Purpose: Buyers may purchase instantly during changing social construct considering the viability of time except for priority purchases. Emotions, desires, and the immediate visual appeal of a product as packaging can leverage these psychological triggers by utilizing captivating colors, typography, imagery, and other design elements that elicit strong emotional responses from consumers. Several theories have justified the high significance of packing influence though under changing social and technical conditions its influence on impulsive buying behaviour is not studied yet in case of super market of eastern Nepal. The research aims to test the significance of packaging design and their impact among eastern Nepal consumers' impulsive purchases of supermarket consumable goods.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A structured questionnaire was employed to collect primary information from 222 respondents using convenience sampling. The associative impact of packing on impulsive buying behaviour has been analysed using Regression analysis in SPSS followed by literature validation.
Findings/Result: Different packaging elements namely color, product information, shape of the package, packaging material and image was identified and their affection with impulsive buying behavior were tested. The findings of the study conclude color, Package Material and Image does influence impulsive buying behavior of consumer whereas Product Information and Shape does not have similar impact. It also confirms that factors such as age, gender, income, and occupation do not impact the affection between product information, shape, and impulsive buying behavior.
Originality/Value: This is the primary experimental exploration in Easter Nepal to think about and assess the Impact of packing Elements on Imprudent Purchasing Conduct.
Paper Type: Research paper


�� Summary Nitrogen as ammonium nitrate in three doses: of 100, 200 and 300 kg/acre and potassium as sulphate in graded doses of 50 and 100 kg/acre were added using side dressing to Momordica charantia to assess their effects on fruit yield and active constituents. Nitrogen alone in graded doses increased the fruit production up to 200 kg of ammonium nitrate/acre, also all doses of potassium increased fruit production proportionally to doses. The highest number of fruits was produced with use of the combined medium nitrogen dose and high potassium doses. The obtained data revealed that higher fruit number with higher fresh and dry weight could be obtained by adding nitrogen at 200 kg/acre with potassium at a rate of 100 kg/acre. Arbor or vineyard like method of cultivation gave more fruits with higher fresh and dry weights than normal method of cultivation. Polypeptide in immature fruits increased by nitrogen till 200 kg/acre and the combination of medium dose of nitrogen and any rate of potassium produced the highest polypeptide concentration. The same treatment combination has similar effect on cucurbitacins in immature fruits.


The quantitative model proposed here for nanoimprinting by thermoplastic compression molding is focused on bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), but it is also applicable to polymers and other thermoplastic materials. In our model the flow and pressure fields are evaluated using the lubrication theory, and the effect of molding pressure, BMG viscosity, and capillary pressure on the spatial distribution of nanoimprinted features is determined. For platinum-based BMG the theory that takes into account capillary pressure but no other surface stresses agrees very well with experimental results. For palladium-based BMG (prone to oxidation) the extended theory includes an additional threshold pressure required to break the oxide layer that forms on the BMG surface. Our analysis provides important insights into flow behavior of BMG supercooled liquids. In particular, a new method for measuring surface tension and viscosity of BMGs and evaluating the strength of the surface oxide layer is demonstrated.


The paper presents a theoretical analysis of the relationship between privatization and public deficit finance. We examine the optimal magnitude of public asset sales and the extent to which privatization can be used to reduce taxes, or, to retire public debt, for two cases. In the first, standard case, privatization proceeds are used directly to finance the public deficit, while in the second they are used in cost-reducing public investment in infrastructure. In the latter case the government gains through smaller deficits of remaining public firms, higher proceeds from profit taxation and a smaller net employment loss. We find that the second case will often be associated with lower taxes for any given number of privatizations and a greater optimal number of privatizations than the first.


Background: Childhood obesity in the United States is a critical public health issue. Although multiple child and parental factors are associated with childhood obesity, few models evaluate how socioeconomic status influences these risk factors. We aimed to create a model to examine how socioeconomic status modifies risk factors for child obesity. Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Birth Cohort. Using logistic regression, we modeled childhood obesity status from known parental and child risk factors for childhood obesity and tested interactions with socioeconomic status. Results: Compared with healthy-weight children, socioeconomic status, race, birth weight, parental smoking, and not eating dinner as a family were associated with kindergarten-aged children being overweight or obese. Parental smoking increased the odds of a child being overweight or obese by 40%, and eating dinner as a family reduced the odds of a child being overweight or obese by 4%. In addition, black or Hispanic children had a 60% increased odds of being overweight or obese when compared with their white counterparts. Native American children had almost double the odds of being overweight or obese compared with white children. Socioeconomic status did not modify any of these associations. Conclusion: Parental smoking, birth weight, and not eating dinner as a family were two modifiable factors associated with overweight and obesity in kindergarten-age children, regardless of socioeconomic status. Changing these life-style factors could reduce the child's risk for obesity.


Introduction The optimal follow-up strategy for primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL) patients in remission after first line therapy is not clear. The goal of this study is to determine the utility of planned brain surveillance imaging in the detection of relapse in a large cohort of PCNSL patients.

Methods Patients were from consecutive PCNSL cases (N=209) included in Leon Berard Cancer Centre registry (Lyon, France), from 1987 to 2011 (date of diagnosis). Patients were all treated by chemotherapy, 92% of them by high-dose methotrexate containing chemotherapy followed by brain radiotherapy for 107 patients (51%). All patients were followed for relapse, retreatment and death. Patient clinical records were reviewed for details at relapse and relationship to planned follow-up visits and brain surveillance imaging.

Results Among the 209 PCNSL patients, 28 (13%) presented toxic death, one patient died from another reason and 41 patients (20%) had a progressive disease during first-line therapy. The remaining 139 patients (66%) entered in post-treatment observation, 128 of them in complete remission (92%) and 11 in partial remission (8%). The median follow up was 36 months for the patients who entered in post-treatment observation. Among these 139 patients, 7 (5%) were lost of follow-up, 62 (45%) patients are still in remission and 70 (50%) relapsed. Among these 70 relapses, 15 (21%) were detected by planned brain surveillance imaging but 53 (76%) patients were symptomatic and presented earlier than a planned follow-up visit; two patients (3%) had no information at time of relapse. If we consider only patients in complete remission who entered in post-treatment observation, 13 (20%) relapses were detected by brain surveillance imaging and 50 (80%) patients presented symptoms between planned visits and imaging. Among the 7/11 patients considered in partial remission after initial treatment who relapsed, two (29%) relapses were detected by brain surveillance imaging and five (71%) by symptoms between planned visits and imaging. Among the 53 symptomatic patients at relapse, 41 (77%) presented a brain tumor relapse, six had an isolated leptomeningeal relapse, one a spinal cord localization and five an extra-cerebral relapse (three abdominal nodes, one soft-tissue mass, one testis). The most common symptoms at relapse were cognitive troubles, motor or sensitive deficits, epilepsy, and alteration of performance status. We did not observe any difference between asymptomatic relapse patterns before and after 2 years with 54% relapses before the two years of follow-up (brain imaging mainly every 4 months) and 46% relapses after 2 years of follow-up (brain imaging mainly every 6 months).

Conclusions This study showed that PCNSL relapses frequently occurred outside of planned follow-up visits and were notably detected by symptoms between two brain surveillance imaging. Even during the two first years of follow-up with a closed brain imaging monitoring, planned surveillance imaging seemed not efficient.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


When the renal nerves are stimulated with sinusoidal stimuli over the frequency range 0.04-0.8 Hz, low (< or =0.4 Hz)- but not high (> or =0.4 Hz)-frequency oscillations appear in renal blood flow (RBF) and are proposed to increase responsiveness of the renal vasculature to stimuli. This hypothesis was tested in anesthetized rats in which RBF responses to intrarenal injection of norepinephrine and angiotensin and to reductions in renal arterial pressure (RAP) were determined during conventional rectangular pulse and sinusoidal renal nerve stimulation. Conventional rectangular pulse renal nerve stimulation decreased RBF at 2 Hz but not at 0.2 or 1.0 Hz. Sinusoidal renal nerve stimulation elicited low-frequency oscillations (< or =0.4 Hz) in RBF only when the basal carrier signal frequency produced renal vasoconstriction, i.e., at 5 Hz but not at 1 Hz. Regardless of whether renal vasoconstriction occurred, neither conventional rectangular pulse nor sinusoidal renal nerve stimulation altered renal vasoconstrictor responses to norepinephrine and angiotensin. The RBF response to reduction in RAP was altered by both conventional rectangular pulse and sinusoidal renal nerve stimulation only when renal vasoconstriction occurred: the decrease in RBF during reduced RAP was greater. Sinusoidal renal nerve stimulation with a renal vasoconstrictor carrier frequency results in a decrease in RBF with superimposed low-frequency oscillations. However, these low-frequency RBF oscillations do not alter renal vascular responsiveness to vasoconstrictor stimuli.


The crystal structures of bis-pyridine stabilized iodine dications [PhI(pyr)(2)](2+) are reported as triflate salts, representing the first ligand supported iodine dications to be structurally characterized. The pyridine complexes are susceptible to ligand exchange in reaction with stronger N-based donors such as 4-dimethylaminopyridine. Attempts to extend this reactivity to N-heterocyclic carbene and phosphine ligands, as has been accomplished in the earlier p-block groups, resulted in redox chemistry, with oxidation of the ligands rather than coordination.


It is important in otolaryngology to accurately understand the etiology of a laryngeal disorder, diagnose it early, and provide appropriate treatment accordingly. The objectives of this study were to develop models for predicting benign laryngeal mucosal disorders based on deep learning, naive Bayes model, generalized linear model, a Classification and Regression Tree (CART), and random forest using laryngeal mucosal disorder data obtained from a national survey and confirm the best classifier for predicting benign laryngeal mucosal disorders by comparing the prediction performance and runtime of the developed models. This study analyzed 626 subjects (313 people with a laryngeal disorder and 313 people without a laryngeal disorder). In this study, deep learning was the best model with the highest accuracy (0.84). However, the runtime of deep learning was 39min 41sec, which was a 10 times longer development time than CART (3min 7sec). This model confirmed that subjective voice problem recognition, pain and discomfort in the last two weeks, education level, occupation, mean monthly household income, high-risk drinker, and current smoker were major variables with high weight for the benign laryngeal mucosal disorders of Korean adults. Among them, subjective voice problem recognition was the most important factor with the highest weight. The results of this study implied that the prediction performance of deep learning could be better than that of machine learning for structured data, such as health behavior and demographic factors as well as video and image data. Keywords—Benign laryngeal mucosal disorder; voice disorder; deep learning; Naive Bayes model; generalized linear model


Objective: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in clomiphene citrate (CC) resistant polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. Methods: 58 CC resistant PCOS patients, 52 CC responders, 53 fertile PCOS and 53 age and body mass index-matched normoandrogenic ovulatory fertile women were evaluated for metabolic syndrome. Results: Metabolic syndrome prevalence was 41.4% in CC resistants, in 23.1% of CC responders, in 11.3% of PCOS fertiles and 0% of controls (p < 0.0001). Waist circumference (WC) > 88 cm was 44.8%, systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 130 mmHg and diastolic BP ≥85 mmHg were 27.6%, TG (triglyceride) ≥150 mg/dL was 36.2%, HDL(high density lipoprotein) < 50 mg/dL was 63.8%, fasting glucose levels ≥ 100 mg/dL was 20.7% in CC resistant PCOS women. There were positive associations between CC resistance and WC >88 cm, BP ≥ 130 ≥ 85 mmHg, TG ≥ 150 mg/dL, HDL < 50 mg/dL, fasting glucose ≥ 100 mg/dL, and presence of metabolic syndrome (p < 0.05, for all). Moreover, WC > 88 cm, and HDL < 50 mg/dL were independent variables that were associated by CC resistance by multivariate regression analysis. Conclusions: CC resistant PCOS patients have high prevalence of metabolic syndrome. These women have an increased risk of future cardiovascular disease.


To examine an effect of diffusion in the solid on the micro-segregation on a mono-varinat line, a directional solidification experiment has been carried out in an iron–carbon–chromium ternary alloy. In an iron–carbon–metal ternary alloy, carbon is an interstitial solute in an iron-base solution (austenite or ferrite) and the diffusivity in the solution is not negligible, while the third metallic element in the iron-base solution is usually substitutional solute and its diffusivity is negligible compared with that of carbon. The second phase of the ternary alloy is usually a kind of carbide, and the diffusivity of carbon or the third metallic element can be neglected because of the strength of the bonding forces of the atoms. In such a situation with dendritic-eutectic mode, a micro-segregation model on the mono-variant line has been introduced, and it has been predicted that the progress of the solidification might terminate before reaching the three-phase eutectic point. If we assume a Scheil-type model of micro-segregation on a mono-variant line, the composition of the residual liquid will reach the terminal (for example, three-phase eutectic) point.To confirm this prediction, an experiment has been carried out in an iron–carbin–chromium alloy. The initial composition is 3.17 mass% C and 25.6 mass% Cr and very near the eutectic valley of austenite–(Fe, Cr)7C3. With no diffusion of carbon in the austenite phase, the solidification will change to austenite–(Fe, Cr)3C eutectic reaction through the peritecto-eutectic point. With the effect of carbon, using the model, the solidification will end before reaching the peritecto-eutectic point and (Fe, Cr)3C formed during solidification will not be found. The metallographical observation revealed the exsistence of (Fe, Cr)7C3 phase but did not reveal the exsistence of (Fe, Cr)3C phase. The EPMA measurement between the dendritic arms showed that the measured minimum chromium compositions inside the austenite agree with the predicted values within an experimental error and uncertainties of parameters of the system. The identificatin of the phases by using XRD indicated that austenite–(Fe, Cr)3C eutectic did not form, as was predicted. These results suggest the validity of the model of micro-segregation on the mono-variant line in an iron–carbon–metal ternary system.


Identifying the balance and dynamic changes in supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES) can help maintain the sustainability of the regional ecosystem and improve human well-being. To achieve a sustainable ecological management regime in Zhengzhou City, this study presented a comprehensive framework for identifying dynamic changes of ES supply and demand and managing ES. Using land use data of Zhengzhou City in 1995, 2005, and 2015 and incorporating expert knowledge and the ES evaluation matrix, we evaluated the spatiotemporal changes in the ES supply and demand in Zhengzhou. Gradient analysis was conducted to identify urban–rural patterns in the budgets of ES supply and demand. Spatial autocorrelation analysis was employed to identify the hotspot areas of ES surpluses or deficits. The research results show the following: (1) In the past 20 years, the supply-and-demand relationship of ES in Zhengzhou has gradually evolved in a direction where supply falls short of demand. The average budget index of Zhengzhou's ES supply and demand decreased from 7.30 in 1995 to −4.89 in 2015. Changes in the supply and demand status of ES in Zhengzhou corresponded to the background of rapid urbanization. (2) Urban–rural gradient differences exist in the budgets of ES supply and demand in Zhengzhou. Core development areas, such as the Zhengzhou urban areas, are in deficit, whereas a balance or surplus can be observed in rural areas far from urban centers. (3) The surplus hotspots of ES budgets were mainly distributed in the western and southern mountainous areas of Zhengzhou, and they were scattered and the scope shrank, with a decrease of 2.73 times in 20 years, whereas the deficit hotspots expanded outward with each urban area as the center, with an increase of 5.77%. Ecological management zoning (ecological conservation area, ecological improvement area, and ecological reconstruction area) with the effective guidance of ecological and economic policies could comprehensively improve ES management and achieve urban sustainability. The framework in this study can easily and quickly assess the supply and demand status of ES and provide scientific support for the ecological management in rapidly urbanizing areas.


This study is intended to follow up and illustrate the theoretical steps through which G.B. Vico defined the concept of "Consciousness" (coscienza) in the works that preceded his masterpiece, the Scienza Nuova . The theme of consciousness is elaborated by the Neapolitan philosopher in a very different way from Descartes's proposals, since it comes out by approaching verum to facere and, later, verum to conformari . This displacement occurs by means of a theoretical passage through the level of conscire , outlining a deep gap between feeling ( sentire ) and imagining ( immaginare ). Vico works on a possible definition of the concept of "consciousness" and moves a tight critique to skeptic and neostoic currents posing the question about how to became able to feel something while striving to imagine in a conscious way. The whole anthropological framework which allows the definition of the human is built on this theoretical passage and on the etymologic reconstruction of conscire as cum-scire and of conscientia as a part of scientia . Keywords: consciousness; imagination; G. Vico; science


Machine learning is being extensively employed in the prediction of PM2.5 concentrations. This study aims to compare the prediction accuracy of machine learning models for short-term PM2.5 concentration changes and to find a universal and robust model for both hourly and daily time scales. Five commonly used machine learning models were constructed, along with a stacking model consisting of Multivariable Linear Regression (MLR) as the meta-learner and the ensemble of Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) as the base learner models. The meteorological datasets and historical PM2.5 concentration data with meteorological datasets were preprocessed and used to evaluate the model's accuracy and stability across different time scales, including hourly and daily, using the coefficient of determination (R2), Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The results show that historical PM2.5 concentration data are crucial for the prediction precision of the machine learning models. Specifically, on the meteorological datasets, the stacking model, XGboost, and RF had better performance for hourly prediction, and the stacking model, XGboost and LightGBM had better performance for daily prediction. On the historical PM2.5 concentration data with meteorological datasets, the stacking model, LightGBM, and XGboost had better performance for hourly and daily datasets. Consequently, the stacking model outperformed individual models, with the XGBoost model being the best individual model to predict the PM2.5 concentration based on meteorological data, and the LightGBM model being the best individual model to predict the PM2.5 concentration using historical PM2.5 data with meteorological datasets.


Female participants present a unique challenge as the design of the bra used to support the breasts occludes the correct positioning of many recommended trunk marker sets. This study aimed to compare the effect of two existing and one new trunk marker set on the calculation of trunk and breast kinematics. Twelve females had markers placed on their trunk and right nipple; these markers were tracked using infrared cameras during five running gait cycles and used to define three trunk calculation methods: Trunk 1: suprasternal notch, right and left ribs; Trunk 2: supersternal notch, processus xiphoideus, 7th cervical and 8th thoracic spinous process; Trunk 3: Trunk 2 plus a marker 33% from the suprasternal notch to the processus xiphoideus, and another 50% between the 7th cervical and 8th thoracic spinous process. Trunk segment capture success, segment origin instability, segmental residual, trunk kinematics, and breast range of motion (relative to the trunk segment), were calculated for each trunk segment. Segment capture success varied from 88% (Trunk 1) to 100% (Trunk 2 and 3). Segment origin instability ranged from 0.2 cm (Trunk 2 and 3) to 1.5 cm (Trunk 1). Maximum trunk extension differed by 7° and breast range of motion varied by 41% (anterioposterior), 54% (mediolateral), and 21% (superioinferior) between trunk calculation methods. The selection of marker set used to construct the trunk segment is critical before recommending improvements to bra design to improve breast support. The Trunk 3 marker set is recommended for subsequent breast research.


Images are very important in pathology so we present a practical multimedia pattern for the courses of pathology. We used a PC with the following characteristics: Pentium MMX processor, 166 MHz frequency, 6.4 Gb hard disk and 64 SDRAM memory. The operating system was Windows95, which is easy to use due to its friendly user interface. The software used was Adobe Photoshop 4.0 – a simple tool for image processing. Adobe is considered an application by means of which the reality can be processed and a powerful tool by means of which the old family photos can be recovered. The presentations were created using PowerPoint 8.0 (a powerful tool for creating presentations) for courses and practical stages and Netscape Composer for tests and presentations that will be sent through Internet.


card fraud is causing billions of dollars in losses for the card payment industry. In today's world the most accepted payment mode is Debit card for both online and also for regular purchasing; hence frauds related with it are also growing. To find the fraudulent transaction, we implement an Advanced Security Model for ATM payment using Hidden Markov Model (HMM), which detects the fraud by using customers spending behavior. This Security Model is primarily focusing on the normal spending behavior of a cardholder and some advanced securities such as Location, Amount, Time and Sequence of transactions. If the trained Security model identifies any misbehavior in upcoming transaction, then that transaction is permanently blocked until the user enter High Security Alert Password (HSAP). This paper provides an overview of frauds and begins with ATM card statistics and the definition of ATM card fraud. The main outcome of the paper is to find the fraudulent transaction and avoids the fraud before it happens.


Background: Although several factors are associated with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rerupture, the effect of anatomic factors associated with ACL rupture on ACL rerupture development has not been evaluated. Purpose: To determine individual anatomic parameters independently associated with ACL rerupture and the diagnostic values of these parameters. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A total of 91 male patients with ACL rerupture and 182 age-, sex-, body mass index–, and side dominance–matched patients without rerupture who underwent ACL reconstruction with a 5-year follow-up were included. In all, 35 parameters that were previously defined as risk factors for primary ACL rupture were compared between the 2 groups. Uni- and multivariate logistic regression models were created to evaluate independently associated factors. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed for independently associated parameters to predict sensitivity, specificity, and cutoff values. Results: The mean ± standard deviation age of patients at the time of index surgery was 26.5 ± 6.7 years. Notch shape index (P = .014), tibial proximal anteroposterior (AP) distance (TPAPD) (P < .001), lateral femoral condylar AP distance (LCAPD)/TPAPD ratio (P < .001), medial meniscal cartilage bone height (P < .001), and lateral meniscal bone angle (P = .004) were found to be significantly different between the 2 groups. Only the LCAPD/TPAPD ratio (odds ratio, 2.713; 95% CI, 1.998-5.480; P < .001) was found to be independently associated with ACL rerupture development. The LCAPD/TPAPD ratio revealed 78.9% sensitivity and 75.5% specificity (area under the curve, 0.815; 95% CI, 0.760-0.870) for values above 1.52. Conclusion: The LCAPD/TPAPD ratio can be used to distinguish patients who are at risk of developing ACL rerupture from patients who are not. In the clinical practice, findings of this study may help to develop surgical and nonsurgical preventive strategies in ACL rerupture development.


The fungus Corynespora cassiicola is an important pathogen that causes necrotic lesions in several plant species. Saprophytism and parasitism habits of plants are common survival strategies for this pathogen. Few studies referred to the formation of chlamydospores by C. cassiicola. The objective of this study was to test the formation of chlamydospores by several C. cassiicola isolates from different agronomic crops and weeds. Fifteen isolates were analysed by in vivo and in vitro tests. Six isolates from four host plants (Cucumis sativus, Lantana camara, Malpighia glabra and Vernonia cinerea) were able to produce chlamydospores, both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, chlamydospore production was highest for the Malpighia glabra isolate and one Cucumis sativus isolate, intermediate for two other C. sativus isolates, and lowest for the Vernonia cinerea and Lantana camara isolates. However, no difference in the relative number of chlamydospores produced among isolates was observed in vivo.


Fast electrical oscillations (FOs; >200 Hz) in the sensory neocortex can be recorded in a variety of species, including humans, and may reflect extremely fast integration of sensory information. This report demonstrates that, in the whisker representation of rat cortex, multivibrissa stimulation produces propagating FO field potential patterns and time-locked unit activity that are sensitive to submillisecond delays in interstimulus intervals. We propose that FOs may be produced by synchronized population spikes and their subthreshold sequelas in cortical pyramidal cells. FOs serve to accurately mark stimulus onset as a phase-encoded excitatory signal, producing phase-sensitive interactions that, in the context of exploratory whisking, may extract features of an object under exploration.


The first volume of this considerable literary and linguistic enterprise was reviewed in BSOAS, xxxvi, 3, 1973, 640-2, where the general plan and purpose of the work were explained. Since then an excellent and detailed discussion of this entire undertaking was published by J. C. de Moor and P. van der Lugt in Bibliotheca Orieritalis, xxxi, 1-2, 1974, 3-26. The present reviewer finds himself in basic agreement with that review article and, in particular, with the identification of three areas of weakness inherent in this enterprise : (a) the bibliographical documentation is at times deficient (of course, all of us are apt to miss items we ought to have noticed, but in a work of this particular nature full bibliographical coverage is essential); (b) the selection for treatment of the various literary and linguistic categories is not only arbitrary (as it is bound to be) but is at times confused, overlapping, and insufficiently clearly defined; (c) the danger of Pan-Ugaritism, inevitably adhering to this project, has not always been guarded against. These critical points were made in BSOAS (1973) and have been strongly underlined and substantiated in Bi. Or. (1974). If they were true in relation to Vol. I, they are even more apposite as regards Vol. n. The editor, in his introduction, announces that the ' content of this present volume has been revised from some of our previous announcements '. But the general format and method of treatment have also been varied, and it must unhappily be confessed that the change is not for the better. In the reviewer's subjective judgement, the first volume was markedly more interesting and added far more to our understanding and appreciation of the Ugaritic texts. In ch. i, Mitchell Dahood continues his study of Ugaritic—Hebrew parallel pairs. Leaving aside Dahood's slightly obsessional devotion to this subject, I have found this section the most interesting, though it is inevitably a topic that is severely subject to the law of diminishing returns. It is, therefore, with a measure of apprehension that we learn that the search for these parallel pairs is to be continued in Vol. m. Maybe Professor Dahood mil yet confound those of us who feel that the orange has been squeezed dry. Tadanori Yamashita's chapter on professions collects all Ugaritic expressions that can conceivably be classified under this head and compares them to their Biblical Hebrew equivalents. A. F. Rainey does the same for institutional terms (family, civil, and military) which he interprets in the widest sense. The chapters on literary genres do not, I must confess, make any appeal to me (mainly by virtue of their vagueness) and I find it very hard to state what precisely I have learnt from them. The same, alas, must be said of the last section (on literary phrases and formulae) to whose perusal I had looked forward very greatly. It should, however, be stressed in fairness to the compilers of these chapters that my reaction represents no more than the predilections of one reader; others may well reach quite different conclusions. The third (and, I believe, final) volume is scheduled, perhaps somewhat optimistically, for 1977. It is to contain studies of epithets, formulae, and motifs. If this expectation is fulfilled, it may well turn out to be the most valuable and significant of the three tomes. The present reviewer, in his occasional incursions into the Ugaritic field, has attempted to show that these epithets, formulae, and motifs represent literary and linguistic devices which appear to be common to the phatic cultures of the world of the Eastern Mediterranean.


[1] We develop a petro-elastical numerical methodology to compute realistic synthetic seismograms and analyze the sensitivity of the seismic response when injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) in a depleted gas reservoir. The petro-elastical model describes the seismic properties of the reservoir rock saturated with CO2, methane and brine, and allows us to estimate the distribution and saturation of CO2 during the injection process. The gas properties, as a function of the in-situ pressure and temperature conditions, are computed with the Peng-Robinson equation of state, taking into account the absorption of gas by brine. Wave attenuation and velocity dispersion are based on the mesoscopic loss mechanism, which is simulated by an upscaling procedure to obtain an equivalent viscoelastic medium corresponding to partial saturation at the mesoscopic scale. Having the equivalent complex and frequency-dependent bulk (dilatational) modulus, we include shear attenuation and perform numerical simulations of wave propagation at the macroscale by solving the viscoelastic differential equations using the memory-variable approach. The pseudo-spectral modeling method allows general material variability and provides a complete and accurate characterization of the reservoir. The methodology is used to assess the sensitivity of the seismic method for monitoring the CO2 geological storage at the Atzbach-Schwanestadt depleted gas-field in Austria. The objective of monitoring is the detection of the CO2 plume in the reservoir and possible leakages of CO2. The leakages are located at different depths, where the CO2 is present as gaseous, liquid and supercritical phases. Even though the differences can be very subtle, this work shows that seismic monitoring of CO2 from the surface is possible. While the identification of shallow leakages is feasible, the detection of the plume and deep leakages, located in the caprock just above the injection formation, is more difficult, but possible by using repeatability metrics, such as the normalized RMS (NRMS) images. Considering real-data conditions, affected by random noise, a reference detection threshold for deep leakages and the CO2 plume in the reservoir corresponds to a signal-to-noise ratio of about 10 dB.


The present study demonstrates an eco-friendly and low cost protocol for synthesis of silver nanoparticles using the cell-free filtrate of Aspergillus flavus NJP08 when supplied with aqueous silver (Ag+) ions. Identification of the fungal isolate was based on nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) identities. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the formation of spherical metallic silver nanoparticles. The average particle size calculated using Dynamic Light Scattering measurements (DLS) was found to be 17±5.9 nm. UV-Visible and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed the presence of extracellular proteins. SDS-PAGE profiles of the extracellular proteins showed the presence of two intense bands of 32 and 35 kDa, responsible for the synthesis and stability of silver nanoparticles, respectively. A probable mechanism behind the biosynthesis is discussed, which leads to the possibility of using the present protocol in future "nano-factories".


The sorption kinetics and intraparticulate diffusivity of alkaline earth cations from aqueous solution using granular stannic phosphotungstate was investigated. The amount adsorbed increased as time increased, reaching equilibrium at about 60 minutes. The mechanism of sorption was found to be particle diffusion controlled. The effect of concentration of the exchanging ion, and the effects of particle size on the kinetics of ion exchange for different cations were studied. The results show that Stannic phosphotungstate is an efficient sorbent for the alkaline earth cations with particle diffusion as the predominant mechanism.


A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with self-administered questionnaires among 368 Myanmar migrant workers to investigate the prevalence of and to determine the risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the Thai seafood industry. The results showed the prevalence of MSDs was 45.1% occurring in the last 7 days. Marital status, number of dependents, other health problems, working hours, repetitive hand movements, awkward posture of wrists, prolonged standing, and manual handling of heavy loads were found to be associated with MSDs. Multiple logistic regression indicated that the workers who were married, had more than two dependents, and had more exposure to awkward wrist postures were at significantly increased risk of MSDs. The study findings suggest the need for adequate knowledge of ergonomics and for awareness campaign programs focusing on prevention of MSDs, especially low back pain, to be initiated in industries for earlier detection of symptoms among seafood processing workers.


When crust thickens during crustal shortening, the underlying mantle lithosphere must shorten and thicken also, causing the submersion of cold, dense material into the surrounding asthenosphere. For a range of physical parameters the thickened boundary layer that forms the transition from the strong lithosphere to the convecting asthenosphere may become unstable, detach, and sink into the asthenosphere, to be replaced by hotter asthenospheric material. We have studied the instability of a thickened boundary layer for a range of physical parameters (Rayleigh number), amounts of thickening, and boundary conditions. In all cases the fluid was overlain by a rigid, conducting layer. Extensive numerical experiments were made for fluids with stress-free boundary conditions, heated either from below or from within. From a simple physical description of the observed pattern of flow we derived expressions that related the growth of the instability and the time needed to remove the thickened boundary layer as a function of the amount of horizontal shortening (f), the Rayleigh number (R), and the ratio (a/d) of the thicknesses of the rigid and fluid layers. In our opinion, observations and theory agree well (within 10% for R > 105) and show that the speed with which the thickened boundary layer is removed increases with increasing f, R, and a/d. A limited series of runs with no-slip boundary conditions suggests approximately the same functional relationships but with the process 0–30% slower than with stress-free boundaries. For Rayleigh numbers comparable to those appropriate for upper mantle convection (105–107) the removal of the boundary layer occurs rapidly, in times less than the thermal time constant of the overlying rigid plate. Using typical values for the physical parameters in the earth, the boundary layer is removed in times less than the duration of deformation in some collision zones (30–50 m.y.). Thus we suspect that often the lower lithosphere is removed during the process of crustal shortening, causing the overlying crust and uppermost mantle to warm rapidly. This process is likely to contribute to the development of regional metamorphism and to the generation of latetectonic or posttectonic granites. We suspect, in fact, that in some cases the entire mantle lithosphere may detach from the lower crust during crustal shortening, exposing the crust to asthenospheric temperatures.


Many cellular organelles are membrane-bound structures with complex membrane composition and shape. Their shapes have been observed to depend on the metabolic state of the organelle and the mechanisms that couple biochemical pathways and membrane shape are still actively investigated. Here, we study a model coupling inhomogeneities in the lipid composition and membrane geometry via a generalized Helfrich free energy. We derive the resulting stress tensor, the Green's function for a tubular membrane, and compute the phase diagram of the induced deformations. We then apply this model to study the deformation of mitochondria cristae described as membrane tubes supporting a pH gradient at its surface. This gradient in turn controls the lipid composition of the membrane via the protonation or deprotonation of cardiolipins, which are acid-based lipids known to be crucial for mitochondria shape and functioning. Our model predicts the appearance of tube deformations resembling the observed shape changes of cristea when submitted to a proton gradient.


A concept of a communicative survey is reexamined with the works by Habermas and planning theorists in 1980's and 90's. Author focuses on roles of planners in the survey process, and states their role is to derive practitioners' unintended consequences, to have a reflective dialogue based on it, and to lead to a next step of community building. A case of distant refugees is attached to verify it.


This paper describes a class of stochastic stabilizing policies within asset price regimes that can be easily incorporated into the framework of regime switching recently proposed by Froot and Obstfeld (1991). In contrast to previous treatments of market-driven fundamentals within the regime, authorities stochastically counteract movements in these fundamentals before asset prices reach boundary points. The paper describes how the stabilizing intra-regime intervention policies can be used to characterize the behavior of monetary authorities before fixing an exchange rate, as in the case studied by Flood and Garber (1983). An intervention policy within target zone bands consistent with empirical evidence is also a member of this class of policies. Furthermore, the stylized features of these intervention policies may be matched to actual data in a natural way.


This paper uses the 1990-1998 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey Panel to analyse the impact of unions on employment growth among private sector workplaces in Britain. The growth rate among unionised workplaces was roughly 3-4% per annum lower than among non-unionised workplaces, "ceteris paribus". The effect is not accounted for by the age of unionised workplaces, union concentration in declining industries, or organisational or technical change at workplace level. The effect remains once we account for the impact of unions on workplace survival. However, effects are only apparent where unions do not negotiate over employment and where unions have some degree of bargaining strength. Copyright (c) Scottish Economic Society 2004.


Internet technologies create new platforms for the sale of goods and services, however, their emergence arise new issues of how to attract and retain users. Modern Internet users enjoy freedom of choice, they can easily find travel services, or skip them just by closing the browser tab. That is how Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems were introduced to build and manage efficiently good user relationships. This article discusses the main functions of CRM, according to the classification of The Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (the University of California, Irvine, USA) and considers the potentials of CRM systems on the market for large and small companies. The objective of the paper is to research information technologies that help to attract, retain and work with clients in travel agencies, as well as technologies that open up new platforms for the sale of tourism products, namely online sales. The article also investigates the impact the Internet technologies have on various industries, in particular on the tourism industry.


Autosomal dominant and recessive distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) can be caused by mutations in the anion exchanger 1 (AE1 or SLC4A1) gene, which encodes the erythroid chloride/bicarbonate anion exchanger membrane glycoprotein (eAE1) and a truncated kidney isoform (kAE1). The biosynthesis and trafficking of kAE1 containing a novel recessive missense dRTA mutation (kAE1 S773P) was studied in transiently transfected HEK-293 cells, expressing the mutant alone or in combination with wild-type kAE1 or another recessive mutant, kAE1 G701D. The kAE1 S773P mutant was expressed at a three times lower level than wild-type, had a 2-fold decrease in its half-life, and was targeted for degradation by the proteasome. It could not be detected at the plasma membrane in human embryonic kidney cells and showed predominant endoplasmic reticulum immunolocalization in both human embryonic kidney and LLC-PK1 cells. The oligosaccharide on a kAE1 S773P N-glycosylation mutant (N555) was not processed to the complex form indicating impaired exit from the endoplasmic reticulum. The kAE1 S773P mutant showed decreased binding to an inhibitor affinity resin and increased sensitivity to proteases, suggesting that it was not properly folded. The other recessive dRTA mutant, kAE1 G701D, also exhibited defective trafficking to the plasma membrane. The recessive kAE1 mutants formed dimers like wild-type AE1 and could hetero-oligomerize with wild-type kAE1 or with each other. Hetero-oligomers of wild-type kAE1 with recessive kAE1 S773P or G701D, in contrast to the dominant kAE1 R589H mutant, were delivered to the plasma membrane.


Although Monte Carlo path tracing is a simple and effective algorithm to synthesize photo-realistic images, it is often very slow to converge to noise-free results when involving complex global illumination. One of the most successful variance-reduction techniques is path guiding, which can learn better distributions for importance sampling to reduce pixel noise. However, previous methods require a large number of path samples to achieve reliable path guiding. We present a novel neural path guiding approach that can reconstruct high-quality sampling distributions for path guiding from a sparse set of samples, using an offline trained neural network. We leverage photons traced from light sources as the input for sampling density reconstruction, which is highly effective for challenging scenes with strong global illumination. To fully make use of our deep neural network, we partition the scene space into an adaptive hierarchical grid, in which we apply our network to reconstruct high-quality sampling distributions for any local region in the scene. This allows for highly efficient path guiding for any path bounce at any location in path tracing. We demonstrate that our photon-driven neural path guiding method can generalize well on diverse challenging testing scenes that are not seen in training. Our approach achieves significantly better rendering results of testing scenes than previous state-of-the-art path guiding methods.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from Bermuda and England have an increased anti-Proteus antibody titer when compared to healthy Bermudian and English controls, and to ascertain whether any increase in antibody titer is specific by testing 4 other microbes, Escherichia coli and 3 normal anaerobic bowel bacteria.

METHODS
Antibody titers were measured by ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence (IIFA) under coded conditions.

RESULTS
Elevated titers of anti-Proteus antibodies were demonstrated in 34 patients with active RA from Bermuda when compared to 33 healthy Bermudian controls by ELISA (p < 0.001) and IIFA (p < 0.001). An elevation of anti-Proteus antibodies was also observed in 34 patients with RA from England when compared to 30 healthy English controls again by ELISA (p < 0.001). A similar antibody elevation in 31 patients with RA from England was observed when compared to 30 healthy controls when measured by IIFA (p < 0.001). However, there was no significant elevation in antibody titers against E. coli or the 3 normal bowel flora isolates in the patients with RA from both countries compared to their respective controls, when measured by ELISA.

CONCLUSION
A specific elevation in the immune response to Proteus mirabilis has been demonstrated in patients with RA from both Bermuda and England. However, this study cannot distinguish between antibody association with disease per se and association with disease activity. The role of Proteus in RA and the effect of anti-Proteus therapy in patients with RA merits further study.


The research reported here brings together three settings of conceptual and methodological inquiry: the sociological setting of socio-economic theory; the curricular/pedagogic setting of educational drama; and the analytic setting of ethnomethodolgically informed analyses of conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis. Students from two schools, in contrasting socio-economic areas, participated in drama lessons concerned with their future. The study found that process drama allowed them to overcome the rhetoric and abstract nature of the theorising of controversial issues by allowing them to become actively involved in testing theories, developing ideas, and finding solutions to controversial problems through their work in the dramatic context. Within this paper three aspects of the study are drawn out for particular attention: the settings for such an inquiry, the varying kinds of talk found in drama lessons, and the key contrasts and similarities between the two research sites. These three aspects highlight the particular ways in which talk in drama classrooms may have powerful implications for the ways in which moral reasoning is built and shared by students.


This paper presents important faunistic records conducted in the Czech and Slovak Republics during 2021. In the Šumava Mts, South Bohemia, a hydrobiid snail of the genus Alzoniella was found. Monacha cantiana s. lato was genetically confirmed for the first time in the city of Bratislava, Slovakia. New sites of Cornu aspersum (Prague) and Tandonia kusceri (southern and central Slovakia) were confirmed. A new colony of the slug Limacus maculatus was found in SE Moravia. New records of several endangered species, e.g. Vertigo angustior, V. moulinsiana, Anisus septemgyratus, Gyraulus acronicus, G. rossmaessleri, Planorbis carinatus, Pisidium amnicum, P. globulare, P. moitessierianum, P. pseudosphaerium and P. tenuilineatum, are also presented. Location data are published with all details in a supplementary table.


It is well known that human speech processing capabilities far surpass the capabilities of current automatic speech recognition and related technologies, despite very intensive research in automated speech technologies in recent decades. Indeed, since the early 1980's, this observation has motivated the development of speech recognition feature extraction approaches that are inspired by auditory processing and perception, but it is only relatively recently that these approaches have become effective in their application to computer speech processing. The goal of this chapter is to review some of the major ways in which feature extraction schemes based on auditory processing have facilitated greater speech recognition accuracy in recent years, as well as to provide some insight into the nature of current trends and future directions in this area. We begin this chapter with a brief review of some of the major physiological and perceptual phenomena that have motivated feature extraction algorithms based on auditory processing. We continue with a review and discussion of three seminal 'classical' auditory models of the 1980s that have had a major impact on the approaches taken by more recent contributors to this field. Finally, we turn our attention to selected more recent topics of interest in auditory feature analysis, along with some of the feature extraction approaches that have been based on them. We conclude with a discussion of the attributes of auditory models that appear to be most effective in improving speech recognition accuracy in difficult acoustic environments.


The paper examines the foundations of the societies in Central Asia (CA) and their impact on politics, recalls similarities with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), attempting to make recommendations for the societies' advancement. Firstly, I analyse the connections between cultural heritage and politics, introducing two pillar concepts, the societies' cultural and institutional foundations. They are discussed with a view to understanding and revealing the model of society ingrained in politics and materialised in CA societies. Then, I examine the social capital and the exercise of power, illustrate beneficial associations and trade-offs between culture(s) and politics. Shortages are exposed and opportunities and circumstances for conflicts revealed. I substantiate the contradictory impacts of the international arena; I tackle synergies and discuss means to combine influences between politics and cultures. Finally, I incorporate findings into policy terms. The rudiments of a working system to foster progress in CA are seen in developments of both individuals and their governance systems. Recommendations are made with regard to how Higher Education Institutions can dodge flawed cultural influences and amend autocracy. The issues of CA societies are addressed with a strong policy focus, making policy recommendations and aiming at rising debates.


Time-bin qubits, where information is encoded in a single photon at different times, have been widely used in optical fiber and waveguide based quantum communications. With the recent developments in distributed quantum computation, it is logical to ask whether time-bin encoded qubits may be useful in that context. We have recently realized a time-bin qubit controlled-phase (C-Phase) gate using a 2 X 2 optical switch based on a lithium niobate waveguide, with which we demonstrated the generation of an entangled state. However, the experiment was performed with only a pair of input states, and thus the functionality of the C-Phase gate was not fully verified. In this research, we used quantum process tomography to establish a process fidelity of 97.1%. Furthermore, we demonstrated the controlled-NOT gate operation with a process fidelity greater than 94%. This study confirms that typical two-qubit logic gates used in quantum computational circuits can be implemented with time-bin qubits, and thus it is a significant step forward for realization of distributed quantum computation based on time-bin qubits.


Just war is a theory that contains moral and legal justifications, and governs the time and circumstances in which states are allowed to enter the war. Therefore, just war theory and the laws of war are reflecting to each other. The first has a long history of legitimizing war and its appearance possibly goes back to the Greek and Roman civilisation as the public interest was a reasoning for their wars. In the Middle-Ages, religious authority played a significant role in legitimizing the use of force by political authority. In the modern era, the nature of war and the principles of intervention have undergone changes, so that the implementation of that theory built and established the nation-state in the West. In contemporary times, Michael Walzer developed the theory so that individual rights became a central principle of just war. The main question of this study is whether war can be legitimized and reasonable or when intervention is legitimate? As well as how the forces are used? This study examines and explains the mentioned questions by presenting the roots and principles of that theory. Thus, it is assumed that a war is just when it is decided through the principles of a just war theory. This theory deals with the justification of how and why wars are fought. It can be concluded that Just war is a last resort and that its essential aim is always peace and Justice.


Background/Aims Acute exacerbations of chronic hepatitis B (CHB-AEs) are common in endemic areas and are often presumed to be acute hepatitis B (AHB) due to their similarities in clinical and serological pictures, presenting a major diagnostic dilemma. This study aimed to identify laboratory markers for differentiating between the two groups, and to establish the cut-off value for significant markers. Methods A retrospective analysis of records was conducted for patients who presented with clinical features of acute hepatitis along with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and IgM antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (IgM anti-HBc) positivity from May 2015 to May 2017. A total of 172 patients were enrolled and grouped as AHB (n=89) and CHB-AE (n=83) based on their history of hepatitis B virus infection and duration of HBsAg persistence. Virological and biochemical parameters were analyzed and compared. Cut-off values, sensitivity, and specificity of the variables were calculated. Results The median value of signal by cut-off (S/Co) ratio for IgM anti-HBc was significantly higher in AHB group (30.44) compared to CHB-AE group (8.63) with a sensitivity and specificity of 97% and 84%, respectively, at a cut-off of 20.5 (P<0.01). The mean international normalized ratio (INR) was significantly greater in CHB-AE (1.88±1.24) group compared to AHB group (1.62±0.17) with a sensitivity and specificity of 57.9% and 45.1%, respectively, at a cut-off value of 1.27. Conclusions A value of 20.5 S/Co of IgM anti-HBc and 1.27 INR could be helpful in differentiating between AHB and CHB-AE. (Clin Mol Hepatol 2020;26:187-195)


Coronary atherosclerosis is the major health problem of the twentieth century. Although there has been a recent decrease in mortality from this condition in many Western countries, the incidence has remained the same, and coronary atherosclerosis continues to be the leading cause of death. Our understanding of the disease process has been steadily increasing; however, much still needs to be clarified. The clinical presentations of coronary artery disease are diverse and not clearly linked to the severity or extent of the disease. Patients with similar coronary lesions present variously with stable and unstable angina or myocardial infarction, and all too many have sudden death as the initial clinical presentation. Recently, much attention has focused on the initial events leading to the development of atherosclerotic plaques. Current concepts unite formerly opposed views on the roles of intimal injury, platelets, lipids, and monoclonal smooth muscle cell proliferation in initiating atherogenesis. Progress has been made in understanding the early structural and functional alterations caused by myocardial ischemia. This understanding is leading to the development of interventions such as intracoronary thrombolysis to prevent or limit permanent myocardial injury. Measures to prevent serious complications of ischemic heart disease such as infarct rupture, aneurysm formation, and ischemic cardiomyopathy are still needed.


We examined effects of a wide range of doses of three man-made estrogenic chemicals during fetal life on neurobehavioral changes during early postnatal life in mice. Pregnant mice were fed a 4-log range of o,p'DDT, methoxychlor (MXC), and the drug diethystilbestrol (DES) from gestation days 11 to 17. Offspring were examined for changes in postnatal growth and the development of neuromuscular reflexes. Fetal exposure to the estrogenic chemicals altered the number of live pups per litter, the sex ratio of the litters, the anogenital distance of male and female offspring at birth (a bioassay for fetal androgen action), and the body weight of offspring at birth and during the first 5 days of postnatal life. In most cases, however, the dose-response relationships were complex (non-monotonic), with effects at the highest dose examined being opposite to effects seen at lower doses. The two markers of neurobehavioral development, righting and cliff avoidance reflexes, were not sensitive indicators of prenatal estrogen exposure. Only maternal exposure to the lowest MXC dose produced an increase in reactivity in righting and cliff avoidance tests in offspring.


In this study, we show how different spectral channels of NOAA-AVHRR acquired data can be used to produce a synthetized signal aimed at helping the characterization of plumes associated to fire events. The synthetized signal is computed using a reconstruction formula in the multifractal microcanonical formalism (herein referred to as MMF). The MMF is a recent development in the analysis of complex signals, well adapted to the study of turbulent acquired data, for instance geophysical fluids. It allows the computation, at each point of the signal's domain, of a singularity exponent, characteristic of the scale behaviour of the signal around that point; singularity exponents provide information about the strengths of the transitions inside a signal, and they are related to the multifractal hierarchy associated to structure functions in Fully Developped Turbulence (FDT). In the MMF, it is possible to reconstruct a turbulent signal from the manifold of most singular exponents. We make use of this property by computing supergeometric structures from a thermal infrared channel in NOAA-AVHRR acquired data, and we use the signal's gradient coming from other channels to reconstruct a signal in which plume pixels are easier to detect. This methodology is based on the turbulent properties of the plume accessible from the thermal infrared band; the algorithm is detailed and applied on a specific example, showing a new spatially-based method for helping the determination of plume pixels in NOAA-AVHRR data.


The GAIA satellite can precisely measure the masses of nearby brown dwarfs and lower main sequence stars by the microlensing effect. The scientific yield is maximised if the microlensing event is also followed with ground-based telescopes to provide densely sampled photometry. There are two possible strategies. First, ongoing events can be triggered by photometric or astrometric alerts by GAIA. Second, events can be predicted using known high proper motion stars as lenses. This is much easier, as the location and time of an event can be forecast. Using the GAIA source density, we estimate that the sample size of high proper motion ($>300$ mas yr$^{-1}$) brown dwarfs needed to provide predictable events during the 5 year mission lifetime is surprisingly small, only of the order of a hundred. This is comparable to the number of high proper motion brown dwarfs already known from the work of the UKIDSS Large Area Survey and the all-sky WISE satellite. Provided the relative parallax of the lens and the angular Einstein radius can be recovered from astrometric data, then the mass of the lens can be found. Microlensing provides the only way of measuring the masses of individual objects irrespective oftheir luminosity. So, microlensing with GAIA is the best way to carry out an inventory of masses in the brown dwarf regime.


The changing nature of climatic factors has different impacts on agriculture based areas, periods and crops. Farmers are the most vulnerable group who are affected both directly and indirectly through climatic changes. In the study area in Malaysia, climatic changes have adverse impacts on farmers. Due to climatic change, productivity and profitability of paddy cultivation have declined in the Integrated Agricultural Development Area, North-West Selangor. Farmers perceive that paddy cultivation is no longer profitable due to low productivity as a result of climatic changes. They now prefer full-time to part-time engagement in paddy cultivation. Heavy government subsidy and encouragement are not enough; it requires increase in productivity and profitability of paddy cultivation for making it a viable and sustainable sector. All efforts of mitigation and adaptation must be pursued to counter the adverse impacts of climatic changes and increase the productivity of paddy cultivation in the area. It is observed that there is a high degree of income inequality among the paddy farmers in the study area.


Abstract The research focuses on determining the application parameters of a new process developed by Cloos. With the use of Cloos Rapid Weld technology (metal active gas welding), the authors carried out welding experiments on S235JR steel sheets (6 mm and 8 mm thick). The results of the welding experiments were verified by hardness measurement [1–3]. The goal is to establish one side one row suitable welded joint by the used technology.


Astroviruses are small, non-enveloped, positive-stranded RNA viruses. Previously studied mammalian astroviruses have been associated with diarrhoeal disease. Knowledge of astrovirus diversity is very limited, with only six officially recognized astrovirus species from mammalian hosts and, in addition, one human and some bat astroviruses were recently described. We used consensus PCR techniques for initial identification of five astroviruses of marine mammals: three from California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), one from a Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) and one from a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Bayesian and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis found that these viruses showed significant diversity at a level consistent with novel species. Astroviruses that we identified from marine mammals were found across the mamastrovirus tree and did not form a monophyletic group. Recombination analysis found that a recombination event may have occurred between a human and a California sea lion astrovirus, suggesting that both lineages may have been capable of infecting the same host at one point. The diversity found amongst marine mammal astroviruses and their similarity to terrestrial astroviruses suggests that the marine environment plays an important role in astrovirus ecology.


Background Recent articles about the topic of the anesthetic agents-related neurotoxicity have currently attracted the attention to the issue in the anesthesiology community. However, specialists in other fields should also be aware of this potential risk. Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practice of physicians at Guilan academic hospitals regarding general anesthesia-related neurotoxicity. Methods Firstly, the responsible anesthesia resident explained the purpose of this work to Guilan faculty and residents and if they agreed to participate a questionnaire containing 12 items was filled via a face to face interview. Results A response rate of 100% was achieved (271 responders from 271 eligible study responders). Also, 89 (33.1%) responders were attending, 180 (66.9%) were residents, 112 (41.6%) were female, and 157 (58.4%) were male. The mean years of experience was 8.8 ± 4.82 (2 - 28 years). According to the achieved data, the majority of the precipitants did not believe in GA toxicity. Conclusions This paper revealed that the current curriculum does not sufficiently address the anesthesia-related neurotoxicity problem. Indeed, the need for training and communication with non-anesthesia medical colleagues was highlighted.


Long-term central venous catheters are essential for the treatment of patients requiring long-term intravenous medications, blood product support, and total parenteral nutrition. Thrombosis and infection, complications commonly associated with the use of these devices, represent an important cause of morbidity and mortality. To reduce the incidence of device removal because of persistent central venous catheter-related infection, the novel use of a highly concentrated antibiotic "lock" solution instilled into the catheter lumen for a defined time has been explored. This technique has been successful in numerous small uncontrolled studies, suggesting that an antibiotic lock may be effective in salvaging infected central venous access devices. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines on the management of central venous access device infections support the use of this technique only for patients requiring long-term access who repeatedly experience catheter-related bloodstream infections despite stringent catheter care. Additional studies are warranted to support these preliminary data.


Radiotherapy (RT) has long been known to be immunogenic. Mounting preclinical data demonstrate a synergistic anti-tumor effect when RT is used in combination with immune check point inhibitors (ICI). However, it is unclear how to best integrate RT with an ICI (i.e. dose fractionation, sequence, etc.). Here we explored the concept that RT delivered as an in situ tumor vaccine sequentially to separate tumors over time might stimulate more potent and rapid antitumor immune response than RT delivered to only one tumor. In essence, radiation to a second tumor could be likened to giving a vaccine "booster shot". Mice bearing pancreatic tumors in three different sites were injected with anti-PD-L1 antibody and exposed to three daily consecutive fractions of 4 Gy each at one or two sites with a one week interval. Our data indicate that delivering an RT to one tumor followed by an RT "booster shot" to a second tumor, compared to treating only one tumor with RT, significantly reduced tumor growth at a third non-irradiated site. This abscopal effect to the non-irradiated site was observed earlier (day 9) in mice that received RT to two tumors versusa single tumor (day 17). Decreased growth of the non-irradiated tumor correlated with a transient increase of the CD4/CD8 ratio in the tumor, increase myeloid-derived suppressor cells and tumor associated macrophages in the draining lymph nodes. These data warrant further exploration of sequentially treating multiple lesions with RT and ICI with the intent of generating a robust anti-tumor immune response.


Polyphenolic content and antimutagenicity of the methanol extracts prepared from 22 cultivars of sweet potato with different flesh colors were investigated using Folin-Ciocalteu`s phenol reagent method and Ames test, respectively. There was a remarkable cultivar difference in the polyphenolic content of sweet potato. Su, Hayanmi and Shinhwangmi among 17 cultivars of non-purple sweet potato had higher polyphenolic contents of 21.4, 21.5 and (GAE/g dried sweet potato), respectively, whereas Manami and Yeonhwangmi were very much lower at 4.6 and . Mokpo No.62, Borami, Sinjami, Jami and Ayamurasaki had much higher polyphenolic contents of 67.7, 76.9, 44.9, 128.3 and , respectively, than non-purple sweet potato. The methanol extract from the sweet potato effectively inhibited the reverse mutation induced by 1-NP, daunomycin, Trp-P-1, Trp-P-2 and 2-AA on S. Typhimurium TA 98, and by 1-NP on S. Typhimurium TA 100. These results suggest that the antimutagencity properties may be influenced by the tested mutagen and strain rather than the polyphenolic content of non-purple and purple sweet potato. However, in the purple sweet potatoes, a high polyphenolic content may influence the antimutagencity properties.


Lake Tanganyika is the deepest and one of the most species-rich African Great Lakes. While dozens of studies focusing on this lake's cichlids as famous model organisms have been already published, knowledge about economically important species is still poor. The fisheries effort is concentrated mainly in the lake's pelagic zone with two clupeids (Limnothrissa miodon, Stolothrissa tanganicae) and four latid species (Lates angustifrons, L. mariae, L. microlepis, L. stappersii) as dominant targets. Surprisingly, almost nothing is known about their parasite fauna. We examined the abovementioned hosts for the presence of parasites to answer the following questions: which parasites infect clupeids and latids in Lake Tanganyika? Is there any seasonality or geographical variation in infection parameters? And is the parasite population structure related to host history or geographic origin? Samples originated from many localities in Lake Tanganyika including all three historical subbasins of the lake. Parasite species identification was based on the sclerotised structures of the attachment organ and the genitals. Molecular characterisation was conducted using nuclear and mitochondrial markers with different rates of molecular evolution. In total, three different parasite species belonging to the Monogenea were identified based on morphological as well molecular data. Seasonality in parasite prevalence of clupeids was observed with a peak in the rainy season, but no relation with the geographic origin of Ancyrocephalus was found. The parasite population structure inferred from part of the COI gene shows no north-south gradient. For future studies, the phylogeography of these parasites can reflect historical events that are too recent to be inferred from host genetics.


Landslides are one of the most extensive and destructive geological hazards in the globe. Tripura, a north-eastern hilly state of India experiences landslides almost each year during monsoon season causing casualty and huge economic losses. Hence it is required to assess the landslide susceptibility of the area that would support in short and long term planning and mitigation. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) integrated with geospatial technology has been adopted for landslide susceptibility mapping in the state. Eight influencing factors such as slope, lithology, drainage density, rainfall, land use land cover, distance from rivers and roads, and soil type were selected to map the landslide susceptibility. Landslide susceptibility index (LSI) was found to vary from 6.205 during monsoon to 1.427 during post-monsoon season. The LSI values were classified into very high, high, moderate, low and very low susceptibility. Landslide susceptibility maps for three different seasons, namely, pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon were prepared. The study showed that most of the areas of the state come under very low to moderate landslide susceptibility zones. Around 73.2% area of the state is found to be under low landslide susceptible zones during the pre-monsoon season, around 62% area is prone to landslides with moderate susceptibility during monsoon season and 68.5% area comes under landslides with low susceptibility zones during the post-monsoon season. The output of this study may be referred by the engineers and planners for the assessment, control and mitigation of landslides and development of basic infrastructure in the state.


The Western Antarctic Peninsula (wAP) is globally one of the systems most heavily impacted by climate change, notably steep declines in sea ice extent. In forage species, reproductive resilience to change is particularly important because population fluctuations are rapidly communicated through the system via trophic interactions. The reproductive traits of the ice-dependent forage species Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarctica) from different areas along the wAP and at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula were investigated through macroscopic and histological analyses of gonads, with the aim to assess its reproductive potential and to test for spatial differences in fecundity and spawning season. Fish samples were collected in late summer off Charcot Island, in Marguerite Bay and off Joinville Island; no fish were caught in the central wAP. Samples from Charcot Island and Marguerite Bay consisted of adults in developing gonad stage, whereas those from Joinville consisted almost exclusively of juveniles. Mean GSI was relatively low (2–3%) and similar in both sexes, as specimens were still far from being actively reproducing. Developing females exhibited two discrete, though partially overlapping modes of oocytes of different size, with vitellogenic oocytes measuring 0.5–1.0 mm. Absolute and relative fecundity ranged between 3000 and 12,000 eggs per female and between 80 and 190 eggs·g−1, with a strong relationship between absolute fecundity and body size. These results were consistent with a single population at Charcot Island and Marguerite Bay and indicated substantial reproductive potential, which may mitigate population isolation and reductions in habitat availability but cannot ultimately offset catastrophic loss of spawning habitat linked to sea-ice retreat.


Aims: Prior chest and neck irradiation are considered relative contraindications to transesophageal echocardiography. The foundation of such a warning is theoretical and, at best anecdotal. We intended to retrospectively examine the safety of transesophageal echocardiography in this cohort.Methods and results: Utilizing the relevant International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code s, patients older than 18 years old with prior chest or neck irradiation therapy who underwent transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) at our institution in the period between 2004-2020 were identified and considered for inclusion. 31 patients, who underwent a total of 49 TEE studies, were included in the final analysis. In a 30 day follow up period following the index TEE, no significant complications occurred in any of the patients. Conclusions: In this small cohort of patients with prior chest or neck irradiation therapy, transesophageal echocardiography was carried out safely and successfully.


The world community of states is built on a territorial basis. In international law, the territory of a State is recognized as one of its main features. The peculiarity of the state territory is that it is under the sovereignty of the state, the manifestation of state sovereignty is the jurisdiction of the state. Borders are of great importance for determining the limits of the territory, ensuring the security of the state. On the basis of international treaties and domestic national legislation, the State establishes the legal regime of the Territory. The purpose of the article is to consider the key aspects of the legal registration of the Kazakh-Russian border. The article discusses the main milestones of legal support for the delimitation and demarcation of the borders of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.


An investigation of plants reach in lipophylic compounds and searching of sufficient raw material are being conducted due to rising scientists' interest. Among them, we can count the plants of Fabaceae and Poaceae families. With the use of a gas-liquid chromatography method (GLC), the qualitative composition and the quantitative content of fatty acids and tocopherols in the lipophylic fraction of Glycine hispida, as well as sterols and fatty acids in the lipophylic fractions of fruits and grass of Setaria italica have been determined. In addition steroid and fatty-acid compositions of fruits of Setaria italica have been studied using the methods of gas chromatography/mass-spectrometry (GC/MS).


The aim of this research is to analyze the influence of Fraud Pentagon in detecting the phenomenon of financial statement fraud. In this research, there are 5 variables that are hypothesized to affect fraud. These variables are derived from the 5 elements of the fraud pentagon, namely Pressure, Opportunity, Rationalization, Competence and Arrogance. The population of this research were property and real estate companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) 2014-2016. The research used the purposive sampling technique and found 35 companies, within 3 years of observation. Thus, the total number of samples studied was 105. In this research, the hypotheses were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. The results indicated that Pressure, Opportunity, Rationalization, Arrogance have an influence on financial statement fraud. Meanwhile, Competence does not have influence on financial statement fraud.


Chinchilla in the Western Downs Region of Queensland is home to the Chinchilla Rifle Range, a palaeontological site that has produced a significant well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate a ssemblage. Here, we describe and discuss the histology of a crocodile tooth recovered from the ca 3.5-million-year-old Chinchilla Sand deposit in the Rifle Range. The tooth is from the posterior jaw and likely belongs to a species of Paludirex. We discuss the tooth micromorphology in relation to what is known about tooth histology in extant and extinct crocodylians with brevirostine and platyrostral skull morphology. We hypothesised that there should be several similarities in the tooth micro-structures between related extinct and extant taxa. We found that the Chinchilla Sand fossil tooth is characterised by thin enamel that is likely prismless but shows incremental striations (also seen in dentine), similar to other crocodylians. This short study highlights the importance of microscopic techniques applied to fossil material. With further fossil evidence emerging from Chinchilla, and application of three-dimensional microscopy techniques to understand the nature of Paludirex enamel prisms, a better understanding of reptile palaeobiology can be developed for Queensland and Australia.


Chronic anthropogenic disturbances (CAD) and rainfall are important drivers of plant community assembly, but little is known about the role played by inter‐ and intraspecific trait variation as communities respond to these pervasive forces. Here, we examined the hypothesis that lower precipitation and higher CAD reduce both intra‐ and interspecific trait variation in Caatinga dry forests. We sampled woody plants across 15 plots along precipitation and CAD gradients and measured resource‐use traits. The effects of precipitation and CAD on RaoQ functional diversity were decomposed into species turnover and intraspecific variability. We used "T‐statistics" to assess the trait sorting from the regional pool to local communities (i.e., external filtering), and within‐community forces leading to low trait overlap (i.e., internal filtering) at individual and species levels. Intraspecific variability explained at least one‐third of the total trait variation and 46% of variation in multitrait diversity across communities. Increasing disturbance reduced multitrait diversity, while precipitation affected some particular traits, such as wood density. Overall, precipitation determined species sorting across communities, while disturbance relaxed internal filters, leading to higher trait overlap within communities due to higher intraspecific variability. Our results suggest that the woody Caatinga flora contains a substantial amount of both inter‐ and intraspecific trait variation. This variation is not randomly distributed within and across communities, but varies according to rainfall conditions and disturbance intensity. These findings reinforce the emerging idea that human disturbances can reorganize plant communities at multiple scales and highlight trait variability as a key biological asset for the resilience of dry forests.


Animals, including human beings, modify their behavior when they fall sick. Interestingly, sociology, biology, and psychology have at different times in their history developed constructs of illness or sickness behavior. The aims of the present paper are to consider sickness behavior in animals and humans and to evaluate to what extent the notions of sickness behavior would allow for interdisciplinary research. After distinguishing disease, illness, and sickness, the case will be made that illness behavior and sickness behavior can be considered heuristically as synonyms given the existence of some fluidity between the notion of illness and sickness. Based on this, different faces, phases, and facets of sickness behavior will be presented before addressing the question of how integration of constructs of sickness behaviors would be possible across biology, medicine, psychology, and sociology. It is concluded that interdisciplinary research on sickness behavior between biology, psychology, and sociology is possible and called for with regard to constructs, methods, and explanations, while keeping in mind differences in perspectives, for example between acute and chronic sickness behavior.


The move to halogen-free systems is driven both by legislators trying to ban these products, particularly in Scandinavia, by product labeling (such as the "Blue Angel" label in Germany), and by market forces as consumer OEMs move to produce products perceived as more environmentally friendly. There is however some disagreement on the realistic environmental threat presented by these products and the rate and extent of implementation is uncertain. Halogen-containing flame retardant systems such as TBBA have proved extremely effective and economical in the past and the move from these vapor-phase flame retardants to char-promoting and other systems can produce real processing, cost and property penalties. The paper reviews the major flame retardant systems and their applicability to organic substrate materials and molding compounds and draws conclusions on processing, properties and economics.


The objective of the present study was to investigate the incidence and contamination levels of different Listeria monocytogenes serovars in ready-to-eat meat products (RTE-MP) collected from different outlets and processing plants in Jordan in order (i) to provide information to Jordanian health authorities on the incidence of L. monocytogenes in RTE-MP sold and consumed in Jordan and (ii) to ascertain the risks of these products for consumers. Two hundred forty RTE-MP samples, 120 beef and 120 poultry, were analyzed. European International Organization for Standardization (EN ISO) 11290-1 and -2 standard protocols were used for detection and enumeration of L. monocytogenes. The identity of suspected L. monocytogenes was confirmed using PCR. Three Listeria spp., L. monocytogenes, L. innocua, and L. welshimeri, were isolated. L. innocua and L. welshimeri were the most and least frequently isolated with 56 and 36 samples, respectively. L. monocytogenes was isolated from 41 samples (17.1%): 23 from beef and 18 from poultry samples. The contamination levels of L. monocytogenes were <or=100 CFU/g in 97.5% (40 samples) of the positive samples. Only one beef sample with a count of >100 CFU/g was found. The L. monocytogenes strains isolated fell into two serotypes (1 and 4) and four different serovars (1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c, and 4b).


The pharyngeal jaws of moray eels function exclusively to transport prey from the oral jaws into the esophagus. This functional innovation in the moray pharyngeal jaw system occurred through the loss of some ancestral functions that presumably included prey processing. Therefore, the oral jaws of morays are used to capture and process prey. Dietary accounts suggest that morays can be categorized as either piscivorous or durophagous in feeding habits. These extreme feeding specializations that select for conflicting biomechanical demands on the oral jaws should result in two discrete clusters of cranial form and diet in morphospace. When functional characters underlying the oral jaws were examined for 10 muraenid species, piscivorous and durophagous morays occupied distinct areas of morphospace. Piscivores exhibited longer jaws, narrower heads, and long recurved teeth, while durophagous morays exhibited shorter jaws, greater dentary depths, and short blunt teeth. Durophagous morays process prey in their oral jaws, and their jaw‐opening and jaw‐closing ratios, along with their enlarged adductors, revealed jaws modified for force transmission. Pharyngeal jaw characters also separated moray species into different areas of morphospace. For example, Gymnomuraena zebra, a molluscivore, had more teeth on its pharyngobranchials than all other morays, and these teeth were long and thin compared with those of piscivores. The overall patterns of morphological variation corresponded well with moray dietary breadth. In addition, the range of jaw‐opening and jaw‐closing ratios revealed that for a clade of obligate carnivores, morays exhibit diverse biting behaviors.


T he frequency of fetal malformations accounts for around 3~5% and evaluation of the health of the fetus and screening for fetal malformations has become an important part of prenatal care. Fetal malformations can be classified into structural and chromosomal abnormalities. Improvements in prenatal diagnosis have allowed identification of malformations in fetuses during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. In prenatal diagnosis, both screening and diagnostic procedures are included. Screening tests include maternal serum aneuploidy screening tests, which are double marker test, triple test, and quadruple test. Recently, first trimester combined ultrasound-biochemical screening and integrated screening were introduced and provided higher detection rates of chromosomal anomalies (ex. Down syndrome). Diagnostic tests are usually performed when screening results are positive and they include chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, and percutaneous fetal blood sampling. With high-resolution ultrasound equipment, it is now possible to diagnose most structural abnormalities prenatally. On top of that, recent advances in 3D/4D ultrasound have allowed better understanding of fetal anatomy. However, when ultrasound is equivocal, fetal MRI also can be a useful adjuvant in evaluating fetal structural anomalies. Advances in prenatal diagnostic testing have resulted in tremendous benefits to patients and challenges to healthcare providers and new approaches to education and counseling are needed to assure that all patients receive a complete and balanced review of their prenatal diagnostic testing options. This article provides an overview of various screening and diagnostic methods for prenatal diagnosis of fetal malformations.


Background Supportive educational programs during the perinatal period are scarce in Singapore. There is no continuity of care available in terms of support from community care nurses in Singapore. Parents are left on their own most of the time, which results in a stressful transition to parenthood. There is a need for easily accessible technology-based educational programs that can support parents during this crucial perinatal period. Objective The aim of this study was to describe the study protocol of a randomized controlled trial on a technology-based supportive educational parenting program. Methods A randomized controlled two-group pretest and repeated posttest experimental design will be used. The study will recruit 118 parents (59 couples) from the antenatal clinics of a tertiary public hospital in Singapore. Eligible parents will be randomly allocated to receive either the supportive educational parenting program or routine perinatal care from the hospital. Outcome measures include parenting self-efficacy, parental bonding, postnatal depression, social support, parenting satisfaction, and cost evaluation. Data will be collected at the antenatal period, immediate postnatal period, and at 1 month and 3 months post childbirth. Results Recruitment of the study participants commenced in December 2016 and is still ongoing. Data collection is projected to finish within 12 months, by December 2017. Conclusions This study will identify a potentially clinically useful, effective, and cost-effective supportive educational parenting program to improve parental self-efficacy and bonding in newborn care, which will then improve parents' social support–seeking behaviors, emotional well-being, and satisfaction with parenting. It is hoped that better supported and satisfied parents will consider having more children, which may in turn influence Singapore's ailing birth rate. Trial Registration International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 48536064; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN48536064 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6wMuEysiO)


Post-installed reinforcement (PIR) helps facilitate retrofitting works, mitigate misplaced reinforcement problems, as well as support newly cast concrete members such as modular integrated construction. However, it has not been holistically addressed in major international reinforced concrete (RC) design codes. Nonetheless, based on established design philosophy and associated failure modes, the cast-in reinforcement design method in RC can be extended to design qualified PIR systems. The qualification of PIR system can be referenced to Acceptance Criteria (AC) 308 (2016), European Assessment Document (EAD) 330087 (2018) and EAD 330499 (2017) in the US and Europe, respectively. In Hong Kong, PIR is conservatively limited to shear connections. Its assumption of pinned connection is less justifiable for some deep sections of beams, which may induce hogging moments, causing tension at the top reinforcement of the supports. In some cases of cantilever slabs, moment connections are necessary to maintain equilibrium. Hence, this paper reviews an up-to-date design methodology and installation guide to complement the Hong Kong Code of Practice for Structural Use of Concrete (HKBD) by referring to the recently published international design codes and documents. The proposal is useful to promote economical, sustainable and technically sound use of PIR system.


Minimum parking requirements (MPRs) mandate that each new development provides enough parking to ensure ample provision at the time of peak demand. This approach tends to oversupply parking above the optimal level, and by bundling parking into the development costs, ensures that parking is free to the user. As a result, land-use and transport decisions are distorted. A case study of Porirua central business district (CBD) was undertaken to investigate the use of MPRs in the New Zealand context, and to assess their impacts on transport and land-use patterns. Findings indicate that MPRs tend to oversupply parking relative to weekly mean and peak occupancies. Land use mapping found that 24 percent of CBD land is allocated to car parking and MPRs were shown to contribute to dispersed development patterns. Stated choice data and a cost recovery model for car parking highlight how free and ample car parking provision favours car driving and has distortionary impacts on travel decisions.


The letter presents the design, fabrication, and measurement of a configurable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag based on time‐domain reflections. The tag circuit contains a microstrip line (ML) that propagates radio frequency (RF) signals, and a group of capacitors that introduce impedance discontinuities to encode binary codes. The configurability of the tag circuit is allowed by connecting the nearby‐placed capacitors with the ML. Ink‐jet printing technology is employed to implement the layout of the proposed tag on paper substrate. To overcome the limitations of printed metallic tracks, a linearly tapering technique is proposed. With this technique, a four‐bit configurable passive chipless RFID tag is realized. Both time‐domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements and ultrawideband (UWB) characterizations were conducted for the proposed tag, and the results are in good consistence with the simulation ones from the circuit simulator advanced design system (ADS). Owing to its low cost fabrication and environmentally friendly nature, the proposed tag has great potential to be widely employed in low‐end RFID applications. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:2781–2786, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26412


Closed-form solutions for the average error rate of MDPSK, coherent MPSK, and noncoherent MFSK over slow, flat, Rician fading are derived. The solutions are sufficiently simple so that no approximations are needed for the numerical computations and general enough so that it includes AWGN and Rayleigh fading as special cases. Error probabilities are graphically displayed for various values of M. The dependence of error rate on the channel specular-to-scatter ratio are plotted and examined. Performance comparisons for a range of values of the Rician parameter K, corresponding to the measured statistics of mobile and indoor wireless channels, are made for the different digital modulation schemes. The analytical results presented in this paper are expected to provide information that is important for radio systems design and the evaluation of performance over a fading channel.


Introduction, Surgical treatment options for corneal dystrophies Corneal dystrophies are the group of hereditary disorders affecting all corneal layers. Since 2008 when IC3D classification was published there are new advances in diagnosis and treatment of corneal dystrophies. During this course we would like to present the current methods of diagnosis including genetic testing and different treatment options. The choice of the surgical treatment option depends on the corneal dystrophy type and includes: anterior lamellar keratoplasty for dystrophies without Descemet membrane involvement, descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty for Fuchs corneal dystrophy and penetrating keratoplasty for dystrophies characterized by full corneal thickness involvement. All types of keratoplasty could be performed traditionally or with the assistance of the femtosecond laser. The corneal graft survival depends on the corneal dystrophy type and possible complication of the surgery related to the diagnosis of the corneal dystrophy is the recurrence of the disease.