(1) The ecological consequences of a severe drought on four wildlife conservation areas in southern Africa (Tuli, Klaserie, Kruger, Umfolozi) are compared. (2) Herbivore mortality occurred during the second year of the drought, when failure of the spring rains coincided with depleted food reserves. It was severe in Klaserie, with up to 90% mortality. In Tuli, mortality was high but restricted mostly to wildebeest and zebra; impala (a mixed grazer-browser) and browsers were little affected. Mortality was up to 35% in Kruger; it included browsers, but wildebeest and zebra were little affected. Mortality was low in Umfolozi, even in an unculled block, although pre-emptive culling exceeded the average mortalities at Kruger. Ungulate populations recovered to predrought levels within 2 years in Kruger but, apart from impala, will take longer in the more severely affected areas. (3) Mortality of grass tufts was extensive in Klaserie, Umfolozi and Tuli, and was limited to areas near water in Kruger. Initial recovery was rapid in three areas after one season of above-average rainfall, but was retarded in Tuli, and later in Klaserie because of continuing drought and (possibly) continued impala grazing. Little tree mortality was recorded. (4) Ungulate mortality was high in the most arid areas (Tuli and Klaserie) where grass mortality was particularly high and, most importantly, where extensive surface water permitted a high pre-drought biomass and even distribution of ungulates. (5) It is concluded that culling is ecologically unnecessary where sufficient spatial heterogeneity exists to provide reserve forage. Some drought-related mortality is natural and probably beneficial to both animal and plant populations. Wild ungulate populations should be allowed to fluctuate within limits set by management objectives and culling is likely to be necessary only where the provision of water points has eliminated reserve forage areas.


Background: With respect to the importance of recording diagnosis in patients' medical data for educational, research and legal and statistic aspects, we designed a study on patients' medical records that were hospitalized in Kashan's hospitals in 1381. Material and methods : This study was performed on medical files of 51 specialists working in Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Totally, 1071 medical records which were selected randomly, averagely 21 records for each physician, were included. We used the list of standard principle of International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). Data extracted and separated according to each hospital and clinical field. Results: Data were recorded correctly in diagnosis, orders, and external events, 87%, 77%, and 65%, respectively. The rate of diagnosis records were in its high level in Matini hospital (92%), and were in lowest range in Naqavi hospital. The rate of order records were 95% in Shahid Beheshti and in lowest range in Naqavi hospital (72.9%). The rate of principle of external events records were in highest range in Shahid Beheshti hospital (77.8%) and in lowest range in Matini hospital (50%). Conclusion: We found the rate of recording level was good. It is correlated with attention of specialist and supervisor of medical data committee of university.


The hybrid electrochemical capacitor comprises: an anode piece, a cathode piece, multi-hole barrier film and non aqueous-electrolyte. The anode piece is made by means of coating mixture of the anode active materials, binder and conducting agent on the anode current collector; the cathode piece is made by means of coating the mixture of cathode active material binder and conducting agent on the cathode current collector. The anode active materials is made of LiMOy or LiQ(X04)z; M can be Co, Mn, V, Ni; Q can be Fe, Co, Mn, V; X can be S, P, As, Mo; the cathode material can selects multi-pore active carbon, carbon black, nano carbon fiber; the electrolyte can be phosphofluoric acid and lithium perchlorate.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the predictive factors of information seeking behavior of smartphone users from the cross-generational perspective. Based on existing literature, the two most popular types of information seeking behavior of smartphone users were determined: social information seeking behavior; and functional/cognitive information seeking behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire comprising 66 questions was administered online to 216 smartphone users of three age groups according to three generations: generation X, Y (millennials) and Z. Several predictive factors were examined for each of these information seeking behavior types: generation, gender, personality traits (the Big Five), daily usage time, period of ownership, various application utilization and the level of emotional gain from smartphones.

Findings

There is a trade-off between the two types of information seeking behavior. Also, men exhibited significantly more functional/cognitive information seeking behavior than women, and younger generations reported significantly higher emotional gain and social information seeking behavior than older generations. Interestingly, significant differences in smartphone apps' utilization, information seeking behavior types and their predictive factors were found among users from different generations. Extraversion was positively related to social information seeking behavior only for generations X and Y, while WhatsApp usage was one of the strongest predictive factors only for generation Z.

Practical implications

This research has practical implications for information system design, education, e-commerce and libraries.

Originality/value

This is a first study that systematically examines predictive factors of the two prominent types of information seeking behavior on smartphones from the cross-generational perspective.


This paper presents a network architecture called hyper-cluster employing wavelength-routing, multi-hop packet switching and optical reconfiguration. It is modularly scalable to very large configurations on both hardware and operational bases. A hyper-cluster uses a logical hierarchy for the purpose of addressing but guarantees that all access nodes have a constant number of transceivers. It is a cluster of regular graphs; the clustering structure follows the traffic distribution in a grand granularity. The issue of operational scalability is addressed by presenting a scalable routing protocol. When using shuffle-net as the building block, we also present a novel routing scheme called quantified deflection routing, which improves the call blocking performance significantly. The network throughput and virtual call blocking performance is obtained via simulation on large networks (with size beyond 200 nodes). Numerical results presented by Guo, Acampora and Zhang (see SPIE- The International Society for Optical Engineering, Voice, Video, and Data Communications, Dallas, 1997) show that the dynamic self-routing protocol, combined with quantified deflection routing for the shuffle-net, can achieve excellent resource utilization efficiency for very large networks. When the call arrival rate is below 0.3, the capacity provided by the hyper-cluster dynamic routing algorithm is close to that of an infinite capacity centralized switch (lowest possible call blocking caused exclusively by congestion on the finite capacity user input/output links, never by the switch fabric itself).


Presents an ultra low-voltage (ULV) floating-gate (FG) transconductance amplifier. The amplifier can operate at supply voltages down to 0.3 V in a standard digital double poly CMOS process. The amplifier consists of three subcircuits, the single input analog FG inverter, the additive (double input) analog FG inverter with tunable gain and a FG digital inverter. Simulated data for the transconductance amplifier is provided. Preliminary measurements of the subcircuits are provided.


BACKGROUND
Carnitine improves erythropoetin (EPO) response and anaemia in haemodialysis patients (HD); however, the mechanism(s) responsible remain unidentified. We have reported that carnitine induces haem oxygenase (HO)-1, which is an antioxidant and antiapoptotic that acts via pathways shared with EPO. Therefore carnitine's effect on these pathways may account for the improved EPO response. This study evaluates carnitine's effect on protein expression of HO-1 in unexplained EPO resistant HD. Carnitine's effect was assessed by HO-1 expression in patients and compared to its antiapoptotic effect via HO-1 induction in a rat model of carnitine-treated heart failure.

METHODS
Unexplained EPO resistant HD mononuclear cell HO-1 and rat gastrocnemious muscle HO-1 and Bcl-2 protein expression were evaluated by western blot.

RESULTS
HD's haemoglobin (Hb) and haematocrit (Ht) were not different before carnitine treatment: 8.8 +/- 0.4 mg/dl versus 8.98 +/- 0.13 and 30.20% +/- 0.84 versus 30.72 +/- 1.14, respectively. Carnitine increased HO-1, Hb and Ht compared with patients not treated with carnitine: 2.40 +/- 0.58 versus 1.49 +/- 0.41, P = 0.02; 11.22 +/- 0.54 versus 8.90 +/- 0.15, P < 0.0001; 32.72 +/- 1.77 versus 30.66 +/- 0.43, P = 0.035, respectively. Carnitine-treated HD's HO-1 significantly correlated with haemoglobin. HO-1 and Bcl-2 protein levels in untreated heart failure rat's gastrocnemious muscle were reduced when compared with controls: 3.41 +/- 0.49 versus 5.32 +/- 0.38 and 0.69 +/- 0.11 versus 1.65 +/- 0.37, respectively, but were higher in carnitine-treated heart failure rats: 4.8 +/- 0.32 versus 3.41 +/- 0.49, P < 0.0002 and 1.09 +/- 0.08 versus 0.69 +/- 0.11, P = 0.0007, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
These results are consistent with an involvement of HO-1 in carnitine's effect on erythropoiesis. The initial signals or effectors responsible for carnitine's effect remain to be identified.


The internet is getting more popular these days and the applications that help human lives are spreading across the world, one useful area to mention is healthcare, healthcare applications are increasing very fast to ease human life. In order to overcome security challenges, we need to secure these applications, such that privacy and authentication needs many techniques to be defined. In this paper, we presented a comprehensive survey of collection of remote user authentication schemes used in Telecare Medicine Information Systems (TMISs), and we compared between them, according to used factors in some security aspects. Then we proposed a new three-factor authentication scheme for the TMIS. The proposed scheme provides the user anonymity, the telecare server cannot extract the password and there is a freedom of password update. Moreover, the new scheme used steganography method on a biometrics to add some level of obfuscation. These leads to get more secure and practical scheme.


Since 1991 Australian telecommunications has undergone substantial reform. To a large extent, the economic correctness of pro-competitive policy depends on the non-existence of natural monopoly technology. This paper provides estimates of the Australian telecommunications system cost structure, and tests for subadditivity from 1943 to 1991. Additivity of the cost function after 1945 rejects the natural monopoly hypothesis and supports recent government policy. Diminished natural monopoly characteristics suggest that co-ordination between firms through networking can achieve similar economies as internal co-ordination within a monopoly. This finding is important, given the trend towards network unbundling, and service provision through interconnection.


International agricultural research centres (IARCs) have a mission to reduce poverty, improve food security, human health and nutrition, and ensure sustainable management of natural resources. Their role in the research for development (R4D) continuum has long been a subject of discussion, often with emphasis that they should conduct research that produces international public goods (IPGs). However, national agricultural research systems (NARS) in many developing countries have insufficient capacity to translate these products into welfare benefits. This coupled with higher dependence on bilateral donors that exert pressure to show impacts have increasingly driven IARCs to engage in participatory downstream work. This shift has been criticized for placing emphasis on local development agendas at the expense of IPG delivery. This paper uses insights from the literature to discuss the rationale for setting up IARCs under the consultative group on international agricultural research (CGIAR), their governance and transformation over the years and the critical question of how the centres should position themselves. A conceptual framework based on transaction cost economics and fiscal federalism literature is used to complement discussions on their comparative advantage from a normative point of view. While low transaction intensity, asset specificity, economies of scale and potential for spillovers are important attributes of transactions that increase the comparative advantage of IARCs over other actors in the R4D spectrum, contextual factors in different locations may drive centres to deviate from conducting activities that they are best at.


In this article, an identity satisfied by the so‐called recursion operator is derived. The identity generates by itself an infinite sequence of Lax pairs, thus ensuring the complete integrability of the corresponding hierarchy of nonlinear evolution equations. It is also shown that this identity yields the familiar property that the squares of eigenfunctions of the associated linear spectral problem satisfy the linearized version of the respective soliton equation.


Information Technology plays an important and dominant role in the business process or the operational management of the company. So with the development of the role of the world of Information and Technology, computer processes are used not only as data processing. but a computer can be a media of information that can be accessed at any time. The application of the Traffic Work Order Dashboard System provides many benefits for companies in order to improve company performance more effectively and efficiently. In carrying out the input is still using office applications in the form of Microsoft Excel and services using paper media to the customer queue, causing service information to the customer to be slow so that performance is not optimal. The service process in the work order information for customers is needed so that the printing service work performed can be seen by customers who are waiting for the results of each order. Then a Web-based Traffic Work Order Dashboard system was built to make it easier for customers. In determining research and design requires a method to see the development of the design carried out in the study, the methods applied include the Waterfall SDLC method which is expected to be able to easily determine the achievement of a system, where a website system that has been designed using PHP Framework Codeigniter as a programming language and SQL as a database storage container. In designing this application system using Unified Modeling Language (UML) as a modeling tool consisting of Use Case Diagrams, Activity Diagrams, and Sequence Diagrams. The results of the web-based Traffic Work Order Dashboard system are expected to provide solutions to the problems encountered.


The purpose of this study was to analyse financial performance and liquidity trends of banks in the financial sector of Ghana. A review of literature on performance and liquidity was conducted owing to the challenges the banks are confronted with. The study analysed 180 annual reports of the banks during the periods 2006-2015. The analysis revealed that banks were relatively liquid in most of the study periods except in the years 2013 and 2014, where the average liquidity was 1.54 and 1.41 respectively. The highest liquidity of 2.183 was recorded in 2011, which indicates that Gh¢ 2.183 of current assets available covers Gh¢ 1 of current liabilities. The financial performance of the banks was fairly intermittent during the study periods. The lowest financial performance of the banks was recorded in the year 2006. An average financial performance of 6.74% and 0.83% for return on equity (ROE) and return asset on (ROA) respectively was recorded in 2006. While the year 2014 recorded the highest financial performance of 24.23% for return on equity and 4.57% for return on asset owing to favourable economic conditions in the country in that year. The study recommends that bank managers should adopt effective liquidity management to ensure the banks are operating profitably. Since it has been empirically proven that high liquidity rates will provide for better financial results.


There is a popular belief that Chinese imports have devastated US and European manufacturing and contributed to rising inequality. Somewhat paradoxically, the consensus amongst empirical economists is that trade has not been a major cause of rising wage inequality (although this is largely based on datasets predating China's rise). We argue that both views have underestimated the positive impact of Chinese trade on technical change. We examine the impact of the growth of Chinese imports innovation and IT diffusion using a panel of over 23,000 European establishments through 2007. We correct for endogeneity using natural experiments such as China's entry into the World Trade Organization. We find that Chinese import competition led to both within firm technology upgrading, and between firm reallocation of employment towards more technologically intensive plants. These effects are growing over time as Chinese trade volumes rise, accounting for up to 38% of technology upgrading in the most recent years. These results suggest that trade with low wage countries appear to have potentially large beneficial impacts on technical change as recent theories suggest.


Purpose To determine whether patients with venous aneurysms in their arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) have associated venous outflow stenoses. Materials and Methods A retrospective study was performed, which included all patients presenting with dysfunction and had venous aneurysms in their AVFs. Patient's medical records and imaging studies were examined and data collected including access characteristics, patient demographics and imaging findings. Data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test. Results A total of 89 patients (58 men, 31 women; mean age 60) presented for intervention related to access dysfunction with incident venous aneurysms over the study period. Of the 89 patients with venous aneurysms (mean diameter 2.3 cm) of their AVF's, 69 (78%) patients had an associated venous outflow stenosis. The stenoses were present most commonly in the outflow cephalic vein (57%), followed by the cephalic arch (20%), brachiocephalic vein (10%) and subclavian vein (6%). Outflow stenoses in AVFs with venous aneurysms were observed in 87% of brachiocephalic AVFs, 60% of radiocephalic AVFs and 80% of brachiobasilic AVFs. Brachiocephalic AVFs with venous aneurysms were significantly more likely to have an associated outflow stenosis than radiocephalic AVFs with venous aneurysms (P=0.007). AVFs with outflow stenosis were on average 1502 days old while AVFs without outflow stenosis were on average 2351 days old, which was a statistically significant difference (P=0.031). No statistically significant differences were observed for sex and side of the fistula. Conclusions Outflow stenosis was observed to be associated with venous aneurysms in AVFs with a more statistically significant association in brachiocephalic AVFs compared to other AVFs.


The relentless scaling of CMOS technology has provided a steady increase in processor performance for the past three decades. However, increased power densities (hence temperatures) and other scaling effects have an adverse impact on long-term processor lifetime reliability. This paper represents a first attempt at quantifying the impact of scaling on lifetime reliability due to intrinsic hard errors, taking workload characteristics into consideration. For our quantitative evaluation, we use RAMP (Srinivasan et al., 2004), a previously proposed industrial-strength model that provides reliability estimates for a workload, but for a given technology. We extend RAMP by adding scaling specific parameters to enable workload-dependent lifetime reliability evaluation at different technologies. We show that (1) scaling has a significant impact on processor hard failure rates - on average, with SPEC benchmarks, we find the failure rate of a scaled 65nm processor to be 316% higher than a similarly pipelined 180nm processor; (2) time-dependent dielectric breakdown and electromigration have the largest increases; and (3) with scaling, the difference in reliability from running at worst-case vs. typical workload operating conditions increases significantly, as does the difference from running different workloads. Our results imply that leveraging a single microarchitecture design for multiple remaps across a few technology generations will become increasingly difficult, and motivate a need for workload specific, microarchitectural lifetime reliability awareness at an early design stage.


Profit-maximizing bidding in uniform price auction markets involves bidding above marginal cost. It therefore is not surprising that such behavior is observed in electricity markets. This incentive to bid above marginal cost is not the result of coordinated action among the bidders. Rather, each bidder is independently selecting its bid to maximize profits based on its estimate of the residual demand curve it faces. The supplier bids a price for its energy capacity to optimize its marginal tradeoff between higher prices and lower quantities. Price response from either demand or other suppliers prevents the supplier from raising its bid too much. Profit maximizing bidding should be expected and encouraged by regulators. It is precisely this profit maximizing behavior that guides the market toward long-run efficient outcomes.


China, India and Brazil have become world economic powers; they are attempting to harness the forces of globalisation so as to strengthen their international standing in multilateral institutions like the WTO. Theirs is not a surrender to imperialism, but an attempt to build a bulwark against it, from which they can implement their own national strategies for development — strategies that are qualitatively different from those followed by the non-aligned movement after Bandung. While each country is pursuing a somewhat different path, their collective might within the G-20 is already forcing concessions on trade, agriculture and subsidies from the US and EU. But do such growing South-South economic linkages have the potential to transform the global balance of power?


Background: AMPK senses energetic changes and regulates glucose metabolism. Results: AMPK α2 deficiency aggravated the glucose deprivation and necrosis of the hepatocytes via increased ROS production and decreased mitophagy. Conclusion: AMPK α2 is essential for attenuation of liver injury during tumor metastasis. Significance: This is the first time to reveal the mechanism by which glucose/energy competition induced tissue damage in tumor. It is well known that tumors damage affected tissues; however, the specific mechanism underlying such damage remains elusive. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) senses energetic changes and regulates glucose metabolism. In this study, we examined the mechanisms by which AMPK promotes metabolic adaptation in the tumor-bearing liver using a murine model of colon cancer liver metastasis. Knock-out of AMPK α2 significantly enhanced tumor-induced glucose deprivation in the liver and increased the extent of liver injury and hepatocyte death. Mechanistically, we observed that AMPK α2 deficiency resulted in elevated reactive oxygen species, reduced mitophagy, and increased cell death in response to tumors or glucose deprivation in vitro. These results imply that AMPK α2 is essential for attenuation of liver injury during tumor metastasis via hepatic glucose deprivation and mitophagy-mediated inhibition of reactive oxygen species production. Therefore, AMPK α2 might represent an important therapeutic target for colon cancer metastasis-induced liver injury.


In IEEE 802.11-based wireless mesh networks, routing is crucial in achieving high throughput in face of both interflow and intra-flow interference. Prior work focuses on finding the maximum available bandwidth path when a new flow enters the network. However, few has considered the effect of the new flow on the throughput of the existing flows. We propose a routing framework that uses the topology map of a mesh network with the carrier sense and interference relations and estimates the available bandwidth of a candidate path. We propose two algorithms for finding a route for a new flow: (1) FIRM searches for the maximum bandwidth path for the new flow, and (2) FIRM + not only considers the available bandwidth of a path for the new flow, but also the amount of throughput degradation of existing flows. We implement and evaluate FIRM and FIRM + with the IRU routing algorithm on a 15 node indoor IEEE 802.11a testbed. Various experiments reveal that FIRM + achieves the highest total throughput of all flows.


Target re-identification across non-overlapping camera views is a challenging task due to variations in target appearance, illumination, viewpoint and intrinsic parameters of cameras. Brightness transfer function (BTF) was introduced for intercamera color calibration, and to improve the performance of target re-identification methods. There have been several works based on BTFs, more specifically using weighted BTFs (WBTF), cumulative BTF (CBTF) and mean BTF (MBTF). In this paper, we present a novel method to model the appearance variation across different camera views. We propose building a codebook of BTFs composed of the most representative BTFs for a camera pair. We also propose an ordering and trimming criteria to avoid using all possible combinations of codewords for different color channels. In addition, to obtain a better appearance model, we present a different way to segment a target from the background. Evaluations on VIPeR, CUHK01 and CAVIAR4REID datasets show that the proposed method outperforms other approaches focusing on BTFs, including WBTF, CBTF and MBTF. As proven by the results, the proposed method provides an improved brightness transfer across different camera views, and any target ReID approach incorporating color/brightness histograms can benefit from it.


Despite the growth of heart, liver and bone marrow transplantation, the kidney continues to be the organ most frequently transplanted. Over the years psychiatrists have been active in attempting to understand the adaptational tasks of organ donors and recipients and in evaluating and treating transplant patients. A body of knowledge with regard to renal transplantation has developed. What follows is an update of psychiatric aspects of renal transplantation.


Human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Currently, several anti-retroviral drugs are available, but adverse effects of these drugs have been reported. Herein, we focused on the anti-HIV-1 activity of Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb. (CA) extracted by hexane (CA-H), ethyl acetate (CA-EA), and methanol (CA-M). The in vitro HIV-1 protease (PR) and HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitory activities of CA extracts were screened. CA-M potentially inhibited HIV-1 PR (82.44%) comparable to Pepstatin A (81.48%), followed by CA-EA (67.05%) and CA-H (47.6%), respectively. All extracts exhibited moderate inhibition of HIV-1 RT (64.97 to 76.93%). Besides, phytochemical constituents of CA extracts were identified by GC-MS and UPLC-HRMS. Fatty acids, amino acids, and terpenoids were the major compounds found in the extracts. Furthermore, drug-likeness parameters and the ability of CA-identified compounds on blocking of the HIV-1 PR and RT active sites were in silico investigated. Dihydroergocornine, 3β,6α,7α-trihydroxy-5β-cholan-24-oic acid, and 6β,11β,16α,17α,21-Pentahydroxypregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione-16,17-acetonide showed strong binding affinities at the active residues of both HIV-1 PR and RT. Moreover, antioxidant activity of CA extracts was determined. CA-EA exhibited the highest antioxidant activity, which positively related to the amount of total phenolic content. This study provided beneficial data for anti-HIV-1 drug discovery from CA extracts.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread widely from China to the world. Although the viral genome has been well characterized, the evolutionary origin and global transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 remain poorly investigated. To address this, we retrieved 313 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the GISAID database (https://www.gisaid.org), from which 99 genomes generated from original clinical specimens with exact collection dates from 16 countries were selected and enrolled for Bayesian phylodynamic analysis. Here we show that the time to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (tMRCA) of SARS-CoV-2 is Dec 11, 2019 (95%HPD, Nov 21 - Dec 24). Two clades of global circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2 were suggested by Bayesian Maximum Clade Credibility (MCC) tree. The USA circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2 seemed to be from both of the two clades, the UK and Australia circulating strains were from Clade 1, the circulating strains in Singapore, Japan, Germany, France, and Italy were from Clade 2. Although we have not found any obvious bottle-neck-effect from the Bayesian Skyline Plot of the viral population dynamics reconstruction, a sharp reduction of the lower 95% HPD of the relative genetic diversity was observed from Feb 5, 2020, suggesting a possible initiation of a bottle-neck-effect. Thirteen (6 synonymous and 7 non-synonymous) mutations in the viral genome were observed, including two clade-specific mutations (C8782T and T1844C in Clade 1 rather than Clade 2) and eleven sub-clade specific mutations. All of the observed mutations occurred in the USA circulating strains, except one mutation T18488C only occurred in the UK circulating strains. A non-synonymous mutation in the 3'-UTR was also observed, suggesting an altered RNA replication capacity of SARS-CoV-2. We thus came to the conclusion that continuous evolution occurred in almost all regions of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and potentially in a country-specific manner. Further efforts on monitoring the genomic mutations of SARS-CoV-2 from different countries are recommended.


This 2019 DIPA Grand's research designed and fabricated the size of hydraulic ram (hydram) pump utilized in Pakandangan, Padang Pariaman Regency. There is a water source in this area which has not been functioned adequately to irrigate the paddy field of 10 hectares due to the location of the paddy field which is higher than the water source. However, the use of designed hydram pump has no been maximized as the pump's optimal performance was not determined yet. Therefore, a hydram pump was designed by varying the load of waste valve in the weight of 400 g, 600 g, 800 g, 1,000 g, and 1,200 gr. It was also varied in the volume of the chamber when the pump operated which were 4.86 lt, 5.76 lt, 6.48 lt, 7.29 lt, and 8.1lt. The height (Hd) of the inlet pipe was 1 m, and the lift height (Hs) of the outlet pipe was 5 m. The results obtained from Pump performance increases with increasing cylinder volume. The increase in the load of the exhaust valve volume of the tube remains a significant decrease. Hydram pump performance occurs at a load of 400 g with a tube volume of 8.1 l with an efficiency of 53%


Games-with-a-purpose find attracting players a challenge. To improve player recruitment, we explored two game design elements that can increase player engagement during the onboarding phase; a narrative and a tutorial. In a qualitative study with 12 players of linguistic and language learning games, we examined the effect of presentation format on players' engagement. Our reflexive thematic analysis found that in the onboarding phase of a GWAP for NLP, presenting players with visuals is expected and pre- senting too much text overwhelms them. Furthermore, players found that the instructions they were presented with lacked linguistic context. Additionally, the tutorial and game interface required refinement as the feedback is unsupportive and the graphics were not clear.


Abstract:The only treatment of the Paris Commune in the pages of Germany's most popular illustrated weekly, the Gartenlaube, in 1871 was a sympathetic portrayal of a woman executed on the false allegation of being a pétroleuse. This essay introduces the article, "She Smelled of Petroleum," and its accompanying wood engraving, "Street Execution after the Taking of Paris," in the context of German reactions to the Paris Commune, the international circulation of images of the pétroleuse, and the mission of "family magazines" like the Gartenlaube. The article and illustration both echoed and responded to the broader international media response to the Commune, and, in keeping with the magazine's domestic perspective, anchored the story of the semaine sanglante in the tragedies experienced by women.


Analysis of failure mechanisms under high strain rate loading in engineering materials is a key point for the design of structures submitted to accidental overloads. We are here interested in the crack arrest capability under impact loading of polymers used as structural and/or protection materials. In the present work, crack arrest capability is defined by how an engineering structure which is initially weakened by a pre-crack behaves when dynamically reloaded. The Kalthoff and Winkler (KW) impact test, consisting in impacting the edge of a double notched plate, is retained for that purpose. An experimental investigation of the dynamic crack arrest capability of shock-resistant PMMA under high strain rate loading is presented, evidencing the brittle feature of the material failure. A high-speed camera is used to record the chronology of the failure mechanisms. It is notably shown that the higher the impact velocity (in the range 50–100 m/s) the larger the number of fragments. Moreover, depending on the impact velocity, changes in the crack path and thus in the mechanisms controlling the PMMA dynamic fracture can be seen.


Meta-analysis was used to determine the predictive validity of anticipated affect and moral norms in the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991). Medium-to-large sample-weighted average correlations were obtained. Anticipated affect and moral norms increased the variance explained in intentions by 5% and 3%, respectively, controlling for TPB variables. Intention mediated the influence of both variables on behavior. Moderator analyses showed that younger samples and behaviors with a moral dimension were associated with stronger moral-norm/intention relations, and anticipated regret was associated with a stronger anticipated-affect/intention relation. The implications of the findings for the TPB are discussed.


From a practical point of view, a turbine load cycle (TLC) is defined as the time a turbine in a power plant remains in operation. TLC is used by many electric power plants as a stop indicator for turbine maintenance. In traditional operations, a maximum time for the operation of a turbine is usually estimated and, based on the TLC, the remaining operating time until the equipment is subjected to new maintenance is determined. Today, however, a better process is possible, as there are many turbines with sensors that carry out the telemetry of the operation, and machine learning (ML) models can use this data to support decision making, predicting the optimal time for equipment to stop, from the actual need for maintenance. This is predictive maintenance, and it is widely used in Industry 4.0 contexts. However, knowing which data must be collected by the sensors (the variables), and their impact on the training of an ML algorithm, is a challenge to be explored on a case-by-case basis. In this work, we propose a framework for mapping sensors related to a turbine in a hydroelectric power plant and the selection of variables involved in the load cycle to: (i) investigate whether the data allow identification of the future moment of maintenance, which is done by exploring and comparing four ML algorithms; (ii) discover which are the most important variables (MIV) for each algorithm in predicting the need for maintenance in a given time horizon; (iii) combine the MIV of each algorithm through weighting criteria, identifying the most relevant variables of the studied data set; (iv) develop a methodology to label the data in such a way that the problem of forecasting a future need for maintenance becomes a problem of binary classification (need for maintenance: yes or no) in a time horizon. The resulting framework was applied to a real problem, and the results obtained pointed to rates of maintenance identification with very high accuracies, in the order of 98%.


Objectives: To date, no optimal way of organizing and delivering care to hypertensive patients at the primary care level has been identified, due to which a significant number of patients fail to meet the treatment goals. The current study aimed to observe hypertension educational intervention's effect on general physicians (GPs) to indirectly improve blood pressure control and patient outcomes.
Methodology: In this randomized control trial, GPs were divided into 2 groups, and both groups were asked to fill hypertension awareness questionnaire at baseline and after randomization. GPs of the group I received (1 day) face-to-face education with structured educational material on hypertension management strategies. GPs of group II received the print version of educational material (structured educational material) on strategies for structured hypertension management. Both GPs recruited 10 (5 newly diagnosed + 5 already diagnosed patients) from the study site. The patient was asked to fill hypertension awareness questionnaire at baseline and share a 12-hour blood pressure measurement. GPs and patients were reassessed after 3 months of intervention.
Results: The Primary endpoint was achieved successfully, i.e., significant change between Pre & Post change blood pressure control. Both the Secondary endpoints were met with a notable change in practice specific to hypertension management as well as knowledge enhancement among GPs and patients regarding hypertension management.
Conclusion: The overall effect of hypertension educational intervention for general physicians has indirectly improved blood pressure control and patient outcomes. The results of this study provide a foundation for developing a hypertension educational program targeted at general physicians.


The typical approach to radar target classification is to image the target with waveforms that provide high resolution and low sidelobes, and then to compare the target images to a template library. In this chapter, we reconsider whether imaging-based metrics for waveform design are best for target classification, and develop alternative design strategies that result in waveforms with improved classification ability, but not necessarily a good ambiguity function by traditional notions. After presenting waveform design strategies based on optimizing signal-to-noise ratio or mutual information from a wide-sense stationary (WSS) ensemble of target impulse responses, we apply the design methods to the problem of radar target classification through a two-step process. The first step is to modify the design methodology that was based on WSS targets to account for the finite duration of practical target responses. The second step is to use the target class probabilities and impulse response library to calculate a weighted power spectral variance over target classes, which is then substituted into the design equations. The use of target class probabilities enables the waveform to be adapted in response to previous transmissions. Waveform behaviour and performance are studied over several different clutter and noise scenarios. The target impulse response library for these studies is based on finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation of a publically available CAD model of an F-16 aircraft.


Adsorption of puroindolines (PIN-a and PIN-b), lipid binding proteins isolated from wheat endosperm at the air–water interface, was studied from the measurement of surface pressure using the Wilhelmy plate method under different physicochemical conditions like pH, ionic strength, and concentration of protein in the bulk medium. The adsorption process was highly cooperative and the initial step of adsorption was diffusion controlled. At relatively low concentrations, an induction time (ti) was observed in the time evolution of surface pressure for adsorption of PIN-a and PIN-b at the air–water interface. The induction time disappeared upon increasing the concentration of protein in the bulk medium. From the variation in surface pressure with time, the diffusion coefficients for the transfer of puroindolines from the bulk aqueous phase to the air–water interface were calculated from a modified form of the Ward and Tordai equation. The values of diffusion coefficients for PIN-a and PIN-b were found to be of the order of 10−6 cm2/s. Beyond diffusion, the adsorption was found to be nonlinear in nature indicating the existence of energy barriers in the adsorption process. The experimental data were analyzed using a first-order rate equation and it was observed that the adsorption took place involving a two-step process with which two distinct first-order rate constants (k1 and k2) were associated. In most cases, the values of k1 were higher than the values of k2. The adsorption process is dependent on the initial bulk concentration of the protein, the pH, and the ionic strength of the bulk medium. The presence of inorganic salts in the bulk medium had significant effects on the adsorption of PIN-a and PIN-b at the air–water interface. The experimental results obtained for PIN-a and PIN-b have been critically compared with each other and with previously obtained data for other globular proteins.


Sept. 25, 2007 PRLog -New Commerce Group (NCG), an e-Business consulting company based in Tangier Morocco, today announced the launch of Morocco Newsline, the first online, English language multimedia magazine. Over the past 15 years, Morocco has made a strong commitment to join the world economy. The country is undergoing dynamic changes which are opening new business opportunities as well an increasing demand for tourism. Since the early 1990's, it has adopted a series of reforms in its quest to encourage economic growth and stability through the promotion of its private sector. Morocco Newsline's mission is to help its readership get a better understanding on the rapidly changing Morocco. The publication will feature sections on business and finance, politics, travel, real estate, culture as well as video and audio/slideshow reports. A special "In Focus" section will feature research and case study reports on the economy and an overview of investments of business opportunities in Morocco. "Our magazine is directed towards an international readership interested in visiting, living or doing business in Morocco. We believe this new multimedia magazine will fill an important editorial and commercial niche" says Karim Zouiyen, president of New Commerce Group and editor of Morocco Newsline. For additional information about advertising in "Morocco Newsline" please visit www.morocconewsline.com or contact Karim Zouiyen at +33 6 09 03 06 93 or by email paris at newcommercegroup.com.


The objective of this brief review is to stress the importance of multiple levels of molecular regulation of complex processes such as cell growth and to illustrate their derangements as they occur in cancer cells. One major research emphasis today is the regulation of transcription by binding of transactivating proteins to promoter motifs. Another focus is on the multiple roles of protein phosphorylations in signal transduction pathways. Evidence is strong, however, that major controls exist at numerous other molecular levels as well (Fig. 1). These include pre‐mRNA processing, pre‐mRNA degradation, mRNA degradation, control of translation, permanent protein modifications, protein degradation, reversible covalent protein alterations, noncovalent interactions with small molecules and with other proteins, and effects of relocations into cell compartments. These controls are exhibited in all biological processes. A few illustrative examples are briefly discussed, which come mainly from our researches in the area of cell cycle regulation and its derangement in cancer.


Infrared absorption and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra of four Corey lactone derivatives (diol, benzoate, p-phenylbenzoate, and bisbenzoate) were measured and analyzed on the basis of ab initio computations. The analysis interpreted most of the spectral features as well as the differences among individual compounds. Despite the common rigid lactone residue, conformational behaviors and spectral features of the derivatives were found to be different, because of hydrogen bonding and solvent effects. Recognition of common molecular parts in the spectra of different molecules increases the potential of using VCD for monitoring the purity of intermediates in chiral syntheses. For the derivatives, a conserved spectral component corresponding to the lactone skeleton could be identified on the basis of theoretical analysis but was relatively weak in intensity.


In 1990 almost half a billion people in the world were over 60 years old (World Bank, 1994). In only 40 years time this number will nearly triple. By the end of those same 40 years three-quarters of the world's elderly population will be living in developing countries (Kinsella & Suzman, 1992). The challenge for the next century is to alter focus accordingly. Living longer comes at a price. Extra years will not necessarily be years of good health. In the complicated context of ageing biology, transitions from disease to disability rather than disease to death take on prime importance for older people. For many chronic diseases that can never be completely cured, delaying the onset of functional decline, or minimizing the impact of lost independent function on daily life, in effect approximates a 'cure' of the condition for those concerned (Besdine, 1990). Moreover, the presence of illness as measured by objective clinical data does not necessarily determine the presence or severity of dependency. And of course for many elderly people in developing countries the luxury of access to such knowledge is often unavailable. With risk of death increasingly likely, and both the longand short-term effects of disease, diet and life style hard to disentangle, the traditional health measures of life expectancy and morbidity begin to appear inadequate outcomes against which to measure any health or nutritional indicator in older people, or evaluate preventive strategies. To what then should we turn? The present paper addresses the following questions: Is functional ability an appropriate outcome indicator of health and nutritional status in free-living people in developing countries? What is functional ability and how can it be assessed? Is there any evidence of a relationship between functional ability and nutritional status in free-living elderly people? I will focus on the community as the site in which functional impairment first appears most often and my bias is towards malnutrition in developing countries. At times, I will refer to our own recent fieldwork experience amongst elderly slum dwellers in Bombay, but no data will be presented. The present paper aims to serve as an introduction to a new issue of growing practical importance in both nutritional gerontology and nutrition in the Third World.


Haemoglobin oxygen saturation (So2) was measured percutaneously with a pulse oximeter, in a group of 150 healthy ambulant volunteers to determine the range of normal values. The measuring site was not arterialised in advance. So2 was below 94% in 13.3% of cases, while in no case was it below 90%. So2 was then measured in 350 patients in the recovery room after a variety of surgical and anaesthetic procedures. Only 1.1% of patients who received additional oxygen following general anaesthesia exhibited an So2 below 90%, compared to 16.7% of similar cases who did not receive additional oxygen. Administration of additional oxygen raised the So2, above 90% in all the latter cases. In only 55.3% of those who did not receive additional oxygen was the So2 above 94%, compared to 86.7% of normal volunteers and 73.9% of patients who received additional oxygen. This study reiterates the need to administer supplemental oxygen to all patients in the recovery room, unless facilities are available to measure So2. A lower alarm limit of 90% is appropriate for the peri‐operative period when using the Criticare Systems 501 oximeter.


Kirby's Rule of 20 is a patient checklist including 20 parameters that should be checked daily in the critically ill patient. It reviews the established evidence-based information regarding patient...


Objective: To investigate the role of DDX3 up-regulation in the proliferation of human cervical cancer cells and its correlation with clinical prognosis. Methods: Expression levels of DDX3 in the 59 specimens of cervical cancer and adjacent non-neoplastic tissue collected at Henan Provincial People's Hospital from April 2012 to March 2013 were detected using immunohistochemistry. A lentivirus-mediated DDX3-over-expression cell line was constructed based on HeLa cells of cervical cancer. CCK-8 assay was used to evaluate cell survival rate. Boyden chamber was used to measure the cell migration and invasion. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect DDX3 expression level and Western blot was used to detect the expression of EMT and PI3K/Akt signal pathway-related proteins. Results: DDX3 overexpression was associated with FIGO stage, depth of cervical invasion and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that cervical cancer patients with high expression of DDX3 had a poor overall survival (P<0.05). Compared with the cells transfected with pLVX-Con vector, the expression of DDX3 protein and mRNA was significantly increased in the cells transfected with pLVX-DDX3 (all P<0.01). Cell proliferation was significantly increased following transfection with pLVX-DDX3 for 72 h in HeLa cells compared with that transfected with pLVX-Con (P<0.05). Compared with the controls, DDX3 overexpression significantly promoted the migration and invasion of HeLa cells (P<0.05), and increased the expression of N-Cadherin, vimentin and Snail in HeLa cells (P<0.05). In pLVX-DDX3 group, the expression levels of β-catenin, phosphorylated Akt, and pAkt's downstream target p-GSK3β were significantly higher than those of pLVX-Con group (P<0.05). The expression levels of p-Akt, p-GSK3β and β-catenin were decreased when the PI3K/Akt pathway was blocked using the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 (P<0.05), and the expression levels of N-Cadherin, vimentin and Snail were also significantly decreased (P<0.05). Conclusions: DDX3 overexpression promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells, and induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Its mechanism may be related to activation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.


SUSPENSIONS filled microbubbles GAS OR AIR PHASES AQUEOUS AGENTS FOR USE AS CONTRAST ULTRASOUND PICTURE sonograms. Surfactant-containing LAMINADOS and optionally hydrophilic ESTABILIZADORES. LAMINATE Surfactants may be so in the form of liposomes. SUSPENSIONS OBTAINED BY EXPOSURE TO AIR Surfactant ROLLED OR A GAS before or after mixing with an aqueous phase.


In this survey we discuss some of the significant contributions of Ian Goulden and David Jackson in the areas of classical enumeration, symmetric functions, factorizations of permutations, and algebraic foundations of quantum field theory. Through their groundbreaking textbook, Combinatorial Enumeration


Pawpaw (Carica papaya L.) is a fruit crop of economic importance in Kenya, where small scale farmers are the major producers. One factor limiting pawpaw production is anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporoides, whose management on farm still remains a major challenge. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of plant extracts and extracting agents for controlling anthracnose disease on pawpaw fruits. In vitro spore germination and in-vivo tests were done using extracts from five plants; Aloe chiliensis, Azadiracta indica, Carissa edulis, Fuerstia africana and Solanum incanum; and extracting agents methanol, chloroform and ethanol against the fungus. A logistic regression model was used to estimate the botanicals' dose response treatment ranges. The efficacy of the crude extracts was greatest when methanol was used for extraction. The highest inhibition was recorded in pawpaw fruits treated with leaf extracts of F. africana. There were significant differences in effects among treatments by methanolic extracts of the five plants on conidial spore germination percentage. Aloe chilensis (Aloe) showed a higher spore germination of 35.7%; while Azadirachta indica (Neem) resulted in the lowest spore germination of 1.2%. There were significant differences in days to healing of C. papaya fruits infected with anthracnose. Pawpaw infected fruits healed fastest (3.5 days) when treated with the methanolic leaf extracts of F. africana; while A. chiliensis ethanolic leaf extracts resulted in the longest healing time of over 7 days. Although these botanical fungicides present high potentials or controlling anthracnose pathogens of pawpaw fruits, their suitability for application within the socio-economic framework of Kenyan small-scale producers still remains a matter for further investigation.


Systemic administration of kainic acid in rats (30 mg/kg s.c.) and cats (5 mg/kg i.p.) produced after a definite period (30 to 60 min) secondary generalized seizures occurring first in the limbic structures (amygdala and hippocampus). The effect of N-aminomethylpiperazine-3,3-diethyl-2,4-pyridinedione (DKMP) at a dose of 100 mg/kg i.v. was evaluated on the background of developed kainic epilepsy. In rats, DKMP inhibited kainic clonic and tonic seizures and 100% of the animals survived. The drug was ineffective against limbic seizures. In cats, DKMP strongly suppressed the cortical EEG paroxysmal activity and slightly influenced the limbic one. The present data contribute to the knowledge of the anticonvulsive activity of DKMP, showing it to be a promising antiepileptic drug with mainly cortical action.


It was a long day at the office. We usability-tested this column, and hilarity ensued—we hope it has the same effect on you. First, fold the page so that only the right-side column shows. Then fill in the blanks. Unfold the page, and read your choices into the story. A tip of the hat to Eric Bergman for the concept—we are [blank] to [blank] you! —<eic> My story begins with a product that helps users [1]. We gathered requirements by visiting the [2] and using [3] to capture our observations. The three most important tasks we discovered were [4], [5], and [6]. Surprisingly, we discovered that no one really wanted [7]. We put our heads together and came up with a prototype built with a [8] and a [9] and showed it to our boss. He said oh, [10]! You have really [11] this time! How soon can we [12] this? The boss showed it to his boss who said, this is [13]! We should pro-ductize this immediately! We went into production to sell the product to users in [14]. [15], they took to it like [16] to [17], and it has been extremely [18] ever since.


Little Intelligent Nanosatellite of KAIST(LINK) is a 2U-size CubeSat which is developed by Aerospace Systems & Control Lab.(ASCL) of KAIST as a part of the international cooperation project QB50. The objective of the QB50 project is to carry out atmospheric research within the lower thermosphere and ionosphere and CubeSats are planned to be deployed at the International Space Station(ISS) from the first quarter of 2017. To implement this objective, a flight model(FM) of LINK has been successfully developed and the design and performance of the satellite have been verified by performing environment and function tests in accordance with acceptance requirement level. This paper describes the development of flight model and the results of vibration and thermal vacuum tests.


The testosterone is a key element of hypothalamus hypophysis gonad system. Its physiological role in males is well known and consists primarily in formation of male phenotype and support of spermatogenesis. The evaluation of androgenic status is necessary in case of such wide specter of clinical symptoms and pathological states as hypogonadism, delayed of premature puberty, polycystic ovary syndrome, particular types of cancer, etc. The precise measurements of testosterone concentrations have a decisive value in case of receiving biochemical data for supporting clinical decisions at diagnostic, treatment and prevention of androgenic diseases. The purpose of the study is to carry out a comparative analysis of the results of detection of testosterone in blood serum using analyzers Architect 2000 and Vitros 3600 and applying technique of highly-effective fluid chromatography - a tandem mass-spectrometry. The analysis was applied to samples of blood serum from 230 patients send to the endocrinological research center of Minzdrav of Russia. The comparative analysis of the results of detection of concentrations of testosterone demonstrated consistent difference in absolute values. However, a statistically significant correlation (р < 0,05) between values of testosterone obtained by different techniques was established. The correlation coefficient in different groups of patients made up to 0,894-0,920 and 0,955--0,965 correspondingly to comparing the results of Architect and Vitros and highly-effective fluid chromatography - a tandem mass-spectrometry. The calculated percentage of distribution of the results of detection of content of testosterone by the ranges of expected values demonstrated an admissible comparativeness of obtained results from point of view of practical diagnostic. The choice of technique of detection of biochemical parameters in case of primary diagnostic is very important. However, even more important is the application of the very same technique in treatment and long-term observation of patient.


Patient: Male, 38-year-old Final Diagnosis: Osmotic demyelination syndrome Symptoms: Seizure Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Nuclear Medicine • Radiology Objective: Challenging differential diagnosis Background: Osmotic demyelination syndrome (ODS) is an uncommon neurological disorder. Until the mid-1980s, the mortality rate was 90–100%, but more than half of patients now have a good prognosis. Early suspicion of ODS is important. However, radiologic findings of ODS are variable and scintigraphy findings have not been reported. Case Report: A 38-year-old man with alcohol abuse history was admitted due to electrolyte imbalance. On the 10th day of his hospital stay, he had a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Brain perfusion SPECT showed asymmetrically hyper-perfused and hypoperfused lesions. Brain MRI revealed diffuse T2 hyperintensity with mild diffusion restriction in the pons and hyperperfused lesions on brain SPECT. He was treated based on the diagnosis of hyponatremia and osmotic demyelination. After treatment, the asymmetric hyperperfusion was decreased. MRI showed that the cortical hyperintensity had resolved, with encephalomalacic change shown in the pons. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing changes in brain perfusion SPECT and MRI in an ODS patient with a seizure. This case report may be helpful to neurologists, radiologists, and nuclear physicians.


In recent years, several studies suggested that HBsAg titers in blood
samples obtained during Hepatitis B treatment could be used to estimate
the treatment outcomes. The present study aims to discuss the
correlation between HBsAg quantification levels and the virological,
serological and histopathological findings in chronic hepatitis B
patients.The study included chronic hepatitis B patients who underwent
liver biopsy between 2011 and 2013 at Dicle University, Faculty of
Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Clinic.. The
patient demographics were recorded (age, gender). Patient AST tests were
conducted with the spectrophotometric method. After the DNAs were
isolated with AmplipPrep Total Nucleic Acid Isolation Kit, DNA level was
determined with the COBAS® Amplip / Cobas® Taqman® HBV test V2.0 for
HBV. The patient HBV DNA levels were recorded as IU / ml. HBsAg
quantitation was studied with the Access device and the Elisa method.The
study was conducted with 53 patients. The mean patient age was 28,73 ±
8.15. Out of the 53 patients, 35 (66%) were male and 18 (34%) were
female. The mean patient HBsAg quantitation was 631,42 ± 406.55,
fibrosis score was 1,35 ± 0.87, ALT index score was 67,07 ± 53.37, and
HAI index score was 4,54 ± 1.55. In the statistical analysis, it was
determined that there were negative correlations between the HBsAg DNA
level (R: -0,273, P: 0.048) and HBSAG quantitation (R: -0,273, P:
0.048), fibrosis score , ALT (R: -0,477, P: 0.001), and HAI index scores
(R: -034, P: 0,013), while there was a positive correlation with the
HBeAg positivity (R: 0.477, p: 0.001). There were negative correlations
between the HBsAg quantitation level and virological (HBV DNA level),
histopathological (fibrosis score, HAI index) findings and a positive
correlation with serological (HBeAg positivity) findings. As HBsAg
quantitation level increased, fibrosis score and HBV DNA level
decreased.


The demand for sustainable heat production is growing worldwide [1]. Classical geothermal borehole installations are costly due to the required boring depth and space demands in the urban environment. Shallow geothermal heat exchangers comprised of thermally-activated geostructures in combination with heat pumps (also known as energy geostructures, EGS) offer an interesting alternative due to a combination of functions [2].
This paper focuses on the thermal properties of the CSM (Cutter-Soil-Mix [3]) Energywall; a novel EGS type in which heat exchanger pipes are installed in a cutter-soil-mix wall to thermally activate it. Therefore, the CSM Energywall serves the dual function of supporting the soil/overlying structure and providing geothermal energy for space heating/cooling. A test site has been setup in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, where this system will be tested for a 1 year period (starting March 2023). A test site picture is shown in Figure 1.The goals of the experiment are to evaluate the thermal efficiency of the system and to assess its thermo-mechanical behaviour by means of numerical models valiated against the data collected from site monitoring. In the first part of the forthcoming paper, test setup and experimental results (both from the field and laboratory tests of the CSM material) will be presented. In the second part, the implementation and validation of the numerical models will be described. Lastly, the paper will focus on the suitability of the CSM-Energywall as a sustainable urban heat source, with particular reference to the Netherlands context.
The following research questions have been defined for the CSM-Energywall experiments:

What is the heat extraction potential of a CSM-Energywall in sandy and in cohesive soils?
Does thermal activation affect the mechanical properties of the CSM material?
What is the long term heat production potential of the CSM-Energywall?
How accurately can the heat extraction potential be predicted using numerical models?

A test setup at Amstelveen (NL) has been built to answer the above research questions. The test site is located in a building pit of 22 x 13m. CSM-walls were built along the pit perimeter, serving both as a soil retaining structure and as a foundation for the superstructure. The CSM wall has a thickness of 0.55m and is reinforced with IPE steel beams. The bottom of the CSM wall has a level of NAP-18.0m (NAP= Normaal Amsterdamse Peil, vertical reference system of the Netherlands). The bottom of the steel IPE beams is at a level of NAP-15.6m. The ground level at the test site is located at NAP-0.7m and the groundwater table at NAP-1.5m. The building pit has an excavation level of NAP-4.70m. Heat exchanger pipe loops with a diameter of 20mm have been connected to the steel beams representing the CSM wall reinforcement (Figure 1). The loops have a depth of NAP-15.0m or NAP-11.0m. Five main groups of loops are connected to the flow distributer. Each group is then split into six subgroups. Each subgroup consists of two thermoactive steel rebars. The test setup will run for the duration of the building construction. Being able to select the geothermal activation of the shallowest or deepest loops, it will be possible to measure the energy output of both the fine-grained layers (with a bottom depth of NAP-11.0m) and the underlying sandy layers.
During the tests the following aspects will be monitored:

Flowrate of fluid through the main loops (FTB4700 Flowmeter)
Temperature of each main group of loops (PT100 thermowell)
Flowrate and temperature of heat pump inlet/outlet fluid (Kramstrup Energymeter)
Temperature of the soil (thermistor strings)

CSM material core samples have been taken for laboratory testing. Cyclic thermal loading, unconfined compression strength (UCS) tests, computerize tomography (CT) scan tests and hot disk tests will be conducted on samples taken from different depths. The goal of the laboratory testing is to evaluate:

The thermal properties of CSM material depending on the original insitu soil composition, needed to assess the thermal efficiency of the system.
The UCS of the CSM material, and its possible dependency on temperature.
The macroporisy and density distribution of the CSM material, to gain insight into the material composition.
The influence of thermal cycling on the material's mesostructure (e.g. porosity and density distribution).

The full-scale experiment is going to be numerically modelled in 3D using the COMSOL Multiphysics Finite Element software. The model will be validated based on the experimental results of the test after 1 year and calibrated using laboratory measured thermal properties of the CSM material. The model will then be extended to predict the long term efficiency of the CSM- Energywall and its thermo-mechanincal behaviour.


Pheochromocytoma has been reported to be inherited as a dominant trait with a high degree of penetrance.1The patient presented in this paper is of special interest since it is the first reported case of pheochromocytoma in one identical twin. Homozygocity was established primarily by blood groupings performed at the Boston Children's Hospital Blood Grouping Laboratory where all factors tested were identical. In addition facial features (Fig 1) and finger prints assisted in twin verification. Of interest from a clinical standpoint was the difficulty encountered in diagnosing the pheochromocytoma in this patient due to the associated renal artery compression which contributed to the hypertension on a renal ischemic basis. Patient Summary A 47-year-old man was admitted to the hospital on Oct 5, 1963, shortly after sudden onset of left hemiparesis. A history revealed that this man was first found to have hypertension at 16 years of age and had


An American National Standards Institute (ANSI) posteriori (backfit) process, available to provide software quality assurance (SQA) for software developed outside of required qualification protocol, has been applied to the special-purpose, versatile tritium dispersion and consequence model, UFOTRI, a computer model developed at the German Karlsruhe laboratory. UFOTRI was chosen because of its strengths in initial tritium-related consequence analyses and its potential for application in a Department of Energy accident analysis context. The six-task process met key ANSI requirements and was performed during a several-month level of effort. Included project deliverables were Assessment, Test Plan, Configuration Procedure, Error Notification Procedure, Comprehensive Technical Report, and SQA Qualification Report documentation. Comparison to acute release conditions is still in progress, but results to date indicate satisfactory, bounding predictions can be achieved with UFOTRI relative to measurements. Results of this compact effort have identified UFOTRI as a suitable candidate for a software "toolkit," i.e., minimum verification and validation (V & V) requirements are satisfied, and a configuration controlled version is deemed appropriate for use in a DOE accident analysis context.


The mathematical model of DC(direct current) motor as the controlled object is established in this paper,and combines the algorithms of the neural network and PID control.With the self-learning function of the neural network,the self-tunings for parameters of PID are realized. This method can overcome disadvantages of PID as parameters which are difficult to determine and the control process which is hard to change self-adaptively,then embodied the neural network with the better intelligence and robustness. The simulation is researched by using matlab software,and the results show that the neural network PID control is more accurate and adaptive than the traditional PID,and the effect is more superior.


The publication of the long-awaited report by the British Paediatric Association (BPA) (1993) in conjunction with the Department of Health (DoH) has added yet another dimension to the already complex problem of providing comprehensive intensive care services.


Cystic nephroma is a rare benign cystic tumour of the kidney and is usually diagnosed with unilateral involvement. It typically arises from the renal parenchyma and is often treated with nephrectomy. It is usually detected in males between 3 months and 2 years of age. In this article, we present a case report of 19-month-old girl who presented with a cystic mass in the right kidney found by clinical and imaging techniques and underwent right total nephrectomy. The pathologic examination confirmed a cystic nephroma. In conclusion, cystic nephroma should be considered in the differential diagnosis when an infant has a unilateral cystic kidney.


Abstract Land crab burrows are larval mosquito habitats of major significance in the Pacific region. They are constituted by a sinuous tunnel leading to a chamber in contact with the water table, where mosquito larvae proliferate. Controlling larvae in these sites is difficult, because the configuration of burrows prevents the use of standard techniques. An experiment was carried out in French Polynesia to control Aedes polynesiensis Marks and Culex spp. breeding in burrows of the land crab Cardisoma carnifex (Herbst). The technique was based on the crab's behavior, which involves the crab carrying food into its burrow. It was shown that appetizing baits impregnated with an insecticide were carried by crabs into the flooded chamber of their burrows. A field treatment of burrows was carried out by sowing insecticide impregnated baits on the ground. The treatment coverage was almost perfect and the easy implementation of the technique enabled large areas to be treated in a short time. The bait was developed by compacting various flours, which easily incorporate a large variety of insecticide formulations. Although the baits can be easily stocked, a reliable insecticide is still to be found. The results indicate that our technique could be a method of choice for treating crab burrows.


Drawing on life history data generated from interviews with young athletes at an English university, this paper explores the narrative maps provided to them by older team members and the ways in which these influence perceptions of self-ageing. Three possible selves associated with mid-life emerged from the analysis for detailed focus. These are the preferred self (Almost past it), the feared self (Hanging on) and the reluctant self (Stepping aside). The implications of each of these selves for the ageing experience are considered. Finally, some suggestions are made as to how the narrative resources of young athletes might be expanded.


The desire for battery longevity and ubiquitous wireless charging of mobile devices is driving researchers to explore divergent strategies to extract and harness energy from ambient radio frequency (RF) signals. Different rectenna designs to convert or rectify energy from electromagnetic (EM) signals into direct current (DC) have been explored for wireless power transfer (WPT) and wireless energy harvesting (WEH). However, these rectennas are characterized by low energy capturing and RF-to-DC conversion deficiencies, complex rectifier design, and bulky size. Recently, man-made materials such as metasurfaces with unique EM properties have emerged to address these limitations of existing rectenna systems. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of not only the state-of-the-art advances in metasurface-aided WPT and WEH systems, but also their applications to emerging technologies for future wireless networks such as wireless powered communication network (WPCN), simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT), and millimeter wave (mmWave) communication. Besides discussing the research challenges and opportunities, we also present our proposed approach of harnessing metasurface technology to enhance end-to-end energy delivery in future wireless networks.


Barns and related structures are the second most common building typology in Norway, and the tradition linked to them are of great cultural historical value. Sadly, research indicate that 25% of them are either empty or not in use, and their future seems uncertain. What is the potential that lies in these abandoned agricultural buildings? By doing research on one existing situation, answers to this question may be found. "Kronmo" is an old empty farm in Tolga that has lost its initial function. Only by finding a new purpose the barn can once again become an important element to the surroundings. Through the process of renewal, interesting situations will occur when old cultural history meets the requirements of a contemporary lifestyle.


The relationship between memory and place can often be expressed through association. When one thinks of the birthplace of democracy, it does not tax the imagination for Athens and the Athenian Agora to spring to mind. The fact that the connection between the agora and democracy is so embedded in the collective consciousness even today is no coincidence. Rather, it is evidence of a naturally occurring space at the foot of the Athenian Akropolis undergoing several millennia of transformative experiences, shaping and being shaped by the identities of its inhabitants, in order to become the place now recognised as the Athenian Agora: the heart of Athens, the birthplace of democracy, and truly, a lieu de mémoire. A transformative process, which I argue, began at the end of 6th century Athens with the collapse of the Peisistratid tyranny and was only strengthened by the advent of oligarchy in the final decade of the 5th century.


Nearly everything we know about extrasolar planets to date comes from optical astronomy. While exoplanetary aurorae are predicted to be bright at low radio frequencies (< 1 GHz), we consider the effect of an exoplanet transit on radio emission from the host star. As radio emission from solar-like stars is concentrated in active regions, a planet occulting a starspot can cause a disproportionately deep transit which should be detectable with major radio arrays currently under development, such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). We calculate the radiometric sensitivity of the SKA stages and components, finding that SKA2-Mid can expect to detect transits around the very nearest solar-like stars and many cool dwarfs. The shape of this radiometric light curve will be affected by scintillation and lensing from the planet's magnetosphere and thereby encode magnetospheric parameters. Furthermore, these transits will also probe the distribution of stellar activity across a star's surface, and will help scrub out contamination from stellar activity on exoplanet transmission spectra and radial velocity spectra. This radio window on exoplanets and their host stars is therefore a valuable complement to existing optical tools.


Background: We all seek more certainty that the curriculum we design in the sciences does produce graduates who are valued contributors to the 21st century workforce. These are individuals who can think critically around a diverse range of issues and solve complex problems, are socially responsible, effective communicators who can manage multiple tasks and have entrepreneurial and networking flair as well as technological competence. In contrast to the professions that have accredited programs, the employment pathways for science are often less certain and apparent. This highlights the need for (1) science students to be able to clearly and demonstrably articulate their attainment of the appropriate skills and capabilities and (2) of the curriculum to provide explicit instruction to the students to develop these skills and capabilities. The "holy grail" of curriculum design is the constructive alignment of learning outcomes with learning and teaching strategies and evidence of student achievement through some form of assessment. This can only be achieved by horizontal and vertical integration of scaffolded student experiences across the program. Ideally this should culminate in a capstone where students demonstrate their proficiencies in all these skills and capabilities. A series of tools and serious financial resources have been devoted to curriculum mapping exercises to provide certainty to university management and government regulators that the curriculum does indeed achieve the intended goals. However, ensuring appropriate levels of certainty in the science curriculum is problematic. Science is inevitably chaotic and uncertain due to the complex and multiple pathways students can take within their degrees and the equally diverse career trajectories for graduates. Creative solutions are required to address these challenges.
Aim: We present a meta-analysis of the perceptions of science academic staff at three universities towards two key projects; a science curriculum review with a focus on a pedagogy of inquiry and the "Teaching Research Evaluation and Assessment Strategies for Undergraduate Research Experiences (TREASURE) an OLT project evaluating undergraduate research experiences.
Sources of Evidence: The curriculum review spanned four schools and 200 academic staff and was sandwiched between a university wide renewal of assessment followed by a university re-structure. The TREASURE project spanned three universities and we interviewed over 20 academic staff from a range of science disciplines about their perceptions of the benefits and intended learning outcomes of undergraduate research experiences.
Main Argument: The review revealed that academics shared perceptions of the benefits for students of disciplinary knowledge, ways of thinking and development of self as scientists. However, there was an overarching negative perception over the continued problematic nature of curriculum design and assessment and the tension between uniformity and diversity of approaches.
Conclusion: We suggest that rather than being viewed in a negative light, a pedagogy of rigorous uncertainty, one that is more creative and less deterministic, could bring us closer to the "holy grail" we desire and better achieve learning outcomes and employment opportunities for students.


Chronic exposure to cadmium (Cd) via food and drinking water is a major human health concern. We have previously shown that metallothionein (MT), a metal-binding protein, plays an important role in protecting against Cd toxicity produced by repeated sc injections. However, it is unclear whether MT protects against Cd-induced nephrotoxicity following chronic oral exposure, a route with obvious human relevance. To clarify this issue, MT-I/II knockout (MT-null) and background-matched wild-type (WT) mice were allowed free access to drinking water containing CdCl(2) (30, 100, and 300 ppm Cd), or feed containing CdCl(2) (100 ppm Cd) for 6 months, and the resultant nephrotoxicity was examined. Chronic oral Cd exposure produced a dose-dependent accumulation of Cd in liver and kidney of WT mice, reaching levels up to 50 microg Cd/g tissue. Immunohistological localization of renal MT indicated that chronic oral Cd exposure in WT mice greatly increased MT in the proximal tubules and the medulla, with cellular localization in both the cytoplasm and nuclei. As expected, no MT was detected in kidneys of MT-null mice. After 6 months of Cd exposure, tissue Cd concentrations in MT-null mice were only about one-fifth of that in WT mice. Even though the renal Cd concentrations were much lower in the MT-null mice, they were more sensitive than WT mice to Cd-induced renal injury, as evidenced by more severe nephropathic lesions, increased urinary excretion of gamma-glutamyl-transferase and glucose, and elevated blood urea nitrogen. Six months of Cd exposure to MT-null animals resulted in greater increases in renal caspase-3 activity, an indicator of apoptosis, than to WT mice. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that lack of MT renders MT-null mice vulnerable to Cd-induced nephrotoxicity after chronic oral exposure, the primary route of human Cd exposure.


Recently, solar energy has been intensively employed in power systems, especially using the photovoltaic (PV) generation units. In this regard, this paper proposes a novel design of a fuzzy logic based algorithm for varying the step size of the incremental conductance (INC) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for PV. In the proposed method, a variable voltage step size is estimated according to the degree of ascent or descent of the power-voltage relation. For this purpose, a novel unique treatment is proposed based on introducing five effective regions around the point of maximum PV power. To vary the step size of the duty cycle, a fuzzy logic system is developed according to the locations of the fuzzy inputs regarding the five regions. The developed fuzzy inputs are inspired from the slope of the power-voltage relation, namely the current-voltage ratio and its derivatives whereas appropriate membership functions and fuzzy rules are designed. The benefit of the proposed method is that the MPPT efficiency is improved for varying the step size of the incremental conductance method, thanks to the effective coordination between the proposed fuzzy logic based algorithm and the INC method. The output DC power of the PV array and the tracking speed are presented as indices for illustrating the improvement achieved in MPPT. The proposed method is verified and tested through the simulation of a grid-connected PV system model. The simulation results reveal a valuable improvement in static and dynamic responses over that of the traditional INC method with the variation of the environmental conditions. Further, it enhances the output dc power and reduce the convergence time to reach the steady state condition with intermittent environmental conditions.


The gut microbiota plays a key role in the maintenance of healthy gut function as well as many other aspects of health. High-throughput sequence analyses have revealed the composition of the gut microbiota, showing that there is a core signature to the human gut microbiota, as well as variation in its composition between people. The gut microbiota of animals is also being investigated. We are interested in the relationship between bacterial taxa of the human gut microbiota and those in the gut microbiota of domestic and semi-wild animals. While it is clear that some human gut bacterial pathogens come from animals (showing that human – animal transmission occurs), the extent to which the usually non-pathogenic commensal taxa are shared between humans and animals has not been explored. To investigate this we compared the distal gut microbiota of humans, cattle and semi-captive chimpanzees in communities that are geographically sympatric in Uganda. The gut microbiotas of these three host species could be distinguished by the different proportions of bacterial taxa present. We defined multiple operational taxonomic units (OTUs) by sequence similarity and found evidence that some OTUs were common between human, cattle and chimpanzees, with the largest number of shared OTUs occurring between chimpanzees and humans, as might be expected with their close physiological similarity. These results show the potential for the sharing of usually commensal bacterial taxa between humans and other animals. This suggests that further investigation of this phenomenon is needed to fully understand how it drives the composition of human and animal gut microbiotas.


Introduction Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic, connective tissue disease characterized by inflammation, fibrosis and microcirculation disturbances. Gastrointestinal involvement and impaired gut motility observed in SSc promotes the small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) defined as the increase in the number of bacteria to over 105 CFU/ml or as the presence of atypical flora. Aim To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of SIBO and to assess the efficacy of rifaximin in SIBO treatment in SSc patients. Material and methods 40 SSc patients and 39 healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. All subjects completed UCLA SCTC GIT 2.0 questionnaire and query for gastrointestinal symptoms. The presence of SIBO was assessed by the lactulose hydrogen breath test (LHBT). Patients with SIBO received 1200 mg rifaximin daily for 10 days. The same diagnostic procedure was performed after completed treatment in order to evaluate SIBO eradication. Results The prevalence of SIBO was higher in SSc patients compared with the control group (47.5% vs. 12.8%; p = 0.0008). SIBO eradication after rifaximin treatment was successful in 73.3% of SSc patients. Conclusions These data suggest that SIBO occurs more frequently in SSc patients than in controls. Eradication therapy with rifaximin is associated with satisfactory results and a high safety profile.


Chemical structural elucidation of epoxyrollins A and B, representatives of biosynthetic precursors of tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran annonaceous acetogenins, is described. These chemical structures were diepoxyreticanin 1 (4) and diepoxymuricanin A (6) by a 13C-NMR and mass spectral study of the natural and synthetic sample data.


This work aims to describe the clinical, laboratory, and anatomopathological findings of two bovines, one affected by cecocolic intussusception, and the other by dilation with cecal torsion. The clinical examination demonstrated metallic resonance from the right flank, ruminal and intestinal hypomotility, and abdominal distension, in addition to alterations in feces characteristics. Was observed in the two animals leukocytosis by neutrophilia with regenerative shift to the left, and hyperfibrinogenemia. The analysis of ruminal fluid revealed impairment of the microbiota and an increase in chloride levels. The laparoscopic examination performed on one of the animals showed dilation of the colon, the cecum with hyperemia and serous edema, with a dividing halo between affected and unaffected portions, in addition to reddish peritoneal fluid. In the laparotomy, an enlarged cecum was found, with gaseous and liquid contents, swollen and turgid colon, and peritonitis. In addition to the findings observed during surgery, the anatomopathological examination demonstrated, in bovine 01, intestinal intussusception in the region of the cecocolic valve, and, in bovine 02, twisting of the loop at the ileocecocolic junction. Despite the low occurrence of digestive system disorders in cattle, cecal torsion and intussusception represent serious intestinal clinical conditions. These reports take the attention to the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to provide a correct diagnosis of intestinal diseases.


ABSTRACT The biological hard-wiring of 24-hour rhythmicity relies on the circadian clock circuitry, made of peripheral oscillators operated by molecular clockworks and synchronized through humoral and neural outputs by central oscillators located in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei. Metabolically active tissues, such as the liver, are entrained also by local cues represented by metabolic flux related to feeding. The mechanics of the molecular clockwork have been explored by studies using cell lines and wild type or genetically engineered mouse models. There is a compelling need to reduce the use of animals in experimental settings. The aim of our study was to evaluate the periodicity and dynamics of functioning of the hepatic clock gene machinery in human and mouse hepatic models. We compared the results obtained in human hepatoma cells (HepG2 cells) and in mouse liver, and a significant 24-hour rhythmic component was found for five clock genes in the HepG2 cells (Bmal1, Cry1, Per1, Per2, NR1D1) and for six clock genes in the mouse liver (Bmal1, Clock, Cry1, Per1, Per2, NR1D1). The amplitude of oscillation rendered by the cosine curve and the dynamics of expression rendered by the rate of change (the derivative of gene expression level with respect to time) were greater in the mouse liver than in the HepG2 cells for Bmal1, Per1, Per2 and NR1D1, and the cosine curve phase was different for many of them. In conclusion, the periodicity of expression of the clock genes showed similar patterns when the two experimental models were compared, whereas the dynamics of transcription in human hepatoma cells cultured in vitro were less vigorous and phased in a different way when compared to mouse hepatic tissue. The results support the reliability of the human hepatic in vitro model as an alternative to animal models only to study the periodicity of function of the molecular clockwork, but not to evaluate the dynamics of clock gene expression.


Arthritis Rheumatoid is one of an autoimmune disease in which the joints are usually the hands and feet joints going inflammation resulting in swelling, Pain and often finally causing damage to the inside of the joint. Pain management in the elderly aims to reduce pain or eliminating the pain of the knee atritisremathoid joints in the elderly. The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of warm compresses of ginger emprit on decreasing scale of knee joint pain in rheumatoid arthritis in elderly. This type of this research is pre experiment with one group design pre-post test design. The population of this research is elderly who live in Bondowoso old age social services and have certain characteristics. The sample amounted to 20 elderly people with total sampling technique. The result of the research before the giving of warm compress ginger emprit showed that the elderly suffer on medium pain scale that is 70,0%. Pain scale after done giving warm compress ginger emprit, knee joint pain in elderly decreased with mild pain scale that is 75,0%.Based on Wilcoxon statistic test obtained calculation p-value 0,00 (<0,05). So it shows there is a significant influence between the influence of warm compresses of ginger emprit on the decrease the scaleof knee rheumatoid arthritis joints pain in elderly. It is advised to the elderly that warm compresses of ginger emprit can be used as an independent intervention to decreasethe scale of knee rheumatoid arthritis joint pain.


The total mass of the Local Group (LG) is a fundamental quantity that enables interpreting the orbits of its constituent galaxies and placing the LG in a cosmological context. One of the few methods that allows inferring the total mass directly is the "Timing Argument," which models the relative orbit of the Milky Way (MW) and M31 in equilibrium. The MW itself is not in equilibrium, a byproduct of its merger history and including the recent pericentric passage of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and recent work has found that the MW disk is moving with a lower bound "travel velocity" of ∼32 km s−1 with respect to the outer stellar halo. Previous Timing Argument measurements have attempted to account for this nonequilibrium state, but have been restricted to theoretical predictions for the impact of the LMC specifically. In this paper, we quantify the impact of a travel velocity on recovered LG mass estimates using several different compilations of recent kinematic measurements of M31. We find that incorporating the measured value of the travel velocity lowers the inferred LG mass by 10%–12% compared to a static MW halo. Measurements of the travel velocity with more distant tracers could yield even larger values, which would further decrease the inferred LG mass. Therefore, the newly measured travel velocity directly implies a lower LG mass than from a model with a static MW halo and must be considered in future dynamical studies of the Local Volume.


Abstract Providing reliable and surreptitious communications is difficult in the presence of adaptive and resourceful state level censors. In this paper we introduce Tithonus, a framework that builds on the Bitcoin blockchain and network to provide censorship-resistant communication mechanisms. In contrast to previous approaches, we do not rely solely on the slow and expensive blockchain consensus mechanism but instead fully exploit Bitcoin's peer-to-peer gossip protocol. We develop adaptive, fast and cost effective data communication solutions that camouflage client requests into inconspicuous Bitcoin transactions. We propose solutions to securely request and transfer content, with unobservability and censorship resistance, and free, pay-per-access and subscription based payment options. When compared to state-of-the-art Bitcoin writing solutions, Tithonus reduces the cost of transferring data to censored clients by 2 orders of magnitude and increases the goodput by 3 to 5 orders of magnitude. We show that Tithonus client initiated transactions are hard to detect, while server initiated transactions cannot be censored without creating split world problems to the Bit-coin blockchain.


In this paper, a Modified Exact Reconstruction Algorithm for Microwave Tomography has been proposed and applied on a diseased semi-human-sized biological target. An Exact Algorithm already developed for imaging has been used on a semi-human-sized normal biological model and, thereby, a reconstructed image on the basis of complex permittivities of the cells is obtained with an average accuracy of (90%-99%) for different regions. When a particular portion of the model is affected by some diseases, those cells are characterized by different values of complex permittivity from the normal ones. But the result provided by the Exact Algorithm is not very accurate for medical diagnosis when applied on such diseased model. It creates suspicion only about any disease on that portion. The aforesaid algorithm is, therefore, modified by considering the deviations in electric fields in all cells on account of change of permittivity in the diseased region. The image is reconstructed iteratively only on clinically suspected region keeping the values of complex permittivity in other cells the same as in its normal states. The reconstructed image thus obtained by using Modified Exact Algorithm is supposed to have sufficient accuracy of 95% for the diagnosis in medical field and may be helpful for detection of disease in human body in future.


The combination of geoelectric resistivity layer and thickness in the Da-zarrouk parameters (such as longitudinal conductance and transverse resistance) has been proved to be useful in the evaluation of aquifers transmissivities around Covenant University and its environs. It was observed that the study area is underlain by the unconsolidated to semiconsolidated Coastal Plain Sand (Benin Formation). Geoelectrical resistivity method was used in the study. Sixteen geoelectric soundings known as Vertical electrical Sounding data was acquired in the study area using Schlumberger array configuration at maximum electrode spacing of 420 m. Four (4) geoelectric soundings were carried out in the area that near existing boreholes. Inverse resistivity model software was employed in processing the data. The result showed that the aquifer is shallow at depths that ranged from 30.6 m to 67.6 m, semi-deep at depths ranged from 70.8 m to 95.0 m and deep at depths that ranged from 96.0 m to 107.6 m. The thickness of the aquifers ranged from 14.0 m to 48.0 m. The hydraulic conductivities values ranged from 0.94 m/day to 12.83 m/day and transmissivity values ranged from 13.16 m 2 /day to 515.04 m 2 /day respectively. It is therefore hoped that this result would help the residents of the study area in terms of groundwater development planning and management.


Objective: To evaluate the relationship between paradoxical vocal cord motion (PVCM) disease and the diseases such as asthma, laryngopharyngeal reflux and anxiety disorder that should be taken into consideration most frequently in differential diagnosis. Methods: The study included 100 patients (64 females and 36 males) who had applied to the polyclinics of pulmonary diseases, gastroenterology, psychiatry and ear nose throat due to respiratory symptoms. In asymptomatic period, it was planned to diagnose paradoxical vocal cord motion due to inspiratory adduction and posterior glottic fissure observed in videolaryngoscopic examination made after provocative maneuvers. Results: The mean age of the patients was 44.7±7.3 (female: 36.3±4.5, male: 52.3±3.2). 57% of the patients applied to pulmonary diseases, 24% to gastroenterology, 12% to psychiatry and 7% to ENT polyclinics. No paradoxical vocal cord motion was detected in 99 patients invideolaryngoscopic examination made after provocative maneuvers performed in asymptomatic period. Paradoxical vocal cord motion was detected in one patient who had attack during videolaryngoscopic examination. Conclusion: Although PVCM is a rarely seen disease, it leads to serious problems in non-diagnosed patients. In our study, we concluded that PVCM can be diagnosed during an attack rather than provocativemaneuvers performed during asymptomatic period.