Ensembles of deep neural networks have achieved great success recently, but they do not offer a proper Bayesian justification. Moreover, while they allow for averaging of predictions over several hypotheses, they do not provide any guarantees for their diversity, leading to redundant solutions in function space. In contrast, particle-based inference methods, such as Stein variational gradient descent (SVGD), offer a Bayesian framework, but rely on the choice of a kernel to measure the similarity between ensemble members. In this work, we study different SVGD methods operating in the weight space, function space, and in a hybrid setting. We compare the SVGD approaches to other ensembling-based methods in terms of their theoretical properties and assess their empirical performance on synthetic and real-world tasks. We find that SVGD using functional and hybrid kernels can overcome the limitations of deep ensembles. It improves on functional diversity and uncertainty estimation and approaches the true Bayesian posterior more closely. Moreover, we show that using stochastic SVGD updates, as opposed to the standard deterministic ones, can further improve the performance.


Continuous heat extraction is important for the process of freeze concentration of aqueous solutions, in which water is removed as solid ice. Three typical unsteady heat transportation patterns were distinguished at the subcooled surface of a scraped-surface heat exchanger (SSHE) in this study. They were found in different stages of freeze concentration. Experimental measurement of the heat-transfer coefficient in an SSHE showed that the overall heat-transfer coefficient of stage III, which was characterized by ice formation on the cooler surface, was about 1.5 times higher than stage I, where no ice formed. Although the ice layer (also known as ice fouling) on a heat exchanger surface may be considered disadvantageous for heat transfer, the initial ice formation actually boosted up the heat transportation in an SSHE. The mechanism analysis and mathematical modeling of this phenomenon, however, have not been found in the literature. A mathematical model is developed and a unified expression of the heat-transfer coefficient in an SSHE with/without phase change is presented. The model predicts a step increase of heat transfer occurs at the onset of ice formation and the maximum heat-transfer coefficient exists in a narrow range right after reaching the freezing point. These are consistent with the experimental results of this study.


Interleukin (IL)‐7 has been evaluated for its influence, alone or in combination with local hyperthermia (LH), on B16a melanoma‐bearing mice. Six‐ to eight‐week‐old C57BL/6J male mice were inoculated s.c. with 5 × 105 tumor cells into the left hind limb. Mice were randomly divided into four groups, and treated s.c. with IL‐7 (5 ng) or saline as control, twice a day for three weeks beginning eight days after tumor inoculation. LH, using hot water circulator at 43 ± 0.2d̀C for 30 min, was induced to the limb with tumor twice a week for two weeks. Size of the primary tumor was measured every other day for five weeks. Mice were sacrificed five weeks after tumor inoculation. The size of the primary tumor and the number of lung metastases were reduced in mice treated either with IL‐7 or LH alone. As a control for IL‐7, gran‐ulocyte colony stimulating factor (G‐CSF) alone had no effect on primary tumor size or number of lung metastases. The greatest antitumor effect was observed in mice treated with IL‐7 in combination with LH. Survival was prolonged significantly only in mice treated with IL‐7 plus LH compared with that of mice treated with saline. Decreased natural killer (NK) cell activity, number of Thy1.2 cells, and ratio of L3T4+/Lyt2+ cells were associated with tumor growth. These parameters were restored in mice treated with IL‐7 plus LH. Increases in levels of IL‐1α, IL‐6, tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) and interferon (IFNγ) were associated with an increase in the survival of tumor‐bearing mice treated with IL‐7 and/or LH. These results suggest that changes in T‐cell, NK cell and cytokines such as IL‐1α, IL‐6, TNF‐α and IFN‐γ in response to IL‐7 and/or LH might account for prolonged survival of B16a melanoma‐bearing mice and that IL‐7 might be useful as a potential antitumor agent combined with other therapy in certain malignant solid tumors with metastases.


Antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are an increasing problem in hospitalized patients and commonly cause infections following antibiotic therapy. Infections with VRE generally begin by colonization of the intestinal tract. In normal conditions, our gut is colonized by hundreds of commensal bacterial species, the microbiota, that suppress intestinal colonization by VRE, a phenomenon known as "colonization resistance" (CR). However, administration of antibiotics alters the composition of the microbiota, which allows VRE to densely colonize the intestine and subsequently disseminate to the bloodstream where it can put in serious danger the life of the patient. Thus, understanding how and which members of the microbiota confer CR and how antibiotics promote intestinal colonization by VRE, is crucial if we want to prevent VRE infections. Unfortunately, the absence of techniques to study complex bacterial populations has hampered, until the last recent years, the research in this clinically relevant field. For this reason, it is not completely understood how antibiotics change the microbiota and promote infections by VRE, which are the members of the microbiota that are key for conferring colonization resistance against VRE and the mechanisms by which they confer protection. Thus in this thesis, the main objectives proposed are (i) to understand how antibiotics change the composition of the microbiota and subsequently promote intestinal colonization by VRE, (ii) identify commensal bacterial species that are key for conferring protection and (iii) study mechanisms by which these commensal bacteria may confer protection against VRE. We first studied the effect of oral vancomycin treatment on the human gut microbiota through 16s rRNA high-throughput sequencing. This antibiotic is frequently given to patients to treat Clostridium difficile infections and subsequently can promote secondary infections by VRE. Our analysis showed that vancomycin promotes drastic changes on the composition of the microbiota, including the depletion of all bacterial species from the phylum Bacteroidetes, one of the most prevalent phyla inhabiting in the human intestinal tract. Moreover, our analysis indicates that the microbiota never recovers its baseline state, even after 22 weeks post-antibiotic cessation. Importantly, the microbiota recovery rate was different depending on the subject analyzed. While some patients recovered most of their baseline bacterial species, up to 89% of their baseline bacterial species were not recovered in other patients. Moreover, using a mouse model we were able to demonstrate that the microbiota recovery rate upon vancomycin treatment was clinically relevant since a lower microbiota recovery upon vancomycin cessation is associated with an increased susceptibility to VRE intestinal colonization. Subsequently, using the same VRE infection mouse model, we analyzed the impact of other antibiotics of different spectrum (ciprofloxacin, neomycin, ceftriaxone, ampicillin, clindamycin, besides vancomycin) on the gut microbiota composition and on the VRE colonization capacity, both during the treatment and two weeks after antibiotic cessation. Our analysis shown, as expected, that different antibiotics promoted different changes in the composition of the microbiota, being vancomycin and clindamycin those that promoted a higher number of changes, while neomycin or ciprofloxacin had a minor effect on the microbiota composition. The changes in the composition of the microbiota were associated with the capacity of VRE to colonize the intestinal tract since those antibiotics that promote more alterations on the microbiota allowed a higher level of VRE intestinal colonization. Subsequently, applying correlation analysis and Linear Discriminatory analysis, we were able to identify several bacterial taxa that are associated with VRE resistance. These taxa include the genera Alistipes, Barnesiella, Oscillibacter and some members of the families Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae. We next isolated and administered these bacteria to vancomycin-treated mice to test their capability to restore colonization resistance. We demonstrated that the administration of a combination of 4 bacterial isolates to mice (Alistipes, Barnesiella, Oscillibacter and a bacterium from Ruminococcaceae family) drastically diminished the capacity of VRE to colonize the intestinal tract of antibiotic-treated mice. We next performed metatranscriptomic and metabolomic analysis to identify in vivo functions expressed and metabolites produced by the identified protective commensal bacteria in order to determine possible mechanisms by which these bacteria could be suppressing VRE intestinal colonization (e.g. production of inhibitory molecules, competition for nutrients). In addition, we also analyzed the in vivo transcriptome of VRE to determine the functions express by this pathogen to colonize the intestinal tract, and we performed nutrient arrays to identify nutrients that the pathogen could be using for its growth in the intestinal tract. The analysis performed determined that (i) oral inoculation of mice with the protective bacterial mixture restores the expression of genes encoding for transporters that internalize saccharides (cellobiose, N-acetyl-galactosamine, N-acetyl-glucosamine) and amino acids (serine), whose expression was diminished upon antibiotic treatment. (ii) Increased expression of these genes was associated with diminished intestinal availability of several nutrients including saccharides (i.e. cellobiose) and amino acids (i.e. serine, proline, leucine and threonine). (iii) Some of the nutrients consumed upon administration of the protective commensal bacteria may be crucial for VRE growth in the intestinal tract. Indeed, analysis of the VRE transcriptome in colonized mice revealed that VRE highly express in vivo transporters for the internalization of saccharides (i.e. cellobiose, N-acetyl-galactosamine, N-acetyl-glucosamine) and several branched-chain aminoacids (i.e. proline). Moreover, out of 190 carbon sources tested, the saccharides cellobiose, N-acetyl-glucosamine and N-acetyl-galactosamine are among the 10 carbon sources that promote the highest VRE growth under anaerobic conditions. Thus, although additional experiments should be performed for validation, our results support a model in which the administered protective bacteria decrease the intestinal levels of nutrients that can be utilized by VRE for growth, which reduces the capacity of this pathogen to colonize the intestinal tract.


While first-line treatment option for pediatric renal calculi, 1.5-2 cm in size, was open surgery in the past, percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL) is now the first-line treatment option in accordance with EUA pediatric guidelines. However, mini rigid ureterorenoscopy (URS) and the laser props of flexible URS have started to be used in the removal of these calculi. The present study aimed at conveying our experience in using flexible URS and laser on the removal of right renal calculus, 16 mm in size, in a 1-year-old male pediatric patient.


This work deals with some interesting issues that arose when the ITC-irst broadcast news transcription system was applied to transcribe the audio track of historical documentary films. Due to an evident acoustic and linguistic mismatch between the broadcast news and the new application domain, the initial word error rate was of 46.4%. By exploiting a limited amount of manually annotated training data, adaptation of all components of the transcription system was performed, namely the audio partitioner, the acoustic model, and the language model. This permitted to achieve a word error rate of 30%, which makes automatic transcription of documentary films effective for information retrieval applications.


This is the most intelligent and complete account of optical art that has yet appeared. The book is magnificently produced, starting with the cover, a moirC overlay by Ludwig Wilding, and lavishly illustrated in colour as well as in black and white. Black and white, by the way, is the favorite combination for many Op artists. By Op art is meant art in which the artist deliberately tries to provoke a pronounced visual psychological response in the viewer. These effects are achieved by a variety of means (relief, moirC, simultaneous contrast, etc.), which the author discusses in some detail. He wisely refrains, however, from probing too deeply into visual psychology. This would stultify the text and would lead into the quagmire that scientists often encounter when trying to rationalize the subtleties of the eye-mind complex. The author traces the early influences on Op art, beginning with the 1910-1920 abstract period (Delaunay et ul.). I consider the origin of Op art to go back much further in time, especially tenth century Islamic art where, indeed, the artists deliberately achieved striking visual effects with figures devoid of representational content. Op art of recent origin, especially the work of Riley and of Vasarely, is considered in the book in some detail, as is the work of some lesser known artists. Incidentally, the author has unearthed a 1936 Op painting of a somewhat representational character by Marcel Duchamp (again, far ahead of his time). The closing chapter of the book is a review of critical assessments of Op art by a number of leading art critics, some of whom the author challenges. The book ends with a quote from Bridget Riley that is worth repeating here: 'I am absolutely certain that optical painting has added something to the language of formal art . . . which cannot be ignored or eradicated . . .. In the same sense that Cubism added something to a concept of space which, having been assimilated, cannot subsequently be discounted.'


The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of social contact and milk allowance on social behavior, play behavior, and responses to handling in dairy calves. Forty test calves and 16 companion calves were allocated to 1 of 5 treatments from birth to 4 wk of age: (1) housed singly and fed 5 L of milk/d; (2) housed singly and fed 9 L of milk/d; (3) housed in pairs and fed 5 L of milk/d; (4) housed in pairs and fed 9 L of milk/d; or (5) kept with the dam and fed 9 L of milk/d. From 4 to 6 wk of age, all calves were offered 5 L of milk/d to promote intake of solid feed before weaning. At 6 wk of age, all calves were weaned, and at 7 wk of age, they were grouped (7 calves/group: 1 test calf from each treatment and 2 companion calves). The response to restraint during blood sampling was recorded weekly; singly housed calves struggled more during restraint than did calves kept with the dam, and pair-housed calves struggled at an intermediate level. Play behavior was recorded for 20 min/wk after the provision of fresh straw; calves housed singly and fed a low milk allowance spent less time playing than did calves in all other treatments. Three days after grouping, calves were subjected to a feed competition test; calves receiving the high milk allowance and housed in pairs spent more time feeding than did those receiving the high milk allowance and housed singly, with all other treatments showing intermediate responses. These results indicate that social contact decreased responses to restraint and increased play and competitive success. The high milk allowance increased play but reduced competitive success after grouping. Lower responses to restraint indicated less responsiveness to stress. Play is considered an indicator of positive welfare, and competitive success helps calves succeed in a group environment.


The case is described of a 6 months old infant who developed purulent pericarditis during the course of pneumonia. Pericarditis probably developed in this condition by contiguous spread from the pleura. Diagnosis of impending cardiac tamponade was masked by the occurrence of massive unilateral empyema. The management of this condition is discussed by open surgical drainage. Real-time two-dimensional echocardiography is useful for diagnosis and surveillance in this disease.


After microwave irradiation with simultaneous field anesthesia, acute ulceration was observed. The danger of this complication following irradiation of areas with reduced sensitivity is stressed.


In this contribution, I argue that the cognitive sciences are troubled by some internal contradictions that seem to me difficult to resolve. Cognitive linguistics is the part of the cognitive sciences dealing with language, and the philosophy of mind provides its theoretical underpinnings. Its goal is to describe the language system as a mechanism that processes thoughts into utterances and utterances into thoughts. While thoughts involve intentionality, the processing mechanism is thought to operate without our awareness. But what do we actually know about this mechanism? Is there really a language of thought, and how innate and how universal would it be? What do we know about the mind as the locus where cognition is processed? How dependable is the computational model of the mind? Do the various factions of cognitive linguistics offer scientific evidence or just possible models of how the mind, if there is one, might work? In the end, cognitive linguistics cannot account for meaning. We do not have access to our own or anyone else's mental concepts. Meaning and knowledge, on the other hand, is public; it is what is exchanged, negotiated, and shared in the discourse. Whatever cognitive linguists may be able to find out about our mental representations, to the extent that it is effable it can never be more than a duplication of what we find in the discourse.


A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, facultatively anaerobic and non-flagellated marine bacterium, designated JC070T was isolated from the Yongle Blue Hole in the South China Sea. The temperature, pH and NaCl ranges for growth of strain JC070T were 4-37 °C (optimum, 16 °C), pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and 1.0 -6.0% (w/v; optimum, 3.0%). The predominant isoprenoid quinone of strain JC070T was identified as menaquinone-7. The dominant fatty acids (>10%) were iso-C15:0 (59.6%) and iso-C17:0 3-OH (17.2%). The major polar lipids were aminophospholipid, aminolipid, two unknown phospholipids and two unidentified lipids. The genomic DNA G+C content was determined to be 37.0 mol%. Based on the results of polyphasic analysis, a new species, named Marinifilum caeruleilacunae sp. nov., within the genus Marinifilum was proposed. The type strain is JC070T (= JCM 39045T=MCCC 1K03774T).


The article explores the right on euthanasia in developed countries of the world and the prospects for its implementation in Ukraine. The results of a number of sociological studies on the perception of euthanasia by the population, in particular in the Netherlands, Turkey, USA, Finland, also, special attention was paid to the gradual increasement in the percentage of people who support the idea of euthanasia. The concept of euthanasia and the conditions under which it can be carried out are revealed. The legislative provisions of the Netherlands and Belgium regulating euthanasia in these countries were stated. It has been found out that the shortage of consensus among European states on the question of a decent end to human life leads to the existence of a case law of the European Court of Human Rights on euthanasia cases. It is concluded that the introduction of euthanasia is not promising for Ukraine, as it is directly contrary to a number of national legislation acts, first of all the Constitution of Ukraine, also, to international acts, in particular the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the Founder of Freedoms. It is emphasized that a single position on euthanasia should be chosen at the level of the European Union by the Member States.


As the size of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) continues to grow to increase accuracy and solve more complex problems, their energy footprint also scales. Weight pruning reduces DNN model size and the computation by removing redundant weights. However, we implemented weight pruning for several popular networks on a variety of hardware platforms and observed surprising results. For many networks, the network sparsity caused by weight pruning will actually hurt the overall performance despite large reductions in the model size and required multiply-accumulate operations. Also, encoding the sparse format of pruned networks incurs additional storage space overhead. To overcome these challenges, we propose Scalpel that customizes DNN pruning to the underlying hardware by matching the pruned network structure to the data-parallel hardware organization. Scalpel consists of two techniques: SIMD-aware weight pruning and node pruning. For low-parallelism hardware (e.g., microcontroller), SIMD-aware weight pruning maintains weights in aligned fixed-size groups to fully utilize the SIMD units. For high-parallelism hardware (e.g., GPU), node pruning removes redundant nodes, not redundant weights, thereby reducing computation without sacrificing the dense matrix format. For hardware with moderate parallelism (e.g., desktop CPU), SIMD-aware weight pruning and node pruning are synergistically applied together. Across the microcontroller, CPU and GPU, Scalpel achieves mean speedups of 3.54x, 2.61x, and 1.25x while reducing the model sizes by 88%, 82%, and 53%. In comparison, traditional weight pruning achieves mean speedups of 1.90x, 1.06x, 0.41x across the three platforms.


In this paper a neural network based uniformity controller is developed for the linear chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) process. The control law utilizes the metrology measurements of the wafer uniformity profile and tunes the pressures of different air-bearing zones on Lam linear CMP polishers. A feedforward neural network is used to self-learn the CMP process model and a direct inverse control with neural network is utilized to regulate the process to the target. Simulation and experimental results are presented to illustrate the control system performance. Compared with the results by using statistical surface response methods (SRM), the proposed control system can give more accurate uniformity profiles and more flexibility.


Several volcanic centers, active and extinct, are located within Iceland. One of them is the Hengill volcanic center, which lies on the plate boundary between the North American and the European crustal plates in southwestern Iceland. The rifting of the two plates has opened a north‐northeast‐trending system of normal faults with frequent magma intrusions. The Hengill central volcano and its transecting fissure swarm, extending 70–80 km long from the coast south of Hengill to north of Lake Thingvallavatn with an associated graben structure, form the Hengill volcanic system. The Hengill central volcano is currently active and is the main volcanic production focus of the area associated with a high‐temperature geothermal field. In Nesjavellir, in the northern part of the Hengill area, a 400 MW geothermal power plant has been in operation since 1987. Another active but less pronounced volcanic system, the Hromundartindur volcanic system, lies at the eastern edge of the Hengill system, outside the Hengill fissure swarm. The area near Mount Hromundartindur can be classified as the central volcano of this system; it is a separate focus of volcanic production with high geothermal activity.

Fracture detection by shear‐wave splitting (SWS) is an exploration method of proven reliability and unique imaging power. The method is based on the fact that a shear wave propagating through rocks with stress‐aligned microcracks will split into two waves: a fast one polarized parallel to the predominant crack direction, and a slow one polarized perpendicular to it (Crampin, 1981, 1984; Babuska and Cara, 1991). Recent major studies of SWS include Peng and Ben‐Zion (2004) and Johnson et al. (2011), among many others. Two important parameters are associated with an SWS event: the polarization direction of the fast shear …


Background: IPA is a life-threatening infection in hematologic patients.

Aim: To evaluate the utility of CCT signs suggestive of IPA according to the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the Mycosis Study Group (EORTC-MSG) in a cohort of hematologic patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of a cohort of patients who underwent an early CCT (<48 hours) to rule out IPA. IPA was diagnosed following the EORTC-MSG criteria and by clinical evolution and treatment response. Patients were separated into 3 groups: group A with any of the prespecified radiological criteria for IPA; group B without those criteria but with abnormal CCT findings, and group C with normal CCT findings. Results: Out of the 129 patients evaluated (mean age 49+/-15 years; 57%, males), 69 (53%) were finally diagnosed of IPA (74% in group A, 26% in group B, 0% in group C). In patients from group B, no differences in symptoms, presence of neutropenia or specific CCT findings (ground-glass opacities, consolidation, pleural effusion, centrolobular nodules and tree-in-bud), were observed. Only the presence of positive serum Aspergillus galactomannan antigen index test was more common in patients with IPA (47% vs 10%,p=0.02) in this group. Conclusion: A significant proportion of patients finally diagnosed of IPA do not show established radiological criteria for IPA according to the EORTC-MSG.


Preparation of dance with the title "Cakil Juga Manusia (Cakil Also Human: Ing)" inspired by some contemporary thinking associated with the figure of Cakil. In the world of show tradition Puppet Stage, Cakil identical as antagonist iconic to the nature of evil and bad. Nevertheless, its presence is always awaited by the audience because of its motion is interesting, distinctive, attractive and acrobatic. In addition to the motion, the character traits that ngglece using everyday language of populist dialogue considered communicative audience. The show is entertaining and communicative as well as the populist spur compilers for presenting a claim jogetan Cakil new ones with shades of populist. In
a fragment of a story, Cakil presented as being humane because it has love, has the property of honest, innocent, and innocent. The work "Cakil Juga Manusia" try to work on one scene that is packaged in a dance drama story about inner feelings Cakil figure in romance. The process of this work is done by a coherent process stages. Starting from the literature, field studies, data reduction,
the discovery of forms till, independent search process, the selection of dancers, the production team selection, implementation of the exercises, the deepening and strengthening of the work, up to the staging. This work is specifically aimed to re-discover the contrast of the characters Cakil. The rationale behind the idea of this work is the desire to realize the humanity of Cakil, that he has a love, feelings, loyalty, and a sense of sensibility. This effort will greatly affect the appearance of vokabulervokabuler new motion in the frame of a typical motion Ceklekan. Novelty characters and their Cakil vokabuler new motion will be attempted to be developed in the frame of narrative fragments of stories. This will add to the challenges of exploration and character motion in the cultivation process works.
Keywords: Cakil, the concept works, fragments of Love, and Ceklekan


Community-based tourism is a local development model aiming at both common participation of all local people in the tourism activities carried out in a destination and to ensure that everyone benefits equally. The increasing interest in community-based tourism has also raised  the number of projects undertaken in this regard. Lavender Scented Village project is one of the projects carried out within this scope in Kuyucak Village of Isparta province. It is aimed to trigger the potential employment and entrepreneurship in the region by providing product diversity of lavender produced in Kuyucak Village with Lavender Scented village project. Thus, tourism in a rural area will be recreated and local economy will be invigorated with the new tourism developments.  In this study, it is aimed to  analysis the current situation of the Lavender Scented village project, to make some inferences regarding the project and to guide the decision makers and other prospective projects in the next steps of processes of the project. The data was obtained by face-to-face interviews with 13 local residents using the snowball sampling method in Kuyucak Village and evaluated by SWOT analysis technique. Results indicate that the community-based in Kuyucak Village is still at the beginning level. This is an important issue since the threats and opportunities are shedding light on the period of maturity and guiding managerial sense.


Human milk, or breastmilk, is uniquely engineered for human infants, and is the biologically 'natural' way to feed infants. Breastfeeding, in comparison to feeding breastmilk substitutes such as infant formula, has numerous health benefits. Despite this, infant formula has been actively promoted as a product equivalent to breastmilk. Consequently, evidence describing the health advantages of breastmilk and breastfeeding needs to 'argue the case' for breastfeeding.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention on health workers, based on quality improvement through reduction of cardiovascular risk in patients with hypertension.

DESIGN
Quasi-experimental study.

SETTING
Primary care. Two urban health centres.

PARTICIPANTS
A thousand hypertense patients selected by stratified random sampling. One centre (500) was assigned to implement a quality improvement intervention, while at the other centre (500) "usual care" procedures were followed (control group).

INTERVENTIONS
The quality improvement intervention consisted of a combined program designed for the medical and nursing staff that comprised audit, feedback, training sessions, and implementation of clinical practice guidelines.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS
Coronary risk using the Framingham scale and cardiovascular mortality risk using the SCORE project.

RESULTS
Absolute coronary risk decreased from 16.94% (95% CI, 15.92-17.66) to 13.81% (95% CI, 13.09-14.52) (P<.001) in the intervention group; whilst there was no significant change in the control group, which dropped from 17.63% (95% CI, 16.68-18.53) to 16.82% (95% CI, 15.91-17.74). The intervention led to a 2.28% point decrease (95% CI, 1.35-3.21) (P<.001) in coronary risk. Cardiovascular mortality risk decreased from 2.48% (95% CI, 2.35-2.62) to 2.19% (95% CI, 2.07-2.31) (P<.001) in the intervention group, with no significant change in the control group, which changed from 2.45% (95% CI, 2.30-2.59) to 2.52% (95% CI, 2.38-2.66). The intervention led to a 0.36% point decrease (95% CI, 0.05-0.73) (P<.001) in cardiovascular mortality risk.

CONCLUSIONS
The quality improvement intervention was effective in decreasing coronary risk and cardiovascular mortality risk in patients with hypertension.


Abstract The elemental composition and morphology of aerobic granules in sequencing batch reactors (GSBRs) treating high-nitrogen digester supernatant was investigated. The investigation particularly focused on the effect of the number of anoxic phases (one vs. two) in the cycle and the dose of external organics loading (450 mg COD/(L·cycle) vs. 540 mg COD/(L·cycle)) on granule characteristics. Granules in all reactors were formed of many single cells of rod and spherical bacteria. Addition of the second anoxic phase in the GSBR cycle resulted in enhanced settling properties of the granules of about 10.6% and at the same time decreased granule diameter of about 19.4%. The study showed that external organics loading was the deciding factor in the elemental composition of biomass. At 540 mg COD/(L·cycle) the granules contained more weight% of C, S and N, suggesting more volatile material in the granule structure. At lower organics loadings granules had the higher diameter of granules which limited the diffusion of oxygen and favored precipitation of mineral compounds in the granule interior. In this biomass higher content of Mg, P and Ca, was observed.


Abstract Binomial reliability demonstration tests (BRDTs) are widely adopted demonstration tests in reliability engineering to safeguard product quality over time. Based on the testing results, a BRDT will be either accepted and the product will be released to market or a test will be rejected and the product continues into the reliability growth stage. While designing a BRDT, the actual testing results (e.g., the number of failures to be observed) are uncertain, which lead to the uncertainty associated with the acceptance/rejection decision. Conventional optimal BRDTs mainly focus on minimizing the cost at the testing phase without taking account the uncertainty of the decision and the expected cost of subsequent reliability assurance activities, typically including the reliability growth and warranty services. In this paper, a Bayesian optimal BRDT design is proposed by explicitly quantifying the test uncertainty and further integrating the BRDT testing cost with the expected reliability growth and warranty service costs. The nonlinear relationships among different BRDT design parameters, the likelihood of accepting/rejecting the test and different cost components are investigated. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is further carried out to evaluate the expected overall cost of the proposed design under different scenarios of the cost structure. A case study is provided to illustrate the proposed method and demonstrate its advantages over the conventional BRDT designs. By incorporating the informative prior knowledge into the proposed Bayesian design, it is possible to reduce the overall cost and the sample size of a test plan.


The construction and synthesis of nanoarchitectures on a cost-effective substrate with eco-friendly properties has emerged as a novel strategy for synthesizing high-performance power and energy sources. In recent years, transition ternary metal oxides (TTMOs), especially combining similar-type TTMOs, have attracted extensive attention as favorable candidates for electrode materials. Among all the well-known TTMOs, MgCo2O4 is a stupendous one, owing to its excellent theoretical capacitance. Electrochemical calculations indicate that composites consisting of binary MgCo2O4 nanoflake arrays (MCO NFAs) and MgCo2O4/MgCo2O4 nanochain arrays (MCO/MCO NCAs) exhibit a hierarchical structure with a highly altered electronic nanostructure, providing better electrical conductivity, enhanced catalytic conditions, and enhanced supercapacitive performance. Under optimized conditions, the binary MCO NFA and composite MCO/MCO NCA structures offer more active sites and charge transfer during the faradaic reaction process. Most importantly, the binary MCO NFA and MCO/MCO NCA composite electrodes show high specific capacities of ∼316.8 and 265.3 mA h g−1 at a current density of 2 A g−1. Interestingly, the MCO/MCO NCA composite electrode still maintained an outstanding rate capability with 97.9% of the capacity retained after 5000 cycles at a current density of 6 A g−1. Therefore, the MCO/MCO NCA composite material fabricated via the combination of similar types of TTMO grown on low-cost Ni foam is certainly promising for more research and application in SCs.


Abstract Background Treatment of patients with head and neck cancer can result in disrupted mastication. To measure masticatory performance in people with compromised mastication, the mixing ability test (MAT) was developed. Objective In this study, the reliability of the MAT was evaluated in patients with head and neck cancer and healthy controls. Methods Thirty‐four patients with head and neck cancer and 42 healthy controls performed the MAT twice on the same day. To assess reliability, the intra‐class correlation coefficient (ICC2,1), standard error of measurement (SEM), smallest detectable change (SDC) and limits of agreement (LoA) were calculated. Results A good (ICC = 0.886) and moderate correlation (ICC = 0.525) were found for patients and healthy controls, respectively. Patients had a worse mixing ability (mean = 19.12, SD = 4.56) in comparison with healthy controls (mean = 16.42, SD = 2.04). The SEM was 0.76 in patients and 1.45 in healthy controls, with a SDC of 2.12 and 4.02, respectively. The LoA was −4.46 to 4.42 in patients and −3.65 to 4.59 in healthy controls. Conclusion The MAT has a good reliability in patients with head and neck cancer and a moderate reliability in healthy controls.


The distinctive style of Japanese art known as Rinpa embraces bold, graphic renderings of natural motifs and formalized depictions of fictional characters, poets, and sages. An aesthetic that arose in Japan in the 16th century and flourished until modern times, the Rinpa school is celebrated for its use of lavish pigments and its references to traditional court literature and poetry. Central to the Rinpa aesthetic is the evocation of the natural world-especially animals and plants with literary connotations-as well as eye-catching compositions that cleverly integrate calligraphy and image. Featuring beautiful color reproductions of some ninety works-including painting, calligraphy, printed books, textiles, lacquerware, ceramics, and cloisonne-from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other notable public and private collections, Designing Nature traces the development of Rinpa, highlighting the school's most prominent proponents and, for the first time, the influence of this quintessential Japanese style on modern design aesthetics in both the East and the West.


In reinforcement learning (RL), the term self-play describes a kind of multi-agent learning (MAL) that deploys an algorithm against copies of itself to test compatibility in various stochastic environments. As is typical in MAL, the literature draws heavily from well-established concepts in classical game theory and so this survey quickly reviews some fundamental concepts. In what follows, we present a brief survey of self-play literature, its major themes, criteria, and techniques, and then conclude with an assessment of current shortfalls of the literature as well as suggestions for future directions.


In 22 HIV positive patients a mild to moderate pneumocystis carinii pneumonia was treated by daily inhalation for 21 days of 600 mg pentamidine, divided into two inhalation phases with the inhalation of 300 mg pentamidin each. In 13 patients (59%) treatment was successful. In five cases, therapy was stopped in the first treatment week because of lacking clinical effectiveness resp. clinical deterioration. In four cases, therapy was discontinued in the further course. The subsequent treatment was successful in all cases. In the case of otherwise good tolerance, in two cases there was a hypoglycemia, in one case with clinical signs. In no case there was any sign of an extrapulmonary pneumocystosis.


Enhanced Recovery After Surgery programs (ERAS) have been used by some specialties for years, and are now becoming popular for gynecologic and obstetrics surgeries. ERAS programs consist of evidence-based interventions during a patient's hospital stay that are intended to promote early return to activities such as eating, ambulation, and voiding and to manage pain. These programs reduce the risk of complications post-operatively and shorten a patient's hospital stay. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) is developing an ERAS protocol for cesarean deliveries. Our goal was to determine how current practices and outcomes for cesarean deliveries at UIHC compare to established ERAS programs. We also sought to identify which patients would be appropriate candidates for an ERAS protocol at UIHC.


We study monitoring in a continuous-time career concerns model. A monitor oversees an agent and generates verifiable evidence if the agent shirks. The monitor's ability is uncertain and requires costly investment to maintain. Unpunished shirking reveals that the monitor is ineffective, which discourages the monitor from maintaining her ability. The agent shirks strategically to discourage the monitor, because shirking increases the rate of learning. Term limits reduce the incentive to shirk and long-serving monitors accept bribes to hide evidence.


Background As untreated visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is fatal, reliable diagnostics are pivotal for accurate treatment allocation. The current diagnostic algorithm for VL in Ethiopia, which is based on the rK39 rapid diagnostic test and microscopy of tissue smears, lacks sensitivity. This probably leads to missed cases and patients not receiving treatment. Methodology We conducted a retrospective study on stored microscopically negative spleen and bone marrow smears from suspected VL patients collected at the Leishmaniasis Research and Treatment Center (LRTC) in Gondar, northern Ethiopia between June 2019 and November 2020. Sociodemographic, clinical and treatment data were collected and samples were tested by real-time PCR targeting kinetoplast DNA. Principle findings Among the 191 eligible samples (135 spleen and 56 bone marrow) with a microscopically negative and valid PCR result, 119 (62.3%) were positive by PCR, although Ct values for some were high (median 33.0). Approximately three quarters of these undiagnosed primary VL (77.3%) and relapse (69.6%) patients did not receive antileishmanial treatment. Of the 56 microscopically negative bone marrow samples, 46 (82.1%) were PCR positive, which is considerably higher compared to the microscopically negative spleen samples, for which 73 out of 135 (54.1%) were PCR positive. The odds of being PCR positive were significantly higher for bone marrow aspirates and higher when white blood cell values were lower and splenomegaly (in cm) was more pronounced. Conclusions This study demonstrates that a lot of suspected VL patients remain undiagnosed and untreated. This indicates the urgent need for better diagnostics for VL in the East-African region. The outcomes of PCR positive should be closely monitored and treatment should be provided if the patient deteriorates. In resource limited settings, implementation of PCR on bone marrow aspirate smears of patients with low WBC values and splenomegaly could lead to considerable improvements in patient management.


The performance of 10, 20 and 30% cassava composite bread was carried out by evaluating the colour, aroma, texture, acceptability and buying preference. The samples were served to semi-trained panelists. The result showed that bread baked with 10 and 20% composite flour were not significantly different in all sensory attributes, acceptability and readiness to buy from the control. However, bread baked from 30% composite flour showed low mean scores to all the attributes. There was a tendency for bread baked with 10 and 20% composite flour to be rated higher than the control especially in flavour, acceptability and desire to buy. Uniformity in the scores between all labeled and unlabelled samples was also observed. Values obtained for proximate composition of cassava composite bread samples were comparable to those obtained for whole wheat bread. Adoption of wheat/cassava flour for bread making is advocated in this work as an alternative to 100% wheat.


In this paper, we focus on labeled Petri nets with silent transitions that may either correspond to fault events or to regular unobservable events. We address the problem of deriving a procedure to determine if a given net system is diagnosable, i.e., the occurrence of a fault event may be detected for sure after a finite observation. The proposed procedure is based on our previous results on the diagnosis of discrete-event systems modeled with labeled Petri nets, whose key notions are those of basis markings and minimal explanations, and is inspired by the diagnosability approach for finite state automata proposed by Sampath in 1995. In particular, we first give necessary and sufficient conditions for diagnosability. Then, we present a method to test diagnosability that is based on the analysis of two graphs that depend on the structure of the net, including the faults model, and the initial marking.


Parties can choose to concentrate on topics which other parties cover relatively little. In such cases, they have a programmatic niche profile compared with their mainstream rivals. We argue that parties should be more likely to switch between a niche and a mainstream profile in response to unsatisfactory electoral results. However, these vote-seeking incentives to change salience profiles should have greater influence on parties that are small, young, and/or in opposition. Such parties will find it easier and more attractive to change their salience profiles. We use a measure of niche profiles based on manifesto coding and test our hypotheses in 22 countries with a transition model. For niche-to-mainstream transitions in party profiles, the results confirm our expectations, but vote-seeking incentives do not lead mainstream parties to shift to a niche profile. The results of this article have implications for our understanding of the dynamics of party competition in multiparty systems.


This article extends previous literature which examines the determinants of the price impact of block trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. As previous literature suggests that liquidity exhibits intraday patterns, we introduce time of day dummy variables to explore time dependencies in price impact. Following theoretical developments in previous literature, the explanatory power of the bid–ask spread, a lagged cumulative stock return variable and a refined measure of market returns are also examined. The model estimated explains approximately 29 per cent of the variation in price impact. Block trades executed in the first hour of trading experience the greatest price impact, while market conditions, lagged stock returns and bid–ask spreads are positively related to price impact. The bid–ask spread provides most of the explanatory power. This suggests that liquidity is the main driver of price impact.


Using multi-band data we examine the star formation activity of the nearby group–dominant early–type galaxies of the Complete Local-volume Groups Sample (CLoGS), and the relation between star formation, gas content, and local environment. Only a small fraction of the galaxies (13 per cent; 6/47) are found to be Far-Ultraviolet (FUV) bright, with FUV to near-infrared colours indicative of recent active star formation (NGC 252, NGC 924, NGC 940, NGC 1106, NGC 7252 and ESO 507-25). These systems are lenticulars presenting the highest FUV specific star-formation rates in the sample (sSFRFUV > 5 × 1013 yr−1), significant cold gas reservoirs (M(H2)=0.5-61× 108 M⊙), reside in X-ray faint groups, and none hosts a powerful radio AGN (P1.4GHz < 1023 W Hz−1). The majority of the group-dominant galaxies (87 per cent; 41/47) are FUV faint, with no significant star formation, classified in most cases as spheroids based on their position on the infrared star-forming main sequence (87 per cent; 46/53). Examining the relationships between radio power, SFRFUV and stellar mass we find a lack of correlation that suggests a combination of origins for the cool gas in these galaxies, including stellar mass loss, cooling from the intra-group medium (IGrM) or galaxy halo, and acquisition through mergers or tidal interactions. X-ray bright systems, in addition to hosting radio powerful AGN, have a range of SFRs but, with the exception of NGC 315, do not rise to the highest rates seen in the FUV bright systems. We suggest that central group galaxy evolution is linked to gas mass availability, with star formation favoured in the absence of a group-scale X-ray halo, but AGN jet launching is more likely in systems with a cooling IGrM.


Communication is a very basic essence of the blockchain network and must be carefully planned while integrating with IoT, where an extremely large number of devices are interconnected. In this work, blockchain nodes are assumed to use wireless channels to communicate among themselves and other elements of the IoT setup. These communications can be in unicast and broadcast manner where transmission latency and throughput are significant metrics that might jeopardize the overall system. This work is proposing a Medium Access Control (MAC) mechanism addressing these performance metrics and best suitable for wireless IoT-Blockchain system. The proposed MAC protocol is based on the widely used IEEE 802.11 protocol, Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) basic access.


Robust control has a chattering problem since the control laws are discontinuous functions. To improve this, a boundary layer can be introduced; however the system then loses asymptotical stability and is only globally stable. An exponentially stable robust nonlinear control law for robot manipulators, based on Lyapunov stability theory, is presented. The robust control law is designed using a special Lyapunov function which includes both tracking errors and an exponentially convergent additional term, making the stability proof easy, and guarantees that the tracking errors decrease exponentially to zero. For bounded input disturbances, the control laws, with little modification, maintain satisfactory system performance. The results of a computer simulation for a 2-link manipulator are presented, demonstrating the benefits and robustness of the proposed algorithm.


Internationally active firms rely intensively on trade credits even though they are considered particularly expensive. This phenomenon has been little explored so far. Our theoretical analysis shows that trade credits can alleviate financial constraints arising from asymmetric information because they serve as a quality signal and reduce the uncertainty related to international transactions. We use unique survey data on German enterprises to test the effect of the use of trade credits on firms' exporting and importing behavior, both at the extensive and intensive margins. Our results support the assertion that trade credits have a positive impact on firms' exporting and importing activities.


Uncharacterized protein STY1099, encoded by the yccT gene, was previously identified as the most altered (i.e., upregulated) protein among the ZnO nanoparticle (NP) stimulon of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. Here we combined various stress response-related assays with functional genetics, global transcriptomic and proteomic analyses to characterize the yccT gene and its STY1099 product. Exposure of S. enterica Enteritidis to H2O2 (i.e., hydrogen peroxide) resulted in a significant (p < 0.0001) upregulation of the yccT gene, whereas exposure to paraquat (i.e., superoxide) did not alter the expression of the yccT gene. The ∆yccT mutant of S. enterica Enteritidis exposed to 0.75 mM H2O2, showed significantly reduced (p < 0.05) viability compared to the wild type strain. Further, comparative transcriptome analyses supported by Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assay revealed that STY1099 protein plays a role in redox homeostasis during the peroxide stress assault via involvement in the processes of respiratory nitrate reductase, oxidoreductase activities, cellular uptake and stress response. In addition, we found that the STY1099 protein has the monopolar subcellular location and that it interacts with key cell division proteins, MinD, and FtsH, as well as with a rod shape-determining protein MerB.


Computations are presented for one-dimensional Shockwaves of diatomic nitrogen. The direct simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC) is employed. A model which allows the use of the Sutherland viscosity model in the DSMC technique is further developed to include the modelling of rotational relaxation. This is achieved by employing a temperature-dependent expression for the rotational collision number to simulate the rate of relaxation, in contrast to earlier DSMC studies which employed a constant value for the collision number. The behaviour of the new model is first considered for rotational relaxation in a heat bath. Comparison is made with the more traditional DSMC collision model termed the variable hard sphere (VHS) model in which the viscosity has a fixed temperature exponent. These two models are then applied to a number of shock-wave cases for which experimental data exist. These have Mach numbers ranging from 1.5 to 26, yet the enthalpies involved are sufficiently low to allow omission of vibrational relaxation. It is found that both the VHS and Sutherland viscosity models give excellent agreement with the experimental data for shock-wave thickness, and for profiles of density, rotational temperature, and velocity. The most significant finding of the study is that the reciprocal shock thickness varies with the upstream temperature condition. This variation is observed in the experimental data, and is simulated numerically by employing the temperature-dependent expression for the rotational collision number.


We report on an innovative quadrupolar magnetic actuation system designed for performing immunoassays on-chip. Integrated magnetic microtips enable the retention and manipulation of functionalized superparamagnetic particles in a microfluidic channel. Actuation of dynamic bead plugs results in improved perfusion with sample solution thus enhanced analyte capture. The magnetic field parameters and kinetic properties of the bead plugs are discussed in detail. Improved protein capture efficiency is demonstrated with a model assay by means of fluorescent detection.


While the study and interpretation of mortuary practices have long been important parts of archaeological analyses, rarely has residential burial – the practice of burying the deceased in and around houses – been a specific focus of investigation. Here, we examine some of the global contexts in which residential burial has occurred and discuss the different ways that archaeologists have interpreted residential burial. Though practices vary in time, place, and context, the presence of burials in residential settings compels archaeologists to carefully consider the relationship between the living and the dead and to explore the importance of social memory, social reproduction, relations of power, mortuary ritual, and social landscapes.


Measuring similarity is an important first step in numerous tasks in natural language processing. This book investigates two aspects of similarity: attributional similarity and relational similarity. Numerous methods to measure both those types of similarities using the text data available on the World Wide Web are presented in this book. In addition to describing theoretical work on similarity measures, the book demonstrates two interesting application tasks: person name disambiguation and name alias detection. This book can be used as an introductory reading material for students who are interested in conducting research in Web data mining or Web-based statistical natural language processing. The book should also be useful as a comprehensive reference for practitioners in Web data mining because it summarizes numerous similarity measures proposed for the purpose of measuring attributional and relational similarity between word pairs on the Web.


This research was conducted to examine the relationship between stress and psychosomatic complaints among nurses in Tabarjal hospital. To achieve this aim, the researcher used the descriptive method and selected a sample consisting of (56) nurses working in hospital through the simple random sampling technique. The respondents were requested to complete a questionnaire for rating of stress and the most common psychosomatic diseases. The collected data were analyzed statistically by using SPSS. The results revealed that the stress was dominant among nurses in Tabarjal hospital, the prevalence of psychosomatic complaints was significantly higher in nurses, and there was significant correlation between stress and psychosomatic complaints among nurses. Conclusion: This research confirmed the effect of strains on the prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms among nurses in Tabarjal hospital. Further, implications of the results were discussed on the light of some related researches.


We introduce cap analysis gene expression (CAGE), which is based on preparation and sequencing of concatamers of DNA tags deriving from the initial 20 nucleotides from 5′ end mRNAs. CAGE allows high-throughout gene expression analysis and the profiling of transcriptional start points (TSP), including promoter usage analysis. By analyzing four libraries (brain, cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum), we redefined more accurately the TSPs of 11-27% of the analyzed transcriptional units that were hit. The frequency of CAGE tags correlates well with results from other analyses, such as serial analysis of gene expression, and furthermore maps the TSPs more accurately, including in tissue-specific cases. The high-throughput nature of this technology paves the way for understanding gene networks via correlation of promoter usage and gene transcriptional factor expression.


Information handling - A challenge for databases and expert systems.- Context versions in an object-oriented model.- Towards class-less object models for engineering design applications.- Semantic relativism in conceptual modeling.- Animation support for a conceptual modelling language.- A unifying model of data, metadata and context.- Information brokers: Sharing knowledge in a heterogeneous distributed system.- A customized multidatabase transaction management strategy.- Interoperability between a distributed system and a database system.- Reservation commitment and its use in multidatabase systems.- Predict query processing cost in a distributed database system.- CoBase: A cooperative query answering facility for database systems.- "Duplicate deletion in a ring connected, shared-nothing, parallel database system".- On temporal-fuzziness in temporal Fuzzy databases.- Object-based schema integration for heterogeneous databases: A logical approach.- Heterogeneous multilevel transaction management with multiple subtransactions.- Inheritance conflicts in object-oriented systems.- Managing derived data in intelligent database systems: An implementation study.- An integrated calculation model for discovering functional relations from databases.- On the maintenance of implication integrity constraints.- REFLEX active database model: Application of petri-nets.- Road accident analysis using a functional database language.- Database performance evaluation a methodological approach.- Design and implementation of a DBMS performance assessment tool.- Modifying database queries and error constraints.- Performance evaluation system for object stores.- An optimization method of data communication and control for parallel execution of SQL queries.- Developing a database system for time-critical applications.- Object-oriented querying of existing relational databases.- A probabilistic spatial data model.- Query processing of geometric objects with free form boundaries in spatial databases.- Brain data base (BDB).- Integrating classes and relations to model and query geographical databases.- Towards cooperativeness in geographic databases.- GeO2: Object-oriented contribution for a geographical DBMS ?.- GemCode: An expert system generating mnemonic codes for data elements and data items.- ALEXSYS - A prototype knowledge based expert system for the quality assurance of high pressure die castings.- Viewpoints - Facilitating expert systems for multiple users.- Improving Shafer-Logan's algorithm for handling hierarchical evidence.- From low-level to high-level operations in expert systems.- Corpora as expert knowledge domains: The Oxford advanced learner's dictionary.- Maintenance of knowledge bases.- Using candidate space structure to propose the next measurement in model based diagnosis.- Decomposition of four component items.- Intelligent inference for debugging concurrent systems.- Sharing temporal knowledge by multiple agents.- Querying and exploring large knowledge bases.- Managing text objectively.- Legal expert system KONTERM - Automatic representation of document structure and contents.- Matrim, an expert system on marital law.- Contradiction and confirmation.- Meta-reasoning in law: a computational model.- The application of Kripke-type structures to regional development programs.- Data management tools for genomic applications: A progress report.- Resolution of constraint inconsistency with the aim to provide support in anaesthesia.- An object-oriented implementation for a semantic system (CANDID).- Distributed schema management in a cooperation network of autonomous agents.- A distributed AI system for job shop control.- Expert system for production planning of perishable goods.- An expert system as a manager in the application of production planning and control software in CIM environments.- Composition and dependency relationships in production information system design.- Vehicle Transactions.- An approach to image retrieval for image databases.- Facilitatory process for contrast detection.- Object-oriented database management systems for construction of CASE environments.- Summary data representations in application developments.- Reusable process chunks.- From analysis to design in a deductive and object-oriented environment.- A case study for an open CASE system: The TROLL light development environment.- Meta data model for database design.- Extending PCTE with object-oriented capabilities.- A new hypermedia data model.- Linearisation schemata for hypertext.- HyperPATH/O2: Integrating hypermedia systems with object-oriented database systems.- Integrating knowledge-based hypertext and database for task-oriented access to documents.- Reengineering of user interfaces for the migration of database applications.- User interface of knowledge based-DSS development environment, some further developments.- A highly-customisable schema meta-visualisation system for object-oriented (O-O) database schemas - overview.- Walkthrough using animation database system move.


Peroneal tendon pathology is commonly associated with chronic lateral ankle instability. Foot and ankle surgeons often rely on preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for identification of related pathology and surgical planning in these patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of preoperative MRI to accurately detect peroneal tendon pathology in patients with chronic lateral ankle instability. Consecutive surgical cases involving arthroscopic evaluation and management of lateral ankle instability sequelae were evaluated retrospectively. Preoperative MRI were compared to intraoperative findings in order to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values. Eighty-two patients met inclusion criteria, 58 females and 24 males. The average age at the time of surgery was 46 years (range 13-75). Peroneal tendon pathology was identified intraoperatively in 76 (92.7%) patients and on MRI in 40 (48.8%) patients. The most commonly identified pathologies were tenosynovitis, tendinopathy and longitudinal split/tear, with the peroneus brevis tendon being most commonly involved. MRI was 38.7% specific, 50.0% sensitive, had a positive predictive value of 92.5%, and a negative predictive value of 7.1%. While MRI is a helpful study for evaluation of co-pathologies and surgical planning in patients with lateral ankle instability, procedural selection should not be solely based on MRI results, and the peroneal tendons should be evaluated intraoperatively in patients undergoing arthroscopic procedures for lateral ankle instability.


Malignant sacrococcygeal teratoma is rare in adults. diagnosis is difficult when the tumour is presacral located. A 42-year-old female patient underwent rectum extirpation with resection of a malignant sacrococcygeal teratoma. Histological biopsy and clinical staging did not show whether the teratomas were malignant or not. These tumours have to be resected totally, when necessary together organs of the pelvic region.


Background: Choroid plexus tumors are rare intraventricular tumors. Most of these tumors are benign choroid plexus papillomas. Choroid plexus carcinoma is the most malignant choroid plexus tumor and comprise a small percentage of these tumors. Most common location of these tumors are lateral ventricle and fourth ventricle in pediatric and adult patients respectively. Rare locations such as third ventricle are reported in the literature with 55 reports of choroid plexus papilloma and just 3 cases of carcinoma located in third ventricle. Case description: we present an extremely rare case of choroid plexus carcinoma of third ventricle in a 9 months old boy which was resected successfully through transcortical-transforaminal approach along with a review of literature available around different aspects of these tumors.Conclusion: Choroid plexus carcinomas even in rare locations such as third ventricle can be effectively resected through transcortical-transforaminal approach, although post-operative subdural effusion can be a potential complication.


: A cross-sectional morphometric study on 569 school children from the city of San Clemente del Tuyu (Buenos Aires, Argentina) has been performed. The sample was subdivided into 28 subgroups according to the age range (7-13 years old), sex, and occupational status -low or high- of the fathers. Body weight, height, sitting height, and head and arm circumferences were measured. Statistics of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey test for unequal sample sizes were performed at each stage of age. Both males and females belonging to the lower social status showed a general decrement in growth: shortening in leg length was evident. Since the girls from both occupational status showed -in general terms-hypothesis of "better canalization of the females" has been corroborated by the present work.


On 11 March 2020, a national lockdown was imposed by the Italian government to contain the spread of COVID19 disease. This is an observational longitudinal study conducted at Fondazione Stella Maris (FSM), Italy to investigate lockdown-related emotional and behavioural changes in paediatric neuropsychiatric population. Families having children (1.5–18 years) with neuropsychiatric disorders referred to FSM have been contacted and proposed to fulfil two online questionnaires (General questionnaire and Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL)) to (i) compare (paired two-sample t-tests) the CBCL scores during lockdown with previous ones, and (ii) investigate the influence (multiple linear regression models) of variables such as age, diagnosis grouping (neurological, neurodevelopmental, emotional, and behavioural disorders) and financial hardship. One hundred and forty-one parents fulfilled the questionnaires. Anxiety and somatic problems increased in 1.5–5 years subpopulation, while obsessive-compulsive, post-traumatic and thought problems increased in 6–18 years subpopulation. In the regression models, younger age in the 1.5–5 years subpopulation resulted as "protective" while financial hardship experienced by families during lockdown was related to psychiatric symptoms increasing in the 6–18 years subpopulation. Some considerations, based on first clinical impressions, are provided in text together with comments in relation to previous and emerging literature on the topic.


The objectives of this research were studying the influences of applying the Extension Process of Water Management, Great Community and the outcome of the Integrated Water Resources Management over the Conflicts Resolution of Communities and Good Environment. Structural Equation Model was analyzed by PLS-Graph program. The Great Community and Integrated Water Resources Management had the deviation of Conflicts Resolution as 77.2 %, both factors had influenced to Conflicts Resolution with path coefficients as 0.712 and 0.212, respectively. The most effect to Conflicts Resolution was Great Community. The Integrated Water Resources Management had the deviation of Good Environment as 13.1 % and had influenced to Good Environment with path coefficient as 0.362. All of analysis data in this study showed statistically significant at level of confidence 99%.


The current study was investigated at the Agricultural Research Institute Tarnab, Peshawar during 2020 in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The study aimed was determining the efficacy of different neonicotinoids insecticides and bio- pesticides against Bemisia tabaci on okra crop. Results revealed that significantly maximum number of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) population reduction was recorded in imidacloprid (7.55plant-1) treated plot followed by acetamiprid (8.88plant-1) and bio-pesticides (11.99 plant-1) while minimum population reduction was recorded in clothianidin (14.66 plant-1) treated plot over checked plot after 1st application while similar observation was recorded after the 2nd application. In terms of CB ratio, highest CB ratio was recorded by imidacloprid treated plot followed by bio pesticide, acetamiprid and clothianidin while lowest CB ratio was recorded by acetamiprid. Similarly, the research work concluded that overall best performed by imidacloprid after 1st and 2nd application while minimum control was observed by clothianidin treated plot over the control treatment.


Pileus thin, convex, subumbonate, slightly scabrous on the disk, white, changing to brown on the disk in drying; lamellae close, thin, subventricose, free, xvhite; stems slender, equal, hollow, white; the annulus slight, sometimes evanescent; spores elliptical, .0003 to .0004 in. long, .0002 to .00024 broad; pileus I to I.5 in. broad; ,stem about I in. long I to 2 lines thick. Ground in woods. Kansas. July. E. Bartholomew. In the fresh condition this plant is entirely white, but in the dried specimens the umbo or disk has become brown. This change in color suggests the specific name. In the other white species, L. ernminea and L. alba, the spores are longer, and in L. MiaiDiensis and L. sztbrenota the pileus is scaly.


In this article, we develop appropriate statistical methods for determining the required sample size while comparing the efficacy of an intervention to a control with repeated binary response outcomes. Our proposed methodology incorporates the complexity of the hierarchical nature of underlying designs and provides solutions when varying attrition rates are present over time. We explore how the between‐subject variability and attrition rates jointly influence the computation of sample size formula. Our procedure also shows how efficient estimation methods play a crucial role in power analysis. A practical guideline is provided when information regarding individual variance component is unavailable. The validity of our methods is established by extensive simulation studies. Results are illustrated with the help of two randomized clinical trials in the areas of contraception and insomnia. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Mentoring is a core principle of professional teacher education (Mc Intyre et al 2005) and coach education (Cassidy et al 2009). Mentoring develops the 'knowledge, skills and professional identity of future teachers (Grossman et al 2009, p273) and coaches (Cassidy et al 2009). This book is a user friendly practical and theoretical guide to the processes involved in effective mentoring. It is written for all those involved in sport and physical education who seek to use mentoring to support learning. It offers the reader a guide to the mentoring process by bringing theories and pedagogical practices of mentoring to 'life' using the voices and experience of mentors and mentees in physical education and sport contexts.


In Reply. —Dr Ashley makes several important points. In particular, he rightly draws attention to the distinction between essential and discretionary care. However, in arguing for a greater role for professional judgment in resource allocation decisions, Ashley both mischaracterizes the Council's report and misjudges the role that professional judgment can play. First, the Council does not simply advocate either a democratic process or an equal consideration mechanism to identify the package of basic health services for all citizens. The Council enunciated several ethical criteria that can be used to identify certain medical services as clearly essential, and that therefore should be included in a basic benefits package, and other medical services as clearly discretionary, and that therefore should not be included in a basic benefits package. The ethical criteria include degree of benefit, likelihood of benefit, duration of benefit, number of people benefiting, and cost. For example, an appendectomy is


The Northern Apennine ophiolites crop out in different stratigraphic settings. The petrological and geochemical features of the mantle-gabbro association are well known for the ophiolites of the Internal Liguride Units (Rampone et al., 1998). The mantle ultramafics are mainly clinopyroxene- poor plagioclase-bearing lherzolites, residual after the extraction in Permian times of MORB-type liquids, which were intruded in Middle Jurassic times by N-MORB-type gabbros. The mantle ultramafics of the ophiolites from the External Liguride Units dominantly consist of rather fertile plagioclase-bearing lherzolites with pyroxenite bands (Rampone et al., 1995), and they are considered as slices of subcontinental mantle, probably accreted to the lithosphere in the Proterozoic. Little is known about the rare gabbroic rocks from the External Liguride ophiolites, as well as about the mantle ultramafics from the ophiolites which crop out in Southern Tuscany. In this work, we have carried out traceelement and Nd-Sr isotopic investigations of i) the gabbroperidotite association from Southern Tuscany ophiolites (Lanciaia Unit), and ii) the gabbroic rocks from the External Liguride ophiolites. This has allowed us to depict a complete overview of the gabbro-peridotite association of the Northern Apennine ophiolites.
The gabbroic rocks from the different Units contain clinopyroxenes with similar trace element compositions, that yield N-MORB equilibrium liquids. Moreover, clinopyroxenes show marked trace element zonings, similarly to what was observed for the gabbroic rocks from ODP Leg 153 in the MARK area (Ross and Elthon, 1997), most likely related to the entrapment of interstitial liquid (Tribuzio et al., 1999). The gabbroic rocks considered in this study give Sm/Nd mineral isochron ages ranging from 179 to 170 Ma, interpreted to date the primary magmatic crystallization. These ages are significantly older than those recently found (163 ± 2 to 166 ± 2 Ma) on the basis of U/Pb and Ar/Ar geochronological determinations on zircons and amphiboles for the gabbroic rocks of the Western Alps ophiolites (Bill et al., 1997; Rubatto et al., 1998). 87Sr/86Sr of clinopyroxenes and initial eNd (8.5 to 8.9) are consistent with a formation from N-MORB. The gabbroic rocks from Internal Liguride ophiolites and the basalts (Rampone et al., 1998) from both Internal and External Liguride ophiolites show closely similar initial eNd. The incompatible trace element compositions of basalts from the different Units resemble those calculated for the parental liquids of the gabbroic rocks.
The studied peridotites from Southern Tuscany ophiolites are porphyroclastic spinel-lherzolites. These rocks have a residual geochemical fingerprint, as shown by the marked depletion in incompatible trace elements of clinopyroxenes, similarly to what was observed for the Internal Liguride lherzolites. The clinopyroxenes from the southern Tuscany lherzolites indeed have slightly lower Sm/Nd values and slightly higher Sr contents than those from the Internal Liguride lherzolites. Major element mineral compositions of Southern Tuscany lherzolites yield relatively low-temperature estimates for the spinel-facies equilibration (ca. 1000 °C), similarly to those found for the External Liguride lherzolites. On the other hand, the latter rocks cleary differ from the Southern Tuscany lherzolites in the occurrence of accessory Ti-rich amphibole and in the fact that clinopyroxenes have markedly higher concentrations of incompatible trace elements.
Nd and Sr isotopic compositions of clinopyroxenes from the Southern Tuscany lherzolites calculated at 170 Ma are respectively higher (eNd ca. 11.0) and lower than those of associated gabbros. Therefore, there is not a genetic meltresidue relationship for this gabbro-peridotite association, as inferred by Rampone et al. (1998) for the Internal Liguride ophiolites. The clinopyroxenes from the External Liguride lherzolites are characterized by markedly heterogeneous Nd and Sr isotopic compositions, coupled with a relatively constant Sm/Nd value (Rampone et al., 1995). Similar geochemical relations have been also observed for the Lanzo lherzolitic massif in the Western Alps (Bodinier et al., 1991). In the External Liguride Units, the clinopyroxenes from the Monte Nero lherzolite body, which is locally intruded by gabbroic to basaltic dykes, display Nd and Sr isotopic compositions that are consistent with those of analyzed gabbroic rocks.
As a whole, the ophiolites of the Northern Apennine/Western Alps system are characterized by a homogeneous composition of the gabbroic complex and by a marked heterogeneity of the associated mantle section. The compositional spread of the mantle lherzolites can be related to two major events: 1) partial melting at 300-270 Ma, in relation to the post-Variscan extensional regime; 2) partial re-equilibration with N-MORB liquids derived from deeper astenospheric sources at 180-160 Ma.


Biomaterials including polymer, metal, ceramic, and composite have been widely applied for medical uses as medical fibers, artificial blood vessels, artificial joints, implants, soft tissue, and plastic surgery materials owing to their physicochemical properties. However, the biocompatibility and toxicity for film- and plate-form biomaterials is difficult to measure in mammalian cells because there is no appro-priate incubation system. To solve these problems, we developed a novel mammalian cell culture system consisting of a silicone ring, top panel, and bottom panel and we applied two polymer films (PF) and one metal plate (MP). This system was based on the principal of sandwiching a test sample be-tween the top panel and the bottom panel. Following the assembly of the culture system, SK-MEL-2 cells were seeded onto Styela Clava Tunic (SCT)-PF, NaHCO 3 -added SCT (SCTN)-PF, and magnesium MP (MMP) and incubated at 37 ° C for 24 hr and 48 hr. An MTT assay revealed that cell viability was maintained at a normal level in the SCT-PF culture group at 24 or 48 hr, although it rapidly decreased in the SCTN-PF culture group at 48 hr. Furthermore, the cell viability in the MMP culture group was very similar to that of the control group after incubation for 24 hr and 48 hr. Together, these results suggest the sandwich-type mammalian culture system developed here has the potential for the evaluation of the biocompatibility and toxicity of cells against PF- and MP-form biomaterials.


The initiative of implementing Internet-based solutions for the integration of the supply chain of materials will not succeed if there is not assurance of collaboration and communication among the parties in the construction business. Neither EDI nor web-based supply chain applications can facilitate both the process integration and flexibility required by the construction processes practiced today. E-work is a suitable concept for this endeavor because it comprises principles that allow cooperation and collaboration in the organization. The research described in this paper follows upon recent publications on E-work models in order to propose a set of applications in construction materials management systems. Expected benefits are related to conflict resolution and reduction of lead times and subcontractor overhead costs. Implications of this work with respect to the initiatives based on IAI/IFC or STEP models comprise the potential for prediction of materials requirements with the use of task administration protocols and


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Implanted foreign bodies are associated with a higher risk of infection. Little has been published on infectious complications associated with ureteral double-J stents. The aim of this study was to define risk factors and characterize the febrile complications of the insertion of double-J stents.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
One hundred consecutive cases of retrograde stent insertion (55 men and 45 women) were evaluated retrospectively. Eighty-one patients had an obstructing stone, either in the ureter or at the ureteropelvic junction; 10 had an obstructing tumor; and 9 had hydronephrosis and pain without calculi. Risk assessment was calculated for two major categories: urgent (N = 47) and elective (N = 53) insertion. Potentially confounding factors such as age, sex, accompanying medical problems, and types of prophylaxis were assessed. All but six patients received prophylactic antibiotics prior to stent insertion.

RESULTS
All thirteen patients who had fever at the initial evaluation underwent urgent stent insertion. Of the 87 afebrile patients (53 elective and 34 urgent insertions), 22 (25%) developed fever (> or = 38 degrees C) after the procedure. Fever developed in 19 (56%) of the 34 urgent-insertion group who were not originally febrile as opposed to 3 (6%) of the elective-insertion group (P < 0.001). Six of these 22 patients (27%) had a positive urine culture after insertion. None had a positive blood culture, including the 13 patients who underwent the procedure while febrile.

CONCLUSIONS
Urgent insertion of a double-J stent is associated with a high risk of fever but a favorable outcome.


Rapid changes in information and information technology nowadays change the social life of the community and have become an important factor affecting the exchange and development of the institutions accordingly. The use of computer technology in all areas such as education, health, communication and banking affect business processes and methods in organizational structure and the education of technically skilled qualified individuals becoming important. The education of qualified individuals in desired qualities is closely related to their attitudes toward computer use. The target of this study was to determine among the students in health and technical programs whether there is a relationship between independent variables such as gender, area of study, use of social media tools and the attitude towards the use of computer technology.


Antigen‐specific T cells may be detected and enumerated by short‐term ex vivo antigen‐specific stimulation followed by cytokine flow cytometry. Most frequently, intracellular IFN‐γ is used to identify T cells specific for cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein‐Barr virus or HIV. Some researchers use whole blood, others peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in this assay; however, the performance of the two systems has never been directly compared. Blood was drawn from previously characterized healthy CMV‐positive donors, and CMV‐derived peptides or CMV lysate were used as stimulants. In an initial series of experiments, lithium‐heparin was identified as the best coagulant to be used. Dose‐response curves were established using concentrations between 0.1 and 40 μg/ml of peptides and between 0.1 and 20 μg/ml of virus lysate, respectively. IFN‐γ‐positive T cells were expressed as percent of the reference population, and frequencies measured in whole blood and PBMC were compared. Maximum responses were consistently higher in PBMC than in whole blood and were reached at lower concentrations of stimulant. In several instances, responses identified with PBMCwere not at all detected with whole blood. In summary, studies using whole blood in this type of assay are likely to underestimate the frequencies of antigen‐specific T cells.


From a personal perspective, this paper will discuss the inception of the new University of Portsmouth Dental Academy and its development from the pre-existing School for Professionals Complimentary to Dentistry. The development has required major changes to the delivery of education both at King's College London Dental Institute as well as in Portsmouth. These developments have enhanced the education of both cohorts of students and formal evaluation of the outreach programme is planned through this coming year and will be reported subsequently


The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands share comparable biological community structures and have similar histories of fishing pressure, yet monk seal subpopulations show different trends of decline between locations. Using trophic models, we compared ecosystem structure and energy flows supporting 2 subpopulations (on Laysan Island and French Frigate Shoals (FFS) atoll), each with varied rates of decline (1998−2015). Through simulated perturbations, we showed that the Laysan community had much higher productivity and was mainly forced by bottom-up processes, but prey and predator abundance also controlled the energy flow and community structure. The FFS ecosystem was less productive and strongly influenced by a change in primary productivity. Although the FFS system responded to a change in predator and prey abundance, the monk seals were more influenced by benthic bottomfish biomass than by a change in predator abundance. We clarified the role of external drivers (Pacific Decadal Oscillation [PDO] and benthic bottomfish fishery): while the PDO did show correlation with monk seal population trends, the best models were driven by prey biomass as impacted by bottomfish removals. However, monk seal predator and prey trophic dynamics were not sufficient to explain the observed decline in monk seal biomass. We suggest that other factors amplifying mortality played a role; for example, shark predation on monk seal pups at FFS. Because of the uncertainties inherent in a complex ecosystem model, the results cannot be used for tactical management but they can help direct management or future research efforts in the recovery of the endangered monk seal population.


Electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) utilize electrodes with high surface area to achieve high-energy storage capability. In this study, flexible and freestanding carbon nanofibers derived from PIM-1, a microporous polymer with high free volume, were prepared by pyrolysis of the electrospun polymer. A BET surface area of 546 m2 g−1 was obtained upon carbonization of the electrospun PIM-1 fibers. After further heat treatments such as steam-activation and annealing, the surface area increased to 1162 m2 g−1. These carbon fibers were directly used as electrodes without the use of binders in a coin cell (CR2032) configuration and were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge–discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The activated and annealed fibers gave a specific capacitance of 120 F g−1 at a scan rate of 10 mV s−1 using 1,3-ethylmethylimidizaolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide as the ionic liquid electrolyte. From the galvanostatic charge–discharge test, the supercapacitor exhibited energy and power densities of 60 W h kg−1 (active material) and 1.7 kW kg−1, respectively, at a current density of 1 A g−1. High power application of this device was demonstrated by its 77% retention of the energy density (47 W h kg−1) at a higher discharge current density of 5 A g−1.


In radiolabeled leukocyte imaging, Tc-99m HMPAO has a significantly higher selectivity for eosinophils than neutrophils, but this may be clinically meaningful in disorders with eosinophilic infiltration. We present the case of a 2-year-old boy with infection who also developed drug-induced eosinophilic lung disease, as established later by bronchoalveolar lavage and discontinuation of the responsible antistaphylococcal agent. In the investigation of sepsis, diffusely increased pulmonary accumulation of Tc-99m HMPAO labeled leukocytes was observed. These findings were consistent with eosinophilic lung infiltration and underline the importance of clinical and laboratory data in the comprehensive interpretation of Tc-99m HMPAO labeled leukocytes scans.


Histomorphologic differences of the periarticular bone in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthrosis (OA) may be of importance for long-term prosthetic fixation. We have evaluated bone specimens, obtained during total hip replacement from an acetabular and a femoral biopsy site, in 42 RA-hips and 61 OA-hips. In both groups the bone turnover was increased in the acetabulum compared to that in the femur. In the acetabulums the total trabecular bone volume was equal, but osteoid volume, osteoid surface, resorptive surface, and the appositional rate were increased in RA. On the femoral side, only the osteoid volume was higher in RA. The increased bone turnover with a greater amount of unmineralized tissue, as well as resorptive activity in the acetabulum, may be of importance for the higher rate of acetabular component migration and loosening after total hip replacement in RA.


The article presents a system for testing the independence of solutions to algorithmic problems sent by students as part of the student programming competition. First, the context was discussed, as well as the need to organize programming competitions resulting from this context. Then, an algorithm was proposed to study the mutual similarity of source codes of programs sent as part of a programming competition. Since, after implementation, the algorithm was used in practice, examples of its application for detecting the plagiarism of source codes of solutions in two programming competitions conducted as part of classes on Algorithms and Numerical Methods were also presented. Finally, the effectiveness of the solutions used in the work was discussed.


Power transformers are important equipment of the electrical switchyard whose failure leads to long hours of outage. In this research, a two-stage hybridized model for determining the lifespan of power transformers is presented by using the furan content to determine the Degree of  Polymerisation (DP) of transformer. For a 'virgin' transformer, the furan content was about 0.01ppm while a transformer with about 10ppm was within its end of useful life. 2-Furaldehyde (2FAL) content values of  0.01ppm and 10ppm correspond to DP values of approximately 1200 and 250, respectively. These parameters were used in developing a DP model using Jacobi and Gauss Seidel numerical analysis iterative techniques. The techniques were implemented in Matrix Laboratory 8.2 (R2013b)  environment. The second stage involved the hybridisation of the developed DP model with another rate constant model adopted from Arrhenius. This stage was also implemented in Matrix Laboratory 8.2 (R2013b)  environment. The life span of the transformer was determined by adding the service age at any point in time to the remaining lifetime at that point. A GUI of the hybridised model was developed using SIMULINK blocks. The developed model yielded a DP range of 247 ≤ DP ≤ 1184. Factors such as the hotspot temperature, activation energy and pre-exponential factor were useful for the determination of lifespan. Keywords : Degree of Polymerization, Furan Content, Life Expectancy, Power Transformer


Vegetable oil rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is an important element in the diet of most transitional countries. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in modern diets is approximately 15:1, whereas ratios of 2:1 to 4:1 have been associated with reduced mortality from cardiovascular disease, suppressed inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and decreased risk of breast cancer. The study was designed to investigate the fatty acid profile of six types of seed oils such as peanut, linseed, olive, soybean, sesame and sunflower oil. Afterwards the author prepared mixed vegetable oils with effective Omega-6 (n-6)/omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid ratio. It was found that the highest percentage (39.9%) of saturated fatty acid found in Linseed oil and the highest percentage (37.1%) of monounsaturated fatty acid found in Sesame oil. It was also observed that olive and soybean oil contain 100% polyunsaturated fatty acid and the lowest percentages (35.2%) of polyunsaturated fatty acid were found in Sesame oil. After preparing a mixed vegetable oil  The ratio of n-6 to n-3 were 3.5:1 (soybean), 19:1 (olive), 0.43:1 (linseed), 0.13:1 (peanut) and sesame (16.5:1). It is also noted that n-3 was not detected in sunflower oil. Thus the investigation showed that Soybean oil contains the balanced omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio than others. J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 9(2): 65-69 2016


The electrical transport properties of YBCO single layers thin film have been investigated using different physical techniques. For the purpose, the physical properties are probed numerically with help of simulation modelling. The physical transport properties were also estimated with temperature and magnetic fields limits using thermally-activated flux flow model with some modifications. The result of present simulation modelling indicated that the magnitude of activation energy depends on temperature and magnetic field. The simulations revealed thickness dependent physical transport properties including electrical and magnetic properties of deposited YBCO single layers thin films. Furthermore, it shows the temperature dependence of the pinning energy. In the nutshell, the result can be used to improve the Superconducting Properties (Tc) of the YBCO single layers thin films.


In this paper, we propose a numerical formulation of decoupling matrix with rate one quasi-orthogonal space-time block code (QOSTBC) for eight transmit antennas. Tirkkonen et al. provided zero-forcing decoupling matrix for eliminating inter-symbol interference (ISI) in QOSTBC with 4 transmit antennas. We expand zero-forcing decoupling matrix with 8 transmit antennas, and also MMSE decoupling matrix with 4, 8 transmit antennas. Simulation results were provided to demonstrate that some SNR gains can be achieved by using decoupling matrix.


Coxsackievirus A24 variant (CVA24v) is the primary causative agent of the highly contagious eye infection designated acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC). It is solely responsible for two pandemics and several recurring outbreaks of the disease over the last decades, thus affecting millions of individuals throughout the world. To date, no antiviral agents or vaccines are available for combating this disease, and treatment is mainly supportive. CVA24v utilizes Neu5Ac-containing glycans as attachment receptors facilitating entry into host cells. We have previously reported that pentavalent Neu5Ac conjugates based on a glucose-scaffold inhibit CVA24v infection of human corneal epithelial cells. In this study, we report on the design and synthesis of scaffold-replaced pentavalent Neu5Ac conjugates and their effect on CVA24v cell transduction and the use of cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to study the binding of these multivalent conjugates to CVA24v. The results presented here provide insights into the development of Neu5Ac-based inhibitors of CVA24v and, most significantly, the first application of cryo-EM to study the binding of a multivalent ligand to a lectin.


Although vaccines against Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough, have been in use for over 50 y, the disease has remained endemic and is still a public health problem in many countries. It has been shown that antibody titres against pertactin, which is 1 of the exposed virulence factors of pertussis, correlate with protection and pertactin is now 1 of the components of most acellular pertussis vaccines. However, little is known about the structure and location of protective epitopes on pertactin. Here we set out to investigate the antibody response using naturally occurring pertactin variants and deletion derivates. We found the N-terminus of pertactin to be immunodominant in both rabbits and humans. In contrast to vaccinated rabbits, we could not detect pertactin type-specific antibodies in human sera. In conclusion, these results show for the first time to which defined regions of the pertactin molecule antibody responses are induced. It also suggests that the amount of pertactin type-specific antibodies will not be very large and that the variation in pertactin probably will not constitute a problem in highly immune individuals.


This paper presents a fuzzy adaptive control scheme for Automatic Control of excitation angles in Switched-Reluctance Motor (SRM) Drives. A turn-on and Turn-off angles play important roles in developing electromagnetic torque in SRM. The value of excitation angles are usually variable and depend upon the motor speed and other parameters of the inverter that excites the SRM. As the motor speed increases the shape of the current waveform, changes in such way that limits the production of motoring torque. At high speeds, it is possible for the phase current never reaches the desired value due to motor phase inductance, therefore, the torque falls off. In order to remedy this problem, the phase turn on angle is advanced in such way that the phase commutation begins sooner. Advancing the commutation angle offers the advantages of getting the current into the phase winding while the inductance of the phase is low, and also of having a little more time to get the current out of the phase winding before the rotor reaches the negative torque region. Since the SRM drive is a variable speed motor then, the amount of advancing for the turn on and turn off angles should be accomplished automatically according to the speed of the motor. In order to optimize the timings of the Turn-on and Turn-off angles, on-line rotor position is detected and then the angular speed is calculated. The computed optimum timing of excitation angles by use of fuzzy adaptive controller are then fed into a commutation logic block. This block decides on the proper phase winding to be energized. Control of the excitation angles result in either positive net torque for motoring or negative net torque for generating which optimizes the torque at high speed. This technique is then applied to an experimental SRM drive system in speed ranging from 0 to 12000 rpm. Experimental operation shows this technique provides much higher torque production for the motor.