The use of the microbiology laboratory for the investigation of urinary symptoms and the test positivity rate for the urine specimens varies considerably. We used qualitative methods to explore how and why primary care staff make diagnostic and management decisions in patients presenting with urinary symptoms. Stratified random sampling was used to include general practitioner (GP) practices that were heavy and light users of the microbiology service. The data were analysed using a modified grounded theory approach utilising the constant comparative method. Frequent users of the laboratory, with low specimen positivity, did not use near patient tests (NPTs) and sent urines from most patients with urinary symptoms to confirm their clinical diagnosis. Frequent users with high positivity advise patients with negative NPTs and send all specimens with positive NPTs for antibiotic susceptibility testing. Infrequent users did not value the laboratory for diagnosis, made great use of NPTs, and tended to prescribe empirical antibiotic treatment even in patients with minimal symptoms. Guidance on the management of urinary symptoms, the use of near patient tests and laboratory culture should form part of the ongoing education of primary care staff.


ASD is a behaviorally defined syndrome and encompasses markedly heterogeneous subjects. Some ASD subjects reveal markedly fluctuating behavioral symptoms following immune insults and persistent gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms; categorized as the ASD-inflammatory subtype (ASD-IS) (N=20) in this study. Cyotkine production by purified PB monocytes from ASD-IS subjects in response to TLR2/6, TLR4, TLR7/8, and Dectin 1 agonists were assessed in comparison with cells from control ASD subjects with and without non-IgE mediated food allergy (NFA) (ASD/NFA N=16, ASD/non-NFA children; N=18), non-ASD controls (non-ASD/NFA; N=13, normal controls; N=12, non-ASD/PANS N=18). ASD-IS subjects had no siblings diagnosed with ASD and ASD-IS children are noted to have a higher frequency of recurrent sinopulmonary infection than ASD/non-ASD controls; 8/20 ASD-IS children were diagnosed with antibody deficiency syndrome (ADS). ASD-IS PB monocytes produced higher levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-12 with or without stimuli. In addition, decrease in production of IL-10 and sTNFRII with TLR2/6 and TLR7/8 agonists was more striking than normal control monocytes. Monocytes from ASD/NFA, ASD/non-NFA, or non-ASD/NFA subjects did not reveal such tendencies. However, cytokine production by PANS monocytes revealed similar tendencies. Aberrant innate immune responses detected in PB monocytes may be associated with markedly fluctuating neuropsychiatric symptoms observed in ASD-IS and PANS subjects.


Recently, a new bi-layer dressing was proposed by Urgo RID to reduce the healing time of pressure ulcers (PU). This dressing was numerically evaluated in previously published work. In the current work, the influence on the maximal shear strains of modelling parameters such as the dressing local geometry, the pressure applied by the gauze inside the wound, the wound deepness, and the mattress stiffness, was assessed. A sensitivity analysis was performed on these four parameters. Among all experiments, the mean maximal Green–Lagrange shear strain was 0.29. The gauze pressure explained 60% of the model response in terms of the volume of tissues under strains of 0.3, while the wound deepness explained 28%. The mattress had a significant, but low impact, whereas the dressing local geometry had no significant impact. As expected, the wound deepness was one of the most influential parameters. The gauze turned out to be more significant than expected. This may be explained by the large range of values chosen for this study. The results should be extended to more subjects, but still suggest that the gauze is a parameter that might not be neglected. Care should also be taken in clinical practice when using gauze that could have either a positive or negative impact on the soft tissues' strains. This may also depend on the wound deepness.


In this paper we will talk about an approach for online course publishing that has not been exploited totally, the creation of an education platform using cloud computing. This approach allows to see a new tool for its use as innovative educational technology. In the first instance, the rapid growth of social networks has proposed a tendency to create collaborative spaces, with no educational purposes, being the most common leisure and informative for its use. On appeal, cloud computing in recent years has demonstrated to have benefits that were not given with the traditional distribution of contents through the internet, it also allows to distribute information on distinct servers in distinct geographical areas, and having this way a system that is always available with no delays on content delivery.


This investigation describes the changes in the phase's micromechanical properties as a result of alloying elements moving at interdiffusion. The induction of the interdiffusion between different phases of a Ni-based single crystal superalloy still is a challenging issue in this field of the materials science. For this we used novel technique - hard cyclic viscoplastic deformation at room temperature. The chemical compositions of the phases were determined by the cumulative bulk deformation. For detailed knowledge of this material behavior during life time the micromechanical properties of phases were investigated by nanoindentation and the results were analyzed by scanning electron microscope and the corresponding chemical content was investigated by X-ray microanalysis. It was established, that the calculated results values depend on indentation load stepwise increase from 5 to 10 and 20 mN, respectively. The hardness, contact compliance and elastic recovery parameters decrease, while indentation modulus, elastic- and plastic parts of indentation work increase with load increase. In initial material the hardness, indentation modulus and elastic recovery parameter for the γ/γ'-microstructure with coarse intermetallic γ'-precipitates were lower with compared to microstructure with fine γ'-precipitations. As a result of interdiffusion the chemical content was changed and these parameters for the coarse γ/γ'-microstructure increased as the γ'-Ni3Al content was increased, while these values in the γ-γ'-eutectic and Nb/Ta-rich phases decreased as the niobium and rhenium contents decreased, respectively. By this the lakes of γ-γ'-eutectic phase have maximal plastic part of indentation work with compare to other phases of superalloy. The cumulative bulk deformation increases lead to decrease of dendrites dimensions. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.18.1.1337


The Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs commissioned the Social Policy Research, Evaluation and Analysis Centre to report on how a young person's future is shaped by his or her investments in education and choice of career path during early adulthood. This report describes whether young Australians from different family backgrounds are economically supported by their parents and how this support, or the lack of it, correlates with their decisions about educational and labour market investments. The report distinguishes between two kinds of parental support: co-residence and financial transfers. The analysis contributes to the literature on identifying young people at risk and can inform policies targeted at assisting young people in need and policies intended to counter the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. The report begins with a review of the previous literature. The evidence suggests that young people in Australia are increasingly dependent on their parents for support as they complete their education and enter the labour market. Recent cohorts are less likely to leave home, more likely to receive financial support from their parents when they do live apart, and more likely to return home as circumstances change. This is partly because it now takes substantially longer than it once did to acquire work skills, and partly because of changes in social policy which have shifted the burden of supporting young adults from the public purse to families. The report provides new evidence based on analysis of Youth in Focus (YIF) Survey data combined with Centrelink's administrative data about each family's receipt of income support while the young person was growing up. Survey data were collected from a cohort of young Australians who were 18 years of age in 2006. The young people were interviewed about their current circumstances in 2006 and again in 2008. In 2006, YIF also interviewed their mothers, who provided additional information about circumstances during the young people's childhood. The report uses the parents' history of receipt of income support (Centrelink data) as a measure of the family's social and economic disadvantage. The analysis is divided into two main parts. The first part is descriptive and gives an overview of young people's study, work activities, the support they receive from their parents in the form of co-residence or financial transfers and, finally, how activities and support vary for people of different family backgrounds. The second part presents regression results from the estimation of models of co-residence, financial transfer, study activity and work activity. The regressions control for other background variables such as parents' education, occupation, birth country, family size and family structure. Regarding the relationship between parental support and youth activities, the main findings can be summarised as follows. Young people who continue to live with their parents receive fewer financial transfers than otherwise similar young people who live apart, so there appears to be a trade-off in the support provided through co-residence versus financial transfers. Conditional on the youths' study and employment status, parents direct larger financial transfers towards their children who are not living at home or who are studying full time, and away from their children who are working full time, so financial support appears to be more targeted at age 20 than at age 18. Looking at youths' activities, enrollment in post-secondary education is not closely related to co-residential support, but is positively related to financial support. In contrast, youths' employment status seems to depend on co-residence, but not on parental financial transfers. Specifically, youths who continue to live with their parents are significantly more likely to work part time and are significantly less likely to be unemployed or out of the labour market entirely. Regarding the role of family background and socioeconomic disadvantage, the main findings are as follows. Young people growing up in families with a history of receiving income support are less likely to live at home. Eighteen-year-olds from families who have a history of relying on income support receive less financial support from their parents, and the disparity in the financial support provided by families that do and do not have a history of receiving income support is larger at age 20 than at age 18. There is no significant effect of a family history of income support receipt on young people's student status at either age 18 or age 20 once we account for family background, parental income, parental support (both co-residence and financial transfers) and youths' employment status. Having a family history of income support receipt at age 18 is associated with a lower probability of part-time employment and a higher probability of unemployment or non-participation, but these relationships are much weaker at age 20.


Objective: Burnout is often seen in the service sector and in areas with stressful human interactions. In hospitals patient services employees are also one of the groups at risk of experiencing burnout syndrome due to the intense involvement of close personal relations. This study aimed to determine burnout levels of patient services employees in private hospitals. Method: The sample of this study included patient services employees from seven private hospitals located in Istanbul, Turkey. In January 2016, a survey study was conducted with research participants (n=295). The measurement scale used was Maslach's Burnout Inventory. The burnout level was examined relating to age, gender, marital status, number of children, education, tenure, and monthly income. Findings: According to the survey results, there was a significant difference in burnout scores among people of different ages, genders, education levels, and monthly incomes. On the other hand, there was not a significant relationship between burnout levels and marital status, number of children or tenure in patient service personnel. Moreover, it was found that the burnout level of patient services employees is low. Specifically, the score of the depersonalization aspect of burnout was found to be minimal. Conclusion: It was concluded that burnout is an important issue that needs to be prevented and overcome with patient service employees.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the accuracy of risk factors for infection that add up to the nursing diagnosis risk of infection in people with AIDS who are hospitalized.

METHOD
Accuracy study with case-control design carried out with a total of 208 people living with AIDS and hospitalized between 2010 and 2016. The cases comprised people living with HIV, hospitalized and who developed infection related to health care and controls to those who did not develop it. Secondary data from medical records and research forms were used to respond to the data collection instrument for sociodemographic, clinical evaluation and investigation of the presence or absence of risk factors. The accuracy of clinical diagnostic indicators was measured through specificity, sensitivity and predictive values.

RESULTS
The risk factor that showed the greatest sensitivity and specificity was chronic illness, while the invasive procedure and the change in the integrity of the skin had the highest positive predictive value.

CONCLUSION
Accurate diagnoses allow nurses to build a nursing intervention plan aimed at the needs of this population.


Virus research has advanced significantly since the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the characterization of its infection mechanisms and the factors that determine their pathogenicity. However, most viral research has focused on pathogenic viruses to humans, animals and plants, which represent only a small fraction in the virosphere. As a result, the role of most viral genes, and the mechanisms of coevolution between mutualistic viruses, their host and their environment, beyond pathogenicity, remain poorly understood. This review focuses on general aspects of viruses that interact with extremophile organisms, characteristics and examples of mechanisms of adaptation. Finally, this review provides an overview on how knowledge of extremophile viruses sheds light on the application of new tools of relevant use in modern molecular biology, discussing their value in a biotechnological context.


There appear to be two different trends of thought with regard to books in the public library today. One trend says that books in paper will cease to exist; they will become museum pieces in a relatively short time, as electronic format materials will replace them. The other trend is that the traditional book will continue to exist as a viable, and the preferred, format for conveyance of ideas and information. These opposing viewpoints are often represented as being mutually exclusive and at war with each other. In some instances the combat is real. One need only read one article about the controversy at the San Francisco Public Library ("Nicholson Baker is a Luddite"; "The leaders of the San Francisco public library are book burners") to understand that not only are the two belief systems at odds, but also that they really don't like each other and occasionally dip to "ad hominum" arguments to prove their points.


This article examines the rewriting of mythology (remythology) in Eka Kurniawan's magic realism novel titled  Man Tiger  (2004). The discussion particularly explores how the remythology of the Indonesian myth of  manusia harimau  responses to historical references that are embedded in the narrative. I found that remythology in the novel is used to replicate people's voice, and by using that voice, the Indonesian nation attempts to decolonize itself from colonization and to epitomize a resistance against postcolonial powers. The myths surrounding  manusia harimau  in the novel further provide references to Indonesia's identity that is located between two separate identities, the indigenous and the colonial, which comprise resistance as well as resilience. By using various local mythical frameworks, Eka Kurniawan addresses the complexity of the Indonesian nation which constitutes an acknowledgement, and an interpretation, as well as a response to the past in order to form a resilient present.


Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common malignant liver tumor in children. The level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is used for monitoring the response to antitumor therapy and for diagnosing relapses. The occurrence of HB relapses with normal AFP levels in patients who had elevated levels of this tumor marker at disease onset is considered to be an uncommon situation. The aim of this study was to describe cases in which AFP-negative hepatoblastoma relapses developed. The study participants included two HB patients who were initially stratified into high-risk and standard-risk groups and who received treatment at the Dmitry Rogachev National Medical Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology and the Petrovsky National Research Center of Surgery inMoscow. At the moment of relapse acknowledgement these patients had normal AFP levels, which was confirmed by serial measurements. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) tests were performed on paired samples of the tumor at disease onset and at disease relapse respectively to evaluate AFP expression. The presented clinical cases demonstrate that normal AFP levels, when accompanied by suspicious clinical symptoms, do not allow to exclude an HB relapse. The possibility of relapse with a normal AFP level reinforces the importance of following the current plan of screening tests, which includes not only an evaluation of AFP levels, but also other tests such as a chest X-ray and an abdominal ultrasound. Parents gave their consent to use information about the child in the article.


Thirty-eight patients with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus who had background retinopathy and no residual endogenous insulin secretion as assessed by plasma C-peptide determinations, were randomized to either conventional insulin treatment or to more intensive glucose control using ultralente insulin as basal cover and soluble insulin at mealtimes and were followed for five years. Plasma glucose profile and glycosylated hemoglobin were determined every eight weeks. Eye examinations were performed at the start of the study and after one, three and five years. Age, duration of diabetes, insulin dosage, glycemic control were comparable in the two groups. The mean plasma glucose profile was similar at entry in both groups and did not change in the conventionally-treated group. Mean plasma glucose profile 11.2 +/- 1 mmol/l with glycosylated hemoglobin level 10.7 +/- 0.3% fell to 7.9 +/- 0.4 mmol/l and 8.7 +/- 0.5% respectively during intensive treatment. Retinal morphology deteriorated during the follow-up with no significant differences between patients under unchanged conventional treatment and intensive insulin regimen. Proliferative retinopathy developed in six patients--three of these were under intensive insulin treatment. These data suggest that substantial long-term improvement of glycemic control does not affect progression of background retinopathy even when it is mild. The evolution of established retinopathy in insulin dependent diabetic patients is not only a function of poor glycemic control; other factors, either intrinsic or environmental, must also be important.


The rocks to be described in this paper occupy an area of about 22 square miles in the counties of Radnorshire and Breconshire, which includes the Wye valley between Builth and Erwood station and the hilly ground south of Builth. It is represented on the following six-inch Ordnance Survey maps: Brecknock XI N.E. (Radnor XXXI N.E.), XI S.E., XII N.W. (Radnor XXXII N.W.), XII S.W. (Radnor XXXII S.W.), XV N.E., and XVI N.W. (Radnor XXXV N.W.). The latest geological maps are those of the Geological Survey, Old Series, No. 56 S.W. (1850) and 42 N.W. (1845, with additional Silurian hues in 1855 and 1856). The strata form an apparently continuous succession, mainly of shelly mudstones and shales, between the graptolitic shales of the zones of Monograptus nilssoni and M. scanicus and the unfossiliferous green marls at the base of the Old Red Sandstone. The faunal succession remains constant throughout the limited area under consideration, but the stratigraphical distribution of many of the common species differs from that of the classical region of Shropshire. The absence of the Aymestry Limestone and such characteristic members of its fauna as Conchidium knighti and Strophonella euglypha is a further point of difference. In view of such differences it has not been possible to adopt in its entirety the well-known classification proposed for rocks of the Ludlow district (Elles and Slater 1906, p. 198). There is in central Wales, however, such an extensive development of Ludlow sediments of the type displayed to good advantage in


More frequent storms due to climate change may impact estuarine species such as the mummichog ( Fundulus hetereoclitus ), an ecologically important salt marsh fish. This study investigated the effect of storm events and month on consumption of terrestrial insects by mummichogs in Hoffler Creek, Portsmouth, VA, as well as the effect of storms on consumption of major categories of benthic prey. Samples were taken monthly in the summers of 2017 and 2019. Additional paired samples were taken in June and July 2019, with the first collection during dry weather and the second during a subsequent storm. Month had a significant effect on the proportion of terrestrial insect prey in the diet in both years; consumption was highest in August, particularly in 2017 when the sample coincided with a storm event. However, storms increased consumption of terrestrial insects in only one of four paired dry weather-storm samples in 2019, indicating that temporal variation in insect abundance has a larger effect than increased availability that might occur when storms knock insects into the water. Storms had a significant effect on the proportion of different benthic prey in the diet in paired samples from 2019, but these effects were not consistent across months, sites, or in whether storms increased or decreased consumption. These patterns may be driven by mummichogs taking advantage of small-scale temporal or spatial variation in benthic prey. The ability to utilize locally abundant resources, including terrestrial insects, may help minimize the negative impacts of climate change on mummichogs.


This study aimed at describing the implementation of Pancasila as the values which supported the improvement and development of national insight on PPKn subject in SMP Negeri 7 of Palembang. This research was a descriptive research using qualitative approach. It was conducted in SMP Negeri 7 Palembang involving the teachers and the students as the object of the research. The data were collected through observation, interviews, and documentation. The validity of the data was measured through triangulation technique. The results showed that students in SMP Negeri 7 began to show the attitude of nationalism, such as: respect for the dignity of human beings as the creation of the Almighty God by reading the holy verses of the Qur'an and Dhuha prayer at zero hour (06:40) ; helped a needy friend, dared to respond to what the teacher had taught. From this study, it is clear that Pancasila is really the foundation and the principal of life of the Indonesian nation. Through Pancasila and PPKn subject, the education in Indonesia is hoped to be able to create the generation whose attitudes and actions really reflect the identity of the Indonesian nation which is based on the values of Pancasila. It is also taught abou how to defend the country. If one region in Indonesia is threatened then the threat applies to all Indonesian citizens.


Despite the growth and development of ecofeminist theory, ecofeminism has had little influence on environmental education. Within rich and diverse body of ecofeminist literature, there is great potential for ecofeminism to inform and shape environmental education. Spiritual ecofeminism offers an approach to be able to focus on interconnection and community, elements often missing from the standard, science based environmental education curriculum. Drawing on work done by feminist writer Starhawk, ecofeminist spirituality can be used to problematize both the focus on individuals and technocratic rationality. There are also inherent dangers in spiritual environmental education that are romantic and idealize "feminine nature." It is important to realize the potential of politically magical environmental education while evaluating the dangers of nature idealism.


Author(s): Sheil, Christine | Advisor(s): Mikkelsen, Line | Abstract: This dissertation investigates the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of clefts in Scottish Gaelic, and represents the first in-depth look at Scottish Gaelic clefts. It also examines the Propositional Cleft. While the Propositional Cleft is acknowledged in Scottish Gaelic grammars, a thorough description and analysis has not been done. The Propositional Cleft is noteworthy for the presence of cleft morphosyntax--the copula, a pro-form, and the relative complementizer--but the absence of a clefted constituent. This lack of a clefted constituent is puzzling if the Propositional Cleft is to be included in the cleft paradigm, since it is the clefted constituent which is typically interpreted as the focus, and the interpretation of focus is typically assumed to be derived from the focus-background bipartite structure created by the cleft construction. This property of lacking a bipartite structure makes the Propositional Cleft, at first glance, an unlikely candidate for membership in the cleft paradigm. Over the course of the dissertation I describe and analyze the pragmatic effect of the Propositional Cleft, and I argue that the Propositional Cleft is in fact a member of the cleft paradigm, but that it instantiates a typologically rare combination of broad sized identificational focus. The syntactic and semantic analysis of clefts proposed here extends straightforwardly to derive the particular meaning and structure of the Propositional Cleft, and shows that broad focus is not incompatible with cleft meaning. I argue that A-bar dependencies in Scottish Gaelic are movement based, and propose a syntactic account of focus movement in clefts which involves the checking of focus features in C by the movement of the focus phrase to its specifier. This syntactic account of focus allows us to understand the absence of movement in the Propositional Cleft, since the broad size of focus means that the focus constituent is the complement of CP, and so can check the focus features of C in situ.


Introduction Emergency ERCP may be required in patients with biliary sepsis who rapidly deteriorate with multi-organ dysfunction and cannot wait until the next available list. The majority of these patients require ventilatory and/or inotropic support and general anaesthesia for stabilisation. The data on the outcome of emergency ERCP in this patient cohort is limited. We sought to assess the frequency, indications, and clinical outcomes of emergency ERCPs. Methods Records of cases undergoing ERCP between November 2008 and November 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Only patients who were in the intensive care unit requiring ventilatory and/or inotropic support and general anaesthesia for stabilisation at the time of ERCP were included. Data collected included indications, co-morbidities, technical success and 30-day mortality. Results A total of 2237 ERCPs were performed during this period, out of which 36 (2%) emergency ERCP's were performed in 32 patients. There were 15 males and 17 females. 27/32 patients (84%) had not had previous ERCP. The median age of patients was 79 years (range 42–89). ASA grade prior to the presenting illness was 1 in 6 (17%); 2 in 15 (42%); 3 in 15 (42%). All cases were performed under general anaesthesia in emergency theatre. 27/36 cases (75%) required inotropic support. Indications included cholangitis 28/36 (78%); acute pancreatitis with cholangitis 5/36 (14%); post-operative bile leak 3/36 (8%). Biliary cannulation was achieved in all cases (100%). Endoscopic findings included: common bile duct (CBD) stones in 26/36 (72%); bile leak in 3/36 (8%); CBD stricture in 2/36 (6%); Mirizzi's in 1/36 (3%); blocked plastic stent in 1/36 (3%) and post-sphincterotomy bleed with clot obstruction in 1/36 (3%). Sphincterotomy was performed in 25/36 (69%) cases. 23/36 (64%) patients had stent insertion and in 11/36 (30%) patients balloon trawl was sufficient to clear the ducts. A rapid reduction in bilirubin was observed within 24–48 h following ERCP (Pre ERCP bilirubin: median 104, range 9–553 mmol/l; post ERCP bilirubin: median 29.5 range 12–217 mmol/l p<0.001 (Wilcoxon Signed rank test). 30-day mortality was 25% (8/32 patients) and the majority of these patients (6/8, 75%) died within 24 h of ERCP due to overwhelming sepsis. There was a single case of post sphincterotomy bleed that required a repeat procedure due to clot obstruction. There were no other procedure related complications. The median length of hospital stay was 21 days (range 2–49). Conclusion Although the 30-day mortality remains high due to multi-organ dysfunction, ERCP is successful in majority of these patients and translates to a good outcome for this cohort of critically ill patients, in whom the prognosis is inevitably poor without an emergency ERCP. Competing interests None declared.


The extraction method based on reversible chemical complexation is highly effective and selective for separating polar organic solutes from dilute solutions. In this paper, three extractant systems, trioctylamine (TOA) in 1-octanol, di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate(D2EHPA) and trialkylphosphine oxide (TRPO) in kerosene were selected as the typical extractant systems respectively, and the relative basicity (acidity) of each extractant system to HCl was measured. The dependences of the extraction equilibrium behavior on the relative basicity (acidity) of the extractant were investigated. The results show that the relative basicity (acidity) of the extractant dependes on the concentration of the extractant, and it is one of the important parameters affecting the complexation extraction equilibrium directly. Three parameters of the system, such as the relative basicity (acidity) of the extractant, the dissociated constant and the hydrophobicity of the separated solute, were proposed as the most important parameters determining the extraction equilibrium behaviors, and the correlated equations of the apparent extraction equilibrium constant with these three parameters for different extractant systems were obtained respectively, and which can be used to predict the extraction equilibrium behaviors.


ABSTRACT Plant polyphenols have been the subject of several recent scientific investigations since many of the molecules in this class have been found to be highly active in the human body, with a plethora of health-promoting activities against a variety of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and with even the potential to slow aging. Further development of these potent natural therapeutics hinges on the formation of robust industrial production platforms designed using specifically selected as well as engineered protein sources along with the construction of optimal expression platforms. In this work, we first report the investigation of various stilbene synthases from an array of plant species considering structure-activity relationships, their expression efficiency in microorganisms, and their ability to synthesize resveratrol. Second, we looked into the construct environment of recombinantly expressed stilbene synthases, including different promoters, construct designs, and host strains, to create an Escherichia coli strain capable of producing superior resveratrol titers sufficient for commercial usage. Further improvement of metabolic capabilities of the recombinant strain aimed at improving the intracellular malonyl-coenzyme A pool, a resveratrol precursor, resulted in a final improved titer of 2.3 g/liter resveratrol.


Despite our technological advances· and growmg
affluence many homeless people lead lives of great
misery and despair. These are the "winos", the "bums",
the dwellers in skid row, that central city nether-region of
deserted buildings, parks, crypts and large impersonal hostels.
The statutory services find it hard to cope with the needs
of these people because their problems are so total,
motivation to change has long since vanished, anti-social
attitudes have become entrenched and community prejudices
are so strong. Voluntary organisations bring with them a
greater flexibility and more personalised approach to the
problem but even these tend to avoid contact with a certain
group of difficult and apparently unmanageable people.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) promotes cell death, and it has been successfully employed as a treatment resource for neuropathic complications of diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and hepatocellular carcinoma. The liver is the major organ involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis, and in pathological conditions such as T1DM, changes in liver metabolic pathways result in hyperglycemia, which is associated with multiple organic dysfunctions. In this context, it has been suggested that chlorophyll-a and its derivatives have anti-diabetic actions, such as reducing hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertriglyceridemia, but these effects have not yet been proven. Thus, the biological action of PDT with chlorophyll-a on hepatic parameters related to energy metabolism and oxidative stress in T1DM Wistar rats was investigated. Evaluation of the acute effects of this pigment was performed by incubation of isolated hepatocytes with chlorophyll-a and the chronic effects were evaluated by oral treatment with chlorophyll-based extract, with post-analysis of the intact liver by in situ perfusion. In both experimental protocols, chlorophyll-a decreased hepatic glucose release and glycogenolysis rate and stimulated the glycolytic pathway in DM/PDT. In addition, there was a reduction in hepatic oxidative stress, noticeable by decreased lipoperoxidation, reactive oxygen species, and carbonylated proteins in livers of chlorophyll-treated T1DM rats. These are indicators of the potential capacity of chlorophyll-a in improving the status of the diabetic liver.


Ground state cooling and coherent manipulation of ions in a rf-(Paul) trap is the prerequisite for quantum information experiments with trapped ions. In our experiments a single /sup 40/Ca/sup +/ ion in a conventional Paul trap has been cooled to the ground state of vibration with 99.9% (98%) probability in the axial (radial) trap direction, We use a continuous resolved sideband method where we drive the S/sub 1/2/-D/sub 5/2/ quadrupole transition (@729 nm) and repump the ion to the ground state via the D/sub 5/2/-P/sub 3/2/ dipole transition. Efficient cooling is achieved on the timescale of a few ms.


In this article, we suggest a two-dimensional genetic algorithm (GA) method that applies a cognitive radio (CR) decision engine which determines the optimal transmission parameters for multicarrier communication systems. Because a CR is capable of sensing the previous environmental communication information, CR decision engine plays the role of optimizing the individual transmission parameters. In order to obtain the allowable transmission power of multicarrier based CR system demands interference analysis a priori, for the sake of efficient optimization, a two-dimensional GA structureis proposed in this paper which enhances the computational complexity. Combined with the fitness objective evaluation standard, we focus on two multi-objective optimization methods: The conventional GA applied with the multi-objective fitness approach and the non-dominated sorting GA with Pareto-optimal sorting fronts. After comparing the convergence performance of these algorithms, the transmission power of each subcarrier is proposed as non-interference emission with its optimal values in multicarrier based CR system.


Open quantum systems are embedded in the continuum of scattering wavefunctions and are naturally described by non-Hermitian Hamilton operators. In the complex energy plane, exceptional points appear at which two (or more) eigenvalues of the Hamilton operator coalesce. Although they are a countable set of single points in the complex energy plane and therefore of measure zero, they determine decisively the dynamics of open quantum systems. A powerful method for the description of open quantum systems is the Feshbach projection operator formalism. It is used in the present paper as a basic tool for the study of exceptional points and of the role they play for the dynamics of open quantum systems. Among others, the topological structure of the exceptional points, the rigidity of the phases of the eigenfunctions in their vicinity, the enhancement of observable values due to the reduced phase rigidity and the appearance of phase transitions are considered. The results are compared with existing experimental data on microwave cavities. In the last section, some questions being still unsolved, are considered.


It is shown what form is taken by certain fundamental constructions and results of quantum functional analysis (that is, the theory of operator spaces) in the framework of the approach that uses vectors with operator coefficients instead of matrices; that is, one deals with `non-matrix' quantization of spaces that are in a relation of vector duality. After describing the basic construction we establish, in the framework of the `non-matrix' approach, the quantum version of the exponential law and the quantum version of the dual associativity law that connects operator functors with tensor product functors. At the end of the paper we consider, as an important concrete example, the `non-matrix' quantization of an operator algebra on a Hilbert space and the basic properties of this quantization.


Tetracycline hydrochloride, 500 mg orally four times a day for seven days, remains the treatment of choice for C trachomatis infections in men and nonpregnant women. Either erythromycin, 500 mg orally four times daily for seven days, or an equivalent dosage of another erythromycin product is an alternative treatment for patients who cannot tolerate tetracycline and for pregnant women. These two treatment regimens can be generalized to include nongonococcal urethritis and mucopurulent cervicitis. However, other treatment regimens that are effective against C trachomatis may not be effective for treating nongonococcal urethritis or mucopurulent cervicitis not caused by C trachomatis. The optimal treatment for pregnant women with C trachomatis infections and women with acute PID has not been established. Additional treatment trials with both groups of patients are needed to determine the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents in addition to those currently used, to establish the appropriate dose of each antimicrobial agent, and to clarify the appropriate duration of treatment. All individuals who are sexual partners of patients with nongonococcal urethritis, mucopurulent cervicitis, and acute PID (within the 30 days prior to onset of their symptoms or time of positive clinical evaluation findings) should be examined for sexually transmitted disease and treated promptly with a regimen effective against uncomplicated gonorrhea and chlamydial infections. Prompt treatment of sexual partners reduces the rate of treatment failure due to reinfection, reduces the transmission of infection, and reduces the frequency of occurrence of adverse sequelae of infection.


Galvanic replacement is a versatile method of converting simple noble metallic nanoparticles into structurally more complex porous multimetallic nanostructures. In this work, roughened nanoporous Ag-Au bimetallic triangular nanoprisms (TNPs) are synthesized by galvanic replacement between smooth Ag triangular plates and AuCl4− ions. Transmission electron microscope and the elementary mapping measurements show that numerous protrusions and pores are formed on the {111} facets, and Ag and Au atoms are homogeneously distributed on the triangular plates. Due to the additional "hot spots" generated by the surface plasmon coupling of the newly formed protrusions and pores, the roughened nanoporous Ag-Au TNP aggregates demonstrate a higher surface-enhanced Raman scattering enhancement factor (seven times larger) and better reproducibility than that of smooth Ag triangular particle aggregates. These synthesized roughened nanoporous Ag-Au bimetallic TNPs are a promising candidate for the applications in analytical chemistry, biological diagnostics, and photothermal therapy due to their excellent plasmonic performances and good biocompatibility.


The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus may vary from asymptomatic to severe infection with multi-organ failure and death. Increased levels of circulating complement biomarkers have been implicated in COVID-19-related hyperinflammation and coagulopathy. We characterized systemic complement activation at a cellular level in 49-patients with COVID-19. We found increases of the classical complement sentinel C1q and the downstream C3 component on circulating blood monocytes from COVID-19 patients when compared to healthy controls (HCs). Interestingly, the cell surface-bound complement inhibitor CD55 was also upregulated in COVID-19 patient monocytes in comparison with HC cells. Monocyte membrane-bound C1q, C3 and CD55 levels were associated with plasma inflammatory markers such as CRP and serum amyloid A during acute infection. Membrane-bounds C1q and C3 remained elevated even after a short recovery period. These results highlight systemic monocyte-associated complement activation over a broad range of COVID-19 disease severities, with a compensatory upregulation of CD55. Further evaluation of complement and its interaction with myeloid cells at the membrane level could improve understanding of its role in COVID-19 pathogenesis.


"International Perspectives on Vietnam" is a collection by a diverse group of scholars that looks at the Vietnam War in terms of its significance to the global arena. Under the guidance of editors Lloyd C. Gardner and Ted Gittinger, the contributors examine whether the Vietnam War was responsible for transforming the international system. Topics include Robert J. McMahon's assessment of the war's legacy to Southeast Asia; Xiaoming Zhang's analysis of Chinese involvement in the Sino-Soviet rivalry; Ilya V. Gaiduk's account of the Soviet Indochina policy within the context of Moscow's foreign relations; and other analyses by H. W. Brands, Lloyd C. Gardner, Hiroshi Fujimoto, Robert K. Brigham, Frank Costigliola, Judith A. Klinghoffer, Kil J.Yi, and Qiang Zhai. John Prados concludes by questioning whether the Vietnam War was just a sideshow in international relations and attempts to understand the war's impact on the world and the United States. "International Perspectives on Vietnam" breaks free of the mold of many American analyses of Vietnam, which place the war solely in the context of America's involvement and detriment. A true scholarly work, this volume challenges readers to think about this pivotal point in international history in a new way.


A dispersive periodic boundary condition (DPBC) is developed for the finite-difference time-domain method to analyze periodic structures with dispersive media on the boundaries of a unit cell. The formulation is based on the auxiliary differential equation (ADE) method with a two-term Debye model and the constant horizontal wavenumber approach. The developed formulation is easy to implement and is efficient in both memory usage and computational time. The validity of this formulation is verified through several numerical examples such as infinite dispersive slab and sandwiched composite frequency selective surface (FSS) structure.


This paper introduces a kind of non-planar friction and heavy-load friction clutch which has these characteristics, the volume being small transmission torque large, combining or disjunction fast, structure simple usability good cost low, easy to assemble and long working life, so this is an ideal and novel heavy-load friction clutch.


In most probabilistic risk assessments, there is a subset of accident scenarios that involves physical challenges to the system, such as high heat rates and/or accelerations. The system`s responses to these challenges may be complicated, and their prediction may require the use of long-running computer codes. To deal with the many scenarios demanded by a risk assessment, the authors have been investigating the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) as a fast-running estimation tool. They have developed a multivariate linear spline algorithm by extending previous ANN methods that use radial basis functions. They have applied the algorithm to problems involving fires, shocks, and vibrations. They have found that within the parameter range for which it is trained, the algorithm can simulate the nonlinear responses of complex systems with high accuracy. Running times per case are less than one second.


Currently, to obtain information about fairy tales through a mobile phone is still rare. Readers usually obtain information about fairy tales only through books, CDs or other print media. Of multiple applications on a mobile phone that is only text and images. So the purpose of this study was achieved to help the reader enjoy fairy tales exist in a complicated application without having to read one each one word at story. This study used Luther as a method of multimedia development. There are 6 steps being taken to complete this application, namely the concept stage, design stage, collection materials, manufacture stage, testing stage and distribution. In the testing phase used two kinds of testing, ie testing functions and testing program using the respondents. The results show that "Aplikasi Pembaca Dongeng Anak Indonesia" can display information includes the title story of Indonesian children stories, national origin story, and the story is short but interesting. Can also be a sound and background music on each page of the story based on the story. And the application can be used by users with ease. Based on the results of the questionnaire showed that the data processed 91.76% positive response or included in the category of "Good".


Sixty kindergarten and first grade children took part in an intervention program during which they were confronted with problems requiring concrete operational thought. The study was designed to ascertain the influence of an intervention in the development of operational seriation and transitivity in kindergarten and first grade children who initially failed to demonstrate the ability to do seriation and transitivity problems. Seriation of size, presumably a prerequisite operation for transitive size relations, was also studied. The subjects showed significant advancement toward concrete operation on the seriation problems but failed to show significant improvement on the transitivity problems. In addition, subjects who showed understanding of transitive inference also demonstrated success on seriation, but subjects who showed clear understanding of seriation did not demonstrate success on making transitive inference. Results were interpreted in the context of Piaget's equilibration theory (Genetic epistemology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970).


The production of hard photons and neutral pions in 190 MeV proton induced reactions on C, Ca, Ni, and W targets has been for the first time concurrently studied. Angular distributions and energy spectra up to the kinematical limit are discussed and the production cross-sections are presented. From the target mass dependence of the cross-sections the propagation of pions through nuclear matter is analyzed and the production mechanisms of hard photons and primordial pions are derived. It is found that the production of subthreshold particles proceeds mainly through first chance nucleon–nucleon collisions. For the most energetic particles the mass scaling evidences the effect of multiple collisions.  2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS:21.65.+f; 25.75.Dw; 25.40.Qa


Wireless sensor networks are appealing to researchers due to their wide range of application. This paper proposes Variable Grid-quorum Pattern MAC protocol (VGP-MAC), an adaptive, asynchronous and low-latency MAC protocol designed for wireless sensor networks. VGP-MAC improves the pattern and timeslot schedule, which make nodes save energy by the proper sleep mechanism according to the nodes' own traffic. And the grid quorum-based mechanism solves the asynchrony in the multi-hop wireless sensor network. This paper develops a better pattern and schedule generation schemes with less state transformation frequency. The analytical and experimental results show that VGP-MAC obtains more energy savings and reduces the latency.


This paper provides information in regard to the nature of the leveraged buyout and indicates the positive and negative results of the leveraged buyout operation. To help the better understanding, the author has made the comparative study in respect of UK, USA, and India. Also, this paper has analyzed the mechanism of leveraged buyout by giving the case studies of various leveraged buyouts to value the performance of leveraged buyout accordingly.

 Key words: Leveraged buyout, equity, debt, acquisition, management, structure.


This paper describes a method to combine near-infrared spectroscopy and a three layer back-propagation artificial neural network in order to identify official and unofficial rhubarbs. Thirty-three samples were taken as the training set, and 62 samples as the test set. The effects of input node number, learning rate and momentum on the final error and recognition accuracy for the training set, and on prediction accuracy for the test set were determined. A neural network with eight input nodes, a 0.5 learning rate, and a momentum of 0.3 can achieve a recognition accuracy of 100% for the training set and a prediction accuracy of 96.8% for the test set. The method described offers a quick and efficient means of identifying rhubarbs.


A simplified nonlinear transient analysis method for gas bearings was recently published by the authors [1]. The method uses the fact that linearized dynamic characteristics of gas bearings, namely the impedances, can be approximated by rational transfer functions. The method gave good results if the rational transfer function approach approximated well the linearized dynamic characteristics. Indeed, each of the four complex impedances Zαβ, α, β = {x, y} had one or two poles depending on the order of the rational function that were used. These poles appear as supplementary eigenvalues of the extended matrix of the homogeneous system of first order differential equations describing the model of the rotor. They govern the stability of the dynamic model in the same way as the original eigenvalues do and therefore they impose non-negligible constraints on the rational function approximation of the impedances of gas bearings. The present improvement of the method overrides this problem. The basic idea is to impose the same set of poles for Zxx, Zxy, Zyx and Zyy. By imposing this constraint, the poles are stable and the introduction of artificial instability or erratic eigenvalues is avoided. Campbell and stability diagrams naturally taking into account the variation of the dynamic coefficients with the excitation frequency can now be easily plotted. For example, the method is used for analyzing the stability of rigid and flexible rotors supported by two identical gas bearings modeled with second order rational transfer functions. The method can be applied to any bearing or seal whose impedance is approximated by rational transfer functions.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The purpose of this study was to assess the physical development and nutritional quality in Korean adolescents by their exercise regularity using KNHNES data. The data were obtained from the KNHNES, 2007. The study subjects, total 300 adolescents(167 boys, 133 girls) aged 12 to 18 years, were classified into four groups based on the their exercise regularity and sex: the exercised male group (EM), the not exercised male group(NM), the exercised female group(EF), and the not exercised female group(NF). The EF exhibited significantly higher weight and body mass index(BMI) values than the NF(p<.05). However, the EM showed significantly lower total cholesterol content than the NM(p<.05). The indices of nutritional quality(INQ) in the EM and the NM were not assessed well in regard to vitamin C and Ca. Furthermore, Ca and Fe of the INQ in the EF, and vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin C, Ca of the INQ in the NF were not assessed well. The nutritional adequacy ratio(NAR) in the all groups were not assessed well in regard to energy, riboflavin, vitamin C, Ca. Additionally, vitamin A of the NAR in the NM and the NF were not assessed well. However, we noted no significant differences in the mean adequacy ratio between groups. Although there was no significantly correlation between physical development factors and indices of diet quality in the male adolescent subjects. There were significant correlations between height and INQ vitamin C(r=.38, p<.05), weight and INQ vitamin C(r=.38, p<.05), height and NAR energy(r=-43, p<.01), height and NAR Ca(r=.38, p<.05), height and NAR P(r=.38, p<.05), weight and NAR Ca(r=.43, p<.05) in the EF group. These results suggested that regular exercise seems helpful to improve physical development as well as diet quality in Korean adolescents.


Despite several studies suggesting the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in schizophrenia, there is still a lack of systematic summary and analysis on the role of TCM as adjuvant therapy in chronic schizophrenia. For this purpose, we conducted a meta-analysis to study the efficacy of TCM as an adjuvant combined with antipsychotics in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia. Until April 2020, based on the review of six electronic databases, eight articles were selected. The articles compared TCM decoction assisted antipsychotic therapies with an antipsychotic alone in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia by analyzing a total of 810 cases. The results showed that TCM combined with antipsychotics have beneficial effects on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), including the changes in total score, negative score, and the clinical effects evaluated by the PANSS scale. Subgroup analysis showed that the effects of auxiliary TCM with different efficacy on the positive and psychopathological scores were significantly different. It was found that adjuvant treatment with TCM can reduce some side effects and improve the patient's living conditions in the evaluation of the Schizophrenia Quality Of Life Scale (SQLS). Many studies have proved that TCM is safe and well-tolerated. Although the difficulties of using limited TCM remains to be generalized, it still has great potential in the adjuvant treatment of chronic schizophrenia.


Purpose: The silencing of gene expression through DNA methylation contributes to defects in antigen presentation and apoptosis in melanoma and renal cell cancer. To determine how a hypomethylating agent would modulate the toxicity and antitumor activity of immunotherapy, we initiated a phase I trial of 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (decitabine) plus high-dose interleukin 2 (IL-2). Experimental Design: Patients received s.c. decitabine daily × 5 days on weeks 1 and 2 of a 12-week cycle. High-dose IL-2, consisting of two cycles of IL-2 600,000 IU/kg i.v. q8 hours × 14 doses separated by a 2-week break, was administered starting on week 3. Decitabine was escalated from 0.1 to 0.25 mg/kg. The hypomethylating activity of decitabine was assessed during cycle 1 by measuring hemoglobin F levels and changes in DNA methylation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Results: Twenty-one patients with melanoma or renal cell cancer were enrolled. Decitabine did not alter the tolerability of IL-2 but caused grade 4 neutropenia in most patients. Grade 4 neutropenia lasting more than 7 days was the only dose-limiting toxicity, with a trend toward a higher incidence with increasing decitabine doses. Infection occurred in only one patient despite the high incidence of neutropenia, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor use in several patients expedited neutrophil recovery. Decitabine augmented hemoglobin F levels and altered DNA methylation and gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in a dose-independent manner that overlapped with the administration of IL-2. Objective responses occurred in 31% of melanoma patients. Conclusions: Decitabine can be safely administered with high-dose IL-2 and may enhance the activity of IL-2 in melanoma.


Hyperthermophilic archaea are expected to have effective (and perhaps atypical) mechanisms to limit the genetic consequences of DNA damage, but few gene products have been demonstrated to have genome-preserving functions in vivo. This study confirmed by genetic criteria that the S. acidocaldarius Ogg protein avoids the characteristic mutagenesis of G oxidation. This enzyme and the bypass polymerase Dbh have similar impacts on genome stability but work independently and may comprise most of the DNA oxidation defense of S. acidocaldarius. The critical dependence of accurate oxoG bypass on the accessory DNA polymerase Dbh further argues that some form of polymerase exchange is important for accurate genome replication in Sulfolobus, and perhaps in related hyperthermophilic archaea. ABSTRACT To identify DNA oxidation defenses of hyperthermophilic archaea, we deleted genes encoding the putative 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (oxoG)-targeted N-glycosylase of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius (ogg; Saci_01367), the Y family DNA polymerase (dbh; Saci_0554), or both and measured the effects on cellular survival, replication accuracy, and oxoG bypass in vivo. Spontaneous G·C-to-T·A transversions were elevated in all Δogg and Δdbh constructs, and the Δogg Δdbh double mutant lost viability at a higher rate than isogenic wild-type (WT) and ogg strains. The distribution of G·C-to-T·A transversions within mutation detector genes suggested that reactivity of G toward oxidation and the effect on translation contribute heavily to the pattern of mutations that are recovered. An impact of the Ogg protein on the overall efficiency of bypassing oxoG in transforming DNA was evident only in the absence of Dbh, and Ogg status did not affect the accuracy of bypass. Dbh function, in contrast, dramatically influenced both the efficiency and accuracy of oxoG bypass. Thus, Ogg and Dbh were found to work independently to avoid mutagenesis by oxoG, and inactivating this simple but effective defense system by deleting both genes imposed a severe mutational burden on S. acidocaldarius cells. IMPORTANCE Hyperthermophilic archaea are expected to have effective (and perhaps atypical) mechanisms to limit the genetic consequences of DNA damage, but few gene products have been demonstrated to have genome-preserving functions in vivo. This study confirmed by genetic criteria that the S. acidocaldarius Ogg protein avoids the characteristic mutagenesis of G oxidation. This enzyme and the bypass polymerase Dbh have similar impacts on genome stability but work independently and may comprise most of the DNA oxidation defense of S. acidocaldarius. The critical dependence of accurate oxoG bypass on the accessory DNA polymerase Dbh further argues that some form of polymerase exchange is important for accurate genome replication in Sulfolobus, and perhaps in related hyperthermophilic archaea.


of the Operation and Maintenance System in Component-Router Yong Jiang, Jianping Wu [firstname.lastname@example.com] Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 Phone: +86-010-62785822 Fax: +86-010-62788109 Abstract: The OAM (Operations and Maintenance) module of a router fulfills the management and manipulation of the router. The OAM is one of the most important sub systems in a router, guaranteeing it to work in going order. With the rapid development of the network protocols, it is increasingly important to dynamically upgrade router's software. In this paper, the authors make a thorough research on the operation and maintenance system in routers. First the CR-OAM (Component-Router-OAM) design requirements and evolutions are introduced. Then the authors present the Component-Router's architecture and the CR-OAM function requirements, that Component-Router is developed by Tsinghua University in China, the design and implementation of the CR-OAM is also described in detail, whose novel feature is the ability to dynamically load and configure extensible component at run time. At last research directions and open problems in this area are discussed.


Due to the continued growth in hydrocarbon demand, operators in the oil and gas industry are always looking to drill deeper wells in order to access previously unattainable hydrocarbons. High-Pressure High-Temperature (HPHT) wells are now broadly present in places like the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and the Middle East. At such conditions, the effect of salts on the properties and performance of water-based drilling fluids cannot be reliably extrapolated from moderate conditions. Oil and gas wells are referred to as HPHT wells if their bottomhole conditions are greater than 300°F (150°C) or 10,000 psi (69 MPa). As drillers get into HPHT formations, a number of unique problems are introduced. Well control, for example, becomes more complicated due to narrow pressure margins and higher bottomhole pressures and temperatures. As a result, this research aimed to test and investigate the rheological behavior of various water-based drilling fluids with a variety of different salinities at HPHT conditions using a state-of-the-art HPHT viscometer. The main equipment for these experiments is CHANDLER Model 7600 High Pressure High Temperature Viscometer. There are only 8 such equipment that exists in the whole world and our university in Qatar has one of them. Working on this experimental research will train the participating students to use one-of-a-kind high end viscometers in the world. The parameters that are gauged in this experiment are viscosity, yield point and gel strength of the drilling fluid when subjected to these conditions. To model this experiment, water based muds of varying salinity were experimented with two different types of salts – NaCl and CaCl2. Also, two percentages, 15 and 25, of each of these two salts are proposed to be used in formulating the water-based fluid samples which corresponds to approximately 9.3 and 10.0 ppg. 25? concentration of NaCl will result in full saturation of the water-based fluid system and thus this percentage represents a maximum value. 15? concentration, however, can represent a middle value between the maximum concentration (25?) and the minimum (0?). Overall, the results attained in this experiment were useful in coming to several conclusions regarding the effects of salinity on the rheological properties of water-based mud. As shown in Fig. 4, the average dial reading increases with the set pressure. It levels off at a maximum pressure of 18,000 psi and then decreases. This was the case for all the samples apart from the CaCl2 at 25?. Salinity is the total of all non- carbonate salts dissolve in water, unlike chloride concentration that represented only by its content. Therefore, the summation of all the salts in the mud can be expressed by salinity. Amani and Hassiba (2012) performed HPHT tests on water-based drilling fluids containing different concentrations of Sodium and Potassium Chloride (NaCl and KCl). They showed that the fluids with these salts followed the Power Law model up to pressures of 20,000 psi. Above that pressure, the shear rate started to vary linearly with shear stress (best modeled by the Bingham Plastic equation). In the presence of different kinds of salt additives to initially increase the weight of the mud, the junction to the point of separation between water and other solids creates and breaks the stable suspension and produces flocculation. Therefore, at the end it will decrease the viscosity of the mud. Up to some extent, modified starches becomes anionic and free in hydrated water. The flow properties of the drilling fluid must be controlled so that the fluid can function properly. Properties of the fluid such as the plastic viscosity and the yield stress are very important for the success of the rotary-drilling operations and are therefore constantly measured. Viscosity is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow and is defined as the ratio of shear stress to shear rate. Newtonian fluids are fluids where the proportionality between the shear stress and the shear rate is independent of the shear rate. Newtonian fluids are usually water or fluids with low molecular weight material. However, most drilling fluids are non-Newtonian and experience shear thinning with increased shear rate as shown in Fig. 20. The Bingham plastic and the power law rheological models are non-Newtonian models that were used in the past and are still used today to approximate the behavior of drilling fluids and cement slurries. The majority of the behavioral models for drilling fluids and cement slurries used today include a yield stress. One of these rheological models that fits this kind of behavior at both high and low shear rates is the Herschel-Bulkley model. The mud was found to start losing its intrinsic properties at 24,000 psi and the concentration of Calcium Chloride was found to have a more profound impact on the rheology than Sodium Chloride. Out of the used rheological models, Herschel-Bulkley had the best fit and could be used to predict the viscosity. Although the cost of calcium chloride is more than sodium chloride per unit, it is still feasible to use this salt as it has a profound effect on the shear stress and other rheological properties of the fluids. In future iterations of this experiment it would perhaps be more useful to record more data points for the salinity level. Observing the results for more salt concentration levels will give a clearer picture of the effect of salinity on the rheological properties of the fluids. Acknowledgement: "This report was made possible by a UREP award [UREP 13-031-2-014] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the author."


A compact quadruple-mode square ring loaded resonator (SRLR) is proposed in this letter. Distinct mode splitting characteristics of the quadruple-mode SRLR are investigated and explained by using even- and odd-mode analysis. It results to excite four resonant modes which are applied to produce two pairs of transmission poles for dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) design. Based on the unique characteristics of the proposed SRLR, a miniaturized dual-band BPF operating at 2.45 GHz and 5.20 GHz for WLAN applications was designed and fabricated. Multiple transmission zeros are generated to improve the selectivity of the filter. Measurements are in good agreement with the simulations. Also, the circuit size occupies only 0.11λg×0.23λg, where λg is the guided wavelength at the center frequency of the first passband.


In this article geometrically distributed integer-valued autoregressive model of order one based on the mixed thinning operator is introduced. This new thinning operator is defined as a probability mixture of two well known thinning operators, binomial and negative binomial thinning. Some model properties are discussed. Method of moments and the conditional least squares are considered as possible approaches in model pa- rameter estimation. Asymptotic characterization of the obtained parameter estimators is presented. The adequacy of the introduced model is verified by its application on a certain kind of real-life counting data, while its performance is evaluated by comparison with two other INAR(1) models that can be also used over the observed data.


Extraction of large numbers of living and debris-free nematodes is based on the active downward migration of nematodes through muddy sediments. This study is an assessment of how representative the extracted nematode population is in comparison to the in situ population. Nematode extraction efficiencies ranged from 20-29%; however, the method yielded 153 000 and 223 000 debris-free nematodes in 48 h (per m2 of mud with nematode population density of 776 000 individuals m–2). Sieve mesh size, migration device mesh size, and size distribution and behaviour of nematode species all influenced the extraction results. The species composition of the extracted nematode populations was significantly different from the in situ population assemblage. Metachromadora remanei and M. vivipara migrated less efficiently than Ptycholaimellus jacobi, Chromadora macrolaima and Daptonema oxycerca. This bias should be monitored in experimental studies using nematode populations extracted by means of sieving and downward migration.


[3H]-testosterone and [3H]-dihydrotestosterone were incubated with epithelium of the bovine cornea in vitro at 0–2oC. Active transport from the medium into the tissue was demonstrated in both instances.The specific uptake of [3H]-testosteronewas 34.9 pmol/mg protein and of [3H]-dihydrotestosterone 45.0 pmol/mg protein. The specific uptake related to the amount of the incubated steroid was approximately equal for both androgens investigated (0.79 or 0.85%).


ABSTRACT Circadian (≅24-h) rhythms are governed by endogenous biochemical oscillators (clocks) that in a wide variety of organisms can be phase shifted (i.e., delayed or advanced) by brief exposure to light and changes in temperature. However, how changes in temperature reset circadian timekeeping mechanisms is not known. To begin to address this issue, we measured the effects of short-duration heat pulses on the protein and mRNA products from the Drosophila circadian clock genes period (per) andtimeless (tim). Heat pulses at all times in a daily cycle elicited dramatic and rapid decreases in the levels of PER and TIM proteins. PER is sensitive to heat but not light, indicating that individual clock components can markedly differ in sensitivity to environmental stimuli. A similar resetting mechanism involving delays in the per-tim transcriptional-translational feedback loop likely underlies the observation that when heat and light signals are administered in the early night, they both evoke phase delays in behavioral rhythms. However, whereas previous studies showed that the light-induced degradation of TIM in the late night is accompanied by stable phase advances in the temporal regulation of the PER and TIM biochemical rhythms, the heat-induced degradation of PER and TIM at these times in a daily cycle results in little, if any, long-term perturbation in the cycles of these clock proteins. Rather, the initial heat-induced degradation of PER and TIM in the late night is followed by a transient and rapid increase in the speed of the PER-TIM temporal program. The net effect of these heat-induced changes results in an oscillatory mechanism with a steady-state phase similar to that of the unperturbed control situation. These findings can account for the lack of apparent steady-state shifts in Drosophila behavioral rhythms by heat pulses applied in the late night and strongly suggest that stimulus-induced changes in the speed of circadian clocks can contribute to phase-shifting responses.


Two hundred patients who had suffered an acute myocardial infarction 4-6 weeks before entered a randomised controlled trial of exercise treatment at a community sports centre supervised by a general practitioner. Eighty one per cent of the treatment group continued to exercise until they returned to work and 73% completed three months' exercise. There were no serious complications of the exercise course. The prevalence of angina pectoris fell by 10% in the treatment group but rose by 60% in the control group. The perceived energy level rose by significantly more in the treatment group than in the controls. The rise in predicted maximum oxygen uptake was significantly greater in the treatment group than in the control group as was the reduction in the double product (a reflection of myocardial workload) at peak exercise. Coronary rehabilitation in the community can be both safe and effective.


Low soil temperature (14℃–20℃) favours growing of high-value temperate crops that are known to have higher return per hectare of land than other widely cultivated crops, thereby presenting increased income to farmer. However, due to high soil cooling load, growing these crops on tropical lowland area is a challenge except through greenhouse farming or on few cool higher altitudes with resemblance of temperate climate. Greenhouse farming involves cooling the entire volume of planting zone and is energy intensive, while few cool highlands are not sufficient to achieve food security in this direction. This study aims at application of chilled water for direct cooling of soil, to create favorable soil conditions for optimal performance of planted temperate crops. However, soil cooling using vapour compression refrigeration system may not be economically viable. Solar thermal chilled water production system is presented in this study to supply the cooling. The system consists of absorption refrigeration system and dimensioned size of soil bed with chilled water pipe network. The study includes modeling of soil cooling load to determine the refrigeration power required to overcome such load. The modeled system matched well with the experiment; having standard deviation of 1.75 and percentage error of 12.24%. Parametric analysis of the soil cooling showed that temperatures of cooled soil were significantly affected by chilled water flow rates. The regression equation developed from the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is suitable for predicting cooled soil temperature. The cooling process is technically feasible, with potential for greenhouse gas emission reduction.


Effectively Targeting Older Consumers Jenna Lyn Nichols May 2011 Marketing strategies are used to convey product or service information and value offerings to a defined and specific audience. The ways in which these strategies are realized through graphic design may greatly impact the meaning and success of a marketing message on the intended audience. Some forms of messaging may unintentionally have a negative or positive effect on their viewer. It is important to assess the types of designed messages being communicated to different age groups. This thesis study focuses on single-page, printed promotional advertisements specifically created to market a product or a service to a Senior demographic, people aged 65 and over. This thesis defines responsibilities for marketers and designers when creating promotional messages for an older market audience. These responsibilities are articulated as a result of careful analysis of research in graphic design, marketing and Senior demographics. The analysis prompts re-design of existing promotional strategies and led to a design application of an original advertising strategy to promote the value of a beneficial product. The strategies used in this application focus on specific language and design decisions that can be most effective to the diverse market of senior individuals.


Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. This study evaluated the relationship between CAN and recurrent CVD in type 2 diabetes. A total of 206 patients with type 2 diabetes who had a history of CVD within 3 years of enrollment were consecutively recruited from January 2001 to December 2009 and followed-up until December 2015. Cardiovascular autonomic function tests were performed using the following heart rate variability parameters: expiration-to-inspiration ratio, response to Valsalva maneuver and standing. We estimated the recurrence of CVD events during the follow-up period. A total of 159 (77.2%) of the 206 patients enrolled completed the follow up, and 78 (49.1%) patients had recurrent episodes of CVD, with an incidence rate of 75.6 per 1,000 patient-years. The mean age and diabetes duration were 62.5 ± 8.7 and 9.2 ± 6.9 years, respectively. Patients who developed recurrent CVD also exhibited hypertension (P = 0.004), diabetic nephropathy (P = 0.012), higher mean systolic blood pressure (P = 0.006), urinary albumin excretion (P = 0.015), and mean triglyceride level (P = 0.035) than did patients without recurrent CVD. Multivariable Cox hazard regression analysis revealed that definite CAN was significantly associated with an increased risk of recurrent CVD (hazard ratio [HR] 3.03; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39−6.60; P = 0.005). Definite CAN was an independent predictor for recurrent CVD in patients with type 2 diabetes who had a known prior CVD event.


Complex Point Source (CPS) method provides a powerful mathematical tool to represent a beam. A CPS is a solution of the Helmholtz wave equation obtained by the analytical continuation of the free-space Green's function for complex position of the point source. Its paraxial approximation leads to a Gaussian Beam field. In this paper, the total field in the space surrounding a flat large reflector illuminated by a CPS is given in terms of a line integration along the analytical continuation, into the complex space, of the edge boundary discontinuities. By this continuation the incremental contributions become beams that exhibit an intrinsic directivity. Furthermore, the incremental contributions are regular and continuous at any observation aspect. This feature leads to increase the numerical efficiency of the integration process. The formulation is very simple and leads to accurate results, except for grazing angle of incidence and observation, where higher order diffraction mechanisms have to be considered. The presented formulation is successfully validated by comparison against the solution obtained by the Incremental Theory of Diffraction for CPS illumination previously developed [1], in which the integration process is performed along the real actual edge discontinuities, where the incremental contributions present a spherical wave behaviour.


Abstract The academic, socioemotional, and health impacts of school policies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have been a source of many questions that require accurate information about the extent of onsite schooling occurring. This article investigates school operational status datasets during the pandemic, comparing (1) self-report data collected nationally on the household level through a Facebook-based survey, (2) county-level school policy data, and (3) a school-level closure status dataset based on phone GPS tracking. The percentage of any onsite instruction within states and counties are compared across datasets from December 2020 to May 2021. Sources were relatively consistent at the state level and for large counties, but key differences were revealed between units of measurement, showing differences between policy and household decisions surrounding children's schooling experiences. The consistency levels across sources support the usage of each of the school policy sources to answer questions about the educational experiences, factors, and impacts related to K-12 education across the nation during the pandemic, but it remains vital to think critically as to which unit of measurement is most relevant to targeted research questions.


Indonesia is a rich country that has plenty of tourism sites which becomes the main attraction for traveller. The recreational trip can be done alone or in groups with or without using a traveling agencies. For people who are beginners at visiting tourist site, of course, have to dig deeper into the information about the recreational places. This can be a problem for tourists, especially for those who visited a certain area for first time. To minimize these problem, nearest recreational location searching can provide assistance to traveller in finding the required information and choose a recreational object to be visited. The recreation guide application provides the output of the distance between two objects. Tourism site used in this study is the tourism site of Samarinda city. There are 13 tourism sites, which divided into three types of recreation, the outdoor recreation, artificial recreation, and recreational buildings. The method used to search the nearest recreational location based on the user's location is Haversine method. The results of this research is to help the user to find the nearest tourism site to the location of the user and rank the locations by distance.


Sparse-data problems are common, and approaches are needed to evaluate the sensitivity of parameter estimates based on sparse data. We propose a Bayesian approach that uses weakly informative priors to quantify sensitivity of parameters to sparse data. The weakly informative prior is based on accumulated evidence regarding the expected magnitude of relationships using relative measures of disease association. We illustrate the use of weakly informative priors with an example of the association of lifetime alcohol consumption and head and neck cancer. When data are sparse and the observed information is weak, a weakly informative prior will shrink parameter estimates toward the prior mean. Additionally, the example shows that when data are not sparse and the observed information is not weak, a weakly informative prior is not influential. Advancements in implementation of Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation make this sensitivity analysis easily accessible to the practicing epidemiologist.


BACKGROUND
The objective of this study was to assess the role of a modified stair climbing test in predicting postoperative cardiopulmonary complications.

METHODS
A consecutive series of 150 patients who had undergone pulmonary resection for lung carcinoma formed the prospective database of this study. All patients performed a preoperative modified stair climbing test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify predictors of postoperative cardiopulmonary complications.

RESULTS
With univariate analysis, the patients with complications had a lower pre-exercise and postexercise percentage of oxygen saturation. PaO (2) levels were found to be lower and a greater change in oxygen desaturation during exercise was noted. Logistic regression analysis showed that the percent of oxygen saturation pre-exercise and the change in percent of oxygen desaturation during exercise were independent and reliable predictors of cardiopulmonary morbidity.

CONCLUSIONS
A modified stair climbing test is a safe, economical and simple test capable of predicting cardiopulmonary complications.


Currently, about 13% of the population ages 21-64 have a disability in the United States and approximately 1.7 million of people use a wheelchair for their mobility needs. Additionally, over 100,000 individuals in the United States use an electric-powered wheelchairs and the use of power wheelchairs has been associated with increased opportunities to participate in society for individuals with mobility disabilities. While assistive devices have facilitated participation, barriers still exist. Approximately 30% of individuals with disabilities reported facing difficulties in accessing transportation compared to 10% of individuals without disabilities and transportation was reported as the most significant barrier related to their work environment. Furthermore, the national employment rate for individuals with disabilities age 21-64 is roughly 38% while the rate of individuals without disabilities is about 80%.The main objective of this study was to collect data from individuals who use power wheelchairs or scooters. Data were collected and analyzed on variables of transportation barriers, employment, community integration, and health related quality of life. One hundred and two individuals consented to participate in this study. Significant correlations were found between health related quality of life and community integration scores (Community Integration Questionnaire). Individuals who are employed have a significantly better HRQoL than individuals who are unemployed. No significant differences were found on the basis of self-reported transportation difficulties.Employment rates for persons who use power wheelchairs are related to the individual's health related quality of life. While previous research has shown that independent transportation is essential to employment for persons with disabilities, this study has shown that individuals who do not experience self-reported transportation difficulties have no difference in employment rates than individuals who experience transportation difficulties.


Eco-environmental evaluation is a prerequisite for balancing the relationship between coal resource recovery and eco-environmental protection. This paper divides the eco-environment system in coal mining area into 5 subsystems regarding geomorphology, climate, hydrology, land and vegetation, and human activity. Within the 5 subsystems, 13 indicators capable of reflecting eco-environment levels of coal mine fields are selected, weighed using genetic projection pursuit model, and applied to eco-environmental quality evaluation. Based on this, the spatial feature of the quality is analysed using spatial autocorrelation method, recognising the areas that need managements. Factors driving the eco-environment characteristics of coal mines are identified using geographic detector. The feasibility of the developed evaluation system is verified with Ibei Coalfield as a case. The results show that Ibei Coalfield sees a spatially heterogeneous eco-environment pattern. Geographic detector can quantify the impact of various indicators on ecological environment, and the indicator is of stronger interpretation ability as interacting with others. It is also indicated that mining area eco-environment is nonlinearly correlated to impact indicators. The spatial autocorrelation analysis suggests three areas that should be treated strategically, that are the management area, close attention area and protective area. This paper can provide scientific references for mining area eco-environmental protection, which is significant for the sustainability of coal mine projects.


This paper presents yields of Golgi-rich membrane isolation, the activity of galactosyltransferase (GalT), the marker enzyme of Golgi apparatus as well as the morphology of the organelle from the livers in situ, in two groups of rats. One group consisted of control rats injected twice intraperitoneally with LEPK. Second group consisted of rats injected with LEPK and additionally after 24hrs given streptozotocin (SZ) to induce experimental diabetes. The results were compared with our previous investigations in control and diabetic rats. In the latter the activity of GalT was diminished, therefore diminishing glycosylation ability, and destructing Golgi apparatus morphology. This experiment shows that two-fold injection of LEPK prior to SZ does not prevent from changes in such biochemical parameters as free blood glucose level, yield of liver Golgi membranes isolation or total activity of GalT. For the first time in c. 30% of investigated rats the inactive enzyme of Golgi apparatus was found in the rats treated with LEPK+SZ. Morphological investigations of liver Golgi apparatus in rats treated with LEPK show slightly increased secretory activity with similar to untreated control rats morphological structure of this organelle. In the rats treated with LEPK and SZ the same morphological changes as in diabetic liver were found, however, such dramatic alterations as in SZ-diabetic rats were never found, irrespective of active or inactive GalT.


Purpose: To evaluate the effect of laser panretinal photocoagulation for bilateral proliferative diabetic retinopathy on vision-related quality of life. Methods: In this prospective study, 20 patients (12 men and 8 women) with bilateral proliferative diabetic retinopathy treated with panretinal photocoagulation were included (mean age: 65 years, SD: 11.6 years). On average, patients received 2,140 laser spots per eye. The National Eye Institute 25-Item Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) was used to evaluate patients' vision-related quality of life. The VFQ-25 was filled in by interview twice, at the beginning and at least 1 month after the completion of panretinal photocoagulation. Comparison of preoperative and postoperative VFQ-25 composite and subscale scores was performed. Correlation was evaluated between change in composite score and treatment intensity as indicated by mean number in laser spots. Results: Mean composite score before laser treatment was 71.9 ± 14.8 and after treatment it was 70.6 ± 17.2 (P = 0.748, paired t-test). None of the subscale scores had a statistically significant difference before and after treatment. Composite score change was not correlated with treatment intensity. Conclusion: Panretinal photocoagulation as applied in our study, although destructive in nature, is well tolerated by the patients, without interfering significantly with their quality of life.


This paper draws the attention of the academic community, businessmen, worker associations/unions, and public decision makers to the relation between preventing psychosocial risks for private security workers in El Salvador, and the respect for their worker rights as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic, the Labor Code, and the General Law for the Prevention of Risk at the Workplace. It addresses the doctrine and legal framework of psychosocial risk, and government responsibility in terms of occupational security and health –specifically, the intervention of work inspections by the Ministry of Labor, and verifying psychosocial risks. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/rpsp.v4i1.1557


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For displacement measuring, non-contacting measurement is not only an important development direction, but also an objective demand of productive practice. A non-contacting magnetic coupling displacement sensor based on fiber Bragg grating, FBG, sensing technology is researched in the paper, which combines advantages of FBG sensor with ones of magnetic measuring methods such as flame protection, remote monitoring, oil corrupt, work in dust-laden atmosphere. So it is hopeful that remote and non-contacting measurement for displacement is carried out in flammable, combustible, dust-laden and high oil corrupt atmosphere. Its sensing principle is, two pieces of flat cylinder-shaped permanent magnet are linked by soft magnetic material to form an U-type probe, thus a closed magnetic circuit is formed from this U-type probe and the measured moving object, by which the transferring relation between the gap and magnetic field force can be established, and then by means of a planar circular sheet the magnetic coupling force can be converted into the sensing FBG axial strain, thus the central wavelength of the FBG sensor will shift and the displacement of measured moving object can be obtained by detecting the shift. Some experiments are done to research its static and dynamic performance. The results indicate that this non-contact displacement cell is a nonlinear sensor, but after being processed piecewise, its output can be considered approximately linear within a little displacement. It has good dynamic frequency response characteristics and the maximum response frequency is about 50Hz, and moreover, the problem about temperature compensation in dynamic measuring process can be settled well by using a disposal way that the difference between wave top and wave trough is defined as a sensing signal. So it is feasible for the sensor to monitor axial or radial vibration of such high-speed rotary machines.


Background—Many individuals with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia have difficulty achieving control of all 3 conditions. We assessed the incidence and duration of simultaneous control of hyperglycemia, blood pressure, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients from 2 health care systems in Colorado. Methods and Results—We performed a retrospective cohort study of adults at Denver Health and Kaiser Permanente Colorado with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia from 2000 through 2008. Over a median of 4.0 and 4.4 years, 16% and 30% of individuals at Denver Health and Kaiser Permanente achieved the primary outcome (simultaneous control with a glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) <7.0%, blood pressure <130/80 mm Hg, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol <100 mg/dL), respectively. With less strict goals (HbA1c <8.0%, blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol <130 mg/dL), 44% and 70% of individuals at Denver Health and Kaiser Permanente achieved simultaneous control. Sociodemographic characteristics (increasing age, white ethnicity), and the presence of cardiovascular disease or other comorbidities were significantly but not strongly predictive of achieving simultaneous control in multivariable models. Simultaneous control was less likely as severity of the underlying conditions increased, and more likely as medication adherence increased. Conclusions—Simultaneous control of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia was uncommon and generally transient. Less stringent goals had a relatively large effect on the proportion achieving simultaneous control. Individuals who simultaneously achieve multiple treatment goals may provide insight into self-care strategies for individuals with comorbid health conditions.


In this paper an all optical comparator was designed and simulated. The proposed structure works using nonlinear threshold switching that was implemented by application of nonlinear resonant cavities. X and Y are the input ports of the proposed structure using different combination of these input ports one can control that which bias port can be connected to its corresponding output port. O1 is ON when X is ON and Y is OFF, O2 is ON when Y is ON and X is OFF, and O3 is ON when both X and Y have similar states.