The IBM POWER6™ microprocessor is a high-frequency (>5-G Hz) microprocessor fabricated in the IBM 65-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology. This paper describes the circuit, physical design, clocking, timing, power, and hardware characterization challenges faced in the pursuit of this industry-leading frequency. Traditional high-power, high-frequency techniques were abandoned in favor of more-power-efficient circuit design methodologies. The hardware frequency and power characterization are reviewed.


This paper aims to model integer valued time series with possible negative values and either positive or negative correlations by introducing the Poisson difference integer valued autoregressive model of order one. This model has Poisson difference marginal distribution and is defined by a new operator called the extended binomial thinning operator. It includes previous integer valued autoregressive of order one model as special cases. The model can be used as a tool to model non-stationary count data. The model is applied to data from the Saudi stock exchange.


Organophosphonic acid self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on oxide surfaces have recently seen increased use in electrical and biological sensor applications. The reliability and reproducibility of these sensors require good molecular organization in these SAMs. In this regard, packing, order, and alignment in the SAMs is important, as it influences the electron transport measurements. In this study, we examine the order of hydroxyl- and methyl-terminated phosphonate films deposited onto silicon oxide surfaces by the tethering by aggregation and growth method using complementary, state-of-art surface characterization tools. Near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy and in situ sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy are used to study the order of the phosphonate SAMs in vacuum and under aqueous conditions, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry results show that these samples form chemically intact monolayer phosphonate films. NEXAFS and SFG spectroscopy showed that molecular order exists in the octadecylphosphonic acid and 11-hydroxyundecylphosphonic acid SAMs. The chain tilt angles in these SAMs were approximately 37° and 45°, respectively.


We investigate a traffic model in which cars either move freely with quenched intrinsic velocities or belong to clusters formed behind slower cars. In each cluster, the next-to-leading car is allowed to pass and resume free motion. The model undergoes a phase transition from a disordered phase for the high passing rate to a jammed phase for the low rate. In the disordered phase, the cluster size distribution decays exponentially in the large size limit. In the jammed phase, the distribution of finite clusters is independent on the passing rate, but it accounts only for a fraction of all cars; the "excessive" cars form an infinite cluster moving with the smallest velocity. Mean-field equations, describing the model in the framework of Maxwell approximation, correctly predict the existence of phase transition and adequately describe the disordered phase; properties of the jammed phase are studied numerically.


This study seeks to introduce the concept of Varieties of Capitalism to the study of multi-actor implementation arrangements. It illustrates the analytical value of this classification scheme by drawing from original empirical data and addresses two key research questions, namely how do public and private actors cooperate in delivering on public policy, and which factors determine the scope of their cooperation? To address these questions, the article examines governance arrangements adopted by individual European Union member states for implementing the Youth Guarantee. The Youth Guarantee was selected because all European Union member states must and have indeed already started to implement it, meaning it provides a broad empirical base for observing different types of public–private coordination. The findings demonstrate that a hierarchical structure in a country's political economy and prior expenditure on active labour market policies result in different governance arrangements.


Goals This study aims to qualitatively describe experiences of adult patients diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Specifically, we aim to identify disease-specific concerns related to patient-reported outcomes in this population to inform clinical care and assessment. Background EoE is a chronic inflammatory disease of the esophagus and is increasingly recognized as a cause of dysphagia in adults. On the basis of its symptoms, limited and restrictive treatment options and potential for social and psychological impact, it is logical to expect that the health related quality of life of EoE patients would be an important outcome marker for assessment. Study Twenty-four EoE patients participated in semistructured interviews about their illness experiences. Participants also provided demographic and clinical data, and completed the Medical Outcome Study Short Form 12 to assess mental and physical function. Results Six themes emerged from qualitative analyses which centered around 3 main points: concerns about the illness itself, concerns about swallowing difficulty, and concerns about the impact of EoE on social interactions. Patients were generally open to disclosing their illness status and reported relief at receipt of the EoE diagnosis. EoE patients did not differ from healthy norms for physical well-being, and were similar to comparable illness groups for mental functioning. Conclusions Our study demonstrated that EoE has substantial impact on several psychosocial domains that are not adequately addressed by focused assessment of physical complaints of dysphagia. The results support the importance of development of disease-specific instruments pertaining to quality of life in EoE patients.


Muskelin is an intracellular protein with a C-terminal kelch-repeat domain that was initially characterized as having functional involvement in cell spreading on the extracellular matrix glycoprotein thrombospondin-1. As one approach to understanding the functional properties of muskelin, we have combined bioinformatic and biochemical studies. Through analysis of a new dataset of eight animal muskelins, we showed that the N-terminal region of the polypeptide corresponds to a predicted discoidin-like domain. This domain architecture is conserved in fungal muskelins and reveals a structural parallel between the muskelins and certain extracellular fungal galactose oxidases, although the phylogeny of the two groups appears distinct. In view of the fact that a number of kelch-repeat proteins have been shown to self-associate, co-immunoprecipitation, protein pull-down assays and studies of cellular localization were carried out with wild-type, deletion mutant and point mutant muskelins to investigate the roles of the discoidin-like and kelch-repeat domains. We obtained evidence for cis- and trans-interactions between the two domains. These studies provide evidence that muskelin self-associates through a head-to-tail mechanism involving the discoidin-like domain.


The dramatic increase in the literature that addresses family therapy training and supervision over the last decade has been predominantly in the area of theory, rather than practice. This article describes the development of a meta-supervisory learning context for approved supervisors and provides examples of interactions between supervisors that subsequently influenced both therapy and supervision. We delineate the assumptions that inform our work and offer specific guidelines for supervisors who wish to implement a similar model in their own contexts. We provide suggestions for a proactive refiguring of supervision that may have profound effects and benefits for supervisors and supervisees alike.


The parameters of the birch pollen seasons in Cracow in 1991-2008 were analysed in relation to some meteorological elements and synoptic situations (circulation types, air masses and atmospheric fronts). Two types of the pollen seasons were distinguished - highly dense and less dense. The first type of the season started on the 15 th of April (on average), lasted 11-20 days and the maximum daily concentration exceeded 500 pgm -3 . The less dense type started generally earlier (the first decade of April), lasted more than 20 days and the peak days were unstable. In this type of the pollen season, two peak days were often observed. The relationship between the type of the season and the meteorological conditions before the season was pointed out. Additionally, the influence of circulation types, types of air masses and atmospheric fronts over south-eastern Poland on a given day on the number of days with a daily concentration > 80 pgm -3 was analysed. The relationship between the pollen season type and meteorological conditions before the season was found, among others, the influence of types of synoptic situations and air masses on the number of days with a concentration of over 80 pgm -3 was established.


Introduction: Root canal preparation is an important step of endodontic therapy. For successful endodontic therapy apical extrusion of debris through the apical foramen into the periradicular region should be minimal to avoid postoperative complication such as flare-ups. Aim: To evaluate in-vitro, extrusion of apical debris from the root canal using continuous rotary files (using multiple files system and single rotary file system), reciprocating file system and hand files. Materials and Methods: This in-vitro research was carried out in the Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, MM college of Dental Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India, from November 2017 to January 2018. A total of 120 human mandibular premolar teeth that were caries free and single-rooted were split into four groups (each group with n=30) Group I: Hand ProTaper, Group II: Protaper Universal, Group III: F360 and Group IV: WaveOne Gold file system. The root canal was instrumented according to manufacturer's Instructions; and standardised irrigation with distilled water was performed. The Myers and Montgomery's Model was employed to gather irrigant and debris that had been apically ejected. The analysis of data obtained was done using Post-hoc Bonferroni test, Oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and paired t-test. Results: The findings indicate that all instrumentation techniques produced significant amount of extruded debris and irrigant. The mean apical debris extrusion using the One-way ANOVA test showed significant difference (p-value<0.001). WaveOne Gold file group showed least (0.0005±0.0001 mg) and Hand ProTaper file showed maximum (0.0017±0.0002) apical debris and irrigant extrusion. Conclusion: Less apical extrusion of irrigant and debris was observed in the engine-driven nickel-titanium systems than manual technique. Reciprocating file system when compared with hand and continuous rotary file system showed less debris extrusion.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the intellectual assets within the Scholarship and Collections directorate at the British Library. Design/methodology/approach – A phenomenographic approach is used gathering data via 25 in depth interviews with directorate staff and stakeholders complemented by document analysis. Findings – The findings identified issues specific to British Library such as the need for more clearly definitions of key business areas, and untapped resources within the directorate. Research limitations/implications – This study was limited to a single directorate within the British Library. From the findings a balanced scorecard was developed for the directorate adaptable for all departments within the directorate. The model could be adapted for other organisations. Practical implications – The study illustrates the value of adaptable scorecards allowing individual key performance indicators (KPIs) to be tailored to suit each department's needs and ensure equal representation. Using the model would allow for internal benchmarking to take place. Originality/value – This research presents a scorecard model that allows intellectual assets to be considered alongside traditional performance indicators and acknowledge the value of intellectual assets within the organisation.


The article is part of the special issue of the journal, including the proceedings of the conference "Albert Hirschman scienziato sociale" held in Rome at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. The author discusses the "sociological" aspects of Hirschman's thought, stressing at the same time Hirschman's strong commitment to intellectual cross-fertilisation across the social sciences or, even better, the social science.


Effects of four stocking densities (50, 100, 150 and 200 fish m·2) were investigated on some reproductive traits of hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus x 0. aureus) in outdoor concrete tanks. For both sexes the gonadosomatic index was not significantly influenced by stocking density. Fast-growing fish mature early in the season (March), but spawning started late in May. Mean percentages of mature fish were significantly higher at stocking densities of 50-100 fish m·2 than at higher densities (150-200 fish m·2). No effect of stocking density on size of fish at first maturity was found. Fecundity per female decreased with increasing stocking density, though significant difference was found only between the lowest density (50 fish m·2) and other densities (100-200 fish m·2). The fecundity per gram female did not show any definite pattern, but it was highest for fish stocked at the lowest density. Final mean weight and feed conversion ratios were significantly influenced by stocking densities.


The device for lubricating an endoscopic tool comprises a housing accommodating therein a retaining bushing for receiving the surgical tool thereinto. The bushing is provided with a longitudinal through going bore extending between an entry opening and an exit opening. The bore is filled up with a lubricating material and said entry and said exit opening are covered by a respective entry and exit closure that is piercable by the endoscopic tool during insertion thereof in the bushing through the entry opening and protracting thereof distally along the bore.


Abstract The analysis of small RNA NGS data together with the discovery of new small RNAs is among the foremost challenges in life science. For the analysis of raw high-throughput sequencing data we implemented the fast, accurate and comprehensive web-based tool miRMaster. Our toolbox provides a wide range of modules for quantification of miRNAs and other non-coding RNAs, discovering new miRNAs, isomiRs, mutations, exogenous RNAs and motifs. Use-cases comprising hundreds of samples are processed in less than 5 h with an accuracy of 99.4%. An integrative analysis of small RNAs from 1836 data sets (20 billion reads) indicated that context-specific miRNAs (e.g. miRNAs present only in one or few different tissues / cell types) still remain to be discovered while broadly expressed miRNAs appear to be largely known. In total, our analysis of known and novel miRNAs indicated nearly 22 000 candidates of precursors with one or two mature forms. Based on these, we designed a custom microarray comprising 11 872 potential mature miRNAs to assess the quality of our prediction. MiRMaster is a convenient-to-use tool for the comprehensive and fast analysis of miRNA NGS data. In addition, our predicted miRNA candidates provided as custom array will allow researchers to perform in depth validation of candidates interesting to them.


In this informative age, we find many documents are available in digital forms which need classification of the text. For solving this major problem present researchers focused on machine learning techniques: a general inductive process automatically builds a classifier by learning, from a set of pre classified documents, the characteristics of the categories. The main benefit of the present approach is consisting in the manual definition of a classifier by domain experts where effectiveness, less use of expert work and straightforward portability to different domains are possible. The paper examines the main approaches to text categorization comparing the machine learning paradigm and present state of the art. Various issues pertaining to three different text similarity problems, namely, semantic, conceptual and contextual are also discussed.


We consider the Cauchy problem for a model of non-linear acoustic, named the Kuznetsov equation, describing a sound propagation in thermo-viscous elastic media. For the viscous case, it is a weakly quasi-linear strongly damped wave equation, for which we prove the global existence in time of regular solutions for sufficiently small initial data, the size of which is specified, and give the corresponding energy estimates. In the inviscid case, we update the known results of John for quasi-linear wave equations, obtaining the well-posedness results for less regular initial data. We obtain, using a priori estimates and a Klainerman inequality, the estimations of the maximal existence time, depending on the space dimension, which are optimal, thanks to the blow-up results of Alinhac. Alinhac's blow-up results are also confirmed by a L2 -stability estimate, obtained between a regular and a less regular solutions.


Using model elaborated it was shown that the retinal ischemia initiated the development of the apoptosis in the inner layers of the retina. Administration of NOS inhibitor prevented the development of the apoptosis in the retina. To ascertain if nitric oxide could induce the retinal apoptosis by itself the nontoxic donor of nitric oxide (dinitrosyl iron complex) was injected intravitreally. Administration of DNIC in low concentrations induced the development of the apoptosis in the same retinal layers as in ischemia. The injection of dinitrosyl iron complex at the higher concentration resulted in the decrease of the apoptosis level. Administration of dinitrosyl iron complex with excess of glutathione didn't lead to the development of the retinal apoptosis. The obtained data demonstrates the neurotoxic properties of the excess of nitric oxide in the retina.


The Treasury Tax and Loan program, a joint undertaking of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, is designed to manage federal tax receipts and stabilize the supply of reserves in the banking system. Three recent innovations—electronic collection of business taxes, real-time investment of excess Treasury balances, and competitive bidding for Treasury deposits— have materially enhanced the ability of the two agencies to achieve these objectives.


Nanostructured metals with designable and controllable structures have received increasing attention in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) due to the single molecular detection limit. Great challenges still remain in creating large scale substrates with high-density 'hotspots' to provide a uniform and stable enhancement of Raman signals. Here, we fabricated a copper island thin film over an 80 cm2 scale substrate with tunable particle sizes by combining sputtering with dealloying processes. The island size can be tailored from 150 nm to 370 nm by controlling parameters and etching conditions and possesses an optimized surface morphology structure. The detection limit of crystal violet (CV) molecules reached 0.1 pM. Meanwhile, the copper island thin film presents good homogeneity and stability. Our method is promising to repeatedly fabricate novel metal SERS substrates on a large scale with standard properties for sensing applications.


White House operations reflect the president whom the staff serve. His strengths are theirs and his weaknesses are mirrored in the organization. To understand the communications operation in the George W. Bush administration, one has to begin with the president's management approach because his style is reflected throughout all White House operations. In the system the president and senior advisers set in place, there are several core elements: a presidential management system with three central features–set the goals, establish how to get from point A to point B, and assign specific tasks and responsibilities to staff members; a compartmentalized White Home operation where each communications unit and staff member has specific responsibilities; a three-tier communications operation focused on strategy, operations, and implementation; four and later two additional units carrying out tasks associated with publicity operations; White House control over the appointment of departmental public affairs officers; and regular coordination with those officers.


Abstract Background Motor neurone disease (MND) is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to significant morbidity and mortality. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project estimated the MND all-age global prevalence is 4.5 (95% confidence interval (CI)=4.1–5.0) per 100,000 persons and the all-age incidence of 0.78 (95% CI = 0.71–0.86) per 100,000 person-years. Whether the prevalence and incidence of MND within South Australia using registry data is in keeping with these global estimates has not been studied. Objective To describe the prevalence and annual incidence rates (IRs) of MND in South Australia between 2017 and 2019. Methods A retrospective cohort study calculating the point prevalence of MND on 31 December 2017, 2018 and 2019 utilizing data from the Australasian Motor Neurone Disease Registry (AMNDR). The annual IRs between 2017 and 2019 were calculated using population data reported in the 2016 Australian census and age-standardized rates utilized the world population from the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects. Results A total of 256 MND patients were identified, of whom 114 were alive on 31 December 2019. Based on the 2016 population of 1,676,653 persons, the estimated prevalence was 6.79 per 100,000 persons. The crude IR for the all-age South Australian population was 3.34 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI, 2.85–3.88). The estimated annual IRs based on those ≥20 yo were 4.98 (3.84–6.35), 3.68 (2.71–4.88), and 4.21 (3.17–5.49) per 100,000 person-years for 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively. Conclusion The crude prevalence and incidence of MND in South Australia were considerably higher than global estimates. This may reflect higher rates of the disease or higher rates of case ascertainment compared to the GBD project.


The article presents an anthropological perspective on the selection, transformation and invention of Slovenian popular musical forms among the Slovenian expatriate community in Argentina. Among many descendants, the wish to continue their ancestors' cultural practices created a "homeland-oriented" community in which their members felt committed to preserving their roots and social memories, and thus to "musically" enacting their Slovenianness. To illustrate this, I will particularly explore the case of the Slovenian Alpine ethno-pop band "Slovenski Inštrumentalni Ansambel", analysing how the migration and memory processes of their antecessors influenced the life of these ethno-pop artists, and how these experiences were appropriated in their music and lyrics.


The Uganda defassa waterbuck is a large African antelope which in western Uganda breeds throughout the year. The adult male averaged 520 lb and the adult female 410 lb in weight. After weaning, at six to eight months, males joined a bachelor herd whilst some females possibly formed spinster groups. The bachelor herd inhabited a home range covering several male territories. At age five to six years a bachelor male attempted to establish his own territory, normally becoming territorial by age seven. A year-round territory was then maintained throughout life, but at age nine to ten owners were often driven into small, unfavourable areas by younger males. Boundaries were defended by fighting and by typical bovid intimidatory displays. Territories were not actively marked by their owners but owners were apparently identified by odour. Females adopted home ranges covering several male territories, restricting their ranging with increasing age. These home ranges seemed owned by groups of females who moved within them as individuals, associations between particular females being fluid.


Relevance. The widespread use of information technologies, both when creating a database based on the results of immunological monitoring of persons vaccinated with the live plague vaccine, and for predicting the effectiveness of measures for specific prevention of plague in a specific territory, is aimed at ensuring epidemiological surveillance of plague in the territories of natural foci of infection. The aim of the work was to analyze the application of the created replenished database, which allows accumulating, archiving and systematizing the results of immunological monitoring of persons vaccinated against plague for informational support of sanitary and epidemiological surveillance of plague in the territories of natural foci of infection.Materials and methods. The database included the results of a prospective cohort observational study. The database was created on the Microsoft Access 8.0 platform, an interactive software development environment for Visual Basic 6.0 with VB (Visual Basic) and / or SQL (structured query language) queries. To store the data, TXT files connected to the database were used.Results. Permanent (region of residence, age, sex, blood group, genovariants of the human leukocyte antigen HLA) and variable (indicators of cellular and humoral immunity) parameters obtained as a result of long-term immunological monitoring of persons vaccinated with the live plague vaccine according to epidemic indications have been archived. Using the information support of the Database, an assessment of the state of anti-plague immunity was carried out and screening indicators of the immune status of the contingent at risk were determined, characterizing the individual response to vaccination.Conclusions. The introduction of information technologies, which are the basis for multifactorial risk management of vaccine prevention, based on the use of modern databases for collecting, storing and analyzing data, makes it possible to make management decisions to optimize the volume and timing of measures for specific prevention of plague in the territories of natural foci of infection and in institutions that ensure the implementation of work with pathogens of especially dangerous infections.


The article is dedicated to the understanding of the Nazi anthropology as an element of the quasi-religious concept. Adolf Hitler's racial theory unequivocally rejected the human status of persons not belonging to the Caucasian race, labeling them as Untermensch ("under-man"). Such an attitude was due to several prerequisites. However, the core reason is manifested not in the rational sphere. In the twentieth century, concepts of quasi-religions and political religions became widespread due to the reign of two totalitarian ideologies in Eurasia—Nazism and Communism. Numerous scholars emphasized the fact that these ideologies performed religious functions thus occupying an intellectual space at the interface between the religious and the secular. Quasi-religion adherents may be equally fanatic as religious radicals. Questions about whether this similarity is mere coincidence or whether quasi-religions are derivatives from traditional religions and the meaning of this problem today deserve close attention.


The effect of a virulent bacteriophage on the competitive behaviour of paired strains of Rhizobium trifolii in the root zone of clover plants was examined. The presence of bacteriophage reduced the population density of susceptible strains on the root surface and, in nodulation, favoured resistant or even partially resistant strains which were otherwise less able to form nodules. These effects occurred with different growth temperatures, host species, and ratios of strains in the inoculum.


During the height of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, I joined a group of engineers and other scientists to discuss the evidence for an oil plume, at least 22 miles long and about a mile wide, floating 3000 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

As the chemist in the group, I wondered aloud about how we could exploit the aqueous solubilities of the petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and total xylenes to understand plume formation. I suspected the key to knowledge lay in the plume's chemical properties.


Objective To evaluate clinical effectiveness of a self management programme for arthritis in patients in primary care with osteoarthritis. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting 74 general practices in the United Kingdom. Participants 812 patients aged 50 and over with osteoarthritis of hips or knees (or both) and pain or disability (or both). Intervention Participants were randomised to six sessions of self management of arthritis and an education booklet (intervention group) or the education booklet alone (control group). Main outcome measures Primary outcome was quality of life, as assessed by the short form health survey (SF-36). Several other physical and psychosocial secondary outcomes were assessed. Data were collected at baseline, four months, and 12 months. Results Response rates were 80% and 76% at four and 12 months. The two groups showed significant differences at 12 months on the anxiety subscore of the hospital anxiety and depression scale (mean difference − 0.62, 95% confidence interval − 1.08 to − 0.16), arthritis self efficacy scale for pain (0.98, 0.07 to 1.89), and self efficacy for other aspects of management (1.58, 0.25 to 2.90). Results were similar for intention to treat and per protocol analyses. No significant difference was seen in number of visits to the general practitioner at 12 months. Conclusions The self management of arthritis programme reduced anxiety and improved participants' perceived self efficacy to manage symptoms, but it had no significant effect on pain, physical functioning, or contact with primary care. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN79115352.


Periphyton is the complex of sessile aquatic biota with associated detritus, attached to submerged substrates. A possibility of regular income generation through traditional farming is limited due to small land holding, soil salinity, frequent attacks of cyclones like 'Aila', floods, seawater inundation, agricultural practices without scientific knowledge and crop failures due to pests and diseases. The area is exposed to harsh agro-climatic situations leading to frustration, abandoning farming, migration of farming communities seeking better livelihood opportunities, shift to alternate income earning opportunities etc. In this backdrop, 'different approaches in fisheries modules are envisaged as an effective tool to create examples before the farmers so that they become able to tap their own resources for sustainable income generation and to enhance their livelihood security. The units may be of different types depending on the resources and capacity of the farmers. Considering superior periphyton growth on bamboo was used as the substrate. This material is too expensive in South-Asia for resource-poor farmers. Therefore, cheap alternatives for the bamboo substrate have opted like nylon nets. 37 species were identified from the periphyton patches and it showed that the water temperature also less fluctuating in periphyton cultured based ponds compared to the farmers' practice. The present study was mainly emphasis on tilapia culture at Sundarban water. Rearing management systems assessed were: fertilization alone (FA), combined fertilization-feeding (FF), fertilization periphyton (FP) and fertilization-compost application (FC) in triplicate ponds. Soaked mustard cake was used as a fertilizer @ 100 kg ha-1 at 15-day intervals in all the treatment ponds. Formulated crumble diet containing 29.7 per cent protein and 4.9 per cent lipid was used as a supplementary feed in FF. Bamboo poles were used as substrates (equivalent to 10% of pond surface area) to facilitate periphyton growth in FP and composted aquatic weed was applied @ 500 kg ha-1 in FC at monthly intervals. Ponds were stocked with grey mullet fry (3.36 ± 0.32 g/ 63.70 ± 4.61 mm) at 30,000 number ha-1.Cost of cultivation was found to be significantly reduced in the case of periphyton technology and this reduction was 31.25 per cent to 37.09 per cent higher in comparison to the fertilizer and feed. The net return of periphyton technology was found to be 45 per cent to 58 per cent higher than fertilizer alone experiments.


With the availability of very high resolution (VHR) satellite images fast and relatively cheap investigations of large urban areas in comparison to aerial photography are possible. In urban areas a predominant use of satellite data is the generation of city models for applications like mobile phone signal propagation or flooding and catastrophe simulation. Since more and more large and quick growing cities emerge in developing countries, monitoring and modeling of these areas from satellite will be the cheapest if not the only possibility. Most of the actual methods used for the generation of city models depend on mainly manual work. A method for automatic derivation of -in a first step very coarse -models of urban environments will be of great use. In this paper a production chain and the methods used for such a automatic modeling is presented. The method is based on stereo images from VHR satellite stereo imagery provided, e.g., by IKONOS or QuickBird. In a first step a digital surface model (DSM) is derived from the stereo data. Subsequently a digital terrain model (DTM) and ortho images are created. Based on the local height differences between DSM and DTM and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) a coarse classification can be made. Upon this classification object models can be selected and object parameters can be adapted to create an object-based representation of the satellite image scene. The method used is evaluated and the results are discussed.


Medical journals of Kazakhstan intergrate to the international space, however today none of them has Science Citation Index and doesn't enter into the Web of knowledge database, according to this, articles published in Kazakhstan's journals can't come to the international level. The said problem determines the necessity of an analysis and the identification of the key problems, which "prevents" from spreading the research results achieved by the Kazakhstan scientists. The work objective is to evaluate the use of statistics and appropriate software by the authors of original articles in such journals as recommended by the Kazakh National Centre for Scientific & Technical Expertise and included in the Database elibrary.kz. We have taken a certain standard statistical analysis methods of investigation. In the evaluation of the research design, the authors of articles mostly used as follows: a series of cases, a control study and description of specific cases. A scope of selection in Section "Research Methods" was only calculated in 21,8 % of cases, and in 63,9 % of cases there was no description how the selection was carried out.


The parent-teacher partnership is a key factor in development and progress of students with learning difficulties in mathematics. In spite of the legal basis for the partnership, its quality and effectiveness in facilitating students' development and learning in accordance with their competence is still to be established. (Cankar, 2008).
The theoretical part of the thesis defines the notion of learning difficulties and outlines their underlying causes. In addition, the section provides an extensive description of learning difficulties in mathematics, their underlying causes and the diagnostic criteria for detecting students with learning deficit in mathematics. Special attention is paid to the principles of parent-teacher collaboration, the forms the collaboration may take as well as the factors and challenges for a successful parent-teacher partnership. The theoretical part of the thesis concludes with an outline of teacher competencies needed for a successful partnership with the parents.
The empirical part of the thesis examines the current parent-teacher collaboration in helping students with learning difficulties in mathematics. This section inquires into the forms of parent-provided help for students with learning difficulties in mathematics and the factors which parents and teachers find instrumental for facilitating the students' progress. Additionally, the section aims to research the problems encountered by both parents and teachers in their collaboration as well as their mutual expectations in providing learning assistance.
The study includes 30 class teachers working with students with learning difficulties in mathematics and 34 parents whose children experience learning difficulties in mathematics. Both groups were given a questionnaire related to learning difficulties in mathematics, the diagnosis process, the forms of parent- and teacher-provided assistance, the parent-teacher collaboration, its challenges and how they may affect the students' progress. The parents' questionnaire is concluded with an open-ended question related to the expectations parents have from the teachers. The teachers' questionnaire is concluded with an open-ended question related to the teachers' expectations from the parents.
The results of the study show that the most common forms of parent-provided assistance are the additional explanation of the task, the explanation of the instructions of the task and the help with instruction reading. Additionally, the study shows that both parents and teachers perceive their collaboration as the most important factor in facilitating learning assistance and student progress. As for the challenges teachers face in their work, the study shows the parents' unwillingness to collaborate as the most common challenge experienced by teachers. Parents, on the other hand, highlight problems in communication with the teacher as well as the feelings of unwantedness in the mutual relation as the most common challenges for their collaboration.
The teachers' responses show that their expectations from the parents are that enough time be dedicated to the child as well as the constant mutual collaboration and tracing of the student's progress. The parents' responses, on the other hand, show that the parents expect teachers to provide instructional support for them and their children. Additionally, the parents expect partnership, patience and successful communication with the teacher.
The results of the study contribute to the fields of didactics of mathematics and inclusive pedagogy. The findings may serve as guidelines for teachers and parents to help them change and improve their collaboration.


Aim: Correlation of sonographic features of polyserositis with platelet counts in dengue fever. Materials & Methods: Three hundred patients with positive dengue serology [160 (54%) males and 140 (46%) females], in the age group of 3-80 years, were evaluated by trans abdominal sonography during an epidemic from March 2017 to October 2017 in a tertiary care hospital. The findings were correlated with platelet counts. Results: The common features on ultrasonography were hepatomegaly, GB wall edema, ascites, splenomegaly and pleural effusion. Hepatomegaly was observed in 72% of the patients (n=216), GB wall edema in 65% (n=195), splenomegaly in 44% (n=132), ascites in 50% (n=150), unilateral pleural effusion in 52% (n=156) and bilateral pleural effusion in 27% (n=81). Conclusion: In a febrile patient with thrombocytopenia and positive dengue serology, ultrasonography of abdomen is a useful tool to evaluate severity of illness. Ultrasound findings of GB wall edema, ascites and pleural effusion are directly proportional to the extent of thrombocytopenia. In an epidemic scenario USG features may help in roughly estimating the platelet count even before serology and platelet results are available. Thus, it helps in treatment planning without waiting for the laboratory results.


The aquifer under the Indus basin of Pakistan is of marine origin and the native groundwater is saline which is overlain by a freshwater layer. The upper freshwater layer is formed as a result of seepage from rivers, canals, field irrigation losses and precipitation. About 6.42 million ha area has freshwater layer of variable thickness. The exploitation of upper freshwater layer is hindered by saline water intrusion and saline upconing under pumping wells. To extract this freshwater for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes, different techniques are being practiced in the Indus basin to minimize the saline water intrusion. These include; shallow tubewells, skimming tubewells, scavenger wells, dug wells, and radial collector wells. The adoptability of these techniques depends upon the thickness of the freshwater layer, availability of local material, availability of technical personnel for installation and maintenance, local customs and traditions, and the affordability. The present paper reviews the skimming well technologies used for extracting freshwater in various parts of the Indus basin of Pakistan, their feasibility in different part of the basin, the present status of these techniques and associated constraints.


Research has continued with excellent progress and new results on methodology and algorithms. We have also made supporting benchmark application studies on representative parallel computing architectures. Results from these research studies have been reported at scientific meetings, as technical reports and as journal publications. A list of pertinent presentations and publications is attached. The work on parallel element-by-element techniques and domain decomposition schemes has developed well. In particular, we have focused on the use of finite element spectral methods (or high p methods) on distributed massively parallel systems. The approach has been implemented in a prototype finite element program for solution of coupled Navier Stokes flow and transport processes. This class of problems is of fundamental interest and basic to many ``grand challenge`` type problems for which parallel supercomputing is warranted.


Security is an important factor for the wide acceptance of electronic commerce services. Special security mechanisms are needed for the implementation of secure electronic payment systems that permit the integration of electronic transactions. In the framework of the information brokerage system that has been developed by the GAIA project of the European union a number of such mechanisms have been proposed and implemented. As a result, an integrated secure electronic payment system is provided that covers a number of different payment methods preserving maximum security of electronic transactions.


OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study was to determine which measurable factors of resident training experience contribute to improvement of in-training examination (ITE) and certifying examination (CE) scores.

METHODS
This is a descriptive retrospective study analyzing data from July 2003 through June 2006 at a large academic pediatric training program. Pediatric categorical residents beginning residency in July 2003 were included. Regression analyses were used to determine if the number of admissions performed, core lectures attended, acute care topics heard, grand rounds attended, continuity clinic patients encountered, or procedures performed correlated with improvement of ITE scores. These factors were then analyzed in relation to CE scores.

RESULTS
Seventeen residents were included in this study. The number of general pediatric admissions was the only factor found to correlate with an increase in ITE score (P = .04). Scores for the ITE at pediatric levels 1 and 3 were predictive of CE scores. No other factors measured were found to influence CE scores.

CONCLUSIONS
Although all experiences of pediatric residents likely contribute to professional competence, some experiences may have more effect on ITE and CE scores. In this study, only general pediatric admissions correlated significantly with an improvement in ITE scores from year 1 to year 3. Further study is needed to identify which elements of the residency experience contribute most to CE success. This would be helpful in optimizing residency program structure and curriculum within the limitations of duty hour regulations.


Gout is an abnormality in the body resulting in the accumulation of uric acid mainly in joints. Dissolution of uric acid crystals into soluble allantoin by the enzyme uricase might provide a better alternative for the treatment of gout. This work aims to investigate the feasibility of a transdermal patch loaded with uricase for better patient compliance. Mesoporous silica (SBA-15) was chosen as the matrix for immobilisation of uricase. Highly oriented mesoporous SBA-15 was synthesized, characterized and uricase was physisorbed in the mesoporous material. The percentage adsorption and release of enzyme in borate buffer was monitored. The release followed linear kinetics and greater than 80% enzyme activity was retained indicating the potential of this system as an effective enzyme immobilization matrix. The enzyme permeability was studied with Wistar rat skin and human cadaver skin. It was found that in case of untreated rat skin 10% of enzyme permeated through skin in 100 h. The permeation increased by adding permeation enhancer (combination of oleic acid in propylene glycol (OA in PG)). The permeation enhancement was studied under two concentrations of OA in PG (1%, 5%) in both rat and human cadaver skin and it was found that 1% OA in PG showed better result in rat skin and 5% OA in PG showed good results in human cadaver skin.


Security in wireless networks is challenging. Security in cognitive radio networks (CRN) is even more challenging. This is because a CRN consists of cognitive radios (CR) which have many more functions and processes to account for, such as sensing, geolocation, spectrum management, access to the policy database etc. Each of these functions and processes need to be assessed for potential vulnerabilities and security mechanisms need to be provided for protection of not just the secondary users of the spectrum but also the primary users or the incumbents. This paper discusses the potential security vulnerabilities and the remediations for the same in a CRN with an example using a commercial IEEE 802.22 standard. Due to the unique characteristics of the CRs in a CRN, enhanced security mechanisms are required. The security mechanisms in CRN are divided into several security sub-layers which protect non-cognitive as well as cognitive functions of the system and the interactions between the two. This paper describes these security features as incorporated into the IEEE 802.22 standard. It is possible to apply similar security mechanisms for a military CRN.


This paper experimentally investigates the effect of turning vane on hub region heat transfer in a multi-pass rectangular channel with rib-roughed wall at high rotation numbers. The experimental data were taken in the second and the third passages (Aspect Ratio = 2:1) connected by 180° U-bend. The flow was radial inward in the second passage and was radial outward after the 180° U-bend in the third passage. The square-edged ribs with P/e = 8, e/Dh = 0.1, and α = 45° were applied on the leading and trailing surfaces of the second and third passages. Results showed that rotation increases heat transfer on the leading surface but decreases it on the trailing surface in the second passage. In the third passage, rotation decreases heat transfer on the leading surface but increases it on the trailing surface. Without a turning vane, rotation reduces heat transfer on the trailing surface and increases it on the leading surface in the hub 180° turn region. After adding a half-circle-shaped turning vane, heat transfer coefficients do not change in the second passage before-turn while they are different in the turn region and after-turn region in the third passage. Regional heat transfer coefficients and channel loss coefficients are correlated with rotation numbers for multi-pass rectangular ribbed channel with and without a turning vane.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Web service composition is widely used to extend the function of web services. Different users have different requirements of QoSs (Quality of Services) making them face many problems. The requirement of a special QoS may be a hard requirement or a soft requirement. The hard requirement refers to the QoS which must be satisfied to the user, and the soft one means that the requirement is flexible. This paper tries to solve the service composition problem when there are two kinds of requirements of QoSs. To satisfy various kinds of requirement of the QoS, we propose a composition method based on our proposed framework. We give an analysis from composition models of services and from related QoE (Quality of Experience) of web services. Then, we rank the service candidates and the service requests together. Based on the ranking, a heuristics is proposed for service selection and composition-GLLB (global largest number of service requests first, local best fit service candidate first), which uses "lost value" in the scheduling to denote the QoE. Comparisons are used to evaluate our method. Comparisons show that GLLB reduces the value of NUR (Number of Unfinished service Requests), FV (Failure Value), and AFV (Average Failure Value).


Summary Pithecostrongylus anak sp. nov. (Nematoda: Molineidae) is described from the small intestine of Uromys anak Thomas, 1907 from Papua New Guinea. Pithecostrongylus anak is distinguished from other members of the genus by its larger size, the number of ridges on the synlophe and the length of the spicules. The validity of the name of the type species P. alatus is discussed. The genus Pithecostrongylus Lubimow, 1930 occurs in primates and sciurid and murid rodents from Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia, with P. anak the first representative described from a murid rodent from Papua New Guinea. Since only primate hosts have been reported from Indonesia, the route of invasion of New Guinea by the rodents, there are no obvious biogeographical links between P. anak and its congeners.


Disclosed is an adhesive preparation for external use.  Specifically disclosed is an adhesive preparation for external use (20), wherein a medicine layer (22) is formed on one surface (21a) of a flexible sheet-like base cloth (21), and a protective sheet (24) is bonded to one surface (22a) of the medicine layer (22) in a releasable manner, said surface (22a) facing the side opposite to the base cloth (21) side.  The protective sheet (24) contains a first sheet portion (28) which is bonded to the surface (22a) of the medicine layer (22), a second sheet portion (29) which is continued to one side edge (28a) of the first sheet portion (28) and superposed on the first sheet portion (28) to the other side edge (28b) that is on the opposite side of the side edge (28a), and a third sheet portion (30) which is continued to the second sheet portion (29).


OBJECTIVE
To describe and discuss the results of non-pharmacological interventions (NPI) adjuvants in the treatment of depressive symptoms among women with breast cancer (BC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A systematic review on NPI was performed, which was applied to patients with cancer and depressive symptoms in seven databases. The review was limited from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2017 and to English, Spanish and Portuguese languages. The medical descriptors used were "breast neoplasm" and "depression".

RESULTS
There are several NPI that are able stimulate the physical or psychosocial dimensions. In this article we propose a classification based on nine identified therapeutic strategies, among which exercise, psychotherapy and yoga with meditation stand out.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on the available evidence, we concluded that psychotherapy and yoga with meditation reduce depressive symptoms in patients with CaMa. More research is needed to determine the magnitude of the reduction of depressive symptoms, according to their severity, presence of comorbidities and diversity of INF.


Simulation is an effective tool for understanding the complex interaction of transmission components in dynamic environment. Vibro-dynamics simulation of faulty gears and rolling element bearings allows the analyst to study the effect of damaged components in controlled manners and gather the data without bearing the cost of actual failures or the expenses associated with an experiment that requires a large number of seeded fault specimens. The fault simulation can be used to provide the data required in training Neural network based diagnostic/prognostic processes.


Background: Banked CB is an effective source of hematopoietic stem cells for allogeneic bone marrow reconstitution. Critical indices of engraftment potential and quality of a CB graft are the nucleated cell dose, CD34 + cell content and total CFU. Determination of CD34 + cell viability by flow cytometry depends on 7-actinomicin D (7-AAD) exclusion, but its diffusion into cells depends on permeability of the cell membrane. Earlier stages of the death pathway (apoptosis) escape detection by 7-AAD. Aims of our study: to establish a sensitive method for detection of early apoptosis in CB cells and to evaluate their ultrastructural morphology, to determine the extent to which early apoptosis may disclose reduced functionality of CD34 + and CD3 + cells and therefore, whether early apoptosis should be investigated routinely in CB grafts before transplantation and to investigate the presence and degree of apoptosis in CD34 + and CD3 + cells upon CB storage at RT and after cryopreservation/thawing, as well as the effect of post-thaw DMSO removal. Results: After CB storage over 48 hrs, evaluation by multiparameter flow cytometry with the mitochondrial potential (MP) marker DILC, Annexin V, 7-AAD and surface cell markers, identified 3 populations with decreasing MP and negative 7-AAD: 1. DILC with high MP (MP High )/Annexin(−); 2. DILC with intermediate MP (MP Interm )/Annexin(−) and 3. MP Interm /Annexin(+). Groups were sorted for CD3 + and CD34 + cells, ultrastructural morphology was evaluated by electron microscopy (EM) and their function by culture with Phytohemaglutinin/IL-2 (PHA) for CD3 + and by CFU assay for CD34 + cells. EM revealed lymphocyte shrinkage, nuclei with condensed chromatin and polarized clusters of organelles, findings suggestive of early stages of apoptosis. In addition, CD3 + cells with MP High had higher stimulation than those with MP Interm and impaired more when cells became Annexin(+) (ratio MP High /MP Interm =54; p + cells with MP High showed higher CFU than those with MP Interm /Annexin(−) and those with Annexin(+), (CFU ratio MP High /MP Interm = 17.7 and 35.6 respectively, p + and CD34 + cells upon CB storage over 48hrs and after cryopreservation/thawing showed decreased CD3 + cell viability (p + cells (range 37–79%). In contrast, there were no significant variations in viability or function of CD34 + cells after cryopreservation/thawing. Thawed cells with DMSO dilution down to 2% concentration or DMSO removal (Dextran/Albumin wash) effected no significant change in viability or function. Summary: CB cells with decreased mitochondrial potential have impaired function and morphological characteristics of early apoptosis; A combination of 7-AAD with a marker of mitochondrial potential (DILC) allows for the detection of early apoptotic cells which are not detected by 7-AAD; CB-lymphocytes have immature appearance by ultrastructural morphology compared to those of adult peripheral blood; Viability and function of CB-CD34 + cells were not significantly reduced by cryopreservation/thawing but those of CD3 cells were. Lower viability and decreased function of CB-CD3 cells may affect the immunological interactions in double or multiple CB transplants as well as clonal expansion post-transplant.


BACKGROUND
While Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) eradication regimens have contributed to a decline in Pa prevalence in people with cystic fibrosis (CF), this antibiotic exposure might increase the risk of acquisition of drug-resistant organisms. This study evaluated the association between antipseudomonal antibiotic exposure intensity and acquisition risk of drug-resistant organisms among children with CF and new Pa infection.

METHODS
We utilized data from the Early Pseudomonas Infection Control Clinical Trial (EPIC CT), a randomized controlled trial comparing Pa eradication strategies in children with CF and new Pa. The exposure was the number of weeks of oral or inhaled antipseudomonal antibiotics, or ever vs. never treatment with intravenous antipseudomonal antibiotics, during the 18 months of EPIC CT participation. The primary outcomes were risks of acquisition of several respiratory organisms during five years of follow up after EPIC CT estimated using Cox proportional hazards models separately for each specific organism.

RESULTS
Among 249 participants, there was no increased acquisition risk of any organism associated with greater inhaled antibiotic exposure. With each additional week of oral antibiotics, there was an increased hazard of Achromobacter xylosoxidans acquisition (HR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.02-1.50; p=0.03). Treatment with intravenous antibiotics was associated with an increased hazard of acquisition of multidrug-resistant Pa (HR=2.47; 95% CI 1.28-4.78; p=0.01) and MRSA (HR=1.57; 95% CI 1.03-2.40); p=0.04).

CONCLUSIONS
Results from this study illustrate the importance of making careful antibiotic choices to balance the benefits of antibiotics in people with CF while minimizing the risk of acquisition of drug-resistant organisms.


Runx2 is a critical transcription factor for osteoblast differentiation. Regulation of Runx2 expression levels and transcriptional activity is important for bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-induced osteoblast differentiation. Previous studies have shown that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) activation enhances the transcriptional activity of Runx2 and that BMP-induced Runx2 acetylation increases Runx2 stability and transcriptional activity. Because BMP signaling induces Erk activation in osteoblasts, we sought to investigate whether BMP-induced Erk signaling regulates Runx2 acetylation and stability. Erk activation by overexpression of constitutively active MEK1 increased Runx2 transcriptional activity, whereas U0126, an inhibitor of MEK1/2, suppressed basal Runx2 transcriptional activity and BMP-induced Runx2 acetylation and stabilization. Overexpression of constitutively active MEK1 stabilized Runx2 protein via up-regulation of acetylation and down-regulation of ubiquitination. Erk activation increased p300 protein levels and histone acetyltransferase activity. Knockdown of p300 using siRNA diminished Erk-induced Runx2 stabilization. Overexpression of Smad5 increased Runx2 acetylation and stabilization. Erk activation further increased Smad-induced Runx2 acetylation and stabilization, whereas U0126 suppressed these functions. On the other hand, knockdown of Smad1 and Smad5 by siRNA suppressed both basal and Erk-induced Runx2 protein levels. Erk activation enhanced the association of Runx2 with p300 and Smad1. Taken together these results indicate that Erk signaling increases Runx2 stability and transcriptional activity, partly via increasing p300 protein levels and histone acetyltransferase activity and subsequently increasing Runx2 acetylation by p300. In addition to the canonical Smad pathway, a BMP-induced non-Smad Erk signaling pathway cooperatively regulates osteoblast differentiation partly via increasing the stability and transcriptional activity of Runx2.


Abstract : Is America's counterinsurgency (COIN) effort being shortchanged? Does a one-dimensional doctrine fail to exploit America's full COIN potential? Would a genuinely joint approach provide better options to decision makers confronted with the harsh realities of 21st century insurgencies? This study insists the answers are unequivocally "yes." It analyzes the pitfalls of accepting Army/Marine tactical doctrine as the joint solution. It also offers insights and ideas from an Airman's perspective for strengthening joint COIN doctrine development to deliver fresh alternatives to national decision makers and combatant commanders. Of central importance to this assessment is the Army's December 2006 Field Manual (FM) 3-24, "Counterinsurgency" (designated by the Marine Corps as Warfighting Publication 3-33.5). This impressive and influential 282-page document skillfully addresses many difficult COIN issues, but regrettably reflects a one-dimensional, ground-centric perspective almost exclusively, as evidenced by the fact that considerations of airpower are confined to a short, 5-page annex. By failing to reconcile the full potential of today's airpower capabilities and by focusing almost exclusively on the surface dimension, FM 3-24 -- despite its many virtues and remarkable insights -- nevertheless falls short of offering U.S. decision makers a pragmatic, overall solution for the challenge of counterinsurgency. Yet, despite FM 3-24's limitations, it has become viewed as the overall plan for COIN operations in Iraq. Of further concern are reports that FM 3-24 appears poised to become the centerpiece of new joint COIN doctrine whose development has just begun. This paper argues that winning COIN fights requires exploiting the potential of the entire joint team.


The Starra (magnetite) ironstone-hosted Au-Cu deposit in the Eastern fold belt, Mt. Isa inlier, is localized by the development of the Starra high-strain zone. The associated eastern (barren, hematite-rich) ironstones occur in the adjacent Selwyn high-strain zone. Integrated macro-, meso-, and microstructural analysis of rocks from both of these high-strain zones and the surrounding country rocks reveals that they have undergone the same sequence of successive shallow and steeply oriented deformation events. All of these rocks preserve evidence for four main ductile deformation events, D 1 to D 4 (D 1 D 2 , and D 4 equate with regional D 1 , D 2 , and D 3 , respectively, as observed by workers in the Mount Isa region) followed by two weaker events (D 5 -D 6 ), which exhibit both ductile and brittle character.D 1 produced a shallowly dipping, layer-parallel foliation. D 2 is the most pervasive event and produced upright, tight to isoclinal F 2 folds with an intense, steeply southeast-dipping axial plane foliation (S 2 ) trending northeast-southwest. D 3 rotated initially upright F 2 folds (onto their western limb) by top-to-the-west shear and formed crenulations with shallowly dipping, east-west-striking axial planes. The fourth deformation event (D 4 ) produced a steeply east-dipping foliation (S 4 ), which is similar in orientation to S 2 . Consequently, differentiation of S 2 from S 4 is difficult, except where S 2 was rotated by D 3 . S 4 , when observed, is generally developed as a broad crenulation cleavage. Microstructural analysis of 115 spatially oriented thin sections from the vicinity of the Starra orebodies demonstrates that the dominant fabric is a strongly differentiated composite S (sub 2-4) foliation rather than simply S 2 , as had been thought previously.The Starra and Selwyn high-strain zones resulted from a significant increase in strain during D 4 and preserve a predominant shear sense of west-side-up. The western (mineralized) and eastern (unmineralized) ironstones resulted from intense iron metasomatism and were emplaced as en echelon north-northeast-striking lenses late syn-/post-D 4 . The rocks between the high-strain zones young consistently eastward, hence duplication of the ironstones by folding is precluded. Au-Cu mineralization within the Starra orebodies was emplaced during and after iron metasomatism late syn- to post-D 4 .


Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway that mediates protein and organelle turnover and maintains cellular homeostasis. Autophagosomes transport cargo to lysosomes and their formation is dependent on an appropriate lipid supply. Here, we show that the knockout of the RAB GTPase RAB18 interferes with lipid droplet (LD) metabolism, resulting in an impaired fatty acid mobilization. The reduced LD-derived lipid availability influences autophagy and provokes adaptive modifications of the autophagy network, which include increased ATG2B expression and ATG12-ATG5 conjugate formation as well as enhanced ATG2B and ATG9A phosphorylation. Phosphorylation of ATG9A directs this transmembrane protein to the site of autophagosome formation and this particular modification is sufficient to rescue autophagic activity under basal conditions in the absence of RAB18. However, it is incapable of enabling an increased autophagy under inductive conditions. Thus, we illustrate the role of RAB18 in connecting LDs and autophagy, further emphasize the importance of LD-derived lipids for the degradative pathway, and characterize an ATG9A phosphorylation-dependent autophagy rescue mechanism as an adaptive response that maintains autophagy under conditions of reduced LD-derived lipid availability.


We report a peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis infection with Rothia mucilaginosa (R. mucilaginosa), a Gram-positive germ belonging to the normal flora of the human oral cavity. Successful treatment was achieved by intraperitoneal administration of cephazolin. This case report illustrates the potential virulence of R. mucilaginosa in patients on peritoneal dialysis. We propose to routinely perform specific staining and prolonged culturing techniques for unusual germs such as R. mucilaginosa in patients with peritoneal dialysis-related peritonitis.


The monogenean fauna on crucian carp, Carassius carassius L., collected from Golbasi Dam Lake during the period from May 2003 to April 2004, were studied to assess the effect of water temperature on parasite prevalence and abundance. A total of 132 fish were studied over a 12month period. These revealed two species of monogenean Dactylogyrus anchoratus and Gyrodactylus carassii. In terms of seasonal occurrence, Gyrodactylus carassii represented the dominant parasite species being recorded on host gills throughout the year. The total prevalence of infection of G. carassii was 66.7% with the infection rates varying from a peak of 100% in May and June 2003 to a low of 20% in December 2003. Abundance of this species also showed a peak in May-June, followed by a sharp decrease thereafter and a subsequent rise in the following April. Water temperature was an important variable and a significant positive correlation was found between parasite abundance and water temperature. (K-W H=91.001, p<0.0001). Dactylogyrus anchoratus was recorded in 48 out of 132 fish that were examined (36%). The prevalence levels of this species were somewhat erratic and D. anchoratus infection varied according to the season and reached its highest values in May (100%). The prevalence and abundance of D. anchoratus appeared to be correlated with the water temperature even when it was optimum for D. anchoratus (K-W H=72.917, p<0. 0001). Consequently, the parasite prevalence and abundance appears to be influenced by water temperature.


The sustainable management of natural resources, and particularly groundwater, presents a major challenge in arid regions to ensure security of water supply and support agricultural production. In many cases, the role of smallholder farmers is often neglected when managing irrigated water and land processes. However, management decisions have a major impact on farmers' livelihoods, and it is essential: first, to recognise the crucial role of regional and local social, political and economic systems; and second, to integrate farmers' perspectives in the governance and management of local groundwater practices. This is particularly important as the ways in which arid region farmers use land and water have wider implications for land degradation and salinization. This paper uses a community-based approach to identify and examine the social, economic and cultural dimensions to groundwater irrigation systems from the perspective of local farmers in central Iran. The paper utilises interviews with local farmers and water agencies in Iran to reflect on their respective roles within the irrigation system and in developing management plans for the sustainable use of groundwater. Through social research, we investigate the reasons why farmers might reject government irrigation management schemes and outline how local problems with land degradation and salinization and reduced water availability have arisen as a result of changing management policies. In conclusion, we identify future challenges and consider appropriate future management strategies.


The object localization and detection has improved greatly over the past decade, thanks to developments in deep learning based representations and localization models. However, a major bottleneck remains at the reliance on fully-supervised datasets, which can be difficult to gather in many real-world scenarios. In this work, we focus on the problem of weakly-supervised localization, where the goal is to localize instances of objects based on simple image-level class annotations. In particular, instead of engineering a specific weakly-supervised localization model, we aim to meta-learn a recurrent neural network based model that aims to take series of training images of a novel class, and progressively discover the foreground pattern over them. We experimentally explore the model over scenes composed of MNIST digits and noisy patches as distractors.


In most SoC development programs, FPGA prototyping has become widespread to some extent. This document is a short debate of four elements of the strategy of this sort. First, we examine the forces behind this trend and discuss what will be required in the future. Second, a brief overview is described of the traditional methods of code coverage verification, assertion-based verification, and functional coverage. Third, how the FPGA verification method is best incorporated into the general growth of the chips is examined. Lastly, a FPGA instrumentation method is implemented to measure coverage.


Can incumbent sellers and buyers use contracts with stipulated damages to extract surplus from entrants? We experimentally study the strategic environments of Aghion and Bolton (1987)and Spier and Whinston (1995). As predicted, contract renegotiation weakens the commitment power of stipulated damage clauses. Behavioral deviations, including more generous offers from sellers and entrants, suggest non-monetary preferences. A dictator-seller environment indicates the limited role of inequity aversion. With communication, equitable allocations are more frequent and exclusion less frequent. Our results underscore the importance of payoff aspirations influenced by social norms of fairness. A theoretical extension accommodates our experimental findings.


Pneumothorax is a frequent complication in trauma victims. The resulting respiratory insufficiency, especially in cases of tension pneumothorax, must be treated with a flutter valve prior to hospital admission. A commercially available valve is described. An advantage of this model is that the metal canula can be removed, leaving only the plastic sheath in place. The narrow lumen however is a disadvantage. Because of its low cost and standardized dimensions, it should be included in all emergency sets.


The surface structure of oxide supported metal nanoparticles can be determined via characteristic vibrations of adsorbed probe molecules such as CO. Usually, spectroscopic studies focus on peak position and intensity, which are related to binding geometries and number of adsorption sites, respectively. Employing two differently prepared model catalysts it is demonstrated that polarization-dependent sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy reveals the average surface structure and shape of the nanoparticles. SFG results for different particle sizes and morphologies are compared to direct (real-space) structure analysis by TEM and STM. The described feature of SFG could be used to monitor particle restructuring in situ and may be a valuable tool for operando catalysis.


Since the pretherapeutic T and pT classification of vocal cord cancer according to the UICC has often been found to fail in a high percentage of cases, frequently resulting in an insufficient separation of the different T categories, the pT classification proposed by Glanz was applied in order to obtain a more exact and better reproducible pretreatment system. In a histopathological investigation of 223 previously untreated carcinomas of the vocal cord dating from 1978 to 1988, specimens from total and partial laryngectomies were examined by subserial sectionings. The extension of each lesion was ascertained by measuring tumor in three dimensions per millimeter and determining affected histopathological structures. Neck lymph nodes were also examined for metastases. The different tumor stages were then evaluated with the UICC T/pT classification of Glanz's pT classification. The survival rates and recurrence-free rates of both classification systems were compared. Our evaluation showed that 24% of all the vocal cord cancers studied had to be classified to a higher tumor stage. The pT classification developed by Glanz was better able to separate the different tumor categories than the UICC T/pT classification. Glanz's pT classification system, staging a glottic cancer according to its exact size and laryngeal structures involved, is a significant improvement on the UICC T and pT classification used to date.


A new species of fire-bellied newt, Cynops fudingensis, is described from northeastern Fujian Province, southeastern China. This species forms a well-supported clade with C. orientalis and C. orphicus based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences from mitochondrial DNA subunit two of NADH dehydrogenase and its two flanking tRNAs. Further, its genetic distance to each of the two previously described species is large. Principal-components analysis of external linear measurements differentiates the new species from C. orientalis and C. orphicus in morphological space. Geographically, C. fudingensis occupies the distribution gap between C. orientalis and C. orphicus.


When light hits Barbara Campbell's eyes, it triggers no response in her retinas, and no signals flash up her optic nerves to her brain. A genetic disease killed off her retinas' photoreceptor cells, leaving her completely blind by her 30s. But where her body failed her, technology rescued her. In 2009, at the age of 56, Campbell had an array of electrodes implanted in each eye, and she now makes her way through the world more confidently, aided by bionic vision.


Ficus religiosa is a medicinal plant and scientifically documented for the pharmacological activities like antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, etc. The present study was planned to investigate the antiulcer activity of ethanol extract of Ficus religiosa fruit in pylorus ligated and aspirin induced ulceration in experimental animals. The ethanol extract of fruits of Ficus religiosa were prepared by maceration. The antiulcer activity of ethanol extract were evaluated by using pylorus ligated and aspirin induced ulceration models. The administration of ethanol extract of ethanol extract of Ficus religiosa at the dose of 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg significantly decreased the ulcer index, pH, gastric volume, free acidity and total acidity compared to control group. The findings proposed the antiulcer activity of ethanol extract of Ficus religiosa fruit.


Deep neural network-based methods have achieved promising results for computed tomography (CT) metal artifact reduction (MAR), most of which use many synthesized paired images for supervised learning. As synthesized metal artifacts in CT images may not accurately reflect the clinical counterparts, an artifact disentanglement network (ADN) was proposed with unpaired clinical images directly, producing promising results on clinical datasets. However, as the discriminator can only judge if large regions semantically look artifact-free or artifact-affected, it is difficult for ADN to recover small structural details of artifact-affected CT images based on adversarial losses only without sufficient constraints. To overcome the illposedness of this problem, here we propose a low-dimensional manifold (LDM)-constrained disentanglement network (DN), leveraging the image characteristics that the patch manifold of CT images is generally low dimensional. Specifically, we design an LDM-DN learning algorithm to empower the DN through optimizing the synergistic loss functions used in ADN while constraining the recovered images to be on a low-dimensional patch manifold. Moreover, learning from both paired and unpaired data, an efficient hybrid optimization scheme is proposed to further improve the MAR performance on clinical datasets. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed LDM-DN approach can consistently improve the MAR performance in paired and/or unpaired learning settings, outperforming competing methods on synthesized and clinical datasets.


We calculate the concurrence and spin squeezing parameter of three atoms induced by a coherent field. It shows that when the mean numbers of photon of the field is very small, concurrence exhibits a certain kind of approximative periodic vibration. With the increase of the mean numbers of photon, its periodicity will be interrupted. As for the relationship between the concurrence and spin squeezing, numeric result shows that under Dick model, spin squeezing serves as a sufficient but not necessary condition for concurrence.


Abstract Inducible promoters are a central regulatory component in synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and protein production for laboratory and commercial uses. Many of these applications utilize two or more exogenous promoters, imposing a currently unquantifiable metabolic burden on the living system. Here, we engineered a collection of inducible promoters (regulated by LacI-based transcription factors) that maximize the free-state of endogenous RNA polymerase (RNAP). We leveraged this collection of inducible promotors to construct simple two-channel logical controls that enabled us to measure metabolic burden – as it relates to RNAP resource partitioning. The two-channel genetic circuits utilized sets of signal-coupled transcription factors that regulate cognate inducible promoters in a coordinated logical fashion. With this fundamental genetic architecture, we evaluated the performance of each inducible promoter as discrete operations, and as coupled systems to evaluate and quantify the effects of resource partitioning. Obtaining the ability to systematically and accurately measure the apparent RNA-polymerase resource budget will enable researchers to design more robust genetic circuits, with significantly higher fidelity. Moreover, this study presents a workflow that can be used to better understand how living systems adapt RNAP resources, via the complementary pairing of constitutive and regulated promoters that vary in strength.


Cognitive modeling techniques provide a way of evaluating user interface designs, based on what is known about human cognitive strengths and limitations. Cognitive modelers face a tradeoff, however: more detailed models require disproportionately more time and effort to develop than coarser models. In this paper we describe a system, G2A, that automatically produces translations from abstract GOMS models into more detailed ACT-R models. G2A demonstrates how even simple AI techniques can facilitate the construction of cognitive models and suggests new directions for improving modeling tools.


This paper analyses nutritional inequalities and stunting in inner rural Spain from a case study carried out in Castile-La Mancha. The examination of the height military draftees explores the gap between urban and rural populations and analyses the evolution of growth patterns in different habitational contexts. The results indicate that stunted growth and undernourishment were pervasive in the two initial decades of the 20th century, that the situation improved slightly in the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s, and that in the 1940s and 1950s the conditions again deteriorated considerably. Stunted growth was significant especially in rural areas, which were particularly penalized during Francoism. Height increased considerably in the 1960s and 1970s and, although this improvement also reached the rural areas, the gap that separated the countryside and the urban areas did not disappear until the early 1980s. The data suggests that a poor and limited diet, the economic policies and the social assistance-related institutional framework were key factors in the evolution of growth. Finally, the results also stress the need to extend the study to adolescent circumstances, and not only children, as well as the need to investigate social inequality among different professional groups during the nutritional transition.


The i.v. and apparent steady-state kinetics of diltiazem HCI (DLT) and slow-absorption long-acting diltiazem (CD) given p.o. were investigated in cats. The effects of p.o. diltiazem on heart rate and PR interval were also studied. Plasma diltiazem concentrations were determined by ultraviolet high-performance liquid chromatography (UV-HPLC), using verapamil as the internal standard. Heart rate and PR interval determinations were evaluated over a 24-hour period for the PO formulations and compared with values under diltiazemfree conditions. The mean systemic clearance and apparent volume of distribution of i.v. diltiazem were 15.0 mL/min/kg and 2.70 L/kg, respectively. The elimination half-life of diltiazem after i.v. and p.o. DLT administration were approximately 120 minutes. In contrast, the terminal half-life of CD was 460 minutes. The mean apparent bioavailability of DLT p.o. was 71%, which was significantly higher than that observed with CD (36%). Heart rate and PR intervals in cats receiving the 2 formulations at steady-state were not different from those measured in the drug-free state. We conclude that DLT at 1 mg/kg p.o. tid and CD at 10 mg/kg p.o. sid provide plasma concentrations that are known to have pharmacodynamic effects in other species.


ABSTRACT Keratins K5 and K14 are the hallmarks of mitotically active keratinocytes of stratified epithelia. They are transcribed at a high level and in a tissue-specific manner, enabling us to use the K14 gene to elucidate the regulatory mechanism underlying epidermis-specific transcription. We have identified four DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HSs) present in the 5′ regulatory sequences of the K14 gene under specific conditions where the gene is actively expressed. Two of these sites (HSsII and -III) are conserved in position and sequence within the human and mouse K14 genes. Using an in vivo transgenic approach and an in vitro keratinocyte culture approach, we have discovered that most of K14's transcriptional activity is restricted to a novel 700-bp regulatory domain encompassing these HSs. This enhancer is sufficient to confer epidermis-specific activity to a heterologous promoter in transfection assays in culture and in transgenic mice in vivo. A 125-bp DNA fragment encompassing HSsII harbors the majority of the transactivation activity in vitro, and electrophoretic mobility shift and mutational assays reveal a role for AP-1, ets, and AP-2 family members in orchestrating the keratinocyte-preferred expression of HSsII. The HSsII element also confers epidermal expressivity to a heterologous promoter in transgenic mice, although it is not sufficient on its own to fully restrict activity to keratinocytes. Within the HSsII element, the ets and AP-2 sites appear to be most critical in collaborating to regulate epidermal specificity in vivo.


The problem of distributed consensus in the presence of Byzantine faults has received particular attention in recent decades. Today a variety of solution to this problem exist, each optimized for particular execution conditions. Given that, in most cases, real systems operate under dynamic conditions, it is important to develop mechanisms that allow the algorithms to be adapted or changed at runtime to optimize the system to the current conditions. The problem of dynamic adaptation of consensus algorithms is not new, but the literature is scarce for the Byzantine case and there is no comprehensive comparison of existing solutions. This work has two complementary objectives. First, it studies how the different dynamic adaptation techniques proposed for the crash failure model can be applied in the presence of Byzantine faults. Second, it presents a comparative study of the performance of these switching algorithms in practice. For that purpose, we have implemented the switching algorithms in a common software framework, based on the open source BFT-SMaRt library. Using this framework we have performed an extensive evaluation that offers useful insights on the practical effects of different mechanisms used to support the run-time switching among Byzantine protocols.


The synthesis and characterization of nanotubes from misfit layered compounds (MLCs) of the type (LnS)1+y TaS2 (denoted here as LnS-TaS2 ; Ln=Pr, Sm, Gd, and Yb), not reported before, are described (the bulk compound YbS-LaS2 was not previously documented). Transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction showed that the interlayer spacing along the c axis decreased with an increase in the atomic number of the lanthanide atom, which suggested tighter interaction between the LnS layer and TaS2 for the late lanthanides. The Raman spectra of the tubules were studied and compared to those of the bulk MLC compounds. Similar to the bulk MLCs, the Raman spectra could be divided into the low-frequency modes (110-150 cm-1 ) of the LnS lattice and the high-frequency modes (250-400 cm-1 ) of the TaS2 lattice. The Raman spectra indicated that the vibrational lattice modes of the strained layers in the tubes were stiffer than those in the bulk compounds. Furthermore, the modes of the late lanthanides were higher in energy than those of the earlier lanthanides, which suggested larger charge transfer between the LnS and TaS2 layers for the late lanthanides. Polarized Raman measurements showed the expected binodal intensity profile (antenna effect). The intensity ratio of the Raman signal showed that the E2g mode of TaS2 was more sensitive to the light-polarization effect than its A1g mode. These nanotubes are expected to reveal interesting low-temperature quasi-1D transport behavior.


Abstract Naturally occurring mackinawite (tetragonal FeS) with incorporated transition metals is an important precursor to the formation of metal sulfides in ore deposits, but experimental results have not been sufficient to establish clear trends in the structure and stability of the transition-metal-enriched mineral. Using density functional theory with dispersion corrections, we report the first systematic examination of the relationship between composition and structure for FeS incorporating bivalent transition metals. Our method was validated by successful calculations of the structures of FeS, FeSe, FeSe1-xSx, Fe1-x MexSe (Me = Co, Ni, Cu), and FeNixTe. Two classes of transition-metal-incorporated FeS structures then were investigated: Fe1-xMexS (metal-substituted FeS) and FeMexS (FeS intercalated by a metal at either a tetrahedral or square-pyramidal interstitial site), where Me = Co, Ni, and Cu, and x ≤ 0.25. We find that incorporated transition metals can both increase and decrease lattice parameters, depending on the metal and how it is incorporated into the FeS structure. As the mole fraction of substituting metal increases, the FeS unit-cell volume decreases for Co, is nearly constant for Ni, but increases for Cu. Metal substitution changes the c lattice parameter, which is sensitive to interactions between the mackinawite sheets, as much as it does the a and b lattice parameters. Upon intercalation, the unit-cell volume and c parameter increase but the a and b parameters decrease. Experimental structural data are consistent with our results for metal-substituted FeS. We determined the thermodynamic stability of metal-incorporated FeS by computing the free energy involved in the metal incorporation reactions as a function of chemical potential of sulfur. The thermodynamic results lead to the general conclusions that metal incorporation into mackinawite most likely occurs via substitution, which may be important to influence phase transformation pathways of mackinawite.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review to investigate the socio-economic benefits of the poison control center (PCC) and to assess whether telephone counseling at the poison control center affects the frequency of emergency room visits, hospitalization, and length of stay of patients with acute poisoning. Methods: The authors conducted a medical literature search of the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases. Two reviewers evaluated the abstracts for eligibility, extracted the data, and assessed the study quality using a standardized tool. Key results such as the cost-benefit ratio, hospital stay days, unnecessary emergency room visits or hospitalizations, and reduced hospital charges were extracted from the studies. When meta-analysis was possible, it was performed using RevMan software (RevMan version 5.4). Results: Among 299 non-duplicated studies, 19 were relevant to the study questions. The cost-benefit ratios of PCC showed a wide range from 0.76 to 36 (average 6.8) according to the level of the medical expense of each country and whether the study included intentional poisoning. PCC reduced unnecessary visits to healthcare facilities. PCC consultation shortened the length of hospital stay by 1.82 (95% CI, 1.07-2.57) days. Conclusion: The systematic review and meta-analysis support the hypothesis that the PCC operation is cost-beneficial. However, when implementing the PCC concept in Korea in the future, it is necessary to prepare an institutional framework to ensure a costeffective model.


In modeling engineering and software application, to reduce the difficulties in the course of automation control faced by Sino-Italian bachelor student majored in automation, a module and multi-language based virtual experiment design method is proposed. Virtual experiment architecture in automation control theory is presented. Five classes of experiments included in virtual experiment architecture are introduced. These experiments are appropriate especially for the Sino-Italian cooperation project in exchange bachelor education. These experiments take the popular simulation software MATLAB in the international control area as the virtual experiment platform, enable the students to master the system modeling and time domain analysis with MATLAB. To validate the method proposed in this paper, the unit impulse response experiment and stability analysis experiment are designed and further conducted by bachelor students in automation experiment room.


Evidence-based medicine (EBM) provides basic rules for diagnostic procedures. A physician is required critically to appraise clinical evidence and to internalize the quantitative approach to data processing in her practice. There is a common agreement that knowledge of statistical methods is among the core skills of a competent physician. This includes Bayes Theorem. The key role of statistics in medicine gives rise to a normative way of clinical reasoning. However, many researches point out that medicine practitioners do not follow this normative way. Instead, they use common decision strategies mostly based on heuristics. This situation opens a gap between normative and descriptive aspects of clinical reasoning. Consequently, many experts are prone to draw unfavorable conclusions about rationality of clinical decisions. This paper characterizes normative and descriptive aspects of clinical reasoning regarding the concepts of Bayes Theoremand heuristics. It differentiates between two interpretations of heuristics: one presented by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman and another by Gerd Gigerenzer. It is argued that clinical decisions based on heuristics are not necessarily flawed and irrational.


Control of chaos in an external cavity delay feedback semiconductor laser via modulating the feedback polarizing light is studied. The laser dynamic physical models of the delayed feedback of dual beams with orthogonal polarizating, with parallel polarizations, or with synchronous or arbitrary polarizing directions are presented, respectively. The delay time and feedback quantity of the feedback light can be adjusted by adjusting the mirror and the optical attenuator in the external optical path, or by adjusting the polarization plane of one beam of polarized light with respect to the polarization direction of the other beam, or at an arbitrary polarization direction to the other beam of polarizing light. In all these cases, the chaotic laser can be controlled. Numerical results show that the laser can be conducted to the single cycle or the multi-cycle, and at the same time be in the polarizing oscillation, polarizing anti-oscillation or stable states.


—This paper reviews 50 years of research on the experiences of wilderness visitors. Research on the nature of experiences began with an emphasis on motivations for taking wilderness trips and a focus on the experiential outcomes of wilderness visits. This perspective has been complemented by recent work that more deeply explores the lived experience in wilderness, its ebb and flow, and the process by which experience is constructed and developed into long-lasting relationships. In attempting to understand how wilderness settings might best be managed to protect high quality experiences, consider-able work has been conducted on the effects of setting attributes on experience. In particular, the effect of use density on experience has been a prominent research theme. Among the insights of this body of research, is the realization that experiences are highly diverse and idiosyncratic and that visitors are highly adaptable and adept at negotiating the situations they experience. This suggests that it is impossible to know how to most effectively steward wilderness experiences without first deciding who and what to manage for. Moreover, given the idiosyncratic personal construction of experience, management action or inaction cannot guarantee high quality experiences for everyone.


Three-dimensional digital holographic microscopic phase imaging of objects that are thicker than the wavelength of the imaging light is ambiguous and results in phase wrapping. In recent years, several unwrapping methods that employed two or more wavelengths were introduced. These methods compare the phase information obtained from each of the wavelengths and extend the range of unambiguous height measurements. A straightforward dual-wavelength phase imaging method is presented which allows for a flexible tradeoff between the maximum height of the sample and the amount of noise the method can tolerate. For highly accurate phase measurements, phase unwrapping of objects with heights higher than the beat (synthetic) wavelength (i.e. the product of the original two wavelengths divided by their difference), can be achieved. Consequently, three-dimensional measurements of a wide variety of biological systems and microstructures become technically feasible. Additionally, an effective method of removing phase background curvature based on slowly varying polynomial fitting is proposed. This method allows accurate volume measurements of several small objects with the same image frame.


The ability of hospital medical libraries to meet users' needs is a complicated issue and has been examined by many surveys. The aim of this study is to evaluate the satisfaction degree of the users of "Attikon" University General Hospital's medical library. A questionnaire was used to collect the necessary information Although, in general, the users seems to be satisfied, some adjustments, such as up-to-date books, journals and computers, have to be made.


This paper investigates several methods of combining a second order hidden Markov model part-of-speech (morphosyntactic) tagger and a high-coverage inflectional lexicon for Croatian. Our primary motivation was to improve tagging accuracy of Croatian texts by using our newly-developed tagger CroTag, currently in beta-version. We also wanted to compare its tagging results – both standalone and utilizing the morphological lexicon – to the ones previously described in (Agic and Tadic 2006), provided by the TnT statistical tagger which we used as a reference point having in mind that both implement the same tagging procedure. At the beginning we explain the basic idea behind the experiment, its motivation and importance from the perspective of processing the Croatian language. We also describe tools – namely tagger and lexicon – and language resources used in the experiment, including their implementation method and input/output format details that were of importance. With the basics presented, we describe in theory four possible methods of combining these resources and tools with respect to their operating paradigm, input and production capabilities and then put these ideas to test using the F-measure evaluation framework. Results are then discussed in detail and conclusions and future work plans are presented.