When a child is diagnosed with an eating disorder, parents are expected to help the child recover. Yet, parents often feel under-prepared and alone, their experiences inadequately known to healthcare professionals. The research aim was to examine the meaning to parents of caring for a child with an eating disorder. Qualitative interviews with 29 parents were analyzed and the parents' experiences were represented by a collective story of loving her into well-being one day at a time which consisted of two themes: Running on nerves and caring through transformational activism. Running on nerves included threads of feeling lost, traumatized, scarred, and disengaged that mitigated as parents engaged in transformational activism processes directed toward helping themselves, their child, and other parents and children. The findings illustrate the importance of hearing parents' stories in order to create supportive healing environments and to build capacity within families and health care systems.


Purpose
This paper aims to consider the training provided to Volunteer Police Cadet (VPC) Leaders in police forces across England and Wales who, as part of the wider policing volunteer family, lead organised youth development activities for uniformed police cadets.

Design/methodology/approach
An online ethically approved questionnaire was administered to volunteer leaders across six VPC schemes hosted by police forces in England and Wales. The sample population being selected due to their geographical spread across both nations, along with the similarities of their VPC schemes. The questionnaire collected demographic information of respondents, then used a blend of closed questions. Likert scales and free text boxes to explore attitudes.

Findings
The training for the volunteer leaders seems to focus on the mandated elements provided to protect the cadets from harm and also the organisation from litigation. With little development of additional knowledge, skills and behaviours (and in some cases required qualifications) to enhance the service and opportunities delivered to the young people by the volunteers.

Research limitations/implications
Due in part to the limited response rate, this research cannot claim to be representative of all individuals engaged in this voluntary role; it does however provide insights into the training of such volunteers.

Practical implications
The research informs the decision makers of how the training of volunteer cadet leaders within forces seems to focus on the completion of the mandatory elements, with little further development of the volunteers to deliver both varied and challenging activities for the cadets.

Originality/value
The research provides an insight for decision makers on how the training of volunteer cadet leaders within forces seems to focus on the mandatory elements, with few opportunities for further development of volunteer leaders to deliver new, varied and challenging activities for the cadets.


How is accountability in safety management affected in and by public–private urban multiroute stations? To help address this question, major interchanges with newly tunneled lines in London and Stockholm are studied: Stratford station and Stockholm Station City. Differences in origin, national and regional significance, and specific governance features of these megaprojects are identified. Accountability in safety management appears more critiqued in the Swedish case, possibly related to comparatively higher attention to particularities of this "bottleneck" national nexus. Wrought with albeit less visible geographical and geological constraints, the comparative magnitude of London and acclimatization to projects has explanatory value. Similarity in the patchwork of public–private actors, implying fragmented governance jeopardizing accountability is observed in both cases. Both megaprojects span decades, with turnover and lack of institutional memory posing further challenges for accountability and safety. A major finding is that, complementary to standard risk analysis, accountability in the governance of infrastructural megaprojects begs improvement.


Though the majority of people in Ethiopia at large, and at Bale Mountains National Park in particular, rely on ethnomedicinal plant species to manage human ailments, the indigenous knowledge largely remains undocumented. Therefore, an ethnobotanical study was conducted on medicinal plant species used to manage human ailments at Bale Mountains National Park, Southeastern Ethiopia. Observations and semi-structured interviews were used to gather ethnobotanical data. Altogether, 56 ailments were reported to be managed using 101 different ethnomedicinal plant species. Consensus of traditional healers was high in managing eczema (ICF = 0.58), tinea versicolor (ICF = 0.50), rheumatism (ICF = 0.43), haemorrhoids (ICF = 0.33), earache (ICF = 0.33) and gonorrhoea (ICF = 0.27). The mean number of plant species used by each healer showed significant difference with district. Most medicinal plant species reported in this study were found to be under threat and this calls for urgent conservation measures so as to maximize the sustainable use of these vital resources in the study area.

 Key words: Ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, indigenous knowledge, medicinal plant, traditional medicine, traditional healer, Bale, Ethiopia.


− The aim of this study was to investigate the protective activity of gomisin A and gomisin N, bioactive lignan components isolated from Schizandae Fructus, on hepatocyte injury induced by carbon tetrachloride(CCl 4 , 10 mM), t-butyl hydroperoxide(TBH, 0.5 mM), and D-galactosamine(GalN, 30 mM). Primary cultures of rat hepatocyte(18 h culture) were treated with CCl 4 , TBH or GalN and various concentrations(0.1, 1, 10, 100 μM) of gomisin A or gomisin N. CCl 4 significantly increased the levels of lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), alanine aminotransferase(ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase(AST). These increases were inhibited by gomisin N. TBH significantly increased the level of AST; an increase that was inhibited by gomisin N. GalN markedly increased the levels of LDH and ALT, and these increases was significantly inhibited by both gomisin A and gomisin N. These results suggest that gomisin A and gomisin N have the hepatoprotective activity.


A group of 30 healthy persons and 120 coronary patients were investigated by one and two-dimensional echocardiography and digital subtraction angiography. End-diastolic volume and ejection fraction were estimated. Patients with coronary disease had greater volumes than healthy persons and smaller ejection fraction as well. The correlation of the given values showed that data gathered by two-dimensional echocardiography have greater coefficient in comparison to digital subtraction angiography (end-diastolic volume index r = 0.86, ejectional fraction r = 0.88, p < 0.01) than the same data estimated by one-dimensional technique. Two-dimensional echocardiography is a reliable noninvasive method for evaluation of these significant indicators of left ventricle function.


Heat exchanger is one of the supporting production equipment that move the heat energy from one of fluid to another fluid flow. One example of a heat exchanger in power plant industry is High Pressure Heater (HPH). HPH is high pressure feedwater heater that using hot steam turbine waste product used as heating medium before entering the economizer on boiler to reduce the work of boiler. This research was conducted to determine the effective efficiency of High Pressure Heater at Power Plant Industry. This efficiency determination is based on thermodynamics and heat transfer analysis with Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD) method and Number of Transfer Unit (NTU) method. The analysis is to determining the effective heat transfer, overall heat transfer coefficient (U), Effectiveness and the analysis of pressure drop (∆P). The analysis results obtained the efffective heat transfer of 37.013 kW, overall heat transfer coefficient (U) of 502,48, effectiveness of 0,47 and the number of pressure drop of 23.498,06 Pa.


Under current U.S. law, certain terrorism suspects are potentially subject to both military detention and civilian criminal prosecution if and when they are apprehended by the United States. This result may seem wholly unsurprising in light of the hybrid approach the United States has pursued with respect to combating the threats posed by al Qaeda and its affiliates — relying simultaneously on the very separate legal regimes governing uses of military force and ordinary law enforcement. But the flexibility available to the government by combining these historically distinct paradigms in individual cases raises a host of thorny legal questions; the implications of which have not adequately been explored.For example, should a detainee's time (and treatment) in military detention have any bearing on his subsequent criminal trial, whether with respect to presentment, speedy trial rights, Miranda rights, or other procedural protections? Should the means by which the detainee is captured have any bearing on what happens thereafter? Should the detainee have the right to collaterally attack his military detention even once it has ceased? And, perhaps most controversially, would anything prevent the government from returning a detainee to military detention upon either his acquittal or the conclusion of his prison sentence?Federal courts have only just begun to grapple with these questions. And, at least thus far, they have imposed few (if any) constraints upon the government's ability to "cross-ruff" — to use military and law enforcement authorities together in a manner that avoids the restrictions that would attach if a detainee were subjected exclusively to one of those paradigms. In Part I of this Article, I aim to explain why, under current law, these decisions are unsurprising, and this pattern therefore likely to continue — with the government being able to utilize its military detention authorities to delay, perhaps indefinitely, the onset of particular procedural protections that would otherwise attach to criminal terrorism prosecutions.Part II turns to the harder question: Insofar as constitutional "cross-ruffing" is a problem, or at least might be at some future point, what, if anything, can (and should) be done to solve it? As Part II explains, there are two different moments at which "cross-ruffing" could best be regulated: The first is prior to a criminal trial, at which point one solution is to reconceive of when pre-trial delays should be charged to the government for purposes of the Sixth Amendment's Speedy Trial Clause (along with when such delays prejudice the defendant). The second moment is after an acquittal or the end of a prison sentence, at which point an analogous solution would be to read into the Due Process Clause limits on whether and under what circumstances the defendant may be returned to military detention.To be sure, neither of these solutions is perfect. But if nothing else, the problem of constitutional "cross-ruffing" is one that is not likely to go away anytime soon — especially so long as the United States continues to pursue such a hybrid approach to preventing and punishing transnational terrorism by groups such as al Qaeda and its affiliates.


Article Information ABSTRACT Received: August 27, 2021 Revised: September 30, 2021 Accepted: October 15, 2021 Online: November 15, 2021 This paper explored the teaching experiences of physics teachers in integrating computer simulations in their pedagogy to promote a constructivist learning environment. Its objectives are to determine how physics teachers describe computer simulations based on how they are used, how these are embedded in the teaching-learning process, their impact on the teaching-learning process, and the challenges of integrating these into physics teaching. Using the phenomenological design, two themes emerged for the first objectives, which are process-based and system-based. First, the teacher-manipulated with sub-themes of engaging, demonstrating, elaborating, and evaluating, and studentmanipulated emerged on how the simulations are used. Second, the impact to teaching generated knowledge-based, skill-based, and value-based learning-based primarily on the three learning domains. Also, respondents emphasized that the integrations of computer simulations are convenience, efficacy, and heterogeneity. Finally, the challenges in the integration process are classified as teacher and schoolrelated. The results showed that teachers are integrating computer simulations differently depending on their resources and the TPACK knowledge.


We have closely examined the emission spectrum at the heavy-hole exciton resonance in a high-quality GaAs multi-quantum well sample using picosecond excitation-correlation photoluminescence (ECPL) spectroscopy. Dynamics of the ECPL signal at low and high energy sides of the excitonic photoluminescence (PL) peak show complementary behavior. The ECPL signal is positive (negative) below (above) the PL peak and it changes sign within a narrow band of energy lying between the excitonic absorption and emission peaks. The energy at which this sign change takes place is interpreted as the excitonic mobility edge as it separates localized excitons in quantum dot-like states from mobile excitons in quantum well-like states.


BACKGROUND
Tocilizumab and baricitinib improve outcomes in severely ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), however, comparative analyses of clinical outcomes related to these agents is lacking. A tocilizumab national shortage shifted treatment to baricitinib in critically ill patients, allowing for an outcome comparison in a similar population. The purpose of this study is to compare clinical outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients who received tocilizumab and those who received baricitinib.

METHODS
This retrospective, multicenter cohort study of adult patients with severe COVID-19 compared the use of tocilizumab, before its shortage, to baricitinib use during the shortage. Both drugs were formulary restricted at the study sites with identical patient criteria for use. The primary outcome was World Health Organization Clinical Progression Scale (WHO-CPS) score at day 14. Secondary outcomes included WHO-CPS score at day 7. Generalized estimating equation models were utilized, accounting for clustering by hospital and known confounders, to estimate the proportional odds of the ordinal WHO-CPS score at day 14.

RESULTS
In total, 507 patients were included; 217 received tocilizumab and 290 received baricitinib. Over 96% of patients required ICU admission and 98% received concomitant dexamethasone. Tocilizumab recipients had higher (worse) baseline WHO-CPS scores. After adjustment, tocilizumab use was associated with higher odds of a worse day 14 WHO-CPS score compared with baricitinib (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.65 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10-2.48]). Similarly, after adjustment, tocilizumab use was associated with higher odds of a worse day 7 WHO-CPS score (adjusted OR 1.65 [95% CI 1.22-2.24]).

CONCLUSIONS
Baricitinib use was associated with better WHO-CPS scores at day 14 and day 7 compared with tocilizumab in a cohort of critically ill patients with COVID-19. The odds of having a one unit increase in WHO-CPS score at day 14 was 71% higher with tocilizumab than baricitinib. No difference in mortality or adverse effects was noted.


Abstract:It is not altogether clear why Mary travels to Elizabeth's residence after her encounter with the angel. Related, scholars often decipher Mary's (in)actions as it relates to her pregnancy and the socio-religious repercussions thereof. This article contends that Luke crafted the first chapter of his Gospel with the laws concerning rape in Deuteronomy 22 in mind. Taking into account issues of gender, social status, the Law, and topography, it is argued that Luke pens the account of Mary's journey in such a way that there is ambiguity and tension, disguise and manipulation to exploit a loophole in the rape laws of Deuteronomy 22*. Employing synchronic exegesis and diachronic interpretation, the impetus and nature of Mary's journey becomes palpable through the interpretive lens of Deuteronomy 22*. Indeed, Luke has masterfully woven the tale of how Mary comes safely to full-term—against all odds—to deliver her baby: Jesus, the Messiah.


Objective: In Parkinson disease (PD), the rate of clinical progression is highly variable. To date, there are conflicting findings concerning the prognostic factors influencing the rate of progression. Methodologic issues such as the use of selected patients from therapeutic trials, and short durations of follow-up probably underlie this problem. We therefore designed a prospective follow-up study of a cohort of newly diagnosed patients with PD. Methods: A cohort of 129 patients with newly diagnosed PD was assessed at baseline, and 1, 2, 3, and 5 years later. The rate of progression and its prognostic factors on the level of motor impairments, disability, and quality of life were investigated using linear mixed-model analysis. Results: Annual increase of motor impairments measured with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale–Motor Examination was estimated to be 2.46 points (95% confidence interval: 2.05–2.88). The main determinants of faster increase of motor impairments were male sex and cognitive dysfunction at the time of diagnosis. The main determinants of faster increase of disability were higher age at onset, cognitive dysfunction, and the presence of levodopa-nonresponsive motor symptoms at the time of diagnosis. No clinically relevant determinants were found for the decrease in quality of life. Conclusion: This study shows the importance of nondopaminergic symptoms at the time of diagnosis, because these symptoms are the main determinants of increased disability in the first 5 years of the disease.


The authors demonstrate that a transient-grating experiment is a sensitive optical method to study the dynamics of the spatial separation of electrons and holes in an electric field, i.e. the screening of the electric field by charge rearrangement. It provides high temporal as well as spatial resolution. The technique is applied to study the field-induced carrier dynamics in the plane of an intrinsic GaAs/AlAs quantum well layer.


Over recent decades, almost every area of historical study has seen its global turn – from consumption to finance, from politics to migration, from social order to cultural patterns. This volume reflects the vibrant state of global history scholarship in Europe and examines to what extent global history is practiced and conceptualised distinctively within Europe.
Drawing together contributions from scholars from France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK, the book offers a sweeping overview of the state of the field. In particular, the contributors look at histories of colonialism and imperial expansion, knowledge circulation and mobility across borders.
This book reflects the diversity of current scholarship on global and transnational history and will offer important insights for anyone interested in understanding the cutting edge of research in this area.


An asymmetric laser heterostructure is developed to improve the beam properties of GaSb-based diode lasers with no degradation in laser parameters. Employing the semivectorial finite difference method, the dependences of beam divergence and optical confinement factor on waveguide width and refractive index step are investigated theoretically. After carefully design, a particular asymmetric laser structure is proposed. Its beam divergence in the fast axis is reduced from 61° to 34° compared with that of the broad-waveguide structure. The optical confinement factor is approximately equal to 0.0362 and comparable to that of the conventional broad-waveguide structure.


F.A Hayek is one of the most important and influential advocates of liberalism in the 20th century. His theory is famously based on the concept of spontaneous order, an order emerging from the interaction of individuals without central control and appears critical of every form of interventionism. At the same time Hayek also defends the necessity to improve or even to constitute a liberal order. This seminal tension, between an evolutionary strand and a designing strand in Hayek's political theory, gave birth to a set of debates regarding the consistency of Hayek's thinking. In this article I argue, against several commentators and critics, that the theory of spontaneous order, which draws on complexity theory and cultural evolution, does not clash with Hayek's defense of liberalism, but allow for a better understanding of it. My analysis puts forward the importance of a liberal design of a framework enhancing spontaneity, a radical liberalism, which goes beyond a whiggish liberalism defending the slow piecemeal evolution of social norm and institutions. I thus defend that Hayek provides a theory of a liberal design of spontaneity. Since Hayek is concerned by the liberal framework allowing for the growth of a beneficial spontaneous order, his liberalism should not be defended on evolutionary grounds, which are flawed, but on normative grounds, which are debatable.


This paper proposes a new algorithm to generate a super-resolution image from a single, low-resolution input without the use of a training data set. We do this by exploiting the fact that the image is highly compressible in the wavelet domain and leverage recent results of compressed sensing (CS) theory to make an accurate estimate of the original high-resolution image. Unfortunately, traditional CS approaches do not allow direct use of a wavelet compression basis because of the coherency between the point-samples from the downsampling process and the wavelet basis. To overcome this problem, we incorporate the downsampling low-pass filter into our measurement matrix, which decreases coherency between the bases. To invert the downsampling process, we use the appropriate inverse filter and solve for the high-resolution image using a greedy, matching-pursuit algorithm. The result is a simple and efficient algorithm that can generate high quality, high-resolution images without the use of training data. We present results that show the improved performance of our method over existing super-resolution approaches.


The CIO (chief information officer) organization at IBM has adopted the idea of a participatory Web and is engaged in leveraging employee talent to address the persistent information technology challenges facing global enterprises. A series of unique open conversations among employees resulted in a new approach to collaborative innovation. This new model of innovation has become an important component of the IBM product and service strategy, as it has generated new solutions that have met quick market success. In this paper we describe this model of innovation and illustrate our experience in four case studies.


The nature of antibodies to nucleic acids was studied in children of a Caucasian region suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerodermia (SSD). Two types of antibodies (to two- and one-filament DNA) were revealed in SLE, and in SSD mainly--to one-filament DNA. Antibodies to RNA in patients with SLE were specific for two-filament conformation. Immunogenesis disorders of different degree with respect to DNA and RNA were found; this expressed itself in the synthesis of various classes of immunoglobulins to these antibodies (IgG to DNA and IgM to RNA). High incidence of the RNA-binding activity of relatives living together with probands is noted. These data point to a high occurrence of antibodies to denatured DNA and low incidence of the cases of DNA-binding activity in the blood sera of the patients' fathers and brothers. Thus a combination of three factors: viral, genetic and hormonal in the pathogenesis of this disease is possible.


The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that occur together, increasing the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. Nutritional interventions improving inflammation, bioenergetics, and oxidative stress are proposed as effective tools in preventing metabolic syndrome. The cocoa shell is a by-product generated in large amounts during cocoa production. This by-product contains alkaloids and phenolic compounds as main compounds and has been investigated as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent. Here, we used network pharmacology to explore the potential mechanism of the phytochemicals from the cocoa shell. We searched the cocoa shell's phytochemical composition; then, oral bioavailability and drug-likeness were screened. We predicted the targets for the phytochemicals found in this by-product and used different databases to search for compound–protein and compound–gene interactions, and then protein–protein interaction networks were constructed. Moreover, pathway enrichment analysis was performed, and biological processes and signaling pathways were identified and illustrated through bioinformatics analyses. Theobromine, caffeine, procyanidin B2, (−)-epicatechin, (+)-catechin, and protocatechuic acid were identified in the cocoa shell as main components. Those phytochemicals were associated with inflammation (TNF-α, NF-κB, JNK)-, oxidative stress (CAT, SOD)-, obesity (adiponectin, leptin, FASN, PPAR-α)-, and diabetes (insulin, AKT)-related pathways. Results demonstrated that cocoa shell phytochemicals could modulate multiple biological processes and signaling pathways in a multimechanistic manner. Hence, cocoa shell consumption could support the nutritional prevention of metabolic syndrome. Future in vivo and clinical investigations will be needed to validate this potential nutraceutical and healthy ingredient's effects and mechanisms.


A hybrid system, comprising a line commutated thyristor high-voltage direct current (HVdc) converter and a static VAR compensator, is proposed in this paper for the connection of networks with no synchronous generation to a main grid. The proposed system combines the robust performance and low capital cost and power loss of a line-commutated HVdc converter, with the fast dynamic performance of a voltage-source-converter (VSC)-based transmission system. The paper describes the principles and control strategies of the proposed system. PSCAD/EMTDC simulations are presented to demonstrate the robust performance and to validate the proposed system during various operating conditions such as black-start, variations of load or generation, and ac fault conditions.


The exotic electronic and optical properties of the transition metal dichalcogenides(TMDCs) opens up new opportunities in the field of dielectric metaphotonics. Although some interesting photonic phenomena have been demonstrated in nanostructures fabricated from mechanical exfoliated TMDCs, it is still challenging to realize the large scale TMDCs metaphotonics structure with controllable geometric parameters. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the MoS2 metaphotonics structures through the CVD bottom-up method, which support both the dielectric resonant modes and self-coupled polaritons. To be specific, we realize the magnetic-type surface lattice resonance(M-SLR) in the 1D MoS2 metaphotonics structure with extremely low material loss. As a proof of concept, we further exhibit a self-coupled exciton-SLR polariton via the spatial dispersion with abnormal coupling strength to the mode volume and the Rabi splitting up to 170meV. Bright Mie modes and self-coupled anapole-exciton polaritons with unambiguous anti-crossing behavior are also realized in 2D MoS2 metaphotonics structures. We argue that the TMDCs structure based on this CVD bottom-up fabrication method not only can realize nanoresonator but also can be extended to other metaphotonic structure such as metasurface, metalens and slab photonic crystal.


The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of varying hopper duration on negative automaintenance in the pigeon. These effects were assessed in six experimental Ss by exposing them to either two-, four-, or eight-second hopper durations. A fixed trial negative contingency in which a peck's only consequence was to cancel grain for that trial was in effect at all times. Trials consisted of an eight-second illumination of a response key programmed on a VT 30-second schedule. In all conditions, the percent of trials with at least one peck remained roughly constant across all subjects. Average latencies across Ss decreased as the hopper duration increased. Individual Ss manifested this effect most clearly in the difference between the eight-second and the two shorter conditions. This effect is consistent with effects of similar manipulations done in the context of Pavlovian conditioning. An analysis of sequential dependencies within and across sessions showed that there is a tendency for the number of trials with a peck to oscillate in successive sessions. No dependencies of this sort were discovered on a within session basis. It is suggested that specific mechanisms be defined by experimenter operations as the mechanisms of behavioral control.


Official statistics record a tremendous diversity in the level and dynamics of the self-employment rate across countries. Such diversity is even more pronounced for developing countries than for industrial countries. In these countries, self-employment figures may represent evidence of the spark of an emerging entrepreneurial class still in its infant stages, or conceal marginal urban manufacturing employment at the mere level of subsistence and disguising actual unemployment in years of economic depression. This paper documents this diversity for developing and developed countries with new empirical evidence, and tests the determinants of this diversity with econometric techniques. Estimates are presented on a sample of 64 developing countries and 19 developed countries in a period from the 1960s through the 1990s.

The results generally confirm a negative association between the rate of self-employment and the stage of development: self-employment would tend to disappear with the development process. However, we present evidence suggesting that in some cases self-employment is also related to high value-added manufactured exports, representing a dynamic and emerging form of entrepreneurship. To this aim, self-employment would not be motivated by the desire to evade taxes, but rather an active role of the government may enhance it. The relationships with the development of the financial sector, educational levels, and other cultural factors tend to vary. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


T cells in human neonates, infants, and adults differ dramatically in the initiation, strength, and stability of their responses. In this study, we investigate cellular mechanisms of CD4+ T cells from neonates, infants and adults to show the antigen specific response to Staphylococcus aureus and Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis.
 T cells from surgically excised adenoids of infants in different ages, cord blood and peripheral blood from healthy donors were characterized by flow cytometry and functional assays. Therefore CD14+ monocytes were incubated with extracts of Staphylococcus aureus and Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis to stimulate enriched T cells.
 CD4+ CD45RA and CD4+ CD45R0 T cells proliferate and up regulate the activation-associated molecule CD25 in response to Staphylococcus aureus whereas stimulation with Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis had no effect. In functional assays, we could show that T-cell proliferation is induced by Staphylococcus aureus via TCR-specific signal transduction. In this line, the antigen-specific response can be reduced by blockade of MHC class II molecules. Surprisingly, an inverse correlation between the percentages of Staphylococcus aureus induced proliferating T cells and age of infants is observed.
 In the case of activation with Staphylococcus aureus functional specific T cells are identified in cord blood, adenoids of infants, and adults with age-dependent characteristics.
 This work highlights the gap between specific T cell responses of neonates, infants, and adults in terms of quality and quantity. Our findings will help to understand the relationship between pathogens and T cells and to optimize future strategies for therapeutic interventions.


In this study, a seismic isolator placed on the base of a structure was optimized under various earthquake records using an adaptive harmony search algorithm (AHS). As known, the base-isolation systems with very low stiffness provide a rigid response of superstructure, so it was assumed that the structure is rigid and the base-isolated structure can be considered as a single-degree of freedom structure. By using this assumption, an optimization method that is independent of structural properties but specific to the chosen earthquake excitation set is proposed. By taking three different damping ratio limits and isolator displacement limits, the isolator period and damping ratio were optimized so that the acceleration of the structure was minimized for nine cases. In the critical seismic analysis performed with optimum isolator parameters, the results obtained for different damping ratios and isolator periods were compared. From the results, it is determined that isolators with low damping ratios require more ductility, and as the damping ratio increases, further restriction of the movement of the isolator increases the control efficiency. Thus, it is revealed that increasing the ductility of the isolator is effective in reducing the total acceleration in the structure.


This work presents an analysis of the influence of Power System Stabilizers and the Interline Power Flow Controller-Power Oscillation Damping set in small-signal stability of electric power systems using a modified Simulated Annealing algorithm to perform a coordinated tuning of the parameters these controllers. The objective of the modified Simulated Annealing algorithm is to insert additional damping to the low frequency oscillations present in the electric power system (local and inter-area modes). In this work, the electric power system is represented by the current sensitivity model, the reason why all components and devices inserted in the system were modeled by current injection. Simulations carried out using the symmetric system of two areas allow the validation of the modified Simulated Annealing algorithm as a tool in the analysis of small signal stability, to perform a static analysis of the system, and to validate the proposed model.


This research focuses on the electroacoustic tape music of the French-Greek composer Iannis Xenakis as a case study for a philology of electroacoustic music. It is shown that most commercially released versions of his three most well-known pieces contain major faults. Persepolis (1971) and La Legende d'Eer (1979) have been released with incorrect sample rates.

In light of these facts, the work of Xenakis serves as a good subject for the discussion of a philology of electroacoustic music. A systematic philological research method for electroacoustic music is developed. Thus, philology of electroacoustic music is an ideal field to apply newer tendencies in philology; critique genetique widens the focus on the development of the compositional process, and material philology broadens the view of the text and its support. In the case of electroacoustic music, it encompasses not only paper, but also magnetic tape, digital media, etc. It will be shown that a philological research approach allows a new holistic view of Xenakis's work and ideas. Philological research in the field of electroacoustic music is urgent, as a vast number of possible sources will soon disintegrate. It will enable us to critically discuss the sources of electroacoustic music in the light of the changed technology.

In the practical part of the thesis Xenakis's textural approach is extended: I developed the computer programme TTM (Texture Transformation Machine) that facilitates the construction of non-symmetrical, probability-controlled transitions between given musical textures. The software and the realisation of two compositions, String Quartet No. 3 and KRAFFT for orchestra, are discussed in detail.


Many attempts to find a non-invasive procedure to measure the local blood pressure have been made. In the last decade independent experiments have indicated that the amplitude of the subharmonic response from contrast agents is sensitive to the ambient pressure. This paper presents a new experimental setup for measuring the acoustic response of a contrast agent when subjected to ambient over pressure. The setup is very flexible offering completely arbitrary excitation and data acquisition, fast and accurate ambient pressure control, and precise timing. More importantly, it resembles a realistic clinical setup using a single array transducer for transmit and receive. In this experiment, the acoustic response of SonoVue (Bracco, Milano, Italy) was measured twice at six different ambient hydrostatic pressures in the interval 0 to 25 kPa with an accuracy within 0.5 kPa. The acquired RF data was filtered and beamformed before further processing. To compensate for variations in bubble response and to make the estimates more robust, the relation between the energy of the subharmonic and the fundamental component was chosen as a measure over the subharmonic peak amplitude. The results of the first measurement sequence show an ambient pressure sensitivity of 0.42 dB/kPa having a linear correlation coefficient of 0.94. In the second sequence, a sensitivity of 0.41 dB/kPa with a correlation coefficient of 0.89 was found.


The ancient Greek philosophers taught us many of the desirable features of government, but since 1979 we have lost sight of most of them. We now have a restricted view of citizenship, a defective view of the public interest, a diluted public service ethic, little public service education and training and above all we have lost sight of the Greeks' demand to seek the good life and the good society. Instead we have the 'Three Es' and a business approach which is profit led. Leadership and action are needed to restore the former virtues of British government, many of which were learnt from Plato and Aristotle.


Urban floods have been exacerbated globally, associated with increasing spatial-temporal variations of rainfall. However, compared with rainfall variabilities of intensity and duration, the effect of RMD is always ignored. Based on 1313 rainfall scenarios with different combinations of rainfall intensity(RI) and RMD in a typical rainy city of Shenzhen in China, we investigate the urban runoff response in relation to RMD and the spatial feature of rivers. Our results show that the effect of RMD on the peak runoff may reach up to 20%, which will decrease to less than 5% under heavy RI conditions. In addition, we find that the impact of RMD is almost symmetrical and is associated with the direction of the river. The closer RMD is to the Linear Directional Mean of upstream, the larger peak runoff of section is. Our results reveal that RMD is significant to urban peak runoff in the downstream reaches, which should be considered in urban hydrologic model.


An iron-loss model for laminated ferromagnetic cores of electrical machines is presented and applied to estimate the core losses of an induction machine with finite-element analysis. Skin effect in the cross section of the core lamination is modelled using a set of sinusoidal basis functions while locally considering both the hysteretic material properties and the excess field caused by domain wall motion. After spatial and time discretisation, a single non-linear equation system is obtained. An accurate vector Preisach model, the differential reluctivity tensor and the Newton-Raphson method guarantee excellent convergence of the iteration procedure. Results from the model correspond well to iron-loss data obtained by measurements.


After hip replacement for primary arthrosis, 69/104 patients younger than 60 years returned to work within 2 years. Long preoperative sick leave increased the risk of both retirement and long postoperative sick leave. The retirement rate was also influenced by occupation, whereas sex, age, or bilateral operations had no influence on postoperative retirement nor on postoperative sick leave.


The field of Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) has gained an important part of the interest of researchers and become very popular in last few years. MANETs can operate without fixed infrastructure and can survive rapid changes in the network topology. They can be studied formally as graphs in which the set of edges varies in time. The main method for evaluating the performance of MANETs is simulation. This paper is subjected to the on-demand routing protocols with identical loads and environment conditions and evaluates their relative performance with respect to the two performance metrics: average End-to-End delay and packet delivery ratio. We investigated various simulation scenarios with varying pause times. From the detailed simulation results and analysis, a suitable routing protocol can be chosen for a specified network and goal.


Visual question answering is a task of predicting the answer to a question about an image. Given that different people can provide different answers to a visual question, we aim to better understand why with answer groundings. We introduce the first dataset that visually grounds each unique answer to each visual question, which we call VQAAnswerTherapy. We then propose two novel problems of predicting whether a visual question has a single answer grounding and localizing all answer groundings. We benchmark modern algorithms for these novel problems to show where they succeed and struggle. The dataset and evaluation server can be found publicly at https://vizwiz.org/tasks-and-datasets/vqa-answer-therapy/.


Abstract In the present study, novel preventive effects of repeated low-dose radiation exposure on diabetes-induced cardiac inflammation and cardiac damage were investigated. C57BL/6J mice were given multiple low doses of streptozotocin (STZ, 60 mg/kg × 6) to generate type 1 diabetes. A week after the last STZ injection, hyperglycemic mice were diagnosed and treated with and without whole-body low-dose radiation exposure (25 mGy X rays) once every 2 days for 2, 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks. Diabetes caused significant increases in cardiac inflammation, shown by time-dependent increases in mRNA and protein expressions of interleukin 18 (IL-18), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1). Repeated exposure of control mice to low-dose radiation caused mild increases in these inflammatory factors, except for ICAM-1. Repeated exposure of diabetic mice to low-dose radiation significantly reduced diabetes-increased cardiac expression of IL-18, TNF-α, MCP-1 and PAI-1 at both the mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, cardiac histopathological abnormalities, oxidative damage and fibrosis were significant in diabetic mice but to a lesser extent in diabetic mice with repeated low-dose radiation exposure. These results suggest that although low-dose radiation contributes to mild cardiac inflammation in control mice, it can significantly reduce diabetes-induced cardiac inflammation and associated pathological changes. Therefore, low-dose radiation may potentially become a novel approach to the prevention of diabetic cardiovascular complications.


Design of robust control systems requires efficient ways to compute variations of responses of interest with respect to a wide range of variations for a large number of initial conditions. This is necessary in order to perform engineering oriented applications such as design optimization, inverse studies, and sensitivity analysis. A reduced order model based on an adjoint approach that takes advantage of the contraction in the state rather than the response phase space is developed to calculate the variations in responses of interest with respect to input parameters. The approach is designed to combat the explosion in the state phase space often limiting the design of reduced order models. We show that the developed adjoint approach is independent of the given response, and is only dependent on the constraint equations relating initial conditions to the state variables. The mathematical framework hybridizes sampling techniques with adjoint methods to find the reduced order model. Its construction permits a general applicability to linear and nonlinear dynamical systems with general initial conditions variations. A proof of principle linear problem is demonstrated in this summary. The details of its general applicability to nonlinear models are left to a full journal article.


Americans of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent in the United States have been historically understudied, in part due to limitations of racial classification systems that typically include MENA under the broad umbrella of White. As a result, enormous gaps in knowledge about health and mental health disparities exist, with broad public health significance. In particular, there is an urgent need to attend more specifically to MENA Americans' experiences of cumulative racial-ethnic trauma, which occurs at every level of their social ecologies. This article offers a conceptual model of cumulative racial-ethnic trauma to represent the unique experiences of the MENA American population. Traumatic factors at the macrolevel include historical trauma, pervasive institutional discrimination, and a hostile national context. These factors interact with one another and further impact microlevel traumatic experiences related to interpersonal discrimination and microaggressions, as well as struggles with identity and recognition. The deleterious impacts of these experiences may include a ubiquitous sense of insecurity, hopelessness, and alienation among MENA American individuals, in addition to more specific mental health and physical health concerns. It also compromises the overall well-being of the MENA American population in terms of belonging versus alienation, freedom versus restriction, and opportunities versus disadvantage. We discuss how the model can help to create a foundation for future inquiry and contribute to intervention efforts to find effective ways to support resilience and thriving for the MENA American population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


After the super economic cycle from 2002 to 2010, the mining industry is trying to re-emerge and recuperate the lost ground by implementing various productivity improvement and sustainability measures. Aspects related to redefining the Human Resource (HR) issues are yet to be considered vital and almost no evidence of research carried out in last 5-years. This paper is making an attempt to explore the human attributes, which are directly and indirectly affecting the organizational outcomes.


Despite the large-scale diagnostic and therapeutic progress of recent years, the heterogeneity and therapeutic management of adult primary malignant brain tumors pose a significant challenge to the attending physician. Based on the research and experience accumulated over the past two decades, the range of patients who can benefit the most from complex oncology treatment has been outlined, and it has been confirmed that a reliable complex diagnostic background is essential for adequate therapeutic management. However, after some necessary therapeutic steps, the "gold standard" magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not always able to accurately assess and diagnose post-therapeutic conditions. Thanks to the collaboration of the nuclear medicine and neuro-oncology professions, more and more types of radiotracer compounds are now available in more and more centers, including amino acid ligands and thus, positron emission tomography (PET) examinations with the radiopharmaceutical O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine. The metabolic state, as a kind of fourth dimension of imaging, is an essential part of adequate modern diagnostics. Combining advanced MRI techniques and PET-based (PET/CT, PET/MRI) measurements with a suitable tracer can place therapeutic decisions on a reliable basis. We present the clinical significance of amino acid-PET-based hybrid nuclear medicine imaging studies in the therapeutic management of these patients by reviewing the literature data on the practice of the method in Hungary and abroad and presenting the results of our retrospective summary research so far. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(32): 1247-1255.


The culture-area concept promises new leads in social science research. This idea has been used primarily by anthropologists, but is now receiving much attention from workers in the biological and social sciences. The American school of social anthropology proceeds on the belief that there are regional differences in material culture, and also in social behavior, and that social evolution is itself regional. This leads us to investigate (I) the environmental problem in social anthropology; (2) the formulating of regional data in terms of tribal similarities; (3) the distribution of specific culture traits, taking them one at a time as is done by the archaeologist. Archaeology eliminates the introspective and other psychological aspects of the culture problem, but it gives time perspective, one of the requisities to an understanding of social evolution. It also gives evidence of the relation of region and to the world as a whole. Two problems are involved in the culture area: the first is ecological, the second is to determine how the tribal group functions in the area or community. If tribes fall into culture groups, we may expect something like a community function. It is the regional tendency to unity in procedure that presents a problem of interest to the social sciences, for we seem to have here the setting for the development of many institutions, of federations, of national groups.


A comparison was made between salt spray test standards ISO 9227: 2006 and ISO 9227:1990 in relation to introduction and scope, teat solution, apparatus, method to evaluate the corrosivity of the salt-spray chamber, specimen and arrangement, evaluation of results and test report. Hopefully, the comparison and analysis conducted would help to provide reference for those who use or establish the standards. It is suggested that modification be made to GB/T 10125-1997 standard in due course.


Fisheries and aquaculture is gaining more emphasis due to our concern in sustainability, greener solutions, conservation and food security. Detailed studies on physiology, genetics and general biology are therefore in a fish species very much relevant in order to put forward conservation protocols and to propose newer and improved culture practices. Establishment of Clarias batrachus in several continents and its popularity as a freshwater culturable fish species among consumers made the species suitable for thorough reviews with respect to various parameters. According to FAO estimates, the demand for catfishes throughout the world is increasing and Clarias batrachus with its several beneficial aspects remain as a hit among the Asians in particular. In order to protect the genetic resources of this species from unwanted hybridization, which the species is very much vulnerable the fish geneticists and the government bodies should work together. Habitat protection and sustainable consumption of this excellent fish species is the need today. Key words: Clarias batrachus , medicinal fish, review, adaptation, genetics


This study aims to implement the PIR sensor, Arduino UNO and 2 channel relay Module to automatically turn on the lights in the classroom at the STMIK Hang Tuah Pekanbaru campus, where the classes at the Hang Tuah Pekanbaru STMIK campus still use manual switches as controllers lights on. Therefore, a device is designed that can control the lights by using movements detected by the PIR sensor and processed using a computer.This system functions to turn on the lights automatically when someone enters the classroom and turn off the lights automatically when no one is in the class. The hardware used is Arduino Uno microcontroller, PIR motion sensor, 2 channel relay module, and 1.5 volt flashlight. The software for making programs is Arduino IDE where the programming language used is the C programming language. The test results show that the PIR sensor can detect the movement of people entering or leaving a room.


The activity on the market for mergers and acquisitions has been steadily increasing since the breakthrough at the end of the nineteenth century and the so called "robber barons" and the consolidation process at the beginning of the twentieth century featuring persons as J.P. Morgan. Since then there have been two large waves of activity; the first one during the strong economy of the sixties and then the second one during the restructuring phase of the eighties. This gave way to the "mega deals" of the nineties when European companies also entered the market on a large scale for the first time. (Copeland, Koller, Murrin, 2000) The motives in modern time for the takeovers have been operational improvements and synergies in the eighties and strategic factors such as global coverage in the nineties. (Hitt, Harrison, Ireland, 2001,)


Abstract Genome sequences and genome-wide transcript profiles are becoming increasingly available, opening a way to use this information in analyzing how groups of genes are connected in pathways or "regulons" that might explain how organisms accomplish the integration on an organismal level. We have begun to explore the large datasets that are available for transcripts of the best characterized plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana, setting up a gene network using clustering methods. A network, based on the Graphical Gaussian Model (GGM), describes coregulation of genes under a variety of external factors: abiotic, biotic, and chemical treatments. In its present structure, the network reveals coregulation for more than 7,000 genes in the Arabidopsis genome. The network appears to be particularly suited to reveal the regulatory structure of biochemical pathways and environmental stress responses. Examples describe network predictions centered on a trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase, an Arabidopsis response regulator and EPSPS. Results from the statistical analysis and bioinformatics of large data sets provide hypotheses that must be checked by additional studies. However, networks, which should be expanded from transcripts to also include proteins and metabolites, can be expected to explain not only how the Arabidopsis gene network is structured, but also provide insight in how similar networks in weed species might deviate or show correspondence and overlap. Nomenclature: Arabidopsis, Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh


The Perron-Frobenius theorem says that the spectral radius of an irreducible nonnegative tensor is the unique positive eigenvalue corresponding to a positive eigenvector. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to find the spectral radius and its corresponding positive eigenvector of an irreducible nonnegative symmetric tensor. By transferring the eigenvalue problem into an equivalent problem of minimizing a concave function on a closed convex set, which is typically a DC (difference of convex functions) programming, we derive a simpler and cheaper iterative method. The proposed method is well-defined. Furthermore, we show that both sequences of the eigenvalue estimates and the eigenvector evaluations generated by the method $Q$-linearly converge to the spectral radius and its corresponding eigenvector, respectively. To accelerate the method, we introduce a line search technique. The improved method retains the same convergence property as the original version. Preliminary numerical results show that the improved method performs quite well.


For better identification of novel diagnostic urinary biomarker in Type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN), methodological and reporting quality is as important as validity of biomarkers. The aim of this systematic review is to find out the best-reported diagnostic urinary biomarkers study in T2DN based on STARD criteria. We also analyzed the validity of urinary markers in the selected articles those followed STARD criteria. The diagnostic accuracy of urinary biomarkers on T2DN is not conclusive because of the poor reporting quality and differences in adjustment for conventional risk factors. For a proper validation of urinary biomarkers on T2DN, in future large well-designed longitudinal studies, with specific prediction analysis and validation of the biomarkers by adjusting with possible conventional risk factors.


We prove new results on the existence, non-existence, localization and multiplicity of nontrivial solutions for perturbed Hammerstein integral equations. Our approach is topological and relies on the classical fixed point index. Some of the criteria involve a comparison with the spectral radius of some related linear operators. We apply our results to some boundary value problems with local and nonlocal boundary conditions of Neumann type. We illustrate in some examples the methodologies used.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after acute kidney injury (AKI) is an area of great importance to patients. It was hypothesized that HRQOL after AKI would relate to intensity of dialysis during AKI and dialysis dependence at follow-up.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
The Veterans Affairs/National Institutes of Health Acute Renal Failure Trial Network Study was a multicenter, prospective, randomized trial of intensive versus less intensive renal replacement therapy in critically ill patients with AKI. Of 1124 participants, 415 survived at least 60 days and completed the Health Utilities Index (HUI), which measures 8 health attributes and calculates an overall HRQOL score, also called a utility score. How strongly pre-intensive care unit (ICU) health, severity of illness, hospital course, intensity of dialysis, and outcome were associated with 60-day HUI scores was assessed, after adjustment for demographics.

RESULTS
The overall HUI score was 0.40 +/- 0.37, indicating severely compromised health utility and was associated with only admission from home and hospital and ICU length of stay (LOS). Ambulation was better among those with a shorter hospital and ICU LOS. Better cognition was associated with dialysis independence and with fewer comorbid chronic illnesses. Emotion was associated with only hospital LOS. Pain was associated with ICU LOS.

CONCLUSIONS
Health utility was low in this cohort of patients after AKI, and intensity of dialysis did not affect subsequent health utility. The effects of a lengthy hospitalization generally outweighed the effects of delayed recovery of kidney function on HRQOL after AKI.


Self-resonant coils are well suitable for flexible array design. The size of such coils is dictated by the RF signal wavelength, which makes the design challenging at low frequencies. In this work, 13C tuning is achieved by combining distributed and lumped capacitance with the self-inductance of an RG-178 coaxial cable. A 1H trap is moved from the coil to the board of the preamplifier for better coil flexibility. The active 13C decoupling circuit is compact and broadband. The approach is used to develop a flexible 8-channel receive array of parallel-resonance coils for 13C-imaging. The array elements exhibit low noise correlation.


Abstract. China is the world's largest energy consumer and CO2 emitter. Cities contribute 85 % of the total CO2 emissions in China and thus are considered the key areas for implementing policies designed for climate change adaption and CO2 emission mitigation. However, understanding the CO2 emission status of Chinese cities remains a challenge, mainly owing to the lack of systematic statistics and poor data quality. This study presents a method for constructing a CO2 emissions inventory for Chinese cities in terms of the definition provided by the IPCC territorial emission accounting approach. We apply this method to compile CO2 emissions inventories for 20 Chinese cities. Each inventory covers 47 socioeconomic sectors, 20 energy types and 9 primary industry products. We find that cities are large emissions sources because of their intensive industrial activities, such as electricity generation, production for cement and other construction materials. Additionally, coal and its related products are the primary energy source to power Chinese cities, providing an average of 70 % of the total CO2 emissions. Understanding the emissions sources in Chinese cities using a concrete and consistent methodology is the basis for implementing any climate policy and goal.


The composite insulation consisting of PTFE film layers with interstitial silicone gel, emerging as a new alternative type of insulation structure has been very successfully used for over 15 years in dry type capacitance-graded core insulation of high voltage equipments, such as wall bushings, current transformers and cable terminals. This composite insulation structure is found in particular to have excellent partial discharge performance with the unique characteristic of self-attenuating when in operation, sometimes down to non-detectable levels. Numerous observations are described from early field-testing, laboratory testing and dissection analysis. The consistency of the phenomenon, even after 15 years of operation is confirmed. Simulation experiments were able to reproduce the characteristic and demonstrate that the level of voltage applied, the structure design and the presence of silicone gel govern the self-attenuation. This paper then proposes a mechanism showing that the initial partial discharge helps to raise the breakdown voltage of the capacitor elements, thus reducing the onset of further discharges.


Three simplified combustion systems have been investigated for acoustical oscillations. The systems are: (a) a mixing chamber and multiple-port burner mounted in a combustion tube open at both ends; (b) a similar mixing chamber and multiple-port burner which completely blocked the secondary-air inlet of the combustion tube; and (c) a system similar to (b), but utilizing separate fuel and primary-air inlets, giving a diffusion flame rather than a premixed-gas flame. Oscillations were found to occur only for certain ranges of the variables. In the first system, the pitch differed significantly in adjacent ranges of oscillation. In the two latter systems, the frequency of the oscillations remained fairly uniform and close to the fundamental of the combustion tube, although breaks occurred in the data as the configurations of the inlet supply systems were varied. These results are explained on the basis of (a) the time of feedback of pressure pulses which ultimately cause changes in the heat-release rate, and (b) the location of the flame relative to a section of maximum pressure amplitude in the combustion tube. In further substantiation of the implications of the test results, the Appendix presents a thermodynamic treatment of the phase requirement between rate of heat release and pressure.


Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) is a form of sexual deviation or dysfunction with a description of the definition of each item which includes the definition lesbian is defined as a term used to indicate that a woman has a sexual orientation among women, Gay is a term used to indicate that a person has same-sex relations or Same Sex Attraction, Bisexual is defined as a term used to indicate that a person has bisexual orientation, namely dual attraction at the same time both to the same sex and to the opposite sex. Transgender is a term used to indicate that a person has the desire to appear opposite of the sex he has whether he has a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or asexual social identity. The phenomenon of these cases, is behavior that is considered deviant, both in the Islamic religious and social dimensions. This became a concern in the community, In dealing with issues related LGBT groups, the role of the preacher is very important to prove that Islam is able and permissible to solve various social problems. This study uses the Library research method,collect and analyze data sources to be processed and presented in the form of a Library Research report.


In the field of disordered photonics, a common objective is to characterize optically opaque materials for controlling light delivery or performing imaging. Among various complex devices, multi-mode optical fibers stand out as cost-effective and easy-to-handle tools, making them attractive for several tasks. In this context, we leverage the reservoir computing paradigm to recast these fibers into random hardware projectors, transforming an input dataset into a higher dimensional speckled image set. The goal of our study is to demonstrate that using such randomized data for classification by training a single logistic regression layer improves accuracy compared to training on direct raw images. Interestingly, we found that the classification accuracy achieved using the reservoir is also higher than that obtained with the standard transmission matrix model, a widely accepted tool for describing light transmission through disordered devices. We find that the reason for such improved performance could be due to the fact that the hardware classifier operates in a flatter region of the loss landscape when trained on fiber data, which aligns with the current theory of deep neural networks. These findings strongly suggest that multi-mode fibers possess robust generalization properties, positioning them as promising tools for optically-assisted neural networks. With this study, in fact, we want to contribute to advancing the knowledge and practical utilization of these versatile instruments, which may play a significant role in shaping the future of machine learning.


Dogs are utilized more and more to seek out illicit and hazardous substances under the guidance of humans. Therefore, veterinarians, dog handlers, and pharmacists must all collaborate to ensure adequate protection, treatment, and care for detection dogs in the line of duty. Ideally, veterinarians and pharmacists can work together to train and equip dog handlers with state of the art instructions and animal emergency kits that can provide life-saving decontamination at the site of exposure. Pharmacists can collaborate with veterinarians to provide animal emergency kits containing essential treatment aids such as apomorphine, hydrogen peroxide, activated charcoal/sorbitol cathartic suspension, ocular irrigants, and instructions and associated devices for administration. Immediate intervention provides the best prognosis for canine heroes that suffer exposure to occupational toxicological hazards.


We are describing briefly another family with cardiomyopathy, where a woman and three of her four children were affected. Some of them have been under observation for twelve years and have been examined by the three authors at different periods. The mother had been suspected for many years of having some form of congenital heart disease because of a murmur. She and her three affected children were seen in 1948-51 at Liverpool by E.W.J.: he was impressed by the triple rhythm and by the mitral shape of the heart but did not think they had mitral stenosis. Later in 1950 one of the boys, then aged 15, died while playing football though he had been advised not to play. His mother died in 1952, at the age of47 with cardiomyopathy, a large heart, atrial fibrillation, and intracardiac thrombosis. In 1956, the two survivors, the sister and the youngest brother were seen by M.C. at Guy's Hospital. They were admitted for catheterization but permission for this was withdrawn so there was only a clinical examination. Triple rhythm was still one of the most striking features, and the diagnosis was thought to be familial cardiomyopathy. The youngest brother died suddenly when walking in the street at the age of 17 in 1960. This death and the occurrence of congestive heart failure in the sister after a successful pregnancy led to her admission under J.M.B. at Birmingham for cardiac catheterization. This revealed no congenital structural malformation but some left ventricular insufficiency on exercise and so supported the diagnosis of cardiomyopathy. She was given quinidine to try to prevent the occurrence of serious arrhythmias, and has remained reasonably well for 20 months but her outlook must be uncertain. A son of the mother's brother, a first cousin of the three sibs, died suddenly from heart disease when he was 42 but he had complained of anginal pain for four years so he may not have had a cardiomyopathy. The other members of the family appear to be free from heart disease.


This article takes its' starting point in the ongoing debate about gender and gender equality in higher music education (HME) institutions where new policies, projects and initiatives have been developed during the first decades of the 21st century. This article's analysis is framed by feminist scholarship on gender equality, and gender mainstreaming, as well as music education research about gender and gender equality. The aim is to investigate how gender and gender equality is talked about in classical music higher education, analyse how it is experienced and in what terms it is described. The main research question is, how is gender and gender equality constructed among leaders, teachers and students in three HME institutions in Nordic (Finland), Baltic (Estonia) and Central European (Hungary) countries. It is based on qualitative thematic semi-structured interviews with 45 participants, analysed with qualitative data-driven content analysis. In the discussion we argue that gender and gender equality are, in our material, constructed as being about women, that gender is rarely related to other types of discrimination or inequalities and that the cause of gender inequality is individualised. The conclusions suggest steps for further pursuing gender equality in HME.


Inorganic 35S-sulfate was injected into Xenopus laevis embryos before first cleavage to study incorporation of the label into the yolk platelets in order to localize glycosaminoglycan synthesis. Electron microscope autoradiography of embryonic thin sections from blastulae and gastrulae revealed that the primary site of label incorporation is at the edge of the yolk platelets, and, to a lesser extent, in their interiors. Autoradiography of isolated yolk platelets, lacking unit membranes, indicated the absence of label. Thus, edge associated label comes from the yolk platelets membrane, and interior label is solubilized in the glycerol-water gradient during yolk platelets isolation. Ruthenium red staining of yolk platelet in situ shows haavy deposits of the dye on the yolk platelet membrane surface facing the cytoplasmic surface. The crystalline main body of isolated yolk platelets does not take up the dye. It appears that continuous synthesis or sulfation of glycosaminoglycan occurs primarily at the outer surface yolk platelet membranes during early development, providing a novel site for this process.


Abstract : Increased international pressure has placed the United States on a path to losing one of the most effective weapons in its military inventory: the anti-personnel land mine (APL). In 1996, the U.S. Government began the destruction of all non-self-destructing "dumb" APLs. Following this, the 1997 Ottawa Convention effectively banned the use of APLs, which prompted the United States to decline signature to the convention until alternative means could be developed to replace all self-destructing (SD) and self-neutralizing (SN) APLs in the inventory. Although the tragic consequences of land mine employment are evident throughout the world and will continue to adversely affect lives for decades to come, one must consider the benefits found in the application of current APL systems and the consequences of denying their use to U.S. Armed Forces. Unfortunately, proponents of the Ottawa Convention are limited in their views to only the humanitarian impact rather than the APLs' numerous contributions to warfighting. As a result, research and development of future APL systems that meet the requirements of the Ottawa Convention fall far short of possessing the same effects as traditional APLs, are slow to develop, and are unlikely to be available before 2010 at best. Fortunately for U.S. forces, the United States has not yet fully complied with the mandates of the Ottawa Convention in terms of SD and SN APLs. Although the United States should maintain and allow U.S. forces to employ the full spectrum of APLs to increase combat power and enhance warfighting capabilities, it is unlikely that this will occur as international pressure increases to abide by the Ottawa Convention. Relieving U.S. forces' ability to employ this frightingly effective weapon against potential enemies creates a significant gap in their warfighting capability and the loss of a significant combat multiplier.


Environmental music therapy (EMT) is a noninvasive mind–body intervention that considers the physical, psychological, and cultural needs of patients, caregivers, and staff. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the effect of EMT on patients, caregivers, and staff revealed that EMT, involving the purposeful use of live music, showed positive effects on stress level and reduced the perception of noise in patients and caregivers when applied in common and treatment areas of the Cancer Center and outpatient infusion facility at a large inner-city hospital. Environmental music therapy attended to the immediate needs of patients and caregivers in a culturally sensitive way both prior to and during treatment. The present study additionally evaluates the effect of EMT's capacity to alleviate compassion fatigue and stress in oncologists, nurses, and other health professionals.


ABSTRACT This article examines the compromise proposal for a Regulation on cross-border access to electronic information in criminal matters the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs voted in favour of in December 2020. It explores the origins of the e-evidence initiative as a whole by placing it in the context of the EU cooperation on counter-terrorism and digitalization strategy. On this basis, it presents the key elements of the compromise proposal with a focus on the envisaged function of the so-called European Production and Preservation Orders. To contribute to the ongoing debate on the suitability of that proposal compared to the one released by the Commission in April 2018, it argues that the LIBE Committee's proposal fits better into a Union of Security and Freedom, but further improvements are needed to increase the protection of fundamental rights, given the intrusiveness of the suggested investigative measures.


We present PrVM, a framework for scheduling real-time VMs on multicore hardware. It addresses the intersection of the following problems: probabilistic real-time scheduling, VM scheduling, and full virtualization. Though each of these problems have been studied, their intersection - motivated by the need to consolidate multiple real-time software stacks, whose applications can be defined via probabilistic timing properties, onto a single embedded platform - is empty. PrVM uses a probabilistic model and timeliness optimality criterion. PrVM schedules VMs as server-like processes, computes time budgets using probabilistic methods, and aggregates task time budgets into VM time budgets. Experimental evaluations, using simulations and a concrete implementation, confirm the framework's effectiveness for synthetic benchmarks and multimedia applications.


A 75‐year‐old man was diagnosed with advanced follicular lymphoma because of enlarged cervical lymph nodes. He received chemotherapy and was in complete remission for four years. However, after four years, he developed diffuse lymphadenopathy in the abdominal and iliac area suspected to be recurrent follicular lymphoma. At the time, he was asymptomatic and did not have any accompanying lung lesions. Due to his asymptomatic state, careful monitoring was chosen. Later, he developed diffuse granular shadow in the lung fields. A definite diagnosis was difficult to achieve without histological findings. Therefore, transbronchial lung biopsy of the lesions was performed. The pathology and immunohistochemistry of the lesions revealed recurrent follicular lymphoma. Although the frequency of recurrent follicular lymphoma presenting with diffuse granular shadow is uncommon, recurrent malignant lymphoma should be considered as a differential diagnosis in case with a history of malignant lymphoma.


In WSN, the sink is only interested in collective information of sensor nodes within the event radius and not in their individual data. It is insufficient for end-to-end network QoS parameters to measure the QoS support in WSNs. We propose event QoS parameters into WSN for non-end-to-end applications. The event QoS parameters reflect the actual need of applications in WSN. Moreover, we present IDQS a queuing algorithm to provide service differentiation for WSNs based on event QoS parameters by setting different packet's lifetime. We find the relationship between packet's lifetime and event QoS parameters. By using the strategy the sink can detect the urgent event reliably and in time. The result of simulation verifies the effectiveness of our approach.


Abstract : Our research has discovered a novel immune-suppressive ligand protein called V-domain Immunoglobulin Suppressor of T cell Activation (VISTA). By directly suppressing T cell-mediated adaptive immune response, VISTA critically impairs anti-tumor immune responses. VISTA monoclonal antibody-mediated blockade synergizes with a peptide vaccine using TLR agonists as adjuvants to potently reject established tumor. Based on these preliminary data, three specific aims are proposed to address the interplay between VISTA pathway and TLR signaling in multiple cell types, namely effector T cells, Foxp(3+)CD4(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs), and myeloid cells (i.e. myeloid dendritic cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells). In this reporting period, we have characterized the role of VISTA in controlling TLR-mediated activation of myeloid cells including DCs and macrophages, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (Aim 1) and identified potential signaling mechanisms whereby VISTA controls TAK1 activation and regulates the production of inflammatory cytokines. Second, we have established in vitro assay systems to distinguish T cell intrinsic versus extrinsic mechanisms whereby VISTA regulates TCR signaling and T cell activation. In addition, by following adoptively transferred T cells recognizing melanoma antigens, we have confirmed the synergistic activation of T cells in response to combinatorial therapy. These results form the foundation for defining the molecular mechanisms whereby the combinatorial therapy triggers potent anti-tumor T cell responses.


For going of the durability of the machining tools at the making of mild steel is proposed the andvanced straining, process which was applied in practice at the broaching the parts of holes valve rocker type. In this paper we propose to present some of specific aspects on the combined splinting and deforming process on internal and external sorfaces.


Current tectonic models for the formation of the Gulf of Mexico generally include continental rifting starting in the Triassic and continuing through the Jurassic. A comparison between the sedimentology and structural geology of known continental rifts (such as the Gulf of Suez, Egypt) and the Triassic and Jurassic of the Gulf of Mexico suggests the following. (1) The interior salt basins of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama probably were deposited within a failed continental rift. (2) Positive features such as the Angelina-Caldwell flexure, Wiggins arch, and Middle Ground arch probably represent the southern edge of the failed rift. (3) Positive features such as the Sabine uplift and Monroe arch are probably isolated horst blocks within the failed rift. Pre-evaporite sediments account for much of the production in the Gulf of Suez, and these rock sequences are well exposed there on shore. Depositional and structural histories for these rocks are similar in both the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of Suez, and a careful comparison suggests new play concepts for the Gulf of Mexico. The post-evaporite sequences of the Gulf of Suez are also similar to the Norphlet and Smackover Formations of the Gulf of Mexico, although Smackover equivalents are currently being deposited in the Gulf of Suez. Comparisons between the two rift systems indicate that a clearer understanding of the structural setting of the Gulf of Mexico at the time of deposition of the Norphlet and Smackover should lead to better exploration plays for these syntectonic formations. > End_of_Article - Last_Page 302------------


Software Aging and Rejuvenation (SAR) has gained importance in recent years as software systems have become more complex and critical to the operation of many organizations. SAR techniques have sought for software systems to remain reliable and work well for long periods, especially in systems that require high availability. This work aims to identify how studies on SAR in microservices are being explored and how they are being validated and monitored. For this, a Systematic Literature Mapping (SLM) was developed, resulting in seven relevant articles capable of answering six research questions. The SLM identified the most productive authors in this area of research, which universities were most cited, which continents were carried out on the aging and rejuvenation of software in microservices, which platforms and orchestrators are most used in microservices, which methods and techniques are used to force microservices to age and rejuvenate, and what capabilities were monitored and exploited.


Radicalism is not only a challange to a nation-state system but also a threat to the diverse and tolerance of Indonesian. Even literary works are potential to be a site of meanings that fertilizes radicalism through narrations. Therefore, this article scrutinizes the ability of literary texts to support or to counter radicalism in Indonesia. The chosen Sastra Pesantren (Pesantren literature) in this research are Menggapai Kosong by Izzul Muttaqin and Rebbe by Laila Haqy. The focus of this research is ideological position of the author in presenting religious-humanist discourse as a formula of antiradicalism. The analysis is done through a mapping of religious-humanist discourse in the literary texts with considering historical moment and place of the production. Stuart Hall's representation theory is used in this article. Through constructionist approach this research analyzes the ability of language system in contructing concepts in our minds or to make the material world is meaningfull. The result of this analysis shows that the two pesantren literary works has represented deradicalism as efforts to against religious radicalism. The policies of the government in fighting radicalism have important roles in constructing the divinity and culture of society as recorded by the Pesantren literature.


Recently, minimally invasive surgeries using guide-wire, catheter, stent etc. have spread rapidly as the diagnosis and the medical treatment for a cancer, a disease in a circulatory organ etc. Currently, further maneuverability and functionability of those devices are strongly desired in order to be used widely and safely. Although Ti-Ni shape memory alloys have been used in medical devices such orthodontic wire, guide-wire, it has been suspected that Ni is allergenic and carcinogenic to the human body. Thus the development of Ni-free shape memory alloys has been strongly required. Recently, several Ni-free beta-titanium alloys such as Ti-Mo-Al, Ti-Mo-Ga, Ti-Nb-Al have been developed as new-type shape memory alloys. We have been studying Ti-Mo based beta-titanium alloys and Ti-Mo-Sn alloy has constantly super elasticity of 3%.The purpose of present study is to propose the micro catheter with thin wall and high flexibility using To-Mo-Sn alloys tube on the basis of its mechanical properties.


Sliding window join aggregation continuous queries (J-A queries for short) are often used in data stream applications. The intuitive method for processing these queries is to construct steaming operator tree and execute the tree in pipeline. The space cost of this method is O(α×β) , where α and β are the sizes of two sliding windows respectively. To reduce the requirement of memory, which is the most expensive resource in data stream query processing system, two novel sliding window J-A continuous query processing algorithms IC and TC are presented in this paper, whose space cost are both O(α+β). Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that


It is envisioned that, in the future, most vehicles on our roadway will be controlled autonomously and will be connected via vehicle to everything (V2X) wireless communication networks. Developing a connected and automated vehicle (CAV) longitudinal controller, which will consider safety, comfort and operational efficiency simultaneously, is a challenge. A CAV longitudinal controller is a complex system where a vehicle senses immediate upstream vehicles using its sensors and receives information about its surroundings via wireless connectivity, and move forward accordingly. In this study, we develop an information-aware driver model (IADM) that utilizes information regarding an immediate upstream vehicle of a subject CAV through CAV sensors and V2X connectivity while considering passenger comfort and operational efficiency along with maintaining safety gap for longitudinal vehicle motion of the autonomous vehicle. Unlike existing driver models for longitudinal control, the IADM intelligently fuses data received from in vehicle sensors, and immediate upstream vehicles of the subject CAV through wireless connectivity, and IADM parameters do not need to be calibrated for different traffic states, such as congested and non congested traffic conditions. It only requires defining the subject CAVs maximum acceleration and deceleration limit, and computation time that is needed to update the subject CAVs trajectory from its previous state. Our analyses suggest that the IADM (i) is able to maintain safety using a newly defined safe gap function depending on the speed and reaction time of a CAV; (ii) shows local stability and string stability and (iii) provides riding comfort for a range of autonomous driving aggressiveness depending on the passenger preferences.


In this letter, a class-C architecture for an oscillator employing film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is presented to improve the phase noise significantly in 1/f 3 region. The advantages offers by class-C operation are exploited in order to reduce the noise contributed by the current-source transistor in cross-coupled topology. An adaptive biasing circuit is used in order to ensure the oscillation start-up. The post-layout simulation incorporating all parasitic and representing FBAR by modified Butterworth Van Dyke (MBVD) model illustrates the phase noise improvement by 17 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset of a 1.9GHz carrier compared to the FBAR based cross-coupled topology presented by the authors [1].


ABSTRACT Over the past decade, spiritual leadership has emerged as a new paradigm of and approach to leadership. To provide a thorough understanding of the current status of research on this new phenomenon and stimulate more scholarly interest, we conducted a systematic review of existing spiritual leadership literature. By analyzing 59 empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals, we unraveled how the concept of spiritual leadership was defined, developed, utilized and validated by researchers across disciplines. This article also provides some directions for future research by highlighting knowledge gaps and critical issues identified in previous studies, such as definitions, methodologies, construct measurements, research contexts, and nomological relationships of spiritual leadership. For scholars who are interested in pursuing spiritual leadership research, this review can serve as a useful reference guide.


CASE
In this case report, we present an adult man who sustained bilateral rectus abdominis and adductor longus avulsions with associated symphyseal instability while playing hockey. The injury was managed surgically, and the patient returned to preinjury level of function.

CONCLUSION
To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of such a bilateral injury. The surgical management and outcome add to the current literature, which lacks adequate evidence on the most effective management for injuries of this type.


In grid computing, load balancing is a technique to distribute workload evenly across two or more computing nodes, in order to get optimal resource utilization, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload. This paper takes advantages of genetic algorithm, brings forward a novel heuristic genetic load balancing algorithm and applied to solve grid computing load balancing problem. From the analysis and experiment result, it is concluded that the proposed algorithm is superior to genetic algorithm and other load balancing algorithm.


Institutions of higher education have placed increasing importance on internationalizing their curricula over the past 10 years. The present work, through application of literature review and review of the Higher Education Framework for internationalization, presents a critical reflection of the challenges addressed in order a curriculum in Higher Education to be internationalized and provides a practical guide regarding the required steps that need to be followed. The example of internationalizing a business management curriculum is used in this study. The above assist educational leaders and educational decision makers to understand what is important to be considered when they plan, organize, design and implement activities for internationalizing a curriculum. The study also challenges that a more comprehensive framework is needed towards internationalization and through reflection upon personal experience provides practical guidance and recommendations to academics and educators how HE curricula can become international in context and in practice.


Motivated by a recent work by Terashima (Phys. Rev. D60 084001), we revisit the fluctuation-dissipation (FD) relation between the dissipative coefficient of a detector and the vacuum noise of fields in curved spacetime. In an explicit manner we show that the dissipative coefficient obtained from classical equations of motion of the detector and the scalar (or Dirac) field satisfies the FD relation associated with the vacuum noise of the field, which demonstrates that the Terashima's prescription works properly in the N-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. This practice is useful not only to reconfirm the validity of the use of the retarded Green function to evaluate the dissipative coefficient from the classical equations of motion but also to understand why the derivation works properly, which is discussed in connection with previous investigations on the basis on the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger (KMS) condition. Possible application to black hole spacetime is also briefly discussed.


As a group, the elderly suffer disproportionately from oral disease and often do not access routine oral health care. Older adults are faced with numerous barriers to oral health care, ranging from their knowledge and attitudes about oral health to those of general and oral health professionals to financial concerns and health status. It is recommended that all adults obtain an annual comprehensive oral examination. In recognition of the Surgeon General's statement that health care professionals should be educated in the importance of oral health to overall health and well-being, new programs need to be established. Improving access to oral health requires the collaboration of primary health care providers (physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurses) and oral health professionals. An integrated education program for primary health care providers can make a difference in the oral health status of older adults. To date, pilot projects have demonstrated that with minimal training, primary care professionals can and do include oral health assessments into their general practice protocols. However, there are no national initiatives to address this issue. Oral and general health professionals must educate the elderly to recognize that preventive services are a lifelong commitment. Oral and general health programs must institute curricular changes to prepare future practitioners, and continuing education programs are needed for current practitioners. Major changes to professional education programs and public health policies are needed to address the oral health care of today's--and tomorrow's--elderly.


Global control of mRNA translation plays key roles in cell regulation, including growth, differentiation and apoptosis. Human monocyte-like U937 cells differentiate into macrophage-like cells upon 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) treatment, a process which is known to be accompanied with a large decrease in general protein synthesis. Here, we found that protein levels of AMAP1 (also called ASAP1 or DDEF1), a GTPase-activating protein for Arf GTPases, increase several fold during U937 cell differentiation. This increase was not accompanied with a notable increase in the AMAP1 gene transcript, nor seemed to be due to 5'-Cap-dependent mRNA translational activities in differentiated U937 cells. We identified the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of AMAP1 mRNA, and found that this 5'-UTR exhibits significant internal ribosome entry site (IRES)-dependent translational activity in differentiated U937 cells, but not in undifferentiated cells. Our results indicate that monocyte differentiation involves enhancement of IRES activity, by which protein levels of AMAP1 are primarily upregulated.


An unbiased screen for discovering novel genes for fertility identified the spcar3, spermatocyte arrest 3, mutant phenotype. The spcar3 mutation identified a new allele of the Setx gene, encoding senataxin, a DNA/RNA helicase that regulates transcription termination by resolving DNA/RNA hybrid R-loop structures. Although mutations in the human SETX gene cause neural disorders, Setxspcar3 mutant mice do not show any apparent neural phenotype, but instead exhibit male infertility and female subfertility. Histology of the Setxspcar3mutant testes revealed absence of spermatids and mature spermatozoa in the seminiferous tubules. Cytological analysis of chromosome spread preparations of the Setxspcar3 mutant spermatocytes revealed normal synapsis, but aberrant DNA damage in the autosomes, and defective formation of the sex body. Furthermore, Setxspcar3 testicular cells exhibited abnormal accumulation of R-loops compared to wild type testicular cells. Transient expression assays identified regions of the senataxin protein required for sub-nuclear localization. Together, these results not only confirm that senataxin is required for normal meiosis and spermatogenesis but also provide a new resource for determination of its role in maintaining R-loop formation and genome integrity.


Actinomycin D can induce neutrophils at the site of injection, in a similar way to biological response modifiers. Various tumor cells were killed by the cooperative action of actinomycin D with neutrophils (drug-dependent cellular cytotoxicity; DDCC). A soluble factor derived from neutrophils can be substituted for neutrophils, and this factor was detected at the site of neutrophil infiltration.


The absorption and electroabsorption (EA) spectra for 4-(N,N-diethylamino)-β-nitrostyrene (DEANST)-doped poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films in the dopant concentration range of 0.1–40 wt% were measured. Dispersion of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ(3)(-ω; 0,0,ω) at each concentration was determined. In addition, the static polarizability change Δα and the static dipole-moment change Δµ were evaluated. Furthermore, the picosecond emission-decay profiles and the time-resolved emission spectra for 0.1–40 wt% DEANST-doped PMMA films were measured. From the experimental results, it was concluded that DEANST molecules in PMMA films aggregate at concentrations over 5 wt%. This aggregation gives rise to two new absorption bands. The intermolecular interaction affected by aggregation causes a decrease in Δµ, in the average effective third-order molecular hyperpolarizability  eff, and in the nonproportional behavior in |χ(3)(-ω;0,0,ω)| with increasing dopant concentration. Furthermore, this aggregation explains the absorption spectral change, the EA spectral shift and the existence of two emission-decay constants with concentration. Finally, the average aggregation number of DEANST molecules was evaluated to be two, which suggests that DEANST molecules in the PMMA film form a dimer at concentrations over 5 wt%.


of a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) in patients who have had a syncopal episode. With the ability to perform prehospital ECGs, many regional protocols have recommended the use of 12-lead ECGs in patients with syncope. Methods: Over a two-year period, a retrospective analysis was conducted from the charts of patients who presented with syncope and had a 12-lead ECG performed. The ECGs were interpreted by an emergency physician for abnormalities. Run sheets were evaluated by both nurses and physicians to assess potential changes in management due to results.