Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute a major part of the economies of both advanced and developing countries. Definitely supporting the SMEs can provide a sustainable and well-adjusted economic growth and development. Thus, SMEs may have a vital role in capital formation and economic prosperity of developing countries. The integral role of SMEs within an economy has become a source of inspiration for many academicians to study SMEs from different perspectives.In this research unbalanced capital formation theory used as theoretical framework. According to this theory investment in key sectors are more suitable for SME development in capital formation for poverty reduction. To obtain the research objective and determine the Key sectors of the Turkish economy as well as to understand how key sectors evolved in the Turkish economy during the time, the input-output tables of 1973, 1979, 1990, 2002, and 2012 are analyzed. To complete the research and analysis input-output table a new proposal from network theory uses as research methodology. The research finding indicates that the number of key sectors in the Turkish economy has evolved during the time, and these key sectors through backward and forwards effects positively increased the number of SMEs.


We examine the effects of various political campaign activities on voter preferences in the domain of US Presidential elections. We construct a comprehensive data set that covers the three most recent elections, with detailed records of voter preferences at the state-week level over an election period. We include various types of the most frequently utilized marketing instruments: two forms of advertising—candidate's own and outside advertising, and two forms of personal selling—retail campaigning and field operations. Although effectiveness varies by instrument and party, among the significant effects we find that a candidate's own advertising is more effective than outside advertising, and that advertising and retail campaigning work more favorably towards Republican candidates. In contrast, we find field operations to be more effective for Democratic candidates, primarily through get-out-the-vote efforts. We do not find any betweenparty differences in the effectiveness of outside advertising. Lastly, we also find a moderate but statistically significant carryover effect of campaign activities, indicating the presence of dynamics of marketing efforts over time.


Abstract The article examines the Palestinian/Arab two-step strategy in taking over the Middle East discourse on Western (mainly American and British) campuses in the past five decades. During this period, the main theme became "the occupied Palestinian territories" or "The Occupation." The real objective, though, was and is the de-legitimization of the idea of Jewish statehood. The methodology is based on 150 interviews with Jewish activists who studied or worked on campuses in Europe and the United States during the last thirty-five years. After presenting a chronological survey and then analyzing the strategy's operational techniques – goals, messages and techniques – the article suggests counter-responses for Israel and presents an outline for further research.


It is widely believed that the human visual system is insensitive to acceleration in moving stimuli. This notion is supported by evidence that detection sensitivity for velocity modulation in moving stimuli is a lowpass function of the velocity modulation's temporal frequency. However, the lowpass function might be a mixture of detection by attention-based tracking and low-level mechanisms sensitive to acceleration. To revisit the issue of acceleration perception in relation to attentive tracking, we measured detection sensitivities for velocity modulations at various temporal frequencies (0.25–8 Hz) by using drifting gratings within long or short spatial windows that make the tracking of grating easier or more difficult respectively. Results showed that modulation sensitivity is lowpass for gratings with long windows but bandpass for gratings with short windows (peak at ~1 Hz). Moreover, we found that lowpass sensitivity becomes bandpass when we removed observer attention by a concurrent letter identification task. An additional visual-search experiment showed that a target dot moving with a velocity modulation at relatively high temporal frequencies (~2–4 Hz) was most easily detected among dots moving at various constant velocities. These results support the notion that high sensitivity to sluggish velocity modulation is a product of attentively tracking of moving stimuli and that the visual system is directly sensitive to accelerations and/or decelerations at the preattentive level.


Introduction: Hepatitis B is a risk factor for Health Care Workers (HCW) and medical students attending wards at hospital. Hepatitis B vaccine has been recommended since 1982 for use by HCWs to prevent HBV infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the vaccination coverage among HCWs and medical students, their level of knowledge regarding vaccination as well as and their beliefs regarding Hepatitis B vaccine at a Teaching District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital of Punjab, Pakistan. Subjects and methods: This cross sectional descriptive study based on a questionnaire-based survey was carried out at DHQ Teaching Hospital, Sahiwal, Pakistan from April to July 2019. Doctors, medical students and paramedical staff involved in active physical care of the patients were included in the study. Results: A total of 300 participants were provided questionnaire including consent, out of which 285 participants responded. There were 127 doctors (44.56%), 86 medical students (30.18%) and 72 paramedics (25.26%). 132 (46.31%) participants were fully vaccinated, 9.12% had received 2 doses of vaccine, 8.77% received only one dose whereas 35.43% were unvaccinated. Out of unvaccinated individuals, 32.35% reasoned lack of time being the main cause followed by other reasons including lack of need, lack of awareness and accessibility. Conclusion: This study showed that vaccination coverage among HCWs was alarmingly low along with lesser knowledge of vaccination and infection. Therefore, HCWs and medical students are at an increased risk of acquiring Hepatitis B infection.


We have fabricated organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) of top contact (TC) structures using silver electrode based on triethylsilylethynyl anthradithiophene (TES-ADT) with mobility above 0.41 cm2 s-1 V-1, current modulation higher than 5 times 107 and sub-threshold swing below 0.65 V/dec. The electrical characteristics of OTFTs are not only corresponding to the work function of source and drain electrodes materials but also to the surface tension and deposition energy of them. The effects of work function and surface tension dominate the electrical characteristics in bottom contact (BC) device. On the other hand, TC device is affected by deposition energy dominantly.


The purpose of this study was to examine the variation in physical and physiological characteristics according to playing position in adolescent and adult female volleyball players. Adolescent (n=62, aged 15.6±1.1 years) and adult volleyball players (n=58, aged 24.9±5.3 years) were examined for anthropometric characteristics and body composition, and they performed a physical working capacity test, a 3-minute step test, the Wingate anaerobic test, sit-and-reach test, handgrip strength test, and countermovement vertical jump with arm-swing test (CMJa). Adult players were taller and had a higher percentage of fat-free mass, better performance in cardiorespiratory power, anaerobic power, handgrip muscle strength and CMJa than adolescents (Cohen's d>0.45). Positional differences in body height (centers were the tallest, whereas liberos were the shortest, p<.001) were found for both age groups. However, positional differences in body mass and fat-free mass were observed only in adolescents (centers were heavier than liberos, p<.05), whereas differences in CMJa were only in adults (hitters jumped higher than liberos, p<.05). Thus, the differences in body mass, fat-free mass and CMJa among playing positions in female volleyball were age-dependent. These findings might help coaches and trainers to develop position-specific training programs.


Background and aims. Steroid-related hepatotoxicity has become one of the most relevant causes of drug induced liver cholestasis. Some patients do not improve after standard medical treatment (SMT) and may therefore require other approaches, like extracorporeal liver support.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
We report four cases of patients with pruritus, abnormal liver function tests and biopsy-proven anabolic steroid-induced cholestasis who were unresponsive to SMT. They underwent treatment with albumin dialysis (Molecular Adsorbent Recirculating System -MARS®-). A minimum of two MARS sessions were performed.

RESULTS
After MARS® procedure, patients' symptoms improved, as well as liver function tests, thus avoiding liver transplantation.

CONCLUSION
Albumin dialysis appears as a valuable therapeutic option for the management of anabolic steroid-induced cholestasis in patients that are unresponsive to SMT.


OBJECTIVE
Antibodies to the 70-kd heat shock protein were evaluated as biomarkers for cytomegalovirus infection.

STUDY DESIGN
Fetal sera that was obtained by cordocentesis at 22 to 25 weeks of gestation from 53 mothers with a confirmed primary cytomegalovirus infection and 28 mothers (control group) without cytomegalovirus infection who had been screened for Rh incompatibility, were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for immunoglobulin M and G anti-70-kd heat shock protein antibodies.

RESULTS
Eighteen of 53 fetuses (34.0%) from cytomegalovirus-positive mothers were infected, which was determined by culture or polymerase chain reaction. Anti-70-kd heat shock protein immunoglobulin M was detected in 17 of 18 sera (94.4%) from cytomegalovirus-infected fetuses, in 3 of 35 sera (8.6%) from uninfected fetuses, and in 0 of 28 sera from the control group (P <.0001). The level of antibody reactivity was correlated positively with fetal disease. Anti-70-kd heat shock protein immunoglobulin G was detected in sera from 52 of 53 fetuses (98.1%) from cytomegalovirus-infected mothers.

CONCLUSION
The anti-70-kd heat shock protein immunoglobulin M assay may be of value in the assessment of fetal cytomegalovirus infection in pregnant women with a primary cytomegalovirus infection.


The expression of ANO1 is considered to have diagnostic specificity for gastrointestinal stromal tumors. However, its function as a calcium-activated chloride channel suggests that the expression of ANO1 is not restricted to gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Recently, it has been reported that ANO1 has roles in the progression of human malignant tumors. However, the role of ANO1 in breast carcinoma has been controversial. Therefore, we investigated the expression of ANO1 in 139 breast carcinoma patients and the role of ANO1 in vitro. The immunohistochemical expression of ANO1 was significantly associated with the expression of β-catenin, cyclin D1, MMP9, snail, and E-cadherin. Especially, ANO1 expression was an independent indicator of poor prognosis of shorter overall survival and relapse-free survival of breast carcinoma patients by multivariate analysis. In MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells, inhibition of ANO1 with T16Ainh-A01 or siRNA for ANO1 significantly suppressed the proliferation of cells. Knock-down of ANO1 with siRNA induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and significantly inhibited the invasiveness of breast carcinoma cells. Knock-down of ANO1 decreased the expression of β-catenin, cyclin D1, MMP9, snail, and N-cadherin, and increased the expression of E-cadherin. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that ANO1 expression is an indicator of poor prognosis of breast carcinoma patients and suggests that ANO1 might be a therapeutic target for breast carcinoma patients with ANO1-positive tumors and poor prognosis.


Close human-robot interaction (HRI), especially in industrial scenarios, has been vastly investigated for the advantages of combining human and robot skills. For an effective HRI, the validity of currently available human-machine communication media or tools should be questioned, and new communication modalities should be explored. This article proposes a modular architecture allowing human operators to interact with robots through different modalities. In particular, we implemented the architecture to handle gestural and touchscreen input, respectively, using a smartwatch and a tablet. Finally, we performed a comparative user experience study between these two modalities.


Fundamental investigations of coalescence processes in settlers with plate packages for the separation of liquid-liquid dispersions prompted an analysis of the drop motion on the interface of a stratified two-phase flow. Therefore, a physical model was developed, which permits the calculation of drop velocity along the interface of an inclined trickling film. Starting from a balance of forces around a single particle, the model provides the equation of motion for a steady motion of single particles in a stratified two-phase flow. Several assumptions and considerations were necessary to solve this equation, such as taking into account the influence of the wall and of flow resistance. The model calculation assumes Newtonian liquids and laminar, smooth trickling films. A comparison with experimental results confirms that the drop motion behaviour is well reproduced.


Introduction: Parasitic infections are globally widespread with their prevalence differing with the level of
sanitation, associated with poverty, malnutrition, overcrowding and tropical climate. The common parasitic
forms identified in stool of patients include trophozoites and cysts of protozoans like Entamoeba histolytica,
Giardia lamblia, etc. The present study was undertaken to know the prevalence of common parasites in stool
samples in our tertiary care hospital.
Materials and Methods: The records of 10,336 stool samples from both outpatient and inpatient
departments were examined which were received for testing in our microbiology laboratory from the
period of January 2016 to January 2018. Out of these samples, 9904 were finally included for the present
retrospective study. Both hanging drop and routine examination was done for 976 (9.85%) samples and
routine examination was done for 8928 (90.14%) samples. Stool samples collected were examined grossly
and microscopically for presence of any infectious parasites.
Results: The most common parasite detected in the stool samples was Entamoeba histolytica with
higher percentage of cases seen in females (60%) and age group of 0-10 years (33.33%). The pathogenic
parasites detected were Entamoeba histolytica cysts and trophozoites in 720 samples (7.26%) followed
by trophozoites and cysts of Giardia lamblia in 128 samples (1.29%), ova of Ascaris lumbricoides in 14
samples (0.14%) and ova of Taenia in 2 samples (0.02%).
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that intestinal parasite infections are a public health problem in
our study population. Poor sanitation and inadequate environmental conditions constituted the main
determining factors that predisposed this population to intestinal parasites.

Keywords: Parasitic infection, Intestinal parasites, Protozoa, Entamoeaba histolytics, Trophozoites, Cysts, Stool samples.


Aims. To examine the association between 4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors δ (PPARδ) polymorphisms and C-reactive protein (CRP) level and additional gene-gene interaction. Methods. Line regression analysis was performed to verify polymorphism association between SNP and CRP levels. Generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) was employed to analyze the interaction. Results. A total of 1028 subjects (538 men, 490 women) were selected. The carriers of the C allele (TC or CC) of rs2016520 were associated with a significant decreased level of CRP, regression coefficients was −0.338, and standard error was 0.104 (p = 0.001). The carriers of the G allele (CG or GG) of rs9794 were also significantly associated with decreased level of CRP, regression coefficients was −0.219, and standard error was 0.114 (p = 0.012). We also found a potential gene-gene interaction between rs2016520 and rs9794. Subjects with rs2016520-TC or CC, rs9794-CG or GG genotypes have lowest CRP level, difference (95% CI) = −0.50 (−0.69 to −0.21) (p < 0.001), compared to subjects with rs2016520-TT and rs9794-CC genotypes. Conclusions. rs2016520 and rs9794 minor allele of PPARδ and combined effect between the two SNP were associated with decreased CRP level.


We developed HapticAid, which is a wearable haptic augmentation system. This system enhances the skin vibrations that occur during touch and provide them as haptic feedback on the wrist. We revised HapticAid to be wearable and mobile by using a mobile platform and installed a digital signal processing to control haptic feedback for haptic experiences. This paper describes the implementation of our system, design of digital signal processing the method of wearing our system for haptic experiences.


Laser scanning or as literary referred to as Lidar is the digital technique of obtaining
information about physical objects using laser light. Airborne Lidar has shown increasing utility for feature extraction applications through enhancing the physical objects recognition process. Airborne and terrestrial Lidar provide a radiometric information alongside standard geometric information to the end user such as intensity. Intensity can be considered one of the most important parameter to identify ground features towards accurate object recognition application. This value cannot be used directly because the signal may influence by many variables during the travel between the source light (sensor) and the target. These including atmospheric, incidence angle and the target properties effects, for this reason this value should be corrected before using. This research will focus on incidence angle effect to correct Lidar intensity signal. Incidence angle is a function of the illumination direction between the sensor and the target and the point cloud orientation (normal vector). This paper, investigates the possibility of improving an approach to compute the normal vector for individual point clouds following 3D moment invariant theory. This was applied by using the commercial (OPALS), this software contain tools to compute normal vector value for individual points which were used later to compute the required incidence angle value. This leads to correct the intensity value and deliver normalized value toward improvements of automatic feature recognition applications


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the experiences of a group of rural and remote nurses in providing palliative care and to discuss the implications of this evaluation for the development and implementation of professional support strategies.

DESIGN
Semi-structured survey comprising 23 items measuring perceptions of the nature of rural and remote practice, the provision of palliative care in these settings and the appropriateness of various professional development strategies; as well as 12 open-ended questions to obtain qualitative descriptions relating to key concepts in rural and remote practice.

SETTING
Rural and remote communities in the Southern zone of Queensland Health.

SUBJECTS
Thirty-one registered and enrolled nurses, all female, who attended a two-day professional development workshop.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Identification of characteristics of, barriers against and strategies to support the practice of palliative care in rural and remote communities.

RESULTS
High levels of agreement with key statements relating to issues evident in contemporary literature regarding rural and remote nursing practice; qualitative descriptions show congruence with key statements.

CONCLUSIONS
This evaluation demonstrated congruence between the challenges faced by this group of nurses and those reported in the literature. These nurses identified the importance of peer networking as an integral part of their work, which enhanced their potential as rural and remote palliative care providers.


The classical questions of the relationship between body and mind and of the effects of the environment on health are raised in a particular way today, in view of their connection to the question of the relationship between the individual and society. We undertake to demonstrate this through the way in which the experience of illness has become a privileged moment in the formation of the individual as subject. Indeed, this experience refers to the assertion of individual autonomy. Thus today, against medicine and against society, the subject will want to constitute himself, but will only be able to do so through recourse to professional knowledge and pratices, and by receiving support from social norms and institutions. lt is through the mediation of areas of knowledge, of catagories and of organisations that the formation of the subject occurs, and through the various institutional and conceptual mediations there is a transverse axis, namely the concept of autonomy, which plays a determinant expressive and normative role.


Endogenous lactose-binding proteins from adult chicken liver and intestine have been purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography on asialofetuinderivatized Sepharose, followed by isoelectric focusing. Since these carbohydrate-binding proteins are assayed as hemagglutinins, they are referred to by the operational term lectins. Although the hemagglutination activity of these lectins is inhibited by similar concentrations of inhibitory saccharides, they are not the same. They differ in specific hemagglutination activity, subunit molecular weight, and isoelectric point. They have very different peptide maps and show no detectable immunological cross-reactivity. Based on gel filtration studies, the liver lectin behaves as a dimer with apparent Mr = 31,000 +/- 1100, whereas the intestinal lectin behaves as a monomer with apparent Mr = 14,000 +/- 1700. Although clearly different from the intestinal lectin, the lectin from adult liver appears identical with the lectin previously purified from embryonic skeletal muscle.


We describe and test a biologically motivated space-variant filtering method for decreasing the noise in optic flow fields. Our filter model adopts certain properties of a particular motion-sensitive area of the brain (area MT), which averages the incoming motion signals over receptive fields, the sizes of which increase with the distance from the center of the projection. We use heading estimation from optic flow as a criterion to evaluate the improvement of the filtered flow field. The tests are conducted on flow fields calculated with a standard flow algorithm from image sequences. We use two different sets of image sequences. The first set is recorded by a camera which is installed in a moving car. The second set is derived from a database containing three dimensional data and reflectance information from natural scenes. The latter set guarantees full control of the camera motion and ground truth about the flow field and the heading. We test the space-variant filtering method by comparing heading estimation results between space-variant filtered flow, flow filtered by averaging over domains of the visual field with constant size (constant filtering) and raw unfiltered flow. Because of noise and the aperture problem the heading estimates obtained from the raw flows are often unreliable. Estimated heading differs widely for different sub-sampled calculations. In contrast, the results obtained from the filtered flows are much less variable and therefore more consistent. Furthermore, we find a significant improvement of the results obtained from the space-variant filtered flow compared to the constant filtered flow. We suggest extensions to the space-variant filtering procedure that take other properties of motion representation in area MT into account.


The rate and extent of estimated energy mobilization and the relationship between fat depth at the rib and thurl and body condition score (BCS) were investigated in Jersey and Holstein cows in early lactation. Twenty-six cows were paired by breed, parity, and calving date, and were individually fed a total mixed ration ad libitum from parturition through 120 d in milk. Feed intake and milk production were measured daily; body weight (BW), BCS, subcutaneous fat depth, milk composition, and concentration of plasma nonesterified fatty acids were measured every 2 wk. Estimated tissue energy balance (TEB) was calculated using 1989 NRC equations. Net energy intake was greater in early lactation for Holsteins compared with Jerseys, 37.8 and 28.2 Mcal/d, respectively. Milk energy was greater for Holsteins relative to Jerseys, 30.5 versus 21.2 Mcal/d. Fat depth and BCS did not differ between breeds. A positive relationship existed between fat depth and BCS for Jerseys; however, there was no significant relationship for Holsteins. The best-fit regression model for predicting TEB for Holsteins and Jerseys in early lactation included week of lactation, milk composition, and BCS. Jerseys remained in negative TEB for a shorter period of time relative to Holsteins. The TEB nadir was -6.19 and -12.9 Mcal/d, for Jerseys and Holsteins, respectively. Expressed as a proportion of metabolic BW (BW(0.75)), net energy intake did not differ between breeds, yet milk energy and estimated tissue energy loss were greater for Holsteins compared with Jerseys.


van de Putte, L. B. A., Wagenaar, J. P. M., and San, K. H. (1973).Thorax, 28, 653-656. Paracardiac lipomatosis in exogenous Cushing's syndrome. Histologically proven lipomatosis presenting as paracardiac masses on the chest radiograph is described in a patient with a renal graft. This lesion was caused by the prednisone therapy and diminished after lowering the dosage. Review of 90 renal transplant patients revealed one likely example of this syndrome and four patients had other radiographic abnormalities suggestive of intrathoracic lipomatosis. It is pointed out that intrathoracic lipomatosis can produce a variety of abnormalities on the chest radiograph and that sometimes these changes need to be differentiated from primary tumours.


This article presents a test case of a new technology using artificially enhanced anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (referred to here as EAMS) for the characterization of microfractured reservoirs. These are reservoirs in which microfractures are essential to porosity and/or permeability. A conventional geological characterization is costly, time consuming, and difficult to quantify in terms of assessing fracture impact on porosity and permeability. Therefore, an efficient and effective method is required to characterize these microfractures and to determine their contribution to porosity and permeability. The EAMS technology, which we developed and tested, allows rapid analysis that bridges reservoir geology and engineering. Using petrography, the margin of error to detect microfractures that impact porosity and/or permeability is 43%; however, it requires three times the sampling rate of the new EAMS technology. The lower part of the Unayzah reservoir (Unayzah-B/C) in the Wudayhi field, Saudi Arabia, where fractures were studied and microfractures are known to impact reservoir performance, is used to develop and verify the EAMS technology. The results show that EAMS-derived microfracture fabric strikes east-northeast–west-southwest, consistent with that obtained by geological means. The effective-porosity profile obtained from EAMS tests is similar to that of the conventionally acquired porosity. Open microfractures in tested samples increase mean values of reservoir effective porosity by 36–50% in Unayzah-B/C. The occurrence of connected microfractures is estimated to cause an increase in average permeability of 75% in Unayzah-B/C. This is in agreement with the fact that wells in microfractured Unayzah-B/C have 4.5–14 times the productivity of wells as nonfractured sections of this reservoir. A maximum permeability trend of northeast-southwest permeability anisotropy is detected. The implementation of the EAMS technology in other fields with microfractured reservoirs will directly impact operational and simulation effort.


Robust methods for IV inference have received considerable attention recently. Their analysis has raised a variety of problematic issues such as size/power trade-offs resulting from weak or many instruments. We show that information-reduction methods provide a useful and practical solution to this and related problems. Formally, we propose factor-based modifications to three popular weak-instrument-robust statistics, and illustrate their validity asymptotically and in finite samples. Results are derived using asymptotic settings that are commonly used in both the factor and weak instrument literatures. For the Anderson-Rubin statistic, we also provide analytical finite sample results that do not require any underlying factor structure. An illustrative Monte Carlo study reveals the following. Factor based tests control size regardless of instruments and factor quality. All factor based tests are systematically more powerful than standard counterparts. With informative instruments and in contrast with standard tests: (i) power of factor-based tests is not affected by k even when large, and (ii) weak factor structure does not cost power. An empirical study on a New Keynesian macroeconomic model suggests that our factor-based methods can bridge a number of gaps between structural and statistical modeling.


To determine the absorption characteristics of a new dosage form of divalproex sodium consisting of coated particles in a pull‐apart capsule (Depakote® Sprinkle, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL), two absorption studies were conducted in adult volunteers. Ten fasting men participated in a single‐dose, crossover study comparing absorption from Sprinkle capsules versus enteric‐coated tablets (study 1). Eleven men participated in a multidose study (study 2) in which Sprinkle capsules or enteric‐coated tablets were given once every 24 hours for three doses under fasting and nonfasting conditions. In study 1, the extent of absorption from Sprinkle capsules equalled that from enteric‐coated tablets. Compared to enteric‐coated tablets, Sprinkle capsules had earlier absorption onset, 1 versus 2.6 hours (P < .05), slightly slower absorption rate, time to reach peak (tmax) of 4.0 versus 3.4 hours (P > .1), and lower maximum peak plasma drug concentration (Cmax), 20.7 versus 25.9 mcg/mL (P < .05). In study 2, food intake did not affect onset or extent of absorption nor maximum concentration, but did slow rate of absorption. Time to reach peak concentration was 2.7 hours for tablet (fasting), 3.3 hours for capsule (fasting), and 4.8 hours for capsule (nonfasting) (P < .05). Intrasubject absorption performance from the three doses was highly consistent, regardless of food intake. These data indicate that Sprinkle capsules possess desirable absorption characteristics in a form that makes ingestion easier for patients who have difficulty taking other valproate dosage forms.


This transversal descriptive research aimed to characterize the stress-precompetitive 123 swimmer's category Mexican master. The age of participants ranged between 36 and 92 years old. The instrument used to collect information was the questionnaire FUSIES (sources, symptoms and stress coping strategies), this was applied before starting a master serial belonging to national swimming competition. The instrument measures perceived stress, under a Likert scale from 1 = never and 5 = extreme, with Cronbach's alpha of .95. Among the main results normal low stress (M = 2,307 ± 0.5) was observed in swimmers; sources that generate greater stress are the injustice of authorities (M = 3.70 ± 1.2), a lot of traffic (M = 3.48 ± 1.1) and no money (M= 3.28 ± 1.2). In turn, symptoms of stress with the highest score in swimmers is Concern (M= 2.96 ± 1.08), the back strain (M= 2.62 ± 1.2) and stuttering (M= 2.34 ± 1.3). Regarding coping strategies most frequently applied swimmers are: exercise (M= 3.59 ± 1.35), finding the solution (M = 3.51 ± 1.35) and think positively (M = 3.51 ± 1.31). Think positively concluding that allows them to reduce their levels of concern, insecurity and desperation pre-competitive, so it is assumed that levels of perceived stress are at a moderate level.


Chronic renal impairment is associated with increased vascular morbidity and mortality. The pathogenesis of this aggressive vascular pathology is unknown but believed to be multi-factorial in origin. There is accumulating in vivo and in vitro evidence to suggest that the vascular endothelium is dysfunctional in uraemia, including the propensity of endothelial cells to produce VEGF in response to acidosis. There is also preliminary data to suggest abnormally increased endothelial permeability in uraemia. To investigate the potential abnormal circulating levels of VEGF in uraemia, EDTA plasma samples were collected from 20 non-diabetic predialysis patients and matched controls. Free plasma VEGF levels were detected using a commercially available ELISA kit. There were significantly higher plasma levels of VEGF predialysis group (median 351 pg/ml, range 70–636 pg/ml) compared to matched controls (median 125.5 pg/ml, range 22–450 pg/ml), p < 0.002. In conclusion, free plasma VEGF levels are high in chronic renal impairment. We hypothesise that this potent growth and permeability factor may contribute to the endothelial dysfunction of uraemia.


We study shrinking targets problems for discrete time flows on a homogenous space $\Gamma\backslash G$ with $G$ a semisimple group and $\Gamma$ an irreducible lattice. Our results apply to both diagonalizable and unipotent flows, and apply to very general families of shrinking targets. As a special case, we establish logarithm laws for cusp excursions of unipotent flows answering a question of Athreya and Margulis.


Toxoplasma gondii was initially classified in three main lineages related to its virulence: Types I, II and III. The recombination of genes during sexual cycle in felids gut led to more than 200 genotypes, found in ToxoDB database, using 11 RFLP markers. Free-range chickens are good bioindicators of soil contamination with T. gondii oocysts. In this sense, there are systematic reviews regarding data of genetic characterization of this parasite in felines and ruminants, but not in chickens heretofore, what makes this work necessary. A systematic review in the literature was performed with papers published prior to September 21st, 2020. The main inclusion criteria was the presence of T. gondii genotypes, isolated strictly from free-range chickens, in experimental works. Initially, a total of 1,343 studies related to the terms were identified on databases and 30 studies were selected to be systematically reviewed. A total of 561 isolates of T. gondii from 6,356 free-range chickens were analyzed for genotyping, revealing 190 genotypes. ToxoDB #59 and #2 were the most frequent in America, #1 was the most frequent in Africa and 3 atypical isolates from genotype ToxoDB #9 were found in Asia. There is not data from Europe and Oceania. The majority of studies were Brazilian (16/30). A total of 68 RFLP genotypes were recognized among the 561 isolates' DNAs analyzed from the 30 studies. Some studies showed new genotypes never described before, which reinforces the idea that in some years even more new genotypes will be identified, due to gradual genetic recombination. The large number of undefined genotypes makes it necessary to perform Nested PCR technique when genotyping. Moreover, the lack of data in Continents such as Europe, Asia and Oceania makes it necessary to perform new isolating and genotyping studies in these places. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Abstract Commercial trade in ivory remains one of the major threats to the survival of an iconic wildlife resource: the elephant, in particular the African species (Loxodonta africana). At its 2016 Johannesburg meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) adopted by consensus an urgent call for the closure of domestic markets for ivory. The only Party which has openly defied that call is Japan – claiming that its own domestic ivory market is strictly controlled, and does not contribute to elephant poaching elsewhere. The present study analyzes that claim in light of the evidence, including the country's legislation (as recently amended) and its application in practice (as documented by multiple recent surveys). The author's findings do not support Japan's claim to a sweeping exemption from the global ban agreed by the CITES Conference. On the contrary, in view of serious shortcomings in the Government's current legislative and administrative controls over the ivory trade (especially with regard to internet transactions), the author recommends effective termination of Japan's domestic ivory market; and pending such closure, a reclassification of Japan in category 2 of the CITES legislation list ('legislation believed not to meet all the requirements for CITES implementation').


Argentina's mining industry has grown rapidly in recent years, making the sector an essential part of the country's economy and placing the Andes at the centre of numerous economic, political and social issues. This article examines the spatial distribution of mining activities and the role attributed to the mountains of northwest Argentina. Exploiting these territories as reservoirs of raw materials was uncontroversial at the beginning of the century; however, this approach is now being contested because it leads to little territorial development. Latin America's renewed focus on primary industries involving the extraction and export of unprocessed natural resources can be viewed as a step back to colonial-style exploitation. As such, it raises questions about North–South relations and the development of mountain territories, which are often peripheral, poor and sparsely populated. Our research examines the territorial-development trajectories of three provinces – San Juan, Catamarca and Jujuy – and analyses how interactions between governmental and non-governmental actors affect a territory's approach to constructing and exploiting its resources. Questions about the way in which these interactions shape the development of mountain territories have led to alternative models that take into account the need for territorial development to be built locally.


ABSTRACT This study is mainly focused on the direct adsorption of low concentration gallium from the feed solution in pre-desilication soda-lime sintering process from coal fly ash. The adsorption kinetics, mechanism, and the influence of impurities, cyclic times, and eluant content are systematically researched. Results showed that the adsorption capacity was 2.89 mg/g resin with gallium concentration of 50 mg/L. The adsorption mechanism could be explained by the interaction between the oxygen atoms and nitrogen atoms of amidoxime group. Gallium was eluted efficiently by NaOH and Na2S mixed solution and the concentration could be reached to 2400 mg/L.


Impeller-type ejectors (2) are installed on the surfaces on both sides of a cabinet (1) defining an ejection chamber in the cabinet. Shots ejected from the ejectors (2) to a workpiece and fallen are conveyed in the horizontal direction by a horizontal screw conveyor (4) positioned above the lower end of the cabinet (1) and then conveyed upward by a vertical screw conveyer (5) whose base end is above the lower end of the cabinet (1). The shots pass from the upper section of the vertical screw conveyer (5) through a chute (8) to reach an opening/closing gate (9). When the gate (9) is opened and the shots are supplied to the ejectors (2) for re-ejection, a portion of the shots is caused to overflow from the gate (9). The overflowed shots are caused to pass through a separator (11) and a sieve device (15) to remove impurities and then returned to the horizontal screw conveyor (4). ® KIPO & WIPO 2007


Current research on routing protocols for Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork (MANET) has converged to several dominating routing protocols, including Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR), Ad-hoc Ondemand Distance Vector (AODV) and Dynamic Source Routing (DSR). At the same time, classic routing protocols such as Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) are improved for the MANET context. Research efforts also focus on issues such as Quality of Service (QoS), energy efficiency, and security, which already exist in the wired networks and are worsened in MANET. This paper examines the routing protocols and their improvements. We discuss the metrics used to evaluate these protocols and highlight the essential problems in the evaluation process itself.


This paper shows that the oriented-perforation technique is an effective method to control casing collapse problems for highly inclined wells. Three wells were perforated with 180{degree} phasing in the maximum in-situ stress direction. These three wells did not experience casing collapse, while surrounding wells with the standard perforation technique did. Two of the three wells with oriented perforations experienced significantly reduced sand problems. Numerical analysis was conducted to compare how effective orient perforations were in minimizing casing failure when a sheared zone was created around a well during drilling and production.


The article is devoted to the problem of the Moro - Moslem minority in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. The author provides a brief historical overview of the internal conflict between the Philippine government and Moslem separatists and analyzes the latest attempt by the state to resolve this conflict through the formation of the Bangsamoro autonomy (BAARM).


Objective: Mesenchymal stem cells are present in many
human tissues and serve as a readily available source of
undifferentiated cells being capable to form specific tissues
like bone, cartilage, fat, muscle and tendon. MSCs
can be isolated from various adult mesenchymal tissues
including synovium. the aim of this study is search the
ability of synovium- derived mesenchymal stem cells to
differentation to acquire neuronal or glial in vitro.
Materials and Methods: MSCs were isolated and
cultured from femoral knee joint of baker cyst and
ACL(Anterior cruciate ligament)patient and identified
with morphological observations and differentiation
tests.Then, SMSCs isolated and induced in vitro
by β-mercaptoethanol (BME) and retinoic acid (RA).
Alizarin red oil red O staining and RT-PCR were done to
investigate stemness property of cells. After differentiation,
the expression of neuronal markers NF-L (neurofilament-
light, or neurofilament 70 kDa) and early neuronal
marker NeuroD1 were determined with RT-PCR.
Results: Morphological observations, differentiation
results and RT-PCR tests revealed that our isolated cells
were MSCs. RT-PCR analysis indicated that the RA and
BME treated SM- MSCS expressed mRNA transcripts
for neuron-specific markers neurofilament proteins
(NF-L) and Neurogenic differentiation 1(NeuroD1).
Conclusion: These results indicate that human synovial
membrane -derived MSCs could trans-differentiate into
neural cell types by RA and BME treatment. So in spite
of these results, better understanding of SM-MSCs behavior
in vitro and in vivo is needed to develop strategies
for therapeutic applications by these cells.


I explore the relationship between metabolism and personality by establishing how selection acts on metabolic rate and risk-taking in the context of a trade-off between energy and predation. Using a simple time budget model, I show that a high resting metabolic rate is not necessarily associated with a high daily energy expenditure. The metabolic rate that minimizes the time spent foraging does not maximize the net gain rate while foraging, and it is not always advantageous for animals to have a higher metabolic rate when food availability is high. A model based on minimizing the ratio of mortality rate to net gain rate is used to determine how a willingness to take risks should be correlated with metabolic rate. My results establish that it is not always advantageous for animals to take greater risks when metabolic rate is high. When foraging intensity and metabolic rate coevolve, I show that in a particular case different combinations of foraging intensity and metabolic rate can have equal fitness.


We evaluated the early efficacy of non-surgical treatment using 0.07% betamethasone valerate ointment on, 34 boys with phimosis between January 2001 and June 2005. Patients were treated with 0.07% betamethasone valerate ointment applied to the distal aspect of the prepuce every other day for 2-6 weeks. During the treatment period, patients were instructed to retract the foreskin to penis root without overstraining. The overall success rate was 94.1% and therapeutic effects were observed in 58.8% of the patients in two weeks. There were no medical side effects. Treatment using betamethasone valerate ointment is very effective, easy and safe. We recommend this treatment for patients with phimosis and/or those with recurring balanoposthitis.


Edith Wharton published her The Age of Innocence just after the Great War, but the focus on the past and on social change in the text has usually not been connected to concerns in the novel's immediate war context for a long time. However, as part of the general critical interest in the literature of war, the issue of the war context for The Age of Innocence was examined by Julie Olin-Ammentorp's Edith Wharton's Writings from the Great War in 2004. Hermione Lee's subsequent biography of Wharton in 2008 also claimed that The Age was not only motivated by escapism but Wharton's experience of war as well. This paper looks into how the perception of time is represented in Wharton's nonfiction war text Fighting France (1915) and The Age of Innocence (1920) by comparing their representations of the contrast between the past and the present. Both Fighting France and The Age of Innocence contain spatial descriptions that employ Wharton's rhetoric of what the article proposes to call "the presence of the past," in which past moments reappear in the present, problematizing what is seen as real and unreal by the characters. The rhetoric of the presence of the past links the war text to the novel in that both share a basic interest in problematic processes of cultural continuity.


Predictive modelling with the focus on identification of students at risk of failing has become one of the most prevalent topics in the Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining. Most of the published work is focused on training the machine learning model that achieves the highest prediction performance, as measured by several metrics. Nevertheless, limited work focuses on the behaviour of the model and in particular, analysis of the errors the models make during predictions. This poster presents preliminary results that fill this gap by providing a methodology for finding the patterns of errors both for False Positives and False Negatives. We show results from the task of predicting students at risk of not submitting their first assignments on 48 first-year STEM courses, separately for False Positives and False Negatives. The erroneous predictions that are not possible to be explained will inform subsequent qualitative analysis i.e., interviews with students.


The simultaneous effects of soil–structure interaction, foundation uplift and inelastic behavior of the superstructure on total displacement response of soil–structure systems are investigated. The superstructure is modeled as an equivalent single‐degree‐of‐freedom system with bilinear behavior mounted on a rigid foundation resting on distributed tensionless Winkler springs and dampers. It is well known that the behavior of soil–structure systems can be well described using a limited number of nondimensional parameters. Here, by introducing two new parameters, the concept is extended to inelastic soil–structure systems in which the foundation is allowed to uplift. An extensive parametric study is conducted for a wide range of the key parameters through nonlinear time history analyses. It is shown that while uplifting soil–structure systems experience excessive displacements, in comparison with systems that are not allowed to uplift, ductility demand in the superstructure generally decreases owing to foundation uplift. A new inelastic displacement ratio (IDR) is proposed in conjunction with a nonlinear static analysis of uplifting soil–structure systems. Simplified expressions are also provided to estimate the proposed IDR. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Individual perceptions about the ideal body shape is of its nature subjective. Therefore, every individual gives meaning to the different stimuli in the same view object. Related to this has been put forward concerning the subjective perception, obesity also can cause a person
experiencing anxiety or tension is higher when facing stressful situations as compared with individuals with normal weight. Anxiety also frequently arises from the fact that there is a discrepancy between the desired reality. People with obesity will feel themselves unattractive to others and always feel anxious when interacting with others. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between students' perceptions of obesity with anxiety to get a girlfriend. This study used non-experimental design with type explanatif which in this study the researchers wanted to prove the theories that have been there or want to test the hypothesis that there is. The subject of this research are students studying at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang, and as many as 60 people. The subjects of this study were taken by using Non Random Sampling Purposive technique. Methods of data collection is done by using (1) scale and the perception of obesity (2) anxiety scale obtain boyfriend. Test the validity of using the technique reliabelitas Product Moment and test using Alpha. Data analysis technique used is the product moment correlation test. From the analysis, the correlation coefficient r = -0.874 at P <0.010 (P = 0.000) which means there is a very significant negative relationship between perceptions of obesity with anxiety get a girlfriend then the hypothesis in this study received. And has a r2 = 0.764. The effective contribution to the perception of obesity with anxiety gain amounted to 76.4% (r2 x 100), while the rest equal to 23.6% influenced by other variables not studied. It can be concluded that there was a significant negative relationship between perceptions of obesity with anxiety get a girlfriend. This means that the more positive perceptions of obesity, the anxiety to obtain the lower boyfriend, and increasingly negative perceptions of obesity, the higher the anxiety to obtain boyfriend.


The capacitance of the circular parallel plate capacitor is calculated by expanding the solution to the Love integral equation into a Fourier cosine series. Previously, this kind of expansion has been carried out numerically, resulting in accuracy problems at small plate separations. We show that this bottleneck can be alleviated, by calculating all expansion integrals analytically in terms of the Sine and Cosine integrals. Hence, we can, in the approximation of the kernel, use considerably larger matrices, resulting in improved numerical accuracy for the capacitance. In order to improve the accuracy at the smallest separations, we develop a heuristic extrapolation scheme that takes into account the convergence properties of the algorithm. Our results are compared with other numerical results from the literature and with the Kirchhoff result. Error estimates are presented, from which we conclude that our results is a substantial improvement compared with earlier numerical results.


The present paper proposes an integral equation formulation for elastostatic deformation problem of eccentrically stiffened plates. Though some boundary element analysis of stiffened plates have been proposed so far [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], many of them consider only concentrically stiffened plates. In case of such eccentrically stiffened plates, inand out-of-plane deformation of the stiffened plate are coupled. Previous studies on concentrically stiffened plates by the boundary element method were based on the Timoshenko theory of elastically supported plates [6], where the equivalent shear force acts as distributed force on stiffener (rib), and the bending moment as distributed twisting moment. This theory requires that the centroidal axis lies in the middle plane of the plate, thus it is difficult to extend to general stiffened plates considering this eccentricity. In this study the boundary integral formulation for general stiffened plates are presented.


In this paper, an active shape model (ASM) based facial feature localization strategy is proposed, which employs a local binary pattern (LBP) probability model. Due to the computation simplicity and illumination insensitivity of LBP texture descriptor and the learning ability of the probability model, the algorithm is robust and fast. In addition, component-based ASM is used to impose reasonable constraints on the shape. Multi-state shape and texture models with state classifier are trained to handle highly flexible components, i.e. eyes and mouth. Our database consisting of tens of persons with various expressions and illuminations is used to train and verify the proposed algorithm. The experiments demonstrate its accuracy, efficiency and robustness.


Epstein-Barr virus-related antibody titers were determined in 30 patients with anterior uveitis, 45 with pan-uveitis, including 19 with Behçet's disease, 11 with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada's disease and 15 with unclassified pan-uveitis, and 144 age-matched healthy controls. The frequencies of anti-VCA (viro-capsid antigen) and anti-EA (early antigen) in uveitis patients and in controls were similar, but the frequency of sera with elevated titers (greater than or equal to 1:160) and the geometric mean titer of anti-VCA in the patients with anterior uveitis was significantly higher than in the controls (P less than 0.025, P less than 0.01) and in the patients with pan-uveitis (P less than 0.001). The frequency of sera with elevated titers of anti-EBNA (Epstein-Barr virus associated nuclear antigen) (greater than or equal to 1:160) in the patients with pan-uveitis was significantly lower than in the controls (P less than 0.02) and in the patients with anterior uveitis (P less than 0.01). Among the patients with pan-uveitis, there was no significant difference in the pattern of antibodies. These data are compatible with the interpretation that there may be both anatomical and immunological differences between anterior and pan-uveitis.


The correlation between plasma protein binding, the volume of distribution, molecular weight, and percentage removed by hemodialysis was investigated in 89 drugs using information available in the literature. The correlation was significantly linear between dialyzability and plasma protein binding, as well as with the reciprocal volume of distribution. This is in agreement with the theoretical deduction of dialyzability from diffusion and convection kinetics. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that only 27% of the variance in dialyzability could be explained by plasma protein binding (17%), the volume of distribution (6%), and the molecular weight (4%) of the drugs. Therefore, the dialyzability of drugs can not be predicted reliably.


In this paper, a numerical simulation of sea wave characteristics and operation downtimes of offshore structures is presented. The simulation was based on available wind data and seawater temperature recorded by an oceanography buoy installed in the Caspian Sea. Wave characteristics were simulated for deepwater parts of the Caspian Sea by applying the Bretschneider spectrum and equations using following recorded data: wind velocity, wind duration, fetch length, and water/air temperature differences. Since recorded wave data were only available for a one-year period, they were solely used for validation of the simulation results with recorded data but for not the simulation itself. Some practically established thresholds for wave velocity, wave period, and wind velocity were considered as constrains, limiting the operation of offshore installations. The numerical simulation model revealed that it is possible to operate offshore installations for 250 days per year in the southern parts of the Caspian Sea. A worst-case scenario showed that the maximum waiting time for restarting the offshore installations is 17 days. Considering the swell parameter, it was concluded that the annual downtime period of offshore installation operations in southern parts of the Caspian Sea is about one third of a year and the maximum waiting time for this operation is about two third of a month.


The objective of the present study was to identify potential biomarkers for gut barrier failure in chickens. A total of 144 day-of-hatch Ross 308 male broiler chickens were housed in 24 battery cages with six chicks per cage. Cages were randomly assigned to either a control group (CON) or gut barrier failure (GBF) group. During the first 13 days, birds in CON or GBF groups were fed a common corn–soy starter diet. On day 14, CON chickens were switched to a corn grower diet, and GBF chickens were switched to rye–wheat–barley grower diet. In addition, on day 21, GBF chickens were orally challenged with a coccidiosis vaccine. At days 21 and 28, birds were weighed by cage and feed intake was recorded to calculate feed conversion ratio. At day 28, one chicken from each cage was euthanized to collect intestinal samples for morphometric analysis, blood for serum, and intestinal mucosa scrapings for gene expression. Overall performance and feed efficiency was severely affected (P < 0.05) by a GBF model when compared with CON group at days 21 and 28. Duodenum of GBF birds had wider villi, longer crypt depth, and higher crypt depth/villi height ratio than CON birds. Similarly, GBF birds had longer crypt depth in jejunum and ileum when compared with CON birds. Protein levels of endotoxin and α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) in serum, as well as mRNA levels of interleukin (IL)-8, IL-1β, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β4, and fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) 6 were increased (P < 0.05) in GBF birds compared to CON birds; however, mRNA levels of FABP2, occludin, and mucin 2 (MUC2) were reduced by 34% (P < 0.05), 24% (P = 0.107), and 29% (P = 0.088), respectively, in GBF birds compared to CON birds. The results from the present study suggest that serum endotoxin and AGP, as well as, gene expression of FABP2, FABP6, IL-8, IL-1β, TGF-β4, occludin, and MUC2 in mucosa may work as potential biomarkers for gut barrier health in chickens.


Despite many therapeutic advances, the prognosis of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) remains poor. Therefore, reliable identification of high‐risk patients with poor prognosis is of utmost importance. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) provides important prognostic information by peak O2 uptake (peak VO2), maximal oxygen pulse (O2 Pmax), O2 uptake efficiency slope (OUES), and VE/VCO2 slope (VE/VCO2). A different approach for prognostic assessment is the Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHFM), which is based on clinical data and calculates the estimated annual mortality.


It is reported on an interdisciplinary team consisting of internists, radiologists and urologists which treated twelve patients with suspicion of primary hyperparathyroidism. The diagnostics is performed in form of a three-step progamme. A great importance is still ascribed to hypercalcaemia and therefore it serves as leading symptom. By means of the selective determination of parathormones no clear side classification could be achieved. In ten patients the operation could successfully be finished with the exstirpation of one or more adenomas of the parathyroid glands. A special importance deserves the intensive postoperative control with regular determinations of serum calcium in order to encounter in time a hypocalcaemia with tetanies by applications of calcium. It is referred to the necessity to search for an adenoma of the parathyroid gland at the slightest suspicion of the presence of a primary hyperparathyroidism.


Inhabited Silence in Qualitative Research demonstrates, or 'puts to work' poststructural theory in the doing of qualitative research. Using this theoretical approach, the book proposes a data set lacking in the methodological literature, namely silence. It highlights the need for qualitative researchers not to dismiss silence as an omission or an absence of empirical materials, but rather to engage silence as meaningful and purposeful.


AbstractIn this nationwide population-based cohort study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of sleep-related breathing disorders (SBD) on migraine development.Patients ages 20 years or more and diagnosed with SBD between 2000 and 2009 were evaluated as the SBD cohort (n = 3411), and compared with comparison cohort (n = 13,644). The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for developing migraine was calculated in both cohorts by multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.The cumulative incidence of migraine was significantly higher in the SBD cohort than in the comparison cohort. In the SBD cohort, the overall aHR for developing migraine was 2.43 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.72–3.44). The risk of developing migraine was higher in men (aHR 2.71) than in women (aHR 2.29) with SBD. When stratifying by age, we observed increased incidence of migraine in patients ages 20 to 44 years and 45 to 64 years, with a higher aHR of 2.51 (95% CI = 1.47–4.30) and 2.68 (95% CI = 1.63–4.43), respectively. The risk of developing migraine in the patients with SBD with or without comorbidity exhibited nonsignificant differences. After stratifying by the use of hypnotics, the aHR for developing migraine was 2.39 in the patients with hypnotics use and 3.58 in the patients without hypnotics use.Our findings indicate increased risk of developing migraine in adults, but not elderly ones, with SBD.


Owing to its high capabilities in terms of spectral efficiency and flexibility, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) has played a crucial role towards the success of 4G cellular systems and an increasing number of actors in the 5G arena strongly advocate for its continuation. OFDMA-based architectures do not introduce intracell interference but, due to the use of very aggressive frequency reuse plans, they must implement some form of inter-cell interference (ICI) control to warrant prescribed levels of quality of service, specially to users located near the cell edge. An efficient technique for mitigating ICI in OFDMA networks is the well-known fractional frequency reuse (FFR) scheme. In FFR, a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio threshold is used to categorize mobile stations (MSs) as cell-center or cell-edge MSs. Furthermore, a different number of frequency resources are allocated to cell-center and cell-edge areas according to a prescribed frequency reuse plan. This paper presents an analytical characterization of FFR-aided OFDMA-based multi-cellular networks that, unlike most previous studies, incorporates shadowing effects and, furthermore, considers that base stations are irregularly deployed. This analytical approach can incorporate different scheduling rules and can underpin different designs for which the optimal FFR parameters can be derived. The proposed framework allows the performance evaluation and optimization of any cell in the system by considering the specific network topology, the user association and categorization processes, the spatial density of users and the characteristics of both the fast multipath fading and the spatially correlated slow shadow fading.


PURPOSE: The aim was to identify the difference in frequency, amplitude of contractions, negative tracing and shape of the waves. METHODS: We made one study of spontaneous motility of parts of colon from mouse, in physiologic chamber for isolated organ. RESULTS: It was found the biggest frequence variability and amplitude of contractions registered. Although there has been predominancy of strong contractions in the descending colon and weaker contractions in the transverse one, all kinds of waves were found in the three segments. CONCLUSIONS: The colon shows variable motility, which does not permit identify the unmistakable characteristic pattern for each of the three segments, ascendent, transverse and descending. The transverse colon shows a bigger quantity of negative traces, smaller amplitude of contractions and less frequency of contractions. The descending colon showed a smaller number of negative traces and a bigger average of amplitude of contractions of the three segments.


Software as service (SaS) is an emerging business model for software sales and distribution. How pricing mechanism changed under such new business model is analyzed in this paper with principle-agent model. The analysis shows that cost structure and externality are two key differences between product and service pricing. Due to low marginal cost of SaS, consumers' affordability became a key determinant in SaS pricing. There may be free even pay-for-consuming service if externality is large enough. Consumer heterogeneity is also a key factor in software pricing. But numeric experiments show that the impact is heavily dependent on consumer type distribution


Major depressive disorder is a very common and a very serious illness that not only disrupts the lives of the people with the condition but also the lives of their families. Effective identification and treatment of those with this disease would greatly improve the lives of a very sizeable proportion of the people of the world. Numerous drugs have been introduced since the 1950s that have proven to be useful in the therapy of major depressive disorder patients but these compounds typically have unwanted side effects due to their actions on many different aspects of brain function. Citalopram, one of the more recently developed antidepressant drugs, is a selective inhibitor of the transport of the neurotransmitter serotonin into nerve terminals and other cells that accumulate serotonin. Citalopram does not affect the uptake of other neurotransmitters nor does it have affinity for the receptors of any neurotransmitter. It is as effective therapeutically as the older antidepressants but it produces considerably fewer side effects than the traditional antidepressants such as amitriptyline. Citalopram appears to have minimal effects on the cardiovascular system and to be one of the few antidepressants to be eliminated to any extent by the kidneys. These characteristics may be an advantage in treating elderly patients with major depressive disorder, or those patients unable to tolerate the anti-cholinergic side effects of the traditional antidepressants.


Parallel corpus is a valuable resource for cross-language information retrieval and data-driven natural language processing systems, especially for Statistical Machine Translation (SMT). However, most existing parallel corpora to Chinese are subject to in-house use, while others are domain specific and limited in size. To a certain degree, this limits the SMT research. This paper describes the acquisition of a large scale and high quality parallel corpora for English and Chinese. The corpora constructed in this paper contain about 15 million English-Chinese (E-C) parallel sentences, and more than 2 million training data and 5,000 testing sentences are made publicly available. Different from previous work, the corpus is designed to embrace eight different domains. Some of them are further categorized into different topics. The corpus will be released to the research community, which is available at the NLP2CT website.


Nowadays Power Electronics (PE) is entering more and more in technology which traditionally belongs to different engineering disciplines. E-mobility is one of these. Power Electronics in fact imposes itself as an emerging technology to enhance sustainable mobility, addressing all the engineering aspects starting from energy distribution for charging purposes until energy transformation on board of the traction related vehicles. This paper in particular focuses on newly developed PE infrastructure technologies enabling fast battery charging processes. Depending on the battery and vehicle type, a recharge sufficient for a travel range of more than 100km in less than 10 min is readily achievable. As battery technologies continuously advance, recharging will become available with the speed and simplicity of a today's fuel stop. Two PE converter architectures for recharging infrastructure applications will be presented and discussed based on both low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) isolation requirements. Technical evaluation of the two different technologies will be addressed and presented, including a pro- and contra analysis. The impact on the grid is studied by means of simulation with the assumption of a dc fast charging station placed in a rural area in Sweden.


Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the association between obesity, sexual activity and sexual function in women with pelvic floor disorders (PFDs). Methods: A retrospective study of women seeking care for PFDs was conducted between May 2008 and May 2009. Obesity was defined as body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2. Outcomes included sexual activity and sexual function measured using the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire-12 (PISQ-12). Multivariable regression was used to estimate the association between obesity and sexual inactivity and function. Results: There were 161 (45.5%) non-obese and 193 (54.5%) obese women, with a subset of 214 sexually active women. Obesity was not associated with sexual inactivity, but was associated with worse PISQ-12 scores compared with non-obese women (mean score 36.9 ± 38 versus 74.8 ± 34, P < 0.001). On multivariable linear regression, obese women had a mean score of 30 points lower (95% confidence interval −40.6 to −20.2, P < 0.001) on the PISQ-12 compared with non-obese women. Conclusions: Obesity is associated with worse sexual function in women with PFDs.


Koch's brilliant career as father of modern tuberculosis science began, of course, on that memorable evening of March 24, 1882, when he gave to the world the result of his painstaking work. It was the usual monthly meeting of the Physiologic Society of Berlin, but it was perhaps the largest gathering which that body ever had. Koch's paper was announced under the title, "The Etiology of Tuberculosis." Taking into consideration what Koch had given to science before along the same lines (I refer to the discovery of the spores of the anthrax bacillus and his concomitant bacteriologic studies), the hearers were, of course, expectant and looked for great things in store for them. It was characteristic of Koch's modesty and true scientific spirit that he had preferred to refrain from talking about his researches in tuberculosis until he could conclusively prove his thesis to the satisfaction of everyone and show


We have demonstrated synchronization of two channels at 10 Gb/s after propagation in a dispersive fiber (D=17 ps/nm.km) by using a spectral inversion device based on FWM in SOA. A double-wavelength conversion of 2.2 nm and 3.4 nm is simultaneously achieved. Spectrum measurement shows OSNR of more than 30 dB for conjugate signals. A BER measurement has although been achieved and shows that there is no penalty difference between channels for a detuning of 0.6 nm. A 1.1 dB penalty induced by the wavelength conversion, has been measured for both channels. As the conversion range in a SOA is limited to a few nanometers, the nonlinear optical fibers may be a more efficient solution for large number of channels. This technique, transparent to bit rate and format, is transposable to RZ format and can be applied for synchronous modulation in dispersion shifted fiber, promising for extremely high bit rate transmission.


Objective: The concept of obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders (OCSDs) has become so influential that there are proposals to introduce it into new diagnostic classificatory systems. The aim of this paper was to assess whether rates of comorbidity and family history of OCSDs in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) supported this concept. Method: Comorbidity and family history were assessed in a group of participants with a primary diagnosis of OCD, using structured clinical interviews. Rates of OCSDs and other anxiety disorders (OADs), excluding OCD, were compared. Results: Of the 77 OCD participants assessed, the most prevalent comorbid conditions were OADs: generalized anxiety disorder (34.6%), specific phobia (26.9%), social phobia (21.8%) and panic disorder (19.2%). The proposed OCSDs were less frequently comorbid: tic disorder (12.8%), trichotillomania (5.1%), hypochondriasis (3.8%) and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) (3.8%). Similar trends were observed for a family history of these disorders. No participant reported a family history of an OCSD without a family history of an OAD. Conclusions: Although the concept of OCSDs has invigorated thinking in this complex diagnostic field, these results support the current association of OCD with OADs rather than with OCSDs.


Time-stamping protocols, which assure that a document was existed at a certain time, are applied to some useful and practical applications such as electronic patent applications and so on. There are two major time-stamping protocols, the simple protocol and the linking protocol. In the former, a time-stamp authority issues a time-stamp token that is the digital signature of the concatenated value of a hashed message and the present time. In the latter, the time-stamp authority issues a time-stamp token that is the hash value of the concatenated value of a hashed message and the previous hash value. Although security requirements and analysis for above time-stamping protocols has been discussed, there are no strict cryptographic security notions for them. In this paper, we reconsider the security requirements for time-stamping protocols and define security notions for them, in a universally composable security sense, which was proposed by Canetti. We also show that these notions can be achieved using combinations of a secure key exchange protocol, a secure symmetric encryption scheme, and a secure digital signature scheme.


Changes in central nervous system of teenagers mastering miner occupations depended on insufficient physical activity and determined high prevalence of individuals with disharmonious psychic condition.


Faced with bleeding esophageal varices from portal hypertension and anatomic conditions that preclude the construction of a standard portosystemic shunt, any enlarged portal collateral draining the esophageal varices can be utilized to achieve decompression. A case is presented in which this was achieved by means of a Dacron H graft that was inserted between the gastroepiploic trunk and the inferior vena cava. Report of a Case.—A 57-year-old man with cirrhosis was admitted after three episodes of variceal bleeding. Selective celiac, splenic, and superior mesenteric arteriography was performed. The extrahepatic portal vein, the splenic vein, and the superior mesenteric vein were not seen. All venous return was via collaterals and only the intrahepatic portal vein was identified. Despite the selective injection of a large bolus of contrast medium into the splenic artery, no visualization of the splenic vein could be obtained. Instead, the venous return from the spleen occurred in


We discussed six major topics pertaining to the upcoming NASA/ Russian Space Agency (RSA) missions. The first was the DOCUMENTATION of the Russian systems. The second topic was understanding the RUSSIAN METHODOLOGY in developing life support systems. The next was developing a joint NASA/RUSSIA AGENDA on what path the joint work will take. The fourth topic was INTEGRATING SYSTEMS from RSA to NASA and NASA to RSA. The next was CURRENT NASA TEST PLANS--How will they be affected by this joint agreement? The last topic will be the BENEFITS of this joint agreement.


Growing interest in SP in Russia as well as the lack of the analysis of the Russian SP market were the main reasons the author selected this research topic. In order to gauge the potential applications of SP in Russia and their potential development in the domestic market, special attention is given to studying the experience of the leading European countries in the development of SP. The aim of this scientific paper is analysis of the structured products (SP) market globally paying special attention to European market and definition of the ways of development of this market in Russia. To achieve this goal, the author has set the following objectives: • consider different approaches to understanding of SP, analyze different classifications and propose ways of their improvement; • based on the study of foreign and Russian market experience, analyze existing forms and types of SP, including the analysis of the legal frameworks used in Russia with respect to SP; • analyze the current state of the SP market in Russia and EU; • assess the potential for its development in the future under different scenarios of development of the financial market.


Drugs remain a matter of concern in Morocco, although it is illegal and forbidden in Islam. Epidemiologic studies previously conducted in Morocco indicate that drug use is increasing among the youth and women. To conduct well-designed surveys on drug use in schools, Morocco adopted the MedSPAD (Mediterranean School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs), which is supported by the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe. This project includes countries like Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Egypt, and encompasses the mandatory school-going-age group of 15- to 17-year-olds in Mediterranean countries. In Morocco, following a pilot survey in 2003, MedSPAD surveys were conducted in two big cities (Rabat and Sale), before the first nationwide study was undertaken in 2009 and the second in 2013. The objectives of the Moroccan MedSPAD were to determine the prevalence of substance use among 15- to 17-year-old youths; to determine the age of onset of drug use; and to learn about teenagers' knowledge, perspectives, and behaviors regarding drugs. The project sought to identify some of the predictive factors of drug use to aid in devising strong policies for facilitating mental health support and drug prevention in Moroccan schools. MedSPAD surveys demonstrated students' extensive drug use. The surveys found initial drug use since a young age, which suggests that preventive and counseling programs need to be implemented for very young students (elementary school), prior to onset. The development of effective school prevention policies and community intervention programs (prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation) may need immediate attention. Similar surveys need to be conducted to observe drug use trends among the Moroccan youth.


Fundament: The ample active spectre of ozone in medicine is based in a series of properties that positively influence certain metabolic processes, whose alterations are cause for many diseases. Methods: Prospectivedescriptive study about the treatment with ozone, besides the conventional therapeutics, to patients bearing affections of possible vascular ethiology as acufenos, peripheral vertiginous syndrome, sudden hypacusia, and others of infectious origin as recurrent suppurated half chronic otitis, rebel to conventional therapeutics. Tran rectal bias was used during three weeks, the results and evolution of patients were controlled. Results: ozone treatment effectiveness was proved (91%), with no intoxication or intolerance, a rapid remission of vertigo was observed in nearly all patients since first sessions, and evident betterment or remission of acufenos and the hypacusia.


RALPH started shoeshining when he was 10 years old, and this is how it happened. Well, really, the first time I went, I went down there and, you know, and I, and I just sat there for five minutes and then, you know, I didn't do nothing about it, you know, I just knew that you were supposed to shine a guy's shoes. I didn't know nothing about it, you know, and there was no one on the corner that night. I think it was a Wednesday and that's the rottenest day you can go. It's before payday . . . so I went up there and this guy came along and he says, "I'll take a shine," so I shined his shoes, and he gave me a quarter. And I go "I made a quarter!" And then I was just getting ready to go home, and I was only there for


The current superannuation system is excessively inefficient, unfair and complex. It involves hugely generous subsidies to many wealthy people but little, if any, net assistance for many lower-income people. It also unduly reduces governments' capacity to strengthen national development, especially through investment in long-term infrastructure. The system is targeted excessively towards older people at the expense of younger people and towards needs in old age at the expense of those arising earlier in life. In these and other respects, the scheme does not adequately promote efficiency or inter-generational equity. The superannuation system would be substantially improved by taxing all superannuation contributions at the beneficiaries' marginal income tax rates but then reducing their tax liability by a proportion of the contributions up to a modest level. This approach would create a much simpler, fairer and more efficient system, especially if complemented by removing the age pension means test. Some early withdrawals could then be allowed from superannuation accounts in order to meet mid-life needs, preferably without limiting the purposes for the withdrawals. A medium-term goal could be to establish a system of subsidised Lifelong Savings Accounts (LiSAs) which includes government contributions at birth, compulsory superannuation contributions in the workforce years and also voluntary contributions from the beneficiaries or other sources. Tax exemptions or concessions could apply to phased withdrawals from the accounts up to fixed limits. A significant proportion of moneys held in superannuation accounts or LiSAs should be made available for national infrastructure investment which may not maximise direct profit to individual members but improves the economic and social strength of the community as a whole. This could be achieved by vesting some contributions in a government fund with a guaranteed rate of return and/or vigorously encouraging national infrastructure investment by private funds. The failings of the current superannuation system can readily be obscured by vested interests. Reform should be a very high priority for people who are concerned about social justice and alleviating hardship, as well as for those who are concerned about efficient and sustainable economic development.


Image registration may assist in the integration of information from multiple sources by allowing direct point-for-point comparisons of studies. To determine the usefulness of such a technique, a method for the spatial and temporal registration of four-dimensional single photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) and magnetic resonance (MR) cardiac images was developed. Automatically detected left ventricular endocardial surfaces were used to determine the best transform between the two sets of surface points, and that transform was applied to the original SPECT image. A fused image created from the MR and the transformed SPECT images combined the information in both. The authors tested the method with seven patient studies. Registration reduced the distance between the MR and SPECT left ventricular endocardial surfaces by 30%, to an average of 2.7 mm. The authors found that, by using the fused images, perfusion abnormalities could be easily localized and correlated to high-resolution endocardial wall motion and systolic wall thickening.


Automated modeling refers to automatic (re-)formulation of alternative system models that embody the simplification, abstraction, and approximation of knowledge and data for a given task. This technique is highly desirable for effective problem solving in many application domains. Over the past two decades, compositional modeling (CM) has established itself as a leading approach in automated modeling. CM is a framework to construct system models by composing generic and reusable model fragments (MFs) selected from a knowledge base. However, the existing work mainly concerns the knowledge and data that are represented by crisp and precise information. Little work has been carried out to explore its potential to deal with uncertain environments. This paper presents an innovative framework of fuzzy compositional modeling (FCM) to develop such work. The proposed approach is capable of representing and reasoning with a wide range of inexact information. An innovative notion of fuzzy complex numbers (FCNs) is developed in an effort to enable synthesis of consistent scenario descriptions from imprecise MFs. This paper also introduces the modulus of FCNs to constrain the resulting scenario descriptions. The usefulness of this study is illustrated by means of an example to construct possible scenario descriptions from given evidence, which is in support of crime investigation.


The task of the Curator in Bankruptcy is to administer and settle the bankruptcy estate. It is also the curator who must carry out the execution of the bankrupt assets. In practice, it is not easy, and there are several obstacles faced, especially when the debtor in bankruptcy is a Limited Liability Company in the form of a State-Owned Enterprise Persero. Until now, there are no assets of BUMN PT Persero (in bankruptcy) that can be executed. The purpose of this study is to find out how the execution of assets of P.T. Kertas Leces Persero (in bankruptcy) and what the curator's efforts are about it. Theresearch is juridical empirical. The results of the study show: There are two stages of asset execution— management and settlement of bankrupt assets. However, there are still obstacles, both internal and external, with considerable government intervention. The curator's efforts to deal with these obstacles are by sending letters to all relevant agencies, taking an inventory of the assets and legal documents belonging to P.T. Kertas Leces Persero, which are needed in the process of executing the bankruptcy assets.


This study was aimed at investigating the basic mechanisms of the normal repetition priming evoked by text re-reading procedures in Alzheimers disease (AD) patients (Monti, Gabrieli, Wilson, Reminger, 1994; Monti et al., 1997). For this purpose, we contrasted the reading facilitation elicited by previous reading or listening to a text in a sample of AD patients and a group of age-matched normal controls. Consistent with previous evidence in normal undergraduates (Levy Kirsner, 1989), previous listening to a text decreased the successive reading time of the same text (cross-modality priming). However, the reading facilitation elicited by previous reading of the same text (within-modality priming) was significantly larger than the facilitation evoked by previous listening. Compared to normal controls, AD patients showed intact cross-modality and within-modality priming. These data are discussed in the light of alternative hypotheses regarding the basic mechanisms of impaired and spared repetition priming in degenerative demented patients.


Cotton, as a strategic crop, plays an important role in providing human food and clothing need, because of its oil, protein, and fiber. Iran has been one of the largest cotton producers in the world in the past, but unfortunately, for economic reasons, its production is reduced now. One of the ways to reduce the cost of cotton production is to expand the mechanization of cotton harvesting. Iranian farmers do not accept the function of cotton harvesters. One reason for this lack of acceptance of cotton harvesting machines is the number of field losses on these machines. So, the majority of cotton fields are harvested by hand. Although the correct setting of the harvesting machine is very important in the cotton losses, the morphological properties of the cotton plant also affect the performance of cotton harvesters. In this study, the effect of some cotton morphological properties such as the height of the cotton plant, number, and length of sympodial and monopodial branches, boll dimensions, boll weight, number of carpels and bracts angle were evaluated on the performance of cotton picker. In this research, the efficiency of John Deere 9920 spindle Cotton picker is investigated on five different Iranian cotton cultivars. The results indicate that there was a significant difference between the five cultivars in terms of machine harvest efficiency. Golestan cultivar showed the best cotton harvester performance with an average of 87.6% of total harvestable seed cotton and Khorshid cultivar had the least cotton harvester performance. The principal component analysis showed that, at 50.76% probability, the cotton picker efficiency is affected by the bracts angle positively and by boll dimensions, the number of carpels and the height of cotton plants negatively. The seed cotton remains (in the plant and on the ground) after harvester in PCA scatter plot were in the same zone with boll dimensions and several carpels. Keywords—Cotton, bract, harvester, carpel.


An ArcGIS toolbar was developed with the help of ArcObjects within ArcGIS environment to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) and net irrigation requirement (NIR) on raster based approach. The toolbar can estimate ET on a daily or monthly basis either with Hargreaves and Samani method or FAO56-PM method and calculate the corresponding NIR on a monthly basis. The toolbar was tested using normal monthly meteorological data (maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and rainfall) collected from 133 India Meteorological Department (IMD) stations covering 19 agro-ecological regions from 1971–2000. These point meteorological data were interpolated using ordinary kriging method and resampled at 1 km spatial resolution to generate the input rasters. Crop coefficient (k c ) raster for each month was prepared by analysing the cropping pattern of the country. Using the developed toolbar, reference evapotranspiration (ET o ) was estimated using both the methods on a monthly basis and NIR was estimated using the ET o of FAO56-PM method and comparison was made between the two ET o estimates. Verification of ET o and NIR estimates made by the toolbar was performed by comparing the toolbar estimated monthly ET o and NIR with manually calculated ones at ten evenly distributed locations and was found that the toolbar can generate accurate ET o and NIR rasters.


We consider the importance of different utterances in the context for selecting the response usually depends on the current query. In this paper, we propose the model TripleNet to fully model the task with the triple  instead of  in previous works. The heart of TripleNet is a novel attention mechanism named triple attention to model the relationships within the triple at four levels. The new mechanism updates the representation of each element based on the attention with the other two concurrently and symmetrically.We match the triple  centered on the response from char to context level for prediction.Experimental results on two large-scale multi-turn response selection datasets show that the proposed model can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art methods.


ABSTRACT Novel ionic liquid crystals based on pyridinium and methylpyridinium cations with a dodecyl chain and bromide as anion have been prepared and characterised. [C12Pyr][Br] and [C12-n-Pic][Br] (n = 2, 3 or 4) were studied in order to understand the influence of the methyl group position in the mesomorphic behaviour. Neat microwave-assisted reactions were carried out to synthesised [C12Pyr][Br], [C12-3-Pic][Br] and [C12-4-Pic][Br] as a sustainable approach, leading to significantly reduced reaction times (35 min vs. 48 h in conventional method). All prepared compounds were characterised by spectroscopic techniques (1H and 13C-NMR; ATR-FTIR), Elemental Analysis, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Polarised Optical Microscopy (POM) and X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRD). It was observed that the presence of water highly influences the phase transformations. Nevertheless, thermotropic smectic phases were detected for all materials with a layer spacing between 20 and 35 Å, compatible with a bilayer interdigitated or tilted lamellar arrangement of the cation's alkyl chain. This work also indicates new routes for preparing ionic liquid crystals with various functionalities ruled by the synthesis design. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


An improvement in the photodegradation performance for dyes due to interaction between carbon and titania in a self-assembled mesoporous C-TiO(2) composite catalyst, even for the difficult degradation of azo dyes, is reported herein. The dye removal process involves adsorption of the dye from water by the mesoporous carbon-titania, followed by photodegradation on the separated dye-loaded solid. Such adsorption-catalysis cycles can be carried out more than 80 times without discernible loss of photocatalytic activity or the anatase content of the composite. In each run, about 120 mg dye per g catalyst can be degraded. The mesoporous carbon-titania catalyst also exhibits a high capacity for converting methyl orange in aqueous solution under visible light. Characterization by XRD, TEM, and N(2) sorption techniques has revealed that the self-assembled composite catalyst has an ordered mesostructure, uniform mesopores (4.3 nm), a large pore volume (0.30 cm(3) g(-1)), and a high surface area (348 m(2) g(-1)). The pore walls are composed of amorphous carbon and anatase nanoparticles of size 4.2 nm, which are well dispersed and confined. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS), and UV/Vis absorption results indicate doping of carbon into the anatase lattice and a change in the bandgap of the semiconductor. The synergistic improvement in the composite catalyst can be attributed to the following features: (1) carbon doping of the anatase lattice modifies its bandgap and enhances its activity under visible light; (2) confinement within carbon pore walls prevents aggregation of tiny anatase nanoparticles, improving their activity and stability; (3) the mesopores provide a confined space for photocatalysis; and (4) the strong adsorption ability of porous carbon for organic substances ensures that large quantities can be processed and inhibits further diffusion of the adsorbed organic substances, thereby enhancing the mineralization on anatase.


In this study, a musculoskeletal robot is used as a tool to investigate how animals control their complex body. Sprinting is a challenging task that requires maximizing the potential resources of a musculoskeletal structure. Our approach to robotic sprinting is the Athlete Robot — a musculoskeletal robot with elastic blade feet controlled by feedforward motor command. We use a catapult launcher to provide a stable start to a sprint, and then examine the relation between the initial velocity imparted by the launcher and the change in orientation of the robot. We also investigate the influence of the change in elasticity of the blade foot. The results show that acceleration causes anterior inclination after the first step. The elasticity of the foot dominates the duration of the support phase. The musculoskeletal system of the Athlete Robot is modified to suit catapulted running. Based on the results from real robot experiments, we can provide a consistent propelling force using the catapult launcher. We demonstrate the Athlete Robot running for five steps after a catapult launch, using only feedforward command.


Background The use of shear wave elastography (SWE) seems to be an important imaging method in the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis (PF). Purpose To compare patients diagnosed with PF with similar and young healthy control groups in terms of B-mode ultrasound (US) and SWE results and to evaluate the elasticity of the plantar fascia. Material and Methods A total of 140 feet of 70 participants were evaluated, including 30 patients and 40 healthy individuals as the control. Clinical, B-mode US, and SWE evaluations were performed for each patient. In addition, American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Score (AOFAS) was calculated to evaluate pain and foot function in both groups. Results Of the patients in the PF group, 40 (88%) were women and the healthy control groups had similar sex distributions (P = 0.23). The AOFAS score was lower in feet with PF compared to the other groups (P < 0.001). Of 30 patients with PF, 15 (50%) had bilateral PF and 15 (50%) unilateral PF. In addition, ≥4 mm thickness measurement, which was used as a diagnostic criterion for PF as a US finding, could be shown in 11 (73.3%) patients with unilateral PF and 6 (40%) patients with bilateral PF. Conclusion In conclusion, the evaluation of the diagnosis of PF with clinical findings and regular follow-up of measurements with SWE can provide measurement results with higher sensitivity in the diagnosis of PF.