OFDM is a transmission scheme that offers diversity in frequency selective fading environments but suffers from high PAPR. Many researchers have studied the appropriate coding scheme to reduce PAPR and offer good error control properties as well. This article reviews the major results obtained up to date for the reduction of PAPR. Various scrambling techniques like PTS and SLM have been combined with clipping-filtering and DCT to reduce PAPR. The various coding techniques like Block Coding and Reed Muller codes have been evaluated in this paper to obtain significant reduction in PAPR.CCDF graphs depict performance of proposed techniques


Rice and bean plants were grown in nutrient solution in the presence of three levels of N, P and K. The method of the bioevaluation of the nutricional status, in which excised roots are allowed to take up tagged elements, in this case 15N and 32P, was compared with foliar analysis. Two main conclusions were drawn: 1) the bioevaluation proved to be an useful and rapid procedure for the diagnosis of the nutricional status of both species, since there was a significant negative correlation between absorption of N and P and dry matter yield; 2) the uptake of the tagged ions with either element by the roots of plants grown under deficient levels of N and P in the nutrient solution was inversely proportional to the leaf concentration of both nutrients.


Summary Low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWH) exhibit potent anticoagulant efficacy via their plasmatic effects on thrombin and factor Xa. These agents are also effective in releasing endothelial tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI),the natural inhibitor of tissue factor, and exhibit significant anti-metastatic effects in experimental animal models. However, the potential for bleeding complications has slowed down the more widespread adoption of LMWH therapy in cancer patients. In this study, the effect of a non-anticoagulant form of LMWH (NA-LMWH) on experimental lung metastasis and tumor cell-induced platelet aggregation in vivo was compared to the LMWH enoxaparin. Using the B16 melanoma mouse model of metastasis, subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of NA-LMWH or enoxaparin (10 mg/kg), three hours before intravenous (i.v.) injection of metastatic melanoma cells, followed by daily doses for 14 days, reduced lung tumor formation by 70% (P<0.001). I.v. injection of tumor cells resulted in a significant (50–62%, P<0.01) fall in platelet counts. Pre-injection (i.v.) of enoxaparin completely abolished the tumor cell-induced thrombocytopenia, whereas NA-LMWH had no effect. Four hours after a single s.c. dose, enoxaparin but not NALMWH prolonged the clotting time three-fold and delayed the time to clot initiation more than 10-fold as measured by a Sonoclot analyzer and by thromboelastography, respectively. Enoxaparin but not NA-LMWH demonstrated a significant anticoagulant effect in mice. Both NA-LMWH and enoxaparin caused similar TFPI release from endothelial cells in vitro.These data provide evidence to support the potential of NA-LMWH as an anti-metastatic agent without any significant impact on coagulation.


Living in rural areas has been described a driver for behaving in a pro-environmental way, mainly due to the more frequent contact with nature that people from rural areas have. However, the processes that link living in a rural area and behaving in a more ecological manner have not been systematically studied. Moreover, most studies have focused on adults living in developed countries. Given the importance that the actions conducted by people in developing countries have for the future of the environment, as well as the relevance of children's pro-environmentalism for nature conservation, we present a brief research report examining the relationship between Mexican children's place of residence and self-reported pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Participants were 200 children from Mexican rural areas (<1,000 inhabitants) and 200 from a Mexican urban city (>150,000 inhabitants). Children were between 9 and 12 years old. Children's connection to nature was considered as a mediator in the relationship between children's place of residence and PEB. Our findings revealed that rural children hold a stronger sense of connection to nature and behave in a more pro-environmental way than urban children. In addition, place of residence was directly and positively linked to their PEBs, and this relationship was mediated by children's connection to nature. The relationship between connection to nature and PEB was stronger for girls than for boys. The model explained 45% of the variance of children's self-reported PEBs.


. The article discusses and describes theoretical research and practical results of using digital technologies in formation of values of physical culture in the medical university. The experiment involved 1569 young men and women of full-time education form of the Orenburg State Medical University. To collect statistics in the context of a pandemic were used the online questionnaire and interview method. The respondents developed basic digital skills in use of various digital tools that allow them to monitor the physiological indicators. There was observed an increase in the level of motor activity in groups of students during online classes using educational platforms. There was discovered a positive dynamics in the orientation of the student's personality to health as a value. Thus the systematic implementation of digital technologies in the teaching of disciplines (modules) in physical culture and sports contributed personification of the learning process, visualization of environments for the training process, enlargement of forms of physical and recreation activities, introduction of platform solutions as a space for pedagogical innovations.


According to some, taking moral testimony is a potentially decent way to exercise one's moral agency. According to others, it amounts to a failure to live up to minimal standards of moral worth. What's the issue? Is it conceptual or empirical? Is it epistemological or moral? Is there a 'puzzle' of moral testimony; or are there many, or none? I argue that there is no distinctive puzzle of moral testimony. The question of its legitimacy is as much a moral or political as an epistemological question. Its answer is as much a matter of contingent empirical fact as a matter of a priori necessity. In the background is a mixture of normative and descriptive issues, including the value of autonomy, the nature of legitimate authority, and who to trust.


Professional practice in general is to a large extent based on tacit knowledge (Schön 1983). For university teachers, tacit knowledge includes knowledge about what works – and what does not work – when teaching a specific group of students a specific subject matter in a specific context. Making tacit knowledge explicit is important for at least two reasons: For the individual it may facilitate a more conscious linking of lose impressions and observations from own teaching practice to general principles of teaching and learning, thus enabling a more systematic interpretation and development of own teaching (Mcalpine and Weston 2002). It is also useful – if not necessary - for communication with others about teaching and learning, e.g. when peer coaching less experienced colleagues, or sharing experience and collaborating on teaching development with colleagues. Teaching Portfolios are a well-known means for the individual teacher to develop a reflective approach to own teaching practice and the underlying values and presumptions, including a process of making tacit knowledge explicit (Smith and Tillema 2006). However, we see a need for methods for sharing, discussing and developing teaching philosophies in a collective process. The perspectives of introducing such methods are to support a team-oriented approach to teaching and to strengthen communities of practice (Wenger 2008)/ communities of learning among teachers.


The Internet of Things (IoT) will exponentially increase the scale and the complexity of existing computing and communication systems. In a world of multi-stakeholder information and assets provision on top of millions of real-time interacting and communicating Things, autonomicity is an imperative property and a grand challenge. Autonomic Things will allow systems to self-manage the complexity, the dynamicity and the distribution of the IoT. In order to make Things able to manage themselves and contribute to the global self-management network, we have to empower them with mandatory properties like situational-awareness, knowledge, smartness and social behavior. In this paper we present the approach that the COSMOS project introduces in order to enable Things to evolve and act in a more autonomous way, becoming more reliable and smarter.


Inrushes of ground water and the ignition of flammable gases pose risks to workers in deep South African gold mines. Large volumes of water may be stored in solution cavities in dolomitic rocks that overlie the Black Reef (BLR) Formation, while there are several possible sources for methane, namely, coal seams, kerogen found in some gold ore bodies, or methane introduced by igneous intrusions. Potential conduits that may transport water and methane to underground workings were mapped using 3D reflection seismic data. Edge detection attributes successfully identified many faults, some with displacements as small as 10 m. Faults that displace the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) and the BLR horizons were of special interest, as known occurrences of fissure water and methane in underground workings show a good correlation with faults that were imaged on the VCR and BLR horizons. Because there are uncertainties in determining the linkage of faults with aquifers and methane sources, it is considered prudent to assume that all structures that displace the VCR and BLR horizons are potential conduits.


Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), the dominant subtype of esophageal cancer, is one of the most common digestive tumors worldwide. In this study, we confirmed that HOXC13, a member of the homeobox HOXC gene family, was significantly upregulated in ESCC and its overexpression was associated with poorer clinical characteristics and worse prognosis. Moreover, knockdown of HOXC13 inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis of ESCC through upregulating CASP3. ChIP analysis revealed that HOXC13 repressed transcription of CASP3 through directly targeting the promotor region of CASP3. We also found that miR‐503 downregulated HOXC13, by directly targeting its 3′UTR, and inhibited proliferation of ESCC. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that HOXC13, which is directly targeted by miR‐503, promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of ESCC through repressing transcription of CASP3.


Mental Disability law is contaminated by "sanism," an irrational prejudice similar to such other irrational prejudices as racism and sexism. The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - a statute that focused specifically on questions of stereotyping and stigma - appeared at first to offer an opportunity too deal frontally with sanist attitudes and, optimally, to restructure the way that citizens with mental disabilities were dealt with by the remainder of society. However, in its first decade, the ADA did not prove to be a panacea for such persons. The Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. - ruling that the ADA entitled certain state hospital residents to treatment in an "integrated community setting," and stressing that "unjustified isolation...is properly regarded as discrimination based on disability" - appeared to have the potential to transform and revolutionize mental disability law. This Article questions whether Olmstead has done that, and whether, in fact, it has the capacity to do that. Furthermore, a review of post-Olmstead caselaw - a universe that is "pretty pallid" - and the meager (in volume) scholarship, conclude that, in spite of Olmstead, "there are still many sanist attitudes that need to be undone."


PURPOSE
A prospective study was performed to compare the efficacy and safety of intravesical mitomycin C (MMC) instillation for the prophylaxis of bladder cancer at different concentrations (30 mg or 40 mg).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ninety-seven patients that received complete transurethral resection for superficial bladder cancer were divided into two-randomized groups. One group (n=53) received 30 mg and the other group (n=44) received 40 mg dose of MMC weekly for 8 weeks, which was followed monthly for 10 months as maintenance therapy. The recurrence rates and side effects in both groups were recorded. The mean follow-up period was 32.4 months in the 30 mg group, and 32.0 months in the 40 mg group.

RESULTS
The overall one and two year recurrence rates were 19% and 24% in the 30 mg group, and 12% and 22% in the 40 mg group, which was not significantly different (p>0.05). Most of the side effects were mild and transient. Moreover, the rates of the individual side effects were not statistically different in the two groups.

CONCLUSION
Our comparison of 30 mg and 40 mg intravesical MMC instillation showed no difference in either response or side effects. Thus, we tentatively conclude that we can use 30 mg instead of 40 mg as an intravesical MMC instillation dose.


When using an offi ce chair, a person comes into direct contact with the seat, where the contact surface creates a microclimate that affects the person's positive or negative mood, depending on temperature and humidity. Relative to temperature and moisture, this microclimate may produce either a positive or a negative effect on a seated person. Foam based padding of seats and backrests have upholstery with insulating properties that prevent the escape of bodily heat and moisture. The present work, carried out with six subjects, was aimed at studying temperature and moisture as the contributing factors to sitting comfort during performance of usual tasks under controlled conditions. The study method employed temperature and moisture measurements on fi ve different offi ce chairs using the probes placed on or in the seats. The statistically evaluated results of objective measurements show signifi cant differences in distribution of temperature and moisture among the tested seats and through different layers of padding materials and upholstery of individual seats. Generally, it may be concluded that the temperature on the seat surface is always higher than inside the seat. On the other hand, humidity is always lower on the seat surface. Temperature and moisture on the surface of moulded foam seats are higher than on other kinds of seats.


Radiative processes strongly effect equilibrium trace gas concentrations both directly, through photolysis reactions, and indirectly through temperature and transport processes. We have used the LLNL 2-D chemical-radiative-transport model to investigate the net sensitivity of equilibrium ozone concentrations to several changes in radiative forcing. Doubling CO/sub 2/ from 300 ppmv to 600 ppmv resulted in a temperature decrease of 5 K to 8 K in the middle stratosphere along with an 8% to 16% increase in ozone in the same region. Replacing our usual shortwave scattering algorithms with a simplified Rayleigh algorithm led to a 1% to 2% increase in ozone in the lower stratosphere. Finally, modifying our normal CO/sub 2/ cooling rates by corrections derived from line-by-line calculations resulted in several regions of heating and cooling. We observed temperature changes on the order of 1 K to 1.5 K with corresponding changes of 0.5% to 1.5% in O/sub 3/. Our results for doubled CO/sub 2/ compare favorably with those by other authors. Results for our two perturbation scenarios stress the need for accurately modeling radiative processes while confirming the general validity of current models. 15 refs., 5 figs.


The ability to infer the intentions of others, predict their goals, and deduce their plans are critical features for intelligent agents. For a long time, several approaches investigated the use of symbolic representations and inferences with limited success, principally because it is difficult to capture the cognitive knowledge behind human decisions explicitly. The trend, nowadays, is increasingly focusing on learning to infer intentions directly from data, using deep learning in particular. We are now observing interesting applications of intent classification in natural language processing, visual activity recognition, and emerging approaches in other domains. This paper discusses a novel approach combining few-shot and transfer learning with cross-domain features, to learn to infer the intent of an agent navigating in physical environments, executing arbitrary long sequences of actions to achieve their goals. Experiments in synthetic environments demonstrate improved performance in terms of learning from few samples and generalizing to unseen configurations, compared to a deep-learning baseline approach.


Opportunity identification and, in particular, the generation of new business ideas is becoming an important element of entrepreneurship education. Researchers and educators, however, struggle with how opportunity identification competence can be enhanced. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to test the ability of students to generate new business opportunities when they participated in a redesigned entrepreneurship course with specially developed creativity exercises. Pre- vs. post-test comparisons showed the students who followed the course to subsequently have a higher level of divergent thinking, also with respect to the students who did not enrol in the course. The results also indicate that the course has a significant effect on the students' abilities to generate a greater number and more innovative business ideas in the experimental group; while the control group showed no significant changes in business idea generation. The implications of the results for developing opportunity identification competence and entrepreneurship education are presented.


A real world scene may contain several objects with different spatial and temporal characteristics. This paper proposes a novel method for the classification of natural scenes by processing both spatial and temporal information from the video. For extracting the spatial characteristics, we build spatial pyramids using the spatial pyramid matching (SPM) algorithm on SIFT descriptors while for the motion characteristics, we introduce a five dimensional feature vector extracted from the optical flow field. We employ SPM on combined SIFT and motion feature descriptors to perform classification. We demonstrate that the proposed approach shows significant improvement in scene classification as compared to the SPM algorithm on SIFT spatial feature descriptors alone.


Phase change materials (PCMs) store and release energy in the phase change processes. In recent years, PCMs have gained increasing attention due to their excellent properties such as high latent heat storage capacity, appropriate solid-liquid phase change temperature, thermal reliability, and low cost. Herein, classification, characteristics, and evaluation criteria of organic/composite PCMs are systematically illustrated, and some typical preparation methods are introduced, such as in-situ polymerization, interfacial polymerization, spray drying method, porous materials adsorption method, sol-gel method, meltimpregnated and mixing method, electrospinning method, vacuum infiltration and ultrasonic method are introduced. In addition, this review presents some applications of PCMs in the utilization of solar energy, building materials, air conditioning, industrial waste heat recovery, and military camouflage and stealth. Finally, the development tendency of PCMs is discussed.


BACKGROUND: In many people with diabetes, stress can cause blood glucose levels to rise. Learning strategies to deal with stress may lessen this effect. Having diabetes, and incidence of complication (e.g. gangrene), is in itself a major source of stress. People with diabetes have higher rates of anxiety and depression. Learning how to manage stress and treating these skills as a priority, can help people with diabetes cope with stress more effectively. This study aimed to analyze the effect of problem-focused coping strategies and emotion focused coping as well as complications of gangrene on the stress level in patients with diabetes mellitus.

SUBJECT AND METHODS: This was a cross sectional study, conducted in Adi Husada Kapasari Hospital, Surabaya, East Java. A sample of 40 patients with diabetes mellitus was selected for this study. The dependent variable was stress level. The independent variables were the coping strategy and gangrene complication. The coping strategy was distinguished in two types: (1) Problem-focused coping (PFC); (2) Emotion-focused coping (EFC). A questionnaire was developed to measure coping strategy and level of stress. The data was analyzed by a multiple linear regression.

RESULTS: Level of stress decreased with increasing problem-focused coping (b= -0.49; 95%CI= -0.82 to -0.17; p=0.004). Level of stress increased with increasing emotion-focused coping (b= 0.81; 95%CI= 0.52 to 1.11; p<0.001), and the incidence of gangrene complication (b= 3.66; 95%CI= 0.59 to 6.74; p=0.021).

CONCLUSION: Level of stress decreased with increasing problem-focused coping, but increased with increasing emotion-focused coping and the incidence of gangrene complication. Patients and health-social care professionals are suggested to capitalize problem-focused coping strategy to alleviate level of stress in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Keywords: problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, gangrene, stress, diabetes mellitus


Aortic valve disease develops in an escalating fashion in elderly patients. Current treatments including total valve replacement and valve repair techniques are still suboptimal. A thorough understanding of the animal and human valve tissue properties, particularly their differences, is crucial for the establishment of preclinical animal models and strategies for evaluating new valve treatment techniques, such as transcatheter valve intervention and tissue engineered valves. The goal of this study was to characterize and compare the biomechanical properties and histological structure of healthy ovine, porcine, and human aortic valve leaflets. The biaxial mechanical properties of the aortic valve leaflets of 10 ovine (∼1 year), 10 porcine (6-9 months), and 10 aged human (80.6 ± 8.34) hearts were quantified. Tissue microstructure was analyzed via histological techniques. Aged human aortic valve leaflets were significantly less compliant than both ovine and porcine leaflets, with the ovine leaflets being the most compliant. Histological analysis revealed structural differences between the species: the human and porcine leaflets contained more collagen and elastin than the ovine leaflets. Significant mechanical and structural differences in the aortic valve tissues of 6- to 9-month-old porcine models and 1-year-old ovine models with respect to those of aged humans, suggest that these animal models may not be representative of the typical patient undergoing aortic valve replacement.


Methods were developed for the formation of protoplasts and spheroplasts of gastrointestinal strains of Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Lactobacillus salivarius. Attempts to regenerate vegetative cells from protoplasts were not successful, but spheroplasts could be regenerated consistently for five of six strains.


Abstract After decades of uncertainty and continuous change to the border regime since the split-up of Görlitz into a German part west of the river Neisse, and a Polish part called Zgorzelec after the Second World War, both towns established the self-designated European City Görlitz-Zgorzelec in 1998. Although journalists and politicians maintain that Görlitz and Zgorzelec are a case model for European integration, there are obvious differences between the visions connected to the project 'European City' and the everyday life. Following the key research question, whether the 'European City Görlitz-Zgorzelec', in its attempts to develop a border-crossing civil society, is also constructed from below by citizens on both sides of the border, my contribution to the field of border studies uses a qualitative micro-level approach to these processes in the fields of culture, leisure and education. For that aim, an ethnographically inspired socio-geographical research design has been linked to Henri Lefebvre's theoretical framework of the double triad of spatial production developed in The Production of Space (1991). From the perspective of actors in civil society in both towns, who are active in constructing, shifting and deconstructing borders, the article aims to illuminate both territorial and social bordering processes. Borderwork is embedded in and connected to transformation and peripheralisation processes, as well as to the discourses on and the funding instruments of European Integration in the context of the complex history of the Polish-German border.


OBJECTIVE: The Conflict Tactics Scales 2 (CTS; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996) is the most widely used measure of intimate partner violence (IPV), and it consistently indicates high rates of IPV by young women in dating relationships. However, the CTS has been criticized for not assessing the context of the acts it measures. This study undertook a mixed-method investigation of women's IPV, incorporating both the CTS and in-depth interviews, to contextualize women's CTS reports of their use of violence against dating partners. METHOD: Four hundred seventy-six female undergraduates who had been in a heterosexual dating relationship in the past year completed the CTS. Women were then purposively recruited for follow-up interviews in a balanced design across 4 groups defined by self-reports of IPV perpetration on the CTS, ranging from none to severe and/or frequent violence. Thirty-four women completed interviews. RESULTS: Although women's CTS reports were consistent with rates reported in the literature, there were discrepancies with the interview data. FINDINGS indicate that women report endorsing acts of playful wrestling/fighting (i.e., "roughhousing") and mock violence on the CTS, and that such behavior is common among undergraduate women. The directionality of IPV identified by the CTS was also inconsistent with interview data. CONCLUSIONS: The CTS may potentially miscategorize acts and individuals and inflate estimates of the frequency and severity of women's IPV in young, dating, nonclinical samples. Research and clinical implications include the need for clearer definitions of the construct of IPV and the development of alternative or complementary assessment measures. Language: en


The sensitivity of the soil erosion component of the CREAMS model to changes in various input parameters was assessed in the range of parameter values suited to erosion from aggregated clay soils. Predictions of total sediment yield were sensitive to changes in a number of parameters, and interactions between parameter values were observed, e.g., for situations when either detachment of sediment or transport capacity of overland flow limited sediment yield. The CREAMS model was classified as: (i) sensitive to: specific gravity of sediment (Sgi), slope steepness; (ii) sensitive under some conditions, moderately sensitive under others to: total runoff (Vu); Universal Soil Loss Equation factors of erodibility (K), cover (C) and support practices (P); Manning-type available shear parameter (nbov); (iii) moderately sensitive to: peak runoff rate (ap), storm erosivity (EI30), slope length, sediment size distribution and kinematic viscosity. The model was judged to be 'sensitive' to a parameter when change in that parameter caused an equal or greater relative change in predicted sediment yield.


ABSTRACT Research Findings: The present study explored the extent to which teachers' participation in professional development focused on children's social-emotional learning moderated the relation between self-reported burnout and teacher–child interactions. The sample included 307 Head Start preschool teachers who participated in a large randomized controlled trial, the Head Start CARES (Classroom-based Approaches and Resources for Emotion and Social skill promotion) Project. Teachers were assigned to one of the three SEL interventions (PATHS, Incredible Years, or Tools of the Mind–Play) or a control group. Results revealed a moderating effect of treatment condition. Specifically, in control classrooms, higher self-reported burnout was related to a decline in Instructional Support scores over the course of the year. In contrast, the negative association between burnout and teacher–child interactions was not present in the intervention condition. Follow-up analyses indicated that this moderating effect was only present for teachers who were trained in the PATHS and Incredible Years interventions. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that training and participation in interventions focused on social-emotional learning may serve as a buffer against the detrimental influence of burnout on teachers' classroom practices.


In 2006 laws banning age discrimination came into effect in the UK. Even though unions seem to suggest that 'age' is a very common form of discrimination, it does not typically attract (at least as yet) the same attention as other more widely discussed cases. Age discrimination is typically associated with discourses around an 'ageing workforce', however it affects both younger and older employees. Looking closer at 'ageing' discourses it becomes apparent that the boundaries between 'old' and 'young' are not as clear cut as a first reading would suggest. Further to this, recent sociolinguistic research has repeatedly shown that (age or other) identity is not something people 'have' or 'are' but something people 'do' (e.g., Holmes 2006; Coupland 2009). Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to discuss and problematise the ways in which employees construct age identities in the complex system of white-collar workplaces. The paper draws on recordings of real life routine meeting data featuring primarily employees in a small/medium enterprise (SMEs). Special attention is paid here to one member of the team, Cynthia the youngest member of staff. The discussion also draws on interview data in order to further analyse perceptions and representations of 'age differences' in this context. The analysis shows the complex process of negotiation of identity where chronological age is related to 'expertise' and 'experience' and becomes an important resource participants draw upon in the process of self -and other- positioning.


We report the electrical and optical comparison, in continuous wave regime, of two novel classes of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) fabricated in planar technology on silicon P-type and N-type substrate respectively. Responsivity measurements have been performed with an incident optical power from tenths of picowatts to hundreds of nanowatts and on a broad spectrum, ranging from ultraviolet to near infrared (340-820 nm). For both classes of investigated SiPMs, responsivity shows flat response versus the optical incident power, when a preset overvoltage and wavelength is applied . More in detail, this linear behavior extends up to about 10 nW for lower overvoltages, while a shrink is observed when the reverse bias voltage increases. With regards to our responsivity measurements, carried out in the abovementioned spectral range, we have found a peak around 669 nm for the N-on-P and a peak at 417 nm for the P-on-N SiPM. A physical explanation of the all experimental results is also provided in the paper.


Detailed in this paper is a multiport power electronics interface which serves as an energy router for on-board electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with inductively coupled power transfer (ICPT) and hybrid energy storage systems (HESS). The existing body of literature on HESSs lacks a unified controller and modular, flexible structure as well as integration of ICPT. In battery/ultracapacitor systems, this leads to piece-meal control of sources resulting in battery currents which are not fully decoupled from high-frequency/high-magnitude current and ultra-capacitor (UC) state of charge (SoC) not being properly controlled. A central controller is proposed in this paper which completely decouples the battery from both high-frequency and high-magnitude current, controls the SoC of the UCs, and models the SoC of the UCs in the stability analysis of the system. This system is particularly useful for online charging of HEVs in highway-type applications where ICPT pulse charging will be present. Solving the challenges of pulse charging will bring ICPT technology one step closer to widespread integration which has the potential to greatly reduce societies' dependence on fossil fuel. Simulation and experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed techniques.


During the 2021 pandemic year, the generosity of Unemployment Insurance benefits was expanded (Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation [FPUC]) and eligibility for benefits was broadened (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance [PUA]). These two programs were set to expire in September 2021. In June 2021, 18 states exited both FPUC and PUA and three states exited FPUC (but not PUA). Using Current Population Survey data and a wide range of estimation methods, we find that the flow of unemployed workers into employment increased by around two‐thirds following early exit among prime‐age workers. We also find evidence of reductions in state‐level unemployment rates, increases in employment‐populations ratios, and reductions in the share of households that had no difficulty meeting expenses.


This thesis aims to use intelligent systems to extend and improve performance and security of cryptographic techniques. Genetic algorithms framework for cryptanalysis problem is addressed. A novel extension to the differential cryptanalysis using genetic algorithm is proposed and a fitness measure based on the differential characteristics of the cipher being attacked is also proposed. The complexity of the proposed attack is shown to be less than quarter of normal differential cryptanalysis of the same cipher by applying the proposed attack to both the basic Substitution Permutation Network and the Feistel Network. The basic models of modern block ciphers are attacked instead of actual cipher to prove that the attack is applicable to other ciphers vulnerable to differential cryptanalysis. A new attack for block cipher based on the ability of neural networks to perform an approximation of mapping is proposed. A complete problem formulation is explained and implementation of the attack on some hypothetical Feistel cipher not vulnerable to differential or linear attacks is presented. A new block cipher based on the neural networks is proposed. A complete cipher structure is given and a key scheduling is also shown. The main properties of neural network being able to perform mapping between large dimension domains in a very fast and a very small memory compared to S-Boxes is used as a base for the cipher.


We studied the effects of SKF 104078 in anesthetized, newborn lambs and compared it to nonspecific alpha-receptor blockade by tolazoline. SKF 104078 infusion decreased pulmonary and systemic arterial pressures in newborn lambs when infused during normoxic ventilation. When infused during hypoxia, SKF 104078 decreased cardiac output and systemic blood pressure without affecting pulmonary pressure. Due to the predominance of systemic effects, the usefulness of SKF 104078 in states of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction is limited.


In the Internet age, cyber-attacks occur frequently with complex types. Traffic generated by access activities can record website status and user request information, which brings a great opportunity for network attack detection. Among diverse network protocols, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is widely used in government, organizations and enterprises. In this work, we propose DeepHTTP, a semantics structure integration model utilizing Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) with attention mechanism to model HTTP traffic as a natural language sequence. In addition to extracting traffic content information, we integrate structural information to enhance the generalization capabilities of the model. Moreover, the application of attention mechanism can assist in discovering critical parts of anomalous traffic and further mining attack patterns. Additionally, we demonstrate how to incrementally update the data set and retrain model so that it can be adapted to new anomalous traffic. Extensive experimental evaluations over large traffic data have illustrated that DeepHTTP has outstanding performance in traffic detection and pattern discovery.


The aim of the study was to investigate the antithrombotic efficiency, safety and tolerance of Lospirin tm in patients with coronary artery disease. The study involved 50 patients (32 men and 18 women) aged 40-65 years with disease duration from 3 to 27 years, receiving daily one tablet of Lospirin tm (75 mg) for 28 days as an antiplatelet agent in addition to basic therapy. General clinical data, hemodynamic parameters, laboratory results of blood tests, urine and agregant state of blood plasma were assessed. During the period of drug application side effects/reactions were not registered. Tolerance of Lospirin tm was satisfactory in 100% of patients. Drug intake for 28 days gave good antiplatelet results in 90% of patients with coronary artery disease.


Urban planning for a renewable energy future requires the collaboration of different disciplines both in research and practice. In the present article, the planning of a renewable energy future is approached from a designer's perspective. A framework for analysis of the planning questions at hand is first proposed. The framework considers two levels of inquiry: the technical environmental aspect, and its wider embedding in sustainable development. Furthermore, life cycle analysis and exergy studies are discussed for their application potential in design. An altered trias energetica as proposed in earlier publications appears to remain a robust concept for low exergy, renewable energy based urban design. When considering sustainable development, environmental assessments shall be completed by an inquiry of the socio-cultural, economical, juridical, aesthetical and ethical aspects characterizing the planning or decision process. The article then presents a number of practical design principles that can help envisioning a built environment that can be sustained on the basis of renewable energy sources. In accordance with the altered trias energetica concept, elements of passive urban energy design, exergetic optimization of energy provision systems and the sourcing of renewable energy are identified, and their respective potentials assessed.


The research analyses the controversies surrounding the technique for the formation of a CaO-Al2O3 binary system and the nature of melting of compounds in it, i.e. whether the 12:7 compound is technically possible and whether the 1:1 and 1:2 compounds are congruently or incongruently melting compounds. It also discusses whether in the CaO-MgO-Al2O3 ternary system the following compounds can be formed: a 3:1:1 compound alone or, in addition to it, two more compounds of 1:2:8 and 2:2:14. A 3D model of the T-x-y diagram was created for the most common version, with six binary and three ternary compounds. Its high-temperature portion (above 1300°C) consisted of 234 surfaces and 85 phase regions. Ternary compounds were formed as a result of three peritectic reactions. Besides them, six quasi-peritectic and three eutecticinvariant reactions occurred in the system with the participation of the melt. The principle of construction for a threedimensional model involved a gradual transition from a phase reaction scheme (which is transformed into a scheme of uni- and invariant states) presented in a tabulated and then in a graphical form (a template of ruled surfaces and isothermal planes corresponding to invariant reactions) to a T-x-y diagram prototype (graphic images of all liquidus, solidus, and solvus surfaces). The design was concluded with the transformation of the prototype into a 3D model of the real system after the input of the base points coordinates (concentrations and temperatures) and the adjustment of curvatures of lines andsurfaces. The finished model provides a wide range of possibilities for the visualisation of the phase diagram, including the construction of any arbitrarily assigned isothermal sections and isopleths. The 3D model was designed with the help of the author's software PD Designer (Phase Diagram Designer). To assess the quality of the 3D model, two  versions of an isothermal section at 1840 °C were compared: model section and a fragment of an experimental section near Al2O3.


African American (AA) men have significantly higher mortality rates from prostate cancer (PrCA) than other racial groups. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify strategies for promoting informed PrCA screening decisions among this population. This article details the community-driven, social and behavioral research being implemented by a Statewide Cancer Prevention and Control Program (CPCP) to support the development of person-to-person and technological interventions to improve the dissemination of PrCA information to AA men and their families. This article concludes with four recommendations to advance future research and practice related to the use of interventions for promoting informed PrCA decision-making among AAs. These recommendations include: 1) informing men about controversial screening recommendations; 2) including families in educational interventions about PrCA; 3) using technology as a modality for disseminating PrCA information when appropriate; and 4) aiming to create interventions that can be translated into community and clinical settings.


The development of a practical screening procedure for phenylketonuria and the improvement in methods of chemical analysis have led to a realization that Folling's (1934) disease of phenylketonuria is not a single entity. In this commentary, the current view on some aspects of phenylketonuria will be reviewed and the problems illustrated by experience gained in the Phenylketonuria Clinic at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children in Sydney, at present attended by fifty-six children. From April 1964, fifty-six infants and children were referred because of a positive screening test. Six were no longer abnormal at the time of retesting, forty-two had classical phenylketonuria and eight showed an atypical pattern. Subsequent family studies revealed five other classical phenylketonuric children, all of whom were retarded, and one other atypical phenylketonuric boy.


Insulin resistance is closely associated with elevated intracellular Ca2+ concentration under ectopic lipid accumulation and hyperglycemia-induced intracellular stress conditions. We recently identified that obesity impairs intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, which prevents membrane localization of PH domain-containing proteins such as AKT, PLCδ, and IRS through the formation of Ca2+-phosphoinositides (PIPs), resulting in dysregulation of glucose homeostasis and insulin resistance. It is unclear, however, whether insulin sensitivity can be improved by targeting intracellular Ca2+ overload. Therefore, we screened nine angiotensin-II-receptor blockers (ARBs), a class of antihypertensive agents, for beneficial effects on palmitic acid (PA)-induced insulin resistance in human HepG2 cells. Two of the ARBs attenuated PA-induced intracellular Ca2+ overload by inhibiting dysregulated store-operated channel (SOC)-mediated Ca2+ entry into cells, which ameliorated insulin resistance by promoting insulin-stimulated membrane localization of AKT and by increasing the phosphorylation of AKT and its downstream substrates in PA-treated HepG2 cells. Furthermore, certain ARBs ameliorated obesity-induced insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis, and tissue inflammation in mice fed a high-fat diet. Meanwhile, certain ARBs normalized intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis by regulating obesity-associated SOC-mediated Ca2+ entry, which rescued impaired insulin signaling in liver and muscle tissues by promoting postprandial membrane localization of AKT and IRS2. These findings underscore the contribution of dysregulated intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis to the pathophysiology of insulin resistance and suggest a therapeutic strategy to use specific ARBs to ameliorate insulin resistance.

 J.Lee: None. Y.Jung: None. S.Im: None. D.Lee: None. H.Lee: None. I.Hong: None. O.Kim: None. B.Oh: None.

 Korean Ministry of Health & Welfare (HI14C1135 to B-C.O.); Basic Science Research Program (2021R1I1A1A01051429 to O-H.K.); Mid-Career Researcher Program (2019R1A2C2008130, 2022R1A2C2092700 to B-C.O.); National Research Foundation of Korea (2021R1A5A203033)


Endothelial cells (ECs) respond to flow stress via a variety of mechanisms, leading to various intracellular responses that can modulate the vessel wall and lead to diseases if the flow is disturbed. Mechano‐microRNAs (miRNAs) are a subset of miRNAs in the ECs that are flow responsive. Mechano‐miRNAs were shown to be related to atherosclerosis pathophysiology, and a number of them were identified as pathologic. Here, we exposed human carotid ECs to different wall shear stresses (WSS), high and low, and evaluated the response of miRNAs by microarray and quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. We discovered five new mechano‐miRNAs that were not reported in that context previously to the best of our knowledge. Moreover, functional pathway analysis revealed that under low WSS conditions, several pathways regulating apoptosis are affected. In addition, KLF2 and KLF4, known atheroprotective genes, were downregulated under low WSS and upregulated under high WSS. KLF2 and VCAM1, both angiogenic, were upregulated under high WSS. NOS3, which is vascular protective, was also upregulated with higher WSS. On the contrary, ICAM‐1 and E‐selectin, both atherogenic and proinflammatory, were upregulated with high WSS. Collectively, the epigenetic landscape with the gene expression analysis reveals that low WSS is associated with a proapoptotic state, while high WSS is associated with a proliferative and proinflammatory state.


Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in female all over the world. Early detection and treatment gives a chance to overcome this cancer. In breast cancer detection, there are many methods such as X-ray mammography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and Ultrasound Imaging. However, existing these methods have limitations such as Xrays, disturbing pressure on the breast, and high cost of devices, etc. Because of all the reasons mentioned, microwave breast imaging has the potential to overcome from some of the limitations of conventional breast cancer screening systems. The physical basis breast cancer detection by microwaves depends on the difference between the dielectric properties of normal and malignant breast tissue. Microwave breast cancer imaging is also a noninvasive method and it has low cost. Therefore, microwave imaging technology for breast cancer detection has attracted much attention by many researchers in these days. By using Computer Simulation Technology Microwave Studio and Antenna Magus Software, breast model with tumor and antennas were generated in this study. The presence of the tumor was investigated using a receiver and a transmitting antenna. While the transmitting antenna was stationary, the receiving antenna was moved to different positions. S11 (return loss) results were evaluated. This study is a preliminary study to determine the location and characteristic features of the tumor. Furthermore, this study will show that scanning methods will determine the location and size of the tumor at higher accuracy and the reconstruction of the reflected waves will allow to clearly determining the location of the tumor.


Around 160 million hector unused is available in India. India is the world's largest producer of castor oil, producing over 75% of the total world's supply. There are over a hundred companies in India-small and medium-that are into castor oil production, producing a variety of the basic grades o castor oil. All the above factors make it imperative that the India industry relooks at the castor oil sector in order to devise suitable strategies to derive the most benefits from such an attractive confluence of factors. Castor oil is unique owing to its exceptional diversity of application. The oil and its derivatives are used in over 100 different applications in diverse industries such as paints, lubricants, pharma, cosmetics, paper, rubber and more. Recent developments have successfully derived polyol from natural oils and synthesized range of PU product from them. However, making flexible solution from natural oil polyol is still proving challenging. The goal of this thesis is to understand the potentials and the limitations of natural oil as an alternative to petroleum polyol. An initial attempt to understand natural oil polyol showed that flexible solution could be synthesized from castor oil, which produced a rigid solution. Characterization results indicate that the glass transition temperature (Tg) was the predominant factor that determines the rigidity of the solution. The high Tg of solution was attributed to the low number of covalent bond between cross linkers.


Autonomous navigation for ground vehicles has many challenges. Autonomous systems must be able to self-localise, avoid obstacles and determine navigable surfaces. This thesis studies several aspects of autonomous navigation with a particular emphasis on vision, motivated by it being a primary component for navigation in many high-level biological organisms. The key problem of self-localisation or pose estimation can be solved through analysis of the changes in appearance of rigid objects observed from different view points. We therefore describe a system for structure and motion estimation for real-time navigation and obstacle avoidance. With the explicit assumption of a calibrated camera, we have studied several schemes for increasing accuracy and speed of the estimation.The basis of most structure and motion pose estimation algorithms is a good point tracker. However point tracking is computationally expensive and can occupy a large portion of the CPU resources. In thisthesis we show how a point tracker can be implemented efficiently on the graphics processor, which results in faster tracking of points and the CPU being available to carry out additional processing tasks.In addition we propose a novel view interpolation approach, that can be used effectively for pose estimation given previously seen views. In this way, a vehicle will be able to estimate its location by interpolating previously seen data.Navigation and obstacle avoidance may be carried out efficiently using structure and motion, but only whitin a limited range from the camera. In order to increase this effective range, additional information needs to be incorporated, more specifically the location of objects in the image. For this, we propose a real-time object recognition method, which uses P-channel matching, which may be used for improving navigation accuracy at distances where structure estimation is unreliable.


The duo-field of historical archaeology is increasingly being recognized around the world for its contributions. However, most of the existing surveys have concentrated on the coastal and hinterland locations in West Africa. Whereas, the ethnographic cum archival study of West African borderlands abounds in the literature, there is the dearth of the comparative analysis of these sources in tandem with the archaeological findings of material culture. Thus, this paper seeks to open up a new dialogue on the importance of borderlands studies in historical archaeology and vice versa. It concludes that the historical archaeology of West African borderlands promises to yield new insights into the dynamics of the region's modern history. Keywords : African History; Borderlands Studies; Historical Archaeology; Intercultural Encounter; Modern Era; West Africa.


Given that Asia accounts for more than half of the world's population and its hotels are thriving, this study analyzes the attitudes toward daily deal offers of hotel guests in five Asian nations. While the respondents, from China, India, Indonesia, Korea, and Japan, have many common attitudes regarding daily deals, certain differences stand out. Overall, it becomes clear that frequent guests take advantage of the discounts offered in daily deals, thus confirming concerns of cannibalization. Worse, those frequent guests reported that they felt as though they were treated differently due to their use of the daily deal, and this gave them a diminished view of the hotel. On the other hand, respondents from most nations said that they took the opportunity of the deal to spend more money than usual during their hotel stay, and they were happy to recommend the hotel to their friends, a phenomenon known as being a market maven. Moreover, use of the daily deal did not seem to interfere with guests' loyalty levels, which seemed to be the same for daily deal purchasers and those who did not use such offers. One other downside to offering daily deals is that the survey indicates a reduced value perception for those who purchase numerous deals, indicating that the deal's charm eventually fades. While the findings seem contradictory in some ways, they also provide guidelines for hoteliers who wish to target Asian consumers with these types of deals while also avoiding the pitfalls.


Digitalization is critical to the growth of cultural industry today. However, existing research has not explained the mechanism by which the external environment a"ects the digitalization of cultural enterprises. Based on structural equation modeling, we tested the model empirically using data from 295 cultural enterprises in Beijing. e results show that two external environmental variables, the market pressure and the government's supportive policies, have a positive impact on the adoption of digitalization in cultural enterprises through technical and organizational factors. e research conclusion explains how the external environment inŠuences digitalization in cultural enterprises. Technological factors of digitalization capability and digitalization compatibility and organizational factors of perceived beneŒts play a mediating role between the external environment and the digitalization of cultural enterprises. Based on these conclusions, we Œnally put forward a series of countermeasures to enhance the digitalization of cultural enterprises.


Machine learning head models (MLHMs) are developed to estimate brain deformation for early detection of traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the overfitting to simulated impacts and the lack of generalizability caused by distributional shift of different head impact datasets hinders the broad clinical applications of current MLHMs. We propose brain deformation estimators that integrates unsupervised domain adaptation with a deep neural network to predict whole-brain maximum principal strain (MPS) and MPS rate (MPSR). With 12,780 simulated head impacts, we performed unsupervised domain adaptation on on-field head impacts from 302 college football (CF) impacts and 457 mixed martial arts (MMA) impacts using domain regularized component analysis (DRCA) and cycle-GAN-based methods. The new model improved the MPS/MPSR estimation accuracy, with the DRCA method significantly outperforming other domain adaptation methods in prediction accuracy (p<0.001): MPS RMSE: 0.027 (CF) and 0.037 (MMA); MPSR RMSE: 7.159 (CF) and 13.022 (MMA). On another two hold-out testsets with 195 college football impacts and 260 boxing impacts, the DRCA model significantly outperformed the baseline model without domain adaptation in MPS and MPSR estimation accuracy (p<0.001). The DRCA domain adaptation reduces the MPS/MPSR estimation error to be well below TBI thresholds, enabling accurate brain deformation estimation to detect TBI in future clinical applications.


Chronic hand edema after wound healing is a troublesome condition to treat in patients with burns. Stagnant edema can cause fibrosis, which impedes rehabilitation and may lead to deformity. Although favorable results have been reported with mechanical compression used in acute injuries, no literature was found on the effects of compression for the treatment of chronic hand-burn edema. Five male patients with nine chronically edematous burned hands were subject to mechanical compression at 55 mm Hg pressure. A single-cell unit was used for a 30-minute treatment at 4:1 treatment ratio. Goniometric and volumetric hand measurements were recorded both before and after treatment. Although patients expressed a subjective feeling of improvement, no statistical difference was found in finger joint range of motion nor in hand volume when comparing pretreatment and posttreatment measurements. Many different treatment protocols exist in the literature and are discussed.


Financial or budget changes commonly called PAK is a phenomenon that frequently occurs on a SKPD in Surabaya Government. This research was set a side in service of management of the building and land on Surabaya, it is caused by the presence of the great budget changes between other SKPD in Surabaya Government. From the existanece of these problems, Researchers interested in knowing about the factors that influence changes in the financial budget management of buildings dan land. Knowing about the factors that cause this to happen , is something that must be disclosed by researchers to improve the quality of budget planning in the Department of Building and Land Management. Type of this research is exploratory research, this research approach aims to find information about topic or problem that is not yet fully understood by researcher and raised new phenomenas occur in the field. By using qualitative research methods and the exploratory research type, which for data collection is done by observation, in depth interviews, and documentation. Regarding the determination of the informant researcher using a purposive sampling technique and snowball sampling technique. Researcher used a qualitative analysis with data reduction steps, the presentation of the data, and draw conclusions. The conclusion of this study, there are three main factors that affect the amount of PAK in DPBT , namely the proposed program ( a program that is bottom -up , top down and the proposed service itself ) , the need for urgent and exceptional circumstances ( procurement of green open space , land acquisition Dolly location etc . ) and internal factors ( changes in prices and increase in salaries of employees ).


Recent work identifies the AKT kinase as a potential mediator of tumor expansion in multiple myeloma. The finding of PTEN mutations in several myeloma cell lines suggests that loss of PTEN function may be one mechanism by which AKT activity is increased in this disease. Because PTEN-deficient myeloma cells may have up-regulated activity of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), downstream of AKT, they may be particularly sensitive to mTOR inhibition. To test this hypothesis, we challenged myeloma cell lines with CCI-779, a newly developed analogue of rapamycin and an efficient inhibitor of mTOR. Three of four PTEN-deficient cell lines with constitutively active AKT were remarkably sensitive to cytoreduction and G(1) arrest induced by CCI-779 with ID(50) concentrations of <1 nM. In contrast, myeloma cells expressing wild-type PTEN were >1000-fold more resistant. Acute expression of a constitutively active AKT gene in CCI-779-resistant myeloma cells containing wild-type PTEN and quiescent AKT did not convert them to the CCI-779-sensitive phenotype. Conversely, expression of wild-type PTEN in CCI-779-sensitive, PTEN-deficient myeloma cells did not induce resistance. Differential sensitivity did not appear to be due to differences in the ability of CCI-779 to inhibit mTOR and induce dephosphorylation of p70S6kinase or 4E-BP1. However, CCI-779 inhibited expression of c-myc in CCI-sensitive PTEN-null myeloma cells but had no effect on expression in CCI-resistant cells. In contrast, cyclin D1 expression was not altered in either sensitive or resistant cells. These results indicate that PTEN-deficient myeloma cells are remarkably sensitive to mTOR inhibition. Although the results of transfection studies suggest that the level of PTEN and AKT function per se does not regulate sensitivity, PTEN/AKT status may be a good predictive marker of sensitivity.


Using a high-throughput approach based on density functional theory, we perform an extensive study of possible ABX3 perovskites, where X is a non-metal and A and B span a large portion of the periodic table. We calculate the ternary phase diagram for each composition and we discuss the thermodynamic stability of perovskite phases. We find a large number of ABX3 perovskites, which are still absent from available databases, and which are stable with respect to decomposition into known ternary, binary or elementary phases. For these structures, we then calculate electronic band gaps, hole effective masses, and the spontaneous ferroelectric and magnetic polarization, which are relevant material properties for a number of specific applications in photovoltaics, transparent contacts, piezoelectrics, and magnetoelectrics. Some of our novel perovskites exhibit promising properties for applications.


Gut microbiota has recently emerged as a major regulator of energy utilization, glycemia and immunological function. Disturbances in gut microbiota have been widely reported in obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). We have previously shown that dietary reversal (DR) alleviates peripheral neuropathy (PN), a common complication of obesity and T2D. However, the crosstalk between the microbiome, nerve function, and DR in PN remains unknown. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the changes in gut microbiome and correlate them with PN phenotypes during disease progression and reversal in a mouse model of obesity, prediabetes, and PN. The study consisted of five groups of C57BL6/J mice: mice were fed a standard diet (10% kcal fat; SD) or a high-fat diet (60% kcal fat; HFD) from 5-16 wk. of age, mice fed a SD or HFD from 5-24 wk., and mice fed a HFD from 5-16 wk. then switched to SD from 16-24 wk. (DR). Fecal samples were collected bi-weekly and gut tissue content at 16 or 24 wk along with metabolic and neuropathy phenotypes measured at the same time. Bacterial communities were profiled by 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 sequencing from cecum, colon, ileum, and fecal samples. Amplicon sequence variants were determined and taxonomically classified against the SILVA database. We observed significant changes in the gut microbial community structure soon after HFD was introduced, which was restored following DR. These changes were driven by bacterial families belonging to the Firmicutes (Lactobacillaceae and Clostridiales Family XIII), which were increased by HFD and subsequently decreased by DR. Notably, the distinct microbiota profiles were significantly correlated with HFD-induced PN and its reversal by DR. Our results provide new insights into the role of gut microbiota in the development of PN and highlight the potential therapeutic efficacy of a dietary intervention in restoring the microbiome and improving nerve function. Disclosure K. Guo: None. C. Figueroa-Romero: None. S. Eid: None. L.M. Hinder: None. H.J. Petit: None. J. Hur: None. E.L. Feldman: Consultant; Self; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Funding National Institutes of Health (R24DK082841)


Medicinal plants have been used as a natural source of medicine from one generation to another where they have their own personal benefits to human in treating diseases. Nowadays, there are a lot of therapeutic problems regarding the bacterial resistance to synthethic antibiotic happen among our community. The increasing report on the side effects of these synthetic antibiotics has led to the
screening of medicinal plants for antimicrobial activity, which Oroxylum indicum is not an exception. Oroxylum indicum belongs to the Family Bignoniaceae, is an important herbal folk medicine that have been used in many Asian countries to cure disease. Each part of this plant reported in previous phytochemicals studies to
have various bioactive compounds and secondary metabolites that function in biochemical defense. This study have been done to evaluate the antibacterial
activity, and to compare the effectiveness of methanolic leaf extract of Oroxylum indicum against selected bacterial strains that is most common in bacterial resistance. On the basis of result from disc diffusion, the antimicrobial assay of Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) have been done that is visual inspection to determine the lowest concentration of extracts that can inhibit bacterial growth.
The result revealed that at 100 mg/mL of leaves extract concentration, Bacillus subtilis showed highest diameter reached 15 .33±3 .21 mm and the lowest inhibition zone was against bacteria Salmonella typhimurium with diameter 8.33±7.3 mm. The methanolic solvent extracts of Oroxylum indicum leaves exhibited antimicrobial activity against all the microbes under study. This provided evidence that leaves of Oroxylum indicum plant could be the source of potent antibacterial medicine, especially in the treatment of highly resistant bacteria by increasing the concentration of leaves extract. Further studies
regarding leaves part should be more focused to avoid extensive cut-down of whole plant as obtaining leaves does not affects much to the plant compared when
obtaining stem, bark or roots part.


Work place violence against health care workers is a common and widespread phenomenon. There is an increased evidence that nursing staff is at such a high risk of exposure to violent behaviors in their work place. Objective: To assess, compare work place violence toward nurses working in family health care centers in Alexandria and El Behera Governorate and identify its related risk factors. Settings: The study was carried out four health centers in Alexandria and eight health centers in El Behera governorate giving a total number of 12 family health care centers. Subjects: 80 nurses from Alexandria governorate and 120 from El Behera governorate giving a total number of 200 nurses. Tool: One tool was used for data collection namely work place violence questionnaire which includes nurses' demographic data, characteristics of workplace violence events, and risk factors contributing to workplace violence. Results: Findings of the present study revealed that 78.8% of nurses in Alexandria compared to 73.3% of nurses in El Behera reported exposure to violence in the last year. Conclusion: The study concluded that a significant proportion of nurses faced violence while providing care in urban and rural primary health facilities. Being a staff nurse, of younger age, and short work experience were significantly associated with workplace violence. Recommendations: Workplace violence prevention strategies are needed to make health care settings a safe environment.


A recent development which prioritizes on creativity and innovation to compete and survive in the context of higher education propagates organizational climate as a significant concern. As such, studies on innovative organizational climate have grown despite its essence as a multidimensional variable is sparsely examined in empirical researches. This research measures the relationship between innovative organizational climate and organizational commitment among 444 academics in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This is a cross sectional study which incorporates Life-Span theory, Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Three Component Model of Organizational Commitment (TCM). Data was collected among Malaysian academicians of public and private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and analysed using Smart PLS 3.25. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between innovative organizational climate and organizational commitment. This generate an implication that the experiences of a supportive innovative organizational climate lead academics to affectively feel attached to their institutions, hence, strengthen their obligations to pursue new developments for their institutions, peers and themselves. Improving innovative organizational climate is a strategic decision to enhance the commitment among academics, thus increasing organizational achievement.


This paper presents three new selective encryption techniques for secure transmission of MPEG-I video bit-streams. These techniques maintain higher security levels than previously proposed selective encryption techniques while maintaining reasonable processing times. In the first of these methods, the encryption is applied to the data associated with every n/sup th/ I-macroblock. In the second method, the encryption is applied to the headers of all the predicted macroblocks as well as to the data associated with every n/sup th/ I-macroblock. In the third method, encryption is applied to every n/sup th/ I-macroblock as well as the header of every n/sup th/ predicted macroblock. The last method, with n=2, is found to be the most efficient of the three proposed methods. This method achieves a 60-82% reduction in the processing time over "total" encryption, and simulation results show that the encrypted/decoded video is fully disguised.


Fire is an endemic process at high latitudes, connected to a range of other land surface properties, such as land cover, biomass, and permafrost, and intimately linked to the carbon balance of the high‐latitude land surface. Much of our current understanding of these links and their climate consequences is through land surface models, so it is important to ensure that for their credibility, these models should be consistent with available data. Over the vast panboreal region, a key source of information on fire is satellite data. Comparisons between satellite‐based burned area data from the Global Fire Emissions Database and three dynamic vegetation models (LPJ‐WM, CLM4CN, and SDGVM) indicate that all models fail to represent the observed spatial and temporal properties of the fire regime. Although the three dynamic vegetation models give comparable values of the boreal net biome production (NBP), fire emissions are found to differ by a factor 4 between the models, because of widely different estimates of burned area and because of different parameterizations of the fuel load and combustion process. Including a more realistic representation of the fire regime in the models shows that for northern high latitudes, (i) severe fire years do not coincide with source years or vice versa, (ii) the interannual variability of fire emissions does not significantly affect the interannual variability of NBP, and (iii) overall biomass values alter only slightly, but the spatial distribution of biomass exhibits changes. We also demonstrate that it is crucial to alter the current representations of fire occurrence and severity in land surface models if the links between permafrost and fire are to be captured, in particular, the dynamics of permafrost properties, such as active layer depth. This is especially important if models are to be used to predict the effects of a changing climate, because of the consequences of permafrost changes for greenhouse gas emissions, hydrology, and land cover.


Field experiment was carried out during the wet season of 2012 at the Teaching and Research Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Adamawa State University, Mubi (Lat.10° 15 II N and Long.13° 16 II E, altitude of 696 m above sea level) and a Community based Demonstration Farm in Gombe (Lat.11° 30 " N and Long.10° 20 " E, altitude of 340 m above sea level). Both locations were situated in the Northern Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zone of Nigeria. The study was carried out to determine the level of correlation between weed parameters, growth and yield attributes of maize as affected by pendimethalin application. Treatments which consisted of six different rates of pendimethalin (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0kg a.i.ha) + two control checks (weed free and weedy check) were placed in the main plots as main treatment while maize cultivar SAMMAZ 17 was placed in the subplots as sub-treatments in a split plot design and replicated three times. Pendimethalin was preemergenceapplied a day after sowing (DAS). Weed free check plots (control) were kept weed free by regular weeding. Similarly, all agronomic practices were adequately carried out except those under study. Data collected on weed cover score (WCS), weed fresh weight (WFW), weed dry Original Research Article Dantata et al.; JAERI, 21(1): 1-9, 2020; Article no.JAERI.54248 2 weight (WDW), days to 50% emergence (D50E), crop injury score (CIS), crop vigour score (CVS), establishment count (EC), plant height (PH), leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR), days to 50% tasseling (D50T), 1000 grain weights (1GWTs) and grain yield (GY) were analyzed using Minitab Version 11 Statistical Software. Results revealed that WCS was significantly higher and strongly correlated with WFW, WDW but was strong and negatively associated with GY of maize in both Mubi and Gombe. D50E, D50T and LAI were positive but contributed weakly to the GY of maize in Mubi. Similarly, D50E, D50T, PH and LAI had same pattern of behavior as the former in Gombe. EC was negative and also contributed weakly to the grain yield of maize in both locations. PH, CVS, CGR, 1GWTs were positive and strongly associated with GY of maize in Mubi. The same trend was also observed for all parameters except PH which though positive it was weakly associated to the final GY of maize in Gombe. Pendimethalin did not posed any significant effect on the postphysico-chemical properties of the soils at the two experimental sites, except in soil-pH, organic carbon, available phosphorus, total nitrogen, magnesium, potassium and sodium in Mubi and available phosphorus, total nitrogen, Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium in Gombe. These soil properties were significantly influenced by rates of soil applied Pendimethalin compared to the control checks.


Many recent studies indicate that dysregulation of autophagy is a common feature of many neurodegenerative diseases. The HIV-1-associated neurological disorder is an acquired cognitive and motor disease that includes a severe neurodegenerative dementia. We find that the neurodegeneration seen in the brain in HIV-1 infection is associated with an inhibition of neuronal autophagy, leading to neuronal demise. Neurons treated with supernatants from SIV-infected microglia develop a decrease in autophagy-inducing proteins, a decrease in neuronal autophagy vesicles, and an increase in sequestosome-1/p62. Examination of brains from HIV-infected individuals and SIV-infected monkeys reveals signs of autophagy dysregulation, associated, respectively, with dementia and encephalitis. Excitotoxic and inflammatory factors could inhibit neuronal autophagy, and stimulation of autophagy with rapamycin prevents such effects. Here we amplify on these findings, and propose that in the setting of HIV-infection, the decreased neuronal autophagy sensitizes cells to pro-apoptotic and other damaging mechanisms, leading to neuronal dysfunction and death. Hence, new therapeutic approaches aimed at boosting neuronal autophagy are conceivable to treat those suffering from the neurological complications of HIV. Addendum to: Alirezaei M, Kiosses WB, Flynn CT, Brady NR, Fox HS. Disruption of neuronal autophagy by infected microglia results in neurodegeneration. PLoS ONE 2008; 3:e2906.


One-year-old seedlings of Ginkgo biloba, potted in three different soils (nursery soil, mixed and sandy soil), were treated with simulated acid rain (pH 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0) and tap water (control, pH 6.4) during the growing seasons (1985. 4. 28 - 1985. 10. 19) to examine the effects of acid rain on growth and physiological characteristics, and the relations between seedling growth and physiological characteristics. The results obtained in this study were as follows: 1. The effects of soil types on the total, top and root dry weight per seedling were significant at 5% level, and those of the pH of the rain treated at 1% level. The total dry weight of the pH 3.0 sub-plots was the highest for nursery soil, while for mixed and sandy soils, those of the control and the pH 5.0 sub-plots were the highest, respectively. 2. The leaf surface areas of pH 2.0 sub-plots severely decreased after July, but those of other sub-plots were not affected. The correlations between growth and leaf surface area differed among soil-types, however, the highest positive correlation was found in September. 3. The injured leaf rate increased with decreasing pH levels of acid rain. Highly negative correlations between growth and injured leaf rate were found. 4. The lower the pH level of acid rain treated was, the more the chlorophyll content was measured at the beginning of treatment, and the more severely it decreased at late growing season. A negative correlations were found in August, September and Octobfer. 5. The photosynthetic ability decreased rapidly after July with decreasing pH levels. A highly positive correlation between growth and photosynthetic ability was found in August.


This paper demonstrated the suppression of chaos in an Nd:YVO4 laser by reshaping the pump modulation with dual waveforms. When the first sinusoidal modulation induced chaos, the second modulated signal reshaped the modulated profile to suppress the chaos. A chaos-suppressed route associated with double phase locking was observed as the modulation depth of the second modulation increased; the first phase locking accompanied the subharmonic oscillation of the output intensity, and the second phase locking regenerated the chaos. Varying the waveforms of the second modulation to be square, triangle, and sinusoidal reshapes the modulated profile to change the suppression region; therefore, the shape can be used as a parameter to control the dynamics. Numerical simulations were confirmed by the experimental results.


This Research paper explores importance of Software As A Service (SaaS) for efficient cloud computing in organizations and its implications. Enterprises now a days are betting bi g on SaaS and integrating this service delivery mod el of cloud computing architecture in their IT services. SaaS application s are service centric cloud computing delivery mode l used as IT Infrastructure which is multi-tenant architecture used to provide rich user experience with desired set of features r equested by the cloud user. This research paper also discusses the importance of Saa S application architecture, functionality, efficien cy, advantages and disadvantages.


The results of radiation therapy have been evaluated on the basis of local control of the tumor and reaction of the normal tissues. A scoring system, consisting five steps, was proposed to document the response of the tumor as well as the normal tissue reaction in order to evaluate the effects of irradiation. The results of the studies showed that the scoring system was of value to estimate the response of the tumor and the reaction of the normal tissues developed following irradiation. The radiation tolerance of the cutaneous tissue for fast neurons and for 70 MeV protons was expressed as follows. NSD (n, 30 MeV d-Be) = TD N-0.11 T-0.11 (1) NSD (p, 70 MeV) = TD N-0.20 T-0.11 (2) As to the radiation tolerance of the lung, studies are required to determine the optimal scoring system.


In a previous report (UMTRI-99-21), data analysis using the Daylight Saving Time (DST) changeover and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) showed that the added safety risk in darkness versus light is much higher for pedestrians than any other road users. This report extends those analyses to determine the specific magnitude of darkness effects for all harmful events, and focuses on how pedestrian risk is affected by features of the roadway environment. The new results show that pedestrian risk in darkness is related to posted speed limits and is particularly high on high-speed, limited-access roadways, where the combination of speed and limited sight distance may multiply pedestrian risk. Use of alcohol by pedestrians appears to strongly magnify the effect of darkness on the risk of being killed. No similar effect of alcohol was found among the drivers involved in the same crashes. Given the apparent effect of speed on pedestrian risk, there may be substantial safety benefits of innovative headlighting systems that could adjust to the greater visibility needs of higher speeds.


A 12-hole drilling program was conducted on the northwestern flank of the San Rafael swell of eastern Utah to obtain subsurface geologic data to evaluate the uranium resource potential of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation (Jurassic). In the Cedar Mountain-Castle Valley area, the Brushy Basin Member consists primarily of tuffaceous and carbonaceous mudstones. Known uranium mineralization is thin, spotty, very low grade, and occurs in small lenticular pods. Four of the 12 drill holes penetrated thin intervals of intermediate-grade uranium mineralization in the Brushy Basin. The study confirmed that the unit does not contain significant deposits of intermediate-grade uranium.


This research is meant to examine the influence of good corporate governance and financial perfomance to the financial distress on the manufacturing companies which are listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The mechanism of good corporate governance in this research are i.e.: board of directors, board of commisioners, managerial ownership, institusional ownership, and the size of audit committee, meanwhile the financial perfomances in this research are profitability and leverage. The result of this research shows that the board of commissioners does not have any influence to the financial distress, the managerial ownership does not have any influence to the financial distress, the institusional ownership does not have any influence to the financial distress, the size of audit committee does not have any influence to the financial distress, leverage does not have any influence to the financial distress, the board of directors has negative influence to the financial distress, and profitabilitas has negative influence to the financial distress.


Erythrina cristi-galli, "COCKSPUR CORAL TREE" Unusual, small tree or large shrub w/ thick branches & clusters of velvety, brick or wine red flowers intermittent over long spring to fall season; hummingbird favorite. [33] (H*) Heteromeles arbutifolia, "TOYON" Versatile & adaptable, Calif. native, water-efficient small tree/large shrub w/ toothed, glossy green leaves, large clusters of white flowers in summer, showy red berries in winter; handsome all year. [20] (H*B*W*C*)


The paper gives a scrap-off layer based interpretation of the density limit in beryllated JET limiter discharges. In these discharges, JET edge parameters show a complicated time evolution as the density limit is approached and the limit is manifested as a nondisruptive density maximum which cannot be exceeded by enhanced gas puffing. The occurrence of Marfes, the manner of density control ad details of recycling are essential elements of the interpretation. Scalings for the maximum density are given and compared with JET data. The relation to disruptive density limits, previously observed in JET carbon limiter discharges, and to density limits in divertor discharges is discussed


To extend the lifetime of a large wireless sensor network, it is important to spread the inevitable energy consumption (loads) across the network, and thus reduce hot spots. This article introduces a two-step solution to this issue based on the AODV tier allocation with multiple paths to disperse loads from hot spots. After the allocation, paths for nodes to transmit data back to the sink are decided through a probabilistic approach. By computer simulation, it is shown with various indexes that the performance of the proposed algorithm is better than that of deterministic approaches after network deployment, and an appropriate state can be reached in reasonable time.


Bleeding from an aneurysm of a small intestine artery is a formidable complication, the treatment remains a difficult problem. In this case, aneurysm embolization is indicated. The aim of the article is to describe the role of embolization in the treatment of bleeding in an elderly patient, to analyze the efficacy and risk. The advantage of the intervention is minimal invasiveness and low blood loss. The presented observation showed the effectiveness of endovascular embolization in the rupture of a pseudo-aneurysm.


Accurate software development effort estimation is critical to the success of software projects. Although many techniques and algorithmic models have been developed and implemented by practitioners, accurate software development effort prediction is still a challenging endeavor in the field of software engineering, especially in handling uncertain and imprecise inputs and collinear characteristics. In this paper, a hybrid in-telligent model combining a neural network model integrated with fuzzy model (neuro-fuzzy model) has been used to improve the accuracy of estimating software cost. The performance of the proposed model is assessed by designing and conducting evaluation with published project and industrial data. Results have shown that the proposed model demonstrates the ability of improving the estimation accuracy by 18% based on the Mean Magnitude of Relative Error (MMRE) criterion.


Eskom is in the process of strengthening the transmission corridor between the North and South of South Africa by constructing a new 765 kV backbone to meet the challenge of increased electricity demand. Eskom's existing substation layouts are based on double busbar arrangements. The approved new extra high voltage (EHV) substations (765 kV and 400 kV) will be based on a breaker-and-a-half substation design. Associated with this upgrade, new generation protective relay schemes for transmission lines (both line impedance and line differential), transformers, reactors and busbars will be implemented. The paper gives an overview of the new substation layout as well as the protective relay scheme architecture. The advantages of using the IEC61850 based protocol between the bay and substation control as well as GOOSE messaging for control of the breaker-and-a-half schemes will be discussed. The paper also describes the test philosophy and how GOOSE messages have been configured to improve the speed and efficiency of commissioning and testing the various schemes. The test procedures as well as test system to achieve a fully automatic test of the complete scheme will be presented.


Contractile responses of the longitudinal muscle layer of guinea pig ileum to 40-sec electrical field stimulation (0.8 msec, 20 V) applied at frequencies of 5 Hz or 30 Hz consisted in a fast phasic contraction followed by a low-amplitude tonic component. Atropin (3 microM) and prazosine (1 microM) decreased significantly the amplitude of the phasic contraction and had less influence on the tonic component. SC 19220 (50 microM) additionally lowered both the fast and the tonic contractions, the inhibitory effect being more pronounced on the tonic component. It is suggested that prostaglandins released during electrical stimulation could be involved in the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic tonic component of the contractile responses.


The first book which brings together and interprets both the theoretical concepts associated with the study of networks in the business world, and the policy applications being applied to the practical building and development of such networks. It maps the changes in the culture of economic development policy that occurred in the UK during the 1990s, incorporating a detailed assessment of the contribution that the Training and Enterprise Councils made to business support policies. The book is published at a time when network and cluster building has risen to the top of economic development agendas not only in UK, but in many countries throughout the world.

It offers the most detailed insight so far available into the structure, motivations and processes involved in developing business networks through institutional intervention. The book is relevant to anyone with an interest in business policy and theory.


This paper proposes a new architecture that can guarantee end-to-end QoS for premium service without per-flow state management at core routers under the differentiated services framework. We develop a signaling protocol to select the route satisfying the end-to-end QoS requirements and reserve resources for each flow when a session is initiated. A mechanism is proposed to make the packets of each flow keep the same route. Meanwhile packets belonging to the other classes of service are still in normal DiffServ. A bandwidth broker is introduced to allocate the resources in an autonomous domain and between them.


Cellulose paper is the most attractive green packaging material due to its recyclability, renewability, sustainability and biodegradability. In some applications, paper with a high level of water resistance is desirable to meet specific requirements in modern packaging fields. This research aimed to develop a water-repelling paper with cost-effective and nontoxic materials. Commercial precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) particles were modified by stearic acid (SA) and incorporated with soybean oil-based binder as a water repelling coating agent. The water-repelling efficiency of the coated paper was highly dependent on the ratio of SA / PCC as well as the binder content in the coating formula. PCC particles modified with 12wt% SA were efficient in increasing the water contact angle (WCA) of the coated paper to 146° at a coating weight of 5 g/m 2 .  The binder for the coating was synthesized with acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) through Michael addition reaction. The triglyceride structure in the polymer chain imparted good bio-degradability to the binder polymer. It was found that surface modification of PCC with stearic acid played an important role in improving the WCA of paper.  A super hydrophobic paper with a WCA of 162° was fabricated with a coating formula of 60% SA-modified PCC and 40 wt% AESO-binder.


Background The role of growth factors in prosthesis loosening is unclear. We evaluated the levels of plate-let-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB), transforming growth factors β1 (TGF-β1) and β2 (TGF-β2), both before and after activation, in patients with aseptic loosening of their hip prosthesis. Patients and methods 26 patients with loosened hip implants were compared with 21 patients who had stable hip prostheses, and 28 patients undergoing primary hip replacement. The plasma levels of the growth factors were analyzed by enzyme immunoassay. TGF-β1 and TGF-β2 were determined both before and after activation. Results Patients with aseptic loosening had significantly lower PDGF-BB levels than patients undergoing primary hip replacement, and significantly lower TGF-β2 levels than patients with a stable implant. Patients with stable prostheses had significantly higher TGF-β1 and TGF-β2 levels than patients undergoing primary hip replacement. Interpretation It is possible that the prosthetic implant itself causes a local increase in PDGF-BB, TGF-β1 and TGF-β2, released by osteoblasts and other cells in the microenvironment. The plasma PDGF-BB measured does not correspond to local release, which is probably due to local consumption or degradation. The consumption of PDGF-BB is low in stable implants, and TGF-β1 and TGF-β2 levels increase during bone formation. In loosening, PDGF-BB consumption is higher and causes a significant reduction in plasma levels as compared to presurgery. The formation of poor-quality bone may be related to the scarce increase in TGF-β1 and TGF-β2. In conclusion, compared with patients with a stable implant, a reduction in bone-forming growth factors appears to occur in individuals with aseptic loosening.


One of the changes done by the government in the field of education is changing Curriculum 2006 to be Curriculum 2013. This change impacts on the change of learning paradigm, which at the beginning it was teacher-centered learning changes to be students centered learning. Therefore, the learning strategy used by teachers should be addressed to facilitate competence achievement that in the end, it will improve students' achievement. This study was aimed to identify the effectivity of project-based interactive e-module media towards students' achievement in the subject of digital simulation. This study was categorized into preexperimental quantitative research with one group pretest-posttest design. The data analysis method used was a paired sample t-test. The results showed the significance value obtained was 0.000 which means higher than α. This means that there is an average score difference of students' achievement between before and after using the project based interactive e-module. The post-test average score is 82.65 which is higher than the average pre-test score of 43.40. It can be concluded that digital simulation learning by using the project based interactive emodule can improve the students' achievement.


Abstract Regenerative approaches using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been evaluated to promote the complete formation of all missing periodontal tissues, e.g., new cementum, bone, and functional periodontal ligaments. MSCs derived from bone marrow have been applied to bone and periodontal defects in several forms, including bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) and cultured and isolated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). This study aimed to evaluate the periodontal regeneration capacity of BMAC and cultured BM-MSCs in the wound healing of fenestration defects in rats. Methodology: BM-MSCs were obtained after bone marrow aspiration of the isogenic iliac crests of rats, followed by cultivation and isolation. Autogenous BMAC was collected and centrifuged immediately before surgery. In 36 rats, fenestration defects were created and treated with suspended BM-MSCs, BMAC or left to spontaneously heal (control) (N=6). Their regenerative potential was assessed by microcomputed tomography (µCT) and histomorphometry, as well as their cell phenotype and functionality by the Luminex assay at 15 and 30 postoperative days. Results: BMAC achieved higher bone volume in 30 days than spontaneous healing (p<0.0001) by enhancing osteoblastic lineage commitment maturation, with higher levels of osteopontin (p=0.0013). Defects filled with cultured BM-MSCs achieved higher mature bone formation in early stages than spontaneous healing and BMAC (p=0.0241 and p=0.0143, respectively). Moreover, significantly more cementum-like tissue formation (p<0.0001) was observed with new insertion of fibers in specimens treated with BM-MSCs within 30 days. Conclusion: Both forms of cell transport, BMAC and BM-MSCs, promoted bone formation. However, early bone formation and maturation were achieved when cultured BM-MSCs were used. Likewise, only cultured BM-MSCs were capable of achieving complete periodontal regeneration with inserted fibers in the new cementum-like tissue.


The Carlitz rank of a permutation polynomial f over a finite field F q is a simple concept that was introduced in the last decade. Classifying permutations over F q with respect to their Carlitz ranks has some advantages, for instance f with a given Carlitz rank can be approximated by a rational linear transformation. In this note we present our recent results on the permutation behaviour of polynomials f + g , where f is a permutation over F q of a given Carlitz rank, and g ∈ F q [ x ] is of prescribed degree. We describe the relation of this problem to the well-known Chowla-Zassenhaus conjecture. We also study iterations of permutation polynomials by using the approximation property that is mentioned above.


This special session is intended for people who are curious about integrating Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) into their courses and involving students in HFOSS projects. HFOSS participation provides an excellent vehicle to introduce students to computing for social good while also giving them experience with real-world software development. The session will begin with a series of lightning talks by faculty who have incorporated HFOSS participation into one or more of their courses. This will be followed by a small group activity to allow attendees to ask questions and discuss individual interests in integrating HFOSS activities and to become familiar with HFOSS educational resources available for instructors. The session will conclude with some closing comments on current and planned activities of instructors who are teaching with HFOSS and suggestions for faculty who would like to pursue this teaching approach themselves.


This study proposes a group of indicators in the analysis of the wine industry performance. Section one presents a new model of analysis to evaluate how the wine industry openness, the wine industry productivity level, the wine cargo expansion, and the wine industry technological change adaptability can affect directly on the marginal wine industry productivity growth rate. This new model, "The Wine Industry Growth Performance Evaluation Model (WIGPE-Model)" is intended to offer policy makers and researchers an additional analytical tool to study the impact of dynamic changes such as change in the wine international trade trends and the impact of technology on wine industries performance from a new perspective. The WIGPE-Model can be applied to the study of any wine industry and not constrained by geographical area or development stage of the entities on study. The WIGPE-Model is simple and flexible. Section two, summarizes the results on the performance of Spain, Italy, France, Chile, Argentina, and Greece wine industry. The WIGPE-Model's strength is the ability to capture and measure the change, vulnerability of the wine industry performance.