Citation: Leire Urbina Moreno; In situ assembly of bacterial cellulose/graphene oxide spherical hydrogels for their application as nanocarriers; Biopolymers 2020; May 04-05, 2020; Vienna, Austria. Future Scope for Biopolymers and Bioplastics; May 04-05, 2020; Vienna, Austria. Abstract: Nowadays, biomedical research and technology is focused on the development of new materials with specific properties. One of the most important aspects in the development of new forms of medication is focused on the design and application of controlled drug dosing systems and localized management systems for the activity of a particular drug. The current trend in such applications is the use of natural polymers such as chitosan, alginate or cellulose. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biopolymer synthesized by some bacterial strains which displays unique properties i.e. high crystallinity and purity degree, excellent mechanical performance, porosity and high swelling capacity attributed to the 3D nanofibrillar network structure formed during the biosynthesis process. Due to this last feature, BC can be considered a hydrogel. Depending on the cultivation technique used, BC can be obtained in different morphologies with variable properties. In dynamic cultures spherical particles can be obtained. BC obtained in dynamic cultivation presents a more disordered structure, higher porosity and higher water holding capacity. Moreover, to enhance and extend its applications in biomedicine and pharmacology, BC is normally modified to tailor its properties. Hydrogels presented different swelling capacity, and semiconductive behavior, which could open new possibilities for the development of electro-stimulated systems. Additionally, in order to evaluate the possible application of these hydrogels as nanocarriers for controlled drug release, the loading and release in simulated intestinal fluid of ibuprofen has been carried out.


Heavily carbon-doped p-type GaAs epitaxial layers have been grown on (100), (711)A, (411)A, (411)B, (111)A and (111)B semi-insulating (SI) GaAs substrates simultaneously, by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE) using elemental As ( As4) and trimethylgallium (TMG) for the first time. It was found that the hole concentration depends strongly on the substrate orientation. The highest hole concentration, which was measured by Hall measurement, was obtained in the layer grown on (411)A substrate at a growth temperature of 385°C. By X-ray rocking curve analysis, it was also revealed that the largest lattice mismatch of Δd/d=-0.48% due to heavy doping of carbon occurred on the sample grown on (411)A substrate. The hole concentration determined by Hall measurement was in good agreement with the carbon concentration determined by X-ray rocking curve analysis.


K18 is an anticancer drug for oral administration comprising about five molecules of melphalan, an alkylating drug, covalently bonded to human immunoglobulin G. This study measured the in vitro antitumour activity of K18, melphalan and immunoglobulin G on human myeloma cells (RPMI-8226) and the in vivo antitumour effects of K18 and melphalan in BALB/c nude mice bearing human lung cancer cells (LC-10). The relative tumour-inhibitory effect, in vitro, was found to be: immunoglobulin G <K18 <melphalan. This activity of K18 was about half the theoretical value indicating that melphalan molecules are not released easily from the conjugate. K18 showed strong antitumour activity in vivo which continued after stopping administration. On the other hand, the effects of melphalan did not continue after administration was stopped. The distribution of [125I]K18 and [14C]melphalan was examined in BALB/c nude mice 14 days after implantation of LC-10 cells. Radioactivity levels in the major organs showed a transient rapid increase followed by a gradual decline. In tumours, [14C]melphalan levels increased transiently and then decreased, whereas [125I]K18 levels persisted following intravenous administration.


This  study  aims  to  determine the  performance  evaluation PAI clumps  in  the  planning, implementation and evaluation of  learning in  the  State  Islamic  Elementary School  (MIN)  Tanjung Beringin District  Kaur.  These  types  of research, including research evaluation, data  collection method in this research is to use the  techniques of observation, interviews, questionnaires and  documentation. The  conclusion of this paper that  the  teacher performance MIN 2 Tanjung Beringin clumps  of PAI in the  planning of the  learning process  quite  well. Planning is used  in learning is always made  at the  beginning of the  semester.  However, there are weaknesses in the  preparation of the  plan,  namely the  lack of planning time is written  in the plan,  structuring the learning background, development of instructional media  and  learning resources are  not  well planned. 2 MIN teacher performance Tanjung Beringin clump  PAI has been  good  and  in accordance  with the  regulations, both  in  the  open  class, delivering  course  material, using  teaching methods, using  instructional media, classroom  management and  lesson  closes. 2 MIN teacher performance Tanjung Beringin clump  PAI is good  enough to evaluate  conformity with the  provisions.  Planned evaluation conducted by the  teacher MIN 2 Tanjung Beringin already accommodated in  the  lesson  plan,  so already  scheduled. But for  the  evaluation that  is impromptu, its implementation depends on  the  purpose of the  material being  taught


Introduction: The internet has revolutionized the information age. There has been growing concern regarding internet addiction, despite its benefits. Personality trait such as neuroticism has been linked with internet addiction. Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of internet addiction and its association with personality traits among college students. Methods: College students age 18-24 who were doing an attachment in a government hospital were recruited into the study. Internet addiction was assessed using the internet addiction test (IAT), whilst personality traits by using the cross cultural Malay language 40-item Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionnaire (ZKPQ-M-40-CC) Results: The prevalence of internet addiction was 31.8%, with moderate and severe use of internet at 30.7% and 1.1%, respectively. Based on multiple logistic regression analysis, the impulsive sensation seeking and neuroticism-anxiety traits were found to be significantly associated with internet addiction. Conclusions: The prevalence of internet addiction is comparable to other studies conducted in Malaysia. Personality traits impulsive sensation seeking and neuroticism-anxiety emerged as significant associated factors with internet addiction. Further study to understand the role of personality traits in the development of internet addiction is recommended.


The electrostatic and radiation damage incurred during plasma processing is studied using MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) capacitors with various sizes of surface metal pad attached to the gate electrode as charge collectors. Oxides grown in a wet ambient show a sharper breakdown distribution and a higher resistance to plasma damage than oxides grown in a dry ambient. Residual trapped holes near the polysilicon-gate/SiO/sub 2/ interface, which cause anomalous leakage currents in negative gate IV characteristics, may be an indication of the latent damage from electrostatic charging. These trapped charges are believed to arise from hole tunneling during plasma exposure due to electrostatic induced positive bias on the gate electrode. Breakdown characteristics are significantly degraded when electrons are injected from the polysilicon gate as opposed to injection from the silicon substrate. The most prominent effect of the electrostatic damage during plasma processing is the degradation in breakdown voltages of defective oxide.<<ETX>>


The correct identification of forensically important arthropods for post‐mortem interval estimation is crucial, as the rate of larval development can vary substantially between species. The identification of forensically important blowflies of the genus Chrysomya (Diptera: Calliphoridae) may be hampered by their close morphological similarities, especially as immatures. The aim of this study was to establish whether genetically closely related blowfly species would share similar developmental profiles. This could permit the application of developmental data to a number of closely related species, including those for which thermodevelopmental studies are lacking. If Australian Chrysomya were found to share developmental profiles, identification of the blowfly specimen to a level beyond genus may not be necessary, or at least it may not be necessary to distinguish morphologically similar sister species. The three Chrysomya species studied were collected from the same geographical location (Cairns, Australia), reducing the effects of acclimation and population‐level genetic variation. The experimental conditions in this study were virtually identical, which enabled direct comparisons to be made among the species. Blowfly larval lengths were obtained for 24‐hourly intervals at constant temperatures of 25, 30, and 35 °C. The thermal preferences of newly‐hatched feeding larvae were determined by their positions on a temperature gradient apparatus. This study established that all three species investigated differed significantly in their developmental profiles, despite the genetic closeness of the sister species Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) and Chrysomya saffranea (Bigot). Because of this, genetic distance was not considered to be a useful factor for predicting thermodevelopment profiles of closely related species within a genus, and highlights the necessity for correct species identification.


A choledochal cyst involving the cystic duct (type 6) is a rare disease. Dilatation of the common bile duct along with the involvement of cystic duct is extremely rare and only a few cases have been reported until now. A 38-year-old woman was evaluated for complaints of pain in the upper abdomen. On initial imaging with ultrasonography (USG) and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), she was diagnosed to have a type 1a choledochal cyst. Intraoperatively we found that it was not a simple cystic dilatation of the common bile duct (CBD) alone but the cystic duct was also dilated. Simple cholecystectomy with excision of the cyst and reconstruction with a Roux en Y hepaticojejunostomy was performed. The patient is doing well after six months of follow up. This type of choledochal cyst (CDC) with combined dilatation of cystic duct and CBD has not been defined in the Todani classification. Two studies published until now have given their own extension of the Todani classification as either type 1D or 6B. Our another case where a 23-year-old female with similar complaints was diagnosed with an isolated cystic duct dilatation (type 6A); here, we did a simple laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Thus, we need to know that these distinct type of choledochal cyst exists and has to be added to the classification. It is also important to classify type 6 into two types A and B as their management differs.


ABSTRACT We recovered two isolates (EP1 and EP2) of Escherichia coli from the same patient that had identical pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns but required different MICs of ciprofloxacin (CIP): 16 and 256 mg/liter for EP1 and EP2, respectively. Both isolates had mutations in the quinolone resistance-determining regions of GyrA (Ser83Leu and Asp87Tyr) and ParC (Ser80Ile), but not in those regions of GyrB or ParE. Isolate EP2 was also more resistant to chloramphenicol, tetracyclines, cefuroxime, and organic solvents. A deletion of adenine (A) 1821 was found in marR of isolate EP2, which resulted in an 18-amino-acid C-terminal deletion in the MarR protein. The causative relationship between ΔA1821 and the Mar phenotype was demonstrated both by the replacement of the wild-typemarR by marR ΔA1821 in isolate EP1 and by complementation with the wild-type marR intrans in isolate EP2. In isolate EP2 complemented with wild-type marR, susceptibility to chloramphenicol was restored completely, whereas susceptibility to CIP was restored only incompletely. Northern blotting demonstrated increased expression ofmarA and acrAB but not of soxS in isolate EP2 compared to EP1. In conclusion, the deletion of A1821 inmarR in the clinical isolate EP2 caused an increase in the MICs of CIP and unrelated antibiotics. Presumably, the C-terminal part of MarR is necessary for proper repressor function.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors responsible for teacher's voluntary turnover in Public Secondary Schools in Kuresoi Sub County. The objectives of the study were; to investigate the extent to which employee related factors influence teacher turnover; to analyze the extent to which remuneration influence teacher turnover and to establish the extent to which working environment influence teacher turnover in Kuresoi Sub-County. The study employed a descriptive survey design and targeted all teachers in Public Secondary Schools in the Sub-County who total 227 serving in 43 schools. The schools were classified into four strata based on administrative divisions. Simple random sampling was employed to get sample schools and respondents for the study. Data was collected using questionnaire containing close ended questions and was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS) version 20.The correlation results revealed that remuneration (r=.435, P=0.000, a=0.01), working environment (r=.406, P=0.000, a=0.01) and employee related factors (r=399, P=0.000, a=0.01) were positively correlated with voluntary teachers turnover respectively. Regression analysis results showed that remuneration (β=.264 and p=.006), employee related factors (β =.197and p=0.040) and working environment (β =.177 and P=.075) were all significant. The study further found that all the independent variables; employee related factors, remuneration and working environment can explain the variation of teachers turnover by up to 25% when combined under multiple regression model. The study concludes that all the variables of the study were important factors influencing voluntary teachers' turnover and there was need to be addressed beginning from the main contributor which was in this case remuneration.The study therefore recommends that Kenya government through TSC to over better salary, mix of allowances and pension to teachers, employs more teachers, provide training and in-service, and improve infrastructure and fairness in promoting teachers.Study to be carried out in private secondary schools in the same sub-county.

Key Words: Voluntary Turnover, Working Environment, Remuneration, Job Satisfaction, Career Growth and Leadership


The graph topology plays a central role in characterizing the robustness of feedback systems. In particular, it provides necessary and sufficient conditions for the continuity properties of the transfer matrices of stabilized closed-loop systems. It is possible to derive stronger conclusions by confining our attention to a compact set of controllers. Specifically, if a family of plants is stabilized by each controller belonging to a compact set of controllers, then the closed-loop transfer matrix is uniformly continuous, and uniform a priori estimate of the performance can be given. However, at present a precise characterization of compactness in the graph topology is not available. That is the topic of the present paper. In general it appears difficult to give a necessary and sufficient condition for a set to be compact. Hence we give a necessary condition and a sufficient condition, and discuss the gap between the two. The necessary condition is standard, while the proof of the sufficient condition is based on two major theorems in analysis: Montel's theorem on normal families of analytic functions, and the corona theorem for coprimeness in H∞. Finally, it is shown how the notion of a compact set of controllers can be applied to the problem of approximate design and performance estimation for sampled-data control systems.


Despite the importance of clonality to understand the pathogenesis and progression of tumors, it has not been investigated yet in giant cell lesions of the jaws. The aim of this study was to analyze the clonality of peripheral giant cell lesions (PGCL) and central giant cell lesions (CGCL) of the jaws. Six samples of PGCL and 5 samples of CGCL were analyzed in this study using the polymorphic human androgen receptor locus (HUMARA) assay. Three out of the 5 samples of the CGCL and 3 out of 6 samples of PGCL exhibited a monoclonal pattern. Our findings demonstrate that some giant cell lesions of the jaws are clonal, which indicate that these lesions may have a common genetic mechanism of development. Further studies are necessary to better elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of such lesions.


Fish communities found in the marine, brackish, and freshwater shallows of the Clarence River (New South Wales, Australia) were sampled over a 12-mo period to compare communities inhabiting bare and vegetated substrata. A total of 26,107 fish representing 57 species and 36 families was collected biomonthly suing a 6-mm mesh siene. Permanent residents (i.e., species found throughout the year) were primarily gobies (Gobiidae) and gudgeons (Eleotridae). Juveniles of many species found as adults in other parts of the river were seasonally abundant in the shallows. Most numerous was a small ambassid, the glassy perchlet (Ambassis jacksoniensis), the majority of which was collected from marine and brackish regions of the river. Firetail gudgeons (Hypseleotris compressus) were caught in highest numbers at the freshwater sites. Cluster analysis suggested that fish communities in widely separated vegetated sites were more similar to each other than to those in adjacent bare sites. Shallow vegetated (Zostera capricorni) habitats in the marine region of the river had greatest diversity and highest abundances of fish, particularly during recruitment periods. At these times, juveniles of many commercially important species were captured, including yellowfin bream (Acanthopagrus australis), sea mullet (Mugil cephalus), flat-tail mullet (Liza agentea), tarwhine (Rhabdosargus sarba), luderick (Girella tricuspidata), silver biddy (Gerres subfasciatus), and sand whiting (Sillago ciliata). The vegetated (Vallisneria gigantea) sites in the brackish region also had significantly more species and individuals during recruitment periods (spring) than bare sites. Although freshwater vegetated sites consistently had more individuals than freshwater bare sites, there were no significant differences in species richness between vegetated and bare habitats. The need to conservatively manage shallow-water fish habitats is stressed. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A01BY073 00004


ABSTRACT Homonymous hemianopia is frequently associated with retrochiasmal lesions. Vascular etiology is the most common and usually evident on magnetic resonance imaging. When the results of neuroimaging are normal, there are other etiologies that we should consider, like nonketotic hyperglycemia (NKH). We report a 62-year-old female diabetic patient with headache, colour vision and sudden homonymous inferior quadrantanopia and elevated blood sugar levels with normal pH. The neuroimaging was normal and the visual lost improved after the correction of the hyperglycemia. NKH should be considered in patients with sudden and transient hemianopia and normal neuroimaging.


Photograph of attendees having a discussion at the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) materials during an event at Willis Library . From left to right, Roger Poindexter, Lamda Legal, Regional Director, South Central Regional Office; Dreanna Belden, and Deborah Leliaert.


In the last decade, UAVs have become a widely used technology. As they are used by both professionals and amateurs, there is a need to explore different control modalities to make control intuitive and easier, especially for new users. In this work, we compared the most widely used joystick control with a custom human pose control. We used human pose estimation and arm movements to send UAV commands in the same way that operators use their fingers to send joystick commands. Experiments were conducted in a simulation environment with first-person visual feedback. Participants had to traverse the same maze with joystick and human pose control. Participants' subjective experience was assessed using the raw NASA Task Load Index.


Context: The value and desirability of a positive doctor-patient relationship has traditionally been described using case histories and narratives, and less often with formal literature, art, movies, and theatre. To the detriment of this relationship some family physicians are facing pressure to engage in volume medicine, at the possible expense of personalized care. What patients appreciate in their care is at risk of being ignored. Objective: To understand what adult patients value in the clinical encounters with their family physicians. Design: In this research, still in progress, we have adopted an interpretive hermeneutics approach to examine a collection of over 140 cards and letters received by an academic family doctor in practice for 39 years. Participants: The patients or their family members who sent the aforementioned notes. Findings: Preliminary analysis suggests that correspondence is not spontaneous, but initiated at holidays (Christmas, New Years, Chanukah); life cycle events (birth, recovery from illness, death); and transitions (leaving the practice because of geographical re-location). Notes are commonly personalized through hand-written text written on behalf of oneself and/or ones family. Showing a wide variety of word selection they expresses appreciation for family physician care of oneself or a family member that was perceived as knowledgeable bio-medically, and experienced as available, authentic, supportive, professional, compassionate, offering hope, and sensitive to suffering. Conclusions: The writing of notes to ones doctors may serve many functions: catharsis, closure, and bearing witness to patients' appreciation of care in which Hippocratic and Asclepian traditions overlap and complement each other.


2,6-Dimethoxyphenol is a versatile substrate for Pyricularia oryzae laccase, PpoA from Marinomonas mediterranea, phenoxazinone synthase from Streptomyces antibioticus and mammalian ceruloplasmin. In addition, in cellular extracts of microorganisms expressing other blue multicopper proteins with no enzymatic activity previously described, such as Escherichia coli (copper resistance CueO), Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas campestris (copper resistance CopA), Bacillus subtilis (sporulation protein CotA) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (iron transporter Fet3p), laccase activity is detected under appropriate conditions. This oxidase activity can be spectrophotometrically followed by the oxidation of 2,6-dimethoxyphenol. Specific staining after SDS-PAGE is also possible for some of these proteins. This detection assay can facilitate the study of the multiple functions that such proteins seem to carry out in a variety of microorganisms.


We investigate the relationship between internal corporate governance and market performance across multiple countries, utilizing a comprehensive dataset comprising 77,440 firm observations from 15 European Union countries over the period 2002‐2018. Specifically, we examine the impact of board characteristics, including size, independence, gender diversity, CEO duality, and classified boards, on market performance. Our findings reveal that CEO duality is generally negatively related to returns, whereas independent directors and board diversity are positively related to market performance. We observe a positive association between staggered boards and market performance as well as Tobin's Q, aligning with the EU's emphasis on stakeholder investments. Upon analyzing the data at the country level, we identify that the links between board structure and performance vary by country, and there isn't a single variable that is consistently related to market returns or Tobin's Q. These divergent findings indicate that there is no universally applicable corporate governance solution that can be recommended for companies throughout Europe.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most prevalent immune-mediated arthritis and is categorized as a chronic, inflammatory and autoimmune disease, which mainly affects the cartilage, synovial joint, and bone, the causes of which remain unknown. There are different factors playing a role in RA pathophysiology on the molecular level, like Citrullination, Regulatory T cells, Monocytes, Macrophages, Platelet microparticles, and RASFs, which mainly induce inflammation by producing pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-8, IL-6, IL-1, and TNF. We have two types of cholinergic systems (CS) in our body, Neuronal CS, in which Acetylcholine (ACh) act as a neurotransmitter and NonNeuronal CS in which ACh act as a local signalling molecule for cellular proliferation and regulation of cellular function including the cells involved in RA inflammation. In light of the recent studies, the links between the CS and cells involved in RA molecular pathophysiology suggest new approaches for controlling RA, which will be discussed further. First, is the stimulation of the vagus nerve, which plays an essential role in the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway through its main neurotransmitter ACh resulting in downregulation of TNFα and inhibition of inflammation. The second strategy is stimulation of CAP by selective activation of α7nAChR, which is represented by different types of immune cells, such as T and B-lymphocytes, monocytes, dendritic cells, especially macrophages, and FLS through acetylcholine or its selective agonist resulting in decreased TNF production and reduced inflammation. As we discussed previously ACh is one of the necessary components for cellular proliferation especially in RASFs. Choline transporter-like proteins 1 and 2 are accountable for bringing extracellular choline inside the RASFs, which further will convert to ACh within the cell. Therefore, as the final strategy, we can induce apoptotic cell death in RASFs through preventing choline uptake by CTL1 and CTL2. Blocking of choline uptake through Choline transporter-like proteins 1 and 2, presents a novel target for RA treatment, but further in vivo studies are necessary to examine the role of these transporters as drug targets in RA.


Diffusion models have gained immense popularity in recent years due to their impressive ability to generate high-quality images. The opportunities that diffusion models provide are numerous, from text-to-image synthesis to image restoration and enhancement, as well as image compression and inpainting. However, expressing image style in words can be a challenging task, making it difficult for diffusion models to generate images with specific style without additional optimization techniques. In this paper, we present a novel method, Diffusion-Enhanced PatchMatch (DEPM), that leverages Stable Diffusion for style transfer without any finetuning or pretraining. DEPM captures high-level style features while preserving the fine-grained texture details of the original image. By enabling the transfer of arbitrary styles during inference, our approach makes the process more flexible and efficient. Moreover, its optimization-free nature makes it accessible to a wide range of users.


This paper summarizes the introductory presentation for a workshop (held Nov 18, 19 2013 at Brookhaven National Laboratory) that explored the challenges associated with making precision astronomical measurements using deeply depleted = ``thick" =``high-ρ'' CCDs. While thick CCDs do provide definite advantages in terms of increased quantum efficiency at wavelengths 700 nm < λ < 1.1 μm and reduced fringing from atmospheric emission lines, these devices also exhibit undesirable features that pose a challenge to precision determination of the positions, fluxes, and shapes of astronomical objects, and for the precision extraction of features in astronomical spectra. For example, the assumptions of a perfectly rectilinear pixel grid and of an intensity-independent point spread function become increasingly invalid as we push to higher precision measurements. Many of the effects seen in these devices arise from lateral electrical fields within the detector, that produce charge transport anomalies that have been previously misinterpreted as quantum efficiency variations. Performing simplistic flat-fielding therefore introduces systematic errors in the image processing pipeline. One measurement challenge we face is devising a combination of calibration methods and algorithms that can distinguish genuine quantum efficiency variations from charge transport effects. These device imperfections also confront spectroscopic applications, such as line centroid determination for precision radial velocity studies. Given the scientific benefits of improving both the precision and accuracy of astronomical measurements, we need to identify, characterize, and overcome these various detector artifacts. In retrospect, many of the detector features first identified in thick CCDs also afflict measurements made with more traditional CCD detectors, albeit often at a reduced level since the photocharge is subject to the perturbing influence of lateral electric fields for a shorter time interval. I provide a qualitative overview of the physical effects we think are responsible for the observed device properties, and provide some perspective for the work that lies ahead. Finally, I take this opportunity to make a plea for establishing a clear and consistent vocabulary when describing these various detector features, and make some suggestions for a standard lexicon based on discussions at the workshop. A more refined understanding of the device imperfections we are working to circumvent lies ahead, and this workshop was convened to help us find our way.


We have developed a highly regioselective halothiolation of alkynes under simple and mild conditions. Our halothiolation reagents are readily available alkali metal halides and N-thiosuccinimides. Our transition metal-free system offers good chemical yields for a wide range of alkyne substrates with satisfactory regioselectivity and good functional group tolerance.


Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a devastating and under‐recognised global child health issue affecting over 300,000 infants annually, with the highest prevalence in India and sub‐Saharan Africa. Most affected infants born in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC) lack access to SCD testing and die from complications in the first years of life without a formal diagnosis. The majority of deaths are preventable with early diagnosis and provision of inexpensive interventions. Despite global recognition of the urgent need, expansion of SCD newborn screening (NBS) programmes beyond the pilot stage has been obstructed by a dependence on an expensive and logistically challenging centralised laboratory testing model. Recently, several point‐of‐care tests (POCT) for SCD have been developed with promising field validation studies. Here, we summarise the state of POCT for SCD, review barriers and unanswered questions, and discuss optimal strategies for utilising POCT to address the growing global burden of SCD. There is an urgent need to prospectively evaluate the ability of POCT to reduce the morbidity and high early mortality of SCD. To impact a sustainable reduction to this end, it is essential to link a diagnosis with comprehensive SCD care, including wide and affordable access to affordable hydroxycarbamide therapy.


Since hyperamylasemia with or without abdominal pain is a frequently encountered problem, serum isoamylase analysis in 52 patients was done to see if the organ source of the amylase would be helpful in a clinical setting. Four patterns of hyperamylasemia were found: 1) AMY1 (salivary) hyperamylasemia; 2) AMY2 (pancreatic) hyperamylasemia; 3) Both AMY1 and AMY2 amylase elevated; and 4) macroamylasemia. A variety of conditions other than pancreatitis were associated with hyperamylasemia, and some patients who were thought on clinical grounds to have pancreatitis had raised levels of AMY1 (salivary) amylase. This study suggests that hyperamylasemia alone is a poor indicator of pancreatic disease, and that isoamylase analysis will improve the accuracy with which amylase determinations are used.


Establishment of a patent and secured airway is a fundamental and central component of any resuscitation of an unstable patient. Without oxygenation and adequate ventilation, all effort or life-saving manoeuvre will fail. Endotracheal intubation is a live saving intervention in emergency with little room for error and must be performed in a limited time frame. Longer or repeated intubation attempts are associated with adverse clinical outcomes


This study is based on the analysis, interpretation and graphical representation of the wind data, during a period of 40 years for Constanta weather stations.


This study sought to explore the challenges faced by female pupils  studying sciences at high schools in Zimbabwe and the support they receive from their teachers. One hundred female pupils studying sciences at either Ordinary or Advanced level, and 10 science teachers from 10 selected secondary schools in one province in Zimbabwe, participated in the study. Questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data while qualitative data were analysed manually according to themes. We found that female pupils encounter various gender based challenges in the learning of science, such as labelling of science as 'masculine' and stereotypes related to the abilities of girls. At the same time, teachers' non-verbal actions, interaction, selection of pupils to study science,  allocation of responsibilities and expectations for pupils in the science class were biased against female pupils. Teachers are encouraged to create  conditions which may promote the involvement of girls in science, and not frighten them away from the subject. Keywords : Challenges, female pupils, learning science, science education, teacher support.


The Malaysian corporate environment has been shocked by corporate scandals and poor performance among government-related companies, such as 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH), Felda Global Ventures (FGV) and Khazanah Nasional Berhad (KHAZANAH). Despite having strong corporate governance and being strengthened through Malaysia Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG), unethical practices and a lack of transparency remain a problem among Malaysian companies. The purpose of this paper is to examine the level of disclosure of ethical practices among Malaysian public listed companies. Ethical practice disclosure is measured using the modified Ethical Commitment Index (ECI) with six themes derived from the literature; notably, corporate ethical values, action to promote ethics, whistle-blowing policy, code of ethics, sustainability practices, and ethics committee. Through content analysis of the annual reports of 1,115 companies and five years' observation (2012-2016), this study found there is a need to improve several aspects of ethical practice disclosure. The findings implied that companies supported the MCCG, with most of the companies complying with the recommendations of MCCG 2012 to uphold a high standard of ethical practice. However, supplementary practices, such as disciplinary action, programmes to support a code of ethics, whistle-blowers' protection, and establishing an ethics committee, are still weak. The findings indicate that the level of ethical practice disclosure among Malaysian public listed companies remains low and raises concern that requires action by regulators. This paper contributes by providing insights into the disclosure of ethical practice among Malaysian public companies.


With an increased focus on the utilization of green technologies and greater demands on the electric power grid, renewable energy is an important form of current and future power generation. With remote generation deployments, such as those based on wind energy, a cost-effective communication system with global coverage using satellite technology would be advantageous. The monitoring of remote generators for performance and maintenance issues is certainly necessary for any distributed-generation system. To offer a cost-effective satellite solution, a cost-optimization algorithm for minimizing data transmission while maximizing relevant telemetry data is required. This paper proposes a low-cost smart communications architecture using an Iridium Satellite System 9601 short-burst data transceiver and simple microcontroller technology. The microcontroller allows for simple optimization routines to be performed on the locally stored data. This proposed system was implemented and tested and recommendations are drawn on the usability of the developed communication system for monitoring a remote generation site.


The whole human genome microarray on normal MCF10A, N-Ras-transformed, non-invasive MCF10A and H-Ras-transformed invasive MCF10A human breast epithelial cells revealed that the granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) was most highly upregulated in an H-Ras-specific manner. The present study investigated whether G-CSF plays a causative role for H-Ras-mediated MCF10A cell invasion and migration. Importantly, siRNA-mediated knockdown of G-CSF expression significantly reduced H-Ras-induced matrix metalloproteinase(MMP)-2 expression as well as invasion/migration. Activations of Rac1, MKK3/6 and p38 MAPK were inhibited by siRNA-knockdown of G-CSF. The induction of G-CSF expression conferred the invasive/migratory phenotype to parental MCF10A cells. Expression of MMP-2 and activation of signaling molecules Rac1, MKK3/6 and p38 MAPK were increased by G-CSF induction. Taken together, this study revealed G-CSF gene as a candidate marker for metastatic potential of breast epithelial cells. Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5196.


Only a few corticosteroids for topical use have been proven safe and effective in pediatric populations down to 3 months of age. The authors examined the systemic safety (adrenal suppression potential) of topically applied hydrocortisone butyrate 0.1% cream (proprietary lipid rich cream vehicle) in the treatment of moderate to severe atopic dermatitis in pediatric patients aged 3 months to 6 years and 12 years to 18 years. An open-label hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis suppression study was conducted wherein the sole treatment was 0.1% proprietary lipid rich cream vehicle. A total of 65 patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis and body surface area involvement of at least 25% were included in the treatment phase of the study based on the requirement that these patients had normal baseline cortisol and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system function. All signs and symptoms of atopic dermatitis showed progressive improvement beginning with day 8 through the day 29 evaluation. Pruritus showed the greatest improvement, with a decrease in grade of 1.3 at day 8, and continued to show improvement at day 29, with a decrease of 1.8 from baseline. The percent body surface area affected at baseline averaged 40.5%, and it decreased significantly to a mean of 6.5% at day 29. Only 5 (8%) of the 63 patients showed laboratory evidence of adrenal suppression at the end of the treatment evaluation. None of these ever demonstrated any clinical signs or symptoms of adrenal suppression. This study adds hydrocortisone butyrate 0.1% cream, to the short list of corticosteroids that have been proven effective and safe by the cosyntropin suppression test in children 3 months and older with widespread atopic dermatitis.


We performed large eddy simulations (LES) of the turbulent natural convection of an electrically conductive fluid (water with 7% Na2SO4 electrolyte solution) in a moderate (4:4:1) aspect ratio enclosure heated from below and cooled from above and subjected to external nonuniformly distributed electromagnetic fields. Different configurations with permanent magnets (located under the lower thermally active wall, B_{0}=1T ) and different strengths of imposed dc electric currents ( I=0-10A ) were compared to the case of pure thermal convection in the turbulent regime, Ra=10;{7} , Pr=7 . It is demonstrated that the electromagnetic forcing of the boundary layers caused significant reorganization of flow and turbulence structures producing significant enhancement of the wall-heat transfer (up to 188% for a configuration with 35 magnets and an applied dc current of 10A ).


An adaptive fuzzy neural networks (FNN) output feedback control approach is proposed for a class of multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) pure-feedback nonlinear systems with unknown backlash-like hysteresis and immeasurable states. The state observers are designed to estimate the unmeasured states, the filtered signals are introduced to circumvent algebraic loop problem encountered in the implementation of the controller, and an adaptive compensation technique are used to solve the problem of unknown backlash-like hysteresis, respectively. Based on the designed state observers, and combining the backstepping and dynamic surface control (DSC) techniques, an adaptive FNN output feedback backstepping control approach is developed. The proposed method not only overcomes the problem of "explosion of complexity" inherent in the backstepping control design but also guarantees that all the signals of the closed-loop system are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded (SUUB) and the tracking errors converge to a small neighborhood of the origin.


Development of a Pulse Modulator for Active Flow Control in Turbomachinery. (May 2010) Shalom Johnson, B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Othon Rediniotis In today's highly maneuverable jet aircraft designs, aircraft are required to have a propulsion system that can operate during sudden accelerations and rapid changes in angle-of-attack. Consequently, the compressor of the jet engine occasionally must operate at low-flow rates and rapid changes in inlet conditions. The high angleof-attack and low-flow regime of compressor operation is often plagued by rotating stall and surge. Rotating stall and surge can result in loss of engine performance, rapid heating of the blades, and severe mechanical stresses. Traditional methods for suppressing rotating stall and surge only partially protect against rotating stall or reduce compressor efficiency. The objective of this research is to design a stall suppression system that will introduce oscillatory blowing into one of the rotor blade (stall suppression blade). This oscillatory blowing method has been tested on a wing section in a wind tunnel and has shown to increase the stall angle-of-attack by several degrees. This increase in stall angle-of-attack will eliminate stall cells as they form in the compressor. The goal of this research is to design a single stage axial compressor that will incorporate the new oscillatory blowing stall suppression system; moreover, this research will design, build, and test a scaled down version of this suppression system.


The optical vortex beam has widely been studied and used because of its unique orbital angular momentum (OAM). To generate and control OAM in compact and integrated systems, many metallic metasurface devices have been proposed, however, most of them suffer from the low efficiency. Here, we propose and experimentally verify a high-efficiency monolayer metallic metasurface composed of semicircular nano-grooves distributed with detour phase. The metasurface can generate single or an array of OAM with spin-sensitive modulation and achieve the maximum efficiency of 60.2% in theory and 30.44% in experiment. This work has great potential in compact OAM detection and communication systems.


This paper reports on the numerical simulation of conjugate heat transfer from multiple electronic module packages (45 × 45 × 2.4 mm) on a printed circuit board placed in a duct. The dimensions of the modules are the same as a single module package previously studied. In the series arrangement, two module packages are installed on the center of the printed circuit board along the airflow direction. In the parallel arrangement, two and/or four module packages are installed normal to the airflow direction. In the numerical simulations, the interval between the module packages was varied and three values were considered (45, 22.5 and 9 mm). The variation of the printed circuit board thermal conductivity was also considered and 0.3, 3 and 20 W/m/K were used with the mean velocity in the duct also at three different values (0.33, 0.67 and 1 m/s). In order to derive a non-dimensional correlation from the numerical results, the concept of the effective heat transfer area previously used for a single module package was used for the multiple module packages. For the series arrangement, the effects of the interval on the effective heat transfer area are relatively low, and the numerical results can be summarized with the same correlation obtained from the single module package. On the other hand, the effective heat transfer area for the parallel arrangement is strongly affected by the parallel interval and the thermal conductivity of printed circuit board. When the interval increases, the temperature of the module packages greatly reduces as the thermal conductivity of the printed circuit board increases.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


We review the recent theoretical developments explaining the evolution of age‐schedules of reproduction in animals with indeterminate growth. Indeterminate growth, i.e. growth that continues past maturation and may continue until the end of life, is characteristic for a large number of invertebrate taxa (e.g. clams, cladocerans and crayfish) and 'lower' vertebrate taxa (e.g. fish, amphibians, lizards and snakes). Many plants also exhibit indeterminate growth, and we liberally include studies focused on plants when they can be interpreted in terms of animal life histories. We focus on different measures used to determine the fittest life histories, on indeterminate growth as a problem of resource allocation and on the effects of environment to the evolution of the resource allocation schemes.


Health seeking behaviour is a complex issue. Studies have shown that what determines choice of care are dependent on factors such as distance to health units, cost of getting treatment and the quality of services provided. Despite these barriers to seeking health care, illness - related factors such as the degree of severity or the nature of disease and how it disrupts the performance of social functions play a contributing role alongside socio economic status of people (Rosenthal, G.E. Shannon, S.E.1997; McPake and Mills, 2000; Bannesman, Offei, Acquah, & Tweboa, 2002, and Anderson, Camacho, & Balkrishnna, R. 2007).Quality of service delivery is one of the most important contributors to the use of health care, it is not surprising therefore that no agreement exists as to how to measure or define quality of service. There is no one universally acceptable method of defining and measuring quality of service delivery in hospitals. Existing literature have shown that quality of service delivery is multi-dimensional in nature. In defining and measuring quality service delivery, most researchers have used structure - process outcome parameters from the perspective of patients, service providers and management of health institutions (Doylar, & Haran 2000; Aldane, Piechhulek, & Al-Sabir 2001).Assessment of quality service delivery studies usually measure just one of the three types of outcomes: Medical outcomes, Patients satisfaction of cost of treatment and patient satisfaction of service delivery. With the passing of time, researchers have realized that measuring just one aspect of patients' satisfaction is not adequate as an indicator to bring about improvement in quality of service delivery (Sixmal, Spreeurenberg, & Vandar Pasch, 1998; Bleich, Ozatin, & Murray, 2009 and Peltzer, 2009).Patients' satisfaction refers to the extent to which the patients perceive that their needs and expectations are met by those who provide health services. This involves that the best health outcomes are given, and available resources are consistent with patients' values and preferences. Patients' satisfaction evaluation measures health gains and what really happens to patients who come to the hospital unlike clinical measure that measures the rate of infection and cure rate achieved (Campbell, Roland, & Buetew, 2005 and Fawole, Okunola, & Adekunle, 2008).In the evaluation of quality care delivery, variation exists between developed and developing countries in terms of facilities, service delivery, patients/staff relationship and waiting time for treatment. Despite the difference that may exist in the evaluation of quality service delivery, patients all over the world are increasingly concerned about their health and are demanding for improved service delivery (Mendoza, Piechulek, & Al-Sabir 2001). The assessment of quality of service delivery in public hospitals had traditionally been based on cure. Some aspects of care such as interpersonal dynamics which involve: Patients' satisfaction, patients /staff relationship, quality service delivery and waiting time for treatment are often ignored. Quality service delivery has been a recent issue in Nigerian public hospitals (Woodward, 2000; Uzochukwu, Onwuekwe, & Akpala, 2004 and Birhanu, Assete, Woldie, & Morankar, 2010).As government health policies continue to gear towards better health for the teeming population in Nigeria, there is no doubt that more people will utilize public health services. As more people become aware of health matters, it becomes imperative that there would be demand for better quality services by them. If satisfaction with structures, processes and outcomes of care are important elements of quality service delivery in the health sector, then the manner in which services are rendered should be viewed from the lens of patients' perception of service delivery (Balthusen, Haddad, & Sanerbiar, 2002; Guy, 2002 and Airede, 2003). …


Physicians practicing in US hospitals are often overusing and misusing antibiotics, according to this month's "Vital Signs" report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).1

Inappropriate use of antibiotics exposes patients to adverse effects and promotes the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains, said CDC director Tom Frieden in a telephone press conference.

"The bottom line is that we have to protect patients by protecting antibiotics. The drugs we have today are endangered. And any new drugs we get could be lost just as quickly if we don't improve the way we prescribe and use them," Frieden said.

The CDC uses the monthly "Vital Signs" report, published on the first Tuesday of every month, to highlight issues the agency considers of critical public …


Purpose - This paper analyzes the responsiveness of different ownership forms to changing business environment by drawing on Turkish experience. Design/methodology/approach - This study is conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the paper uses Malmquist index theory, to estimate the total factor productivity change, technological change, efficiency change, pure efficiency change and scale efficiency change indexes for the Turkish banks. In the second stage, utilizing the generalized least regression format, it examines the significance of the productivity differences between different ownership forms after controlling for size and changes in the macro-economy. Findings - Under the "traditional banking definition," productivity growth during the period was 1.2 percent for state banks, 3.9 percent for private banks and 14.2 percent for foreign banks. Under the "non-traditional banking definition," the productivity gain over the period was 2.9 percent for state banks, 9.5 percent for private banks and 17.0 percent for foreign banks. Research limitations/implications - The future research can extend the data set and may include more explanatory factors to characterize the bank forms that record the fastest productivity growth. Practical implications - Private ownership appears to be more adaptive to new environment. Foreign banks can be used as a policy instrument to induce efficiency and productivity improvements in local banking industries. Liberalization of markets through competition boosts economic performance. Originality/value - In analyzing impacts of reforms, the significance of inter-temporal change should be tested to better guide regulators, investors and managers.


The Chilean health authorities have implemented a sanitary strategy known as dynamic quarantine or strategic quarantine to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Under this system, lockdowns were established, lifted, or prolonged according to the weekly health authorities' assessment of municipalities' epidemiological situation. The public announcements about the confinement situation of municipalities country-wide are made typically on Tuesdays or Wednesdays before noon, have received extensive media coverage, and generated sharp stock market fluctuations. Municipalities are the smallest administrative division in Chile, with each city broken down typically into several municipalities. We analyze social media behavior in response to the confinement situation of the population at the municipal level. The dynamic quarantine scheme offers a unique opportunity for our analysis, given that municipalities display a high degree of heterogeneity, both in size and in the socioeconomic status of their population. We exploit the variability over time in municipalities' confinement situations, resulting from the dynamic quarantine strategy, and the cross-sectional variability in their socioeconomic characteristics to evaluate the impact of these characteristics on social sentiment. Using event study and panel data methods, we find that proxies for social sentiment based on Twitter queries are negatively related (more pessimistic) to increases in the number of confined people, but with a statistically significant effect concentrated on people from the wealthiest cohorts of the population. For indicators of social sentiment based on Google Trends, we found that search intensity during the periods surrounding government announcements is positively related to increases in the total number of confined people. Still, this effect does not seem to be dependent on the segments of the population affected by the quarantine. Furthermore, we show that the observed heterogeneity in sentiment mirrors heterogeneity in stock market reactions to government announcements. We provide evidence that the observed stock market behavior around quarantine announcements can be explained by the number of people from the wealthiest segments of the population entering or exiting lockdown.


Abstract Objective: Two disease-modifying therapies are licensed in the EU for use in rapidly-evolving severe (RES) relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), fingolimod and natalizumab. Here a discrete event simulation (DES) model to analyze the cost-effectiveness of natalizumab and fingolimod in the RES population, from the perspective of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, is reported. Methods: A DES model was developed to track individual RES patients, based on Expanded Disability Status Scale scores. Individual patient characteristics were taken from the RES sub-groups of the pivotal trials for fingolimod. Utility data were in line with previous models. Published costs were inflated to NHS cost year 2015. Owing to the confidential patient access scheme (PAS) discount applied to fingolimod in the UK, a range of discount levels were applied to the fingolimod list price, to capture the likelihood of natalizumab being cost-effective in a real-world setting. Results: At the lower National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) threshold of £20,000/quality-adjusted life year (QALY), fingolimod only required a discount greater than 0.8% of list price to be cost-effective. At the upper threshold of £30,000/QALY employed by the NICE, fingolimod was cost-effective if the confidential discount is greater than 2.5%. Sensitivity analyses conducted using fingolimod list-price showed the model to be most sensitive to changes in the cost of each drug, particularly fingolimod. Conclusions: The DES model shows that only a modest discount to the UK fingolimod list-price is required to make fingolimod a more cost-effective option than natalizumab in RES RRMS.


Where is the campus edge? Is it becoming more defined or disappearing? When it comes to building student housing, the stakes for universities and colleges have never been higher. From competing for prospective students and environmental bragging rights to contesting for space on the typical campus, institutions face a fundamentally different landscape than they did when housing previous generations of students. A national sampling of student residential projects and housing data provide some indication of emerging trends. Universities and colleges will increasingly look to the campus edge (even in difficult environments), will challenge themselves to build sustainably (even where budgets are tight), and will partner or compete with private developers in a variety of contexts. These emerging trends are set against the already-established trend that finds students enjoying-and expecting-more luxurious accommodations than were once typical. Established Trends in Residential Life Gearing housing to student expectations for a comfortable and engaging environment is an established trend in residential life. From the Los Angeles Times to The Boston Globe, recent articles on deluxe student accommodations catalog the national scope of this trend (Schweitzer 2008; Spurrier 2007). A generation of students has become accustomed to colleges and universities competing for their enrollment with improved housing options (Schweitzer 2005). Students in My Backyard: Housing at the Campus Edge and Other Emerging Trends in Residential Development Where spartan facilities might once have been adequate, amenities now abound, particularly in new residence halls (see figure 1).The once-prototypical double room located off a double-loaded corridor with ganged bathrooms has given way to a suite or apartment with a private or semi-private bath. New residence halls typically offer a variety of common areas, including lounges, fitness centers, and coffee bars, to help students connect with one another. Of course, institutions not only compete among themselves to provide superior housing options, but also with private developers creating off-campus residences. Whether institutionally or privately developed, students expect to be enticed with supportive and enriching residential environments. In particular, breaking down anonymity by providing opportunities for social and academic engagement is especially important in large residential projects. Three new residential projects notable for their size demonstrate the stylistic range of architecture now employed by universities to meet these challenges. In Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan is constructing North Quad, a 450-bed residential and academic gateway to campus (figure 2). Incorporating the preserved facade of the Carnegie Library, the quad's traditional architecture Collegiate Gothic and Arts and Crafts styles. A 10-story residence hall is a key component of this living-learning complex, an environment created by the adjacency of residential common spaces and a central dining hall to media laboratories and language arts classrooms. The $175 million, 360,000-square-foot complex is projected to open in 2010. In 2005, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland opened the Village at 115, a seven-building apartment complex for 740 juniors and seniors. Overlooking new athletic fields, the brick neo-Georgian buildings are part of the new North Residential Village. Amenities include a fitness center, a convenience store, a coffee shop, music practice rooms, indoor bicycle storage, and garage parking. This project represents the initial phase of a 10-year program to replace all undergraduate housing on campus. At the other end of the design spectrum, new and renovated buildings featuring a modern assemblage of projecting bays and volumes respond to the University of California, Berkeley's urban setting (figure 3). This now pedestrian-friendly area is comprised of four new buildings fit between renovated dormitory towers originally constructed in the 1960s on two city blocks. …


Background It is well known that levels of IL-6 and its soluble receptor (IL-6Rs) correlate with the disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The C allele of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2228145 in the IL-6R gene drives, through an alternative splicing mRNA, to higher levels of soluble IL-6R. This soluble form of the receptor can amplifying the inflammatory response mediated by IL-6. Objectives To analyse whether the genotype of rs2228145 can impact the outcome of patients with early arthritis (EA). Methods We analysed data from 261 patients included in our EA registry with a two-year prospective follow-up. According to a scheduled protocol, sociodemographic variables (gender, age, smoking, education, etc.) along with rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA) were collected at baseline; clinical and laboratory variables (global patient's and physician's disease assessment, tender and swollen joint counts, HAQ disability questionnaire, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C reactive protein [CRP], dosage and type medications prescribed) were recorded at each visit. IL-6 levels were determined by an ultrasensitive ELISA kit (R & D Systems). The genotyping of rs2228145 in IL-6R gene was performed using specific Taqman probes (Applied Biosystems). To assess the effect of independent variables on the level of disease activity (remission to high activity) at the end of follow-up we developed an ordered logistic regression with the command ologit of Stata 10.1 for Windows (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). Results Of the 261 patients analysed, 75% were women, with a median [p25-p75] age at disease onset of 53.63 [42.79 to 66.43] years and an evolution time at the inclusion in the registry of 5.63 [3.6 -8.5] months. 46.3% of the patients were positive for RF and 43.02% for ACPA. The variables significantly associated with an increased level of disease activity were female gender (p=0.02), having age between 45-65 years compared to patients younger than 45 years (p<0.001) and high activity at the baseline visit (p=0.001). Moreover, EA patients that were homozygous for allele C (CC) in the SNP rs2228145 in IL-6R alpha chain, showed a higher DAS28 at 2 years (p=0.039) compared with patients homozygous for the ancestral allele (AA). Heterozygous patients (AC) displayed a trend, although not statistically significant, to maintain a high DAS28 (p=0.063) compared to patients homozygous for the ancestral allele (AA). Conclusions Conclusion: The presence of the C allele of rs2228145 in the IL-6R gene might be a biomarker of poor prognosis in patients with EA. However, our findings should be validated in other EA populations. This work was partially funded by the program RETICS, RD080075 (Riera), FIS 080754 of the Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII) and research support from Roche Pharmaceuticals (Unrestricted grant) Disclosure of Interest None Declared


BackgroundThe growth of the urban population exerts considerable pressure on municipalities' public managers to focus their attention on providing emergency medical care that meets the growing demand for emergency pre-hospital medical care. Currently, there are a significant number of traffic accidents and other serious occurrences, such as heart attacks, drownings, epidemics, fires and disasters (floods, landslides, earthquakes) that demand a prompt and seamless response from pre-hospital medical care. As a result of such scenario, the present article endeavours to apply a dual-coverage mathematical model (DSM-Double Standard Model) to define the optimal location of the Emergency Medical Service (SAMU) decentralized dispatch bases in Natal / RN and conduct a simulation study to evaluate the displacement of ambulances between such bases. Patients and methodsThe methodological course that was followed by this research constitute for 12 steps, so as to the location of decentralized bases for sending emergency ambulances was established using the DSM model and the simulation model was performed using the FlexSim software© version 2018 evaluating base coverage in relation to the total number of calls by demand points for different scenarios.ResultsThe results obtained throughout the research demonstrated the feasibility of redefining the decentralized bases of SAMU / Natal ambulances as a strategy to reduce response time and guarantee compliance with performance parameters established by international organizations (the World Health Organization, for instance, establishes the time of 8 minutes for emergency medical service calls response). The simulation study showed a significant reduction in response time, by up to 60% in some cases.ConclusionThe proposition of new locations for the decentralized dispatch bases of the SAMU/Natal can provide an overall significant reduction on the ambulance response time, so as to contributes to expedite the initiation of treatment of patients, if necessary, sent to hospitals.


Solutions to environmental problems associated with human endeavor are generally interconnected with many factors, including technological and economic constraints - often requiring a systems engineering approach. To create a culture for change in industry, students must begin to understand how to assess the tradeoffs among economic, technical, and environmental factors if they are to become socially, as well as fiscally, responsible designers and leaders. Because of their unique learning style and technology expertise, the ldquomillennial generationrdquo will bring significant learning and teaching challenges to the classroom. This project brings the growing concerns of environmental awareness and diverse learning styles together in an innovative learning model to educate future engineering leaders. This research will explore the extent to which students increase their understanding of complex tradeoffs among environmental, economic, and technological issues in the auto industry through repeated play of a collaborative cross disciplinary computer game.


Even though service discovery is one of the vital steps in Web service invocation, service requests are usually expressed by rather simple means. While syntax-based service descriptions are usually addressed using keyword-based queries, Semantic Web Services are queried using "perfect" service descriptions. Hence, a service requester is not able to control the outcome of the discovery process in-depth by specifying similarity ranges or to explicitly state which syntaxand semantic-based parts of a service description should be addressed. In this paper, we present an analysis of current approaches to service request formulation and identify requirements a query formalism for Semantic Web Services should fulfill. Furthermore, we give a brief preview on SWS2QL, a SPARQL-based query language for Semantic Web Services.


Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the dimensionality of an instrument developed by Lebcir et al. to measure the impact of teaching style, English language and communication skills and assessment methods on the academic performance of international business students in project management modules.

Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from two independent samples drawn from the United Arab Emirates (UAE); the first sample consisted of 581 undergraduate business students from a public higher education institution, while the second sample consisted of 188 undergraduate business students from a private higher education institution. Confirmatory factor and principal component analyses were employed; additionally, Cronbach's alpha was used to test the internal consistency of the instrument.

Findings
The results showed that for both samples, the validity of measurement of all three factors by Lebcir and colleagues instrument was not confirmed. Therefore, caution should be taken when using this instrument, at least in Arab settings.

Research limitations/implications
The present study has a number of limitations. The statistical techniques used in the present study might not be sufficient to judge the validity of Lebcir et al.'s (2008) instrument. For example, test-retest technique could be used to test the reliability of this instrument. This study has a number of implications, one of which is that those administrators who intend to use the recommendations of research works based on the three factors of Lebcir et al.'s (2008) instrument in Arab settings should be cautious, as such recommendations might be misleading in such settings.

Originality/value
The present study is the first attempt to validate Lebcir et al.'s instrument in an Arab setting.


Vascular disease is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Current surgical intervention and treatment options for vascular diseases have exhibited limited long-term success, emphasizing the need to develop advanced treatment paradigms for early detection and more effective treatment of dysfunctional cells in a specific blood vessel lesion. Advances in targeted nanoparticles mediating cargo delivery enables more robust prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of vascular disorders. In particular, nanotheranostics integrates diagnostic imaging and therapeutic function into a single agent, and is an emerging platform towards more effective and localized vascular treatment. This review article highlights recent advances and current challenges associated with the utilization of targeted nanoparticles for real-time diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases. Given recent developments, nanotheranostics offers great potential to serve as an effective platform for targeted, localized, and personalized vascular treatment.


Chitin is a biopolymer of N-acetyl glucosamine. Chitin's deacetylation produces chitosan which is a co-polymer of N-acetyl glucosamine and glucosamine. Chitosan shows better aqueous solubility compared to chitin and has found application in a wide variety of areas. Chitosan has attracted a lot of interest in the biomedical field as it is generally regarded as a biocompatible, biodegradable and versatile polymer. Chitosan has been used extensively in the field of drug and gene delivery. This is due to chitosan's physicochemical properties, and biofunctionality. In gene delivery it forms polyelectrolyte complexes (polyplexes) with nucleic acids which protects them from nuclease degradation. It has also been used to enhance drug, peptide and protein delivery across mucosal membranes due to its bioadhesive and permeation enhancing properties.


It is well known that magnons, which are elementary excitations in a magnetic material, behave as bosons when their density is low. We study how the bosonic character of magnons is governed by the amount of multipartite entanglement in the vacuum state on which magnons are excited. We show that if multipartite entanglement is strong, magnons cease to be bosons. We also consider some examples, such as ground states of the Heisenberg ferromagnet and the transverse Ising model, the condensation of magnons, the one-way quantum computer, and Kitaev's toric code. Our result provides insights into the quantum statistics of elementary excitations in these models, and into the reason why a nonlocal transformation, such as the Jordan-Wigner transformation, is necessary for some many-body systems.


Background Computerised clinical decision support systems can be defined as aiding tools that provide clinicians or patients with clinical knowledge and patient-related information, intelligently filtered or pre-set at appropriate times, to enhance patient care. Purpose To improve the currently used clinical decision support system (CDSS) by identifying and quantifying the benefits and limitations of the system. Materials and methods Alerts and handling of the clinical rules acted upon were extracted from the CDSS in the period September 2011 to December 2011. The data was analysed for the number of clinical rule alerts acted upon, percentage of relevant alerts and the reason why alerts were classified as non-relevant. Results The 4065 alerts were differentiated into: 1137 (28.0%) new alerts, 2797 (68.8%) repeating alerts and 131 (3.2%) double alerts. Of all these alerts, only 3.6% were considered relevant, i.e. when the pharmacist needed to contact the physician. The reasons why alerts were considered as non-relevant were; the dosage was correct or already adjusted, the drug had been (temporarily) stopped, the monitored laboratory value or drug dosage had already improved to within the reference range. The low efficiency of the current system can be related to three subjects; the algorithm construction, the CDSS executing the clinical rules and the data delivery to the CDSS. Conclusions The results of this study clearly show many points of improvement for the CDSS since only 3.6% of the alerts were considered relevant. We have defined three categories of importance for the efficiency when improving or developing a CDSS: algorithm differentiation, CDSS optimisation and data delivery. No conflict of interest.


Literature must serve the society by stepping into politics, and by intervention. To achieve these writers must not merely write to amuse or to take a bemused, critical look at the society role. Literature should be politically and socially committed. Any good story, novel or drama should have a message and a purpose. Moral decadence is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of our society. Bribery, corruption, fraud, embezzlement of public funds among others, is found in almost every sector of our society. It is seen from the politicians to the public servants, to the civil servants and also found among the youths. Owing to this, writers in Nigeria have taken upon themselves to address and expose the state of moral decadence in our society with the purpose of correcting and bringing about a change in the moral behaviors of the citizens of the country. Accepting that moral decay is a vice that has become part of our society may be a sure way of joining heads to fight this vice.
This study is particularly concerned with the theme of moral decadence in the emergent Nigerian drama and this will be realized by doing a critical study of two drama texts written by Emeka Nwabueze : A Parliament of Vultures and Esiaba Irobi's Hangmen Also Die. The secondary method of data collection was used. Other useful sources included magazines, journals, articles, libraries, postworks and internet. The literary theory used in this study is the Marxist theory. The goal of Marxism is to bring a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange. The theory is also built upon the socialist thinking which was produced in France Revolution and it inverted some of the early idea of economic and social benefits to the entire society.


v-Crk is a member of the family of adaptor-type signaling molecules that consist mostly of SH2 and SH3 domains. The cellular homologs of v-Crk includes CrkI, CrkII, and CrkL; these have been isolated from species ranging from lower vertebrates to man. Crk-family proteins are involved in a variety of signaling cascades such as those of growth factor receptor, integrin, T-cell receptor, B-cell antigen receptor, and cytokines. It has been postulated that the primary function of Crk is to recruit cytoplasmic proteins in the vicinity of tyrosine kinases through SH2-phosphotyrosine interaction. Thus, the output from Crk depends on the SH3-binding proteins, which include the C3G guanine nucleotide exchange protein for Rap1, Abl tyrosine kinase, DOCK180, and the Sos guanine nucleotide exchange protein for Ras. The variety of the Crk-binding proteins indicate the pleiotropic function of Crk.


BACKGROUND
Standardization of the dietetic care process allows for early identification of malnutrition and metabolic disorders, interdisciplinary collaboration among the medical team, and improved quality of patient care. Globally, dietitians are adopting a nutrition care model that integrates national regulations with professional scope of practice. Currently, Israel lacks a standardized dietetic care process and documentation terminology.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the utilization of a novel sectoral documentation system for nutrition care in Israel.

METHODS
Seventy dietitians working in 63 geriatric facilities completed an online training program presenting the proposed patient-sectoral-model. Training was followed by submission of sample case studies from clinical practice or completion of a case simulation. Application of the proposed model was assessed by measuring the frequency participants implemented different sections of the model and responses to an approval questionnaire.

RESULTS
Fifty-four participants (77%) provided completed cases. Over 80% of participants reported each step of the proposed dietary care process with 100% reporting the "nutrition diagnosis". Fifty-one dietitians (72.8%) completed the approval survey with the section on nutrition diagnosis receiving a highly favorable response (95%), indicating that the new documentation system was beneficial. Over 80% of participants rated the model useful in clinical practice.

CONCLUSIONS
A sectoral approach for documenting dietetic care may be the ideal model for dietitians working in specific patient populations with the potential for improving interdisciplinary collaboration in patient care.


Medicare's facility payment rates for an ambulatory surgical procedure differ among settings. These differences raise questions about how Medicare should pay for the same procedure in various settings. In exploring this issue, it is important to look at whether the type of patients treated varies by setting. The recent growth in specialty facilities offers another reason to analyze the mix of patients. This study compares the medical complexity of Medicare beneficiaries treated in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) and outpatient departments. Outpatient departments treat beneficiaries who are more medically complex, so ASCs might incur lower costs when providing similar procedures.


This project aims to assess usability and acceptance of a customized Epic-based flowsheet designed to streamline the complex workflows associated with care of patients with implanted Deep Brain Stimulators (DBS). DBS patient care workflows are markedly fragmented, requiring providers to switch between multiple disparate systems. This is the first attempt to systematically evaluate usability of a unified solution built as a flowsheet in Epic. Iterative development processes were applied, collecting formal feedback throughout. Evaluation consisted of cognitive walkthroughs, heuristic analysis, and 'think-aloud' technique. Participants completed 3 tasks and multiple questionnaires with Likert-like questions and long-form written feedback. Results demonstrate that the strengths of the flowsheet are its consistency, mapping, and affordance. System Usability Scale scores place this first version of the flowsheet above the 70th percentile with an 'above average' usability rating. Most importantly, a copious amount of actionable feedback was captured to inform the next iteration of this build.


Much of the available information on large-scale patterns of animal abundance is based on count surveys. The data provided by such surveys are often influenced by nuisance factors affecting the numbers of animals counted, but unrelated to population size. Temporal and spatial patterns in nuisance factors may exist, causing simple summaries of counts to give a misleading view of patterns in population size. We develop models for count data that allows the incorporation of such factors, and describe methods for estimating spatial patterns of relative abundance from counts. We carry out spatial analyses of North American Breeding Bird Survey data, in which observer ability is a nuisance parameter nested within sites. In light of evidence that new observers tend to count more birds than the observers they replace, we model observer ability as a random effect with mean depending on observer initiation year.


Rising from the keen request for promising materials to protect human health and environment and even responding to solar light, TiO2 was doped with cerium in our work and its antibacterial activity against bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was explored on artificial as well as natural daylight. Cerium doped TiO2 photocatalysts were prepared via sol-gel process controlled within the reverse micelles of nonionic surfactant Triton X-114 in cyclohexane and calcination. The textural, structural and optical properties of photocatalysts were characterized by several complementary investigation techniques such as nitrogen physisorption at 77 K, powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Standard microdilution test using the human pathogenic bacterial strain Staphylococcus aureus was used. Pure TiO2 and the samples with 20 and 30 mol.% of cerium content exhibited strong antibacterial activity after two days of exposure under artificial daylight simulated by proper lamp. The lowest value of achieved minimum inhibitory concentration was 0.041 μg/mL. Therefore, these materials may be promising for potential applications in disinfection media or modification of surfaces e.g. in human or veterinary medicine.


Cryobiopsy in interstitial lung disease: a real-life experience from a single center in Argentina. Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) has been recently introduced for the histological assessment of interstitial lung diseases. The objectives were to assess the diagnostic yield and safety of TBLC for interstitial lung diseases in our setting. A retrospective review of subjects who underwent TBLC in a tertiary care center from September 2016 to November 2019 was performed. Data regarding subject and procedure characteristics, complications, histopathological and multidisciplinary diagnosis was recorded. Logistic regression was used to analyze potential factors associated to diagnosis and complications. A total of 52 subjects were included. Mean number of samples was 5.7 (SD 1.7) with a median sample diameter of 6 mm (interquartile range 6-8). Pneumothorax developed in 13 (25%) participants, and no cases of severe bleeding or death were registered. A 73.1% and 84.5% diagnostic yield was recorded through histology and added multidisciplinary evaluation respectively. The number of samples was associated to the diagnostic yield in a multivariate analysis (OR 2.15 - CI95% 1.16- 3.99). TBLC appears to be safe and effective for the assessment of interstitial lung diseases in a real life setting when applied in a center with access to multidisciplinary evaluation.


Over-the-horizon radar exploits the refractive and multipath nature of high-frequency propagation through the ionosphere to achieve wide-area surveillance. The coordinate registration process converts the group delays and azimuths (i.e., slant coordinates) from a set of multipath target returns to an estimate of its location (i.e., ground coordinates). This is performed by associating the target returns with ray modes determined using a computational electromagnetic propagation model. Not surprisingly, errors in the estimates of down-range ionosphere parameters can seriously degrade the accuracy of the target location estimate. The coordinate registration method presented is designed to achieve improved accuracy by employing a statistical model for uncertainties in the ionosphere. Modeling down-range ionospheric parameters as random variables with known statistics facilitates maximum likelihood (ML) target location estimation, which is more robust to errors in the measured ionospheric conditions. The statistics of down-range ionospheric parameters can be determined using current and historical soundings of the ionosphere. ML target localization consists of determining the most likely target ground coordinates over an ensemble of ionospheric conditions consistent with the data. For greater computational efficiency, the likelihood function is approximated by a hidden Markov model (HMM) for the probability of a sequence of observed slant coordinates given a hypothesized target location. The parameters of the HMM are determined via Monte Carlo execution of a ray tracing propagation model for random realizations of the ionosphere. A simulation study performed using a random ionospheric model derived from ionogram measurements made at Wallops Island suggests that the ML method can potentially achieve average absolute miss distances as much as five times better than a conventional coordinate registration technique.


A preconditioned iterative method for solving frequency domain elastic wave equations is presented. Our method is based on Krylov type linear solvers. Its distinctive feature is the use of a right preconditioner, obtained as a solution of the damped elastic wave equations in a vertically heterogeneous medium. We represent the actual differential operator as a perturbation of the preconditioner. As a result, a matrix-by-vector product of the preconditioned system is effectively evaluated via the fast Fourier transform in horizontal direction(s) followed by the solution of a number of systems of ordinary differential equations in the vertical direction. To solve these equations we introduce a piecewise constant 1D background medium and search for the exact solution in the 1D medium as a superposition of upgoing and downgoing Pand Swaves. The method has excellent dispersion properties because it does not use any finite-difference approximation of derivatives and converges reasonably fast.


Obstacles to the widespread use of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) include the need for anticoagulation, customized solutions, and complex protocols that carry an attendant risk for error, raise cost, and increase pharmacy and nursing workload. However, high solute clearance using CRRT with an effluent rate of 35 ml/kg per h has also recently been associated with improved survival in critically ill patients with acute renal failure. No published CRRT protocols using dilute regional citrate anticoagulation have achieved adequate metabolic control, effective anticoagulation, and high solute clearance in a practical, user-friendly, and economical manner. The safety and the efficacy of continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration at effluent rates of 35 ml/kg per h in critically ill acute renal failure patients were evaluated prospectively using a standardized bicarbonate-based dialysate; a systemic calcium infusion; and two separate trisodium citrate replacement solutions, a 0.67% solution and a 0.5% solution. All patients achieved adequate metabolic control, the desired effluent rate of 35 ml/kg per h, and high solute clearance. Use of the 0.67% citrate replacement solution resulted in mild alkalosis, whereas the 0.5% solution maintained appropriate acid-base balance. There was no difference in dialyzer survival between the 0.67 and 0.5% citrate groups (80 versus 82%; P = 0.60, Kaplan-Meier analysis). Dilute regional citrate as part of a CRRT protocol with a standard 25-mmol/L bicarbonate dialysate provides adequate metabolic control, high diffusive and convective clearance, and excellent dialyzer patency in a practical and cost-effective manner.


ROBERT WANDERER (*) We all select bits to notice from the Out There, select related bits from the In Here, and combine them to form a Picture in Our Head that constitutes our version of reality. Along the way we reach certain conclusions about the Way Things Are and the Way Things Ought to Be. Now a problem arises if these conclusions conflict with each other. An excellent example of this is in the creation of legislative districts. One commonly-held principle is that districts should be compact and community-based. Another principle, widely-held by the political people who shape these districts, is to concentrate the opposition party into a few districts and to provide "our" party with slender but effective majorities in most districts. This is what is termed a gerrymander, named after Governor Gerry in Massachusetts in 1812, who created some districts shaped like a salamander to further his party's chances. Recently, a third widely-believed principle has emerged and complicated the situation: that minorities should be represented. But the minority may be spread over a wide area, making it difficult to create a district for them. The legislative cartographers of North Carolina, redistricting the state after the 1990 census, dreamed up the 12th Congressional District which meandered all across the state, from Charlotte in the south to Durham in the north, for much of its length with boundaries on both sides of a highway, and now and then veering off to take in a predominately African-American-populated neighborhood. Predictably, this redistricting was challenged, that court's decision was appealed, and sent up to the Supreme Court no less than four times. The original "snake" was found unconstitutional in 1996, and the state's 1997 revision was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2001, by a bare 5-4 majority, just in time for a new redistricting after the 2000 census. While the legal arguments were put in terms of what was "constitutional," they actually appeared to be about whether "race" should prevail over "politics." Is the Caspian a Sea or a Lake? The common definition holds that a sea is connected to the ocean, while a lake is landlocked. The Caspian, much larger than most lakes, is usually called a sea, even though it has no outlet to an ocean. The question arises because oil was discovered under the Caspian. The U.S.S.R. and Iran, then the only countries bordering on it, agreed in 1954 to a line across the water from shore to shore. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, and Turkmenistan brought the number of countries to five. …


The spinless Falicov-Kimball model for electronically driven metal-insulator and valence transitions is studied using exact numerical calculations. It is shown that in the pressure induced case the model undergoes a few (discrete) intermediate valence transitions, while valence transitions as a function of temperature are always continuous. We demonstrate that these results are independent of finite-size effects. Interesting consequences of this picture of valence changes can be found furthermore under the assumption that thef-level position may fluctuate (due to some additional interactions) about its average value. Then the model is capable to describe a transition from an inhomogeneous intermediate valence state into a homogeneous intermediate valence state as well as the semiconductor-metal transition.


This paper applies upper echelons theory to investigate whether chief information officers (CIOs) and boards of directors affect the development of AI orientation, which represents firms' overall strategic direction and goals regarding the introduction and application of artificial intelligence (AI)technology. We tested our model using a dataset drawn from 1,454 publicly listed firms in China. Our findings show that the presence of a CIO positively influences AI orientation and that board educational diversity, R&D experience, and AI experience positively moderate the CIO's effect on AI orientation. Our post hoc analysis further demonstrates that these board characteristics represent contingencies that impact AI orientation but not conventional IT orientation. This paper contributes to the upper echelons literature and IT management research by offering contextualized arguments that explain new business and IT strategies such as AI orientation. Further, our findings suggest important implications about how to build top management teams and boards capable of effectively developing AI orientations


ABSTRACT Ongoing sociolegal conflicts over affirmative action in race-conscious admissions in U.S. higher education have significant modern-day relevance. This article, informed mainly by Asian American women's scholarship, explores discourse in U.S. Supreme Court rulings and oral arguments and how litigation actors continue to recycle this discourse in more recent legal strategies that maintain and normalize inequitable access to selective, historically White institutions. The author revisited and extended critical race feminist Kimberlé Crenshaw's metaphor, the Colorblind Hustle, which describes the anti-affirmative action strategy of deploying Black spokespersons as advocates for eradicating policies that promote racial equity. The author proposes a new metaphor, the Color-Evasive Hustle 2.0, to describe current anti-affirmative action strategies with Asian Americans as plaintiffs in a 2018 lawsuit against Harvard University. Finally, this article elevates interdisciplinary scholarship and legal strategies with potential to expose the Color-Evasive Hustle 2.0 and affirm and sustain educational equity.


It is not proposed in this paper to attempt any detailed
description of the method by which the Tasmanians disposed
of their dead, but rather to give a brief account of
the discovery of aboriginal remains at Sandford during
April, 1927.
On the 12th of that month Mr. Alfred Morrisby showed
me a cranium that he had found partially exposed in his
orchard some days before. This orchard had been under
cultivation for between 20 and 30 years, and had been
ploughed six months previously.
It is possible that the cranium was turned up at that
time, and the injuries it had sustained were inflicted by the
ploughshare.
The presence near-by of a spring of fresh water and
the abundant remains of oyster shells clearly pointed to
the fact that it was on the site of an aboriginal camping ground.
Four days later, in the company of Dr. Inglis Clark, a
detailed examination of the locality of the find was made.
Includes plates iv-v.


The altar here published is in the possession of Mr. G. A. Warren of Streatham Hill, to whom I am very much indebted for permission to make this publication. It belonged formerly to a Mr. Morgan and passed into Mr. Warren's possession in 1892. Mr. Morgan is no longer alive, and enquiries I have made about the origin of his collection have had no result. I have therefore nothing to say about provenance. The altar has the shape which is usually given to such monuments of late Republican and Imperial times, except that there is no moulding above, and the reliefs are not sunk in panels. It dates perhaps from the second century A.D. and seems to be Roman.


: In this paper, application of a well-known output-only modal analysis method called Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD) method in monitoring of bridge frequency is presented. The obtained modal data can be used efficiently for bridge health monitoring. Three measurement strategies are suggested to collect the acceleration responses from vehicle axle for FDD method in a numerical study. It is shown that using multi vehicles leads to better results in compare to using one vehicle. The efficient effect of ambient excitation to all sides of the bridge is also discussed. In addition, application of FDD method in the case of closeness of vehicle frequency to bridge frequency is investigated. Finally, it is discussed that the FDD method can be an efficient alternative to FFT analysis which is common for analysing the vehicle measurement passing over the bridge.


The most important factors influencing complexity of a concurrent program are communicating and synchronizing behaviours between tasks. In Ada program, these behaviours are expressed as rendezvous and relations between rendezvous. This paper investigates rendezvous successive and nesting relations, introduces the successive graph for successive relation and nesting tree for nesting relation, and gives the methods for constructing the graphs and trees. Some properties of the graph and the tree are given. Finally, the paper proposes that the concurrent complexity of a program is a weighted sum of the rendezvous successive complexity and nesting complexity and in turn, they are the sum of edge numbers of rendezvous successive graphs and sum of weighted node numbers on rendezvous nesting trees respectively.<<ETX>>


An original method was used to isolate polypeptides from citrate platelet-free plasma of healthy subjects. These polypeptides were able to prolong recalcification, kaolin, kaolin-cephalin and prothrombin plasma time, sharply reduce thrombin time of standard and heparinized plasma, to inhibit fibrin self-building and stimulate fibrinolytic activity of blood. An antiheparin effect of polypeptides in adequate doses is similar to that of protamine sulfate. Polypeptide antiheparin plasma factor has molecular mass about 2000 D, its chromatographic profile coincides with that of protamine sulfate.