-branched left main stem (giving off the left circumflex branch and the interventricular paraconal branch without the septal branch), type III (11 animals, 23%)–triple-branched left main stem (giving off the left circumflex branch, interventricular branch and the septal branch, type IV (1 animal, 2%)–double-branched left main stem (giving off the interventricular paraconal branch and the left circumflex branch, which in turn gave off the septal branch). The left coronary artery ostium is greater than the right one. There is considerable diversity in the branches of proximal segment of the left coronary artery, while the right coronary artery is more conservative. These results can be useful in defining the optimal strategies in the endovascular procedures involving the coronary arteries or the aortic valve in the domestic shorthair cat.


Some patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) have high serum thyroglobulin (Tg) levels although no evidence of disease can be detected on radioiodine scanning or other imaging methods. The aim of this study is to determine whether a gradient exists between the Tg levels of venous samples adjacent to primary tumour and systemic circulation. Twenty-six patients underwent thyroidectomy and/or lymph node dissection for primary and recurrent DTC. To detect Tg levels, blood samples were concurrently collected via venipuncture from the internal jugular vein adjacent to the tumor and ipsilateral antecubital vein. Serum Tg level was measured by a chemiluminescence assay. Tg levels were significantly higher in the adjacent internal jugular vein compared to the ipsilateral antecubital vein (p=0.001). The ratio of mean Tg values was higher 2.4-fold in the internal jugular vein than antecubital vein (median Tg ratio: 2.0:1; range, 0.7-29.6). Documentation of a venous gradient in Tg levels in patients with DTC is a new investigational topic. According to the results of this prospective study, venous sampling for Tg may be a useful tool to localize recurrent or perhaps persistent DTC in the neck for patients who have no detectable disease on radioiodine scans or other imaging studies.


Background The allergic reaction occurring primarily in the nasal mucosa can induce a secondary conjunctival response of an immediate (SICR), late (SLCR), or delayed (SDYCR) type in some patients with allergic conjunctivitis (AC). Objectives To investigate the concentration changes of histamine, tryptase, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN), leukotrienes (LTB 4, LTC4, LTE4), myeloperoxidase (MPO), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and interleukins (IL-2, IL-4, IL-5) in tears during the SICR, SLCR, and SDYCR. Methods In 32 patients with AC, 11 SICR (p<0.01), 13 SLCR (p<0.001), and eight SDYCR (p<0.01) to nasal challenges with allergens (NPTs), the NPTs and 32 control tests with PBS were repeated and supplemented with the determination of these factors in tears. Results The SICRs were associated with significant concentration changes in tears (p<0.05) of histamine, tryptase, ECP, LTC4, and IL-4. The SLCRs were accompanied by significant changes in concentrations of histamine, ECP, LTB4, LTC4, MPO, IL-4, and IL-5. The SDYCRs were associated with significant concentration changes in tears (p<0.05) of LTB4, MPO, IFN-γ, and IL-2. No significant changes in these factors were recorded in tears during the 32 PBS controls (p>0.1) or in the ten control patients (p>0.1). Conclusions These results provide evidence for causal involvement of nasal allergy in some patients with AC, inducing secondary conjunctival response of immediate (SICR), late SLCR, or delayed SDYCR type, associated with different mediator, cytokine, and cellular profiles in the tears, suggesting involvement of different hypersensitivity mechanisms. These results also emphasize the diagnostic value of nasal allergen challenge combined with monitoring of the conjunctival response in some patients with AC.


The heart rate, cardiac output, coronary sinus blood flow, systolic and end diastolic left ventricular pressures, femoral arterial pressure and coronary oxygen arterio-venous difference were measured in 12 patients with stable coronary artery disease without cardiac failure on long-term betablocker therapy, before and 45 minutes after 2 or 3 mg sublingual molsidomine. The measurements were repeated in 8 patients during a cold pressor test. Under basal conditions, molsidomine decreased the systolic and end diastolic left ventricular pressures, mean femoral arterial pressure, cardiac output and double product. The coronary oxygen arterio-venous difference was unchanged. Coronary sinus flow and myocardial oxygen consumption decreased. In the 2 patients who were given 3 mg molsidomine, a progressive reduction in systolic left ventricular pressure to 70% or less than its initial value, necessitated immediate treatment with volume expanders. During the cold pressor test before molsidomine the systolic and end diastolic left ventricular pressures, mean femoral arterial pressure and the double product increased. Coronary sinus flow was unchanged overall: it decreased in 6 patients, increased in 2 patients and remained the same in 1 patient. Coronary resistance increased in 6 patients and decreased in only one patient. During the cold pressor test after molsidomine there was a significant reduction in the increase of systolic left ventricular pressure, mean femoral artery pressure and double product. Coronary sinus blood flow increased in 5 patients and decreased in only one case. Coronary resistance decreased in half the cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Construction and maintenance of roadways and irrigation canals in southeastern San Joaquin (Central) Valley of California has entailed passing through large sections of the Porterville soil series, an expansive clay soil. The geologic development of this expansive soil, as shown in outcrops along Highway 180 near Minkler, Fresno County, appears to have been dependent upon two coincident factors of general importance: 1) volcanic eruptions of ash (with approximately andesitic composition) resulting in lahars with some size sorting due to re-deposition; and 2) groundwater with excess Ca ++ ions due to percolation through basic or ultra-basic plutonic rocks. Widespread valley areas may have potential construction problems which are largely due to the erosion and redeposition of the expansive clay of Porterville and Mt. Olive soils. A new method is presented, derived from previous studies of expansive soil, for the measurement of the soil expansion pressure and its correlation with soil moisture and density, with small expansion volume. Methods of controlling volumetric changes in such soils are discussed. The nature of the dominant clay mineral, montmorillonite, and the identification of the other soil minerals is presented, using X-ray diffraction, infra-red spectra, and differential thermal analytical methods.


Introduction. Cognitive's insight is an important aspect in determining the diagnosis and treatment programs to clients with mental disorders. Psychopoetry therapy as an intervention modality based on the reading and writing of poetry those are expressive of the feelings of the client. Purpose of this study was to determine the effect of therapy models psychopoetry to measure themselves in the improvement of cognitive (self-assurance component) on the client's mental disorder. Benefits psychopoetry therapy as a means of expressing feeling depressed clients and are thought to contribute to the problem at hand. Method. The research method was used quasi-experimental research design with non-randomized pretest-posttest control group. Result. The results of this research were significant changes in the intervention group before and after treatment, and when compared with the control group (p < 0.05). Discussion. Psychopoetry therapy model can be used in addition to other therapeutic nursing interventions that have been implemented. This model is able to optimize the ability to build the structure of phrase in communication and recommended the development of writing skills productively.


Albino guinea pigs with abraded skin were inoculated cutaneously with 27 strains of dermatophytes from animals and humans. The same strains were inoculated i.v. in guinea pigs with intact skin. Zoophilic dermatophytes and human isolates of Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. granulare produced ringworm after cutaneous application. After i.v. inoculation, the fungus was reisolated from skin samples from a considerable number of animals with and without clinical ringworm lesions, and also from lungs, liver, and kidneys. In the lungs, hyphal aggregates were noted. Some strains produced generalized dermatophytosis affecting all parts of the skin and internal organs. T. mentagrophytes B32663, selected for further study, was inoculated i.v. in the guinea pig, rabbit, rat, mouse, and chicken. Ringworm lesions occurred in the guinea pig and rabbit; in the mouse, rat, and chicken other organs were involved. Administration by other routes did not produce a generalized infection. The infection was not self-limited and the deep-seated lesions may be responsible for the recurrence of infection.


OBJECTIVE
Research demonstrates that interventions targeting multiple settings within a child's life are more effective in treating or preventing conduct disorder. One such program is the Incredible Years Series, which comprises three treatment components, each focused on a different context and type of daily social interaction that a child encounters. This article explores the cost-effectiveness of stacking multiple intervention components versus delivering single intervention components.

METHOD
The data involved 459 children, ages 3 to 8, who participated in clinical trials of the Incredible Years Series. Children randomized to one of six treatment conditions received one or more of the three following program components: a child-based program, a parent training program, and a teacher-based program instructing teachers in classroom management and in the delivery of a classroom-based social skills curriculum.

RESULTS
Per-child treatment costs and child behavior outcomes (observer and teacher reported) were used to generate cost-effectiveness acceptability curves; results suggest that stacking intervention components is likely cost-effective, at least for willingness to pay above $3,000 per child treated.

CONCLUSIONS
Economic data may be used to compare competing intervention formats. In the case of this program, providing multiple intervention components was cost-effective.


Long-distance dispersal of seeds is an important process in metapopulation dynamics and in plant migrations, but at the same time extremely difficult to observe or quantify directly. If seed dispersal ability were related to attributes of seeds or motherplants, long-distance seed dispersal would be predictable by indirect approximation using easy-to-measure traits. Seed size has been suggested to be such a key trait in seed dispersal ability. However, having smaller seeds also implies having more numerous seeds per plant individual (given equal reproductive effort), and consequently increases the probability of seeds being ingested accidentally. The question is whether small-seeded species are more abundant in herbivore dung because smaller seed size increases survival rate during gut passage or because they are produced (and ingested) in greater numbers than larger seeds. We investigated endozoochorous seed dispersal via cattle grazing a meadow, and related seed abundance in dung samples to seed attributes. We found that seeds were ingested and passed through the bovine intestinal tract in proportion to the numbers produced per unit area in the grazed vegetation. In contrast, no relationship could be found between endozoochorous dispersal potential (measured as abundance of seeds in dung samples corrected for seed output in the grazed vegetation) and seed attributes such as seed mass, seed shape (roundness), and thickness of the seed coat. This finding underlines the importance of seed number in plant dispersal ability. In addition, it shows that grazing mammals may constitute an important dispersal vector for many plant species conventionally classified as 'unspecialised'.


Cultural algorithm is a kind of evolutionary algorithm inspired from societal evolution and is composed of a belief space, a population space and a protocol that enables exchange of knowledge between these sources. Knowledge created in the population space is accepted into the belief space while this collective knowledge from these sources is combined to influence the decisions of the individual agents in solving problems. Classification rules comes under descriptive knowledge discovery in data mining and are the most sought out by users since they represent highly comprehensible form of knowledge. The rules have certain properties which make them useful forms of actionable knowledge to users. The rules are evaluated using these properties namely the rule metrics. In the current study a Cultural Algorithm Toolkit for Classification Rule Mining (CAT-CRM) is proposed which allows the user to control three different set of parameters namely the evolutionary parameters, the rule parameters as well as agent parameters and hence can be used for experimenting with an evolutionary system, a rule mining system or an agent based social system. Results of experiments conducted to observe the effect of different number and type of metrics on the performance of the algorithm on bench mark data sets is reported.


As per need of recent applications, new research aspects related to scalability, heterogeneity, and power consumption have been arisen. These problems are supposed to be fixed for better utilization of MANETs. MANET nodes interact through multi-hop routing. AODV is a commonly used on-demand protocol for routing in MANETs. In the existing literature, AODV has been analyzed a number of times but heterogeneity of the nodes has not been addressed. Heterogeneity may be defined as diversity among the nodes in resources or capability. The environment is usually heterogeneous in case of constraint fluid dynamic environment of MANET. In this paper we are analyzing the routing performance as well as energy efficient behavior of AODV routing protocol in both homogeneous and heterogeneous MANETs (H-MANETs), using performance parameters like ratio of delivered packets, throughput, average delay, average power consumption, energy of alive nodes, etc. Heterogeneity has been introduced in terms of different initial energy for all the nodes, unlike the homogeneous scenario. The simulation work has been done using network simulator (NS-2). This work will be helpful to get insight of effects of heterogeneity on energy efficiency and other performance metrics of AODV.


To assess the influence of stream water on leaf gas exchange and water potential in different sized boxelder trees (Acer negundo L.), we compared these characteristics in trees growing beside a perennial stream and a nearby ephemeral stream in a montane-riparian forest in northern Arizona. Patterns of tree water use were quantified by stable isotope analysis (delta(18)O). Physiological characteristics were similar for large and small trees. Similarity between sites in predawn and daytime water potentials and xylem delta(18)O indicated that stream water was not a physiologically important water source. Seasonal and site variations in light-saturated net photosynthetic rate were significantly related to leaf-to-air vapor pressure deficit (r = -0.691) and foliar nitrogen concentration (r = 0.388). Although deep water was the dominant water source, surface soil water was utilized following precipitation, especially by small trees. We conclude that net carbon gain and severity of water stress are only weakly coupled to stream water availability.


The freshwater prosobranch snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum is an important model system for studying the maintenance of sexual reproduction in its native New Zealand. Since introduction to the UK in the 1850s, the species has spread throughout Europe and recently the USA. We present the first microsatellites for P. antipodarum. Using two isolation protocols, which are qualitatively compared, we have developed PCR primers for three di- and four trinucleotide microsatellites. All loci proved to be polymorphic, when screened for variability in several UK populations. These markers should be of considerable utility in future population and ecological genetics studies of this species.


The author summarizes the essentials and history of the plica polonica disease and describes some of his own experiences in diagnosis and treatment. It is remarkable, that the monographs of the internal medicine and the hungarian monographs of dermatology, with the exception of two, didn't even mention this phenomenon in this century. Besides, no original publications can be found in the hungarian medical literature about this topic. However we can find people with this syndrome in Hungary also at the present time. It can be connected with the increasing ageing and growing poverty in our country.


The extrahepatic vascular and biliary anatomy of Calot's triangle is well known to be highly variable and this provides a surgical challenge. The liver has a dual blood supply consisting of the portal vein and the hepatic artery. The hepatic artery which delivers 25% of the blood supply, arises from the celiac trunk. The celiac trunk gives off the left gastric, splenic and common hepatic arteries. The common hepatic artery then divides into gastroduodenal artery and hepatic artery proper which diverts in right and left hepatic arteries. The systic artery usually originates from the right hepatic artery. The "classic" arterial anatomy is present in approximately 75% of cases. The remaining 25% of the cases have many anatomical variants. Here in we present a patient with multiple anatomic variants in celiac trunk which were determined incidentally during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Being aware of the arterial variations in the liver is really important in surgical procedures in order to avoid bleeding and ischemia.


We contribute to the programme of lifting proportionality axioms from the multi-winner voting setting to participatory budgeting. We define novel proportionality axioms for participatory budgeting and test them on known proportionality-driven rules such as Phragm´en and Rule X. We investi-gate logical implications among old and new axioms and provide a systematic overview of proportionality criteria in participatory budgeting.


The European Union is a Community built on a set of common and foundational principles of Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, as enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union.

Whereas compliance of future Member States with these principles is strictly monitored before their accession to the Union, no effective mechanism exists to supervise adherence to them after it, giving room for potential systemic violations which may go as far as overthrowing the Rule of Law, as occurred in the recent and most remarkable cases of Hungary and Poland, and so the grounds of the European functioning.

Against this background, this research paper deals with a comprehensive analysis of the Rule of Law backsliding phenomenon the EU has lately been witnessing and addresses its potentialities to hinder it, corroborating its weaknesses in this respect and beseeching the endowment of new tools which also includes a rethink of them.


Intracranial haemorrhage is commonly found at necropsy in association with hyaline membrane disease. The bleeding usually occurs in the subarachnoid or intraventricular sites (Hutchison, Kerr, Douglas, Inall, and Crosbie, 1964), but its cause is as yet poorly established. Cerebral haemorrhage unrelated to hyaline membrane disease frequently occurs in premature infants (Craig, 1938), and anoxia is thought to be an important factor in its pathogenesis. The same sites are involved, but occasionally bleeding may present in the subdural space if blood under tension ruptures through the fine leptomeninges (Claireaux, 1964). By contrast, traumatic bleeding from a torn falx cerebri or tentorium is subdural in origin and is most prevalent in full-term infants (Craig, 1938). The incidence of this complication has now declined, probably as a result of improved obstetrical management (Ahvenainen, 1964). In the present study, a number of premature infants with hyaline membrane disease were found to have massive intracranial haemorrhage. All had suffered prolonged anoxia after birth, and were subsequently treated by artificial ventilation until death. Attention has been directed towards defining the role of anoxia, and in particular whether it is the cause of haemorrhage or whether it arises as a result thereof. The investigation has also been concerned with establishing whether the bleeding occurs as a chronic or an acute episode, and whether intermittent positive pressure respiration contributes in any way.


Objectives To estimate the risk of clinically diagnosed knee osteoarthritis (OA) after different types of knee injuries in young adults. Methods In a longitudinal cohort study based on population-based healthcare data from Skåne, Sweden, we included all persons aged 25–34 years in 1998–2007 (n=149 288) with and without diagnoses of knee injuries according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10. We estimated the HR of future diagnosed knee OA in injured and uninjured persons using Cox regression, adjusted for potential confounders. We also explored the impact of type of injury (contusion, fracture, dislocation, meniscal tear, cartilage tear/other injury, collateral ligament tear, cruciate ligament tear and injury to multiple structures) on diagnosed knee OA risk. Results We identified 5247 persons (mean (SD) age 29.4 (2.9) years, 67% men) with a knee injury and 142 825 persons (mean (SD) age 30.2 (3.0) years, 45% men) without. We found an adjusted HR of 5.7 (95% CI 5.0 to 6.6) for diagnosed knee OA in injured compared with uninjured persons during the first 11 years of follow-up and 3.4 (95% CI 2.9 to 4.0) during the following 8 years. The corresponding risk difference (RD) after 19 years of follow-up was 8.1% (95% CI 6.7% to 9.4%). Cruciate ligament injury, meniscal tear and fracture of the tibia plateau/patella were associated with greatest increase in risk (RD of 19.6% (95% CI 13.2% to 25.9%), 10.5% (95% CI 6.4% to 14.7%) and 6.6% (95% CI 1.1% to 12.2%), respectively). Conclusion In young adults, knee injury increases the risk of future diagnosed knee OA about sixfold with highest risks found after cruciate ligament injury, meniscal tear and intra-articular fracture.


In this project we present an intelligent fall detector system based on a 3-axis accelerometer and a neural network model that allows recognizing several possible motion situations and performing an emergency call only when a fall situation occurs, with low false negatives rate and low false positives rate. The system is based on a two module platform. The first one is a Mobile Station (MS) and should be carried always by the person. An accelerometer is implemented in this module and its information is transferred via a radio-frequency channel (RF) to the Base Station (BS). The BS is fixed and is connected to a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) module. A neural network model was built into the BS and is able to identify falls from other possible motion situations, based on the received information. According to the neural network response the system sends a SMS (Short Message Service) to a destination number requesting for assistance.