Background Regulatory T-cells (Tregs), characterized as CD4+CD25hi T-cells expressing FOXP3, play a crucial role in controlling healthy immune development during early immune maturation. Recently, FOXP3 demethylation was suggested to be a novel marker for natural Tregs in adults. In cord blood, the role and function of Tregs and its demethylation is poorly understood. We assessed FOXP3 demethylation in cord blood in relation to previously used Treg markers such as CD4+CD25hi, FOXP3 mRNA, protein expression, and suppressive Treg function. Methodology Cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMC) were isolated from 70 healthy neonates, stimulated for 3 days with the microbial stimulus lipid A (LpA), and allergen Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Derp1). Tregs (CD4+CD25hi, intracellular, mRNA FOXP3 expression, isolated cells), DNA methylation of the FOXP3-locus and suppressive Treg function were assessed. Principal Findings Demethylation of FOXP3 in whole blood was specific for isolated CD4+CD25hi Tregs. Demethylation of FOXP3 was positively correlated with unstimulated and LpA-stimulated FOXP3 mRNA-expression (p≤0.05), and CD4+CD25hi T-cells (p≤0.03). Importantly, increased FOXP3 demethylation correlated with more efficient suppressive capacity of Tregs (r = 0.72, p = 0.005). Furthermore, FOXP3 demethylation was positively correlated with Th2 cytokines (IL-5, IL-13) following LpA-stimulation (p = 0.006/0.04), with Th2 and IL-17 following Derp1+LpA-stimulations (p≤0.009), but not Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ). Conclusions FOXP3 demethylation reliable quantifies Tregs in cord blood. FOXP3 demethylation corresponds well with the suppressive potential of Tregs. The resulting strict correlation with functionally suppressive Tregs and the relative ease of measurement render it into a valuable novel marker for large field studies assessing Tregs as qualitative marker indicative of functional activity.


A human-derived strain of the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, a recently described emerging rickettsial disease, has been established by serial blood passage in mouse hosts. Larval deer ticks acquired infection by feeding upon such mice and efficiently transmitted the ehrlichiae after molting to nymphs, thereby demonstrating vector competence. The agent was detected by demonstrating Feulgen-positive inclusions in the salivary glands of the experimentally infected ticks and from field-derived adult deer ticks. White-footed mice from a field site infected laboratory-reared ticks with the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, suggesting that these rodents serve as reservoirs for ehrlichiae as well as for Lyme disease spirochetes and the piroplasm that causes human babesiosis. About 10% of host-seeking deer ticks were infected with ehrlichiae, and of these, 20% also contained spirochetes. Cotransmission of diverse pathogens by the aggressively human-biting deer tick may have a unique impact on public health in certain endemic sites.


1 Background In many animal species, parents allocate resources to enhance offspring survival and thereby reproductive success ('parental investment'). The level of parental investment varies between species and individuals, and one critical question in behavioral ecology and evolution is to which degree variation in parental investment affects offspring development and survival. Crucially, parental investment varies with offspring age, which creates non-trivial problems for statistical analyses, specifically when sampling is incomplete or biased. 2 Methods We conducted a simulation study to illustrate the problem when using average parental investment while not correcting for offspring age, and propose a modeling approach to correct for offspring age and sampling biases. We simulated a set of different scenarios, varying with regard to sample size, sampling scheme, and variation in parental investment. To model parent behavior as a function of offspring age, we fitted a Generalized Linear Mixed Model for each simulated data set. We included offspring age as a fixed effect and extracted the Best Linear Unbiased Predictors (BLUPs) for the random intercept of parent identity. These BLUPs represent the parental investment corrected for offspring age. Finally, we assessed how our proposed modeling approach compares to the conventional approach. 3 Results The proposed modeling approach was clearly superior to the conventional approach. More specifically, the conventional approach clearly overestimated the variation between parents, and even diagnosed appreciable variation when there was none in the simulated data. This bias was exacerbated by incomplete or unbalanced sampling schemes. 4 Conclusion Our simulation study clearly demonstrates the necessity of correcting for offspring age in analyses of parental investment. We strongly suggest including random slopes of offspring age within parent-offspring dyads, because doing so can reveal parent-specific trajectories of the modeled behavior against offspring age. Our approach allows for the inclusion of further categorical and continuous predictor variables that may affect parental investment, such as parity or ecological conditions. In summary, the proposed modeling approach has several advantages over conventional methods.


A 12 year old boy presents for a routine asthma follow-up appointment during the autumn. He takes 200 μg per day of inhaled budesonide and uses his salbutamol 3–4 times per week. His mother asks if the flu vaccine will make it less likely that he will have an asthma exacerbation over the winter.

In children with asthma [patient] does influenza vaccination [intervention] reduce the number of asthma exacerbations associated with influenza [outcome]?

Primary sources: Medline 1966–April week 3 2006 using the OVID interface: {exp Infant/ or exp Child/ or exp Adolescent/ or exp Child, Preschool/} AND {exp Influenza Vaccines/ or {exp Vaccination/ and exp Influenza, Human/}} AND {exp Asthma/}.

PubMed and EMBASE: No further relevant …


The paper deals with several descriptions of the yield criteria, within the constitutive framework of anisotropic finite multiplicative elasto-plasticity. We put into evidence appropriate yield criteria, defined either in stress or strain spaces and we analyse the Eulerian setting attached to Σ-models, first described in relaxed configuration, when Σ represents the Mandel's stress measure or the quasistatic Eshelby stress tensor. We compare our anisotropic model with the elasto-plastic model, usually adopted in computational finite plasticity.


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In recent years, the utilization of the selective ion transport through porous membranes for osmotic power generation (blue energy) has received a lot of attention. The principal of power generation using the porous membranes is same as that of conventional reverse electrodialysis (RED), but nonporous ion exchange membranes are conventionally used for RED. The ion transport mechanisms through the porous and nonporous membranes are considerably different. Unlike the conventional nonporous membranes, the ion transport through the porous membranes is largely dictated by the principles of nanofluidics. This owes to the fact that the osmotic power generation via selective ion transport through porous membranes is often referred to as nanofluidic reverse electrodialysis (NRED) or nanopore-based power generation (NPG). While RED using nonporous membranes has already been implemented on a pilot-plant scale, the progress of NRED/NPG has so far been limited in the development of small-scale, novel, porous membrane materials. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the membrane design concepts of nanofluidic porous membranes for NPG/NRED. A brief description of material design concepts of conventional nonporous membranes for RED is provided as well.


This article considers whether the current approach of the criminal law to the unauthorised disclosure of personal data is adequate to deal with situations in which this disclosure has facilitated the commission of some other criminal offence. It argues that the focus of the criminal law should be on the consequences of disclosure and that there are strong policy arguments in favour of imposing liability on the person making disclosure for the offence that has been committed as a consequence of this conduct. In doing so, the article considers whether this could and should lead to the imposition of liability for constructive manslaughter if the disclosure of personal data leads to the death of the person to whom the data relates. The article concludes by suggesting that the most appropriate response is to strengthen the existing law with creation of a new offence that would focus on the consequences of disclosure.


Abstract O-antigens present on the surface of Escherichia coli provide antigenic specificity for the strain and are the main components for O-serogroup designation. Serotyping using O-group-specific antisera for the identification of E. coli O-serogroups has been traditionally the gold-standard for distinguishing E. coli strains. Knowledge of the O-group is important for determining pathogenic lineage, classifying E. coli for epidemiological studies, for determining virulence, and for tracing outbreaks of diseases and sources of infection. However, serotyping has limitations, as the antisera generated against each specific O-group may cross-react, many strains are non-typeable, and others can autoagglutinate or be rough (lacking an O-antigen). Currently, the nucleotide sequences are available for most of the 187 designated E. coli O-groups. Public health and other laboratories are considering whole genome sequencing to develop genotypic methods to determine O-groups. These procedures require instrumentation and analysis that may not be accessible and may be cost-prohibitive at this time. In this review, we have identified unique gene sequences within the O-antigen gene clusters and have targeted these genes for identification of O-groups using the polymerase chain reaction. This information can be used to distinguish O-groups by developing other platforms for E. coli diagnostics in the future.


This work deals with pitch content visualization tools for the analysis of music performance from audio recordings. An existing computational method for the representation of pitch contours is briefly reviewed. Its application to music analysis is exemplified with two pieces of non-notated music: a field recording of a folkloric form of polyphonic singing and a commercial recording by a noted blues musician. Both examples have vocal parts exhibiting complex pitch evolution, difficult to analyze and notate with precision using Western common music notation. By using novel time-frequency analysis techniques that improve the location of the components of a harmonic sound, the melodic content representation implemented here allows a detailed study of aspects related to pitch intonation and tuning. This in turn permits an objective measurement of essential musical characteristics that are difficult or impossible to properly evaluate by subjective perception alone, and which are often not accounted for in traditional musicological analysis. Two software tools are released that allow the practical use of the described methods.


Online social networks are found these days among all generations of internet users so that they have become a noticeable communicative tool especially for scholars and students. Academies' and faculties are increasingly using the social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Research Gate etc., for communication with potential university students as well as providing educational content. The present study aims to examine the effects of virtual social networks on educational level of the students. The social networks in Iran have never been studied in terms of the time spent on the social networks and their effects on academies performance. For this purpose, some questionnaires' in Likert spectrum were used in order to ensure the questionnaires' reliability, which were confirmed by the Political Sciences and Law Faculty. Questionnaires' validity was then confirmed by Cronbach-a at 0.821. The sample under study consists of 144 students from political sciences and law faculty of Allameh Tabatabai University. The samples were chosen randomly based on SPSS 22 and smart PLS. The obtained results suggested that there's a significant negative relation between the time spent on the social networks and the academic performance. The results also revealed that more attention to the social networks has no impact on the academic performance. In addition, factors such as students' features, their academic capabilities, prediction of their behaviors like their perception of social attitude towards social networks and their tendency toward virtual social networks are related to convenience of using the social networks. There's a relation between academic capabilities and the time spent on online social networks.


Rehospitalizations in the Medicare population may be influenced by many social factors, such as access to food, social isolation, and housing safety. Rehospitalizations result in significant cost in this population, with an expected increase as Medicare enrollment grows. We designed a pilot study based upon a partnership between a hospital and a local Meals on Wheels agency to support patients following an incident hospitalization to assess impact on hospital utilization. Patients from an urban medical center who were 60 years or older, had a prior hospitalization in the past 12-months and had a diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were recruited. Meals on Wheels provided interventions over 3-months of the patient's transition to home: food delivery, home safety inspection, social engagement, and medical supply allocation. Primary outcome was reduction of hospital utilization. In regards to the results, 84 participants comprised the pilot cohort. Their mean age was 74.9 ± 10.5 years; 33 (39.3%) were female; 62 (73.8%) resided in extreme socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Total hospital expenditures while the cohort was enrolled in the transition program were $435,258 ± 113,423, a decrease as compared to $1,445,637 ± 325,433 (p<0.01) of the cohort's cost during the three months prior to enrollment. In conclusion, the initiative for patients with advanced chronic diseases resulted in a significant reduction of hospitalization expenditures. Further investigations are necessary to define the impact of this intervention on a larger cohort of patients as well as the generalizability across diverse geographic regions.


In this paper, an initial analysis is performed to assess the potential loss to a building portfolio subjected to multiple, independent hazards. The procedure extends prior research that uses the First Order Reliability Method (FORM) to analyze the vulnerability of a portfolio of buildings to a seismic hazard. The paper includes discussion of issues to consider for community-wide damage measures and dependencies. The results are applied to Charleston, South Carolina, a community that has both seismic and hurricane hazards.


An approach to hierarchical scheduling for assembly in a fully-automated FMS is presented. The three-level production system consists of a master production plan, which incorporates new customer requests and makes long term production guarantees, a production ow level, planning and monitoring the ow of subassemblies among workstations, and a scheduler level, which is concerned with the sequencing and dispatching of assembly operations. An independent scheduler at each workstation coordinates robot motions and conveyor transferals to interleave the operations related to diierent subassembly products. The higher priorities of tardy subassemblies are weighed against immediate opportunities to exploit the current connguration of the workstation and maximize overall throughput. We focus mainly on the scheduler level, where heuristics and combinatorial search are combined to achieve near-optimal exploitation of each workstation's capacity. Two scheduling algorithms are described | a ne-granularity scheduler, which analyzes robot-conveyor interactions with a ne degree of timing precision, and an anytime scheduler, which stochastically generates and evaluates alternative schedules until the tradeoo between expected plan improvements and delays in operation dispatching is no longer favorable.


Introduction Congenital heart defects (CHD) affect approximately 1% of all live births, and often require complex surgeries at birth. Placental development and function is vital to ensure normal fetal development. We have previously demonstrated abnormal placental development and vascularization in human CHD placentas, and placental expression changes in genes important for heart development. Hand1 has roles in both heart and placental development and is implicated in CHDs including double right outlet, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and septal defects; however, Hand1 involvement in placental vascularization and development is under-investigated. We utilized the Hand1A126fs/+ murine model to investigate Hand1 in placentation and vascularization. Methods Hand1A126fs/+ female mice were time-mated with Nkx2.5cre (placenta- and heart-specific) males to produce either Nkx2.5cre;Hand1+/+ or Nkx2.5cre;Hand1A126fs/+ fetuses. Feto-placental units were harvested at timepoints from E8.5 to E14.5 for histological analysis; vascular assessment by immunohistochemistry for Hand1, CD-31, and CK-7; and angiogenesis by qPCR. Results Embryonic lethality occurs in Nkx2.5cre/Hand1A126fs/+ by E14.5 due to a failure of placental labyrinth formation and vascularization. Chorionic trophoblasts did not form, although trophoblast giant cell subtypes were present. Fetal vessels failed to develop properly and were significantly lower in the labyrinth by day E12.5. Placental growth factor levels were significantly increased, and Angiopoietin2 expression trended higher in Nkx2.5cre/Hand1 A126fs/+ placental labyrinths compared to control littermates. Conclusion We demonstrate that Hand1 expression in placental chorion and trophoblast is necessary for proper patterning of the labyrinth and vascularization within the labyrinth. Multiple angiogenic factors known to be expressed in trophoblast were disrupted in Nkx2.5cre/Hand1 A126fs/+ placental labyrinths compared to control littermates. Alterations in Hand1 expression represent a potential mechanism for abnormal placentation and early miscarriage in cases of CHD.


OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical manifestations and treatments of closed injuries of the cervical trachea.

METHOD
We carried out a retrospective study of the clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of patients with closed injuries of the cervical trachea that have been treated in our hospital over the last ten years. We analyzed commonly occurring clinical problems, key points of surgical treatment, and postoperative recovery. Fourty-one patients with acute closed injuries of the cervical trachea underwent emergency tracheotomy or anesthesia orotracheal intubation and surgical repair of the trachea within 24 to 48 hours. Twenty six patients had their tracheotomy tubes extubated after surgery and had their anesthesia orotracheal tubes extubated within 48 hours postoperatively; tracheotomy tubes remained in the airway in 15 patients postoperatively, and of them, 12 had extubation successfully in 2 weeks postoperatively, while the remaining 3 were left intubated due to laryngotracheal stenosis. Among the 3, 2 underwent further surgical repair and recovery, and 1 had a stent inserted.

RESULT
Twenty-eight patients fully recovered postoperatively. Ten patients mostly recovered postoperatively exception for hoarseness, and their fundamental phonation function recovered within 2 to 3 months but with poor movement of the vocal cords. The breathing and swallowing function of the other 3 patients recovered after the surgery, but they suffer from hoarseness.

CONCLUSION
In the treatment of closed disruption of the cervical trachea, prompt diagnosis and timely surgical repair of the structure and function of the trachea are key to saving the patients' lives and avoiding tracheal stenoses.


In this study, dynamic imaging was used to track the movements of oral cavity and laryngeal structures during swallowing in 10 normal adults subjects. The movements of tiny lead pellet markers attached to the lips, tongue, mandible, and soft palate, as well as anatomic landmarks on the hyoid bone, were measured in relation to a reference pellet affixed to the upper central incisors. Sagittal views of the oral cavity were obtained using standard videofluorography. Each subject produced 10 swallows of 12 ml of tap water followed by 5 swallows with a bite block placed between the molars. The recorded video images were input to a microcomputer where the x- and y-coordinates of the pellets were measured. Results of the analyses revealed considerable temporal overlap in the timing of oral cavity and laryngeal movements, widespread individual variability in coordination patterns and movement trajectories, and selective effects of the bite block. These data suggest the existence of individual adaptive strategies in the programming and control of swallowing movements.


This paper introduces a method for forecasting energy prices using artificial intelligence methods, such as neural networks and fuzzy logic, and a combination of the two. The new approach is compared with some of the exiting methods. Various factors affecting the market clearing price are investigated. Results for the Ontario electricity market are presented.


Klebsiella aerogenes strain W70 has separate inducible pathways for the degradation of the pentitols ribitol and d-arabitol. These pathways are closely linked genetically as determined by transduction with phage PW52. There are two regulatory sites for the ribitol catabolic pathway as defined by loci for mutations to constitutive synthesis of ribitol dehydrogenase and d-ribulokinase, rbtB and rbtC. The two control sites are separated by a site represented by the dalB22 mutation. This mutation deprives the cell of the ability to induce synthesis of d-arabitol dehydrogenase and d-xylulokinase activities. Two additional regulatory mutations for the d-arabitol pathway, dalC31 and dalC37, map to the opposite side of rbtB13 relative to dalB22. The order of the genetic sites thus far determined for this region is dalK-dalD-dalC31, dalC37-rbtB13-dalB22-rbtC14-rbtD-rbtK, where dalK and dalD represent structural genes for the kinase and dehydrogenase of the d-arabitol pathway, respectively, and rbtK and rbtD represent the corresponding genes for the ribitol pathway. The two mutations that lead to constitutive synthesis of the d-arabitol-induced enzymes, dalC31 and dalC37, have different phenotypes with regard to their response to xylitol. The growth of dalC31 is inhibited by xylitol, but the toxicity can be reduced by increasing the levels of ribitol dehydrogenase either by induction with ribitol or by selection of a ribitol dehydrogenase-constitutive mutation.


The behavior of many speech recognition systems, and of some Artificial Intelligence programs, can he modeled as a data driven computation in which the "instructions" are complex but inexpensive operations (e.g. the evaluation of the likelihood of a partial sentence hypothesis), and the "data-flow graph" is derived directly from the knowledge representation (e.g. the phoneme-level network in a Harpy system). The architecture of a machine that exploits this characteristic is presented together with the results of the simulation of one possible implementation.


High-quality transcript-based annotations of genes facilitates both genome-wide analyses and detailed single locus research. In contrast, transposable element (TE) annotations are rudimentary, consisting of only information on location and type of TE. When analyzing TEs, their repetitiveness and limited annotation prevents the ability to distinguish between potentially functional expressed elements and degraded copies. To improve genome-wide TE bioinformatics, we performed long-read Oxford Nanopore sequencing of cDNAs from Arabidopsis lines deficient in multiple layers of TE repression. We used these uniquely-mapping transcripts to identify the set of TEs able to generate mRNAs, and created a new transcript-based annotation of TEs that we have layered upon the existing high-quality community standard TAIR10 annotation. The improved annotation enables us to test specific standing hypotheses in the TE field. We demonstrate that inefficient TE splicing does not trigger small RNA production, and the cell more strongly targets DNA methylation to TEs that have the potential to make mRNAs. This work provides a transcript-based TE annotation for Arabidopsis, and serves as a blueprint to reduce the genomic complexity associated with repetitive TEs in any organism.


In this paper, we present multiple techniques for phase-based narrowband backscatter tag localization in three-dimensional space with planar antenna arrays or synthetic apertures. Beamformer and MUSIC localization algorithms, known from near-field source localization and direction-of-arrival estimation, are applied to the 3D backscatter scenario and their performance in terms of localization accuracy is evaluated. We discuss the impact of different transceiver modes known from the literature, which evaluate different send and receive antenna path combinations for a single localization, as in multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems. Furthermore, we propose a new Singledimensional-MIMO (S-MIMO) transceiver mode, which is especially suited for use with mobile robot systems. Monte-Carlo simulations based on a realistic multipath error model ensure spatial correlation of the simulated signals, and serve to critically appraise the accuracies of the different localization approaches. A synthetic uniform rectangular array created by a robotic arm is used to evaluate selected localization techniques. We use an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) setup to compare measurements with the theory and simulation. The results show how a mean localization accuracy of less than 30 cm can be reached in an indoor environment. Further simulations demonstrate how the distance between aperture and tag affects the localization accuracy and how the size and grid spacing of the rectangular array need to be adapted to improve the localization accuracy down to orders of magnitude in the centimeter range, and to maximize array efficiency in terms of localization accuracy per number of elements.


Recently, an unprecedented growth in the internet of things (IoT) is being observed, which is becoming the main driver for the entire semiconductor industry. Reliable maintenance and servicing of the IoT is becoming challenging, knowing that the IoT nodes outnumber the human population by a factor of seven. Energy harvesting (EH) can overcome those difficulties, delivering the energyautonomous IoT nodes to the market. EH converts natural or waste energies (vibrations, heat losses, air flows, light, etc.) into useful energy. This article explores the performance of ZnO nanowires under mechanical actuation to characterize their piezoelectric performance. ZnO nanowires were fabricated using ALD and a subsequent chemical bath growth. AISI 301 steel was used as a substrate of the EH device to better fit the mechanical requirements for the piezoelectric generator. We determined that a thin layer of another oxide below ZnO provides outstanding adhesion. The samples were submitted under repetitive mechanical stress in order to characterize the output piezovoltage for different conditions. They exhibited a piezoelectric signal which was stable after hundreds of actuations. This shows good promise for the use of our device based on ZnO, an Earth-abundant and non-toxic material, as an alternative to the conventional and popular but harmful and toxic PZT. The designed measurement setup demonstrated that a AISI 301 steel substrate coated with ZnO deposited by ALD and grown in a chemical bath has promising performance as a piezoelectric material. Characterized ZnO samples generate up to 80 nJ of energy during 55 s runs under matched load conditions, which is sufficient to supply a modern IoT node.


This study uses a poststructural analysis to explicate the social production of Whiteness in a college classroom. Whiteness scholars define Whiteness as reference to a set of locations that are historically, socially, politically, and culturally produced, and intrinsically linked to relations of domination. Using this framework of social production, I analyze a graduate-level college classroom for evidence of Whiteness. More than 50% of the class members were Asian international students. I suggest that Whiteness was operating on multiple levels, which I categorize as: Whiteness as Domination; Resources and the Production of the Other; and the Discourse of Cultural Preference. I argue that Whiteness not only served to deny Asian international students and other students of color an equal opportunity to learn in that classroom, but most pointedly, Whiteness also served to elevate the White students by positioning the students of color as their audience.


The most used measures to study the response class "proper separation of litter" on researches in behavior analysis are weighing and counting the recyclable items deposited in bins. Even though different measures are used, there seems to be no discussion in the literature regarding the relative appropriateness of different measures to the dependent variable. The present study set to make a comparison between the aforementioned measures and direct observation of the participants' behavior. To perform such a comparison the study was designed as a systematic replication of the study on recycling behavior by Austin et al. (1993). Participants were members of two buildings of a university and eventual passers-by in the area. A multiple baseline AB design was employed. Specific were introduced as the independent variable. The correlation coefficient between direct observation and items counting was higher than the coefficient between direct observation and weighing. The results attained by the original research were not replicated. The results reported here seem to suggest that future research should assign greater confidence to the counting of items.


Pump-turbine characteristics greatly affect the operational stability of pumped-storage plants. In particular, the S-shaped region of the characteristic curves leads to severe instability during runaway conditions with servomotor failure. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the runaway stability criterion by considering all of the important effects in the hydromechanical system. The criterion also helps to judge the S-characteristics of pump-turbines and can provide a guide for plant design and turbine optimization. First, the pump-turbine characteristic curves are locally linearized to obtain formulae for the relative changes of discharge and torque, which depend on the relative changes of rotational speed and water head. Control theory is then applied to analyze the high-order system, by importing the transfer function of the conduits in the elastic mode. Two different kinds of oscillation are found, associated with water inertia and elasticity, based on the established theoretical mathematical model. New stability criteria for the inertia wave in both rigid and elastic modes are developed and compared. The comparison reveals the effect of the water elasticity on runaway instability, which has often been neglected in the previous work. Other effects, such as friction loss and the timescales of water flow and machinery, are also discussed. Furthermore, the elastic wave, which often has a higher frequency than the inertia wave, is also studied. The stability criterion is deduced with analyses of its effects. Based on the stability criteria for the inertia wave and elastic wave, the unstable regions for two waves of the S-shaped curves are plotted. The results are applied to explain the development from inertia wave to elastic wave during transient behavior at runaway conditions. Model tests of runaway conditions were conducted on a model pumped storage station and the experimental data show good agreement with the theoretical analyses regarding the instability of the inertia wave. Further analyses and validations are made based on transient simulations. The simulation software topsys, which uses the method of characteristics (MOC) and a unit boundary represented by a spatial pump-turbine characteristic surface, was applied to analyze the elastic wave. This also supports the conclusions of the theoretical research.


Background: African American women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer at an early age, more likely to experience morbidity after treatment, and disparities in survivorship. While psychosocial well-being is well known among breast cancer survivors, data are few regarding minorities such as African Americans, particularly those who are young. Objective: This integrative review examines psychosocial concerns in survivorship among young African American breast cancer survivors (YAABCS) using a holistic quality of life framework. Methods: Pubmed, CINHAL, and Scopus were searched for articles exploring psychological or social well-being in YAABCS. Results: The search yielded 264 articles. Thirty-six articles were retrieved and reviewed for relevance. Of these, 14 articles were selected based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. Themes of YAABCS psychosocial concerns were sexuality, mood, social support, and spirituality. Conclusions: The review demonstrated need for further research in YAABCS quality of life to adapt a more fitting quality of life model and to develop culturally-appropriate survivorship interventions. Implications for Practice: Clinicians, researchers, and YAABCS must partner to increase knowledge of the multidimensional survivorship of YAABCS. With knowledge, we may be able to decrease health disparities among YAABCS. The project was funded by an American Cancer Society Doctoral Degree in Nursing Scholarship, Jonas Nurse Leadership Scholarship, and Gladys F. Colvin Doctoral fellowship. Additional support received from a Komen Graduate Training in Disparities Research Award. Citation Format: Timiya S. Nolan, Jennifer Frank, Silvia Gisiger-Camata, Karen Meneses. An integrative review of psychosocial concerns among young African American breast cancer survivors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eighth AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 13-16, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2016;25(3 Suppl):Abstract nr C24.


In the forecasting of binary events, verification measures that are ''equitable'' were defined by Gandin and Murphy to satisfy two requirements: 1) they award all random forecasting systems, including those that always issue the same forecast, the same expected score (typically zero), and 2) they are expressible as the linear weighted sum of the elements of the contingency table, where the weights are independent of the entries in the table, apart from the base rate. The authors demonstrate that the widely used ''equitable threat score'' (ETS), as well as numerous others, satisfies neither of these requirements and only satisfies the first requirement in the limit of an infinite sample size. Such measures are referred to as ''asymptotically equitable.'' In the case of ETS, the expected score of a random forecasting system is always positive and only falls below 0.01 when the number of samples is greater than around 30. Two other asymptotically equitable measures are the odds ratio skill score and the symmetric extreme dependency score, which are more strongly inequitable than ETS, particularly for rare events; for example, when the base rate is 2% and the sample size is 1000, random but unbiased forecasting systems yield an expected score of around 20.5, reducing in magnitude to 20.01 or smaller only for sample sizes exceeding 25 000. This presents a problem since these nonlinear measures have other desirable properties, in particular being reliable indicators of skill for rare events (provided that the sample size is large enough). A potential way to reconcile these properties with equitability is to recognize that Gandin and Murphy's two requirements are independent, and the second can be safely discarded without losing the key advantages of equitability that are embodied in the first. This enables inequitable and asymptotically equitable measures to be scaled to make them equitable, while retaining their nonlinearity and other properties such as being reliable indicators of skill for rare events. It also opens up the possibility of designing new equitable verification measures.


A rapid increase in anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, has been a growing cause for concern. While photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) into solar fuels can provide a solution, lack of insight into energetic pathways governing photocatalysis has impeded study. Here, we utilize measurements of electronic density of states (DOS), using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS), to identify energy levels responsible for photocatalytic reduction of CO2-water in an artificial photosynthetic process. We introduce desired states in titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, using metal dopants or semiconductor nanocrystals, and the designed catalysts were used for selective reduction of CO2 into hydrocarbons, alcohols, and aldehydes. Using a simple model, we provide insights into the photophysics governing this multielectron reduction and design a new composite photocatalyst based on overlapping energy states of TiO2 and copper indium sulfide (CIS) nanocrystals. These nanoparticles demonstrate the highest selectivity for ethane (>70%) and a higher efficiency of converting ultraviolet radiation into fuels (4.3%) using concentrated sunlight (>4 Sun illumination), compared with platinum-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (2.1%), and utilize hot electrons to tune the solar fuel from alkanes to aldehydes. These results can have important implications for the development of new inexpensive photocatalysts with tuned activity and selectivity.


The goal of text classification is to automatically assign categories to documents. Deep learning automatically learns effective features from data instead of adopting human-designed features. In this paper, we focus specifically on biomedical document classification using a deep learning approach. We present a novel multichannel TextCNN model for MeSH term indexing. Beyond the normal use of the text from the abstract and title for model training, we also consider figure and table captions, as well as paragraphs associated with the figures and tables. We demonstrate that these latter text sources are important feature sources for our method. A new dataset consisting of these text segments curated from 257,590 full text articles together with the articles' MEDLINE/PubMed MeSH terms is publicly available.


Background Inflammation is considered as one of the main pathogeneses in OA-induced pain. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a well known pro-inflammatory cytokine. We aimed to determine whether MIF levels in serum and synovial fluid (SF) are associated with severity of OA-induced pain. Material/Methods We recruited 226 patients with knee OA and 106 controls. Self-reported pain severity of OA patients was evaluated using the Western Ontario McMaster University Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) pain scores. MIF levels were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results OA patients had similar serum MIF levels compared to controls (11.93 [5.68–18.10] vs. 10.06 [6.60–14.61] ng/ml, P>0.05). In OA patients, MIF levels in SF were dramatically lower compared to paired serum samples (3.39 [1.87–5.89] vs. 11.93 [5.68–18.10] ng/ml, P<0.01). MIF levels in SF were significantly correlated with WOMAC pain scores (r=0.237, P<0.001), but MIF levels in serum had no significant correlation with WOMAC pain scores (r=0.009, P=0.898). Conclusions MIF levels in SF, but not in serum, were independently associated with the severity of self-reported pain in OA patients. The inhibition of MIF signaling pathways may be a novel therapeutic approach for ameliorating OA-induced pain.


This paper concerns the study of the concept of bipolar vague soft

 s

 -open set, bipolar vague soft s-interior, bipolar vague soft s-closer, and bipolar vague soft s-exterior in bipolar vague soft topological spaces. By using such concepts, some results are addressed in bipolar vague soft topological spaces. The engagements among these results are also addressed by using bipolar vague soft

 s

 -open sets.


Cancer is associated with an increase in cell number, alterations in mechanisms regulating new cell birth, or cell proliferation. Cancer is a major human health problem worldwide and is still the leading cause of death all over the world. The diagnosis and treatment of cancer have remained essentially unchanged for decades, and death rates are similar to what they were in the 1950s. Despite recent progress in understanding of the biology of cancer, the majority of cases are still diagnosed only after tumours have metastasized, leaving the patient with a grim prognosis. Till now, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy had been the standard therapies for tumour treatment. However, the application of all these methods is limited due to certain deficiencies. The application of nanotechnology in cancer is termed as nanooncology. Nanooncology includes both diagnostics and therapeutics. Nanotechnology has large potential in detection and treatment of cancer in its incipient stage. The basic aim in nanooncology is to create agents that are capable of detecting cancer as well as aid in the treatment of cancer.


In this study, aflatoxin and cyclopiazonic acid levels on the second crop of peanuts collected from 102 different research areas of Osmaniye and Adana, Turkey in 2016 was determined from harvest, drying, pre-storage and storage. During the periods of the research, it was found that aflatoxin levels in 86 out of 102 contaminated samples were ranged from 0.2 to 2177.2 ìg/kg. However, cyclopiazonic acid, another mycotoxin investigated in this study has not been found in any of the 102 peanut samples. When aflatoxin contamination compared in different periods; it was observed that the aflatoxin level in storage and drying (97%) periods were found to be higher than the harvest (66%) and pre-storage (71%). The statistical analysis showed that significant differences in the aflatoxins in drying, and storage periods. Therefore, for preventing grains from aflatoxins damage control management strategies need to be improved.


A scheme where 1.5 ps and 15 ps long bunches (rms) can be stored simultaneously in the BESSY II storage ring has recently been proposed (BESSY VSR [1]). This paper presents simulations of single particle beam dynamics influenced by superconducting cavities used for the strong longitudinal beam focusing. The effect of RF jitter on (very short) bunches is investigated and results are discussed. Furthermore, possible effects on beam dynamics during ramp up and ramp down of the high gradient fields in the cavities are studied. The primary goal is to reveal preliminary design specifications for RF jitter on the basis of single particle dynamics.


The aim for this thesis has been to deliver a set of interaction design guidelines
for the user experience of music streaming applications in cars. These guidelines
will provide designers with concrete guidance of how to design safer interactions
with the head unit in a car to reduce driver distraction and increase the overall
usability.
As the goal was to deliver a set of guidelines based on insights and knowledge
from design research, the design process has followed a Research through
Design approach, combined with a Goal-Directed Design approach, looking at
user behaviours and needs in the context of interacting with music streaming
applications while driving.
The derived guidelines are motivated through an extensive literature review,
user research, and user testing where the majority of the guidelines has been
derived from tested hypotheses for driver safety by using a number of attention
measurements, looking at driving performance, usability, visual attention and
cognitive load. The remaining guidelines are motivated through already carried
out research. The result of the work stress the importance of taking driver distraction
into consideration when designing for in-car experiences.
These guidelines do not stand-alone guarantee safe interactions but together
with already existing guidelines for in-car HCI and best practices within interaction
design they provide a solid ground for decreasing driver distraction and
improving the safety of the driver while using a music service in the car.


The Interpolation methods for the prediction are commonly used in the form of contour maps. In this study, the interpolation analysis was conducted to produce the missing data onto coastal areas in South Korea. KMAKorea Meteorological Administration) provides a 1km unit regional climate scenario data for South Korea. In these climate change precipitation data some specific points were missing near the coastal area and islands. In order to fill in the missing data in the specific areas, we used extrapolation methods. Using the geostatistical tools from ArcGIS, we interpolated the data and we filled in the areas with missing values by applying the future regional climate change results. The results have shown that Ordinary Kriging is the best methods for the reduction of the error from original climate change data for South Korea coastal.


Author(s): Gibbons, Matthew | Advisor(s): Kazakia, Galateia | Abstract: Purpose: Various diseases, such as Type II Diabetes (T2D), impact the microarchitecture of bones. DCE-MRI and HR-pQCT have been used to investigate cortical bone structural changes and to understand the role blood vessels have in the development of T2D-related pathological porosity in cortical bone. The purpose of this project was to look at the cortical bone porosity, and determine the contents of the pores (whether or not they had affiliated blood vessels), so as to better understand the mechanisms driving pathological bone porosity. To this end, image processing routines were developed to quantify bone porosity and to determine blood vessel location and volume fraction.Methods: Results from an existing DCE-MRI and HR-pQCT image processing protocol (pipeline 1) were used in this study. As part of pipeline 1, the MRI and CT images underwent a global rigid registration. Pipeline 1 also provided masks for the CT cortical bone, the blood vessels, and the bone pores. Image pipeline 2 was developed through this thesis project. Pipeline 2 has a set of threshold and dilation/erosion steps to create a mask for the MRI cortical bone. It also performs non-rigid registration of bone masks and completes registration of vessels to pores with a piecewise rigid algorithm. The overlap of the registered vessel mask with the pore mask determines the final properties and biomarkers of the blood vessel network. Numerical and physical phantoms were used to characterize the algorithms by allowing a comparison to ground truth.Results: In bone data artifacts are visible in the MRI bone masks. The imaging pipeline overcomes these and increases MRI to CT bone Dice coefficients from 0.8 to 0.9. Blood vessel alignment, as defined by vessel voxel overlap with pore voxels, is improved with vessel overlap increasing from 20% to 90%, and vessel voxel overlap increasing from 8% to 40%. Analysis of 12 distal and ultra-distal tibia data sets did not show a statistically significant difference between normal and T2D patients (mean ~ 0.3% for each with p = 0.4). A numerical phantom study provided metrics for pipeline 2 success. It indicated that after pipeline 1 offsets between vessels and pores should be l 15 voxels and pore densities should be l 20%. A physical phantom study showed capability to identify vessels with diameters as small as 300 um.Conclusions: Positive results with bone and phantom data indicate a proof of concept for the general approach as well as the implemented algorithms. Pipeline 2 achieved high alignment fractions for blood vessels and pores. The analysis of both bone and phantom data has led to the definition of metrics and identification of specific algorithm deficiencies. Future work on these items should result in a robust image analysis pipeline for most data sets and a set of useful metrics to distinguish problematic data sets. These algorithm improvements along with analysis of more data sets will be needed to ascertain whether there are statistically significant differences between populations for cortical bone vessel densities.


BACKGROUND
This retrospective study was designed to determine the trend of neonatal group B streptococcal (GBS) infection during the past 7 years at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital of Kaohsiung, as well as to assess the risk factors, clinical features and patient outcomes.

METHODS
Medical records of infants with neonatal GBS infection identified by positive results of cultures of sterile body fluid in our hospital from January 1996 through December 2002 were reviewed for demographic and clinical data.

RESULTS
There were 33 infants with neonatal GBS infections during the past 7 years in our hospital. The number of patients increased from 1996 to 2001. Sixteen infants had early onset infections and 17 infants had late onset infections. Of the nine patients with maternal risk factors in the early onset group, prolonged rupture of membranes (7, 44%) was most frequently encountered. Distressed respiratory sign (8, 50%) was the most common clinical presentation in early onset group, while fever >38 degrees C (17, 100%) was the most common presentation in late-onset group. The mortality rates were 13% and 6% in early and late onset groups, respectively. Gestational age (p = 0.05) and pneumonia (p = 0.015) were two most important factors influencing the mortality rate.

CONCLUSIONS
The number of GBS-infected infants seemed to have increased during the past 7 years in our hospital. Because the incidence of neonatal GBS infection and maternal colonization in Taiwan has not been collected, we could not determine the necessity of intrapartum chemoprophylaxis. Setting a comprehensive surveillance in Taiwan should be considered.


Abstract Almost every representative ancient building suffered from a fire during its history. Therefore, several limestones, sandstones, a gypsum, granites, tuffs, an orthogneiss and two marbles have been tested to analyse the effect of fire. Thermal expansion measurements up to 1000 °C reveal that every rock shows a specific expansion behaviour. Variations are caused by the single crystal thermal expansion properties of rock-forming minerals and by different damage processes. In silicate rocks, intragranular fracturing is the predominant damage phenomenon. Carbonate rocks show, at low temperatures, a behaviour mainly controlled by the anisotropic expansion of calcite. At higher temperatures, mineral reactions, such as decarbonatization, are directly evidenced by sudden jumps in thermal expansion curves. If water is present, a second stage of deterioration follows fire damage: the huge volume increase due to portlandite formation from decarbonized CaO causes severe scaling at the outermost surface of limestone when exposed to the environment. Small amounts of silicates in carbonate rocks may improve the stability of those rocks due to dicalciumsilicate formation. At high temperatures, an increase in the expansion coefficient may be explained by partial melting for some rock types. Phase changes (e.g. quartz) are monitored by a sudden increase in the expansion coefficient. Investigations on gypsum reveal that dehydration reactions reduce fire temperatures in the vicinity of gypsum rocks significantly. In general, all experiments show that samples are severely damaged after being subjected to fire. Real fire tests show that the penetration depth of heat and the associated damage types vary as a function of lithology. While for granites, cracks in feldspars predominate, the firing of limestone causes a scaling of the outermost layer. The investigations may lead to an improved assessment of natural building stones that have been damaged by fire. Implications can also be drawn for the recent use of facade panels made of natural building stones in case of a future fire.


Nowadays, in the face of the big data era and more and more task computing requirements, edge computing as a computing paradigm that offloads cloud computing and storage resources to the network edge side relieves the pressure of network bandwidth. With a large number of edge computing devices deployed to the network edge, it is an urgent problem to provide energy for these devices in an environmentally friendly and reliable way. In order to solve this problem, a feasible way is to replace part of the traditional energy with renewable energy, which has been widely studied. However, the stochastic characteristics of renewable energy and computing tasks and the delay of task scheduling normally have a negative impact on the power supply-demand balance in edge nodes. In this paper, we study the robust frequency control problem in the edge computing node powered by renewable energy considering task scheduling. Therefore, a stochastic differential equation with time delay is used to model the dynamics of task computing, energy supply and task scheduling of edge computing system, and the robust stability of AC bus frequency deviation of edge nodes is discussed. The linear matrix inequality (LMI) method is used to solve such control problem. Finally, numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


CONTENTS I. Fundamental problems in the theory of ion-exchange kinetics 199 II. Experimental methods of investigation 203 III. Self-diffusion in cation exchangers 203 IV. Diffusion of microcomponent ions 206 V. Kinetics of complete exchange 207 VI. Kinetic features of the exchange of large organic ions 209 VII. The relationship between diffusion and electrical conductivity in ion exchangers 210


Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome resistant to standard treatments remains a therapeutic dilemma in pediatric nephrology. To test whether the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab may benefit these patients, we conducted an open-label, randomized, controlled trial in 31 children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome unresponsive to the combination of calcineurin inhibitors and prednisone. All children continued prednisone and calcineurin inhibitors at the doses prescribed before enrollment, and one treatment group received two doses of rituximab (375 mg/m(2) intravenously) as add-on therapy. The mean age was 8 years (range, 2-16 years). Rituximab did not reduce proteinuria at 3 months (change, -12% [95% confidence interval, -73% to 110%]; P=0.77 in analysis of covariance model adjusted for baseline proteinuria). Additional adjustment for previous remission and interaction terms (treatment by baseline proteinuria and treatment by previous remission) did not change the results. In conclusion, these data do not support the addition of rituximab to prednisone and calcineurin inhibitors in children with resistant idiopathic nephrotic syndrome.


A 'crisis account' of shortages of well-qualified scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists has shaped education policy in the UK and the USA for decades. The apparent poor quality of school science education along with insufficient numbers of well-qualified teachers have been linked to skills shortages by government and other agencies since at least the time of the Second World War. There is, however, an alternative account that challenges the received view of a skills deficit and questions the evidence for sustained and long-term shortages across the sector. This paper provides an historical account of some of the main events that have characterised debates over the supply and demand of science and engineering professionals in the UK and the USA and the implications that this has had for science education policy. Starting from the end of the Second World War, the paper looks at the key challenges to the evidence that underpins the shortage debate and considers the consequences that more than seven decades of crisis accounts have had on the recruitment and retention of highly skilled scientists and engineers. The paper shows that while the shortage debate has a long history, it is one that is characterised by poor quality data as well as methodological and conceptual challenges. It argues that there is no consensus view about the existence of a skills deficit and that while there may have been short-lived shortfalls in specialist areas, there is little evidence in support of widespread and far reaching shortages as the rhetoric often claims.


The Maros watershed area in Tompobulu District is experiencing environmental degradation, especially forest destruction, a high rate of erosion, and deforestation that is mostly done by the surrounding communities. Other damage is also caused by the conversion of forests into estate crops. Forestry Service Data Kab. Maros in 2017, stated that the level of forest degradation and damage in the upper Maros watershed area is estimated at around 7,936.76 ha, where the average annual rate of forest degradation and critical land is around 372.94 ha / year, or estimated to be around 20-25 years forests will come in the upper watershed of the Maros watershed due to forest destruction. Damage to the upper watershed of the Maros watershed which has resulted in a decrease in water discharge has given misery to the surrounding communities, especially in the need for water in agricultural areas and also the need for water as a source of drinking water. This phenomenon is happening right now, which must be considered by all parties concerned with the Maros River Basin. Conversion of forest land in the upper watershed region due to pressure on economic needs and the need for clothing and boards such as taking wood to make houses, making impromptu rice fields, and wood as fuel. This activity has become a community activity that results in higher degradation of forests and critical land, which has implications for decreasing water debit in the upper Maros watershed. From these problems, it can also be said that the tendency of Maros Bagan Hulu watershed damage is possible because there are community attitudes in maintaining the watershed environment that tends to be less responsive to the watershed damage problem, which in turn will behave negatively towards the use of watershed without paying attention to aspects of the sustainability of watershed management. . The tendency of negative community attitudes towards environmental management in the watershed region can also be caused by the lack of understanding and knowledge of the community about ecosystem knowledge, conservation knowledge and pollution knowledge that exists in the upper Maros watershed.
The purpose of this study is to analyze ecosystem knowledge, conservation knowledge, and pollution knowledge that influence the attitude of caring for the environment, the community in utilizing the upper Maros watershed. This study uses a quantitative approach and hypothesis testing and survey methods with questionnaire type instruments. The instruments used were developed by researchers, including: ecosystem knowledge questionnaires, conservation knowledge, pollution mitigation, and environmental care attitude questionnaires.
Based on SEM analysis method, it can be said that conservation knowledge (X2), and pollution knowledge (X3) have a direct and significant effect on the attitude of caring for the environment (Y). While the ecosystem knowledge variable (X1) does not have a direct and no significant effect on attitudes to care for the environment in the upper Maros watershed, this is indicated by the significance value of p - value> 0.05.


The unsteady-state equations for a plate gas absorption column are formulated. The equations take into account imperfect plate efficiencies and liquid flow changes. Transfer-function and state-variable models of the column are derived. Experimental frequency responses are obtained on a 4-in. i.d., six-plate laboratory absorption column operating with the system air–ammonia–water and are compared with the theoretical responses. The unsteady-state equations for a packed gas absorption column are also formulated, taking into account variations of mass transfer coefficient and interfacial area and liquid flow changes. A transfer-function model of the column is derived. [Continues.]


We construct a time-dependent expression of the computational complexity of a quantum system which consists of two conformal complex scalar field theories in d dimensions coupled to constant electric potentials and defined on the boundaries of a charged AdS black hole in (d+1) dimensions. Using a suitable choice of the reference state, Hamiltonian gates and the metric on the manifold of unitaries, we find that the complexity grows linearly for a relatively large interval of time. We also remark that for scalar fields with very small charges the rate of variation of the complexity cannot exceed a maximum value known as the Lloyd bound.


INTRODUCTION
Evidence exists that an ideal bypass conduit should have a functional endothelial cell surface combined with mechanical properties similar to those of native arteries. We hypothesized that the effect of combined arterial levels of pulsatile shear stress, flow, and cyclic strain would enhance saphenous venous endothelial cell nitric oxide (NO) production, and that variations in these "ideal" conditions could impair this function. We studied NO production as a measure of endothelial function in response to different hemodynamic conditions.

METHODS
Human adult saphenous venous endothelial cells were cultured in 10-cm silicone tubes, similar in diameter (5 mm) and compliance (6%) to a medium-caliber peripheral artery (eg, popliteal). Tube cultures were exposed to arterial conditions: a combined pressure (120/80 mm/Hg; mean, 100 mm/Hg), flow (mean, 115 mL/min) and cyclic strain (2%), with a resultant pulsatile shear stress of 4.8 to 9.4 dyne/cm2 (mean, 7.1). Identical tube cultures were used to study variations in these conditions. Modifications of the system included a noncompliant system, a model with nonpulsatile flow, and a final group exposed to pulsatile pressure with no flow. NO levels were measured with a fluorometric nitrite assay of conditioned media collected at 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 hours. Experimental groups were compared with cells exposed to nonpulsatile, nonpressurized low flow (shear stress 0.1 dyne/cm2) and static cultures.

RESULTS
All experimental groups had greater rates of NO production than cells under static conditions (P <.05). Cells exposed to ideal conditions produced the greatest levels of NO. Independent decreases in compliance, flow, and pulsatility resulted in significantly lower rates of NO production than those in the group with these conditions intact (vs noncompliant P <.05, vs nonflow P <.05, and vs nonpulsatile P <.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that in the absence of physiologically normal pulsatility, cyclic strain, and volume flow, endothelial NO production does not reach the levels seen under ideal conditions. Pulsatile flow and compliance (producing flow with cyclic stretch) play a key role in NO production by vascular endothelium in a three-dimensional hemodynamically active model. This correlates biologically with clinical experience linking graft inflow and runoff and the mechanical properties of the conduit to long-term patency.


Table 23: Have you or a relative thought of moving to the coastal area for any job reason in the last three years? Since the oil production started, prices have continued to increase for most basic commodities everywhere in Ghana. Ordinary people on the streets are especially affected by these price increments. There is growing frustration within society that the growth in the economy since oil discovery and subsequent production has not translated into fulfilling the expectations of many people. This study aims to extend the focus of research on the influence of oil discovery on the Western Region to all the ten regions of Ghana. The study gathers the populations' perception on their living conditions, job situation and infrastructure conditions. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in collaboration with You-net conducted this study by conducting a quantitative survey across the ten regions of the nation using a total of 3000 questionnaires which were administered to individuals from various economic and socio-cultural backgrounds. This survey was conducted to get a clearer picture on the state of living conditions in the country since oil production started. The results are based on perceptions and experiences of the respondents gathered from the nationwide survey. The document is divided into three main parts. Part one gives a background to the discovery and subsequent development of oil in Ghana. The benefits and the negative manifestations in oil producing countries discussed to show benefits of resource exploitation are not uniform in the endowed nations. The Livelihood Framework is used as an approach in depicting the expected scenarios oil exploitation in Ghana can have on the livelihood of the average Ghanaian. Part one also describes how data for the study was collected. The sustainable livelihood framework was modified and operationalized to elicit the necessary information from respondents. The study areas used in the survey was selected given a wide number of considerations. The analysis of data was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Part two discusses the results of the study. In summary, the study finds that the prices of consumer goods and costs of living have increased drastically for areas with major economic activities, e.g. Greater Accra Region, Western Region and Ashanti Region. Infrastructure has also improved but respondents have a mixed feeling as to the equitability of its distribution. Whiles majority of respondents in the Ashanti Region indicated that their roads got worse, those in the Eastern …


The article contains algorhythm of treating verse when the main organizing parameter is unknown. System of versification is determined by calculating the number of syllables in a verse line, the number of stresses, the number of unstressed syllables between the stressed ones, correspondence of the unstressed intervals to the metrical schemes typical of syllabic-accentual meters, dolnik, taktovik, accentual verse, as well as other relevant parameters.


Purpose To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal aflibercept therapy in treatment-naïve Japanese patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) using Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letter scores. Subjects and methods This study was a prospective, nonrandomized, interventional exploratory clinical trial performed in an institutional setting. Patients with PCV were treated with intravitreal aflibercept 2 mg/0.05 mL every 2 months after 3 initial monthly doses, for 1 year. Visual acuity test using the ETDRS chart and indocyanine green angiography was performed at baseline and at 6 and 12 months after initiating the treatment, in addition to routine examinations performed at each visit. The main outcome measure was the proportion of patients who achieved <15 ETDRS letter score loss. Results Twenty-two patients were enrolled in this study. Nineteen (86%) patients were eligible for analysis. All the patients maintained their visual acuity (<15 ETDRS letter score loss) at 12 months. The ETDRS letter scores were 64.1 at baseline and 69.8 at 12 months (P<0.039). The polyps regressed completely in 14 (74%) patients at 12 months. Cataract progressed in 1 eye, but this progression was considered to be a senile change. Conclusions Japanese patients with treatment-naïve PCV, who were treated with intravitreal aflibercept every 2 months after 3 initial monthly doses, exhibited a significant increase in ETDRS letter scores and a high rate of polyp resolution at 12 months.


S 145 of 35'4, 34'4, and 25'0 per cent. respectively. Among the Rengmas the returns for group A were nil but, apart from this, there was no appreciable difference between the returns obtained in the Angami tests: the numbers tested in this tribe were considerably greater than in the others. Other tribes tested in Assam were the Konyaks, Aos and Thado Kuki, and the results support the view of J. P. Mills that the Konyaks are a more primitive race than the Angami-Rengma; that the Konyaks and Aos have much in common, and that the Thado Kuki are an entirely different race. Tests carried out in Travancore revealed interesting facts concerning the Kanikkar tribe; the results showed pronounced differences from those obtained from the general population of the district. Some individuals gave strong reactions to 0 serum but reacted very weakly to A and B. The results of tests carried out among the Micmac Indians in Nova Scotia have been published in J. Anthrop. Inst. (Vol. 68, 283-98) and should prove of value in connection with racial crossing. Dr. N. Kossovitch, of the Pasteur Institute, Paris, has obtained from blood test results that confirm the view that infantile digestive disorders may be due to the difference between the blood group of the mother and the nursing child, and investigations on these lines have been begun at St. George's Hospital, London. Combined blood-group tests and anthropometric measurements have also been carried out in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, with the purpose of proving whether or not local differences can arise in isolated populations.


Colonial rule encroached on the daily life of Africans causing great tension as well as resistance. This book, based on government documents, explores protest of the Ghanaian people through case studies: people against colonial government, commoners against chiefs, religious leaders against secular authority, and lesser local leaders against paramount Chiefs. Colonialism was a situation of paradox: protest played an important role and in most cases caused changes in colonial policy. Challenging the colonial establishments, social protest converted African commoners into political actors. This book helps us understand both African initiative and the impact of colonialism as a whole.


Broadcasting is an important communication mechanism in ad hoc wireless networks. The simplest way to do broadcasting is pure flooding, in which each node retransmits a packet after receiving it, thus generates many redundant retransmissions. The rule based on dominating sets can reduce the number of retransmissions. A dominating set is a set of nodes such that any node in the network is a neighbor of some element in the set. However, computing a minimum size connected dominating set is NP hard. Several existing algorithms use the idea of multipoint relays to reduce the size of the connected dominating set. The authors of this paper observed that these algorithms can be further improved. Thus, three improvements are introduced here. It is proved that these improvements can compute a connected dominating set of the network, and simulation results show that they can further reduce the size of the dominating set. Also, extensions to power-aware broadcasting algorithms are discussed.


Purpose: to determine effectiveness of structurally meaningful model of formation of girl students' value orientations on physical culture. Material: in the research control group (28 girl students) and experimental group (30 girl students) participated. We used sociological questioning, testing of physical and theoretical fitness. Results: It was found that combination of four blocks (theoretical, methodic, practical and managerial) is optimal for technology of model realization. It ensures impact on physical and spiritual-intellectual sides of girl students. Conclusions: it is recommended to practice active immersion in folk traditions and customs of Ukraine with girl students. It permits to form girls' psychological and social readiness for conducting of cultural measures. Motor activity in personal and future professional functioning makes elements of such measures.


A sensors network for non-ionizing radiation detection in the band of 800 MHz to 2.5 GHz was designed and constructed. The system is based on a sensor which shows an output DC voltage proportional to the input RF signal. This network is made of four broad band antennas, four circuit board sensors, a main board and data visualization software. The performance system was analyzed changing its configuration and using several radiation sources. The results presented include the simulation of an Archimedes antenna using CST STUDIO TM and the experimental results of a broad band HG2404CU antenna. The results have shown an efficient system for the electromagnetic radiation detection. As a second part of this work, this prototype will be used as a detector of cellular phone calls in places where they are not allowed such as prisons, banks and so on.


This thesis provides a comparative analysis of how the power of the United States Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank has changed as a consequence of the reorientation of central banking towards financial stability since the global financial crisis. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including more than 30 interviews with central bankers and other public officials, the thesis demonstrates that to different extents, each of these organisations has exhibited a more authoritative relationship with its key interlocutors in recent years. The thesis attributes this variegated transformation to the policy entrepreneurship of transgovernmentally networked central bankers, who acted in concert with sympathetic executive politicians to operationalise new 'macroprudential' policy frameworks after the financial crisis. Central bankers' collective policy entrepreneurship was guided by shared normative beliefs about their appropriate role in respect of financial stability, but their embrace of macroprudential ideas was far from uniform. Central bankers in each jurisdiction pursued subtly different policy objectives within idiosyncratic political, cultural and institutional terrains, leading to distinctive local varieties of reform. The thesis argues that central banks' heightened authority since the financial crisis has been underpinned by an increase in their structural power, which owed to the heightened reliance of politicians and financial market actors on central banks' unique ability to create new base money. It also demonstrates how transformations in central banks' authority and structural power feed into their overall capacity to achieve their financial stability objectives. The thesis argues that in the post-crisis regulatory framework, central banks are at risk of underdelivering on their mandates. A bias towards inaction in the face of uncertainty and insufficient willingness to break with pre-crisis economic tropes threaten to undermine central banks' efforts to maintain financial stability over the medium term.


Objective: To determine the effect of dual infection with HIV and malaria on birth outcomes and maternal anaemia among women delivering at a large public hospital in Kisumu, western Kenya. Subjects and methods: Data on obstetric and neonatal characteristics, maternal and placental parasitaemia, and postpartum haemoglobin levels were collected from women enrolled in a cohort study of the interaction between malaria and HIV during pregnancy. Results: Between 1996 and 1999, data were available from 2466 singleton deliveries. The maternal HIV seroprevalence was 24.3%, and at delivery 22.0% of the women had evidence of malaria. Low birthweight, preterm delivery (PTD), intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and maternal anaemia (haemoglobin < 8 g/dl) occurred in 4.6, 6.7, 9.8 and 13.8% of deliveries, respectively. Maternal HIV, in the absence of malaria, was associated with a 99 g (95% CI 52–145) reduction in mean birthweight among all gravidae. Malaria was associated with both IUGR and PTD, resulting in a reduction in mean birthweight of 145 g (95% CI 82–209) among HIV-seronegative and 206 g (95% CI 115–298) among HIV-seropositive primigravidae, but not among multigravidae. Both HIV and malaria were significant risk factors for postpartum maternal anaemia, and HIV-seropositive women with malaria were twice as likely to have anaemia than HIV-seronegative women with or without malaria. Conclusion: Women with dual infection are at particular risk of adverse birth outcomes. In areas with a moderate or high prevalence of HIV and malaria, all pregnant women should be the focus of malaria and anaemia control efforts to improve birth outcomes.


s identified through the literature search were screened using eligibility criteria defined to include all English language primary experimental studies that evaluated the impact of omega-3 fatty acids on arrhythmia, intermediate mechanisms of arrhythmia, and electrogenesis. Reports published only as letters or abstracts were excluded. Articles associated with abstracts that passed these screens were retrieved and screened once more for eligibility. Studies were included if they examined the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on whole heart parameters (e.g., ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation), contractile parameters (e.g., heart rate, inotropic parameters), basoelectromechanical parameters (e.g., relative refractory period), ion pumps/movement (e.g., cytosolic calcium influx/efflux), ion currents (e.g., sodium currents), or ion channels (e.g., binding capacity).


Crohn's disease (CD) is a complex disorder with important incidence in North America. Perianal fistulas occur in about 20% of patients with CD and are almost always classified as complex fistulas. Conventional treatment options have shown different success rates, yet there are data indicating that these approaches cannot achieve total cure and may not improve quality of life of these patients. Fibrin glue, fistula plug, topical tacrolimus, local injection of infliximab, and use of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are newly suggested therapies with variable success rates. Here, we aim to review these novel therapies for the treatment of complex fistulizing CD. Although initial results are promising, randomized studies are needed to prove efficacy of these approaches in curing fistulizing perianal CD.


Trust management is an important issue in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this paper, we introduce the concept of trust and design a distributed event- triggered trust management model for WSNs. It combines cryptography, statistics, economics, data analysis and the other related fields. In this way, we can immediately identify and isolate the malice node, thereby creating a secure and reliable wireless sensor networks that can avoid some common attacks and ensure the security of the applications. And, we give the communication process and the computation model as well as how each trust management module works. So it is no longer a simple calculation model or a simple frame structure, and it has realistic feasibility and operability.


The discussion paper discusses the macroeconomic argument of a New Economy that is characterized by higher non-inflationary economic growth due to increases in productivity caused by the digital revolution. Besides presenting evidence put forward by mainstream protagonists of the New Economy, it explores an interpretation of the New Economy inspired by regulation theory. Specifically, it looks at the stability of a financeled regime of accumulation on the basis of the digital production paradigm. Some basic causal relationships of such a regime, especially the investment-profits, wealth-profits, and wealth-consumption connections, seem too fragile to be able to support the assertion that a stable new regime of accumulation has emerged. Furthermore, the New Economy thesis suffers from serious problems in measuring productivity in the service industries. Therefore, it seems just as plausible that the long "Clinton" expansion was a singular event made possible by the special position the U.S. enjoys in the world economy.


This paper presents a graph-theoretic approach for interactive region-based image retrieval. When dealing with image matching problems, we use graphs to represent images, transform the region correspondence estimation problem into an inexact graph matching problem, and propose an optimization technique to derive the solution. We then define the image distance in terms of the estimated region correspondence. In the relevance feedback steps, with the estimated region correspondence, we propose to use a maximum likelihood method to re-estimate the ideal query and the image distance measurement. Experimental results show that the proposed graph-theoretic image matching criterion outperforms the other methods incorporating no spatially adjacent relationship within images. Furthermore, our maximum likelihood method combined with the estimated region correspondence improves the retrieval performance in feedback steps.


For electrocatalytic determination of NADH, a graphite electrode modified with titania sol-gel/Meldola's Blue/MWCNT/Nafion nanocomposite was proposed. The composition of the matrix film was optimised in terms of the content of carbon nanotubes and Nafion. Incorporation of a redox mediator, Meldola's Blue, into the nanocomposite film enabled electrocatalytic determination of NADH at a low potential, −50 mV. For determination of ethanol, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) was immobilized into the matrix layer. Experimental conditions affecting the biosensor response were examined, including enzyme loading, temperature of measurement and pH of background electrolyte. Assessments of the analytical characteristics of the biosensor were performed with respect to sensitivity, limit of detection, operational stability, repeatability and reproducibility. The proposed biosensor showed electrocatalytic activity toward oxidation of ethanol with sensitivity of 2.24 µA L mmol−1, linear range from 0.05 to 1.1 mmol L−1, and limit of detection of 25 µmol L−1. The apparent Michaelis-Menten constant was 1.24 mmol L−1, indicating a high biological affinity of ADH/titania sol-gel/Meldola's Blue/MWCNT/Nafion electrode for ethanol. The developed biosensor was tested in determinations of ethanol content in alcoholic beverages.


We (2001) previously showed that for solutions of the binary quadratic programming problem there exists an "efficient frontier" in the performance/speed domain among the algorithms which characterizes the relative performance of each algorithm. Here, in addition to the algorithms implemented previously, the Boltzmann machine, genetic algorithm and space alternating generalized EM (SAGE) receiver are implemented and results are given for much larger scale problems. Simulation results show that these and several other of the proposed methods can significantly outperform the decision feedback detector or its group counterpart.


Even if civilization on Earth stops polluting the biosphere with greenhouse gases, humanity could eventually be awash in too much heat, namely, the dissipated heat by-product generated by any nonrenewable energy source. Apart from the Sun's natural aging—which causes an approximately 1% luminosity rise for each 108 years and thus about 1°C increase in Earths surface temperature—well within 1000 years our technological society could find itself up against a fundamental limit to growth: an unavoidable global heating of roughly 3°C dictated solely by the second law of thermodynamics, a biogeophysical effect often ignored when estimating future planetary warming scenarios.


In 1994, the American Nurses Association initiated a series of activities currently referred to as Nursing's Quality Initiative. This first step toward public accountability was based on the premise that all nurses must become more knowledgeable about the measurement, improvement, and benchmarking of clinical costs, quality, and outcomes specific to nursing. The American Nurses Association has not been working alone to advance quality health care. Rather, it has taken an active role in several collaborative activities, including those of the National Quality Forum. The National Quality Forum has focused on a variety of issues, including nursing care performance measurement, an activity in which the American Nurses Association has been involved. It is up to professional nursing, the National Quality Forum, and all who have interest in the provision (or receipt) of quality health care to advance quality in a collaborative, coordinated way.


I have influenced greatly from Justus von Liebig's (For more information on Liebig, see:1,2,3) Law of the Minimum which states that yield is proportional to the amount of the most limiting nutrient, whichever nutrient it may be. From this, it may be inferred that if the deficient nutrient is supplied, yields may be improved to the point that some other nutrient is needed in greater quantity than the soil can provide, and the Law of the Minimum would apply in turn to that nutrient.


The study was undertaken at United Bank Share Company to assess the effect of training on Employee Performance. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether training and development would have an effect on the performance of employees with United Bank as a case study. The data were collected through primary source from questionnaires that were from sample of Two Hundred (200) staff. Self – administered questionnaire was used in the collection of data for analysis. To examine the human resource or training department has training and development program to enhance the employee's performance to meet the stated objectives of the Bank. The study was quantitative in nature. The researcher used SPSS-20 software, descriptive statistics technique was applied on the questionnaires to examine the accuracy and authenticity of data. The data were analyzed through correlation and regression to measure the relationship between training and employees performance in the case of United Bank S.C. Finally, after the study, the researcher found that the independent variables was 34.5% with standard deviation 0.7491 of the variance contributed on employees performance of UBSC where as 64.5 of the variance can be defined by other variables. Therefore, the result implies further investigation is needed. Then, the recommendations were based on the findings which affects employees' performance in the case of United Bank S.C.


ABSTRACT Drought stress affects plant growth and ultimately yield is reduced. Potassium (K) is an essential macronutrient that is required to increase the growth and yield under drought. K plays an important role in osmotic adjustment, opening and closing of stomata, and enzymes activation. K is the component of plant structure that optimizes many physiological as well biochemical processes and ultimately improves the plant growth and yield. This review mainly covers the following topics: impact of drought on plant growth, physiological and biochemical characteristics, the role of K in plant growth, and physiology under drought stress. K is also responsible for enhancing the growth as well as yield attributes of crops under drought stress conditions by altering the physiological and biochemical process.


[Objective] To determine the contents of 4 trace elements in Eucommia ulmoides Oliv..[Method] 4 trace elements including Zn,Cu,Ca and Mg in leaves and barks of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv.were determined by combining microwave-assisted sample digestion with flame atomic absorption spectrometry.[Results] The recovery rates of 4 trace elements ranged from 97% to 100.9% with all RSD value being less than 3.5%.There were significant differences in contents of Zn,Cu,Ca and Mg and antihypertensive effects between barks and leaves of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv..[Conclusion] The method was accurate,fast and convenient.


In this work we introduce P-Torus, a wavelength switching architecture for intra-data-center networks that exploits optical-packet-based transport and is based on 2D torus interconnected clusters. P-Torus does not require optical buffers, as all buffering takes place at the end hosts. The proposed architecture combines torus connectivity richness, time-slotted operation, and efficient wavelength routing in order to provide single-hop, contentionless, and low-latency interconnection among all top-of-rack switches. Wavelength switching is performed in wavelength or waveband granularity with the use of fast wavelength-tunable transmitters, in compliance with the optimal solution of the routing and wavelength assignment problem of the generic torus topology. Numerical simulations are carried out to evaluate the latency and throughput performance of the proposed architecture. Results show that P-Torus exhibits low end-to-end latency and high throughput, even under a high load, in uniform and hot-spot traffic scenarios. This work also includes cost and power consumption analyses showing that P-Torus has significant benefits over other contemporary wavelength-based switching architectures. Comparative simulations and cost analysis validate that P-Torus provides a very good trade-off between performance and cost compared to other wavelength-based switching architectures targeting small to medium data centers, up to 10,000 servers.


Aim:  Public health has refocused attention on low iodine status of vulnerable groups. The purpose of this research was to identify knowledge and dietary practices related to iodine nutrition in breastfeeding women in the Illawarra region following introduction of the mandatory iodine fortification programme.

Methods:  A cross-sectional study was undertaken at four early childhood centres. Sixty mothers in their first six months of breastfeeding completed a short knowledge questionnaire, an iodine-specific food frequency questionnaire, and reported use of nutritional supplements.

Results:  The women were generally limited in their ability to identify good dietary sources of iodine such as milk and bread but 45 women (75%) correctly identified seafood as a good source. There was some confusion in identifying health problems associated with insufficient iodine intake. Mean reported iodine intake was 146 mg/day (standard deviation: 58 mg; range: 43–342 mg); 48 women (80%) had intakes below the estimated average requirement of 190 mg/day. After allowance was made for fortification of bread, mean iodine intake significantly increased to 182 mg/day (P < 0.001) and the number of women having intakes below the estimated average requirement decreased to 36 (60%). Milk was the highest contributor to iodine intake, on average representing 62% of total iodine consumed. Only 27 (45%) mothers reported consuming supplements that contained iodine.

Conclusion:  The combination of inadequate knowledge regarding iodine and the limited use of iodine supplements highlights a potential public health issue of concern. However, mandatory fortification may be overcoming this knowledge and behaviour deficit.


We present a combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) to probe the details of interface formation between CdTe and alumina deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Alumina ALD using water as the oxygen source causes the elimination of Te oxides that are initially present on air-exposed CdTe surfaces. TRPL on the resulting CdTe interface indicates some degree of passivation. On the other hand, postgrowth treatment of Al2O3/CdTe structures with CdCl2 and oxygen causes regrowth of Te oxides. Some of these structures show improved lifetimes, thereby pointing toward a critical role for Te oxides in interfacial CdTe passivation by Al2O3. Direct measurement of band positions with XPS indicates that the passivation is caused primarily by chemical rather than field effect mechanisms.


Water treatment and reuse are fundamental because of the increasing demand for freshwater, especially in agriculture. Accordingly, this study evaluated the effects of turbidity of wastewater processed at the Effluent Treatment Station (ETE) of the UFSCar/Araras and of UV dose on microbial inactivation. The ETE treats up to 2000 L of wastewater daily from toilets and a university restaurant and has five components (grease box, septic tank, microalgae tank, upflow anaerobic filter, and wetlands). Pretreated effluents were used in the experiments, and sampling sites consisted of inspection boxes located after the wetlands. Sample collection, inspection, preservation, and analyses were performed according to standard methods. Sample turbidity was adjusted to 5, 50, 100, 200, and 300 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU), and UV doses of 7.2–28.8 mWs cm-2 were used. A 5 x 5 factorial design (five turbidity levels and five radiation doses) was used, totaling 25 treatments. Each treatment was performed in triplicate. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and Tukey's test. The results showed that the increase in turbidity significantly decreased disinfection efficiency in samples with turbidity levels higher than 50 NTU. The microbial inactivation coefficients obtained here can be extrapolated to disinfection of wastewater with turbidity up to 300 NTU to eliminate thermotolerant coliforms. The UV sterilizer is feasible for wastewater treatment and its reuse in agriculture.
Keywords: domestic effluent, sustainability, ultraviolet radiation, water reuse.


Magnetically soft amorphous glass-coated microwires are suitable for numerous sensor applications. Their typical dimensions – metallic nucleus diameter of 1 to 50 m and glass coating thickness of 1 to 30 m – make them promising candidates for high frequency applications, especially given their sensitive giant magneto-impedance (GMI) response in the MHz and GHz ranges (Torrejón et al, 2009). The magnetic properties of amorphous microwires are determined by composition, which gives the sign and magnitude of their magnetostriction, as well as by dimensions – metallic nucleus diameter, glass coating thickness, and their ratio – which are extremely relevant for the level of internal stresses induced during preparation. The magneto-mechanical coupling between internal stresses and magnetostriction is mainly responsible for the distribution of anisotropy axes and domain structure formation. Microwires generally display a core-shell domain structure in their metallic nucleus, with orthogonal easy axes, e.g. axial in the core and circumferential or radial in the shell, as schematically shown in Fig. 1.


Rats were conditioned to emit the following two-member chain of responses on two different operanda always available: responses on a vertical bar produced a discriminative stimulus for food-reinforced responding on a horizontal bar. Responses on the vertical bar produced a discriminative stimulus on a variable-interval 1-min schedule, and the horizontal bar produced food on a variable ratio of 10 responses. Control conditions were included in which vertical bar responses were also food-reinforced simultaneous with the onset of the discriminative stimulus for the horizontal bar response and a tandem schedule which had the same response requirements but without different exteroceptive stimuli associated with the separate components of the response chain. The latter condition greatly retarded acquisition of the response chain compared to the other schedules studied here and compared to reports in the literature on homogeneous (single operandum) response chains. Intermittent reinforcement of the chain led to greater resistance to extinction of both members and the chain remained intact longer in the sense that stimulus control was maintained.


Karun River poses the largest and longest river of Iran that its water Salinity has been decreased in recent years owing to pollutant sources loading. The aim of this study is evaluating management practices to reduce river salinity in form of removal and reduction scenarios of point contaminant sources ranging from Mollasani to Farsiat (most critical range of population, industrial and agricultural density) using MIKE11 model. Reduction scenario results showed that the scenario of reducing from upstream boundary at the end of study area is influential on river salinity with the average reduction of 35.10 and 26.10% in wet and dry seasons, respectively. Results related to the simulation of combined options implied that the 52% reduction scenario from upstream boundary together with decreased point sources by 30% in both wet and dry seasons, respectively, with an average salinity of 60 and 46% outperform other options to reduce the river salinity. Comparing the results of premier scenarios with standard water salinity limits showed that in both wet and dry seasons, standard limit conditions connected with drinking and agricultural water could be met. The outcomes of this research demonstrate that rivers water quality can be increased by employing contaminant sources management strategies. Review History: Received: 17 November 2016 Revised: 1 May 2017 Accepted: 24 May 2017 Available Online: 7 June 2017