Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems have been widely used in heavy-duty (HD) diesel engines to meet the stringent emission standards for nitrogen oxides. The mobile SCR system has improved the considerable reduction of NOx emission from HD diesel engines. Many investigations have been performed to enhance the catalytic performance and optimize the SCR system within the diesel engines. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the types of nitrogen components (NO, NO2, N2O, and NH3) in the NOx exhaust emissions prior to and after passing through an SCR device. A EURO VI type commercial heavy-duty diesel engine was equipped to an AC dynamometer. World harmonized stationary cycle and transient cycle were introduced to operate the test engine under road conditions. A new quantum-cascade laser analyzer was employed to measure the nitrogen emission species in real time. The engine-out NOx emissions were strongly affected by the load conditions of the engine, which also determined the efficienc...


The ability to learn a model is essential for the success of autonomous agents. Unfortunately, learning a model is difficult in partially observable environments, where latent environmental factors influence what the agent observes. In the absence of a supervisory training signal, autonomous agents therefore require a mechanism to autonomously discover these environmental factors, or sensorimotor contexts. This paper presents a method to discover sensorimotor contexts in partially observable environments, by constructing a hierarchical transition model. The method is evaluated in a simulation experiment, in which a robot learns that different rooms are characterized by different objects that are found in them.


We propose a model to account for the post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of disinhibition, hyperarousal, and attention bias. We review the background literature which is the foundation on which our model rests, present key results of our ongoing research, and suggest testable hypotheses for further research. Our laboratory is in a Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, where we began our work with a search for the significant causes and predictors of hyperarousal in combat veterans with PTSD using eyeblink and autonomic conditioning protocols. We believe our studies will lead to integration of a treatment intervention for war veterans (and equally as well for treatment of the traumatically stressed in the general population). Our research has begun to show strong associations between lowered heart rate variability (HRV) and PTSD. Loss of bradycardia during normal vigilance is the cause of lowered HRV, which impairs appraisal of threat value of environmental stimulation, thereby leading to disinhibition, hyperarousal, and attention bias toward and away from threat. The next steps of research we plan are outlined and designed to elucidate how HRV biofeedback is a promising intervention to increase HRV during vigilance of stimuli and restore cognitive appraisal and response selection, thereby reducing PTSD symptoms and normalizing behavior.


Magnetic flux leakage (MFL) technique is generally considered as an efficient and effective nondestructive testing method, which has been widely used in the drill pipe detection in oil field. This paper aims at studying the magnetic concentrating effect, and proposing a method of gathering the MFL by means of magnetic concentrating device. Electromagnetic finite-element analysis shows that pipe MFL signals centralize near defects obviously and the leakage signals detected by Hall elements enhance greatly as magnetic concentrating structure can collect useful magnetic component. A drill pipe MFL experiment confirms the analysis results that the probe with magnetic concentrating device could obviously improve SNR of MFL signals, increase measuring the width of defects and reduce the requirements of liftoff value. Therefore, it is of great help to improve pipe leakage flux testing sensitivity.


The oxidation of 4-chloroaniline (4-CA) has been studied by electrochemistry (EC) coupled on-line with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) using two electrochemical flow cells of different design. The experimental results, which generally verify previously suggested oxidation pathways for 4-CA, also indicate the presence of an up to now unrecognized comproportionation reaction. The oxidation of 4-CA (m/z 128.2) was found to give rise to the formation of both an oxidized dimer, 4-[(4-chlorophenyl)imino]-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-imine (m/z 217.2), and a reduced dimer, 4-amino-4'-chlorodiphenylamine (m/z 219.2), in addition to a dimer intermediate (m/z 253.2). The unexpected formation of the reduced dimer is shown to stem from a comproportionation reaction involving 4-CA and the oxidized dimer. The presence of the latter reaction was clearly seen by comparing results obtained with two thin-layer flow cells, both with conversion efficiencies of 50% under mass transport controlled conditions but of different design with respect to the influence of the counter electrode reaction on the reaction at the working electrode. The experimental results demonstrate that the formation of the reduced dimer is favored by a decrease in the local pH in the flow cell, and the influence of the pH on the oxidation of 4-CA was also investigated in the pH range between 2.0 and 6.0 using off-line voltammetry. It is concluded that EC/ESI-MS is a powerful tool for the study of the present type of reactions and that studies of the reaction pathways of these systems are best carried out under noncoulometric experimental conditions as the latter facilitates the detection of reaction intermediates. Comproportionation reactions, similar to the reaction present in the 4-CA system, can also be expected to be present during the formation of conducting polymers such as polyaniline and polypyrrole.


We discuss recent progress in the research of the optically amplified, long-reach WDM PONs, which aim to reduce the cost and the complexity of future fiber-to-the-home systems.


A September 24, 2014, congressional notification (CN) from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) may reflect a new executive branch approach in assisting the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pay off some of the debts it incurs in providing various benefits and services to West Bank and Gaza residents. The CN indicates that USAID plans to obligate a total of $100 million in FY2014 bilateral economic assistance for the Palestinians toward direct U.S. payments to PA creditors. This report briefly discusses the details and implications of this new alternative method.


AIMS
The relationship between common haplotype-tagging polymorphisms (rs266729 [11365C>G], rs822395 [-4034A>C], rs822396 [-3964A>G], rs2241766 [45T>G], and rs1501299 [276G>T]) in the ADIPOQ gene and cancer risk has been investigated in different ethnic groups; however, these studies have yielded contradictory results. With this in mind, this meta-analysis was performed in an attempt to draw a more precise conclusion regarding the association between ADIPOQ polymorphisms and cancer risk.

RESULTS
In this study, with a total of 19 eligible articles consisting of 52 studies, the pooled odds ratios (ORs) for the association between ADIPOQ rs1501299 and cancer risk were statistically significant (dominant model, TT/GT vs. GG, OR=0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.77-0.92; homozygous model, TT vs. GG, OR=0.80, 95% CI: 0.68-0.94). These results suggested that ADIPOQ rs1501299 might be a protection-associated polymorphism in cancer. The stratified analyses indicated that the variant T allele of ADIPOQ rs1501299 was associated with decreased risk of cancer in both Caucasian and Asian populations when compared with the G allele. No significant association for the rest of the polymorphisms was observed under any genetic model.

CONCLUSIONS
This meta-analysis suggests that the ADIPOQ rs1501299 may be a protective factor for carcinogenesis.


Introduction. The mechanism of how viruses cross intracellular structures is the model that exemplifies the intracellular transit through the endomembrane system, the same that is used in the teaching and description of the different intracellular apparatus and organelles. Objective. Develop a didactic method that explains a mechanism of molecular biology, such as the comic strip in the transit and intracellular signaling of viruses. Methodology. A comic-illustrative story was designed where a viral structure is personified by an undercover spy, the fundamental axis of the plot is obtaining the genetic information molecules at the nucleus level, for this it has to go through the various departments of the cell representing the intracellular and intracytoplasmic organelles with their functional characteristics, the sequence obeys the communication that the different organelles have from the cell membrane to the nucleus. Results. The development of comics or comics can recreate events and phenomena studied in medical sciences such as biology, having the following results: increase interest, understanding, creativity, the need for knowledge and generation of new ideas in students. Conclusion. The comic is a useful didactic tool in teaching intracellular transit from the graphic narration of a viral model that is transported inside the cell.


Clinacanthus nutans (Burm.f.) Lindau (Acanthaceae), commonly known as Sabah snake grass, is a vegetable and a well-known herb that is considered an alternative medicine for insect bites, skin rashes, herpes infection, inflammation, and cancer and for health benefits. Current review aims to provide a well-tabulated repository of the phytochemical screening, identification and quantification, and the pharmacological information of C. nutans according to the experimental design and the plant preparation methods which make it outstanding compared to existing reviews. This review has documented valuable data obtained from all accessible library databases and electronic searches. For the first time we analyzed the presence of flavonoids, triterpenoids, steroids, phytosterols, and glycosides in C. nutans based on the results from phytochemical screening which are then further confirmed by conventional phytochemical isolation methods and advanced spectroscopic techniques. Phytochemical quantification further illustrated that C. nutans is a good source of phenolics and flavonoids. Pharmacological studies on C. nutans revealed that its polar extract could be a promising anti-inflammation, antiviral, anticancer, immune and neuromodulating, and plasmid DNA protective agent; that its semipolar extract could be a promising antiviral, anticancer, and wound healing agent; and that its nonpolar extract could be an excellent anticancer agent.


This paper presents a novel microfluidic T-form mixer for fast DNA digestion utilizing alternatively switching electroosmotic flow. A switching DC field is used to generate an electroosmotic force which simultaneously drives and mixes the fluid samples. A novel pinched-switching mode is presented for fast DNA and restriction enzyme mixing in the microfluidic device. Experimental and numerical results show that a mixing performance as high as 97% can be achieved within a mixing distance of 1 mm downstream from the T-junction when a 90 V/cm driving voltage and a 4 Hz switching frequency are applied. Successfully digestion of /spl lambda/-DNA using ECORI restriction enzyme is demonstrated utilizing the proposed microdevice. The novel T-form micromixer presented in this study provides a simple solution to mixing problems in the micro-total-analysis-systems field.


Background Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection is the strongest risk factor for gastric cancer (GC). However, the mechanisms of Hp-associated GC remain to be explored. Methods The gene expression profiling (GSE111762) data were downloaded from the GEO database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between normal samples (NO) and Hp-atrophic gastritis (GA) or Hp-GA and Hp-GC were identified by GEO2R. Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analysis were performed using the DAVID database. lncRNA-TF-mRNA and ceRNA regulation networks were constructed using Cytoscape. The cross-networks were obtained by overlapping molecules of the above two networks. GSE27411 and GSE116312 datasets were employed for validation. Results DEGs between NO and Hp-GA are linked to the activity of inward rectifying potassium channels, digestion, etc. DEGs between Hp-GA and Hp-GC were associated with digestion, positive regulation of cell proliferation, etc. According to the lncRNA-TF-mRNA network, 63 lncRNAs, 12 TFs, and 209 mRNAs were involved in Hp-GA while 16 lncRNAs, 11 TFs, and 92 mRNAs were contained in the Hp-GC network. In terms of the ceRNA network, 120 mRNAs, 18 miRNAs, and 27 lncRNAs were shown in Hp-GA while 72 mRNAs, 8 miRNAs, and 1 lncRNA were included in the Hp-GC network. In the cross-network, we found that immune regulation and differentiation regulation were important in the process of NO-GA. Neuroendocrine regulation was mainly related to the process of GA-GC. In the end, we verified that CDX2 plays an important role in the pathological process of NO to Hp-GA. Comparing Hp-GA with Hp-GC, DEGs (FPR1, TFF2, GAST, SST, FUT9, and SHH), TF, and GATA5 were of great significance. Conclusions We identified the DEGs, and their lncRNA regulatory network of Hp-associated diseases might provide insights into the mechanism between Hp infection and GC. Furthermore, in-depth studies of the molecules might be useful to explore the multistep process of gastric diseases.


Many real-time tasks in geospatial data analysis are based on matching of visual data, i.e. finding similarity and/or disparity in geoimages either in the remotely sensed source data or in geospatial vector and raster products. When human eyes scrutinize a scene, the brain performs matching of visual streams, acquired by eyes and transmitted via all chains of human visual system. As the result the brain creates a comfortable visual model of the scene and alarms, in case some distinct disparity in visual perception is found. While observing a scene, the optical axes of both eyes are naturally directed to the same area of the object, which is particularly true for visual perception of stereoscopic images on a computer screen. If eye movements are recorded while observing the virtual stereoscopic model generated in the brain, it is possible to detect such regions of interest using fixations, identified in eye-tracking protocols. These fixations can be considered as coordinates of feature points of an object being observed (regions of interest) and can be used to reconstruct corresponding 3D geometric models by applying classical stereo photogrammetric procedures. This novel way of utilizing eye-tracking leads to establishment of "eye-grammetry" a new approach which melds human visual abilities and the computational power of modern computers to provide "sight-speed" interaction between the human operator and the computer software in augmented geospatial data acquisition and processing systems. This paper reviews theoretical and practical aspects of eye-tracking for real-time visual data processing and outlines two particular fields of applications where the proposed technology could be useful: gaze-tracking based 3D modeling and geospatial knowledge elicitation. ∗ Corresponding author


Achieving minimal loss while satisfying an acceptable delay profile remains to be an open problem under the RED queuing discipline. In this paper, we present a framework targeted at optimal fine tuning of the RED parameters in order to address such problem. For a given traffic pattern and utilizing a statistical analysis of finite-state Markov chains, we formulate an optimization problem aimed at addressing the loss and delay tradeoff of the RED queuing discipline. Our two-step iterative solution to the problem identifies the optimal settings of the RED parameters. We prove the convergence of our solution and investigate its low complexity characteristics. We apply our framework to a number of generic queuing and TCP scenarios in order to capture loss and delay performance of our algorithms versus buffer capacity and service rate. Based on our results, we argue that our model is capable of optimally addressing the loss-delay tradeoff of RED queues accommodating time-varying traffic profiles.


As a nonvolatile (NV) device, ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) have the potential to reduced power and area by integrating NV storage elements into logic. In this paper, we exploit FeFET nonvolatility to design lookup tables (LUTs), which have obvious utility in field-programmable gate arrays, etc. With nonvolatility, a single FeFET can be used as a storage cell in an LUT, which can help reduce both power and area. We design both static and dynamic logic style LUTs. Read and write schemes are also designed for the proposed LUTs. Evaluation results show that our LUTs outperform both conventional static random-access memory based LUTs as well as other NV LUTs in term of area-power-delay product.


The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's ("PTAB") institution rate for inter partes reviews ("IPRs") has fallen virtually every year. In its recent decision in Apple, Inc. v. Fintiv, Inc. issued on May 13, 2020, the PTAB denied institution of Apple's petition for IPR and set forth a new test for determining whether to institute an IPR based on the status of the underlying district court proceedings, which suggests that institution rates may continue to fall .


We study the sensitivity of infinite-dimensional Bayesian linear inverse problems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs) with respect to modeling uncertainties. In particular, we consider derivative-based sensitivity analysis of the information gain, as measured by the Kullback-Leibler divergence from the posterior to the prior distribution. To facilitate this, we develop a fast and accurate method for computing derivatives of the information gain with respect to auxiliary model parameters. Our approach combines low-rank approximations, adjoint-based eigenvalue sensitivity analysis, and post-optimal sensitivity analysis. The proposed approach also paves way for global sensitivity analysis by computing derivative-based global sensitivity measures. We illustrate different aspects of the proposed approach using an inverse problem governed by a scalar linear elliptic PDE, and an inverse problem governed by the three-dimensional equations of linear elasticity, which is motivated by the inversion of the fault-slip field after an earthquake.


The primary goal of this paper is to provide an overview of existing Text-To-Speech (TTS) Techniques by highlighting its usage and advantage. First Generation Techniques includes Formant Synthesis and Articulatory Synthesis. Formant Synthesis works by using individually controllable formant filters, which can be set to produce accurate estimations of the vocal-track transfer function. Articulatory Synthesis produces speech by direct modeling of Human articulator behavior. Second Generation Techniques incorporates Concatenative synthesis and Sinusoidal synthesis. Concatenative synthesis generates speech output by concatenating the segments of recorded speech. Generally, Concatenative synthesis generates the natural sounding synthesized speech. Sinusoidal Synthesis use a harmonic model and decompose each frame into a set of harmonics of an estimated fundamental frequency. The model parameters are the amplitudes and periods of the harmonics. With these, the value of the fundamental can be changed while keeping the same basic spectral..In adding, Third Generation includes Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and Unit Selection Synthesis.HMM trains the parameter module and produce high quality Speech. Finally, Unit Selection operates by selecting the best sequence of units from a large speech database which matches the specification.


Using direct numerical simulation of hydrodynamic turbulence with helicity forcing applied at all scales, a near-maximum helical turbulent state is obtained, with an inverse energy cascade at scales larger than the energy forcing scale and a forward helicity cascade at scales smaller than the energy forcing scale. In contrast to previous studies using decimated triads, our simulations contain all possible triads. By computing the shell-to-shell energy fluxes, we show that the inverse energy cascade results from weakly non-local interactions among homochiral triads. Varying the helicity injection range of scales leads to necessary conditions to obtain an inverse energy cascade.


Aims, Objectives and Background In a busy paediatric emergency department triage decisions are critical to patient flow (see figure 1). In addition to sorting patients by acuity the initiation of early interventions at triage is pivotal. Effective use of triage has the potential to significantly reduce lengths of stay.1,2 Method and Design Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, we utilised the key words 'children', 'triage' and 'length of stay' to search the MEDLINE and COCHRANE databases for relevant studies. Inclusion and exclusion criteria allowed a focused interrogation of the literature over the last two decades. Bibliographies & specialist journals were also searched to prevent important omissions. Results and Conclusion Nine studies (two randomised controlled trials, seven non randomised) were found. Interventions included; reallocated staff for triage, a paediatrician in triage and a series of triage nurse initiated treatments, investigations and protocols. Average reductions in emergency department length of stay ranged from four to forty four minutes per patient. The common principle identified was early decision "making. Statistical significance was demonstrated with few exceptions. Estimates of bias were low. The quality of evidence was high. Limitations included; uneven benefit (e.g. whilst overall length of stay was reduced, some patients waited longer) and over treatment. Triage nurse initiated treatment stood out as as having the most impact with the least additional cost. There were no adverse incidents. Triage based interventions are an important strategy in reducing the length of stay for children attending an emergency department. Doing so represents a proactive step in tackling the growing problem of overcrowding in the paediatric emergency department. References Haybarker B (2015). Reducing Emergency Department Length of Stay by System Change. Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies [Accessed 27/7/21] RCEM Tackling Emergency Department Crowding December 2015 [Accessed 27/7/21], Available at https://rcem.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ED_Crowding_Overview_and_Toolkit_Dec2015.pdf


The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of make-up attitude and body-related value on clothing behavior. The subjects were 315 female college students in Gyeongsang provinces. The obtained data were analyzed by reliability analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, one-way ANOVA, Duncan's multiple range test, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and t-test. The major results of this study were as follows: First, four factors of make-up attitude were identified: pursuit of confidence, sociality, self-satisfaction, and positive image. Second, the subjects were categorized into three different types of groups according to make-up attitude and body-related value, respectively: high involvement type, low involvement type, and middle involvement type. Third, there was significant difference among three groups which were segmented by each make-up attitude and body-related value on clothing behaviors (sexual attractiveness, showing off, body-enhancement). Fourth, a significant positive correlation was found among four factors of make-up attitude and body operatability with clothing behaviors. Fifth, the important variables that affected the clothing behaviors were pursuit of confidence, self-satisfaction, and positive image of make-up attitude. Sixth, body-inclination significantly influenced sexual attractiveness of clothing behavior, whereas body-related value, unlike make-up attitude, only had marginal influence.


In this paper optimization of a nonlinear adaptive multi-channel active noise control system in a rectangular enclosure using neural networks is investigated. The model of enclosure is obtained using modal analysis, and the bandwidth of the control system for global reduction of noise is selected between 50-300 Hz. Secondary path in modeled offline using MLP and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm with sum of sinusoid excitation signal. The simulation results for multi-channel case assuming nonlinear loudspeaker in the secondary path, show the performance of feedforward multilayer perceptron neural networks with FxBP algorithm is acceptable in attenuation of noise and its harmonics in the error microphones.


This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of waterleaf (Talinum triangulare (Jacq.) Willd) aqueous extract on the performance of laying hens. This study was arranged in a completely randomized design with five treatments (T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5) with 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 ml of waterleaf aqueous extract (WAE), respectively in their drinking water. Forty (40) Nera black hens at 24 weeks of age were randomly allocated into five treatments of two replicates with eight hens per treatment. Variables measured were feed intake, hen day production, feed conversion ratio, daily water intake and body weight, Feed conversion ratio of T3 (100 ml WAE) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than the control and other treatments. Hen day egg production, feed intake, and water intake, of Treatment 2 (50 ml WAE) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than other treatments. In conclusion, this study showed that 50 ml and 100 ml WAE increased egg production.

 Key words: Talinum triangulare, layers, performance, fortified drinking water.


THE NEED for reform of the health care system in the United States is widely accepted, both socially and politically. But the long-term consequences have not been as widely discussed. "What do we want to preserve in the system? What do we need to change?" asks Rodney E. Nichols, chief executive officer of the New York (NY) Academy of Sciences. Changes are already here, says Parker Small, MD, professor of immunology and microbiology and professor of pediatrics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, "and it isn't Washington that's bringing most of them about." Both spoke at a conference on the changing health care system organized by the academy's president-elect, Henry Greenberg, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY. The conference grappled with questions such as, What will happen to the physician-patient relationship? What changes are coming in medical education? What


PURPOSE
Perceived control is an important construct for the psychological well-being of people affected by chronic conditions, and higher perceived control is associated with better outcomes. Psychosocial interventions have been trialled in these populations to improve both global and specific perceptions of control. However, most interventions involving people with Parkinson's have focused on single-domain forms of control, while those addressing global perceived control are yet to be reviewed. This study aimed to identify and map the types of psychosocial interventions in individuals with Parkinson's which have included forms of global perceived control as an outcome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Scoping review based on a search across MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Academic Search Ultimate.

RESULTS
From an initial return of 4388 citations, 12 citations were eventually included. These consisted of 8 quantitative and 4 qualitative studies, and covered 4 overarching categories of psychosocial interventions. Mixed results were found for cognitive, educational, and physical interventions, while a randomised controlled trial on mindfulness-based lifestyle programme showed more preliminary positive evidence.

CONCLUSIONS
Further rigorous research is required on the topic to build on these preliminary findings. In the meantime, clinicians may need to consider programmes which proved effective with populations similar to people with Parkinson's.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONPerceived control is a psychological construct important for people with chronic illnesses, which can be targeted by behavioural interventions.This article reviewed behavioural interventions targeting global forms of perceived control in Parkinson's.Mixed results were reported for the cognitive, educational, and physical interventions identified, while a randomised controlled trial on a mindfulness-based lifestyle programme showed more promising evidence.In the meantime, clinicians may need to consider programmes found to be effective with people with similar conditions to Parkinson's.


The inhibitory effects of the Korean red ginseng (steamed root of Panax ginseng C.A. MEYER, family Araliaceae) saponin fraction (KRGS) and its constituents ginsenosides Rg3, Rf, and Rh2 in mouse passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) and contact dermatitis models were measured. Orally administered KRGS and its genuine ginsenosides potently inhibited the PCA reaction induced by IgE. However, when these ginsenosides were intraperitoneally administered, ginsenoside Rh2 showed the most potent inhibition. The ginsenoside Rh2 also the most potently inhibited the beta-hexosaminidase release from RBL-2H3 cells induced by IgE with antigen. KRGS administered topically at a dose of 0.1% suppressed ear swelling in an oxazolone-induced mouse contact dermatitis model by 38.8%. Its constituents ginsenosides Rg3, Rf, and Rh2 at a concentration of 0.05% also potently suppressed mouse ear swelling by 47.5%, 34.8%, and 49.9% at 16 d, respectively. These ginsenosides also significantly reduced mRNA expression levels of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, interleukin (IL)-1beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interferon-gamma induced by oxazolone applied to mouse ears. However, the ginsenosides, except for ginsenoside Rh2, almost did not notably reduce IL-4 levels. The ginsenoside Rh2 also potently inhibited COX-2 and inducible NO synthetase protein expression in liphopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Based on these findings, KRGS and its ginsenosides are suggested to improve atopic and contact dermatitis by regulating expression of cytokines.


Burkitt lymphoma is cytogenetically characterized by t(8;14)(q24;q32) translocation, sometimes accompanied by additional cytogenetic abnormalities. These abnormalities usually result in more aggressive clinical presentation and morphology of the disease. The current report presens a case of Burkitt lymphoma with t(8;14)(q24;q32) accompanied by partial tetrasomy of chromosome 1(47,XY,+1,i(1)(q10),t(8;14)(q24;q32)[2]/46,XY[18]). The patient was a 59-year-old male who presented with abdominal pain, leukocytosis and tumor lysis syndrome. No lymphadenopathy was noted. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis revealed atypical lymphocytes. A peripheral blood smear revealed tumor cells exhibiting distinct 'blastoid' morphology: Prominent nucleoli, basophilic cytoplasm, occasional cytoplasmic vacuoles. Flow cytometry demonstrated B cells expressing cluster of differentiation (CD)10 and cytoplasmic kappa light chain restriction without surface expression of immunoglobulins and CD20. A bone marrow biopsy revealed hematopoiesis, with a 90% replacement with atypical lymphocytes. The patient was treated with chemotherapy. Following the first cycle of treatment, the patient developed neutropenic fever, bacteremia and died a few days later. Gain of chromosome 1q in addition to characteristic for Burkitt lymphoma t(8;14)(q24;q32) resulted in immature 'blastoid' morphology and the immunophenotype of tumor cells, leukemic presentation without lymph node involvement and a highly aggressive clinical course.


For any organisation to be successful in an increasingly competitive and global working environment, it is essential that there is a clear understanding of all aspects of the business. Given that no two organisations are exactly alike, there is no definitive understanding of exactly what these aspects are as they will depend on the organisation's nature, size and so on. Some of the aspects of the business that must be considered include: process models, process descriptions, competencies, standards, methodologies, infrastructure, people and business goals. It is important that these different aspects of the business are not only understood, but also that they are consistent and congruent with one another. The creation of an effective Enterprise Architecture (EA) provides a means by which an organisation can obtain such an understanding. This book looks at the practical needs of creating and maintaining an effective EA within a twenty-first-century business through the use of pragmatic modelling. The book introduces the concepts behind enterprise architectures, teaches the modelling notation needed to effectively realise an enterprise architecture and explores the concepts more fully through a real-life enterprise architecture.


Data derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) are widely employed to predict soil properties, particularly soil moisture and soil carbon content. However, few studies address the use of microwave sensors for soil texture retrieval and those that do are typically constrained to bare soil conditions. Here, we test two statistical modelling approaches—linear (with and without interaction terms) and tree‐based models, namely compositional linear regression model (LRM) and random forest (RF)—and both nongeophysical (e.g., surface soil moisture, topographic, etc) and geophysical‐based (electromagnetic, magnetic and radiometric) covariates to estimate soil texture (sand %, silt % and clay %), using microwave remote sensing data (ESA Sentinel‐1). The statistical models evaluated explicitly consider the compositional nature of soil texture and were evaluated with leave‐one‐out cross‐validation (LOOCV). Our findings indicate that both modelling approaches yielded better estimates when fitted without the geophysical covariates. Based on the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE), LRM slightly outperformed RF, with NSE values for sand, silt and clay of 0.94, 0.62 and 0.46, respectively; for RF, the NSE values were 0.93, 0.59 and 0.44. When interaction terms were included, RF was found to outperform LRM. The inclusion of interactions in the LRM resulted in a decrease in NSE value and an increase in the size of the residuals. Findings also indicate that the use of radar‐derived variables (e.g., VV, VH, RVI) alone was not able to predict soil particle size without the aid of other covariates. Our findings highlight the importance of explicitly considering the compositional nature of soil texture information in statistical analysis and regression modelling. As part of the continued assessment of microwave remote sensing data (e.g., ESA Sentinel‐1) for predicting topsoil particle size, we intend to test surface scattering information derived from the dual‐polarimetric decomposition technique and integrate that predictor into the models in order to deal with the effects of vegetation cover on topsoil backscattering.


The large computing capacity provided by grid systems is beneficial for solving complex problems by using many nodes of the grid at the same time. The usefulness of a grid system largely depends, among other factors, on the efficiency of the system regarding the allocation of jobs to grid resources. This paper proposes an Roulette Wheel Selection Genetic Algorithm using Best Rank Power(PRRWSGA) for scheduling independent tasks in the grid environment. The modified algorithm speeds up convergence and shortens the search time more than IRRWSGA, at the same time the heuristic initialization of initial population using MCT algorithm allow the algorithm to obtain a high quality feasible scheduling solution. The simulation results, show that PRRWSGA has better search time than both IRRWSGA and standard genetic algorithms. Real-world scheduling problems may utilize this algorithm for better results.


This introduction explores reasons for the continuing debate on the subject of transnationalism and persistent scepticism about the significance of the topic. The basis for such disagreements has to do less with the actual existence of the phenomenon than with methodological shortcomings that led to its overestimation in the early literature and the conceptual failure to distinguish between cross-border activities conducted by major institutions and by private actors in civil society. I explore these various problems seeking to clarify the actual scope of the phenomenon of transnationalism and its novel character. Despite recent findings that point to limited numerical involvement of immigrant groups in transnational activities, the latter remain significant because of their prospective growth and their impact on both immigrant adaptation in receiving countries and the development prospects of sending nations and communities. The evidence presented in the following articles document in detail these various aspects and indicates the multiple forms adopted by this phenomenon among immigrant groups in Europe and the United States.


The increasing demand for electric energy in Europe requires continuous search for new energy sources as well as structural and technological solutions. Maintaining the present level of electric energy production requires the modernisation of previously used objects and the construction of new units for supercritical and ultrasupercritical parameters. The increase in thermal efficiency with the simultaneous energy cost reduction is possible due to ribbed pipes used in heat exchangers. The article presents ribbed pipe manufacturing technologies with special attention paid to an innovative laser welding technology developed at Energoinstal S.A. The use of high-power disc lasers enables welding ribbed pipes made of nickel alloys such as, for instance, Inconel 625. Due to their heat resistance and high-temperature creep resistance laser welded ribbed pipes made of the Inconel 625 alloy are elements of heat exchanger characterised by high usability potential. The article presents the results of technological tests involving laser welding of ribbed pipes made of the Inconel 625 alloy conducted at Energoinstal S.A. It was ascertained that the technology developed meets related requirements and can be qualified according to PN EN 15614-11.


by temporal reference, Evagrius ' oneiric symptomology, Cassian ' s diagnostics of nocturnal emissions and several of Climacus ' genealogies of passion. An index of select ancient authors with detailed topic references is supplemented by a subject index, an index of select modern authors, and indexes of Greek and Latin terms. The bibliography is wonderfully extensive in respect of both primary and secondary sources. The literary references dotted throughout the book are an enjoyable bonus. This is a groundbreaking study that will be of interest to historians and practitioners of spiritual direction, monasticism, spirituality, medicine and psychology


Recent reports in the literature indicate that beta-blockade may improve survival in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCMP). This goal can obviously not be attained if the beta-blocker employed effects deleterious actions on the left ventricular function or hemodynamics. Accordingly, to assess the suitability of the new beta-blocker ridazolol for use in this regard, in nine patients with DCMP NYHA class II/III, studies were performed (by means of balloon-tipped pulmonary artery catheter and radionuclide ventriculography) at rest and during exercise prior to and one hour after oral administration of a 40 mg-dose of the agent. At rest, there was a decreasing tendency in systolic blood pressure from 123 +/- 18.5 mm Hg to 113 +/- 15.2 mm Hg and heart rate from 94 +/- 19 beats/min to 83 +/- 17 beats/min. Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure was not significantly altered at 16.2 +/- 7.9 mm Hg and 17.1 +/- 8.4 mm Hg, respectively. Ejection fraction remained unchanged with 29 +/- 14%. The slight decrease in cardiac output from 5.1 +/- 1.3 l/min to 4.5 +/- 1.3 l/min was not significant. During exercise, there were also decreasing tendencies in the heart rate from 128 +/- 21 beats/min to 102 +/- 22 beats/min and the systolic blood pressure from 148 +/- 20.5 mm Hg to 141 +/- 18.4 mm Hg. Essentially unchanged were the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (26.1 +/- 7.2 mm Hg/27.8 +/- 5.0 mm Hg) and ejection fraction (30 +/- 10%/27 +/- 8%) during exercise.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract Non-native brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans) have inhabited Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR) in Washington state since at least 1999. Their impact on aquatic habitats is unclear and is of concern as TNWR is managed for migratory waterfowl and the diets of waterfowl and brook stickleback overlap. This study compared the benthic macroinvertebrate communities of four TNWR lentic systems that contain brook stickleback with five lentic systems that are free of brook stickleback. Each lentic system was sampled once in each of three periods in 2012 (June through September). Timing significantly affected macroinvertebrate density in the lentic systems that do not have brook stickleback but not in those containing brook stickleback. Summed across all taxa and samplings, lentic systems without brook stickleback had nearly 10-fold higher macroinvertebrate density (4.24 L-1) and significantly more macroinvertebrate taxa than did lentic systems with the non-native fish (0.49 L-1). To determine whether brook stickleback could contribute to changes in macroinvertebrate communities, we conducted feeding trials under laboratory conditions. Brook stickleback were presented with macroinvertebrates from 10 abundant taxa; the fish consumed, on average, 89% of the macroinvertebrates and consumed individuals from each taxon. We found no evidence of gape-limitation in brook stickleback for the commonly-encountered size range of macroinvertebrates. These results indicate that brook stickleback may be partly responsible for the altered macroinvertebrate communities at TNWR and that these non-native fish are a substantial threat to the quality of aquatic habitats at TNWR and should be considered for classification as invasive in Washington state.


BACKGROUND
Tumors of the hypothalamic-pituitary unit have been linked to genetic syndromes that are associated with midfacial abnormalities.

AIM
We hypothesized that mutations of genes that affect the development of the face (and consequently of the anterior pituitary) may be present in children with ACTH-producing pituitary adenomas, and if this is true then facial measurements would be different from those predicted by parental features.

METHODS
We studied 20 children with corticotropinomas and a control group and their parents. All facial measurements were expressed according to standard deviation scores.

RESULTS
Significant differences were seen between the children with pituitary adenomas and their parents for vertical facial height measures: nasal length (p < 0.001), lower facial height (p < 0.03) and overall facial height (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION
We conclude that some of the indices of midline craniofacial development, in particular those affecting the vertical axis, are different in children with corticotroph adenomas producing ACTH.


PurposeThis paper aims to design a vulnerability assessment model considering the multidimensional and systematic approach to disaster risk and vulnerability. This model serves to both risk mitigation and disaster preparedness phases of humanitarian logistics.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 27,218 households in Pueblo Rico and Dosquebradas was conducted to obtain information about disaster risk for landslides, floods and collapses. We adopted a cross entropy-based approach for the measure of disaster vulnerability (Kullback–Leibler divergence), and a maximum-entropy estimation for the reconstruction of risk a priori categorization (logistic regression). The capabilities approach of Sen supported theoretically our multidimensional assessment of disaster vulnerability.FindingsDisaster vulnerability is shaped by economic, such as physical attributes of households, and health indicators, which are in specific morbidity indicators that seem to affect vulnerability outputs. Vulnerability is heterogeneous between communities/districts according to formal comparisons of Kullback–Leibler divergence. Nor social dimension, neither chronic illness indicators seem to shape vulnerability, at least for Pueblo Rico and Dosquebradas.Research limitations/implicationsThe results need a qualitative or case study validation at the community/district level.Practical implicationsWe discuss how risk mitigation policies and disaster preparedness strategies can be driven by empirical results. For example, the type of stock to preposition can vary according to the disaster or the kind of alternative policies that can be formulated on the basis of the strong relationship between morbidity and disaster risk.Originality/valueEntropy-based metrics are not widely used in humanitarian logistics literature, as well as empirical data-driven techniques.


Product quality and operation cost control obtain increasing emphases in modern chemical system engineering. To improve the fault detection power of the partial least square (PLS) method for quality control, a new QRPV statistic is proposed in terms of the VP (variable importance in projection) indices of monitored process variables, which is significantly advanced over and different from the conventional Q statistic. QRPV is calculated only by the residuals of the remarkable process variables (RPVs). Therefore, it is the dominant relation between quality and RPV not all process variables (as in the case of the conventional PLS) that is monitored by this new VP-PLS (VPLS) method. The combination of QRPV and T2 statistics is applied to the quality and cost control of the Tennessee Eastman (TE) process, and weak faults can be detected as quickly as possible. Consequently, the product quality of TE process is guaranteed and operation costs are reduced.


Burrow morphologies of the ghost crabs Ocypode ceratophthalma and O. sinensis were observed in foreshore, backshore, and dune subenvironments on the Irino Coast, southwestern Japan, with the aim of clarifying their paleoenvironmental significance. The observed diameter of the main shaft, burrow depth, and total burrow length varied from 14 to 40 mm, 12 to 89 cm, and 8 to 143 cm, respectively. Although the burrow diameters are largely similar among the three subenvironments, the burrows increased in length and complexity from the foreshore to dune subenvironments. These findings indicate that burrow morphology can be used as an indicator of ancient sandy beach subenvironments.


Less than nine years since its initial release, TypeScript has become the world's third most popular programming language. A modern imperative language, TypeScript balances the pedagogical benefits of Python and Java, blending the simplicity and brevity of the former with the greater safety of the latter. Furthermore, its type system obviates many of JavaScript's notorious papercuts, making it arguably easier to teach than its dynamically-typed cousin. Yet all presently-available TypeScript curricula miss this opportunity, exclusively targeting programmers already familiar with JavaScript. The author recently completed the first four chapters of Incremental TypeScript, a forthcoming textbook for teaching TypeScript to the complete beginner, with an intended audience of high school- or college-level CS1 courses. The textbook takes an incremental approach: Each lesson intentionally centers around a single language construct and begins with a motivating example illustrating when it is the appropriate tool to use. Lessons frequently feature code with errors, using them to demonstrate the debugging process. After each lesson is a lab assignment where students apply what they have learned so far. The author has tested most of the lessons and labs by teaching a trimester-long introductory high school course using a direct port of the curriculum to Java. So far, the draft textbook covers I/O, conditionals and Boolean logic, numbers and data types, and loops. Each of these chapters comprises four lessons and their associated code samples, libraries, and labs. The author plans to add additional chapters, beginning with one on functions, before eventually releasing a free e-book.


In this paper, we develop a new approach in order to understand the origin of the quadrature error in MEMS gyroscopes. As the width of the flexure springs is a critical parameter in the MEMS design, it is necessary to investigate the impact of the width variations on the stiffness coupling, which can generate a quadrature signal. To do so, we developed a method to determine the evolution of the stiffness matrix of the gyroscope springs with respect to the variation of the bending beams width of the springs through finite element analysis (FEA). Then, a statistical analysis permits the computation of the first two statistical moments of the quadrature error for a given beam width defect. It turns out that even small silicon etching defects can generate high quadrature level with up to a root mean square (RMS) value of 1220°/s for a bending beam width defect of 0.9%. Moreover, the quadrature error obtained through simulations has the same order of magnitude as the ones measured on the gyroscopes. This result constitutes a great help for designing MEMS gyroscopes, as the consideration of the bending beams width defects is needed in order to avoid high quadrature error.


A post-prescription review and feedback program was implemented as an antimicrobial stewardship intervention in Lebanon as the country grappled with complete economic collapse, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a large blast in Beirut. We describe the implications of antimicrobial use in disaster preparedness and crisis situations, the sequelae related to increasing antimicrobial resistance, and our lessons learned in Lebanon. We explore opportunities and potential solutions for future disaster preparedness.


We describe a case of digoxin intoxication due to an unadjusted loading dose in a patient with renal failure. The importance of individual calculation of the digoxin dosing regimen in patients with renal failure is reemphasized. The volume of distribution of digoxin decreases significantly in chronic renal failure, due to decreased tissue binding in the uremic state. Accordingly, not only the digoxin maintenance dose, but the digoxin loading dose as well must be adjusted in this condition.


Abstract Education for Sustainability (EfS) has been prioritised in the School of Education at James Cook University (JCU), Townsville, Australia. This article presents a case study that explores the ways in which teacher educators integrate EfS in their teaching in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) (Primary) at JCU, and their perceptions of enablers and constraints. Two key findings arose from the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with four subject coordinators, and their subject outlines: (1) teacher educators at JCU integrate EfS in different ways through their choice of assessment, content and/or pedagogy; and (2) constraints operating at the school level, namely teacher educators' perceptions and understanding of EfS, were perceived to be salient challenges to the integration of EfS in the program. Vision, leadership and funding at the university level were also identified as enabling factors that warrant further investigation. Findings contribute to existing literature regarding the integration of EfS in preservice teacher education, and serve to inform practice at JCU and universities more broadly.


The global severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic strikingly shows the need for rigorous evidence to inform decisions. During such times of crisis, many decisions are made across multiple sectors and trillions of dollars are spent to deal with its consequences that affect all aspects of economic and societal life. Given the scale of human suffering, thoughtfully designing effective policies, and carefully spending scarce resources on interventions that work during crisis management and recovery, become crucial. However, in many areas of decision making, the use of robust and reliable evidence is not the norm. This has dire consequences: evidence from impact evaluations in different sectors show that about 80% of policy interventions are not effective (White, 2019). Equally, the reliance on an individual study or model rather than evidence synthesis commonly leads to misinformed policy and outright harm. For example, the retracted study on hydroxychloroquine for COVID‐19 led to public harm as well as public mistrust (Mehra, Ruschitzka, & Patel, 2020). Now, more than ever, public policy needs to be informed by the most rigorous, comprehensive and up‐to‐date evidence possible. We, at the Campbell Collaboration, are working on both providing this rigorous evidence and promoting its use to inform decisions about social and public policy. Campbell systematic reviews provide a wealth of rigorous evidence to support social and economic response. These reviews highlight what is known and actionable, and point to critical questions decisionmakers need to ask in planning and implementing social and economic responses. Campbell systematic reviews follow carefully structured, peer‐ reviewed procedures to produce high‐quality, theory‐based evaluations of social and economic policies and programmes. They address real‐world problems, often in partnership with relevant stakeholders, and seek to answer what works, why and for whom. Our 12 coordinating groups provide broad coverage of social issues, including ageing, business and management, climate solutions, crime and justice, disability, education, international development, knowledge translation and implementation, methods, nutrition and food systems and social welfare. And our international editorial board supervises the process in order to produce rigorous evidence syntheses and strategic partnerships that encourage their timely consideration for policy. Campbell systematic reviews have influenced national policy discussions on over 40 topics. They inform international guidelines and support the design and scaling‐up of dozens of evidence‐ based social and economic policies and programmes (Campbell Collaboration, 2020). Campbell also publishes evidence and gap maps, which provide a thorough overview of the body of evidence. They allow decision makers and planners to quickly identify the best available evidence on a topic, remaining evidence gaps, as well as suitable areas to be converted into living evidence reviews (Thomas et al., 2017). For example, the Campbell evidence and gap map on people with disabilities may be helpful to inform decisions about health, social engagement and employment for people with disabilities (Saran, White, & Kuper, 2020) in the aftermath of COVID‐19 stringency measures. With this editorial, we provide a virtual issue of 50 Campbell systematic reviews to inform the social and economic response to COVID‐19 (Figure 1). Some reviews have immediate relevance, including how to promote handwashing (De Buck et al., 2017), distribute cash in emergency settings, provide nutrition outreach, intervene for the safety of women and children and implement evidence‐based policing. Lockdown measures put pressure on families. We can learn from the large number of reviews on family functioning such as promoting the well‐being of children exposed to intimate partner violence (Latzman, Casanueva, Brinton, & Forman‐Hoffman, 2019). Reviews provide guidance to support vulnerable populations including the elderly, and others needing assistance in daily living. Other reviews cover programmes to strengthen the social safety net, for example, in food security, cash transfers and care homes. As economies reopen, Campbell reviews offer ideas on how best to get people back to work, including labour activation measures such as youth employment (Kluve et al., 2017), promoting entrepreneurship and providing vocational training. With global shutdowns in food processing plants and agriculture, we need to increase food production and availability through transport, improving retail access and outreach to difficult‐to‐reach areas such as urban slums. Campbell reviews highlight the effects of technological support for farmers, training and contract farming. Campbell reviews inform how to restructure government services such as schools, community services and prisons to support continued social distancing. New evidence syntheses are needed in some areas to answer questions directly related to COVID‐19 policies; for example, evidence on the impacts of reopening of schools on disease burden,


A quantitative technique is presented for differentiating live and dead yeast cells grown in culture through the use of the fluorescent dye acridine orange. The method gives results that correlate well with those of other commonly used vital staining techniques and is free of certain interpretative errors inherent in them. Vital staining of yeasts with acridine orange also allows for more precise assessment of the physiological state of individual cells and the culture as a whole. The progressive senescence of yeast cells in culture can be monitored by the changing staining characteristics of several subcellular organelles. The method is simple and reliable.


The field of micromachines is maturing in terms of fabrication technologies, reproducibility and reliability. Different development principles and applications are investigated for a wide range of dimensions from millimetric to nanometric. One promising approach is to make micromachined tools for sensing, handling and manipulating on the nanoscale with high precision. A few examples are presented, including an integrated scanning tunnelling microscope, a monolithic nanoscanner and a high-frequency atomic force microscope nanocantilever. The integration of nanostructures and micromachines will lead to the development of smart nanosystems allowing for future manufacturability.


Activity trackers are being deployed in large-scale physical activity intervention programs, but analyzing their data is difficult due to the large data size and complexity. As such large datasets of steps become more available, it is paramount to develop analysis methods to deeply interpret them to understand the variety and changing nature of human steps behavior. In this work, we explored ways to analyze the heterogeneous steps activity data and propose a framework of dimensions and time aggregations to interpret how providing a city-wide population with activity trackers, and monetary incentives influences their wearing and steps behavior. We analyzed the daily step counts of 140,000 individuals, walking a combined 74 billion steps in 305 days of a city-wide public health campaign. We performed data mining clustering to identify 16 user segments, each with distinctive weekly streaks in patterns of device wear and recorded steps. We demonstrate that these clusters enable us to interpret how some users increased their steps level. Our key contributions are: a new analytic method to scalably interpret large steps data; the insights of our analysis about key user segments in our large intervention; demonstrating the power to predictive user outcomes from their first few days of tracking.


The relation of sexual and physical abuse in childhood to subsequent depression and eating disorders was explored in a community sample of mothers and their teenage and young adult daughters respectively. It was hypothesized that age would be a moderating influence on diagnosis following abuse in that depression would be more common in the mothers and eating disorders more common in the daughters. Depression was more common in mothers than daughters, using Bedford College caseness criteria (Finlay-Jones, et al., 1980), but the difference decreased when Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC: Spitzer, Endicott & Robbins, 1978) were used. Bulimia was more common in the daughters using DSM-III criteria. Both physical and sexual abuse were associated with chronic and recurrent depression but not with single short episodes of depression in the mothers. However, the relationship of depression to abuse showed only a weak trend in the daughter sample. Both physical and sexual abuse were related to bulimia in the daughters, but not in the mothers, as only one mother had such a disorder.


Hometown associations (htas) in the United States are migrant, voluntary groups with a shared sense of belonging to a region in a diff erent country of origin. Th eir philanthropic activities across borders have increasingly attracted the attention of government agencies and social and political actors. Th ese actors have endeavored to form more htas and place greater demands on them to expand their civic engagement. Th is strategy, however, will not necessarily lead to that purpose, but instead will likely exacerbate a critical gap in the htas' organizational capacity. Th is paper argues that a diff erent strategy is best suited to strengthen the organizational ability of htas, and proposes a framework to achieve this goal based on a capacity building pilot program for Latino htas from the Los Angeles region.


Bayesian inference methods have been widely applied in inverse problems, {largely due to their ability to characterize the uncertainty associated with the estimation results.} {In the Bayesian framework} the prior distribution of the unknown plays an essential role in the Bayesian inference, {and a good prior distribution can significantly improve the inference results.} In this paper, we extend the total~variation-Gaussian (TG) prior in \cite{Z.Yao2016}, and propose a hybrid prior distribution which combines the nonlocal total variation regularization and the Gaussian (NLTG) distribution. The advantage of the new prior is two-fold. The proposed prior models both texture and geometric structures present in images through the NLTV. The Gaussian reference measure also provides a flexibility of incorporating structure information from a reference image. Some theoretical properties are established for the NLTG prior. The proposed prior is applied to limited-angle tomography reconstruction problem with difficulties of severe data missing. We compute both MAP and CM estimates through two efficient methods and the numerical experiments validate the advantages and feasibility of the proposed NLTG prior.


The paper outlines the results of experimental testing of the effectiveness of the principles of analogy, cognitive effects and the frame-cluster approach as a basis for a concise associative and dissociative dictionary, which is seen as a means of accelerated teaching of a foreign language based on the knowledge of the mediator language (here: English). It is a proven fact that analogy (including association) is a universal principle of thinking which enables one to correctly identify lexical units of the language of one group through the mediator. The correctness of involving the dissociative principle has been confirmed experimentally: it is based on memorizing the uncommon and different. Accelerated, interest-driven teaching of a foreign language based on associative and dissociative principles takes into account the resources of cognitive effects, which are cognitive illusions not controlled by consciousness. We have substantiated the expediency of distributing vocabulary in the proposed dictionary according to the frame-cluster principle, in which the learner constructs a situationally relevant phrase from cluster-organized associated forms. Repeated use of lexemes in communication provides a correction of errors over time. The experiment confirmed that such a dictionary can satisfy the needs of the modern information society, where multilingual communication is in demand.


This paper proposes a new hierarchical packet scheduling algorithm, HDDRR, enhanced from the existing dynamic deficit round-robin (DDRR) to provide relative differentiated service that enables support of delay-sensitive applications over the Internet. The level of service differentiation can be adjusted with parameter. The HDDRR scheduler fully utilizes the property of DDRR, therefore it can achieve high throughput efficiently and simultaneously provide smaller delay for short packets of each class. Simulation results showing the effectiveness of HDDRR are also presented.


: Auditory temporal acuity (deltat) was measured in 42 hearing-impaired subjects to investigate the hypothesis that it would facilitate the production of intelligible speech. The measure divided the test population into two subgroups with mean speech intelligibility measures of 77.7 and 52.6%, respectively. These results are discussed along with implications relating to hearing loss and the slope of audiogram.


Balanced wrapper scan chains are desirable for system-on-chip (SoC) testing because they minimize the time required to transport the test data. A new heuristic algorithm is proposed based on mean- value approximation and implement fast re-optimization as a subsequence of an earlier best-fit-decrease (BFD) method. The mean length of each scan chain was introduced as an approximation target to balance different scan chains and hence saved testing time. Experimental results present both for assumed arbitrary cores and cores from ITC'02 benchmark and show the effectiveness of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm can provide more balanced wrapper design efficiently for the test scheduling stage.


ABSTRACT: Normal wounds can heal by secondary intention (epidermal migration to cover a denuded surface) or by approximation of the wound edges (e.g., suturing). In healing by secondary intention, epidermis‐derived MMPs are important. Keratinocyte migration begins within 3‐6 hr post injury, as basal cells detach from underlying basal lamina and encounter a dermal substratum rich in type I collagen. Cell contact with type I collagen in vitro stimulates collagenase‐1 expression, which is mediated by the α2β1 integrin, the major keratinocyte collagen‐binding receptor. Collagenase‐1 activity alone is necessary and sufficient for keratinocyte migration over a collagen subsurface. Stromelysins‐1 and ‐2 are also found in the epidermis of normal acute wounds. Stromelysin‐2 co‐localizes with collagenase‐1 and may facilitate cell migration over non‐collagenous matrices of the dermis. In contrast, stromelysin‐1 is expressed by keratinocytes behind the migrating front and which remain on basal lamina, i.e., the proliferative cell population. Studies with stromelysin‐1‐deficient mice that suggest this MMP plays a role in keratinocyte detachment from underlying basement membrane to initiate cell migration. In chronic ulcers, MMP levels are markedly elevated, in contrast to their precise temporal and spatial expression in acute wounds. Both collagenase‐1 and stromelysin‐1 are found in fibroblasts underlying the nonhealing epithelium, and stromelysin‐1 expression is especially prominent. Two key questions underlie the use of MMP inhibitors and wound healing: (1) will these agents impair normal re‐epithelialization in wounds that heal by secondary intention; and (2) can MMP inhibitors be effective therapy for chronic ulcers? The answer to neither is known. Batimastat and marimastat appear not to interfere with normal wound healing, but only in sutured surgical wounds, a situation in which MMP expression has practically no role. We also show the first example of an in vivo immune response, contact hypersensitivity, which is dependent upon MMP activity. Using gene‐deficient mice, we demonstrate that stromylysin‐1 (MMP‐3) is required for sensitization, whereas gelatinase B (MMP‐9) is required for timely resolution of the reaction to antigenic challenge.


A tooth rheometer, designed to investigate in-situ the influence of large-amplitude oscillatory shear on the macroscopic orientation of complex fluids, is used to study the alignment of two supramolecular systems composed of a polyisoprene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) block copolymer with octyl gallate (OG) hydrogen bonded to the vinylpyridine block. The molecular ratio x between OG and pyridine groups in these two PI-b-P2VP(OG)x systems is 0.50 and 0.75, respectively. In both cases, a hexagonally ordered cylindrical self-assembly was revealed by small-angle X-ray scattering in a broad temperature range. The spacing of the hexagonal structure decreases significantly on heating and reversibly increases on cooling. In in-situ SAXS experiments, performed with the tooth rheometer, a gradual macroscopic alignment of the nanoscale structure is observed on heating for both supramolecular systems. The most striking feature is a shear-induced transition from one hexagonal structure to another, more aligned, hexagonal structure observed for PI-b-P2VP(OG)0.75 in the temperature range 120-140 °C. The transition is accompanied by an abrupt reduction of the domain spacing and additionally by a decrease of the phase angle measured by the rheometer. In the PI-b-P2VP(OG)0.5 system a comparable reduction in the spacing is observed at 90-95 °C. In this case, it coincides with the most intensive macroscopic alignment of the sample, proceeding in a continuous rather than discontinuous fashion. This behavior is discussed in terms of the breaking of the hydrogen bonds between OG and P2VP being facilitated by shear.


During the period I966-69 entomological investigations on the dipterous fauna of grazing cattle in Denmark were carried out with a view to recording potential vectors of the disease "summer mastitis". Some I200 biting midges (Culicoides Latr.) were collected from grazing piebald heifers in 3 field and meadow localities. 8 species of biting midges were represented in the material. Most of the species are known as blood-suckers on domestic animals. About 50 % of the material consisted of C. obsoletus, while C. punctatus, C. chiopterus, and C. subfasciipennis accounted for 24 %, I4 %, and I0 % respectively. Midge activity was extremely high on the belly, especially in the umbilical region and on the udder, much lower on the back and flanks, and considerable on the legs. Several species were present on the belly, however C. obsoletus, C. punctatus, and C. subfasciipennis being dominant. These species could be suspected of participating in the transmission of "summer mastitis", when co-operating with non-biting flies, e.g. Hydrotaea irritans Fall.; they are therefore deserving of special attention. On the back and flanks, C. obsoletus and C. punctatus were the main species, and on the legs, C. chiopterus.


BACKGROUND
This study was designed to examine changing trends in localization of gastric cancer in Turkey in recent years.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 796 adult patients with newly diagnosed, histologically proven adenocarcinomas, treated and followed up at our oncology center between 2000-2011, were examined retrospectively. In all cases tumor localization were identified and recorded with clinicopathological features.

RESULTS
The median age was 58 with a range between 22-90 for the 552 men and 244 women. Median follow up was 12 months (1-276) and median overall survival was also 12 months (11.5-12.4). There was a trend for a change in tumor localization from distal to proximal. Survival of patients was low with advanced T and N stage tumours. Positive surgical margins, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, cardioesophageal localization were predisposition factors for metastatic disease in gastric cancer. There was no relation between age or sex and histopathological type of gastric cancer.

CONCLUSIONS
There is a trend in our country for a change in gastric tumour localization from distal to proximal, with clear significance for treatment choices.


A comparative cytogenetic investigation of the Syrian hamster HaK, CER cell lines and BHK-21 (C-13) sublines was undertaken using G- and C-banding, and silver staining of chromosomes. BHK-21 (C-13) cell sublines were found to have diploid associated chromosome sets, whereas HaK and CER cell lines are characterized with triploid and tetraploid associated chromosome sets, resp. In sum, in all the analysed cell lines 100 marker chromosomes were identified, with 85 ones having unique morphology. The finding indicates a nonaccidental appearance of lesions for normal chromosomes in forming markers. Another arrangement of "hot break-points" on chromosomes is more typical of HaK and CER cell lines, than of BHK-21 (C-13) sublines. The localization of "hot break-points" on chromosomes in BHK-21 (C-13) sublines is specific of the Syrian hamster cells transformed with oncogenic viruses.


Hotel websi tes ha ve been m ore concerned abou t th e s tructure an d co ntent o f t he web site itsel f, ignoring the hot el websites ' n ature for custo mer service. Thus, t his paper starts the basis of determining the function st ructures an d evaluation in dex systems of hot el websites, focusin g on discussing the hotel websites' nature for customer service. This paper found out the customer demand for the hotel websites functionality by the questionnaire survey, then, the hotel websites of 50 samples were visit ed to an alyze t he fu nctions. S PSS wa s applied to the a nalysis of q uestionnaires. Stu dy suggests that current high-star hotel website features in Xiamen City of China can not meet the needs of custo mers. The ba se la yer fu nctions could provide simp le hotel information, but it overlooked the hotel c ustomer's t ravel needs ; main leve l f unctions co uld not meet th e requirements that customers understand the features, early experience and information exchange; The core layer functions were not symmetrical with customer demand, and the information was not updated timely , as well as, customer relationship management was not perfect, so the core layer functions had not implemented functions of both t he ba se layer and m ain layer with d ynamic o ptimization. A limitation of t his study is th at the random sample may be not representative. If the hotel websites truly become an effective tool for hotel management and marketing, the needs of hotel customers should be fully considered.


The present experiment works on routine initiation and scientific recognization of a typical, exact and meticulous UV-Visible Spectrophotometric process for the synchronous assessment of Amlodipine besylate and Olmesartan medoxomil. The working solutions of Amlodipine and Olmesartan medoxomil were scanned at 240 nanometer and 230 nanometer respectively. The regression strength of Amlodipine besylate and Olmesartan medoxomil over its absorbances were obtained as y = 0.068x-0.2182 and y = 0.067x0.0386 respectively with a correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.9995 for Amlodipine besylate and 0.9992 for Olmesartan medoxomil. The intra-day precision in addition inter-day precision for Amlodipine besylate and its % RSD were obtained as 0.15% and 0.39% individually.  The intra-day precision in addition inter-day precision for Olmesartan medoxomil and % RSD were obtained as 0.39% and 0.14%, respectively. The precise amount of tablet formulation were added which holds Alkaline (0.1 N Sodium hydroxide), Acidic (0.1 N Hydrochloric acid)  reflux for 3 hours, 3% Oxydol at 50ºC, heat (60ºC), humidity (75 Relative percentage humidity) for 24 hr and after the particular time quantity was dissolved with distilled water, separated using Filter paper. From this stock solution, 5 mL part of the filtrate was isolated and further diluted by distilled water in a 100 mL standard flask (10 µg/mL).  The standard solution of two drugs were compared against a label claim.


We have developed a simple method to synthesize Cu nanoparticles on graphene, which is a composite that is currently investigated for use as biosensors. Firstly, large area graphene (2 × 2 cm2) was prepared by chemical vapor deposition on Cu foils and then transferred onto SiO2 substrates by a transfer process. The Cu nanoparticles were collected on graphene/SiO2 by magnetron sputtering. The presence of graphene was verified by optical microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The structure of graphene decorated with Cu nanoparticles was determined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the Cu nanoparticles acquire a cubic structure on graphene.


An optimal bandwidth allocation scheme for cluster video on command (VOD) servers system is introduced in the paper. An analytic model of video distortion and server nodepsilas bandwidth limitation is proposed. The bandwidth allocation is considered as an optimization problem with the constraints of video quality and link capacity. The bandwidth occupation is dynamically adjusted according to observed available bit rate (ABR) and round-trip time (RTT). Compared with TCP additive increase multiplicative decrease (AIMD) scheme, the proposed scheme benefits from lowering bandwidth cost while network degradation is detected and hereby avoids network congestion, and can reduce the average packet loss ratio from 17% to 1.8% while improving the video quality 3.5 dB in PSNR.


An important factor in obtaining reversible multi-electron transfer is overcoming large changes in coordination geometry. One strategy is to use ligands that can support the geometries favored before and after the electron transfer. Pip2NCN− pincer and terpyridine ligands are used to support square planar Pt(ii) and octahedral Pt(iv). For the Pt(ii) complexes, [Pt(Z-pip2NCN)(R-tpy)]+ (Z = NO2, MeO, H; R = H, tertyl butyl, tolyl), 1H NMR spectroscopy shows that the Z-pip2NCN− ligand is monodentate whereas the R-terpyridyl ligand is tridentate. The availability of flanking piperidyl groups of the monodentate pincer ligand is essential for the stabilization of the metal center upon oxidation. Pt(Z-pip2NCN)(R-tpy)+ complexes undergo two-electron platinum centered oxidation near 0.4 V and two Pt(tpy) centered reductions near −1.0 V and −1.5 V. An estimate of nox/nred = 1.8 is consistent with an oxidation that involves two-electron transfer per Pt center. Variation in the pincer-(Z) and terpyridine-(R) substituents allows for tuning of the oxidation process over a 260 mV range and the two reduction processes over ranges of 230 mV (first reduction) and 290 mV (second reduction step).


A theoretical investigation is reported of self-modulation of the first kind (SM-I) when the cavity losses are different for counterpropagating waves. It is shown that the frequency of self-modulation oscillations depends strongly on the amplitude nonreciprocity of the cavity. Estimates indicate that the difference between the absorption coefficients for counterpropagating waves in the SM-1 regime can be measured down to values of the order of 10-10. The amplitude nonreciprocity is found to alter significantly the nature of the dependence of the self-modulation frequency on the excess of the pumping rate above the threshold. The feasibility of measuring the coupling coefficients of counterpropagating waves on the basis of backscattering is considered.


Abstract Objective Aripiprazole and risperidone are 2 of the most used second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) worldwide. Previous evidence shows a similar effect of these SGAs on weight and metabolic changes in the short term. However, a longer period is necessary for a better assessment of the SGA´s metabolic profile. We aimed to compare the long-term (1-year) metabolic profile of these 2 antipsychotics on a sample of drug-naïve first episode-psychosis (FEP) patients. Methods A total 188 drug-naïve patients, suffering from a first episode of non-affective psychosis (FEP), were randomly assigned to treatment with either aripiprazole or risperidone. Weight and glycemic/lipid parameters were recorded at baseline and after 1-year follow-up. Results We observed significant weight increments in both groups (9.2 kg for aripiprazole and 10.5 kg for risperidone) after 1 year of treatment. Despite this, weight and body mass index changes did not significantly differ between treatment groups (P > .05). Similarly, both treatment groups presented similar metabolic clinical impact with a comparable increase in the proportion of participants meeting criteria for metabolic disorders such as obesity or hypercholesterolemia, but not for metabolic syndrome (Δ9.2% vs Δ4.3%) or hypertriglyceridemia (Δ21.9% vs Δ8.0%), where aripiprazole showed worse outcomes than risperidone. Conclusion This study shows that aripiprazole and risperidone share a similar long-term metabolic profile. After 1 year of antipsychotic treatment, drug-naïve FEP patients in both treatment groups presented a significant increase in weight and metabolic changes, leading to a greater prevalence of metabolic disorders.


A lime-magnesian metamorphic complex outcropping in the Amsaga series near the small butte of El Mdena Tamniert in northern Mauritania, French West Africa, consists of marbles, pyroxenites, and pyroxene or amphibole gneisses. Microscopic study shows that these rocks are the result of metamorphism of calcareous or marly sediments, mainly dolomites. Chemical analyses confirm this conclusion.


The paper presents an unnoticed "rule" governing the presence or absence of the article with ὄνοµα in naming-constructions of the type "the name of x is N." It arises from the survival of an archaic pattern with the dative and no article, alongside a newer pattern with the genitive and the article. The "rule" is shown to operate not only in the lxx and nt but in ancient Greek generally, from Homer to Koine Greek. Observance of the "rule" indicates the lxx translators' and the nt authors' familiarity with idiomatic Greek. The "rule" can also contribute to resolving textual questions, notably Luke 1:63.


Biomass gasification is thermochemical route to obtain cleaner gaseous fuels from renewable resources. A non-stoichiometric equilibrium model was applied in order to assess the effect of the gasification temperature and the operating mode (autothermal or allothermal) in biomass gasification process. Simulations results indicated the production of a gas with greater HHV from the allothermal mode, due to the higher concentration of fuels compounds found in the energetic gas. Allothermal sawdust gasification at 1000K with equivalence ratio (ER) of 0.22 produced a fuel gas with HHV of 6.14 MJ/m$_{n}^{3}$, whereas the autothermal gasification with the same ER produced a gas with HHV of 6.08 MJ/m$_{n}^{3}$. However, the need of external heat supply made the efficiency of allothermal process lower in comparison with that of the autothermal process. The maximum cold gas efficiency (62%) was obtained with equivalence ratio of 0.25 in autothermal gasification of sawdust.


Adult education is a priority issue addressed in terms of personal and professional training to promote socio-cultural integration. This paper, given the context in which it is drawn, suggests a perspective for the analysis of adult education, namely, that the education of adults, regardless of the forms it takes, can favorably influence a new generation of lifelong learners. Based on statistical data from a research carried out in either with the entire adult population in Romania and with specific segments of the population – the population of school teachers – we reveal how a series of cultural and educational activities undertaken by adults together with their children, has impact on attitudes, behaviors, values exhibited by adults; moreover, these values are taken by children and have a significant impact on the education of the latter.


Until recently, "room-temperature" (<100–150 °C) liquid-state electrochemistry was mostly electrochemistry of diluted electrolytes(1)–(4) where dissolved salt ions were surrounded by a considerable amount of solvent molecules. Highly concentrated liquid electrolytes were mostly considered in the narrow (albeit important) niche of high-temperature electrochemistry of molten inorganic salts(5-9) and in the even narrower niche of "first-generation" room temperature ionic liquids, RTILs (such as chloro-aluminates and alkylammonium nitrates).(10-14) The situation has changed dramatically in the 2000s after the discovery of new moisture- and temperature-stable RTILs.(15, 16) These days, the "later generation" RTILs attracted wide attention within the electrochemical community.(17-31) Indeed, RTILs, as a class of compounds, possess a unique combination of properties (high charge density, electrochemical stability, low/negligible volatility, tunable polarity, etc.) that make them very attractive substances from fundamental and application points of view.(32-38) Most importantly, they can mix with each other in "cocktails" of one's choice to acquire the desired properties (e.g., wider temperature range of the liquid phase(39, 40)) and can serve as almost "universal" solvents.(37, 41, 42) It is worth noting here one of the advantages of RTILs as compared to their high-temperature molten salt (HTMS)(43) "sister-systems".(44) In RTILs the dissolved molecules are not imbedded in a harsh high temperature environment which could be destructive for many classes of fragile (organic) molecules.


With changing revenue and service responsibilities between federal, state and local governments, the need for local decisionmakers to accurately assess fiscal impacts of new economic devel - opments or federal government programs has become increasingly important. In this paper we explore the use of cross-sectional data and procedures to derive a fiscal impact model that crosses state boundaries. This study uses BEA Economic Areas to select counties to be included in the Great Basin fiscal impact model. Fixed effects are specified to incorporate institutional differences between states and metropolitan counties. Results of this analysis indicate that model derivation is not statistically impacted by use of place of work employment rather than place of residence employment. An example analysis for a rural Nevada county shows how the Great Basin fiscal model can be applied to measure changes in county fiscal balances.


Midblock-sulfonated triblock copolymers afford a desirable opportunity to generate network-forming amphiphilic materials that are suitable for use in a wide range of emerging technologies as fuel-cell, water-desalination, ion-exchange, photovoltaic, or electroactive membranes. Employing a previously reported synthetic strategy wherein poly(p-tert-butylstyrene) remains unreactive, we have selectively sulfonated the styrenic midblock of a poly(p-tert-butylstyrene-b-styrene-b-p-tert-butylstyrene) (TST) triblock copolymer to different extents. Comparison of the resulting sulfonated copolymers with results from our prior study provides favorable quantitative agreement and suggests that a shortened reaction time is advantageous. An ongoing challenge regarding the morphological development of charged block copolymers is the competition between microphase separation of the incompatible blocks and physical cross-linking of ionic clusters, with the latter often hindering the former. Here, we expose the sulfonated TST copolymers to solvent-vapor annealing to promote nanostructural refinement. The effect of such annealing on morphological characteristics, as well as on molecular free volume, is explored. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017, 55, 490–497


This article situates the experiences of having penile implant surgery between medical interventions and privately understood meanings and practices. Using my own experiences, supplemented with information from online sources, I document the changes that occur in the meanings and the practices that implant surgery enables. My analysis derives from the concepts of habitus and the looking glass body, and it begins with a diagnosis of impotence and moves through the various considerations that lead to surgery and its aftermaths. I suggest that understanding how medical technology interacts with everyday meanings contributes to a wider application of the concept of habitus while expanding a symbolic interactionist perspective of the body.


Several different `answers' to the question of the best form of a third-order ODE for twisting, type-N, vacuum spacetimes which admit two homothetic motions have already been presented in the literature. The problem of course is quite difficult and these equations have yet to be solved. Therefore, on the basis of our (earlier) understanding of the maximal group of symmetries of the defining equations, we present yet another. We believe that coming to this problem via several different formalisms, arriving at several different forms, will eventually lead to a solution of the problem. In addition, we give a simple presentation of the extension of that maximal group of symmetries to the case where the vacuum has been generalized to allow for a pressureless, null fluid, which introduces an arbitrary analytic function into the parameter space for the group.


This paper deals with valuations of fields of formal meromorphic functions and their residue fields. We explicitly describe the residue fields of the monomial valuations. We also classify all the discrete rank one valuations of fields of power series in two and three variables, according to their residue fields. We prove that all our cases are possible and give explicit constructions.


Context .- Evaluation of HER2 gene amplification by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was changed by recent American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists (ASCO-CAP) guidelines. Objective . -To determine frequencies and assess patterns of HER2 protein expression for each ASCO-CAP guideline FISH category among 7526 breast cancers accrued to our consultation practice. Design .- We retrospectively reevaluated the HER2 FISH status of breast cancers in our consultation practice according to ASCO-CAP FISH guidelines, and documented HER2 protein levels in each category. Results . -According to new guidelines, 17.7% of our consultation breast cancers were "ISH-positive" with HER2:CEP17 FISH ratios ≥2.0 and average HER2 gene copies per cell ≥4.0 (group 1); 0.4% were "ISH-positive" with ratios ≥2.0 and average copies <4.0 (group 2); 0.6% were "ISH-positive" with ratios <2.0 and average copies ≥6.0 (group 3); 4.6% were "ISH-equivocal" with ratios <2.0 and average copies ≥4.0 and <6.0 (group 4); and 76.7% were "ISH-negative" with ratios <2.0 and average copies <4.0 (group 5). However, only groups 1 (HER2 amplified) and 5 (HER2 not amplified) agreed with our previously reported status, and only these groups demonstrated the expected immunohistochemistry status, overexpression and low expression, respectively. Groups 2 and 4 breast cancers lacked overexpression, whereas group 3 was not significantly associated with either increased or decreased HER2 expression. Conclusions .- Although the status of approximately 95% of our cases (groups 1 and 5) is not affected by the new guidelines, those of the other 5% (groups 2-4) conflict with previous HER2 gene amplification status and with HER2 status by immunohistochemistry.


Abstract This study investigates magnetite exsolution in ilmenite from Fe-Ti oxide gabbro in the Xinjie intrusion, SW China. Exsolved magnetite lamellae in ilmenite contain nearly pure Fe304 with ~l wt% TiO2. EBSD-based analyses indicate that the magnetite lamellae have close-packed oxygen planes and directions parallel to those in the host ilmenite with {111}Mag//(0001)Ilm and <110>Mag//<1010>. The Fe2+ in the magnetite lamellae is probably derived from adjacent titanomagnetite by sub-solidus inter-oxide cation repartitioning of Fe2+ + Ti4+ = 2Fe3+ during cooling. It is thus suggested that only Fe3+ cations in the magnetite lamellae should be included into the composition of the Ilm-Hemss precursor for the Fe-Ti oxide oxy-thermometer. The existence of magnetite exsolution in ilmenite also provides an alternative explanation for unusually strong natural remnant magnetization in natural ilmenite.


The aim of this study was to understand the individual experiences of 17 Romanian nurses during their first six months in Italy. A phenomenological approach was used to capture the essence of their experiences. Interviews were carried out in 2004, after gaining the participants' consent and guaranteeing to respect their privacy and anonymity. Eachinterview, lasting 45 minutes on average, was carried out by two nurse researchers, one Italian and one Romanian. The participants could choose to speak either Italian or Romanian and half chose the Romanian language. The Romanian nurses found the experience of transition into their new roles during their first six months in Italy characterised by three processes: (a) staying with the patients versus organising nursing care; (b) satisfying nursing care needs versus  guaranteeing the patient's independence; (c) managing the passive patient versus an active, participating patient.Placements are important during this first six months because these are a basis for the nurses' future professional careers. Not only did the nurses have problems with the language, nursing practice and skills, technology and hospital organisation,but they also had to adapt to new professional roles, new nursing models and the different roles of the patients. International recruitment is positive when there is reciprocal growth in competence and it enriches nursing with new stimuli, but achievingthis involves a long period of placement and adaptation and the possibility of confronting ways of managing nursing care.


Investors are being encouraged after the global crisis to reduce their dependence on the largest credit rating agencies for risk assessments of companies and securities. Comparing risk assessments from different sources rapidly becomes non-trivial when more than three credit rating agencies are involved. We propose a method for comparing rating scales, and hence constructing correspondence diagrams and tables, thereby treating the rating scales used by different agencies as objects of study. Scales are compared by looking at sets of ratings assigned to similar entities (in this case banks) with the assumption that the risk being measured by each credit rating agency is the same for a given rated entity at a given point in time. Two ratings assigned by two credit rating agencies may differ for two reasons: the two agencies have different opinions about the relative positioning of the rated entity (e.g., issuer or security) with respect to the universe of other rated entities; both agencies position the rated entity with respect to the universe of other rated entities in the same way, but they use different symbols to represent this position. Type 1 differences should disappear when a large number of ratings are considered. The existence of type 2 differences will require a mapping from one rating scale to another. Studying international bank ratings for a five-year period shows that there are type 2 differences for the largest credit rating agencies. A mechanism for constructing mappings between scales could lead to more competition with new credit rating agencies.


This paper proposes the contemporaneous application of two Kalman filter-based algorithms to realise a robust control of induction motor drives. The first one (EKF, extended Kalman filter) is used to obtain a correct implementation of direct vector control, since it estimates the rotor flux components, rotor time constant, rotor resistance, and leakage reactance. The on-line adaptation of electrical parameters makes it possible to obtain very accurate estimates of rotor flux components, in spite of temperature and saturation effects. The second one (LKF, linear time invariant Kalman filter) estimates the equivalent disturbance to realise the rejection of external disturbances and robustness to mechanical-parameter variations.


Summary Objectives of the study are to compare how information about drugs and addiction forms, themes, providers, lessons, time, number of participants is estimated by students. In November, 2010  270 students (119 from Klaipeda and 151 from Kaunas), ranging in age from 18 to 21 years old, were interviewed.Of seven topics of drugs students were mainly focused on (ie, I, II , III sites) the themes about consequences of drug use, drug effects and features, development of drug dependence,. In the IV, V, V places remained following topics: drug types, treatment for drug addiction, drug use patterns. Least the respondents would like to participate in workshops on drug prevention. If there was a choice, most students would like to listen to the physicians, then, the police officers. School health professionals and school psychologists are in the III and IV place as the most interesting lecturers. Social workers and class teachers remained in an intermediate position. The respondents rely on teachers and peers the least. Of all forms of information the respondents gave priorities to issue-based films on drugs, photographs about life of drug addicts, discussions and interviews. Quizes, afternoon games, role plays received the least number of percentage as a source of information. To students opinion to achieve positive changes activities should be started for children from the 5-8 form. The occupation would be useful if no more than 10 - 20 students took part in it. Nearly two thirds of survey respondents indicated that school-based drug prevention programs are less efficient. In this study, it has been possible to determine what information about psychoactive substances, which specialists, and what activities students would like. This information should help to enhance the implementation of drug prevention in schools.