Embodied human communication encompasses both verbal (speech) and non-verbal information (e.g., gesture and head movements). Recent advances in machine learning have substantially improved the technologies for generating synthetic versions of both of these types of data: On the speech side, text-to-speech systems are now able to generate highly convincing, spontaneous-sounding speech using unscripted speech audio as the source material. On the motion side, probabilistic motion-generation methods can now synthesise vivid and lifelike speech-driven 3D gesticulation. In this paper, we put these two state-of-the-art technologies together in a coherent fashion for the first time. Concretely, we demonstrate a proof-of-concept system trained on a single-speaker audio and motion-capture dataset, that is able to generate both speech and full-body gestures together from text input. In contrast to previous approaches for joint speech-and-gesture generation, we generate full-body gestures from speech synthesis trained on recordings of spontaneous speech from the same person as the motion-capture data. We illustrate our results by visualising gesture spaces and textspeech-gesture alignments, and through a demonstration video.


The goal of this symposium is to present and discuss how advances in computer hardware, scientific visualization, and computational methods of visualization, has enabled multiple conceptual and visual representations of atomic and molecular concepts. These advances in molecular modeling and visualization enable students to manipulate a variety of visual representations of abstract concepts, explore these concepts, and, therefore, bring the study of science closer to the doing of science. We will present several projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create research-oriented, user-friendly, molecular modeling education tools that facilitate multiple visual representations.


We propose two novel loss functions based on Jensen-Shannon divergence for learning under label noise. Following the work of Ghosh et al. (2017), we argue about their theoretical robustness. Furthermore, we reveal several other desirable properties by drawing informative connections to various loss functions e.g. cross entropy, mean absolute error, generalized cross entropy, symmetric cross entropy, label smoothing, and most importantly consistency regularization. We conduct extensive and systematic experiments using both synthetic (CIFAR) and real (WebVision) noise and demonstrate significant and consistent improvements over other loss functions. Also, we conduct several informative side experiments that highlight the different theoretical properties.


There is little debate that there are important ethical questions that we must answer as we increase our reliance on social networking technologies such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for our communications, interactions and connections. Social media is at the center of many of our greatest public policy challenges but the moral (or immoral) role it plays in relation to human behavior is far from settled. Part of the difficulty we face in addressing the unique challenges of social networking technologies is discerning the significance of social networking on us. This is because we often begin with an erroneous assumption. The moral significance of technologies generally—not only social networking technologies—is hampered by the insistence that technologies are typically considered objects and we are human, and the province of morality has long been ours. Postphenomenological inquiries can help to fashion technological development in pursuit of understanding how our moral behavior takes shape, but we can also take a critical perspective on who we are and what we are becoming in light of what social networking technologies reveal about the state of our ontological Being.


Assessing that a probability of false alarm is below a given significance level is a crucial issue in watermarking. We propose an iterative and self-adapting algorithm which estimates very low probabilities of error. Some experimental investigations validates its performance for a rare detection scenario where there exists a close form formula of the probability of false alarm. Our algorithm appears to be much quicker and more accurate than a classical Monte Carlo estimator. It even allows the experimental measurement of error exponents.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes liver failure, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The FOXP3 gene polymorphisms, the rs2232365 A/G and the rs3761548 A/C, were identified to be associated with regulatory T cell‐mediated immunosuppression. The response to HBV infection may be affected by FOXP3 polymorphisms. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between FOXP3 gene polymorphisms and chronic HBV infection risk.


In this paper, we study some properties of the near SR-compactness in L-topological spaces, where L is a fuzzy lattice. The near SR-compactness is a kind of compactness between Lowen's fuzzy compactness and SR-compactness, and it preserves desirable properties of compactness in general topological spaces.


Metabolic alterations, crucial indicators of glioma development, can be used for detection of glioma before the appearance of fatal phenotype. We have compared the circulating metabolic fingerprints of glioma (n=26) and healthy controls (n=16) to identify a panel of biomarkers for detection of glioma. HRMAS-NMR spectra was obtained from two study groups and data was analysed by ML as well as chemometric methods (PCA and PLSDA). A panel of 38 metabolites was identified by three ML algorithms (logistics regression, extra tree classifier, & random forest), Wilcoxon test (p<0.05), and PLSDA (VIP score>1) which can serve as diagnostic biomarker of glioma.


Rapid identification of bacterial pathogens is crucial for appropriate and adequate antibiotic treatment, which significantly improves patient outcomes. 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing has proven to be a powerful strategy for diagnosing bacterial infections. We have recently established a sequencing method and bioinformatics pipeline for 16S rRNA gene analysis utilizing the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION™ sequencer. In combination with our taxonomy annotation analysis pipeline, the system enabled the molecular detection of bacterial DNA in a reasonable timeframe for diagnostic purposes. However, purification of bacterial DNA from specimens remains a rate-limiting step in the workflow. To further accelerate the process of sample preparation, we adopted a direct PCR strategy that amplifies 16S rRNA genes from bacterial cell suspensions without DNA purification. Our results indicated that differences in cell wall morphology significantly affected direct PCR efficiency and sequencing data. Notably, mechanical cell disruption preceding direct PCR was indispensable for obtaining an accurate representation of the specimen bacterial composition. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene analysis of the mock polymicrobial samples revealed that optimization of the primer sequences is required to avoid preferential detection of particular taxa and to cover a broad range of bacterial species. This study establishes a relatively simple workflow for rapid bacterial identification via MinION™ sequencing that reduces the turnaround time from sample to result and provides a reliable method that would be applicable to the clinical settings.


The association between asthma and obesity is well-described, but not straightforward, and according to current guidelines asthma control is more difficult to achieve in obese patients. The currently available studies evaluating response to pharmacological asthma therapy in obese patients show that these patients have an altered, in general less favorable, response to both reliever and controller medication compared to normal weight patients. However, at present, the limited available evidence precludes evidence-based recommendations. The 'obesity-related asthma' phenotype has different characteristics, including association with atopy and type of airway inflammation, compared to 'classic' asthma. Furthermore, weight loss in patients with this phenotype leads to an improvement in symptoms, lung function, and airway responsiveness, as well as a reduction in medication utilization and hospital admissions. Obese patients, who present with symptoms suggesting a diagnosis of asthma, may have a distinct phenotype or a disease mimicking asthma, likely to have a potentially higher remission rate. And by that, our approach to this group of patients should combine pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies, including exercise, weight loss and dietary interventions, instead of primarily focusing on disease control by stepping up asthma therapy.


Computed quotients of the concentrations of individual proteins in serum and in cerebrospinal fluid recorded in a semilogarithmic way against the hydrodynamic radius of the molecules may be connected and so give lineals, the positions of which are believed to estimate the actual function of the blood-brain-barrier (Felgenhauer et al. 1974; 1976). It is demonstrated by examinations of different samples of blood and cerebrospinal fluid, that both the described method and the simple measurement of total protein in cerebrospinal fluid are of the same power in their application to estimate the function of the blood-brain-barrier. However, the method introduced by Felgenhauer et al. enables to demonstrate immunoglobulins not having reached the cerebrospinal fluid by entering from the blood stream and so giving rise to diagnose a local humoral immune response within the central nervous system. In this way the method of Felgenhauer et al. gives advantages to the diagnostics of neurological diseases.


Aim: To evaluate pain relief, anti-inflammatory and hypouricemic effects of GT1 tablets on experimental animals.
Method: GT1 at the doses of 22.32 g/kg/day and 66.96 g/kg/day were evaluated for its analgesic effect in three models (hot plate, pain threshold, and acetic acid-induced writhing), its chronic anti-inflammatory effect in the granulomatous reaction model, and its hypouricemic effect in potassium oxonate-induced hyperuricemic mice. Acute anti-inflammatory effects of GT1 at the doses of 11.16 g/kg/day and 33.48 g/kg/day were evaluated in rats with two models: carrageenin-induced paw edema and peritonitis.
Results: GT1 prolonged the temperature reaction time on the hot plate (22.73 s and 20.37 s at both doses of 22.32 g/kg and 66.96 g/kg, respectively, compared to 16.96 s in control group), reduced the number of acid acetic-induced writhing effects, decreased the weight of granulomas, and decreased the level of acid uric in blood and urine (p < 0.05). GT1 caused a significant reduction in paw edema after subplantar injection of carrageenan in rats (p < 0.05). Moreover, there was a substantial decline of GT1 at the dose of 11.16 g/kg/day in terms of the volume and the quantity of protein in the inflammation fluid of the peritonitis model (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: GT1 at both doses of 11.16 g/kg/day and 33.48 g/kg/day posed acute anti-inflammatory effects on rats. GT1 at both doses of 22.32 g/kg/day and 66.96 g/kg/day exerted analgesic, chronic anti-inflammatory and hypouricemic effects on mice.


Built in self testing (BIST) is most attractive technique to test different kind of circuits. In BIST, test patterns are generated by different techniques of test pattern generation and applied to the circuit under test (CUT). In pseudorandom BIST architecture, test patterns are generated by Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR). Due to high Switching in pattern generation by conventional LFSR, power dissipation is high in conventional LFSR. Power is an important constraint in VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) testing. This paper presents a modification in LFSR to generate pattern for BIST applications with reduced power requirement. This new technique represent low transition pattern pseudorandom generator (LT-PRG) for Test-perClock and Test-per-Scan BIST applications. The LT-PRPG is designed with the use of a LFSR and a 2x1 multiplexer. Experimental results show that the implementation of BitSwapping LFSR can reduce the internal transition activity probability which directly affect the dissipation of power in CUT without affecting the fault coverage.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
EM523, a nonpeptide motilin agonist, is being developed for clinical use to improve delayed gastric emptying. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of EM523 on endogenous release of gut and pancreatic hormones in conscious dogs.

METHODS
Motility of the gastrointestinal tract was monitored using force transducers. Blood concentrations of gut and pancreatic hormones were measured using a specific radioimmunoassay. EM523 (3 micrograms/kg) or normal saline (5 mL) was given during the phase I period of the interdigestive state.

RESULTS
A single injection of EM523 always induced phase III-like contractions in the intact gastric antrum and was accompanied by significant (P < 0.01) release of motilin, pancreatic polypeptide, and insulin; glucagon, gastrin, cholecystokinin, and secretin were not released by EM523. The significant release of these hormones was suppressed by pretreatment with atropine and completely eliminated by a 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor antagonist and truncal vagotomy.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that EM523 stimulates the release of pancreatic polypeptide, insulin, and motilin by activating the cholinergic parasympathetic nerve system, finally stimulating the endocrine pancreas through vagally cholinergic muscarinic receptors in the pancreatic islets. The participation of 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 receptors in this system is strongly suggested by the results.


In recent decades, reforms in the global public sector promoted a culture of private sector style operational performance and accountability mechanisms in public services. Such an emphasis focuses on assessing and reporting on what is being achieved in terms of outcome(s) as opposed to what is being produced (outputs). Within this context, the global public sector is driven by a mission to ensure that government service agencies deliver public value to the community. In doing so, government agencies are required to clearly identify the outcomes they are trying to achieve. The recent emergence of the outcome-based budgeting/performance management approach is a change in thinking from the traditional "inputs-outputs" to an approach that focuses on "outcomes." Building upon the recent edited books (Hoque, 2021a, 2021b), this article aims to assess critically how selected countries in both developed and emerging economies attempted to address the limitations of traditional government fiscal management approaches by introducing the outcome-based approach in their fiscal management programs. The paper reflects on the lessons learnt from this exercise and recommends for some future studies. It raises a question as to whether the outcome-approach is more "political rhetoric" than a "reality."


Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is an important hypophysiotrophic factor as well as a regulator for immune, reproductive, and neural tissues. We recently found that TTF-1, a homeodomain-containing transcription factor essential for the development of the fetal diencephalon, is postnatally expressed in the hypothalamic area and plays a transcription regulatory role for certain neurohormones. Based on the similarity of synthesis sites between PACAP and TTF-1 and, moreover, on the presence of conserved core TTF-1 binding motifs in the 5′-flanking region of the PACAP gene, we sought to uncover a regulatory role of TTF-1 in PACAP gene transcription. The TTF-1 homeodomain binds to six of the seven putative binding domains observed in the 5′-flanking region of the PACAP gene. In the C6 glioma cell-line, TTF-1 activates the PACAP promoter in a dose-dependent manner. This transactivation of PACAP by TTF-1 was totally removed when the core TTF-1 binding motif at −369 was deleted. RNase protection assays showed that TTF-1 and PACAP mRNAs have daily fluctuations in the rat hypothalamus. They both were at low levels during the day and high levels during the night. Intracerebroventricular administration of an antisense TTF-1 oligodeoxynucleotide significantly decreased the PACAP mRNA level as well as TTF-1 protein content in the rat hypothalamus, suggesting that TTF-1 also regulates PACAP transcription in vivo. Moreover, the TTF-1 promoter was inhibited by molecular oscillators of CLOCK and BMAL-1. Taken together, these data suggest that TTF-1 plays an important regulatory role in the gene transcription for PACAP, which may be important for the generation of a daily rhythm of hypothalamic PACAP gene expression.


Pre-job engineering tasks conducted during the drilling design phase have often been an overlooked aspect regarding time and cost savings. This is a critical phase that directly impacts efficiencies and effectiveness while drilling. This paper highlights the multiple benefits of an engineering solution that automates and triggers advanced engineering computations simultaneously. The objective is to realize time savings and accuracy gains necessary for quick evaluation and resolution of the decision-making processes, while eliminating unintentional oversight on engineering requirements.
 The approach focuses on a fully customizable application that automates sequences of models/ actions; interpretation and validation of results, based on pre-determined criteria; and reporting functionality. This automated solution uses established workflows and conditions, and user defined calculations to conduct typical pre-drill engineering tasks.
 To demonstrate the tool's capabilities, two wells were reviewed by multiple engineers of varying experience levels. Each performed the pre-drill engineering tasks assigned based on proposed requirements. The outcome reviews the time taken to deliver validated engineering solutions; accuracy of result validation and ability to track compliance to standards. Results from the evaluation of these three Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) are presented and thoroughly described.
 The validation conducted revealed significant time efficiency gains when executing pre-engineering tasks and automatically validating each simulation (71% overall time-reduction). The accuracy of results was always guaranteed when using the automated method, with a 100% accuracy for both wells analyzed, compared to an average of 92% from the focus group. This improvement is key to ensure the delivery of flawless well designs, consistently and reliably. Additionally, the described potential for ensured compliance based on standardized rules specific to each organization, allows for repeatability and accountability, enhanced through the use of auditable trails.
 Automation of processes, workflows and equipment is driving the innovative and creative direction for the industry, but it should also steer toward an increase in reliability, performance and minimization of risk in every step of the well delivery process. This fully customizable engineering tool proved to be a highly efficient approach that allows users to eliminate manual, time consuming tasks while removing the potential for accidental oversight in identifying future issues before drilling begins.


The standard model of the small open economy is burdened with a unit root that greatly complicates numerical computation of the global saddle path. In this paper we solve the unit root problem by developing a set of innovative forward-shooting algorithms. Exploiting the fact that the algorithms are mechanical and model-free, we have placed canned, fully automated programs in the public domain. The programs do not require any substantive human input. The user's only responsibility is to type in the equations of the model correctly.


In this paper, we present a giant left atrial diverticulum (LAD) in a 10-year-old girl, whose three-dimensional (3D) image reconstruction was used to help diagnosis and surgical positioning. Previously reported cases were reviewed, and the clinical characteristics of this disease also was summarized to improve the diagnosis and treatment of LAD.


As a part of teaching "Design and Technology" an extensive activity of the project World Wide Workshop, has focused on possibilities to utilize museums and science centres in mainly Europe. Seminars with teachers, teacher trainers and students have been held in Munich, London, Paris, Athens and Rome with the aim to communicate highlights in science and technology. The study stresses the value of mobility in teacher education in technology education as this makes it possible to utilize the unequal and authentic sources for learning which are located at the museums in different countries.


The aims of this study were to evaluate the ability of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from a poultry slaughterhouse to form biofilm in the presence and absence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the effect of surface (stainless steel, polystyrene), temperature (7, 25, and 42 °C), and oxygen concentration (microaerophilic and aerobic conditions) on the formation of biofilm. The genes ahpC, cadF, clpP, dnaJ, docA, flaA, flaB, katA, kpsM, luxS, racR, and sodB, related to biofilm formation by C. jejuni, were also investigated. All isolates formed biofilm on stainless steel and on polystyrene, in both aerobic and microaerophilic atmospheres, including temperatures not optimal for C. jejuni growth (7 and 25 °C), and biofilm also was formed in the presence of P. aeruginosa. In dual-species biofilm on stainless steel, biofilm formation was 2-6 log CFU·cm-2 higher at 7 °C for all isolates, in comparison with monospecies biofilm. Ten genes (ahpC, cadF, clpP, dnaJ, docA, flaA, flaB, luxS, racR, and sodB) were detected in all isolates, but katA and kpsM were found in four and six isolates, respectively. The results obtained are of concern because the poultry C. jejuni isolates form biofilm in different conditions, which is enhanced in the presence of other biofilm formers, such as P. aeruginosa.


Spatio-temporal variations of microphytobenthic biomass were investigated in the Botafogo and Siri estuaries, Pernambuco - Brazil. Samples were taken during low water (bi-monthly) from February to December, 2003. Three sampling stations were located in each estuary, in both midlittoral and sublittoral areas. Clear spatial and temporal variations were found for both chlorophyll-a and phaeopigment concentrations. In Botafogo, chlorophyll-a had 34% of total variation explained by MRA from nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, while only 16% of total variation was thus explained from nitrogen concentration in the Siri estuary. Phaeopigments had 39% of total variation explained by MRA from nitrogen concentration and salinity in the Botafogo estuary and 58% of total variation was similarly explained from nitrogen concentration in the Siri estuary. Nitrogen was discriminated by the b coefficients as the most important factor in the explanation of the microphytobenthic pigments variations in the Botafogo estuary. The data of this study emphasize the role of nutrients and suggest that both estuaries show evidence of eutrophication.


The formulation of requirements continues to be a problem in systems engineering, despite considerable efforts over the last several decades and the emergence of a number of formalised languages. In this paper, we argue that a natural language, i.e. English, is still the most appropriate for most cases, and that it would be beneficial to concentrate more effort on ensuring the proper use of English rather than on inventing new formalisms to circumvent the perceived weaknesses of English.


Rationale: New-onset psychosis in an immunosuppressed patient post-kidney transplantation (KT) is a diagnostic challenge. A broad differential diagnosis merits consideration; however, an approach to this differential diagnosis remains to be outlined in the literature. Also, when and how to modify the maintenance immunosuppressive regimen remains a significant area of controversy. Presenting concerns: A 23-year-old male, known for X-linked Alport syndrome for which he had undergone KT 1 year prior, presented with a 1-week history of disorganized speech, bizarre behavior, religious delusions, and visual hallucinations. Diagnoses: After ruling out infectious, metabolic, autoimmune, and structural causes, immunosuppressant medications were changed from tacrolimus to cyclosporine. The patient did not improve after this change, and a second opinion consultation with a transplant psychiatrist led to a diagnosis of primary first-episode psychosis, later refined to bipolar disorder type I. Interventions: The patient was started on risperidone, which led to a significant improvement in his symptoms. Outcomes: Twelve months after discharge, his mood and behavior had returned to baseline on aripiprazole, bupropion, and citalopram. However, he developed acute allograft rejection, prompting a change from cyclosporine back to tacrolimus, with stability of his mental state and graft function. Teaching points: This report offers learners an extensive and organized differential diagnosis to the work up of psychosis post kidney transplantation. A complete history, with input from collateral sources, and a systematic approach to the differential diagnosis, are crucial and should not be overshadowed by the risk of immunosuppressant-related neurotoxicity. We underscore the importance of multi-disciplinary management and comprehensive psychosocial assessment and re-assessment to refine the diagnosis. We also report the successful re-introduction of tacrolimus once the diagnosis of a primary psychiatric disorder is confirmed. Finally, we offer a simplified approach that can aid in distinguishing between a primary psychiatric diagnosis versus tacrolimus-associated psychosis.


Stories capture the characteristics of the design space and audience that designers and engineers need to understand to build a complete and useful software experience. A story is a design communication tool that transcends the cultural divides of multidisciplinary teams and intertwines a technology with its user's goals. This article describes how stories are powerful tools in software design, defines the elements that make a compelling story, and presents the use of stories at IBM from the authors' experience. It also explores the benefits at each phase of the design process and how stories evolve throughout the design process.


Redundancy in deep neural network (DNN) models has always been one of their most intriguing and important properties. DNNs have been shown to overparameterize, or extract a lot of redundant features. In this work, we explore the impact of size (both width and depth), activation function, and weight initialization on the susceptibility of deep neural network models to extract redundant features. To estimate the number of redundant features in each layer, all the features of a given layer are hierarchically clustered according to their relative cosine distances in feature space and a set threshold. It is shown that both network size and activation function are the two most important components that foster the tendency of DNNs to extract redundant features. The concept is illustrated using deep multilayer perceptron and convolutional neural networks on MNIST digits recognition and CIFAR-10 dataset, respectively.


ABSTRACT Interviews were conducted with six Israeli junior high school teachers with the aim of identifying personal dilemmas they faced as teachers. Three of the interviewees were novice teachers; three more experienced. The subjects taught in Arab villages, a religious vocational Jewish school, and in a Kibbutz. S.77eral educational contexts which give rise to teacher dilemmas were identified. The transition context created dilemmas for novices, which were related to professional identity and abilities, group membership, interpersonal relationships, and teacher status. Another context of teacher dilemmas was found to be within the areas of teacher planning and curriculum. Ethical problems and issues caused dilemmas in the context of classroom management. The societal context giving rise to dilemmas included moral and political issues and ideologies. Two major explanatory frames for teacher dilemmas were identified: the gap between ideology and reality, and the multiple obligations with which teachers are confronted. (JD)


With the publication of his seminal novel White Noise, Don DeLillo was elevated into the pantheon of great American writers. His novels are admired and studied for their narrative technique, political themes, and their prophetic commentary on the cultural crises affecting contemporary America. In an age dominated by the image, DeLillo's fiction encourages the reader to think historically about such matters as the Cold War, the assassination of President Kennedy, threats to the environment, and terrorism. This Companion charts the shape of DeLillo's career, his relation to twentieth-century aesthetics, and his major themes. It also provides in-depth assessments of his best-known novels, White Noise, Libra, and Underworld, which have become required reading not only for students of American literature, but for all interested in the history and the future of American culture.


This study was conducted to identify viruses affecting squash plants in Southern Syria and Jordan Valley. 157 squash fields were surveyed (75 fields in Southern Syria and 82 fields in Jordan Valley) during the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 growing seasons. Virus incidence in the field based on disease symptoms was in the range of 5-100%. 1760 symptomatic squash samples (851 from Southern Syria, 909 samples from Jordan Valley) were collected and tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serological tests indicated the presence of 13 viruses which affect squash in Southern Syria: Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) was the most common in cucurbits fields (59.93%), followed by Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) (38.3%), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) (34.07%), Papaya ring spot virus (PRSV) (24.6%), Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) (23.38%), Squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) (22.91%), Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) (4.46%), Lettuce mosaic virus (LMV) (3.17%), Tomato black ring virus (ToBRV) (2.82%), Squash mosaic virus (SqMV) (2.35%), Arabis mosaic virus (ArMV) (0.59%), Tomato ring spot virus (ToRSV) (0.24%), and Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) (0.24%). In the Jordan Valley, serological tests indicated the presence of 15 viruses affecting squash: ZYMV was again the most common in cucurbit fields (53.2%), followed by SLCV (43.78%), CGMMV (40%), WMV (30.47%), PRSV (25.63%), CMV (23.65%), TSWV (4.46%), Tobacco ring spot virus (TRSV) (3.08%), SqMV (1.98%), ArMV (1.43%), LMV (1.43%), AMV (1.1%), ToRSV (0.88%), ToBRV (0.44%) and Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) (0.396%). This is the first record of natural infection of squash plants with SLCV, LMV, ArMV, ToBRV and ToRSV in Southern Syria and TSWV, TBSV, LMV, ArMV, ToBRV, TRSV and ToRSV in Jordan Valley.


A tornado features kinematically combining three major co-existent components, namely, updraft, translation, and rotation, which involve all the three dimensions in space while transient in time. For numerical simulation of a tornadobuilding interaction scenario, it looks quite challenging to seek a set of physically-rational and meanwhile computationallypractical boundary conditions to accompany traditional CFD approaches; thus, little literature can be found, as of today, in three-dimensional (3D) computational tornado dynamics study. Inspired by the development of immersed boundary (IB) method, this study employed the re-tailored Rankinecombined vortex model (RCVM) that applies the "relative motion" principle to the translational component of tornado, such that the building is viewed as "virtually" translating towards a "pinned" rotational flow that remains time-invariant at the far field region. This revision renders a steady-state kinematic condition applicable to the outer boundary of a large tornado simulation domain, successfully circumventing the boundary condition updating process that the original RCVM would have to suffer, and tremendously accelerating the computation. Here, this re-tailored RCVM was extended to its 3D version with the aid of logarithm law that describes the vertical flow evolution. Eventually, this tornado model was embedded in Incompact3D, an academic high-order finite difference turbulent flow solver, resulting in a practical powerful 3D tornado-building interaction simulation tool. A case study examined the tornadic wind induced loadings on a prismatic building; over all three directions, the vertical force component was found dominant, which effectively suggests the uprooting effect as observed in many reported scenes after a devastating tornado swept over.


In the JWST, Extremely Large Telescopes, and LUVOIR era, we expect to characterize a number of potentially habitable Earth-like exoplanets. However, the characterization of these worlds depends crucially on the accuracy of theoretical models. Validating these models against observations of planets with known properties will be key for the future characterization of terrestrial exoplanets. Due to its sensitivity to the micro- and macro-physical properties of an atmosphere, polarimetry will be an important tool that, in tandem with traditional flux-only observations, will enhance the capabilities of characterizing Earth-like planets. In this paper we benchmark two different polarization-enabled radiative-transfer codes against each other and against unique linear spectropolarimetric observations of the earthshine that cover wavelengths from ∼0.4 to ∼2.3 μm. We find that while the results from the two codes generally agree with each other, there is a phase dependency between the compared models. Additionally, with our current assumptions, the models from both codes underestimate the level of polarization of the earthshine. We also report an interesting discrepancy between our models and the observed 1.27 μm O2 feature in the earthshine, and provide an analysis of potential methods for matching this feature. Our results suggest that only having access to the 1.27 μm O2 feature coupled with a lack of observations of the O2 A and B bands could result in a mischaracterization of an Earth-like atmosphere. Providing these assessments is vital to aid the community in the search for life beyond the solar system.


In this paper, we test political cost hypothesis in Indonesian market. Political cost hypothesis said that some firms that are more vulnerable to political cost than the others manage income downward to avoiding the attention of government and regulator. In this context we evaluate firms with high investment opportunity set (IOS). Firm with high IOS faces more political cost than firm with low IOS. So it is hypothesized that they will be lowering income to minimize the political cost, like increasing demand of labor union, government intrusion, antitrust regulator and the other. Consistent with previous study, we find that firm with high investment opportunity set manage accrual downward to counter the potential government intrusions and to reduce the political cost.


We hypothesized that platelet-activating factor (PAF) and cyclooxygenase products might be important mediators of the cardiopulmonary effects induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) in anesthetized pigs. A 6-h infusion of human recombinant TNF-alpha caused hypoxemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, decreased cardiac index (CI), increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and increased mean pulmonary arterial (Ppa) and intratracheal (Pt) pressures. Administration of the PAF receptor antagonist SRI 63-441 or indomethacin blocked the early (0.25-0.5 h) and attenuated the later increases in PVR and Ppa; indomethacin also attenuated the increase in Pt and hypoxemia associated with TNF-alpha infusion. WEB 2086 did not attenuate the TNF-alpha-induced alterations in CI, PVR, Pt, or PaO2. The in vivo specificity of SRI 63-441 and WEB 2086 was tested by infusing exogenous PAF, prostaglandin (PG) F2 alpha, U-46619 [thromboxane (Tx)A2 receptor mimetic], or arachidonic acid (AA) before and during administration of SRI 63-441 or WEB 2086. Both antagonists blocked the cardiopulmonary effects induced by exogenous PAF. SRI 63-441, but not WEB 2086, significantly attenuated the increased PVR caused by PGF2 alpha, U-46619, and AA. We conclude that SRI 63-441 is a less specific PAF receptor antagonist in vivo compared with WEB 2086 and that cyclooxygenase products, but not PAF, contribute significantly to the cardiopulmonary responses induced by exogenously infused TNF-alpha in pigs.


Local folk songs are often only enjoyed by local people and, of course, only a few of these songs can become national songs. However, through the song called Paris Barantai composed by Anang Ardiansyah, the Banjar song can become a nationally recognized regional folk song. In addition, Anang Ardiansyah's other songs have a message or religious content that reflects the Islamic culture of the Banjar community. Therefore, this paper explores religious content of four songs composed by Anang Ardiansyah with the aim that the local folk songs are not only sung but reinforce the distribution of religious values and knowledge in relation to the Banjar culture. The results of this paper describe the religious practice of urang (people of) Banjar related to faith, prayer and shalawat in everyday life and the term haram menyarah (surrender is forbidden) as Banjar people's struggle doctrine depicted from the Banjar song composed by Anang Ardiansyah. Therefore, through these songs it becomes an important part of the efforts to strengthen the Banjar religious identity and religious value distribution will take place continuously.


Importance: The functional anatomy of the brain, especially of the subcortical structures, is one of the least understood areas in neurophysiology. A great deal of the understanding of the functional neuroanatomy is derived from the study of patients whose brain has been damaged under different circumstances. Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning affects particularly the basal ganglia and subcortical white matter, providing insight into the functional neuroanatomy of this complex region of the central nervous system. Since the regulating mechanisms of the sleepwake cycle depend on multiple brain regions, damage of any of these regions may result in states of vigilance disturbances.
Methods: Sleep was recorded and scored using 30-s epochs according to standard methods, including central and occipital EEG (C3-A1, C4-A2, O1-A1 and O2-A2), submental EMG and periorbital EOG. Oronasal airflow and thoracic and abdominal respiratory effort were also monitored throughout the night
Results: In addition to disruption of continuity and alterations in the sleep architecture, total sleep time was significantly reduced in the patient under study; consequently, sleep efficiency was severely affected. Reduction in total time spent in REM sleep was related to the mean duration but not to the number of REM sleep episodes displayed across the recording of sleep. Cardiac and respiratory activities exhibited a tendency across the sleepwake cycle different to that observed in healthy subjects.
Conclusions: This report suggests that cortical and subcortical brain damage caused by CO poisoning induces sleep disturbances and functional modification of the autonomic nervous system. Therapies to improve the sleep quality of patients exposed to CO poisoning should be implemented.


Summary. Progesterone was determined daily in the peripheral plasma of six cows for a total of seven complete oestrous cycles. Progesterone levels ranged from less than 0\m=.\5 ng/ml plasma during the follicular phase to 6\m=.\6 ng/ml plasma (6\m=.\1 to 10\m=.\2 ng) at peak luteal phase. Progesterone levels in cows with 21-day cycles increased rapidly from Day 3 to Day 8 (oestrus = 1) with a much slower rate of increase from Day 8 to Day 17. These cows showed a progesterone decrease of more than 50% from the previous day on Days 18 (two cows), 19 (one cow) and 21 (two cows). Two other cows with cycles of 22 and 23 days' duration both had a similar decline on Day 20. A variable time interval of 1 to 5 days was observed between the decline of progesterone and the occurrence of oestrus. These data indicate that considerable variation may exist among cows as to time require-ments for follicle development and maturation. Monitoring of peripheral levels of progesterone is suggested as a means of studying corpus luteum function.


Real estate appraisal is of great importance to several socio-economic stakeholders for different reasons and justifications: local governments and municipalities for taxation purposes; banks for mortgage and other credit applications processing; property valuation companies for marketing activities; and property developers and investors for sound investment decision-making. This paper summarizes the real estate appraisal system that has been developed for and with CUQ (Coomunait e urbaine de Qu ebec), CUM (Communait e urbaine de Montr eal), and Communait e urbaine de Gatineau (CUG) and implemented over the last twenty years in the Province of Qu ebec. The salient features of the property appraisal system are: (1) property-specific individual appraisal using a new regression method called "analogical regression", (2) mass-appraisal based on property-specific individual appraisals, and (3) the size of real estate coverage (over 1,050,000 properties) and the variety of real estate profiles considered (shopping centers, office buildings, residential properties, farms, industrial units, etc.). © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) is highly effective for malaria chemoprevention during pregnancy, but the standard dosing of DP that is used for nonpregnant adults may not be optimal for pregnant women. We previously reported that the pharmacokinetic exposure of total piperaquine (PQ; both bound and unbound to plasma proteins) is reduced significantly in the context of pregnancy or efavirenz (EFV)-based antiretroviral therapy (ART). ABSTRACT Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) is highly effective for malaria chemoprevention during pregnancy, but the standard dosing of DP that is used for nonpregnant adults may not be optimal for pregnant women. We previously reported that the pharmacokinetic exposure of total piperaquine (PQ; both bound and unbound to plasma proteins) is reduced significantly in the context of pregnancy or efavirenz (EFV)-based antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, as PQ is >99% protein-bound, reduced protein binding during pregnancy may lead to an increase in the pharmacologically active unbound drug fraction (fu), relative to the total PQ. We investigated the impact of pregnancy and EFV use on the fu of PQ to inform the interpretation of pharmacokinetics. Plasma samples from 0 to 24 h after the third (final) DP dose were collected from pregnant women at 28 weeks gestation who were receiving or not receiving EFV-based ART as well as from women 34 to 54 weeks postpartum who were not receiving EFV-based ART, who served as controls. Unbound PQ was quantified via ultrafiltration and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, with fu being calculated as PQunbound/PQtotal. The geometric mean fu did not differ between pregnant and postpartum women (P = 0.66), but it was 23% (P < 0.01) greater in pregnant women receiving EFV-based ART, compared to that in postpartum women who were not receiving EFV-based ART. The altered drug-protein binding, potentially due to the displacement of PQ from plasma proteins by EFV, resulted in only a 14% lower unbound PQ exposure (P = 0.13) in the presence of a 31% lower total PQ exposure (P < 0.01), as estimated by the area under the concentration time curve from 0 to 24 h post-last dose in pregnant women who were receiving EFV-based ART. The results suggest that the impact of pregnancy and EFV-based ART on the exposure and, in turn, the efficacy of PQ for malaria prevention may not be as significant as was suggested by the changes in the total PQ exposure. Further study during the terminal elimination phase (e.g., on day 28 post-dose) would help better characterize the unbound PQ exposure during the full dosing interval and, thus, the overall efficacy of PQ for malaria chemoprevention in this special population.


We report a method for tracking individual quantum dot (QD) labeled proteins inside of live cells that uses four overlapping confocal volume elements and active feedback once every 5 ms to follow three-dimensional molecular motion. This method has substantial advantages over three-dimensional molecular tracking methods based upon charge-coupled device cameras, including increased Z-tracking range (10 μm demonstrated here), substantially lower excitation powers (15 μW used here), and the ability to perform time-resolved spectroscopy (such as fluorescence lifetime measurements or fluorescence correlation spectroscopy) on the molecules being tracked. In particular, we show for the first time fluorescence photon antibunching of individual QD labeled proteins in live cells and demonstrate the ability to track individual dye-labeled nucleotides (Cy5-dUTP) at biologically relevant transport rates. To demonstrate the power of these methods for exploring the spatiotemporal dynamics of live cells, we follow individual QD-labeled IgE-FcεRI receptors both on and inside rat mast cells. Trajectories of receptors on the plasma membrane reveal three-dimensional, nanoscale features of the cell surface topology. During later stages of the signal transduction cascade, clusters of QD labeled IgE-FcεRI were captured in the act of ligand-mediated endocytosis and tracked during rapid (~950 nm/s) vesicular transit through the cell.


Abstract The potential relationship between fund flows and performance is a remarkable topic in the mutual fund industry that has been explored by many empirical academic papers. In this work, it is shown that investors in Spanish equity funds respond to past good performance by increasing their (net) purchases, and to past poor performance by reducing their (net) purchases. However, the relationship between flows and performance appears to be non-linear. This non-linearity is different from the one observed in most of the previous research papers. These papers did not find any response to poor performance. Net purchases, purchases and redemptions are analysed separately and, as a new feature, the retail and wholesale markets of mutual funds are addressed. The comparison of the two markets reveals some interesting differences on the determinants of the financial decisions regarding purchasing or selling shares of equity funds. It was also found that investor sensitivity to poor performance is reduced in the case of more visible funds. This puzzling result, which originates in the retail segment, could be explained in terms of the market power of fund families.


In the European Union, Functional Urban Regions are important to economic and spatial planning; so is the existence of statistical data at this spatial level, both for the European and the national policies. Still, most European countries, like Greece, have no official delimitations for these zones - and, consecutively, no socio-economic data produced at this level. "Larger Urban Zones", created by Eurostat's Urban Audit represent the only proxy to FURs that could be used for comparable studies, but this would demand an effort for a better harmonization and for consequent statistical series.


Organizational performance is perhaps the most studied topic in management literature. For many years much attention has been given to understanding performance of the first (private/business) and second (public/administrative) sectors. Only recently have studies shown interest in the performance of the rapidly evolving third sector. However, most studies on the performance of Voluntary and Non-Profit Organizations (VNPOs) have so far adopted a distinctly macro-oriented perspective, overlooking micro-level viewpoints which may have special merit for a broader understanding of effectiveness and efficiency in these bodies. This paper provides an insight into this less studied dimension of performance analysis and tries to illuminate its advantages for VNPOs. The model applies existing knowledge from other fields such as organizational behavior and labor studies, and puts forward a theory that may prove useful for third-sector organizations struggling to improve results in a turbulent public arena. Furthermore, we provide some preliminary findings as collected in Na'amat (an Israeli VNPO of working women) that support the usefulness of this model.


This contribution offers recommendations for strengthening the effectiveness of the OSCE based on the results of the "Fit-for-Purpose" reform agenda, which the author conducted during his term as Secretary General of the OSCE (2017–2020). While the OSCE is capable of reform, there is a clear need for further political engagement. The author recommends giving the Secretariat the space it needs to amend management processes and structures. Further recommendations include streamlining the budget process, providing executive structures with a timely budget and adequate resources, strengthening the Secretariat's capacity for strategic planning, encouraging coordination among executive structures, and updating the modalities of their programmatic work.


The article is devoted to the description of attitude to lies and success of its detection in groups of civil recipients and police. Results of two empirical studies are presented in the article. At the first study (n = 120) was found that civil recipients are better in deception detection if they have epistemological understanding of concept of lie. Those recipients who understand the lie from a moral position, condemn it – are worse in lie detection. Those recipients who considers the main motive of lies is «to create a good effect» are also successful in deception detection. Perhaps this motive is projection, and people who have this motive are more attentive to the communicant, spend more effort to recognize verbal and non-verbal cues. The comparison group of recipients who rely on scientifically confirmed and unconfirmed cues of deception was shown, that scientifically confirmed group is better in lie detection.
In a group of civil recipients it was shown that attitudes to different types of lies are correlated. It was also found that the better a person evaluates himself as a successful liar, the more often he uses lie in life and the more positive attitude to lies. However, the attitude to different types of lies is not correlated with the success of detection lie, truth and messages (lie+rtuth) - only with self-esteem as a successful or unsuccessful recipient.
In the second study (n = 62) it was found that lie detection in police is not correlated with age, work experience, attitude to white lies. The police, in general, are more aware of the cues of lie, more often civilians rely on scientifically confirmed, in particular, verbal cues. However focus on scientifically confirmed cues of lie is associated with prejudgment in police. The main motive of lies «to create a good effect» named by the
police improves lie detection, like in civil group. But understanding lie as ontological or moral position is not associated with lie detection in police.
In general, both groups detect lies at the level of random guessing (50%), which is consistent with other studies. Differences in success in detection of messages (lie+rtuth) are due to bias. Biases, probably, are more associated with attitude to lie.


Migrant inclusion in a society is a process that ultimately succeeds or fails at the local level and cities have increasingly taken a proactive stance in delivering their own policies for integration. The literature on the topic has focused particularly on the cooperation between local political institutions and civil society organizations, underestimating the key role played by social partners. This paper demonstrates the participation of social partners in the local governance of migrant integration in three European cities: Barcelona, Lyon and Gothenburg. Drawing on process tracing analysis and qualitative interviews, the article illustrates the different responses of local unions and employers' organizations to immigration and the variety of approaches to supporting migrant integration into employment and society. The article argues that these approaches, which take place within different institutional and structural contexts, shape different patterns of migrant inclusion and allow us to explain the new and traditional ways in which social partners operate as social and political actors.


Background The Shared Management Model implies that as children with chronic conditions like rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) mature, they should increasingly take on responsibility for self-managing their health, in partnership with those involved in their care and education.1 An initial search of the literature suggested that there was a reduced emphasis on the supported self-management of chronic conditions like RMDs in children aged 4 to 11 years, inspiring a more rigorous and systematic search of the empirical literature. Objectives The aim of this integrative review were to understand the evidence base regarding supported self-management of chronic conditions by children and their families, including interventions that promote supported self-management skills development. Methods Studies published since 2012 were identified through a search of eight bibliographic databases. Given the extensive nature of chronic conditions in children, the review focused on three groups of chronic conditions sharing similar self-management characteristics: asthma, RMDs, and type one diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The methodological quality of quantitative studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias scale. Non-randomised studies were assessed using the Methodological Index for Non-randomised Studies (MINORS) instrument. Review articles and qualitative studies were assessed using Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) Systematic Review Checklist and CASP Qualitative Checklist, respectively. Results The review identified 29 relevant articles, reporting on 22 primary research studies and three review articles. Study participants were children with asthma (n=17) and T1DM (n=4). No studies were identified for children with RMDs. Seventeen studies reported an underlying theoretical basis, the most common of which was social cognitive theory. Interventions promoting supported self-management skills appeared to be effective in improving a range of self-reported and clinical outcomes, including health status, health knowledge, and self-efficacy. However, there was limited evidence of the effect of interventions on the psychosocial wellbeing of children. It also became clear that education-based interventions alone are insufficient in improving self- and shared-management skills. In addition, most studies failed to contextualise chronic conditions in children and their families, who shift between interacting with interventions and living their everyday lives over time. Conclusions Given the complexity of childhood chronic conditions and intervention components and contents, further investigation is required to specify the mechanisms by which supported self-management interventions operate. Most studies were also aimed at parents and carers, and appeared to neglect the importance of including and engaging children in decisions involving their healthcare. Finally, the review clearly highlighted the need for research on the supported self-management of RMDs in children, since no evidence-based interventions were identified for these individuals. Reference [1] Lindsay S, et al. 2014. A systematic review of self-management interventions for children and youth with physical disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation36(4):276–288. Disclosure of Interest None declared


This paper retraces the story of the plaster casts of the three sculptures of the so-called Pergamene «Little Barbarians » preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Venice. Commissioned in 1865 by Heinrich Brunn, the director of the German Institute of Archaeology, they were made in Venice by Eugenio Tombola thanks to Giuseppe Valentinelli, the librarian of the Marciana library. The article examines in detail the letters from Brunn to Valentinelli and the official files concerning the process of execution of the plaster casts, paying special attention to those at present stored in European Museums.


The recent public release of the generative AI language model ChatGPT has captured the public imagination and has resulted in a rapid uptake and widespread experimentation by the general public and academia alike. The number of academic publications focusing on the capabilities as well as practical and ethical implications of generative AI has been growing exponentially. One of the concerns with this unprecedented growth in scholarship related to generative AI, in particular, ChatGPT, is that, in most cases, the raw data, which is the text of the original 'conversations,' have not been made available to the audience of the papers and thus cannot be drawn on to assess the veracity of the arguments made and the conclusions drawn therefrom. This paper provides a protocol for the documentation and archiving of these raw data.


This paper calculates the structural parameters, electronic and optical properties of orthorhombic distorted perovskite-type TbMnO3 by first principles using density functional theory within the generalised gradient approximation. The calculated equilibrium lattice constants are in a reasonable agreement with theoretical and experimental data. The energy band structure, density of states and partial density of states of elements are obtained. Band structures show that TbMnO3 is an indirect band gap between the O 2p states and Mn 3d states, and the band gap is of 0.48 eV agreeing with experimental result. Furthermore, the optical properties, including the dielectric function, absorption coefficient, optical reflectivity, refractive index and energy loss spectrum are calculated and analysed, showing that the TbMnOs is a promising dielectric material.


Although helium is chemically inert under ordinary conditions, evidence obtained in recent years suggests the possibility that under special conditions it may exhibit chemical activity. Particularly under the influence of the electric discharge, helium atoms may be brought into a special state in which they possess the power of uniting with other elements to form compounds either of a fugitive or permanent character. At the suggestion of Prof. Sir E. Rutherford, a search has been made to find whether evidence could be obtained of the formation of such compounds under the action of intense electronic bombardment. It may be stated at this point that strong evidence has been obtained which leads to the belief that under certain conditions helium forms a tungsten helide of the formula WHe2, a black solid at ordinary temperatures which decomposes at high temperatures. Some evidence has also been obtained that the vapours of mercury, iodine, phosphorus and sulphur unite with helium, forming substances which are stableat liquid-air temperatures and decompose at slightly higher temperatures. Before discussing the actual experiments, it is desirable to give a brief account of previous observations on the problem. Attention has been drawn on many occasions to peculiarities in the behaviour and occurrence of helium. It is known that helium occurs in small amount in widely different substances, and in many cases this is accounted for by the presence of radioactive matter. Strutt (1), however, has drawn attention to a very remarkable case, in which helium is occluded in very considerable amounts in beryl, where no appreciable radioactive matter is to be found. Many years ago Berthelot (2) believed he had obtained helium in the combined state by subjecting mixtures of helium and the vapours of carbon disulphide or benzene to the silent electric discharge. Strutt (3) investigated the point, and on repeating Berthelot's work failed to confirm his results. Special reference should be made to the absorption of helium in discharge tubes (4) by the electrodes, the sputtered metal and the glass. It is generally agreed that the helium is not chemically retained, but that the phenomena are due to occlusion. In some instances (5) helium has been found to appear in a discharge tube after running it for some time, and its origin is not yet clear.


The ban on the battery cage system in the European Union after 2012, mainly due to impaired hen welfare, forces farmers to change to alternative housing systems for laying hens. Large-scale introduction of more hen-friendly systems, however, requires a comparison of these systems on their economic, ecological and societal (EES) performance, i.e., on their contribution to sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to assess the EES performance of the battery cage system, and of the three most prevalent alternative housing systems in the Netherlands (i.e., the deep litter system with and without outdoor run, and the aviary system with outdoor run). To asses the EES performance of different egg production systems, the following indicators were quantified: labour income per full time equivalent; land and fossil energy use per kg egg produced; acidification, eutrophication and global warming per kg egg produced; animal needs index; mortality rate (21-68 wks); medicine use; deviations from the production curve; % farmers with physical complaints; % of second quality of eggs; and the Salmonella enteritidis status of the flock. In 2004, data were collected by visiting 16 farms with battery cages, 15 with a deep litter system without outdoor run, 17 with a deep litter system with outdoor run and 13 with an aviary system with outdoor run. Data were analysed statistically to reveal significant differences among production systems. Economic performance was best in the aviary system, whereas the battery cage system resulted in the best environmental performance. As expected, prerequisites to express natural behaviour were better in alternative systems, especially if hens had access to an outdoor run. On the other hand, alternative systems seem to run a risk for a higher mortality rate due to, e.g., cannibalism or a higher disease incidence. Between farm variation in mortality rate was high, consequently differences among systems were not significant. This large variation, however, also implies potential for improvement. Physical complaints of farmers and egg quality did not differ among production systems. Overall, it can be concluded that within the boundary of this study, the aviary system with outdoor run appeared the best alternative for the battery cage system.


Objectives
Malnutrition is the most common complication of patients with esophageal cancer, and can lead to poor prognosis and death. It has been shown that good nutritional status can help improve patient outcomes and reduce complications. In the absence of specific evidence of the effect of nutrition on patients with esophageal cancer, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of total nutrition management on the prognosis and complications of patients with esophageal cancer through a randomized controlled trial.

Methods
96 patients with esophageal cancer concurrent chemoradiation were randomized to observation group (treated by whole-nutrition management from the Nutrition Support Group (NST)) and control group (treated by the general nutritional method) for 6 weeks approximately. Dietary survey, Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), body measurement, blood index, quality of life survey and psychological condition survey were assessed at baseline and every week/at the end of the study. Complications, the completion rates of therapy, short-term efficacy evaluation as well as clinical outcomes were measured before discharge.

Results
A total of 85 subjects completed the study (observation group = 45, control group = 40). There were significantly different in the changes in serum albumin, prealbumin, and total protein between two groups throughout the trial (P < 0.05). Radioactive esophagitis, skin symptom of the complications, the roles, emotional functions, social functions, and general health status in the quality of life were statistically different before and after the intervention (P < 0.05). The difference in the change of other indicators was not statistically significant.

Conclusions
Whole-course nutrition management can improve the nutritional status of patients with concurrent chemoradiotherapy of esophageal cancer, reduce the severity of radiation esophagitis and radiation skin reactions, improve the quality of life and relieve their depressive symptoms.

Funding Sources
Wu Jieping Medical Foundation Special Fund for Clinical Research of 2017.


The paper compares and tries to find a common ground between two camps, proposing different interpretations on the notion of "partial universalism" as opposed to unlimited universalism in rational choice theory. The explanation preferring different theoretical approaches in a complex environment of blurred boundaries is juxtaposed with the explanation of a two-level hypothesis: rational and intentional, where the "weak" additional independent hypothesis is also tested for rationality. The need for a synthesis in the first case is compared to the need of a situational/context dependent causal mechanism, avoiding circular causality. The pragmatic common ground is the improvement of rational choice methodology.


The aim of this study was to examine how the composition and properties of saliva change in people with osteoporosis who have received antiresorptive (AR) treatment, compared to patients with osteoporosis who have not yet received this treatment. Methods: The study population consisted of 38 patients with osteoporosis using AR drugs (Group I) and 16 patients with osteoporosis who had never used AR drugs (Group II). The control group consisted of 32 people without osteoporosis. Laboratory tests included determination of pH and concentrations of Ca, PO4, total protein, lactoferrin, lysozyme, sIgA, IgA, cortisol, neopterin, activity of amylase at rest, and stimulated saliva. The buffering capacity of stimulated saliva was also determined. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the saliva of Group I and Group II. No statistically significant correlation was found between the amount of time using AR therapy (Group I) and the tested parameters of the saliva. Significant differences were found between Group I and the control group. The concentrations of PO4, lysozyme, and cortisol were higher, while concentrations of Ca ions, sIgA, and neopterin were lower, in comparison to the control group. The significant differences between Group II and the control group were smaller, and they concerned only the concentrations of lysozyme, cortisol, and neopterin. Conclusions: The saliva of people with osteoporosis subjected to AR therapy and those not subjected to AR therapy did not show statistically significant differences in terms of the examined parameters of the saliva. However, the saliva of patients with osteoporosis taking and not taking AR drugs was significantly different compared to the saliva of the control group.


: The Cachrys genus (Apiaceae) is widely distributed in the Mediterranean Basin. Previous studies have highlighted the photobiological properties of different Cachrys species, such as C. pungens Jan, C. libanotis L. and C. sicula L. Based on these previous promising results, and in order to continue exploring such an interesting genus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the photocytotoxic activity of extracts from Cachrys ferulacea (L.) Calest. Aerial parts were collected in Calabria (southern Italy) and extracted through three different techniques: traditional maceration, supercritical CO 2 and pressurized cyclic solid–liquid (PCSL) extraction using Naviglio extractor ® . The phytochemical composition was assessed with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and the photocytotoxic potential of samples was evaluated on a UVA-irradiated C32 melanoma cell line. The apoptotic responses on treated cells were also assessed. Furthermore, the phenolic and flavonoid contents and the in vitro antioxidant activity were also estimated. Different coumarins were identified and quantified. All the extracts affected cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner after irradiation with UVA light for 1 h at a dose of 1.08 J/cm 2 . Samples obtained through supercritical CO 2 extraction showed the highest activity, with an IC 50 value equal to 4.91 µ g/mL. This study could provide a starting point for further research focusing on new photosensitizing agents useful in cancer photochemotherapy.


The Chord protocol is a structured Peer-to-Peer (P2P) protocol based on distributed hash tables (DHT). By using hash keys to identify the nodes in the network and also the shared objects, it can significantly reduce the signaling overhead in a P2P overlay network, as flooding of query messages can be avoided. However, when nodes join or leave the Chord network, object references have to be rearranged in order to maintain the hash key mapping rules. This leads to high maintenance traffic, especially when nodes stay in the Chord ring only for a short time. In mobile environments, the resources and data rates of mobile devices are limited, so the maintenance traffic generated by shifting object references may cause problems when using Chord in a mobile scenario. In this work, we present a solution to the problem of frequent joins and leaves of nodes. By distinguishing static nodes and temporary nodes, we can decrease the maintenance traffic generated by shifting object references significantly.


The district of Howrah is one of the most highly industrialized districts in West Bengal, India. Howrah City continues to suffer from poor ambient air quality due to the dense siting of small scale industries without air pollution management, huge traffic congestion and high levels of human settlement. This paper presents the trends of air pollution concentration (O_3, CO, SO_2, NO_2, and PM_(10)) in Howrah City, and also demonstrates a new methodology for air quality assessment using an AHP coupled fuzzy pattern recognition model. The annual average of PM10 concentration has decreased from 2009 (185.57±121.16 μg/m^3) to 2011 (160.01±117.32 μg/m^3). A similar trend was observed for the CO concentration. The eight-hour average concentration of CO in 2011 (0.939±0.632 mg/m^3) was found to be lower than that in 2009 (1.59±0.72 mg/m^3), while the reverse trend was observed for SO_2 and NO_2. The annual average concentration of SO_2 increased from 2009 (17.68±20.92 μg/m^3) to 2011 (43.048±31.47 μg/m^3). The annual average concentration of NO_2 increased from 2009 (63.87±39.73 μg/m^3) to 2011 (78±61.51 μg/m^3). There was no uniform trend observed in the annual the eighthour average concentration of ozone. An approach was developed in this study to determine fuzzy air quality based on the observed air pollution concentration. This will help to identify the air pollution control measures that are required in a certain area. The proposed method is a multi-pollutant aggregation method with varying weighting, and has the capability to consider subjective factors like sensitivity and population density. The concentrations of the five air pollutant parameters (O_3, CO, SO_2, NO_2, and PM_(10)) were used to develop the model for air quality assessment.


For mission critical real-time applications, such as satellite and surveillance systems, a high level of reliability is desired as well as low energy consumption. In this paper, we propose a general system power model and explore the optimal speed setting to minimize system energy consumption for an optimistic TMR (OTMR) scheme. The performance of OTMR is compared with that of TMR (triple modular redundancy) and duplex with respect to energy and reliability. The results show that OTMR is always better than TMR by achieving higher levels of reliability and consuming less energy. With checkpoint overhead and recovery, duplex is not applicable when system load is high. However, duplex may be more energy efficient than OTMR depending on system static power and checkpointing overhead. Moreover, with one recovery section, duplex achieves comparable levels of reliability as that of OTMR.


Intensive care in Hungary in most of the medium size and major hospitals is provided on a proper level thanks for a great effort. The areal distribution of intensive care units is satisfactory. In case that a special intervention cannot be realized in one of the departments lack of instruments or expert personal, usually there is a possibility within 50--70 km distance in another unit to carry out this intervention. As a result of controlled development at the end of the sixth five year plan the units will come up quantitatively as well as qualitatively with all the needs for intensive care. In the present--let us hope transitory--situation the lack of expert personal, out of date hospital constructions and the great variety in types of instruments are meaning serious problems. The difficulties are exaggerrated by the fact that the work on an intensive care unit puts on an increased physical and psychological burden. As a result, in spite of all their interest and beauty the intensive care and its counter pair the anaesthesiology are among the less inviting professions with high incidence of migration and fluctuation of the personal.


This paper presents a probabilistic-based approach to evaluate transient stability of a wind farm. In this context, investigations have been conducted on a hypothetical system representing a typical wind farm taking into consideration the uncertainty of several factors associated with the practical operation of a power system. A risk index that reflects the likelihood that the wind farm encounters an instability problem is presented. The time domain simulations are obtained using the electromagnetic transient program (EMTP).


"Many diseases are linked to dietary behavior. One major diet-related risk factor is a low consumption of vegetables. The consumption may be increased through public policies. The effects on vegetable purchases of either removing the value added tax on vegetables or a general income support are investigated. Adverse health effects are most serious in households consuming low quantities of vegetables. Therefore, the effects on high- and low-consuming households are estimated by using quantile regressions (QRs). Since many households did not purchase any vegetable during each survey period, censored as well as ordinary QRs are used. Our results suggest that the effects of the policy variables differ in different parts of the conditional distribution of vegetable purchases. None of the proposed policy options is likely to substantially increase vegetable purchases among low-consuming households." Copyright 2006 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.


Abstract The premature failure of cutting tools during machining of titanium alloys is primarily attributed to their low thermal conductivity and strain hardening. The coefficient of friction (CoF) at the tool –chip contact depends on the high stress–strain values, interface temperatures, and the velocity of the chip. In this work, a new tribometer is developed to overcome the drawbacks of the existing tribometer and evaluate the adhesive CoF, the heat partition ratio (HPR), and contact pressure. The experiments were conducted on Ti-6Al-4V alloy to estimate the variable CoF and HPR along the rake face. The extent of heat accumulation at the tool–chip interface was quantified using an infrared thermal imaging camera, and the approach successfully mimicked machining conditions, where the tangential force measured up to 900 N and contact pressure was up to 3 GPa. The experiments showed a clear indication of the adhesion of Ti alloy on the tool, strongly suggesting the existence of distinct CoF values for sliding and sticking. The results were further used to develop and validate a finite element model to predict the adhesive CoF, by taking into account the heat partitioning. The results showed considerable dependence of the CoF and HPR on the sliding velocity when implemented in a machining model where 13% maximum error was found in the cutting forces.


Designs in human-computer interaction (HCI) aim to create interactive products that are easy and enjoyable to use. However, owing to the multidisciplinary nature of HCI and the different value systems of interface users from various backgrounds and experiences, it is highly challenging for designers to create applications which are usable and affordable to such a heterogeneous set of users. Nowadays, more and more people are heard complaining about the bad interaction design of mobile devices. Is this problem caused by the bad design of products or by the users' ignorance of the logics of human- machine interaction design? This paper aims to explore the human-computer interaction challenges in designing applications in both hardware and software for mobile devices. It also makes an attempt to investigate the principles for designing mobile interfaces that result in greater user acceptance and figure out possible solutions to the problems with interaction designs for mobile devices.


According to the precise demands of the management for the social statistics of road transportation volume, this paper gave the vehicle sort, and sub-category of goods of highway freight transportation statistical projection method. To improve the timeliness and accuracy of the transportation investigation and statistics, this paper designed the regional highway traffic statistics business processes, making the sampling frame organization, sample extraction, sample management and data collection as the core function module, developed a highway transportation statistics information system. Lastly, as the highway transportation survey and statistics of one of the Chinese Province in 2008 for an example, applied and validated the statistical methods and information systems, the result shows that the statistic method and system can be refined to better meet the regional transportation and financial management needs.


A Monte Carlo simulation technique for generating dichotomous item scores is presented that implements (a) a psychometric model with different explicit assumptions than traditional parametric item response theory (IRT) models, and (b) item characteristic curves without restrictive assumptions concerning mathematical form. The four-parameter beta compound-binomial (4PBCB) strong true score model (with two-term approximation to the compound binomial) is used to estimate and generate the true score distribution. The nonparametric item-true score step functions are estimated by classical item difficulties conditional on proportion-correct total score. The technique performed very well in replicating inter-item correlations, item statistics (point-biserial correlation coefficients and item proportion-correct difficulties), first four moments of total score distribution, and coefficient alpha of three real data sets consisting of educational achievement test scores. The technique replicated real data (including subsamples of differing proficiency) as well as the three-parameter logistic (3PL) IRT model (and much better than the 1PL model) and is therefore a promising alternative simulation technique. This 4PBCB technique may be particularly useful as a more neutral simulation procedure for comparing methods that use different IRT models.


The high incidence of stressor-related pathologies among stigmatized groups has been associated with experi- ences of discrimination. The present study demonstrated that following a mood priming manipulation (anger vs. sadness), an acute sex discrimination event influenced women's (N=61) salivary cortisol levels as well as systolic (SBP) and dia- stolic (DBP) blood pressure. Among women primed to feel sad, cortisol levels declined over the course of the experimen- tal session, likely reflecting a decline of arousal. However, among those primed to feel angry the cortisol levels were sus- tained over the session, especially if they perceived the possibility of rectifying their failed status (control). As well, SBP and DBP increased following the discrimination experience irrespective of perceived control. Among women primed to feel angry, feelings of hostility were associated with higher SBP and heart rate. Evidently, sex discrimination affects stress-reactive physiological systems among women, and might thus influence vulnerability to pathology.


This research paper reports on the importance of practical work in the teaching and learning of integrated natural sciences and health education (INSHE) at Rundu campus. This research was triggered by Ministry of Education report of 2004 which raised growing concerns about the amount and quality of practical work carried out in secondary schools that have both suffered as a result of the impact of the national and international tests in science worldwide. This emanated from a high percentage of secondary school science teachers who experienced a fall on time spent on practical work that appeared to be between one third and a half of all lesson durations. The aim of this study was to enhance the understanding of theory by using practical work. The study adopted a mixed approach method in reporting informants' views as data was collected from several laboratory experiments where it was found out that the informants lacked rudimentary knowledge, methods and skills. It is against this backdrop that this research used questionnaires and semi – structured (stimulated – recall) interviews for the purpose of providing allogamy of claims and ideas. This study involved a total of ninety – three (93) pre -service INSHE student – teachers. These informants were purposefully selected due to lack of exposure in practical work from their former schools. The findings from this study indicated that there is both a degree of exposure and enhancement of conceptual understanding of theory using practical work after student teachers have been exposed to practical work at the University of Namibia, Rundu Campus (UNAM:RC). The results also revealed that there is a need for improvement in administering practical work in schools. It is evident that practical work plays a very important role in the teaching and learning of integrated natural sciences subjects.


Abstract :  Gading Murni Putra is one of the companies that have major business in sector of stationery and office/school supplies and printing. During this time, Gading Murni Putra has only one information system that record all direct and online (email, livechat, by phone) transaction, so the transaction data is mixed together. Additionally, transaction that occur every day just recorded and not processed into a usefull information for decision making. Based on those problem, sales information system was created. This system has several process. Process for receiving sales order, sales transaction, and receipt of goods. For sales order and sales transaction process, it has each transaction for direct and online (email, livechat, by phone) transaction. This information system can generate report for most or least item sold, most profitable item, customer history report and customer mapping report. Report for most or least item sold and most profitable item can be separated by type of transaction, direct or online (email, livechat, by phone). This information system can be used by manager to evaluate sales transaction for each direct and online (email, livechat, by phone) transaction, in addition it can also be used by manager to knowing the information about customer.


Background and importance Analysis of data obtained in the 'real world' setting is acquiring great importance in the healthcare environment. It is important to know the results obtained with different treatments outside the ideal environment offered by clinical trials. Aim and objectives To describe and analyse the results obtained with infliximab (IFX) over a 10 year period in patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC). Material and methods This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted in a third level hospital that included all patients diagnosed with UC who started IFX treatment between January 2005 and December 2014. Follow-up was up to 31 July 2015. The following clinical data were recorded: age, sex, time in treatment, previous biological lines, definitive or temporary suspensions of treatment and reason, dose modifications and values for C reactive protein (CRP) before starting and at the end of treatment. Dosage modifications were recorded as those that implied a treatment pattern not described in the technical data sheet. Treatment interruptions were considered to be those of a duration ≥ 6 months. Data were recorded using the OncoWin computer application and the electronic medical record stored in SAP. Results A total of 32 patients were included in the study (59.4% men, mean age 37.7 years (12–72)). Mean follow-up time was 52.5 months (8–109); 93.8% of patients received IFX as firstline therapy. Mean baseline CRP was 19.92 mg/L (0.70–84.94), and 7.82 (0.10–30.90) at the end of treatment. A total of 71% of patients discontinued treatment definitively: 6.3% for infusional reactions, 31.2% for inefficacy, 25.0% for remission of the disease and 9.4% for other reasons. In addition, 28.7% of patients received only the three IFX induction doses, of which 78% were not able to control the disease. Only 9.4% of patients temporarily interrupted treatment, with an average interruption time of 28.7 months (7–41); 12.5% of patients required dose modifications to control the disease. Conclusion and relevance With the present work we wanted to show the long term results of IFX in UC in clinical practice. IFX can be an effective tool to control disease symptoms in the long term. Its use, administering only three induction doses, does not seem to be useful, with about 80% ineffectiveness rate. References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


A 55-year-old woman was diagnosed with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangement-positive lung adenocarcinoma and treated with chemotherapy consisting of crizotinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of ALK, as second-line chemotherapy. However, the size of the metastatic adrenal lesion increased, and the patient died due to multiple organ failure. An autopsy report revealed that the metastatic lesion of the adrenal tumor was ALK rearrangement-positive pleomorphic carcinoma. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) marker vimentin was immunohistochemically positive in both the lung and adrenal lesions. The present case report suggests the possibility of transformation into pleomorphic carcinoma as a result of EMT in patients with ALK rearrangement-positive lung cancer.


Abstract The most recent revisionist accounts of Mexican muralism – and in particular that provided by Leonard Folgarait – have read the murals produced by los tres grandes – Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros – through a Foucauldian prism based upon a Poulantzian theory of the state. Eliding the concept of human agency and its complicated relationship to state patronage, these interpretations read off the imperatives of state ideology into the various murals sponsored by successive post-revolutionary governments. Consequently, the muralists become unreflexive agents of counter-revolution, and the political differences between them, and between them and the post-revolutionary governments that patronized them, largely insignificant. Following the suggestive readings of Meyer Schapiro and David Craven, the author introduces a more complex theory of the Mexican state into an analysis of the murals that it sponsored to allow for a far more differentiated and nuanced reading that properly contextualizes this important political medium as a site of active struggle.


Utilization of care for rheumatic disorders was studied in two primary care units. In both units 12% of visits concerned some form of rheumatic disease. This diagnostic group (chapter XIII of ICD) ranked third after cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The total number of visits per inhabitant was higher for all diagnoses, as well as for the rheumatic disorders, in the most remote primary care unit. The distribution of rheumatic diagnoses was similar in the two units. Back disorders were most frequent among men, whereas soft tissue rheumatism and back disorders each accounted for one-third of the cases among women. Inflammatory rheumatic diseases and osteo-arthritis played only a minor part. Visits due to rheumatic disorders decreased after retirement age, particularly among men. The findings were representative of primary care in rural areas of Sweden. Only 20% of referrals from primary care to the rheumatology department gave a tentative diagnosis and half of these suggestions were changed after examination. The majority of referred patients without any suggested diagnosis suffered from soft tissue rheumatism or inflammatory rheumatic disorders other than rheumatoid arthritis.


The experience of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital with 217 renal allografts functioning for more than 5 years is reviewed. Patient and graft survival were similar after 5 years, with patient survival being 88 and 66% at 10 and 15 years, respectively, and graft survival 85 and 75% at the same time intervals. Actuarial graft survival at 15 years was higher than patient survival because death with a functioning graft was not considered to be graft failure. No differences in patient or graft survival were found betwen living related and cadaver donor allografts. There were 33 deaths (15.2%), occurring from 5/2 to 20/2 years post-transplantation. Chronic liver failure and sepsis were the most common causes of death. Thirty-two patients (14.7%) lost their grafts after 5 years, most commonly from chronic rejection. Another 33 patients (15.2%) had evidence of graft dysfunction secondary to chronic rejection, recurrent glomerulonephritis, ureteral obstruction, or renal artery stenosis. Chronic rejection was generally not responsive to alterations in immunosuppressive medication. Complications of varying severity were common, affecting 204 (94%) of the patients. The most frequent were hypertension, cataracts, avascular necrosis, malignancy, urinary tract infection, and pneumonia. These data demonstrate that transplant-related mortality and morbidity continue to occur in recipients of long-term renal allografts. These patients require careful and continuing care in medical centers experienced in transplantation.


Decision making under risk is often studied as a preferential choice governed by stable individual personality characteristics, but risky choice can also be viewed as a dynamic problem of resource accumulation to survive. When decision makers aim to reach a particular goal in limited time, such as "earn at least $100 in five choices," risky choice becomes a non-trivial planning problem. This problem has an optimal solution that can differ from immediate expected-value maximization. We studied the optimality of risky choices under such minimum goal requirements experimentally and find that the observed choices under goals approximate the optimal solution. However, because the optimal model is very complex, we examine if simpler models can predict people's choices better. We test an extended version of prospect theory, assuming a dynamic reference point that depends on the distance to the goal. This "dynamic prospect theory" was better than the alternative model in describing people's decisions (i.e., for 63% of the participants, it was the best model). Our findings show that humans can excel in a highly complex, dynamic, risky choice problem and that a dynamic version of prospect theory provides one possible explanation for how people decide under risk when long-term goals matter.


OBJECTIVE
To study the association between RB gene and the oncogenesis of bone tumors.

METHODS
Southern blot and immunohistochemical techniques were used to detect the structural anomalies of RB gene in 34 cases of bone tumors and the expression of RB protein in 99 paraffin-embedded bone neoplasma.

RESULTS
The deletion and/or rearrangement of RB gene were detected only in 42.9% (9/21) of osteosarcoma; lack of RB protein expression was noticed in 12 cases including 7 cases of osteosarcoma (7/26, 26.9%) and 5 cases of chondrosarcoma (5/23, 21.7%). Beniga giant cell tumor of bone and chondroblastoma showed positive RB protein expression; osteosarcoma cells presenting poor differentiation and apparent atypia all showed no expression of RB protein. Most of the high-grade chondrosarcoma also had no RB protein expression.

CONCLUSION
The alterations of RB gene and loss of RB protein may play a role in the pathogenesis and progression of malignant bone neoplasms.


Analysis of single-molecule micromanipulation experiments of DNA unzipping process shows some features of the force-distance curve, namely two consequent plateaus in the area of ${\sim}12-14pN$ dependent on nucleotide sequence structure, as well as peaks appearance in the plateau area, to which it was not paid essential attention earlier. Using atom-atom potential function method the estimations of Watson-Crick base pairs opening energies are made. On the basis of this results two possible scenarios of the DNA double helix unzipping process are proposed. According to the first scenario DNA unzipping takes place slowly and as equilibrium process, with small difference between two plateaus on the unzipping curve. In this case firstly base pairs transit into the 'pre-opened' metastable state along the 'opening' pathway and then open along the 'stretch' pathway. Our estimations show that an important factor for the realization of this scenario is the existence of double-stranded DNA coil in the unopened part of DNA. The second scenario is characterized by higher opening force. In this scenario base pairs open directly along the 'stretch' pathway as non-equilibrium process. The conditions of the first scenario realization show that it can play a key role in the understanding of the DNA unzipping in vivo during transcription and genetic information transfer processes.


This thesis examines how certain factors can alter the tax competition that exists at the municipal level (NUTS 3) in the countries of European Union. What is specifically analyzed is how the corporate income tax is affected by taxes on production and imports, the total population of each municipality, the total per capita income of the municipality, the area in km2 of each municipality, the gross value added to basic product prices, GDP at current market prices and potential workforce in each municipality. Our data covers an 11-year period between 2002 and 2012.
In the first chapter, we make an introduction and through the theoretical review we present the sources of tax competition and compare the main one under central governance.
In the second chapter, we describe and explain the term NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) citing historical facts, principles, purpose and creation of NUTS extra quote analysis of the external environment of local government.
In the third chapter, we present data from the institutional framework of nine countries of the European Union, outlining the structure, delegations/responsibilities and how they are distributed to the body as well as the services offered by each country.
In the fourth chapter, we present the empirical analysis of diplomatic work made theoretical reference to the method of multiple linear regression which was used to analyze our data using the statistical program SPSS 12 and present the results of the following countries; Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, France, Latvia, Hungary, Austria and Portugal.
Finally, in the fifth chapter, we present the conclusions reached as a result of statistical analysis of data from nine countries at municipality level.


We investigate the impact of granular particles at the bottom of the container, which is vibrating harmonically in the vertical direction. Experiments demonstrate that the impact strength, controlled by the normalized vibration acceleration, undergoes a series of subharmonic bifurcations, in the sequence of period-doubling, period-quadrupling, chaos, period-tripling, period-sextupling, chaos, period-quadrupling, period-octupling, and so on. It is observed that accompanying the impact bifurcations there always exists a condensed state of particles at the lower part of the bed. By using the completely inelastic bouncing-ball model, a possible explanation for the observed bifurcation phenomena is presented.