ABSTRACT A strong cultural identity has been shown to protect against psychological distress prompted by discriminatory experiences. However, these associations are scientifically unknown for people who have contact with the criminal justice system. Examining the relationships between cultural identity and mental health could enlighten efforts to improve the wellbeing of offenders, many of whom have experienced numerous negative life events and stressors. This study aimed to address these concerns by assessing the influence of cultural identity on distress, agency, community safety and discrimination for 78 Indigenous prisoners in custody in Australia. Findings revealed that possessing a stronger cultural identity effected lower levels of distress. Participants with weaker cultural identities had higher levels of distress and lower levels of agency. Furthermore, a reduced feeling of safety in the broader community appeared to have a greater negative impact on participants with weaker cultural identities. Levels of distress increased as perceptions of discrimination increased, immaterial to one's degree of cultural identity. However, results suggest that high identifiers were potentially able to alleviate this distress, perhaps through enhanced agency and engagement in cultural activities. Findings underscore the need for forensic clinicians to consider notions of cultural identity when engaging with, assessing and treating Indigenous clients.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the frequency of breast cancer related lymphedema in our region, and to heighten its awareness among health workers.

METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study of patients treated with breast cancer at King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan, between January 2004 and December 2009. We excluded patients with bilateral breast cancer. A total of 515 patients were included. We asked the patients to complete questionnaires that included questions related to arm symptoms. Lymphedema was defined as 2 cm or more difference between the 2 upper limbs' girths.

RESULTS
The incidence of lymphedema was 21.1%. The subjective evaluation by the patients overestimated the figure (35%). Most patients (75.3%) had limb symptoms, such as pain, numbness, and limitation of movement. In most patients with lymphedema, the symptoms were mild, but in 17 patients (15.6%) the effects were severe.

CONCLUSION
Lymphedema continues to be a common health problem in our region. Most patients have mild lymphedema, but in some patients the effects on daily activities are severe. It is important for health workers to understand the significance of this problem and its associated morbidity.


Patellar tendonitis or "jumper's knee" is an important cause of anterior knee pain. The natural history, classification of the lesion, and treatment methods, however, remain controversial. This article presents a retrospective review of 40 patients (50 knees) with various stages of patellar tendonitis and examines the etiology, presentation, clinical picture, investigation, and results of conservative treatment. Twenty-nine men and 11 women ranging in age from 17-48 years comprised the study population. Ten patients had bilateral involvement. The overall evaluation of patients' treatment was 70% with normal or nearly normal results and 30% with abnormal or very abnormal results; most required surgical treatment in the form of arthroscopy, anterior compartment decompression, and patellar tendon exploration. Thirty-seven percent of the patients had a previous history of anterior knee pain (25% had Osgood-Schlatter disease and 12.5% had anterior knee pain). Patellar tendon involvement is appraised according to a new concept. Since patellar tendonitis is part of the wider picture of anterior knee pain, patellar tendonitis is classified as primary or secondary according to presentation, magnetic resonance imaging in general, and the pathology of the patellar tendon in particular. Treatment is planned accordingly.


Mean-motion resonances play an important role in the evolution of various meteoroid streams. Previous works have studied the effects of two-body resonances in different comets and streams. These already established two-body resonances were mainly induced either by Jovian or Saturnian effects but not both at the same time. Some of these resonances have led to spectacular meteor outbursts and storms in the past. In this work, we find a new resonance mechanism involving three bodies -- i.e. meteoroid particle, Jupiter and Saturn, in the Perseid meteoroid stream. Long-term three-body resonances are not very common in real small bodies in our solar system although they can mathematically exist at many resonant sweet spots in an abstract sense in any dynamical system. This particular resonance combination in the Perseid stream is such that it is close to the ratio of 1:4:10 if the orbital periods of Perseid particle, Saturn and Jupiter are considered respectively. These resonant Perseid meteoroids stay resonant for typically about 2 kyr. Highly compact dust trails due to this unique resonance phenomenon are present in our simulations. Some past and future years are presented where three-body resonant meteoroids of different sizes (or subject to different radiation pressures) are computed to come near the Earth. This is the first theoretical example of an active and stable three-body resonance mechanism in the realm of meteoroid streams.


This paper describes the empirical results of the estimation of discrete choice models for the location decision of moving firms in a spatial disaggregated environment. Systematic choice sets are applied to account for the choice context of each relocated firm. Each location alternative is described by a set of spatial attributes, including accessibility variables and the migration distance between the origin of the moving firm and the alternative. The firms analyzed are categorized by their mobility profile. These mobility profiles are homogeneous groups of firms with similar mobility characteristics. The models are estimated on an extensive revealed-preference data set with firm migration observations between 1988 and 1997 in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The results indicate that it is essential for modeling the spatial behavior of relocating firms to account for the original location. The accessibility of locations appears to be of modest importance in the location preference of fi...


Advertising normally provides information to consumers about product or service, basically to assist consumers make decisions whether or not to buy the product or service. It is sometimes directed to children who are vulnerable to this commercial message and cannot effectively grasp the meaning because it may be biased and does not give true picture of the product or service. Therefore, it become necessary to understand better the communication processes involved while children watch and react to these advertisements. This paper therefore, examines the content of selected commercial messages to children in Lagos, that is, what and how it is been communicated to them. The sample consists of 430 children, ranging from 5 - 12 years old and their parents. Result from the frequencies calculated indicated that majority of the children were attracted to the music (54%) of the commercial and peer group (25%) play significant role in influencing children purchased demand. The chi-square statistic further revealed that television advertisement does not have significant effect on children (χ2 = 0.367, P < 0.05). In the study the parents (45%) also found that majority of the commercials shown to the children have some kind of disclaimer. The study recommended that parent should watch and discuss content of television commercials with the children and tell them what they should look for in those commercials. There is also need for children to play major role in those commercials for it to have better effect on them.

 Key words: Commercial messages, disclaimers, peer group, children's reaction, television product or service.


A sugar-containing polymer was grown on gold surface by surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of methacrylate monomer, 3-O-methacryloyl-1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-alpha-D-glucofuranoside (MAIpGIc), using 1,4,8,11-tetraaza-1,4,8,11-tetramethylcyclotetradecane (Me(4)Cyclam) as ligand, 2-bromopropionyl moiety attached on the gold surface as initiator, and Copper(I) bromide as catalyst, respectively, in tetrahydrofuran (THF) medium. The resultant sugar film was characterized by polarized infrared external reflectance spectroscopy (PIERS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), ellipsometry, and contact angle goniometry. The IR peaks characteristics of poly(3-O-methacryloyl-alpha,beta-D-glucopyranoside) (PMAGlc), broad O--H stretch at approximately 3400 cm(-1), and C==O ester stretch at approximately 1748 cm(-1) observed in PIERS spectra demonstrate the formation of PMAGlc on the gold surface. The AFM and SEM images show the polymer growth away from the gold surface without visible domain boundaries, and it further confirms the formation of sugar coating. The method described in the article would be beneficial in many areas, such as pathogen detection and biosensors, considering the biological importance of carbohydrate polymers.


Objectives Systematic screening for Chlamydia trachomatis by individual invitation can be optimised by filtering participants on risk profile, excluding people at no or low risk. The authors investigated this technique in a large-scale chlamydia screening programme in the Netherlands in one rural region where relatively low prevalence was expected (<2%). Methods Invitees were alerted by personal letter to log in to http://www.chlamydiatest.nl and fill in an 8-item questionnaire. Only invitees with sufficient score could proceed to request a test kit. The authors investigated the effect of selection on participation, positivity and acceptability in three screening rounds and on the number needed to invite and the number needed to screen. Results The selection led to exclusion of 36% of potential participants and a positivity rate of 4.8% among participants, achieving similar number needed to screen values in the rural and urban areas. Higher scores were clearly related to higher positivity rates. Persons who were excluded from participation did not have a lower response in the next round. The acceptability study revealed disappointment about exclusion of 30% of excluded participants but most approved of the screening set-up. Conclusions Systematic selection of screening participants by risk score is feasible and successful in realising higher positivity rates. A somewhat stricter selection could be applied in the rural and urban areas of the screening programme. Multiple-item selection with a cut-off total score may work better than, more commonly used, selection by single criteria, especially in low-risk populations. Acceptability of selection is high but could still be improved by better communication on expectations.


Abstract: The role of hereditary antithrombotic protein defects in juvenile deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was evaluated. Fifty six young patients (age <45 yr) with doppler‐proven DVT were investigated for the presence of resistance to activated protein C (APC‐R), lupus anticoagulant (LA), anticardiolipin antibodies and deficiencies of protein C, protein S, ATIII activities. Fifty nine normal healthy individuals served as controls. APC‐R was observed to be the commonest defect underlying the Indian DVT as seen in 39.2% of patients followed by elevated ACA (5.3%), PAI (2.8%), presence of LA (2.8%) and reduced ATIII levels (2.8%). None of the subjects had protein C or S deficiency. APC‐R was associated with ATIII deficiency in one case, and elevated ACA in two cases. In two subjects, APC‐R was associated with elevated PAI levels. Patients with more than one prothrombotic factor had a higher prevalence of pulmonary thromboembolism, suggesting that the thrombogenic potential of APC‐R is enhanced by the presence of coexisting hereditary or acquired prothrombotic defect.


a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless, and then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match. Shortly after the " iron curtain " fell in , an American and a Russian, who had both worked on the development of weapons, met. The American asked: " When you developed the Bomb, how were you able to perform such an enormous amount of computing with your weak computers? " The Russian responded: " We used better algorithms. " — Yefim Dinitz, in " Dinitz' Algorithm: The Original Version and Even's Version " ((((6) It is to be noted, however, that the problem of determining an effective method of actually acquiring the solution to a specific problem is not solved in this paper. In the category of development of such methods we seem to be, currently, ahead of the Russians. One of the easiest applications of maximum flows is computing the maximum number of edge-disjoint paths between two specified vertices s and t in a directed graph G using maximum flows. A set of paths in G is edge-disjoint if each edge in G appears in at most one of the paths; several edge-disjoint paths may pass through the same vertex, however. If we give each edge capacity 1, then the maximum flow from s to t pushes either 0 or 1 units of flow along each edge. The flow-decomposition theorem implies that the subgraph S of saturated edges is the union of several edge-disjoint paths and cycles. Moreover, the number of paths in this decomposition is exactly equal to the value of the flow. Extracting the actual paths from S is easy—follow any directed path in S from s to t, remove that path from S, and recurse. Conversely, we can transform any collection of k edge-disjoint paths into a flow by pushing one unit of flow along each path from s to t; the value of the resulting flow is exactly k. It follows that any maximum flow algorithm actually computes the largest


The objectives of the present study were (experiment 1) to characterized development and dynamics of the dominant follicles (DF) and the corpus luteum (CL) to determine patterns of two (W2) and three (W3) follicular waves in beef heifers, and (experiment 2) to determine gene expression of growth factors gene expression in follicular cells of W2 and W3 heifer. Twenty‐eight Braford heifers were used. Dominant follicular and CL were monitored daily by ultrasonography to identify the development W2 and W3 in heifers. Pre‐ovulatory DF were aspirated on day 19 in W2 and on day 22 in W3 heifers. In W2 and W3, follicular cells (FC) of gene expression of growth differentiation factor 9, bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15), fibroblast growth factor basic, transforming growth factor beta receptor 1, bone morphogenetic protein receptor type IB and fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 were evaluated. The regression of the DF of the first follicular wave and the emergency of the DF of the second follicular wave began later in the heifers W2 than in W3 (p = .02 and p < .01). The regression of the CL began earlier in the W2 than in W3 group (p < .01). Gene expression of growth factors and receptors was similar between groups. However, higher relative levels of BMP15 was observed in W2 group (p = .07). Results propose that wave patterns were regulated by the development time of the DF in the first wave and the life of the CL. Furthermore, higher levels of BMP15 could produce shorter life of CL. The present work suggest that ultrasonography associated with molecular assays could be used as an easy and effective tool to characterize follicular wave patterns.


Background: This research is motivated by the absence of therapeutic pants in patients with genu deformity, so innovations to create latest medical products are needed to prevent the disease. One of the innovations is development of therapeutic pants for genu varum and genu valgum. Objective: It aims to research and develop therapeutic pants to improve comfort of children with genu varum and genu valgum.Methods: This study used Research and Development (R&D) approach. It consisted of 3 phases, namely phase I, II, and III or product trials.Result: From the literary study in phase I, it was obtained that materials used to make the therapeutic pants were cotton cloth fabric and foam. In the second phase of the research, it was also discovered that designs and shapes of the pants were as needed. The results of product trials or phase III of this study involved 5 respondents; it showed that the use of therapeutic pants in toddlers resulted comfort and satisfaction for them.Conclusion: The therapeutic pants are proven to increase comfort in toddlers with genu varum and genu valgum.


In this paper, deep neural network (DNN) is utilized to improve the belief propagation (BP) detection for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. A neural network architecture suitable for detection task is firstly introduced by unfolding BP algorithms. DNN MIMO detectors are then proposed based on two modified BP detectors, damped BP and max-sum BP. The correction factors in these algorithms are optimized through deep learning techniques, aiming at improved detection performance. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the DNN detectors in comparison with various BP modifications. The neural network is trained once and can be used for multiple online detections. The results show that, compared to other state-of-the-art detectors, the DNN detectors can achieve lower bit error rate (BER) with improved robustness against various antenna configurations and channel conditions at the same level of complexity.


A wide-band antenna system has been developed as part of a sweep frequency spectrum analyzer for solar noise studies in the 100 mc to 600-mc frequency range. The antenna system consists of an equatorially mounted 28-foot paraboloid imuminated by a unique feed combination which operates over the frequency range in three overlapping bands. Development of the antenna system has been carried out with the aid of scale models and two full size systems have been constructed. The resulting antenna has an effective area which is reasonably constant over the entire range before reflection losses are considered. The feed configuration is described and performance characteristics are given.


This study was conducted to investigate the differences in the physicochemical properties of organic and conventional milk from Chungnam and Jeonbuk, Korea. The milk was collected from 10 organic and 10 conventional milk farms in February, March and August, and then analyzed for milk composition, minerals and fatty acids. Organic milk showed lower fat (p<0.01) and total solid (p<0.05), but higher phosphorous (p<0.01) content than conventional milk. However, there was no difference in the content of lactose or the somatic cell count. Organic milk showed lower (p<0.01) stearic acid and total saturated fatty acid content, but higher (p<0.01) total, mono-, and poly-unsaturated fatty acid content. These results showed that organic and conventional milks differ mainly in their fat and unsaturated fatty acid content. Due to increasing consumer interest in food safety and health, organic milk, which contains more beneficial fatty acids, might be preferred over conventional milk.


Referring to literature in sociology, mass communication, and public health, we conceptualize and operationally define "health social capital" and "individual health social capital" and then posit and test a model for its development in response to a public health media campaign. The campaign evaluated here was designed to stimulate behaviors that would provide a more supportive social environment for children and youth, an environment which we consider to be richer in aggregate health social capital. The association model of advertising was employed to explain the development of individual health social capital measures of awareness, attitude, and behavior. With cross-sectional data (1998, n = 614; 1999, n = 1,087; 2000, n = 1,388), we examine the results for changes in awareness, attitude, and behavior over time and the significant links between these dependent variables and media campaign exposure. The results show significant increases in awareness and attitude, but not in behavior. Structural equation modeling revealed different patterns of influence for newspaper and TV campaign exposure.


Solid state detectors made of Si (4.8/spl times/8 mm/sup 2/) and GaAs (6.4/spl times/8 mm/sup 2/) pixel matrices bump-bonded to the Omega2 and Omega3 electronic read-out systems, developed at CERN for H.E.P. experiments, have been used to obtain autoradiographic images of clusters of human epithelial cells and DNA fragments separated via electrophoresis, both labeled with /sup 32/P. The system has shown a good minimum detectable activity per unit area of 2.10/sup -4/ cps mm/sup -2/, and has proved linear for count rate in the range 0.2-20 cps, typical of autoradiography. The pixel dimensions are 75/spl times/500 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ (Si-Omega2) and 50/spl times/500 /spl mu/m/sup 2/(GaAs-Omega3), respectively. We are able to clearly localize clusters of cells which have incorporated the radioactive tracer and DNA fragments on an electrophoretic gel on paper (blots).


Mobile crowd management is yet an emerging new research area for Search and Rescue (SAR) operations. The dynamic nature and mobility of Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs) demand for new set of networking strategies to be developed in order to provide reliable and efficient communication during catastrophe such as in battlefield, terrorist attacks and natural disasters. A MANET is an independent, dynamic, self-adaptive and infrastructure-less connection of mobile devices. The role of communication has been playing a major role in all the aspects of catastrophic management such as circumspection or response and recovery. MANETs utilize TCP/IP protocol for communication between end nodes, but the mobility and resource overhead makes each layer in TCP/IP model to be modified frequently. Therefore routing in MANET drives out to be one of the most challenging research areas and has received enormous attention from the researchers in the past decades. This survey investigates the Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs) based routing protocols for search and rescue scenario. The main objective is to provide a categorization of MANET protocols based on infrastructure and phases of disaster management. Furthermore emergency response operations have been considered as a promising perspective for MANETs. This paper also examines and outlines the existing employment technologies of MANETs for search and rescue operations and the significant contributions made by the authors based upon the criteria of infrastructure, communication protocols and type of disaster scenario.


Rubber-based materials are widely used in a variety of industrial applications. In these applications, rubber components withstand various loading conditions over a range of temperatures. It is of great significance to study the mechanical behavior of vulcanized rubber at different temperatures, especially in a range of high temperatures. The temperature dependence of the constitutive behavior of filled rubber is important for the performance of the rubber. However, only a few constitutive models have been reported that investigate the stress–temperature relationship. In this paper, based on an analysis of experimental data, the effects of temperature on the hyperelastic behaviors of both natural rubber and filled rubber, with different mass fractions of carbon black, were studied. The regulation of stress and strain of natural rubber and filled rubber with temperature was revealed. In addition, an eight-chain model that can reasonably characterize the experimental data at different temperatures was proved. An explicit temperature-dependent constitutive model was developed based on the Arruda-Boyce model to describe the stress–strain response of filled rubber in a relatively large temperature range. Meanwhile, it was proved that the model can predict the effect of temperature on the hyperelastic behavior of filled rubber. Finally, the improved Arruda-Boyce model was used to obtain the material parameters and was then successfully applied to finite element analysis (FEA), which showed that the model has high application value. In addition, the model had a simple form and could be conveniently applied in related performance test of actual production or finite element analysis.


1. The anionic calf liver arginase, like the cationic rat liver enzyme, is inactivated by EDTA-treatment. The activity is fully restored by Mn2+. A smaller effect is observed with Cd2+, Ni2+ and Co2+. 2. The EDTA-inactivated calf liver arginase, unlike the rat liver enzyme, does not dissociate into subunits, and its mol.wt. (120 000) is unchanged. 3. The reactivation of rat liver arginase subunits (mol.wt. 30 000) by Ni2+ is accompanied, similarly as in the case of Mn2+, by reassociation to the form of mol.wt. 120 000, i.e. the same as for the native enzyme. 4. It is suggested that Mn2+ in arginase is bound at the active site and at the site responsible for maintenance of the oligomeric structure. In calf liver enzyme this binding site is inaccessible to the chelating agent.


In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model squark mixing can significantly change the pattern of charged-Higgs production. We find that non-minimal flavor structures can have a sizeable impact on the charged-Higgs production cross section, whereas charged-Higgs searches may be able to probe flavor structures not accessible to rare kaon, bottom or charm experiments, and can invalidate the assumption of minimal flavor violation. PACS. 14.80.Cp Non-standard-model Higgs bosons – 12.60.Jv Supersymmetric models


Callus induction is an important step in in-vitro culture valued for micropropagation, somaclonal variation, mutagenesis, synthetic seed production, transformation and genetic engineering. Callusing response of ten sugarcane genotypes viz., BO-110, BO-134, Cose-95422, Cose-98232, Cose-92423, UP-9742, BO-91, BO-135, and Cose-98255, were studied under three different doses (2, 3 & 4 mg L-1) of 2,4-D supplemented in the callus induction media. Callus induction was found to depend on both genotype and 2,4-D concentration in the media. The genotype UP-9742 was most amenable to callus induction (67.50%) followed by Cose-97182 (56.25%) and Cose-92423 (51.00%). While, the media supplemented with 3 mg L-1 2,4-D was found more effective to trigger callus induction in general. Yet, the optimum dose of 2,4-D to be used depends on the interaction of the specific genotype. Journal of the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science.Vol. 33-34, 2015, page: 237-242


Heteroresistance to colistin can be defined as the presence of resistant subpopulations in an isolate that is susceptible to this antibiotic. Colistin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria is more frequently related to chromosomal mutations and insertions. This work aimed to study heteroresistance in nine clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing OXA-48 and to describe genomic changes in mutants with acquired resistance in vitro. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by broth microdilution (BMD) and heteroresistance by population analysis profiling (PAP). The proteins related to colistin resistance were analyzed for the presence of mutations. Additionally, PCR of the mgrB gene was performed to identify the presence of insertions. In the nine parental isolates, the PAP method showed colistin heteroresistance of colonies growing on plates with concentrations of up to 64 mg/L, corresponding to stable mutant subpopulations. The MICs of some mutants from the PAP plate containing 4×MIC of colistin had absolute values of ≤2 mg/L that were higher than the parental MICs and were defined as persistent variants. PCR of the mgrB gene identified an insertion sequence that inactivated the gene in 21 mutants. Other substitutions in the investigated mutants were found in PhoP, PhoQ, PmrB, PmrC, CrrA and CrrB proteins. Colistin heteroresistance in K. pneumoniae isolates was attributed mainly to insertions in the mgrB gene and point mutations in colistin resistance proteins. The results of this study will improve understanding regarding the mechanisms of colistin resistance in mutants of K. pneumoniae producing OXA-48.


Impact ionization phenomena accompanied by light emission in the 1.1-3.1 eV energy range take place in GaAs MESFETs and in AlGaAs/GaAs HEMTs at high drain voltages. The dominant mechanism for the emission of photons with hv>Eg is the recombination between impact ionization generated holes and channel electrons.


Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by infection with Plasmodium  protozoa transmitted by an infective female  Anopheles  mosquito. Plasmodium falciparum  infection carries a poor prognosis with a high mortality if untreated, but it has an excellent prognosis if diagnosed early and treated appropriately. Five species of Plasmodium can infect and be transmitted by humans. The vast majority of deaths are caused by P. falciparum and P. vivax , while P. ovale and P. malariae cause a generally milder form of malaria that is rarely fatal. Clinical symptoms include the following: Headache, Cough, Fatigue, Malaise, Shaking chills, Arthralgia, Myalgia, Paroxysm of fever, shaking chills, and sweats. Malaria is prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions because rainfall, warm temperatures, and stagnant waters provide habitats ideal for mosquito larvae. Disease transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites by using mosquito nets and insect repellents, or with mosquito-control measures such as spraying insecticides and draining standing water. The mainstay of malaria diagnosis has been the microscopic examination of blood, utilizing blood films. Although blood is the sample most frequently used to make a diagnosis, both saliva and urine have been investigated as alternative, less invasive specimens. More recently, modern techniques utilizing antigen tests or polymerase chain reaction have been discovered, though these are not widely implemented in malaria endemic regions. Areas that cannot afford laboratory diagnostic tests often use only a history of subjective fever as the indication to treat for malaria. Medications that can be used for the treatment of malaria include the following: Chloroquine, Quinine, Atovaquone-proguanil, Clindamycin, Mefloquine, Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, Artemether-lumefantrine,Artesunate and other antimalarials.


Bringing together academics, researchers, and industrialists, Climbing and Walking Robots 2003 (CLAWAR 2003) provides a forum for cross-fertilization in the different specialities so that both state-of-the-art and industrial applications can be reported on. Original contributions, both industrial and those in new/emerging fields, provide a full picture of climbing and walking robots. The interest in climbing and walking robots (CLAWAR) has increased considerably over recent years, addressing many application fields such as exploration/intervention in extreme environments, personal services, emergency rescue operations, transportation, entertainment, etc., and envisage humanoid robots evolving into mechatronic replicas of ourselves. Topics covered include: Biological Inspired Systems Medical Systems Control of CLAWAR Design Methodology System Modelling and Simulation Modularity and System Architecture Gait Generation and Stability of CLAWAR Biped Locomotion Multi-legged Locomotion Micro Machines Applications Climbing Robots Actuators, Sensors, Navigation, and Sensors Fusion CLAWAR Network Workpackages


The literature focuses on the topic of vehicle arrivals in terms of flight and flight planning. An accurate knowledge of vehicle arrivals is important when operating warehouses, as they affect warehouse processes where continuous optimization of waiting times and associated costs is a critical task. I have described a method whereby the time of arrival of the vehicle can be more precisely determined by the application of modern technical tools and I have set up a mathematical model controlling this process. By continuously comparing the arrival time of the vehicles, I have developed an algorithm for the dynamic assignment of the vehicles to the time gates, which is suitable for increasing the efficiency of warehouse processes.


Turbulence in the asymptotic suction boundary layer is investigated numerically at the verge of laminarisation using direct numerical simulation. Following an adiabatic protocol, the Reynolds number $Re$ is decreased in small steps starting from a fully turbulent state until laminarisation is observed. Computations in a large numerical domain allow in principle for the possible coexistence of laminar and turbulent regions. However, contrary to other subcritical shear flows, no laminar–turbulent coexistence is observed, even near the onset of sustained turbulence. High-resolution computations suggest a critical Reynolds number $Re_{g}\approx 270$ , below which turbulence collapses, based on observation times of $O(10^{5})$ inertial time units. During the laminarisation process, the turbulent flow fragments into a series of transient streamwise-elongated structures, whose interfaces do not display the characteristic obliqueness of classical laminar–turbulent patterns. The law of the wall, i.e. logarithmic scaling of the velocity profile, is retained down to $Re_{g}$ , suggesting a large-scale wall-normal transport absent in internal shear flows close to the onset. In order to test the effect of these large-scale structures on the near-wall region, an artificial volume force is added to damp spanwise and wall-normal fluctuations above $y^{+}=100$ , in viscous units. Once the largest eddies have been suppressed by the forcing, and thus turbulence is confined to the near-wall region, oblique laminar–turbulent interfaces do emerge as in other wall-bounded flows, however only transiently. These results suggest that oblique stripes at the onset are a prevalent feature of internal shear flows, but will not occur in canonical boundary layers, including the spatially growing ones.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of phonation types ([+/aspirated], [+/fortis]) on aerodynamic measures with Korean bilabial stops. Sixty-three healthy young adults (30 males, 33 females) participated to evaluate the VOEF (Voicing Efficiency) tasks with bilabial stop consonants /p/, /p/, /p'/ using Phonatory Aerodynamic System (PAS) Model 6600 (Kay PENTAX Corp, Lincoln Park, NJ). All VOEF measures were significantly influenced by phonation types except RANP(pitch range)(p <.01). For sound pressure, maximum SPL, mean SPL, and Mean SPL during Voicing have been shown to be significantly greatest in fortis stop /p'/ than aspirated /p/ and lenis stop /p/ (p<.001). On the other hand, mean pitch after lenis stop was significantly lower than after aspirated and fortis stops (p<.001). Peak expiratory airflow, Target airflow, and FVC (Expiratory volume) were significantly lowest in fortis stop /p'/ which might be associated with higher aerodynamic resistance while peak air pressure and mean peak air pressure during closure were significantly lower in lenis stop /p/. Additionally, AEFF (Aerodynamic efficiency) was significantly higher in fortis stop /p'/ than lenis stop /p/ as well as aspirated stop /p/ (p<.001). Thus, sound pressure, airflow parameters, and aerodynamic resistance made crucial roles in distinguishing fortis /p'/ from lenis stop /p/ and aspirated. Additionally, pitch and subglottal air pressure parameters were important aerodynamic characteristics in distinguishing lenis /p/ from fortis /p'/ and aspirated /p/. Therefore, accurate aspirated /p/ stop consonant should be elicited when collecting the airflow, intraoral pressure related data with patients with voice disorders in order to enhance the reliability and relevance or validity of aerodynamic measures using PAS.


We investigated the in vitro and in vivo anti-obesity effects of extracts from young Akebia quinata D. leaves, including hot water (AQH) and 80% ethanol (AQE) extracts. The inhibitory effects of AQH and AQE on lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells were examined by Oil Red O staining. Compared to control, lipid accumulation was significantly reduced by 18.3% with the treatment upon AQE at a concentration of 5 μg/mL. The levels of intracellular triglycerides and free glycerol were also reduced by 52.8% and 9.1% at the same concentration of AQE. The in vivo anti-obesity effect of AQE was evaluated in terms of body and white adipose tissue weights in ICR mice. Experimental groups were divided into the following five groups: normal diet (ND), high fat diet (HFD), high fat diet with 60 mg/kg/day of Orlistat (HFD-RF), high fat diet with 200 mg/kg/day of AQE (HFD-AL), and high fat diet with 600 mg/kg/day of AQE (HFD-AH). Feeding of HFD for eight weeks resulted in significant increases in body weight as well as weight gain compared to the ND group. HFD-AH group showed reduced body weight, weight gain, epididymal white adipose tissue weight, and perirenal white adipose weight as compared to the HFD group. These results indicate that AQE supplementation might have beneficial effects on anti-obesity by inhibiting lipid accumulation.


The objective was to compile data on therapeutic approaches employed in palliative care in Australia, including practices relating to combining drugs in syringe drivers for administration by subcutaneous infusion. A questionnaire, with a reply-paid envelope, was sent to 130 teaching hospitals and palliative care services throughout Australia. Ninety-six responses were received (74% response rate). Drugs commonly administered in palliative care included oral morphine (97% of respondents), subcutaneous morphine (76%), oral metoclopramide (82%), subcutaneous metoclopramide (41%), oral dexamethasone (70%), oral haloperidol (50%), subcutaneous haloperidol (43%), oral prochlorperazine (47%), oral codeine (38%) and subcutaneous midazolam (36%). Drugs frequently combined in syringe drivers for subcutaneous infusion included morphine plus metoclopramide (67%), morphine plus midazolam (66%), and all three of these drugs (35%). Only 48% of the palliative care services had a policy on combining drugs in syringe drivers for administration by subcutaneous infusion and 34% had an upper limit on the number of drugs combined in syringe drivers. Twenty-nine per cent of respondents had encountered problems (e.g. incompatibilities) when combining drugs in syringe drivers for administration by subcutaneous infusion. This study has revealed considerable variation in the practice of therapeutics and the combining of drugs in syringe drivers for administration by subcutaneous infusion in palliative care.


A novel actinomycete, designated strain NEAU-A2T, was isolated from rhizosphere soil of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and characterized using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain NEAU-A2T should be assigned to the genus Lechevalieria and forms a distinct branch with its closest neighbour Lechevalieria aerocolonigenes DSM 40034T (99.0 %). Moreover, key morphological and chemotaxonomic properties also confirmed the affiliation of strain NEAU-A2T to the genus Lechevalieria. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and the whole-cell hydrolysates were galactose, mannose, rhamnose, glucose and ribose. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositolmannoside and two glycolipids. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H4) and MK-9(H6). The major fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1ω7c and anteiso-C17 : 0. The DNA G+C content was 68.2 mol%. The combination of the DNA-DNA hybridization result and some phenotypic characteristics demonstrated that strain NEAU-A2T could be distinguished from its closest relative. Therefore, it is proposed that strain NEAU-A2T represents a novel species of the genus Lechevalieria, for which the name Lechevalieriarhizosphaerae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-A2T (=CGMCC 4.7405T=DSM 104541T).


It has previously been found that competition and feelings of inferiority can independently produce schadenfreude (pleasure at other's misfortune) and that schadenfreude has a negative influence on emotion based learning during the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), when a participant (the Observer), who had watched a same-sex friend (the Player) perform the IGT in the absence of any interaction between the two, has to subsequently play the IGT.

The present study investigates the effect of schadenfreude on learning during competitive situations. A sample of 90 university students completed the IGT in two competitive conditions with and without feelings of inferiority (participants were told that the Player had higher academic results than the Observer, and that this was the criteria for allocating them to the two roles).

Contrary to our predictions, the results showed that schadenfreude did not influence the Observer's emotional learning in the two competitive scenarios, and revealed an unexpected impaired performance for the Player. These findings expand the conclusion of previous studies that any form of emotional investment during vicarious learning opportunities can negate the disruptive effect of schadenfreude on emotional learning and we propose a novel factor (perceived task difficulty) that might impair the naive player's IGT performance.


BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Brain drain is a term coined for the migration of highly skilled professionals from the country of their origin to more developed countries. As the trend of moving abroad is on a rise, ever since, it is causing a shortage of dental professionals in our country. The objective of our study is to determine the factors that would compel the dentists of Punjab, Pakistan, to move abroad and how to prevent this migration.
METHODOLOGY: It was a cross-sectional survey. Data was collected through a self-constructed and validated questionnaire. The study was done in dental colleges in Punjab, and the duration of the study was one year. The questionnaire was distributed both by hand and via digital sources.
RESULTS:  There were 155 (33.4%) participants, who were planning to go abroad for higher education, and 274 (59%) had not planned to go out of the country for further studies. Among the study participants, 50 (32.3%) participants were planning to move to the United Kingdom, whereas 23 (14.8%) participants were planning to go to Australia, 44 (28.3%) wanted to move to the US, 10 (6.4%) to Canada and the rest (18%) had plans to move to any other country.
CONCLUSION: The majority of dental graduates wish to go abroad for their post-graduation. The dentists of Punjab were willing to serve their country, provided the economic and political situations improved.


We identify nitryl perchlorate as the essential intermediate in the low temperature thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate AP. Evidence supporting this identification includes the analytical detection of an oxidized nitrogenous species in partly reacted AP and the ability of ammonium nitrate and several other nitrates to markedly reduce the induction period to decomposition of AP and to accelerate the subsequent reaction. It is also shown that the measured rate of the reaction of pure AP is in very satisfactory agreement with that estimated to result from this amount of NO2ClO4 present. This mechanism differs from those currently accepted, in which the controlling process is believed to involve the transfer of either a proton or an electron. Our proposal is based on the known instability of NO2ClO4 at reaction temperature (ca. 500 K), the enhanced reactivity compared to the ionic alkali perchlorates being ascribed to covalent bond formation O 2NO─ClO3. Subsequent reactions of the products of breakdown of this species, NO+, ClO3-and 2O or O2, are regarded as capable of oxidizing reactant NH4+ (→NO2+), thus regenerating the intermediate. Localized reaction in migrating 'particles' of fluid NO2ClO4, advancing through the reactant and leaving a residue of porous NH4ClO4, explains the unusual, incomplete low temperature decomposition that is characteristic of AP. The article reports comparative kinetic data for the decomposition of pure AP and the reaction initiated by various added nitrates. Rate studies are complemented by scanning electron microscope examinations of the geometry of interface development and the structure of the decomposed salt. From these and analytical results the role of nitryl perchlorate in AP decomposition is discussed.


This paper describes a new method for analyzing the bidding strategies of generating companies (GENCOs) in the independent system operator (ISO) point of view. ISO uses these results to detect the participants that have the potential for market power or actual exercise of market power. ISO models all GENCOs with perfect information. The proposed methodology uses the marginal cost of GENCOs as an initial point for bidding strategies of GENCOs and improves bidding strategies based on the objective function of GENCOs, the state of them in each hour of the day and with regard to ISO's market clearing problem. ISO tries to maximize the social welfare or minimize consumer's payments. The model presented in this paper simulates the energy market and the behavior of participants to obtain Nash equilibrium point of their bidding strategies for detecting the participants that have the potential for market power or actual exercise of market power. GAMS (general algebraic modeling system) language has been used to solve the profit maximization and social welfare maximization modules of this model using DICOPT optimization software with mixed integer non-linear programming


During the last decade we witnessed huge wave of reorganizations in Russian industrial sector: split-ups, spin-offs, mergers and acquisitions. Firms adjusted their boundaries according to the new economic conditions. Little is known however about this process and its determinants. The first goal of this paper is to derive general patterns of boundary change in Russian industrial sector. Second, the author seeks to identify the factors influencing firm's decision to integrate or split up based on modern theory of a firm. In doing this, one needs to understand whether institutional structure of production, inherited from planned economy and characterized by high degree of monopolization and specificity, influenced the process of reorganizations of Russian industrial firms. In particular, author tests the factors of vertical integration suggested by transaction cost theory. Finally, the attempt is made to estimate the effect of structural change on firm performance, in particular, on productivity. In order to answer these questions the author conducts empirical study using the data from the survey of Russian industrial enterprises carried out in 1999-2000.


Although it is well established that cis-acting regulatory variation contributes to morphological evolution between species, few concrete examples of polymorphism affecting developmental patterning within species have been demonstrated. Early embryogenesis in Drosophila is initiated by a gradient of Bicoid morphogen activity that results in differential expression of multiple target genes. In a screen for genetic variation affecting this process, we surveyed 96 wild-type lines of Drosophila melanogaster for polymorphisms in binding sites within 16 Bicoid cis-regulatory response elements. One common polymorphism in the orthodenticle (otd) early head enhancer is associated with a complex series of indels/substitutions that define two distinct haplotypes. The middle region of this enhancer exhibits an unusual pattern of nucleotide diversity that does not easily fit into standard models of selection and demography. Population Gene Expression Maps, generated by extracting binary expression profiles from normalized embryo images, revealed a ventral reduction of otd transcript abundance in one of the haplotypes that was recapitulated in expression of transgenic constructs containing the two alleles. We thus demonstrate that even a process as robust as early developmental patterning is affected by standing genetic variation, intriguingly involving otd, whose morphogenetic function bicoid is thought to have displaced during dipteran evolution.


The major mechanism of organophosphorus insecticide resistance in Culex mosquitoes involves the elevation of one or more esterases. The general mechanism underlying this resistance is the amplification of the structural genes. This review covers the classification of the mosquito esterases in the context of classical esterase nomenclature. The function of the amplified esterases and the structure of the amplified DNA on which they occur are also described. Implications of information on the esterase amplicons are discussed in relation to the evolution and migration of insecticide resistance in Culex.


Online Travel Agent is popular sites as travel planner for tourist. Online Travel Agent provides ease on choosing accommodation or other tour facility for tourist. Booking.com is the biggest online travel agent at this time which giving service on reserving hotel room. Booking.com becomes popular among the tourist and very interested especially for reserved hotel room due to Booking.com provide additional facility which given for customer who loyal using service this online travel agent. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to know The Effect of Satisfaction, Trust and Price on Tourist Loyalty who uses Service of Booking.com. Sample on this research is 100 respondents with using quota sampling technique directed to tourist who ever using service of Booking.com more than 1 time and classified as Secret Deal and Genius Booker Customer. Collecting Data technique are observation non participation, questionnaire with likert scale, literature study and online survey. By hypothesis test with t test and F test, the result are (1) Satisfaction has influence positive and significant on Loyalty of Tourist. (2) Trust has influence positive and significant on Loyalty of Tourist (3) Price has influence positive and significant on Loyalty of Tourist.(4) Satisfaction, Trust and Price has influence positive and significant on Loyalty of Tourist as simultaneous. Through coefficient determination test Satisfaction, Trust and Price variable able to explain Loyalty 70,60%. Linier Regression Analyze state that independent variable has positive coefficient value 2,593, 2,303 and 4,988 with result Price as independent variable which very dominant influence Loyalty of Tourist for using service online travel agent Booking.com.


An eavesdropper (Eve) can exploit all the imperfections of a practical quantum key distribution (QKD) system to obtain some information about the secret key, no matter whether these imperfections are from the physical layer or from the post-processing layer. We propose a possible attack on a passive detection QKD system based on the imperfection from the software layer. The analysis shows that Eve can obtain all the information about the key without being discovered.


Reviews the books, Cold War Freud by D. Herzog (2016), Psychiatry in Communist Europe edited by M. Savelli and S. Marks (2015), and Psiquiatría, Psicoánalisis y Cultura Comunista: Batallas Ideológicas en la Guerra Fria [Psychiatry, psychoanalysis and communist culture: Ideological battles in the Cold War] by H. Vezzetti. On the whole, the three books show how the Cold War influenced, in various ways, psychiatric and psychotherapeutic cultures. Beyond the Iron Curtain, as one can perceive from the book edited by Savelli and Marks (2015), politics explicitly set the agenda for the psychological sciences, using them even to invent ad hoc nosologies, useful for purposes related to power. In the United States, on the other hand, as Herzog (2016) pinpoints, the political situation affected the same field, even if indirectly, as in the Christianization of a discipline-psychoanalysis-the creator of which proudly declared himself an atheist Jew. In other Western countries, the relationship between psychiatry and power could bring about paradoxical results. From Vezzetti's (2016) book, one can ascertain that psychiatric culture might assume an overtly opposing stance toward political power. Vezzetti scans the case of Argentina, and partly of France, but they were not isolated cases. In Italy, for example, a movement of radical psychiatrists understood their role as a necessary opposition to political power, having as an aim the "liberation" of patients locked up in the psychiatric hospitals (Foot, 2015). (PsycINFO Database Record


Death, the passing of a loved one, friend, colleague or just someone we may have known, is virtually always sad and often traumatic. However, it is a part of life and has to be coped with. Each year around 60 million people worldwide die from a wide and diverse number of causes. The problem of what to do with all those dead bodies is becoming a major conundrum for the families involved as well as for policy makers and governments. Natural and anthropogenic disasters, together with increasing incidence of major pandemics of infectious diseases is making finding a solution ever more difficult. A problem which is made worse by ever-increasing draconian rules about what can and cannot be done when disposing of a body. Currently, there are two basic choices, either bury the body in the ground where such action is permitted or cremate it and dispose of the ashes in a culturally and legally acceptable fashion. Generally, both options are becoming prohibitively expensive. The cost of land and the burgeoning demand for land to be used for industry, agriculture, urbanised centres or leisure activities is making burial no longer an option for most people. Japan has long led the world in incineration technology and it has also led the world for many years in cremating its dead. Virtually all Japanese are now cremated, the funeral process involving a mixture of high technology and unique routines steeped in history. Despite widespread concerns that cremation can cause environmental pollution and may damage public health as a result, it is still deemed less polluting than burial. It is likely that countries around the globe will increasingly adopt a policy of cremating their deceased citizens and would do well to follow the lead in this respect being shown by Japan.


— Healthcare reforms in sustaining the best healthcare financing are the most common debating issues in both developed and developing countries. Policy maker and researchers keep analyzing and experimenting an innovative financing mechanism in order to mobilize resources for sustainable long term healthcare spending. Among other financing mechanism, Medical Saving Account (MSA) is one of the strategies being assessed in ensuring the efficiency issues especially in cost containment as well as in reducing healthcare cost. Due to failure of realizing the large-scale healthcare reform, MSA are proposed in conjunction with high-deductibles health insurance which it could be as a substitute of healthcare reforms. Due to highly subsidized health care expenditures especially in public health care facilities, some developing countries will be overwhelmed with extremely increased health care cost in the future. In other words, if this practice is not improved and monitored, the subsidy fund would deplete. The Medical Saving Account (MSA) model shall be considered as contributing elements in ensuring sustainability of government subsidy in health care facility and enhancing the sources of government fund to cope with the future health care cost. The aim of this paper is to assess the efficiency of MSA in reducing the healthcare cost by reviewing the rational of few countries which experimenting the MSA. The analyzed results reveals that the MSA model is intended to reduce demand for health services by making individuals financially responsible for their pattern of consumption. MSA theory encourages individuals to spend money more responsibly, especially once they become more educated about the actual price of health services. Furthermore, MSA can be used as tax advantaged vehicles to save for health care expenses in retirement. MSAs intends to address some of the main inefficiencies such as moral hazard, escalating costs, adverse selection, and gaps in medical coverage. Initial schemes showed a decline in total health expenditure.


Laboratory nuclear effects testing allows the study of reentry vehicle response to simulated exoatmospheric x-ray encounters. Light-initiated explosive produces the nearly simultaneous impulse loading of a structure by using a spray painted coating of explosive which is detonated by an intense flash of light. A lateral impulse test on a full scale reentry vehicle is described which demonstrates that the light-initiated explosive technique can be extended to the lateral loading of very large systems involving load discontinuities. This experiment required the development of a diagnostic method for verifying the applied impulse, and development of a large light source for simultaneously initiating the explosive over the surface of the vehicle. Acceptable comparison between measured strain response and code predictions is obtained. The structural capability and internal response of a vehicle subjected to an x-ray environment was determined from a light-initiated explosive test.


Antiplatelet therapy is a cornerstone of cardiovascular medicine. Aspirin and clopidogrel have emerged as critical therapies in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Despite their efficacy, patients on these medications continue to suffer complications. Millions of patients are currently on low-dose antiplatelet therapy but it is unknown how many of these patients are under-treated or on the wrong medication. Aspirin and clopidogrel resistance are emerging clinical entities with potentially severe consequences such as recurrent myocardial infarction, stroke, or death. The mechanism of resistance remains incompletely defined, but there are specific clinical, cellular, and genetic factors that influence therapeutic failure. These factors range from physicians who fail to prescribe these medications despite appropriate indications to polymorphisms of platelet membrane glycoproteins. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of antiplatelet resistance also remains an issue as new bedside tests are developed. By understanding the mechanism of therapeutic failure and by improving the diagnosis of this clinical entity, a new era of individualized antiplatelet therapy may arise with routine measurements of platelet activity in the same way that cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar are followed, thus improving the care for millions of people.


This study aims at identifying behavior differences of Australian tourists and domestic tourists who visit Lombok island, and determining as well as analyzing the Hofstede cultural variables (power distance, individualistic-collectivist, uncertainty avoidance, masculine-feminine, long-term orientation) that may explain the differences in behavioral intention (to have activities, to interact, and to transact) of Australian and domestic tourists. This study was conducted on 160 Australian and domestic tourists who were visiting the island. Sampling was done by convenience sampling. Methods of data analysis were conducted by using t-test and discriminant analysis. The results of this study showed that there are differences in behavioral intentions of Australian travelers and the domestic ones in having activities, interacting, and transacting, and these differences can be explained by the cultural background of the tourists that are based on cultural orientation at the individual level. This study extends the use of CVSCALE and may be considered as an addition to the use of secondary data in determining the value of culture, as well as providing clearer framework on the limits of the relationship of cultural values and the various tourist behaviors. Keywords: Individualist-Collectivists, Longterm orientation, Masculine-feminine, Power distance, Tourist behavior, Uncertainty avoidance


We present for the first time the outcomes of a cosmological N-body simulation that simultaneously implements a Warm Dark Matter (WDM) particle candidate and a modified gravitational interaction in the form of $f(R)$ gravity, and compare its results with the individual effects of these two independent extensions of the standard $\Lambda $CDM scenario, and with the reference cosmology itself. We consider a rather extreme value of the WDM particle mass ($m_{\rm WDM}=0.4$ keV) and a single realisation of $f(R)$ gravity with $|\bar{f}_{R0}|=10^{-5}$, and we investigate the impact of these models and of their combination on a wide range of cosmological observables with the aim to identify possible observational degeneracies. In particular, we focus on the large-scale matter distribution, as well as on the statistical and structural properties of collapsed halos and cosmic voids. Differently from the case of combining $f(R)$ gravity with massive neutrinos -- previously investigated in Baldi et al. (2014) -- we find that most of the considered observables do not show any significant degeneracy due to the fact that WDM and $f(R)$ gravity are characterised by individual observational footprints with a very different functional dependence on cosmic scales and halo masses. In particular, this is the case for the nonlinear matter power spectrum in real space, for the halo and sub-halo mass functions, for the halo density profiles and for the concentration-mass relation. However, other observables -- like e.g. the halo bias -- do show some level of degeneracy between the two models, while a very strong degeneracy is observed for the nonlinear matter power spectrum in redshift space, for the density profiles of small cosmic voids -- with radius below $\approx 5$ Mpc$/h$ -- and for the voids abundance as a function of the void core density.


Summary Previously we have found occasional patients with delayed hypersensitivity to latex (in rubber gloves) in the absence of allergy to any chemicals in the rubber chemical screen. There are many reports of contact urticaria to latex and isolated reports of delayed hypersensitivity to latex, usually in the presence of contact urticaria. To establish if latex rubber is a more common cause of delayed hypersensitivity than is currently recognized, we patch tested all patients attending our contact dermatitis clinic, over a 6‐month period, with latex. Of 822 patients, 16 (1.9%) demonstrated positive cutaneous reactions to latex. Six exhibited contact urticaria to latex, five contact urticaria and allergic contact dermatitis, and five allergic contact dermatitis alone. Of the five with delayed hypersensitivity to latex in the absence of contact urticaria, only one was atopic and the sensitivity was thought to be relevant or possibly relevant in four. Of our patients, 1.2% exhibited positive patch‐test reactions to latex. Patch testing with latex should be considered where contact dermatitis to a latex rubber‐containing product is suspected, e.g. gloves and footwear.


Estimates for population statistics can be seriously biased if response rates are low and the response to a survey is selective. Methods like poststratification or propensity score weighting are often employed in order to adjust for bias due to nonresponse. One problem which many adjustment methods have in common is that of which of the available auxiliary variables to use. In the case of poststratification it must be decided what strata are defined. In the case of propensity score weighting adjustment cells must be formed that have comparable response probabilities. In this article we propose a selection strategy of weighting variables. The strategy simultaneously accounts for the relation with response behaviour and the relation with the important survey questions. The selection strategy aims at the minimisation of the absolute bias under the assumption that the slope parameter in the linear regression estimator is approximately preserved. The selection strategy is applied to the Integrated Survey on Household Living Conditions (POLS) 1998.


One of the medical manuscripts recovered from Tomb No. 3 at Mawangdui (dated 186 b.c.e.) states that, "When a person is born there are two things that need not to be learned: the first is to breathe and the second is to eat." Of course it is true that all healthy newborn human beings possess the reflexes to breathe and eat. Yet, the implications of death should have been just as obvious to the ancient Chinese. Once the human brain ceases to function, there is no longer a biological need for oxygen and nourishment. Nevertheless, a large number of people in late pre-imperial and early imperial China insisted on burying food and drink with the dead. Most modern commentators take the deposition of food and drink as burial goods to be a rather trite phenomenon that warrants little reflection. To their minds both kinds of deposits were either intended to sustain the spirit of the deceased in the hereafter or simply a sacrifice to the spirit of the deceased. Yet, a closer look at the archaeological evidence suggests otherwise. By tracking the exact location of food and drink containers in late pre-imperial and early imperial tombs and by comprehensively analyzing inscriptions on such vessels in addition to finds of actual food, the article demonstrates that reality was more complicated than this simple either/or dichotomy. Some tombs indicate that the idea of continued sustenance coincided with occasional sacrifices. Moreover, this article will introduce evidence of a third kind of sacrifice that, so far, has gone unnoticed by scholarship. Such data confirms that sacrifices to spirits other than the one of the deceased sometimes were also part of funerary rituals. By paying close attention to food and drink as burial goods the article will put forth a more nuanced understanding of early Chinese burial practices and associated notions of the afterlife.


Serum and ascites protein concentration and ascites cell concentration alterations were determined serially during diuresis in 27 patients with uncomplicated liver disease. The total protein concentration in ascites increased from 1.38 ± 0.96 gm% to 2.86 ± 1.28 gm% (p < 0.001); the serum protein concentration from 6.26 ± 0.81 gm% to 7.24 ± 0.93 gm% (p < 0.001), and the ascites to serum ratio of the total protein concentration from 0.21 ± 0.13 to 0.38 ± 0.14 (p < 0.001). The white blood cell (WBC) concentration in ascites increased from 289 ± 179 cells per mm3 to 1,108 ± 924 cells per mm3 (p < 0.001). Despite the increase in WBC concentration, the polymorphonuclear cell concentration remained constant (42 ± 52 cells per mm3 to 68 ± 96 cells per mm3). Protein concentration of the ascitic fluid greater than 3.0 gm% was demonstrated in 12 patients before completion of diuresis and ascitic fluid WBC concentration was greater than 750 cells per mm3 in 17 patients. Ten of 27 patients eventually developed ascites which had a combination of more than 3.0 gm% total protein concentration and greater than 750 cells per mm3. Ascitic fluid protein and WBC concentrations are not "fixed" at a low level in chronic liver disease since each rose during diuresis. Thus, the interpretation of these parameters must be made with caution in patients following significant diuresis.


Measurements of car-to-car (C2C) radio channels with 60 MHz bandwidth at 5.3 GHz have been performed in Helsinki, Finland. We focused on 30x30 multiple-input multiple- output (MIMO) measurements, conducted in four environments (urban, sub-urban, campus and highway), under quasi-realistic traffic conditions. As first results, we present in this paper the delay spread statistics for each investigated environment. The largest values of root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread, roughly 2 mus, were obtained in the urban environment. The narrowband channel fading statistics have also been derived using composite distributions, in order to assess the global fading statistics.


It is talked about the technical explanation and the theoretical foundations of the obstetrical peridural anesthesiologica. 250 births done under peridural segmental anaesthesie are compared with a control group by means of clinical dates. It was found out that this method doesn't correspond in some details to the classic de-mands of the obstetrical mitigation. Nevertheless it seems to be without any danger and effective under appropriate conditions.


BACKGROUND
Non-adhesive liquid embolic agents are increasingly gaining importance in the embolization of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). We investigated the use of poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) as a non-adhesive embolic agent in swine rete mirabile.

METHODS
The PNIPAM hydrogel was mixed with iohexol and embolization was performed in swine rete mirabile in 30 animals. The microcatheter was examined after embolization. Follow-up angiography was performed for embolic efficacy after embolization. Embolized retia were examined histopathologically, and the alterations of inside rete and surrounding tissue were observed.

RESULTS
The copolymer hydrogel was used for rete embolization in 30 swine, 28 swine survived the procedure, 2 swine died, 1 swine died of cerebrum infarction and the other died of embolic agent reflux into the occipital artery. The inside wall of the microcatheter was smooth, without copolymer adhering to it. Follow-up angiography was performed in 22 swine, there was no rete recanalization in 20 swine and partial rete recanalization in 2 swine because of the trunk embolization of ascending pharyngeal arteries. Histopathologically, the copolymer was found diffused into vessels of 100 - 150 microm in diameter. In acute group, neutrophils scattered surrounding the copolymer and endothelial integrity was observed, without endothelial denuding and necrosis. In subacute and chronic groups, the copolymer was found inside retia, a few mononuclear cells and eosinocytes scattered inside and surrounding it. The muscular layer was loosened with most muscular nuclei degraded.

CONCLUSION
Experimental rete embolization with PNIPAM, made radiopaque with iohexol, is technically feasible in swine. Because of its properties, PNIPAM has great potential as a therapeutic non-adhesive embolic agent.


The effect of chronic renal failure (CRF) on the pattern of plasma free amino acid concentrations was studied in 22 healthy controls (group 1); 43 CRF patients of which serum creatinine levels were 2-4.9 mg/dl (group 2, n = 11), 5-10 mg/dl (group 3, n = 10), more than 10 mg/dl (group 4, n = 9), and chronically hemodialysed patients (group 5, n = 13). In all renal failure groups, plasma concentrations of eight free essential amino acids-isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine and those of three non-essential amino acids-alanine, glutamate and serine were significantly lower than those in controls. Plasma concentrations of free arginine, cystine, glutamate and serine were significantly higher in CRF patients. Patterns of change of plasma aminogram were similar among CRF patients regardless of the stages of renal function or dialytic treatment. Stepwise changes of some plasma free amino acids were observed as renal function became worse. The molar ratios of plasma free valine/glycine, serine/glycine and tyrosine/phenylalanine were decreased accordingly. Our study confirms the presence of abnormal plasma aminogram, specifically that of essential amino acids, in CRF. Therapeutic intervention is warranted but still needs further investigations.


Montmorillonite pillared with Fe-Ni-Al was synthesized by ion exchange method and used as heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) degradation of azo dye Acid Orange II (OII). The catalyst was characterized by BET, XRD and FT-IR. The effects of the initial pH, the concentration of H2O2 and the reaction temperature on the rate of decolorization were investigated in detail. In addition, the reaction kinetics for the decolorization process was also investigated. The catalytic reaction results showed that at a reaction temperature of 333 K, pH=3.0 and 24 mM H2O2, 97.9% decolorization of OII was achieved after 60 min treatment. Furthermore, kinetic analyses based on the experimental data elucidated that the decolorization process followed a first order exponential decay kinetics model. The activation energy was determined to be 25.2 kJ/mol.


The study evaluated the use and determinants of households' adoption of biomass improved cook stove in Nigeria. Enugu was chosen for the study. Structured questionnaire were used to collect the required data. Using a multi stage sampling techniques, a total of 160 households were selected. Findings reveal that majority (23.12%) of the  household heads were within the age range of 31-40 years, 68.10% were married and 56.90% were female, while 86% attended school, 61% had other occupations other than farming, 59% had 0-10 years farming experience and 85% had monthly income of between N 1000 to N 50,000. About 68% of the households use one form of locally fabricated improved cook stove or the other. The different kinds of improved cook stove used are iron bucket stove (33.03%), saw dust stove (39.45%), U shaped mud stove (17.43%), jiko and mirt stove (10.09%). The study found age, gender, educational level, household size and income to be statistically significant as determinants of adoption of ICS. Some of the problems inhibiting the adoption of modern improved cook stove are lack of availability, lack of awareness and high cost. We recommend that stoves should be made available and affordable.


: Virtual sales agents (VSA) on e-commerce and online retail Web sites, representing animated embodiments that respond to users through verbal and non-verbal communication, most often serve a search support function by presenting product and service information, or a basic decision support function. Recent researches have demonstrated the persona effect of VSA, that is the integration of social cues (i.e., cues based on humanlike sales agents) into retail Web sites may heighten the perception of employee presence and feeling of being served, which thus enhance consumers' online shopping experiences. Theories related with the persona effect of virtual sales agent hold different points. The persona effect of VSA could be influenced by the VSA's characteristics, consumer factors and product factors. Its mechanism includes social presence, sense of personalization, perceived social support, trust and perceived risk. On this basis, we point out the future research direction.


A double mould-board-type plough was introduced to a first planting site in 1959. Planting in the furrow of the sod turned proved to be more successful than planting on the side. The lodgepole pine planted on this Old Red Sandstone site was not greatly affected by the increase in weed competition. The plough consisted of the usual long tyne, 15'' to 20'', to which were attached two wings. The rippers were used to determine the extent of the fracture in the ORS hardpan and to observe the conditions for planting. Removal of Calluna and furze was done by rotary slasher and by burning, the latter being less obstructive to the ripper. Drainage is not considerably increased by the ripping and no drying-out of the up-turned soil occurs with this method. It is possible, as a result of ripping, to dig between the fractures with a spade. This would indicate that thorough and complete breakage of the pan and aeration of the soil has taken place allowing free movement of moisture and roots through the fractured medium without exposing the soil to the elements...


ABSTRACT

The images in advertisements have the power to shape one's perception, specifically the way one looks at the world. While the images of women portrayed in most advertisements in the American and European context are often seen as a creation of artificiality that establishes an impossible standard of physical perfection for most women, the question of whether such a state of affairs exists in the Asian context and the underlying reasons for such a state remains in ambiguity. This paper seeks to shed some light in this dark area of the scholarship and contribute its findings to the body of knowledge as it aims to provide an in-depth investigation on how women are portrayed in Malay advertisements and the implications that may be perceived by its viewers, with a concentration on the area of artificiality. Several distinguished famous advertisements featuring women found in Malay magazines that are distributed worldwide were analyzed using a qualitative thematic analysis. The findings of the study indicates that women in Malay advertisements were being portrayed: (i) in an ideal yet artificial state of perfect facial beauty, (ii) passive and as a precious belonging to men, (iii) young with the characteristics of intelligence, cheer and beauty, (iv) being absolutely slim in all conditions, and (v) having high confidence even in their worst periods of the month. The rationales in the elucidation of the observed phenomenon and the subsequent theoretical and managerial implications were also presented in the paper.
Keywords: Advertising, Artificiality, Malay, Portrayal, Women


Abstract This article examines the economic influence activities (EIAs) of firms. We argue that firms invest in jobs and establishments in districts of congressional committee members that have oversight over their businesses and industries. This investment increases as legislators' power rises in Congress. Our theory makes three predictions. First, EIAs by firms will be higher in congressional districts where the legislators have substantial political influence over the firm, relative to districts where legislators have little influence over the firm. Second, EIAs will increase with the legislators' power on the focal committee. Third, when a legislator exits the committee, EIAs will diminish, but previous investments in the district will remain. We test these predictions by analyzing the Trinet census of establishments, mapped into the committee structure of the US Congress, by tracking the investment and employment of firms in each industry in each congressional district over time. Using fixed-effects models, we show the predictions of the theory find substantial support in the US Senate but not the House. We explore causality by using exogenous exits of politicians by death and scandals to further complement our analysis, and discuss why EIAs may be less likely to occur and detect in the House.


Passiflora genus, Passifloraceae family, has more than 500 species and 120 of them are native species of Brazil. All species produce fruits that are used as food, medicine and decoration. Floral buttons of five species were collected and fixed in a mixture of ethanol and acetic acid (3:1). The slides were prepared by squashing and staining with 1% propionic carmine. Results showed that during microsporogenesis there were few irregularities, mostly frequently related to chromosome irregular segregation as: precocious migration to poles in metaphase I and II, non-oriented bivalent chromosomes at metaphase I and II, and laggard chromosomes in anaphase I and II, forming micronuclei in telophases I and II and tetrad with microcyte. Another observed irregularity is related to the organization of spindle fibers in meiosis II as they organize themselves in T and V shapes and in sequential spindle. However, in the V-shaped spindle configuration, there was fusion between two nuclei that were close, forming triads instead of tetrads. Irregular chromosome segregation, abnormal spindles and irregularities in the cytokinesis process were responsible for the formation of monads, dyads, triads and polyads. However, the pollen grain viability was not harmed, presenting an 83.98% to 98.59% fertility variation.


Incorporating the modal and zonal estimation approaches into a unifying scheme, we introduce an improved three-dimensional shape reconstruction version of specular surfaces based on phase measuring deflectometry in this paper. The modal estimation is first implemented to derive the coarse height information of the measured surface as initial iteration values. Then the real shape can be recovered utilizing a modified zonal wavefront reconstruction algorithm to simultaneously achieve consistently high accuracy and dramatically rapid convergence. Moreover, the iterative process based on an advanced successive over-relaxation technique shows a consistent rejection of measurement errors, guaranteeing the stability and robustness in practical applications. The reconstruction results of numerical examples of the sphere, hyperbolic, and arbitrary surfaces, as well as an experimentally measured sphere mirror demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed improved method. In the simulations, the proposed method increases the rate of convergence by fourfold compared with the existing zonal approach and realizes three orders of magnitude improvement in reconstruction accuracy compared with the modal technique when handling the sample points of 401×401  pixels of a sphere surface. Furthermore, the computation time decreases approximately 74.92% in contrast to the zonal estimation, and the surface error is about 6.68 μm with reconstruction points of 391×529  pixels of an experimentally measured sphere mirror. In general, this new method can be conducted with fast convergence speed and high accuracy, providing an efficient, stable, and real-time approach for shape reconstruction in practical situations.


Multiple mAb to human C-reactive protein (CRP) were prepared which reacted preferentially with either native CRP, modified CRP (expressing "neo-CRP" determinants) or both forms of the molecule. These mAb were divided into four groups according to their binding characteristics to various CRP preparations and CRP peptides by using a combination of ELISA, dot blot, and Western blot assays; they were further characterized based upon their reactivity with CRP in the presence of calcium and inhibition by phosphorylcholine. The first group consisted of mAb that reacted only with native CRP, and served to define four distinct native CRP epitopes. The second group consisted of mAb that reacted with native CRP and also with CRP modified by direct immobilization on polystyrene plates, urea-chelation or SDS treatment in the absence of calcium, thus identifying a fifth native CRP epitope; these mAb displayed significantly greater reactivity with native than with modified CRP. The third group included mAb that reacted only with modified CRP and with the larger amino-terminal fragment (residues 1-146) of pronase-cleaved CRP. The fourth group included mAb that reacted only with modified CRP and with the smaller carboxyl-terminal fragment (residues 147-206) of pronase-cleaved CRP; most of these antibodies also reacted with the carboxyl-terminal octapeptide (residues 199-206) of CRP. These experiments have identified mAb that react preferentially with distinct conformational and sequence-determined epitopes of native and modified forms of the CRP molecule, respectively; provide partial identification of the epitopes with which they interact; point to the presence of at least five epitopes on native CRP and at least three epitopes on modified CRP; and provide antibodies suitable for identification and quantitation of native and modified forms of CRP. The mAb directed against neo-CRP epitopes may help identify the presence of this pentraxin and antigenically-related proteins at previously unappreciated sites.


For many years the treatment of lateral curvature has been considered a muscular problem to be met by muscular therapeutics, that is, by gymnastics. Although this treatment has been on the whole successful when properly carried out in the functional and milder structural types of the affection, it has been on the whole distinctly unsuccessful in the treatment of the moderate and severe types of scoliosis. The reason for this is that the treatment of the severer types of the affection is a bone and not a muscle problem, and must be carried out by means of sound surgical principles addressed to the reshaping of distorted bone. The treatment to be advocated in the present paper is based on these principles, and the results of the treatment are shown as carried out for three years in the lateral curvature clinic of the Children's Hospital. Boston. There are two varieties of


Vitamin D is a steroid hormone classically involved in the calcium metabolism and bone homeostasis. Recently, new and interesting aspects of vitamin D metabolism has been elucidated, namely the special role of the skin, the metabolic control of liver hydroxylase CYP2R1, the specificity of 1α-hydroxylase in different tissues and cell types and the genomic, non-genomic and epigenomic effects of vitamin D receptor, which will be addressed in the present review. Moreover, in the last decades, several extraskeletal effects which can be attributed to vitamin D have been shown. These beneficial effects will be here summarized, focusing on the immune system and cardiovascular system.


Leaf spot disease of Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) occurred at the farmer``s vinly house in Gangseo-gu, Busan Metropolitan City, Korea, 2006. The diseased plants with typical symptom were collected and the casual agent were isolated. Its mycological characteristics and pathogenicity were examined. The results were as follows. The typical symptoms of the disease appeared as small brownish or dark brown spot on both sides of the leaves. The spots tended to develop from lower leaves. The spots gradually enlarged into conspicuous necrotic lesions 1-5 mm in diameter. Colonies of the causal fungus formed on potato dextrose agar were velvety, gray or grayish brown in color. Conidia were cylindrical or obclavate to oblong in shape, brown in color, 24~65 × 12~23 μm in size and had 1-4 transverse septa, The optimum temperature for growth of the fungus was about 25~30oC. Conidiophores were brown in color, 32~135 × 4~8 μm in size and had 1-7 transverse septa. The fungus was identified as Stemphylium lycopersici (Enjoji) Yamamoto based on its symptom and mycological characteristics. This is the first report of leaf spot of Kalanchoe caused by S. lycopersici in Korea.


In line with global trends, community policing has been a vehicle for transforming the state police in Kenya. This article analyses various community policing efforts in Kenya and argues that many of these initiatives have largely failed to act as a vehicle for transformation due to three interconnected problems of diversity, representation, and ownership. The first problem—diversity—relates to the multiplicity of definitions, manifestations, and practices of community policing, which creates uncertainty and provides space for various actors to engage with it in conflicting ways. The second problem—representation—concerns the identification and creation of the 'community': this remains to occur in a state-driven manner and is also not a straightforward concept or organizational unit, especially in a highly multi-ethnic and classed setting as Kenya. The third is ownership: community policing is not experienced or exercised as a partnership, but as a state-centric framework that should remain under the direction and ownership of the state police. We make our claim by focusing on Likoni, Mombasa and drawing from further qualitative data conducted by both authors in Kenya.


Background: Recently, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has widely spread over China, and might cause respiratory failure with high mortality. This study reports the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 with respiratory failure in the terminal stage.

Methods: It was retrospectively analyzed for the clinical information of 77 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure in the terminal stage at Tongji Hospital, Wuhan, China, from January 28 to February 26, 2020.

Findings: For the 77 patients with confirmed COVID-19, their median age was 70.0 years old (IQR 62.0-78.0), and an approximately 2.2:1.0 male-to-female ratio was found. The common comorbidity was diabetes (41 [53.2%]), hypertension (38 [49.4%]). Lymphocytopenia (0.5×109/L [IQR 0.4-0.7]) at admission was observed in all patients and continued to reduce in the terminal stage. Notably, the number of platelets generally remained normal when admission but showed rapid decrease (49.0×109/L [IQR 28.0-81.0]) at the terminal stage. Other laboratory results revealed elevated levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein, ferritin, and cytokines IL-2R, IL-6, IL-10 and TNFα. Patients accompanied by diabetes had lower levels of albumin (29.1 g/L vs. 31.1 g/L), and higher levels of LDH (597.0 U/L vs. 475.0 U/L) and Hypersensitive cardiac troponin (88.6 U/L vs. 22.0 U/L). All patients received antibiotic and antiviral therapy while 75 (97.4%) patients received glucocorticoids. Furthermore, 62 patients (80.5%) received invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Unfortunately, no significant difference was observed between IMV group and non-IMV group (P=0.802).

Interpretation: COVID-19 patients accompanied by diabetes, and with laboratory characteristics of lymphocytopenia and thrombocytopenia, elevated concentration of plasma cytokines IL-2R, IL6, IL-10 and TNFα, other factors (CRP, LDH and ferritin) were associated with disease severity. For these patients, however, IMV could not significantly improved the prognosis. It's important for timely treatments to reverse the progression to respiratory failure.

Funding Statement: This work was funded by the National Science Foundation of China (No.81500082).

Declaration of Interest: All authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics Approval Statement: Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Institutional Review Board Approval TJ-IRB20200316


Recent studies have revealed that adult stem cells such as bone marrow-derived cells contribute to lung tissue regeneration and protection, and thus administration of exogenous stem/progenitor cells may be a potent next-generation therapy for COPD. Pathogenesis of COPD is characterized by an upregulation of inflammatory processes leading to irreversible events such as apoptosis of epithelial cells, proteolysis of the terminal air-space and lung extracellular matrix components. The available pharmacological treatments are essentially symptomatic, therefore, there is a need to develop more effective therapeutic strategies. It has been previously demonstrated that transplanted MSC home to the lung in response to lung injury and adopt phenotypes of alveolar epithelial cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts and bronchial epithelial cells. However, engraftment and differentiation are now felt to be rare occurrences and other mechanisms might be involved and play a more important role. Importantly, MSCs protect lung tissue through suppression of proinflammatory cytokines, and through triggering production of reparative growth factors. Accordingly, it is not clear if and how these cells will be able to repair, to slow or to prevent the disease. This article reviews recent advances in regenerative medicine in COPD and highlights that their potential application although promising and very attractive, are still a far away opinion.


Two studies were designed to test the validity of the Mental Readiness Form (MRF; Murphy, Greenspan, Jowdy, and Tammen, 1989) with collegiate athletes. In Study 1, male and female athletes completed the CSAI-2 and the original or a modified MRF within 60 minutes prior to competition. In Study 2, subjects completed two forms of the MRF with slightly different anchor terms, the CSAI-2, trait anxiety measures, and a social desirability scale. Overall, results indicated moderate to strong correlations between corresponding CSAI-2 subscales and MRF items, supporting its concurrent validity. The intercorrelations among MRF items were high, but were similar to the intercorrelations among CSAI-2 subscales. Correlations with trait anxiety also supported the concurrent validity of the MRF. None of the MRF scales or the CSAI-2 were significantly correlated with social desirability. The preliminary analyses in these studies provide initial support for the MRF as a measure of competitive anxiety when expediency is an ...


We derive exact mathematical expressions for both the amplitude and phase evolution of optical waves due to linear and nonlinear interactions in a waveguide device and propose a section-wise-exact coupled-mode theory analysis for quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic generation in the waveguide. Section-wise-exact coupled-mode theory is readily applicable to nonuniform quasi-phase-matched gratings and can be useful as a quantitative method in their analysis and design. Using the method, several numerical results are presented for second-harmonic generation in periodically poled LiNbO/sub 3/ channel waveguides. In addition, we introduce a split-step method which takes propagation losses into account and which can include linear and two-photon absorption and waveguide losses.


In this paper, we explore statistical versus computational trade-off to address a basic question in the application of a distributed algorithm: what is the minimal computational cost in obtaining statistical optimality? In smoothing spline setup, we observe a phase transition phenomenon for the number of deployed machines that ends up being a simple proxy for computing cost. Specifically, a sharp upper bound for the number of machines is established: when the number is below this bound, statistical optimality (in terms of nonparametric estimation or testing) is achievable; otherwise, statistical optimality becomes impossible. These sharp bounds partly capture intrinsic computational limits of the distributed algorithm considered in this paper, and turn out to be fully determined by the smoothness of the regression function. As a side remark, we argue that sample splitting may be viewed as an alternative form of regularization, playing a similar role as smoothing parameter.


Inherited retinal disorders (IRD) are a common cause of severe visual impairment among children and young adults in Denmark. Gene therapy with voretigene neparvovec for a specific, and in Denmark common, cause of IRD (RPE65-related retinal dystrophy) was implemented as standard clinical practice in 2020 as the first of its kind. Twelve Danish patients have been treated with very positive outcomes. Genetically based therapies for other genetic causes of IRD are underway in clinical trials and are expected to change the outlooks for patients who would otherwise become blind early in life.


In this article, I draw on the work of feminist and critical political geographers to demonstrate what a feminist geopolitics can offer Middle East studies. I cite scholarship of feminist and critical geographers situated within and outside the region to address three key themes: "refuge," "belief," and "peace." In each theme, I use the "body" as a starting point to convene a justice-oriented methodology of studying and knowing the Middle East. A major objective and contribution of feminist geopolitics to geography has been to recenter political inquiry from the state to the fleshy matter of the body. A "corporeal geopolitics" understands that all bodies have geopolitical agency, that all bodies are vulnerable—albeit differentially—to politics, and that all bodies are connected within and formative of shared economic, social, and political processes across space. Here, I chart ways that a feminist geopolitical analytic focused on "bodies" can contribute to a more complex understanding of the Middle East, one that operates through specificity, accountability, and care.


The List Hadwiger Conjecture asserts that every Kt-minor-free graph is t-choosable. We disprove this conjecture by constructing a K3t+2-minor-free graph that is not 4tchoosable for every integer t ≥ 1.


An interspecific hybrid resulting from the crossing of elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) x pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Brown) has been developed. This hybrid, however, revealed low phenotypic uniformity and low production of pure seeds. Through recurrent selection, two improved populations were obtained (genotypes Corte and Pastoreio). The aim of this study was assessing seed quality of the three hybrids (genotypes Corte, Pastoreio and Paraiso) by tests of: seed purity; seed germination; accelerated aging test, at 42 oC; 1,000 seeds weight; drying curves; and sorption and desorption isotherms. Recurrent selection altered the seed size and increased initial quality of population for genotype Pastoreio. Drying curves for the three hybrids have shown similar behavior and reached moisture contents of 2.1%, 1.9%, and 1.8%, respectively, after 63 days. The accelerated aging test showed that hybrid Pastoreio was the most vigorous.


A novel high-speed directly modulated two-section distributed-feedback (TS-DFB) semiconductor laser based on the detuned-loading effect is proposed and simulated. A grating structure is designed by the reconstruction-equivalent-chirp (REC) technique. A π phase shift is introduced into the reflection grating, which can provide a narrow-band reflection region with a sharp falling slope on both sides of the reflection spectrum, thus enhancing the detuned-loading effect. Owing to its unique dual-falling-edges structure, the bandwidth can be improved even when the lasing wavelength shifts beyond the left falling edge due to a thermal effect in the actual test, in which condition the detuned-loading effect can be used twice, which greatly improves the yield. The modulation bandwidth is increased from 17.5 GHz for a single DFB laser to around 24 GHz when the lasing wavelength is located on the left falling edge of the TS-DFB laser based on the detuned-loading effect, and it can be increased to 22 GHz for the right side. An eight-channel laser array with precise wavelength spacing is investigated, with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) >36 dB. In addition, TS-DFB lasers with uniform reflection gratings are studied, and simulated results show that the modulation characteristic is far inferior to the laser with a phase-shifted grating reflector.