Abstract The vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) is subject to various attacks because of its dynamic nature and ephemeral character. In VANET, vehicles communicate with each other for safety awareness. The positioning of an unknown vehicle is one of the critical factors to determine the vehicle's trustworthiness. Although some positioning techniques have achieved a high accuracy level in VANET, they suffer from dynamic noise in real-world environments. This drawback leads to inaccuracy and unreliability during vehicle positioning. In this paper, an optimal innovation based adaptive estimation Kalman filter (OIAE-KF) is proposed. This algorithm offers an alternative solution for the basic Kalman filter and the innovation based adaptive estimation Kalman filter (IAE-KF). The proposed algorithm makes use of fusion of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) to improve its performance. The OIAE-KF works based on the innovation sequence and involves three steps such as establishing the innovation sequence, applying the innovation property, checking the optimality of the Kalman filter and, finally, estimating process noise (Q) and measurement noise (R). An optimal swapping method is introduced for optimality check. The efficiency of the proposed OIAE-KF method is proved by comparing the predictions of the existing methods such as the IAE-KF. The results show that the OIAE-KF performs better than the existing techniques. It improves the accuracy and consistency in VANET positioning.


Lubricant degradation by additive depletion, contamination and build-up of degradation products deteriorates lubrication performance. It can be expected that engine oil degradation also has an impact on performance parameters. Engine development tends to higher power density, lower engine oil viscosity to optimize fuel efficiency, which heavily stress engine oils and thus demand increased oil performance. Correlations between engine oil degradation, friction and wear during an engine oil's lifetime are a valuable asset in engine development towards performance, longevity and cost reduction. Here, physical-chemical and tribological properties of engine oils collected from passenger cars were determined. The results revealed the deterioration of friction (loss of fuel efficiency) and wear (increasing loss of material) depending on mileage. Defined used engine oils were produced by artificial alteration in a large-scale device and showed a very good correlation with the field samples.


A phenomenological equation of state of strongly interacting matter, including strange degrees of freedom, is presented. It is shown that the hyperon and kaon interactions must be included, in order to obtain a reasonable description of the deconfinement transition at high baryon densities. The consequences of kaon condensation on the nuclear-matter--quark-matter phase diagram are explored. The relative particle abundances obtained in an isentropic expansion of a blob of quark-gluon plasma are presented for different initial conditions. Implications for ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions are briefly discussed.


A novel multilayer inphase power divider with ultra-wideband behaviour and a sharply rejected notch band is presented. The proposed power divider employed a broadside coupling structure via a multilayer slot configuration and a single isolation resistor. One notch band is obtained by introducing one coupled folded stepped impedance resonator with metalised via hole to ground. Simulated and measured results show that the proposed power divider has equal power division with high stability of phase, low insertion loss and good return loss at the three ports across the band 2.7 to more than 11.0 GHz.


In the wild, western lowland gorillas travel long distances while foraging and consume a diet high in fiber and low in caloric density. In contrast, gorillas in zoos typically consume a diet that is low in fiber and calorically dense. Some items commonly used in captive gorilla diets contain high levels of starch and sugars, which are present at low levels in the natural diet of gorillas. Diet items high in simple carbohydrates are associated with obesity and heart disease in humans. Typical captive gorilla diets may also encourage undesirable behaviors. In response to these issues, we tested the behavioral impact of a diet that was biscuit-free, had low caloric density, and which was higher in volume at five institutions. We hypothesized that this diet change would reduce abnormal behaviors such as regurgitation and reingestion (R/R), decrease time spent inactive, and increase time spent feeding. The biscuit-free diet significantly reduced (and in the case of one zoo eliminated) R/R and may have reduced hair-plucking behavior. However, an increase in coprophagy was observed in many individuals following the diet change. The experimental diet caused a general increase in time the gorillas spent feeding, but this increase did not occur across all institutions and varied by individual. Interestingly, the overall time gorillas spent inactive actually increased with this diet change. Future research will examine these behavioral changes in a greater number of individuals to determine if the results remain consistent with these preliminary findings. Additionally, future research will examine the physiological impact of this diet change.


The balloon of yarn in parallel spinning process is studied in this work. In parallel spinning process, a filament yarn was unwound from a package at high rotating speed and twisted on a staple core yarn to form the wrapped yarn. The forces acting on the unwinding yarn made the yarn move as a 3-D curve, which has a great influence on the quality of the final yarn. A nonlinear mathematical model is employed, and a computer software, MATHEMATICA, is applied to identification of the balloon shape and the distribution of the yarn tension.


Due to the high oil prices the price of asphalt binder has increased tremendously. This scenario has warranted demand for higher viscosity cheaper asphalt for pavement construction. A study was conducted to take advantage of the Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) of Date and Oil Palm trees (which are considered as waste) to produce cellulose fiber to be used as additives in the asphalt binder. If these EFB's could be beneficially utilized in any application, it would reduce the load on the nation's landfills and at the same time reducing the cost of road construction. A total of 11 blends were prepared that consisted of 5 blends with date palm fiber, 5 blends with oil palm fiber and one control sample that contained no fibers. The samples were evaluated using Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) equipment in accordance with the superpave Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) requirements. The neat asphalt binders (Unaged), Rolling Thin Film Oven (RTFO) aged and Pressure Ageing Vessel (PAV) samples were then measured for phase angle, shear strain and complex shear modulus and then evaluated in accordance with SHRP requirements. The results indicated that the fibers enhanced the rheological performance of Bio Mastic Asphalt (BMA) blends. The control sample which was categorized as PG58 was enhanced to PG76 with 0.375% date palm fiber. The oil palm has also improved the blend up to PG70 with 0.3% oil palm fiber.


An analysis of the scattering by an infinite periodic array of microstrip disks is made using a Galerkin solution of a vector integral equation. The solution is examined for convergence and compared with theory and experiment. The solution is used to minimize the loss and maximize the bandwidth of the element in a reflectarray configuration.


Background: In scientific literature there are various treatment programs for people with alcohol dependence described, however, are psychosocial factors that promote recovery process described to a limited extent. Purpose: To describe the psychosocial factors that promotes recovery from alcohol dependence. Method: Literature study of ten scientific articles, published between 1999-2011 with both qualitative and quantitative design. Results: According to the literature, the recovery process can be considered to begin when a person with alcohol dependence reached his personal rock bottom. The longer the recovery progresses, the greater are the overall level of performance. Social support is described as an important factor to prevent relapse and reduce the need for professional help. Self-belief and support of self-help groups are described as important to maintaining sobriety. Social support and influence from family members was related to increased ability to analyze and assess their situation during the recovery. Therapeutic alliance and mutual goals are also important factors. Once treatment has been successfully described as a combination of self-motivation and willingness to initiate a radical change in behaviour. Conclusion: Psychosocial factors in the form of supportive relationships appear to promote recovery from alcohol dependence. Other conclusions drawn from this study is limited in scope and compiled by the studies of different design. Further studies need to be implemented in order to draw general conclusions, which can in turn be in support of clinical work.


Abstract Objective Histological evaluation of intestinal biopsies for the diagnosis of coeliac disease can be challenging and compatible with risk of misdiagnosis. The aim was to evaluate the agreement of pathological diagnosis for coeliac disease in children investigated at four major paediatric university hospitals in Sweden. Materials and methods Intestinal duodenal biopsies were collected from 402 children at median 9.7 years (1.4–18.3 years). A pathologist at each hospital performed the primary evaluation. A designated pathologist, blinded to the primary evaluation, performed a second Marsh classification of biopsies (M0 to M3c) taken from the bulb and duodenum separately. Kappa (κ) scores between first and second evaluation determined the agreement. Plasma samples were collected at the day of intestinal biopsy and analysed for tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies (tTGA) using radioligand-binding assays. Results Marsh scores were concordant in 229/356 biopsies (64%, κ = 0.52, p < 0.0001). Among discordant results, 15/127 (12%) showed M0 in distal duodenum but ≥ M2 in the bulb, whereas the opposite was true for 8/127 (6%) of the biopsies. There were fewer collected duodenal biopsies, more missing bulb biopsies and missing CD3 staining among discordant evaluations. The second evaluation revealed a Marsh score compliant with coeliac disease in 22 children of whom seven children were tTGA positive. Conclusions The variation between university hospitals on the pathological evaluation of biopsies may lead to misdiagnosis of coeliac disease in paediatric patients. Access to clinical and endoscopic information as well as tTGA levels may be useful for the pathologist to complement the evaluation in dubious cases.


BACKGROUND: Visceral fat is the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease and is associated with disease status. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the visceral fat on mucosal healing in patients with Crohn's disease after infliximab induction therapy DESIGN: This was a retrospective study. SETTINGS: The study was conducted in a tertiary referral hospital. PATIENTS: Between 2011 and 2017, 97 patients with Crohn's disease with the presence of ulcers underwent infliximab therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We studied them retrospectively. Mucosal healing was the end point. Patients composed 2 groups: mucosal healing and no mucosal healing. Univariate, multivariate, and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses determined the predictive value of the visceral fat area. RESULTS: Univariate analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the smoking history between the groups. Mucosal healing rates after infliximab were lower among active smokers (p = 0.022). Healed patients had significantly less visceral fat area before therapy (47.76 ± 4.94 vs 75.88 ± 5.55; p = 0.000) and a lower mesenteric fat index (0.52 ± 0.04 vs 0.89 ± 0.07; p = 0.000). There was no significant difference in the subcutaneous fat area (87.39 ± 5.01 vs 93.31 ± 6.95; p = 0.500). Multivariate analysis showed that only visceral fat area (OR = 0.978 (95% CI, 0.964–0.992); p = 0.002) and smoking history (OR = 0.305 (95% CI, 0.089–0.996); p = 0.041) were independent factors for mucosal healing. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed predictive cutoff values of 61.5 cm2 and 0.62 for visceral fat area and mesenteric fat index. LIMITATIONS: This was a retrospective study. CONCLUSIONS: There was an association between increased visceral fat area and attenuated mucosal healing after infliximab therapy in biologically naive patients with Crohn's disease, indicating a need for earlier increased infliximab doses among patients with increased visceral fat. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/A590.


In design of microwave wireless communication or optical communication systems, reliable and effective computational method is required to evaluate performance of devices such as for filtering, guiding, and dividing. Recently, photonic crystal (PC) or electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structure, which are composed of periodic profile of medium with high contrast for background, is intensively studied because of high selectivity for wavelength, easy design to confine electromagnetic wave effectively within a defect of the structure, and so on. In this paper, numerical analysis of scattered electromagnetic wave in free space by a dielectric cylinder with high dielectric constant is demonstrated by constrained interpolation profile (CIP) method. Comparing with conventional Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method under the same discretization of space and time, the CIP method showed better agreement with results of approximated analytical approach by Hertz potentials in wide variety of relative dielectric constant from 4 to 36. As an application of CIP method, Mach-Zehnder interferometer which is situated in pillar type PC structure is analyzed. The numerical result could well explain output performance of microwave experiment around 4 GHz.


This dataset describes land cover and vegetation for the island of Maui, Hawaii, circa 2017, hereinafter the 2017 land-cover map. The 2017 land-cover map is a modified version of the dataset titled "Mean annual water-budget components for the Island of Maui, Hawaii, for recent conditions, 1978-2007 rainfall and 2010 land-cover map" by Johnson (2015), hereinafter the 2010 land-cover map.
 Modifications to the 2010 land-cover map included updating the land cover and vegetation designations, and the polygon boundaries in the 2010 land-cover map to reflect (1) the cessation of sugarcane cultivation by Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company in December 2016, and (2) the agricultural land-use information described in the Statewide Agricultural Land Use Baseline 2015 map by Melrose and others (2016). These modifications affected about 10 percent of the total area in the 2010 land-cover map. The 2017 land-cover map also distinguishes between (1) forested areas that are within the fog-interception zone, assumed to be at elevations of 2,000 feet and higher on Maui, and (2) forested areas that are below the fog-interception zone. The same distinction was included in the analysis of Johnson and others (2014) and in the spatial structure of the 2010 land-cover map, but was omitted from the land-cover names in the attribute table of the 2010 land-cover map.


The Iskut-Unuk rivers centres consist of eight Recent volcanic centres located within the Stikine volcanic belt, northwestern British Columbia. The centres include: Iskut River, Tom MacKay Creek, Snippaker Creek, Cone Glacier, Cinder Mountain, King Creek, Second Canyon and Lava Fork and comprise lava flows, pillow lava, cinder and ash. The volcanic rocks range in age from 70,000+30,000 to -150 years B.P. and are dominantly alkali olivine basalts; hawaiite is observed only at Cinder Mountain volcanic centre. The basalts are olivine and plagioclase porphyritic and contain rare resorbed clinopyroxene. The groundmass includes olivine, plagioclase, titanaugite, magnetite and locally ilmenite. Large plagioclase crystals with extremely diverse crystal habits and textures are abundant in lavas from Iskut River, Snippaker Creek, Cone Glacier and King Creek volcanic centres. Crustal xenoliths are most abundant at Lava Fork but also occur within the lavas from Iskut River, Snippaker Creek, Cone Glacier and King Creek. Olivine compositions within the basalts range from F055 to Fo 8 3 ; Cinder Mountain hawaiites contain Fo33.54. Clinopyroxene M G f s range from 46 to 76 and can contain up to 6 wt% Ti0 2 . The compositions of resorbed clinopyroxene phenocrysts indicates crystallization at slightly different magmatic conditions than the groundmass clinopyroxene. Based on textures and habits, plagioclase crystals are divided into 4 groups including: megacrysts, phenocrysts, sieved phenocrysts and groundmass. Megacrysts and phenocrysts range in composition from An 5 0 to An 7 0 . Groundmass laths of plagioclase range from An 3 8 to An 6 8 in composition. Sieved phenocrysts of plagioclase are either of magmatic origin (An50.7o) or they are xenocrysts as suggested by prominent dissolution surfaces (sieved), observed with Nomarski technique, and low An-content (An6^8). Most crustal xenoliths derive from granitic basement rocks; partial melting of xenoliths gives rise to glasses with compositions close to alkali feldspar. The chemical diversity observed within the centres cannot be explained by closed system processes involving the observed magmatic mineral phases. Two different hypotheses can explain this variation: i) source region processes including heterogeneous mantle melt or many separate partial melts and/or ii) assimilation of crustal material. With mass balance calculations the chemical variations of samples within Iskut River, Snippaker Creek and Cone Glacier volcanic centres, can be explained by fractionation of olivine (3.25.7%) and plagioclase (1.2-11.22%) and assimilation of granitic melt (3.5-6.2%). Cinder Mountain intermediate rocks are not derived from a basalt collected from the area, but the variation within the hawaiite flows is possibly related through coupled fractionation and assimilation processes.


There is debate about possible antagonism between high milk production and reproductive performance in dairy cattle. However, many studies have used biased measures of reproduction or inappropriate statistical methods. The objectives were to examine the association of the level of production with reproductive performance at the herd and individual cow levels.


Selection of engines has been traditionally concerned with performance capability. Although performance is still an essential element in all future applications, recognition of operational realities has placed importance on system survivability and ultimate cost. In advanced military aircraft design, it is necessary and feasible to evaluate propulsion systems in a combat context that will discriminate according to the cost of performing the required mission. Methods are outlined which can be utilized during parametric studies to permit the screening of candidate design options, and identification of trends and design drivers. This approach provides the analyst with the ability to assess the impact of survivability and vulnerability characteristics upon the selection of the proper engine and propulsion system for a given mission task in terms of a cost related figure of merit. The importance of early consideration of these requirements in the weapon system design process has been dramtically illustrated by a recent study concerning propulsion survivability and weapon system design. The first preliminary aircraft design was found to be unacceptably susceptible to radar-seeking threat missiles. Utilizing the analytical results, a modest redesign to the aircraft reduced the combat cost by a factor of sixty. The results present informative phenomenology, while the methods illustrated show an approach that provides early screening, rapid optimization and ability to focus on the significant design factors.Copyright © 1983 by ASME


Abstract While much earlier work has indicated that prior verb bias from lifelong language experience influences language processing, recent findings highlight the fact that verb biases induced during lab-based exposure sessions also influence processing. We investigated the nature of updating, i.e., how prior and current experience might interact in guiding subsequent sentence production. Participants underwent a short training session where we manipulated the bias of known English dative verbs. The prior bias of each verb for the double-object (DO) versus the prepositional-object (PO) dative was estimated using a corpus. Current verb bias was counterbalanced and controlled experimentally. Bayesian mixed-effects logistic models of participants' responses (DO or PO) during subsequent free-choice production showed that both the prior and current verb biases affected speakers' construction choice. These effects were additive and not interactive, contrary to the prediction from error-based learning models. Semantic similarity to other verbs and their experimentally manipulated biases influenced sentence production, consistent with item-based analogy and exemplar theory. These results shed light on the potential mechanisms underlying language updating and the adaptation of sentence production to ongoing experience.


Collaborative communities are increasingly supported by systems of information and communication tools. Much current research and development focuses on the technical and semantic aspects of tool system interoperability. However, for developing effective tool systems, their pragmatic evaluation is also essential. This implies that the usage context of tools is taken into account. In this paper, we envision an approach to the pragmatic evaluation of tool system interoperability. Its main elements are a conceptualization of the tool system, its usage context, and an evaluation processs. With these basic elements, pragmatic evaluation can be operationalized in many different ways. We illustrate our approach with several real-world examples.


Food security in Kenya has worsened substantially over the last 30 years, with high population and increasing food demand consistently exceeding modest agricultural production growth.  There is a very strong link between agricultural productivity and alcohol consumption especially in the rural areas. The purpose of this study is to understand the demand patterns of alcohol and its impact on food security in Igembe South Sub-County. Cross sectional descriptive survey design was used to undertake the study. The target population was all the households in Igembe South Sub-County. The sample size of the study was 384 respondents. The study employed three sets of data collection instruments. Interviewer-administered structured questionnaire, observation checklist and key informant interview guide. Qualitative and econometric data analyses was carried out in this study to provide a deeper understanding of alcohol households' demand and how it affects the food security situation in Igembe South-Sub County. The results indicate that Alcohol consumption by the household head was associated with an increase in food insecurity, a statistically significant effect with an odds ratio of 1.593(95% CI 1.152 to 2.035, Wald χ2(1) = 50.015, p ˂0.05. An ordinal regression model was highly statistically significant with P˂0.005 and all the socio-economic variables being significant and Nagelkeke pseudo R-Square being 0.75. Patterns of alcohol consumption affected food security in the household. This was statistically significant in its predictive ability X2 (11) = 140.834, p < .01. Nagelkerke R-Square for the model is 0.737. The study concludes that alcohol consumption can cause serious food security problems in the household and it recommends that the government needs to develop and implement firm policies for the control of sale and consumption of alcohol so as to help reduce alcohol intake among the general populace. The study also recommends that media also needs to play its part by promoting campaigns and messages that emphasize the risks involved in the use of alcohol.


Current research in convolutional neural networks (CNN) focuses mainly on changing the architecture of the networks, optimizing the hyper-parameters and improving the gradient descent. However, most work use only 3 standard families of operations inside the CNN, the convolution, the activation function, and the pooling. In this work, we propose a new family of operations based on the Green's function of the Laplacian, which allows the network to solve the Laplacian, to integrate any vector field and to regularize the field by forcing it to be conservative. Hence, the Green's function (GF) is the first operation that regularizes the 2D or 3D feature space by forcing it to be conservative and physically interpretable, instead of regularizing the norm of the weights. Our results show that such regularization allows the network to learn faster, to have smoother training curves and to better generalize, without any additional parameter. The current manuscript presents early results, more work is required to benchmark the proposed method.


The scattering of a plane electromagnetic wave of wave-number k by a perfectly conducting infinite strip of width 2a is investigated for the case in which the surrounding medium is gyroelectric. The gyroelectric axis is assumed to be parallel to the edges of the strip. The problem is formulated in terms of an integral equation whose solution is obtained in the form of a series in powers of ka . Expressions for the far-zone fields and the first two terms in the series for the total scattering cross section are obtained.


This article discusses the poetic style of the Qur'anic translation. It demonstrates that the poetic style of the Qur'anic translation has become an instrument in revealing the beauty of the Qur'an. Showing that poem or poetry is one aspect of literature which posses a lofty esthetical value, it argues that Mahjiddin's technique of translation is truly concerned with writing style, lexical choice, structure, tone and voice as found in poem or poetry, and that the poetic style or form of translation will not change the accuration of meaning and comprehension of texts in the Qur'an.


This paper is concerned with emotional design, which can influence user experience and combine it with happiness and enjoyment. Emotions have a crucial role in human ability to understand the world. Today, users buy a product, not only for functional aspects of it, but also they are attracted to emotional usability of the product. Therefore, designers are more focused on emotional aspects of design. The products that are designed based on emotional design are more desirable and bring more satisfaction to the user. Colour is one of the fundamental elements of emotional design, which can stimulate different senses of users. Colour can strongly affect the form of the product and the feeling of the user. A product with appropriate colour gets more popular and will find a good market. Appropriate colour not only matches with the form and function of the product, but also matches with the culture and preferences of the user. In order to be able to select an appropriate colour for a product, there is a need for having a good knowledge of preferences of the users. Therefore, a case study was performed to investigate the Iranian preferences regarding colours. For this aim a questionnaire was made and filled by eighty five Iranian men and women between 20 and 30 years old. Data were analyzed by Excel computing software. The results of this study can be used by designers for selecting appropriate colours for different products.


With the increasing consumption of pulps and timbers in the world, many exotic tree species have been introduced to China. Among these exotic species, Acacia mangium has become a major species in plantation forestry in tropical and subtropical China, which has properties of fast growing and nitrogen fixing. This paper reports the experimental results on the fertilization strategy. Effects of varied levels of N,P,K nutrients on the growth of A. mangium saplings in a water culturing system are demonstrated. In general, phosphorus (P) is the most important factor influencing the growth of A. mangium saplings, followed by potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) respectively. The less importance of nitrogen nutrient supports the fact that roots of A. mangium are able to transfer aerial N 2 to organic nitrogen with N fixing bacteria. The optimum fertilization lever of N,P,K is at the ratio of 190(N):25(P):160(K) mg·L -1 ?


Background. Retrospective, observational studies link high phosphate with mortality in dialysis patients. This generates research hypotheses but does not establish "cause-and-effect." A large randomised controlled trial (RCT) of about 3000 patients randomised 50 : 50 to lower or higher phosphate ranges is required to answer the key question: does reducing phosphate levels improve clinical outcomes? Whether such a trial is technically possible is unknown; therefore, a study is necessary to inform the design and conduct of a future, definitive trial. Methodology. Dual centre prospective parallel group study: 100 dialysis patients randomized to lower (phosphate target 0.8 to 1.4 mmol/L) or higher range group (1.8 to 2.4 mmol/L). Non-calcium-containing phosphate binders and questionnaires will be used to achieve target phosphate. Primary endpoint: percentage successfully titrated to required range and percentage maintained in these groups over the maintenance period. Secondary endpoints: consent rate, drop-out rates, and cardiovascular events. Discussion. This study will inform design of a large definitive trial of the effect of phosphate on mortality and cardiovascular events in dialysis patients. If phosphate lowering improves outcomes, we would be reassured of the validity of this clinical practice. If, on the other hand, there is no improvement, a reassessment of resource allocation to therapies proven to improve outcomes will result. Trial Registration Number. This trial is registered with ISRCTN registration number ISRCTN24741445.


An association between a genetically determined deficiency of the serum enzyme α1 antitrypsin and pulmonary emphysema is now well established. Serum antitryptic activity was measured in 103 patients suspected of having emphysema. Eighty-seven fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for emphysema and, of these, 16 had deficient levels, 5 had intermediate levels, and 66 had normal levels. The results of clinical, radiographic, and physiological studies in each group were then compared. Characteristic features noted in the deficient group included onset of dyspnoea during the third or fourth decades and uniformly symmetrical radiographic lower zone involvement. Other factors such as sex distribution, cigarette smoking, and chronic bronchitis are discussed. Sixty-eight relatives of the 16 patients with deficient levels were also studied. The findings in these are compatible with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance although difficulties in identifying the heterozygous state were encountered. Six relatives had deficient levels and of these three had emphysema.


Higher education in general (Bogue, 1998) and study abroad programming in particular (Gillespie, Braskamp & Braskamp, 1999) are hardly strangers to stringent demands for accountability. What is new to higher education and to study abroad is the demand for accountability in terms of measurable student learning outcomes. This article is a first report from a system-wide initiative to document learning outcomes accruing from participation in study abroad. It focuses on one element of that initiative, a comparison of several outcomes between study abroad participants and non-participants attending sixteen varied public institutions within a state university system.


In rats with catheter-induced sterile aortic valve vegetations we studied the efficacy of single-dose amoxicillin and single-dose erythromycin prophylaxis for the prevention of bacterial endocarditis after extractions of periodontally diseased teeth. Endocarditis after extractions occurred in 89% of control animals and was due to group G streptococci, to Staphylococcus aureus, or to both organisms. A single-dose of amoxicillin or erythromycin successfully prevented endocarditis due to these bacterial species. The analysis of the bacteremia (by culturing blood drawn 1 min after extraction on penicillinase-containing blood agar plates) indicated that amoxicillin did not influence the incidence or the magnitude of circulating group G streptococci and S. aureus, while erythromycin apparently suppressed them. However, when care was taken to eliminate blood erythromycin by a lysis-centrifugation process, the incidence and magnitude of bacteremia after erythromycin prophylaxis was similar to that in control rats. We conclude that single doses of amoxicillin and erythromycin successfully prevent experimental endocarditis after dental extractions. Since this prophylaxis was operative by mechanisms other than the prevention of the circulation of bacteria before seeding the valvular vegetations, it suggests that recommendations for prevention of bacterial endocarditis should not be aimed only at providing adequate antibiotic blood levels to suppress the bacteremia produced by the invasive procedure.


Recent increases in petroleum fuel costs, corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations, and environmental concerns about CO2 emissions from petroleum based fuels have created an increased opportunity for diesel engines and non-petroleum renewable fuels such as biodiesel. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agencies Tier II heavy duty and light duty emissions regulations require significant reductions in NOx and diesel particulate matter emissions for diesel engines. As a result, the diesel engine and aftertreatment system is a highly calibrated system that is sensitive to fuel characteristics. This study focuses on the impact of soy methyl ester biodiesel blends on combustion performance, NOx, and carbonaceous soot matter emissions. Tests were completed using a 1.9 L, turbocharged direct injection diesel engine using commercially available 15 ppm ultra low sulfur (ULS) diesel, a soy methyl ester B20 biodiesel blend (20 vol % B100 and 80 vol % ULS diesel), and a pure soy methyl ester biodiesel. Results show a reduction in NOx and carbonaceous soot matter emissions, and an increase in brake specific fuel consumption with the use of biodiesel. Further, traditional methodology assumes that diesel fuels with a high cetane number have a reduced ignition delay. However, results from this study show the cetane number is not the only parameter effecting ignition delay due to increased diffusion burn.


We study the ground state properties of the Hubbard model on a 4-leg cylinder with doped hole concentration per site $\delta\leq 12.5\%$ using density-matrix renormalization group. By keeping a large number of states for long system sizes, we find that the nature of the ground state is remarkably sensitive to the presence of next-nearest-neighbor hopping $t'$. Without $t'$ the ground state of the system corresponds with the insulating filled stripe phase with long-range charge-density-wave (CDW) order and short-range incommensurate spin correlations appears. However, for a small negative $t'$ a phase characterized by coexisting algebraic d-wave superconducting (SC)- and algebraic CDW correlations. In addition, it shows short range spin- and fermion correlations consistent with a canonical Luther-Emery (LE) liquid, except that the charge- and spin periodicities are consistent with half-filled stripes instead of the $4 k_F$ and $2 k_F$ wavevectors generic for one dimensional chains. For a small positive $t'$ yet another phase takes over showing similar SC and CDW correlations. However, the fermions are now characterized by a (near) infinite correlation length while the gapped spin system is characterized by simple staggered antiferromagnetic correlations. We will show that this is consistent with a LE formed from a weakly coupled (BCS like) d-wave superconductor on the ladder where the interactions have only the effect to stabilize a cuprate style magnetic resonance.


The physical limitations of omni‐directional antennas are considered. With the use of the spherical wave functions to describe the field, the directivity gain G and the Q of an unspecified antenna are calculated under idealized conditions. To obtain the optimum performance, three criteria are used, (1) maximum gain for a given complexity of the antenna structure, (2) minimum Q, (3) maximum ratio of G/Q. It is found that an antenna of which the maximum dimension is 2a has the potentiality of a broad band width provided that the gain is equal to or less than 4a/λ. To obtain a gain higher than this value, the Q of the antenna increases at an astronomical rate. The antenna which has potentially the broadest band width of all omni‐directional antennas is one which has a radiation pattern corresponding to that of an infinitesimally small dipole.


To examine visual and verbal coding strategies, I asked children with intellectual disabilities and peers matched for MA and CA to perform picture memory span tasks with phonologically similar, visually similar, long, or nonsimilar named items. The CA group showed effects consistent with advanced verbal memory coding (phonological similarity and word length effects). Neither the intellectual disabilities nor MA groups showed evidence for memory coding strategies. However, children in these groups with MAs above 6 years showed significant visual similarity and word length effects, broadly consistent with an intermediate stage of dual visual and verbal coding. These results suggest that developmental progressions in memory coding strategies are independent of intellectual disabilities status and consistent with MA.


We performed PMU hepatic arterial chemotherapy (a combination therapy consisting of intra-hepatic arterial infusion of CDDP and MMC, oral administration of UFT) in 20 patients with gastric cancer and liver metastases. In this method, 1-6 courses of one infusion of CDDP at 70-100 mg/body and MMC of 10 mg/body into the proper hepatic artery were administered at intervals of 3-4 weeks. UFT of 300-400 mg/day was orally administered with the infusion. The primary response for hepatic metastatic lesions was observed in one case of CR, 14 cases of PR, 4 cases of NC, and one case of PD. The efficacy for CR and PR was high at 75%. The median disease-free interval was 56 weeks in responders. The 50% survival period was 11.1 months; one-year survival rate, 42.1%; two-year survival rate, 12.3%; the longest survival period was 108 weeks. Mild and transient side effects were recognized in 17 cases (85%): gastrointestinal symptoms, sense of general malaise, fever, leukocytopenia, and elevated BUN. Thus, the results indicated that this combination chemotherapy was effective for liver metastases of gastric cancer.


This article has two aims. First, it will provide an overview of hysteria and mass hysteria phenomena throughout history, by exploring the psychosocial elements underneath selected historical episodes such as medieval 'dance plagues' and 'Loudun possessions'
 (1632‐34), but also by presenting recent social-psychiatric and epidemiological case analysis on the topic. Second, it will present and discuss an episode of what could be described as mass hysteria, which occurred in 2010 in a secondary school in Maputo, Mozambique. Using psychoanalytic
 and group analytic inputs, both aims will enable a suggestion as to the psychosocial aspects that lie underneath the referred episode. The article will also consider, although in the background, the role played by apparatuses of power and colonial discourses in shaping some of the analysis
 and visions that mass hysteria portrayed in the case study may have acquired. A transdisciplinary perspective will allow a broader understanding of mass hysteria, highlighting the relevance of psychosocial approaches to investigations of collective phenomena.


Within the range of images that we might categorize as a "beach", for example, some will be more representative of that category than others. Here we first confirmed that humans could categorize "good" exemplars better than "bad" exemplars of six scene categories and then explored whether brain regions previously implicated in natural scene categorization showed a similar sensitivity to how well an image exemplifies a category. In a behavioral experiment participants were more accurate and faster at categorizing good than bad exemplars of natural scenes. In an fMRI experiment participants passively viewed blocks of good or bad exemplars from the same six categories. A multi-voxel pattern classifier trained to discriminate among category blocks showed higher decoding accuracy for good than bad exemplars in the PPA, RSC and V1. This difference in decoding accuracy cannot be explained by differences in overall BOLD signal, as average BOLD activity was either equivalent or higher for bad than good scenes in these areas. These results provide further evidence that V1, RSC and the PPA not only contain information relevant for natural scene categorization, but their activity patterns mirror the fundamentally graded nature of human categories. Analysis of the image statistics of our good and bad exemplars shows that variability in low-level features and image structure is higher among bad than good exemplars. A simulation of our neuroimaging experiment suggests that such a difference in variance could account for the observed differences in decoding accuracy. These results are consistent with both low-level models of scene categorization and models that build categories around a prototype.


In a recent article I stated that I 1 believed that perforating hemorrhagic (chocolate) cysts of the ovary were hematomas of endometrial type, and that at the time of the perforation of the cyst some of the epithelium lining it might be carried with the contents of the cyst into the peritoneal cavity. This epithelium might become lodged on the surface of the peritoneum, soiled by the contents of the cyst, and there develop into adenomas of endometrial type. The adenomas arising from the implantation of this epithelium might be small and quiescent, or they might become invasive, giving rise to so-called adenomyomas of the part invaded. I compared the conditions arising from the perforation of these cysts with the implantations of ovarian papilloma and cancer resulting from the rupture or perforation of an ovarian tumor containing these growths. These cysts were described as developing most frequently in women between


Open fractures in children have a high level of morbidity and require early treatment. This case describes the successful treatment of a child who sustained an open tibial fracture with soft tissue loss. The fracture was stabilized with a monolateral external fixator devised in our clinic, and the soft tissue loss was covered with a distally based sural artery flap. The flap is simple, can be done quickly, and a surgeon does not need microsurgical or specialty training to perform the operation. This combined use of external fixation and distally based sural artery flap is a straightforward technique in distal tibial open fractures of children with soft tissue loss.


This paper proposes the refactoring of the current Ethernet 802.3u layer 1 architecture and its interface to layer 2 to better accommodate the requirements of real-time-Ethernet (RTE) communication systems as used in factory automation. The paper supports this proposal by reviewing the relevant characteristics of RTE protocols, issues encountered whilst implementing RTE nodes and the innovation potential unlocked where these proposals to be adopted. Work in progress is described.


Tuning the size of silicon nano-crystallites (Si-ncs) has been realized simply by controlling the thickness of the nc-Si:H sub-layer (tnc) in the a-Si:H/nc-Si:H superlattice thin films grown by low temperature plasma processing in PE-CVD. The vertical electrical transport phenomena accomplished in superlattice films have been investigated in order to identify their effective utilization in practical device configuration. The reduced size of the Si-ncs at thinner tnc and the associated band gap widening due to quantum confinement effects generates the Coulomb potential barrier at the a-Si/nc-Si interface which in turn obstructs the transport of charge carriers to the allowed energy states in Si-ncs, leading to the Poole-Frenkel tunneling as the prevailing charge transport mechanism in force. The advantages of the conduction process governed by the Poole-Frenkel mechanism are two-fold. The lower barrier height caused by the a-Si:H sub-layer in the superlattice than the silicon oxide sub-layer in conventional structures enhances the conduction current. Moreover, increasing trapped charges in the a-Si:H sub-layer can arbitrarily increase the current conduction. Accordingly, a-Si:H/nc-Si:H superlattice structures could provide superior electrical transport in stacked layer devices e.g., multi-junction all silicon solar cells.


We introduce and study probabilistic interpolations of various quantization methods. To do this, we develop a method for finding the expectations of unbounded random operators on a Hilbert space by averaging (with the help of Feynman formulae) the random one-parameter semigroups generated by these operators (the usual method for finding the expectations of bounded random operators is generally inapplicable to unbounded ones). Although the averaging of families of semigroups generates a function that need not possess the semigroup property, the Chernoff iterates of this function approximate a certain semigroup, whose generator is taken for the expectation of the original random operator. In the case of bounded random operators, this expectation coincides with the ordinary one.


An experiment was carried out during the period from April to June, 1994 in a plastic greenhouse of Kyoto University to study the responses of 28 chickpea cultivars to water stress. Two treatments were applied to plants, i.e. control and stress. Water stress reduced leaf area at 35 and 50 days after sowing (DAS), leaf numbers pet plant at 35 days after sowing, plant height at 30, 40, 50, and 65 DAS, dry weight of root and shoot. leaf area was significantly reduced by water stress treatment. The degree of reduction was very high in the variety V9 (ICCV 88202) V10 (ICCN 12464) and V27 (Dharmashala-2) and the reduction was minimum in cultivars V2 (ICC 10448), V3 (BCL 155), V22 (Bheema) and V23 (Hyprosola). Leaf area was highest in variety V22 (Bheema) ia both the treatments. Genotypes V2(ICC 10448), V12(BCL 199), V31 (BCL 155), V25 (Sreenagar-2) and V28 (Ahamedpur local) did not show significant differences between control and stress treatments on the whole. Variety VI6 (BCL 372) showed the longest stress period (23 days) among the tested varieties. The best performing varieties are ICC 10448, BCL 155, Bheemaand hyprosola among the tested cultivars. Further study would be needed with those cultivars.


Little is known about objective classifying of noise exposure risk levels in personal listening device (PLD) users and electrophysiologic evidence of cochlear synaptopathy at very fast click rates. The aim of the study was to objectively classify noise exposure risk using iPhone Health app and identify signs of cochlear synaptopathy using behavioral and electrophysiologic measures. Thirty normal-hearing females (aged 18-26 years) were grouped based on their iPhone Health app's 6-month listening level and noise exposure data into low-risk and high-risk groups. They were assessed using a questionnaire, extended high-frequency (EHF) audiometry, QuickSIN test, distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), and simultaneous recording of electrocochleography (ECochG) and auditory brainstem response (ABR) at three click rates (19.5/s, 97.7/s, 234.4/s). A series of ANOVAs and independent samples t -test were conducted for group comparison. Both groups had within-normal EHF hearing thresholds and DPOAEs. However, the high-risk participants were over twice as likely to suffer from tinnitus, had abnormally large summating potential to action potential amplitude and area ratios at fast rates, and had slightly smaller waves I and V amplitudes. The high-risk group demonstrated a profile of behavioral and objective signs of cochlear synaptopathy based on ECochG and ABR recordings at fast click rates. The findings in this study suggest that the iPhone Health app may be a useful tool for further investigation into cochlear synaptopathy in PLD users.


The detection of selection signatures assists in understanding domestication, evolution, and the identification of genomic regions related to adaptation and production traits in buffaloes. The emergence of high-throughput technologies like Next Generation Sequencing and SNP genotyping had expanded our ability to detect these signatures of selection. In this study, we sought to identify signatures of selection in five buffalo populations (Brazilian Murrah, Bulgarian Murrah, Indian Murrah, Nili-Ravi, and Kundi) using Axiom Buffalo 90 K Genotyping Array data. Using seven different methodologies (Tajima's D, CLR, ROH, iHS, FST, FLK and hapFLK), we identified selection signatures in 374 genomic regions, spanning a total of 381 genes and 350 quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Among these, several candidate genes were associated with QTLs for milk production, reproduction, growth and carcass traits. The genes and QTLs reported in this study provide insight into selection signals shaping the genome of buffalo breeds. Our findings can aid in further genomic association studies, genomic prediction, and the implementation of breeding programmes in Indian buffaloes.


In recent years the study of water quality in lakes and reservoir has been subject to several research programmes for both ecosystem evolution and water management. Analysis of hydraulic-environmental characteristics in terms of temporal trend has shown the hydraulics and physical-chemical structure of water but in terms of spatial distribution it is necessary to characterize the difference between point and non-point processes.A mobile monitoring system able to measure several vertical profiles along the reservoir surface and a geostatistical model are employed in order to evaluate the spatial (3-D) distribution of environmental indicators (temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, pH and redox potential). This approach has been demonstrated on the Camastra reservoir (Southern Italy). Through these computations the evolution of water thermal structure and hypolimnetic anoxic phenomena are described. The latter has been recognized to be dependent on the local hydraulic characteristics and not by diffuse anoxic processes. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.


Abstract Background Silk fibroin (SF) can be processed into a hydrogel. SF/collagen hydrogel may be a suitable biomaterial for bone tissue engineering. Objectives To investigate in vitro biocompatibility and osteogenic potential of encapsulated rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rat MSCs) in an injectable Thai SF/collagen hydrogel induced by oleic acid–poloxamer 188 surfactant mixture in an in vitro pilot study. Methods Rat MSCs were encapsulated in 3 groups of hydrogel scaffolds (SF, SF with 0.05% collagen [SF/0.05C], and SF with 0.1% collagen [SF/0.1C]) and cultured in a growth medium and an osteogenic induction medium. DNA, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and calcium were assayed at periodically for up to 5 weeks. After 6 weeks of culture the cells were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Results Although SF hydrogel with collagen seems to have less efficiency to encapsulate rat MSCs, their plateau phase growth in all hydrogels was comparable. Inability to maintain cell viability as cell populations declined over 1–5 days was observed. Cell numbers then plateaued and were maintained until day 14 of culture. ALP activity and calcium content of rat MSCs in SF/collagen hydrogels were highest at day 21. An enhancing effect of collagen combined with the hydrogel was observed for proliferation and matrix formation; however, benefits of the combination on osteogenic differentiation and biomineralization are as yet unclear. Conclusion Rat MSCs in SF and SF/collagen hydrogels showed osteogenic differentiation. Accordingly, these hydrogels may serve as promising scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.


The differential diagnostics of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the kernel of TCM. The objective study of TCM diagnostics is a research hot spot at present. The differential diagnostics process of TCM is very complex and nonlinear. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a novel method to establish the diagnosis model of TCM. In this paper, the differential diagnostics model is constructed base on multi-SVM. A comparison is made between gaussian and poly kernel functions in SVM for differential diagnostics. The model based on multi-SVM presented can deal with accompanying syndromes better. The model can provide a new way to solve TCM differential diagnostics.


Nitrate loads from agricultural sources raise major water quality concerns for the US Corn Belt. Wetland restoration has been identified as a promising strategy to reduce nonpoint source nitrogen loads from agricultural watersheds. However, there is concern over increased nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from wetlands subject to elevated nitrogen loads. The major purpose of this research was to quantify N2O and CH4 emissions from wetlands targeted to intercept and reduce nitrate loads in agricultural watersheds. We measured nitrate removal and N2O and CH4 emission rates at three wetlands subject to different nitrate loads. Nitrate loads and losses were estimated based on close interval monitoring of inflows and outflows. N2O and CH4 emissions were estimated using floating chambers during synoptic studies conducted from late spring through early fall in 2015-2016. N2O emission rates averaged 3.5 mg N2O-N m-2 day-1, similar to rates from cropland even though wetlands received more N per area than croplands. N2O emission rates were correlated to nitrate concentrations, loading rates, and loss rates. CH4 emission rates averaged 793 mg CH4 m-2 day-1, similar to rates for restored depressional wetlands in Iowa.


Employee participation and involvement is essential in the new corporate structure and environment. Tracing the historical roots of the new organizational changes and adoption of new managerial paradigm characteristics of employee involvement in quality control and productivity improvements, and the way in which cooperative learning and team work ethics are implemented in engineering education are some of the major issues in engineering curriculum reform. The aim of this paper is to show whether or not cooperative teaching/learning works for engineering schools.


ABSTRACT Wang, J.P.; Liao, H.L.; Huang, H.P.; Zhang, R., and Sun, Q.Q., 2020. Discussion on the process of nitrification and denitrification by combining laboratory culture with dual isotope method in Lianhua River and Reservoir, Southeast China. In: Guido Aldana, P.A. and Kantamaneni, K. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Coastal Management, and Marine Science Technology. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 104, pp. 486–491. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. As an indispensable part of water ecological nitrogen cycle, nitrification and denitrification play a crucial role in the process of nitrogen retention and release in river ecosystem. In order to certificate the nitrification and denitrification potential of surface water and sediment in different seasons and explain biogeochemical effects of nitrogen in a longitudinal gradient from upstream to downstream, we used lab culture and dual isotope tracing methods in Lianhua River and Reservoir, southeast China. The results show that the main sources of nitrate pollution in water body were NH4 + fertilizer, NO3 - fertilizer, soil nitrogen, manure and waste water. Nitrification and denitrification processes mainly occur in sediment in river system. The potential ammonia nitrification rate (17.143∼171.429 µmol.m-2.h-1,) is significantly higher than that of nitrite oxidation rate (0.052∼2.267 µmol.m-2.h-1) which indicates that the biomass of AOB (Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria) in sediment is higher than that of NOB (Nitrite Oxidizing Bacteria). Agricultural headwater river with relatively high organic nitrogen and low water level during winter dry season provides rich source of organic carbon and the anaerobic environment. Therefore, denitrification is more likely to occur in winter than in other seasons. Whereas, compared to the total potential nitrification rate (17.148∼173.223 µmol.m-2.h-1), total potential denitrification rate (2.224∼51.555 µmol.m-2.h-1) is not the dominant process especially in spring and summer, which illustrates that high nitrogen of the upstream water could cause certain potential risk to the eutrophication for the downstream of the reservoir.


The study examined the effect of Google Classroom on students' grammatical competence. The experiment was followed by a test. The group that received therapy was the experimental group, whereas the control group received no treatment. Using SPSS, the T-test was used to determine if the pre- and post-test scores of the control and experimental groups differed significantly. The results of the investigation were 1). the pre- and post-test mean scores for the control and experimental groups differ considerably. This indicates that the use of Google Classroom greatly improved students' Ekonomi Syariah performance in present grammar from excellent to very good. 2). the post-test mean scores of the control and experimental groups vary significantly. The usage of Google Classroom had a considerable impact on the test performance of the experimental group in particular.


The heat capacities of three specially implanted silicon bolometers have been measured at low and, for the first time, at very low temperatures down to about 10 mK by exposing them to alpha-particles and X-rays. The lattice contribution shows a behaviour with temperature in good agreement with the Debye law, and the percentage of thermalized energy of the alpha-particle is found to be about 70%. The specific heat of the doped part, which dominates at very low temperatures, is not inconsistent with linearity, even if a dependence on a higher power of the temperature seems preferred. The parameter of linearity is found to be considerably larger than expected from extrapolation to very low temperatures of the existing results on silicon P-doped by diffusion.


Objective: The prevalence of microalbuminuria and its relationship with several cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage is very important. However, data from Asian population including Korea are rare. We evaluate the prevalence and clinical correlates of microalbuminuria in korean patient with essential Hypertension. Design and method: The Korean hypertension registry (KorHR) is an on-going prospective multicenter cohort study for hypertension. Inclusion criteria are as follows: Consecutive patients with essential hypertension, Aged more than 30 years old, Consent to registry enrollment, Incident hypertensives, Hypertensive patients without definite cardiovascular damage such as coronary artery, renal, cerebral artery disease and evidence of definite target organ damage, Hypertensive patients who visited the research hospital for the first time within 5 years. We will follow study patients up to at least 3 years and investigate the occurrence of major cardiovascular events and mortality. As of Jan 2016, the interim analysis of 1,318 consecutive subjects was performed to understand the baseline characteristics of the population. Microalbuminuria (MAU) was defined as the albumin-to-creatinine ratio in first morning urine samples. Results: Of all cohort patients, we selected 778 patients without missing value. The mean age is 51.5 ± 12.2 year old and male is 63%. 55.7% is no evidence of medical treatment for hypertension. Mean office SBP / DBP was 143.40 ± 20.83 / 87.83 ± 15.87 mmHg. Mean body weight is 71.24 ± 13.27 kg, waist is 77.90 ± 30.65 and BMI is 26.05 ± 3.46. The distributions of risk factors are follows: Diabetes (6.2%), dyslipidemia (41%), family history of coronary heart diease (41%) and current smoking (19%). The prevalence of microalbuminuria was 12.4%. Comparing of prevalence of MAU between never treated patients and on-treatment patient, Never-treated patients were more likely to be patients with MAU (16.5 % vs. 7.3%, p < 0.05). Regression analysis demonstrated that age and uric acid and the presence of on-treatment significantly influence albuminuria and together account for a large part of its variations. Also, Uric acid was significantly related to age, sex and presence of on- treatment. Conclusions: The prevalence of microalbuminuria in essential hypertension is lower than previously reported. Increased urinary albumin excretion is associated with old age and under-treament of hypertension.


We have calculated the electronic structure and spectroscopic properties of the oxygen vacancy in different charge states in the monoclinic phase of $\mathrm{Hf}{\mathrm{O}}_{2}$. Periodic and embedded cluster calculations using density functional theory and a hybrid density functional reproduce the band gap of this material with good accuracy and predict the positions of the one-electron energy levels corresponding to five charge states of the vacancy in the band gap. The optical transition energies as well as optical and thermal ionization energies into the conduction band for all vacancy charge states and the $g$ tensor for electron spin resonance (ESR) active states are calculated. We discuss the relation of the calculated properties to metrology of vacancies using spectroscopic ellipsometry, ESR, and electrical stress measurements.


Accurate differentiation of retro- or intraperitoneal localization of a primary abdominal tumor by US and CT is often difficult. In our case an abdominal mass was incidentally discovered and identified as a typical benign schwannoma, but with a very atypical location in the mesentery. We found that MRI was a valuable adjunct to CT for exact tumor localization.


This paper considers the most important quality factors in processing spheroidal graphite cast iron; namely, primary grains and graphite nodules in thin-walled ductile iron castings (TWDI). In the present study, the effect of grain refinement (by means of Ti, Nb and Zr) and of the holding time after spheroidization and inoculation on effecting the primary grains and eutectic structure in TWDI castings was investigated. Moreover, metallographic examinations (including electron backscattering diffraction, EBSD) were carried out to reveal the macro- and micro-structural features during the primary and eutectic solidification of the cast iron. EBSD results indicate that, within a single dendritic grain, there are numerous boundaries that split the grain into numerous smaller areas. In particular, it is found that the graphite nodules are in contact with the boundaries inside the primary dendritic grain. In turn, crystallization of highly branched dendrites is observed, which seems to "push" the graphite nodules into the interdendritic regions during their growth. The present work investigates the dominant mechanism that gives rise to the primary spheroidal graphite cast iron (SGI) structure. In addition, this work shows that the melt quality is closely associated with the resultant morphology and number of austenite dendrites, graphite nodules, and matrix structure.


The data from 2002 to 2007 on catches and fishing effort (f), the catch per unit of effort (CPUE), lift frequency (FL), catches per lift (CL), transfer numbers (NT) and catch per transfer (CT) for blue crabs (Callinectes spp.) in La Ceiba Harbour, Trujillo state, Venezuela were evaluated. A seasonal pattern was observed, with maximum captures in March to June (16,51 t) and peak in June (27,95 t), and lower catches from November to February (4,93 t) and September (7,76 t). The fishing effort was higher in the rainy season (May-June and October-November) and lowest in September and December. Catches changed largely during the study period, with lowest catches in 2002 and 2003, and significantly higher catches (P≤0,5) from 2004 to 2007 -average 167,46 t- during the latter period. The fishery of Callinectes spp. in La Ceiba Harbour is seasonal and it has increased gradually after 2003, primarily related to an increase in the fishing effort for this resource.


The design of a mobile application is a tedious task owing to its intrinsic variability. Software designers must take into account in their development process the versatility of available platforms (eg Android, iPhone, tablets). The variety of existing devices and their divergences (eg frontal camera, GPS) introduce a further layer of complexity to the development process. In addition, at runtime, many potential situations have to be considered (eg limited connectivity, hardware heterogeneity, changes of user preference, etc.). Such software systems are seen increasingly as evolutive systems.


During the last decade, AI has become the most important field for the researchers to provide a solutions for real world's challenges, resulting in the new emerged field of deep learning which make the system more efficient and optimized .This paper discusses the expansion of deep learning towards the welfare of animal life considering ways to save them and monitoring their count and health conditions. Techniques like image classification and object detection can provide plethora of information that can assist in conducting study on various aspects by identifying and classifying these animal species from thousands of images captured by drones or cameras which could be very strenuous and tedious to be done by humans.


The relative importance of nodes in a network can be quantified via
functions of the adjacency matrix. Two popular choices of function are the
exponential, which is parameter-free,
and the resolvent function, which yields the Katz centrality measure.
Katz centrality can be the more computationally efficient,
especially for large directed networks,
and has the benefit of generalizing naturally to
time-dependent network sequences,
but it depends on a parameter.
We give a prescription for selecting the Katz parameter
based on the objective of matching the centralities of the
exponential counterpart.
For our new choice of parameter the resolvent can be very ill conditioned,
but we argue that the centralities computed in floating point arithmetic can
nevertheless reliably be used for ranking.
Experiments on \revised{six} real networks show that the new choice of Katz parameter
leads to rankings of nodes that \revised{generally} match
those from the exponential centralities well in practice.


This article appeals for the creation of more spaces for politically informed dialogues among indigenous and non-white, elder-leader-activists. Such spaces may offer possibilities for dislodging white-settler-centered social movement logics and practices by articulating a dialogue across diverse marginalized communities that may reveal alternative language and strategies that social justice organizations desperately need to further decolonization as praxis. Skeptical of contemporary allyship and solidarity discourses that are imbricated in hegemonic European whiteness, this article offers an alternative narrative of indigenous and non-white relations drawn from Asian Canadian literature.


Many authors assess the pain syndrome manifestation and the hip osteoarthrosis degree by using different scales and tests, that sometimes leads to difficulties in comparison of the study results. The comparison of VAS values and MacGill, Lecken, Womac, Harris indices in 69 patients with coxarthrosis of 2-3 stage has been made. Correlation coefficients and regression equations have been revealed while comparing different values, including those for comparing with radiologic osteoarthrosis degree assessment.


Determining the position and velocity of mobiles is an important issue for hierarchical cellular networks since the efficient allocation of mobiles to large or microcells depends on its present velocity. We suggest a method of tracing a mobile by evaluating subsequent signal-strength measurements to different base stations. The required data are available in the Global System for Mobile (GSM) system. The basic idea resembles multidimensional scaling (MDS), a well-recognized method in statistical data analysis. Furthermore, the raw data are smoothed by a linear regression setup that simultaneously yields an elegant, smoothed estimator of the mobile's speed. The method is extensively tested for data generated by the simulation tool GOOSE.


The present paper proposes a novel cableless magnetic actuator with a new propulsion module that exhibits a very high thrusting force. This actuator contains an electrical inverter that directly transforms DC from button batteries into AC. The electrical DC-AC inverter incorporates a mass-spring system, a reed switch, and a curved permanent magnet that switches under an electromagnetic force. The actuator is moved by the inertial force of the mass-spring system due to mechanical resonance energy. The experimental results show that the actuator is able to move upward at a speed of 33 ㎜/s when using 10 button batteries when pulling a 10 g load mass. This cableless magnetic actuator has several possible applications, including narrow-pipe inspection and maintenance.


A sensitivity analysis is presented on the influence of the weight, altitude and speed of battery-powered sUAS on the resulting stall speed, endurance and range. To aid in the determination of the aircraft performance prior to flight, a method is being brought forth that quantifies the impact of these mission parameters. As a case study the P31015 sUAS is used. The P31015 is a concept model of a battery-powered sUAS with a total battery capacity of 977Wh. Since the aerodynamic model of the aircraft was determined through simulations, and the specific propulsion set-up is yet to be determined, the case study remains to be a theoretical approach. The proposed methods and limitations of this study are applicable to other electric sUAS in similar set-up.


Background Anti-TNFα drugs are immunosuppressive therapies prescribed in autoimmune diseases. Several clinical cases reported interstitial lung disease (ILD) onset with anti-TNFα drugs.1 Purpose In this clinical case we report ILD onset induced by infliximab in a patient with psoriasis. Material and methods A literature review and a pharmacovigilance notification were done. The accountability of infliximab in ILD onset was estimated by the Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale. Results The patient was a 57-year-old-man, treated for extensive psoriasis diagnosed in 1970. Our patient received eight medication therapies for psoriasis from 1987 to July 2014. He started therapy with infliximab 5 mg/kg in September 2015, on the following weeks: week 0, week 2, week 6, and then every 8 weeks (no pulmonary contraindication for infliximab for our patient). A significant improvement in skin condition was observed and the last injection of infliximab was in December 2015. In January 2016, our patient had a progressive dyspnoea onset (stage III according to the NYHA classification) 2 weeks after the last infliximab injection, leading to hospitalisation (decrease in vital capacity (VC) from 80% to 50–60%). ILD was shown on imaging, and bronchoalveolar fluid culture and immunological tests were negative. Cytology examinations found lymphocytic alveolitis (40%), supporting the hypothesis of hypersensitivity ILD. Lung function improved 1 month after infliximab cessation, without any medication (antibiotics or corticosteroids). The accountability of infliximab in ILD onset was probable according to Naranjo's score (score=7/13) In March 2016, VC was 77%, and in May 2016, there was a complete regression of pulmonary infiltration. Today, psoriasis is treated by secukinumab. Conclusion Our case report suggests a role for infliximab in ILD onset. The link between ILD onset and anti-TNFα drugs remains unclear. Further research has to be conducted to elucidate the role of anti-TNFα agents in ILD onset or in worsening of pre-existing ILD, taking into account patients' interindividual variability. References and/or acknowledgements 1. Curtis JR, et al. Incidence and complications of interstitial lung disease in users of tocilizumab, rituximab, abatacept and anti-tumour necrosis factor α agents, a retrospective cohort study. Arthritis Res Ther2015;17(1). No conflict of interest


Giving complementary foods too early will result in the baby's digestive ability not ready to receive additional food. This will have an impact such as diarrhea. The design in this study was cross sectional. The population were 50 mothers who had babies aged 0-6 months. The sample were 45 people was taken using simple random sampling. Data analysis using test Chi-square. The results was almost all respondents (91.1%) gave early complementary breastfeeding. And  41 respondents who provided early complementary breastfeeding, most of them had diarrhea (68.3%). Based on the statistical test, the significance value of α = 0.05 obtained p-value = 0.016, which means that the p-value <α, then H0 is rejected, meaning that there is a relationship between early complementary breastfeeding and the incidence of diarrhea. Thus, it is hoped that health services will provide more health education  to the community.


Previous clinical studies in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathies predominantly comprised patients with typical subaortic HOCM and in many other studies patients with 'hypertrophic' cardiomyopathies were investigated; i.e. no distinction was made between patients with the typical obstructive, the atypical obstructive and the non-obstructive forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In addition, in the more differentiated studies, the differential diagnosis between HOCM and HNCM was based mainly on the presence and absence of the subaortic pressure gradient. This is also true for the clinical characterization of both types of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Finally, diagnostic descriptions of atypical (mid-ventricular) HOCM exist only in the form of case reports, i.e. they are not based on observations in a large number of patients. Therefore a comparative study in 353 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathies was designed to characterize the clinical picture of patients with HNCM and with atypical HOCM in relation to typical HOCM with special reference to the differential diagnosis. The study revealed a profoundly different diagnostic profile of the three subsets of hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. The distinction between the three subsets may serve as a more differentiated basis for clinical studies related to diagnosis, therapeutic approaches, long-term follow-up observations and prognostic evaluation of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathies.


The noisy scrub-bird is endangered and confined to one natural population on Mount Gardner and several translocated populations east of Albany, Western Australia. Annual monitoring of the number of singing males at Mount Gardner since 1966 indicates a steady rise in numbers, peaking at 179 birds in 1994 followed by a less regular decline to 19 by 2017. The Lakes, an adjacent location, had a similar pattern of increase from the early 1970s then irregular decline from the mid-1980s. Broken stick regression models confirmed that both apparent patterns represented significant increase then decline in the number of singing males. Territory size estimates from 1994, 2005 and 2014 suggest an increase in size of territories over time but that pattern was not significant when only common territories were compared. Variance in bird numbers was not correlated with annual rainfall, which has broadly declined over the study period, or with number of rain days. We discuss five possible causes of decline: (1) inbreeding, (2) control of exotic predators and associated impact on non-target, natural predators, (3) resource/food availability (which may interact with rainfall), (4) removal of birds for introduction programs, and (5) the absence of wildfire and associated changes (senescence) in vegetation. None are compelling, single explanations for decline but their collective impact may be high. Survival of the noisy scrub-bird may be increasingly dependent on the introduced, managed populations of this species at Mount Manypeaks and on Bald Island.


A consecutive series of patients with a hydroxyapatite-coated uncemented total knee replacement (TKR) performed by a single surgeon between 1992 and 1995 was analysed. All patients were invited for clinical review and radiological assessment. Revision for aseptic loosening was the primary outcome. Assessment was based on the Knee Society clinical score (KSS) and an independent radiological analysis. Of 471 TKRs performed in 356 patients, 432 TKRs in 325 patients were followed for a mean of 16.4 years (15 to 18). The 39 TKRs in 31 patients lost to follow-up had a mean KSS of 176 (148 to 198) at a mean of ten years. There were revisions in 26 TKRs (5.5%), of which 11 (2.3%) were for aseptic loosening. Other further surgery was carried out on 49 TKRs (10.4%) including patellar resurfacing in 20, arthrolysis in 19, manipulation under anaesthetic in nine and extensor mechanism reconstruction in one. Survivorship at up to 18 years without aseptic loosening was 96% (95% confidence interval 91.9 to 98.1), at which point the mean KSS was 176 (134 to 200). Of 110 knees that underwent radiological evaluation, osteolysis was observed in five (4.5%), one of which was revised. These data indicate that uncemented hydroxyapatite-coated TKR can achieve favourable long-term survivorship, at least as good as that of cemented designs.


Materials Characterization Center glasses ATM-2, ATM-3, and ATM-4 are designed to simulate high-level waste glasses that are likely to result from the reprocessing of commercial nuclear reactor fuels. The three Approved Testing Materials (ATMs) are borosilicate glasses based upon the MCC-76-68 glass composition. One radioisotope was added to form each ATM. The radioisotopes added to form ATM-2, ATM-3, and ATM-4 were /sup 241/Am, /sup 237/Np, and /sup 239/Pu, respectively. Each of the ATM lots was produced in a nominal lot size of 450 g from feed stock melted in a nitrogen-atmosphere glove box at 1200/degree/C in a platinum crucible. Each ATM was then cast into bars. Analyzed compositions of these glasses are listed. The nonradioactive elements were analyzed by inductively coupled argon plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP), and the radioisotope analyses were done by alpha energy analysis. Results are discussed. 7 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs.


Objective 20% of all acute ischemic strokes (AIS) occur in the posterior circulation (PC), which carry a high mortality rate close to 95%. Early recanalization improves outcomes as shown by several reports. Often trials excluded patients with posterior circulation strokes. We sought to investigate the prevalence, safety, and the clinical outcomes of PC-MT at our institution. Methods A retrospective review of patients presenting with PC AIS who underwent mechanical thrombectomy at a tertiary referral center between 2010 and 2018. Results Out of 453 patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy for AIS, 45 patients had a PC stroke (av age 58 years, 56% male). The mean NIHSS upon admission was 17 (95%CI:14–20). The mean time from symptoms onset to groin puncture was 9 hours (95%CI:6–11), the mean procedure time was 53 minutes (95%CI:43–64) and mean time to revascularization, from symptoms onset was 866 minutes (95%CI:602–1129). Only 33% received tPA. Vessels involved included the basilar artery (87%, n=39), the posterior cerebral artery (4%, n=2), and the vertebral artery (9%, n=4). The procedures were divided into stentreiver alone (22%, n=10), aspiration alone (13%, n=6), and stentreiver with aspiration (51%, n=23), and failed procedure in 13% (n=6) of individuals. Most procedures required one pass to recanalize the vessel (44%, n=20). TICI > 2b was achieved in 69% of the subjects. Mean length of stay was 11 days (95%CI:8–14). Mortality rate was 38% and independent functional outcome of mRS <2 at three months was seen in 20% of the patients. On univariate analysis extravasation was significantly higher in PC compared to anterior circulation (AC) (9% vs 4%, p<0.01) as well as post-procedural sICH (13% vs. 4%,p=0.01); vessel recanalization (TICI >2b) was significantly lower in PC compared to AC (70% vs 90%,p<0.01); mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with PC compared to AC (38% vs 9%, p<0.01). On multivariate analysis AC had a significantly shorter LOS by about three days, compared to PC (coef:-3.04, 95%CI: -6.05 to -0.14, p<0.05). There was no difference in odds of achieving a good TICI score. The AC group also had almost four times greater odds of having a good mRS (OR: 3.69, 95%CI:1.06–12.8, p<0.05). They also had significantly lower odds of mortality, by around eighty-eight percent (OR:0.12, 95%CI: 0.05–0.31, p<0.01). Conclusions MT is a safe and efficacious first-line therapy for PC strokes. PC-MT provides a high rate of recanalization without procedural complications. Improvement in functional outcome remains low, and mortality remains high, but with a much better outcome than leaving the disease untreated. Disclosures A. Sweid: None. K. Hafazalla: None. S. Tjoumakaris: None. V. Xu: None. K. Shivashankar: None. T. Alexander: None. M. Gooch: None. N. Herial: None. N. Chalouhi: None. R. Rosenwasser: None. P. Jabbour: None.


With Reviewing traditional mathematics teaching, it will be obvious that mathematics teaching through giving lecture and absolutely abstract has no use any more and it is not practical. a great deal of deficiencies and  defects of mathematics teaching, including students who are not motivated, and negative attitude of many adults towards mathematics, and many graduates problems regarding finding a practical –applied profession, are the results of this teaching method. Then a review in mathematics teaching system is essential. so this research aims to study and analyses the impact of mathematical modelling on university students' abilities regarding to  problem-solving, also some benefits and some challenges of modeling introduction into universities are represented. To carry out this research, 60 female university students of 7th semester Shahid Chamran University  were randomly chosen. After taking pre-test, in 15session control group was taught the routine and usual problems of textbook, but experience group was taught through mathematical modelling; finally. The post- test was taken. The results show that teaching with modelling has  a great effect on students problem solving abilities.


My main aim in this paper is to consider what methodology is best suited to adopt for one who believes that there is cognitive phenomenology (CP) in order to argue for its irreducibility to sensory phenomenology. I shall first present and criticize a methodology widely adopted by the deniers of CP in order to reject the irreducibility claim, the so called "exclude-and-isolate" methodology. I shall use my criticisms against it as a lever for backing up a certain conception of the nature of cognitive phenomenal properties. The key notion in this conception is that of factual intimacy which I shall mobilize to put forward the idea that cognitive phenomenal properties are inseparable, in practice and in ordinary cases, from sensory phenomenal properties (leaving open the possibility of their explanatory and metaphysical independence). I shall then present a strategy to prove irreducibility which is compliant with the inseparability claim. One such strategy is in my view provided by combining the so-called phenomenal contrast methodology with a methodology that, instead of contrasting couples of cases, compares them in order to disclose the presence of phenomenological commonalities. What the comparison methodology shows is that experiences with different sensory features can share a common phenomenal component. Since this possibility obtains even by assuming that all of a subject's sensory features differ, it follows that the common phenomenal component cannot be sensory in nature. This is enough to prove that the phenomenology in question is cognitive and that this phenomenology is irreducible to the sensory one.


Previous studies have drawn attention to the challenges faced by researchers undertaking research into learning and teaching in higher education. These challenges are particularly highlighted at times of national measurement of research excellence. It is against the context of the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF), that this paper presents findings from a recent survey of research into higher education in Scottish Higher Education Institutions. Discussion focuses on the underground and undervalued nature of some of this research. Researchers are often based within disciplines and their research is not always well known within wider higher education research discourse. Many academics face pressure to prioritise publishing within their main discipline over publishing research into higher education. There is also a lack of capacity within some Scottish institutions to return research into higher education within the forthcoming REF exercise. The wider implications of these findings are then examined.


The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nutritional status and dental fluorosis in areas with fluoride in the drinking water in Paraíba, Brazil. Rural villages of comparable low socio–economic status and stable water fluoride levels were selected. Lifelong residents (6–11 years old, n = 650) were examined for nutritional status (height–for–age index; WHO methods) and dental fluorosis of central incisors and first molars (TF index). The sample was divided into three groups according to fluoride levels in the drinking water: low (below 0.7 ppm F, n = 164), medium (between 0.7 and 1.0 ppm F, n = 360) and high (above 1.0 ppm F, n = 126). Dental fluorosis was observed in 30.5, 61.1 and 71.4% of the children in these F groups, respectively. The prevalence was significantly related to the water F concentrations (χ2 = 59.93, d.f. = 2, p<0.001). The severity of dental fluorosis ranged from TF 1 to 3 in the low F group and up to 7 in the others. Malnutrition prevalence was approximately 20% in all F groups, but was unrelated to dental fluorosis. The fairly high prevalence of dental fluorosis observed suggests that other factors may be operating.


The learning algorithms in many of conventional Neuro-Fuzzy Systems (NFS) are based on batch or global learning where all parameters of the fuzzy system are optimized off-line. Although these models have frequently been used, they suffer from a reduced flexibility in their architecture as the number of rules need to be predefined by the user. This study uses a Dynamic Evolving Neural Fuzzy Inference System (DENFIS) in which an evolving, online clustering algorithm, the Evolving Clustering Method (ECM), is implemented. This study focused on evaluating the performance of this model in capturing the rainfall-runoff process and rainfall-water level relationship. The two selected study catchments are located in an urban tropical and in a semi-urbanized area, respectively. The first catchment, Sungai Kayu Ara (23.22 km2), is located in Malaysia, with 10-min rainfall-runoff time-series from which 30 major events are used. The second catchment, Dandenong (272 km2), is located in Victoria, Australia, with daily rainfall and river stage (water level) data from which 11 years of data is used. DENFIS results were then compared with two groups of benchmark models: a regression-based data-driven model known as the Autoregressive Model with Exogenous Inputs (ARX) for both study sites, and physical models Hydrologic Engineering Center–Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC–HMS) and Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) for Sungai Kayu Ara and Dandenong catchments, respectively. DENFIS significantly outperformed the ARX model in both study sites. Moreover, DENFIS was found comparable if not superior to HEC–HMS and SWMM in Sungai Kayu Ara and Dandenong catchments, respectively. A sensitivity analysis was then conducted on DENFIS to assess the impact of training data sequence on its performance. Results showed that starting the training with datasets that include high peaks can improve the model performance. Moreover, datasets with more contrasting values that cover wide range of low to high values can also improve the DENFIS model performance.


Three instances of cardiac injury from needles in two adults are described. Trauma was accidental in one and due to suicidal attempts in the other two. The objects were removed. There are 157 published accounts of wounding of the heart and/or great vessels by pins and needles. The victims have ranged from infants to the elderly. Causative agencies were accidents, suicide, and homicide. A few were discovered at necropsy in presumably asymptomatic persons. Six of the accidental injuries were iatrogenic. The objects reached the heart or great vessels from transthoracic insertion, ingestion, embolization, aspiration, or transabdominal penetration. The overall mortality incidence was about 50%. Acute cardiac tamponade was the dominant cause of death. Almost all individuals survived who were operated upon and from whom the object was removed. The right ventricle was hurt most often, but no region of the heart or of the great vessels was spared. Occasionally multiple parts were affected. The primary damage occurred principally while the foreign body was extracardiac and relatively immobilized, from repetitive scratching or puncturing of the beating heart. Chest pain and unfolding patterns of tamponade were inconsistent in onset, severity, and duration. Death ensuing days or weeks after the initial injury was frequent. Progressive haemopericardium in some cases was due to or aggravated by laceration of a structure from within outward. Late complications—several fatal—were consequent upon inflammation, sepsis or thromboembolism. It is urged that all foreign bodies in the heart or great vessels be retrieved, even if seemingly innocuous clinically.


This report provides a current summary of recommended values of key input parameters required by ENERGY code analysis of LMFBR wire wrapped bundles. This data is based on the interpretation of experimental results from the MIT and other available laboratory programs.


The effects of urethane anaesthesia on the development and spread of ictal-like epileptiform activity induced by 3-aminopyridine, was investigated on the somatosensory cortex of rats. Under urethane anaesthesia in most animals only one abortive ictal period appeared with dose-dependent latency. Urethane completely abolished high frequency afterdischarges (5-10 Hz) and prevented the development of recurrent seizures in both primary and mirror foci. Urethane also eliminated ongoing epileptiform activity induced previously by 3-aminopyridine under nembutal anaesthesia. The antiepileptic effects of urethane on ictal-like activity may be the consequence of a presynaptic action through reduction of glutamate-mediated excitation together with a depressant effect on responsiveness of cortical neurones. The afterdischarges of high frequency could be essential to development and stabilization of repetitive tonic events in the neocortex.


Consider the following resource allocation problem on a directed acyclic graph the precedence graph. Each vertex has a known work load, and a fixed amount of total resource is available. The time required to process a vertex is inversely proportional to the amount of the resource allocated to it. The time to complete all of the work is the length of time to complete a longest chain in the graph. The problem of finding an allocation which minimizes the time required to complete all of the work subject to the limited resource availability can be formulated as a separable convex programming problem.

We use results from Lagrangian duality for convex programs, the length-width inequality, and Dilworth's Theorem for directed acyclic graphs, to obtain a strong relationship between optimal solutions of this problem and its dual. This allows us to obtain closed-form solutions for certain special classes of graphs, and leads to a generalization of the LYM Property for partially ordered sets. The computational complexity of the general problem is an open question. However, the ellipsoid method yields a fully-polynomial approximation scheme, and some light can be shed on the associated decision problem. The results of this paper are shown to extend to resource allocation problems on perfect graphs.


Metal selectivity of exocytosis was analyzed by comparing the effects of polyvalent metal cations Ca2+, Ba2+, Sr2+, Pb2+, La3+, Cd2+, Co2+, Tb3+, Mn2+, and Zn2+ on the release of norepinephrine (NE) from staphylococcal alpha-toxin-permeabilized bovine chromaffin cells. Pb2+, La3+, Cd2+, Sr2+, and Ba2+ activated NE secretion accompanied by the release of intragranular dopamine beta-hydroxylase but not cytosolic lactate dehydrogenase, indicating the activation of the mechanism of exocytosis. The release triggered by saturating concentrations of Pb2+, La3+, Cd2+, and Sr2+ was nonadditive with Ca2+, indicating a common site of action. In contrast, the Ba2(+)-evoked NE release was additive with Ca2+ and the Ca2+ agonists Pb2+, La3+, Cd2+, and Sr2+, suggesting that Ba2+ activates secretion at a site distinct from the Ca2+ receptor. In distinction to the NE release evoked by Pb2+, La3+, Cd2+, and Ba2+, the Sr(2+)-evoked NE release was associated with a significant elevation of Ca2+ concentration in the medium and abolished by Ca2+ chelation. This indicates that the secretagogue effect of Sr2+ was indirect and secondary to the displacement of bound Ca2+, Co2+ and Mn2+ inhibited the NE release evoked by Ca2+, Sr2+, Pb2+, La3+, and Cd2+ but had no effect on the Ba(2+)-dependent secretion. Tb3+ and Zn2+ were without effect on exocytosis.


BACKGROUND
Various localized side effects which accompany head and neck irradiation [IR] have been widely reported. However, systemic side effects/have been only sparsely reported in the short-term period post-IR in an animal model. The potential modulatory role of zinc-desferrioxamine [Zn-DFO] on IR effects was examined because of its known ability to protect against the damage induced by free radicals which are mediated by redox-active metal ions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We used three groups of male Wistar rats: a] sham irradiated controls b] irradiated [15 Gy]; c] irradiated and treated with Zn-DFO [20 mg/k] one hour prior to IR. During the first two weeks post-IR, body weight and food and water intake were monitored daily, while lymphocytes, segmented neutrophils and white blood cells [WBC] were counted at 10 minutes 4 and 16 hours and 1, 3, 7 and 14 days. Serum TNF-a and IL-6 were obtained at 10 minutes and 7 days.

RESULTS
On day 7 post-IR, body weight and food and water intake were reduced by 84% 96% and 85% [p < 0.01], respectively in the above mentioned three groups of rats. This resulted in the death of 22% of the animals and was followed by recovery towards the end of the second week. At all time points examined between 10 minutes and 14 days, WBC were reduced by 52-74%. On the 7th day, Zn-DFO demonstrated a 33% protective effect against the WBC reduction. At 10 mins post-IR, a 84.8-fold [p < 0.01] increase of TNF-alpha, but not IL-6, was noted. However, on the 7th day post-IR, both TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels were increased by 48.5-fold and 102.5-fold [0.01], respectively.

CONCLUSION
The data presented delineate the severe short-term systemic effects of head and neck IR in a rat model. We suggest considering the severe cachectic and immunocompromised status of the animals when performing various short-term studies with this model. During this period nutritional and immunological support for the examined animals is recommended. Further evaluation of the underlying mechanisms of IR-induced leukopenia and cachexia in animals and the possible implications for humans is warranted.