Chaotic transport is related to the complex dynamical evolution of chaotic trajectories in Hamiltonian systems, which models various physical processes. In magnetically confined plasma, it is possible to qualitatively describe the configuration of the magnetic field via the phase space of suitable symplectic maps. These phase spaces are of mixed type, where chaos coexists with regular motion, and the complete understanding of the chaotic transport is a challenge that, when overcome, may provide further knowledge into the behaviour of confined fusion plasma. In this research, we focus our investigation on the properties of chaotic transport in mixed phase spaces of two symplectic maps that model the magnetic field lines of tokamaks under distinct configurations. The single-null divertor map, or Boozer map, models the field lines of tokamaks with poloidal divertors. The ergodic magnetic limiter map, or Ullmann map, models the magnetic configuration of tokamaks assembled with ergodic magnetic limiters. We propose two numerical methods developed to study and illustrate the differences between the transient behaviour of open field lines in both models while considering induced magnetic configurations that either enhance or restrain the escaping field lines. The first analysis shows that the spatial organisation of invariant manifolds creates fitting transport channels for the open field lines, influencing the average dynamical evolution in the selected magnetic configurations. The second identifies trajectories that widely differ from the average chaotic behaviour, specifically detecting the stickiness phenomenon, which can be related to additional confinement regions in the nearest surroundings of magnetic islands in the plasma edge. These analyses may, ultimately, assist in selecting optimal experimental parameters to achieve specific goals in tokamak discharges.


Patulin (PAT) is a mycotoxin, with several acute, chronic, and cellular level toxic effects, produced by various fungi. A limit for PAT in food of has been set by authorities to guarantee food safety. Research on PAT in tea has been very limited although tea is the second largest beverage in the world. In this paper, HPLC−DAD and GC−MS methods for analysis of PAT in different tea products, such as non-fermented (green tea), partially fermented (oolong tea, white tea, yellow tea), completely fermented (black tea), and post-fermented (dark tea and Pu-erh tea) teas were developed. The methods showed good selectivity with regard to tea pigments and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and a recovery of 90–102% for PAT at a 10–100 ppb spiking level. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) in tea were 1.5 ng/g and 5.0 ng/g for HPLC−UV, and 0.25 ng/g and 0.83 ng/g for GC−MS. HPLC was simpler and more robust, while GC−MS showed higher sensitivity and selectivity. GC−MS was used to validate the HPLC−UV method and prove its accuracy. The PAT content of 219 Chinese tea samples was investigated. Most tea samples contained less than 10 ng/g, ten more than 10 ng/g and two more than 50 ng/g. The results imply that tea products in China are safe with regard to their PAT content. Even an extreme daily consumption of 25 g of the tea with the highest PAT content (124 ng/g), translates to an intake of only 3 μg/person/day, which is still an order of magnitude below the maximum allowed daily intake of 30 µg for an adult.


Abstract As is well known, the biblical sixth commandment, "Thou shall not kill", is intimately linked to the First Commandment, "I am the Lord". By linking the two at the top of Moses's two-column table, language is given priority: the name of God can be uttered only when the possibility of death has been set aside. In this way, the linking of these two commandments marks not only the birth of language, but also, more importantly, the start of ethics. As such, commandments one and six form the basis of practically all Western ethics from Kant's categorical imperative (the unconditional maxim needs a First Word to enter into force) to Lyotard's language games (for which all utterances are charged with the moral imperative to respond), for example. But how on earth does this famous linguistic and ethical structure fare in a context whereby the written text is not given priority, in a situation where prohibitions are inherited orally? This paper will attempt to expose the thorny issue of the role of the sixth commandment in the context of Rwanda. This will imply neither the exposition of the history of the arrival of the Bible in Rwanda nor the way it helped to consolidate the colonial regime. This paper will also not examine the neglect of the prohibition against murder during the genocide of 1994. Instead, the essay will examine the linguistic and cultural problems one faces when determining the birth of ethics in two radically different contexts.


Web development frameworks (WDFs) that incorporate both Workflow paradigms and the Model View Controller (MVC) [8] are known as WMVC-WFDs. Such frameworks guide the developer in generating the flow of control between the various components. Despite the pressing need for a visual environment to help developers manage the overwhelming number workflows during development, we have not come across any work that addresses this legitimate concern. In this work we describe, in the context of Ruby on Rail (ROR), an abstract model for the visual generation and management of workflows in WMVC-based web application.


BACKGROUND
A terminally ill child should have the possibility to be at home with their family during the end of life. Provision of care from primary care nurses (PCNs) is crucial, but no model exists on how specialised paediatric palliative care teams (SPPCTs) support the PCNs to perform this task.

AIM
To investigate how PCNs evaluated a shared care model between a SPPCT and PCNs in paediatric end-of-life care.

METHOD
A 23-item questionnaire was distributed to PCNs involved in care of 14 terminally ill children in November 2019 and January 2020. Descriptive statistics were used.

FINDINGS
A total of 20 questionnaires were returned from nurses who agreed/completely agreed that an introductory meeting made them better prepared (78.9%) to deal with the death of a child in their care, cooperating with family members (70.6%) and dealing with own emotions (73.7%). A total of 69.2% felt the meeting helped coping with parents' pressure and 88.9% stated that the trajectory changed how they saw themselves involved in future paediatric palliative care.

CONCLUSION
The shared care model was evaluated positively. Clear agreements and specialist support were prerequisites for good trajectories at the end of life. Further research is needed to investigate if the shared care model optimises palliative care and security in relation to child and family.


Purpose – This historical perspective highlights the evolution of reading clinics (also called literacy labs, centers, etc.) from medical-type clinics to instructional powerhouses for struggling readers. Of particular interest, also, is the development of teacher expertise while participating in reading clinics, particularly in the areas of reflection, a critical view of assessments, and using assessment to inform instruction. Furthermore, this chapter traces the history of research that has come out of reading clinics.

Design/Methodology/Approach – A brief history of reading clinics since the 1920s is followed by a deep examination of some of the themes that have shaped more recent reading clinics and research that has emerged from the clinics: assessment, mandates, teacher reflection, and twenty-first Century Literacies.

Practical implications – This chapter offers key information for stakeholders who are designing, establishing, or refining a reading clinic, either university-based or K-12 school-based.

Social implications – Struggling readers and writers deserve and need experiences that help them acquire literacy skills, including reading and writing for twenty-first century purposes. Teachers need support as they navigate mandates from educational policy-makers, enhance their skills as literacy leaders and literacy coaches, and reflect on best practices.


Hydrogen is a promising commodity, a renewable secondary energy source, and feedstock alike, to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets and promote economic decarbonization. A common goal pursued by many countries, the hydrogen economy receives a blending of public and private capital. After European Green Deal, state members created national policies focused on green hydrogen. This paper presents a study of energy transition considering green hydrogen production to identify Portugal's current state and prospects. The analysis uses energy generation data, hydrogen production aspects, CO2 emissions indicators and based costs. A comprehensive simulation estimates the total production of green hydrogen related to the ratio of renewable generation in two different scenarios. Then a comparison between EGP goals and Portugal's transport and energy generation prospects is made. Portugal has an essential renewable energy matrix that supports green hydrogen production and allows for meeting European green hydrogen 2030–2050 goals. Results suggest that promoting the conversion of buses and trucks into H2-based fuel is better for CO2 reduction. On the other hand, given energy security, thermoelectric plants fueled by H2 are the best option. The aggressive scenario implies at least 5% more costs than the moderate scenario, considering economic aspects.


Narrative asides in the narrative of the book of Revelation to John. Concerning the language ( le parole ) of the narrative of the book of Revelation, many ignorant and negative remarks have been thrown around. Therefore, to properly excavate the deadly accurate meaning of the narrative of the text requires narratological knowledge and skills from the informed linguist and exegete. Every hint of information to lighten up the text is very important. In the dramatic narrative of the book of Revelation we find most valuable references which have to be taken into consideration in analysing the text. They are called narrative asides, inter alia to awaken emotion in the reader, provide semantic explanations, give functional meaning to the sequence of the narrative or can just be causal. Combined with vocalisation these narrative aside enables the linguist and exegete hermeneutically to a better understanding of the message of Revelation and 4 Esra. The narrative of 4 Esra is chosen as a comparable and contemporary narrative to put the narrative of Revelation even more into narratological perspective.


Objective Health-related research in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has grown over the years. However, concerns have been raised about the state of research ethics committees (RECs). This scoping review examines the literature on RECs for health-related research in SSA and identifies strategies that have been applied to strengthen the RECs. It focuses on three aspects of RECs: regulatory governance and leadership, administrative and financial capacity and technical capacity of members. Design A scoping review of published literature, including grey literature, was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute approach. Data sources BioOne, CINAHL, Embase (via Ovid), Education Abstracts, Global Health, Google Scholar, Jstor, OpenEdition (French), Philosopher's Index, PsycINFO, PubMed, Science Citation and Expanded Index (Web of Science), reference lists of included studies and specific grey literature sources. Eligibility criteria We included empirical studies on RECs for health-related research in SSA, covering topics on REC leadership and governance, administrative and financial capacity and the technical capacity of REC members. We included studies published between 01 January 2000 and 18 February 2022 and written in English, French, Portuguese or Swahili. Data extraction and synthesis Two independent reviewers screened the records. Data were extracted by one reviewer and cross-checked by another. Owing to the heterogeneity of included studies, thematic analysis was used. Results We included 54 studies. The findings show that most RECs in SSA work under significant administrative and financial constraints, with few opportunities for capacity building for committee members. This has an impact on the quality of reviews and the overall performance of RECs. Although most countries have national governance systems for RECs, they lack regulations on accountability, transparency and monitoring of RECs. Conclusions This review provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on RECs for health-related research in SSA and contributes to our understanding of how RECs can be strengthened.


Abstract The role of the foregut (crop and proventriculus) in mechanical processing of food has received little attention in insects. Using the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera) and the black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus) as models, the role of the crop in processing of wheat or rye grass was examined. Interior cuticular structures (spines) of the foregut were described using light and scanning electron microscopy, with locusts having sclerotised structures and crops of crickets being unsclerotised internally. Muscular bands on the exterior surface of the crop part of the foregut are similar in males of both species, but contractions and movements are more forceful in locusts. Passage rate from the foregut is much faster in locusts (<3 h) than in crickets (>3 h). Water within the crop is reduced compared with the water content of fresh grass within the foregut of locusts, but water is increased in cricket crops. Spines within the crops are small relative to the size of food particles in both species. Some spines of locusts contain metals. The slower passage rate from the crop of crickets may be limited by the proventriculus. Foregut structure and food processing facilitates the generalist diet of crickets, but may restrict locusts to consuming softer grasses.


Abstract A new analytical method for quantitative diagnosis of dental fluorosis is suggested. The method is based on the spectral modifications in the fluorescence light emitted from affected enamel surfaces, relative to normal dental enamel. Imaging of the tooth surface is obtained using an imaging Fourier transform fluorescence spectrophotometer. This technique provides simultaneous fluorescence spectra at all pixels of the examined area. Images and the corresponding spectra were acquired at various tooth regions, and it was shown that normal, white opaque, brown discolored, and pitted tooth surfaces have different distinct spectral features which characterize the different degrees of the observed pathology of dental fluorosis. Criteria for quantitative assessment of the dental fluorosis stages were suggested. These were based on the measured spectral emission ratio at two wavelengths and comparison with the spectrum of normal enamel. The suggested parameters were validated against clinical observation of numerous samples affected by dental fluorosis at various pathological stages. Besides the introduction of the quantitative assessment, the method is suggested for detection of early changes in the characteristics of the tooth surface in dental fluorosis. The associated mapping capability allows for morphological characterization, which provides additional important clinical information.


The quality of products is an important aspect, as it improves the competitive ability of the company and increases the sales. Though it is an important aspect, management has to give equal weight to the quality costs, since it affects the price. An increase in quality cost increases the price; as a result the company may fore go a part of its market share. The performance of management reflects in high quality at reasonable cost. Such performance of management can not be measured with the help of traditional financial statements. Here, the Quality Cost Report is a useful report, which reveals the quality costs in general and measures the performance of management in particular. In this context, an attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the Quality Cost Report in order to improve its utility and increase its applicability.


Few events in life are able to isolate someone as the progression of a potentially fatal disease. The suffering caused by the proximity to death can be decreased or increased by psychological, sociological, cultural and spiritual factors. Acquire awareness and acceptance that death is near can make the process more human. In this way, the present work aims to discuss the death and the dying, their meaning and cultural differences, the performance of the psychology professional along with the patient and its family in the process of acceptance the death. To illustrate the difficulties experienced in this process and all the anguish raised in this period, two clinical cases are presented. The observation, reflections, interventions and Adriana Fernandes Vieira de Melo, Luciana Lima Zeni, Célia Lídia da Costa, Antônio Sérgio Fava A importância do acompanhamento psicológico no processo de aceitação de morte Estud. pesqui. psicol., Rio de Janeiro, v. 13, n. 1, p. 152-166, 2013. 153 the reception offered at the therapeutic process can help significantly and, somehow, people can understand, accept and adapt themselves to the new reality but it requires time.


Proteins are like miracle machines, playing important roles in living organisms. They perform vital biofunctions by further combining together and/or with other biomacromolecules to form assemblies or condensates such as membraneless organelles. Therefore, studying the self-assembly of biomacromolecules is of fundamental importance. In addition to their biological activities, protein assemblies also exhibit extra properties that enable them to achieve applications beyond their original functions. Herein, this study showed that in the presence of monosaccharides, ethylene glycols, and amino acids, β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) can form assemblies with specific structures, which were highly reproducible. The mechanism of the assembly process was studied through multi-scale observations and theoretical analysis, and it was found that the assembling all started from the formation of solute-rich liquid droplets via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). These droplets then combined together to form condensates with elaborate structures, and the condensates finally evolved to form assemblies with various morphologies. Such a mechanism of the assembly is valuable for studying the assembly processes that frequently occur in living organisms. Detailed studies concerning the properties and applications of the obtained β-LG assemblies showed that the assemblies exhibited significantly better performances than the protein itself in terms of autofluorescence, antioxidant activity, and metal ion absorption, which indicates broad applications of these assemblies in bioimaging, biodetection, biodiagnosis, health maintenance, and pollution treatment. This study revealed that biomacromolecules, especially proteins, can be assembled via LLPS, and some unexpected application potentials could be found beyond their original biological functions.


Synchronous endometrial and ovarian carcinoma is a rare instance and it accounts for 50 to 70% of all synchronous female genital tract tumors. However, it is very rare to find synchronous endometrial carcinoma and ovarian sex cord–stromal tumor (thecoma). The present case is a 75-year-old woman with a complaint of post-menopausal vaginal bleeding. Radiologically, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pelvis revealed altered signal intensity mass in the uterus. Frozen section and routine histopathological examination were done on radical hysterectomy. Microscopically, serous carcinoma involving uterine corpus and left Fallopian tube was identified along with the unusual finding of contralateral ovarian sex cord–stromal tumor (thecoma), which was confirmed on immunohistochemical examination. It is a very rare association and is first reported in the present study after a thorough search of the published literature. Their relationship based on a high level of estrogen produced by the hyperactive ovary is controversial as serous carcinomas are less hormone-dependent.


The Coping Scale for Adults (CSA) has been developed as an instrument to be used by teachers, administrators, parents, and adults in general to assist them to develop their coping resources. This paper reports on the validity and utility of this instrument. Five studies using the CSA (E. Frydenberg and R. Lewis, 1997) found significant relationships between a number of undesired outcomes (such as low self-esteem, feeling overwhelmed, and stress) and coping strategies assessed by the CSA which have been termed nonproductive. There is also a consistent pattern of findings across studies linking the more positive outcomes (and less negative ones) to strategies that have been termed the productive strategies of CSA. The findings appear to provide support for recent research which indicates that the linkage between maladaptive styles and negative outcomes are stronger than those between productive styles and productive outcomes. This has implications for the development of strategies and the identification of those that need to be used with caution. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 24 references.)


Families are a key provider of support that may encourage positive weight-related behaviors. Yet little is known about the relation of family support to children's performance of weight-related behaviors. Mothers (N = 524) who completed an online survey were categorized as having low, moderate, or high family support for fruit/vegetable intake, breakfast intake, limiting sugar-sweetened beverage intake, physical activity, limiting sedentary screentime, and sleep. ANOVA revealed that children in families with high support for breakfast ate this meal significantly more often. Additionally, children in families with low support for limiting sugar-sweetened beverages had significantly greater intake. Surprisingly, families with moderate support for physical activity and sleep tended to have children with lower physical activity level, sleep duration, and sleep quality, and fewer days/week with set bedtimes than those with low and high support. Binomial logistic regression revealed that high family support for eating breakfast, limiting sugar-sweetened beverages, and getting sufficient sleep had greater odds of meeting recommendations for these behaviors. Findings suggest that greater family support for healthy weight-related behaviors tends to be associated with children's performance of these behaviors. Future interventions should further examine the impact of different types of family support on weight-related behaviors to better understand this complex interplay.


In this study, Schwann cells, at a density of 1 × 105 cells/well, were cultured on regenerated silk fibroin nanofibers (305 ± 84 nm) prepared using the electrospinning method. Schwann cells cultured on the silk fibroin nanofibers appeared more ordered, their processes extended further, and they formed more extensive and complex interconnections. In addition, the silk fibroin nanofibers had no impact on the proliferation of Schwann cells or on the secretion of ciliary neurotrophic factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor or nerve growth factor. These findings indicate that regenerated electrospun silk fibroin nanofibers can promote Schwann cell adhesion, growth and proliferation, and have excellent biocompatibility.


One of the principal advantages of a secured transaction is the protection it provides against the claims of competing creditors. A creditor asserting a security interest in his debtor's property is likely to find himself in competition with a wide assortment of other claimants. For example, his security interest may be challenged by another creditor with a consensual security interest, by a creditor with a judgment or execution lien, by a creditor claiming a right to the collateral under some general statutory entitlement such as a repairman's lien, by a seller to or a buyer from the debtor, or by the debtor's trustee in bankruptcy. To a considerable extent, the value of a security interest depends upon the degree to which it insulates the secured party from the claims of the debtor's other creditors.1 Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code contains detailed rules for resolving conflicts between secured creditors and various third parties-rules that tell the secured party what he must do in order to prevent his security interest from being overridden by a competing claimant, or, conversely, what a competitor must do in order to circumvent an existing security interest in the debtor's property. These rules are called "priority" rules since it is their function to determine


Background Respiratory physiotherapy is an essential component in the management of many medical conditions and should be offered to these patients. Physiotherapy may involve airway clearance and cough enhancement, breathlessness management and symptom control, exercise testing and advice.1 Twelve months ago consultant led respiratory clinics at GOSH had no dedicated physiotherapy input. The outpatients referred were seen if possible on the day but more often were referred to local services. Patients were receiving less specialist respiratory physiotherapy and the Trust was losing the potential to generate income. As a result, a physiotherapy led respiratory outpatient clinic was set up. Aim To evaluate and discuss the outcome of developing a physiotherapy led respiratory outpatient clinic. Methods The clinic, RESPPT, is on the 1 st and 3rd Monday of each month and is led by two specialist respiratory physiotherapists. A total of up to 8 patients can be seen, 2 new patients and 6 follow ups. Two rooms were secured for use in the physiotherapy department. Referrals were accepted from a consultant in any speciality at GOSH. Results At 12 months, 138 patients had been referred to RESPPT, 53% neuromuscular, 35% general respiratory and 12% other. The clinic currently has a 12 week referral to treatment waiting time. Interim results from a parent/carer satisfaction survey show all patients were either satisfied or highly satisfied with the service. Conclusion The physiotherapy led respiratory outpatient clinic has been perceived to be a successful new service. Potential development for the clinic includes; increasing frequency of clinics, requesting diagnostic tests and providing non-medical prescribing services. Further evaluation is planned to investigate if the clinic has reduced length of inpatient stays and has decreased hospital admissions for respiratory exacerbations. Reference


Modern implicit generative models such as generative adversarial networks (GANs) are generally known to suffer from instability and lack of interpretability as it is difficult to diagnose what aspects of the target distribution are missed by the generative model. In this work, we propose a theoretically grounded solution to these issues by augmenting the GAN's loss function with a kernel-based regularization term that magnifies local discrepancy between the distributions of generated and real samples. The proposed method relies on so-called witness points in the data space which are jointly trained with the generator and provide an interpretable indication of where the two distributions locally differ during the training procedure. In addition, the proposed algorithm is scaled to higher dimensions by learning the witness locations in a latent space of an autoencoder. We theoretically investigate the dynamics of the training procedure, prove that a desirable equilibrium point exists, and the dynamical system is locally stable around this equilibrium. Finally, we demonstrate different aspects of the proposed algorithm by numerical simulations of analytical solutions and empirical results for low and high-dimensional datasets.


This study was conducted to evaluate germination rate of Vicia tetrasperma and V. hirsuta as affected by storage duration, temperature, and light. All seeds of both species were gathered from Dangjin, Chungnam in the late June of 2004 and 2005, stored for a certain period of time, and then exposed for 20 days to the alternating temperatures (15/5℃, 20/10℃, 25/15℃, and 30/20℃) for evaluating the germination rate. Both 2004 and 2005, two species stored at room temperature for 3 months had germination rates less then 30% with applying various alternating temperatures for 20 days although the highest germination rate was obtained with 25/15℃ treatment. V. tetrasperma at 12 month storage after seed gathering in 2005 had 82% of germination rate with 25/15℃ treatment and showed the increased rate as time passed. V. hirsuta at 6, 9, and 12 month storage after seed gathering in 2005 ranged, however, from 33 to 53% of the germination rate at alternating temperature treatments for 20 days and did not seem to be affected by the elapsed time of the storage. Storage at room temperature was more effective for increasing germination rate of both species compared to those of the storage at low temperature. The germination rate of both species was not significantly affected by either exposure of light or short period of high temperature.


Glycoprotein M6A (GPM6A) is known as a transmembrane protein and an abundant cell surface protein on neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). However, the function of GPM6A is still unknown in the differentiation of neurons derived from embryonic stem (ES) cells. To investigate the function of GPM6A, we generated knockdown mouse ES cell lines (D3m-shM6A) using a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) expression vector driven by the U6 small nuclear RNA promoter, which can significantly suppress the expression of mouse GPM6A mRNA. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) and immunocytochemical analysis showed that expression of shRNA against GPM6A markedly reduced the expression of neuroectodermal-associated genes (OTX1, Lmx1b, En1, Pax2, Pax5, Sox1, Sox2, and Wnt1), and also the number of neural stem cells (NSC) derived from D3mshM6A cells compared to control vector-transfected mouse ES cells (D3m-Mock). Moreover, our results show a decrease in both the number of neuronal markers and the number of differentiating neuronal cells (cholinergic, catecholaminergic, and GABAergic neurons) from NSC in D3m-shM6A cells. Hence, our findings suggest that expression level of GPM6A is directly or indirectly associated with the differentiation of neurons derived from undifferentiated ES cells.


We checked whether the observed shift of the dominant causality from heart period (HP) to systolic arterial pressure (SAP) in supine position to the reverse causal direction in upright position could be the result of the exogenous action of respiration on both variables. A model-based approach exploiting a multivariate dynamic adjustment class was utilized to decompose HP and SAP dynamics into partial processes and cancel respiratory-related influences from HP and SAP series. Causality was assessed in the information domain through a bivariate approach based on cross-conditional entropy. After canceling respiratory-related influences we observed the same trend on causality from supine to upright position as detected from the original series, thus suggesting that respiratory influences are not responsible per se for HP-SAP causal relations.


Spray forming is a novel method of rapidly manufacturing tools and dies for stamping and injection operations. The process sprays molten tool steel from a set of arc spray guns onto a ceramic former to build up a thick steel shell. The volumetric contraction that occurs as the steel cools is offset by a volumetric expansion taking place within the sprayed steel, which allows the dimensional accurate tools to be produced. To ensure that the required phase transformation takes place, the temperature of the steel is regulated during spraying. The sprayed metal acts both as a source of mass and a source of heat and by adjusting the rate at which metal is sprayed, the surface temperature profile over the surface of the steel shell can be controlled. The temperature profile is measured using a thermal imaging camera and regulated by adjusting the rate at which the guns spray the steel. Because the temperature is regulated by adjusting the feed rate to an actuator that is moving over the surface, this is an example of mobile control, which is a class of distributed parameter control. The paper describes the design of a time-varying H/sub 2/ controller for the process and presents results from the implementation of the controller on the spray forming process.


The "danger" model of immunity posits that the immune system is triggered by endogenous danger signals, rather than exogenous non-self signals per se. It has been proposed that danger signals may consist of both intracellular "pre-packed" molecules released from damaged cells and stress-induced proteins. Here we focus on glycosylation aberrancies as a unifying concept for danger signaling. According to this proposition glycosylation patterns reliably reflect cellular phenotypic state and appearance of altered carbohydrate structures may constitute a pivotal phenotypic alteration that alarms the immune system to danger and initiates immunity. Viewed from this vantage point, healthy cells avert immune recognition by virtue of their normal terminal glycosylation patterns. By contrast, abnormal cells display and release glycoproteins and glycolipids with aberrant terminal glycosylation trees, which in turn immunologically flag these cells. Diverse carbohydrate-binding receptors are expressed on immune cells and are used to detect these phenotypic changes. Thus, in addition to the "pre-packed" and stress-induced signals this glycosylation-based signal represents an endogenous signal reliably reflecting the cell phenotypic status, enabling the immune system to monitor the tissue/cell's physical condition and to respond accordingly.


A significant change in the finance of social housing in the 1980s was a movement to transfer responsibility for funding to the private sector. This article argues that governments must continue to be involved in social housing finance as this movement progresses. Financing initiatives undertaken in Australia are used to signal the risks associated with the provision of social housing finance, to illustrate the mechanisms employed to manage these risks, and to highlight the conflicts that arise when a mix of public and private funding is attempted. The article proposes the introduction of "equity bonds" as an innovative way to raise funds for social housing and to overcome inefficiencies arising from the present complex and costly administrative structures. However, a commitment to ongoing subsidies to close the full rental gap is necessary for equity bonds to serve those most in need.


Eighty pregnant women at high risk of giving birth prematurely were divided randomly into two groups. Treatment with either 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate, 250 mg by intramuscular injection once a week, or a placebo was given in a double-blind fashion. Imminent premature labor occurred in 29.0% of the treated group and in 59.4% of the control group (p less than 0.025). The rate of premature deliveries was also significantly lower in the treated group (16.1%) than in the control group (37.82%) (p less than 0.05). There were no cases of perinatal death or fetal malformations in either group. The mean birth weight of all infants of the treated group was significantly higher than in those of the control group (3111.9 +/- 905 gm versus 2680 +/- 813.4 gm, p less than 0.05). The results support treatment with progesterone caproate for the prevention of premature labor.


Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking are known coronary risk factors. It has been our impression that premature graying of the hair also predisposes individuals to myocardial infarctions. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated all of the patients under the age of 50 who were admitted to the coronary care unit between 1974 and 1976 with a proven diagnosis of a myocardial infarction. There were 50 patients. Thirty-eight did not have premature graying. Twelve of the male patients (24%) had virtual total graying of the hair which made them appear older than their stated age. The graying in these patients started on the average at 29 years. Five of these patients state that other family members had premature hair graying. The incidence of diabetes, hypertension, and smoking was similar in those with and without premature hair graying. This preliminary study suggests that premature graying of the hair is associated with premature cardiovascular disease. It should probably be regarded as a coronary risk factor and used to identify patients at increased risk.


Underwater acoustic communications consume a significant amount of energy due to the high transmission power (10–50 W) and long data packet transmission times (0.1–1 s). Mobile Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) can conserve energy by waiting for the 'best' network topology configuration, e.g., a favorable alignment, before starting to communicate. Due to the frequency-selective underwater acoustic ambient noise and high medium power absorption — which increases exponentially with distance — a shorter distance between AUVs translates into a lower transmission loss and a higher available bandwidth. By leveraging the predictability of AUV trajectories, a novel solution is proposed that optimizes communications by delaying packet transmissions in order to wait for a favorable network topology (thus trading end-to-end delay for energy and/or throughput). In addition, the solution proposed — which is implemented and compared with other solutions using an emulator that integrates underwater acoustic WHOI Micro-Modems — exploits the frequency-dependent radiation pattern of underwater acoustic transducers to reduce communication energy consumption by adjusting the transducer directivity on-the-fly.


Tumor metastasis remains a major cause of death for cancer patients. From a clinical perspective, treatment of metastatic disease remains difficult. The initial tumor cell invasive and locomotive events have been completed in many patients by the time of cancer diagnosis and surgery. This observation focuses attention on the last steps in the metastatic cascade for therapeutic development, ie, angiogenesis and colonization at the metastatic site. Emerging themes in metastasis research, including the molecular characterization of protease production and angiogenesis, the interrelationship of growth and metastasis, and the genetic control of the metastatic process are discussed.


In the last few years particle image velocimetry (PIV) has become one of the most useful techniques for the study of flowfields. In 2D applications, it allows the simultaneous measurement of the velocity distribution on the whole acquisition area. We propose a relatively new practical PIV measurement system based on flashed lamps as light sources and digital reconstruction of particle positions by image processing. Three different colors are used in order to distinguish, on the same photograph, the corresponding positions of each moving particle at three different instants of time. This solution can give significant advantages in several aerodynamic and hydrodynamic situations. In particular, it allows high flexibility for velocity measurements and independent setting of different acquisition parameters, like pulse powers and timing. Furthermore, the developed PIV measurement system is fully transportable, eye-safe, practical, and economical.


Abstract This paper examines the reasons for a frequent intercultural misunderstanding between Africans and Westerners with regard to promising. After studying the conditions of use for the act of promising in each culture, I look at the cultural premises underlying these conditions of use for the act of promising in each culture. I argue that the notions of sincerity and commitment so closely attached to the Western promise stem in fact from the deeper level of Western cultural premises and that the African promise is typically informed by different cultural premises, even though commitment can be attached to an African promise through a verbal negotiation. In order to clarify whether the African promise can still be called an illocutionary act of promising, it is examined in the light of Searle's felicity conditions for the promise. Concerning its place in conversational structure, the African promise appears to be used as a means to politely close a verbal exchange. Finally, looking at lexical expressions for designating the act of promising in a number of West African languages reveals that the non-binding and the binding promise are referred to by speech act verbs from different illocutionary classes, thus confirming that the polite promise and the binding promise are different illocutionary acts.


The essay focuses on the figure and the work of Laura Bassi (1883-1950), a preschool teacher operating in a number of Italian kindergartens between the first and second half of the twentieth century. Ms. Bassi developed a method of child education based on the musical rhythm. This essay reconstructs the life of Bassi, illustrates her method called "Ritmica integrale", focuses on the reception of this method at the time and the difficulties in divulging her pedagogical and didactic concepts .


The comparative study of transformation of four thymidine kinase deficient cell lines (mouse mammary carcinoma cell line FS tk-; rat cell line Rat-2tk-; mouse cell line Ltk-, clone D1; human cell line 143tk-) with the thymidine kinase cloned gene of Herpes simplex virus 1 was undertaken. The differences in efficiency and optimal conditions of transformation were shown for these cell lines. The advantages and disadvantages of the cell systems examined for the use in experiments for transformation and cotransformation of cultured cells with isolated genes are discussed.


One-time pad encrypted files can be sent through Internet channels using current Internet protocols. However, the need for renewing shared secret keys make this method unpractical. This work shows how users can use a fast physical random generator based on fluctuations of a light field and the Internet channel to directly boost key renewals. The transmitted signals are deterministic but carries imprinted noise that cannot be eliminated by the attacker. Thus, a one-time pad for Internet can be made practical. Security is achieved without third parties and not relying on the difficulty of factoring numbers in primes. An informational fragility to be avoided is discussed. Information-theoretic analysis is presented and bounds for secure operation are determined. PACS 89.70.+c,05.40.Ca,42.50.Ar,03.67.Dd


The U.S. feed grain sector, largest of the major U.S. field crops, faces unprecedented demand conditions. The size and speed of the expanding use of corn by the ethanol industry is raising widespread issues throughout the U.S. agricultural sector. Debate is ongoing over the use of grain for fuel instead of for food or feed and the adequacy of future grain supplies. Increased productivity (yield) and additional area from land planted to competing crops, land enrolled in conservation programs, or idled land is expected to provide an increased supply of feed grains. In 2003, U.S. feed grain farms had an average annual net cash income of $45,916, compared with $8,875 for nonfeed grain farms. Average household income for feed grain operators in 2003 was $69,034, 17 percent greater than the average for all U.S. households. The outlook is for higher feed grain prices, in part, as a result of renewable energy policies and high energy prices, with feed grain prices rising above farm program support levels. During the ongoing farm policy debate, the U.S. feed grain sector faces uncertainty about the future level and type of government support.


Completing the first paper dealing with charging methods and arrangements, the present paper discusses the design forms of two-stroke engines. Features which largely influence piston running are: (a) The shape and surface condition of the sliding parts. (b) The cylinder and piston materials. (c) Heat conditions in the piston, and lubrication. There is little essential difference between four-stroke and two-stroke engines with ordinary pistons. In large engines, for example, are always found separately cast or welded frames in which the stresses are taken up by tie rods. Twin piston and timing piston engines often differ from this design. Examples can be found in many engines of German or foreign make. Their methods of operation will be dealt with in the third part of the present paper, which also includes the bibliography. The development of two-stroke engine design is, of course, mainly concerned with such features as are inherently difficult to master; that is, the piston barrel and the design of the gudgeon pin bearing. Designers of four-stroke engines now-a-days experience approximately the same difficulties, since heat stresses have increased to the point of influencing conditions in the piston barrel. Features which notably affect this are: (a) The material. (b) Prevailing heat conditions.


According to Kuntowijoyo writing biography can also be implemented against a person who comes from the unknown or participants. On that basis, study this takes up figure named Sutikno, a seacoast origin Bayuwangi East Java which currently domicile in Denpasar Bali by work as a mechanic motorcycle. A profession Sutikno will be the entrance in analysis, with an emphasis how he was that of a migrant (seacoast) generally in Bali can work as a mechanic workshop motorcycles with income that relatively success. By wearing a method/methodology Genealogi and theories post-strukturlism, especially the undirected Structural Generative Pierre Bourdieu and the Discourse-(Knowledge-Power )-Discipline Michel Foucault as a thought, the three had obtained. drawing conclusions. 1) With hard work and discipline, patient and keep trying not to despair Sutikno managed to achieve success even though through various obstacles and problems. 2) Factors behind the success of Sutikno mainly came from habitus and discipline and social private ownership of capital as a replacement for other capital. 3) Implication after sutikno pillars of success, that is a change from a social lower middle middle-class process for social climbed the stairs, characterized by differentiation consumption of goods that more luxurious and diverse than ever before.


The typical species of this small section and the first to be described is P. cuneifolia. Within its compass are three other plants which in their time have been given specific diagnoses but are here regarded as coming more properly into the category of subspecies—P. saxifragifolia, P. hakusanensis, and P. heterodonta. P. cuneifolia, thus interpreted, has a distribution extending from N.E. Siberia to Japan, the Aleutian Islands, and the Alaskan coast. The section contains two other species—P. nipponica which is confined to Japan, and P. suffrutescens from the Sierra Nevada of California, thus widely separated geographically.


Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are self-configuring, de-centralized and a kind of multi hop wireless packet networks, where the mobile gadgets (also referred to as nodes) communicate with each other on wireless links. Such networks find applications where a quick deployment or dynamic reconfiguration of network is required, or there is no pre-existing network infrastructure or wired network is available. The applications include emergency search and rescue operations, military, civilian operations, law enforcement, and conferences. Multicasting is becoming important in MANETs as a lot of applications relaying on cooperation among a team. There have been a wide variety of multicast routing protocols available in the literature. This paper outlines the multicasting, various multicast routing protocols and their performance evaluation metrics.


A sixty-three day feeding trial was conducted with one hundred and eighty (180) day-old Anak 2000 broiler chicks with an average weight of 54.26g. They were randomly assigned in groups of 30 each to 6 dietary groups T0, T10, T20, T30, T40, and T50 which had 24-hour fermented sweet orange fruit (Citrus sinensis) peel as a replacement for maize at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% respectively, to determine their growth performance. Each treatment group had 3 replicates with equal no of chicks in a completely randomized design. The birds were provided with water and feed ad libitum. Body weight and feed intake were taken, water intake measured, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain and water: feed ratio calculated. A five (5) day Digestibility trial was done in the night week with three (3) chickens per treatment to determine nutrient digestibility. Replacement of maize with sweet orange peel significantly retarded (p0.05). The study showed that utilisation of 24-hour fermented sweet orange peel as a dietary replacement for maize at levels of 10%-50% did not support the growth of broiler chicken. It is recommended that sweet orange peel be fermented for longer duration beyond 24 hours to further evaluate its potential feed value in broiler chicken diet.


PURPOSE
Calypso EM tracking is widely used to setup the prostate patient and to track prostate motion while daily MV portal images are used as the secondary method to verify patient setup. The severe streaking artifacts, caused by the Calypso couch table add-on, make the MV portal images almost impossible to review. The purpose of this work is to develop a novel method to reduce the streaking artifacts so that the portal images are usable to verify patient setup.

METHODS
We analyzed the corrupted portal images and identified that most streaking artifacts are stable horizontally but has more dramatic change vertically. Based on signal processing theory, we developed an artifact reduction algorithm 1) to filter out the low frequency signal along the horizontal direction using a ideal low-pass filter in the Fourier domain, and 2) to smooth the intensity variation in the vertical direction and to reduce the remaining high frequency noises by using 2D Gaussian low-pass filter with a small window size.

RESULTS
We have successfully applied the proposed algorithm on the corrupted MV portal images in both PA and lateral directions from multiple Calypso prostate patients. The results show that the algorithm is very effective to reduce the artifacts introduced by the Calypso couch table add-on. Patient anatomical structures are much more clearly after processing to support reviews of patient setup.

CONCLUSION
In this work an effective method is proposed to reduce artifacts caused by the Calypso table in MV portal images while preserving the key components of original image. The method could assist the verification of Calypso guided patient setup using portal images.


Abstract Introduction Tumour hypoxia in locally advanced squamous cervical cancer (LACC) has been shown to be of substantial prognostic importance. The aims of the present study were therefore to investigate if hypoxia could be identified by a newly validated hypoxic gene expression classifier and used as a prognostic factor for disease free survival (DFS). Material and methods Paraffin embedded biopsies were obtained from 190 patients with LACC with squamous cell carcinoma treated 2005–2016 with chemo-radiation and image guided adaptive brachytherapy. Analysis of hypoxia was successful in 183 patients (96%). Hypoxic classification of tumours into 'more' or 'less' hypoxic was based on 15 genes using the same method as in a prospective head and neck cancer trial (NCT02661152). HPV was genotyped using INNO-LiPA. Local tumour invasion was evaluated by the T-score. Primary endpoint was DFS analysed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression. Events were death of any cause, persistent disease, or recurrence. Results The FIGO2009 stage distribution was IB–IIA 9%, IIB 64%, and III–IVA 27%, and mean T-score was 7.2. Pathological nodes were present in 53%. Median observation time was 5.2 years. Local control rate at 5 years was 96%, and pelvic (loco-regional) control 91%. Overall, 36% of the tumours were classified as 'more' hypoxic. The frequency of 'more' hypoxic tumours increased with local tumour intrusion (30% for T-score 0–9 vs. 55% for T-score ≥10, p = 0.004). Hypoxia was associated with decreased DFS in univariate, HR 1.71 (1.04–2.82), and multivariate analysis, HR 1.75 (1.04–2.92), and the effect was particularly observed among tumours with a T-score ≥10. HPV 16/18 was not associated with improved DFS in neither in univariate nor in multivariate analysis. Conclusion Hypoxic gene expression is a prominent prognostic factor for DFS in LACC with SCC histology and should be considered for treatment stratification in clinical trials.


Addition of ethyl diazoacetate to ethyl α,δ-dimethyl-trans-sorbate gives adducts, and hydrolyses of these esters yield (±)-trans-, (±)-cis-3-(trans-2ʹ-carboxypropenyl)-2,2-dimethyl-cyclopropane-1-carboxyic acids and α,δ-dimethyl-γ-carboxymethyl-trans-sorbic acid. Their structures and configurations are confirmed and (±)-trans-3-(trans-2ʹ-carboxypropenyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane-l-carboxylic acid is shown to be the racemic form of the natural chrysanthemum dicarboxylic acid. Thus the geometrical configuration of the side chain of the chrysanthemum dicarboxylic acid is considered to be trans.


Abstract. Vault modelling in HBIM poses a significant challenge due to the geometrical complexity and lack of standardization of those elements. Starting from the definition of an ontology able to describe and manage different typologies of Italian Renaissance vaults, this paper presents two methods for their representation in the context of Ducal Palace of Urbino HBIM implementation. The first method is a simplified semi-automated scan-to-BIM procedure relying on Revit adaptive families; the second is a more complex parametric scripting in Dynamo VPL. The paper proposes a library of suitable vault families for the parametric modelling of Renaissance architecture and offers a comparison between the models generated and their respective surveyed point-clouds, with the aim of assessing the procedure. Revit adaptive families appeared to be the easiest to implement and the most efficient solution, while Dynamo allowed for greatest complexity thought showing limitations and implementation difficulties.


We studied autoimmune reactions against pancreatic islets occurring as a consequence of defects of the immune system rather than after pathological changes in the endocrine organ itself. Immune dysregulation was induced by transfer of parental lymphocytes into semi-allogeneic F1 recipient mice (graft versus host reaction, GVHR). Recipients were killed 1 month after the induction of the disease. Pancreatic islets were screened by light microscopy for signs of lymphocytic infiltration (insulitis). Severe insulitis was found in all mice undergoing GVHR. The cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes was apparent in electron microscopic studies and affected only B cells. Infiltrations were not seen in the exocrine part of the pancreas nor in heart, liver or kidneys at this early stage of GVHR. It is concluded that non-specific disorders of the immune system induced by GVHR may lead to specific cellular autoimmune reactions against B cells of pancreatic islets.


We present a rigorous model for the overall band structure calculation using the perturbative k · p approach for arbitrary layered cubic zincblende semiconductor nanostructures. This approach, first pioneered by Kohn and Luttinger, is faster than atomistic ab initio approaches and provides sufficiently accurate information for optoelectronic processes near high symmetry points in semiconductor crystals. k · p Hamiltonians are discretized and diagonalized using a finite element method (FEM) with smoothed mesh near interface edges and different high order Lagrange/Hermite basis functions, hence enabling accurate determination of bound states and related quantities with a small number of elements. Such properties make the model more efficient than other numerical models that are usually used. Moreover, an energy-dependent effective mass non-parabolic model suitable for large gap materials is also included, which offers fast and reasonably accurate results without the need to solve the full multi-band Hamiltonian. Finally, the tools are validated on three semiconductor nanostructures: (1) the bound energies of a finite quantum well using the energy-dependent effective mass non-parabolic model; (2) the InAs bulk band structure; and (3) the electronic band structure for the absorber region of photodetectors based on a type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice at room temperature. The tools are shown to work on simple and sophisticated designs and the results show very good agreement with recently published experimental works.


Purpose: To evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of
alcoholic extract of the fruits of Coccinia grandis Linn
(Curcubitaceae) using carbon tetra chloride (CCl4)-
induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Methods: The levels of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruate transminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total protein, total and direct bilirubin were evaluated in experimental rats (with or without CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity) following administration of alcoholic extract of the fruits of C. grandis using standard
procedures. The potency of the extract was compared
with standard silymarin at a dose of 100 mg/kg p.o.
Histopathology of the liver tissues of the animals treated
with the extract was also studied. Results: At a dose level of 250 mg/kg, the alcoholic extract significantly (p<0.05) decreased the activities of serum enzymes (SGOT, SGPT, and ALP) and bilirubin which were comparable to that of silymarin. Conclusion: Alcoholic extract of the fruits of C. grandis offers protective effect against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in experimental rats.

Keywords: CCL4-induced hepatotoxicity; Coccinia
grandis; hepatoprotective effect; silymarin


Fretting-corrosion at the modular taper junction in total hip replacements (THR), leading to implant failure, has been identified as a clinical concern and has received increased interest in recent years. There are many parameters thought to affect the performance of the taper junction, with the assembly process being one of the few consistently identified to have a direct impact. Despite this, the assembly process used by surgeons during THR surgery differs from a suggested 'ideal' process. For example, taper junctions of cutting tools should be pushed together rather than impacted, while ensuring as much concentricity as possible between the male and female taper and loading axis. This study devised six simple assembly methodologies to investigate how surgical variations affect the success of the compressive fit achieved at the taper interface compared to a controlled assembly method, designed to represent a more 'ideal' scenario. Key findings from this study suggest that a more successful and repeatable engagement can be achieved by quasi-statically loading the male and female taper concentrically with the loading axis. This was shown by a greater disassembly to assembly force ratio of 0.626 ± 0.07 when assembled using the more 'ideal' process, compared to 0.480 ± 0.05 when using a method closer to that used by a surgeon intraoperatively. Findings from this study can be used to help inform new surgical instrumentation and an improved surgical assembly method.


Due to direct economic repercussions on livestock and indirect consequences for human health, knowing the prevalence rates of bovine tuberculosis is essential to define an effective control strategy. Our study was performed in 32 dairy cattle farms as we subjected 10800 dairy cattle to the Single Intradermal Comparative Tuberculin skin Test (SICTT). The skin test was interpreted according to guidelines of the World Organization for animal health (OIE). Twenty five farms (78%) have reactors to the SICTT. We also studied the relation between physiological variables with breeds, pregnancy, lactation, size of farms and the other risk factors explained in the study. Out of the 10800 tested animals, 228 (2.1%) were reactors to the skin test. The factors identified as possibly enhancing the risk of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) were herd size, age of animal, farming (housing) conditions. Other factors including breed and physiological status of the animal did not contribute to tuberculin sensitivity. The finding that large size and intensively (often poorly) managed herds were at greater risk of bovine tuberculosis and suggests that significance of bTB is increasing in Egypt parallel to an increase in the dairy operation. This surely indicates that if measures are not taken promptly, the impact of the economy and public health could be enormous. It was concluded that bTB continues to infect animals in Egypt but the prevalence was moderate, nevertheless the continued threat of economic loss in animal industry due to the persistence of bTB that should not be ignored.


There is little doubt that the use of EFS curricula, resources, and programmes in publicly  provided education has been controversial. This paper will examine the dilemmas, for educators involved in EFS, relating to the politics and conservative forces underpinning national curriculum development in a free market capitalist economy such as Aotearoa / New Zealand. Concerns have been expressed both within and beyond the developing field of EFS that it has the potential to be narrowly utilitarian and indoctrinatory. A useful response to this critique is to advocate for critical reflection around the ways in which language in the developing field of EFS is, and has been, constructed. It is argued that taking the meanings that are implicit in the terminology used in EFS to be self-evident will endanger its potential to be truly empowering. One consequence might be that the field becomes indoctrinatory and uncritically transmissive. The area of pre-service teacher education is explored as one that can model environmental education and EFS usefully as educative.


Objectives This study aimed to quantify the health system cost of the first 2 years of a Breast Cancer Early Detection (BCED) programme in a rural district in Rwanda. We also aimed to estimate the cost of implementing the programme in other districts with different referral pathways and identify opportunities for enhanced cost efficiency. Design Retrospective, cross-sectional analysis using time-driven activity-based costing, based on timed patient clinical encounters, retrospective patient data and unit costs of resources abstracted from administrative and finance records. Setting The BCED programme focused on timely evaluation of individuals with breast symptoms. The study evaluated the health system cost of the BCED programme at seven health centres (HCs) in Burera district and Butaro Cancer Centre of Excellence (BCCOE) at Butaro District Hospital. Outcome measures Health system costs per patient visit and cost per cancer diagnosed were quantified. Total start-up and recurring operational costs were also estimated, as well as health system costs of different scale-up adaptations in other districts. Results One-time start-up costswere US$36 917, recurring operational costswere US$67 711 and clinical costswere US$14 824 over 2 years. Clinical breast examinations (CBE) at HCs cost US$3.27/visit. At BCCOE, CBE-only visits cost US$13.47/visit, CBE/ultrasound US$14.79/visit and CBE/ultrasound/biopsy/pathology US$147.81/visit. Overall, clinical cost per breast cancer diagnosed was US$1482. Clinicalcost drivers were personnel at HCs (55%) and biopsy/pathology supplies at BCCOE (46%). In other districts, patients experience a longer breast evaluation pathway, adding about US$14.00/patient; this could be decreased if ultrasound services were decentralised. Conclusion Clinical costs associated with BCED services at HCs were modest, similar to other general outpatient services. The BCED programme's start-up and operational costs were high but could be reduced by using local trainers and virtual mentorship. In other districts, decentralising ultrasound and/or biopsies to district hospitals could reduce costs.


We investigated carbon dynamics in the hyporheic zone of a steep, forested, headwater catchment western Oregon, USA. Water samples were collected monthly from the stream and a well network during base flow periods. We examined the potential for mixing of different source waters to explain concentrations of DOC and DIC. We did not find convincing evidence that either inputs of deep groundwater or lateral inputs of shallow soil water influenced carbon dynamics. Rather, carbon dynamics appeared to be controlled by local processes in the hyporheic zone and overlying riparian soils. DOC concentrations were low in stream water (0.04–0.09 mM), and decreased with nominal travel time through the hyporheic zone (0.02–0.04 mM lost over 100 h). Conversely, stream water DIC concentrations were much greater than DOC (0.35–0.7 mM) and increased with nominal travel time through the hyporheic zone (0.2–0.4 mM gained over 100 h). DOC in stream water could only account for 10% of the observed increase in DIC. In situ metabolic processing of buried particulate organic matter as well as advection of CO2 from the vadose zone likely accounted for the remaining 90% of the increase in DIC. Overall, the hyporheic zone was a source of DIC to the stream. We suggest that, in mountain stream networks, hyporheic exchange facilitates the transformation of particulate organic carbon buried in floodplains and transports the DIC that is produced back to the stream where it can be evaded to the atmosphere.


The paper examines the washing behavior of fabric by using the finite element method (FEM) along with the Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) approach. Many prototypes of e-textiles with different functions have been developed for various applications in laboratories worldwide, but only a limited number of products exist on the market. The washing process, even for mild wash cycles, damages mainly conductive yarns and electrical contacts on wearable fabrics. A hydrodynamic simulation method is proposed to investigate the mechanical response of fabric during a washing cycle, using the FEM and CEL approaches with the Abaqus finite element solver. The FEM is described with the following inputs: the fabric properties; the Mie–Grüneisen equation of state (EOS) for water; the ideal gas EOS for air; the geometry of the model; the drum spin data; and the boundary conditions. The movement of fabric inside the drum and reaction forces on the drum are utilized to verify the simulations. The fabric movements that are attributed to be the reason for damage in a conductive yarn showed a typical washing response. The frictional dissipation energy results show different regions depending on the motion and interaction of the components inside the drum. Also, the contact forces were determined. These forces can be input for future damage modeling studies. The findings of the study are expected to be used in development phases of reliable e-textile products with an extended life of service and readiness for the market.


The synthesis, structures and magnetic characterisation of a family of discrete planar pentanuclear Cu(II) 12-MC-4 metallacrowns of formulae [Cu5(L1)4(MeOH)4](ClO4)2 (1), [Cu5(L1)4(py)2](ClO4)2·py (2), [Cu5(L1)4(py)6](ClO4)2 (3) and [Cu5(L2)4(MeOH)4](ClO4)2·H2O (7) (where L1H2 = 2-(dimethylamino)phenylhydroxamic acid and L2H2 = 2-(amino)phenylhydroxamic acid) are reported. UV-vis and Electrospray MS studies indicate solution stability with respect to their {Cu5(L)4}2+ cores. Magnetic susceptibility measurements confirm strong antiferromagnetic exchange between the Cu(II) ions resulting in isolated S = 1/2 ground spin states. The introduction of ditopic co-ligands such as 4,4′-bipyridine (4,4′-bipy), pyrazine (pz) and 4,4′-azopyridine (4,4′-azp) results in their coordination at a number of axial Cu(II) sites within the {Cu5} metallacrown nodes to afford the extended networks {[Cu5(L1)4(4,4′-bipy)3](ClO4)2·(H2O)}n (4), {[Cu5(L1)4(4,4′-azp)2(MeOH)2](ClO4)2}n (5) and {[Cu5(L2)4(pz)2(MeOH)3](ClO4)2·MeOH}n (6).


Although end-stage renal disease (ESRD) related to AA amyloidosis nephropathy secondary to tuberculosis is most common in our country, there are limited data concerning patient and graft outcome after renal transplantation (RTx). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of RTx in ESRD patient with secondary amyloidosis due to tuberculosis from India. A 30-year-old female with past history of pulmonary tuberculosis 3 years back was admitted with complaint of gradually progressive pedal oedema and nausea for 3 months. Renal biopsy was suggestive of secondary renal amyloidosis with vascular involvement and chronic tubulointerstitial involvement. She was transplanted with kidney from her 28-year-old brother with 3/6 human leukocyte antigen match. She had immediate good graft function without any perioperative complications (cardiovascular, infections, rejection and delayed graft function). She was discharged with serum creatinine of 0.8 mg/dL. Her last serum creatinine level was 0.9 mg/dL with cyclosporine level of 100 mg/dL at 9-month followup without any medical or surgical complication. The quality of life also improved after transplantation. With careful selection, ESRD patients with secondary amyloidosis due to tuberculosis are eligible for RTx with favorable outcome and improved quality of life.


A novel, general protocol for a polymer-mediated Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) reaction is reported. The polyvalent polymeric reagent was prepared via acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization. Homo- and copolymers of reactive poly(phosphonate)s with molecular weights up to 40 000 g·mol−1 and molecular weight dispersities Đ < 2 were successfully synthesized. Subsequent application of these polymers in the HWE reaction to prepare a library of aromatic α,β-unsaturated ketones (chalcons) has proven to be an efficient synthetic pathway to minimize purification efforts, as the polymeric side-product can be removed by simple precipitation. In this paper we also demonstrate for the first time the preparation of a linear polyphosphate from a polyalkylphosphonate.


Sugarcane bagasse hemicelluloses were partially acetylated with acetic anhydride using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as a catalyst under mild conditions in an almost solvent-free system. The overall yield and degree of substitution (DS) were varied from 66.2 and 83.5% and between 0.27 and 1.15, respectively, by changing the reaction temperature and duration. It was found that the yield and DS increased with reaction temperature from 18 to 80°C and reaction time between 0.5 and 5.0 h. The results showed that treatment of the native hemicelluloses with acetic anhydride using NBS as a catalyst conveniently provided the corresponding biopolymer esters. The products were characterized by FTIR, 13C-NMR spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. The new biopolymer acetates were thermally stable to over 200°C but underwent significant and rapid thermal degradation when heated above the onset of thermal degradation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 53–61, 2004


Argument mining involves multiple sub-tasks that automatically identify argumentative elements, such as claim detection, evidence extraction, stance classification, etc. However, each subtask alone is insufficient for a thorough understanding of the argumentative structure and reasoning process. To learn a complete view of an argument essay and capture the interdependence among argumentative components, we need to know what opinions people hold (i.e., claims), why those opinions are valid (i.e., supporting evidence), which source the evidence comes from (i.e., evidence type), and how those claims react to the debating topic (i.e., stance). In this work, we for the first time propose a challenging argument quadruplet extraction task (AQE), which can provide an all-in-one extraction of four argumentative components, i.e., claims, evidence, evidence types, and stances. To support this task, we construct a large-scale and challenging dataset. However, there is no existing method that can solve the argument quadruplet extraction. To fill this gap, we propose a novel quad-tagging augmented generative approach, which leverages a quadruplet tagging module to augment the training of the generative framework. The experimental results on our dataset demonstrate the empirical superiority of our proposed approach over several strong baselines.


The application of rapidly applied length steps to actively contracting muscle is a classic method for synchronizing the response of myosin cross-bridges so that the average response of the ensemble can be measured. Alternatively, electron tomography (ET) is a technique that can report the structure of the individual members of the ensemble. We probed the structure of active myosin motors (cross-bridges) by applying 0.5% changes in length (either a stretch or a release) within 2 ms to isometrically contracting insect flight muscle (IFM) fibers followed after 5–6 ms by rapid freezing against a liquid helium cooled copper mirror. ET of freeze-substituted fibers, embedded and thin-sectioned, provides 3-D cross-bridge images, sorted by multivariate data analysis into ∼40 classes, distinct in average structure, population size and lattice distribution. Individual actin subunits are resolved facilitating quasi-atomic modeling of each class average to determine its binding strength (weak or strong) to actin. ∼98% of strong-binding acto-myosin attachments present after a length perturbation are confined to "target zones" of only two actin subunits located exactly midway between successive troponin complexes along each long-pitch helical repeat of actin. Significant changes in the types, distribution and structure of actin-myosin attachments occurred in a manner consistent with the mechanical transients. Most dramatic is near disappearance, after either length perturbation, of a class of weak-binding cross-bridges, attached within the target zone, that are highly likely to be precursors of strong-binding cross-bridges. These weak-binding cross-bridges were originally observed in isometrically contracting IFM. Their disappearance following a quick stretch or release can be explained by a recent kinetic model for muscle contraction, as behaviour consistent with their identification as precursors of strong-binding cross-bridges. The results provide a detailed model for contraction in IFM that may be applicable to contraction in other types of muscle.


&NA;Psychiatry training programs have begun to use technology to enhance psychotherapy teaching. Videotaped interviews provide a window into the psychotherapeutic exchange, demystifying the process and capturing verbal and nonverbal interactions, facial expression, and tone of voice—which can illustrate therapeutic elements such as the alliance and resistance. The process of videotaping psychotherapeutic interviews, however, introduces issues related to consent, ethics, and the dynamics of therapy. By examining two cases in which residents asked their patients to videotape a session for didactic purposes and encountered divergent outcomes, we explore the ethical issues unique to providing informed consent for videotaping psychotherapy. Informed consent must be given verbally and in writing. Verbal consent must include discussion of the risks and benefits of therapy. The discussion must also include the risks inherent in memorializing sensitive material on an external device, with disclosure of the logistics of how data will be stored, who will view the recorded material, and when it will be destroyed. Therapists should be aware of the coercive power inherent in the physician-patient relationship and should individualize each informed consent procedure with this knowledge in mind. Despite these potential pitfalls, videotaping sessions provides a wealth of information about both patients and therapists that can improve psychotherapy teaching and supervision, and indirectly improve patient care.


The authors study a series of 64 cases of neo-natal visceral malformations which diagnosis had been done through maternal ultrasonography. The benefits of this technic depend on the affection or the malformation; they are presented here separately. These very early diagnosis in some rare cases allow an antenatal therapy; specially in urology, an earlier surgery than usual can be provided. A case of antenatal diagnosis of Cantrell Syndrome is described.


Abstract Background Worldwide, patients are the cornerstone of bedside teaching of medical students. In this study, the authors aimed to assess patients' acceptability toward medical students in teaching hospitals of the Faculty of Medicine of Kuwait University. Methods Ninehundred and ninety five patients were approached in 14 teaching hospitals; 932 patients agreed to participate (refusal rate is 6.3%). A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Results In general, higher acceptance of students by patients was found when there is no direct contact between the patient and the student (e.g., reading patients' files, presenting in outpatient clinic, observing doctors performing examination or procedures) compared to other situations (e.g., performing physical examination or procedures). Pediatrics patients showed higher acceptance of students compared to patients in other specialties, while Obstetrics/Gynecology patients showed the highest refusal of students. Gender of patients (especially females) and students appeared to affect the degree of acceptance of medical students by patients. Majority of the patients (436; 46.8%) believed that the presence of medical students in hospitals improves the quality of health care. Conclusion Patients are an important factor of bedside teaching. Clinical tutors must take advantage of patients who accept medical students. Clinical tutors and medical students should master essential communication skills to convince patients in accepting students, thus improving bedside teaching. Also, using simulation and standardization should be considered to address scenarios that most patients are unwilling to allow students to participate.


The (Sr, Ba)Al12O19 : RE3+ (RE = Ce, Tb) compounds have been synthesized by the solid state reaction technology. The single-phase magnetoplumbite-type crystal structure has been identified by the X-ray diffraction analysis. The 302 nm peak and approximately 340 nm not-clear shoulder are correspondence to the 5d-->2 F5/2 and 5d-->2 F7/2 transitions in the emission spectrum, respectively. The 158 nm peak and 260 nm peak are separately contributed to the host absorption and 4f-5d transition of Ce3+ in the excitation spectrum. The characteristic emission of 5 D3-->7 Fj (j = 2, 3, 4, 5) and 5 D4-->7 Fj (j = 4, 5, 6) transitions in the range of 400-600 nm are assigned in the emission spectrum of (Sr, Ba)Al12O19 : Tb0.05(3+). The approximately 160 nm peaks arises from the overlap of the Tb3+ -O2- charge transfer band and the host absorption The 193 nm and 233 nm peaks are attributed by the spin-allowed 4f-5d transition and the spin-forbidden transition, respectively. The overlap between the emission of Ce3+ and the f-f transition absorption of Tb3+ exists in the (Sr, Ba)Al12O19 : Tb3+, Ce3+ compounds. The luminescence intensity of Tb3+ increases with the increase of the Ce3+ ion concentration When the Ce3+ ion concentration reaches about 0.03 mole, the luminescence intensity of Tb3+ ion is nearly two times comparing with the non-codoping Ce3+ ion compounds. When the emission wavelength is 543 nm, the excitation spectra exhibit the 4f-5d absorption of Ce3+ besides the host absorption and 4f-5d transitions of Tb3+ in the (Sr, Ba)Al12O19 : Tb3+, Ce3+ compounds. According to the excitation spectrum, the part of the emission of Tb3+ comes from the absorption of Ce3+ ion Therefore, it is illustrated that the Ce3+-->Tb3+ energy transfer has been existed in the (Sr, Ba)Al12O19 : RE3+ (RE = Ce, Tb) compounds.


For doing business in this communication era, web is the best medium. For business owners and consumers, online businesses broke down the barrier of time and space compared to the physical shop or office. Big companies around the world are realizing that E-commerce (EC) in not just buying and selling over Internet rather improving the competence than other giants in the market. E-Commerce has allowed businesses to offer more choices to consumers. Increasing choice, however, has also increased the amount of data and information that consumers must process before they are able to select which items meet their needs. To grow their potential markets, the big shopping platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and ebay etc. wants to utilize Machine Learning (ML) potential to build unmatched competitiveness in the market. ML has empowered businesses to analyze all queries, whether searched or abandoned, from all the users. Application of machine learning for Predictive Analytics can enhance business opportunities by analyzing customer"s past click-through behaviour, purchases, preferences and history in real-time. To make fast real-time predictions from e-commerce data, the algorithm must be capable of processing huge volume of training data in reasonable time, and must be capable of handling large number of classes. So, the paper investigates the use of machine learning in E-commerce domain and its importance in predictive analysis. The need of Cloud platforms for analyzing E-commerce data is also established in this work. The paper concludes with exploration of potential areas of research in the field of E-commerce .


Natural products contain bioactive compounds that are produced naturally via synthetic or semisynthetic processes. These bioactive compounds play significant biological roles, especially for growth as well as in defence mechanisms against pathogens. Bioactive compounds in natural products have been extensively studied in recent decades for their pharmacological activity such as anti-cancer, wound healing, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative properties. However, their pharmaceutical significance has always been hindered by their low bioavailability, and instability with variations of pH, temperature, and exposure to light. Nanotechnology paves the way for the development of drug delivery systems by enhancing therapeutic efficacy. Nanostructured lipid carriers, a lipid-based drug delivery system, are recently being studied to improve the biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioavailability, solubility, permeability, and shelf life of bioactive compounds in the pharmaceutical industry. The ideal component and preparation method for bioactive compounds in nanostructured lipid carrier development is necessary for their physicochemical properties and therapeutic efficiency. Therefore, this review seeks to highlight recent developments, preparation, and application of nanostructured lipid carriers as carriers for natural bioactive compounds in improving their therapeutic potential in drug delivery systems.


Many athletes train in a constant state of pain or injury while meeting the demands of an elite level program. It is hypothesized that the emotional distress experienced by athletes with chronic injuries is not inconsequential. A self-report battery, the Impact of Event Scale, was administered to 280 inter-collegiate athletes at a division I institution in an attempt to examine their response to chronic injury. Of the 280, 134 (48%) had been injured by study definition, with 117 (42%) meeting the criteria for chronic injury. Athletes with chronic injury scored on the Intrusion subscale of the Impact of Event Scale in the range of those who had experienced natural disasters, but scored higher (P < .05) on the Avoidance/Denial subscale. Their Avoidance subscale scores were similar to those of a group of orthopedic patients who required hospital admission with surgical fixation. Female athletes' Avoidance scores were significantly higher than those of their male peers (P < .05), but no gender differences were seen in intrusive thoughts. Subsets of athletes defined by the duration of injury showed no significant differences on subscale scores. It appears extraordinary that athletes should score in the realm of groups traumatized by natural disasters in intrusive thought and higher in avoidance thought when referring to their chronic injury. Although some attention has been focused on psychiatric intervention for acutely injured athletes or those who have undergone surgical treatment, the psychological needs of athletes struggling with chronic "minor" injuries also appear to merit consideration.


This study compared the pathogenesis of dengue virus type 2 (DV-2), a mouse-adapted strain and two wild type strains, following intracerebral c. ) or intraperitoneal (i. p.) inoculation in ICR and C3H/He suckling mice. There were no significant differences in the mortality rates and viral growth of a mouse-adapted strain between ICR and C3H/He suckling mice by either i. c. or i. p. inoculation. Suckling mice infected by i. p. inoculation with a mouse-adapted strain resulted in fatal infection, while those infected with wild type strains did not. Wild type strains replicated moderately in the brains of suckling mice by i. c. inoculation. Various passage lines of wild type strains showed different mortality rates and viral growth as compared to those of parent strains. The wild type strains in suckling mouse brain passage showed more striking lesions in the infected brain than those of parent strains. Specific DV-2 antigen was revealed by the immunofluorescent stains in cells of the infected brains.


The aim of this study is to provide emerging applications of wavelet methods to medical signals and images, such as electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, functional magnetic resonance imaging, computer tomography, X-ray and mammography. Interpretation of these signals and images are quite important. Nowadays wavelet methods have a significant impact on the science of medical imaging and the diagnosis of disease and screening protocols. Based on our initial investigations, future directions include neurosurgical planning and improved assessment of risk for individual patients, improved assessment and strategies for the treatment of chronic pain, improved seizure localization, and improved understanding of the physiology of neurological disorders. We look ahead to these and other emerging applications as the benefits of this technology become incorporated into current and future patient care. In this chapter by applying Fourier transform and wavelet transform, analysis and denoising of one of the important biomedical signals like EEG is carried out. The presence of rhythm, template matching, and correlation is discussed by various method. Energy of EEG signal is used to detect seizure in an epileptic patient. We have also performed denoising of EEG signals by SWT.


Our current understanding of phagocytosis is largely derived from studies of individual receptor‐ligand interactions and their downstream signaling pathways. Because phagocytes are exposed to a variety of ligands on heterogeneous target particles in vivo, it is important to observe the engagement of multiple receptors simultaneously and the triggered involvement of downstream signaling pathways. Potential crosstalk between the two well‐characterized opsonic receptors, FcγR and CR3, was briefly explored in the early 1970s, where macrophages were challenged with dual‐opsonized targets. However, subsequent studies on receptor crosstalk were primarily restricted to using single opsonins on different targets, typically at saturating opsonin conditions. Beyond validating these initial explorations on receptor crosstalk, we identify the early signaling mechanisms that underlie the binding and phagocytosis during the simultaneous activation of both opsonic receptors, through the presence of a dual‐opsonized target (immunoglobulin G [IgG] and C3bi), compared with single receptor activation. For this purpose, we used signaling protein inhibitor studies as well as live cell brightfield and fluorescent imaging to fully understand the role of tyrosine kinases, F‐actin dynamics and internalization kinetics for FcγR and CR3. Importantly, opsonic receptors were studied together and in isolation, in the context of sparsely opsonized targets. We observed enhanced particle binding and a synergistic effect on particle internalization during the simultaneous activation of FcγR and CR3 engaged with sparsely opsonized targets. Inhibition of early signaling and cytoskeletal molecules revealed a differential involvement of Src kinase for FcγR‐ vs CR3‐ and dual receptor‐mediated phagocytosis. Src activity recruits Syk kinase and we observed intermediate levels of Syk phosphorylation in dual‐opsonized particles compared with those opsonized with IgG or C3bi alone. These results likely explain the intermediate levels of F‐actin that is recruited to sites of dual‐opsonized particle uptake and the notoriously delayed internalization of C3bi‐opsonized targets by macrophages.


Four peptides are shown to block mammalian spliceosome assembly and pre-mRNA splicing in vitro. Previously, these peptides have been shown to inhibit Ca2+-dependent calmodulin kinase II (CaMK II) via distinct mechanisms. One is a competitive inhibitor of the kinase, two interfere with autophosphorylation events, and one competes for binding to calmodulin, a CaMK II-activating protein. However, because EGTA does not inhibit splicing, the involvement of CaMK II itself in splicing is unlikely; rather, a protein similar to CaMK II may be involved in spliceosome assembly and splicing. Two of the inhibitory peptides, the calmodulin binding domain (CBD) and glycogen synthase (GS) fragment, block assembly of spliceosomal complex C. These peptides inhibited splicing if they were added to reactions any time within the first 10 min of splicing assays. No inhibition of spliceosome assembly or splicing occurred in the presence of randomized versions of the CBD or GS peptide. Additionally, the GS peptide inhibited splicing when added to assays at later time points, despite the fact that spliceosomal complex C had formed. Cumulatively, these analyses suggest that the peptides inhibit at least two distinct events in the spliceosomal cycle. The first event occurs early during in vitro splicing. For this event, prolonged incubations of splicing reactions do not result in a recovery of splicing activity. The second event occurs later and represents a slowing of an essential step, because splicing activity can be recovered in prolonged incubations. Peptides known to inhibit protein kinase A and protein kinase C had no effect on pre-mRNA splicing, underscoring the specificity of the observed inhibitory effects.


It has been suggested that the imprinted gene, H19, plays a crucial role in the development of cancer. In the present study, we attempted to treat the abnormal expression and methylation status of H19 in A549 cells using valproic acid (VPA), ascorbic acid (Vc), and 5-aza-Cytidine (5-Aza). The results suggested that VPA administration could alter the expression pattern of H19, while the hypomethylation status of H19 DMR was unchanged. Furthermore, overexpression of HDAC1 and DNMT1 was associated with decreased expression of H19 in VPA-treated cells. Western blot results showed that the expression of p53 protein was increased following treatment with VPA. In addition, we also investigated cellular apoptosis and the cell cycle of treated cells. Flow cytometry data indicated that VPA could increase the occurrence of cell apoptosis in A549 cells. Taken together, our results suggest that H19 expression was suppressed by VPA through HDAC1 and DNMT1 and decreased H19 expression correlated with cell apoptosis in A549 cells.


A digital integrated cellular image sensor processor (CISP) is described. The architecture uses binary CMOS light sensors with programmable circuits that perform various logic operations and template matching. The computing is carried out using all digital circuits. Complete chip design, implementation, and test results are presented.


A POST-TONAL ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO SYNCHRONISMS NO. 10 FOR GUITAR AND TAPE BY MARIO DAVIDOVSKY Mario Davidovsky is an American composer who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 4, 1934. Beginning in 1958, he was a student of Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center (currently the Tanglewood Music Center) in Lenox, Massachusetts. At Berkshire, he also met American composer, Milton Babbitt, who persuaded him to work at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center (currently the Computer Music Center at Columbia University) in New York City. Davidovsky was appointed Associate Director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in 1960 where he inevitably began experimenting with the relationships between live instruments and electronic sounds. Synchronisms No. 10 for guitar and tape (1992) is a piece for solo classical guitar and pre-recorded synthesized sounds. The piece was dedicated to David Starobin, the current Professor of Guitar at the Manhattan School of Music, who also edited the guitar part. This particular piece in the Synchronisms series shows that Davidovsky is aware of the limitations of the guitar in regard to dynamic range and decay of sound. Knowing these limitations, Davidovsky utilizes the various abilities of the instrument including its wide timbral range and use as a percussive medium. Although Davidovsky himself has been quoted as not using pitch-class sets of any kind, a post-tonal analysis can be applied to this piece in order to further understand individual sections and interaction between guitar and recording. Also, a review of the performance techniques necessary to approach this piece, and how said techniques are implemented, will help the musician perform at a higher level.


SUMMARY Two species of desert ants – the North African Cataglyphis fortis and the central Australian Melophorus bagoti – differ markedly in the visual complexity of their natural habitats: featureless salt pans and cluttered, steppe-like terrain, respectively. Here we ask whether the two species differ in their navigational repertoires, in particular, whether in homing they place different emphasis on their vector-based and landmark-based routines. In trying to answer this question, we applied the same experimental paradigms to individual foragers of either species on either continent: training and/or testing with and/or without artificial landmark arrays. We found that the open-terrain species C. fortis runs off its (path integration) home vector much more readily even in unfamiliar landmark settings than the cluttered-terrain species M. bagoti. These data support the hypothesis that C. fortis has a higher propensity to rely on vector-mediated navigation, whereas in the same experimental situations M. bagoti more easily switches to landmark-guided behaviour. In the actual navigational performances, such species-specific propensities are most likely shaped by environment-dependent individual experiences.


Emily Fair Oster is an American economist and bestselling author of "Expecting Better" and "Cribsheet". Emily is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Brown University.

P. Richard Hahn also joins the show as a guest interviewer. He is an associate professor of Statistics at ASU. His specific research interests include regression tree methods, causal inference from observational data, and foundations of statistics.
This initiative is a joint effort between scholars in order to test the importance and factors of entrepreneurial success.
Professor William Fuchs (Finance) is working on a number of projects trying to understand the impact of access to credit on the formation of new business. Salem Center support will help the creation of randomized controlled trials to help : (1) evaluate the importance of complementarities between credit and business training and (2) provide a better understanding of the determinants of entrepreneurial success. The first wave of experiments is underway in Bolivia in partnership with the Banco para el Desarrollo Productivo (BDP).


The global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to the suspension of most treatments with assisted reproductive technique (ART). However, with the recent successful control of the pandemic in China, there is an urgent public need to resume full reproductive care. To determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic had any adverse effects on female fertility and the pregnancy outcomes of women undergoing ART, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using the electronic Chinese and English databases. Dichotomous outcomes were summarized as prevalence, and odds ratios (ORs) and continuous outcomes as standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). The risk of bias and subgroup analyses were assessed using Stata/SE 15.1 and R 4.1.2. The results showed that compared with women treated by ART in the pre-COVID-19 time frame, women undergoing ART after the COVID-19 pandemic exhibited no significant difference in the clinical pregnancy rate (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.19; I2=0.0%), miscarriage rate (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.14; I2=38.4%), embryo cryopreservation rate (OR 2.90, 95% CI 0.17 to 48.13; I2=85.4%), and oocyte cryopreservation rate (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.03 to 3.65; I2=81.6%). This review provided additional evidence for gynecologists to guide the management of women undergoing ART treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic timeframe.