The photovoltaic market is dominated by c-Si solar cells, with a record efficiency of 26.7% which approaches the detailed balance limit. Tandem solar cells combining a III-V semiconductor top cell with a Si bottom cell are one of the most studied routes to exceed 30% efficiency. Direct growth of III-V on Si has achieved 25.9% efficiency but remains a challenge. Direct wafer bonding has demonstrated state of the art efficiencies of up to 35.9%, but this technique is not suitable for industrial production as it requires extremely low roughness, low particle contamination, surface activation and bonding under vacuum. The integration of III-V on Si using conductive transparent glues may circumvent these constraints. In this contribution, we design and fabricate a 2-terminal AlGaAs/ARC/Glue/ARC/TOPCon tandem cell using sol-gel derived TiO2 ARCs and PEDOT:PSS-based glue. The ARCs ensure Ohmic contact with the sub-cells (replacing the tunnelling recombination junction) as well as transmission of red photons from the III-V to the Si cell. The gluing layer ensures the electrical interconnection between sub-cells and, thanks to its lower refractive index, an enhanced photon recycling in the top cell (up to 0.9% improvement of the tandem' efficiency). We use electromagnetic simulations to optimize the ARC/Glue/ARC stack and achieve current matching; current losses from reflection (1.1 mA/cm2) remaining essentially equal to those of the direct bonding architecture (1.0 mA/cm2). TiO2 ARCs and PEDOT:PSS-based glue are synthesized and deposited by spin-coating. The lamination process is performed in air, using a simple hydraulic hot press at low curing temperature (120°C). The 1st-generation cells show a promising VOC (1.8 V), while the efficiency is currently limited by high series resistance. The 2nd generation is currently under fabrication using an improved lamination process to solve this problem.


Chordomas are rare tumors of notochordal origin, most commonly arising in the sacrum or skull base. Primary treatment of chordoma is surgery, however complete resection is not always feasible due to their anatomic location, and recurrence rates remain high. Chordomas are considered insensitive to conventional chemotherapy, and their rarity complicates running timely and adequately powered trials to identify effective regimens. Therefore, there is a need for discovery of novel therapeutic approaches. Drug discovery efforts in chordoma have been mostly limited to cell line models. Patient-derived organoids can accelerate drug discovery studies and predict patient responses to therapy. In this proof-of-concept study, we successfully established organoids from seven chordoma tumor samples obtained from five patients presenting with tumors in different sites and stages of disease. The organoids recapitulated features of the original parent tumors and inter-as well as intra-patient heterogeneity. High-throughput screenings performed on the organoids highlighted targeted agents such as PI3K/mTOR, EGFR, and JAK2/STAT3 inhibitors among the most effective molecules. Pathway analysis underscored how the NF-kB and IGF-1R pathways are sensitive to perturbations and potential targets to pursue for combination therapy of chordoma.


Disease relapse remains a principle cause of mortality following autologous hematopoietic transplant. Strategies to enhance immune function in the post-transplant setting are needed to eliminate residual disease. CD40 stimulation through the use of agonistic CD40 antibodies has been shown to promote anti-tumor activity both as a single agent and in combination with IL-2 administration with increases in dendritic cell numbers being observed. We hypothesized that CD40 stimulation in combination with myeloablative syngeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation can act together to promote anti-tumor responses. We developed a model in which anti-CD40 given with syngeneic BMT was assessed in advanced tumor-bearing mice. We have found that delaying administration of anti-CD40 for one week post-BMT could obviate the severe toxicity associated with immediate post-BMT administration. BALB/c were given a syngeneic renal cell carcinoma cell line (Renca) i.v. After 4 days, at which time lung metastases were established, the mice were treated with syngeneic BMT followed one week later with initiation of anti-CD40 treatment (100 μg/dose; daily, 4 days per week for 2 weeks). CD40 stimulation resulted in significant expansion of GR-1 + /CD11b + myeloid and CD11c + /I-A + dendritic cells in the spleen, similar to the expansion of these populations observed in mice that received anti-CD40 and no BMT. However, while B220 + IgM + B cells are significantly expanded following anti-CD40 administration in mice that do not receive a transplant, B cell recovery is reduced following transplant in mice that also received anti-CD40. T cell recovery post-transplant did not differ significantly in animals that received anti-CD40 or control antibody. Importantly, significant increases in survival of anti-CD40 treated, tumor-bearing recipients of syngeneic BMT were observed compared to either treatment alone (log-rank test p


We obtain special values results for the triple product L-function attached to a Hilbert modular cuspidal eigenform over a totally real quadratic number field and an elliptic modular cuspidal eigenform, both of level one and even weight. Replacing the elliptic modular cusp form by a specified Eisenstein series, we renormalize the integral defining the triple product L-function in order to obtain an integral representation for a product of Asai L-functions. We hope in further work to extend these results to triple-product L-functions attached to automorphic representations and then study the critical values of this renormalized triple product.


Conservation agriculture (CA) involving minimum mechanical soil disturbance, permanent soil cover with crop residue mulch and diversified crop rotation, plays a crucial role in sustainable crop production. A field experiment was conducted at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during rabi seasons (November–April) of 2018–19 and 2019–20 in wheat involving maize-wheat-mungbean system to assess the effects of CA on crop productivity, nutrient uptake and profitability. Results showed that CA-based practices with residue retention resulted in higher yield as well as economic benefits when compared to conventional tillage (CT). Wheat yield parameters in CA were greater than in CT. The CA-based practices improved wheat grain and straw yield to the tune of 7.2–27.1% and 5.7–20.6%, respectively compared to CT practice. The CA-based practices with residue retention with 100% N registered 9.7% higher cost of cultivation, but resulted in 24.3–35.1% higher net returns than CT. Among CA-based practices, the plots under permanent broad bed with residue with 100% N (PBB+R+100N) resulted in ~27% higher wheat grain yield compared to CT. The PBB+R+100N plots also had considerably greater nutrient uptake and net returns than CT plots. The CA practice involving PBB+R+100N was found to be more productive, remunerative and could potentially boost up the wheat productivity and profitability under maize-wheat-mungbean system in north-western Indo-Gangetic Plains of India.


Bible Translation and Relevance Theory The Translation of Titus Relevance theory has seriously challenged the theoretical soundness of formal and functional equivalence as Bible translation methods. In Translation and relevance: Cognition and context, Gutt (1991) argued that relevance theory provides translators with the best available framework for understanding and practicing translation. In his effort to provide a comprehensive account of translation, he proposed two new approaches to translation: direct translation and indirect translation. He did not, however, develop direct and indirect translation into well-defined approaches to translation. This study explores the viability of direct and indirect translation as approaches to Bible translation. First, by applying insights drawn from relevance theory, it spells out the theoretical and practical implications of these approaches in an attempt to develop them into well-defined translation methods. The explication of the two new approaches shows how and why relevance theoretic approaches to translation differ from formal and functional equivalence. In addition to describing the general approach of direct and indirect translation, it also demonstrates how each approach handles specific translation issues such as figurative language, implicit information, ambiguity, and gender-biased language. Then, by using them to translate the epistle to Titus, the study tests the practical effectiveness of each new approach. This lengthy application yields many examples of how relevance theory provides translators with valuable guidance for making difficult translation decisions. It emphasises the need for translators to take measures to bridge the contextual gap between the source context and the receptor context, illustrating how this can be done by providing footnotes in a direct translation or by explicating implicit information in an indirect translation. The study closes with a brief assessment of the two new approaches and some suggestions for further research. The conclusions show both the value and the limitations of the results of this study. III Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za


Modi (मोडी, modī ̣) is a heritage script belonging to Brahmi family, which is used mainly for writing Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in western and central India, mostly in the state of Maharashtra. "Modi-manuscript "written from the past, reveals the history of the Maratha Empire from its inception under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj; to the creation of movable metal type when Modi was slowly relegated to an inferior position, unfolds perspectives and reflects the social, political and cultural sense of his time." Today it is very important for historians, researchers and students to understand this script and use it for historical heritage. Other regional languages such as Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani and Telugu were also using Modi. This paper presents our contribution in helping the community for preserving the script, by way of using various tools, which will facilitate the collection, analysis, and digitization of the Modi script.


The aim of the present study was to estimate the genetic diversity within the samples of Mesosetum chaseae from the Embrapa Pantanal Germplasm Bank (BAG) and assess how they are genetically structured to guide proposals to: 1) identify native forages for further testing to measure their suitability for sowing in conjunction with or as an alternative to exotic forages, mainly Urochloa humidicola ; and 2) improve the species M. chaseae with samples that are maintained in the BAG. Isozyme α- and β-esterases were analyzed in 10 accessions collected from different locations in the Nhecolândia sub-region of the Pantanal, and maintained in the BAG. Accessions A11, which showed the highest effective number of alleles, and A32 with the highest average values of expected and observed heterozygosity, were identified as warranting further study as possible options for sowing as pasture forages, as well as for use in recovering poor and degraded areas in the Pantanal region. A high level of population differentiation was detected among the 10 accessions, indicating that they form genetically structured populations and that all accessions are important samples of M. chaseae , which should be maintained in the BAG. Crosses between sample plants with the highest genetic distances are recommended to implement improvement plans with a prospect of broadening the genetic base of the species. Keywords: Genetic polymorphism, genetic resources, grama-do-cerrado, isoesterases, Poaceae. DOI: 10.17138/TGFT(3)194-204


Although there have been a substantial number of critical dissections in recent years on how to improve the manpower planning process, most of them have been based on piece-meal rather than on a holistic, systemic inquiry. This exploratory systemic formulation of an innovative framework aimed to organize and steer the manpower planning process in the face of bounded rationality, unbounded uncertainty is almost non-existence or elusive. There are other related issue, such as wicked problems, complexity, and conflict that is also examined. A systemic inquiry is essential because the links connecting these problems to one another and to the planning process are not as clear as many imagined. Among other things, our paper suggested that the potential for improving manpower planning process is an opportunity to take up the challenge of examining and exploiting arrays of methodologies that can assist stakeholders in manpower planning to circumvent the otherwise opaque, inflexible mathematical models of analysis currently employed.


Abstract:This article is devoted to the study of questions of knowledge, law, and ethics in Islamic context. Starting with a discussion of assumptions about Islamic ethical practices in recent anthropological and historical works on the fatwa, it explores procedures of truth seeking and modes of reasoning in legal opinions authored by Islamic scholars, notably Yusuf al-Qaradawi, at the time of the Egyptian Revolution (2011). This text analyzes also the relationship between interiority and exteriority in ethical practices enabled by these legal options and exemplified by the assessment of the ruler's faith. It studies the extent to which the very revolutionary gesture informs Islamic scholars' own legal and ethical practice and enlightens anew the relationship between the inner and the outer as well as between the self and others. Finally, it explores the articulation between Islamic law and revolution in the Egyptian context and the ways in which the former's authoritativeness and ethical performativity is reenacted, in contradistinction to Western liberal revolutions instituting a new legal order declaring its rupture with the past law and indifferent to the individual's morality.


I propose a simple, low-cost, low-power, Static RAM (SRAM) based
architecture for the Forwarding Information Base (FIB) function of
transit and border routers in the Default Free Zone (DFZ) of the
Internet. This will provide direct hardware forwarding irrespective of
the size of the "global BGP routing table", within the current IPv4
convention of limiting advertised prefixes to no longer than /24.
Routers with this or a similar architecture provide the only elegant
hardware solution to the problem of route disaggregation, which is
unavoidable due to increasing numbers of ISPs and Autonomous System
(AS) end-users who need to advertise their prefixes on topologically
diverse parts of the network, for purposes including multihoming and
traffic engineering. Router hardware limitations with respect to
route disaggregation could also be eliminated for IPv6, by adding
further SRAMs or, on a more limited basis, by using spare space in the
SRAM which is required for IPv4. Two additional SRAMs and a
reallocation of the existing 2000::/3 global unicast allocations to a
smaller range - for instance 2000::/10 - would provide for Provider
Independent (PI) /32 allocations to 4 million ISPs and multihomed end-
users. Each /32 assignment could be advertised as up to eight /35
prefixes - each of which provides 8192 /48 user networks. A less
disruptive alternative to reallocating existing IPv6 global unicast
addresses would be to define a /10 prefix - inside or outside 2000::/3
- for new PI assignments to ISPs and AS end-users with the long-term
assurance of rapid SRAM-based forwarding for prefixes as short as /35,
without concern for route aggregation or network topology. It may be
feasible, for a decade or more, to handle IPv6 without an addition
SRAM chip. Unused space in the IPv4 chip (or two chips for larger
routers) would map 2,097,152 /35 prefixes - for instance to support PI
assignments of /32 prefixes to 262,144 ISPs and AS end-users. This
would provide 17 billion /48 prefixes - the stand ...


Purpose

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) has been widely used in a number of different settings with published outcomes and literature supporting its validity and efficacy. What is less understood is DBT's application to forensic populations. The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively explore the experiences of high risk and adult male forensic clients (diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)) in a forensic adapted version of DBT.

Design/methodology/approach

Six clients who had completed four modules of DBT and individual therapy engaged in semi-structured interviews which were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings

The findings identified emerging themes relating to group processes and treatment outcomes. Specifically, the importance of motivation, shared learning, professionalism, reinforcement and reflection in creating a positive experience of DBT were identified. In addition clients identified feeling supported, a sense of belonging, personal achievement, increased knowledge and skills application as being part of their experience of DBT.

Research limitations/implications

Whilst efforts were made to manage limitations, potential confounders include the impact of the researcher's direct involvement in the facilitation of DBT and the small sample size.

Practical implications

This study provides support for the use of DBT with forensic males diagnosed with ASPD and BPD and the importance of the group component to the treatment modality. It emphasises the importance of group cohesion and the development of interpersonal factors including feeling supported, sense of belonging and a sense of achievement.

Originality/value

This paper provides a unique contribution to the understanding of the application of DBT with forensic male clients with personality disorder. It is the first known study to use qualitative methods to explore forensic male clients' experiences of group and individual DBT. This paper provides insight into the key themes of clients' experiences of DBT. These identified themes lend support to the importance of motivation of clients and the experience of shared learning, reinforcement and reflection. Furthermore, feeling supported, having a sense of belonging and a sense of personal achievement were identified as key to the positive experience of clients.


Influenza is an enveloped, single stranded negative sense RNA virus that subverts host cell factors like lipids for its own replication. Airway epithelium contributes towards the host defence against pulmonary pathogens by a number of mechanisms including the production of cytokines, chemokines and surfactant phospholipids and proteins. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) make up the major of the composition of pulmonary surfactant. Therefore, this project aimed to explore the potential antiviral activity of exogenous phospholipids against influenza A viruses in vitro. The specific aims were to investigate the potential of these lipids to reduce the infectivity of influenza A virus and to measure the potential toxicity of specific exogenous phospholipids, using human adenocarcinomic alveolar basal epithelial (A549) and Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell lines and chicken red blood cells.

Two types of phospholipids were used at concentrations of 5, 50 and 500 μM to treat avian influenza virus H2N3, equine influenza virus H3N8 or pandemic influenza virus H1N1. The first type are phospholipids composed of two aliphatic chain including 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3- phospho-L-serine (DPPS), 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1'-rac-glycerol) (DPPG), 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC). The second type are lyso-derived lipids including 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine (LPS), 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn- glycero-3 -phospho-(1'-rac-glycerol) (LPG), 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (LPC).

Lipids make up the bilayer membranes of both virus particles and host cells. The potential toxicity of these lipids was assessed using chicken RBCs; incubation with DPPC deformed the RBC as they became round and nuclear loss occurred after 5-30 mins of incubation with 500μM DPPC However, no changes were observed when excess lipids were removed by ultrafiltration prior to incubation using two sequential filtration steps with an Amicon Ultra-15 Filter (50KDa MWCO; molecular weight cut-off). This result was further confirmed through ultrafiltration of phospholipids DPPG, LPG, DPPC, LPC, DPPS, or LPS prior to incubating them with cells as no significant changes were measured in both cell size and granularity of suspension MDCK cells or on the cell viability of adherent MDCK or A549 cells. Therefore, the use of ultrafiltration to remove excess lipids using the Amicon filtration system prior to incubating them with cells was used for further experiments to avoid any direct toxicity of the lipids on the cells.

Modifying the lipid envelope of influenza A virus by cholesterol depletion using methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) reduced H2N3 infectivity of MDCK cells in a dose-dependent manner suggesting that it disrupts the natural packing of influenza viral envelope lipids. Regarding the importance of phospholipid head charge and size, pre-treated H2N3 with charged and small lipid heads, such as DPPG reduced virus infectivity more than when DPPS or DPPC were used. However, treating H2N3 virus with various lyso-lipids including LPS, LPC, or LPG produced a significant inhibition to < 15 % of virus infection in MDCK cells, suggesting that the lipid head and the number of aliphatic chains are an essential factors in the modulation of virus infectivity by phospholipids. Similarly, pre-treatment of H1N1 and H3N8 with phosphatidylglycerol (DPPG or LPG) significantly reduced the virus infectivity in a dose-dependent manner, although, the use of DPPG on the filamentous H3N8 virus showed less reduction than that of H2N3 and H1N1. In a similar manner, pre-treatment of LPAI H2N3 with LPG and DPPG reduced virus infectivity in both A549 and MDCK cells, but it was more noticeable in A549 than MDCK cells suggesting some differences in the receptor/binding characteristics between these cell lines.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed changes in influenza virus H2N3 and H3N8 morphology upon treatment of H2N3 or H3N8 with exogenous lipid treatment, H2N3 displayed extensive fusions between virions and liposomes and formed giant particles with an uneven surface distribution of viral glycoprotein. The lyso-lipids had a greater impact on morphology of both virus strains, suggesting that the exogenous lipids may have been inserted into only one leaflet of the virion, leading to disruption of the viral envelope and therefore reduction in influenza virus infectivity.

The physicochemical structure of the lipid head has an impact on influenza virus adhesion and fusion to liposomes. The results showed that the two aliphatic chains, negatively charged lipid head domain DPPG and DPPS blocked virus haemagglutinin unit (HAU) 16 and 32 at ≥ 500 μM or 250 μM, respectively. However, flow cytometry results showed that only LPG, LPC, LPS, DPPC and DPPG pre-treatment significantly blocked the binding of H2N3 to MDCK cells, in a dose-dependent manner, while DPPS pre-treatment did not reduce virus binding. These flow cytometry results were confirmed by immunofluorescence staining of virus protein using MDCK and A459 cells infected with H2N3 or H3N8, pre-treated with 50 and 500 μM of LPG and DPPG at 4°C. This suggested that pre-incubating the virus with phospholipids seemed to have an impact on the ability of the virus to bind either by inhibiting virus binding to cellular receptors or by causing disruption of the viral envelope.

Expression of cytokine mRNA for IL-8 and TNF-α were significantly reduced in MDCK or A549 cells infected with H2N3 or MDCK cells infected with H1N1 and H3N8 following pre-treatment of virus with DPPG or LPG. However, no significant reduction of TNF-α was observed under the same conditions following pre-treatment of H3N8 virus. Impact of pre-treatment of virus with either 500μM of DPPG or LPG in reducing H2N3 infectivity correlated with reduction of IFN-β mRNA expression at 6 and 4 hrs pi when compared to un-treated virus. This suggested that the virus may have been altered upon lipid pre-treatment leading to reduced cytokine expression levels due to a reduced binding and entry of virus to cells. A significant reduction in virus M gene RNA expression was also observed following pre-treatment of H2N3 with phospholipid in both MDCK (DPPG: 42%, LPG 37%) and A549 cells (DPPG: 13%, LPG 58%).

In conclusion, the type of polar head and the number of aliphatic chains are the two variables to consider when modulating virus infectivity with lipids. Altering the lipid composition or structure/shape of the virus using exogenous lipids can be envisaged as a potential treatment for influenza.


Correlating the electronic structure and magnetic response with the morphology and crystal structure of the same single ferromagnetic nanoparticle has been up to now an unresolved challenge. Here, we present measurements of the element-specific electronic structure and magnetic response as a function of magnetic field amplitude and orientation for chemically synthesized single Fe nanocubes with 18 nm edge length. Magnetic states and interactions of monomers, dimers, and trimers are analyzed by X-ray photoemission electron microscopy for different particle arrangements. The element-specific electronic structure can be probed and correlated with the changes of magnetic properties. This approach opens new possibilities for a deeper understanding of the collective response of magnetic nanohybrids in multifunctional materials and in nanomagnetic colloidal suspensions used in biomedical and engineering technologies.


Importance of the field: Candida species are the fourth leading cause of nosocomial bloodstream infections in the United States. They are a leading cause of invasive fungal infections and are an emerging problem in hospital medicine. Areas covered in this review: The antifungal armamentarium for the treatment of systemic fungal infections has increased in recent years and now comprises agents from four main drug classes. This article summarizes the role of antifungal agents in the treatment of infections due to Candida albicans (C. albicans). What the reader will gain: An extensive summary of currently available antifungal agents active against C. albicans. Clinical trials involving these agents will be discussed. Areas covered include drug pharmacokinetics, mechanisms of action, and toxicities. Take home message: New antifungal agents have contributed to significant advances in the treatment of C. albicans. A detailed knowledge of differences in spectrum of activity, toxicity profiles, bioavailability, formulations, and drug interactions of these agents is required. Despite these recent advances, the attributable mortality rates of candidemia and invasive candidiasis remain very high, reminding us of the importance of strategies for the prevention of these infections.


In this paper, a semi-fragile watermarking scheme is proposed for color image authentication. In this particular scheme, the color image is first transformed from RGB to YST color space, suitable for watermarking the color media. Each channel is divided into 4×4 non-overlapping blocks and its each 2×2 sub-block is selected. The embedding space is created by setting the two LSBs of selected sub-block to zero, which will hold the authentication and recovery information. For verification of work authentication and parity bits denoted by 'a' & 'p' are computed for each 2×2 subblock. For recovery, intensity mean of each 2×2 sub-block is computed and encoded upto six to eight bits depending upon the channel selection. The size of sub-block is important for correct localization and fast computation. For watermark distribution 2DTorus Automorphism is implemented using a private key to have a secure mapping of blocks. The perceptibility of watermarked image is quite reasonable both subjectively and objectively. Our scheme is oblivious, correctly localizes the tampering and able to recovery the original work with probability of near one. Keywords—Image Authentication, YST Color Space, Intensity Mean, LSBs, PSNR.


An efficient method to compute the 2-D and 3- D capacitance matrices of multiconductor interconnects in a multilayered dielectric medium is presented. The method is based on an integral equation approach and assumes the quasi-static condition. It is applicable to conductors of arbitrary polygonal shape embedded in a multilayered dielectric medium with possi- ble ground planes on the top or bottom of the dielectric layers. The computation time required to evaluate the space-domain Green's function for the multilayered medium, which involves an infinite summation, has been greatly reduced by obtaining a closed-form expression, which is derived by approximating the Green's function using a finite number of images in the spectral domain. Then the corresponding space-domain Green's functions are obtained using the proper closed-form integrations. In both 2-D and 3-D cases, the unknown surface charge density is represented by pulse basis functions, and the delta testing function (point matching) is used to solve the integral equation. The elements of the resulting matrix are computed using the closed-form formulation, avoiding any numerical integration. The presented method is compared with other published results and showed good agreement. Finally, the equivalent microstrip crossover capacitance is computed to illustrate the use of a combination of 2-D and 3-D Green's functions.


The research about the verification of determination of phosphate (PO43-) method in domestic wastewater using the ascorbic acid method with UV-Vis spectrophotometer at PT Global Environment Laboratory Samarinda has been done. The determination of phosphate (PO43-) in domestic wastewater samples refers to SNI 06-6989.31-2005. Some important parameters about the verification of the measurement method such as: determination of the value of correlation coefficient measurement, precision, accuracy, LOD and LOQ has been carried out. The result of the research shows that the linearity of the measurement is very good, shown with the correlation coefficient value was 0.9976. The LOD and LOQ values were 0.0281 mg/L and 0.1221 mg/L, respectively. The precision of this method shown as coefficient variance of Horwitz was 3.1242% and the accuracy of the research as a recovery percentage was 89.2-102.68%, indicating that the ascorbic acid method can be used for analysis of phosphate (PO43-) in domestic wastewater.


Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a widely used marker for screening and monitoring prostate cancer. Because PSA levels are normally quite low, an antibody-based assay must be used to detect PSA. However, not all PSA-specific antibodies bind equally well to PSA or to its different isoforms. Therefore, a better understanding of how PSA interacts with PSA-specific antibodies is of considerable clinical interest. B80.3 is a widely used murine monoclonal anti-PSA antibody (IgG), which has very high affinity for both free and alpha-anti-chymotrypsin complexed PSA. More importantly, its gene sequence is known-making it one of only two anti-PSA antibodies that has been fully cloned and sequenced. To better elucidate the interaction between PSA and B80.3, a single-chain antibody fragment, derived from the variable domain of B80.3 (scFvB80), was cloned into a pPIC9 vector and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The secreted protein was purified using a three-step protocol beginning with a 50% ammonium sulfate precipitation step, followed by a T-gel thio-affinity step and concluding with a simple anion-exchange (DE52) filtration step. NMR studies indicate the protein is correctly folded while competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays show that the purified scFvB80 has approximately 20% of the activity of the full-length B80.3 antibody. The protocol described here provides a quick and convenient route to prepare large quantities of very pure anti-PSA antibody fragments (15-20 mg/L culture medium) for detailed structural and biophysical characterization.


The nonspecificity of symptoms and exposures commonly reported as "sick building syndrome" is very similar to that reported for the condition termed "multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)." In many instances health care practitioners are divided on the reality of the latter. As in all scientific cases of possible cause-and-effect relationships, an organized, dispassionate approach should be used to evaluate each claim of MCS. Most obviously, known medical conditions must be ruled out before chemical "sensitivity" is proposed. Also, several questions on the toxicology of the chemical exposure must be addressed. Although temporality may be apparent (toxicity followed exposure), the time frame for the appearance of symptoms must be appropriate to the exposure conditions and chemical(s) involved. The chemical(s) must have known or reasonably inferred properties to cause the claimed effect. The dose(s) received must be adequate to effect a response (dose-response characteristics). Alternate causation must be evaluated thoroughly, that is, are there other more logical explanations for the symptoms? In contrast to single-chemical exposures, exposure to mixtures of chemicals, as commonly found in sick buildings, is very difficult to evaluate. However, a rational, scientific approach to cause-and-effect questions will help avoid erroneous and subjective decision making.


This paper presents the success of community based organizations in achieving sustainability in marginal coconut holdings through diversification of crops and enterprises along with conservation of local varieties. The project was implemented in 19 communities of 10 coconut growing countries and findings from four major coconut growing countries, which had significant project outcome - India, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam - are discussed in the present paper. All the four major coconut growing countries recorded a significant difference in total household income over the project period. Among the four countries, India and Philippines had a significant difference in mean income derived from intercrops, India and Thailand for livestock integration and India and Vietnam for off-farm activities. Herfindahl index for indicating economic diversity of households revealed a significant diversification of income for India as well as the overall data for the four countries. A higher level of education and more available land also positively influenced total income. In general, improvements in income were better with bigger-sized farms and households, with male household heads. The overall data revealed significant improvement in food and nutritional security with clearest impacts in India and Philippines due to project efforts. Participation of women in trainings and interventions was the highest in India, followed by Thailand.


The study purpose was to develop a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to investigate potential relationships between diet and non-communicable diseases. Two hundred adults were selected among attendees at the general outpatient clinic of Heart Institute of São Paulo, Brazil. A 98-food item list was created from 24-hour recalls, based on the weighted contribution of each food to energy intake and 21 nutrients. The questionnaire represented 96.8% of energy and at least 95% of the selected nutrients consumed by the study population. Once adapted and validated, this FFQ could be used in epidemiological studies in adult population.


Over recent decades, public participation initiatives have been employed across Europe often with a focus on science and technology issues. In the area of new food technologies most participation initiatives have centered on genetically modified foods. By contrast, in the area of functional foods—where significant EU legislation was recently passed—we have seen no initiatives towards public inclusion. This applies also for Denmark, the country which is the focus of this article. Based on an interview study with members of the Danish parliament the article examines why such considerable differences exist between initiatives to involve the public, and it challenges the role that public participation plays in Danish politics. The main claim made in the article is that although politicians argue for the value and relevance of public participation their willingness to initiate participatory processes is overruled by their concern with playing by the rules of the political game.


Moringa leaf (moringa oleivera) is a multi-nutrient plant, especially Fe, As. Folat, Ca, phosphorus, but not yet used maximally in West Sulawesi, most of it is only used as a barrier to the yard of the house or garden. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in nutrient content (Protein, Ca, Fe, Posfor and Zn) in moringa leaf flour based on different drying methods. The research sample is Moringa leaves taken in 3 groups namely Moringa leaves based on the age of the leaves (shoots, young leaves, old leaves), each leaf group is divided into three based on the drying method, namely blanching, withering (aerated), and drying by drying. The research method uses true experiment, analysis of nutrient content by laboratory tests, protein content in moringa leaves is analyzed by the kjeldahl method, Fe, Ca, and Zn content is analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) method, phosphorus content is determined by UV-VIS spectrophotometer method. The tools used are oven blowers, containers (trays), kitchen tissue, rh meters, analytical scales, baskets, newspapers, gas stoves, basins, and pans. Hypothesis testing uses Two Way Anova to see differences in the nutritional content of Moringa leaves based on different drying methods. The results showed that the content of Protein (28.66), Zn (2.32) and Posfor (715.32), which is highest in drying by blancing method with p-value > 0.05. The content of Fe (11.41), and Ca (1014.81), the highest in moringa leaf flour with a drying method that is only aerated with p-value < 0.05. There is no difference in the content of Protein, Ca and Phosphorus and there are differences in the content of Fe and Zn based on the type of drying method. Prevention and prevention of stunting is recommended to use old moringa leaf flour with the method of drying withering to be used on PMT Toddler and Pregnant Women.


A new subseries of ROMK inhibitors exemplified by 28 has been developed from the initial screening hit 1. The excellent selectivity for ROMK inhibition over related ion channels and pharmacokinetic properties across preclinical species support further preclinical evaluation of 28 as a new mechanism diuretic. Robust pharmacodynamic effects in both SD rats and dogs have been demonstrated.


Malignant nodular hidradenoma, also known as Malignant Hidradenocarcinoma (MHA), is a rare tumor of sweat glands that accounts for less than 0.001% of all tumors [1-3,14]. Although it typically arises de-novo, MHA rarely progresses from hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a disorder of apocrine glands characterized by chronic inflammation [5,6,9]. HS is due to recurrent follicular occlusion leading to painful debilitating cutaneous/subcutaneous abscesses requiring drainage [5,6,9]. Common sites include axillary, anogenital and inguinal regions [5,6,9]. The worldwide prevalence of HS is 1%-4% [5,6]. Incidence of all eccrine carcinomas is ~ 6% [14]. Risk-factors include family history, obesity, and smoking [5,6,9]. Severe complications associated with HS are squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma [2,6]. MHA progression is extremely aggressive with 60% cases having metastatic spread within the first 2 years of diagnosis [14].


Within a decade, the study of Living Qur'an and Living Hadithand has flourished in Indonesia. Number of research about phenomena of either practices of rituals has been done. This article, departs from that fact, endeavors to explore model of living hadith, from its genealogical presence, theories that have been applied, up to technic which used into various kinds of research .


Vitamin A Deficiency Disorders (VAD) encompass the full spectrum of clinical consequences associated with sub optimal vitamin A status, which occur mainly during childhood and pregnancy. VAD is a significant public health problem in India with clinical and subclinical manifestations, both of which have not been quantified in women of childbearing age. Studies report that prevalence of night blindness among pregnant women can be used as a sure indicator to identify VAD in population groups in a region. The need of the hour therefore lies in assessing the magnitude of VAD among pregnant women through systematic, region wise, planned studies to implement region specific solutions. The present investigation is an effort in this direction. The major objective of the study was to quantify the prevalence of clinical and subclinical VAD among pregnant women in selected areas of Tamil Nadu.


The stable isotopic composition of hydrogen and oxygen (d2H and d18O) and tritium activity (3H) have been monitored in monthly precipitation at Portorož airport meteorological station since October 2000. Here we present a complete set of numerical data and a statistical analysis for the period 2000–2006. Seasonal variations of d2H and d18O were observed but are much less pronounced than for continental stations of the Northern Hemisphere. The weighted mean d2H and d18O values are -43 ‰ and -6.6 ‰, respectively. The relation between hydrogen and oxygen isotopic composition is expressed by the orthogonal Local Meteoric Water Line as d2H = (8.05 ± 0.22) d18O + (9.35 ± 1.55), and the temperature coefficient of d18O is 0.13 ‰/°C. The deuterium excess weighted mean value is 9.8 ‰ and shows some seasonal variations that reflect the variable influence of air masses of different origin (either Atlantic or Mediterranean). Tritium activity in monthly precipitation also showed seasonal variations, with a weighted mean value of 6.9 TU.


The anemia of chronic disease (ACD) results from 3 major processes: slightly shortened red cell survival, impaired reticuloendothelial system iron mobilization, and impaired erythropoiesis. Hepcidin is an acute-phase protein with specific iron regulatory properties, which, along with the anemia seen with increased hepcidin expression, have led many to consider it the major mediator of ACD. However, if hepcidin is the major factor responsible for ACD, then it should also contribute to the impaired erythropoiesis observed in this syndrome. Erythroid colony formation in vitro was inhibited by hepcidin at erythropoietin (Epo) concentrations less than or equal to 0.5 U/mL but not at Epo 1.0 U/mL. At Epo concentrations of 0.3 U/mL, HCD57 erythroleukemia cells exposed to hepcidin exhibit decreased expression of the antiapoptotic protein pBad compared with controls. These studies suggest that hepcidin may contribute to anemia in ACD not only through effects on iron metabolism, but also through inhibition of erythroid progenitor proliferation and survival.


The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a light-shielding sealing agent for a liquid crystal display element, which can exhibit excellent adhesion strength to a substrate even after being exposed to a high-temperature and high-humidity environment; and a top-to-bottom conductive material and a liquid crystal display element, each of which is produced using the light-shielding sealing agent for a liquid crystal display element. The present invention is a light-shielding sealing agent for a liquid crystal display element which is a light-shielding sealing agent for use in a liquid crystal dropping process, comprising a curable resin that contains a curable compound having an unsaturated double bond, a radical polymerization initiator and a light-shielding agent, wherein the curable resin has a hydrogen-binding functional group value of 0.5 × 10 -3 to 3.0 × 10 -3 mol/g and titanium black is contained as the light-shielding agent.


Abstract. Successional processes are an important element of commercial-forest ecosystems. They can be followed by studying the species composition of various animal groups, e.g. millipedes. Over the vegetation periods 2009 and 2010, we pitfall-trapped millipedes and centipedes (Myriapoda: Diplopoda, Chilopoda) on 21 Western German (North Rhine-Westphalian) deciduous and coniferous forest as well as fallow-ground sites of increasing age (1–165 yr) and determined them to the species and sex. Diplopoda (2009: 1659/2010: 3417 individuals) outnumbered the trapped Chilopoda (2009: 37/2010: 111 individuals) by far while the general catching results approximately doubled from 2009 to 2010. Indirect gradient analysis (CA) revealed that the influence of the habitat type on the formation of diplopod assemblages exceeded the influence of the successional stage. Although no clear trend in individual-count development over time occurred in most species detected, Julus scandinavius (Latzel, 1884) significantly increased in numbers with ageing of the deciduous (beech) forests. In conclusion, J. scandinavius may be a suitable bioindicator of deciduous-forest succession. More data are necessary to transfer our results into a mathematical function describing the course of increasing J. scandinavius abundance.


The purpose of research work – search of new ways of educational work, corresponding to requirements of federal state educational standards of higher education about formation of common cultural competences. The author suggests to use a method of social design for the solution of a task. The maintenance of social and pedagogical space of higher education institution is a complex of socially important ideas, projects and innovations. Participation in projects will allow students to seize competences which labor market demands. The author gives useful examples of use of design technologies for application in educational work of higher educational institutions.


The objective of this study was to assess the impact of seminal clusterin level on spermatogenesis in infertile men. This study included 89 men who visited our clinic due to infertility, consisting of 28, 33, and 28 diagnosed with normospermia, oligozoospermia and nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) respectively. The seminal clusterin concentrations measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay were 47.9, 28.2 and 18.4 ng ml−1 in men with normospermia, oligozoospermia and NOA, respectively, with significant differences among these three groups (P < 0.01). Microdissection testicular sperm extraction (MD‐TESE) was performed in the 28 men with NOA, and spermatozoon was successfully retrieved from 9. There was a significant correlation between seminal clusterin level and testicular clusterin protein expression evaluated by immunohistochemical staining in these men with NOA (P = 0.026). Of several parameters available before MD‐TESE, the univariate analysis identified serum follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) level <10 IU ml−1 and seminal clusterin level ≥18 ng ml−1 as significant predictors of sperm retrieval, and of these, only serum FSH level <10 IU ml−1 was shown to be independently associated with sperm retrieval in the multivariate analysis. Accordingly, it might be worthy to further evaluate the significance of seminal clusterin level as a biomarker for the assessment of spermatogenic status in infertile men.


Outbreaks of illness caused by contaminated fresh produce are on the rise. Most fresh produce is delivered to consumers without any processing and is consumed raw, which increases the risk of foodborne illness. Many college students lack food safety knowledge, which makes them likely targets for contracting or transmitting foodborne illnesses. The purpose of this study was to assess the produce handling attitudes, practices, beliefs, and knowledge among college students while specifically exploring the differences in produce handling between home and the workplace. College students at least 18 years or older who had foodservice work experience participated in this study. Seven hundred eighty-one usable questionnaires (7.1% response rate) were collected at a large university in the Midwest. Results of this study indicated that college students are knowledgeable about produce handling in terms of cleaning and preparing fresh produce. However, only one-quarter of participants (n = 204, 26.1%) were knowledgeable about the recommended duration for handwashing. College students said they do believe that food poisoning can affect their health but most did not believe fresh produce could cause food poisoning. Overall, the participants had higher scores for produce handling attitudes and practices at work than at home. There is a need for produce safety training for college students that can lead to improved safe produce handling not only at work but also at home.


Dental trauma in immature permanent teeth can damage pulp vascularization, which leads to necrosis and cessation of apexogenesis. Studies on tissue engineering using stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs) have yielded promising results. Laser phototherapy (LPT) is able to influence the proliferation and differentiation of these cells, which could improve tissue engineering. SHEDs (eighth passage) were seeded into 96-well culture plates (103 cells/well) and were grown in culture medium supplemented with 15% defined fetal bovine serum (FBS) for 12 h. After determining the appropriate nutrition deficiency status (5% FBS), the cells were assigned into four groups: 1) G1 - 15% FBS (positive control); 2) G2 - 5% FBS (negative control); 3) G3 - 5% FBS+LPT 3 J/cm2; and 4) G4 - 5% FBS+LPT 5 J/cm2. For the LPT groups, two laser irradiations at 6 h intervals were performed using a continuous wave InGaAlP diode laser (660 nm, with a spot size of 0.028 cm2, 10 mW) in punctual and contact mode. Cell viability was assessed via an MTT reduction assay immediately after the second laser irradiation (0 h) and 24, 48, and 72 h later. We found that G3 and G4 presented a significantly higher cell growth rate when compared with G2 (p < 0.01). Moreover, G4 exhibited a similar cell growth rate as G1 throughout the entire experiment (p > 0.05). These findings indicate that LPT with 5 J/cm2 can enhance the growth of SHEDs during situations of nutritional deficiency. Therefore, LPT could be a valuable adjunct treatment in tissue engineering when using stem cells derived from the dental pulp of primary teeth.


Abstract: Introduction: The accomplishment of medical residency (MR) is a type of qualification considered to be the "gold standard" for medical specialization. Understanding whether there is actually greater professional settlement or not stimulated by MR and which factors hinder or contribute to the physician's permanence in that place, are important information for the structuring of medical residency and health system programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of settlement of medical residents who finished the residency training in the state of Tocantins, after the implementation of medical residency programs in the period from 2013 to 2017. Method: This is an observational quantitative research, with a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical design, using the telematic technique and its own questionnaire, carried out with 44 medical residents that finished the medical residency program in the state of Tocantins. The project was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Tocantins (UFT) under Opinion number 2.292.540. Results: The prevalence of settlement was 65.9% of physicians in the state of Tocantins. Most residents were females (59.1%), with a mean age of 30.8 ± 3.1 years, income between 10 and 20 minimum wages (55.8%) and worked during their residency training (84.1%). The specialties that showed the highest settlement rates were general surgery and clinical medicine, and among these, the majority works for the private and state health networks. The main reason for not settling in Tocantins was to attend another residency or subspecialty program in another state (64.7%). Conclusion: The prevalence of medical residents that finished the residency and settled in Tocantins during the analyzed period can be considered high (65.9%). The fact that most of these individuals are young and female and the reason for not settling in the state are important indicators to be analyzed together with the settlement process and the offering of positions in the specialties available in Tocantins. The results of the study indicated a favorable and strategic perspective of the Medical Residency Programs (MRP) in the medical settlement in Tocantins, which cannot be generalized to the reality of such an unequal health system in the country. A larger public investment in the structuring of health network services is necessary, especially in the municipal network, in the organization of support and socioeconomic development of cities.


Neurotransmitters released from sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve terminals in the sinoatrial node (SAN) exert their effects via G-protein-coupled receptors. Integration of these different G-protein signals within pacemaker cells of the SAN is critical for proper regulation of heart rate and function. For example, excessive parasympathetic signaling can be associated with sinus node dysfunction (SND) and supraventricular arrhythmias. Our previous work has shown that one member of the regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS) protein family, RGS4, is highly and selectively expressed in pacemaker cells of the SAN. Consistent with its role as an inhibitor of parasympathetic signaling, RGS4-knockout mice have reduced basal heart rates and enhanced negative chronotropic responses to parasympathetic agonists. Moreover, RGS4 appears to be an important part of SA nodal myocyte signaling pathways that mediate G-protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channel (GIRK) channel activation/deactivation and desensitization. Since RGS4 acts immediately downstream of M2 muscarinic receptors, it is tempting to speculate that RGS4 functions as a master regulator of parasympathetic signaling upstream of GIRKs, HCNs, and L-type Ca2+ channels in the SAN. Thus, loss of RGS4 function may lead to increased susceptibility to conditions associated with increased parasympathetic signaling, including bradyarrhythmia, SND, and atrial fibrillation.


With the evolution in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HIV/AIDS, ending the infection as a public health threat worldwide has become a real possibility included within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Project 2030. However, some countries and even entire regions are not on track to reach this target due to increased new infections in young populations. Young women (15–24 years) represent 48% of the new HIV cases globally. Research shows these women have significant unmet sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs, with high rates of unplanned pregnancies, increased HIV perinatal transmission (HIV-PT) risk, and higher maternal morbidity and mortality. Granting access to SRH services based on rights for women living with HIV is a cost-effective alternative to reducing new infections in children by promoting respect for women's reproductive options. This chapter addresses the role of SRH services based on rights for women living with HIV within HIV-PT. It also summarizes the new "Consolidated Guideline on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women Living with HIV"; designed by the World Health Organization as a global recommendation for SRH programs and services that promote gender equality and human rights for women living with HIV.


The ISLANDS project is implemented by the Indian Ocean Commission using the European Development Fund of the European Union to support the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy in beneficiary countries. This paper shares the experiences of ISLANDS in deploying system dynamics modeling in five countries in the Eastern and Southern African and Indian Ocean Region (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zanzibar) for sustainable development planning. Lessons learned regarding the design and conceptualization of the project ISLANDS, including the adoption of system dynamics modeling as an integrated assessment tool for policy planning, are discussed. Although Madagascar and Zanzibar are not defined as small island developing States (SIDS) in the UN System, the lessons learned from these countries are applicable to all SIDS. The approach used by ISLANDS for technical assistance consists of nesting learning‐by‐doing, multi‐stakeholder processes, and dedicated capacity‐building in system dynamics modeling, as well as advocacy for the integrated modeling tool with decision‐makers. While island developing States are recognized for their inherent vulnerabilities to shocks, the adoption of system dynamics modeling helps to achieve policy‐induced resilience by exposing the challenges and constraints posed by the lack of reliable statistical data. Institutionalization of the tool is progressing well in the region.


Abstract Antidepressants have been associated with a low incidence of idiosyncratic hepatic injury. Some of them, nefazodone or amineptine, were observed to induce severe hepatic injury and withdrawn from the market. Recently, some cases of this severe condition have been reported in association with agomelatine use. Therefore, the objective of this study is to learn the risk of hepatic damage with agomelatine as compared with other new antidepressants. We took data from the Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese pharmacovigilance system databases. A case/noncase approach to assess the strength of the association between whichever antidepressant and hepatotoxicity was performed; cases were defined as reports of hepatotoxicity; noncases were reports of all reactions other than hepatotoxicity. Exposure was the recording of a new antidepressant in a report, whether or not it was suspected of causing the reaction. During the period surveyed, 3300 cases of hepatotoxicity were collected for the antidepressants assessed. They represent 10.3% of all cases collected for these drugs; the corresponding figure for all drugs was 6.0%. Meanwhile, 63 cases of hepatotoxicity associated with agomelatine were collected since its introduction until the end of the period studied; they account for a percentage of 14.6. Agomelatine was statistically associated with hepatotoxicity in Spain [reporting odds ratio (ROR), 4.9 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4–9.7)], France (ROR, 2.4 [95% CI, 1.5–3.7]), and Italy (ROR, 5.1 [95% CI, 1.7–14.0]). Current results support the idea of agomelatine to be related to a higher hepatotoxicity risk. Physicians should consider early discontinuation if the condition is suspected; health authorities should promptly explore the best regulatory actions to be taken.


This paper presents the results of a preliminary study on the hydrodynamics of a moored floating-point absorber (FPA) wave energy system under extreme wave conditions. For this study, we assumed that the FPA is locked in harsh weather conditions, and the whole device moves as a single rigid body. The prediction of the hydrodynamic response of the system and the corresponding wave impact loads on the FPA are important to the structural design of the system and its survivability in extreme wave conditions. After describing the working principle and the design specification of the floating-point absorber, we present the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method used in the study. We apply this method to analyze the hydrodynamic response of the FPA in regular as well as irregular waves. In addition, we evaluate the feasibility of using a Morison's Equation method for modeling the FPA system. Overall, the study shows that the nonlinear interaction between waves and the moored absorber has significant influences on the absorber response under extreme wave conditions.


Establishing the pedigree of a digital image, such as the type of processing applied to it, is important for forensic analysts because processing generally affects the accuracy and applicability of other forensic tools used for, e.g., identifying the camera (brand) and/or inspecting the image integrity (detecting regions that were manipulated). Given the superiority of automatized tools called deep convolutional neural networks to learn complex yet compact image representations for numerous problems in steganalysis as well as in forensic, in this article we explore this approach for the task of detecting the processing history of images. Our goal is to build a scalable detector for practical situations when an image acquired by a camera is processed, downscaled with a wide variety of scaling factors, and again JPEG compressed since such processing pipeline is commonly applied for example when uploading images to social networks, such as Facebook. To allow the network to perform accurately on a wide range of image sizes, we investigate a novel CNN architecture with an IP layer accepting statistical moments of feature maps. The proposed methodology is benchmarked using confusion matrices for three JPEG quality factors.


A framework to generate a human-like arm motion of a humanoid robot using an Evolutionary Algorithm(EA)-based imitation learning is proposed. The framework consists of two processes, imitation learning of human arm motions and real-time generating of a human-like arm motion using the motion database evolved in the learning process. The imitation learning builds the database for the humanoid robot that is initially converted from human motion capture data and then evolved using a genetic operator based on a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in an evolutionary algorithm. This evolution process also considers the minimizing of joint torques in the robot. The database is then used to generate humanoid robot's arm motions in real-time, which look like human's and require minimal torques. The framework is examined for humanoid robot to reach its arms for catching a ball. Additionally, the inverse kinematics problem to determine the final posture of 6-DOF robot arm with a waist for the task of catching a ball, is proposed.


Objective Transumbilical single incision surgery (TSIS) has recently gained popularity for symptomatic renal cysts. We evaluated the clinical utility and safety of homemade glove port device in bilateral renal cyst decortication patients at our institution. Methods We reviewed our series of 42 bilateral symptomatic renal cyst (range, 4–12 cm) decortication performed from November 2010 to December 2013. A homemade port device consisted of two control loops and a glove to form three channels was placed through the umbilical single incision. A homemade single port device was made by fixing a size 7 1/2 surgical glove to the retractor outer ring and securing the glove fingers to the end of three trocars with a tie. The homemade port was inserted at the umbilical incision, operation was performed by using a special flexible 30-degree laparoscope and conventional laparoscopic instruments. Results All cases were completed successfully, without conversion to a standard laparoscopic or open approach. The average operative time was 75 min and the estimated blood loss was less than 30 mL, no intraoperative complication occurred. The mean hospital stay was 2.8 d lap[2–5] days, with a median follow-up of 20 months (range, 8–32) there was no recurrence. Conclusions Our homemade single port device is cost-effective and more flexible to deal with bilateral renal cysts especially ventral lesions than the current multichannel port or traditional laparoscopic surgery.


The effect of processing history in a single-screw extruder on molecular characteristics was studied by employing commercially available low-density polyethylene with no additives. Generation of long-chain branch, which is responsible for the neck-in phenomenon and draw resonance, is indicated by nonlinear viscoelastic properties of the extruded samples. Consequently, the processed samples show higher level of elastic property than the original pellet. However, thermal analysis revealed that there is no change in the distribution of short-chain branch. Moreover, both chain scission and cross-linking take place, and the chain scission is predominant above 320°C. Furthermore, processing history at low temperature depresses the melt elastic nature, although primary molecular structure is unchanged. This would be attributed to shear modification phenomenon. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009


This paper tests a conceptual segmentation using a criterion outlined by Oliver based on the satisfaction prototypes customers may follow. The empirical study was conducted with a sample of theme park visitors grouped into four satisfaction prototypes/segments. Results show the presence of important differences by groups in terms of both the effects of perceived value dimensions on satisfaction and the level of satisfaction by segment, supporting the proposed approach. The findings are valuable for a better identification of key drivers of segments' satisfaction, which will be helpful to redesign service experiences to better fit the varying preferences of modern consumers.


The frequency of bullying and the consequences for the child's development encourage targeted social pedagogical assistance in Lithuanian schools. The article reveals the opportunities of social pedagogical assistance at school for students who have experienced bullying by peers. The results of the qualitative research (partially structured interviews with school leaders, social pedagogues, and class teachers) are presented. The analysis of the research results has revealed that the following social pedagogical support measures are applied at school: the provision of emotional support, consultations, social skills classes, work with parents, individual conversations and etc.. The main difficulties identified by the informants in assisting students are the lack of parental cooperation, the passivity of teachers and a lack of staff competencies to deal with bullying situations. By increasing the possibilities of social pedagogical assistance at school, the informants offer to increase parental responsibility, improve pedagogues' competencies, cooperate with assistance organisations.


In online advertising, display ads are increasingly being placed based on real-time auctions where the advertiser who wins gets to serve the ad. This is called real-time bidding (RTB). In RTB, auctions have very tight time constraints on the order of 100ms. Therefore mechanisms for bidding intelligently such as clickthrough rate prediction need to be sufficiently fast. In this work, we propose to use dimensionality reduction of the user-website interaction graph in order to produce simplified features of users and websites that can be used as predictors of clickthrough rate. We demonstrate that the Infinite Relational Model (IRM) as a dimensionality reduction offers comparable predictive performance to conventional dimensionality reduction schemes, while achieving the most economical usage of features and fastest computations at run-time. For applications such as real-time bidding, where fast database I/O and few computations are key to success, we thus recommend using IRM based features as predictors to exploit the recommender effects from bipartite graphs.


THE AFTERLIFE VIEWS AND THE USE OF THE TANAKH IN SUPPORT OF THE RESURRECTION CONCEPT IN THE LITERATURE OF SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD JUDAISM: THE APOCRYPHA AND THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHA by Jan Åge Sigvartsen Adviser: Jacques B. Doukhan ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH DissertationOF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: THE AFTERLIFE VIEWS AND THE USE OF THE TANAKH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESURRECTION CONCEPT IN THE LITERATURE OF SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD: THE APOCRYPHA AND THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHA Name of researcher: Jan Åge Sigvartsen Name and degree of faculty adviser: Jaques B. Doukhan, D.H.L., Th.D. Date completed: Spring 2016 The literature of Second Temple Period Judaism indicates there was an increased interest in and speculation about the fate of the righteous and the wicked following their physical death. This period saw the birth of multiple Jewish sects and also multiple views of the afterlife. This study will outline the numerous afterlife views and will analyse the resurrection passages appearing in the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha to gain a comprehensive overview of the texts used from the TaNaKh in support of these various resurrection beliefs. This study also provides a better understanding of how the TaNaKh was read by differing communities during this important period and the role the TaNaKh played in the development of the resurrection belief – a central article of faith in both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Appendix A of this study provides a comprehensive list of resurrection passages from Second Temple period literature, compiled from the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha which are categorized and analyzed. Anthologies of the listed passages are also provided to show the larger context of each resurrection statement. Appendix B lists resurrection passages also found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament, and Early Rabbinic material. In addition to outlining the numerous afterlife views, this study provides comprehensive examinations of the resurrection passages that either refer or allude to texts from the TaNaKh in support of a resurrection belief. This gives a better understanding of the role the TaNaKh played in the development of the resurrection belief and reveals which TaNaKh passages were considered a resurrection passage by authors and/or communities who produced these Second Temple period compositions. Primary findings, their implications and some general observations are also discussed. This study identifies eighteen distinct views regarding "life-after-death" with varying degrees of complexity, suggesting great diversity in resurrection beliefs during this period. There is also no progress from a basic to a more complex death and resurrection view, as differing levels of complexity are represented throughout the period. Thus, there is no linear development of the resurrection belief, but rather, multiple views co-existed, although an eschatological bodily resurrection belief became the central tenet for both Rabbinic Judaism and the Early Christian Church. There seems to be no evidence in this literature in support of a shift in focus from a bodily resurrection towards the immortality of the soul, as the fate of both the body and soul seem to be of great interest to the authors and the communities to which they belonged. Several influencing factors are identified as causing the many resurrection perspectives, such as, human anthropology, the nature of the soul, scope of the resurrection, number and function of the Judgments, and the final destination of the righteous and the wicked. A careful reading of these resurrection passages in the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha reveals that most of the distinct views on "life-after-death," regardless of their complexity, are often supported by several key passages from the TaNaKh or shared motifs with the TaNaKh. It is suggested that future analysis of these key passages from the TaNaKh may shed further light on how literary works from this period interpreted, understood, used, and reused the TaNaKh. It may even determine if the resurrection belief is indeed present in these texts (based on good exegesis) or if this belief was read into these texts by Second Temple Period authors (an example of eisegesis). Based on preliminary observations, some of these resurrection concepts seem to derive naturally from the TaNaKh, while others seem to be based on an interpretation or a more elaborate exegesis. Yet, other usages seems a bit more forced, and in those cases the TaNaKh appears to be considered a source of proof-texts, seemingly often disregarding the larger context of the text quoted or alluded to. Early Second Temple period resurrection texts seem to be supported by a creative use of the TaNaKh while late Second Temple Period, early Christian, and Rabbinic texts seems to utilize more proof-texting – some of which were used by several literary works in support of their unique perspective on the afterlife. An awareness of Second Temple period literature is helpful for gaining a better understanding of the death and afterlife views presented in the New Testament and in Early Rabbinic literature, as it shows they are a part of the larger discussion taking place during this critical period. Table 45 provides a list of the TaNaKh passages which were either referred or alluded to in the context of the resurrection statements surveyed from the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha. Table 46 centers on the 18 distinct afterlife views and indicates which views are supported by the TaNaKh. These two tables give an indication of the number of TaNaKh texts which were perceived as resurrection texts and the texts which were most often referred or alluded to. Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary THE AFTERLIFE VIEWS AND THE USE OF THE TANAKH IN SUPPORT OF THE RESURRECTION CONCEPT IN THE LITERATURE OF SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD JUDAISM: THE APOCRYPHA AND THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHA A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Jan Åge Sigvartsen Spring 2016 © Copyright by Jan Åge Sigvartsen 2016 All Rights Reserved THE AFTERLIFE VIEWS AND THE USE OF THE TANAKH IN SUPPORT OF THE RESURRECTION CONCEPT IN THE LITERATURE OF SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD JUDAISM: THE APOCRYPHA AND THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHA A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy by Jan Åge Sigvartsen APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: Faculty Adviser Jacques Doukhan Professor of Old Testament Richard Davidson Professor of Old Testament Robert Johnston Professor of New Testament, Emeritus P. Richard Choi Chair and Professor of New Testament Casey Elledge, Associate Professor Gustavus Adolphus College Director, Ph.D./Th.D. Programs Thomas Shepherd Dean, SDA Theological Seminary Jiří Moskala


A resilient and robust finite-time bounded observer design is derived for a class of nonlinear systems with nonlinear measurement equations, both having vanishing nonlinear model perturbations and additive disturbances. The observer is robust for all vanishing nonlinear perturbations in the system model and measurements, and it is resilient against bounded perturbations in the observer gain. Therefore, in the presence of unknown and vanishing nonlinear perturbations and additive disturbances with known waveforms, the estimation error magnitude remains below a prescribed bound over a finite-time interval. Furthermore, under special conditions, the estimation error can also be made asymptotically stable. A Luenberger type nonlinear observer is used to find an estimate of the unknown state vector from the available measurements. A set of conditions, representing a set of linear matrix inequalities, which guarantee the existence of such an observer and allow a solution for the observer gain and the bound on the maximum allowable gain perturbation is derived. The paper is concluded with a numerical example, which illustrates the applicability of the observer design.


We have previously shown that a positive regulator, HutP, of Bacillus subtilis hut operon is a RNA binding protein. Here, we report precise binding site of HutP in cis-regulatory region on hut mRNA and the role of HutP in histidine-dependent antitermination of hut expression. Ethylnitrosourea modification interference assay showed that four binding sites of HutP were found in the cis-regulatory sequences and were located at the stem and the internal loop of an antiterminator structure. In vitro transcription assay indicated that HutP suppressed transcription termination in the presence of histidine. These results suggest that HutP function as an antiterminator in response to the presence of histidine.


Synchrotron radiation (SR) X-ray has significant potential for applications in medical imaging and cancer treatment. However, the mechanisms underlying SR X-ray-induced tissue damage remain unclear. Previous studies on regular X-ray-induced tissue damage have suggested that dose-rate could affect radiation damage. Because SR X-ray has exceedingly high dose-rate compared to regular X-ray, it remains to be determined if dose-rate may affect SR X-ray-induced tissue damage. We used rodent testes as a model to investigate the role of dose-rate in SR X-ray-induced tissue damage. One day after SR X-ray irradiation, we determined the effects of the irradiation of the same dosage at two different dose-rates, 0.11 Gy/s and 1.1 Gy/s, on TUNEL signals, caspase-3 activation and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) of the testes. Compared to those produced by the irradiation at 0.11 Gy/s, irradiation at 1.1 Gy/s produced higher levels of DSBs, TUNEL signals, and caspase-3 activation in the testes. Our study has provided the first evidence suggesting that dose-rate could be a significant factor in SR X-ray-induced tissue damage, which may establish a valuable base for utilizing this factor to manipulate the tissue damage in SR X-ray-based medical applications.


This study examined the effects of giving milk replacer without or with insulin or trypsinized milk replacer on gastrointestinal growth and development in neonatal piglets.The newborn unsuckled Erhualian piglets were bottle-fed for 3 days with milk replacer(M),milk replacer supplemented with insulin(IM)(60mIU/ml) or trypsinized milk replacer(TM).There were no significant difference in the tissue weight of stomach,small intestine and colon,the length of small intestine and colon,the mucosal DNA,RNA contents of small intestine,the mucosal DNA,RNA and protein contents of colon,and the concentrations of serum cortisol,insulin in piglets fed IM or TM(P0.05),when compared with those of piglets fed M.But the mucosal weight(P0.05) and protein contents(P0.01) in the small intestine,specifically in the distal ileum(P0.01)in IM-fed piglets were significantly greater than those in M-fed piglets.The serum gastrin in piglets fed TM increased significantly in comparison with those of M-fed piglets(P0.01).The results indicate that oral administration of insulin stimulates an increase in mucosal weight and protein content in the small intestine.The trypsinized milk replacer contains some bioactive substances that can stimulate the increase of serum gastrin in newborn piglets.


A parameter evolution in CT-6B tokamak during gas puffing is numerically studied using a one-dimensional tokamak transport code. The calculated results show that the gas puffing enhances the average electron density. The transport coefficients obtained from the simulation are compared with those from the measurements performed on CT-6B device.


.— How is locomotion controlled? What information is necessary and how is it used? It is first of all argued that the classical twofold division of information into ex-teroceptive and proprioceptive is inadequate and confusing, that three fundamental types of information need to be distinguished and that the information is used in a continual process of formulating locomotor programs, monitoring their execution and adjusting them. The paper goes on to show (1) how steering could be controlled on the basis of the "locomotor flow line" in the optic array, which specifies the potential future course, whether curved or straight, and (2) how stopping for an obstacle could be controlled simply on the basis of the information in the optic array about the time-to-collision and its rate of change. The problems inherent in pedestrian locomotion of controlling footing and balance are discussed and an investigation of visual locomotor programming in the long jump reported.


Abstract Functional abdominal pain (FAP) is a common physical complaint in children and adolescents. Prior research has documented associations between FAP symptoms and mood, especially internalizing behaviors. Limited research is available examining the association between symptom burden and cognitive function in this pediatric population. This study explored associations between FAP symptoms, internalizing behaviors, and cognitive and school function in children and adolescents. Twenty-seven participants (mean age = 12.6 years, range 8.8–16.5; 33% male) diagnosed with FAP completed assessments of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral function, as well as FAP symptom severity. Mean performances on cognitive tests were within age-expected ranges. Within this context, however, higher overall burden of FAP symptoms was associated with slower processing speed, more self-reported metacognitive problems and internalizing behaviors, and more school absences. Cognitive function was systematically associated with internalizing behaviors but not physical symptoms. Overall, findings revealed that FAP may be associated with cognitive inefficiencies in addition to internalizing problems. Cognitive symptoms may be linked to internalizing behaviors associated with FAP.


The draft tube of a hydraulic turbine is the component where the flow exiting the runner is decelerated, thereby converting the excess of kinetic energy into static pressure. However, in some refurbishment cases, the installation of an upgraded runner with an old draft-tube leads to an undesirable efficiency drop as the discharge is increased above the best efficiency point value. It is found to be related to a corresponding sudden variation in the draft tube pressure recovery coefficient at the same discharge. The model of a recent refurbishment which presents this instability is installed in the CREMHyG test rig. Steady and unsteady measurements of velocity and pressure fields of the complex and highly turbulent swirling flow exiting the runner have been carried out at CREMHyG (Grenoble). They included the three components of the velocity. The flow in the draft tube is rich in secondary flows and possible flow separation due to the elbow as well as to the divergent shape of this geometry. Pressure and velocity field measurements in the draft-tube have been performed. They let us identify some phenomena that may explain the origin of the unusual behavior of the draft tube. Finally, the same model, with a modified draft tube geometry that was designed to reduce the efficiency drop phenomenon has been installed. Velocity measurements were made to validate the benefit of such geometry modification.


Teacher evaluation is a personnel practice in education and a field of study with multiple discourse communities, including a community in supervision. Many concepts from these discourse communities have influenced practice over time. In this article, I place teacher evaluation as a practice originating in the intersection of supervision and administration, describe its tumultuous relationship with supervision, and identify the many concepts that restrict its practice with examples of scholarship. This article is important "fieldwork" that scholars must periodically conduct on their niche to better understand its audiences, scope, and influences. Examples of fieldwork include: analyses of scholarship, collections on a theme, handbooks, histories, interviews of scholars, memoirs, and genealogies of scholars. This article is a type of analysis of scholarship for the field of teacher evaluation, as Bolin (1988), Blumberg (1990), Garman (2020), Glanz (2018), Gordon (2019), Mette (2019), and Glanz and Hazi (2019) have done for the field of supervision. I am often asked, "Is there anything left to study about teacher evaluation?" This article may help scholars broaden their thinking about the many discourses of teacher evaluation as well as their own niche. Understanding the nature of the discourses helps a scholar navigate its writings and research, situate his/her contribution, and interpret the results of emerging research.


An orally available pan-protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor with potential immunosuppressive and antineoplastic activities. Sotrastaurin inhibits both T and B-cell activations via PKC theta and beta isozymes, respectively. Both PKCs are important in the activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kB). Inhibition of PKC beta in B-cells results in prevention of NF-kB-mediated signaling and down regulation of NF-kB target genes. T his may eventually lead to an induction of G1 cell cycle arrest and tumor cell apoptosis in susceptible tumor cells. T his agent may act synergistically with other chemotherapeutic agents. PKC, a family of serine/threonine protein kinases overexpressed in certain types of cancer cells, is involved in cell differentiation, mitogenesis, inflammation, and the activation and survival of lymphocytes. Qeios · Definition, February 7, 2020


In this paper the causes of noise generated by the conventional supersonic biasing and erasing fields used in magnetic recording systems are discussed. The data to be presented emphasize the manner in which this noise varies with the wave form and frequency of an applied supersonic field. The importance of these two factors is shown to be a function of the characteristics of the erase and recording heads and of the inherent frequency response and modulation noise characteristics of the medium. By proper control of the wave form and frequency of the supersonic signal, noise may be reduced to such an extent that the effective noise level of a given recording medium with bias and erase signals applied will be equal to or less than the noise level of a virgin sample of the medium. Under these conditions, values of saturated signal to noise exceeding 80 db may be obtained.


Background : Adult nephrotic syndrome is associated with a higher prevalence of identifiable risk factors which though may be remediable but have deleterious consequences on renal function. Objective : To determine frequency of serum reactants, antibodies and autoantibodies among adult nephrotics at the UNTH, Enugu. Design: Case control study. Outcome measure : Serum titres of reactive proteins and antibodies in cases compared to control. Methodology : Serum Samples were obtained from 51 nephrotic (35males and 16 females) along with 48 controls (30males and 18females) sex age matched, by standard laboratory techniques. These samples were screened using commercially available kits and standard laboratory methods for the presence of HBsAg, ASO antibody, Rheumatoid factors, VDRL and LE cells. Their ESR were also determined by the Westergreen method. Results : HBsAg were found in 3subjects ASO antibodies were less than 200 todd units for both subjects and controls Rheumatoid factor, LE cells were negative in both subjects and controls. The mean ESR of the male (80.4± 1.2) and female (117.7±2.1) nephrotic subjects were significantly higher than that of the male (13.2±0.2) and female (22.0±0.1) control (P schistosome antibody. But malaria antibody was found in the glomerular basement membrane of 2 patients and also in the serum of over half of the subjects and controls. Conclusion : The variety of reactive and autoantibodies in the study subjects may have been due to the selection methods the significantly raised ESR in the subjects underscores the role of inflammatory processes as primary and /or secondary events in the pathomechanism of the renal injury in the nephrotic syndrome.


We focus on Global Software Development from the users' perspective and find that cultural differences impact IS success. With ever expanding globalization, applications are increasingly being accessed by culturally diverse groups. Many times this was not planned by the developers who designed the applications for an assumed homogeneous population Thus, software developers need to take into account the cultural differences of their potential users. This is especially true for Distance Learning (DL) applications in which geographical boundaries virtually disappear. This study focuses on DL applications to demonstrate that culture matters in software development. In this study we use rarely applied cultural dimension of long-term orientation (Hofstede & Bond, 1988; Hofstede, 2001) to investigate the impact culture has on DL success as measured by perceived interaction difficulty, satisfaction, and self-reported learning. Designers of DL applications need to incorporate features that appeal to both short-term and longterm oriented cultures. Short-term oriented cultures value efficiency; therefore, they will tend to prefer tools that streamline the process such as email, automated quiz taking and grading, the ability to submit work online, and applications that load quickly. We expect Mediterranean countries will lean towards the short-term orientation side of the scale and, thus, will value these efficiencies. Longterm oriented cultures value effectiveness; therefore, they will tend to prefer tools that enrich the process such as discussion boards, chat rooms, and perhaps an "electronic student lounge" with the ability to exchange bios, stories, and pictures. We expect some Mediterranean countries will also appreciate these tools.


attractive. Such episodes of gastroenteritis following the drinking of water polluted with sewage or at flood time,' or by new arrivals at a camp, or from eating shellfish of doubtfur origin, are not uncommon, and they tend to be called nonspecific because the agent has not been found. There may be pathogens requiring special conditions for growth, more exacting towards media, or growing more readily at lower temperatures than usual which a busy routine laboratory cannot find time to investigate. Have we exhausted the potentials of the coliform organisms ? Must we stay with the recognized serotypes of infantile enteritis, or should we be prepared to make antiserum to other types of E. coli from adult diarrhoeal samples ? Differential faecal counts are of value in assessing the role of Cl. welchii in pathogenesis4 they might be useful also for conditions of unknown aetiology. Careful and persistent examination of sewer swabs might show variations in flora comparable with peaks of symptoms. Even the surrounding flora and fauna might have worthwhile tales to tell. Until the causative agent or agents of these mysterious incidents are established it is difficult to assess the significance of sewage in water used for swimming, and impossible to say whether the agent is more likely to be present in fresh or salt water. Chlorination is obviously a safety factor, and those who bathe in polluted water are taking a chance.


Color flow imaging (CDI) is widely used for ultrasound diagnosis today. However the spatial and temporal resolution of CDI are expected to improve further. A new technique called B-Flow, which uses a pulse compression technique, extends the broadband resolution and high frame rate of B-mode ultrasonography for blood flow imaging. Since the intra-venous ultrasound contrast agent LevovistTM became available, several new contrast imaging methods have been proposed. Coded harmonic angio (CHA), developed by GE, provides an effective means of suppressing non-moving tissue signals and enhancing broadband contrast signals.


Exposure to house dust mites is closely connected with allergic diseases such as atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, and asthma. House dust mites ( Dermatophagoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus ) act as allergens even after their death. Therefore, repelling the house dust mites is more effective method than killing them. Many chemical agents have been used in killing house dust mite. However, it is usually reported that these chemical agents (acaricides) exhibit adverse effects and toxicity toward animals and human. For these reasons, we carried out the experiments for measur-ing the repellent activity of Mate tea and Jasmine tea against house dust mites in this experiment. In order to determine the concentration having the most effective repellent effect of Mate and Jasmine tea, house dust mites ( D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus ) were ex-posed at different concentrations (0, 0.015625, 0.03125, 0.0625, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5 mg/40 μL ) of Mate tea and Jasmine tea extracts, respectively, for different hours (0.5, 1, 2, 3 hours). The most effective repellent effect (%) against house dust mite in 0.25 mg/40 μL of Mate tea for 2 hours was 73.5%, Jasmine Petal tea in 0.0625 mg/40 μL for 1 hour was 84.1% and Pearl Jasmine tea in 0.125 mg/40 μL for 0.5 hour was 82.8%. These results suggest that Mate tea and Jasmine tea extracts have potential effect to repel the house dust mites ( D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus )


Inkjet printing is a nascent technology that developed during the last decades from only printing text and graphics into an important scientific research tool for R&D, where printers are used as a highly reproducible non-contact patterning tool. In contrast to lithography, inkjet printing is an additive technique that requires only small amounts of functional materials and, therefore, has a high materials efficiency. In particular, inkjet printing of metal nanoparticle dispersion has been used more and more during the last few years, in order to produce conductive features for plastic electronic applications. Here, we present our recent results in the sintering of inkjet printed metal nanoparticles on polymer foils. In order to sinter the particles at speeds that are compatible with roll-to-roll speeds, we have used a combination of sintering methods. Conductivity values between 40 and 60% were obtained in a few seconds to minutes by using either photonic or plasma pre-sintering combined with microwave flash sintering. ©2011 Society for Imaging Science and Technology.


Computer assistance for the manned guidance of ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) is studied. In this approach, it is possible to estimate an optimal location by fusing data deriving from log and gyroscope or a nonoptimal location by composition of compass, depthmeter, and log data. This relative reckoning is achieved by taking into account a hypothesis on the value of the undercurrent. Therefore, a second reckoning module model is proposed to improve the ROV position close to an offshore jacket, fusing data given by an echo-sounder belt and taking into account a CAD map of the surroundings. This new estimate is independent of the undercurrent, and it is possible with the help of the operator to match this absolute model with the relative one in an asynchronous way. This matching gives a new hypothesis on the value of the undercurrent and resets the dead-reckoning module.<<ETX>>


The stochastic fields approach is an effective way to implement transported Probability Density Function modelling into Large Eddy Simulation of turbulent combustion. In premixed turbulent combustion however, thin flame-like structures arise in the solution of the stochastic fields equations that require grid spacing much finer than the filter scale used for the Large Eddy Simulation. An investigation into numerical resolution requirements is conducted through simulation of a series of one-dimensional stochastic fields simulations of freely-propagating turbulent premixed flames. The investigation involved various stochastic field simulations at different combustion regimes and numerical resolutions. It was concluded that the conventional approach of using a numerical grid spacing equal to the filter scale can yield substantial numerical error; specifically towards the flamelet regime. However, using a numerical grid spacing much finer than the filter length scale is computationally-unaffordable for most industrially-relevant combustion systems. A Thickened Stochastic Fields approach is developed in this thesis in order to provide physically and numerically-accurate solutions of the stochastic fields equations with reduced compute time compared to a fully resolved simulations. The Thickened Stochastic Fields formulation bridges between the conventional stochastic fields and conventional Thickened-Flame approaches depending on the sub-filter combustion regime and numerical grid spacing utilised. One-dimensional stochastic fields simulations of freely-propagating turbulent premixed flames are used in order to obtain a criteria for the thickening factor required as a function of relevant physical and numerical parameters, and to obtain a model for an efficiency function that accounts for the loss of resolved flame surface area caused by applying the thickening transformation to the stochastic fields equations. The Thickened Stochastic Fields formulation is tested by performing LES of a laboratory premixed Bunsen flame. The results demonstrate that the Thickened Stochastic Fields method produces accurate predictions even when using a grid spacing equal to the filter scale.


A need for validation of modern production codes with respect to the calculated pin-power distribution has been recognized. A nondestructive experimental method for such validation has been developed based on a tomographic technique. The gamma-ray flux distribution is recorded in each axial node of the fuel assembly separately, whereby the relative rod-by-rod content of the fission product 140Ba is determined. Measurements indicate that 1 to 2% accuracy (1σ) is achievable. A device has been constructed for in-pool measurements at reactor sites. The applicability has been demonstrated in measurements at the Swedish boiling water reactor (BWR) Forsmark 2 on irradiated fuel with a cooling time of 4 to 5 weeks. Data from the production code POLCA-7 have been compared to measured rod-by-rod contents of 140Ba. An agreement of 3.1% (1σ) has been demonstrated. It is estimated that measurements can be performed on a complete BWR assembly in 25 axial nodes within an 8-h work shift. As compared to the conventional method, involving gamma scanning of individual fuel rods, this method does not require the fuel to be disassembled nor does the fuel channel have to be removed. The cost per measured fuel rod is estimated to be an order of magnitude lower than the conventional method.