We present a new scheme to produce preformed plasma waveguides to extend the acceleration length of laser-plasma accelerators. The plasma is produced in a hydrogen background by a high-voltage discharge between two hollow conic electrodes through a sequence of thin dielectric plates with apertures that fix the initial plasma diameter and position. The thickness of the dielectric plates is close to their aperture diameter and negligible when compared with the distance between them. This results in a fully ionized plasma cylinder that expands almost freely, evolving into a radial parabolic density profile with a minimum on axis as required for high-intensity guiding. In this paper, besides the description of the guiding device and its operation, we report the plasma density measurements of the first prototype with 16.6-mm length obtained by Mach-Zehnder interferometry as well as laser guiding results.


Food irradiation is an emerging technology which offers many advantages such as reduction of microorganisms, extension of shelf-life of foods, reduction in the use of post-harvest chemicals, and destruction of insects and parasites. The commercial utilization of food irradiation, however, has been restricted because of the uncertainty of consumers' responses to it. Because success of food irradiation in the marketplace will depend upon their acceptability by consumers, this study focused on the consumers' perception and acceptance toward food irradiation in order to get basic data for commercial utilization of food irradiation and give information to consumers to help rational consumption behavior. The survey with 411 respondents living in Youngnam area was conducted during the spring of 1997 by the questionnaires. The results and implications from this study are as follows. First, consumers' knowledge about food irradiation is scanty. Two-thirds of respondents in the survey had not heard of irradiated foods and many people confused irradiation with radioactivity. In the willingness to accept food irradiation, one-third of respondents showed a wait-and-see attitude. This result indicated consumers had insufficient information about the irradiation process and nationwide education of food irradiation technology should be undertaken. Second, although the purchase and use of food are very important consumption behaviors, consumer education by mass communication has been rarely done. For the successful commercialization of food irradiation, the information provision by mass communication for the consumers should be made. Third, consumers generally worried about residual pesticide and intended to purchase irradiated foods if radioactivity was not retained in the foods. Therefore, food irradiation could be an alternative method to the use of pesticide Fourth, consumers pointed out that they wanted to extend shelf-life of milk and dairy foods, fish and seafood and to irradiate these foods. Therefore, research for the safety of irradiated foods should be continually conducted. finally, labeling for irradiated foods is needed to provide the information and to further increase public understanding. Especially, the labeling should show the definite reason why irradiation is being used. In conclusion, recently, under the circumstances that the commercial utilization of food irradiation and irradiation for the import and export products have been increased in many countries, many efforts are needed to improve the quality of irradiated foods, and prove the safety of them in Korea. In addition, consumer education for food irradiation should be given to help consumers to make decision for food purchase and use.


In some patients undergoing radioembolization, lung toxicity is a limiting factor when calculating their dose. At the same time, it is known that the lung shunt fraction (LSF) is overestimated by the mapping exam. Furthermore, there are multiple methods to measure LSF. Planar measurement is both the most commonly utilized and easiest to perform, however new dosimetry software provides the ability to use more advanced 3D techniques. This paper reviews the different LSF calculation methods and elucidates the available data comparing the techniques, clinical relevance, and dose calculation.


Programming tutorials are a pervasive, versatile medium for teaching programming. In this paper, we report on the content and structure of programming tutorials, the pain points authors experience in writing them, and a design for a tool to help improve this process. An interview study with 12 experienced tutorial authors found that they construct documents by interleaving code snippets with text and illustrative outputs. It also revealed that authors must often keep related artifacts of source programs, snippets, and outputs consistent as a program evolves. A content analysis of 200 frequently-referenced tutorials on the web also found that most tutorials contain related artifacts—duplicate code and outputs generated from snippets—that an author would need to keep consistent with each other. To address these needs, we designed a tool called Torii with novel authoring capabilities. An in-lab study showed that tutorial authors can successfully use the tool for the unique affordances identified, and provides guidance for designing future tools for tutorial authoring.


Studies have shown that fluorine ions play a significant role in the initiation and growth of TiO 2 nanotubes. As fluorine is doped in titanium nanotubes (Ti0 2 NTs), fluoride gases form during Ti0 2 NT anodization. The concentration of fluorine in an electrolyte decreases as the anodization period increases. Maintaining a constant concentration of fluorine levels is a challenging task. In this paper, we discuss and calculate the quantity of fluorine reduced in an electrolyte given various electrolyte temperatures, sample sizes, and anodization time effects. According to thermodynamic calculations, F, FO, and FO 2 have relatively low vapor pressures but HF, H 2 F 2 , H 3 F 3 , H 4 F 4 , H 5 F 5 , H 6 F 6 , and H 7 F 7 have relatively high vapor pressures during anodization. The effects of fluorine contained in TiO 2 NT (12.2 wt %) and vaporized from the electrolyte can cause the fluorine concentration in the electrolyte to decrease.


The mountains along the west coast of peninsular India, the Western Ghats, constitute one of the unique biological regions of the world. Rapidly oc curring land-cover and land-use change in the West ern Ghats has serious implications for the biodiversity of the region. Both landscape changes as well as the distribution of biodiversity are phenom ena with strong spatial correlates. Recent develop ments in remote-sensing technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow the use of a land scape ecology and spatial analysis approach to the problem of deforestation and biodiversity conserva tion in the Western Ghats. Applications of this approach include analyses of land-cover and land use change; estimation of deforestation rates and rates of forest fragmentation; examination of the spatial correlates of forest loss and the socioeconomic drivers of land-use change; modelling of deforesta tion; analysis of the consequences of land-cover and land-use change in the form of climate change and change in distribution of biodiversity; biomass esti mation; gap analysis of the effectiveness of the protected area network in conserving areas of impor tance for biodiversity conservation; and conservation planning. We present examples from our work in the Western Ghats, in general, and in the Agastyamalai region and Biligiri Rangan Hills, in particular, as well as that of other researchers in India on various aspects of applications of GIS, remote sensing, and 'a landscape ecology approach to biodiversity conser vation.


This paper presents a comparative analysis of the performance of decoupled and adapted Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) for open-set, text-independent speaker identification (OSTISI). The analysis is based on a set of experiments using an appropriate subset of the NIST-SRE 2003 database and various score normalisation methods. Based on the experimental results, it is concluded that the speaker identification performance is noticeably better with adapted-GMMs than with decoupled-GMMs. This difference in performance, however, appears to be of less significance in the second stage of OSTISI where the process involves classifying the test speakers as known or unknown speakers. In particular, when the score normalisation used in this stage is based on the unconstrained cohort approach, the two modelling techniques yield similar performance. The paper includes a detailed description of the experiments and discusses how the OSTI-SI performance is influenced by the characteristics of each of the two modelling techniques and the normalisation approaches adopted.


The development of treatment outcome measures has followed a pattern in which treatments are first developed to affect symptoms, and measures are developed concomitantly to detect differences in response rates between the treatment group and a comparison placebo group. For example, in the 1950s, distinct pharmacologic therapies were developed to lower blood pressure and to lessen the hallucinations and delusions associated with schizophrenia. At the same time, measures to assess these latter outcomes were validated.


Water is the most precious natural resource; it is essential for agricultural development and all organic life on the earth. Drip system is relatively a new concept of irrigation, which has developed over the last decade throughout the world. importance of drip irrigation system. So for as, in regards to its adoption is found to low due to its higher cost. In respect of this a study was conducted to analyse the adoption behaviour of drip irrigation system in Khargone district with the specific objective. Khargone Block of Khargone district was selected purposively for the present study. From selected 8 villages sample of 120 farmers were taken using proportionate sampling technique. structured and pretested interview schedule was prepared for the purpose of collecting information from respondents It was concluded that higher number of the farmers found to have partial level of knowledge regarding drip irrigation system followed by perfect and no knowledge. Higher number of the respondents had partial adoption level of drip irrigation system in study area followed by perfect and no adoption.


The extraordinary naval career of Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, has generated a corpus of historical biography. However, as several of his biographers have noted, a succession of novelists have also been inspired to adapt his exploits into works of popular fiction. The works of Patrick O'Brian, C.S. Forester and Frederick Marryat all carry imprints of the Cochrane story, and his life was an influence on writers ranging from the Victorian boys' novelist G.A. Henty to the Chilean Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda. This article assesses the causes whereby Cochrane translated so readily into fictional adventure and epic poetry, considering the archetypes of sea fiction and historical adventure, the idiosyncrasies of Cochrane's personal story and the nature of his reputation as a frigate captain associated with success in independent commands. It argues that Cochrane's idiosyncratic and controversial character has meanwhile been as much a problem for authors of fiction as it has been for historians. Individual writers tended to disguise, alter or dispense with him as a character and instead allocated his outstanding deeds to more amenable imagined figures. Others exaggerated his traits for dramatic effect or took partisan positions on controversial aspects of his career.


Reflecting on the concepts of 'transculturation' (Tlostanova 2004) and 'Russophonia' (Caffee 2013), this research concentrates on the contribution that writers of Armenian origin gave to the formation of the post-Soviet literary canon in Russia. This line of critical inquiry encourages a serious reflection on the role of the 'rossijane', and Armenians in particular, in the construction of contemporary Russian literature, an issue hitherto neglected in Russian Studies, as well as in Armenian Studies alike.


The hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome (HPT-JT) is a familial cancer syndrome that can result from germline inactivation of HRPT2/CDC73, a putative tumor suppressor gene that encodes parafibromin, a component of the transcriptional regulatory PAF1 complex with homology to the yeast protein Cdc73p. The vast majority of HRPT2/CDC73 germline mutations identified have been truncation or frameshift mutations, and loss of function due to missense mutation is rare. We report here a kindred with HPT-JT due to a germline L95P missense mutation in parafibromin. The mutant parafibromin was studied in vitro to understand the basis of its presumed loss-of-function. When transfected in cultured cells, the L95P mutant was expressed to a lower level than wild-type (wt) parafibromin, a difference that was not overcome by inhibition of the proteasomal degradation pathway. The L95P mutant parafibromin retained the ability to assemble with endogenous PAF1 complex components as evidenced by co-immunoprecipitation. Analysis of subcellular localization showed that the L95P mutant was markedly deficient in nucleolar localization compared to the wt, an impairment likely resulting from disruption of a putative nucleolar localization signal immediately upstream of the L95P mutation. Transfection of the L95P parafibromin mutant, but not the wt, enhanced cell cycle progression and increased cell survival in NIH-3T3 and HEK 293 cells, resulting apparently from dominant interference with endogenous parafibromin action. The simultaneous loss of nucleolar localization and acquisition of a growth stimulatory phenotype with the L95P mutation raise the possibility that parafibromin must interact with targets in the nucleolus to fully execute its tumor suppressor functions.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effectiveness of an intensive quit-smoking intervention on smoking rates at 36 weeks' gestation among pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

DESIGN
Randomised controlled trial.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
Pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (n = 263) attending their first antenatal visit at one of three Aboriginal community-controlled health services between June 2005 and December 2009.

INTERVENTION
A general practitioner and other health care workers delivered tailored advice and support to quit smoking to women at their first antenatal visit, using evidence-based communication skills and engaging the woman's partner and other adults in supporting the quit attempts. Nicotine replacement therapy was offered after two failed attempts to quit. The control ("usual care") group received advice to quit smoking and further support and advice by the GP at scheduled antenatal visits.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Self-reported smoking status (validated with a urine cotinine measurement) between 36 weeks' gestation and delivery.

RESULTS
Participants in the intervention group (n = 148) and usual care group (n = 115) were similar in baseline characteristics, except that there were more women who had recently quit smoking in the intervention group than the control group. At 36 weeks, there was no significant difference between smoking rates in the intervention group (89%) and the usual care group (95%) (risk ratio for smoking in the intervention group relative to usual care group, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.86-1.08]; P = 0.212). Smoking rates in the two groups remained similar when baseline recent quitters were excluded from the analysis.

CONCLUSION
An intensive quit-smoking intervention was no more effective than usual care in assisting pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to quit smoking during pregnancy. Contamination of the intervention across groups, or the nature of the intervention itself, may have contributed to this result.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12609000929202.


PURPOSE
To calculate absorbed fractions for mono-energetic photons and electrons in tumors of varying compositions using Monte Carlo simulations in MCNPX. Although tumor dosimetry has been previously investigated, these studies are very limited as they only consider absorbed fractions for soft-tissue tumors.

METHODS
The tumors were modeled as spheres with radii ranging from 0.10 cm to 6.0 cm and with compositions varying from 100% soft tissue to 100% bone. The energies of both the photons and electrons were varied from 10 keV to 10 MeV and were homogenously distributed throughout the tumor volume. Furthermore, this investigation addresses the issue of spherical versus elliptical tumors. Both prolate and oblate spheroid tumors of different compositions were modeled, and absorbed fractions were calculated for various electron and photon energies.

RESULTS
The data clearly shows an absorbed fraction dependence on tumor composition. For example, a soft-tissue model for a 3 MeV electron emitted in a 1 cm diameter bone tumor would have an 83% error, and this same assumption for a 500 keV photon would yield a 74% error. Ultimately, empirical fits were created for each of the five material compositions in order to facilitate the absorbed fraction calculation, requiring only the tumor size and particle energy. Furthermore, the data shows that absorbed fractions for moderate spheroids can be well approximated by spherical tumors of equal mass to within 8%, but in the extreme cases where the spheroid resembles more of a disk, the errors can be as high as 30%.

CONCLUSION
This comprehensive data set is most valuable for nuclear medicine dosimetry because it incorporates particle type, particle energy, tumor size, and tumor composition. Although mono-energetic particles were modeled, absorbed fractions and S-values may be calculated for any radionuclide via linear interpolation, as long as the particle energies or spectra are known.


A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si:H(15 nm)/a-Si:H(10 nm)/ epitaxial c-Si(47 μm)/epitaxial c-Si(3 μm) structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter layer is deposited by hot wire chemical vapour deposition. The effect of the doping concentration of the emitter layer Sd (Sd=PH3/(PH3+SiH4+H2)) on the performance of the solar cell is studied by means of current density—voltage and external quantum efficiency. The results show that the conversion efficiency of the solar cell first increases to a maximum value and then decreases with Sd increasing from 0.1% to 0.4%. The best performance of the solar cell is obtained at Sd = 0.2% with an open circuit voltage of 534 mV, a short circuit current density of 23.35 mA/cm2, a fill factor of 63.3%, and a conversion efficiency of 7.9%.


As the healthcare environment continues to change, nurses are developing models for interdisciplinary care in a variety of community settings. The high school is an ideal treatment setting for the delivery of health services to adolescents. This article describes the development of a nurse-managed, school-based health center. The steps in planning and implementing this interdisciplinary service and training site are outlined to provide a guide for nurses wishing to develop autonomous community practice settings.


BACKGROUND Group B streptococcus (GBS) is now the leading cause of neonatal bacterial sepsis in the western world. The incidence of GBS infection in the United States has been determined, and guidelines produced and implemented for the prevention of neonatal infection. Neither incidence nor guidelines are currently established in the United Kingdom. AIM To define the pattern of neonatal infection within one hospital (Luton and Dunstable Hospital). METHOD A six year retrospective analysis was performed. RESULT An incidence of early onset GBS of 1.15 per 1000 deliveries, comparable with that documented in the United States, was found. Key messages An incidence of early onset GBS infection of 1.15 per 1000 live births has been shown, with increasing incidence over the six year period studied The occurrence of late onset, as well as early onset, disease is associated with the presence of risk factors at the time of delivery This high prevalence of disease in the population served by the Luton and Dunstable Hospital suggests that a screening or risk factor based approach to prevention would be cost effective


The purpose of this paper is to build a new condition-based opportunistic maintenance (CBOM) model. It combines short-term hydro scheduling (STHS) and generator maintenance scheduling (GMS) by failure property. One generator in a cascaded hydro system is used as research example. CBOM model schedules 9 maintenance activities in one year for this generator. Sensitivity analysis reveals that this model offers sufficient flexibility to modify scheduling plans based on maintenance requirements. In all the parameters, accident penalty cost and maintenance duration have no effect on maintenance results. Upper and lower limits of failure probability influence the number of maintenance activities. Compared with age-based maintenance (ABM), CBOM strategy obtains more profits and cancels unnecessary maintenance activities by trade-off between operation and maintenance.


Alkanna malatyana (Boraginaceae) is described as a new species to science. It is endemic to the eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. A. malatyana is an obligated chasmophytic species, which colonizes on limestone rocky cliffs, known from a single locality in Levent Canyon, located in Malatya Province. It is related to A. mughlae and it shows some morphological similarities with A. confusa and A. kotschyana , but it clearly differs from them based on the morphological differences presented in the species description. In addition, the conservation status, a distribution map, and notes on the biogeography and ecology of the new species are given.


Owing to the impressive dot-product attention, the Transformers have been the dominant architectures in various natural language processing (NLP) tasks. Recently, the Receptance Weighted Key Value (RWKV) architecture follows a non-transformer architecture to eliminate the drawbacks of dot-product attention, where memory and computational complexity exhibits quadratic scaling with sequence length. Although RWKV has exploited a linearly tensor-product attention mechanism and achieved parallelized computations by deploying the time-sequential mode, it fails to capture long-range dependencies because of its limitation on looking back at previous information, compared with full information obtained by direct interactions in the standard transformer. Therefore, the paper devises the Retrospected Receptance Weighted Key Value (RRWKV) architecture via incorporating the retrospecting ability into the RWKV to effectively absorb information, which maintains memory and computational efficiency as well.


The study of facial aesthetics and beauty entails a comprehensive evaluation of proportion and harmony as related to individual, ethnic, and cultural ideals. These philosophical and conceptual standards are immeasurable in defining anatomicand disease-related processes as well as their interrelated solutions. To this end, Dr Naini thoughtfully integrates historical, clinical, and surgical perspectives in the medical fields ranging from maxillofacial to plastic and reconstructive surgery. The author elegantly provides the science and art of facial aesthetics with emphasis given to analysis of the craniofacial complex, facial aesthetic units, and clinical evaluation, in addition to smile and dental-occlusal relationships. Furthermore, the author has undertaken a detailed approach in presenting dental esthetics, which makes this publication rather unique. The current text offers 24 chapters with 621 illustrations, tables, and images, which allows a broad appeal to both dental and medical specialists. Unfortunately, no DVD or electronic text is available at this time.


The rhombohedral R-phase appearance in NiTi alloys can be induced by thermal cycling between martensite (M) and parent phase (P). This procedure has here been followed to separate P-R and R-M transformations. Differential Scanning Calorimetry has been used to detect transformation temperature onset and the enthalpy changes connected with the transformations. Results clearly show that R-phase transformation is first order and the whole enthalpy change ΔHPR + ΔHRM developed in the direct P-M transformation, on cooling, is equivalent to the reverse enthalpy change ΔHMP, on heating, provided Ms < TR < As.


This article aims to understand what leaders should do to best support the success of a self-managing work team. The results suggest that the western concept of emotional intelligence in leadership is ineffective when applied to a Chinese setting. The article provides insights into the obligations and responsibilities of Chinese leaders and helps explain some of the potential conflicts arising from misplaced emotions felt towards followers. The study, which was based on an intensive investigation of a professional-service firm over a four-year period, was conducted in two phases. Phase one involved the observation of work behavior while phase two involved extensive interviews. The findings highlight how difficult it is for emotionally intelligent leaders to motivate followers, and identify tensions that stem from pressures on businesses in a dynamic work environment. The results and their implications for future studies of emotional intelligence in Chinese organizations are discussed.


In this paper, an Amplify-and-Forward (AF) cooperative strategy in interference limited networks is considered. In contrast to previously reported work, where the effect of interference is ignored, the effect of multi-user interference in AF schemes is analyzed. It is shown that the interference changes the statistical description of the conventional AF protocol and a statistical expression is subsequently derived. Asymptotic analysis of the expression shows that interference limits the diversity gain of the system and the related channel capacity is bounded by a stationary point. In addition, it is proven that previously proposed relay selection criteria for multi-relay scenarios become inefficient in the presence of interference. Based on a consideration of the interference term, two new selection criteria suitable for different system set-ups are proposed. A theoretical framework for selecting when to apply the proposed selection criteria is also presented.


In the context of sensing and characterizing single proteins with synthetic nanopores, lipid bilayer coatings provide at least four benefits: first, they minimize unwanted protein adhesion to the pore walls by exposing a zwitterionic, fluid surface. Second, they can slow down protein translocation and rotation by the opportunity to tether proteins with a lipid anchor to the fluid bilayer coating. Third, they provide the possibility to impart analyte specificity by including lipid anchors with a specific receptor or ligand in the coating. Fourth, they offer a method for tuning nanopore diameters by choice of the length of the lipid's acyl chains. The work presented here compares four properties of various lipid compositions with regard to their suitability as nanopore coatings for protein sensing experiments: (1) electrical noise during current recordings through solid-state nanopores before and after lipid coating, (2) long-term stability of the recorded current baseline and, by inference, of the coating, (3) viscosity of the coating as quantified by the lateral diffusion coefficient of lipids in the coating, and (4) the success rate of generating a suitable coating for quantitative nanopore-based resistive pulse recordings. We surveyed lipid coatings prepared from bolaamphiphilic, monolayer-forming lipids inspired by extremophile archaea and compared them to typical bilayer-forming phosphatidylcholine lipids containing various fractions of curvature-inducing lipids or cholesterol. We found that coatings from archaea-inspired lipids provide several advantages compared to conventional phospholipids; the stable, low noise baseline qualities and high viscosity make these membranes especially suitable for analysis that estimates physical protein parameters such as the net charge of proteins as they enable translocation events with sufficiently long duration to time-resolve dwell time distributions completely. The work presented here reveals that the ease or difficulty of coating a nanopore with lipid membranes did not depend significantly on the composition of the lipid mixture, but rather on the geometry and surface chemistry of the nanopore in the solid state substrate. In particular, annealing substrates containing the nanopore increased the success rate of generating stable lipid coatings.


ABSTRACT Anthrax is caused by the unimpeded growth of Bacillusanthracis in the host and the secretion of toxins. The currently available vaccine is based on protective antigen (PA), a central component of anthrax toxin. Vaccination with PA raises no direct immune response against the bacilli and, being a natural toxin component, PA might be hazardous when used immediately following exposure to B. anthracis. Thus, we have sought to develop a vaccine or therapeutic agent that is safe and eliminates both secreted toxins and bacilli. To that end, we have previously developed a dually active vaccine by conjugating the capsular poly-γ-d-glutamate (PGA) with PA to elicit the production of antibodies specific for both bacilli and toxins. In the present report, we describe the improved potency of anthrax vaccines through the use of a dominant-negative inhibitory (DNI) mutant to replace PA in PA or PA-PGA vaccines. When tested in mice, DNI alone is more immunogenic than PA, and DNI-PGA conjugate elicits significantly higher levels of antibodies against PA and PGA than PA-PGA conjugate. To explain the enhanced immunogenicity of DNI, we propose that the two point mutations in DNI may have improved epitopes of PA allowing better antigen presentation to helper T cells. Alternatively, these mutations may enhance the immunological processing of PA by altering endosomal trafficking of the toxin in antigen-presenting cells. Because DNI has previously been demonstrated to inhibit anthrax toxin, postexposure use of DNI-based vaccines, including conjugate vaccines, may provide improved immunogenicity and therapeutic activity simultaneously.


Land degradation continues to be an enormous challenge to human societies, reducing food security, emitting greenhouse gases and aerosols, driving the loss of biodiversity, polluting water, and undermining a wide range of ecosystem services beyond food supply and water and climate regulation. Climate change will exacerbate several degradation processes. Investment in diverse restoration efforts, including sustainable agricultural and forest land management, as well as land set aside for conservation wherever possible, will generate co-benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation and more broadly for human and societal well-being and the economy. This review highlights the magnitude of the degradation problem and some of the key challenges for ecological restoration. There are biophysical as well as societal limits to restoration. Better integrating policies to jointly address poverty, land degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions and removals is fundamental to reducing many existing barriers and contributing to climate-resilient sustainable development. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Volume 46 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


In this study the sole and the combined effects of active and non-active forms of coping on psychological distress across various kinds of job stressors were examined. Data on job stressors, coping and psychological distress were obtained from 4487 male employees of a research institute in the automobile industry in Japan (mean age=36.27 years, SD = 7.43). A hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis was conducted to estimate and test the significance of the main effects and their interactions. The results show that although active coping was effective in decreasing psychological distress regardless of the type of job stressor, the effectiveness was weaker in situations that require effortful coping, such as role ambiguity and insufficient authority. Furthermore, the effectiveness of active coping was influenced by the other strategies, especially in effortful coping situations. While distancing or seeking social support improved the effectiveness, restraint coping reduced it. These results suggest that the type of non-active coping that individuals combine with active coping can be critical in determining health outcomes in more complex and effortful coping situations. Consideration of the coping combinations, not merely the situational context, is important in explaining how the work environment influences employees' psychological distress.


Several well-known cases of top of the line corrosion(TLC)in wet natural gas pipelines was reviewed in this paper.The review covered influence factors,corrosion protection techniques and research developments about top of the line corrosion.Little research work has been done about top of the line corrosion in wet natural gas pipelines in China and the reason was discussed in detail.Some suggestion about top of the line corrosion mechanism and corrosion protection techniques was made in the paper.


GRE verbal and quantitative scores and undergraduate grade point average were evaluated as predictors of multiple measures of long-term graduate school success. The measures of success were cumulative graduate grade point average and faculty ratings on three student characteristics: mastery of the discipline, professional productivity, and communication skill. Seven graduate institutions and 21 graduate departments in biology, chemistry, education, English, and psychology collaborated in order to identify measures of valued outcomes, develop reports useful to individual departments and graduate schools, and initiate a database for future studies. Results are reported for all departments combined and by discipline and, where sample sizes permitted, for master's and doctoral degree students, men and women, U.S. citizens and noncitizens, domestic ethnic groups, and test takers who took the GRE computer-based test and those who took the paper-and-pencil version of the test. The results indicate that the combination of GRE scores and undergraduate grade point average strongly predicts cumulative graduate grade point average and faculty ratings. These results hold in each discipline and appear to hold in the small subgroups.


Social networks such as Twitter is a microblogging service and broadcast medium that evolved as a disruptive platform to serve the purposes for the users to broadcast their daily activities, feelings and opinion by posting simple tweets (messages) within their friends circle. Cyberbullying is a type of harassment that takes place in social networking sites which enable the cyberbullies to execute their crime on the vulnerable victims and this serious offense in cyber world has resulted in death. Hence, the Cyberbullying Detection System on Twitter is a solution with the aim to effectively discover the cyberbullying related tweets from Twitter. The system will be used by the organizations member to monitor the social network community's activities, especially the cyberbullies and victims in Twitter and hence preventing the cyberbullying event to be deteriorated. In order to accomplish these objectives, there are a lot of literatures related to event detection and cyberbullying detection system been reviewed and studied to gain insight of the system development and effectiveness. In our research, we have specified the cyberbullying related keywords from the research experts, and captured the targeted tweets.


Controlled formation and breaking of weak chemical bonds is a versatile method for modifying the properties of materials. Anthracene [4+4] cycloadducts are a prime example that can be formed by light and opened by external forces. We address the theoretical description of mechanochemistry of these cycloadducts, where the standard constraint geometry simulates forces approach fails due to the lack of consideration of temperature. Explicit inclusion of external forces reveals the corresponding transition barriers that are clearly dominated by rupture of the [4+4] inter-anthracene bonds. Other bonds come into play at extremely large forces only, which cannot be expected to be reached under ambient conditions. The theoretical results are in line with the experimental rheology of [4+4]-linked anthracene polymers, which indicates reversible re-formation of [4+4] cycloaddition bonds with ultraviolet light after mechanochemical bond breaking due to applied shear stress.


IHEP has manufactured and tested a pre-production batch of superconducting (SC) dipoles for the UNK. Using the magnets of this batch we have optimized the technology of their mass production and studied the reproducibility of the main parameters of the magnets. Proceeding from the accumulated experience we have introduced some changes into the design and production technology of the magnets that could improve further their operating parameters. The accepted solutions were verified on short and full-scale models of the UNK SC magnets. This paper presents the description of the design and technological features of these magnets and the results on their tests. >


The influence of maternal growth in knee height during pregnancy on birth weight, gestation, and maternal body composition was examined in 318 teenagers (144 growing, 174 nongrowing) and 276 mature women from the Camden Study. Body-composition differences associated with maternal growth did not arise until after 28 wk gestation, when growing gravidas continued to accrue fat, had larger gestational gains, and retained more of their gestational weight gain postpartum. Nevertheless, still-growing young mothers had infants with lower birth weight, particularly when the mother continued to accrue higher amounts of fat on the arm or back (subscapular site) late in gestation. Thus, despite an apparently sufficient weight gain and the accumulation of abundant stores during pregnancy, young still-growing women appeared not to mobilize fat reserves late in pregnancy to enhance fetal growth, apparently reserving them instead for their own continued development.


The Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image of the area between Ronda and Malaga in southern Spain reveals a number of northeast-southwest trending lineaments dissecting older and younger rock units. These lineaments are not represented in recent geologic maps of the area nor are they dealt with in the literature. Geomorphic evidence suggests that the lineaments are in fact the surface expression of major strike-slip faults running in the Iberian basement. This suggestion is supported by various types of geologic field data. The infill of the Ronda neogene basin located just north of Ronda demonstrates its orgin in wrenching tectonics. Furthermore, kinematic analysis of the Jurassic limestones of the Sierra Blanquilla block situated east of Ronda indicates fold rotation and a fault system that can be explained in a horizontal shear model. Further evidence for strike-slip deformation is found in the results of stress analysis using striated fault planes, yielding three successive stress tensors. Local field evidence shows that strike-slip deformation postdates the compressional and extensional phases of deformation. Absolute timing of strike-slip deformation is derived from subsidence analysis, restricting this tectonic period to late Langhian and Serravalian. A geodynamic cause for this strike-slip deformation is found when presenting the subsidence history of the Ronda-Malaga area within the context of western Mediterranean plate tectonics.


This paper will explore contemporary practices of urban commoning while attempting to construct a theoretical argument on the inherently emancipating potentialities of common space. Urban commoning will be considered as a set of spatial practices through which space is created both as a good to be shared and as a medium that can give form to institutions of sharing. In order for commoning to remain an open process that continuously expands without being contained in any form of enclosure, it has to invite newcomers. Shared spaces, open to newcomers, are spaces defined neither by a prevailing authority that supervises their use, nor by a closed community that controls them by excluding all 'outsiders'. Common spaces are thus dependent upon their power to communicate and connect rather than separate. Common spaces are threshold spaces, connecting and comparing adjacent areas at the same time. In practices of common space creation, commoners create areas of encounter and collective self-management. Rules of use are also of a threshold character, constantly in the making. Likewise, subjects of use are threshold subjects: for commoning to remain open and ever expanding, commoners have to consider themselves open to transformative negotiations with newcomers.

This paper will thus attempt to understand urban commoning as a multifaceted process which produces spaces, subjects of use (inhabitants) and rules of use (institutions) that share the same qualitative characteristics. In such a prospect, urban commoning can prefigure forms of social relations based on sharing, cooperation and solidarity. In this way, space becomes not simply a common product but also the means through which egalitarian social relations can potentially be shaped.


Introduction: Avascular necrosis (AVN) is a rather common complication of scaphoid fractures, particularly scaphoid waist nonunion, which may occur even after surgical fixation. In the present investigation we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Mathoulin technique in the surgical fixation of scaphoid waist nonunion with definite proximal AVN. Material and Methods: A total of 35 cases of scaphoid waist non-union with definite proximal AVN undergoing surgical fixation in a major tertiary referral orthopaedic hospital in northwestern Iran in 2021 were enrolled. Postoperative pain intensity, grip strength (based on modified mayo wrist score) and carpal range of motion (angles of movements) were evaluated at four time intervals, 1, 4.5, 6 and 9 months following Mathoulin surgical fixation. Results: A total of 35 patients, 28 (80%) male and 7 (20%) female, with a mean age of 28.96 ± 1.89 were investigated. By the end of the 9th month, no patients complained of severe pain, and 33 (94.28%) participants only reported mild pain. Carpal flexion, extension, supination and pronation angles significantly improved following surgery. Grip strength in 29 patients improved significantly. Wrist function Union as achieved in 33 (97.29%) patients. Conclusion: Mathoulin method in patients with proximal definite AVN with Scafoid Waist fusion leads to a reduction in pain intensity, improvement of motor angles, grip strength and satisfaction with surgery to a desirable extent.


Although parental and peer support can influence adolescents' physical activity (PA), these associations have not been fully examined through a global assessment. This study examined the associations of parental and peer support with PA among adolescents from 74 countries. The Global School-based Student Health Survey data from 250,317 adolescents aged 11–17 years (48.8% girls), collected between 2007 and 2016, were analysed. Adolescents were asked how many days/week they were physically active and about their parental and peer support. Meta-analysis showed that adolescents who had high parental or peer support had higher odds of attaining sufficient PA (odds ratio (OR): 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.34–1.46; OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.49–1.65, respectively). Pooled estimates of association were significant across all World Health Organization (WHO) regions and country-income categories with the highest estimate from the low-income countries. The Western Pacific region showed the highest association between parental support and adolescents' PA (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.41–1.59), while South-East Asia exhibited the highest association between peer support and adolescents' PA (OR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.59–2.04). Country-level estimates of associations are presented. Future studies should use robust assessment of PA and PA-specific parental and peer support with emphasis on qualitative investigation to understand the complexity of the relationships.


Network enterprises of the global economy? The role of proximity for the internationalisation of air freight forwarders. Customer requirements, new technologies and the deregulation and liberalisation measures of the last 15 years have had a significant influence on increasing globalization of the air freight forwarding industry. On the basis of empirical studies of the airports Frankfurt am Main/Germany and Amsterdam/The Netherlands, the study examines the impact of embeddedness of foreign companies in regional networks. It will be shown, that most of the companies do not need to be embedded in foreign networks, because of the global extension of the costumers and a high degree of organizational standardization. In fact the example of international cooperation among medium sized airfreight forwarders of different countries rather shows that global networks can be linked successfully, independent from the regional level.


SATURNE is a synchrotron accelerator which can deliver particles of momentum P and charge Z up to P/Z=4 GeV/c. Monokinetic neutron beams of momentum up to 2 GeV/c can be produced. The spallation studies deal with measurements of: (i) differential neutron production cross sections from thin targets, (ii) neutron multiplicity distribution for proton and 3He induced reactions, and (iii) nuclide production in thin targets. Measurements on thick or composite targets are under consideration.


Abstract The objective of the present study is to test the effects of practice of the Transcendental Meditation (TM)1 technique on recognized psychosocial and cognitive risk factors for criminal behavior. The study was conducted at the federal prison on the island of Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, from August 1994 to June 1995. The 300 male subjects (experimental group = 149, control group = 151) were predominantly of African descent and ranged in age from 16 to 62 (M = 28.2, SD = 8.4). Standardized tests were translated from English into Spanish and Papiamentu (the native language of most subjects) and showed 90% word-to-word accuracy in reverse translation. Twenty-one dependent variables were reduced by principal components analysis to 6 factors. Univariate analysis of covariance for effect of group on factor change scores showed significant positive changes in the experimental group on 2 of the factors, Cognitive Distortion (p = 0.036) and Intelligence-Related Measures (p = 0.05). It showed a trend toward significance on the factor Psychological Well-Being (p = 0.082). These changes were obtained despite low compliance with treatment and high involuntary attrition. An intent-to-treat approach was used, in which all subjects for whom data are available are included. As has been seen in prior research (Hawkins, this volume), these limited results indicate that the practice of the TM technique can simultaneously reduce a risk factor (cognitive distortion) and increase a protective factor (field independence), supporting the assertion that the TM technique rehabilitates offenders by positively affecting overall human development.


This paper presents Vision-Language Universal Search (VL-UnivSearch), which builds a unified model for multi-modality retrieval. VL-UnivSearch encodes query and multi-modality sources in a universal embedding space for searching related candidates and routing modalities. To learn a tailored embedding space for multi-modality retrieval, VL-UnivSearch proposes two techniques: 1) Universal embedding optimization, which contrastively optimizes the embedding space using the modality-balanced hard negatives; 2) Image verbalization method, which bridges the modality gap between images and texts in the raw data space. VL-UnivSearch achieves the state-of-the-art on the multi-modality open-domain question answering benchmark, WebQA, and outperforms all retrieval models in each single modality task. It demonstrates that universal multi-modality search is feasible to replace the divide-and-conquer pipeline with a united model and also benefit per modality tasks. All source codes of this work will be released via Github.


: Industrialization, urbanization, population explosion and green revolution have deteriorated the various sources of water. The industrial effluents, sewage and polluted water from other sources when discharged into any stream or river not only cause pollution but drastically disturb the fauna & flora. The same is true for Asan River flowing in Madhya Pradesh. It, therefore, becomes a must to assess water quality of Asan at the downstream site (D) and upstream site (A) throughout its entire length in Morena district. It was since the beginning of 1970's that environmental pollution became a serious problem in India. Because of the rapid increase of population and concentration of factories around the coastal region of Asan. Significant alterations in hydrobiological parameters were observed.


Intracellular magnetite crystal formation by magnetotactic bacteria has emerged as a powerful model for investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of biomineralization, a process common to all branches of life. Although magnetotactic bacteria are phylogenetically diverse and their crystals morphologically diverse, studies to date have focused on a few, closely related species with similar crystal habits. Here, we investigate the process of magnetite biomineralization in Desulfovibrio magneticus sp. RS-1, the only reported species of cultured magnetotactic bacteria that is outside of the α-Proteobacteria and that forms bullet-shaped crystals. Using a variety of high-resolution imaging and analytical tools, we show that RS-1 cells form amorphous, noncrystalline granules containing iron and phosphorus before forming magnetite crystals. Using NanoSIMS (dynamic secondary ion mass spectroscopy), we show that the iron-phosphorus granules and the magnetite crystals are likely formed through separate cellular processes. Analysis of the cellular ultrastructure of RS-1 using cryo-ultramicrotomy, cryo-electron tomography, and tomography of ultrathin sections reveals that the magnetite crystals are not surrounded by membranes but that the iron-phosphorus granules are surrounded by membranous compartments. The varied cellular paths for the formation of these two minerals lead us to suggest that the iron-phosphorus granules constitute a distinct bacterial organelle.


Compaction technique used in Marshall design does not model the process of actual rolling procedures on site exactly. Carrying out laboratory compaction of dense bituminous mixtures with Superpave gyratory compactors is a more realistic way of simulating actual compaction. In this study, mechanical differences of reference and polypropylene modified asphalt mixtures were compared using Superpave gyratory and Marshall compaction methods by carrying out repeated creep tests utilising universal testing machine. In addition, there is no standard Superpave design procedure for 100 mm diameter samples till date. The other purpose of this study is to propose new standards for the compaction and testing procedures of these 100 mm specimens. Indeed, extensive studies have shown that the design gyration number should be 40 for reference and 33 for polypropylene modified specimens under medium traffic conditions for the similar and specific type of aggregate sources, bitumen, aggregate gradation, mix proportioning, modification technique and laboratory conditions. Moreover, it was shown that, the asphalt samples produced by Superpave gyratory compactor were much resistant to destructive rutting effects than the asphalt specimens prepared by Marshall design.


The development of mechanical and bioprosthetic valvular prostheses have enhanced the survival and quality of life for countless patients. Despite the benefits provided by prosthetic valves, there are still significant limitations to those currently available. The goal biological valve tissue engineering strives to overcome is the limitations of the currently available prosthetic valves. This review will outline some of the past and present approaches that have been and are being taken in an attempt to create the ideal replacement valve. In addition, some of the challenges associated with this task will be highlighted.


The Herschel Space Observatory and the Planck satellite are providing radical improvements to our knowledge of the spectral energy distributions of galaxies in the far-IR and submm. We here present the results of the first combination of Herschel and Planck fluxes of local galaxies from the Herschel Reference Sample (HRS) survey, covering galaxies at distances between 15 and 25 Mpc. This combination provides information on SEDs in eight bands from 60μm, using IRAS, to 1.4mm using Planck. We apply a similar fitting procedure to this data as applied to the Planck ERCSC-detected nearby galaxies and confirm the result that dust significantly colder than 20K is common in local galaxies. It is early days for this kind of study, but it is clear that the new generation of satellites are already adding considerably to our knowledge of the far-IR/submm properties of galaxies.


Abstract In an earlier work [Gutman et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 297, 428 (1998)] the average energy (E) of graphs with n vertices and m edges was examined, in particular its dependence on n and m . The quantity (E) was computed from a set of randomly, but not uniformly, constructed (n ,m)-graphs. We have now improved our method by constructing the (n,m)-graphs uniformly, so that every (n , m)-graph has equal probability to be generated. Differences between the old and new approaches are significant only in the case of graphs with a small number of edges.


This model investigates the variable production cost for a production house; under a two-echelon supply chain management where a single vendor and multi-retailers are involved. This production system goes through a long run system and generates an out-of-control state due to different issues and produces defective items. This model considers the reduction of the defective rate and setup cost through investment. A discrete investment for setup cost reduction and a continuous investment is considered to reduce the defective rate and to increase the quality of products. Setup and processing time are dependent on lead time in this model. The model is solved analytically to find the optimal values of the production rate, safety factors, optimum quantity, lead time length, investment for setup cost reduction, and the probability of the production process going out-of-control. An efficient algorithm is constructed to find the optimal solution numerically and sensitivity analysis is given to show the impact of different parameters. A case study and different cases are also given to validate the model.


The article presents functional, spatial and symbolic transformations of New York city and its architecture after the terrorist attack of 9/11. Destroyed Twin Towers have been replaced by the new WTC One, highest building in US. Its architecture is controversial, but according to author, it will soon became a new symbol of New York. 9/11 tragedy did not stop development of the city. Just contrary: New York's ambition is to become a model for cities in the 21st century, a resident-friendly and sustainable urban eco-system.


Teachers play a vital role in helping people to develop their talents and fulfill their potential for personal growth and well-being. They acquire the complex range of knowledge and skills that they will need as citizens and as workers. It is school teacher who mediate between a rapidly evolving world and the pupils who are about to enter it. The success of a student depends most of all on the quality of the teacher. With the advent of standardbased reforms, the quality of teachers has become a major concern of policy-makers, college and university presidents, especially at the colleges of teacher education and the public in general. Every child deserves a quality teacher. In an era of increasing standards and accountability in education, teacher quality and teacher training will be more important than ever. This article aims at making contributions to the ongoing debates in the challenges and quality of teacher education and the creation of a new knowledge base that can serve all endeavors at different levels for teacher quality and development in different parts of the world. In facing up to the numerous challenges to teacher education in the era of digital technology and globalization, this article will facilitate the quest for new teacher education for the future. This is emphasized for teacher educators, educators, graduate students, researchers, policy-makers and those interested to reform teacher education for the future.


Capital market is a huge investment in today market because it has a great value in optimizing capital allocation, funding and also increasing the value of properties. Stock prediction is essential for day trader to determine what their next moves are for that day and tomorrow since they have to be one step further than the long term trader. With social media that rapidly increasing in popularity, one website stands out for the potential to use it for mining the database for the stock prediction which is twitter. This also combining with the sentiment analysis is used to predict the value of the stock. This are being done using with a sentiment analysis software that can give score to each individual tweets. The core of the prediction method is Artificial Neural Network that is present inside MATLAB to help us train the data and predict the price of the stock. The findings were that there is a very strong correlation between the sentiment and the value of the stock price and the artificial Neural Network has been successfully implemented with 99.95% success rate. Therefore, we can conclude that this method can be used to predict the price of the stock.


of the panchayati raj institutions. The volume is the result of painstaking field work and wide reading. One of the best books on the subject, it is of considerable contemporary relevance when the entire administrative system, in its interface with the community, is under critical review. Many of the issues raised and problems posed will merit the attention of the Asoka Mehta Committee on panchayati raj recently set up by the Government oflndia. The appendics, bibliography and index have enhanced the usefulness of the book. The publishers have done a good job by way of neat printing, attractive get-up and by keeping the price within the means of the interested reader. -B.C. MATHUR


The Nigerian Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) was assessed with particular reference to measles immunization. Of 150 children who received measles vaccine at the Institute of Child Health, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 82 (54.7%) seroconverted. The immune response was directly related to the titre of the vaccines used. Vaccines whose titres were 10(-1) to 10(1.7) stimulated immune responses in 0-25% of vaccinees, those with titres in the range 10(-2.1) to 10(-2.5) stimulated responses in 12-47.6%, while those with titres of 10(-2.7) to 10(-3.4) stimulated responses in 87.5-100% of vaccinees. Only one of the vaccines used had a titre that met the minimum WHO required standard of log 10(-3) TCID50 at the point of vaccination.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

The Pim serine-threonine kinase family is composed of three members that play an important role in intracellular signaling and contribute to pathways involved in cell survival, proliferation, stress response and cellular motility. Out the three family members, Pim-1 has been studied most extensively and was shown to be a crucial downstream effector of several oncogenes such as Jak2 and FLT3 kinases. Pim-1 overexpression has been also reported in a variety of cancers such as diffuse B cell lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Flt3-mediated acute myelogenous leukemia and solid tumors including prostate and pancreatic cancers. For this reason, Pim-1 kinase emerged as a novel and interesting target of significant potential for therapeutic intervention.

In the current study, the optimization of the initial lead compound - which presented moderate potency in Pim kinase inhibition, low solubility and bioavailability - led to the identification of a group of new compounds. Among the newly synthesized compounds several derivatives exerted increased potency in Pim kinase inhibition with IC50 values below 5 nM. Profiling of best inhibitors on a KINOMEscanTM Max kinase panel revealed superior selectivity towards Pim kinases.

Anticancer activity of these new derivatives was investigated in various neoplastic cell lines of hematological and solid tumor origin where the compounds were shown to induce apoptosis both as a single agent, but also synergistically with standard therapies, such as docetaxel and cytarabine. FACS analyses revealed accumulation of subG0 phase, indicating apoptosis in time and concentration dependant manner. In the living cells, two phenotypes could be observed, namely a cell cycle arrest of the cells either in the G0/G1 or G2/M phases, depending on the cell line.

In order to confirm that the observed cytotoxic and cell cycle effects were due to inhibition of the Pim kinases, we performed analyses of direct downstream substrates of these kinases. Pim kinases were shown to phosphorylate p27KIP1, 4E-BP1 and Bad proteins, and treatment of cells in vitro with our new compounds caused a dramatic reduction in the phosphorylation levels of these targets. Best performing compounds were then chosen for an efficacy screen in a mouse xenograft model, proving their anticancer activity. Treatment of the animals also led to in vivo biomarker inhibition after single administration of the compounds.

Results of Selvita's Pim kinase inhibitor optimization efforts are shown and discussed, supporting further development of this class of inhibitors in oncology indications.

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 4499.


The effects and underlying mechanisms of butyrate and butyrate+niacin on apoptosis in sheep rumen epithelial cells were investigated. Cells were exposed to butyrate (0–140 mM) for 6 h. A low concentration (20 mM) of butyrate increased cell viability and promoted growth whereas high concentrations (40–140 mM) inhibited proliferation. Cells were then cocultured with 120 mM butyrate and niacin (0–100 mM) for 6 h. Niacin addition attenuated butyrate-induced cellular damage and promoted proliferation at 20–80 mM; 40 mM presented the optimal effect. Higher concentrations (100 mM) of niacin resulted in low cell viability. Subsequent experiments confirmed that 120 mM butyrate increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and reduced the intracellular total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) versus the untreated control. Compared with 120 mM butyrate, cotreatment with 40 mM niacin significantly reduced the intracellular ROS content and increased the intracellular T-AOC. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that 120 mM butyrate increased the proportion of apoptotic cells by 17.8% versus the untreated control, and 120 mM butyrate+40 mM niacin treatment reduced the proportion of apoptotic cells by 28.6% and 39.4% versus the untreated control and butyrate treatment, respectively. Treatment with 120 mM butyrate increased caspase-9 and p53 mRNA levels and decreased the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax, and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio versus the untreated control. Treatment with 120 mM butyrate+40 mM niacin downregulated the expression of caspase-3 and p53 and increased the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax versus butyrate treatment alone but had no effect on the Bcl-2/Bax ratio. Thus, high concentrations of butyrate may induce rumen epithelial cell apoptosis by increasing oxidative stress and inducing caspase-9 and p53 expression. Cotreatment with niacin regulates apoptosis-related gene expression by reducing intracellular ROS production and DNA damage and downregulating caspase-3 and p53 expressions to protect rumen epithelial cells against butyrate-induced apoptosis.


Objective: To investigate the expression level of serum MMP-7 in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm accompanied by hypertension and clinical efficacy of endovascular graft exclusion.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of 72 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm accompanied by hypertension in our hospital was conducted. They were divided into observation group and control group with 34 and 38 cases respectively in the each group. The control group was given abdominal aortic aneurysm incision with artificial blood vessel replacement, and the observation group was given endovascular graft exclusion. During the same period, there were 72 healthy people with age and sex matched who went to our physical examination center, and 72 patients with hypertension treated in our hypertension department. ELISA method was applied to detect the serum MMP-7 expression levels in aneurysm patients accompanied by hypertensive, hypertensive patients and healthy people, who were enrolled in the study. After endovascular graft exclusion, patients' aortic aneurysm tissue and adjacent to normal artery of aneurysm were collected to conduct immumohistochemical staining to detect the expression levels of MMP-7 in aneurysmal tissue.
Results: ELISA assay showed that MMP-7 level of patients with aneurysm was significantly higher than that of simple hypertension patients, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The surgeries were successful in aneurysm patients accompanied by hypertension in the study. The operative time, blood loss and blood transfusion of the observation group were significantly less than that of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The Patients were followed up after surgery for one month, the overall incidence of pulmonary infection, incision infection, lower limb thrombosis, lower limb weakness and other complications in the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). Quality of life scores of the observation group after one month and three months were significantly higher than that of the control group, and the differences were significant (P<0.05). Results of immumohistochemical staining showed that MMP-7 expression level in the aneurysm tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent to normal tissue of aneurysm. Serum MMP-7 expression levels of the two groups were significantly decreased than that before treatment, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Through detecting MMP-7 expression levels in patients with hypertension has a role in early warning for the occurrence of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The application of endovascular graft exclusion for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm accompanied by hypertension has minimal invasion, safety and other advantages with stable vital signs and improved life quality of the prognosis.


. We study the Strominger system with fixed balanced class. We show that classes which are the square of a K¨ahler metric admit solutions to the system for vector bundles satisfying the necessary conditions. Solutions are constructed by deforming a Calabi-Yau metric and a Hermitian-Yang-Mills metric along a path inside the given cohomology class.


Metallurgical and electrical properties of Nb and NbN films for use as Josephson junction electrodes and wiring layers are investigated. The crystallographic and superconducting properties necessary for Nb-based integrated circuit processes are clarified. Tunnel barrier structures of NbN-Nb oxide-NbN (Pb alloy) and Nb-Al oxide-Nb Josephson junctions have been analyzed and correlated with junction characteristics and critical current uniformity. It was found that the surface structure of a base electrode should be smooth to ensure that Josephson junctions have low leakage current and uniform critical current distribution. New types of Josephson junctions with artificial tunnel barriers such as amorphous Si or Mg oxide are reviewed. A variety of Josephson junction structures or processes have been developed for Nb-based Josephson integrated circuits in order to improve circuit performance. These include junction miniaturization, planarization, and stacked junction structures. These structures are mainly intended for Nb-Al oxide-Nb Josephson circuits. The Nb-Al oxide-Nb Josephson junction technology is by far the most advanced and has been used in logic and memory circuits, for example a 4-bit*4-bit parallel multiplier, a Josephson logic gate array, a 16-bit arithmetic logic unit, a 4-bit microprocessor, and 1-kb and 4-kb memory circuits. >


This paper presents a new bit-parallel multiplier for the finite field GF(2/sup m/) defined by an irreducible all-one polynomial. In order to reduce the complexity of the multiplier, we introduce a redundant representation and use the well-known multiplication method proposed by Karatsuba. The main idea is to combine the redundant representation and the Karatsuba method to design an efficient bit-parallel multiplier. As a result, the proposed multiplier requires about 25 percent fewer AND/XOR gates than the previously proposed multipliers using an all-one polynomial, while it has almost the same time delay as the previously proposed ones.


We investigated whether poly-L-arginine (PLA) could improve permeation of the hydrophilic compounds, FITC-labeled dextran (MW 3800, FD-4) and pyridoxamine, through ocular surface tissues. Samples of cornea, conjunctiva, or conjunctiva/sclera composite from Japanese white rabbits were mounted in Ussing chambers to measure FD-4 and pyridoxamine permeation and transepithelial electric resistance (TEER). The integrity and viability of the conjunctiva were assessed by chronological TEER monitoring and MTT assay, respectively. The permeability coefficient (Papp) of FD-4 in the cornea, conjunctiva, and conjunctiva/sclera composite was increased by the addition of PLA (MW 38 kDa, PLA (50) at 0.1 mg/ml by 6.81-, 9.78-, and 7.91-fold, respectively. The Papp of pyridoxamine was also increased in the presence of PLA (50) by 7.98-, 4.67-, 8.31-fold, respectively. A corresponding reduction in TEER was observed in all tissues. However, the reduced TEER in the case of the conjunctiva had recovered to ca. 70% 120 min after replacing the mucosal fluid with fresh bicarbonated Ringer's solution. MTT assay results indicated that treatment of the conjunctiva with 0.1 mg/ml PLA (50) did not change the production of formazan compared to that without PLA (50), indicating that the conjunctival viability is not significantly affected by PLA (50). Our findings suggest that PLA may be useful in promoting the ocular delivery of hydrophilic drugs without producing significant epithelial damage.


We study the spin polarization and conductance in infinitely long quasi one-dimensionalquantum wires under various conditions in an attempt to reproduce and to explain some of theanomalous conductance features as seen in various experiments. In order to accomplish thistask we create an idealized model of a quantum wire in a split-gate semiconductorheterostructure and we perform self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations to determine theelectron occupation and spin polarization. Based on those results we calculate the currentthrough the wire as well as the direct and differential conductances. In the frame of theproposed model the results show a high degree of similarity to some of the experimentallyobserved conductance features, particularly the 0.25- and 0.85-plateaus. These results lead usto the conclusion that those conductance anomalies are in fact caused by the electronsspontaneously polarizing due to electron-electron interactions when an applied potentialdrives a current through the wire.


This article describes the quantitative aspects of the isoselectivity distribution of isospecific centers in five supported titanium-based Ziegler-Natta catalyst systems containing different internal and external organic donors. Highly crystalline poly(propylene) fractions of the polymers (insoluble in o-xylene at 95 °C) were analyzed by analytical Tref and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) methods. Separation of the Tref curves into the peaks of sterically uniform components (each represented by the Lorentz function) showed that all these "isotactic" poly(propylene) fractions are nonuniform materials. Each highly crystalline fraction contains several distinct components that differ in stereoregularity. The [mmmm] values for different components (which have approximately the same isotacticity in different polymers) range from as high as 0.986-0.993 to much lower values, in the 0.935-0.955 range. The number of Tref components and their relative contents are substantially different for the crystalline fractions of the polymers produced with different catalyst systems; these parameters depend on the nature of the internal and the external electron donors in the catalysts. GPC analysis of the crystalline poly(propylene) fractions showed that each consists of four or five Flory components (the components produced by kinetically uniform active centers) with widely different average molecular weights, from ≈1 x 104 to ≈1.3 x 106. In general, the probabilities of chain transfer reactions for different active centers decrease with the increase in their isospecificity.


To support the needs of ever-growing cloud-based services, the number of servers and network devices in data centers is increasing exponentially, which in turn results in high complexities and difficulties in network optimization. To address these challenges, both academia and industry turn to artificial intelligence technology to realize network intelligence. To this end, a considerable number of novel and creative machine learning-based (ML-based) research works have been put forward in recent few years. Nevertheless, there are still enormous challenges faced by the intelligent optimization of data center networks (DCNs), especially in the scenario of online real-time dynamic processing of massive heterogeneous services and traffic data. To best of our knowledge, there is a lack of systematic and original comprehensively investigations with in-depth analysis on intelligent DCN. To this end, in this paper, we comprehensively investigate the application of machine learning to data center networking, and provide a general overview and in-depth analysis of the recent works, covering flow prediction, flow classification, load balancing, resource management, routing optimization, and congestion control. In order to provide a multi-dimensional and multi-perspective comparison of various solutions, we design a quality assessment criteria called REBEL-3S to impartially measure the strengths and weaknesses of these research works. Moreover, we also present unique insights into the technology evolution of the fusion of data center network and machine learning, together with some challenges and potential future research opportunities.


The algorithm matches edges by minimizing a generalized distance between them. The matching is performed in a series of images depicting the same scene with different resolutions, i.e. in a resolution pyramid. Using this hierarchical structure reduces the computational load significantly. The algorithm is reasonably simple to implement and is insensitive to noise and other disturbances. The algorithm has been tested in several applications. Two of them are briefly presented. In the first application the outlines of common tools are matched to gray-level images of the same tools, with overlapping. In the second application lake edges from aerial photographs are matched to lake edges from a map, with translation, rotation, scale, and perspective changes. The hierarchical chamfer matching algorithm gives correct results using a reasonable amount of computational resources in all tested applications. >


Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is a key technology that provides user equipment (UE) tracking and environment mapping services, enabling the deep integration of sensing and communication. The millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication, with its larger bandwidths and antenna arrays, inherently facilitates more accurate delay and angle measurements than sub-6 GHz communication, thereby providing opportunities for SLAM. However, none of the existing works have realized the SLAM function under the 5G new radio (NR) standard due to specification and hardware constraints. In this study, we investigate how 5G mmWave communication systems can achieve situational awareness without changing the transceiver architecture and 5G NR standard. We implement 28-GHz mmWave transceivers that deploy OFDM-based 5G NR waveform with 160-MHz channel bandwidth, and we realize beam management following the 5G NR. Furthermore, we develop an efficient successive cancellation-based angle extraction approach to obtain angles of arrival and departure from the reference signal received power measurements. On the basis of angle measurements, we propose an angle-only SLAM algorithm to track UE and map features in the radio environment. Thorough experiments and ray tracing-based computer simulations verify that the proposed angle-based SLAM can achieve submeter-level localization and mapping accuracy with a single base station and without the requirement of strict time synchronization. Our experiments also reveal many propagation properties critical to the success of SLAM in 5G mmWave communication systems.


ABSTRACT
 This paper argues for increased awareness of local cultures through an educational approach, as it is explored in the CultSense project. The tourist experience is a multi-layered phenomenon moderated by a dynamic relationship with the places visited and local populations. A holistic approach to tourism tensions and challenges, as well as a more pro-active attitude from all stakeholders involved are important in finding strategic solutions. The project proposes an alternative approach, developing bottom-up initiatives that give a voice to local actors and develop global intercultural awareness for (young) travellers. The dissemination of methodological and pedagogical tools by third parties should add to the body of knowledge around sensitized forms of tourism, stimulating non-demeaning and non-patronising attitudes achieved through a grassroots approach.


Introduction The WHO estimates that 50 units of blood per 1000 inhabitants per year is necessary to meet the transfusion needs of a country. In Grenada 8.7 units are donated per 1000 inhabitants yearly. Methods We surveyed 452 St. George's University second year medical school students (>95% North American) regarding blood donation attitudes and experiences before and after arrival in Grenada. This analysis of the 363 responses, determined if age, gender, knowledge of blood group, time since first arrival in Grenada and donating blood in the year preceding arrival would predict who donated (14%) since arrival. In SPSS, we used logistic regression to estimate probabilities of donating blood since arrival as a function of each covariate. From these probabilities we generated Receiver Operating Characteristic curves with the area under each curve estimating the covariate's ability to predict blood donation after arrival in Grenada. Results 68% of the time [95% CI 60% to 76%] students who had donated blood the year before arrival were more likely to be donors after arrival than those who had not. This percentage was slightly higher (72%, 95% CI 63% to 80%) if, compared to the same group, these students had been in Grenada for a longer time and knew their blood group. Neither gender nor age showed predictive ability. Conclusion Blood drive promotion should first target students who were not donors the year before arriving in Grenada as they are less likely to donate, without prompting, upon arrival.


Primary liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer overall and the second most common cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for up to 90% of all primary hepatic malignancies and represents a major international health problem. It is a complex and heterogeneous malignancy, frequently occurs in the setting of a chronically diseased organ, and has multiple confounding factors. Liver transplant for hepatocellular carcinoma has been established as a standard treatment in selected patients. Liver resection and locoregional therapies could be other options for treatment. Pathologic evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma is a complicated process that includes tumor grading and evaluation of microvascular invasion. Although macrovascular invasion can be detected with imaging techniques, microvascular invasion is diagnosed pathologically. Pathologic evaluation provides additional information about the tumor biology, using immunohistochemical and molecular methods to predict patient outcomes. Hepatocellular carcinoma requires a multidisciplinary approach to determine the most appropriate treatment, as well as requires accurate timing of various treatments for optimal outcomes.


The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the circadian pacemaker, receives photic input directly from the retina to synchronize the pacemaker to the environment. Additionally, the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL), which innervates the SCN, is known to modulate the retinal photic input to the SCN. To further understand the role of the IGL in mediating the photic input to the SCN, this study examined the effects of unilateral optic nerve transection (UONx) on the photic response of the SCN and IGL in adult and neonatal hamsters. UONx led to an overall reduction in light-induced c-Fos expression in the SCN and IGL. The c-Fos expression was greater in the SCN ipsilateral to the remaining eye, despite a symmetrically bilateral retinohypothalamic tract projection as revealed by intraocular injection of horseradish peroxidase. In contrast, UONx led to a greater c-Fos expression in the contralateral IGL. The contralateral IGL of UONx animals also revealed more neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive neurons, while the ipsilateral SCN of these animals exhibited a denser neuropeptide Y terminal field. The neonates with UONx showed a similar pattern with a slight compensation of the photic-induced c-Fos in the SCN. This study suggests that the IGL may have an ipsilateral inhibitory effect in mediating retinal photic input to the SCN.


Create realistic sounding orchestras on your computer Little or no musical notation knowledge needed Create scores for real players to read Tips and tricks to get the best out of your software All you need to orchestrate on computer Using modern technology, composers no longer need to wait until an orchestra plays their score to hear what their music will actually sound like. Using a computer and suitable software, it's possible for anyone to produce high-quality results that can be used for music CDs, film and TV scores - or even as a basis of a recording session using orchestral players. Many musicians would like to add synthetic orchestral colour to their work but are often left feeling frustrated that their first attempts don't sound very realistic or that the techniques needed will be too difficult to learn. This book is aimed at those with little or not understanding of music notation. It gives the reader a basic understanding or the principles of orchestration and offers tips and techniques to help get the best simulated orchestral performance out of their equipment.


............................................................................................................................ III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... IV TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... V LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ VIII LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. IX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... X CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 Types of UAS ................................................................................................................... 1 UAS Applications ............................................................................................................. 3 Motivation ........................................................................................................................ 3 CHAPTER 2: SECURITY IN UAS COMMUNICATION ....................................................... 5 Communication between UAS and Ground control station (GCS) ................................. 5 2.1.1. Availability ............................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2. Confidentiality .......................................................................................................... 8 2.1.3. Integrity ..................................................................................................................... 8 Communication between UAS and air traffic control center (ATC) ............................... 8 UAS Intercommunication ................................................................................................. 9 2.3.1. High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) ............................................................................... 9 2.3.2. Flying Ad Hoc Networks(FANET's)...................................................................... 10 vi 2.3.3. Mobile Ad-hoc Wireless Networks (MANET's) .................................................... 12 2.3.4. Unmanned Aerial System-Collaboration Wireless Network(UAS-CWN)............. 15 CHAPTER 3: SECURITY IN UAS NAVIGATION ............................................................... 17 Global Positioning System (GPS). ................................................................................. 17 3.1.1. Security in GPS ....................................................................................................... 18 3.1.2. GPS Spoofing.......................................................................................................... 20 3.1.3. GPS and INS sensor fusion ..................................................................................... 23 Traditional Radar system ................................................................................................ 25 3.2.1. Security in Radar Systems ...................................................................................... 27 3.2.2. Radar Fusion with ADS-B ...................................................................................... 28 Collision Avoidance ....................................................................................................... 30 3.3.1. FLARM ................................................................................................................... 30 3.3.2. Portable Collision Avoidance System(PCAS) and Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) ................................................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER 4: AUTOMATIC DEPENDENT SURVEILLANCE – BROADCAST (ADS-B) 32 Birth of ADS-B .............................................................................................................. 33 4.1.1. ADS-B Out.............................................................................................................. 34 4.1.2. ADS-B In ................................................................................................................ 34 4.1.3. Traffic Information Services Broadcast (TIS-B) .................................................. 34 4.1.4. Flight Information Service – Broadcast (FIS-B) .................................................... 35


Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by certain fungal species. In this study, the aim was to investigate mycotoxins, which pose a serious health problem. For this purpose, a total of 140 spice samples (black pepper, red pepper, cumin, and turmeric) purchased from Ankara, Turkey, were analyzed for specific mycotoxins (aflatoxin B1-AFB1, aflatoxin B2-AFB2, aflatoxin G1-AFG1, aflatoxin G2-AFG2, ochratoxin A-OTA, zearalenone-ZEN) using an LC-MS/MS multi-mycotoxin method. The Staphylococcus spp. and Micrococcus spp. counts in the spice samples were also analyzed using the conventional culture method. The contamination levels of AFB1 ranged from not detected (ND) to 39.12 μg/kg; AFB2 ranged from ND to 2.10 μg/kg; AFG1 ranged from ND to 0.92 μg/kg; AFG2 ranged from ND to 3.67 μg/kg; OTA ranged from ND to 39.79 μg/kg; ZEN ranged from ND to 11.16 μg/kg. The maximum residue limit for AFB1 (5 μg/kg) determined according to the Turkish Food Codex (TFC) was exceeded in five samples of red pepper, two samples of black pepper, and one sample of turmeric. Furthermore, it was determined that three samples of red pepper and one sample of black pepper exceeded the maximum limits for total aflatoxin (10 μg/kg) and OTA (15 μg/kg) specified in the TFC.


This article is the result of an investigation carried out throughout 2003 and 2004 by Leon University (Spain) on the implicit
and explicit contents and values promoted by the most widely commercialised, best-sold and most used videogames among children and
teenagers at the moment. The tools used in this research were questionnaires, case studies, interviews, group discussions, field observations
and an exhaustive video-graphic analysis of the first three hundred best sold videogames. The main conclusion we have arrived at in our
investigation is that all of the analysed commercial videogames which our young people use tend to promote a sexist culture which we
can call the 'macho culture.'
Keywords: Videogames. Children. Sexist culture.


In this article the model of central network element Home Location Register / Home Subscriber Server (HLR/HSS) in mobile networks GSM and UMTS is presented. The model is based on queueing discipline Earliest Deadline First (EDF). The EDF method operates with dynamical priorities and takes into account the deadlines of arriving tasks. Moreover, focused on the considered case of HLR/HSS, the approach for a mathematical description of non-preemptive queueing method EDF is offered.


This study developed a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) database and mapped inter-annual changes in tuber crop yield, as a response to inter-annual rainfall variability in the Guinea Savanna ecological zone of Nigeria. It also related the spatiotemporal variability in rainfall with tuber yields. Two major tuber crops, cassava and yam were studied. Kriging and other GIS techniques were used for the spatial analysis. In addition, correlation and regression analyses were carried out on the dataset. The study revealed that rainfall varied from year to year giving a range of 1550 to 2987 mm. There were significant positive relationships between tuber yield and total rainfall (r= 0.68) at p<0.05 for cassava and r= 0.62, at p<0.05 for yam. It was concluded that geospatial techniques are powerful tools that should be explored further for realistic assessment of the effects of climate of farming activities. Keywords: Climate variability, tuber crops, Geographical Information Systems, Nigeria International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences , 6(3): 346-358, 2010


A 21-year old man died of an extensive anteroseptal myocardial infarction 16 months after receiving megavoltage radiotherapy to a mantle field for Hodgkin's disease stage PS IA confined to the midcervical lymph nodes on the left side of the neck. Post mortem findings revealed severe atherosclerotic changes in the coronary arteries. This case and a review of the literature suggest that irradiation to the heart may induce or accelerate atherosclerosis of the epicardial vessels. This should be taken into consideration when starting prophylactic irradiation to the mantle field in patients with Hodgkin's disease stage IA without obvious involvement of the mediastinun. Histologic examination of the heart and coronary vessels should be performed in any fatal case after megavoltage therapy involving the heart.


: The Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source is a critical device for producing highly charged ion beams in various applications. Analyzing the charge-state distribution of the ion beams is essential, but the manual analysis is labor-intensive and prone to inaccuracies due to impurity ions. An automatic spectrum recognition system based on intelligent algorithms was proposed for rapid and accurate chargestate analysis of ECR ion sources. The system employs an adaptive window-length Savitzky-Golay (SG) filtering algorithm, an improved automatic multiscale peak detection (AMPD) algorithm, and a greedy matching algorithm based on the relative distance to accurately match different peaks in the spectra with the corresponding charge-state ion species. Additionally, a user-friendly operator interface was developed for ease of use. Extensive testing on the online ECR ion source platform demonstrates that the system achieves high accuracy, with an average root mean square error of less than 0.1 A for identifying charge-state spectra of ECR ion sources. Moreover, the system minimizes the standard deviation of the first-order derivative of the smoothed signal to 81.1846 A. These results indicate the capability of the designed system to identify ion beam spectra with mass numbers less than Xe, including Xe itself. The proposed automatic spectrum recognition system represents a significant advancement in ECR ion source analysis, offering a rapid and accurate approach for charge-state analysis while enhancing supply efficiency. The exceptional performance and successful implementation of the proposed system on multiple ECR ion source platforms at IMPCAS highlight its potential for widespread adoption in ECR ion source research and applications.


FUNDING: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (South Africa) For the first progress reporting on the Sustainable Development Goal sub-indicator 6.6.1a in 2020, the South African and global statistics related to wetlands were compared. Firstly, in terms of the total wetland extent, the South African National Wetland Map version 5 (NWM5) represented 87% more inland, surface aquatic ecosystems than the Global Surface Water (GSW) product. More than half of the lacustrine systems and none of the palustrine and arid systems in NWM5 are represented in the GSW layer. Secondly, in terms of changes in the extent of wetlands, both the global and South African statistics showed a decreasing trend in the spatial extent of surface aquatic ecosystems in South Africa. These trends should be further investigated against systematic assessments of decadal drought periods. The hydroperiod information (permanent, seasonal and ephemeral inundation periods) of the GSW products show that South African lacustrine wetlands do not have a single dominant class (≥70% of the extent of a polygon) of inundation, but consist of a mosaic of these classes.


Purpose
In the past few years, numerous economic uncertainty challenges have occurred globally. These uncertainties grasp the attention of the researchers and they examine the role of economic policy uncertainties in several aspects. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by exploring the house prices volatility and economic policy uncertainty nexus in G7 countries.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied the newly introduced econometric technique, the GARCH-MIDAS model, to the sample size of January 1998–May 2021.

Findings
The result shows a significant relationship between house prices volatility and economic policy uncertainty. Moreover, economic policy uncertainty acts as a significant determinant of house prices volatility. In addition, the out-of-sample also shows that the economic policy uncertainty is an effective predictor and the GARCH-MIDAS has a better predictive ability.

Originality/value
This paper makes a unique contribution to the literature with reference to developed economies, being a pioneering attempt to investigate the GARCH-MIDAS model to analyze the relationship between housing prices volatility and economic policy uncertainty by applying more rigorous and advanced econometric techniques.


Despite the advances in liver transplantation, infection continues to be a major problem, with an incidence greater than that observed in other solid organ transplantations. The risk of infection is largely determined by the patient's preoperative condition, operative factors, and the status of immunosuppression. Here we describe the current understanding of bacterial, viral, and fungal infection in patients who underwent liver transplantation.