Of the many approaches to building a brand's image on the Internet, a Web site is one of the most important tools for managers. An important decision made by Web site managers is whether to place banner advertisements on their brand's Web site (e.g. The New Yorker Web site placing an ad for polo.com). While banner advertisements are widespread in the marketplace, it is unclear whether Web sites containing such advertisements may be harming themselves by such a practice. This study addresses this issue by investigating the impact of banner advertisement and Web site congruity on consumer attitudes toward a brand's Web site. The results of an experiment indicate that if managers include such advertisements on their Web site, these advertisements should be consistent with the Web site brand and that certain consumer characteristics should be considered. Implications of the research for brand management and advertising on the Internet are provided.


The observed statistical correlation between increase in womens outside employment and decrease in birth rates has catapulted the demand for increasing womens wage employment as a primary goal not necessarily on its own merits but as part of the demographic drive to reduce fertility. At what costs to womens welfare do such demographic outcomes occur? The existing structural nature of womens work (domestic as well as non-domestic) has severe built-in hazards for womens health (reproductive and otherwise) which no amount of first rate quality of care and/or access to health services alone can deal with. Focusing on Tamil Nadu [India] the author argues in addition that a demographic model state need not necessarily be a reproductively safe place. (EXCERPT)


We monitored a population of American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) nesting in boxes at the northern extent of the kestrel range (between 66° and 68°N) in the Alaskan Arctic, 2002–2021. There was no significant trend in occupancy during the study period but yearly variation in occupancy was high (range = 17–70%). Occupancy rate was positively related to the lowest temperature recorded in May (7–20°C). The mean estimated clutch initiation date was 16 May ± 6 d; we observed a slight but significant trend for later clutch initiation (4 d) during the study period. Kestrel clutch size averaged 4.7 ± 1.0 (range = 1–7), brood size averaged 4.6 ± 0.8, and the mean minimum number of young fledged/successful pair was 4.9 ± 0.4. Clutch and brood sizes remained stable from 2002–2021, with no significant trend. Nest failure was low (16%). We report a late nesting and possible double brooding attempt in 2018, suggesting a possible response to the warming trend (2002–2021) in average temperatures at the end of the normal nesting season.


Patterns provide an important dimension of expressiveness to functional programming languages because they describe a concise syntax for data destruction. However, most languages treat patterns as second-class citizens: case match expressions cannot be extended, patterns cannot be selected dynamically, and patterns cannot be composed or modified by program logic. In this paper, we present a rich, full-featured pattern language, PatBang, which treats patterns as first-class data, and additionally supports highly expressive patterns including recursive and disjunctive patterns, yet is still provably type-safe. We additionally show how such an expressive pattern language enables new programming patterns, including use of patterns for expressing pytes, a form of lightweight static interface declaration. Type soundness is proven and an implementation of the type inference algorithm and interpreter is provided.


Summary The objective of this study is to analyze the distribution of the most common diagnoses observed in patients with chronic temporomandibular disorders, based on the new diagnostic criteria (DC/TMD) adopted in 2014. The previous Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC/TMD) adopted in 1992, consisted of three main groups of eight diagnostic subgroups and is currently transformed into two main groups and twelve subgroups, respectively. All subgroups correspond to the nomenclature of the ICD-10. The new clinical diagnostic indices are also modified. The analysis showed a prevalence of Pain-Related TMD compared with that of intra-articular disorders in ratio 57.89% to 42.10%. In Pain-Related TMD arthralgia was represented in 55% of cases; local myalgia - in 12%, myofascial pain - in 18%, myofascial pain with referral - in 14%, headache attributed to TMD - in 1%. In Intra-articular TMD disc displacement with reduction was found in 23% of the cases, disc displacement with reduction with intermittent locking - in 3%, disc displacement without reduction with limited opening - in 25%, disc displacement without reduction and without limited opening - in 8%. Degenerative diseases were found in 14.28%, and hypermobility and subluxations - in 26.98%. These analyzes differ and can only partly be compared with previous analyzes based on RDC system. The changes in the diagnostic criteria require new clinical studies in order to refine the picture of temporomandibular pathology in accordance with the modern views on the matter.


Offline reinforcement learning (RL) is a learning paradigm where an agent learns from a fixed dataset of experience. However, learning solely from a static dataset can limit the performance due to the lack of exploration. To overcome it, offline-to-online RL combines offline pre-training with online fine-tuning, which enables the agent to further refine its policy by interacting with the environment in real-time. Despite its benefits, existing offline-to-online RL methods suffer from performance degradation and slow improvement during the online phase. To tackle these challenges, we propose a novel framework called E nsemble-based O ffline-to-O nline (E2O) RL. By increasing the number of Q-networks, we seamlessly bridge offline pre-training and online fine-tuning without degrading performance. Moreover, to expedite online performance enhancement, we appropriately loosen the pessimism of Q-value estimation and incorporate ensemble-based exploration mechanisms into our framework. Experimental results demonstrate that E2O can substantially improve the training stability, learning efficiency, and final performance of existing offline RL methods during online fine-tuning on a range of locomotion and navigation tasks, significantly outperforming existing offline-to-online RL methods.


The influence of marathon fatigue on both running kinematics and economy was investigated with 8 subjects. The measurements included a treadmill test at 3 steady submaximal speeds performed before and after the marathon. One complete left leg cycle was videotaped at 100 Hz from the left side at each speed. The analysis included contact time (braking and push‐off) and flight time as well as displacements and angular velocities of the left hip and knee. This analysis was complemented by the measurements of the electromyographic (EMG) activity of the gastrocnemius muscle at each running velocity, and energy expenditure (Ė) of the last 30 s at the 2 slowest speeds. The results revealed significant increases of Ė at these 2 speeds, but the changes were not related to kinematic changes, which were greatly individual. However, the relative duration of the push‐off phase was significantly increased at the 2 slowest speeds, and the gastrocnemius muscle presented higher integrated EMG values in the respective braking (NS) and push‐off phases at the 2 fastest speeds. This might indicate a loss of tolerance to impact during the belt contact. The results failed, however, to demonstrate that running kinematics and running economy are interrelated when fatigue progresses. It is also possible that observed kinematic changes might reflect some adaptation to fatigue more than real failure to compensate for it.


Objective: To examine the relationship between attachment anxiety, marital status, bed-partner status, and sleep in recurrently depressed women. Methods: The current study measured polysomnography (PSG) and subjective sleep quality in 107 women with recurrent major depression. Women were categorized as high or low in attachment anxiety based on Bartholomew and Horowitz's Relationship Questionnaire (1991). Results: There were no significant main or interaction effects of any of the relationship measures on subjective sleep quality. In contrast, PSG results indicated that women with bed partners displayed better sleep efficiency (p < .005). Marital status was also associated with sleep efficiency (p < .05), and married women displayed significantly shorter sleep latencies as compared with never married women (p < .05). Anxiously attached women displayed a reduced percentage of stage 3–4 sleep (p < .05). Moreover, a significant interaction between attachment anxiety and marital status (p < .05) suggested that anxiously attached women who were previously married (i.e., divorced, separated, or widowed) displayed a particularly low percentage of stage 3–4 sleep. Conclusions: Depressed women who exhibit an anxious attachment style and have experienced a marital rupture show reduced stage 3–4 sleep, which may signal a concomitant reduction in restorative cognitive and metabolic processes. Relationship context influences sleep continuity. These results provide a more nuanced approach to considering qualitative and structural aspects of relationships that may influence sleep. PSG = polysomnography; MDD = major depressive disorder; REM = rapid eye movement; PSQI = Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; HRSD = Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression; IPT-M = Interpersonal Psychotherapy Maintenance; RQ = Relationship Questionnaire; MS = marital status; A = attachment style; BP = bed-partner status.


Purpose: To determine validity, reliability and feasibility of accelerometers (ActivPAL, Sensewear Pro(2) Armband) and portable global positioning systems (GPS) (Garmin Forerunner 405CX) for community ambulation measurement after stroke. Methods: Fifteen community-dwelling stroke survivors attended two sessions; completing a 6-minute walk, treadmill walking, and 200-m outdoor circuit. Feasibility was determined by wearing devices over four days. Measures collected included step count, time spent walking, distance, energy expenditure and location. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), Bland-Altman plots and absolute percentage of error (APE) were used to determine validity and reliability. Results: ActivPAL had excellent validity and reliability for most measures (ICC: 0.821-0.999, APE: 0%-11.1%), except for good-excellent findings at speeds < 0.42 m/s (ICC: 0.659-0.894, APE: 1.6%-11.1%). Sensewear had missing values for 23% of recordings and high error for all measures. GPS demonstrated excellent validity and reliability for time spent walking and step count (ICC: 0.805-0.999, APE: 0.9%-10%), and 100% accuracy for location. However, it was not valid or reliable for distance (ICC = -0.139, APE = 23.8%). All devices appeared feasible for community ambulation measurement with assistance for setup and data analysis. Conclusions: ActivPAL and Garmin GPS appear valid, reliable and feasible tools for community ambulation measurement after stroke, except for distance. Sensewear demonstrated poor validity and reliability when worn on the paretic arm.


The difficulty of manually specifying reward functions has led to an interest in using linear temporal logic (LTL) to express objectives for reinforcement learning (RL). However, LTL has the downside that it is sensitive to small perturbations in the transition probabilities, which prevents probably approximately correct (PAC) learning without additional assumptions. Time discounting provides a way of removing this sensitivity, while retaining the high expressivity of the logic. We study the use of discounted LTL for policy synthesis in Markov decision processes with unknown transition probabilities, and show how to reduce discounted LTL to discounted-sum reward via a reward machine when all discount factors are identical.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Videofluoroscopy (VFSS) and fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) are established instrumental techniques to support differential diagnosis and treatment of oropharyngeal dysphagia. Whilst their value is undisputed, each tool is not without limitations. The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted access to VFSS and FEES leading clinicians to explore alternative or augmentative tools to support swallowing assessment.Ultrasound (US) is an established tool for visualisation of head and neck anatomy, including structures implicated in swallowing. Although US has been utilised in swallowing research for many years, its application has not translated into common clinical practice. This review presents and debates the evidence for and against use of US for clinical swallowing assessment.

RECENT FINDINGS
Evaluation of swallowing muscle morphometry and measurement of isolated swallowing kinematics are two primary uses of US in swallowing assessment that have been identified in the literature. Use of US to detect bolus flow, aspiration and residues is in its early stages and needs further research.

SUMMARY
US shows promise as an adjunctive modality to support assessment of swallowing. With standardisation, these measurements may have potential for transition into clinical care. Reliability and validity testing and development of normative data are imperative to ensure its use as an evidence-based instrumentation.


With healthcare being critical aspect, health insurance has become an important scheme in minimizing medical expenses. Following this, the healthcare industry has seen a significant increase in fraudulent activities owing to increased insurance, and fraud has become a significant contributor to rising medical care expenses, although its impact can be mitigated using fraud detection techniques. To detect fraud, machine learning techniques are used. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) of the United States federal government released"Medicare Part D"insurance claims is utilized in this study to develop fraud detection system. Employing machine learning algorithms on a class-imbalanced and high dimensional medicare dataset is a challenging task. To compact such challenges, the present work aims to perform feature extraction following data sampling, afterward applying various classification algorithms, to get better performance. Feature extraction is a dimensionality reduction approach that converts attributes into linear or non-linear combinations of the actual attributes, generating a smaller and more diversified set of attributes and thus reducing the dimensions. Data sampling is commonlya used to address the class imbalance either by expanding the frequency of minority class or reducing the frequency of majority class to obtain approximately equal numbers of occurrences for both classes. The proposed approach is evaluated through standard performance metrics. Thus, to detect fraud efficiently, this study applies autoencoder as a feature extraction technique, synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) as a data sampling technique, and various gradient boosted decision tree-based classifiers as a classification algorithm. The experimental results show the combination of autoencoders followed by SMOTE on the LightGBM classifier achieved best results.


According to the common idea, 'the economic power determines the political power." By this general principle, when we look at the powerful states, we see that these states (countries) have, at the same time, the powerful political effect on the other actors. In this paper, some trade and economic data of Turkey are shown in order to localize its place in the World rankings. By this purpose, this paper argues the fact that Turkey which, being one of the countries belonging G-20, has tried since 1991 to play a big role in its bilateral relations in Caucasia, Central Asia and Middle East (CCAME). However, when the data of international business of Turkey and those of each one of the countries of Central Asia treated in the contents of research are studied, it is seen very clearly that the influence of Turkey in Central Asia is not very dominant or does not create a dominating effect over the economic plan in spite of the existence of the diplomatic effects, visa facilities and the visits based upon the cultural level and mutu-ally testified. Without any doubt, although nobody can deny the existence and the probability of the gradual growth of Turkey's relations inCCAME's countries, Turkey, whose face is turned mainly towards the occident and the large majority of trade made within the European countries,tries to be an influential actor in the determined areas. Naturally, in spite of the cel-ebration of Nawruz with the Turkic World,acting as a Muslim country in Middle East, and ac-cepting the norms of European Union as a European democratic and laicized country in Eu-rope, Turkey presents several identities and makes it a multi-colored actor who can be used in favor of Turkey's interests.


In this paper, we propose a bilateral peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading scheme for residential prosumers with a simplified entry to the market. We formulate the market as an assignment game, a special class of coalitional games. For solving the resulting decision problem, we design a bilateral negotiation mechanism that enables matched buyer-seller pairs to reach a consensus on a set of "stable" and "fair" trading contracts. The proposed negotiation process can be executed on possibly time-varying communication networks with virtually minimal information requirements that in turn preserves privacy among prosumers. Numerical simulations illustrate the beneficial features of our P2P market model and negotiation protocol.


This issue brief is the last in a series of three presenting the findings from the Informal Caregivers Research Project, funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation's Children, Families, and Communities (CFC) program and conducted by Mathematica Policy Research. This brief discusses the varied roles of parents and informal caregivers, their strengths in caring for children, their needs for information and support, and barriers they face in accessing caregiving resources. It also provides recommendations for outreach methods, programs, and policies to address their needs.


OBJECTIVES
Obinutuzumab (OBZ) is a new humanised type II anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (mAb) approved in onco-haematology. Its use as an alternative to rituximab (RTX) in case of immunisation in autoimmune diseases has not been fully assessed yet. Here we report the case of a patient suffering from a refractory cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis (CV) associated to Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and treated with OBZ.

METHODS
Since the patient was immunised against RTX, she was treated with OBZ at relapse. Three days after the infusion of OBZ, she presented a vasculitis flare. Rheumatoid factor level, complement level and cryoprecipitation were evaluated on consecutive serum samples of the patients and after RTX and OBZ addition in vitro.

RESULTS
No evidence for cross-reactivity between anti-RTX Abs and OBZ was found. However, we could observe in vitro that cryoprecipitation was worsened by the simultaneous presence of anti-RTX Abs and RTX. We suggest that the flare of CV after OBZ infusion could be linked to a large release of immune complexes following B cells lysis induced by OBZ.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on our report, we think that the use of OBZ needs to be carefully discussed in patients with mixed CV.


Intussusception in an adolescent population is an unusual occurrence. Published reviews of intussusception in infancy and childhood have consistently indicated a 60% to 90% occurrence rate in children younger than 2 years of age. 1 To our knowledge, an intramural fecalith as a lead point for intussusception has not previously been reported in the major reviews of this entity. Report of a Case .—A 14-year-old boy was admitted for evaluation of intermittent acute abdominal pain of nine to ten days' duration. He had had an appendectomy at the age of 3 years. His father was listed as missing in action (MIA), and the boy had been under psychiatric care from age 7 to age 10 because of difficulties arising from this situation. He developed acute abdominal pain associated with one episode of emesis three days after the government announced that no MIAs were considered to be alive. He was evaluated


Two experiments (Exp.) were conducted to determine the growth response of White Pekin ducks to inclusion of microbial phytase in finisher diet. In Exp. 1, 1-d-old male ducks (240 total) were reared in litter-floor pens and fed regular starter diet until 3 wk of age. At 3 wk of age, ducks were randomly divided into six groups of 10 ducks each and each group was fed one of four diets. Three finisher diets containing 16% CP and 0.18% available phosphorus (AP) without supplemental P were formulated with microbial phytase (Natuphos) added at 0, 750, or 1,500 phytase units/kg of diet. The fourth diet was a control finisher diet that was supplemented with dicalcium phosphate (DCP) to supply dietary AP of 0.41%. Group BW and feed intake were measured weekly to assess growth response. At 6 wk of age, leg bones (tibia, femur, metatarsus) from five randomly selected ducks were removed and analyzed for bone characteristics. In Exp. 2, a total of 120 ducks reared as in Exp. 1 were randomly divided into six groups of five ducks each and fed one of four diets. A basal finisher diet was formulated to contain 16% CP and 0.18% AP. Monosodium phosphate was added to the basal diet to give dietary AP levels of 0.18, 0.27, and 0.36%. The fourth diet was the basal diet supplemented with microbial phytase (750 phytase units/kg of diet). Ducks were fed these diets from 3 to 6 wk of age. At the end of the study, ducks were bled by cardiac puncture and blood plasma was analyzed for P concentration. Leg bones from all ducks were removed and analyzed for bone characteristics as in Exp. 1. Feed intake increased linearly with increased level of dietary phytase, whereas the weight gain response was quadratic only during the last week of Exp. 1. In Exp. 2, there was a quadratic response for weight gain due to dietary AP. Weight gain due to phytase (750 units) was not different from ducks fed diets at 0 or 0.18% AP. Plasma P concentration increased linearly as dietary AP increased. Plasma P levels of ducks fed phytase were similar to those of ducks fed 0.18% AP but lower than in ducks fed 0.27% AP. Estimates of AP resulting from the addition of 750 units of phytase to basal diet were 0.05 and 0.07% based on plasma P concentration and weight gain, respectively. Using regression analysis, the AP due to phytase effect in the diet was estimated to range from 0.06 to 0.08%. Results suggest that phytase can be used in finisher diets similar to the one used in this study for ducks from 3 to 6 wk of age to improve growth performance and leg bone development similar to ducks fed diets supplemented with P from inorganic sources.


In this paper we present the mid-term results of the PRiSMHA project, aimed to contribute in building a digital "smart archivist", i.e., a web-based system providing an innovative access to historical archives. Such a system is endowed with a semantic layer over existing archival metadata, including computational ontologies and a knowledge base, containing a formal description of the content of the documents stored in the archives. The paper focuses on the fruitful synergies employed to reach its goal. In particular, it explains the steps of the "spiral" process implemented for creating a full-fledged formal semantic model, through the interaction between computer scientists, historians, and archivists. The paper also presents some "core side-effects" of this process: an analytical card for each document has been produced, all selected documents have been digitized, OCR-ized (when possible), and linked to a record on the archival platform. This experience enabled us to define a virtuous procedural model, from the paper documents up to the digital "smart archivist", based on a close collaboration between universities and cultural and historical institutions.


Analytical and experimental evidence will be presented to show that addition of a slight excess of 2-chlorophenyl-0,0-bis[1-benzotriazolyl]phosphate to a properly 2',5'-protected ribonucleoside gives an intermediate 3'-phosphotriester, which, after addition of a 2'-protected ribonucleoside, affords a dimer containing solely a 3'-5'-internucleotide linkage. The above phosphorylation procedure has been used in the synthesis of the pentamer UpApCpGpC.


Acute isolated traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently associated with occurrence of hemostasis disorders, which may be accompanied with hemorrhagic and ischemic events in the brain matter, hence, normal functioning of the blood coagulation system is critical. Understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of this phenomenon might help adequate prophylaxis of secondary brain damage. Earlier, development of disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome (DIC) has been generally considered as a mechanism of coagulation disorders during TBI. However, over the recent decades, new data emerged concerning the key role of tissue factor, systemic inflammation response, thrombocytopathy, protein C effect in the occurrence of this coagulopathy. This overview of literature is aimed at providing the new data on specific pathophysiological mechanisms underlying coagulopathy following TBI.


Fifty-seven specimens of Parapsettus panamensis (Ephippidae) were collected from the coastal zone of Puerto Pizarro, Tumbes, Peru (45°54'S, 81°05'W) between December 2014 and January 2015. The specimens were necropsied to study their metazoan parasites. All specimens of P. panamensis were parasitized by at least one parasite species. Eleven species of parasites were collected: 2 monogeneans, 3 digeneans, 2 nematodes, and 4 arthropods. The endoparasites represented 87.29%, of the total number of parasite specimens collected. Parapsettus panamensis is a new host record for nine parasites collected. The digenean Aponurus laguncula was the highest prevalent and abundant parasite of P. panamensis. Only the digeneans A. laguncula and Multitestis sp1. showed a positive correlation between the hosts' total length and abundance of infection. The relative condition factor (Kn) of the host correlated with the abundance of A. lagungula and Caligus haemulonis. Parapsettus panamensis had two pairs of parasite species with significant positive association, 1 pair of ectoparasites and 1 pair of endoparasites. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and the relationship between infra-community composition and explanatory variables (host length and sex) were examined by permutational analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) applied to species abundances which shows high homogeneity among metazoan parasites infra-communities of P. panamensis.


In the last few decades, the Ethiopian urban centers have experienced very fast rates of urban growth. This rapid urbanization has resulted in the horizontal expansion of these centers towards rural areas. This expansion is at the expense of prime agricultural lands and has affected the livelihoods of farming communities dwelling in the urban fringes. Communities and individual households have been displaced from their lands to give way for economic development interventions. The main objective of the study is thus to assess the major prospects and challenges that the development of real estates has on rural livelihoods. A structured questionnaire was prepared and eighty household heads were randomly selected from the displaced households and filled the questionnaires. Moreover, data was also collected through focus group discussions and key person interviews. The findings of the study showed that the participation of the community in the planning and implementation of the program was negligible. Moreover, the household vulnerability of the affected households had increased after their displacement. The establishment of the real estate a/so mainly negatively affected the livelihoods of the households as reductions occurred in their access to land and number of livestock possessed. Meanwhile, the real estate also contributed to the betterment of the people 's livelihoods as it created employment opportunities and increased their access to basic infrastructure. Different livelihood strategies were employed by the displaced households to cope with the changes in their livelihoods. Capacity building, skill trainings, micro-credit services and helping the community to build their own houses were also identified as areas in which development actors can intervene to support the affected households.


Numerous reports in the general and the dialysis population have shown associations of sodium (Na+) intake, blood pressure, and survival. In addition to dietary Na+ intake, positive Na+ balance during dialysis needs to be considered as a source of Na+. Dialysate Na+ (DNa+) concentrations above the serum Na+ concentration (SNa+) result in diffusive Na+ flux from the dialysate into the patient, which has recently been reported to be associated with increased interdialytic weight gain and mortality. Individualization of the Na+ prescription and Na+ alignment (DNa+ equal to SNa+) prevents positive Na+ balance and improves patient outcomes. Alignment requires the knowledge of patients' SNa+, which can be estimated from previous SNa+ in the monthly routine laboratory measurements. Na+ alignment was recently implemented in a dialysis clinic of Renal Research Institute. Preliminary results of this initiative have shown a trend of predialysis weight and blood pressure reduction. Expansion of this initiative to all clinics of RRI is currently underway and as of April 2011, four additional clinics have been included. Additional research on adequate Na+ alignment is needed to account for Gibbs–Donnan effects, differences in charge across the dialyzer membrane, and variability in measurement methods. Regular calibration of DNa+ delivery by dialysis machines is necessary to ensure that the dialysis prescription is followed. How to provide dialysis to severely hyponatremic patients remains an open question. Finally, long‐term studies of the effects of Na+ restriction on hospitalization and mortality are required to demonstrate the benefits of aligning DNa+ with SNa+.


[1] Two different instruments were deployed to measure hydroperoxy radical (HO2) and total peroxy radicals during May and June 2002 at a rural site located at Rock Springs near State College, Pennsylvania. One instrument was the Penn State Ground-Based Tropospheric Hydrogen Oxides Sensor (GTHOS), which measured HO2 by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) of OH following the chemical conversion of HO2 to OH by adding NO. The other was the Peroxy Radical Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (PerCIMS) instrument that provided HO2 (HO2 mode) or total peroxy radicals (HOxROx mode) measurements. The two instruments were compared by exchanging calibration sources and by side-by-side ambient measurements. Excellent agreement was obtained in the calibration comparisons with the slope of a correlation plot close to 1.0 and a small intercept. Daily HO2 measurements from GTHOS and PerCIMS (in HO2 mode) on 4 days show that diurnal variations normally agreed to within about 40%. A comparison of HO2 measured by GTHOS and HOxROx measured by PerCIMS shows good correlation for both average diurnal variation and individual diurnal cycles. On average, HO2 from GTHOS was about 0.66 times the HOxROx from PerCIMS, meaning that organic peroxy radicals account for about one third of the total peroxy radicals in this environment.


Most research on long-term memory uses an experimental approach whereby participants are assigned to different conditions, and condition means are the measures of interest. This approach has demonstrated repeatedly that conditions that slow the rate of learning tend to improve later retention. A neglected question is whether aggregate findings at the level of the group (i.e., slower learning tends to improve retention) translate to the level of individual people. We identify a discrepancy whereby—across people—slower learning tends to coincide with poorer memory. The positive relation between learning rate (speed of learning) and retention (amount remembered after a delay) across people is referred to as learning efficiency. A more efficient learner can acquire information faster and remember more of it over time. We discuss potential characteristics of efficient learners and consider future directions for research.


BACKGROUND
The burden of diseases in children in our environment is dominated by infections and malnutrition; paediatric trauma has low advocacy and as such is given scant attention. The aim of this study is to review and describe the pattern of paediatric fractures in our local setting.

METHOD
A retrospective review of all the medical records of children below the age of fourteen years who were admitted to our center on account of major trauma between January 1999 and December 2003 was done. Those with incomplete records were excluded.

RESULTS
The patients ranged in age from 1 +/-13 years with mean of 6.7 +/- 2.9 years. They were mostly males 60 (61.2%) and females 38 (38.8%). The causes of the accidents were diverse. Road traffic accidents were most common 47(51%). A great number of these resulted from unguarded children hit by motor vehicles while crossing the road 33 (36.7%). Forty-one (41.8%) patients fell from various heights. Of these number thirty (30.6%) fell while playing. Most fractures were close 70 (71.4%) while 25 (25.5%) were open fractures and 3 (3.1%) pathological fractures. The most common site of injury was the femoral shaft 33.7%; this was followed by fractures of the supracondylar region of the humerus 17.3%, distal radius 15.3% and tibialfibula 15.3%. More than half of the patients 58 (59.2%) presented fresh to our hospital, while 27 (27.6%) presented initially to traditional bonesetter (TBS) and 13 (13.3%) were referred from private practitioners. Of those twenty-seven patients from the TBS, seven came with compartment syndrome and three had frank gangrene. Most of the patients were managed conservatively. Preliminary traction followed by plaster of Paris (POP) application in 36 (36.7%), and manipulation under anaesthesia (M.U.A) and POP (30.6%), were common definitive treatments given. Sixteen patients (16.3%) had open reduction and internal fixation. Acute compartment syndrome 7 (7.1%) and frank gangrene 3 (3.1%) were the commonest complications and were due to late referral by traditional bonesetters.

CONCLUSION
In our environment, fractures in children are common and are frequently associated with morbidities due to interference by traditional bonesetters. These injuries are highly preventable and paediatric trauma prevention strategies directed at parents, children as well as other road users would help to reduce the burden of such fractures especially in the developing countries where the burden of other childhood diseases obscures trauma care.


Based on a literature review and our database, we report on the smallest 14q deletion identified in a brain tumor characterized by 1p/19q codeletion low-grade oligodendroglioma. In 2013, array-comparative genomic hybridization of the brain tumor revealed 1p/19q codeletion as a sole abnormality. In 2019, the patient relapsed showing additional abnormalities including a 14q deletion of 16.5 Mb at 14q24.2q31.3. This region overlaps with 2 previously identified minimal regions, 14q21.2q24.3 and 14q31.3q32.1, based on 142 cases of glioma. The authors reported no correlation between these 2 regions and survival. By extracting these 2 regions from our patient's deletion and comparing it to 12 other cases of 1p/19q codeletion oligodendrogliomas reported in the literature, we narrowed down the 14q loss possible critical region to 5.6 Mb mapping at 14q31.1q31.2. This region contains 2 potential relapse-related genes: SEL1L and STON2.


In this paper, we reviewed the research condition of the mid latitude air sea interaction and examed the causes of slowly progressing and the main advances for recent 10 years on this project. The results indicated that, the mid latitude ocean plays very important role in world climate changes, the significant signal of mid latitude air sea interaction is the strength of cold air in winter time, and the marine heating anomaly over two strong warm currents region in the northwestern of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has important influence on the atmospheric circulation of Northern Hemmisphere both in simultaneous and following seasons (half to one year lag), very strong or very weak marine heating anomaly over Kuroshio and Gulf warm currents in winter may cause the drought or flood atmospheric circulation for the middle and lower reaches of Changjing river in summer. Finally, we proposed that, further exposing the influence of the mid latitude energy system anomaly on the atmospheric circulation and understanding the physical processes are the main objectives of the air sea interaction research, which will be very useful for the short term climate prediction.


Abstract This paper reports on the Tibeto-Burman language, Nubri, of the high Himalayan region of northern central Nepal. Specifically, data is presented to illustrate the use of tone to mark two morphological features in the language: the use of a H tone suffix to mark the genitive case, and the use of a H tone prefix to mark an increase in transitivity. This is the first account of these phenomena in Nubri and an analysis is presented before contextualizing the phenomena in a typological perspective.


We report a survey for nitrogen sulfide (NS) toward regions of massive star formation. NS was observed by means of its 2Π1/2, J = 3/2 → 1/2, J = 5/2 → 3/2, and J = 7/2 → 5/2 transitions at 69, 115, and 161 GHz, respectively, and was detected toward 12 of 14 giant molecular clouds (GMCs) observed. Analysis of the hyperfine component relative line strengths suggests that NS emission is optically thin toward these sources, with the possible exception of Sgr B2(M). The fractional abundance of NS relative to molecular hydrogen is best defined for the Orion molecular cloud, where it is typically (1-4) × 10-10, which is about an order of magnitude larger than found by some recent gas-phase chemistry models developed for quiescent clouds. Toward OMC-1, the NS integrated intensity is strongly peaked toward KL, but also extends all along the Orion ridge, resembling the distribution of SO and CH3OH. We have identified a spectral feature seen toward several sources as the ortho-NKK = 404 → 313, J = 3 → 2, fine-structure component of methylene (CH2; cf. Hollis, Jewell, & Lovas). We also report the first detection of the SO+2Π1/2, J = 3/2 → 1/2, parity-e transition toward W51(MS) and L134N.


The efficacy of low doses of radiotherapy for the treatment of pituitary corticotroph macrotumors in dogs is evaluated retrospectively. Twelve dogs with pituitary-dependent hyperadrenocorticism and a large pituitary tumor treated with 36 Gy of radiation were included. Radiation was delivered in 12 fractions of 3 Gy over a 4- to 6-week period. Effects of radiation therapy on tumor size were assessed by computed tomography scans; a decrease was observed in 11 dogs (decrease > 50% in 6 dogs). Three dogs were reirradiated due to major tumor regrowth or a lack of tumor decrease (mean total dose: 22 Gy given in 3-Gy fractions over 3 or 4 weeks). The mean and median survival times following the initiation of radiotherapy were 22.6 months (688 days) and 17.7 months (539 days), respectively. These data are consistent with previous findings, based on high-dose radiation, showing that radiotherapy is a useful option for treating pituitary corticotroph macrotumors in dogs. Furthermore, computed tomography follow-up of the treated dogs demonstrates objectively the efficacy of radiotherapy against corticotroph tumors in dogs.


An instant-starting hydrogen thyratron is described which incorporates a cathode requiring no warmup time, no standby power, and no separate heater power supply. Starting cold, time jitter is less than 1 ns; anode delay time is less than200 ns; and the 0-30-s anode delay time drift is less than 100 ns. The cathode is a self-heating design made of impregnated tungsten. Even when cold, it provides sufficient emission capability to trigger readily and to prevent arcing. During operation, it attains full operating temperature via plasma-heating effects and its own resistive dissipation; after shutdown, it remains active, in readiness for the next cold start, a cycle which can be repeated as often as desired. Thyratrons made with the new cathode display operating behavior and life comparable to conventional hydrogen thyratrons of equivalent size.


Test arrays of thin film modules have been deployed at the Solar Energy Centre near New Delhi, India since 2002-2003. Performances of these arrays were reported by O.S. Sastry [1]. This paper reports on NREL efforts to support SEC by performing detailed characterization of selected modules from the array. Modules were selected to demonstrate both average and worst case power loss over the 8 years of outdoor exposure. The modules characterized included CdTe, CIS and three different types of a-Si. All but one of the a-Si types were glassglass construction. None of the modules had edge seals. Detailed results of these tests are presented along with our conclusions about the causes of the power loss for each technology. Index Terms — thin film photovoltaics, PV module performance, outdoor field exposure


Scatterplots are widely used in exploratory data analysis and class visualization. The advantages of scatterplots are that they are easy to understand and allow the user to draw conclusions about the attributes which span the projection screen. Unfortunately, scatterplots have the overplotting problem which is especially critical when high-dimensional data are mapped to low-dimensional visualizations. Overplotting makes it hard to detect the structure in the data, such as dependencies or areas of high density.
 In this paper we show that by extending the concept of Pixel Validity (1) the problem of overplotting or occlusion can be avoided and (2) the user has the possibility to see information about an additional third variable. In our extension of the Pixel Validity concept, we summarize the data which are projected onto a given region by generating a histogram over the required attribute. This is then embedded in the visualization by a pixel-based technique.


We propose a novel approach to capture the hysteresis of suction–degree of saturation (s–S), relationship of three–phase fluids in porous media. We defined effective suction, s', that incorporates the delay in the variation of saturation due to hysteresis, with its movement in a closed domain in suction space. This domain defines a possible range of effective suction in which matric suction s always locates at the center of locus, and the incremental change in matric suction determines the movement in the effective suction space. This effective suction is incorporated in a unique s–S relationship defined by the van Genuchten's equation to obtain a delayed variation in the degrees of saturation caused due to hysteresis during wetting and drying scanning paths. Through the incorporation of entire effective suction space in the van Genuchten's s–S relationship, we proposed a direct and modest approach to represent the saturation of air, NAPL, and water through a single point in a triangular model along with their possible respective hysteretic variation in both, 2–phase and 3–phase systems. Vertical profiles of realistic soil behavior are also simulated to understand the effect of hysteresis by incorporating the proposed model in a 3–phase system.


In rats, diastolic and systolic pressure-volume correlations of the intact heart in situ were recorded under control conditions and after various amounts of propranolol and ethanol given intravenously. Besides the cardio-depressant effect of propranolol, there is an additional dose-dependent effect caused by ethanol. The administration of propranolol or ethanol alone, even in high doses, causes no mortality; the combination of both drugs even in low doses is associated with a lethality of about 40%. Only few comparable clinical findings have been presented.


A series of [(Gd1−xLux)1−yTby]3Al5O12 green phosphors have been calcined from their coprecipitated carbonate precursors. Increasing Lu3+ incorporation was found to significantly simplify the reaction pathway and lower the temperature of garnet formation, and at the same time leads to contracted cell dimensions and improved theoretical density. Photoluminescent properties, in terms of excitation, emission, concentration quenching, quantum yield, color coordinates of emission, efficiency of excitation absorption, fluorescence decay, and relative intensity of the 5D4 → 5F6/5D4 → 5F5 emissions, are thoroughly investigated against the Lu and Tb contents, temperature of the phosphor synthesis, and electronegativity of the cations in the host lattice. The best luminescent [(Gd0.8Lu0.2)0.9Tb0.1]AG combination exhibits photoluminescence very close to (Y0.9Tb0.1)AG and significantly better than (Lu0.9Tb0.1)AG. Cathodoluminescence found that the [(Gd0.8Lu0.2)0.9Tb0.1]AG phosphor is structurally stable in the range of this study, and exhibits successively higher emission brightness by increasing either the acceleration voltage (up to 6 kV) or beam current (up to 55 μA). The high density green phosphor developed in this work may find lighting, display, and scintillation applications.


Relaxation of highly vibrationally excited pyridine (C5NH5) by collisions with carbon dioxide has been investigated using diode laser transient absorption spectroscopy. Vibrationally hot pyridine (E' = 40,660 cm(-1)) was prepared by 248 nm excimer laser excitation followed by rapid radiationless relaxation to the ground electronic state. Pyridine then collides with CO2, populating the high rotational CO2 states with large amounts of translational energy. The CO2 nascent rotational population distribution of the high-J (J = 58-80) tail of the 00(0)0 state was probed at short times following the excimer laser pulse to measure rate constants and probabilities for collisions populating these CO2 rotational states. Doppler spectroscopy was used to measure the CO2 recoil velocity distribution for J = 58-80 of the 00(0)0 state. The energy-transfer distribution function, P(E,E'), from E' - E approximately 1300-7000 cm(-1) was obtained by re-sorting the state-indexed energy-transfer probabilities as a function of DeltaE. P(E,E') is fit to an exponential or biexponential function to determine the average energy transferred in a single collision between pyridine and CO2. Also obtained are fit parameters that can be compared to previously studied systems (pyrazine, C6F6, methylpyrazine, and pyrimidine/CO2). Although the rotational and translational temperatures that describe pyridine/CO2 energy transfer are similar to previous systems, the energy-transfer probabilities are much smaller. P(E,E') fit parameters for pyridine/CO2 and the four previously studied systems are compared to various donor molecular properties. Finally, P(E,E') is analyzed in the context of two models, one indicating that P(E,E') shape is primarily determined by the low-frequency out-of-plane donor vibrational modes, and the other that indicates that P(E,E') shape can be determined from how the donor molecule final density of states changes with DeltaE.


One of the most heroic and tragic history of Poland, the period when most of the Polish and Ukrainian lands belonged to the Russian empire is January Uprising (1863 - 1864 years). Consequently, some participants in the January Uprising 70 - 80 years of the nineteenth century. were in exile under police surveillance in the territory Ekaterinoslav province (modern name Ekaterinoslav - Dnipropetrovsk).


Dissociation is an alteration in consciousness that is viewed as an avoidant or repressive coping style in response to distress. Previous literature suggests that stressful life events (an external source of stress) bring about dissociation, and that dissociation is correlated with psychopathological symptoms (an internal source of distress). We examined the main and interactive effects of external stress and internal distress on dissociation using two longitudinal studies (Ns = 214 and 155), in which undergraduates were assessed for dissociation, stressful life events, and psychopathological symptoms. In both studies, internal distress predicted an elevation in dissociation when external stress was low but not when it was high. The effect of external stress on dissociation was moderated by baseline internal distress, albeit in an inconsistent manner. The findings suggest that the effects of internal and external pressures on dissociation are competing, and that elevated external stress derails the attempt to cope with internal distress using dissociative processes.


The Trauma Centre and Helipad at the Alfred Hospital were established as part of a program to improve the management of major road trauma in Victoria. The Monash University Accident Research Centre were commissioned to conduct a study to evaluate the effects of these changes. A "before" and "after" study design was chosen involving the Alfred Hospital and eight other hospitals in its traditional catchment area to monitor these changes. In addition, the Royal Melbourne Hospital was also included as a "control" to assess state- wide changes in trauma management apart from the Trauma Centre. To date, nine months of "before" study data has been collected involving 1480 road trauma patients. .These data have been presented to demonstrate the wealth of data available and the types of comparisons possible once the "after" study data has been assembled. The report concludes with a recommendation for additional funding to complete the evaluation study. In the meanwhile, there would be merit in providing extra resources to analyse these data more thoroughly to gain a clearer picture of trauma management in this state.


Background: Abnormal liver function is a common indication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Two proposed mechanisms are liver injury mediated by angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and the involvement of the systemic immune response. We investigated the role played by these to determine the cause of liver abnormality in the early stages of COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Beijing Youan Hospital from January 21, 2020, to February 24, 2020. We compared clinical characteristics, viremia status, and cytokine profile on admission between patients with and without liver disorder. Results: Of the 44 COVID-19 patients analyzed, there were no differences in the clinical symptoms and signs, disease severity, or computed tomography (CT) image features between the two groups. Lymphopenia was more common in the liver disorder group. Further, C-reactive protein levels were much higher in the hepatic disorder group, with significantly higher concentrations of IL-6, IL-10, and M-CSF. Viremia was detected in only 7% of patients. Conclusions: Due to the infrequency of viremia, ACE2-mediated viral hepatitis does not seem to account for the commonly observed liver disorders in COVID-19 patients. By contrast, a dysregulated immune response may be a crucial pathogenic factor for liver disorder in the early stages of COVID-19.


We describe a real-time component-based system for an inspection application. We chose the inspection application and the accompanying task (or scenario) so that we might fully exercise and test our theories about real-time complex systems, system architectures, design methodologies, and software tools. We describe the application, give a history and description of our system architecture and design methodology, describe the real-time software tools we used, and conclude with a discussion of real-time and object-oriented challenges solved.


Abstract A novel type of phthalocyanine polymer, 1,4-diazophenylene-bridged Cuphthalocyanine, was prepared from the diazonium salt of diaminobenzene and Cu(II) 1,8,15,22-tetraaminophthalocyanine. The polymer is partially soluble in tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane, and dimethylformamide. Characterization of the polymer was performed by IR and UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, ash analysis, viscometry, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. The molecular weight of the soluble part of the polymer was determined by ebullioscopy. Electrical conductivity of the polymer and its doped samples were determined by the 4-probe technique. It was found that the electrical conductivity increased up to 10-4 S/cm after doping. The redox behaviour of the polymer was investigated utilizing cyclic voltammetry.


Background Symbols have been used in health state valuation studies to help subjects distinguish the severity of various characteristics of a given health state. Symbols used in such studies need to be evaluated for their cross-cultural appropriateness because a given symbol may have different meanings or acceptability in different cultures, which may affect results of such studies. Objectives To evaluate if using symbols to differentiate health states of different severity is useful and culturally acceptable in a multi-ethnic, urban Asian population. Methods Using in-depth interviews with adult Chinese, Malay, and Indian Singaporeans conducted in English/mother-tongue, subjects were shown a health state with 6 levels (Health Utilities Index 3 vision), each displayed with a symbol, and asked (1a) if symbols were useful in differentiating severity of each level (measured using dichotomous and 0–10 visual analog scale [VAS] scales) or (1b) offensive and (2) to assess 7 alternative sets of symbols. Results Of 63 subjects (91% response rate), 18 (29%) felt symbols were useful in differentiating severity of each level. Reported usefulness of symbols was fair (median VAS score: 3.0, score exceeding 5.0 for 33% of subjects). One Malay subject felt symbols were offensive. Conclusions Use of symbols for health state valuation was culturally acceptable and useful for some subjects.


Twelve Lipid-Research Clinic laboratories performed automated cholesterol analyses on four control-serum pools of known cholesterol concentration, using the Liebermann-Burchard reaction. The analyses were done during a two-year period, with the same standards, methodology, and quality-control procedures. Estimates of analytical bias, variability, and short- and long-term trends for each instrument and for the entire group of LRC instruments are presented. High accuracy, precision, and interlaboratory comparability were achieved through the rigorous standardization and control of the entire analytical procedure. The significance of these results for long-term collaborative studies is discussed. Individual laboratory biases averaged from 0.5 to 2.0% below Abell-Kendall reference values. Between-run variability was about equal to within-run variability and inter-laboratory variation was substantially less than intra-laboratory variation. The total standard deviation for all instruments was about 0.04 g/liter. Only 8-15% of this variation was due to differences between instruments. The between-instrument standard deviation ranged from 0.011 to 0.015 g/liter; the between-run, within-instrument standard deviation ranged from 0.023 to 0.030 g/liter; and within-run standard deviation ranged from 0.023 to 0.028 g/liter. The significance of the achieved results for long-term collaborative studies is discussed.


We present a general single-channel speech dereverberation method based on an explicit generative model of reverberant and noisy speech. To regularize the model, we use a pre-learned speech model of clean and dry speech as a prior and perform posterior inference over the latent clean speech. The reverberation kernel and additive noise are estimated under the maximum-likelihood framework. Our model assumes no prior knowledge about specific speakers or rooms, and consequently our method can automatically adapt to various reverberant and noisy conditions. We evaluate the proposed model with both simulated data and real recordings from the REVERB Challenge1 in the task of speech enhancement and obtain results comparable to or better than the state-of-the-art.


Ubiquitin-specific protease 8 (USP8), a member of the ubiquitin-specific protease (USP) family, was originally identified as playing a role in the regulation of growth and cell cycle. However, its functional role in myogenesis is unknown. In this study, we investigated the role of USP8 in proliferation and differentiation of sheep skeletal muscle satellite cells. The results showed that the expression level of USP8 was significantly increased on days 2 and 3 following the induction of the differentiation process. Furthermore, knocking down USP8 resulted in a significant increase in myogenin-positive cells, and promoted early differentiation of satellite cells by regulating the expression level of paired box 7 (PAX7). Additionally, knocking down USP8 suppressed muscle satellite cell proliferation, possibly explaining that the relative mRNA level of USP8 was linearly related to muscle fibre density of Hu sheep. Overall, our research demonstrates that USP8 plays a role in proliferation and early differentiation of skeletal muscle satellite cells.


Background: Variations in the performance of radiologists reading mammographic images are well reported, but key parameters explaining such variations in different countries are not fully explored. The main aim of this study is to investigate performances of Chinese (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province) and Australian radiologists in interpreting dense breast mammographic images. Methods: A test set, contained 60 mammographic examinations with high breast density, was used to assess radiologists' performance. Twelve Chinese and thirteen Australian radiologists read all the cases independently and were asked to identify all lesions and provide a grade from 1 to 5 to each lesion. Case sensitivity, specificity, lesion sensitivity, AUC and JAFROC were used to assess radiologists' performances. Demographic information and reading experience were also collected from the readers. Performance scores were compared between the two populations and the relationships between performance scores and their reading experience were discovered. Results: For radiologists who were less than 40-year-old, lesion sensitivity, AUC and JAFROC were significantly lower in Chinese radiologists than those in Australian (52.10% vs 71.45%, p=0.043; 0.76 vs 0.84, p=0.031; 0.59 vs 0.72, p=0.045; respectively). Australian radiologists with less than 10 years of reading experience had higher AUC and JAFROC scores compared with their Chinese counterparts (0.83 vs 0.76, p=0.039; 0.70 vs 0.56, p=0.020, respectively). Conclusions: We found that younger Australian radiologists performed better at reading dense breast cases which is likely to be linked to intensive fellowship training, immersion in a screening program and exposure to the benefits of a performance-measuring education tool.


The emergence, application and popularization of network discourse bring great challenges to the traditional model of ideological and political education. Network discourse bears the characteristics of material reality, content dominance and discursively by nature. These characteristics cause the changes of the college students' ideological and political education model, from the subjectivity education model of intersubjectivity education model, from the uniform education content to diverse educational content. The model evolves from a closed and static situation to an open and dynamic education environment. Therefore, the contemporary scholars in the field of college students' ideological and political education should constantly explore new models of the university students' ideological and political education, appealing to the demand of the transformations in education conception, the openness of education approaches. They should apply the intersubjectivity education model and enrich the educational content. They should also attach importance to the diversity education model and construct an appealing educational atmosphere. Dynamic education is the direction so the new development and demand of the ideological and political education can adapt to requirements in the network + era.


This thesis investigated the effect of different foods such as spices (green cardamom and black cardamom), vegetables (beetroot), cereal grains (purple maize), fruits (chokeberry and Queen Garnet plum) and bioactive molecules (sodium nitrate and cyanidin 3-glucoside) on risk factors for metabolic syndrome using a diet-induced obese rat model. Obesity, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, atherogenic dyslipidaemia, hypertension and endothelial dysfunction are the major components of metabolic syndrome. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle including regular exercise together with a healthy and balanced diet has been recommended as the first-line of defence to prevent metabolic syndrome. However, with the growing prevalence of obesity worldwide, this complex disorder is considered to be a clinical challenge and an important public health concern. While current pharmaceutical drug therapies for obesity show some benefits, there are also multiple side effects. Hence, complementary and alternative therapies have become popular to reduce the incidence of metabolic syndrome with the aim of decreasing future health risks.


Two player zero sum simultaneous action games are common in video games, financial markets, war, business competition, and many other settings. We first introduce the fundamental concepts of reinforcement learning in two player zero sum simultaneous action games and discuss the unique challenges this type of game poses. Then we introduce two novel agents that attempt to handle these challenges by using joint action Deep Q-Networks (DQN). The first agent, called the Best Response AgenT (BRAT), builds an explicit model of its opponent's policy using imitation learning, and then uses this model to find the best response to exploit the opponent's strategy. The second agent, Meta-Nash DQN, builds an implicit model of its opponent's policy in order to produce a context variable that is used as part of the Q-value calculation. An explicit minimax over Q-values is used to find actions close to Nash equilibrium. We find empirically that both agents converge to Nash equilibrium in a self-play setting for simple matrix games, while also performing well in games with larger state and action spaces. These novel algorithms are evaluated against vanilla RL algorithms as well as recent state of the art multi-agent and two agent algorithms. This work combines ideas from traditional reinforcement learning, game theory, and meta learning.


This paper focuses on our solutions of filters with high frequency selectivity, extended stop- band, and dual-band operation functions, by means of exploiting the unique properties of composite resonators. First, filters using composite resonators to produce multiple transmission zeros are described. As no cross-coupling between non-adjacent resonators is required, the filters are easy to design and implement. Next, to improve the inherent poor stopband property of this type of filters, new filters integrating both composite resonators and conventional resonators are devised. Finally, dual-band bandpass filters and dual- band bandstop filters with controllable dual-band responses are realized in novel and compact microstrip configurations. All these filters are designed based on novel lumped-element filter circuits incorporating composite resonators, and all the element values of the circuits are determined readily by using our derived closed-form formulas. A number of example filters are provided, and their measured characteristics show good agreements with theoretical predictions.


Standing from a seated position is a common, yet dynamically challenging task. Due to the vertical ascent of the body center of gravity, sit-to-stand (STS) transition requires high torque output from the knee. As a result, STS transition poses a major barrier to the mobility of individuals with lower-limb issues, including the transfemoral (TF, also known as above-knee) amputees. A study showed that unilateral TF amputees suffer from high asymmetry in ground reaction forces (53∼69%) and knee moments (110∼124%), while the asymmetry for healthy controls is less than 7% [1]. Note that, although a powered TF prosthesis (Power Knee™) was used in this study, it generated resistance in the STS and thus produced similar results as the passive devices. The inability of existing prostheses in generating knee torque and regulating the torque delivery in the STS seriously affects the mobility of TF amputees in their daily life.Motivated by this issue, researchers have developed numerous powered TF prostheses (e.g., Vanderbilt powered TF prostheses [2]). These devices are able to generate torque and power for challenging tasks such as STS transition. Making full use of such capability, however, requires an effective controller. Currently, walking control for powered prostheses has been well established, but STS control is much less investigated. Varol et al. developed a multi-mode TF prosthesis controller, in which STS is treated as a transitional motion between sitting and standing states [2]. However, no details were provided on the rationale of the STS controller structure or the determination of the control parameters.In this paper, a new prosthesis control approach is presented, which regulates the power and torque delivery in the STS process. Inspired by the biomechanical behavior of the knee in the STS motion, the new controller provides two desired functions (gradual loading of the knee at the beginning, and automatic adjustment of the knee torque according to motion progress) with a single equation. Combined with a simple yet reliable triggering condition, the proposed control approach is able to provide natural STS motion for the powered knee prosthesis users.Copyright © 2017 by ASME


As forest sector companies become more market-oriented, the role of marketing within companies is changing. This study investigates the role of marketing in private U.S. sawmilling companies from two perspectives: the functional group perspective and the activity-based perspective. Data were collected from 20 firms via personal interviews, website information and field notes. The results indicate underdeveloped thinking in the companies regarding the organization and implementation of marketing. For example, many companies had a "marketing department" that was in fact a sales department performing sales work. A better conceptual understanding of marketing can potentially benefit its implementation in the forest industry. Also, a sales-oriented mentality largely exists as selling was the most emphasized marketing activity. Other marketing activities such as marketing information management and product development should be further developed in the companies.


The World Health Organization (WHO) is rapidly expanding antiretroviral treatment (ART) in sub-Saharan countries. However, virological failure of ART is rarely monitored due to the lack of affordable and sustainable viral load assays suitable for resource-limited settings. Here, we report a prototype of a rapid virus detection method based on microfluidic technologies. In this method, HIV-1 particles from 10 μL whole blood were captured by anti-gp120 antibody coated on the microchannel surface and detected by dual fluorescence signals under microscopy. Next, captured HIV-1 particles were counted using the free software, ImageJ (http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/). This rapid HIV-1 detection method has potential to be further developed for viral load monitoring at resource-limited settings.


The c- erb B-2 gene and its products (also designated HER -2 and c- neu ) encode for a 185-kd transmembrane glycoprotein with intracellular tyrosine kinase activity. c- erb B-2 belongs to the epidermal growth factor receptor family, of which there are four known members, and has molecular homology to the epidermal growth factor receptor. It seems that this family is critical in control of growth, differentiation, and mobility of many normal and transformed epithelial cell types. We have looked for overexpression of c- erb B-2 gene product in paraffin-embedded material from 230 cases of soft tissue sarcoma, in order to establish a possible new prognostic marker and a potentially new treatment option. In all the cases, irrespective of the sarcoma histological type, the immunostaining for erbB-2 was negative. Applications of erbB-2 for prognostication as well as the option of receptor targeting by trastuzumab monoclonal antibodies were aborted.


Purpose To investigate whether there is an association between penetrating eye injuries and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children. Methods 45 children aged 3–18 years who were treated due to penetrating ocular injuries (patient group) and 75 control subjects (control group) were enrolled in the study. The symptoms of ADHD were evaluated by the Turkish adapted and validated form of the Conner Parent Rating Scale (CPRS). Results The mean age was 8.9±4.1 years in the patient group and 9.7±3.7 years in the control group. All subscale scores of CPRS were higher in the patient group compared with the control group (all p<0.05). Gender-specific analyses showed that the boys of the patient group had significantly higher mean scores of all subscales, including inattentiveness, hyperactivity, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder, compared with the boys of the control group (all p<0.05). However, the girls of the patient group had higher mean scores of only the conduct disorder subscale (p<0.05) compared with the girls of the control group. Three of 45 patients (6.6%) and 0 of 75 control subjects (0%) had a history of previous ocular trauma (p<0.05). Conclusions There was an association between penetrating eye injuries and inattentiveness, hyperactivity, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder in boys, and conduct disorder in girls. An appropriate evaluation of ADHD symptoms may prevent vision loss due to penetrating eye injuries in children. In addition, evaluation by a child psychiatrist of children presenting with penetrating eye injuries may prevent repetition of injuries.


In this paper we seek to highlight the interconnectedness between work and migration and the maintenance of the new social order in the United Kingdom. The content of this article is based upon a number of qualitative research projects that the authors have been involved with over recent years. These research projects have shown the way in which work is interwoven into the migration and settlement experiences of various new migrants, and how this relates to mobility within UK society. Under this common theme we explore the role of immigrants within the United Kingdom's division of labour, and how in turn economic mobility and mobility in terms of work is described, experienced and managed by migrants themselves. We analyse how issues of governance relate to issues of mobility for citizens and migrants. We explore how the official framework for the regulation of labour migration is reflected and refracted in the accounts given by a range of migrants in the United Kingdom, including foreign recruits, irregular workers, asylum seekers and work 'visa' holders.


Revealing the structural morphology and inner flow field of the upper airway is important for understanding obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) incidence phenomena and pathological diagnosis in children. However, the present study is usually concentrated on adults, but achievement cannot be directly applied to children because of different inducing factors. Therefore, this paper employs flow characteristics and a simulation method for child OSAHS. It is found that the Reynold number changes highly throughout the whole upper airway, and the laminar assumption is no longer suitable for low Reynold number flow, which is much unlike classic fluid mechanics. Turbulent models of Standard k-ω and Spalart-Allmaras were developed prior to suggestion. The simulation is validated by experiments with an error of approximately 20%. Additionally, carried out in this analysis is the influence of adenoidal hypertrophy with different narrow levels. The cross-sectional area, flow velocity, pressure drop and volume rate will change greatly when the narrow level is above 64% of the upper airway, which can be a quantitative explanation for medical intervention if adenoid hypertrophy blocks 2/3 of the upper airway in the common clinical judgment of otorhinolaryngology. It is expected that this paper can be a meaningful instruction on OSAHS surgery plan making as well as recovery evaluation postoperatively.


In contrast to observations from our local viewpoint, the universe is extremely violent. Explosions of massive stars, X-ray and gamma-ray binary stars, and active galaxies are related to the presence of compact objects such as neutron stars or black holes. Processes such as matter accretion or the formation and release of relativistic plasma jets are responsible for the generation of large amounts of high-energy radiation, caused by the acceleration of elementary particles, and have a significant impact in their surroundings. Moreover, they are related to the generation of gravitational waves: vibrations in spacetime produced by the acceleration of compact massive objects that produce strong curvatures. These systems are studied within the framework of the general and special relativity theories. In this article, we summarise several of the most well-known astrophysical scenarios, and offer a brief description of what we currently know about them.


One hundred fifty samples of shrimp feed were collected from the eastern and southern regions of Thailand, and aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2) in them were analyzed. AFB1 contamination ranged from a nondetectable level (< 0.003 ppb) to 0.651 ppb. Metabolites of AFB1 were less abundant than AFB1. To study the effects of aflatoxin in feed on shrimp production, black tiger shrimp were divided into four groups of 30 shrimp per group, tested in triplicate, and fed diets containing 0 (control), 5, 10, or 20 ppb of AFB1 for 10 consecutive days. After 7 or 10 days of consumption on each diet, the shrimp were weighed and sacrificed for laboratory examination. AFB1 and its metabolites were not detected in shrimp muscle. The mortality rate was slightly higher in the AFB1-treated groups than in the control group. The body weight of the surviving shrimp was decreased to 46 to 59% of the initial body weight in the AFB1-treated groups but not in the control group. Histopathological findings indicated hepatopancreatic damage by AFB1 with biochemical changes of the hemolymph. These results show that aflatoxin contamination in shrimp feed may cause economic losses by lowering the production of shrimp. Feed contaminated at the level of 20 ppb or lower (i.e., at the observed natural contamination level) may pose a very low risk, if any, to human health.


Abstract The development and delivery of ICT-based persuasive strategies for the adoption of more environmental-friendly modes of transport is an emerging strategy to help tackle the problem of excessive use of individual Conventionally Fueled Vehicles (CFVs). The efficiency of this approach, like other information-based schemes, can benefit from the knowledge of which groups of individuals are more responsive to these types of interventions. The goal of this study is to examine the level of acceptability of persuasive schemes delivered using smartphone applications across different population segments. A cross-sectional survey was applied to 920 university students in Curitiba, a roughly 2-million inhabitant Brazilian city. The questionnaire was developed considering two groups of indicators: individual determinants of travel behavior, which were extracted from theories of social psychology (i.e. the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Norm-Activation Model and others), as well as stated intentions and attitudes toward a range of eleven different persuasive strategies (money or voucher rewards, points and rankings, social media sharing, etc.). Groups with different psychographic profiles were extracted from the sample using cluster and discriminant analyses. The acceptability of persuasive strategies were compared between segments. Results show a higher individual preference toward financial rewards and a relatively lower acceptability of social media tools. The acceptance level of groups that display higher control over the use of non-motorized forms of transport is higher than groups that are more psychologically predisposed to CFVs.


Two groups of practicing therapists were asked to describe in depth a specific extramarital affair with which they were very familiar--whether as therapist, relative, or friend or were themselves involved. Of 62 cases, 21, or 34%, ended in divorce--in the therapists' judgments as a consequence of the infidelity. In 27 cases, or 43.5%, the marriages were preserved, but in an overall dysphoric or negative atmosphere. In 4 cases, or 6%, the marriages were intact but either the marriage was "blah" or empty in quality or the future of the marriage was judged as still in doubt. Only in 9 cases, or 14.5%, were the marriages reported intact and characterized by improvement and growth. Of these, 4 were cases of one-time affairs. Analysis of the direct impact of the affair on the betrayed spouses showed that the majority of the betrayed husbands and wives suffered significant damage to their self-image, personal confidence, or sexual confidence, feelings of abandonment, attacks on their sense of belonging, betrayals of trust, enraged feelings, and/or a surge of justification to leave their spouses. The judgments of the therapists reporting the cases were that fully 89% of the betrayed spouses either were consciously aware of the infidelity or, even if not acknowledging, really knew, and that even the majority of the betrayed spouses who claimed consciously that they opposed their spouses' behavior were unconsciously in collusion with them.


The Common Agricultural Policy of the EU, established for self-sufficiency after Second World War in Europe turned out to become the "naughty children" of the EU by the end of 1980s mainly due to its distortive effects on global trade. Internal and external pressures on EU for reforming the CAP in order to make it less trade-distortive and less costly for the EU taxpayers have led to series of CAP reforms in many products. Sugar, the "black sheep" of the CAP, has stayed out of this trend until 2005. When the long-awaited sugar reform was realized in 2005 however, it implied strong "side effects" on ACP Sugar Protocol countries and LDCs that have preferential access to the EU sugar markets. The aim of this book is thus to look at the other side of the coin, to analyze the adverse effects of reform from the perspective of preference- receiving countries and to question the adequacy of the EU Action Plan for Transitional Assistance. Therefore, the analysis is expected to be useful for anyone interested in the evolution of the CAP, the nature of EU sugar reform and external repercussions with international developmental focus.


This paper examines the response reduction capabilities of a passive fluid damper device known as the liquid column vibration absorber (LCVA), when installed on a 5 storey benchmark building structure requiring control. The 5 storey benchmark building, is a scaled model of 3.6 metres maximum height, that is excited at its base level on a shake table. The benchmark frame is one in a series of recognised benchmark buildings for research into control, as adopted by the hternational Association for Structural Control (IASC). The behaviour of the LCVA, unlike prior studies, has been examined utilising computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, solving for the Navier Stokes equations. The dynamic behaviour of the structure is examined by utilisng capabilities of structural finite element software, adopting the Newmark time integration method of solution. In order to study the interaction of fluid and structure for vibration control conditions, two series of tests were conducted. The first examined the effective damping added to the structure by using the LCVA, under free vibration conditions. A comparison was made to uncontrolled free vibration of the structure, and the effective damping was evaluated based on the RMS response reduction achieved. The structure was then implemented with an appropriate single LCVA, and re-excited with a specified wind load. The wind load was simulated as an equivalent base acceleration. The resulting reduction in wind response was then examined. Using this approach, the potential of using the LCVA as a vibration control device is illustrated. Furthermore, the use of a coupled CFD structural analysis to understand the overall behaviour is demonstrated. Transactions on the Built Environment vol 56, © 2001 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509


The rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) composition platforms and so called Compute Clouds demonstrates the growing demand for the agile composition of Web Services. In order to facilitate the composition of services and value-creation, service providers need to collaborate. This collaboration is regulated by means of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) where the parties, the executed service as well as guarantees on the service execution are specified. This work presents the concept of Service Value Networks and Agreement Networks as the underlying legal structure. Furthermore, an approach is introduced that allows a service provider to select the risk-minimal SLA portfolio. In a further step, the approach is extended in order to allow for a tradeoff between risk and expected profit from the service execution. Finally, the computational complexity of the optimization model is discussed and solutions are proposed. [ Service Science , ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]


Objective Atrial septal defect (ASD) device closure is routinely done under the guide of transesophageal or intracardiac echocardiography which are expensive techniques and not easily affordable in developing countries. Methods Using metallic devices, we attempted 32 ASD device closures under transthoracic echocardiography. Findings Of those, 30 procedures were successful (94 %). In two patients with relatively large ASD we encountered difficulty in positioning the device. These patients were referred for surgical closure. Conclusion ASD device closure can be carried out successfully in most patients under transthoracic echocardiography in situations where transesophageal or intravenous echocardiographies are not available or affordable.


Job satisfaction is often treated as a one-dimensional construct. In contrast, Bruggemann (1974) postulated six distinct forms of (dis)satisfaction: four types of satisfaction (progressive, stabilised, resigned, pseudo) and two types of dissatisfaction (constructive, fixated). Despite her theory s practical relevance, few researchers have explored its assumptions or applications. The current study aimed to characterise a German-speaking employee sample (n 5 892) according to Bruggemann s theory using mixture modelling. We investigated stability of the (dis)satisfaction forms over a five-month period, as well as their relationship with well-being, motivation and (self-reported) performance. We found latent clusters corresponding to most Bruggemann types, though no distinction between progressive and stabilised satisfaction was possible. While cluster membership varied over time, some clusters (e.g. resigned satisfaction) were more stable than others (e.g. constructive dissatisfaction). Overall satisfaction level explained 25–51 per cent variance in well-being and motivation, and 13–16 per cent variance in performance. Including forms of satisfaction improved cross-sectional prediction by 2–6 per cent explained variance. Results suggest that unfavourable consequences of job dissatisfaction may be limited to fixated—not constructive—dissatisfaction, though no consistent longitudinal effects emerged. We argue that exploring qualitative differences in job satisfaction promotes a more nuanced and potentially useful understanding of the relationship between satisfaction and work outcomes.


the Yamnaya culture, ofen regarded as the bearer of the Proto-Indo-European language, underwent a strong population expansion in the late 4th and early 3rd millennia BCE. It suggests that the underlying reason for that expansion might be the then unique capacity to digest animal milk in adulthood. We examine the early Indo-European milk-related vocabulary to confrm the special role of animal milk in Indo-European expansions. We show that Proto-Indo-European did not have a specialized root for 'to milk' and argue that the IE root *h2melg- 'to milk' is secondary and post-Anatolian. We take this innovation as an indication of the novelty of animal milking in early Indo-European society. Together with a detailed study of language-specifc innovations in this semantic feld, we conclude that the ability to digest milk played an important role in boosting Proto-Indo-European demography.


A physical mixture of Ru/C and Nb2O5 is an effective catalyst for upgrading lignin monomers under low H2 pressure at 250 °C to a clean cut of hydrocarbon liquid fuels. The reaction solvent is water with a small amount of methanol additive. Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) was evaluated using dihydroeugenol (DHE) as an exemplary lignin monomer model. Under optimized conditions, 100% conversion of DHE and very high selectivity to propyl cyclohexane (C9 hydrocarbon) was achieved. Nb2O5 was prepared at a low temperature (450 °C) and was shown to contain acid sites that enhance the production of fully deoxygenated products. The methanol additive serves as a hydrogen source for the Ru/C catalysed reduction of the aromatic ring. In addition, when a substrate mixture of DHE, isoeugenol and 4-allylsyringol simulating lignin products was employed, 100% conversion to propyl cyclohexane (76%) and propyl benzene (24%) was observed, thereby suggesting the general applicability of this catalyst system for funneling lignin monomers into a clean cut of hydrocarbon liquid fuels. This study sheds light on the function of each catalyst component and provides a simple and green utilization of biomass monomers as a feedstock for renewable hydrocarbon fuels.


To date the majority of research published in relation to homosexuality has been concerned with the homosexual's problems, and with the etiology of homosexuality. As little as 8% of published research has dealt with attitudes toward homosexuals, and less still has been concerned with perceptions of and beliefs about homosexuals. Existing research on the latter is reviewed, and research is outlined that investigates perceptions of homosexuals. Stereotypes of male and female homosexuals are examined in the context of masculine-feminine traits using the Personality Attributes Questionnaire. Results strongly support the view that sex role definitions are a highly salient reference point for the public definition of homosexuals.


Three basic sub-problems of screw theory are acceptable for some particular configuration manipulators' inverse kinematics, which can not solve the inverse kinematics of all configuration manipulators. A new sub-problem is extended based on sub-problem 2, that is, rotation about two disjoint axes, and the inverse kinematics thereof is solved in this paper. Based on the extended sub-problem, a manipulator, the inverse kinematics of which can not be solved by the three sub-problems without the participation of the new sub-problem, is constructed. The inverse kinematics of the manipulator is solved with the help of the extended sub-problem, therefore a close-form solution expressed by motion screw is gained.


Fifteen British and French contributors examine here modern and contemporary French culture, with essays on: changing trends in government evaluation of culture; the proletarian writers and journalism in the 1930s; radio and cinema; popular cultural activities such as horse-racing, war-memorials, and comic strips; France's multi-cultural nature; and gender issues in the mass media. A key area, on which the volume concentrates, and which illustrates the shift in cultural definition, is advertising, both as an historical phenomenon and a new cultural form. Finally, an essay on changing attitudes to the French language encapsulates the issues involved in the erosion of the barrier between high and popular culture.


To assess the aerodynamic merits of a particular configuration it is convenient if similarity parameters can be found that allow comparison with other vehicles at different Mach numbers and lift coefficients. A pair of such similarity parameters occurs naturally in the study of 'direct' and 'interference' lift. The use of these parameters assists in the optimization of lift per unit drag at supersonic speeds. The designer can, for example, use these improvements to reduce wing size and structure mass. This paper derives these similarity parameters and illustrates their use.


Background and Purpose: Andrographolide (AG) is a labdane diterpenoid herb, which is isolated from the leaves of Andrographis paniculate, and widely used for its potential medical properties. However, there are no reports on the effects of AG on the human suprapatellar fat pad of osteoarthritis patients. In the present study, our goal was to evaluate the innovative effects of AG on viability and Tri-lineage differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells from suprapatellar fat pad tissues. Experimental approach: The effects of Andrographolide on viability and differentiation of human primary mesenchymal stem cells obtained from human suprapatellar fat pad tissues were evaluated by staining assay. Moreover, the effects on molecular expression were quantitatively measured by mRNA expression in real time PCR. Key Results: The results revealed that AG had no cytotoxic effects when the concentration was less than 12.5 µg/mL. Interestingly, AG had significantly enhanced, dose dependent, osteogenesis and chondrogenesis as evidenced by a significantly intensified stain for Alizarin Red S, Toluidine Blue and Alcian Blue. Moreover, AG can upregulate the expression of genes related to osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation, including Runx2, OPN, Sox9, and Aggrecan in mesenchymal stem cells from human suprapatellar fat pad tissues. In contrast, AG suppressed adipogenic differentiation as evidenced by significantly diminished Oil Red O staining and expression levels for adipogenic-specific genes for PPAR-γ2 and LPL. Conclusions and Implications: These findings confirm that AG can specifically enhance osteogenesis and chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells from human suprapatellar fat pad tissues. It has potential as a therapeutic agent derived from natural sources for regenerative medicine.


A radial segmented seal is composed of three or six carbon segments that are assembled by a circumferential (garter) spring that presses them against the rotor. Assembled, they take the form of an annular ring. Each segment has several pads that generate a radial lift force depending on the rotor speed. There are many ways of creating effective lift forces. For example, a pocket on the pad creates a lift force because each pad will act as a Rayleigh step bearing. A groove on the rotating shaft will also create a radial lift force on the pad. However, this latter lift force will be unsteady. The aim of the present work is the numerical study of the lift created by a grooved rotor on a pad. Due to the very small operating radial clearances of radial segmented seals (less than 10 μm), the problem can be simplified by analyzing a single pad and a grooved runner. Previous analysis of gas face seals or thrust bearings always considered grooved pads and a smooth runner, even when the runner was grooved. The peculiarity of this study, which is the first of its kind, is considering the unsteady problem of the moving runner grooves. The analysis was performed for a single pad of a radial segmented seal operating with air.


Methods and systems for the terminal sterilization and surface decontamination of prefilled containers containing sensitive drug products, such as biotech drug products that are otherwise temperature or radiation sensitive, and thus not suitable for terminal sterilization by classical methods involving steam or gamma rays. The methods and systems are especially suited for prefilled containers in secondary packaging. Methods include terminal sterilization by exposing prefilled containers in secondary packaging to tunable-beta radiation and further include terminal sterilization by exposing prefilled containers to controllable vaporized-hydrogen peroxide, including (application of measures to reduce or prevent diffusion of vaporized-hydrogen peroxide into prefilled containers).


Abstract This contribution seeks to answer two questions, (1) What are the reasons for a demand for social health insurance (SHI)?, and (2) What are the limits to the growth of SHI? A review of the reasons for the existence of SHI reveals that while economists have emphasized the possible contribution of SHI to efficiency, the available evidence points to public choice reasons, which also seem to explain better the growth of SHI. Indeed, since private insurance redistributes as well (albeit governed by chance), it is tempting for politicians to use SHI for systematic redistribution (the extent of which cannot easily be detected by net payers). Turning to the supply of SHI, two dimensions are studied in some detail, viz. efforts at product innovation and at risk selection. Competing suppliers of SHI, while hampered by risk adjustment which sanctions innovators for attracting the young, are predicted to invest in innovation. A monopolistic public SHI scheme, by way of contrast, does not need to select risks and, on the other hand, it is predicted to refrain from product innovation. This is but one limit to the growth of SHI; the ultimate one is citizens' lack of willingness to pay for its continuing expansion, about which some evidence for the case of Switzerland is presented.


In this paper, tension tests and formability tests are performed to construct a database related to mechanical properties and the formability of the AZ31B Mg alloy sheet. A forming test with a hemi-spherical punch is conducted at varying temperatures to establish a forming limit diagram. In order to verify the applicability of the analysis using the conventional flow hardening model, a finite element analysis is performed on the hemi-spherical punch forming process and the results are compared with experimental ones. The study investigates problems involving a computational analysis that does not consider flow softening of the magnesium alloy at elevated temperatures.


The complex diversity of the bioluminescent beetles belonging to the family Lampyridae has rendered the morphological classification prone to constant critical re-evaluation and revision. Recent molecular studies have attempted to assist in these evolutionary revisions, commonly employing a region of the mitochondrial encoded large subunit (16S) rRNA. We present a 16S secondary structure model for the Lampyridae in order to evaluate the impact on the phylogenetic reconstructions of fireflies and glow-worms. Potential pairings and mutual information were analyzed to identify site interactions present within each genus resulting in consensus secondary structures. Helix 75 was found to be poorly conserved even between closely related genera making homologous alignment problematic and it is recommended that this region should be excluded from future analysis. A comparative examination of stem and loop regions revealed that external and internal loop regions have evolved 1.6 times faster. Down-weighting variable loop regions provided little impact on the tree topology despite these differences in evolutionary rates.


Long-term hyperglycemia may lead to diabetic microvascular and macrovascular complications that can affect the peripheral vascular system, particularly in wound healing capacity. Impaired angiogenesis and delayed wound healing are significant clinically. Luteolin (3′, 4′, 5, 7-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a naturally occurring flavonoid that is ubiquitously found in plants. Recent evidence has shown that luteolin is an anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative agent. However, the effect of systemic luteolin administration on diabetic wound restoration remains unclear. Herein, we explored the effectiveness of luteolin for improving delayed and impaired healing of skin wound and further clarified the underlying mechanisms. The results indicated that luteolin significantly attenuates blood glucose concentration, improves impaired healing and accelerates re-epithelization of skin wound in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Histopathological staining and immunoblotting revealed an inhibitory effect of luteolin on inflammatory cell and cytokine production. We also observed remarkable decreases in protein expressions of inflammatory factors including matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL-6), and IL1-β and downregulation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB, as well as increases in anti-oxidative enzymes such as superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) induced by nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf)-2 following luteolin supplementation. Furthermore, luteolin decreased the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and increased the expression of ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase (UCH)-L1, as evidenced by angiogenesis and neuronal regeneration in completely healed wound. In conclusion, systemic administration of luteolin promotes wound restoration by ameliorating inflammation and oxidative stress through the inactivation of NF-κB and upregulation of Nrf2 in STZ-induced diabetic rats.