Nucleolar asynchrony (the presence of "active" and "sleeping" nucleoli with respect to the RNA synthesis in one and the same nucleus) was noted and studied in blastic cells of the peripheral blood in patients of acute myeloid leukemias (M1 - M4 according to FAB classification) by means of light microscopy of smears after visualization of RNA containing structures. Nucleolar asynchrony seems to be a regular phenomenon in a certain number of blastic cells in the peripheral blood and has been also verified by electron microscopy. No significant difference has been noted in the incidence of blasts with nucleolar asynchrony between the peripheral blood of patients treated and untreated by cytostatic therapy at the time of taking samples for the present study: The presence of the nucleolar asynchrony/might contribute to the resistance of a certain population of leukemic blasts to the cytostatic therapy. This supposition is supported by the present experiments "in vitro" on mouse leukemic myeloblasts sensitive and resistant to Doxorubicin. The Doxorubicin resistant myeloblasts were characterized by a significantly larger incidence of the nucleolar asynchrony as compared with myeloblasts of the Doxorubicin sensitive cell line.


Medicinal mushrooms of the order Polyporales have a long history of use, which is evidenced by the finding of dissected fruiting bodies with Ötzi, who lived over 5000 years ago. Because of its valuable biological properties and its use in 18th and 19th‐century pharmacy, Fomitopsis officinalis used to be mass‐collected. Moreover, the large demand for larch wood and non‐wood materials (resin) caused an excessive exploitation of larch forests, which directly contributed to the disappearance of F. officinalis from its natural environment. The qualities of medicinal preparations obtained from the F. officinalis fruiting bodies are determined by the unique composition of its bioactive compounds, such as: triterpenoids, polysaccharides, organic acids, coumarins and phenolic compounds. It has been proved that both crude extracts and the compounds isolated from F. officinalis have a wide spectrum of therapeutic effects, including anti‐inflammatory, cytotoxic, and antimicrobial effects.


Adversarial adaptation models have demonstrated significant progress towards transferring knowledge from a labeled source dataset to an unlabeled target dataset. Partial domain adaptation (PDA) investigates the scenarios in which the source domain is large and diverse, and the target label space is a subset of the source label space. The main purpose of PDA is to identify the shared classes between the domains and promote learning transferable knowledge from these classes. In this paper, we propose a multi-class adversarial architecture for PDA. The proposed approach jointly aligns the marginal and class-conditional distributions in the shared label space by minimaxing a novel multi-class adversarial loss function. Furthermore, we incorporate effective regularization terms to encourage selecting the most relevant subset of source domain classes. In the absence of target labels, the proposed approach is able to effectively learn domain-invariant feature representations, which in turn can enhance the classification performance in the target domain. Comprehensive experiments on three benchmark datasets Office-31, Office-Home, and Caltech-Office corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in addressing different partial transfer learning tasks.


Memory latency is a significant bottleneck in modern computer architectures, especially for commercial and multimedia applications. Instruction cache misses can severely limit the performance, due to advent of superscalar processors and multicore systems. Prefetching is one of the promising method to bridge the performance gap between CPU and DRAM speed. Although Instruction prefetching is a promising technique to hide the memory latency, they fail to issue prefetches early enough for modern superscalar processors. To overcome these limitations, we propose a new instruction prefetching technique called Basicblock Instruction Prefetching that employs a prefetch engine which issues prefetch instructions to achieve useful and early prefetches far enough in advance. Our prefetching design results in good coverage, is accurate, and produces timely results that can be effectively used by the processor. Performance evaluation is carried out through cycle-accurate trace-driven simulation. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme is successful in 80% accurate prediction and achieves better timeliness.


Many people have an intuition that something is fundamentally different between statistical evidence (e.g. per cent of the market-share) and non-statistical evidence (e.g. eyewitnesses). The intuitive difference between these two types of evidence is demonstrated by empirical research, according to which people tend to disregard the background statistical evidence when non-statistical evidence is available. A popular example is the red/blue bus scenario, in which a lady who was hit by an unidentified bus claims damages from the Red Bus Company on the basis that sixty per cent of the buses in that area are operated by that company. To many, it would seem intuitively wrong to impose liability based solely on this evidence. As a result, it is sometimes thought that statistical evidence is inferior to non-statistical evidence when it is used to prove particular facts in court. The 'epistemic accounts' are attempts to provide a justification for restricting the use of statistical evidence in court by identifying a certain quality that non-statistical evidence has but statistical evidence lacks. The proponents of these accounts share the view that statistical evidence lacks a quality, the effect of which is to make the drawing of inference from the statistical evidence to the particular case epistemologically deficient. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy which addresses questions about the nature, possibility and structure of knowledge, justification, belief and other related conditions. Unlike psychology, which attempts to describe how human beings actually think, epistemology asks how a rational agent ought to think and form his rational beliefs. Epistemology is therefore normative in nature. These accounts are classified as 'epistemic' in this paper because their strategy is to identify a quality that is lacking from statistical evidence which makes it epistemologically unwarranted to establish the fact this evidence is adduced to prove. The paper seeks to show that the existing epistemic accounts fail to provide a justification for restricting the use of statistical evidence in court. The paper presents the major epistemic accounts and argues that each suffers from substantial problems which make it unsuccessful. Some of these accounts are under-inclusive: the alleged epistemic deficiency is not found in some types of evidence which are clearly statistical. Other accounts are over-inclusive: their alleged epistemic deficiency applies to non-statistical evidence too. None of the existing accounts successfully establishes an epistemic deficiency from which (only) statistical evidence suffers. This paper does not argue that statistical evidence should be used freely because there is no epistemic difference between statistical and non-statistical evidence. It may well be the case that there is a good justification for not using statistical evidence to determine our legal rights and liabilities, at least in some situations. However, if there is such a justification, it has not been provided by the epistemic accounts.


The Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica maintains a biodiverse ecosystem and it is a world‐wide important carbon sink. It grows for millennia, accumulating organic‐rich soils (mats) beneath the meadows. This marine habitat is protected by the European Union; however, it is declining rapidly due to coastal development. Understanding its response to disturbances could inform habitat restoration, but many environmental impacts predate monitoring programs (<50 years). This research explores the palaeoecological potential of Posidonia mats to reconstruct six thousand years of environmental change that could have affected Posidonia meadows and, in turn, left an imprint on the mats. Palynological, microcharcoal, magnetic susceptibility and glomalin‐related soil protein (GRSP) analyses on Posidonia mats enabled us to detect climate‐ and human‐induced environmental processes impacting on the seagrass during the Late Holocene. The pollen and microcharcoal records reconstructed anthropogenic disturbances attributed to agriculture. The record of GRSP shows that agrarian activities affected continental soil quality. Changes in magnetic susceptibility reveal that enhanced soil erosion was caused by both climate (major flooding events in the NW Mediterranean) and humans (cultivation) which impacted on the Posidonia mat. Finally, increased human impact is linked to eutrophication of coastal waters since Roman‐Medieval times. Synthesis. This study shows that climate and land‐use changes in the western Mediterranean resulted in enhanced loadings of terrigenous material to the coastal zone since the Late Holocene, likely disturbing the Posidonia meadows and their mat carbon accumulation dynamics. Under the current global change scenario in which CO2 emissions are projected to increase, restoring carbon sinks is a priority. Seagrass habitat restoration should consider not only the coastal perturbations, but also the continental ones at a catchment scale to preserve the socio‐economic ecosystem services provided by seagrasses.


This study examined 188 preservice science teachers' professional growth along three dimensions—self-regulated learning (SRL) in a science pedagogical context, pedagogical content knowledge, and self-efficacy in teaching science—comparing four learner-centered, active-learning, peer-collaborative environments for learning to teach higher order scientific-inquiry thinking. Three environments supported different SRL components using the "IMPROVE'' self-regulatory model: cognitive–metacognitive alone (CogMet), motivational alone (Mot), or all three components (CogMetMot). The fourth environment provided no SRL support. Findings indicated that preservice teachers in the three SRL-scaffolding conditions outperformed their unscaffolded peers on all professional growth measures: SRL (cognition, metacognition, motivation), pedagogical knowledge (declarative, procedural, conditional), and self-efficacy in teaching science. Moreover, the CogMetMot group exhibited the highest scores on all measures. Implications concern SRL scaffolding to enhance preservice science teachers' professional growth. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 96: 1106–1133, 2012


The paper studies the various aspects of inter state migration in Kerala. The existence of high wage and lack of unskilled and semi skilled workers resulted in the high influx of migrant workers to the state. The study traces the socio economic characteristics of migrant workers and also identified the factors that determine the standard of living of migrant workers in Kerala.A linear regression model is employed to analyse on what extent these factors determines the standard of living of migrant workers.


The second-century bce Libyco-Berber inscriptions from Dougga (present-day Tunisia) have seven different signs for sibilants . In this article the sibilant system of these inscriptions and of the language they represent is studied in detail . It is shown that the different signs are not just graphemic variants but represent different pronunciations . It is also shown that there is a possibility that the seven signs in fact represent three or four articulations with a length contrast, even though the evidence is very weak . As Proto-Berber has been reconstructed with only three sibilants (+ length opposition), the choice of how to analyze the seven Libyco-Ber-ber sibilant signs has important implications as to how the relationship between Libyco-Berber and Proto-Berber is to be assessed .


Purpose: The initial purpose of this mixed methods study was to assess the instrument fidelity and construct-related validity of a 33-item instrument called the Schoolwide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist (SCCOC) by eliciting school leaders' views. The SCCOC was designed as one tool for use in conducting school culture audits, which determine how well a school responds to the needs of diverse groups. The results revealed unexpected qualitative findings from school leaders' narrative responses to open-ended items. The implications of these findings for school leaders and school leader preparation are discussed. Research Design: On a Web-based questionnaire, practicing school leaders in two large western states responded to open- and closed-ended items on the relevance of SCCOC items to cultural competence in actual school settings. Participants' narrative responses were analyzed using an iterative process of coding and constant comparison to identify emerging themes. Themes were validated using intercoder reliability. Findings: Research team members reached consensus on four primary themes that emerged from analysis of narrative data: policy as a paradox, programs as instrumental to culturally competent practice, school culture and climate as integral to schoolwide cultural competence, and numerous barriers to cultural competence. Under the theme of barriers, five subthemes were revealed. Conclusions: The findings inform future research and the need to focus school leader preparation on examining personal biases, privilege, and beliefs about others who are different, as well as guiding leaders to develop culturally responsive skills and knowledge and the ability to assess schoolwide cultural competence.


This article explores what is meant when children are held responsible for their behavior in the criminal justice system. It does so by examining the age at which children are held responsible in criminal law and contrasts this approach with that taken in family law. It is argued that the concept of responsibility itself is being manipulated and that the different approaches taken by criminal law and family law have not been justified. It recommends that serious consideration be given to the development of a Gillick - type test of competency in criminal law to protect young children from the consequences of their immature actions.


We study multi-unit auctions for homogenous goods in a private value setting where bidders have non-quasilinear preferences. Several recent impossibility results study this setting and find there is no mechanism that retains the Vickrey auction's desired incentive and efficiency properties without quasilinearity. While a fully efficient mechanism is impossible, we show that any undominated outcome of the Vickrey auction has a negligible inefficiency when bidder wealth effects are sufficiently small. In order to show this, we first place bounds on undominated bid behavior in the Vickrey auction when bidders have non-quasilinear preferences. We use (Marshallian) deadweight loss as our inefficiency metric, and we derive a tight upper bound on the inefficiency associated with the Vickrey auction in terms of the degree of bidder wealth effects. As wealth effects diminish, the bound continuously approaches zero. Other common multi-unit auction formats do not have this property, and their worst-case inefficiencies are higher than that of the Vickrey auction.


Young NZB/NZW F1 (BWF1) mice develop T cell repertoires that are spontaneously stimulated by peptides derived from the VH regions of BWF1 J558-encoded autoantibodies (autoAb) to DNA, but not to VH region peptides of a J558-encoded antibody to an exogenous antigen. Immunization of young BWF1 mice with selected Ig-derived peptides accelerates anti-DNA production and nephritis, and immune tolerance induction to a combination of these determinants delays anti-DNA production and disease onset. To further characterize this immunoregulatory circuitry, we asked whether this phenomenon of spontaneous T cell activation by VH region peptides is restricted to anti-DNA Ab of the VH J558 family, and what are the charge and structural attributes of these T cell determinants? We studied spontaneous T cell proliferative responses to peptides derived from an autoAb to DNA constructed from VH 7183 and found that it contains several T cell determinants. Both charge and size of certain amino acids (AA) within each peptide seemed to be important. Peptides containing arginine (R) or glutamic acid (E) were more likely to be T cell determinants than peptides without those AA; replacement of charged AA with uncharged AA abolished T cell recognition of a peptide. We previously reported that some Abs to DNA are enriched in R in their VH; pathogenic BWF1 IgG anti-DNA are enriched in positively and negatively charged AA in VH Therefore, we speculate that peptides from natural IgM autoAb may initially activate BWF1 T cells, and as somatic mutations of Ig occur, charged AA introduced into V regions increase the number of T cell determinants, thus favoring upregulation of pathogenic Ab subsets. Therefore, in predisposed individuals, the ability of T cells to recognize more charged T cell determinants in autoAb may be one mechanism promoting development of disease.


Versteeg, J. P. J. and Jager, K. W. (1973).British Journal of Industrial Medicine,30, 201-202. Long-term occupational exposure to the insecticides aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, and telodrin. A medical survey of 233 long-term insecticide workers has previously been published. Fifty-two of them had left employment at the time of the original publication. All members of this group could be traced. No unexpected adverse effects on health were found. Their disease pattern and general well-being were not different from those in the original group.


Many employers expect to face a significant shortfall of workers with data science skills in the coming decade. This panel focuses on the opportunities and challenges this poses for the Information Systems (IS) community. Specifically, the panel focuses on three key questions at the nexus of data science, skills, and IS: a) characterizing the changes in skill demand from industry in a variety of international contexts, b) evaluating the role of IS departments in educating the next generation of these workers, and c) identifying how IS research should adjust to complement new educational initiatives. These questions are provocative because they are rooted in a debate about whether industry investment in modern data technologies requires new workers and skills, new courses and faculty, and a new knowledge base, or whether data science is best understood as a rebranded phenomenon that will be rapidly and effectively absorbed into existing infrastructure.


Introduction Acquired von Willebrand disease is a relatively rare but possibly under diagnosed bleeding disorder. The etiology is multifactorial, including underlying malignancy, drugs, valvular heart disease, mechanical cardiac assist devices, autoimmune diseases and infections. The disorder is characterized by mucocutaneous bleeding presenting in adulthood with no prior history or family history of bleeding tendency.

Materials and Methods A retrospective chart review was performed on patients with a diagnosis of acquired von Willebrand disease over a period of 15 years. We identified 10 patients with this diagnosis in the absence of valvular heart disease or the presence of a mechanical cardiac assist device. The initial presentation along with demographic features, co-morbidities, laboratory values at the time of initial presentation and subsequent follow up, treatment of bleeding episodes and cause of death were noted.

Results The mean age at diagnosis was 56.5 years with range of 39-75 years. Males and females were equally affected. One patient each had aortic valve stenosis and hypothyroidism, both of which were treated and not felt to be responsible for the diagnosis of acquired von Willebrand disease. Six of ten patients had an underlying myelo / lymphoproliferative disorder while two had a remote history of cured high grade colon cancer. Most of the patients presented with mucocutneous bleeding including easy bruising, epistaxis, gingival bleeding, and GI bleeding. Post procedural urinary tract bleeding was the presenting sign in two patients and one patient presented with spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage. All but two patients presented with ristocetin cofactor activity of <10% and factor VIII and von Willebrand antigen levels in the range of 4-31% and 10-23% respectively. Multimer patterns were either severely reduced high molecular weight multimers or decreased multimers with normal distribution. For all patients, the presenting lab values remained unchanged at follow up even over several years (up to 12 in our series), including in those who received treatment for the underlying myelo / lyphoproliferative disorder. Treatment to control bleeding included DDAVP, IVIg, factor VIII/VWF concentrates, rituximab, plasma exchange, and recombinant factor VIIa, all with varying degrees of success. Six of ten patients did experience recurrent bleeding episodes and two ultimately died of uncontrolled GI bleeding.

Discussion Acquired von Willebrand disease is a rare entity, typically presenting with severely decreased factor levels, and often associated with significant morbidity and potential mortality. Although some patients experience recurrent and refractory bleeding, others may survive for more than 10 years without major complications with this condition. As reported previously in literature, most of the cases in our series were also associated with underlying myelo / lymphoproliferative disorders. In two of our patients the development of acquired von Willebrand disease preceded the diagnosis of a lymphoproliferative disorder by 3-4 years, suggesting that close monitoring for future development of these disorders is warranted. In contrast to previous reports, treatment of the underlying myelo / lymphoprolifertive disorder did not lead to improvement in the bleeding episodes or lab values in any of our patients that were treated (5/6). In acquired hemophilia, approximately 80% of patients experience significant bleeding, and mortality has been quoted in the range of 8-22%. Thus, treatment usually includes an attempt to eradicate the inhibitor with immune suppression. In our series, 60% of the patients experienced recurrent and refractory bleeding, and mortality was also 20%, suggesting that a similar approach should be considered in those with acquired von Willebrand disease.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Department of Safety Research, Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, KOSHA(Received April 23, 2013 / Accepted October 4, 2013)Abstract : Notorious press machine bothers employers by causing so many industrial accidents which are mostly of caught-in or between type. In 2008, press machines caused 1665 cases of such type of accidents, which reached about 11% of all those. Even though various approaches hasbeen adopted to prevent those press machine accidents, up to now, no one was found to be satisfactory. In this study, two kinds of companies, accident-occurred and accident-free by press machine, were surveyed to find out positive and negative factors for accidents prevention. 400 companies which experienced accidents in 2008 and 200 companies which did not experience accident at all during the same period were selected for this survey. Most of these companies are small companies that employ less than 50 employees. Even though small companies are exempted from legal obligations to have a safety management system for accident prevention, we surveyed about safety management systems of those companies because of its crucial importance for accident prevention including whether they appointed safety managers and various supervisors. Awareness and efforts for safety of employers and employees were also measured. Results were analysed by the method of cross tabulation analysis. Main findings of this study are as follows. Most accident-occurred companies did not appoint any safety manager or supervisor. While it is recommended that the workplace of high accident rate have a safety manager. In addition, as less employers' effort for safety was made in accident-occurred companies in order to prevent accidents during press processing, the author proposes an amendment to the relevant law. Finally, the most referred reason for the negligence of hazard is the cumbersomeness in installing safeguards. Key Words : press machine, caught-in or between, accident-free, safety management system, efforts for safety.


Metal hyperaccumulation is a rare and fascinating phenomenon, whereby plants actively accumulate high concentrations of metal ions in their above-ground tissues. Enhanced uptake and root-to-shoot translocation of specific metal ions coupled with an increased capacity for detoxification and sequestration of these ions are thought to constitute the physiological basis of the hyperaccumulation phenotype. Nickel hyperaccumulators were the first to be discovered and are the most numerous, accounting for some seventy-five percent of all known hyperaccumulators. However, our understanding of the molecular basis of the physiological processes underpinning Ni hyperaccumulation has lagged behind that of Zn and Cd hyperaccumulation, in large part due to a lack of genomic resources for Ni hyperaccumulators. The advent of RNA-Seq technology, which allows both transcriptome assembly and profiling of global gene expression without the need for a reference genome, has offered a new route for the analysis of Ni hyperaccumulators, and several such studies have recently been reported. Here we review the current state of our understanding of the molecular basis of Ni hyperaccumulation in plants, with an emphasis on insights gained from recent RNA-Seq experiments, highlight commonalities and differences between Ni hyperaccumulators, and suggest potential future avenues of research in this field.


Thermally-modified wood (TMW) has enhanced properties and its production does not involve the use of chemicals. However, the adoption of TMW in the marketplace has been limited in the U.S. for reasons that have not yet been clearly established. In this study, the marketing practices of U.S. producers and distributors of TMW were investigated, by conducting semi-structured interviews. Topics included major products and species, markets, distribution channels, promotional strategies, perceived barriers to adoption, and the outlook for TMW markets. Results show that TMW producers in general export a significant percent of their production; that TMW is considered a high-end product; and that customers are not as sensitive to prices as in other mainstream markets. Common products sold include siding, decking, flooring, millwork, and components for musical instruments. Respondents believe that the low awareness of TMW among the American public is a major barrier to wider adoption of TMW. However, companies envision a bright future for TMW as sales and inquiries have increased at a fast rate during the last few years.


Objective: Intra-abdominal infections (IAIs) after elective colorectal surgery impact significantly the short- and long-term outcomes. In the era of fast-track surgery, they often come to light after discharge from hospital. Early diagnosis is therefore essential. C-reactive protein levels have proved to be accurate in this setting. Procalcitonin has been evaluated in several studies with conflicting results. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the predictive abilities of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in the occurrence of IAIs after elective colorectal surgery. Methods: This meta-analysis included studies analyzing C-reactive protein and/or procalcitonin levels at postoperative days 2, 3, 4, and/or 5 as markers of intra-abdominal infection after elective colorectal surgery. Methodological quality was assessed by the QUADAS2 tool. The area under the curve summary receiver-operating characteristic was calculated for each day and each biomarker, using a random-effects model in cases of heterogeneity. Results: The meta-analysis included 11 studies (2692 patients). An IAI occurred in 8.9% of the patients. On postoperative day 3, area under the curve was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.76–0.85) for C-reactive protein and 0.78 (95% CI, 0.68–0.87) for procalcitonin. On postoperative day 5, their predictive accuracies were 0.87 (95% CI, 0.80–0.93) and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.82–0.98), respectively. The accuracy of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin did not differ at any postoperative day. Conclusions: Levels of inflammatory markers under the cutoff value between postoperative days 3 and 5 ensure safe early discharge after elective colorectal surgery. Procalcitonin seems not to have added value as compared to C-reactive protein in this setting.


For the design, construction and operation of large technical systems, software plays an important role. In this chapter some aspects of managing software for such systems are discussed. The different classes of software during the project phases and within the different hierarchical levels of a control system are outlined and their relations to proper management are shown. In addition, the problems of purchasing software and estimating the required time, budget and manpower for a project are discussed. Emphasis is placed on practical aspects and examples are presented.


In Austria, standard A6241-2 created the normative basis for the exchange of model-based data in building construction and civil engineering in 2015. This technology – known internationally as Building Information Modelling (BIM) – is an essential building block for the digitization of the construction industry and has an impact on all those involved in the initiation, planning, construction and operation of buildings. This article describes the state-of-the-art in official approval processes in Austria. It examines the digital process path, i.e. the provision of cadastral data, the usability of provided GIS data, the existence of automated preliminary inspection, and accelerated processing by means of e-government. Representative examples are used to illustrate the current state of official approval processes in Austria. The focus here is on the possibility of condensing the various public and semi-public basic planning data (location and environment) to prepare a consolidated requirements model, which can be used in BIM planning in the design and approval phase. It is shown where there are supplementary and overlapping data to identify conflict situations. In the future, a building applicant will be given the opportunity to complete the process online. This creates a clear time saving in relation to the processing time. This in turn accelerates the processing of projects and makes it easier for all parties involved.


In this doctoral thesis we study zero-mode spectra of Matrix theory and eleven-dimensional supergravity on the plane-wave background. This background is obtained via the Penrose limit of AdS_4 x S^7 and AdS_7 x S^4. The plane-wave background is a maximally supersymmetric spacetime supported by non-vanishing constant four-form flux in eleven-dimensional spacetime. First, we discuss the Matrix theory on the plane-wave background suggested by Berenstein, Maldacena and Nastase. We construct the Hamiltonian, 32 supercharges and their commutation relations. We discuss a spectrum of one specific supermultiplet which represents the center of mass degrees of freedom of N D0-branes. This supermultiplet would also represent a superparticle of the eleven-dimensional supergravity in the large-N limit. Second, we study the linearized supergravity on the plane-wave background in eleven dimensions. Fixing the bosonic and fermionic fields in the light-cone gauge, we obtain the spectrum of physical modes. We obtain the fact that the energies of the states in Matrix theory completely correspond to those of fields in supergravity. Thus, we find that the Matrix theory on the plane-wave background contains the zero-mode spectrum of the eleven-dimensional supergravity completely. Through this result, we can argue the Matrix theory on the plane-wave as a candidate of quantum extension of eleven-dimensional supergravity, or as a candidate which describes M-theory.


The risk-remedy method is beginning to replace cost-benefit or weighted scoring methods in the evaluation of information technology outsourcing tenders by the Australian Public Service. This paper describes the use of the method. It also describes some of the lessons that have been learnt from the use of the method in six tender evaluations: use the correct requirements, use requirements correctly, consider the cost of bidding, consider the cost of delay, check the bids carefully and use a design rather than a selection approach.


Adaptive optics correction of the scintillation index is found when Hermite-Gaussian laser beams are used in oceanic turbulence. Adaptive optics filter functions are used to find how the tilt, focus, astigmatism, coma, and total correction will behave under high order mode excitation. Reduction of the oceanic scintillation under various oceanic turbulence and system parameters is examined under different high order modes. Also, the effects of the source size, wavelength, and link length on the total adaptive optics correction of Hermite-Gaussian modes in an oceanic medium are investigated for different modes.


Looking at the complexity of the post-revolutionary environment in Tunisia, this article proposes a model for renewal of teaching practices in social entrepreneurship in the framework of a partnership initiative between German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ ) and High Institute of Management-university of Tunis ( ISGT) as a case study  for the method of action research. The study embraces a conceptual framework inspired by effectuation theory. Our aim here is to provide an adequate model to the process of co-production of knowledge for SE learning triggered by the proposal of a training of trainers for teaching within the ISGT and a collaboration agreement with the GIZ. This partnership initiative allows at the renewal of teaching in SE by rethinking the method of training to use an interactive education. Drawing from empirical and conceptual findings, the study shows (i) how the process of learning in social entrepreneurship is a reflexive process informed by the changes during the operation itself, and (ii) how actors interact to produce a transformative effect in the learning process. To this respect, our study grasps the micro-macro dynamics in a post-revolutionary context through which people shape what they consider suitable and actionable in their context. Therefore, adopting the effectuation theory to research action would foster an interactive process which is adaptable to a contingent environment.


While modern economy is generally regarded as the realm of rationality, its most abstract sphere, the stock market, seems on the contrary to be ruled by irrationality and arbitrariness. The essay presents the hypothesis that in the financial markets acts another kind of rationality, centered on the reciprocal observation of the operators, which reproduces some mechanisms typical of the ancient divinatory cultures. These mechanisms allow to explain how it is possible to get informative clues from recursive circles and from the influence of media.


The rapid growth of both industrial and domestic load in most countries since 1939 has forced the development of many water-power schemes, some of which had previously been dormant owing to marginal economies. Earlier schemes were often isolated and (with certain notable exceptions) of relative insignificance in comparison with steam-driven generating plant. With the present need for developing every practical source of power, however, the problems of controlling hydro-electric plant take on new aspects, involving consideration of uniformity and economy of operation and maintenance staffs, and the most efficient use of the catchments on each river system as a whole. After the terms used have been denned, the nature of the control problems involved are examined. Certain control schemes are described, with emphasis laid on the development of sequential-parallel automatic control and the reasons why it is preferred. Some practical aspects of the apparatus involved are described, after which the operating and maintenance requirements are examined. The electrical and hydraulic functions of group control are discussed in relation to complete river system. Finally, those factors influencing the choice of a control scheme are summarized.


This study examined socio-economic determinants of agricultural production by women farmers in Abia State, Nigeria. Data was collected from 120 women farmers across the three agricultural zones of Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia using a well structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analysis. The descriptive statistics used were frequency distributions expressed in percentages. The inferential statistics was the Ordinary least Square (OLS) used to determine significant factors influencing women agricultural production. The results showed that occupation (X3); farm size (X6) and level of expected Income (X8) exerted positive and significant influence on agricultural production by women farmers as shown at 1.0% alpha level. As farm size (X6) and level of expected farm income (X8) increased, the agricultural output also increased. Women farmers who took farming as their major occupation produced relatively more output. International Journal of Agriculture and Development Vol. 9 2007: pp. 71-77


The capability to store data about Business Process (BP) executions in so-called Event Logs has brought to the identification of a range of key reasoning services (consistency, compliance, runtime monitoring, prediction) for the analysis of process executions and process models. Tools for the provision of these services typically focus on one form of reasoning alone. Moreover, they are often very rigid in dealing with forms of incomplete information about the process execution. While this enables the development of ad hoc solutions, it also poses an obstacle for the adoption of reasoning-based solutions in the BP community. In this paper, we introduce the notion of Structured Processes with Observability and Time (SPOT models), able to support incompleteness (of traces and logs), and temporal constraints on the activity duration and between activities. Then, we exploit the power of abduction to provide a flexible, yet computationally effective framework able to reinterpret key reasoning services in terms of incompleteness and observability in a uniform way.


The weak control environment in South Africa's public sector has, in the past, resulted in high levels of irregular, fruitless and wasteful, and unauthorised expenditure. In order to make a contribution to the discourse of mechanisms that could be deployed to reduce high levels of irregular, fruitless and wasteful, and unauthorised expenditure, this study analysed the capabilities of the human capital deployed in South Africa's public sector. Together with the National Treasury in the Office of the Accountant General, a questionnaire was designed and administered to the public institution's Chief Risk Officers in the first quarter of 2017. The findings of the study are that inadequate risk management processes and ineffective practices that are partly responsible for the weak control environment in public institutions, could also be attributed to the capabilities of the human capital deployed in enterprise risk management functions. In this regard, the study found that some of the reasons for the inadequate risk management processes and ineffective practices stemmed from: the inadequate staffing of the enterprise risk management function; positions not being filled by candidates with adequate academic qualifications and experience; the time it takes to fill a vacant position; and inadequate budget allocations. When institutions address risk maturity, policies, processes, and practices, focus must simultaneously be directed to the human capabilities deployed within the risk management function.


A complex decision path with a careful evaluation of the risk–benefit ratio is mandatory for drug treatment in advanced age. Enrollment biases in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) cause an under-representation of older individuals. In high-risk frail older subjects, the lack of RCTs makes clinical decision-making particularly difficult. Frail individuals are markedly susceptible to adverse drug reactions, and frailty may result in reduced treatment efficacy. Life expectancy should be included in clinical decision-making paths to better assess the benefits and risks of different drug treatments in advanced age. We performed a scoping review of principal hospital- and community-based prognostic indices in older age. Mortality prognostic tools could help clinical decision-making in diagnostics and therapeutics, tailoring appropriate intervention for older patients. The effectiveness of drug treatments may be significantly different in older patients with different risk of mortality. Clinicians need to consider the prognostic information obtained through well-validated, accurate, and calibrated predictive tools to identify those patients who may benefit from drug treatments given with the aim of increasing survival.


The massive aerometric tracer experiment (MATEX) is conceived as a way of determining by direct measurement the contributions of different SO/sub x/ and NO/sub x/ sources to acidic deposition at receptors. The MATEX concept is based on source emission tracking by atmospheric tracers such as perfluorocarbons. The principal MATEX product would be empirical source-receptor relationships for eastern North America, with stated levels of uncertainty and a capability to estimate changes in deposition due to changes in emissions from existing sources. Although the study team found the MATEX concept to be feasible, the MATEX is considered a high-risk enterprise at present because of certain inherent limitations. The study team then developed a two-phase approach for conducting MATEX, with the second phase being the full-scale experiment. The first phase consists of seven relatively small-scale experiments to surmount the limitations and develop field proof of the MATEX concept. The first phase would require four years and about $25 million, while phase two could be completed in six years for roughly $200 million. The MATEX feasibility and design study is reported in three volumes: Volume 1 describes the design; Volume 2 summarizes the results of evaluating experimental alternatives and of supporting studies; and the more » unpublished third volume, a collection of documents, details the supporting studies. 69 refs., 148 figs., 60 tabs. « less


Sectorized antennas provide an attractive solution to increase wireless network capacity through higher spatial reuse. Despite their increasing popularity, the real-world performance characteristics of such antennas in dense wireless mesh networks are not well understood. In this demo, we demonstrate our multi-sector antenna prototypes and their performance through video streaming over an indoor wireless network in the presence of interfering nodes. We use our graphical tool to vary the sender, receiver, and interferer antenna configurations and the resulting performance is directly visible in the video quality displayed at the receiver.


We theoretically and numerically investigate intermodal four-wave mixing in kilometer-long fibers, where random birefringence fluctuations are present along the fiber length. We identify several distinct  regimes that depend on the relative magnitude between the length scale of the random fluctuations and the beat lengths  of the interacting quasi-degenerate modes. In addition, we analyze the impact of mode dispersion and we  demonstrate that random variations of the core radius, which are typically encountered during the drawing stage of the fiber, can represent the major source of bandwidth impairment. These results set a boundary on the limits of validity of the classical Manakov model and may be useful for the design of multimode parametric amplifiers and wavelength converters, as well as for the analysis of nonlinear impairments in long-haul spatial division multiplexed transmission.


Cardiac valve replacement carries a high-risk in hemodialysis patients and has been questioned for its results. The purpose of this study is to focus on the early and long-term results in our institution. We retrospectively analyzed the data from 41 hemodialysis patients who underwent valve replacement in our unit from July 1978 to March 2004. Bioprosthetic valves were used in 5 patients (12.2%). The overall operative mortality (30 days) was 17%. The in-hospital death rate was 22%. Late survival rate was 68% at 2 years, 54% at 3 years, 49% at 5 years, and 27% at 10 years for all patients. The incidence of major bleeding and stroke was 41%.


Ciliary membrane fragment fusion to planar lipid bilayers resulted in the insertion of four ion channel types. cAMP-activated, cation-selective channels could be detected only in the absence of Ca2+ and had a conductance of 23 pS. They exhibited an apparent dissociation constant (Kd) for the cyclic nucleotide of approximately 30 microM and an estimated permeability ratio (PNa/PK) of 2.4. The cAMP cation-selective channel coinserted with a K(+)-selective channel refractory to cAMP, Ca2+, and D-myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. This K+ channel was voltage independent and exhibited open-conductance substates of 60 and 112 pS. cAMP was also found to modulate a novel K+ channel with a Kd = 140 microM. It displayed three nearly equally spaced open substates with conductances of 34, 80, and 130 pS. In the absence and in the presence of cAMP the probability of occurrence of the open substates was binomially distributed. A fourth channel type was a Ca(2+)-activated K+ channel with a conductance of 240 pS. It was blocked by charybdotoxin at nanomolar concentrations (Kd = 3 nM). These results add support to the idea that, besides cAMP-activated cation-selective channels, vertebrate chemosensory olfactory membranes possess an arrangement of ion channels.


A series of purine bases and analogues were tested as substrates for trans-N-deoxyribosylase (EC 184.108.40.206). It was observed that the pyrimidine ring and its substituents on positions 1, 2 and 6, are of minor importance. On the other hand only a few modifications are tolerated on the imidazole moiety, as follows. 1. A tautomeric proton must be present on the imidazole ring. The "usual" shift is between position 9 and 7. 2. The position of the tautomeric proton governs the site of substitution. 3. For steric reasons no substituent is allowed on position 8.


Bridge deck durability is often compromised due to corrosion of the steel reinforcement. The use of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars as a substitute for steel is a possible solution to this problematic condition. GFRP is an elastic brittle material with a high tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity that is approximately 20% that of steel reinforcement. Considering these material properties, meaningful data is required to demonstrate compliance with imposed design limits at all relevant limit states. Experimental evaluation of GFRP bars as structural reinforcement for highway bridge decks must recognize and duplicate the load and support conditions specific to this application. Laboratory testing should consider load magnitudes associated with AASHTO service, strength and fatigue limit states, indeterminacy of the deck in the transverse direction, two-way distribution of wheel loads, and load application and deck support conditions as affected by truck tire contact area and girder flange stiffness, respectively. In this research study 2-span continuous concrete beams doubly reinforced with GFRP bars are tested under load and support conditions designed to simulate performance of the GFRP reinforcement in a highway bridge deck environment. Monotonic, cyclic, and low cycle fatigue loading are applied to establish behavior of the experimental deck as related to an actual bridge deck load condition. Test results related to strength, deflection, and crack width are presented.


Lag schedules of reinforcement require that reinforcement is made contingent upon a response differing in some dimension from previous n responses, though it has been argued that small lag requirements might produce higher-order stereotypy. In this study, 5 children from Hong Kong diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were required to vary their responding during a block-stacking task by lag-within (differing color within the structure) and lag-between (differing structures in an array) criteria, called lag-lag criteria. Data showed that the lag-lag criteria resulted in 2 of the participants passing all phases while 3 generally met lag-within but not lag-between criteria. Effects tended to generalize quickly to a picture identification task: I Spy. Post hoc statistical analyses support the results and give a foundation for assessing stereotypies in variability research. This study demonstrates how different lag schedule requirements might be effective in combating higher-order stereotypy in children diagnosed with developmental impairments and offers a unique approach to data analysis in lag-based studies.


In current publication non-parametric model (model of Kolmogorov's type) of hermaphrodite population dynamics is analyzed. It is assumed that there are four basic variables: number of individuals, number of pairs, and number of pregnant individuals. It is also assumed that number of pairs is fast variable: it allows decreasing of number of differential equations. For conditions of pure qualitative type for birth and death rates of individuals in population possible dynamic regimes are determined.


Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNP's), due to their small size, unique magnetic properties and the ability to manipulate these remotely, are promising materials for diagnostic, imaging, and therapeutics in biomedical applications. In this presentation, we describe the fabrication, characterization and some applications of protein-shell microspheres embedded with MNP's in their cores. These magnetic microspheres have been functionalized to target the αvb3 integrin receptors that are known to be overexpressed in tumors and atherosclerotic lesions. An external magnetic field can be used to perturb these particles and the resultant displacements can be optically measured with nano-scale accuracy using magnet-motive optical coherence tomography (MM-OCT) to provide not only dynamic contrast in imaging but to also assess the biomechanical properties of the microenvironment. Preliminary results demonstrate tracking in vivo dynamics of these functionalized microspheres by using fluorescence imaging followed by ex vivo MM-OCT. Ongoing research includes studying the targeting and binding efficiency of these particles under flow conditions. Seminar Presented by: Fall 2011 BioNanotechnology Seminar Series


This study used the tert-butylcalix[6]arene (TBC[6]) as the ligand and successfully synthesized six TBC[6]-stabilized titanium-oxo clusters (TOCs) by the one-step solvothermal reaction. These six compounds were [Ti4O2(TBC[6])2] (Ti4), {Ti2(TBC[6])(EtO)2(SaH2)2} (Ti2-SA, H2Sa = squaric acid), {Ti2(TBC[6])2(EtO)2(Oa)} (Ti2-OA, H2Oa = oxalic acid), [H2Ti4(TBC[6])(BA)2(EtO)10] (Ti4-BA, HBA = benzoic acid), [Ti6O2(TBC[6])(BA)4(OiPr)10] (Ti6-BA), and [Ti8(TBC[6])2(Sal)4(EtO)16] (Ti8-Sal, H2Sal = salicylic acid). These clusters contain one or two TBC[6] ligands, with the biconical or monoconical configuration, greatly increasing the variety of TOCs it could support. The introduction of auxiliary carboxylic ligands can further stimulate the growth of structures, with the cluster core gradually increased from {Ti-TBC[6]-Ti} to {Ti2-TBC[6]-Ti2}, to {Ti3-TBC[6]-Ti3}, and finally to {Ti3-TBC[6]-Ti2-TBC[6]-Ti3} with 3.1 nm length. Structural regulation may affect their solution stability, absorption spectra, and photocurrent response. The study of catalytic activities shows that these clusters can be used as recyclable heterogeneous photocatalysts for the oxidation of sulfide to sulfoxide. The catalytic efficiency of the TBC[6]-Tix system is closely related to the cluster structure, and the exposure of the Ti site on the catalyst surface can significantly enhance the catalytic activity of the clusters.


In Valiant's matchgate theory, 2-input 2-output matchgates are 4 × 4 matrices that satisfy ten so-called matchgate identities. We prove that the set of all such matchgates (including non-unitary and non-invertible ones) coincides with the topological closure of the set of all matrices obtained as exponentials of linear combinations of the 2-qubit Jordan-Wigner (JW) operators and their quadratic products, extending a previous result of Knill. In Valiant's theory, outputs of matchgate circuits can be classically computed in poly-time. Via the JW formalism, Terhal & DiVincenzo and Knill established a relation of a unitary class of these circuits to the efficient simulation of noninteracting fermions. We describe how the JW formalism may be used to give an efficient simulation for all cases in Valiant's simulation theorem, which in particular includes the case of noninteracting fermions generalised to allow arbitrary 1-qubit gates on the first line at any stage in the circuit. Finally we give an exposition of how these simulation results can be alternatively understood from some basic Lie algebra theory, in terms of a formalism introduced by Somma et al.


The Vast number of publicly available electronic financial documents and document repositories and their rapid growth pose a great challenge in understanding, managing and structuring the information. Due to several reasons content of these documents is open to variety of differing interpretations and resulting ambiguity. Annotating these data with semantics to constrain the inconsistent interpretation of data facilitates better reuse and interoperability. We propose a semi-supervised approach for creating annotations for the extracted text of financial documents. A Supervised approach would include human experts in the annotation process. Unsupervised or machine based annotation is done by recommending Financial Industry Business Ontology (FIBO) terms for document sections based on the Okapi Similarity measure. Annotation data can be used to infer knowledge from important sentences or document sections to gain better understanding or decision making. Our annotation results indicate that similar pairs of sections have more common FIBO terms and different pairs of sections have a lesser number of similar FIBO terms.


Various methods are used in ultrasound beamforming to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and improve spatial resolution. SNR is typically improved by exploiting coherence in the RF channel data, for example summing channel data after applying focal delays in the delay-and-sum (DAS) beamformer, and summing channel data after applying a per-channel matched filter for the spatial matched filter beamformer[1]. Inverse filter methods are capable of improving spatial resolution at the cost of SNR [2],[3], or can trade resolution for SNR using a regularization parameter, but in general are very computationally intensive due to the large RF data sets used. We propose a post-processing method operating on post-summed but pre-envelope detected beamformed image data that can improve the pixel SNR and spatial resolution of any beamformer with low computational cost. This is achieved by forming a new pixel for each point in the image as a linear combination of the surrounding beamformed pixels. The weights for each pixel are calculated in advance using a quadratically constrained least squares method to reduce PSF energy outside the mainlobe and noise energy. Simulations indicate that this method can increase cystic contrast by up to 20dB without any cost in SNR, and can increase pixel SNR can by up 16dB without affecting contrast. Alternatively, simultaneous gains in contrast and SNR can be achieved. Experimental results show smaller performance improvements yet validate the feasibility of this technique.


Many ultrafine particles comprised classically of low–toxicity, low–solubility materials such as carbon black and titanium dioxide have been found to have greater toxicity than larger, respirable particles made of the same material. The basis of the increased toxicity of the ultrafine form is not well understood and a programme of research has been carried out in Edinburgh on the toxicology of ultrafines aimed at understanding the mechanism. We used fine and ultrafine carbon black, TiO2 and latex and showed that there was an approximately 10–fold increase in inflammation with the same mass of ultrafine compared with fine particles. Using latex particles in three sizes — 64, 202 and 535 nm — revealed that the smallest particles (64 nm) were profoundly inflammogenic but that the 202 and 535 nm particles had much less activity, suggesting that the cut–off for ultrafine toxicity lies somewhere between 64 and 202 nm. Increased oxidative activity of the ultrafine particle surface was shown using the fluorescent molecule dichlorofluorescein confirming that oxidative stress is a likely process by which the ultrafines have their effects. However, studies with transition–metal chelators and soluble extracts showed that the oxidative stress of ultrafine carbon black is not necessarily due to transition metals. Changes in intracellular Ca2+ levels in macrophage–like cells after ultrafine particle exposure suggested one way by which ultrafines might have their pro–inflammogenic effects.


The paper "Paradigms of Mentoring Process" focuses on the terminology of mentoring and examines how this process of mentoring can be translated into an organizational setup. The paper talks about: 1. The critical dimensions of the framework of Mentor-Mentee interface 2. The characteristics of each partner viz., Mentor and Mentee 3. What benefits both Mentor and Mentee get through such initiation 4. What are the stipulated do's and donts, which provide a guideline for the Mentor and Mentee 5. Facilitation of laid out roadmaps 6. The possible pitfalls, which both the partner as well as the organization need to be aware of. The paper also describes the role of mentoring in business organizations, which can positively impact the careers of the new entrants and prove beneficial both for the Mentor and the organization, if the process is inducted effectively.


Associations between the consumption of particular foods and health outcomes may be indicated by observational studies. However, intervention trials that evaluate the health benefits of foods provide the strongest evidence to support dietary recommendations for health. Thus, it is important that these trials are carried out safely, and to high scientific standards. Accepted standards for the reporting of the health benefits of pharmaceutical and other medical interventions have been provided by the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement. However, there are no generally accepted standards for trials to evaluate the health benefits of foods. Trials with foods differ from medical trials in issues related to safety, ethics, research governance and practical implementation. Furthermore, these important issues can deter the conduct of both medical and nutrition trials in infants, children and adolescents. This paper provides standards for the planning, design, conduct, statistical analysis and interpretation of human intervention trials to evaluate the health benefits of foods that are based on the CONSORT guidelines, and outlines the key issues that need to be addressed in trials in participants in the paediatric age range.


Studies of social dysfunction in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have generally focused on the perception of emotional words and facial affect. Brain imaging studies have suggested that the fusiform gyrus is associated with both the comprehension of language and face recognition. We hypothesized that patients with ASD would have decreased ability to recognize affect via emotional words and facial emoticons, relative to healthy comparison subjects. In addition, we expected that this decreased ability would be associated with altered activity of the fusiform gyrus in patients with ASD. Ten male adolescents with ASDs and ten age and sex matched healthy comparison subjects were enrolled in this case-control study. The diagnosis of autism was further evaluated with the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Brain activity was assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in response to emotional words and facial emoticon presentation. Sixty emotional words (45 pleasant words +15 unpleasant words) were extracted from a report on Korean emotional terms and their underlying dimensions. Sixty emoticon faces (45 pleasant faces +15 unpleasant faces) were extracted and modified from on-line sites. Relative to healthy comparison subjects, patients with ASD have increased activation of fusiform gyrus in response to emotional aspects of words. In contrast, patients with ASD have decreased activation of fusiform gyrus in response to facial emoticons, relative to healthy comparison subjects. We suggest that patients with ASD are more familiar with word descriptions than facial expression as depictions of emotion.


Radiation therapy (RT) plays a critical role in the treatment of glioblastoma. Studies of brain imaging during RT for glioblastoma have demonstrated changes in the brain during RT. However, frequent or daily utilization of standalone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans during RT have limited feasibility. The recent release of the tri-cobalt-60 MRI-guided RT (MR-IGRT) device (ViewRay MRIdian, Cleveland, OH) allows for daily brain MRI for the RT setup. Daily MRI of three postoperative patients undergoing RT and temozolomide for glioblastoma over a six-week course allowed for the identification of changes to the cavity, edema, and visible tumor on a daily basis. The volumes and dimensions of the resection cavities, edema, and T2-hyperintense tumor were measured. A general trend of daily decreases in cavity measurements was observed in all patients. For the one patient with edema, a trend of daily increases followed by a trend of daily decreases were observed. These results suggest that daily MRI could be used for onboard resimulation and adaptive RT for future fluctuations in the sizes of brain tumors, cavities, or cystic components. This could improve tumor targeting and reduce RT of healthy brain tissue.


Trichomonas vaginalis is a protozoan parasite and probably one of the main causes of adverse birth outcomes. Still, there is a paucity of information regarding the burden of T. vaginalis infection in Iranian women. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on trichomoniasis among females in Iran from January 2000 to January 2023. We searched multiple electronic databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, ProQuest, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scientific Information Database, Iran Medex, Magiran and Iran Doc) and identified 108 articles with a total of 200 728 women. Using a random effects model, we found a pooled prevalence of 4.30% (95% CI 3.23 to 5.52%). Subgroup analysis, also, demonstrated a statistically significant association between the T. vaginalis prevalence in Iranian women, and the age range, city, sample type, being in prison, sex working and symptomatic infections. Our findings provide important information for healthcare authorities and can inform prevention strategies against trichomoniasis in Iran.


With progressive generations and the ever-increasing promise of computing power, GPGPUs have been quickly growing in size, and at the same time, energy consumption has become a major bottleneck for them. The first level data cache and the scratchpad memory are critical to the performance of a GPGPU, but they are extremely energy inefficient due to the large number of cores they need to serve. This problem could be mitigated by introducing a cache higher up in hierarchy that services fewer cores, but this introduces cache coherency issues that may become very significant, especially for a GPGPU with hundreds of thousands of in-flight threads. In this paper, we propose adding incoherent tinyCaches between each lane in an SM, and the first level data cache that is currently shared by all the lanes in an SM. In a normal multiprocessor, this would require hardware cache coherence between all the SM lanes capable of handling hundreds of thousands of threads. Our incoherent tinyCache architecture exploits certain unique features of the CUDA/OpenCL programming model to avoid complex coherence schemes. This tinyCache is able to filter out 62% of memory requests that would otherwise need to be serviced by the DL1G, and almost 81% of scratchpad memory requests, allowing us to achieve a 37% energy reduction in the on-chip memory hierarchy. We evaluate the tinyCache for different memory patterns and show that it is beneficial in most cases.


Spatial features of PM2.5 concentration in the Yangtze River Delta in 2016 were analyzed using remote sensing data. Selecting factors among meteorology, topography, vegetation, and emission list of air pollutants, factors and their interaction effects on the spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentration were studied based on GAM, with an evaluation unit of 0.25°×0.25° for the grid. It showed that:① With a more significant difference between the north and south, PM2.5 concentration was generally higher in the north and west but lower in the south and east. In the southern part of the delta, the concentration was mostly lower than 35 μg·m-3, with noncompliance of the PM2.5 concentration scattered in urban areas like islands. Meanwhile, PM2.5 concentration is generally over 35 μg·m-3, and the pollution appeared like sheets. ② Besides, PM2.5 concentration showed an apparent positive spatial autocorrelation with "High-High" PM2.5 agglomeration areas in the north of the delta and "Low-Low" PM2.5 agglomeration areas in the south. ③ Based on GAM, hypsography, temperature, and precipitation negatively affected PM2.5 concentration, whereas pollutant emissions positively affected it. The effect of wind was minor when its speed <2.5 m·s-1, and more negatively significant when its speed ≥ 2.5 m·s-1. Hypsography, temperature, and precipitation were higher in the southern part of the delta, but they were lower in the northern part, leading to a higher PM2.5 concentration in the northern parts and lower in the southern parts. A higher wind speed in the east and lower in the west also led to a concentration difference between them. ④ All factors had passed a significant pair interaction test, except for hypsography and PM2.5 emission, and they all showed a significant interaction effect on the distribution of PM2.5 in the Yangtze River Delta.


Imidacloprid (IM) is used to control the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) and citrus leafminer (CLM), which are related to the spread of huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening) and citrus canker diseases, respectively. In Florida citrus, imidacloprid is mainly soil-drenched around the trees for proper root uptake and translocation into plant canopy to impact ACP and CLM. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of imidacloprid rate, and irrigate amount on concentration of imidacloprid in the soil following drench application to citrus trees in three age classes. The plots were established at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, Immokalee, using a randomized complete-block design for three age classes of trees: one-year-old trees (B1), three to five-year-old trees (B2), and eight-year-old trees (B3). The treatments were a combination of two rates each of imidacloprid (1D, 2D) and micro-sprinkling irrigation (1I, 2I). Imidacloprid and bromide (Br-) used as tracer were applied simultaneously. Soil moisture and concentrations of imidacloprid and Br were monitored using soil cores from hand held augers. Soil moisture content (θV) did not differ under two irrigation rates at any given observation day or depth, except following heavy rainfall events. Br- was lost from the observation depths (0–45 cm) about two weeks after soil-drench. Contrarily, imidacloprid persisted for a much longer time (4–8 weeks) at all soil depths, regardless of treatment combinations. The higher retardation of imidacloprid was related to the predominantly unsaturated conditions of the soil (which in turn reduced soil hydraulic conductivities by orders of magnitude), the imidacloprid sorption on soil organic matter, and the citrus root uptake. Findings of this study are important for citrus growers coping with the citrus greening and citrus canker diseases because they suggest that imidacloprid soil drenches can still be an effective control measure of ACP and CLM, and the potential for imidacloprid leaching to groundwater is minimal.


Objective This study aimed to explore the short-and long-term outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy in older patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods A total of 218 NSCLC patient data between January 2014 and January 2019, which included pathological, clinical, and follow-up surveys on VATS lobectomy, were retrospectively analyzed. Of the 218-patient data analyzed, a total of 77 patients were 70 years of age and older (elderly group), while a total of 141 patients were below 70 years of age (nonelderly group).Results Concerning general preoperative data, the simplified comorbidity score (SCS) and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scores were higher in the elderly patient group as compared to the nonelderly patient group. Also, elderly patients had poor pulmonary function performance as compared to their counterparts. There were, however, no significant statistical differences found with surgical data between the two groups concerning intraoperative blood loss, operation duration, and conversion to thoracotomy. None of the patients in either of the groups died within thirty days of the operation. Additionally, there were no significant statistical differences in the five-year overall survival rate and the five-year disease-free survival rate between both groups.Conclusion NSCLC treatment with VATS lobectomy is safe and feasible in elderly patients, and it can provide excellent long-term outcomes. However, it is necessary to strengthen perioperative management and promote early postoperative recovery to reduce complications.


BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN-- In the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, a research station that monitors earthquakes and nuclear tests--and serves as a base for Western geophysicists to study the tectonic forces shaping the region--faces an uncertain future. The Kyrgyz Broadband Seismic Network is currently operating with stopgap funds from the U.S. State Department, which run out on 1 July. In addition, the U.S. government last year helped set up an International Geodynamics Research Center, based at a Russian field station here; initial funding for the center is also drying up. Now, geophysicists are waiting to hear whether the U.S. National Science Foundation or other agencies will ante up funds to help keep the center afloat.


Despite their crucial roles in health and climate concerns, the gas-particle partitioning of carbonyl compounds is poorly characterized in the ambient atmosphere. In this study, we investigate their partitioning by simultaneously measuring six carbonyl compounds (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, propionaldehyde, glyoxal, and methylglyoxal) in the gas and particle phase at an urban site in Beijing. The field-derived partitioning coefficients ( Kpf) are in the range of 10-5-10-3 m3 μg-1, and the corresponding effective Henry's law coefficients ( KHf) should be 107-109 M atm-1. The Pankow's absorptive partitioning theory and Henry's law both significantly underestimate concentrations of particle-phase carbonyl compounds (105-106 times and >103 times, respectively). The observed "salting-in" effects only partially explain the enhanced partitioning to particles, which is approximately 1 order of magnitude. The measured Kpf values are higher at low relative humidity, and the overall effective vapor pressure of these carbonyl species are lower than their hydrates, indicating that carbonyl oligomers potentially formed in highly concentrated particle phase. The reaction kinetics of oligomer formation should be included if applying Henry's law to low-to-moderate relative humidity, and the high partitioning coefficients observed need to be proved by further field and laboratory studies. These findings provide deeper insights into the formation of carbonyl secondary organic aerosols in the ambient atmosphere.


The protective effect of two different human immunoglobulin preparations for intravenous use and one specific staphylococcal immunoglobulin for intramuscular application were compared in mice infected with the capsular Staphylococcus aureus Smith strain. Immunovenin is produced by partial fragmentation of IgG with plasmin; it contains about 60% intact IgG and 40% Fab and Fc fragments. Immunovenin-intact is produced by a polyethylene glycol (mol wt 6000) fractionation method followed by ion exchange chromatography and contains more than 95% intact IgG molecules. A specific staphylococcal immunoglobulin is obtained by a rivanol/ethanol fractionation method from selected sera with high anti-alpha toxin level. All three types of immunoglobulins induced similar degree of protection when their effect was determined as activity (ED50) per gram immunoglobulin.


The Arab industrial establishments specialized in the manufacture of "street furniture" units are witnessing a crisis and a cognitive deviation; for example, the "Public Bench"" and "lighting poles". First of all, the signs of crisis emerge through field surveys of Arab urban spaces in general, Tunisian spaces in particular, and the number monitoring of their manifestations. By raising the problem's main roots within the Tunisian industrial establishments, we have been closely touched by the role of the Tunisian industrial designer, which is the role of the "marginalized", at a later stage. It is no exaggeration to say that the designer himself has contributed to the deterioration of his own position. In fact, this is mainly due to the cognitive confusion that the designer is enduring as a result of the huge difference among the traditional academic knowledge that he had received in the past and the newly emerging knowledge that he did not keep up with. The whole design project was negatively affected by this confusion, as it fluctuated between the complexity of the design process and the problem of feedback within the real urban space. Therefore, this article underlines the problem of inconsistency between the descriptive real practice and the margin of consideration within the institution related to it. Hence, the researcher adopted a specific, innovative empirical approach, drawing its essence from the tensive semiotics in order to employ it institutionally, in the service of our societies and the specificity of their practices. The importance of this research is due to the discovery of scientific and cognitive paths, the delineation of boundaries of tension between reasoning and practice in the field of furniture design in public spaces. From this perspective, the article sheds light on three paths of knowledge (perception, design, and semiotics), adopted by the researcher as an integrated holistic, and has intentionally employed them in our studies with the intention of redesigning city furniture. The use of these paths has dissolved the so famous wide gap between the known dualities between theory and practice, subjective values and objective conditions. In this vein, this article aims to solve the equation of tension between the duality of the knowledgeable self and the subject of knowledge. This empirical study is considered to be the first in the world to be applied to street furniture designs. For more accuracy concerning the explanation of the scientific method through which we employed the tension chart, two codes were chosen from the total of "street furniture" units, namely the "public seat" and "lighting poles". This was established while addressing meaningful problems with one of the Arab cities, specifically the Tunisian city of Sousse, as an example. Hopefully, through our effective results, we will deeply research in the same semiotic field so that this practice will be generalized and implanted in Arab industrial institutions and global ones. The context requires mentioning that the researcher pursued the empirical approach, which in return required the combination of a set of tools such as observation, the scale of assessment, questionnaire / tensive modeling or tensive modeling. Paper History: Paper received 17th September 2020, Accepted 5th January 2021, Published 1st of March 2021


Background: The birth of a preterm infant results in significant health consequences to the infant and emotional and economic costs for families and communities. About 75% of perinatal deaths and 50% of neurological abnormalities are directly attributed to preterm. The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of pre-term birth North West Ethiopia. Methods: An institutional based cross sectional study was conducted. Systematic sampling was used to get the total sample size of 422 participants. The data was entered, cleaned and edited using EPI INFO version 2002 and exported to SPSS version 16.0 software packages for analysis. Both bivariate and multiple logistic regression were fitted and odds ratio and 95% CI were computed to identify associated factors and determine the strength of association. A p-value of <0.05 was considered as statistical significant. Result: This study showed that 11.6% from the total 422 mothers gave a preterm birth. Presence of chronic illness (AOR=4.5; 95% CI: 2, 10.2), problem in current pregnancy (AOR=2.9; 95% CI: 1.3, 6.7), premature rupture of membrane (AOR=6.2; 95% CI: 2.7, 14),low income <600 birr (AOR=2.6 ; 95% CI: 1.1, 6.6),has antenatal follow up (AOR=0.24; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.6), and hematocrit level <33 (AOR=7.2;95CI:3.1-16.8) were found to be significantly associated with preterm birth on the multi variate logistic regression. Conclusion: Prevalence of preterm birth was found to be higher in Debremarkos town. The main factors for this were maternal history of chronic illnes, problem in current pregnancy, presence of premature rupture of membrane, low income, has no antenatal follow up and hematocrit level <33.


A wheelchair-mounted robotic arm (WMRA) system was designed and built to meet the needs of mobility-impaired persons with limitations of upper extremities, and to exceed the capabilities of current devices of this type. The control of this 9-DoF system combines the 7-DoF robotic arm control with the 2-DoF power wheelchair control. The 3-degrees of redundancy can be optimized to effectively perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and overcome some workspace limitations. The control system is designed for teleoperated or autonomous coordinated Cartesian control, and it offers expandability for future research, such as voice or sip and puff control operations and sensor assist functions


ABSTRACT While land registration may increase the sense of security amongst landholders and provide a mechanism for resolving boundary disputes, its interaction with social, political-economic and ecological dynamics can actually generate conflicts by creating new opportunities by which some actors can assert claims or expand their landholdings, often at the expense of others. Conflicts over land cannot be understood without understanding the local dynamics with which they are intertwined. Drawing from case studies in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, this paper shows that, despite land registration and certification, there are widespread conflicts within and between households and state authorities regarding the usufruct of individual and communal lands. The paper argues that conflicts over land are complex and political and are linked to and embedded in the processes of commercialization, as well as in local social processes and power relations. These, in turn, influence and are shaped by the political economy of local governance and land administration processes, particularly in relation to the implementation of land registration. The paper highlights that land conflicts are attributed to a range of issues, including not only the challenges of governance in land registration but also population growth, commercialization, urbanization, inheritance and gender inequality, all of which intersect with corrupt land administration systems .


We present studies of the photoexcited quasiparticle dynamics in MgB2 where, using femtosecond optical techniques, Cooper pair-breaking dynamics (PBD) have been temporally resolved for the first time. The PBD are strongly temperature and photoexcitation intensity dependent. Analysis of the PBD using the Rothwarf-Taylor equations suggests that the anomalous PBD arises from the fact that in MgB2 photoexcitation is initially followed by energy relaxation to high frequency phonons instead of, as commonly assumed, e-e thermalization. Furthermore, the bare quasiparticle recombination rate and the probability for pair breaking by phonons have been determined.


This protocol describes the generation and functional validation of microRNA (miRNA) sponge or decoy constructs. When expressed from a strong promoter, these transcripts can sequester specific miRNA:RISC complexes, thereby resulting in a derepression of endogenous target mRNA. Hence, cells expressing such sponges display a partial or full miRNA loss-of-function phenotype. Depending on the sponge sequence, the activity of any miRNA of choice can be inhibited by sponge sequestration, but it should be noted that these constructs do not seem to be specific for one particular miRNA. Rather, all miRNAs of the same family as defined by the seed sequence will be affected, albeit to a different degree.


This study explores the relationship between L1 and L2 reading strategy use and affective factors, including readers' views of their home language and their beliefs about reading. The study participants were four L2 college readers of Spanish and English, all from an immigrant background and all considered academically underprepared for college. Data were collected through think-aloud protocols, open-ended interviews, self-assessment inventories, and reading comprehension measures in Spanish and English. Qualitative data analyses showed that readers' attitudes toward their home language influenced reading behavior. Specifically, in contrast to the two readers who viewed their L1 as a problem, the readers who viewed their L1 as a resource chose to purposefully translate mentally into their home language when reading in the L2, regardless of their level of L2 reading proficiency or length of English study. Qualitative data analysis also showed that, at least to some extent, the readers' beliefs about reading influenced reading behavior, which was multistrategic and flexible for the two readers who viewed reading as a process of meaning construction and logocentric for the two who viewed reading as a word-centered process. These findings call for further research examining the connections between learners' beliefs about reading and their reading processes.


The task support system (TSS), an integrative pilot-vehicle interface that consists of a collection of active software units called agents, is discussed. System agents represent aircraft and environmental systems and subsystems, providing databases and control interfaces to support the activities of task agents. Task agents represent tasks the pilot must accomplish in the mission. They assist the pilot by recognizing when the tasks should be started, configuring the cockpit for the tasks, alerting the pilot to potential errors, making recommendations on how to complete tasks, and automating tasks in certain cases. The TSS was evaluated in a simulation experiment as part of a prototype avionics system. Results of the experiment indicate that the TSS is effective in improving pilot performance and also was well liked by the pilots who tested it. >


The authors report on a series of 370 sterilisations using Yoon's rings, of which 300 were carried out laparoscopically. They confirm the efficiency of the method and its safety because there was only minimal operative morbidity. On the other hand this technique offers the possibilities of reversal of sterilisation in such a way that it should be the preferred method to be used systematically when a young woman is being sterilised.


Recently, with an increasing demand on security biometric personal identification has been receiving extensive attention. Among many biometrics techniques, iris recognition is one of the most promising approached due to its high reliability. This paper present a robust iris recognition technique based on orientation field. Initially the eye images have been localized in circular form by using Hough transform. Than flat bed form of iris is generated using Daugman's homogeneous rubber sheet model. From the view point of texture analysis, the local spatial patterns in an iris mainly involve orientation and frequency information. Local image structure plays an important role in iris recognition, so an intuitive idea of iris pattern representation is based on the geometric structure of image data in small region. In our work localized iris image is divided into number of non-overlapping blocks. The blocks orientation has been determined from the pixel gradient orientation based on averaging and optimization. The gradient magnitudes have been computed using Sobel gradient operators. The variance of orientation has been used as feature vector. L2 norm is used to compute a similarity score for the query and template images. The performance of the implemented algorithms has been evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) and experimental results are reported.


High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) systems are being widely employed in various applications because of their numerous advantages such as bulk power transmission, efficient long-distance transmission, and flexible power-flow control. However, Line-Commutated Converter (LCC) based HVDC systems suffer from commutation failure which is a major drawback, leading to increased device stress and interruptions in transmitted power. This paper proposes a predictive control strategy, deploying a Commutation Failure Prevention Module (CFPM) to mitigate the commutation failures during AC system faults. The salient feature of the proposed strategy is that it has the ability to temporarily decrease the firing angle of thyristor valves depending on the fault intensity to ensure a sufficient commutation margin. In order to validate the performance of the proposed strategy several simulations have been conducted on CIGRE Benchmark HVDC model using PSCAD/EMTDC software. Additionally, practical performance and feasibility of the proposed strategy is evaluated through laboratory testing, using the real time Opal-RT hardware prototyping platform. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can effectively inhibit the commutation failure or repetitive commutation failures under different fault types, fault impedances and fault initiation times.


Both Lope and Calderón composed autos sacramentales retelling the biblical story of the binding of Isaac, but the converso Felipe Godínez uses the Genesis story in a setting that not only exalts the Eucharist, but Spain's religious orthodoxy. The play's unusual framework mirrors Godínez's personal uniqueness among Golden Age dramatists stemming from his conviction and punishment for heresy by the Inquisition. The foundational version of the Isaac story in the Bible portrays Abraham's call to sacrifice his son as a test, underscores the threat to relationship by repeating kinship terms, and links patriarch's obedience to the broader Genesis theme of promise. Both Lope, in his Obras son amores, and Calderón, in Primero y segundo Isaac, reveal a typological interest in the scene and set it among other biblical stories. In Godínez's El divino Isaac, Abraham offers Isaac in order to pay for the errors of the biblical King Abimelech and of the Jewish People. The portrayal of the sacrifice in the Godínez work silences the biblical theme of testing, weakens the notion of relationship, and makes the Genesis theme of promise heard only in the typological linking of Moriah and Calvary. After the sacrifice, the play focuses on Abimelech and his identity shifts from Gentile representative, to English schismatic, to faithful Spanish king. The shrinking of the Isaac tradition and its unusual framing within the story of a figure representing Spanish religious zeal bring to mind the playwright's own confessional tensions and comprise two important features of this unpublished yet fascinating Godínez work. (TP)


The present invention is applicable to optical assemblies for use with direct-lit backlights that exhibit a lower transmission for light of normal incidence as compared to the transmission of light at higher angles of incidence, to accomplish a leveling effect of the light across the display. In one embodiment, an optical assembly includes a reflector having an internal Brewster angle and a reflective polarizer having orthogonal reflection and transmission axes. In another embodiment, a direct lit backlight assembly includes one or more lamps, a reflector having an internal Brewster angle, where a major surface of the reflector is facing at least one of the one or more lamps, and a light redirecting layer.


BACKGROUND
Binge-eating disorder may represent a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome.

OBJECTIVE
The objective was to assess longitudinally the relation between binge-eating disorder and components of the metabolic syndrome.

DESIGN
At 2.5 and 5 y of follow-up, 134 individuals with binge-eating disorder and 134 individuals with no history of eating disorders, who were frequency-matched for age, sex, and baseline body mass index (BMI), were interviewed during the follow-up interval regarding new diagnoses of 3 metabolic syndrome components: hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes.

RESULTS
A comparison of individuals with and without a binge-eating disorder in analyses adjusted for age, sex, baseline BMI, and interval BMI change had hazard ratios (95% CIs) for reporting new diagnoses of metabolic syndrome components of 2.2 (1.2, 4.2; P = 0.023) for dyslipidemia, 1.5 (0.76, 2.9; P = 0.33) for hypertension, 1.6 (0.77, 3.9; P = 0.29) for type 2 diabetes, 1.7 (1.1, 2.6; P = 0.023) for any component, and 2.4 (1.1, 5.7; P = 0.038) for > or =2 components.

CONCLUSION
Binge-eating disorder may confer a risk of components of the metabolic syndrome over and above the risk attributable to obesity alone. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00777634.


This assay has as objective to bring reflections on the practical one of the hospital psychologist next to patients and family, which, ahead of the process of the adoecimento, live deeply intense feelings and conflicts desperted for the death possibility. Although the death and dying are inevitable and inherent phenomena our human condition, to reflect on the finitude human being is something challenging. In our society, to face the possibility of our proper death and the people who we love is almost not support, over all when if it takes in consideration the current cultural context where we live. In the case of the suffering, or of the hospitalization experience, we observe that this situation in approaches them to more intense internal reflections and that, at many moments, people all change a way of living. Each one reacts to this situations of way singular and in standardization makes them to reflect on of techniques and concepts regarding illness and of sick person that can in such a way imprison our form to see the person who suffers how much in hindering them to hear what it is really transferred; to hear a being in devir.


Effective zonal isolation in wellbores with a challenging mud removal environment is well known to be very difficult to achieve. In wells at the technical limits of Non- Aqueous Fluid (NAF) removal prior to cement placement, cement bond quality and hydraulic isolation can be compromised by leaving channels behind the casing, which can result in several long-term well integrity issues. An Interactive Cementing System (ICS) is developed through special experimental methodologies to mitigate mud channeling issues and improve zonal isolation, by immediately interacting with any residual mud channels left in the well after cement is in place, hence reducing the permeability of mud channels and sealing off microannulus gaps.
 Casing centralization is considered to have the greatest influence on mud removal efficiency because it directly affects the flow movement on each side of the wellbore. Mud removal has been studied from numerical simulations, laboratory experiments, and field results, and these show that good mud removal can be achieved only when adequate casing standoff is achieved during cementation. In modern wells where there are many operational restrictions and limitations, especially in highly deviated and horizontal wellbores, final cement designs may not allow good casing standoff and thus not all of the best practices for effective mud removal can be applied.
 The objective of the innovative cement system is to have a design that interacts with residual mud in the annulus to "fix" the channels, thereby enhancing cement bond quality and zonal isolation. Two detailed case histories of the application of this technology in the development campaign showed visible improvement in cement bond logs using the ultrasonic imaging tool as compared to offset well that was cemented using a conventional cement system. After two successful implementations, the ICS was selected as the cement system of choice for wells with challenging mud removal.


Spectroscopic ellipsometry combined with measurements of electrical characteristics and Kelvin probe force microscopy have been employed to investigate the interaction between graphene and a gold substrate, and the consequent changes of graphene's complex refractive index on gold. A strong blue shift, as much as 350 meV, of the prominent absorption peak (exciton-shifted M-point Van Hove singularity in the ultraviolet range) of graphene has been observed, with respect to the peak position for the sample on an insulating substrate where this peak was observed at about 4.55 eV. The results show that an interaction between graphene and a gold substrate can be characterized through the change of graphene's optical properties. In addition, the effects that a water layer trapped between graphene and gold during the transfer process has on the charge transfer between graphene and the gold substrate have been investigated.


Oil field brines commonly contain ppm quantities of Zn, Pb, and H 2 S but negligible quantities of Cu. Theoretical analysis of the water-rock interactions expected during migration through evaporitic and red-bed sequences suggests that these reducing oil field brines can become transformed into far more oxidized fluids capable of transporting Cu, Pb, Zn, and sulfate and of forming sediment-hosted Cu-rich deposits. Calculation of the chemical mass transfer accompanying reaction of a typical reducing brine with anhydrite, hematite, and quartz, followed by the assemblage quartz, K-feldspar, muscovite, hematite, chlorite, and cuprite, reveals that the aqueous phase becomes greatly undersaturated with respect to sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, bornite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite as it achieves log f (sub O 2 ) values well above the magnetite-hematite buffer consistent with saturation with respect to anhydrite, hematite, and chalcocite and ore-forming concentrations of copper and sulfate. Consequently, evaporites are not only possible sources of salinity and (oxidized) sulfur for evolving basinal brines but may be crucial to the development of the f (sub O 2 ) conditions required to transport Cu in ore-forming concentrations. Reaction of the oxidized brine with organic matter (approximated by graphite) and diagenetic pyrite results in precipitation of the zonation sequence chalcocite, bornite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite with variable amounts of hematite, covellite, sphalerite, and galena, depending on the relative rates of reaction of the graphite and pyrite.


Aim: To determine the preferences of patients which can reduce their anxiety about chemotherapy during chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study consisting of 118 patients who received chemotherapy was performed at medical oncology department of Dokuz Eylül University Hospital by a questionnaire form consisting of 16 questions. Results: A total of 100 patients were enrolled in this study. 51 of these patients were male and 49 were female. Mean age of the patients was 53,7 ± 12,1 years. It was found that 56% of the patients prefer listening to music, 14% of them prefer watching movie, 11% of them prefer sleeping and 10% of them prefer reading book during chemotherapy. We found out that educational status affect the type of music preferred (p=0.043). Conclusion: Because of its easy applicability and accessibility in almost every condition, music therapy service can be offered to every patient during chemotherapy.