Objective—To detect the hydroxyapatite component of vascular calcification in vivo so that the process of calcium deposition can be studied in transgenic model systems. Methods and Results—We have previously developed a near-infrared fluorescent bisphosphonate derivative that binds with high affinity and specificity to hydroxyapatite, and an intraoperative near-infrared fluorescence imaging system for small animals. Using these tools, and a transgenic mouse strain with homozygous deletion of the matrix GLA protein (Mgp−/−), we demonstrate that the hydroxyapatite component of vascular calcification can be detected in vivo with high sensitivity, specificity, and resolution. Conclusions—The hydroxyapatite component of vascular calcification can be detected optically, in real-time, without sacrifice of the animal. It is now possible to study the earliest events associated with vascular mineralization, at the cell and organ level, and to monitor the process in living animals.


This thesis studies two different problems regarding financial companies' capital, which is a buffer used to cover unexpected losses. The first problem is related to understanding the capital, in a process called allocation and the second is connected to its management. For the capital allocation problem we follow the Euler principle and develop simulation-based algorithms to efficiently compute the contribution of individual names to the portfolio's overall capital. Although the algorithms proposed in this thesis are general enough to be applied to any portfolio, we focus on the allocation of operational risk and insurance capital. In both cases the algorithms proposed in this thesis are based on Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods. In the context of operational risk we assume annual losses in the business lines are jointly modelled through a copula, and no parameter uncertainty is involved. In this case we are able to use the copula dependence structure to devise efficient algorithms. For the allocation of the one-year reserve risk and the one-year premium risk of insurance companies we develop a novel and fully Bayesian claims reserving model, and discuss how to perform allocations under parameter uncertainty. Further to understanding the company's capital we develop a class of financial instruments to facilitate the transference of operational risks, which would naturally lead to capital reductions. As the annual amount due to operational losses can be extremely large "full insurance coverage" is very expensive, preventing some companies from accessing the insurance market. To circumvent this problem we propose a class of insurance products that last for T years but the policyholder is only allowed to make claims for insurance coverage in k, less or equal to T, years. For some combinations of annual coverage and loss distribution we are able to derive the optimal usage strategy for these products in closed form and for general cases we present an approximation scheme based on density series expansion.


Recently, there has been a surge in interest in safe and robust techniques within reinforcement learning (RL). Current notions of risk in RL fail to capture the potential for systemic failures such as abrupt stoppages from system failures or surpassing of safety thresholds and the appropriate responsive controls in such instances. We propose a novel approach to risk minimisation within RL in which, in addition to taking actions that maximise its expected return, the controller learns a policy that is robust against stoppages due to an adverse event such as an abrupt failure. The results of the paper cover fault-tolerant control in \textit{worst-case scenarios} under random stopping and optimal stopping, all in unknown environments. By demonstrating that the class of problems is represented by a variant of stochastic games, we prove the existence of a solution which is a unique fixed point equilibrium of the game and characterise the optimal controller behaviour. We then introduce a value function approximation algorithm that converges to the solution through simulation in unknown environments.


The major aim of this study was to explore and promote a deeper understanding of the essential contributing factors to body image development in a non-clinical sample of boys, including the roles played by peers, family, and media. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 14 adolescent boys (ranging in age from 10-12 years) who were randomly selected from the participant pool of a larger quantitative study (N = 167) conducted in elementary schools in Berlin, Germany. By using thematic analyses, two major themes were identified: (1) social comparison (including two subthemes: self-improvement and self-enhancement), and (2) internalization (including two subthemes: behavioral and cognitive dimensions). On the basis of these results, a final model of how boys conceptualize body image in early adolescence was elucidated, and can be found in the study.


The Neuroscience considers that the most resilient people maintain greater emotional balance in stress situations, which allows them to better withstand the pressure and, consequently, to experience a greater sense of control and ability to cope with difficult situations. The aim of the cross-sectional study is to analyze the preventive effect of resilience on burnout perceived by Secondary Education teachers. The sample is constituted by 334 teachers of the Province of Huesca. The data collection instruments used are: a) to measure burnout, the adaptation to Spanish (MBI-GS) of Salanova, Schaufeli, Llorens, Peiro, and Grau (2000) and b) resilience is assessed using the CD Resilience Scale. -RISC (Connor and Davidson, 2003). The correlational and factorial analysis of the information collected yields results that confirm that the personal characteristics and the resilience of the person act as preventive variables against the self-perception of symptoms of chronic stress, typical of the burnout syndrome.


IEEE 802.11e has established a new access mechanism called the Hybrid Coordination Function (HCF) as a step toward provisioning Quality of Service (QoS) support in the wireless networks. However IEEE 802.11e scheduler shows poor performance for multimedia traffics. To solve this problem, we propose a Dynamic Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) allocation scheme in providing QoS for multimedia application, which assign the variable length of TXOP to different traffics based on the number of Service Data Units (SDUs) to be transmitted. Through the performance evaluations, we prove that our proposed scheme improves the packet delivery ratio, throughput, and the end-to-end delay.


Background Further understanding of the distribution and changing characteristics of dental diseases is of great signi�cance for all dental emergency centers for strengthening the medical staff's treatment abilities and effective use of emergency resources in the face of public health emergencies involving highly infectious respiratory diseases. Methods The medical records of 4158 cases of dental emergency patients from 2019 to 2020 were retrospectively analyzed, with patients divided into the pre-SARS-COV-2 group and the SARS-COV-2 group, according to the date of their admission to the dental emergency center. The dental emergency patients' demographic data, date and time, diagnoses, and treatment approaches were compared before and during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. Results During the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, the number of dental emergency visits increased by 29.7%. The peak of the number of patients at weekends and at night is not obvious compared with the pre-SARS-COV-2 group. During the pandemic, males (n=286, 58.1%) were more likely to visit dental emergency centers for trauma than females (n=206, 41.9%) (P<0.05); females (n=242, 60.8%) were more likely to visit dental emergency centers for acute gingivitis and acute pericoronitis than males (n=156, 39.2%) (P<0.05). A major change in diagnosis was related to acute pulpitis (K04.0) and acute apical periodontitis (K04.4), which increased by 9.2%; acute gingivitis (K05.0) and acute pericoronitis (K05.2) increased by 3.5%; open wound of the lip and oral cavity (S01.5) decreased by 17.9%; other conditions (non-emergency diseases) increased by 6.8%, compared with the pre-SARS-COV-2 period. Among the treatment modalities, during the pre-SARS-COV-2 period, 304 patients (17.7%) received a prescription for antibiotics and analgesics, and 1485 (86.5%) received a prescription for local treatment. During the SARS-COV-2


Ever since the turn of this century the pathogenetic mechanism of "tennis elbow" has been a controversial issue. The following article briefly describes the varying opinions and then proposes a working hypothesis to explain the unpredictable presentation of lateral forearm pain. The articular mechanics of the elbow joint are described in detail followed by a discussion of intrinsic and extrinsic factors pertinent to tennis elbow. The intent is to logically present a multifactorial syndrome, such as tennis elbow, from the perspective of manual therapy which incorporates a global evaluation of the clinical picture. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1986;8(3):134-142.


After fully clarifying the logical rationale on the mutual causal association between social risk and social trust,and explaining the legitimacy of understanding the development of social trust and social risk by knowledge mapping technique in China in the recent years,we used SPSS and Ucinet to make a related Multidimensional scaling analysis and social network analysis of more than 2000 Chinese literatures in which"social risk"and / or"social trust"acting as part of the title or key words and a similar analysis for counterpart English literatures on Western countries.Through the above-mentioned comparative analysis by SPSS and Ucinet,this paper indicated what the major source,area of occurrence,and type characteristics of social risk and social trust were to the Chinese context.And this paper also demonstrated their difference between China and western developed countries.Accordingly,we pointed out that our government should give priority to the establishment of people's confidence in the political system,to effectively resolve the continued increasing social risk issue by means of the increasing complexity of the whole social system and contribute to future long-term social harmony and stability in China.


We shall open this paper with reference to the book "Understanding the Process of Economic Change" by D.C. North being considered of reference in the issues which are subject to research ("there are some fundamental characteristics of successful economic development which are common for all the economies but at the same time there is no universal pattern to reach these results"-North). How can poorness be explained in most of the states of the world where the sources for economic growth are known? The human failure and the institutional framework have a special contribution in finding solutions in order to obtain economic growth and implicitly the growth of economic development. The article makes references to the institutional framework and its importance for the economic development of a country, to the educational organizations and to their contribution to the economic development. Viewed from a reactive factor of development, the education has become proactive. This is because the perspective of education has been accentuating more and more, called in to prepare the people for types of societies which have not existed yet. The gap within the field of education has a fundamental character in maintaining and emphasizing the gaps between the social - economic development of different countries.


ABSTRACT In this study, we explore the lived experiences of communities at the frontier of shale gas extraction in the United Kingdom. We ask: How do local people experience shale gas development? What narratives and reasoning do individuals use to explain their support, opposition or ambivalence to unconventional hydrocarbon developments? How do they understand their lived experiences changing over time, and what sorts of coping strategies do they rely upon? To do so, we draw insights from semi-structured interviews with 31 individuals in Lancashire, England, living or working near the only active shale gas extraction operation in the UK until the government moratorium was announced in December of 2019. Through these data, we identify several themes of negative experiences, including "horrendous" participation, community "abuse," disillusionment and "disgust," and earthquakes with the potential to "ruin" lives. We also identify themes of positive experiences emphasizing togetherness and community "gelling", environmental "awareness," everyday energy security with gas as a "bridging fuel," and local employment with "high quality jobs." Finally, we identify themes of ambivalent and temporally dynamic experiences with shale gas that move from neutral to negative regarding vehicle traffic, and neutral to positive regarding disgust with protesting behaviour and the diversion of community resources. Our study offers context to high level policy concerns and also humanizes community and resident experiences close to fracking sites.


Background: Peripheral Intravenous Catheters (PIVC) are a vital tool in the delivery of patient which are associated with number of complications including insertion difficulty, phlebitis, infiltration, occlusion, dislodgment, bloodstream infection and known to increase morbidity and mortality risk and decreased in indwelling time of PIVC. The present study was undertaken with aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a pictorial flashcard regarding self-care of PIVC on its indwelling time and related complications among inpatients. Method: A quasi experimental study using post-test only comparison group research design. Data were collected at selected general wards of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi by non-probability sampling technique i.e. convenience sampling technique to select 80 subjects i.e. 40 in each experimental and comparison group using tools such as subject's data sheet, V.I.P. Score, Infiltration Scale, Universal Pain Assessment Scale and self-developed PIVC documentation tool. Parametric and non-parametric test were applied to analyze the collected data using SPSS version 22. Results: Mean indwelling time of PIVC in experimental group was significantly higher (66.7 hours) as compared to comparison group (59.4 hours) at p value of 0.038 (p<0.05). In experimental group, PIVC were removed on the routine basis among 77.5% of the subjects and in 22.5% of subjects PIVC was removed due to complications. In comparison group PIVC was removed on routine basis in 57.5% of subjects whereas for 42.5% of the subjects, the reasons for removal of PIVC was due to complications which was found to be significant (p=0.047) at p<0.05. PIVC complications such as Phlebitis (7.5%), Infiltration (10%) and Pain (15%) were present among more number of subjects in experimental group. Patients who paid hospital expenses out of pocket expenses had significantly higher indwelling time as compare to patients who paid through some insurances. Conclusion: Study concluded that Pictorial flashcard on self-care of PIVC was effective in increasing the indwelling time of PIVC and reducing the occurrence PIVC related complications.


Physical processes responsible for the electron demagnetization within the front of a quasiperpendicular collisionless shock are analyzed via a comparative study between theoretical calculations and computer simulations. Herein, simulation results of a shock in supercritical regime are based on the use of a 2-D full particle self-consistent code. Present statistics on the spatial widths of the magnetic field (L Br) and electric field (L Er) within the ramp show that their ratio R = L Er /L Br is around 1; this value is appropriate to demagnetize electrons and to provide a resulting deviation from adiabaticity [Balikhin et al., 1998]. In order to verify this theoretical expectation, two complementary approaches are used. First, the deviation of the full electron gyroperiod from the magnetic gyroperiod is analyzed from the trajectories of ''marked'' self-consistent electrons crossing the shock ramp. In such a case, nonstationary and nonuniformity effects of the shock front are fully involved. Second, such effects are removed and test particles simulations are used in order to determine the strength of electron demagnetization when effects of width shock along the shock normal are included only. Both approaches confirm that demagnetization takes place within the first half of the ramp, that is, where the gradient dE lx /dx seen by transmitted electrons is positive. Statistical results performed using test particles simulations show that a noticeable number of demagnetized electrons are formed within the ramp even for a moderate supercritical Mach number and that the relative percentage of demagnetized/magnetized electrons varies according to the nonstationary behavior of the shock front (self-reformation).


This paper improves existing 'fly-the-wire' based autonomous stationkeeping system, suitable for geostationary satellite and introduces results of computer simulations conducted to verify the algorithm. The on-board stationkeeping system receives pseudo-range signals from two ground equipments located with long baseline, determines the orbit error in realtime and generates orbit control commands. To reduce fuel consumption, this paper proposes an on-board orbit control logic using modified fly-the-wire method. The modified fly-the-wire method de-couples error components into two dynamic modes, harmonic and linear motion. The harmonic error components are removed by applying output commands produced by feedback controller, and the linear motions are controlled by the correction ΔV s added to reference maneuvers. The reference maneuvers are generated through the ground based computer simulation and embedded or uploaded into the on-board computer with time tags. Finally, the performance of the proposed algorithm is verified through a series of computer simulations.


PURPOSE
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and prenatal diagnosis (PND) practices for inherited predisposition to cancer are heterogeneous in industrialized countries. In France, permission to perform PGD/PND must be obtained from registered Multidisciplinary Prenatal Diagnosis Teams (MPDTs). The aim of this study was to determine French professionals' attitudes about the acceptability of PGD and PND for inherited predisposition to cancer.

METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was performed, involving self-administered questionnaires mailed to all registered cancer geneticists (CGs; n = 123) and MPDTs (n = 47) in France.

RESULTS
The response rates of CGs and MPDTs were 62% and 64%, respectively; 59% and 50% of the CGs had at least discussed PGD and PND, respectively, with their consultees during the previous year. When severe cancer is liable to occur in childhood with a high penetrance and no effective methods of prevention/treatment exist, high rates of acceptability of PGD/PND were recorded (> 80%). When cancer is liable to occur before the age of 50 years but not in childhood and some form of prevention/treatment is available that preserves quality of life, PGD was rated as acceptable by one MPDT (3.3%) and 10 CGs (13.2%), and PND was rated acceptable by nine CGs (11.8%). Most respondents agreed that the acceptability of PND/PGD depends on patients' family history of cancer and their reproductive history.

CONCLUSION
With the most severe forms of inherited cancer, no differences were observed between the acceptability to practitioners of PND and PGD, but with late-onset syndromes, there is still much uncertainty. Guidelines would help to standardize the practices of professionals handling these reproductive issues.


ABSTRACT In understanding the role and potential of ChatGPT in education, this article suggests that ChatGPT has the potential to enhance the education system by providing instant feedback, personalised learning experiences and 24/7 availability. Furthermore, it aims to analyse the different perspectives on ChatGPT and establish a research foundation that contributes to future research, for instance, questions around who is responsible for the content generated by ChatGPT, and how it should be used to assess student learning. The article offers valuable insights for both students and educators looking to understand the role of ChatGPT in education and the future of the education system. It provides the starting point for further discussion and research into the role of ChatGPT in education and the potential it holds to revolutionise the way we learn and teach. The article concludes by calling for further research to fully understand the impact of ChatGPT on education and to determine the most effective ways to integrate it into the classroom.


In a handy day-by-day format, John White tells the story of Manchester United so fans can go to any day of the year and look up what events happened on that day in years gone by - even on 29 February we learn that in 1972, Martin Buchan became United's then record signing when he joined from Aberdeen. This book is sure to be one for trivia fans everywhere for, as Sir Alex Ferguson says in his Foreword: 'Just opening the book at any page really takes you on a tour of the history and mystique that universally attracts and surrounds Manchester United. Like any good book John has not missed a thing because he has taken the time to painstakingly research all there is to know about events in the history of the club.' So from the time United fought off bankruptcy, through to winning the Treble in 1999, it is all here in the fascinating account of the best and worst days for United.


The number of coronary interventions increased substantially in the recent years. Although of great benefit to patients, these procedures can subject patients to considerable radiation doses. There is a legal framework for patient dose measurements in Croatia during radiological procedures, but in practice, it applies only occasionally. A quality control manual, established at the University Hospital Osijek, was accepted by other major cardiology centres in Croatia; besides checking the technical characteristics of the device, it provides constant measurement and analysis of patient doses in interventional cardiology. It also includes patient examination for radiation skin injuries in case of dose of >2 Gy. The aim of the study was to determine and compare patient radiation doses during cardiological interventions measured within 4 y in four major cardiology centres with the values proposed by the European Commission and other professional bodies. The local reference dose levels were also set.


Looking at the brute fact that global carbon dioxide emissions have almost doubled since the UN Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 – despite the ambitious Agenda 21 document – one may ask whether fundamentally new societal approaches are needed to solve the global problems. One new strategy within science is "sustainability science", first formulated in 2001. Essentially five methodological principles of traditional science are replaced in this approach, because the solving of global problems – based on nonlinear, complex processes, and including long time lags between actions and their consequences – requires more than developing and testing hypotheses in laboratories. Instead of regarding scientific activities as valuefree endeavours that work in a mainly monodisciplinary, analytical and linear way, with basic research and a strict division between research and application as the ideal, sustainability science (1) acts explicitly to support sustainable development, (2) works in synthetic and parallel ways, (3) takes an interdisciplinary approach, (4) is transdisciplinary and (5) combines research and application in action-oriented research, during which scientists initiate sustainability changes in a society and simultaneously perform research (Sheldon et al., 2000). The main reason for this new orientation within science is not that the traditional approach of science is wrong, but that it is too slow in solving actual global problems. If scientists want to contribute substantially to the sustainability revolution ( McKenzie-Mohr, 2002), they have to act as citizens initiating changes toward sustainable development, in addition to their traditional role as scientific analysers.


Objective: To analyse the causes of the increased incidence of suicide in our province (Cordoba).
Methodology: We have conducted a literature search of existing literature by accessing several databases, in order to group the most relevant knowledge on the etiology of suicide.
Results: The number of suicides in the province has increased by 26% in the last two years. Is estimated to be the third leading cause of death for people aged between 15 and 44. While 70 cases were recorded in 2011, the last years were 88 records, representing an increase of 25.7%.
Conclusions: It is important to continue researching the subject in question given the magnitude and epidemiological and social impact associated to this pathology in health.


Introduction and literature reviewThe starting point in this paper is the fact that level of financial literacy is unsatisfactory in most countries. This has been demonstrated in numerous studies conducted in many countries all over the world, e.g. in Australia, in Austria, in Chile, in Germany, in Ireland, in Italy, in Japan, in Netherlands, in New Zealand, in Poland, in Russia, in Sweden, in United Kingdom, in US1. There are also results of the research that proves low level of financial literacy in many countries2.The most important way, tool to improve the level of financial literacy is financial education. This is "the process by which financial consumers/investors improve their understanding of financial products, concepts and risks and, through information, instruction and/or objective advice, develop the skills and confidence to become more aware of financial risks and opportunities, to make informed choices, to know where to go for help, and to take other effective actions to improve their financial well-being"3. The importance of financial education has recently increased all over the world4, because of development and sophistication of financial markets as well as because of increasing transfer of risks to households which are more directly responsible for critical financial decisions for their future wellbeing. There is underlined the role of financial education for the average family and investors5as well as for economic development6 in contemporary world.It is necessary to properly identify the objectives of financial education - to its efficiency. But it requires the recognition and specification of the factors (e.g. socio-demographic) influencing level of financial literacy. Only the specification and hierarchy of the most important objectives of financial education allow for defining the priority areas of effective education.The establishing objectives of financial education based on previous studies as well as taking into account additional circumstances (such as the current situation and evolution in areas such as the economy, demography, financial market development, etc.) should result in the creation of a hierarchy of objectives.The next stage of the process of financial education related to objectives is to establish a roadmap to achieve specific and predetermined objectives within a set period of time7. Effects of these activities are programmes targeted at the specific needs of various social groups. The most typical target groups are defined by age, gender and life situation8.With respect to the mentioned insights, the objective of the paper is a presentation, characteristics and the prioritization of most important purposes of financial education all over the world. The systematization of the purposes of financial education has not been presented in the literature so far.The analysis of academic literature and non-academic reports and other documents influences the scope of problems undertaken in further parts of this paper. First, the author of the article has attempted to make the recognition of the level of financial education in the world. Then the main purposes of financial education in many countries have been described, as well as their characteristics were made and some classifications have been presented. In this article are also presented the most important difficulties in realization of financial education purposes.1. MethodologyThe presented article is the type of review article, which aim is to synthesize and summarize the information about purposes of financial education all over the world (using the examples of many countries). The paper is based on the study of literature and it uses both academic as well as non-academic sources.The content of academically reviewed articles shows that there is much research which focuses on determining the level of financial literacy in many countries. Basically, the main reason for the financial education is the low level of financial literacy. …


Plantlets of daylily (Hemerocallis cv. Autumn Blaze) regenerated from cell suspensions, and 4 clonal populations of Haplopappus gracilis were aseptically cultivated aboard the Shuttle "Discovery" during a 5-day mission within NASA's Plant Growth Unit (PGU) apparatus. Daylily was selected as a representative herbaceous perennial monocotyledon and the haplopappus clones represented an annual dicotyledon. The latter included 4 strains with different physiological and morphological characteristics: two aseptic seedling clones (each generated from a single seedling) and two tissue culture-derived lines. Mean daily growth rates for the primary shoots of all plantlets averaged 4.13 mm day-1 (SD = 2.20) for the flight experiment and 4.68 mm day-1 (SD = 2.59) for the ground control. Comparable growth rates calculated by summing both the primary and secondary shoots for all plantlets were 5.94 mm day-1 (SD = 2.89) for the flight experiment and 6.38 mm day-1 (SD = 3.71) for the control. Statistically significant differences existed between: (1) flight vs control primary shoot growth (the controls growing more than plantlets subjected to spaceflight conditions), (2) the different populations (the daylily gaining more shoot material than any of the haplopappus populations and the haplopappus seedling clones outperforming the tissue culture-derived haplopappus lines), and (3) the individual Plant Growth Chambers contained within the PGU. The data suggest that some spaceflight-associated factor(s) increased the tendency for primary shoot apices to degrade or senesce, resulting in the release of apical dominance and permitting the emergence of axillary branches, which subsequently partially compensated for the reduced primary axis growth. In addition to spaceflight-associated factors, the physiologically diverse nature of the experimental material as well as environmental heterogeneities within the culture apparatus contributed to the variation in growth results. The findings could explain some discrepancies reported from various plant culture experiments conducted in space.


The reaction of [Au(dien)(N-heterocycle)](3+) (AuN4) coordination compounds with simple amino acids and zinc finger proteins is reported. Compared to [AuCl(dien)](2+), NMR studies show that the presence of a more substitution-inert N-donor as the putative leaving group slows the reaction with the sulfur-containing amino acids N-acetylmethionine (NAcMet) and N-acetylcysteine (NAcCys). Lack of ligand dissociation upon reaction with NAcCys indicates, to our knowledge, the first long-lived N-heterocycle-Au-S species in solution. Reactions with zinc finger proteins show a higher reactivity with the Cys3His zinc finger than with Cys2His2, likely due to the presence of fewer aurophilic cysteines in the latter. Of the Au(III) compounds studied, [Au(dien)(DMAP)](3+) (DMAP = 4-dimethylaminopyridine) appears to be the least reactive, with ESI-MS studies showing the presence of intact zinc fingers at initial reaction times. These results, in combination with previously reported characterization and pH dependency studies, will further aid in optimizing the structure of these AuN4 species to obtain a substitution-reactive yet selective compound for targeting zinc finger proteins.


Acute leukaemia are usually rapidly progressive with death often occurring in a few weeks to a few months in untreated patients as a result of abnormal hematopoietic function as well as impaired immune response. The risk of relapse which remains in 20% of patients in remission calls for more research on acute leukaemia. This study therefore, evaluated the plasma levels of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-4 (IL-4), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and immunoglobulin classes (IgA, IgG, IgM, IgE) in twenty-five (25) patients with acute leukaemia (AL) and twenty-five (25) apparently healthy controls. The mean levels of plasma IgA, IgG and IgM were not significantly elevated in leukaemia patients compared with control. However, the mean plasma levels of IgE, NO, IL-4 and IFN-γ were significantly elevated in leukaemia patients compared with controls. It could therefore be concluded from this study that humoural immunity is not depressed in acute leukaemia patients.


For pt.I see ibid., vol.27, p.2556-63 (1994) Using a fast method of space-charge-dominated plasma simulation, streamer propagation between parallel-plate electrodes in atmospheric pressure nitrogen is simulated. A fully two-dimensional algorithm in cylindrical coordinates is used. The structure of both cathode- and anode-directed streamers is discussed. Space-charge distribution in the streamer is presented. Whenever possible, comparison with experiments and previous two-dimensional calculations is made. It is shown that, when a streamer arrives at the cathode, an image charge produces field enhancement in the streamer channel in the middle of the gap. Growth of ionization in this region manifests itself as discharge 'constriction', which was observed in the experiments.


During the first months of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected several countries all over the world, including Italy. To prevent the spread of the virus, governments instructed employers and self-employed workers to close their offices and work from home. Thus, the use of remote working increased during the pandemic and is expected to maintain high levels of application even after the emergency. Despite its benefits for both organizations and workers, remote working entails negative consequences, such as technostress. The present study had a double aim: to test the psychometric characteristics of the Italian translation of the brief version of the technostress creators scale and to apply the scale to investigate technostress during the Covid-19 emergency. The research involved 878 participants for the first study and 749 participants for the second one; they completed a self-report online questionnaire. Results confirmed the three-factor structure of the Italian technostress creators scale and highlighted positive relationships between workload, techno-stressors, work–family conflict and behavioural stress. The role of remote working conditions has been analysed as well. The study provided a useful tool for the investigation of technostress in the Italian context. Moreover, it provided indications for practice in the field of remote working and workers' wellbeing.


In this paper, after the analyzing the UIScript mechanism in intelligent peripheral, a new approach of XML-based UIScript is put forward. The related issues such as the design of UIScript language, the execution environment and its relationship with other script languages are discussed.


The association between memories of the terrorist explosion at the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv and the level of personal involvement in the explosion was investigated. Memories of injured victims, uninjured eyewitnesses, and uninvolved controls who learned about the explosion from the mass media were compared. It was expected that memory of the explosion would be most and least detailed and accurate among the victims and the controls, respectively. The participants responded to an open-ended question about the explosion, as well as to specific and multiple-choice questions. Data analyses showed that the victims and the eyewitnesses remembered more details than the controls, and that the victims remembered both central and peripheral details more accurately than the other participants. Degree of involvement in the same traumatic experience was thus shown to be differentially associated with memory accuracy.


This thesis examines the construction and poetics of time in Anglo-Saxon literature through a holistic approach to works of history, science, exegesis, and poetry. St Augustine conceived of time as distentio animi, the distention of the mind, and the thesis argues that the texts under discussion form responses to the problems of being in time, by looking to the stillness of eternity. Chapter one demonstrates how the scientific, historical, and exegetical works of the Venerable Bede form a sustained project to construct time. In the conversion of King Edwin in the Historia ecclesiastica, the famous flight of the sparrow in the hall emphasises the meaning that Christian time gives to both individuals and communities. Bede's works both lay the foundation for the poetry of the later chapters and are texts worth studying in their own right. The second chapter investigates two Old English saints' lives. Elene affects historicity by beginning with a precise date, though incorrect. The duration of the narrative of Andreas comes to a biblically significant forty days. Through study of the likely sources of these poems, it can be seen that the poets made deliberate choices to construct time in their narratives. The poetics of time in these two works suggests that the two are alike both as saints' lives and in their approaches to time. Temporal markers within Beowulf provide clues to when certain events take place, as the third chapter discusses. The diurnal cycle that structures Beowulf on the micro level continues to the macro, and the poem as a whole depicts the day and the night of Beowulf's life. The poem also engages in the elegiac mode, defined in chapter four as one in which time is largely unmarked, causing instability. The speakers of the Old English elegies are trapped in the present while their minds experience the distension described by Augustine; they recall memories of the past but to do so is painful. For some, time can come to seem 'as if it never were'.


We argue that the existence of a non-decaying part of the self-intermediate scattering function implies a small wave-vector divergence of a four-point structure factor defined in terms of the microscopic self-intermediate scattering function. This divergence indicates long-range correlations of density fluctuations in direct space. We show that a signature of the divergence and the long-range correlations can be observed in computer simulations of glasses. Interestingly, remnants of this divergence can be easily observed in computer simulations of supercooled fluids. They manifest themselves as transient dynamic correlations with a very large correlation length; much larger than the correlation length characterizing the size of dynamic heterogeneities.


We outline a system that allows simultaneous temperature monitoring on two or more fishing vessels using multiple wireless sensor networks. The distribution of wireless temperature data loggers across a boat with an associated base station results in the fishing vessel being in effect an individual wireless sensor network. The existence of this wireless sensor network allows for real-time temperature monitoring with the temperature information being accessed over the Internet. Previously, Web-based real-time temperature monitoring of fish catches has used single sensor networks to monitor temperature, so a user could only monitor the temperature sensors of a single vessel. The system we outline allows for multiple sensor networks to be integrated and for a user to monitor temperature across two or more of these networks. Furthermore the system uses SMS to send warnings and to monitor recent temperature data. The system is built around a Web server and bespoke wireless data loggers operating over a GSM network


We say that a planar drawing of a graph is 1-thick if the distance between the images of any two vertices, a vertex and an edge, and two non-adjacent edges is at least 1. We prove that the cylinder mesh graph CM,N has a 1-thick drawing inside a ball of radius C · ( √ MN +N) for some absolute constant C. Moreover, we prove that the value √ MN +N is sharp up to a constant factor.


Weak gravitational lensing is a powerful probe of the large-scale cosmic matter distribution. Wide-field galaxy surveys allow us to generate the so-called weak lensing maps, but actual observations suffer from noise due to imperfect measurement of galaxy shape distortions and to the limited number density of the source galaxies. In this paper, we explore a deep-learning approach to reduce the noise. We develop an image-to-image translation method with conditional adversarial networks (CANs), which learn efficient mapping from an input noisy weak lensing map to the underlying noise field. We train the CANs using $30000$ image pairs obtained from $1000$ ray-tracing simulations of weak gravitational lensing. We show that the trained CANs reproduce the true one-point probability distribution function (PDF) of the noiseless lensing map with a bias less than $1\sigma$ on average, where $\sigma$ is the statistical error. We perform a Fisher analysis to make forecast for cosmological parameter inference with the one-point lensing PDF. By our denoising method using CANs, the first derivative of the PDF with respect to the cosmic mean matter density and the amplitude of the primordial curvature perturbations becomes larger by $\sim50\%$. This allows us to improve the cosmological constraints by $\sim30-40\%$ with using observational data from ongoing and upcoming galaxy imaging surveys.


Although "carbon" management may not be a primary objective in forest management, influencing the distribution, composition, growth, and development of biomass to fulfill multiple objectives is; therefore, given a changing climate, managing carbon could influence future management decisions. Also, typically, the conversion from total biomass to total carbon is 50 percent; however, we believe this value is not consistent across all forest components. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to: acknowledge the appropriate carbon concentrations and distribution of carbon pools and provide improved estimates of carbon content in four habitat types with different climatic regimes—(dry (Arizona), cold (Montana), and moist (Idaho)—of the Rocky Mountains, USA. We quantified biomass, carbon concentrations, and carbon amounts for trees, soils, woody debris, and coarse and fine roots. We found that in most cases our carbon concentrations were less than the typical conversion of 50 percent. Thus we recommend the following conversions from biomass to carbon: trees should be 49 percent for overstory crown, 48 percent for boles, 48 percent for understory trees, and 47 percent for coarse roots; for understory plants concentrations should be 47 percent for shrubs and 41 percent for forbs and grasses; woody residue should be 48 percent for solid logs, 49 percent for rotten logs, 48 percent for brown cubi- cal rotten wood, and 44 percent for buried wood; cones should be 48 percent in ponderosa pine forests and 46 percent in cold and moist forests; sticks in ponderosa pine forests should be 49 percent and in the moist and cold climate regimes sticks should be 47 percent. Unique carbon pools often overlooked include cones, woody debris, and buried wood. Given these results, additional research questions could be pursued, such as the effect of successional stage on carbon pool distributions, or as forests grow and develop, if carbon concentrations change or if only biomass distribution changes over time.


Although videostroboscopy is used most commonly in a clinical setting to image the larynx, it has several drawbacks that can be overcome by using high-speed imaging of the larynx. High-Speed Digital Imaging (HSDI) of the larynx has been performed since the 1930's but remained impractical for clinical use until recently because of high cost and cumbersome equipment. The development of commercially available high-speed imaging systems using smaller, more affordable cameras has now made it possible to use this technology in a clinical setting. High-speed imaging has the potential to advance the functional assessment of vocal pathophysiology, ultimately improving the ability to diagnose and manage vocal fold (VF) pathology. Recent advances include color imaging and the ability to accurately synchronize and compare VF vibration and acoustic data. However, several barriers to widespread clinical use of this technology remain. This chapter will review recent advances and ongoing challenges in the clinical use of HSDI compared to videostroboscopy.


This paper explores an individual's optimal insurance choice and an insurer's optimal product mix consisting of whole life insurance and deferred annuity under the tâtonnement framework. On the demand side, the insured decides an optimal insurance choice by maximising lifetime expected utility. On the supply side, an insurer chooses an optimal product mix by minimising the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) of losses in its lines of business. By varying the loading factor for each insurance product, we match the demand and the supply of these products to clear the market. Our results show that market equilibriums occur when life insurance loading is relatively high and annuity loading is relatively low. This calls for attentions for insurance regulators and insurance companies to re-examine insurance/annuity underwriting and pricing. Our results also help explain the annuity puzzle and the life insurance puzzle in a neoclassic economic framework.


Analysis of molecular scale interactions and chemical structure offers an enormous opportunity to tune material properties for targeted applications. However, designing materials from molecular scale is a grand challenge owing to the practical limitations in exploring astronomically large design spaces using traditional experimental or computational methods. Advancements in data sciences and artificial intelligence have produced a host of tools and techniques that can facilitate the efficient exploration of large search spaces. In this work, a blended approach integrating physics-based methods and data science techniques is implemented in order to effectively screen the materials configuration space for accelerating materials design. Here, we survey and assess the efficacy of data-driven methods within the framework of active learning for a challenging design problem viz, sequence optimization of copolymers. We report the impact of surrogate models, kernels, and initial conditions on the convergence of an active learning method for the sequence design problem. This work outlines optimal strategies and parameters for inverse design of polymer sequence via active learning.


This article presents the results of research on resistance to isothermal oxidation of Ti-46Al-7Nb-0,7Cr-0,1Si-0,2Ni alloy with AlCrN layer applied. The reference material was a Ti-46Al-7Nb-0,7Cr-0,1Si-0,2Ni alloy in initial state without any coating deposited. The protective coating was deposited by PVD process. Attempts at isothermal oxidation in air were performed at 900 and 950◦C during 250h. Measurements of the samples' mass were taken with the accuracy of 10−4 g. An analysis of the obtained results was made: chemical composition analysis, phase analysis of the deposited coating and chemical composition analysis of the alloy surface with the coating deposited after oxidation tests. In the case of the oxidation of alloy in initial state, pronouncedly higher mass gain and "deferred" scale chipping was noticed. The deposited AlCrN coating significantly reduces spalling processes and makes for lesser mass gain of the oxidized alloy.


Abstract. Coordinated measurements of Indian MST radar and radiosonde during the passage of overshooting convective cores in SAFAR pilot campaign (May–November 2008) are utilized to quantify the mass flux across the tropopause and strength of the turbulence in up- and down-draft cores. The distribution of retrieved mass flux is found to be wide, ranging from −0.6 (downward flux) to 0.8 kg m −2 s −1 (upward flux). The net mass flux, is, however, from the troposphere to stratosphere, in spite of the existence of significant amount of downward flux. For the first time, the turbulence strength in the vicinity of the tropopause in convective cores is quantified. Large spectral widths with magnitudes >4 m s −1 are observed during convection. However, such large spectral widths are rare and are observed only for 1.6% of total observations. The average spectral width (and also the variation or standard deviation) in draft cores is found to be ~4.5 times larger than that in fair-weather. The turbulence strength in updraft cores is much higher than that of in downdraft cores. The mean (median) spectral width in updraft cores is larger by ~0.8 m s −1 (a factor of ~2) than that of in downdraft cores. The turbulence strength does not show any systematic variation with the intensity of convection in both up- and down-draft cores. The distributions and mean values of mass flux and turbulence strength obtained in the present study will be useful to quantify the STE due to direct intrusion of mass by overshooting convection and the exchange of constituents (in particular water vapor) due to turbulence in a better way.


The allergenic capacity of Olea europaea L. pollen is very important in several cities of the southern Iberian Peninsula, producing most pollinoses diagnosed in these cities. We have carried out a study on the annual, daily and diurnal variations in pollen from O. europaea in the atmosphere of Granada (Spain) during 4 consecutive years. Samplings were carried out with the aid of a Burkard spore trap. Very low levels of Olea pollen grains were first detected in the atmosphere from the end of April. Pollen levels peaked in May and June, and started to decrease from the last days of June and in July. Pollen in the atmosphere is related to meteorological parameters: temperature has a positive influence on pollinization and rainfall produces a negative effect. The diurnal variation pattern of pollen grain concentrations was quite homogeneous throughout the study, featuring an important increase around midday and a moderate decrease in the first hours of the morning and in the late evening.


A major shortcoming that has senior management in organizations, focuses on the assessment of people, processes, decisions and managing their collaborators in the various activities that take place daily in business, and we do not speak of implementing a system of quality management, instead talking about how managers and leaders at different levels evaluated his men as a means of interaction and dialogue (supervisor-manager) - Junior, so that generate an administration manager pedagogical actions for the sake of it, take a quick action on faults that can be generated within the activities of the different departments of the organization, minimizing wasted time and enhancing the performance of its employees .


Objectives The present study is aimed at describing the seroprevalence and exploring potential risk factor(s) for hepatitis E virus (HEV) in participants who voluntarily underwent anti-HIV antibody testing. Study design Seroprevalence study. Setting The HIV prevention unit at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, serving as a referral centre for HIV infection in Lazio, an Italian Region with about 5.6 million inhabitants. Participants Participants are a random sample of all subjects who receive counselling and undergo serological tests for anti-HIV antibody (Ab) between 2002 and 2011. Risk factors and outcome A set of 16 epidemiological variables (risk factors) were assessed for association with positivity to anti-HEV IgG (outcome). Results Between 2002 and 2011, 27 351 serum specimens and related epidemiological information were collected; of these 1116 were randomly selected and analysed. The overall anti-HEV IgG prevalence was 5.38% (60 out of 1116) with evidence of potential heterogeneity between years of sampling (p=0.055). Multivariate analysis provided evidence that anti-HEV IgG prevalence increases by 4% per year of participants' age (95% CI 1% to 7%, p=0.002). In addition, men who have sex with men and participants who were born outside Italy have an OR for past HEV infection that is about two times higher than in those who were not (p=0.040 and p=0.027, respectively). Analysis of temporal trend showed that variation of anti-HEV IgG can be well explained by a cubic logistic regression model, which describes the variation of prevalence over time as a fluctuation within a 3-year period (p=0.032). Conclusions This study provides new evidence that besides the orofecal and zoonotic routes, intimate contacts between males may be a significant mode of HEV transmission.


Single W and single gamma productions which are sensitive to the trilinear gauge coupling WWgamma have been studied at LEP. It isshown that single W production has particular sensitivity to the "anomalous" magnetic moment Kgamma of the W boson, complementary to WW production at LEP and Wgamma production at hadron colliders. The invisible decay of W boson has been searched and the limit on the invisible decay width of 27 MeV at 95% C.L. has been obtained.


ObjectiveOlmesartan medoxomil is an angiotensin II receptor blocker with similar antihypertensive efficacy as the calcium channel blocker amlodipine besylate in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension. In addition to a drug's ability to lower blood pressure, the effectiveness of the agent in enabling patients to achieve specific blood pressure targets is an important clinical consideration. This secondary analysis of a randomized, double-blind study compared the efficacy of olmesartan medoxomil with that of amlodipine besylate in achieving ambulatory blood pressure goals among patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension. MethodsFollowing a 4-week placebo run-in, 440 study participants aged ≥18 years were randomized to olmesartan medoxomil (20 mg/day), amlodipine besylate (5 mg/day), or placebo for 8 weeks. The proportion of participants achieving specific systolic and diastolic ambulatory blood pressure goal levels was calculated by dividing the number of participants who had achieved a particular blood pressure goal by the total number of patients in the intent-to-treat population. ResultsAfter 8 weeks of treatment, a mean 24-h ambulatory blood pressure of <130/80 or <130/85 mmHg was achieved by significantly more participants in the olmesartan medoxomil group (18.1 and 30.4%, respectively) than in the amlodipine besylate (7.0 and 14.0%, respectively) or placebo (1.9% for both) groups. The target daytime ambulatory blood pressure of <135/85 mmHg was achieved by more participants in the olmesartan medoxomil group than in the amlodipine besylate group (15.8 vs. 5.8%, respectively; P<0.01). ConclusionIn a previous publication of the same study, we demonstrated that starting doses of olmesartan medoxomil and amlodipine besylate produced similar mean reductions in blood pressure. In this subanalysis of the blood pressure data from that primary publication, however, olmesartan medoxomil therapy was shown to result in a greater proportion of patients achieving specific ambulatory blood pressure goals than therapy with amlodipine besylate. As blood pressure goal attainment may be of more direct clinical relevance than numerical blood pressure lowering, the achievement of blood pressure goals should be a key efficacy parameter assessed in clinical trials of antihypertensive medications.


Long term of Roux en Y choledochojejunostomy evaluation, performed for choledocholithiasis, inflammatory or neoplastic common bile duct strictures. However the anathomopathological situations are different, when the indication is right, this kind of surgical management shows all its effectiveness also for the low mortality and the absence of long term complications.


This contribution present the process of projection of griping effector with active suction cups. It focuses on possible complication by solutions and estimates sequence of necessary calculations so that the designed gripper guarantied secure fixation of manipulated objects in time of handling work of robot.


Conventional gamma-gamma and gravimetric density measurements are routinely gathered for most holes used for underground nuclear tests. The logs serve to determine the subsurface structural geology near the borehole. The gamma-gamma density log measures density of the rock within about 15 cm of the borehole wall. The difference in gravity measured at two depths in a borehole can be interpreted in terms of the density of an infinite, homogeneous, horizontal bed between those depths. When the gravimetric density matches the gamma-gamma density over a given interval it is assumed that the bed actualy exists, and that rocks far from the hole must be the same as those encountered adjacent to the borehole. Conversely, when the gravimetric density differs from the gamma-gamma density it is apparent that the gravimeter is being influenced by a rock mass of different density than that at the hole wall. This mismatch can be a powerful tool to deduce the local structural geology. The geology deduced from gravity mesurements in emplacement hole, U4al, and the associated exploratory hole, UE4al, is an excellent example of the power of the method.


Purpose: To develop the patient classification system based on the resource utilization for reimbursement of long-term care hospitals in Korea. Method: Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) conducted a survey in July 2006 that included 2,899 patients from 35 long-term care hospitals. To calculate resource utilization, we measured care time of direct care staff (physicians, nursing personnel, physical and occupational therapists, social workers). The survey of patient characteristics included ADL, cognitive and behavioral status, diseases and treatments. Major category criteria was developed by modified delphi method from 9 experts. Each category was divided into 2-3 groups by ADL using tree regression. Relative resource use was expressed as a case mix index (CMI) calculated as a proportion of mean resource use. Result: This patient classification system composed of 6 major categories (ultra high medical care, high medical care, medium medical care, behavioral problem, impaired cognition and reduced physical function) and 11 subgroups by ADL score. The differences of CMI between groups were statistically significant (p


To address the limitations of centralized shared storage for cloud computing, we are building Lithium, a distributed storage system designed specifically for virtualization workloads running in large-scale data centers and clouds. Lithium aims to be scalable, highly available, and compatible with commodity hardware and existing application software. The design of Lithium borrows ideas and techniques originating from research into Byzantine Fault Tolerance systems and popularized by distributed version control software, and demonstrates their practical applicability to the performance-sensitive problem of VM hosting. To our initial surprise, we have found that seemingly expensive techniques such as versioned storage and incremental hashing can lead to a system that is not only more robust to data corruption and host failures, but also often faster than naïve approaches and, for a relatively small cluster of just eight hosts, performs well compared with an enterprise-class Fibre Channel disk array.


In many networked control systems (NCSs) only one node is allowed to use the shared medium at any given time. This network constraint can adversely affect the performance of the system and its stability. There are two types of network schedulers, static and dynamic. Static schedulers, such as the token ring protocol, have problems handling large-scale systems. On the other hand, dynamic schedulers, such as try-once-discard (TOD) cannot guarantee good quality of service for each node, especially the low-priority ones. In this paper, a hybrid scheduler, which is a combination of dynamic and static protocols, is proposed. This scheduler improves the medium access strategy in large-scale control systems. We refer to this scheduler as the traffic-division arbitration (TDA) protocol. The network-induced delay error bound and the system stability of the NCS using the proposed scheduler are investigated. Simulations illustrate the performance of the proposed scheduler and difference from TOD are shown. We use two different decision functions to prioritize the scheduling criteria of the protocol.


Introduction: This study aims to present the management of postoperative c-section pain using multimodal analgesia.
Case presentation: There were two patients who received multimodal analgesia as a treatment for postoperative C-section pain. The first patient, a woman 15 years old, will undergo a Caesarean section operation with indications G1P0A0, term pregnancy, and cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD). The second patient, a 23-year-old woman, will undergo a Caesarean section operation with indications G1P0A0, term pregnancy, and 1x umbilical cord. Physical examination of both patients showed vital signs within normal limits. Laboratory evaluation within normal limits. Both patients were included in the ASA II category. The anesthetic method used intraoperatively was subarachnoid block with hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% 10 mg and morphine 50 mcg. Lidocaine infiltration injection is performed intraoperatively in combination with the following; lidocaine 2% (3 ampoules), dexamethasone 4 mg, ketorolac 60 mg, and morphine 4000 mcg dissolved in aquabides into 20 ml subcutaneously.
Conclusion: A multimodal analgesia is an appropriate approach for postoperative pain management in patients undergoing cesarean section.


THIS book is a collection of nine essays on the subject of nuclear weapons. The first four are discursive essays on the legal regulation of the use of nuclear weapons in general, whereas the last five are more informative ones on aspects of international law of direct relevance to nuclear weapons, namely: non-proliferation, anti-ballistic missile systems, the law of the sea, nuclear-free weapon zones, and nuclear tests. The essays are on average well written and interesting. The first four will be of greater interest to those who have not yet been exposed to legal argument on the legality of the use of nuclear weapons, than to those already well familiar with the subject. These essays in effect give a fairly good view of the arguments that exist although this reviewer is not always in agreement with some of the reasoning used. In particular, Mark Janis's article, which is in fact an interesting jurisprudential analysis, totally fails to mention the existence of the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols of 1977, thus giving a very distorted picture of the development of humanitarian law since the Hague Conventions of 1907. The essay on the law of the sea will be informative for armed conflict lawyers who have no idea of the law of the sea, but it does not mention the whole problem of nuclear weapons in the context of the law of naval warfare as such. The book as a whole is of great use to those wishing to have a good introduction to different aspects of international law relevant to nuclear weapons, or who wish to see some additional thoughts on the subject, or supplementary information on the specialised topics dealt with in the second part.


Objectives: Researchers have suggested that approximately 1% of individuals within the community have psychopathic tendencies (Neumann and Hare, 2008), although confirmatory evidence is scant. Design: The current study aimed to extend previous research beyond university student samples to explore the effect of impression management and self-deception on the identification of psychopathic traits. Methods: A non-incarcerated community sample comprising of 300 adults completed the Self-Reported Psychopathy scale – version 3 (SRP-III; Paulhus, Hemphill & Hare, in press) as well as the Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS; Paulhus, 1998). Results: Results indicated that at least 1% of the current community sample had clear psychopathic tendencies, and that such tendencies were found in younger males who misused alcohol. Conclusions: Importantly, individuals with psychopathic traits did not present with an inflated propensity to distort assessment responses, which provides support for future research endeavours that aim to conduct larger-scale psychopathy assessments within the community. This paper further outlines the study implications in regards to the practical assessment of psychopathy.


Abstract
Background: Tuberculosis is a zoonotic chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) that can be transmitted between humans and cattle. The aim of our study was to identify cross-infections of MTBC between humans and cattle on dairy farms in Sichuan Province, southwestern China.
Results: We selected 6 large-scale and 5 small-scale dairy farms in Sichuan Province as research sites. A total of 378 dairy farm workers (except one pregnant woman) were screened for tuberculosis symptoms and examined by X-ray. One worker was diagnosed as tuberculosis, though the sputum culture was negative. In total, 99 of 10,224 (0.97%) cows showed positive results for the purified protein derivative (PPD) skin tests. Esophageal-pharyngeal (OP) secretions from PPD-positive cows were cultured and 21 isolates were obtained. Sequences of 16s rDNA , hsp65 and rpoB and 16s-23s rRNA spacer region were amplified and sequenced. BLAST analysis classified these isolates as nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) (18 M. nonchromogenicum , 1 M. hiberniae , 1 M. arupense, and 1 M. chitae isolates).
Conclusion: This study indicates that the PPD-positive cows in these dairy farms were infected with NTM rather than MTBC. Tuberculosis cross-infection between humans and cows on dairy farms has been well controlled in this region.


This work studied a queuing system with four different main server interruptions and a stand-by server replaces the main server during any potential stop. The main server has five statues in this system where it is either services the customers( active) or it does not work because of one of the four reason; original vacation, extended vacation, it is broken-down but the repairs did not start yet (delay time) and broken-down servers under repairs. The arrivals are assumed to attend the system in batches. All the distributions of the service, vacation, extended vacation, repairs and delay times all follow general distributions while the breakdown times and the stand-by service times are  exponentially distributed.


With the continuous increase of offshore oil and gas exploitation activities, the number of subsea pipelines is becoming larger and larger, which leads to frequent occurrence of subsea pipeline accidents. Long-term safe operation of subsea pipelines can be ensured by regular defect detection. The premise of locating and disposing defects is to accurately measure the geographic coordinates of subsea pipelines. Our research group has put forward a kind of pipeline spherical internal detector (SD), which has the advantages of convenient implementation, low risk to jam. For the SD, this paper has carried out research on the key technology of precise measurement of subsea pipelines' geographic coordinates using the internal magnetic fields. The main work is as follows:
 (1) Magnetic tensor invariant calibration method for magnetometer array has been studied and L-M algorithm is taken to solve the parameters, which is efficient and accurate. Field calibration experiment has proved this method is effective and has good robustness.
 (2) A new method of measuring pipeline's pitch angle is proposed. Under the experimental condition of using AC servo motor to drive the sensor instead of the SD to rotate, the pitch angle measurement error is less than 0.2°.
 (3) Magnetic anomaly of spiral weld and buckling pipeline are used as new mark points to calibrate the geographic coordinates of subsea pipelines. Experimental results show that the newly designed SD can successfully identify spiral welds and buckling pipeline.


The photoelectron spectra of NEA GaAs photocathodes have been studied by the Monte Carlo simulation technique for both reflective and transmissive modes. It is concluded that the photoelectron spectra of the transmissive mode differ from those of the reflective one, and that the photoelectron transit time plays a dominant role in the electron energy relaxation mechanism.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: High-resolution contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA) acquired at 3T exquisitely depict carotid artery (CA) stenosis. In this study, we examined the agreement of different vessel-analysis tools with manual quantitative measurement by 2 readers using CE-MRA data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three vessel tools determining the trajectory of the vessel of interest and, subsequently, the vessel dimensions were tested against manual measurements. Diameter and area stenoses were calculated. CE-MRA data of 32 patients with CA stenosis were evaluated. The agreement between different measurements was assessed with κ statistics after categorizing stenosis (<25%, 25%–49%, 50%–69%, 70%–99%, and 100%). RESULTS: The mean grades of stenosis based on diameter measurements were 59% (readers) and 60%/56%/59% based on the analysis with tools A/B/C (P = 0.2–0.7). κ values for agreement between readers and the vessel tools were 0.73/0.77/0.77 (tools A/B/C for all CAs) and 0.66/0.74/0.75 (for the symptomatic side). The mean grades of stenoses based on area measurements for tools A/B/C were 68%/63%/69% versus 58% for readers. Values from readers differed significantly from those for tools A and C (P < 0.01). κ values for agreement between readers and the vessel tools were 0.66/0.55/0.64 (for all CAs) and 0.53/0.44/0.57 (for the symptomatic side). CONCLUSIONS: The automated approach allows accurate assessment of vessel dimensions in MRA images at least for diameter measurements according to the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial criteria.


Improve learning outcomes and learning motivation material properties of gas objects using the Problem Based Learning learning model for grade III students of SD Negeri 02 Bodas, Watukumpul District, Pemalang Regency, Academic Year 2020/2021. This research is in the form of Classroom Action Research in collaboration with researchers and third grade teachers. To test the validity of the data, the writer used triangulation of data sources and triangulation of methods. The data collection techniques used were documentation, observation and tests. To test the validity of the data used was an interactive analysis model which had three components, namely data reduction, data presentation and conclusion drawing. This study consisted of two cycles consisting of four stages, namely planning, implementing, observing and reflecting. Before the 17% completeness study, the first cycle was 75% complete with an average value of 78.75 and in the second cycle 87.50. It was concluded that the application of the problem based learning model can improve learning outcomes in the material properties of gas objects in elementary school students.


Using Newtonian and Brownian dynamics simulations, the structural and transport properties of hard and soft spheres have been studied. The soft spheres were modeled using inverse power potentials (V approximately r(-n), with 1n the potential softness). Although, at constant density, the pressure, diffusion coefficient, and viscosity depend on the particle softness up to extremely high values of n, we show that scaling the density with the freezing point for every system effectively collapses these parameters for n > or = 18 (including hard spheres) for large densities. At the freezing points, the long range structure of all systems is identical, when length is measured in units of the interparticle distance, but differences appear at short distances (due to the different shapes of the interaction potential). This translates into differences at short times in the velocity and stress autocorrelation functions, although they concur to give the same value of the corresponding transport coefficient (for the same density to freezing ratio); the microscopic dynamics also affects the short time behavior of the correlation functions and absolute values of the transport coefficients, but the same scaling with the freezing density works for Newtonian or Brownian dynamics. For hard spheres, the short time behavior of the stress autocorrelation function has been studied in detail, confirming quantitatively the theoretical forms derived for it.


This chapter studies the link between working while studying and migration. Understanding this link is important because policy-makers are often calling for actions that would cut down the hours students spend on working to shorten the graduation time. The chapter's analysis focuses on graduates from Finnish universities, polytechnics and vocational schools in 1991–2004. It uses rich register-based longitudinal microdata constructed by Statistics Finland, and find a negative relationship between working while studying and graduate migration. An increase in student employment can thus partly explain the decline in geographic mobility among Finnish graduates from higher education.


Stereotypes about men being better than women at mathematics appear to influence female students' interest and performance in mathematics. Given the potential motivational benefits of digital learning games, it is possible that games could help to reduce math anxiety, increase self-efficacy, and lead to better learning outcomes for female students. We are exploring this possibility in our work with Decimal Point, a digital learning game that scaffolds practice with decimal operations for 5th and 6th grade students. In several studies with various versions of the game, involving over 800 students across multiple years, we have consistently uncovered a learning advantage for female students with the game. In our most recent investigation of this gender effect, we decided to experiment with a central feature of the game: its use of prompted self-explanation to support student learning. Prior research has suggested that female students might benefit more from self-explanation than male students. In the new study, involving 214 middle school students, we compared three versions of self-explanation in the game – menu-based, scaffolded, and focused – each presenting students with a different type of prompted self-explanation after they solved problems in the game. We found that the focused approach led to more learning across all students than the menu-based approach, a result reported in an earlier paper. In the additional results reported in this paper, we again uncovered the gender effect – female students learned more from the game than male students, regardless of the version of self-explanation – and also found a trend in which female students made fewer self-explanation errors, suggesting they may have been more deliberate and thoughtful in their self-explanations. This self-explanation finding is a possible key to further investigation into how and why we see the gender effect in Decimal Point.


A description is given of a novel type of bandpass filter constructed in ferrite-loaded waveguide and using the evanescent-mode principle of operation. These filters may be multisection, and their operating band of frequencies may be tuned by a single-knob control of the d.c. magnetic field on the ferrite. Performance of a 3-section bandpass filter is given.


Human cutaneous staphylococci and micrococci utilized lactic acid as an energy source on a minimal medium. Propionic acid was not utilized, but l(+)-lactic acid and pyruvic acid could replace ld-lactic acid as a substrate. Selected strains of cocci were inhibited more by the l(+) and d(−) forms of lactic acid than the balanced ld form, particularly at pH 5.6. With proper dilution of substrate, lactic acid was utilized by selected strains in the presence of 10 μg of oleic and palmitic acids per ml.


Lyapounov exponents have been determined for patterns of oscillatory zoning as revealed by cathodoluminescence in zircon and apatite; values for the exponent range from +0.0011 to +0.0149. These positive values indicate that the zoning patterns are weakly chaotic, and that the development of the zoning was sensitive to the initial conditions of crystal growth. The Lyapounov exponent can be used as a quantitative measure of the zoning character and in comparisons of various patterns of zoning.


The Scaled Relative Graph (SRG) by Ryu, Hannah, and Yin (arXiv:1902.09788, 2019) is a geometric tool that maps the action of a multi-valued nonlinear operator onto the 2D plane, used to analyze the convergence of a wide range of iterative methods. As the SRG includes the spectrum for linear operators, we can view the SRG as a generalization of the spectrum to multi-valued nonlinear operators. In this work, we further study the SRG of linear operators and characterize the SRG of block-diagonal and normal matrices.


Background: Persistent Idiopathic Facial Pain (PIFP), previously named Atypical Facial Pain (AFP) is a poorly understood condition, often diagnosed after several inconclusive investigations. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with PIFP referred to a Facial Pain Center. Methods: Between May 2011 and September 2014, data on 41 PIFP patients were analyzed regarding temporal, topographical and descriptive pain features, including onset, localization, pain descriptors and intensity. Pharmacological pain treatments were also registered. Finally, the presence and type of previous minor oro-surgery procedures in the painful area were investigated. Results: Demographic and clinical characterization were similar to PIFP patients reported in literature. The presence of previous minor oro-surgery procedures in the painful area was reported in most of these patients, in particular endodontic treatments and tooth extractions. Conclusions: This retrospective analysis showed a high prevalence of minor oro-surgery procedures in our population, while its role in PIFP pathophysiology remains unknown. A new classification of PIFP built around the main discriminant factor of presence of these procedures in the painful area could be considered while available data were still insufficient to define specific diagnostic criteria.


This paper develops a new-Keynesian model with nominal depreciation allowances to consider the effects of temporary tax-based investment incentives on capital spending and real activity. In particular, we investigate the effects of a temporary expensing allowance on investment in partial and general equilibrium and challenge the conventional view, advanced by Auerbach and Summers (1979) and Judd (1985), that partial-equilibrium analyses overstate the calculated impact of such policies. We also explore two additional questions. First, we investigate a claim noted by Auerbach and Summers and analyzed by Christiano (1984) that such incentives can be destabilizing. Second, we consider the relative impact of two types of tax-based investment incentives: a temporary partial-expensing allowance and a temporary reduction in capital taxes.


Recent studies (Colomer 2011, André & Depauw 2014) have found that personal representation is likely to emerge also in proportional system, but little is known about the mechanisms behind it. The Portuguese electoral system features a multi-member closed-list PR system with relatively centralised procedures of candidate selection. In such systems, the specific placement a candidate gets on the list is likely to be decisive for his/her reelections. Those who make a decision on list ranking are party elites at district and central level, therefore there seem to be few incentives to cultivate a personal vote and to build an individual reputation. If electoral reasons are expected to play a marginal role (Carey & Shugart 1995), a puzzle remains as to why Portuguese MPs differ so much in their action. The present paper focuses on a specific (but to date fairly neglected) type of parliamentary individual activity, parliamentary questions. Through a novel data set covering the population of written questions to the cabinet in Portugal from 2007 to 2015, it explores the impact of electoral (electoral vulnerability, type of candidate selection methods within political parties) and non-electoral explanations (career, gender, education, ideology) on the number of questions asked by individual MPs. By examining this understudied topic, the Portuguese case can shed more light on the growing importance of the individualisation of parliamentary roles and the conditions that foster the use of parliamentary questions.


Example database instances can be very helpful in understanding complex queries. Different examples may illustrate alternative situations in which answers emerge in the query results and can be useful for testing. Examples can also help reveal semantic differences between queries that are supposed to be equivalent, e.g., when students try to understand how their queries behave differently from a reference solution, or when programmers try to pinpoint mistakes inadvertently introduced by rewrites meant to improve readability or performance. In this paper, we propose to demonstrate CinsGen, a system that can characterize queries and help distinguish between two queries. Given a query, CinsGen generates minimal conditional instances (c-instances) that satisfy it. In turn, each c-instance is a generalization of multiple database instances, yielding a compact representation. Thus, using CinsGen enables users to obtain a comprehensive and compact view of all scenarios that satisfy a specified query, allowing for query characterization or distinction between two queries.


A modified-QuEChERS method to determine kresoxim-methyl in banana and soil was developed and validated via high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The dissipation behavior, residue distribution, and risk assessment of kresoxim-methyl in banana were further investigated based on this method. The dissipation behavior of kresoxim-methyl in banana and soil was described by using first-order kinetics and its half-life, 4.8–5.7 days and 5.5–6.5 days, respectively. The concentrations of kresoxim-methyl were 0.03–0.08 mg kg−1, 0.06–0.17 mg kg−1, and <0.01 mg kg−1 for a whole banana, peel, and pulp, respectively, on the basis of spraying three times the recommended dosage and pre-harvest interval (PHI, 42 days). The results showed that the risk quotient of kresoxim-methyl in banana to people exhibited an acceptable low dietary risk. This current study could help in guiding the scientific and proper usage of this formulation.


The purpose of the present study was to evaluate in vitro, the influence of two different methods of surfaces conditioning of dentin by tetracycline hydrochloride on human gingival epithelial cell attachment. A flat dentin surface was created on human teeth extracted due to severe periodontitis: 36 specimens were divided into 3 equal groups and etched in the following way: group 1 (saline); group 2 (immersion in TTC for 3 min); group 3 (burnishing with TTC for 3 min). The specimens and fibroblasts were incubated in a culture medium for 24 hours, one and two weeks and photographed using scanning electron microscope. No fibroblasts could be seen on the saline groups. More fibroblasts could attach to the root surface at one and two weeks irrespective of the method used.


We experienced a case with sudden unexpected death caused by rupture of an intracranial aneurysm, which was confirmed by autopsy. Depending on this case, we reported the significance of the cerebellar tonsillar herniation on the cause of sudden death of ruptured cerebral aneurysm. A 58-year-old man was admitted to us for treatment of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The CT scanning showed diffuse SAH in the whole cistern. Cerebral angiography on admission revealed an aneurysm at the bifurcation of the left middle cerebral artery in association with bleb like configuration. The aneurysmal neck was clipped on the day of admission. The postoperative course was uneventful. In the early morning of postoperative 23rd day, he was found being expired. To clarify the cause of death, an autopsy was done, disclosing diffuse SAH in association with tonsillar herniation more marked on the left. Thus, the distortion of the spinomedullary junction due to asymmetrical herniation was considered to be responsible for unexpected sudden death in this case. Examination of the major cerebral artery disclosed a ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm.


The successful assessment of the international online information systems (databases and services) has deeply innovated the traditional documentary research in scientific/technical fields as well as in the business/financial area. In the mid-1970s, the Western European countries became to be conscious of the strong importance assumed by "information" in modern societies and the cultural and technical challenge for the European identity. The European Communities started to support a series of days of action devoted to the creation and promotion of an European electronic information market. To support promotional activities in each country, the EC Commission proposed to the competent national Ministries to establish national Referral Centers. The activity of the nonprofit Italian national referral center, known as CRID, located within the Institute of Studies on Research and Scientific Documentation, is described.


This paper presents a new figure-of-merit to evaluate signal-to-noise and distortion (SINAD) ratio degradation in nonlinear systems, herein referred to as the noise and distortion figure (NDF). In order to obtain a mathematical formula for this NDF, the best linear approximation calculation is presented for memoryless and dynamic nonlinear systems, which can be modeled by a finite Volterra series. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first time such an attempt of calculating the NDF for a nonlinear and dynamic system is made. NDF results are discussed in both types of systems by means of numerical simulations of systems up to the third order.


Graph clustering, which aims to divide the nodes in the graph into several distinct clusters, is a fundamental and challenging task. In recent years, deep graph clustering methods have been increasingly proposed and achieved promising performance. However, the corresponding survey paper is scarce and it is imminent to make a summary in this field. From this motivation, this paper makes the first comprehensive survey of deep graph clustering. Firstly, the detailed definition of deep graph clustering and the important baseline methods are introduced. Besides, the taxonomy of deep graph clustering methods is proposed based on four different criteria including graph type, network architecture, learning paradigm, and clustering method. In addition, through the careful analysis of the existing works, the challenges and opportunities from five perspectives are summarized. At last, the applications of deep graph clustering in four domains are presented. It is worth mentioning that a collection of state-of-the-art deep graph clustering meth-ods including papers, codes, and datasets is available on GitHub 1 . We hope this work will serve as a quick guide and help researchers to overcome challenges in this vibrant field.


Background: Contact between implant material and bones must be strong and fast creation, to fulfill these properties appropriate surface modifications must apply on used implants. In this contribution; double surface modifications are applied on Ti-6Al-4V alloy to accelerate osseointegration. Materials and methods: Anodic process is utilized to create titania nanotubes (TNTs) on the screws made from Ti-6Al4V alloy. These implants were coated with nano ZrO2 particles. Second modification was annealing anodized screws at 8000C, and implanted in tibiae of nine adult New Zealand white rabbits. Results: Physical and histological consequences of two surface modifications on Ti-6Al-4V alloy screws were studied. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images shows inhomogeneous distribution of TNTs on screws surfaces. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns illustrate the covering of first group samples with ZrO2 and transformation of Ti to its oxide (Rutile phase) for second group. These pattern shows that TiO2 had higher crystallinity and larger grain size than ZrO2. Atomic Force Microscopy images (AFM) shows the increasing of roughness, grain size and internal diameter of TNTs after annealing process. Coated implant with ZrO2 at 4 month duration shows threads with newly Haversian canal feature. Annealed implant at same duration shows well developed threads, base of implant illustrates bone trabeculae filled the base of implant bed with active osteoblast cells. Conclusion: Modification of implant's surface produced an improvement of osseointegration in comparison to untreated one.


We read with interest the article titled " Effect of Acetazolamide vs. Placebo on Duration of Invasive Mechanical Ventilation Among Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial " by Faisy et al. (1) where the authors have and colleagues randomly assigned patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who required invasive mechanical ventilation to receive either acetazolamide 500 mg intravenously twice daily (1,000 mg if loop diuretics were also prescribed) or matching placebo up to 28 days. A total of 382 patients with COPD who were expected to receive mechanical ventilation for more than 24 hours to acetazolamide (500–1,000 mg, twice daily) or placebo, administered intravenously in cases of pure or mixed metabolic alkalosis. The main results were: among 382 randomized patients, 380 [mean age, 69 years; 272 men (71.6%); 379 (99.7%) with endotracheal intubation] completed the study. For the acetazolamide group (n=187), compared with the placebo group (n=193), no significant between-group differences were found for median duration of mechanical ventilation (–16.0 hours; 95% CI, –36.5 to 4.0 hours; P=0.17). For secondary outcomes, there is no difference in duration of weaning off mechanical ventilation (–0.9 hours; 95% CI, –4.3 to 1.3 hours; P=0.36), in changes of minute-ventilation (–0.0 L/min; 95% CI, –0.2 to 0.2 L/min; P=0.72), or partial carbon-dioxide pressure in arterial blood (–0.3 mmHg; 95% CI, –0.8 to 0.2 mmHg; P=0.25). However, the authors observed a significant daily changes of serum bicarbonate (between-group difference, –0.8 mEq/L; 95% CI, –1.2 to –0.5 mEq/L; P 2 :FIO 2 ratio in the acetazolamide group's. Other secondary outcomes also did not differ significantly between groups.


Laboratory studies are a well established practice that present disadvantages in terms of data collection. One of these disadvantages is that laboratories are controlled environments that do not account for unpredicted factors from the real world. Laboratory studies are also obtrusive and therefore possibly biased. The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community has acknowledged these problems and has started exploring in-situ observation techniques. These observation techniques allow for bigger participant pools and their environments can conform to the real world. Such real-world observations are particularly important to the accessibility community who has coined the concept accessibility-in-use to differentiate real world from laboratory studies. Real-world observations provide low-level interaction data therefore making a bottom-up analysis possible. This way behaviours emerge from the obtained data instead of looking for predefined models. Some in-situ techniques employ Web logs in which the data is too coarse to infer meaningful user interaction. In some other cases an exhaustive manual modification is required to capture interaction data from a Web application. We describe a tool which is easily deployable in any Web application and captures longitudinal interaction data unobtrusively. It enables the observation of accessibility-in-use and guides the detection of emerging tasks.


A time-resolved study of the formation of AuAg alloy nanoparticles during boiling of AgNO3 and HAuCl4 in the presence of sodium citrate has been performed by monitoring the UV-visible spectra of the solutions. This study reveals clear differences with respect to the formation of pure Au particles, and suggests that gold and silver nanoparticles nucleate separately, but lattice rearrangement eventually leads to formation of alloy nanoparticles with the expected composition, which was confirmed by high resolution TEM. Additionally, we studied the chemical reaction of the alloy nanoparticles with NH4OH, observing that part of the Ag atoms get oxidized, but reorganization of the crystal lattice during the reaction prevents full transformation into pure gold nanoparticles. This allows the synthesis of silica-coated bimetallic particles with tailored plasmon resonance between ca. 430 and 520 nm, as well as homogeneous incorporation of the coated alloy nanoparticles within silica gels.


This article studies Augustine's Eucharistic Spirituality as it emerges primarily from his preaching, in his catechesis during the Easter Season. It investigates how the bishop of Hippo explains to the neophytes the transformation that makes bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ in order to ignite their awareness about what it is that they receive at the Altar. It further considers what Augustine indicates as the spiritual disposition necessary for the reception of the sacrament and its effects in the life of those who worthily share in it. Finally, the article explores the link Augustine establishes between the Eucharist and the Church to demonstrate the importance of Unity among those who approach the Altar of the Lord and the need to continuously become what we receive even today as we perpetuate the memorial of the Lord in our Eucharistic celebrations.


This manuscript is in good shape. But there are two issues that MUST have attention given to them. (i) Terminology..the classes of lakes are not named at all well. I have suggested what to do. (ii) Argument of why we need to detect small lakes.; I am totally unconvinced by the GLOF angle...rather I suggest thinking about the effects of lakes on glaciers and the fact that many of these newly-formed small lakes will become larger with ongoing glacier mass loss. I have offered a coitation to start these thoughts but really a whole paragraph needs adding. Else the abstract needs a complete overhaul too.