This study sought to examine the factors influencing the effective implementation on entrepreneurship
education in tertiary institutions in Rivers State. Five research objectives, five research questions and five
research hypotheses were formulated to guide this study. The study adopted the descriptive survey design.
The area of the study was Rivers State. The target population comprises of 382 entrepreneurship
education lecturers in the six tertiary institutions in Rivers State. The census sampling technique was used
which ensured that every member of population participated in the research work. A structured instrument
titled "" Factors Influencing Implementation of Entrepreneurship Education in Tertiary Institutions was
used to elicit data from the respondents. The instrument was validated by the researchers" supervisor and
two other experts. To test the reliability a pilot test was conducted which showed the reliability coefficient
of 0.74, 0.76, 0.72, 0.81 and 0.73 respectively. Two research assistants were employed for the
administration of the instrument. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test null hypotheses at
0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that shortage of qualified lectures,
inadequate facilities, inadequate teaching techniques, poor funding and lack of government support
hinders the effective implementation of entrepreneurship education in tertiary institutions in Rivers State.
Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that government through its ministries of education
and agencies such as TETFund and other stakeholders should provide adequate facilities such as building
of entrepreneurship centered with well equipped classroom and instructional material to facilitate the
smooth teaching and learning of entrepreneurship education in our tertiary institutions among others.


Summary form only given. In 1985 a powerful and practical public-key scheme was produced by ElGamal; his work was applied using large prime integers. El-Kassar et al. and El-Kassar and Haraty modified the ElGamal public-key encryption scheme from the domain of natural integers, Z, to two principal ideal domains, namely the domain of Gaussian integers, Z[i], and the domain of the rings of polynomials over finite fields, F[x], by extending the arithmetic needed for the modifications to these domains. In this work we implement the classical and modified ElGamal cryptosystem to compare and to test their functionality, reliability and security. To test the security of the algorithms we use a famous attack algorithm called Pollard's rho algorithm that works in the domain of natural integers. We enhance the Pollard's rho algorithm to work with the modified ElGamal cryptosystems.


The miniscope system is one of the calcium (Ca2+) imaging tools with small size and lightweight and can realize the deep-brain Ca2+ imaging not confined to the cerebral cortex. Combining Ca2+ imaging and electrophysiology recording has been an efficient method for extracting high temporal-spatial resolution signals in the brain. In this study, a particular electrode probe was developed and assembled on the imaging lens to modify the miniscope system. The electrode probe can be tightly integrated into the lens of the miniscope without increasing the volume, weight, and implantation complexity. In vivo tests verified that the proposed modified system has realized the simultaneous recording of Ca2+ signals and local field potential (LFP) signal in the hippocampus CA1 region of an adult mouse.


The following passage from the so-called Dar es Salaam Declaration neatly sums up the objectives spelled out and confirmed at the Ninth Extraordinary Session of the OAU Council of Ministers in the first half of April 1975. African objectives in Southern Africa are unchanged. They are independence for the whole country on the basis of majority rule in both Rhodesia and Namibia; and an end to apartheid and racial discrimination in South Africa. Basically that conference has served to confirm three well-known facts: i?½ firstly, that the member states of the OAU are determined to change the power structure in South Africa; i?½ secondly, that they know they are unable to realize the objective in the short term; and i?½ thirdly, that the pattern of relationships between White, Black and Brown South Africans is of infinitely greater consequence than our relations with the rest of Africa.


Thomas Nies' experiences at IBM installing applications convinced him that the industry's future was in software. With this article, he describes how Cincom, the company he cofounded in 1968 with only $600 in capital, grew into one of the largest software products firms in the world. Beginning with its early database management product, Total, Nies details the company's history and strategic business decisions.


Naturalistic functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms, such as movie viewing, are attracting increased attention, given their ability to mimic the real-world cognitive demands on attention and multimodal sensory integration. Moreover, naturalistic paradigms allow for characterizing brain network responses associated with dynamic social cognition in a model-free manner using inter-subject functional connectivity (ISFC). While intra-subject functional connectivity (FC) characterizes the individual's brain functional architecture, ISFC characterizes the neural coupling driven by time-locked extrinsic dynamic stimuli across individuals. Here, we hypothesized that ISFC and FC provide distinct and complementary information about individual differences in social cognition. To test this hypothesis, we examined a public movie-viewing fMRI dataset with 32 healthy adults and 90 typically developing children. Building three partial least squares regression (PLS) models to predict social abilities using FC and/or ISFC, we compared predictive performance to determine whether combining two connectivity measures could improve the prediction accuracy of individuals' social-cognitive abilities measured by a Theory of Mind (ToM) assessment. Our results indicated that the joint model (ISFC+FC) yielded the highest predictive accuracy and significantly predicted individuals' social cognitive abilities (rho = 0.34, p < 0.001). We also confirmed that the improved accuracy was not due to the increased feature dimensionality. In conclusion, we demonstrated that intra-/inter-subject connectivity encodes unique information about social abilities, and a joint investigation could help us gain a more complete understanding of the complex processes supporting social cognition.


A monolithic integration of filters on Si or GaAs substrates is highly desirable to miniaturize the outer dimensions of the cellular phones. But, direct monolithic integration of surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters is impossible with Si, which is nonpiezoelectric, and difficult with GaAs, which is weakly piezoelectric. One alternative is the deposition of a piezoelectric film on the semiconductor substrate. In this paper, we propose a modified coupling-of- modes (COM) approach, which can be used in the practical design of a layered ZnO/Si SAW filter. This is a dispersive SAW-layered filter, and some of the COM parameters become frequency dependent due to the phase velocity dispersion. The frequency response of the 3-step ladder type ZnO/Si SAW filter is analyzed and compared with the experimental results.


South Koreas export-oriented development strategy has achieved a remarkable growth record but it has also brought 2 different problems: 1) since the countrys exports accounted for about 1% of total world export volume the 1st world has become fearful about Koreas aggressive export drive; and 2) the fact that exports account for over 30% of its total gross national product (GNP) exposes the vulnerability of South Koreas economy itself. South Korea continues to be a poor nation although it is rated as 1 of the most rapidly growing middle income economies. A World Bank 1978 report shows Korea to be 28th of 58 middle income countries in terms of per capita GNP in 1976. Of 11 newly industrializing countries (NIC) 5 in the European continent are more advanced than the others. A recent emphasis on the basic human needs approach has tended to downgrade the concept of GNP. Korea has only an abundant labor force and is without any natural resources. Consequently Korea utilized an export-oriented development strategy. Oil requirements are met with imports and almost all raw materials to be processed into exportable products must be imported. To pay import bills Korea must export and earn foreign exchange. It must be emphasized that foreign trade must always be 2-way traffic. In order to export more to middle income countries like Korea the countries of the 1st world need to ease their protectionist measures against imports from developing countries.


Breastfeeding is a major factor in child growth and very effective as a birth-spacing method, yet its use is still low in developing countries. This study examined the impact of socio-demographic factors on the reported low usage of breastfeeding as a child-spacing method. The study utilized the combination of Max Weber's Social Action Theory and Ajzen and Fishbien's Theory of Reasoned Action as its theoretical framework. Three hundred and thirty-eight copies of a structured questionnaire were administered to nursing mothers. Additional data were collected through qualitative method, such as in-depth interview. A total of 71.4% of the nursing mothers who had post-secondary education had a higher knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) as a contraceptive, while 68.8% of the women with lower income would likely use EBF as a contraceptive. A total of 45.4% of the nursing mothers were using EBF as contraceptive, while 31.5% were complementing it with other family planning methods. Socio-demographic factors such as age, income, education and ethnic membership affected the use of EBF as a contraceptive. Suggestions for intervention include health education, especially during antenatal/postnatal sessions and aggressive advocacy on the effectiveness of EBF.


The conformational distribution and unimolecular decomposition pathways for the n-propylperoxy radical have been generated at the CBS-QB3, B3LYP/6-31+G and mPW1K/6-31+G levels of theory. At each of the theoretical levels, the 298 K Boltzmann distributions and rotational profiles indicate that all five unique rotamers of the n-propylperoxy radical can be expected to be present in significant concentrations at thermal equilibrium. At the CBS-QB3 level, the 298 K distribution of rotamers is predicted to be 28.1, 26.4, 19.6, 14.0, and 11.9% for the gG, tG, gT, gG', and tT conformations, respectively. The CBS-QB3 C-OO bond dissociation energy (DeltaH298 K) for the n-propylperoxy radical has been calculated to be 36.1 kcal/mol. The detailed CBS-QB3 potential energy surface for the unimolecular decomposition of the n-propylperoxy radical indicates that important bimolecular products could be derived from two 1,4-H transfer mechanisms available at T < 500 K, primarily via an activated n-propylperoxy adduct.


A moving emitter can be located and tracked by using measurements of direction of arrival (DOA) and time of arrival (TOA) from a single nonmaneuvering observer. This technique is extended to the tracking of a three-dimensional moving emitter with a constant velocity. A recursive nonlinear least-squares estimation algorithm is derived. Furthermore, a Levenberg-Marquardt least-squares (LM-LS) iterated filtering algorithm is proposed to improve the global convergence of Gauss-Newton iterations. The square-root filtering technique is also used, combining easily with the LM-LS method. Results of computer simulation to illustrate the performance of these algorithms are presented.<<ETX>>


This research considers the structural behavior of slender, mechanically buckled beams and panels of the type commonly found in aerospace structures. The specimens were deflected and then clamped in a rigid frame in order to exhibit snap-through. That is, the initial equilibrium and the buckled (snapped-through) equilibrium configurations both co-existed for the given clamped conditions. In order to transit between these two stable equilibrium configurations (for example, under the action of an externally applied load), it is necessary for the structural component to pass through an intermediate unstable equilibrium configuration. A sequence of sudden impacts was imparted to the system, of various strengths and at various locations. The goal of this impact force was to induce relatively intermediate-sized transients that effectively slowed-down in the vicinity of the unstable equilibrium configuration. Thus, monitoring the velocity of the motion, and specifically its slowing down, should give an indication of the presence of an equilibrium configuration, even though it is unstable and not amenable to direct experimental observation. A digital image correlation (DIC) system was used in conjunction with an instrumented impact hammer to track trajectories and statistical methods used to infer the presence of unstable equilibria in both a beam and a panel.


For rapid prototyping, design validation and small batch productions process with low tooling cost is preferred. Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) is a die-less sheet metal forming process which requires only low cost forming tool driven by CNC machine in a toolpath to form required geometry at room temperature from sheet blank clamped in a low cost and low stiffness clamping system. In this study, effect of process parameters such as tool radius, feed rate and lubrication are considered on the formability of the truncated profile of AISI 321 Variable Wall Geometry (VWA). Set parameters conditions with 2 level layers are optimized using numerical and statistical approach. Experimentation on the same setup is carried out by selecting the most, least and mid favorable solutions optimized on the basis of forming forces and stresses in the sheet. Geometrical accuracy, sheet thinning, and forming forces are compared analytically, numerically and experimentally addressing the inadequacy of analytically models for Variable Wall Angle Geometries.


The increasing demand for real-time applications (video conferencing, Internet telephony--VoIP--etc.) delivered over Internet networks requires stringent Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. Internet traffic routing based on a Best-effort basis can hardly support these QoS requirements. This article argues that Internet services providers should form strategic alliances to coordinate their investments in a new-generation infrastructure that could provide innovative services with QoS guarantees. This is supported by a topological analysis of the interconnection agreements among top-level Internet providers and by the lessons derived from alliances forged in the airline and card-based payment sectors. We conclude that on the Internet, the optimal organizational form should be a centralized alliance with a hub-and-spoke network structure.


According to brand alliance literature, the compatibility of both brand characteristics in co-branded products will raise consumer positive attitude and purchase intention. Previous researches have explored co-branding strategy between the same sector or complement product character from different sector. However, few researchs have conducted exploration of the co-branding strategy in a different sector with less complement character. This study seeks to construct the value of co-branding strategy influencing female consumer attitude as well as purchase intention where the less-known  Indonesian cosmetics brand who invite well-known food brands to create blended characteristics of cosmetic products. Three co-branded products namely Mizzu Cosmetics x Khong Guan Biscuits, Dear Me Beauty x Yupi, Dear Me Beauty x Sasa, Dear Me Beauty x Nissin as the object of research. A total of 358 questionnaires were distributed to female cosmetic consumers aged between 19-41. The proposed research model has been tested using PLS-SEM. The finding highlight prior attitude toward host brand appear weak to influence attitude toward co-branded. However, brand fit could mediate prior attitude toward host brand in influencing atittude toward co-branded. Mediating roles of brand fit, attitude toward co-brand, and post-attitude toward host brand appear important in the element of consumer attitude and purchase intention. A well-known and suitable co-branding partner is needed to give exposure to the co-branded product and provide a spill-over effect for the host brands. This study contribute to add spill-over effect phenomenon in brand alliance literatures.


Quiescent power supply current monitoring (I/sub DDQ/) has been shown to be effective for testing CMOS devices. BiCMOS is emerging as a major technology for high speed, high performance, digital and mixed signal applications. Stuck-ON faults as well as bridging faults in BiCMOS circuits cause enhanced I/sub DDQ/. An input pattern classification scheme is presented for detection of stuck-ON/bridging faults causing enhanced I/sub DDQ/. This technique can also be used for detecting I/sub DDQ/ related faults in CMOS circuits.


In their broken windows thesis, Wilson and Kelling (1982) propose that social and physical disorder leads to a breakdown in informal social controls, thereby allowing more serious crime to occur. This framework had a tangible impact on policy, though research has shown mixed results with regard to its effectiveness. This thesis conducts a meta-analysis of 66 effect sizes, nested within eleven studies, in order to better understand the effect of broken windows policing on crime according to the literature. Results show that broken windows policing does have an effect on crime and that methodological characteristics of the studies are related to the effect. The discussion section considers the relationship between these findings and other meta-analyses on policing innovations, such as hot spots and problem-oriented policing.


Effortful control (EC) is a regulatory capacity that refers to children's ability to inhibit a dominant response to perform a subdominant response. Although attempts have been made to identify early predictors of children's EC, the confluence and interaction of child-, familial-, and community factors has not been pursued adequately. This study investigated how predictors from different aspects of children's rearing environment interacted to predict later EC. In a sample of 88 primiparous women with elevated depressive symptomotology and low household income, we examined how children's own psychobiology (baseline cortisol), familial relationship (mother-child attachment), and community resources (social support) at 17 months independently and jointly predicted EC at age 5. Our results showed that, controlling for maternal depressive symptomotology and household income, predictors from child-, familial-, and community-aspect function integratively, rather than independently, in predicting later EC. Specifically, within the context of a secure attachment relationship, baseline cortisol positively predicts later EC only for children of mothers who reported low social support. Whereas within the context of an insecure attachment relationship, baseline cortisol negatively predicts later EC, regardless of the perceived social support levels. Our results highlighted the importance of taking into consideration predictors from multiple aspects for intervention designs.


The dynamics of the Einstein equations feature the formation of black holes. These are related to the presence of trapped surfaces in the spacetime manifold. The mathematical study of these phenomena has gained momentum since D. Christodoulou's breakthrough result proving that, in the regime of pure general relativity, trapped surfaces form through the focusing of gravitational waves. (The latter were observed for the first time in 2015 by Advanced LIGO.) The proof combines new ideas from geometric analysis and nonlinear partial differential equations, and it introduces new methods to solve large data problems. These methods have many applications beyond general relativity. D. Christodoulou's result was generalized by S. Klainerman and I. Rodnianski, and more recently by these authors and J. Luk. Here, we investigate the dynamics of the Einstein equations, focusing on these works. Finally, we address the question of stability of black holes and what has been known so far, involving recent works of many contributors.


The authors review three popular loss models currently used at CEM-UT (Center for Electromechanics at the University of Texas at Austin) in modeling EM (electromagnetic) launchers: friction, ablation, and armature drag. In experiments at currents below 500 kA using existing railgun design, the friction model alone was acceptable in predicting performance. In an experiment incorporating a railgun structure modified for higher stiffness and a measured peak railgun current of 700 kA, the effects of each of the loss models were compared to the measured results, and the greatest success at predicting the final projectile velocity and exit time occurred using the velocity-dependent friction model. It is believed that reducing frictional losses and plasma leakage will be instrumental in achieving velocities greater than 6 km/s. >


In the military conflict in the North Caucasus only 19,8% patients with gunshot chest trauma had bullet-proof vest at the moment of injury. Features of mechanogenesis, clinical manifestation and diagnosis of gunshot trauma with armored protection were studied; recommendations for usage of bullet-proof vests were developed. The following terms were described for the first time: "closed injuries in the presence of bullet-proof vest" (bullet-proof vest is not damaged) -- clinical picture of visceral contusion prevails; "wounds in the presence of bullet-proof vest" (bullet-proof vest is damaged) -- there is a combination of visceral contusion with penetrating or non-penetrating wound. Gradation of this kind of gunshot trauma was proposed, recommendations for usage of bullet-proof vests were developed that permitted to improve results of treatment.


From its very beginning, the term "distant reading" (Moretti 2000) was controversial, displacing 'close reading' by relying on literary histories and thereby reflecting on the entire global literary system. One of the weaknesses of this approach lies in its exclusive reliance on canonical and authoritative historiographies, one or two for each national literature, something which is bound to over-simplify the complexities of national literatures. As is known, Moretti's proposal became a 'slogan' for Digital Humanities while algorithmic manipulation of texts has taken the place of reading literary (human) histories. Yet the problem of over-simplification remains, albeit differently. As an alternative, we offer a fusion approach, radicalising Moretti's idea. In this article, we demonstrate how computer-based analysis of different readings carried out by many readers – not necessarily professionals – produces a relatively minute picture. Our case study will be the Hebrew novel, from its emergence in 1853 to the present day; a manageable corpus on which we gather information using questionnaires we have carefully created in our lab. Alongside the presentation of our approach, the actual research, and its initial findings, we will reflect theoretically on the conceptual benefits, as well as the limits, of public distance reading.


The tomographic reconstruction of the refractive index distribution in a large-mode-area photonic fiber is presented. The results of the diffraction tomographic algorithm and classical filtered backprojection method are compared. Additionally, the application of the synthetic aperture technique to tomographic interferometry, as a tool for resolution enhancement, is presented and discussed.


We derive three computationally-efficient algorithms for the multichannel blind deconvolution of arbitrary non-Gaussian source mixtures. Two of the algorithms are spatio-temporal extensions of previously-derived blind signal separation algorithms that combine kurtosis-based contrast function optimization with output whitening. We analyze the local stability properties of the algorithms to determine the constraints on the step sine parameters to allow the separation and deconvolution of arbitrary signal mixtures. These analyses and supporting simulations illustrate the abilities of the new algorithms to effectively deconvolve and separate mixtures of arbitrarily-distributed sources.


The aim of this work was to identify lignolytic and cellulolytic fungal strains capable of degrading harvest waste and thereby improving the soil characteristics of the eastern Llanos of Colombia. Sampling was carried out using the transept methodology and integrated samples. A lignolytic strain (005L Verticillium spp.) and 72 cellulolytic strains were obtained. A comparison of soil usages (savanna grazing and secondary forest) showed no correlation between the number of obtained genera and soil characteristics. Selection of the strains to be evaluated in a dry-grass natural substrate (Brachiaria spp.) was carried out by quantification of lignolytic and cellulolytic activity. Two strains with high exoglucanase activity (055C and 061C Penicillium spp.) and a strain with high endoglucanase activity (019C Trichoderma spp.) relative to the Trichoderma viride control were selected and evaluated in the natural substrate in consortia formed by one lignolytic and one cellulolytic. The test showed that the enzymatic activity of the selected strains increased in the substrate grass, surpassing that of the positive controls (Pleurotus ostreatus for lignin and T. viride for cellulose) for both consortia. The use of the consortia is therefore recommended for the development of soil conditioning biofertilizers, especially that formed by the 005L (Verticillium spp.) and 055C (Penicillium spp.) strains with high lignolytic and cellulolytic activity.


Understanding how to structure a porous electrode to facilitate fluid, mass, and charge transport is key to enhancing the performance of electrochemical devices, such as fuel cells, electrolyzers, and redox flow batteries (RFBs). Using a parallel computational framework, direct numerical simulations are carried out on idealized porous electrode microstructures for RFBs. Strategies to improve an electrode design starting from a regular lattice are explored. By introducing vacancies in the ordered arrangement, it is possible to achieve higher voltage efficiency at a given current density, thanks to improved mixing of reactive species, despite reducing the total reactive surface. Careful engineering of the location of vacancies, resulting in a density gradient, outperforms disordered configurations. Our simulation framework is a new tool to explore transport phenomena in RFBs, and our findings suggest new ways to design performant electrodes.


1.The adoption of Regulation (EC) n° 1/2003 has undoubtedly encouraged the National Competition Authorities ("NCA") to be more eager in their application of Community law. This eagerness has been…


A 59-year-old man having arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO) was associated with the anti-i antibody (anti-i) of IgM class. His chief complaints were multiple painful ulcer formations on his both lower legs and he had been administered with mefenamic acid. Although laboratory tests revealed no findings suggestive of lymphoreticular malinancy nor infectious mononucleosis, elevated anti-EBV antibody titer (EB. VCA IgG 160×), positive direct Coombs' test and possible hemolytic anemia were recognized. So far, only several cases with anti-i have been reported in Japan, all of them having hematological disorders such as malignant lymphoma or Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome. In our case, the mechanism of the anti-i production might be attributable to increased i antigen due to ASO, immunological aberrations caused by mefenamic acid and polyclonal B cell activation due to EBV infection.


How did Management education evolve in Nepal?The history of management education in Nepal can be traced back to September 2, 1954 (Bhadra 17, 2011 Bikram Sambat) when Commerce Department in Tri Chandra College, the first college of the country, launched the Intermediate of commerce (I.Com) with 27 students and Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) with 4 students. Commerce education became very popular within a short span of time as a result of which a number of colleges in and outside Kathmandu were established. A prominent among them were Nepal Commerce College (Lalitpur), Public Commerce College (Kathmandu), Mahendra Morang College (Biratnagar) and Thakur Ram College (Birgunj). The master level program in commerce known as Master of Commerce (M.Com) was started only in 1960 after the establishment of first university of Nepal which is Tribhuvan University (TU).In 1973, Institute of Business Administration, Commerce and Public Administration (IBACPA) under Tribhuvan University as part of the New Education Plan System 1971 was established. IBACPA was entrusted with an overarching role of implementing, monitoring and evaluating Management education program in the country. IBACPA came up with academic degrees like Proficiency Certificate, Diploma and Degree in Business Administration and Commerce respectively based on semester system. However, due to students' agitation, semester system was withdrawn and the IBACPA was restructured and renamed as Institute of Management with traditional annual examination system becoming part of a professional program like Management. Later on, Institute of Management became a full-fledged Faculty of Management under Tribhuvan University. Currently, it is undisputed leader in Management education in Nepal by as it is offering Ph. D. in Management, Phil. in Management, Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Business Administration in Information Technology (MBA-IT), Master in Business Management (MBM), Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor in Business Management (BBM), Bachelor in Information Management (BIM) etc. over its original programs like Master of Business Studies (MBS) and Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS).Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel (not-for profit private university) became the first university to launch MBA programme in 1993 under Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM). Purwanchal University, Biratnagar also started Management education in 1993. In 1996, Pokhara University was established mainly to serve the country's western region in the field of higher education. Pokhara University also offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business and it has several of the affiliated colleges imparting various management programs such as Ph.D., BBA, BBA-BI, MBA, EMBA and so on.Far-western University, Mahendranagar and Mid-western University, Surkhet both established in 2010 have also started BBA and MBA programs to expand reach of Management education in the country, mainly far-western part of the country.More recently, foreign university programs in business have also come up in Nepal. They mainly run BBA, MBA and EMBA programs.What is the current state of Management education in Nepal?Management education is widely popular among youth of the country. They are opting bachelors' and masters' programs in Management in a big way to make a successful career in corporate houses or become entrepreneurs and set up their own businesses. According to the Economic Survey published by Government of Nepal, Ministry of Finance, the estimated number of students enrolled in management programs in 2013-14 were 130,843 in Tribhuvan University while the same were 15,048 in Pokhara University, 8,447 in Purwanchal University and 1,965 in Kathmandu University. It all shows that Tribhuvan University has the largest number of management students followed by Pokhara University, Purwanchal University and Kathmandu University. …


Paraneoplastic syndromes are multisystemic diseases that are seen in association with solid organ tumors and lymphomas. Immune-mediated polyneuropathy, encephalopathy, cerebellar degeneration, and Guillain–Barre syndrome have all been described as paraneoplastic neurologic disorders. Clinical symptoms may appear before the diagnosis of associated malignancy creating diagnostic confusion. Tumor-derived peptides, hormones, and mediators are shown to be associated with paraneoplastic syndromes. Herein, we present an unusual case of stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with cutaneous metastatic nodules presenting initially as paraneoplastic polyneuropathy.


This paper explores the role of haptics in immersive telecommunication applications and analyzes the contribution of haptics to the sense of presence in a variety of applications. Based on the concept of embodied presence, a new construct, resonance between the human cognitive-body system and the streaming sensory information from the environment, is suggested to be a principal factor in "presence." Resonance is defined as the level of mutual synergy between sensory information and action, relative to the physical environment. It occurs when the sensory flow supports action. Since the human haptic system is unique in that it both perceives sensations from the environment and acts on the environment, it has a central role in resonance and in presence. Haptics in the natural world supports efficient bodily action and, in a tacit way, supports development of higher reasoning skills. This requires resonance and embodied presence. The current visual-haptic gap between levels of technological development creates a bottleneck in developing fully tele-immersive applications.


This dissertation aims to provide an assessment of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) fraud in the light of government figures that estimate only one in every 200 claims to be fraudulent from an annual budget exceeding £12 billion. The study uses relevant secondary data from various sources including internal reports and statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) combined with available literature around the subject to present a case that calls into serious question any assertion that DLA fraud is in fact negligible. Further weight is provided to the study through the conduct of primary research amongst a sample group of DLA investigators that offers an insight into the world of DLA fraud that is rarely seen. Motivations that may drive normally law abiding citizens to commit fraud are considered, acknowledging the temptations of a benefit that offers generous provisions with few controls. The report recognises the difficulties associated with addressing disability fraud and the political sensitivities involved. However, it will be shown that key errors have been made in failing to identify fraud in DLA with surprising contrast to the way mainstream benefit fraud is addressed. Ultimately, the report argues that there are strong indicators signalling significant problems with DLA fraud and identifies serious weaknesses in a system that is vulnerable to abuse. Finally, recommendations are made in support of minimising the threat of fraud to the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) due to replace DLA in 2013, using lessons learned from the past.


Natural products from plants exert a promising potential to act as antioxidants, antimicrobials, anti-inflammatory, and anticarcinogenic agents. Xanthohumol, a natural compound from hops, is indeed known for its anticarcinogenic properties. Xanthohumol is converted into three metabolites: isoxanthohumol (non-enzymatically) as well as 8- and 6-prenylnaringenin (enzymatically). An inverse molecular docking approach was applied to xanthohumol and its three metabolites to discern their potential protein targets. The aim of our study was to disclose the potential protein targets of xanthohumol and its metabolites in order to expound on the potential anticarcinogenic mechanisms of xanthohumol based on the found target proteins. The investigated compounds were docked into the predicted binding sites of all human protein structures from the Protein Data Bank, and the best docking poses were examined. Top scoring human protein targets with successfully docked compounds were identified, and their experimental connection with the anticarcinogenic function or cancer was investigated. The obtained results were carefully checked against the existing experimental findings from the scientific literature as well as further validated using retrospective metrics. More than half of the human protein targets of xanthohumol with the highest docking scores have already been connected with the anticarcinogenic function, and four of them (including two important representatives of the matrix metalloproteinase family, MMP-2 and MMP-9) also have a known experimental correlation with xanthohumol. Another important protein target is acyl-protein thioesterase 2, to which xanthohumol, isoxanthohumol, and 6-prenylnaringenin were successfully docked with the lowest docking scores. Moreover, the results for the metabolites show that their most promising protein targets are connected with the anticarcinogenic function as well. We firmly believe that our study can help to elucidate the anticarcinogenic mechanisms of xanthohumol and its metabolites as after consumption, all four compounds can be simultaneously present in the organism.


With the development of popular college students' social practice, it is urgent to research and establish the model of information management. However, the diversity of social practice forms and the variability of social practice process increase the complexity of system design. In the paper, a rule-based intelligent workflow model is used to design system dynamic process. Moreover, by hierarchical design and reuse technology, we effectively reduce system complexity and coupling. After applied in college students' practice management, the information management system meets the functional requirements and with good usability and maintainability.


A novel, two-inductor, interleaved power-factor-corrected (PFC) boost converter, that exhibits voltage-doubler characteristic when it operates with a duty cycle greater than 0.5 is introduced. The voltage-doubler characteristic of the proposed converter makes it quite suitable for universal-line (90-264 VRMS) PFC applications. Because the proposed PFC boost rectifier operates as a voltage doubler at low line, its low-line range efficiency is greatly improved compared to that of its conventional counterpart. The performance of the proposed PFC rectifier was evaluated on an experimental 1.3-kW universal-line PFC prototype.


Essential facts Zika virus disease is caused by a virus that is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito. While it generally causes a mild illness, there is increasing concern that it is harmful in pregnancy and can cause congenital abnormalities in infants born to women infected with the virus. There is no antiviral treatment or vaccine currently available. The best form of prevention is protection against mosquito bites.


The new EU regulation REACH requires the evaluation of the physico-chemical properties of a large number of substances in order to allow their use before 2018. Taking into account the number of substances and properties, the timing, the economic costs, the feasibility at the R&D level and the risks for the manipulator, in particular for the characterization of the dangerous physico-chemical properties (explosibility, flammability), the experimental measurement of all the data is not realistic. Thus, the development of alternative predictive methods for the evaluation of the properties of substances was recommended in the framework of REACH. In this context, the French PREDIMOL (molecular modeling prediction of physico-chemical properties of products) project [1] funded by ANR (National Research Agency) has started in November 2010 for 3 years. This project is conducted by INERIS associated with several public and private partners. Its objective is to demonstrate that molecular modeling is a credible alternative method to experimental characterization to predict in a reliable and fast manner, the whole range of physico-chemical properties of substances required by EU-REACH's regulation (annexes VII and IX) and for the industry in terms of property-screening method. In a first step, the project is focused on the prediction of physico-chemical properties related to organic peroxides, amines and halogenated compounds. In a second phase of the project, high throughout predictions will be considered. More precisely, predictive and validated QSPR (Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship) models related in particular to hazardous properties (like explosibility) are developed whereas molecular simulation methods (Molecular Dynamics, Monte Carlo) are used or adapted for thermo-physical properties like viscosity or density. Another critical objective of this project is the regulatory validation of models by European chemical instances in order that predictive data could be used for registration of chemicals in REACH. Hence, they will be submitted to the JRC comity for acceptance or to existing tools (like QSAR toolbox) for integration. In 2011, existing group contribution methods, QSPR models notably associated with quantum chemical description of molecular structures, SAFT equations, COSMO-RS approach and force fields that could be used for the prediction of the properties of the compounds under concerned have been identified, stressing onto performances and limits of each approach. Inventory of existing experimental data from literature has also been established. As predictivity of QSPR models highly depends on the database pertinence in terms of number of data, coherence and uncertainties of measurements, reliable experimental databases have been consolidated, in particular for the enthalpy of decomposition of organic peroxides.


Pulsed lasers are used for simultaneous single-beam three-dimensional optical trapping of and second-harmonic generation in 50-100-nm nonlinear particles. The emission power of the frequency-doubled light, the trapping stability, and the particle degradation are investigated for KTP and LiNbO(3) particles trapped by 25-kHz-repetition-rate Q-switched Nd:YAG and 76-MHz mode-locked Ti:sapphire l a s e r s . Typically 1 pW-10 nW of frequency-doubled light is detected from stably trapped particles. The particles may be used as probes for nonintrusively scanned near-field optical microscopy.


One of the most common concepts in the field of education in the 21st century is undoubtedly values education. In addition to the procedures related to values education in schools, the acquisitions and processes related to values education are constantly updated in each curriculum. In this process, history lesson curriculums have been one of the courses in which the procedures related to education of values have been started. As well as the explanations and information in the programs, how values education is handled in the lessons, teachers' studies and observations are also important. In this study, teachers' opinions were asked about the treatment of values education in history lessons. For this reason, a study was conducted with 30 history teachers using a semi-structured interview form in October-December 2019. In the findings obtained in the study; providing alternative activity examples instead of providing only definitions and knowledge in history curriculum and textbooks, processing case studies about Turkish culture in accordance with the level, ensuring accessibility of materials in schools and providing materials free of charge, conducting activities that can prevent peer bullying, activities and operations on women's rights attention was drawn to issues such as increasing the cooperation between teacher-family and students.


Systems engineering, in particular in the automotive domain, needs to cope with the massively increasing numbers of requirements that arise during the development process. The language in which requirements are written is mostly informal and highly individual. This hinders automated processing of requirements as well as the linking of requirements to models. Introducing formal requirement notations in existing projects leads to the challenge of translating masses of requirements and the necessity of training for requirements engineers. In this paper, we derive domain-specific language constructs helping us to avoid ambiguities in requirements and increase the level of formality. The main contribution is the adoption and evaluation of few-shot learning with large pretrained language models for the automated translation of informal requirements to structured languages such as a requirement DSL.


This review includes an analysis of clinical studies evaluating the effect of adenomyosis on reproductive function, as well as a review of studies on the relationship between surgical treat-ment options for adenomyosis and reproductive outcomes. Different studies of women populations after in vitro fertilization and/or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) and after surgical treatment of deep adenomyosis have shown that adenomyosis in both cases has a negative effect on the reproductive outcome, although there are significant differences in these populations. In the literature, there are relatively few data on the degree of influence of the depth of the lesion on the realization of the reproductive function, however, a significant correlation was revealed between them. The positive effect of treatment with gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, followed by surgical treatment of adenomyosis, has also been described in several literary sources, but there have been no controlled studies on this topic. Many studies do not meet the validity criteria due to the lack of clear criteria for inclusion and exclusion from the study.The choice of the optimal treatment options for adenomyosis based on the actual data is difficult due to the lack of reliable evidence of the relationship between fertility and the degree of adenomyosis. However, it is known that adenomyosis can reduce the likelihood of successful implantation so dramatically that surgical or other treatment options are reasonably recom-mended. At the same time, it is necessary to assess the possible positive effect of the treatment options available in the doctor's arsenal. Thus, timely referral to specialized treatment of ade-nomyosis may be crucial for the successful implementation of reproductive function in patients with suspicion or with an established diagnosis of adenomyosis in combination with recurrent miscarriage, who refuse to use assisted reproductive technologies, medical institutions. This review will analyze the relationship between infertility and adenomyosis, as well as review studies of reproductive outcomes in different options for surgical treatment of adenomyosis in infertile patients.


Electrochemical devices employing ion-conducting polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) are promising power sources for automotive and energy storage applications. The development of the next generation of membrane separator materials with excellent performance has been the aim of intense research, as has alternatives for the state-of-the-art perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomers. Polyphenylene (PP), as a branch of aromatic PEMs, provides advantages due to the high C–C bond dissociation energy (BDE) of the phenyl–phenyl group, and has drawn much attention. This review gives an overview of polyphenylenes and their derivatives for use in cationic/anionic fuel cell (FC) and vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) applications. In the first section, membrane categories and synthetic strategies are summarized and analyzed. Secondly, the ex situ characterizations of membranes are briefly compared and discussed, comprising ion conductivities, mechanical properties, swelling state, fuel permeabilities, etc. Meanwhile, nano-scale morphological studies are examined to obtain an insightful understanding into fundamental behaviors. Thirdly, membranes for electrochemical device applications are investigated, together with durability evaluation, using the U.S. DOE target as a standard. Collectively, this review aims to provide a better understanding of aspects of PP-based PEMs. Perspectives on future trends are also commented on.


The second U.S.-Japan seminar on 'High-Pressure Research: Applications in Geophysics' was held in Hakone, Japan, January 12–15, 1981, under the auspices of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science Program between the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The coconvenors were Syun-iti Akimoto (Japan) and Murli H. Manghnani (USA). The first such seminar was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1976. Like the Hawaii seminar, the Hakone seminar was a tremendous success.


Developmentally regulated transcription often depends on physical interactions between distal enhancers and their cognate promoters. Recent genomic analyses suggest that promoter–promoter interactions might play a similarly critical role in organizing the genome and establishing cell-type-specific gene expression. The Igf2/H19 locus has been a valuable model for clarifying the role of long-range interactions between cis-regulatory elements. Imprinted expression of the linked, reciprocally imprinted genes is explained by parent-of-origin-specific chromosomal loop structures between the paternal Igf2 or maternal H19 promoters and their shared tissue-specific enhancer elements. Here, we further analyze these loop structures for their composition and their impact on expression of the linked long non-coding RNA, Nctc1. We show that Nctc1 is co-regulated with Igf2 and H19 and physically interacts with the shared muscle enhancer. In fact, all three co-regulated genes have the potential to interact not only with the shared enhancer but also with each other via their enhancer interactions. Furthermore, developmental and genetic analyses indicate functional significance for these promoter–promoter interactions. Altogether, we present a novel mechanism to explain developmental specific imprinting of Nctc1 and provide new information about enhancer mechanisms and about the role of chromatin domains in establishing gene expression patterns.


The article seeks to evaluate problems linked with understanding of the sequence of events in the battle of Žalgiris in modern Polish historiography, first of all, in "Wojna Polski i Litwy z zakonem krzyzackim w latach 1409–1411". Sven Ekdahl's methodical provisions – a necessity to follow strict critique of the sources as well as the Middle Ages warfare realties – were chosen as the basis for evaluation. "Wojna Polski i Litwy" by the Polish authors discusses all the significant aspects of the battle: battleground location, leadership of the allies, separate entry of Lithuanian and Polish forces into the battle, Lithuanian feigned retreat manoeuvre/flight and Polish fight after the Lithuanian army's retreat, losses etc. However, concerning the fundamental battle course of action, Annals of Dlugocz remain to be the most reliable source. That is why it is thought that the battle took place between the ruins of the chapel which was built to remember those killed in battle and the lake of Lauben. Moreover, the Polish forces are thought to have joined the battle almost at the same time as Lithuanians did, Lithuanians fled the battleground (though not as far as Lithuania), the remaining Poles forces had a long fight until they faced the Grand Master's faction and the victory against them was achieved without the support of Lithuanian forces. Concerning warfare, the authors of "Wojna Polski i Litwy" agree that it is necessary to delve deeper into the structure of the army, as well as battle tactics. However, they hesitate to follow Ekdahl's proposed model, which states that banners too weak to operate independently are grouped into fighting regiments ("Schlachthaufen"), and the latter joined into three echelons ("Treffen"). Instead, a banner is still considered a tactical unit. Furthermore, the authors are undecided if they should adopt Ekdahl and Nadolski's estimated wedge shape formation, like one of the two alternatives where the next one would be grouping in lines. In conclusion it could be stated that despite some progress the "Polish-Lithuanian War" does not digress from the traditional version of the battle by S. M. Kuczynski. Is this the spell of Dlugocz or "Polska Ludowa"?


Network Creation Games(NCGs) model the creation of decentralized communication networks like the Internet. In such games strategic agents corresponding to network nodes selfishly decide with whom to connect to optimize some objective function. Past research intensively analyzed models where the agents strive for a central position in the network. This models agents optimizing the network for low-latency applications like VoIP. However, with today's abundance of streaming services it is important to ensure that the created network can satisfy the increased bandwidth demand. To the best of our knowledge, this natural problem of the decentralized strategic creation of networks with sufficient bandwidth has not yet been studied.

We introduce Flow-Based NCGs where the selfish agents focus on bandwidth instead of latency. In essence, budget-constrained agents create network links to maximize their minimum or average network flow value to all other network nodes. Equivalently, this can also be understood as agents who create links to increase their connectivity and thus also the robustness of the network.

For this novel type of NCG we prove that pure Nash equilibria exist, we give a simple algorithm for computing optimal networks, we show that the Price of Stability is 1 and we prove an (almost) tight bound of 2 on the Price of Anarchy. Last but not least, we show that our models do not admit a potential function.


With the dramatic increase of bandwidth from WDM technology, packet switching has caused a bottleneck for multi-hop networks, where electronic switches cannot scale up to high capacity while optical packet switches are still immature due to lack of optical memory. This paper proposes virtual fully connected (VFC) architecture for WDM networks to provide high performance edge-to-edge all optical transportation capability. With moderate wavelength resources, VFC architecture emulates a fully connected network by transporting traffic between edge nodes without intermediate buffering, thus a single-hop network is realized and high speed packet switches are avoided, which facilitates performance guarantee and reduces network cost. A scheduling algorithm is developed for contention resolution and bandwidth allocation, which is proved to provide 100% throughput as well as bandwidth guarantee under arbitrary traffic. Simulations show that VFC network achieves good delay performance under both uniform and non-uniform load.


This study evaluates the factors that influence the establishment of a domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in Zambia. The study was prompted by empirical evidence signifying a downward trend in the local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity, which has led to a declining growth of the industry, despite the country's current positive economic growth of above 5% of Gross Domestic Product. Literature on the pull and push factors looked at the challenges that political, economic, social and technologic factors have on the industry. A critical assessment of the procedures involved in establishing medicine manufacturing, and an analysis of the appropriate marketing strategies employed by firms, provided a framework of the study. The study adopted a quantitative design approach using a questionnaire on a sample of 25 participants with relevant experience in the pharmaceutical sector in evaluating and assessing the various key factors related to the industry. The findings revealed that local manufacturing of essential medicines and developing domestic plants in Zambia meets with manifold challenges related to internal dimensions of manufacturing. The lack of incentives, adequately trained human resource, capital, market size, infrastructure and regulatory capacity on pharmaceutical standards and partnerships needed to foster innovation and technological transfer that have a direct impact on the growth of the industry. Data from the study has clearly indicated the need to enhance pharmaceutical production and promote its viability through the usage of appropriate marketing strategies. One of the key recommendations made from the study on how the industry can remain viable and improves its performance, is by the Government implementing the provisions of the National Drug Policy of 1999. The study clearly shows that the development of the industry is feasible, as policies and legal provisions are in place. The market should promote local pharmaceutical production that will enhance increased accessibility of medicines thereby improving the quality of health, contribute to employment creation, reduce poverty levels and improve the country's overall Gross Domestic Product.


Several methods and languages have been developed to describe computer system specifications and some of them have been deployed to validate and verify the functionality of the system. No one method is equally appropriate for all application domains. Service Oriented Architecture and using web services is a wide growing domain of applications in software engineering these days, so to achieve more goals and benefits in large business works, we need to compose the existing web services from different organizations. In this paper we discuss about web service composition mechanisms and related formal methods and verification issues. One of the solutions in highest level is to use Web Service Choreography Definition Language (WS-CDL) to design the composition of services. With regard to this, we need to get sure about the correctness of choreography behavior, before to employ it for developing and executing services collaboration. In this paper we present a method using first order logic notation based on the partial-order planning problems. This method can be used for interactive systems that all participants have a common understanding of interaction rules. This method will be able to model variable specification of the system. It is consist of three parts included precondition, action and effect, so has a simple structure to understand. In this method we can check the properties of the model for reachability of ideal and safe states. We show the method in a web service interaction case study and verify it in Prolog tool.


The P-graph framework is proven to be highly effective in solving Process Network Synthesis. In the present work, the P-graph framework has been adopted for solving the routing and scheduling of evacuees, facing a life-threatening situation. First the building evacuation problem is represented by means of a P-graph model, which is then transformed into a time-expanded process network synthesis (PNST) problem that can be algorithmically handled by the P-graph framework. In the proposed method, each location in the building and their passages are given by a set of attributes to be taken in the evacuation route planning. In addition to the globally optimal solution of the building evacuation problem, the P-graph framework provides the n-best suboptimal solutions, when computational possible. The viability of the proposed model is illustrated by an example.


In this work, we demonstrate a photonic crystal (PC) resonator with a large hole in the center for biosensing in the terahertz (THz) regime. The design has the potential to be integrated with a microfluidic channel for automated pathogen detection. The strongly concentrated electric field around the hole and high Q factor lead to high sensitivity and high figure of merit (FOM) for a thin layer (in the µm range) of analyte. The resonator is fabricated by laser cutting of high resistance silicon (HRSi) and its sensing performance is experimentally characterized.


We report the synthesis and characterization of five new honeycomb tellurates with the PbSb2O6 structure type. These materials, SrM2/3Te4/3O6 (M = Cr, Mn, Fe) and SrM1/2Te3/2O6 (M = Co, Ni), are prepared by conventional solid state synthesis. Rietveld refinements of powder X-ray and neutron diffraction data reveal that these materials crystallize in the P3̅1 m space group, in which M and Te are octahedrally coordinated and randomly distributed over the honeycomb sublattice. In three of these materials (M = Cr, Mn, Fe), the transition metal takes a 3+ oxidation state, and hence, charge neutrality necessitates that the honeycomb sublattice is 66% occupied by nonmagnetic Te. In the remaining two of these materials (M = Co, Ni), the transition metal takes a 2+ oxidation state, requiring that 75% of the honeycomb lattice is occupied by nonmagnetic Te. Thus, the honeycomb sublattice is highly diluted, as only 33% or 25% of the sites are occupied by a magnetic ion. These occupation values fall well-below the percolation threshold for the honeycomb lattice, p c = 70%. Accordingly, magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal no magnetic order or spin freezing down to 1.8 K.


The Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), one of the most productive regions of the Southern Ocean, is currently undergoing rapid environmental changes such as ocean acidification (OA) and increased daily irradiances from enhanced surface‐water stratification. To assess the potential for future biological CO2 sequestration of this region, we incubated a natural phytoplankton assemblage from Ryder Bay, WAP, under a range of pCO2 levels (180 μatm, 450 μatm, and 1000 μatm) combined with either moderate or high natural solar radiation (MSR: 124 μmol photons m−2 s−1 and HSR: 435 μmol photons m−2 s−1, respectively). The initial and final phytoplankton communities were numerically dominated by the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis antarctica, with the single cells initially being predominant and solitary and colonial cells reaching similar high abundances by the end. Only when communities were grown under ambient pCO2 in conjunction with HSR did the small diatom Fragilariopsis pseudonana outcompete P. antarctica at the end of the experiment. Such positive light‐dependent growth response of the diatom was, however, dampened by OA. These changes in community composition were caused by an enhanced photosensitivity of diatoms, especially F. pseudonana, under OA and HSR, reducing thereby their competitiveness toward P. antarctica. Moreover, community primary production (PP) of all treatments yielded similar high rates at the start and the end of the experiment, but with the main contributors shifting from initially large to small cells toward the end. Even though community PP of Ryder Bay phytoplankton was insensitive to the changes in light and CO2 availability, the observed size‐dependent shift in productivity could, however, weaken the biological CO2 sequestration potential of this region in the future.


The multi-line TRL (M-TRL) method is an accurate calibration method for S-parameter measurements that is based on the measurement of multiple transmission lines and their subsequent pairing. In this paper, an alternative is proposed for the line pairing process that underspans the M-TRL calibration. A tensor decomposition is used to process the measurements of all lines simultaneously and avoid the selection of a reference line as in the classical approach. Numerical and experimental results confirm the accuracy, the statistical efficiency, and the robustness of the proposed method.


The scaling of plate-tectonic convection is investigated by simulating thermal convection with pseudoplastic rheology and strongly temperature-dependent viscosity. The effect of mantle melting is also explored with additional depth-dependent viscosity. Heat-flow scaling can be constructed with only two parameters, the internal Rayleigh number and the lithospheric viscosity contrast, the latter of which is determined entirely by rheological properties. The critical viscosity contrast for the transition between plate-tectonic and stagnant-lid convection is found to be proportional to the square root of the internal Rayleigh number. The relation between mantle temperature and surface heat flux on Earth is discussed on the basis of these scaling laws, and the inverse relationship between them, as previously suggested from the consideration of global energy balance, is confirmed by this fully dynamic approach. In the presence of surface water to reduce the effective friction coefficient, the operation of plate tectonics is suggested to be plausible throughout the Earth history.


Background: Sleep disorders are common in hemodialysis (HD) patients. This study examined the relationship between quality of sleep (QoS) and religious/spiritual activity in HD patients. Methods: The study subjects were 861 HD patients from 14 dialysis clinics in Taiwan. QoS and religious/spiritual activity were evaluated by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire and the Royal Free Questionnaire respectively. Results: There was no difference in clinical parameters between the good and poor sleepers. Although total scores of religious and spiritual activity did not correlate with global PSQI score, patients who held strong 'spiritual' beliefs reported more problems in 'sleep disturbances', while those who exercised religious beliefs more strongly reported less trouble in 'daytime dysfunction'. Conclusion: There is no significant correlation between QoS and religious/spiritual activity globally. However, the spiritual and religious activity did associate with different components of QoS.


QR decomposition, especially through the means of Householder transformation, is often used to solve least squares problems. A matrix to be decomposed with this method is usually very large, often large enough that it is not able to fit into the main memory of a workstation, let alone the internal memory of an FPGA nowadays. Efficient out-of-core algorithms have been developed to address the factorization of large matrices. This paper describes the application of variants of Householder QR decomposition on FPGA-based systems. More specifically, issues on applying out-of-core algorithms to the relatively small internal memory architecture of FPGA's are investigated.


Background: Expression of the androgen receptor (AR) is associated with androgen-dependent proliferation arrest and terminal differentiation of normal prostate epithelial cells. Additionally, activation of the AR is required for survival of benign luminal epithelial cells and primary cancer cells. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) leads to apoptosis in both benign and cancerous tissue. Cancer cell escape from ADT is known as castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). In the course of CRPC development the AR typically switches from being a cell-intrinsic inhibitor of normal prostate epithelial cell proliferation to becoming an oncogene that is critical for prostate cancer cell proliferation. Methods: Immortalized human prostate basal epithelial EP156T cells and progeny cells that underwent epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), primary prostate epithelial cells (PrECs) and prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP, VCaP and 22Rv1 were used to examine context dependent restriction and activation of the AR and classical target genes, such as KLK3. Genome-wide gene expression analyses and single cell protein analyses were applied to study the effect of different contexts. Results: A variety of growth conditions were tested and found unable to activate AR expression and transcription of classical androgen-dependent AR target genes, such as KLK3, in prostate epithelial cells with basal cell features or in mesenchymal type prostate cells. The restriction of androgen and AR dependent transcription of classical target genes in prostate basal epithelial cells was at the level of AR expression. Exogenous AR expression was sufficient for androgen-dependent transcription of AR target genes in prostate basal epithelial EP156T-AR cells, but did not exert a positive feedback on endogenous AR expression. Mesenchymal type prostate EPT3-AR cells with exogenous AR expression, in contrast to epithelial type EP156T-AR cells, were androgen non-responsive and were unable to produce detectable PSA in the culture supernatants even with higher levels of exogenous AR protein than in EP156T-AR and LNCaP cells for up to 2 weeks in androgen containing growth medium. The restricted PSA expression in the mesenchymal context suggests that if ADT increases the pool of mesenchymal type prostate cancer cells, then this might go undetected during PSA monitoring of disease progression. Citation Format: Jan Roger Olsen, Waqas Azeem, Margrete R. Hellem, Kristo Marvyin, Yaping Hua, Yi Qu, Lisha Li, Biaoyang Lin, XiSong Ke, Anne Margrete Oyan, Karl-Henning Kalland. Context dependent regulatory patterns of the androgen receptor (AR) and androgen receptor target genes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1824.


To highlight guidance issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the benefit of investment advisers regarding certain obligations under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act) and the rules thereunder.,Summarizes recent guidance regarding issues related to several challenging Advisers Act requirements, including inadvertent custody and client account transfers under Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-2, the use of participating affiliate arrangements pursuant to the "Unibanco" no-action letters, unique considerations affecting automated advisers (i.e., "robo-advisers"), the top five most frequently identified compliance topics identified in examinations conducted by the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), and recent guidance regarding the private fund regulatory filing Form PF.,This guidance may assist advisers in preparing for regulatory examinations and questions from institutional investors. While the recent guidance addresses important topics, the guidance also raises some practical questions.,Practical guidance from experienced securities and financial services lawyers.


This study aims at understanding the fundamental mechanisms of conduction in several metal oxide semiconductors, namely Fe2O3 and Ga2O3, and how it could be tuned to desired values/states to enable a wide range of application. In the first effort, by adding Ti dopant, we successfully turned Fe2O3 from insulating to conductive by fabricated compositionally and structurally well-defined epitaxial alpha-(TixFe1-x)2O3(0001) films for x ≤ 0.09. All films were grown by oxygen plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy on Al2O3(0001) sapphire substrate with a buffer layer of Cr2O3 to relax the strain from lattice mismatch. Van der Pauw resistivity and Hall effect measurements reveal carrier concentrations between 10^19 and 10^20 cm^-3 at room temperature and mobilities in the range of 0.1 to 0.6 cm2/V·s. Such low mobility, unlike conventional band-conduction semiconductor, was attributed to hopping mechanism due to strong electron-phonon interaction in the lattice. More interestingly, conduction mechanism transitions from small-polaron hopping at higher temperatures to variable range hopping at lower temperatures with a transition temperature between 180 to 140 K. Consequently, by adding Ti dopant, conductive Fe2O3 hematite thin films were achieved with a well-understood conducting mechanism that could guide further device application such as spin transistor and water splitting. In the case of Ga2O3, while having a band gap as high as ~5eV, they are usually conductive for commercially available samples due to unintentional Si doping. However, we discovered the conductance could be repeatedly switched between high resistance state and low resistance state when made into metal/Ga2O3/metal heterostructure. However, to obtain well controlled switching process with consistent switching voltages and resistances, understanding switching mechanism is the key. In this study, we fabricated resistive switching devices utilizing a Ni/Ga2O3/Ir heterostructure. Bipolar switching, non-volatility, and repeatable switching are tested for the devices fabricated. Following previous discoveries on Ni/Ga2O3 single crystal which shows interface barrier type change (Schottky ↔ Ohmic) upon annealing accompanied by defects migration, characterization of the interface behavior on resistive switching cell Ni/Ga2O3(thin film)/Ir under two different resistive states was performed using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). Most interestingly, feathers in XPS spectrum of Ga allow for a unique nondestructive approach to investigate interface by XPS through electron transparent top contact. Theoretical modeling shows that Ga migrate towards the interface upon switching to low resistive state, indicating a possible mechanism that involves interfacial switch through barrier height modifying. Such device holds potential to become the next generation of non-volatile memory device, resistive RAM.


C-1 compounds are observed in anaerobic sediment of high salt environments. Thus, surface sediments and waters from these environments are therefore potential habitats for aerobic methylotrophic microorganisms. The soil samples collected from saltern and tidal flat as inoculums and methanol as carbon and energy source was supplied. After subculture depending on the salt concentration, methanol oxidizing bacteria growth condition investigated, the results of methanol oxidizing bacteria can grow in salt conditions, and the maximum concentration was 20%. Analysis based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA genes indicates that Methelyophaga-like bacteria were dominants of methylotrophs in the enrichment culture. Quantitative PCR showed that archaeal cells were about 1-10% of bacterial cells. Additionally archaea were assumed not to be involved in methanol oxidation since bacterial antibiotics completely blocked the methanol oxidation. Our results suggest that Methelyophaga-like bacteria could be involved in C-1 compounds oxidation in hypersaline environments although those activities are sensitive to salinity above 20%.


Pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) is a widely employed digital modulation format. PAM formats are generally classified as bipolar PAM (BPAM) if using both positive and negative amplitude levels, and unipolar PAM (UPAM) if using only non-negative amplitude levels. While BPAM formats are in principle more energy efficient, they are not compatible with conventional direct detection (DD) schemes, so that UPAM formats are usually preferred for short-reach optical communications. In this work, we propose a novel DD scheme that employs oversampling at two samples per symbol to extract both the amplitude and phase information from the received optical signal, enabling the detection of BPAM signals. The proposed scheme uses a single photodetector, has no special requirements in terms of bandwidth, and requires only some minimal additional processing compared to a conventional scheme. A theoretical analysis, confirmed by numerical simulations, shows that, in the presence of optical amplifier noise, the proposed BPAM/DD transmission technique provides large optical signal-to-noise ratio  gains compared to a more conventional UPAM/DD transmission and a good tolerance to group velocity dispersion and non-ideal filtering.


In this paper, we demonstrate a responsive etalon fabricated through combining colloidal lithography and surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). The responsive etalon is simply constructed with one responsive spacer sandwiched by two reflective layers, and the middle responsive spacer is constructed by grafting thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) brushes on a SiO2 nanosphere array. The etalon possesses one single interference peak in the visible region, and the interference peak changes sensitively against the concentration of the external stimulant (water vapor) or the temperature of the system, owing to the responsiveness of the PNIPAM brush. Importantly, the as-prepared etalon shows a rapid response rate and excellent stability, and it is also handy to realize the miniaturization and integration of the responsive etalon based on a conventional micro-fabrication method. These features all make the as-prepared responsive etalon an attractive candidate for future sensing applications. We believe such responsive etalons are promising for the fabrication of smart photonic materials and optical sensors that may be useful in tissue engineering, medical diagnosis, public security, and biochip areas.


Introduction: Neonatal period is the most vulnerable period for infections. India is the first among top 10 countries with the highest number of newborn deaths in 2019. Ayurvedic newborn care measures like prashanas should be explored for extending quality affordable care to newborns. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study in the form of knowledge, attitude, and practice survey of prashana in neonates was carried out using self-administered questionnaire containing 28 questions through Google Forms among 402 Ayurvedic Practitioners of India following CHERRIES checklist. Validated questionnaire was pretested before fielding it. Results and Conclusion: 55.4% of the participants agreed that prashana should be administered to all neonates and 91.5% agreed that it improves the health of the neonates. 53.4% preferred Swarna bhasma and 30.8% preferred elemental gold rubbed on stone in prashana. The dose of ghee was one to three drops (46%) and of honey was one to five drops (52%). 87.4% reported no adverse events due to prashana. Reduction in illnesses, improvement in intellect or school performance, growth, speech, etc., were the major positive responses received. Majority followed Acharya Kashyapa in prescribing prashana. The survey has brought to light the various methods of practice of prashana and also the lack of precise doses of Swarna bhasma, ghee, honey, etc. It will help in guiding the practitioners in implementing prashana in neonates and future research on its effects on neonatal mortality and morbidity including long-term effects on immunity, intellectual and behavioral outcomes.


Indonesia as second of the biggest Kappaphycus alvarezii producer in the world, which were cultured using a different variety called green and red variety of K. alvarezii. The aims of this study is to determine the effect of culture combination method on growth and yield of carrageenan extracted a red and green variety of K. alvarezii, which were used the randomized block design was conducted in. The result demonstrated among red and green did not show significantly (p>0.05) in growth at two weeks of culture periods. However, beyond 3-5 weeks of culture periods, K. alvarezii green variety showed significantly different (p<0.05), which mix culture method showed better growth than the red variety. Interestingly, K. alvarezii green variety demonstrated higher carrageenan content when mixed with red variety in one raft during the culture period, which was presented correlation with growth parameter. Furthermore, combination culture method could be suggested for seaweed farmers that face problems in occupying mono variety K. alvarezii seed during seaweed culture.


On one reading the decision of the International Labour Organisation Administrative Tribunal (ILOAT) on the complaint of Jose Bustani against Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) appears to take the law of international organisations in new directions in relation to the vexed question of judicial review of the acts of the political organs of international organisations. The judgment purports to set aside a decision of the plenary organ of the OPCW to remove its Director-General before the expiry of his fixed-term employment contract. However, the position of the chief administrative officer of an international organisation has a dual aspect, in that as well as being an employee of the organisation he or she also plays a significant "constitutional" role as part of the structure of the organisation, with significant responsibilities contributing to the fulfilment of its functions. The judgment of the ILOAT seeks as far as possible to treat the Director-General as simply an employee of the organisation and only occasionally focuses on his broader role within the organisation.


Rocket engines are complex and critical systems mostly relying on simple redlines strategies for monitoring the main functional parameters. This approach is typical on expendable rockets with non-adjustable valves because in case of failure the only possible action is to cut off the engine. Anyway years of experiments on engine firings or subsystem benches show that there is space for an update of the monitoring strategies because this would lead to a reduction of false alarm rates and to an improved exploitation of test hardware. Moreover real-time diagnosis methods will be necessary in case of design of intelligent rocket engine controllers for next generation reusable launchers. The work presented in this paper is part of a demonstration project of new diagnosis tools for rocket engines applied to the cryogenic combustion bench Mascotte. This bench developed by ONERA and CNES is used to analyze combustion and nozzle expansion characteristics of cryogenic fuels such as oxygen and hydrogen or methane. Model-based diagnosis tools have been developed for the combustion chamber and nozzle water cooling circuit. The basis was the setup of simplified expressions for modeling the functional behavior of the water circuit and then the development of predictive strategies such as parameter identification and Kalman filters. Anomalous event detection is obtained via residual analysis based on a CUSUM test. This paper presents the new automatic tuning strategies for the CUSUM threshold setting and the detection results obtained on Mascotte firing data.


'Outlaw' is not a common category of archaeological thought but it is perhaps more useful than meets the eye. 'Outlaws' are typically viewed as contingent on legal and capitalist systems; they are, I suggest, also material, affective phenomena that draw our attention to how transgression, dissent and disorder are conceived through archaeological thinking. Here, I outline some ways in which 'outlaw' figures are 'good to think with', particularly for historical and colonial contexts but also for broader, more global frontier situations. Through three sketches of archetypal 'outlaws' in southern Africa's recent past, I consider where these disruptive figures draw attention to how mobility, violence, rebellion and state imagination (and the limits thereof) have been imagined through material misbehaviours.


This paper studies the distribution of labour earnings among employees within the EU using data from Wave 2007-1 of the Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EUSILC). The review of available information and the comparisons with external sources show that the EU-SILC data are not exempt from problems, particularly in some countries, yet can be fruitfully used to study the distribution of earnings in the EU; they also allow researchers to assess the sensitivity of results to various concepts of labour earnings. The ranking of countries by median full-time equivalent monthly gross earnings shows Eastern European nations at the bottom and Luxembourg at the top; earnings differences are sizeable, both across and within countries. Taking the euro area and the EU-25 (excluding Malta, for which data are unavailable) as a whole, inequality is higher when earnings are measured in euro at market rates rather than at purchasing power parities. The wage distribution is wider in the EU-25 than in the euro area, which is not surprising given that the former includes the poorer Eastern European countries that joined the Union in 2004. The higher inequality observed in the EU-25 is largely attributable to differences between countries, which are essentially due to the returns to individual attributes rather than to a different composition of the workforce with respect to these attributes.


At the SASE-FEL user facility FLASH, superconducting TESLA-type cavities are used for acceleration. The high achievable duty cycle allows for operating with long bunch-trains, hence considerably increasing the efficiency of the machine. However, RF induced intra-bunch-train trajectory variations were found to be responsible for significant variations of the SASE intensity within one bunch train. This work presents the latest achievements in improving the multi-bunch FEL performance by reducing the intra-bunch-train variation of RF parameters. Particular attention is given to the static and dynamic detuning of the cavities. It will be shown that the current level of LLRF control is suitable to limit the variation of RF parameters considerably.


Armand Van Deun et al.,' in describing a means of improving the poor specificity of 'P-amylase' measurement in macroamylasaemia, state that 'pancreatic amylase assay appears to be a specific test for pancreatic disease'. This is both incorrect and not supported by the cited literature. In particular Massey,' whom they quote, clearly refers to the PJ isoenzyme, separated by electrophoresis, and not to total pancreatic amylase. Unlike total pancreatic amylase, PJ has been shown to be highly specific for acute pancreatitis. 'P-amylase' is not strictly defined in this paper but seems to refer to total pancreatic amylase (as indicated by the pancreatic fluid data). Total pancreatic amylase is predominantly P, isoenzyme, both in normal subjects and during the acute disease process. The specificity of total pancreatic amylase may well be high when comparing acute pancreatitis with causes of salivary amylase elevation (such as mumps). The test will be much less specific in clinically realistic situations such as acute abdomen. Common conditions such as biliary obstruction will often elevate pancreatic amylase probably due to local inflammatory effects. The PJ isoenzyme is thought to be derived from post transcriptional modification of P, in response to necrosis or other trauma within the pancreas. Unlike P, it is virtually absent in normal tissue or sera. It is more specific for acute pancreatitis.P:' PJ also reflects the course of the disease process unlike total amylase or total pancreatic amylase." In chronic renal failure, another cause of moderate hyperamylasaemia, both pancreatic and salivary amylase can be elevated. In my own series of 16 patients with this condition 10 had hyperamylasaemia. The percentage of P, varied from 30% to 70%, a similar distribution to normals. In no case, however, was there a false positive increase in PJ . J


The objective of this study is to quantitatively analyze climate change effects by using statistical trends and a watershed model in the Yongdam dam watershed. The annual average air temperature was found to increase with statistical significance. In particular, greater increases were observed in autumn. Also, this study was performed to evaluate the potential climate change in the streamflow and water temperature using a watershed model (HSPF) with RCP climate change scenarios. The streamflow of Geum river showed a decrease of 5.1% and 0.2%, respectively, in the baseline data for the 2040s and 2080s. The seasonal impact of future climate change on the streamflow showed a decrease in the summer and an increase in the winter. The water temperature of Geum river showed an average increase of 0.7~1.0°C. Especially, the water temperature of Geum river showed an increase of 0.3~0.5°C in the 2040s and 0.5~1.2°C in the 2080s. The seasonal impact of future climate change on the water temperature showed an increase in winter and spring, with a decrease in summer. Therefore, it was determined that a statistical analysis-based meteorological and quantitative forecast of streamflow and water temperature using a watershed model is necessary to assess climate change impact and to establish plans for future water resource management.


Aluminum based composite are getting a vast scope nowadays because of its high properties and availability as fit large industrial development. (AMC) Aluminum metal-matrix composites is new engineering materials which contains two or more materials with different properties one being a metal from Aluminum and other may be metal, ceramic , glass  reinforced materials.  So in This  present article We try to prepare hybrid composite materials based on aluminum alloy (AA6063) and reinforcement it by shared particles having size of micron of Alumina (7.5 wt%)  and Graphite particles are added in specific countrified parentage  (2.5 , 5 , 7.5 , 10 wt%)  by stir casting technique to obtain hybrid Aluminum  Which having  the improving mechanical properties  ,Heat treatment (solution heat treatment-artificial aging) are carried out on all samples ,After that inspections and mechanical tests have be done  on all reinforcement samples , The results of Scanning electron microscope have shown uniform distribution of hybrid reinforced particles in matrix alloy and hybrid reinforced Aluminum alloy successfully prepared using stir casting method. The results of tests have shown  The Impact toughness, , and Ultimate tensile strength  were determined, with the addition of  reinforcement the properties and effect of Precipitation hardening Heat treatment are improved compared to the parent metal Aluminum (6063) alone.


Gee et al. (1) present an interesting view about the concerns and practices of mental healthcare professionals regarding the use of clozapine. They seek to demonstrate that frequent blood investigations and questions about tolerability were the major concerns of the practitioners regarding initiation of clozapine. Some other issues apart from the limitations already mentioned by authors also merit attention. The authors quote that the response was 'proportionately low' but fail to quantify how low. Does the number of 144 respondents represent 50% or 5% of the total eligible or approached population would make quite a difference to the interpretation of results. Even better would have been what proportion of trainees, consultants, pharmacists and other staff had responded. This has implications for the generalizability of findings to South London and the Maudsley Foundation (SLaM) NHS Trust itself as well other similar academic and service-oriented centres. Also, most of the respondents were trainee psychiatrists, and only few were consultants. The trainees have lesser experience in the management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia leading to hesitation in initiation of clozapine. While the authors mention in the limitations that the presence of trainees would have led to lesser number of clozapine initiation, the figure of 56% (n = 79 of 141) respondents having initiated clozapine within the last 6 months directly or as part of a team is a sizable majority and is encouraging in itself. Hence, this sample may represent the hesitation amongst trainees rather than consultants. Separate analysis of the consultants may help to clarify such an issue. The results of this study emphasize that the reticence to prescribe clozapine is borne out of a suspected or actual reluctance or refusal by the patient. The estimates provided by the healthcare professionals are their own impressions and may not reflect the actual scenario. The impressions of patient concerns regarding clozapine may be speculative and may be coloured by the professionals' own perspectives and experience related to clozapine. Additionally, the recommendation of having a pharmacist in the clinical decision-making as suggested by the authors may hasten initiation of clozapine in some cases. But as with other clinicians, their objectivity while viewing the efficacy of clozapine may be negatively influenced when they are ingrained into the decision-making process where efficacy has be weighed against tolerability and patient's reluctance. Conducting studies like this may have inherent problems, but the authors must be congratulated for drawing attention to an extremely important area in the evidence-based management of patients with schizophrenia. The reticence of the patients can be potentially overcome by the doctor presenting the idea of clozapine initiation periodically to a patient who might have initially refused to consent for clozapine by accurately conveying the risks and benefits of clozapine (2).


The injection at depth of ice sheet runoff into fjords may be an important control on the frontal melt rate of tidewater glaciers. Here we develop a new parameterization for ice marginal plumes within the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model (MITgcm), allowing three-dimensional simulation of large (500 km2) glacial fjords on annual (or longer) time scales. We find that for an idealized fjord (without shelf-driven circulation), subglacial runoff produces a thin, strong, and warm down-fjord current in the upper part of the water column, balanced by a thick and slow up-fjord current at greater depth. Although submarine melt rates increase with runoff due to higher melt rates where the plume is in contact with the ice front, we find that annual submarine melt rate across the ice front is relatively insensitive to variability in annual runoff. Better knowledge of the spatial distribution of runoff, controls on melt rate in those areas not directly in contact with plumes, and feedback mechanisms linking submarine melting and iceberg calving are necessary to more fully understand the sensitivity of glacier mass balance to runoff-driven fjord circulation.


An estimated 400 million individuals suffer from rare diseases globally. Tackling rare diseases has historically posed difficulties, including the lack of knowledge about their underlying causes, lack of resources for patients, and fundamental inefficiencies at multiple stages along the pipeline, from basic science discovery to clinical translation and diagnosis. The development of rare disorder therapeutics, often termed orphan drugs, faces a unique set of challenges in clinical trials: difficulties in recruiting patients, difficulties in following conventional clinical trial structure, as well as financial barriers for drug approval. Here, I argue for the creation of an international organisation for rare diseases to coordinate a shared global patient registry and standard for orphan drug approval. An initiative of such nature, with representation from experts and organisations in the science, medicine, and patient-support industries will assist in overcoming the present challenges, whilst accelerating progress and improving the experience during treatment of patients with rare disorders.


The time- and space-dependent non-linear current response to a monochromatic ac-electric field at a tunnel barrier in a one-dimensional interacting electron system is investigated within the Luttinger liquid model. The current harmonics are studied and the corresponding emitted electromagnetic powers are calculated.


In this study, CeO2 nanowires–reduced graphene oxide hybrids (CeO2 NWs–RGO) were synthesized by a green hydrothermal method using CeO2 NWs and graphene oxide (GO) as raw materials. During the process of reduction of GO, hydrothermal condition with supercritical water provides thermal and chemical factors to synthesize RGO. The photocatalytic experimental results show that the CeO2 NWs–RGO hybrids exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under UV-light irradiation. It is found that the degree of photocatalytic activity enhancement strongly depends on the mass ratio of RGO in the hybrids, and the remarkable photocatalytic activity is 20 times that of pristine CeO2 NWs when the loading amount of RGO is 8.0 wt%. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the excellently elevated absorption ability for the dye through π–π conjugation as well as the effective inhibition of the recombination of photogenerated electrons because of the electronic interaction between CeO2 NWs and RGO sheets.


Debris ridges in New Zealand are routinely assumed to be 'moraines' and used as key Southern Hemisphere paleoclimatic sites without detailed evaluation of ridge origin. Here we assess the origin of a debris ridge adjacent to Dundas Ridge in the Tararua Range, North Island, New Zealand, through measurements of ridge morphology and sedimentary properties. The ridge has a steep c. 35° distal slope (height 18 m), compared with the c. 19° proximal slope (height 6 m), and on all transects the distal slopes contain the coarsest material (median b‐axis clast widths of 0.18‐0.25 m), compared to distal samples (0.34‐0.37 m). Clast shape (C40 range 40‐60%) and angularity (RA>65%) indicate typically angular and 'slabby' clasts, and along with the lack of fines, and the ca. 40‐m‐distance between the ridge crest and the foot of the backwall, lead us to reject a glacial (moraine) origin for the ridge. The single ridge morphology precludes a protalus rock glacier origin, while the lack of a broad hillslope scar and debris apron beyond the ridge excludes a landslide origin. Instead, we interpret the ridge as a pronival (protalus) rampart formed by supranival debris supply–from the ca. 200 m‐high southeastern slopes of Dundas Ridge–across a snowbed. Re‐distribution of snow by prevailing westerlies from Mt Dundas Ridge into the basin would have nourished the snowbed, which is likely to have formed during the interval 24‐18 ka BP, when a minor alpine‐style glaciation affected sectors of the Tararua Range. This is the first pronival rampart detailed in New Zealand, raising the possibility that debris ridges of pronival origin may also be present elsewhere in New Zealand's mountains. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.