The European Economic Area (EEA) provides a common market for goods, labour, services, and capital. Promoting integration between countries through the free movement of labour, or more generally persons, pre-dates the previous forms of the EEA. However, during the Southern and Eastern Expansions of the European Union, there have been transition agreements on persons, designed to restrict immigration. Opening up labour markets to the new member states with signifcantly lower GDP per capita than existing states, has been contentious. This is why the use of transition agreements have permitted periods which existing members can limit immigration. Not all existing member states impose restrictions, and during the Eastern Enlargements, the restrictions were imposed for varying lengths of time by different existing members up to a maximum of seven years. During the transition agreement, the economies of new members and existing members can converge, which is ultimately designed to limit the pull factor of migration. In this note, we provide a concise resource of the timeline of the expansion of full free movement of persons for countries in the EEA and Switzerland.


The short-time and long-time dynamics of the Bak–Sneppen model of biological evolution are investigated using the damage spreading technique. By defining a proper Hamming distance measure, we are able to make it exhibit an initial power-law growth which, for finite size systems, is followed by a decay towards equilibrium. In this sense, the dynamics of self-organized critical states is shown to be similar to the one observed at the usual critical point of continuous phase transitions and at the onset of chaos of nonlinear low-dimensional dynamical maps. The transient, pre-asymptotic and asymptotic exponential relaxation of the Hamming distance between two initially uncorrelated equilibrium configurations is also shown to be fit within a single mathematical framework.


We discuss advancing the fine detail of deforming hero-quality simulated crowd agents in animated feature film production. To support character animation that is suitably framed arbitrarily close to camera, our approach uses a novel deformation system that combines simulation and hero-quality custom animation. Level-of-detail optimizations are handled at render time, and artists are only tasked with the design of a single high-quality resolution for each character asset. Key optimizations in our rig structures are outlined as they are fundamental to scalability, permitting our crowds to look good while numbering in the millions.


Monocrystal matrices of high‐gap oxides are finding increasing applications as hosts of luminescent ions, typically rare earths (RE)s. Currently, RE‐doped oxyorthosilicates, aluminum perovskites, and garnets (RE2SiO5–REAlO3–RE3Al5O12) are widely used as highly efficient and fast scintillators for γ‐ray detection. On the other hand, shallow or deep intragap energy levels, due to stoichiometric deviation or impurities unintentionally added in the crystals, play a counteractive role giving rise to slower scintillation decay time, reduced light yield and afterglow. The aim of this work is to show how it is possible to tailor these unwelcome outcomes and RE‐ion interactions for engineering new devices for optical memory storage. In this sense, experimental results of thermo‐ and radio‐luminescence are presented. The role of the bandgap and the location in energy of the levels due to the RE dopants and to the defects is discussed from a theoretical point of view. The feasibility in the near future of new promising transparent displays is also discussed.


This dissertation presents a simplified approach for the preliminary design and static analysis of a claddingframe structural system subjected to concentrated, lateral loading conditions. The simplified approach, which utilizes the finite element analysis method, reduces the number of computations required for analysis of a structurally cladded frame to that of an architecturally cladded frame. This research develops a modified beam element to analytically replace a cladding panel element while retaining its structural benefits. The modified beam element is derived using a 16 degree of freedom isoparametric element and displacement correlations determined from the studies of a two-story, single bay frame with cladding attached via six pinned panelcolumn connection points. Using the finite element analysis method, the modified beam element was used in conjunction with three case studies to evaluate the lateral displacements at the interstory beam-column joints of a cladded frame. Guidelines were established to implement the modified beam element into preliminary design analyses of multistory, multibay, structurally cladded frames, thereby providing a simplified method of analysis which incorporates cladding-frame interaction.


At the lowest layer of today's communication networks is an optical line system (OLS), a physical network of equipment, which carries high-frequency analog light signals over thousands of kilometers. Traditionally, an OLS was delivered as a turn-key solution by a single vendor. Within an OLS, reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs) are active devices responsible for routing spectral chunks between input and output ports. ROADMs are arguably the most complex physical component of an OLS. In this paper, we describe an open design of a Czech Light ROADM, including the optical hardware, electronics, software, and the northbound communication interface. The performance of the ROADMs is evaluated in two test scenarios.


This paper presents a solution for test pattern generation (TPG) based on Boolean satisfiability (SAT). The key to a SAT-solver can be scalable is that it is able to take into account the information about high-level structure of formulas. The paper augments a circuit structure layer to the SAT-solver to maintain circuit-related information and value justification relations. It dovetails binary decision graphs (BDD) and SAT techniques to improve the efficiency of test pattern generation. More specifically, it first exploits inexpensive reconvergent fanout analysis of circuit to gather information on the local signal correlation by using BDD learning. It then uses the above learned information to restrict and focus the overall search space of SAT-based TPG. Its learning technique is effective and lightweight. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.


To implement EU climate policy, the UK's New Labour government (1997–2010) elaborated an ecomodernist policy framework. It promoted technological innovation to provide low-carbon renewable energy, especially by treating waste as a resource. This framework discursively accommodated rival sociotechnical imaginaries, understood as visions of feasible and desirable futures available through technoscientific development. According to the dominant imaginary, techno-market fixes stimulate low-carbon technologies by making current centralized systems more resource-efficient (as promoted by industry incumbents). According to the alternative eco-localization imaginary, a shift to low-carbon systems should instead localize resource flows, output uses and institutional responsibility (as promoted by civil society groups). The UK government policy framework gained political authority by accommodating both imaginaries. As we show by drawing on three case studies, the realization of both imaginaries depended on institutional changes and material-economic resources of distinctive kinds. In practice, financial incentives drove technological design towards trajectories that favour the dominant sociotechnical imaginary, while marginalizing the eco-localization imaginary and its environmental benefits. The ecomodernist policy framework relegates responsibility to anonymous markets, thus displacing public accountability of the state and industry. These dynamics indicate the need for STS research on how alternative sociotechnical imaginaries mobilize support for their realization, rather than be absorbed into the dominant imaginary.


This thesis is concerned with the theory of spinors, embeddings and everywhere invariance with applications to general relativity. The approach is entirely geometric with particular emphasis on the use of natural structures. A clear indication of the interaction between the above topics is given; this Interaction then sheds light on various aspects of general relativity theory. The main ideas discussed are:- (i) Spinors, conformal structure and the spacetime projective null bundle framework. (ii) Spaces of embeddings. (ill) Embeddings and spin structure. (iv) Null embeddings and the null limit (a technique for obtaining differential equations on null hypersurfaces). (v) Quasi-local momentum. (vi) The space of metrics, natural group actions and generalized conformal structure. (vii) Everywhere invariance and the invariance equation as a method for obtaining spacetime symmetries. Three appendices are also provided:- These give comprehensive summaries of the theories of principal bundles, conformal structure and asymptotic simplicity.


Scheduled inspections help ensure the safety and efficacy of medical equipment. To ensure the regular checking of all items we developed a practical and realizable protocol consisting of basic safety and functional tests. Non-productive time spent searching for equipment was reduced enlisting the help of ward staff. Record keeping was simplified using monthly checklists detailing the tests to be performed. Clear labels distinguished items checked and the ward was informed about missing items. The effectiveness of the programme was assessed by auditing the number of items due for inspection, the average time per inspection, the number of faults found, and the incidence of breakdown repairs. The average inspection time per item was reduced to half an hour and the number of items due for inspection to below 10%. The programme was effective in fault detection (7% of items checked) and the incidence of breakdown repairs decreased from 75 to 53%.


The ability of nanosegregated polymerized ionic liquids (PILs) to dissipate shockwave energy is investigated for a series of imidazolium-based PILs with varying alkyl spacer length. The PILs are designed to have similar glass transition temperatures but different structures. X-ray scattering analysis reveals that each of the amorphous PILs exhibit distinct nanoscale structural heterogeneity, depending on the length of the chain spacer. We find that a higher structural heterogeneity, determined from the intensity of the intercluster scattering peak, in the PILs with longer alkyl spacers results in greater shockwave energy dissipation. In addition, we observe the crystalline phase is less effective at dissipating shockwave energy than the amorphous phase due to the close packed morphology and slow kinetics.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether surgical removal of intramural fibroids makes any changes in the expression of endometrial tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
20 patients who had no pathology other than intramural fibroid as a cause of subfertility were included in the study. 6 patients who planned tubal ligation were considered as the control group. Type 3 or 4 fibroid diagnosis was made according to the revised International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). At the end of the diagnostic and confirmatory tests, 8 patients were diagnosed with type 3 and 12 patients with type 4 fibroids. While the patients in the fibroid group went to myomectomy, the patients in the control group went to tubal ligation. Before the myomectomy, endometrial sampling was performed with a pipelle cannula under anesthesia. The same procedure was repeated three months after the treatment. The same endometrial sampling procedure was also performed on the patients in the control group. TNF-alpha and NF-κB levels were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in endometrial samples taken before and three months after myomectomy.

RESULTS
Pre-myomectomy TNF-α levels of the patients in the type 3 fibroid group were significantly higher than the control group (5.10±1.30 vs. 2.50±0.11, p<0.01). Similarly, the pre-myomectomy TNF-α levels of the patients in the type 4 fibroid group were significantly higher than the control group (4.73±1.76 vs. 2.50±0.11, p<0.01). There was no significant difference between pre-myomectomy endometrial TNF-α levels of patients in type 3 and 4 fibroid groups (5.10±1.30 vs. 4.73±1.76, p>0.05). Removal of type 3 fibroids by myomectomy significantly decreased TNF-α levels (5.10±1.30 vs. 2.20±0.44, p<0.03). Similarly, removal of type 4 fibroids by myomectomy significantly decreased TNF-α levels (4.73±1.76 vs. 2.60±0.30, p<0.04). Pre-myomectomy NF-κB levels of the patients in the type 3 fibroid group were significantly higher than the control group (2.42±0.39 vs. 1.09±0.60, p<0.02). Similarly, the pre-myomectomy NF-κB levels of the patients in the type 4 fibroid group were significantly higher than the control group (2.04±0.50 vs. 1.09±0.60, p<0.01). There was no significant difference between the pre-myomectomy endometrial NF-κB levels of the patients in the type 3 and 4 fibroid groups (2.42±0.39 vs. 2.04±0.50 p>0.05). Removal of type 3 fibroids by myomectomy significantly decreased NF-κB levels (2.42±0.39 vs. 1.02±0.33, p<0.01). Similarly, removal of type 4 fibroids by myomectomy significantly decreased NF-κB levels (2.04±0.50 vs. 0.97±0.02, p<0.02).

CONCLUSIONS
Surgical removal of type 3 or type 4 fibroids contributes positively to receptivity by down-regulating endometrial TNF-α and NF-ƙB.


The success of evaluation research rests largely in its usefulness. If the sponsors of an evaluation find the data meaningful, then the limitations that the problems of evaluation invariably impose on a study's scientific origin should not be given undue emphasis. In the case of MHMC, the evaluation results were used for program planning in the hospital and for explicating the content of testimony to the California legislature about pharmacy practice in the state. Of course, it would be unthinkable to advocate weak studies and unreliable data. The evaluator must assume the responsibility of determining if and when the balance between what can be done well is tipped in favor of unsound methods. The evaluator is also responsible for judging just how important the data from the study are. How many people will be affected? Are other data available to illuminate or be used with the evaluation?. As clinical pharmacy becomes more concerned with program evaluation, it will need to address ethical and political questions like these at the same time that it answers methodological ones.


Truss spar model was tested using regular waves in a wave basin and the responses in surge, heave and pitch were measured. A program was developed to determine the responses using numerical method. This program was run using the model parameters. The results are agreed well with the corresponding results obtained from the test measurements. Then this program was applied to a prototype spar simulated results were compared with the corresponding numerical results and test measurements.


Background: Cerebral flow autoregulation (CFA) is a homeostatic mechanism critical for survival. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a key role in maintaining proper CFA function. More quantitative studies of how the ANS influences CFA are desirable. Objective: To discover and quantify the dynamic effects of cholinergic blockade upon CFA in response to changes of arterial blood pressure and blood CO2 tension in healthy adults. Methods: We analyzed time-series data of spontaneous beat-to-beat mean arterial blood pressure (ABP) and cerebral blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral arteries (CFV), as well as breath-to-breath end-tidal CO2 (CO2), collected in 9 adults before and after cholinergic blockade, in order to obtain subject-specific predictive input-output models of the dynamic effects of changes in ABP and CO2 (inputs) upon CFV (output). These models are defined in convolutional form using "kernel" functions (or, equivalently, Transfer Functions in the frequency domain) that are estimated via the robust method of Laguerre expansions. Results: Cholinergic blockade caused statistically significant changes in the obtained kernel estimates (and the corresponding Transfer Functions) that define the linear dynamics of the ABP-to-CFV and CO2-to-CFV causal relations. The kernel changes due to cholinergic blockade reflect the effects of the cholinergic mechanism and exhibited, in the frequency domain, resonant peaks at 0.22 Hz and 0.06 Hz for the ABP-to-CFV and CO2-to-CFV dynamics, respectively. Conclusion: Quantitative estimates of the dynamics of the cholinergic component in CFA are found as average changes of the ABP-to-CFV and CO2-to-CFV kernels, and corresponding Transfer Functions, before and after cholinergic blockade.


The reaction mechanism for CO2 reforming of CH4 on tetragonal ZrO2(101)-supported Pt4 is investigated using the density functional theory method with the periodic slab model. We search and explore two elementary reaction pathways for CO2/CH4 reforming and finally determine the most energetically favorable route through potential energy surface analysis. The key intermediate and rate-determining step are also identified. Our results indicate that the ZrO2 support plays an essential role in the activity of the catalyst in the CO2/CH4 reforming reaction and that it provides a unique adsorption site for CO2, the key to the formation of carbonate and formate species, which could not be realized on the Pt4 cluster and some other supports.


Glass-metal nanocomposites involving iron, nickel and copper in a silica glass matrix have been prepared as films on glass substrates by the sol-gel route. The metal phase is introduced as chloride and silicon tetraethoxide is used as the glass precursor. DC electrical resistivity of these nanocomposites has been measured over the temperature range 100 to 350 K. Resistivities varying from 10 Omega m to 106 Omega m have been obtained by controlling the volume fraction of the different metal phases within the silica glass. Low-temperature resistivities of the samples are controlled by a simple activation with energies in the range 0.01-0.1 eV. At temperatures above 150 K some of the nanocomposites exhibit another activated mechanism. The latter is believed to arise due to hopping of electrons between the localised states formed by the distributed metal atoms within the silica glass matrix.


A model giving a qualitative explanation of the results of an experimental investigation of the field dependences of the magnetization in ferro- and antiferromagnetic media in contact with one another is proposed. In this model a thin ferromagnetic (FM) film with strong easy-plane anisotropy is described in the continuum approximation. It is shown that collinear and canted structures of the ferromagnetic layer can co-exist in the system studied. The ranges of the parameters (exchange interactions in the FM layer and through the FM/AFM interface, thickness of the FM layer, and magnitude of the external magnetic field) where a nonuniform state of the FM exists are found and explicit analytic expressions are obtained for the distribution of the magnetization in this state. The dependences of the total magnetization of the system on the magnitude of the external field are constructed in the physically important cases of "thin" and "thick" FM layers, and it is demonstrated that the experimentally observed unsy...


We first investigate 2D quaternion Fourier transform (QFT) spectrum relationship between an image and its geometrically transformed counterpart from the aspects of gray images and color images respectively, and then propose a 2D QFT-based color image registration approach, which is able to handle large translation, rotation and scaling. Fourier transform (FT) can be utilized in gray image registration but can not process color images naturally. As the extended version of FT in multidimensional signal processing, QFT is capable of processing three color components of color images together as pure quaternions and is able to deal with color image registration.


Reading literacy is a skill, considered as one of the most important skills already in kindergarten. It is the foundation for future success in school and also gives a child the possibility for the development of his personality. Early literacy includes not only reading and writing skills, but involves also other areas, such as development of large and fine motor skills, development of visual-motor coordination, development of auditory and visual processes, etc.). Educators and parents as key players are the ones, who provide the child with appropriate incentives for the development of literacy.

Considering the modern research on this topic my main goal was to find out how much the level of literacy in the family affects the child's literacy development. In the theoretical part of this paper I started by presenting the concept of literacy and continued with various theories and opinions of experts on the theme. In the empirical part that follows I was curious, if literacy in the family can influence the child's early literacy. Results were obtained by questionnaires with closed questions that have been filled out and submitted by one hundred parents from Ciciban kindergarten. I graphically displayed the obtained data.

Based on data obtained by questionnaires, I have come to the conclusion that family reading habits do not differ significantly between the child's first and second age period, that parents often involve children in activities related to literacy and are aware of the importance of literacy for further success in school.


Current approaches to dog technology are predominantly aimed at owners monitoring and remotely engaging their dogs to prevent boredom when they are left home alone. The potential of technology to enhance the collocated dog-human experience has received little attention. This paper discusses a qualitative study with 10 owners and their dogs, exploring how technology could be used to enhance dog-human interaction in the home. Results highlight that dog toys are actually targeted at play involving both dog and owner; that playful interactions between dogs and owners focus on increasing bonding and affective symbiosis; and that the play isn't the point for neither dog nor human, the relationship is. The study concludes that dog-human technology for collocated enjoyable interaction will be significantly different than that used in remote human-dog interaction and requires further work.


Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is of growing importance as a research field and in clinical settings, as documented by the inclusion of the diagnosis in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the preliminary International Classification of Diseases. Studies using screening tools to assess IGD and comparison with expert evaluations in clinical relevant populations are rare. Furthermore, concerned parents are often the first source of information in clinical practice, and their assessment of addictive behavior often differs widely from their child's self-evaluation. In two studies (N = 95) we investigated the usefulness of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) with adolescents at risk of IGD, either in parental company (Study 1) or alone (Study 2). Self-reported assessments on the scales were compared with parental ratings (only Study 1) and an expert face-to-face evaluation according to DSM-5 (both studies). We found higher correlations between expert evaluations of IGD criteria and screening scores for self-reported compared with parental ratings. Quality of categorization into persons with and without IGD confirmed that parental assessments were not conclusive in this setting. In this context, different cutoff values, sensitivity, and specificity for the screening instruments are discussed. We conclude that IAT and CIUS provide tentative usefulness for self-evaluation of adolescents at risk of IGD, and suggestions for using different cutoff scores for varying purposes are provided. In our study, parental assessments on the screening tools lead to an overestimation of IGD and are, therefore, not recommended as a sole source of information in clinical settings.


Autosomal recessive type 2 primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (PHOAR2) and chronic enteropathy associated with SLCO2A1 (CEAS) are two entities caused by pathogenic variants (PVs) in the SLCO2A1 gene that can coexist or occur independently from one another. We report two cases of PHOAR2 in Mexico with concomitant CEAS and conducted a review of the literature of the reported cases of PHOAR2 and/or CEAS to analyze the relationship between their genotype and phenotype presentation. The patients from our Institution with classical PHOAR2 phenotype and CEAS, harbored SLCO2A1 c.547G > A and c.1768del variants. We reviewed 232 cases, of which 86.6% were of Asian origin, and identified 109 different variants in SLCO2A1. Intron 7, exon 13, and exon 4 were predominantly affected. The two most common PVs were c.940 + 1G > A and c.1807C > T. We found a statistically significant association between SLCO2A1 variants located in intron 7, exons 12, and 13 and the development of CEAS. Missense variants were more frequent in isolated PHOAR2, while a greater proportion of protein-truncating variants (PTVs) were found in CEAS. Further investigation is imperative to elucidate the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms associated with CEAS, thereby facilitating the identification of effective therapeutic interventions.


Objective: To see the frequency of aerobic organisms in the vaginal flora of our patients at
Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad.
Methods: Females referred for vaginal swab culture sensitivity were included in the study. The swabs were sent immediately to the laboratory for microbiological examination in transport medium. Following 48 hours growth, the media was examined and morphological characteristics were observed. Thereafter staining of colonies from media was performed.
Results: The percentage of Enterococcus was the highest (31%) followed by Streptococcus pyogenes (22%) and E.coli (21%). The age group which was most prone to the infection was 15-30 years followed by 31-45 year. The Gram + ve organisms were more common (71%) in vaginal infections than Gram –ve organism (29%).
Conclusions: In our study the most common pathogens in vaginal infections were Enterococcus (31%), E.coli (21%) and Streptococcus pyogenes (22%). The vulnerable age-group to these infections was 15-30 years of age.


BACKGROUND
Although recognized since the 18th century, radiculomedullary arteries (RMAs) originating from upper thoracic intersegmental arteries are generally considered to be inconstant branches of little clinical importance. Yet, such vessels are commonly observed during spinal angiography.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the angiographic prevalence of upper thoracic RMAs, in particular, branches supplying the anterior spinal artery (ASA).

METHODS
Fifty spinal angiograms were reviewed. Anterior and posterior RMAs originating in the upper thoracic region (T3 to T7) were recorded. The level of origin of the artery of Adamkiewicz (T8 to L3) was also noted.

RESULTS
Forty-three patients (86%) had at least 1 ASA contributor between T3 and T7. Of the other 7 patients, 4 had one at an immediately adjacent level (T2 or T8). The most frequent origin of upper thoracic anterior RMAs was left T5 (n = 10). Only left T9 (n = 12) and left T8 (n = 11) were more common. When combining the left and right sides, an ASA contributor was more frequent at T5 (n = 16) than at any other level (n = 15 for T9, n = 14 for T8). The sum of ASA contributors at T4 and T5 (n = 27) represented 54% of all upper thoracic anterior RMAs, and 23% of all anterior RMAs between T3 and L3.

CONCLUSION
A significant upper thoracic anterior RMA distinct from the artery of Adamkiewicz appears to be a constant anatomic feature, which undermines the classic concept of an arterial watershed zone in the thoracic region. We propose to name this artery after Albrecht von Haller, who documented its existence in 1754.


There is clear evidence for a cancer cure. The hypothesis behind a treatment with curative intent is the ability to eradicate all the cancer cells of a tumour. Out of three cancer deaths, one is related to local failure. In some cancers like breast carcinoma, death is mainly in relation with the development of distant metastases. Even in such a tumour, an improvement in local control can translate as better survival. Radiation therapy, often in association with surgery, is playing a major role in tumour local control. Such a local control is mandatory if cure is at aim. One of the main goals of clinical research is to find a good compromise between local control of the disease and a non mutilating surgical approach.


Background: MSM are a high-risk group, and therefore target of much research investigating risk factors related to having STI/HIV. Our primary objective was to compare findings of three data sources regarding differences in demographics, risk factors, STI/HIV and their relations. Methods: Dutch data available in 2010 from EMIS, an international internet survey, Schorer Monitor , a Dutch internet survey, as well as data from 3800 STI-clinic visits were combined into one dataset. Findings: Risk factors were similar in the databases, with besides some actual differences, some differences caused by question phrasing. We analyzed three outcomes, having STI or HIV, and having never tested for HIV. Risk factors include drug use (e.g., combinations of drugs increased the risk), age, residence, and number of partners. Notably, ethnicity had no effect. Data from STI-clinics differed, possibly as it involves diagnosed instead of self-reported STI/HIV. Discussion: This research sheds light on the comparability of different initiatives investigating MSM, consequences of phrasing questions differently, and ultimately differences in conclusions drawn based on these initiatives.


A novel series of cognition enhancers was designed based on molecular modeling and X-ray structure analysis of EXP-9121 (2). This new series features a spirocyclic ring system that constrains the side chain substituents into the orientation seen in the X-ray crystal structure of 2. MM2 calculations preformed on 2 accurately predicted the solid state conformation. Compounds could be rapidly assembled using a bis-Michael addition reaction. Unfortunately, in vitro testing showed moderate activity at best, suggesting the X-ray structure of 2 does not mimic the bioactive conformation.


Few families of tournaments satisfying the $n$-e.c.\ adjacency property are known. We supply a new random construction for generating infinite families of vertex-transitive $n$-e.c.\ tournaments by considering circulant tournaments. Switching is used to generate exponentially many $n$-e.c.\ tournaments of certain orders. With aid of a computer search, we demonstrate that there is a unique minimum order $3$-e.c.\ tournament of order $19,$ and there are no $3$-e.c.\ tournaments of orders $20,$ $21,$ and $22.$


Abstract. There exist several results of mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) estimated based the laser altimetry ICESat, especially for some with a significant difference. In this study, we attempt to use the ICESat data to re-estimate the mass balance of the AIS over 2003-2008 by making several systematic improvements in data processing and model construction. We applied all corrections to the ICESat data including the re-estimation of the ICB. A three-step model was used in different area for calculating elevation changes of the Antarctica ice sheet. The elevation change rate was compared with other results generated from Global Position System (GPS), stakes, Airborne Terrain Mapper (ATM) and CHINRE data. These verification data proved a good agreement between each other considering the uncertainty involved. We also corrected the component in the elevation change rates that do not contribute to the mass loss such as the global isostatic correction and firn compaction. The corrected elevation change result was converted to the mass change using a surface density model.


The paper examines short stories of the distinguished American postmodernist writer Donald Barthelme that make an assessment of the concept of the society by creating a world that reveals his vision of the society. Many of Barthelme's short-stories describe the social fabric that holds them together including the buying and selling of luxurious items, services, and even other human beings within an affluent, amoral social set, whose insatiable desire for travel, novelty, and escape also functions as a form of play. An appraisal of the world defined by the short stories "To London and Rome" "City Life", and "Perpetua" reveals Barthelme's vision of the contemporary postmodern society. Development of this theme in these individual stories in which it appears constitutes one of the Barthelme's achievements in literature. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p620


Electro-migration and galvanic corrosion can be associated with subsystem degradation over time. In this investigation electro-migration (Ni/sup 2+/, Cu/sup 2+/, Pb/sup 2+//Sn/sup 2+/) and galvanic corrosion was identified as occurring on plated subsystem microelectronic surfaces. An intensive surface study was undertaken to characterize and identify microelectronic contaminants, migrated ions and oxides. Multi-layer microelectronic test vehicles were prepared using electrolytic (10-20V DC, 2amp bias) ion deposition, and were surface characterized by SEM, EDS, Optical microscopy, and electrical THB testing to identify and quantify subsystem plating thickness, electro-migration, interstitial cracking, and galvanic corrosion sites. Test vehicle surface plating thickness was measured and ranged from 66-161 micro-inches. Bulk conductivity measurements revealed pre and post humidity exposure resistances of 0.5 - 0.8 ohms, and 1.6 - 0.8 ohms respectively. Two novel electrically conductive MWCNTs with Au/sup +/ metallic composition were identified as a potential higher conductivity electrical interconnection medium and deterrent for the formation of molecular electromigration and microscopic localized galvanic corrosion.


Plasma-etched p-type indium phosphide has been studied by I-V, C-V and deep level transient spectroscopy in the form of Schottky diodes. Plasma etching caused an increase in the barrier height of Schottky diodes. Four majority hole defects were found to be induced by plasma etching, and were distributed within 5000 AA of the surface. Two dominant hole defects H3 and H4 were simply annealed at approximately 100 degrees C for 10 minutes. These defects were found to be similar to those induced in InP by high energy electron or proton irradiation. This implies that sputtering and related pre-processing techniques may induce severe problems for surface devices due to the creation of defects.


The velocity and angular distributions of O (1)D photofragments arising from UV excitation of the CH2OO intermediate on the B (1)A' ← X (1)A' transition are characterized using velocity map ion imaging. The anisotropic angular distribution yields the orientation of the transition dipole moment, which reflects the π∗ ← π character of the electronic transition associated with the COO group. The total kinetic energy release distributions obtained at several photolysis wavelengths provide detail on the internal energy distribution of the formaldehyde cofragments and the dissociation energy of CH2OO X (1)A' to O (1)D + H2CO X (1)A1. A common termination of the total kinetic energy distributions, after accounting for the different excitation energies, gives an upper limit for the CH2OO X (1)A' dissociation energy of D0 ≤ 54 kcal mol(-1), which is compared with theoretical predictions including high level multi-reference ab initio calculations.


Transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) is a surgical technique which allows the local excision of rectal benign tumors and early stage cancers measuring up to 4 cm and lying within 6-8 cm from the anal verge. It is performed by means of a disposable transanal platform and conventional laparoscopic instruments, proving to be effective and easily available. Hence, TAMIS soon became a valid alternative to other transanal resective procedures, especially transanal endoscopic microsurgery, and rapidly spread. Moreover, soon after its introduction, TAMIS started to be performed also using robotic technologies, but no clear advantages were found to date. This review is intended to provide a general overview on TAMIS, with a special focus on its association with robotic systems and the perspectives of this approach.


This article examines pre-service teacher perspectives of teaching with an online synchronous (live-time) platform as a part of their training. Fifty-three students who participated in a blended learning (including both face-to-face and online lectures) course were assessed in a teaching simulation through an online presentation, and participated in questionnaires and interviews about their experiences as e-learners using the platform. The EPEC hierarchy of conditions (Ease of use, Psychologically safe environment, e-learning/e-teaching Efficacy, and e-learning Competence) for e-learning competency, developed based on an analysis of pre-service teachers' experience as e-learners in this same study, was used as a framework to assess teacher perspectives as e-teachers using this technology. Qualitative interview data were collected about students' experiences using the platform, and analyzed via thematic content analysis. The findings showed that students generally favoured the online e-teaching synchronous platform over in-person presentations, and the quality of online presentations was considered at least as good as in person.


We measured serum and red blood cell concentrations of vitamin E and serum lipid concentrations in 13 inpatients at the initial diagnosis of Crohn's disease and compared them with those of 12 healthy controls. Although the serum concentrations of vitamin E were significantly lower in the patients with Crohn's disease than in the controls, the red blood cell concentrations of this vitamin did not differ between the two groups. The serum concentrations of total lipids and total cholesterol were decreased in the patients with Crohn's disease. A significant correlation was found between the red blood cell concentration of vitamin E and the serum vitamin E/serum total lipids ratio in both the groups. There was no correlation between the Crohn's disease activity index and serum or red blood cell levels of vitamin E. These findings suggest that the lowered serum vitamin E levels in patients with Crohn's disease are a symptom of hypolipidemia, and that vitamin E deficiency may not actually become a serious problem in patients diagnosed with Crohn's disease.


Filings from a molybdenum rod, pressed into a briquet, were used as the cold worked sample. Satisfactory peak shapes for 110, 200, 211, 220, and 310 were obtained with filtered CuKα. Peak shapes for 400 and 422 obtained with filtered MoKα were not satisfactory, partly because of fluorescence radiation. Peaks were recorded with a Norelco diffractometer, and instrumental broadening corrected by the Stokes method. The Fourier coefficients indicate approximately isotropic incoherent domains L=260 A, and strains inversely as Young's modulus. Molybdenum is similar to tungsten in that there is no evidence for faulting on (211) as a result of cold work.


Th e article focuses on the issue of the aspect of the two present paradigms of the verb biti 'to be' in the Croatian language. Standard Croatian lexicography and grammars, such as Daničić (1880–1882: lemma bȉti), Silić and Pranjković (2005: 88), explain the diff erence between the two present forms of this verb as one of verbal aspect (the present form jesam is considered imperfective, and budem perfective), while some grammars do not treat their aspect at all. Th e exceptions are Glasovi i oblici hrvatskoga književnog jezika (Babić et al. 1991: 688, 719), and the Serbo–Croatian grammar written in English by Brown and Alt (2004: 54), where budem is, accurately, described as a bi–aspectual form. Linguistic scholarship, however, addressed the aspect of budem several times (cf. Ivić 1955). Basing their conclusions on their exploration of the Croatian digital corpora – which had shown that budem can be used both in the contexts characteristic of perfective verbs and in some of those characteristic of imperfective verbs – the authors propose that the present form budem should be considered bi–aspectual. In accordance with this, they consider the traditional terms imperfective present and perfective present as inappropriate for these forms of biti and rather propose terms based on formal characteristics, whose accuracy cannot be questioned – the athematic present (jesam) and the thematic present (budem).


Fault attacks belong to a potent class of implementation-based attacks that can compromise a crypto-device within a few milliseconds. Out of the large numbers of faults that can occur in the device, only a very few are exploitable in terms of leaking the secret key. Ignorance of this fact has resulted in countermeasures that have either significant overhead or inadequate protection. This article presents a framework, referred to as FaultDroid, for automated vulnerability analysis of fault attacks. It explores the entire fault attack space, identifies the single/multiple fault scenarios that can be exploited by a differential fault attack, rank-orders them in terms of criticality, and provides design guidance to mitigate the vulnerabilities at low cost. The framework enables a designer to automatically evaluate the fault attack vulnerabilities of a block cipher implementation and then incorporate efficient countermeasures. FaultDroid uses a formal model of fault attacks on a high-level specification of a block cipher and hence is equally applicable to both software and hardware implementation of the cipher. As case studies, we employ FaultDroid to comprehensively evaluate the fault scenarios in several common ciphers—AES, CLEFIA, CAMELLIA, SMS4, SIMON, PRESENT, and GIFT—and assess their vulnerability.


Much literature cites how cultural clashes among teachers and students can undermine educational processes and cause feelings of mistrust among students in school settings. This research examined the cultural competence of secondary PE teachers who taught in diverse urban schools. The research questions guiding the study were (1) what do urban teachers know about students and the community they serve? (2) what instances of cultural distance exist between teachers and students in these schools? and (3) how do teachers bridge cultural distance between themselves and their students? Using qualitative research methods, we examined the cultural competence of six purposively sampled PE teachers in an urban school district over one school year. Participants were recruited based on recommendations from the PE supervisor in a large metropolitan school district in the Southeastern United States. Data collection included multiple interviews (n = 36), teaching observations and field notes (n = 18), and teaching workshops (n = 4). Subscribe to TPE


This study was performed to examine the carcinogenic effects of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) and manufactured gas plant (MGP) residues on the hamster cheek pouch (HCP). Syrian hamsters were treated topically with a suspension of 2%, 10%, or 20% B[a]P or 50% or 100% MGP-7 (a mixture of residues from 7 MGP sites) in mineral oil for eight (short-term study) and sixteen, twenty, twenty-eight, and thirty-two weeks (long-term study). The short-term study showed that B[a]P induced p53 protein accumulation, indicative of genotoxic damage, as well as increased cell proliferation, hyperplasia, and inflammation, which is usually associated with promotional activity. In contrast, the MGP-7 presented only marginal p53 accumulation and induction of BrdU incorporation. In the long-term experiments, animals treated with 2% and 10% of B[a]P continued to show p53 protein accumulation as well as hyperplasia and increased cell proliferation and inflammation. By thirty weeks, all the animals treated with B[a]P had a 100% incidence of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Animals treated with 50% and 100% MGP-7 showed only weak hyperplasia and a low proliferation rate and accumulation of p53 protein through thirty-two weeks. Benzo[a]pyrene was highly carcinogenic when used at adequate doses. Manufactured gas plant residue, however, was not carcinogenic in this model.


Three British rust fungi reported to form aecia on daisy ( Bellis perennis ) are compared. A recently discovered species, possibly introduced from Australia, is identified as Puccinia distincta. It is a short-cycled - opsis form lacking uredinia, with aecia and telia confined to Bellis and its aeciospores capable of reinfecting the same host. This rust is compared with a macrocyclic heteroecious eu -form, P. obscura , which produces pycnia and aecia on Bellis and uredinia and telia on Luzula. Puccinia distincta is probably derived from and correlated with P. obscura because both species have the same aecial host, and because their teliospores are closely similar in morphology and dimensions. Comparison is extended to P. lagenophorae , a common rust with aecia and telia on Senecio spp., which has been reported to form aecia on Bellis following inoculation with aeciospores from Senecio. The repeated failure of our own reciprocal inoculation experiments using aeciospores from the two different hosts and differences in teliospore morphology between P. distincta and P. lagenophorae lead us to conclude that the current rust epidemic on daisies is caused by P. distincta which is distinct from P. lagenophorae.


Two Bombyx mori isoforms of the gene lark, which is shown to play an important role in Drosophila circadian rhythms, were identified and named Bmlark-PA and Bmlark-PB, respectively. Bmlark-PA consists of 5 exons and encodes a protein of 343 amino acid residues which contains 3 functional domains: two RRM (RNA recognization motif) domains and an RTZF (retroviral-type zinc finger) and shares 72% identity with the Drosophila gene lark at the amino acid level. Bmlark-PB lacks the sequence between 118 and 791 nt of Bmlark-PA and codes for a protein of 68 amino acid residues, which contains no distinct functional domains. Alignments of the cDNAs of Bmlark to the genomic draft sequence of B. mori showed that the gene Bmlark had a single copy in the genome, suggesting that an alternative splicing mechanism occurs in the gene Bmlark. RT-PCR analysis indicated that Bmlark-PA was expressed only in late pupae and adult but Bmlark-PB was broadly expressed in many tissues and throughout the developmental stages from embryo to adult.


The participation in sports for physically challenged athletes continues to expand in multiple domains from recreational, novice, and competitive to elite competitions such as the Paralympics. Physically challenged athletes have various disabilities such as visual impairments, spinal cord injuries, amputations, cerebral palsy, or other neuromuscular impairments and have different levels of functional ability within these broad categories. The spectrum of medical illnesses and musculoskeletal injuries seen with sports is similar to that of able-bodied athletes; however medical teams caring for athletes with disabilities need to be familiar with medical risks such as skin breakdown, thermoregulation problems, dehydration, autonomic dysreflexia, infections, orthotic and prosthetic issues, and psychiatric comorbidities that may be encountered. The medical team preparation for events involving physically challenged athletes should include obtaining appropriate medical supplies, ensuring disability-compatible access to medical areas, and preparing for emergency extraction from adaptive equipment.


Complications from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome are notorious for mimicking other neurological diseases. We describe a case of HIV encephalitis presenting with the classic clinical features of Huntington's Disease in a woman without known HIV risk factors or other clinical stigmata suggestive of immunosuppression. This case reminds us that HIV should be part of the differential diagnosis in unexplainable neurological diseases. © 2004 Movement Disorder Society


AbstrAct Objective: Plantar fasciitis, first described by Plettner, is the most common cause of heel pain. The pathophysiology of this condition is still being studied, but it involves both anatomical factors—such as shortening of plantar flexion—and factors related to weight gain. Although literature is not conclusive on the best treatment strategy, early conservative management is recommended. The objective of this study was to compare three treatment regimens for plantar fasciitis. Materials and Methods: Ninety patients with plantar fasciitis were treated between March 2016 and March 2017. They were divided into 3 groups based on the treatment received: Group A (the control group) was managed with plantar fasciitis stretches; Group B was managed with steroid injections and plantar fasciitis stretches; and Group C was managed with saline injections and plantar fasciitis stretches. results: Results of the comparative study were as follows (reported based on age, affected side, underlying conditions, foot shape, previous foot surgeries, post-injection pain, and visual analog scale scoring): Group A 0.73, Group B 1.03, Group C 2.7. Regarding the time elapsed until patients were able to resume previous activities, results were as follows: Group A 19.1 days, Group B 12.63 days, Group C 15.12 days. conclusions: Our study showed the effectiveness of the three treatment regimens used. A shorter time to recovery and a lower complication rate were observed in patients treated with steroid injections, but no long-term differences were detected.


Defect prediction is an important task in the development phase of new products. We present a new method of predicting the number of defects for new products in the computer industry, such as laptops, during the development phase. The proposed approach is based on robust regression and reliability growth models. We use a robust regression model to predict the number of defects for new products, and a growth model is used to track the test progress during the development phase. The Weibull growth model achieves the best fit compared with other models, such as the exponential, three-parameter logistic, and Gompertz model. The predicted defects for four example products are similar to the actual defects during the whole development phase. The Weibull growth curve also provides a good fit for monitoring defect trends.


This article compliments the video "Across Space: Finding the farm in the city." It first outlines key methodological considerations in the production of a video in the academic geography video genre, including technology, scripting, editing, and the implications of authorship related to each of these. Then it discusses the intellectual aims of the video, which are to (i) show where the farm is represented in the city, (ii) show that by using the categories of urban and rural it allows us to attach values to places of a certain character, sometimes unjustifiably so, and (iii) demonstrate the transformative properties of space, i.e., how the meanings of artifacts change when they are used in different spatial contexts. The article concludes with methodological suggestions for other videographers wishing to produce motion pictures that relate themes frequently undertaken in academic geography.


The startup mode of spinoffs founded by R&D employees (R&D spinoffs) within the same industry is widespread in high-tech industries. The founders usually own specific human capital and key technological capability, enabling them to take the operational risk and to appropriate rewards of innovations under the industrial environment of rapid technological change. Whether high-tech R&D spinoffs, compared to their other spinoff counterparts, have better R&D productivity remains less well explored. According to the conceptual discussion of the advantages of intangible innovation assets embodied in company founders, this study argues that the founders' innovation cognition, knowledge externalities, absorptive capability and routine experience can help R&D spinoffs to have higher R&D productivity. We thus propose three hypotheses that are then empirically tested. Based on a sample of Taiwanese electronics firms, the empirical findings show that R&D spinoffs invest with a higher R&D intensity and on average have more patents issued. More importantly, the microeconometric estimates show that the patent and output elasticities of the R&D of R&D spinoffs are significantly higher than those of other firms, indicating that they actually have higher R&D productivity.


Tomatine is a steroidal glycoalkaloid in tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum) and other Lycopersicon and Solanum Species. Tomatine is used as an indicator to evaluate the safety of transgenic tomatoes by FDA in U.S.A. We have developed a facile and rapid method for absorptiometric measurement of the tomatine content. This method was used to measure the tomatine content of fruits of a transgenic tomato cultivar (Lycopersicon esculentum) which contained an antisense polygalacturonase gene (anti-PG). We found that the tomatine content in the fruits of transgenic and non-transgenic tomatoes was very similar. The data were also compared with those of other tomato cultivars, "KAGOME 77" (L. esculentum) and "KAGOME 88" (L. esculentum).


The powder bed fusion-based additive manufacturing process uses a laser to melt and fuse powder metal material together and creates parts with intricate surface topography that are often influenced by laser path, layer-to-layer scanning strategies, and energy density. Surface topography investigations of as-built, nickel alloy (625) surfaces were performed by obtaining areal height maps using focus variation microscopy for samples produced at various energy density settings and two different scan strategies. Surface areal height maps and measured surface texture parameters revealed the highly irregular nature of surface topography created by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). Effects of process parameters and energy density on the areal surface texture have been identified. Machine learning methods were applied to measured data to establish input and output relationships between process parameters and measured surface texture parameters with predictive capabilities. The advantages of utilizing such predictive models for process planning purposes are highlighted.


Abstract This paper examines the relationship between the number of partnerships ever engaged in and fertility, as measured by the average number of live births. It was found that the larger the number of partnerships in which a woman had been engaged the higher is her fertility. This relationship between partnerships and fertility remains even when such variables as present age, age at first partnership, age at first pregnancy, time lost between unions, time spent in partnerships, time since entry into the first partnership, type of sexual union at first pregnancy, present type of sexual union, and current use or non-use of contraceptives are controlled by cross tabulation. Correlation analysis also bears out the positive relationship between partnerships and fertility. The data for this study came from a sample survey of 4,199 women of lower, and lower middle, socio-economic status who were interviewed in 1971 on the island of Barbados. The authors have confidence in the reliability and validity of their data and hence in their findings and conclusions. The authors believe that their findings contradict the previously established positive relationship between patterns of stability of sexual unions and fertility in English-speaking Caribbean societies. They conclude that the relationship was either not rigorously examined in the past or else has undergone changes as these societies modernize economically and socially.


Scientists have been discussing the nature of helminths, and particularly tapeworms, for ages. A synopsis of the ancient literature and literature of the Middle-Ages concerned with this subject is presented. Even today a number of remarkable stories about tapeworms is being told. One of them is that tapeworms do not occur in The Netherlands. The incidence of the tapeworm Taenia saginata in man in The Netherlands was carefully calculated from figures on cysterci observed in bovine carcases and estimates based on sales records of anthelmintics. It was concluded that tapeworms are relatively common (0,2-0,3%). The life cycle of Taenia saginata showed a remarkably constant pattern during the past twenty-five years.


The development of inexpensive, wideband, high dynamic range ADCs has made feasible a new class of receivers based on direct IF undersampling techniques. This type of receiver architecture is characterized by high intermediate frequencies (IFs), often in the 100-250 MHz range. At these IFs the conventional theory shows that for non-spread modulation schemes a small amount of sample clock jitter can lead to significant phase modulation of the desired signal thus limiting the SNR at the ADC output. Unfortunately, the same theory cannot be directly applied to spread spectrum (SS) systems in which the IF SNR is very low. This paper shows that, neglecting adjacent channel interference, the principal effect of sample clock jitter in direct-sequence SS receivers is to reduce chip coherency during despreading. Results are derived relating the loss of receiver performance to the IF frequency and the ADC sample clock single-sideband phase noise density to carrier ratio. These results are then used to define sample clock jitter requirements for an exemplary IS-95 IF-sampling receiver.


Introduction The pandemic spread of SARS-CoV-2, a novel, highly contagious and easily transmissible pathogen, has profoundly affected all aspects of human interaction. Guided by the need to reduce face-to-face contacts, medical organisations have rapidly shifted group activities to virtual platforms. Over 1 year into the pandemic, the necessity to maintain public health restrictions ensures that virtual meetings will be the norm for the foreseeable future. It has yet to be understood how virtual technologies shape healthcare and academic cultures, affect interactions, or influence strategic decisions and policies within these systems. Conclusion In this article, the authors reflect on the move from historically situated activity systems of team leadership in healthcare to ones that now exist in virtual formats. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) is a framework that explains complex human actions, and how they unfold over time through interaction with mediational tools (eg, technology) and various people representing their own communities, roles and perceived divisions of labour. The authors use the lens of CHAT as a framework to understand the shifting dynamics at play and offer strategies for leaders to co-establish activity systems with team members to make goals of group activities explicit and to deliberately work toward them. Five specific strategies proposed are: (1) use software platforms that fit your needs and give voice to all attendees with technical support present in meetings; (2) converse explicitly about roles and emerging role fluidity during times of change and pandemic response; (3) co-construct something new intentionally; (4) engage in implementation science at this time; and (5) lead intentionally while honouring cultural norms and values. It is imperative that any changes, even the ones that are a part of the pandemic response, are made consistent with the core shared values of the medical community as this necessary new way of coming together is embraced with collective wisdom.


The Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are mathematical models method capable of estimating non-linear response plans. The advantage of these models is to present different responses of the statistical models. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop and to test ANNs for estimating rainfall erosivity index (EI30) as a function of the geographical location for the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and generating a thematic visualization map. The characteristics of latitude, longitude e altitude using ANNs were acceptable to estimating EI30 and allowing visualization of the space variability of EI30. Thus, ANN is a potential option for the estimate of climatic variables in substitution to the traditional methods of interpolation.


Bad financial attitudes, such as wasting of money, are really difficulties to remove
from Indonesian culture. The issue of financial management behavior has attractive
agendas for educators, business and government agencies. The purpose of this
study is to examine the effect of financial attitude, financial knowledge and personal
income on financial management behavior. The research data were obtained from 94
students of Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral programs at various universities in Special
Region of Yogyakarta and Central of Java with convenience sampling method. The
quality of data generated by this research instrument was assessed using validity
and reliability tests. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis to
determine the effect of independent variables on financial management behavior.
The results showed that financial attitude, financial knowledge and personal income
have a significant effect on financial management behavior.


Background:
A new optimization algorithm is presented. The method is biased with new non monotone line search an accelerated three term conjugate gradient method damped of Quasi Newton method   compared to previews method design efficiency in provident of more than one factor  for different optimization problem are  more dramatic due to the ability of the technique to utile  existing data.
Materials and Methods:
 New monotone line search, new monotone line search, new modification of Damped Quasi-Newton method, Motivation and New Quasi-Newton Algorithm (MQ) and Global convergence.
Results:
In this work, we have n tendency to compare our new algorithm with same classical strategies like [7] by exploiting of unconstrained nonlinear optimization problem the functions obtained from Andrei [5, 6] Waziri and Sabiu (2015)[10] and La couzetul (2004)[3]. The numerical experiments demonstrate the performance of the proposed method. We selected seven relatively unconstrained problems with the size varies from 10 to 100. We consider the three sizes of each problem so that the total number of problem is 21 test problems. We stop the iteration when   is satisfied  All codes were written in Matlab R2017a and run on a pc with Intel COREi4 with a processor with 4GB of Ram and CPU 2.3GHZ we solved test problems using two different initial starting points.
Conclusion:
In this research article, a project on an accelerated three-term efficient algorithm for numerical optimization has presented the method as completely a derivative-free algorithm with less NOI and NOF and CPU time computed to the existing methods .using classical assumption the global convergence was also proved. Numerical results using the three terms efficient algorithm show that the algorithm is promising.


LBS has become an integral part of people's life nowadays. However, the GPS restricted by the shielding effect is unavailable for indoor environments. Therefore, accurately locating an electronic device indoors has become a challenging issue in recent years. This work employs the CSi combined with neural networks to achieve an accurate indoor positioning. The CSi refers to known channel properties of a communication link in wireless communications. This information describes how a signal propagates from the transmitter to the receiver and represents the combined effects of, for example, scattering, fading, and power decay with distance. This work will evaluate several neural networks for the positioning, including the FCNN, CNN, and GCNN. in multi-carrier communication systems, the CSi of adjacent subcarriers has a high correlation, and hence, the CNN is promising to learn and extract the features of this input information corresponding to the location of radio devices. Beyond that, we also investigate an improved CNN, that is, the GCNN, which has more talent to locate in indoor environments than traditional CNNs. Experimental results show that the proposed GCNN can achieve a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of less than 0.08m and 0.3m for 16 and two antennas, respectively. in addition, the computational complexities and required numbers of parameters of compared deep neural networks have been analyzed as well.


Longissimus samples were removed from each side of 17 U.S. Commercial and Utility carcasses (Experiments A, B, and C). The samples were randomly assigned to supersonic-hydrodynamic shock wave treatment (SSW) or no treatment (C). Total energy and maximum peak force data were obtained for all treatments. Sensory evaluation (for Experiments A and C) included subjective ratings for myofibrillar tenderness. juiciness, connective tissue amount, and overall tenderness. Also, thaw loss, cooking loss, and collagen solubility were determined. The effects of supersonic-hydrodynamic shock treatment on the reduction of shear force and sensory values for all studies were minimal. Thaw loss (Experiment B only), cooking loss, CIE L* a* b* values, collagen solubility and standard plate counts were unaffected (P>0.05) by treatment. Further research with less tender beef should indicate if tenderness improvement can be attained through a closer accoustical match with water and improved techniques for administering shock wave treatment.


Background: In Africa, the increase of Kaposi Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8) seroprevalence during childhood suggests an horizontal intrafamilial transmission. However, the exact transmission modes are yet unknown, but there is evidence that the virus is intermittently spread through the saliva of seropositive subjects. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between the geographical distribution of bloodsucking arthropods and incidence rates of Kaposi Sarcoma. In this view, key roles can be played by: i) the inflammatory reaction due to the arthropod bites which create a microenvironment favourable to viral replication, and ii) the use of saliva as first-aid medication in several circumstances. According to that, the viral transmission could occur through the application of mothers' saliva on children's skin to relieve itching and scratching after a bloodsucking arthropod bite. This work investigated the risk factors involved in HHV-8 transmission based on the "promoter arthropod hypothesis" Human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8): salivary shedding in mothers and children from Uganda: risk factors and clues about transmission www.preventionandresearch.com Oct-Dec 2011|P&R Scientific |Volume 1|N°1 45 Methods: One hundred and thirty questionnaires were administered to Ugandan children (54 from settled and 76 from nomad communities) to evaluate the skin inflammatory reaction to the arthropod bites and the frequency of behavioural practices associated with saliva usage. At the same time saliva samples were collected from the children and respective mothers to detect the presence of HHV-8 DNA by Real-Time PCR. Results: We detected HHV-8 DNA in 23.85% of mothers and in 11.54% of children. The use of saliva is significantly more common in settled than in the nomad communities (p<0.001). The statistical analysis showed significant association between: i) skin inflammatory reaction and use of saliva in both groups; ii) environmental factors which increase the presence of bloodsucking arthropods and skin inflammatory reaction. Conclusions: From our data we suppose that HHV-8 transmission could occur through non-sexual routes and that the infected saliva applied at child bite site could represent a favourable condition for the acquiring of the infection.


This article considers the manner in which a late Georgian family managed ill health. The source, Lady Hannah East's diary, covers the period from January 1791 to June 1792. She records her own ailments as well as the daily care that she and others gave her husband, Sir William East, Baronet, during an eight-week period when he suffered an attack of gout. Cognisant of cultural context, this manuscript sheds new light on the English medical landscape, and specifically on attitudes to medication, to regimen and to medical practitioners. In addition, it reveals much about the relevance of personal relationships between spouses, within the family and with servants and neighbours when sickness struck.


The article deals with synonymous terms used in the works of the theory and history of literary science published in Lithuanian between 1918 and 1940 (i.e. period of independent Lithuania). The paper discusses extent of terminology synonymy, types of one-word synonyms according to root of terms and their origin, identifies the fate of synonymous terms. The work follows the opposition principle.
Synonymy is characteristic to literary terminology of aforesaid time (about 40% one-word terms have one-word synonyms). That proves terminological statement, that synonymy is typical to the first stages of development of terminology in particular domain. Besides terms have been extracted from texts and that might determine greater amount of synonymy and other variation of terminology. Since the better part of sources investigated is textbooks and other works for learning/studies, the reason for some synonyms (especially international) might be a didactic one.
Synonymic relations link co-rooted terms (48% of the lines of synonyms), not co-rooted terms (37%) as well as mixed ones (15%). Lines of synonyms comprise of Lithuanian synonyms and synonyms with borrowed root (mostly international one) (38%), only Lithuanian-origin synonyms (36%) or synonyms with borrowed root alone (26%).
In accordance with the number of sources, international terms and hybrids with international root not always overtake Lithuanian synonyms. Besides some of the first ones have more than one Lithuanian synonym. From international and Lithuanian synonyms now in some cases international terms are used, in other cases – Lithuanian synonyms or both Lithuanian and international terms. Several former international and Lithuanian synonyms have different meanings at present.
Lithuanian-origin synonyms reflect realized possibilities for terminologization and term formation. Words that were terminologizated, in general lexis had synonyms, the same with underlying words of terms derivatives. That is a linguistic reason for some synonymous terms.
Surely, some terms of lines of synonyms were used just in one source, but there are terms among them that have remained.
Usually the synonym that was used in a greater number of the sources (as well as in the sources of the thirties) has entrenched. An attempt to differentiate meanings of some synonyms is observable in the period investigated.
From the side of regulation of terminology, synonymous terms investigated are both the reason for terminology harmonization (efforts to find best terms) and the result of it (a few terms naming one concept for the time being particularly in different sources). Some synonyms might occur due to attempt to avoid polysemy of terms.

Keywords: synonymous; theory; synonymous terms; literary science; Lithuanian; co-rooted terms


ABSTRACT Masked priming studies have shown that readers decompose morphologically complex words (read+er). Interindividual differences have been suggested to affect this phenomenon. However, its development is poorly understood. We addressed this issue by taking a longitudinal approach that allows greater rigor in establishing the relationship between grade, reading skill, and morphological priming. A masked priming lexical decision task with suffixed words (kleidchen-KLEID), suffixed nonwords (kleidtum-KLEID), non-suffixed nonwords (kleidekt-KLEID) and unrelated primes (träumerei-KLEID) was administered to 98 children in grade 2, and again in grade 3 and 4 of elementary school. Reading skill was measured at each testing point. Grade and reading skill were associated with distinct patterns of priming: all priming effects increased with reading skill, whereas priming from non-suffixed nonwords decreased with grade. This suggests that the ability to identify stems can be associated with reading skills, while sensitivity to affixes is acquired over grades.


Objective: To investigate the application of hybrid technique for the treatment of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (CAVMs) and to assess the value of hybrid technique. Methods: The cases of CAVMs treated in Qilu hospital and People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from July 2011 to July 2016 were analyzed retrospectively.Two modes of hybrid surgery, "angiographic diagnosis-craniotomy lesion resection or/and hematoma clearance-intraoperative angiography evaluation" and "angiographic diagnosis-intraoperative embolization-craniotomy lesion resection or/and hematoma clearance-intraoperative angiography evaluation" were applied for all the cases.We placed an aneurysm clip as marker in surgery field during real-time angiography.If CAVMs residues occurred during surgery, we re-resected the residue according to the guidance of the marker (clip) and DSA imaging. Intra-operative angiography evaluated the results of CAVMs resection one more time.Postoperatively, follow-up CT scan was performed for all the patients. Results: Of all the cases with CAVMs, there were 8 cases of scale Ⅰ, 13 cases of scale Ⅱ, 10 cases of scale Ⅲ and 6 cases of scale Ⅳ according to Spetzler-Martin Scale.There were 28 cases of acute hemorrhagic CAVMs and 9 cases of chronic hemorrhagic CAVMs or no-hemorrhagic CAVMs.Intra-operative angiography showed CAVMs residues in 6 cases of acute hemorrhagic CAVMs and only one in chronic group.About 18.92% residual rate of CAVMs were found for the first time intra-operative assessment angiography.With the guidance of intra-operative angiography and aneurysm clip as Marker, all residues of CAVMs were resected totally.Follow up CT showed the hematomas disappeared in all the cases of acute hemorrhagic cases.The cure rate of CAVMs with hybrid surgery was 100% according to the final intra-operative assessment angiography. Conclusions: (1)Hybrid surgery for the treatment of CAVMs in one session could evaluate the results of CAVMs resection and instruct the surgical procedure according to real-time angiography.This model could improve the treatment safety and efficacy for patients with CAVMs.(2)Patients with higher Spetzler-Martin Scale (Ⅲ-Ⅳ) who need intra-operative embolization and patients with hemorrhagic CAVMs are more suitable for hybrid surgery.


Abstract Objectives The aim of this study was (1) to evaluate the relationship between spheno-occipital synchondrosis (SOS) fusion stages, cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) stages, and clivus sizes with chronological age on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, and (2) to compare these methods for accurate age estimation using regression analysis. Materials and Methods The CBCT images of 200 individuals (102 females and 98 males) were included in the study. The SOS fusion stages and CVM stages were evaluated. The width and length of the clivus were measured. The effects of SOS fusion stages, CVM stages, clivus width, and clivus length on age estimation were evaluated by univariate tests and the effects of coexistence with ANCOVA and regression model. Spearman rank correlation analysis was also used to investigate the relationship between the SOS fusion stage, CVM stage, clivus width, and clivus length. Results The SOS stages, CVM stages, and clivus width were not shown statistically significant differences between the sexes (p-values = 0.205, 0.162, and 0.277, respectively), whereas clivus length was significantly longer in males (42.9 ± 4.26 mm) than in females (41.04 ± 3.74 mm). Multiple regression analysis showed 80% success when all parameters (SOS fusion stages, CVM stages, clivus width, and clivus length) were taken into consideration. Conclusion In conclusion, with the use of CVM stages and SOS fusion stages together, an accurate and reliable age estimation can be obtained in forensic medicine.


Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Here, we explored the role of the HMGB1-RAGE pathway in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression-like behavior and microglial autophagy flux, neuroinflammation, and polarization in a mouse model. Male C57BL/6 mice were infused with LPS in the abdominal cavity to induce a depression model. They then underwent testing to assess behavior and cognition. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression of the M1/M2 microglia polarization markers, HMGB1, and RAGE. Microglial activation and phenotypic transformation in the hippocampus were identified. mRFP-GFP-LC3 and Western blotting were used to detect autophagy flux in each treatment group. Finally, an LPS-induced BV2 cell model was developed to verify the involvement of the HMGB1-RAGE pathway, autophagy flux, and polarization. Ketamine improved LPS-induced depression-like behavior, inhibited the LPS-induced upregulation of HMGB1 and RAGE and the nuclear translocation of HMGB1. Moreover, ketamine reversed the blocked autophagy flux of microglia caused by LPS and regulated microglial autophagy flux through the HMGB1-RAGE pathway and microglial polarization. These results suggest that ketamine may reduce HMGB1 and RAGE accumulation in patients with depression, thereby providing a new therapeutic target for preventing and treating this disease.


Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogeneous disease featured by an increased incidence in African Americans (AA). We have previously observed that with equal access to healthcare, younger AA (age <65 years) patients have superior overall survival (OS) than white patients. As MM prognosis is influenced by presence of del17p, we investigated racial differences in its occurrence and impact in a large cohort of MM patients from the Veterans Affairs (VA) system. Among 2243 VA patients with MM for whom del17p data was available, del17p was present in 8.83% of all patients, with significantly lower prevalence in AA (5.56%) compared to white (10.52%, p<0.001). The difference was even more pronounced among younger (<65 years) AA (4.34%) versus white (9.8%, p=0.004). However, we observed no significant difference in survival between AA and white patients with del17p regardless of age category, suggesting that del17p carries a poor prognosis across race and age. Interestingly, among patients without del17p, we still noted a significantly superior OS in younger AA as compared to white (7.75 vs. 5.10 years, p=0.042). Our study shows a lower incidence of del17p in AA but suggests that the survival advantage for younger AA is primarily due to factors other than del17p.


As the industry environment is changing to automated systems, engineering education at university has changed with industrial development. Industry technology will be developed, and the industry environment will become more complicated. Therefore, the knowledge that undergraduates have to acquire in university will be extensive. Industries need a person with expertise to react quickly to rapidly changing technology. Therefore, universities need to endeavor to cultivate manpower in technical fields. This is difficult because the contents of engineering education must react quickly to rapidly changing industry technology. This paper proposes a hardware-linked simulation platform for engineering education on the well-used systems in industrial sites.


Vitis vinifera (L.) cv. Shiraz commonly loses a significant amount of bunch water during late ripening, with attendant yield losses. The objective of the study was to quantitatively assess the hypothesis that this sustained weight loss was due to decreased vascular flow and increased transpiration. Transpiration, fresh and dry weights, and water content of whole attached grape bunches were measured from flowering to maturity on vines grown in controlled environments and in the vineyard. Seasonal changes in net water fluxes into and out of bunches were determined. A simple technique of weighing bunches in situ also provided independent measurement of daily rates of water gain and loss. Bunch transpiration rates were high just after flowering but declined to 0.2 g g (dry wt) −1 d −1 at about harvest date. Bunch net water import rates also showed a 90% decrease with development from 1.0 to 0.1 g g (dry wt) −1 d −1 . Comparisons of these rates revealed net water import exceeded transpiration throughout early and midbunch development. However, at 60 to 80 days after flowering, import rates had declined to an extent that transpiration now exceeded import and an overall loss of water occurred. Quantitatively comparable rates of water gain and loss determined on Shiraz bunches over four growing seasons on vineyard-grown vines conformed closely with those rates determined as above. Changes in diurnal bunch water fluxes supported the conclusion that net water import exceeded transpiration losses throughout bunch development until the late stage of ripening. The hypothesis that sustained weight loss in late-ripening Shiraz grape bunches occurred because bunch water fluxes shifted from a net import to a net loss by transpiration was confirmed.


We report a 3D tumor spheroid model to study epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) using ultra-thin matrix coated single cancer cells. The spheroid was characterized by light microscopy, fluorescence imaging, SEM, TEM and zeta potential. We then studied EMT related cellular CD47, mTOR, ERK, and HIF signaling. We compared (1) cells inside a multicellular tumor spheroid (3Dis), (2) cells migrated from the multicellular tumor spheroid (3Dms), and (3) 2D monolayer-cultured cells (2Ds) in EMT. 3Dis exhibited an abnormal nucleus with the occurrence of cell damage and accumulation of lipid droplets, and higher expression of the integrin-associated protein and dissociation of the mTOR complex than those of 2Ds and 3Dms. We examined the expressions of E- and N-cadherin, two EMT related factors, and found over-expression of E-cadherin in 2Ds, high N-cadherin in 3Dis, and high E- and weak N-cadherin in 3Dms. This implied that our model could trigger EMT. By injecting cells into a xenograft model, we found transitions of 2Ds from N-cadherin negative to positive and transitions of 3Dis from positive to negative, but not in 3Dms. 2D cells exhibited higher progression than other cells. This suggests that the in vivo 3D tumorigenesis environment could limit the capacity of cancer metastases for 3Dis but trigger the EMT process quickly for 2Ds and 3Dms.


Background and purpose Peritumoral brain edema (PTBE) is a common complication in meningioma and disruption of the tumor-brain barrier in meningioma is crucial for PTBE formation. To evaluate the association between meningioma size and PTBE, we measured meningioma volumes using the 3D slicer in patients with convexity and parasagittal meningiomas. Methods Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the optimal cut-off meningioma volume values for predicting PTBE occurrence. Logistic regressions were used to estimate the odds ratios for PTBE occurrence in patients with convexity and parasagittal meningiomas according to several predictive factors. Results A total of 205 convexity or parasagittal meningioma patients with no other brain disease who underwent one or more contrast-enhanced brain MRIs were enrolled in this 10-year analysis in two hospitals. The optimal cut-off meningioma volume value for prediction of PTBE in all study patients was 13.953 cc (sensitivity = 76.1%; specificity = 92.5%). If a meningioma is assumed to be a complete sphere, 13.953 cc is about 2.987 cm in diameter. Conclusions Our study suggests a cut-off value of 3 cm meningioma diameter for prediction of PTBE in patients with convexity and parasagittal meningiomas. We believe that we have revealed why the meningioma diameter of 3 cm is clinically meaningful.


According to recent Census data, the Hispanic or Latino population represents nearly 1 in 5 Americans today, where 71.1% of these individuals speak Spanish at home. Despite increased efforts among the weather enterprise, establishing effective risk communication strategies for Spanish-speaking populations has been an uphill battle. No frameworks exist for translating weather information into the Spanish language, nor are there collective solutions that address this problem within the weather world. The objective of this article is threefold. First, the current translation issue in Spanish is highlighted. Through research conducted at the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, situations are revealed where regional varieties of Spanish contributed to inconsistent risk messaging across the bilingual weather community. Second, existing resources are featured so that interested readers are aware of ongoing efforts to translate weather information into Spanish. Organizations within the weather service, like the NWS Multimedia Assistance in Spanish Team and the NWS Spanish Outreach Team, are highlighted for their pioneer work on Spanish weather communication. Last, a framework for translation standardization in the atmospheric sciences is introduced, along with future initiatives that are being sought by NWS and AMS to enhance Spanish hazardous weather communication.


In 1944, in Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Minnesota, a case of first impression about the constitutional limitations upon state power to tax airplanes, Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote in a concurring opinion that, "[p]lanes do not wander about in the sky like vagrant clouds." Rather, "[t]hey move only by federal permission, subject to federal inspection, in the hands of federally certified personnel and under an intricate system of federal commands." Indeed, the "moment a ship taxies onto a runway it is caught up in an elaborate and detailed system of controls. It takes off only by instruction from the control tower, it travels on prescribed beams, it may be diverted from its intended landing, and it obeys signals and orders. Its privileges, rights, and protection, so far as transit is concerned, it owes to the Federal Government alone and not to any state government." Concerns about how to design and manage the airways in the sky was not a concern for American jurists and lawmakers alone, but an international issue in the post-war 1940s.The international aviation community came together on safety issues, but stipulations respecting economic issues — such as protocols allowing foreign airlines to fly wherever they wanted in the other's territory, as frequently as they desired, and at prices they chose — were elusive. In place of a comprehensive arrangement for international airline operations, therefore, bilateral and multilateral agreements facilitated commercial air travel. But, then, deregulatory impulses eroded protectionist philosophies in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the United States and Europe and other nations and regions pursued "open skies" policies that liberalized wide swaths of international travel. While not entirely free to wander about the sky uncontrolled, airliners could go to more destinations, more regularly, and less expensively.This article overviews the seminal issues of open sky policy, including antique laws of ownership and control. Also presented is a review of airline deregulation policy in the United States, argument in favor of the expansion of so-called cabotage rights allowing foreign carriers to fly domestic routes, and discussion of the emergence of strategic airline alliances. Finally, this article concludes with coverage of an intense controversy between major U.S. airlines, on the one hand, and Persian Gulf carriers, on the other hand, that risks open skies policies in the Middle East. In presenting these issues, this article aims to introduce the reader to the unusual and historically significant ways in which aviation laws are derived domestically and internationally, and in doing so, raise a general question about the welfare of aviation consumers overall. In conclusion, this article criticizes U.S. carriers seeking to reverse hard-won open skies policies. Indeed, the U.S. airline's industry's habit of looking to the government to get out of the way except when it comes to their own welfare is inconsistent with principles of free competition, avoids the real market-borne issue of product competition, and is hollow when asserted by carriers who have received substantial protections under U.S. bankruptcy law to survive in a global sector that should be performance — and not subsidy-based.


Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was chosen for an in-detail analysis of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) in order to determine the possible fragmentation mechanism with the help of collision-induced dissociation (CID). All experiments were performed on a well-defined PMMA standard and were optimized for sample preparation and measurement conditions of both MS and MS/MS. In order to investigate the fragmentation pathways, two parent peaks—both charged with sodium (m/z = 1 625.9 and 2 226.2 Da, respectively)—were selected, thus permitting the examination of possible cleavages, and reaction pathways. For both chosen peaks, the MALDI-TOF MS/MS spectra revealed four fragmentation series that could be explained by single or multiple main chain scissions and secondary reactions of the PMMA side groups. According to the molar mass of the fragments, a loss or migration of the side group to the end of the free radical, followed by a β-scission, was favored. These insights are the first steps toward the construction of a library with fragments and fragmentation pathways, complementary to proteomics libraries, in order to obtain fast and automated identification of substances.


A short overview of the luminescence research done in Africa is presented. A summary of the number of publications, with the necessary explanation, is given to elaborate on the research done to date. Most of the research was done on phosphor materials as well as luminescence dating by using optically stimulated luminescence. Phosphor materials have several applications, which are given as examples of the progress of research in Africa. A short future perspective is added at the end of the overview.


Diagnosing problems in Internet-scale services remains particularly difficult and costly for both content providers and ISPs. Because the Internet is decentralized, the cause of such problems might lie anywhere between a user's device and the datacenters hosting the service. Further, the set of possible problems and causes is not known in advance, making it impossible in practice to train a classifier with all combinations of problems, causes and locations.In this paper, we explore how machine learning techniques can be used for Internet-scale root cause analysis based on measurements taken from end-user devices. Using convolutional neural networks, we show how to build generic models that (i) are agnostic to the underlying network topology, (ii) do not require to define the full set of possible causes during training, and (iii) can be quickly adapted to diagnose new services. We evaluate our proposal, DIAGNET, on a geodistributed multi-cloud deployment of online services, using a combination of fault injection and emulated clients running within automated browsers. Our experiments demonstrate the promising capabilities of our technique, delivering a recall of 73.9%, including on causes that were unknown at training time.


The problem of distortion-rate functions for vector sources is considered. Two fidelity criteria are treated. The first considers the maximum of the weighted component distortions and then takes the per-letter average. The second takes the maximum of the weighted component per-letter averages. In either case, a well-defined distortion-rate function results, giving the minimum possible distortion achievable at a given rate of transmission. Upper and lower bounds to these distortion-rate functions are derived in terms of more easily calculated functions.


This concise publication, by the same authors as "International Intellectual Property Law and Policy", is a more directed treatment of just the patent law aspects of international intellectual property. This text extrapolates the relevant international material from the larger book, and adds comparative material relevant to teachers of patent law in particular. This comparative material draws extensively on statutes, case law and secondary sources from throughout the world.


To determine the extent of care fragmentation during pregnancy and delivery in the Volta Region of Ghana. The National Health Insurance Claims Data for the Volta Region for the period January -December 2013 was used. Pregnant women who delivered at a health facility and made at least 3 visits were included in the study. Social network analysis (SNA) approach was used to determine care fragmentation. Fragmentation of care during delivery was defined to be any delivery at a facility different from the woman's most frequently visited antenatal care (ANC) facility. Network metrics (weighted in-degree and weighted out-degree) were used to determine extent of care fragmentation and also the key facilities contributing to the fragmentation. Overall, 14,474 pregnant women were included in the study with 15% (2,185) having cesarean section (CS). A total of 6,025 (42%) of all the pregnant women visited more than one facility during ANC and delivery, out of which 960 (16%) had CS. About 26% (3,769) of all deliveries and 32% (696) of all CS deliveries were fragmented. Fragmentation among those that had CS was significantly higher compared to those that had vaginal delivery (VD) (32% versus 25%, x²=45.88, p<0.001). Among those who visited multiple facilities, 63% (73% CS and 61% VD, x²=49.22, p<0.001) were fragmented. In addition, 15% of all deliveries (36% among those who visited multiple facilities) and 20% of all CS deliveries (45% among those who visited multiple facilities) were performed at facilities that the pregnant women never received ANC services from. There is high level of care fragmentation during the critical period of delivery among pregnant women who visited more than one facility. This fragmentation is particularly higher among those that had CS compared to vaginal delivery. This calls for policy to ensure coordination and continuity of care during pregnancy.


When the tension of a muscle contracting isometrically is rapidly lowered, there is an immediate and proportional rise of temperature. This is not due to physiological shortening, which is a relatively slow process, but is directly connected with the fall of tension. A similar effect occurs in any material possessing a normal (positive) thermal coefficient of linear expansion. It is the opposite of what is observed in bodies with long-range rubber-like elasticity. The experimental relation, in active muscle, between the heat (∆Q) immediately produced and the rapid fall of tension (-∆P) is ∆Q = 0∙018lo(-∆P), where lo is the standard length of the muscle. The constant 0∙018 is considerably greater than for metals but about the same as for ebonite and wood. In resting muscle, in the range of moderate tensions, the constant is of the opposite sign, and its absolute size is five to ten times as great. Resting muscle, in this range, has rubber-like elastic properties. During active contraction, therefore, the contractile filaments possess normal and not long-range elasticity. The force exerted by active muscle is not of thermokinetic origin. Unlike resting muscle its entropy and its internal energy both decrease when its tension is rapidly lowered. The power of physiological shortening, at a rate depending on the tension, is not directly derived from elastic properties. In normal relaxation after an isometric contraction there is known to be a substantial production of heat. This is derived partly from elastic energy developed earlier during contraction, in the series elastic component: the balance is fully accounted for by the thermoelastic heat resulting from the fall of tension.


Preterm infants frequently suffer from respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), possibly due to lower expression of epithelial Na+ channels (ENaC). RDS incidence is sex-specific, affecting males almost twice as often. Despite the use of antenatal glucocorticoids (GCs), the sex difference persists. It is still controversial whether both sexes benefit equally from GCs. We previously showed that Na+ transport is higher in female compared with male fetal distal lung epithelial (FDLE) cells. Since GCs increase Na+ transport, we hypothesized that their stimulating effect might be sex-specific. We analyzed FDLE cells with Ussing chambers and RT-qPCR in the presence or absence of fetal serum. In serum-free medium, GCs increased the ENaC activity and mRNA expression, independent of sex. In contrast, GCs did not increase the Na+ transport in serum-supplemented media and abolished the otherwise observed sex difference. Inhibition of the GC receptor in the presence of serum did not equalize Na+ transport between male and female cells. The GC-induced surfactant protein mRNA expression was concentration and sex-specific. In conclusion, female and male FDLE cells exhibit no sex difference in response to GCs with regard to Na+ transport, and GR activity does not contribute to the higher Na+ transport in females.