Ab s t r Ac t Introduction: Epistaxis is a common symptom in hypertensive patients. However, the relationship between hypertension and epistaxis is controversial and poorly understood. Objective: The present work was to study the histopathological changes underlying recurrent nasal bleedings in the patients with arterial hypertension (AH). Materials and methods: We have undertaken a prospective study based on the university clinic of Rostov-on-Don. Twenty-two hypertensive patients aged between 51 and 63 with recurrent epistaxis underwent surgical interventions due to severely deviated nasal septum hampering the search for the source of bleeding. Simultaneously nasal mucosae biopsies were taken in the bleeding point area. Tissue specimens were subjected to histological and ultrastructural investigations. Results: Histological and ultrastructural investigations of the biopsy samples revealed erythrocytic, hyaline, and fibrin thrombi in the vessels of the microcirculatory system, deendothelization, and destruction of the basement membrane alongside vascular subendothelium exposure. The above-mentioned changes in the nasal cavity mucosa lead to necrosis foci, which are the bleeding points. Conclusion: The cause of the nasal bleeding associated with AH is not a mechanical rupture of blood vessels but thrombosis and necrosis in the nasal mucosa. Clinical significance: Drug hemostatic treatment of hypertensive patients suffering from recurrent epistaxes is counterindicative due to possible serious thromboembolic complications (myocardial infarction, apoplexy, etc.). In case of a severely deviated septum hampering the search for the bleeding vessel, the treatment guidelines should include septoplasty.


The characters of grain filling and flag leaf senescence of rice raised and transplanted by different ways viz. dry-land raised and hand transplanted rice (DHR)?plastic plate raised and throwing rice (PTR) and wet-land raised and hand transplanted rice (WHR) were studied. WHR had the longest active growth day (D) , but it had the lowest mean growth rate ( G m) and initial growth potential ( R 0), flag leaf senescence rate and grain filling were slower in early days, faster in late days, respectively. DHR had the highest R 0 and G m and the shortest D , flag leaf senescence and grains filling were faster in early days, slower in late days, respectively. PTR grain filling parameters value and flag leaf senescence were always in the middle of the two others. There was a good negative correlation between grain filling and flag leaf senescence.


With the advent of the era of cloud computing, the amount of application data increases dramatically, and personalized recommendation technology becomes more and more important. This paper mainly studies the collaborative filtering detection algorithm in the cloud computing environment. The algorithm migrates the collaborative filtering detection technology and applies it to the cloud computing environment. It shortens the recommendation time by using the advantages of clustering. A new recommendation algorithm can improve the accuracy of recommendation, and proposes a parallel collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm based on project. The algorithm is designed with programming model The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has shorter running time and better scalability than the existing parallel algorithm.


When one applies the method of auxiliary sources to scattering problems involving perfect conductors, one first seeks fictitious auxiliary currents located inside the conductor, and then determines the field from these currents. For a simple two-dimensional problem involving an infinite circular cylinder illuminated by an electric current filament, it has recently been shown analytically that it is possible to have divergent auxiliary currents (to make this statement precise, one must properly normalize the currents), together with a convergent field. It was also shown - through numerical investigations - that the aforementioned divergence appears as abnormal, rapid oscillations. In the present paper, we investigate such phenomena in more detail, with particular emphasis on oscillations: For a perfectly conducting ground plane illuminated by an electric current filament, we once again demonstrate the possibility of having divergent, oscillating currents producing a convergent field. We develop an asymptotic formula for the oscillating current values, which sheds light on the nature of the oscillations. We also discuss roundoff errors. The present study is to a great extent analytical, with the analytical predictions confirmed and supplemented by numerical results.


Nanotechnology has gotten to be an fundamental component of pharmaceutical sciences and finds different applications in sedate conveyance frameworks in improving restorative execution of drugs. Numerous of the current "nano" sedate conveyance frameworks are family of customary dose shapes like nanosuspensions, nanoemulsions, and nanomicelles. Nanosuspension is an approach to convey water insoluble and ineffectively bioavailable drugs by diminishing estimate to submicron run. Subsequently its disintegration rate is expanded and thus the bioavailability, where sedate disintegration rate is the constraining calculate. nano details combine the advantage of maximizing restorative benefits with minimized side impacts and progressed security, since they have gigantic potential of being focused on at cellular level. This audit portrays different aspects of nano medicate conveyance frameworks in connection to detailing, characterization, potential benefits and dangers, and pharmaceutical applications in sedate conveyance.


* author for correspondence Abstract Allium decoratum Turginov & Tojibaev is described as new species from Uzbekistan (Central Asia). The distribution area of this species is restricted to Baisuntau moumtains in SW Hissar Range. The new species is close to the type species of subsect. Ligulifolia R.M.Fritsch, but differs from all known species of subsect. Ligulifolia by morphological characters of bulbs and flowers. Also we report 3 Allium species as new records for the territory of Uzbekistan: A. flavellum Vvedensky, A. lutescens Vvedensky and A. viridiflorum Pobedimova.


Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis have been linked to an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome when compared to the general population. This session will review the evidence for the association between psoriatic disease and metabolic syndrome, biologic explanations for the epidemiologic association, and the relevance for clinical practice. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the Western European and United States ranges from 15-35% but has been found to be significantly elevated in patients with psoriasis compared to the general population in several studies. Metabolic syndrome is a combination of disorders that includes obesity, elevated fasting glucose, hypertension, and/or dyslipidemia (low high density lipoprotein and/or high triglycerides). This combination of disorders confers a significantly increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). It is possible that metabolic syndrome partially explains the increased risk of MACE reported in patients with psoriatic disease. The biologic basis for the link between psoriasis and metabolic syndrome is not entirely clear. Both psoriasis and obesity share increased levels of inflammatory cytokines which may promote insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis. Shared genetic susceptibility loci have been identified but their impact is unclear. The individual disorders of metabolic syndrome should be identified and aggressively managed in patients with psoriatic disease. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Cryogenic Permanent Magnet Undulator (CMPU) is capable of achieving high brightness radiation at short wavelengths, by taking advantage of the permanent magnet's enhanced performance at low temperature. A CPMU of period 18 mm (U18) that has been built at Synchrotron SOLEIL is used for the COXINEL project to demonstrate Free Electron Laser (FEL) at 200 nm using a laser plasma acceleration source. Another undulator of period 15 mm (U15) is currently being built to replace U18 undulator for FEL demonstration at 40 nm. A new method is also introduced, using SRWE code, to compute the spectra of the large energy spread beam (few percent) taking into account the variation of the Twiss parameters for each energy slice. The construction of U18 undulator and the magnetic measurements needed for optimization, as well as the mechanical design of U15, are presented.


The rule of law is a principle of constitutional importance under the European Convention on Human Rights. For decades, it has guided the work of the Strasbourg Court. The article discusses the principle's ideological core as a fundamental component of "European public order" and its three normative dimensions, as they find their expression in the case-law of the Court. The author then discusses in detail the rule of law's most important structural principle under the Convention, the independence of the judiciary.


In this paper, a convex-optimization based design method is proposed to solve the near-field beamformer design problem for improving the performance of an MRI system. The aim is to find the minimum number of antennas required for a uniform circular array which is capable of forming a beam with a pre-defined sidelobe attenuation level for an arbitrary focal point within a given circular scanning area. The minimax criterian (minimizing the maximum response at the sidelobe region) is employed in the design. Design examples have shown that the proposed method can solve the problem successfully.


INTRODUCTION
Chronic radiation cystitis (CRC) can develop between 6 months and 20 years after radiation therapy that presents with symptoms of urinary frequency, urgency, bladder pain, and nocturia. Amniotic membrane (AM) is known to contain pro-regenerative properties and could thereby be a potential therapeutic modality for radiation-induced tissue injury of the bladder.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
CRC patients recalcitrant to previous treatments received amniotic bladder therapy (ABT) comprised of intra-detrusor injections of 100 mg micronized AM (Clarix Flo) diluted in 10 mL 0.9% preservative-free sodium chloride. Clinical evaluation and questionnaires (Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Index (ICSI), Interstitial Cystitis Problem Index (ICPI), Bladder Pain/ Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Score (BPIC-SS), Overactive Bladder (OAB) Assessment Tool, and SF-12 Health Survey) were repeated at preop and 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks post-injection.

RESULTS
Five consecutive female patients aged 64.4 ± 20.1 years with a median CRC disease duration of 10 years were included. After ABT, BPIC-SS scores improved from baseline to 12 weeks (36.6 ± 1.1 to 12.6 ± 3.1) and this was associated with an improvement in ICSI, ICPI, OAB, and SF-12 scores. One patient had an acute urinary tract infection at 2 weeks but was successfully treated with oral antibiotics. No other adverse events related to micronized AM injections were observed. Uroflow assessments showed increases in voided volume for all five patients.

CONCLUSIONS
This data provides additional evidence for the potential benefit of ABT in patients with chronic inflammatory conditions of bladder such as CRC.


Hydatidosis is a zoonosis produced by a parasite, Echinococcus granulosus, of high prevalence in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and the south of Brazil, producing high losses for cattle raising and for health systems. Man acts as a host for the metacestode and is infected when ingesting fertile eggs adhering to the anus or hair of parasitized dogs or by ingestion of vegetables or water polluted with canine feces. Major epidemiological risk factors are: to slaughter sheep in the household, to cohabit with a great number of dogs during the first years of life, to have a history of hydatidosis cases in the family nucleus, to use non-potable water and to be in contact with parasitized dogs. It has been estimated that over 2000 new human cases are reported every year in the region, with rates of incidence ranging from 41 per 100,000 in the Patagonian region in southern Argentina, 80 per 100,000 in the XI Region of Chile, up to 100 x 100,000 in the Flores Department of Uruguay. Successful programs based on systematic canine deparasitation with praziquantel have been developed in Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, with diverse organization models. Traditionally, cystic echinococcosis has been regarded as a disease requiring surgical resolution. However, during the last years alternative methods have been developed including chemotherapeutic treatment with albendazol and minimally invasive surgical procedures such as echo-assisted puncture (PAIR). The Ministers of Agriculture and Health attending the XII RIMSA approved Resolution RIMSA12.R7 requesting the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to strengthen cooperative actions and coordination among countries and their institutions in matters related to hydatidosis control and prevention. In implementing this directive, the PAHO through the Program of Veterinary Public Health and its specialized center, the Pan American Center of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (PANAFTOSA), initiated actions to consolidate efforts carried out throughout the continent for hydatidosis control, establishing the mechanisms of collaboration among countries that have been developing control actions and drawing up a strategy of joint action aimed to strengthen and to support the actions \\ overall thrust.


Cardiolipin (CL) optimizes diverse mitochondrial processes, including oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). To function properly, CL needs to be unsaturated, which requires the acyltransferase Tafazzin (TAZ). Loss-of-function mutations in the TAZ gene are responsible for the Barth syndrome (BTHS), a rare X-linked cardiomyopathy, presumably because of a diminished OXPHOS capacity. Herein we show that a partial inhibition of cytosolic protein synthesis, either chemically with the use of cycloheximide or by specific genetic mutations, fully restores biogenesis and the activity of the oxidative phosphorylation system in a yeast BTHS model (taz1Δ). Interestingly, the defaults in CL were not suppressed, indicating that they are not primarily responsible for the OXPHOS deficiency in taz1Δ yeast. Low concentrations of cycloheximide in the picomolar range were beneficial to TAZ-deficient HeLa cells, as evidenced by the recovery of a good proliferative capacity. These findings reveal that a diminished capacity of CL remodeling deficient cells to preserve protein homeostasis is likely an important factor contributing to the pathogenesis of BTHS. This in turn, identifies cytosolic translation as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of this disease.


The last decades in the communication and IT industry have been influenced by the introduction of numerous new business actors and technological systems. They have brought with them a wide variety of business actors operating on different levels of the value chain, or together in complex value constellations. Old platform specific standards have started to fade away, and new platforms with more streamlined layers have appeared. These new platforms are part of the Next Generation Network (NGN). Services of this network utilize a number of service enablers. The new service platforms deliver services to the end user as a set of service portfolios. The new NGN communication and IT services are heterogeneous in two ways; technologically and business-wise. Technologically, they consist of pervasive and ubiquitous services, run by heterogeneous and distributed service platforms. Business-wise, multiple business actors with a variety of business models cooperate to produce the services. Valuation of these new heterogeneous NGN communication and IT services has proved to be challenging. Forecasting of demand and acceptance is difficult due to limited historical experience. The interacting business actors and their variety of business actors also bring with them conflicts of interest. In addition to the challenge of getting their technical systems to work together, they have to agree on a revenue share agreement to share the revenue from the co-produced services. The purpose of this thesis has been to perform a business analysis of a communication and IT service portfolio, with an emphasis on business actor positions and incentives. To make well informed investment decision regarding such service portfolios, it is vital to valuate the projects quantitatively. To account for and compare different business situations and market development, scenarios are used. These scenarios need to describe business actor relations and strategies. This thesis proposes a quantitative model framework (CF model) for the analysis of a communication and IT service portfolio. The model is based on the work of Langoygard (2006) and Zoric & Lassen (2005). Relevant technical and economic theory is researched to provide a sound background for the model. Two new aspects are included in the model; bargaining power and revenue share. The model developed evaluates a content provisioning portfolio, where the bargaining power of the content providers is important to the outcome of the project. This bargaining power is important because it decides the price of the service enablers provided by the content providers. The revenue share agreement is important because it decides each business actor's share of the revenue from the services sold, and because it affects the incentives of all business actors. A proof-of-concept test is conducted to test the functionality of the model and to investigate the profitability of the service portfolio subject to valuation. The test shows that the model functions as intended, accounting for aspects such as user acceptance, demand, market development, and the relation between business actors. The results from the model suggest that the valuated service portfolio is profitable to all business actors for most of the market developments. The results also show that the content providers are better off when their concentration is low and when they have built up barriers to entry by participating in the service platform cooperation. This is because these factors increase their bargaining power and enables them to charge a higher mark up over marginal cost. This higher mark up more than outweighs the costs of participating in the service platform. The model results also show that a solution acceptable to most business actors can be reached with most of the scenarios. The scenarios include a net present value threshold for some business actors to account for strategic considerations. The new revenue share functionality has to redistribute the revenue in some of the original solutions to reach a feasible solution. Furthermore, the new revenue share functionality is shown to align the incentives of the participating business actors.


Using a counterbalanced, randomized treatment design, 12 elementary school-aged children read under two conditions: (a) independent, silent reading; and (b) computer-assisted reading, via Kurzweil 3000. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed no significant difference in the composite mean for comprehension and reading rate scores based on presentation strategy. Computerized text presentation (via auditory and visual means) proved no more effective than traditional reading instruction for teacher-nominated weak readers in improving reading rate and comprehension. However, a trend was noted for slower readers to show increased reading rate as a function of computer-assisted reading, with the opposite result for faster readers. Overall, results indicate that for students reading material at their instructional level, computer-assisted reading did not improve comprehension. Future research should continue to focus on the role of technology as an aid to reading instruction.


The Straits of Messina and its surroundings are considered one of the most tectonically active areas of the Mediterranean; however, in spite of their hazard potential, modern geophysical data aimed at investigating the tectonic structures occurring in the marine areas are lacking. In order to bridge this gap, we carried out a multichannel seismic survey aimed at studying: i) the existence of the Taormina Fault, which many authors locate along the coast between Taormina and Messina; ii) the regional fault pattern in the area of the Messina 1908 earthquake; and iii) the instability offshore of Mt. Etna. Preliminary results show that the whole sector of the submarine slope located between Taormina and Messina has been tilted eastwards and that there is no Taormina Fault cutting the Quaternary sediments. On the other hand, the best-imaged active fault occurs on the Calabrian side of the Messina Straits. This NW-SE-trending fault is about 20 km long and dips westwards with a low-angle. Finally, a large submarine slide, longer than 10 km and thicker than 400 m, has been found offshore Mt. Etna.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Conventional X-ray angiography lacks the sensitivity and spatial resolution needed to detect small amounts of iodinated contrast material and to quantitate diameters of the small vessels in the brain. The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether digitized synchrotron radiation microangiography, with the use of a high-definition TV camera system, can accurately show small cerebral vessels.

METHODS
Six anesthetized dogs were exposed to monochromatic synchrotron radiation with an energy level of 33.3 keV optimized for iodine detection while iodinated contrast material was injected into the brachiocephalic and vertebral arteries. The images were detected with a high-definition TV camera system with a spatial resolution of 30 microm. In all, 26 cerebral angiograms of the circle of Willis with its branches were obtained, and the images were digitized at a workstation.

RESULTS
The small branches of the circle of Willis were clearly visible on all images. Vasodilatation of the circle of Willis and its large and small branches induced by CO2 inhalation was quantitatively confirmed on the images: for example, the diameter of one small branch was increased from 0.24 +/- 0.04 mm to 0.38 +/- 0.12 mm. Temporal subtraction improved the image quality.

CONCLUSION
The synchrotron radiation angiographic system is useful for visualizing large and small vessels deep in the brain as well as for quantitating their diameters.


Second-order intermodulation is a great drawback in zero-intermediate frequency (IF) receivers. Many complex techniques for distortion cancelling have been proposed in the literature. In this study, the authors propose a simple architectural solution for second-order intermodulation intercept point (IIP2) improvement and also theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the high rejection level abilities. To determine its performance, a classical in-phase and quadrature (IQ) demodulator was also designed and used as a reference. In order to compare their non-linear behaviour in the presence of interfering signals, two types of zero-IF demodulators were tested in this work in terms of error vector magnitude and bit error rate. This study shows that by using the three-phase architecture it is possible to gain 20 dB in blocking effect rejection in comparison to the classical IQ architecture.


OBJECTIVE
To preserve the organs and function of the anus and ureter, radiotherapy was chosen for an advanced vulvar tumor originating from Bartholin's gland.

METHODS
The patient was a 74-year-old female with stage III (FIGO) vulvar cancer derived from the left Bartholin's gland. She received 63 Gy to the vulvar lesion with external beam irradiation followed by 30 Gy of high-dose-rate interstitial brachytherapy.

RESULTS
One year after radiotherapy, simple vulvectomy and reconstructive surgery were performed. The anal and ureteral functions were preserved. Histological examination revealed no evident malignant cells.

CONCLUSION
Owing to the technological development of radiotherapy and improved reconstructive surgery, radiotherapy in treatment of the vulvar area has become effective and safe and could be indicated more as a treatment option for the sake of organ preservation.


M any financial time-series show leptokurtic behavior, i.e., fat tails. Such tail behavior is important for risk management. In this paper I focus on the calculation of Value-at-Risk (VaR) as a downside-risk measure for optimal asset portfolios. Using a framework centered around the Student t distribution, I explicitly allow for a discrepancy between the fat-tailedness of the true distribution of asset returns and that of the distribution used by the investment manager. As a result, numbers for the over-estimation or under-estimation of the true VaR of a given portfolio can be computed. These numbers are used to rank several well-known estimation methods for determining the unknown parameters of the distribution of asset returns. Minimizing the absolute (percentage) mismatch between the nominal and actual or true VaR leads to the choice of a Gaussian maximum quasi-likelihood estimator, i.e., a least-squares type estimator. The maximum likelihood estimator has a less satisfactory behavior. Outlier robust estimators perform even worse if the required confidence level for the VaR is high. An explanation for these results is provided.


Positioning is an important tool of marketing strategic planning and of a brand building process. Brand positioning development incorporates analyses and definition of four major elements - target consumer (target group), consumer benefit, brand image and competitive frame of reference. All elements of positioning are interconnected and all of them are influenced by selection of target consumer. The article is concentrated on major steps of identification of the target consumer as a part of brand positioning strategy development. It demonstrates application of the theoretical attitude of segmentation on practical example of Bosch home appliances brand. Summary contains comparison of theory and practical case of segmentation and targeting process as a part of brand positioning development.


A low inductance, triggered spark gap switch suitable for a high-current fast discharge system has been developed. The details of the design and fabrication of this pressurized spark gap, which uses only commonly available materials are described. A transverse discharge Blumlein-driven N2 laser incorporating this device gives a peak output power of 700 kW with a FWHM of 3 ns and an efficiency of 0.51%, which is remarkably high for a pulsed nitrogen laser system.


We analyze the consistence between the recently proposed "spin 3/2 gauge" interaction for the Delta resonance with nucleons and pions, and the fundamental electromagnetic gauge invariance in any radiative amplitude. Chiral symmetric pion-derivative pi N Delta couplings can be substituted through a linear transformation to get Delta-derivative ones, which have the property of decoupling the 1/2 field components of the Delta propagator. Nevertheless, the electromagnetic gauge invariance introduced through minimal substitution in all derivatives, can only be fulfilled at a given order n without destroying the spin 3/2 one by dropping n+1 order terms within an effective field theory (EFT) framework with a defined power counting. In addition, we show that the Ward identity for the gamma Delta gamma vertex cannot be fulfilled with a trimmed 3/2 propagator, which should be necessary in order to keep the spin 3/2 gauge symmetry in the radiative case for the gamma Delta gamma amplitude. Finally, it is shown that radiative corrections of the spin 3/2 gauge strong vertexes at one loop, reintroduce the conventional interaction.


A fiber surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is widely used in high-sensitivity refractive index measurement, but there is less research on curvature measurement. In this paper, a single-mode fiber curvature sensor based on SPR is designed and fabricated. By employing bending, the transmitted light in the fiber core leaks into the cladding. A 50 nm gold film is coated outside the cladding, and the evanescent field of the cladding after bending contacts the gold film to cause SPR. When the curvature changes, the coupled cladding mode and intensity are different; that is, the SPR incident angle and evanescent field intensity are different, so as to realize the dual parameters of SPR resonance wavelength and depth of the resonance valley changing with curvature. By experiments, the influence of different cutoff wavelengths of single-mode fiber on the performance of the sensor is studied. The testing results indicate that with the decrease in cutoff wavelength of the single-mode fiber, the valley depth sensitivity of the sensor increases, and the half height width (FWHM) decreases. When the cutoff wavelength of the single-mode fiber is 630 nm, the valley depth sensitivity of the sensor is 0.0088a.u/m-1, the wavelength sensitivity is 0.26nm/m-1, and the average FWHM is only 21 nm. The proposed single-mode fiber curvature sensor based on SPR has a narrow FWHM and an opening threshold. It can also realize no opening threshold by introducing a coreless fiber, which provides a new solution, to the best of our knowledge, for the diversified detection of fiber SPR sensors.


– This is Part 4 of a tutorial series on Term Vector Theory. An introduction to several local weight models is presented.


The goal of this article is to summarize current brain research on intelligence and creativity that may be relevant to education in the near future. Five issues are addressed: (a) Why is there a neuroscience interest in intelligence? (b) Can intelligence be located in the brain? (c) Why are some brains smarter than others? (d) What do we know about creativity and the brain? and (e) Can information about an individual's brain structure and function be useful to benefit his or her education? As we enter the 21st century, old controversies about measurement of intelligence are less relevant. Integrating neuroscience findings into education practices is a daunting challenge that will require educators to reexamine old ideas and acquire fundamental backgrounds in new areas.


Microwave irradiation of ketosemicarbazones on wet silica supported sodium bismuthate under environmentally benign solvent-free condition provides a fast, efficient and simple method for regeneration of ketones in good yields.


The main aim of management of insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM) is to prevent the acute as well as the long term complications, Recent studies suggest that IDDM in children is associated with significantly reduced bone mass density (BMD) values which may manifest as osteopenia in the growing bone. We hereby report three cases of IDDM males who were found to have low BMD and review the literature concerned with this issue. Case 1: Eighteen years old, Kuwaiti boy known to have IDDM for last 8 years. His serum glucose is fairly well controlled with 9% HbA1C. Case 2: Eighteen years old, Kuwaiti boy known to have IDDM for last 5 years. His serum glucose is well controlled with 7% HbA1C. Case 3: Nineteen years old, Kuwaiti boy known to have IDDM for last 10 years. His serum glucose is poorly controlled with 12% HbA1C. BMD was measured due to their complain of bone ache. The lumbar spine Z-scores BMD was significantly lower at the vertebrae (osteopenic range) than those of healthy population at the same age. Conclusion & recommendation Young males with type 1 diabetes exhibit significantly lower BMD values at the vertebrae which may be manifested as osteopenia in the growing bone. This may not be a late complication of type 1 diabetes and seems not to be related to the duration of the disease or to glycemic control. Therefore we recommend bone density scan for all young males with type-1- diabetes to measure BMD and try to prevent diabetic osteopenia through therapeutic intervention.


Abstract Appropriate antiemetic prophylaxis for moderately emetogenic chemotherapy in patients with non-round cell soft-tissue sarcomas (NRC-STS) remains unclear. We retrospectively investigated efficacy and safety of aprepitant-combined antiemetic prophylaxis in patients with NRC-STS receiving adriamycin plus ifosfamide (AI) therapy. Forty NRC-STS patients were enrolled, their median age was 50 years (range 18–74), and 13 (32.5%) were female. Median cycle number of AI therapy was 4. Twenty patients received the doublet antiemetic prophylaxis (5-hydroxytryptamine-3 receptor antagonist and dexamethasone), and 20 received triplet (5-hydroxytryptamine-3 receptor antagonist, dexamethasone, and aprepitant). In the overall period, complete response rate for nausea and emesis in the triplet group was significantly higher than that in the doublet group (70% vs 35%; P = 0.027). Patients with no-emesis in the overall period were more frequently observed in the triplet group than in the doublet group (90% vs 65%; P = 0.058). All toxicities other than emesis were almost equivalent in both the groups. These results suggest that a triplet antiemetic prophylaxis may be optimal in the treatment with AI therapy for NRC-STS.


Several lines of evidence suggest that programmed cell death may play a role in the aging process and the age-related functional declines of multicellular organisms. To pave the way for the use of Drosophila to rigorously test this hypothesis in a genetic model organism, this work examines the pattern of apoptosis in the adult fly during aging. The analysis across the lifespan of caspase activity and DNA fragmentation shows that apoptosis occurs in adult flies at all ages and that it is linked to physiological age. The results establish that under normal conditions, fly aging is coupled with a lifelong gradual increase of apoptosis within muscle cells and an activation of apoptosis in fat cells of old flies. The nervous system does not show signs of apoptosis. These time- and tissue-specific changes indicate that aging influences the levels and the nature of the cells that commit to apoptosis. The comparison with the apoptotic response to starvation and oxidative stresses strongly suggests that the lifelong increase in flight and leg muscles results from the accumulation of oxidative damage associated with aging. This finding presents an attractive mechanism to account for the decline of locomotor functions and muscle loss in the elderly and opens the way for the genetic analysis of sarcopenia in Drosophila.


This article is a conceptual co-exploration of the relationship between philosophy and childism. It draws upon a colloquium in December 2021 at the Childism Institute at Rutgers University. Nine co-authors lay out and interweave scholarly imaginations to collectively explore the concept of childism in critical philosophical depth. Through diverse entry points, the co-authors bring a wide range of theoretical perspectives to this task, some engaging the term childism explicitly in their work, others approaching it anew. The result is an extended conversation about the possibilities for deconstructing ingrained historical adultism and reconstructing social norms and structures in response to what is marginalized in the experiences of children. Our own conclusion, having initiated this dialogue, is that we have learned to think about childism with greater plurality, that is, as childisms.


Flooding is a condition where water is not accommodated or the flow of water is obstructed in the sewer, so that it overflows to inundate the surrounding area. The area around the ditch on Purnama Street (the estuary of the Kapuas River) is affected by tides and the intensity and duration of rainfall. This study aims to simulate the flood model that occurred in the Purnama Street area. Data analysis was carried out using HEC-RAS software as a tool for modeling drainage flow. The research was conducted during no rain conditions, 5 and 10 year return periods of rain and the highest and lowest tidal conditions. The flood model simulations were carried out from Demang Ditch to the Lower Kapuas River. The results of the modeling using HEC-RAS show that the drainage channel from the Kapuas River to Purnama Street does not experience inundation/flooding, but in the area of Purnama Street to Demang Ditch during the 5 and 10 year return period rains and the highest tides experience inundation/flooding. which reaches the highway.


This paper analyzes the use of capital flow measures in emerging markets. Drawing on a specially compiled new database of capital flow measures, it establishes that policy makers in emerging market economies do not use capital flow measures as an active tool at business cycle frequency. While there is a general trend toward the liberalization of capital accounts, the use of capital flow measures as a countercyclical policy tool is rather sporadic. Instead, countries show a distinct preference for using monetary policy, exchange rate adjustments, macro prudential measures, and adjustments in external reserves to modulate the impacts of domestic business cycles, international liquidity cycles, and shocks to capital flows. Regulation of different kinds of capital flows -- resident and nonresident flows; inflows and outflows; and foreign direct investment, portfolio, and banking sector flows -- is changed infrequently and is acyclical to domestic business and external liquidity cycles.


Introduction/Background L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM), a transmembrane protein of the immunoglobulin family that has been implicated in promoting cancer cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and metastasis, has been established as an important predictor of poor survival of early-stage endometrial cancer patients. We aimed to investigate whether L1CAM remains significant predictor of poor survival of the patients with endometrial cancer undergoing extensive surgical staging and adjuvant chemotherapy in this retrospective analysis. Methodology We prepared tissue microarray (TMA) from surgical tissue specimens of 185 endometrial cancer patients who underwent full lymphadenectomy combined with adjuvant chemotherapy for patients at risk for recurrence, and evaluated expression of L1CAM by immunohistochemistry (IHC). L1CAM positivity was correlated with clinicopathological factors and its prognostic significance was investigated by multivariate analysis using Cox regression model. Results Among 169 cases with over three years of follow-up period (median 95 months, 5–186 months), 53 cases (31.4%) showed positivity of L1CAM. L1CAM positivity was significantly correlated with non-endometrioid histology (p<0.0001), carcinosarcoma (p=0.0008), positive cytology (p=0.005), and p53 positivity (p<0.0001). L1CAM positive patients showed higher recurrent rate(15/53 (28.30%) vs 16/116 (13.79%), p=0.0277) and frequency of distant failure (11/14 (78.57%) vs 5/16 (31.25%), p=0.0361) than L1CAM negative patients. L1CAM positivity was a significant predictor of poor survival among advanced-stage patients (5-year OS; 49.0% vs 87.8%, p=0.0008, PFS; 35.7% vs 75.6%, p=0.0026), but not early-stage patients (5-year OS; 100% vs 98.7%, p=0.3456, PFS; 83.2% vs 93.3% p=0.2112). Multivariate analysis revealed that surgical stage and L1CAM positivity were independent predictors of poor survival. OS can be stratified into three groups by the combination of stage and L1CAM positivity. Conclusion L1CAM is an independent predictor of poor survival of Japanese patients with advanced-stage endometrial cancer undergoing full lymphadenectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy. New treatment strategy should be developed for L1CAM positive patients with endometrial cancer. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.


In this paper, we discuss the fabrication and initial testing of a bulk micromachined single axis accelerometer. The accelerometer is designed to have a full scale range of and a sensitivity of . Three distinctly different dice are fabricated during the process and are subsequently assembled using an alloy bonding technique. Electrical contacts are made between layers during the bonding operation. The accelerometer is controlled by electrostatic force plates above and below the proof mass. The lower electrode has a dual role. In operation, it provides a necessary control electrode. When not in operation, it is used to immobilize the proof mass.


We explore the relationship between group-based egalitarianism and empathy for members of advantaged groups (e.g., corporate executives; state officials) versus disadvantaged groups (e.g., blue-collar workers; schoolteachers) subjected to harmful actions, events, or policies. Whereas previous research suggests that anti-egalitarians (vs. egalitarians) dispositionally exhibit less empathy for others, we propose that this relationship depends on the target's position in the social hierarchy. We examined this question across eight studies (N = 3,154) conducted in the U.S. and the U.K., including online and in-person experiments and examining attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. We observed that (anti-)egalitarianism negatively predicted empathy for members of disadvantaged groups subjected to harmful situations, but positively predicted empathy for members of advantaged groups. This pattern held regardless of perceivers' own membership in advantaged or disadvantaged groups (i.e., perceiver gender, race, or SES). (Anti-)egalitarianism's differential effects on empathy for advantaged versus disadvantaged targets were attributable in part to differences in perceived degree of harm incurred (beyond roles for perceived value conflict and perceived deservingness): Egalitarians perceived the same action as more harmful than anti-egalitarians when it occurred to a disadvantaged target but less harmful than anti-egalitarians when it occurred to an advantaged target. We also explored how these patterns informed individuals' downstream policy attitudes and policy-relevant behavior (e.g., willingness to sign a petition). Our findings enrich understanding of (anti-)egalitarianism by testing competing perspectives on the link between (anti-)egalitarianism and empathy, and by demonstrating when and why individuals' preferences for social equality (vs. hierarchy) lead them to extend versus withhold empathy.


Numerical circuit parameter extraction is widely used for modeling many kinds of high-frequency structures. In particular, parameter extraction can be used to find the optimal parameter values of an equivalent circuit model to match as close as possible a given target response. This paper presents a novel objective function formulation for parameter extraction based on the Kullback-Leibler distance. A rigorous graphical and numerical comparison of the proposed new formulation against classical l-th norm formulations is included. One- and two-dimensional synthetic examples are used to illustrate the advantages of the proposed Kullback-Leibler distance formulation. Our results indicate that the proposed new formulation yields similar or better-behaved parameter extraction objective functions than those obtained from l-th norm formulations.


The teaching–learning-based optimization algorithm (TLBO) is an efficient optimizer. However, it has several shortcomings such as premature convergence and stagnation at local optima. In this paper, the strengthened teaching–learning-based optimization algorithm (STLBO) is proposed to enhance the basic TLBO's exploration and exploitation properties by introducing three strengthening mechanisms: the linear increasing teaching factor, the elite system composed of new teacher and class leader, and the Cauchy mutation. Subsequently, seven variants of STLBO are designed based on the combined deployment of the three improved mechanisms. Performance of the novel STLBOs is evaluated by implementing them on thirteen numerical optimization tasks. The results show that STLBO7 is at the top of the list, significantly better than the original TLBO. Moreover, the remaining six variants of STLBO also outperform TLBO. Finally, a set of comparisons are implemented between STLBO7 and other advanced optimization techniques. The numerical results and convergence curves prove that STLBO7 clearly outperforms other competitors, has stronger local optimal avoidance, faster convergence speed and higher solution accuracy. All the above manifests that STLBOs has improved the search performance of TLBO. Data Availability Statements: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.


Surface mesh parameterization is a fundamental tool in computer graphics, required for applications like e.g. texture mapping, remeshing and morphing. Linear parameterization methods are of particular interest. Their simplicity, efficiency and robustness, enables the processing of detailed, large meshes. In practice, however, the current linear schemes are limited to producing (quasi-)conformal parameterizations and hence may suffer from considerable distortion e.g. in length and area. We present a novel approach to effectively reduce parametric distortion. Our algorithm is simple, efficient and robust, as it requires only the solution of a sparse linear system. We smoothly adapt an existing quasi-conformal parameterization with respect to different flow quantities such as areas, angles or edge lengths. Our adaptive strategy offers a flexible means for controlling distortion based on error equidistribution. We show how this method can be extended from the planar setting to spherical parameterizations, a problem which recently attracted a lot of interest.


An Escherichia coli plasmid, pLGV23neo, carrying a kanamycin resistance gene expressed in plant cells, was encapsulated into negatively charged liposomes prepared by the reverse phase evaporation technique. These liposomes were induced to fuse with tobacco mesophyll protoplasts by polyethyleneglycol treatment. Kanamycin‐resistant clones were reproducibly isolated from transfected cultures at an average frequency of 4 X 10(‐5). Plants regenerated from these resistant colonies were confirmed to be transformed according to three criteria. Protoplasts isolated from their leaves were resistant to 100 micrograms/ml kanamycin. The enzyme aminoglycoside 3′‐phosphotransferase II encoded by the plasmid pLGV23neo was detected in leaf extracts. Approximately 3‐5 copies of the gene encoding for kanamycin resistance were inserted in the genome of at least one of the studied transformants. The restriction pattern of inserted DNA was best explained by assuming a tandem integration of the pPLGV23neo sequences, implying an homologous recombination event between these sequences during transformation. Kanamycin resistance was transmitted as a single dominant nuclear marker to the progeny of resistant plants after selfing or cross‐pollination with the wild‐type.


: Acyl fluorides are important reagents in organic synthesis due to their unique balance between reactivity and stability. Here, we report a copper-catalyzed carbonylative coupling strategy to synthesize acyl fluorides under photoirradiation. Various alkyl halides were transformed in high yields into corresponding acyl fluorides by using a commercially available copper catalyst (CuBr·SMe 2 ) and a readily available fluoride salt (KF) at room temperature and mild CO pressure (6 atm) under blue light irradiation. A radical fluorocarbonylation mechanism is proposed based on experimental data.


GC–MS analysis of fresh rhizome essential oil of Zingiber officinale showed the presence of 69 components, accounting for 96.93% of the total oil. The major component was α-zingiberene (28.62%) followed by camphene (9.32%), ar-curcumene (9.09%) and β-phellandrene (7.97%). Analysis of the oleoresin showed the presence of 34 components, accounting for 88.63% of the total oleoresin. The major components were trans-6-shogaol (26.23%), trans-10-shogaol (13.0%), α-zingiberene (9.66%) and 10-gingerdione (6.80%). Moreover, the essential oil was found to be 100% antifungal against Fusarium oxysporum, whereas the oleoresin was 100% antifungal against Aspergillus niger. The latter expressed better antioxidant activity in sunflower oil as compared to the essential oil and synthetic antioxidants (BHA and BHT). Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The operation of graphene-based nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) crucially depends on the local mechanical characteristics of the graphene drum resonator. In particular, inhomogeneity in the residual strain (pre-strain) of the graphene membrane may affect the vibration dynamics as well as the energy dissipation. Despite its importance, achieving a precise local mapping of the pre-strain of a graphene membrane remains challenging. Here, we correlate scanning-probe force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy to map the local mechanical properties of circular monolayer-graphene drums. At odds with other techniques, we obtain maps of the membrane pre-strain with nanometric resolution and measure the effective Young's modulus in a non-invasive way. Moreover, we show that the common topographic artefacts stemming from tip-induced deformations can be precisely corrected using the information derived from force-spectroscopy data. As a result, the local map of the pre-strain can be correlated with the true morphology of the graphene drum. Our analysis demonstrates that graphene resonators can be characterized by a non-flat morphology and a non-uniform pre-strain distribution, as a consequence of complex boundary conditions at the edge of the membrane and in correlation with local material defects. Since these non-ideal features are strictly related to the growth and the fabrication procedures, our method can provide a useful screening tool for the development of 2D materials-based NEMSs.


Aim We analysed latitudinal range, centres of distribution and northern range boundaries of dragonflies and damselflies occurring in Europe and North America with respect to larval habitat (standing water ¼ lentic and running water ¼ lotic). As lentic water bodies are thought to be less predictable in space and time than lotic habitats, species adapted to standing waters depend on effective dispersal ability for long-term survival. If species occurring in lentic habitats have a higher propensity for dispersal, then larger range sizes in lentic than in lotic species, as well as an increase in the proportion of lentic species with latitude, would be expected.


In recent years, place attachment, and its non-economic approach to assessing the value of places, has gained acceptance in the natural resource management field. Managers and planners have begun to recognize the concept of place attachment as a tool for understanding resource conflicts and identifying key stakeholders. To further advance the knowledge of place attachment as a potential resource management tool, the authors examined attitudes and preferences of river users in two river environments in Canyonlands National Park. The purpose of the study was to investigate the potential utility of place attachment as a way to help understand how people identify themselves with outdoor natural settings, as well as to investigate the implications of such research for land management resource professionals Emotional/symbolic and functional place attachments were measured on the Green and Colorado Rivers within the park's boundaries. Although the two rivers represent very different recreational settings, it was possible to document both types of attachment by using 12 place attachment statements. Based on respondents' agreement with the place attachment statements and their rating of specific experiences, as well as their support for potential management actions, river users on the Green and Colorado Rivers demonstrated different motives for taking a river trip as well as different levels of support for specific management actions. Results suggest that this analysis provides another useful variable for segmenting visitors with respect to their preferences and attitudes concerning recreation settings. Concerning visitor tolerance for encountering other river users, comparisons also were made between visitors with high and low levels of agreement with place attachment statements to determine the existence of differences as related to encounter norms. For each day of their river trip, study participants were asked to record the maximum acceptable number, preferable number, maximum number of watercraft they could see before they would consider not visiting the river again, and the maximum number of watercraft for which the National Park Service should have managed for them to see. Based on their level of agreement with both emotional/symbolic and functional attachment statements, respondents demonstrated significant differences in tolerances for encountering other watercraft, regardless of how the encounter question was asked. Results indicate that applying different management strategies on the Green and Colorado Rivers within Canyonlands National Park may be an effective approach to providing quality recreation opportunities for visitors with varying degrees of attachment to the resource. In addition, implementation of a resource management framework that recognizes the potential value of managing a particular resource to provide more than one type of recreation opportunity could help prevent the displacement of Green River visitors seeking a feeling of solitude in a minimally developed setting.


In the current study we described initial standardization steps of a new methodology to detect anti-live Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis promastigote antibodies by flow cytometry, followed by analysis of its applicability to clinical studies. We have studied 39 individuals with positive conventional serology to leishmaniasis, classified according to the absence/presence of cutaneous lesions (L- and L+). The results were expressed as percentage of positive fluorescent parasites (PPFP). Data analysis at dilution of 1:1,024, allowed the distinction of 95% of L+ patients as a group of high reactivity (PPFP>50%) and 72% of L- individuals as a group of low reactivity (PPFP<50%). The analysis of immunofluorescence assay titers did not show any relationship with the absence/presence of lesion. Together, our data support the applicability of flow cytometry to identify cases of active infection, which has not been possible through conventional serological reactions.


Due to the continuous improvement of productivity, the transportation demand of freight volume is also increasing. It is difficult to organize freight transportation efficiently when the freight volume is quite large. Therefore, predicting the total amount of goods transported is essential in order to ensure efficient and orderly transportation. Aiming at optimizing the forecast of freight volume, this paper predicts the freight volume in Xi'an based on the Gray GM (1, 1) model and Markov forecasting model. Firstly, the Gray GM (1, 1) model is established based on related freight volume data of Xi'an from 2000 to 2008. Then, the corresponding time sequence and expression of restore value of Xi'an freight volume can be attained by determining parameters, so as to obtain the gray forecast values of Xi'an's freight volume from 2009 to 2013. In combination with the Markov chain process, the random sequence state is divided into three categories. By determining the state transition probability matrix, the probability value of the sequence in each state and the predicted median value corresponding to each state can be obtained. Finally, the revised predicted values of the freight volume based on the Gray–Markov forecasting model in Xi'an from 2009 to 2013 are calculated. It is proved in theory and practice that the Gray–Markov forecasting model has high accuracy and can provide relevant policy bases for the traffic management department of Xi'an.


In Reply.— The law mandating participation in CME as a prerequisite for relicensure was not primarily instituted to end the well-established policy of lifelong relicensure but as an attempt to ensure competent physicians and thus stem the malpractice crisis. Malpractice insurance was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, and the Michigan legislature was being asked to intervene by developing an insurance program for physicians. As one part of the program, mandatory CME was implemented in the hope that it would improve the practice of physicians and reduce malpractice claims. Physicians knew of the existence of the proposed law but were not able to influence it appreciably because of their weak bargaining position. In addition, the considerable educational expertise available in the state was not used in the development of this legislation, and serious problems in implementation occurred. Whether the 39% of physicians who increased their participation in CME is a large


Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is a novel topic in the software engineering and languages communities. AOP appears to have the potential to significantly improve the reliability of programs, particularly by modularizing error-handling policies and allowing for easier maintenance and better reuse. In this article, we introduce AspectJ, the first AOP language, and demonstrate how you can use it to construct more reliable software.


Supply chain management (SCM) is fundamental for gaining financial, environmental and social benefits in the supply chain industry. However, traditional SCM mechanisms usually suffer from a wide scope of issues such as lack of information sharing, long delays for data retrieval, and unreliability in product tracing. Recent advances in blockchain technology show great potential to tackle these issues due to its salient features including immutability, transparency, and decentralization. Although there are some proof-of-concept studies and surveys on blockchain-based SCM from the perspective of logistics, the underlying technical challenges are not clearly identified. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive analysis of potential opportunities, new requirements, and principles of designing blockchain-based SCM systems. We summarize and discuss four crucial technical challenges in terms of scalability, throughput, access control, data retrieval and review the promising solutions. Finally, a case study of designing blockchain-based food traceability system is reported to provide more insights on how to tackle these technical challenges in practice.


Aim: This study aims to evaluate the results of the patients with hepatoblastoma who underwent resection or liver transplantation. Material and Methods: The patients referred to our clinic for liver transplantation due to un-resectable hepatoblastoma were included in the study. They were evaluated according to demographic findings, alpha feto-protein level, the surgery type, and clinical results. Results: Between 2006 and 2020, 32 patients with hepatoblastoma were investigated among all liver transplant patients. All patients have been referred to us because of unresectable hepatoblastoma. Twenty-five patients underwent liver transplantation, and the other seven underwent hepatic resection without transplantation. The donor preparation has been done for all patients, including the resection group. The overall survival rate was 76% for transplant patients and 71.4% for resection patients. Conclusions: LT is an important surgical solution in patients with unresectable hepato- blastoma. In the state of requiring extended resection, preparing a donor simultaneously provides surgical options during the surgery.


6.5-wt.% SiFe filaments having almost zero magnetostriction were obtained using an in-rotating-water-spinning method. It was found that the filament diameter and the structure of as-cast filaments are affected by processing conditions such as spinneret diameter and throughput. In the case of filaments with diameters less than about 90 mu m, the primary dendrite arms oriented toward the direction of the filament length can be observed in place of the polycrystalline structure. High-temperature heat treatment causes the filaments with the oriented dendrite structure to change to the single-crystalline structure. The single-crystalline structure filaments were found to have superb ductility and excellent magnetic properties such as rectangular hysteresis loop with large Barkhausen effect, low coercive force, and high saturation magnetic flux density in the case of DC magnetization. The discontinuous motion of the magnetic domain wall was also observed for the single-crystalline filaments. >


An analysis of computer literacy curricula around the middle of the 1980s shows a remarkable overall shift away from teaching computing to teaching applications, information handling, and problem-solving. Computer use is no longer viewed as a goal in itself, but is introduced as a powerful means of fulfilling information needs and of facilitating learning and other instructional tasks. Some recent developments raise the question as to whether separate courses in computer literacy are still needed, or whether computer literacy goals could be better attained in other ways. Two interesting new lines of thinking can be observed. The first implies the integration of computer literacy goals with traditional educational goals by promoting the abandonment of separate computer literacy courses for the instrumental use of computers in existing courses. The second development, now being discussed in the Netherlands, can be characterized as a mixed approach, in which the more general computer literacy goals are realized via traditional subject matter courses, while more specific information handling goals are addressed in short separate courses. Both approaches are discussed, and links are established to The Computer in Education study of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in order to provide a context for interpreting some of the study's results. (22 references) (Author/GL)


The change of living pattern into permissive, open, highly-mobile life style, as well as the high risk of anarchistic actions, requires the establishment of steady education system which is capable ofresponding the demanding challenge. Islamic education in particular, is forced to constantly adapt to the existing phenomena arising in society. Based on this consideration, Islamic education curriculum has found its moment to be carefully redesigned as an inclusive, down to earth curriculum promoted as a picture of peaceful tolerant Islam, endlessly sholih li kullizamanwamakan.


Rabies remains an enigmatic and widely discussed global infectious disease and causes an increasing number of deaths. The currently used highly effective prophylactic and post exposure (p.e.) vaccination depends solely upon inexpensive, effective and safe vaccines to counteract the spread of the disease. In this study, the potential of an attenuated Chinese rabies vaccine (SRV9) strain in prophylactic and p.e. vaccination against the street strain of rabies virus (RV) was evaluated in mice. Prophylactic vaccination consisting of one intramuscular (i.m.) dose of SRV9 protected 100% of mice from intracerebral (i.c.) challenge with a lethal dose of the street virus. The latter was detected in the brain of mice at day 6 post challenge by RT-PCR. Post exposure vaccination was performed at days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 post infection (p.i.) with either SRV9 or inactivated rabies vaccine. The survival rates after i.m. inoculation of SRV9 at the indicated days were 70%, 50%, 30%, 20%, 10%, and 0%, respectively; the corresponding survival rates for the inactivated rabies vaccine were 30%, 20%, 10%, 0%, 0%, and 0%, respectively. However, 100%, 90%, 70%, 50%, 20%, 10%, and 10% of mice survived after i.c. inoculation of SRV9 at the indicated days. The increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier and the infiltration of CD19+ B cells into the central nervous system after i.c. inoculation of SRV9 are regarded as prerequisites for the clearance of the street virus. The obtained data suggest that SRV9 is a promising candidate for prophylactic and p.e. vaccination against rabies infection and that it exhibits a potential for the control of rabies in China.


In this study, the authors explore a joint cross-layer optimised routing and dynamic power allocation for intermittently connected deep space backbone layer in deep space information networks via predictable contacts. First, the authors build up the payoff function and state dynamics based on differential game theory via two defined cost function paradigms. Then they establish a general differential game model for dynamic power allocation by the associated payoff function and state dynamics, and further propose the theoretical results of dynamic power allocation in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner. To describe the routing metric, they introduce the concept of hybrid link homeostasis which illustrates the connection between the predictable contact and the transmitted power along the corresponding backbone link. In addition, they propose a polynomial time algorithm of cross-layer optimised routing, which realises joint routing selection, transmitted power allocation and predictable contact schedule simultaneously. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the authors proposed joint cross-layer optimised routing and dynamic power allocation.


Municipalities are facing increasing challenges regarding management and disposal of solid waste. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of municipal biowaste enables waste reduction and biogas production that can be utilized as a renewable source of energy for heat and power generation. Anaerobic co-digestion (AnCoD) enhances the performance of conventional mono-digestion. The mixing ratio of the feedstocks is an important criterion in AnCoD design which is typically determined based on the optimum carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio within the range of 25-30 or COD:N ratio in the range of 50-140. However, literature has shown contradictory results for the optimum C:N and COD:N ratios.Therefore, the main objective of this study was to primarily investigate the influence of the mixing ratio of the feedstocks including thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS), manure and source separated organics (SSO) on improving biomethane production and introducing a new methodology for optimizing the mixing ratio in AnCoD based on the lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates contents as the three main compounds existing in biowaste. The hydrolysis/acidification performance in AnCoD of manure, TWAS and SSO individually and in different combinations was also investigated. This study has introduced an empirical model to explain the relationship between the biomethane production and lipids: proteins: carbohydrates ratio of the feedstocks in anaerobic co-digestion of TWAS, manure and SSO. Among the binary ad ternary combinations, the ternary co-digestion of TWAS/manure/ SSO at the mixing ratio of 2:4:4 and lipids: proteins: carbohydrates ratio of 1:3:12 resulted in the maximum ultimate methane production. The maximum methane yield of 363 ml CH4/g COD added corresponded to co-digestion of manure/SSO at the mixing ratio of 7:3. The maximum hydrolysis rate corresponded to the co-digestion of TWAS/manure at the ratio of 9:1. Overall, the best performance in both hydrolysis and methanogenesis was achieved by the co-digestion of TWAS with SSO at the ratio of 3:7 as well as TWAS/manure/SSO at the ratio of 2:4:4 compared to other feedstock mixes. It was observed that the proposed second order polynomial model could describe the relationship between biomethane production and lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates content of the feedstock.


One of the major concerns when moving to Clouds is data confidentiality. Nevertheless, more and more applications are outsourced to a public or private Cloud. In general, the usage of virtualization is acknowledged as an isolation mechanism between applications running on shared resources. But, as previously shown, virtualization does not ensure data security. Indeed, the isolation can be broken due to covert channels existing in both the software and the hardware (e.g., Improperly virtualized caches). Furthermore, even if a perfect control mechanism could be design, it would not protect against covert channels as they bypass control mechanism using legal means. In this paper, we first describe how these attacks are working. Next, after presenting the existing mitigation mechanisms, we show that a good solution is to take into account security while allocating resources (i.e., When placing the VMs). Furthermore, depending on which resources are shared, we demonstrate that the achievable bit rate of these attacks can change dramatically. We propose a new metric to quantify them and use it as an acceptable risk for isolation properties. Then, we show how to use them when allocating resources and the importance of a fine-grained resource allocation mechanism. Finally, we demonstrate that a security-oblivious placement algorithm breaks a fair amount of properties but taking into account the isolation impacts the acceptance rate (i.e., The percentage of successfully placed VMs).


Yersinia enterocolitica infection presents a wide clinical spectrum; in infants and young children it usually presents as uncomplicated acute diarrhea, while in older children and adolescents it more frequently presents as terminal ileitis and/or mesenteric adenitis. We describe two infants who developed terminal ileitis complicating Y. enterocolitica infection, which is exceptionally rare. The clinical, laboratory and radiologic findings are described and ultrasound study is emphasized as a simple and reliable tool for investigation of terminal ileitis.


A patient with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) involving skin, digit, esophagus, and lung developed the nephrotic syndrome and rapidly progressive renal insufficiency. Renal pathology revealed capillary collapse, cellular crescents, arteriolar hyaline deposition, and mesangial proliferation. On immunofluorescence IgM, C3, and fibrinogen were present in mesangium and capillary walls. Prebiopsy coagulation screening revealed a factor X deficiency which caused substantial prolongation of the partial thromboplastin time without an overt bleeding diathesis. The acquired factor X deficiency resolved after fresh frozen plasma and vitamin K administration, although some spontaneous improvement was noted. Nephrotic syndrome may occasionally be seen in the acute fulminant form of PSS and should not deter diagnosis of PSS.


Abstract Sheehan's syndrome, also called Simmond's syndrome, postpartum apoplexy, postpartum pituitary necrosis, and postpartum panhypopituitary syndrome, is the name given to postpartum hypopituitarism. The syndrome is caused by an infarction in the adenohypophysis, usually precipitated by massive uterine haemorrhage and hypovolemic shock during or after childbirth. Extensive destruction of pituitary cells results in varying degree of hypopituitarism. Acute loss of adenohypophysis function can be fatal without glucocorticoid and thyroid replacement therapy and survivors will require life time hormonal replacement therapy. Most cases present in the postpartum period with lactation failure or after months to years after the delivery. In many affected women, anterior pituitary dysfunction is not diagnosed for many years. Dyselectrolytemia is one of a common presentation in Sheehan's syndrome. Herein, we report a case of a 35-year old female with a history of obstetric hysterectomy 2 years ago in view of severe postpartum haemorrhage with history of failure of lactation and three episodes of syncope since last 1½ years and now presented with polymorphic ventricular tachycardia which required DC cardioversion. She was referred as a case of long QT syndrome. On investigating further, she had hypokalaemia secondary to hypopituitarism due to Sheehan's syndrome.


In this paper, an adaptive distributed space-time block code (ADSTBC) with linear decoding complexity is proposed. Within a group of candidate minimum-decoding-complexity quasi-orthogonal STBC (MDC-QO-STBC) codewords obtained by changing the row order of a basic one, the codeword that has minimum absolute value of interference between real symbols (IRS) in its equivalent channel correlation matrix is optimal and adopted by ADSTBC. In addition, for the optimal codeword's IRS absolute value is small enough to be ignored, linear decoding can achieve the performance of single complex symbol maximum-likelihood decoding, which is employed by MDC-QO-STBC, thus the decoding complexity is significantly reduced. The simulation results when the cooperative relays number is 4 and 3 both show the superiority of ASTBC over the normal DSTBC in the block error ratio performance and decoding complexity as well.


The role of the radiation pressure of an intense laser beam in the formation of proton and carbon spectra from thin foils is discussed. The data presented suggests that, in competition with the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration mechanism, the onset of the Light Sail (LS) region of Radiation Pressure Acceleration can be obtained for suitably thin targets at currently available laser intensities,. The spectral features and their scaling with the laser and target parameters are consistent with the scenario of Light Sail (LS) acceleration.


Recently we have reported the direct observation of two-dimensional (2D) Ca-Cl crystals on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) membranes, in which the calcium ions are only about monovalent (i.e. ~+1) and metallic rather than insulating properties are displayed by those CaCl crystals. Here, we report the experimental observation and demonstration of the formation of graphene-Ca-Cl heterojunction owing to the metallicity of 2D Ca-Cl crystals, unexpected piezoelectric effect, room-temperature ferromagnetism, as well as the distinct hydrogen storage and release capability of the Ca-Cl crystals in rGO membranes. Theoretical studies show that the formation of those abnormal crystals is attributed to the strong cation-pi interactions of the Ca2+ with the aromatic rings in the graphitic surfaces. Since strong cation-pi interactions also exist between other metal ions (such as Mg2+, Fe2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Cr2+ and Pb2+) and graphitic surfaces, similar 2D crystals with abnormal valence state of the metal cations and corresponding abnormal properties as well as novel applications are highly expected. Those findings further show the realistically potential applications of such abnormal CaCl material with unusual electronic properties in designing novel transistors and magnetic devices, hydrogen storage, catalyzer, high-performance conducting electrodes and sensors, with a size down to atomic scale.


Communities of software practice are increasingly playing a central role in the development, operation, maintenance, and evolution of good-quality software, as well as DevOps pipelines, lean Organizations and Global Software Development. However, the structures and characteristics behind such communities are still unknown. For this reason, in this paper, we tried to explore the organizational secret of communities, trying to offer a few practical extracts of (1) what we know and is known, (2) what we know to be unknown, and (3) what we know to be tentatively discoverable in the near future from an empirical research point of view. Moreover, the paper provides a number of recommendations for practitioners to help and be helped in their community endeavors.


Resorption of the root can be either internal or external and may manifest in the form of perforations on the middle third of the root surface. These resorptions may have undesirable sequelae such a gingival inflammation, periodontal destruction and bone resorption. Numerous materials have been tested to treat such lesions in the past. The present case makes use of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and a periodontal flap for the management of external root resorption. With the success of treatment and desirable outcomes at follow-up appointments, MTA proved to be an effective and viable material of choice.


Foodborne disease is a significant global health problem, with low- and middle-income countries disproportionately affected. Given that most fresh animal and vegetable foods in LMICs are bought in informal food systems, much the burden of foodborne disease in LMIC is also linked to informal markets. Developing estimates of the national burden of foodborne disease and attribution to specific food products will inform decision-makers about the size of the problem and motivate action to mitigate risks and prevent illness. This study provides estimates for the burden of foodborne disease caused by selected hazards in two African countries (Burkina Faso and Ethiopia) and attribution to specific foods. Country-specific estimates of the burden of disease in 2010 for Campylobacter spp., enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Shiga-toxin producing E. coli and non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica were obtained from WHO and updated to 2017 using data from the Global Burden of Disease study. Attribution data obtained from WHO were complemented with a dedicated Structured Expert Judgement study to estimate the burden attributable to specific foods. Monte Carlo simulation methods were used to propagate uncertainty. The burden of foodborne disease in the two countries in 2010 was largely similar to the burden in the region except for higher mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to Salmonella in Burkina Faso. In both countries, Campylobacter caused the largest number of cases, while Salmonella caused the largest number of deaths and DALYs. In Burkina Faso, the burden of Campylobacter and ETEC increased from 2010 to 2017, while the burden of Salmonella decreased. In Ethiopia, the burden of all hazards decreased. Mortality decreased relative to incidence in both countries. In both countries, the burden of poultry meat (in DALYs) was larger than the burden of vegetables. In Ethiopia, the burdens of beef and dairy were similar, and somewhat lower than the burden of vegetables. The burden of foodborne disease by the selected pathogens and foods in both countries was substantial. Uncertainty distributions around the estimates spanned several orders of magnitude. This reflects data limitations, as well as variability in the transmission and burden of foodborne disease associated with the pathogens considered.


Viruses evade the innate immune response by suppressing the production or activity of cytokines such as type I interferons (IFNs). Here we report the discovery of a novel mechanism by which the SARS-CoV-2 virus co-opts an intrinsic cellular machinery to suppress the production of the key immunostimulatory cytokine IFN-β. We reveal that the SARS-CoV-2 encoded Non-Structural Protein 2 (NSP2) directly interacts with the cellular GIGYF2 protein. This interaction enhances the binding of GIGYF2 to the mRNA cap-binding protein 4EHP, thereby repressing the translation of the Ifnb1 mRNA. Depletion of GIGYF2 or 4EHP significantly enhances IFN-β production, leading to reduced viral infection. Our findings reveal a new target for rescuing the antiviral innate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and other RNA viruses.


We study quantum systems with Thue-Morse kicked Hamiltonians. Very simple and effective algorithms for the numerical computation of autocorrelation functions, polarization fluctuations and decaying properties of Fourier amplitude intensity are presented. We study in detail the case of a two-level system which has interest per se; on account of the numerical results we conjecture that generically this system has a singular continuous-like dynamical evolution.


Blending homogenized swine carcasses with liquid swine manure raises concerns of pathogen survival in liquid
manure that could pose a public and/or animal health hazard. The research objective was to determine the effects of cold
temperature on the survival of selected pathogenic indicator organisms in liquid/frozen manure/carcass mixtures. Piglet
carcasses were homogenized and inoculated with T1 coliphage and Salmonella anatum. This mixture of carcass and
pathogenic indicator organisms was added to liquid manure to represent 0, 2, 4, or 6% of the total dry matter. Liquid manure
after inoculation was stored outdoors in Minnesota from 22 January through 29 June. Detectable levels of T1 coliphage were
present in samples collected 81 days after inoculation for the 2, 4, and 6% treatments. However, coliphage levels returned
to those of the control treatment by Day 95 for all treatments. Fifty percent of the samples were positive for S. anatum on
Day 95 for the 2 and 4% treatments while 100% of samples collected from the 6% treatment were positive for S. anatum. By
Day 109, S. anatum could not be detected in any samples. T1 coliphage and S. anatum can survive in liquid swine manure
containing ground piglet carcass for up to 95 and 109 days, respectively when stored in cold environmental temperatures
(<10.C). The ability of these organisms to overwinter suggests that soil could become infected with pathogens when slurry
is applied to cropland in the spring. Once the manure temperature exceeded 15.C, the die–off rates dramatically increased.
It is clear that the pathogenic indicator organisms in this study survived over winter. Presumably, other pathogenic organisms
could also overwinter in liquid manure containing ground piglet carcass. The ability of these pathogens that overwinter in
manure to cause infection in target species is presently unclear.


This paper aims at showing the result of the research on the variety of religious reading materials and religious orientation based on religious reading materials of Islamic Education (Pendidikan Agama Islam/PAI) teachers in Bandar Lampung. Religious reading materials is one of the sources of knowledge being read by Islamic Education teachers as an effort to improve the quality of their knowledge. Utilizing mixed methods with psychology of religion approach and discourse analysis, this study aims to know the variety that PAI high school teachers in Bandar Lampung for the enrichment of teaching contents at schools and to find the linkages between religious reading materials with the religious orientation of PAI teachers in Bandar Lampung. The findings of this research show that the orientation of PAI high school teachers in Bandar Lampung was more categorized as intrinsic and a few was categorized as extrinsic. Based on the religious reading materials of PAI high school teachers in Bandar Lampung, the teachers who are categorized as intrinsic are more varied in terms of topics and authors compared to the teachers who are categorized as extrinsic.


Difficulties in designing multi-party contract signing (MPCS) protocols include providing concise and efficient protocols and at the same time keeping the protocols fair and abuse-free. This paper proposed an optimistic MPCS protocol. The number of rounds is reduced to two and the message transmission number to O(n2), which is the best known so far. Formal definitions of fairness and abuse-freeness are presented in the strand space model, and formal analysis shows that fairness and abuse-freeness are satisfied in the protocol.


Generally speaking, the application of ergonomics approaches by participants focuses on analyzing and redesigning workstations and production lines. These approaches facilitate the implementation of solutions, and are worthwhile in cases where a limited number of workstations present MSI risk factors and the problem is well-defined. Very often, however, the station-by-station approach does not allow companies to deal with systemic dysfunctions, where several workstations have to be taken into account at the same time. We have therefore developed a diagnostic procedure for dealing with generalized problems within companies. This procedure was tested in a sports equipment manufacturing company. The project was carried out with a view to offering the company guidance in terms of the actions it should take to prevent MSIs and improve productivity.


Worldwide, there are a multiplicity of parallel activities being undertaken in developing international standards, regulations and individual organisational policies related to AI and its trustworthiness characteristics. The current lack of mappings between these activities presents the danger of a highly fragmented global landscape emerging in AI trustworthiness. This could present society, government and industry with competing standards, regulations and organisational practices that will then serve to undermine rather than build trust in AI. This chapter presents a simple ontology that can be used for checking the consistency and overlap of concepts from different standards, regulations and policies. The concepts in this ontology are grounded in an overview of AI standardisation currently being undertaken in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 and identifies its project to define an AI management system standard (AIMS or ISO/IEC WD 42001) as the starting point for establishing conceptual mapping between different initiatives. We propose a minimal, high level ontology for the support of conceptual mapping between different documents and show in the first instance how this can help map out the overlaps and gaps between and among SC 42 standards currently under development.


Background: Schizophrenia is a brain disease that resulted in persistent and serious psychotic behavior, concrete thinking, and difficulty in information processing, interpersonal relationships as well as difficulties in solving problems. The circumstances giving its own emotional distress, emotional level that arise as a reaction to the stressor may vary, one of anxiety. The family with family member suffering from schizophrenia often feel anxiety in the face of a family member suffering from schizophrenia. Objective: The purpose of this research is to determine the level of anxiety the family of schizophrenia patients in Puskesmas Gamping I Sleman 2015. Method: This research is descriptive quantitative. The sampling technique used is consecutive sampling with 41 respondents. Data obtained from the questionnaires about anxiety response. Results: The results showed that most respondents (80.49%) had mild anxiety and a small proportion of respondents (19.51%) who experienced anxiety being counted and no respondents who experienced severe anxiety and panic. Conclusion: it can be concluded that the majority of families with a family member suffering from schizophrenia have mild anxiety.


Orthostatic vasovagal syncope is the sudden loss of consciousness resulting from a temporary impairment of cerebral blood flow, within approximately an hour of standing. Patients who suffer from this problem have "vasovagal syndrome". The purpose of this thesis was to devise a method to detect the syndrome following the assumption of upright position. Data from 106 syncopal patients undergoing head-up tilt table testing (HUT) were acquired, including electrical activity of the heart (electrocardiogram), blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and cerebral perfusion parameters from near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The data set was examined with the aim of generating automatic diagnoses. Comparison of the rate-pressure product (blood pressure multiplied by heart rate) during the time of syncope with a recommended threshold, in addition to comparison with monitoring the fall of systolic blood pressure during prolonged tilt, yielded an 84% accuracy rate for vasovagal syndrome. The thesis reviewed the techniques used on the aforementioned time series by previous researchers, emphasising the concepts underlying "time-frequency analysis", a method for analysing nonstationary signals. Since even healthy patients experience time-varying frequency information in their haemodynamics, a transform known as the Smoothed Pseudo-Wigner Ville Distribution (SPWVD) is well suited to their analysis. This distribution was applied to RR tachograms, plots of heart period against time. After the smoothing parameters of the SPWVD were chosen based on artificial data, the optimised transform was then applied to a second artificial tachogram to calculate the LF/HF (low- to high-frequency) ratio, an indicator of heart rate variability. The computed LF/HF ratio tracked the expected value within an error margin of 3.6%. Finally, by applying the same transform to clinical data, it was proved to offer better resolution than an alternative known as the Lomb periodogram. Classical techniques from the literature predicting vasovagal syncope were found to fail on the current data set: out of 29 tests, only two yielded statistically significant differences between the two patient groups. These were compared with the author's time-frequency analysis of RR tachograms, linear regression of heart rate, and examination of NIRS oscillations and changes on tilt. Of these, the ICFV during time period P3 was found to perform best (negative predictive value: 0.86). A linear classifier was used to combine the best four predictors; it achieved an overall accuracy of 0.88. Following the data-driven approach, an analytical modelling approach was undertaken. In order to define an appropriate model that traded off simplicity with comprehensiveness, the mechanisms of vasovagal syncope were reviewed. A model of orthostasis was developed, validated, and used toward parameter estimation from patient data. Three parameters (baroreceptor operating point, cardiac effectiveness, and baroreflex gain) were gleaned from the supine baseline recording to "normalise" the model for a given patient, before four new parameters (sympathetic and parasympathetic gains at the sino-atrial node, peripheral vasoconstriction gain, and total blood volume) were estimated from the data collected in the upright position. The expectation was that this approach would improve feature extraction (and hence prediction accuracy) as well as the clinical interpretation of the results. However, the modelling approach was found to offer no significant improvement upon the data-driven signal processing results: a linear classifier on the four post-tilt parameters yielded a negative predictive value of just 0.69. This result may have been due to inaccuracies in the time series data owing to instrumentation error. It is also possible that the modelling approach was not able to provide the quality of feature extraction necessary for predicting vasovagal syncope in the elderly. Finally, methods to predict syncope during mid- to late HUT were examined. Using information derived from heart rate and baroreflex sensitivity, a technique was developed to ease patient comfort by terminating the test approximately 2 minutes before syncope was expected to occur.


PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of laparoscopic insemination (LAP) and natural mating (NM) on fertility rate in experimental animal (Ovis Aries Comisana) during the month of June.

METHODS
For the experiment, 97 ewes were used. Laparoscopic insemination was performed with the frozen semen of three different Romanov rams: Laparoscopic insemination I (n = 24); Laparoscopic insemination 2 (n = 26); and laparoscopic insemination 3 (n = 28), and natural mating was performed with two different Ovis Aries Comisana rams with proven fertility: Natural mating I (n = 10); Natural mating 2 (n = 9). Estrus was synchronized with fluorogestone acetate impregnated intravaginal sponges (40 mg, 14 days). Pregnant mare serum gonadotrophin (Folligon, Intervet International) at a dose of 400 UI was given intramuscularly at sponge removal. Artificial insemination was carried out 60 hours after the removal of the sponges in the laparoscopic insemination groups.

RESULTS
The mean pregnancy rate at ecographic diagnosis performed at about 36 days from sponge removal for the laparoscopic insemination and natural mating groups were respectively, 62.8% and 78.9% with no significant difference.

CONCLUSION
The mean fertility rates for the LAP and NM groups were 56.0 and 73.4, respectively, with no significant difference.


This study aims to evaluate critical thinking skills in a multidimensional way. Based on this objective, the level of teachers' critical thinking skills, how they conceptualize critical thinking, their practices of critical thinking in the classroom, and if the critical thinking is referred enough in the curriculum are analyzed in this research. In terms of the research objective, this study is mixed-method: The relational model was used for the quantitative part of the research, and the case study method was used for the qualitative part. The research data was collected in the academic year 2013-2014. The study group from which quantitative data was collected consists of 323 males and 377 females, totaling 700 teachers, and the other study group from which the qualitative data was collected involves 16 teachers working at two primary and two elementary schools.


We have already encountered moral precepts several times. The cited sources present the desired forms of "good" behaviour as divine revelations or orders by Ahura Mazdā, in which Zarathustra emerges as the prototypical recipient of these instructions. Thus, for example, in the Mithra-hymn Ahura Mazdā calls upon Zarathustra never to break contracts (not even those with "bad" people). The divine legitimation is accompanied by the description of Mithra's actions in guarding, punishing and rewarding the desired form of action. As we have seen, the Avestan Vidēvdāt contains several abstract and numerous actual instructions for acting—for example, one has to be generous and not pee too far when urinating (as in Sraosha's conversation with the Lie). Moreover, the text discusses the severity of the respective transgressions against this code of behaviour and prescribes rather detailed and sometimes seemingly quite draconian punishments. The sins committed will be paid for through these punishments. Some misdeeds, however, are seen to be so serious that they cannot be atoned for. For example, while one can escape with 200 whip lashes and 200 scourge lashes for starving a sheep dog, the killing of a sheep dog cannot be atoned for: When the soul of the sinner goes to the hereafter, it will moan like a wolf caught in a pit, but despite its moaning no other soul will come to its help; even the dogs guarding the bridge to the hereafter will not come to help (V. 13, 8–9). The moral and ritual action has direct consequences for the soul's journey to the other world.


Controlling the evolution of nonequilibrium systems to minimize dissipated heat or work is a key goal for designing nanodevices, both in nanotechnology and biology. Progress in computing optimal protocols has thus far been limited to either simple systems or near-equilibrium evolution. Here, we present an approach for computing optimal protocols based on automatic differentiation. Our methodology is applicable to complex systems and multidimensional protocols and is valid arbitrarily far from equilibrium. We validate our method by reproducing theoretical optimal protocols for a Brownian particle in a time-varying harmonic trap. We also compute departures from near-equilibrium behaviour for magnetization reversal on an Ising lattice and for barrier crossing driven by a harmonic trap, which has been used to represent a range of biological processes including biomolecular unfolding reactions. Algorithms based on automatic differentiation outperform the near-equilibrium theory for far-from-equilibrium magnetization reversal and driven barrier crossing. The optimal protocol for crossing an energy landscape barrier of 10kT is found to hasten the approach to, and slow the departure from, the barrier region compared to the near-equilibrium theoretical protocol.


Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to develop a theoretical framework that enables a company to measure the success of an initiative that migrates customers from one channel to another, in order to improve or upgrade the way of handling customer support between the company and its end customers. Methodology: The strategy for this thesis was to carry out an iterative case study - theory-led by explaining the causes of events and processes from the literature, and discovery-led by exploring the key issues in ACTIVE Network"s migration. A theoretical framework was then developed and applied at the company, before the model could be analyzed and recommendations were formulated. Case study: The author performed the case study onsite at ACTIVE Network in San Diego, California, where interviews, observations, questionnaires and documents were collected and analyzed over the course of 4 months.
iv
Conclusion: The developed framework, the Migration Measurement Model, covers the most relevant factors that a support organization needs to consider when measuring the success of a migration to a new communication channel. The model starts with analyzing company characteristics and objectives, which in the case study was proven to be very important for choosing appropriate metrics. By evaluating metrics connected to financial, customer and operational performances, a company can with help from the Migration Measurement Model find the most valuable measurements that can be used to determine the success of a migration, internally and externally. The Migration Measurement Model was applied at ACTIVE Network, leading to recommendations for future improvements at the company.