This paper considers the problem of increasing the nutritional value of whipped confectionery such as nougat by using hempbased and soya-based protein-containing ingredients. The main tendencies of obtaining new types of food based on plant proteins with complete amino acid composition are described. The paper presents information on cultivating and using hemp and soya both in Ukraine and in the world, and suggests how products of their processing can be applied to improve the quality and increase the biological value of confectionery. It has been investigated what effect protein-containing ingredients obtained from hemp and soya have on the structural properties of foam in the technology of whipped confectionery such as nougat. It has been established that increasing the amount of plant protein additives leads to a decrease in the foaming ability, but the stability of protein foams increases. Adding 10% of protein-containing hemp additives increases the foam stability by 6%, while protein-containing soya additives increase it by 5%. The paper presents the results of studying the structural and rheological properties of nougat mass with protein-containing plant additives in the amount 2.5–10% of the weight of sugar. It has been determined that adding protein-containing hemp and soya ingredients increases the viscosity and plastic strength of the products and stabilises their structure. The effect of different amounts of nuts on the kinetics of nougat crystallisation has been studied. It is recommended to add 5% of hemp and 7.5% of soya protein-containing additives instead of sugar during the whipping of nougat mass, because it reduces the whipping time and has a positive effect on structure formation. The recommended amount of roasted pistachio kernels in the samples suggested is 25–35% of the total weight of nougat, with the resting time 30–60 minutes and the moulding temperature 50–55°C. The nutritional value of the new products with protein-containing hemp and soya ingredients and nuts has been calculated. It has been noted that nougat has been enriched with protein, unsaturated fatty acids, and minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus).


Heat-resistant fungal spores present a processing challenge for beverages and fruit juices, as thermal and UV strategies are often inadequate in reducing heat-resistant fungal burdens to acceptable levels. While effective against pathogenic or invasive bacteria, germicidal UV light treatments also fail to achieve an appreciable reduction of heat-resistant fungal spores. As an alternative, the efficacy of the antifungal protein YvgO was examined across a selection of fruit juices and teas, as well as solid model matrices. Compared with its efficacy in analogous liquid matrices, the apparent efficacy of YvgO was diminished on acidified solid matrices due to a reduction in YvgO diffusion. Using an XTT [2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide] tetrazolium dye cytotoxicity assay, the effective concentrations to reduce growth by 50% were elucidated in samples challenged with Byssochlamys fulva H25. The MICs were determined and ranged from 2 ppm in apple juice and acidified teas to approximately 3 to 12 ppm for lemonade and orange, white cranberry, blueberry, prune, cherry, and grape juices. Apple cider and nonacidified teas showed reduced efficacy, with MICs exceeding 100 ppm. Tannin-rich products readily removed YvgO from the product, impairing its efficacy. Adding bovine serum albumin as a competitive inhibitor effectively reversed the YvgO-tannin association and restored efficacy in black but not green tea matrices. When challenged with a 5-log CFU inoculum of B. fulva, the shelf lives of the products were extended for various times up to 28 days in a concentrationdependent manner. However, initial efficacy was not predictive of shelf life extension, as some products exhibited improved protection at just two- and fourfold concentrations above the MIC, while others only exhibited long-term stability when concentrations exceeded 20 times the MIC. As such, YvgO may be an attractive alternative to currently available protection strategies and will provide needed diversity for natural food protectants.


We develop a theory for the dynamics of an interface in a two-phase elastic solid with kinetics driven by mass transport and stress. We consider a two-phase system consisting of bulk regions separated by a sharp interface endowed with energy and capable of supporting force. Our discussion is based on balance laws for mass and force in conjunction with a version of the second law - appropriate to a mechanical system out of equilibrium - which we use to develop a suitable constitutive theory for the interface. It is assumed that mass transport is characterized by the bulk diffusion of a single independent species; we neglect mass diffusion within the interface; limit our discussion to a continuous chemical potential and to a coherent interface; neglect the elasticity of the interface; and consider only infinitesimal deformations, neglecting inertia. We show that the field equations and free-boundary conditions can be developed in a simple manner in terms of the diffusion potential and its time derivatives, as opposed to the usual formulation in terms of concentration. Natural consequences of the thermodynamic framework are Lyapunov functions for the resulting evolution problems. This leads to a hierarchy of variational principles that should describe the equilibrium shapes of misfitting particles as well as possible microstructures that might form; these principles are applicable both in the absence and presence of an applied stress.


Guinea-Bissau Portuguese Creole or Kriyol is one of those languages where bare nouns have free access to syntax. Bare nouns are given a restrictive definition: only nouns appearing in their root form, i.e. not marked for number, are considered bare. Kriyol is thus different from Portuguese or English insofar as so-called bare nouns in these languages must be pluralized. Another distinctive feature of Kriyol is the absence of a definite determiner analogous to English the . The conjunction of these features – bare nouns unmarked for number, no overt definite determiner – makes the interpretation of Kriyol noun phrases appear problematic in many cases. The aim of this article is to show that, once semantic (does the noun refer to a person or not?) and syntactic (is the noun a subject or an object?) factors have been taken into account, Kriyol actually is no more ambiguous in this domain than natural languages normally are.


Introduction: Hyperinsulinemia as a consequence of insulin resistance causes an increase in serum uric acid (SUA) concentration by both reducing renal uric acid secretion and accumulating substrates for uric acid production. Therefore, it remains controversial whether SUA is independently associated with the development of type 2 diabetes.Aim: Plasma uric acid level and its association with Diabetes Mellitus II. Method: Analytical case control study with 145 cases and controls with uric acid level and blood sugar levels and duration of Diabetes. Result: baseline parameters of the study population with the studied cases were overweight with uncontrolled Diabetes Mellitus II. As compared to controls the cases had high Glycosylated Hemoglobin levels and raised mean serum uric acid levels. Diabetic cases ~27% had high uric acid levels as compared to controls. None of the cases in control group had raised serum uric acid levels. Duration of Diabetes has a direct relationship with the levels of raised uric acid. Conclusion: Serum uric acid levels were significantly elevated in Diabetic population. Significant positive correlation between serum uric acid levels and duration of Diabetes Mellitus II was seen.


In this paper, a multi-model Rao-Blackwellised particle filter algorithm is presented for tracking high maneuvering target in distributed acoustic sensor networks. It is more efficient for high-dimension nonlinear and non-Gaussian estimation problems than generic particle filter, and by stratified particles sampling from a set of system models, it can tackle the target's maneuver perfectly. In the simulation comparison, a high maneuvering target moves through an acoustic sensor network field. The target is tracked using both the RBPF and the multi-model RBPF algorithms, and a location-central protocol is applied for energy conservation. The results show that our approach has great performance improvements, especially when the target is making maneuver.


Measurements of temperature dependences of conductivity for morphologically different samples of reticulate doped polymers containing dentrite-like microcrystals of a conducting charge-transfer (CT) complex demonstrate that there is no difference in the mechanism of charge carrier transport along dendrite branches, perpendicular to them or across interdendrite boundaries. Comparison of the conductivity behaviour, as measured along polymer films and perpendicular to the surfaces ('sandwich' samples), suggest that the same mechanism of conductivity operates in both directions. It is also demonstrated that lowering of the CT complex content, even to 0.003 vol. fraction, leads to some decrease of the conductivity but does not change its temperature dependence. The results demonstrate the high connectivity of the crystalline CT complex network and support the hypothesis that continuity of this network is due to submicroscopic dendritic structures scaling from microns, probably down to tens of angstroms.


Abstract. Solar activity is characterized by complex dynamics superimposed onto an almost periodic, approximately 11-year cycle. One of its main features is the presence of a marked, time-varying hemispheric asymmetry, the deeper reasons for which have not yet been completely uncovered. Traditionally, this asymmetry has been studied by considering amplitude and phase differences. Here, we use visibility graphs, a novel tool of nonlinear time series analysis, to obtain complementary information on hemispheric asymmetries in dynamical properties. Our analysis provides deep insights into the potential and limitations of this method, revealing a complex interplay between factors relating to statistical and dynamical properties, i.e., effects due to the probability distribution and the regularity of observed fluctuations. We demonstrate that temporal changes in the hemispheric predominance of the graph properties lag those directly associated with the total hemispheric sunspot areas. Our findings open a new dynamical perspective on studying the north–south sunspot asymmetry, which is to be further explored in future work.


A patient with Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome who developed basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas on the limb affected by the vascular malformation, is reported. The nature of this association is discussed.


In a number of high-profile cases, the Court of Justice has focused its attention on the advertising function of a trade mark. Some have seen this as giving overly-wide protection to trade mark owners at the expense of their competitors and free speech. An analysis of the Court of Justice's trade mark jurisprudence on topical issues including parallel importation, dilution and advertising keywords reveals that the Court has been willing to recognise that trade marks have an advertising function as a matter of principle. However, in practice, it has been reluctant to actually recognise that that advertising function has been harmed. Concentrating on harm to the advertising function is most likely a false target. Instead, attention should be focussed on unfair advantage which is likely to lead to wider, and potentially unbalanced, trade mark protection.


Postbloom sprays of BA thinned 'McIntosh', 'Delicious', 'Golden Delicious', 'Mutsu, 'Empire', and 'Abas' apples. BA at 75 to 100 mg·liter -1 was equal to NAA at 6 to 7.5 mg·liter -1 or carbaryl at 600 to 800 mg·liter -1 . BA increased fruit size, flesh firmness, and soluble solids concentration (SSC) on all cultivars evaluated. Since BA is applied during the time when cell division is occurring, it is concluded that the increased fruit size and flesh firmness were due to Increased cell numbers. Increased SSC was not due solely to increased leaf : fruit ratio. Thinning with BA was additive with other chemical thinners and no interactions were found on fruit abscission. In most eases, BA increased return bloom. Chemical names used: N-(phenylmethyl)1H-purine-6-amine (benzyladenine (BA)); 1- naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA); 1-naphthalenyl methylcarbamate (carbaryl); butanedioic acid mono(2,2dimethylhy- drazide (daminozide); (2-chloroethyl)phosphonic acid (ethephon).


We report a surgical case of aorto-pulmonary septal defect (APSD) in a neonate weighing 1693 gm. A male twin baby delivered after 39 weeks and 5 days of gestational period was diagnosed as APSD. RAA, PFO and PLSVC by a echocardiography and a MRI. Because of the progressive cardiac failure, operation was performed under cardiopulmonary bypass and profound hypothermic circulatory arrest at 30 days of age and weighing 1693 gm. APSD was closed completely by a Dacron patch. Postoperative course was almost uneventful except for pulmonary hypertension crisis. He recovered without brain damage.


The researchers found that 147 patients (29.9%) received inadequate antimicrobial treatment for their bloodstream infections. The hospital mortality rate of patients with a bloodstream infection receiving inadequate antimicrobial treatment (61.9%) was statistically greater than the hospital mortality rate of patients with a bloodstream infection who received adequate antimicrobial treatment (28.4%). Multiple logistic regression analysis identified the administration of inadequate antimicrobial treatment as an independent determinant of hospital mortality. The most commonly identified bloodstream pathogens and their associated rates of inadequate antimicrobial treatment included vancomycinresistant enterococci (n=17; 100%), Candida species (n=41; 95.1%), oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (n=46; 32.6%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (n=96; 21.9%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=22; 10.0%). A statistically significant relation was found between the rates of inadequate antimicrobial treatment for individual microorganisms and their associated rates of hospital mortality. Multiple logistic regression analysis also demonstrated that a bloodstream infection attributed to Candida species, prior administration of antibiotics during the same hospitalization, decreasing serum albumin concentrations (1-g/dL decrements), and increasing central catheter duration (1-day increments) were independently associated with the administration of inadequate antimicrobial treatment


(ABSTRACT) We consider geometric and material nonlinearities when studying numerically, by the finite element method, transient three-dimensional electroelastic deformations of a graphite-epoxy square plate sandwiched between two piezoceramic (PZT) layers. Points on the four edges of the bottom surface of the plate are restrained from moving vertically. The two opposite edges of the plate are loaded by equal in-plane compressive loads that increase linearly with time and the other two edges are kept traction free. The plate material is modeled as orthotropic and neoHookean. For the transversely isotropic PZT the second Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor and the electric displacement are expressed as second degree polynomials in the Green-St. Venant strain tensor and the electric field. Both direct and converse piezoelectric effects are accounted for in the PZT. The plate is taken to have buckled when its centroidal deflection equals three times the plate thickness. The dynamic buckling load for the plate is found to strongly depend upon the rate of rise of the applied tractions. With the maximum electric field limited to 1kV/mm, the buckling load is enhanced by 18.3± when the PZT elements are activated. For a peak electric field of 30kV/mm, the buckling load increased by 58.5±. When more than 60± of the surface area of the top and the bottom surfaces of the plate are covered by the PZT layers, then square PZT elements placed symmetrically about the plate centroid provide a larger enhancement in the buckling load than rectangular shaped or cross-shaped PZT elements. An increase in the plate thickness relative to that of the PZT actuators decreases the effectiveness of the PZT in enhancing the buckling load for the plate. The finite element code was modified to also analyze, in time domain, transient deformations of a viscoelastic material for which the second Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor is expressed as a linear functional of the strain history of the Green-St. Venant strain tensor. It was used to analyze three-dimensional deformations of a thick laminated plate with layers made of aluminum, a viscoelastic material and a PZT. The following two arrangements of layers are considered. In one case a central PZT layer is surrounded on both sides by viscoelastic layers and aluminum layers are on the outside surfaces. The PZT is poled in the longitudinal direction and an electric field is applied in the thickness direction. Thus shearing deformations of the PZT layer are dominant. In the second arrangement, …


Abstract: Bio-tribology has achieved great prominence in the last few years as a new interdisciplinary field in which contributions from engineers, medical doctors, biologists, chemists, and physicists are co-ordinated. The main purpose of using a joint prosthesis is pain relief and restoring the joint function. To do this, a suitable material that has an infinite life is desirable. Material selection and component design are important factors in the performance and durability of total joint replacements but, unfortunately, wear of hip and knee bearings exists and is a significant clinical problem. There is a need not only for more wear-resistant materials but also for concomitant improvements in the design and manufacture of the implant and the operative techniques to minimize the occurrence of wear. Wear simulation is an essential pre-clinical method to predict the mid- and long-term clinical wear behaviour of prostheses, and one of the most important aspects of wear testing is simulation of actual wear conditions.


La1-xSrxCoO3-δ belongs to the group of perovskite oxides of the ABO3 structure, with a trivalent rare earth in the A position (La) and a trivalent metal ion in the B position (Co). Doping with divalent Srions at the trivalent La-positions creates oxygen vacancies which give the oxide catalytic properties to H2O2. However, the conventional techniques which are used to prepare this oxide such as chemical methods, are not suitable for making a thin film. In this paper, a thin layer of La1-xSrxCoO3-δ (x= 0.5) perovskite oxide is deposited on a Pt electrode by using the Pulsed Laser Deposition technique. The catalytic properties of this perovskite oxide to hydrogen peroxide due to the presence of the oxygen vacancies will be discussed. The results show the possibility to use this perovskite oxide as a sensing material for potentiometric hydrogen peroxide sensors.


If light passes through the body tissues, focusing only on areas where treatment needs, such as tumors, will revolutionize many biomedical imaging and therapy technologies. So how to focus light through deep inhomogeneous tissues overcoming scattering is Holy Grail in biomedical areas. In this paper, we use deep learning to learn and accelerate the process of phase pre-compensation using wavefront shaping. We present an approach (LoftGAN, light only focuses on treatment needs) for learning the relationship between phase domain X and speckle domain Y . Our goal is not just to learn an inverse mapping F:Y->X such that we can know the corresponding X needed for imaging Y like most work, but also to make focusing that is susceptible to disturbances more robust and precise by ensuring that the phase obtained can be forward mapped back to speckle. So we introduce different constraints to enforce F(Y)=X and H(F(Y))=Y with the transmission mapping H:X->Y. Both simulation and physical experiments are performed to investigate the effects of light focusing to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method and comparative experiments prove the crucial improvement of robustness and precision. Codes are available at this https URL.


The southern United States (US) sustains a disproportionate burden of incident stroke and associated mortality, compared to other parts of the US. A large proportion of this risk remains unexplained. Petroleum production and refining (PPR) is concentrated within this region and emits multiple pollutants implicated in stroke pathogenesis. The relationship between residential PPR exposure and stroke has not been studied. We aimed to investigate the census tract-level association between residential PPR exposure and stroke prevalence for adults (⩾18 years) in seven southern US states in 2018. We conducted spatial distance- and generalized propensity score-matched analysis that adjusts for sociodemographic factors, health behavioral factors, and unmeasured spatial confounding. PPR was measured as inverse-distance weighted averages of petroleum production within 2.5 km or 5 km from refineries, which was strongly correlated with measured levels of sulfur dioxide, a byproduct of PPR. The prevalence of self-reported stroke ranged from 0.4% to 12.7% for all the census tracts of the seven states. People with low socioeconomic status and of Hispanic ethnicity resided closer to petroleum refineries. The non-Hispanic Black population was exposed to higher PPR, while the non-Hispanic White population was exposed to lower PPR. Residential PPR exposure was significantly associated with stroke prevalence. One standard deviation increase in PPR within 5 km from refineries was associated with 0.22 (95% confidence interval: 0.09, 0.34) percentage point increase in stroke prevalence. PPR explained 5.6% (2.4, 8.9) of stroke prevalence in the exposed areas. These values differed by states: 1.1% (0.5, 1.7) in Alabama to 11.7% (4.9, 18.6) in Mississippi, and by census tract-level: 0.08% (0.03, 0.13) to 25.3% (10.6, 40.0). PPR is associated with self-reported stroke prevalence, suggesting possible links between pollutants emitted from refineries and stroke. The increased prevalence due to PPR may differ by sociodemographic factors.


This paper presents a new subspace-based method for bearing estimation in the presence of impulsive noise which can be modeled as a complex symmetric alpha-stable (S/spl alpha/S) process. We define the covariation matrix of the array sensor outputs and show that eigendecomposition-based methods, such as the MUSIC algorithm, can be applied to the sample covariation matrix to extract the bearing information from the measurements. A consistent estimator for the marginals of the covariation matrix is presented and its asymptotic performance is studied. The improved performance of the proposed source localization method in the presence of a wide range of impulsive noise environments is demonstrated via Monte Carlo experiments.


An interactive computer code was developed to evaluate single stage absorption heat pump performance for temperature amplifier and heat amplifier modes using water as the refrigerant. This program performs the cycle calculations for single stage cycles based on the polynomial expressions developed to correlate experimental vapor-liquid-equilibrium (VLE) and specific enthalpy-concentration data for LiBr/water and (Li, K, Na)NO{sub 3}/water systems as well as the properties of pure water. The operating parameters obtained by this program were tested against mass and energy balances in documented cases and the results show that the maximum deviation between coefficient of performance (COP) values obtained by this software and the ones previously calculated is less than 3%. In addition, this program was used to study the effect of solution temperature leaving the absorber on the other operating parameters. This type of analysis could be used to improve and optimize cycle design. 4 refs.


In an attempt to combine the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-D-inhibitory capacity of 2′,3 -dideoxy-2,3 -didehydronucleoside analogues [nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors; NRTI] and non-nucleoside RT inhibitors (NNRTI), we have designed, synthesized and evaluated for their anti-HIV activity several heterodimers of the general formula [d4T]-NH-(CH2)n-NH-[imidazo[1,5–b]pyridazine]. The synthesis of these heterodimers was conducted in three parts. The first part focused on the synthesis of the NRTI. The second part was devoted to the NNRTI and the NNRTI linked to appropriate spacers; [NNRTI]-NH-(CH2)n-NH2. In the third part, the condensation between the NRTI and the [NNRTI]-NH-(CH2)n-NH2 was performed. The in vitro inhibitory activities against HIV-1 of the [d4T]-NH-(CH2)n-NH-[imidazo[1,5–b]pyridazine] heterodimers were found to be comparable to that of d4T (stavudine) in HIV-infected cells. Moreover, the heterodimers were endowed with anti-HlV-2 activity and with anti-nevirapine-resistant HIV-1 activity. None of the heterodimers proved markedly cytotoxic to CEM-SS or MT-4 cells. There was not a clear trend toward antiviral potency on lengthening the methylene spacer in the [d4T]-NH-(CH2)n-NH-[imidazo[1,5–b]pyridazine] heterodimers.


"I was born in South Carolina," begins John Andrew Jackson's 1862 narrative, The Experiences of a Slave in South Carolina.1 Born on a cotton plantation in Sumter, South Carolina in 1825, Jackson made a daring escape from Sumter to Boston in 1846, but not before he experienced the horrors of antebellum plantation slavery in, arguably, the state most dedicated to preserving slavery as a social, economic, and legal institution. In his account, Jackson remarked that black slaves experienced physical and psychic abuse regularly on southern plantations at the hands of their enslavers. However, violence was not slaveholders' only tool to extract labor from bondspeople; they also used economic incentives. Jackson described how his first master established a store on his Sumter plantation, out of which he sold liquor to whites during the day and, to supplement his income, he traded with slaves during the night. According to Jackson, this slaveholder encouraged local enslaved people to bring him stolen cotton and in return, they received whiskey. The slaveholder's rate of exchange was 100 pounds of cotton for one gallon of whiskey. Jackson's master not only enticed enslaved people with the promise of the spirituous liquor but he also swindled them in the exchange. The slaveholder could sell 100 pounds of cotton for $14 in the local marketplace. At the same time, a gallon of whiskey was worth $1. Therefore, while enslaved people bartered for whiskey, not the monetary value of their cotton, the slaveholder made $13 for every 100 pounds of cotton brought to him by local slaves. Ultimately, the bondspeople failed to receive just compensation for their cotton as


This article provides an empirical answer to the question of how the unique incentives of founding families influence investment decisions. Contrary to theoretical considerations, the results indicate that family firms are not more susceptible to external financing constraints. When compared to companies of similar size and dividend payout ratio, the investment outlays of family firms are consistently less sensitive to internal cash flows. Family businesses are more responsive to their investment opportunities and seem to invest irrespective of cash flow availability. The findings suggest that founding family ownership is associated with lower agency costs and can help to diminish information asymmetries with external suppliers of finance.


Lower-limb prosthesis quality-of-fit assessment is purely subjective in routine clinical practice, relying on patient reports of discomfort, erythema (localized pain), and palpation. Wide variations in residual limb physical characteristics and conditions preclude a rigid approach to prosthesis prescription. With relatively long life expectancy for many lower-limb amputees, clinicians measure outcome in terms of return to work and quality of life, which have important social and economic consequences. An objective quantitative metric of fit that predicts functional outcome has not been described to date. Volumetric CT scanning provides in situ static 3D determination of residual limb soft tissue changes caused by the prosthesis socket. This mapping aids in prosthesis design and evaluation.


Acromegalic patients are considered to be exposed to a doubled mortality rate, mostly for cardiovascular diseases. This open prospective study was designed to evaluate whether the impairment of cardiac performance could be reversed by the long-term suppression of GH and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) levels. Eighteen patients with active acromegaly were studied before and 5 yr after surgery, followed by sc octreotide in 11 patients. Disease control (GH levels < or =1 microg/L after glucose load or < or =2.5 microg/L after fasting, respectively, together with normalized IGF-I levels for age) was achieved in seven patients after surgery and in six patients after 0.3--0.6 mg/day sc octreotide. Five patients were not controlled during the 5-yr follow-up. Cardiac performance at rest and at peak exercise was assessed by equilibrium radionuclide angiography at study entry and 5 yr after surgery alone or plus octreotide. Thirty-six sex- and age-matched healthy subjects served as controls. At study entry, patients had a lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at peak exercise and LVEF exercise-induced changes, exercise duration, and capacity than controls (P < 0.001). After 5 yr of treatment, a significant decrease of resting heart rate (P = 0.03) and a significant increase of LVEF at peak exercise (P = 0.003) was found in patients achieving disease control. LVEF response at peak exercise worsened in none of the patients with controlled disease and in three patients with uncontrolled disease (60%) (chi(2) = 5.5; P = 0.02). Diastolic filling, exercise duration, and workload did not significantly change during the 5-yr follow-up. No difference was found between patients controlled by surgery alone or by surgery plus octreotide. This 5-yr prospective study demonstrated that the LVEF response at peak exercise improved in all patients achieving disease control, while it was worsened in 60% of uncontrolled ones. These results strengthen the need of a stable suppression of GH and IGF-I hypersecretion to restore a normal cardiac performance in acromegaly.


Introduction A key challenge in the study of Islamic law is how to approach modern concepts that do not readily avail themselves of comparators within the Islamic legal traditions. This inquiry assumes a more complex nature when those conceptual comparators themselves are evolving, contested and open to varying definitions. Constitutionalism is one such concept which has become the subject of increasing scrutiny challenging traditional conceptions of Muslim state and government. In its earlier, liberal conceptions, 'constitutionalism' was broadly defined and built upon three pillars: upholding the rule of law, the enforcement of effective limitations on governmental powers, and the protection of fundamental rights. This was essentially the model received in the Muslim world, upon which Islamic law was grafted so as to 'Islamize' constitutional texts and constitutionalism. But modern constitutionalism presents itself in various forms and raises many different challenges and potential contradictions within itself. Constitutionalism and democracy, for instance, appear 'intimately related yet intrinsically opposed', giving rise to much debate regarding 'constitutional democracy'. Loughlin and Walker alert us to the paradox of constitutionalism in the tensions generated by the power inherent in the people on the one hand and in constitutional forms on the other, through which alone it may be exercised. Other issues at the centre of debates on constitutionalism include the impact of global, transnational and international law and governance networks. The constitutionalization of international law, as well as the pluralist nature of domestic legal structures, poses a threat to the very existence of constitutionalism in its classical form. As in most areas of the Islamic legal traditions, opinion on Islamic constitutionalism too is far from unanimous. Most Islamic law scholars agree that 'constitutional law ( usul-al-hukm ) is one of the most under-developed areas of Islamic law and jurisprudence'. Some Qur'anic verses and the Sunna, however, provide elements on which the structure of constitutionalism may be built, including shura (consultation), bay'ah (allegiance), principles of justice and the accountability of rulers. Other antecedents, including the Medina Charter (discussed below), are also cited in support of the historical beginnings of an Islamic constitutionalism. Despite a number of discernible trajectories within Muslim intellectual thought on the subject, claiming an Islamic constitutionalism as inherently a part of the Islamic traditions would in the opinion of some scholars be an exaggeration and 'falling prey to an anachronism'.


WepresentOntop-temporal, an extension of the ontology-based data access system Ontop for query answering with temporal data and ontologies. Ontop is a system to answer SPARQL queries over various data stores, using standard R2RML mappings and an OWL 2QL domain ontology to produce high-level conceptual views over the raw data. The Ontop-temporal extension is designed to handle timestamped log data, by additionally using (i) mappings supporting validity time specification, and (ii) rules based on metric temporal logic to define temporalised concepts. In this demo we present how Ontop-temporal can be used to facilitate the access to the MIMIC-III critical care unit dataset containing log data on hospital admissions, procedures, and diagnoses. We use the ICD9CM diagnoses ontology and temporal rules formalising the selection of patients for clinical trials taken from the clinicaltrials.gov database. We demonstrate how high-level queries can be answered by Ontop-temporal to identify patients eligible for the trials.


In this paper results from experimental studies and computer simulation of hydrodynamic diaphragm thrust bearings are presented. The bearing performance in terms of film thickness, pressure, friction coefficient, and bearing temperature were measured in a high speed thrust bearing test rig. The numerical simulation involves the solution of the generalised Reynolds equation, the elasticity equation and the energy equation, which allows for thermal effects on the oil viscosity .


2-hydroxylpropyl-b-cyclodextrin (HP-b-CD) is an alternative to a-, band c-cyclodextrin, with improved water solubility and may be more toxicologically benign. This paper reviews the toxicity of HP-b-CD, using both literature information and novel data, and presents new information. In addition, it includes a brief review from studies of the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of HP-bCD in both humans and animals. This review concludes that HP-b-CD is well tolerated in the animal species tested (rats, mice and dogs), particularly when dosed orally, and shows only limited toxicity. In short duration studies, there were slight biochemical changes whereas studies of a longer duration, up to three months, produced additional minor haematological changes but no histopathological changes. When dosed intravenously, histopathological changes were seen in the lungs, liver and kidney but all findings were reversible and no effect levels were achieved. The carcinogenicity studies showed an increase in tumours in rats in the pancreas and intestines which are both considered to be rat-specific. There were also non-carcinogenic changes noted in the urinary tract, but these changes were also reversible and did not impair renal function. There were no effects on embryo-foetal development in either rats or rabbits. HP-b-CD has been shown to be well tolerated in humans, with the main adverse event being diarrhoea and there have been no adverse events on kidney function, documented to date. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Recovering from a COPD exacerbation is typically associated with an improvement in FEV1. The common perception is that FEV1 is determined by the characteristics of the larger airways (generations 2-6). Aims: We investigated the relationship between changes in FEV1, airway volume and lung hyperinflation in patients recovering from an acute COPD exacerbation. Methods: Airway volume and hyperinflation were assessed using a novel imaging method called Functional Respiratory Imaging (FRI) in 50 COPD patients during an acute exacerbation and 6-8 weeks after recovery. Results: A significant correlation was observed between the improvement in FEV1 and the change in FRI based airway volume (R = 0.3, p = 0.045,). However, the change in FEV1 with FRI based hyperinflation was considerably stronger (R = 0.46, p = 0.002). Conclusions: Our data suggest changes in FEV1 after an acute COPD exacerbation are more likely driven by changes in hyperinflation, possibly resulting from small airways inflammation, than larger airway inflammation. We are now evaluating a multiple regression model to determine the contribution of changes in individual FRI based parameters to the overall change in FEV1


This study focuses on the design of self-triggered controls for first-order multi-agent systems with unknown inherent non-linear dynamics. First, conditions that guarantee the existence of a self-triggered control are provided to solve the consensus problem under fixed communication topologies if the graph has a directed spanning tree. Then, self-triggered strategy under switching communication topologies is studied using polynomial approximations of multiple Lyapunov functions. A methodology for the computation of the feedback gain and the control update time is given. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.


Purpose
Through a critical synthesis and reflection on the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence related to sensory marketing, this study aims to offer meaningful insights for hospitality operators and provides future research directions on sensory marketing in hospitality.

Design/methodology/approach
Building on an extensive review of sensory marketing studies across disciplines, this paper presents critical discussions of the theories and findings on the five senses in the context of hospitality.

Findings
The critical synthesis and discussion indicate that sensory marketing is highly relevant and applicable to operations in various hospitality sectors such as hotels and restaurants. Still, empirical evidence is required to lend support to the discussions. Although scholarly interest in sensory marketing has surged in the past decade, some research streams, such as sensory incongruence, cross-modal correspondence and sensory intensity, have yet to be extended. These under-researched areas provide directions for future hospitality research.

Practical implications
Through discussions of empirical evidence related to the five senses, mental simulation, cross-modal correspondence and sensory congruence, this paper provides implications for managing customers' sensory experiences and behavior in hospitality settings.

Originality/value
Despite the increase of research on sensory marketing in the past decade, its full implications in the context of hospitality remain unknown. Through a critical synthesis and reflection on the hospitality literature, this paper offers research directions for a systematic expansion of sensory marketing.


The simulation of karstic aquifers is difficult using traditional groundwater numerical simulators, as the exact knowledge of the hydraulic characteristics of the physical system in small scale is rarely available and the numerical simulators produce results of limited reliability. In the present work, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are utilized to predict the response of a karstic aquifer, using the hydraulic head change per time step rather than the hydraulic head itself as output parameter of the network. As it will be demonstrated, in the first case a better approximation of the physical system's response is achieved as the change of the hydraulic head is more naturally connected to the input parameters of the network, which model the aquatic equilibrium of the system. The correlation of rainfall and hydraulic head change per time step was initially used to determine the time lag of the rainfall input data, which represents the time needed by the rainfall to percolate and reach the water table. In a second step, a differential evolution (DE) algorithm is utilized for the optimal selection of rainfall time lag as well as ANN's architecture and training parameters. Although a time consuming procedure, the improvement obtained suggests that the empirical determination of the ANN parameters and structure is not always sufficient and an optimization procedure, which minimizes the training and evaluation errors of the ANN, may provide substantially better simulation results. The optimized networks were finally used for midterm predictions (30 to 90 days ahead) of the hydraulic head, showing the ability of the ANN with hydraulic head change as output parameter to provide predictions with high accuracy at the end of the considered time period. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Rationale: Occlusal appliance is one of methods for temporomandibular joint anterior disc displacement with reduction (ADDWR). However, most studies have focused on the symptom reliefs rather than the disc-condyle positional relationship. Aim: To evaluate the success rate and the prognosis of occlusal appliances in repositioning of the disc in temporomandibular joint ADDWR. Materials and methods: One hundred and forty four (144) patients (210 joints) diagnosed with temporomandibular joint ADDWR based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were consecutively included in our study. For all joints it was confirmed by MRI that the disc could be recaptured in a mandible anterior position. Occlusal appliances, including anterior repositioning appliance, twinblock or Herbst, were worn to keep the mandible in this position. MRI scanning was carried out before, 6 months later, at the end of treatment and at the follow-up visit. Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors for success. Cox regression model was applied to estimate the prospective risk of failure. Results: Among the occlusal appliances used, there were 100 anterior repositioning appliances, 23 twin-blocks, and 21 Herbst, with mean treatment duration of 9.5 ± 2.6 months. One hundred and seventy seven (177) joints (84.3%) were successfully repositioned at the end of splint treatment, according to MRI. Logistic regression showed that the appliance types were significantly associated with the success rate. At 2 years of regular follow-up, in almost 53% of the cases the disc-condyle relationship was normal. Gender, age, treatment duration and orthodontics were identified in the final Cox regression model with hazard ratios of 1.375, 1.141, 0.396 and 0.364 respectively. Conclusion: Occlusal appliance is one of the useful methods to recapture the disc in patients with temporomandibular joint ADDWR. However, the patient selection should be rigorous.


Lipases are enzymes which catalyze the hydrolysis of triacylglycerol to free fatty acids and glycerol. In the present study bacterial cultures were isolated from industrial and oil spilled areas and was screened for Lipase production and activity. Seven bacterial strains were found to have lipolytic ability. These bacterial strains were grown in production media and the lipase enzyme produced was estimated. After optimization of factors like pH, temperature, carbon source, nitrogen and incubation time etc. a maximum lipase enzyme activity of 8U was obtained in the mesophilic bacteria: P. mirabilis when sunflower oil was used as a substrate, pH was 6 and temperature was 37°C. B. coagulans, another mesophile produced 7.5U of lipase enzyme. Thermophiles: P. stutzeri, G. stearothermophilus and B. sporothermodurans which were isolated, screened for lipase activity and characterized, showed highest lipase activity of 7U at 50°C. *Corresponding author: Tripti B, Codon Biotech Pvt. Ltd., India, Tel: 01204311464; E-mail: email@example.com Received November 30, 2016; Accepted June 06, 2017; Published June 13, 2017 Citation: Jaiswal A, Preet M, Tripti B (2017) Production and Optimization of Lipase Enzyme from Mesophiles and Thermophiles. J Microb Biochem Technol 9:126-131. doi: 10.4172/1948-5948.1000355 Copyright: © 2017 Jaiswal A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.


Abstract Kochia is a weed found in many sunflower fields across the Northern Great Plains. There is limited information about the ability of sunflower plants to compete with kochia, specifically when the weed grows both in the crop row and in the inter-row space, as in zero tillage systems that rely solely on herbicides to manage weeds. An experiment was conducted over seven site–yr, from 2009 to 2011, to determine the effect of kochia density and relative time of kochia seedling recruitment on sunflower growth and development, yield and seed quality. Kochia seed was broadcast on the soil surface at six densities, into sunflowers planted in 75-cm rows, either at the same time as the sunflower crop was planted (early weed seedling recruitment), or when the sunflowers were at the four-leaf stage (late weed seedling recruitment). When kochia plants emerged at the same time as the sunflowers, yield was reduced by up to 76% and sunflower head diam was reduced in four site–yr, stem diam was reduced in three site–yr, height was reduced in two site–yr and the number of leaves per sunflower plant was reduced in two site–yr The 5% action threshold for early emerging kochia was four kochia plants m−2 in the combined site–yr analysis. Additionally, early recruiting kochia seedlings reduced sunflower seed size and seed weight at two and three site–yr, respectively. Kochia plants that emerged after the four-leaf stage of the sunflower crop did not affect sunflower growth and development, yield, or seed quality. To reduce the potential for yield and seed quality losses, sunflower growers should be proactive with respect to managing kochia in sunflowers, particularly when the kochia plants emerge at about the same time as the sunflowers. Nomenclature: Kochia, Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad., KCHSC; Sunflower, Helianthus annuus L.


Background. Lycopene is a potent antioxidant, and it has been suggested that intake of lycopene-rich food results in a  decreased risk of cardiovascular diseases. However, no official recommendation of lycopene consumption from natural dietary sources exists, and intake data of the Lithuanian population are limited. The goal of this study was to evaluate the median intake of lycopene in ethnic Lithuanians and to relate lycopene intake with biochemical blood risk factors for CVD in the general population and different ethnolinguistic groups.
 Materials and methods. One thousand one hundred forty randomly selected individuals (2–85  years of age) from six Lithuanian ethnolinguistic regions provided 3-day diet records for evaluation of lycopene consumption. Individuals were interviewed using a validated questionnaire consisting of lifestyle and clinical data. Serum concentrations of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, glucose, apolipoprotein A-I, apolipoprotein B, lipoprotein (a) were measured using standardised procedures. Due to the non-normal distribution of variables, nonparametric tests were applied using the IBM SPSS v20.0 software.
 Results. The  mean dietary lycopene intake in the  study population was 5.05 ± 7.48 or 0.07 ± 0.11 mg/kg body weight per day. Major food sources of lycopene were tomatoes and tomato products (79%). The lycopene intake from natural dietary sources varied significantly between the  Lithuanian ethnolinguistic groups (the lowest intake 3.52 ± 5.64 mg/day, the highest intake 6.22 ± 7.66 mg/ day, p = 0.01) and genders (women 5.26 ± 7.78 mg/day and men 4.8 ± 7.22 mg/ day, p  =  0.01). The  mean lycopene intake was significantly (p  <  0.001) higher in summer than in winter: 6.06 ± 8.30 and 3.75 ± 6.03 mg/day, respectively. The lowest consumption of lycopene was in the group of individuals older than 65 years (2.54 ± 3.25 mg/day). Higher lycopene intake significantly correlated with higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration (r = 0.079; p < 0.001).
 Conclusions. The mean lycopene intake in the general Lithuanian population and different ethnolinguistic groups was one of the lowest compared to intakes reported in other European countries. In our study, we have not found any significant association between the mean lycopene intake and cardiovascular morbidity; the association of lycopene intake with higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration indicates the anti-atherogenic effect of dietary lycopene.


The conductivity of a poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film can be enhanced by more than two orders of magnitude by adding a compound with two or more polar groups, such as ethylene glycol, meso‐erythritol (1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroxybutane), or 2‐nitroenthanol, to an aqueous solution of PEDOT:PSS. The mechanism for this conductivity enhancement is studied, and a new mechanism proposed. Raman spectroscopy indicates an effect of the liquid additive on the chemical structure of the PEDOT chains, which suggests a conformational change of PEDOT chains in the film. Both coil and linear conformations or an expanded‐coil conformation of the PEDOT chains may be present in the untreated PEDOT:PSS film, and the linear or expanded‐coil conformations may become dominant in the treated PEDOT:PSS film. This conformational change results in the enhancement of charge‐carrier mobility in the film and leads to an enhanced conductivity. The high‐conductivity PEDOT:PSS film is ideal as an electrode for polymer optoelectronic devices. Polymer light‐emitting diodes and photovoltaic cells fabricated using such high‐conductivity PEDOT:PSS films as the anode exhibit a high performance, close to that obtained using indium tin oxide as the anode.


Background: Nowadays, increasing antibiotic resistance of bacteria has provided the opportunity to replace herbal remedies with fewer side effects than conventional medicines; therefore, in this study, the antibacterial effects of methanolic extract of saffron petal against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli strains were evaluated. Materials and Methods: In this in vitro study, after collecting the saffron plant and confirming its scientific name, the saffron petal extract was prepared in concentrations of 20 mg/ml to 400 mg/ml. Then the antimicrobial effects of this extract were investigated by well diffusion and tube dilution method. Results: The results showed that the methanolic extract of saffron petal had antibacterial effects on the tested bacteria in both tube dilution and well diffusion methods. The highest effect was observed in S. aureus and the least in P. aeruginosa. Conclusion: Based on the above results, it can be hoped that Saffron petals extract can be used in the treatment of bacterial infections and can be a suitable replacement for conventional chemical drugs in the treatment of


Sensor nodes are the building blocks of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), which may gather, analyze, and transmit various types of information to a certain destination. Data collection and transmission to the destination are the main responsibilities of sensor nodes at specified time intervals. However, one of the biggest issues with WSNs is the creation of energy-efficient wireless network algorithms. In this paper, a multi-hop multi-antenna power beacon path selection (MMPS) protocol is proposed. The proposed approach consists of a source, a destination, relays, power beacons generating radio frequency (RF) signals for energy harvesting, and eavesdroppers. We used physical layer security associated with energy harvesting to protect data from eavesdroppers without requiring higher layer data encryption and enhance the energy consumption of wireless networks. The signal's broadcast strength must be high enough to allow for energy harvesting while being low enough to prevent eavesdropping. The process continues until the data reaches the destination. Comparing the performance of MMPS with those of conventional methods, MMPS enhanced the wireless network outage probability (OP) up to 99.7%, life time, energy consumption, protection from eavesdroppers, and more resistant to hardware impairments which increased the immunity up to 95%.


The purpose of this study is to provide a description of the implementation of the implementation of the Village Fund Allocation (ADD) District Jombang, Jombang Regency and identify what factors are causing the malfunction village community organizations and community participation seen from variable communication, resource capacity, executive attitudes, bureaucratic structure and policy objectives.The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. The data source used is the primary data source and secondary data. The results showed that the implementation of the policy of the Village Fund Allocation (ADD) in District Jombang, Jombang Regency went pretty smoothly. Achievement of objectives, the implementation of the Village Fund Allocation (ADD) in District Jombang, Jombang Regency is not optimal.The factors that cause a lack of functioning institutions and the lack of public participation is relatively the same, except in the case of resource factors. These factors are as follows communication factors, is not continued socialization to the community; factors attitude executor, the executor is the lack of response of ADD; Factor structure of the organization, is the absence of the division of labor and a lack of coordination ADD implementation team; factors size and policy objectives, is the lack of accuracy in the planning target ADD. Resource factors have different results, for better institutions due to lack of the ability of the executive to give a boost to the community, and to the lack of community participation is the lack of education of the executive ADD


Inverters are a leading source of hardware failures and contribute to significant energy losses at photovoltaic (PV) sites. An understanding of failure modes within inverters requires evaluation of a dataset that captures insights from multiple characterization techniques (including field diagnostics, production data analysis, and current-voltage curves). One readily available dataset that can be leveraged to support such an evaluation are maintenance records, which are used to log all site-related technician activities, but vary in structuring of information. Using machine learning, this analysis evaluated a database of 55,000 maintenance records across 800+ sites to identify inverter-related records and consistently categorize them to gain insight into common failure modes within this critical asset. Communications, ground faults, heat management systems, and insulated gate bipolar transistors emerge as the most frequently discussed inverter subsystems. Further evaluation of these failure modes identified distinct variations in failure frequencies over time and across inverter types, with communication failures occurring more frequently in early years. Increased understanding of these failure patterns can inform ongoing PV system reliability activities, including simulation analyses, spare parts inventory management, cost estimates for operations and maintenance, and development of standards for inverter testing. Advanced implementations of machine learning techniques coupled with standardization of asset labels and descriptions can extend these insights into actionable information that can support development of algorithms for condition-based maintenance, which could further reduce failures and associated energy losses at PV sites.


Little is known about the social reporting in Islamic banks. This study aims to examine the nature and extent of social disclosure of UAE Islamic banks to contribute to the theory and practice. Most of the social disclosure studies have only quantified disclosures in annual reports. Whereas, our study adopts the literature survey and practice through more comprehensive methods such as questionnaire, interviews and focuses on the annual reports of UAE Islamic banks. Five premises have been examined and ranked according to their reporting priority. The main findings were: a comprehensive benchmark to measure social disclosure have developed and applied, social reporting contents have a significant influence on the banks' reporting system, the Islamic banks in UAE are required to pay the Zakah to provide more social disclosures than banks not subject to Zakah, and the reporting of Islamic banks in UAE is significantly different among Islamic banks as they are more close to the requirements of the IFRS. It is also found that the size of the bank, age, experience of managers, and regulatory requirements affect the quantity and nature of social disclosure. Keywords: Social Reporting; Contents of Islamic Banking Disclosure; UAE Islamic Banks; Financial Reporting; Social Accounting Practices.


Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary disease involving recessive transmission. The fundamental abnormality consists of the production of abnormal secretion from a variety of exocrine glands such as salivary and sweat glands and those of the pancreas, colon, and tracheobronchial trees. Cystic fibrosis is the most common lethal genetically transmitted disease among whites, but is uncommon in Asians, including Koreans. Although a case involving a Korean was reported in 1988, the focus was diagnosis rather than the radiological findings. In the case of cystic fibrosis we now describe, the focus is inverted: we enphasise the reported in 1988, focusing on radiologic findings


Stereophonic teleconferencing provides more natural acoustic perception by virtue of its enhanced sound localization. Of paramount importance is stereo acoustic echo cancellation (SAEC) that poses a difficult challenge to low complexity adaptive algorithms to achieve acceptable AEC due, mainly, to the strong cross-correlation between the two-channel input signals. This paper proposes a transform domain two-channel lattice algorithm that inherently decorrelates the stereo signals. The algorithm, however, bears a high computational complexity for large filter orders, N. A low complexity O(4N) algorithm is developed based on employing the functionality of the two-channel lattice cell in the previous algorithm in a weighted subband scheme. The algorithm is capable of producing complete orthogonal subbands of the stereo signals, and also allows for a tradeoff between performance and complexity. The performance of the proposed algorithms is compared with other existing algorithms via simulations and using actual teleconferencing room impulse responses.


HumHtrA2 or Omi is a recently described member of a novel family of mammalian serine proteases homologous to the Escherichia coli htrA gene product. Although the physiological function of members of this new family is unclear, the current understanding is that as well as being involved with the degradation aberrantly folded proteins during conditions of cellular stress, they may possess a chaperone-like role under normal conditions. In this report we describe the overexpression of humHtrA2 in two heterologous systems comparing the merits of each. We found that molecular analysis of processing events in Sf9 cells allowed us to revisit E. coli expression systems which were initially unsuccessful. Using E. coli we were able to produce milligram amounts of >90% pure recombinant enzyme as determined by SDS-PAGE gels. By means of fluorescently labeled substrates alpha- and beta-casein and zymography, the proteolytic activity of recombinant HumHtrA2 was also demonstrated.


Robotics currently lacks fully autonomous capabilities, especially where task knowledge is incomplete and optimal robotic solutions cannot be pre-engineered. The intersection of evolutionary robotics, artificial life, and embodied artificial intelligence presents a promising paradigm for generating multitask problem-solvers suitable for adapting over extended periods in unexplored, remote, and hazardous environments. To address the automation of evolving robotic systems, we propose fully autonomous embodied artificial-life factories and laboratories, situated in various environments as multitask problem solvers. Such integrated factories and laboratories would be adaptive solution designers, producing fit-for-purpose physical robots with accelerated artificial evolution that experiment to continually discover new tasks. Such tasks would be stepping-stones toward accomplishing given mission objectives over extended periods (days to decades). Rather than being purely speculative, prerequisite technologies to realize such factories have been experimentally demonstrated. Currently, vast scientific and enterprise opportunities await in applications such as asteroid mining, terraforming, space, and deep-sea exploration, though no suitable solution exists. The proposed embodied artificial-life factories and laboratories, termed AutoFac, use robot production equipment run by artificial evolution controllers to collect and synthesize environmental information (from robotic sensory systems). Such information is merged with current needs and mission objectives to create new robot embodiment and task definitions that are environmentally adapted and balance task-oriented behavior with exploration. AutoFac is, thus, generalist (deployable in many environments) but continually produces specialist solutions within such environments—a perpetual robot machine.


Prostaglandin H synthase catalyzes two reactions: the bis-dioxygenation of arachidonic acid to form prostaglandin G2 (cyclooxygenase activity), and the reduction of hydroperoxides to the corresponding alcohols (peroxidase activity). The cyclooxygenase activity can be selectively inhibited by many nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents including indomethacin. In the native synthase, there is a single prominent protease-sensitive region, located near Arg253; binding of the heme prosthetic group makes the synthase resistant to proteases. To investigate the spatial relationship between the area of the synthase which interacts with indomethacin and the protease-sensitive region, the effects of indomethacin and similar agents on the protease sensitivity of the two enzymatic activities and of the synthase polypeptide were examined. Incubation of the synthase apoenzyme with trypsin (3.6% w/w) resulted in the time-dependent coordinate loss (75% at 1 h) of both enzymatic activities and the cleavage (85% at 1 h) of the 70-kDa subunit into 38- and 33-kDa fragments, indicating that proteolytic cleavage of the polypeptide at Arg253, destroyed both activities of the synthase simultaneously. Indomethacin, (S)-flurbiprofen, or meclofenamate (each at 20 microM) rendered both activities and the synthase polypeptide (at 5 microM subunit) resistant to attack by trypsin or proteinase K; these agents also inhibited the cyclooxygenase activity of the intact synthase. Two reversible cyclooxygenase inhibitors, ibuprofen and flufenamate, also made both of the activities and the synthase polypeptide more resistant to trypsin. Titration of the apoenzyme with indomethacin (0-3 mol/mol of synthase dimer) resulted in proportional increases in the inhibition of the cyclooxygenase and in the resistance to attack by trypsin. (R)-Flurbiprofen did not increase the resistance to protease or appreciably inhibit the cyclooxygenase. These results suggest that the same stereospecific interaction of these agents with the synthase that produced inhibition of the cyclooxygenase led to a decreased accessibility of the Arg253 region to proteases. Aspirin treatment made the synthase less resistant to trypsin; aspirin-treated synthase became more resistant to trypsin when it was incubated with indomethacin before addition of the protease. The presence of 50 microM arachidonate during digestion of apoenzyme or aspirin-treated apoenzyme with trypsin did not decrease the cleavage of the synthase subunit.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


The 9 year old Regional Institutes for Population Studies in Accra, Ghana for the English-speaking African countries and in Yaounde, Cameroon for the French-speaking countries were established in response to the growing demand for regional facilities for demographic research and training in Africa. The Institutes: 1) provide training courses on population and related fields; 2) organize and undertake research on all aspect of population and related fields both at the headquarters and in the countries served by the Institutes; 3) organize, in cooperation with appropriate national services and specialized agencies concerned in other African countries, workshops, seminars and meetings on national, subregional and regional population problems; 4) provide at the request of the governments of the countries such advisory services as may be within their competence and resources; 5) grant degrees, diplomas, certificates or other awards to persons in respect of courses of study provided by the Institutes and subject to the approval of the Governing Council, established for the purpose such relationships with national universities or similar institutions; 6) provide documentation in the various fields of population with respect to Africa, to research workers of national, subregional and regional organizations. Information pertaining to admission requirements, fellowships, application forms, and training activities, is also provided.


We compared the number of new gadolinium-enhancing (Gd+) and T2-weighted (T2W) lesions on 6-monthly MRI scans before and after initiating weekly intramuscular injections of interferon beta-1a (Avonex) 30 mcg. The mean number of new focal Gd+ lesions detected during the 6 monthly on-treatment scanning sessions was 58 per cent less per MRI scan and 62.5 per cent less per patient than during the 6 monthly pre-treatment scanning sessions (p = 0.016, Wilcoxon signed rank test). The results are similar for new focal Gd+ and T2W lesions. The reduction in disease activity detected by monthly Gd+ enhanced MRI scans after initiating weekly intramuscular interferon beta-1a 30 mcg is consistent with benefits observed with thrice weekly subcutaneous interferon beta-1a 10 and 30 mcg and alternate day subcutaneous interferon beta-1b 8.0 MIU.


— We investigate the wealth evolution in a system of agents that exchange wealth through a disordered network in presence of an additive stochastic Gaussian noise. We show that the resulting wealth distribution is shaped by the degree distribution of the underlying network and in particular we verify that scale free networks generate distributions with power-law tails in the high-income region. Numerical simulations of wealth exchanges performed on two different kind of networks show the inner relation between the wealth distribution and the network properties and confirm the agreement with a self-consistent solution. We show that empirical data for the income distribution in Australia are qualitatively well described by our theoretical predictions.


From the palace hotels of the elite to cheap lodging houses, residential hotels have been an element of American urban life for nearly two hundred years. Since 1870, however, they have been the target of an official war led by people whose concept of home does not include the hotel. Do these residences constitute an essential housing resource, or are they, as charged, a public nuisance? "Living Downtown", a social and cultural history of life in American residential hotels, adds a historical perspective to this ongoing debate. Combining evidence from biographies, buildings and urban neighbourhoods, workplace records, and housing policies, Paul Groth provides an analysis of life in four price-differentiated types of downtown residence. He demonstrates that these hotels have played a valuable socio-economic role as home to both long-term residents and temporary labourers. Also, the convenience of hotels has made them the residence of choice for a surprising number of Americans, from hobo author Boxcar Bertha to Calvin Coolidge. Groth examines the social and cultural objections to hotel households and the increasing efforts to eliminate them, which have led to the seemingly irrational destruction of millions of such housing units since 1960. He argues that these efforts have been a leading contributor to urban homelessness. This work aims to expand the concept of the American home and to recast accepted notions about the relationships among urban life, architecture, and the public management of residential environments.


The restriction factor Fv1 confers resistance to murine leukemia virus (MLV), blocking progression of the viral life cycle after reverse transcription, but before integration into the host chromosome. It is known that the specificity of restriction is determined by both the restriction factor and the viral capsid (CA), but a direct interaction between Fv1 and MLV CA has not yet been demonstrated. With the development of a previously unexplored method for in vitro polymerization of MLV CA, it has now been possible to display a binding interaction between Fv1 and MLV CA. C-terminally His-tagged CA molecules were assembled on Ni-chelating lipid nanotubes, and analysis by electron microscopy revealed the formation of a regular lattice. Comparison of binding data with existing restriction data confirmed the specificity of the binding interaction, with multiple positions of both Fv1 and CA shown to influence binding specificity.


Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common cause of gynecological cancer-related mortality worldwide. The discovery that PARP inhibitors block an essential DNA repair pathway in BRCA mutant cells has revolutionized the management of high-grade ovarian cancers. The cross talk among PARP inhibitors and other molecularly targeted therapies such as anti angiogenic drugs further broadens the scope of these agents. A paradigm shift in the management of ovarian cancer is rapidly emerging, potentiated by a better understanding of the underlying defective molecular pathways/mechanisms.
This is providing the opportunity for the clinicians to deliver an effective, yet less toxic and durable treatment to a molecularly selected patient population.


In this paper, we describe the main principles of our approach for the
 visualization of surfaces and curves on them in three-dimensional space by
 the use of line graphics. We also compare our approach with the standard
 method of polygon mesh. Mainly, we discuss the representation of surfaces,
 special lines on surfaces and lines of intersections of surfaces.
 Furthermore, we address the problems of visibility and finding the contour
 lines of surfaces. Finally we apply our method for visualizing some selected
 topic in mathematics.


BACKGROUND: External factors such as diet and lifestyle may be important in the etiology of invasive prostate cancer. Specific features of prostate cancer, including high prevalence, long latency, and significant mortality and morbidity, provide the opportunities for chemoprevention. METHODS: The authors examine the experimental and epidemiological data demonstrating the chemopreventive activity, safety, and toxicity of chronic administration of these specific nutrients as chemopreventive agents in prostate cancer. RESULTS: Several nutrients have been identified as agents that inhibit mutagenesis and hyperproliferation or induce apoptosis or differentiation, which are critical characteristics for chemoprevention. Successful chemopreventive strategies require well-characterized agents, suitable cohorts, and reliable intermediate biomarkers of cancer for evaluating efficacy. Phytoestrogens/isoflavones, vitamins D and E, selenium, and lycopene have been identified as promising nutrients in the role of chemoprevention of prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical studies to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of these agents as future prospects in cancer chemoprevention, both individually and in combination, are warranted.


Given a totally nonholonomic distribution of rank two on a three-dimensional manifold we investigate the size of the set of points that can be reached by singular horizontal paths starting from a same point. In this setting, the Sard conjecture states that that set should be a subset of the so-called Martinet surface of 2-dimensional Hausdorff measure zero. We prove that the conjecture holds in the case where the Martinet surface is smooth. Moreover, we address the case of singular real-analytic Martinet surfaces and show that the result holds true under an assumption of non-transversality of the distribution on the singular set of the Martinet surface. Our methods rely on the control of the divergence of vector fields generating the trace of the distribution on the Martinet surface and some techniques of resolution of singularities.


Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are natural byproducts of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Dysfunction in electron shuttling leads to enhanced ROS production that is notorious for inflicting damage to macromolecules. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is particularly sensitive to ROS as it is located in close proximity to the respiratory chain. Additionally, mtDNA lack histones which are known to provide protection from ROS. Mitochondria also have limited DNA repair mechanisms making damage to mtDNA more detrimental to mitochondrial physiology. Recent evidence suggests that oxidative insult, leads to mtDNA degradation to prevent the accumulation of mutagenic base lesions, which is enabled by the high redundancy of mtDNA. The primary objectives of this study were to determine the impact of redox-active mitochondrial-targeted chemotherapeutic agents on mitochondrial physiology and mtDNA integrity. All experiments were performed in two cancer cell lines [MDA-MB-231 (breast) and H23 (lung)] that were treated with 2 uM of the mitochondrial-targeted redox-active compounds: MitoTempol [C4 (MT4)], MitoQuinone (MQ) and MitoChromanol-Acetate (MCA) for 1 or 24 hrs. Mitochondrial status was determined by measuring mitochondrial membrane potential, superoxide production, oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and protein levels of the respiratory chain complexes using the JC-1 and MitoSOX assays, Seahorse XF analysis, and immunoblotting, respectively. Next, mtDNA integrity was analyzed by quantifying the degree of mtDNA fragmentation using PCR amplification of a 10kb fragment compared to a short 100bp fragment. Moreover, changes in the mtDNA replication machinery were assessed using immunoblotting. MQ and MCA induced a loss in mitochondrial function and mtDNA replication machinery as indicated by a reduction in membrane potential, OCR and protein levels. Furthermore, increases in superoxide levels and mtDNA fragmentation were observed with MQ and MCA treatment. Finally, we assessed mitochondrial content using two methods. The first method being the ratio of mitochondrial to nuclear DNA, determined by qPCR of short (∼100bp) nuclear and mitochondrial sequences. The second method was the ratio of mitochondrial outer membrane proteins to cytoplasmic housekeeping proteins, determined by immunoblotting. Both mitochondria DNA and outer membrane proteins decreased with MQ and MCA treatment suggesting that redox-active mitochondrial-targeted agents may reduce the mitochondrial content in cancer cells. Citation Format: Kaytee L. Pokrzywinski, Thomas G. Biel, Dmitry Kryndushkin, V. Ashutosh Rao. The impact of mitochondrially targeted oncology agents on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) integrity. [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 3005.


Free Space Optics (FSO) links are affected by several impairments and, among them, optical turbulence is the most important factor that can degrade the link quality. Due to the presence of this phenomenon, the signal irradiance detected by the receiver fluctuates, thus causing erasure errors and fading events. In this work, we present an indoor Free Space Optics link, in which several turbulence conditions are generated by using two heating elements. We show that the generated turbulence causes erasure errors and packet losses during the data transmission, and we also compare the statistical distribution of the samples with the theoretical models. Moreover, we demonstrate how the application of the most recent rateless codes, i.e., RaptorQ codes, can strongly improve the link quality. In particular, results show that the Packet Error Rate strongly decreases when employing RaptorQ codes. Finally, we conclude that, by properly setting the encoding/decoding parameters, we can correctly receive the whole transmitted data without any errors.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

HOX genes encode a family of homeodomain-containing transcription factors involved in the determination of cell fate and identity during embryonic development. HOXB7 is overexpressed in more than 70% of breast cancers. Overexpression of HOXB7 in breast epithelial cells and induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In this study, we found that overexpression of the HOXB7 gene in breast cell lines increases cancer stem cell populations and promotes cell invasion, in contrast, knockdown of HOXB7 expression decreases the proportions of cancer stem cells. Colonogenic assay and xenograft transplantation experiments further confirmed that overexpression of HOXB7 in breast cancer cells increases their tumorigenecity both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically we found that HOXB7 strongly induces TGFβ2 expression and activates the canonical TGFβ/SMAD signaling pathways, which may be responsible for induction of EMT leading to expansion of cancer stem cell population. Overall, our results suggest that HOXB7 may be a critical factor which regulates the self-renewal and differentiation of breast cancer stem cells and therefore a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer.

Citation Format: Shou Liu, Sarah Johnson, Hexin Chen. HOXB7 regulates breast cancer stem cells via induction of TGFβ2. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-54. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-LB-54


Radiotherapy is a powerful cure for several types of solid tumours, but its application is often limited because of severe side effects in individual patients. With the aim to find biomarkers capable of predicting normal tissue side reactions we analysed the radiation responses of cells from individual head and neck tumour and breast cancer patients of different clinical radiosensitivity in a multicentric study. Multiple parameters of cellular radiosensitivity were analysed in coded samples of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and derived lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from 15 clinical radio-hypersensitive tumour patients and compared to age- and sex-matched non-radiosensitive patient controls and 15 lymphoblastoid cell lines from age- and sex- matched healthy controls of the KORA study. Experimental parameters included ionizing radiation (IR)-induced cell death (AnnexinV), induction and repair of DNA strand breaks (Comet assay), induction of yH2AX foci (as a result of DNA double strand breaks), and whole genome expression analyses. Considerable inter-individual differences in IR-induced DNA strand breaks and their repair and/or cell death could be detected in primary and immortalised cells with the applied assays. The group of clinically radiosensitive patients was not unequivocally distinguishable from normal responding patients nor were individual overreacting patients in the test system unambiguously identified by two different laboratories. Thus, the in vitro test systems investigated here seem not to be appropriate for a general prediction of clinical reactions during or after radiotherapy due to the experimental variability compared to the small effect of radiation sensitivity. Genome-wide expression analysis however revealed a set of 67 marker genes which were differentially induced 6 h after in vitro-irradiation in lymphocytes from radio-hypersensitive and non-radiosensitive patients. These results warrant future validation in larger cohorts in order to determine parameters potentially predictive for clinical radiosensitivity.


It is now well established that galaxy interactions and mergers play a crucial role in the hierarchical growth of structure in our universe. Galaxy mergers can lead to the formation of elliptical galaxies and larger disk galaxies, as well as drive galaxy evolution through star formation and nuclear activity. During mergers, the nuclei of the individual galaxies come closer and finally form a double nuclei galaxy. Although mergers are common, the detection of double-nuclei galaxies (DNGs) is rare and fairly serendipitous. Their detection is very important as their properties can help us understand the formation of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries, dual active galactic nuclei (DAGN), and the associated feedback effects. There is thus a need for an automatic/systematic survey of data for the discovery of double nuclei galaxies. Using the Sloan digital sky survey (SDSS) as the target catalog, we have introduced a novel algorithm "Gothic" (Graph-bOosTed iterated HIll Climbing) that detects whether a given image of a galaxy has characteristic features of a DNG (ASCL entry 2707). We have tested the algorithm on a random sample of 100,000 galaxies from the Stripe 82 region in SDSS and obtained a maximum detection rate of 4.2% with a careful choice of the input catalog.


This article addresses how close relationships can be conceptualized so that they can be accurately understood over the life span. First, two typical clusters of theories of close relationships, the attachment theory and the social network theory, are compared and discussed with regard to their fundamental but controversial assumptions regarding the scope of lifelong development. Second, previous research into close relationships among mature adults is reviewed. Third, a new social network model, the affective relationships model, and its assessment instrument are proposed. This model describes the nature of individual close relationships consisting of multiple significant others, and condenses the complexity of each social network by typological classifications. Fourth, new evidence based on the model is reviewed. Finally, fundamental assumptions about close relationships and emerging topics for future studies are discussed.


Nine cases of symplastic uterine leiomyomas were chosen from our files using strict criteria. An immunochemical study of the expressions of Ki-67, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and p53 was performed. For each antigen, the percentages of positive atypical (bizarre) cells and nonatypical cells were compared. Both groups had identical and fairly high estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor immunohistochemical profiles and very low levels of p53 expression. The atypical cells had significantly higher percentages of cells expressing Ki-67 compared with nonatypical cells (17±20% vs. 3±3.9%). Therefore, rather than being degenerative in nature, the atypical cells are actively proliferating.


Contemporary illustration is infatuated with texture. The imperfections of analogue processes and signs of physical decay, which were once incidental, or even irritating, are now highly sought after and frequently replicated in order to provide an ornamental layer to contemporary digital
 illustration. Nicholas Stevenson is an illustrator who uses texture this way. His visual language centres around analogue textures that are digitally applied from an ever-growing library of scanned surfaces: taken from worn book jackets, watermarked paper and ink smudges. This visual essay
 explores this topic through Nicholas's illustrations in dialogue with Gabrielle's written, critical commentary. Drawing on Mark Fisher's ideas about hauntology in twenty-first-century western culture, and Jean Baudrillard's simulacra, we intend to explore the latent effects of the ornamental
 application of analogue texture in digital illustration, with Nicholas Stevenson's work taking the role of both example and co-contributor.


Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered as a new kind of lubricant for micro/nanoelectromechanical system (M/NEMS) due to their excellent thermal and electrical conductivity. However, so far, only few reports have
investigated the tribological behavior of molecular thin films of various ILs. Evaluating the nanoscale tribological performance of ILs when applied as a few nanometersthick film on a substrate is a critical step for their application in MEMS/NEMS devices. To this end, four kinds of ionic liquid carrying methyl, hydroxyl, nitrile, and carboxyl group were synthesized and these molecular thin films were prepared on single crystal silicon wafer by dipcoating method. Film thickness was determined by ellipsometric method. The chemical composition and morphology were characterized by the means of multitechnique X-ray photoelectron spectrometric analysis, and atomic force microscopic (AFM) analysis, respectively. The nano- and microtribological properties of the ionic liquid films were investigated. The morphologies of wear tracks of IL films were examined using a 3D non-contact interferometric microscope. The influence of temperature on friction and adhesion behavior at nanoscale, and the effect of sliding frequency and load on friction coefficient, load bearing capacity, and anti-wear durability at microscale were studied. Corresponding tribological mechanisms of IL films were investigated by AFM and ball-on-plane microtribotester. Friction reduction, adhesion resistance, and durability of IL films were dependent on their cation chemical structures, wettability, and ambient environment.


Many public housing properties developed by local governments in Taiwan in the 1980s have deteriorated severely as these rental apartment buildings aged. The lack of building maintainability considerations during project design phase as well as insufficient maintenance funds have made it difficult and costly for local governments to maintain and keep public housing properties in good shape. In order to assist the local governments in achieving and delivering sustainable public housing, this paper intends to present a developed design evaluation method to be used to evaluate the presented design schemes from property management and financial feasibility perspectives during project design phase of public housing projects. The design evaluation results, i.e. the property management and financial implications of presented design schemes that could occur later during the building operation and maintenance phase, will be reported to the client (the government) and design schemes revised consequently. It is proposed that the design evaluation be performed from two main perspectives: (1) Operation and property management perspective: Three criteria such as spatial appropriateness, people and vehicle circulation and control, property management working spaces are used to evaluate the 'operation and PM effectiveness' of a design scheme. (2) Financial feasibility perspective: Four types of financial analyses are performed to assess the long term financial feasibility of a presented design scheme, such as operational and rental income analysis, management fund analysis, regular operational and property management service expense analysis, capital expense analysis. The ongoing Chung-Li Public Housing Project developed by the Taoyuan City Government will be used as a case to demonstrate how the presented design evaluation method is implemented. The results of property management assessment as well as the annual operational and capital expenses of a proposed design scheme are presented. Keywords—Design evaluation method, management fund, operational and capital expenses, rental apartment buildings.


We read with great interest the report by Qiu and colleages reporting the first case of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Based on elevated transaminases, jaundice, and coagulopathy, the authors discuss hepatic virus entry and systemic inflammation as possible underlying mechanisms. As ACLF following hepatic versus extrahepatic insults may differ in presentation, course, and prognosis, we herein report the case of a patient with ACLF precipitated by extrahepatic complications of SARS-CoV-2.


Log-structured storage systems are file or block storage systems which write data in temporal order, rather using e.g. LBA or other spatial information to determine physical location. They are widely used as translation layers for flash and now Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) disk, performing the out-of-place write function needed for media where direct overwriting of data is not possible. Although certain aspects of log-structured storage system performance (i.e. write amplification) have been extensively studied, few or no efforts have examined the effect of seek overhead on workloads in this context. We examine seek overheads due to logstructured writing across a range of well-known and more recent block I/O traces, demonstrating that while some workloads are relatively unaffected, others suffer significantly. In addition we propose two novel mechanisms,opportunistic defragmentation and translation aware selective caching, for seek reduction in log-structured systems, as well as an application of existing disk read-ahead techniques (which we name translation aware look-ahead-behind prefetching), and demonstrate that these mechanisms greatly reduce or even eliminate increases in read seek cost in almost all workloads examined. We evaluate our proposed techniques using a metric we define, seek amplification factor. Results show up to 4x, 4x and 18x improvement of seek amplification factor among the studied workloads for opportunistic defragmentation, translation aware selective caching and translation aware selective caching respectively.


INTRODUCTION: Social health insurance (SHI) is a risk-sharing method-based health care financing and administration. SHI combines the contributions of people, households, businesses, and the government with people's health hazards. As a result, it shields people from financial and physical hardship and is a generally equitable way to pay for medical care. This study aims to assess the status of social health insurance in Nepal. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The research is based on a review of empirical studies, reports, and data. The Google Scholar search engine was used to locate research publications on health insurance. The Google Scholar Open Database was applied to find the publications using the keywords "health insurance" or "social health insurance in Nepal." All papers that were published before July 2022 were checked for the study. Fifty-seven research papers were discovered during the initial inquiry; five duplicate articles were eliminated, and seven were out of the norm. Finally, 45 research papers and reports were selected for evaluation with the study titled "The status of health insurance in Nepal." RESULTS: This study finds that Madhesh province has poor status (4.63%) of social health insurance and province one has the highest (33.02%) of insured persons in Nepal. Females (52%) insured are higher than males (48%). The population covered by health insurance is seven percent in Nepal. Likewise, the renewal status of social health insurance is poor in Karnali province (50%) and highest in Lumbini province (85%) for the fiscal year 2021/22. CONCLUSIONS: Social health insurance is an effective strategy for fair access to healthcare services. The penetration of social health insurance is low in Nepal. Since the social health insurance program is one of the effective tools for improving the health system in developing nations like Nepal, so the government should speed up its implementation to achieve the goal of universal health coverage and sustainable development goals.


languages" capable of use as educational media as well as for administrative and literary purposes. This process has passed through many vicissitudes affecting script, vocabulary, and grammatical structure; but the Turkic tongues of the Soviet Union have by now to a considerable degree crystallized, and with the aid of Mrs. Waterson's dictionary, the study at least of Uzbek has become a practical possibility. Although the present work is modestly described as primarily concerned with the modern spoken language, it will be found adequate for the reading of most modern Uzbek literature. The main body of the dictionary consists of 9,000-10,000 "head-words". This this is added a "List of suffixes, prefixes, etc.", which, used in conjunction with the "head-words", provides the meaning of a large number of derived forms. Other sections of this admirably concise and practical work deal with pronunciation, current acronyms, and the orthographical changes to which Uzbek has been subjected during the past 50 years.


In this paper, we present the multichannel median M-type L (MMML) -filter to remove impulsive noise from color images. The proposed technique uses the MM (median M-type) - estimator with simplest influence function in the L filtering algorithm and these are adapted to multichannel image processing applications. The results from known techniques are compared with the proposed method to demonstrate its performance in terms of noise suppression, detail preservation, and color retention.


The application of the R6 failure assessment procedure to surface flaws requires the definition of a plastic yield load that characterizes the crack tip deformation at both the deepest and surface points on the defect. Inthis paper the results of finite element computations of the J-integral are used to identify the most appropriate yield loads. This is achieved by assuming that the Option 2 failure assessment diagram (FAD), which is based on a reference stress approximation to J, provides a good approximation to the Option 3 FAD, which is derived from the computed J values. The finite element results for surface flaws in plates and cylinders are used in the investigation. It is demonstrated that global yield loads, which characterize the overall plastic deformation of the cracked structure, produce a better agreement between the R6 procedure, and the finite element solutions, than do local yield loads, which are usually chosen to characterize the plastic deformation at a specific location on the crack front.


It is now well established that two distinct types of motion occur in geophysical turbulence: slow motions associated with potential vorticity advection and fast oscillations due to inertia–gravity waves (or acoustic waves). Many studies have theorized the existence of a flow for which the entire motion is controlled by the potential vorticity (or one 'master variable') – this is known as balance. In real geophysical flows, deviations from balance in the form of inertia–gravity waves or 'imbalance' have often been found to be small. Here we examine the extent to which balance holds in rotating stratified turbulence which is nearly balanced initially. Using the non-hydrostatic fluid dynamical equations under the Boussinesq approximation, we analyse properties of rotating stratified turbulence spanning a range of Rossby numbers (Ro≡|ζ|max/f) and the frequency ratios (c≡N/f) where ζ is the relative vertical vorticity, f is the Coriolis frequency and N is the buoyancy frequency. Using a recently introduced diagnostic procedure, called 'optimal potential vorticity balance', we extract the balanced part of the flow in the simulations and assess how the degree of imbalance varies with the above parameters. We also introduce a new and more efficient procedure, building upon a quasi-geostrophic scaling analysis of the complete non-hydrostatic equations. This 'nonlinear quasi-geostrophic balance' procedure expands the equations of motion to second order in Rossby number but retains the exact (unexpanded) definition of potential vorticity. This proves crucial for obtaining an accurate estimate of balanced motions. In the analysis of rotating stratified turbulence at Ro≲1 and N/f≫1, this procedure captures a significantly greater fraction of the underlying balance than standard (linear) quasi-geostrophic balance (which is based on the linearized equations about a state of rest). Nonlinear quasi-geostrophic balance also compares well with optimal potential vorticity balance, which captures the greatest fraction of the underlying balance overall. More fundamentally, the results of these analyses indicate that balance dominates in carefully initialized simulations of freely decaying rotating stratified turbulence up to O(1) Rossby numbers when N/f≫1. The fluid motion exhibits important quasi-geostrophic features with, in particular, typical height-to-width scale ratios remaining comparable to f/N.