The matching and fusion of local maps generated by multiple robots can greatly enhance the performance of relative localization and collaborative mapping. Currently, existing semantic matching methods are partly based on classical iterative closet point, which typically fails in cases with large initial errors. What's more, current semantic matching algorithms have high computation complexity in optimizing the transformation matrix. To address the challenge of large initial errors and low matching efficiency, this article proposes a novel large convergence region semantic map matching algorithm. The key novelty of this work is the designing of the initial transformation optimization algorithm and the probabilistic registration model to increase the convergence region. To reduce the initial error before the iteration process, the initial transformation matrix is optimized by estimating the credibility of the data association. At the same time, a factor reflecting the uncertainty of the initial error is calculated and introduced to the formulation of the probabilistic registration model, thereby accelerating the convergence process. The proposed algorithm is performed on public datasets and compared with existing methods, demonstrating the significant improvement in terms of matching accuracy and robustness.


Current high power load simulators are generally incapable of obtaining both high loading performance and high energy efficiency. Simulators with high energy efficiency are used to simulate static-state load, and those with high dynamic performance typically have low energy efficiency. In this paper, the variants of secondary control (VSC) with power recovery are developed to solve this problem for loading hydraulic driving devices that operate under variable pressure, unlike classical secondary control (CSC) that operates in constant pressure network. Hydrostatic secondary control units are used as the loading components, by which the absorbed mechanical power from the tested device is converted into hydraulic power and then fed back into the tested system through 4 types of feedback passages (FPs). The loading subsystem can operate in constant pressure network, controlled variable pressure network, or the same variable pressure network as that of the tested device by using different FPs. The 4 types of systems are defined, and their key techniques are analyzed, including work principle, simulating the work state of original tested device, static operation points, loading performance, energy efficiency, and control strategy, etc. The important technical merits of the 4 schemes are compared, and 3 of the schemes are selected, designed, simulated using AMESim and evaluated. The researching results show that the investigated systems can simulate the given loads effectively, realize the work conditions of the tested device, and furthermore attain a high power recovery efficiency that ranges from 0.54 to 0.85, even though the 3 schemes have different loading performances and energy efficiencies. This paper proposes several loading schemes that can achieve both high dynamic performance and high power recovery efficiency.


The work being conducted within the TABA Project is described. The project is concerned with the construction of a heuristic workstation able to create an environment tailored to meet specific demands of various software development projects. During the first phase, a series of studies was performed which resulted in the development of tools to help in the construction and evaluation of software quality, and an EDSS to help in the specification of SDEs (software development environments), was prototyped. The second phase of the project involves the development of the TABA workstation in a Sun environment from the results obtained in the first phase and from a series of modules that have been developed: an object management system, a hypermedia management system, and the management of man-machine communication. The prototype constructed in the first phase is undergoing improvements to its knowledge base and is also being implemented in a Sun environment. >


Plan: The design of the Cornell Turfgrass website is outdated. We will reformat it with a Responsive Web Design (RWD) so that content can be easily read and navigated on phones and tablets as well as computers. RWD minimizes the need for resizing, scrolling and panning, thereby enhancing user satisfaction and utilization of Cornell resources. The Cornell Department of Horticulture's webmaster, Craig Cramer, will transform the site to RWD using WordPress. An IPM technician will assist him with content migration to the new format. WordPress will easily accommodate our current resources and those in development, as well as blogs and interactive chat venues that we may wish to employ in the future. It will also enable Turf Team members to contribute updates on their own, without having to go through a webmaster.


Continuous practices, i.e., continuous integration, delivery, and deployment, are the software development industry practices that enable organizations to frequently and reliably release new features and products. With the increasing interest in the literature on continuous practices, it is important to systematically review and synthesize the approaches, tools, challenges, and practices reported for adopting and implementing continuous practices. This paper aimed at systematically reviewing the state of the art of continuous practices to classify approaches and tools, identify challenges and practices in this regard, and identify the gaps for future research. We used the systematic literature review method for reviewing the peer-reviewed papers on continuous practices published between 2004 and June 1, 2016. We applied the thematic analysis method for analyzing the data extracted from reviewing 69 papers selected using predefined criteria. We have identified 30 approaches and associated tools, which facilitate the implementation of continuous practices in the following ways: 1) reducing build and test time in continuous integration (CI); 2) increasing visibility and awareness on build and test results in CI; 3) supporting (semi-) automated continuous testing; 4) detecting violations, flaws, and faults in CI; 5) addressing security and scalability issues in deployment pipeline; and 6) improving dependability and reliability of deployment process. We have also determined a list of critical factors, such as testing (effort and time), team awareness and transparency, good design principles, customer, highly skilled and motivated team, application domain, and appropriate infrastructure that should be carefully considered when introducing continuous practices in a given organization. The majority of the reviewed papers were validation (34.7%) and evaluation (36.2%) research types. This paper also reveals that continuous practices have been successfully applied to both greenfield and maintenance projects. Continuous practices have become an important area of software engineering research and practice. While the reported approaches, tools, and practices are addressing a wide range of challenges, there are several challenges and gaps, which require future research work for improving the capturing and reporting of contextual information in the studies reporting different aspects of continuous practices; gaining a deep understanding of how software-intensive systems should be (re-) architected to support continuous practices; and addressing the lack of knowledge and tools for engineering processes of designing and running secure deployment pipelines.


This paper discusses the effects of cold water immersion. The clinical manifestations, preventive measures and treatment of immersion hypothermia are presented. Other cold related mechanisms are discussed briefly.


Particle–wave duality is a central tenet of quantum physics, and an electron has wave-like properties. Introductory texts discuss the wavelength–momentum relationship , but do not discuss the frequency–energy relationship. This is curious since a wave is periodic both in space and time. The discussion in more advanced texts is not satisfactory either since two different expressions for the frequency are given based on the relativistic and non-relativistic expression for the electron energy. The relativistic expression yields the correct frequency, and we explain why the expression based on the Schrodinger equation gives the incorrect expression. We argue that the electron frequency should be discussed at the introductory level.


Author(s): Sherwood, Yvonne; Reti, Irene H; Venegas, Yolanda | Abstract: UCSC now serves one of the largest populations of undocumented students at any college in the United States. This commitment dates back at least ten years, to the activist efforts of a group of undocumented students calling themselves Students Informing Now [SIN], who through their activism first made their challenges known to the campus community and beyond.[1] There are many staff and faculty at UCSC who were inspired by SIN and have carried on SIN's legacy. Dr. Yolanda Venegas, lecturer at UC Santa Cruz, is one of those people.Dr. Yolanda Venegas was born and raised in the wetlands of Tijuana, Mexico, on the U.S.-Mexico border. She earned her B.A. in Third World Studies from UC San Diego in 1992 and a PhD in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley in 2004. After earning her PhD, Yvenegas realized that her true passion was teaching writing; hence she returned to college to earn an MA from San Francisco in Teaching Composition in 2013 and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from San Francisco State in 2012.From 2006 to 2009, Venegas taught writing for UC Santa Cruz's Educational Opportunity Program [EOP's] Faculty Mentor Program. In 2010, she became EOP's Faculty Mentor Program Director, Pre-graduate Programs Coordinator and AB540 Student Campus Resource. In that position, she developed pre-graduate programs aimed at increasing diversity in higher education. She designed, developed, and implemented an EOP Scholarship Class; the AB540 Resource Guide, the AB540 Slug website, and AB540 training agenda and presentations to educate UCSC staff and the campuswide community. Venegas has also taught and continues to teach for UCSC's Writing Program and the Merrill College core course. The themes of her courses focus on immigration, undocumented students, Chicano/a identity, and feminism. She has also taught at UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Santa Clara University, and San Francisco State, where she developed her course Redefining America: Undocumented Students in Higher Education.


This broadly comparative essay contrasts environmentalism in the fiction in English translation of the Libyan writer, Ibrahim alKoni, with dominant trends in contemporary environmentalism. An analysis of three of the most ecocritically pertinent of the novels in English translation suggests that the natural world is viewed through the lens of the mythical, encompassing the religious worlds of both Tuareg animism, as well as monotheism represented by Islam and early Christianity. The novels to be considered are The Seven Veils of Seth, Anubis and The Bleeding of the Stone. Unlike environmental approaches which derive from the European Enlightenment of procedural rational disenchantment, human beings in Al-Koni's work are accorded a place in the sacred order which allows non-parasitic modes of existence within the framework of a sacred law. This conviction is articulated most powerfully through the symbol of the desert which inspires all of Al-Koni's work. The social and sacred desert ethic out of which Al-Koni's fiction is forged, strains at the form of the novel, the genre which constitutes and is constituted by an immanent, individual vision of the world. As a consequence, Al-Koni's narratives tend towards allegorical modes which highlight the radical complexity and simplicity of allegory.


This report describes my research on a two-photon fluorescence microendoscope (3 mm outer diameter) for in vivo imaging of a 175x175 µm field of view. First I discuss two-photon fluorescence and second harmonic generation and how they can be used for imaging .I also discuss the biological relevant molecules we will image and how that is possible with spectral imaging. Then I discuss the goal of my bachelor research and I discuss the components of the set-up in detail. Thereon I present the results of both the regular benchtop set-up as the mobile set-up and I conclude with ideas for further research and a conclusion.


A multiuser communication system using serially concatenated and randomly interleaved continuous phase modulation (SCCPM) over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel is investigated. The users, which may be asynchronous, are allowed to have individual energy levels as well as carrier frequencies and phases. This model incorporates multiple-access signaling similar to direct-sequence code division multiple-access (DS-CDMA), trellis-coded multiple-access (TCMA), and frequency division multiple-access (FDMA) with arbitrary spectral overlap, as well as non-intentional co-channel or adjacent channel interference of the same signaling type. First, the system is analyzed through analytical upper bounds on the average bit error probability for a given user under maximum-likelihood (ML) detection, where the R> average is over the ensemble of systems over all sets of interleavers. It is shown that in a properly designed system, the bit error probability vanishes for infinite interleaver sizes and a sufficiently large channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), regardless of the signal correlation between the users. Thus, even with equal modulation, energy levels, and carrier frequencies and phases, the users can be detected adequately provided they employ random interleaving. The second part of the analysis concerns iterative decoding of multiuser SCCPM. A convergence analysis based on EXIT charts is presented, along with decoding threshold estimates. It is observed that in systems with no frequency offset, the performance of ML detection does not always carry over to iterative decoding. On the other hand, for many other systems excellent performance can be obtained both in terms of power efficiency (bit error rate as a function of SNR) and spectral efficiency (bandwidth). In particular, systems are demonstrated with performance within 1 dB of the average-power limited Shannon capacity at 1 bit/s/Hz, and within 2.3 dB at 2 bits/s/Hz.


The quantity and nature of parent-child verbal interactions, reading to and with children, and the availability and use of reading materials at home are factors that influence literacy development. Since many parents of first-grade children are not taking advantage of opportunities at home to engage their children in appropriate activities to further oral language, reading and writing development, a 6-session parent reading workshop was conducted at two elementary school sites. In this workshop format a way to share information with the parents on critical research findings on issues related to emergent readers (developmental stages, how the brain works, elements of balanced literacy instruction) was developed. Appropriate strategies for teaching and scaffolding learning in each of the areas of balanced literacy were modeled. Parents had opportunities to "make and take" materials and activities to use with their children at home--a literacy toolkit. The hope was that a partnership with the first-grade parents would be built so that the literacy philosophies, strategies, and activities at home and at school are more in alignment. More frequent and open communication between parents and teacher was the aim. As the parents involved in the reading workshops become more knowledgeable and skilled in working with their first graders, they would be encouraged to volunteer time in the classroom and share their knowledge formally and informally with other parents. Results indicated: (1) parents demonstrated a heightened awareness of their role in supporting their child's literacy development; (2) they engaged their children in a wider variety of quality literacy activities at home; (3) parent/teacher communication was strengthened; and (4) parents shifted to a more balanced viewpoint about reading. Appended are a home reading log and a parent reading survey. (Contains 16 references.) (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.


This extensively updated new edition of the widely acclaimed Treatise on Geochemistry has increased its coverage beyond the wide range of geochemical subject areas in the first edition, with five new volumes which include: the history of the atmosphere, geochemistry of mineral deposits, archaeology and anthropology, organic geochemistry and analytical geochemistry. In addition, the original Volume 1 on "Meteorites, Comets, and Planets" was expanded into two separate volumes dealing with meteorites and planets, respectively. These additions increased the number of volumes in the Treatise from 9 to 15 with the index/appendices volume remaining as the last volume (Volume 16). Each of the original volumes was scrutinized by the appropriate volume editors, with respect to necessary revisions as well as additions and deletions. As a result, 27 per cent were republished without major changes, 66per cent were revised and 126 new chapters were added. In a many-faceted field such as Geochemistry, explaining and understanding how one sub-field relates to another is key. Instructors will find the complete overviews with extensive cross-referencing useful additions to their course packs and students will benefit from the contextual organization of the subject matter. Six new volumes added and 66per cent updated from 1st edition. The Editors of this work have taken every measure to include the many suggestions received from readers and ensure comprehensiveness of coverage and added value in this 2nd edition. The esteemed Board of Volume Editors and Editors-in-Chief worked cohesively to ensure a uniform and consistent approach to the content, which is an amazing accomplishment for a 15-volume work (16 volumes including index volume)!


Many classification approaches first represent a test sample using the training samples of all the classes. This collaborative representation is then used to label the test sample. It was a common belief that sparseness of the representation is the key to success for this classification scheme. However, more recently, it has been claimed that it is the collaboration and not the sparseness that makes the scheme effective. This claim is attractive as it allows to relinquish the computationally expensive sparsity constraint over the representation. In this paper, we first extend the analysis supporting this claim and then show that sparseness explicitly contributes to improved classification, hence it should not be completely ignored for computational gains. Inspired by this result, we augment a dense collaborative representation with a sparse representation and propose an efficient classification method that capitalizes on the resulting representation. The augmented representation and the classification method work together meticulously to achieve higher accuracy and lower computational time compared to state-of-the-art collaborative representation based classification approaches. Experiments on benchmark face, object and action databases show the efficacy of our approach.


Portfolio parallelization is an approach that runs several solver instances in parallel and terminates when one of them succeeds in solving the problem. Despite its simplicity, portfolio parallelization has been shown to perform well for modern mixed-integer programming (MIP) and boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) solvers. Domain propagation has also been shown to be a simple technique in modern MIP and SAT solvers that effectively finds additional domain reductions after the domain of a variable has been reduced. In this paper we introduce distributed domain propagation, a technique that shares bound tightenings across solvers to trigger further domain propagations. We investigate its impact in modern MIP solvers that employ portfolio parallelization. Computational experiments were conducted for two implementations of this parallelization approach. While both share global variable bounds and solutions, they communicate differently. In one implementation the communication is performed only at designated points in the solving process and in the other it is performed completely asynchronously. Computational experiments show a positive performance impact of communicating global variable bounds and provide valuable insights in communication strategies for parallel solvers.


An effort on homogenizing the size distribution of magnetic nanosphere (MN) base on Fe3O4 nanoparticle coated by Poly-lactic acids (PLA) has been carried out. MN synthesis parameters were optimized to obtain MN with narrow size distribution, but still maintaining other properties especially its magnetic property. The synthesis process was then followed by sequential centrifugation with different speed for selective separation of MN with different size distribution. The size distribution characteristics of the MN were evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), and Particle Size Analyzer (PSA). As a result, fractional MNs having different size distribution smaller than 400 nm were successfully obtained. The highest fraction was achieved for MN with size distribution < 150 nm, which was almost reaching 73% of total weight. However, the colloidal stability was still rather poor due to agglomeration tendency of MN which was observed clearly in its SEM and TEM images. The magnetic properties were analyzed by Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), which gave the saturation magnetization (Ms values). These values were slightly affected by the MN size distributions with maximum Ms value of 15.3 emu/g. Considering the composition used within the experiment and from the Ms values, the Fe3O4 nanoparticle loading efficiency of around 78.9% could be determined. Referring to these results, the colloidal stability problem could be overcome by co-polymer grafting on PLA surface, hence the MN could be expected to be applied for magnetic hyperthermia based therapy.


In this paper: the tritium levels in the leachates and methane gas condensates which have occurred at 13 sanitary landfills of municipal solid wastes (MSW) are investigated and reported. During the 6 months investigation period; the mean tritium concentrations of the raw leachates were distributed from 17 to 1,196 TU. They corresponded to several scores or hundreds higher tritium levels than that of the normal environmental level except for two cases. High tritium levels were also detected in the efffuents of the leachate treatment facilities. Generally. the tritium existed in the dissolving fraction of the leachate but for some cases about 10% of the total tritium content was present as colloidal particles of over 0.45 pm in size. In general, the relationship between the tritium and other contaminants in the raw leachate was low. but it was relatively high between the tritium and TOC. Thus, it is predicted that the dissolving state of the tritium in the leachafes would be affected by the tritium sources of the tipped wastes in a MSW


This paper challenges traditional studies that explore border sites from a central or capital city perspective. Focusing on expressions of identity in the border city of Goma, it illustrates how the struggle for political, social and economic control affects local urban life and has broader implications for regional relationships and realities. The paper suggests that Goma must be understood as a site of change and fluidity rather than (as borders are commonly depicted) a static and dependent environment, whose increasing sense of autonomy is directly linked to state decline and to the dynamics of regional conflict. Goma has become an area of military rebellion, political struggle and economic competition, as well as a city of flourishing transborder trade and economic opportunity. The paper highlights the need to follow closely the increasing national and regional role that Goma, and other emerging urban centres on the periphery, are playing. This analysis was concluded early 2012 and does not include recent developments related to the M23 rebellion.


Transparent optical networks based on wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) can exploit the huge capacity of optical fibers by dividing it among different wavelengths. Physical-layer attacks, such as high-powered jamming, can seriously degrade network performance and must be dealt with efficiently. Hence route lightpaths in such a way as to minimize the potential damage caused by various physical-layer attacks. A new objective criterion for the routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) problem, which we call the maximum Lightpath Attack Radius (maxLAR) is used to formulate the routing subproblem as an integer linear program (ILP). Lightpaths, are established between pairs of nodes. Given a physical topology and a set of lightpath demands, the RWA problem consists of finding a physical route for each lightpath demand and assigning to each route a wavelength, subject to the constraints. The maxLAR is the maximum number of lightpaths any one lightpath is link-sharing with, where link-sharing is defined as a property indicating whether two lightpaths traverse at least one common physical link. Results indicate that the formulation achieves significantly better results for the maxLAR. For larger networks, a tabu search algorithm for attack-aware lightpath routing, in combination with an existing graph-coloring algorithm for wavelength assignment is used. Testing and comparing with existing approaches from literature indicate its superiority with respect to the maxLAR and thus the congestion is reduced effectively.


Integrated care is an emerging approach to manage patients with chronic complex conditions, such as atrial fibrillation (AF). The current international practice guidelines recommend an integrated care approach in AF, which consists of four fundamentals being patient involvement, a multidisciplinary team approach, the use of technology, and comprehensive management focussing on the treatment of AF, prevention of thromboembolic complications, and the management of co-morbid conditions, cardiovascular risk factors and lifestyle modification. Despite the guideline recommendations, the term integrated care is being used inconsistently within the current available literature. This publication aims to contribute to the clarification of the integrate AF care concept and the consequent appropriate use in clinical practice and research, whilst awaiting an upcoming update of international practice guidelines.


Wave energy is one of the most attractive forms of renewable energy. The reasons include its promising availability, predictability, persistence, and power density. This study focuses on all linear generator designs and technologies which have been used so far in direct-drive wave energy converters (DD-WECs). Currently, linear permanent magnet generators (LPMG) have been proposed as the most advantageous generator system developed for DD-WECs. After a brief description of linear generator based wave energy converters, all proposed state-of-the-art of LPMG topologies available in the literature are discussed and compared in terms of flux path, core type, location of PMs, and etc. In addition, other linear generator technologies such as linear switched reluctance and linear superconducting generators, as an alternative to LPMGs, are reviewed. Finally, based on the surveyed quantitative comparisons performed in previous works, eight major concepts are evaluated in terms of economic and operational aspects.


The purpose of this study is to examine the Korean social workers' level of social work values, advocacy attitude and advocacy intervention, and to verify the relations among social work education, social work advocacy and social work values by examining whether social work education influences social work advocacy and social work values, and whether social work values affect social work advocacy. Further, this study wishes to confirm not only the direct effect that social work education has on social work advocacy, but also how social work education indirectly influences social work advocacy through social work values on the social level as a mediator. The research of this study was conducted on 461 social work practitioners who have obtained either social worker licenses or mental health social worker licenses and are currently working in the field. As survey tools, this study utilized social work advocacy attitude, social work advocacy intervention, outcomes of social work education, social work values, self-esteem and locus of control. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS/PC+ 11.5 for one-way ANOVA and t-test, Pearson's correlation, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression. To sum up the results of the study in terms of the research hypothesis, the research hypothesis was established according to the analysis method of the testing mediation of Baron & Kenny (1986) in order to examine whether social work values on the social level intervene between social work education and social work advocacy. The results of the hypothesis test confirm that social work values on the social level serve as a mediator variable.


Objectives To examine the association between the number of visits to the emergency department (ED) by children for night-time headaches and exposure to multifaceted factors, such as meteorological conditions and air pollution. Design We conducted a clinical observational time-series analysis study. Setting We reviewed consecutive patients younger than 16 years of age at the primary ED centre in Kobe city, Japan, during the night shift (19:30–7:00 hours) between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2019. Participants In total, 265 191 children visited the ED; 822 presented with headache during the study period. Primary outcome measures We investigated the effects of meteorological factors and air pollutants by multivariate analysis of Poisson regression estimates. A subanalysis included the relationship between the number of patients with night-time headaches and the above factors by sex. Furthermore, the effect of typhoon landing on patient visits for headache was also analysed. Headache was not classified because examinations were performed by general paediatricians (non-specialists). Results The number of patients with night-time headaches displayed distinct seasonal changes, with peaks during the summer. Multivariate analysis of Poisson regression estimates revealed a significant positive relationship between the number of patients for headache and mean temperature. Subanalysis by sex indicated a positive relationship between the number of patients with headache and mean temperature in both sexes; however, it was significant only for females. No relationship was found between the number of patients with headache and air pollution. There was no change in the number of patients for night-time headaches 3 days before and after typhoon landing. Conclusions High temperature is the main factor for visiting ED for night-time headaches among children in Kobe city. Our results suggest that preventive measures against night-time headaches may be possible by reducing time spent outside during summer.


In a recent paper Furusawa (1) has shown that the "retention of action current" described by Levin (2) as occurring in the stimulated limb or claw nerve of a crab or lobster is to be regarded as a "depolarisation" of the nerve, in the sense that the electrical potential difference normally present in the living nerve fiber, existing presumably across its boundary, is gradually discharged by stimulation. This potential difference is the cause of the phenomenon commonly known as the "injury current," which is found when two electrodes placed upon the injured surface and a cut end respectively are connected to a galvenometer. In the presence of oxygen the "retention of action current" slowly disappears; the potential difference gradually rises again in the course of half-an-hour or so (depending on the temperature and the duration of the stimulation) to its original value; in the absence of oxygen the nerve remains "discharged." Furthermore, if a resting nerve be deprived of oxygen the potential difference slowly falls, but rises again if oxygen be readmitted. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that the potential difference normally existing is maintained by oxidative processes in the nerve, and that it is restored, after stimulation, by some kind of "galvanic combustion element," as suggested by Straub (3) to explain the difference of osmotic pressure found between the yolk and the white of a living hen's egg. No chemical changes are known with certainty to occur during the initial phase of nerve activity, i. e. , during the transmission of the impulse; according to Gerard and Meyerhof (4) stimulation of a nerve in nitrogen leads to no appreciable increase in the rate of lactic acid formation. Moreover, the heat-production during this first phase, judging from the case of frog's nerve (5, 6) is very small, viz., only about 10 per cent. of the heat associated with the whole cycle (including recovery). Even in frog's nerve, however, it is know that stimulation in the absence of oxygen causes more rapid failure than oxygen want alone. It may well be the case that the initial phase of activity is concerned primarily with some kind of physical process involving electromotive effects, such as would ensue if contact were momentarily permitted between two different electrolyte solutions. Such a mixing of electrolytes permitted to occur during the passage of each impulse would lead to a gradual "discharge" of the nerve but to very little heat-production; the separation of the electrolytes, however, after activity, would require a supply of free energy in any actual working process, and probably a considerable liberation of heat.


Envenoming by the contact of human skin with Lonomia obliqua caterpillars promotes a hemorrhagic syndrome characterized by a consumptive coagulopathy. Losac (Lonomia obliqua Stuart factor activator) is a component of the bristle of L. obliqua that is probably partially responsible for the observed syndrome because it activates factor X and is recognized by an effective antilonomic serum. Here we unveil the proteolytic activity of Losac and demonstrate the feasibility of its recombinant production. On the other hand, Losac has no homology to known proteases, but it can be inhibited by PMSF, a serine protease inhibitor. Instead, it shows closer homology to members of the hemolin family of proteins, a group of cell adhesion molecules. The recombinant protein (rLosac) shortened the coagulation time of normal and deficient plasmas, whereas it was ineffective in factor X-deficient plasma unless reconstituted with this protein. rLosac was able to activate factor X in a dose- and time-dependent manner but not γ-carboxyglutamic acid domainless factor X. Moreover, phospholipids and calcium ions increased rLosac activity. Also, rLosac had no effect on fibrin or fibrinogen, indicating its specificity for blood coagulation activation. Linear double reciprocal plots indicate that rLosac follows a Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Cleavage of factor X by rLosac resulted in fragments that are compatible with those generated by RVV-X (a well known factor X activator). Together, our results validate Losac as the first protein from the hemolin family exhibiting procoagulant activity through selective proteolysis on coagulation factor X.


Principal components analysis (PCA) has been applied to multitemporal data for over a decade, frequently in preparation for land cover classification. With the increasing availability of standardized multitemporal datasets, such as Pathfinder AVHRR Land products and the maximum biweekly AVHRR NDVI composites for the conterminous US, the authors wondered about the efficacy of using PCA to identify the dominant spatio-temporal modes within the data. How many principal components are useful? Does inclusion of higher order components improve scene segmentation or hinder it? What are the effects on the spatial structure of a segmented scene? To address these questions the authors selected a portion of the North American Great Plains from the Pathfinder AVHRR Land product for 1986. The subset region nominally covers over 2 million km/sup 2/ and spans significant temperature and precipitation gradients. The resulting image time series comprised 30 10-day maximum NDVI composites. These data were submitted to a series of PCAs with 3, 6, 9, or 12 principal components output as different images. Each PCA set was then submitted to an unsupervised classification, followed by maximum likelihood decision rule applied to the signature set to yield 4, 6, 8, or 10 classes. Each class was analyzed with lacunarity analysis, which quantifies spatial heterogeneity and anisotropy in binary data. There was a significant effect of the number of PCs used in the classification on the lacunarity of certain classes but not others. Visual inspection revealed that several higher order principal components were compositing artifacts. These results suggest that PCA performed on image time series can effectively filter compositing noise when data are reduced to a small number (<6) of components.


ABSTRACT Often intersecting with systemic inequity and injustice, young people's exposure to community violence has been linked to a myriad of developmental impacts. A growing literature demonstrates the potential of peace education programs to promote resilient and prosocial outcomes for these individuals. Still, more work can be done to understand underlying mechanisms and implementation challenges to support these young people and build cultures of peace through education more effectively. In this article, we detail the theoretical foundation, context, and socioecological model for Marquette University Center for Peacemaking's Peace Works program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, before presenting the results of focus groups with teachers and administrators where it was implemented. The conversations touched on how teachers and administrators perceive of the implementation of this peace education program, what impacts they observe in students and school culture, and obstacles to promoting peace in students, schools, and broader communities through this approach. Overall, we aim to contribute to understandings of peace education in violent urban contexts by offering a model built on a theoretical focus on nonviolent communication and behavior and a socioecological model for transformative change, as well as lessons from the program's implementation.


Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of anatomical changes in prostate cancer patients on the target coverage when using 6 MV beams-VMAT therapy and to propose strategies that allow us to evaluate the dose or correct it by normalization without having to perform a new simulation. Methods and materials: Ten patients of high-risk prostate cancer were chosen for the study. All test plans were delivered using the same isocenter and monitor units as the original plan and compared against the original unedited plan. The expansion and contraction of body contours due to size changes was mimicked by increasing and decreasing the body contour with depths of −2, −1·5, …, 1·5, 2 cm, in the anterior, and both lateral directions of the patient. A total of 90 plans were evaluated, 9 for each patient. Dose-volume histogram statistics were extracted from each plan and normalized to prescription dose. Results: Weight changes resulted in considerable dose modifications to the target and critical structures. Plans were found to be varied with 2·9% ± 0·3% per cm SSD change for VMAT treatment with a correlation index close to one. Therefore, doses variations were linear to the changes of depth. Gamma index evaluation was performed for the 10 renormalized plans. All of them passed criteria of 3%/3 mm in at least 98.2% of points. Eight of them passed criteria in 99% points. Gamma index 4%/4 mm passed 100% points in all patients for the chosen region of interest. Conclusions: The dosimetry estimation presented in this study shows important data for the radiation oncology staff to justify whether a CT rescan is necessary or not when a patient experiences weight changes during treatment. Based on the results of our study, discrepancies between real dose and planned dose were >5% for 1·7 cm of difference in external contour in the anterior and both lateral directions of the patient.


AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 18-22, 2009; Denver, CO

Antibody mediated blockade of T cell inhibitory signals regulated by CTLA-4 has been shown to enhance anti-tumor responses in both pre-clinical and clinical settings. Over 3700 cancer patients with different malignancies have been treated with anti-CTLA-4 therapy on clinical trials. Published reports document an approximately 10% response rate for anti-CTLA-4 therapy. Why some patients respond to treatment with anti-CTLA-4 antibody while others do not remains unknown. The identification of intermediate biomarkers is essential for us to understand how anti-CTLA-4 antibody affects human immune responses and whether identified immune responses can serve as predictive markers of anti-tumor responses or allow for the selection of appropriate patients for therapy. To date, trials have been conducted in the metastatic disease setting, which allow for correlation of therapy with clinical outcome but do not provide analyses of relevant biomarkers in the systemic circulation that reflect changes within the tumor microenvironment. In an attempt to identify relevant biomarkers within the tumor microenvironment and systemic circulation, we conducted the first pre-surgical clinical trial with anti-CTLA-4 antibody. Patients with localized bladder cancer were given two doses of antibody at 3 mg/kg (N=6) or 10 mg/kg (N=6) prior to undergoing surgery. We found increased ICOS expression on CD4 T cells within tumor tissues and correlated these changes with those that occurred within the systemic circulation. CD4+ICOShi T cells produced IFN\#947; and could recognize the NY-ESO-1 tumor antigen. We extended our findings to the metastatic disease setting of melanoma patients and analyzed blood samples for changes in frequency of CD4+ICOShi T cells. Our preliminary data indicate that anti-CTLA-4 treated patients who have a 2-fold increase in ICOS-expressing CD4 T cells above pre-therapy values have improved clinical responses and survival as compared to patients without similar increases. Furthermore, we are exploring the role of ICOS-expressing T cells in murine models and have preliminary data to indicate that these T cells play an important role in anti-tumor responses mediated by anti-CTLA-4 antibody. Therefore, our pre-surgical clinical trial led to the identification of ICOS-expressing T cells as a potential biomarker for clinical responses in patients treated with anti-CTLA-4.

Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 5665.


The traditional generalization-based knowledge discovery method is introduced. A new kind of multilevel spatial association of the rules mining method based on the cloud model is presented. The cloud model integrates the vague and random use of linguistic terms in a unified way. With these models, spatial and nonspatial attribute values are well generalized at multiple levels, allowing discovery of strong spatial association rules. Combining the cloud model based method with Apriori algorithms for mining association rules from a spatial database shows benefits in being effective and flexible.


This paper discusses on static stability of Muncar purse seiner. The purse seiner data was obtained from the previous research which discussed on its design and constructions. A case study method was applied in this research. The objective of the research is to determine stability static quality of Muncar purse seiner. Some analysis was applied in this research such as, ratio dimension analysis, hydrostatic analysis and static stability value of the ship. The result showed that, ratio dimension of the ship (L/B, L/D, B/D) followed general range of Indonesian purse seiner, its coeffisien of fineness were within a range of purse seiner in Indonsia as well. Based on static stability analysis with 7 (seven) operational conditions taken into account, showed that the ship had good stability and suitable for non-extrem waters operationed.


We experienced a rare case of laryngeal cancer associated with dermatomyositis. The patient was a 63-year-old male and Japanese. He was admitted to our department of Otorhinolaryngology with dysphagia for a day as a chief complaint. He became aware of hoarseness with bloody sputum and then face edema with redness a half year before. At first physical examination, he had bilateral eyelid edema with erythema, finger edema with keratinizing erythema and limb extensor erythema. Serous creatine phosphokinase was 850 IU/mL (normal range: 40-200 IU/mL). Later, he was referred to the rheumatology department and was diagnosed as having dermatomyositis. Fiberscopic examination revealed laryngeal cancer with left laryngeal palsy. We gave priority to the laryngeal treatment. As a result, the symptoms of dermatomyositis were improved.


A description of the software for a FASTBUS based data acquisition system in use at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Multiparticle Spectrometer is presented. Data reading and formatting is done by the SLAC Scanner Processors (SSP's) resident in the FASTBUS system. A multiprocess software system on VAX computers is used to communicate with the SSP's, record the data, and monitor on-line the progress of high energy and heavy ion experiments. The structure and the performance of this system are discussed. 4 refs., 1 fig.


The design of electromagnetic band gap (MEBG) to reduce the mutual coupling effect on array antenna is proposed in this paper. The proposed design model of EBG structure is mushroom like EBG (MEBG). The MEBG design is used for microstrip array antenna at frequency S-band radar antenna. Reducing the mutual coupling effect is expected to increase the sidelobe level (SLL) performance. The proposed MEBG structure is placed between the patch elements to reduce mutual coupling effect of each element at a distance of λ/2. The simulation results for the proposed design shown slightly reduce the mutual coupling and an increase SLL performance compared to array antenna without MEBG.


BACKGROUND
This study has researched the cost-effectiveness of Early Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Catalonian women in the 50-64 age group.

METHODS
The cost-effectiveness ratio was obtained by comparing the costs of a program for 100,000 women with results achieved. The program consisted of a twice yearly mammography on all of the women over a 10 year period. The study assumed a participation level of 70%, detection rate of 0.36%, 92% sensitivity and specificity of 94%.

RESULTS
A cost-effectiveness ratio of 1,413.648 pesetas was determined per case of cancer detected. 705,489 per year of extended life and 783,982 per year of extended life adjusted according to quality. Cost-effectiveness of the test in the first year was 842,400 per case of cancer detected. 383,183 per year of extended life and 425,418 per year of extended life adjusted according to quality.

CONCLUSION
The results of the study are consistent with those obtained by other evaluations and show that early diagnosis of breast cancer is associated with a favourable cost-effectiveness ratio.


As mobile devices grew rapidly over the past few years, the wireless data demand has increased exponentially. Due to the extremely high price of licensed spectrum, License Assisted Access (LAA) has been proposed to provide high capacity by extending LTE transmissions to the unlicensed spectrum that WiFi systems operate. Due to the coexistence with WiFi systems, mobility management has become a critical problem in LTE-LAA networks. Compared with handover in traditional LTE networks that would only be triggered by user mobility in licensed bands, in LTE-LAA networks, handover can also be triggered due to the unavailability of unlicensed band in the serving cell. In this paper, a new handover scheme is proposed and analyzed in details for LTE-LAA networks, including handover triggering and handover procedure. We perform simulation to evaluate the performance of our proposed handover scheme with availability triggered handover considered. The simulation results show that by introducing availability triggered handover, the unlicensed spectrum handover ratio has a significant improvement, meaning that a more efficient utilization of unlicensed spectrum can be achieved, while the handover failure rate will relatively increase as compared with the traditional handover scheme.


Introduction : Data in the form of age, gender, and blood group might provide vital clues in human identity through odontological examinations. Therefore it is important to gather as much data as possible using less tissue. The purpose of this study was to find out whether a tooth helpful in determine age, gender and ABO blood group of individual or not?. Materials and Methods : The study sample consisted of twenty eight teeth divided into four groups under different environmental conditions and time. The teeth were sectioned longitudinally in the buccolingual plane along the midline. Longitudinal ground sections of each tooth were prepared for age determination from cemental lines. Pulp removed was divided into two halves thereafter sex and blood group was determined. Results : A strong positive correlation was found between the estimated age and actual age of the study groups. Moreover, there was no significant difference between the actual and determined sex and blood group of the study groups. Conclusion : Although age, sex, and blood group are more reliably determined in freshly extracted teeth, these variables may be of significant help in identification even after a period of 6 weeks post-extraction.


BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest health crises in the world and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is significant measures to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. However, PPE needs to be used properly by healthcare professionals.

OBJECTIVE
To analyze the use of PPE among Brazilian health professionals and associated factors during a period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS
An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out from October to December 2020. For data collection, the respondent-driven sampling technique was used, adapted for social media, with a link to an online survey form.

RESULTS
The study considered 12,086 Brazilian health professionals. Most (69%) used PPE recommended for the care of patients with suspected or diagnosed COVID-19. Factors associated with the use of PPE were: working in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or in a field hospital, receiving training, being provided with sufficient, high-quality PPE by the workplace and being an odontologist compared to nursing professionals. For procedures that generate aerosols in the context of COVID-19, 54.1% of them used the recommended PPE, the associated factors were: being married or in a stable relationship compared to a single/divorced professional, working in an ICU, being offered training, providing sufficient, high-quality PPE, and being an odontologist compared to nursing professionals.

CONCLUSIONS
For the care of patients with COVID-19, 69% of health professionals used PPE properly, and several factors interfered with the use of this equipment.


Cross-coupling reactions can be accelerated by trapping the metal catalyst in a confined space [Also see Report by Kaphan et al.] Enzymes catalyze a wide range of slow biological reactions by crafting their local environments to accommodate and interact with reactants (1). Chemists aiming to design synthetic systems with enzyme-like activity have previously introduced conventional catalysts directly into an enzyme pocket to facilitate reactions of interest (2). On page 1235 of this issue, Kaphan et al. (3) use a related strategy to speed up an alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling reaction that is prohibitively slow on its own (4). However, instead of a natural enzyme, the authors use a synthetic cocatalyst that forms a cage around their organometallic catalysts. The synthetic enhances the rate of a key step of the reaction, reductive elimination, by at least a factor of seven.


HiRE-RNA is a coarse-grained model for RNA structure prediction and the dynamical study of RNA folding. Using a reduced set of particles and detailed interactions accounting for base-pairing and stacking, we show that noncanonical and multiple base interactions are necessary to capture the full physical behavior of complex RNAs. In this paper, we give a full account of the model and present results on the folding, stability, and free energy surfaces of 16 systems with 12 to 76 nucleotides of increasingly complex architectures, ranging from monomers to dimers, using a total of 850 μs of simulation time.


In a female patient aged 33 years and suffering from excessive concern with her physical health, hypochondriasis was diagnosed. By cognitive behavioural therapy the obsessive thoughts, controlling behaviour and avoidance behaviour were alleviated. After treatment the patient needed fewer consultations. In general practice hypochondriasis is a common problem. Patients will ask for a lot of diagnostic tests. Nothing will give them enough reassurance and there can be irritation. The general practitioner must confront them with the fact that their main problem is hypochondriasis and search for solutions. Cognitive and behavioural therapy as well as treatment with antidepressive drugs may be helpful. The earlier the diagnosis and the start of treatment, the better the prognosis.


The effect of age as a risk factor for deterioration of palmar microcirculation after radial artery harvesting for coronary revascularization is unknown. In 114 patients aged 61.7 ± 6.7 years undergoing radial artery harvesting, superficial and deep tissue oxygen saturation, postcapillary venous filling, and capillary blood flow were determined using a combined laser Doppler spectrophotometry system 25 ± 5 months after surgery. Superficial and deep oxygen saturation at the harvested thenar eminence decreased with age. In the nondonor hand, oxygen saturation declined in the first and second digits. Postcapillary venous filling pressure in both thenars increased with age. It was concluded that neurological complications do not correlate with age. Palmar tissue oxygen saturation, palmar capillary blood flow, and blood velocity decrease, while postcapillary venous filling pressure significantly increases with age. Radial artery harvesting for coronary revascularization does not compromise palmar microcirculation to the same extent as age. A cut-off value of ≤ 67 years was determined by microcirculatory assessment; beyond this, significant deterioration of palmar microcirculation is more likely to occur.


Background Ultrasonography (US), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and X-ray are the alternative diagnostic modalities used to identify affected joints and surrounding tissues (tophi, erosions and synovitis) in gout patients, but the potential of each method for sequential assessment of disease regression in pts receiving urate-lowering therapy is not sufficiently studied [1] Objectives Comparison of US, CT, X-ray and MRI efficacy for sequential assessment of affected joints in pts treated with urate-lowering agents. Methods The open prospective study was conducted in 2013–2015 yy at V.A. Nasonova Research Institute of Rheumatology. 22 pts with crystal-verified gout (4 (15%) f and 18 (85%) m), mean age – 54,5±12,7 years, were included. The dose of allopurinol administered in all pts was adjusted by titration starting from 100 mg/day. Instrumental diagnostic examination (US, MRI, CT and plain X-ray of knee joints) was performed at baseline and after one year of follow up. US of knee joints was performed using multi-frequency linear array transducer, at 7 to 17 MHz frequencies; for MRI examination "Esaote Artrosan 0.25TI" was used, GE "Light Speed" - for CT scans, and Stephanix – for plain X-ray examination. Applied descriptive statistics STATISTICA 10.0 (StatSoft/Inc., USA) package was used for statistical analysis. Results Mean serum level of uric acid decreased from 568±115 μmol/l to 302±135 μmol/l. The target level (<360 μmol/l) was achieved in 20 pts (91%), (<300 μmol/l) was achieved in 11 pts (50%). Median allopurinol dose was 400 [300; 600] mg/day, 9 (45%) pts had to take 600 mg/day and more. At baseline US examination detected periarticular tophi in 13 (59%) pts, MRI - in 6 (28%) pts, CT in 3 (14%), X-ray - 1 (5%) pts, after one year - by US in 9 (41%) pts and MRI - 3 (14%) pts, CT in 2 (9%), X-ray - 1 (5%) pts. At baseline intraosseous tophi were detected only by CT and X-ray in 18 (81%) and 2 (9%) pts respectively, after one year 17 (77%) pts and 3 (14%) pts respectively. At baseline erosions were detected in 19 (86%) pts by MRI, in 11 (50%) pts – by US, in 14 (65%) pts – by CT, and in 9 pts (41%) – by X-ray, after one year in 14 (64%) pts by MRI, 10 (45%) pts by US, 12 (54%) pts by CT, 8 (36%) pts by X-ray. At baseline synovitis was reliably diagnosed by MRI and US: in 15 (68%) pts and 17 (77%) pts, after one year in 2 (9%) pts and 3 (14%) pts respectively Conclusions MRI and US, as for synovitis, erosions and tophi dynamics, are comparable, at that for erosions MRI is more accurate. CT is the most informative approach to monitor intraosseous tohhi regression. X-ray is low- informative modality for sequential assessment of gout. References Grainger R, Dalbeth N, Keen H, et al. Imaging as an outcome measure in gout studies: report from the OMERACT gout working group. J Rheumatol 2015; 42(12):2460e4. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Abstract Functional design is regarded as a design activity primarily aimed at clarifying customer needs, and developing the functional architecture and solution concepts for a system under development. Existing functional design approaches are mainly focused on how to assist designers in searching for solution principles for desired products, which, however, do not adequately take into account the interactions between a smart system under development and its environment, and cannot explicitly represent the complex functional logic of the system, resulting in that they cannot effectively assist designers in the functional design of smart systems. Therefore, this paper proposes a scenario-integrated approach for functional design of smart systems to address the above issues. Based on the concept of scenario in software engineering, the proposed approach explicitly elaborates how to employ scenarios to express subjective customer needs and how to generate the functional architectures and the corresponding solution concepts through a structured process. The functional design of the automated doors-unlocking system of a smart vehicle is employed to illustrate the proposed approach, which also demonstrates that the proposed approach is suitable for functional design of smart systems.


With the steady growth of interest in the field of interior design, programs are looking for ways of admitting students into their curriculum that have a higher likelihood of succeeding and persisting in the program. A method beyond the existing high school GPA, class rank, and SAT/ACT scores is needed to help predict entering interior design students' academic success. Research has shown that the NF / NT dimension, of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), will predict an interest in an artistic profession. The assessment of personality traits as predictors of academic performance coupled with demographic variables and standard admission criteria are proving to be valuable in recognizing noncognitive factors that influence success or failure in academic endeavors. Present studies do suggest that personality traits can be reliably assessed and that certain traits do affect students' academic performance. The purpose of this research is to (a) assess the personality types, using the MBTI, of senior interior design students; (b) compare personality types of freshmen and seniors to determine if differences exist; (c) determine if personality types, used with SAT/ACT scores and high school rank, can be a significant predictor of academic success and program persistence; and (d) develop a profile of the successful senior interior design student. The 121 participants were freshmen and senior interior design students enrolled in CIDA (Council for Interior Design Accreditation) accredited professional level programs at public, 4-year universities selected from the Southwest Region, as defined by the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC). The MBTI personality assessment, vi Texas Tech University, Rosemary Peggram, December 2007 demographic questionnaires, descriptive statistics, standard multiple linear regression and Pearson chi-square were utilized to answer the research questions. The findings indicate that all 16 types of the MBTI are represented in the seniors with 71% falling into 7 types. The top 4 MBTI types for freshmen were ENFP, ISTJ, ISFJ and ESFP. The top 4 MBTI types for seniors were ISFJ, ESTJ, ENFP and ENTJ. To predict success in interior design, significance was found between the Judging dimension of the MBTI, senior classification, older age, higher ACT score, and higher high school rank with higher cumulative GPA.


Summary Forty-eight patients with 50 severe fractures of the proximal tibia were followed prospectively for 2–4 years (mean 2.7 years) to evaluate the use of limited internal fixation combined with external fixation in the treatment of these injuries. There were 27 men and 21 women ranging in age from 20 to 74 years. Fractures were classified according to the AO system (Mast J, Ganz R, Jacob R: Planning and reduction technique in fracture surgery. Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1989), which included 5 A3, 6 Cl, 16 C2, and 23 C3 fractures. All patients in this series healed; 48 fractures healed in an average of 12 weeks without subsequent surgery. There were two (4%) nonunions requiring bone graft. The average hospital special surgery knee score was 90 (68–100). Grading criteria for anatomical outcome revealed there were 17 (34%) excellent results, 24 (48%) good results, 6 (12%) fair results, and 3 (6%) poor results. In conclusion, this treatment method is associated with a high percentage of good and excellent results. Combined internal and external fixation combines the advantages of anatomic, stable fixation with less soft-tissue dissection and eliminates the need for large implants.


The authors describe the conformance test system for components meeting the EIAJ (Electronic Industries Association of Japan) standard on home bus systems for connection to Home Bus Systems (HBSs). This system is designed for the conformance tests for OSI layers 1 and 2. The system performs four test processes for the required test items defined in the standard for HBS. They are: analyze signal sent out from the IFU (interface unit) under test; apply a test frame to the IFU and analyze its response; send a response signal for the signal sent from the IFU and analyze its response; and send connection pulses to the IFU and analyze its response. The conformance test system described can perform all the conformance tests for the operations specified in layer 2. The conformance tests of terminals in layer 1 (CSMA/CD) were also possible using the present test system. >


Amplification of putative potBCD genes from Serratia rubidae was conducted by PCR using a pair of primers FERC and RERC. A fragment with ~1800 bp size was ligated to pGEM-T Easy vector then cloned to competent Escherichia coli DH5α. The recombinant plasmid was sequenced using SP6, T7 and two internal primers, FPC and RPC. A sequence similarity search and analysis was performed with the BLASTN program. The sequence was found to have 83% similarity to potABCD genes from E. coli. Those genes encoded a spermidine-preferential uptake system that consists of four kinds of protein: PotA is a membrane-associated ATPase, PotB and PotC are transmembrane proteins that form channels, and PotD is a periplasmic substrate-binding protein. Alignment analysis showed that the isolated clone consisted of potB (partial), potC (full length) and potD (partial). The sequences for potBCD genes from S. rubidae are not available in the NCBI database. Furthermore, we have submitted this sequence, potBCD from S. rubidae , on GeneBank with Acc. number FJ447342.


Background The pharmacy is the last link in the drug chain and error, which is never an isolated fact, is still a troublesome reality. Everything must be organised to minimise risks and their severity. As such, Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) applied to the pharmaceutical activity helps control the risks of non-compliance that can negatively affect the quality of provided services. Purpose The objective of this work was to apply in practice the FMECA tool (example of the procedure of medical devices' reception) at a hospital pharmacy engaged in the process of implementing a quality management system, in order to propose for each risk identified and analysed, a matrix of preventive and corrective actions. Material and methods Our work took place in three stages: Identification and description of elementary processes forming the macro–process of medical devices' reception at our hospital's pharmacy pole. Drafting the procedure describing the main activities forming the macro–process in question. Application of the FMECA tool to the described activities in order to identify different risks and calculate their criticality (criticality=frequency × severity). Results The results of this risk analysis, applied to the macro-process of medical devices' reception at our hospital's pharmacy pole, allowed us to identify 13 risks (among which three had a criticality score ≥8), to reconsider certain practices and to propose matrices of measurements for taking charge of most critical risks. Conclusion This experience helped to sensitise staff to the 'risk culture'. In addition, the results specific to our hospital's pharmacy pole may constitute a model available to other hospital pharmacies seeking to improve the quality of their services, which would help to upgrade the profession of hospital pharmacists. References and/or acknowledgements None. No conflict of interest.


Introduction: Thymidine kinase is an established marker of cancer cell proliferation and its activity can be measured in blood. We and others have recently shown that baseline and dynamic evaluation of circulating thymidine kinase activity (TKa) during treatment gives prognostic and predictive information in patients with HR+, HER2-negative metastatic BC treated with endocrine therapy alone, as well as in the setting of CDK4/6 inhibition. However, there is limited data regarding the role of TKa as a prognostic biomarker in operable BC. Here we present a retrospective analysis of TKa in serum samples collected in a cohort of premenopausal women with operable BC enrolled in a phase III adjuvant multicenter clinical trial (NCT00201851). Materials and methods: Serum samples were available for 644 (87%) of participants prospectively enrolled in a randomized trial between 2003 and 2009 in South East Asia. All women were premenopausal, had stage II-IIIB HR+ operable BC and uniformly received bilateral surgical oophorectomy concurrent with mastectomy followed by tamoxifen alone for five years. Patients did not receive chemotherapy or targeted therapy pre- or post-operatively. Participants were randomized in the study according to the timing of surgery with respect to the phase of the menstrual cycle. Serum samples were collected preoperatively on the day of surgery. Serum TKa was measured using the ELISA-based DiviTum™ assay (Biovica, Sweden). TKa analysis was performed at a central laboratory, blind to clinical data. Baseline TKa values were correlated with clinico-pathological characteristics and clinical outcome. Clinical outcome was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The majority of patients had both estrogen and progesterone receptor positive tumors (94% and 92% respectively), 65% were HER2 negative (18% positive; 17% unknown). Most had pT2 or pT3 disease (60% and 27% respectively), and more than half were node-positive (pN0 42%, pN1 27%, pN2 19%, pN3 11%, pNx 1%). The overall median TKa value was 65.4 Du/L. At five years, patients with a baseline TKa value below the median had a disease-free survival (DFS) rate of 75% versus 61% in those with a baseline over the median (HR 1.82, 95% CI 1.37-2.4, p Conclusions: This study shows pre-operative TKa measured in serum is a strong prognostic marker in a large cohort of women with HR+ operable BC uniformly treated within a clinical trial. The notable rate of recurrence seen within this cohort of patients derived from non-high income countries may be mainly attributed to the relative degree of disease burden at diagnosis. TKa may be seen as a potential circulating marker of proliferation akin to tumor Ki67, which may provide useful prognostic information to guide adjuvant therapies. Citation Format: Luca Malorni, Ilenia Migliaccio, Chiara Biagioni, Lorenzo Rossi, Irene De Santo, Richard L Love, Amelia McCartney, Mattias Bergqvist, Martina Bonechi, Francesca De Luca, Francesca Galardi, Matteo Benelli, Dario Romagnoli, Emanuela Risi, Laura Biganzoli, Adriano Laudico, Nguyen Van Dinh, Angelo Di Leo. Serum thymidine kinase-1 activity (TKa) as a prognostic marker in premenopausal women with hormone receptor positive (HR+) operable breast cancer (BC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-06-11.


This research seeks to explore the relationship between the different ideologies of the political power and identifying the national identity through manipulating the architecture and the urban design. Exploring how the colonial and post-independence phases in Iraq have utilised this relationship to enhance the national identity and empower the nation's independence, through the lens of the University of Baghdad architecture which was designed by Walter Gropius to become one of the most influential post-independence urban projects in Iraq , by exploring its narrative as a product of this specific time and place.
The post-independence phase could be considered as one of the most challenging stages in the development of modern Iraq. It witnessed several dramatic events and changes at Iraqi, as well as wider Arab and international levels. By the end of the Second World War, and particularly during the 1950s, Iraq entered an era of progress regarding its economy, its social-cultural development as well as its urban development where the oil industry and its generated revenue have to be considered as one of the main factors that influenced the new image as an independent nation.
Yet, questing this newly to be defined national identity was one of the main problematic issues in the post-colonial city's transformation. It was intrinsically linked with the political ideologies and its transforming powers, which aimed to manipulate the urban environment in a way to enhance national identity and enforce political independence. This could be highly factual in the case of Baghdad, which has witnessed extraordinary efforts to modernize and develop its image as a modern capital, when architecture was one of the principal means that generated these changes on the ground. This research argues that the University of Baghdad campus which was originally conceived and approved by the Iraq monarchy yet constructed during the Republic of Iraq should be explored through its relation to the social-cultural and political context that accompanied its establishment. The primary contribution of this research is based on offering a new perspective to understand how the colonial and post-independence phases in Iraq have utilised the architecture to enhance the national identity and empower the nation's independence, through the lens of the University of Baghdad campus and its narrative as a product of this specific time and place, and how the university campus has been manipulated to promote a version of identities that would support and help to legitimise different political ideologies.

Keywords: Modernity in Middle East Cities, Architecture mobility, Modernity in Non -West, Identity representation and Power legitimation


Individuals at risk of HIV are concomitantly at risk of acquiring parenterally or sexually transmitted viruses, including HBV and HCV. After the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART), liver disease has emerged as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected persons. HBV, HCV and HIV share common routes of transmission, but the differential efficiency of these viruses to the types of exposures underlies difference in their prevalence by geographic region. Coinfection alters the natural history of each of these viruses in a peculiar way; furthermore coinfection with viral hepatitis may complicate the delivery of ART by increasing the risk of drug-related hepatoxicity and impacting the selection of specific agents (e.g., those dually active against HIV and HBV). The treatment of HBV in HIV co-infection is complex because the drug(s) used is/are associated with drug-resistance, cross-resistance, hepatotoxicity and suboptimal response. The aim is to achieve long-term sustained viral (HBV) suppression. HBV should be treated in coinfected patients with elevated HBV DNA or significant hepatic fibrosis (Metavir score = A2 or F2). The HBV DNA threshold for initiation of HBV treatment should be lower than in patients with HBV monoinfection. Anti HBV therapy should also be considered in those receiving ART irrespective of viral load and fibrosis, in order to prevent hepatitis of immune reconstitution. Selection of drug(s) depends on whether coinfected patients require treatment of only HBV or both HBV and HIV. In patients requiring only HBV treatment, drugs with dual antiviral activity should not be used in order to avoid early HIV resistance. When both HIV and HBV meet criteria for the treatment, agents with dual activity should be included in the anti-retroviral regimen. Treatment should be monitored by measuring the ALT and HBV DNA levels 3 to 6 monthly. The required duration of HBV treatment in coinfected induviduals is not known and may possibly be life long. Every coinfected person with compensated chronic HCV should be considered for HCV treatment. However, treatment should be avoided in decompensated cirrhosis and in the presence of active opportunistic infection. In patients with CD4 counts <200 cells/il and/or plasma HIV-RNA above 100,000 copies/mI, it may be better to consider anti HIV treatment before HCV treatment. The standard treatment in coinfected patients is pegylated interferon alfa-2a (Pegasys) or -2b (Peg-Intron) plus ribavirin for 48 weeks. Several studies have shown an overall sustained vwal response rate of 14% to 29% in genotype 1 and 53% to 73% in genotypes 2 and 3. The other concern with treatment is drug interaction with anti retroviral drugs necessitating avoidance of certain drugs from ART regimen. The coinfected persons with decompensated liver cirrhosis should not be denied HAART and should be evaluated for liver transplantation. Finally, management of patients not responding to standared therapy is not known.


The static random-access memory (SRAM) cells used in the high radiation environment of aerospace have become highly vulnerable to single-event effects (SEE). Therefore, a 12T SRAM-hardened circuit (RHB-12T cell) for the soft error recovery is proposed using the radiation hardening design (RHBD) concept. To verify the performance of the RHB-12T, the proposed cell is simulated by the 28 nm CMOS process and compared with other hardened cells (Quatro-10T, WE-Quatro-12T, RHM-12T, RHD-12T, and RSP-14T). The simulation results show that the RHB-12T cell can recover not only from single-event upset caused by their sensitive nodes but also from single-event multi-node upset caused by their storage node pairs. The proposed cell exhibits 1.14×/1.23×/1.06× shorter read delay than Quatro-10T/WE-Quatro-12T/RSP-14T and 1.31×/1.11×/1.18×/1.37× shorter write delay than WE-Quatro-12T/RHM-12T/RHD-12T/RSP-14T. It also shows 1.35×/1.11×/1.04× higher read stability than Quatro-10T/RHM-12T/RHD-12T and 1.12×/1.04×/1.09× higher write ability than RHM-12T/RHD-12T/RSP-14T. All these improvements are achieved at the cost of a slightly larger area and power consumption.


Social media has become a popular platform for reputable health organizations to disseminate health information to the public. However, future health professionals may receive little training in social media communication. To train future dietetic professionals, we incorporated a social media assignment into a Communications course curriculum to facilitate effective use of social media for the profession. For the assignment, students were instructed to make 2 posts on Facebook. The posts were due 3 weeks apart so that students received feedback on their first post before making their second post. To demonstrate the type of social media communication commonly used by reputable health organizations, the first post raised awareness or provided nutrition education. The second post used Facebook's "comment" feature, to respond to another student's first post, demonstrating the use of social media for community engagement. Both posts included a hyperlink that the user could click to get more information. Students were evaluated on the hook, main points, professionalism, credibility, and effectiveness of inviting the reader to the hyperlinked website and its ease of navigation. Dietetics educators should be encouraged to incorporate social media education into their curriculums for the benefit of future dietitians and their clients.


This article examines the effect of a change in housing consumption of various reference groups on predicted own house price. I employ a spatial autoregressive model and find that an increase in average house size of the eight nearest neighbors and the largest houses in the district has a negative effect on predicted house price, whereas the effect of an increase in average house size of the further neighbors (9th through 16th neighbors) and the smallest houses in the district on predicted house price is positive. This suggests that the "envy effect" dominates with respect to the nearest and largest neighbors, whereas the "basking in the reflected glory" effect dominates with respect to the further smallest neighbors.


Recently, the smart grid is expected to modernize the current electricity grid by commencing a new set of technologies and services that make the electricity networks secure, automated controlled, cooperative and sustainable. Consequently, the smart control centre feels the requirement of a robust and scalable technique for state estimation (SE) that allows continuous and accurate wide-area real-time monitoring of power system operation and customer utilization of smart grid. This paper proposes a Kalman filter (KF) based micro grid SE using the internet of things (IoT) communication network under two different sensing scenarios. Particularly, the observation from the multiple distributed energy resources (DERs) information is obtained by a set of sensors, which is transmitted to a control center via the IoT communication network. In this control center, the information is fed to a state estimator program for estimating the states of the multiple DERs. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed KF based micro grid SE is able to estimate the system states properly in all scenarios. Results indicate that it is better to use the same number of sensors as that of states for properly estimating the DERs states using the IoT communication network.


Abstract : In designing axial flow turbines, one needs relatively simple prediction techniques for the angle variations and losses produced by secondary flows. To improve the physical basis of such techniques, an investigation was made of the flow in a cascade of large scale rotor blades of some 110 deg of turning. The aspect around 0.2 of the span. The flow was traversed in great detailed on ten planes using cobra-type probes with a computerised data recording and analysis system. Results are presented graphically using contour and vector plots on various planes through the flow field. The horse-show vortex and passage vortex development are clearly seen, with the upstream boundary layer being shed downstream as a loss core. Another region of high loss is related to a counter vortex in the corner between the sunction surface and the end wall. Results were also pitch averaged, and compared with predictions of angle and loss distribution. Some traversing was carried out using hot wire anemometry. Regions of high turbulence intensity and shear stress were identified, associated with the regions of high loss. Some indication is given of the mechanisms of loss production within the cascade.


Results of three-dimensional finite element simulations are presented for the subsurface stress and strain fields in a layered elastic-plastic half-space subjected to repeated sliding contact by a rigid sphere. A single perfectly adhering layer with an elastic modulus and yield strength both two and four times that of the substrate material is modeled. Applied sliding loads are equivalent to 100 and 200 times the initial yield load of the substrate material and sliding is performed to distances of approximately two times the contact radius. The effects of layer material properties and normal load on the loaded and residual stresses occurring from repeated load cycles are examined and compared with stresses produced during the first load cycle. Results for the maximum tensile stresses at the layer/substrate interface and the Maximum principal stress in the substrate are presented and their significance for layer decohesion and crack initiation is discussed. Further yielding of substrate material during unloading is discussed, and the possibility of shakedown to an elastic or plastic loading cycle is analyzed for the different material properties and contact loads investigated.


A packet switched wireless cellular system with wide area coverage, high throughput and high spectral efficiency is proposed. Smart antennas at both base stations and mobiles improve the antenna gain and improve the signal to interference ratio. The small-scale fading is predicted in both time and frequency and a slotted OFDM radio interface is used, in which time-frequency bins are allocated adaptively to different mobile users, based on their predicted channel quality. This enables efficient scheduling among sectors and users as well as fast adaptive modulation and power control. We here estimate the spectral efficiency of the suggested downlink. The resulting channel capacity grows with the number of simultaneous users and with the number of antenna elements in terminals. A high efficiency, around 4 bits/s/Hz, is attained already for moderate numbers of users and terminal antennas. An outline is given of research pursued within the PCC Wireless IP Project to improve and investigate this type of system.


AIM
We examined an economical method for evaluating the amplification of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene in breast cancer specimens.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We compared HER2 amplification determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on whole-tissue (WT) blocks used for diagnostic and on tissue microarray (TMA) sections for a cohort of 521 consecutive patients with breast cancer. In a subset of 116 patients, we examined HER2 concordance from the WT section and a TMA section from a randomly chosen additional block (a proxy of the core biopsy).

RESULTS
Overall concordance for HER2 amplification between WT and TMA sections was 98.2%, and between sections from WT and from the additional block was 99.0%.

CONCLUSION
The high concordance rates support the use of TMA for the evaluation of HER2 amplification in breast cancer and suggest that FISH can be used to assess HER2 using core biopsies.


Hypericum herbal infusion was used in combination with rational psychotherapy of depressive manifestations in 57 outpatients with alcoholism and concomitant diseases of digestive organs. Duration of treatment--2 months (1 glass 4-5 times daily). It is concluded that this treatment in combination with rational psychotherapy proved effective.


The article deals with the problem of the formation of safe behaviour of primary school students in the digital space. Primary school age is transitional in mastering the digital space. This is due to the age-related psychological characteristics of primary school students (qualitative changes in cognitive development; actualization of verbal and logical thinking; semantic memory, voluntary attention; the need for play, movement and external impressions, «clip thinking», etc.). Online risks are characterized as the following: communicative, content, consumer, technical, and internet addiction. It is emphasized that collision with communicative risks is the most serious issue for children compared to other types of online risks because it more often causes them tangible harm. The positive and negative aspects of the activities of primary school students in the digital space are determined. Positive aspects include the following: development of logical, operational thinking; the ability to predict; satisfaction of children's need for external impressions; the ability to manage information flows; formation of creative thinking, etc. Negative aspects of activities of primary school students in the digital space are the following: problems with physical and mental health; inability to communicate with peers and adults in real life; decrease in empathy; the danger of virtual temptation of a child; loss of interest in learning, reading, manual labour; inability to distinguish virtual reality from real reality, etc. Educational tasks are singled out, the implementation of which will contribute to increasing the safety of primary school students in the digital space: combining the efforts of the state, parents and teachers to implement more effective mechanisms for the modernization of content for children in social networks; increasing the level of teachers' digital competence; formation of parents' digital competence; establishment of partnership interaction between parents and teachers, which is as a mutually coordinated and responsible activity based on dialogue, equal rights, voluntary participation and mutual interest of the parties; education of students' responsible attitude towards their activities on the Internet. The conducted research does not cover all aspects of the raised multifaceted problem of the formation of safe behaviour of primary school students in the digital space. Further scientific research can be aimed at developing criteria, indicators and identifying the levels of formation of safe behaviour of primary school students in the digital space. Key words: safe behaviour, primary school students, digital space, online risks, positive and negative aspects of a child's activity in the digital space.


The purpose of the study is to describe the life experiences of a young man who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through a narrative research. In other words, our research aim is to investigate the nature of life and especially the social and school experiences of individual affected by this syndrome.Data were collected via interviews, meetings, researcher reflections and documents. Inductive approach was used for data analysis. The findings were interpreted and presented into themes. The results were discussed in terms of implications for future research and interventions.


We have reconsidered the Higgs boson search via the"golden mode"for Tevatron. It is shown that this mode will give opportunity to observe the Higgs boson with mass up to 300 GeV before Tevatron shutdown.


Background Alterations in gray matter (GM) are commonly observed in schizophrenia. Accumulating studies suggest that the brain changes associated with schizophrenia are distributed rather than focal, involving interconnected networks of areas as opposed to single regions. In the current study we aimed to explore GM volume (GMV) changes in a relatively large sample of treatment-naive first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients using optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and covariation analysis. Method High-resolution T1-weighted images were obtained using 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from 86 first-episode drug-naive patients with schizophrenia and 86 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. Symptom severity was evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). GMV was assessed using optimized VBM and in 16 regions of interest (ROIs), selected on the basis of a previous meta-analysis. The relationships between GMVs in the ROIs were examined using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results The VBM analysis revealed that first-episode patients showed reduced GMV in the hippocampus bilaterally. The ROI analysis identified reductions in GMV in the left inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral hippocampus and right thalamus. The ANCOVA revealed different patterns of regional GMV correlations in patients and controls, including of inter- and intra-insula, inter-amygdala and insula–postcentral gyrus connections. Conclusions Schizophrenia involves regional reductions in GMV and changes in GMV covariance in the insula, amygdala and postcentral gyrus. These findings were evident at the onset of the disorder, before treatment, and therefore cannot be attributable to the effects of chronic illness progression or medication.


We consider the problem of the estimation of a high-dimensional probability distribution using model classes of functions in tree-based tensor formats, a particular case of tensor networks associated with a dimension partition tree. The distribution is assumed to admit a density with respect to a product measure, possibly discrete for handling the case of discrete random variables.
After discussing the representation of classical model classes in tree-based tensor formats, we present learning algorithms based on empirical risk minimization using a $L^2$ contrast.
These algorithms exploit the multilinear parametrization of the formats to recast the nonlinear minimization problem into a sequence of empirical risk minimization problems with linear models. A suitable parametrization of the tensor in tree-based tensor format allows to obtain a linear model with orthogonal bases, so that each problem admits an explicit expression of the solution and cross-validation risk estimates. These estimations of the risk enable the model selection, for instance when exploiting sparsity in the coefficients of the representation.
A strategy for the adaptation of the tensor format (dimension tree and tree-based ranks) is provided, which allows to discover and exploit some specific structures of high-dimensional probability distributions such as independence or conditional independence.
We illustrate the performances of the proposed algorithms for the approximation of classical probabilistic models (such as Gaussian distribution, graphical models, Markov chain).


This thesis comprises two parts.

Part-I:Synthesis of Azaterpenoids and their biological evaluation. Part-II:Studies on the chemical constituents of Cucumis prophetarum.

The part A describes the synthesis of Betulin N-oxide from betulin (25-29), ursolic-N-oxide from ursolic acid (30-34), and an azasteroid from a very common sterol of plant, namely, B-sistosterol (35-39).

The compounds which were synthesized are as follows:


This paper applies growth optimization with downside protection as a portfolio selection technique. The model is based on power-log utility functions that combine portfolio growth maximization with the behavioural tenets of prospect theory. We use three assets (a farm return index, a stock market index, and a Treasury bond index) to illustrate how effective this technique is compared to the standard model of growth maximization.


We demonstrate high-resolution and high-sensitivity x-ray phase-contrast imaging of a weakly scattering extended object by scanning coherent diffractive imaging, i.e., ptychography, using a focused x-ray beam with a spatial filter. We develop the x-ray illumination optics installed with the spatial filter to collect coherent diffraction patterns with a high signal-to-noise ratio. We quantitatively visualize the object with a slight phase shift (∼λ/320) at spatial resolution better than 17 nm in a field of view larger than ∼2×2μm2. The present coherent method has a marked potential for high-resolution and wide-field-of-view observation of weakly scattering objects such as biological soft tissues.


State feedback decoupling permits to achieve a better dynamic response for Voltage Source in stand-alone applications. The design of current and voltage regulators is performed in the discrete-time domain since it provides better accuracy and allows direct pole placement. As the attainable bandwidth of the current loop is mainly limited by computational and PWM delays, a lead compensator structure is proposed to overcome this limitation. The design of the voltage regulator is based on the Nyquist criterion, verifying to guarantee a high sensitivity peak. Discrete-time domain implementation issues of an anti-wind up scheme are discussed as well. Laboratory tests in compliance with the standard for UPS systems (IEC 62040-3) are performed to validate the theoretical analysis.


The CD34 antigen is a sensitive marker of vascular endothelium and angiogenesis. Thus, we examined the expression of CD34 in 20 human temporomandibular joint (TMJ) samples with internal derangement and in 10 control specimens by an immunohistological technique using paraffin-embedded tissue and specific anti-human CD34 monoclonal antibody. In the control specimens, CD34 was observed sporadically within the TMJ discs. On the other hand, in the internal derangement specimens, CD34 was found frequently in the walls of blood capillaries within the TMJ discs. In the synovial membrane, CD34 was detected frequently in the walls of many blood capillaries in both the controls and the internal derangement specimens. Indeed, CD34 expression in internal derangement specimens was more intense than in control specimens. In the posterior loose connective tissue of the bilaminar zone, and in the anterior loose connective tissue between the upper and lower lamellae of the anterior capsular wall, CD34 was detected in abundance in the walls of blood capillaries both of the controls and the internal derangement specimens. Generally, CD34 was found rarely in the walls of large blood vessels. The presence of CD34 is suggested to be correlated with the process of angiogenesis induced by internal derangement of the TMJ.


This paper uses the first available vital statistics by citizenship for Greece to estimate current fertility among immigrants and natives. Subsequently, population projections are employed to assess the demographic effects of migrant/native fertility and of immigration on the country's population for the period 2005-2025. It is estimated (2005) that immigrants exhibit earlier childbearing and higher total fertility (2.12) than natives (1.24). Of the ethnic groups considered, Albanians have the highest and Bulgarians the lowest rates. Although births to immigrants represent a considerable share (16.5%) their impact on overall fertility is very limited. The projections reveal that the ageing of the country's population is inevitable as the effects of variant levels of foreign/native fertility are minor and immigration, in spite of being the most important component having a favorable impact, cannot offset this process. The concept of Replacement Migration is an infeasible solution as it would require an unattainable intake of 4 million newcomers.


Isotope applications are gaining acceptance for use in surface water and groundwater investigations, complementing traditional geochemistry and physical hydrology techniques. Recent developments in analytical methodologies and in the understanding of isotope dynamics now allow the use of isotopes to investigate sources and fate of common groundwater contaminants such as chlorinated solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons. Contaminants with unique isotopic signatures may facilitate the determination of contaminant sources in complex plumes. Degradation of chlorinated solvents and some petroleum hydrocarbons impart unique isotopic signatures on both the original contaminant and the degradation product or products that provide verification of degradation. Use of a Rayleigh-type model may allow determination of degradation extent. Coupled with models of contaminant fate and transport, degradation extent may be useful for determining degradation rates. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Human papillomavirus (HPV), a major sexually-transmitted disease, causes cervical cancer, in addition to numerous other cancers in females and males. This thesis uses mathematical modeling, theory and simulations to study the transmission dynamics of HPV, and associated dysplasia, in a community. A new deterministic model is designed and used to assess the population-level impact of Pap cytology screening on the transmission dynamics of the disease in a community. The model is rigorously analyzed for its dynamical features, visa-vis determining the conditions for the effective control (or elimination) and persistence of the disease. Furthermore, the effect of uncertainties in the estimates of the parameter values used in the numerical simulations of the model is accounted for via uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. Simulations of the model show that Pap screening dramatically reduces the incidence of cervical cancer in the community.