Recent evidence suggests that persistence of Helicobacter pylori can be explained, at least in part, by the failure of macrophages to kill bacteria. The fate of type 1 H. pylori strain LC11, which expresses the cag pathogenicity island (PAI) and the vacuolating cytotoxin, and type 2 strain LC20, which lacks both these virulence factors, was determined following infection of the murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 or the human macrophage‐like cell line THP‐1. Helicobacter pylori strain LC11 displayed enhanced survival in macrophages in comparison with strain LC20 (4.0 ± 0.2 versus 2.1 ± 0.6 log CFU ml−1, P < 0.01) at 24 h. Phagosomes containing strain LC11 showed reduced co‐localization with LysoTracker Red, higher levels of expression of the early endosome marker EEA1 expression and lower expression of the late endosome/lysosome marker LAMP1 relative to internalized strain LC20, both at 2 h and 24 h. These findings indicate that, in contrast to strain LC20, strain LC11 resides in a compartment with early endosome properties and does not fuse with lysosomes. In addition, phagosomes containing LC11 recruited and retained a higher percentage of TACO (coronin 1) protein in comparison with phagosomes containing strain LC20. Furthermore, IFN‐γ stimulation facilitated maturation of phagosomes containing strain LC11 in association with the release of TACO and a reduction in bacterial survival. We have demonstrated through the use of isogenic cagA‐, cagE‐/picB‐ and vacA‐ mutant strains, that VacA plays a significant role in the interruption of the phagosome maturation. Taken together, these results indicate that, following phagocytosis, H. pylori strains expressing the vacuolating cytotoxin arrest phagosome maturation in association with the retention of TACO.


2-azetidinones are extremely versatile and has featured in a number of clinically used drugs and has been studied extensively because of their ready accessibility, diverse chemical reactivity and broad spectrum of biological activity. This prompted us to develop a simple synthetic method to synthesize some novel 2-azetidinone derivatives. Hence, this book provides information about the synthesis, characterization, in vitro and in vivo anti-Parkinson's screening of the synthesized 2-azetidinone derivatives.


Forest succession has been reported in forest plantations in tropical forests, but little is known about their successional dynamics because most studies have focused on succession in secondary forests. We assessed changes in species composition and stand structure in secondary and plantation forests in Kakamega rainforest in western Kenya. We used a nested experiment to collect data on tree species types, tree height and stem diameter at breast height from secondary forest stands, mixed indigenous plantations and indigenous and exotic monoculture plantations in three forest blocks. Data were analyzed for variation in species diversity, species similarity to the primary forest, stem density and basal area using analysis of variance in Genstat. The results indicated that species diversity and similarity to the primary forest were not different between secondary and plantation forests. However, successional species occupied all the canopy strata in secondary forests, but they occupied only the shrub and understorey layers of monoculture plantations, and the shrub, understorey and sub-canopy strata of mixed indigenous plantations. Mixed indigenous plantations had become nearly indistinguishable from secondary forests, but monoculture plantations maintained a plantation outlook. Old secondary forest had a significantly lower stem density than plantation forests, but their basal area was not significantly different. Middle-aged and young secondary forests had comparable stem density to plantation forests, but their basal area was significantly lower. The results confirmed that plantation forests are experiencing forest succession in tropical forests, their species composition and stand structure are comparable with secondary forests, but they differ in the emergence pattern of successional species and their distribution in forest canopy strata.

 Key words: Secondary succession, plantation forests, tropical rainforest, species composition, stand structure.


The Alber equation is a phase-averaged second-moment model used to study the statistics of a sea state, which has recently been attracting renewed attention. We extend it in two ways: firstly, we derive a generalized Alber system starting from a system of nonlinear Schrödinger equations, which contains the classical Alber equation as a special case but can also describe crossing seas, i.e., two wavesystems with different wavenumbers crossing. (These can be two completely independent wavenumbers, i.e., in general different directions and different moduli.) We also derive the associated two-dimensional scalar instability condition. This is the first time that a modulation instability condition applicable to crossing seas has been systematically derived for general spectra. Secondly, we use the classical Alber equation and its associated instability condition to quantify how close a given nonparametric spectrum is to being modulationally unstable. We apply this to a dataset of 100 nonparametric spectra provided by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and find that the vast majority of realistic spectra turn out to be stable, but three extreme sea states are found to be unstable (out of 20 sea states chosen for their severity). Moreover, we introduce a novel "proximity to instability" (PTI) metric, inspired by the stability analysis. This is seen to correlate strongly with the steepness and Benjamin–Feir Index (BFI) for the sea states in our dataset (>85% Spearman rank correlation). Furthermore, upon comparing with phase-resolved broadband Monte Carlo simulations, the kurtosis and probability of rogue waves for each sea state are also seen to correlate well with the PTI (>85% Spearman rank correlation).


Current analysis identifies pedagogues´ social representations on the lack of discipline in adolescence. The Theory of Social Representations was employed as a theoretical and methodological foregrounding. It investigates how reference systems used to classify people and groups are formed and function to interpret day-to-day events. Ten pedagogues from a town in the north-western region of the state of Parana participated in current quality and quantity research. The following tools were employed for data collection: a) Social and Demography Questionnaire and b) Half-Structured Interview. Categories of analysis were prepared for the analysis of data. Results show that pedagogues´ social representations on lack of discipline during adolescence are close to the idea that naturalizes the behavior of the individual. The above occurs because one´s idea of what is an adolescent reveals traces with no true historical and solid basis on the concept. Results show that the pedagogues´ social representations on the lack of discipline in adolescence focuses on a superficial idea of what would be 'the adolescent' and mainly what is the generating factor of indiscipline. At specific moments, the pedagogues, unaware, naturalized the actions of adolescents in their school context.


In this work, silver nanowires (AgNWs) printed on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate using a bar coater were welded via selective wavelength plasmonic flash light irradiation. To achieve high electrical conductivity and transparent characteristics, the wavelength of the flash white light was selectively chosen and irradiated by using high-pass, low-pass, and band-pass filters. The flash white light irradiation conditions such as on-time, off-time, and number of pulses were also optimized. The wavelength range (400-500 nm) corresponding to the plasmonic wavelength of the AgNW could efficiently weld the AgNW films and enhance its conductivity. To carry out in-depth study of the welding phenomena with respect to wavelength, a multiphysics COMSOL simulation was conducted. The welded AgNW films under selective plasmonic flash light welding conditions showed the lowest sheet resistance (51.275 Ω/sq) and noteworthy transmittance (95.3%). Finally, the AgNW film, which was welded by selective wavelength plasmonic flash light with optical filters, was successfully used to make a large area transparent heat film and dye-sensitized solar cells showing superior performances.


Background: The management of surgical site infection (SSI) after craniotomy remains challenging with few existing recommendations. Patients and Methods: We reviewed the medical files of patients who underwent surgery between 2009 and 2018 to manage infection after craniotomy at our tertiary hospital. The Cox proportional hazards model and the Renyi test were used to investigate the association between relapse or all-cause mortality and selected variables. We compared infections with and without intra-cranial involvement using the Fisher test and the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results: Seventy-seven episodes of infection were identified in 58 patients. The proportion of relapse was estimated to be 32.2% (± standard deviation [SD] 6.9) at five years. Intra-cranial infection was present in 15.6% of the cases (n = 12). Bone flap was removed in the majority of cases (93.5%) and the overall median duration of antibiotic therapy was six weeks (interquartile range [IQR] 6-12 weeks). Staphylococcus aureus was associated with a higher risk of relapse (p = 0.037). The administration of parenteral antibiotic agents (p = 0.012) and bone flap removal (p = 0.0051) were correlated with less relapse. In contrast, immunosuppressive drug use and radiotherapy were correlated with a higher risk of relapse (p = 0.014 and p = 0.031, respectively) and a higher all-cause mortality (p = 0.0093 and p < 0.0001, respectively). We found no difference between infections with and without intra-cranial involvement. Conclusions: Bone flap removal and parenteral antibiotic agents remain important in the management of SSI after craniotomy and were associated with less relapse in our study. More studies are needed to better determine the optimal treatment of this infection.


Background: Despite the early and widespread dissemination of nonsmall cell lung cancer, clinically significant metastases in the small bowel are rare, and when they do occur, the patient is almost always in the terminal stages of the disease. Case Report: We report on a patient who presented initially with small bowel obstruction resulting from metastatic spread of a squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Following surgical removal of the affected bowel, the patient underwent radiofrequency ablation of the lung tumor and subsequent lower lobe resection. The patient continues to be free of disease 2 years from the initial diagnosis. Conclusions: This report highlights the need for a timely diagnosis of an acute surgical abdomen and for the inclusion of small intestinal metastases in the differential diagnosis of the acute abdomen in a patient with a lung cancer. Resection of the obstructing tumor and postoperative systemic therapy should be considered. In cases of isolated metastases, resection of the primary lung tumor is indicated.


We report the design and the performance of the engineering model of the digital signal processing system called the Pulse Shape Processor (PSP) for the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard the ASTRO-H satellite. The SXS employs an X-ray microcalorimeter system, in which X-ray photons are detected as a heat pulse due to photoelectric absorption. The pixelized HgTe absorbers are cooled down to 50 mK. The required energy resolution is 7 eV (FWHM) at 6 keV. Since the data link to the satellite data recorder is limited to 200 kbit s-1, the onboard digital processor PSP plays a critical role in achieving the required resolution. The PSP is also the rate-limiting factor for other performance of the SXS, such as maximum count rate and energy range. In this paper, we show the design of the PSP, and show the performance based on a series of laboratory tests performed with the engineering models of the detector and the analog readout electronics. We found that (1) the PSP can register energy in the 0.07-18 keV band [energy range], (2) the energy resolution of the engineering model system, including the detector, analog electronics, and the PSP, is 4.8-5.7 eV at 5.9 keV [energy resolution], and (3) the PSP has sufficient processing power to handle a point-like source fainter than 0.3 Crab [maximum count rate]. These results are expected to be quite similar to those with the flight model, thus the results will be useful for the observation planning using the SXS.


Lymph node sections from 12 patients with Sézary syndrome (SS) were studied histologically. The histopathologic alterations were compared with those in lymph nodes from four patients with (erythrodermatic) mycosis fungoides (MF) and two patients with a benign form of erythroderma. Most SS lymph nodes showed a rather monotonous and diffuse infiltration of cerebriform mononuclear cells (CMC), which tended to efface the normal lymph node architecture. By contrast, in lymph nodes involved by MF there was not only an increase in the number of CMC, but also a marked increase in the number of interdigitating reticulum cells that often showed a considerable degree of nuclear polymorphia. In the advanced stages of lymph node involvement by MF, blastic transformation was much more pronounced than in the SS lymph nodes. These histologic differences between MF and SS lymph nodes suggest that different pathogenetic mechanisms may be operative in the development of either of these conditions. Cancer 57:2375–2380, 1986.


Sodium exchange was studied in the isolated normal dog heart with the aid of a Na24 tracer technique. Transcellular sodium exchange was calculated to be 0.04 mEq/kg/beat. The results are consistent with the concept of sodium influx into the cell during the spike potential, relative membrane impermeability to sodium in the membrane resting state, and a membrane capacity of about 10 µf/cm2.


Autoimmune neuropathies are a heterogeneous group of rare and disabling diseases in which the immune system is thought to target antigens in the peripheral nervous system: they usually respond to immune therapies. Guillain-Barré syndrome is divided into several subtypes including "acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy," "acute motor axonal neuropathy," "acute motor sensory neuropathy," and other variants. Chronic forms such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and other subtypes and polyneuropathy associated with IgM monoclonal gammopathy; autoimmune nodopathies also belong to this group of auto-immune neuropathies. It has been shown that immunoglobulin G from the serum of about 30% of CIDP patients immunolabels nodes of Ranvier or paranodes of myelinated axons. Whatever the cause of myelin damage of the peripheral nervous system, the initial attack on myelin by a dysimmune process may begin either at the internodal area or in the paranodal and nodal regions. The term "nodoparanodopathy" was first applied to some "axonal Guillain-Barré syndrome" subtypes, then extended to cases classified as CIDP bearing IgG4 antibodies against paranodal axoglial proteins. In these cases, paranodal dissection develops in the absence of macrophage-induced demyelination. In contrast, the mechanisms of demyelination of other dysimmune neuropathies induced by macrophages are unexplained, as no antibodies have been identified in such cases. The main objective of this presentation is to show that the pathology illustrates, confirms, and may explain such mechanisms.


—Conserving birdlife of Peruvian highland bogs: effects of patch-size and habitat quality on species richness and bird numbers. Aims: Bogs (locally named "bofedales") constitute a key habitat for conserving birds associated with the wet meadows and ponds on the huge expanses of dry bunch-grass steppes ("puna") of the Andes. Despite this, the factors shaping bird numbers and species richness in this habitat have not been studied. This paper examines the bird communities in a set of bogs distributed in two Peruvian localities during the wet (February) and dry (September) season. It evaluates the effects of bog size and some habitat features (grazing intensity, presence of small watercourses, vegetation cover, etc.) on abundance and species richness of bird communities. Location: Two Peruvian localities above 4,000 m (humid mountains near Cusco, and arid uplands near Arequipa). Methods: Given that bogs tended to be long and narrow (mean width: 59 m, range 10 200 m), birds were counted along three parallel, simultaneous transects covering the full area of bogs. Independent variables evaluated were the size (ha), altitude (m above sea level), slope (0-90o), presence/absence of small permanent watercourses and cover (%) of water, meadows and cushion-like Yareta shrubs in each study bog. Grazing intensity was estimated by counting the number of faecal pellet groups (of alpacas and other livestock) inside a one-metre-wide band transect. Results: Results support the view that bogs operate as local "hotspots" for birds, as they maintain species associated with different habitats, such as rivers and lakes (Anas flavirostris, Anas specularoides, etc.), wet meadows (Vanellus resplendens, Chloephaga melanoptera, Cinclodes fuscus, Lessonia oreas, etc.) or bunch-grass steppes (Metriopelia aymara, Thinocorus orbignyianus, etc.). Bird species richness and numbers were positively correlated with bog size and, after controlling for this effect, species richness increased in those arid upland bogs crossed by small watercourses during the dry period. This supports the key role of water availability on the bird communities of these steppes. No effect of grazing intensity and other habitat features were recorded. Conclusions: From a conservation perspective, bog size and the presence of permanent watercourses seem to be two focal criteria for prioritizing relevant bogs for protection and can also be used as key guidelines for evaluating the pervasive effects of the reduction and alteration of bogs by public works (roads), agricultural encroachment or draining.


In the model organism insect Drosophila melanogaster short cilia assemble on spermatocytes that elaborate into 1.8 mm long flagella during spermatid differentiation. A unique feature of these cilia/flagella is their lack of dependence on intraflagellar transport (IFT) for their assembly. Here, we show that in the common butterfly Pieris brassicae, the spermatocyte cilia are exceptionally long: about 40 μm compared to less than 1 μm in Drosophila. By transmission electron microscopy, we show that P. brassicae spermatocytes display several features not found in melanogaster, including compelling evidence of IFT structures and features of motile cilia.


Global policies promote urban compaction to achieve sustainable development. This article highlights the limits of analysing densification at the city scale and advocates for a more granular approach. The case study of Cape Town shows how overall consolidation has been mainly driven by poor households crowding into already dense neighbourhoods on the urban periphery. This has aggravated historic segregation and intensified urban management challenges. Meanwhile, formal private sector driven densification strengthens the social and economic vibrancy of affluent neighbourhoods. This article argues that uneven residential patterns reflect deep-seated social inequalities that are amplified through labour and property markets. Satellite data also illustrates how Cape Town's built-up area has changed between 1998 and 2019. Based on geo-spatial analyses, the article suggests that taking these drivers seriously is crucial to promoting a denser and more equitable urban form. Aligning housing policies with spatial transformation and economic development objectives offer possibilities for change.


The article features the results of theoretical generalization and empirical research of the statuses of gender-role identity in senior  preschool children from singleand two-parent families. The article  demonstrates the relevance of the stated problem and assesses the  level of its investigation by modern science. The gender-role identity is analyzed as a consciousness component, which reflects  understanding of oneself as a representative of the defined sex. It  also includes stereotypes about masculinity and femininity and the  attitude towards them. The peculiarities of preschool age are described from the position gender-role identity formation. The  empirical research is directed not only at the description of gender- role identity of senior preschool children, but also at the description  and the analysis of features of the status of gender-role identity in  preschool children from full and incomplete families. It has been  proven that the status of gender-role identity of the senior preschool children is only partly defined by the structure of family. Stereotypic  ideas of differences between boys and girls most often are found in  children from disfunctional families, whereas children from full  families more often display an attractive image of the opposite sex.  Children from twoparent families incorrectly identify themselves with age.


Online health knowledge resources contain answers to most of the information needs raised by clinicians in the course of care. However, significant barriers limit the use of these resources for decision-making, especially clinicians' lack of time. Existing solutions are less optimal when information needs cannot be met without substantial cognitive effort and time. Objectives: In this study, we assessed the feasibility of automatically generating knowledge summaries for a particular clinical topic composed of relevant sentences extracted from Medline citations. Methods: The proposed approach combines information retrieval and semantic information extraction techniques to identify relevant sentences from Medline abstracts. We assessed this approach in two case studies on the treatment alternatives for depression and Alzheimer's disease. Results: A total of 515 out of 564 (91.3%) sentences retrieved in the two case studies were relevant to the topic of interest. About one third of the relevant sentences described factual knowledge or a study conclusion that can be used for supporting information needs at the point of care. Conclusions: Our proposed technical approach to helping clinicians meet their information needs is promising. The approach can be extended for other knowledge resources and information need types.


Modern study of speech prosody started almost as early as modern study of segmental aspect of speech (Cruttendon, 1997). Over the decades, many theories and models are proposed. While the diversity of approaches is a sign of creativity of the field, the situation could be confusing for readers who are new to the area. Even for seasoned researchers, if they have not given much thought to methodological issues, the key differences between the many approaches may not be immediately clear. This chapter offers an overview of the state of the art in prosody research mainly from a methodological perspective. I will first try to highlight the critical differences between the theories and models of prosody by outlining a way of classifying them along a number of dividing lines. I will then discuss a number of key issues in prosody analysis, with focus also mainly on methodological differences.


The viability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in biocompatible polymers under different growth conditions and studied using time-resolved fluorescence techniques is presented. Two fluorophores, the viscosity sensitive probe 4 -( 4 -( dimethylamino)styryl )- N-methyl-pyridiniumiodine (DASPMI) and the yeast viability stain 2-chloro-4 -( 2 , 3-dihydro-3-methyl -( benzo-1 , 3-thiazol-2-yl )- methylidene )- 1-phenylquinolinium iodide (FUN-1) are used to elucidate information on the incorporated yeast cell viability. Variations in cell viscosity, which are indicative of the cell state, were obtained using DASPMI. Prior to observing FUN-1 in yeast cells using fluorescence lifetime imaging, its photophysics in solution and heterogeneous media were investigated. Time-resolved emission spectra were measured and analysed to associate lifetimes to the spectral emission. Preliminary results show that monitoring the fluorescence lifetime of FUN-1 may give a useful insight into cellular metabolism. The results indicate that both fluorophores may be used to monitor the entrapped yeast cell viability, which is important for in vitro studies and applications, such as that in the biofuel industry, where Saccharomyces cerevisiae are required to remain active in high ethanol environments.


Background Nebivolol is a new β1-selective adrenergic receptor antagonist with a direct vasorelaxant effect that involves activation of the l-arginine–nitric oxide (NO) pathway. Therefore, treatment with nebivolol may protect against endothelial injury in hypertension. Objective To investigate whether chronic selective β1-blockade with nebivolol could prevent endothelial dysfunction in salt-induced hypertension, and to compare it with atenolol. Methods Dahl salt-sensitive rats were treated for 8 weeks with standard chow or chow containing 4% NaCl alone or in combination with nebivolol (10 mg/kg per day) or atenolol (100 mg/kg per day). Isometric tension was continuously recorded in isolated aorta and small mesenteric arteries. Constitutive NO synthase (cNOS) activity was determined by [3H]citrulline assay. Results Chronic salt administration increased systolic blood pressure by 38 ± 5 mmHg in salt-treated rats as compared with that in control rats. Both nebivolol and atenolol prevented a salt-induced increase in pressure. cNOS activity was significantly decreased by a high-salt diet. The impairment of endothelium-dependent relaxations in response to acetylcholine in salt-treated rats was prevented only by nebivolol, in both large and small arteries. In contrast, the reduced endothelium-independent relaxations and contractions in response to sodium nitroprusside and endothelin-1, respectively, were restored by both drugs. Nebivolol, but not atenolol, restored cNOS activity. Conclusions Despite nebivolol and atenolol having the same blood-pressure-decreasing effect, only nebivolol was able to prevent endothelial dysfunction. This study demonstrates for the first time that the acute NO-mediated vasodilatory action of nebivolol is also present during chronic treatment. Hence, nebivolol might become a new therapeutic tool with which to exert vascular protective effects against end-organ damage in conditions associated with NO deficiency.


Alluminium bowl craft industrial center is located in Menyali village Sawan district Buleleng regency of Bali province. In this business development, they faced some problems such as increasingly expensive alluminium plate raw materials, decreasing selling product prices due to competition among craftsmen, difficulty in extending the marketing, lack of capital, lack of knowledge in business management, and lack of technical capacity and production innovation. Currently the organization has been formed aluminum bowl craftsmen groups, they are "Sumber Urip" and "Sumur Jaya". This organization is still limited to tradisional associations such as a community organization, has not led to organize in a micro-enterprise or cooperation. Their organization management should not be arranged. Therefore, they need helps from the government and other institutions to build this bowl craftsmen in developing their businesses through a group of micro-enterprises or cooperations. Wishly, with formal business entity that would facilitate access to a variety of coaching and help governments and other institutions. From the SWOT analysis, it is found some problems and solutions that should be done. Alluminium bowl craftsmen groups, named "Sumber Urip" and "Sumur Jaya" is not in the form of business entity or cooperation yet, so that the results of coaching have agreed to form a cooperation. Venture capital assistance for the development and production are still needed and to be an absolute given, but a way to market more absolute yield is given, through participation in various events exhibition to introduce the product is expected to expand its market share up to overseas or exports. In the production process it has been introduced that is appropriate technology for instant a rolling tool to make a wiring groove on the outside of the bowl, so that it will simplify and speed up the process, especially by aged mothers. Keywords: aluminium bowl, Menyali village, SWOT analysis, appropriate technology, craftsmen coaching


The problem of rapid estimation of the effect of perturbing a thin plate structure is addressed using the add-on technique that was introduced recently by R. Kastner (see ibid., vol.37, p.353-61, 1989). An important feature of this method is its ability to make efficient use of previously computed results for the current distribution on a portion of the scatterer that remains unchanged as the geometry of the plate is modified. The procedure, which has been successfully applied to large irregular strip arrays and to a class of planar geometries that introduce negligible cross-polarization effects in the scattering process, is extended in this work to apply to arbitrary plates. In order to demonstrate the versatility of the method, numerical results are given for a number of plate geometries, including one with apertures. >


Women in the Presence is a study of the religious lives of middle-class laywomen. Focusing on the ways in which the members of one Bible study group for women at a suburban Presbyterian church articulate their beliefs and define their communicative boundaries, the book reveals a style of managing privacy, diversity, and fellowship that displays distinct strengths and poignant prohibitions. Based on eighteen months of participant-observation fieldwork, complemented by extensive individual interviews, Jody Shapiro Davie shows that often the deepest beliefs of group members are voiced only indirectly and that crucial elements of their personal beliefs are not discussed at all among the group. Women in the Presence makes apparent some of the difficulties and complexities of contemporary middle-class religious life in America: the fear of self-revelation that leads to spiritual isolation; denominational efforts not to alienate anyone that result in polite, superficial, and lifeless churches; and the conventions of middle-class culture that repress the individual's desire for sincere and active engagement with the life of the soul. Approaching a middle-class American church through an anthropologist-folklorist's eyes, Women in the Presence offers a fresh perspective on the pursuit of spirituality by mainstream Protestant women. Unique in its field, this book will be of interest to the general reader and to scholars concerned with congregational studies, women and religion, vernacular religion and belief, and the anthropology of contemporary American religious life.


The Security Council may adopt economic measures targeted at specific individuals or entities. However, concerns have been expressed that their application must be accompanied by 'fair and clear' procedures including procedural fairness protections for those appearing on sanctions lists. In Australia, UN sanctions are implemented through proscriptive powers under the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 (Cth) against individuals or entities designated by either the Security Council or Australia. This article affirms an obligation upon the relevant Minister to accord procedural fairness when exercising proscriptive powers against individuals or entities in respect of Security Council decisions which Australia is obliged to carry out. This obligation is greatest where Australia is responsible for designation rather than the Security Council. The range of procedural fairness protections will be elicited from the legislative framework during administrative law proceedings challenging inclusion on sanctions lists or the application of asset freezes.


Conventional headspace (HS) method could not meet the requirement of analyzing low-abundance volatile compounds in high water content samples. A HS-low water absorption trap technique coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was introduced to remove the large amount of water vapor; therefore, the low-abundance volatile compounds could be detected with better analytical sensitivity. With this method, a total of 81 volatile compounds were identified from fresh Artemisia annua L. by mass spectral library search, retention index and accurate mass measurement, which could make the qualitative results more accurate and reliable. These compounds belonged to different species, including terpene, cycloparaffin, aliphatic aldehyde, aromatic ketone, aromatic aldehyde and so on. The 2,5,6-trimethyl-1,3,6-heptatriene (8.23%) was the most principal compound, followed by γ-muurolene (6.80%), β-caryophyllenea (6.24%), 1,8-cineol (5.76%), 2-carene (5.65%), borneol (5.57%), isocaryophyllene (4.91%), bornylene (4.78%), camphene (4.30%) and β-pinene (4.26%) as the main components. The results indicated that this method presents a great potential for the trace analysis of volatile compounds in complex high water content samples.


Identifying and controlling the drivers of change in the quality of water within distribution systems requires a comprehensive understanding of the individual and interactive effects of relevant factors. This article examines the impact of water temperature, pipe characteristics, and hydraulic conditions on the microbiological, physical, and chemical parameters of water quality in the distribution network using Bayesian Dirichlet process mixture of linear models and random forest method. The study was based on a database of the distribution network for the city of Ålesund in Norway and records of water quality data measured at seven different locations in the network from 2013 to 2019. In both modelling approaches applied, temperature was identified as the main factor that controls the microbiological stability of water in the network. From the minimum to the maximum values of temperature in the pipes (3.35 °C–11.14 °C respectively), the probabilities of occurrence of bacteria in water increased from 0.36 to 0.95. Temperature was also shown to be an important factor that affects the chemical parameters of water quality (pH, alkalinity and electrical conductivity). Among the input parameters included in this study, concentration of residual chlorine was shown to have the strongest growth-inhibiting effect on Total Bacteria in the pipes. The results further showed that changes in the hydraulic conditions in the pipes (residence time and flow) were among the most important determinants of the physical, chemical and microbiological quality of water in the distribution network. The random forest models assigned minimal importance to the pipe characteristics and conditions on changes in the water quality parameters. However, the Bayesian models revealed that these parameters have significant impact on the quality of water in the pipes.


The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for the interdiction of agricultural products, especially fruits and meats, from abroad. They do this in order to prevent the importation of exotic pests and diseased or defective food products. At present, inspectors select passenger bags and shipping containers at random, and physically inspect them. Trained dogs are sometimes used, but little in the way of instrumentation has been exploited. We have begun preliminary work towards developing a sensor array (electronic nose) device specifically to detect meat and fruit in baggage under a USDA contract. The rational design of a sensor array-based instrument for detecting contraband agricultural products in airline freight involves (a) identification of specific vapors typically found in the headspace above various samples of meat and fruit, and (b) identification of a minimum set of sensors that will allow efficient detection. We present the results obtained in measuring diverse food products with the Moses II electronic nose (EN) equipped with three different classes of chemical sensors, namely quartz micro-balances (QMB), semiconductor sensors (S) and electrochemical cells (EC).


This paper is about the extension of the gas-kinetic BGK scheme to the shallowwater equations with source terms. In the current study, the particle velocity change due to the gravitational force and variable river bottom is implemented explicitly in the flux evaluation. The current scheme is a well-balanced method, which presents accurate and robust results in both steady and unsteady flow simulations.


The spring of 2019 saw the adoption of two EU directives concerning, respectively, the sale of goods (Directive 2019/771, 'SGD') and the supply of digital content (Directive 2019/770, 'DCD'), which must be implemented into Member State law by 1 July 2021. The modified national rules must apply from 1 January 2022, the date on which the accompanying repeal of the 1999 consumer sales directive (Directive 1999/44, 'CSD') will take effect. The question arises whether the EU legislator has succeeded in drawing up a clear, consistent consumer protection framework. This article submits that this is not necessarily the case, focusing on ambiguities and interpretative issues in the scope of application of the two new directives (1) as well as the provisions regarding conformity (2). The paper concludes with a number of evaluative observations on the possible long-term effects of the new rules (3).


Quantum entanglement in mechanical systems is not only a key signature of macroscopic quantum effects but has wide applications in quantum technologies. Here we propose an effective approach for creating strong steady-state entanglement between two directly coupled mechanical oscillators (or a mechanical oscillator and a microwave resonator) in a modulated optomechanical system. The entanglement is achieved by combining the processes of a cavity cooling and the two-mode parametric interaction, which can surpass the bound on the maximal stationary entanglement from the two-mode parametric interaction. In principle, our proposal allows one to cool the system from an initial thermal state to an entangled state with high purity by a monochromatic driving laser. Also, the obtained entangled state can be used to implement the continuous-variable teleportation with high fidelity. Moreover, our proposal is robust against the thermal fluctuations of the mechanical modes under the condition of strong optical pumping.


Following Malaysia's historic General Election in May 2018, many communities looked forward to a more progressive administration under the Pakatan Harapan coalition. One expectation was that the new government would uphold human rights, including for LGBTs. Within the first three months of its rule, however, several highly publicised episodes about the treatment of LGBTs raised serious doubts about how different the new government would be to its Barisan Nasional predecessor. This article reveals that despite the two administrations appearing to have the same politics on sexual and gender marginals, there are some key differences. It also argues that the current official response to LGBTs is heavily influenced by the legacy of the previous regime: restrictive laws; politicised ethnicity and religion; and an ethically-challenged media. Advocacy to improve LGBT lives in new Malaysia thus needs to take these into account, at the same time considering new ways of seeking change given the limits of pre-existing efforts.


Within the context of the Dutch Delta Programme, economically efficient flood protection standards for the entire Netherlands were calculated using a recently developed methodology for cost‐benefit analysis and up‐to‐date insights into flood risk assessment. This results in economically efficient flood protection standards for different parts of the Netherlands that significantly differ from current legal flood protection standards. The cost‐benefit analysis shows that it is economically efficient to raise protection standards especially along the rivers Rhine and Meuse, while for many dike ring areas in the coastal region, existing legal flood protection standards seem relatively high. An additional Monte Carlo analysis shows that in light of many uncertainties, these are also robust conclusions. The cost‐benefit analysis does not support a general increase of the legal flood protection standards for all flood‐prone areas in the Netherlands by (at least) a factor 10, as was recommended by the (second) Delta Committee in 2008.


Aim To retrospectively assess if the modified lung function score (LFS) and/or its components, forced expiratory volume within the first second (FEV1) and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide corrected for hemoglobin level (cDLCO), predict overall survival (OS) and chronic graft-vs-host-disease (cGvHD). Methods We evaluated 241 patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) at the University of Regensburg Transplant Center between June 1998 and July 2005 in relation to their LFS, FEV1 and cDLCO, before and after HSCT. Results Decreased OS after allo-HSCT was related to decreased pre-transplantation values of FEV1<60% (P = 0.040), cDLCO<50% of predicted value (P = 0.025), and LFS≥III (P = 0.037). It was also related to decreased FEV1 at 3 and 12 months after HSCT (P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively) and increased LFS at 3 and 12 months after HSCT (P = 0.028 and P = 0.002, respectively), but not to changes of cDLCO. A higher incidence of cGvHD was related to decreased FEV1 at 6, 12, and 18 months (P = 0.069, P = 0.054, and P = 0.009, respectively) and increased LFS at 12 months (P = 0.002), but not to changes in cDLCO. Conclusions OS was related to both LFS and FEV1, but cGvHD had a stronger relation to FEV1 than to cDLCO or LFS. FEV1 alone offered more information on the outcome after allo-HSCT than LFS or cDLCO, suggesting limited value of LFS for the patients' assessment after allo-HSCT.


Swarm is a scalable, modular storage system that allows high-level services to influence low-level storage functions such as data layout, metadata management, and crash recovery via agents. An agent is a program that is attached to data in the storage system and invoked when particular events occur during the data''s lifetime. For example, when Swarm needs to write data to disk, agents attached to the data are invoked to determine a layout policy. Agents can be persistent, so that they remain attached to the data they manage until the data are deleted; this allows agents to continue to affect how the data are handled long after the application or storage service that created the data has terminated. Swarm and its agent mechanism are implemented as a Linux kernel module. In this paper, we present Swarm''s agent architecture, describe the types of agents that Swarm supports and the infrastructure used to support them, and discuss their performance overhead and security implications. We describe how several storage services and applications use agents, and the benefits they derive from doing so.


The characteristics of Third World urbanization is inharmonious and inequality. Significant proliferation of the wealth and on the other hand, minorities who live in poverty are considered as frustrations in urban policy. Ghetto results from inharmonious development and malfunctions of urban system. Urban applications influence social and economic classification, and when settlers in ghetto feel that they are unable to improve their social and economic situation, it causes a deprivation for them and forces them to commit offenses. This study investigated the causes shaping ghettos in the city of Yazd in terms of the indices of education, health, culture, business, sport, green space and social reflections from it. With regard to the coefficient of functions and urban services in ghettos and nearby, it is inferred that above mentioned factors affect forming ghettos and there is a relationship between ghetto and underdevelopment. Based on linear regression, there is also a significant relationship between ghettos and unfair distribution of services and underdevelopment. In addition, the results from the cluster model suggest that the settling in a neighborhood, besides lack of services and functions, other factors were also considered. The other finding of this study has been about social impact of ghettos. Based on the finding, the relatively low-income unemployed people commit more crimes and there is no significant relationship between immigration and social offenses.


An experiment has been performed in interplanetary space which closely simulates the observations that would be madef by an ultraviolet spectrometer observing the atmospheres of the jovian planets. A mixture of ammonia, nitrogen, and hydrogen was released from the Mariner spacecraft, and spectra were recorded while these gases were illuminated by sunlight. The principal emissions observed were the HI 1216-angstrom Lyman-α line, the H2 B-X Lyman bands, and the NH c-a and A-X bands.


This article analyzes the role of ideas, domestic actors, and international influences in migration policy change (MPCh) in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Building on 67 in-depth interviews with key actors in migration governance, public declarations of government representatives, and relevant legislation, we argue that the increased power of "securitist" actors within national bureaucracies shaped MPCh in all three countries. Between 2015 and 2019, these actors promoted a set of programmatic ideas and policy proposals that linked migration to security issues and distinguished between "good" and "bad" immigrants, emulating Global North countries. This set of ideas resulted in policy change at the country level, but at the same time, national-level policy change coexisted with continuity at the regional level. This article contributes to the literature on migration governance, first, by extending the geographical focus of migration policy studies, which frequently focus on party politics, coalitions, and public opinion, beyond the Global North. Second, we further current explanations of MPCh and policy contradictions by differentiating between continuity and change in programmatic ideas, policy proposals, and public philosophies. Third, we advance the regional migration policy literature by distinguishing between different groups of actors within national bureaucracies and enhancing understanding of these actors' roles at both the national and international levels. Across its sections, this article shows that policy ideas—where and from whom they come—matter. By unpacking the different types of ideas that influence policy shifts and the actors who promote them, we can better understand apparent contradictions in migration policy.


Visbreaking process in refineries refers to the process of reducing the viscosity of a liquid through high temperatures. This is a type of thermal cracking that works by breaking the molecular bonds of the liquid. In this present work, visbreaking of vacuum residue in a commercial soakervisbreaking plant is studied. The product of the visbreaking furnace is characterized to the light gas (C1,C2), LPG(C3,C4), gasoline (IBP-180oC), gas oil (180-320oC) and fuel (320+oC).Afterwards tomodel the visbreaking process, a six-lump kinetic network with fifteen reactions and thirty kinetic parameters is developed. In thismodel, visbreaking furnace ismodeled as a equal distributed heater whilst the soaker is modeled as a complete stirred tank reactor. After evaluating the rate of reactions by estimated kinetic parameters, it is confirmed that a reduced reaction network with seven reaction paths and fourteen kinetic parameters is appropriate to simulate the performance of the reactor with the same accuracy as complete network, which results the final AAD%of the model to 4.75%.


Over the past decades, an increasing number of integral bridges have been built. This type of bridge offers various advantages in comparison with standard bridges equipped with expansion joints and bearings. In particular, integral bridges require less maintenance since they require less mechanical elements. Transition slabs, which are used in integral bridges, are directly connected to the bridge deck and therefore they are subjected to large displacements caused by creep, shrinkage and temperature effects. Consequently, detailing of transition slabs needs to be examined. This paper investigates new design approaches for transition slabs focusing on the road pavement settlement at the end of the transition slab. On that basis, a modified geometry of the transition slabs is proposed for integral bridges.


The capture and emission of electrons and holes into and from single, individual interface traps are studied in micron-sized MOSFETs. The trapping process creates discrete switching in the source-drain resistance. The number of traps may be counted in quantized transients observed after pulsed filling of traps. The average rate time constants for the trapping process are consistent with Coulomb repulsive centers, i.e., acceptors near the conduction band edge and donors near the valence band edge of silicon. The capture and emission rates are strongly activated by an interfacial barrier. Individual traps induce Fermi level pinning in the 2-dimensional SiO2-Si system.


Bayesian optimization (BO) is a popular simulation optimization approach. Despite its many successful applications, there remain several practical issues that have to be addressed. These includes the non-trivial optimization of the inner acquisition function (search criterion) to find the future evaluation points and the over-exploitative behavior of some BO algorithms. These issues can cause BO to select inferior points or get trapped in local optimal regions before exploring other more promising regions. This work proposes a new partition-based BO algorithm where the acquisition function is optimized over a representative set of finite points in each partition instead of the whole design space to reduce the computational complexity. Additionally, to overcome over-exploitation, the algorithm considers regions of different sizes simultaneously in each iteration, providing focus on exploration in larger regions especially at the start of the algorithm. Numerical experiments show that these features help in faster convergence to the optimal point.


Abstract Introduction: According to the WHO, miscarriage is defined as "the loss of a pregnancy before the age of 20 weeks of gestation or fetal weight below 500 g". Only 50–60% of all conceptions fail to survive 20 weeks of gestation. It is estimated that about 75% of all unsuccessful conceptions are due to failed implantation and are not reported as spontaneous abortions. Material and Methods: We performed a prospective observational study at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Medical University Plovdiv between October 2014 and September 2015. We studied two groups of pregnant women: women with threatened abortion and those with normal pregnancy. All women underwent a transvaginal ultrasound evaluation of the uterine arterial blood flow. We measured peak systolic and end-diastolic velocity and calculated the average IR (resistance index) and S / D (systolic to diastolic ratio). Results: There was no association between pregnancy outcome and the mean difference between uterine arterial IR and S / (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In our study, Doppler ultrasound could not differentiate between women at risk for miscarriage and normal women. Further studies are necessary to answer this question.


We obtain the ultimate quantum limit for estimating the transverse separation of two thermal point sources using a given imaging system with limited spatial bandwidth. We show via the quantum Cramér-Rao bound that, contrary to the Rayleigh limit in conventional direct imaging, quantum mechanics does not mandate any loss of precision in estimating even deep sub-Rayleigh separations. We propose two coherent measurement techniques, easily implementable using current linear-optics technology, that approach the quantum limit over an arbitrarily large range of separations. Our bound is valid for arbitrary source strengths, all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and for any imaging system with an inversion-symmetric point-spread function. The measurement schemes can be applied to microscopy, optical sensing, and astrometry at all wavelengths.


This paper provides a simple and accurate analysis using Markov chain modeling to compute IEEE 802.11 DCF performance, in the presence of channel errors. We extend the analytical model of IEEE 802.11 DCF from Bianchi model to study throughput performance under noisy situation, where the node's transmit queue may be at times empty and then extension of his model to a nonsaturated environment and also we develop an expression for the nonsaturation throughput as a function of the number of stations, packet sizes, and raw channel error rates. The derived analysis, which takes into account packet retry limits, is validated by comparison with NS-2 simulation results. Numerical results and simulations are provided to validate the accuracy of our model and is verified by previous work.


The principal mechanisms of classical diffusion (due to binary collisions) of a partially-ionized plasma in a homogeneous magnetic field are examined. As a result of anisotropy of the transport coefficients of charged particles the problem proves to be far more complicated than the well-known problem of ambipolar diffusion in the absence of a magnetic field. The evolution of diffusion in this case is determined primarily by eddy currents flowing in the plasma. The circuit for these currents can be completed both through the background plasma giving rise to depletion regions, and by the conducting walls of the container of the plasma (the short-circuit effect). Ambipolar diffusion which occurs when the electron and ion fluxes are equal at every point can be realized only in exceptional cases. Experiments are described in which the short-circuit effect and ambipolar diffusion were observed. Using different boundary conditions it was possible to vary the diffusion rate of the plasma by two or three orders of magnitude, and this presents the possibility of controlling the local parameters of the plasma. This review has taken into account references up to July, 1979.


Succesive Overrelaxation method (S.O.R.) is a well known iterative method which is very sensitive to extensions and modifications as an attempt to obtaining other iterative methods. An algorithm for S.O.R functional iteration which uses matrix norms for the Jacobi iteration matrices rather than the usual Power method, feasible in Newton Operator for the solution of nonlinear system of equations is proposed. We modified the S.O.R. iterative method known as Multiphase S.O.R. method for Newton operator. Numerical example is given and results from our method are compared with an existing classical S. O.R method. It is shown that our method has superiority over the classical S.O.R. method. Keywords : Gauss- Siedel method, S.O.R method, Newton method, matrix norm.


Objective. To study the effect of two different delivery room (DR) policies on the rate of endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation (EI/MV) and short term morbidity in extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWI; <1000 g, ≥24 weeks). Methods. Retrospective cohort study of 123 inborn ELBWIs born in 1994 and in 1996. DR policies have changed. Until 1994, ELBWIs were intubated immediately after delivery when presenting the slightest signs of respiratory distress or asphyxia after initial resuscitation using a face mask and a handbag. During 1995, the guidelines for respiratory support were changed. In 1996, continuous (15 to 20 seconds), pressure controlled (20 to 25 cm H2O) inflation of the lungs using a nasal pharyngeal tube, followed by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP; 4 to 6 cm H2O) was applied to all ELBWIs immediately after delivery to establish a functional residual capacity and perhaps to avoid EI/MV. In addition to the changes in respiratory support, the prevention of conductive and evaporative heat loss was improved in 1996. For analysis of morbidity and mortality, infants were matched for gestational age and birth weight. Results. The rate of EI/MV in the DR decreased from 84% in 1994 to 40% in 1996. In 1996, 25% of the ELBWIs were never intubated (7% in 1994), but 35% of the ELBWIs needed secondary EI/MV, primarily because of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Initial ventilator settings, ventilator days, mortality, and morbidity were not different between ELBWIs with EI/MV in the DR and infants with secondary EI/MV attributable to RDS in the intensive care unit. ELBWIs with no EI/MV that was caused by RDS had a lower morbidity (ie, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intraventricular hemorrhage >grade 2 and/or periventricular leukomalacia), mortality, and fewer hospital days (mean: 79 vs 105 days). The incidence of gastrointestinal adverse effects like feeding intolerance or necrotizing enterocolitis was not increased in 1996. Paco 2 was significantly higher at admission to the neonatal unit in ELBWIs with CPAP in 1996 (54 ± 15 mm Hg, 7.2 ± 2.0 kPa) compared with infants with EI/MV in 1994 (38 ± 11 mm Hg, 5.1 ± 1.5 kPa. A total of 26% of spontaneously breathing infants had hypercapnia (Paco 2 ≥60 mm Hg [8.0 kPa]), compared with 7% of infants with EI/MV in 1994. Within the first few hours of life, Paco 2decreased to 46 (32 to 57) mm Hg (6.1 [4.3 to 7.6] kPa) in never intubated ELBWIs (n = 17), but increased to 70 (57 to 81) mm Hg (9.3 [7.6 to 10.8] kPa) in ELBWIs (n= 14) with RDS and secondary EI/MV (age 5.5 [1 to 44] hours). Conclusions. In our setting, the individualized intubation strategy in the DR restricted EI/MV to those ELBWIs who ultimately needed it, without increasing morbidity or mortality in infants with secondary EI/MV attributable to RDS. We speculate that an individualized intubation strategy of the ELBWI is superior to immediate intubation of all ELBWIs with slight signs of respiratory distress after birth.


Pollen morphology of nine species representing four genera: Cephalaria Schrad, Dipsacus L., Pterocephalus Vaill. and Scabiosa L. of the family Dipsacaceae in Iran has been investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that pollen grains were triporate and tricolpate. The pollen type of Scabiosa rotata Bieb. (tri- and tetraporate) is the first report in the world. The sizes of pollen grains fall into the classification group magna (pollen grain diameter 50–100 μm). Pollen shapes vary from preoblate to prolate and their polar views were triangulate and lobate. The exine ornamentation varies from gemmate in S. rotata to spinulate in the rest studied species. Species of Scabiosa have been dispersed in UPGMA tree that this confirmed the previous studies about taxonomic problems and species complexity in this genus. These results show the transfer of the some Scabisoa species to Lomelosia Raf. based on palynological characters. Pollen morphology of the family is helpful at the generic and specific level. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 24 (2): 129–136, 2017 (December)


This mixed-methods study investigates the teaching of Iinformation Technology (IT) subjects at polytechnics and community colleges in Malaysia as the policy for the medium of instruction for Science, Mathematics and Technical subjects at primary and seconday education sector changed from Bahasa Malaysia to English in 2003 and back to Bahasa Malaysia again in 2009. However, as polytechnics and community colleges are under the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), they are guided by the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education) (2015). The higher learning institutions in Malaysia do not clearly define English or Bahasa Malaysia as the only medium of instruction due to factors such as internationalization and the needs to be able to produce globally competitive graduates. Due to these factors, the use of English or bilingualism at higher education sector becomes necessary. This research provides an insight into the transition period when the polytechnics and community colleges started receiving the first batch of students who had gone through ETeMS in 2008, and therefore, the lecturers were required to teach Technical subjects through English. The objectives of the study are to investigate the attitudes and motivation levels of the lecturers at polytechnics and community colleges in Malaysia with regards to the policy of teaching IT subjects through English, to examine the strategies the lecturers used to upgrade their English and to explore the strategies the lecturers used to teach their subjects through English.

The quantitative data were collected via a survey during the first phase of the study. 211 out of 265 IT lecturers from polytechnics and community colleges across Malaysia had responded to the survey. The data from the survey provided information regarding the demography of the population, their attitudes and motivation towards the teaching of content subjects through English, as well as the strategies that they used in order to improve their own English so that they could teach their students better. The survey also gathered information regarding the lecturers' experiences and the strategies they used when they had to teach their students through English. The findings from the survey were used to categorize the lecturers according to their motivation levels and teaching practice. In order to obtain lessons from best practices, a group of lecturers representing positive disposition were selected and finally, seven lecturers managed to participate in the observation sessions. The qualitative phase consisted of observation sessions and in-depth exploration of the lecturers' background and experiences as well as the views concerning the teaching of IT through English. The teaching practice and strategies were then grouped, interpreted and rationalized through research lenses, which include CLIL, Multimodal approach and good teaching practices.

The findings revealed that the majority of the lecturers had positive attitudes and moderate to high levels of motivation with regards to the policy of teaching IT subjects through English. The majority of the lecturers received little training to upgrade their English level, especially while in-service, and they were not self-driven to pursue the upgrading of English through their own initiatives. Learning to upgrade English was mainly obtained through incidental learning. For the teaching strategies, about half of the lecturers used only English for certain functions of teaching IT such as when giving instruction, advice, explanation and introduction or conclusion. Some other lecturers used code-mixing and translation when giving instruction, advice, explanation and introduction or conclusion. The majority of the lecturers also used simple English and English Technical terms, and they also had the freedom to adapt their teaching strategies. The majority of them did not teach English to make the students understand the lesson on IT. Teachers' personality including years of experience play a role in effective teaching. Teachers with more years of experience were observed to be more able to conduct student-centred and dialogic interactive teaching compared to new teachers. Nevertheless, new teachers could also steer away from being teacher-centred while teaching if they had the initiatives to upgrade their knowledge and skills.

Finally, recommendations were made in order to improve current teaching practices so that both lecturers and students were able to gain benefits. This requires not only the lecturers to be able to embrace change but also the commitment from MoHE, the polytechnic and community college policy makers and administrators as well as the positive attitudes of the students and the public. With the improvements in the teaching practices, it is hoped that polytechnics and community colleges will be able to produce quality graduates that meet the demands of the industries in Malaysia and worldwide.


A parametric study of dynamic recrystallization was undertaken using the Monte Carlo method. Cells in the simulation domain were connected to six neighboring cells across interfaces whose energy varied from 0 to 5 depending on the difference in orientation between the cells. The internal energy of cells was increased during each Monte Carlo step (MCS). A cell was allowed to grow (take up the orientation of one of its neighbors), recrystallize (take up a new orientation), or remain unchanged. Three different energy input rates were used in the simulations. Results presented include the effect of energy input rate on the internal energy, boundary energy, nucleation and growth events, and the structural evolution of the domain. Some comparisons are made with phenomenon observed during dynamic recrystallization of metals.


: There are three popular approaches, merit functions approach, nonsmooth functions approach, and smoothing methods approach, for the second-order cone complementarity problem (SOCCP). In this article, we survey recent results on the most popular approach, merit functions approach. In particular, we investigate and present several merit functions for SOCCP. We also $ \cdot$ propose some open questions for future study.


Macrolide resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae has emerged as an important
 worldwide problem over the past decade. The aim of this study was to
 investigate macrolide-resistant phenotypes and the antimicrobial
 susceptibility patterns of invasive pneumococci in Serbia. A total of 68
 invasive pneumococcal strains, collected from 2009 to 2011, were sent from
 regional laboratories to the National Reference Laboratory. Susceptibility
 testing was performed using the VITEK2 system and phenotypes were determined
 by triple-test. Overall penicillin and erythromycin nonsusceptibility rates
 were 26% and 43%, respectively. Resistance rates were higher in children than
 in adults. Co-resistance to penicillin and erythromycin was detected in 18%
 strains. Resistance rates to the third generation of cephalosporins, TMP-SXT
 and tetracycline were 16%, 37% and 29%, respectively. All isolates were fully
 susceptible to vancomycin, linezolid, fluoroquinolones, telithromycin and
 rifampicin. Twenty-two isolates (79%) an expressed
 macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) resistance phenotype and M
 phenotype was found in 21% of macrolide resistant strains. [Projekat
 Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 175039]


We present an overview of selected copper-based quasi-2D square-lattice spin-1/2 materials with an easy-plane anisotropy, providing the possibility to study emergent Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) correlations. In particular, in those materials with a comparatively small exchange coupling, the effective XY anisotropy of the low-temperature spin correlations can be controlled by an applied magnetic field, yielding a systematic evolution of the BKT correlations. In cases where the residual interlayer correlations are small enough, dynamical BKT correlations in the critical regime may be observed experimentally, whereas the completion of the genuine BKT transition is preempted by the onset of long-range order.


Oxidative stress is a high-profile element among the risk factors for aging. Although several stress markers have been proposed for the evaluation of oxidative stress, there remains much room for improvement in testing and evaluation methods. In the Current Concept Session "Oxidative Stress Markers" at the of the most recent research works were presented under the titles "Present Status and New Development of Evaluation of Oxidative Stress Markers," "Oxidative Modification of Proteins and Its Quantitative Detection," and "Modification/Degeneration of Proteins and Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs)".Several markers are available for evaluation of the oxidative stress status. Methods of detecting oxidatively modified substances as new markers by mass spectrography (MS) have been developed. Oxidative modifications of highly reactive cysteine residues in several target proteins such as tyrosine phosphatase and thioredoxin-related proteins control the functions of relevant molecules, and thereby play an important role in signal transmission. Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) gradually accumulate with aging and are involved in the development of diabetic complications, Alzheimer's disease, and arteriosclerosis. Basic studies of the indicators of glycation are also important.This general article outlines oxidative stress markers with a focus on oxidative modification of proteins and glycation of proteins, both of which have received attention in recent years, and introduces information regarding newly discovered markers for oxidative stress.


Built-in self-test (BiST) for transmitters is a desirable choice since it eliminates the reliance on expensive instrumentation to perform radio-frequency signal analysis. Existing on-chip resources, such as power or envelope detectors or small additional circuitry, can be used for BiST purposes. However, due to limited bandwidth, measurement of complex specifications, such as in-phase and quadrature (IQ) imbalance, and third-order intermodulation intercept point (IIP3) is challenging. Since IQ imbalances are most amenable for digital compensation, their characterization and monitoring are desirable. In this paper, we propose a multistep BiST technique for transmitter IQ imbalance and nonlinearity using a self-mixing envelope detector. We derive analytical expressions for the output signal in linear and nonlinear modes. Using linear mode expression, we devise test signals to isolate the effects of gain and phase imbalances, dc offsets, and time skews from other parameters of the system in low-power mode. Once isolated, these parameters are calculated easily with a few mathematical operations. In the next step, using a higher power test signal, the nonlinear behavior of the transmitter is excited and the IIP3 of the transmitter is computed based on the analytical expressions. Simulations and hardware measurements show that the technique can provide accurate characterization of the path.


The authors propose Musical Design Patterns as an approach to developing interactive, music-oriented systems for use as novel media content. Such development integrates three key aspects: user interface design, modeling media semantics, and application software engineering (content development). They support their claims with examples from WorldBeat, an award-winning interactive music exhibit on display at various technology museums.


Milk protein gene expression is regulated by the synergistic interactions of several lactogenic hormones, including insulin, PRL, and glucocorticoids. Whey acidic protein (WAP) gene expression is highly dependent on glucocorticoids, and to a lesser extent than casein gene expression, on the presence of PRL. Previous studies have demonstrated that a distal DNase I hypersensitive site in the rat WAP gene 5'-flanking region containing several binding sites for nuclear factor I is required for high level WAP gene expression in transgenic mice. In this study several specific glucocorticoid receptor (GR) binding sites were identified flanking these nuclear factor I sites using an in vitro DNase I footprinting assay with baculovirus-expressed GR. These sites were able to confer dexamethasone inducibility to a heterologous thymidine kinase-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene construct in transient cotransfection experiments with GR in CV1 cells. Administration of dexamethasone to adrenal-ectomized mice carrying the +2020 rat WAP transgene during lactation demonstrated that glucocorticoids are required to maintain transgene expression in the mammary gland. Furthermore, glucocorticoid-induced changes in transgene expression were correlated with the appearance of DNase I hypersensitive sites. These results indicate that at least part of glucocorticoid regulation of WAP gene expression is mediated through the direct interaction of GR with glucocorticoid response elements in the distal promoter region resulting in steroid hormone-dependent alterations in chromatin structure.


BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to evaluate the final vertical gain at the deficient anterior maxillary alveolar ridges using buccal versus palatal approaches for maxillary segmental sandwich osteotomy (inlay technique). This is a single-institutional randomized comparative clinical trial.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study population was 16 patients with edentulous anterior maxillary alveolar ridges (40 implant sites). Patients were randomly divided into two equal groups. Both groups received sandwich osteotomy with down fracture of the deficient anterior maxillary alveolar ridge, using buccal approach (control group) and palatal approach (study group) with interpositional alloplastic bone blocks fixed with miniplates. Assessment included the mean percentage of vertical gain at the proposed implant sites after 4 months, taken from cross-sectional cuts of a cone beam computed tomography.

RESULTS
All cases showed uneventful wound healing and a total of 40 delayed implant placement were done. Results showed that there was no statistical significance between the 2 groups in terms of bone height (P = .43) and labial prominence (P = .5) CONCLUSION: Both techniques were successful where the mean percentage of 4 months postoperative vertical bone gain of the control group was 79.9% and that of the study group was 76.5%.


We are given a nite set S of text strings and a pattern P over some xed alphabet . The topic of this paper is the design of a data structure D(S) which supports approximate multiple string searching queries e ciently. Thereby, for a given upper bound k 2 Z on the allowable distance, P = p1 pm is said to appear approximately in a text T = t1 tn, m; n 2 Z, if there exist positions u; v in T such that the edit distance between P and tu tv is at most k. Let N denote the sum of the lengths of all strings in S. We present an algorithm that constructs the data structure D(S) in O(N) time and space. Afterwards, an approximate multiple string search query can be answered in O(N) expected-time if the allowable distance k is bounded above by O( m logm). The method can be used to search large nucleotide and amino acid sequence databases for similar sequences.


Electric arc instabilities in dc plasma torches lead to nonhomogeneous treatments of nanosized solid particles or liquids injected within thermal plasma jets. This paper shows that an additional acoustic resonator mounted on the cathode cavity allows reaching a significant damping of these instabilities, particularly the Helmholtz mode of arc oscillations. The acoustic resonator is coupled with the Helmholtz resonator of the plasma torch limiting the amplitude of arc voltage variations. It is also highlighted that this damping is dependent on friction effects in the acoustic resonator.


We read with interest the study by Ozbek et al.. The authors showed that certain susceptible asthmatic patients exhibit adrenal suppression over a period of 8 weeks on inhaled budesonide (BUD), and that the low-dose test (LDT) is more sensitive than the standard-dose one (SDT) in detecting such patients. Our recently published data on 41 prepubertal asthmatic children who were tested by the LDT before and after 6 and 12 months of treatment with BUD (400 μΒ/day) are in agreement with their results. Interestingly, four (9.8%) of our patients had a decreased adrenal response before starting BUD treatment and showed improved adrenal responses while on BUD. In addition, although 22% of our patients showed decreased Cortisol response to LDT, when these patients were excluded from analysis, the remaining patients exhibited a significant improvement of peak Cortisol values from baseline throughout the 12month period. Our interpretation of these intriguing observations was that asthma inflammation per se may cause a decrease in Cortisol response to the LDT.


The use of mobile computing within in the construction industry is an emerging field within informatics and software engineering research. This thesis presents a system design of an application server, which is thought to act as a gateway between existing information systems and mobile devices used within in a construction industry context and especially on a construction site. The purpose of the project was to investigate how a mobile application server should be designed. The system design focuses on aspects like integration with existing information systems, synchronization matters, vendor independence, platform independence and generic support for existing and future mobile clients. Today, there are a number of existing and emerging technologies to choose from when designing new IT artefacts. In this project the Java 2 Enterprise Edition framework and various XML frameworks, have been applied. The mobile applications server is based on an application server following the J2EE specification. Besides the above mentioned technologies the Aptus telematics platform from Pilotfish, which incorporates telematic functionality in the system design in the form of machine connectivity have been used. The results are presented in the form of a general design, which is vendor independent, with regard to software components and third party frameworks, and a specified design containing various products found relevant for a future implementation. The specified design is platform independent since all of the components used are pure java software. Since the work has been design oriented the main research approach has been to apply evolutionary prototyping methods, design patterns and software engineering best practice. Besides the general and the specified design the results also includes some prototype applications implemented on a Compaq iPAQ running SavaJe OS, which provides a fast J2SE compliant runtime environment.


Background and Aims: Thymomas are a common primary tumour of the anterior mediastinum, although they are rare (1.5 cases/million). Thymomas has long been confused with thymic carcinoid but has been regarded as a histologically distinct entity since 1972. Although thymic carcinomas often contain tumor cells having a neuroendocrine feature, thymomas with neuroendocrine features are extremely rare. Methods: We present a case of a 66 year old female, Filipino who came in due to incidental finding of anterior mediastinal mass on chest-Xray during annual check-up. Patient was asymptomatic and physical examination was unremarkable. CT of the Chest with contrast showed a lobulated soft tissue density enhancing mass in the superior anterior mediastinum, to consider thymoma. There was no enlarged mediastinal, hilar nor axillary lymph nodes noted. Results: Patient underwent resection of anterior mediastinal mass through VATS. Patient tolerated the procedure well and post-operative course was uneventful. Histopathology revealed undifferentiated neoplasm, consideration was thymoma vs squamous cell carcinoma of the thymus. CK19 which has 100% sensitivity for B3 thymoma was positive. Synaptophysin and chromogranin were likewise positive which demonstrates neuroendocrine differentiation. CK7, CK20 and S100 were negative. Histologically, there was no presence of neuroendocrine cells despite the positivity of chromogranin and synaptophysin. The pathologists final interpretation was Thymoma (WHO Type B3, Masaoka Stage I) with neuroendocrine differentiation. There have been case reports of Thymoma with neuroendocrine differentiation combined with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 and hyperparathyroidism. Presently, this patient is asymptomatic and has not shown any signs and symptoms related to MEN1 nor any autoimmune disorder. Conclusion: To date it is still unclear whether neuroendocrine differentiation is associated with increased malignancy in thymic epithelial tumours. Hence, long-term follow up in these patients is recommended (Chest CT scan every 6 months for 2 years then annually for 10 years).


Compact wedge-range-filter proton spectrometers cover proton energies ∼3-20 MeV. They have been used at the OMEGA laser facility for more than a decade for measuring spectra of primary D(3)He protons in D(3)He implosions, secondary D(3)He protons in DD implosions, and ablator protons in DT implosions; they are now being used also at the National Ignition Facility. The spectra are used to determine proton yields, shell areal density at shock-bang time and compression-bang time, fuel areal density, and implosion symmetry. There have been changes in fabrication and in analysis algorithms, resulting in a wider energy range, better accuracy and precision, and better robustness for survivability with indirect-drive inertial-confinement-fusion experiments.


The Free-Piston Stirling Engine (FPSE) has the potential to be a long-lived, highly reliable, power conversion device attractive for many product applications such as space, residential, or remote-site power. The purpose of endurance testing the FPSE is to demonstrate its potential for long life. The endurance program was directed at obtaining 1000 operational hours under various test conditions: low power, full stroke, duty cycle, and stop/start. Critical performance parameters were measured to note any change and/or trend. Inspections were conducted to measure and compare critical seal-bearing clearances. The engine performed well throughout the program, completing 1000 hours. Hardware inspection, including the critical clearances, showed no significant change in hardware or clearance dimensions. The performance parameters did not exhibit any increasing or decreasing trends. The test program confirms the potential for long-life FPSE applications. Additional testing is planned to increase the test hours to 10,000.


The multikinase inhibitor sorafenib is approved for the treatment of advanced clear-cell renal and hepatocellular carcinomas, yet, patients' survival is prolonged for only several months (Wilhelm et al., Mol Cancer Ther 2008). The understanding of this poor efficacy remains incomplete. One reason for treatment failure may be the high interindividual variability in pharmacokinetics of the orally-given sorafenib. Membrane transporters may contribute to pharmacokinetics of sorafenib and its metabolites as recently reported for the hepatic solute carrier (SLC) organic anion transporter family member 1B1 (OATP1B1) and OATP1B3 (Zimmerman et al, Clin Cancer Res 2013). In contrast, the role of organic cation transporter 1 (OCT1), which is also a major hepatic uptake transporter (Nies et al, Handb Exp Pharmacol 2011), for cellular uptake of sorafenib is controversial (Hu et al, Clin Cancer Res 2009; Swift et al, Drug Metab Dispos 2013; Herraez et al, Hepatology 2013). We therefore sought to comprehensively elucidate the impact of OCT1 on cellular sorafenib uptake by using a combination of different in vitro cell culture models and in vivo approaches involving experiments with Oct1 knockout (-/-) mice. Firstly, we analyzed cellular accumulation of radiolabeled sorafenib by the mammalian cell line HEK293 stably expressing OCT1. Despite overexpression of a functional OCT1 transporter, cellular uptake of neither sorafenib nor its active metabolite sorafenib N-oxide was increased. Next, we studied sorafenib and sorafenib N-oxide pharmacokinetics in mice with a homozygous genetic deletion of the Oct1 transporter. The deficiency of Oct1 had no influence on plasma and hepatic sorafenib and sorafenib N-oxide concentrations. Finally, we investigated sorafenib transport into the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines HepG2 and HuH7. Although neither OCT1 mRNA nor protein was detected, a considerable cellular accumulation of sorafenib was observed in both cell lines. Expression profiling of a panel of 55 relevant SLC drug uptake transporters identified several potential novel candidates mediating sorafenib accumulation. We conclude from these findings that cellular uptake of sorafenib and sorafenib N-oxide is independent of OCT1 and that other, as yet unidentified, transport mechanisms are responsible for cellular sorafenib uptake. Supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation, Stuttgart, Germany and the ICEPHA Grant Tubingen-Stuttgart, Germany. Citation Format: Claudia Neul, Sharyn D. Baker, Alex Sparreboom, Elke Schaeffeler, Stefan Laufer, Matthias Schwab, Anne T. Nies. Evaluation of organic cation transporter 1 (OCT1, SLC22A1) as transporter for sorafenib. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 257.


Half-sandwich metal-based anticancer complexes suffer from uncertain targets and mechanisms of action. Herein we report the observation of the images of half-sandwich iridium and ruthenium complexes in cells detected by confocal microscopy. The confocal microscopy images showed that the cyclopentadienyl iridium complex 1 mainly accumulated in nuclei in A549 lung cancer cells, whereas the arene ruthenium complex 3 is located in mitochondria and lysosomes, mostly in mitochondria, although both complexes entered A549 cells mainly through energy-dependent active transport. The nuclear morphological changes caused by Ir complex 1 were also detected by confocal microscopy. Ir complex 1 is more potent than cisplatin toward A549 and HeLa cells. DNA binding studies involved interaction with the nucleobases 9-ethylguanine, 9-methyladenine, ctDNA, and plasmid DNA. The determination of bovine serum albumin binding was also performed. Hydrolysis, stability, nucleobase binding, and catalytic NAD+/NADH hydride transfer tests for complexes 1 and 3 were also carried out. Both complexes activated depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and intracellular ROS overproduction and induced cell apoptosis. Complex 3 arrested the cell cycle at the G0/G1 phase by inactivation of CDK 4/cyclin D1. This work paves the way to track and monitor half-sandwich metal complexes in cells, shines a light on understanding their mechanism of action, and indicates their potential application as theranostic agents.


Eyewitness identifications play an important role in many police investigations and courtroom decisions. Identification decision accuracy is shaped not only by the quality of a witness's memory but also by social-influence variables. Some variables can be categorized as general impairments, whereas others produce biases against a specific suspect. We review some of the key variables in each category and consider postidentification indicators of identification accuracy. Finally, we highlight what we think are some of the major directions for future research. These include addressing some of the significant limitations of past research, examining variables that are not directly related to memory or social influence, and developing some radical new directions for identification tests.


The RUNX1 gene is a critical transcription factor for the generation and maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells. RUNX1 is also one of the most frequently mutated gene in sporadic leukemias. Heterozygous loss-of-function mutations of the RUNX1 gene in the germline cause a rare autosomal dominant disorder called familial platelet disorder with propensity to acute myelogenous leukemia (FPD/AML). Besides the preexisting platelet disorder in FPD/AML patients, AML also develops in 20-60% of affected individuals. Since its discovery by the Gilliland group in 1999, RUNX1 mutation in the germline has been extensively investigated in the field. The past two decades of research have taught us three important lessons: 1) patients with FPD/AML display atypical symptoms and they have a widened clinical spectrum of FPD, such as eczema and syndromic thrombocytopenia, 2) the elucidation of variant of uncertain significance (VUS) of RUNX1 have revealed their role in epigenetic functions and involvement in the Fanconi anemia DNA repair pathway, and 3) non-coding mutations of RUNX1 also causes FPD/AML. In three distinct familial cases, an enhancer for RUNX1, eR1, was either lost or disconnected from the promoter through genetic deletion or chromosomal translocation abnormalities. This experience, with congenital mutations of RUNX1, will be very useful for future research for a series of other leukemia-causing germline mutations that have been recently identified.


Summary form only given. A methodology for using a risk assessment approach to determine security and control requirements for sensitive systems is described. The assessment considers two categories of risk criteria: (1) pervasive risk and (2) specific risk. The final risk measure (or score) is calculated from the overall assessed risk ratings and weight factors assigned to these criteria. The final risk measure is matched to a sensitivity level which is further matched to a baseline security requirements level (SRL). The SRL prescribes specific base-set security and control requirements for each sensitive system as determined by the organizational policy and procedures for security and integrity of automated systems. Security requirements associated with a particular sensitivity level and SRL are translated into application security and control requirements. These requirements then become system design specifications for the subject system.<<ETX>>


A comprehensive study of octopodids in the Weddell Sea was conducted during cruise ANT XIII/3 of RV "Polarstern". The study yielded eight species of incirrate octopodids, three of which were undescribed. There appeared to be no differences in octopodid species assemblage in the two sampling areas (Kapp Norvegia and south of Drescher Inlet), supporting the theory that there is a single macrobenthic assemblage on the eastern shelf of the Weddell Sea. Six of the octopodid species belonged to the genus Pareledone, illustrating the extensive radiation of this endemic genus within the Southern Ocean. The fragmented nature of suitable habitats and disturbance caused by glaciation cycles are proposed as mechanisms for this radiation. Comparative data illustrate that both the number of octopodid species present and their abundance are greater at higher latitudes than close to the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone.


Pancreatic primordia from normal rat embryos of 14.5 to 15.5 days postcoitum were grown in organ culture on liquid media with 173, 350, 526 and 995 nig. of glucose per 100 ml. The periods of culture were as follows: eight days (14.5 day embryos) and six days (15.5 day embryos). In cultures grown on the standard medium with 173 mg. of glucose per 100 nil., the pancreatic islets had many granulated beta cells. In cultures grown on high-glucose media with 350, 526 and 995 mg. of glucose per 100 nil. the islets had fewer granulated beta cells. These observations are interpreted to mean that highglucose levels in the media inhibit the production of granulated beta cells in the islets of the cultures.


In the current work, the effects of biochar, vermicompost, as well as their combined application on ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in soils contaminated with potentially toxic elements (PTEs) were investigated. In this regard, four treatments were performed; among them, treatment A served as a control without additive, treatment B with vermicompost (2%), treatment C with biochar (2%), and treatment D with biochar (2%) plus vermicompost (2%). In addition, the abundance and structure of the AOA and AOB amoA gene were measured using quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing. The relationships between the microbial community, physicochemical parameters, and CaCl2-extractable PTEs were analyzed using the Pearson correlation method. We found that adding biochar and vermicompost promoted the immobilization of PTEs and nitrogen biotransformation. The rational use of biochar and vermicompost is beneficial for the growth of bacterial and fungal communities in soils polluted by PTEs. AOA and AOB amoA genes were stimulated by biochar, vermicompost, and their combination, but their structure was hardly affected.


Abstract The mealybug Nipaecoccus filamentosus (Cockerell) was described originally as Dactylopius filamentosus Cockerell from South Caicos Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It has been listed in error from the Bahamas and from Mexico and the mealybug name wrongly applied to a similar species now known as Nipaecoccus viridis (Maskell). Furthermore, the name Dactylopius filamentosus, as first applied by Cockerell, has been recorded in error from various localities in the Old World because of erroneous synonymy early in the 19th century. The mealybug species N. filamentosus has neither been described nor illustrated adequately since it was first named over 100 years ago and its identity has remained obscure. We now describe and illustrate this mealybug and confirm that it is a local species occurring in the Caribbean area only.


Abstract. Geomorphic impacts of a disastrous crevasse splay that formed in September 2015 and its post-formation modifications were quantitatively documented by using repeated, high-definition digital surface models (DSMs) of an inhabited and cultivated floodplain of the Kinu River, central Japan. The DSMs were based on pre-flood (resolution: 2 m) and post-flood (resolution: 1 m) aerial light detection and ranging (lidar) data from January 2007 and September 2015, respectively, and on structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry data (resolution: 3.84 cm) derived from aerial photos taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in December 2015. After elimination of systematic errors among the DSMs and down-sampling of the SfM-derived DSM, elevation changes on the order of 10−1 m – including not only topography but also growth of vegetation, vanishing of flood waters, and restoration and repair works – were detected. Comparison of the DSMs showed that the volume eroded by the flood was more than twice the deposited volume in the area within 300–500 m of the breached artificial levee, where the topography was significantly affected. The results suggest that DSMs based on a combination of UAV-SfM and lidar data can be used to quantify, rapidly and in rich detail, topographic changes on floodplains caused by floods.


Objective: To assess the profile of patients hospitalized in a public Covid-19 referral center in Rio de Janeiro. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional, retrospective study was conducted at a public hospital during April 2021. 1413 patients with suspected Covid-19 were included in the study and data were collected from electronic medical records. Results: There was a predominance of older patients (59.12 years of age ± 13.79; mean ± SD) being hospitalized, with no significant male/female difference and the majority of patients came from emergency units. 44.09% of patients occupied intensive care beds. Out of those, 74.52% reported dyspnea, 49.68% had more than 50% pulmonary involvement and the most present chest CT finding was ground-glass opacity. 84.27% had some type of comorbidity and systemic arterial hypertension was the most reported one. The median time elapsed from the onset of symptoms to hospital admission was 8 days (IQR 6-11). Conclusion: Most of those hospitalized with Covid-19 in the analyzed period were elderly, of both sexes. The delay between the onset of symptoms and hospitalization, severe pulmonary involvement and the presence of comorbidities were identified in the records of patients with severe evolution.


OBJECTIVE
Little national information is available to help policy makers understand the methods that states use to regulate residential facilities for children with mental illness. This article describes the results of a government-sponsored survey of state officials that examined how states license, regulate, and monitor such facilities.

METHODS
Questionnaires were mailed to selected officials in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, followed by extensive telephone and e-mail contacts. Questionnaire items covered program characteristics, licensing and accreditation, mandated services, monitoring and oversight methods, and payment sources.

RESULTS
Information was gathered on 71 types of residential facilities in 38 states, accounting for 3,628 separate residential facilities with 50,507 beds as of September 30, 2003. States differed widely in the types of residential facilities that they regulate and their mix of regulatory methods, which included requirements for announced and unannounced visits, mandated staff-to-client ratios, minimum levels of education for facility directors, specifications for licensing practices and critical incident reporting, mandated complaint review procedures, and accreditation from designated organizations. Welfare, mental health, and health departments all participated in regulating facilities.

CONCLUSIONS
States relied on at least several regulatory methods, but no state used all of the possible methods. The regulatory environment is complex in most states because several agencies are involved in licensing, regulating, and reviewing complaints. To ensure that residential facilities effectively address the needs of children with mental illness and their families, policy makers should review and improve their state's data on methods for regulating residential facilities.


In this article, we investigate the asymptotic properties of Bayesian multiple testing procedures under general dependent setup, when the sample size and the number of hypotheses both tend to infinity. Specifically, we investigate strong consistency of the procedures and asymptotic properties of different versions of false discovery and false non-discovery rates under the high dimensional setup. We particularly focus on a novel Bayesian non-marginal multiple testing procedure and its associated error rates in this regard. Our results show that the asymptotic convergence rates of the error rates are directly associated with the Kullback-Leibler divergence from the true model, and the results hold even when the postulated class of models is misspecified. For illustration of our high-dimensional asymptotic theory, we consider a Bayesian variable selection problem in a time-varying covariate selection framework, with autoregressive response variables. We particularly focus on the setup where the number of hypotheses increases at a faster rate compared to the sample size, which is the so-called ultra-high dimensional situation.