The central question to be examined in this study is associated with the value of the Malays traditional culinary practices of Malay chef in preparing the traditional food in Malaysian hotels. Present understanding highlighted that hotels are giving high priority on their superior services, such as luxury accommodations and intimate hospitalities. As such, promoting local
foods in their dining establishment has taken a back seat. Research from past scholars indicated that hotel in Malaysia can be the one stop center for the local and international tourists to get the first hand information about local food specialities. On the hindsight, very limited efforts have been put into practice on the promotions of local food especially Malay cuisines in hotels. Main issue such as mass-produced Malay cuisines in the commercial kitchens, for example, should be highlighted to ensure that hotels are not jeopardizing the originality of traditional food preparations. Therefore, a qualitative reasearch focusing in in-depth interview with 10 Malay
chefs was conducted in hotels around the Klang Valley. The results are so profound that majority of the Malay chefs under study shared similar understandings on technology advancements and modernizations that have taken place in their daily food preparations. Another finding revealed
that one of the most challenging factors in preventing the Malay chefs to prepare the Malay food as it has been done traditionally is the attitude and awareness of the young generations to understand the values in traditional culinary practices. This study concludes with suggestion
that aggressive knowledge sharing and information dissemination among the Malay chefs in hotels are needed to effectively market the traditional Malay food.


The coexistence of essential thrombocythemia (ET) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is an extremely rare event, with only two such cases having been reported in the medical literature. We describe here a 25-year old woman who developed high-grade B-cell NHL of the stomach three years after the diagnosis of ET, for which she had received no treatment, due to her young age and the lack of thrombotic risk factors other than thrombocytosis. The lymphoma showed a favorable response to CHOP chemotherapy, whereas the thrombocytosis remained unchanged throughout the patient's clinical course. The possible etiologic and pathogenetic mechanisms leading to the association of these two disorders are discussed. Given the relative frequency of ET and the fact that the present case represents only the third reported instance of NHL developing in such patients, the coincidental ocurrence of both diseases is a possibility that cannot be excluded.


In recent years, smart grids have been a common interest for many consumers, because of their comfort, safety, robustness, and economic characteristics. This paper presents the development of a computational tool, as an adaptive cognition system for smart grids, having smart homes as their composing nodes. Such a tool has been named Smart Home Energy Aware-Preserver (SHEAP). SHEAP incorporates evolutionary computation algorithms, and communication protocols, to provide users with context awareness and fault tolerance. Moreover, SHEAP considers a smart home powered by solar and wind energy, as a small version of the smart grid. SHEAP demonstrates the benefits of having a smart home that can control the amount of power needed, according to the context of usage. Furthermore, SHEAP includes fault tolerant mechanisms to monitor and react on fault occurrences. Simulation shows that with a smart control of the load, the requirements for a green energy system are reduced. An economic analysis of the approach demonstrates the viability of the project reducing the usage of grid energy by utilizing green energy.


The existing method for dealing with FTA-FTA conflict is to require consultation by the common parties to find a mutually satisfactory solution, or to require an FTA to prevail, or to require consultation to take into consideration general principles of international law. Such methods do not create much problems when the number of parties to an FTA is small and the common parties in different FTAs are also limited in number. However, with the emergence of mega-FTAs, the issue about FTA-FTA conflicts has different dimension. For instance, within TPP's geographic coverage (the "outer-FTA"), there are some FTAs (the "inner-FTAs").The existing methods fail to take into account the possible adverse effect to the outer-FTA. The article argues that it is desirable to coordinate the outer-FTA and its inner-FTAs. It suggests a procedural coordination to prioritize the application of the dispute settlement mechanism in the outer-FTA, with some exceptions to allow further trade liberalization and higher quality standards. It also suggests admitting third-party participation by other outer-FTA parties in the dispute settlement proceedings conducted under the inner-FTA. It further suggests outer-FTA serving as a platform to coordinate the substantive standards/rules so as to fundamentally resolve the difference.


Samjunghwan (SJH) was fermented using five different probiotic bacterial strains (Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus faecium, Pediococcus pentosaceus, Lactobacillus acidophilus or Bifidobacterium longum) separately. We examined the inhibition of preadipocyte differentiation through Oil Red O staining and analyzed the expression of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α (C/EPBα), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR γ), uncoupling protein (UCP)-2, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase which are adipogenic transcription factors. Both Lactobacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium-fermented SJH reduced Oil Red O dye staining compared with the same dose of non-fermented SJH. Only Lactobacillus plantarum-fermented SJH inhibited all adipogenic transcription factors and showed the best down-regulation of PPAR γ, UCP-2, and HMG-CoA reductase compared with the same dose of non-fermented SJH. The effect of SJH on the inhibition of preadipocyte differentiation was more prominent from the fermented SJH. Lactobacillus plantarum-fermented SJH, in particular, blocks the expression of PPARγ, UCP-2, HMG-CoA reductase.


The aim of this paper is to present how a user−centred lexical representation model, based on the theory of Interpretative Semantics, can be used for detecting and interpreting metaphors in domain specific corpora. We present here several tools useful for such tasks and discussing the results of an experiment.


The influence of piezoelectrically induced strains on the electrooptical coefficient governing the photorefractive behavior of cubic crystals is reexamined. A general direction is assumed for the space charge grating. The analysis is carried out in a grating-adapted system of axes, which is directly linked to the actual experimental configuration. The appropriate photorefractive parameters, e.g., the electrooptical tensor, the dielectric constant, the optical indicatrix, and the space charge density, are put in analytical forms which are easy to compute and interpret. A practical example of experimental interest is worked out in detail. >


The quasi-Z-source inverter (qZSI) with battery can balance the stochastic fluctuations of PV power injected to the grid/load, but there is no literature to disclose its modelling and controller design in detail. This study proposed a dynamic small-signal model of qZSI with battery and a control strategy for photovoltaic (PV) power generation system. The built model discloses the dynamic relationship of PV panel voltage, battery current, quasi-Z-source inductor currents and capacitor voltages. The proposed control method achieves the grid-tie operation with unity power factor, PV panel's maximum power point tracking and battery management. The novel space vector modulation for the qZSI divides the total shoot-through time interval into six equal parts per control cycle to be combined into the six switching moments, and lower inductor current ripple and higher inverter efficiency are performed. The experimental and simulation results verify the theoretical analysis and proposed control methods.


Flood risk analyses are often estimated assuming the same flood intensity along the river reach under study, i.e. discharges are calculated for a number of return periods T, e.g. 10 or 100 years, at several streamflow gauges. T‐year discharges are regionalised and then transferred into T‐year water levels, inundated areas and impacts. This approach assumes that (1) flood scenarios are homogeneous throughout a river basin, and (2) the T‐year damage corresponds to the T‐year discharge. Using a reach at the river Rhine, this homogeneous approach is compared with an approach that is based on four flood types with different spatial discharge patterns. For each type, a regression model was created and used in a Monte‐Carlo framework to derive heterogeneous scenarios. Per scenario, four cumulative impact indicators were calculated: (1) the total inundated area, (2) the exposed settlement and industrial areas, (3) the exposed population and 4) the potential building loss. Their frequency curves were used to establish a ranking of eight past flood events according to their severity. The investigation revealed that the two assumptions of the homogeneous approach do not hold. It tends to overestimate event probabilities in large areas. Therefore, the generation of heterogeneous scenarios should receive more attention.


The authors present a methodology for software security evaluation and certification. A systematic approach has been used to build software security throughout the whole life cycle. This leads to using specific development and certification techniques according to the initial risk and vulnerability analysis. In the security certification process, it is of prime importance to measure the specific security nonfunctional attributes of software. The authors therefore propose a top-down approach for their definitions. This approach is compatible with the factor, criteria, and metrics approach of J.A. McCall et al. (1977), thus enabling a common approach with software quality assurance practices.<<ETX>>


Intelligent Mechatronic Systems (IMS), such as intelligent vehicles/robots/transportation systems, are generally complex due to the integrations of artificial intelligence and multidisciplinary features taken from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and control engineering. This integrated complexity leads to challenges in reliability modeling and reliability testing due to different and complex failure modes. To achieve reliability requirements, reliability design and resilient control are critical for the development of IMS. With the advances in information and network techniques, it is opportunistic to exploit them for the benefit of reliability design and the resilient control. The main focus of this Focused Section will be on the new techniques in reliability modeling, reliability analysis, reliability design, fault and failure detection, signal processing, and resilient control of IMS.


Blister bark, a scaly bark-type disorder of 'Delicious' apples (Malus domestica Borkh.) is shown to consist of 3 similar disorders. Two of these, blister bark 1 (the one most commonly encountered in the Northwestern United States) and blister bark 2, are graft transmissible. The 3rd disorder, blister bark 3, was not transmitted. The symptoms are described and the differences discussed. Another bark disorder, a form of internal bark necrosis, is shown to be graft-transmissible. A key to differentiate the blister bark complex is presented.


In this work, a water stable zirconium metal-organic framework functionalized with thiol groups was synthesized by a solvent-assisted ligand incorporation technique. The composites were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, specific surface area measurement and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The prepared material was then used as a novel adsorbent for Cu(ii) removal from water. The experimental parameters associated with adsorption capability, such as the initial solution pH, contact time, and the presence of competing cations were investigated in detail. Under the optimal conditions, the adsorption follows a pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the equilibration time for the adsorption is 15 min. The Langmuir adsorption model was in better correlation with the isothermal adsorption data than the Freundlich model. The maximum Cu(ii) adsorption capacity reached up to 42.70 mg g-1. Quantitative recovery of Cu(ii) was achieved by using 0.1 mol L-1 HCl. The prepared adsorbent has fast adsorption efficiency, high adsorption capacity, and exceptional stability up to 50 adsorption/desorption cycles. It can be used as a promising candidate material for heavy metal ion removal and water treatment.


In video compression, motion estimation (ME) is exploited to remove temporal redundancy. Computationally, ME is one of the most expensive parts of a video encoder. In this work, efficient and novel hardware architecture is proposed to implement selective Gray-coded bit-plane based motion estimation algorithm. Spiral search algorithm is employed as search scheme in the novel hardware architecture. Experimental results show that considerable amount of hardware resources are saved thanks to the proposed architecture compared to the recent works in the literature.


Native copper is irregularly disseminated in cross-stratified sandstones in the upper 85 feet of the Copper Harbor Conglomerate at White Pine, Michigan. The topmost 100 feet of this formation can be divided into an upper chloritic facies, 1 to 20 feet thick, and a lower hematitic facies, 80 to 100 feet thick. Most of the native copper occurs as lenses in the chloritic facies in the upper 7 feet of the formation, but small amounts are found in chloritic layers within sandstones of the hematitic facies. The native copper occurs mostly as rims around interstitial carbonaceous material, and the carbonaceous material controls the distribution of native copper. Both carbonaceous material and native copper are typically found along cross-laminae, but there are significant departures from exact correspondence between mineralization and cross-stratification. These departures reflect the irregular distribution of carbonaceous material along cross-laminae. This distribution is in turn related to variations in porosity, probably due to variations in sorting.The native copper is restricted to chloritic sandstone, and its presence must be related to conditions that existed in the chloritic layers. The chlorite is diagenetic and formed in a reducing environment. The reducing environment may have been created as water, squeezed out of the overlying Nonesuch Shale during compaction, circulated through the sandstone.Native copper is later than carbonaceous material but did not replace carbonaceous material. Copper therefore either replaced some other material or filled open space. There is no evidence of replacement of any other material. It seems most likely that copper ions were adsorbed onto the surface of carbonaceous material before the interstices were filled with other minerals during diagenesis. The native copper is therefore diagenetic.


13C, 14N, 15N, 17O, and 35Cl NMR parameters, including chemical shift tensors and quadrupolar tensors for 14N, 17O, and 35Cl, are calculated for the crystalline forms of various amino acids under periodic boundary conditions and complemented by experiment where necessary. The 13C shift tensors and 14N electric field gradient (EFG) tensors are in excellent agreement with experiment. Similarly, static 17O NMR spectra could be precisely simulated using the calculation of the full chemical shift (CS) tensors and their relative orientation with the EFG tensors. This study allows correlations to be found between hydrogen bonding in the crystal structures and the 17O NMR shielding parameters and the 35Cl quadrupolar parameters, respectively. Calculations using the two experimental structures for L-alanine have shown that, while the calculated isotropic chemical shift values of 13C and 15N are relatively insensitive to small differences in the experimental structure, the 17O shift is markedly affected.


Multi-Spert is a scalable parallel system built from multiple Spert-II nodes which we have constructed to speed error backpropagation neural network training for speech recognition research. We present the Multi-Spert hardware and software architecture, and describe our implementation of two alternative parallelization strategies for the backprop algorithm. We have developed detailed analytic models of the two strategies which allow us to predict performance over a range of network and machine parameters. The models' predictions are validated by measurements for a prototype five node Multi-Spert system. This prototype achieves a neural network training performance of over 530 million connection updates per second (MCUPS) while training a realistic speech application neural network. The model predicts that performance will scale to over 800 MCUPS for eight nodes.


Global depression in the oil market has recently been the main driver in forcing oil companies to discover more efficient solutions to produce hydrocarbons, as well as to optimize existing strategies and practices, whereas multilateral and branched well completion technologies act as a tool for improving performance of both new and existing well stocks.
 These services have been among the premium products offered by oilfield service majors. High cost of this service derives from a limited number of players that are capable of offering and executing such high technology operations, as well as from insufficient field exposure making each implementation very unique and therefore expensive.
 The advantages of multilateral wells are well-known in the industry. The most obvious ones are: CAPEX savings on upper completion.Step increase of the drainage area.Wells infill drilling without expanding surface infrastructure.


We report the quantum transport properties of Cd₃As₂ single crystals in a magnetic field. A large linear quantum magnetoresistance is observed near room temperature. With decreasing temperature, the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations appear in both the longitudinal resistance R(xx) and the transverse Hall resistance R(xy). From the strong oscillatory component ΔR(xx), a linear dependence of the Landau index n on 1/B is obtained, and it gives an n-axis intercept between 1/2 and 5/8. This clearly reveals a nontrivial π Berry's phase, which is a distinguished feature of Dirac fermions. Our quantum transport results provide bulk evidence for the existence of a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal phase in Cd₃As₂.


This discussion paper considers corporate governance issues associated with executive compensation arrangements. An historical perspective is used to demonstrate the absence of a sound empirically-based understanding of good corporate governance practices in relation to share-based payment arrangements. The paper provides an overview of issues including the potential earnings dilution and volatility effects of the introduction of regulations affecting executive remuneration. Potential future research questions have been framed addressing each of the major issues identified in this paper. We conclude that corporate regulators should ensure they are familiar with and consider best practice models for corporate governance when developing new, or revising existing business regulation. It is proposed that further research to remedy this deficiency would enable a more accurate assessment of the impact of management on accounting regulation and the better design and implementation of regulation.


ABSTRACT Two types of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) have been reported, the European type (EU PRRSV) and the North American type (US PRRSV). We developed a dual enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the simultaneous detection and differentiation of serum antibodies directed against either of the two PRRSV types. This tandem PRRS ELISA is based on affinity-purified recombinant nucleocapsid protein expressed in Escherichia coli. Sensitivity and specificity were assessed by using the IDEXX HerdChek PRRS ELISA and the indirect immunofluorescence assay as reference tests. A total of 1,571 sera originating from the United States, Europe, and two PRRS-free countries, i.e., Switzerland and New Zealand, were used for validation of the tandem PRRS ELISA. The new test performed at least as well as the reference tests in regard to sensitivity (0.94 for the US PRRS ELISA and 0.93 for the EU PRRS ELISA) and specificity (0.96 for the US PRRS ELISA and 0.99 for the EU PRRS ELISA). Positive sera were correctly differentiated in 582 of 591 cases, indicating a high differentiation capability of this dual ELISA. The robustness and repeatability of the test were assessed and found to be appropriate for diagnostic applications. Taken together, the data indicate that the tandem PRRS ELISA described here is the first differentiation ELISA for PRRSV serology based on recombinant antigen. It is convenient with respect to antigen production, and it is reliable, economical, and highly sensitive and specific. Thus, it is considered to be a powerful tool for routine diagnostics, epidemiological surveys, and outbreak investigations.


This paper presents a generalization of a previously defined lexicographical dynamic flow model based on multi-objective optimization for solving the multi-commodity aid distribution problem in the aftermath of a catastrophe. The model considers distribution of the two major commodities of food and medicine, and seven different objectives, and the model can easily be changed to include more commodities in addition to other and different priorities between the objectives. The first level in the model is to maximize the amount of aid distributed under the given constraints. Keeping the optimal result from the first level, the second level can be solved considering objectives such as the cost of the operation, the time of the operation, the equity of distribution for each type of humanitarian aid, the priority of the designated nodes, the minimum arc reliability, and the global reliability of the route. The model is tested on a recent case study based on the Hagibis typhoon disaster in Japan in 2019. The paper presents a solution for the distribution problem and provides a driving schedule for vehicles for delivering the commodities from depots to the regional centers in need for humanitarian aid.


ABSTRACT This work documents the biostratigraphy of dinoflagellate cysts from the La Barca Formation at the Punta Ainol Locality, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. The succession at Punta Ainol represents a new record for the Paleogene (late Paleocene–middle Eocene) from southern South America, based on current data on nannofossils and dinoflagellate cysts. Some significant events are in agreement with nannofossil data. In ascending stratigraphic order, they include the first occurrences (FOs) of Impagidinium crassimuratum, Apectodinium homomorphum, Pyxidiniopsis waipawaensis, Samlandia septata, Cleistosphaeridium diversispinosum, and Enneadocysta dictyostila, and the latest occurrence (LO) of Palaeocystodinium golzowense. Three Paleocene/Eocene dinoflagellate cyst zones (Palaeocystodinium golzowense, NZDP7 and Apectodinium homomorphum) are recognized here.


Technical standardisation is a hybrid control mode covering a set of general standards. For a few years now, globalisation has been witnessing an invasion of law by such standards, as shown by the ever increasing number of standard production centres (ISO, CEI, UIT, CEN, private consortiums.). Thus while the use of standardisation is part of a global phenomenon with various players, describing European standardisation helps stress its originality, its strengths as well as its weak points. Indeed the way in which technical standardisation was used by European decision-makers made it much easier to complete the European market. In addition, it still plays a key role in the European standard system, but may give the impression that the political purpose consisting of the completion of the single market justifies the legal means, i.e. procedures and bodies designed for that purpose. Therefore it was necessary for the Court of Justice to limit it. The first section of this article will describe the main lines of the European technical standardisation, and the second one will summarise the contribution of the European Union Court of Justices case law in light of the Lisbon Treaty.


Background In patients with fine needle aspiration (FNA)-proven axillary lymph node metastasis at diagnosis (cN+), the current standard surgical procedure is axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) at definitive surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). However, growing evidences suggest that SLNB after NAC is feasible and may demonstrate acceptable performance in selected patients. We performed sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients treated with cytologically-confirmed axillary lymph nodes metastases at presentation, who converted to a clinically negative axillary status after NAC (ycN0). Patients and methods We retrospectively evaluated 240 patients with invasive breast cancer with ultrasound-guided FNA-proven axillary nodal metastases at the time of diagnosis. All patients received NAC and underwent surgery at Samsung medical center between October 2007 and May 2013. Among these patients, 75 patients underwent SLNB. These patients converted to clinically node-negative disease (ycN0) after NAC on breast MRI or PET/CT scan. A combined detection technique was used with radioisotope and blue dye for the detection of SLN. Patients with negative SLN on frozen pathology and low clinical suspicion of metastasis during operation were not performed further ALND. Results The detection rate of SLNB was 93.3% (70/75), and median number of retrieved sentinel lymph nodes was 3.0 (range 1-8). False negative rate was 6.7% (1/15). Of these 75 patients, 35 (46.6%) patients had positive sentinel lymph nodes (ypN+) and underwent ALND. Thirty-five (46.6%) patients had tumor-free sentinel lymph nodes (ypN0sn) and 20 patients of them were followed without subsequent ALND. In these SLN-negative patients without further ALND, 9 patients were HER2-enriched subtypes and 9 patients, TNBC subtypes. Only two of them were Luminal B subtypes. The median follow-up period was 12.0 months (range 0-26 months) with 2 events; 1 regional recurrence in ipsilateral supraclavicular node and 1 systemic recurrence in brain on postoperative 7 months and 5 months, respectively. There has not occurred an ipsilateral axillary recurrence so far. Conclusions Although the follow-up was not long enough to conclude, this study tried to demonstrate that SLNB after NAC was feasible and further ALND may not be necessary in patients with SLN-negative disease (ypN0sn). Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P2-18-04.


We studied the process of offspring production in queenless colonies of Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus, and particularly evaluated the ovary development of workers as a function of their age. For this, subcolonies were set up and evaluated at different periods of isolation from the queen (2, 4 and 6 months), besides individually labeled age groups. The subcolonies were assessed according to offspring production and ovaries containing oocytes or not. The evaluations showed worker oviposition and development of males originating from worker‐laid eggs. At 2 months'absence of the queen, eggs and larvae were found, with eggs in a higher proportion than larvae. After 4 months, the proportion of eggs had reduced while larvae had increased, and a pupa was found in one subcolony. At 6 months, besides a higher share of larvae, one pupa and one adult male were found. Dissection of workers revealed ovaries containing oocytes during the periods of evaluation. Only a group of medium‐sized and large workers, 23.3%, 20.9% and 37.5% of the population from each period assessed in queenless subcolonies respectively, presented developed oocytes in the ovary. The same was observed in colonies with a queen, with 17.6%, 19.6% and 7.8% of the group of dissected workers from each time period, respectively. With respect to worker age, we observed by dissection of the ovary, that the greatest percentage of individuals with ovarioles containing oocytes occurred at 45 days (6 weeks) up to 90 days (12 weeks). These results probably are associated with the workers reproduction and the laying of trophic and reproductive eggs in colonies with and without a queen; these eggs have distinct functions in each situation.


Auguste Comte (1798) explains that "sociology may be a ponder of social arrange or solidness and alter or advance of the society and its social frameworks or institutions". Comte looks at interaction and forbid among social educate and society. He alluded to teach which exist such as instruction, economic, political, social and legitimate. He said there's consistent ness between them and the society as well. He advance elaborates that there must be values why individuals live together which solidness is imperative in instruction since it holds individuals together. Values are evaluative viewpoints of our conviction and they include judgment such as appreciation of excellence. Words in a society, individuals take after what is anticipated of them in arrange to be acknowledged. In society there are social changes which may be arranged or not arranged to take after.


A group of 2097 Haitian infants 6 to 11 months of age were randomized to receive Schwarz or Edmonston-Zagreb strain measles vaccines containing 10− to 500-fold more vaccine viral particles than standard potency vaccines. No unusual adverse reactions were noted. Edmonston-Zagreb vaccines were more effective than equivalent doses of Schwarz vaccines as measured by the proportion of vaccinated children with measles antibody concentrations ≥200 mIU/ml 2 months after vaccination and the persistence of antibody at 18 to 24 months of age. High titer Edmonston-Zagreb vaccine administered at 6 months of age induced antibody concentrations ≥200 mIU/ml in 83% of infants by plaque reduction neutralization and 93% of infants by enzyme-linked immunosor-bent assay with high rates of antibody persistence at 12 to 24 months of age. The World Health Organization recommends high titer Edmonston-Zagreb measles vaccines for routine use at 6 months of age in areas where measles is an important cause of mortality in young infants.


This paper examines the impact of an increase in the petroleum price on the sectoral costs of production. Three components of costs of production, which comprise domestic materials, imported input, and labour have been identified.
By using the input-output model, different scenarios of the petroleum price changes on sectoral costs of production were stimulated. The simulation results indicated that the fishing, forestry, and logging product, electricity and gas,
cement, lime and plaster, and transport sectors are mostly affected by the increase in petroleum price. These sectors are expected to show large impact on costs of production as a result of petroleum price increase because these industries highly consume petroleum products as an intermediate input in their production process.


Ground roll is the main interference wave in seismic data, which is characterized by low frequency and high amplitude. Common techniques for ground roll attenuation include frequency filtering, windowed frequency filtering, f-k filtering, and so on. In this paper, a novel time-frequency analysis method is presented based on the variational mode decomposition (VMD), which aims at depicting the non-stationary characteristics of seismic data. The proposed approach can provide more preferable time-frequency decomposition than the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition (CEEMD). Synthetic examples show that the VMD can exactly capture the variable frequency components compared with CEEMD. The field data examples demonstrate that the VMD can be employed to effectively attenuate ground roll in seismic shot record, therefore render this technique is promising for seismic processing.


For decades, the maquiladora industry has been a major economic engine along the U.S.–Mexico border. Since the 1970s, researchers have analyzed how the maquiladora industry affects cities along both sides of the border. Gordon Hanson (2001) produced the first comprehensive study on the impact of the maquiladoras on U.S. border cities, considering the impact of these in-bond plants on both employment and wages. His estimates became useful rules of thumb for the entire U.S.–Mexico border. These estimates have become dated, as Hanson's study covered the period from 1975 to 1997. The purpose of this paper is to update Hanson's results using data from 1990 to 2006 and to extend the estimates to specific border cities. For the border region as a whole, we find that the impact of a 10 percent increase in maquiladora production leads to a 0.5 to 0.9 percent change in employment. However, we also find that the border average is quite misleading, with large differences among individual border cities. Cities along the Texas–Mexico border benefit the most from growing maquiladora production. We also estimate the cross-border maquiladora impacts before and after 2001 when border security begins to rise, the maquiladora industry entered a severe recession and extensive restructuring and global low-wage competition intensified as China joined the World Trade Organization. Empirical results indicate that U.S. border cities are less responsive to growth in maquiladora production from 2001 to 2006 than in the earlier period; however, when looking into specific sectors we find that U.S. border city employment in service sectors are far more responsive post-2001.


Abstract In recent years, Niger has gained prominence as a hub for the smuggling of migrants from West Africa to North Africa and Europe. Urged on by European concerns, Niamey has adopted repressive measures to contain such migrations in the region. These, however, have largely failed, and have yielded unintended and unexpected results, which challenge policy predictions. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the article suggests that contradictory security imperatives have brought about the de facto regularisation of human smuggling. As a result, protection rackets sponsored by the state through patronage networks have severely limited the impact of externally sponsored measures to counteract irregular migration.


The present paper aims at identifying some changes in the associative dimension of the concepts of "family", Freedom" and "life". The research of the associative dimension of the concepts is implemented by applying the method of the free associative experiment aimed at revealing informants' (English and Georgian speakers) associates-reactions to certain stimuli). The frequency ratios of reactions have been defined and the specifics of the core-periphery relationship has been identified in the associative fields. The analysis of the material of the free associative experiment revealed that the concepts of "family", "freedom" and "life" perceived and interpreted by the respondents have been manifested in the cause-effect, temporal, and spatial relations. The comparison of the lexical-semantic and associative fields has been made. The mentioned entities have been constructed by applying the principle of significance. According to the mentioned principle, each element of the field has been included in the system due to its meaning and significance determined on the basis of the system as a whole.


This paper describes tests on a novel composite floor system constructed by connecting prefabricated concrete slabs to timber joists. Seven types of shear connectors have been developed and tested: lag screws, either alone or combined with a notch cut from each timber joist; metal plates embedded in the concrete slab and either nailed or glued to the joists; dowels embedded in the concrete and glued to the timber; and toothed metal plates embedded in the concrete and pressed into the timber. Four-point bending tests to failure were performed on five, full-scale, 4.8 m long specimens connected with lag screws or metal plates nailed to the timber. Values of deflection and relative slip between the concrete slab and the timber obtained in these tests showed high correspondence with values obtained from a uniaxial finite element model developed for nonlinear analyses of composite beams. The model was also used to perform a numerical analysis to failure of composite beams with the other four connection systems that were developed but not tested on full-scale specimens. The outcomes of the experimental tests and numerical analyses show that the newly developed system can provide good structural performance, especially if connections with coach screws and notches in the timber are used. The economic advantages of prefabrication and the possibility to disassemble the structure and reuse the timber beams and concrete panels at the end of the service life make the proposed floor system very promising.


A patient with anterior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome underwent surgical patching that caused an isolated dysfunction of the left anterior semicircular canal postoperatively. He exhibited significant ocular torsion toward the side of the affected labyrinth (17° excyclotropia of the ipsilateral eye), but no displacement of the subjective visual vertical. This dissociation suggests that an isolated ocular torsion may occur after an anterior semicircular canal lesion. A combined ocular torsion and subjective visual vertical tilt, which is usually seen with vestibular lesions, requires an associated otolith dysfunction.


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Background Vitamin D supplementation has been suggested as a part of an interdisciplinary approach for the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain in children and adolescents. This study aimed to compare vitamin D serum levels in Iranian children with chronic musculoskeletal pain with and without hypermobility. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on otherwise healthy children aged 16 years or younger with chronic musculoskeletal pain, who were admitted to the rheumatology clinic of Bahrami Children Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from January 2018 to January 2019. Chronic musculoskeletal pain was defined as recurrent episodes of musculoskeletal pain within the past month to the past week. The subjects were categorized into two groups, with or without hypermobility. Hypermobility was diagnosed using Modified Criteria of Carter and Wilkinson. Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-(OH)D) level and baseline characteristics were compared, and 25-(OH)D Results: A total of 72 children (41 girls and 31 boys, with the mean age of 7.36 ± 2.42 years) were included. Most participants (73.6%) were 3 to 7 years old. Sixty-four patients (88.8%) were diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency (25(OH)D Conclusion Our study results suggested a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among children and adolescents with chronic musculoskeletal pain, but the difference in vitamin D deficiency between children with and without hypermobility was not statistically significant.


CMV has been detected in a wide variety of cell types in vivo. Endothelial cell involvement, in particular, is associated with more severe infections, although the reasons are unclear. An in vitro model of virus infection was therefore established, in order to test the effect of CMV infection on endothelial cells. Using this model, a difference in the ability of laboratory strains and clinical isolates of CMV to infect endothelial cells was determined. The laboratory strains only produced a limited infection in a proportion of the cells, despite the induction of virus replication by the short chain fatty acid, sodium butyrate. In contrast, two recent clinical CMV isolates showed continuous infection of endothelial cells in the absence of prior stimulation of the cells. Moreover, the clinical strains were able to spread to surrounding uninfected cells, whereas the laboratory strains were not. Following infection of endothelial cells with the CMV strains mentioned above, it was found that the expression of a number of cell surface molecules were altered. Thus, all virus strains increased the expression of ICAM-1, but decreased the expression of PECAM-1, ICAM-2, and MHC Class I. Furthermore, the ability of CMV-infected endothelial cells to induce the molecules E-selectin and MHC Class II, in response to cytokine stimulation, was abolished. However, a difference in the ability of the virus strains to increase the expression of LFA-3 was observed. This was not cell-type specific, as a similar phenomenon occurred when the more permissive fibroblast cell type was used. In addition, novel FcyR were also induced on the CMVinfected endothelial cells. All the effects described above were not due to the secretion of soluble factors during the course of the infection. Finally, CMV infection altered the ability of leukocytes to adhere to, and transmigrate through unactivated or cytokine-activated endothelial cell monolayers. OF This was partly due to the secretion p soluble factors. Thus, CMV infection of endothelial cells resulted in changes to cell surface molecule expression, and to leukocyte recruitment, which might alter the ability of the host's immune system to respond to the infection.


A directly modulated fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) inte- gration with digital link on microwave subcarrier (DLOMS) trans- port system based on −1 side mode injection-locked and optoelec- tronic feedback techniques is proposed and demonstrated. Directly modulated baseband (BB) (622 Mbps) and radio frequency (RF) (622 Mbps/10 GHz) signals are successfully transmitted simultaneously over an 80-km standard single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission. Low bit error rate (BER) values and clear eye diagrams were achieved in our proposed systems. This demonstrated FTTH/DLOMS transport system is a promising candidate for broadband access networks.


Many hot-mix asphalt plants store material in heated silos before it is ready to be transported to construction sites. The time that material is stored in the silo is not controlled and varies widely, depending on several factors. As the material is exposed to elevated temperatures, short-term aging of the binder may occur. Another important consideration is the interaction between reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and virgin binders, as blending or diffusion could occur between the binders. In this study, a virgin and 25% RAP mixture were sampled at incremental silo storage times up to 10 h. Characterization testing included performance grading, rheological indexes, Glover–Rowe parameter evaluation, rolling thin film oven aging on the binders, complex modulus, a simplified viscoelastic continuum damage model (S-VECD) for fatigue, and thermal stress restrained specimen testing of the mixtures. Simulations that used layered viscoelastic critical distresses pavement analysis to predict fatigue behavior from the S-VECD model were used to show the potential effects of silo storage time on pavement life. Results from all tests indicated that mixtures aged with an increase in silo storage time. RAP materials experienced a greater effect; this effect may be a function of the air void content or indication of blending–diffusion in the silo. Rolling thin film oven aging showed that current laboratory conditioning methods do not necessarily simulate asphalt plant production. Production parameters, such as silo storage time, have a significant impact on mixture performance.


Abstract - This research proposed a system to identify Plasmodium falciparum on blood smear  using the neural network  backpropagation. Modified K-Means (MK-Means) is used to separate between the object with the background image because that method was able to equalize the value of fitness at all Center cluster so there is no dead center and can also cope with the local minimum value. The extraction of the features used in this study consists of color features i.e. calculation of the mean, standard deviation, skewness, curtosis and entropy of co-occurent matrix with the purpose to get the values of all the trait value image, obtained are then used to train a neural network with the backpropagation training algorithm. Method of backpropagation networks capable of acquiring knowledge even though there is no certainty, able to perform a generalization and extraction of a specific data pattern. The image of  the preparations  blood smear  are classified using the method of  neural network Backpropagation. The test results obtained from Tropozoit with the accuracy 100%, scizon 80% and gametocytes 80%. Identification is then obtained outcomes the introduction with an average accuracy of 86,66%.


Infertile men (excluding azoospermia) were divided into three groups to test methylcobalamin (CH3-B12) + clomiphene citrate (Clomid) treatment. Group M: CH3-B12 (1,500 micrograms/day, daily for 8 to 60 weeks), Group C: Clomid (25 mg/day for 25 days followed by a 5-day rest period, for 8 to 48 weeks), and Group MC: CH3-B12 + Clomid (CH3-B12: 1,500 micrograms/day, daily and Clomid: 25 mg/day for 25 days followed by a 5-day rest period, for 12 to 24 weeks semen analysis was conducted before and after these administrations. Judging by our criteria, 60.0% (24/40) of the cases in Group M, 71.4%(25/35) in Group C, and 66.7% (8/12) in Group MC were improved. However, in patients whose sperm concentrations were over 10 X 10(6)/ml, 61.9% (13/21) of the cases in Group M, 69.2% (9/13) in Group C, and 80.0% (4/5) in Group MC were improved. Therefore, CH3-B12 + Clomid treatment was successful for patients whose sperm concentrations was over 10 X 10(6)/ml.


Background: It is unclear whether receiving two COVID-19 vaccinations before SARS-CoV-2 infection reduces the risk of developing Long Covid symptoms. We examined whether the likelihood of symptoms 12 weeks after infection differed by vaccination status. Methods: We included COVID-19 Infection Survey participants aged 18-69 years who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between 26 April 2020 and 30 November 2021; we excluded participants who, before their first test-confirmed infection, had suspected COVID-19 or Long Covid symptoms, or were single-vaccinated. Participants who were double-vaccinated [≥]14 days before infection were 1:1 propensity-score matched, based on socio-demographic characteristics and time from infection to follow-up for Long Covid, to those unvaccinated at time of infection. We estimated adjusted odds ratios (aOR) of Long Covid symptoms [≥]12 weeks post-infection, comparing double-vaccinated with unvaccinated (reference group) participants. Results: The study sample comprised 3,090 double-vaccinated participants (mean age 49 years, 54% female, 92% white, median follow-up from infection 96 days) and matched control participants. Long Covid symptoms were reported by 294 double-vaccinated participants (prevalence 9.5%) compared with 452 unvaccinated participants (14.6%), corresponding to an aOR for Long Covid symptoms of 0.59 (95% CI: 0.50 to 0.69). There was no evidence of heterogeneity by adenovirus vector versus messenger ribonucleic acid vaccines (p=0.25). Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination is associated with reduced risk of Long Covid, emphasising the need for public health initiatives to increase population-level vaccine uptake. Longer follow-up is needed, as is the assessment of further vaccine doses and the Omicron variant.


Abstract Migration plays an important role in almost all objectives of sustainable development. In the '80s and '90s, many authors debated the non-deterministic character of the impact of migration on the development of primarily the countries of origin. Migration as a complex process in globalization has amplified relations between states but there have been very rare reductions in development gaps between them that in turn discourage labour migration. In spite of the increase in well-being based on theory, practice has always revealed an asymmetric development that causes an increase in the differences between emigration and immigration countries. The global strategy for poverty eradication adopted by world leaders in 2000 did not include migration-related targets, probably because the link between migration and development had not yet been properly perceived. Since then, studies, policy analyzes, international forums and migration recommendations have focused on policy-making in practice, including efforts to support migration concerns in the post-2015 development agenda. Various ideas and recommendations were presented during that data on the most appropriate way to use the migration-development link to maximize its positive effects. In 2015 was adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Starting with these documents, the contribution of migration to sustainable development was officially recognized for the first time. From the beginning remittances have played an important role in setting migration as the most important development factor. We sustained that this view, on which allmost all national policies are based, distorts the notion of development and hide the main causes of current labor migration. In this context, this study also attempts to analyze the two-way relation between the factors that determine human development (income, education and health) and international migration. Managing migration is one of the most important issues of global cooperation.


This pilot study assessed the feasibility and combined effect of aerobic exercise (AE) and mindfulness meditation (MM), compared with MM alone and a control (CON) condition, on stress, anxiety, and depression in high-stress college-based young adults. Thirty-two participants (84.4% F, 20.5 ± 2.7 years, 23.9 ± 5.0 kg/m2) were randomized to a four-week, AE + MM (n = 16), MM (n = 10), or control intervention (n = 6). ANOVA revealed non-significant, but noteworthy group x time interactions (perceived stress: p = 0.09; anxiety/depression: p = 0.07). Both AE + MM and MM seem to be feasible strategies to reduce levels of stress, anxiety and depression in college-based young adults.


In this article, the author explains why people may not be better served by having fewer elected
representatives. She outlines the multifaceted dimensions of constituency work and explains how
geography – particularly in rural or northern areas – can challenge a politician's ability to effectively
reach constituents and hear their concerns. She notes that while technological innovations can help
build connections with constituents, not all areas have adequate communications networks. The
author notes that potential cost savings of having fewer politicians is not as straight forward as it
may seem, that backbenchers are not all as underworked as people may believe, and having fewer
seats in a legislature won't necessarily make it easier for parties to run a full slate of candidates. She
concludes by contending that changes to the system itself should be where efforts are directed and
proposals to reduce or increase the number of representatives in the system should be examined
in context.


With the idea of clearing out several variables individually found associated with a greater incidence of congenital pyloric stenosis in the same group of children, 298 clinical histories in infants complaining of this deviation were reviewed. Information was obtained as to sex, birth number, blood group and the month these children with stenosis were born. The distribution of frequencies in each one of these variables was compared to that in 309 children surgically operated from peritonitis. The results showed a greater incidence of congenital pyloric stenosis in males than in females; also, the disease appeared more frequently in first-borns. Patients with type A blood group were less prone to present the anomaly. The birth month showed no statistical difference. The findings stress the importance shown by the genetic component of this disease.


Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether quercetin is able to improve the efficacy of sorafenib in triple negative breast cancer cells and explore the possibility of drug efflux transporters modulation by quercetin.
Methods: We exposed MDA-MB-231, a triple negative breast cancer cell line, to several groups: sorafenib alone, quercetin alone, a combination of sorafenib-quercetin, and control. We determined cell viability over control weekly up to 4 w. At the end of the fourth week, mRNA expressions of drug efflux transporters (P-glycoprotein and breast cancer resistance protein [BCRP] and MRP2 [multidrug resistance-associated protein-2]) were examined.
Results: Sorafenib alone was shown to maintain its efficacy for only two weeks, while quercetin alone was able to maintain its effect for four weeks. A combination of sorafenib-quercetin showed the best cytotoxicity effects compared with sorafenib or quercetin alone and was able to maintain its efficacy for four weeks. There were increased mRNA expressions of P-glycoprotein, BCRP, and MRP2 after four weeks of treatment with sorafenib, while treatment with quercetin decreased the drug efflux transporters expressions. A combination of sorafenib-quercetin decreased the mRNA expressions of both P-glycoprotein and BCRP, compared with sorafenib alone.
Conclusion: We suggest that decreased expressions of both drug efflux transporters, P-glycoprotein and BCRP, mediated by quercetin ameliorate the efficacy of sorafenib in TNBC. Therefore, the addition of quercetin to sorafenib might be useful in the future in improving the therapeutic efficacy of sorafenib in triple negative breast cancer.


AbstractThe central question to be addressed in this article is: what does this empirical evidence tell us about the nature and effectiveness of judicial reform in Asia?This case study of the judicial reform program of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) experience 1990–2007 is framed within the global context of substantial growth, underwhelming results, and continuing evolution of approach in an ongoing search for success.The case study marshals and evaluates a substantial body of new evidence from Asia which has been remarkably under-studied in the academic discourse. This body of experience contributes timely evidence of practice which is significant in supporting a number of key propositions. First, it reveals the still evolving nature of the judicial reform enterprise. Second, it demonstrates that ADB has created some 'results'. Third, it remains difficult to find any evidence of 'success' owing to the continuing conceptual fuzziness in the purpose and goals of endeavor, and the continuing lack of systematic monitoring and evaluation. Fourth, there are some tentative indications of an emerging capacity to demonstrate developmental effectiveness. While this evidence generally conforms to the global literature, the recency of endeavor in this region reveals a dynamic process of evolution, and highlights the incubation of a potentially paradigmatic shift in reform approach.


For more than a century, election officials across the United States have inspected voting machines before elections using a procedure called Logic and Accuracy Testing (LAT). This procedure consists of election officials casting a test deck of ballots into each voting machine and confirming the machine produces the expected vote total for each candidate. We bring a scientific perspective to LAT by introducing the first formal approach to designing test decks with rigorous security guarantees. Specifically, our approach employs robust optimization to find test decks that are guaranteed to detect any voting machine misconfiguration that would cause votes to be swapped across candidates. Out of all the test decks with this security guarantee, our robust optimization problem yields the test deck with the minimum number of ballots, thereby minimizing implementation costs for election officials. To facilitate deployment at scale, we develop a practically efficient exact algorithm for solving our robust optimization problems based on the cutting plane method. In partnership with the Michigan Bureau of Elections, we retrospectively applied our approach to all 6928 ballot styles from Michigan's November 2022 general election; this retrospective study reveals that the test decks with rigorous security guarantees obtained by our approach require, on average, only 1.2% more ballots than current practice. Our approach has since been piloted in real-world elections by the Michigan Bureau of Elections as a low-cost way to improve election security and increase public trust in democratic institutions.


Introduction. The study of proteins in the virions of the morbilliviruses such as measles virus (MV), canine distemper (CDV), rinderpest (RPV) and peste-des-petits ruminants (PPR) viruses and proteins induced by these viruses in infected cells has been stimulated greatly over the past 5 years because of the involvement of these viruses in chronic diseases in their natural hosts (Appel et al., 1981). MV has been associated with acute and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and CDV induces chronic distemper encephalitis and old dog encephalitis (ODE). Persistent infections with morbilliviruses have been reviewed recently by ter Meulen & Carter (1982). Neurological diseases involving RPV and PPR viruses have not been described so far, but a case of bovine sporadic meningoencephalitis has been associated with a morbillivirus (Lu-107) by Bachmann et al. (1975). However, no biochemical studies have appeared on PPR and Lu-107 viruses.


Dunaliella strains were isolated from a key site for salt production in Vietnam (Vinh Hao, Binh Thuan province). The strains were identified based on Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) markers. The phylogenetic tree revealed these strains belong to the clades of Dunaliella salina and Dunaliella viridis. Results of this study confirm the ubiquitous nature of Dunaliella and suggest that strains of Dunaliella salina might be acquired locally worldwide for the production of beta-carotene. The identification of these species infers the presence of other Dunaliella species (Dunaliella tertiolecta, Dunaliella primolecta, Dunaliella parva), but further investigation would be required to confirm their presence in Vietnam. We anticipate the physiological and biochemical characteristics of these local species will be compared with imported strains in a future effort. This will facilitate selection of strains with the best potential for exploitation in the food, aquaculture and biofuel industries. The Dunaliella strains isolated and identified in this study are maintained at the Laboratory of Algal Biotechnology, International University and will be made available for research and educational institutions.


X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry were used to investigate the crystallization process of amorphous Al90TMxCe10−x alloys. Ageing effects were also examined by means of XRD. The structure corresponding to the prepeak for amorphous Al90Fe5Ce5 alloys is more stable than the amorphous matrix. However, amorphous Al90Ni5Ce5 alloys are not stable during the first crystallization stage, and even decompose at room temperature. The crystallization onset temperature for amorphous Al–Fe–Ce alloys is much higher than that for amorphous Al–Ni–Ce alloys. This is probably caused by the different stability of the structure corresponding to the prepeak. The crystallization onset temperature increases as the Ce/Ni ratio increases in amorphous Al90NixCe10−x alloys. However, the crystallization onset temperature decreases as the Ce/Fe ratio increases in amorphous Al90FexCe10−x alloys. A better atomic packing results as the Ce content increases due to size mismatch in Al–Ni–Ce systems and as the Fe content increases due to the increasing size of structural units in Al–Fe–Ce systems.


We have evaluated the monomaxillary anchored skeletal activator with a single or double Adams clasp (0.7-0.8 mm) on the upper first permanent molars and second premolars, which reduces the palatal arch, paralingual, sublingual and milohioidal wings and the lower incisor groove as far the acrylate horseshoe. The patients were required only to wear the appliance during sleep and to perform the exercises recommended by I. Antolic and J. Rant.


In this paper a new hybrid glowworm swarm algorithm (SAGSO) for solving structural optimization problems is presented. The structure proposed to be optimized here is a simply-supported concrete I-beam defined by 20 variables. Eight different concrete mixtures are studied, varying the compressive strength grade and compacting system. The solutions are evaluated following the Spanish Code for structural concrete. The algorithm is applied to two objective functions, namely the embedded CO2 emissions and the economic cost of the structure. The ability of glowworm swarm optimization (GSO) to search in the entire solution space is combined with the local search by Simulated Annealing (SA) to obtain better results than using the GSO and SA independently. Finally, the hybrid algorithm can solve structural optimization problems applied to discrete variables. The study showed that large sections with a highly exposed surface area and the use of conventional vibrated concrete (CVC) with the lower strength grade minimize the CO2 emissions.


Despite continuing to emphasise how globalisation reduces the relevance of separate 'foreign' and 'domestic' spheres, the British government's response to the London bombings sought to exteriorise the event as foreign, even though it appeared largely domestic. This helped construct it as unusual, contingent, part of the uncontrollable 'otherness' of the 'foreign'. However, it also drew the response into the arena of British foreign policy, where the 'failing states' has been the dominant conceptualisation of insecurity and terrorism, especially since September 11. When the bombings are examined through the 'failing state' disturbing and important problems are uncovered. Primarily, the 'failing state' discourse deconstructs under the influence of the terrorism in London, revealing that Britain itself is a 'failing state' by its own description and producing a generalisation of state 'failure'. It thereby reveals several possible sites for responding to and resisting the government's representation.


There is a growing demand for the development of functional textile sanitary products to protect the human body from viruses, bacteria, and other harmful external substances. However, common processing methods for textile functionalization result in poor durability or have a highly limited material scope. A solution for this is the encapsulation of the functional material to provide stable protection and controlled release to reveal functionality in the fabric. However, many chemicals used for such purposes can cause problems for both human beings and the environment; therefore, attention is being shifted to natural products such as essential oils and seed oils. In this study, we used in situ polymerization to encapsulate ginseng oil, which has antibacterial, deodorizing, moisturizing, and antioxidant functions, as the core material of the microcapsules. The manufactured microcapsules were spherical with smooth surfaces, had an average size of 3.98 um, and exhibited excellent thermal stability. Processing the synthesized microcapsules into nylon/polyurethane fabric resulted in excellent functionalities, with the treated fabric exhibiting a 99.9% antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae and a 99% deodorizing effect. Therefore, the developed method is expected to show great potential for the production of highly hygienic textiles for use in various industries.


This study aimed to evaluate if anuran species distributions in riparian and non-riparian areas are influenced by environmental factors (i.e. niche) and/or by spatial factors (i.e. dispersal). The environmental variables analysed were altitude, distance from the stream and leaf litter depth. Spatial factors were represented by the eigenvectors extracted from geographical coordinates by eigenfunction analysis. The study was conducted in 24 km2 of terra-firme forest in Central Amazonia, Manaus – Amazonas, Brazil. Between November 2008 and May 2009, three samples were taken from 41 plots, 21 plots being placed at non-riparian areas and another 20 placed in riparian areas. We submitted the assemblage dataset to a partial redundancy analysis to evaluate the contributions of environmental and spatial variables (selected with a forward selection procedure). In addition, we tested if communities differ from riparian and non-riparian areas using a db-MANOVA. Species richness and species composition differed between riparian and non-riparian plots. Some species were restricted to riparian areas. Altitude was the only significant variable (P = 0.005) explaining 21% of the total variance. When analysing the data from all plots using the partial redundancy analysis, 27% of the variance was explained by spatial and environmental variables. The environmental variables explained exclusively 4% of the variance in assemblage composition, and 13% was explained by environmental variables that were also structured in space (i.e. the shared fraction), while 10% was explained exclusively by spatial variables. In conclusion, our results showed differences between the assemblages of riparian and non-riparian areas which can be explained by the distribution of anuran species along environmental gradients altitude and distance to streams, with little evidence of dispersal limitation.


Thanks to the attractive structural characteristics and unique physicochemical properties, mixed metal selenides (MMSes) can be considered as encouraging electrode materials for energy storage devices. Herein, a straightforward and efficient approach is used to construct multi-shelled nickel-manganese selenide hollow spheres (MSNMSeHSs) as cathode and double-shell nickel-iron selenide hollow spheres (DSNFSeHSs) as anode electrode materials by tuning shell numbers for supercapacitors. The as-designed MSNMSeHS electrode can deliver a splendid capacity of ∼339.2 mA h g-1/1221.1 C g-1, impressive rate performances of 78.8%, and considerable longevity of 95.7%. The considerable performance is also observed for the DSNFSeHS electrode with a capacity of 258.4 mA h g-1/930.25 C g-1, rate performance of 75.5%, and longevity of 90.9%. An efficient asymmetric apparatus (MSNMSeHS||DSNFSeHS) fabricated by these two electrodes depicts the excellent electrochemical features (energy density of ≈112.6 W h kg-1 at 900.8 W kg-1) with desirable longevity of ≈94.4%.


The Constitutional Court Decision 97/2016 emphasizes Bhinneka Tunggal Ika which is the diversity of Indonesia and observed to be another path to rebuild the relationship between the state and the indigenous people, especially concerning the citizenship framework. However, that decision is not enough to guarantee the sustainable reproduction of indigenous people's religion. This research aimed to showed an interconnection between Indigenous religion and indigenous territory among Talang Mamak people in Riau Province. This research was conducted using qualitative method. There is possibility of tracing the interaction to nature and this implies it is not only a means of subsistence but also has both horizontal and vertical meanings embedded in their indigenous religion narrative. This relationship represents their strong emotional and spiritual connection to nature as well as the foundation to build their identity and form their worldview.


For the moment there are still some adolescent has separated from their family for some reason, like fatherless child, even more like the orphan, incapable to do something and waif, until the psychological needs not fullfil fairly. Adolencent feel that a low wellbeingness because not fullfiled about the psychological needs as psychology. Prosperity of psychology also called
Psychological wellbeing. But, Ryff (1995) having a notion that Prosperity of psychology or psychological wellbeing able to reach by happiness itself. An adolescent can description that their happy if they had the positive thingking and positive emotion . The method can be serve the purpose of change the negative emotion become the better positive one is psychodrama.
Psychodrama given in order to adolescent can doing emotion katarsis, emphaty each other to get a insight which leading into to change of behavior. For the purposes of this study was to saw what psychodrama can be raised Psychological wellbeing at adolescent in charitable.
This study which are the research used by case study method that is design have spesific purpose to see what are the intervention really able to given a change of research subject, process from treatment and process of subject change. (Barker, dkk, 2001). The research subject is adolescent in charitable institusion with 15th – 21st years old who have low of psychological wellbeing.
Data collection from this research applying for scale, interview, and observation. In this research has data analysis doing by refer to client's change, then how the way of treating process, and process of subject change in a descriptive.
Based on the result of research and this data analysis can be inferential that psychodrama can increasing psychological wellbeing of adolescent in charitable institusion. The increase of psychological wellbeing happened by subject able to learn to do catarsis in psychodrama, so they can make a purpose again, in something else subyek able to learning emphaty doing, and get
social support in the group. Therefore, psychodrama have a good influence to psychological wellbeing indicators, especially in aspect of emotion. At the time followup given there is the decreasing of psychological wellbeing score in three subject, but the two others had increasing
of psychological wellbeing score. Its caused by the main purpose of psychodrama is emotion katarsis's process, so subject should be got a new divide or insight from their problem, in other words a hope of attitude change is difficult to happened, its different with the two others which have a high motivation in keep a changes from what they achieved when psychodrama process, although they are no more support from one group friends.


Eight years of intensive research have demonstrated that Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation-Mass Spectrometry Profiling and Imaging (MALDI-MSP and MSI) are powerful tools to gather intelligence around a suspect lifestyle, directly from the identifying ridges of a latent fingermark. In the past three years, many efforts have been invested into translating laboratory methodologies to the field; this was undertaken by devising protocols either for (a) enabling initial fingermark visualisation, such as through the Dry-Wet method, recovery and subsequent MALDI MS based analysis, or for (b) rendering the MS methodologies compatible with the prior application of commonly employed fingermark enhancement techniques (FET). In the present work a major point of interest concerned the sample treatment of FET visualised-lifted fingermarks and the subsequent MS performance of primary tape lifted fingermarks ("primary lifts") versus secondary tape lifted fingermarks (recovery from the surface a second time following the initial primary lift). This was necessary since it may not always be possible to obtain primary lifts of marks visualised at crime scenes for remote MALDI-MSP and MSI. The work illustrated here has provided methodological insights into establishing how to best treat a few types of developed marks in preparation for MALDI-MSI when presented as both secondary and primary lifts; it was demonstrated, as expected, that primary lifts generally yield much higher quality chemical/physical information and are therefore crucial to maximise chances of suspect identification and of retrieval of chemical intelligence. When analysing secondary lifted marks that have been initially developed using aluminium or carbon powders, any of the trialled sample preparation methodologies can be employed except the Dry-Wet method. In the case of TiO2 powder developed marks, the best ridge coverage was achieved by re-enhancing the mark using the initial powder and spray-coating with MALDI matrix. Primary lifts of fingermarks contaminated with an exogenous substance (used as a reference model) yielded the best ridge detail quality whilst for secondary lifts of natural marks pre-enhanced with aluminium powder, significantly greater intensity of the ion image was observed for the sections subjected to either no further enhancement or re-enhancement using aluminium powder.


This paper presents the results of a data transmission test in which a data set generating nine frequency-shift channels within the voice band was employed. The tests were conducted over a cross section of the various types of facilities found in the switched telephone network. Relationships between error performance and transmission characteristics were investigated. Also correlation between errors and noise impulses was examined on a real time basis. Results include a statistical analysis of: 1 ) a distribution of error probability among calls, 2) distribution of errors among the channels, 3) error density distribution within characters, 4) number of error-free characters between successive errors, 5) probability of error-free transmission, and 6) expected character transmission rate as a function of block size.


Background: The ratio of the early transmitral inflow velocity to the mitral annular early-diastolic myocardial velocity (E/Em ratio) determined by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) has been increasingly applied as a non-invasive method for evaluating the left ventricular filling pressure (LVFP). This study aimed to assess the performance of TDI parameters and the left atrial global longitudinal strain as non-invasive surrogates for the LVFP and to compare the accuracy of these two parameters across different striae of LVEF.
Methods: The study included 96 patients with a sinus rhythm, various EFs and an invasive recording of the LV pressure; these patients were split into four groups of 24 patients each according to their EF (>55%, 45–54%, 30–44%, and<30%). Both the medial and lateral E/Em ratios were quantified for all participants by 2D TDI; the peak atrial contraction strain (PACS) and peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS) were obtained.
Results: There was a substantial correlation in terms of the global PALS and invasive LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) in all groups (r=0.70, P<0.0.00), while the lateral E/E', showed a significant correlation in only two groups: preserved and mildly impaired EF(r=0.42, P=0.023; r=0.439,P=0.32; respectively).
Conclusion: Patients with a somewhat impaired or preserved LVEF, the lateral E/E' ratio and global PALS showed a fair correlation with the LVEDP. For patients with a moderate or extreme impairment, the E/E' ratio showed a poor correlation with the invasively determined LVFP. The global PALS demonstrated the most suitable estimation of the LVFP.


This dissertation aims to provide new insight into the properties that underlie scalar implicature (SI) processing. Previous experiments have investigated the time course of SI processing and whether or not it is a costly, resource-demanding process, but not what the resources have been specifically used to do, and when. Additionally, word scales used in SI research have been treated as interchangeable variations on a type, without systematic evaluation of that assumption. This dissertation investigates these questions via a computational model and several experiments using highly sensitive methodologies, including eyetracking. It concludes that scalar implicature is a costly, effortful process, though that effort is easily affected by task or other experimental factors. Specifically, processing difficulty appears to arise locally (as the scalar term is encountered) and the effort put towards a scalar inference, where the higher term(s) on the scale are negated. This negation appears to lead to reduced accessibility of the term.
Additionally, it is not clear that the scales must be represented as such in the lexicon, or that they should be treated uniformly regardless of the words that compose them. Rather, this research shows that "typical" scales, the ones most often discussed in SI research, are composed of words that are both strongly and unidirectionally connected in the mental lexicon, in the order of the scale. In comparing many scales, I conclude that entailment is neither necessary nor sufficient in a scale, and scalar implicature may involve any set of related and sufficiently frequent words. This points toward a future unification account of particularized and generalized scalar implicature.
Finally, my findings also have methodological implications for experimental work in scalar implicature. The results suggest that participants' responses in typical experimental tasks, such as judging whether a sentence is true or appropriate, can be delayed not only by implicature processing but also (for example) participants' evaluation what the experimenter considers to be appropriate.


A method of approximate output tracking for a class of causal nonminimum-phase multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems with nonlinear time-varying uncertainties and unmeasurable disturbances is considered. The nonminimum-phase output-tracking problem is transformed into a state-tracking problem. The technique presented employs linear algebraic methods and the internal model principle. A sliding mode control approach is used in the example to illustrate a complete constructive algorithm.


Foreign body ingestion is commonly seen in children. However, occasionally it may also be seen among adults and is often associated with intellectual disability, psychiatric disorders, and alcoholism. Ingestion of a magnetic foreign body may cause complications such as gastrointestinal tract perforation, wherein emergency endoscopic removal of the foreign body is generally required. Here, we report a rare case of a 59-year-old male with an intellectual disability and psychiatric disorder in whom metallic objects in the stomach cavity were accidentally discovered during abdominal CT. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed several metallic objects attached to two magnets, which had been ingested several years before and had remained in the stomach cavity. The magnets and metallic objects were safely removed endoscopically using rat-tooth forceps without complications.


Abstract. Various atmospheric propagation effects are limiting the long-range performance of electro-optical imaging systems. These effects include absorption and scattering by molecules and aerosols, refraction due to vertical temperature gradients and scintillation and blurring due to turbulence. In maritime and coastal areas, ranges up to 25 km are relevant for detection and classification tasks on small targets (missiles, pirates). From November 2009 to October 2010 a measurement campaign was set-up over a range of more than 15 km in the False Bay in South Africa, where all of the propagation effects could be investigated quantitatively. The results have been used to provide statistical information on basic parameters as visibility, air-sea temperature difference, absolute humidity and wind speed. In addition various propagation models on aerosol particle size distribution, temperature profile, blur and scintillation under strong turbulence conditions could be validated. Examples of collected data and associated results are presented in this paper.


This paper presents a visualization tool, VisHD, that can visualize the spatial distribution of vector points in high dimensional feature space. It is important to handle high dimensional information in many areas of computer science. VisHD provides several methods for dimension reduction in order to map the data from high dimensional space to low dimensional one. Next, this system builds intuitive visualization for observing the characteristics of the data set, whether these data are pre-defined labels or not. In addition, some useful functions have been implemented to facilitate the information visualization. This paper, finally, gives some experiments and discussions for showing the abilities of VisHD for visualizing high-dimensional data.


Objective: To present a rare case of infiltrating urothelial carcinoma along the urinary tract on a young adult. Case(s) Presentation: A 39 year old Asian male patient with > 20 pack-year smoking history, came to the hospital with a chief complaint of hematuria and flank pain since two weeks ago. Physical examination revealed Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status 1, the right kidney was palpated, no tenderness on fist percussion. Abdominal ultrasound (USG) revealed 1.5 cm and 0.5 cm masses located in the urinary bladder. The CT scan show mass in the bladder was exophytic, > 3 cm in size, and occupying lesion was located on the right posteroinferior and left lateral bladder wall accompanied with dilatation of pelvic calyces and right ureter. Histopathology of the specimen revealed low-grade infiltrating urothelial carcinoma of bladder and right ureter. The pathological stage was pT2NxMx, The patient refused neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery. Four months after TURBT, he came with weakness and right flank pain. The patient consent to surgery and underwent the right nephroureterectomy. Histopathology of the specimen showed infiltrating urothelial carcinoma of right kidney, ureter, Gerota fascia with lymphovascular invasion (pT3NxMx). Discussion: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is commonly arising in the urinary bladder, but it can develop along the urinary tract. Cigarette smoke contains a lot of carcinogenic agents and stimulates DNA damage. Conclusion: Upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUCs) is subset of UC with a poor prognosis. Cigarette smoking is the main risk factor that induces DNA damage.


We prove a version of the Aleksandrov-Fenchel inequality for mixed volumes of coconvex bodies. This version is motivated by an inequality from commutative algebra relating intersection multiplicities of ideals.


Tolbutamide (TOLB) is a sulfonylurea used to treat non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and is a suspected teratogen. However, it is not possible to discriminate between potential teratogenic effects of TOLB and malformations produced by either drug-induced hypoglycemia or the diabetic state itself. We examined the direct effect of TOLB on rat embryos cultured in a rodent whole embryo culture system. CD strain rat embryos were cultured for 48 h beginning on day 9 of gestation (plug day = day 0). Tolbutamide was added at various concentrations (90-3,600 microM). At the end of culture, viable embryos were examined for morphological score, number of somite pairs, crown-rump and head lengths, and DNA and protein content. Tolbutamide produced dose-related decreases in all endpoints at concentrations (2,250-3,600 microM) which are two to four times the human therapeutic concentration. Sera from TOLB-treated rats were adjusted to contain equal concentrations of glucose and insulin and then used for embryo culture. Serum from TOLB-treated rats had no observable effect on embryonic development. The mechanism for the embryotoxic effect of TOLB is unknown; however, the drug was previously demonstrated to alter activity of purified yeast glutathione reductase (GR). Because GR may be important for normal embryonic development, the effect of TOLB on this enzyme activity in cultured rat embryos was evaluated. Tolbutamide (2,700 microM) reduced embryonic GR activity by 35-57%. These results indicate that TOLB has a direct embryotoxic effect at levels 2 to 4 times the usual therapeutic serum concentrations on developing rodent embryos which may be mediated by GR inhibition.


Objective: To determine the diagnostic value of red blood cell distribution width and red cell distribution width index in differentiating iron deficiency anaemia and beta-thalassemia trait.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Dec 2021 to Feb 2022.
Methodology: A study population of 110 children with an age limit of 1.5-7 years who reported low haemoglobin wassubjected to serum iron and ferritin levels with further evaluation of red cell count, blood morphology, and comparison of mean corpuscular volume. Red cell distribution width was taken from the lab report, whereas Red blood cell distribution width index value was computed for the samples.
Results: A total of 110 patients were enrolled in the study. Seventy-five (68.18%) participants were diagnosed with IDA, 26(23.63%) participants were the candidate of βTT. Nine participants were suffering from anaemia of variable etiologies such as chronic ailment and sideroblastic, etc. βTT patients presented with higher RBC counts with a mean of 5.71±1.2 x1012 /l (6.8- 8.5 x1012 /l) when compared to IDA participants who deciphered values of 3.5±0.5 (2.6-4.3 x1012 /l). Mean MCV in βTT was 52.2±2.7(50.1-56.8) whereas for IDA were 72.5±1.2(61.2–78.3). In IDA low serum ferritin was recorded 4.02±1.1(2.2-9.2) as compared to mean values of βTT patients.
Conclusion: Red cell distribution width index and Red blood cell distribution width are authentic variables and inexpensive modalities in differentiating between iron deficiency anaemia and beta-thalassemia trait with reliability.


Chapman, Douglas. 1980. Alone or in combination plantings, yews complement landscape well. Weeds, Trees & Turf 19(7): 72-83. Yews, due to their rich regal-green color, are effectively used in mass plantings or as specimen plantings. They are effectively combined with many plants but are aesthetically outstanding when combined with bedding plants, such as red geraniums or salvia. Yews grow well in shade or sunny conditions (watch varietal selections). While being perfectly hardy and able to withstand even the coldest winters, yews seem to be most sensitive to overwatering or poorly drained soils. In England, the yew was a sacred tree, believed to be a symbol of long life and/or immortality. Early Christian churches were built in yew groves. In most English churchyards, one can find the yew — a symbolic link to immortality. There is much controversy about how many species of Taxus exist. Three species somewhat universally accepted; English yew {Taxus baccata), Canadian yew (Taxus canadensis), and Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata). Once the correct variety is chosen, understanding the insects, diseases, and maintenance requirements makes yew an outstanding addition to the landscape. Williams, D.J. 1980. How slow-release fertilizers work. Am. Nurseryman 151(6): 90-97. The number of controlled-release products has increased over the years. The products are distinguished by differences in release characteristics and fall into three classes. The classes are: 1) coated water-soluble materials; 2) inorganic materials of low water solubility; and 3) organic materials of low water solubility that decompose by chemical hydrolysis and/or biological activity. The mechanism for nitrogen release varies in each class and responses differ with medium conditions, such as pH, moisture, and temperature. Physical properties of the fertilizers, such as particle size and coating thickness, also influence the release mechanism. A detailed discussion of each class is given to better understand how the fertilizers in these classes work and to understand how environmental and physical factors affect fertilizer performance.


International treaties related to climate control have triggered a resurgence in development of renewable ocean energy technologies. Several demonstration projects in tidal power are scheduled to capture the tidal-generated coastal currents. Commercial-scale wave power stations exist and are delivering power to national grids. Offshore wind farms are delivering energy to shore. As government policies shift towards inclusion of renewable sources, the nearshore ocean resources have tremendous potential. Worldwide investments in renewable energy technologies reveals that offshore wind energy is the fastest growing sectors. Strong growth in offshore wind power installations is anticipated over the next decade. In 2000, development of systems to capture wave energy reached a milestone with the commissioning of the first commercial-scale power facility in Scotland. Technical capabilities, both engineering and management, exist in the offshore sector to undertake the size of projects envisioned. Harnessing the untapped potential of ocean energy has commenced.


Efficient transferrin receptor recycling is reconstituted when donor cytosol and ATP are added to the streptolysin O permeabilized cells. The rate of reconstituted recycling is dependent on the concentration of donor cytosol. The cytosol provides a factor(s) required for the transport of transferrin from the pericentriolar recycling compartment to the plasma membrane. N-Ethylmaleimide treatment of permeabilized cells inhibits both the fusion of recycling vesicles with the plasma membrane as well as the formation of functional recycling vesicles from the pericentriolar recycling compartment. Guanosine 5′-3-O-(thio)triphosphate (GTPS) does not affect reconstituted recycling in the presence of an optimal cytosol concentration. Therefore, the rate-limiting step in recycling is not regulated by GTP-hydrolyzing proteins, and hydrolysis of GTP is not required for endocytic recycling. GTPS stimulates recycling when suboptimal concentrations of cytosol are used. This stimulatory effect is not mediated by a brefeldin A-sensitive ADP-ribosylation factor protein. Addition of wild-type donor cytosol to permeabilized END2 Chinese hamster ovary cells, which recycle transferrin at half the rate of wild-type cells, reconstitutes recycling to the reduced rate of intact END2 cells but not to the wild-type recycling rate. These results indicate that the defect responsible for the slowed transferrin recycling in END2 mutants is membrane associated or that the defective protein is too large to diffuse out of the cells through the streptolysin O pores.


THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE
THE STUDENTS' READING COMPREHENSION IN
NARRATIVE TEXT IN YEAR XI SMA 8 PURWOREJO IN THE
ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2010/2011
By
Yuyun Wijayanti
06202244135
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to find out whether there is a
significant difference in reading comprehension achievement for the
students of SMA 8 Purworejo who are thaught using Storytelling and
those who are not.
This research was quantitative, quasi experimental research.
The study involved 61 students which are diveded into two groups.
Class XI IPA I (31 students) as the control group, and class XI IPA 2
(30 students) as the experimental group. The data were obtained by
two multiple choice tests. It was given to both classes before the
treatment and the post test was the end of the treatment. The
hyphothesis was tested using the analysis of covariance.
The result shows that there is a significant difference in the
reading comprehension between the students who are thaught by
storytelling and those who are not. It is presented from the result of the
test of hyphotesis using T-test. The significant value of 0.000 was less
than the significant level of 0.05. It means that the use of storytelling
shows a significance dirrerent on the students' reading comprehension.


An integrated model is developed for short-term yearly reservoir operation for irrigation of multiple crops. The model optimizes a measure of annual crop production, starting from the current period in real time. Reservoir storage at the begining of a period, inflow during the previous period, crop soil moisture values and crop production already achieved up to the beginning of the period are used as inputs to the model. The solution specifies the reservoir release and optimal irrigation allocations to individual crops during an intra-seasonal period. The model overcomes some of the limitations of an earlier model developed by Mujumdar & Ramesh (1997) by replacing the two dynamic programming (DP) formulations with a single linear programming (LP) formulation. Application of the model is studied through a case study in India.


covenantal forms 1). This progress is further incited by the publication and study of new material discovered at Ugarit 2). The impact of the royal chancellery language 3) in the latter part of the second millennium BC. on the greater part of the ancient Near East is now obvious. Furthermore, the influence of this language held its own for many centuries to come. The direct or indirect influence of this language on the Old Testament covenantal forms was studied from various


Cyclospora cayetanensis is a coccidian parasite that causes diarrheal illness outbreaks worldwide. The development of new laboratory methods for detection of C. cayetanensis is of critical importance because of the high potential for environmental samples to be contaminated with a myriad of microorganisms, adversely impacting the specificity when testing samples from various sources using a single molecular assay. In this study, a new sequencing-based method was designed targeting a specific fragment of C. cayetanensis cytochrome oxidase gene and developed as a complementary method to the TaqMan qPCR present in the U.S. FDA BAM Chapter 19b and Chapter 19c. The comparative results between the new PCR protocol and the qPCR for detection of C. cayetanensis in food and water samples provided similar results in both matrices with the same seeding level. The target region and primers in the protocol discussed in this study contain sufficient Cyclospora-specific sequence fidelity as observed by sequence comparison with other Eimeriidae species. The sequence of the PCR product appears to represent a robust target for identifying C. cayetanensis on samples from different sources. Such a sensitive method for detection of C. cayetanensis would add to the target repertoire of qPCR-based screening strategies for food and water samples.


Building on the tradition of emotional labour and aesthetic labour, this study of fitness workers introduces the concept of "ocularcentric labour" (the worker seeking the adoring gaze of the client as the primary reward). It is a state in which labour's quest for the psycho-social rewards gained from their own body image shapes the employment relationship (both the organization of work and the conditions of employment). We argue that for many fitness workers the goal is to gain access to the positional economy of the fitness centre to promote their celebrity. For this they are willing to trade-off standard conditions of employment, and exchange traditional employment rewards for the more intrinsic psycho-social rewards gained through the exposure of their physical capital to the adoration of their gazing clients. Significantly, with ocularcentric labour the worker becomes both the site of production and consumption.


Pathogenic enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of bacterial diarrhea in weaning piglets, which are vulnerable to changes in environment and feed. This study aimed to determine the effects of the ETEC challenge on piglet growth performance, diarrhea rate, jejunal microbial profile, jejunal morphology and goblet cell distribution. A total of 13 piglets from one litter were selected on postnatal day 21 and assigned to treatments with or without ETEC challenge at 1 × 108 CFUs, as ETEC group or control group, respectively. On postnatal day 28, samples were collected, followed by the detection of serum biochemical indexes and inflammatory indicators, HE staining, PAS staining and 16S rDNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results showed that the growth performance decreased, while the diarrhea rate increased for the ETEC group. The jejunum is the main segment of the injured intestine during the ETEC challenge. Compared with the control, the ETEC group displayed fewer goblet cells in the jejunum, where goblet cells are more distributed at the crypt and less distributed at the villus. In addition, ETEC piglets possessed higher abundances of the genus Desulfovibrio, genus Oxalobacter and genus Peptococus and lower abundances of the genus Prevotella 2, genus Flavonifractor and genus Blautra. In terms of alpha diversity, Chao 1 and observed features indexes were both increased for the ETEC group. Our study provides insights into jejunal histopathological impairment and microbial variation in response to ETEC infection for weaned piglets and is a valuable reference for researchers engaged in animal health research to select stress models.