In 1979, after twenty-one years of political reeducation, Chinese classical dance professor Sun Ying (孙颖, 1929-2009) returned to the Beijing Dance Academy to instigate reform in the field of Zhongguo gudianwu, the official national dance form of the People's Republic of China. In creating the Han-Tang style of Zhongguo gudianwu, Sun challenged accepted notions of Chineseness within the field, especially the idea that Chinese indigenous theater, or xiqu, should serve as the primary foundation for a distinctively Chinese national body aesthetic. While Sun's alternative vision of Chineseness produced extensive controversy, this controversy is not antithetical to the historical aims and assumptions of Zhongguo gudianwu. Since the founding of the field in the early 1950s, practitioners of Zhongguo gudianwu have treated Chineseness as a subject for creative invention, interpretation, and debate; therefore, Sun's work is not a post-Mao phenomenon but rather an extension of the art and politics of the Mao period.


The vast majority of documented Advanced Tongue Root [ATR] vowel harmony systems are found in languages of the Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo phyla of sub-Saharan Africa (Casali 2008: 247). Traditionally, the terms root-controlled and dominant-recessive have been employed to categorize ATR harmony systems. In root-controlled (or stem-controlled) systems, affixes assimilate in ATR value to that of the root value (Bakovic 2000: 7). In dominant-recessive ATR harmony systems, the ATR feature value underlyingly specified as dominant systematically causes segments containing the opposite feature value to assimilate, or "harmonize" in particular domains (Halle and Vergnaud 1981, Levergood 1984, Archangeli and Pulleyblank 1994). This paper aims to describe an unusual, heretofore unattested, ATR harmony system found in Ethiopian Komo. Based on original data, this paper will demonstrate that Komo exhibits two distinct and highly productive ATR harmony processes both of which are directionally constrained. The first process is anticipatory, spreading [+ATR] leftward from a [+high, +ATR] vowel to a preceding [-high, -ATR] vowel. The second process is progressive and spreads [-ATR] rightward from a [+high, -ATR] stem vowel to a following [+high, +ATR] suffix vowel. What is particularly significant about Komo ATR harmony is that the same [+high, +ATR] suffix vowels can serve either as triggers of [+ATR] harmony as well as targets of [-ATR] harmony as a function of the vocalic environment in a particular domain. The data will attempt to illustrate that Komo exhibits prototypical [+ATR] dominant harmony except when it doesn't. Furthermore, this "exception to the rule" does not appear to be idiosyncratic, but rather phonologically conditioned, calling into question the notion of dominance in ATR harmony systems as well as traditional ATR harmony typologies.


The truth of screen. On the practice of screenshotting

The article explores the phenomenon of the popularity of screenshots and the variety of contexts in which they are used. Screenshotting is treated as a social practice, drawing on the theory of practices, primarily Theodore Schatzki's approach. On its basis, two aspects of the creation of screenshots are highlighted: bodily-material and social framework. Analysis of both results in the description of screenshotitng as a dispersed practice and a key component of integrative practices, especially those that deal with proving the truth. Finally, those reflections lead to the postulate that screenshots should be given greater recognition in the social sciences as an important source of knowledge about everyday life on the internet.


The keynotes of the University of Brasilia medical education programme are the flexible system of registration, the integrated study programme, community orientation and student choice and self-pacing. While the programme is not without its problems, a measure of its effectiveness is the proportion of graduates choosing a career in general care medicine (general practice, paediatrics, internal medicine, and obstetrics/gynaecology). Among the 1978 graduates the percentage who made general care medicine their career choice (60 per cent) was double the number who had stated this preference before the medical learning experience.


This paper quantifies the relationship between market size and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. We estimate the elasticity of innovation, as measured by the number of new chemical entities appearing on the market for a given disease class, to the potential market size represented by the willingness of sufferers of diseases in that class (and others acting on their behalf such as insurers and governments) to spend on their treatment during the patent lifetime. We find positive significant elasticities with a point estimate under our preferred specification of 25.2%. This suggests that at the mean market size an additional $1.8 billion is required in additional patent life revenue to induce the invention of one additional new chemical entity. An elasticity substantially and significantly below one-half is also a plausible implication of the hypothesis that innovation in pharmaceuticals is becoming more difficult and expensive over time, as costs of regulatory approval rise and as the industry runs out of "low hanging fruit."


A variety of reactive plan execution systems have been developed in recent years, each attempting to solve the problem of taking reasonable courses of action fast enough in a dynamically changing world. Comparing these competing approaches, and collecting the best features of each, has been problematic because of the diverse representations and (sometimes implicit) control structures that they have employed. To rectify this problem, we have extended the circuit semantics notion of teleo-reactive programs into richer, yet compact semantics, called structured circuit semantics (SCS), that can be used to explicitly represent the control behavior of various reactive execution systems. By transforming existing systems into SCS, we can identify underlying control assumptions and begin to identify more rigorously the strengths and limitations of these systems. Moreover, SCS provides a basis for constructing new reactive execution systems, with more understandable semantics, that can be tailored to particular domain needs.


The Q&A series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each chapter includes typical questions, diagram problem and essay answer plans, suggested answers, notes of caution, tips on obtaining extra marks, the key debates on each topic, and suggestions on further reading. This chapter contains some advice on writing coursework. The contents range from the mechanics of how coursework fits into the assessment of the module to the rules on presentation and referencing. The standard referencing system used for law is OSCOLA, the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities. There is advice on researching coursework, such as the use of primary legal materials and articles, an explanation about how the coursework might be marked, and some straightforward advice on plagiarism is given. A coursework example question, with accompanying answer guidance, is also available.


The Windward Islands are vulnerable to a number of natural hazards. This thesis examines the possibilities for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Windward Islands. The Windward Islands offer a special case of "Island Vulnerability". Island vulnerability is essentially defined as an increased probability in disaster events against what would be expected if vulnerability were to be measured against international levels of poverty, defined as Gross National Product per capita. There are three reasons for this namely the topography of islands, the site characteristics and the socio-economic setting. The topography is one where islands, largely of volcanic or coral origins, face multi-hazard experience particularly from flooding and storm surge. The site issue is that islands usually have a high ratio of coastline to land mass implying a relatively higher exposure to extreme events. The socio-economic conditions are peculiar to island including isolation, mono-agriculture and mono-industry essentially laid down by colonial experience, an absence of formal employment opportunities and weak capacity in local governance including the absence of NGOs.

Though DRR has evolved over the last 20 years, some islands and communities remain more vulnerable than others. This research investigates the mainstreaming of DRR in the Windward Islands of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The key issue researched was whether DRR could be effectively implemented at the community level. To address this issue, the research investigates the vulnerability and capacity of communities to hazards in the Windward Islands and suggests ways to reduce risk and build community resilience. The factors affecting vulnerability and capacity to hazards in the
Anglophone Windward Islands were identified as a means of determining how to reduce risks and build resilience to hazards in the Windward Islands. Efforts to enhance community development and build resilience are not effective as they fail to address fully community needs. This research concluded that some communities are more vulnerable than others and a major contributor to their vulnerability is poverty.

None of the methods used in this research are unique to island vulnerability analysis as they have been applied elsewhere in DRR. What is unique is the scoping of the application of these methods to gain an overview of DRR
possibilities. What emerges as a conclusion is the limited impact of top down interventions, especially those interventions that try to address poverty alleviation
to lower risk. This is essentially because the poor themselves barricade their own coping mechanisms against external interventions, thus building a wall against external help. Building on local organisational capacity, including religious groups, can help address this problem. Research in this area is limited for the Anglophone
Windward Islands and this thesis on vulnerability of household and communities will contribute to knowledge in this field.


Effective emergency management of a disaster at a single point of failure is vital if the effects of the disaster are to be mitigated. The immediate impacts of a disaster highlight stakeholder perspectives. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to every disaster. Nevertheless, analysing features, aftermath, impact and interim services made available after a disaster provide lessons that can be utilised to avert or mitigate the effects of similar events in the future. This paper provides lessons learnt from a fire that occurred in 2012 in the Warrnambool telephone exchange located in Victoria, Australia and proposes a strategy that provides increased network resilience and more effective emergency management once the copper-based core switching in exchanges is progressively replaced by fibre service area modules.


Growers seeking an alternative to animal residue based organic nitrogen (N) fertili zers can select among a number of different plant- and industry processed organic fertilizers. However, the effect of soil properties on the N release of these fertilizers has not yet been studied. Therefore, thr ee pot experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of different soils on the N utiliz ation of these fertilizers. Grain legumes (unlabelled and 15 N labelled) and industry processed plant residues were applied as fertilizers to oat as a model pla nt, with the effects being evaluated by the calculation of the apparent N utilisation and, in one case, by the N use efficiency. The N release was influenced by the N content of the fertilizers, with the apparent N utili zation and the N use efficiency incr easing with increasing N content. In addition, soils modified N utilization by the plants, but this effect was dependent upon the N content of the fertilizers. When the N content was low (pea), the apparent N utili zation by oat was significantly higher in the coarse textured soils as compared to the fine textured soils. However, when the N content of the fertilizer was high er, plant N uptake was unaffected by the soils. In an experiment conducted with a wider range of soils, the apparent N utili zation of two fertilizers with a medium N content differed between the soils, although the differences were not obviously related to any of the soil texture, soil Corg content, or N mineralization of the unfertilized soil. However, a higher N minerali zation from the unfertilized soils was associated with a higher N use efficiency of oat from all tested fertilizers, indicating a positive soil -fertilizer interaction in these soils. It is concluded that none of the soil parameters examined could account in isolation for the variations in the N utili zation of the fertilizers in different soils. However, the use of fertili zers with a higher N content are generally recommended for achieving a high N utilization, especially for fine textured soils and soils with a high N release.


WA S H I N G T O N — Seasonale Lo, the 91-day extended-regimen lowdose oral contraceptive, was effective and well tolerated compared with a 28-day low-dose oral contraceptive, after both 1 year and 3 years of use. The Seasonale Lo data from a randomized, multicenter study were presented in two posters at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Andrew M. Kaunitz of the University of Florida Health Science Center in Jacksonville, Fla., monitored women aged 18-35 years who could potentially become pregnant. After 1 year, the overall cumulative failure rate of Seasonale Lo was 2.23% among 463 patients, compared with a 2.83% failure rate among 231 patients who took a traditional 28-day oral contraceptive (Levlite). Compliance rates were high— 98.1% in the Seasonale Lo group and 96.5% in the Levlite group. Among compliant patients, the Seasonale Lo failure rate was only 0.65%, compared with 4.14% among compliant Levlite patients. Although more Seasonale patients reported unscheduled bleeding days than the Levlite patients (6.1% vs. 3.3%), the number of scheduled bleeding or spotting days per cycle was approximately the same in both groups. Breakthrough bleeding episodes were reported more frequently by the Seasonale Lo group than the Levlite group (13.8% vs. 1.3%), but the incidence of other adverse events was similar between the two groups. For example, headaches, the most common adverse event, were reported by 22% of the Seasonale Lo group and 21% of the Levlite group. Each Seasonale Lo pill includes 0.02 mg of ethinyl estradiol and 0.1 mg of levonorgestrel. The regimen includes 84 days of active pills followed by 7 days of placebo pills. Dr. Kaunitz serves as a consultant to Barr Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Seasonale, which also supported the study. Seasonale continued to be safe and well tolerated in a subset of 161 women who participated in a 2-year extension of the study, reported Dr. David Portman of the Columbus Center for Women's Health Research in Columbus, Ohio. Notably, the median number of unscheduled bleeding or spotting days decreased over the course of the study, from 2 days during the first cycle to 0 days by the eighth cycle. Patient exposure to the drug included 937 complete 91-day cycles. Patients reported their pill-taking, bleeding, and spotting data in electronic diaries, and they underwent clinical evaluation during quarterly visits. The overall discontinuation rates were similar to those for Seasonale Lo and Levlite in the original study, which were about 44% and 32%, respectively. Dr. Portman serves on the speakers' bureau of Barr Pharmaceuticals. ■ Frovatriptan Appears to Offer Relief for Menstrual Migraines


We present distributed regression, an efficient and general framework for in-network modeling of sensor data. In this framework, the nodes of the sensor network collaborate to optimally fit a global function to each of their local measurements. The algorithm is based upon kernel linear regression, where the model takes the form of a weighted sum of local basis functions; this provides an expressive yet tractable class of models for sensor network data. Rather than transmitting data to one another or outside the network, nodes communicate constraints on the model parameters, drastically reducing the communication required. After the algorithm is run, each node can answer queries for its local region, or the nodes can efficiently transmit the parameters of the model to a user outside the network. We present an evaluation of the algorithm based upon data from a 48-node sensor network deployment at the Intel Research - Berkeley Lab, demonstrating that our distributed algorithm converges to the optimal solution at a fast rate and is very robust to packet losses.


OBJECTIVES
This study sought to determine whether there is a relationship between state policies on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), declines in both TANF and Medicaid caseloads, and the rise in the number of uninsured.

METHODS
Extant data sources of state TANF policies, TANF and Medicaid participation, and uninsurance rates were analyzed, with the state as the unit of analysis. The independent variables included state TANF policies that directly address receipt of benefits or relate to health; dependent variables included changes in state TANF enrollment, Medicaid enrollment, and health insurance status since the enactment of the law.

RESULTS
In the bivariate analysis, declines in Medicaid were associated with sanction for work noncompliance, lack of a child care guarantee, and strategies to deter TANF enrollment; this last factor was also associated with increased uninsurance. In the multivariate analysis, lack of a child care guarantee and deterrent strategies predicted TANF declines; deterrent strategies predicted Medicaid decline and uninsurance increases.

CONCLUSIONS
This analysis suggests that policies deterring TANF enrollment may contribute to declines in Medicaid and increased uninsurance. To maintain health insurance for the poor, policymakers should consider revising policies that deter TANF enrollment.


Financial regulators in many states recently have obtained statutory mandates to enhance consumer financial literacy. This paper investigates the development of policy pursuant to such mandates in the UK and Canada to identify how national regulators represent the role of the literate consumer in the financial market place. It finds that regulators in both countries represent financial education as empowering consumers but that each embeds in its policy an implicit normative ordering of responsible consumer behavior. The paper relates the tension between empowerment and responsibilization aspects of literacy enhancement to policy goals of expanding financial markets and assisting financial regulators to manage consumers' expectations of protection. It raises questions about regulators' use of consumer education to responsibilize consumption of financial products and calls for further research on the international growth of financial literacy education as a regulatory project.


This research investigated the most effective strategy of interactive reading aloud on the students' personality types in reading comprehension. In this research, the researcher employed quantitative research by using factorial design. Population in this research were the forth semester students of English intensive program in middle level and the sample were 40 students from experimental and control classes. Try out was conducted to measure validity and reliability of instrument. Two ways ANOVA was conducted to test the hypotheses, two-way analysis of variance with F-test at the 5% (0.05) level of significance.The probability based on the personality was 0.043< 2.024, meaning that there was difference between personality types and the use of strategy. The probability based on strategy was 0.374< 2.024, meaning that there was difference result between extroverted and introverted learners. And the probability based on interaction was 0.001< 2.024, meaning that there was interaction between strategy and personality types. In conclusion, there was interaction among interactive reading aloud strategy, students' personality types and reading comprehension. The used of interactive reading aloud significantly influenced to the extroverted students rather than introverted students.


This study discusses the linguistic subjectivity (LS) phenomenon from the perspective of philosophical cognition. The purpose of this study is to explore the human's cognitive styles and ways of existence in language and to deepen the understanding of communicative functions of language. An interactive geometric research framework of LS was constructed and the means and mechanism of its realization were explored at six levels: language system level, language use level, propositional meaning level, non-propositional meaning level, speaker's encoded meaning level and hearer's decoded meaning level. Also, three dimensions were covered: lexical dimension, syntactic dimension, and discourse dimension. Results show that humans' cognitive styles and ways of existence encoded in language can be more profoundly dug by exploring LS from the perspective of philosophical cognition. The study can provide a feasible analytical framework for systematically and comprehensively probing of LS phenomenon. Thus, the study facilitates a deeper understanding of LS and communicative functions of language. The study also thoroughly mines subjective factors behind the speaker's words, utterances or discourse, such as attitudes, emotions and feelings, which also belong to the cognition category, indicating the speaker's existence in language.


In this sharp critique of American society, Howard Slaatte asks the questions: "Can we save our sick society?" and "What are the symptoms of our cultural cancer?" Our Cultural Cancer and Its Cure conducts a frank examination of today's cultural weaknesses and delineates the major intellectual and ethical issues we must reckon with in order to save our civilization. Slaatte outlines the prescriptions for overcoming the symptoms of our cultural cancer through the recovery of cultural values. Contents: PART I: DIAGNOSES OF OUR CULTURAL CANCER; The Symptoms of Our Cultural Cancer; The Betrayal in American Education; The Stifling of Creative Thought; The Bane of Secular Humanism; The Need of Ethical Theism; The Faults Within Our Religions; The Phenomenon of Alcoholism; PART II: PRESCRIPTION FOR OUR CULTURAL CURE; The University and Its Goals; The Recovery of Our Constitutional Principles; The Subjectivity of Scientific Objectivity; The Paradox of Determinism and Freedom; The Anthropic Principle of Science; The Emergent Consciousness Theory; The Key to a Stronger Morality; The Dialogue of Science and Religion; The Answer to Materialism Biases; The Creativity of Consciousness; The Creative Writer's Philosophical Responsibility; The Meaningful Life and Self-Transcendence; Conclusion.


to testing that we identified could be reduced by strategies designed to improve patients' knowledge and awareness of specific issues. With regard to the financial implications, the Association of British Insurers has indicated that having an HIV test as part of a recognised screening programme, such as screening before blood donation or as part of antenatal care, will not adversely affect insurance policies, provided that the result is negative.2 We believe that this should be extended to cover all HIV testing and that this assurance needs to be widely publicised. Furthermore, we believe that advertising and counselling that emphasise the confidentiality of test results and the benefits of earlier treatment of HIV infections may increase the acceptability and uptake of HIV antibody testing among heterosexuals.


From the originally constructed survey data from 2011 Fukushima incident, this paper empirically assessed the sources of failures in disaster risk mitigation in short run. Although residential relocation from the cites at risk is one of the effective risk reduction measures, the relocation incurs mobility costs of developing social capital such as communities or searching public services such as education and medical institutions. The estimation results showed that the residents in the disaster cites of 2011 Fukushima incident can tolerate higher risks of radiation exposure when they have attachment to the original residence or higher demands for the public services, and can stay in the cites at risks consequently. Because the tolerance level can depend on the information associated with the risks, the results imply that the authorities' providing the correct information is one of the keys for the disaster risk reduction in short run.


Methods for "disposing of excess military plutonium" are advocated. A writer from Chile suggests how his nation might better "channel the scientific creativity of talented scientists." Researchers find that "weather and climate" are important forces "driving" plant disease. Interactions "between carbon dioxide and nitrogen enrichment" in grassland ecosystems are discussed. And are "wayward" grizzlies facing a threat from politics?


Polyoxin-B-treated and untreated (control) hypae of Alternaria kikuchiana Tanaka were first degraded with 2N NaOH, 1N H2SO4, and digestive enzymes, and then morphological alterations of the cell walls were investigated by cytochemical methods and electron microscopy. A pronounced difference between control and treated hyphae was seen after sequential treatment with NaOH-H2SO4-NaOH. Inner wall layers of controls were transformed into numerous microfibrils; these were identified, in turn, by chitinase and Lytic enzyme digestions as chitin and ƒÀ-1, 3-glucan intermixed with protein. But these same treatments failed to structurally degrade the walls of polyoxin-treated hyphae . In the controls, only the thin outer wall layer showed any resistance to the treatment, but in polyoxin-treated hyphae the entire cell wall, including septae and walls of intracellular hypha, was resistant to a sequence of the degradative treatments. Cytochemical tests revealed that both control and polyoxin-treated hyphae, which originally contained chitin, no longer responded positively to tests for chitin after chitinase or HCl treatment following treatment with the NaOH-H2SO4-NaOH sequence. This study suggests two possibilities i) cell walls, especially inner wall layers, of control and polyoxin-treated hyphae may have different structural constituents, and ii) melanin-like pigments in inner cell walls may be associated with the resistance of polyoxin-treated hyphae to lysis by digestive enzymes. (Received June 21, 1982)


Filtration efficiency (FE), differential pressure (ΔP), quality factor (QF), and construction parameters were measured for 32 cloth materials (14 cotton, 1 wool, 9 synthetic, 4 synthetic blends, and 4 synthetic/cotton blends) used in cloth masks intended for protection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus (diameter 100 ± 10 nm). Seven polypropylene-based fiber filter materials were also measured including surgical masks and N95 respirators. Additional measurements were performed on both multilayered and mixed-material samples of natural, synthetic, or natural-synthetic blends to mimic cloth mask construction methods. Materials were microimaged and tested against size selected NaCl aerosol with particle mobility diameters between 50 and 825 nm. Three of the top five best performing samples were woven 100% cotton with high to moderate yarn counts, and the other two were woven synthetics of moderate yarn counts. In contrast to recently published studies, samples utilizing mixed materials did not exhibit a significant difference in the measured FE when compared to the product of the individual FE for the components. The FE and ΔP increased monotonically with the number of cloth layers for a lightweight flannel, suggesting that multilayered cloth masks may offer increased protection from nanometer-sized aerosol with a maximum FE dictated by breathability (i.e., ΔP).


Recent results from experiments and modeling by the authors are reviewed for the ignition of acetylene, ethylene, and ethane in oxygen/argon mixtures at temperatures between 1000 and 2300 K and pressures near 1 atm. The ignition measurements were obtained behind reflected shock waves using emission from electronically excited OH and CH radicals to monitor the reaction progress. While many discrepancies exist amongst previous studies for these lower-order hydrocarbons, the accuracy afforded by the present experiments provides conclusive evidence verifying the trends seen in certain studies from the literature. Several modern, detailed chemical kinetics mechanisms were compared to the new results with some models showing quite good agreement with both ignition delay times and species profiles, particularly for stoichiometric mixtures. However, improvement is still required to match the entire range of fuel concentrations, temperatures, and mixture ratios, particularly for fuel-rich mixtures.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


Background: The Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) is a rare but curable bone neoplastic entity. The current standard of care involves chemotherapy and local disease control with surgery or radiation regardless of the extent of disease at presentation. Data that document the effectiveness of the current approach in the adult patient population are limited. Methods: We performed a retrospective review including all ESFT patients older than 19 years of age who received systemic therapy between January 2002 and December 2013 at our institution. The main study outcome was overall survival; secondary outcomes were objective response rate, disease-free survival, and progression-free survival. Results: Eighteen patients with ESFT were identified. The median overall survival for the entire group was 20.65 months (range 0.43–114.54). In patients with localized disease, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 90, 80, and 70%, respectively. Age was not correlated with overall survival (r = 0.58, p = 0.76). The 3-year disease-free survival rate was 70%. In patients with metastatic disease, the 1-year survival rate was 40%. In patients treated in the neoadjuvant and palliative setting with chemotherapy, we observed an objective response rate of 61.54%. The time to progression in patients with metastatic disease treated with chemotherapy ranged from 0.69 to 4.93 months. Conclusion: In this group of adult patients with ESFT treated with multimodality therapy, the outcomes were similar to those reported in well-known larger clinical trials that typically included younger patients. Age was not associated with worse survival.


This paper deals with a new modified hyperchaotic van der Pol–Duffing (MVPD) snap oscillator. Various dynamical properties of the proposed system are investigated with the help of Lyapunov exponents, stability analysis of the equilibrium points and bifurcation plots. The existence of the Hopf bifurcation is established by analyzing the corresponding characteristic equation. It is also proved that the MVPD oscillator shows multistability with coexisting attractors. Various numerical simulations are conducted and presented to show the dynamical behavior of the MVPD system. To show that the system is hardware realizable, we derive the discrete model of the MVPD system using the Euler's method and using the hardware–software cosimulation, the proposed MVPD system is implemented in Field Programmable Gate Arrays. It is shown that the output of the digital implementations of the MVPD systems matches the numerical analysis.


Kinetics of electromagnetic field in noneqilibrim medium of atoms is studied on the basis of the Dicke model. The field is described by average electric and magnetic fields and their binary correlations. The atoms are considered in two-level approximation and assumed to be fixed in the space. States of the medium are described by the energy density. Nonresonant atom-field interaction is accounted phenomenologically. The theory is built on the Bogolyubov idea of the functional hypothesis that is the basis of his method of the reduced description of nonequilibrium processes. The investigation of the system is carried out in the framework of the Peletminsky–Yatsenko model. Atom-field interaction is assumed to be small and is taken into account up to the second contributions in the interaction included. Average electric and magnetic fields satisfy the Maxwell equations. Material equations for them express average current and charge densities through the average field. Evolution equations for the binary correlation of the field are constructed. Material equations for these equations express correlations field-current trough correlations field-field. The time equation for energy density of the medium is obtained. Density evolution is governed by the average field and field correlations. All material coefficients of the system are found.


A new mechanism for the instability of steady mountain waves is found through analysis of the linear stability problem. Steady flow of a hydrostatic stratified fluid is known to be unstable when the streamlines are at, or very close to, overturning. When the topography has multiple peaks, it is shown that this criterion can be superseded by an instability owing to a resonant triad interaction. For flow over two peaks, the threshold heights for instability are roughly half those which produce overturning streamlines. The mechanism behind the instability is the parametric amplification of counter-propagating gravity waves. The resonant nature of the instability is further illustrated by the existence of discrete peak-to-peak separation distances where the growth rate is a maximum.


A survey is given of the structures and bonding modes of nitrido
bridges between transition metals with MN multiple bonds and main group elements.
Illustrated by the period row sodium (I) to chlorine (VII) (or a homologue)
along with variable transition metals M, characteristic examples are compiled,
their principles of synthesis are presented and the step-by-step alterations
of the bonding conditions that occur in this period are discussed on the basis
of structural parameters. These bonding conditions can be divided into three
groups.
 (1)  Electrostatic bond between nitrido ligand and
main group element (I, II)
 (2)  Covalent single bond (III,
IV)
 (3)  Multiple bonds between both neighbouring elements
(V–VII)
 One example each is designed to illustrate this aim:
 (i) Na6[MoN4];
 (ii) [Mg(THF)4{NMoCl4(THF)}2 ];
 (iii) [ReN–GaCl3(PMe2Ph)(Et 2dtc)2] (no example with Al is known up to now);
 (iv) Cl3VN–SiMe3;
 (v) O3ReNPMe3;
 (vi) [Cl5WNSCl]−;
 (vii) [F5WNCl]−.


Background Longitudinal characterization of immune recovery in the first-phase of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is poorly described. We compared immune kinetics in individuals who were diagnosed early or late with HIV-1 infection, (thus commencing ART with different CD4+ T-cell counts), in order to investigate possible mechanisms involved in subsequent poor immune recovery. Methods Immunophenotyping, immune activation, proliferation, apoptosis, regulatory T-cells and intracellular cytokine production were compared at baseline and during 24-week follow-up in two groups of HIV-1-infected patients initiating the same ART (tenofovir/emtricitabine/efavirenz) and divided according to baseline CD4+ T-cell counts (late: ≤200/μL; early: >200/μL). Wilcoxon-rank sum test and analysis for repeated measures were used to evaluate differences between groups over time. Results Twenty-four out of 30 enrolled subjects were evaluable for the analysis, 13 late and 11 early presenters. Significantly lower CD4+ naïve and memory T-cells, and higher plasma viral load, as well as augmented percentages of activated (CD4+/CD25+ cells), apoptotic (CD4+/AnnexinV+/7AAD−, CD4+/caspase 8+ and CD4+/caspase 9+), and proliferating (CD8+/Ki67+ cells) lymphocytes were present at baseline in late presenters; ART resulted in a reduction of apoptotic and proliferating lymphocytes within the follow-up period. Conclusions A skewing towards memory/activated/apoptotic phenotype is seen in HIV-1-infected subjects starting ART at low CD4+ T-cell counts; ART results in early (24 weeks) trend towards normalization of these parameters. Antiretroviral therapy may play a role in rapidly limiting aberrant immune exhaustion even in late presenters, while requiring more time for re-population of highly depleted naïve T-cells. Trial Registration EU Clinical Trial Register EUDRACT number 2008-006188-35 https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2008-006188-35/IT


This study was conducted to determine the effects of different levels (0, 200, 250 and 300 mgCu/kg) of dietary cupper supplementation on some minerals (Cu, Zn, Fe, Mg, Ca and P) found in liver, breast and thigh tissues of laying hens. For this aim, 38-week old total 96 Lohman laying hens as 6 replicate cages each containing 4 hens, were allocated randomly to one of four dietary treatments. Treatment groups were fed diets containing (16.5% crude protein, 2670 kcal/kg ME) a standard commercial layer diet (Control), basal diet plus 200 (B-1), 250 (B-2) and 300 mgCu/kg (B-3) for 12 weeks. Dietary cupper supplementation did not affect calcium levels but altered levels of investigated other minerals (Cu, Zn, Fe, Mg and P) in all tissues (liver, breast and thigh) (P<0.001). The addition of increasing levels of cupper into diets increased cupper and phosphor contents (P<0.001), however decreased zinc levels significantly (P<0.001) in all inspected tissues. The addition of cupper into diets increased very significantly iron levels in thigh and breast tissues while reducing iron level in liver (P <0.001). The differences between groups in terms of magnesium contents in the liver and thigh tissues were found significantly (P<0.001), and dietary cupper supplementation did not change magnesium level in thigh meat. As a result, the addition of cupper into rations for laying hens increased cupper content and reduced levels of zinc and iron in liver, the main storage site cupper, iron and zinc. This situation shows that there is such a negative relationship between these minerals.


The present paper analyzes and discusses of the best practices offered by the Russian universities in the field of organization of practice-based training in engineering specializations. Based on the integrated approach to forming professional competences and generic skills in university engineering graduates, the professional portfolio of a university engineering graduate is viewed as the three in one set of competences including those in research, engineering and development entrepreneurship. Based on the review of documentation, reports, information databases, including the analysis of the statistical findings, the authors discuss the main global trends in the development of engineering education and training and offer the solutions to tackle the priority objectives in organizational field of university performance, teaching and learning processes organization and teaching aids development. The article discusses the educational practices of the six leading Russian engineering universities from the standpoint of the implemented teaching and learning formats, correspondent teaching aids development and the organizational solutions. The authors dwell on the example of Tomsk polytechnic university (TPU) in providing practice-based training to university students in physics, the critical organizational solutions in teaching and learning as well as approaches to teaching aids development that enable to shape the professional portfolio of a future engineer from the viewpoint of professional competences and generic skills enhancement. The discussed TPU experience in the field of practice-based training in physics is realized in compliance with the complex, integrative approach to forming the trinity of research, engineering, and entrepreneurship competences in a university engineering graduate. The designed system of practice-based engineering training implemented at TPU can be successfully extrapolated to the bachelor, master and PhD degree training of engineering students.


A control scheme is described to charge series-connected super capacitors for photovoltaic generation systems. Based on the features of the super capacitors charge, the control scheme consists of three modes, i.e., the constant current charge mode, the constant power charge mode, and the constant voltage charge mode. The shift of three modes can be realized by controlling the duty of IGBT in the Boost-Buck converter system. Meanwhile, the high voltage, which is more suitable for application, can be obtained. Compared with the normal charge method with series-connected current-limiting resistance and the charge method with the constant current charge mode and the constant voltage charge mode, the proposed charging control scheme can shorten the charging time and improve the usage of the electric power generated from the PV arrays. The advantage described above is verified by simulations.


EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Jane Brookes Ward manager (paediatric medical), Nottingham Children's Hospital, Nottingham Geraldine Cunningham Associate director of culture change, Barts Health NHS, London Naomi Elliott Director of international initiatives, school of nursing and midwifery, Trinity College Dublin Gemma Ellis Consultant nurse in adult critical care, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Anastasia Mallidou Assistant professor, school of nursing, University of Victoria BC, Canada Ada ter Maten Nurse researcher, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Healthcare, Netherlands Niall McCrae Lecturer at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London Jane Naish Deputy chief nurse and head of quality, Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Natasha Phillips Assistant chief nurse, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and visiting research fellow, National Nursing Research Unit, King's College London Elaine Strachan-Hall Governing body nurse, NHS South Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group Donna Swinden Senior therapist, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Ray Walker Director of nursing and secure services, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool Frances Wong Professor and associate dean, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China Haiou Xia Professor at the school of nursing, Fudan University, China Acting assistant editor Jennifer Sprinks Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3186 Email: email@example.com Senior production editor Julie Hickey Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3148 Email: email@example.com Administration manager Helen Hyland Tel: +44 (0)20 8872 3138 Email: email@example.com Administration assistant Sandra Lynch


Population-level assessments of the ecological risks of dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure to fish-eating birds in Tokyo Bay and its vicinity were performed to judge the need for risk management measures to protect aquatic wildlife from dioxin-like PCB contamination. Egg mortality risk and changes in the population growth rate (k) in relation to the contamination levels of dioxin-like PCBs in eggs of gray heron (Ardea cinerea), great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), osprey (Pandion halieaetus), and kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) were determined by integrating the results of exposure analysis, effect analysis, and a life-history model for each species. The egg mortality risks for the gray heron, great cormorant, osprey, and kingfisher populations were calculated to be 5.8, 6.8, 12, and less than 1%, respectively. The estimated k for those populations were calculated to be 1.061, 1.405, 1.024, and 1.131, respectively. The percentage changes in k for those populations were estimated to be 1.2, 2.0, 1.6, and less than 1%, respectively. Our results implied that the levels of dioxinlike PCBs observed in the Tokyo Bay area alone would not have significant population-level effects on the fish-eating bird populations. It is concluded that along with the trend toward decreasing dioxin and dioxin-like PCB levels in Tokyo Bay, no urgent need exists for risk-reduction measures to protect fish-eating bird populations against dioxin-like PCBs.


Corneal ulcers are one of the major causes of monocular blindness after cataracts in developing nations and have a varied aetiology. One of the emerging causes of corneal ulcers closely resembling fungi in its morphology is the Pythium insidiosum which is known to infect a variety of animals, but in humans, only a few cases have been reported causing ocular, cutaneous/subcutaneous, vascular, and disseminated infections. This was a case of a 29-year-old male, non agriculturist by occupation who presented to the Ophthalmology Outpatient Department with a history of diminution of vision, redness and watering of the left eye in the last 5 days. On further investigations, he was diagnosed to have a corneal ulcer with P.insidiosum being the aetiological agent. The patient was managed surgically by penetrating keratoplasty and medically by combination therapy consisting of moxifloxacin eyedrops every 4th hour, voriconazole eye drops 2 hourly, natamycin eye drops 2nd hourly, oral fluconazole 150 mg thrice daily for 1 week.


3-D, and in particular stereoscopic, displays are believed to have great prospects. Due to imperfections in the optical and electronic components, however, some image distortions still exist in these displays. Among them, crosstalk is considered to be a very annoying one. The aim of the current research is to investigate crosstalk perception and its influence on image quality when rendering dynamic image sequences on two types of stereoscopic displays: a hold-type liquid-crystal display with patterned retarder and circular polarizing glasses, and an impulse-type digital light processing display with shutter glasses. Results show that the dynamic behavior of the displays has an impact on crosstalk perception. Perceived motion blur can mask crosstalk visibility, especially at low binocular parallax, which limits the crosstalk-induced image quality degradation.


The induction motors are largely used in several industry sectors. The dimensioning of an induction motor has still been inaccurate because in most of the cases the load behavior in its shaft is completely unknown. The proposal of this paper is to use artificial neural networks as a tool for estimating the load torque applied to the induction motor shaft rather than conventional methods, which use classical identification techniques and mechanical load modeling. Simulation results are also presented to validate the proposed approach


Distributed Shared Memories (DSM) performance has always suffered from high network latencies and software communication layers with a large overhead. Memory mapped networks such as Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI) allow to reliably access remote memory without involving the operating system. To show how DSM systems can benefit from this technology, we have developed SciFS, a DSM tightly integrated with the operating system, that exploits the high performance and the remote memory access capabilities of SCI. We first show the respective advantages of two communications techniques with SCI: programmed IO (PIO) and remote DMA (RDMA). Then, we describe how to build a scalable page transfer mechanism by mixing PIO and RDMA. Despite the lack of a broadcast mechanism with SCI, we demonstrate that it is possible to build scalable synchronization primitives using PIO. Finally, we evaluate various consistency models with scientific computing applications from the Splash benchmark. We observe that, even if the rough network performance is good, it is not sufficient to obtain acceptable results with applications that require fine grain parallelism. However, we show that memory mapped networks provide an efficient hardware support to implement software DSM systems without requiring complex relaxed consistency models. This way, DSM design can be greatly simplified using this technology.


To overcome the shortcomings of whale optimization algorithm (WOA) such as the slow convergence rate, and low convergence accuracy, and being easy to fall into the local optimum, an improved whale optimization algorithm based on the tent chaotic mapping and nonlinear convergence factor (TNWOA)is proposed. Firstly, In this algorithm, tent chaotic mapping, which enhances the diversity of the initialization population, is introduced into the initialization of population, therefore, the search space can be searched more thoroughly; Secondly, trigonometric function and the beta distribution are introduced in the convergence factor 'a', which balance the global search ability as well as local optimization ability and speed up the convergence speed of the algorithm. Simulation experiments on the four kinds of common test functions on CEC2017 show that under the same experimental conditions, the improved whale optimization algorithm improves the solution accuracy and convergence speed significantly, and its performance is obviously better than other smart optimization algorithms and other improved WOA algorithms.


Seasonal storage and extraction of heat in legacy coal mines could help decarbonize the space heating sector of many localities. The modelled evolution of a conceptual mine-water thermal scheme is analysed in this study, involving cyclical storage of heat in an enclosed underground coal mine. Conductive heat transport simulations are performed in a 3D model of a flooded room-and-pillar panel, based on typical mine layouts, to quantify the maximum thermal recovery from the host rock in different scenarios. We show that, by optimizing the seasonal management, from 25% to 45% of the energy transferred to the subsurface could be potentially recovered at the end of the first operational year. The modelled heat retrieval, achieved by subsurface cold-water circulation, does not consider the potentially enhancing effect of local advection around mine voids and applies to cases of relatively low dispersal of heat by the regional groundwater flow. The cumulative heat recovered from the modelled host rock could equal the thermal energy provided by the "mined" coal in less than 70 years. A comparison of the value of the original coal "mined," at today's prices, to a representative value for the heat recycled in the space created by its extraction, suggests that within less than 3 decades of thermal cycling similar monetary values are reached for the specific conditions modelled.


Primates can recognize or respond to specific stimuli that are important for survival, such as faces, predators, prey animals, and foods, even if they have not experienced those stimuli previously (innate recognition). Throughout vertebrates, including primates, the extrageniculate visual system (subcortical visual pathway) comprising the retina, superior colliculus, pulvinar, and amygdala is thought to be genetically hard-wired and involved in innate recognition of these stimuli. To investigate neural mechanisms of innate recognition in primates, we analyzed single neuronal responses to facial images in the monkey pulvinar and superior colliculus. The results indicated that the pulvinar and superior collicular neurons responded preferentially to facial images in short latency and showed gamma oscillations during stimulus presentation. Furthermore, the population activity of these neurons discriminated head direction, sex, and identity of facial images. Based on these findings, we discussed neural mechanisms underlying the innate and automatic (unconscious) detection of facial stimuli in the extrageniculate visual system.


INTRODUCTION :
Drug reactions are often under reported and majority of drug reactions are minor. Some cases of adverse drug reactions may be major events like hepatotoxicity or nephrotoxicity. DILI is one of the leading causes of acute liver failure in the US, accounting for 13% of cases of acute liver failure; these events pose a major challenge for drug development and safety.
Antimicrobials and agents for the central nervous system are the most common causes of DILI and health foods or dietary supplements account for 7% of cases of DILI in the US. In India and other developing countries, ATT is the most important drug implicated in DILI. Anti Tuberculous drug induced liver injury is mostly due to inadequate evaluation of risk factors and "inappropriate dosing". Worldwide, incidence of Anti Tuberculous DILI, between 5 to 33%. This wide variation may be due to the predilection of TB towards developing count 1ries than West. Even developed nations have a recent surge after the global HIV pandemic of HIV during 80s. In India, a nation contributing significant proportion of TB cases, the incidence of ATT DILI ranges between 33 to 35%.
AIM OF THE STUDY :
Primary Aim :
1. To identify DILI even before onset of symptoms, which may prevent serious drug induced Acute Liver failure.
2. To identify the risk factors for DILI due to Anti Tubercular Treatment.
3. To formulate the way of monitoring for DILI in patients who are started ATT.
Secondary :
1. To study the Prevalence of ATT DILI in patients with deranged baseline LFT values.
2. To study the Incidence of Hepatic adaptation and its significance in monitoring patients on ATT.
MATERIALS AND METHODS :
This is a prospective study from our Institute, Department of Digestive Health and Diseases. Government peripheral Hospital Anna Nagar., a tertiary care Centre, fed by a chest clinic and many DOTS (Directly Observed Short Term Chemotherapy) centers.
The study period is from January 2014 to January 2015.
THE STUDY GROUP :
The Study population is patients who are registered under dots and started on ATT, at chest clinic, Govt. Kilpauk Medical College. They were patients diagnosed with TB, pulmonary or extra pulmonary. Also, they were not on previous anti-TB chemotherapy higher than two weeks .
All patients were followed till the end of their ATT COURSE and LFT was monitored.
EXCLUSION CRITERIA :
1. HIV Positive and on HAART,
2. Pregnant Females,
3. Postpartum 3 Months,
4. Patients on Cancer Chemotherapy,
5. Age Less Than 18 Years,
6. Moribound State.
LFT and clinical monitoring in patients who are selected under the inclusion criteria in the study were followed up till the end of their therapy by serial LFTs. Patients were divided into two groups according to their baseline LFT
as follows.,
1. GROUP 1 –Patients With Normal Baseline LFT Values.
2. GROUP 2- Patients With Baseline Altered LFT Values.
LFT was done baseline and every week for the first month, then fortnightly for the next 2months and then monthly until the end of therapy. Patients with clinical and lab evidence of DILI were evaluated for risk factors.
All results were analysed for both groups. Patients with referred with ATT DILI to this tertiary care were analyzed for Risk factors and the Demographic profile of DILI.
Finally the incidence of DILI in both groups was analysed.
The incidence of hepatic adaptation was analysed
Also, the mortality rate in patients taking ATT and significance of risk
factors in, mortality of DILI was analysed.
An ATT DILI criterion is taken according to American Thoracic Society Guidelines-2006, when any one of these three criteria was met ATT was stopped.
1. S.Transaminases >3 ULN with Symptoms,
2. S.Transaminases >5ULN without Symptoms,
3. Any increase in Bilirubin.
RESULTS:
The incidence of Drug induced liver injury in Group 1 & 2 Both is 11.7%.
Incidence of DILI in Group 1 is 9.48%.
Incidence of DILI in Group 2 is 20.7%.
Patients with normal baseline LFT had stastically significant incidence of
DILI of 9.4%(p<0.001).
Mortality Rate :
a.Mortality due to ATT, among the total study population is 4.1%.(n=145)
Mortality due to ATT among Group 1 is 2.5%.
Mortality due to ATT in Group 2 is 10.3%.
The cause specific mortality rate for Group 1 patients with DILI-27.2%.
The cause specific mortality rate fort Group 2 patients with DILI- 50%.
Mortality among Group 2 (n=25).
The mortality rate in Patients on ATT in Group 2 is 10.3%.
There is stastical significance between patients recovered and not recovered in Group 2. (p<0.001).
Mortality in females - Group 1.
Females have higher Odds for DILI deaths compared to males.
Since there were no females died of DILI in Group 2, p value and odds ratio was not applicable.
Diabetics have higher Odds in DILI related mortality than Non Diabetics in Group 1.
Since there were no diabetics, who died in Group 2, p value and Odds ratio was not applicable.

CONCLUSION :
1. There is increased incidence of DILI in patients with
Altered Baseline LFT values.
2. Females with Normal baseline LFT have higher Odds for DILI deaths than Males.
3. Diabetics with Normal baseline LFT, have higher Odds for DILI deaths than Non Diabetics.
4. The patients with altered baseline LFT values have higher mortality with ATT.
5. Periodic monitoring of LFT prevents mortality in DILI.


Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) are the most relevant requirements for new advanced services comprising integrated cooperation between processing, storage, sensing, and transmission capabilities. As reliance on technology grows, businesses increasingly turn to Wide Area Networks (WANs) connectivity solutions to ensure reliable and efficient communication between their locations and cloud data centers. With new applications with stringent requirements, QoS and QoE have become critical priorities for companies looking to remain competitive and provide a seamless customer experience. As a result, many organizations require reliable and high-performing WANs to effectively transmit critical data between their branches and cloud data centers. We examine Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS technology), which is the historical choice for WANs but has significant disadvantages in cost and performance. Then, we analyze the novel Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) technology that allows for real-time flexible, dynamic reconfiguration of network devices to meet network measurements and service requirements. Furthermore, we introduce a first work of my Ph. D. that examines the use of a Reinforcement Learning algorithm in a new SD-WAN topology scenario in which we consider both direct WAN connections between Customer Premises Equipment (CPEs) located within enterprise premises and CPEs used as peering points for traffic routing. This paper presents our initial analysis of these technologies and the main ideas guiding me in my Ph. D. program.


Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province, was recognised in December 2019 as the centre of an outbreak of an unknown originator of pneumonia. Intense concentrations of illness spread throughout China and, ultimately, globally. Consequently, on 7th January, 2020, Chinese researchers identified a case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in an affected person in Wuhan as the cause. Symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 vary from mild (fever, dry cough, difficulty in breathing, and pain in muscles) to severe (acute respiratory distress syndrome [ARDS}, azotemia or acute renal failure, ventilation associated pneumonia [VAP], and shock from sepsis). In a multidisciplinary team, pharmacists play a strategic role as medical healthcare professionals in restricting the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 and can serve as sentinels in their communities to control and counteract this epidemic domestically. Key Words: SARS-CoV-2, Community pharmacists, Frontline healthcare workers.


The existence of large networks such as the Pediatric Rheumatology Collaborative Study Group (PRCSG) and the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organization (PRINTO), the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society (PRES) and more recently the Childhood Arthritis (Research Alliance (CARRA) has greatly facilitated the possibility of implementing collaborative studies either academic or in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies in the field of pediatric rheumatology. In the last few years PRINTO has concentrated its efforts to provide facilities to its membership for the conduct of international research projects. The ongoing initiative are as follow: A pharmacovigilance registry for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) treated with biologics ± methotrexate and financed by the European Union which has collected data for almost 6000 JIA children. A sub-project called Abirisk, in collaboration with an adult international consortium financed by IMI, is evaluating the development of antibodies against biologic drugs and its correlations with safety and efficacy results. The Eurofever registry has collected clinical and laboratory data for almost 3,000 children and adults with auto-inflammatory syndromes. The EPidemiology, treatment and Outcome of Childhood Arthritis throughout the world (EPOCA) study has collected has the goal to define and compare the epidemiology, treatment and outcome of the JIA categories around the world. The project has collected more than 7,000 JIA patients and 2,000 healthy controls. Another project has the goal to develop new classification criteria for macrophage activation syndromes (MAS) in systemic JIA and has collected 360 MAS cases and 750 controls (400 systemic JIA cases without MAS and 350 sepsis). In addition PRINTO is working to update information for families of children with pediatric rheumatic diseases (www.pediatric-rheumatology.printo.it) and characterize the current pattern of care through the Share project financed by the EU. The PRINTO networks can be seen as a model for international cooperation in rheumatology and other paediatric subspecialties. Disclosure of Interest N. Ruperto Grant/Research support from: The Gaslini Hospital, which is the public Hospital where I work as full time employee, has received contributions to support the PRINTO research activities from industries: Abbott, BMS, "Francesco Angelini", GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Hoffman-La Roche, Italfarmaco, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi Aventis, Schwarz Biosciences, Sobi, Xoma, Wyeth, Conflict with: Abbott, AbbVie, Astellas, Alter, AstraZeneca, Boehringer, BMS, CD-Pharma,Hoffman-La Roche, Italfarmaco, Janssen, MedImmune, Medac, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi Aventis, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Servier DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.6138


Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a relatively common psychiatric illness with a lifetime prevalence of 2–3% in general population. The pathophysiology of OCD is not yet fully understood, however over the last few decades, evidence for abnormalities of cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortico (CSTC) circuitry in etiopathogenesis of OCD has accumulated. Recent brain imaging techniques have been particularly convincing in suggesting that CSTC circuits are responsible for mediation of OCD symptoms. Neuroimaging studies, especially more recent studies using functional neuroimaging methods have looked for possible changes seen in the brain of patients with OCD, the specificity of the findings (as compared to other psychiatric illnesses) and the effects of treatment (pharmacotherapy/psychotherapy) on such changes were observed. This narrative review discusses the neuroimaging findings seen in patients with OCD with a special focus on relatively more recent neuroimaging modalities such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy and magnetoencephalography.


The impact of COVID-19 is observed in all sectors around the world. The education sectors of India as well as world are badly affected by this. It has compulsory the world wide lock down creating very bad effect on the students' life. Around 32 crore students stopped to move schools/colleges and all educational activities halted in India. The education sector has been fighting to survive the crises with a different method and digitising the challenges to wash away the threat of the pandemic. This highlights some measures taken by Govt. of India to provide seamless education in the country. Both positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 on education are discussed in the present article.


The application of genetically encoded fluorophores for microscopy has afforded one of the biggest revolutions in the biosciences. Bioluminescence microscopy is an appealing alternative to fluorescence microscopy, because it does not depend on external illumination, and consequently does neither produce spurious background autofluorescence, nor perturb intrinsically photosensitive processes in living cells and animals. The low quantum yield of known luciferases, however, limit the acquisition of high signal-noise images of fast biological dynamics. To increase the versatility of bioluminescence microscopy, we present an improved low-light microscope in combination with deep learning methods to increase the signal to noise ratio in extremely photon-starved samples at millisecond exposures for timelapse and volumetric imaging. We apply our method to image subcellular dynamics in mouse embryonic stem cells, the epithelial morphology during zebrafish development, and DAF-16 FoxO transcription factor shuttling from the cytoplasm to the nucleus under external stress. Finally, we concatenate neural networks for denoising and light-field deconvolution to resolve intracellular calcium dynamics in three dimensions of freely moving Caenorhabditis elegans with millisecond exposure times. This technology is cost-effective and has the potential to replace standard optical microscopy where external illumination is prohibitive.


Background: Reports, mostly from high-income countries, have shown a wide range of symptoms, clinical profiles, and outcomes for patients diagnosed with COVID-19. However, little is known about these issues in developing countries. Objectives: This research used medical records in 15 hospitals in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, to assess predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Methods: The required information was extracted from patients' medical records, including age, gender, laboratory data (complete blood count, serum electrolytes, and liver, renal, and muscle injury tests) at admission, and the outcome of in-hospital mortality (yes/no) of 4,542 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19. This research used logistic regression to assess the predictors for mortality (measured as adjusted odds ratio [aOR]) and Chi-square automatic interaction detector to classify high-risk patients in different age groups as a decision tree model. Two models were developed through a machine learning approach. Results: Overall, 822 (18.09%) cases passed away in the hospital. Mortality risk was increased from 4.33% in patients aged 18-40 years old to 40.96% in those aged 80+ years old. After adjusting for covariates, age (aOR 1.62 to 7.05 vs. those aged 18-40 years old), high aspartate transaminase (aOR 1.64 to 3.21), high alkaline phosphatase (aOR=2.17), low sodium (aOR=1.31), high sodium level (aOR=5.05), high potassium (aOR=2.41), low calcium (aOR=2.31), high creatine phosphokinase (aOR=2.21 to 2.24), and high creatinine (aOR=3.43) were significantly associated with in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: Based on the results of our study, the mortality rate was high among in-hospital patients, particularly among older age and those who had liver and renal dysfunctions, muscle injury, and electrolyte imbalance at admission. Triage and special care for these high-risk patients can improve in-hospital outcomes.


Based on the research of the chemical erosion intensity in the upper course of Tamnava, the appearance of its negative value has been found. Further researches, that enclose the lower course, confirmed this fact. This research opened the important question about the causes of this phenomena. Analytical method eliminated all expected causes and led to conclusion that the reason for this should be found by using the more precise research of the mineralisation of the precipitations. It was necessary to continue the measurings of the precipitation mineralisation in the greater number of locations and in the wider time period, as well as in the different meteorological conditions, and after that to establish the subordination between the amount of precipitations and the entered TDS. Only after these additive researches we could be able to find out the relation between ''entry'' and ''exit'' and to find out the intensity of the chemical erosion in this, and in the other river basins. For now, we are able only to find out the carrying of TDS, as well as the reduction of the chemical evacuation for the non - carbonated part of the basin (corrected value).


Block programming languages, such as Scratch and Blockly, are being used as to introduce children to programming, but because they rely heavily on visual aspects, blind children are being left behind their peers in access to computer science education. We propose finding new techniques to make these types of programs accessible to blind children. We plan to use an iterative design process to create a web-based application on a touchscreen laptop, where children can synthesize music using different instruments and recordings of themselves. We plan to work with students at a local school to test and refine initial prototypes in a workshop setting. We will then evaluate the final prototype in a longitudinal study with students: collecting the programs that they create over a two-week period, and conducting observations and interviews throughout that period in order to evaluate Blocks4All.


This book's texts are by Nick Crowe and Sharon Kivland. Brass Art are Chara Lewis, Kristin Mojsiewicz and Anneke Pettican, three artists based in Manchester and Glasgow, who have worked together since 1998. "Galanty" presents documentation and commentary on their recent projects. Brass Art explore real space and virtual space by positioning themselves as drawings, shadows, digital sprites and performers. Sometimes they seek privileged vantage-points from which they can oversee the architecture of the city; occasionally they trespass or occupy seemingly inaccessible realms. Central to this is their examination of thresholds or liminal spaces and the gap between public and private experience. As modern day flaneuses they travel unimpeded. For each of their journeys they select appropriate accoutrements: an anonymous suitcase customised with neon signage and battery, a self-drawn map, a disguise.


ABSTRACT Teaching ethnomusicology at a South African university as a white female in the context of the 2015–2016 national #FeesMustFall student protests presents a significant challenge. In this article, I discuss the context of Euro-American scholarship on the ethnomusicologist as pedagogue and compare this to the situation in South Africa, using the framing devices of three main statements, namely that all musics are equal, that a culturally diverse music education (and education in ethnomusicology) is beneficial for students and that teaching strategies for instilling broader understanding, openness and compassion should be prioritised over what musics are taught in the actual curriculum. Reflecting on pedagogy in tertiary education in this field at this particular time, I present certain strategies that have assisted in my own teaching practice. It is hoped that this work will contribute towards the broader discussion surrounding South African tertiary music education.


This paper presents a high-performance two-path wideband receiver (RX) for 4G LTE applications. The RX uses an extra GM stage after the LNA to improve the noise figure (NF). Furthermore, different RF and baseband blocker rejection techniques are proposed to significantly improve the linearity of the RX. The blockers are first rejected after the LNA stage through an N-path filter. Then, a novel base-band blocker filtering (BBBF) technique improves IIP3 by 7 dB. A dual-mixer architecture is also employed to attenuate blockers both before and after the mixer stage. The N-path filter noise is sensed out-of-phase by the RX main path and cancelled at the inputs of the shared TIA. The RX achieves 1.8 dB NF with 50 dB gain at 2 GHz in 40 nm CMOS technology. The RX out-of-band IIP3 is +5 dBm, which is improved by 20 dB employing the proposed techniques, while consuming 36 mW.


IN PREVIOUS communications 1 we described surgical technics for the alleviation of esophageal or tracheal obstructions which were caused by extrinsic pressure from a double aortic arch or from an anomalous right subclavian artery. In a brief way, we should like to summarize our experience with the successful surgical treatment of a similar condition in which the trachea was compressed by an innominate artery which lay in an unusual position. For many decades anatomists and pathologists have been recording abnormalities of the aortic arch and the great vessels which arise from it. On several occasions clinicians 2 described the symptoms which can arise from such vascular malformations, making particular reference to the evidence of esophageal or tracheal obstruction. More recently the roentgenologist 3 has pointed the way for a rapid and rather accurate recognition of these abnormalities by roentgenographic visualization of the esophagus and trachea with contrast mediums. Now it


Objective: To evaluate the blood pressure-lowering efficacy and tolerability of perindopril 3.5 mg/amlodipine 2.5 mg (P/A) once daily, a novel first-line treatment in comparison with renin–angiotensin system (RAS) blocker monotherapies after 1-month treatment. Design and method: A meta-analytic approach, based on individual data of 3 international randomized, double-blind studies (exhaustive data of the sponsor) was performed. The treatment effect (P/A vs RAS monotherapies: valsartan 80 mg, irbesartan 150 mg, or perindopril 5 mg) on office blood pressure (BP) change from baseline after 1 month was assessed in each individual study using analysis of covariance with treatment, baseline, and country as fixed effects. SAS (version 9.2) was used for all statistical analyses. In addition, a meta-analytic approach based on a similar model, taking into account the heterogeneity of treatment effects according to the different studies was performed on individual data. Results: A total of 5507 patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension (only 6.9% had grade 3 hypertension) were randomized. The baseline systolic BP/diastolic BP (SBP/DBP) was 163.5 ± 10.2/95.0 ± 8.6 mmHg and 163.1 ± 10.2/95.0 ± 8.6 mmHg for the P/A group (n = 2729) and the RAS blocker group (n = 2767), respectively. The decrease in SBP/DBP achieved with P/A was significantly superior to the decrease achieved with each RAS blocker monotherapy after 1 month of treatment. There was a difference of 2.4/1.3 mmHg (P = 0.002/0.005) in favor of P/A. The tolerability was similar in all groups: the incidence of emergent adverse events was 28.4% for P/A vs 28.2% for the comparators (P = 0.929). Cough was more frequent in the P/A group (4.5%), while headache (3%) and diarrhea (0.8%) were more frequent in the RAS blocker group. Conclusions: The superior BP–lowering efficacy and favorable safety profile of perindopril 3.5 mg/amlodipine 2.5 mg, a new first-line treatment recently approved by the authorities, confirm that it is an interesting option for the medical community. This first-line treatment allows treating from mild hypertension with a dual mode of action instead of using monotherapy.


Potato is a high potential food security crop in Ethiopia due to its high yield potential and nutritional quality tuber, short growing period, and wider adaptability. Arsi administrative province is one of the potential potato growing areas in southern parts of Ethiopia. The potato is grown there as a field crop, and it substantially supplies potatoes to the whole country. Despite the suitability of this area for high quantity and quality potato production in the country, there are several constraints, which drastically affect to the low production and productivity of potato crop by smallholder farmers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potato seed system, storage, pre-planting treatment practices applied and marketing systems followed by potato producing farmers and to suggest improvement options. In this research, a combination of literature study, expert elicitation, group discussion, field observation, and questionnaire base survey were used. The result of this study showed that a number of factors constraining the system including:  unavailability of high quality seed tubers, unavailability of improved varieties, unavailability of improved storage structure, low price of the produce and poor transportation. It is concluded that availability of improved potato varieties, improved storage facilities, use of pesticides and better marketing opportunities are crucial to improve the potato crop system, to alleviate poverty and improve food security of smallholder farmers in the Arsi area in particular and in the country in general.

 Potato is a high potential food security crop in Ethiopia due to its high yield potential and nutritional quality tuber, short growing period, and wider adaptability. Arsi administrative province is one of the potential potato growing areas in southern parts of Ethiopia. The potato is grown there as a field crop, and it substantially supplies potatoes to the whole country. Despite the suitability of this area for high quantity and quality potato production in the country, there are several constraints, which drastically affect to the low production and productivity of potato crop by smallholder farmers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potato seed system, storage, pre-planting treatment practices applied and marketing systems followed by potato producing farmers and to suggest improvement options. In this research, a combination of literature study, expert elicitation, group discussion, field observation, and questionnaire base survey were used. The result of this study showed that a number of factors constraining the system including:  unavailability of high quality seed tubers, unavailability of improved varieties, unavailability of improved storage structure, low price of the produce and poor transportation. It is concluded that availability of improved potato varieties, improved storage facilities, use of pesticides and better marketing opportunities are crucial to improve the potato crop system, to alleviate poverty and improve food security of smallholder farmers in the Arsi area in particular and in the country in general.

 Key words: Seed potato, pre-planting-treatment, improved storage, seed potato marketing Seed potato, pre-planting-treatment, improved storage, seed potato marketing.


The performance of model-based signal processing inference methods may significantly degrade due to model errors. Thus, detection of model misspecification (MM) is essential in many applications. One of the most prominent MM detection approaches is based on comparison between the empirical characteristic function (CF) and the CF of the assumed model. However, there is no concrete or optimal method to extract the relevant information for MM detection. Another popular approach for MM detection is the information matrix test (IMT), which is based on the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) regularity condition. This method is insensitive in some basic problems and it requires a twice continuously-differentiable probability density function of the observation under the null hypothesis. In order to address these issues, three new methods for MM detection are proposed in this paper. In the first method, it is proposed to address the CF frequency selection question via an optimization procedure, yielding the optimized characteristic function test (OCFT). In addition, a local version of the OCFT, called the optimized local characteristic function test (OLCFT), which combines information obtained from the CF and information matrix equality, is proposed. This test stems from the generalization of both the CF and the CRB regularity condition. In order to address the differentiabilty limitation, the IMT for MM detection is extended by a finite-difference form, named, discrete IMT (DIMT). Thus, it is applicable for discrete-valued parameters or classification problems. The performances of the proposed methods are studied via several signal processing examples.


The quality of graphene intended for use in biosensors was assessed on manufactured chips using a set of methods including atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, and low-frequency noise investigation. It is shown that local areas of residues on the graphene surface, formed as a result of the interaction of graphene with a photoresist at the initial stage of chip development, led to a spread of chip resistance (R) in the range of 1–10 kOhm and to an increase in the root mean square (RMS) roughness up to 10 times, which can significantly worsen the reproducibility of the parameters of graphene chips for biosensor applications. It was observed that the control of the photoresist residues after photolithography (PLG) using AFM and subsequent additional cleaning reduced the spread of R values in chips to 1–1.6 kOhm and obtained an RMS roughness similar to the roughness in the graphene film before PLG. Monitoring of the spectral density of low-frequency voltage fluctuation (SU), which provides integral information about the system of defects and quality of the material, makes it possible to identify chips with low graphene quality and with inhomogeneously distributed areas of compressive stresses by the type of frequency dependence SU(f).


We investigated the effects of the time course of addition of osteogenic supplements dexamethasone, β‐glycerolphosphate, and L‐ascorbic acid to rat marrow stromal cells, and the exposure time on the proliferation and differentiation of the cells. It was the goal of these experiments to determine the time point for supplement addition to optimize marrow stromal cell proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation. To determine this, two studies were performed; one study was based on the age of the cells from harvest, and the other study was based on the duration of exposure to supplemented medium. Cells were seen to proliferate rapidly at early time points in the presence and absence of osteogenic supplements as determined by 3H‐thymidine incorporation into the DNA of replicating cells. These results were supported by cell counts ascertained through total DNA analysis. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and osteocalcin production at 21 days were highest for both experimental designs when the cells were exposed to supplemented medium immediately upon harvest. The ALP levels at 21 days were six times greater for cells maintained in supplements throughout than for control cells cultured in the absence of supplements for both studies, reaching an absolute value of 75 × 10−7 μmole/min/cell. Osteocalcin production reached 20 × 10−6 ng/cell at 21 days in both studies for cells maintained in supplemented medium throughout the study, whereas the control cells produced an insignificant amount of osteocalcin. These results suggest that the addition of osteogenic supplements to marrow‐derived cells early in the culture period did not inhibit proliferation and greatly enhanced the osteoblastic phenotype of cells in a rat model. J. Cell. Biochem. 71:55–62, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Writing well is an art that takes time to be perfect, but if you don't try it, you won't nail it. The value of writing should never be underestimated, as writing well improves your work [1]. If the writing is clear, it can turn bad science into good science and makes more impactful and valuable [1]. Writing helps the speaker to express the issue before audience very easier. There are various types of writing such as articles, journals, literature review etc [3]. The scientific writing should be simple, objective and concise. Writing depends on the reader's needs (for a normal reader technical terms mathematical expressions has never suited well) [2]. Various types of manuscripts are used in scientific writing. One of the key developers in scientific publications is the adoption of the IMRAD's [Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion] structure [5]. Apart from this other form is TAKAR (Title, Abstract, Keywords, Acknowledgements, and References) [5]. Approaches made by writers for in the design of the contents are about various forms in more than one journal [4]. In case of reference also various styles are used, such as Vancouver's style, the Harvard system. Writing is a most important factor to criticize and evaluate the publications [9]. Writing process should not intend to be sane, effective. Writing is a decision making process and Writers designs in different ways for their scientific work [7]. All written communications are affected by a larger context or situation [8]. This article helps the reviewers to know about the different writing methods its rhythm and styles.


KaiC is the central cog of the circadian clock in Cyanobacteria. Close homologs of this protein are widespread among bacteria that are not known to have or need a circadian physiology. The function, interaction network, and mechanism of action of these KaiC homologs are still largely unknown. Here, we focus on KaiC-like proteins found in environmental Pseudomonas species. Using a bioinformatic approach, we describe the diversity and distribution of members of this protein family in the Pseudomonas genus and sketch, through comparative genomics, a conserved minimal interaction network comprising a histidine kinase and a response regulator. We then characterize experimentally the only KaiC homolog present in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 and Pseudomonas protegens CHA0. Through phenotypic assays and transcriptomics, we show that KaiC is involved in osmotic and oxidative stress resistance in P. putida and in sulfur uptake and alternative carbon source utilization in P. protegens. As expected, it physically interacts with its cognate histidine kinase and response regulator. Moreover, KaiC homologs are phosphorylated at one (P. putida) or two (P. protegens) sites and KaiC phosphorylation patterns change over time; however, in Pseudomonas species, changes in KaiC phosphorylation are driven by the age of the culture rather than by circadian cues as is the case in Cyanobacteria. In this study, through thorough bioinformatic and experimental analyses, we shed light onto the functional diversification and evolution of a unique protein family, diversely involved in bacterial rhythmic interactions with their environment. By so doing, we present a striking example of a protein whose general purpose is conserved in evolution, but whose molecular mechanics and participation in bacterial physiology can change dramatically across species.


A class of modified single-state shuffle/exchange (S/E) networks with reconfigurable connections is described. The capability of these modified networks to simulate every arbitrary permutation and other multistage S/E networks is studied. In particular, the upper bounds on simulating six multistage S/E networks are given. It is also shown that C.L. Wu and T.Y. Feng's (1981) modified single-stage S/E network is optimal in terms of its universality and cost for the networks with one reconfigurable connection. However, some of the modified networks with two reconfigurable connections have better capability although they are slightly more expensive than Wu and Feng's network. Also proposed is a link folding scheme that can be used to reduce the connection complexity of implementing the connection selection mechanism. >


Background: HCV related arthritis is not uncommon and both diagnosis and treatment is challenging and the role of anti cyclic citullinated peptide (Anti CCP) in the diagnosis of HCV arthropathy is unknown.
Materials and methods: A case control Prospective study conducted on 60 patients known to have chronic Hepatitis c infection with arthropathy (Study group) and 20 healthy subjects as control group.
Results: The most frequent affected joint in the study was PIPs 32 (53.3%) followed by MCPs joint in 26 (43.3%) while the least frequent joint was the elbow that was affected in only one patient (1.7%). Ten patients (16.6%) had picture of arthritis while 50 (83.4%) had arthralgia. Serum RF in our study it was positive in 16 (26.6%) with low titre with mean 77.01 ± 11.05 (nine of these patients had arthralagia with mean 68.09 ± 13.44, and seven patients had arthritis with mean 80.77 ± 11.45).The prevelance of total cases with positive cryoglobulinemia had estimate about 26 (43.33%). The Anti ccp among HCV arthropathy and we found that about (8 patients 13.33%) have low positive titer for Anti ccp with mean 15.77 ± 5.05.
Conclusion: Anti cyclic citrunated peptide can be detected among patients with HCV arthropathy with positive low titer.


The asymmetric reductive amination of ketones enables the one-step synthesis of chiral amines from readily available starting materials. Here we report the discovery of a family of native NAD(P)H-dependent amine dehydrogenases (nat-AmDHs) competent for the asymmetric reductive amination of aliphatic and alicyclic ketones, adding significantly to the biocatalytic toolbox available for chiral amine synthesis. Studies of ketone and amine substrate specificity and kinetics reveal a strong preference for aliphatic ketones and aldehydes, with activities of up to 614.5 mU mg−1 for cyclohexanone with ammonia, and 851.3 mU mg−1 for isobutyraldehyde with methylamine as the amine donor. Crystal structures of three nat-AmDHs (AmDH4, MsmeAmDH and CfusAmDH) reveal the active site determinants of substrate and cofactor specificity and enable the rational engineering of AmDH4 for the generated activity towards pentan-2-one. Analysis of the three-dimensional catalytic site distribution among bacterial biodiversity revealed a superfamily of divergent proteins with representative specificities ranging from amino acid substrates to hydrophobic ketones.


New taxonomic and faunistic data for six species of Paraphloeostiba Steel, 1960 (Omaliini) from Papua New Guinea are provided. Five species are described or redescribed and illustrated: P. conjuncta sp.n., P. coriacea (Cameron, 1952), P. flaveola sp.n., P. papuana (Cameron, 1931), and P. ullrichi sp.n. (all from the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea). The key for the species of Papua New Guinea is provided. The spermatheca of P. papuana is figured for the first time. New diagnostic and faunistic notes for four species from India, Indonesia and Philippines are presented. Several members of Paraphloeostiba are newly recorded: P. apicalis (Cameron, 1925) from India, P. subopaca (Cameron, 1924) from Tamil Nadu (India), and P. tonkinensis (Cameron, 1940) from Philippines (Leyte).


Background: fungi are a common trigger of allergic diseases. Inspite of that fungal clinical allergies are underdiagnosed. In Saudi, fungi are a common indoor triggers. Objective: to determine allergic diseases associated with mold sensitization (MS) in Jeddah-Saudi. Methods: a retrospective study between period of (March 2016 to March 2017). Sample size is 51 patients with positive MS. Data was extracted by medical students from Laluna private clinic in Jeddah, Saudi. Test panel used was 30 RAST sIgE in vitro inhalant allergens (MEDIWISS Analytic GmbH company). This panel contain the most common inhalant allergens in Saudi. Each allergen is separate with severity scores from zero to 6. Allergic diseases diagnosis (and any other clinical diagnosis) was extracted from the same files. Results were collected in excel sheet in several columns: demographic data, allergic diseases, common molds in Saudi and other positive inhalants sensitization. Results: sample is 51 patients with MS. Gender distribution: females 28 (55%), males 23 (45%). Most common MSs are: aspergillus fumigatus 35 (69%), alternaria 32 (63%), 29 (57%), candida 13 (25%) and penicillium 9 (18%). Allergic diseases associated with MS are: allergic rhinitis and allergic fungal sinusitis 23 (45%), asthma 14 (27%), urticaria and angioedema 11 (22%) and atopic dermatitis (AD) 10 (20%). Other disease associated with MS are: hypothyroidism, obesity and facial pigmentations. Conclusion: Unfortunately, mold allergic diseases are underdiagnosed inspite of its high prevalence. In Jeddah, Saudi, the commonest MSs are: aspergillus fumigatus, alternaria followed by cladosporium, candida. Most common diseases associated with MSs are: respiratory allergic diseases (allergic rhinitis, allergic fungal sinusitis, asthma) followed by skin allergic diseases (urticaria, angioedema and AD). MSs are of mild class severity, however clinical allergic diseases due to mold are sever. This mean that sensitization class level don't reflect the clinical severity.


Diffusion coefficients and microscopic characteristics of the length (), time (τ), and the rate of diffusion shift (drift) of tetraalkylammonium ions (TAA) (Me 4 N + , Et 4 N + , Pr 4 N + , Bu 4 N + , Pe 4 N + ) in ethylene glycol (EG) and in water at temperature 298.15 K are calculated from literature data on the limiting molar electrical conductivity of these ions. From analysis of the calculated data, it was found that the value for TAA ions in ethylene glycol and in water depends on the structural radius of the ion and on the solvent. For the above ions, the  parameter in the EG is less than in water, which indicates a more significant inhibitory effect of the EG on the drift of TAA ions compared to water. A correlation was established between the sign of the deviation of the length of the discrete diffusion displacement from the structural radius of the ion ( r i ) in the form of ( – r i ) and the solvability of ions according to Samoilov. When  parameter exceeds the crystallographic (structural) radius of the ion, the latter is positively solvated. If  value is less than the crystallographic radius of the ion, negative solvation is observed. The essence of the phenomenon of negative solvation according to Samoilov is that the ion-molecule bonds of the solvent are weaker than the bonds of the solvent molecules to each other. Our correlation between the deviation sign (–  r i ) from the Stokes – Einstein law and the short-range solvation of ions according to Samoilov in solvents with a spatial network of H-bonds (EG, water) indicates that ion diffusion is associated with short-range solvation, and the parameter is its quantitative characteristic, i.e. we propose a deviation from the Stokes-Einstein law (–  r i ) as a measure of the near solvation of ions. For the ions studied, the parameter (–  r i ) has positive values, and in the EG a negative value of the parameter (–  r i ) is observed only for the Me 4 N + ion, which indicates its negative solvation. The parameter τ in the EG exceeds the same values in water by 9-14 times, which indicates the inhibitory effect of the drift of TAA ions, also caused by the influence of solvent viscosity. The rate of translational displacement of TAA ions in water is 6-12 times higher than in the EG.


Deep hashing has been extensively utilized in massive image retrieval because of its efficiency and effectiveness. However, deep hashing models are vulnerable to adversarial examples, making it essential to develop adversarial defense methods for image retrieval. Existing solutions achieved limited defense performance because of using weak adversarial samples for training and lacking discriminative optimization objectives to learn robust features. In this paper, we present a min-max based Center-guided Adversarial Training, namely CgAT, to improve the robustness of deep hashing networks through worst adversarial examples. Our key idea is to formulate a hash code (dubbed center code) as a discriminative semantic representation of the original sample, which can be used to guide the generation of the powerful adversarial example and as an accurate optimization objective for adversarial training. Specifically, we first formulate the center code as a semantically-discriminative representative of the input image content, which preserves the semantic similarity with positive samples and dissimilarity with negative examples. We prove that a mathematical formula can calculate the center code immediately. After obtaining the center codes in each optimization iteration of the deep hashing network, they are adopted to guide the adversarial training process. On the one hand, CgAT generates the worst adversarial examples as augmented data by maximizing the Hamming distance between the hash codes of the adversarial examples and the center codes. On the other hand, CgAT learns to mitigate the effects of adversarial samples by minimizing the Hamming distance to the center codes. Extensive experiments on the benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our adversarial training algorithm in defending against adversarial attacks for deep hashing-based retrieval. Compared with the current state-of-the-art defense method, we significantly improve the defense performance by an average of 18.61%, 12.35%, and 11.56% on FLICKR-25K, NUS-WIDE, and MS-COCO, respectively. The code is available at https://github.com/xunguangwang/CgAT.


Decades of development practice suggest the fundamental importance of improving aid-delivery systems and stakeholder competence in order to improve the well-being of poor people. However, it is questionable whether the aid system is able to change its attitudes and values through such partnerships in a way that will do this. This paper suggests that for this change to be possible, processes of individual, organisational, and inter-organisational learning have to be encouraged, in ways that do not sacrifice the knowledge obtained by aid workers in the processes of global management. The paper explores procedures of bilaterally funded community education projects in Ghana, in order to give insights into the working of partnership arrangements as a means to contribute to the alleviation of global poverty. Critical instances from the case study projects reveal the ways in which learning is facilitated, used, ignored, and hindered as the organisational relations develop.


A monogenean Entobdella hippoglossi (Capsalidae: Entobdellinae), a common parasite of the flat fishes (Pleuronectidae), is recorded for the first time from an ocean perch Sebastes glaucus (Scorpaenidae) in the north-east part of Pacific ocean. New data on hosts and location of Sessilorbis limopharynx (Capsalidae: Trichopodinae) are also given.