Marine coastal ecosystems are facing compositional and functional changes due to the increasing human footprint worldwide, and the assessment of their long-term changes becomes particularly challenging in this new "Anthropocene Epoch". Measures of change can be done by comparing the present ecosystem status to a defined baseline representing the reference condition. The "syndrome" of the sliding (or shifting) baselines, which describes the incremental lowering of ecological standards, has become a major concern when long-term changes have to be assessed because an already degraded environment status could be accepted as reference. The challenge of delineating ecosystems change in the context of sliding baselines is particularly relevant along highly anthropized coasts, as the case of the Liguria (NW Mediterranean Sea), where pristine coastal areas could not be expected anymore. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EEC) suggests three approaches to define reference conditions: i) comparison with the status in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs); ii) use of historical information; iii) modelling. Here we report recent applications of these three approaches in Liguria to assess the status of seagrass meadow ecosystem. Ligurian MPAs are too recent and often insufficiently enforced, so that Posidonia oceanica meadows developing in MPAs are far from the expected good ecological status. Available historical information on seagrass distribution was sometime unreliable. Models are promising but face intellectual difficulties (e.g., choice of descriptors). Validating historical data with predictive models showed effective in delineating the trajectory of change experienced by the Ligurian seagrass meadows. Many meadows have been lost and most are showing structural degradation, which favoured the substitution by alien green algae of the genus Caulerpa and triggered a phase shift in the seagrass ecosystems, with the consequent loss of biodiversity, functioning and economic value of the ecosystem services provided by healthy meadows.


Our ability to manipulate objects relies on tactile inputs signaled by first-order tactile neurons that innervate the glabrous skin of the hand. A fundamental feature of these first-order tactile neurons is that their distal axon branches in the skin and innervates many mechanoreceptive end organs, yielding spatially-complex receptive fields with several highly sensitive zones. Recent work indicates that this peripheral arrangement constitutes a neural mechanism enabling first-order tactile neurons to signal high-level geometric features of touched objects, such as the orientation of an edge moving across the skin. Here we show how second-order tactile neurons could integrate these complex peripheral signals to compute edge-orientation. We first derive spiking models of human first-order tactile neurons that fit and predict responses to moving edges with high accuracy. Importantly, our models suggest that first-order tactile neurons innervate mechanoreceptors in the fingertips following a random sampling scheme. We then use the model neurons as the basis for a simulation of the peripheral neuronal population and its synaptic integration by second-order tactile neurons (i.e. in the spinal cord and brainstem). Our model networks indicate that computations done by second-order neurons could underlie the human ability to process edge orientations with high acuity and speed. In particular, our models suggest that synaptic integration of AMPA inputs within short timescales are critical for discriminating fine orientations, whereas NMDA-like synapses refine discrimination and maintain robustness over longer timescales. Taken together, our results provide new insight into the computations occurring in the earliest stages of the tactile processing pathway and how they may be critical for supporting hand function.


For high light sensitivity, new CFA designs use panchromatic pixels, aka white pixels, that no visible spectrum energy is filtered. Kodak's CFA2.0 has 50% white pixels, but the demosaicking performance is not good. We present in this work a set of new color filter arrays (CFA) of high light sensitivity and high demosaicking performance which were obtained by using a CFA design methodology in the frequency domain. The new patterns are of size 5×5 and come from the same frequency structure, which has one luma in the base band at (0, 0) and four chromas (two conjugate pairs) placed at (4π/5, 2π/5), (— 4π/5, — 2π/5), (2π/5, — 4π/5) and (— 2π/5, 4π/5), respectively. The new patterns are optimized to have only white (panchromatic) and three primary color pixels and the pixels are found to be 40% white, 20% red, 20% green and 20% blue by pixel color constrained optimization. Our demosaicking experiments show that our new CFA patterns outperform Kodak CFA2.0 in both objective and subjective quality.


In successful collaborative paradigms such as pair programming, students engage in productive dialogue and work to resolve conflicts as they arise. However, little is known about how elementary students engage in collaborative dialogue for computer science learning. Early findings indicate that these younger students may struggle to manage conflicts that arise during pair programming. To investigate collaborative dialogue that elementary learners use and the conflicts that they encounter, we analyzed videos of twelve pairs of fifth grade students completing pair programming activities. We developed a novel annotation scheme with a focus on collaborative dialogue and conflicts. We found that student pairs used best-practice dialogue moves such as self-explanation, question generation, uptake, and praise in less than 23% of their dialogue. High-conflict pairs antagonized their partner, whereas this behavior was not observed with low-conflict pairs. We also observed more praise (e.g., "We did it!") and uptake (e.g., "Yeah and...") in low-conflict pairs than high-conflict pairs. All pairs exhibited some conflicts about the task, but high-conflict pairs also engaged in conflicts about control of the computer and their partner's contributions. The results presented here provide insights into the collaborative process of young learners in CS problem solving, and also hold implications for educators as we move toward building learning environments that support students in this context.


In this study, thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) was grafted onto gelatin via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The chemical structure of PNIPAAm-grafted gelatin (Gel-PNIPAAm) was confirmed by XPS, ATR-IR, and (1)H NMR characterizations. Gel-PNIPAAm aqueous solution exhibited sol-to-gel transformation at physiological temperature, and was studied as injectable hydrogel for bone defect regeneration in a cranial model. The hydrogel was biocompatible and demonstrated the ability to enhance bone regeneration in comparison with the untreated group (control). With the incorporation of rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into the hydrogel, the bone regeneration rate was further significantly enhanced. As indicated by micro-CT, histological (H&E and Masson) and immunohistochemical (osteocalcin and osteopontin) staining, newly formed woven bone tissue was clearly detected at 12 weeks postimplantation in the hydrogel/BMSCs treated group, showing indistinguishable boundary with surrounding host bone tissues. The results suggested that the thermosensitive Gel-PNIPAAm hydrogel was an excellent injectable delivery vehicle of BMSCs for in vivo bone defect regeneration.


Within two years of intense activity, the Islamic State has grown to become the most dangerous Islamic terrorist organization, able to administer a quasi-state, established by it in Syria and Iraq. The success of the Islamic State became possible due to the well- organized propaganda. The idea of a state governed by the principles of Sharia law also seduced Islamic radicals in: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Islamic radicalism in the Balkans developed during the civil war of 1992-1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was due to thousands of mujahedeen fighting on the side of the Bosnian army and Arab charity organizations that the Salafist ideology was distributed before spreading among the young generation of Bosnian and Kosovar Muslims, disappointed with socio-political processes after the war. Following the attacks on the World Trade Center, Bosnian Salafists limited their activities to sharing their ideology in selected mosques. The emergence of the Caliphate and the war in Syria and Iraq gave a new impulse to the continuation of the Holy War in the Middle East and reinvigorated fundamentalists in the Balkans. The Balkan Daesh militants, trained in Bosnian and Kosovar villages, are fighting in Syria and Iraq. They move freely between the Middle East and the Balkans. Trained in the techniques of guerrilla warfare and carrying out their activities underground, they pose a real threat to the communities to which they return. They participate in the preparation of terrorist attacks in Europe.


Laser-induced fluorescence has been used to measure number densities of the ground states and of various metastable states of Fe I and Fe II in an atomic beam. The iron atoms and ions have been generated in a hollow cathode discharge from where they were extracted as an effusive beam. The densities were calibrated via Rayleigh scattering in nitrogen. Number densities of - were obtained from measurements on a volume. Saturation in the LIF signals has been studied both experimentally and theoretically. The spatial dependence of the saturation due to the spatial distribution of the laser pulse energy proved to be essential. Thus, the LIF signals are partially saturated. A theoretical model is presented enabling an adequate description of the partially saturated LIF signals, and an extrapolation of these signals into the unsaturated regime yields absolute number densities. The various systematic error sources including the influence of linearly polarized laser radiation are discussed.


This thesis is concerned with two overlapping domains that constitute the main focus of the study, they are; i) the development of Environmental Education in the school curriculum; ii) the growth of fieldwork and its influence on Environmental Education. The study is divided into five main sections. Chapter one briefly explores the definition of Environmental Education, recognising the need to analyse the general stage upon which the specific examination of fieldwork may be presented. Here, organisational influences, from international to local, converge upon bioethical principles. The role of Environmental Education, emerging from this preliminary analysis, leads into chapter two's review of literature that traces its history and development. The third chapter examines the evolution of fieldwork in primary Environmental Education through its field and urban studies traditions. The role of fieldwork in the primary school curriculum at national level precedes consideration of the influence of local initiatives on its character and provision within Cleveland County. In chapter four the selection of an evaluation case-study methodology is defended, and a description presented of the design and administration of four progressively focusing stages of fieldwork. Following a parade of opportunity, generated by the collection of school documents, fieldwork proceeds through the employment of questionnaire, semi-structured interview and participant observation techniques. Analysis of the case-study fieldwork forms chapter five. The presentation of results extend through an examination of emerging patterns into a summary of the total investigation. The nature of environmental fieldwork, in Cleveland's primary-phase schools, is revealed as generally unstructured and heavily dependent upon individual teacher initiative, whilst its varied roles mainly relate to locational and managerial controls.


This study was carried out in aerated nutritive solution under greenhouse conditions, in Jaboticabal, Sao Paulo State (21o 15' 22'' South and 48o 18' 58'' West) aiming to evaluate the effect of the omission of macronutrients, boron and zinc on plant growth, production of dry matter, visual symptoms and nutritional status in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). The experiment was arranged in completely randomized design with nine treatments corresponding to the complete solution (control) and individual omission of N, P, K, Ca, S, Mg, B and Zn, with two replications. After thirty days of treatments, plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, leaf area, leaf dry matter and leaf levels of macro and micronutrients were measured. The individual omissions of N, P, K and Ca were more limiting to plant growth variables and production of dry matter and resulted in morphological alterations observed by the intrinsical visual symptoms of each element. The individual omission of the nutrients Mg, B and Zn in the nutrient solution were not limiting to plant growth up to 30 days of cultivation.


At present, the humanization of the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine is carried out through the development and implementation of milder measures of punishment, reduction of sentences for certain crimes, the introduction of alternatives to imprisonment, such as probation. All this requires more serious and comprehensive socio-psychological research on the development and implementation of a wide range of pedagogical and socio-psychological methods of influencing the personality, group, team of convicts. Promising, in our opinion, is the psychological change in the personality of the convict by bringing him to sincere conscious repentance, reconciliation with the victim. This approach will help to correct the convict and positively influence his resocialization and create conditions for successful socialization. The purpose of our study was to determine the role and place of repentance in the process of serving a sentence by convicts and to identify the positive impact of repentance on correction and resocialization, reducing the risk of repeated wrongful acts by persons serving sentences in penal institutions. To achieve this goal, we used the following methods: analysis of scientific literature, observation, questioning, psychodiagnostics testing, extended interviews. The study was conducted in the period from 2010 to 2016 in the correctional colonies of the Donetsk region. It was attended by 3,400 clients of correctional system and 280 employees of penitentiary institutions. In the course of our research, we discovered: at present, views on the concept of "repentance" can be divided into creative, religious, philosophical, sociopsychological, pedagogical, legal; the legal interpretation of the concept of "effective repentance" and its application in the practice of justice revealed a number of problems that require solution; repentance in the psychological and pedagogical sense can be viewed as: an integral part of moral self-improvement; the acquisition of a new spiritual, moral, psychological quality of the person; the life position of the individual in relation to the world, people, his own place in life; the formation of other positive, socially recognized values; an indicator of moral maturity, spiritual and mental health. In this article we offer our own view on the role and place of repentance in the process of correction and resocialization of clients of correctional system. Scientific research of this problem is very important in a methodological sense not only for the penitentiary service, including the work of psychologists in penitentiary institutions, but also for social educators and social workers. It will contribute to the solution of general and special issues of the psychological and pedagogical process of the execution of sentences by employees of Klishevich & Sulitskyi, 2021. The Role of Repentance of Convicts in the Process of their Correction and Resocialization 306 penitentiary institutions and the social and psychological process of serving sentences by convicts, will help create reliable conditions for the protection of human rights, civil liberties, including people who are serving sentences.


The Babylonian Talmud, compiled from the 2nd to 7th centuries C.E., is the primary source for all subsequent Jewish laws. It is not written in apodeictic style, but rather as a discursive record of (real or imagined) legal (and other) arguments crossing a wide range of technical topics. Thus, it is not a simple matter to infer general methodological principles underlying the Talmudic approach to legal reasoning. Nevertheless, in this article, we propose a general principle that we believe helps to explain the variety of methods used by the Rabbis of the Talmud for resolving uncertainty in matters of Jewish Law (henceforth: Halakhah). Such uncertainty might arise either if the facts of a case are clear but the relevant law is debatable or if the facts themselves are unclear.


A clear, nontechnical explanation of how plants work, and our bestselling book. It succeeds in explaining the complex processes of plant growth, functions, adaptation, responses, and reproduction in simple language. As the author intended, the gardener can come to understand a plant "from the plant's point of view."


The antimicrobial properties of various extract of Zingiber officinale (ginger) against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa that are common causes of gastrointestinal track infection were investigated using the Agar and tube diffusion method. The result obtained revealed that etharolic extract of ginger gave the widest zone of inhibition against one out of the two test organisms at the concentration of 20mg/ml. However, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was more sensitive to the extract. It was also observed that the solvent of extraction and its varying concentrations affected the sensitivity of the two test organisms to the plant extract, showing that ginger has antimicrobial activities on the test organisms due to its inhibitory effect thus confirming its use in folk medicine.


A non-copper-plated solid wire for CO 2 gas shielded arc welding. The non-copper-plated solid wire for CO 2 gas shielded arc welding with excellent feedability ensures a reduced amount of generated spatters when welded at a relatively low current area, resulting from controlling the ten point average roughness (Rz) of the wire surface to 0.10 to 9.00 mum and the Vickers micro-hardness of the wire surface (Hv(1g)) to 125 to 310. Therefore, the welding operation can be carried out with a high efficiency to produce a weld of good quality.


Diversity and status of odonata in Mt. Hamiguitan Wildlife Sanctuary was determined after a year of sampling in five vegetation types: agroecosystem (400 masl), dipterocarp (900 masl), montane (1200 masl), mossy (1400 masl) and pygmy (1600 masl) using 2-Km transect walk sampling to provide information on species richness trend and ecological status of odonata. Study showed 31 species with 94% endemism for damselflies and 33.3% for dragonflies. Species richness and endemism were low in agroecosystem H'=0.631 and 1 endemic; high and increasing in the dipterocarp H'=2.298 and 4 endemic to dense montane forest with H'= 3.056 and 18 endemic; decreasing in mossy H'=2.036 and pygmy H'=1.846. The effects of disturbance on diversity showed highest in agroecosystem (d=83%), mossy and pygmy had intermediate value d=27% and d=24%. Low disturbance was observed in Montane d=10%, dipterocarp d=18.5%. Bray-curtis similarity index for species composition showed four discernible clusters of habitats. Results suggest that odonata has preference for dense forest, undisturbed vegetation, optimum temperature and presence of aquatic habitat. Keywords - Status of odonata, dragonflies, damselflies,


OBJECTIVE
To sum up the experience of clinical application of distal base sural island flap.

METHODS
From January 1997 to April 1999, the posterior island flap of leg pedicled with sural nerve and its nutrient vessels was applied to repair heel or dorsum of foot in 6 cases, chronic ulcer of heel in 2 cases, chronic osteomyelitis in 2 cases, scar contracture of bone defect accompanying fistulation in 1 case. The range of flap was 5 cm x 8 cm to 8 cm x 12 cm.

RESULTS
All the flaps survived completely without vascular crisis. All the wounds healed by first intention. Followed up 3 to 12 months, no ulcer, osteomyelitis, fistulation were recurrence, and the sensation of flap was recovered slightly.

CONCLUSION
The flap do not damage critical blood vessels and nerves, the donating region is hidden. The manual of operation is simple and blood supply of flap is sufficient. It can repair the defect of soft tissue on heel and dorsum with high survival rate.


Motivation: DNA microarray has become an important tool to help identify biomarker genes for improving the prognosis of metastatic breast cancer a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Recently, pathway-level relationships between genes have been increasingly used to build more robust classification models which also can provide useful biological insights. Due to the unavailability of complete pathways, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network is becoming more popular to researcher and opens a way to investigate the developmental process of breast cancer. Here, a network-based method is proposed to combine microarray gene expression profiles and PPI network for biomarker discovery for breast cancer metastasis. The key idea is to identify a small number of genes to connect differentially expressed genes into a single component in a PPI network; these intermediate genes contain important information about the pathways involved in metastasis and have a high probability of being biomarkers. Results: We applied this approach on three breast cancer microarray datasets, and identified significant numbers of well-known biomarker genes for breast cancer metastasis. Those selected genes are enriched with biological processes and pathways related to carcinogenic process, and, importantly, have higher stability across different datasets than in previous studies. Furthermore, those genes significantly increased cross-data classification accuracy in breast cancer metastasis. The randomized Steiner tree based approach described here is a new way to discover biomarker genes for breast cancer, and improves the prediction accuracy of metastasis. The analysis is limited here only to breast cancer, but can be easily applied


One of the most interesting approaches to communicating image sequences is model-based coding. This is totally unlike conventional image compression and coding, since, rather than transmitting the pixels that comprise an image, it involves the communication of information regarding the motion of components in the scene. The approach to model-based coding discussed here is to employ a mathematical model-usually a 3-D geometric model of the objects in the scene-and to use techniques akin to computer vision to identify the model movement that gave rise to the imagery. Information regarding the model movement is then transmitted in some coded form and image synthesis techniques are used to re-generate the individual frames of the image sequence. Since the volume of data required to describe the motion of a model is normally vastly less than that required to describe an image, model-based techniques could potentially reduce transmission requirements to as little as a few tens of bytes per frame.


Superconducting niobium (Nb) has been successfully obtained by sputter deposition on carbon nanotube fibers. The transport properties of the niobium coating the fibers are compared to those of niobium thin films deposited on oxidized Si substrates during the same deposition run. For niobium films with thicknesses above 300 nm, the niobium coating the fibers and the thin films show similar normal state and superconducting properties with critical current density, measured at T = 4.2 K, of the order of 105 A cm−2. Thinner niobium layers coating the fibers also show the onset of the superconducting transition in the resistivity versus temperature dependence, but zero resistance is not observed down to T = 1 K. We evidence by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and current-voltage measurements that the granular structure of the samples is the main reason for the lack of true global superconductivity for thicknesses below 300 nm.


1. The method of operating a water-cooled neutronic reactor having a graphite moderator which comprises flowing a gaseous mixture of carbon dioxide and helium, in which the helium comprises 40-60 volume percent of the mixture, in contact with the graphite moderator.


Introduction Like many hospitals through out the UK the National IBD Standards (endorsed by the British Society of Gastroenterology) and the IBD (Global Rating Score) Quality Improvement Programme (endorsed by The Royal College of Physicians) have help highlighted areas of our inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) service that clearly need improving. In order to attract funding from our local primary care trust (PCT) to support the necessary service improvements, we set about establishing the total cost and demand made on our local hospital in managing these patients. We set about assessing 4 key areas; the endoscopy service, the radiology service, the hospital admissions and the outpatient service. Objective of this study: To assess the demand on the outpatient services made by IBD patients. Methods The Luton & Dunstable University Hospital has a database of 2680 local IBD patients. This is made up of 1425 patients with UC, 941 with Crohn's, 118 with proctitis, 113 with IBD unspecified, 53 with radiation proctitis, 13 with diversion colitis, 10 with ileo-anal pouchitis and 7 with microscopic colitis. Using the database the hospital coding system was used to analyse the total number of outpatient appointments (OPAs) made between 2001 and 2011 for these patients, and to which specialties they were referred. Total costs were calculated using a range of prices for the different specialties, depending on whether they were new (£210-£265) or follow up clinic visits (£83-£136). Results Over the course of 10 years the 2680 IBD patients made 20,837 gastroenterology OPAs (2,053 new and 18,784 follow ups) (ie.2,084 per year), costing the local primary care trust (PCT) a total of £2,103,117. There were also 3474 OPAs made with the gastrointestinal (GI) surgeons (1,409 new and 2,065 follow ups) (ie. 347 per year), costing the local PCT a total of £603,524. In addition a further 42,276 (63%) OPAs were made with non-GI teams, costing the PCT an further £4,227,600. Conclusion Over 10 years the 2680 patients made 66,007 outpatient clinic visits (24.6 per person, 2.46 per person per year) costings a total of £6,934,241. Of these, 24,311 (37%) were with the GI medics and surgeons, costing the PCT a total of £2,706,641. Many of the non-GI specialty appointments were made for IBD associated conditions eg. 1510 dermatology OPAs. The 3281 ophthalmology OPAs were predominantly for cataracts, which raised concerns about potential iatrogenic causes. Disclosure of Interest None Declared.


Aflatoxins are a group of naturally occurring carcinogens that are known to contaminate dif‐ ferent human and animal food stuffs. Aflatoxins are poisonous by-products from soil-borne fungus Aspergillus, which is responsible for the decomposition of plant materials [1-9]. The occurrence of aflatoxins foods and food products vary with geographic location, agricultural and agronomic practices. The susceptibility of food product to fungal attack occurs during pre-harvest, transportation, storage, and processing of the foods [1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10]. The prob‐ lem of aflatoxin contamination of the food products is a common problem in tropical and subtropical regions of the world especially in the developing countries such as the sub-Sa‐ haran countries with poor practices and where the environmental conditions of warm tem‐ peratures and humidity favors the growth fungi [1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10]. The various food products contaminated with aflatoxins include cereals like maize, sorghum, pearl millet, rice and wheat; oilseeds such as groundnut, soybean, sunflower and cotton; spices like chillies, black pepper, coriander, turmeric and zinger; tree nuts such as almonds, pistachio, walnuts and coconut; and milk and milk products [11]. The aflatoxins were initially isolated and identi‐ fied as the causative agent in Turkey X disease that caused necrosis of the liver in 1960 and over 100,000 turkeys died in England and USA and the death was attributed to the con‐ sumption of a mould-contaminated peanut meal [2, 6, 9, 12, 13]. Very high concentrations of aflatoxins are most often found in nutritive seeds such as maize, nuts and cereal grains in Africa and rice in China and Southeast Asia [2, 6, 9, 12-14].


Formation processes of weathering products of pumice collected from a rhyolitic pyroclastic flow deposit were investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). SEM clearly showed the presence of some weathering products adhering to the surface of pumice. XRD showed that the products were composed mainly of noncrystalline materials with a relatively small amount of halloysite (10 Å). TEM and EDX revealed texture transformation sequences from the earliest weathering product to a final product of halloysite as follows: 1) precipitation of very thin flaky or film-like noncrystalline Al-hydroxide; 2) transformation into irregularly aggregated Al-Fe-Si-rich fibrous material; 3) morphological changes to rounded aggregates; 4) development of halloysite-like curled domains with successive decrease in Fe content; and 5) further development of curled domains in rounded aggregates. These materials must be metastable phases at early reaction stages with kinetics limiting formation of the stable equilibrium phase of kaolinite.


An atomic force microscope (AFM) and spectrometer combined system for in-situ thickness measurement of nano-porous alumina (PA) films is introduced. The AFM is applied to obtain the porosity of PA film, and then we calculate the effective refractive index by Maxwell-Garnett effective dielectric constant theory. The optical thickness of PA film is determined by reflective interference spectrometer. The PA film thickness can also be measured via scanning the crosssection with optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The sample will be damaged, however, when using this method. The measurement by optical microscope is convenient, but it's hard to attain high resolution. When using SEM, the sample surface must be gilt and needs a vacuum environment. The system we developed can avoid the disadvantages of the method. It realizes non-destructive and highresolution in-situ measurement.


One of the indicators of a developed faculty is the numbers of department organized by the faculty. In order to develop the faculty, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, the State Islamic University Walisongo had planned to prepare a new department. Applying the method of survey as a preliminary study, this research was purposed as tracer study. The research questions are those related to job acceptance of the alumni and how long the alumni to get job after they finish their study, it was revealed that the Department of International Relations and the Department of Public Administration have been assumed to be priorities. This study focused on six famous and highest rank state universities in Java having mentioned departments. Based on this research result, it was recommended to heads of the State Islamic University Walisongo to set up the Department of International Relations and the Department of Public Administration as the effort for developing the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences.


ABSTRAK
Money laundering is a hot or dirty money laundering practice (dirty money). This dirty money comes from illegitimate and illegal practices such as corruption, bribery, smuggling, as well as banking crimes and other unhealthy practices. To clean it, the money is placed in a bank or certain place for a while before being transferred to another place (layering), for example through the purchase of shares in the capital market, foreign exchange transfers or the purchase of an asset. After that, the offender will receive money that has been cleared from the washing field in the form of income derived from the purchase of shares, foreign exchange or assets (integration). The practice of money laudering that continues to occur along with the times and modernization provides the concept of thinking to examine the legal issue of the regulation being implemented, and how the modus operandi of the occurrence of a case. The stages and mode of occurrence of money laundering crime include: Placement, which is the first stage by placing (depositing) the illicit money into the financial system (financial system). Layering at this stage the washers try to break the money from the crime from the source, by transferring the money from one bank to another, up to several times. Integration, iniuang washed stages are brought back into circulation in the form of net income even as tax objects by using money that has become lawful for business activities. The perpetrator of money laundering as an organized crime, is carried out by a person who controls or has special knowledge in the world of financial service providers. Even they must master science in the field of computers. Money laundering in addition is very detrimental to society, also very detrimental to the State because it can influence or undermining national economic stability or State finances by increasing various crimes


This study focuses on relationships among porosity, permeability and seismic velocity of shales. A total of thirty well characterized, brine-saturated (35000 ppm NaCl) synthetic shale of varying textural and mineralogical compositions were compacted mechanically both in triaxial and oedometer cells under controlled pore pressure and proper drained conditions. Results show that kaolinite dominated shales compact more but have higher permeability and seismic velocity compared to smectite dominated shales at same stress/depth. Permeability differs a maximum five orders of magnitude at the same porosity for different shales. For velocity-permeability relationship between kaolinite- and smectite-dominated shales, a maximum four orders of magnitude are observed. Velocity/porosity can therefore not be good proxy to estimate reliable permeability in shales. Comparison of experimental and published data show a good agreement and illustrated that a better understanding of mineralogical and textural relationships can be significantly improved to establish relationships among porosity, permeability and seismic velocity of shales. In addition to the existing database, the new experimental data (this study) can improve the calibration of fluid flow modeling, seismic and well-log interpretation and evolution of shale rock properties. The experimental results may also be of importance for structural design, slope stability analysis and waste disposal efforts.


Ancient settlements were dependent on the availability of water for sustainable living, ritual values, and economic purposes. Today, many Tropical Asian cities provide examples of urban settlements within water landscapes, yet these cities struggle with water issues, and face challenges in creating a contextual morphological identity. This paper explores urban waterfront heritage through a case study of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The city is experiencing rapid unplanned urbanisation, insensitive land use and the demolition of historical buildings along waterways, which in turn has created a contextual crisis in the built environment and social living. To explore the relationship of built heritage with the water-edge, this paper examines historical architectural styles using urban morphological codes. Results show that the historical orientations, accessibility, and functions of heritage buildings are explicitly and sensitively connected with the water-edge. The paper argues that physical and spatial components of urban structure and water landscape, incorporating the lessons of urban history, could become a tool to preserve urban heritage. However, to enhance the image of the city in a sustainable manner along water-edges, it is crucial to use the potentiality of water landscape with the heritage-based morphologies in current urban design and development practices.


Different modeling concepts, a simple (black-box) to a fully distributed modeling (white-box), were used to develop a rainfall-runoff model based on the watershed characteristics to estimate runoff at the watershed outlet. A conceptual (grey-box) model is usually a balance between the black-box and white-box model. In this study, three grey-box models were developed by varying model structures for a karst watershed. The performance of the grey-box models was evaluated and compared with a semi-distributed type (white-box) model that was developed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool in a previous study. The evaluation was carried out using goodness-of-fit statistics and extreme flow analysis using WETSPRO (Water Engineering Time Series Processing tool). Nash-Sutcliffe efficiencies (NSE) of the grey-box models were from 0.39 to 0.77 in the calibration period and from 0.30 to 0.61 in the validation period. However, the white-box model performed better in terms of NSE but has a higher bias. The best grey-box model performed better in simulating extreme flow, whereas the white-box (SWAT) model adequately simulated daily flows.
Asian Australas. J. Biosci. Biotechnol. 2021, 6 (1), 26-39


One central issue in practically deploying network coding is the adaptive and economic allocation of network resource. We cast this as an optimization, where the net-utility-the difference between a utility derived from the attainable multicast throughput and the total cost of resource provisioning-is maximized. By employing the MAX of flows characterization of the admissible rate region for multicasting, this paper gives a novel reformulation of the optimization problem, which has a separable structure. The Lagrangian relaxation method is applied to decompose the problem into subproblems involving one destination each. Our specific formulation of the primal problem results in two key properties. First, the resulting subproblem after decomposition amounts to the problem of finding a shortest path from the source to each destination. Second, assuming the net-utility function is strictly concave, our proposed method enables a near-optimal primal variable to be uniquely recovered from a near-optimal dual variable. A numerical robustness analysis of the primal recovery method is also conducted. For ill-conditioned problems that arise, for instance, when the cost functions are linear, we propose to use the proximal method, which solves a sequence of well-conditioned problems obtained from the original problem by adding quadratic regularization terms. Furthermore, the simulation results confirm the numerical robustness of the proposed algorithms. Finally, the proximal method and the dual subgradient method can be naturally extended to provide an effective solution for applications with multiple multicast sessions


The history of privatization, first under the Margaret Thatcher Governments from 1979 to 1990 and then under the two John Major Governments between 1990 and 1997, has been extensively researched. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to the privatization policies of the Labour Governments between May 1997 and May 2010. Despite Labour opposing each of the Conservatives' privatizations during the 1980s and 1990s, privatization continued after 1997 and especially in the form of PFI schemes. The study provides a comprehensive review of privatization under Labour Governments and confirms that there was a remarkable degree of policy continuity after 1997 with some privatizations postponed by the Conservatives completed under Labour. The paper draws on official reports and documents. It also draws on records that I was given access to as the UK Government's Official Historian of Privatization.


Throughout this article we aim to defend the presence of psychopathic traits in child and adolescent population. In psychology there are two fundamental theoretical contributions to the understanding of this disorder in childhood. One focuses on the aspects of antisocial behaviour (Lynam, 1997); and the other highlights the presence of a fundamental characteristic in identifying the disorder, known as the callous unemotional trait (CU, Frick, O'Brien, Wootton & McBurnett, 1994). We also present some of the instruments that are most used in the assessment of child and adolescent psychopathy, as well as some results in the treatment of this disease.


In this work a method of the laser synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles and the formation of liquid photonic crystals are discussed. Optical properties of the systems depending on the particle concentration, its sizes and shapes were determined.


This thesis aims to explore and understand the use of indicators in sustainability reports
produced by 13 corporations operating in the Canadian oil sands industry. The literature
review demonstrated that little work has been done to understand the use of indicators
and reporting within this industry.

Three research questions are addressed through a content analysis of sustainability
reports. The analysis shows that when looking at indicators based on the common
themes or sustainability pillar they address, there appears to be consistency across the
industry. However, when looking at indicators individually, there is a great deal of
inconsistency making comparison of reports and benchmarking incredibly difficult.

This research has a number of practical implications, particularly, it is the first
comprehensive review of indicators being disclosed in the industry and can be used by
a variety of stakeholders. Further, this research sets the foundation for a number of
other possible streams of future research.


The teaching system of the Open University of Britain is briefly summarized and related to a feedback model of the educational process. It is shown that the main further development needed is to improve the remedial components of the system and several developments towards this goal are described. These include computer-based information retrieval and educational systems; a dedicated teleconferencing network; and use of the standard TV set coupled, for example, to an audio-cassette recorder, a telephone line, and a light pen.


Objective. To study the efficacy of the tolerance of combined regimens of the therapy with high doses of methylprednisolone and methotrexate of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Materials and methods. The study included 85 patients with RA who underwent inpatient treatment in the Rheumatologic Department of the Clinical Hospital of Dushanbe city for the period 2018-2019. From them, women – 83.2 %, men – 26.8 %; the average duration of the disease is 7.4 years. Extra-articular manifestations of RA were determined in 74.3 % of patients. Against the background of the standard therapy, a regimen of bolus pulse therapy (methylprednisolone 500-1000 mg and methotrexate) was taken for 3 days, which has been followed for observation for a year. The effectiveness of the treatment was assessed according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20/50/70 criteria. The number of the swollen joints and painful joints (NPV), ESR, C-reactive protein level, and the overall disease activity were determined.
Results and discussion. After 1 month of therapy, significant positive dynamics were recorded in the all estimated parameters of the RA activity. There was a significant decrease in NPV, as well as the intensity of pain according to the visual analogue scale. During 3 months of observation, 78 % of the observed patients showed improvement and only 11 % of patients had side effects and have not been required of the discontinuation of the treatment.
Conclusions. The combined pulse therapy of methylprednisolone and methotrexate was an effective and well-tolerated for systemic manifestations of RA and contributed to a significant decrease in RA activity in the shortest time.


Objectives: Role of niacin in decreasing cardiovascular accidents by lowering the levels of Apo-B in hyperlipidemic patients. Background: In hyperlipidemia, there are high levels of atherogenic lipoproteins leading to higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular events. Patients with dyslipidemia use statins as a mainstay of therapy over last many decades. Recent studies show that apolipoproteins play a major role in formation of atheromatous plaque, thus there is an urgent need to study the effects of lipid lowering medication on apolipoprotiens levels. Study Design: Cross sectional analytical study. Setting: Sheikh Zayed Hospital Lahore (Department of Biochemistry and Chemical Pathology). Period: 12 weeks from July to Sep 2014. Materials and Methods: Recently diagnosed hyperlipidemic patients (n=44) were selected for the study purpose and divided into two equal groups; A and B. Each group was given different medication. Group A took only statin while group B took a combination of statin and niacin. Blood samples were taken at the start of medication and then after completion of 12 week time period. Results: At the start of the treatment there was no significant difference in the Apo B cholesterol level between the two groups (p value 0.972). However, after the end of 12 week duration, there was a significant reduction in the Apo level of group B taking statin and niacin as compared to group A taking statin alone (p value 0.003). Conclusions: Niacin has cardio-protective role when used in combination with niacin.


To elucidate the aerodynamic mechanism of galloping, the authors attempt another approach in the time domain relative to this oscillatory instability. As a test body, the present study takes up a square-section prism with a stationary long splitter plate in its wake. A black-box theory of galloping is presented. Wind-tunnel experiments are reported on the indicial pressure responses together with flow visualizations. The corresponding Reynolds numbers were approximately 1.9 × 104 and 8.9 × 103, respectively. In addition to the measurement of the indicial pressure responses, the sinusoidal pressure responses are also measured by forcedly oscillating the same model. As a result, the indicial body motion produces the separation-induced vortices on two sides parallel to the uniform flow, and these vortices are responsible for the lift force related to the onset of galloping. The quantitative agreement between theory and experiment is reasonable for slowly oscillating galloping.


By estimating the contents of pyramin and vitamin B(1) excreted in the urine of the albino rats raised under the hot and highly humid environment of hygrometric temperature at 28-30°C, the author obtained the following results. 1. When the daily dose of 40γ B(1) was administered to the albino rats being raised under a hot environment, the mean averago of the pyramin content excreted in the urine per day by an individual rat was around 3.52-3.38γ, showing no difference from that of the control. While the B(1)-quantity excreted in the ruine per day was around 6.28-5.8γ, proving to be 1.3 times that of the control. In this instance, the quantity per 1,000 calories of non-fatty substance taken in by B(1) remaining in the body amounted to about 0.68-0.64 mg, proving greater than that in the control (0.45-0.47 mg). 2. When B(1) was administered in various under the hot environment, the pyramin content excreted in the urine increased in proportion to the increasing dose of B(1), but the degree of the increase, being only slight, differed not much from that of the control. The amount of B(1) excreted in the urine, when the B1 dose was increased to 40γ or 80γ, was 6.4γ and 26.1γ respectively, each value proving to be 1.3 times that of the control (4.4γ and 21.3γ respectively). 3. When the common foods was given freely under the hot environment, the B1-content and pyramin-content excreted in the urine were 4.9-5.8γ and 3.8-3.9γ respectively, both being less than the respective values in the control (6.2-7.2γ and 4.7-4.2γ). This seems to be due to the decrease in the food intake with the attendant decrease in the amount of B(1)-intake. 4. The gain in the body weight and the amount of food intake in the case of the albino rats under the hot and highly humid environment were for poorer than those of the control raised under the normal environment.


It is essential to get the proportionate units right in economic measurement. The present analysis of dial-up and broadband markets, however, contains a problem with its units. A one-dollar decline from $20 in dial-up prices is treated as equivalent to a two-dollar decline from $40 in broadband prices. This assessment undervalues broadband revenues, because it doesn't factor in the greater satisfaction per dollar experienced by converts from dial-up to broadband. In this column, Greenstein seeks to correct the units of comparison.


The objective of this study was to investigate molecular and functional
 properties of starches isolated from ZP maize genotypes of different genetic
 background. The protein, fat, ash and resistant starch contents were very
 low. The amylose content in the isolated starches of 10 ZP maize genotypes
 was characteristic for both types of maize starches, normal and waxy. The
 waxy type had the highest average molecular weight of amylopectin (4.84 x 108
 Da). The onset temperature of gelatinisation values of starches of 10 ZP
 maize genotypes ranged from 62.1oC to 65.0oC. The waxy maize starch displayed
 a significantly higher enthalpy change for gelatinised starch (ΔH=18.1 J/g)
 than normal maize starches did (ΔH=13.6-15.6 J/g). Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA)
 profiles of starches of ZP maize genotypes were typical for both types of
 maize starches, normal and waxy. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike
 Srbije, br. TR31069]


Error Correcting Codes (ECCs) are widely used today in combination with cryptographic hash functions in the design of biometric systems with secure template storage. The selected ECC strongly influences the performance of the system in terms of False Rejection Rate (FRR) and False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and, therefore, the choice of the code must be done very carefully. This paper presents an analysis of the ECC properties which affect the security and recognition performance of biometric systems, taking as starting point the genuine and impostor normalized Hamming Distance (HD) distributions resulting from intra- and inter-class comparisons. To illustrate the ECC properties relevant for this discussion, the performance of a secure iris verification system is studied. The ECC codes selected for testing are Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) and Reed Solomon (RS) codes, since these are two of the most commonly used ECCs for secure biometric template storage systems and they have very different properties, which allows testing under a wide range of conditions.


An oscillating model for the magnetospheres of pulsars suggests the presence of a counterstreaming electron-positron pair plasma, where the Lorentz factor of the streams varies over several orders of magnitude. The relativistically correct response of the plasma is calculated analytically, and numeric calculations of the dispersion functions performed. We present here the structure of the wave modes in this plasma for some different parameters, including a cold plasma and the case of parallel propagation. We discuss some of the implications for the generation and escape of pulsar radio emissions.


In this essay, the employer's obligations in relation to collective dismissals in Sweden and England are examined. The employer's obligation to information and consultation grants the employees co-determination in case of collective redundancies. In Sweden, this collective right for the trade unions are according to the legislative history for the MBL intended to democratise the workplaces. Still, the collective agreement-carrying trade unions take precedence to this right over unions without a collective agreement. In England, there is not the same tradition of regulating labor relations in collective agreements. Both Sweden and England have implemented the Collective Redundancies Directive, 98/59/EC, and based on how these implementations have been carried out, this essay process how and why the majority organisation's position in Sweden is defended and what consequences this has for the minority organisations. The Directive has almost exclusively been implemented at a minimum level in England, while Sweden in several cases goes beyond what the Directive stipulates. However, the English legal system offers a more comprehensive right to information and consultation for the individual in relation to collective dismissals. The Swedish tradition of strong majority organisations lives on, but partly at the expense of the individual's right to information and consultation through his own trade union. (Less)


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of plasma HMGB1, IFN-γ, IL-4 and CD4+T cell surface TLR4 expression on the immune thrombocytopenia(ITP).

METHODS
Twenty-five patients diagnosed as ITP in our hospital from October 2014 to October 2015, and 20 healthy persons as controls were selected. The ELISA was used to detect the plasma levels of HMGB1, IFN-γ and IL-4 in 2 groups; the flow cytometry was used to detect the expression level of TLR4 on the surface of CD4+ cells. The relatienship between different parameters was analyzed.

RESULTS
Before treatment, the plasma HMGB1 level in ITP group was significantly higher than that in control group (t=4.259, P<0.01), while after treatment it significantly decreased and close to level in control group (t=1.267, P>0.05). The plasma IFN-γ level detected in ITP group before and after treatment was not significantly different from level in control group (P>0.05), while the IL-4 level in ITP group before treatment was significantly lower than that in control grup (t=2.107, P<0.05), but the IL-4 level in ITP group after treatment was significantly higher than that in control group (t=2.107, P<0.05). The plasma IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio in ITP group before treatment was significantly higher than that in control group (t=5.436, P<0.01), but it obviously decreased and was slightly lower than that in control group after treatment. The expression level of TLR4 in ITP group before and after treatment was all significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.01). The HMGB1 level in ITP group was directly proportional to the CD3+ content (r=0.824, P<0.01), however it not significantly related with CD4+ content (r=0.074, P>0.05), but than the HMGB1 level in ITP group was directly proportional to CD8+ content (r=0.844, P<0.01) and to IL-4 content (r=0.784, P<0.01), and was inversely proportional to IFN-γ level(r=-0.814,P<0.01),and also was inversely proportional to IFN-γ /IL-4 ratio(r=-0.887,P<0.01),and directly proportional to TLR4 expression level(r=0.772,P<0.01).

CONCLUSION
The HMGB1 and TLR4 expression levels in ITP patients are higher, and clinical therapy can relieve the disease by targetly control in HMGB1 and TLR4 expression.


Intracellular transport is vital for the proper functioning and survival of a cell. Cargo (proteins, vesicles, organelles, etc) is transferred from its place of creation to its target locations via molecular motor assisted transport along cytoskeletal filaments. The transport efficiency is strongly affected by the spatial organization of the cytoskeleton, which constitutes an inhomogeneous, complex network. In cells with a centrosome microtubules grow radially from the central microtubule organizing center towards the cell periphery whereas actin filaments form a dense meshwork, the actin cortex, underneath the cell membrane with a broad range of orientations. The emerging ballistic motion along filaments is frequently interrupted due to constricting intersection nodes or cycles of detachment and reattachment processes in the crowded cytoplasm. In order to investigate the efficiency of search strategies established by the cell's specific spatial organization of the cytoskeleton we formulate a random velocity model with intermittent arrest states. With extensive computer simulations we analyze the dependence of the mean first passage times for narrow escape problems on the structural characteristics of the cytoskeleton, the motor properties and the fraction of time spent in each state. We find that an inhomogeneous architecture with a small width of the actin cortex constitutes an efficient intracellular search strategy.


Passive cooling technique uses non-mechanical methods to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature. Passive cooling techniques can be reduced the peak cooling load in buildings, thus reducing the size of the air conditioning apparatus and the period for which it is usually required thereby affecting the impact on the environment. This paper presents cooling load calculation by using CLTD method for a conference hall. The cooling load calculation has been worked out by considering various parameters. The calculation has been worked out using MS-Excel program. The results so obtained have been compared with those of simulation technique HAP 4.5. It is a computer based program developed by Carrier Company which aids in calculating the cooling load based on ASHRAE standards. After obtaining cooling load, a system is installed in the conditioned space to reduce the cooling load which results in energy saving, cost saving and also the reduction in CO2 emission. This system is ground water heat exchanger which circulates the ground water though the pipe in the wall and reduces the inside temperature which ultimately reduces the cooling load. MAT LAB software is using for estimating various parameters of Ground Source Heat Pump.


Using a technique of polymerase chain reaction-restriction lengths polymorphism (PCR-RLP), the authors detected the genotypes of apolipoprotein EE(ApoE) in 102 normal control subjects and in 118 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Meanwhile, the effect of ApoE allele on plasma lipid, lipoprotein, apolipoprotein levels were analyzed, and ApoE allele frequencies of patients with CHD and of control subjects were compared. The results showed that the technique of modified PCR-RFLP was a useful measure to detect the genotypes of ApoE. ApoE gene was polymorphism, resulting in plasma lipid level variance among individuals. As compared to ApoE3 allele, ApoE4 allele had positive effect on plasma TC, LDL-C and ApoB100 levels; while ApoE2 allele had negative effect on plasma TC, LDL-C and ApoB100 levels. The frequency of E4 allele in patients with CHD was higher than that in control subjects. The results in the present study suggest that ApoE4 allele is probably the genetic marker of CHD.


Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections in healthy individuals are usually cleared by immune cells, wherein CD8+ T cells play the most important role. However, in some immunocompromised individuals, EBV infections can lead to the development of cancer in B, T, NK cells and epithelial cells. Most EBV-associated cancers express a limited number of virus-specific antigens such as latent membrane proteins (LMP1, LMP2) and nuclear proteins (EBNA1, -2, EBNA3A, -B, -C, EBNA-LP). These antigens represent true tumor-specific antigens and can be considered useful targets for TCR gene therapy to treat EBV-associated diseases. We used a TCR isolation platform based on a single major histocompatibility class I complexe (MHC I) K562 cell library for the detection, isolation, and re-expression of TCRs targeting immunodominant peptide-MHC (pMHC) complexes. Mature dendritic cells (mDCs) were pulsed with in vitro-transcribed (ivt) RNA encoding for the selected antigen to stimulate autologous T cells. The procedure allowed the mDCs to select an immunogenic epitope of the antigen for processing and presentation on the cell surface in combination with the most suitable MHC I molecule. We isolated eight EBV-specific TCRs. They recognize various pMHC complexes of EBV antigens LMP1, LMP2A, and EBNA3C, some of them described previously and some newly identified in this study. The TCR genes were molecularly cloned into retroviral vectors and the resultant TCR-engineered T cells secreted interferon-γ after antigen contact and were able to lyse tumor cells. The EBV-specific TCRs can be used as a basis for the generation of a TCR library, which provides a valuble source of TCRs for the production of EBV-specific T cells to treat EBV-associated diseases in patients with different MHC I types.


The current article suggests a voltammetric method for the quantitative determination of malathion and diazinon using a modified electrode. The method is based on the adsorption concentrating of pesticides onto a graphite-containing electrode modified by polyaniline and a Co (III) chelate complex with 2,2'-dipyridyl. Analytical signals are determined by the recovery of cobalt (III) from mixed-ligand complexes with malathion and diazinon at the peak potentials of 0.65 and 0.47 respectively. The method allows one to determine pesticides within 0.05-1.50 mg / l with the following detection limits calculated by the 3s-criterion: 0.02 mg / l (malathion) and 0.015 mg / L (diazinon). The sensor functions as the sampler, as the sample preserver, and as the indicator electrode. The method has been approved for determining the presence of phosphorus-containing pesticides in natural waters and in acid extracts from soil and plants. The results obtained by the suggested method were compared with the results of determining malathion and diazinon by chromatography method. The developed technique exhibits high sensitivity, instrumentation simplicity, and quickness. The developed electrode allows one to store information for at least 10 days, while the analytical signal changes by no more than 15%.


Background Human tuberculosis (TB) is caused by seven phylogenetic lineages of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), Lineage 1–7. Recent advances in rapid genotyping of MTBC based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), allow for rapid and phylogenetically robust strain classification, paving the way for defining genotype-phenotype relationships in clinical settings. Such studies have revealed that, in addition to host and environmental factors, different strains of the MTBC influence the outcome of TB infection and disease. In Tanzania, such molecular epidemiological studies of TB however are scarce in spite of a high TB burden. Methods and Findings Here we used a SNP-typing method to genotype a nationwide collection of 2,039 MTBC clinical isolates obtained from new and retreatment TB cases diagnosed in 2012 and 2013. Four lineages, namely Lineage 1–4 were identified. The distribution and frequency of these lineages varied across the regions but overall, Lineage 4 was the most frequent (n=866, 42.5%), followed by Lineage 3 (n=681, 33.4%) and 1 (n=336, 16.5%), with Lineage 2 being the least frequent (n=92, 4.5%). A total of 64 (3.1%) isolates could not be assigned to any lineage. We found Lineage 2 to be associated with female sex (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.25; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.38 – 3.70, p<0.001) and retreatment (aOR 1.78; 95% CI 1.00 – 3.02, p=0.040). We found no associations between MTBC lineage and patient age or HIV status. Our sublineage typing based on spacer oligotyping revealed the presence of mainly EAI, CAS and LAM families. Finally, we detected low levels of multidrug resistant isolates among a subset of retreatment cases Conclusions This study provides novel insights into the influence of pathogen-related factors on the TB epidemic in Tanzania.


Across the world issues of non-compliance to tax obligations remains a challenge to policy makers. The knowledge of what influences compliance to tax obligations can serve as a guide to control this challenge. Base of this premise, the current study focuses on the objective to include the role of tax audit on the behaviour of non-compliance to tax among the Palestinians taxpayers. This study is conceived on the basis of an exhaustive review of literature. Giving rise to the development of a conceptual model discussed in this study. The outcome of the earlier studies that assessed the relationship between tax audit and tax non-compliance have been highly inconsistent. In view of this, the proposed conceptual framework encompasses an exceptional and all-inclusive model that is expected to improve the existing knowledge as well as guide stakeholders to better comprehend the influence of tax audit on non-compliance to tax. Furthermore, considering the fact that the hypothesized model for this study was founded on the basis of review of existing literature, there is a need to collect data, analyse the data and come up with an empirical evidence to confirm the proposed relationship.


The article presents the technique to evaluate the sensitivity of microorganisms-causative agents of infections isolated from patients, carriers and environment to the disinfectants. The proposed technique gives a possibility to detect the condition of microorganism resistance to disinfectant and to evaluate the degree of its sensitivity. The evaluation of sensitivity specificity accuracy, positive and negative prognostic value, reproducibility of developed technique was made.


Background. The COVID-19 lockdown determined important changes in the sleep of a large percentage of the world population. We assessed the modifications of reported sleep patterns and disturbances in Italian children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), compared to control children, before and during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Methods. Parents of 100 ASD, 236 ADHD patients, and 340 healthy children filled out an anonymous online survey and a modified version of the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC), advertised via social media, to evaluate sleep patterns and disturbances of their children before and during the lockdown. Results. Before the lockdown, bedtime and risetime were not different between the three groups. During the lockdown, ADHD children tended to have a later bedtime and risetime than ASD and controls, while ASD children tended to maintain similar bedtime and risetime. Overall, during the lockdown, a reduced sleep duration significantly differentiated clinical groups from controls. Anxiety at bedtime, difficulties in falling asleep, and daytime sleepiness increased in all groups during the lockdown. Hypnic jerks, rhythmic movement disorders, night awakenings, restless sleep, sleepwalking, and daytime sleepiness increased in ASD and ADHD patients, in particular. Conclusions. This is the first study comparing sleep habits and disorders in ASD and ADHD during the lockdown showing specific differences consistent with the core characteristics of two neurodevelopmental disorders.


The hospital setting provides many opportunities for health promotion. There are many health professionals including physicians, nurses, medical technicians who have close contact with patients and their family. Health professionals are very influential to arouse the awareness about health and illness, and to motivate to change lifestyle among patients. Thus health professionals are most effective and important human resources for health education for patients to improve recovery rates and to promote health. In spite of the importance of health professionals' role in health promotion, the Korean government has provided little support for their health education for patients. Most of the health professionals have not learned about health education theories and skills, and have little attention to educate patients to change their lifestyle. Also the health professionals themselves have relatively poor lifestyle compared with advanced western countries. To improve health education for patients and their family, following strategies and policies should be considered: reinforcing curriculum for health education in college and training course, providing practical incentives for patient education, capacity building for health education and developing guideline for patient education, training health educators, networking and collaborating between community health center and hospitals, promoting the importance of health education among patients, researching and developing health education theory and practice including cost-benefit of health education.


The Clinical Communication Team at the University of Birmingham are undertaking an ambitious project where students across all healthcare programmes will interact within a single virtual healthcare community – 'Wood Brooke' – via simulation activities. The vertical nature of the programme means students can 'follow' the illness/life journeys of a series of families that they meet early in the course over a 3–4 year timeframe. Additionally, they can meet and interact with simulated healthcare professionals working in Wood Brooke's virtual primary, community, and secondary care facilities. Wood Brooke is already well-established throughout our 4-year Pharmacy degree, being integrated into teaching and testing not just for communication, but linked to other clinical aspects of the Programme. We will share our model, and experiences, successes, and challenges.
 Recently Wood Brooke was adapted for Birmingham's 3-year BNurs programme as a vertically integrated clinical communication/professionalisation strand. It is well documented that nursing students should be trained in patient-centred communication [1]. Students from Adult, Child, and Mental Health Nursing mix in the sessions for intra-professional learning and breadth of peer support and feedback. Sessions in Year 1 focus on cases relating to three families from Wood Brooke from patient and relative/carer perspectives. Year 2 builds on the simulation to consider intra and interprofessional colleague interactions in community-based and acute settings through telephone and face to face role play simulation. This builds on the 3 family cases introduced in the first year, introducing other members within the family. Year 3 is under development.
 Feedback from learners about the Programme has been positive. This is not a research project so we will not be presenting 'data'. A result in progress is rolling Wood Brooke out to other Programmes, including Medicine and Dentistry, as part of curriculum review. Discussion may focus on the potential benefits of healthcare students having shared visibility of patient narratives/experiences where that patient is accessing care under more than one service.
 Inclusivity and designing a 'community' reflective of the population has been central. The vertical development of patient narratives over several years enables adaption of the programme to meet new priorities and needs (including, e.g., shift to remote working for COVID-19, and evolving patient demographics).
 1. Gutiérrez-Puertas L, Márquez-Hernández VV, Gutiérrez-Puertas V, Granados-Gámez G, Aguilera-Manrique G. Educational interventions for nursing students to develop communication skills with patients: a systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2020;17(7):2241.


ABSTRACT: This paper interprets the enhancement of the mechanical vibration of temperature from small wind turbines. The aim of this research proposes a new technique and protection method through verifying and monitoring signals from wind turbines, and the necessity of protective measure avoids catastrophic failures. The proposed system consists of a triple axis accelerometer which will identify vibration, thermocouples to indicate the temperature of wind turbines, acquisition and processing of signals using zigbee technology. The software interface has the functionality of received data and reports the data rates during monitoring. Hence, the model of the hardware and software results gained through experimental evaluation.


ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study investigated the relation of sociocultural prescriptions of gender role socializations to differences in stress at home and to anxiety and depressive symptoms for adolescent girls and boys, with family cohesion as a mediator. A total of 244 boys and 285 girls aged 13–17 years recruited from Accra, Ghana completed the Short Mood Feeling Questionnaire, Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory, Stress of Home Life and Family Cohesion self-report scales in April 2015. In each sample, two mediation analyses were conducted using Structural Equation Modelling. Exposure to stress at home that was perceived to result from sociocultural prescriptions of gender role norms largely accounted for anxiety and depressive symptoms among girls, whereas this relation was non-significant among boys. Significant indirect relations through low family cohesion to anxiety symptoms were observed for girls and boys but not to depressive symptoms for boys. These findings suggest that differences in gender role socializations at home may account for individual differences in associations between exposure to stress at home and anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as explain the differential indirect relations through low family cohesion. Improving family cohesion while reducing stress at home may contribute to reducing stress and thus anxiety and depressive symptoms.


Purpose: To describe changes in HRQoL of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patient and illustrate impact of malnutrition and Type II diabetes on relapse of PTB. Case: A Chinese male patient with complaints of productive cough, and loss of weight and appetite was registered; sputum smear confirmed that patient had PTB. Diagnosis was also supported by routine investigations. Patient had past history of PTB and Type II diabetes mellitus. For management of secondary tuberculosis, he was prescribed WHO recommended therapy. Elevated HbA1c levels and history of drop-off serum albumin concentration at the start of treatment demonstrated inappropriate glycaemic control and malnutrition over the past months. SF-36v2 was used to estimate HRQoL scores at start, after two months and at the end of TB therapy. Although patient's perception of mental and physical health improved with progress of treatment, vitality (VT), social functioning (SF) and role emotion (RE) scores were still lower than Malaysian norms. Patient was declared 'cured' but state of 'health' as defined by WHO was not achieved. Conclusion: Relapse of PTB might be a consequence of inappropriate glycaemic control and malnutrition. This case report demonstrates the need for more comprehensive efforts at TB programs to improve HRQoL of TB patients. Keywords: Health-Related Quality of Life, Pulmonary tuberculosis, Malnutrition, Type II diabetes, SF 36v2


Camera trap surveys are a non-invasive way to monitor wildlife populations. Although most often used to study medium- and large-sized mammals, camera traps also detect non-target species. These detections provide useful ecological information on little-known species, but such data usually remain unanalysed. We used detections from camera-trapping surveys of native carnivores and small mammals to examine distribution patterns and occupancy trends of little-known ground-dwelling rainforest birds at seven sites across the Masoala-Makira protected area complex in north-eastern Madagascar. We obtained 4,083 detections of 28 bird species over 18,056 trap nights from 200 to 2013. We estimated occupancy across the Masoala-Makira protected area complex (hereafter, landscape occupancy) and annual trends in occupancy at three resurveyed sites for five commonly observed species. Landscape occupancy across Masoala-Makira ranged from 0.75 (SE 0.09; Madagascar Magpie-robin Copsychus albospecularis ) to 0.25 (SE 0.06; Scaly Ground-roller Geobiastes squamiger ). Ground-dwelling forest bird occupancy was similar at forest sites that ranged from intact to fully degraded; however, three species were detected less often at sites with high feral cat trap success. Nearly half of all focal species showed declines in annual occupancy probability at one resurveyed site (S02) from 2008 to 2013. The declines in ground-dwelling bird occupancy could have community-wide consequences as birds provide ecosystem services such as seed dispersal and pest regulation. We suggest immediate conservation measures—such as feral cat removal—be implemented to protect ground-dwelling forest birds and other threatened taxa across this landscape.


The atomic and magnetic structure of the 1/1 Tb(14)Au(70)Si(16) quasicrystal approximant has been solved by combining x-ray and neutron diffraction data. The atomic structure is classified as a Tsai-type 1/1 approximant with certain structural deviations from the prototype structures; there are additional atomic positions in the so-called cubic interstices as well as in the cluster centers. The magnetic property and neutron diffraction measurements indicate the magnetic structure to be ferrimagnetic-like below 9 K in contrast to the related Gd(14)Au(70)Si(16) structure that is reported to be purely ferromagnetic.


Abstract This article attends to age stereotypes and ageism in contemporary tech. In academia, little attention has been devoted to this topic. Therefore, we intend to initiate a discussion around ageism in tech by studying perceptions of age in the tech industry. Our study is based on interviews with 18 tech workers around the world of varying age. According to our interviewees, tech workers over 35 are considered old in the tech industry. Older tech workers are expected to become managers, thought to become less interested in new technology, and expected to have more challenges when learning new software. We also look at how tech workers of different age groups experience entrepreneurial values of the company as a playground, staying hungry, and changing the future with technology, and how these values influence their professional careers. We conclude that ageism is reinforced in contemporary tech through several stereotypes related to age.


Early detection of wood decay is critical because decay fungi can cause rapid structural failure. The objective of this study was to compare the sensitivity of different methods purported to detect brown-rot decay in the early stages of development. The immunodiagnostic wood decay (IWD) test, soil block test/cake pan test, mechanical property tests, and chemical analysis were evaluated in southern yellowpine blocks and stakes exposed to Postia placenta for 5 weeks. The IWD test was 100 percent positive in blocks after 5 days of incubation; similarly, IWD was 100 percent positive in stakes after 3 days. Weight loss was not accurate for measuring decay in stakes using the cake pan method, but significant weight loss (18%) occurred in blocks after 4 weeks of exposure to the fungus in soil block tests. Maximum compressive strength (MCS) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) were reduced 21 and 13 percent, respectively, in blocks exposed to the fungus for 2 weeks. In stakes, MOE and modulus of rupture were reduced 9 percent and 19 percent, respectively, after 4 weeks of exposure. Arabinan, xylan, and rhamnan decreased rapidly in blocks, exceeding 30 percent after 4 weeks of exposure. In stakes, only galactan was decreased beyond 30 percent after 4 weeks. Sample size and shape was a significant factor in successfully detecting early stages of brown-rot decay in laboratory tests. Blocks fostered rapid colonization in soil block tests, and most methods tested were able to detect the fungus sooner in blocks than in stakes. The IWD test was the most rapid method of detecting P placenta (from 3 to 5 days), followed by reduction in MCS in blocks.


Mammalian ovaries contain a large number of oocytes, most of which degenerate either before or at various stages of growth. Dynamic and precise regulation in the ovary involves many factors, each with a unique role. Identifying the single most important factor is impossible; however, it may be possible to identify factors essential for oocyte growth. It is evident that oocytes can grow into competent ova in vitro; however, how faithfully the follicle should mimic the in vivo conditions remains unclear. In the culture system discussed in this review, bovine and mouse oocyte-granulosa cell complexes, at approximately the late mid-growth stage, spread on a substratum without the involvement of theca cells. The structural simplicity of this system is advantageous because it reduces the basic conditions essential for regulation of oocyte growth. Apart from biological factors, high concentrations of polyvinylpyrrolidone (molecular weight: 360000) improved oocyte growth. Among ovarian factors, androstenedione was used to compensate for the absence of theca cells, and it promoted both follicular growth and acquisition of oocyte meiotic competence. Most oocytes cultured in a group were viable after long-term culture, suggesting that unlike ovarian events, there was no exhaustive follicle selection. Collectively, oocytes and their associated granulosa cells can establish independent units capable of supporting oocyte growth in appropriately modified culture media.


The Manchester Royal Infirmary Students Gazette (1898–99) and its subsequent titles, the Manchester Medical Students Gazette (1901–13), the Manchester University Medical School Gazette (1921–59), the Manchester Medical Gazette (1960–78) and Mediscope (1979–98), are a valuable resource for the history of the social and academic life of the medical students and the work of the Medical School at the University of Manchester. The volumes provide a record of advances in medical practice, historical articles and biographical details of staff. A recently completed database of the main articles and authors is a new resource to research these journals. This article sketches the history of the Gazette and outlines its value as a source for medical historians.


The criticality of correct, complete, testable requirements is a fundamental ideology of software engineering. Also the complete quality of the system is checking the process and product metrics of the final product. Modern tools for managing requirements allow new metrics to be used in support of both of these critical processes. Using these tools, potential problems with the quality of the requirements and the test plan can be identified early in the life cycle. Some of these quality factors include: ambiguous or incomplete requirements, poorly designed requirements databases, excessive or insufficient test cases, and incomplete linkage of tests to requirements. This thesis discusses how metrics can be used to evaluate the quality of the requirements and test to avoid problems later. Test metrics are very powerful "Risk Management Tool". They help you to measure the current performance of the system. Because today's data become the tomorrow's historical data. This data can be used to improve our future work that estimates the quality levels.


Here, we report a simple strategy to prepare highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates based on Ag decorated Cu2O nanoparticles by combining two common techniques, viz, thermal oxidation growth of Cu2O nanoparticles and magnetron sputtering fabrication of a Ag nanoparticle film. Methylene blue is used as the Raman analyte for the SERS study, and the substrates fabricated under optimized conditions have very good sensitivity (analytical enhancement factor ∼108), stability, and reproducibility. A linear dependence of the SERS intensities with the concentration was obtained with an R2 value >0.9. These excellent properties indicate that the substrate has great potential in the detection of biological and chemical substances.


Using a great power-small power theoretical approach and advancing a supplier-recipient bargaining model, Jeffrey Lefebvre attempts to explain what the United States has paid for its relations with two weak and vulnerable arms recipients in the Horn of Africa. Through massive documentation and extensive interviewing, Lefebvre sorts through the confusions and shifts of the United States' post-World War II relations with Ethiopia and Somalia, two primary antagonists in the Horn of Africa. He consulted State Department, Pentagon and AID officials, congressional staff, current and former ambassadors, and Ethiopian and Somali government advisers. The story of US arms transfers to northeast Africa is tangled and complex. In 1953, 1960 and 1964-66, the United States entered into various arms provision deals with Ethiopia, spurred by the Soviet-sponsored buildup in the region. Policy changed in the 1970s: Nixon refused a large aid request in 1973, and in 1977 Carter ended Ethiopia's military aid on human rights grounds and denied aid to Somalia during the 1977-78 Ogaden War. Reversing this policy, the Reagan administration extended military aid to Somalia despite its aggresive moves against Ehtiopia. Recent changes in US-Soviet relations and the 1991 revolution in Somalia change the picture once more. Jeffrey Lefebvre concludes that US diplomacy in northeast Africa has been overly influenced by a Cold War mentality. In their obsession with countering Soviet pressure in the Third World, Washington decision makers have exposed US interests to unnecessary risks and have given far too much for value received during four decades of vacillating and misguided foreign policy. "Arms for the Horn" should interest all concerned with arms transfer issues, security studies, as well as specialists in Africa and the Middle East.


The problem of average error probability evaluation for direct detection binary optical communications in the presence of avalanche gain, intersymbol interference, and colored additive Gaussian noise is considered. Tight new upper and lower bounds, together with a modified Gaussian quadrature rule based on approximate moments, are derived and evaluated. The bounds are found to be much tighter than the Chernoff bound though only slightly more complex to evaluate, and can be used as approximations to the error probability in most cases of practical interest. Taken together the new bounds and the modified Gaussian quadrature rule form a comprehensive set of performance evaluation tools offering a judicious balance between complexity and accuracy.


A surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) platform integrated with a smartphone was constructed for the simultaneous and sensitive detection of acute kidney injury (AKI) biomarkers. The smartphone SPRi platform was developed without the requirement of additional light and power sources. The LED flash of the smartphone was used as the light source for the excitation of surface plasmon resonance of a gold sensor chip based on the Kretschmann configuration, while the reflected light was collected by the camera of the smartphone. This smartphone SPRi system was conveniently fabricated by 3D printing and showed a sensitivity of 1.78 × 10-5 refractive index unit (RIU). In addition, based on a magnetic nanoparticle-enhanced sandwich immunoassay, the smartphone SPRi system with a gold array chip was employed for the detection of multiple AKI biomarkers, with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.19 ng ml-1, 0.51 ng ml-1 and 0.7 ng ml-1 for the simultaneous detection of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), interleukin-18 (IL-18) and retinol-binding protein (RBP) in urine, respectively. The biosensors demonstrated high specificity and sensitivity for the simultaneous detection of multiple AKI biomarkers in PBST and urine. The smartphone SPRi system provided a portable and cost-effective platform for point-of-care diagnosis, in-field healthcare and environmental monitoring.


This paper argues for a Husserlian account of phenomenal intentionality. Experience is intentional insofar as it presents a mind-independent, objective world. Its doing so is a matter of the way it hangs together, its having a certain structure. But in order for the intentionality in question to be properly understood as phenomenal intentionality, this structure must inhere in experience as a phenomenal feature. Husserl's concept of horizon designates this intentionality-bestowing experiential structure, while his concept of motivation designates the unique phenomenal character of this structure as it is experientially lived through. The way experience hangs together is itself a phenomenal feature of experience.


Though water covers more than two-third (about 70%) of the earth's surface, still fresh water used for drinking purposes remains scarce (only about 2.5%). This is mainly due to presence of long coastlines & island nations. As a result most of the countries meet their water demands by desalination of sea water which is a very costly affair. In India, the state like Odisha has a long coastline. Till now Odisha has not developed a method from which water from sea can be used to provide drinking water to the people. The aim of this present work is to develop a portable device that can be used to meet the water requirement of a regular household. The device will first condense the water present in the atmosphere & then purify it so that it can be used for drinking. Such a device is called Atmospheric Water Generator. From this work, it was found that if the ambient temperature is 35 oC or higher & if the relative humidity is greater than 50% then the device will function well & it will start condensing water. Thus in order to work the device in coastal areas of Odisha metrological datas are collected from internet for major coastal cities of Odisha and found that the relative humidity of coastal cities in Odisha remains above 50% throughout the year. Hence the developed device will work round the year without any problem.


We formalize a new modular variant of current question answering tasks by enforcing complete independence of the document encoder from the question encoder. This formulation addresses a key challenge in machine comprehension by building a standalone representation of the document discourse. It additionally leads to a significant scalability advantage since the encoding of the answer candidate phrases in the document can be pre-computed and indexed offline for efficient retrieval. We experiment with baseline models for the new task, which achieve a reasonable accuracy but significantly underperform unconstrained QA models. We invite the QA research community to engage in Phrase-Indexed Question Answering (PIQA, pika) for closing the gap. The leaderboard is at: nlp.cs.washington.edu/piqa


The 'better evidence for better healthcare manifesto' recently published in the BMJ considers the importance of generating higher quality research and of ensuring the dissemination of research into relevant, digestible and accessible formats.1 In addition to these important considerations, in order to 'fix' evidence-based medicine (EBM) and facilitate evidence-based practice, the strategies currently advocated to teach EBM and the evidence base of the foundational knowledge taught in medical schools need to be addressed.

When EBM was originally conceptualised in the 1990s, it was thought that answering questions arising from patient care with the critical appraisal of the primary literature would foster the 'conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence' in clinical practice.2 In medical schools, this reactive approach to EBM has resulted in the creation of specific 'EBM curriculum', either as stand-alone courses or integrated with clinical care, that have focused on the steps of critical appraisal.3 Once 'trained', learners have been expected to apply these EBM competencies to address point-of-care questions.

However, it was soon pointed out that expecting all practitioners to become enthusiastic consumers of the primary literature was not …


Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is a polypeptide which in different in vitro systems raises intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels via adenyl cyclase activation and stimulates Ca2+ transport across cell membranes. We tested whether, on the basis of this mechanism, PTH would inhibit human platelet aggregation. The latter was tested in vitro by a photometric technique. Platelet aggregation induced by the calcium ionophore A 23187 was inhibited by PTH at concentrations (0.5-3 USP U/ml) similar to those effective in other in vitro systems. Higher concentrations of PTH were required to prevent aggregation initiated by adenosine-5'-diphosphate, arachidonic acid, or platelet-aggregating factor. The terminal synthetic fragment 1-34 b PTH was ineffective against all aggregation stimuli. The antiaggregating effect of PTH was potentiated by verapamil and theophylline and was additive to that of PGI2. However, PTH did not appear to increase platelet cAMP levels and was not counteracted by an inhibitor of platelet adenyl cyclase. It is therefore unlikely that PTH inhibits platelet aggregation through an adenyl cyclase stimulated increase of cAMP. Since PTH levels are markedly increased in uremic plasma, it might contribute to the defective platelet function and the bleeding tendency frequently occurring in uremic patients.


The sun vibrates with millions of different overtones, but their exact cause has been a mystery. Now a paper to appear in the 1 March issue of the
 Astrophysical Journal
 proposes that solar tremors called "sunquakes" power this resonance with bursts of sound. By analyzing measurements of the solar atmosphere for motions caused by sound, the researchers found evidence that strengthens a theory that gas plunges noisily below the solar surface. Although it9s unclear how these downdrafts might generate the noise, the team detected this acoustic energy feeding one type of solar oscillation.


This article addresses the touch of words on corporeality in reading, performing, and writing in an artistic research project. Here, touch refers to forms of listening, perceiving, moving, and writing triggered by Finnish people's written memories and experiences concerning mental hospitals. The article, which forms part of the outcome of a multidisciplinary research project titled Engraved in the body, is based on the effects on the researcher of reading these written accounts. Through their inexplicable touch, their obscurity, these memories have haunted, fascinated, and driven the artist-researcher to perform and write in a way which, while not 'knowing' anything, nevertheless acknowledges the unpredictable affective touch of memories. This has led the writer and performer to experience infinite spatialities in which conscious acts are replaced by the resonance of memories, generating in turn a kind of non-personal corporeality for transmitting something in them that is hidden or inexpressible through traces of their touch on corporeality. Throughout the process of reading these memories, the continuous practice of a somatic movement technique, the Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT), with its poetic vocabulary and notion of the spatiality of corporeality enabled exposure and attunement to the quality of the written memories of others and to the silence beyond them. Alongside SRT, this article draws specifically on the insights of Maurice Blanchot and Jean-Luc Nancy to articulate the lived relation between corporeality, language, and writing.


System maintenance in various contexts is an experience that found in tracking a bug and source text code Configuration Management System showing that it is costly and lots of time consuming part of Software-Life-Cycle. Software maintenance has many issues but more pressing in case of legacy Software systems. Clustering in data mining and business intelligence (BI) – Machine learning methodologies permit one to abstract Modals from past experience to make their predictions for future use. Here we discuss the methods employing and solutions regarding encountered issues. We will also present some of the results that we have got.


In this paper, we present the performance analysis of two parallel Fast Fourier Transform algorithms, binary-exchange and transpose algorithms. These two algorithms were implemented and tested on a cluster of PCs using Message Passing Interface (MPI). The binary-exchange algorithm implementation was showing less processing and communication time than transpose algorithm.


We present a numerical study of the statistical behavior of a two-phase flow in a two-dimensional porous medium subjected to an oscillatory acceleration transverse to the overall direction of flow. A viscous nonwetting fluid is injected into a porous medium filled with a more viscous wetting fluid. During the whole process sinusoidal oscillations of constant amplitude and frequency accelerates the porous medium sideways, perpendicular to the overall direction of flow. The invasion process displays a transient behavior where the saturation of the defending fluid decreases, before it enters a state of irreducible wetting fluid saturation, where there is no net transport of defending fluid toward the outlet of the system. In this state the distribution of sizes of the remaining clusters are observed to obey a power law with an exponential cutoff. The cutoff cluster size is found to be determined by the flow and oscillatory stimulation parameters. This cutoff size is also shown to be directly related to the extracted amount of defending fluid. Specifically, the results show that the oscillatory acceleration of the system leads to potentially a large increase in extracted wetting fluid.