The research work dealt with biofuel production by extracting lipids from microalgae through trans-esterification process. Now a days third generation biofuel has attained attention world wide to cope up the sharply depleting natural sources of energy. Algae have acquired great consideration as a renewable energy originator due to their synthetic compounds based on lipids extracted from them. Several species of algae had been trialed to investigate the ability of an alga to produce biofuel, under these studies Euglena polymorpha had been tried to produce the biofuel after its invitro culturing in the laboratory. Euglena polymorpha delineated maximal cell growth rate after a week of the culturing. Suitable pH for cell flocculation catalogued 10 at room temperature. In the present analysis, 59.27% of biodiesel was outturned from 0.752 g/l had 29.05% oil contents from the alga. The crude lipid contents of E. polymorpha was found to be 16.33 ± 1.21% of total the dry biomass. Variety of lipids with different saturation magnitudes have been found in the said E. Polymorpha . Saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were retrieved from the experimental alga, plenteous among the monounsaturated fatty acids was Oleaic acid with 19.7% and the least ample was saturated, Methyl caprylate. All the extricated lipids were either saturated or in low of unsaturation magnitude except Linoleic acid which was C19:2 and no polyunsaturated was detected in the scrutinized lipid profile. These lipids were trans-esterified into biodiesel by the process of esterification. Biodiesel procured from the extracted lipids has density 0.816 kg/l and viscosity 3.4 Pa.s at 40 0 C. Analysis of saturated fatty acid/Mono-unsaturated fatty acid/Di unsaturated fatty acid revealed that E. Polymorpha could be ideal source for harnessing of biodiesel because it holds predominantly saturated fatty acids and mono-unsaturated fatty acid in most high relative percentages. Furthermore commercial applications must be tried to evaluate its capacity to produce biofuel at the large scale projects.


The paper draws on recent developments in participatory research to design and test an approach to planning farmer participatory research, which explicitly involves a range of institutional actors in the process. Their different perspectives contribute to a shared understanding of the needs, wishes and abilities of different institutions and members of rural communities to contribute to the research process. The methodology has emerged from experience in a range of countries. It was explored during a project planning workshop in India and further insights are provided from work in Bangladesh and Bolivia. This experience suggests that the method may be particularly useful in participatory research planning, where a range of different institutions are involved and where partnerships are being built between non-government, government and/or academic organisations. The method provides tools and a process for effectively demonstrating differences in the expectations and contributions of different stakeholders and a means for negotiating acceptance of these. The process also helps to establish mutual perceptions. The paper emphasises the value of deconstructing the 'outsider' perspective as projects work towards institutional collaboration. Anna Lawrence can be contacted at the Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Department, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AL, UK Julian Barr can be contacted at the Centre for Land Use and Water Resources Research, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK Graham Haylor can be contacted at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK


Impending changes in Australian education brings forth the expected transformation of teachers working in schools. Three key points for transforming Australian schools has been identified by Gillard (2008a) including the improvement of quality teaching, ensuring every child benefits and mandating transparency and accountability. A number of initiatives were considered to assist with such reform including the implementation of a Digital Education Revolution, the move to the Australian Curriculum and the implementation of a National Framework for Professional Standards for Teaching. As these transformative initiatives are rolled out to teachers across Australia, the equitable access to PD to support all teachers, regardless of their geographical location, is in question. In line with the literature, the author proposes the concept of delivering PD and accessing PD from regional and remote areas be reconsidered. This research paper will outline the findings from the study including travel time being significant and impacting on teachers personal time; limited relief teachers impacting on access to PD; promotion and teacher registration being explicitly linked to PD; professional learning communities being valued but often limited by small staff numbers; professional learning conducted in the local context being preferred; professional learning established at the teacher and school level being desirable; teachers being confident in using technology and accessing PD online if required; and social cohesiveness being valued and often limited by isolation. Further this research has culminated in the development of a conceptual framework that would facilitate improving the amount and variety of professional learning available to regional and remote teachers.


The pneumatic orthosis is potentially a substitute or replacement for conventional long-ler and under outer clothing. Pneumatic tubes are incorporated into the orthosis and may be inflated at will by the patient. In a preliminary test it was found to be lighter, more comfortable and cosmetically more acceptable than conventional braces. This paper presents the results of the first pilot study of the orthosis in the United States, conducted by the New York Medical College--Bird S. Coler Hospital Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, using 11 patients with different levels of cord transection. The orthosis was tested for its effect in the following areas: pulmonary function, blood chemistries to determine calcuyn function and phosphorus metabolic retention or loss; spasticity; urinary tract studies; skin; systemic blood pressure and pulse; physical comfort; and effect of temperature and humidity on patient. Wearing time was increased daily until a patient tolerated a minimum of one hour of inflation and six to eight hours of deflation comfortably without negative results. All the patients tested tolerated daily use of the pneumatic orthosis up to six to eight hours with no harmful effect on the skin. It did not interfere with healing of existing decubiti. Use of the pneumatic orthosis prevented postural hypotension in all tested cases, facilitated urinary outflow, increased vital capacity and reduced spasms related to postural changes.


Smart farm technology contributes to sustainable environmental protection, and so it is important to investigate consumer behavior in this regard. Therefore, this paper constructs a theoretical model focusing on the consumers of indoor smart farm restaurants. The theoretical framework integrates the theory of planned behavior and the perceived risk theory. The constructed framework is deepened by testing the moderating role of novelty seeking in the effects of perceived risks on attitudes. The results revealed that (1) psychological and quality risks negatively affect attitude, (2) subjective norm positively affects attitude, (3) attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control positively affect behavioral intentions, and (4) the moderating impact of novelty seeking was discovered in the relationship between psychological risk and attitude. This is the first investigation of the perceived risks of indoor smart farm restaurants, and this study empirically proved the moderating role of novelty seeking in the risk-taking behavior context. This study consequently contributes to advancing state-of-the-art methods and presents practical marketing recommendations.


The phase and crystal structure of the Na2Y2B2O7:Tm3+–Yb3+ inorganic phosphor prepared by solution combustion method have been identified by powder X-ray diffraction technique. Surface morphology and particle size have been examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy characterizations of the prepared materials. No absorption band around 980 nm has been observed in the Tm3+ doped phosphors, whereas a broad band around 980 nm in the Tm3+–Yb3+ codoped phosphors corresponding to the 2F7/2 ← 2F5/2 absorption transition of Yb3+ ion has been detected. Upconversion emission bands have been observed in the UV, visible and NIR regions upon excitation with a 980 nm laser diode. The temperature sensing behaviour and the concept of a nanoheater of the developed nanophosphor have been demonstrated by using the stark sublevels of the 1G4 level of the Tm3+ ion, which are responsible for the blue upconversion emission. A maximum sensor sensitivity of about 4.54 × 10−3 K−1 at 300 K for the developed multifunctional nanophosphor has been determined. A temperature gain of about ∼435 K has been observed at a laser power density of 66.88 W cm−2 and the colour coordinates do not change with the variation of the pump power density. For localizing and heating hyperthermia based cancer cells using NIR radiation, a very low pump power density of about ∼7.0 W cm−2 has been established. The experimental observations prove that the developed material can be used as a multifunctional nanomaterial in optical devices and biological applications.


Graph construction is an important step in graph-based semi-supervised classification. While the k-nearest neighbor graphs have been the de facto standard method of graph construction, this paper advocates using the less well-known mutual k-nearest neighbor graphs for high-dimensional natural language data. To evaluate the quality of the graphs apart from classification algortihms, we measure the assortativity of graphs. In addition, to compare the performance of these two graph construction methods, we run semi-supervised classification methods on both graphs in word sense disambiguation and document classification tasks. The experimental results show that the mutual knearest neighbor graphs, if combined with maximum spanning trees, consistently outperform the k-nearest neighbor graphs. We attribute better performance of the mutual k-nearest neighbor graph to its being more resistive to making hub vertices. The mutual k-nearest neighbor graphs also perform equally well or even better in comparison to the state-of-the-art b-matching graph construction, despite their lower computational complexity.


The intermittency of turbulent superfluid helium is explored systematically in a steady wake flow from 1.28 K up to T>2.18K using a local anemometer. This temperature range spans relative densities of superfluid from 96% down to 0%, allowing to test numerical predictions of enhancement or depletion of intermittency at intermediate superfluid fractions. Using the so-called extended self-similarity method, scaling exponents of structure functions have been calculated. No evidence of temperature dependence is found on these scaling exponents in the upper part of the inertial cascade, where turbulence is well developed and fully resolved by the probe. This result supports the picture of a profound analogy between classical and quantum turbulence in their inertial range, including the violation of self-similarities associated with inertial-range intermittency.


Together with the development of stock market in Vietnam in recent years, There are several factors that affect disclosure of financial accounting information and affect risk level of firms such as: leverage, tax rate, net profit, etc , which might affect risk and stock price fluctuations of listed firms MyTra (MTC) travel joint stock company is listed in Vietnam stock market and achieved good results in recent years, but also face challenges from Covid 19 Fluctuation of stock price in travel companies in developing countries such as Vietnam will reflect the business health of tourism system and the whole economy Good business management requires us to consider the impacts of multi macro factors on stock price, and it contributes to promoting business plan and economic policies for economic growth and stabilizing macroeconomic factors By data collection method through statistics, analysis, synthesis, comparison, quantitative analysis to generate qualitative comments and discussion;using econometric method to perform regression equation and evaluate quantitative results, the article analyzed and evaluated the impacts of six (6) macroeconomic factors on stock price of a joint stock travel company, MyTra (MTC) in Vietnam in the period of 2014-2019, both positive and negative sides The results of quantitative research, in a six factor model, show that the increase in risk free rate has a significant effect on increasing MTC stock price with the highest impact coefficient, the second is decreasing CPI, lending rate and exchange rate This research finding and recommended policy also can be used as reference in policy for tourism system and commercial bank and relating governmental agencies in Vietnam, as well as many developing countries © 2020, Institute of Advanced Scientific Research, Inc All rights reserved


A host of studies has recognized that truncation errors of the discretized advection terms lead to spurious mixing and dissipation (Fig. 1) and may interact nonlinearly with turbulent mixing and transport. To investigate the impacts of spurious mixing and dissipation, we implemented some of the most novel advection schemes into the coastal ocean model GETM. We quantified spurious dissipation [Klingbeil, 2014] and mixing of the advection schemes (Fig. 3) in idealized experiments of baroclinic instabilities (Fig. 2) ranging from mesoscales (small Rossby number) to sub-mesoscales (order-one Rossby number). The processes at submesosales are distinct from mesoscale by their contribution to restratification of the mixed layer. Such analyses (Fig. 4) help to choose between highly accurate but complex schemes and lower-order less complex schemes balancing accuracy and computational costs. The major outcome of the present study is that both, numerically induced dissipation (leading to a decrease of kinetic energy) and numerically induced mixing (leading to an increase of background potential energy), artificially delay the restratification process [Mohammadi-Aragh, 2015], an effect that needs to be taken into account if parameterizations for eddy-induced mixing and dissipation are compared with numerical model simulations.


Myelodysplastic syndromes are a group of oligoclonal hematologic disorders characterized by variable cytopenias and dysplastic changes in the bone marrow. Novel, remittive therapies designed to treat the cytopenias of myelodysplasia, induce apoptosis, differentiation, and antiangiogenesis, in vitro. The success of remittive therapy for myelodysplasia typically depends on clinical criteria of hematopoietic recovery but seldom address functional disturbances. We present a case of an 81 year old man with a one-year history of mild pancytopenia (ANC 0.7 x 10 3 /μL, Hemoglobin 10.3 g/dl MCV 101.7, platelets 51 x 10 3 /μL). A bone marrow biopsy at diagnosis revealed findings consistent with refractory anemia with excess blasts; an initial karyotype revealed no clonal cytogenetic abnormalities. Four months after diagnosis, the patient developed transfusion-dependent thrombocytopenia. A repeat bone marrow biopsy showed equivalent pathology, but cytogenetic analysis demonstrated trisomy 8 in 4 of 20 cells karyotyped. The patient was started on a 12-week trial of paricalcitol, a vitamin D derivative. His treatment course was characterized by persistent moderate pancytopenia and hypercalcemia. Nine months after diagnosis, the patient was admitted to hospital with one week of headache, fever, and visual disturbance. Leukocytes were 28.67 x 10 3 /μL with 11% segmented neutrophils and 70% band forms, Hgb 8.9 g/dl, and platelets 73 x 10 3 /μL. Over the first 24 hours, the patient developed rapidly progressive proptosis leading to MRI of the skull that revealed an abnormal signal in the left frontal lobe. A CT 2 days later revealed extensive sinusitis with a left orbital mass. At resection, rhinocerebral mucormycosis involving the paranasal sinuses, orbit, and cerebral cortex was identified. We performed neutrophil function studies which showed two distinct populations; 59% showed normal oxidative burst capacity, but 41% showed impaired capacity. NBT test also sugested a broadened population of stimulated neutrophils. By light microscopy, numerous pale, agranular, Pelgeroid cells were visible. Despite extensive resection and systemic antibiotics, the patient expired on the 25 th hospital day. This case illustrates that normal neutrophil number, in the setting of myelodysplasia, may not denote normal neutrophil function. Functional criteria of response should be considered in clinical studies of remittive therapy for myelodysplasia.


Spectrum sensing is an important aspect of cognitive radio networks (CRNs). Secondary users (SUs) should periodically sense the channels to ensure primary-user (PU) protection. Sensing with cooperation among several SUs is more robust and less error prone. However, cooperation also increases the energy spent for sensing. Considering the periodic nature of sensing, even a small amount of savings in each sensing period leads to considerable improvement in the long run. In this paper, we consider the problem of energy-efficient (EE) spectrum sensing scheduling with satisfactory PU protection. Our model exploits the diversity of SUs in their received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the primary signal to determine the sensing duration for each user/channel pair for higher energy efficiency. We model the given problem as an optimization problem with two different objectives. The first objective is to minimize the energy consumption, and the second objective is to minimize the spectrum sensing duration to maximize the remaining time for data transmission. We solve both problems using the outer linearization method. In addition, we present two suboptimal but efficient heuristic methods. We provide an extensive performance analysis of our proposed methods under various numbers of SUs, average channel SNR, and channel sampling frequency. Our analysis reveals that all proposals with an energy minimization perspective provide significant energy savings compared with a pure transmission-time maximization (TXT) technique.


Analytical models are developed for seven existing cache protocols, namely, Write-Once, Write-Through, Synapse, Berkeley, Illinois, Firefly, and Dragon. The protocols are implemented on a multiprocessor with a packet-switched shared bus. The models are based on queuing networks that consist of both open and closed classes of customers. The models incorporate the requests for invalidation signals, write-through, and write-back operations, and the solution is based on the mean value analysis (MVA) algorithm. The performance of these protocols under various system parameters is compared on the basis of the models. It is found that Firefly and Dragon perform better than the others. >


Else Marie Agger speaks to Katie Lockwood, Assistant Commissioning Editor Else Marie Agger was appointed Director of the Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Statens Serum Institut in Denmark in 2011. Prior to this, she had been heading two different research groups focusing on tuberculosis (TB) vaccine research and adjuvant development, respectively. She holds a postdoctoral degree within immunology from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). Agger has extensive experience within adjuvant research, TB vaccine research and preclinical development of vaccines. In addition, she has previously been involved in antigen discovery, primarily with a focus on developing novel diagnostic tests within TB. She has been involved in the coordination of vaccine delivery optimization within the EU-funded TBVAC and NEWTBVAC consortia and also has previous experience as a work-package leader within an EU-funded project, focusing on adjuvantation of influenza vaccines. Agger is the coinventor of several adjuvant patents and has published more than 60 papers within TB, vaccines and adjuvant research.


Abstract. A chloride ion sensor based on a multitaper modulated fiber fabricated via arc discharge is proposed and studied experimentally and theoretically. The sensing unit consists of four periodic tapers with a diameter of 28.24  μm, a period of 676  μm, and a total length of 2.7 mm. The results show that the concentration sensitivity values are 170 pm/(g/L) at a wavelength of 1303.60 nm and 220 pm/(g/L) at a wavelength of 1389.84 nm when the chloride ion concentration is increased from 0 to 40 g/L. The proposed sensor is characterized by a simple manufacturing process, a compact structure, and a low cost, and this sensing unit has great potential for application in marine chloride detection and environmental safety monitoring, especially for monitoring building corrosion and water pollution.


The environmental issue is becoming an important sustainable development goal due to its devastating impact on the economy, society, and ecosystem. The need for managing environmental issues is leading a government to work closely with stakeholders such as environmental NGOs and local municipal councils. While collaboration between government and local municipal councils has been widely covered in the literature, the relationship between environmental NGOs and the government remains a complex issue. In the past, environmental NGOs have a responsibility to advise the government and create awareness to the public. However, the trend has soon changed, where environmental NGOs are becoming more active and influential in enacting policies to uphold environmental integrity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role played by Malaysian environmental NGOs and the current states of environmental integrity in Malaysia. This study used a qualitative case study of illegal plastic recycling factories in Malaysia to achieve research objectives. The findings show that environmental NGOs in Malaysia are a mediator between the government and the public. However, environmental NGOs are now more active in influencing the public to pressure the government to uphold environmental integrity. In addition, Malaysia's environmental integrity has increased with several policies by the government for firms, and consumers are already in place and gearing towards zero plastics. An improvement from the government side should focus on an integrated waste management system to enables circular economy adoption among firms. This study novelty lies in the introduction of environmental NGOs as a mediator to foster Malaysian environmental integrity and integrated waste management


The combination of lactofermentation and enzyme-treatment (Rohament-PL as endo-polygalacturonase and the mixture of Rohament-PL and Rohalase 7069 as cellulase) of sliced carrot and orange juice resulted in a homogeneous product, with pleasant organoleptic features, after 18 h fermentation period. Two ways of inoculation were applied with Lactobacillus plantarum. The addition of Rohament-PL, even at 150 mg kg-1 concentration, simultaneous inoculation with Lactobacillusplantarum (circumstances: 28 °C, 80 r.p.m. shaking) promoted the growth of lactobacilli. By 42 h fermentation time LAB count increased up to 3.2-4.8´109 cm-3. Furthermore the surface colour of the samples was more intensive (higher L-, a- and b-values) than without Lactobacillus plantarum inoculation. The application of Rohament-PL (50-100 mg kg1) resulted in a homogeneous carrot puree, the combination of Rohament-PL (150 mg kg-1) and Rohalase 7069 (150 mg kg-1) in the process gave a more fluid product, as proved by the lower specific viscosity values.


Background: The human cerebellum consists of two lobes and each cerebellar hemisphere consists of Gray and white matter. The gray matter has outermost layer called Molecular cell layer, the middle layer composed of Purkinje cell and innermost is Granular cell layer. In the Molecular layer are Stellate, Basket and Dendrites of Purkinje cells. The middle layer presented the characteristic pyramidal shaped Purkinje cells. Aim: To evaluate and record morphological data of the thickness of purkinje cells layer in normal Control group A and in group B rodents which were given lithium carbonate so as to prove the lethal property of the anti-depressive drug lithium carbonate on the histology of Purinje cells layer of cerebellar cortex. Method: Ten albino rats were given lithium carbonate for a period of six weeks and then micrometry was carried out for both groups. Results: The data which was obtained in both groups was analyzed and it was concluded that the Clinicians and population should be aware of the deleterious effects of lithium carbonate. Conclusion: Our study defined the consequences and the sequele of using Lithium carbonate by patients suffering from psychosis as Lithium can cause toxicity even at therapeutic doses. Keywords: Micrometry, deleterious, rhombencephalon


National economies used to be characterised by cultural standardisation and social protection. Globalisation pushes cultural standardisation beyond the boundaries of national states and induces a global dilution of the standards of social protection. At the same time, if national economies specialise according to their comparative institutional advantage, global economic integration may help promote institutional diversity and variety in welfare policies. However, the institution of a global system of intellectual property rights may seriously limit the biodiversity of capitalism and imply a global revenge of a new international form of Taylorism. The overall result may be a very unequal accumulation of intellectual capital. Paradoxically, the modern global economy may end up sharing some aspects of the agrarian societies that have been displaced by modern nation states.


This textbook introduces the Ada programming language in a manner suitable for students with little or no previous experience of programming. It shows how solutions can be systematically designed and how these solutions can then be implemented on a computer. The early parts of the book concentrate on solving small problems while the later parts show how packages can be used in the construction of reliable large programs. As Ada is a complex and versatile language, no attempt is made to cover it all. The author concentrates on central features such as data types, subprograms, packages, separate compilation, exceptions and files. He provides in addition a large number of complete Ada programs, all of which have been tested on the York Ada compiler. The final version of the Ada language (ANSI/MIL-STD-1815A-1983) is used throughout.


An asynchronous brain computer interface (A-BCI) determines whether or not a subject is on control state, and produces control commands only in case of subject's being on control state. In this study, we propose a novel P300-based A-BCI algorithm that distinguishes control state and noncontrol state of users. Furthermore, A-BCI algorithm combined with a dynamic stopping function that enables users to select control command independent from a fixed number of intensification sequence. The proposed P300-based A-BCI algorithm uses classification patterns to determine control state and uses optimal operating point of receiver operating characteristics curve for dynamic stopping function. The proposed A-BCI algorithm is also combined with region-based paradigm (RBP) based stimulus interface. The A-BCI algorithm is tested on an internet-based environmental control system. A total of ten nondisabled subjects were participated voluntarily in the experiments. Two-level approach of the RBP-based stimulus interface improves noncontrol state detection accuracy up to 100%. Besides, ratio of incorrect command selection at control state is reduced significantly. At control state, ratio of correct selections, incorrect selections, and missed selections are 93.27%, 1.09%, and 5.63%, respectively. On the other hand, dynamic stopping function enables command selections at least two intensifications. Mean number of intensification sequences to complete the given tasks is 3.15. Thanks to dynamic stopping function, it provides a significant improvement on information transfer rate. The proposed A-BCI algorithm is important in terms of practical BCI systems.


A new approach for realizing high-order analog filters which can be fully integrated using a compatible bipolar and ion-implanted JFET process is described. This approach is based on the recognition that what is really needed is a long time constant monolithic integrator which can be effectively realized in a small silicon area. These integrators have been designed, fabricated, and used in a `leapfrog' or active ladder configuration to realize a fifth-order 8 kHz Chebyshev low-pass filter with 0.1 dB passband ripple. No external trimming operations and no anti-aliasing prefilter are required.


Previous research on the macroeconomic consequences of the development of information and communication technology (ICT) has produced mixed results. Despite the intense debate on the link between ICT and economic performance, there is no research that systematically takes the quality of domestic institutions into consideration. To address this issue, this study seeks to examine the effect of ICT penetration on economic performance by distinguishing countries with strong institutional qualities from those with weak institutional qualities. Using a pooled-OLS regression model and yearly data for the ASEAN-5 from 1991-2013, this study finds that there is a positive relationship between the penetration of ICT and economic performance. More importantly, this study also shows that while penetration of ICT is one of the key determinants of economic performance, better institutional quality does foster economic performance in ASEAN-5 economies.


In this paper we consider some of the analytic properties of the generalized Korteweg-de Vries equation ut + upux + uxxx = 0. We study the Lie group symmetries of the equation and show that for p > 2 there is a three parameter group and if p = 1 or 2 the group has four parameters. The Painleve property is shown to be not satisfied when p > 2. The variational symmetries are also considered and are shown to lead to the only three known conservation laws for general p.


Background The frontal pelvic plane has traditionally served as the reference plane for implantation of the acetabular cup during total hip arthroplasty, with referencing performed with the patient supine on the operating table. During daily activities in an upright position, the frontal pelvic plane changes from a horizontal to a vertical orientation. If this change in orientation is accompanied by a substantial change in pelvic inclination angle, it would mean that the use of the frontal pelvic plane as a reference plane for implantation of the acetabular cup would not be valid for proper alignment of the cup. To evaluate this possibility, we measured the change of inclination of the pelvis from the supine to the standing position. Subjects and methods We evaluated 120 patients, first positioned in a standing position and then supine on a table. Three pelvic landmarks were digitized percutaneously, and the spatial coordinates were calculated with regard to pelvic orientation in the horizontal and the vertical plane. Results We found a mean inclination of 6.7° in the standing position and 5.6° in the supine position. Patients who were more than 60 years of age who did not have coxarthrosis had a greater inclination angle (8.7°) while standing. Pelvic orientation was stable with regard to the supine and standing positions. These results were independent of sex, level of arthrosis, or status after implantation of a total hip replacement. Interpretation The frontal pelvic plane is a valid reference plane for implantation of the acetabular cup.   ▪


In this part, a non-linear 3D finite element model for the analysis of unreinforced masonry walls subjected to static and seismic loads is presented, in order to demonstrate the applicability and potential of the method proposed in Part 1. The work reported here could also stand "on-its-own", due to the detailed investigation made on this particular subject. The model developed considers masonry as a two-phase material, treating bricks and mortar joints separately, thus allowing for nonlinear deformation characteristics and progressive local failure of both bricks and mortar joints. The influence of the mortar joints is taken into account by using 'interface' elements to simulate the timedependent sliding and separation along the interfaces. Analytical and experimental solutions available in the literature have been employed to verify the results obtained from the present finite element model, showing that it is capable of a high degree of accuracy.


Practical Statistics for Educators, Third Edition focuses specifically on the application of research and statistics to education. A clear and easy-to-follow text for the education student in a basic statistics course, this book serves as a resource for educators who need to conduct research. The Third Edition includes newly drawn graphs, an expanded index, and a revised and reorganized glossary that lists and defines the concepts and terms that are introduced in the book. As was the case with the previous editions, a workbook is available for those who want to review, practice and apply the statistical concepts and materials presented in the text. The exercises in Professor Ravid's Workbook to Accompany Practical Statistics for Educators, Third Edition, coauthored with Elizabeth Oyer, have been modified to match the changes in this text. The workbook includes new exercises in Excel to allow students to perform data analysis using the computer. It is a useful and straightforward supplement to an already popular text.


This study aims to find out how the influence of Ausubel's theory on the application of realistic mathematics education models in mathematics learning. This type of research is qualitative descriptive, namely research that describes the conditions that exist in the field. This research was conducted in class IV at MIN 4 Banjarmasin. The result of this research is that the application of RME with cognitive psychology theory can improve students' understanding in mathematics learning.


Cover and El Gamal derived the tightest bounds on the capacity of the relay channel using random coding and proposed two coding strategies, namely decode-and-forward (DF) and compress-and-forward (CF), to provide the best known lower bounds of the achievable rate region. Depending on transmission parameters, either DF or CF could be superior. Several practical code designs based on DF have appeared recently. We present the first practical CF design for the half-duplex Gaussian relay channel based on Wyner-Ziv coding of the received source signal at the relay. Assuming ideal source and channel coding, our design achieves the lower bound of CF. It thus realizes the performance gain of CF over DF promised by the theory when the relay is close to the destination. Our practical implementation based on LDPC codes for error protection at the source and nested scalar quantization and IRA (irregular repeat-accumulate) codes for Wyner-Ziv coding at the relay comes as close as 0.76 dB to the theoretical limit of CF.


The paper deals with the problem of defining the optimal topology for a distributed fault detection architecture for non-linear large-scale systems. A stochastic modelbased framework for diagnosis is formulated. The system structural graph is decomposed into subsystems and each subsystem is monitored by one local diagnoser. It is shown that overlapping of subsystems allows to improve the detectability properties of the monitoring architecture. Based on this theoretical result, an optimal decomposition design method is proposed, able to define the minimum number of detection units needed to guarantee the detectability of certain faults while minimizing the communication costs subject to some computation cost constraints. An algorithmic procedure is presented to solve the proposed optimal decomposition problem. Preliminary simulation results show the potential of the proposed approach.


Fecal pollution at coastal beaches in the Northeast, USA requires management efforts to address public health and economic concerns. Concentrations of fecal-borne bacteria are influenced by different fecal sources, environmental conditions, and ecosystem reservoirs, making their public health significance convoluted. In this study, we sought to delineate the influences of these factors on enterococci concentrations in southern Maine coastal recreational waters. Weekly water samples and water quality measurements were conducted at freshwater, estuarine, and marine beach sites from June through September 2016. Samples were analyzed for total and particle-associated enterococci concentrations, total suspended solids, and microbial source tracking markers for multiple sources. Water, soil, sediment, and marine sediment samples were also subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing and SourceTracker analysis to determine the influence from these environmental reservoirs on water sample microbial communities. Enterococci and particle-associated enterococci concentrations were elevated in freshwater, but suspended solids concentrations were relatively similar. Mammal fecal contamination was significantly elevated in the estuary, with human and bird fecal contaminant levels similar between sites. A partial least squares regression model indicated particle-associated enterococci and mammal marker concentrations had the most significant positive relationships with enterococci concentrations across marine, estuary, and freshwater environments. Freshwater microbial communities were significantly influenced by underlying sediment while estuarine/marine beach communities were influenced by freshwater, high tide height, and estuarine sediment. We found elevated enterococci levels are reflective of a combination of increased fecal source input, environmental sources, and environmental conditions, highlighting the need for encompassing MST approaches for managing water quality issues. IMPORTANCE Enterococci have long been the federal standard in determining water quality at estuarine and marine environments. Although enterococci are highly abundant in the fecal tracts of many animals they are not exclusive to that environment and can persist and grow outside of fecal tracts. This presents a management problem for areas that are largely impaired by non-point source contamination, as fecal sources might not be the root cause of contamination. This study employed different microbial source tracking methods to delineate influences from fecal source input, environmental sources, and environmental conditions to determine which combination of variables are influencing enterococci concentrations in recreational waters at a historically impaired coastal town. Results showed that fecal source input, environmental sources and conditions all play a role in influencing enterococci concentrations. This highlights the need to include an encompassing microbial source tracking approach to assess the effects of all important variables on enterococci concentrations.


Liebrenz et al. [1] suggested that agonist substitution could be an alternative for some benzodiazepinedependent patients. In their thoughtful review, they compared the current usual treatment of benzodiazepine-dependent patients with the approach used in opiate dependence since the early 1960s, for which agonist therapy is considered as the gold standard. The use of nicotine replacement in nicotinedependent smokers also supports the hypothesis that agonist treatment can be useful in the management of substance users other than opiates. The efficacy of smoking cessation medication in supporting abstinence appears to be related directly to its ability to suppress withdrawal symptoms [2]. Furthermore, some evidence suggests that delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, decreased withdrawal symptoms in cannabis-dependent patients [3–5], whereas various non-agonist treatments showed a lack of efficacy (for a recent review, see [6]). Nicotine replacement treatment and methadone do not usually give users a great deal of positive reinforcement for continued use, but rather prevent the negative reinforcement of withdrawal. Similarly, THC is not highly reinforcing in itself, even in chronic users [7], which might be a factor in successful agonist treatment that leads eventually to abstinence. In any case, the use of an oral form of THC might be expected to avoid the pulmonary complications of smoking cannabis [8]. While these results remain preliminary, they suggest that the effectiveness of agonist treatments is well known in both opiate and nicotine dependences and warrant further research, not only in benzodiazepine dependence, as suggested by Liebrenz et al., but also in cannabis dependence.


The occupational skin diseases in an industry of silk reeling located in Daegu city of Korea were analyzed by inspection through a mass survey for improving the workers' health, November, 1975. The subjects, 177 persons were all females, and were distributed at 18-38 years old. About two thirds were under 25 years old. The meanage was 23.6 years. The incidence of skin diseases was about 53%. It was generally divided into three groups;- the epidermic changes of those were most frequent, 47.5%, the allergic reactions were 14.7%, and athlete's foot was only four cases, 2.3%. Most frequent signs of epidermic changes was the worn-out nail, 32.3%; and the keratolysis, 28.8%; and the callus, 15.3% were followed in order. Theses were significant in five per cent level between the sections of the silk reeling and the manufacturing;-Allergic reactions and worn-out nail were more frequent in the manufacturing group than the silk reeling, and keratolysis and callus were inverted proportionally. Allergic reactions were occurred within a few months from first entrance time, and it was more frequent in the group exposed to same allergen in the past than the continuing group from first. Most of the appearing sites of theses were hands, and infrequently, it was occurred in the face, neck, trunk, knee anfeet. These epidermic changes except allergic phenomena were appeared in the fingers, palmal and dorsal surface of hands frequently contacted. But these changes and allergic reactions were generally combined with two or more kinds.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
The left anterior descending artery (LADA), particularly when the proximal segment of the vessel is involved, is a challenging area for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs); therefore, coronary artery bypass grafting is often considered and sometimes performed even in patients with single-vessel disease involving the LADA. This study compares mid-term results of LADA revascularization with a drug-eluting stent (DES), with off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) in patients with single-vessel or multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD).

DESIGN
Matched-groups, retrospective cohort comparison between the DES and OPCAB.

PATIENTS
From June 2002 to December 2003, 354 patients underwent myocardial revascularization of the LADA by OPCAB, and 168 by DES. After matching for age, sex, and extent of CAD, two groups (116 patients each) were used to compare the two revascularization modalities. The groups were similar; however, an ejection fraction of <30%, old myocardial infarction, and use of an intraaortic balloon pump were more prevalent in the OPCAB group.

RESULTS
The average number of coronary vessels treated per patient in the two groups was similar (OPCAB, 1.97; DES, 1.6; p = 0.581). The 30-day mortality rate was 0.9% in the OPCAB group and 0% in the DES group (p = 0.329). The mean duration of follow-up was 12 months. There was one late death in each group. Angina returned in 31% of patients in the DES group and in 11.2% of the patients in the OPCAB group (p = 0.001). There were 12 reinterventions in the DES group compared to three reinterventions in the surgical group (p = 0.020). The only independent predictor (Cox proportional hazards regression model) of the return of angina (risk ratio [RR], 3.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.57 to 7.14) and reintervention (RR, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.34 to 11.24) was assignment to the DES group.

CONCLUSIONS
The mid-term clinical outcome of OPCAB in patients with CAD, including multivessel disease, was better than that for PCIs with only one DES used in patients with similar extents of CAD.


Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) such as miRNAs and long noncoding RNAs modulate gene transcription in response to environmental stressors and other stimuli. A role for ncRNAs in muscle pathologies has been demonstrated and further evidence suggests that ncRNAs also play a role in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Studies investigating the differential expression of miRNAs in biological fluids between DMD patients and models of dystrophin deficiency (the MDX mouse model, canine models of DMD) and controls have been published, as these have a role in fibrosis. Long noncoding RNAs are differentially expressed in DMD patients and may, in part, have a mechanism of action via targeting of miRNAs. Although many of these recent findings need to be confirmed, ncRNAs may prove to be useful as potential biomarkers of disease. However, their use as therapeutic targets in DMD remains unclear.


Aim: In the treatment of vertebral compression fractures, kyphoplasty stands out as an effective treatment method that has been performed more frequently in recent years. The etiology of compression fractures varies from patient to patient. Biopsy results taken from the patients during the procedure reflect these differences. We wanted to emphasize the importance of the biopsy procedure performed during kyphoplasty by evaluating the biopsy results. Materials and Methods: The patient files, radiological images and biopsy results of the patients, who were treated with kyphoplasty due to vertebral compression fracture and who had a biopsy performed during this procedure between 2017 and 2019. Results: The total number of operated patients was found to be 201, and the number of vertebrae biopsies was 269. Eighty-three of our patients were male and 118 were female. Of the 269 biopsy results in total, 18 (6.7%) had pathological findings; 3 of them were compatible with osteomyelitis, while the remaining 15 were malignant. Conclusion: Since the biopsy procedure performed during the treatment of vertebral compression fractures with kyphoplasty could be performed safely and provides an opportunity for early diagnosis and treatment, a biopsy requirement for the benefit of patients would be inevitable in all kyphoplasty procedures.


The nature of the contents of academic Web sites is of direct relevance to the new field of scientific Web intelligence, and for search engine and topic-specific crawler designers. We analyze word frequencies in national academic Webs using the Web sites of three English-speaking nations: Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Strong regularities were found in page size and word frequency distributions, but with significant anomalies. At least 26% of pages contain no words. High frequency words include university names and acronyms, Internet terminology, and computing product names: not always words in common usage away from the Web. A minority of low frequency words are spelling mistakes, with other common types including nonwords, proper names, foreign language terms or computer science variable names. Based upon these findings, recommendations for data cleansing and filtering are made, particularly for clustering applications.


Pharmaceutical analysis plays an important role in all steps of drug development processes.
Analysis of active pharmaceutical ingredients in biological samples needs sample preparation techniques
to prevent the signal of the analyte from interferences coming from matrix components. Ultrafiltration
is a well-known technique used in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Commercial ultrafiltration
devices have been frequently used on proteomics and metabolomics studies for sample preparation.
In pharmaceutical analysis, these devices have been employed to analyze the free concentration of
drugs in biological fluids after filtration. However, they have been rarely used to determine the total
concentration of targeted compounds when it is compared with some other common sample preparation
techniques. Ultrafiltration-based sample preparation might be used to clean-up the sample easily
from matrix components especially on bioanalysis performed with high-performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC). In the case of using protein precipitation agents on filtration procedure, the quantitative
recovery of this non-selective unique technique is competitive with solid-phase extraction.


Background: The effectiveness of glucose-lowering drugs (GLDs) is unknown among patients with dementia. Objective: To analyze all-cause mortality among users of six GLDs in dementia and dementia-free subjects, respectively. Methods: This was a longitudinal open-cohort registry-based study using data from the Swedish Dementia Registry, Total Population Register, and four supplemental registers providing data on dementia status, drug usage, confounders, and mortality. The cohort comprised 132,402 subjects with diabetes at baseline, of which 11,401 (8.6%) had dementia and 121,001 (91.4%) were dementia-free. Subsequently, comparable dementia – dementia-free pairs were sampled. Then, as-treated and intention-to-treat exposures to metformin, insulin, sulfonylurea, dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors, glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues (GLP-1a), and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) were analyzed in the parallel dementia and dementia-free cohorts. Confounding was addressed using inverse-probability weighting and propensity-score matching, and flexible parametric survival models were used to produce hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of the association between GLDs and all-cause mortality. Results: In the as-treated models, increased mortality was observed among insulin users with dementia (HR 1.34 [95%CI 1.24–1.45]) as well as in dementia-free subjects (1.54 [1.10–1.55]). Conversely, sulfonylurea was associated with higher mortality only in dementia subjects (1.19 [1.01–1.42]). GLP-1a (0.44 [0.25–0.78]) and SGLT-2i users with dementia (0.43 [0.23–0.80]) experienced lower mortality compared to non-users. Conclusion: Insulin and sulfonylurea carried higher mortality risk among dementia patients, while GLP-1a and SGLT-2i were associated with lower risk. GLD-associated mortality varied between dementia and comparable dementia-free subjects. Further studies are needed to optimize GLD use in dementia patients.


Objectives
Many factors influence the development of the infant microbiota. Based on 16S rDNA sequencing information, the type of feeding, i.e., breast vs formula, has been shown to be the most important factor, with route of delivery having transient effects in the early postpartum period. However, few recent studies have isolated individual strains from human infants or have investigated the functional properties of the infant gut microbes. We used a 2 × 2 experimental design with the goal of determining how diet and delivery interact to shape infant microbiota composition and metabolic activity.

Methods
Fresh fecal samples were collected from 3-month-old infants who were either exclusively breast- (BF) or formula-fed (FF) and cesarean- (CD) or vaginally-delivered (VD). Samples were diluted and plated on two types of media: Gut Microbiota Medium (GMM) or MRS medium. Individual colonies were picked, purified and their 16S rRNA gene sequenced for identification. These isolates were screened for growth on various carbon substrates, including human milk oligosaccharides, prebiotics and volatile fatty acids for 24-36h. Medium supernatant was collected and metabolic profiles assessed by HPLC.

Results
More than 150 bacterial strains have been isolated and identified from infant fecal samples to date. Isolates from BF/VD fecal samples were predominantly from the phylum Actinobacteria (dominated with Bifidobacterium) followed by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. In contrast, isolates from FF/VD or FF/CD infants were primarily from the phylum Firmicutes with only a few Actinobacterial and Proteobacterial isolates. Quantitatively, most isolates represented the genera Bifidobacterium, followed by Enterococcus, and Ruminococcus. On-going phenotypic evaluation of the isolated strains for the growth and utilization of various carbon sources and metabolic profiles will provide insight into species- and strain-specific utilization of common prebiotics in human milk and infant formula.

Conclusions
This collective data will provide novel insights on how the physiological and metabolic function of the infant gut microbiota is influenced by route of delivery and early infant nutrition.

Funding Sources
NIH R01DK107561.


Okieite, Mg3[V10O28]·28H2O, is a new decavanadate mineral from the Burro mine, Slick Rock district, San Miguel County, Colorado, USA (type locality); the mineral is also found at the Hummer mine, Paradox Valley, Montrose County, also in Colorado. The mineral is rare; it occurs with dickthomssenite on montroseite- and corvusite-bearing sandstone. Crystals of okieite from the Burro mine are equant to prismatic, commonly appearing like curving columns (up to about 3 mm in length) and often exhibiting rounded faces. The streak of okieite is light orange yellow, and the luster is vitreous. The Mohs hardness is ca. 1½, the tenacity is brittle, the fracture is curved or conchoidal, there is no cleavage, and the measured density is 2.20(2) g/cm3. Okieite is biaxial (–), with α = 1.720(3), β = 1.745(3), γ = 1.765(3) (white light); 2V = 84(2)° with strong r < v dispersion. The optical orientation is X ^ a = 37°, Y ^ c = 28°, Z ^ b = 31°. No pleochroism is observed in okieite. The empirical formula from electron-probe microanalysis (calculated on the basis of V = 10 and O = 56 apfu as indicated by the structure) is Mg2.86[H0.28V5+10O28]·28H2O. Okieite is triclinic, , with a 10.55660(19), b 10.7566(2), c 21.3555(15)Å, α 90.015(6), β 97.795(7), γ 104.337(7)°, and V 2326.30(19)Å3, as determined by single-crystal X-ray diffractometry. The strongest four diffraction lines in the powder diffractograms are [d in Å(I)(hkl)]: 9.71(100); 8.32(19); 11.04(17)(002); and 6.42(12)(110, . The atomic arrangement of okieite [R1 = 0.0352 for 11,327 I > 2σI reflections] consists of a {V10O28}6– (decavanadate) structural unit and a {[Mg(H2O)6]3·10H2O}6+ interstitial complex. Only hydrogen bonding links the structural unit with the components of the interstitial complex. Okieite is isostructural with synthetic Mg3[V10O28]·28H2O. The name okieite is for Craig ("Okie") Howell of Naturita, Colorado.


One of the most important factors affecting the serviceability of structures is the deflection of concrete members. In this paper, short-term deflection of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with FRP and steel bars were studied by modeling in ABAQUS software. For different types of steel and FRP bars, twelve RC beams have been analyzed and the effective moment of inertia and deflection of the results were compared with the ACI 440.1R-15 and proposed equations. After analysis, it was found that to prevent sudden failure of RC beams with FRP bars, it is better to design a concrete beam with over reinforced sections. According to load-deflection curves of RC with FRP bars, the use of carbon FRP (CFRP) bars are the suitable alternative for steel bars in the corrosive environment. It is concluded that the use of BischoffScanlon, and BischoffGross equations in RC beams with glass FRP (GFRP) and aramid FRP (AFRP) with the error of less than 2% and 10%, respectively, are appropriate for determining deflection in these beams. Results indicate that any of the proposed relations for all different types of FRP rebar does not provide satisfactory results and in terms of used reinforcement special equations should be used.


Background: This study aims to compare the percentage of dentin removed, instrumentation efficacy, root canal filling and load at fracture between contracted endodontic cavities and traditional endodontic cavities in premolars.
Methods: Forty extracted intact human first premolars were imaged with micro-CT and randomly assigned to CEC or TEC groups. Minimal CECs were prepared with the aid of 3D-printed guide template, canals were prepared with a 0.04 taper M-Two rotary instrument and cavities were restored with resin. The specimens were loaded to fracture in an Instron Universal Testing Machine after a fatigue phase. The data were analyzed by the independent samples T test and Mann-Whitney U test, appropriate post hoc tests.
Results: In the premolars tested in vitro, CECs conserved coronal dentin in premolars with two dental roots but no impact on the instrument efficacy, the root canal filling or the biomechanical responses compared with TECs.
Conclusion: The results of this study did not suggest that CEC could improve the fracture resistance of the endodontically treated premolars. The instrumentation efficacy and the percentage of filling material did not significantly differ between CECs and TECs in the premolars.


Increasing disasters, due to urbanism in combination with the high probability of earthquakes in the Western Indian Himalayas, are impacting the well-being of local communities. The vernacular Kath-Kuni (also called: 'cator-and-cribbage' or 'timber laced masonry') architecture is a centuries-old building method spread over the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountain range in India, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan and China. This building typology's efficacy was proved by its ability to withstand significant seismic events in the region and is, hence, well-known to be an earthquake resistant building style. To ensure that the valuable building techniques embedded in the traditional Kath-Kuni architecture do not get lost completely, the main question asked in this research is: "Which earthquake resistant features and embedded traditional knowledge of Kath-Kuni walls are essential in generating adequate seismic performance of this vernacular architecture?" To this end, field research, out-of-plane and in-plane analysis of walls, laboratory testing to characterise the walls ductility, analysis of the building's box-action and a sustainability study comparing Kath-Kuni with concrete buildings have been carried out. This led to the conclusion that the horizontal spanning timber beams and the robust connection in the corners are generating box-action by transferring the lateral force from the out-of-plane loaded wall to the in-plane loaded walls. Thus, the seismic capacity of the building is not depending on the rigidity of the floor diaphragms. Secondly, the in-plane loaded walls use a behaviour factor R to take non-linear wall behaviour (ductility) into account. Research to this behaviour factor is and the time period of the building indicates that the behaviour factor and time period obtained from standard formulas are too conservative. Last, the most important earthquake resistant features that contribute to the high ductility of the in-plane loaded walls are the timber connections (kadil dowel connection and maanwi dovetail connection) which are allowing internal rotation in the layer and are acting in parallel and series with one another, the lack of vertical reinforcement which leaves the wall free to deform in vertical direction without damage and the high contribution of friction in between the stone and stone-timber in the wall. In addition to the seismic resistance of the Kath-Kuni building style, study showed that this architecture scores well on sustainability, in terms of performance, service life and environmental impact. However, high construction costs, due to a scarcity of the main materials, has rendered building of Kath-Kuni houses economically currently unviable. Therefore, it is recommended to investigate possibilities in modernising and re-interpreting the Kath-Kuni building style using other sustainable and affordable materials, such as bamboo, stabilized earthen blocks or lime concrete. Even though earthquake resistant construction is also feasible using concrete as main material, it is the vernacular architecture and its embedded traditional knowledge that gives character to the Himalayas, which is beneficial for tourism and livelihood. Moreover, the concrete construction is a big contributor to the total global CO2 emissions; hence using local, sustainable and durable materials should be promoted.


When it comes to determining the applicable legal regime in relation to cargo claims multimodal carriage contracts generate ample work for the judiciary. Due to the unimodal orientation of the existing uniform carriage law and the differences in opinion as to how their scopes of application are to be interpreted the question which legal regime applies is not easily answered. Especially the CMR which regulates international road carriage has been a focalpoint for many a discussion in this light. In the article issues such as the CMR's scope of application and the consequences of its jurisdiction rules are discussed in relation to multimodal carriage.


The main objective of this research program is to study the optical properties of materials suitable for use as low loss windows and other optical components in the HF, DF and CO2 laser wavelength regions. In order to investigate these materials, measurements of the absorption coefficient were undertaken using laser calorimetry and infrared spectroscopy. To further this investigation, absorption at the surfaces of window materials was measured. This involved solving the classical heat flow problem using parameters gained from the experiment.


An algorithm for computing the canonical form of a singular pencil is presented. This algorithm, which is based on well known linear algebra techniques, offers efficiency and error analysis advantages over previous algorithms presented by Thorp and Gantmacher. These results are useful in exposing the structure of linear multivariable systems.


We identify an important correlation between skewness and kurtosis for a broad class of complex dynamic systems and present a specific analysis of earthquake and financial time series. Two regimes of non-Gaussianity can be identified: a parabolic one, which is common in various fields of physics, and a power law one, with exponent 4/3, which at the moment appears to be specific of earthquakes and financial markets. For this property we propose a model and an interpretation in terms of very rare events dominating the statistics independently on the nature of the events considered. The predicted scaling relation between skewness and kurtosis matches very well the experimental pattern of the second regime. Regarding price fluctuations, this situation characterizes a universal stylized fact.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents one of the deadliest malignancies with an overall life expectancy of six months despite palliative radio-chemotherapy. The transcription factor NF-κB has been shown to be a critical component of dysregulated transcription factor activity conferring this profound resistance against chemotherapeutic drugs and death receptor induced apoptosis. Despite extensive data on the role of the most abundant NF-κB subunit p65/RelA in PDAC apoptosis control, only little knowledge of the role of the subunit c-Rel in solid cancers exists. In the present study, three pancreatic carcinoma cell lines (Panc1, Patu8988t, MiaPaca2) were analysed for the role of c-Rel in resistance against TRAIL induced apoptosis. TRAIL resistant Panc1 and Patu8988 cells exhibit a strong TRAIL inducible NF-κB activity, whereas TRAIL sensitive MiaPaca2 cells displayed only a small increase in NF-κB binding activity. Transfection with siRNA against the c-Rel subunit of NF-κB sensitized the TRAIL resistant cells in a comparable fashion like siRNA targeting the p65/RelA subunit. Gel shift analysis revealed that together with the p65/RelA subunit, c-Rel is part of the TRAIL inducible NF-κB complex in PDAC. Array analysis results suggested NFATc2 as a c-Rel target gene that is one of the 15 strongest TRAIL inducible genes in apoptosis-resistant Panc1 cells. siRNA targeting c-Rel strongly reduced TRAIL induced NFATc2 activity in TRAIL resistant PDAC cells. Furthermore siRNA targeting NFATc2 sensitized these PDAC cells against TRAIL induced apoptosis. Finally, TRAIL induced expression of COX-2 was strongly reduced through siRNA targeting c-Rel or NFATc2 and pharmacological inhibition of COX-2 with celecoxib strongly increased TRAIL apoptosis. In conclusion, c-Rel is a critical mediator of NF-κB dependent anti-apoptotic signalling in PDAC through activation of NFATc2 and COX-2. Citation Format: Claudia Geismann, Frauke Grohmann, Gabriele Wirths, Susanne Sebens, Anita Dreher, Robert Hasler, Sebastian Zeissig, Stefan Schreiber, Philip Rosenstiel, Heiner Schafer, Alexander Arlt. c-Rel is a critical mediator of NF-κB-dependent apoptosis resistance of pancreatic cancer cells against TRAIL. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2273. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2273


In a companion paper (Krstic, "Feedforward systems linearizable by coordinate change," ACC'04) we revealed that the family of feedforward systems contains a substantial class that is linearizable by a diffeomorphic coordinate change. We present two subclasses for which explicit control formulae can be derived. Our procedures follow the general integrator forwarding algorithm of Sepulchre-Jankovic-Kokotovic but avoid the requirements to solve (analytically) a series of nonlinear ODEs and to compute (analytically) a series of integrals with respect to time.


Deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) is an uncommon but serious complication of median sternotomy in cardiac surgery, associated with significant mortality and morbidity. We performed a retrospective review of 30,102 consecutive cardiac surgical patients operated on at our institution from 1990 to 2003 and found an incidence of DSWI of 0.77%. The in-hospital mortality rate was 6.9% for DSWI patients versus 2.8% for patients without DSWI (P = 0.0002). Multivariable predictors for development of DSWI were old age, diabetes, previous stroke or TIA, and congestive heart failure. The use of bilateral internal thoracic artery (BITA) grafts increased the risk of DSWI in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery, particularly in those with congestive heart failure alone or with diabetes. Skeletonization of BITA grafts resulted in a lower risk of DSWI, comparable to nondiabetic patients (1.3% versus 1.6%, P = 0.8). Patients with DSWI were treated with either sternal debridement and primary closure or sternectomy with myocutaneous flap reconstruction, resulting in a 6-month freedom from adverse event rate of 76% in both groups.


We have recently completed a synthesis of all available marine geological/geophysical data in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge area of the central Atlantic Ocean. The synthesis was undertaken to evaluate future scientific drill sites. The final product is a set of maps on Mercator projection for the following areas: Area VIII-1, 33° to 38°N, 30° to 44°W; Area VIII-2, 28° to 33°N, 34° to 48°W; Area VIII-3, 22° to 28°N, 39° to 50°W. For each area the data synthesized includes: contours of bathymetry at a 500-m (1,640-ft) contour interval, contours of free-air gravity at a 10 mgal contour interval, total intensity magnetic anomaly profiles and identifications along ships' tracks, locations and thicknesses of sediment ponds fr m seismic reflection data, seismic crustal structure from sonobuoy and other refraction measurements, surface sediment core locations, sediment types and ages, locations of available rock dredges, heat flow measurements, seismicity and regional tectonics. In addition, detailed maps showing near bottom observations at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the vicinity of the Kane Fracture Zone (24°N), TAG area (26°N), Oceanographer transform (35°N), and the Famous Area (37°N) are included. The segmental nature of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge crest is clearly shown. It is interpreted as a succession of relatively short spreading centers separated and offset by, in general, small offset transform zones. The average spacing between the transform zones is less than 50 km (31 mi) and rather uniform. The fracture zones may be traced away from the ridge transform section, but not necessarily as a continuous bathymetric feature. The gravity anomalies present a smoothed (low-pass filtered) version of the bathymetry. In some places (e.g., the eastern extension of fracture zone B at 36.5°N), the gravity anomalies display the continuation of fracture zones where the bathymetry does not. The magnetic anomaly identifications show the variable behavior of the North Atlantic accreting boundary through time. Consistent asymmetric spreading is found south of the Kane Fracture Zone (24°N), indicating continuous eastward migration of the accreting boundary. Variable asymmetric spreading is documented farther to the north. We find that the asymmetry is preserved in the individual magnetic anomalies, suggesting that the emplacement of the magnetic source has occurred in a relatively narrow zone. Further, we believe that the extreme variability of magnetic anomaly shapes in the North Atlantic may be caused by variable asymmetric behavior of the individual spreading centers. End_of_Article - Last_Page 538------------


ABSTRACT In this paper a detailed model of a single-machine infinite-bus system with Static Var Compensator for low-frequency oscillation studies is developed. Using this model a new method of designing additional controller known as SVC stabilizer to suppress the low-frequency oscillations of the system is presented. The design procedure, besides exactly assigning the two poles corresponding to the mechanical modes of the system to the specified location uses the extra design freedom available in the stabilizer parameters to shift all the other unassigned poles of the system to a stable region. This guarantees stability of the closed-loop system during the design stage itself.


The aim of this study is to estimate the genetic parameters and the effect of non-genetic factors for some milk traits including total milk yield (TMY/kg), Lactation period (LP/day), number of services per conception (NSC), days open (DO), calving interval (CI) and dry period (DP). Data were collected from two farms. Experimental Farm belonging to (APRI) data included 1829 records. The statistical analysis has been adopted using animal models. Actual means of TMY/kg, LP/day, NSC/services, DO/day, CI/day and DP/day were 791.3, 171.1, 1.8, 109, 402.7 and 79.3 respectively. Estimated heritability (h2) of TMY, LP, NSC, DO, CI, and DP were 0.18± 0.01, 0.18± 0.001, 0.07± 0.016, 0.09± 0.041 and 0.09±0.001 respectively. The ranges of breeding values BV of cows for TMY/kg, LP/day, NSC, /services, DO/day, CI/day and DP/day were 776.5, 26.7, 6.7, 13.4, 77.1 and 11.5 respectively. The estimated Predicted Breeding Value PBV for all traits varied widely. The genetic trends of cow breeding values were significant for all studied traits. This confirms that the genetic improvement of these traits leads to increased milk production traits. The study recommends preserving the Native Egyptian dairy cattle because they represent a national wealth that must be preserved from extinction through inventorying the genetic resources, characterization and evaluation of this local breed to benefit from it in improving animal breeds of high economic value. Due to the distinction of Egyptian domestic cows for their resistance to various environmental conditions.


BACKGROUND
Multiple micronutrient deficiencies may contribute to low birth weight, which is a major global determinant of mortality.

OBJECTIVE
We assessed the effect of prenatal multimicronutrient supplementation on gestational length and birth size.

DESIGN
We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind effectiveness trial among antenatal care attendees in Harare, Zimbabwe. Pregnant women (22-35 wk of gestation) were randomly allocated to receive a multimicronutrient or placebo supplement daily until delivery. Supplementation with iron and folic acid was part of antenatal care.

RESULTS
Of 1669 women, birth data were available from 1106 (66%), of whom 360 (33%) had HIV infection. The mean gestational length was 39.1 wk, and 16.6% of the women had a gestational length < 37 wk. The mean birth weight was 3030 g, and 10.5% of the infants had a birth weight < 2500 g. Multimicronutrient supplementation was associated with tendencies for increased gestational length (0.3 wk; 95% CI: -0.04, 0.6 wk; P = 0.06), birth weight (49 g; -6, 104 g; P = 0.08), and head circumference (0.2 cm; -0.02, 0.4 cm; P = 0.07) but was not associated with low birth weight (birth weight < 2500 g) (relative risk: 0.84; 0.59, 1.18; P = 0.31). The effect of multimicronutrient supplementation on birth weight was not significantly different between HIV-uninfected (26 g; -38, 91 g) and HIV-infected (101 g; -3, 205 g) subjects (interaction, P > 0.10).

CONCLUSION
Antenatal multimicronutrient supplementation may be one strategy to increase birth size.


Backgrounds: To study calcium homeostasis during citrate-based compared to nadroparin-based CVVH in critically-ill patients with acute renal failure. Methods: 11 patients were observed during citrate anticoagulation, 9 with nadroparin and 10 controls. Citrate was chosen for patients with active or at risk for bleeding. Results: The controls had, at 24 h, a median serum iCa of 1.1 mmol/l, the citrate group 0.87 mmol/l and the nadroparin group 1.1 mmol/l (citrate vs. control p = 0.001, citrate vs. nadroparin p = 0.002). At 48 h, iCa was not significantly different anymore. Ca balance was negative for the citrate group in contrast to the nadroparin group (p = 0.012). Median serum PTH was higher (30.0 pmol/l vs. 6.5 pmol/l, p = 0.003) in the citrate group. Conclusion: With a relative low target-serum-iCa (0.8–0.9 mmol/l) citrate CVVH-treated patients had a negative daily calcium balance and a temporarily lower iCa level resulting in an enhanced PTH response in comparison to nadroparin.


The parallel replacement problem under economies of scale (PRES) determines minimum cost replacement schedules for each individual asset in a group of assets that operate in parallel. A fixed cost is incurred in any period in which an asset is purchased. These fixed costs induce economies of scale, making replacement schedules for these assets economically interdependent. We prove that PRES is NP-hard and present integer programming formulations for four variants of the problem in which multiple asset types, or challengers, are available for replacement (MPRES). We then derive valid inequalities for PRES and MPRES, which are similar in structure to flow cover inequalities developed in the context of fixed charge network problems. Experiments illustrate that the inequalities are effective in improving the integrality gap of MPRES instances.


In the present work, a unification of certain functions of mathematical physics is proposed and its properties are studied. The proposed function unifies Lommel function, Struve function, the Bessel-Maitland function and its generalization, Dotsenko function, generalized Mittag-Leffler function etc. The properties include absolute and uniform convergence, differential recurrence relation, integral representations in the form of Euler-Beta transform, Mellin-Barnes transform, Laplace transform and Whittaker transform. The special cases namely the generalized hypergeometric function, generalized Laguerre polynomial, Fox H-function etc. are also obtained.


Climate change is a threat to global food security due to the reduction of crop productivity around the globe. Food security is a matter of concern for stakeholders and policymakers as the global population is predicted to bypass 10 billion in the coming years. Crop improvement via modern breeding techniques along with efficient agronomic practices innovations in microbiome applications, and exploiting the natural variations in underutilized crops is an excellent way forward to fulfill future food requirements. In this review, we describe the next-generation breeding tools that can be used to increase crop production by developing climate-resilient superior genotypes to cope with the future challenges of global food security. Recent innovations in genomic-assisted breeding (GAB) strategies allow the construction of highly annotated crop pan-genomes to give a snapshot of the full landscape of genetic diversity (GD) and recapture the lost gene repertoire of a species. Pan-genomes provide new platforms to exploit these unique genes or genetic variation for optimizing breeding programs. The advent of next-generation clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/CRISPR-associated (CRISPR/Cas) systems, such as prime editing, base editing, and de nova domestication, has institutionalized the idea that genome editing is revamped for crop improvement. Also, the availability of versatile Cas orthologs, including Cas9, Cas12, Cas13, and Cas14, improved the editing efficiency. Now, the CRISPR/Cas systems have numerous applications in crop research and successfully edit the major crop to develop resistance against abiotic and biotic stress. By adopting high-throughput phenotyping approaches and big data analytics tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), agriculture is heading toward automation or digitalization. The integration of speed breeding with genomic and phenomic tools can allow rapid gene identifications and ultimately accelerate crop improvement programs. In addition, the integration of next-generation multidisciplinary breeding platforms can open exciting avenues to develop climate-ready crops toward global food security.


An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of feeding schedule on growth, production and economics of pangasiid catfish (Pangasius hypophthalmus) and silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) polyculture in nine earthen ponds for a period of 135 days. There were three treatments (T) each with three replications. Species composition (1:1) and stocking density (25,000 fish/ha) were same in all treatments. A commercially available pelleted feed was given only for pangasiid catfish with same feeding rate in all treatments but the feeding frequency was different. The feeding rate was 10%, 8%, 7%, 6 %, 5%, 4% which was consecutively adjusted after each fortnightly sampling and 3% for the last 4 weeks of the study period. Feeding frequencies was once a day in T1, two times a day in T2 and three times a day in T3. The average weight gain of pangasiid catfish and silver carp in T3 (376.69 g and 81.02 g) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of T2 (330.25 g and 58.35 g) and T1 (261.76 g and 42.89 g). The survival rate was 95.2, 96.0 and 96.8% for pangasiid catfish and 83.2, 85.2 and 86.0% for silver carp in T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The net production of fish in T3 (5,430.64 kg/ha) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of T2 (4,584.70 kg/ha) and T1 (3,562.89 kg/ha). Significantly highest net return (Tk. 68,533.54/ha with benefit cost ratio of 1.36) was achieved from T3 followed by T2 (Tk. 40,080.56/ha with benefit cost ratio of 1.22) and T1 (Tk. 13,786.67/ha with benefit cost ratio of 1.08). The present research findings suggest that an increase of feeding frequency has positive effect on growth and production of pangasiid catfish and silver carp.


A large number of genes have now been shown to be inducible in response to radiation in mammalian cells and tissues. Based on extensive studies of stress inducible regulons in bacteria, it is assumed that at least some of the proteins encoded by these genes are involved in an adaptive response to the lethal effects of radiation. Here I review the biological evidence for adaptation, and analyse the functions of radiation inducible genes in the context of their possible roles in cellular protection. Recent progress has been made in understanding how cells sense radiation induced damage. The signal transduction pathways which end in the activation of specific genes is summarized.


Mobile reception of digital TV signals is typically error-prone. In multi-broadcast scenarios, inter-sequence error concealment replaces lost image blocks of distorted TV signals with error-free ones of low-resolution reference signals. As the latter are typically delayed, scaled and possibly cropped, however, spatio-temporal image alignment is crucial. Up to now, spatial alignment parameters have been estimated with moderate computational complexity by matching of the widely-used scale-invariant features. In this paper, more recent features from literature are evaluated to further reduce the complexity of the alignment step. Also, one novel feature transform is proposed. Simulations show that the well-known speeded-up robust features can reduce the complexity by 12%. However, the reconstruction quality is lowered due to the misalignment of single frames. The novel transform achieves a speed gain of 11%, but does not decrease the reconstruction quality significantly.


Treatment of mice with a dihydropyridazinone derivative (6-(4'-aminophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-5-methylpyridazin-3-one; ICI 109,081) inhibited the maturation of oocytes in the presence of gonadotrophins without affecting ovulation. The spontaneous resumption of meiosis in oocytes cultured in vitro was reversibly inhibited. ICI 109,081 may therefore be useful for evaluating the relationship between follicular development and the resumption of meiosis.


We evaluated the impact of the prescription of evidence-based medical therapy (EBMT) including aspirin (ASA), beta-blockers (BB), ACE-inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockade (ACE/ARB), and statins prior to discharge after peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) on long-term medication utilization in a large multi-specialty, multicenter quality improvement collaborative. Among patients undergoing coronary revascularization, use of the component medications of EBMT at hospital discharge is a major predictor of long-term utilization. Predictors of EBMT use after PVI are largely unknown. A total of 10,169 patients undergoing PVI between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2011 were included. Post-PVI discharge and 6-month medication utilization in patients without contra-indications to ASA, BB, ACE/ARB, and statins were compared. ASA was prescribed at discharge to 9345 (92%) patients, BB to 7012 (69%), ACE/ARB to 6424 (63%), and statins to 8342 (82%), and all four component drugs of EBMT in 3953 (39%). Compared with patients not discharged on the appropriate medications, post-procedural use was associated (all p<0.001) with reported 6-month use: ASA (84.5% vs 39.2%), BB (82.5% vs 11.1%), ACE/ARB (78.2% vs 11.8%), statins (84.6% vs 21.8%). Multivariable analysis revealed that prescription of EBMT at the time of discharge remained strongly associated with use at 6 months for each of the individual component drugs as well as for the combination of all four EBMT medications. In conclusion, prescription of the component medications of EBMT at the time of PVI is associated with excellent utilization at 6 months, while failure to prescribe EBMT at discharge is associated with low use of these medications 6 months later. These data suggest that the time of a PVI is a therapeutic window in which to prescribe EBMT in this high-risk cohort and represents an opportunity for quality improvement.


Abstract The paper presents issues related to the application of filtered integral sliding mode control to a two-mass drive system. A classical control structure has been presented and its design procedure is shown in detail. The properties of the classical structure, in which the chattering phenomenon seems to be a big drawback, have been summarized. In order to eliminate this phenomenon, an output low- -pass filter has been proposed and the performance of this system has been tested. In order to improve its characteristics, an adaptive low-pass filter has been proposed. The bandwidth of the filter was changed on-line by the fuzzy system according to the current state of the plant. During the steady-states, the bandwidth is low to eliminate chattering effect, and during transients higher in order to ensure the fast dynamics of the plant.


Previously published guidelines are available that provide comprehensive recommendations for detecting and preventing healthcare-associated infections. The intent of this document is to highlight practical recommendations in a concise format designed to assist acute care hospitals in implementing and prioritizing their Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) prevention efforts. Refer to the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America/Infectious Diseases Society of America "Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections" Executive Summary and Introduction and accompanying editorial for additional discussion. 1. Increasing rates of CDI C. difficile now rivals methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as the most common organism to cause healthcare-associated infections in the United States. a. In the United States, the proportion of hospital discharges in which the patient received the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision discharge diagnosis code for CDI more than doubled between 2000 and 2003, and CDI rates continued to increase in 2004 and 2005 (L. C. McDonald, MD, personal communication, July 2007). These increases have been seen in pediatric and adult populations, but elderly individuals have been disproportionately affected. CDI incidence has also increased in Canada and Europe. b. There have been numerous reports of an increase in CDI severity. c. Most reports of increases in the incidence and severity of CDI have been associated with the BI/NAP1/027 strain of C. difficile. This strain produces more toxins A and B in vitro than do many other strains of C. difficile, produces a third toxin (binary toxin), and is highly resistant to fluoroquinolones.


Automatically solving geometry questions is a long-standing AI problem. A geometry question typically includes a textual description accompanied by a diagram. The first step in solving geometry questions is diagram understanding, which consists of identifying visual elements in the diagram, their locations, their geometric properties, and aligning them to corresponding textual descriptions. In this paper, we present a method for diagram understanding that identifies visual elements in a diagram while maximizing agreement between textual and visual data. We show that the method's objective function is submodular; thus we are able to introduce an efficient method for diagram understanding that is close to optimal. To empirically evaluate our method, we compile a new dataset of geometry questions (textual descriptions and diagrams) and compare with baselines that utilize standard vision techniques. Our experimental evaluation shows an F1 boost of more than 17% in identifying visual elements and 25% in aligning visual elements with their textual descriptions.


To explore the information needs and experiences of patients who underwent Da Vinci robotic surgery and to establish a reference for providing information support to these patients. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 patients who underwent robotic surgery. Thematic analysis was subsequently executed on the data obtained from the interviews to identify the themes. Thematic analysis generated two main themes with six supporting sub-themes. The main themes were (1) surgical information acquisition experience and (2) the need for personalization to obtain satisfactory information. Patients who received Da Vinci robotic surgery had insufficient understanding of the surgical methods and possessed high demand for surgical-related information. Although patients' understanding of robotic surgery might be improved through multi-channel information support, due to the differences in patient access to information, personalized experiences would occur during this process. Professional information support could effectively enhance their positive psychological experiences with surgery.


This study aimed to investigate the effect of the use of storybooks on reading interest and learning outcomes in fourth grade students of Elementary School XIII Buleleng District. Of the 157 students of the population, 64 students were designated as samples drawn by random sampling technique. Data collected by the reading interest questionnaire, while learning outcomes data collected by objective tests. Data analysis technique used in this research is Manova. The result of the research shows that: 1) There are differences of reading interest between students who are taught by accompanying by a story book and taught only using the 2013 Curriculum Book on learning Subtheme of My Neighborhood in fourth grade students of Elementary School XIII Buleleng District, 2) there is a difference in learning outcomes between students who were taught by accompanied by a story book and taught only using the 2013 Curriculum Book on learning Subtheme of My Neighborhood in fourth grade students of Elementary School XIII Buleleng District, 3) there are differences of simultaneous reading interest and learning outcomes between students who were taught accompanied by a story book and taught only using the 2013 Curriculum Book on learning Subtheme of My Neighborhood in fourth grade students of Elementary School XIII Buleleng District. Keyword: Storybook, Learning Outcomes, Reading Interest


.. Objectives: To find out distribution of cardiovascular risk factors for women in established coronary artery disease. Study Design: Retrospective cross sectional descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: Private clinic of consultant cardiologist at Bahawalpur from June 2013 to December 2015. Methodology: Total 6345 patients were registered and only 820 female patients were diagnosed cases of ischemic heart disease selected for analysis of their cardiovascular risk factors. Results: The overall mean age of women was 57.75±11.28 years, weight was 66.3±15.14 kilogram, height was 153.77±7.87 cm, body mass index (BMI) was 27.89±6 kg/m2 and body surface area (BSA) was 1.76±0.28 m2. Significantly high frequency of obesity was found in premenopausal women as compared to other group i.e. 56.5% with p value <0.0001. BMI was also high in premenopausal women 32.13±7.91 then perimenopausal women, postmenopausal women and women with hysterectomy 28.06±6.93, 27.84±5.51 and 27.33±6.03 respectively. The overall weight is also more in premenopausal group as compared to postmenopausal, perimenopasaul and hysterectomy group i.e. 77.54±21.18, 66.46±13.66, 66.07±16.33 and 64.41±15.31 respectively and P Value was <0.0001. There was no difference found when DM, HTN and smoking compared within these four group. Smoking, CVA and PCI or CABG were 13(1.5%), 30(3.7%) and 13(1.5%) women respectively. Conclusion: Hypertension and DM are most common risk factor in women with IHD. Weight, BMI and different class of obesity are more common in younger age group as compare to older age. Smoking, PCI and CABG are very less frequent in women in this area.


This study presents a new method to select the settings of directional overcurrent relays. First, a new selection criterion of pickup currents is adopted. It results in discrete pickup current values, which mitigate the selectivity constraints effect on the minimisation of time multiplier settings. Second, the selectivity constraint equations are classified into individual groups with respect to backup relays. When solving these systems of equations, the initial time multiplier settings are obtained. The initial values are then increased gradually to find the final solution for all of the constraint equations. The proposed method is tested for three networks: 8-bus system, IEEE 14-bus system and IEEE 30-bus system. Its performance is evaluated and compared with the linear and non-linear programming techniques.


The purpose of this study was to analyse the economic growth factors strategic zone in Aceh Province, Indonesia of 2010-2016. The data used was data panel consisting of six zones namely the central, north, east, southeastern, south and west.  The independent variables was development gaps, government budget, electrical energy, information technology, labor from magister/doctor. Dependent variable   was economic growth. The method used was panel data regression. The result show that a model of fixed effect good enough explain economic growth. Factors that Influential very significant was information technology and electrical energy


In this paper, using p-ary bent functions defined on vector space over the finite field Fpk , we generalized the construction method of the families of p-ary bent sequences with balanced and optimal correlation properties introduced by Kumar and Moreno for an odd prime p [3], called generalized p-ary bent sequences. It turns out that the family of balanced p-ary sequences with optimal correlation property introduced by Moriuchi and Imamura [8] is a special case of the newly constructed generalized pary bent sequences. key words: bent sequences, generalized bent functions, optimal correlation, p-ary bent sequences


Abstract We develop a recursive estimator that systematically arrives at sparse parameter estimates. The algorithm is computationally feasible for moderate parameter estimation problems and leverages the Gaussian sum filter to provide both sparse parameter estimates and credible Bayesian intervals for non-zero parameters in a recursive fashion. Simulations show extremely promising accuracy, as well as a robustness not enjoyed by other sparse estimators.


The purpose of this study is to uncover the rationale (why) and the types of designs (what) for application of mixed method approaches in finance research using a systematic literature review approach. The findings revealed that there are four main research gaps in mixed method applications in finance: (a) poorly or nonformulated research questions, (b) lack of identification of the rationale for mixed methods, (c) poor identification of mixed methods and design, and (d) the manuscript reviewing gap. Finance studies based on quantitative methods and proxy variables can be further validated through mixed method approaches, thereby increasing the validity, completeness, and confirmation of findings, and minimizing the inherent weaknesses of mono-method approaches. We suggest that researchers in the finance discipline should justify their research methodology in order to eliminate the biases that arise through the selection of convenient methodologies. Thus, future studies should incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects when formulating mixed method research questions, emphasize the rationale, and choose appropriate mixed method designs to achieve a high level of scientific rigor in mixed methods research. Also, editors of nonmixed method journals need to have reviewing support from mixed method experts or adhere to the guidelines proposed by Onwuegbuzie and Poth when evaluating mixed method manuscripts to achieve a high level of quality and accuracy in their mixed methods research publications in finance.


In his monumental discoveries, the driving force for Einstein was, I believe, consistency of concept and principle rather than conflict with experiment. In this spirit, I would like to look at the journey from the classical to the relativistic world as a simple and direct exercise first in recognition of universal character of universal entities and then carrying out the universalization. By this process not only the relativistic world follows most naturally but I would like to conjecture that if Einstein were born in 1844 (or had I been born in 1844 and had followed this line of thought as I do now!) it would have in fact been predicted including existence of a wave with universal constant velocity. That would have indeed been not only the greatest but most amazing and remarkable feat of human thought. Beating further on the same track of principle and concept driven ideas, we ponder over to see beyond Einstein, and ask the questions: in how many dimensions does gravity live, how many basic forces are there in nature and what are the basic building blocks of space-time?


Summary The objective of the study was to assess the flying activity of the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris L.) on greenhouse-grown tomatoes. The field study was performed in a greenhouse which was 1 ha in area. Inside the greenhouse the tomatoes were being grown. The bumblebees working in the greenhouse were purchased in Belgium, Holland, Italy and Great Britain. Bumblebee flight intensity was evaluated from March to August, 2006, from 7:00a.m. to 7:00p.m. Bumblebees flying out of the hives were counted for 15 min. The results were converted to counts per 1 h. Pollination effectiveness was measured based on 10 tomato shoots picked at random. The optimum ambient temperature for the foraging flights of 11-42 bumblebees per 1h, averaged from 19.6 to 24oC. The lowest flying activities were recorded at greenhouse indoor temperatures below 19.6oC and above 24oC. The work of the bumblebees in the greenhouse was affected by ambient temperatures ranging from 2 to 24oC. The optimum light intensity was 19,6 klx (kilo-lux). Too low or too high light intensity decreased the activity of the bumblebees. The highest visitation rates by the bumblebees were recorded from 7:00a.m. to 7:00p.m. This was a rate of from 10 to 22 bumblebees per 1 h. The data on the pollination efficacy of the tomato crop show that each flower on a shoot was pollinated and developed into a fruit. The Belgium bumblebees were the most active visitors averaging 17.5 bumblebee flights per 1 h. Those from Holland averaged 13 fights per 1 h. Those from Great Britain, 12. The least active were the Italian bumblebees with 9.5 flights per 1 h.