Radiatively dominated III-V semiconductor solar cells are strongly influenced by the effects of photon recycling. From a modeling standpoint, the semiconductor transport equations must account for this to predict accurate open-circuit voltages, even for cells on substrate. Using Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) lifetimes based on internal quantum efficiency measurements, the current-voltage characteristics of cells on substrate and thin-film cells (where the substrate is removed) are predicted to good accuracy. Using this calibrated photon recycling model, the influences of base thickness and SRH lifetimes on device performance are studied in order to determine an optimal cell design using a conventional silver back reflector and a near-perfect back reflector. The result is efficiencies of >28% under AM1.5g standard testing conditions for thin-film cells with electron and hole SRH lifetimes of 1 μs and 100 ns, respectively. Finally, the doping concentration in the emitter is found to be unimportant in dictating the cell's open-circuit voltage as the cell approaches the radiative limit, whereas for nonradiatively dominated cells, the open-circuit voltage is found to depend on the cell's built-in voltage via emitter doping.


In support of the general practitioners and paediatricians of both the private and public sectors, a team of three nurses specialised in Travel Health Medicine offers first line consultations to families about to travel. The team updates basic vaccinations and determines the vaccinations specific to each destination, particularly the yellow fever vaccine, following the recommendations of the Swiss Group of Travel Health Medicine and the Federal Office of Public Health. The nurses inform and prescribe the adequate medication against malaria for parents and children. The consultation is also a place for counselling, where parents can ask questions about various subjects related to their travel. Tact, receptiveness, and reassurance are essential assets of the nurses, allowing for an efficient and useful consultation for the travellers.


In this study, we explained a nanobiosensor for DNA sequence detection, featuring sequence specificity, cost efficiency, speed, and ease of use. Without the need for labels or indicators, it may be ideal for the detection of biological agents. This review describes recent advances in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with an emphasis on using nanoparticles and nanotechnology. A powerful biosensor system requires a high-performance biosensor component as welll as a user-friendly instrumental setup. However, biosensor setups have to be adapted to specific applications. Rapid, selective and sensitive detection technologies for biological agents are critical in clinical diagnosis, environmental monitoring and food safety. Recent developments in nanomaterial create many opportunities to advance DNA sensing and gene detection. The fact that gold nanoparticles are able to provide a stable immobilization of biomolecules that retain their bioactivity is a major advantage for the preparation of biosensors. Although, there are a lot of researches reporting electrode modification by different nanomaterial to improve the DNA biosensor performance, the preparation of nanomaterial or the electrode modification strategy is often relatively complex. Furthermore, some DNA biosensors based on nanomaterial modification are still very limited for the improvement of DNA biosensor performance. Thus, the construction of nanostructure modified electrode by a simple strategy to improve the DNA detection sensitivity is highly desirable.Keywords: DNA Hybridization, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Nanobiosensor


Learning algorithms, like Quality-Diversity (QD), can be used to acquire repertoires of diverse robotics skills. This learning is commonly done via computer simulation due to the large number of evaluations required. However, training in a virtual environment generates a gap between simulation and reality. Here, we build upon the Reset-Free QD (RF-QD) algorithm to learn controllers directly on a physical robot. This method uses a dynamics model, learned from interactions between the robot and the environment, to predict the robot's behaviour and improve sample efficiency. A behaviour selection policy filters out uninteresting or unsafe policies predicted by the model. RF-QD also includes a recovery policy that returns the robot to a safe zone when it has walked outside of it, allowing continuous learning. We demonstrate that our method enables a physical quadruped robot to learn a repertoire of behaviours in two hours without human supervision. We successfully test the solution repertoire using a maze navigation task. Finally, we compare our approach to the MAP-Elites algorithm. We show that dynamics awareness and a recovery policy are required for training on a physical robot for optimal archive generation. Video available at https://youtu.be/BgGNvIsRh7Q


offers undergraduate courses in Cognitive Science. The studies are mainly organized as web-based courses or collaborative student projects. In the basic studies component, a student completes four one credit methodology courses and chooses a related assignment worth three credits for one of them. One of the methodology courses is entitled Networks in Learning Organization. It will be delivered entirely on the web, and it also will serve as a pilot course to help design other methodology courses. This paper will first briefly discuss the theoretical foundations of learning organizations and organizational learning. Then, we will review the role of networks as the technological foundation of a learning organization and continue by discussing the use of educational technology to support organizational learning and learn about it. Finally, we will describe the structure and the methods of the course and present topics that form the starting point for the discourse within the course.


Five different dosage schemes for alfentanil administration supplemented with thiopentone, pancuronium and N2O/O2 have been studied in 25 patients undergoing elective cholecystectomy. Six patients in the high dosage group experienced stiff chest during induction and five patients developed respiratory arrest on the recovery ward. The effects of the different schedules in blocking the surgical stress response have been elucidated by serial measurements of serum cortisol and glucose, heart rate and systolic blood pressure. There were no significant changes in serum cortisol, heart rate and blood pressure during anaesthesia and surgery in any group. All patients showed a significant increase in serum cortisol 2 h postoperatively. There was significant elevation of serum glucose after 1 h of surgery in two groups (maintenance dose 1 μg/kg/min of alfentanil) and in all groups except one (maintenance dose 3.0 μg/kg/min) 2 h postoperatively. High dosage of alfentanil resulted in frequent stiff chest during induction and respiratory arrest postoperatively. High dosage did not seem to give any additional benefits in blocking the surgical stress response in this type of surgery.


Diopsids are pests responsible for significant losses in rice and other cereal crop production. Damages resulting from this attack particularly during tillering and flowering stage are fatal. Research studies have been undertaken since 1950s in West Africa for effective control and eradication of these enemies. Chemical control however became predominant because insects were considered sporadic. Diopsids are dipterans that are prolific under high humidity and near water points such as lowlands. Climate change characterized by heavy rainfall, increased temperature and water volume associated to uncontrolled flooding are in favor of their increase. In recent years, diopsids has spread in virtually all rice growing ecologies. These insects are hosted by wild rice species such as Oryza longistaminata and other plants in humid regions in the absence of rice crop. Research has shown the influence of climatic factors and alternative hosts in the expansion of these pests. Some resistant varieties belonging mainly to the species O. glaberrima as CG14 have been identified. Breeding showed a transmissibility of this resistance to the progenies as NERICA4. Accepted: 22 May 2017 Available Online: 06 June 2017


Background. Stroke is one of the leading causes of morbidity, mortality and long-term disability worldwide. In terms of innovative technologies which help to recover from stroke one of the newest and least researched methods is physiotherapy in the water assisted by dolphins. Such an innovative case study was conducted in Lithuania. A great variety of scientifc literature on animal assisted therapies and interventions can be found worldwide, however, concerning research on human-animal interaction mechanisms a scientifc gap is still existing as presented in various journals of different felds (Beetz et al., 2012). The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of healing exercises in the water assisted by dolphins for motor skills of patients with haemorrhagic stroke. Methods. The study was carried out at the Dolphin Therapy Centre of the Lithuanian Sea Museum. The study lasted two weeks. The sample was a man diagnosed with a haemorrhagic stroke. The research data was collected on motor skills in the water, leg muscle strength, coordination, balance and gait. The patient participated in ten therapeutic activities in the water, assisted by dolphins (length of one activity – 30 minutes). The physiotherapist working with the patient applied balance and coordination exercises in the water. The status of the patient was evaluated four times: before activities with dolphins, after fve activities with dolphins, after ten activities with dolphins, and follow up in three weeks after ending the activities with dolphins. Results. The muscle strength of legs increased signifcantly in the foot group and slightly in the lower limb muscle group. The greatest result in balance was registered after ten therapeutic activities with dolphins in the water. The greatest improvement in coordination and walking occurred later. Assessing motor skills in the water, a signifcant positive change in equilibrium was observed. Conclusions. The results of the study showed that physiotherapy exercises in the water assisted by dolphins might help to achieve improvements in motor skills.Keywords: haemorrhagic stroke, motor skills in the water, balance, gait, therapeutic activities for assisting dolphins, physiotherapy in water.


The paper argues that the unique position of the educational system as the initiator and executor of educational policies has made it compelling for educational administrators and planners to champion the effective implementation of environmental education as a strategy for improving public awareness, environmental quality and hopefully propel sustainable development in Nigeria. The objectives of this paper therefore are four fold: to present where we are in terms of policy issues, what the challenges and opportunities are, what we should be doing and the role of educational planners. The paper concludes that environmental education and the education process should assume a position of prominence and importance if the goal of sustainable development is to be achieved and stressed the need to urgently embrace the "green curriculum" and mainstream environment in education at all levels.


Jordan's 1940 novel Ingqumbo Yeminyanya (translated into English in 1980 as The Wrath of the Ancestors) has a place of honour in Xhosa literature. Not at all as well known is his 1973 collection, Tales from Southern Africa (Jordan 1973a), which he wrote in English. In the collection of essays which appeared in the same year (Towards an African Literature-Jordan 1973b). Jordan himself wrote that 'the English-speaking world knows far less about [""the tales about men and women""] ... [than about] myths and animal stories' from Africa (Jordan 1973b:4) and he suggested that the cultural world is looking for just these and other traditional artistic possessions, of which South Africa itself has not become aware (Jordan 1973b: 14).


Abstract. This paper presents the new global Mesoscale Eddy Trajectories Atlases (META3.1exp DT all-satellites, https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2021.001, Pegliasco et al., 2021a and META3.1exp DT two-satellites, https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2021.002, Pegliasco et al., 2021b), composed of the eddies' identifications and trajectories produced with altimetric maps. The detection method used is a heritage of the py-eddy-tracker algorithm developed by Mason et al. (2014), optimized to manage with efficiency large datasets, and thus long time series. These products are an improvement of the META2.0 product, produced by SSALTO/DUACS and distributed by AVISO+ (https://aviso.altimetry.fr) with support from CNES, in collaboration with Oregon State University with support from NASA and based on Chelton et al. (2011). META3.1exp provides supplementary information such as the mesoscale eddy shapes with the eddy edges and their maximum speed contour, and the eddy speed profiles from the center to the edge. The tracking algorithm used is based on overlapping contours, includes virtual observations and acts as a filter with respect to the shortest trajectories. The absolute dynamic topography field is now used for eddy detection, instead of the sea level anomaly maps, to better represent the ocean dynamics in the more energetic areas and close to coasts and islands. To evaluate the impact of the changes from META2.0 to META3.1exp, a comparison methodology has been applied. The similarity coefficient is based on the ratio between the eddies' overlap and their cumulative area, and allows an extensive comparison of the different datasets in terms of geographic distribution, statistics over the main physical characteristics, changes in the lifetime of the trajectories, etc. After evaluating the impact of each change separately, we conclude that the major differences between META3.1exp and META2.0 are due to the change in the detection algorithm. META3.1exp contains smaller eddies and trajectories lasting at least 10 days that were not available in the distributed META2.0 product. Nevertheless, 55 % of the structures in META2.0 are similar in META3.1exp, ensuring the continuity between the two products, and the physical characteristics of the common eddies are close. Geographically, the eddy distribution mainly differs in the strong current regions, where the mean dynamic topography gradients are sharp. The additional information on the eddy contours allows more accurate collocation of mesoscale structures with data from other sources, so META3.1exp is recommended for multi-disciplinary applications.


Introduction: The purpose of this study was to measure the progress of scientific research outcomes of four medical journals, which are indexed to National Library of Medicine (USA) PubMed published from Saudi Arabia during the period from 2000 to 2019 Methods: Scientific papers that are published under the category of original and review articles, short communications, case, and short reports were downloaded from the top four medical journals indexed in the PubMed database viz. (i) Saudi Medical Journal (SMJ) (ii) Neurosciences (iii) Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation (SJKDT) and (iv) The Annals of Saudi Medicine (ASM) and their research productivity is measured through an appropriate mapping process. The data were analyzed according to certain parameters such as the growth of publication, the types of publication, and the authorship pattern. Inferences: The findings of the study revealed that 12866 articles were contributed by 47346 authors with an average of 3.67 authors per article, and 47.92% articles were published in 12 issues of SMJ (n=6165(47.92%)) , Neuroscience (n=1422, 11.05%)), SJKDT (n=3160, 24.56%)and ASM (n=2119, 16.47%) during 2000–2019. Most of the articles (n=10774, 83.74%) included more than one author, leaving only 2092 articles (16.26%) were published by single authors. The authors have collaborated with national and international authors for their scholarly work. Conclusions: The analysis of bibliometric indicators of these four medical journals showed the rising tendency of research publications and the high rate of collaborative research output. These journals contributed a massive number of research papers during the period of the last twenty years. Collaboration among researchers facilitates sharing knowledge and techniques and brings a mixture of positive scientific thoughts. This study recommends that the unified bylaws for faculty in Saudi universities should give more weight to multi-authored papers.


The paper extends previous thinking by the authors with regard to the major variables which should be considered in the use of games and experiential exercises. Using the five classes of variables presented in an earlier work: (1) the business concepts taught, (2) the nature of the game/task, (3) game conduct, (4) participant attributes, and (5) user attributes, a series of causal relationships are postulated. The seventeen propositions which eventuate from this programmatic reasoning process serve a necessary intermediate step to empirical tests.


Medical code assignment from clinical text is a fundamental task in clinical information system management. As medical notes are typically lengthy and the medical coding system's code space is large, this task is a long-standing challenge. Recent work applies deep neural network models to encode the medical notes and assign medical codes to clinical documents. However, these methods are still ineffective as they do not fully encode and capture the lengthy and rich semantic information of medical notes nor explicitly exploit the interactions between the notes and codes. We propose a novel method, gated convolutional neural networks, and a note-code interaction (GatedCNN-NCI), for automatic medical code assignment to overcome these challenges. Our methods capture the rich semantic information of the lengthy clinical text for better representation by utilizing embedding injection and gated information propagation in the medical note encoding module. With a novel note-code interaction design and a graph message passing mechanism, we explicitly capture the underlying dependency between notes and codes, enabling effective code prediction. A weight sharing scheme is further designed to decrease the number of trainable parameters. Empirical experiments on real-world clinical datasets show that our proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art models in most cases, and our model size is on par with light-weighted baselines.


This article outlines what we call the "narrative of psychology exceptionalism" in commentaries on the replication crisis: many thoughtful commentaries link the current crisis to the specificity of psychology's history, methods, and subject matter, but explorations of the similarities between psychology and other fields are comparatively thin. Historical analyses of the replication crisis in psychology further contribute to this exceptionalism by creating a genealogy of events and personalities that shares little in common with other fields. We aim to rebalance this narrative by examining the emergence and evolution of replication discussions in psychology alongside their emergence and evolution in biomedicine. Through a mixed-methods analysis of commentaries on replication in psychology and the biomedical sciences, we find that these conversations have, from the early years of the crisis, shared a common core that centers on concerns about the effectiveness of traditional peer review, the need for greater transparency in methods and data, and the perverse incentive structure of academia. Drawing on Robert Merton's framework for analyzing multiple discovery in science, we argue that the nearly simultaneous emergence of this narrative across fields suggests that there are shared historical, cultural, or institutional factors driving disillusionment with established scientific practices.


A general technique for analyzing complicated gas discharges has been developed and applied to the Hg + Ar (fluorescent lamp) discharge. The theoretical model includes electron excitation and deexcitation, two-state ionization through a saturated metastable level, and proper treatment of the self-absorption of the resonance radiation. The analysis yields simple analytic expressions for the electron temperature, the resonance radiation, and the electric field. When applied to Hg + Ar discharges, these analytic expressions yield good quantitative agreement with the available absolute data on the dependence of the electron temperature, the Hg 2537-A radiation, and the electric field on mercury pressure and current.


AIM
To investigate the clinicopathological factors underlying the ethnic differences of Helicobacter pylori gastritis and cancer.

METHODS
We analyzed clinicopathological parameters of gastric biopsies having H pylori infection that were randomly selected from different ethnic populations including 147 Americans, 149 Japanese, and 181 Koreans.

RESULTS
Males were predominant in Japanese and Korean populations (77.9 and 67.4% respectively) in comparison with Americans (48.3%) (P<0.001). H pylori gastritis in Koreans and Japanese was characterized by the predominant antral involvement. In the antrum, neutrophilic infiltration into the proliferative zone of pit, i.e. acute foveolitis, was more frequent in Koreans (82%) than in Japanese (71%) (P<0.05) and Americans (61%) (P<0.001). Interstitial neutrophilic infiltration, intestinal metaplasia and atrophy were also frequent in Koreans and Japanese. In the body, the prevalence of acute foveolitis was not significantly different among the populations while chronic interstitial inflammation and lymphoid follicles were more pronounced in the body of Americans than in the body of others (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION
The male-, and antrum-predominant H pylori gastritis in Koreans and Japanese is compatible with the pattern of sex and topographical distribution of gastric cancer incidence. Our data suggest that persistent acute foveolitis at the proliferative zone is a crucial step in the gastric carcinogenesis.


A precursor diblock copolymer with a silicon backbone, polystyrene-block-poly(methylvinylsiloxane), was synthesized, and 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecanethiol was quantitatively introduced into the backbone via a thiol-ene reaction to yield a novel coil–rod diblock copolymer, poly(styrene-block-poly(2-((3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,10-heptadecafluorodecyl)thio)ethyl)methylsiloxane). The ultra-hydrophobicity of the introduced perfluoroalkyl side chain enhanced the segregation between counter-blocks and significantly increased the χ value, which is essential for minimizing the size of self-assembled domains for lithographic applications. Thus, self-assembled domains with a minimal spacing of approximately 10 nm were formed. A hexagonally packed array with significant anisotropy was observed in the self-assembled morphology by small-angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Such an array was precisely reproduced by modified self-consistent field theory (SCFT) calculation developed for the coil–rod structure. Furthermore, the phase diagram was estimated, and the morphological dependence on the relative scale of the rod unit was investigated by SCFT prediction.


Background Etomidate has been shown to reduce ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in several tissues. Here we aimed to investigate the protective effects of etomidate on I/R injury in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods Thirty rats were randomly divided into 5 groups and pretreated with saline or 0.5/1/2 mg/kg etomidate. I/R injury was induced in all groups except the sham control group. After administration with saline or 0.5/1/2 mg/kg etomidate daily for another 27 days, rats were sacrificed and the effects of etomidate were analyzed. Results Treatment with etomidate dose dependently improved echocardiography indexes, ameliorated myocardial histological alterations and reduced serum creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), myoglobin (Mb) and troponin I (cTnl) levels. Fibrosis markers transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and fibronectin was decreased with etomidate treatment. Etomidate also decreased oxidative stress and inflammation in rats, indicated by increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH), and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) in myocardial tissues, as well as decreased inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and increased interleukin (IL)-10 in both serum and myocardial tissues. Conclusions Altogether, we showed that etomidate alleviated I/R injury in rats through reduced cardiac dysfunction, fibrosis and oxidative stress. These results supported the protective role of etomidate to myocardial I/R injury.


A new discovery of Miersia cornuta Phil. from Valparaiso Region, Chile, is presented. Details of fower and fruit has been unclear, what has caused this taxon has been considered a doubtful species. The complete description, commentaries, new localities of this endemic species, and a key for Miersia species are given.


BACKGROUND
Chikungunya is a reemerging disease. In 2005-2006, a severe outbreak occurred on Reunion Island in the southwestern part of the Indian Ocean. Other islands in this area were affected during the same period.

METHODS
Adult patients with acute chikungunya (defined as onset of fever and/or polyarthralgia in the 5 days preceding consultation) and laboratory-confirmed chikungunya who were referred to Groupe Hospitalier Sud Reunion during the period from March 2005 through April 2006 were included in this retrospective study. Their clinical and laboratory features are reported.

RESULTS
Laboratory-confirmed acute chikungunya was documented in 157 patients. The mean age of patients was 57.9 years, and the ratio of male to female patients was 1.24 : 1. Sixty percent of patients had at least 1 comorbidity. Ninety-seven patients (61.8%) were hospitalized, and 60 (38.2%) were treated as outpatients. Five fatalities were reported. One hundred fifty-one patients (96.1%) experienced polyarthralgia, and 129 (89%) experienced fever. Gastrointestinal symptoms were reported by 74 patients (47.1%), and skin rash was reported by 63 (40.1%). Hemorrhagic signs were rare. Lymphopenia and hypocalcemia were the prominent laboratory findings. Severe thrombocytopenia was rarely observed.

CONCLUSIONS
Chikungunya virus can be responsible for explosive outbreaks of disease. Polyarthralgia and fever are the 2 main clinical features. In this era of travel and globalization, chikungunya should be considered in the differential diagnosis of febrile polyarthralgia with an abrupt onset.


BACKGROUND
Ophthalmomyiasis externa results from infestation of the conjunctiva by the larval or maggot form of Oestrus ovis. It is common in sheep-farming areas, especially in Mediterranean countries.

CASE REPORT
A 40-year-old man was admitted to the ophthalmology outpatient clinic at State Hospital. He complained of a foreign-body sensation. He was living in a city center in Eastern Anatolia of Turkey. The larvae were removed and antibiotic drops and ointment were given to the patient. The larvae were first-instar Oestrus ovis larvae.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors consider ophthalmomyiasis to be not only a problem of rural areas and subsequent examination is very important to ensure that no complications have occurred. It is hoped that this case encourages physicians to be aware of the diagnosis of ophthalmomyiasis externa and its complication and treatment.


With the rapid advancement of quantum technologies, the integration between classical and quantum computing systems is an active area of research critical to future development. The coupling between these systems requires both to be as efficient as possible. One of the key elements to increase efficiency on the quantum side is circuit optimization. The goal is to execute the circuit on the desired hardware in less time and with less complexity, thereby reducing the impact of noise on the quantum system. However, the optimization process does not guarantee to generate improved results, yet it is always a computationally highly complex task that can create significant load for the classical computing side. To mitigate this problem, we propose a novel approach to predict the optimizability of any circuit using a Machine Learning-based algorithm within the decision workflow. This optimizes the most suitable circuits thereby increasing efficiency of the optimization process itself.


Spatial association mining, as one of important techniques for spatial data mining, is used to discover interesting relationship patterns among spatial features based on spatial proximity from a large spatial database. Explosive growth in georeferenced data has emphasized the need to develop computationally efficient methods for analyzing big spatial data. Parallel and distributed computing is effective and mostly-used strategy for speeding up large scale dataset algorithms. This work presents parallel spatial association mining on the Spark RDD framework - a specially-designed in-memory parallel computing model to support iterative algorithms. The initial experiment result shows that the Spark-based algorithm has significantly improved performance than the method with MapReduce in spatial association pattern mining.


It is widely known that there is no synonym between the words of the Holy Quran. Each word has its own independent meaning, but it may be related with another word in raising new meaning or a specific meaning that Allah Almighty decreed. Sometimes confusion occurred between the terms because of apparently convergence and each term indicates specific point for the consequent legitimacy. This is the case with the terms of al-'amal al-tatawwu'i (volunteerism) and al-'amal al-khayri (philanthropy) frequently used throughout the text in many of the Muslim writings. Hence this research aims to explore the concept of "philanthropy" and "volunteerism" as mentioned in the Holy Quran as well as to elucidate the area of consensus and dissension between the two terms. One of the most important findings of this study through the inductive and analytical approach is that "volunteerism" is more general and extensive compared to "philanthropy". The term "volunteerism" refers to the work or action regardless of the good or bad of an approach. Yet from Islamic perspective, the concept of "philanthropy" is accepted if only conforming to the higher objectives of Shari'ah in contradistinction to those who adopted this term as general or similar meaning to "volunteerism" in their writings.


The mechanism of transcriptional activation of human leukocyte antigen class I genes by gamma interferon and 5-azacytidine was studied in K562 human leukemia cells. Nuclear run-on transcription assays with various protein and RNA synthesis inhibitors yield evidence for both stimulation of a positive regulatory factor and inhibition of an mRNA that codes for a labile repressor. A novel mechanism is proposed to explain how 5-azacytidine can activate repressed genes without affecting DNA methylation.


Gravel beds in river systems represent important aquatic habitats, which may be endangered by the introduction of large amounts of fine sediments. In order to better understand the interaction between fine sediments and coarse immobile beds in sediment supply-limited systems, a series of flume experiments was conducted. The main goal was to determine under what conditions erosion stops. The experiments were performed over a bed of regularly arranged spheres. Plastic particles were taken as sediment and the erosion was investigated under uniform flow conditions for variable bed shear stress conditions just above critical conditions. The system was observed to behave in two different ways: with higher bed shear stress fine sediments were completely washed out, whilst with lower stress the sediment bed reached a stable level just above the equator of the spheres.


This guide is intended to help students in the online WGSS 101 course develop their research projects on various topics guided by their professor.


Streaming video would become a popular form of transferring video over next-generation wireless overlay networks. As transport protocol for streaming video, TCP- friendly rate control (TFRC) is generally used. Using both TCP congestion response function and current network conditions, TFRC adjusts transmission rate so as to achieve maximum TCP-friendly throughput. However, TFRC is less responsive to changes in handover between wireless overlay networks, since it was designed for applications that would prefer to maintain a slowly-changing transmission rate. Also, the transferred streaming video could be degraded owing to the service interruption time occurred during vertical handover (VHO) process. In this paper, a new cross-layer TFRC streaming video system is demonstrated for VHO over wireless overlay network. The proposed system consists of a VHO based TFRC server and a TFRC client with VHO decision function. The proposed TFRC server uses explicit VHO messages for faster rate adaptation to a new target network. Also, the proposed TFRC client decides on switching time between different overlay networks by using handoff metrics obtained from multi-layers. The simulation results show that the proposed streaming video system provides better QoS and throughput supports than the conventional TFRC scheme during VHO .


Three-dimensional printed models are important learning tools for blind people. Unlike tactile graphics, there is no standard accessible way to label these models. We present Talkabel, a labeling method that enables blind people to access information in a model by simply tapping tactile markers that can be added almost anywhere on the model. We use a mobile phone that is propped on an attached scaffold to detect and classify the user--s taps and then speak the appropriate label. We evaluated the feasibility of Talkabel with four 3D printed models, and our results showed that Talkabel could be implemented quickly and maintained a high accuracy with different models. We conclude with future work.


In 1891, Schweninger and Buzzi 1 published their report of "Multiple Benign Tumor-Like New Growths of the Skin." Briefly, according to the authors' description, the condition is characterized by the appearance of numerous white to slate-colored, bladder-like lesions beneath the skin, some of which have fine telangiectases coursing over them. The eruption involves the upper part of the back, chest, shoulders and arms. The lesions vary in size from that of a lentil to that of a sixpence and on the sides of the thorax are arranged along the lines of cleavage. By pressure with the tip of the finger, most of the formations can be forced into the deeper skin, producing a shallow pit on the surface, the tumor reappearing, however, like a ventral hernia when the pressure is released. The disease is slowly progressive, new lesions occurring as the older ones involute spontaneously, leaving soft, flat scars. Histologically,


This paper introduces denoising preprocessing technology, image set redundancy and similarity. Both the min-max differential method and the min-max predictive method, which are used to remove set redundancy, are studied in detail. Then, the deficiency of the MMP method is analyzed and the method for predicting levels in MMP is improved to remove correlation among pixels further. Meanwhile, an effective lossless compression algorithm, denoise improved min-max predictive algorithm (DIMMP), is presented in this paper. It combines denoising preprocessing technology and improved MMP method, and can remove background noise and strong correlation in medical image sets effectively. The experimental results indicate that the compression ratio of DIMMP algorithm is much higher than that of MMD/MMP relative methods, and conventional two-dimensional image compression algorithms. This algorithm is one of ideal compression algorithms for medical image sets at present, and can be widely used in medical image storage systems.


Given their difficulties encountered during pedestrian wayfinding, we present two exploratory studies on older adults' mobility. These studies had two major objectives: 1) identify and model the main psychological and cognitive difficulties experienced by older adults when crossing the street or orienting in complex outdoor environments; 2) identify the environmental resources and the technological aids which could help older adults compensate the effects of aging on street-crossing behaviour and orientation. The studies were based on an online questionnaire distributed to people aged 50 and more, as well as on semi-structured interviews with older adults. The semi-structured interviews were constructed on the basis of the Critical Incident Technique. The analysis of the data of the two studies was inspired by the Capabilities Approach (Sen, 1985). The Capability Approach is a socioeconomic theoretical framework focusing on human development. Therefore, it can support reflection on how the environment and existing technologies may reinforce human capabilities. The Capability Approach has a strong focus on ethics, dignity and support for enhancing cognitive, physical and sensory capacities and, in this sense, can be very useful for the design of mobility trainings and aids for older adults. The results of the studies presented in this paper showed that the major difficulties encountered by older adults are are mostly related to the environment: for example the flow of traffic (i.e. the crowd, strollers, trolleys, bikes), the lack of information (i.e. signage, maps), the difficulties during multimodal interchange (i.e. lack of availability of means of transportation at the given location or lack of information), the legibility of information (too much or wrong information, the graphic design of the signage) and the lack of space on sidewalks. Other secondary difficulties are rather of a physical nature, such as difficulties to carry bags, joint pain and sight. As for the resources, they reside in the knowledge of places (i.e. mental maps), in preparing the itinerary before leaving, paper or board maps and sometimes the GPS or smartphone. We will also discuss leads to improve existing resources (signage, pedestrian GPS, etc.), thus attempting to reduce their limitations.


Iswanto AH, Siregar YS, Susilowati A, Darwis A, Hartono R, Wirjosentono B, Rachmat HH, Hidayat A, Fatriasari W. 2019. Variation in chemical constituent of Styrax sumatrana wood growing at different cultivation site in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 448-452. Kemenyan Toba (Styrax sumatrana) is known as endemic resin-producing trees that naturally grow in North Sumatra and distributed throughout five districts within the province. Different growing site may constitute to different characteristics of the species, e.g. morphological differences, chemical constituent, bioactive substances, etc. Different characteristics of wood chemical constituent are an important factor determining further utilization and potential use of wood in wider spectrums. Information about wood chemical constituent of Styrax sumatrana growing from different site has not been determined yet. Therefore, the objective of this research was to analyze the characteristics of chemical constituent of Styrax sumatrana wood originated from North Tapanuli and Pakpak Bharat according to axial direction of stem (bottom, middle, and top). Chemical properties such as hollocelulose, α-cellulose, hemicellulose, Acid Soluble Lignin (ASL), acid insoluble lignin (AIL), and non-structural component (extractive content in ethanol benzene 1: 2 and ash content) were observed. Results showed that different growth location would yield in different wood chemical constituent. The wood chemical constituent from North Tapanuli and Pakpak Bharat were 52.72 and 69.80% (hollocelulose), 25.94 and 39.87% (α-cellulose), 26.78 and 29.92% (hemicellulose), 5.49 and 4.33% (Acid Soluble Lignin), 4.37 and 20.43% (Acid-Insoluble Lignin), 10.95 and 2.42% (extractive content), 1.37 and 0.8% for ash content.


Shell repairs resulting from presumed failed predation are documented in gastropods from the Late Ordovician (Cincinnatian; Richmondian) mid-to-upper Kagawong Submember of the Georgian Bay Formation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada. The bryozoan–mollusc biota and associated sediments generally suggest nearshore, shallow (<10 m), low energy (lagoonal), and perhaps mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions. Two sample sets from this unit have been studied for shell repair. One of the more commonly applied estimates of shell repair frequencies involves division of the number of individuals with at least one scar by the total number of individuals in the sample (the Individuals with scars method). Using this calculation, 207 specimens of Lophospira trilineata Ulrich and Scofield yielded a shell repair frequency of 4.8%; in 28 specimens of Trochonemella sp. the shell repair frequency was 35.7%. Repairs in Trochonemella occur primarily in the larger size class, suggesting that a size refuge was achieved by this ...


The blood is an important liquid connective tissue flow in body and performs the role of distribution of oxygen to various tissues, taken out carbon dioxide and maintains the health status of an organism. Any change in the blood components can cause adverse effects on the body. The effect of mercuric chloride has been evaluated on blood in albino rats (Rattus norvegicus). The albino rats were treated with mercuric chloride 0.926 mg kg(-1) body wt. for acute (1 day) and 0.044 mg kg(-1) body wt. for sub-acute (7, 14 and 21 day) sets after calculating LD50 (9.26 mg kg(-1) body wt.). Major changes have been observed in the form of enhanced clotting time (CT) and bleeding time (BT) due to toxic effect of mercuric chloride on haemopoietic system along with decrease in the total erythrocyte count (TEC) and haemoglobin concentration (Hb. conc.). The changes in erythrocyte count and haemoglobin concentration have been correlated with cytotoxic effect of mercuric chloride on erythropoiesis. However, the intoxication of mercuric chloride on total leukocyte count (TLC) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) has been observed to be significantly increased after acute and sub-acute treatments due to leucocytosis and rouleux formation. Moreover the present observations highlight dose dependent toxicity.


Errors in measurement of S/sub 11/ due to the residual SWR of the slotted line or directional coupler are calculated using admittance considerations. This more complete treatment produces, for some practical conditions, major differences from prior references for phase errors.


This communication describes a simple and effective method for welding electrospun nanofibers at the cross points to enhance the mechanical properties of their nonwoven mats. The welding is achieved by placing a nonwoven mat of the nanofibers in a capped vial with the vapor of a proper solvent. For polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers, the solvent is dichloromethane (DCM). The welding can be managed in a controllable fashion by simply varying the partial pressure of DCM and/or the exposure time. Relative to the pristine nanofiber mat, the mechanical strength of the welded PCL nanofiber mat can be increased by as much as 200%. Meanwhile, such a treatment does not cause any major structural changes, including morphology, fiber diameter, and pore size. This study provides a generic method for improving the mechanical properties of nonwoven nanofiber mats, holding great potential in various applications.


Human neutrophil peptides 1-3 (HNP1-3), also known as human α-defensins, are the most abundant neutrophil granule proteins. The genes that encode HNP1-3, DEFA1/DEFA3, exhibit extensive copy number variations, which correlate well with their protein levels. Human and mouse studies have shown that increased copy numbers of DEFA1/DEFA3 worsen sepsis outcomes. Additionally, high concentrations of HNP1-3 in body fluids have been reported in patients with sepsis. However, direct evidence for the pathogenic role of HNP1-3 proteins during sepsis progression is lacking. In current study, sepsis was induced by means of cecal puncture and ligation. Various doses of HNP-1 (low dose with 0.5 mg/kg body weight and high dose with 10 mg/kg body weight) or phosphate buffer saline were intraperitoneally administered to mice at six hours after sepsis onset. Survival rate was monitored, and vascular permeability, endothelial cell pyroptosis, and immunofluorescence of endothelial adherens junction protein vascular endothelial-cadherin were evaluated. The administration of a high dose of HNP-1 after sepsis onset led to increased mortality, more severe liver injury, and increased vascular permeability in the liver and mesentery. The injection of high dose of HNP-1 did not directly induce liver endothelial cell death but destroyed interendothelial junctions in the liver. Moreover, genetic deficiency of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein-3 or caspase-1 abrogated the high mortality and disrupted liver interendothelial junctions caused by high dose of HNP-1 during sepsis. This study directly demonstrates that neutrophil defensins play a key role in regulating endothelial stability during sepsis development.


Resource discovery plays an important role in Grid. The key of Resource Discovery is organization of all information of resources and the status about systems. In currently deployed Grid systems, the information services used for resource discovery usually have been organized into centralized structure or hierarchical structure, such as China Grid, so such information model is efficient. The reason may include two: most resources in such Grids are traditional clusters with relatively stable high-performance computers; the rules to govern the availability of the participating resources are strict. But with the QoS constraints that currently govern most Grids being loosening up, Grids will move towards more popular and diverse application scenarios. Moreover, currently deployed Grids are all isolated from each other and almost each Grid are statically over-provisioned to handle peak loads so that resources utilization rates within such applications are typically low, which means that sometimes in Grid there are available resources can be used by other Grids. At the same time, with the development of computers such as the computing power of PCs and Supercomputers, increasing bandwidth and storage, the available resource inside Grids will increase, so resource utilization rates will be lower and lower. Hence pooling resources together to form a virtual resource house seems natural to enhance resource utilization as well as to reduce costs. But it is nature for all kinds of resource not to be shared by all Grids, especially special data source or devices. So we categorize Grids into communities according to application domain, such as Health or Petroleum domain. Here we proposed a model for resource discovery among Grids based on the community categorized by application domain.


This article reports on an investigation of graphophonological processes in deaf readers of French over a 1-year period. Deaf readers are known to have a phonological deficit compared to hearing peers, and conclusions from studies on this question are often conflicting. Among the different types of phonological processing, we can identify graphophonological processes based on correspondences between the oral and the written language. In this investigation, we evaluated graphophonemic and graphosyllabic processes using, in each case, two different tasks varying in their degree of cognitive constraints (CC- vs. CC+). Nineteen 11 year-old deaf students were compared to younger normal readers of the same reading level (RA, n = 17) and to normal readers of the same age (CA, n = 20). Two variables were considered in the analyses: accuracy and response latency. Results show that deaf readers do process written items at the graphophonological level and that graphophonological processes are related to reading ability. Also, results indicate main effects of task (CC- vs. CC+), time (T1 vs. T2), and group. In general, deaf participants' performances are comparable to those of RA and differ from those of CA. Results are discussed within the framework of the study of phonology in deaf readers and its relation to reading acquisition.


An in depth harmonic assessment of FCCs (forced commutated cycloconverters) is presented for unbalanced operating conditions. The analytical procedure described allows for closed-form assessment of harmonics generated by the FCC under unbalance. It is shown that for unbalance in input supply abnormal harmonics of considerable magnitude at lower frequencies are generated and impose severe restrictions on the FCC's operating frequency range and waveform quality. This aspect is fully analyzed. Selected results were verified experimentally on a laboratory prototype FCC.<<ETX>>


Abstract The Carabidae family (Coleoptera) is used frequently for its bioindication potential to detect the environmental burden. In 2013 and 2014, we studied the correlation of Carabidae on the biotopes of six areas in the Veporské vrchy Mts and the Juhoslovenská kotlina basin by using pitfall traps, Möricke plates and Bambara beetle traps. Out of 432 recorded specimens of beetles (53 species, 15 families), the Carabidae family were the highest number of species and specimens represented, with which we confirmed higher anthropogenic interference and disturbance of ecosystems in the Juhoslovenská kotlina basin. This statistic confirms the presence of the following species typically found on arable land: Anchomenus dorsalis, Calathus fuscipes fuscipes, Harpalus affinis and Pseudoophonus rufipes. The ecosystems in the Veporské vrchy Mts region show less disturbance, and the anthropological impact is smaller, indicated by the presence of the Carabus problematicus species, an important indicator of the conservation of natural forest ecosystems.


This paper summarizes the major experiences from schistosomiasis control, analyzes the challenges of schistosomiasis elimination, and proposes suggestions for further control programs in Hubei Province, with aims to provide insights into the acceleration of the progress towards schistosomiasis elimination and the achievement of the goal designed in the 13th Five-Year Plan of National Schistosomiasis Control in China.


Herein, the ultrafine‐grained (UFG) 7xxx series alloy Al–4.8Zn–1.2Mg–0.14Zr demonstrates superplasticity at unusually low temperatures of 120–170 °C while maintaining its high‐strength state. The UFG structure is formed by high pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature (RT), which leads to a considerable increase in the strength characteristics by ≈60% compared with the material after conventional heat treatment T6. It is found that the UFG alloy exhibits thermostability when testing or annealing up to 170 °C. Deforming by tensile test at a strain rate of 10−4 s−1 and 10−3 s−1, the elongation to failure at 120 and 170 °C exceeds 250% and 500%, respectively, whereas the strain rate sensitivity reaches 0.45, which is a typical value characterizing superplastic deformation. After superplastic deformation, the UFG alloy maintains 25–50% higher strength characteristics at RT than that after conventional heat treatment T6. The origin of such superior behavior of the UFG alloy is discussed.


The term 'acetylator polymorphism' describes genetically determined differences in ability to metabolise certain drugs by acetylation (see table). About 60% of people in Britain acetylate these drugs slowly (slow acetylator phenotype), while the remainder are rapid acetylators. Rapid acetylation is much more common among the Japanese, Chinese and Eskimos. Phenotypes may be identified by giving the patient a single dose of sulphadimidine and measuring the proportions of free and acetylated drug that appear in the plasma and urine.1–3 But whether widespread acetylator phenotyping of patients will significantly improve their management is not yet clear.


Objective: The forensic
mental health system in Japan changed dramatically with the enforcement of
the "Act on Medical Care and Treatment for the Persons Who Had Caused Serious
Cases under the Condition of Insanity" or MTS Act, in 2005. The aim of this
study is to evaluate the changes in attitude and behavior of general
psychiatrists, towards forensic psychiatry. Methods: We conducted a
questionnaire survey in 2010 on forensic psychiatry for Japanese psychiatrists,
mirroring a previous study from 2007. Results: Comparing the results from both
questionnaires, it is not evident that awareness of forensic mental health
has improved among psychiatrists in the intervening three years. Conclusion:
Further education about forensic mental health needs to be considered inJapan.


African interpreters were hired to serve as intermediaries between Europeans and Africans, but they ended up establishing themselves as key parties in the mediation process, wielding as much power as both the colonial administrators and the traditional authorities. In so doing, they actively participated in the colonial enterprise, which involved dominating and exploiting native masses, promoting Eurocentrism, as well as fostering the rule of injustice and violence. Although in the African community the interpreter 's status brought him privile ges and some respect, he was viewed with suspicion – and even contempt – by European colonial officers, who considered him as a threat to their own existence. Eventually, this indirect actor of the disintegration of African traditional societies could really identify neither with his fellow natives, for whom he was part of the colonial administration, nor with Europeans, who would rather keep him in a state of servitude. His personality reflected the contradictions of the new social order which he had helped to establish.


In this study, the sterilization property of E. coli was established using a plasma generator with a flexible electrode structure. The bacterial suspension was prepared based on the McFarland standard 0.50 (1.5×10 CFU/mL) concentration and a specific amount was inoculated on the plate medium. After the plasma was discharged 3 cm away from the plasma generator in the range of 30s to 5 min and the results compared to the control group, the observed colonies that were formed decreased significantly as the plasma discharge time increased.


Diagonal Padé approximants of elliptic functions are studied. It is known that the absence of uniform convergence of such approximants is related to them having spurious poles that do not correspond to any singularities of the function being approximated. A sequence of piecewise rational functions is proposed, which is constructed from two neighbouring Padé approximants and approximates an elliptic function locally uniformly in the Stahl domain. The proof of the convergence of this sequence is based on deriving strong asymptotic formulae for the remainder function and Padé polynomials and on the analysis of the behaviour of a spurious pole. Bibliography: 23 titles.


Abstract Perceptions of couple interdependence - partners' mutual identity - are a key construct in relationship research and couple and family therapy. There is a need for a self-report measure that includes cognitive, emotional, and behavioral facets associated with perceptions of partner's interdependence or we-ness, given its utility. The present study utilized data from 434 individuals to evaluate the psychometric properties of the We-ness Questionnaire, a multi-item self-report measure assessing perceptions of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral we-ness for individuals in a romantic relationship. Based on a sample of 434 individuals currently in a romantic relationship from the United States, the We-ness Questionnaire was found to have good reliability and showed appropriate convergent and discriminant validity. Implications for future research and couple and family therapy are discussed.


Urban Transformation is a multi-faceted process that causes the transformation of cities in a physical and social sense. In Turkey, urban transformation is tested in different periods, but it became a current issue after the 1999 Marmara Earthquake. Although the urban transformation studies were included in the government programs since 2002, the construction of the comprehensive projects was carried out in 2012 with the Law No. 6306 on the Transformation of Areas Under Disaster Risk. As a result of the intense migrations and population growth in Istanbul; It is the largest of our cities, which are experiencing the problems of squattering, illegal construction and the urbanization due to them. Today, urban regeneration projects have started to be implemented in the squatter areas, especially in the central location of the city. With the acceleration of the process, urban transformation projects were completed in many districts of Istanbul and the multidimensional consequences of urban transformation began to become more visible. The aim of this study is; to examine the spatial and social consequences of the completed urban transformation projects with a critical approach. During the research, qualitative research methods such as participation observation and interview were used. Interviews were conducted with the residents of the neighborhoods with completed urban transformation projects and semi-structured forms. While determining the sample group; The head of households and the people who have knowledge about the subject were cared for. The people affected by the transformation are generally positive in terms of renewal of houses, becoming more robust and the neighborhood being more organized. However, the transformation is not limited to these results, and the economic implications for the transformation of the cities with the neoliberal policies implemented. Private firms with project contractors make high profits from the transformation process and become the winning side of urban transformation projects. Considering the socio-economic characteristics of the people living in urban regeneration areas, they are the beneficiaries of the profit that is expected to be of major benefit. However, as it can be understood from the interviews and observations, the residents cannot benefit from the increase in rent and they have a serious borrowing problem for their new houses. In addition, the process of urban transformation and after; It is also observed that there are significant problems in terms of spatial segregation, ethnic and cultural exclusion, inability to adapt to the transformed areas in social and cultural terms.


In recent years, the transformational leadership construct has become a popular topic in leadership literature. Generally, the view is held that transformational leadership is superior to the more conventional transactional leadership and produces desirable leadership outcomes. The claims made for transformational leadership have been largely reported outside the instructional context yet the nature of the transformational leadership construct indicates considerable potential in the teaching of management development courses. This paper explores the idea that the enactment of transformational leadership by instructors can enhance the quality of management development instruction.


Methodologies utilized in research and product development have little in common. While the former thrives on freethinking and innovative creation, the latter is more dependent on a structured process. A culture shift is required from a purely knowledge‐driven academic environment to a commercial research environment that is more sensitive to budget and schedule constraints. In spite of these differences, systems engineering practices may be applied to research, helping the teams to produce favourable results.


The heterogeneity of the older population suggests the existence of subsets of individuals which share certain brain molecular features and respond differently to risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, but this population structure remains poorly defined. Here, we performed an unsupervised clustering of individuals with multi-region brain transcriptomes to assess whether a broader approach, simultaneously considering data from multiple regions involved in cognition would uncover such subsets. We implemented a canonical correlation-based analysis in a Discovery cohort of 459 participants from two longitudinal studies of cognitive aging that have RNA sequence profiles in three brain regions. 690 additional participants that have data in only one or two of these regions were used in the Replication effort. These clustering analyses identified two meta-clusters, MC-1 and MC-2. The two sets of participants differ primarily in their trajectories of cognitive decline, with MC-2 having a delay of 3 years to the median age of incident dementia. This is due, in part, to a greater impact of tau pathology on neuronal chromatin architecture and to broader brain changes including greater loss of white matter integrity in MC-1. Further evidence of biological differences includes a significantly larger impact of APOEε4 risk on cognitive decline in MC-1. These findings suggest that our proposed population structure captures an aspect of the more distributed molecular state of the aging brain that either enhances the effect of risk factors in MC-1 or of protective effects in MC-2. These observations may inform the design of therapeutic development efforts and of trials as both become increasingly more targeted molecularly. One Sentence Summary: There are two types of aging brains, with one being more vulnerable to APOEε4 and subsequent neuronal dysfunction and cognitive loss.


Abstract Call centres have been described as 'electronic sweatshops' and 'slave galleons of the twenty first century' and, contrarily as progressive, team based and career fulfilling work environments. Drawing on data from a survey of call centre managers in Australia, it is shown that there are elements of call centre management with practices from both extremes of the descriptive continuum and in some instances these elements coexist in the one centre. Whilst call centres are managed with a high level of control and the work of call centre agents is subject to intense scrutiny and monitoring, the simplistic notion that they are electronic sweatshops, or that the metaphor of the Panopticon applies, is rejected.


Evidence has accumulated rapidly to support the hypothesis that neurological anomalies underlie specific forms of learning disability (LD). This article reviews recent studies directed at the electrophysiological assessment of LD children, with emphasis on the brain stem evoked response(BSER) methodology. Child studies appear to indicate that there are significant differences in BSERs between LD and age-matched normal controls. The methodological and statistical differences among these studies, which have clouded the findings and made replication difficult, are reviewed. Improvements in sampling and empirical procedures are suggested, including the use of discriminant analysis to explore BSER asymmetries in LD children. Future inquiry into the measurement and analysis of BSER activity in LD populations is warranted on the basis of these preliminary findings. New information may bring professionals closer to an understanding of the neurological causes of specific subtypes of LD and permit earlier identification of these "at risk" populations.


The most common synaptic connections between neurons in different cortical layers form the basis of the canonical cortical microcircuit. Understanding of cortical function will require further development and application of methods to efficiently characterize synaptic connections within and outside of the canonical pathway. Accordingly, we measured synaptic inputs onto superficial excitatory neurons in response to sequential two-photon optogenetic stimulation of neurons in deeper layers. Layer 4 excitatory neurons and somatostatin-neurons within layer 2/3 represented the most common sources of input. Although connections from excitatory and somatostatin-neurons in layer 5 were less common, the amplitudes of synaptic responses were equally strong. We examined synaptic strength across all connections, as well as the relationships between the strength of connections diverging from a common presynaptic neuron or converging to a single target. While the overall distribution indicates synaptic weight is concentrated to a few connections, strong excitatory connections are distributed across cells.


Community-wide food pulses may ameliorate food constraints but may also result in increased competition for other resources and predation rates. In cavity-nesting vertebrate communities, where the availability of tree cavities can limit reproduction and the reuse of cavities can increase nest predation by squirrels, excavators may maximize their fecundity by creating new cavities in competitor- and predator-rich habitats that undergo food pulses. Th e reproductive cost associated with excavation (i.e. increased energy allocation early in the breeding season that often delays laying and thereby reduces clutch size), may be reduced if food pulses allow for a longer breeding season and larger clutches. A large-scale mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae outbreak that occurred during our long-term study (1995 – 2009) provided a natural food supplementation experiment across 27 sites in British Columbia, Canada. We examined the eff ects of a reduction in food constraints accompanied with increases in excavation rates, conspecifi c density and nest predation risk on the fecundity of a facultative excavator, the red-breasted nuthatch Sitta canadensis . We found a total of 420 nests in tree cavities. Nuthatch clutch sizes ranged from two to nine eggs, and broods from one to nine fl edglings per nest. Later clutches were larger at sites and in years with high beetle abundance (mean clutch size of six eggs did not decline later in the season), second broods were produced in outbreak years (usually only one nesting attempt/normal year), and the number of fl edglings per successful nest increased with increasing beetle abundance and nuthatch densities, but declined with increased squirrel densities. Since fecundity did not diff er between new and reused cavities, the costs and benefi ts of excavation versus cavity reuse may be neutralized for nuthatches during strong resource pulses. Overall, the beetle outbreak reduced food constraints for nuthatches and provided alternate food for nest predators, allowing increased annual fecundity.


Prolonged ethanol consumption produces neuropathology and neurologic symptoms in humans and experimental animals. As a means of understanding the central nervous system (CNS) consequences of ethanol abuse, we sought whether cholinergic neurochemical functions were altered by long-term ethanol consumption by rats. Eighteen weeks of ethanol consumption in a liquid diet reduced rat striatal and mammillary body choline acetylase (ChAT) by 53% and 58%, respectively. In these same regions, the density of muscarinic cholinergic receptors was elevated 117% and 12%. No such alterations were observed in cortex or in hippocampus. No alterations followed short-term ethanol consumption (2 wk), but they persisted after ethanol withdrawal (4 wk). After 13 mo of ethanol consumption, the number of neuroleptic binding sites in striatum was diminished by 29%. These results demonstrate a persistent, possibly permanent, alteration in brain cholinergic function as a consequence of long-term ethanol ingestion. Since brain acetylcholine is involved in numerous neurologic functions, including memory processes, these findings may be relevant to the lasting memory disorder and other permanent effects associated with chronic alcoholism.


This study was performed in Dakahlia province, Egypt to investigate zoonotic and molecular aspects of Listeria species recovered from some farm animals and human. For this purpose, a total of 272 samples were collected from animals (146), milk (60) and man (66). Of which 146 fecal samples were collected from cattle (95), buffaloes (25), sheep (16) and goats (10). Meantime, 60 milk samples were taken from cattle (27), buffaloes (3) and sheep (30). Regarding human, 66 samples were included 54 stool samples from 30 adult, 9 previously aborted women and 15 preterm. Moreover, 12 vaginal swabs were collected from aborted women from patients admitted to Mansoura University hospitals and some private clinical laboratories. The results revealed that the occurrence of Listeria species was 17.1% in animal feces, 16.6% in milk samples. While, in human samples, it was 15.1%. Sheep feces showed higher occurrence (43.7%), buffalo's milk was highest contamination rate (33.3%). The frequency distribution of Listeria species in stool of women, preterm, adults and vaginal swabs were 11.1%, 6.6%, 20.0% and 16.6%, respectively. Different Listeria species have been identified from animals, milk and humans, L. monocytogenes was the most identified strains (44.4%). Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (m. PCR) was used to detect the virulence genes (iap, hylA and actA) of 12 biochemically identified L. monocytogenes strains recovered from different sources using specific primers. The molecular characterization proved that m. PCR successfully amplified iap, hylA and actA virulence genes at specific base pair 131, 456 and 839 respectively. In conclusion, Listeria species were detected in the examined farm animals, its milk and humans, reflecting the zoonotic impact of such animals and its milk, moreover, same genotypes prevalent in farm animals, milk and humans suggesting that genotypes are transmissible between farm animals and man in the examined area, Egypt.


Binding of divalent metal ions to human hemopexin (Hx) purified by a new protocol has been characterized by metal ion affinity chromatography and potentiometric titration in the presence and absence of bound protoheme IX. ApoHx was retained by variously charged metal affinity chelate resins in the following order: Ni(2+) > Cu(2+) > Co(2+) > Zn(2+) > Mn(2+). The Hx-heme complex exhibited similar behavior except the order of retention of the complex on Zn(2+)- and Co(2+)-charged columns was reversed. One-dimensional (1)H NMR of apoHx in the presence of Ni(2+) implicates at least two His residues and possibly an Asp, Glu, or Met residue in Ni(2+) binding. Potentiometric titrations establish that apoHx possesses more than two metal ion binding sites and that the capacity and/or affinity for metal ion binding is diminished when heme binds. For most metal ions that have been studied, potentiometric data did not fit to binding isotherms that assume one or two independent binding sites. For Mn(2+), however, these data were consistent with a high-affinity site [K(A) = (15 +/- 3) x 10(6) M(-)(1)] and a low-affinity site (K(A) <or= 2 x10(3) M(-)(1)). Binding of Cu(2+) and Zn(2+) to the Hx-heme complex produced significant changes in the Soret-CD spectrum of the Hx-heme complex that were reversed with addition of EDTA. Possibly, these metal ions bind near the heme binding site and perturb the electronic environment of the heme, or their binding induces exchange of one axial His ligand to the heme iron with another adjacent His residue. A possible role for Hx in the maintenance of metal ion homeostasis is discussed.


Autumn habitat selection by Houbara bustards in eastern Jungar Basin,Xinjiang was studied in September 2000.It was found that the birds preferred sites were the flat and open places,where were dominated by sparse short xero-halophytic plants with randomly interspersed bushy patches.Vegetative density,plant species richness and phenology were the most important factors that determined the autumn habitat selection of Houbara bustard.Vegetative density,herb species richness,Petrosimonia sp.density,and fruiting plant density and species richness at the autumn habitat sites were all higher than those at the control sites,and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01);shooting plant,Anabasis sp.and Reaumuria sp.density at the habitats differed significantly from those at the controls (P<0.05),and shooting plant density relatively were high,Anabasis sp.and Reaumuria sp.density low at the habitats respectively.


The 4th industrial revolution is a combination of big data, Automation, Internet of things, and Artificial Intelligence. The 4th industrial revolution play a major role in all functional strategies of growing organizations across the world. As industry 4.0 is a blend of hardware, software and people, more jobs will be created to develop and optimize cyber physical systems where supply of skilled labour is needed to assess, install and maintain the hardware and to develop, improve and monitor the software information. The bond between Human Resource Management Practices, Leadership, Work Engagement and Employee Work Performance have been well documented through different literatures. The correlation result reveal that high correlation exists between the factors work skills and HRM practices on work performance. The regression analysis reveals that work performance is predicted by the work skills. Hence the organizations must concentrate to increase the employee performance through providing best HRM Practices, courteous leadership and recruiting and retaining the best talent for the organization.


The formation of amide bonds represents one of the most fundamental processes in organic synthesis. Transition-metal-catalyzed activation of acyclic twisted amides has emerged as an increasingly powerful platform in synthesis. Herein, we report the transamidation of N-activated twisted amides by selective N–C(O) cleavage mediated by air- and moisture-stable half-sandwich Ni(II)–NHC (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbenes) complexes. We demonstrate that the readily available cyclopentadienyl complex, [CpNi(IPr)Cl] (IPr = 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene), promotes highly selective transamidation of the N–C(O) bond in twisted N-Boc amides with non-nucleophilic anilines. The reaction provides access to secondary anilides via the non-conventional amide bond-forming pathway. Furthermore, the amidation of activated phenolic and unactivated methyl esters mediated by [CpNi(IPr)Cl] is reported. This study sets the stage for the broad utilization of well-defined, air- and moisture-stable Ni(II)–NHC complexes in catalytic amide bond-forming protocols by unconventional C(acyl)–N and C(acyl)–O bond cleavage reactions.


This paper studies the problems and specific issues related to tourism and energy consumption. The purpose of this paper is establishing the cause and effect relationship between tourism and energy consumption and determining whether the increase in the number of tourists increases energy consumption. The paper analyses the following eu countries with similar economic climates: Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia,Hungary, and the Czech Republic. The analysis of the secondary data from statistical databases (Eurostat, wto, iea) using indicators such as the number of overnight stays, gdp and energy consumption, serves to establish the relationship between energy and tourism. In all observed countries, programme activities in the previous period were directed toward energy management capacity building and measures with a lower cost of implementation, such as educational and informational projects. This resulted in significant energy savings in the service sector,which is further demonstrated in the empirical part of the paper. The results indicate an increase in the number of overnight stays in all analysed countries, and show an evident direct impact of tourism on gdp. However, in some countries, an increase in the number of overnight stays does not increase energy consumption. These results indicate that some countries (Slovenia) have a more developed economy and therefore higher energy consumption, compared to some other countries (Croatia). This research provides reliable and actual qualitative and quantitative data about the problems of energy and tourism, as well as the overview of indicators in selected countries, demonstrating the cyclical relationship between tourism, economy, and energy. Keywords: tourism, energy consumption, economic development, GDP


The downsizing trend in multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) will reach a limit as long as a conventional way of materials development continues. Creation of advanced materials and precise control of materials properties will be a key technology to break through the current situation. To address this issue, scanning probe microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV-SPM) is employed to clarify materials properties from nanoscale perspective. Kelvin probe force microscopy allows us to obtain surface potential mapping on degraded dielectrics with highly spatial resolution, which is promising to consider degradation mechanism of MLCCs. Piezoresponse force microscopy enables not only to evaluate size dependent properties of ferroelectric nanoislands but also to investigate temperature dependence of domain images in Sn doped strontium titanate ceramics. Characterization of ferroelectrics based on UHV-SPM will open a new way to design future MLCCs.


Recent studies on dendritic cell (DC)-associated genes have been performed using monocyte-derived DCs (MoDCs) in different maturation stages. In our approach, to uncover the novel DC-associated genes and their expression profiles among the different DC subsets, we constructed a subtracted DC-cDNA library from CD1a(+), CD14(+), and CD11c(-) DCs by subtracting the genes shared with T cells, B cells, and monocytes, and we then screened the libraries with the aid of microarray technique. The genes showing remarkable specificity to DCs in the microarray analysis were selected and confirmed by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Our investigations revealed the following: (1) Genes highly expressed in myeloid DCs are those involved in antigen uptake/processing/presentation, cell metamorphosis, or chemotaxis. (2) Most of the genes previously identified in MoDCs, such as TARC, ferritin L-chain, lysosomal acid lipase, alpha- and beta-tubulin, osteopontin (Eta-1), and others, are not markedly expressed in CD11c(-) DCs regardless of their maturation status. On the other hand, specific transcription factors and MHC class II molecules, such as interferon regulatory factor-4 (IRF4) and HLA-DR, are similarly expressed in both DC subsets. (3) CD14(+) DCs retain unique features of tissue DCs, as evidenced by the gene expression profile of "no CCR7 but more CCR1" and "no TARC but abundant MCP1 and Eta-1." (4) The genes for immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily Z39Ig, CD20-like precursor, glycoprotein NMB (GPNMB), transforming growth factorbeta (TGF-beta)-induced protein (TGFBI), myeloid DAP12-associated lectin (MDL-1), and 6 novel genes are newly identified as being associated with the phenotypic expression of the DC subsets. These identifications provide important molecular information for further functional studies of the DC subsets.


We constructed a first-generation adenovirus vector (AVC3FIX5) that we used to assess the rhesus macaque as a nonhuman primate model for preclinical testing of hemophilia B gene therapy vectors. Although we succeeded in our primary objective of demonstrating expression of human factor IX we encountered numerous toxic side effects that proved to be dose limiting. Following intravenous administration of AVC3FIX5 at doses of 3.4 x 10(11) vector particles/kg to 3.8 x 10(12) vector particles/kg, the animals in our study developed antibodies against human factor IX, and dose-dependent elevations of enzymes specific for liver, muscle, and lung injury. In addition, these animals showed dose-dependent prolongation of clotting times as well as acute, dose-dependent decreases in platelet counts and concomitant elevation of fibrinogen and von Willebrand factor. These abnormalities may be caused by the direct toxic effects of the adenovirus vector itself, or may result indirectly from the accompanying acute inflammatory response marked by elevations in IL-6, a key regulator of the acute inflammatory response. The rhesus macaque may be a useful animal model in which to evaluate mechanisms of adenovirus toxicities that have been encountered during clinical gene therapy trials.


Inhibitors of the proteasome-ubiquitin system have been found to be effective in the clinical management of multiple myeloma. We here describe the compound VLX1570, an optimized lead of the 19S deubiquitinase inhibitor b- AP15. VLX1570 was shown to inhibit the enzymatic activities of both USP14 and UCHL5 in vitro, and was shown to induce accumulation of high molecular weight polyubiquitinated proteins in multiple myeloma cells. The compound showed limited inhibitory activity of a panel of kinases. VLX1570 induces apoptosis and cell death of multiple myeloma cell lines at submicromolar concentrations. Importantly, a multiple myeloma cell line selected for bortezomib resistance was found to be sensitive to VLX1570. VLX1570 was found to be able to overcome apoptosis resistance by these cells. Induction of the phosphorylation of stress-activated kinases (JNK and p38) and inhibition of ERK phosphorylation was observed in multiple myeloma cells. We finally showed that VLX1570 confers antineoplastic activity in two different myeloma xenograft models and conclude that VLX1570 is a candidate agent for treatment of multiple myeloma. Citation Format: Xin Wang, Chitralehka Mohanty, Padraig D9Arcy, Maria Hagg Olofsson, Felicitas Bossler, Asher Chanan-Khan, Stig Linder. Development of the proteasome deubiquitinase inhibitor VLX1570 for treatment of multiple myeloma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4557A. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4557A


Stroke is one of the most common neurological disorders in clinical practice. It is the leading cause of adult disability. The aim of the study was to assess the awareness of warning symptoms and risk factors of stroke among general population of South India. The study subjects were the general population who visited OPD of the Urban Health Centre of Katuri Medical College and Hospital, Guntur(A.P.),India. 49.35% subjects knew hypertension as risk factors of stroke. 44.70% study subjects knew alcohol consumption as risk factor of stroke.Only 22.22% study subjects knew obesity as risk factor for stroke. 46.77% of study subjects had knowledge of sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg especially one side of the body as warning symptoms of stroke .43.67% study subjects had knowledge of sudden confusion /sudden difficulty in speaking/ sudden difficulty in understanding written and spoken words as warning symptom of stroke.


Apocrine carcinoma of the breast has recently been refined through gene expression profiling. Due to various pathological studies, we compared the results with the MDA-MB-453 breast cancer cell line, a proposed model for apocrine breast carcinoma. The MDA-MB-453 cell line is androgen receptor-positive and `triple-negative' in respect to estrogen receptor-α, progesterone receptor and the Her-2/neu protein expression. Cytogenetic analysis of the cell line revealed a hypertriploid clone characterized by extensive numerical and structural abnormalities including loss of the 9p.21 locus (P16-INK4a gene), also evidenced by the lack of p16(INK4A) protein expression in Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry assays. Gains of chromosomes 7 and 17 without underlying EGFR, HER-2/neu, and TOP2A gene amplification were also observed. A mutation in the K-RAS gene (Gly13Asp GGC>GAC) was identified in the cell line, which was not observed in the six patient samples of apocrine breast carcinomas examined. Similarly, constitutive activation of the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway and deregulation of cell cycle proteins (p16-/pRb-/cyclin D1+ phenotype) with exceedingly high proliferation observed in the MDA-MB-453 cell line were not found in the tissue samples. In conclusion, the MDA-MB-453 cell line shares certain features with apocrine breast carcinoma but differs from patient tissues with regard to various significant characteristics, limiting the value of this cell line as a model for human apocrine breast carcinoma investigations. In contrast to the cell line, EGFR-positive apocrine carcinomas do not harbor K-RAS gene mutations, rendering these tumors amenable to targeted therapy with EGFR inhibitors.


Two overload control techniques are compared. A percent blocking throttle blocks and rejects an arrival with a given probability. A call gapping throttle closes the gap size for a deterministic time interval; after this interval, the next job to arrive passes through and the throttle again closes for the deterministic time interval. The comparison of the throttle schemes is based on nine criteria, seven of which concern robustness. The key strengths of call gapping are shown to be a greater robustness to changes in total arrival rate, and higher goodput, the throughput times the probability of it being good. For varying arrival rate, where the control setting is fixed, call gapping maintains reasonable goodput over regions where percent blocking has allowed goodput to fall to zero. The strengths of percent blocking are shown to be robustness to changes in number of active sources and robustness to unbalanced loads. The optimal control setting for percent blocking is shown to be a function of the total arrival rate and not a function of the number of active sources or the individual arrival rates. >


We report on the proposal and the theoretical and experimental studies of the terahertz hot-electron bolometer (THz HEB) based on a gated GaAs structure like the field-effect transistor with the array of parallel Sn nanothreads (Sn-NTs). The operation of the HEB is associated with an increase in the density of the delocalized electrons due to their heating by the incoming THz radiation. The quantum and the classical device models were developed, the quantum one was based on the self-consistent solution of the Poisson and Schrödinger equations, the classical model involved the Poisson equation and density of states omitting quantization. We calculated the electron energy distributions in the channels formed around the Sn-NTs for different gate voltages and found the fraction of the delocalized electrons propagating across the energy barriers between the NTs. Since the fraction of the delocalized electrons strongly depends on the average electron energy (effective temperature), the proposed THz HEB can exhibit an elevated responsivity compared with the HEBs based on more standard heterostructures. Due to a substantial anisotropy of the device structure, the THz HEB may demonstrate a noticeable polarization selectivity of the response to the in-plane polarized THz radiation. The features of the THz HEB might be useful in their practical applications in biology, medicine and material science.


This work presents fully coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and thermodynamic cycle analyses of a small-scale turbojet engine at several conditions along the equilibrium running line. The CFD simulations use a single mesh for the entire engine, from the intake to the exhaust, allowing information to travel in all directions. The CFD simulations are performed along the equilibrium running line by using the iterative Secant method to compute the fuel flow rate required to match the compressor and turbine power. The freestream pressure and temperature and shaft angular speed are the only inputs needed for the CFD simulations. To evaluate the consistency of the CFD results with thermodynamic cycle results, outputs from the CFD simulations are prescribed as inputs to the cycle model. This approach enables on-design and off-design cycle calculations to be performed without requiring turbomachinery performance maps. In contrast, traditional off-design cycle analyses require either scaling, calculating, or measuring compressor and turbine maps with boundary condition assumptions. In addition, the CFD simulations and the cycle analyses are compared with measurements of the turbojet engine. The CFD simulations, thermodynamic cycle analyses, and measurements agree in terms of total temperature and pressure at the diffuser–combustor interface, air and fuel mass flow rate, equivalence ratio, and thrust. The developed methods to perform CFD simulations from the intake to the exhaust of the turbojet engine are expected to be useful for guiding the design and development of future small-scale gas turbine engines.


Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) often report a comorbid depressive disorder. Comorbid depression may negatively influence the long-term outcome of CFS therefore it must be correctly diagnosed and treated. The aim of the present study is to provide a clinical and psychometric assessment of CFS patients with and without depressive features. A comparative analysis between 57 CFS subjects (CDC, 1994), 17 of whom with a comorbid depression, and 55 matched healthy volunteers was assessed to evaluate the presence of any psychophysical distress and alexithymic traits, by means of Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90R) and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The severity of fatigue was also assessed in all CFS patients using the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS). With regard to psychiatric comorbidity, the SCL-90R scores showed higher levels of somatic complaints in CFS patients than in healthy subjects, whereas augmented depressive and obsessive-compulsive symptoms were observed only in the depressed CFS subgroup. When comparing the TAS-20 scores, we observed a selective impairment in the capacity to identify feelings and emotions, as measured by the Difficulty in Identifying Feelings subscale (DIF), non-depressed CFS patients showing an intermediate score between depressed CFS and healthy controls. Finally, in terms of FIS scores, a statistical trend versus a higher fatigue severity in depressed CFS patients, with respect to non-depressed ones, was observed. In conclusion, comorbid depression in CFS significantly increased the level of psychophysical distress and the severity of alexithymic traits. These findings suggest an urgent need to address and treat depressive disorders in the clinical care of CFS cases, to improve social functioning and quality of life in such patients.


At present, in the automotive field, the noise generated by belt drives is evaluated by using microphones in the proximity of the belt, crankshafts, idlers and so on. Such a method can be misleading, since it may easily include the contributions of other noise sources present during the measurement. Moreover, a large amount of data is needed in order to test various layouts and various running conditions. We present a method for the analysis and prediction of the noise generated by belt drives which consists of two distinct phases in this paper. For simplicity, a two-pulley belt drive has been considered and the results have been validated at the meshing frequency, at which, as has been shown in the existing literature, the phenomenon of noise generation is mainly concentrated. In the first stage of the work, the acoustic power generation of the belt drive being tested was measured by means of acoustic intensity techniques. Subsequently, an acoustic prediction was performed by using vibration data obtained with a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV) as inputs for a boundary element code. The SLDV was used because of its capability of measuring in-operation data on the running belt, which would not have been possible using traditional contact sensors (accelerometers and so on). The results obtained in the two phases were finally compared in order to evaluate the relation between the vibratory behaviour and the total acoustic radiation determined experimentally. The experimental and numerical data agree fairly well, adding precious information on the noise generation mechanisms and showing the feasibility of modelling the vibro-acoustic behaviour of belt drives and the possibility of a totally numerical procedure. In particular the implementation of an entirely numerical procedure using, for example, data generated through the use of codes for the dynamic characterization of mechanical systems (multi-body mechanical models and so on) seems foreseeable. In the final section of the present work, the uncertainty arising from the measurement processes of the investigation method presented is also discussed.


Decimal floating-point (DFP) arithmetic is becoming increasingly important and specifications for it are included in the revised IEEE 754 standard for floating-point arithmetic (IEEE 754-2008). The binary encoding of DFP numbers specified in IEEE 754-2008 is commonly referred to as Binary-Integer Decimal (BID). BID uses a binary integer to encode the significant, which allows it to leverage existing high-speed binary circuits. However, performing decimal rounding on these binary significant is challenging. In this paper, we propose and evaluate several approaches to perform decimal rounding in hardware for DFP numbers that use the BID encoding. We summarize several rounding techniques, present the theory and design of each proposed rounding unit, and use synthesis results to evaluate the critical path delay, latency, and area of rounding units for 64-bit BID numbers. Our results indicate that the bulk of each rounder design is occupied by a binary fixed-point multiplier that can be shared with other integer and floating-point operations. This is the first paper to present and compare a variety of techniques for BID-based rounding hardware. These techniques are valuable to designers of BID-based DFP solutions.


Background: The Internet has become a common venue for meeting sex partners and planning participation in risky sexual behavior. In this article, we evaluate the first 18 months of the Washington, DC, Department of Health Internet-based Partner Notification (IPN) program for early syphilis infections, using the standard Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Disease Investigation Specialist (DIS) disposition codes, as well as Washington, DC, Department of Health's IPN-specific outcomes for pseudonymous partners. Methods: We analyzed DIS disposition codes and IPN-specific outcomes from all early syphilis investigations initiated January 2007–June 2008. Internet partners were defined as sex partners for whom syphilis exposure notification was initiated by e-mail because no other locating information existed. If the e-mails resulted in additional locating information, we used the standard CDC disposition codes. Alternatively, the following IPN-specific outcomes were used: Informed of Syphilis Exposure, Informed of General STD Exposure, Not Informed or Unable to Confirm Receipt of General STD Exposure. Results: From the 361 early syphilis patients, a total of 888 sex partners were investigated, of which 381 (43%) were via IPN. IPN led to an 8% increase in the overall number of syphilis patients with at least one treated sex partner, 26% more sex partners being medically examined and treated if necessary, and 83% more sex partners notified of their STD exposure. Conclusions: IPN augmented traditional syphilis case management and aided in the location, notification, testing, and treatment of partners. Conversely, without IPN, these 381 partners would not have been investigated.


The invention relates to a civilian gas pressure stabilizing disconnecting valve, which comprises an upper shell and a lower shell which are connected in a detachable way, wherein, a diaphragm and a tie plate in the valve are locked fixedly on a mandrel via a nut. A pressure regulating cover is arranged in a hole in the upper shell via threads; a threaded cap is packaged in an orifice part. A spring seat, an upper maintaining spring and the pressure regulating cover run through a pull rod; a handle spring protrudes out of the threaded cap and is connected with the handle via a shaft pin of thehandle. A lower maintaining spring, a seal seat and a gland bush are arranged in the hole of the lower shell, and a ceramic valve core is fixed at the hole. A pressure maintaining gap is arranged between the upper end face of the gland bush and the ceramic valve core. The periphery of the diaphragm is fixed with the periphery of the lower shell through press-fit via the upper shell. The inventionhas both the functions of automatic pressure stabilizing pipeline and manual switch valve, and has the advantages of compact structure, easy and flexibility installation, high pressure stabilizing precision, easy operation, and strong corrosion resistance, and the like. The civilian gas pressure stabilizing disconnecting valve of the invention is applicable to be used as a pressure stabilizer andswitch of a gas pipeline.


This article is devoted to the in silico study of the sensory properties of mono- and bilayer phospholipid-graphene films with planar and curved graphene sheets. The DPPC (dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine) molecules are considered as phospholipid structures. These molecules are part of lipid bilayers, liposomes and cell membranes. To find a way to improve the sensory properties of phospholipid-graphene films, we studied the effect of the curvature of the graphene sheet on the charge transfer and electrical conductivity of the films. The distribution of the electron charge density over the film atoms was calculated using the self-consistent-charge density-functional tight-binding method (SCC-DFTB). The calculation of the current through phospholipid-graphene films was carried out within the framework of the Landauer–Buttiker formalism using the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green function technique. As a result of the calculations, the optimal configuration of the arrangement of DPPC molecules between two graphene layers was established. This configuration provides the maximum possible increase in current to 1 μA at low voltages of ~0.2 V and is achieved for curved graphene with a radius of curvature of ~2.7 nm at individual points of graphene atomic network.