: Networks can play an important role for nurses in user-to-user communication because they can be used both within and outside the health care delivery system. The choices include an information exchange, which can be an effective strategy for sharing personal concerns, problems, and achievements about the computer; commercial data bases with their vast sources of information and research data; or local area networks, effective in an office or campus setting. All of these networks can put worlds of information and services just a few words or keyboard strokes away, because they offer, outside of your own computer, a whole new dimension of retrieval, storage, reference, and communication capabilities. These networks can significantly enhance computing potential by providing an overall expansion of information.


ABSTRACT The concept of 'friends and neighbors' voting, in which voters are more likely to support locally-affiliated candidates, has a long tradition in the study of elections and representation. The concept was established in the study of American politics and has been tested in other political and social environments. The focus of 'friends and neighbors' voting has been on single and multi-seat constituency-based elections. This emphasis leaves open an important question: Does the concept carry over to party-list elections? This article takes advantage of the features of Lithuania's mixed-member electoral system to assess how 'friends and neighbors' voting may influence constituency and party-list races. We find that the magnitude of effect for 'localness' is greater when candidates dual-list in constituencies and on party lists. However, residency has a significant effect on voting outcomes even for candidates contesting only on the party list and for those in hopeless list positions, suggesting that 'friends and neighbors' voting may extend even to electoral systems that are not constituency-based.


In this paper, a three–dimensional (3D) numerical model for the computation of turbulent meandering flow is developed. A finite element calculation procedure combined with the two–equation k–ε and mixing length model are applied to the problem of simulating the 3D turbulent flow in closed and open curved channels. Near the wall a special approach is applied in order to overcome the weakness of the standard k–ε model in the viscous sub–layer. A special shape function is used in the near wall elements to accurately describe the strong variations of the mean flow variables in the viscosity–affected near wall region. At the free surface, a moving boundary condition combined with the surface tracking procedure is applied to determine the position of the free surface. Eventually, in order to solve a large nonlinear equation system, which is obtained from the discretization of the continuity and momentum equations, a segregated approach is applied. The segregated solver is guaranteed to have substantially reduced disk storage in comparison with a fully coupled solver.


We describe a novel approach to the delivery of global health education (GHE) via the utilisation of the Metaverse. In 2015, the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery identified that the global burden of disease amenable to surgical intervention is substantial and growing. Virtual Reality in Medicine and Surgery (VRiMS) is an academic working group based at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) devoted to creating technology-based solutions in surgical and medical training and education.

 10 East African surgeons were selected to attend a 5-day cadaveric dissection course in-person in Brighton, on fully funded scholarships. A parallel conference was also run in Kampala, Uganda and >1000 delegates attended remotely from 61 different countries.
 A proof of concept of the metaverse was created using the software Spatial. Delegates from the in-person course in Brighton and Kampala used Oculus and PICO headsets in order to access and interact within the metaverse build.
 Both a quantitative and qualitative approach was implemented for data collection utilising a survey as well semi-structured interviews.

 Feedback was positive and highlighted the interactivity of the platform, the multiple types of content which could be accessed and the level of immersion it provided. The majority of delegates felt that the metaverse could be beneficial in the delivery of medical and surgical education globally.

 The Metaverse could be a novel approach in tackling issues in global health and global surgery and extensive future work related to its validity as an educational resource could be beneficial to trainees worldwide.


This study aims to explore the phenomenon of emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of teaching practices from the perspective of public high school teachers. This study, as a phenomenology design pattern in the qualitative paradigm, focused on the phenomenon of ERT as experienced by public high school teachers and as it appeared to the teachers from the first-person point of view. Data were collected from five secondary education public high school teachers who were selected through criterion and convenience sampling methods also using an individual semi-structured interview form, transcribed by dictation.io and analyzed through content analysis. This study yielded vivid descriptions through the themes of "shifting practices," "pearls and pitfalls of ERT" and "most challenging aspects of ERT experiences." Personal gains left aside, the study can provide decision-makers with insights for considering the effectiveness of the execution of ERT. The findings can be used to improve the status of ERT practices and learning at the time of crises.


With the help of CFD ( computational fluid dynamics) software Fluent and by choosing a rational mathematical model,a numerical simulation was performed of a 680 MW ultra-supercritical wall-type-arranged tangentially-fired boiler.Value simulation of the combustion process inside the furnace can be developed. Values simulated are particle movement, temperature, speed and thermal differentials inside the furnace and at the furnace outlet. The value simulation shows that the pulverized particles ignited easily, had good stable combustion characteristics, good radiation firmness, good penetration ability, low sulphur content in flyash, flow stream not easily diverted or form slag, tangential diameter slightly smaller, furnace thermal difference slightly smaller, thermal load in the furnace was uniform, and thermal differential at furnace outlet very small.


During the 2005 tomato-growing (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) season, an apparent bacterial disease with cankers on the stems and bird's eye lesions on the fruit appeared in commercial fields and greenhouses in the San Quintin and San Simon areas (a 60-mile long coastal plain) near the central region of the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico. The disease was found in midseason, especially when plants were flowering, and the mature and ripe stage. Incidence ranged from 4 to 46%, which represented an important loss in field and greenhouse production. Symptomatic plants showed reddish brown cavities in the stem, discoloration, and water soaking of vascular tissue. Diseased tissues were washed with phosphate buffer and placed on semiselective Clavibacter medium (SCM) (1), and a gram-positive, nonmotile, nonspore-forming, aerobic, curved rod bacterium was consistently isolated and morphologically characterized. Twenty-eight isolates were identified as Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology with primers CMM5/CMM6 to amplify a fragment of approximately 6.2 kb (2). The isolates were also identified by REP-PCR (repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR) genomic fingerprinting techniques (3) with REP and BOX primer sets (4). Pathogenicity tests consisting of three replicates of 4-week-old tomato seedlings (cv. Tequila) were performed by spraying (twice, 2 days apart) inocula at 108 CFU/ml. Control seedlings were sprayed with sterile water. Inoculated plants previously covered in polyethylene bags were incubated in a growth chamber at 25°C for 48 h. Within 3 weeks, symptoms of reddish-brown cavities, water-soaked lesions, and asymmetrical wilting appeared on inoculated plants and were similar to those symptoms observed in the field. No symptoms were observed on control plants. Confirmation of the causal agent was done by culturing the bacteria on SCM and PCR analysis. Occurrence of the disease in San Quintin Valley is relevant because the disease is one of the five most serious tomato diseases in the peninsula. Moreover, the potential spread of the pathogen by tomato seedlings represents a permanent risk to other pathogen-free areas in the peninsula. Although bacterial canker has been observed in Baja California (Punta Colonet, Vicente Guerrero, San Quintin, and San Simon), to our knowledge, this is the first confirmation of C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis in Baja, Mexico. References: (1). C. Alarcon et al. Phytopathology 88:306, 1998. (2) J. Dreier et al. Phytopathology 85:462, 1995. (3) F. J. Louws et al. Phytopathology 88:862, 1998. (4) J. Versalovic et al. Methods Mol. Cell. Biol. 5:25, 1994.


Ovarian cystadenomas are rare neoplastic tumors arising from the ovarian surface epithelium. While commonly observed in adult women, their occurrence in adolescents is exceedingly uncommon. The management of large ovarian cystadenomas in this age group poses unique challenges due to acute presentations and potential complications. We present the case of a 16-year-old girl who presented with sudden, severe abdominal pain and distension. Imaging revealed a 15 cm complex cystic mass originating from the right ovary, consistent with a cystadenoma. Urgent surgical intervention led to the right salpingo-oophorectomy, confirming the benign nature of the tumor. This report highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach to diagnosing and managing rare ovarian neoplasms in adolescents. Timely recognition, appropriate imaging, histopathological evaluation, and surgical intervention are crucial for optimal outcomes and reducing potential complications.


In this paper, a secure energy trading mechanism based on blockchain technology is proposed. The proposed model deals with energy trading problems such as insecure energy trading and inefficient charging mechanisms for electric vehicles (EVs) in a vehicular energy network (VEN). EVs face two major problems: finding an optimal charging station and calculating the exact amount of energy required to reach the selected charging station. Moreover, in traditional trading approaches, centralized parties are involved in energy trading, which leads to various issues such as increased computational cost, increased computational delay, data tempering and a single point of failure. Furthermore, EVs face various energy challenges, such as imbalanced load supply and fluctuations in voltage level. Therefore, a demand-response (DR) pricing strategy enables EV users to flatten load curves and efficiently adjust electricity usage. In this work, communication between EVs and aggregators is efficiently performed through blockchain. Moreover, a branching concept is involved in the proposed system, which divides EV data into two different branches: a Fraud Chain (F-chain) and an Integrity Chain (I-chain). The proposed branching mechanism helps solve the storage problem and reduces computational time. Moreover, an attacker model is designed to check the robustness of the proposed system against double-spending and replay attacks. Security analysis of the proposed smart contract is also given in this paper. Simulation results show that the proposed work efficiently reduces the charging cost and time in a VEN.


The current cereal based systems of South Asia are under threat due to multiple challenges of declining water table, escalating energy and fuel prices, shortages of farm labour, deteriorating soil health with overarching effects of climatic variability making farming uneconomical and unattractive. Conservation agriculture (CA) based management practices together with cropping system optimization have demonstrated to produce more with less while restoring, conserving and sustaining natural resources. In north-western India, maize (Zea mays L.) based systems are being advocated as an alternate to rice-based systems to address the issues of resource degradation particularly water table and climate-change-induced variability in rainfall and temperature, etc. However, targeting maize systems without futuristic best-bet crop management practices suited to production systems and ecologies, may lead to other problems. Therefore, we attempted to evaluate the performance of maize in kharif 2014 under long-term CA-based [permanent bed (PB) and zero tillage (ZT)] practices with conventional tillage (CT) as main-plots and four intensified irrigated maize systems [maize-wheat-mungbean (MWMb), maize-chickpea-Sesbania (MCS), maize-mustard-mungbean (MMuMb) and maize-maize-Sesbania (MMS)] in sub-plots under an ongoing trial established in 2008. During seventh year of study, higher maize glucose equivalent yield (MGEY) was recorded in ZT (2 942 kg/ha) and PB (2 774 kg/ha) while, the lowest in CT (2 576 kg/ha). Similarly maize glucose equivalent yield under diversified maize-based rotations was invariably higher in MCS and MWMb systems compared to MMuMb and MMS rotations. The results revealed that the maximum total N, P and K uptake (134.7, 40.9 and 156.6 kg/ha) as well as the protein content (8.7%) in maize grain were recorded in ZT, and minimum in CT. However, among the cropping systems plots the kharif maize planted in MCS plots registered the highest N, P, K uptake in stover and grain and protein (8.96%) content in grain. Maize net returns and BC ratio were significantly higher under ZT and PB planting compared to CT. Net returns and BC ratio under ZT and PB were higher by 18-29% and 26-38%, compared to CT plots, respectively. The maximum gross output energy (210.1×103 MJ/ha), energy efficiency (16.4) and energy intensity (8.50 MJ/`) were recorded under ZT. Tillage and cropping system interactions significantly influenced maize cob and grain yield in 7th year of experimentation and maximum yield was in ZT-MCS. Overall, our long-term results suggest that adoption of conservation agriculture-based tillage under MCS and MWMb systems can enhance crop productivity, profitability, nutrient uptake and energetics of kharif maize in north-western region of India and elsewhere under similar agro- climatic conditions.


Glycine plays an important role as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the ventral cochlear nucleus. However, little is known about the kinetic behavior of glycine receptors. The present study examines the kinetics of the native inhibitory glycine receptors in neurons of the ventral cochlear nucleus, using outside-out patches from acutely dissociated cells and a fast flow system. Steps into 1 mM glycine revealed fast phases of desensitization with time constants of 13 and 129 ms, that together produced a 40% reduction in current from the peak response. Slower desensitization phases also were observed. After removal of glycine, currents deactivated with two time constants of 15 and 68 ms, and these rates were independent of the glycine concentration between 0.2 and 1 mM. Recovery from desensitization was slow relative to desensitization itself. These results demonstrate that glycine receptors can exhibit faster rates of desensitization and deactivation than previously reported.


Fire blight, caused by pathogen Erwinia amylovora, is a major disease in Malus. Biological, chemical and cultural controls are efficient to manage fire blight, while rootstocks, and host resistance can limit damages. During the 2020 season a naturally occurring fire blight outbreak occurred in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Malus collection, providing a unique opportunity to evaluate the diverse collection for fire blight susceptibility. The E. amylovora strain in the collection was identified as streptomycin resistant and characterized as CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) spacer array profile, 41:23:38. Fire blight severity was assessed using two approaches: (1) Average severity percentage, where the number of infected shoots was divided by the total number of shoots for the east and west facing sides of the tree; and (2) cut severity rating, where the trees were visually assessed after fire blight removal for amount of tree removed. Overall, 1142 trees of 41 Malus species were assessed for average severity and 2525 trees of 48 species were assessed for cut severity. A subset of 667 trees were for average severity in June and July to understand the disease progression. The species and trees presented here, can provide insight for future genetic fire blight resistance studies.


Abstract The widespread Lago-Mare facies show that the Mediterranean was fully isolated from the World Ocean at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC): the Plio-Quaternary Gibraltar Strait has no geographical feature in common with the Miocene Portals, which were continentalised before the end of the MSC. A copy of a budget model has been modified to study the infilling of the Mediterranean. The yearly Atlantic water supply follows an exponential increase law. The level of the basins does not change significantly during the 26 early years, but the refill of the Mediterranean basins is completed within the next 10–11 years. The high velocity of the flow of Atlantic water can be reconfirmed by hydraulic calculations. The morphological study of the area suggests that the Gibraltar Strait originates from an eastwards flowing stream, which drained the eastern slope of an emergent Gibraltar Isthmus to the Mediterranean Basins at the end of the Messinian. Similar canyons are still found in the marine topography towards the Alboran Sea. The present Spartel and Camarinal Sills both originate from the coeval mass sliding of the northern bank of the strait. The strait of Gibraltar results from the work of a stream, which managed water-piracy from an Ocean. © 2002 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.


Though it may seem to be a recent phenomenon, scholarly interest in Islam and early modern English drama goes back almost a hundred years. This introduction surveys the criticism of early modern English plays with Islamic themes or elements, assessing the influence of pioneers such as Samuel C. Chew, the reaction to Edward W. Said's 'Orientalist thesis', and the questions that currently engage a growing number of scholars in the field, including the four authors whose essays constitute this edition of 'Issues in Review'.


Intervention After stratification for gestational age and centre, infants were allocated to HFOV (n=400) or CV (n=397) within 1 hour of birth. HFOV was given by 1 of 3 high frequency oscillator models. Ventilation began at a mean airway pressure of 6–8 cm of water and a frequency of 10 Hz; the amplitude was increased until the infant's chest was seen to be "bouncing". CV was given by a time cycled, pressure limited ventilator, starting at a rate of 60 breaths per minute and an inspiratory time of 0.4 seconds. Settings were subsequently adjusted to maintain a partial pressure of oxygen of 49–75 mm Hg and a partial pressure of carbon dioxide of 34–53 mm Hg.


Surface resistivity imaging was proposed to map the saline interface produced by the interaction of a tidal creek and a shallow fresh water aquifer. Forward modelling was used to determine the relative merits of using two and three (2D and 3D) dimensional electrode arrays. The results of the forward modelling indicate that under ideal circumstances the surface techniques can resolve the conceptual saline interface near the tidal creek. One 3D and four 2D surveys were completed on the bank of Korogoro Creek. The 2D surveys were orientated parallel (3) and perpendicular (1) to the creek. The apparent resistivity data was inverted using RES2DINV and RES3DINV. The resulting 2D images demonstrate that the conceptual model used in the forward modelling oversimplified the distribution of saline water in the subsurface. The 2D images indicate that freshwater is discharging into the creek via preferred pathways at several locations along the creek bank. The 3D image shows that the distribution of saline water is constrained to an area close to the creek. Neither the 2D or 3D images were able to clearly identify the thin saline wedge observed using downhole techniques (EM39). The results of the resistivity surveys indicate that the techniques are useful in identifying relatively large-scale saline patterns but are unable to identify relatively small anomalies. Most importantly the results highlight the critical need to control interpretation of high resolution surface resistivity data with downhole techniques.


This article presents a methodology for a more detailed investigation of urban landscape change in rapidly growing cities of the less developed world beyond typical macrolevel approaches. This research is an attempt to bridge the gap between traditional landscape analysis and geographic information science (GIS). The article presents the preliminary results from a pilot project in Zamalek, Egypt, highlighting the benefits and drawbacks of the two techniques. Rarely used to study the less developed world, these techniques are utilized to assess change within a portion of Cairo's urban landscape. Large-scale historic maps and high-resolution satellite imagery, combined with field attribute collection, are the major data sources in this applied landscape analysis. A motivating factor in the desire to examine landscape change at such a large scale is the need to create monitoring systems for historic preservation in cities of the less developed world.


We present in this paper our first reflections on the application of cooperative technologies into ad hoc networks domain. Our work aims at defining models concerned with both cooperation and ad hoc mobility. To do that, first we discuss some problems tied to the ad hoc deployment of a cooperation application already defined for wired networks. This discussion is motivated by the base on the ad hoc network specificities. Second, we give some guidelines to study the performance optimization of ad hoc protocols using cooperation technology.


Initial degradation of highly chlorinated compounds and nitroaromatic compounds found in munition waste streams is accelerated under anaerobic conditions followed by aerobic treatment of the degradation products. The establishment of anaerobic environment in a vadose zone can be accomplished by feeding appropriate anaerobic gas mixture, i.e., "anaerobic bioventing". The gas mixture contains an electron donor for the reduction of these compounds. Lab scale study was conducted to evaluate potential of anaerobic bioventing for the treatment of an unsaturated zone contaminated with 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDT) and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT). Hydrogen was used as the electron donor. Using the soil columns innoculate with anaerobic microorganisms, it was observed that by feeding a gas mixture of 1% hydrogen, 1% carbon dioxide and nitrogen, methanogenic conditions were established and DDT was reductively dechlorinated. 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethane (DDD) accumulated as the intermediate product. The half life of DDT was calculated to be 8.5 months. DNT completely disappeared after six months of operation and no intermediates could be detected.


In this paper we propose a convolutional neural network that is designed to upsample a series of sparse range measurements based on the contextual cues gleaned from a high resolution intensity image. Our approach draws inspiration from related work on super-resolution and in-painting. We propose a novel architecture that seeks to pull contextual cues separately from the intensity image and the depth features and then fuse them later in the network. We argue that this approach effectively exploits the relationship between the two modalities and produces accurate results while respecting salient image structures. We present experimental results to demonstrate that our approach is comparable with state of the art methods and generalizes well across multiple datasets.


: Migraineur constitutes a multidimensional model of health disorder involving a complex combination of genetic, psychological, demographic, enviromental and economic factors. This model provides a framework to describe limitations of an individual functional ability and quality of life, and to aid in the elaboration of more adequate intervention programs for each patient. Our primary objective in this paper is a data-driven profiling of patients. The approach followed consists of examining affinity/dissimilarity between sufferers on the basis of different family of indicators and then aggregating multiple partial matrices, where each matrix expresses a particular notion of the dissimilarity of one patient from another. One important particularity of our method is the notion of multi-dimensional dissimilarity for static and dynamic indicators, without ignoring any portion of data. The partial dissimilarity matrices are assembled in the form of a global matrix, which is used as input of subsequent calculations, such as multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Our main contribution is to show how multi-scale, cross-section and longitudinal data from individuals involved in a migraine treatment program may optimally be combined to allow profiling migraine-affected patients.


Dynamic vegetation models have been used to assess the resilience of tropical forests to climate change, but the global application of these modeling experiments often misrepresents carbon dynamics at a regional level, limiting the validity of future projections. Here a dynamic vegetation model (Lund Potsdam Jena General Ecosystem Simulator) was adapted to simulate present‐day potential vegetation as a baseline for climate change impact assessments in the evergreen and deciduous forests of Bolivia. Results were compared to biomass measurements (819 plots) and remote sensing data. Using regional parameter values for allometric relations, specific leaf area, wood density, and disturbance interval, a realistic transition from the evergreen Amazon to the deciduous dry forest was simulated. This transition coincided with threshold values for precipitation (1400 mm yr−1) and water deficit (i.e., potential evapotranspiration minus precipitation) (−830 mm yr−1), beyond which leaf abscission became a competitive advantage. Significant correlations were found between modeled and observed values of seasonal leaf abscission (R2 = 0.6, p <0.001) and vegetation carbon (R2 = 0.31, p <0.01). Modeled Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index showed that dry forests were more sensitive to rainfall anomalies than wet forests. GPP was positively correlated to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation index in the Amazon and negatively correlated to consecutive dry days. Decreasing rainfall trends were simulated to reduce GPP in the Amazon. The current model setup provides a baseline for assessing the potential impacts of climate change in the transition zone from wet to dry tropical forests in Bolivia.


ABSTRACT Tick-borne diseases are emerging and re-emerging threats causing public health concerns in Europe and North America. Prevention and control requires understanding of human exposure and behaviour. The aim was to measure exposure to tick bites across Scandinavia, its spatial distribution and the associated risk factors. Methods We sent a web-based survey to a randomly chosen population and analysed answers by Principal Component Analysis and Chi-Square. Individual responses were aggregated at the municipality level to assess the spatial distribution of bites. Results Nearly 60% of adults reported bites at low levels (1-5 bites); however, the majority were not in their resident municipality. We found two spatial profiles: In their home municipalities, people were most often bitten in less, but not the least, urbanized areas. When visiting other municipalities, people were most frequently bitten in peri-urban areas. Running/walking in the forest, gardening, and paddling/rowing were activities most strongly associated with bites. Conclusion Tick bites affect the entire Scandinavian population, with a higher risk in Sweden compared to Denmark and Norway. The frequency of observation of ticks in the environment or on pets might be used as a proxy for the actual risk of exposure to tick bites. Our results indicates that urban-dwelling outdoor enthusiasts and inhabitants of rural areas must be equally targeted for prevention campaigns.


This study aims to investigate the essential and unsolved issue during English learning in tertiary level. Unlike in high school, English is taught by using common lexicon and the students are required to communicate actively with uttered everyday conversation. Meanwhile, the vocabulary they received during their previous education failed to help them in further education. The writer assumed the fact that academic vocabulary mastery becomes the major problem in their comprehension in understanding academic articles, journal and research. Through this study, the writer found out that 50 students from English study program were on the unsatisfied level in the academic vocabulary mastery. About 76,3% respondents were on the poor to good level and around 23,7% were on the level good to very good. However, none of them is able to be on the excellent level of vocabulary mastery. Furthermore, the students' attitude towards the aspect of academic vocabulary mastery showed positive responds. They dominantly affirmed that Academic vocabulary help them understand better in reading academic papers. The knowledge of the academic vocabulary will build their confidence in their ability to read academic material and identify the important points in academic material better. Mastery in academic vocabulary considered very important for students to read more effectively, help them review lecture notes and do skimming and scanning more effectively in learning independently during their tertiary level education.


Introduction: The objective of this research was to explore the association between the presence of depressive symptoms and the existence of symptoms suggestive of urinary incontinence in a group of women treated in a public hospital in Peru. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted in women with "Seguro Integral de Salud" who attended the gynecology consultation room of Hospital Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrion during November and December of 2018. A sample was calculated with Epidat version 3.1 and the participants were selected by convenience. The main variables of interest were urinary incontinence and depression, both measured by validated measurement instruments: ICIQ-SF and self-assessment scale for Zung depression, respectively. Fisher's exact and Kruskall-Wallis were used to explore the association. Results: A total of 186 women aged between 40 and 60 years were studied. A total of 176 women (94,6%) defined themselves as incontinent and 183 as depression (98,4%). No association was found between the symptoms suggestive of depression with symptoms suggestive of urinary incontinence (p>0,05), but there was an association between the degree of depressive symptoms and the incontinence score (p = 0,0001). Conclusions: A considerable proportion of women suffer from depressive symptoms and urinary incontinence. On the other hand, there seems to be a possible association between urinary incontinence score and the severity of depressive symptoms. More studies are needed to explore this possible association to elucidate the impact that urinary incontinence has on the mood of women in Peru.


The topics of regional innovation systems (RIS) and cross-border regions attract increasing attention, but few studies combine the themes. Further, the existing empirical studies of cross-border innovation and knowledge creation analyse one case at one point in time, thus, making it difficult to assess the progress of integration in the regions, as well as the effect of cross-border innovation policies. Consequently, important questions are left unanswered, including the central research question of this paper: does the sudden removal of significant physical barriers directly impacts collaboration activity in cross-border innovation systems? This paper examines regional integration in the Øresund Region over time. It deals with a specific part of the RIS, as it analyses research collaboration between actors from the Danish and Swedish sides, with a specific emphasis on the biotech industry. Scientific collaboration constitutes an important element of a RIS, particularly in research-intensive sectors. The quantity and quality of co-authorships are used as indicators for research collaboration. The results indicate that the removal of internal barriers in a cross-border region can have a substantial and long-term positive effect on knowledge flows if a targeted policy effort is made. In the absence of such policies, no effect is found.


Industrial symbiosis is a collaborative approach concerning physical exchange of materials, energy, and services among different firms: accordingly, wastes produced by a given firm are exploited as inputs by other firms. This approach is able to generate remarkable environmental benefits, since it allows to reduce the amount of wastes disposed of in the landfill and the amount of primary inputs used by the industrial sector. It has been proved that the economic logic is the basis of symbiotic exchanges. Through industrial symbiosis, firms are interested to achieve competitive advantage coming from lower production costs and revenue increase. Therefore, the first requirement for the establishment of a symbiotic relationship is its economic sustainability for all the firms involved. In this paper, from the analysis of actual cases of industrial symbiosis, we develop a classification of business models oriented to the symbiotic approach. The classification is based on the different ways in which industrial symbiosis is able to generate economic benefits for the firm that implements it. Six different business models oriented to industrial symbiosis have been identified. The proposed classification could be useful at the company level, in order to promote the implementation of the symbiotic approach, providing a guide about how to integrate it within its current business models.


This thesis deals with the importance of hepatic iron and fat deposition in the context of chronic liver disease, with special focus on the role of the S65C mutation in the hemochromatosis (HFE) gene, the association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cryptogenic cirrhosis (CC) in patients evaluated for liver transplantation, the expressions of innate and adaptive immunity in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and the role of the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin in dysmetabolic iron overload (DIO). NAFLD is the most common liver disease in the Western world. Some patients with NAFLD develop NASH and are then at risk for progressive liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. NASH involves the innate immune system, but the role of the adaptive immune system in this context is less clear. A subgroup of patients with NAFLD develops DIO, the causes of which are unknown. Mutations of the HFE gene may be associated with DIO, but results are conflicting. The role of the most recently found HFE mutation, S65C, has not been known. Finally, in end-stage NASH cirrhosis, liver fat diminishes, and patients with CC may therefore have an underlying NAFLD. In study I the HFE S65C gene mutation was retrospectively studied in 296 patients with suspected iron overload and 250 healthy controls in order to determine the HFE S65C frequency, and evaluate whether this mutation would result in a significant hepatic iron overload or not. We found that the S65C allele was enriched in patients with high serum ferritin compared with controls, and half of the carriers of this allele had mild or moderate hepatic iron overload, but no signs of significant fibrosis. In study II, 39 patients with CC were compared with 431 patients having cirrhosis of other etiologies, to evaluate the presence of NAFLD in patients with CC and determine survival after liver transplantation. We found that 44% of the CC patients had an underlying NAFLD. CC patients had a higher frequency of diabetes, ascites, and hyponatremia compared with those having cirrhosis of other etiologies. Weight loss was significantly higher among patients with CC, but there was no difference in patient survival between the groups. In study III, liver biopsies from 49 patients with suspected NAFLD were classified according to the NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) and liver fat was assessed with morphometry. Biopsies were stained with various markers of T-cells, macrophages, apoptosis and cell adhesion molecules (ICAM-1). We found an increased number of regulatory T-cells (Tregs) and CD68 cells in NASH, pointing at an involvement of both the adaptive and innate immune systems. ICAM-1-positive hepatocytes were only seen in NASH livers and localized in areas with microvesicular fat, and the ICAM-1 level in serum was increased in patients with NASH. Study IV aimed to determine the association between hepcidin and iron parameters, lipid status and inflammatory markers in NAFLD in relation to other chronic liver diseases. Serum hepcidin was analyzed in 85 patients with chronic liver disease (38 of which had NAFLD) and 38 healthy controls. Liver biopsy was performed in 67 patients and hepcidin mRNA in liver was determined with real time-qPCR in 36 patients. We found that hepcidin regulation was similar in NAFLD compared to other chronic liver diseases with various degrees of hepatic iron overload. In NAFLD hepcidin correlated to serum ferritin and liver iron, but not to BMI, CRP, NAS or steatosis. Transferrin saturation, but not hepcidin, could be used to discriminate between hyperferritinemic NAFLD patients with or without iron overload. In conclusion, we found that the HFE S65C mutation leads to mild to moderate hepatic iron overload, but neither to clinically manifest hemochromatosis, nor extensive liver fibrosis. Re-evaluation of patient data in cryptogenic cirrhosis discovered underlying NAFLD in 44% of patients evaluated for liver transplantation. There was no difference in patient survival between cryptogenic patients and those having cirrhosis of a known etiology. In NASH, an involvement of the innate adaptive immunity is seen, and immunohistochemical markers of inflammation are localized to areas of microvesicular steatosis. Serum hepcidin levels in patients with NAFLD correlate adequately to iron parameters, but not to BMI, NAS or inflammatory markers.


BACKGROUND
Chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD) is one of the major therapies for uremic patients. However, the peritoneal mesothelial cells (PMCs) are subject to the injury by bioincompatible dialysates. The aim of this study is to investigate the protective roles and mechanisms of heat shock response in PMCs.

METHODS
Primary cultured human PMCs (HPMCs) were subjected to commercial peritoneal dialysates. The cell viability was assayed by MTT test and Annexin V assay. The expression of HSPs was detected by Western blots analysis. Intracellular hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion were detected using H(2)DCFDA and dHE probe, respectively, with flow cytometry. The mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsim) of HPMCs was evaluated using JC1 probe with flow-cytometry.

RESULTS
Exposure of HPMCs to 1.5%, 2.5%, and 4.25% dextrose, and 7.5% icodextrin dialysates, respectively, for 60 min resulted in significantly accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), DeltaPsim loss, and cell death in HPMCs. Amino acid dialysates exhibited no significant cytotoxicity. Adjusting the acidity in 1.5% dextrose and icodextrin dialysate significantly attenuated the dialysate-induced ROS generation and cell death in HPMCs. Heat pretreatment (41 degrees C, 30 minutes), which induced HSP 27 and 72 syntheses, significantly attenuated the dialysate-induced intracellular ROS accumulation, Dym loss, and cell death in HPMCs.

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, the acidic bioincompatible dialysates induce oxidative stress, DeltaPsim loss, and subsequent cell death in HPMCs. Amino acid dialysates is more biocompatible than glucose and icodextrin dialysates to HPMCs. Heat shock response protects HPMCs from the bioincompatible dialysates-induced cellular damage.


Imaging electromagnetic waveforms Understanding the dynamics of electrons and the spatial and temporal evolution of electromagnetic fields within a material or device is often the key to optimizing performance. Ryabov and Baum show that electron microscopy can be used to measure collective carrier motion and electromagnetic fields with subcycle and subwavelength resolution. As an example, they used a train of compressed electron pulses to produce movies of the electromagnetic excitation in an optical excited metamaterial component. Science, this issue p. 374 Electron microscopy images electromagnetic field oscillations with subcycle and subwavelength resolution. Rapidly changing electromagnetic fields are the basis of almost any photonic or electronic device operation. We report how electron microscopy can measure collective carrier motion and fields with subcycle and subwavelength resolution. A collimated beam of femtosecond electron pulses passes through a metamaterial resonator that is previously excited with a single-cycle electromagnetic pulse. If the probing electrons are shorter in duration than half a field cycle, then time-frozen Lorentz forces distort the images quasi-classically and with subcycle time resolution. A pump-probe sequence reveals in a movie the sample's oscillating electromagnetic field vectors with time, phase, amplitude, and polarization information. This waveform electron microscopy can be used to visualize electrodynamic phenomena in devices as small and fast as available.


This paper examines whether remittances from international migration impact on the occupational choice of left-behind youth in Kyrgyzstan. Labor supply is analyzed both at the extensive and intensive margins using cross-sectional data for 2011. To overcome endogeneity concerns, an instrumental variable approach was implemented. Findings demonstrate that migration, rather than remittances, pushes the left-behind youth to become unpaid family workers. This is explained by the substitution effect as the youth left behind are called upon to replace the migrant labor. Moreover, this effect is heterogeneous – female youth are more inclined to becoming unpaid family workers both at the extensive and intensive margins.


The spatial and energy distribution of spallation neutrons have an effect on the performance of Accelerator Driven Subcritical systems. In this work, the spatial, energy distribution of spallation neutrons and the effect of these factors on proton efficiency was studied. When the radius of spallation region increases, backward neutrons were found to have a rather big ratio and have a positive effect on proton efficiency. By making better use of these neutrons, we may increase the radius of target to satisfy some other requirements in the design of subcritical core.


The paper is about the parking 3-sphere swimmer ($\text{sPr}_3$). This is a low-Reynolds number model swimmer composed of three balls of equal radii. The three balls can move along three horizontal axes (supported in the same plane) that mutually meet at the center of $\text{sPr}_3$ with angles of $120^{\circ}$ . The governing dynamical system is introduced and the implications of its geometric symmetries revealed. It is then shown that, in the first order range of small strokes, optimal periodic strokes are ellipses embedded in 3d space, i.e. closed curves of the form $t\in [0,2\pi] \mapsto (\cos t)u + (\sin t)v$ for suitable orthogonal vectors $u$ and $v$ of $\mathbb{R}^3$. A simple analytic expression for the vectors $u$ and $v$ is derived. The results of the paper are used in a second article where the real physical dynamics of $\text{sPr}_3$ is analyzed in the asymptotic range of very long arms.


There are many applications of the geometric modelli ng in which it is necessary to accomplish decompositions of the geometric objects that intervene in the model, to facilit ate the analysis and design of the algorithms implicated in the resolution of particular problems. Triangulations, trapezoidations, convex decompositions and BSP (binary space partitioning trees) are some of the methods used for the polygon representation. In this work we present a new type of decomposition, based on triangles, valid for closed polygons, manifold and non-manifold, with or without holes. The structure as, well as the necessary algorithms for the calculation of the representation, is easy to implement. The resulting formula can be seen as a particular case of CSG representation of polygons, in which the primitives are triangles.


Abstract. Face detection algorithm based on a cascade of ensembles of decision trees (CEDT) is presented. The new approach allows detecting faces other than the front position through the use of multiple classifiers. Each classifier is trained for a specific range of angles of the rotation head. The results showed a high rate of productivity for CEDT on images with standard size. The algorithm increases the area under the ROC-curve of 13% compared to a standard Viola-Jones face detection algorithm. Final realization of given algorithm consist of 5 different cascades for frontal/non-frontal faces. One more thing which we take from the simulation results is a low computational complexity of CEDT algorithm in comparison with standard Viola-Jones approach. This could prove important in the embedded system and mobile device industries because it can reduce the cost of hardware and make battery life longer.


The thinning of the near-Earth current sheet during the growth phase of the CDAW 6 magnetospheric substorm is studied. The expansion onset of the substorm occurred at 1054 UT, March 22, 1979. During the growth phase, two spacecraft, ISEE 1 and ISEE 2, were within the current sheet approximately 13RE from the Earth and obtained simultaneous high-resolution magnetic data at two points in the current sheet. Plasma data were also provided by the ISEE spacecraft and solar wind data by IMP 8. To facilitate the analysis, the GSM magnetic field data are transformed to a "neutral sheet coordinate system" in which the new x axis is parallel to the average magnetic field above and below the neutral sheet and the new y axis lies in the GSM equatorial plane. A model based on the assumption that the current sheet is a time-invariant structure fails to predict neutral sheet crossing times. Consequently, the Harris sheet model, which allows one to remove the restriction of time invariancy, is used instead. It is found that during the growth phase, a model parameter corresponding to the thickness of the current sheet decreased exponentially from about 5RE to 1RE with a time constant of about 14 min. In addition, the ISEE 1 and ISEE 2 neutral sheet crossings after expansion onset indicate that the neutral sheet was moving upward at 7 km/s relative to the spacecraft. Since both crossings occurred in approximately 80 s, the current sheet thickness is estimated to be about 500 km. These results demonstrate that the near-Earth current sheet undergoes dramatic thinning during the substorm growth phase and expansion onset.


Studies were undertaken to explore the diversity of hymenopterans pollinators from a diverse agroecosystems of Himalayan foot hills comprising the orchards of pome and stone fruits at different altitudes from 2200 to 3000 m from sea level. Field experiments were conducted on seven commercial fruit orchards at five various localities. Out of the total 448 specimens, 60.94% were found in an antemeridian (A.M.) phase and 39.06% specimens were found in post-meridian (P.M.) indicating their activity both diurnal and crepuscular. Rank abundance values revealed that 9 species in 5 genera belonged to four families of order Hymenoptera comprising the diversity of Osmia cornifrons Panzer, Anthophora niveo-cincta (Smith), Anthophora himalayensis Rad., Anthophora crocea Bangham , Bombus tunicatus (Smith), Xylocopa dissimilis Lepel., Xylocopa rufescens Smith, Andrena harrietae Bangham and Andrena anonyma Cam. The calculated values of all diversity indices showed that the lowest diversity was found in a monoculture fruit habitat with well weeded orchards, whereas the diversity of pollinators was found greater in multiple cultures with partially weeded orchards particularly during the successional stage of full bloom in both pomes and stone fruits. A significant difference in the pollinators' population was seen in the orchards with undisturbed surroundings. The natural ecosystem offers more opportunities of refuges for the insect pollinators compare to those orchards with clean cultivation. Key words : Diversity, agro-ecosystem, fruit orchards, hymenopterans pollinators, monoculture.


Up till now, the problem of Uyghur identity construction has been studied from an almost exclusively anthropological perspective. Little Western research has been done on the history of the Uyghur community in the Soviet Union during the period of national delimitation, and the process by which a re-invented 'Uyghur' identity was fostered among settled Turkicspeakers of East Turkestani origin. In this paper I have set out to trace some of the key events and debates which formed part of that process. In doing so I provide evidence that challenges certain aspects of the standard account of this period, in particular the role of the 1921 Tashkent conference. In 1921 the term 'Uyghur' was not used an ethnic designation, but as an umbrella term for various peoples with family roots in Eastern Turkestan. It was not until several years later that the term took its place beside other ethnonyms in the Soviet Union, provoking debate and opposition in the Soviet Uyghur press. This paper is largely based on the recently republished writings of leading Uyghur activists and journalists from the 1920s, and focuses on the role of the Uyghur Communist Abdulla Rozibaqiev. My paper attempts to demonstrate the importance of basing the study of Uyghur history on Uyghur language sources, rather than Russian or Chinese materials alone.


This study was conducted to show the effects of rangeland conversion into agricultural land uses in terms of on plant and soil degradation in Choram rangeland, Iran. Three sites, including dry farming, horticultural and rangeland were selected. Across site, vegetation factors such as plant production, canopy cover and density were measured. Soil samples were extracted at depths of 0-30 and 30-60 cm. The highest plant productions (60 kg ha-1), vegetation cover (30%) and density of class I (3 n m-2) were recorded in the rangeland. The lowest plant productions (19 kg ha-1), vegetation cover (0.41%) and density of class I, II and III ( 2, 7, 6 n m-2, respectively) were measured in the horticultural land use. Except saturation percentage, clay, silt and sand there were not significant differences among the soil properties of land uses. However, at depth of 30-60 cm the highest significant organic matter (14.33 kg ha-1) and potassium (0.84%) were measured in the rangeland and dry farming land uses, respectively. Habitat conversion from the rangeland to arable lands could change the species properties and result in the reduction of vegetation cover and reduction of soil quality.


The large number of network nodes and the energy constraints make Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) one of the most important application fields for Cooperative Diversity. Node cooperation increases the spatial diversity of wireless channels and, thus, reduces the transmitted power. In this paper, we propose a multi-hop WSN with nodes grouped in cooperative clusters that exploits transmit and receive cooperation among cluster nodes. Multi-hop transmission is carried out by concatenating single cluster-to-cluster hops, where every cluster-to-cluster link is defined as a cooperative distributed multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channel. Transmit diversity is exploited through a time-division, decoder-and-forward, relaying scheme based upon two time slots: the Intracluster Slot, used for data sharing within the cluster, and the Intercluster Slot, used for transmission between clusters. At the receiver side, a distributed reception protocol is devised based upon a Selection Diversity algorithm. The proposed multi-hop cooperative WSN is optimally designed for minimum end-to-end outage probability by deriving the optimum time and power allocated on the intracluster and intercluster slots of every single hop, given a per-link energy constraint. A simplified suboptimum resource allocation is also proposed, which performs close to the optimal policy. Results show that the proposed scheme achieves diversity equal to the equivalent MIMO system and significantly reduces energy consumption with respect to. the non-cooperative channel


OBJECTIVE
Seeing one's own blood may be a factor in affect regulation in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). This study examined changes in a negative (NA) and positive affect (PA) in response to a finger prick eliciting a small drop of participants' blood.

METHODS
Two groups (NSSI; N = 56 and Control; N = 70) of undergraduate students were randomly assigned to receive a finger prick and look at blood, receive a finger prick and not look at blood, or receive a sham finger prick. Following a mood induction, participants completed the PANAS three times: Time 1 (pre mood-induction, baseline), Time 2 (post-mood induction), and Time 3 (post-finger prick condition), and a Pain Severity Scale.

RESULTS
A significant three-way interaction revealed that the NSSI: Blood Group had an increased positive effect between Time 2 and Time 3.

CONCLUSION
Blood serves an important function in NSSI and requires additional research to fully understand the relationship.


Background: To evaluate combination treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab injection and reduced fluence photodynamic therapy for choroidal neovascularization associated with angioid streaks. Methods: This is an interventional case series of 10 previously untreated eyes of 10 patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to angioid streaks. All eyes were treated with reduced fluence photodynamic therapy using 25 J/cm2, immediately followed by intravitreal ranibizumab injection at baseline, and subsequent injections were performed on an as-needed basis thereafter. Treatment efficacy was assessed based on best-corrected visual acuity and optical coherence tomography findings. Results: After 12 months of follow-up, the best-corrected visual acuity improved by >2 lines in 6 eyes (60%), remained within 2 lines of baseline in 3 eyes (30%), and decreased by ≥3 lines in only 1 eye (10%). The mean central foveal thickness decreased significantly from 332.2 μm at baseline to 235.7 μm at the last follow-up (P < 0.001), as measured by optical coherence tomography. Conclusion: The preliminary results of this prospective study indicate that combination treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab injection and reduced fluence photodynamic therapy for choroidal neovascularization associated with angioid streaks seems to be effective in reducing or eliminating retinal edema, regression of neovascularization, and improving or stabilizing visual acuity without any complications. Large controlled studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of this combination regimen.


Spinning up an extragalactic neutron star Ultraluminous x-ray sources (ULXs) are strange objects in other galaxies that cannot be explained by conventional accretion onto stellar-mass objects. This has led to exotic interpretations, such as the long-sought intermediate-mass black holes. Israel et al. observed a ULX in the nearby galaxy NGC 5907 and found that it is instead a neutron star. The spinning neutron star is accreting material so fast that its spin period is quickly accelerating. The only way that it can consume enough material to explain these properties is if it has a strong multipolar magnetic field. Science, this issue p. 817 An ultraluminous x-ray source in NGC 5907 is a spinning neutron star with a complex magnetic field. Ultraluminous x-ray sources (ULXs) in nearby galaxies shine brighter than any x-ray source in our Galaxy. ULXs are usually modeled as stellar-mass black holes (BHs) accreting at very high rates or intermediate-mass BHs. We present observations showing that NGC 5907 ULX is instead an x-ray accreting neutron star (NS) with a spin period evolving from 1.43 seconds in 2003 to 1.13 seconds in 2014. It has an isotropic peak luminosity of ~1000 times the Eddington limit for a NS at 17.1 megaparsec. Standard accretion models fail to explain its luminosity, even assuming beamed emission, but a strong multipolar magnetic field can describe its properties. These findings suggest that other extreme ULXs (x-ray luminosity ≥ 1041 erg second−1) might harbor NSs.


The phosphates which have a relationship to the dental caries problems are chiefly inorganic compounds. Our contribution to this topic concerns the direct action of various phosphates on acid formation by oral micro-organisms and on the resistance of tooth enamel to decalcification. Such knowledge seems to have more bearing on possible mechanisms of cariostatic action of phosphates than upon the chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology of edible phosphates, the heading under which it was originally scheduled. Several years ago I developed a technique for study of glycolysis inhibition. The procedure involved formation of 0.3-mm. films of salivary sediment, which were placed in


In the quantum metrology, applications of quantum techniques based on entanglement bring in some better performances than conventional approaches. We experimentally investigate an application of entanglement in accurate ranging based on the second-order coherence in the time domain. By a fitting algorithm in the data processing, the optimization results show a precision of ±200 μm at a distance of 1043.3m. In addition, the influence of jamming noise on the ranging scheme is studied. With some different fitting parameters, the result shows that the proposed scheme has a powerful anti-jamming capability for white noise.


INTRODUCTION
The central nervous system can regulate the input of acoustic information to the cochlea by means of the olivocochlear efferent system's action on the organ of Corti. The aim of this study was to determine whether the suppressor effect of contralateral acoustic stimulation shows frequency selectivity in active cochlear mechanisms by recording transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs).

MATERIAL AND METHOD
We conducted a prospective study of 56 subjects with normal-hearing ears aged 20 to 22 years (mean 5 20.9 years); 50% were male and 50% were female. We studied the amplitude of each TEOAE and DPOAE frequency band before and after contralateral acoustic stimulation with broadband white noise, 0 to 20,000 Hz frequency range, and pure tones of 700, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 Hz, at an intensity of 60 dB HL.

RESULTS
TEOAE recording amplitudes decreased 84% after contralateral acoustic stimulation. White noise and pure tones of 1000, 1500, and 2000 Hz had the greatest suppressor effects on the TEOAEs. The suppressor effect was higher in 1000 to 4000 Hz frequency bands, with a statistically significant decrease in amplitudes of 0.5 to 2.5 dB. Distortion product amplitude decreased 75%. Stimulation with white noise and pure-tone contralateral stimulation at 1000 and 1500 Hz showed the highest decrease in DPOAE amplitude. Suppression was concentrated in DPOAEs obtained with F2 of 1500 and 2000 Hz.

CONCLUSION
Contralateral acoustic stimulation causes selective frequency modulation of the cochlear micromechanisms, which can be assessed by recording TEOAEs and DPOAEs.


This is a collection of oral histories, essays, poems, short stories and art work by and about Latina lesbians. In these pieces, some in Spanish, most in English, 47 women born in ten different countries address issues such as coming out, relationships with families and friends, political organizing and community-building. Originally published in 1987 by the Latina Lesbian History Project, the voices in this volume explore the process of self-commitment to a political struggle to end all forms of oppression and offer a testimony which helps to break the silence surrounding the lives and opinions of Latina lesbians.


SUMMARY Maize (Zea mays L.) plants parasitized by the root hemi-parasitic angiosperm, Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth., consistently display a range of symptoms similar to those found in droughted plants. The mechanisms by which these changes occur are largely unknown. However, S. hermonthica has unusually high rates of transpiration, and stomata which are relatively insensitive to water deficit. Consequently, it has often been suggested that the parasite might cause a severe depletion of the available water in the host's rooting zone. To determine whether the lower stomatal conductance and retarded growth of infected plants could be a result of parasite-induced water deficit, we have monitored the matric potential of the growth medium, water use, growth and stomatal conductance of infected vs. uninfected maize plants. Host plant height and stomatal conductance of parasitized plants were significantly lower than those of control plants from 31 or 37 d after planting (d.a.p.) respectively. However, there was no indication of an increase in the rate of water depletion in the rooting zone of infected plants until approx. 63 d into the parasitic association. In fact, from 39 until 59 d.a.p. infected plants used less water than uninfected control plants, probably the result of the plants having fewer expanded leaves during part of this period, combined with the lower stomatal conductance exhibited by the infected plants from day 37 onwards. Leaf RWC of infected plants was unchanged in comparison with that of uninfected plants, therefore the change in stomatal conductance was not a response to dehydration of the leaf tissue. Our results indicate that parasitism by S. hermonthica does not cause an increase in water uptake/use in the host until well after most of the symptoms of infection have become fully established. It is highly unlikely, therefore, that the observed effects on the host are primarily due to soil water deficit.


African‐American women are at higher risk for breast cancer mortality compared with their white counterparts. Furthermore, African‐American women present for diagnosis and treatment later in the disease process. It may be expected that this greater disease burden would impose more symptoms compared with women who present with earlier stage disease. However, the effect of breast cancer on the quality of life of African‐American women largely has been unexplored.


A fundamental assumption of sexual selection theory is that the reproductive advantage of large size is balanced by a survival disadvantage. Previous studies of the sexually size-dimorphic red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) have indicated that the largest adult males have a survival advantage, suggesting that the limit to male size may be the cost of getting big rather than the cost of being big. If the cost of getting big limits male size, then starvation rates for male nestlings should exceed those of female nestlings. In addition, given high heritability of body size, larger parents should lose more nestlings, particularly males, to starvation. We tested these predictions for red-winged blackbirds using data on the sex of 1356 fledglings from 465 nests collected over 10 years. We found no disadvantage for male nestlings relative to females – 49% of fledglings were male and previous research had shown that 48% of hatchlings are male. We also found no disadvantage for male nestlings that would become large adults (i.e. those with larger parents) – partial brood loss and fledging sex ratios did not vary with mid-parent size. Given no apparent disadvantage to large size for males either as adults or as nestlings, this leaves only the period between fledging and adulthood during which natural selection might limit sexual size dimorphism, although other mechanisms might explain the failure to find a limit to male size. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 85, 353–361.


We report our first experience with a new microprocessor device for assisting individuals with diabetes in the adjustment of insulin therapy. The computer weighs 200 g and can receive, store, and analyze patient-entered capillary blood glucose (CBG) data on an ongoing basis. Changes in the injected mixtures of short- and intermediate-acting insulins are recommended according to algorithms designed to bring the premeal CBG levels to any desired target value set by the physician. Throughout the present study, the premeal target glucose level was set to 110 mg/dl. Seven (type I) insulin-dependent diabetic individuals ranging in age from 11 to 43 yr were selected to participate in the first use of a BCMC (Better Control Medical Computers, Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada) computer on an outpatient basis. All subjects were concerned about diabetes control and were fully informed about as well as thoroughly practiced in the use of manual insulin dosage adjustment schemes, based on ≈ 4 times daily CBG estimation, as currently taught in our diabetes clinics. During the last 7 days of the control period of self-adjustment, their mean ± SEM CBG levels (measured before breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime snack) were, respectively, 178 ± 20, 187 ± 35, 208 ± 22, and 207 ± 13 mg/dl. Immediately after the control period they were given the device and were instructed in the procedure for entering glycemic data and following manufacturer's recommendations in regard to insulin dosages. This experimental period lasted 8 wk and the outcome was assessed as before. Thus, 8 wk after starting daily use of the instrument, all glycemic values measured as before had fallen significantly (P < 0.005–0.05) closer to normal: 116 ± 9, 110 ± 6, 148 ± 15, and 135 ± 9 mg/dl, respectively. Concurrently there was also a significant (P < 0.01) reduction in the variability of glycemia measured before the main meals. During this 2-mo interval, glycosylated hemoglobin A1 fractions also fell in each subject and for the group the mean fell from 11.7 ± 0.5% to 9.6 ± 0.3% (P < 0.005). (Upper limit of normal was 9.0%.) Changes in life-style were neither necessary nor encouraged. Individual-injected insulin dosages in the twicedaily mixtures were modified for each subject, but overall for the group, only the mean intermediateacting insulin at breakfast was increased significantly from 28 ± 3 to 39 ± 5 U (P < 0.05). Immediately after the experimental period, the device was returned by 6 of 7 patients, who thereafter reverted to manual-dosage adjustment similar to the control period. During this follow-up period, metabolic control deteriorated, as evidenced by increases in glycosylated hemoglobin in all except the one subject who kept the device and in whom this index of diabetes control has remained unchanged at a level in the normal range for > 18 mo. We conclude from these studies that a microprocessor-based device can receive, store, and interpret patient-entered CBG measurements and in reference to these data recommend day-to-day changes in insulin therapy. Over a period of 8 wk, these dosage changes clearly improved glycemic control. In this regard, reductions occurred in both the mean premeal glycemia and its variability, as well as in the glycosylated hemoglobin fractions, all key indices of metabolic control. In light of these findings, it appears that the use of a computer may well provide both the concerned individual with diabetes mellitus and his physician with a new and practical method for significantly improving metabolic control by directly optimizing conventional insulin therapy.


OBJECTIVE
Pressure injuries (PI) are largely preventable and can be viewed as an adverse outcome of a healthcare admission, yet they affect millions of people and consume billions of dollars in healthcare spending. The existing literature in Australia presents a patchy picture of the economic burden of PI on society and the health system. The aim of the present study was to provide a more comprehensive and updated picture of PI by state and severity using publicly available data.

METHODS
A cost-of-illness analysis was conducted using a prevalence approach and a 1-year time horizon based on data from the existing literature extrapolated using simulation methods to estimate the costs by PI severity and state subgroups.

RESULTS
The treatment cost across all states and severity in 2012-13 was estimated to be A$983 million per annum, representing approximately 1.9% of all public hospital expenditure or 0.6% of the public recurrent health expenditure. The opportunity cost was valued at an additional A$820 million per annum. These estimates were associated with a total number of 121 645 PI cases in 2012-13 and a total number of 524 661 bed days lost.

CONCLUSIONS
The costs estimated in the present study highlight the economic waste for the Australian health system associated with a largely avoidable injury. Wastage can also be reduced by preventing moderate injuries (Stage I and II) from developing into severe cases (Stage III and IV), because the severe cases, accounting for 12% of cases, mounted to 30% of the total cost.


Approximately 30%-40% of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) meet criteria for a comorbid anxiety disorder in clinical samples (Tannock, 2009), but little is known about treatment response for this subgroup. The current study evaluated processes of change in a psychosocial treatment designed for children with ADHD and anxiety (Jarrett & Ollendick, 2012). Processes included the slope of symptom change during treatment, the temporal relations between ADHD and anxiety symptoms during treatment, and changes in neurocognitive functioning, parent-child relationships, and family functioning. Treatment involved a combination of parent management training for ADHD and family based cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety. Sessions lasted approximately 90 min, and the treatment consisted of 10 weekly sessions. Eight children ages 8-12 with ADHD, combined type (ADHD-C), and at least 1 of 3 anxiety disorders (separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia) were selected for the study. The study utilized a single-case design with weekly measures of ADHD and anxiety symptoms along with pretreatment, midtreatment, and 1-week posttreatment assessments. Slopes of symptom change and temporal relationships among symptom domains were examined using simulation modeling analysis (Borckardt et al., 2008), while other analyses involved standard comparisons across time points. Results generally supported declining slopes for ADHD and anxiety and greater concurrent change between anxiety and hyperactivity/impulsivity than anxiety and inattention. Few changes were found for neurocognitive functioning, but some changes were found for parent-child relationships and family functioning. Future studies are needed to better understand the treatment of ADHD and comorbid anxiety.


Empirical evidence suggests the existence of a positive relationship between fear of sickness (FS) - as measured by the level of future utility lost when sickness occurs - and the level of effort to prevent the occurrence of sickness. By looking theoretically at this issue, we develop new results on the determinants of optimal prevention for health risks. In particular, we show that a sufficient condition to pursue more prevention for an individual with a higher FS than another is to have lower prudence in Kimball's (1990) sense, whatever the distribution of risk. These findings reinforce the role of prudence as a main determinant of the optimal level of prevention.


Background Data: Posterior atlantoaxial fixation is indicated for C1-C2 instability or painful osteoarthritis. Different techniques were designed for atlantoaxial fixation as sublaminar wiring, transarticular screw fixation, and, recently, C1 lateral mass and C2 pedicle polyaxial screws and rod system. Purpose: To investigate the safety, advantages, and complications of posterior atlantoaxial fixation with polyaxial C1 lateral mass and C2 pedicle screws in C1-C2 instability. Study Design: A retrospective clinical case series. Patients and Methods: Fourteen consecutive patients, ten males and four females, with a mean age of 40.8±9.6 years were reported. All had traumatic C1-2 instability due to type II odontoid fractures and underwent posterior fixation with polyaxial C1 lateral mass and C2 pedicle screws. Nine patients suffered from motor vehicle accident (MVA) and 5 suffered from falls. All patients were neurologically intact except four patients who had neurological deficits. We used Japanese Orthopedic Association Score (JOA) for their functional evaluation. The average follow-up was 17±1.96 (range, 12–20 months). Operative time, operative blood loss, screw trajectory, screw length, and injury of neurovascular structures were reported. Fusion and construct stability were evaluated by plain radiography and/or CT. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of neck pain and JOA were used to evaluate the functional outcome. Results: The mean duration of surgery was 175.3±12.3 min. The mean blood loss was 553.6±106.5 ml and two patients required transfusion of one unit of blood. The mean length of C1 lateral mass and C2 pedicle screws were 30±1.6 mm and 16.4±1.8 mm, respectively. Correct screw placement and good stability were reported in all patients (100%) at the last follow-up. Mean neck pain on VAS was 2.8±0.8 and 2.3±0.5 at 6 and 12 months, respectively. The complications included moderate pain at iliac graft site for 3 months in 2 patients, pain and dysesthesia in C2 dermatome for 4 months in 3 patients, and superficial wound infection in 2 patients. Conclusion: Posterior atlantoaxial fixation with polyaxial C1 lateral mass and C2 pedicle screws is a safe and effective method in the treatment of traumatic atlantoaxial subluxation due to type II odontoid fractures. (2019ESJ176)


Abstract. The purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of liver disease on the hepatic drug‐metabolizing enzyme systems. The clearance of antipyrine was found to be significantly decreased in 13 patients with liver disease compared with 9 control patients (18.5 and 58.6 ml/min. respectively). Among the patients with liver disease, those with a severely reduced capacity for work had significantly lower clearance of antipyrine than non incapacitated patients (12.5 and 25.4 ml/min. respectively). The clearance of antipyrine was significantly correlated with the galactose elimination capacity, the serum albumin and the prothrombin values. The results indicate that the drug‐metabolizing capacity of the liver changes in parallel with the other metabolic functions, and the use of the clearance of antipyrine as a quantitative test of liver function is suggested.


The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of 2.4 MeV proton irradiation on the dielectric property of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microfibre nondestructively. The dielectric constant εd of single-microfibre has been measured as-such applying laser diffraction technique. Applying this methodology εd is found out to be slightly increases with proton fluence except at the fluence 1013 p/cm2 where material shows maximum crosslinking. The variations of the biological interaction with εd of PET material are correlated. Proton beam modified PET microfibre is therefore accepted to have further potential applications in radiation processing tissue response microfibre, fabrication of medical devices etc.


Hemangiomas in infants and children are managed best by intelligent neglect. Other entities in this category are umbilical hernia, lingua fraenata (tonguetie) and the small ventricular septal defect. Vascular birthmarks pose a common management problem to physicians of almost every speciality because parents frequently seek treatment for such lesions. Although the phenomenon of spontaneous involution of hemangiomas in children was reported 77 years ago and further emphasized in recent articles,1-6many authors7-10continue to advocate or discuss active treatment. During the past seven years we have followed the course of 210 patients will 336 hemangiomas. Active treatment was not used in our patients. Some of the unfortunate complications of active treatment which occurred in children who received therapy elsewhere will be noted. We wish to reemphasize that progressive involution does occur with eventual complete regression in the majority of cutaneous hemangiomas. Description of Hemangiomas The subjects comprised 210


Toxilogical screening was carri ed out on seeds of five wild leguminous plants: Delonix regia, Cassia tora, Sesbania sesban, Crotalaria naragutensis and Tamarindus indica. The animals used in the toxicological screening were mice and rats. The leguminoous seeds have high protein contents which range between 21.1 % for S. sesban and 47.7% for C. naragutensis, while the mineral elements detected in appreciable quantities were calcium, magnesium, potassium, icon, cooper, zinc, phosphorus and sodium. Oxalate contents were very low and they range between 0.03% for S. sesban and 0.09% for C. tora. Acute toxicity test for 12 days using mice and rats given water extracts of the five legumes through the oral and intraperitoneal routes produced no visible negative effects. The treatment instead resulted in increases in fresh weights of the rats and mice when compared with the control aniínals that were fed or injected distilled water. There were also increases in blood sera protein and sugar contents of rats injected intraperi toneally with concentrated water extracts. Similar results were obtained in the prolonged toxicity screening.


According to the characteristics of Business English Writing Course,this essay analyses the teaching status, then in the frame of communication theory, it puts forward a new teaching model—PIADA. It is proved that this new teaching model can explore the teacher's subjective initiative, mobilize the enthusiasm of the students fully, make the teaching process more systematic and scientific, and eventually greatly improve students' English writing ability.


The alpha2 and Mcm1 proteins bind DNA as a heterotetramer to repress transcription of cell-type-specific genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Based on the DNA sequence requirements for binding by the alpha2-Mcm1 complex, we have searched the yeast genome for all potential alpha2-Mcm1 binding sites. Genes adjacent to the sites were examined for expression in the different cell mating types. These sites were further analyzed by cloning the sequences into a heterologous promoter and assaying for alpha2-Mcm1-dependent repression in vivo and DNA-binding affinity in vitro. Fifty-nine potential binding sites were identified in the search. Thirty-seven sites are located within or downstream of coding region of the gene. None of the sites assayed from this group are functional repressor sites in vivo or bound by the alpha2-Mcm1 complex in vitro. Among the remaining 22 sites, six are in the promoters of known alpha-specific genes and two other sites have an alpha2-Mcm1-dependent role in determining the direction of mating type switching. Among the remaining sequences, we have identified a functional site located in the promoter region of a previously uncharacterized gene, SCYJL170C. This site functions to repress transcription of a heterologous promoter and the alpha2-Mcm1 complex binds to the site in vitro. SCYJL170C is repressed by alpha2-Mcm1 in vivo and therefore using this method we have identified a new a-specific gene, which we call ASG7.


This paper will attempt to answer what the current state of contemporary democracy in Mexico is after the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to the presidency by analysing the role of Civil Society, Political Society and the Rule of Law from 2012 to 2018. This paper will also explore if the party's return was indeed a step backwards in the process of Mexican democratisation, or whether it was simply another step on a long road in which the various political parties alternate power. In 2018, Mexico elected its new president for the next consecutive 6 years along with a fair number of congressional seats and local gubernatorial posts, an election that again put Mexican democracy through a difficult test.


Abstract The design is described of a high pressure and temperature oedometer capable of simulating the migration of waste fluids through argillaceous sediments. Innovatory features are the methods of controlling the pressure and flow rate of the pore fluids, the hardfacing of the piston and cylinder containing the specimen and the provision of dynamic sealing which is stable at elevated temperatures and pressures over long periods of time.


This research has outlined 2 objectives: to develop a personal Short Messaging Service (SMS) server that is easy to manage by school IT teacher and to develop an SMS application system which is cost effective and does not tied up to the SMS Gateway Service Provider. The Rational Unified Process (RUP) methodology is implemented in this research where the researcher could iteratively do the system development during each phase. The literature review shows most of the Content Delivery SMS services used by people nowadays are rely on the commercial system developer and the SMS Gateway Provider which provides the expensive 5 digits unique number. But the SMS application system developed through this research only need minimum development and maintenance cost and suitable to be used in the school environment. The product of this research is the SMS application system that can avoid the reliance of the Content Delivery SMS application of the student examination result to the SMS Gateway Provider and the commercial SMS application developer. This system can be managed totally by school staff via selected telco without involving the third party as a SMS Gateway Provider as well as the commercial SMS application developer. This system also can be expanded to be another SMS application that is suitable to be implemented in school only by creating tables in the database that has been provided and develop some simple user interface.


A French person perusing some Burkinabe novels would undoubtedly be surprised or even baffled by tense transitions. These are
often not typical, and the purists of the French language would unquestionably condemn them. Yet, these transitions express the
potentials inherent in the French tense system. Some linguistic theories, like Benveniste's, if not used mechanically and sketchily,
may help account for these "turbulence zones," as some people have labelled them. My paper aims to show how, in most
Burkinabe novels, this tense transition game allows for switching from one tense to another: from the Past Perfect (PP) to the
Simple Past (SP) and Pluperfect (PLP), from the Present PRES to the Imperfect (IMP), and from the Future (FUT) to the
Conditional (COND). This takes place in all narrative spaces, in a perfect linguistic legality. Some have explained these often
unpredictable transitions as being the result of a switch between, a telescoping, of two different types of narration, two
enunciation points of view of the narrator (linked diegesis and autonomous diegesis). However, this switching-telescoping may
also be interpreted as the narrator oscillating between a written narration and an oral narration. We see this phenomenon as
a form of intrusion or irruption, not necessarily a conscious one, of orality into writing. Hence, Burkinabe novels are heterogeneous
in nature, evolving between writing and orality, and this is one of the manifest trends of novel writing in Burkina Faso. Keywords : Verbal temporality, semantics, discourse analysis, francophone literature. > Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Vol. 44 (1) 2007 pp. 51-69


This study presents a novel optimisation algorithm biogeography-based optimisation (BBO) for thinning large multiple concentric circular ring arrays. The objective is to achieve an array of uniformly excited isotropic antennas that will generate a narrow beam with minimum relative sidelobe level (SLL). BBO is a new comprehensive force based on the science of biogeography. Biogeography is the schoolwork of geographical allotment of biological organisms. BBO utilises migration operator to share information between the problem solutions. The problem solutions are known as habitats and sharing of features is called migration. In this study, the authors propose pattern synthesis method to reduce the SLLs with narrow beamwidth (BW) by making the ring array thinned using the BBO algorithm. The thinning percentage of the array is kept equal to or more than 50% and the BW is kept equal to or less than that of a fully populated, uniformly excited and 0.5λw, spaced concentric circular ring array of same number of elements and rings. The results obtained are compared with previous published results of modified particle swarm optimisation and differential evolution with global and local neighbourhoods.


Abstract We show that extendible bilinear forms can be represented in an integral form. The representation requires the use of bimeasures. We then study some properties of these extendible bilinear forms and see how they are related to the Grothendieck inequality.


This paper describes brand-new layer-1 bandwidth on demand (BoD) services implemented in the new Japanese academic backbone network, called SINET3. SINET3 is an advanced converged network that provides multi-layer transfer, enriched VPN, enhanced QoS, and layer-1 BoD services. The layer-1 BoD services are dynamic layer-1 resource allocation services directly triggered by users and artfully achieved on the multi-service platform by using a layer-1 BoD server. This paper first explains how the network accommodates a wide variety of network services by effectively combining leading-edge technologies. The paper next describes the overall mechanism for the dynamic layer-1 path setup on the multi-service platform and details the functions of the BoD server in many aspects. The designs focus on the tangible achievement of these services over a nationwide network composed of 75 layer-1 switches and 12 IP/MPLS routers.


Introduction: Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at higher risk for developmental delays than the general population. The American Heart Association (AHA) published a guideline to address these concerns in 2012. This study determined the neurodevelopmental evaluation and referral practices of practitioners in central South Africa. Method: An online survey was administered to practitioners (n=45) including paediatric cardiologists (n=4), cardiothoracic surgeons (n=4) and general paediatricians (n=37). Information on practitioner characteristics, awareness of the 2012 AHA guideline; and neurodevelopmental evaluation and referral practices was collected. Results: Twenty-one practitioners responded, including paediatric cardiologists (n=4), cardiothoracic surgeons (n=2) and paediatricians (n=15). Data for 20 practitioners was included. Despite most practitioners (n=18) indicating guidelines for the management of development were important, the majority (n=16; 80%) were unaware of the guideline. Most practitioners (n=18; 90%) failed to risk stratify children to identify those to be evaluated. Children with developmental delays were referred for formal developmental evaluation (n=11; 55%) and to intervention therapies (n= 15; 75%). Conclusion: Most practitioners are unaware of the 2012 AHA guideline. Awareness of the developmental risks associated with CHD and implementation of the guideline could promote early identification of developmental delays with referral to intervention therapies.


We examined the level of expression of CD11b on eosinophils in pripheral blood samples from patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and non-AD volunteers. Eosinophils were defined using a new method employing CD14/CD45 and a backgate technique. Overexpression of CD11b was noted in eosinophils of AD patients. Treatment of AD with cyclosporin A resulted in clinical improvement as well as reduction in the expression of CD11b. Stimulation of eosinophils from patients with inactive AD by interleukin 5 upregulated the expression of CD11b on these cells. Our results suggest that the expression of CD11b surface molecule on eosinophils may play an important role in the activity of AD.


The sonnet is a little poem with a big heart – and at its core lie subjectivity and gender. Both words are grammatically basic yet surprisingly slippery. Although people usually think they know what gender means, subjectivity is a more specialized term, a word that puns on the tensions it captures: whether or not one is familiar with the subject–object split (a basic philosophical problem associated with epistemology since Descartes), the essence of the matter is that the subject of a sentence is also 'subjected' to forces beyond itself. Moreover, the human grammatical subject, the self that is supposed to be 'one', also knows itself to be multiple and unruly – if 'one' is inclined to a modicum of introspection, as poets are wont to be. What does it mean poetically, then, to express one's own subjectivity, to speak (metaphorically) in one's own voice? The sonnet form originated in an age when poets were also political 'subjects' to princes, when emotions were perceived as external forces pressuring internal spirits and when earthly experience was deemed subject to heavenly will; the sonnet allowed poets a fourteen-line space in which they could at least articulate, if not exert, their own wills. As Europeans in a hierarchical world that presumed male superiority even if exceptional virgins were subjects of veneration, writers of the first love sonnets expressed the cultural and social paradoxes their desires engendered, as well as their personal experiences of emotional contradiction. Out of this maelstrom arose the split personalities that would become models of great art, and the richly expressive vocabularies that would allow centuries of poetic followers – including women and non-Europeans – to make the sonnet their own, adapting it to capture vastly different perspectives, needs, values and definitions of selves.


In the presence of complex stimuli, in the absence of sufficient time to complete the visual parsing of a scene, or when attention is divided, an observer can only take in a subset of the features of a scene, potentially leading to poor decisions. In this paper we look at the possibility of integrating the percepts from multiple non-communicating observers as a means of achieving better joint perception and better decision making. Our approach involves the combination of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology with human behavioural responses. To test our ideas in controlled conditions, we asked observers to perform a simple visual matching task involving the rapid sequential presentation of pairs of visual patterns and the subsequent decision as whether the two patterns in a pair were the same or different. Visual stimuli were presented for insufficient time for the observers to be certain of the decision. The degree of difficulty of the task also depended on the number of matching features between the two patterns. The higher the number, the more difficult the task. We recorded the response times of observers as well as a neural feature which predicts incorrect decisions and, thus, indirectly indicates the confidence of the decisions made by the observers. We then built a composite neuro-behavioural feature which optimally combines these behavioural and neural measures. For group decisions, we tested the use of a majority rule and three further decision rules which weigh the decisions of each observer based on response times and our neural and neuro-behavioural features. Results indicate that the integration of behavioural responses and neural features can significantly improve accuracy when compared with individual performance. Also, within groups of each size, decision rules based on such features outperform the majority rnle.


The interval join is a basic operation that finds application in temporal, spatial, and uncertain databases. Although a number of centralized and distributed algorithms have been proposed for the efficient evaluation of interval joins, classic plane sweep approaches have not been considered at their full potential. A recent piece of related work proposes an optimized approach based on plane sweep (PS) for modern hardware, showing that it greatly outperforms previous work. However, this approach depends on the development of a complex data structure and its parallelization has not been adequately studied. In this paper, we explore the applicability of a largely ignored forward scan (FS) based plane sweep algorithm, which is extremely simple to implement. We propose two optimizations of FS that greatly reduce its cost, making it competitive to the state-of-the-art single-threaded PS algorithm while achieving a lower memory footprint. In addition, we show the drawbacks of a previously proposed hash-based partitioning approach for parallel join processing and suggest a domain-based partitioning approach that does not produce duplicate results. Within our approach we propose a novel breakdown of the partition join jobs into a small number of independent mini-join jobs with varying cost and manage to avoid redundant comparisons. Finally, we show how these mini-joins can be scheduled in multiple CPU cores and propose an adaptive domain partitioning, aiming at load balancing. We include an experimental study that demonstrates the efficiency of our optimized FS and the scalability of our parallelization framework.


A general theory of cross-subsidization due to inframarginal support is developed. Two sources of output distortion are identified: exit deterrence and extramarginal output. Some firms would not be in business without the subsidy. Cost savings due to declining average costs are always greater than the losses incurred where price equals marginal cost. Moreover, it is theoretically possible for inframarginal subsidies to expand output more than equivalent fully coupled subsidies. Empirical analysis of U.S. dairy subsidies isolates these components of cross-subsidization and finds distortions from inframarginal support to be substantial, with implications for trade negotiations, dispute settlement, and policy formulation. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.


This study aimed to assess the microstructure, chemical composition, and image quality of different photostimulable phosphor plates (PSP). Four PSP systems, Express®, Digora®, VistaScan®, and Apixia,® were assessed. Five radiographs of a homogeneous acrylic phantom were obtained with the PSP of each system, to acquire a total of 20 images. The images were objectively evaluated for uniformity using mean grey and standard deviation (SD) of their grey values. PSP receptors were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine the thickness of the granule layer and the size of the granules. The chemical composition of the PSP receptors was analyzed using total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF). VistaScan showed more uniform and higher density images than the other tested systems (p < 0.05), as well as the lowest SD of grey values (p < 0.05). Regarding the microstructure of the receptors, Digora and VistaScan had thicker granule layers than Express and Apixia, and VistaScan had smaller granules than Digora and Express (p < 0.05). Fourteen chemical elements were detected in the receptors, with barium being the element with the highest concentration in all PSP systems. The microstructure, chemical composition, and image quality varied among all four PSP receptors studied. VistaScan receptors showed the smallest variation in granule size, one of the thickest granule layers, and the most uniform and least noisy images.


The evaporation pressure drop of (R-744) in a horizontal tube was investigated experimentally. The main components of the refrigerant loop are a receiver, a variable-speed pump, a mass flow meter, a pre-heater and an evaporator (test section). The test section consists of a smooth, horizontal stainless steel tube of 4.57 mm inner diameter. The experiments were conducted at saturation temperature of , and heat flux of 10 to . The test results showed that the evaporation pressure drop of are highly dependent on the vapor quality, heat flux and saturation temperature. The measured pressure drop during the evaporation process of increases with increased mass flux, and decreased saturation temperature. The evaporation pressure drop of is much lower than that of R 22. In comparison with test results and existing correlations, the best fit of the present experimental data is obtained with the previous correlation. But existing correlations failed to predict the evaporation pressure drop of . Therefore, it is necessary to develop reliable and accurate predictions determining the evaporation pressure drop of in a horizontal tube.


The polyaddition process involving a hydroxy-terminated linear polyester and an organic diisocyanate in the presence of a series of metal acetylacetonates has been investigated. The method involved kinetic analysis of plasticity build-up in a Brabender Plastograph. Catalytic orders and relative catalytic constants (kc/k0) were determined for Mn(Aa)3, VO(Aa)2, V(Aa)3, Fe(Aa)3, Cu(Aa)2, Co(Aa)3, and Cr(Aa)3; the constants decrease in that order. Catalytic orders are unity for all complexes save manganese, which is 1.75. No correlation between dissociation potential and catalytic coefficient has been found, and it is believed that catalysis may be associated with the paramagnetic properties of the metal.