This thesis examines Nietzsche's philosophy as a response to Kant. I show that Kant, as interpreted by Nietzsche, dissociates epistemology and metaphysics. According to Nietzsche, the consequence of this dissociation is the collapse of Kant's transcendental epistemology into a sceptical idealism, which disables the making of positive metaphysical claims about the nature of reality. I argue that Nietzsche overcomes the dissociation of epistemology and metaphysics by rejecting Kant's distinction between constitutive, empirical knowledge and regulative, metaphysical belief. Furthermore, I show that Nietzsche rejects, what he considers to be, Kant's formalistic constitutive epistemology in favour of a regulative and interest-directed account of knowledge. I argue that Nietzsche adopts an internal realist epistemology that stipulates that our epistemic claims must be justified from within our perspectival practices of justification but that such claims must be subject to a realist constraint. Moreover, I propose that Nietzsche is justified, from within these epistemic parameters, in putting forward metaphysical claims about the nature of reality. The thesis is structured in four chapters. Chapter one examines Nietzsche's appropriation of Kant. Chapter two takes up the issue of Nietzsche's perspectivism in the context of his concerns with the issues of justification and truth. The penultimate chapter examines the emergence ofNietzsche's internal realism in his early writings. Finally, chapter four examines Nietzsche's will to power thesis where I contend that the metaphysics of the will to power is both facilitated by and compatible with his perspectivism.


This article reviews ethically relevant history of tuberculosis and recent developments regarding extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). It argues that tuberculosis is one of the most important neglected topics in bioethics. With an emphasis on XDR-TB, it examines a range of the more challenging ethical issues associated with tuberculosis: individual obligations to avoid infecting others, coercive social distancing measures, third-party notification, health workers' duty to treat contagious patients, and international justice. In each of these cases, key philosophical questions are highlighted and the need for empirical research/information is demonstrated.


The goal of nutritional care for the CF patient should be to support normal growth and development, even if the patient has pancreatic insufficiency. By optimizing nutritional habits, using potent pancreatic enzyme supplements effectively and treating patients with appropriate micronutrient supplements, physicians should be able to prevent malnutrition and enhance the general health of cystic fibrosis patients.


The objective of this research is to investigate the influence of Sugar Cane Juice (SCJ) on the setting times of various cement pastes. Sugar Cane Juice is incorporated with four different types of cement brands commonly found in Nigeria. The test results revealed that under normal curing conditions (Temperature=22 0 C) and Relative Humidity = 60%), the efficiency of SCJ in retarding all four types of cement setting increases with increasing SCJ content. For three out of the four brands of cement, the initial setting times remained constant between 0 and 5%., After 5% SCJ content, the initial setting time increased as the SCJ content was increased. For the EAGLE cement brand, the initial setting and final setting times, remained constant between 0 and 3% SCJ content. The final setting times for the UNICEM, IBETO and EAGLE cement remained constant at between 0 and 5% SCJ content. Thereafter, the final setting time increased as the SCJ content increased. The final setting time for the DANGOTE cement experienced an increase immediately after the 0% SCJ content. Keywords: sugar cane juice, setting time, cement paste


Comparison of student test scores between states, school districts, and even schools continues to be a popular measure of student achievement. However, these comparisons reveal little about the quality or effectiveness of educational programs, only the varying difficulty of educating different populations of students. This report uses U.S. Census data and information on Pennsylvania school districts to explain differences in the difficulty of the educational task. Demographic data on adult high school graduation rates, single-parent homes, and poverty levels can indicate the difficulty of educating students. Data indicate that as the percentage of children living in poverty in single-parent households with parents who did not graduate from high school increases, academic performance decreases. This analysis indicates that all three census variables affect student performance, and i; any one were eliminated, performance could be expected to increase. Similarly, National Assessment of Educational Progress data from 42 states, when compared with census data, showed correlations between demographic characteristics and student performance. Changes should be made in how student test scores are compared and interpreted to provide a truer picture of student performance. (JPT) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************


Purpose The purpose of this study is to perform a retrospective analysis of disease outcomes and mutational profiles in patients with adult T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL). Patients and Methods A total of 43 patients were treated over a 9-year period at a single institution. The study examined treatment outcomes, clinical characteristics, and the use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and mutational profiling for patient diagnosis. Results The estimated overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) time for all patients was 37.0 (95% CI: 17.7–56.2) and 28.1 (95% CI: 0.9–55.4) months, respectively. Chidamide maintenance was used in five patients exhibiting unfavorable genetic alterations, with no evidence of relapse. Next-generation sequencing of pretreatment tumor tissue was undertaken for 15 patients. NOTCH1 mutations were the most frequent genetic alterations, followed by mutations in PHF6, TP53, JAK1, JAK3, PTEN, and DNM2. The genetic profile of the blood was similar to that of the tumor. Kappa coefficient analysis (14 patients, 56 time points, kappa = 1.0, p = 0.00) indicated a 92.6% agreement between ctDNA response and tumor volume measurements at post treatment when compared with baseline. Detection of ctDNA predicted disease relapse in two patients. Conclusion The prognosis of patients with adult T-LBL remains very poor. Detection of tumor-associated sequences in ctDNA may be an effective method for diagnosing T-LBL and measuring treatment efficacy. Incorporation of new drugs such as histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi)has the potential to improve outcomes in these patients.


Network slicing is a critical driver for guaranteeing the diverse service level agreements (SLA) in 5G and future networks. Recently, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has been widely utmzed for resource allocation in network slicing. However, existing related works do not consider the performance loss associated with the initial exploration phase of DRL. This paper proposes a new performance-guaranteed slicing strategy with a soft and hard hybrid slicing setting. Mainly, a common slice setting is applied to guarantee slices' SLA when training the neural network. Moreover, the resource of the common slice tends to precisely redistribute to slices with the training of DRL until it converges. Furthermore, experiment results confirm the effectiveness of our proposed slicing framework: the slices' SLA of the training phase can be guaranteed, and the proposed algorithm can achieve the near-optimal performance in terms of the SLA satisfaction ratio, isolation degree and spectrum efficiency after convergence.


Background In 2009 the declaration by the World Health Organization of a global pandemic of influenza-H1N1 virus led to a vaccination campaign to ensure protection for immunocompromised patients. The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of the 2009 H1N1 vaccine in patients with hematologic malignancies. Design and Methods We evaluated humoral and cellular immune responses to 2009 H1N1 vaccine in 97 adults with hematologic malignancies and compared these responses with those in 25 adult controls. Patients received two injections of vaccine 21 days apart and the controls received one dose. Antibody titers were measured using a hemagglutination-inhibition assay on days 0, 21 and 49 after injection of the first dose. Cellular immune responses to H1N1 were determined on days 0 and 49. Results By day 21 post-vaccination, protective antibody titers of 1:32 or more were seen in 100% of controls compared to 39% of patients with B-cell malignancies (P<0.001), 46% of allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients (P<0.001) and 85% of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (P=0.086). After a second dose, seroprotection rates increased to 68%, (P=0.008), 73%, (P=0.031), and 95% (P=0.5) in patients with B-cell malignancies, after allogeneic stem cell transplantation and with chronic myeloid leukemia, respectively. On the other hand, T-cell responses to H1N1 vaccine were not significantly different between patients and controls. Conclusions These data demonstrate the efficacy of H1N1 vaccine in most patients with hematologic malignancies and support the recommendation for the administration of two doses of vaccine in immunocompromised patients. These results may contribute towards the development of evidence-based guidelines for influenza vaccination in such patients in the future.


With class-A operation, loaded-plate-circuit Q does not affect plate efficiency. With extreme class-C operation, Q has a considerable effect. A Q of 50 is required to keep loss in efficiency below 3 per cent. To obtain full benefit from the tank capacitor it must be connected directly from plate to cathode. Connecting the plate or cathode to a tap on the plate inductance results in lowered efficiency.


Short circuit current (Isc) depends on the effective irradiance incident upon a PV module. Effective irradiance is highly correlated with broadband irradiance, but can vary slightly as the spectral content of the incident light changes. We explore using a few spectral wavelengths with broadband irradiance to predict Isc for ten modules of varying technologies (silicon, CIGS, CdTe). The goal is to identify a few spectral wavelengths that could be easily (and economically) measured to improve PV performance modeling.


The China Food and Drug Administration approved the use of capecitabine in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in 2004. This paper reviews the available information of capecitabine in Chinese patients with mCRC, focusing on its effectiveness and safety against mCRC. Identification of all eligible studies was made by searching the PubMed and Wanfang database from 2000 to 2013. Published data examining various aspects of clinical response and tolerability with capecitabine alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutic or biological agents for first- and second-line mCRC were examined. Capecitabine and its combination displayed high efficacy in Chinese patients with mCRC. Toxicities are generally manageable, and elderly patients can tolerate capecitabine well.


Abstract Sediment cores collected along a transect in Crooked Pond, southeastern Massachusetts, provide evidence of water-level changes between 15,000 cal yr B.P. and present. The extent of fine-grained, detrital, organic accumulation in the basin, inferred from sediment and pollen stratigraphies, varied over time and indicates low water levels between 11,200 and 8000 cal yr B.P. and from ca. 5300 to 3200 cal yr B.P. This history is consistent with the paleohydrology records from nearby Makepeace Cedar Swamp and other sites from New England and eastern Canada and with temporal patterns of regional changes in effective soil moisture inferred from pollen data. The similarities among these records indicate that (1) regional conditions were drier than today when white pine (Pinus strobus) grew abundantly in southern New England (11,200 to 9500 cal yr B.P.); (2) higher moisture levels existed between 8000 and 5500 cal yr B.P., possibly caused by increased meridonal circulation as the influence of the Laurentide ice sheet waned; and (3) drier conditions possibly contributed to the regional decline in hemlock (Tsuga) abundances at 5300 cal yr B.P. Although sea-level rise may have been an influence, moist climatic conditions during the late Holocene were the primary reason for a dramatic rise in water-table elevations.


The Drosophila homeotic gene Ultrabithorax (Ubx) is regulated by complex mechanisms that specify the spatial domain, the timing and the activity of the gene in individual tissues and in individual cells. In early embryonic development, Ubx expression is controlled by segmentation genes turned on earlier in the developmental hierarchy. Correct Ubx expression depends on multiple regulatory sequences located outside the basal promoter. Here we report that a 500 bp DNA fragment from the bx region of the Ubx unit, approximately 30 kb away from the promoter, contains one of the distant regulatory elements (bx region enhancer, BRE). During early embryogenesis, this enhancer element activates the Ubx promoter in parasegments (PS) 6, 8, 10, and 12 and represses it in the anterior half of the embryo. The repressor of the anterior Ubx expression is the gap gene hunchback (hb). We show that the hb protein binds to the BRE element and that such binding is essential for hb repression in vivo, hb protein also binds to DNA fragments from abx and bxd, two other regulatory regions of the Ubx gene. We conclude that hb represses Ubx expression directly by binding to BRE and probably other Ubx regulatory elements. In addition, the BRE pattern requires input from other segmentation genes, among them tailless and fushi tarazu but not Krüppel and knirps.


This thesis studies the relationship between the economic growth and the unemployment rate in Albania. This relation is known as Okun's law, which states that 1 percent decrease in unemployment; GDP will increase by 3 percent. Albania is one of the countries that have a sluggish development and impact of unemployment is negative in the economy of the country. At the same time the economy itself effect the employment of the people. The unemployment occurs when people are without work or seeking work. During recession there is a high unemployment rate. Even some peaks of the development like in the Total Factor Productivity, integration or infrastructure there have been recession and a bad time for the Albania too. This affected the investments, the business and by lowering their profits they are obligated to lay off employees. So the unemployment rate starts to rise up. This study takes in consideration the years from 2000 to 2013 when the unemployment was rising day by day with negative impact in the economy. This thesis introduces the general relationship between gross domestic product and unemployment. The methodology used a simple regression and takes the economic growth as dependent variable and the unemployment rate as independent. The observed result didn't explain the Okun's law for Albania. The main reason is the current crises that prevent the improvement of economic conditions.


This paper considers the efficiency of trans-dimensional (trans-D) Bayesian inversion based on reversible-jump Markov-chain Monte Carlo (rjMCMC) sampling, with application to geophysical inverse problems for a depth-dependent earth or seabed model of an unknown number of layers (seabed acoustic reflectivity inversion is the specific example). Trans-D inversion is applied to sample the posterior probability density over geoacoustic/geophysical parameters for a variable number of layers, providing profile estimates with uncertainties that include the uncertainty in the model parameterization. However, the approach is computationally intensive. The efficiency of rjMCMC sampling is largely determined by the proposal schemes which are applied to generate perturbed values for existing parameters and new values for parameters assigned to layers added to the model. Several proposal schemes are considered here, some of which appear new for trans-D geophysical inversion. Perturbations of existing parameters are considered in a principal-component space based on an eigen-decomposition of the unit-lag parameter covariance matrix (computed from successive models along the Markov chain, a diminishing adaptation). The relative efficiency of proposing new parameters from the prior versus a Gaussian distribution focused near existing values is examined. Parallel tempering, which employs a sequence of interacting Markov chains in which the likelihood function is successively relaxed, is also considered as a means to increase the acceptance rate of new layers. The relative efficiency of various proposal schemes is compared through repeated inversions with a pragmatic convergence criterion.


This paper focuses on the postconsolidation governance challenges in
the Nigerian Banking Industry. It explores the basis for good governance
and how the boards of banks can be more effective, bearing in mind that
the relationships between the board and management on the one hand, and
between the board and shareholders on the other, are at the heart of the
corporate governance triangle. NESG Economic Indicators Vol. 12 (2) 2006: pp. 47-53


Community radio as an alternative public sphere for minorities has emerged apart from mainstream media and formal public spheres. In particular, its ethos of understanding community participation as a key component of operating a station highlights its potential to empower community members as active social agents. This study examines the social consequences of an ethnic migrant community radio station, Map radio FM 99, to explore its role for the Shan migrant community in Chiang Mai, Thailand. To do so, field work was conducted for 7 weeks between December 2015 and January 2016, with data collected from semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and relevant documents. Employing a qualitative approach, this study found that participation in community radio helps participants to be socially active in Thai society by maximising their participation in the social sphere through the use of media. This study concludes that participation in Map radio enables participants to adapt to Thai society by providing and obtaining information necessary for their lives and contributed to the formation of a collective identity as ethnic migrant workers, creating community cohesion. Nonetheless, lack of political efficacy of this alternative public sphere might partly prevent social participation of community members in Thailand. (Less)


A tRNA-like sequence conserved in the genomes of all Escherichia coli strains was found. The sequence resembles arginine-tRNA, which is present in E. coli pathogenic islands and phages. Expression experiments revealed that this sequence is a part of a leaderless mRNA encoding a short peptide (60 amino acids: XtpA). A deletion mutant of this gene is more sensitive than wild-type cell to several aminoglycoside antibiotics at low concentrations. Further analyses indicated that XtpA positively regulates the expression of GcvB small RNA, which is involved in the intrinsic resistance to aminoblycosides in E. coli.


Transcendental communication in general is communication that occurs between man and God or spiritual communication of religion. The communication is based on religious values. Muslims can do spiritual communication through inner practices, such as prayer, dhikr, and other prayers. Communication of transcendental in worship can be likened to that of the Lord as a recipient of the message (communicant), being the perpetrator acted as the sender of the message (the communicator), source (source) is of the perpetrators or the events experienced, the medium (channel) is prayer or our prayer, (effect) is the peace of mind that we will get or symbols and other signs that a god-send to us. The transcendental form of communication contained in worship is verbally viewed from the perspective of semiotics: to carry out communication with someone important ones must use manners especially with the Almighty to be with ethics an excellent one to interpret the signs were there in the prayer from motion until reading the prayer itself.


Microcystins cause acute hepatotoxicity and chronic liver tumor promotion. This study presents the results of HPLC DAD analyses and their LC-MS confirmation of samples from five Bulgarian water bodies (reservoirs Stoudena, Pchelina, Bistritsa and lakes Dourankoulak, Vaya). The total concentration of microcystins in water samples ranged from 0.1 to 26.5 μg/l. The amount of microcystins in the biomasses ranged from 11.4 to 49.6 μg/g (d.w.). The high percent of positive samples in which the most toxic microcystin-LR is recorded, can serve as a strong alarm for the necessity of a serious study and relevant discussion of the problem with responsible authorities at national level.


A 47-year-old, previously healthy farmer from Grafton, N.S.W. in Australia, developed loin pain and hematuria 2 months after minor trauma to his loin. A renal cyst was found by ultrasound and arteriography. At operation, a thick-walled cyst containing 800 ml of clotted blood was excised together with a small wedge of kidney. Ring-like structures measuring 70 X 45 mu were found in the fibrous cyst wall and in the surrounding fat. These birefringent double-walled "rings" with equally spaced radial striations were identified as the eggs of Dioctophyma renale.


Weibull distribution plays a very important role in reliability engineering. The parameter estimation of its three parameters is very difficult to solve. In this paper, we have briefly discussed this problem and proposed a new approach, i.e. the correlation coefficient optimization method based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm, and the feasibility and effectiveness of this method was demonstrated by two examples.


Although photocatalysis is one of the most promising technologies for environmental and energy issues, the irreconcilable contradiction between the absorption of the visible light and the strong redox capability of the photocatalyst and the low photocatalytic reaction kinetics result in the poor efficiency. Here, a composite photocatalyst is reported with high redox capability and accelerated reaction kinetics synergistically utilizing 2D semiconducting structural advantages and the noble-metal-free Schottky junction effect. The 2D structure can not only increase the bandgap of the photocatalyst but also improve the transfer and separation of the photogenerated charge carriers. Furthermore, the introduction of the noble-metal-free Schottky junction effect accelerates the photocatalytic reaction kinetics. The Schottky barrier can also prevent the photogenerated charges trapped by the electron acceptor from flowing back to the semiconductor, which can further boost the photocatalytic performance. The transfer process of the photogenerated charge carriers is also researched in detail by the comprehensive characterization methods, which enable the photocatalytic mechanism to be revealed.


The abundant amount of coal reserves in Indonesia has a great potential to be used as a source of raw materials and energy for industry. However, the use of coal in meeting domestic needs is not optimally utilized, as indicated by the high number of raw coal exports abroad. In addition, the low quality of coal is also one of the reasons for its low utilization. The processing of coal into synthetic gas (syngas) opens the way downstream of coal-derived chemical products, namely dimethyl ether (DME), methanol, ammonia and synthetic natural gas (SNG). The integration of various chemical products is expected to maximize the potential of Indonesian coal. The plant capacity was 11540 tpd (tons per day) low-rank wet coal producing DME 2000 tpd, methanol 2500 tpd, ammonia 600 tpd and SNG 25 MMSCFD (million standard cubic feet per day). These chemical production technologies have been proven and are commercially available. Based on the results of the process and economic simulations, it is found that the establishment of a coal gasification plant into various integrated chemicals is feasible to be established with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 12.46% and a payback period of 6 years and 5 months.


Polyvalence (gr. poly multi, nlat. valentia value - multivalued, ambiguous, multipurpose) is a term that has a wide range of uses in science and art. Polyvalence usually implies different ways (regimes) of using the same space, i.e., the adaptability of space to different human needs, with minimal physical modifications. It is a common opinion in science that the term polyvalence in residential architecture primarily refers to the level of an entire apartment or house, i.e., to the possibility of reorganizing the internal structure (conversion of the premises), which can be seen as a broader interpretation of the term. On the other hand, there is a narrower interpretation which refers to the polyvalence of a part of an apartment, to a particular space or room, i.e., to the possibility of overlapping housing functions at different times in the same space, a so-called open plan. The research considers the concepts of spatial organization in polyvalent residential spaces with an open plan. The scientific analysis of reference sources, the interpretation and analysis of characteristic examples, and the deductive method, were used to investigate polyvalent open-plan living spaces, with the aim of ascertaining their most important characteristics and the principles of their spatial organization.


The purpose of this paper is to address the school insertion on autism through various school experiences reported in autobiographies written by autistic. The study is theoretical and based on the analysis of 14 books written by autistic. Discusses the criticism that perform these in relation to the impermeability of the autism field experts to know that people with autism have about themselves, noting the importance of studying the guidelines provided by autistic own these autobiographies for more effective school inclusion of autistic.


The disintegrin echistatin inhibits ligand occupancy of the (α)V(β)3 integrin and reduces Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) stimulated migration, DNA synthesis, and receptor autophosphorylation in smooth muscle cells. This suggests that ligand occupancy of the (α)V(β)3 receptor is required for full activation of the IGF-I receptor. Transfection of the full-length (β)3 subunit into CHO cells that have no endogenous (β)3 and do not migrate in response to IGF-I was sufficient for IGF-I to stimulate migration of these anchorage dependent cells. In contrast, transfection of either of two truncated mutant forms of (β)3 (terminating at W(715) or E(731)) or a mutant with substitutions for Tyr(747) Tyr(759) (YY) into either CHO or into porcine smooth muscle cells did not restore the capacity of these cells to migrate across a surface in response to IGF-I. This effect was not due to loss of IGF-I receptor autophosphorylation since the response of the receptor to IGF-I was similar in cells expressing either the full-length or any of the mutant forms of the (β)3 subunit. Echistatin reduced IGF-I receptor phosphorylation in cells expressing the full-length or the YY mutant forms of (β)3 subunit, but it had no effect in cells expressing either of two truncated forms of (β)3. A cell-permeable peptide homologous to the C-terminal region of the (β)3 subunit (amino acids 747–762) reduced IGF-I stimulated migration and receptor autophosphorylation of non-transfected porcine smooth muscle cells. These results demonstrate that the full-length (β)3 with intact tyrosines at positions 747 and 759 is required for CHO cells to migrate in response to IGF-I. Furthermore, a region of critical amino acids between residues 742–762 is required for echistatin to induce its regulatory effect on receptor phosphorylation. Since the IGF-I receptor does not bind to (α)V(β)3 the results suggest that specific but distinct regions of the (β)3 subunit interact with intermediary proteins to facilitate IGF-I stimulated cell migration and echistatin induced inhibition of IGF-I signal transduction.


Background/Aims We investigated the efficacy of prophylactic pancreatic stent placement for preventing postprocedure pancreatitis in patients undergoing endoscopic papillectomy. Methods This retrospective study included 82 consecutive patients who underwent endoscopic papillectomy for benign ampullary neoplasm at Samsung Medical Center between August 2002 and June 2011. The patients were subdivided into two groups, namely, those who received prophylactic pancreatic stent placement and those who did not. Patient demographics, baseline blood test, tumor characteristics, and endoscopic treatment data were collected. The primary endpoint was postprocedure pancreatitis. Results There was no difference in the development of postprocedure pancreatitis between the stent group and the no stent group (6/54, 10.5% and 2/28, 7.14%, respectively; p=1.00). At baseline, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of their risk factors for pancreatitis except pancreatic duct dye injection. The stent group was more likely to have dye injection than the nonstent group (100% vs 42.8%, p<0.001). However, in a logistic regression analysis, no significant difference was observed in the risk factors for pancreatitis including dye injection. Conclusions Our data suggest that routine prophylactic pancreatic duct stent placement in all patients undergoing endoscopic papillectomy may not be necessary and that large-scale prospective studies are required to identify the subgroup of patients who would benefit.


Candida species are among important opportunistic pathogens causing candidiasis in human worldwide. These yeast species are of public health concern nowadays. The study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of candidiasis among single and married women. Clean catch midstream urine were collected from the enrolled subjects, the samples were inoculated onto Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and incubated at 37oC for 48h. Gram's staining technique, germ tube test and KOH test were the techniques performed on purity plate before subculture on to Chromogenic agar for phenotypic speciation. Out of the 204 samples analysed, a prevalence of 75% was obtained. Four different Candida species were isolated; Candida albicans 52(69.33%), Candida galabrata 8(10.8%), Candida krusei 11(14.6%), and Candida tropicalis 4(5.33%). Based on the results obtained, married women were more prone to the disease 49(65.3%) with singles having 26(34.7%). According to age groups, 21-30 had highest infection rate 34(45.3%) compared to other groups. Out of the four Candida species, C. albican were more isolated 52(69.3%) while C. tropicalis had the least 4(5.33%). It is therefore important to give opportunistic pathogens like Candida species attention in women especially among married ones.


Recent research has established the possibility of deducing soft-biometric attributes such as age, gender and race from an individual's face image with high accuracy. Many techniques have been proposed to ensure user privacy, such as visible distortions to the images, manipulation of the original image with new face attributes, face swapping etc. Though these techniques achieve the goal of user privacy by fooling face recognition models, they don't help the user when they want to upload original images without visible distortions or manipulation. The objective of this work is to implement techniques to ensure the privacy of user's sensitive or personal data in face images by creating minimum pixel level distortions using white-box and black-box perturbation algorithms to fool AI models while maintaining the integrity of the image, so as to appear the same to a human eye.


Abstract Mediation analysis has been used in many disciplines to explain the mechanism or process that underlies an observed relationship between an exposure variable and an outcome variable via the inclusion of mediators. Decompositions of the total effect (TE) of an exposure variable into effects characterizing mediation pathways and interactions have gained an increasing amount of interest in the last decade. In this work, we develop decompositions for scenarios where two mediators are causally sequential or non-sequential. Current developments in this area have primarily focused on either decompositions without interaction components or with interactions but assuming no causally sequential order between the mediators. We propose a new concept called natural mediated interaction (MI) effect that captures the two-way and three-way interactions for both scenarios and extends the two-way MIs in the literature. We develop a unified approach for decomposing the TE into the effects that are due to mediation only, interaction only, both mediation and interaction, neither mediation nor interaction within the counterfactual framework. Finally, we compare our proposed decomposition to an existing method in a non-sequential two-mediator scenario using simulated data, and illustrate the proposed decomposition for a sequential two-mediator scenario using a real data analysis.


This work presents an energy/exergy analysis to investige performance of thermal storage unit which loaded with a commercial phase change material (Plus ICE H190). The influence of fluid parameters on the energy/exergy effectiveness was examined. The temporal changes of the energy and exergy rate and performace of the storage unit are obtained  in the results. Latent heat principle is considered an efficient method to gain a higher effectiveness of system from an energy and exergy aspects. The fluid mass flow rate during charging and discharging periods were 2.50 kg/min and 1.26 kg/min, respectively. The results showed a significant increase of thermal resistance on the thermal storage unit performance. Fluid and phase change material show significant temperature difference on the rate of energy/exergy quantites and the time of melting or soldification. Ther results indicated that the average rate of energy and exergy were 1.3 kW and 0.54 kW, respectively. Wheras, energy and exergy  average rate during discarging periods were 1.1 kW and 0.31 kW, respectively. Also, the global rate during the experimetal periods were about 84% and 54%, respectively. Article History : Received July 6 th 2017; Received in revised form September 15 th 2017; Accepted 25 th Sept 2017; Available online How to Cite This Article : Olimat, A.N., Awad, A.S., Al-Gathain, F.M., and Shaban, N.A.. (2017) Performance of Loaded Thermal Storage Unit With A Commercial Phase Change Materials Based on Energy and Exergy Analysis. International Journal of Renewable Energy Develeopment, 6(3),283-290. https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.3.283-290


Through a systematic investigation—the first attempt of this kind—into the recently released 2016 Australian census data, this article presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the religious identity of the Chinese Community in contemporary Australia. Based on the empirical information derived from the census, this article details and interrogates the apparent high level of secularity among the Chinese community in Australia. It also demonstrates that, whilst Christianity is the most popular religion within the Chinese community, the proportion of people who claim to be Christian is significantly lower in the Chinese community as compared to Australia's general population. Furthermore, the proportion of believers in Buddhism, Ancestor Veneration, Confucianism, and Taoism within the Chinese community is significantly higher than the same proportion found within Australia's general population. It is also shown that even when using different definitions to demarcate the Chinese community, those being self-reported ancestry, languages spoken at home, or the birthplaces of parents, the religious profile of the community remains relatively stable. However, a further breakdown into ancestral, geographical, and linguistic groups reveals some noteworthy differences.


The paper analyzes the philosophical views of V.V. Lesevich, one of the most prominent representatives of positivism in Russia. The evolution of the views from the first positivism to empiriocriticism is considered.


The objective of this research, brand communications of  Advertising and Marketing Communication Department,  Faculty of Management Science,  Suan Sunandha Ratjabhat University was to analyze and study brand communications plan of Advertising and Marketing Communication Department,  Faculty of Management Science,  Suan Sunandha Ratjabhat University. This research is a qualitative research by using in-depth interview with 2 lecturers and 5 students representative of Advertising and Marketing Communications Department,  Suan Sunandha Ratjabhat University. The research data  were collected between April 1 - 30, 2016. The results of the study showed that : Advertising and Marketing Communication Department did not have concrete brand communications plan or management system however brand communications plan from time to time and under strategies of Faculty of Management Science. Important marketing communication tools for brand communications are public relations and publicity, point of purchase, word of mouth marketing, personal selling, events and experiences.


One of the celebrated results of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) is the discreteness of the spectrum of geometrical operators such as length, area and volume operators. This is an indication that Planck scale geometry in LQG is discontinuous rather than smooth. However, there is no rigorous proof thereof at present, because the afore mentioned operators are not gauge invariant, they do not commute with the quantum constraints. The relational formalism in the incarnation of Rovelli's partial and complete observables provides a possible mechanism for turning a non gauge invariant operator into a gauge invariant one. In this paper we investigate whether the spectrum of such a physical, that is gauge invariant, observable can be predicted from the spectrum of the corresponding gauge variant observables. We will not do this in full LQG but rather consider much simpler examples where field theoretical complications are absent. We find, even in those simpler cases, that kinematical discreteness of the spectrum does not necessarily survive at the gauge invariant level. Whether or not this happens depends crucially on how the gauge invariant completion is performed. This indicates that "fundamental discreteness at Planck scale in LQG" is far from established. To prove it, one must provide the detailed construction of gauge invariant versions of geometrical operators.


The Eye in Infancy , first published in 1988, has become the primary ophthalmology text for neonatal practitioners. As the first systematic reference concerning the eye from prenatal development through infancy, this reference book filled a need of pediatricians, neonatologists, and geneticists as well as ophthalmologists for a broad-based, well-referenced resource. The rapidly increasing body of knowledge in this area has required a second edition within the relatively short span of 6 years. All the chapters have been revised, but the majority of the new material for this edition is in three areas: the development of vision and vision testing, retinopathy of prematurity, and molecular genetics. A new section that includes four new chapters on vision, including preferential looking and visually evoked potential acuity measurements, has been written. Contributors are among the most authoritative experts in this field, including Drs Dobson, Tychsen, and Norcia. Clinical applications of vision testing and the


This paper is aimed to explore and compare disclosure on corporate governance mechanisms in the annual reports of commercial banks for two emerging countries: Romania and Malaysia. There were selected 34 banks situated in Romania and Malaysia, in order to highlight the influence of culture and the impact of the size, profitability on corporate governance disclosure practices. Another objective is to determine the quality of the web sites of these banks and their ability to support the access to corporate governance elements. It is found that Malaysian banks provide more corporate governance information than Romanian banks, the quality of web sites being higher in case of Romanian banks. The conducted study highlights the tendency of more profitable banks to disclose more information on corporate governance than less profitable financial institutions, while the size of the banks does not appear to influence the value of the corporate governance disclosure index.


Based on previous three-step high-speed VLSI architecture for LFSR structures, this paper proposes an improved three-step LFSR architecture with both higher hardware efficiency and speed. Generator polynomials for the first and third steps are constructed with iterative small length polynomials, which can in turn be easily handled by proposed look-ahead pipelining algorithm. A new scheme is also proposed for cutting down the iteration bound of the LFSR structure in the second step. This architecture can be applied to any LFSR structure for high-speed parallel implementation. For example, for the parallel BCH (8191, 7684) encoder with different unfolding factors J from 8 to 32, the proposed design can achieve speedup of 2.83% to 15.78% and XOR gates savings of 9.67% to 26.28%.


Despite increased academic attention paid to migration flows in Europe, the gendered nature
of transnational migrant entrepreneurial journeys within the family business context remains
under-researched. We address this gap by investigating how transnational spaces enable
women to challenge the dominant ideas about their roles, and claim legitimacy by developing
branches of their family business abroad. Reporting extensive longitudinal evidence collected
over a seven-year period, we showcase four biographical narratives of women operating
transnational family businesses in the UK, which originated in Eastern Europe. Adopting this
novel longitudinal approach, we provide insights into how these transnational migrant women
entrepreneurs exercise individual agency to overcome structural constraints by developing
strategies which prioritize their own business aspirations without fully sacrificing their family
ties.


Although the latest trials (DESTINY, DESTINY II, HAMLET, DECIMAL) have provided evidence that
decompressive hemicraniectomy in malignant MCA infarction (MMI) can improve survival rates and neurological
outcomes, the decision for or against the procedure remains challenging in respect of the inclusion and exclusion
criteria, such as the definition of MMI, severity of symptoms at stroke onset and neuroimaging findings.
This report focuses on a young patient who suffered an MMI of the right hemisphere. Because of a rapid
deterioration in the clinical symptoms, we decided to perform an early decompressive hemicraniectomy after 24h.
The patient survived without any complications, and with a favourable outcome (mRS 1).
The case shows that young patients in particular can have a remarkable potential for full recovery after an MMI,
and that the benefits of surgery outweigh the risks, provided that 1) the hemicraniectomy is performed promptly
(after careful consideration of whether brain swelling might occur soon after MMI), and 2) the elective brain territories
have not yet been affected.


Prednicarbate is a new potent corticoid without halogenic groups which has been developed for topical application. During one week's application of 0.25% prednicarbate ointment (W/O Emulsion) two times daily in an ordinary dose, there could not be proved any significant suppression of the basal production of plasma cortisol in patients suffering from extensive dermatoses (such as psoriasis vulgaris or atopic dermatitis). After the end of treatment, investigation on the reservoir within the adrenal cortex by means of ACTH short test showed sufficient stimulation capacity of the adrenal gland in all patients examined.


A proposal to modify the Cornell 12 GeV electron synchrotron facility to produce colliding beams of electrons and positrons was submitted to the National Science Foundation in May 1975. Subsequently, approval for design and prototype work was given and funding for the oroject is beinq requested by the NSF. Our goal is to complete this facility modification by October 1979. The status of the design and prototype work is described in this presentation.


This note deals with the identification of a mobile robot with differential drive. The robot system is modeled by two MISO Hammer stein systems with input dead zones. The robot dynamic model is based on the traveled distance increment instead of the robot coordinates, making the model linear and allowing the application of classical methods of identification. Both parameters of linear and nonlinear blocks are estimated simultaneously through application of recursive least squares. Our main contribution is to use simple identification techniques to recursively estimate the linear and non-linear parameters of the robot system, that may vary over the time. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated by examples using both simulated and real robot.


Rationale: Factors and outcomes associated with end-of-life decision-making among patients during clinical trials in the intensive care unit are unclear. Objectives: We sought to determine patterns and outcomes of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) decisions among critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) enrolled in a clinical trial. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data from the ARDS Network Fluid and Catheter Treatment Trial (FACTT), collected between 2000 and 2005. We calculated mortality outcomes stratified by code status, and compared baseline characteristics of patients who became DNR during the trial with participants who remained full code. Measurements and Main Results: Among 809 FACTT participants with a code status recorded, 232 (28.7%) elected DNR status. Specifically, 37 (15.9%) chose to withhold cardiopulmonary resuscitation alone, 44 (19.0%) elected to withhold some life support measures in addition to cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and 151 (65.1%) had life support withdrawn. Admission severity of illness as measured by APACHE III score was strongly associated with election of DNR status (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.85–2.62; P, 0.0001). Almost all (97.0%; 225 of 232) patients who selected DNR status died, and 79% (225 of 284) of patients who died during the trial were DNR. Among patients who chose DNR status but did not elect withdrawal of life support, 91% (74 of 81) died. Conclusions: The vast majority of deaths among clinical trial patients with ARDS were preceded by a DNR order. Unlike other studies of end-of-life decision-making in the intensive care unit, nearly all patients who became DNR died. The impact of variation of practice in end-of-life decision-making during clinical trials warrants further study.


The LCIA has robust procedures for appointing arbitrators and determining challenges. The LCIA's database of published decisions provides valuable guidance in relation to standards of conduct by the arbitrators, and a greater understanding of the reasoning applied by the LCIA Court.The LCIA Court decisions show that challenges in LCIA cases are rare and are even more rarely successful.


Edible coating can provide effective protection for fresh fruits. In the present paper we use an edible coating based on whey protein concentrate (WPC) and four different levels of rice bran oil (0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 g/100ml) to maintain the quality of kiwifruit (A. deliciosa). We have tested and compared the following postharvest storage quality conditions of coated groups and a control group in four subsequent weeks: weight loss, color parameters (L*, a*, b*), texture changes, titratable acidity, soluble solids content, and sensory attributes. Coating application reduced the weight loss in kiwifruits. Our results indicate also a significant difference in the soluble solids content and a non-significant difference in titratable acidity between the control and coated kiwifruits after 4 weeks of storage at 8°C. Moreover, our results show that kiwifruits coated with whey protein concentrate-based coatings had higher L*, and lower a* than the uncoated kiwifruits. Our coated kiwifruits received higher scores than the control samples in sensory evaluations. Coating reduced texture loss up to 5% with respect to the control samples depending on the rice bran oil contents.

Keywords: Kiwifruit, Edible coating, Whey protein concentrate, Rice bran oil, Shelf-life


Introduction: In the year 2000 it was determined that the median of the urinary iodine concentration (UIE) in primary school children from Calama was 2600 ug/L, a very high level which went down to 487 ugI/L in 2004, after the standards of the Food Sanitary Regulation were scaled down from 100 ppm to 40 ppm in the year 2000. Objective: To search the current iodine nutrition in school children of Calama, 12 years after the change in the legislation. Subjects and methods: 332 primary school children from Municipal School D-48 of the City of Calama were assessed in relation to their prevalence of goiter determined through palpation of the thyroid gland. In 22% of them (72 children), UIE was determined by spectrophotometry. 58 samples of salt for human consumption salt were randomly collected from local shops, school canteens and from the children's homes to determine their iodine concentration through the starch technique. In addition, the school children were measured and weighed to determine the adequacy of their height and Body Mass Index (BMI). Results: An 8.2% prevalence of goiter was found; all were grade 1. The iodine concentration in the salt was 31.4 ± 17.8 in the 58 samples analyzed, the average met the adequate range of the current Food Sanitary Regulation (FSR) of Health Ministry of Chile. Conclusion and comments: A non significant increase in the prevalence of goiter was found, the average of UIE continue being high, possible due to an excessive intake of iodine, nevertheless average iodine concentration in the salt for human consumption is within de recommended range by WHO-UNICEF-ICCIDD (20-40 ppm). These findings prompt to search another sources of iodine intake, as an explanation of the persistent elevation of UIE in these children.


Heat transfer through a semiconductor or dielectric thin film is investigated by using the single relaxation time approximation to the Boltzmann equation. The radiance is expanded in terms of the Laguerre polynomial with time as argument, and the ensuing time-independent equation is solved with the aid of the Galerkin technique. Films of different thicknesses, ranging from 0.01 to 10 mean free paths, have been considered. The results, calculated for different time, ranging from 0.01 to 10 relaxation times, are presented in the forms of the following quantities (in dimensionless units): the temperature (normalized dimensionless internal energy), the heat flux, and the irradiance. Differences between the results obtained by this approach and those found by solving partial differential equations of heat conduction (Fourier's Law and Cattaneo's equation) are noted.


PURPOSE OF THE STUDY. To identify the child behavior and asthma management tasks that parents report as being difficult to manage. STUDY POPULATION. Cross-sectional cohort of 255 parents of children with asthma 2 to 10 years of age. METHODS. Parents completed 5 online multidimensional questionnaires, that is, (1) Family Background Questionnaire , to assess family demographic features and socioeconomic status; (2) Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), to identify children's emotional and behavioral problems; (3) Parenting Scale, a 30-item questionnaire to measure dysfunctional discipline styles such as laxness, overreactivity, and verbosity; (4) Asthma Behavior Checklist (ABC), an instrument developed specifically for the study to assess 22 behaviors that parents with children with asthma often manage (eg, child refuses to take medication to school); and (5) Asthma Parent Tasks Checklist (APTC), an instrument designed for the current study to assess 17 asthma management tasks that parents often manage (eg, identifying child's asthma triggers). Statistical analysis was performed by using 1-way analysis of variance. RESULTS. On the basis of published cutoff values for SDQ-assessed total difficulties, parents rated their children as follows: 20.9% in the clinical range, 13.7% in the borderline range, and 65.5% in the normal range. Children with scores in the abnormal range on the SDQ had higher ABC extent scores than did children with scores in the normal range. Results for parenting and asthma behavior difficulties indicated low levels of dysfunctional parenting; however, a substantial minority (22.7%) of parents were rated in the clinical range. Parents whose total Parenting Scale scores placed them in the clinical range reported more asthma behavior difficulties, compared with those who scored in the nonclinical range. CONCLUSIONS. An appropriate parenting intervention program needs to target behavior management skills, in addition to the application of these behavior management principles to asthma management. The ABC and APTC could be used in addition to parental asthma education to facilitate discussions with parents regarding the management of their child's asthma and to allow health care professionals and parents to focus together on specific action plans. The ABC and APTC also could be used to evaluate the impact of implemented interventions. REVIEWERS COMMENTS. Appropriate parenting interventions targeting basic behavior and asthma management skills and supplying tools for applying these behavior management principles are ideal. The authors recognize the concern of parents in entrusting their children's schools and other caregivers, and research focused in this direction may provide increased confidence for …


Aim: To investigate the effect of paint fumes on the histoarchitecture of the testes. Methodology: In this study, we reported sixteen (16) Wistar rats mainly male of an average weight of 180g. Four groups of four rats each were divided into groups A-D. The treated rats were exposed to paint fumes for 8 hours daily, group A for three weeks, B for four weeks and C for five weeks. Group D animals (control group) were exposed to air for 8 hours for five weeks. On the last day of exposure, animals were euthanized, sacrificed and thoraco-abdominal incision was performed after which one testis was received from each rats, preserved in 10% formal saline and further processed for histological study using Hematoxylin and eosin technique. Results: The testes of the paint fumes exposed group shows necrotic cell death of the germ cells (spermatogonia) and reduced sperm cells in the central lumen. This is an indication of altered spermatogenesis. Conclusion: Paint fumes that contain volatile organic compound cause the necrotic death of testicular germ cells in exposure dependent manner and there were reduced sperm cells in the lumen. This can lead to infertility. Keywords:  histoarchitecture, testes, spermatogonia, infertility


Abstract This article analyses the job satisfaction of primary school teachers in Madagascar. Based on the estimation of multilevel models, low wages and problems getting paid, job insecurity, lack of in-service training, high pupil-teacher ratios, and lack of basic infrastructure and teaching materials are identified as the main reasons for dissatisfaction. Principals' control of teachers' activities also adversely affects satisfaction, suggesting that, in Malagasy schools, neither school directors nor teachers have succeeded in adopting organisational cultures based on cooperation among their members. These results are likely to stimulate debates on educational policy, both in Madagascar and in many other developing countries.


Hearing Impairment is one of the health problems usually caused by age or exposure to loud sound continuously. Based on World Health Organization, around 360 million people worldwide suffer from hearing loss and 32 million of these are children. Failure of the sound signal to reach the brain is the main cause of hearing loss. Hearing impaired often cannot hear soft sound, cannot hear in noise, and cannot hear sound in certain frequency. One of the solution is to wear hearing aids on the impaired ear. However, hearing aids are pretty expensive and some people cannot afford it. Without hearing aids, hearing impaired won't be able to understand daily conversation clearly, thus reduce the individual's ability to communicate with others and their hearing organ will continue to deteriorate. Unaddressed hearing loss also have effect on academic performance of children. Hearing Aids based on smartphone is an inexpensive solution for hearing impairments. Hearing impaired can download the applications in their smartphone so they can use the smartphone as the hearing aids. The application will mimics how ear works by implementing tympanic membrane and basiliar membrane compression. This paper intend to build a hearing aids application on smartphone using algorithm designed to mimic how the human ear works. Application will receive sound input from the microphone and output sound with better quality to the earphone of the hearing impaired. The system have been tested to hearing impaired with different environment (quiet and crowded environment), and they can listen to 79.3% of the given sound. With this satisfying result, we hope that this application will help hearing impaired to hear conversation clearly without the need to buy hearing aids.


Patient therapy is based mainly on a combination of diagnosis, suitable monitoring or support devices and drug treatment and is usually employed for a pre‐existing disease condition. Therapy remains predominantly symptom‐based, although it is increasingly clear that individual treatment is possible and beneficial. However, reasonable precision medicine can only be realized with the coordinated use of diagnostics, devices and drugs in combination with extensive databases (4Ds), an approach that has not yet found sufficient implementation. The practical combination of 4Ds in health care is progressing, but several obstacles still hamper their extended use in precision medicine.


ABSTRACT Background and Aims: Safe drinking water supply is very important for human societies. The goal of this study is the determination of drinking water distribution network existence in microbial quality desirability and its chlorination status in small communities – Case study: Kermanshah province villages. Material and Methods: This method of the study is descriptive and analytical. The required data and information were collected from existing data of health center. The collected samples for microbial quality monitoring of rural drinking water were taken by health center during three-year period, that were 9174 samples. Data analysis was taken by SPSS software by using T-Test and ANOVA. Results: The results showed 79.7% and 84.3% as an average rate of desirability of microbial water quality and residual chlorination status respectively in villages having distribution system and 60.36% and 69.56% in those without distribution system. Conclusion: Assessing of microbial quality of water in all rural areas showed that villages with distribution network have better quality than other villages. So development planning for implementation of water distribution networks are suggested in other rural communities also for improvment of water quality in all rural communities (with and without distribution networks) the water safety plane should be employed. Key words: Microbial quality, Residual chlorine, Rural area, Distribution network, Kermanshah *Corresponding Author: Instructor of environmental health Engineering, Public Health School, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Received: 3 Jul. 2013 Accepted: 15 Sep. 2013


The article is dedicated to the investigation of the research levels and spheres of taboo words, their theoretical and practical value, as well as their importance in the branch of linguoculturology. This will allow linguists to further familiarize themselves with the theoretical underpinnings and empirical findings of linguoculturology and gives deeper understanding that is still largely confined.


As part of a larger project examining the effect of performance targets on UK hospitals, we present a simulation of an Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department. Performance targets are an important part of the National Health Service (NHS) performance assessment regime in the UK. Pressures on A&Es force the medical staff to take actions meeting these targets with limited resources. We used simulation modelling to help understand the factors affecting this performance. We utilized real data from patient admission system of an A&E and presented some data analysis. Our particular focuses are the multitasking behaviour and experience level of medical staff, both of which affect A&E performance. This performance affects, in turn, the overall performance of the hospital of which it is part.


Chemical energy storage by water splitting, a combination of oxygen evolution (OER) and hydrogen evolution reactions (HER) has emerged as a promising solution for the utilisation of solar energy. Both efficient electrocatalysts and photoelectrodes with long-term stability are indispensable to achieve economic feasibility of solar water splitting. Although the product of interest is hydrogen gas, the thermodynamic and kinetic requirements of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are the main limiting factors. The goal of this dissertation was to discover effective strategies for improving the performance of electrocatalytic and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. To address the issues for the slow PEC water oxidation kinetics, two typical surface electrocatalysts Co-Pi and Ni-B were firstly synthesised and tested on a reference ZnO photoelectrode. The Ni-B/ZnO exhibited a benchmark photocurrent density (1.22 mA cm−2 at 1.0 V vs RHE), resulting into two folds enhancement compared with the unmodified ZnO. The stable photocurrent over a 1 h test period further demonstrated the dual functionality of Ni-B as an efficient OER catalyst and robust surface-protection layer inhibiting photocorrosion, which is much better than Co-Pi. Following the successful strategy used to stabilise of ZnO photoanode, the Ni-B electrocatalyst was introduced onto a very promising p/n junction GaAs by in-situ photoassisted electrodeposition to solve the critical stability issue of GaAs. A monolithic layer of Ni-B/Ga (As)Ox was generated during the Ni-B deposition process, resulting in a Ni-B/Ga (As)Ox/GaAs photoanode structure. Such structure was optimised by varying the GaAs surface architecture, electrolyte pH value and Ni-B deposition time to achieve the optimal photocurrent and best stability. The optimised photoanode, Ni-B/Ga (As)Ox/shallow GaAs exhibited a nearly 22 hour stable photocurrent density of 20 mA/cm2, while the bare GaAs lost 40% activity in just three hours under identical condition. The remarkable performance in both photocurrent and stability directly addresses the current severe limitation in the application the classic GaAs photoanodes for solar fuel synthesis and could apply to other initially efficient but unstable photoelectrodes. Although the above studies demonstrated the multi-function of an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst on the surface of a semiconductor photoanode, e.g. increasing the photocurrent and lifetime, the OER catalysts are still not efficient enough. Therefore, the development of a cost-efficient and long-term stable catalyst for OER is still crucial to produce clean and sustainable H2 fuels from water. A cobalt vanadium oxide (CoVOx-300) catalyst with high contents of Co3+ sites that was manipulated by V4+, was firstly reported as an efficient and durable electrocatalyst. The CoVOx-300 with highest Co3+/Co2+ ratio of 1.4 and corresponding highest V4+/ V5+ ratio of 1.7 exhibited remarkable OER activity with an overpotential of 330 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 (10), a small Tafel slope of only 46 mV dec-1 and a current density of 100 mA cm-2 at an overpotential of 380 mV vs RHE, which was 20 time higher than the active CoOx-300 and 1000 time higher than VOx-300. The catalyst also showed excellent stability for 10 hours in alkaline media and a 40 % reduced activation energy to the counterpart, CoOx-300. This study demonstrated that high contents of surface Co3+ and V4+ species played a crucial role in improving electrocatalytic properties and stability for the water oxidation reaction. To further improve the OER performance of cobalt-vanadium based electrocatalyst, a series of Cobalt-vanadium (Co-V) bimetallic catalysts were synthesised and tested for the OER. It was found that spinel Co2-xVO4 with Co3+/Co2+ ratio of 2.8 and a moderate crystallinity exhibited the lowest overpotential of 240 mV at 10 mA/cm2, a smallest Tafel slope of 45 mV dec-1 and a current density of 100 mA/cm2 at an overpotential of 280 mV, where the current density was about 600 times higher than that of CoOOH and 20 times higher than the benchmark commercial RuO2 electrocatalyst, and it was also much better than the CoOx-300. The cobalt-vanadium based low-crystalline Co2-xVO4 nanoplates with remarkable electrochemical OER performance could be further deposited onto the promising semiconductor photoanodes to enhance the overall OER performance and longevity of the PEC devices.


Why should we approach the study of finance in an alternative way when other disciplines – such as economics and financial theory – which are older, more legitimate and endowed with more substantial backing, have already been tackling this subject for over fifty years? Admirably, despite any misgivings, the rapid and varied development of a collection of studies on finance has nonetheless originated over the last fifteen years from a variety of disciplines (sociology, anthropology, political science, history, management sciences, geography). This has resulted from the dynamic academic practice of diversifying and reviving research subjects, though also because of a dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of standard approaches. But that is not all, as it has equally stemmed from a desire to understand a much deeper phenomenon: the sudden emergence of finance in social life. [First paragraph]


The Confidence Hills, Southern Death Valley, California, are composed of Plio-Pleistocene lacustrine beds, evaporite beds, ashes, playa sediments, alluvial fan and fluvial deposits. The sediments have been divided into 5 mappable units. From oldest to, youngest, they are: the Confidence Hills "formation" (informal) composed of three interfingering members, and overlying Units A and B which do not exhibit transitional contacts with either underlying units or with themselves. The Confidence Hills formation includes the lacustrine and playa fine sands, and silts and clays of fluvial sediments. The lower two members are characterized by the presence of anhydrite. This formation also contains at least 15 volcanic ashes useful for determining age and correlation. Unit B is a red-to-brown coarse fanglomerate that lies disconformably above the Confidence Hills formation. Unit A, a second fanglomerate deposit, overlies the other units in a prominent angular unconformity. The southernmost canyon was studied in greater detail, both lithostratigraphically and magnetostratigraphically (Beratan and Murray, and Pluhar et al., this volume). There are two primary structural features in the Confidence Hills: the Southern Death Valley fault zone and a large anticlinorium which makes up the Confidence Hills.


Recently, agricultural remote sensing community has endeavored to utilize the power of artificial intelligence (AI). One important topic is using AI to make the mapping of crops more accurate, automatic, and rapid. This article proposed a classification workflow using deep neural network (DNN) to produce high-quality in-season crop maps from Landsat imageries for North Dakota. We use historical crop maps from the agricultural department and North Dakota ground measurements as training datasets. Processing workflows are created to automate the tedious preprocessing, training, testing, and postprocessing workflows. We tested this hybrid solution on new images and received accurate results on major crops such as corn, soybean, barley, spring wheat, dry beans, sugar beets, and alfalfa. The pixelwise overall accuracy in all three test regions is over 82% for all land types (including noncrop land), which is the same level of accuracy as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cropland Data Layer. The texture of DNN maps is more consistent with fewer noises, which is more comfortable to read. We find DNN is better on recognizing big farmlands than recognizing the scattered wetlands and suburban regions in North Dakota. The model trained on multiple scenes of multiple years and months yields higher accuracy than any of the models trained only on a single scene, a single month, or a single year. These results reflect that DNN can produce reliable in-season maps for major crops in North Dakota big farms and could provide a relatively accurate reference for the minor crops in scattered wetland fields.


This paper analyzes the early development of centralized vs. decentralized knowledge theory which led to the free market theory and away from centralized planning of markets. It further discusses the type and relevancy of information in executive decision making whilst emphasizing the role that compatibility and objectivity of information plays in a society. Some of the key issues questioned in this paper are that the combined knowledge of the society is much more appropriate in using it as a basis of decision making in markets than any particular knowledge possessed by a few individuals and certified by a particular authority. In addition to this, it is argued that the methods chosen to collect this information such as different accounting models, can play a significant role on results control and risk reduction.


Objective: To compare the efficacy, safety, and influencing factors among children with hepatitis B virus e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who received short-term therapy with pegylated interferon alfa-2a (Peg-IFNα-2a) or continuous therapy with entecavir (ETV). Methods: Quantitative data were compared using analysis of variance to compare the differences between groups. Enumeration data were compared by χ2 test (or Fisher's exact test). Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to analyze the influencing factors. Results: Peg-IFNα-2a, ETV, and untreated group had HBsAg clearance rates of 46.2%, 5.3%, and 0 after 52 weeks of therapy, respectively. HBsAg clearance in the patients' group with Peg-IFNα-2a and ETV was all accompanied by anti-HBS positive conversion, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=13.616, P=0.001). Peg-IFNα-2a group was followed-up for 104 weeks. Peg-IFNα-2a, ETV, and the untreated group had HBsAg clearance rates of 46.2%, 10.5%, and 0%, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (χ2=11.056, P=0.004). Only one of the two children with HBsAg clearance in the ETV group had achieved anti-HBs antibodies, and the difference was statistically significant (χ2=13.616, P=0.001). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that HBsAg clearance was associated with age and antiviral therapy. During treatment, adverse events such as fever (n=4, 30.8%), rash (n=4, 30.8%), fatigue (n=1, 7.7%), leukopenia (n=7, 53.8%), arthritis (n=1, 7.7%), and alopecia (n=3, 23.1%) were observed in the Peg-IFNα-2a group, while none were observed in the ETV group. Conclusion: Peg-IFNα-2a antiviral therapy produced higher HBsAg clearance than ETV in five-year-old and younger children with HBeAg-positive CHB, while ETV had fewer adverse events and was safer than Peg-IFNα-2a.


Abstract The seemingly unlikely coastal landforms and features in northern Utah area offer significant information about Lake Bonneville, the immense Late Pleistocene lake which inundated this region to varying depths from approximately 30,000 years ago to 13,000 years ago. At its maximum, Lake Bonneville was approximately 1,000 feet (305 meters) deep and covered an area of approximately 20,000 square miles (51,800 square km) in northern Utah, extreme southeastern Idaho, and extreme northeastern Nevada. The lake cycle consisted of basically three major phases: (1) a prolonged closed-basin phase predominated by transgressive stages approximately from 30,000 years ago to 16,500 years ago; (2) a brief phase of intermittently open-basin, threshold-controlled stages approximately from 16,500 years ago to 15,000 years ago; and (3) a short phase of rapidly regressive, closed-basin stages following the catastrophic Bonneville flood approximately from 15,000 years ago to 14,500 years ago. Attempts to define the history of this great lake originally began in the mid- 1800's with the intensive efforts of G. K. Gilbert, still recognized today as a highly respected authority on Lake Bonneville. After thorough exploration of the lake basin, his in-depth study of Lake Bonneville was published in 1890 as U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 1. Today, research continues in attempting to interpret the many varied aspects of Lake Bonneville. As it transgressed and regressed, Lake Bonneville left remnant erosional and depositional features, which today are very prominent landforms within the Bonneville basin. Relict erosional features of Lake Bonneville include shorelines left at the lake margin at various transgressive and regressive levels of the lake, sea caves found in rocky outcrops at the lake margin, and sea stacks, rocky outcrops which often record major influence of wave action. Depositional features of the lake include massive deltas, spits, barriers and tombolos; which reveal the tremendous ability of the lake to alter the local landscape. Continued research of these features will help to better interpret not only Lake Bonneville, but also the geologic, hydrologic and climatic processes of this region which collectively contributed to the formation of this great lake.


Abstract The process of destructive and non-destructive testing of the manufacture of high frequency induction welded steel tubes has always give better results at the Labiod-tèbessa Algeria tube construction plant such as tensile testing, folding, flaring and also the flattening tests whose limits of use were given by the experimental methods which have known deficiencies in measures in particular of the parameter of the height H which is given by the equation and that this difficulty is noted between the calculated and measured height levels. For these reasons it is necessary to find a numerical model of simulation which obviously replaces the experimental process to give reliable results with cheaper conditions in terms of cost and time which has been respected which allowed us to collect data. results and compare the different heights calculated and measure and often confirm the experimental tests.


This retrospective study analyzed the management of 25 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), or dilated phase of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (dHCM) treated in the outpatient clinic of the Department of Dental Anesthesiology at Hokkaido University. A total of 87 dental treatment sessions were completed. Intravenous sedation was used significantly more often for patients with HCM than those who had DCM. This seemed to be because dental anesthesiologists expected sedative drugs to suppress hyperdynamic circulatory changes caused by mental stress. Intraoperative complications occurred during 19 treatments. The incidence of circulatory complications increased when participants with DCM also reported dental fear. For participants with HCM who reported dental fear, circulatory complications occurred only when sedation was not used. It is not clear whether complications were related to cardiac function or dental treatment. Therefore, it is important to continually monitor patients with these conditions and to be prepared to handle complications that may arise during dental treatment.


This Report of the Committee on Agriculture deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the Sixtieth Report of the Committee on Agriculture (2013-14) on 'Pricing of Agricultural Produce' of the Ministry of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture and Cooperation). In their Action Taken Note, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation have stated that the mandate of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) is to recommend uniform MSP for any given crop for the entire country.


The leaves of Annona reticulate Linn. (Annonaceae), commonly known as Bullock's heart, are frequently used as a substitute for Annona squamosa for the treatment of diabetes by various tribes in India. The leaves are also used for their powerful insecticidal activity, especially for destroying lice. Pharmacognostical study of Annona reticulate leaf samples were studied using of light, confocal microscopy, WHO recommended physico-chemical  determinations and authentic phytochemcial procedures. Morphologically the leaves were dorsi-ventral in nature and were similar in external appearance to that of Annona squamosa. Anatomically the leaf of Annona reticulata presented significant features of a dicotyledonous leaf viz., upper epidermis, cortex, midrib and the lower epidermis. The physico-chemical, morphological and histological parameters presented in this paper may be proposed as parameters to establish the authenticity of Annona reticulata leaf and will be useful to differentiate the drug from Annona squamosa.


The present notions on the pathways of phosphoinositide metabolism in a cell and on the functional significance of the given process are reported. The enzymic systems providing catabolism of phosphoinositides are analyzed. The data indicating the dose interrelation between the stimulation of the phosphatidyl inosite and polyphosphoinositides metabolism by hormones and the Ca2+ transport into a cell are generalized. Universality, biochemical mechanisms and functional significance of the "phosphatidyl inosite" response are discussed. The phosphoinositide metabolism is considered from the standpoint of its significance for other cell processes: synthesis of eicosanoids, provision of Ca2+-dependent processes in the synapse, cell proliferation, activation and the "anchoring" of enzymes on membranes.


Life on Earth relies on mechanisms to store heritable information and translate this information into cellular machinery required for biological activity. In all known life, storage, regulation, and translation are provided by DNA, RNA, and ribosomes. Life beyond Earth, even if ancestrally or chemically distinct from life as we know it may utilize similar structures: it has been proposed that charged linear polymers analogous to nucleic acids may be responsible for storage and regulation of genetic information in non-terran biochemical systems. We further propose that a ribosome-like structure may also exist in such a system, due to the evolutionary advantages of separating heritability from cellular machinery. Here, we use a solid-state nanopore to detect DNA, RNA, and ribosomes, and demonstrate that machine learning can distinguish between biomolecule samples and accurately classify new data. This work is intended to serve as a proof of principal that such biosignatures (i.e., informational polymers or translation apparatuses) could be detected, for example, as part of future missions targeting extant life on Ocean Worlds. A negative detection does not imply the absence of life; however, detection of ribosome-like structures could provide a robust and sensitive method to seek extant life in combination with other methods. One Sentence Summary Life, defined as a chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution, likely requires an apparatus to translate heritable instructions into cellular machinery, and we propose to detect this as a biosignature of extant life beyond Earth.


The central temperature has been measured at rest over 623 black men who are between 18 and 78 years old, and perfectly fit to warm weather in the intertropical areas. The measures have been taken according to two protocols: dealing with the ambiant temperature and the humidity (ambiant temperature varying from 20 degrees C to 42 degrees C, the humidity from 70% to 80%). dealing with the daily cycle: The central temperature was recorded every 3 hours by 24 hours at two different periods in the year, on June (the ambiant temperature varying from 28 degrees C to 42 degrees C and the humidity from 33 to 42%), and on December (the ambiant temperature varying from 21 degrees C to 25 degrees C and the humidity from 70 to 90%). On the one hand, the results showed an influence of the external temperatures on the circadian curves of the central temperature (maximal central temperature taken in the afternoon was 37.2 degrees C in winter and 37.6 degrees C in summer). On the other hand, there's a linear relation between central temperature and ambiant temperature, at least on certain limit and apart from the weather. In spite of two modifications, the thermoregulator system of some designed individual remain efficiency but would work rather than according to the mechanism of the "following" systems.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract Background Due to physiological and hormonal factors, sleep disturbances are prevalent in the obstetric population. Multiple studies have evaluated the relationship between sleep disturbances and perinatal outcomes, with inconsistent results. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to further assess the overall relationship between four types of sleep disturbances (snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, extreme sleep duration, and poor sleep quality) and adverse perinatal outcomes. Methods We performed electronic searches in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang Data in February 2019 to identify studies that assessed adverse perinatal outcomes among expectant mothers with sleep disturbances. Results In total, 5044 studies were identified in the initial search and 65 met the defined criteria. Pooled analysis showed that sleep disturbances were associated with an increased risk for preeclampsia (aOR: 2.77; 95% CI: 1.81–4.24), gestational diabetes mellitus (aOR: 1.96; 95% CI: 1.62–2.38), cesarean delivery (aOR: 1.99; 95% CI: 1.70–2.33), depression (aOR: 3.98; 95% CI: 2.74–5.77) and preterm birth (aOR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.55–2.45). Conclusions The four studied sleep disturbances (OSA, snoring, extreme sleep duration and poor sleep quality) during pregnancy were associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Expectant mothers should be advised to practice healthy sleep hygiene measures.


A potential way to reduce cooling system noises generated by heavy construction machines is to generate the required cooling airflow with a low fan speed, and one way to accomplish this is to optimize the ventilation path through which the airflow generated by the cooling fan must travel. However, while the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach would be effective for modeling the three-dimensional (3D) pressure drop characteristic of such systems, there have been few reports aimed at clarifying the loss generation mechanisms or suggesting minimization methods based on flow field viewpoints. Accordingly, in this study, we visualize the 3D flow field characteristics of an electric cooling fan system installed within the cooling enclosure of a heavy construction machine and investigate the details of the system's pressure drop mechanisms.
 Our results confirm that airflow pressure declines in areas other than the radiator account for more than half of the reduced pressure experienced by the whole system. Additionally, we found that, in the exhaust side enclosure, pressure drops increased because the exhaust port outlet shapes were not optimized to the annular airflow of the cooling fan. Most notably, we found that in the region before reaching the exhaust port outlets, the airflow from the fan repeatedly collides with obstacles within the enclosure, thus producing stagnation and turbulence that exacerbates pressure drops before being expelled into the outside environment.


This paper presents a method to balance aerodynamic loading by optimizing the combined efficiencies of co-axial compressors and turbines for engine preliminary design. Relationships between the aerodynamic and dimensional parameters for co-axial compressors and turbines were set up by nonlinear equations. And the boundary conditions of the equations are thermodynamic parameters and Smith Charts of compressors and turbines.The process of the method includes the initial value guess, reference point determination and aerodynamic optimization. The first step solves approximate stage numbers for co-axial compressors and turbines, and other initial values used in the second step. In the second step, an appropriate solution of the equations determines a reference point on the Smith Chart. The first step is required for a better convergence in the second step due to the nature of the Newton-Raphson solver. In the third step, the combined efficiencies of co-axial compressors and turbines are optimized under the specified constraints.An optimizing tool was developed based on the proposed method. An example of a core engine was analyzed by using this tool. The results showed the reliability and high fidelity of the method.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Businesses recently began shifting from proprietary models towards industry standards. Today, when businesses are faced with medium and large SOA projects, they strive to standardize their business process models, information models, and message models by complying with known industry standards. As service orientation and composition become more important, these standards also become critical for efficient SOA integration. However, in doing so, the businesses face a new challenge – the challenge to effectively utilize the industry standards models. Using industry standards models effectively is difficult since they are typically large and complex, thus resulting in the creation of vast amounts of inter-relationships. To meet this challenge, we describe a new approach that provides a holistic view of these heterogeneous SOA models and corresponding industry standards. Such a unified view must provide access to heterogeneous data sources and models, allow search and query of them as a single model source all across the SOA solution stack, and provide advanced services such as traceability, scoping, and impact analysis. To validate the proposed holistic approach, we describe a model catalog and repository system and present its use on a field-based example.


Transportation industry witnessing a revolution of the emerging of self-driving cars which are autonomous vehicles that drive by itself without human involvement. It is expected that self-driving cars would have powerful feature and would provide a lot of benefits such as reducing traveling time, reducing traffic jams, reducing car accidents and many other benefits. The government of United Arab Emirates adopt technology implementation in all life aspects in the country starting by turning into smart government and then smart education and many other implementations of using technology in different aspects of the country. This adoption of technology positively affected UAE people's intention toward accepting technology. As UAE government always adopt best technology practices, it is expected that United Arab Emirates would adopt the using of autonomous cars. The aim of this research paper is to investigate UAE people's intention to turn into using self-driving cars. Researcher aim as well to explore the most common factors that may affect people's intention to turn into using self-driving cars. This research paper methodology based on quantitative methods for gathering data in which questionnaire developed and sent to people live in United Arab Emirates.


The biological activity of Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes toward three different cancer cell lines as well as inhibition of selenoenzyme thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) was modulated in an unexpected way by the introduction of triazolate as a "protective group" to the inner metal coordination sphere using the iClick reaction of [M(N3)(terpy)]PF6 [M = Pd(II) or Pt(II) and terpy = 2,2':6',2″-terpyridine] with an electron-poor alkyne. In a cell proliferation assay using A549, HT-29, and MDA-MB-231 human cancer cell lines, the palladium compound was significantly more potent than the isostructural platinum analogue and exhibited submicromolar activity on the most responsive cell line. This difference was also reflected in the inhibitory efficiency toward TrxR with IC50 values of 0.1 versus 5.4 μM for the Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes, respectively. UV/Vis kinetic studies revealed that the Pt compound binds to selenocysteine faster than to cysteine [k = (22.9 ± 0.2)·10-3 vs (7.1 ± 0.2)·10-3 s-1]. Selective triazolato ligand exchange of the title compounds with cysteine (Hcys) and selenocysteine (Hsec)─but not histidine (His) and 9-ethylguanine (9EtG)─was confirmed by 1H, 77Se, and 195Pt NMR spectroscopy. Crystal structures of three of the four ligand exchange products were obtained, including [Pt(sec)(terpy)]PF6 as the first metal complex of selenocysteine to be structurally characterized.


Alfalfa crop is considered queen of forage plants, but if we want to get a good production we need to respect all the techniques. Also we need to know all diseases, pets and prevention techniques. The attack of pathogens can reduce the production with over 40%. The most important diseases which produce damage on alfafa crop are: Alfalfa mosaic virus or Lucerne mosaic virus, Downy mildew of Lucerne - Peronospora aestivalis, Alfafa powdery mildews - Erysiphe communis Grew. E. medicaginis Dietr., Alfalfa leaf spot Pseudopeziza medicaginis Sacc., Alfalfa yellow leaf spot- Pseudopeziza josenii Nannf., f.c. Sporonema phacidioides Desm., Alfalfa rust-Uromyces striatus Schroter, Alfalfa phomosis - Phoma melaena Mont. et Dur. To gain high productions on alfalfa cultures are recommended the following measures: introducing rotation of culture with annual plants especially cereals, choosing optimal seeding densities; to use healthy certified seed callousness sorts; destroying of spontaneous leguminous; monitories and to fight against of vector insects; to harvest (mowing) and destruction of ill plants diminishes otherwise the attack expand.


Background & Objectives: Diabetes is a common disease and one of the biggest health problems in countries. Self-care is known as a health-promoting behavior. According to the studies, spiritual beliefs affect health behaviors. This study aimed to determine the relationship between religious orientation and selfcare in patients with type 2 diabetes having referred to diabetes clinic in Bojnurd city. Material & Methods: This descriptive-analytic study was conducted on 196 patients with type 2 diabetes who had referred to the Diabetes Clinic in Bojnurd city through available sampling method. Data collection tools included the demographic data, and two standard questionnaires; Toobert's self-care and Alport's religious orientation. Data were entered into SPSS 18 software and were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test and correlation coefficient. Results: The results of this study showed that the mean score of self-care was 26/7±14/43, and that of internal and external religious orientation were respectively 22/34±6/09 and 33/97±10/64. Self-care had a significant relationship with external religious orientation, but was not related to the internal religious orientation. Age and education had a significant relationship with self-care and external religious orientation. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, holding religious events, even for pretension purposes will lead to the increase in self-care in diabetic patients. Therefore, in addition to the current, it is recommended to include religious-cultural programs as well as common programs of the health centers to improve self-care conditions in people with type 2 diabetes.


Zoos average about 183 million visitors per year, which makes them a major source for educating the public due to the diverse and wide-ranging demographic that visit. Zoos are increasingly a source of scientific research in a variety of subfields, including animal cognition, although much of this research takes place behind the scenes. Bringing this research to the public perspective has the potential to increase engagement of zoo visitors. However, it is not always possible to show live research, but videos have been found to be an effective educational approach in other domains. Here, we presented a brief video illustrating cognitive research involving sun bears at Zoo Atlanta to determine the potential effect on visitors. We measured several aspects of visitor behavior (stay time and actual behaviors in the exhibit), attitudes (towards both animal research and educational technology), and knowledge gained at the exhibit. We also presented a control video that focused on sun bear enrichment to tease out whether potential effects on visitors were related to the research focus of the video, or merely an effect of a video playing in the exhibit space. Visitor behavior, attitudes, and knowledge were determined by observing a randomly selected visitor's behavior throughout their time in the exhibit space, and then requesting completion of a survey when they exited the exhibit (N = 148). We compared various aspects of behavior, attitudes, and knowledge across the Scientific Video, Enrichment Video, and No Video conditions. There were no differences between the Scientific Video and the Enrichment Video conditions; however, some differences were found between visitors who experienced a video during their visit (scientific or enrichment video) versus those who did not. Attitudes towards technology in the exhibit space were generally positive. There was also a significant correlation between visitor stay time (overall time spent in the exhibit space) and knowledge gained. Visitors learning about research in zoos remains important, but it is unclear if a video is a sufficient means to share that information.


In this article a non-homogeneous martingale model is proposed to model volatility in a stochastic time series of count data with constant mean. The approach is derived from a general non-homogeneous birth-and-death process, in which the mean and the variance of population size can vary as a function of time. This model can be important in modelling early warning signals that there is going to be a change of state in a complex system. The net reproduction ratio obtained from fitting a non-homogeneous birth–death model can be used as an additional tool to compare this model with a model where there is no change in the mean over the observation period. These models and procedures are illustrated with quarterly Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus prevalence data registered since 2001 from three Acute Trusts of hospitals of the National Health Service in Great Britain.


A random interval graph of order n is generated by picking 2n numbers X1,…,X2n independently from the uniform distribution on [0,1] and considering the collection of n intervals with endpoints X2i−1 and X2i for i ∈ {1,…,n}. The graph vertices correspond to intervals. Two vertices are connected if the corresponding intervals intersect. This paper characterizes the fluctuations of the independence number in random interval graphs. This characterization is obtained through the analysis of the greedy algorithm. We actually prove limit theorems (central limit theorem and large deviation principle) on the number of phases of this greedy algorithm. The proof relies on the analysis of first-passage times through a random level.


The silicon nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) is synthesized by using hydrothermal etching method, and the electron field emission properties are studied. The results show that Si-NPA has a low turn-on field of 1.48 V/μm at the emission current of 0.1 μA and its field emission is relatively stable. The field emission enhancement of Si-NPA is believed to originate from its unique morphology and structure. Our finding demonstrates that the Si-NPA is a promising candidate material for field emission applications.