Introduction. The role of the organic matrix in urinary stones genesis in urolithiasis patients is still unclear. The presence of a large amount of protein in the urinary stones matrix suggests the participation of the protein matrix in lithogenesis. Research of the amino acids spectrum in urine is of great interest so far as amino acids are the part of the matrix proteins of the urinary stone. Material and methods. We analyzed urinary excretion of the following amino acids and low molecular weight compounds: tryptophan, lysine, trimethyllysine, sarcosine, choline and 4-pyridoxine acid. We used ultra-performance liquid chromatography in combination with a TQD mass spectrometer. Results. A higher level of excretion of choline and sarcosine is typical for patients with oxalate stones, compared with healthy people. Uric acid stone patients have high concentration of choline and extremely increased concentration of trimethyllysine in the urine unlike healthy individuals. Very low concentration of trimethyllysine, choline, sarcosine and higher excretion of tryptophan are specific for oxalate urolithiasis, in contrast to urate stone patients. Conclusion. The intensity of amino acids and low molecular weight compounds urinary excretion has characteristic features in patients with various types of urolithiasis and healthy individuals. Indicators of excretion of these amino acids and low molecular weight substances can serve as criteria for the activity of oxalate or urate lithogenesis along with the known metabolic lithogenic factors of urine. We can use it as additional target indicators to assess the success of anti-relapse treatment.


Background and importance The approach to chronic hepatitis C (HCC) has changed. Treatments with more than 90% effectiveness, fixed length treatments, daily dose and a good safety profile make treatment easier to handle. Aim and objectives To analyse the use of direct acting antivirals (DAA) in the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection in a tertiary hospital. Material and methods A retrospective, observational and descriptive study was conducted in patients who initiated treatment for HCC between June 2017 and December 2018. Both monoinfected and coinfected HIV patients were included, having completed DAA treatment. We collected demographic (gender, age) and clinical (virus genotype, fibrosis degree, mono- or coinfected, treatment and length of treatment, previous treatments in the case of relapse) variables. As an effectiveness variable, we set sustained viral response (SVR) at week 12 after finishing treatment, or undetectable viral load in those patients who did not achieve a SVR. Data were obtained from the pharmacotherapeutic management programmes Silicon and SAP. Results A total of 146 patients. mean age 54 years. were included. There was 34.93% women, 25.34% coinfected and 88.36% naïve. The most frequent genotype (G) was G1a (31.94%), G1b, 29.86% and G3, 19.44%. Depending on hepatic damage, patients presented with different levels of fibrosis (F): F0–1, 66.44%; F2, 15.75%; F3, 6.16%; F4, 5.48%; and cirrhosis, 2.05%. Treatments were glecaprevir/pibrentasvir in 57.53%, sofosbuvir/velpatasvir in 23.29% and elbasvir/grazoprevir in 14.38%. Length of treatment was chosen according to what was said in the technical. Effectiveness (SVR) evaluated 12 weeks after finishing treatment or undetectable viral load after finishing treatment in monoinfected patients was 75.93% and 24.07%, respectively. Regarding coinfection, we could not follow-up with one patient and the other patient's results are still pending (SVR 92.11%). Relapse was detected in patients who had been previously treated with ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir+dasabuvir (2.05%), sofobuvir/ledipasvir (0.68%, n=1) and elbasvir/grazoprevir (0.68%), and reinfection was detected in a patient previously treated with sofosbuvir/daclatasvir. Relapses were treated with sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir (2.74%). Conclusion and relevance Use of DAA was common in our hospital. Effectiveness data and population characteristics were equal to those obtained in the available bibliography. It is crucial to confirm SVR in week 12 after finishing treatment to make sure the disease has been cured. References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


: The design of transverse electromagnetic (TEM) horn antennas has to consider impedance matching between the feeding point and the aperture. To achieve good impedance matching, several typical tapered transmission lines are applied to the taper shape of TEM horns in this study. The numerical estimation of the antenna characteristic of each TEM horn is performed using the fi nite integration method. An exponential taper is most applicable to the antenna shape among those transmission line tapers. An exponentially tapered TEM horn, however, has problems in maintaining a single main lobe in the radiation pattern. We propose a shortened exponentially tapered TEM horn in which has a simple structure that improves the radiation directivity, and the estimation results show its effectiveness as a broadband antenna.


Since its approval in 1997 by the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration), rituximab has been used for certain B-cell lymphomas and treatment-resistant rheumatoid arthritis. Nevertheless, over the past 14 years, many case reports have demonstrated the efficacy of off-label rituximab in several dermatological inflammatory conditions. This study describes two cases of pemphigus vulgaris and two cases of pemphigus foliaceous that were treated with rituximab at 375 mg/m2 once a week for 4 weeks, and that responded well to treatment.


Receptor-mediated signal transduction by G protein-coupled receptors can involve redistribution of plasma membrane receptors into membrane structures that are characterized by insolubility in Triton X-100 and low buoyant density in sucrose gradients. Here we describe the translocation of wild-type (wt) rat LH receptors (LHR-wt) from the bulk membrane into membrane microdomains (rafts) after the binding of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). In sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation of plasma membranes from cells stably expressing FLAG-tagged LHR-wt, receptors were located in high-density membrane fractions before binding of hormone and in low-density fractions after hCG treatment. Receptor translocation to low-density sucrose fractions did not occur when cells were pretreated with 1% methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, which reduces membrane cholesterol and disrupts rafts. Single-particle tracking of individual FLAG-LHR-wt receptors showed that hCG-treated receptors become confined in small compartments with a diameter of 86 +/- 36 nm, significantly smaller than 230 +/- 79 nm diameter regions accessed by the untreated receptor. Receptors were no longer confined in these small compartments after disruption of rafts by methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, a treatment that also decreased levels of cAMP in response to hCG. Finally, translocation of LHR into rafts required a functional hormone-receptor complex but did not occur after extensive receptor cross-linking that elevated cAMP levels. Thus, retention of LHR in rafts or small membrane compartments is a characteristic of functional, hormone-occupied LHR-wt. Although raft translocation was not essential for cAMP production, it may be necessary for optimizing hormone-mediated signaling.


Salam Alakum! Welcome to the Saskatoon Misbah School Libguide, I hope this guide helps make your navigation of the Net easier!


One way to enhance thermal performance of the Li-ion batteries is embedding microgrooves inside the porous electrodes and flowing the electrolyte through these microgrooves. A 2D thermal Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) was employed to predict electrolyte flow, heat transfer, and internal heat generation inside the positive porous electrode. Size and number of the microgrooves were investigated, and it was found that embedding microgrooves inside the porous electrode improved the thermal performance of the Li-ion battery by keeping the electrode in lower temperatures and improving its temperature uniformity. Furthermore, increasing the number of microgrooves (in a constant ratio between total size of the microgrooves to size of the porous electrode) kept the porous electrode in lower temperatures and enhanced temperature uniformity.


A single-layer urban canopy model was integrated into a nonhydrostatic meteorological model, the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). In the new model, called RAMS-Urban Canopy (RAMS-UC), anthropogenic heat emission was also considered. The model can be used to calculate radiation, heat, and water fluxes in an urban area, considering the geometric structure and thermodynamic characteristics of the urban canopy. The urban canopy was represented by normalized street canyons of infinite length, which were bordered by buildings on both sides. The urban region was covered by three types of surfaces: roof, wall, and road. Anthropogenic heat was emitted from these surfaces. Sensitivity tests between the original RAMS and the modified one were carried out by simulating the urban heat island (UHI) of Chongqing, located in an inland mountainous region in China. The results of the model were also compared with the observational data. It was found that the original model could not accurately simulate the UHI, in particular at night, whereas the accuracy was significantly improved in the RAMS-UC. The improvement is substantial even when anthropogenic heat emission is set to zero.


In this research, our goal is to propose an approach for optimized resource scheduling considering multiple criteria. In the proposed approach tree objective functions including makespan, execution cost and resource deviation are used. To solve the problem, Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) with chaotic local search is proposed. The proposed approach is evaluated for scheduling two different scale problems. The experiments show that the proposed approach results in more non-dominated solutions compared to another multi-objective approach namely NSGA II. IndexTermsConstraint Resource Scheduling, Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization, Chaos Theory.


TER= Tertiary entrancerank.Theapplicantswereclassifiedas ruralor non-ruralas for Box1. Percentages are calculatedfrom totals that would remainat each stage in theTERcontinuum,Notethat as the TERthresholdis raised progressivelyfewer applicants from rural areas remaineligible for selection. Theapplicants were classifiedas rural or non-ruralby home address as follows: Rural: Far West.Murray,Murrumbidgee.Central West.NorthWest.Northern. Non-rural: Richmond!Tweed, Mid North Coast, Hunter,Sydney,Illawarra,SouthEastern. Percentages are calculated from totals at each stage of the selectionprocess.


The processing of measurement data for state estimation in an uncertain modeling environment requires continuous scrutiny of measurements and measurement residuals to ensure consistency between the applied models and the process that produced the measured data. Oftentimes, indications of mismodeling present themselves as deterministic features in the residuals. This paper describes the application of an artificial neural network for the purpose of providing indications of the existence of such features. Specifically, a neural network is designed to map a sequence of predicted residuals to likelihood measures indicative of the presence of specific features. For the problem considered here, the features are parameters of a linear regression fit. The network was "trained" to emulate a modified Neyman-Pearson hypothesis testing technique. The network's performance is quantitatively and qualitatively compared with classical techniques. The results presented indicate the feasibility of using a neural network as part of an overall framework for model assessment.


ABSTRACT: As the literature examining the relationship between immigration and crime continues to evolve, scholars are now searching for ways to expand this link conceptually. Hand in hand with immigration, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses has grown at rates far exceeding the growth rate for all US businesses over the past two decades, carrying the expectation of local and national government officials of bringing jobs and revenue back into the economy. Yet research on how this growth in minority-owned businesses can help explain ecological crime variation is scarce. This study examines the role of Hispanic-owned businesses in the relationship between immigration and total property and violent crime rates, confirming that cities with higher rates of new immigration are not associated with higher violent crime rates, and have significantly lower property crime rates. Additional analyses examining whether this relationship is mediated by the presence of Hispanic-owned businesses also yield empirical support. The presence of Hispanic-owned businesses was found to attenuate the new immigration–property crime relationship significantly, and to render the association of immigration and property crime rates nonsignificant. The implications of these findings will be discussed, in so far as they relate to both public policy and research on immigration and crime.


Computer security and computer ethics are important components of management information system. This exploratory study examined the computer security and computer ethics awareness among students (computer science majors and non-majors) taking computer science courses at College of Science and Technology (CST), University Technology Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur. Based on an empirical survey of 245 university student users we identified the satisfactory awareness level of computer security and ethics of the students. After analyzing survey data obtained from 245 students in CST, the results reported that computer science majors were slightly more aware of computer security and computer ethics than non-majors. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.


We present here a hierarchical design methodology for the full-search block matching motion estimation. The methodology takes into account input data timing specifications and well as buffering requirements. System performance is manipulated by selecting some of the algorithm variables for pipelining or broadcasting. The design strategy also allows modifying time and hardware complexities at each level of the hierarchy in order to match system speed and hardware complexity to design specifications.


We studied the feasibility of obtaining accurate coagulation studies from indwelling, heparinized radial artery catheters in 28 patients after cardiac surgery. PTT assay was chosen because of its frequent clinical use. Thrombin time assay was chosen because it is a component of the coagulation screening panel and because it is useful in assessing heparin contamination of specimens. We conclude that PTT results are reliable when the dwell volume (0.6 ml for the catheter and extension tubing in our study) and an additional 4.5 ml have been discarded (5.1 ml total discard volume). We recommend the collection of samples for thrombin time assay from a separate venous site because results on samples from heparinized arterial catheters are unpredictable.


A source of quantum correlated photon pairs in the 1550nm telecom band obtained by a pumping 11m photonic crystal fiber with 10 ps pulse trains is experimentally demonstrated. We investigate how the birefringence of the fiber influences the purity of the photon pairs. We also present the frequency correlation of the signal and idler photon pairs. The experimental results are useful for developing a compact source of photon pairs well suited for quantum communication.


Christianity is currently coming to terms with the demographic shift of now being primarily a Southern church, and mission is emanating out of its new heartlands. In recent generations, it has not been uncommon to interpret international mission from places like Africa through the paradigmatic thinking of the modern missionary movement. However, missiologists have begun to take note of the ways of thinking in the majority world. Important to missiological conceptualisation of many in the majority world is the role of migration, and it offers perspectives into what may very well be an unfolding mission paradigm.

As a mainline church with strong roots in Ghana, the Methodist Church Ghana gives insights into how a church in a worldwide communion both understands and navigates mission on the world stage. This thesis explores the conceptualisation of international mission in the Methodist Church Ghana. It ascertains the priority the Methodist Church Ghana places on international mission, and it gives identification to the ways in which international mission is conducted.

As demonstrated in the semi-structured interviews, the Methodist Church Ghana has a favourable view of its international mission engagement and the direction with which its mission is headed to in the future. Based on the cultural values of communal responsibility, it employs a missional church ecclesiology as mission occurs collectively through the modality. As its members migrate to lands beyond Ghana with different Methodist narratives, it must negotiate seemingly paradoxical perspectives as it belongs to a larger world communion and lives out its evangelical 'world parish' theology. Through migration and the expressions of mission by and amongst its diaspora communities, differentiating models for interpreting diaspora mission can be identified in the Methodist Church Ghana.


Background Panic attacks are a source of individual suffering and are an independent risk factor for later psychopathology. However, much less is known about risk factors for the development of panic attacks, particularly during adolescence when the incidence of panic attacks increases dramatically. We examined whether internalizing and externalizing problems in childhood predict the onset of panic attacks in adolescence. Method This study is part of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a Dutch longitudinal population cohort study (N = 1,584). Internalizing and Externalizing Problems were collected using the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the parent-report Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at baseline (age 10–12). At age 18–20, DSM-IV defined panic attacks since baseline were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). We investigated whether early adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Problems predicted panic attacks between ages 10–20 years, using survival analysis in univariate and multivariate models. Results There were N = 314 (19.8%) cases who experienced at least one DSM-IV defined panic attack during adolescence and N = 18 (1.2%) who developed panic disorder during adolescence. In univariate analyses, CBCL Total Problems, Internalizing Problems and three of the eight syndrome scales predicted panic attack onset, while on the YSR all broad-band problem scales and each narrow-band syndrome scale predicted panic attack onset. In multivariate analyses, CBCL Social Problems (HR 1.19, p<.05), and YSR Thought Problems (HR 1.15, p<.05) and Social Problems (HR 1.26, p<.01) predicted panic attack onset. Conclusion Risk indicators of panic attack include the wide range of internalizing and externalizing problems. Yet, when adjusted for co-occurring problem behaviors, Social Problems were the most consistent risk factor for panic attack onsets in adolescence.


Biological soil crusts (BSCs) fulfil numerous ecological functions in arid and semiarid areas. Cyanobacteria are important BSC organisms, which are responsible for carbon fixation, N2 fixation and binding of soil via extracellular polysaccharides. The cyanobacterial populations were characterised in different sampling plots established in three experimental stations along a rainfall gradient within NW Negev Desert, Israel. Cyanobacterial crust thickness and osmolyte accumulation therein decreased in plots with lower moisture. The cyanobacterial population structure also changed in different plots. We observed an increase of subsection III cyanobacteria such as Microcoleus spp. and Leptolyngbya spp. and a decreasing proportion of strains belonging to subsections I and IV in drier areas on the rainfall gradient. This population shift was also observed in the sampling plots, which were situated at various relief positions within the sand dune experimental sites. We also characterised the cyanobacterial populations within mechanically disturbed plots. After 4 years, they reached between 80% and 50% of the control populations in the northernmost and southern stations, respectively. Our results suggest that the cyanobacterial population is sensitive not only to macroscale factors but may also be subject to local climate variations and that 4 years was insufficient for complete recovery of the cyanobacterial population.


The interaction of actinomycin D with (AT)nAGCT(AT)n (where n = 2, 3, or 4) was investigated using a combination of imino proton NMR and DNAse I digestion. The stoichiometry of the interaction appears to be one:one with the actinomycin chromophore intercalated between the two GC base pairs. This binding event facilitates the conversion of the flanking repetitive AT regions to an alternating conformation characterized by induced sensitivity of the ApT sequences to attack by DNAse I. The neighboring TpA sequences do not exhibit rate changes as a function of binding of the drug. The potential relevance of such ligand induced DNA structural alterations is discussed.


Purpose. To investigate the gasifi cation process of peat in gas generators with a fi xed bed at a pressure of 1.5 MPa and create the initial conditions at the entrance to the waste burners required for combustion of the binary mixture. Methodology. The objects of research were peat granules of Volyn peat. To calculate the process of gasifi cation of peat gas, the constructed model of thermochemical processing of solid fuel, described in the fi rst part of the work by the authors was used. Findings. It is shown that in the area close to the upper boundary of the fi xed bed, where the process of gasifi cation of peat is stationary, there is a jump in the temperature of peat particles from 300 to 772 °C, in which the tar is practically not released, and thus the obtained pyrolysis gas contains CO2, H2O, H2 and CO. The structural and physicochemical characteristics of gas generators are obtained and the initial conditions at the entrance to the discharge burners of the chamber furnace of the steam generator TPP-210A are formed. Originality. It is shown that when the velocity of peat particles decreases, a slag bed is formed between the zone of maximum heat release and the grate, which consists of cooled ash particles, which protect the grate from overheating. With such an organization of the process it is possible to achieve the stationary process of gasifi cation with mechanical incompletely burned material equal to zero. Practical value. It is shown that with the help of the model of thermochemical processing of solid fuels it is possible to adjust the height of the dry distillation zone by changing the velocity of the dispersed phase and the rate of heterogeneous and homogeneous chemical reactions by changing the proportion of O2 or H2O air enrichment.


This essay is addressed to astronomers and astronomy students who will go into a school, college, or other educational setting and want to think more deeply about what happens in the learning process. These are seven key ideas for improving our teaching that those of us working in science education at all levels have found especially useful. These concepts are not original with me but are mostly borrowed from great teachers, educational research- ers, and astronomy education pundits. Over the years, I have collected and refined such ideas and thought AER read- ers might enjoy thinking about them, too. The good news from research into effective astronomy teaching is that we do know how to teach well; but like everything worthwhile, it takes some effort to get good at it.

This essay is addressed to astronomers and astronomy students who will go into a school, college, or other educational setting and want to think more deeply about what happens in the learning process. These are seven key ideas for improving our teaching that those of us working in science education at all levels have found especially useful. These concepts are not original with me, but are mostly borrowed from great teachers, educational researchers, and astronomy education pundits. Over the years, I have collected and refined such ideas and thought AER readers might enjoy thinking about them, too. The good news from research into effective astronomy teaching is that we do know how to teach well; but like everything worthwhile, it takes some effort to get good at it.


Background: In order to achieve the World Health Organization's Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015, a strong global commitment is needed to address this issue in low-income nations where the risk to women is greatest. A comprehensive international effort must include provision of obstetric and general medical care as well as community-based interventions, with an emphasis on the latter in nations where the majority of women deliver babies at home without a trained attendant. Methods: This systematic analysis evaluates interventions published in Medline and CINAHL whose outcome measure is maternal mortality. Analysis includes components of the intervention, nation and maternal death rates. Results: Nine studies documented the effectiveness of various clinical and community-based interventions, including specific drug regimens and procedures, in reducing the risk of maternal death. Six studies reported interventions that did not significantly alter maternal mortality outcomes, and the intervention in one study demonstrated increased risk of maternal death. Conclusion: The dearth of evidence highlights the need for increased focus on translational research that bridges the gap between medical advances and community-based interventions that are feasible in low-income nations. This cannot be accomplished without a stronger commitment to reducing maternal mortality by global health practitioners and researchers.


Objective: This study aims to investigate the demographics, patient health status, position of the teeth, pericoronitis incidence, surgical complications, use of antibiotics to third molar removal and correlate those findings. Methods: Based on panoramic radiographs, the teeth were classified as proposed by Pell and Gregory and Winter. The binomial test for proportions with a significance level of 5% was applied. Results: Records of 337 patients submitted 1178 third molar extractions in the period from 1993 to 2011 were reviewed. Most upper teeth were vertically positioned, (84.2%) (p<0.0001), class I (49.55%) (p<0.0001), position C (58.88%) (p<0.0001) and most inferiors were mesioangulated (42.03%) (p<0.0122), class II (60.22%) (p<0.0001), position A (48.15%) (p<0.0001). Complications occurred in 2.88% of the procedures (p<0.0006), mainly in women (69.7%) (p<0.0014) and more frequently in patients who did not receive antibiotics (71.43%) (p<0.0027). Complications were more frequent after extraction of inferior third molars (75.75%) (p<0.0001). The most common complication was alveolitis (52.51%) (p<0.0006). Conclusion: In this study, the complication rates were low. They were more frequent in women who did not receive antibiotics. The most common complication was alveolitis.


Every nine minutes a person is diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in the United States. However, studies have shown that between 25 and 80\% of individuals with Parkinson's Disease (PD) remain undiagnosed. An online, in the wild audio recording application has the potential to help screen for the disease if risk can be accurately assessed. In this paper, we collect data from 726 unique subjects (262 PD and 464 Non-PD) uttering the "quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog ...." to conduct automated PD assessment. We extracted both standard acoustic features and deep learning based embedding features from the speech data and trained several machine learning algorithms on them. Our models achieved 0.75 AUC by modeling the standard acoustic features through the XGBoost model. We also provide explanation behind our model's decision and show that it is focusing mostly on the widely used MFCC features and a subset of dysphonia features previously used for detecting PD from verbal phonation task.


A Gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated CW-E 2(T), was isolated from a polluted soil sample collected from Jiangsu Province, China. A taxonomic study of the isolate, including phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and phenotypic characteristics, was carried out. The predominant menaquinone was MK-6 and the major fatty acids were i-C(15 : 0), i-C(17 : 0) 3-OH, i-C(17 : 1) omega 9c and summed feature 4. The G+C content of the DNA was 37.2 mol%. Based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain CW-E 2(T) represents a novel species of the genus Chryseobacterium for which the name Chryseobacterium flavum sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CW-E 2(T) (=KCTC 12877(T)=CCTCC AB 206147(T)).


This article evaluates the nature and incidence of equal opportunities (EO) policies in the UK using data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS 98).The article identifies the types of workplaces that are more likely to adopt formal gender, ethnicity, disability and age policies. It then assesses whether the policies are 'substantive' or merely 'empty shells': first, by evaluating the extent to which workplaces that have adopted EO policies have also adopted supporting EO practices; and second, by evaluating the proportion of employees who have access to EO practices in workplaces where they have been adopted. On balance, the 'empty shell' argument is more convincing. Smaller workplaces, private sector workplaces and workplaces without an HR or personnel specialist are identified as being more likely to have an 'empty shell' policy.While unionized workplaces are more likely to have a formal policy, those policies are no less likely to constitute 'empty shells'. Finally, the policy, economic and legal implications of the findings are discussed.


The Korea Basic Science Institute has been developing a 5-T high temperature superconducting (HTS) insert magnet system. The objective of the program is the design and fabrication of an HTS insert magnet system for high-field superconducting magnet applications. Because the HTS magnet system should be inserted into the conduction-cooled 15 T background magnet with 102-mm room-temperature bore, several ancillary requirements such as space restriction and cryostat structure need technical attention. In this paper, the design of the HTS insert cryostat for 5 T HTS coil is presented. The design process of the novel cryostat to overcome the cryogenic space restriction is described, taking into account the dimension of the HTS coil, cryogenic loads, and inventory of cryogen. The structure of the vessel, considering support structure and thermal path, is also described. In addition, the fabrication of the insert cryostat is briefly presented.


Higher education programs are increasingly involved in the preparation of health and wellness coaches. The preparation of entry-level coaches in undergraduate programs presents unique challenges and opportunities as students are simultaneously novice learners in higher education, health professions, and coaching. Therefore, faculty need to consider the unique skills needed by health and wellness coaches and the characteristics of undergraduate learners when designing undergraduate coaching education programs. As students move into the evidence-based profession of health and wellness coaching, they must acquire essential knowledge and skills while going through a period of significant personal development. The journey from novice to competent entry-level coach takes commitment and focused effort by students and faculty alike, supported by a thoughtful design of undergraduate programs. Design elements include a coach-the-coach approach, an emphasis on self-development, explicitly teaching the thinking skills inherent to coaching, and the progressive immersion of experiential learning. These approaches could maximize the success of novices in becoming competent, entry-level health and wellness coaches.


Background
The carotid blood flow following carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is not fully understood. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a promising method to study blood flow. This study is to investigate local hemodynamic characteristics after CEA via the use of unenhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and CFD.

Methods
Eight carotid arteries with atherosclerosis and sixteen normal carotid arteries were included in this study. Time-of-flight (TOF) and phase contrast (PC) MRA were applied for the measurement of three-dimensional artery geometries and velocity profile under CFD simulation. The hemodynamic parameters of the proximal internal carotid artery (ICA) including velocity, ICA/common carotid artery (CCA) velocity ratio, mean, maximum, minimum and gradient of wall shear stress (WSSmean, WSSmax, WSSmin and WSSG) were calculated before and after CEA. Morphologic characteristics of the carotid including bifurcation angle, tortuosity and planarity were also analyzed.

Results
Compared with pre-CEA, there was a significant reduction in post-CEA velocity, WSSmax, WSSmean, and WSSG, by 87.24%±13.38%, 86.86%±14.97%, 57.32%±56.71% and 69.74%±37.03% respectively, whereas WSSmin was almost unchanged. ICA/ CCA velocity ratios increased significantly after CEA. We also found that the post-CEA flow conditions were positively remodelled to approximate the conditions in normal arteries. The correlation between PC-MRA and CFD was excellent for the measurement of maximum velocity at the external carotid artery (r=0.846).

Conclusions
Our preliminary results indicated that major flow dynamics were restored shortly following CEA, and CFD based on MRA measurements could be useful for quantitative evaluation of hemodynamic outcomes after CEA.


This casebook focuses on three themes: legal, administrative, and policy issues associated with regulating children rather than adults; procedural and substantive implications of a justice system that emphasizes treatment rather than punishment; and tensions between discretion and rules that occur when states treat children rather than punish adults. It incorporates empirical evaluations and developmental psychological research on adolescent competence and presents criminological studies of controversial issues such as gender and racial disparities in juvenile justice administration. It also examines pretrial detention and alternative sentencing options available to juvenile courts and discusses how and when states try youths in criminal court. New to this edition are the Supreme Court's most recent decisions on the jurisprudence of youth: Eighth Amendment decisions that recognized that children are different and limit judges' authority to impose life without parole; Fif


We have investigated the film thickness and thermal exchange occurring during the coating and cooling of a liquid film on a substrate. The aim of our study is to demonstrate the interest of Direct Numerical Simulation tools for Interfacial flows to understand, on the one hand, the mechanisms involved in the deposition of the film on the moving substrate, and on the other, to measure characteristic parameters of the process. The direct numerical simulation is presented here in two-dimensions based on the Navier-Stokes equations, generalized to free surface flows. They are approximated by VOF (Volume Of Fluid) methods. A Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model is used to take the turbulence into account. We attempt to define the governing parameters of the process and propose a description of the flow. The characteristic parameters of the wiping of the film and the associated thermal exchanges are presented in terms of wiping thickness, transfer coefficient, cooling rate and temperature gradient along the film.


By drawing on neurological and psychological theories of learning, our study introduces a new conceptual framework to analyze the role that learning plays in knowledge and skill acquisition. Learning is modelled through four mechanisms defined as individuals' participation in formal, non-formal and informal learning as well as learning-by-doing. Our analysis demonstrates heterogeneity in how various learning mechanisms affect people's overall stock of human capital. Additionally, the proposed analytical framework points to the existence of complementarity between the four learning forms and suggests that participation in all of them is needed to maximize the process of human capital formation. These propositions are tested empirically with the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey data (2003) utilizing a variety of statistical techniques. JEL: I21, J01, J24, J28, J88


Article history: Received 3 February 2017 Revised 5 March 2017 Accepted 09 March 2017 Available online 12 March 2017 The present work was conducted to study the allelopathic activity of Common Sowthistle weed (Sonchus oleraceus L.) belongs to family Asteraceae growing in agricultural fields in Benghazi using Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) as test plant. Flowers, leaves, stems and roots aqueous extracts of Sonchus oleraceus L. at 1%,5% and 10% concentrations were applied to determine their effect on seed germination, germination index (GI), speed/rate of germination (SG/RG), seedling vigor index (SVI), root length (RL), hypocotyle length (HL), seedlings fresh weight (FW) and seedlings dry weight (DW) of Radish under laboratory conditions. The aqueous extracts of all plant parts caused inhibitory effects on all measurement, which increased progressively on increasing the concentration of extracts. On the other hand, at low concentration (1%) stimulation of some traits of different plant parts was recorded. These results could be explained in the light of the facts that a higher plants release a diversity of allelochemicals into the environment, which include phenolics, alkaloids, long-chain fatty acids, terpenoids, and flavanoids. The compounds exhibit a wide range of mechanisms of action effect on DNA (alkaloids), photosynthic and mitochondrial function (quinines), phytohorme activity, ion uptake and water balance (phenolics).


Artisanal cheesemaking is still performed using practices and conditions derived from tradition. Feta and Kefalograviera cheeses are very popular in Greece and have met worldwide commercial success. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding their lactic acid microecosystem composition and species dynamics during ripening. Thus, the aim of the present study was to assess the microecosystem as well as the autochthonous lactic acid microbiota during the ripening of artisanal Feta and Kefalograviera cheeses. For that purpose, raw sheep's milk intended for cheesemaking, as well as Feta and Kefalograviera cheeses during early and late ripening were analyzed, and the lactic acid microbiota was identified using the classical phenotypic approach, clustering with PCR-RAPD and identification with sequencing of the 16S-rRNA gene, as well as with the Biolog GEN III microplates. In addition, the functional properties of the bacterial community were evaluated using the Biolog EcoPlates, which consists of 31 different carbon sources. In general, concordance between the techniques used was achieved. The most frequently isolated species from raw sheep's milk were Enteroroccus faecium, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Pediococcus pentosaceus. The microecosystem of Feta cheese in the early ripening stage was dominated by Lp. plantarum and E. faecium, whereas, in late ripening, the microecosystem was dominated by Weissella paramesenteroides. The microecosystem of Kefalograviera cheese in the early ripening stage was dominated by Levilactobacillus brevis and E. faecium, and in late ripening by W. paramesenteroides and E. faecium. Finally, Carbohydrates was the main carbon source category that metabolized by all microbial communities, but the extent of their utilization was varied. Kefalograviera samples, especially at early ripening, demonstrated higher metabolic activity compared to Feta cheese. However, dominating species within microbial communities of the cheese samples were not significantly different.


We develop a formalism to describe quasihole condensates in quantum Hall liquids and thereby extend the conformal field theory approach to the full hierarchy of spin-polarized Abelian states and to several classes of non-Abelian hierarchical states. Most previously proposed spin-polarized quantum Hall wave functions appear as special cases. In this paper we explain the physical motivations for the approach, and exemplify it by explicitly constructing the level-two quasihole condensate state at filling fraction 2/3, and the two level-three states at 5/13 and 5/7 which are built from combinations of quasielectron and quasihole condensates.


In this paper, we propose an extension to existing mobile robot development environments that explicitly declares the frequency requirements for client controller threads. This extension enables better use of robot resources by running modules only as fast as needed. Developers are forced to consider the frequency requirements and their impacts, which should result in better code. Physical experiments employed a K-team Koala robot. Preliminary results showing the effect of explicitly defining frequency are also presented.


We present wide-field, high-resolution imaging observations in 12CO 3 2 and H2 1–0 S(1) towards a ∼1 deg2 region of NGC 2264. We identify 46 H2 emission objects, of which 35 are new discoveries. We characterize several cores as protostellar, reducing the previously observed ratio of pre-stellar/protostellar cores in the NGC 2264 clusters. The length of H2 jets increases the previously reported spatial extent of the clusters. In each cluster, 2.6 pc, which is larger than the extent of the outflows. We obtain an exponent α= 0.74 for the size–linewidth relation, possibly due to the high surface density of NGC 2264. In this very active, mixed-mass star-forming region, our observations suggest that protostellar outflow activity is not injecting energy and momentum on a large enough scale to be the dominant source of turbulence.


We analyzed the impact of vancomycin (VAN) combined with adjuvant β-lactam therapy (Combo) on persistent (≥5 days) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia versus VAN alone by using pooled data from two previously published observational studies (n = 156). Combo was inversely associated with persistent bacteremia (adjusted odds ratio, 0.460; 95% confidence interval, 0.229 to 0.923). ABSTRACT We analyzed the impact of vancomycin (VAN) combined with adjuvant β-lactam therapy (Combo) on persistent (≥5 days) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia versus VAN alone by using pooled data from two previously published observational studies (n = 156). Combo was inversely associated with persistent bacteremia (adjusted odds ratio, 0.460; 95% confidence interval, 0.229 to 0.923). Acute kidney injury was more common with Combo than with VAN (18.9% and 7.6%, respectively; P = 0.062).


Background Rotary endodontic instruments are increasingly used in root canal treatment and have replaced stainless steel manual files. Cyclic fatigue is the cyclic loading of stress to produce deformation or fracture. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of autoclave sterilization on cyclic fatigue in 5 types of rotary endodontic instruments. Material/Methods ProTaper Universal, BioRace, ProTaper Next, Twisted File, and HyFlex CM instruments were included in this study. Each type included 96 instruments, divided into 4 groups according to the number of sterilization cycles (0, 1, 3, 5). After sterilization, each group of instruments was divided into 2 subgroups and tested for cyclic fatigue in 2 simulated canals (45 degrees both and 2 radii, 2 mm and 5 mm). The number of cycles to failure (NCF) was calculated, and statistical analyses were carried out using the t test, Mann-Whitney U test, and ANOVA, followed by the Tukey post hoc test (p<0.05). Fracture surfaces were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results Within the group of non-sterilized instruments, ProTaper Universal showed significantly lower resistance to cyclic fatigue compared to the other types of instruments (p<0.001). After repeated sterilization, a significantly higher mean of NCF was observed for BioRace (p<0.001), ProTaper Next (p<0.001), Twisted File (p<0.001), and HyFlex CM (p<0.001) compared to ProTaper Universal. The resistance of HyFlex CM was significantly higher compared to the other types of instruments (p<0.001). Conclusions The findings from this study showed that autoclave sterilization of newer rotary endodontic instruments could increase resistance to cyclic fatigue.


Objectives. To describe the prevalence of sex trading by gender and by associations with mental health concerns and protective factors. Methods. We used data from 9th and 11th graders who completed the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey. The analytic sample (n = 67 806) included transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youths and cisgender youths who reported trading sex. Data on 7 mental health measures and 4 school-related and health care-related protective factors were collected. Results. The prevalence of sex trading (5.9%) was 5 times higher among TGD students than cisgender students (1.2%). In addition, the prevalence of all mental health concerns was high among TGD students who traded sex (e.g., 75.9% reported a lifetime suicide attempt, as compared with 45.9% of cisgender students who traded sex). Fewer statistical differences were found across protective factors. When TGD students who traded sex were compared according to sex assigned at birth, no statistically significant differences were found. Conclusions. Our findings support strong calls for increased competence regarding gender and sex trading or exploitation in clinical and school-based settings to decrease health disparities among TGD youths. Public Health Implications. In this study, we have presented unique prevalence estimates of mental health disparities among TGD students in the United States who trade sex. Our results indicate that TGD students who trade sex are at risk for mental health symptoms and that sensitivity to both gender and sex trading or exploitation will be critical to meeting the needs of this group in clinical as well as school-based settings.


Introduction Pipeline Embolization Devices (PED) has been introduced as a new method to treat aneurysms that are otherwise difficult to treat surgically or with endovascular means. It is postulated that hemodynamic changes occur post deployment which affect the distal vascular bed. In this paper we evaluated changes in the contrast transit times on angiography post PED implementations. Methods Medical charts and digital subtraction angiographic (DSA) films for patients treated with PED were included. Only anterior circulations, un-ruptured aneurysms, located proximal to the internal carotid artery terminus were included. DSA images were analyzed using custom made software for the time-density relationship at baseline and compared to post PED implementation. All analysis was done over region of interest over the middle cerebral artery (M1 segment). Analysis included TT10% – 100% (time needed for the contrast to change from 10% image intensity to 100), TT100%–10% (time needed for the contrast to change from 100% image intensity to 10%), and TT25% – 25% (time needed for the contrast to change from 25% image intensity-up slope to 25%-down slope of the curve). Results A total of 44 patients were included in this study. Analysis over the M1 segment showed a significant decrease in the TT10%–100% (2.79 to 2.24 seconds, P < 0.001) post PED. There was significant correlation (Pearson's correlation) between the percentage change in TT100% – 10% and the aneurysm size (r = 0.34, P = 0.02). There was a significant decrease in the TT25%–25% (7.07 to 6.41 seconds, P = 0.016) post PED (Figure 1). Moreover, there was significant correlation between the absolute or percent changes in TT25%–25% and the aneurysm size (P = 0.05; rho = 0.54 and 0.049; rho = 0.29 respectively) (Figure 1).Abstract O-030 Figure 1 Conclusion Analysis shows that statistically significant hemodynamic changes do occur post PED deployment, as determined by differences in the contrast transit time post PED in the distal intracranial circulation. These hemodynamic changes might be more pronounced in large and giant aneurysms. The mechanism for this is not clear, yet hemodynamic changes affecting especially the vasculature distal of the PED might shed a light at the patho-physiology of the delayed parenchymal hemorrhage. Disclosures A. Alaraj: 2; C; Codman. A. Hussein: None. A. Linninger: None. F. Charbel: None. C. Hsu: None. F. Charbel: None. V. Aletich: 2; C; Codman.


The authors reported 12 cases of patients with cutaneous involvment associated with the presence of Sezary cells in the peripheral blood and specific lymph node involvment. They classify these cases as partial, early segmentary types, advanced types and diffuse types. either leukemic or sarcomatous. This study, once again, suggests the possibility that the Sezary syndrome and mycosis fu ngoïdes are different expressions, either predominantly leukemic, or predominantly sarcomatous, of the same chronic malignant hemopathy of "T" lymphocytes.


Non-native flora of the Ulleung island, located in the eastern part of South Korea, was surveyed as 54 taxa with 16 families, 35 genera, 53 species and 1 variety. Considering the geographical distribution aspects of the island, the flora of the island showed more closely related with Korean Peninsular than Japan. Poaceace (28%) and Asteraceae (24%) represents more than 50% of the non-native flora in Ulleung island, meaning that they have an advantage of seed dispersal and adaptation to new environments. Ulleung island is comparatively small island of vulnerable to the attack of invasive alien plants but presently, it has the least number of non-native plants than other areas in South Korea. Therefore, we need to take much interest in prevention and mitigation of non-native plant in the future.


Sorazolons A (1) to E2 (9) were isolated from Sorangium cellulosum strain Soce375. Their molecular structures were elucidated using extensive HRESIMS and NMR analysis. The absolute configuration of sorazolon A (1) was determined by comparison of the experimental CD spectrum with quantum chemical calculated spectra for both enantiomers. Sorazolons D2 (7), E (8), and E2 (9) exhibit a moderate cytotoxic activity against mouse fibroblast cell line L929 with IC50 values between 5.0 μM and 0.09 mM.


The aim of the EU concerted action EISfOM (QLK5-2002-02400) (European Information System for Organic Markets) is to build up a framework for reporting valid and reliable data for relevant production and market sectors of the European organic sector in order to meet the needs of policy-makers, farmers, processors, wholesalers and other actors involved in organic markets. In order to reach this aim, this action was split into several workpackages. This report describes the approach and results of workpackages 2 and 3. In this first chapter the objective and general approach of these work packages will be described. Chapters 2 and 3 provide an overview of international statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain at the public and the private level. Chapter 4 describes national statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain. In Chapter 5, an analysis and appraisal is made of the results with regard to organic data collection and processing systems (DCPSs) and their integration into existing common DCPSs. Chapter 6 draws several general conclusions. Two substantial annexes complete the report, one with the country reports on the situation of data collection and processing in all investigated countries and the other with the first and the second stage questionnaires covering the different data collection levels.


Several varieties of oak wood from France or other countries were analyzed for their biochemical compositions in lignin and tannin. The analysis of hydroalcoholic extracts from such wood shows that a small fraction (3% to 5.8%) of the lignin pool is extracted, while tannin extraction, which is more intense, represents 41% to 66% of the initial tannin content of oak wood. Using a stave from a barrel that had contained Armagnac for 80 years, it was attempted to determine the gradient of lignin and tannin extraction in relation to the Armagnac penetration into wood. The optimum extraction of these phenolic compounds by hydroalcoholic solutions, having an alcohol content of 40% to 72% alcohol (v/v), was evaluated. The conditions of lignin degradation, in the case of Armagnac stored in oak barrels, were determined by HPLC allowing the identification of coniferyl alcohol and Hibbert9s ketones. A pattern of lignin degradation is proposed on the basis of the findings.


The natriuretic effect NO is decreased in the Dahl Salt-Sensitive (SS) rat. This is in part due to decreased NO-induced inhibition of thick ascending limb (TAL) NaCl reabsorption. However, the mechanism responsible for this defect in SS rats is unclear. In normal rats, NO inhibits TAL NaCl reabsorption via cGMP. cGMP stimulates phosphodiesterase 2 (PDE2) which degrades cAMP and in turn decreases apical surface levels of the Na-K-2Cl cotransporter NKCC2. We hypothesized that the blunted effect of NO in TALs from SS rats is in part due to a decreased response to cGMP and reduced PDE2 expression. To test our hypothesis, we isolated TALs from adult SS and Dahl Salt-Resistant (SR) rats fed a normal salt diet and measured the effect of cGMP on apical NKCC2 levels by surface biotinylation and Western blot. Incubation of TALs (20 min) with the membrane permeable cGMP analogue db-cGMP (250 μM) decreased surface NKCC2 in SR rats by 22 ± 6% (
 p
 <0.05), while 500 μM decreased it to a maximum of 40 ± 6% (
 p
 <0.01). In SS TALs, the effect db-cGMP was blunted (
 p
 <0.05 vs SR) and only tended to decrease surface NKCC2 (-10± 9%) at 500 μM. Consistent with a decreased response to cGMP, the expression of PDE2 was 20 ± 5% lower in TALs from SS rats (
 p
 <0.05). Finally, we tested whether the effect of the PDE2 selective agonist DM-cBIMP was decreased in SS rats. Incubation of SR TALs with DM-cBIMP decreased surface NKCC2 expression in a dose-dependent manner with a maximum inhibition of 41 ± 6% at 250 μM. In SS TALs, the response was significantly blunted with a maximal inhibition of 20 ± 6% at 250 μM (
 p
 <0.05 vs. SR). We concluded that the decreased response to cGMP in TALs from SS rats is in part due to decreased PDE2 activation and expression. This mechanism is likely responsible for the blunted inhibitory effect of NO in TAL NaCl reabsorption in SS rats and may be involved in the development of salt-sensitive hypertension.


Goal. To determine the influence of prolonged action of natural and anthropogenic factors on the phytosanitary condition (pests) of winter wheat and the dynamics of its performance for permanent cultivation. Methods. Field, statistical, laboratory. Results. The obtained results show that anthropogenic and natural factors have a certain influence on the distribution of pests in crops of winter wheat and the level of its performance. By the results of the monitoring of pests in the crops, it was found out that the greatest damage was done to them by Agrotis segetum and the larvae of grasshoppers. The average number of insects of Agrotis segetum for the duration of the study was 4.3 ins./m 2 , and of grasshoppers — 8 ins./m 2 . Among grasshoppers, the dominant species was Agriotes gurgistanus Fald. — 52,5% in the species composition. Correlation link between the presence of pests in crops of winter wheat and the weather conditions and years of observation have shown their inverse relationship. The correlation coefficient between the number of pests and temperature and water regimes during the growing season were respectively – 0,78... – 0,62. Fertilization has a positive effect on the productivity of winter wheat even for permanent cultivation. So, on average for years of researches, the yield increase due to fertilizers was 8.3 – 9.5 t/ha. However, the imbalance of nitrogen and weather conditions (particularly soil moisture) can lead to lower yields. Therefore, before the application of fertilizers, it is recommended to carry out diagnostics of soil and plants as to the content of macro-elements. Conclusions. The correlative relationship is determined between the presence of pests in crops of winter wheat and weather conditions, which indicates their inverse relationship. It is established that the productivity of winter wheat over the years, not decreased. It is proved that the culture by its genetic characteristics can adapt to long cultivation in the same place. However, the study confirms the feasibility of compliance with science-based crop rotations.


Recently, there has been an increasing focus on the acquisition of research skills by law undergraduates. One reason for this interest is a belief that many such students do not acquire an adequate level of research skills by the time that they graduate. Reflecting this concern, both the Law Society/Bar Council's Joint Statement on Qualifying Law Degrees and the Quality Assurance Agency's Benchmark Standards for Law both place great emphasis on the need to improve research skills teaching at University level. In the light of these developments, Durham University's Centre for Law & Computing decided to develop an Iolis style courseware package on legal research skills. Rather than use traditional law courseware authoring tools, however, the Centre chose to experiment by attempting from the outset to develop the package as a prototype website comprising text integrated with interactions. If successful, such an approach could have the benefits of making a workbook that is: (i) accessible across the Internet or a campus intranet; (ii) customisable to the needs of individual law schools; (iii) flexible enough to reflect more of the author's own approach and style; and (iv) interconnectable more readily with other campus websites and with the world wide web at large.


Abstract : Prolactin (Prl) is a mitogenic hormone that shares characteristics with growth factors. Recent reports that rat mammary tissue expresses PRL mRNA led us to hypothesize that PRL acts as an autocrine/paracrine growth factor in the mammary gland, and may be a determinant in mammary carcinogenesis. To examine this, mammary tumors were induced in rats by injecting the carcinogen nitrosomethylurea (NMU). In vitro studies utilized an NMU-derived mammary tumor cell line. The mammary tumors and the cell line express niRNA for both PRL and PRL receptor, as assessed by reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR. Immunoreactive PRL was detected in the NMU-induced tumors. NMU cells were cultured with PRL antiserum. The PRL antiserum inhibited cell proliferation 40-50% as compared to normal rabbit serum (NRS) or GM antiserum. In summary, we have shown that NMU-induced mammary tumors express rnRNA for PRL and PRL receptor. The addition of PRL antiserum to cultured NMU cells inhibited their growth. We propose that PRL may be acting as a local growth factor that stimulates proliferation of mammary tumors.


This study assessed SCORM 2004 for its affordances facilitating the implementation of specific requirements representing a simulation-based model optimized for interoperability and reusability. The overarching assessment methodology consisted of a gap analysis. A specific set of requirements called the Simulations Requirements Framework (SIMREF) derived from an existing online simulation learning environment was developed as the criterion and the Run-time Environment (RTE) and Sequencing of the SCORM 2004 technical architecture were targeted as the condition. To achieve the gap analysis, 26 experienced SCORM developers employed in industry, government, standards/specifications entities, and academia were surveyed.
Participants were asked to provide levels of agreement to indicator statements of the relevance of the SCORM 2004 technical architecture targets to the SIMREF requirements at both the individual and set levels. As such, data were collected and analyzed to determine the relevance of SCOs, functional or typed SCOs, extending SCORM 2004, extending Sequencing, relevance of SCO to SCO data sharing, and the utilization of a LMS thick client. Participants were also asked to describe alternate standards, specifications, technologies, and capabilities necessary to fulfill the requirements.
The findings from the data analyses indicated that according to the SCORM development community gaps do exist in the implementation of the SIMREF with respect to SCORM 2004 technical architecture as well as in common implementation practice. These gaps occurred within the communication affordances in the RTE and in the data value/variable management and if-then logic within Sequencing. Gaps are also present in the common implementation practice of using SCOs purely for content presentation. One prominent implication is the need for persistent arbitrary SCO to SCO communication which could be accomplished through the inclusion of the IMS SSP specification. Also implied, are gaps in the field of instructional design in relation to designing SCORM-based solutions as well as gaps in the understanding of IT engineers and practitioners in relation to learning theories and practices. In respect to SCORM 2004 and simulations as a pedagogical model to produce more meaningful learning, the underlying behaviorist pedagogy inherent in its design needs to be revisited and in so doing the academic community needs to become more involved in its evolution.


In this paper, we developed a theoretical and experimental framework for the mapping of obstacles using WiFi, based on a small number of wireless channel samples. This is very challenging due to the numerous channel coefficients to be estimated over the time-varying channel and the channel estimation of a wireless signal transmission to be considered for compressive sampling. In a typical communication system, the signal is sampled at least twice at the highest frequency contained in the signal. However, this limits efficient ways to compress the signal, as it places a huge burden on sampling the entire signal while only a small number of the transform coefficients are needed to represent the signal. To tackle this problem, we will focused on a mathematical optimization problem for the most efficient compressed sensing method called $\ell_{1}$-norm, known as Basis Pursuit. Before optimizing the problem, the noise was removed from the signal, namely, multipath fading. Our experimental results show the improved performance in the number of iterations for obtaining a framework for the mapping of obstacles.


Ten healthy volunteers were fed (1) a control diet for 10 days, (2) the same control diet for 3 additional days and a brussels sprouts and cabbage‐containing diet for the next 7 days, and (3) the control diet for the 10 subsequent days. Antipyrine and phenacetin were administered orally before breakfast on days 7 and 10, respectively, of each dietary regimen. During the test diet period the mean plasma half‐life of antipyrine decreased 13% and the mean metabolic clearance rate increased 11%. While small, these changes were statistically significant, indicating a stimulatory effect of cabbage and brussels sprouts on antipyrine metabolism. The values returned to control levels during the second control diet period. During the test diet period the mean plasma concentration of phenacetin was decreased by 34% to 67% at each time interval from 0.5 to 7 hr after phenacetin administration, and the mean plasma concentration of total (conjugated plus unconjugated) N‐acetyl‐p‐aminophenol (APAP), phenacetin's major metabolite, was increased from 0.5 to 3 hr after phenacetin administration. The concentrations of phenacetin and APAP returned toward control values during the second control diet period. The mean plasma half‐life of phenacetin was not influenced by the dietary changes. These results suggest that the test diet enhanced the metabolism of phenacetin in the gastrointestinal tract and/or during its first pass through the liver. Feeding the test diet increased the mean ratio of conjugated APAP to unconjugated APAP observed in plasma at each time interval from 0.5 to 7 hr after phenacetin administration, suggesting that the diet enhanced the conjugation of APAP.


Quantifying
methane (CH4) emissions from cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) production in the field has received increased
attention recently due to methane's importance as a greenhouse gas. The
enclosed-headspace chamber technique is the standard methodology for field
assessments of trace gas emissions. However, to our knowledge, no direct
comparisons of measured CH4 fluxes and emissions from field-grown
rice among differing chamber sizes have been reported. Therefore, the objective
of this study was to evaluate the effect of chamber size [15.2- and 30.4-cm
inside diameter (id)] on CH4 fluxes and season-long emissions from
rice grown on a clay soil in Arkansas. Chamber size did not affect (P > 0.05) CH4 fluxes on 10
sampling dates during the flooded portion of the rice growing season and only
affected fluxes on one of four sampling dates after flood release. Total
season-long CH4 emissions from optimally N-fertilized rice were 32.6
and 35.6 kg CH4-C haǃ·seasonǃ, which did not
differ, and from bare clay soil were 0.74 and 1.75 kg CH4-C haǃ·seasonǃ,
which also did not differ, from the 15.2- and 30.4-cm chambers, respectively.
Chamber size (i.e., 15.2- or 30.4-cm
id) did not result in differences in cumulative CH4 emissions from
this flooded-rice study that was conducted on a Sharkey clay soil in northeast
Arkansas. Results indicate that both 15.2- and 30.4-cm diameter chambers were
similarly adequate for measuring CH4 fluxes and emissions from the
clay soil investigated. The similarity in emissions results between chamber
sizes also indicates that the 15.2-cm diameter chambers adequately facilitated
the quantification of CH4 emissions in this study.


---To minimize the restriction of conventional servo method, a new method used graphics for head positioning have been investigated. This paper will describe the principals of graphical construction and encoding, servo demodulation, and performance evaluation of graphics, etc. Finally for verifying this method, a 4000 TPI track density trial device is introduced.


Calcium chloride acting from the serosal surface blocked the peristaltic reflex and at the same time, after about 30 minutes, evoked pendulum type of activity in the longitudinal muscle of the guinea-pig isolated ileum, subjected to constant intraluminal pressure. Hexamethonium, tetraethylammonium, morphine, methadone and atropine blocked, while, neostigmine potentiated the pendulum movements evoked by calcium chloride. In the Magnus preparation of the guinea-pig isolated ileum calcium chloride also caused pendulum type of activity. From these experiments it is concluded that calcium chloride evoked pendular movements by stimulating the postganglionic cholinergic nerves in the longitudinal muscle of the guinea-pig isolated ileum.


Objective To study the effect and safety of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of liver cancer.Methods The clinical data of prospectively and non-randomly selected 102 liver cancer patients were analysed. Results 102 patients with a total of 216 tumors were found in this series, the size of hepatomas were 1.5 to 14*!cm in diameter (average 4.9*!cm in diameter). In 67 of primary liver hepatocellular carcinoma, the tumors' size were smaller than 5*!cm in diameter in 21 cases; 35 with secondary liver tumors. RFA were performed under the guidance of ultrasonography in 43 cases, under CT in 50, under laparoscopy in 3, and 6 were performed during open surgery. All patients received ultrasonography and CT scanning of liver one month after the ablaton. The echoes of the tumors were stronger, and the area of the echo reached was larger than pre-ablation; blood flow in the tumor obviously reduced and even disappeared in sonography; CT showed that the shadow density in the tumor was diminished. Of the 102 patients, 14 underwent 18-FDG-PET imaging 30 days after the ablation, of them, 11 showed defect of radiation in the tumor, 3 showed residual locus in the tumor. 2 of the 3 cases underwent RFA again and the residual was disappeared completely, the another subject to ethanol injection because of advanced age. All the patients were followed up for 3-18 months. Except 6 patients with late metastastic liver cancer died within 1 year after RFA, the other 96 cases remained alive now, the 1-year survival rate was 94.1%. Conclusions RFA is a new ideal therapy for liver cancer. It is safe, effective, and good tolerance with little trauma.


A tear of the rotator cuff often accompanies primary acute anterior dislocations of the shoulder in older patients. These structures, weakened by wear or degeneration, tear when the shoulder dislocates, permitting the humerus to hinge on intact anterior structures. Three typical cases illustrate the posterior structural reactions to acute anterior dislocation.


McCune–Albright syndrome (MAS) is a rare disease resulting from a somatic, mosaic mutation of GNAS1 encoding the Gsα subunit of the G‐protein coupled membrane receptor responsible for multiple hormonal signaling cascades. We present a patient with neonatal MAS who initially presented with neonatal diabetes and concern for congenital cardiac disease, and subsequently was found to have significant ACTH‐independent neonatal Cushing syndrome. Her course included multi‐system organ involvement, although she initially did not have obvious findings consistent with the MAS classic triad of café‐au‐lait macules, fibrous dysplasia, or peripheral precocious puberty. After medical and surgical treatment, she remains the only reported survivor of neonatal MAS. This clinical report alerts clinicians to the possibility of this disease in neonates with non‐classical endocrine and non‐endocrine manifestations of MAS, and demonstrates that this very early presentation is potentially survivable. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This conceptual paper illustrates the issues, aims and significance of the ongoing study on the mental health of parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) during the COVID-19 Pandemic and the role of digital technology that helps sustain well-being among parents of children with ASD. The recent COVID-19 situation lockdown and social distancing were reported to have intensified the behavioural effects on ASD children and further deteriorated the parents' mental health. Therefore, seeking related information and sharing experiences amongst parents of ASD's children is crucial to sustaining the parent's mental health.
Keywords: digital technology, mental health, the parent with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) children, Pandemic Covid-19
eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i19.3257


Abstract. Although the stratification of the upper Arctic Ocean is mostly salinity-driven, the sea surface salinity (SSS) is still poorly known in the Arctic, due to its strong variability and the sparseness of in-situ observations. Recently, two gridded SSS products have been derived from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, independently developed by the Barcelona Expert Centre (BEC) in Spain and the Ocean Salinity Expertise Center (CECOS) of the Centre Aval de Traitemenent des Donnees SMOS (CATDS) in France, respectively. In parallel, there are two reanalysis products providing the Arctic SSS in the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Services (CMEMS), one global, and another regional product. While the regional Arctic TOPAZ4 system assimilates a large set of sea-ice and ocean observations with an Ensemble Kalman Filter, the global reanalysis combines in-situ and satellite data using a multivariate ensemble optimal interpolation method. In this study, focused on the Arctic Ocean, these four salinity products, together with the climatology both World Ocean Atlas (WOA) of 2013 and Polar science center Hydrographic Climatology (PHC), are evaluated against in-situ datasets during 2011–2013. For the validation the in-situ observations are divided in two; those that have been assimilated and those that have not. The deviations of SSS between the different products and against the in-situ observations show largest disagreements below the sea-ice and in the marginal ice zone (MIZ), especially during the summer months. In the Beaufort Sea, the summer SSS from the BEC product has the smallest – saline – bias (~0.6 psu) with the smallest root mean squared difference (RSMD) of 2.6 psu. This suggests a potential value of assimilating of this product into the forthcoming Arctic reanalyses. Keywords: Arctic Ocean; sea surface salinity; SMOS; reanalysis; absolute deviation;


The design and implementation of a time‐resolved fluorescence lifetime imaging microscope (TRFLIM) for the biomedical sciences are described. The measurement of fluorescence lifetimes offers many benefits, among which is that they are independent of local signal intensity and concentration of the fluorophore and they provide visualization of the molecular environment in a single living cell. Unlike single photon counting, which employs a photomultiplier as the detector, TRFLIM uses a nanosecond‐gated multichannel plate image intensifier providing a two‐dimensional map of the spatial distribution of fluorescent lifetime in the sample under observation. Picosecond laser pulses from a tunable dye laser are delivered to the fluorophore inside living cells on the stage of a fluorescent microscope. Images of the fluorescence emission at various times during the decay of the fluorescence are collected using a high‐speed gated image intensifier and the lifetimes are calculated on a pixel‐by‐pixel basis. Lifetimes measured by TRFLIM are compared with those measured by conventional methods.


We analyse the behaviour of Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary feeding at patches of germinating seedlings in dried-out flooded forest. Seedlings of Eschweilera tenuifolia (Lecythidaceae) were the most commonly eaten (88.9%). Some seed patches were revisited over several days, while others were consistently ignored. We tested 3 predictions relating uacari terrestrial foraging behaviour to: (1) arboreal escape route proximity, (2) seed patch size choice and (3) temporal patterns of repeat exploitation. Comparison of fed-at and ignored patches revealed significant preferences for larger patches, and for those close to arboreal refuges but distant from dense ground-based vegetation. Support for these predictions is interpreted as evidence for predation risk-sensitive foraging.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the noninvasive estimated continuous cardiac output (esCCO), device-derived cardiac output (CO) to simultaneous pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) thermodilution (TD) CO.

DESIGN
A prospective study comparing pulse wave transit time (estimated continuous cardiac output, esCCO; Nihon Kohden, Tokyo, Japan) to intermittent TD CO.

SETTING
One academic hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Patients presenting for cardiac surgery.

INTERVENTIONS
Intraoperative CO measurements at 4 distinct time points (after induction, after sternotomy, after cardiopulmonary bypass, and after chest closure).

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
The study population consisted of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) IV subjects, 27 (77%) males and 8 (23%) females, with a mean age of 64.6 ± 12.2 years. Data points from esCCO and TD were collected simultaneously and means per time point compared using Bland-Altman, Pearson R coefficient, and percent error. Mean TD CO for the study was 5.4 L/min. The Pearson R coefficient, percent error, and bias in L/min were: 0.57, 44%, 0.66 (after induction); 0.54, 51%, 0.88 (after sternotomy); 0.60, 60%, 0.95 (after cardiopulmonary bypass); and 0.57, 60%, 0.75 (after chest closure) respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
esCCO is easy to use and provides continuous CO measurements, but has wide limits of agreement and large percentage errors with a consistently positive bias in comparison to TD.


The implementation of dynamic combinatorial libraries allowed the determination of highly active reversible and irreversible inhibitors of myeloperoxidase (MPO) at the nanomolar level. Docking experiments highlighted the interaction between the most active ligands and MPO, and further kinetic studies defined the mode of inhibition of these compounds. Finally, in vivo evaluation showed that one dose of irreversible inhibitors is able to suppress the activity of MPO after inducing inflammation.


Abstract: Understanding the effects of previous herbicide applications on cover crops is important if cover crops are to be successfully established during the same growing season. Greenhouse research was conducted to evaluate the sensitivity of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), oat (Avena sativa), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum), and medium red clover (Trifolium pratense) to EPTC plus R-29148, pendimethalin, and metolachlor plus CGA-154281 in a loam soil with 2.5% organic matter. Annual ryegrass density was reduced 96% by EPTC at 4.48 kg ai/ha and metolachlor at 2.24 kg ai/ha, whereas oat density was reduced 99% and 35%, respectively, from the two treatments. Pendimethalin at 1.68 kg ai/ha reduced annual ryegrass density 14%, but not oat density. Crimson clover biomass was reduced 33% by EPTC, 45% by metolachlor, and 15% by pendimethalin. All herbicides reduced the density of medium red clover > 25%, but biomass was reduced only by metolachlor. Field trials were conducted to determine whether persistence of these herbicides would affect the seeding time for annual ryegrass and crimson clover establishment. Annual ryegrass was successfully established following application of EPTC at 4.48 kg/ha when seeding was delayed 35 to 40 d after treatment (DAT). Pendimethalin at 1.68 kg/ha injured annual ryegrass > 15%, and annual ryegrass was severely injured by metolachlor at 1.68 kg/ha regardless of seeding time. Successful establishment of crimson clover following all herbicides was possible when seeding timings were delayed. Pendimethalin injured crimson clover less than 13% 15 to 17 DAT, and EPTC injured crimson clover less than 5% 28 to 35 DAT. Crimson clover injury from metolachlor was less than 16% 35 to 40 DAT. Herbicides with longer reported soil persistence generally require more time between herbicide application and cover crop seeding for safe establishment of the cover crop, particularly if the cover crop species is sensitive to the herbicide. Nomenclature: CGA-154281, 4-(dichloroacetyl)-3,4-dihydro-3-methyl-2H-1,4-benzoxazine; EPTC; metolachlor; pendimethalin; R-29148, 3-(dichloroacetyl)-2,2,5-trimethyloxazolidine; annual ryegrass, Lolium multiflorum L.; crimson clover, Trifolium incarnatum L. #3 TRFIN; oat, Avena sativa L. # AVESA; red clover, Trifolium pratense L. # TRFPR. Additional index words: Interseeded cover crops, overseeded cover crops. Abbreviations: DAS, days after seeding; DAT, days after treatment.


Liquid cooling of electronic devices becomes necessary when the chip-level heat fluxes increase and traditional air cooling encounters ever-increasing difficulties. From all the liquid cooling processes, spray cooling appears more successful due to its high critical heat flux, relatively low liquid flow rates, highly controllable, and the non-existence of boiling incipient hysterisis. This paper describes the development of the EDIFICE project (Embedded Droplet Impingement For Integrated Cooling of Electronics), which seeks to develop an integrated droplet impingement cooling device for removing chip heat fluxes in the range 50–100 W/cm2, employing latent heat of vaporization of dielectric fluids. Micro-spray nozzles are fabricated on silicon using MEMS technology to produce 100 micron droplets with odd shaped nozzles and swirling nozzles. The effects of shape, size, type of fluid, and swirling are tested and discussed. Spray heat transfer on silicon surfaces is studied with various surface texturing on the backside of the chip to promote spreading and evaporation of cold fluids as well as at heated conditions. The effects of configuration and fluids are revealed. Numerical modeling is used to study preliminary designs at both the device and system level. The paper describes progress made in the development of the EDIFICE device.


Abstract During undrained shearing of saturated soils loose samples show increasing pore pressure while dense samples show decreasing pore pressure. The magnitude and sign of the pore pressure change for a given soil is determined principally by its relative density. This suggests the possibility of measuring relative density in situ by observing pore pressures generated during shearing imposed by an instrument. The most suitable instrument for this purpose is a vane fitted with a piezometer (piezovane) as a vane imposes shearing with only small changes of normal stress. A series of experiments was carried out on piezovanes in beds of fine sand prepared in the laboratory at different relative densities. The tests showed clear relationships between relative density and pore pressures measured by the piezovane. The piezovane may also be of use as an in situ test for the potential for liquefaction of loose saturated fine sand deposits.


As a result of the development of economic life, especially in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the flourishing of international trade, the change in the patterns of trade relations, the great progress made by the international community as a result of the industrial revolution, which contributed greatly to the increase of inter-State trade and industrial relations. The importance of arbitration as an ideal means of settling disputes in the field of international trade involving a foreign element, both in relation to its persons or subject to the absence of international jurisdiction, and the unwillingness of parties to bring such disputes to the national level. For the shipping and leasing of ships, contracts for construction, major works and construction contracts are not free from the arbitration clause in most cases.


Old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest are being fundamentally altered by climate change. A primary example of this is yellow-cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis), a culturally and economically important species, which has suffered widespread decline across its range since the beginning of the twentieth century. We used tree rings to compare the climate-growth response of yellow-cedar to two co-occurring species; western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), in an old-growth forest on Haida Gwaii, Canada, to better understand the unique climatic drivers of a species that is declining across its range. We developed three species-specific chronologies spanning 560–770 years, reconstructing a long-term record of species growth and dynamics over time. The climate is strongly influenced by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), a multi-decadal pattern of ocean-atmospheric climate variability. Climate varied across three time periods that have coincided with major shifts in the PDO during the twentieth century [1901–1945 (neutral/positive), 1946–1976 (negative) and 1977–2015 (positive)]. Conditions were significantly warmer and wetter during positive phases, with the greatest maximum temperatures in the most recent period. We used complimentary methods of comparison, including Morlet wavelet analysis, Pearson correlations, and linear-mixed effects modeling to investigate the relations between climate and species growth. All three species exhibited multi-decadal frequency variation, strongest for yellow-cedar, suggesting the influence of the PDO. Consistent with this, the strength and direction of climate-growth correlations varied among PDO phases. Growing season temperature in the year of ring formation was strongly positively correlated to yellow-cedar and western hemlock growth, most significantly in the latter two time periods, representing a release from a temperature limitation. Sitka spruce growth was only weakly associated with climate. Yellow-cedar responded negatively to winter temperature from 1977 to 2015, consistent with the decline mechanism. Increased yellow-cedar mortality has been linked to warmer winters and snow loss. This study provides new insights into yellow-cedar decline, finding the first evidence of decline-related growth patterns in an apparently healthy, productive coastal temperate rainforest.


We describe how to improve the performance of MDP planning algorithms by modifying them to use the search-control mechanisms of planners such as TLPlan, SHOP2, and TALplanner. In our experiments, modified versions of RTDP, LRTDP, and Value Iteration were exponentially faster than the original algorithms. On the largest problems the original algorithms could solve, the modified ones were about 10,000 times faster. On another set. of problems whose state spaces were more than 14,000 times larger than the original algorithms could solve, the modified algorithms took only about 1/3 second.


The Central Mental Hospital is one of the oldest high secure mental health services in Europe dating back to 1845 but has been one of the last to introduce (forensic) psychiatric nurses. This paper describes the role of psychiatric nurses working in this high secure psychiatric facility in Ireland. The United Kingdom Central Council competency framework was considered to be a prudent starting point for beginning to understand this role in an Irish context. The study received a response rate of 74% and found that the Irish Forensic Mental Health Nurse experiences many of the same challenges as their international colleagues. A high proportion of nursing practice is focused on assessment, communication and creating a therapeutic environment based very much in keeping with the mainstream role in mental health nursing. Skills in specialist assessments and addressing offending behaviour were considered important but deficient at that time. The importance of recovery and human rights were considered paramount but challenged by the need for risk management and security.


ABSTRACT In Sweden, austerity politics and market reforms have resulted in a renegotiation of working conditions negatively impacting female-dominated public sector- and welfare state workers. A growing body of research locates the harshening conditions of nurses in a context of colliding logics between professions and professional authority, the specificities of interpersonal work, and public sector restructuring. Feminist scholars also tend to focus on the special character of care work in explaining nurses' growing discontent under austerity. This article starts out from the position that the characteristics of care work are central in understanding care workers' experiences, but the analysis also shows a more general conflict between labor and capital play out in care work. Based on a qualitative analysis interviews with 50 nurses, the article shows that this contradiction is expressed through conflicts over time, management and resources.


Blue crabs Callinectes latimanus (Rath.) trapped from two lagoons were sexed, measured and weighed. The eggs of the mature females were counted to determine fecundity, and the spermatophores of the males were counted to determine the size of sexual maturity. Sizes at maturity of both male and female crabs were determined. The methods employed and the results are discussed.


Abstract It has been found that the bimetallic nanoclusters often have so-called core/shell structure if they are prepared by alcohol-reduction of two kinds of noble metal ions in the presence of a water-soluble polymer like poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrolidone)(PVP), and that the core/ shell structured bimetallic nanoclusters have much higher catalytic activity than the corresponding monometallic nanoclusters. Here, several kinds of monometallic and bimetallic nanoclusters are synthesized by the similar method, and the catalyses are measured. Thus, the colloidal dispersions of Au, Pt, Pd, Rh, and Ru monometallic, and Au/Pt, Au/Pd, Au/Rh, and Pt/Ru bimetallic nanoclusters were synthesized and applied as the catalysts for visible-light- induced hydrogen generation. The core/shell structures are analyzed mainly by UV–vis spectra. The rate of electron transfer from the methyl viologen cation radical to the metal nanoclusters is proportional to the hydrogen generation rate at the steady state. All the electrons accepted by the metal nanoclusters are used for the hydrogen generation. Both electron transfer and hydrogen generation rates increase when the bimetallic nanoclusters are used in place of the corresponding monometallic nanoclusters. The most active catalysts were Au/Rh and Pt/Ru bimetallic nanoclusters.


Chae, Junghoon Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2016. Visual Analytics of Locationbased Social Networks for Decision Support. Major Professor: David S. Ebert. Recent advances in technology have enabled people to add location information to social networks called Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs) where people share their communication and whereabouts not only in their daily lives, but also during abnormal situations, such as crisis events. However, since the volume of the data exceeds the boundaries of human analytical capabilities, it is almost impossible to perform a straightforward qualitative analysis of the data. The emerging field of visual analytics has been introduced to tackle such challenges by integrating the approaches from statistical data analysis and human computer interaction into highly interactive visual environments. Based on the idea of visual analytics, this research contributes the techniques of knowledge discovery in social media data for providing comprehensive situational awareness. We extract valuable hidden information from the huge volume of unstructured social media data and model the extracted information for visualizing meaningful information along with user-centered interactive interfaces. We develop visual analytics techniques and systems for spatial decision support through coupling modeling of spatiotemporal social media data, with scalable and interactive visual environments. These systems allow analysts to detect and examine abnormal events within social media data by integrating automated analytical techniques and visual methods. We provide comprehensive analysis of public behavior response in disaster events through exploring and examining the spatial and temporal distribution of LBSNs. We also propose a trajectory-based visual analytics of LBSNs for anomalous human movement analysis during crises by incorporating a novel classification technique. Finally, we introduce a visual analytics approach for forecasting the overall flow of human crowds.


A power-converter circuit for a switched reluctance motor is proposed. It consists of one switching device per phase and a dump capacitor, auxiliary switch and flyback transformer. In this converter circuit, the demagnetising current of an off-going phase is stored in the dump capacitor and is returned to the DC link capacitor through the transformer. The dump capacitor voltage can be controlled by the duty ratio control of the auxiliary switch. The auxiliary switch is PWM-controlled in high frequency, so that the size of the transformer can be reduced. The voltage rating of the auxiliary switch and dump capacitor is lower than that of the main switches and DC link capacitor. The modes of operation are described and the effectiveness of the proposed converter circuit is verified through simulation and experiment.


A case of excision of a chondrosarcoma of the upper end of the femur with replacement by a prototype internal prosthesis has been followed for eighteen years.


: Use of dolutegravir-based first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in response to rising levels of pretreatment HIV drug resistance (PDR) to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) may be limited given safety concerns for birth defects in women of child-bearing potential. Pooled data from 11 nationally representative surveys show that NNRTI PDR in women is nearly twice that in men, exceeding 10% in 8 of 11 countries monitored, suggesting urgent need for alternative non-NNRTI ART in this population.


This study investigated the interannual variability of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) catches in the southwestern tropical Indian Ocean (SWTIO) over 25 years and its relationship to climate variability. The results indicate that the catch amount in the northern SWTIO exhibits a significant relationship with the temperature, salinity, and current variability in the upper ocean (< 400 m), associated with a significant subsurface upwelling variability, which is prominent only in the northern region. An increase of the tuna catches in the northern region is associated with the deepening of the thermocline depth and 20°C isotherm depth of the Seychelles–Chagos Thermocline Ridge, indicating suppression of the subsurface upwelling. Further analysis reveals that the catch amounts in the SWTIO tend to increase during the positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole. However, the catch variability in the northern SWTIO is more closely related to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation than the Indian Ocean Dipole. Favorable conditions for catches seem to develop in the northern region during El Niño years and continue throughout the following years. This relationship suggests the potential predictability of catch amounts in the northern SWTIO, an energetic region with strong subsurface upwelling variability.


This short paper aims to clarify the main factor controlling overall transesterification rate of vegetable oil (triglycerides) with methanol catalyzed by homogeneous acid catalyst. In this reaction system, methanol droplets are dispersed in oil continuous phase. Most of the catalyst is existing in methanol droplets. The authors formulated a simultaneous diffusion-reaction model by focusing on the following processes: (1) dissolving of oil into methanol droplets at the oil-methanol interface, (2) inward diffusion of oil in methanol droplets, and (3) simultaneous transesterification of oil with the inward diffusion. In order to prove this model, firstly, the intrinsic transesterification kinetics were determined in methanol/oil/2-butanone/sulfuric acid system at 298, 308, and 323 K. 2-Butanone and sulfuric acid were used as a co-solvent and a catalyst, respectively. Secondly, transesterification of oil with methanol catalyzed by sulfuric acid was carried out in ordinary two-phase system at 298, 308, and 323 K. The authors successfully simulated the two-phase reaction results from the homogeneous kinetics by applying the model developed in this paper. It was found that the overall transesterification rate is controlled by the intrinsic kinetics.


A multi-node acoustofluidic chip working on a broadband spectrum and beyond the resonance is designed for cell manipulations. A simple one-dimensional (1D) multi-layer model is used to describe the stationary standing waves generated inside a cavity. The transmissions and reflections of the acoustic wave through the different layers and interfaces lead to the creation of pressure nodes away from the resonance condition. A transparent cavity and a broadband ultrasonic transducer allow the measurement of the acoustic energy over a wide frequency range using particle image velocimetry measurements and the relation between acoustic energy and the particles velocity. The automation of the setup allows the acquisition over a large spectrum with a high frequency definition. The results show a wide continuous operating range for the acoustofluidic chip, which compares well with the 1D model. The variation of the acoustic radiation force when varying the frequency can be compensated to ensure a constant amplitude for the ARF. This approach is finally applied to mesenchymal stem cell (MCS) spheroids cultured in acoustic levitation. The MSC spheroids can be moved and merged just by varying the acoustic frequency. This approach opens the path to various acoustic manipulations and to complex 3D tissue engineering in acoustic levitation.


We conduct a meta-regression analysis of the existing literature on the impacts of disasters on households, focusing on the poor and on poverty measures. We find much heterogeneity in these impacts, but several general patterns, often observed in individual case-studies, emerge. Incomes are clearly impacted adversely, with the impact observed specifically in per-capita measures (so it is not due to the mortality caused by the observed disaster). Consumption is also reduced, but to a lesser extent than incomes. Importantly, poor households appear to smooth their food consumption by reducing the consumption of non-food items; the most significant items in this category are spending on housing, health, and education. This suggests potentially long-term adverse consequences as consumption of these services is often better viewed as long-term investment. We do not find consistent patterns in long-term impacts; it appears the limits of the meta-regression methodology prevent us from observing patterns in the relatively few heterogeneous research projects that examine these long-term effects. The importance of addressing risk within the context of sustainable development and poverty alleviation is clear. The impact of disasters on the poor may be increasingly worrying considering the climate variations we anticipate.