Was Japan's economic miracle generated primarily by the Japanese state or by the nation's dynamic private sector? In addressing this question, Kent Calder's richly detailed study offers a distinctive reinterpretation of Japanese government-business relations. Calder challenges popular opinion to demonstrate how Japanese private enterprise has complemented the state in achieving the national purpose of industrial transformation.


The advent of the Internet has generated new ways of reading for knowledge, suggesting that digital literacy is a necessity for students of this new era. Even so, there is still a dearth of knowledge in the field that can provide rich theoretical descriptions of online reading processes of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) readers in the hypertext environment. This article elucidates the perceptual learning styles and the metacognitive reading strategies of English as a Foreign Language students in hypertext reading environment. Their perceived preferred practices were elicited through a questionnaire and interviews, while actual observed online behaviours were recorded with Camtasia Studio 7. Based on these data sources, patterns of reading hypermedia texts on an online reading platform were identified and compared using NVivo 9. The findings indicated that the students' perceived as well as their preferred learning styles and metacognitive reading strategies were mostly not performed or applied by them when they were engaged in the actual hypermedia reading environment. These differences in behaviours were contributed to the reading tasks and hypermedia tools made available by the platform facilitating their reading processes. Most significantly, the study revealed that the types of hypermedia tool available enabled them to modify their previously preferred practices for other ways of reading and comprehending the hypermedia texts. Moreover, the findings have also implied that students reading hypermedia texts online can develop different choices of sensory pathways unique to digital literacy environments. Thus the findings are significant as they contribute towards the currently limited knowledge about electronic literacy and online reading processes.


Large boreholes dot the landscape across much of the arid low latitudes. Here we explore air dynamics within these features to understand their significance to gas transport at the Earth‐atmosphere interface. We instrumented a large‐diameter (3.4 m) borehole and the borehole‐atmosphere interface to explore under natural conditions the role of atmospheric variability on gas transport down to the water table at a depth of 59 m. Two independent tracers that naturally existed inside the borehole, water vapor and CO2, were used to map diffusive and advective transport regions and rates. We hypothesize that temporal variations in atmospheric and borehole air temperature determine the transport regime; thus, we conducted two separate 1‐month observations, during summer and winter. Of several potential air transport mechanisms known to act within cavities, thermal‐induced convection (TIC) was found to be the dominating advective mechanism inside the borehole. During winter, TIC circulated atmospheric air throughout the entire borehole down to the water table. During summer, however, atmospheric air reached only down to the middle of the borehole, indicating stable stratification below that depth; TIC was limited to the upper mixed layer overlying a diffusive transport layer. During times when TIC was suppressed, the stratified borehole air developed relatively low temperatures, and accumulated elevated CO2 concentrations and high vapor content, which were then vented to the atmosphere during convective active periods.


During the summer shutdown of 2003, the new silicon vertex detector SVD2 was installed in Belle at the KEKB factory and started to take data in October 2003. It provides important improvements in the tracking capabilities and adds new trigger functionality. In addition, a new hardware trigger Level 1.5 was designed and installed that takes advantage of the digitized SVD hit data. The improvement in the Belle trigger system will be important to deal with the increasing luminosity and higher beam currents of the KEKB factory.


The original description of Temnocephala iheringi Haswell, 1893 was based on specimens collected by Hermann von Ihering from undetermined ampullariid apple snails, which at that time were identified as Ampullaria sp., and sent to William H. Haswell, with the type locality simply indicated as Brazil. The type specimens studied by Haswell were not found in the scientific collections of Brazil, Europe or Australia, and should be considered lost. In 1941, Pereira & Cuocolo collected specimens from apple snails, identified as Pomacea lineata (Spix in Wagner, 1827), at two localities (Guaicurus and Salobra) in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, central Brazil. These specimens could not be located either and should, thus, be considered lost as well. Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1822), the main host of T. iheringi in southern Brazil, is known to have a geographical distribution that reaches Uruguay and 400 km beyond the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Three hundred and one mollusks were collected from 1999 to 2007. Temnocephalans found in the pallial cavity presented a greenish body pigmentation (adults) and lacked eye pigment of any color, including the red-eye pigment, typical of Neotropical species of Temnocephala Blanchard, 1849; straight cirrus, with a thick band at base of the introvert' swelling; and a single, circular, asymmetric vaginal sphincter, wider in diameter in the posterior portion. As the species occurs concurrently with two other species, at least in P. canaliculata from Rio Grande do Sul, the eggs of T. iheringi could not be reliably distinguished. A redescription of the species is provided. A comparison of data from the present work with those of earlier papers published on T. iheringi from Argentina showed that the Argentinean specimens had the smallest measurements.


Optimal transportation (OT) finds the most economical way to transport one measure to another and plays an important role in geometric modeling and processing. Based on the Brenier theorem, the OT problem is equivalent to the Alexandrov problem, which is the dual to the Pogorelov problem. Although solving the Alexandrov/Pogorelov problem are both equivalent to solving the Monge-Ampère equation, the former requires second type boundary condition and the latter requires much simpler Dirichlet boundary condition. Hence, we propose to use the Pogorelov map to approximate the OT map. The Pogorelov problem can be solved by a convex geometric optimization framework, in which we need to ensure the searching inside the admissible space. In this work, we prove the discrete Alexandrov maximum principle, which gives an apriori estimate of the searching. Our experimental results demonstrate that the Pogorelov map does approximate the OT map well with much more e cient computation.


Previous research has shown that exposure to prosocial songs increased the accessibility of prosocial thoughts, led to more interpersonal empathy, and fostered helping behavior. However, inasmuch as cognition, affect, and behavior were measured in different studies, it remained unclear what variable constituted the mediating path from media exposure to action. This was tested in the present research. In four studies, listening to songs with prosocial, relative to neutral, lyrics increased helping behavior. This effect was mediated by interpersonal empathy. The results are consistent with the general learning model and point to the importance of the affective route in explaining how media exposure influences social behavior.


This paper presents work towards recognizing facial expressions that are used in sign language recognition. Facial features are tracked to effectively capture temporal visual cues on the signer's face during signing. A Bayesian framework is proposed as a feedback mechanism to the Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) tracker for reliably tracking facial features in the presence of head motions and temporary occlusions by hand. This mechanism relies on a set of face shape subspaces learned by probabilistic principal component analysis with an update scheme to adapt to persons with different face shapes. The results show that the proposed tracker can track facial features with large head motions, substantial facial deformations, and temporary facial occlusions by hand. The tracked results were input to a recognition system comprising HMMs and a NN to recognize four common American sign language facial expressions.


Objective: To evaluate the influencing factors of poor treatment adherence in patients with uncontrolled asthma in China. Methods: From April 2017 to April 2018, all asthma patients with uncontrolled asthma and poor compliance in 32 third-class hospitals in 28 provinces and cities of China mainland included in the "National Mobile Asthma Assessment and Management Project" were selected as the subjects. A total of 923 patients were enrolled in the study including 388 males and 535 females. By analyzing the baseline data of the patients at the initial visit when enrolled, the influencing factors of poor adherence of adult asthma was analyzed by inter-group comparison and χ2 test. Results: Poor compliance in asthma was related to the following factors: age from 59 to 68 years old, course of disease more than 20 years, low education level, non-local follow-up, having obstructive ventilation dysfunction and low awareness of the disease[P values were 0.026(t=1.20), 0.004(t=3.97), 0.001(t=4.92), 0.003(t=3.98), 0.032(t=1.22) and 0.001(t=4.99), respectively]. Totally, 243 patients (26.33%) answered all the questions about asthma correctly. Their medication adherence rating scale (MARS-A) scores were significantly higher than those who answered incompletely correctly (36.23±5.85 vs. 31.77±5.74, P=0.001). Conclusions: The adherence of adult asthma patients was affected by individual and external environment factors. Clinicians should choose individualized methods based on the characteristics of patients. Patient education should be strengthened to improve patients' awareness of the disease at the same time.


UNLABELLED
Technetium-99m TRODAT-1 is an analog of cocaine that selectively binds the presynaptic dopamine transporters. The primary purpose of this study was to measure its whole-body biokinetics and radiation dosimetry in healthy human volunteers. The study was conducted within a regulatory framework that required its pharmacological safety to be assessed simultaneously.

METHODS
The sample included 4 men and 6 women ranging in age from 22-54 yr. An average of 20 whole-body scans were acquired sequentially on a dual-head camera for up to 46 hr after the intravenous administration of 370+/-16 MBq (10.0+/-0.42 mCi) 99mTc TRODAT. The renal excretion fractions were measured from 12-24 discrete urine specimens. The fraction of the administered dose in 17 regions of interest and each urine specimen was quantified from the attenuation and background corrected geometric mean counts in conjugate views. Multiexponential functions were iteratively fit to each time-activity curve using a nonlinear, least squares regression algorithm. These curves were numerically integrated to yield source organ residence times. Gender-specific radiation doses were then estimated with the Medical Internal Radiation Dose technique for each subject individually before any results were averaged.

RESULTS
There were no pharmacological effects of the radiotracer on any of the subjects. The early planar images showed differentially increased activity in the nose, pudendum and stomach. SPECT images demonstrated that the radiopharmaceutical localized in the basal ganglia in a distribution that was consistent with selective transporter binding. Image analysis showed that the kidneys excreted between 20% and 32% of the injected dose during the first 22-28 hr postadministration, after which no more activity could be recovered in the urine. The dose limiting organ in both men and women was the liver, which received an average of 0.046 mGy/MBq (0.17 rads/mCi, range 0.14-0.22 rad/mCi). In the worst case, which was clearly an over-estimation, it would have taken 22.7 mCi to deliver 5 rad to the liver.

CONCLUSION
TRODAT may be a safe and effective radiotracer for imaging dopamine transporters in the brain and the body.


Andaliman fruit (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC.) Is one of the wild plant spices whose known by Batak people in North Sumatra, and is often used as a food seasoning. Andaliman fruit is widely used as a spice in cooking of meat and fish dishes to be resistant for several days without causing odor. Lately, andaliman fruit is also said having anticancer properties. The purpose of this study was to determine the cytotoxic effects of the extracts from the fruit andaliman (Zanthoxylum acanthopodium DC.), and the combination effect of it with Doxorubicin, apoptosis and selectivity index. Characterization and phytochemical screening carried out on powdered crude drugs, botanicals powders subsequently extracted by maceration using solvents n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol 96%. Each extract was concentrated with the rotary evaporator and dried using freeze dryer to obtain a viscous extract. Each extract were tested cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 and T47D by using MTT method. Cytotoxic test results of test solution against MCF-7 cells gave IC 50 ENHBA, EEABA, and EENBA continously contributed 159.747 ug/ml, 136.490 ug/ml, and 957.449 mg/ml. Whereas the IC50 value in the treatment of T47D cells, respectively for 57.013 ug/ml, 52.031 ug/ml and 463.231 mg/ml. Furthermore EEABA combined with Doxorubicin against MCF-7 cells provide synergistic results that demonstrate the value of CI <1. EEABA and doxorubicin combination do not indicate the mechanism of apoptosis are showed using flowcytometri apoptosis method. Tests on vero cells showed no selective EEABA (0.7) against MCF-7 and SI 1.8 for T47D cells.


Background: This prospective study  compare concurrent weekly and three weekly cisplatin based concurrent chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer.Methods: The study was conducted in 40 patients with locally advanced carcinoma cervix  randomised into 2 arms. Arm A patients received external beam Radiotherapy (EBRT) to pelvis with concurrent weekly cisplatin at dose of 40 mg/m2 and arm B patients received EBRT to pelvis with concurrent three weekly cisplatin at dose of 75 mg/m2 followed by high dose rate intracavitary brachytherapy (HDR ICBT). Acute  gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities being common and worrisome complication and response rates were analysed.Results: The patient and disease characteristics were comparable in both arms. There was no significant difference in both arms in terms of lower GI toxicity i.e weekly vs three weekly(75% Vs 80%; P = 0.208) . Compliance to chemoradiation was better in three weekly vs weekly (85% vs 70%) cisplatin arms but not statistically significant (p<0.05) After a median follow up of 18 months, tumor control rates in both arms were comparable (85% Vs 90%; P = 0.128).Conclusion: The present study observations suggest that concurrent weekly or three weekly cisplatin based chemo-radiation therapy is equally effective in treatment of cervical cancer in terms of local tumor control rate,lower GI toxicity and patients compliance to proposed chemoradiotherapy treatment. However randomised trials with larger sample sizes and longer duration of follow up are required.


UN Resolution 1325 marked a groundbreaking achievement in terms of recognizing for the first time the need to increase the involvement of women in peace processes to perform a more active role and institute a gender perspective in peacekeeping. Some other UN resolutions followed, as for instance 1820, 1888, 1889 and 2122. The aim of this paper is to analyze the representation of women in these UN pronouncements from a cognitive approach to shed light on the way in which women are actually being portrayed by means of the metaphors used.


Objective In caregivers of urban Aboriginal children, to determine the frequency of major stressful life events, the proportion who meet criteria for resilience, and factors that are associated with resilience. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting Four Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services located in urban or regional areas in New South Wales, Australia. Participants 574 caregivers of Aboriginal children participating in the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health. Primary outcome measure Resilience, defined as having experienced three or more stressful life events in the last 12 months, and having scores of ≤21 on the Kessler 10 Psychological Distress scale. Results Over half (315, 55%) of the caregivers reported three or more stressful life events—the most common being a close family member who was hospitalised with a serious medical problem (259, 45%). Of the participants who experienced three or more stressful life events, almost three-quarters (227, 72%) met the criteria for resilience. Using multivariable analysis, two factors were independently associated with resilience: not having a physical health problem that limited normal activities (adjusted OR (aOR) 4.3; 95% CI 2.0 to 9.0), and not having problems caused by alcohol within the home (aOR 5.3; 95% CI 2.2 to 12.8). Having a child whose behaviour placed a great deal of burden on the family was associated with less resilience (aOR 0.25; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.68). Conclusions Caregivers of urban Aboriginal children experienced a large number of stressful events, the most common being the poor health of close family members, but most exhibited resilience. Resilience was associated with stable family environments and good physical health. The high number of stressful life events that caregivers experience is reflective of broader inequalities that Aboriginal communities face. The availability of easily accessible and long-term health and support services may go some way to reducing this inequality and improving social and emotional well-being for Aboriginal families.


Iron fluxes from reducing sediments and subglacial environments are potential sources of bioavailable iron into the Southern Ocean. Stable iron isotopes are considered a proxy for Fe sources, but respective data are scarce and Fe cycling in complex natural environments is not understood sufficiently to constrain respective δ56Fe "endmembers" for different types of sediments, environmental conditions and biogeochemical processes.
We show δ56Fe data from pore waters and sequentially leached solid Fe (for method see [1]) of two contrasting sites in a bay of King George Island that is affected by fast glacier retreat. Sediments close to the glacier front contain more reactive Fe oxides and pyrite compared to those close to the ice-free beach and show a broader ferruginous zone. Since sulfate reduction (SR) is almost negligible at this site, the pyrite likely derives from eroded bedrock. Interestingly, 56Fe depletion in pore water and most reactive Fe oxides is more
pronounced close to the ice-free beach where SR was observed at shallow sediment depth. Downcore δ56Fe variability close to the glacier front is limited to surface-reduced Fe, whereas it also occurs in the ferrihydrite-lepidocrocite fraction station close to the ice-free beach. The ferrihydrite-lepidocrocite fraction is at least 0.5‰ lighter than goethite-hematite and magnetite at both sites indicating that it
incorporates Fe that previously underwent redox cycling.
High amounts of easily reducible Fe oxides, esp. at the glacier site, stimulate dissimilatory iron reduction (DIR) and prevent the use of less reactive Fe oxides. We infer that pyrite oxidation (subglacially or within the deposited sediment in the bay) and/or Fe2+ supply from subglacial environments promote Fe cycling and that DIR-dominated sediments do not necessarily result in isotopically lighter Fe fluxes compared to SR-dominated sediments.

[1] Henkel et al. (2016), Chem. Geol. 421, 93-102.


We compared ratio and regression estimators empirically based on bias and coefficient of variation. Simulation studies accounting for sampling rate, population size, heterogeneity of the auxiliary variable x, deviation from linearity and model misspecification were conducted. The study shows that ratio estimator is better than regression estimators when regression line is close to the origin. Ratio and regression estimators still work even if there is a weak linear relationship between x and y, provided that there is minimal, if not absent, model misspecification. When the relationship between the target variable and the auxiliary variable is very weak, bootstrap estimates yield lower bias. Regression estimator is generally more efficient than ratio estimator.


We have been treating a girl with hemifacial hypertrophy since she was 5 years 8 months old. We analyzed her stomatognathic function, the dentition and occlusion, X-ray findings of TMJ, tooth contact and measurements of mandibular movement, at 9 years 2 months. The results were as follows: 1. The maxillary dental arch was almost symmetrical, but the mandibular one was complicatedly distorted in the up and down directions, and largely shifted to the left side. As a result the patient was able to occlude in the severe cross-bite condition of the area from incisors to left molars. 2. The patient had many tooth contact points on the right side and few on the left side when she bit at the intercuspal position and at the both lateral excursions. 3. From the analysis of the mandibular movements on the protrusion, lateral excursion and maximum open and close positions, it was suspected that the shift of right condyle was much less than the left one, and showed as almost rotating movement. 4. It could be concluded that the patient was accustomed to having more tooth contacts in the right dentition than in the left one because of the hypertrophy of the right half of mandible, so that she could only masticate with the right teeth also the anterior displacement of disk with reduction was resulted on the right condyle and the asymmetrical mandibular movement was noted.


Introduction: There is an alarming rise in mental health problems in Pakistan, due to various reasons including genetic vulnerability. There is a paucity of reliable and updated data on mental illnesses in Pakistan.
Objective: The main objective of our study was to explore the perspective of psychiatrists on frequency of mental disorders, their related factors and expected recovery from mental illnesses in a Psychiatric Care and Rehabilitation center of Karachi, Pakistan.
Methodology: This qualitative study was conducted at the Karwan-e-Hayat Psychiatric Care and Rehabilitation center, Karachi, Pakistan from Dec 2019 to April 2020. Seventeen study participants were recruited through purposive sampling and data was collected through in-depth interviews. Qualitative thematic analysis of content was done though generation of a coding scheme.
Results: Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed two main themes related to psychiatrists' views about mental disorders in Pakistan; (1) Contributing and consequential correlates of mental disorders (2) Effective therapeutic strategies and recovery rate from mental disorders.
Conclusion: Our study concluded that mental disorders are increasing with high proportion of psychosis and schizophrenia cases in Pakistan. The productive young age group and male gender are most commonly affected. The factors associated with mental disorders include lower socio-economic status, Low-literacy, divorce, exposure to traumatic events like violence and political turmoil, and sleep disturbances. The recovery rate from mental disorders is promising with integrative approach including pharmacological, psychosocial and care management strategies.


Background Although MRI is a highly effective tool in evaluating residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), there are many reports of discordance between the response of MRI and pathology. To increase MR accuracy, additional methods, which reflect post-NAC changes, should be considered in diagnosis. Purpose To evaluate effective methods that raise the diagnostic performance of MRI for predicting pathologic complete response (pCR) in breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Material and Methods For 98 invasive breast carcinoma patients, chemotherapeutic response to MRI was evaluated for the following parameters: tumor size, tumor distribution pattern, kinetic curve analysis, and background parenchymal enhancement pattern (BPE). BPE was categorized as "minimal", "mild", "moderate", or "marked", according to the ACR BI-RADS criteria. Results After NAC, the mean size of tumors decreased by 40% in non-pCR and by 59% in pCR groups, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate and false negative rate of MRI were 96% (78/81), 53% (9/17), 47% (8/17), and 4% (3/81), respectively. At pre-NAC MRI, the most common kinetic curve was delayed washout pattern (68%, 67/98); however, at post-NAC MRI the persistent pattern (55%, 47/86). Grouped lesion was the most common tumor distribution pattern on pre-NAC MRI (28%, 27/98), while on post-NAC solitary mass (40%, 34/86). The most common BPE at pre- and post-NAC MRI was mild and minimal enhancement, respectively. Conclusion To improve the diagnostic accuracy of MRI, we should consider additional factors including: tumor distribution pattern, BPE, kinetic curve analysis, and tumor size.


Following the dimensional analysis approach carried out in previous studies, it is hypothesized that the small-scale fluctuations should only depend on the inner scales, analogous to the Prandtl's law-of-the-wall for the mean flow. This allows us to examine the high frequency regime of the streamwise energy spectra where a "law-of-the-wall" in spectra would hold. Observations in high- Reynolds-number turbulent boundary layer data indicate that a conservative estimate for the start of this law-of-the-wall is f+ = 0.005 (which corresponds to 200 viscous time-units) across a range of wall-normal positions and Reynolds numbers. This is sufficient to capture the energetic viscous-scaled motions such as the near-wall streaks, which has a time scale of approximately 100 viscous units. This spectral collapse is consistent with the observations in internal flows and external flows in other studies. Furthermore, the spectral collapse leads to a universal scaling (based on skin-friction velocity and kinematic viscosity) for the small-scale streamwise turbulence variance (consistent with the hypothesis) across the entire boundary layer. A logarithmic variation of this small-scale variance is observed farther away from the wall.


Autonomous driving technology has drawn much attention these days; major manufacturers have announced that autonomous cars will soon be available for public use. As autonomous cars do not require the driver to "drive" in traditional sense, this technology is expected to increase safety, mobility, and efficiency. While the benefits autonomous driving technology will bring to the society in the near future seem enormous, several issues have been raised. Safety issue is one of them; computers and robots are not perfect, so autonomous cars may malfunction while driving. Even if autonomous cars and their algorithm are perfectly designed, human driver may intervene and take control of the car. As such, the technology is facing some legal challenges, particularly issues arising from the complexity of liability scheme. If an accident involving autonomous car occurs, who will be deemed liable for the accident? Will it be the car manufacturer or software engineers who designed the algorithm making driving decisions, or the car owner who made the decision to or not to intervene? Traditional liability scheme was designed with the aim of reducing the number and severity of such accident, and of allowing the injured party the compensation of the loss. Now the liability scheme needs to be revisited, as this arguably novel situation, the development of robotic technology, calls for new liability scheme with the aim of incentivizing innovation. Such new liability scheme should balance the concern for prevention of the accident and fair allocation of the victim's loss against the need to promote the innovation in robotic technology. In this regard, this paper examines current liability system, products liability of the car manufacturer and tort liability of the car owner, and addresses the issue of whether such system can achieve the said goal in the case of accidents involving autonomous cars. In line with this observation, this paper further proposes to seriously consider a new no-fault liability insurance system run by the government, thereby promoting reparation of the victim's loss while promoting innovation of the related technology. By way of subrogation, whoever ultimately responsible for the accident will be held liable, thereby preserving the idea of prevention.


This multi-method study distinguishes between four high performing and four low performing fully distributed virtual design teams, through an analysis of their asynchronous communication. Results indicate that these teams were similar in terms of the number of messages exchanged, the amount of communication devoted to aspects of design, and the amount and proportion of communication spent on team coordination, supportive commentary, and "other" topics. However, high performing teams were more verbose---they communicated more words. They also spent less time in brainstorming activities. Rather, high performing teams engaged in more critical commentary and active debate, compared to low performing teams. High performing teams conducted more in-depth discussions in the form of argumentation, as ideas were developed through an interactive debate of the pros and cons of issues. This debate resulted in the need for summaries, which served a dual role as they became intermediate steps in the process of writing the report deliverable


The author has already reported that 2-ketogulonic acid methylester (KGM) has an antiscorbutic action and, in the presence of the extract from plant and animal tissues, SH-compounds, barbituric acid derivatives etc., turn into a Vitamin C-like substance, which, in the author's opinion, is decided as ascorbic acid (AsA) (1-4). If so, what sort of mechanism is at work for the formation of Vitamin C from KGM ? Is the Vitamin C produced directly by enolisation and lactonisation from KGM which may take place? Or might it be assumed that Vitamin C is formed through some intermediary produced from KGM ? Sasamoto (5) has demonstrated that Vitamin C was produced from mannose via 2, 3-diketogulonic acid (DGA), while Suda (6) verified an increase in the reduction value of indophenol by incubating DGA with liver paste prepared from rabbits or white rats. Sasamoto and Beppu (7), on the other hand, proved this increased reduction value to be the real value of Vitamin C and demonstrated the possibility of the formation of AsA from DGA in vivo. Having been interested in the mechanism for the formation of Vitamin C from KGM, the author has tried the following experiments with a view to throwing some light on the problem.


Aim: This study was aimed to determine the use of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) intracanal medicament effect on the push-out bond strength of RelyX Unicem self-adhesive cement onto the root canal wall. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 extracted human maxillary permanent incisor teeth were randomly divided into control and experimental groups (n = 25 for each group). The control group was prepared for routine root canal treatment followed by post space preparation. RelyX Unicem self-adhesive cement is used for the cementation of fiber post in the root canal, as in experimental group, Ca(OH)2intracanal dressing was placed into the root canal for a week, followed by root canal filling, post space preparation, and cementation of fiber post using RelyX Unicem cementation. Each sample was divided into coronal, middle, and apical root sites. They were horizontally sliced and examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three slices from each of the three sites were subjected to push-out test for bond strength measurement. Independent t-test was used to compare the push-out bond strength of RelyX Unicem on the root canal wall. One-way analysis of variance and pairwise comparison test were used for the statistical analysis. The significant level was set as P < 0.05. Results: The significant differences in bond strength were demonstrated between the different sites of the root, where the coronal and apical with the P value 0.031 and 0.020, respectively. However, the middle third of the root showed no statistically significant difference, where P = 0.072. Conclusions: Intermediate Ca(OH)2dressing has an effect on the bond strength of RelyX Unicem self-adhesive resin cementation on the root canal wall.


This paper shows initial results from estimating Doppler radial surface velocities (RVLs) over Arctic sea ice using the Sentinel-1A (S1A) satellite. Our study presents the first quantitative comparison between ice drift derived from the Doppler shifts and drift derived using time-series methods over comparable time scales. We compare the Doppler-derived ice velocities with global positioning system tracks from a drifting ice station as well as vector fields derived using traditional cross correlation between a pair of S1A and Radarsat-2 images with a time lag of only 25 min. A strategy is provided for precise calibration of the Doppler values in the context of the S1A level-2 ocean RVL product. When comparing the two methods, root-mean-squared errors (RMSEs) of 7 cm/s were found for the extra wide (EW4) and EW5 swaths, while the highest RMSE of 32 cm/s was obtained for the EW1 swath. Though the agreement is not perfect, our experiment demonstrates that the Doppler technique is capable of measuring a signal from the ice if the ice is fast moving. However, for typical ice speeds, the uncertainties quickly grow beyond the speeds we are trying to measure. Finally, we show how the application of an antenna pattern correction reduces a bias in the estimated Doppler offsets.


That the status of land ownership in Indonesia is still not completely registered, for example customary landin a few Territories in Indonesia are still not registered, so in order to obtain proof of land ownership, parties who control customary property rights must submit an application for land registrationfirst time through the local land office. Often, in several cases, customary land cannot be registered due to various reasons, such as a lack of information or the unavailability of a fee to register the land. Customary land that has not been registered will result in the vulnerability of land disputes or conflictsin later days, and this is anticipated by establishing a Complete Systematic Land Registration procedure by the Government through the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning with the APBN/APBD budget. The purpose of this legal research is nothing elseis as a means of adding knowledge in the field of law which is expected to be of benefit to practitioners and the public. Methods This legal research uses a normative juridical research method which is carried out by examining literature or secondary data using a conceptual, statutory and case approach. The results of this study are that PTSL can be a solution for the Government in completing the programcertification all plots of land that exist on Indonesian soil and can prevent and know which land plots will have the potential for conflict, the benefits of PTSL can also reduce the potential for misconduct by village officials in providing land history documents or proof of physical ownership of customary land. That PTSL has a series of procedures that are passed by involving the village to get maximum results in issuingcertificate which is the spearhead of the PTSL activities. The series of PTSL procedures, namely planning, location determination, preparation, formation and determination of the PTSL adjudication committee and task force, counseling, collection of physical data and collection of juridical data, research on juridical data to prove rights, announcement of physical data and juridical data and their ratification, confirmation of conversion, recognition of rights and grant of rights, bookkeeping of rights, issuance of certificates of land rights, documentation and submission of activity results and reporting.


A major energy loss in industry is the heat content of the flue gases from industrial process heaters. One effective way to utilize the energy, which is applicable to all processes, is to preheat the combustion air for the process heater. Although recuperators are available to preheat this air when the flue gases are clean, recuperators to recover the heat from dirty and corrosive flue gases do not exist. The Fluidized-Bed Waste-Heat Recovery (FBWHR) system is designed to preheat this combustion air using the heat available in dirty flue gas streams. In this system, recirculating alumina particles are heated by the flue gas in a raining bed. The hot particles are then removed from the bed and placed in a fluidized bed where they are fluidized by the combustion air. Through this process, the combustion air is preheated. The cooled particles are then returned to the raining bed. Initial development of this concept is for the aluminum smelting industry. In this final report, the design, development, fabrication, and installation of a full-scale FBWHR system is detailed.


The H2S corrosion resistance of API 5L X80 steel and its welded joint (WJ) were evaluated using the weight loss method in a 5%wt brine solution and different corrosive environments based on a sodium thiosulphate solution (10–3 and 10–2 mol/l). The weight loss method, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) were applied to measure the effects of different H2S concentrations and pH (3 and 5) on the corrosion process and formation of corrosion product films. The results showed that the obtained corrosion rate and corrosion product films for both API 5L X80 steel and its submerged arc welding (SAW) WJ depend on the pH, H2S concentration and metal surface microstructural characteristics. The corrosion product film consists of two layers with different morphologies. The heat affected zone (HAZ) shows severe localized corrosion attack relative to the base metal (BM) and weld metal (WM), which is attributed to the microstructural characteristics of this region.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic and relapsing intestinal inflammation, which currently lacks safe and effective medicine. Some previous studies indicated that Astragaloside IV (AS-IV), a natural saponin extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine herb Ligusticum chuanxiong, alleviates the experimental colitis symptoms in vitro and in vivo. However, the mechanism of AS-IV on IBD remains unclear. Accumulating evidence suggests that M2-polarized intestinal macrophages play a pivotal role in IBD progression. Here, we found that AS-IV attenuated clinical activity of DSS-induced colitis that mimics human IBD and resulted in the phenotypic transition of macrophages from immature pro-inflammatory macrophages to mature pro-resolving macrophages. In vitro, the phenotype changes of macrophages were observed by qRT-PCR after bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were induced to M1/M2 and incubated with AS-IV, respectively. In addition, AS-IV was effective in inhibiting pro-inflammatory macrophages and promoting the pro-resolving macrophages to ameliorate experimental colitis via the regulation of the STAT signaling pathway. Hence, we propose that AS-IV can ameliorate experimental colitis partially by modulating macrophage phenotype by remodeling the STAT signaling, which seems to have an essential function in the ability of AS-IV to alleviate the pathological progress of IBD.


This study was designed to determine the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric disorders among a community sample of adolescent and young adult refugees from Afghanistan. The study also measured the correlation of their current psychiatric disorders with the number of traumatic events experienced, parental acculturation and distress, and other important demographic factors. Thirty-eight refugees between 12 and 24 years of age were interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Five subjects met DSM-III-R criteria for PTSD, 11 subjects met the criteria for major depression, and 13 had either PTSD or major depression or both. Significant positive correlations were found between the subjects' psychiatric diagnosis and the total number of traumatic events experienced and the parental level of psychological distress (especially maternal distress). There were negative correlations between children's symptomatology and a measure of maternal acculturation. These results suggest that a significant proportion of adolescent and young adult Afghan refugees in the community suffer from severe but undiagnosed psychiatric disorders.


Research on the spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of environmental emergency incidents in China in recent decades can improve the effectiveness and accuracy of risk supervision of environmental emergency incidents. Based on the data of environmental emergency incidents in 31 provincial regions in China from 1991 to 2018, this study used spatial autocorrelation analysis and a geographically and temporally weighted regression model to analyze the spatial dependence of environmental emergency incidents and the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of influencing factors. The results showed that: ① there was a significant positive spatial correlation between environmental emergency incidents during 1991-1994 and 2001-2014, and the spatial agglomeration was gradually increasing, that is, environmental emergency incidents existed in the provinces of China; clearly, the space depended on the characteristics and was not completely random. ② There was an unbalanced development pattern of environmental emergency incidents in China. The provinces with "L-L" agglomeration were concentrated in the western and northeastern regions, and the number increased and then decreased; by contrast, the ones with "H-H" agglomeration shifted from the east and south to the central and western regions, and the number increased following the decrease. The role of environmental emergency incident in different provincial regions in the spatial agglomeration was different and constantly changing. ③ The effects of various influencing factors on environmental emergency incidentshad obvious temporal and spatial heterogeneity in different periods and different provinces. The impact of the level of economic development on environmental emergency incidents was shown as a "negative-positive-negative" pattern. The impact of industrial structure on environmental emergency incidents was shown as a "negative-positive" pattern. The overall impact of pollution emissions on environmental emergency incident presented a "positive-negative-positive" pattern. Environmental letters and visits had a positive impact on the occurrence of environmental emergency incidents. The negative impact of the legal environment on environmental emergency incidents was gradually weakening. The negative impact of pollution control on environmental emergency incidents at the provincial level has gradually become apparent.


Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is typically described in a middle-aged female and present with symptoms of headache, transient visual obscuration, photophobia, diplopia, rarely with pulsatile tinnitus. Seizure as a sole manifestation is very rare. Here we present a case of a young non-obese female with epilepsy, and imaging revealed temporal lobe encephalocele with typical imaging features of IIH. She underwent further workup, which confirmed the diagnosis of idiopathic intracranial hypertension.


Kinship and demography affect social affiliation in many different contexts such as co-feeding, resting, travel, grooming, visual attention and proximity. Chimpanzees may coordinate these social interactions by using gestural communication to make signaller's goal transparent to the recipient and also by increasing commitment of the recipient through including rewarding property in communication. The rewards of gesturing can be measured through the rates of displacement behaviour made in response to these gestures by the recipient. We tested hypothesis that gestural communication affects social affiliation after controlling for kinship and demography in wild, adult chimpanzees living in Budongo Forest, Uganda. We found that affiliative but not antagonistic gestures positively predicted social affiliation. Contexts differed in their association with gestures according to complexity and association with displacement behaviour. More complex, less intense gestures predicted mutual grooming, travel, visual attention whereas less complex, more intense gestures predicted unidirectional grooming. Mirroring these patterns, reduced displacement activity occurred in response to gestures associated with unidirectional grooming but not other contexts. We highlight that these tactical decisions that wild chimpanzees make in their use of gestural communication may be driven by complexity of social environment that influences effectiveness with which signalers can influence the recipient.


An environment targeted to e-learning is presented for teaching advanced test issues in digital electronics. Digital circuits and systems are getting more and more complex, and in the same time the requirements for the quality of systems are getting higher and higher. This is the reason why the importance of testing as an engineering task has started to grow extremely fast. An environment which consists of a set of Java applets has been created to help the students to improve their understanding of test. The tools support university courses on digital electronics, computer hardware, testing and design for testability to learn by hands-on exercises how to generate test patterns, and how to analyze their quality. The tasks chosen for hands-on training represent simultaneously real research problems, which allow to foster in students critical thinking, problem solving skills and creativity.


The Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR) has garnered much interest for its inherent safety and sustainbility features. The MSFR can adopt a closed thorium fuel cycle for sustainable operation through the breeding of 233 U from 232 Th. The fuel composition changes significantly over the course of its lifespan. In this study, we investigated the steady state and transient behavior of the MSFR using Moltres, a coupled neutronics / thermal-hydraulics code developed within the Mul-tiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) framework. Three di ff erent fuel compositions, start-up, early-life, and equilibrium, were examined for potentially dangerous core temperature excursions during a unprotected loss of heat sink (ULOHS) accident. The six-group and total neutron flux distributions showed good agreement with SERPENT and published MSFR results, while the temperature distribution and total power showed discrepancies which can be attributed to known sources of error. For the transient behavior under the ULOHS scenario, while the transition time towards the new steady state core temperature is also in good agreement with existing MSFR simulations by Fiorina et al., Moltres under-estimated the temperature rise by a factor of ten, due to the same sources of error a ff ecting the steady state results. While an MSFR loaded with start-up fuel composition operates at a higher temperature than with the other two fuel compositions, all three cases were shown to be inherently safe due to the strong negative temperature feedback.


In July 1995 in the course of the Hot Dry Rock (HDR) site investigation studies in Soultz s.F. (France) multi rate hydraulic injection tests were conducted in the borehole GPK2. The downhole pressure records obtained from the lowermost depth domain between 3211 m and 3876 m demonstrate non-laminar hydraulic behavior. Such behavior was also observed earlier during a similar set of flow step tests in the GPKl borehole Soultz. Like the analysis of these earlier data sets, it could be shown that the pressure records from July 1995 are corresponding to empirical flow laws established for non-laminar hydraulic regimes. In this study a numerical model is described which is being developed for the analysis of non-laminar flow in fractures. Similar models have already been applied to production and injection tests at GPK1. The results show that the observed transient pressure record is well predicted by such a non-linear flow law. Conventional laminar flow models cannot reproduce these curves. An evaluation of the parameters resulting from both, steady state and transient analysis leads to assumptions on the geometry of the main fracture system. Our calculations show that surface areas above 0.05 km² and apertures in the order of 0.4 mm resultsmore » in an excellent fit of the data.« less


Moana is a Disney heroine like no Other¾ a protofeminist South Seas protagonist who is neither princess, nor fairy, but an assertive, young, female leader. She embodies critical traits of mana wahine , while quashing myths about the subservience and sexualisation of young brown women.The representation of the Disney character Moana has been critically (and ironically) overshadowed by the 2016 film's contentious representation of pan-Polynesian deity, Maui. Drawing on the Māori feminist discourse of mana wahine, this essay considers how Moana, while only two-dimensional, signifies an alternative and empowering performativity for Oceanic women. I argue that in shifting the contentious alignment of Oceanic female bodies with the land to an affinity with the ocean, the film offers a useful counter-trope to the passive dusky maiden. This analysis is self-reflexive; unpacking the particular looking relations of a contemporary bicultural feminist and how an "educated" response to this text was unsettled by unexpected affect.


Abstract The local linear regression technique is applied to estimation of functional-coefficient regression models for time series data. The models include threshold autoregressive models and functional-coefficient autoregressive models as special cases but with the added advantages such as depicting finer structure of the underlying dynamics and better postsample forecasting performance. Also proposed are a new bootstrap test for the goodness of fit of models and a bandwidth selector based on newly defined cross-validatory estimation for the expected forecasting errors. The proposed methodology is data-analytic and of sufficient flexibility to analyze complex and multivariate nonlinear structures without suffering from the "curse of dimensionality." The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are investigated under the α-mixing condition. Both simulated and real data examples are used for illustration.


It is established that endogenous relaxin promotes the growth and development of the cervix, mammary glands, and nipples in pregnant rats. Additionally, the observation that porcine relaxin promotes growth of the vagina in both nonpregnant and pregnant rats provides indirect evidence that endogenous relaxin may effect growth of the vagina during rat pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether endogenous relaxin promotes growth of the vagina in pregnant rats. To that end, a monoclonal antibody, specific for rat relaxin, designated MCA1, was used to passively neutralize endogenous relaxin throughout the second half of pregnancy in intact rats. Five milligrams of highly purified MCA1 were injected iv to rats daily from days 12-22 of pregnancy. Controls received either a monoclonal antibody for fluorescein or PBS. The vaginal wet weight, dry weight, length, diameter, inner surface area, DNA content, and percent water content were determined. No differences were found between monoclonal antibody for fluorescein and PBS controls for any of the measured vaginal parameters. In contrast, values for all physical parameters, except percent water content, were significantly lower in MCA1-treated rats than in controls. Vaginal DNA content was also lower in MCA1-treated rats than in controls; and this observation supports the view that relaxin induces vaginal growth at least in part by promoting cell proliferation. To examine the mechanism of relaxin's apparent action on the vagina, specific relaxin-binding sites were localized immunohistochemically. Relaxin-binding sites were found in epithelial and smooth muscle cells, and the binding was specific for relaxin. We conclude that endogenous relaxin promotes growth of the vagina in pregnant rats.


The identification of hyperandrogenism in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is concerning because of the poor accuracy of the androgen immunoassays (IA) and controversies regarding which androgens should be measured. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of the assessment of testosterone (T) and androstenedione (A) by liquid chromatography in tandem with mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS), in the diagnosis of PCOS. We evaluated 131 patients referred for suspected PCOS. Fourteen patients in total were excluded, some because of other diagnosis (n = 7) or incomplete diagnostic workup (n = 7). We measured T and A both by IA and LC-MS/MS in the 117 subjects included. We calculated free T (fT) by the Vermeulen formula and recorded clinical and metabolic data. 73 healthy females served as controls to derive immunoassays (IA) and LC-MS/MS reference intervals for T, fT and A. PCOS was confirmed in 90 subjects by IA and in 93 (+3.3%) by LC-MS/MS. The prevalence of biochemical hyperandrogenism in PCOS by LC-MS/MS increased from 81.7% to 89.2% if A was also considered. The most frequently elevated androgens were fT (73.1%) and A (64.5%) and they had similar levels of accuracy in differentiating PCOS and controls (0.34 ng/dL, Sn 91% Sp 89%; 1.16 ng/mL, Sn 91% Sp 88%, respectively). Free testosterone correlated with body mass index (BMI), homeostatic model assessment (HOMA)-index, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and sex-binding globulin (SHBG). The results confirm that LC-MS/MS is slightly more sensitive than IA in the diagnosis of PCOS with LC-MS/MS detecting higher levels of fT and A. Moreover, assessment of fT and A by LC-MS/MS had a similar level of accuracy in discriminating between PCOs and control subjects. Lastly, fT by LC-MS/MS correlates with adverse metabolic parameters.


To the Editor.Clozapine is well known as the most effective treatment for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). 1 Despite its effectiveness, clozapine may cause serious adverse drug reactions, particularly clozapine-induced agranulocytosis (CIA). 1 CIA occurred in 1.1% of clozapine-treated patients in Japan. 2 Patients with TRS who receive clozapine and develop CIA cannot use clozapine forever according to the pre-sent Japanese criteria. Limited evidence supports alternative treatment strategies to clozapine. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-augmentation is reported to be effective for clozapine-resistant schizophrenia 3 ; however, relapse after discontinuation of ECT is signi fi cant. 4 Maintenance ECT (m-ECT) could prevent relapse of schizophrenia. 4 Previously, we reported a case of TRS with speci fi c human leukocyte antigen alleles that might be associated with the development of CIA. 5 This case report is a subsequent clinical treatment course for TRS who developed CIA and could not use clozapine, and responded to a combination of monthly m-ECT and monthly long-acting injection (LAI) paliperidone. He


Policy convergence, defined as the growth in similarity of policies over time, constitutes a central concept in comparative public policy, yet a great deal of ambiguity and contention surrounds it. The article discusses the conceptual and practical meanings of policy convergence in the context of efforts to harmonise biosafety systems across various regions of Africa. The article comes from a broader investigation of the ways in which three supranational organisations, the African Union (AU), New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are influencing processes towards the harmonised biosafety systems in southern Africa. Unearthing different stakeholders understandings of what convergence or harmonisation are, and how they can be achieved, the article argues that an illumination of the different framings of these concepts is crucial, not for the sake of eliminating differences between these understandings, but in order to illustrate the divergent realities and their potential to facilitate or inhibit policy making processes.


Purpose – To explore self‐directed expatriates' relationships with their home and host countries by drawing on an existing model of expatriate managers' allegiance to home and host organizations.Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative methodology and thematic analysis, the study draws on interviews with 30 expatriate academics in four countries. Specifically, the paper draws on Black and Gregersen's model of allegiance to home and host organizations to explore the different dimensions and the strength and weakness of those relationships.Findings – The findings suggest that, while the model of allegiance presents a useful starting‐point, further modifications are required in order to cater for the complexity and dynamism of relationships with home and host countries.Research limitations/implications – Whereas the paper focuses on UK expatriates, it may be that other nationals may experience different relationships with their home and host countries. Moreover, it may be useful to explore the relat...


This paper obtains the room temperature ferromagnetism in Sn1-xFexO2 films fabricated by the Sol-Gel method. X-ray diffraction results show that Fe doping inhibits the growth of SnO2 and Fe3+ ions occupy the Sn sites. The measurement of resistance excludes the free carrier inducing ferromagnetism. Moreover, the temperature dependence of magnetization has been better fitted by the Curie Weiss law and bound magnetic polaron (BMP) theory. An enhancement of ferromagnetism is achieved by annealing the samples with x = 7.1% in H-2, and a decrease of oxygen flow rate. All these results prove that the BMP model depending on defects can explain ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic oxides.


This paper discusses the composition of the theory of reinforcement learning, which is applied in real-time learning, and evolutionary strategy, which proves its superiority in the finding of the optimal solution in the off-line learning method. The individuals are reduced in order to learn the evolutionary strategy in real-time, and a new method that guarantees the convergence of evolutionary mutations is proposed. It is possible to control the control object varied as time changes. As the state value of the control object is generated, evolutionary strategy is applied to each sampling time because the learning process of an estimation, selection, mutation is in real-time. These algorithms can be applied by people who do not have knowledge about the technical tuning of dynamic systems to design the controller or problems in which the characteristics of the system dynamics are slightly varied as time changes. In the future, studies are needed on the proof of the theory through experiments and the characteristic considerations of the robustness against outside disturbances.


A description of the high energy extended fine Auger structure EXAFS is developed on the basis of scattering theory. The excitation of the system and the Auger transition itself are treated as a single process of inelastic scattering. The key role is played by the re-emission of the core electron excited to the free state continuum. This process allows us to explain the main problem: The origin of the high-energy electrons in the Auger spectrum. As a result of the scattering of the two outgoing waves on neighboring atoms, the EXAFS is characterized oscillations with two periods: p, associated with the energy of the registered final Auger electron, and q, caused by the intermediate excited state energy.


Of a pressing aspect of pilots' exposure to high levels of head-to-seat accelerations (+Gz) is the high risk of vertebral traumatization. In this connection, mineral saturation of the lumbar vertebral in test subjects systematically exposed to +Gz accelerations on centrifuge over two months and pilots of highly manouevrable fighters has been investigated. Results of the study point it out that systematic flight g-loads bring about an increase in vertebral bone mineralization. Thus, following a series of +Gz exposures of the test subjects the integrated content of mineral substances and the density of structural composition of vertebrals Z2-Z4 showed the average rises by 4.6% and 4.15%, respectively; however, the same parameters in the pilots were higher than in the control group by 8.8% and 10.6%, respectively. The paper discusses possible mechanisms underlying these phenomena.


A nighttime surveillance concept consisting of a single surface omnidirectional mirror assembly and an uncooled Vanadium Oxide (VOx) longwave infrared (LWIR) camera has been developed. This configuration provides a continuous field of view spanning 360° in azimuth and more than 110° in elevation. Both the camera and the mirror are readily available, off-the-shelf, inexpensive products. The mirror assembly is marketed for use in the visible spectrum and requires only minor modifications to function in the LWIR spectrum. The compactness and portability of this optical package offers significant advantages over many existing infrared surveillance systems. The developed system was evaluated on its ability to detect moving, human-sized heat sources at ranges between 10 m and 70 m. Raw camera images captured by the system are converted from rectangular coordinates in the camera focal plane to polar coordinates and then unwrapped into the users azimuth and elevation system. Digital background subtraction and color mapping are applied to the images to increase the users ability to extract moving items from background clutter. A second optical system consisting of a commercially available 50 mm f/1.2 ATHERM lens and a second LWIR camera is used to examine the details of objects of interest identified using the panoramic imager. A description of the components of the proof of concept is given, followed by a presentation of raw images taken by the panoramic LWIR imager. A description of the method by which these images are analyzed is given, along with a presentation of these results side-by-side with the output of the 50 mm LWIR imager and a panoramic visible light imager. Finally, a discussion of the concept and its future development are given.


Background: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing gastric adenocarcinoma has an extremely poor prognosis. Few cases have been reported in Germany until now. Here we report on a patient with an AFP-producing gastric cancer and a subsequent analysis of AFP expression in a more extended series of gastric cancer patients. Material and Methods: A 62-year-old man was referred to our hospital with suspected gastric cancer. Gastroscopy, ultrasound, and CT scans of the abdomen showed a gastric tumour. Serological and histopathological investigations led to the diagnosis of a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma expressing AFP. Following diagnosis, a short-term response was achieved by palliative chemotherapy. Expression of AFP and albumin was then investigated on an extended series of 25 patients with gastric cancer and four gastric cancer cell lines using immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. No patient had suffered from hepatocellular carcinoma or germ cell tumor. Results: Using paraffin-embedded gastric cancer specimens, we found AFP immunohistochemically in 2 of 25 (8%) patients. AFP-mRNA was expressed in 3 (12%) patients and a single gastric cancer cell line (AGS). Albumin-mRNA was not found in any gastric cancer sample or gastric cancer cell line. Conclusions: Our study shows that AFP-producing gastric adenocarcinomas are an important clinical entity with a frequency that has been underestimated in the past. In the absence of a primary liver tumor, clinicians have to consider a primary gastric cancer, which has a poor prognosis, and merits a more aggressive therapy.


We present a methodology for effective risk management in global software development process planning. The proposed methodology starts with a detailed process model which is used for identifying risks based on a risk factor list. By linking the relevant risk factors to the process we seek to ease and improve the planning of the global software development process. Additionally, we built sub-processes for risk treatment. These risk treatments can be used to evaluate process improvements by simulation. Our tool-based methodology includes the following four steps: initial modeling of the original process, discovering the process risks by applying selected risk identification techniques, simulation and evaluation of process improvements, systematic selection and transformation of the original process model into an improved process model.


Optical proximity correction (OPC) is one of the most widely used Resolution Enhancement Techniques (RET) in mask designs. Conventional OPC is often designed for a set of nominal imaging parameters without giving sufficient attention to the process variations caused by aspherical wavefront leaving the exit pupil of the lithography system. As a result, the mask designed may deliver poor performance with process variations. In this paper, we first describe how a general point spread function (PSF) with wave aberration can degrade the output pattern quality, and then show how the wave aberration function can be incorporated into an inverse imaging framework for robust input mask pattern design against aberrations. A level-set-based time-dependent model can then be applied to solve it with appropriate finite difference schemes. The optimal mask gives more robust performance against either one specific type of aberration or a combination of different types of aberrations.


An experimental setup to perform high-pressure resonant X-ray scattering (RXS) experiments at low temperature on I16 at Diamond Light Source is presented. The setup consists of a membrane-driven diamond anvil cell, a panoramic dome and an optical system that allows pressure to be measured in situ using the ruby fluorescence method. The membrane cell, inspired by the Merrill-Bassett design, presents an asymmetric layout in order to operate in a back-scattering geometry, with a panoramic aperture of 100° in the top and a bottom half dedicated to the regulation and measurement of pressure. It is specially designed to be mounted on the cold finger of a 4 K closed-cycle cryostat and actuated at low-temperature by pumping helium into the gas membrane. The main parts of the body are machined from a CuBe alloy (BERYLCO 25) and, when assembled, it presents an approximate height of 20-21 mm and fits into a 57 mm diameter. This system allows different materials to be probed using RXS in a range of temperatures between 30 and 300 K and has been tested up to 20 GPa using anvils with a culet diameter of 500 µm under quasi-cryogenic conditions. Detailed descriptions of different parts of the setup, operation and the developed methodology are provided here, along with some preliminary experimental results.


A capacitive top loaded and inductively coupled Electrically Small Antenna (ESA) is presented which is tunable in the mid and upper HF band with the help of a variable capacitor situated between the monopole and the top capacitive cap. The dimensions of the coupling transformer and the cap were optimized using an EM simulator. A prototype was fabricated and the measured −10 dB bandwidth was found to be in excess of 350 kHz which makes it attractive both for radar and multi channel communication applications. Efficiency of the antenna was measured to be 80% using the Wheeler Cap method. It has been shown that the Efficiency Bandwidth product (EB) of the proposed antenna is 5 times the EB of the best state of art HF ESA in open literature. Finally it has been demonstrated that the Quality factor of the proposed antenna lies close to the fundamental Chu Mclean limit hence further reduction in size of the antenna will result in inferior bandwidth performance.


Continuous air turbulence measurements were made near the centre of the town of Reading for a period of one year. These were intended to provide data for deriving diffusion parameters for calculating the dispersion of pollution from chimneys in the town. They were obtained by using a bivane mounted on a 14 m mast, and the intensities of lateral and vertical turbulence for 1 h periods were derived by means of electronic analysers. Similar measurements were made for a period of about 4 weeks on the roof of a building at the B.P. Research Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames. The values of intensity of turbulence were grouped according to Turner's stability categories and the averages within the groups were compared by variance analysis. This showed significant differences in turbulence between the unstable categories and the neutral category, but the stable categories were not distinguished from neutral. The addition of a filter to cut out the high frequency band of the fluctuations showed that a considerable portion of the measured turbulence had been in this band and this is attributed to mechanical turbulence produced by the surrounding buildings. Eliminating the high frequency band also distinguishes the stable categories from neutral. The measurements of intensity of turbulence have been used to estimate the spread of plumes in the town. The lateral spread is greater than that published by other authors but the vertical spread is similar.


Discharging older patients from hospital to care at home presents considerable challenges for those concerned about the current mandate of quality management. A great many professionals with different priorities and organizational commitments are involved. The policies and procedures of at least two agencies, a hospital and a home care agency, play a role in shaping the whole process. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe factors other than medical condition and treatment which shaped the quality of the discharge experiences of older patients. Qualitative research methodology was used to document the discharge process from the perspective of 12 rural and nine urban patients, and a purposeful sample of 22 family caregivers and 117 professionals involved in their care. As well, 24 agency administrators with an overview of related policies and procedures provided data. Findings provide an in-depth description of the different implementation approaches and related quality issues in rural and urban settings. Quality management was undermined by role confusion, compromised and overly zealous pursuit of efficiency, fragmented work, variable physician practice style, and communication and coordination problems. Several readily implemented solutions to these problems are recommended. The implications of the more difficult leadership challenges related to achieving reasonable efficiency and maintaining a humane orientation in the complex care system are addressed.


Obesity has been growing rapidly among both children and adult Australians in recent decades, raising concern at the associated chronic disease burden, and generating debate over the extent of individual versus government responsibility. This paper briefly reviews recent scientific evidence on links between poor early life nutrition and obesity in later life, which suggests that artificial baby milk rather than breastfeeding in infancy is associated with a 30-50% higher likelihood of later life obesity. It then presents data on long-term trends in breastfeeding in Australia and on consumption of infant milk products since 1939. Evidence is also presented of increased marketing and promotion of breastmilk substitutes from the mid 1950s, including through the healthcare system, associated with the emergence of increased competition in the Australian infant food industry. This collaborative marketing effort by industry and health professionals in turn contributed importantly to the sharp decline in breastfeeding from the mid 1950s. As a consequence, most Australians born since 1955 were exposed to artificial baby milk in early infancy. A substantial proportion of Australian infants are still partially fed with artificial baby milk in the first 12 months of life. The example of infant food highlights that the healthcare system and the food industry, and not just individual mothers' choices, have contributed to poor infant nutrition and obesity trends in Australia. Redressing healthcare system and industry practices to restore a supportive environment for breastfeeding is thus argued to be a necessary element of the public health response to the current obesity problem.


Ethelbert Stauffer's book on the great conflict between the worship of Christ and the worship of the Emperor has been translated into English. The liveliness of the German original has been remarkably well preserved, and it will be a pleasure to recommend this essay in the classroom. To begin with, it is an epic work. The constant growth of the conflict, the continuous confrontation of the two partners, the upward struggle of the Christian church and the inevitable downfall of the empire have been drawn in a dramatic, exciting style, and even the specialist on this early period will enjoy this presentation of the magnificent drama that took place from Tiberius to Constantine. With artistic freedom Stauffer has quit the footnote existence of the modern scholar simply by exposing a pagelong original viewpoint. The interest of this book lies further in the fact that Stauffer backs it up not merely by contemporary literary documents but by a vast amount of numismatic material. He thus achieves highly precious results—for instance, the brilliant explanation of Christ's saying about the rendering of the denarius to Caesar. Another example : the coins issued by the Syrian Abgar showing the Christian symbol, proving the old tradition about a Christian Empire of Edessa to be more than just legendary, even more so by the fact of the vanishing of the Christian signs as Caracalla stepped in toward the end of Abgar's rule. The numismatic element presents a colorful and vivid background for what was the issue during the whole period, from Augustus SAVING THE CITIZENS to the DEUS ET DOMINUS NATUS coin by Aurelian. Should one mention that the book opens where no scholar would normally dare to in this demythologised day and age: at the story of the three wise men laying down at the feet of the Christ child the ancient myth of the East? SAMUEL LAEUCHLI Garrett Biblical Institute


Background: The morbidity and mortality associated with ALI continue to be significant. Few medical therapies have demonstrated efficacy in curbing the progression of ALI or improving its outcomes. However, time-series expression data has enhanced our ability to query dynamical processes, and WGCNA and maSigPro have emerged as a promising approach for processing large datasets. Therefore, it is possible for us to explore the molecular mechanism in the progression of ALI.Methods: Downloaded time series gene expression dataset GSE2565 from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and normalized the dataset using the "sva" R package. maSigPro were used to screen Differential expressed genes (DEGs) and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were performed to identify hub modules. Gene Ontology and pathway enrichment analyses of genes identified in the hub module were conducted by Metascape. Integration of module analysis and CytoHubba application for identifying hub genes. Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was to measure the predictive accuracy of the hub genes.Results: In our study, 3005 DEGs were included in WGCNA and 8 modules were identified. Module-trait analysis presented that red module with the most negative correlation with 8hr mainly involved in the regulation of circadian rhythm; pink module with the most positive correlation with 8hr mainly involved in regulation of cell death. Five hub genes (Bnip3, Cdh11, Fam134b, Sult1a1 and Zbtb16) were identified followed by ROC curve analysis.Conclusion: Our analysis based on time-series expression data identified significant co-expression modules and pathways correlated with early phase of acute lung injury. The hub genes identified may contribute to provide new insights for the molecular mechanisms in acute lung injury.


Serum albumin measurement can be used for assessing prognosis, determining initial therapy and treatment efficacy for liver cirrhosis patients. The discrepancy result of albumin measurement using different methods can make bias for the albumin concentration. The measurement of albumin was carried out in 20 sera of liver cirrhosis patients using bromcresol green (BCG), BCG conversion as well as bromcresol purple (BCP) methods including protein electrophoresis. The results showed that BCP method has a lower albumin concentration than the other kind (1.68±0.35), BCG (1.94±0.31), BCG conversion (2.09±0.45) as well as protein electrophoresis (2.14±0.35). BCP method has a good correlation with protein electrophoresis as well as BCG conversion (r=0.935 and r=0.90 respectively). It can be concluded in this study, that albumin measurement with BCP method has a good correlation with protein electrophoresis. It is important to know that the measurement results of BCP method is lower but more accurate in the albumin concentration, because there is no cross reaction with globulin. That means, there is no overestimation of albumin concentration in hypoalbuminemia condition of the patients.


The option to claim Social Security benefits at any age from 62 to 70 – with actuarial adjustments designed o keep lifetime benefits constant for an individual ith average life expectancy – is a key feature of the rogram. The actuarial adjustments, however, are decades old and do not reflect improvements in longevity or other important developments over that time. The option to claim early was introduced over 60 years ago, when Congress set 62 as the program's Earliest Age of Eligibility. Those claiming at 62 receive 20 percent less in monthly benefits than if they had waited until 65 to claim. The option to claim between 65 and 70 on an actuarially fair basis stems from the 1983 Social Security amendments, which gradually increased the annual "delayed retirement credit" from 3 percent to 8 percent. Much has changed since these actuarial adjustments were introduced: interest rates have declined; life expectancy has increased; and longevity improvements have been much greater for higher earners than lower earners. In the wake of these developments, this brief explores whether the historical adjustments are still actuarially correct. The discussion proceeds as follows. The first section provides a brief history of the Social Security benefit adjustments. The second section explains how increasing life expectancy and declining interest rates would call for smaller reductions for early claiming and a smaller delayed retirement credit for later claiming. The third section explores the extent to which existing adjustments deviate from actuarially fair magnitudes, finding that the reduction for early claiming – initially about right – is now too large, while the delayed retirement credit – initially too small – is now about right. The fourth section moves from the average worker to explore the impact of the actuarial adjustments on workers at various earnings levels given the disparity in longevity improvements. The final section concludes that the adjustment factors now favor delayed claiming and, as a result, increasingly benefit higher earners.


It has been acknowledged that natural sciences alone cannot provide an adequate basis for the management of complex environmental problems. The scientific knowledge base has to be expanded in a more holistic direction by incorporating social and economic issues. As well, the multifaceted knowledge has to be summarized in a form that can support science-based decision making. This is, however, difficult. Interdisciplinary skills, practices, and methodologies are needed that enable the integration of knowledge from conceptually different disciplines. Through a focus on our research process, we analyzed how and what kind of interdisciplinarity between natural scientists, environmental economists, and social scientists grew from the need to better understand the complexity and uncertainty inherent to the Baltic salmon fisheries, and how divergent knowledge was integrated in a form that can support science-based decision making. The empirical findings suggest that interdisciplinarity is an extensive learning process that takes place on three levels: between individuals, between disciplines, and between types of knowledge. Such a learning process is facilitated by agreeing to a methodological epoch and by formulating a global question at the outset of a process.


In an effort to reduce dependence on petroleum-based fuels and increase engine efficiency, fuel-flexible engines with advanced technologies, including variable valve timing, are being developed. Fuel-flexible spark-ignition engines permit the increased use of ethanol–gasoline blends. Ethanol, an alternative to petroleum-based gasoline, is a renewable fuel, which has the added advantage of improving performance in operating regions that are typically knock limited due to the higher octane rating of ethanol. Furthermore, many modern engines are also being equipped with variable valve timing, a technology that can increase engine efficiency by reducing pumping losses. Through control of valve timings, particularly the amount of positive valve overlap, the quantity of burned gas in the engine cylinder can be altered, eliminating the need for intake throttling at many operating points. However, the presence of elevated levels of in-cylinder burned gas and ethanol fuel can have a significant impact on the combustion timing, such that capturing these effects is essential if the combustion phasing is to be properly controlled. This paper outlines a physically based model capable of capturing the impact of the ethanol blend ratio, burned gas fraction, spark timing and operating conditions on combustion timing. Since efficiency is typically tied to an optimal CA50 (crank angle when 50% of fuel is burned), this model is designed to provide accurate estimates of CA50 that can be used for real-time control efforts – allowing the CA50 to be adjusted to its optimal value despite changes in ethanol blend and burned gas fraction, as well as the variations in engine thermodynamic conditions that may occur during transients. The proposed control-oriented model was extensively validated at over 500 points across the engine operating range for four blends of gasoline and ethanol. Furthermore, the model was utilized to determine the impact of ethanol blend and burned gas fraction on the CA50, as well as their impact on the optimal spark timing. This study indicated that the burned gas fraction could change the optimal spark timing by over 20° at some operating conditions and that ethanol content could further affect the optimal spark timing by up to 6°. Leveraging the model in this manner provides direct evidence that accounting for the impact of these two inputs is critical for proper spark-ignition timing control.


In an effort to establish standards of conduct for so called mediators, the new National Practice Standards and Approval Standards (the Standards) have taken a narrow view of the field of mediation and endeavoured to lay claim to the title "mediator". The claiming of the title of Accredited Mediator may well be the equivalent of lodging an intellectual property claim over a title for the purposes of establishing a profession, much in the same was as the terms barrister, solicitor or Australian Legal Practitioner are used by the legal profession.

This process of professionalising is the creation of an identity to define and unite eligible practitioners, but it is also an exclusionary mechanism. The setting of standards achieve a number of purposes one of which is to define the scope and standard of conduct expected of practitioners. This facilitates consumer reliance on the existence of standards as a proxy to fill the void of their own information opacity.

This paper discusses some of the exclusionary consequences arising from the definition of mediation and the Standards. Issues considered will include the use of conflict resolution models which may not comply with the definition of mediation in the Standards; consideration of the impact of voluntary compliance; consideration of the exemption for use of "blended" models and the definitions associated with this aspect; and potential consequences for practitioners who use multiple models.

The paper will consider some examples of conflict resolution in practice and how the Standards could apply.

The paper will consider whether creating the brand of "accredited mediator" may result in market confusion about what dispute resolution practice can be and limit consideration of options and practitioners that may not be "accredited mediators".


This paper presents the results of a detailed experimental investigation into the effectiveness of sinusoidal leading edge serrations on aerofoils for the reduction of the noise generated by the interaction with turbulent flow. A detailed parametric study is performed to investigate the sensitivity of the noise reductions to the serration amplitude and wavelength. The study is primarily performed on flat plates in an idealized turbulent flow, which we demonstrate captures the same behaviour as when identical serrations are introduced onto three-dimensional aerofoils. The influence on the noise reduction of the turbulence integral length scale is also studied. An optimum serration wavelength is identified whereby maximum noise reductions are obtained, corresponding to when the transverse integral length scale is approximately one-fourth the serration wavelength. This paper proves that, at the optimum serration wavelength, adjacent valley sources are excited incoherently. One of the most important findings of this paper is that, at the optimum serration wavelength, the sound power radiation from the serrated aerofoil varies inversely proportional to the Strouhal number $St_{h}=fh/U$ , where $f$ , $h$ and $U$ are frequency, serration amplitude and flow speed, respectively. A simple model is proposed to explain this behaviour. Noise reductions are observed to generally increase with increasing frequency until the frequency at which aerofoil self-noise dominates the interaction noise. Leading edge serrations are also shown to reduce aerofoil self-noise. The mechanism for this phenomenon is explored through particle image velocimetry measurements. Finally, the lift and drag of the serrated aerofoil are obtained through direct measurement and compared against the straight edge baseline aerofoil. It is shown that aerodynamic performance is not substantially degraded by the introduction of the leading edge serrations on the aerofoil.


In this work we were primarily concerned with antigens of Bacteroides strains belonging to the B. fragilis group. The following two antisera were produced: anti-Bacteroides fragilis E1T (T = type strain) and anti-Bacteroides distasonis. Reference patterns for both of these species were established by crossed immunoelectrophoresis, and these patterns yielded 62 and 70 precipitates, respectively. The crossed reactions of B. fragilis E1T and B. distasonis with Bacteroides fragilis E2, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroides ovatus, and Bacteroides vulgatus were studied to test both for total antigens and for certain enzymes (esterase, phosphatase, malate dehydrogenase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase). Our results showed that B. thetaiotaomicron is the species which is closest to B. fragilis, demonstrating more than 70% common antigens, whereas none of the species examined was very closely related to B. distasonis. Species-specific antigens, such as the phosphatase of B. fragilis, as well as antigens common to the group, such as malate dehydrogenase, were also demonstrated in crossed immunoelectrophoresis. This may allow immunological identification of each species.


The growing awareness of the beneficial health effects of vitamin D supplementation, the commonality of vitamin D deficiency, and the over-the-counter availability of vitamin D supplements has resulted in a renewed interest in vitamin D supplementation among patients as well as health care providers. We present a case of vitamin D toxicity (VDT) in a patient following self-medication with mega doses that far exceeded the prescribed dosage. He presented to us with acute kidney injury (AKI) and elevated serum 25(OH)-vitamin D levels. He was treated with intravenous hydration, loop diuretics, and prednisone and had a clinical and biochemical improvement as reflected in his labs. We suggest that physicians and health care providers be made aware of this commonly overlooked side-effect of vitamin D supplementation and the importance of regular blood levels to titrate the dose accordingly. At the same time, it is important that the public is made aware of the ill-effects of self-medicating on large doses of vitamins.


Citation for published version (APA): Babur, O., Cleophas, L., & van den Brand, M. (2018). Metamodel clone detection with SAMOS (extended abstract). In G. Gousios, & J. Hejderup (Eds.), Belgium-Netherlands Software Evolution Workshop: Proceedings of the 17th Belgium-Netherlands Software Evolution Workshop Delft, the Netherlands, December 10th to 11th, 2018. (pp. 21-23). (CEUR Workshop Proceedings; Vol. 2361). CEUR-WS.org. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2361/


The paper presents a large-scale computational subcategorisation lexicon for several thousand German verbs. The lexical entries were obtained by unsupervised learning in a statistical grammar framework: a German context-free grammar containing frame-predicting grammar rules and information about lexical heads was trained on 18.7 million words of a large German newspaper corpus. We developed a simple methodology to utilise frequency distributions in the lexicalised version of the probabilistic grammar for inducing syntactic verb frame descriptions. The frame definition is variable with respect to the inclusion of prepositional phrase refinement. An evaluation against a manual dictionary justifies the utilisation of the machine-readable lexicon as a valuable component for supporting NLP-tasks. As to our knowledge, no former computational approach has obtained a subcategorisation lexicon for German comparable in size (the number of verbs in the lexicon), restriction (no limit concerning the frequencies of the verbs), or verified reliability (successful extensive evaluation against dictionary).


The growth of a strain of Bacillus megaterium was prevented by a minimal inhibitory concentration of primaquine of 52 μg/ml or 2 × 10−4m. When exponentially growing cultures received the drug at 6 × 10−4m, the rate of growth was drastically reduced and no further growth occurred after 15 min of exposure. At this concentration, primaquine was bactericidal, causing a 50% reduction in the viable population after one doubling time of 45 min. Supplying primaquine to cultures 30 min after adding radioactive-labeled phenylalanine, thymidine, uracil, or diaminopimelic acid produced an immediate and complete inhibition of protein biosynthesis but no inhibition of deoxyribonucleic acid biosynthesis for at least 15 min, and caused the formation of ribonucleic acid and cell wall polymer to proceed linearly at rates similar to those established prior to the addition of drug. This pattern of inhibition of macromolecular biosyntheses suggests that the major in vivo action of primaquine in B. megaterium is to block protein synthesis.


The detection of secondary amino groups in building blocks attached to solid phase using tetrachlorobenzoquinone (chloranil) was re-examined. A new procedure, about ten times more sensitive than the original method, has been developed. Except for N(p-tolyl)glycine, all secondary amino groups that were examined were detected reliably in a substitution range down to 2.8 micro eq/g. Protected imidazole in His(Trt) did not interfere with the detection method.


The bond stress-slip behaviour of steel bars embedded in concrete is an import parameter in the ultimate limit state (ULS). Currently, design codes in the UK seek to ensure a robust and stable design in reinforced concrete (RC) structures, and it is important to understand the both pre- and post-peak bond behaviour at the element level has potential implications for the safety of people inside of structures subject to extreme behaviour. In this study, the bond stress slip behaviour has been measured (under displacement control) as a function of the displacement at values approaching three times the rib spacing. The influence of bar corrosion on this behaviour has also been investigated. A local bond stress-slip model has been proposed by the Task Group on Bond Models of Structural Concrete (FIB) that assumes the bond stress-slip behaviour of pull-out tests is linear when tested under confined conditions. However, in this study the observed global behaviour of the bond stress, as a function of the bar slip, showed a previously unreported fluctuation behaviour (measured by LVDT) when tested under displacement control. The fluctuation behaviour of the bond stress-slip relationship was found to be both reproducible and consistent and appears to be related to the rib spacing of the deformed bar. The fluctuation behaviour of the bond stress-slip relationship of both uncorroded and corroded steel bar was independently verified by measuring the strain changes along the bar using bonded ER strain gauges. The pull-out behaviour of ribbed steel bars was investigated as a function of the degree of corrosion - applied using an accelerated corrosion method. Steel pickling of steel bars extracted from the failed pull-out specimens indicate that the degree of corrosion affects the peak and residual bond stress differently in that the peak stress was found to exhibit a maxima value whilst the residual strength consistently decreased. This implies that when using bond stress-slip models to predict the effect of corrosion on the bond stress it is necessary to use different ratios of the peak bond stress and residual bond stress at any given degree of corrosion. Correlation between the behaviour measured experimentally for 16 mm diameter ribbed steel bar and that predicted by a 2-D FE model, based on a proposed 3 component (in parallel) delamination interface model, has been shown to be reasonable. A single delamination interface element was used to verify the proposed FE bond model of pull-out test against existing data from the literature and found to give reasonable agreement over displacements equivalent to one rib spacing.


Peatland vegetation is composed mostly of mosses, graminoids and ericoid shrubs, and these have a distinct impact on peat biogeochemistry. We studied variation in soil microbial communities related to natural peatland microhabitats dominated by Sphagnum, cotton-grass and blueberry. We hypothesized that such microhabitats will be occupied by structurally and functionally different microbial communities, which will vary further during the vegetation season due to changes in temperature and photosynthetic activity of plant dominants. This was addressed using amplicon-based sequencing of prokaryotic and fungal rDNA and qPCR with respect to methane cycling communities. Fungal communities were highly microhabitat-specific, while prokaryotic communities were additionally directed by soil pH and total N content. Seasonal alternations in microbial community composition were less important, however influenced the abundance of methane-cycling communities. Cotton-grass and blueberry bacterial communities contained relatively more α-Proteobacteria but less Chloroflexi, Fibrobacteres, Firmicutes, NC10, OD1, and Spirochaetes than in Sphagnum. Methanogens, syntrophic and anaerobic bacteria (i.e. Clostridiales, Bacteroidales, Opitutae, Chloroflexi, and Syntrophorhabdaceae) were suppressed in blueberry indicating greater aeration that enhanced abundance of fungi (mainly Archaeorhizomycetes) and resulted in the highest fungi-to-bacteria ratio. Thus, microhabitats dominated by different vascular plants are inhabited by unique microbial communities, contributing greatly to spatial functional diversity within peatlands.


The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for measuring a distribution of body fat for human body. The method comprises the step of measuring a bioelectrical impedance and a thickness of abdominal subcutaneous fat, based on the personal data such as sex, age, height, weight, etc. The method further comprises the step of calculating an area or an amount of abdominal visceral fat or abdominal subcutaneous fat, based on the measurements of the bioelectrical impedance and the thickness of abdominal subcutaneous fat as well as the girth of abdomen. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises the step of measuring the thickness of abdominal subcutaneous fat and the girth of abdomen. Thereafter, the area of abdominal visceral fat and the area of abdominal subcutaneous fat are calculated, based upon the measurements of the thickness of abdominal subcutaneous fat and the girth of abdomen.