By January 2021, the number of Internet users amounted to 4.7 billion, while the social media audience hit the 4.2 billion mark. Two-thirds of the world's population use mobile phones daily. The average Internet user spends 42% of his time in the global network. These figures prove convincingly that the Internet has become an integral part of human life. However, man's using the Internet involves increasingly the risk of cybercrime perpetrated against the user. The purpose of the research is to assess the potential of Big Data technologies to combat cyber fraud as a form of cybercrime. The study used the statistical data provided by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and the publications in scientific journals. The methodological basis of the research is represented by a combination of general scientific and special scientific methods, with analysis, statistical method and systemic approach being the major tools. It was found in the course of the research that fraud constitutes the majority of crimes on the Internet. To counteract it, mobile operators and banks use anti-fraud techniques based on Big Data analysis. The paper provides an overview of services and programmes based on artificial intelligence and Big Data technologies, aimed at detecting and preventing telephone and internet fraud, used by law enforcement agencies in various countries. The paper concludes that Big Data has changed the vector of law enforcement activity from reactive to proactive.


With the demands of the high-throughput assay of biomarkers of ultralow concentrations in clinics, a 36-channel instrument utilizing immunomagnetic reduction (IMR) has been developed. The instrument involves the use of a high-Tc superconducting-quantum-interference-device (SQUID) magnetometer to detect the signals due to the associations between target biomarker molecules and the antibody-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles in the reagent of IMR. In addition to illustrating the design and the measurements of the instrument, the assay characterizations for eight kinds of biomarkers related to neurodegenerative disease are investigated. Furthermore, the assay results among three independent instruments were compared. For an instrument, the channel-to-channel variations in measured concentrations of biomarkers are within a range of 2.09 to 5.62%. The assay accuracy was found to be from 99 to 103.7%. The p values in measured concentrations for any of the tested biomarkers were higher than 0.05 among the three instruments. The results demonstrate high throughput, high stability, and high consistency for the SQUID-IMR instruments.


Glycol-based fluids are used in the production of theatrical smokes in theaters, concerts, and other stage productions. The fluids are heated and dispersed in aerosol form to create the effect of a smoke, mist, or fog. There have been reports of adverse health effects such as respiratory irritation, chest tightness, shortness of breath, asthma, and skin rashes. Previous attempts to collect and quantify the aerosolized glycols used in fogging agents have been plagued by inconsistent results, both in the efficiency of collection and in the chromatographic analysis of the glycol components. The development of improved sampling and analytical methodology for aerosolized glycols was required to assess workplace exposures more effectively. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration versatile sampler tube was selected for the collection of ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, 1,3-butylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, and tetraethylene glycol aerosols. Analytical methodology for the separation, identification, and quantitation of the six glycols using gas chromatography/flame ionization detection is described. Limits of detection of the glycol analytes ranged from 7 to 16 micrograms/sample. Desorption efficiencies for all glycol compounds were determined over the range of study and averaged greater than 90%. Storage stability results were acceptable after 28 days for all analytes except ethylene glycol, which was stable at ambient temperature for 14 days. Based on the results of this study, the new glycol method was published in the NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods.


The increasing popularity of Ambisonics as a spatial audio format for streaming services poses new challenges to existing audio coding techniques. Immersive audio delivered to mobile devices requires an efficient bitrate compression that does not affect the spatial quality of the content. Good localizability of virtual sound sources is one of the key elements that must be preserved. This study was conducted to investigate the localization precision of virtual sound source presentations within Ambisonic scenes encoded with Opus low-bitrate compression at different bitrates and Ambisonic orders (1st, 3rd, and 5th). The test stimuli were reproduced over a 50-channel spherical loudspeaker configuration and binaurally using individually measured and generic Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs). Participants were asked to adjust the position of a virtual acoustic pointer to match the position of virtual sound source within the bitrate-compressed Ambisonic scene. Results show that auditory localization in low-bitrate compressed Ambisonic scenes is not significantly affected by codec parameters. The key factors influencing localization are the rendering method and Ambisonic order truncation. This suggests that efficient perceptual coding might be successfully used for mobile spatial audio delivery.


Mapping the extent and location of field boundaries is critical to food security analysis but remains problematic in the Global South where such information is needed the most. The difficulty is due primarily to fragmentation in the landscape, small farm sizes, and irregular farm boundaries. Very high-resolution satellite imagery affords an opportunity to delineate such fields, but the challenge remains of determining such boundaries in a systematic and accurate way. In this paper, we compare a new crowd-driven manual digitization tool (Crop Land Extent) with two semi-automated methods (contour detection and multi-resolution segmentation) to determine farm boundaries from WorldView imagery in highly fragmented agricultural landscapes of Ethiopia. More than 7000 one square-kilometer image tiles were used for the analysis. The three methods were assessed using quantitative completeness and spatial correctness. Contour detection tended to under-segment when compared to manual digitization, resulting in better performance for larger (approaching 1 ha) sized fields. Multi-resolution segmentation on the other hand, tended to over-segment, resulting in better performance for small fields. Neither semi-automated method in their current realizations however are suitable for field boundary mapping in highly fragmented landscapes. Crowd-driven manual digitization is promising, but requires more oversight, quality control, and training than the current workflow could allow.


Croup due to H. influenzae type B occurred in 8% of a group of 347 cases of infectious croup. Bacteriologically and pathologically the disease was distinct from diphtheritic and so-called "virus" croup. Clinically this form of croup is characterized by the extreme rapidity of onset and the severity of symptoms. The outstanding clinical signs and symptoms encountered were: severe sore throat, epiglottitis with supraglottic edema, extreme early prostration, marked leukocytosis with a high polynudear percentage, tender anterior cervical adenitis, and necessity for very early tracheotomy in selected cases. Treatment consists of two important parts: relief of respiratory obstruction and treatment of the accompanying bacteremia and toxemia. The former calls for early tracheotomy to avoid the frequent adverse results of thoracic extra-alveolar air; intubation is contraindicated. Treatment of the second problem calls for transfusions of whole blood plus early administration of type-specific rabbit antiserum and sulfadiazine and streptomycin in high dosage. Death from H. influenzae type B croup is attributed to bacteremia and toxemia, aided by progressive respiratory tract obstruction.


Background
Haloperidol is categorized as the first class antipsychotic drug. Long-term use of haloperidol may convey to increased Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) that will yield oxidative damage which further leads to cell death. Several studies had identified the effects of cinnamon extract on cell death. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of cinnamon extract (Cinnamomum burmanii) on the protection of neuronal cell death in haloperidol-induced male Wistar white rats.
Methods
This study was experimental with pre and post-test design. Thirty male Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups, induced with haloperidol and followed by treatment. Caspase-3 and dopamine were assayed by ELISA sandwich method using ELISA kit. Mean difference of caspase expression and dopamine levels before and after induction were shown (p<0.05).
Results
There were mean differences of caspase-3 expression level in the positive control group, cinnamon extract of 100 and 200mg/kgBW before and after treatment (p<0.05). Whereas for dopamine levels, there were mean differences in positive control group, cinnamon extract of 50, 100 and 200mg/kgBW before and after treatment (p<0.05). With Post Hoc test, it was found that there were no mean differences of caspase-3 expression level between positive group with cinnamon extract group of 100 and 200mg/kgBW (p>0,05) and there were also no mean differences of positive group dopamine level with group of cinnamon extract of 100 and 200mg/kgBW (p>0.05).
Conclussion
Cinnamomum burmanii extract at dose of 100 and 200mg/kgBW were effective in the protection against neuronal cell death in haloperidol induced male Wistar white rats.


ABSTRACT Experiments examining identity priming from attended and ignored novel words (words that are used only once except when repetition is required due to experimental manipulation) in a lexical decision task are reported. Experiment 1 tested English monolinguals whereas Experiment 2 tested Twi (a native language of Ghana, Africa)-English bilinguals. Participants were presented with sequential pairs of stimuli composed of a prime followed by a probe, with each containing two items. The participants were required to name the target word in the prime display, and to make a lexical decision to the target item in the probe display. On attended repetition (AR) trials the probe target item was identical to the target word on the preceding attentional display. On ignored repetition (IR) trials the probe target item was the same as the distractor word in the preceding attentional display. The experiments produced facilitated (positive) priming in the AR trials and delayed (negative) priming in the IR trials. Significantly, the positive and negative priming effects also replicated across both monolingual and bilingual groups of participants, despite the fact that the bilinguals were responding to the task in their non-dominant language.


Numerous options are available for femoral stem fixation in revision total hip arthroplasty, including cemented stems, proximally-coated cementless stems, extensively coated cementless stems, impaction grafting cemented stems, and modular cementless stems. In terms of versatility, ease of insertion, use with an extended trochanteric osteotomy, and clinical results, extensively coated cementless stems remain the gold standard. Modular cementless stems have not matched the clinical results of extensively coated cementless stems. In addition, modular stems introduce increased complexity, cost, and potential complications and are therefore, rarely, if ever, necessary in revision total hip arthroplasty.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as a source of protein in layer diets on product performance, egg quality, hatchability, fertility, and sensory characteristics of eggs. The BSFL contained a high percentage of protein (559.9 g kg−1), metabolizable energy (696.3 kcal kg−1), crude fat (18.6 g kg−1), and dry matter (178 g kg−1) and a good balance of amino acids. A total of 54 Arabic strain hens at nine months of age were mixed with nine cocks at 12 months old; all were divided into three treatments. The diets were formulated based on three levels of energy-to-protein ratio: 155, 140, and 170. The BSFL meal was added at 0, 50, and 10 g kg−1 respectively. The results showed that feed intake, weight gain, Haugh unit, and hatchability were not affected by dietary treatments with BSFL. However, there was significant improvement in hen day egg production and hen house egg production due to dietary treatments of BSFL. Also, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, shell thickness, shell weight, egg yolk color, fertility, and egg mass were affected by dietary treatments. In addition, a significant improvement was observed in appearance, texture, taste, and acceptance of eggs of hens fed BSFL at 50 g kg−1. The odor was not affected by dietary treatments. Black soldier fly larvae can be a good source of protein in layer diets.


There exist formal accounts of tense and aspect, such as that detailed by Reichenbach (1947). Temporal semantics for corpus annotation are also available, such as TimeML. This paper describes a technique for linking the two, in order to perform a corpus-based empirical validation of Reichenbach's tense framework. It is found, via use of Freksa's semi-interval temporal algebra, that tense appropriately constrains the types of temporal relations that can hold between pairs of events described by verbs. Further, Reichenbach's framework of tense and aspect is supported by corpus evidence, leading to the first validation of the framework. Results suggest that the linking technique proposed here can be used to make advances in the difficult area of automatic temporal relation typing and other current problems regarding reasoning about time in language.


Much of the literature concerning the migration of Roma in-between European Union countries has thus far focused extensively (and almost exclusively) on the political and economic consequences of this 'Roma movement' across national borders. In this context, the core of the analysis has remained on the conceptualization of, specifically, an East-West Roma mobility (i.e. the movement of Roma from Eastern to Western European countries) and the widespread media, public and political debate regarding the visible marginality of these European citizens in present-day Europe.
Within this broad background, my paper focuses on a rather distinctive experience of mobility among Roma individuals within European Union countries and one that has attracted far less attention in both academic and public debates: namely, the encounters between different Roma groups, from different national contexts, in the process of a widespread Roma Evangelical movement. Based on more than two years of ethnographic fieldwork with Pentecostal Roma in Finland and Romania, I focus specifically on the religious mobilization of Finnish Roma individuals and their engagement in missionary work with Roma communities in Eastern European countries. As such, transnational mobility, rather than migration, constitutes the central concept I use in understanding the broader processes involved in the experience of movement across borders. Furthermore, given that the focus of analysis is on the West–East (or rather, North–South) movement of Roma individuals across countries, this type of approach may help highlight the biased understanding of 'Roma migration' as strictly an East–West phenomenon. In this sense, it also allows space for reflecting on the diversity present within specific experiences of mobility (or immobility) and on the agency and reflexivity of individuals who choose to be part of a movement that complicates the strict delineation of migration as predominantly a political and economic issue.


BackgroundRegulating bodies have recognised that there is a serious shortage of healthcare professionals (Nursing & Midwifery Council, 2021;British Medical Association, 2020), resulting in a workforce crisis (King's Fund, 2022). The hospice had struggled to recruit nurses and had continuous vacancies.AimTo offer health care assistants (HCAs) currently employed by the hospice the opportunity to train as nursing associates (NAs) through an apprenticeship. To help build the capacity of the nursing workforce and deliver high-quality care (Health Education England. Nursing associates. [Internet] [Cited 11 May 2022]). To utilise the apprenticeship levy and introduce a recognised career pathway.MethodSix hospice HCAs applied and commenced their training with a local university, funded by the hospice and a supporting grant. Information campaign as a new role. Support structure identified.ResultsFour of the trainee nursing associates successfully completed their course in March 2022. The remaining two await results.Struggles: The course coincided with a global pandemic. The trainee nursing associates had to adapt to on-line learning and changing clinical environments. The cohort of six was large. On-going support increased the workload of colleagues, shifts were difficult to fill especially with changing COVID demands and the reciprocal agreement for learners placed additional pressure (Robertson, King, Taylor et al., 2022. Br J Healthcare Assistants. 16:126).Successes: Four of the learners have been successfully recruited to nursing vacancies within the hospice.The reciprocal agreement allowed an exchange of good practice and spread understanding of the hospice.The hospice community worked together to support the learners;'I could feel the support and that they wanted me to do well'. The opportunity provided a positive example of learning and development in the organisation;'having the opportunity to develop my career was fantastic, I am so grateful'.ConclusionThe cohort of apprentices was a learning curve. Allowing six staff the opportunity, during a pandemic, was a challenge and required hospice-wide commitment. However, vacancies have been successfully filled and the apprenticeship levy utilised. Watching the trainee nursing associates learn has been rewarding.


Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is one of the most prognostically unfavorable malignant tumors for which an effective targeted inhibitor has not yet been found. Cytotoxic therapy for SCLC has not changed in the last thirty years. Immunotherapy is a fundamentally new method of treatment of malignant tumors, which has proven its effectiveness in various solid tumors. Fundamental prerequisites for the efficacy of immunotherapy in SCLC include a high level of mutational load and paraneoplastic syndromes typical for SCLC (Lambert - Eaton syndrome, etc.), leading to immunization against the tumor; factors that may adversely affect the efficacy of immunotherapy are low levels of PD-L1 expression, low content of T-lymphocytes infiltrating the tumor, and loss of histocompatibility of SCLC antigens by tumor cells. The first studies that studied the efficacy of CTLA-4 inhibitors in the first line of therapy of SCLC and PD-L1/PD-1 inhibitors during progression after the first line showed ambiguous results. However, the study to evaluate the efficacy of athezolizumab (antibody to PD-L1 receptor) in combination with chemotherapy in the first line of SCLC, where for the first time in 30 years in the studies of phase 3 at disseminated SCLC a significant increase in the total survival rate was shown. The study of immune control point inhibitors in SCLC, both localized and disseminated, continues, the prospects of immunotherapy in SCLC are already clearly defined, and further development and improvement in one of the most adverse forms of cancer is expected.


Objective: To evaluate the potential of receptor-interacting protein 3 (RIP3) as a therapeutic target for autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). Methods: Immunofluorescence assay was used to observe the activated expression levels of RIP3 and its downstream signal mixed lineage protein kinase domain-like protein (MLKL) in the liver tissues of patients with AIH and hepatic cyst. Concanavalin A (ConA) was injected into the tail vein to induce acute immune-mediated hepatitis in mice. Intervention was performed by intraperitoneal injection of RIP3 inhibitor GSK872 or solvent carrier. Peripheral blood and liver tissues were collected. Serum transaminases level, qPCR and flow cytometry were analyzed. The intergroup comparison was performed with an independent sample t-test. Results: The expression level of p-RIP3 (the activated forms of RIP3) and phosphorylated p-MLKL (MLKL after phosphorylation) downstream signal were significantly higher in the liver tissue of AIH patients than those of controls. Compared with the control group, the expression levels of RIP3 and MLKL mRNA were significantly increased in the liver tissue of AIH patients (relative expression levels 3.28±0.29 vs. 0.98±0.09, 4.55±0.51 vs. 1.06±0.11), and the differences were statistically significant (t=6.71 and 6.77, respectively, and P<0.01). The expression levels of RIP3 and MLKL mRNA were significantly higher in the mice liver tissue of ConA-induced immune hepatitis than those in the control group (relative expression levels 2.35±0.09 vs. 0.89±0.11,2.77±0.22 vs. 0.73±0.16,t=10.4,6.33, P<0.01). RIP3 inhibitor GSK872 had significantly attenuated ConA-induced immune liver injury and inhibited the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, interleukin-1β and NLRP3 in liver. Compared with the control group, the proportions of CD45+F4/80+ macrophages, CD4+ IL-17+ Th17 cells, CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells and CD11b+ Gr-1+ myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) were significantly increased in the liver of ConA + Vehicle group. Compared with ConA + Vehicle group, the proportion of CD45+F4/80+ macrophages and CD4+ IL-17+ Th17 cells were significantly decreased, while the proportion of CD4+ CD25+Treg cells and CD11b+ Gr-1+ MDSCs with immunomodulatory functions were significantly increased in mice liver of ConA+GSK872 group. Conclusion: AIH patients and ConA-induced immune hepatitis mice have activated RIP3 signal in liver tissues. Inhibition of RIP3 reduces the expression and proportion of proinflammatory factors and cells, and promotes the accumulation of CD4+ CD25+ Treg cells and CD11b+ Gr-1+ MDSCs with immunomodulatory functions in the liver of mice with immune hepatitis, thereby alleviating liver inflammation and injury. Therefore, the inhibition of RIP3 is expected to be a new approach for the treatment of AIH.


makes them feel like several doubles when on antabuse. It is noticeable, however, that they prefer to omit their antabuse. The more labile psychoneurotic is often profoundly disturbed by the antabuse-alcohol reaction and avoids alcohol. A small group of patients has emerged, however, who, in spite of recurrent terrifying experiences with the reaction, repeatedly ask to be put back on antabuse. Their assertion that they are now certain that this will stop their drinking appears to be a rationalization, for in a short time they proceed to drink again, even carrying antabuse tablets with them in some cases and swallowing more of them whilst drinking. These patients obviously tend to become rapidly confused, restless, and uncoordinated whilst indulging in this procedure. They also seem to show an increased tendency to self-reproach when sober. Can it be that these patients incorporate antabuse into their drinking pattern not only to achieve more rapid escape from insupportable tension but also to inflict simultaneously the punishment demanded by a harsh super-ego which is, of course, part of that tension ? However this may be, these patients show the surprising tendency to seek antabuse as an adjunct to their drinking, and they thus appear to be unsuitable cases for treatment with the drug.-I am, etc., Twyford. L. C. F. CHEVENS.


Background: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a common disorder and its high prevalence and lifelong chronicity are such that it represents a substantial public health problem. The observation that serotonergic agents appear to be effective for its treatment suggests that patients may have abnormal serotonergic neurotransmission within the central nervous system. We investigated the efficacy of Escitalopram in treatment resistant patients with SAD. Method: Twenty-nine adult outpatients participated in a 12-week open-label trial of escitalopram. All the subjects had a primary diagnosis of SAD and had failed at least one previous adequate trial of paroxetine. Escitalopram was orally administered starting with a dose of 10 mg/day following a 1-week titration. Results: The escitalopram treatment was characterized by good tolerability (drop-out rate due to intolerance: 10.3%), and 24 subjects completed the study trial. At the end of the 12-week treatment period, 14 subjects (48.3%) were considered as responders on the basis of the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) (much or very much improved) scale and the Liebowitz Scale for Social Anxiety (LSAS) (reduction >35% compared to baseline). We observed a significant mean reduction in the Sheehan Disability Scale Work (p < .05) and Social (p < .05) subscores, but not in the Family subscore. Conclusion: These data suggest escitalopram has a role in the treatment of resistant SAD, especially in view of the favourable tolerability profile observed in the patients. Controlled studies are required to further investigate these findings and to compare escitalopram with other treatments for this disorder.


Although numerous studies have demonstrated different ways that augmented reality (AR) can assist students to understand the learning content via contextualised visualisation, less explored is its effect on collaborative problem-solving (CPS) in computer programming. This study aims to investigate how AR affects a CPS in a programming task. We designed a mobile app that could visualise computer programming in AR and non-AR 3D images. The app could involve two participants working together on a programming problem face to face in the same workspace. We conducted a within-subjects experiment to compare their AR experience to the non-AR experience and collected multimodal usage data about the task performance, verbal communication, and user experience. The analysis showed that the participants in the AR experience had higher task performance and more insightful communication than the non-AR. The participants also had positive attitudes toward the use of AR in classroom instructions. In a semi-structured interview, the participants reflected that AR helped them engage in the content and analyse the task easier. Based on this study, we discuss several challenges and implications for future instruction designers.
Implications for practice or policy:

AR can improve student engagement in a collaborative problem-solving task.
AR has the potential to promote and improve group communication in collaborative work.
Instruction designers may need to carefully align the characteristics of AR with the task content especially when physical models are rarely used in the learning content.


This article develops the notion that virtues can be utilized as a means of
understanding the professional expertise that science teachers demonstrate
when they deal with socioscientific issues. Socioscientific issues are those
contentious issues that connect science to the society in which it operates—
environmental issues being a prime example. We begin by accepting that
both the cognitive and the affective facets of teaching represent a profes-
sional expertise that can be discussed using a moral language of virtues.
These virtues are trust, care, courage, honesty, practical wisdom, and fair-
ness. In developing our notion, we draw on the work of Zeidler, Sadler,
Simmons, and Howes, who have argued that an exploration of four peda-
gogical elements (the nature of science, classroom discourse, cultural issues,
and case-based issues) constitutes a research-based model for addressing
moral education in the context of science education. It is our purpose to
investigate the ecological validity of using virtues as descriptors of teacher
professional expertise within each of these issues.


The objective of this research is to investigate: (1) the impact of the implementation
of Law Number: 22 of 2009 on Road Traffic and Transportation toward the legal
awareness of motorcycle riders in the Jurisdiction of the City Police of Surakarta; and
(2) the factors which cause the motorcycle riders to have the low legal awareness on
road traffic affairs.
This research used the qualitative research method with an embedded single case
study strategy. The research was conducted at the jurisdiction of the City Police of
Surakarta. The sources of the data of the research were informants, places and events,
and archives and documents. The samples of the research were taken by using the
purposive sampling technique toward the persons who really knew the problems being
studied. The data were gathered through in-depth interview, observation, and content
analysis. The data were validated through data triangulation. They were then analyzed
by using the interactive model of analysis. The report of the result of the research was
presented in the form of explanation expressed factually based on the prevailing facts
and realities in the interview and data collection.
The results of the research are as follows. 1) Law Number: 22 of 2009 has not been
able to improve the legal awareness of motorcycle riders as indicated by the high
violations toward the traffic regulations in the jurisdiction of the City Police of
Surakarta. The violations toward the traffic regulations tend to increase more
significantly compared to the ones prior to the implementation of the law. The data of
the research show that the violations toward the traffic regulations were 28,685 in
2008, 31,536 in 2009, and 17,867 in 2010. The decrease in the violations in 2010 is due
to the fact that the first-year socialization of the new law was done in 2010 in which
those against the regulations were not imposed on the firm sentence but reprimands
only. In 2011, the number of violations increased up to 39.935. It happened because
those against the regulations were imposed on the stern sentence by the City Police of
Surakarta. 2) The factors which cause the low legal awareness of the motorcycle riders
are related to following: a) Law: substantially Law Number: 22 of 2009 is still
debatable particularly on its Articles on using the Indonesian National Standard helmet,
turning on the primary lamps in the day, and turning the motorcycles right or left; b)
Structure: structurally, the related authorities and apparatuses are lack of cooperation
and performance particularly on the procurement of facility and infrastructure to
support the implementation of the law; and c) Culture: culturally the law has not been
able to grow the good obedience and order culture in road traffic. Other factors
causing the low legal awareness are community factor and legal enforcement factor
respectively.
Key Word: Implementation of LAW NUMBER 22 OF 2009, Road Traffic, legal
awareness


Aims: This study was conducted to determine the agronomic performance of respective maize single crosses in different environments in varying soil and climatic zones in Kenya. Methodology: The trials were conducted at experimental stations of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Muguga South and KALRO Embu in Kiambu and Embu counties of Kenya respectively. The germplasm used in this study were 36 single crosses among 18 inbred lines of maize. The experiment was laid out in a 6 x 6 lattice randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two replications. Agronomic performance was measured by collecting and analyzing data on plant height, ear height, disease scores of maize streak virus and gray leaf spot and grain yield. Data was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Genstat 12 program for individual single crosses. Mean separation was done using Tukey's comparison method at 5% significance level. Results: The best performing crosses in Muguga were also the best in Embu on grain yield production with exception of cross MUL 516 x MUL508 which had a mean grain yield of 11.9 t/ha in Muguga but produced 2.7 t/ha in Embu which was attributed to other factors other than genetic makeup. Variation in yield showed a diverse genetic background of genotypes studied under these conditions. The grain yield ranged between 1.01 t/ha (MUL533 x MUL513) to 11.9 t/ha (MUL 516 x MUL 508) both in Muguga). The best performing cross for grain yield in Muguga was MUL 516 x MUL 508) while in Embu the best performing cross for grain yield was MUL541 x POPA. Data on disease scores where natural infestation was visually scored showed that majority of the crosses had a score of one confirming their near immunity status. Conclusions: For grain yield improvement crosses MUL508 x MUL688, POPA x MUL14, MUL513 x MUL114 and MUL513 x CN244 can further be evaluated and eventually released to farmers as they indicated promising relationship with yield potential compared to other crosses. Further research on agronomic performance of the crosses can be done not only in the research sites but also in other regions of Kenya.


The behavior of three phase five leg transformer under voltage sag is studied in this paper. This paper proposes a simple, practical model of a three phase-five leg, saturated transformer with accurate performance. Transformer saturation is produced when the voltage sag is recovered and it causes inrush current in transformer. Effects of voltage sag depth, duration and initial point on wave have been analyzed in this paper. Initial point on wave can produce maximum inrush current in five leg transformers while comparing with three leg transformers. The magnetic circuit symmetry of five leg transformer produces the more symmetrical shape of inrush current curves versus initial point on wave and sag duration than three leg transformer. The simulations show that current peak has a periodical dependence on sag duration and linear dependence on sag depth. Inrush current that is produced in three phase five leg transformer is higher than three phase three leg transformer. Keywords—Inrush current, three phase five leg transformer, saturation, voltage sag.


The present study evaluated the presence of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes in four plants producing PDO Taleggio cheese. A total of 360 environmental samples were collected from different areas during production. The sampling points were identified as Food Contact Surfaces (FCS), transfer-Non Food Contact Surfaces (tr-NFCS), and non-transfer-NFCS (non-tr-NFCS). Fifty-nine ingredients/products were also analyzed. Listeria spp. was found in all the plants with a mean prevalence of 23.1%; plants that included a ripening area showed significantly higher prevalence if compared to the other plants. The positivity rate detected on FCS was moderate (~12%), but significantly lower if compared to NFCS (about 1/4 of the samples, p < 0.01). Among the FCS, higher prevalence was revealed on ripening equipment. Listeria spp. was never detected in the ingredients or products. A total of 125 Listeria spp. isolates were identified, mostly as L. innocua (almost 80%). L. monocytogenes was detected only from two FCS samples, in an area dedicated to the cutting of ripened blue cheeses; strain characterization by whole genome sequencing (WGS) evidenced a low virulence of the isolates. The results of the present study stress the importance of Listeria spp. management in the dairy plants producing PDO Taleggio and similar cheeses, mainly by the application of strict hygienic practices.


Web 2.0 has become a leading health communication platform and will continue to attract young users; therefore, the objective of this study was to understand the impact of Web 2.0 on health information seeking behavior among university students in Bangladesh. A random sample of adults (n = 199, mean 23.75 years, SD 2.87) participated in a cross-sectional, a survey that included the eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS) assessed use of Web 2.0 for health information. Collected data were analyzed using a descriptive statistical method and t-tests. Finally logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine associations between sociodemographic, social determinants, and use of Web 2.0 for seeking and sharing health information. Almost 74% of older Web 2.0 users (147/199, 73.9%) reported using popular Web 2.0 websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to find and share health information. Current study support that current Web-based health information seeking and sharing behaviors influence health-related decision making.


Author(s): Leal, Raul Andrew | Advisor(s): Sarpong, Richmond | Abstract: This dissertation describes our syntheses of natural product scaffolds and alkaloid natural products, with a focus on the development of new and interesting methods for carbon–nitrogen (C–N) bond formation. The first chapter discusses our synthesis of the pentacyclic core of arboflorine, a Kopsia indole alkaloid. Our synthetic sequence features the use of an efficient Heck coupling and a regioselective Ir-catalyzed C–H borylation to form a highly substituted methoxypicoline derivative and a convergent Suzuki–Miyaura cross coupling of a 2-bromo tryptamine derivative. For our key step in the synthesis, we report an unusual transannular, radical-mediated, dehydrogenative C(sp2)–N bond formation to furnish the pentacyclic core of arboflorine. In the second chapter, we discuss our formal syntheses of the poly-alkylated indole natural products, cis-trikentrin A and herbindole B. Given their modest complexity, these molecules have been the target of syntheses by numerous groups mainly to highlight new synthetic methods. We investigated a divergent approach, using a common meso hydroquinone intermediate. En route to synthesizing the target compounds, we discovered a new chemical transformation—using Pd-catalyzed C–H activation conditions developed by Jin-Quan Yu and co-workers, we were able to transform an ortho-ethyl aniline to the corresponding indole in one step. This bond formation method allowed us to exploit the pseudo-symmetry of the target compounds by using a symmetrical hydroquinone precursor. In the third chapter, we investigate the possibility of making our syntheses of cis-trikentrin A and herbindole B enantioselective. We explored methods of asymmetric desymmetrization of the meso hydroquinone intermediate used for both syntheses. These methods were explored in collaboration with different people and groups including Dr. Caroline Bischof from our lab, Dr. Ana Hurtley from Prof. Scott Miller's lab at Yale University, and Luke Latimer and Zachary Russ from Prof. John Dueber's lab in the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley.


In this study, we developed a novel biomimetic electrochemical sensor sensitized with a Fe3O4@carboxyl-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotube/chitosan nanocomposite layer using a molecularly imprinted film as a recognition element for the rapid detection of acephate and trichlorfon. The performance of the imprinted sensor was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry, and the results indicated that the sensor exhibited fast responses to both acephate and trichlorfon. The imprinted sensor had good linear current responses to acephate and trichlorfon concentrations in the ranges from 1.0 × 10(-4) to 1.0 × 10(-10) M and 1.0 × 10(-5) to 1.0 × 10(-11) M, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the imprinted sensor had low limits of detection (signal to noise ratio, S/N = 3) of 6.81 × 10(-11) M for acephate and 8.94 × 10(-12) M for trichlorfon. The developed method was successfully applied to detect acephate and trichlorfon spiked in fortified kidney bean and cucumber samples with good recoveries ranging from 85.7% to 94.9% and relative standard deviations of 3.46-5.18%.


A computation method to determine the induction minimum level of the stationary transverse magnetic field (TMF) has been offered; given the field removing drops from the butt ends of electrodes 3, 4, 5mm in diameter that results in an increase of the electrodes melting productivity. Research has shown that building up under transverse magnetic field (TMF) results in the slant of the butt ends of the electrode, and TMF induction increasing the slant angle in relation to the horizon increases. The computation method takes account of the slant on the butt end of the electrode. The method of balance of the followings integral forces, acting on a drop at building up under TMF is used in the computation method: electromagnetic force resulting from building-up current in the drop and TMF induction transverse constituent interaction; the force and the drop weight force. The drop on the electrode butt end was approximated as a semiellipsoid. It has been stated that at the building-up current is equal to 500A, TMF induction of TMF, at which the drop tears away from the butt ends of the electrodes, does not much depend on the diameter of the electrodes and is approximately 20 mTl. Current increasing, induction of TMF diminishes. It is true for the height of the drop equal the electrode radius. The height of the drop reducing by one half, the induction is doubled. The calculated information was checked experimentally. THF induction is taken to be minimum if the electrode melting coefficient is increased by 5% as compared to that at hidden arc building-up at no-TMF conditions. The experimental and the calculated data agree very closely for 3 and 4mm diameter electrodes. For 5mm diameter electrodes the experimental data are less than the calculated data. Can it be explained that at melting 5mm diameter electrode the drops are bigger than at melting 3mm diameter electrode, that resulting in more effective induction. The data can be recommended for being used for hidden arc building-up with TMF


OBJECTIVE
To assess whether the immunopositivity of S6K1, a crucial effector of the mTOR signaling pathway, varies between early-stage low-grade and advanced-stage high-grade endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma (EEA) as well as to discuss its prognostic significance.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A total of 22 normal endometrial tissue samples (Control group) and 41 EEA specimens (Study group) were enrolled in the study, and all the samples underwent immunohistochemical staining for S6 kinase alpha (S6K1). The study group was further evaluated in two subgroups; stage 1A, grade 1 (Group 1) and stage ≥1A, grade 2 or 3 (Group 2). Group 2 patients were considered as a poor prognosis for EEA. The samples were examined by two independent pathologists. Statistical analyses were performed using the Student's t-test for continuous variables, the Chi-square test for categorical variables, and one-way analysis of variance for the comparison of multiple variables.

RESULTS
The immunopositivity rate for all the included EEA patients was 56.1%, whereas none of the 22 normal endometrial tissue samples revealed immunoreactivity for S6K1. The immunopositivity rates were significantly different between Groups 1 and 2 [38.1% (8/21) and 75.0% (15/20), respectively, p=0.039]. When S6K1 positivity was used as a criterion of poor prognosis in EEA, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated to be 62%, 75%, 72%, and 65%, respectively (OR: 4.9 and 95% CI: 1.3-18.7).

CONCLUSION
S6K1 was positive in the majority of EEAs and malignancies at an advanced stage. Higher grade disease had a significantly higher rate of S6K1 positivity. S6K1 immunopositivity appears to be a promising method to predict poor prognosis in EEA.


The synthesis and characterization of a series of 1-3D cyanide-bridged iron(II)-copper(I) bimetallic coordination polymers formulated as {Fe(3-Xpy)(2)[Cu(3-Xpy)(z)(CN)(2)](2)}, where 3-Xpy is a 3-halogenpyridine ligand with X = F (z = 1.5, 1), Cl (z = 1, 2 and 3), Br (z = 1, 4), and I (z = 1, 5), are reported. In all derivatives, the Fe(II) ion lies in pseudoctahedral [FeN(6)] sites defined by four in situ formed [Cu(3-Xpy)(z)(CN)(2)](-) bridging ligands and two 3-Xpy terminal ligands occupying the equatorial and axial positions, respectively. 1 consists of stacks of corrugated grids whose square windows are defined by pseudotrigonal and pseudotetrahedral [Cu(3-Fpy)(CN)(2)](-) and [Cu(3-Fpy)(2)(CN)(2)](-) units, respectively. 2 is a 3D coordination polymer with the topology of the open-framework CdSO(4). The [Cu(3-Clpy)(CN)(2)](-) rods connecting the pseudooctahedral Fe(II) sites are arranged in such a way that interpenetration is avoided. 3, an architectural isomer of 2, is defined by arrays of linear chains. 4 and 5 are isostructural to 3. Polymer 1 is essentially a low-spin (LS) compound with ca. 19% of residual Fe(II) ions in the high-spin (HS) state at 293 K. It undergoes an irreversible spin transition at T(c) = 356 K. Subsequent cooling-warming cycles give a new spin-crossover behavior characterized by T(c) = 187 K. The structural analysis at 130 and 293 K and at 293 K after irreversible transformation (293 K*) reveals a large unit cell volume variation of 67 A(3) per Fe atom. In addition to the volume change associated with the spin-state conversion, remarkable bond and angle modifications around the Cu(I) sites account for the high flexible nature of the crystal. 2 displays a complete not well-resolved two-step spin conversion, T(c1) = 169 K and T(c2) = 210 K, reflecting the occurrence of two distinct crystallographically Fe(II) sites. The large unit cell volume variation per Fe atom in 2, 59 A(3), has been rationalized in terms similar to those for 1. 1D polymers 3-5 are HS compounds.


In this research , the energy loss of electronic to projected carbon, oxygen and protons were calculated in targets (Adipose tissue, Skeletal muscle, and Brain)With using Bohr equation and Bethe equation with Bloch correction and Shell correction at the energy range of (20_500) MeV . The calculations were compared with the experimental data of the SRIM 2012 .Since Bohr equation is classic, its results were a difference from the results of the practical program. As for Bethe's quantum equation, its results were Bloch correction that was closest to the practical program. As for the shell correction, it recorded a difference at specific energies and then began to approach with increasing range of used energy.


Summary
In reticulocyte lysates maize rayado fino virus RNA directed the synthesis of a large number of polypeptides ranging in M
r from 15000 to 165000. Partial proteolysis showed that many of the larger polypeptides contained the same peptides. When tRNA was added to the lysate proportionally more of the large M
r products were produced. No polypeptides were detected that comigrated with coat proteins and no coat protein was detected in translation products by ELISA or by immunoprecipitation. We found little evidence of polyprotein degradation among the translation products and no evidence for encapsidated subgenomic mRNAs for the capsid polypeptides.


The authors investigate the formation of local spin moments of transition metal impurities diluted in free-electron-like monovalent hosts by performing self-consistent, local spin density functional calculations for all the 3d elements embedded in jellium. The magnetic behaviour of the impurity is studied systematically by varying continuously the jellium density from zero up to a critical value, at which the magnetic moment disappears. The results are in good agreement with the results of other calculations and the available experimental data.


This chapter introduces the role of Data Mining (DM) for Business Intelligence (BI) in Knowledge Management (KM), thus explaining the concept of KM, BI, and DM; the relationships among KM, BI, and DM; the practical applications of KM, BI, and DM; and the emerging trends toward practical results in KM, BI, and DM. In order to solve existing BI problems, this chapter also describes practical applications of KM, BI, and DM (in the fields of marketing, business, manufacturing, and human resources) and the emerging trends in KM, BI, and DM (in terms of larger databases, high dimensionality, over-fitting, evaluation of statistical significance, change of data and knowledge, missing data, relationships among DM fields, understandability of patterns, integration of other DM systems, and users' knowledge and interaction). Applying DM for BI in the KM environments will enhance organizational performance and achieve business goals in the digital age.


When patients are evaluated for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the possibility of HIV type 2 (HIV-2) infection should be considered in individuals who may have acquired infection in West Africa or from an individual from that area. A 45.6% error rate in HIV-2 test ordering was observed among patients at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, this was attributed in large part to the order entry screen, which may have confused ward clerks who were entering HIV testing ordered by clinicians. Modification of the order entry screen and consultation with clinical laboratory personnel for diagnostic HIV-2 testing were effective in reducing the rate of errors tenfold, to 4.3%.


The article presents the clinical observation effectiveness of TNF-a inhibitor etanercept in patients with generalized pustular psoriasis and PsA, resistant to treatment by other drugs of this class. It presents the current recommendations for the management of patients with pustular psoriasis.


A substantial minority of children with epilepsy have continued seizures despite adequate trials of standard antiseizure medications. To maximize seizure control and thereby optimize their neurodevelopmental outcomes, alternate nonmedication therapies should be considered for these patients. Dietary therapies, including the ketogenic diet and its variations, have been available for years. With a recent resurgence in popularity and expansion of indications, these treatments can lead to freedom from seizures or a significantly reduced seizure burden for a large number of patients. For carefully selected individuals, resective epilepsy surgery may offer the best hope for a cure. For others, palliation may be achieved through additional surgical approaches, such as corpus callosotomy and multiple subpial transections, or through neurostimulation techniques, such as the vagus nerve stimulator. In this review, we present these nonmedication approaches to treatment-resistant childhood epilepsy, with attention to patient selection and the potential risks and benefits.


This paper presents a multi-band multi-target (MBMT) directional modulation (DM) transmitter with low complexity crosstalk-cancelled digital predistortion (DPD). For a 16QAM 20 MHz bandwidth signal with −20 dB crosstalk, 8.0 dB PAPR, and 0.7 DM power efficiency (PE) level, the corresponding error vector magnitude (EVM) and the adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) are 2.14% and -50 dBc after the proposed crosstalk-cancelled DPD. Compared with the 2×2 parallel Hammerstein (2×2 PH) DPD, the proposed DPD reduces the computational complexity without sacrificing the linearization performance. It only has 37.5% of the number of coefficients of the 2×2 PH model. To our best knowledge, it is the first time that the nonlinear distortion of the power amplifiers (PA) and the crosstalk between paths are simultaneously considered in an MBMT DM transmitter.


Catalyzed by Fe, novel a coral-like boron nitride (BN) micro-/nanostructure was synthesized from B2O3 by a ball milling and annealing process. Observations of the morphology of the product indicated that the coral-like BN micro-/nanostructure consists of a bamboo-shaped nanotube stem and dense h-BN nanoflakes growing outward on the surface of the nanotube. Experimental results showed that the morphology of the BN nanotube was greatly dependent on the anneal process parameters. With the annealing time increasing from 0.5 h to 4 h, the morphology developed from smooth BN nanotubes, with a diameter size of around 100 nm, to rough, coral-like boron nitride with a large diameter of 3.6 μm. The formation mechanism of this coral-like BN micro-/nanostructure is a two-stage growth process: bamboo-shaped BN nanotubes are first generated through a vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism and then nanoflakes grow surrounding the surface of the nanotube. Acid pickling and a hydrolysis process were carried out to remove Fe, iron nitrogen and unreacted B2O3 impurities.


High precision machining technology has become one of the important parts in the development of a precision machine. Such a machine requires high precision positioning as well as high speed on a large workspace. For machining systems having a high precision positioning with a long stroke, it is necessary to examine the repeatability of reference position decision. Though ball-screw driven linear stages equipped linear scale have high precision feed drivers and a long stroke, they have some limitations for reference position decision if they have not equipped the accurate home sensor. This study is performed to experimentally examine the repeatability for home position decision of a magnetic sensor as a home switch of ball-screw driven linear stage by using capacitance probe.


Agriculture sector in India faces many problems in enhancing production with available natural resources. Soft computing techniques shows great ability in solving problems like crop selection, crop planning, irrigation planning, water resources management, vegetable production etc. has been discussed in the present paper. In first stage focus has been made on soft computing and its components. In second stage different techniques which have been used in improving crop production based on soft computing with merits and demerits are discussed. Survey table is prepared after doing literature survey on existing work on soft computing which is useful in understanding problems and corresponding problem solving technique which gives a better way to crop production and precision agriculture.


The paper suggests an operationally usable framework for the evaluation of growth inclusiveness—the inclusive growth framework (IGF). Based on the data on growth, poverty, and inequality, the framework allows for the quantitative assessment of growth inclusiveness. The assessment relies on the decomposition of the change in poverty into growth, distribution, and decile effects, which can be calculated using the Distributive Analysis Stata Package (DASP). Availability of at least two household surveys is the main precondition for the use of the IGF. The application of the IGF is illustrated with two country cases of Senegal and Djibouti. JEL Classification Numbers: D90, E25, I32


We study random two-dimensional spanning forests in the plane that can be viewed both in the discrete case and in their appropriately taken scaling limits as a uniformly chosen spanning tree with some Poissonian deletion of edges or points. We show how to relate these scaling limits to a stationary distribution of a natural coalescent-type Markov process on a state-space of abstract graphs with real-valued edge-weights. This Markov process can be interpreted as a renormalization flow.
This provides a model for which one can rigorously implement the formalism proposed by the third author in order to relate the law of the scaling limit of a critical model to a stationary distribution of such a renormalization/Markov process: When starting from any two-dimensional lattice with constant edge-weights, the Markov process does indeed converge in law to this stationary distribution that corresponds to a scaling limit of UST with Poissonian deletions.
The results of this paper heavily build on the convergence in distribution of branches of the UST to SLE$_2$ (a result by Lawler, Schramm and Werner) as well as on the convergence of the suitably renormalized length of the loop-erased random walk to the "natural parametrization" of the SLE$_2$ (a recent result by Lawler and Viklund).


Objective: To assess the association of fatty liver with type 2 diabetes and other socio-demographic factors among the patients at Pak Emirates military hospital Rawalpindi.
Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical Study.
Place and Duration of Study: Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan from Aug 2019 to Jan 2020.
Methodology: This study was conducted on 300 patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus reporting for a routine checkup at the medical Outpatient department. Fatty liver was diagnosed on ultrasound by a consultant radiologist.
Results: Out of three hundred patients with diabetes mellitus included in the final analysis, 225(75.0%) were males, and 75(25.0%) were females. 176(58.6%) had fatty liver on ultrasound, while 124(41.4%) had no fatty liver on ultrasound examination at the time of the study. we found that increasing age, long duration of diabetes and poor control of illness had a statistically significant relationship with the presence of fatty liver among the target population (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Patients with type 2 diabetes had a high frequency of fatty liver on routine ultrasound examinations. In addition,patients with more age, long duration of diabetes mellitus and poor control of illness were at a high risk of developing fatty liver among the study participants.


Abstract: Background and Aim of the study: The landfill leachate is contains various contaminates that can effect on quality of surface water and wells. In this study influence of the leachate from Albourz landfill in Qom (Qom, Iran) was investigated on quality of groundwater. Material and methods: In this experimental study, Samples were collected from wells around the landfill site. Various physical, chemical and biological parameters were detected. All tests were performed according to the Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. Findings were compared with Iran national drinking water standard. Results: Findings show that the highest level of pH 7.76 mg/l, nitrate34.12 mg/l, phosphate 8.84 mg/l, total hardness 2095 mg/l, electrical conductivity 14850 s/cm, total dissolved solids 5841 mg/l, Ca +2 2.5 mg/l, Mg +2 30.11 mg/l, Na + 112 mg/l, K + 28.8 mg/l, ,  and biological oxygen demand 4.5 mg/l . The results of microbiological tests were reported negative. Conclusion: Results obtained in this study confirm that the quality of the groundwater resource underlying Albourz landfill hasn't been significantly impacted. The results of experiment of the following specific parameters   , TH and TDS are above the highest permissible levels allowed by Iran national Standards for Drinking Water.


This paper is based on traffic control system using RFID. In the metropolitan city like Mumbai, Kolkata we have a severe malfunction of traffic control and various security problems. Firstly, there are  number of vehicles on road in such cities leading to mismanagement, Secondly breaking of traffic rules is quite obvious in such cities, thirdly nowadays we have severe security problems in traffic system due anti social elements. This paper suggest a user friendly automated traffic control system which will automatically detect a vehicle using the RFID active tag attached to the vehicle and as soon as the vehicle passes by a reader, this process would lead to identification of each vehicle reducing traffic malfunction and also reducing security problems.  This could be only possible by use of RFID tickets and mesh network can be used to make the traffic control smooth and travelling very precise. This paper basically deals with the identification and positioning a vehicle for automated traffic control system.


This study attempted to find an alternative method for fine dust control in the pre-exiting facilities of metrosubway stations. A new double-layer design was proposed for the MVAC (mechanical ventilation and air control) system. Several filter lay-outs were combined a pre-filter with electret filter (EF), electret bundle filter (EBF), or electret pleated filter (EPF), and were then examined focusing on the collection efficiency of particulate matters and pressure drop across the filter layers. The experimental results from the lab and field tests showed the best collection efficiency with EPF, which achieved 85% for PM 10 and 55% for PM 2.5 . It was also found from the long term field test that the new filter lay-out could provide quite consistent dust level particularly in underground platform regardless of external condition.


Energy has been identified as one of the most important problems during the last few years. While energy generation and new energy resources are critical, energy efficiency in production, transportation and utilization are as important as well. One of those energy efficient technologies may reduce consumed energy in buildings from 20 percent to less than 5 percent. A novel lighting technology has recently been evolved as light emitting diodes (LEDs) that can be over 7-10 times more efficient than conventional-old incandescent lamps. Therefore, LED lighting systems have been rapidly replacing conventional energy-hungry lighting products like incandescent lamps and more recently environmentally hazardous fluorescent lamps. While LEDs may produce large amounts of lumens, they are solid state based technologies similar to computer chips so they have to be kept cool at certain chip junction temperature. The demand for high light output LED systems lead to significant heat generation rates, so that higher heat fluxes result in elevated junction temperatures on LED chips in SSL lighting systems. Moreover, the changes on the junction temperature strongly impact the reliability, lifetime, light output and quality of the light. Because of their simplicity, reliability, low cost and silent operation, passive air-cooling systems are preferred in LED lamps. Passive metal based heat sinks are the main cooling components of typical LED lamps serves for both LEDs and driver electronics. Heat is dissipated generally from finned surfaces to ambient air with primarily convection mechanism and partially radiation. But it requires a large surface area and weight under the limitations of the standardized lamps. Thus, the optimization of the heat sink in an LED system is crucial. Developing figure of merits (FOM) is very important for designers and researchers to find the most optimal solution accounting for critical metrics such as size, weight, cost and performance. In the present study, thermal, electrical and optical experimental results of various commercial A-line LED lamps are investigated and a number of FOMs are proposed based on the performance, size and weight. Proposed FOMs aim to evaluate different aspects by combining a number of performance metrics. Results show that one can combine and analyze multi-purpose design parameters for thermal, electrical and optical performances and manufacturing for engineers and consumers.


Six cationic protein bands were identified in extracts of both normal bovine blood neutrophils and their granules subjected to polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. Band 1, the most cationic protein, was as positively charged as crystalline egg white lysozyme, and band 2 was as positively charged as ribonuclease. Antibacterial activity of various leukocyte fractions and cationic proteins was determined in vitro for Enterobacter aerogenes strain 2412-2. Antibacterial activity of various preparations was proportional to amount of test material present and varied inversely with number of bacteria in the test system. Comparative evaluations revealed that the neutrophil granule fraction had greater antibacterial activity than the whole cell homogenate or individual cationic proteins. Among cationic proteins, band 1 had the highest antibacterial activity, band 2 had the lowest, and band 3 had intermediate antibacterial activity. Cationic protein bands 4, 5, and 6 exhibited growth stimulatory rather than a growth inhibitory activity.


Humans are unique creatures, have differences from one another. Whether it's differences in race, ethnicity, personality, hair color, etc. No human being in this world is exactly the same, each individual is different from one another. Individual differences are a gift from Allah SWT because these differences can produce extraordinary character and intelligence in each individual. In terms of learning and remembering, individuals also have different characteristics. Therefore, as an educator, teachers are expected to be able to understand and understand the understanding of each student in order to know how to distinguish each of these differences in a good direction. This article looks at individual differences in Learning and Remembering


With the surge in modern research focus towards Pervasive Computing, lot of techniques and challenges needs to be addressed so as to effectively create smart spaces and achieve miniaturization. In the process of scaling down to compact devices, the real things to ponder upon are the Information Retrieval challenges. In this work, we discuss the aspects of multimedia which makes information access challenging. An Example Pattern Recognition scenario is presented and the mathematical techniques that can be used to model uncertainty are also presented for developing a system that can sense, compute and communicate in a way that can make human life easy with smart objects assisting from around his surroundings.


Objective: Chitosan (CS)–tri polyphosphate (TPP)–nano particles (NPs) have been extensively studied during the past few decades due to their well-recognized applicability in various fields. Thus, the present study was aimed to optimise the fabrication conditions for the preparation of CS-TPP-NPs aiming towards smallest possible size, optimal zeta potential and narrow poly dispersity index (PDI), simultaneously. Methods: CS-TPP-NPs were prepared via ionic cross-linking of CS and TPP and were characterized physico-chemically (particle size, zeta potential and PDI) and morphologically. The influence of several formulation conditions (CS concentrations, CS: TPP mass ratio and initial pH of CS solutions) and process parameters (stirring speed, stirring time, ultra-sonication and ultra-centrifugation) on the colloidal characteristics of CS-TPP-NPs were investigated. In addition, the colloidal stability of the prepared NPs was also assessed on storage. Results: Results clearly identified that the formulation and process parameters showed significant impact on the physico-chemical and morphological characteristics of the CS-TPP-NPs. The CS-TPP-NPs prepared under optimum conditions (CS concentration of 0.2 mg/ml, CS: TPP mass ratio of 7:1, initial pH of CS solution of 4.0, stirred at 700 rpm for 10 min and ultra-centrifuged at 25 000 rpm for 30 min) had shown a mean particle size of ~187±21 nm, zeta potential of+37±3.5 mV, PDI of ~0.28±0.0390 as well as the smooth and round shaped morphology. Conclusion: The present study describes the optimal circumstances to fabricate the CS-TPP-NPs with finest physico-chemical characteristics and also explore the prospects of manipulation and optimisation of the NPs for intended applications. Keywords: Chitosan nanoparticles, Ionic cross-linking, Morphology, Ultra-sonication, Ultra-centrifugation, Colloidal stability


The influence of past microclimates on the morphology and distribution of clasts is considered for relict large-scale sorted polygons in the KrkonošeMountains (Czech Republic). Sixty-two sorted polygons with an average length of 194 cm and an average height of 21.5 cm were measured at four sites on Mt Luční hora, at elevations of 1455 to 1555m asl. The polygons consist of tabular clasts with a mean length of 11 cm at the borders and 5 cm in the interiors. Smaller polygons are better sorted because of the shorter distances for the clasts to reach their borders. Polygons with greater relative height are better sorted due to more intensive slope processes associated with differential frost heaving. Better sorted and more domed polygons at higher altitudes suggest more severe and longer-lasting microclimates suitable for the development of sorted polygons. The altitudinal gradient in polygon morphology and sorting suggests the dominant role of microclimate in the periglacial environment of the summit area of the Krkonoše Mountains during the Last Glacial/Holocene period. Polygon development probably involves positive feedback between morphology and frost susceptibility, driven by microclimate. The proposedmethod for evaluating frost sorting allows for rapid non-invasive assessment of sorting using modern methods including high-resolution remote sensing (especially terrestrial photogrammetry). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Combined with ancient literature, the authors put forward three roles of Chuaixue in acupuncture manipulation. First, it can ascertain the location of the acupoints, divert the patient's attention and alleviate the sufferings of patient. The second one, it can consolidate ying, wei, qi and blood system. Third, it can discriminate the variations of qi activity and control the trend of needling sensation. To take these advantages of Chuaixue, the doctors must regulate himself vitality firstly. Therefore, we should pay more attention to not only the manipulation of the right hand but also the roles of Chuaixue operated by the left hand, and cooperate perfectly with both hands so as to improve the therapeutic effect of acupuncture.


The SIP "Caller Preferences" extension defined in RFC 3840 provides a
mechanism that allows a SIP request to convey information relating to
the originator's capabilities and preferences for handling of that
request. The SIP REFER method defined in RFC 3515 provides a mechanism
that allows one party to induce another to initiate a SIP request.
This document extends the REFER method to use the mechanism of RFC
3840. By doing so, the originator of a REFER may inform the recipient
as to the characteristics of the target that the induced request is
expected to reach. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


In this paper we present SAN-Logic, a lightweight logic-based programming paradigm that enables the dynamic progammability and configuration of sensor-actuator interactions in wireless sensor networks used to support Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Our goal is to simplify complex CPS design by providing a structured model of interactions that can be automatically mapped and deployed to a sensor-actuator network in an efficient and scalable manner. In contrast to sensor networking paradigms that distribute an application into individual sub-programs, SAN-Logic models the system as a set of boolean expressions which can be partitioned across the network like gates in a circuit. The user defines interactions as timed asynchronous sequential logic expressions [1] with sensors and actuators representing the inputs and outputs of the system. This approach is highly scalable since once deployed each interaction takes place as a sequence of independent and asynchronous events. This allows SAN-Logic to operate in a fully distributed manner without a central authority. Using this framework, optimization takes place across multiple tasks enabling sharing of resources within the network which will be an important part of future CPS. Redundant routes and the stateless nature of combinational logic (along with periodic state update messages) allow the system to easily cope with packet-loss and failed nodes. A major benefit of this approach is the ability to leverage existing hardware design and synthesis tools used by the VLSI design community. We demonstrate how boolean manipulation of the logic can be used to alter the mapping of expressions onto the network and hence can be used for optimization and verification. We provide an approach using logic simplification and mapping that reduces message passing by factoring common terms across different data paths within tasks and placing intermediate terms such that they benefit from shorter paths. In complex systems, we see on average a 40% reduction in message passing as compared to an implementation that does not optimize communication patterns within and across tasks.


This study was conducted to evaluate soil erosion risk with a standard unit watershed in the upper Han river basin using the spatial soil erosion map according to the change of landuse. The study area is 14,577 ㎢, which consists of 10 subbasins, 107 standard unit watersheds. Total annual soil loss and soil loss per area estimated were 895 × 10 4 Mg yr -1 and 6.1 Mg ha -1 yr -1 , respectively. A result of analysis with a subbasin as a unit showed that annual soil losses and soil loss per area in Namhan river basins was more than in Bukhan river ones. Predicted annual soil loss according to the landuse ranked as Forest & Grassland > Upland >> Urban & Fallow area > Paddy field > Orchard. Upland area covered 6.2% of the study area, but the contribution of total annul soil loss was 40.6% and that of Forest & Grassland was 44.2%. As a evaluation of soil erosion risk using the spatial soil erosion map, we could precisely conformed the potential hazardous region of soil erosion in each unit watersheds. The ratio of regions, graded as higher "Moderate" for annual soil loss, were respectively 8.7%, 7.9% and 7.8% in 1001, 1002 and 1003 subbasins in Namhan river basin. Most landuse of these area was upland, and these area is necessary to establish soil conservation practices to reduce soil erosion based on the field observation.


Aim: This study was planned with the hypothesis that atherosclerosis is in the etiology of peripheral artery disease (PAD), whether symptomatic or not, and therefore thrombocyte-related parameters could show variability. Material and Methods: A retrospective examination was made of the laboratory records of 48 patients who presented at the Cardiovascular Surgery Polyclinic with mild or severe symptoms and were diagnosed with PAD and a control group of 33 healthy individuals. Results: No difference was determined between the patient and control groups in respect of age, gender, Platelet Count (Plt), C-reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), Mean Platelet Volume ( MPV), Hemoglobin (Hgb) and White Blood Cells (WBC ) values. The Platelet distribution width (PDW) value of the patient group was found to be statistically significantly higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). PDW was determined with high sensitivity (58.3%) and specificity 861%) for PAD. Conclusion: In an individual developing PAD, the onset of the atherosclerotic process in the vascular structure is a warning. According to the data obtained in this study, elevated PDW can be used as a marker that the atherosclerotic process has started in the vascular


Cycloarene molecules are benzene-ring-based polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that have been fused in a circular manner and are surrounded by carbon–hydrogen bonds that point inward. Due to their magnetic, geometric, and electronic characteristics and superaromaticity, these polycyclic aromatics have received attention in a number of studies. The kekulene molecule is a cyclically organized benzene ring in the shape of a doughnut and is the very first example of such a conjugated macrocyclic compound. Due to its structural characteristics and molecular characterizations, it serves as a great model for theoretical research involving the investigation of π electron conjugation circuits. Therefore, in order to unravel their novel electrical and molecular characteristics and foresee potential applications, the characterization of such components is crucial. In our current research, we describe two unique series of enormous polycyclic molecules made from the extensively studied base kekulene molecule, utilizing the essential graph-theoretical tools to identify their structural characterization via topological quantities. Rectangular kekulene Type-I and rectangular kekulene Type-II structures were obtained from base kekulene molecules arranged in a rectangular fashion. We also employ two subcases for each Type and, for all of these, we derived ten topological indices. We can investigate the physiochemical characteristics of rectangular kekulenes using these topological indices.


Isomorphous boron-substituted HZSM-5 ([B,H]ZSM-5) zeolite was directly synthesized by a solid-phase method, and its properties were characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, N2 adsorption/desorption, FT-IR, ICP-AES, NH3-TPD, py-FTIR, TG, GC-MS, solid MAS-NMR, and UV-vis of Co2+. It was found that the acid distribution was tuned, and the AlF siting was changed when boron was introduced into the ZSM-5 framework, which significantly affected the catalytic performance of BHZ samples in the MTP reaction. The preferential occupation of boron atoms in the channel intersections and sinusoidal channels caused AlF to be sited in the straight and sinusoidal channels, which simultaneously tuned acid distribution and weakened the acid strength in the channel intersections. These changes tuned the dual-cycle mechanism of the MTP reaction, resulting in a lower carbon deposition rate and longer lifetime for BHZ samples, especially for 2.5-BHZ, by comparison with HZ samples.


We investigate neural techniques for end-to-end computational argumentation mining (AM). We frame AM both as a token-based dependency parsing and as a token-based sequence tagging problem, including a multi-task learning setup. Contrary to models that operate on the argument component level, we find that framing AM as dependency parsing leads to subpar performance results. In contrast, less complex (local) tagging models based on BiLSTMs perform robustly across classification scenarios, being able to catch long-range dependencies inherent to the AM problem. Moreover, we find that jointly learning 'natural' subtasks, in a multi-task learning setup, improves performance.


ABSTRACT Circadian rhythm disruption is associated with immune system disturbance and has been observed in many health problems where chronic-inflammation acts as a major contributor. We aim to examine whether rest-activity circadian rhythm is associated with chronic inflammation using white blood-cell-based inflammatory indices including white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII). We analyzed the data from 8089 adults (age≥20) with at least 4 days of validated accelerometer recordings and a valid WBC count from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2014. Non-parametric rest-activity circadian rhythm parameters were derived from the accelerometer recordings. In the models adjusting multiple covariates, a one-quantile increase in relative amplitude (i.e. more robust circadian rhythm) was associated with 1 × 108 cells/L decrease in WBC number (95% CI: 5 × 107 to 1.5 × 108, P < .001), 7 × 107 cells/L decrease in neutrophils (95% CI: 3 × 107 to 1.1 × 108, P = .003) and 15.2 × 109 /L decrease in SII (95% CI: 6 × 109 /L to 20 × 109/L, P = .019). Consistent results were also observed for the association of M10 value and L5 value with these inflammatory indices. Our results indicated that blunted rest-activity circadian rhythm is associated with increased white blood-cell-based inflammatory indices in adults, suggesting interventions aiming at enhancing circadian rhythm by lifestyle programs may be a novel approach to improve the general health.


The ESR investigation was performed in the paramagnetic region of the Gd(Al1-xMx)2 inter-metallic compounds where M identical to Pd, Cu, Ag, Ga, In and Sn. Using the measured thermal broadening of the linewidth the bottleneck parameter X= delta eL/ delta ei was calculated as a function of concentration x. An explicit dependence of the behaviour of the investigated compounds on the conduction electron (CE) concentration was ascertained. When the Al atoms were replaced by Pd, Cu or Ag atoms (a decrease in the number n of the CEs per unit cell), breaking of the bottleneck was observed; when the Ga or In atoms were substituted (the same n for all x), the bottleneck did not change; substituting the Sn atoms (an increase in n) caused strengthening of the bottleneck existing in the initial GdAl2 compound. All these changes described by the bottleneck parameter X against n lie along the same (identical for all non-magnetic M) curve. The observed effects are related to the changes in the relaxation rates between the systems of CEs and localised spins. These changes are stimulated by the changes in the density of states at the Fermi level, which can be understood on the basis of band-structure calculations.


As a social human and God's creature, people interacting with others through human communication (interpersonal communication). Interpersonal communication generally involves two people whose communicate each other, whether they already knew or never known each other. Berger and Calabresse (in West and Turner, 2013: 174) believed it is natural to have doubts about our ability to predict the outcome of initial encounters. He is also argued that the beginnings of personal relationships are fraught with uncertainties and communication becomes the primary method to reduce these uncertainties. On The Job Training Program is a program that was organized for the subsidiaries of Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM) Group that is in some countries such as Indonesia, Russia, China, Malaysia, etc. Since they start of the program in Japan, the participants especially from PT. Hitachi Construction Machinery Indonesia feel the differences such as the work climate, culture, and the personal character of the Japanese people. These differences make the participants feel the uncertainty. By applying Uncertainty Reduction Theory, this research is aim to examine uncertainties perceived by the participants On The Job Training Program of PT. Hitachi Construction Machinery Indonesia, especially in their interpersonal communication activities with other participants from Japan. In addition, this research aims to examine participant strategies to reduce these uncertainties.


Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents 3% of adult malignancies. About 30% of RCC patients develop metastatic disease. So far, drugs cannot significantly increase the survival of these patients. We present a recent review of proteomics and RCC. Proteomic technologies have been used in the research to discover new markers of RCC that might increase survival. Furthermore, newly discovered markers cannot increase patient survival, rather their prognostic value supporting therapeutic decisions or new agents targeted at these new markers. More research is required to develop proteomic technologies and biomarkers for identification and validation.


Ligand-receptor binding kinetics is an emerging topic in the drug research community. Over the past years, medicinal chemistry approaches from a kinetic perspective have been increasingly applied to G protein-coupled receptors including the adenosine receptors (AR), which are involved in a plethora of physiological and pathological conditions. The study of ligand-AR binding kinetics offers room for detailed structure-kinetics relationships next to more traditional structure-activity relationships. Their combination may facilitate the triage of candidate compounds in hit-to-lead campaigns. Furthermore, kinetic studies also help in understanding AR allosterism. Allosteric modulation may yield a change in the activity and conformation of a receptor resulting from the binding of a compound at a site distinct from where the endogenous agonist adenosine binds. Hence, in this Review, we summarize available data and evidence for the binding kinetics of orthosteric and allosteric AR ligands. We hope this Review will raise awareness to consider the kinetic aspects of drug-target interactions on both ARs and other drug targets.


Abstract- Agriculture development in traditions requires land to grow the commodity, either for consumption and industrial commodities. In one hand, it implies that land as resources is understood as an important and high value to attain sustainable agriculture development. In the other hand, land for agricultural use is realized as lower value than land for commercial purposes. That results on land conversion from agriculture to non-agricultural land such as land for settlement, and tends to happen increasingly at alarming rate. It dares to food supply which may not meet the demand. The paper discusses about how problematical of land competition for settlement and agriculture have been taking place in West Sumatra Province in Indonesia. How regulation on land use planning at national level is being implemented at the provincial or sub district/city level with regard to sustainable land for food and agriculture development. It is argued that land policy for agriculture and settlement development planning should be laid into an integrated and sustainable development planning thought.


In this article, abrasion performance of commercial nylon 6 and nylon 6/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites was studied. The polymer nanocomposites showed poor abrasion resistance compared to the neat polymer. The wear loss increased linearly with clay concentration. Changes in surface morphology, composition, and structure were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)-attenuated total reflection spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). SEM images showed that all the abraded surfaces contained fractured particles. However, the abraded nanocomposite surfaces had much deeper grooves compared to the homopolymer. FTIR results showed an increase in the amount of α crystals and a decrease in the amount of γ crystals on all the surfaces after abrasion. This was attributed to the strain-induced γ to α crystal transformation. The largest amount of α crystals was formed in the abraded surface of pure nylon 6, and the amount of α crystals formed decreased with increasing MMT content. XPS results showed an increase in the [Si]/[N] elemental ratio for all nanocomposites after abrasion, indicating an increase in the clay content of the surface. Abrasive wear mechanism is as follows: (1) tensile tearing is the dominant wear mechanism for all the samples; (2) the cutting mechanism becomes more important when MMT content increases; (3) the polymer matrix is easier to be removed than clay during the abrasion process; (4) in nylon 6/MMT systems, the poor abrasion resistance is attributed to defects at the clay-polymer interface, resulting in greater wear of the polymer matrix. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009


Changes in the dielectric properties, and their temperature dependence, related to the volume fraction of conducting filler for carbon black-polyethylene composites are discussed based on the effective medium approximation (EMA) theory. The composite satisfies the universal law of conductivity above the percolation threshold (p/sub c/) and gives a critical exponent of s=1 for the dielectric constant below p/sub c/. The rate of the decrement of the % changes of relative dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor with temperature for the composites below p/sub c/ is enhanced by increasing the volume fraction. By incorporating the effect of thermal expansion into the EMA theory, the temperature dependence of relative dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor is successfully explained.


A method is described whereby fresh specimens of neural tissues are examined in squashes under the phase microscope. When squashed in contact with the sensitive tetrazolium derivative known as 'INT', granules of formazan are precipitated around the mitochondria within the neurocytoplasm. Application of these techniques to squashes of the spinal cord of the ray has given a direct demonstration of the dehydrogenase activity of mitochondria within fibres of the white matter of the cord.


This paper is an introduction to this issue of review papers on the biological role of nitric oxide. The history, modern state, and promising directions for research in this field are briefly considered.


Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, the former CMS administrator who is president emeritus and senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, discusses cost variation in cancer care found through the digital classification system the COTA Nodal Address.


Adrenaline is often added to local anaesthetic solutions to minimize and slow the systemic absorption of local anaesthetics, and thus reduce the possibility of adverse effects of these drugs and to prolong duration of action. The authors compared the effects of epidural anaesthesia with lidocaine and lidocaine-adrenaline mixture on hemodynamic changes and lidocaine serum concentrations in dogs. A total of 10 dogs of both sexes were included in study. The animals were randomly divided into one of the two groups: the lidocaine group (Group L, n5) receiving 2% lidocaine 3.3 mg/kg and the second group (Group LA, n = 5) receiving 2% lidocaine solution containing adrenaline in the same dose and volume. Lidocaine serum concentrations and hemodynamic changes associated with epidural block were recorded at 5, 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes after local anaesthetic administration. The associated changes in respiratory rates (RR), partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO 2 ), pH and body temperature were also noted. Statistical analysis was performed for both inter-group and in-group comparisons of parameters. Heart rate and cardiac output increased signifi cantly in Group LA compared to baseline values. Arterial and pulmonary artery pressure decreased signifi cantly in Group L with signifi cant differences between the groups for the changes in these parameters. The mean serum concentrations of lidocaine were lower in Group LA compared to Group L at all times after administration. Addition of adrenaline to epidural lidocaine is associated with positive effects of adrenaline in preventing hypotension. However, because


Plenoptic cameras based on micro lens arrays as well as multi aperture cameras are able to capture a multitude of images with slightly shifted viewpoints. Although the amount of parallax between adjacent views is limited, precautions have to be taken in order to avoid alias when performing direct lightfield rendering. Against this background, we present an approach for the dense reconstruction of a lightfield based on a sparse lightfield acquired from a multi aperture camera with subsequent disparity estimation and depth image based view interpolation. Results show that the approach is suitable for all-in-focus-rendering.


Data on 42 children with systemic lupus erythematosus have been analyzed and compared with data from 200 adults with the disease. Among the children, the age of onset ranged from 3 to 15 years of age, with a peak for girls during adolescence. The age of onset among male patients, both adult and children, was constant for all decades and there was no cluster at any particular age.
 The disease in children was similar to that in adults except for a higher incidence of hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy among the children. Renal disease occurred with similar frequency in the two groups. It was generally unusual for additional system involvement to occur following diagnosis, although some patients who had no renal disease at the time of diagnosis did develop renal disease subsequently. Combined antimalarial and moderately high dose steroid therapy was employed. Renal involvement at the time of diagnosis reduced survival among both the adults and the children. The prognosis in childhood was decidedly worse than in adults. Models of survival were developed based upon crude mortality rates. Similar survival models may serve to study prognosis of other diseases and other management of lupus.


Problem statement. During operation, stationary large-aperture digital antenna arrays (DAA) are affected by climatic factors, including snow and ice cover. This influence inevitably leads to distortion of the amplitude-phase distribution (APD) of the field at the DAA aperture, which makes it necessary to consider and compensate for these factors on the APD of the antenna array field.Objective. Development of a more technically simple and precise method for compensating for APD field distortions at the aperture of a stationary large-aperture DAA caused by the influence of climatic factors of snow and ice cover.Results. The article analyzes the influence of climatic factors of snow and ice on the distortion of the APD field at the DAA aperture. The dependence of the power reduction of the probing signal on the thickness of the snow and ice layer at the aperture is obtained. The correction method of APD field distortions caused by climatic factors' influence is developed, which is characterized by simplicity of technical implementation and higher accuracy of correction of distortions. A technical realization of the method of correction of distortions of the APD field is proposed.Practical implications. The developed method can be used at the stages of creation and operation of stationary large-aperture DAAs, taking into account the influence of climatic factors of snow and ice cover on the field APD.


Abstract This prospective, randomized, open, international, multicenter study of adults with complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) compared the efficacy and safety of sequential intravenous (i.v.) to oral (p.o.) moxifloxacin 400 mg once daily, with that of i.v. ceftriaxone 2 g once daily, plus metronidazole 500 mg three times daily, followed by p.o. amoxicillin/clavulanate 625 mg three times daily. The primary efficacy variable was clinical cure at test of cure (TOC) (day 28-42 after study entry) in the per protocol (PP) population. Of 595 patients in the study, 511 patients were valid for PP analysis (246 moxifloxacin, 265 ceftriaxone/metronidazole). Sequential moxifloxacin was noninferior to the comparator regimen - clinical cure rates at TOC were 80.9% ver-sus 82.3% (moxifloxacin versus ceftriaxone/metronidazole; 95% CI -8.9, 4.2%). The incidence of adverse events was comparable between the two treatment groups. Therefore, sequential moxifloxacin monotherapy is as effective and safe as combination therapy with i.v. ceftriaxone plus i.v. metronidazole followed by oral amoxicillin/clavulanate for the treatment of cIAI.


Recent experimental data demonstrate that small, soluble amyloid-beta42 oligomers play an important role in Alzheimer's disease because they exhibit neurotoxic properties and also act as seed for fibril growth. We performed all-atom molecular dynamics simulations in explicit solvent of 0.7 micros in total on five Abeta9-42 oligomers (monomer through pentamer) starting from the fibril conformation. The initial conformation proves to be stable in the trimer to pentamer, and the two parallel in-register beta-sheets as well as the connecting turn are preserved. The dimer undergoes larger conformational changes in its C-terminus, and the predominant conformation detected exhibits an additional antiparallel beta-sheet in one of the subunits. This conformational rearrangement allows efficient shielding of hydrophobic residues from the solvent, which is not possible for a dimer in the fibril conformation. In addition to the presence of the hydrogen bonds in the beta-sheets, the larger oligomers are stabilized by interchain D23-K28 salt bridges, whereas a D23-N27 interaction is found in the dimer. The degree of structural similarity to the fibril conformation detected for the oligomers in the simulation may also offer a structural explanation for the experimental finding that trimers and tetramers act as more potent seeds in fibril formation than dimers because only small conformational changes will be required for fibril growth. The fact that the dimer predominantly exists in conformations distinct from the larger oligomers and the fibril is also interesting for the design of anti-Alzheimer drugs, because it suggests that multiple drugs might be required to target the structurally different neurotoxic oligomers.


The aim of this work is to study the influence of the temperature on the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of composite material which is manufactured from polyester and E-glass (woven roving, chopped strand mat) as a laminate with a constant fiber volume fraction (VF) of 33%. The results showed a little effect of temperature on tensile strength in the range of room temperature (RT) to 50 o C for laminates reinforced with E-glass (woven roving) [0/90, ±45,0/90], [0/90]3, and [0/90, CSM, 0/90], but for laminates reinforced with E-glass chopped strand mat (CSM), as [CSM] 3 and [CSM, 0/90, CSM], a continuous reduction in strength was observed with increasing temperature from (RT) to 60 o C. The highest percentage reduction in strength was 23% at 60 o C as compared with (RT) for [CSM]3 laminate.


The paper describes the study on relationship between the engine lubricate oil quality and fluorescence phenomenon. In order to determine the Excitation-Emission spectra (EEMs) of oil samples, a spectrofluorometer combined with an optical fiber system were applied. Two methods of fluorescence measurement: when oil diluted in non-fluorescent solvent (n-hexane) is placed in the quartz-cuvette inside the spectrofluorometer, and when oil sample is placed outside the spectrofluorometer (then EEMs is measured through the optical fiber sensor) were utilized to analyze the shape of EEMs of lubricate oil. Moreover in the second case of measurement, the optical fiber sensor was placed at an angle of 45 degrees to the oil surface, similarly above the oil surface and beneath the oil surface directly submerged in oil. Preliminary measurement results presented in this paper – on one hand – indicate diversity in the shape of EEMs depending on the method of fluorescence measurement, on the other hand – indicate possibility to measure fluorescence of oil directly in engine lubricate oil circuit.