Introduction: Frailty, a clinical syndrome of decreased physiologic reserve and dysregulation in multiple physiologic systems, is associated with increased risk for adverse outcomes. Purpose: The aim of this retrospective, cross-sectional, correlational study was to characterize frailty in older adults admitted to a tertiary-care hospital using a biopsychosocial frailty assessment and to determine associations between frailty and time to in-hospital mortality and 30-day rehospitalization. Methods: The sample included 278 patients ≥55 years old admitted to medicine units. Frailty was determined using clinical data from the electronic health record (EHR) for symptoms, syndromes, and conditions and laboratory data for four serum biomarkers. A frailty risk score (FRS) was created from 16 risk factors, and relationships between the FRS and outcomes were examined. Results: The mean age of the sample was 70.2 years and mean FRS was 9.4 (SD, 2.2). Increased FRS was significantly associated with increased risk of death (hazard ratio = 1.77−2.27 for 3 days ≤ length of stay (LOS) ≤7 days), but depended upon LOS (p < .001). Frailty was marginally associated with rehospitalization for those who did not die in hospital (adjusted odds ratio = 1.18, p = .086, area under the curve [AUC] = 0.66, 95% confidence interval for AUC = [0.57, 0.76]). Discussion: Clinical data in the EHR can be used for frailty assessment. Informatics may facilitate data aggregation and decision support. Because frailty is potentially preventable and treatable, early detection is crucial to delivery of tailored interventions and optimal patient outcomes.


As we pass the decade mark of the Global War on Terrorism, the hidden causalities, such as the long-term impact of multiple deployments on marriages, become more apparent. Military couples experiencing repeated combat-related deployments are at an increased risk for marital distress, especially relationships that exhibit negative interaction patterns. Marriage and relationship education programs have the potential to equip military couples with conflict management skills, such as positive reframing and open communication, to increase marital satisfaction. This content analysis examined three relevant marriage and relationship education resources – PREP for Strong Bonds, ScreamFree Marriage, and Marriage LINKS presently utilized by military couples. Each marriage and relationship education program reviewed utilized similar themes found in the research literature. Results of the analysis indicate a combination of their skill sets, accompanied by a concentration on specific challenges unique to military marriages, would be more effective in improving marital satisfaction than the models as they currently stand.


In this letter, we propose a novel machine learning based jamming detection algorithm that can classify known attacks used for training and detect unknown attacks not used for training. The proposed algorithm has a hybrid structure of simple classification and anomaly detection models, which are decision tree (DT) and isolation forest (IF), respectively. After a test data passes through a DT that only classifies the data as normal or one of the known attacks, it enters an IF algorithm that determines if the DT's decision is indeed correct. Furthermore, an ensemble method is applied to reduce the deviation. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on real datasets from wireless modems operating in the C-band under static and mobile environments with a total of four types of jamming attacks. For the simultaneous classification and detection task, the proposed algorithm is shown to achieve superior performance over a baseline algorithm for all the cases of jamming distances, the number of known jamming attacks, and mobility scenarios.


The mass attenuation coefficient of drug was determined at low photon energies ranging from 8 keV to 44 keV using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector for the samples of different firms with similar Active Pharma Ingredient (API). Diclofenac sodium tablet is an oral suspension belongs to the NSAIDs group. The qualitative analysis of this opted pharmaceutical drug manufactured by different pharma companies viz., Diclomol, Dynapar, Voveran Plus and Diclogesic, were carried out by use of nondestructive method, through the determination of mass attenuation coefficient (MAC). The obtained results were compared with the theoretical WinXCom values, which gives the light on the quality analysis of the drug. This method confirms that the mass attenuation coefficient can be used as a qualitative analysis of any drug, which is a non-destructive technique compared with other techniques/methods wherein the sample is totally destroyed. Hence evaluation of a quality of the drug of from different companies is discussed in view of the MAC.


One method for agents to improve their performance is to form coalitions with other agents. One reason why this might occur is because different agents could have been created by the same owner so an incentive to cooperate naturally exists. Competing agents can also choose to coordinate their actions when there is a mutually beneficial result. The emergence and effects of cooperation depend on the structure of the game being played. In this paper, we study a proportionally fair divisible auction to manage agents bidding for service from network and computational resources. We first show that cooperation is a dominant strategy against any fixed level of competition. We then investigate whether collusion can undermine a noncooperative equilibrium solution, i.e. allow an agent priced out of the noncooperative game to enter the game by teaming with other agents. We are able to show that agents not receiving service after a bid equilibrium is reached cannot obtain service by forming coalitions. However, cooperation does allow the possibility that agents with positive allocations can improve their performance. To know whether or not to cooperate with another agent, one must devise a way of assigning a value to every coalition. In classical cooperative game theory, the value of a team is the total utility of the team under the worst case response of all other agents, as a coalition is viewed as a threat by the remaining agents. We show that this analysis is not appropriate in our case. The formation of a coalition under a proportionally fair divisible auction improves the performance of those outside the coalition. This then creates an incentive structure where team play is encouraged.


Nowadays, high-rise buildings have been proposed as a dominant form in world's major cities which its rapid growth has caused social and cultural concerns of the residents of these buildings. Social capital is remembered as a basis for economic development of any society. Its importance can be seen in the economic development of developing countries. Social capital is the invisible wealth of a country that encompasses institutions, relationships and norms that shape social interactions. In this paper, we try to achieve points in the social issues of these buildings with architectural principles and standards. For this purpose, we has been examined the relationship between the three elements of social capital, networks, confidence, partnership and architectural elements such as natural light, security, natural ventilation, visibility, space variability, physical identity, exterior solemnity, quality of entrance and lobby, quantity and quality of roadway and pedestrian access, beautiful landscaping and transfer of the annoying sounds in a number of samples. In this study we have chosen 9 high-rise building in Shiraz (one of the major cities of Iran) and to evaluate them in terms of social capital and architecture in two ways of observation and navigation (questioning residents by questionnaire and sampling) which finally substantially points were achieved in the design of high-rise buildings.


Amyloid aggregates have emerged as a significant hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Although it has been recently reported that microwave heating induces amyloid aggregation compared with conventional heating methods, the mechanism of amyloid aggregate induction has remained unclear. In this study, we investigated the formation of oligomeric amyloid aggregates (OAAs) by microwave irradiation at microscale volumes of solution. Microwave irradiation of protein monomer solution triggered rapid formation of OAAs within 7 min. We characterized the formation of OAAs using atomic force microscopy, thioflavin T fluorescent assay and circular dichroism. In the microwave system, we also investigated the inhibitory effect on the formation of amyloid aggregates by L-ascorbic acid as well as enhanced amyloid aggregation by silver nanomaterials such as nanoparticles and nanowires. We believe that microwave technology has the potential to facilitate the study of amyloid aggregation in the presence of chemical agents or nanomaterials.


The structure and decay dynamics for 0+ and 2+ continuum excitations of O26 are investigated in a three-body O24+n+n model. The validity of a simple approximation for the cross section profile for long-lived 2n emission is demonstrated. A sequence of three 0+ monopole ("breathing mode" type) excited states is predicted. These states could probably be interpreted as analogs of Efimov states pushed in the continuum due to insufficient binding. The calculated energies of the 2+ states are related to the excitation spectrum of O25. We discuss the correlation between the predicted O26 spectrum and experimental observations.


Using magnetron sputtering, followed by post calcination TiO2, WO3, and TiO2/WO3 layered films were prepared using magnetron sputtering and followed by post calcination. The film structures and morphologies were checked using XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FE-SEM, XPS, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The TiO2 and WO3 films are of anatase and orthorhombic structures. The WO3 underlayer of the TiO2/WO3 film grows in [002] direction, almost perpendicular to substrates. Compared with the TiO2 film, the TiO2/WO3-layered film effectively absorbs near-UV light. The photocurrent of layered TiO2/WO3 film is much higher than that of TiO2 film under UV light illumination. The photoelectrocatalytic activity of the films was evaluated in two-electrode photocatalytic reactor, which is assisted by bias voltage. It is seen that PEC activity of TiO2/WO3 film is almost four times higher than pure TiO2 film. Summarily, the TiO2/WO3-layered film with dual-function of anti-UV light and high PEC activity was prepared using facile magnetron sputtering.


Fourier-transform (FT)-Raman spectroscopy has been used for identification and evaluation of human artherosclerotic lesions, providing biochemical information on arteries. In this work, fragments of human carotid arteries postmortem were analyzed using a FT-Raman spectrometer operating at an excitation wavelength of 1064 nm, power of 200 mW, and spectral resolution of 4 cm(-1). A total of 75 carotid fragments were spectroscopically scanned and FT-Raman results were compared with histopathology. Discriminant analysis using Mahalanobis distance was applied over principal components scores for tissue classification into three categories: nonatherosclerotic, atherosclerotic plaque without calcification and with calcification. Nonatherosclerotic artery, atherosclerotic plaque, and calcified plaque exhibit spectral signatures related to biochemicals presented in each tissue type, such as bands of collagen and elastin (proteins), cholesterol and its esters, and calcium hydroxyapatite and carbonate apatite, respectively. Spectra of nonatherosclerotic artery were then classified into two groups: normal and discrete diffuse thickening of the intima layer (first group) and moderate and intense diffuse thickening of the intima layer (second group). FT-Raman could identify and classify the tissues found in the atherosclerotic process in human carotid in vitro and had the ability to identify alterations to the diffuse thickening of the intima layer and classify it depending on the intensity of the thickening.


This paper presents two new strategies that can be used to greatly improve the speed of connected component labeling algorithms. To assign a label to a new object, most connected component labeling algorithms use a scanning step that examines some of its neighbors. The first strategy exploits the dependencies among them to reduce the number of neighbors examined. When considering 8-connected components in a 2D image, this can reduce the number of neighbors examined from four to one in many cases. The second strategy uses an array to store the equivalence information among the labels. This replaces the pointer based rooted trees used to store the same equivalence information. It reduces the memory required and also produces consecutive final labels. Using an array instead of the pointer based rooted trees speeds up the connected component labeling algorithms by a factor of 5 ~ 100 in our tests on random binary images.


The present work numerically investigates two-dimensional (2-D) solidification transport phenomena (EM-STP) during continuous casting (CC) process in the absence and the presence of static magnetic fields (SMFs), based on a unified numerical model. For the purpose of controlling vortexes, the electromagnetic brake (EMBR) effects of various SMFs under the given depth of submerged entry nozzle (SEN) and the same casting velocity V0 are investigated. ANSYS software is used to analyze the SMFs that applied to the EMCC process, and then a data-conversion program based on the principle of linear interpolation proposed previously is used to deal with the issue of data-format-matching between FEM and FVM. The simulation results indicate that, an appropriate SMF can effectively suppress the bulk liquid flow in CC-process of steel plate, and with increase of the intensity of applied magnetic fields, the vortexes become weaker and the oscillating amplitude of impinging jet decreases. Based on the knowledge gained from the EMCC-STP analysis and by comparing the results with the applied magnetic fields with those without magnetic fields, it is found that a SMF with |Bmax|=5.5×10-3T can meet the need of braking, and consequently improve the quality of casting by reducing the penetration of non-metallic inclusions, as well as avoiding breakout, macro-segregation and crack ultimately.


We have developed the test bed of control system for the Pohang Light Source (PLS) by using multimedia technologies. This test bed consists of three parts: a man-machine interface (MMI) with media data management, a data acquisition system, and a networking system. The MMI that contains specific application software is developed with an application program interface and a multimedia user interface toolkit. We use 100 Mbps Ethernet as a network system and a commercial database named ObjectStore to store data. Several VME systems with OS-9 operating system and PLC systems are used in the data acquisition layer. We present the result of test bed development.


Teresa Miller sets up certain formal expectations of her memoir, Means of Transit, with her subtitle, "A Slightly Embellished Memoir." I must admit my expectations were more tarnished than embellished by the subtitle since the question of embellishment has raised my hackles higher than the hair on the back of my neck. I'm fond of formal play, hybridity, invention, experimentation, as part of a text's presentation of its...textuality. But playing fast and loose with the past—memory is unreliable, why bother? There's enough to sort through in its distortions without adding distortions—leaves me cold-hearted as a reader: If you're going to tell me in the subtitle, you'd better tell me in the text. I wonder where the credible voice of narrative authenticity is "embellishing" or struggling to understand based on what she more and less remembers. But I approach memoirs essayistically—such is my critical lot. Autobiographical writers—memoirists and essayists—continue to struggle with the issues of facticity and artifice (Montaigne, for example, says, "I desire therein to be seen in my own genuine, simple, ordinary manner, without study or artifice: for it is myself that I portray"). Any bit of dialogue is a suspension of disbelief about the nature of memory and its textual rendering. So, Miller unnecessarily weighs her book with an apparatus that it doesn't overtly speak to, unless of course the subtitle refers to the occasional interruptions of the book by short italicized sections that range from folklore, to pieces of local history (the book centers on the writer's life in Tahlequah, Oklahoma) and scattered memories. The subtitle—and I don't mean to sound like a critic with a bone, for I think it's critically relevant— is especially troubling to me because central to the memoir is a section dealing with the violently drawnout harassment by an ex-student. There have been many important autobiographies in the last thirty years by men and women, but crucially by women, centering on traumatic experience. Miller writes of her experience, "I was emotionally traumatized" by the harassment, which despite the close cooperation of the police, went on for twenty years and ended with finality only when her tormentor killed his own mother. Subjection and repressed experience, the complexity of female subjectivity and phallocentric language—there has been an outpouring of theoretical work on women and autobiography recently. Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson's Women, Autobiography, Theory: A Reader (1998) is still the best theoretical resource. In it, Janice Haaken writes tellingly in "The Recovery of Memory, Fantasy, and Desire in Women's Trauma Stories: Feminist Approaches to Sexual Abuse and Psychotherapy" that "Within feminism, trauma stories also have become a unifying vehicle for expressing female disturbances within a narrative that wards off exploration of potentially disunifying differences."


When using information retrieval (IR) systems, users often pose short and ambiguous query terms. It is critical for IR systems to obtain more accurate representation of users' information need, their document preferences, and the context they are working in, and then incorporate them into the design of the systems to tailor retrieval to individual users. The proposed study is to personalize IR systems by tailoring search result content to individual users through the inference of useful documents during their information seeking episode, in different types of tasks. Specifically, this dissertation has two research goals: (1) generate predictive models of document usefulness based on multiple user behaviors as in different types of tasks; (2) generate predictive models of task type through observing users' search behaviors. To address these research goals, this study analyzed data collected in a controlled lab experiment. Thirty-two students were invited to participate in the study, each worked on four search tasks, and these tasks were designed to be different types. During search sessions, all users' interactions were recorded by multiple loggers. Predictive models of document usefulness and task type were generated using various statistical analysis methods. Our results demonstrate that multiple behavioral measures on both content pages and search result pages can be indicators of document usefulness. More importantly, task type affected the relationship between the behavioral measures and document usefulness, and it may therefore be necessary to build task-specific predictive models of document usefulness, which can achieve better prediction accuracy than a non-task specific predictive model. In addition, behavioral measures on within-session level and whole-session levels could be able to generate predictive models of task type. The results improve our understanding on how to infer users' search context information and document usefulness from user behaviors, and then to use this knowledge to improve the information searcher's experience; that is, to make their information search more effective and pleasurable. The research findings have theoretical and practical implications for using behavioral measures and taking account of contextual factors in the development of personalized IR systems. Future studies are suggested for making use of these findings as well as research on related issues.


The aims of the present study were: (1) to describe family members' perceptions of nursing homes residents' pain and distress in relation to analgesics and psychotropic drugs; and (2) to compare whether background variables, dementia, help/support, prescribing of analgesics and psychotropic drugs, and quality of care vary between subgroups of residents. Two hundred and thirty-two family members of elderly people in 10 Swedish nursing homes participated in the study. The participants responded to a questionnaire including background variables, pain and distress variables, and the Quality from the Patient's Perspective (QPP) questionnaire. Data on drug prescribing was obtained from the medical records. The head nurse on each ward noted whether or not the resident had a documented or known diagnosis of dementia. The results showed that a high frequency of elderly nursing home residents were estimated as having physical pain and worry. A large number of the residents were prescribed psychotropic drugs. In addition, some of the residents with moderate or severe physical pain were not prescribed any analgesics. The residents were divided into three subgroups based on scores of physical discomfort, physical pain and worry. Subgroup comparisons differed with regard to sex, help/support, drugs and quality of care. Staff have a responsibility to assess the residents' pain and distress since this will form a basis for better pain and distress management. Other suggestions for improving quality of care are the provision of better information to the family members and the residents, meaningful occupation, less task-oriented care, and care that involves residents.


Evidence suggests that the gut microbiome has profound implications on human health and is modifiable by diet and weight loss. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of an 8-month Mediterranean diet (Med Diet) intervention with and without weight loss, compared to a control group, on the diversity and abundance of gut bacteria in obese, older adults. We hypothesized that adoption of an energy-restricted Med Diet to promote weight loss would impact gut microbial structure and composition the most.

 Subjects are a subset from a larger trial that were randomized (2:2:1, respectively) to one of the following 8-month interventions: (1) Med Diet group lifestyle intervention (n = 10); (2) Med Diet plus energy restriction group lifestyle intervention (n = 10); or (3) Control (n = 5). Anthropometrics, body composition, circulating metabolic and immune markers, body composition, lifestyle behaviors, and stool were collected at pre- and post-intervention. Sequencing of the microbial 16S rRNA V4 region was performed. SAS, DADA2 and R were used to examine Med Diet adherence, weight loss, and fecal microbiota structural and compositional changes post-intervention.

 Mean BMI at baseline was 35.8 kg/m2 (SD = 4.0) and mean age was 64.8 years (SD = 6.3). The subjects were primarily female (88%) and self-described as African American (96%). At post-intervention, the mean increase in Med Diet adherence for groups (1), (2), and (3) was 3.1, 3.8, and -0.8 points, respectively, and mean % weight loss was -2.8%, -7.2%, and 0.7%, respectively. Metagenomic analysis revealed that species richness, diversity and the relative abundance of the genera Lachnoclostridium, Veillonella, and Bifidobacterium and Blautia caecimuris increased significantly post-intervention among only the energy restricted Med Diet group.

 Our study shows that an energy-restricted Med Diet that promotes weight loss in older, obese adults increases gut microbial species richness and diversity, which may have positive implications for human health.

 RO1 from National Institutes of Health- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.


a style that cartoon viewers are most likely to consider the norm—highly stylized, with a huge head, small, anthropomorphized body, elastic facial features, and a dose of attitude. He doesn't have much opportunity to show his chops, though, in a tame, Midas-inspired tale of a youngster who loves all things orange, uses his one wish from an unbottled genie to recolor his world, and then rues his choice. Lilly, aimed at the youngest audience, presents five teensy seven-panel stories that are more successful at showing children how a comic strip is sequenced than delivering a solid plot. Each series of identically sized panels features a single speech bubble in which Lilly (evidently repackaged from Rosenstiehl's Mimi Cracra) comments on a seasonal activity: e.g., eating apples in fall, finding an occupied sea shell in summer. Pictures of sturdy little Lilly boast strong colors and streamlined compositions, but come up woefully short in the promised silliness department. With the bounty of comics now on offer, this trio is unlikely to lure many readers when the classic Donald Duck Adventures or the trendier Owly shares the shelf, but diehard early graphic fans who can't get enough may still want to dive into these well-pedigreed offerings. EB


A modified procedure for the separation of oligoribonucleotides is described that is based on the combination of t.l.c. on cellulose and electrophoresis on DEAE-paper at 4000 V on a cooling plate. The technique is relatively rapid and allows the analysis of larger quantities than is possible by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate.


Results on surfactant gels containing densely packed multilamellar vesicles are reported. The gels form spontaneously when the bilayers of L alpha or L3 phases of alkyldimethylaminoxide and cosurfactant are charged up by the addition of ionic surfactant or HCl. The rheological behaviour on addition of excess salt was studied by dynamic rheological measurements for systems with surfactants of different chainlengths. Both the storage modulus, G', and the yield stress, sigma y, decay with rising salinity. This effect is caused by the reduction of both the electrical contribution of the bending constants of the bilayers and the compression modulus of the vesicles. The influence of the charge density on the rheological properties was determined. G' and sigma y increase with charge density and reach a plateau that depends on the chainlength of the surfactant. Measurements on samples prepared with waterglycerol mixtures show that the moduli and the yield stress value are independent of the solvent viscosity. Photographs of the surfactant gels that were taken with the interference contrast microscopy technique are presented. They reveal that some of the vesicles are much bigger than expected on the basis of TEM micrographs. The mean size of the vesicles can be estimated on basis of conductivity data. This method yields an average number of 5-6 shells per vesicle and corresponds with the value taken from the electron micrograph. The rheological data are explained with a model that was recently introduced by van der Linden. In connection with a model due to Lekkerkerker for the electric contribution of the bending constant of the bilayers and our own calculations of the osmotic pressure the van der Linden formula yields good results for describing the experimental data.


The advanced flotation techniques, namely column flotation, have shown potential in obtaining a low ash, low pyritic sulfur fine size clean coal. The overall objective of this program is to evaluate applicability of an advanced flotation technique, 'Ken-Flote' column to recover clean coal with minimum mineral matter content at greater than 90 percent combustible recovery from two Illinois preparation plant waste streams. Column flotations tests were conducted on the flotation feed obtained from the Kerr-McGee Galatia and Ziegler No. 26 plants using three different bubble-generating devices: sparger, gas saver and foam jet. Each of these devices was tested with three different frothers and various column-operating variable to provide maximum combustible recovery, minimum product ash and maximum pyrite rejection. For the Galatia slurry, the column provided a clean coal containing 5 percent ash, 0.48 percent pyritic sulfur at combustible recovery averaging 90 percent. In other words, about 90 percent ash and about 75 percent pyritic sulfur rejection were attained for the Galatia slurry. Pilot plant studies on this slurry basically obtained results similar to the laboratory studies. For the Ziegler No. 26, slurry column flotation provided a clean coal containing about 5 percent ash, 0.44 percent pyritic sulfur at more thanmore » 90 percent combustible recovery. The ash and pyrite sulfur rejection was about 85 percent and 65 percent, respectively.« less


Zebularine, 5-aza-cytosine and 5-aza-5,6-dihydro-cytosine are structurally similar to cytosine, but their biological functions are rather different. Cytosine can be methylated which is a gene lesion that can cause human disease. On the contrary, zebularine and 5-aza-cytosine are inhibitors of DNA methylation. 5-aza-5,6-dihydro-cytosine is specifically designed to induce lethal mutagenesis in HIV for its structurally variability. Here, theoretical research into their chemical properties through density functional theory is reported. Molecular hardness and molecular electronic surface potential were analysed. Compared to cytosine, the main reason for the inability of methyl addition of zebularine is the reduced nucleophilicity of C5 atom. The lack of a hydrogen atom at N5 atom in 5-aza-cytosine is responsible for the incomplete reaction of methyl transfer. Variability of 5-aza-5,6-dihydro-cytosine is responsible for the mutagenesis treatment by paring with guanine or adenine with its different tautomers. Aspect of these chemical reactivities can be accounted for the distinctive biological functions of these molecules.


The master's thesis will discuss the development of leather craft in Domžale from the beginning to the present day. We will describe the flourishing of leather factories, their ruin and the reasons for that. We will also present the current situation of leather factories in Slovenia, find out whether any of them are still operative and demonstrate the work of a tanner. The profession of the tanner will be also presented in the thesis.
The survey questionnaire will be distributed to the 4th grade teachers at the Domžale elementary school. We will discuss and qualitatively and quantitatively analyse the information we will obtain from the survey questionnaire, which will allow us to see how the 4th grade teachers at the Domžale elementary school teach their pupils about the leather craft (4th grade, social science classes). We will conduct two interviews, one interview with a professional tanner and another with an excellent designer of luxurious leather goods.
We also wanted to conduct an interview with Matija Okrslar, a tanner and son of the former director of Toko, Vinko Okrslar. Unfortunately, he cancelled the interview at the last moment. The interviews will allow us to gain information regarding the development of leather craft (both historical as technical) in Domžale and the current situation of this craft in the town.
We will also present the future prospects of leather craft and visit the Straw Hat Museum in Domžale, where a special event, a round table, was hosted in honour of the leather craft in Domžale. The event took place on 14 December 2016. On this occasion, we will gain important information about the Toko leather factory, which was one of the most important leather factories in Europe that significantly marked the history of leather craft in Domžale.


High volume fraction carbon nanotube (CNT) composites (7.5–16% vol.) were fabricated by the impregnation of CNT buckypapers into epoxy resin. To enhance the interfacial reaction with the epoxy resin, the CNTs were modified by two different treatments, namely, an epoxidation treatment and a chemical oxidation. The chemical treatment was found to result in CNT length severance and to affect the porosity of the buckypapers, having an important impact on the physico-mechanical properties of the nanocomposites. Overall, the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of the impregnated buckypapers were found to be superior of the neat epoxy resin, offering an attractive combination of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties for multifunctional composites.


TRANSESOPHAGEAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY (TEE) is carried out in various clinical settings, with an increasing importance, and sedation usually is required to perform it. Several sedative agents are available, and the authors aimed to compare the cardiovascular and respiratory safety of the strategies used for sedation in TEE through a systematic review with network meta-analysis (NMA). The MEDLINE, CENTRAL, EMBASE, and PsycInfo databases were searched in December 2020 for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) comparing sedation strategies for patients undergoing TEE. The authors assessed variations in systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), and peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2), along with the incidences of hypotension, bradycardia, and desaturation. A random-effect meta-analysis was performed. Nine RCTs (N = 881 patients) with 20 active arms (5 dexmedetomidine; 4 propofol; 4 midazolam; 3 midazolam + opioid; 2 ketamine + propofol; 1 midazolam + ondansetron; 1 midazolam + metoclopramide) and 1 placebo arm were included. Dexmedetomidine was associated with decreases in SBP (mean difference [MD] = -18.78 mmHg; 95% CI [-26.27 to -11.28]) and HR (MD = -11.15 beats/min; 95% CI [-16.15 to -6.15]). Dexmedetomidine significantly reduced the HR compared with ketamine + propofol (-16.90 beats/min; 95% CI: -33.21 to -0.58]) and midazolam + opioid (-24.15 beats/min; 95% CI: -42.67 to -5.63). Midazolam was found to reduce SBP (-12.09 mmHg; 95% CI: -20.43 to -3.74) and was shown to reduce SpO2 compared with the placebo (-1.00%; 95% CI -1.74 to -0.26). Based on the NMA, the drugs with a higher likelihood of decreasing both SBP and HR were dexmedetomidine and midazolam. All of the drugs led to a small decrease (only statistically significant for midazolam) in SpO2, with the systematic use of supplemental O2 in some trials. The risks of hypotension, bradycardia, or desaturation were not significantly different among the evaluated drugs.


The ever increasing industrial production of commodity and specialty chemicals inexorably depletes the finite primary fossil resources available on Earth. The forecast of population growth over the next 3 decades is a very strong incentive for the identification of alternative primary resources other than petro-based ones. In contrast with fossil resources, renewable biomass is a virtually inexhaustible reservoir of chemical building blocks. Shifting the current industrial paradigm from almost exclusively petro-based resources to alternative bio-based raw materials requires more than vibrant political messages; it requires a profound revision of the concepts and technologies on which industrial chemical processes rely. Only a small fraction of molecules extracted from biomass bears significant chemical and commercial potentials to be considered as ubiquitous chemical platforms upon which a new, bio-based industry can thrive. Owing to its inherent assets in terms of unique process experience, scalability, and reduced environmental footprint, flow chemistry arguably has a major role to play in this context. This review covers a selection of C2 to C6 bio-based chemical platforms with existing commercial markets including polyols (ethylene glycol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, glycerol, 1,4-butanediol, xylitol, and sorbitol), furanoids (furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural) and carboxylic acids (lactic acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, malic acid, itaconic acid, and levulinic acid). The aim of this review is to illustrate the various aspects of upgrading bio-based platform molecules toward commodity or specialty chemicals using new process concepts that fall under the umbrella of continuous flow technology and that could change the future perspectives of biorefineries.


Views about the roles and nature of the enteric nervous system have changed dramatically in the last ten years. This system of neurons is recognized to control, through reflex pathways intrinsic to the gut wall, motility, transport of water and electrolytes, and blood flow in the small and large intestines. There are thus a range of neuron types in the enteric nervous system, including sensory neurons, motor neurons, and interneurons, involved in the control of each of these functions. The present paper deals with the recent efforts to provide an integrated functional and structural description of the nerve circuits. One of the challenges in this quest has been to identify primary sensory neurons and final motor neurons involved in motility control. Evidence is presented that in the guinea-pig small intestine the primary sensory neurons have Dogiel type II morphology and are, electrophysiologically, AH neurons. They send circumferential processes to adjacent myenteric ganglia and some of them, at least, have processes leading from the mucosa. Motor neurons are S neurons, with cell bodies in the myenteric plexus. Those that supply the circular muscle are Dogiel type I neurons and provide processes that run circumferentially for about one third of the circumference of the intestine. The circuits for secretomotor reflexes have been partly worked out. The secretomotor neurons have cell bodies in the submucous ganglia and are activated to return water and electrolytes to the lumen during digestion. The secretomotor reflexes are regulated, in accord with whole body water and electrolyte homeostasis, via sympathetic neurons which lower the excitability of secretomotor neurons.


Let $\mathfrak{ds}$ denote the double shuffle Lie algebra, equipped with the standard weight grading and depth filtration; we write $\mathfrak{ds}=\oplus_{n\ge 3} \mathfrak{ds}_n$ and denote the filtration by $\mathfrak{ds}^1\supset \mathfrak{ds}^2\supset \cdots$. The double shuffle Lie algebra is dual to the new formal multizeta space $\mathfrak{nfz}=\oplus_{n\ge 3} \mathfrak{nfz}_n$, which is equipped with the dual depth filtration $\mathfrak{nfz}^1\subset \mathfrak{nfz}^2\subset\cdots$ Via an explicit canonical isomorphism $\mathfrak{ds}\buildrel \sim\over\rightarrow\mathfrak{nfz}$, we define the "dual" in $\mathfrak{nfz}$ of an element in $\mathfrak{ds}$. For each weight $n\ge 3$ and depth $d\ge 1$, we then define the vector subspace $\mathfrak{ds}_{n,d}$ of $\mathfrak{ds}$ as the space of elements in $\mathfrak{ds}_n^d-\mathfrak{ds}_n^{d+1}$ whose duals lie in $\mathfrak{nfz}_n^d$. We prove the direct sum decomposition \[ \mathfrak{ds}=\bigoplus_{n\ge 3}\bigoplus_{d\ge 1} \mathfrak{ds}_{n,d}, \] \noindent which yields a canonical vector space isomorphism between $\mathfrak{ds}$ and its associated graded for the depth filtration, $\mathfrak{ds}_{n,d}\simeq \mathfrak{ds}_n^d/ \mathfrak{ds}_n^{d+1}$. A basis of $\mathfrak{ds}$ respecting this decomposition is dual-depth adapted, which means that it is adapted to the depth filtration on $\mathfrak{ds}$, and the basis of dual elements is adapted to the dual depth filtration on $\mathfrak{nfz}$. We use this notion to give a canonical depth 1 generator $f_n$ for $\mathfrak{ds}$ in each odd weight $n\ge 3$, namely the dual of the new formal single zeta value $\zeta(n)\in\mathfrak{nfz}_n$. At the end, we also apply the result to give canonical irreducibles for the formal multizeta algebra in weights up to 12.


A MATRIX of conflicting social influences operates on schools, assisting or hindering every aspect of their task. Decisions about school policies are, or should be, made by boards of control. Board members are subjected to community pressures as are administrators and teachers; these pressures sometimes are exerted thru formal channels, sometimes expressed in informal ways. Community attitudes toward schools are often equated with pronouncements of noisy minorities. Decisions often are reached by members of the power structure and are then echoed by school officials who do not realize in what way they are complying with power figures. There has been a vast increase in social and educational research in these areas during the past few years. However, less than half the relevant studies located have been cited here. For much of this research, it is necessary to again ask Lynd's question: "Knowledge for what?" Raw material is now available for analyses, syntheses, and interpretations such as those made by Charters (221) and Gross (55) . Thru such interpretations practice may become more intelligent and educational theory may be validated and extended.


The objective of this work is to systematize the experiences obtained in a series of workshops in Environmental Education (EE) organized for 5 th year students from February 2015 to July 2015 in Justo Sierra Primary school, located at La Luz, a community in the municipality of Salvatierra, Guanajuato. Environmental Education is considered here a way of civilizing pupils, as it should help in whole child development, which would be susceptible to take action to improve the environment. EE constitutes an essential tool for realizing the paradigm of sustainable development. In that sense, EE came to rest from United Nations' (UN) domain to national, regional and local development plans. As a conclusion, we can say that EE has been slightly introduced in the community of La Luz, merely taught in agreement to the contents of the textbooks on natural science and civic and ethics education. It is worthy to say that all ten of the EE workshops organized in Justo Sierra school were supported by the school principal and counted on the enthusiastic participation of all the 5th year students. Some recommendations are pointed out here for trying to revert the socio-environmental problematic at local a municipal level: a) promote the creation of a subject on EE and training the elementary school teachers in the same discipline, and b) schedule collaboration projects between municipal authorities, educational institutions, local firms and civic associations which would contribute to improve the access to EE for the community in general.


Under the auspices of social emancipation, Brazil's progress and inclusion as a modern nation after the installation of Republican Regime, the school was pointed out as the most powerful tool in achieving these goals. The debate promoted by political and intellectual leaders since the 1870s on public education, thinking and formulating laws and proposals on this social field, intensified in the first decades of the Republic. In the heart of this debate was the construction of a new nation, of a new identity, of a republican citizen, to which so much would contribute the public school, means of diffusion of the new values, pillars of a new social structure: without slavery and without subjects. Facing this scenario, we sought to point out elements to understand the book Public education in the National Congress: Brief news, by PrimitivoMoacyr. Published in 1916, by the then editor of debates of the Lower House based in the capital of the Republic, Rio de Janeiro, the book indicates the different places of speech, speeches and yearnings of those who thought of building a new country, trying to break with the roots Imperialism and establishing roles and roles for each social sector in the insertion of them in the locomotive of modernity. In the selection of the documents and speeches that are part of the book, in subtle and brief comments, Moacyr presents his questions and ways of thinking to Brazilian education and schooling. Their concern about the role of the State in the promotion and conduct of school units is well-known, in a context of defenses in favor of the lack of education. From a historiographical point of view, Moacyr inaugurates a modus operandi of historicizing education, as well as the use of such action as a discourse in defense of state public action for the emancipation of classes. In order to face and understand the issues and challenges of contemporary society, it has been a constant to reconstruct the themes of modernity, since its brands and developments are determinants of contemporary socio-political conjunctures and configurations. This procedure equips us to identify historical processes, to face anti-modern tendencies, and to renew the certainty of the centrality of reason as one of the alternatives in the process of seeking human emancipation. To broaden the understanding of the emancipation category in modern society it is a methodological requirement to resort to historical processes in which it has gained different meanings. In this work, we seek to systematize some elements about the relationship between modernity and emancipation, having as a meeting point the book of 1916, in order to theoretically subsidize the analysis and materialization of emancipatory practices. The book is the first of a work indicated by the author as a subsidy for Brazilian education; and used in debates about the processes of schooling of Brazilian society, education as science, as well as support for future legislation and educational actions. The work of Moacyr highlights the public space as a privileged locus for reaching the emancipation.


Structural violence is violence that occurs subtly and is not clearly visible but is resolved by the lives of many people. Such as corruption, religious intolerance, and drug trafficking in the area. Structural violence is often applied by the Indonesian government fully unconsciously through its policies. To overcome this, there is a figure who struggles to understand everything related to all kinds of violence. Gandhi is an anti-violent struggle figure from India who always holds the struggle with non-violent struggle. Gandhi's life was devoted to community service. Gandhi fought various kinds of resistance, including defense which clashed against religion. The purpose of this study was to analyze and rethink Mahatma Gandhi's political thinking against structural defenses consisting of religion in Indonesia. This study uses descriptive research methods and also literature studies. Type of research literature study is collecting materials in the form of Gandhi's handwriting works and organizing information relating to research. to draw conclusions. In receiving the data, the researcher collects Gandhi's works and also collects works written by others but is still relevant to the research objectives. The results of the research that has been done, that it improves the politics of Mahatma Gandhi about Ahimsa and Satyagraha has several agreed approvals in supporting the violence that unites religion in Indonesia. Because the politicians have raised policies related to problems in Indonesia. the struggle against which resulted in a victory for anti-violence fighters. Several perspectives and discussions submitted to the Indonesian government are to look back on their views on society, be more open to differences, and actively help the community in structural opposition. Instead it gives legitimacy to structural defense. Keywords: Satyagraha, Ahimsa, Gandhi, Structural Violence


Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable cancer of plasma cells. MM thrives in the bone marrow tumor microenvironment (TME) where several factors sustain MM growth and viability. TGF-β is a multi-functional cytokine elaborated by MM cells and by cells in the bone marrow (BM) TME. TGF-β stimulates MM progression through promotion of catabolic bone remodeling, IL-6 secretion and Th17 T cell development, which act in concert to induce osteolytic bone disease, immune suppression and myeloma progression. Therefore, we evaluated the anti-MM therapeutic potential of a small molecule inhibitor of the TGF-β type I receptor kinase (TβRI), TEW-7197, in combination with the proteasome inhibitor, ixazomib. Currently, TEW-7197 is being evaluated in phase I clinical trials in patients with solid tumors, and exposure to this agent is associated with an acceptable tolerability profile. Methods: The preclinical immunocompetent 5T33MM model (C57BL/KaLwRij) was used to characterize the role of TGF-β signaling in the BM TME. Mice bearing 5T33MM cells expressing luciferase were treated with TEW-7197, ixazomib and the combination of TEW-7197 plus ixazomib daily for 3 weeks, and evaluated for MM growth by bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Cellular and molecular assays were performed in human RPMI8226 and U266 as well as murine 5T33MM cells via apoptosis, real-time PCR and Western blotting. Immunological assays were performed via immunohistochemistry and FACS analyses. Peripheral blood monoclonal protein concentration, M-spike, was measured by ELISA. Results: TEW-7197 attenuated the growth and viability of human and murine MM cells by inducing apoptosis and it inhibited TGF-β-induced activation of Smad2/3 in MM cells in vitro. In our 5T33MM preclinical model, oral administeration of TEW-7197 as single agent inhibited MM progression as measured by peripheral blood monoclonal protein concentration and BLI before and after treatment. TEW-7197 also induced a decrease in mortality and an increase in body weight of mice bearing MM. TEW-7197 alone or combination with ixazomib also attenuated TGF-β activation of Smad2/3, reduced the expansion of CD11b+Gr-1+ myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in BM TME, and diminished the population of Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) in the spleen. Combination therapy of TEW-7197 plus ixazomib prolonged survival and exhibited a synergistic anti-tumor effect when compared to either TEW-7197 or ixazomib alone by significant a reduction in both the M-spike and BLI. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that the small molecule inhibitor of the TβRI, TEW-7197, effectively modulate the MM TME and is associated with a potent anti-myeloma effect in an immunocompetent murine model of MM. These data provide a rationale for clinical evaluation of the combination therapy of ixazomib and TEW-7197 as a potential therapeutic strategy to improve outcomes in patients with MM. Citation Format: Byung-Gyu Kim, Olga Sergeeva, George Luo, Sung Hee Choi, Zhenghong Lee, Seong-Jin Kim, John Letterio, Ehsan Malek. TGF-β type I receptor inhibitor (TEW-7197) diminishes myeloma progression by multiple immunomodulatory mechanisms in combination with ixazomib [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2647. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2647


Few earthworms were found in January (15 m-2) or September (21 m-2) 1983 in surveys of irrigated soils used commercially for pastures in the Goulburn Valley, Vic.; only the introduced lumbricids were found. No earthworms were found in January 1983 in a survey of irrigated annual crops on similar soils; the soils had each supported irrigated pasture the previous year. However, in carefully managed experimental soils, i.e. with at least 10 t ha-' of cow manure added per crop with mild or no cultivation, used for double-cropping or lucerne, relatively high numbers (up to 86 m-2) of earthworms were present; these included lumbricids, the genera which are usually the most useful in terms of soil structure, and the native megascolecids. No mature lumbricids were found in January in plots without cow manure. Ample food is needed to enable relatively high numbers of lumbricids to develop in row-crops in the Goulburn Valley, and for very high numbers, the surface soil should be kept moist throughout summer. Macroporosity (20-80 mm depth), infiltration and number of biopores (50 mm depth) were each higher in the non-cultivated systems with cow manure than in the cultivated control (no cow manure added). Numbers of biopores in January 1984 were directly related to total numbers of earthworms in January 1984.


Background: The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) was signed into law in 1996 to strengthen the regulation of pesticide tolerances in food. Organophosphorus (OP) insecticides were the first group of pesticides reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the new law. Objective: Our goal was to determine whether urinary concentrations of dialkylphosphate (DAP) metabolites of OP pesticides declined between the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III and NHANES 1999–2004. Methods: Using mass spectrometry–based methods, we analyzed urine samples from a nationally representative sample of 2,874 adults 20–59 years of age in NHANES 1999–2004 and samples from a non-nationally representative sample of 197 adult participants for NHANES III (1988–1994) for six common DAP metabolites of OP pesticides. Results: Median urinary DAP concentrations decreased by more than half between NHANES III and NHANES 2003–2004. Reductions of about 50%–90% were also observed for 95th percentile concentrations of five of the six metabolites. Frequencies of detection (FODs) decreased in all six metabolites (< 50% reduction). On average, median and 95th percentile concentrations and FODs showed a larger decrease in diethylphosphate metabolites than dimethylphosphate metabolites. Conclusions: Human exposure to OP insecticides as assessed by urinary DAP concentrations has decreased since the implementation of the FQPA, although we cannot be certain that U.S. EPA actions in response to the FQPA directly caused the decrease in DAP concentrations.


Scholarship on undocumented college students has been growing for the past 10 years; yet, the engagement of students without documentation in the research process is typically limited to the role of participants. A participatory action research (PAR) methodology provides critical scholars with the opportunity to involve undocumented college students as co-researchers and producers of knowledge. At the same time, the risks associated with the immigration status of undocumented students can significantly challenge how scholars design and conduct ethically responsible PAR studies. In this article, the author examines the ethical challenges and methodological opportunities of conducting a PAR study with and for undocumented college students. In particular, the author discusses the ethical tensions she considered in relation to the principles of respect, beneficence, and justice when conducting a qualitative PAR study with students without documentation as co-researchers.


The aim of this pilot study was to describe indicators present at the end of life in persons with chronic kidney disease. Retrospective chart reviews of 10 randomly selected patients were conducted to describe demographic, physiological, and functional variables. Using a repeated measures ANOVA, The Palliative Performance Scale and the Braden Scale both showed significant differences during the death admission from previous admissions. These functional measures may provide useful insight in identifying the end of life in persons with chronic kidney disease.


Online controlled experiments are widely used to improve the performance of websites by comparison of user behavior related to different variations of the given website. Although such experiments might have an important effect on the key metrics to maximize, small-scale websites have difficulty applying this methodology because they have few users. Furthermore, the candidate variations increase exponentially with the number of elements that must be optimized. A testing method that finds a high-performing variation with a few samples must be devised to address these problems. As described herein, we formalize this problem as a website optimization problem and provide a basis to apply existing search algorithms to this problem. We further organize existing testing methods and extract devices to make the experiments more effective. By combining organized algorithms and devices, we propose a rapid testing method that detects high-performing variations with few users. We evaluated our proposed method using simulation experiments. Results show that it outperforms existing methods at any website scale. Moreover, we implemented our proposed method as an optimizer program and used it on an actual small-scale website. Results show that our proposed method can achieve 57% higher performance variation than that of the generally used A/B testing method. Therefore, our proposed method can optimize a website with fewer samples. The website optimization problem has broad application possibilities that are applicable not only to websites but also to manufactured goods.


To improve our understanding of deep circulation, we deployed five Deep‐Argo floats (0–4,000 m) in the Charlie‐Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ), which channels the flow of Iceland‐Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW), a dense water mass of the North Atlantic Ocean. The floats were programed to drift at 2,750 dbar in the ISOW layer. The floats mainly moved westward in the CGFZ, although some of them followed different routes for few cycles depending on northward intrusions of the North Atlantic Current over the CGFZ. One float revealed a direct route for ISOW from CGFZ to the Deep Western Boundary Current at Flemish Cap. In the CGFZ, oxygen data acquired by the floats revealed that the ISOW layer, characterized by salinity higher than 34.94 and density greater than 27.8 kg/m, was mainly composed of the highly oxygenated ISOW and the less oxygenated North East Atlantic Deep Water (NEADW), a complex water mass from the East Atlantic. In the ISOW layer, the relative contribution of ISOW was generally larger in the northern valley than in the southern valley of CGFZ. Northward intrusions of the North Atlantic Current above the CGFZ increased the relative contribution of NEADW in the northern valley and favors mixing between ISOW and NEADW. The ISOW‐NEADW signal flowing westward from the CGFZ toward the Deep Western Boundary Current was progressively diluted by Labrador Sea Water and Denmark Strait Overflow Water. Oxygen measurements from Deep‐Argo floats are essential for a better understanding and characterization of the mixing and spreading of deep water masses.


Structure and energetics of free radicals, ions, and clusters are being investigated by photoelectron photoion coincidence and analyzed using ab initio molecular orbital and statistical theory (RRKM). Molecules or free radicals are prepared in a molecular beam. Translational temperature is found from measured time of flight peakwidth; the vibrational temperature, from shift in dissociation onset. Free radicals are produced by pyrolysis in the nozzle; their subsequent cooling is demonstrated. Ion dissociation rates in the range from 10[sup 4] to 10[sup 7] s[sup [minus]1] are measured from the asymmetric TOF distribution; this method was used to measure the dissociation rates of cold and warm butene ions. 2 figs.


Using a specific glycine antiserum, we determined the localization of glycinergic neurones and fibres in the cat brain stem reticular formation. We visualized a large number of glycine-immunoreactive cell bodies and fibres in the medullary reticularis gigantocellularis, magnocellularis, paragigantocellularis lateralis and parvocellularis nuclei. The pontis oralis and caudalis and the raphe magnus nuclei also contained a large number of glycine-immunoreactive fibres but fewer neurones. Using a double staining method, we further observed glycine-immunoreactive boutons over (1) noradrenergic neurones in the locus coeruleus complex and the ventrolateral and dorsomedial medulla, (2) serotoninergic neurones in and outside the raphe nuclei and (3) cholinergic neurones in the pedunculopontine and laterodorsal tegmental nuclei. These results suggest that glycinergic neurones in the reticular formation may be involved in aspects of paradoxical sleep, including the general muscle atonia seen during this sleep state.


This paper outlines a methodology for designing information systems based on XML. The methodology uses XML DTDs to define the design standards, and the structure and constraints of the design speci- fications. The result of the design process is a set of valid XML documents that are the specifications of transaction programs and applications of the information system. At the start of a design process, the methodology uses a CASE tool to map user requirements into initial XML specifications. Final design specifications are produced by a sequence of XSL transformations of the initial XML specifications. A key feature of the methodology is that it produces a platform independent design of an information system. To enable an early feedback from users, the methodology uses further XSL transformations that produce an executable prototype of the information system in the Java programming environment.


Key words:homeroom, extracurricular, roster, dismissal, custody
ABSTRACT
Student orientations are events that all of the students of a school attend. Students that make the decision to enroll in a school attend one of the student orientation programs that is specifically organized for the student's grade level. Newly enrolled students primarily complete their registration process in addition to getting familiar to the processes taking place in the new school, while previously enrolled students also attend regarding issues that are renewed and updated each academic year.
Many issues are addressed during student orientations onsite at desks, which are supervised by the assigned school staff. Some of the issues that are communicated to the students and parents at these desks are; bell schedule, class rosters, elective course registration such as choice of foreign language, homeroom teacher, free and reduced lunch application, lunch and breakfast menus, extracurricular activities and after school clubs, shuttle bus services, student drivers, parking lot safety, traffic flow chart, dismissal plan, floor plan, student pick-up policies, school uniforms, school supplies, student handbook, safety handbook, Gifted and Talented Program nominations, Parent-Teacher Organizations and Parent Teacher Associations, student identity (ID) cards, student and parent passwords for school database, etc.
After visiting all desks and completing the required tasks, students and parents sign-out of the student orientation program at the final desk, where they also have the chance to see whether they have missed anything.
Consequently, in this study, various steps of student orientation process are reviewed in detail and comparable examples from U.S. public school system are given in order to find out whether components of such programs may be compatible with other educational systems in the globe, thus an effective educational process can start from the beginning.


When a company undergoes a merger or transfer of its ownership, the existing governing body has an opinion on which buyer should take over as the new owner. Similar situations occur while assigning the host of big sports tournaments, e.g., the World Cup or the Olympics. In all these settings, the values of the external bidders are as important as the internal experts' opinions. Motivated by such questions, we consider a social welfare maximizing approach to design and analyze truthful mechanisms in these settings. We consider the problem with one expert and two bidders and provide tight approximation guarantees of the optimal social welfare. Since this problem is a combination of mechanism design with and without monetary transfers (payments can be imposed to the bidders but not to the expert), classical solutions like VCG cannot be applied, making this a unique mechanism design problem. We distinguish between mechanisms that use ordinal and cardinal information, as well as between mechanisms that base their decisions on one of the two sides (either the bidders or the expert) or both. Our analysis shows that the cardinal setting is quite rich and admits several non-trivial randomized truthful mechanisms, and also allows for closer-to-optimal-welfare guarantees.


The paper deals with the effects of occupational environment on the skin cancer prevalence rates. Particularly, the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been enhanced. Due to the long latency between the initial contact with PAH-emitting substances (asphalt, tar, oils, soot) and cancer occurrence, and also due to the usually advanced age of affected workers, the evaluation of chemical carcinogens in skin cancer prevalence is hampered and so imprecise. On the other hand, the PAH-exposure in the working environment is considerable and scattered; the most skin cancer- affected population is not covered by occupational health service because of their advanced age. A reliable determination of the cancer risk in workers exposed to PAHs during their professionally active life would call for an epidemiological study with an appropriate selection of reference groups allowing for elimination of the factors modifying and disturbing the issue concerned. Such a study has been undertaken at the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódź.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background and Purpose: To identify the qualitative and quantitative contributions of conventional risk factors for occurrence of ischemic stroke and its key pathophysiologic subtypes among West Africans. Methods: The SIREN (Stroke Investigative Research and Educational Network) is a multicenter, case-control study involving 15 sites in Ghana and Nigeria. Cases include adults aged ≥18 years with ischemic stroke who were etiologically subtyped using the A-S-C-O-D classification into atherosclerosis, small-vessel occlusion, cardiac pathology, other causes, and dissection. Controls were age- and gender-matched stroke-free adults. Detailed evaluations for vascular, lifestyle, and psychosocial factors were performed. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate adjusted odds ratios with 95% CI. Results: There were 2431 ischemic stroke case and stroke-free control pairs with respective mean ages of 62.2±14.0 versus 60.9±13.7 years. There were 1024 (42.1%) small vessel occlusions, 427 (17.6%) large-artery atherosclerosis, 258 (10.6%) cardio-embolic, 3 (0.1%) carotid dissections, and 719 (29.6%) undetermined/other causes. The adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) for the 8 dominant risk factors for ischemic stroke were hypertension, 10.34 (6.91–15.45); dyslipidemia, 5.16 (3.78–7.03); diabetes, 3.44 (2.60–4.56); low green vegetable consumption, 1.89 (1.45–2.46); red meat consumption, 1.89 (1.45–2.46); cardiac disease, 1.88 (1.22–2.90); monthly income $100 or more, 1.72 (1.24–2.39); and psychosocial stress, 1.62 (1.18–2.21). Hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes were confluent factors shared by small-vessel, large-vessel and cardio-embolic subtypes. Stroke cases and stroke-free controls had a mean of 5.3±1.5 versus 3.2±1.0 adverse cardio-metabolic risk factors respectively (P<0.0001). Conclusions: Traditional vascular risk factors demonstrate important differential effect sizes with pathophysiologic, clinical and preventative implications on the occurrence of ischemic stroke among indigenous West Africans.


Drawing on fieldwork and political theory with Lacanian psychoanalytic influences, this article analyzes how fantasy and fetishes help sustain strategies shown to be no solution to U.S. border control problems. More than a decade after the official launch of the border control paradigm of ''prevention through deterrence,'' predicated on the assumption that ramping up walls, barriers, policing, and the human costs of border crossing would deter, there has been scant evidence of deterrence and much evidence of diversion of migrants to more dangerous crossing points where death rates have soared. Attempts to mitigate the cost to life have also proved ineffective but have persisted alongside the policy of diversion. The article is based on research in a region where the reality of diversion and death instead of deterrence was lived but where people still pursue projects of barrier-building and death mitigation that they know to be ineffective. The article analyzes how fantasy fuels action despite knowledge and occludes a traumatic element around which the symbolic order of border law is structured: the foundation of ''good life'' with its bounty of rights, privileges, and opportunity on the exclusion of basic life denuded of the entitlements that make the good life sweet. The article also examines how fetishes are used to cope with unrealized hopes and to diffuse the impact of the traumatic knowledge that good life is undergirded by the exclusion and even death of basic life.


Joshanda is a polyherbal product, commonly practicing in inflammation of upper respiratory tract as tea. The present study was conducted to find out its antimicrobial, phytotoxic, leishmanicidal and cytotoxic activities. The decoction of the product showed profound activity against Gram positive tested pathogens especially S. aureus 36.5 mm zone of inhibition at 8.0 μg/ml. However, it was inactive against C. albicans. Closed correlation was observed between two methods in terms of results. It had potent phytotoxic activity (75%). However, it was devoid of any activity leishmanicidal and cytotoxic activity. Phytochemical studies of Joshanda showed the presence of various pharmacologically active groups.


This book discusses theoretical issues, standards, and professional considerations arising when legal and health practitioners undertake legal capacity assessments in the context of wills, enduring powers of attorney and advance health directives. The potential loss of cognition can erode autonomy as individuals lose the ability to make their own legally recognised decisions. This is an inescapable problem with significant legal, social, health and policy repercussions. This work synthesises and critically analyses the existing literature, including some of the best assessment models and guiding principles internationally, to generate a new methodology and understanding of what capacity assessment best practice means. This includes the impact of assessments on individual autonomy - the ideal method building upon respect for both autonomy as well as fundamental human rights. The triggers to assess capacity, who to involve in the assessment process, as well as how to conduct that assessment process are discussed. The crucial relationship between the legal and health professionals involved in assessments, including growing concerns around practitioner liability, is also explored. This analysis is undertaken through the innovative use of a therapeutic jurisprudence lens, the effect of which is to contribute new knowledge to this complex field.


Despite GDP growth rate higher than EU-15 average, labour market conditions in some Central and Eastern European countries remain under question. Indeed, the unemployment rate takes time to decrease closed to or below the European average and the participation rate remains under European standards. This non-employment is even more an issue when looking at the regional NUTS-2 level where the dispersion increased over time. We use the Blanchard et al. (1992) approach to understand the reactions of both unemployment and participation rates when a shock is imposed on employment, at the regional level. We focus on the CEECs, using a panel-VAR estimation and draw an overall comparison with EU-15 countries. We identify two adjustment channel through wages and unemployment. We find an efficient labour supply adjustment in both group. The response of the unemployment rate is slightly more persistent and the women participation is more vulnerable in the CEECs.


Fish biologists have shown little interest in near-infrared (NIR) sensitivity because water absorbs light in the red and near-infrared and because downward irradiance in clear ocean water is mostly blue light. In recent years, however, Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus was shown to be NIR sensitive by behavioral techniques. This study confirmed NIR sensitivity in the common carp Cyprinus carpio and Nile tilapia by using a more sensitive technique than a behavioral one. Cardiac conditioning experiments showed that both fishes are sensitive to 865 nm NIR. The conditioned response to 865 nm NIR was observed in Nile tilapia when the eyes were not covered and the pineal window was covered, but not when the same fish had its eyes covered and the pineal window exposed to the NIR. The eyes are thus, the NIR-sensitive organs in Nile tilapia. To identify the NIR photoreceptor, the retina was examined by histology. The retina exposed to 865 nm NIR showed incomplete dark adaptation with rods exposed from retinal epithelial pigment. Though the reaction to NIR seemed to be mediated mainly by the red cone, the involvement of the rod could not be ruled out.


Using simple infrared color selection, the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) has found a large number of red, previously unidentified, radio-quiet quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). Although missed by UV/optical surveys, the 2MASS QSOs have Ks-band luminosities that are comparable to "classical" QSOs. This suggests the possible discovery of a previously predicted large population of dust-obscured radio-quiet QSOs. We present the results of an imaging survey of 29 2MASS QSOs observed with the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. I-band images, which benefit from the relative faintness of the nuclei at optical wavelengths, are used to characterize the host galaxies, measure the nuclear contribution to the total observed I-band emission, and survey the surrounding environments. The 2MASS QSOs are found to lie in galaxies with a variety of morphologies, luminosities, and dynamical states, not unlike those hosting radio-quiet Palomar-Green QSOs. Our analysis suggests that the extraordinary red colors of the 2MASS QSOs are caused by extinction of an otherwise typical QSO spectrum due to dust near the nucleus.


A coarse-graining method has been proposed [R. E. Rudd and J. Q. Broughton: Phys. Rev. B 58 (1998) R5893-R5896] for a crystalline system of atoms, in which the inter-particle interaction is obtained through coarse-graining of the partition function of the atomic Hamiltonian in the harmonic approximation. Though the method has attractive features such as its natural incorporation of atomistic phonons, the original formulation limits its application to small periodic systems without surfaces. In this paper, we improve the method as follows: (i) we introduce a recursive coarse-graining procedure to overcome the size limitation problem, (ii) we rewrite the deformation energy in both translation and rotation invariant form to make it applicable to macroscopically deformed systems, (iii) we extend the formulation for multi-component systems, and (iv) we incorporate the thermal expansion and softening of the atomistic systems. The essentials in the code implementation are explained. The method is successfully applied to deforming nanorods of sub-micron size in both two and three dimensions, to show that it is ready for dynamics simulation of meso-scale, three-dimensional realistic systems.


Acute cholangitis is a biliary tract infection secondary to the obstruction, which causes biliary stasis and bacterial overgrowth. Typically, it presents with the Charcot triad of right upper quadrant abdominal pain, jaundice, and fever. Most acute cholangitis cases are secondary to choledocholithiasis. There are rare cases resulting from pancreatic neoplasm. We report the case of a 43-year-old Caucasian male who was found unresponsive at home with hypotension, anemia, and severe jaundice. Initial imaging studies were notable for a periampullary mass lesion causing intrahepatic biliary ductal dilation. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) revealed an actively oozing periampullary fungating mass. In this case, acute cholangitis and hemorrhagic shock secondary to bleeding periampullary lesions are atypical. This case presents an effective treatment plan for this condition.


Quantitative DNA pathologic examination is an important content of quantitative pathology, which is to use cytochemistry quantitative analytical technique for quantitative analysis of patho-histological structure and intra-cellular DNA level. Quantitative determination of DNA in tumor cells as an objective quantitative index reflecting biological behavior of tumor cells and has an important significance for distinguishing precancerous lesions, borderline tumors, benign and malignant tumors; and for estimating the malignant degree and prognosis. This review introduces the study about DNA quantitative analysis used in clinical pathology of eye neoplasms.


Television Studies: The Key Concepts is the definitive reference guide to an area of rapidly expanding academic interest. Among those aspects of television studies covered in this comprehensive and up-to-date guide are: theoretical perspectives which have shaped the study of television - Marxism; semiology; feminism concepts which have shaped the study of television - narrative; representation; bias television genres - soap opera; news; science fiction methods used for understanding television - content analysis; audience research relevant social, economic and political phenomena - ownership; social policy.


The brief symptom inventory (BSI), a 53-item measure that assesses psychological distress, is a popular tool for measuring mental health symptoms among youth living with HIV (YLH) in the United States (US); however, it has been used inconsistently with this population. This scoping review summarizes discrepancies in the use of the BSI to identify opportunities to improve systematism and make recommendations for clinicians and researchers, and highlights correlates of psychological distress among YLH as measured by the BSI. Databases searched included PsycINFO, PubMed, and CENTRAL. Eligible studies that assessed psychological distress using the BSI among YLH, were conducted in the US, and were written in English. Of the 237 articles identified, 57 were selected for inclusion. Studies investigated associations between BSI scores and several variables, including pre- versus post-highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) era, ART adherence, sexual risk behavior, substance use, stigma, social support, self-efficacy, mode of HIV infection, and sexual orientation. There was variation in BSI elements used as outcome measures, sample age ranges, and reporting of mean scores and cutoff t-scores. 89.5% (n = 51) of studies did not report which BSI norms were used in their data analysis, and 68.4% of studies (n = 39) did not report the cut-off t-score value used. Variability in study objectives restricted this study to a scoping review rather than a meta-analysis. Generalizability to non-US settings is another limitation. More consistency in how the BSI is used among YLH is needed to accurately identify distress among YLH and provide tailored interventions to address their unique challenges.


The iSCSI protocol specifies how to access SCSI storage devices over a TCP network. In this article we give a brief introduction to the iSCSI protocol and a brief comparison with alternative technologies. We then discuss the basic features of the iSCSI protocol: sessions, naming, discovery, security, data placement, and recovery.


Abstract We systematize the knowledge on data breaches into concise step-by-step breach workflows and use them to describe the breach methods. We present the most plausible workflows for 10 famous data breaches. We use information from a variety of sources to develop our breach workflows, however, we emphasize that for many data breaches, information about crucial steps was absent. We researched such steps to develop complete breach workflows; as such, our workflows provide descriptions of data breaches that were previously unavailable. For generalizability, we present a general workflow of 50 data breaches from 2015. Based on our data breach analysis, we develop requirements that organizations need to meet to thwart data breaches. We describe what requirements are met by existing security technologies and propose future research directions to thwart data breaches.


In oil and gas production, certain cases require to shutdown Wellheads or surface facilities for extended period to anable preventive maintenance or reservoir monitoring. The major concern is how to preserve the equipment's from corrosion risk during the shutdown periods. The corrosion potential increases with the presence of sour gases (H2S and CO2) and exposure of piping facilities to sour gase media under high pressure is the main cause for metallic corrosion. Despite well flowing condition to production facilities is designed to have continuous corrosion inhibitor injection which forms a protection film layer as a corrosion control, the shutdown condition diminishes the role of the the protection layer, hence, mothballing was identified as an alternative resolution to ensure piping integrity and corrosion control in place while shutdown duration. In this paper, the sour gases corrosion effect is described by defining corrosion types. Mothballing process is identified based on the preservation concept, duration and different procedures for protection, noted the resources required and mitigation to perform the activities with assigned team members. Downhole tubing and surface facilities piping is also discussed for mothballing while inactive and offline duration of sour gas wells and associated surface piping facilities. Two types of mothballing media are listed based on target equipment for effective results, inhibited diesel was selected for well down hole mothballing, and dry inert nitrogen gas as media for X-mass tree and surface pipe line facilities. Additional improvement and opportunity for operation efficiency is to carry out the mothballing as campaign to optimize the resources for both time with cost saving initiative. Team members from different disciplines required to contribute for mothballing operations, task asssignement for each disciplines as per roles and responsabilities organize stream line all resources to achieve ultimat goal for facilities integrity.


This essay examines three "American" magazines published in mid-nineteenth-century London: the American Miscellany (1839–40), the Great Western (1842), and the American Magazine (1851–52). These magazines staged a fantasy of a unified, national and white American culture that regional print cultures and sectional tensions over slavery rendered impossible within the United States itself. They fashioned this fantasy through dialogue with Yankee comedy (an American form constructed through transatlantic circulation); through the theatricality, materiality and composite form of the magazine; and by transforming regional texts into national culture through transatlantic reprinting. Through histories of these magazines, this essay theorizes magazine reprinting as performance, arguing that performance theory helps to conceptualize transatlantic reprinting and its cultural work, and to understand why these magazines ultimately failed as organs of national culture. Additionally, it suggests that magazines published outside the United States illuminate the relationship between periodical circulation and the development of American nationhood in the antebellum era.


Four of 9,10-dihydroanthracene-9,10-α,β-alkyl succinates have been synthesized and used as internal electron donors in MgCl2-supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts. The performances of the catalysts on the propylene polymerization have been investigated. The obtained polymers possess high-isotacticity and the polymerization activity is comparable with the catalysts using 9,9-bis(methoxymethyl)fluorene and diisobutyl phthalate as internal donor. With dimethoxydiphenylsilane as external donor, the catalysts for the polymerization of propylene exhibit satisfactory activities and are sensitive toward hydrogen. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010


1. In skeletal muscle, dihydropyridine (DHP) receptors control both Ca(2+) entry (L-type current) and internal Ca(2+) release in a voltage-dependent manner. Here we investigated the question of whether elimination of the skeletal muscle-specific DHP receptor subunit gamma1 affects excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling. We studied intracellular Ca(2+) release and force production in muscle preparations of a mouse deficient in the gamma1 subunit (gamma-/-). 2. The rate of internal Ca(2+) release at large depolarization (+20 mV) was determined in voltage-clamped primary-cultured myotubes derived from satellite cells of adult mice by analysing fura-2 fluorescence signals and estimating the concentration of free and bound Ca(2+). On average, gamma-/- cells showed an increase in release of about one-third of the control value and no alterations in the time course. 3. Voltage of half-maximal activation (V(1/2)) and voltage sensitivity (k) were not significantly different in gamma-/- myotubes, either for internal Ca(2+) release activation or for the simultaneously measured L-type Ca(2+) conductance. The same was true for maximal Ca(2+) inward current and conductance. 4. Contractions evoked by electrical stimuli were recorded in isolated extensor digitorum longus (EDL; fast, glycolytic) and soleus (slow, oxidative) muscles under normal conditions and during fatigue induced by repetitive tetanic stimulation. Neither time course nor amplitudes of twitches and tetani nor force-frequency relations showed significant alterations in the gamma1-deficient muscles. 5. In conclusion, the overall results show that the gamma1 subunit is not essential for voltage-controlled Ca(2+) release and force production.


The scarcity of available donor organs is the key challenge in orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). A viable way of expanding the donor pool is the use of liver grafts from hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)–positive donors. The present study used the US Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database (1987‐2010), and each of the 78 patients who underwent OLT with HBsAg‐positive grafts was matched with 4 patients who received HBsAg‐negative grafts by urgent status, donor sex, recipient sex, donor age, recipient age, transplant date, Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease score, and warm ischemia time. The overall graft and patient survival rates were similar for recipients of HBsAg‐positive grafts and matched controls: the 5‐year graft survival rates were 66% and 64%, respectively (P = 0.95), and the 5‐year patient survival rates were 71% and 71%, respectively (P = 0.87). A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis that was adjusted for other variables showed no impact of the donor HBsAg status on graft or patient survival. The use of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) was independently associated with better posttransplant graft survival [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.06‐0.81] and patient survival (HR = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.04‐0.75) for recipients of HBsAg‐positive grafts. In conclusion, the use of HBsAg‐positive liver grafts did not reduce posttransplant graft or patient survival. Moreover, matching these donors to recipients treated with HBIG may improve safety. Liver Transpl 20:35–45, 2014. © 2013 AASLD.


Breast cancer affect almost 1 in 8 women and it is highest in developed and developing countries. There are many drugs exist for the treatment of breast cancer, but still the incidence of mortality and morbidity are high among all cancer types in most countries. Even though the conventional therapies play a major role in the management of breast cancer, its complications are obvious and unavoidable. The newer targeted drug therapy came in place to reduce complications in some extent, but not fully. Hence, a review was aimed to analyse the efficacy and safety of newer anticancer drugs that approved for the treatment of breast cancer by US-FDA from 2017 to 2019. The Olaparib, Talazoparib, and Ribociclib are the newly approved drugs for the treatment of breast cancer during this review period. Among these new drugs, Olaparib and Talazoparib alone or in combination with other anticancer drugs considered as safe and efficacious. Patients with Olaparib or Talazoparib as monotherapy have median progression-free survival of 2.8 to 8.6 months longer and has 42-46% lower risk of death (P<0.001). A combination of conventional therapies and nonpharmacological approach are warranted for the best benefit of cancer patients and to improve their quality of life.


High impedance fault has always been difficult for distribution network fault identification due to its unobvious fault signature and difficult detection. This paper decomposed the transient signal in multi-scale by utilizing the good localization performance of the wavelet in both time domain and frequency domain, reconstructed the wavelet coefficients under each scale, took the wavelet reconstruction coefficient which was under the scale 3, calculated the size spectrum of each feeder line in timing floating window and identified the circuits in which the faults lined according to the value of the size spectrum. The high impedance fault simulation system was built based upon the study of the various transient signals in power systems, and the high impedance fault simulation analysis of the distribution feeder was undertaken through PSCAD simulation platform using high impedance fault model. Large amount of simulation analysis showed that the method could effectively extract the feature of high impedance fault on high impedance fault identification.


Current world circumstances related to political violence and terrorism have become the
first agenda item for many governments. This situation has led to the formation of research groups
on every continent, groups that aim to elucidate the sociological, biological, psychological,
economic and political roots of aggression, political violence and terrorism. Researchers and thought leaders from more than 20 countries were present in Cartagena at the 4th Annual CICA/STR International Conference on Aggression, Political Violence and Terrorism: An
Interdisciplinary Approach for a Peaceful Society, organized by Coloquios Internacionales sobre
Cerebro y Agresion (CICA), the Society for Terrorism Research (STR), and Instituto de Estudios Psicobiosociales e Intevencion en Violencias (IEPSIV).


The photothermal reagent (PTA)-mediated point-of-care detection of disease biomarkers using thermometers as readout has attracted increasing attention, but complex modification or generation process of PTAs still limited their further applications. Herein, we report a photothermal detection platform in which the target recognition triggered the in situ generation of the PTA and ZnS-Ag2S nanoparticles (NPs) by one-step autonomous cation exchange reaction (ACER). As a proof of concept, NF-kB1, a kind of disease biomarker, was used to demonstrate the photothermal detection platform. First, a triplex-like DNA structure containing the recognition part of NF-kB1 and cytosine-Ag+-cytosine (C-Ag+-C) unit was designed. With the recognition of NF-kB1, abundant C-Ag+-C units were released to take ACER with the prepared ZnS NPs. In addition, because of the intrinsic detecting limitation of the thermometer, hybridization chain reaction (HCR) was introduced to load more Ag+ for the enhancement of the photothermal signal. After the irradiation of 808 nm laser toward the generated ZnS-Ag2S NPs dispersions, its temperature increased with the increased concentration of NF-kB1 in the range from 10 to 1000 nM with a detection limit of 2.31 nM. The signal-amplifying role of HCR was confirmed by the control experiment. This platform of in situ generation of PTA not only integrated the recognition process with detection but also avoided the complex process of modification or generation, which has remarkable potential to be extended for the detections of other different disease biomarkers.


The management of the NHS has been characterised by two trends in recent years. Firstly, there has been the increasing dominance and assertiveness of the NHS Management Executive, with ever tighter control from the centre. Secondly, there has been soaring spending on managerial staff and information technology. Both have been much criticised. Both have been justified on the grounds that tighter central control and a strengthened system of management are required in the interests of efficiency and accountability: the investment, it is claimed, will justify itself by bringing about greater productivity and promoting value for money. A large question mark has now been put against these arguments by the two much publicised reports from the Committee of Public Accounts of the House of Commons, dealing with the affairs of the Wessex 1,2 and West Midlands regional health authorities.3,4

In the case of Wessex, the Committee of Public Accounts was investigating the loss of an estimated pounds sterling 20 million (and perhaps much more) which followed an unsuccessful attempt to introduce a regional information system. In the case of the West Midlands, the committee was inquiring into the loss of an estimated pounds sterling 10 million wasted in the operations of the regionally managed services organisation. The scale of the losses is, in itself, staggering.

More serious is the state of affairs revealed in the two reports. For the common thread linking the two inquiries is a loss of managerial control and accountability. In both cases the regional …


In this work rod-like YMnO₃ were successfully prepared by hydrothermal method. The crystal structure and morphology of prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The structural information was confirmed from Raman spectrum and the functional group of the sample was studied from FTIR spectrum. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies confirm the formation and oxidation states of YMnO₃. The optical properties of the prepared samples were investigated using UV-vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of YMnO₃ nanorods was evaluated by degradation of methyl orange (MO) under both ultraviolet and visible-light irradiation. The result shows that the YMnO₃ nanorods exhibit maximum photocatalytic activity in the degradation of MO.


Primary carcinomas of the vagina are very rare. Nevertheless, they need to be included in differential diagnoses when carrying out a urological examination of the pelvic floor and the vagina in patients with micturition problems, also in younger patients: we report a case of a 35-year-old woman with a primary carcinoma of the vagina and present a review of the literature.


Objectives: To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of aqueous, ethanolic, methanolic and phenolic extracts from three Palestinian folkloric medicinal plants in addition to their commercial oils against ten pathogenic microorganisms. Methods: The plants studied were sage, thyme and parsley. Five concentrations of leaf extract of each of the three plants were prepared. The antimicrobial effect of each concentration was measured. Results: Aqueous extracts of sage and thyme had action against most of the tested microorganisms. Phenolic extract of sage and thyme showed antibacterial activity against Staph. aureus and Enterococcus sp, respectively. On the other hand, E. coli was more affected by the ethanolic extract of parsley. While, that extract does not elicit pronounce effect on the tested Gram positive organisms. The results of commercial oils of sage, thyme and parsley displayed no antimicrobial activity against E. coli, Proteus mirabilis and Salmonella typhi. Conclusion: The data obtained revealed that, among the 10 tested microorganisms, Staph. aureus was, in general, the most susceptible microbe to most extracts of the three plants studied.


There has been a perceptible boom in the writings on small enterprises over the last three decades. A range of new concepts and paradigms have been pro- pounded to understand this sector's dynamism. Each of these relates to a set of issues and advocates certain policy interventions. This paper summarises the major theoretical issues in the field of small enterprises by arranging them across three time periods—the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.


In this paper, we study the existence of solutions for q-functional integral equations in Banach space C[0, T]. The existence and uniqueness of solutions for the problems are proved by means of the Banach contraction principle.


New computational techniques have been introduced to assist the design of adaptable building façades and to help quantify relationships between the building envelope and the environment. Designers increasingly use generative design approach for form-generation of building envelopes, and the organisation of components over a predefined form. In this research an original shape grammar approach for façade systems generation is proposed, with a rule-based method for the creation and exploration of complex shape composites based upon a set of simple initial shapes and predefined rules of composition. This is in order to explore a form finding of set of different building façade configurations before merging generated data into a simulated process of real-time daylighting and heat gains performance evaluation. The developed models adapt via responding to the data-regulation protocols responsible for sensing and processing building performance data in real time. The research reports on the prototype system development and testing, allowing continuous evaluation of multiple solutions and presenting opportunity for further improvement via multi-objective optimisation, which would be very difficult to do, if not impossible, with conventional design methods.