Sentiment analysis on user-generated content has achieved notable progress by introducing user information to consider each individual's preference and language usage. However, most existing approaches ignore the data sparsity problem, where the content of some users is limited and the model fails to capture discriminative features of users. To address this issue, we hypothesize that users could be grouped together based on their rating biases as well as degree of rating consistency and the knowledge learned from groups could be employed to analyze the users with limited data. Therefore, in this paper, a neural group-wise sentiment analysis model with data sparsity awareness is proposed. The user-centred document representations are generated by incorporating a group-based user encoder. Furthermore, a multi-task learning framework is employed to jointly modelusers' rating biases and their degree of rating consistency. One task is vanilla populationlevel sentiment analysis and the other is groupwise sentiment analysis. Experimental results on three real-world datasets show that the proposed approach outperforms some state-of the-art methods. Moreover, model analysis and case study demonstrate its effectiveness of modeling user rating biases and variances.


Objectives We aimed to determine (1) the prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic among Chinese adults and (2) how depression prevalence varied by province and sociodemographic characteristics. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting National online survey in China. Participants We conducted a cross-sectional online survey among adults registered with the survey company KuRunData from 8 May 2020 to 8 June 2020. We aimed to recruit 300–360 adults per province (n=14 493), with a similar distribution by sex and rural-urban residency as the general population within each of these provinces. Primary outcome Participants completed the Patient Health Questionaire-9 (PHQ-9). We calculated the prevalence of depression (defined as a PHQ-9 score ≥10) nationally and separately for each province. Analysis Covariate-unadjusted and covariate-adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine how the prevalence of depression varied by adults' sociodemographic characteristics. All analyses used survey sampling weights. Results The survey was initiated by 14 493 participants, with 10 000 completing all survey questions and included in the analysis. The prevalence of depression in the national sample was 6.3% (95% CI 5.7% to 6.8%). A higher odds of depression was associated with living in an urban area (OR 1.50; 95% CI 1.18 to 1.90) and working as a nurse (OR 3.06; 95% CI 1.41 to 6.66). A lower odds of depression was associated with participants who had accurate knowledge of COVID-19 transmission prevention actions (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.98), the knowledge that saliva is a main transmission route (OR 0.80; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.99) and awareness of COVID-19 symptoms (OR, 0.82; 95% CI 0.68 to 1.00). Conclusion Around one in 20 adults in our online survey sample had a PHQ-9 score suggestive of depression. Interventions and policies to prevent and treat depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in China may be particularly needed for nurses and those living in urban areas.


This paper investigates the downlink (DL) transmit design for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communication systems, where only the slow-varying statistical channel state information is exploited at the transmitter. The channel model for the DL massive MIMO LEO satellite system is established, in which both the satellite and the user terminals (UTs) are equipped with uniform planar arrays. Observing the rank-one property of the channel matrices, we show that the single-stream precoding for each UT is the optimal choice that maximizes the ergodic sum rate. This favorable result simplifies the complicated design of transmit covariance matrices into that of precoding vectors without any loss of optimality. Then, an efficient algorithm is devised to compute the precoding vectors. Furthermore, we formulate an approximate transmit design based on the upper bound on the ergodic sum rate, for which the optimality of single-stream precoding still holds. We show that, in this case, the design of precoding vectors can be simplified into that of scalar variables, for which an effective algorithm is developed. In addition, a low-complexity learning framework is proposed for optimizing the scalar variables. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approaches can achieve significant performance gains over the existing schemes.


Systems of community giving and self-help have always existed within different cultures and traditions around the world. But it is only recently that community philanthropy has started to gain visibility as a specific practice that has relevance to the broader field of international development. In this article, we focus on what community philanthropy looks like as development practice, drawing on examples from a global cohort of 16 organisations that identify with the community philanthropy concept. We define community philanthropy as a value-driven development practice that builds assets, capacities, and trust. In particular, it focuses on the role that local resources can play in community development, and how their presence can help influence power dynamics associated with international development. Ultimately, we show that community philanthropy is not merely emerging as a useful support structure on which mainstream development can build, but that it is far more radical than this. Community philanthropy practised by organisations with their roots in civil society and social justice movements can disrupt and democratise the system and create an alternative to 'development' as we know it.


TO THE EDITOR: Noninvasive determination of pancreatic b-cell mass (BCM) in humans is key to understanding the pathophysiology of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes. It appears that BCM and b-cell function are not directly linked and that b-cell dysfunction is a key pathophysiologic parameter. The main challenge of pancreatic b-cell imaging is to use a highly specific tracer molecule so that the signal originating from the pancreas reflects actual BCM (1). Khera and coworkers show that reduction of exocrine pancreatic uptake by GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) blocking with fluorescent exendin improves in vivo imaging of pancreatic b-cells in mice (2). We have previously demonstrated that, as opposed to mice, rats do not display exocrine pancreatic uptake, as confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (3) and immunohistochemical GLP-1R staining (4). The human pancreas shows an even higher endocrine-to-exocrine ratio (3), and single-cell RNA sequencing demonstrates specificity of the GLP-1R for human band d-cells (5). Insulin-positive islets are present in pancreata of people with long-standing T1D, indicating that b-cell dysfunction plays an important role in T1D pathophysiology (6). Pancreatic exendin uptake in individuals with T1D therefore reflects dysfunctional BCM (representing highly important information about the pathophysiology of T1D) and not uptake in non–b-cells, explaining "... the lack of clinical distinction between healthy volunteers and subjects with long-term diabetes... ." as claimed by Khera et al. (2). We have recently shown in people with long-standing T1D that exendin uptake in human pancreata can indeed drop to background levels, a strong argument against exocrine pancreas uptake. About half the tested individuals showed significant pancreatic uptake, pointing toward residual BCM (7), in line with the concept of b-cell dysfunction in T1D (6). Immunohistochemical analysis of human pancreata from individuals with long-standing T1D indeed confirms the presence of numerous GLP-1R–expressing b-cells and staining of d-cells, the latter explaining the low residual uptake after complete loss of b-cells. Data from healthy individuals confirm exclusive staining of band d-cells and no staining in exocrine pancreas (7). These data are confirmed by the finding that ex vivo autoradiography of human pancreatic tissue shows only background uptake in the exocrine pancreas (comparable to rats) (8). Finally, in view of the small differences in exocrine pancreatic uptake between wild-type and GLP-1R knockout mice, shown by Khera and coworkers (Fig. 1) (2), and the minor uptake reduction after blocking (2), the GLP-1R does not play an important role in exocrine pancreas uptake, as shown previously (4). Therefore, although the approach presented by Khera and coworkers (2) is highly interesting, the practical value is limited to mouse imaging. In addition, high pharmacologic doses of (fluorescent) exendin may lead to receptor saturation phenomena disturbing the linear correlation between tracer uptake and BCM (1,3).


The dangerous and time sensitive nature of a disaster area makes it an ideal application for robotic exploration. Our long term goal is to enable humans, software agents, and autonomous robots to work together to save lives. Existing work in coordination for search and rescue does not address the variety of constraints that apply to the problem. This paper provides an expressive language for specifying system constraints. We also describe a coordination architecture capable of quickly finding an optimal or near optimal solution to the combined problems of task allocation, scheduling, and path planning subject to system constraints. We address a perceived lack of benchmarks for this research area by establishing a repository open to the research community which includes a set of benchmarks we designed to illustrate some of the complexities of the problem space. Finally, we evaluate various algorithms on these benchmarks


GABA(A) receptors are known targets for certain classes of environmental neurotoxins and pharmaceutical compounds. Since few neural cell lines express functional GABA(A) receptors, the capacity to rapidly screen for compounds that affect GABA(A) receptor function is presently limited. Previous work has demonstrated that rat neural precursor cells express functional GABA(A) receptors that can be monitored via Ca(2+) imaging. This study examined GABA(A) receptor subunit expression to determine whether GABA(A) receptor function and its interactions with neurotoxins is preserved after passaging. Neural precursor cells isolated from embryonic day 13 rat brain were expanded in serum-free medium containing basic fibroblast growth factor and passaged three times. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated early expression of abundant mRNAs encoding various GABA(A) receptor subunits. Ca(2+) imaging showed that the highly proliferating precursor cells in passaged cultures maintained expression of functional GABA(A) receptors. In addition, we showed that trimethylolpropane phosphate, a neurotoxin generated during partial pyrolysis of a synthetic ester turbine engine lubricant, potently inhibited muscimol (GABA(A) receptor agonist) but not depolarization-induced cytosolic Ca(2+) increase. The findings of this study suggest that neural precursor cells may be well suited for the evaluation of certain environmental neurotoxins with convulsant activity. The potential use of neural precursor cells in high-throughput screens for compounds acting on GABA(A) receptors is discussed.


This affordable text covers the management of both human resource systems and employees in local government settings. It focuses on the significant changes facing local governments, especially the growing demand for increased Work-Life balance as an integral component of human resource management.


The theory of compressive sensing (CS) has attracted great attention since it was introduced a decade ago. CS has found natural applications in imaging and optical sensing sciences, yielding a great number of publications. In this invited paper we survey the main application of CS for optical imaging and sensing.


This paper presents a Ka-band 4-bit monolithic phase shifter incorporating novel unresonated FET switches which show broadband on/off characteristics up to 40 GHz without inductors. The developed switched-line phase shifter MMIC demonstrated an overall phase deviation of 3.3/spl deg/ r.m.s. and an insertion loss deviation of 0.9 dB r.m.s. at 34.5 GHz. Over a relatively wide frequency range from 33 to 36 GHz, the phase deviation was less than 7/spl deg/ r.m.s. The chip size of the MMIC is 2.5 mm/spl times/2.2 mm.


Objective
To understand how patients' use of photo-elicitation and online social networks (Facebook) enhances their understanding of what it means to live with pain.

Design
Qualitative substudy of the intervention arm of a randomized trial.

Setting/Subjects
Primary care patients living with pain drawn from nine family practices with at least two pain visits in the last six months.

Methods
The private Facebook group was co-facilitated by a moderator and a patient-investigator who lives with chronic pain. Patients were asked to share photos that elicit their lived experience with chronic pain, and facilitators guided participants in ongoing discussion about these photos, and thus the life with pain. Facebook discussions were analyzed via Dedoose (a qualitative analysis software) using thematic analysis.

Results
Discussions of photos elicited three overarching themes regarding patients' lived experience with chronic pain: 1) patients' redefined pain identity; 2) pain interference with enjoyment of life and activities; and 3) patients' diminished ability to function.

Conclusions
Photo-elicitation is an innovative way to shed light on patients' lived experience with chronic pain. Despite some technical challenges, Facebook support groups utilizing photo-elicitation can provide a readily available platform that can facilitate interchange of patient experiences and might help patients communicate with their providers.


In this paper, the generation of relativistic electron mirrors (REMs) and the reflection of an ultra-short laser off this mirrors are discussed, applying two-dimensional particle-in-cell (2D-PIC) simulations. REMs with ultra-high acceleration and expanding velocity can be produced from a solid nanofoil illuminated normally by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse with a sharp rising edge. Chirped attosecond pulse can be produced through the reflection of a counter-propagating probe laser off the accelerating REM. In the electron moving frame, the plasma frequency of the REM keeps decreasing due to its rapidly expanding. The laser frequency, on the contrary, keeps increasing due to the acceleration of REM and the relativistic Doppler shift from the lab frame to the electron moving frame. Within an ultra-short time interval, the two frequencies will be equal in the electron moving frame, which leads the resonance between laser and REM. The reflected radiation near this interval and the corresponding spectra will be amplified due to the resonance. Through adjusting the arriving time of the probe laser, certain part of the reflected field could be selectively amplified or depressed, leading to the selectively adjusting of the corresponding spectra.


People on social media share their thoughts and experiences using diseases and symptoms words other than to mention their health, which can introduce biases in data-driven public health applications. For the advancement of HMC research, in this study, we present a Reddit health mention dataset (RHMD), a new dataset of multi-domain Reddit data for the HMC. RHMD is composed of 10015 manually annotated Reddit posts that include 15 common disease or symptom terms and are labeled with four labels: personal health mentions (HMs), nonpersonal HMs, figurative HMs, and hyperbolic HMs. Empirical evaluation using recently proposed methods demonstrates the challenge of labeling user-generated text across these four types. Contributions to this work include the public release of a robustly annotated Reddit dataset (RHMD) for HM tasks and a comprehensive performance analysis of baseline methods. We expect the release of the dataset, and the evaluations will help facilitate the development of new methods for detecting HMs in the user-generated text. The dataset is available at https://github.com/usmaann/RHMD-Health-Mention-Dataset.


Compared to other industries, fashion apparel retail faces many challenges in predicting future demand for its products with a high degree of precision. Fashion products' short life cycle, insufficient historical information, highly uncertain market demand, and periodic seasonal trends necessitate the use of models that can contribute to the efficient forecasting of products' sales and demand. Many researchers have tried to address this problem using conventional forecasting models that predict future demands using historical sales information. While these models predict product demand with fair to moderate accuracy based on previously sold stock, they cannot fully be used for predicting future demands due to the transient behaviour of the fashion industry. This paper proposes an intelligent forecasting system that combines image feature attributes of clothes along with its sales data to predict future demands. The data used for this empirical study is from a European fashion retailer, and it mainly contains sales information on apparel items and their images. The proposed forecast model is built using machine learning and deep learning techniques, which extract essential features of the product images. The model predicts weekly sales of new fashion apparel by finding its best match in the clusters of products that we created using machine learning clustering based on products' sales profiles and image similarity. The results demonstrated that the performance of our proposed forecast model on the tested or test items is promising, and this model could be effectively used to solve forecasting problems.


Mildly mentally retarded and MA-matched nonretarded individuals were tested for speed and accuracy in responding to questions requiring different processing depth in the Craik and Tulving paradigm and then given an unexpected recognition task. Retarded individuals required progressively more encoding time relative to nonretarded individuals as processing depth increased. Both encoding and recognition accuracy, however, was equivalent for both groups; greater elaboration improved recognition in both groups. Implications for the study of retardation were presented.


Hydro-thermal technology had been used to improve the anti-corrosion and anti-wear performance of anodizing coating on the surface of aluminium alloys. The micromorphology of the coating has been studied by SEM and results proved the coating had a compact structure. The element in the substrate had been characterized by EDS and results proved Fe had redissolved to the Al substrate. The crystalline structure of the coating had been studied by XRD and results proved the anodic coating could be transformed into η-, p- and γ-alumina. The electrochemical properties had been researched using an electrochemical workstation; results proved after the coating had been treated by hydro-thermal technology, its anti-corrosion properties could be improved. At the hydro-thermal temperature of 400 ℃, its open circuit voltage and impedance reached −0.46 V and 160 kΩ × cm2, respectively. The hardness of the coating had to be measured with an HVS-100 micro-hardness tester, with results proving that, after the hydro-thermal treatment, the hardness of the coating increased to 150 HV. The friction coefficient of the coating had been studied using a ball-on-disk tester, and the results proved it decreased to 0.46. The MMW-2 scratch tester had been used to measure the adhesion between the coating and substrate; results proved the coating had better adhesion with the substrate. The thermal conductivity of the coating had been studied by a heat conduction coefficient measurement device; results proved that it reached 11.2 W/m × K at a hydro-thermal temperature of 400 ℃, far higher than that of organic coating.


Results on the helical magnetic anisotropy in positive magnetostrictive amorphous glass-covered magnetic wires are presented. Measurements of the circumferential magnetization component in Fe/sub 77.5/Si/sub 7.5/B/sub 15/ amorphous glass-covered wires show the existence of a non diagonal anisotropy component that determines an inclination of the easy axis of magnetization in the inner region of as-cast wires. Applied torque leads to an increase of the azimuthal magnetization and contributes to the increase of the easy axis inclination, determining an increase of the switching field at which the axial magnetization reversal occurs in these wires. The torsion sensitivity of wires after glass removal is higher than that of glass-covered wires.


The concept that reduced weight will result in energy (fuel) savings has led to trial usage of aluminum for hoods and rear deck lid parts of automobiles. Conventional low-carbon steel sheets are being replaced by aluminumalloys, including 2036-T4, in selected applications. Evaluative tests were used to explain performance differences among three samples of 1 mm-(0.040-in.)-thick sheets of 2036-T4 in forming a deck lid in a cooperative program among various testing laboratories. As an extension of this program, comparative testing was done on low carbon steel sheet samples of types including rimmed and aluminum killed steels using the same techniques as with aluminum. The results show contrasts between values such as yield strengths that are similar in level for steel and aluminum, and elongations that are different. Other test values contribute information relative to formability and form a basis for comparisons of properties among competing materials. such as the plastic strain ratio and strain hardening capacity for deep drawing and stretch forming deformation modes.


Abstract Background Elevated lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] is an under-diagnosed genetically inherited risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) and calcific aortic valve stenosis. Premature myocardial infarction (MI) could stem from the association between elevated Lp(a) and other non-traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Case summary Here, we report a male patient with extremely high Lp(a) plasma levels [610 nmol/L (244 mg/dL); normal <75 nmol/L (<30 mg/dL)] associated with the prothrombin genetic variant rs1799963 (G20210A) and no other CHD risk factor. At the age of 32, he suffered recurrent episodes of MI treated by coronary angioplasty and drug eluting stents. The patient who was initially prescribed antiplatelet therapy, beta-blockers, and statins, has subsequently been treated by lipoprotein apheresis every fortnight for 43 months. He has never experienced any recurrent episode of angina or chest pain since. Discussion The rare association between extremely elevated circulating Lp(a) levels and prothrombotic genetic variants of coagulation factors appears to be a deadly combination that can only be adequately treated by antiplatelet therapy and lipoprotein apheresis.


This paper deals with the diagnosis of Wind Turbines based on generator current analysis. It provides a comparative study between traditional signal processing methods, such as periodograms, with more sophisticated approaches. Performances of these techniques are assessed through simulation experiments and compared for several types of fault, including air-gap eccentricities, broken rotor bars and bearing damages.


A dual-head short-stroke pump has two advantages in the post-column peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (PO-CL) detection system. The first is to increase the mixing efficiency of solutions. The second is to increase the stability of the PO-CL reaction by keeping the aryl oxalate and hydrogen peroxide solutions separate. The detection sensitivities for six polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) increased in the present system by using bis(2,4-dinitrophenyl) oxalate (DNPO) or bis(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorophenyl) oxalate (PFPO) instead of such popular aryl oxalates as bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate (TCPO) and bis[2-(3,6,9-trioxadecyloxycarbonyl)-4-nitrophenyl] oxalate (TDPO). Both DNPO and PFPO increased the sensitivities by factors of 4.1-10.2 and 3.5-8.1, respectively. In addition, DNPO was more stable than PFPO in acetonitrile. These results suggest that DNPO is the most useful aryl oxalate for the sensitive PO-CL detection of PAHs.


Background: Toddlers in the world are currently experiencing one of the most worrying nutritional problems, one of which is short toddlers or often said to be stunting. The aim is to determine the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding and complementary food patterns in children aged 12-24 months in Pandeglang, Banten to stunting cases. Methods: This type of research is quantitative research which requires an activity to collect data then processed and analyzed and then made a presentation of data based on the number or number done objectively. Results: It can be seen that the majority of respondents have toddlers with male gender as many as 35 people with a percentage of 51.5%. There are 4 babies who have low birth weight with a percentage of 5.9%. In the age group of maternal pregnancy, dominated by the age group 20-30 years as many as 40 people with a percentage of 58.8%. Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding and complementary food patterns with the incidence of stunting in children aged 12-24 months in Pandeglang.


The aim of this project was to ascertain if Pictometry® estimated height could be used in lieu of field-based height estimation. Height of a light pole measured with a telescopic height pole was compared to Pictometry® hyperspatial 4-inch (10.2 centimeters) multispectral imagery estimated light pole height on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas. Average percent agreement between light pole height and Pictometry® estimated light pole height summarized by Pictometry® image magnification factors at 100%, 125%, 150%, 200%, and 300% magnification were within 98% of light pole height with percent disagreement ranging from 1.37% to 1.90%. RMSE between light pole height and Pictometry® estimated light pole height summarized by Pictometry® image magnification factors at 100%, 125%, 150%, 200%, and 300% magnification ranged from 0.14 meters to 0.17 meters. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test indicated that Pictometry® estimated light pole heights measured at the cardinal directions of north and east were more accurate than the directions of south and west, while increasing the magnification scale did not increase light pole height accuracy significantly. Pictometry® estimated height can be used in lieu of field-based height estimation for vertical features in a landscape and has the potential to revolutionize remotely sensed height measurements. This confirms the precision and accuracy of height measurements previously found for use of Pictometry® for tree, pole and building heights, slope distance, and height measurement by unmanned aerial systems.


Although researchers continue to report neurological abnormalities and neuropsychiatric associations in patients with obsessive compulsive disorders, there is a paucity of published reports on this condition following head injury. Such a case is described here, including the efficacy of behavioural intervention in ameliorating the symptoms.


The Ran GTPase controls many cellular functions, including nucleocytoplasmic trafficking, spindle assembly, nuclear assembly and cell-cycle progression. Considerable evidence suggests that diffusible Ran-GTP near mitotic chromatin facilitates the release of critical factors from nuclear transport receptors, thereby promoting organization of mitotic spindles with respect to chromosomes. In addition to this role of soluble Ran-GTP, Ran has two important but less understood roles at mitotic kinetochores. Namely, it is essential for regulation of the spindle assembly checkpoint and for assembly of microtubule fibres that attach kinetochores to spindle poles. Here, I will briefly summarize evidence for these kinetochore-associated functions and mention some of the issues that remain to be addressed regarding them.


Approximately one-third of the world's population is between 10-24 years of age, and four out of five young people live in developing countries, a figure which is expected to increase to 87% by the year 2020 (Friedman, 1993; Ainsworth and Over, 1997). In many countries the majority of young people are sexually experienced by the age of 20 and premarital sex is common among 15-19 year-olds. For example in recent surveys it was found that 73% of young men and 28% of young women in this age group in Rio de Janeiro reported having had premarital sex, compared with 59% and 12% respectively in Quito, and 31% and 47% respectively in Ghana (Population Council, 1996)


Drugs which have the property of blocking transmission in autonomic nerve ganglia are at present being employed widely in the treatment of arterial hypertension. The agents most commonly employed are of the tetraethylammonium and the methonium groups. They act either by preventing de-polarization of the cellular membrane of the postganglionic neuron or by producing a prolonged depolarization with an associated absolute refractory state. During the blockade induced in this manner autonomically innervated structures of both the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems do not respond to preganglionic stimulation but remain sensitive to postganglionic stimuli. Thus the sympathetic tone of small arterioles is depressed, resulting in a fall in peripheral vascular resistance and in blood pressure. Associated with this effect are other evidences of autonomic blockade such as interference with bladder and bowel motility, dryness of the mouth, inhibition of sweating, mydriasis, interference with accommodation, and impotence in the male.


A method of calculating the electric field induced by a photon fluence inside a rectangular conducting box is demonstrated using an analytical solution of Poisson's equation. The calculated field is in the range of 70-140 V mm-1 for a particular optical path for a deposited dose in nitrobenzene of 9 krad. The calculations show that under some circumstances the field is unexpectedly sensitive to the geometry and material of the experimental apparatus. An experimental technique that would measure the predicted field using the Kerr electro-optic effect is also demonstrated and the field measured is 70-10+7 V mm-1 for a deposited dose of 9 krad in nitrobenzene. However at the 2.2 SD level of significance the measured electric field is <85 V mm-1 and therefore although it is likely that a radiation-induced electric field has been observed there is a small probability that the chosen optical path had zero or a very small electric field. The observed pulse had an anomalously short decay time constant and radiation-induced conduction needs to be determined in more detail if an optical method of field measurement is to be useful. The radiation-induced current measured in a low-impedance diode agreed with that predicted by McCallum (1968).


We report a new methodology for the synthesis of two highly symmetric equatorial malonate hexaadducts of C 60 fullerene. The synthetic methodology is based on a series of protection and deprotection steps that allow the preparation of a fullerene [60] functionalized with six symmetrical positioned malonate addends without using complicated and expensive separation techniques (high-performance liquid chromatography, HPLC) or long reaction times. This methodology allowed us to prepare the carboxylic adducts 6 (equatorial octacarboxylic tetraadduct of C 60 ) and 8 (equatorial dodecacarboxylic hexakisadduct of C 60 ). As far as we know, compound 6 has not yet been reported. We also studied the electronic properties of the main compounds by UV-Vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The reported fullerene adducts exhibited several reversible reduction processes whose electron transfers are controlled by diffusion.


The goal consisted in analyzing the innovation management process and the technology transfer between Industry-University in the TTOs of the public universities in the state of Paraná, Brazil. The research is of Practical Research nature. The approach is qualitative and as a technical procedure it was used the case study. The research analyzed the faced challenges, strategies and actions taken in the TTOs that got a better result in stage 1. It was possible to identify that the offices have highly capacitated in a level of excellency in different areas of graduation, however with difficulties to stablish an internal relationship between its members, professors and research groups from the university. They find it difficult external problems. The government, universities and institutions must create transfer mechanisms connected to the form of the technology demand, innovation and the enterprises characteristics.


Layered or hybrid optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been proposed for use in optical communications due to its excellent spectral and power efficiencies, especially in visible light communications (VLC). However, most of the current works concentrate on transmitter and receiver design as well as the quality of service in communication networks. In this paper, we propose a spectrum-efficient dimmable triple-layer hybrid optical OFDM (DTH-OFDM) scheme to tackle the illumination requirements, considering different practical indoor VLC scenarios from low illumination to high illumination intensities. In the proposed DTH-OFDM scheme, the required dimming level is achieved by jointly adjusting the dimming factors and direct current bias. We investigate the comprehensive performance analysis of the proposed DTH-OFDM in detail, including probability density function, bit error rate (BER), spectral and energy efficiencies. In addition, a joint dimming control and optimal power allocation problem for DTH-OFDM is formulated and solved using convex optimization under the constraints of light emitting diode (LED) nonlinearity, dimming target and communications reliability. Numerical results show that, the proposed DTH-OFDM can offer continuous and arbitrary dimming target with higher spectral efficiency and lower BER compared with its counterparts, as well as an enhanced tolerance to the LED nonlinearity.


Geometrical modeling of the double lacoste knitted fabrics is studied. Elliptical shapes for the head of loops (tuck and plain), general helices and lemniscate curve for the rest of the parts including the arms of the loops are used. The coordinates of the points on the fitting curves are found and these points are used in the simulation of the front and back views of the double lacoste knitted fabrics. A proper geometric definition of the double lacoste structure is given to be used in further analysis, such as finite element method applications. With this model it will be possible to obtain the 3D appearance of the fabric using basic experimental results as inputs.


School is the most cost-effective and easiest way to access 5-15-year-old children. Owing to the development of permanent teeth, the increasing prevalence of dental caries, and the formation of social life, these children are the main target group in oral hygiene promotion programs. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of interventional strategies on improving oral health and dental hygiene of 5-15-year-old students. Electronic search in Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Springer, and Biomed Central databases was performed using English keywords, and the studies that were conducted on educational interventions to improve oral health, dental hygiene, prevention, and control of caries among students between January 2004 and March 2021 were reviewed. Thirteen selected studies were divided into two categories: educational interventions based on self-care behaviors and prevention services (fluoride varnish and fissure sealant) and educational interventions based on self-care behaviors. Interventions that included continuing the intervention, involved parents and school staff in the program, used a combination of several educational methods and used preventive services were associated with greater success in enhancing knowledge, health behaviors, reducing plaque, and tooth decay. Continuation of group education, combined use of educational programs, follow-up, and the use of behavior change models and provision of preventive services are the best ways to design and plan an intervention to improve oral health and dental hygiene in elementary school students.


The M1/M2 macrophage paradigm plays a key role in tumor progression. M1 macrophages are historically regarded as anti-tumor, while M2-polarized macrophages, commonly deemed tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), are contributors to many pro-tumorigenic outcomes in cancer through angiogenic and lymphangiogenic regulation, immune suppression, hypoxia induction, tumor cell proliferation, and metastasis. The tumor microenvironment (TME) can influence macrophage recruitment and polarization, giving way to these pro-tumorigenic outcomes. Investigating TME-induced macrophage polarization is critical for further understanding of TAM-related pro-tumor outcomes and potential development of new therapeutic approaches. This review explores the current understanding of TME-induced macrophage polarization and the role of M2-polarized macrophages in promoting tumor progression.


Abstract Background: Several studies indicate that lifetime abuse is a relevant risk factor for suicidal ideation and/or attempts. However, little is known about this phenomenon in patients seeking treatment for substance use disorder. The prevalence rate of suicidal ideation and/or suicide attempts was explored among lifetime physically and/or sexually abused patients receiving treatment for drug addiction. The differential characteristics between these patients and those without suicidal behaviours were studied. Method: Three hundred and seventy-five patients were assessed. Socio-demographic characteristics, addiction severity, lifetime abuse, suicidal ideation and attempts, and psychopathological symptoms were explored. Results: Eighty-two patients (21.9%) presented with a history of lifetime abuse and were included in the study (37 men and 45 women). Sixty-two per cent of them presented with lifetime suicidal ideation (12.2% in the last month), and 30.5% with suicide attempts (1.2% in the last month). Patients with suicidal ideation or attempts showed a more severe addiction profile (assessed by the EuropASI) and more psychopathological symptoms (assessed by the SCL-90-R). Conclusion: This study highlights the relationship between previous traumatic experiences and suicidal behaviours. According to these results, systematic screening of suicidal risk in patients seeking treatment in addiction centres with histories of abuse is recommended.


Vortices appear naturally in a wide range of gases and fluids, both on very large scales, e.g. when tornados form in the earths atmosphere, and on very small scales, e.g. in BoseEinstein condensates of dilute atomic gases [1] or in superfluid helium [2], where their existence is a consequence of the quantum nature of the liquid. Collective nonlinear excitations such as the vortex considered here are ubiquitous in solid state systems (e.g. domain walls), biological systems (e.g. waves on membranes) and have even been considered as model systems in particle physics. In superconductors, which we consider here, quantized vortices of the supercurrent [3], that are generated by magnetic flux penetrating into the material, play a key role in understanding the material properties [4] and the performance of superconductor-based devices [5, 6]. At high temperatures the dynamics of vortices is essentially classical. At low temperatures, however, there are experiments suggesting the collective quantum dynamics of vortices [7, 8]. Here we report on experiments in which we have probed for the first time the quantum dynamics of an individual vortex in a superconductor. By measuring the statistics of the vortex escape from a controllable pinning potential we were able demonstrate the quantization of the vortex energy within the trapping potential well and the quantum tunnelling of the vortex through the pinning barrier. The object that we have studied in our experiments is a vortex of electric current with a spatial extent of several tens of micrometers formed in a long superconducting tunnel junction. The electrodynamics of such a Josephson junction is governed by the phase difference φ between the macroscopic wave functions describing the superconducting condensate in the two electrodes [9]. It is a well established fact that the variable φ displays macroscopic quantum properties in point-like junctions at very low temperatures [10, 11]. Such macroscopic quantum phenomena are currently exploited for quantum information processing [12] using superconducting devices [10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]. In extended oneor twodimensional Josephson junction systems quantum tunnelling in real space is to be expected for superconducting vortices, which are particle-like collective excitations of the phase difference φ. The small value of the expected mass of the vortex studied here suggests that quantum effects are likely to occur with vortices at low temperatures. Dissipative vortex tunnelling


Background: Gastric polyps encompass a wide variety of lesions that most commonly arise from the gastric epithelium. However, coincidental gastric carcinomas have rarely been reported, being found in of patients with hyperplastic polyps. The sizes and the pathologies of polyps seem to be important in the application of treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to classily gastric polypoid lesions after a gastrectomy. Materials and Methods: During a follow-up endoscopy study, 23 patients were found to have developed gastric polyps after a gastrectomy. Most of those polyps were removed by using an endoscopic polypectomy. We performed clinical and pathologic evaluations of the gastric polyps in the remainding in the stomach after a gastrectomy, Results: The mean age of the patients was 64.5 years old with the incidence of polyps remainding in the stomach after a gastrectomy increasing after the first year following the gastrectomy. The sizes of the polyps ranged from 0.3cm to 3.5cm in diameter and the numbers of polyps below 1.0cm were 19 (82.6%). The anastomotic site was the most prevalent place 10 (43.2%), followed by the cardia 6 (26.0%) and the body 4 (17.3%). Among 23 gastric polypoid lesions Yamada types of gastric polyps in the remainding in the stomach were as follows: 1 case in type I, 12 cases in type II, 9 cases in type III, 1 case in type IV. The pathologic diagnoses of the polyps were hyperplastic polyps in 6 cases, tubular adenomas in 2 cases and inflammatory polyps in 15 cases. Conclusion: Endoscopic polypectomy is believed to be important in assessing the precise diagnosis of gastric polyps remainding in the stomach. In this study, hyperplastic polyps were found to have no malignant potential, despite their sizes. As a result aggressive biopsy with a polypectomy of gastric polyp afier gastrectomy is recommended and frequent follow-up be performed.


The aim of this population-based case-control study was to examine the association between bone mass and upper limb fractures in children aged 9-16 yr. Areal bone mineral density and bone mineral apparent density (BMAD) were measured by both dual energy absorptiometry (DXA) and metacarpal index (MI) by hand radiograph. A total of 321 fracture cases and 321 randomly selected individually matched controls were studied. For all fractures, cases had lower DXA measures at all sites (1.1-3.3%; all P < 0.05). A larger reduction was observed for those with wrist and forearm fractures (1.2-4.5%; all P < 0.05, except total body BMAD) but not other upper limb fractures (hand, -1.6 to +1.2%; upper arm: 0.9-4.8%; all P > 0.05). For metacarpal measures, cases had a thinner cortical width and lower MI for wrist and forearm fractures only. In multivariate modeling, both spine BMAD (odds ratio, 1.4/SD reduction) and MI (odds ratio, 1.5/SD reduction) remained statistically significant predictors of wrist and forearm fractures. In conclusion, both DXA measures and MI are independently associated with wrist and forearm but not other upper limb fractures. The magnitude of this association is somewhat weaker than in adults but suggests that optimizing age-appropriate bone mass will lessen the risk of fracture in children.


This paper presents modeling guidelines and a benchmark system for power system simulation studies of grid-connected, three-phase, single-stage Photovoltaic (PV) systems that employ a voltage-sourced converter (VSC) as the power processor. The objective of this work is to introduce the main components, operation/protection modes, and control layers/schemes of medium- and high-power PV systems, to assist power engineers in developing circuit-based simulation models for impact assessment studies, analysis, and identification of potential issues with respect to the grid integration of PV systems. Parameter selection, control tuning, and design guidelines are also briefly discussed. The usefulness of the benchmark system is demonstrated through a fairly comprehensive set of test cases, conducted in the PSCAD/EMTDC software environment. However, the models and techniques presented in this paper are independent of any specific circuit simulation software package. Also, they may not fully conform to the methods exercised by all manufacturers, due to the proprietary nature of the industry.


Gastric Cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and no biomarkers are available for early detection. To search for potential biomarkers we analysed in silico transcriptome followed by experimental validation of epigenetically regulated genes. Methods. In silico transcriptome analysis was performed after download 4 normal and 10 tumor gastric Serial Gene Expression (SAGE) libraries from CGAP/GEO domains to create a single file containing 121,409 tags. Clustering libraries were identified by PCA, COA and Support Clustering. Significance Analysis for Microarray (SAM) was performed to select differentially expressed tags and SAGE Genie/TAGmapper was applied for tag-gene association. CpG island in the promoter region of selected genes was interrogated by UCSC or EMBOSS CpGPlot browsers. Functional annotation was performed by Gene Ontology (GO) using Babelomics. Experimental validation of epigenetically regulated genes was performed by RT-PCR in five gastric cancer cell lines (NCI-N87, MKN-45, KATO-III, AGS, HSC-38) and other cell lines (MCF7, ZR-75-1, A549, Hep2, JURKAT, CASKI, FS and Hek293T]) after 5 uM of 5-azaC incubation for 72 hrs. Genes with restored expression were further analyzed by bisulfite sequencing and clinico-pathological significance was evaluated by in 91 early gastric cancers and 148 chronic gastritis cases by Tissue Microarray (TMA) methodology. Results. Two thousand and four hundred and thirty seven (2%) tags were expressed in all normal libraries and all tumor libraries. PCA, COA and Support Cluster analyses clearly identified normal and tumor libraries and were confirmed by Support clustering analysis. SAM revealed 90 tags differentially expressed between these two libraries with 78 down-regulated and 12 up-regulated tags in tumor libraries. Tag to gene association identified 59 genes. Functional annotation revealed that most of downregulated genes were negative regulators of apoptosis (GO:0016265) and overexpressed genes were cell cycle regulators (GO:0007049) or angiogenesis inducers (GO:0001525). Interestingly, 16 genes did not have any prior investigation in gastric carcinoma. Finally by bona-fide CpG island analysis, 38 genes contained CpG in their promoter regions, and 12 demonstrated epigenetic regulation after 5-azaC incubation including FLT1 and STAT1. Bisulfite sequence confirmed CpG methylation changes for FLT1 gene and IHC staining of STAT1 on TMAs revealed almost significant overexpression in cancer-associated gastritis vs chronic gastritis control cases (p=0.057). Discussion. Experimental validation of in silico analysis of gastric carcinoma transcriptomes reveal epigenetic regulation of several genes. Among these, STAT1 is a promissory candidate to distinguish chronic gastritis from cancer-associated gastritis. Supported by FONDECYT 1080563 from Government of Chile. Note: This abstract was not presented at the AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010 because the presenter was unable to attend. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1992.


The influence of culture conditions on the biosynthesis and degradation of polysaccharides (starch and carrageenan) in the red alga Solieria chordalis was investigated. Following 1 week of incubation in the dark, the alga synthesized floridean starch at two irradiances, 50 and 480 μmol photons m−2 s−1 (400–700 nm), in nutrient-unenriched seawater. Upon transfer of these cultured algae to nutrient-enriched seawater at 50 μmol photons m−2 s−1, the stored floridean starch was found to break down. 14C labelling revealed that during floridean starch breakdown the tracer was transferred to carrageenan. These results are interpreted as carbon transfer from stored floridean starch for use in carrageenan biosynthesis.


In a computing system where a user moves from one environment to another, and as such the user's context and computing resources also change, a constant user intervention to enable/disable various devices to suit his needs is time-consuming and diminishes user productivity. Instead, a machine could be trained to acquire knowledge so that it would do the work (i.e. calculation and decision making) itself and leaves human do something else that is more important. In a ubiquitous multimodal multimedia (MM) computing system, the selection of appropriate media and modalities (i.e. devices) is based on user's context, user profile, and user's environment (a.k.a. pre-condition scenario). There are numerous possibilities of a pre-condition scenario and the available devices also changes depending on user's computing environment. Indeed, a machine learning (ML) component could be trained to "remember" all pre-condition scenarios, and each one's device selection (a.k.a. post-condition scenario). This ML component could also be trained to find a replacement to every missing or defective selected device. The ML component is integrated into a ubiquitous system making it available anytime, anywhere. This work is an original contribution in ML, one that permits automatic system adaptation based on user's environment


Fusion reactor blankets based on an aqueous slurry concept are proposed and examined. Attractive features and disadvantages of aqueous slurries as blankets are reviewed. Calculations to determine the capacity of slurry particles with different diameters to stop recoiling tritons are described. Neutronic calculations are performed to specify slurry blankets that are composed of LiF spherical particles suspended in both light and heavy water. Zircaloy and stainless steel are studied as vacuum wall and structure materials for the slurry designs. It is determined that aqueous slurry blankets are probably capable of breeding tritium (based only on the tritium produced and retained in the solid particles) and are worthy of additional study.


Background: Cognitive impairment is a common symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS), but little is known about cognitive decline in patients in the long-term course of progressive MS. Because advancing age is the most significant risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease (AD), AD-related pathology must be considered in elderly patients with MS. Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) represents the prodromal phase of AD with subjects showing memory impairment that does not improve with recognition testing. Objective: We sought to identify disease-dependent deterioration patterns by comparing elderly patients with secondary progressive MS (SPMS) and with aMCI using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease test battery. Methods: This study included 120 age-, education- and gender-matched participants, including healthy controls (n=40), SPMS patients (n=40), and aMCI patients (n=40). Results: Episodic memory deficits appeared in the long-term course of SPMS. Deficits were associated with deterioration of executive function, but not impairment of memory storage as recognition was preserved in SPMS in contrast to the patients with aMCI. Conclusion: Through neuropsychological testing, MS-related episodic memory impairment due to deteriorated executive function can be distinguished from AD-related encoding and storage deficits. Hence, neuropsychological testing may help to identify AD-related pathology in SPMS patients.


Russia's application of a sophisticated hybrid strategy and the rise of Daesh (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS) have been drivers for change in the complex security environment of the twenty-first century. While the significance of these threats does not preclude the conventional aspect of national defence planning, it does complicate societal preparedness. Vlasta Zekulić, Christopher Godwin and Jennifer Cole examine the relevance of NATO resilience policies and propose a synchronised approach to crisis decision-making, civil preparedness planning and national and collective defence to ensure they are balanced, mutually supportive and incur manageable cost.


:  Some historical observations need to be made about Luther in his own time before his thought can be made useful for our future. First, theology was a collaborative undertaking for Luther and his Wittenberg colleagues. Second, theology was tied to their Reformation agenda of teaching a new way of practicing Christianity in accord with the gospel. That agenda required radical changes: a conversion of religious efforts to please God into advocacy of the neighbor; expansion of the church beyond Rome into an ecumenical assembly of holy and active believers; and a theological reorganization of public life that blurred the line between theology and ethics. In these areas, adapted to the 21st century, lies the greatest utility of Luther's theology for the future.


The future Internet would benefit from the delivery of high performance services crossing several carriers and bringing new incomes to telco operators. Such services compel carriers to guarantee Quality of Service (QoS) inside their boundaries. As carriers are independently administrated, architectures and processes must be reconsidered so that requirements for autonomy and confidentiality are respected. In this context, enforcing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between partners cannot be avoided. The following problem has to be solved: given an end-to-end service request and collections of SLAs on each participating carrier, establish an end-to-end contract, which gives an optimal service under reliable QoS guarantees. In previous works, we described distributed processes based on dynamic programming principles. In this article, we depict a distributed adaptation of a meta-heuristic algorithm, known as Ant Colony algorithm. We demonstrate that the performances of this algorithm are competitive to other works.


Using a detailed model of the InGaAs P-i-N photodiode that includes effects caused by the change of bias voltage and effects of the RC parasitic constant, authors describe the implementation of the pulse response of the P-i-N photodiode in the lightwave system model obtaining greater accuracy in comparison to an ideal square-law detector or to the simplified one-pole P-i-N photodiode model. Developed method has been used for the evaluation of the 10 Gbit/s 1.55 μm IM/DD (Intensity Modulation/Direct Detection) digital optical system performance with InGaAs P-i-N photodiode as an optical receiver. The authors also propose the correction factor, the photodiode bandwidth penalty, in the total optical system penalty that describes the influence of the P-i-N photodiode properties on the optical system performance.


This paper proposes a reversible data hiding method that embeds data into specific areas such as image edges. Though a reversible data hiding method distorts an original image to hide data, it not only extracts hidden data but also restores the original image from the distorted image. The proposed method memorizes only one parameter for data extraction and image restoration, and no location map recording watermarked positions is required. By simple modification to the conventional method that has the above mentioned features, the proposed method has a new function;hiding data to only specific areas.


Flutamide (FL) is the only presently recommended drug for monotherapy of benign prostatic hypertrophy. Five FL-loaded powdered formulations were prepared by spray drying. Aerosil was used with PEG 400 or PEG 6000 to improve powder flow and FL dissolution, respectively. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) studies revealed no interactions as evidenced by the persisting FL peak at 113oC. SEM pictures showed changes in powder morphology with F3 and F5 giving spongy-appearing particles with intra-particle channels. Wettability of the formulations was strongly increased as evidenced by the fast water rise through the powder bed (1.5- 44 min) compared with native FL (> 3 hr). The powders were tested for their angle of repose, Carr's index and Hausner's ratio. The results showed improved flow compared to both native FL and lactose. The best angle of repose (27.4o ) was seen with F3. This formulation also showed "fair" compressibility index and Hausner's ratio of 16.7 and 12.0, respectively. Compressed into tablets, all formulations showed significant improvement of FL release (p < 0.05)compared to commercial tablets. The highest drug release was seen with F3 showing 37% of FL released after 120 minutes compared with 11% FL released from commercial tablet after the same interval.


The 2011 Mw 9.0 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake, the greatest earthquake in the modern history of Japan and the fourth largest earthquake of the world in the era of instrumental seismology, occurred along the plate interface east of northeastern Japan. Slip area of this great earthquake extends about 500 km long and about 200 km wide with the average slip of about 10–20 m, rupturing about two thirds of the megathrust zone east of the entire northeastern Japan arc. Northeastern Japan was severely damaged by this earthquake; especially the huge tsunami generated by it caused tremendous loss of life near the Pacific coast of northeastern Japan, about 20,000 people missing and dead. Considering unprecedented impacts, both social and scientific, not only limited in Japan but over the world, EPS had planned two different special issues associated with this 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. The first one is a special issue with rapid publication of results obtained immediately after the event, in which only letter-type manuscripts were accepted. This first special issue, namely "First Results of the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake", was published in No. 7 of Vol. 63, 2011, with 70 letter-type papers. The present special issue is for the second one more focused on longer-term scientific developments about the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake than the first special issue. We are aware of that we couldn't extend the deadline long enough to provide sufficient time for the longer-term scientific developments to be fully made. However, thanks to the great efforts by the authors, we received more than 30 submissions. Among them, 25 papers are accepted and contained in this issue. In this special issue, diverse research topics regarding the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake are covered, such as rupture process, rupture simulations, hypocenter distribution, seismic velocity structure, stress field, seismic magnitude differentials, variability of megathrust earthquakes, induced earthquakes such as outer-rise or inland events, earthquake triggering, rheology of the crust, tsunami inundation, site response change, soil liquefaction, vibration of a tall building, and ionospheric disturbances. We believe these papers contribute significantly for deeper understanding of generation mechanism of great interplate earthquakes such as the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and of many related phenomena. The editors greatly acknowledge the authors and reviewers for their time and efforts in publishing this special issue of Earth, Planets and Space. Finally, we would like to give our deep condolences to all the victims of the Tohoku Earthquake.


The properties of negative parity states of 67Zn are described in the cluster-vibration model. Special emphasis is laid on the identification and qualitative discussion of the nature of low-lying states and the appearance of the 3-/21 level with the characteristics of the I=j-1 anomaly.


Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is an uncommon malignancy of B-cell origin. Classical HL (cHL) and nodular lymphocyte-predominant HL are the 2 main types of HL. The cure rates for HL have increased so markedly with the advent of modern treatment options that overriding treatment considerations often relate to long-term toxicity. These NCCN Guidelines Insights discuss the recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines for HL focusing on (1) radiation therapy dose constraints in the management of patients with HL, and (2) the management of advanced-stage and relapsed or refractory cHL.


Vibration measurements of the fuel assembly of a nuclear reactor are a very useful tool to determine the health and lifetime of the reactor core. The importance of these measurements is exacerbated in the new generation of heavy liquid metal reactors, where the fuel assembly is exposed to a corrosive molten metal coolant at 300 °C and where the space between the individual fuel pins is limited to a few millimeters. In this paper, we consider fibre Bragg gratings as potential candidates for carrying out fuel pin vibration measurements in such an environment. We describe a dedicated method to integrate fibre Bragg gratings in a fuel pin, and we subject this pin to conditions close to those encountered in a real heavy liquid metal reactor. More specifically, we report on the performance of draw tower gratings used as a vibration sensor when the fuel pins are immersed in heavy liquid metal at 300 °C for up to 700 h. The performance evaluation is based on monitoring the signal-to-noise ratio of the grating's spectral response as a function of time. We show that accurate detection of the Bragg peak becomes very challenging after 400 h of exposure. Additionally, we succeed to extend the useful lifetime with a factor of two by using an appropriate integration of the fiber in the fuel pin and by using an alternate peak detection algorithm.


Nationalists were one of the numerous Polish political movements during World War II. Actively engaging in the fight against the occupying forces, they suffered heavy losses, but does not prevent them in the creation of significant heritage in the field of political thought. The aim of the article is to present the political thought of Polish national movement during the Second World War. Historical, qualitative and comparative methods were used. The whole has been divided into several parts,, in which author examines the with issues of political thought as: Polish war aims, vision of state borders, ratio to national minorities, vision of the political system, economic vision, vision of national security, education and upbringing. The whole article has to show how rich the heritage of those generations.


We present a model of the firing of place and head-direction cells in rat hippocampus. The model can predict the response of individual cells and populations to parametric manipulations of both geometric (e.g. O'Keefe & Burgess, 1996) and orientational (Fenton et aI., 2000a) cues, extending a previous geometric model (Hartley et al., 2000). It provides a functional description of how these cells' spatial responses are derived from the rat's environment and makes easily testable quantitative predictions. Consideration of the phenomenon of remapping (Muller & Kubie, 1987; Bostock et aI., 1991) indicates that the model may also be consistent with nonparametric changes in firing, and provides constraints for its future development.


This study investigated osteogenesis of human mesenchymal stem cells encapsulated in matrix‐metalloproteinase (MMP)‐sensitive poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels in chemically defined medium (10 ng/ml bone morphogenic factor‐2). Thiol‐norbornene photoclick hydrogels were formed with CRGDS and crosslinkers of PEG dithiol (nondegradable), CVPLS‐LYSGC (P1) or CRGRIGF‐LRTDC (P2; dash indicates cleavage site) at two crosslink densities. Exogenous MMP‐2 degraded P1 and P2 hydrogels similarly. MMP‐14 degraded P1 hydrogels more rapidly than P2 hydrogels. Cell spreading was greatest in P1 low crosslinked hydrogels and to a lesser degree in P2 low crosslinked hydrogels, but not evident in nondegradable and high crosslinked MMP‐sensitive hydrogels. Early osteogenesis (Alkaline phosphatase [ALP] activity) was accelerated in hydrogels that facilitated cell spreading. Contrarily, late osteogenesis (mineralization) was independent of cell spreading. Mineralized matrix was present in P1 hydrogels, but only present in P2 high crosslinked hydrogels and not yet present in nondegradable hydrogels. Overall, the low crosslinked P1 hydrogels exhibited an accelerated early and late osteogenesis with the highest ALP activity (Day 7), greatest calcium content (Day 14), and greatest collagen content (Day 28), concomitant with increased compressive modulus over time. Collectively, this study demonstrates that in chemically defined medium, hydrogel degradability is critical to accelerating early osteogenesis, but other factors are important in late osteogenesis.


Data gathering in sensor networks is required to be efficient, adaptable and robust. Recently, compressive sensing (CS) based data gathering shows promise in meeting these requirements. Existing CS-based data gathering solutions require that a transform that best sparsifies the sensor readings should be used in order to reduce the amount of data traffic in the network as much as possible. As a result, it is very likely that different transforms have to be determined for varied sensor networks, which seriously affects the adaptability of CS-based schemes. In addition, the existing schemes result in significant errors when the sampling rate of sensor data is low (equivalent to the case of high packet loss rate) because CS inherently requires that the number of measurements should exceed a certain threshold. This paper presents STCDG, an efficient data gathering scheme based on matrix completion. STCDG takes advantage of the low-rank feature instead of sparsity, thereby avoiding the problem of having to be customized for specific sensor networks. Besides, we exploit the presence of the short-term stability feature in sensor data, which further narrows down the set of feasible readings and reduces the recovery errors significantly. Furthermore, STCDG avoids the optimization problem involving empty columns by first removing the empty columns and only recovering the non-empty columns, then filling the empty columns using an optimization technique based on temporal stability. Our experimental results indicate that STCDG outperforms the state-of-the-art data gathering algorithms in terms of recovery error, power consumption, lifespan, and network capacity.


Background The PREMIER trial demonstrated the superiority of initial adalimumab (ADA)+MTX vs the individual monotherapies in MTX-naïve patients (pts) with early, aggressive rheumatoid arthritis (RA)1. Objectives To assess long-term outcomes in pts treated with ADA, with or without MTX, for up to 10 years (yrs). Methods Pts completing the 2yr blinded study were eligible to receive open-label (OL) ADA for up to an additional 8 yrs; MTX could be added at the investigator's discretion. This post hoc analysis evaluated data as observed (ie, no imputation for missing data); results are summarized overall and by initial treatment arm. DAS28(CRP) and HAQ-DI were used to assess clinical and functional outcomes, respectively. Radiographic progression (change from baseline in mTSS) was assessed in 10yr completers with radiographic data available at baseline and yr 10. Adverse events (E) of interest were summarized for pts receiving ≥1 ADA dose and presented as E/100-pt yrs (PY). Results Of the 799 pts randomized, 497 (62%) entered the OL extension; 250 (31%) maintained OL ADA±MTX through yr 10. MTX co-therapy was (re)initiated in 261 pts (53%) during the OL extension. Overall, pts completing 10 yrs of therapy continued to demonstrate effective disease control (mean DAS28=2.4; mean HAQ-DI=0.6; mean ΔmTSS=7.8). Although the addition of OL ADA±MTX to the initial MTX and ADA arms at yr 2 led to increases in the proportions achieving DAS28(CRP) <2.6 and HAQ-DI <0.5 over time, differences between initial treatment arms persisted through yr 10 (Table). Further, ΔmTSS remained significantly lower over time in the initial ADA+MTX arm compared with the 2 monotherapy arms (ΔmTSS =4.0, 11.0, and 8.8 at yr 10 for the initial ADA+MTX, MTX, and ADA arms, respectively; both P <0.05), despite OL ADA±MTX slowing progression comparably in each of the arms (both P >0.05). No new safety signals arose following 3708 PY of ADA exposure (N=697 pts): serious infections =2.6 E/100-PY; TB =0.2 E/100-PY; malignancy (other than NMSC) SIR (95% CI) =0.89 (0.62, 1.26). There were 23 deaths during this 10yr study, resulting in an SMR (95% CI) of 0.72 (0.49, 1.02). Conclusions ADA±MTX maintained effective disease control for up to 10 yrs in pts with early, aggressive RA. Of the pts who continued in the study, those who initiated ADA+MTX combination therapy retained better outcomes through 10 yrs than pts who began treatment with MTX or ADA monotherapy. References Breedveld et al. Arthritis & Rheum. 2006; 54(1):26-37. Acknowledgements AbbVie Inc. sponsored the study (NCT00195663), contributed to its design, and participated in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and in the writing, reviewing, and approval of the final version. Medical writing support was provided by Benjamin Wolfe, PhD, of AbbVie Inc. Disclosure of Interest E. Keystone Grant/research support from: AbbVie Inc., Amgen, AstraZeneca, BMS, Centocor, Genzyme, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, UCB, Consultant for: AbbVie Inc., AstraZeneca, Biotest, BMS, Centocor, Genentech, Merck, Nycomed, Pfizer, Roche, UCB, Speakers bureau: AbbVie Inc., Amgen, BMS, Janssen, Merck, Pfizer, Roche, UCB, F. Breedveld Consultant for: Centocor, Schering-Plough, Amgen/Wyeth, AbbVie Inc, D. van der Heijde Consultant for: AbbVie Inc., Amgen, AstraZeneca, BMS, Centocor, Chugai, Eli-Lilly, GSK, Merck, Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, UCB, Wyeth, and is the director of Imaging Rheumatology bv, R. Landewé Consultant for: AbbVie Inc., Amgen, BMS, Centocor, GSK, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough, UCB, Wyeth, and is the owner of Rheumatology Consultancy bv, S. Florentinus Shareholder of: AbbVie Inc., Employee of: AbbVie Inc., U. Arulmani Shareholder of: AbbVie Inc., Employee of: AbbVie Inc., S. Liu Shareholder of: AbbVie Inc., Employee of: AbbVie Inc., H. Kupper Shareholder of: AbbVie Inc., Employee of: AbbVie Inc., A. Kavanaugh Grant/research support from: AbbVie Inc., Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, BMS, Celgene, Centocor-Janssen, Pfizer, Roche, UCB, Consultant for: AbbVie Inc., Amgen, Astra-Zeneca, BMS, Celgene, Centocor-Janssen, Pfizer, Roche, UCB


Current standard-of-care treatment for glioblastoma, the most common malignant primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor, consists of surgical resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation (Stupp protocol), providing an overall median survival of 15 months. With additional treatment using tumor-treating fields (Optune® therapy, Novocure Ltd., Haifa, Israel), survival can be extended up to 20 months. In spite of significant progress in our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis, the prognosis for patients with malignant gliomas remains poor and additional treatment modalities are critically needed. Curcumin is a bright yellow pigment found in the rhizome of the widely utilized spice, turmeric (Curcuma longa). It has long been used in South Asian traditional medicines and has been demonstrated to have in vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiproliferative effects. Curcumin has been demonstrated to induce multiple cytotoxic effects in tumor cells including cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, autophagy, changes in gene expression, and disruption of molecular signaling. Additionally, curcumin has been shown to potentiate the effect of radiation on cancer cells, while exhibiting a protective effect on normal tissue. Curcumin's positive safety profile and widespread availability make it a promising compound for future clinical trials for high-grade gliomas.


We tested the hypothesis that lysophosphatidylcholine (lyso-PC) could activate protein kinase C in intact vascular segments and sought to examine some of the physiological consequences of this activation. In segments of rabbit aorta, the patterns of protein phosphorylation determined by two-dimensional electrophoresis stimulated by lyso-PC and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) were similar. Activation of protein kinase C can stimulate superoxide anion (O2-) production in other tissues, and we found that lyso-PC-treated rabbit aortas produced twofold more O2- than control vessels. Calphostin C, a potent and specific inhibitor of protein kinase C, attenuated O2- production in lyso-PC-treated vessels but had no effect in control vessels. The effect of lyso-PC on O2- production was mimicked by TPA. In separate bioassay studies, release of the endothelium-derived vascular relaxing factor (EDRF) quantified by the response of detector vessels was markedly impaired after exposure of donor rabbit aortic segments to lyso-PC. After incubation with calphostin C, EDRF release in response to acetylcholine from lyso-PC-treated donor vessels was restored significantly. Thus, lyso-PC can activate protein kinase C in intact vessels, leading to an increase in O2- production. Activation of protein kinase C by lyso-PC may also play a role in altering the release of EDRF in response to acetylcholine. Increased O2- production in response to lyso-PC may have important consequences in the atherogenic process.


For years, teachers of English Composition have used individual student conferences to build on concepts taught in the classroom and to provide specific feedback on students' writing. This approach to teaching writing has been very effective with composition students, but the concept has elements that would prove helpful to students and teachers outside of composition classes and into other disciplines as well. Individualized attention will benefit students in any area of study where writing assignments figure into course requirements; not just with respect to perfecting grammar and punctuation, but in generating ideas, methods of appropriate research, and the arrangement of information in a piece of writing. Meeting with an expert in the field assists students in gaining a deeper understanding of their subject matter as well as the requirements of the assignment in order to ensure success. Instructors are in a unique position to give meaningful guidance on specific projects to their students, and to ensure that concepts taught in the classroom are being understood. This workshop will introduce the concept of student conferencing along with the many ways in which it proves beneficial for students and also advantageous for instructors.


Algebraic geometry is a mixture of the ideas of two Mediterranean cultures. It is the superposition of the Arab science of the lightening calculation of the solutions of equations over the Greek art of position and shape. This tapestry was originally woven on European soil and is still being refined under the influence of international fashion. Algebraic geometry studies the delicate balance between the geometrically plausible and the algebraic possible. Whenever one side of this mathematical teeter-totter outweighs the other, one immediately loses interest and runs off in search of a more exciting amusement. George R. Kempf 1944 2002


We directly measure the cross-phase shift and nonlinear refractive index of a three-level Λ-type hot atomic coherence system inside an optical ring cavity. The cross-phase nonlinear index of refraction n2 is significantly enhanced and sharply changed when the conditions of atomic two-photon resonance are closed. The cross-phase shift of π induced by controlling light on the probe wave has been observed under a relatively low controlling power of 16.2 mW. The system is valuable in developing optical devices for the optical information process.


This research focuses on the applications of multi-stage stochastic models for global supply chain and logistics, especially in global production planning problems and international air cargo forwarding problems under uncertainties. We first exam a multi-period, multi-product and multi-plant production planning problem under uncertain demand and quota limitations and develop a multi-stage stochastic model to handle this problem. Then we present three types of robust models for the same problem: the robust optimization model with solution robustness, the robust optimization model with model robustness, and the robust optimization model with the trade-off between solution robustness and model robustness. Results show that multi-stage models will bring more benefits to their decision-makers. The second problem we look at is an international air cargo forwarding problem under uncertainty, which means the cargoes need to be transported from regions to destinations via a hub. The air forwarders not only have to make a decision about the number of containers to be booked for the regions and hub in advance before accurate customers' information becomes available, but also have to decide the number of extra containers to be required or the containers to be returned after the realisation of uncertainty. We develop stochastic models and three types of robust models for one day's flights per week and multi-days' flights per week cases for this air cargo forwarding problem. For the large scale problem which means the computer software cannot give the optimal solution, we also present a new way to design the genetic algorithm to get the better solutions. Computational results show that the stochastic models can provide effective and cost-efficient solutions; the robust optimization models can provide a more responsive and flexible system with less risk.


Quantum calculations are reported for the intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution and absorption spectra of the first two excited states of the acetylenic CH stretch vibration in the polyatomic molecules (CX3),YCCH, where X=H or D and Y=C or Si. Using approximate potential energy surfaces, comparison is made with the corresponding recent experimental spectra. It is found that a model of intramolecular vibrational relaxation based on the assumption of sequential off-resonance transitions via third and fourth order vibrational couplings (as opposed to direct high order couplings) is in agreement with experimental results on spectral linewidths. In a semiclassical limit this type of relaxation corresponds to a dynamic tunneling in phase space. It is shown that the local density of resonances of third and fourth order, rather than the total density of states, plays a central role for the relaxation. It is found that in the Si molecule an accidental absence of appropriate resonances results in a bottleneck in the initial stages of relaxation. As a result, an almost complete localization of the initially prepared excitation occurs. It is shown that an increase of the mass alone of the central atom from C to Si cannot explain the observed difference in the C and Si molecules. The spectral linewidths were calculated with the Golden Rule formula after prediagonalization of the relevant vibrational states which are coupled in the molecule to the CH vibration, directly or indirectly. For the spectral calculations, in addition to the direct diagonalization, a modified recursive residue generation method was used, allowing one to avoid diagonalization of the transformed Lanczos Hamiltonian. With this method up to 30 000 coupled states could be analyzed on a computer with relatively small memory. The efficiency of C programming language for the problem is discussed.


This paper presents research into a novel autoselective
electric discharge method for regenerating monolithic
wall flow diesel particulate filters using low power over
the entire range of temperatures and oxygen
concentrations experienced within the exhaust systems
of modern diesel engines. The ability to regenerate the
filter independently of exhaust gas temperature and
composition significantly reduces system complexity
compared to other systems. In addition, the system does
not require catalyst loading and uses only massproduced
electronic and electrical components, thus
reducing the cost of the after-treatment package.
Purpose built exhaust gas simulation test rigs were used
to evaluate, develop and optimise the autoselective
regeneration system. On-engine testing demonstrated
the performance of the autoselective regeneration
process under real engine conditions. Typical
regeneration performance is presented and discussed
with the aid of visual observations, particulate mass
measurements, back pressure measurements and
energy consumption. The research demonstrates the
potential of the novel autoselective method for diesel
particulate filter regeneration. The autoselective process
does not require an exhaust by-pass and enables the
system to be low power, catalyst-free and exhaust
temperature independent.


In fermented foods, the presence of BAs is due to the decarboxylase activity of the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) used as starter culture, and to the action of some spoilage bacteria. In non-fermented foods, the presence of BAs is only indicative of undesired microbial activity. Therefore, the amine level could be used as an indicator of microbial spoilage. The amounts of histamine, putrescine, and cadaverine usually increase during spoilage of fish and meat. Early detection of BA- producing bacteria is essential in the food industry, in order to avoid the risk of amine formation and, subsequently, a cause of food-borne disease. Several methods exist for isolation, identifying, and determination of biogenic amines in fermented foods.


The Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a reliability engineering tool that is mostly used in the automotive and aeronautical industry, but during the recent years has also been integrated to various fields, such as electronic equipment and software. This paper will present the application of the FMEA methodology for the evaluation of an innovative design for a remote monitoring system. The system will be analyzed according to the FMEA methodology to identify the major concerns and determine corrective actions, in order to mitigate or eliminate the effects of potential failures on the system. Several improvement measures are identified in order to optimize the initial design, based on the risk evaluation using the risk priority number (RPN). Future developments based on the results of the analysis are also discussed.


Cospectral budgets are used to link the kinetic and potential energy distributions of turbulent eddies, as measured by their spectra, to macroscopic relations between the turbulent Prandtl number (Prt) and atmospheric stability measures such as the stability parameter z, the gradient Richardson number Rg, or the flux Richardson number Rf in the atmospheric surface layer. The dependence of Prt on z, Rg, or Rf is shown to be primarily controlled by the ratio of Kolmogorov and Kolmogorov–Obukhov–Corrsin phenomenological constants and a constant associated with isotropization of turbulent flux production that can be independently determined using rapid distortion theory in homogeneous turbulence. Changes in scaling laws of the vertical velocity and air temperature spectra are also shown to affect the Prt–z (or Prt–Rg or Prt–Rf) relation. Results suggest that departure of Prt from unity under neutral conditions is induced by dissimilarity between momentum and heat in terms of Rotta constants, isotropization constants, and constants in the flux transfer terms. A maximum flux Richardson number Rfm predicted from the cospectral budgets method (50.25) is in good agreement with values in the literature, suggesting that Rfm may be tied to the collapse of Kolmogorov spectra instead of laminarization of turbulent flows under stable stratification. The linkages between microscale energy distributions of turbulent eddies andmacroscopic relations that are principally determined by dimensional considerations or similarity theories suggest that when these scalewise energy distributions of eddies experience a ''transition'' to other distributions (e.g., when Rf is increased over Rfm), dimensional considerations or similarity theories may fail to predict bulk flow properties.


- Automotive electronics plays an important role in the automobile industry and provides high features and importantly addresses the safety and security. This is similar to flight data recorder ("black box"). Motor vehicle event data recorder is a device which is installed on a vehicle to record information regarding to the vehicle conditions. This device that installed in vehicle to record information related to vehicle accidents or crashes. This data are useful to understanding of how certain crashes come out. The data can be collected by using various sensor on the basis of analysis will be available. These designs provide information related to position on real time basis ARM7 processors, sensors and modules.


We study non-thermal emissions from cascade processes in accreting X-ray binary pulsars. In the framework of the magnetospheric gap model, we consider three photon fields, which are respectively from the polar cap of a pulsar, its surrounding accretion disk and a massive companion star with a circumstellar disk, to shield the gap. The gap-accelerated ultra-relativistic electrons emit high-energy photons via curvature radiation and an inverse Compton scattering process, in which part of these high-energy photons absorbed by interactions with the surrounding photon fields can facilitate the following electromagnetic cascades. We first carry out numerical calculations of the cascade processes in order to obtain the predicted emission spectra. As an example, we subsequently apply this model to reproduce observations of LS I +61° 303. We find that the results can fit observations ranging from hard X-ray to γ-ray bands. In particular, they can explain the spectral cutoff feature at a few GeV. Finally, we suggest that the emissions detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope from X-ray binary pulsars originate in the magnetosphere region of the pulsar.


This community page describes the database and associated Web application that comprise the Allen Human Brain Atlas, an open online resource that integrates genomic and anatomic human brain data.


The development objective of Climate Resilience Improvement Project is to improve Sri Lanka's resilience to extreme climate events and the government's capacity to respond to disasters effectively. Some of the negative impacts include: (i) soil erosion caused by clearing and grubbing operations which removes the vegetative cover in the immediate surroundings; (ii) reduction in groundwater recharge due to drainage and excavation, especially in dry areas; (iii) improper storage of chemicals that could emit fumes of stored chemicals; (iv) clearing of surface vegetation in quarry sites and burrow sites may lead to the loss of land or natural habitats; (v) population pressure due to labor influx may lead to expanded use of natural resources, such as forests and aquatic resources; (vi) potential hazards for workers in construction in the form of accidents; (vii) noise from vehicles, machinery, equipment and construction activities; (viii) pollution of soil and water via fuel and lubricants; (ix) loss, damage or disruption to fauna; and (x) damage to cultural and religious places and properties. Some of the mitigation measures include: (i) removed top soil could be used as a productive soil when replanting or establishing vegetation; (ii) debris material shall be disposed in such a manner that waterways, drainage paths would not get blocked; (iii) waste oil, other petroleum products and untreated wastewater shall not be discharged on ground so that to avoid soil pollution; (iv) work that lead to heavy erosion shall be avoided during the raining season; (v) providing advance information to the public about the planned construction works and activities causing disruption to access and the temporary arrangements made to give relief to public in order to avoid any inconveniences due to the construction activities; (vi) all reasonable precautions will be taken to prevent danger of the workers and the public from accidents such as fire, explosions, blasts, falling rocks, falling to excavated pits, chemical sprays, and unsafe power supply lines; (vii) all equipment and machinery should be operated at noise levels that do not exceed the permissible level for the day time; (viii) contractor shall arrange for collection, storing and disposal of oily wastes to the pre-identified disposal sites; (ix) all works shall be carried out in such a manner that the destruction or disruption to the fauna and their habitats is minimum; and (x) take all necessary and adequate care to minimize impacts on cultural properties which includes cultural sites and remains, places of worship.


[1] The Danish National Space Center data set DNSC08 mean sea surface (MSS) is a new enhanced mapping of the mean sea surface height of the worlds oceans, derived from a combination of 12 years of satellite altimetry from a total of eight different satellites covering the period 1993–2004. It is the first global MSS without a polar gap including all of the Arctic Ocean by including laser altimetry from the ICESat mission. The mean dynamic topography (MDT) is the quantity that bridges the geoid and the mean sea surface constraining large-scale ocean circulation. Here we present a new high-resolution 1 min global MDT called DNSC08 MDT derived from the slightly smoothed difference between the DNSC08 MSS and the EGM2008 geoid. The derivation and quality control of the new DNSC08 MSS and DNSC08 MDT is presented in this paper along with suggestions for time period standardization of the MSS and MDT models. This way a consistent modeling of the interannual sea level variability is carried out before different MSS and MDT models are compared. Altimetric derived physical MSS can be converted into an "inverse barometer corrected MSS" by correcting the altimeter range for the inverse barometer effect of the atmosphere on the sea surface height. It is demonstrated that it is important to choose the right version of the MSS when comparing with hydrodynamic models and GPS measured tide gauges.


The study was conducted to observe the solar radiation distribution in different parts of 7year's old guava plants and its subsequent effect on fruit quality. The interception of solar radiation decreased markedly with the depth of plant canopy from top to bottom as well as with increase in plant density. More than 3/4th of incoming radiations were found to be intercepted by upper one meter periphery of guava plants irrespective of plant spacing. The fruit quality in terms of size, weight, TSS, vitamin C and overall palatability reduced significantly with the depth of plant canopy and decrease in plant spacing. The upper canopy fruits particularly of widely spaced plants were better than others. Winter season fruits were double in weight and more palatable as compared to rainy season fruits.


Three species of Burmeistera discovered during fieldwork in Ecuador are described here. Burmeistera velutina and Burmeistera catulum are unusual in being nearly completely covered in indumentum, short and velvety in the former and remarkably long (up to 4 mm) and silky in the latter. Burmeistera jostii possesses bright red corollas, rare in a genus typically characterized by dull green flowers, and yellow to tan strigose hairs. We provide a discussion of each species' etymology, phenology, and ecology, a list of all specimens examined, and distribution maps and photos.


In Occupying Syria under the French Mandate, Daniel Neep revisits a critical juncture in modern Middle Eastern history and investigates the mechanisms of power, violence and governance that shaped the French-Syrian relationship during the Mandate years. While the book's analytical parameters are set within a specific geographical and temporal boundary (French Mandate Syria, 1920–46), the argument's significance exceeds the limitations of a historical area study and holds wider implications for social theory. By retracing the tumultuous reign of French colonial administration in Syria, the book demonstrates that the process of colonial state formation entailed the complete transformation of Syrian society after the image of modern European 'civilisation', but also that the material and ideational frameworks of modernity espoused by the French were pursued via the perpetual use of a matrix of violent practices. Accordingly, Neep maintains that violence should be understood as constitutive of modernity, rather than representing an externality borne of archaic traditions or pre-modern social relations. Built upon 'an ethnographically informed, postFoucauldian perspective' (p. 3), the original research is supported by a rich use of textual material in Arabic, French and English, including 'evidence from archives, official publications, memoirs and contemporary observers' (p. 5). Neep carefully dissects a plethora of what may easily be read as mundane administrative minutiae and recasts them as symptomatic practices of a colonial rule bent on pursuing 'the development of a form of modern civilisation' in occupied Syria (p. 60). The methods with which the colonial authority attempted to reshape Syria are delineated through the examination of military practices and public policies of urban governance and health regulation. Neep's reading of unearthed archival sources not only provides an original reinterpretation of the modus operandi of French colonial rule in Syria, but also portrays a set of complex, interwoven relationships and practices: a picture much more convoluted than the neat postulations of many theoretical frameworks. The incisive discussion of Foucault's key terminology on gouvernementalité and sécurité reveals the limitations of a Foucauldian operationalisation in a colonial context. The book further demonstrates that 'Eurocentric notions of linear progression from a state of violence to a state of liberal government' (p. 16) permeating much mainstream historiography and social theory are also latent in ostensibly more critical strands such as post-structuralism. Combining an impressively constructed historical analysis with a fresh conceptual framework, this book is a timely and important contribution to the historical sociology literature. It will be of utmost interest to scholars and students of French social theory and postcolonial theory.


We present a spectrometer for inverse photoemission in the vacuum ultraviolet range with variable energy resolution between 400 and 165 meV full width at half maximum. The energy distribution of the electron beam used for excitation can be adjusted between 300 and 125 meV by the use of a toroidal 90 degrees electrostatic deflector combined with a slit aperture. The emitted photons are detected by Geiger-Muller counters filled with either acetone or iodine as counting gas. The optical bandpasses of the detectors can be tuned between 100 and 330 meV by varying the temperature of their entrance windows. The overall resolution of the spectrometer is determined by measuring the Fermi-level onset in inverse-photoemission data of polycrystalline gold. Furthermore, the resolution enhancement is demonstrated by spectra of image-potential-induced surface states at Cu(001).


Background: The irrational use of medicines is a worldwide problem increasing morbidity, mortality and costs through increasing adverse medicine reactions and hence patients are not achieving their desired outcomes. In Ethiopia, although there are studies that show the presence of irrational use of medicines in the country, there is limited objective evidence on evaluating medicine use from prescriber, patient and health facility perspectives. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate rational medicine of the improved asphalt were contrasted together with each other as well as with the perspicuous asphalt. Conclusions

Methods: Retrospective and prospective cross sectional study were employed to collect data from prescriptions dispensed through main pharmacies and Information for patients respectively. A structured questionnaire was employed to collect information from prescription papers and respondents after obtaining a verbal consent. Data was entered, cleaned, edited and analyzed using SPSS Version 23.0 statistical software package.

Results: The average number of medicines prescribed per encounter was 1.74. The% of encounters in which an antibiotic and injection was prescribed was 48.9% and 12.6% respectively. The mean consultation time spent between the prescriber and patient was 5.12 minutes and the mean pharmacy dispensing time was 1.28 minutes. The availability of selected tracer medicines in the health facilities was 79.6%.

Conclusion: The study identified that the pattern of prescribing was appreciable and nearly similar with WHO standard reference. However, the patient care factors needs to be improved.