As part of this nation-wide study, in September 2006, historical survey and evaluation of NASA-owned and managed facilities was conducted by NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. The results of this study are presented in a report entitled, Survey and Evaluation of NASA-owned Historic Facilities and Properties in the Context of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, prepared in November 2007 by NASA JSC s contractor, Archaeological Consultants, Inc. As a result of this survey, the Communications and Tracking Development Laboratory (Building 44) was determined eligible for listing in the NRHP, with concurrence by the Texas State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). The survey concluded that Building 44 is eligible for the NRHP under Criteria A and C in the context of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program (1969-2010). Because it has achieved significance within the past 50 years, Criteria Consideration G applies. At the time of this documentation, Building 44 was still used to support the SSP as an engineering research facility, which is also sometimes used for astronaut training. This documentation package precedes any undertaking as defined by Section 106 of the NHPA, as amended, and implemented by 36 CFR Part 800, as NASA JSC has decided to proactively pursue efforts to mitigate the potential adverse affects of any future modifications to the facility. It includes a historical summary of the Space Shuttle Program; the history of JSC in relation to the SSP; a narrative of the history of Building 44 and how it supported the SSP; and a physical description of the building. In addition, photographs documenting the construction and historical use of Building 44 in support of the SSP, as well as photographs of the facility documenting the existing conditions, special technological features, and engineering details, are included. A contact sheet printed on archival paper, and an electronic copy of the work product on CD, are also provided.


Abstract Traditionally, Fourier transforms have been utilized for performing signal analysis and representation. But although it is straightforward to reconstruct a signal from its Fourier transform, no local description of the signal is included in its Fourier representation. To alleviate this problem, Windowed Fourier transforms and then Wavelet transforms have been introduced, and it has been proven tha t wavelets give a better localization tha n traditional Fourier transforms, as well as a better division of the time-or space-frequency plane than Windowed Fourier transforms. Because of these properties and after the development of several fast algorithms for computing the wavelet representation of any signal, in particular the Multi-Resolution Analysis (MRA) developed by Mallat, wavelet transforms have increasingly been applied to signal analysis problems, especially real-life problems, in which speed is critical. In this article we present and compare efficient wavelet decomposition algorithms on different parallel architectures. We report and analyze experimental measurements, using NASA remotely sensed images. Results show tha t our algorithms achieve significant performance gains on current high-performance parallel systems, and meet scientific applications and multimedia requirements. The extensive performance measurements collected over a number of high-performance computer systems have revealed important architectural characteristics of these systems, in relation to the processing demands of the wavelet decomposition of digital images.


With the rapidly evolving technology of the smart grid and electric vehicles (EVs), the battery has emerged as the most prominent energy storage device, attracting a significant amount of attention. The very recent discussions about the performance of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in the Boeing 787 have confirmed so far that, while battery technology is growing very quickly, developing cells with higher power and energy densities, it is equally important to improve the performance of the battery management system (BMS) to make the battery a safe, reliable, and cost-efficient solution. The specific characteristics and needs of the smart grid and EVs, such as deep charge/discharge protection and accurate state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH) estimation, intensify the need for a more efficient BMS. The BMS should contain accurate algorithms to measure and estimate the functional status of the battery and, at the same time, be equipped with state-of-the-art mechanisms to protect the battery from hazardous and inefficient operating conditions.


Abstract Background The expanded endonasal endoscopic approach provides excellent visualization and access to midline skull base lesions, albeit with a relatively high risk of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage. We present our experience with the expanded endonasal endoscopic approach to the skull base in an institution where, previously, a traditional transsphenoidal approach with a surgical microscope had been used. Patients We performed a retrospective review to identify patients who underwent expanded endonasal endoscopic surgery and analyzed demographic, pathological, and operative data with particular attention to repair of the skull base defects in 55 procedures performed on 49 patients. We compared the outcomes of 10 primary operations in which we repaired skull base defects using only autologous or allogeneic tissue grafts and 39 primary operations in which we used a vascularized mucoperichondrial nasal septal flap with or without a layered autologous tissue graft. Results Primary expanded endonasal endoscopic procedures were performed in 49 patients with sellar pathology (33 pituitary adenomas, 4 Rathke's cleft cysts, 1 pituicytoma, 1 pituitary metastasis) and non-sellar pathology (3 meningiomas, 3 clival chordomas, 1 clival mucocele, 1 craniopharyngioma, and 2 esthesioneuroblastomas). Postoperative CSF leakage occurred following 5 of the 49 primary operations (10.2%). This occurred in 2 of 10 primary operations (20.0%) in which the skull base defect was repaired using only autologous and/or allogeneic tissue grafts, necessitating a total of 3 operative CSF leak repairs in those 2 patients. The remaining 3 postoperative CSF leaks occurred in the 39 primary operations (7.7%) in which skull base repair was performed using a mucoperichondrial nasal septal flap, necessitating operative repair in 2 of those patients. Conclusion The repair of skull base defects created during expanded endonasal endoscopic surgery is improved by use of a mucoperichondrial nasal septal flap combined with a layered autologous tissue graft. When CSF leakage occurs despite nasal septal flap closure, the site of the leakage may be easier to localize and repair.


The automated gas sensor characterization system is designed for precision characterization of integrated or discrete gas sensors. Gas metering and data acquisition are computer controlled. Calibration of the gas concentration is carried out through the use of a gas analyzer or gas chromatography (GC). The system has been used to characterize two types of commercial gas sensors. The transient response of the gas sensors is therefore measured when the system first reaches equilibrium and then heating current is applied to heat up the sensor from the chamber ambient temperature to the sensor operating temperature. Details of experimental results for static and dynamic characterization of various commercial gas sensors are presented.


Abstract The Orthodox churches were drawn into contemporary missiological discussions primarily through the modern ecumenical movement. Since there are fundamental differences of approach between the East and the West on this matter, particularly because the Western concept and method of mission is perceived to be still carrying, rather imperceptibly, the old imperial-colonial baggage, the Orthodox are always ill at ease in these discussions dominated by the Western Protestant churches. The Orthodox theologians have, however, made huge efforts within the framework of the World Council of Churches to enunciate their vision of the missionary nature of the church from patristic and liturgical perspectives. This article pleads for a shifting of paradigm from an anthropocentric and possessive mode of mission to non-possessive hospitality, eucharistic (thanksgiving) intercessory care for creation, and self-giving inner pilgrimage to the source of light that enlightens all. Mission as gift and not simply as task would be essential for the shaping of a new human civilization. What is needed is a change of human civilizational paradigm and not simply some aspects of the conventional Christian mission models. In Asia, we had the Buddhist mission before Christ and the East Syrian Christian mission in the first millennium, which gave us some alternate models of doing peaceful and non-acquisitive mission. In search of a paradigm shift There is a staggering volume of literature on Christian missionary movement and related topics in most of the European languages. The formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948 and the entry of the International Missionary Council into the WCC in 1961 as a constitutive stream have further fertilized the proliferation of missionary literature in diverse ways. It would appear that mission, missionary and missiology have been discussed ad nauseam in Christian theological circles. Orthodox uneasiness The Orthodox churches have been drawn into this discussion in the 20th century primarily through their involvement in the WCC. As most Orthodox theologians and historians would testify, there is an undercurrent of uneasiness on the part of the Orthodox who participate in these discussions. There may be several reasons for this: it is only historical commonplace that the very concept of mission advocated by the Western Roman Catholic and Protestant churches was integral to the colonial expansion of the western European countries since the end of the 15th century. The contemporary Western discussion--in spite of political decolonization, the emergence of the ecumenical paradigm, pervasive secularization and the religiously pluralistic social context in the second half of the 20th century--is not completely purged of that connection in any substantial way. This was evident at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Western missions--Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical/ Pentecostal of all colours-rushed into what they called the spiritual vacuum created by the disappearance of socialist-atheist regimes. There was scant recognition that the Orthodox churches were present there for some thousand years, providing resources for nourishing and upholding in their own way the Christian faith of the people. This presence was deliberately absent in the missionary memory of the Western world. When China became partially open to the West, there seems to have occurred a simultaneous weakening of the China Christian Council which, with the control of the Communist government and its Three-Self Patriotic Movement, had tried to wean and bring together all Protestant churches away from their traditional allegiance to various Western confessional denominations and mission agencies. The gradual weakening of the WCC since the 1990s can also be interpreted as a result of the resurgence of a new version of the old Western missionary spirit in the new unipolar world. …


A new thiazolidine-type antibiotic with zinc in its structure, designated transvalencin A, was isolated from Nocardia sp. IFM 10065, a clinical isolate from a patient with actinomycotic mycetoma. The strain was identified as Nocardia transvalensis based on its morphological, phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics. Transvalencin A showed antimicrobial activity against fungi such as Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Cryptococcus neoformans. The antibiotic is also active against Gram-positive bacteria such as Micrococcus luteus. We observed higher activity for fungi in an acidic medium than in a neutral medium.


Many of the existing cloud tagging systems are unable to cope with the syntactic and semantic tag variations during user search and browse activities. As a solution to this problem, in this paper, we propose the Semantic Tag Clustering Search, a framework able to cope with these needs. The framework consists of three parts: removing syntactic variations, creating semantic clusters, and utilizing the obtained clusters to improve search and exploration of tag spaces. For removing syntactic variations, we use the normalized Levenshtein distance, and the cosine similarity measure based on tag co-occurrences. For creating semantic clusters, we improve an existing non-hierarchical clustering technique. Using our framework, we are able to find more clusters and achieve a higher precision than the original method. The advantages of a cluster-based approach for searching and browsing through tag spaces have been exploited in Xplore-Flickr.com, the implementation of our framework.


Transformation of small avascular masses of tumor cells into rapidly progressive cancers is triggered by the angiogenic switch, a process that involves vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling. We have shown that VEGF enhances the survival and angiogenic potential of endothelial cells by activating the Bcl-2-CXCL8 signaling axis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a small-molecule inhibitor of VEGF receptors (PTK/ZK) on the initial stages of head and neck tumor angiogenesis. In vitro, PTK/ZK blocked head and neck tumor cell (OSCC3 or UM-SCC-17B)-induced Bcl-2 and CXCL8 expression in endothelial cells. Oral administration of PTK/ZK decreased xenograft head and neck tumor microvessel density, and inhibited Bcl-2 and CXCL8 expression in tumor-associated endothelial cells. Analysis of these data demonstrates that PTK/ZK blocks downstream targets of VEGF signaling in endothelial cells, and suggests that PTK/ZK may inhibit the angiogenic switch in head and neck tumors. Abbreviations: HDMEC, human dermal microvascular endothelial cells; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; CXCL8, CXC ligand-8; PTK/ZK, PTK787/ZK222584.


Under reporting of Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is daunting challenge very commonly encountered in the practice of pharmacovigilance. Evaluating the reasons behind the under-reporting is a necessity which differ as per individual institutions. The present study was aimed at assessing awareness and perceptions about pharmacovigilance in a tertiary care teaching hospital along with the reasons for the underreporting of the ADRs. Methods: A pre-tested questionnaire was used with 20 questions from knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) domains. Data was collected from clinicians, residents and interns. Analysis was done by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistical software. Results: Out of 112 respondents 62 (55.4 %) had correct knowledge of definitions while 95 (84.8 %) responded wrongly about individuals authorized to report. Question about reporting of a serious adverse event was answered correctly by 59 (52.7%); however 95 (84.8%) responded about ADR reporting being a necessity. It was considered as a professional obligation by 73 (65.2%). Among the participants 61 (54.5%) experienced ADR in the practice but only 15 (13.4%) reported. Reasons stated for difficulty in reporting the ADRs were lack of adequate time for 35 respondents (31.3 %) while 34 (30.4 %) mentioned uncertainty about labelling incidence as ADR. Conclusion: Study showed considerable lack of precise knowledge and awareness about ADR reporting protocol. Factors which discourage the ADR reporting can be worked upon by stressing upon the awareness measures and necessity about ADR reporting as well as improving the simplicity and easy accessibility of the ADR reporting protocol.


We present a new approach for residual transient noise suppression at the output of an arbitrary beamformer. A spatial optimum estimate for the instantaneous a posteriori SNR is derived on the basis of the output signals of a blocking matrix. The optimization problem is formulated in the logarithmic domain and statistical models for the obtained quantities are given. Based on these models the optimization problem is solved in the maximum a posteriori sense. It is shown that the performance of speech recognition systems in non-stationary noise scenarios is improved considerably compared to the performance achieved with a Wiener filter applied to the beamformer output.


To develop an advanced ODS alloy for core structural materials for next-generation nuclear reactor system applications, effects of alloying elements such as Cr, Mo, Al, Zr and Y2O3 on microstructures and tensile properties of ODS ferritic/martensitic alloys were investigated. The ODS alloys were fabricated by mechanical alloying, hot isostatic pressing, and hot rolling processes. The Cr concentration revealed little effect on the tensile strength, but it affected the grain morphology as a result of phase transformation. Mo acted to increase the tensile strength at an elevated temperature. Both grain and oxide particle sizes were significantly coarsened by Al addition. These enlargements led to a decrease in tensile strength but improved the elongation. Minor addition of Zr enhanced the tensile strength, and an increase of Y2O3 addition deteriorated the elongation. These results could be very useful in optimizing the alloying element concentration of ODS alloys with superior out-of-pile mechanical properties. (Received July 18, 2013)


The article focuses on the soothsayers who functioned as counterwitches, and were consulted in the case of witch assault. Analyzed are the reasons why people enlisted the help of a soothsayer; their location; their sex structure; techniques and implements they had used; procedure phases required to nullify the evil curse (confirmation of witch assault, identification of the witch, nullification of the curse, and eventual reversing of the curse and revenge upon the witch); their payment; and people's attitude toward them.


We present near-infrared imaging polarimetry of three regions of massive star formation, G192.16-3.82, Cep A, and W42. In W42 we have discovered a new bipolar nebula located at the far side of the H II region behind the visible cluster of exciting stars. The axis of this new nebula is aligned with the magnetic field threading the entire cluster region. Polarization in the bipolar outflow nebulosity associated with G192.16 is consistent with a single illuminating source, too faint to be detected at 2 μm. Polarization in the reflection nebulosity associated with Cep A requires more than one illuminating source, although HW 2 is clearly dominant. In all three objects, the magnetic field in the outflow at distances greater than ∼0.2 pc is radial. In G192.16 the magnetic field geometry closer than ∼0.2 pc to the embedded star appears chaotic. For G192.16 the outflow is not aligned with the surrounding magnetic field, which lies in the Galactic plane. In Cep A, the outflow axis could be interpreted as being aligned with the Galactic plane, but the magnetic field threading the region is not. Only in the case of W42 is the magnetic field threading the H II region aligned with the mean field in the surrounding Galactic plane.


In wireless communication systems, as one of the effective techniques for combating fading, transmit diversity has attracted much attention, especially when receive diversity is expensive or impractical due to the constraint of terminal size. In this study we consider an adaptive carrier-by-carrier basis antenna selection scheme for transmit diversity in OFDM systems under the assumption that a transmitter has priori knowledge of the channel state information (CSI). In the proposed schemes transmit antennas are selected adaptively for each subcarrier according to CSI.


The use of irrigation water containing cyanobacterial toxins can cause significant impacts in agricultural and consequently environmental health. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of cyanotoxins (microcystin-LR and saxitoxin) on germination, growth and micronuclei formation in lettuce (Lettuce sativa) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum). Seeds of lettuce and coriander were exposed during 7-9 days to environmentally relevant concentrations of microcystin-LR (MC-LR1= 0.4 µg/L; MC-LR2= 1.0 µg/L; MC-LR3= 5.0 µg/L) and saxitoxin (SX1= 0.02 µg/L; SX2= 0.1 µg/L; SX3= 0.4 µg/L). In germination test, differential responses were observed being lettuce the most affected in the presence of saxitoxin, and coriander to microcystin-LR treatments. Cyanotoxins inhibit seedlings development to both plants species and promote formation of micronuclei in root cells. Cyanotoxins inhibit seed germination, growth and cause DNA damages, but the intensity depends on both the nature of the toxin and plant species.

 Key words: Cyanobacterial toxin, microcystin-LR, saxitoxin, micronuclei, lettuce, coriander.


Psychogenic seizures are a functional phenomena in which a person experiences a paroxysmal event that may be interpreted as epileptiform in nature. By definition, psychogenic seizures imply a sudden episode of change in behaviour or psychic state that is not associated with an identifiable process, either vasculogenic or neurogenic, and during which there is an absence of characteristic epileptiform changes on the electroencephalogram. Prevalence rates range from 5% to 50% in outpatient populations seen in epilepsy clinics. However, approximately 20% of true seizure patients also have psychogenic seizures. As psychogenic seizures are not a pathophysiological phenomena, pharmacological interventions do not alter their aetiology and can cloud the cognitive skills necessary to ameliorate the psychogenic seizure behaviour. In non-aphasic true seizure patients, as well as psychogenic seizure patients, self-control relaxation paradigms have been successful where pharmacological intervention has failed. This case involved an aphasic brain-injured patient who had both psychogenic and true seizures. For this patient, the self-control paradigm was modified to include use of gesture and prosody to achieve similar psychotherapeutic effects. Additionally, family therapy was instituted to provide a constructive means for the patient's family to participate in the reduction of psychogenic seizures. As seizures are a common sequelae of brain injury, the differential diagnosis of seizures and knowledge of standard and alternative treatment is essential for rehabilitation professionals.


Like many others, fashion companies have to deal with a global and very competitive environment. Thus companies rely on accurate sales forecasts as key success factor of an efficient supply chain management. However, forecasters have to take into account some specificities of the fashion industry. To respond to these constraints, a variety of different forecasting methods exists, including new, computer-based predictive analytics. After the evaluation of different methods, their application to the fashion industry is investigated through semi-structured expert interviews. Despite several benefits predictive analytics is not yet frequently used in practice. This research does not only reflect an industry profile, but also gives important insights about the future potential and obstacles of predictive analytics.


Expert economic evidence has become increasingly important in antitrust cases, largely because the Supreme Court in embracing certain strains of economic authority has adopted rules that make economic effects in individual cases decisive. Some economic evidence is accessible to antitrust decision makers, even if it is cognitively challenging. The danger posed by this kind of evidence, as Roger Blair has pointed out, is that witnesses will make assertions unsupported by theory. Traditional litigation devices can adequately address this danger. But economic analysis has become increasingly technical, and typical antitrust decision makers are incapable of understanding it. When decision makers confront information they do not understand, they avoid reaching decisions altogether or they use heuristic processing and peripheral cues, which results in bias and cognitive illusions. Neither reaction is desirable. Proposals for addressing the hazards of testimony that is not understood, including the increased use of court-appointed experts, are unsatisfactory. Perhaps some benefit can be had by encouraging more rigorous appellate review.


Abstract The title compound has been synthesized under solvothermal conditions by the reaction of elemental chromium, antimony and selenium in a solution of 40% 1,2-ethanediamine (en) in methanol. The crystal structure consists of tetrahedral SbSe43- anions which are connected by monoprotonated 1,2-ethanediamine (enH+) cations via N-H--Se hydrogen bonding. The enH+ cations are joined via strong N-H -N hydrogen bonds between the ammonium hydrogen and the amino nitrogen atom forming four distinct chains, each built up of three crystallographically independent enH+ cations. Two of these chains are running parallel to [100], the other two are parallel to [010]. Based on this arrangement different centrosymmetric or non-centrosymmetric hydrogen bonding patterns are possible, but only in one chain the sequence of NH2 and NH3+ groups was determined by X-ray diffraction


In our day-to-day living, we come across parts which are joined together. When parts take up the load, often the joint becomes the weakest link. This means that the strength of the joint is less than that of the parent components. Due to which, glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) play a vital role in many engineering applications as an alternative to various heavy exotic materials. In this study, a series of GFRP butt joint were formed between two different adherent pipes of outside diameter 25.4 mm, inside diameter 22 mm and 175 mm long. The type of information to be derived is appropriate to study the flexural behavior of Aluminum and Mild Steel pipes reinforced with GFRP butt joint in terms of serviceability limit states requirements. The proposed bond model was established by calibrating the parameters of grade UA473 glass fiber sheets (preselected fiber angle +10° and -10° alternatively) by varying number of joint layers using the experimental results of four point bending tests carried out by the authors, taking into account the experimental bending moment versus extension. The study investigated that that aluminum pipe when adhered along with GFRP composite, the bending moment to bear exceeds as compared to aluminum pipe alone.


This work proposes a mid-infrared polarization rotator that incorporates a twisted nematic liquid crystal (TNLC) cell with a photo-controllable alignment layer. The TNLC device with a sufficient phase retardation can act as an achromic polarization rotation device over a wide wavelengths range and thus can rotate the polarization of a mid-IR laser beam. The photo-alignment technique enables TNLCs with arbitrary twisting angles to be generated by the use of visible polarized addressing light to control the directors of the photo-alignment layer. Therefore, arbitrary rotation angles of the polarization axis of a linearly polarized mid-IR laser beam can be realized. Moreover, the rewritable property and reliability of this polarization rotator are experimentally verified. The flexibility of polarization control for broadband mid-IR opens up a large range of potential mid-IR applications.


Crystallization via an amorphous precursor, the so-called multistep crystallization (MSC), plays a key role in biomineralization and protein crystallization. MSC has attracted much attention in the past decade, but a quantitative understanding of it has so far not been available. The major challenge is that the kinetics governing the nucleation of crystals occurring in the metastable amorphous precursor remains unclear. In this study, the kinetics of MSC is addressed experimentally. Most importantly, a mathematical method is developed to calculate the local nucleation rate of the crystals in the amorphous precursor, which is not accessible to conventional methods. This local nucleation rate is critical to the understanding of MSC, but it has never been dealt with experimentally because of the difficulties of in situ observation. With the local crystal nucleation rates, the supersaturation for crystallization and the crystal-liquid interfacial free energy in the amorphous precursor are evaluated.


This work presents a technique for improving the efficiency of hardware branch predictors. The key approach is to apply techniques of off-line re-mapping of the program-space in order to reduce the incidence of conflict misses in the branch hardware. This work also presents a new model for organizing temporal information between blocks in the address space, which can be applied effectively to previous re-mapping systems as well. The increased efficiency can be translated to improved performance for fixed hardware specifications, or used to reduce the hardware cost for achieving targeted performance during the design cycle.


ABSTRACT The methionine + cystine requirement was determined for pullets from seven to 12 weeks of age and its effect was verified on the laying phase. The experiment was divided into two phases, growing and production, which lasted from 22 to 33 weeks of age. In the first experimental phase we used 640 birds (50% and 50% Lohmann LSL Lohmann Brown) allotted in a completely randomized factorial scheme 5x2 (methionine + cystine levels and lineages), with four replications and 16 birds per repetition. The levels of total methionine + cystine studied were 0.471; 0.541; 0.611; 0.681 e 0.751%. When they reached 22 weeks of age, 240 birds were used to verify the residual effect of the diets fed during the growth period. The level of methionine + cystine for white-egg and brown-egg pullets in the period from 1 to 6 weeks of age were 0.710% of total methionine + cystine (0.639 % met+cis digestible) and 0.706 % of total methionine + cystine (0.635 % of met+cis digestible), respectively. Keywords: amino acids, egg, hen, requirements, sexual maturity


The vascular toxicosis of lonidamine (40 mg/h) or vehicle infusion was investigated in six dogs. Vasculitis and thrombosis were observed in veins infused with lonidamine but not in veins infused with vehicle. This finding suggests that it may not be possible to use lonidamine infusion to circumvent therapeutic limitations associated with the oral lonidamine formulation currently used in patients. We also investigated the systemic toxicosis of lonidamine (400 mg/m2; rapid intravenous bolus) or vehicle in six other dogs that developed systemic acidosis (pH < or = 7.0) during whole body hyperthermia (42 degrees C x 90 min). Gross and histologic haemorrhage was observed in all dogs; however, haemorrhagic lesions in acidotic dogs receiving lonidamine + WBH were more severe than changes observed in acidotic dogs receiving vehicle + WBH. These observations confirm the results of in vitro studies which suggest that the combined effect of lonidamine and hyperthermia is enhanced under acidic conditions. Furthermore, these findings indicate that acid-base status of patients receiving lonidamine during WBH must be monitored carefully to avoid serious complications.


Occurrence of multiple cysts (MC) involving the jaw is rare. When multiple, it is usually associated with a syndrome. Occurrence of MC without syndromic association is extremely rare. Multiple odontogenic cysts mostly could be odontogenic keratocysts or dentigerous cysts. Odontogenic keratocyst shows involvement of mandible over maxilla, with peak incidence in second and third decade and it is exceedingly rare before 10 years of age. However multiple odontogenic keratocysts found in children are often reflective of nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. Here is a case report which documents multiple jaw cysts involving both the jaws, in three siblings of ages 10, 13 and 17 years with negative parental history. All three reported cases were free of any systemic involvement. As odontogenic keratocyst spreads through bone marrow, destruction is more before any clinical manifestation. Therefore, early detection and intervention are essential in preventing extensive destruction.


Talk Abstract A boundary integral equation (BIE) method is presented for the calculation of the motion of an elastic plate in a two-dimensional setting. A wave maker is placed next to the plate and the model is therefore representative of recent wave tank experiments. The model includes the plate's draught and surge motion, the latter of which is restrained by a spring and damping system. However, the corners created by the non-zero draught produce firstorder singularities in the normal derivative of the Green's function, in addition to the logarithmic singularities in t he Green's function itself. Both of these singularities are separated using Kummer transforms, and the associated boundary integrals are evaluated analytically. The numerical computation of the modified BIEs explicitly decomposes the plate's displacement into its heave, pitch and flexural motions.


This year's RAS National Astronomy Meeting was held at the Open University's Milton Keynes campus from 29 March to 2 April. The event was organised by members of the OU Physics & Astronomy Department and Planetary & Space Science Research Institute. Around 450 people attended the meeting, at which more than 220 talks were presented, along with around 90 posters.


We conceptualize supporter loyalty, evaluate a scale for its measurement, and examine which organizational facets are most suitable to serve as loyalty objects. We conducted a survey-based research (N = 306) to examine the influence of supporter loyalty on donation behaviors (four types), volunteering behaviors (three types), organizational citizenship behaviors (four types), and bequest intentions. The effect of supporter loyalty was significant for one type of donation behaviors, all three volunteering behaviors, three of four organizational citizenship behaviors, and bequest intentions. Evaluating the effect sizes indicates that the strength of supporter loyalty's influence is relatively modest. The organization's mission and the people served by the organization were the most important loyalty objects.


We investigate the idea of having groups of agents coevolving in order to iteratively refine multi-agent plans. This idea we called coevolution is formalized and analyzed in a general purpose and applied to the stochastic control frameworks that use an explicit model of the world,: coevolution can directly be adapted to the frameworks of Multi-Agent Markov Decision Processes (MMDP) and Multi-Agent Partially Observable MDP (MPOMDP). We also consider the decentralized version of MPOMDP (DEC-POMDP) which is known to be a difficult problem,: we show that the coevolution approach can be applied if we restrict the search to memoryless policies. We evaluate our coevolutive approach experimentally on a typical multi-agent problem.


No spacecraft visiting a comet has been equipped with instruments to directly measure the static electric field. However, the electric field can occasionally be estimated indirectly by observing its effects on the ion velocity distribution. We present such observations made by the Rosetta spacecraft on 19 April 2016, 35 km from the nucleus. At this time comet 67P was at a low outgassing rate and the plasma environment was relatively stable. The ion velocity distributions show the cometary ions on the first half of their gyration. We estimate the bulk drift velocity and the gyration speed from the distributions. By using the local measured magnetic field and assuming an E × B drift of the gyrocentre, we get an estimate for the average electric field driving this ion motion. We analyze a period of 13 hr, during which the plasma environment does not change drastically. We find that the average strength of the perpendicular electric field component is 0.21 mV/m. The direction of the electric field is mostly anti‐sunward. This is in agreement with previous results based on different methods.


Although there is much written in regards to voltage breakdown of polymeric insulators under AC and DC conditions, much less is written involving Rexolite©(1422), non-uniform field geometries, and impulse conditions. Yet, in order to design optimized pulsed power systems with some desired degree of reliability, understanding the behavior of this type of insulating system is needed. Specifically, Sandia National Laboratory's ZR project, which will use anode plugs in the vacuum stack (thus increasing the electrical stress in the Rexolite insulators), needs to be able to estimate the reliability of these vacuum stack insulators. In an effort to estimate the insulator's lifetime small scale testing is in progress. Nine samples have been tested so far and at least ten more will be tested. Results from the current testing suggest that the Rexolite "ages" from pulse to pulse, that there is some volume dependence on breakdown strength, and that the electrode-vacuum- insulator interface has an affect on the insulator lifetime.


We demonstrate how a magnetic permeability enhanced metamaterial can enhance the antenna array of a multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) communication system. The performance of a rectangular patch antenna array on a metamaterial substrate was studied relative to a similar array constructed on a conventional FR4 substrate. Differently spaced arrays were analytically compared using array correlation coefficients and mean effective gain as performance metrics. Achievable channel capacity were obtained through channel measurements made on a MIMO testbed. While results show that arrays on conventional FR4 substrates have higher capacity due to gain and efficiency factors, arrays can be made smaller, and have less mutual coupling and correlation coefficients, when using a metamaterial substrate, but the antenna built on the metamaterial substrate can be made more efficient through the use of better host materials. This was reflected in the analysis of both antenna arrays normalized to remove efficiency and gain differences where they showed similar performances. Hence, metamaterial substrates are a cost-effective solution when antenna miniaturization is a key design criteria compared to conventional substrates that achieve the same miniaturization factor without significantly sacrificing performance.


Introduction:The varicose vein is a common chronic vascular disease affecting people with predisposing factors like restricted mobility, pregnancy, obesity, and long-standing jobs. According to CEAP (Clinical, Etiological, Anatomical, and Pathological) classification, there are six categories of CEAP ranging from C0 or no sign to C6 or active ulceration of the vein. Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) is the minimally invasive procedure to manage varicose vein.This study aims to assess cutaneous manifestation and quality of life among participants who underwent RFA in the Dhulikhel Hospital. Methodology:This study is retrospective review of the clinical and surgical report of 171 consecutive number of patients admitted with varicose veins and treated with Radio Frequency Ablation from January 2015 to December 2016. The cutaneous manifestation of all the patients were noted prior to surgery and were followed up in two months to note the manifestation again. Results:The total number of patients were171 with 79 male (46.2%) and 92 female (53.8%). The mean age was 48.9 years (S.D. 6.8). In pre-ablative stage, there were 42.1% patients in C4 stage, 30.4% patients in C3 stage, 16.4% in C2 stage. In post-ablative stage, there were 39.8% patients in C4 stage, 16.4% in C1 and 11.7% in C2 stage. In 53.8% of patients, there was a decrease in C stage postoperatively. Findings of this study are encouraging in terms of C staging after RFA, and it paves the way for further exploration of RFA.


Deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus, collected over 90 years from three California Channel Islands, were examined for evidence of morphological change. Rapid morphological change has occurred in the endemic subspecies from Santa Barbara (P. m. elusus), Anacapa (P. m. anacapae), and Santa Cruz Island (P. m. santacruzae). Data were divided into two temporal classes, 1897–1941 and 1955–1988. Of the 16 morphological characters measured, between five and 10 measures changed significantly (P ⩽ 0.05) with temporal class in each subspecies, and multivariate test statistics were significant (P ⩽ 0.05) for all three subspecies. For each subspecies, depth of braincase, total length, tail length, and hind foot length became smaller over time, except depth of braincase, which became larger in P. m. elusus. The rates of change dramatically exceed those estimated from paleontological records and are even higher than those reported in some experimental selection studies. Temporal change in two characters exceeds differentiation between subspecies. Although changing, each subspecies remained well differentiated, and incorporation of temporal change allowed correct classification of most specimens. Unlike nearly all previous reports of rapid evolution, the changes in these populations were not associated with a founder events or recent introductions. This study demonstrates that rapid phenotypic change can occur in long‐established natural populations and temporal stability of morphological characters in such populations, even over short evolutionary time periods, cannot be assumed.


ABSTRACT Neoliberalism is a contemporary political rationality in Australian public policy that frames how problems are understood and addressed. Neoliberalism also encourages certain kinds of subjectivities, ways of being and behaving in the world. Foucault's theorizing about political rationalities was presented to and discussed with 19 Australian social work practitioners (also fieldwork educators) in two half-day professional development workshops. This small research study indicated that exploring social work practice using political rationalities led to participants asking broader questions post workshop, including 'Why am I thinking about it that way? Why do we see things in a certain way?' Instead of focusing mainly on their own individual behavior or attitudes and assumptions as indicated in the pre-workshop survey, their questions became 'What are we doing in the first place?'' and 'Could I think about it in a different way?' The pre and post surveys and the one-hour focus group interview transcripts were used to analyze the shifts in thinking by workshop participants. This study indicated that post-structural theorizing may add some new and worthwhile concepts to the process of critical reflection, especially on the psychosocial effects of neoliberalism. The implications for teaching critical reflection in social work fieldwork education are outlined.


This research was conducted within the scope of syntax as a branch of grammar, which deals with the ways words are arranged to show connections of parts or components within the phrase level. The research was focusing on analysing heads and modifiers in product and service advertisement of Time magazine. In order to specify the scope of the research, the writer generated two problem statements: what parts of speech occurred and mostly found in heads and modifiers and what are the similarities and differences in structure of modification in product and service advertisement. The writer used quantitative descriptive method in the research. By used this method, the writer counted the data and described the reason of the application and combinations of heads and modifiers in product and service advertisement. The writer limited the modifiers on phrase level. Finally, the writer found that in the parts of speech application, noun functioned as head were the most frequently found in both product and service advertisement. Moreover, she also found that in the parts of speech application, adjective functioned as single modifier was the most frequently found both in product and service advertisement, while multiple modifiers was dominated with noun and adjective. In addition, combinations of heads and modifiers that mostly occured in product and service advertisement was noun-adjective. The similarities were also representing the results of most frequently occurrence both in product and service advertisement, while the difference was only found in the usage of verb functioned as head in service advertisement. These results represented the characteristics of language used in advertisement.


Toll like receptor 7 (TLR7) plays a critical role in systemic autoimmunity. The mechanisms that fine-tune germinal center versus regulatory B cell response in TLR7 mediated autoimmunity remain unclear. Regulatory B cells that produce IL-10 (B10 cells) negatively regulate autoimmunity and infections. We report that TLR7 deficiency in non-autoimmune B6 and autoimmune prone B6.Sle1b mice showed increased IL-10 producing B10 cells. In contrast, B6.Yaa and B6.Sle1b.Yaa mice expressing an extra copy of TLR7 in the Yaa locus showed decreased percentage of B10 cells. TLR7 deficiency in B cells inhibited whereas an extra copy of TLR7 enhanced proliferation and cytokine expression of cocultured antigen specific CD4 T cells. Interestingly, B10 cells displayed highest IFNγR expression compared to other subsets of T and B cells. Whereas B6.Sle1b.Yaa mice lacked B10 cells and marginal zone compartment (MZ), B6.Sle1b.Yaa mice deficient in IFNγR (B6.Sle1b.Yaa/IFNγR−/−) restored these populations. Further, B6.Sle1b.Yaa/IFNγR−/− mice showed diminished spontaneous germinal center (Spt-GC) and serum autoantibody responses, and renal pathology compared to B6.Sle1b.Yaa control mice. Similar results were observed when B6.Sle1b and B6.Sle1b.IFNγR−/− mice were treated with TLR7 ligand, imiquimod. B10 and GC B cells exhibited higher STAT1 and T-bet expression than follicular B cells. Mice deficient in STAT1 and T-bet had significantly reduced GC and IgG2c Ab responses while retained intact B10 and MZ compartments upon imiquimod treatment, contrary to what was observed in wild type mice. Together, these data define the critical differential role of IFNγR, STAT1, and T-bet in GC B cell and B10 cell development in TLR7 mediated autoimmunity.


A variety of methods, including chemical precipitation, biological phosphorus elimination, and adsorption, have been described to effectively eliminate phosphorus (P) in the form of phosphate (PO43–) from wastewater sources. Adsorption is a simple and easy method. It shows excellent removal performance, cost effectiveness, and the substantial option of adsorbent materials. Therefore, it has been recognized as a practical, environmentally friendly, and reliable treatment method for eliminating P. Nanocomposites have been deployed to remove P from wastewater via adsorption. Nanocomposites offer low-temperature alteration, high specific surface area, adjustable surface chemistry, pore size, many adsorption sites, and rapid intraparticle diffusion distances. In this Mini-Review, we have aimed to summarize the last eight years of progress in P removal using graphene-based composites via adsorption. Ultimately, future perspectives have been presented to boost the progress of this encouraging field.


Hybrid drive wind power generation systems (WPGSs) equipped with speed regulating differential mechanisms (SRDMs) have emerged as a promising solution for integrating large-scale wind energy into the power grid without the need for partially- or fully-rated converters. This paper presents a comprehensive study on the dynamic analysis and parameter optimization of the SRDM-based transmission, with the aim of providing a sound foundation for the design and performance improvement of hybrid drive WPGSs. This study first formulates the kinematics, power flow, and mechanical efficiency of the SRDM, and then proposes an effective parameter configuration model for optimizing the speed ratios of the key link units. The objective function is set as the minimum peak power required for speed regulation by the SRDM. Furthermore, to deal with the unique mechanical features such as dual power inputs, continuously variable transmission, and time-varying steering mechanism, an appropriate nonlinear dynamic modeling method of the SRDM transmission is developed. The torsion-translation vibration equations are derived and solved using the Runge-Kutta numerical integral method, considering randomly changing wind speed inputs and time-varying internal/external excitations. Results reveal that the sun gear experiences severe vibrations with the maximal and average vibration displacements of 0.563 mm and 0.112 mm, respectively, in the circumferential direction, while the planet gear exhibits complex frequency responses. Finally, specialized case studies are demonstrated to verify the proposed approaches, showing the satisfactory on-grid operating performance of the proposed SRDM-based WPGSs.


In a paper entitled "The Electric Locomotive," read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1916, the author gave the beginnings of a rational discussion of the riding qualities of electric locomotives, as affected by their fundamental type. It was shown that, aside from all questions of unevenness of track or of the nature of the springing and equalizing arrangements, there might exist in a locomotive an inherent tendency to deviate from a motion of pure progression, which, although perhaps within the control of the wheel flanges and therefore deemed unobjectionable on good track, might give reason for anxiety if poor track were encountered or other external circumstances conspired with inherent tendencies to bring about a condition involving danger of derailment. It is the intention, in the present paper, to discuss the matter further with the view of determining to what extent inherent riding qualities of a design can be brought within the realm of rational investigation. In applying mathematical analysis to such a subject as the present, it is necessary to assume that all parts fulfil their intentions; though, actually, few do so perfectly. The track is assumed smooth, uniform and level; the clearances required by mechanical considerations, except in so far as they enter into the problem, are assumed to be zero; lubricated slides are assumed frictionless; and so on. I t must be postulated that a tendency shown by a machine in which the parts fulfil their intentions will, in general, evince itself in some form in such machines as can actually be constructed. The observed phenomena are likely to reflect the conditions in being less definite, less regular, and more catastrophic than the analysis would indicate; and the results of the present analysis are not expected to possess metrical value of a high order. This, however, is in the nature of the subject and does not detract from the value of the study of tendencies, and the importance to the designer of a knowledge of conditions tending to produce stable running.


Results of 157 PET (positron emission tomography) studies in 102 patients with known or presumed intracranial (ic.) tumors are reviewed. In 106 studies [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) and in 51 cases [11C]-methionine (MET) was used as the PET tracer. CT and MRI imaging accompanied the PET studies in each case. Results of pre- and/or postoperative studies are compared. PET was concluded to have a fundamental role in the precise differential diagnosis in case of ic. space-occupying pathologies since it is capable of providing information that is not obtainable or may be equivocal based solely on CT and/or MRI investigations. However, it is also mandatory to be aware of the limits of PET.


To get maximum output power from a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG), it is essential to extract maximum mechanical power from the wind turbine and to minimize generator losses. The goal of maximum power tracking and minimum loss is usually achieved through vector control of rotor current. In other words, the d-axis and q-axis rotor currents Idr and Iqr must be properly controlled as wind speed changes with time. In this paper, an analytical approach is developed to determine proper rotor current commands Idr* and Iqr* which give maximum mechanical power and minimum loss based on the measured generator speed. The proposed analytical approach is more efficient than the exhaustive search approach proposed in a previous study and is, therefore, more suitable for real-time performance improvements. In addition, core loss component, which was usually neglected in previous studies, is included in the DFIG model in order to have more accurate results. The effectiveness of the derived analytical formulas is demonstrated by an example.


A method is described for the production of stereo‐pair images in the tandem scanning reflected light microscope in which depths within the field imaged are coded in colour. The two images are recorded photographically whilst focusing vertically through the layer which is to be imaged. A horizontal component of motion is applied at the same time, but in opposing senses for the two images. Colour coding for depth is obtained by changing colour filters so that reflective features lying within different depth bands are imaged in corresponding colours.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the combined use of strain elastography (SE) and superb microvascular imaging (SMI) with grayscale ultrasound (US) according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) classification for differentiating benign from malignant breast masses.

METHODS
In total, 166 patients with 177 breast masses categorized as BI-RADS 3-5 were included in the study between April 2016 to September 2017. US, SMI and SE were performed to evaluate each mass. The following outcome measures were compared between US and the combinations of US, SMI, and SE: area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity.

RESULTS
The addition of SMI and SE to US increased the AUC from 0.816 to 0.948 (P < .001); and the specificity from 43.7% to 80.8% (P < .001), without a significant decrease in the sensitivity. Meanwhile, 66.1% (37 of 56) of the benign masses that were indicated for unnecessary biopsy were correctly changed to follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS
The addition SMI and SE to US could improve the diagnostic performance in differentiating benign from malignant breast masses compared to US alone. When US was combined with SMI and SE, the specificity were increased, thus significantly reducing unnecessary biopsies.


The syntactic structure of a sentence often manifests quite clearly the predicate-argument structure and relations of grammatical subordination. But scope dependencies are not so transparent. As a result, many systems for representing the semantics of sentences have ignored scoping or generated scopings with mechanisms that have often been inexplicit as to the range of scopings they choose among or profligate in the scopings they allow.This paper presents, along with proofs of some of its important properties, an algorithm that generates scoped semantic forms from unscoped expressions encoding predicate-argument structure. The algorithm is not profligate as are those based on permutation of quantifiers, and it can provide a solid foundation for computational solutions where completeness is sacrificed for efficiency and heuristic efficacy.


ABSTRACT The abundance of freely available, scientific big data sets can facilitate discovery-based authentic science projects saving time, money, and effort. This is especially true of remotely sensed data, as there is global coverage of Earth's surface spanning several decades that can be used for a multitude of applications. In this article, I present three different case studies in which a project-based learning model was successfully integrated into undergraduate courses using big data to support authentic science. I illustrate this process, its implementation, and a timeline for use in both introductory and advanced undergraduate remote sensing courses. By participating in these projects, students learn the skills to link ground observation data with large, public-domain geospatial datasets to answer site- to landscape-level questions about the natural and built environment. In their multiscalar analysis of environmental data, students are forced to acknowledge the different yet overlapping operational scales of various social and ecological processes that drive landscape changes affecting Earth's resources. Student feedback from these courses has been positive, with participants indicating the projects gave them practical experience using geospatial technologies in real-world applications in natural resource management. From a teaching and learning perspective, the benefits of such an undertaking far outweigh the challenges, and I encourage others to consider a shift from traditional classroom practices to this more rewarding model of discovery.


The article is devoted to the review of stylistic, grammatical and lexical features of foreign business communication in modern financial and economic area. The functional styles that have developed as a result of social and financial dynamic changes were analyzed. In order to significantly consider and distinguish the main competencies of business communication, an analysis of various approaches to the classification of given competencies was carried out. Globalization processes, the interaction of different cultures, the interaction of new ideas in education provide the dynamic development of a new multi-level system, where such competencies are vital. Since in modern financial and economic society the paperwork of legal relations is in great demand, regulation of various aspects of public beings and hence the necessity of a book language for processing business papers, official and personal correspondence. The expansion of the social functions of English, the scope of its usage, importance of the standardization of terminology system of many areas of life, to analyze the flow of cross-borrowings that filled Ukrainian-speaking community, to develop the culture of communication that affects to the quality of speech. Key economic and political changes that took place at the turn of centuries, the progress of science and technology, the development of new technologies resulted in emerges of new concepts and realities for which various lexical units are used. In the context of dynamic transformational development of the world economy, in the context of coexistence of the various economic theories, the professional vocabulary of financial and economic area is becoming more and more relevant and significant both in formal and informal communication.


Tin oxide (SnO2) nanocrystals (NCs) based phosphor was synthesized by a green chemistry microwave-assisted hydrothermal method at different reactor pressures. The x-ray diffraction analysis showed that a single rutile SnO2 phase with a tetragonal lattice structure was formed. The photoluminescence emission was measured for He–Cd laser excitation at 325 nm and it showed a broad band emission from 400 to 800 nm for all the synthesized reactor pressures. The broad emission spectra were due to the creation of various oxygen and tin defects as confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data. The origin of the emission in the SnO2 NCs is discussed with the help of an energy band diagram. Analysis suggests that the visible emission of SnO2 NCs is due to a transition of an electron from a level close to the conduction band edge to a deeply trapped hole in the SnO2 NCs. The NCs were found to be suitable for warm near white light emission device applications.


In this study, a multiwavelength tunable ring-cavity erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) based on a Lyot filter was presented. For the proposed Lyot filter, a comb filter consisting of an EDF-polarization-maintaining fiber (EDF-PMF), a polarization controller (PC), and a circulator with four ports was used to suppress the mode competition. The light transmission direction was guaranteed by the circulator. For the proposed fiber laser, tunable single, dual, triple, quadruple, quintuple, sextuple, and septuple wavelengths were realized. A single-wavelength laser output with an optical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of up to 30.56 dB was realized, and a tuning range of 1590.54 to 1599.54 nm was achieved by tuning the PC. The stability of the single, dual, triple and quadruple-wavelength center power fluctuations was less than 0.05, 0.98, 5.07, and 7.71 dB respectively. When the laser was operated in the multiwavelength condition, the SNR was more than 20.97 dB. The proposed erbium-doped fiber laser is suitable for fiber-sensing system applications.


A polymerase chain reaction-based diagnostic test (PCR) has been developed for amplifying a region and obtaining a 292 bp product by using specific 16S rDNA primers for the rapid and precise identification of the causative agent (Ralstonia solanacearum) of bacterial withering of potato in asymptomatic tubers. The bacteria was isolated from potato tubers and banana fruit using culturing techniques and immunological and molecular ELISA-NCM and PCR tests, respectively. PCR detected the presence of R. solanacearum on asymptomatic tubers by contrast with ELISA-NCM which did not detect this pathogen. Analysing random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) led to differentiating and grouping R. solanacearum by geographical region and bacterial strain, suggesting that differences exist amongst existing collections according to their place of origin, presenting high genetic variability. The results showed that PCR is a sensitive and specific test for detecting R. solanacearum and can therefore be implemented as a method for controlling this pathogen in seed production and certification programmes in areas free of the disease. The pathogen has been shown to be genetically heterogeneous according to the samples' geographical area thereby hampering control in areas of Colombia experiencing phytosanitary problems with R. solanacearum in potato crops

 Key words: bacterial withered, moko, PCR-16S rADN, ELISA-NCM, PCR-RAPD.


Asymptotic stability of finite-dimensional linear continuous-time periodic (FDLCP) systems is studied by harmonic analysis. It is first shown that stability can be examined with what we call the harmonic Lyapunov equation. Another necessary and sufficient stability criterion is developed via this generalized Lyapunov equation, which reduces the stability test into that of an approximate FDLCP model whose transition matrix can be determined explicitly. By extending the Gerschgorin theorem to linear operators on the linear space l/sub 2/, yet another disc-group criterion is derived, which is only sufficient. Stability of the lossy Mathieu equation is analyzed as a numerical example to illustrate the results.


Abstract
Considerable research on the experiences of contemporary workers theorizes everyday acts of resistance as inconsequential, emphasizing their limited impact on overarching structures of inequality. This chapter offers a different perspective. Drawing on a feminist interpretivist paradigm, I argue that such characterizations of everyday resistance fail to account for the ways in which workers themselves make sense of power dynamics at work. Incorporating such accounts complicates conventional understandings of low-income workers engaged in everyday resistance as either dupes, as is often suggested by academic research, or schemers, as is frequently articulated by the self-perceived targets of worker rule-breaking – their managers. Based on 10 months of ethnographic observation and interviews with nurses and nursing assistants in a long-term care facility, I demonstrate that while workers recognize the constraints within which they act, they nonetheless make sense of their acts of everyday resistance as defiant. The realities of precarious labor and family responsibility do not combine to prevent resistance at work for these women; they combine to transform it. Asserting their agency through a series of relatively mundane and covert acts that gain them autonomy and dignity, workers readily acknowledge their policy refusals while at the same time recognizing the factors that shape them. Describing subversions of authority as strategic collaborations, the constrained agency these workers articulate hinges on their own and their coworkers' identities not just as workers, but in many cases as low-income working mothers.


Environmental education plays a fundamental role in the fight against climate change and the transformation towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly socio-economic model. This study shows how to evaluate the effectiveness of a program for compulsory education students in Spain. The subject of the program focused on the effects of climate change in relation to our consumption model and the generation of waste. A mixed research methodology is proposed that combines a quantitative (10 items on the Likert scale, n = 714) and qualitative approach (category construction and analysis on open-ended questions). A study of the reliability and validity of the measure was carried out through a categorical principal component analysis (CATPCA). The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) correlates the gender and educational level of the students to the learning acquired in the program. For example, the results show how students are convinced that adopting minimal pro-environmental habits (turning off lights and unplugging electronics, choosing public transport to get around, or using solar and wind power to produce electricity) can help mitigate climate change. The conclusions show the difficulties and challenges of education for responsible consumption, emphasizing the development of environmental education programs for reducing the effects of climate change.


After ankle and knee, the elbow is the most frequent joint affected by haemophilic arthropathy. The objective of this retrospective single centre study is to evaluate the results of treatment of elbow arthropathy after failed conservative therapy. Patients, methods: In 21 consecutive patients, 11 radiosynoviortheses (RSO), four arthroscopic and six open synovectomies were performed, among them four with additional resection of the radial head. The mean duration of follow-up was 4.8 (RSO) and 5.3 years (surgery), respectively. Pain status (visual analogue scale, VAS), bleeding frequency, range of motion (ROM) as well as patient satisfaction were evaluated. Results: Both, RSO and surgical synovectomy, achieved a significant reduction of pain and bleeding frequency (p < 0.05). Surgical synovectomies were associated with a marked yet not statistically significant increase of postoperative ROM. Radial head resection improved forearm rotation in all cases. No complications occurred. 20 out of 21 patients were satisfied or highly satisfied with the result of the treatment and would undergo the respective procedure again. Conclusion: Due to the effectiveness and safety RSO is considered to be the primary treatment option in haemophilic arthropathy of the elbow after failed conservative therapy. Arthroscopic synovectomy should be considered if RSO shows inadequate effect or in the presence of contraindications. Open synovectomy with resection of the radial head yields good results in the case of advanced arthropathy with radial head impingement.


An efficient numerical method for determining the spectral characteristics and spatial distribution of the field of a spheroidal whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonator interacting with a dielectric nanoparticle is presented. The developed approach is based on a combination of T-matrix formalism applied to a single resonator with a dipole approximation for the field of the nanoparticle. The method is illustrated by computation of the scattered field of the resonator-particle system illuminated by an incident field in the form of a single WGM mode of TE or TM polarization mimicking the excitation of the resonances by a tapered fiber. Our calculations show that even a very small (less than 0.1%) deviation of the resonator's shape from an ideal sphere renders spherical approximation invalid. They also confirm that analytical resonant approximation for spheroidal resonators developed previously gives a reasonable qualitative description of the spectral characteristics of the resonator-particle system. It was found, however, that corrections to the resonant approximation are significant enough for realistic nominally spherical resonators to be taken into account for accurate analysis of the experimental data.


It is possible that women of certain ethnic backgrounds, specifically those more prone to keloid formation, are also more prone to the insertion site complications of levonorgesterel implants. Failure to recognize the potential for this complication and to provide adequate guidance to the patient could result in unwarranted cost and complications. It is possible that intralesional steroid injection at the first sign of a local reaction will minimize the formation of a keloid; however, specific research will need to be done before a change in practice can be recommended.


In a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of tyrosine-absorbed Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus vaccine no improvement was seen in 45 patients with asthma sensitive to house dust mite. In particular there was no significant improvement in symptom scores, spirometry, and skin and nasal challenge test results. Some patients in other studies have benefited from doses of vaccine much stronger than those now commercially available, but the incidence of side effects has also been high.


Gastrointestinal (GI) parasitism is the leading cause of death and decreased production in goats. At least 48% of farms in the southeast have parasites that are resistant to all classes of dewormers. While there is no one-size-fits-all recommendation for parasite control, the information in this fact sheet is provided for on-farm use. Contact your veterinarian for specific recommendations. Information was provided by Dr. Sarah Reuss of the UF Large Animal Medicine Service. This 2-page fact sheet was written by Sarah Reuss and published by the UF Department of Animal Sciences, February 2014.


Abstract. The use of multispectral imagery for monitoring biodiversity in ecosystems is becoming widespread. A key parameter of forest ecosystems is the distribution of dead wood. This work addresses the segmentation of individual dead tree crowns in nadir-view aerial infrared imagery. While dead vegetation produces a distinct spectral response in the near infrared band, separating adjacent trees within large swaths of dead stands remains a challenge. We tackle this problem by casting the segmentation task within the active contour framework, a mathematical formulation combining learned models of the object's shape and appearance as prior information. We explore the use of a deep convolutional generative adversarial network (DCGAN) in the role of the shape model, replacing the original linear mixture-of-eigenshapes formulation. Also, we rely on probabilities obtained from a deep fully convolutional network (FCN) as the appearance prior. Experiments conducted on manually labeled reference polygons show that the DCGAN is able to learn a low-dimensional manifold of tree crown shapes, outperforming the eigenshape model with respect to the similarity of the reproduced and referenced shapes on about 45 % of the test samples. The DCGAN is successful mostly for less convex shapes, whereas the baseline remains superior for more regular tree crown polygons.


In this paper, we propose a Bayesian sampling solution to the noisy blind separation of generalized hyperbolic signals. Generalized hyperbolic models, introduced by Barndorff-Nielsen in 1977, represent a parametric family able to cover a wide range of real signal distributions. The alternative construction of these distributions as a normal mean variance (continuous) mixture leads to an efficient implementation of the Markov chain Monte Carlo method applied to source separation. The incomplete data structure of the generalized hyperbolic distribution is indeed compatible with the hidden variable nature of the source separation problem. Both overdeterminate and underdeterminate noisy mixtures are solved by the same algorithm without a prewhitening step. Our algorithm involves hyperparameters estimation as well. Therefore, it can be used, independently, to fitting the parameters of the generalized hyperbolic distribution to real data


The objective of the study is to find the key organizational factors that impact on digital transformation projects, creating thus a social value especially during the current pandemic crisis where many changes have been made in the ways that organizations operate. An interdisciplinary approach was used and comparison among selected European Union countries where digital governance has been applied to public-to-citizen transactions. A quantitative survey was also conducted by distributing online questionnaires to middle and senior executives of public organizations in Greece. A total of 151 questionnaires were answered and their analysis was performed using the SPSS statistical tool. The results showed that the internal factors that influence the adoption of digital governance and its successful implementation include the technological factors that compose the quality of services and mainly the organizational ones such as training and evaluation of human resources, leadership, organizational strategy, and the creation of digital culture.


It is possible to construct situations (with a suitable kind of setting) in which one speaker utters "This is tasty" and another one responds with "That's not true." The aim of this paper is to motivate the idea that typical (broadly) expressivist accounts of taste disagreements are unable to explain such situations (although some of them can successfully explain disagreements in which another kind of dissent phrase — like "Nuh-uh" — is employed). This is because utterances of "That's not true" are typically used to ascribe falsehood to propositions. Taste expressivism has it, however, that when one utters "This is tasty," one typically manifests her evaluative attitude (which is non-propositional) toward something rather than describes what attitude she bears toward that thing. Another aim of the paper consists in proposing an alternative account of taste disagreements. It is close to taste expressivism in the case of disagreements in which speakers respond with "Nuh-uh" but departs from it in situations in which they respond with "That's not true." The account is developed within a contextualist framework according to which taste utterances express contextually enriched propositions that contain judges who evaluate things as tasty or not.


We consider the problem of caching web pages with the objective of minimizing latency of access. Demands for web domains/pages are computed using access statistics; the frequency with which these statistics change is considerably longer than the frequency of page requests. We model caches as being constrained by total size and total number of ports: each cache can handle only a limited request rate and can store only a limited number of domains (eg. modelling bounded update traffic). When the caches have fixed locations, we present a constant factor approximation to the optimum average latency while exceeding capacity constraints by a logarithmic factor. We demonstrate improved results in the special case where no replication of pages is allowed. In the alternate model where we are allowed to place our own caches in the network for a cost, we produce a constant approximation to the weighted sum of cost and average latency. Finally, we consider several other variants of the problem which might arise in practice.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the location of thyroid-related nerves by nerve monitoring and demonstrate the usefulness of Nerve Integrity Monitor in thyroid surgery.

STUDY DESIGN
Descriptive study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
Department of General Surgery, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, Turkey, from February 2017 to January 2020.

METHODOLOGY
Patients, who underwent thyroid surgery, were evaluated for age, gender, preoperative diagnosis, type of surgery, histopathological result, postoperative hoarseness, and postoperative vocal cord examinations. The vagus nerve, recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), and superior laryngeal nerve (SLN) were mapped by nerve monitoring.

RESULTS
A total of 328 patients were included in this study. On both sides, the vagus nerve was most often located in the posterior of the internal carotid artery and internal jugular vein and less frequently anterior to this vein. A total of 303 right RLNs and 305 left RLNs were verified. The SLN was visualised or motor activity was verified by nerve monitoring on the right side in 181 patients and on the left side in 179 patients. The SLN's location was classified most frequently as type I and least frequently as type IIb on the right and left sides.

CONCLUSION
The reported variations, the experience of the surgeon, and these anatomical markers cannot be adequate in preventing nerve injuries. Furthermore, the variations can be identified more clearly peroperatively with the use of nerve monitoring.

KEY WORDS
Laryngeal nerves, Nerve mapping, Nerve monitoring, Nervus vagus, Thyroid surgery, Zuckerkandl tubercles.


Through the energy method proposed in the previous parts of this study, it is possible to predict chip formation and cutting force for a single point tool of arbitrary geometry. By using the predicted results together with an assumption made on the stress distribution on the tool face, the temperature distribution within chip and tool is obtained through a numerical analysis. A characteristic equation of crater wear of carbide tool is derived theoretically and verified experimentally. Computer simulation of crater wear development is then carried out by using the characteristic equation, and the predicted distributions of the stress and the temperature.


The complex network dynamics of the Internet is mainly influenced by user requirement behaviors, and can be statistic in time series. A large number of complex networks, both natural and artificial, share the presence of highly heterogeneous, scale-free degree distributions and small-world phenomena. This paper analyzed the empirical collective behavior of user requirements in a region, and discovered that the frequency and the in-degree distributions of bipartite networks constructed by user visiting web sites follows the power-law, and the exponent is between 1.7 and 1.8. A novel two-tier model, the virtual resource networks (VRN) and physics topology networks (PTN), is proposed to study the influences on the Internet collective behaviors. The mapping process mechanisens of VRN to PTN simulates how the dynamic behaviors of resource network influence the internet physics topology networks. The power-law characteristics of VRN can bring forth the result that the phase transition critical point moves left and network performance is more incapable. The distributed mapping process of VRN to PTN was constructed for the small subset with the high degree nodes, then the phase transition critical point of PTN moves right and the network performance is improved obviously.


A computerized database generated from the literature on cytogenetic studies in couples experiencing repeated pregnancy losses has been set up at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. At the present time, it contains data on 22,199 couples (44,398 individuals). The statistical analyses showed a relationship between the distribution of the chromosome abnormalities and the number of abortions. An uneven distribution of the chromosomal structural rearrangements according to the sex of the carrier was found (P less than 0.05). Overall, 4.7% of the couples ascertained for two or more spontaneous abortions included one carrier. It also appeared that only translocations (both reciprocal and Robertsonian) and inversions were associated with a higher risk of pregnancy wastage. Therefore, genetic counselling should be offered to these couples and investigations performed on their extended families.


In this paper, we focus on the design and evaluation of new transmit beamforming algorithms for the multiple-input single-output (MISO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The OFDM technique is very effective in combating frequency selective fading since it converts the broadband channel into several parallel flat fading channels. However, to implement transmit beamforming, the channel state information on each individual subcarrier has to be conveyed from the receiver to transmitter. In order to reduce the channel feedback requirement in the OFDM system, we take the time and frequency domain correlations of the channel fading into consideration. Based on our successive beamforming (SBF) technique, we develop several classes of feedback algorithms for the OFDM systems. These new algorithms use the knowledge from the previous frame or neighboring subcarrier to aid the beamforming codebook design for the current subcarrier. Through numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed SBF algorithms require very little channel feedback, yet they provide better performance than that of the other existing OFDM beamformers


Collective investment vehicles (CIVs) are specifically addressed in the 2010 update of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Tax Convention (MTC) and the commentary thereto. Attention is paid to the tax treaty position of CIVs in an international context. The main question is whether a CIV is treaty-eligible and, if not, whether the investors in the CIV are allowed to claim some kind of treaty protection in lieu of the CIV. In this paper, the author addresses the specific approaches laid down in the 2010 commentary to the OECD MTC to cope with the problems that arise if the normal rules are applied to CIVs.


Designing a subsea production system is a task that takes several months to complete by an experienced and multidisciplinary team of engineers. In this work, a computerized hybrid method to find optimal designs and support subsea production system design using a genetic algorithm combined with a gradient search method is proposed.
 The genetic algorithm is formulated to optimize the structure of the production system, while the gradient method solves the continuous non-linear variables related to flow rates, reservoir deliverability, equipment capacities, and others. The study case is based on the Goliat field. This hybrid approach is compared with an exact method.
 The hybrid method successfully finds subsea configurations that maximize the net present value in shorter running times when compared to an exact method. The methodology presented provides an advancement toward modelling and automated decision-making in subsea production system design.


Keyword search has been the major form of retrieval method in information retrieval system, and has become an important way for novice to explore data-centric XML and relational databases (RDB). Recent years have witnessed many approaches proposed for keyword search over XML and RDB. However, those approaches cannot intelligently exploit hidden semantics in XML or RDB, and thus encounter serious problems in processing keyword queries. In this paper, we point out mismatches between query answers returned by existing approaches and the common expectations in keyword search over XML and RDB. We analyze these mismatches and discover that the main reasons are due to the unawareness of semantics of object, relationship and attribute in databases. To capture these semantics, we construct Object Relationship (OR) data graph for XML and Object Relationship Mixed (ORM) data graph for RDB, and propose an intelligent keyword search based on OR and ORM data graph model to retrieve more informative answers. Finally, to further facilitate the usability of keyword search, we also show our ongoing work to enhance the expressive power of keyword queries. Particularly, we 1) enable users to explicitly indicate their search intentions by relation, attribute and tag names in keyword queries; 2) handle recursive relationships and identifier-dependency relationships (IDD) in databases; and 3) incorporate aggregate function into keyword queries so that users can explore databases with aggregate queries.


CT is a project to reconstruct an existing urban space as a 3D information city on the web. A visitor can browse the city with "building wall browsers" and communicate with other visitors.


PrBaCo2−xFexO5+δ solid solution is investigated in order to understand the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) and water formation occurring at the H+-SOFC cathode. Careful attention is paid to the study of the physical properties as a function of composition by Thermogravimetry Analysis (TGA), Mossbauer spectroscopy, electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements, with the aim to establish the correlation existing with the ORR activity for these Mixed Ionic Electronic Conductors (MIEC). The oxygen diffusion coefficients are determined by Electrical Conductivity Relaxation (ECR) and Isotopic Exchange Depth Profile (IEDP) coupled with Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) methods. An electrochemical study is then carried out and shows that the amount of oxygen vacancies is the most influential parameter. Indeed, it allows some hydration of PrBaCo2O5+δ oxide and the formation of protonic defects that can induce protonic diffusivity in these MIEC oxides.


Background and objective: Indeed the development of health promotion pro - grams in the community would result in ineffective solutions if social and cul - tural backgrounds are not considered. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the level of social health and factors influencing the staff employees of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran. Methods: The study was a descriptive- analytical one in which 257 employees of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran were selected by strati - fied random sampling. In order to measure the social health of the employees, Keyes social health questionnaire was used. This questionnaire measured five social health components- social cohesion, social prosperity, social acceptance, participation and social adaptation. The data analysis was conducted using Non-parametric correlation (c2) and Kendall's test by SPSS 20 with the signifi - cance level of 0.05. Results: Most of the participants (51.7%) had medium social health, and 17.8% had low social health. There was a significant correlation between social health and gender, education and accommodations (p < 0.05); but no significant re - lationship was found between social health and age, marital and employment status. Conclusion: Health system will have a good performance if the issues and needs of employees are considered in designing and managing it. The results of this study showed the importance of health education and health promotion intervention in the field of social health among staff, especially the staff of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran. Paper Type: Research Article.


In this work we focus on the problem of colorization for image compression. Since color information occupies a large proportion of the total storage size of an image, a method that can predict accurate color from its grayscale version can produce dramatic reduction in image file size. But colorization for compression poses several challenges. First, while colorization for artistic purposes simply involves predicting plausible chroma, colorization for compression requires generating output colors that are as close as possible to the ground truth. Second, many objects in the real world exhibit multiple possible colors. Thus, to disambiguate the colorization problem some additional information must be stored to reproduce the true colors with good accuracy. To account for the multimodal color distribution of objects we propose a deep tree-structured network that generates multiple color hypotheses for every pixel from a grayscale picture (as opposed to a single color produced by most prior colorization approaches). We show how to leverage the multimodal output of our model to reproduce with high fidelity the true colors of an image by storing very little additional information. In the experiments we show that our proposed method outperforms traditional JPEG color coding by a large margin, producing colors that are nearly indistinguishable from the ground truth at the storage cost of just a few hundred bytes for high-resolution pictures!


During last 20 years, Sicily has been affected by an increasing sequence of extreme weather events that have produced, besides huge damages to both environment and territory, the death of hundreds of people together with the evacuation of thousands of residents, which have permanently lost their houses. The aim of this paper is to describe the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and to report findings obtained, through this model, in a relevant case study. On purpose a WRF Local Area Model (LAM) has been used to re-analyze the heavy rainfall occurred during the night of October 10th, 2015 in Sicily. The re-analysis of this case study, shows how a LAM, suitably configured for the complex orography of Sicily, is able to forecast this kind of extreme weather events. This study clearly shows how forecasts obtained using this kind of model can be very useful to reduce the hydrogeological impact of extreme events on the environment and on territory.


Huntingdon's disease (HD) is a fatal genetic brain disorder. Predictive genetic testing has revealed early cognitive deficits in asymptomatic patients, in particular impairment in recognition memory. The perirhinal cortex is involved in recognition memory and activity-dependent decrements in neuronal firing are believed to underlie this cognitive process.
In this study, the R6/1 (CAG115) mouse model of HD was used to study changes in perirhinal synaptic plasticity. Brain slices were prepared according to UK legislation. Field potentials were recorded from layer 11/111 in response to stimulation of layer 1 .....[continues].


The Savannah River Site in Aiken, SC has been able to create/save thousands of jobs through the Recovery Act. These are the stories of just a few of the new hires.


This study reports the cloning, sequencing, and functional characterization of novel simian homologs of CCR5 from three species of primates (Papio anubis anubis; Colobus guereza and Cercopithecus neglectus ) which are indigenous to East Africa. Identity at the amino acid level to human CCR5 was 97% for molecules from all three primate species. Functional characterization of these coreceptors was performed using a sensitive gene reporter-based cell-cell fusion assay. Despite a high degree of sequence similarity, significant differences in the degree of M-tropic HIV envelope-specific fusion generated by individual coreceptor molecules were demonstrated. Remarkably, two simian CCR5 molecules (Colobus guereza and Cercopithecus neglectus) demonstrated an increased efficiency of HIV-mediated fusion as compared with the human CCR5 molecule. These results provide further evidence that simian CCR5 molecules differ in their ability to facilitate HIV-1 entry, and may have bearing on the investigation of new simian models for HIV-1 pathogenesis.


The ϕ-Λ(1520) interference effect in the γp→K^{+}K^{-}p reaction has been measured for the first time in the energy range from 1.673 to 2.173 GeV. The relative phases between ϕ and Λ(1520) production amplitudes were obtained in the kinematic region where the two resonances overlap. The measurement results support strong constructive interference when K^{+}K^{-} pairs are observed at forward angles but destructive interference for proton emission at forward angles. Furthermore, the observed interference effect does not account for the sqrt[s]=2.1  GeV bump structure in forward differential cross sections for ϕ photoproduction. This fact suggests possible exotic structures such as a hidden-strangeness pentaquark state, a new Pomeron exchange, or rescattering processes via other hyperon states.


This study examined the factors influencing the perception of pain among clients attending the pain and palliative care unit of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin. The population comprised of various clients with terminal illnesses such as cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), severe heart or kidney failure etc who experience pain, and attending the unit for treatment and follow-up care. Random sampling technique was used in selecting one hundred and five (105) subjects for the study. Questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection, and was drawn in line with a Likert's rating scale. The result showed that level of awareness, age and educational level influenced pain perception. Chi-square was used to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that cultural practices had significant influence on perception of pain. Based on the results, it was recommended that regular seminars, and continuing education programmes should be organized for training nurses on pain management. Palliative nursing care should be recognized as a speciality in nursing.

 Key words: Hospice care, palliative nursing care, pain, pain perception, terminal illness.


Despite significant advances in chemotherapy, the overall prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains extremely poor. HCC targeting strategies were combined with the tumor cell cytotoxicity of oncolytic viruses (OVs) to develop a more efficient and selective therapeutic system. OVs were coated with a polygalactosyl-b-agmatyl diblock copolymer (Gal32-b-Agm29), with high affinity for the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) expressed on the liver cell surface, exploiting the electrostatic interaction of the positively charged agmatine block with the negatively charged adenoviral capsid surface. The polymer coating altered the viral particle diameter (from 192 to 287 nm) and zeta-potential (from –24.7 to 23.3 mV) while hiding the peculiar icosahedral symmetrical OV structure, as observed by TEM. Coated OVs showed high potential therapeutic value on the human hepatoma cell line HepG2 (cytotoxicity of 72.4% ± 4.96), expressing a high level of ASGPRs, while a lower effect was attained with ASPGR-negative A549 cell line (cytotoxicity of 54.4% ± 1.59). Conversely, naked OVs showed very similar effects in both tested cell lines. Gal32-b-Agm29 OV coating enhanced the infectivity and immunogenic cell death program in HepG2 cells as compared to the naked OV. This strategy provides a rationale for future studies utilizing oncolytic viruses complexed with polymers toward effective treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.


Osteoid osteoma is a small, benign osteoblastic bone tumor most commonly found in long bones, such as the femur or tibia. Osteoid osteomas account for roughly 10% of all benign bone tumors and characteristically present with dull aching pain, worse at night, and often relieved with NSAIDS. They typically present in young individuals, most commonly between the ages of seven and 25 years and in a male to female ratio of 3:1. An understanding of its classic radiographic appearance is necessary for diagnosis.


If your home water comes from a public water supply, it has been tested and meets EPA standards for drinking water. If you use a private well, however, you are responsible for assuring that the water is safe to drink. This means that you should periodically have your water tested, make sure your well is in proper condition without faulty well caps or seals, and identify and remove potential sources of contamination to your well such as leaking septic systems or surface contamination. With a private well, you are also responsible for any treatment your water may need if it contains harmful pollutants or contaminants that affect the taste, odor, corrosiveness or hardness of the water. This fact sheet discusses different types of water treatment systems available to homeowners. Addressing the source of the problem is often less costly in the long run than installing and maintaining a water system. For more information on identifying pollutant sources, problems with your well, or help in testing your well water, see the references at the end of this fact sheet. There are many types of water treatment systems available. No one type of treatment can address every water quality problem, so make sure you purchase the type of equipment that can effectively treat your particular water quality issue. The table below can help direct you to the right solution for your problem.


Programmers differ in how they generate source codes. The study of these differences, programming habits, helps us to select and train programmers. This has been studied before and specially among student programmers. To the extent we know, such a study has not been carried out in Iran. To fill this gap and gather local knowledge, in the present research, we distributed an individual difference questionnaire among 52 programmers in various Iranian software companies. Using the collected data, we studied the influence of age, gender, experience and personality on four problem solving strategies: top-down, bottom-up, breadth-first, and depthfirst. We analyzed the data statistically and found that Iranian programmers have a preference towards specific programming strategies as mentioned before in other studies. Besides, age, gender, experience, and personality traits affect their preferences.