Background: Candida represents the most common cause of invasive fungal disease, and candidal blood stream infections (CBSI) are prevalent in the ICU. Inappropriate antifungal therapy (IAT) is known to increase a patient's risk for death. We hypothesized that in an ICU cohort it would also adversely affect resource utilization. Methods: We retrospectively identified all patients with candidemia on or before hospital day 14 and requiring an ICU stay at Barnes-Jewish Hospital between 2004 and 2007. Hospital length of stay following culture-proven onset of CBSI (post-CBSI HLOS) was primary and hospital costs secondary endpoints. IAT was defined as treatment delay of ≥24 hours from candidemia onset or inadequate dose of antifungal agent active against the pathogen. We developed generalized linear models (GLM) to assess independent impact of inappropriate therapy on LOS and costs. Results: Ninety patients met inclusion criteria. IAT was frequent (88.9%). In the IAT group antifungal delay ≥24 hours occurred in 95.0% and inappropriate dosage in 26.3%. Unadjusted hospital mortality was greater among IAT (28.8%) than non-IAT (0%) patients, p = 0.059. Both crude post-CBSI HLOS (18.4 ± 17.0 vs. 10.7 ± 9.4, p = 0.062) and total costs ($66,584 ± $49,120 vs. $33,526 ± $27,244, p = 0.006) were higher in IAT than in non-IAT. In GLMs adjusting for confounders IAT-attributable excess post-CBSI HLOS was 7.7 days (95% CI 0.6-13.5) and attributable total costs were $13,398 (95% CI $1,060-$26,736). Conclusions: IAT of CBSI, such as delays and incorrect dosing, occurs commonly. In addition to its adverse impact on clinical outcomes, IAT results in substantial prolongation of hospital LOS and increase in hospital costs. Efforts to enhance rates of appropriate therapy for candidemia may improve resource use. Background Candida sp. is the most frequent cause of invasive fungal disease in hospitalized patients [1]. The annual incidence of hospitalizations in the US associated with candidal blood stream infections (BSI) has risen by 50% between 2000 and 2005 [2]. In addition, Candida now accounts for 12% of all hospital-acquired BSIs [3]. Concurrent with this absolute growth in the burden of candidemia, healthcare institutions have also witnessed an increase in the proportion of infections caused by azole-resistant Candida species, such as C. glabrata and C. krusei [4,5]. These microbiologic shifts have challenged clinicians' ability to predict the spectrum of necessary coverage in an empiric regimen aimed at a suspected Candida infection. At the same time, a growing body of evidence points to an association between inappropriate early selection of an antifungal agent and worsened clinical outcomes [6-8]. Most studies indicate that failing to administer appropriate coverage, defined as a drug that is in vitro active against the culprit pathogen, within 24 hours of infection onset, independently raises the patient's probability of death by a factor of two or more. There is therefore little doubt that early recognition and knowledge of local patterns of candidal resistance can aid efforts to select appropriate coverage, which in turn should improve clinical outcomes. What is unclear is the * Correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.com 1 EviMed Research Group, LLC, PO Box 303, Goshen, MA 01032, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2010 Zilberberg et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Zilberberg et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2010, 10:150 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/150 Page 2 of 7 impact of inappropriate therapy on economic parameters, namely length (LOS) and costs of hospitalizations. While on the one hand, the LOS may be reduced due to an early mortality associated with inappropriate and/or delayed therapy, it is also possible that such therapy may actually prolong the LOS, and thus the costs, of a hospitalization before resulting in death. We hypothesized that the latter is the case, and conducted a study to examine this hypothesis. Methods We conducted a retrospective single-center cohort study at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH), St. Louis, MO. The Washington University School of Medicine Human Studies Committee approved the study, and informed consent was waved. BJH is a large (1,200 beds) urban academic medical center serving an inner-city population. Given that the majority of candidemia patients are found in the ICU, we included all patients with culture-proven candidemia occurring on or before hospital day 14 and requiring an ICU stay between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2007. At the BJH certain BMT and solid organ transplant patients receive antifungal prophylaxis, with the duration and agent dependent on how far out they are from transplant and what organ or type of stem cell donor they have. Overall, however, for standard ICU patients, antifungal prophylaxis is not provided. Empiric coverage is not standardized. For those patients at high risk for fungemia, antifungal therapy is initiated with broad-spectrum antifungal therapy at the onset of signs and symptoms of infection. Those with a lower risk for fungemia are not started on therapy until they remain febrile for 2-3 days following empiric antibacterial coverage. Hospital LOS following culture-proven onset of CBSI (post-CBSI HLOS) served as the primary end-point, with hospital costs representing the secondary endpoint. Inappropriate empiric therapy was defined as 1). treatment delay of ≥24 hours from candidemia onset with an antifungal agent active against the pathogen or 2). an inadequate dose of antifungal agent active against the pathogen. Adequacy of the dose was based on the dosages recommended by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the individual antifungal package insert. The initial adequate dosage of fluconazole for susceptible isolates was defined as 6 mg/kg/day for Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, and Candida parapsilosis in the face of normal renal function, and 3 mg/kg/day if creatinine clearance was < 50 ml/min. Fluconazole was not considered to be adequate at any dosage for Candida krusei or Candida glabrata. Total hospital costs (US$) represent the sum of costs across all individual hospital cost centers. These cost centers included room and board, pharmacy, radiology, and laboratory. We performed descriptive statistics on demographic and clinical characteristics and outcomes, comparing those patients getting appropriate vs. inappropriate treatment. To assess the independent impact of inappropriate therapy on LOS and costs, we developed generalized linear models (GLM) using a gamma distribution for both the LOS and costs in order to compensate for their nonparametric distributions. Although only total costs were available rather than costs incurred following the development of the index infection, we arrived at CBSI attributable costs by adjusting for the HLOS prior to the CBSI onset. Statistical significance was set at the p ≤ 0.05. All analyses were performed in Stata version 9.2 (Statacorp, College Station, TX). Results Of the 135 ICU patients with candidemia within the specified time frame, 90 developed it within 14 days of hospital admission, 80 (88.9%) of whom received inappropriate treatment. There was no difference between the two groups based on age, gender, type and burden of comorbidities, or the severity of their acute illness (Table 1). Those patients receiving appropriate treatment were, however, more likely than the inappropriately treated group to be on a medial service (100% vs. 62.5%, p < 0.001), and to have a CBSI on admission (100% vs. 22.5%, p = 0.027). Microbiologically, there were no differences between the appropriately and inappropriately treated groups. In both the majority infections were due to Candida albicans (Table 2). The majority of patients were treated with empiric fluconazole, reflecting the approximately 80% fluconazole susceptibility among the isolates (Table 2). Among patients receiving inappropriate therapy, 95% was deemed inappropriate due to ≥24-hour delay in therapy, and in 26% this was due to an inadequate fluconazole dose. Unadjusted outcomes differed significantly between the two groups. The median hospital LOS was 13 days longer and the median hospital costs were nearly double in the group receiving inappropriate compared to appropriate treatment (Table 3). The differences in both crude hospital mortality (29% vs. 0%, p = 0.062) and post CBSIonset LOS (13 vs. 8 days, p = 0.059) also favored appropriate therapy, though neither reached statistical significance at the p ≤ 0.05. In the adjusted analyses, inappropriate therapy for CBSI was associated with an incremental increase in the hospital LOS following CBSI onset of 7.7 days (95% confidence interval 0.6 to 13.5, p = 0.015) and an excess in hospital costs of $13,398 (95% confidence interval $1,060 to $26,736, p = 0.033) (Table 4). Zilberberg et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2010, 10:150 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/150 Page 3 of 7 Discussion We have demonstrated that among ICU patients with CBSI onset within 14 days of admission, inappropriate therapy for CBSI is independently associated with an incremental increase of 8 days hospital LOS and excess hospital costs of over $13,000. In conjunction with previously reported data indicating that inappropriate therapy increases mortality, we confirm the compelling need for physicians to maintain a high index of suspicion for CBSI. Given that over 90% of the patients did not receive appropriate therapy, and the bulk of this was explained by a ≥24-hour delay in initiation of treatment, measures aimed at fostering earlier treatment along with education Table 1: Baseline


o-Phenylenediamine has been used for glucose oxidase (GOx) immobilization on Pt electrodes by electrochemical polymerization at +0.65 V vs SCE. By this approach the enzyme is entrapped in a strongly adherent, highly reproducible thin membrane, whose thickness is around 10 nm. This one-step procedure produces a glucose sensor with a response time less than 1 s, an active enzyme loading higher than 3 units/cm2 of electrode surface, a high sensitivity, and a sufficiently wide linear range. The glucose response shows an apparent Michaelis-Menten constant, K'm = 14.2 mM, and a limiting current density, jmax of 181 microA/cm2. The product kD of partition and diffusion coefficients of glucose in the polymer film is on the order of 10(-13) cm2/s. Due to permselectivity characteristics of the membrane, the access of ascorbate, a common interfering species, to the electrode surface is blocked. To our knowledge, this represents the first report of a membrane capable, at the same time, of immobilizing GOx and rejecting ascorbate. The interesting electrode behavior can be rationalized by using an existing model predicting the amperometric response of an immobilized GOx system.


The risk associated with introducing wind turbines into the generation fleet is investigated in this paper. The loss of load probability (LOLP) and statistical expected demand not supplied (EDNS) are adopted as the risk indices. A case study is reported to evaluate the risk posed by displacing conventional generation with wind turbines. Results on the test system show that multiples of wind turbine capacities are needed to displace conventional generation capacity to preserve the system reliability level. On the other hand, noticeable reduction is CO2 emission is achieved when wind turbines are present in the generation mix.


Using a recently developed tool, multiscale window transform (MWT), and the MWT-based canonical energy transfer theory, this study investigates the seasonal eddy variability in the Kuroshio Extension. Distinct seasonal cycles of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) are observed in the upstream and downstream regions of the Kuroshio Extension. In the upstream Kuroshio Extension, the EKE peaks in summer and reaches its minimum in winter over an annual cycle. By diagnosing the spatiotemporal structures of the canonical barotropic and baroclinic energy transfers, we found that internal processes due to mixed instabilities (i.e., both barotropic and baroclinic instabilities) are responsible for the seasonal eddy variability in this region. In the downstream Kuroshio Extension, the EKE exhibits a different annual cycle, peaking in spring and gradually decaying from summer to winter. Significant inverse barotropic energy transfer is found in this region throughout the year, leaving baroclinic instability the primary energy source for the regional seasonal eddy variability. Besides the internal redistribution, it is also evident that the external forcing may influence the Kuroshio Extension EKE seasonality—the EKE is found to be more damped by winds during winter than summer.


The condition of tunnels at Premier has deteriorated to such an extent that an objective viewpoint on what leads to poor condition was required. Poor and untimely development results in schedule deviation, rehabilitation, and increased working costs. The project focused primarily on quality, and not on efficiency. The project gave management guidelines that need to be focused on in order to produce quality infrastructure. The conclusions were reached by doing literature searches, underground site investigations, benchmarking and computer simulations. From the results we can see that, in order to produce good quality tunnels, we have to have the basics working. This was found to be one of the major problems. Firstly, tunnel profiles are not to the design specification and no fixed blast designs existed. After revising tunnel profile statistics, overbreak increased to 10% (previously 7%) and development metres were 50 m short of target. Blasting was not monitored and designs not optimized for the conditions. Furthermore, geological factors are the main contributor to tunnel failure, although this process is initiated and aided by poor development (overbroken tunnels, incorrect profiles, direction and location) and blast damage. Continuing to develop tunnels in the current manner will cost R 1.5 million in additional costs for loading and supporting overbreak, whilst an additional 1 800 manshifts will be required. Blast patterns were designed as a starting point for trials, while the implementation of a blast management system, development statistical database, tunnel hand-over procedures and a revision of the bonus system were proposed.


ABSTRACT Russia has recently cracked down on politically active civil society, increasing regulation and undercutting foreign support. However, apolitical, service-oriented parts of civil society have not been subject to these restrictive policies. In contrast, since 2009 Russia has introduced a set of government tools to support socially oriented non-profit organisations. These tools present a framework akin to concepts of 'third-party government' and collaborative governance that have come to dominate Western public administration discourse. This article discusses the Russian government's divergent positions towards civil society, the nature and extent of the supportive tool kit, and its prospects.


Since WHO declare COVID-19 as a pandemic, it has changed the way of our life today Mostly, all countries in the world implementing lockdown or movement control to stop the spreading In Malaysia, the government announced a Movement Control Order (MCO) which requires the closure of all businesses except those providing essential services and items This affects most business operations and companies have to switch to Working From Home (WFH) This paper aim to propose WFH Facilities Model during a pandemic (COVID-19) The scope of this study pertains to Malaysian citizens The main methods used in this research were a deductive approach that suit to cross-sectional research This research employs a simple random sampling technique to achieve the required minimum sample size Therefore, to gather data, a questionnaire survey technique was selected Meanwhile, using the SmartPLS3, structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to test the research hypotheses A total of 500 questionnaires was circulated via a web-based self-administered questionnaire using the Google Forms survey Out of 500 questionnaires distributed, only 363 sets were replied to and completed with a high response rate of up to 73% The findings of the study show that from six research hypotheses, only two hypotheses are supported which are Work-Family Related (WF) and Modern Technology (MT) Hence, this study recommends that it is important for any organisation that wants to implement WFH to pay an attention to both attributes © 2021 Karadeniz Technical University All rights reserved


The present work aims at studying a new concept of a vertical tailless aircraft provided with a morphing tail solution with the purpose of eliminating the drag and weight created by the vertical tail structure. The solution consists on a rotary horizontal tail with independent left and right halves to serve as control surfaces. Different static scenarios are studied for different tail configurations. The proposed morphing configurations are analyzed in terms of static and dynamic stability and compared with a conventional configuration. The stability derivatives defining the limits of static stability are calculated for the whole range of tail rotation angles. The aircraft's dynamic model is developed and feedback control systems are implemented. A sideslip suppression system, a heading control system and a speed and altitude hold system are studied for three different configurations, MC1, MC2 and MC3 configurations. Static results show that the aircraft is longitudinally stable for a wide range of tail rotation angles. Variation of tail dihedral and rotation angles are two mechanisms able to maintain directional and lateral stability but only the last is able to produce lateral force and yawing moment. Dynamic stability results demonstrate no spiral nor Dutch-roll modes due to the absence of the vertical stabilizer. The increase in tail rotation produces an appearance of the spiral mode and an unstable Dutch-roll mode that quickly degenerates into two unstable real roots with the increase in tail rotation. The addition of dihedral to the tail increases the stability of the overall modes while decreasing their variation amplitude with the tail rotation. The morphing tail configuration proved to be a feasible control solution to implement in an aircraft such as a small UAV, with the MC1 configuration being the most simple of the three morphing configurations and also the most reliable one.


Algorithm research of task scheduling is one of the key techniques in grid computing. This paper firstly describes a DAG task scheduling model used in grid computing environment, secondly discusses generational scheduling (GS) and communication inclusion generational scheduling (CIGS) algorithms. Finally, an improved CIGS algorithm is proposed to use in grid computing environment, and it has been proved effectively.


We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess vocal and swallowing functions after horizontal glottectomy. Our study population was made up of 22 men aged 45 to 72 years (mean: 58.3) who underwent horizontal glottectomy and completed at least 1 year of follow-up. To compare postoperative results, 20 similarly aged men were included as a control group; all glottectomy patients and all controls were smokers. We used three methods-acoustic and aerodynamic voice analyses, the GRBAS (grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenicity, and strain) scale, and the voice handicap index-30 (VHI-30)-to assess vocal function objectively, perceptually, and subjectively, respectively. We also assessed swallowing function objectively by fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and subjectively with the M.D. Anderson dysphagia inventory (MDADI). The 22 patients were also subcategorized into three groups according to the extent of their arytenoid cartilage resection, and their outcomes were compared. Acoustic and aerodynamic analyses showed that the mean maximum phonation time was significantly shorter and the fundamental frequency was significantly lower in the glottectomy group than in the controls (p = 0.001 for both), and that the mean jitter and shimmer values and the mean harmonics-to-noise ratio were all significantly higher (p = 0.001 for all); there were no significant differences among the three arytenoid subgroups. Self-assessments revealed that there were no statistically significant differences among the three subgroups in GRBAS scale scores except for the breathiness score (p = 0.045), which was lower in the arytenoid preservation subgroup than in the total resection subgroup; there were no statistically significant differences among the three subgroups in VHI-30 scores. Finally, swallow testing found no statistically significant differences in FEES scores or MDADI scores. We conclude that horizontal glottectomy caused a deterioration in vocal function, but swallowing function was satisfactory.


In 1973 the author conducted a seminal research study which concluded that subject analysis for African American studies resources was seriously inadequate and that the area was neglected in research. Twenty years later the author revisits the issues relative to the adequacy of subject analysis for African American studies resources. Specifically, Library of Congress subject headings are examined against the capabilities of online catalogs to retrieve materials relating to this body of literature. The conclusion drawn is that improvements have been made but that problems continue to exist. Prescriptive measures for resolving the remaining problems are offered.


Ultrathin oxynitrides have several advantages over conventional oxides of silicon. In this paper we report the results of ultrathin (2.7 nm) oxynitride films grown on n-Si by N2O plasma-assisted oxidation at 200 °C. The oxynitride is characterized by fabricating Al/thin oxynitride/n-Si tunnel diodes and measuring the capacitance-voltage (C-V) and conductance-voltage (G-V) characteristics in the frequency range 10 kHz to 1 MHz. These tunnel diodes with `as-grown' oxide have shown a frequency dependence in C-V characteristics, indicating a high ({>}1012 cm-2 eV-1) interface state density (Dit). The effect of series resistance on the accumulation capacitance of the tunnel diodes is also studied. The density of interface states ({D}it) is estimated from the G-V characteristics at 10 kHz. Annealing of these oxynitrides (called post-oxidation annealing (POA)) is found to have a profound effect on the interface state density (Dit) and fixed oxide charge density (Qf). The POA is carried out in the temperature range 300-650 °C in ambient nitrogen for 20 min. The tunnel diodes with POA oxide showed little frequency dependence in the C-V characteristics; this observation is attributed to the reduction in the interface state density (~5×1011 cm-2 eV-1) due to POA. The fixed oxide charge (Qf) has been evaluated from the C-V characteristics. It is observed that Qf has a minimum value (~2.2×1012 cm-2) when the oxynitride is annealed at 350 °C.


We summarize our ongoing integrated program to represent and reason about very large co-evolving social, technological, information and organization (STIO) networks. The program comprises of four basic elements: (i) a mathematical and computational theory of co-evolving STIO networks, (ii) methods for integrating diverse data sources to generate synthetic representations of STIO networks, (iii) high performance computing oriented models for simulating the dynamical phenomenon of interest on these networks, and (iv) an integrated high performance oriented pervasive cyber-environment that provides analysts and decision makers a web-based environment that provides seamless access to the models and synthetic networks for policy planning and response. We will illustrate some of these ideas by discussing the development of information-support environments for supporting the study of epidemics in social as well as wireless networks.


In the modern global economy, the system of functional cooperative relations that lead to the formation of hybrid structures – production networks has become actively spread. However, the strength and scale of cooperation are not uniform. Using the example of Russia, the authors consider the effectiveness of the production network of cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises with large companies. We tested a number of hypotheses based on common ideas about the effects of cooperation. Empirical results make it possible to clarify the mechanism of formation and features of interfirm production chains in Russia. The "anchor" role of large enterprises with state participation as centers of cooperation formation is noted. In the course of the study, 14 enterprises were selected, distributed across key sectors of the Russian economy. Statistical and correlation analysis methods were used to evaluate the effects of cooperation. The results showed that the orders placed by large manufacturing enterprises with small and medium-sized enterprises increased over the period of 2015–2019. "Anchor" enterprises, as a rule, reduce the production localization degree. However, this does not have a significant impact on improving the profitability of their activities, and also does not depend on the share of state participation. Besides, placing orders with small and medium-sized enterprises does not allow them to reduce the number of employees. Many of the expected internalities that are characteristic of cooperative relations in developed countries are not reflected in the specifics of the Russian economy, or their manifestation is limited. The Russian experience clearly demonstrates the weakness of cooperative partnership, although with positive trends of change. There is a need to further improve the mechanisms for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the production sector, aimed at creating sustainable networks. The proposed approach can be applied to assess inter-firm production chains in other countries. A comparative study will determine the strength of the formation of production networks across countries, which will expand the understanding of the economic processes of networkization.


Harmful algae blooms (HABs) frequently occur all over the world and cause great harm to the environment, human health, and aquatic ecosystems. However, owing to their great growth rate and large nutrient intake capacity, algae can enrich a large amount of carbon (CO2) and nutritional elements (N and P) in their biomass. Thus, this could be applied as a robust approach to battle global warming and water eutrophication if the harmful algae biomass was effectively harvested and utilized. Herein, we propose a thermochemical approach to convert algae biomass into a nitrogen-doped electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction. The as-synthesized carbon catalyst exhibits a favorable electrochemical CO2 reduction activity. The key drivers of the environmental impacts in the thermochemical conversion approach with a comparison with the commonly used landfilling approach are identified with life cycle assessment. The former presents much lower environmental burdens in terms of impacts such as freshwater/terrestrial ecotoxicity and human toxicity than the latter. Moreover, if the thermochemical conversion process was successfully applied for biomass conversion worldwide, 2.17 × 108 tons of CO2-eq, 8.42 × 106 tons of N, and 1.21 × 106 tons of P could be removed from the global carbon and other element cycles. Meanwhile, the thermochemical approach is also similar to landfilling in terms of costs. The results from this work provide a brand-new perspective for achieving twofold CO2 utilization and efficiently battling harmful algae blooms.


Prevention of unnecessary pain in laboratory animals requires reliable and practically useful tools for assessing pain severity and analgesic efficacy. We have used a behaviour-based pain scoring system to determine the duration of pain resulting from laparotomy, and the duration of analgesia afforded by orally administered (p.o.) buprenorphine and subcutaneously administered (s.c.) carprofen or buprenorphine in rats. One hour before laparotomy Fisher 344 rats received either saline as a control (0.2 ml/100 g s.c.), carprofen (5 mg/kg s.c.) or buprenorphine (0.05 mg/kg s.c. or 0.4 mg/kg p.o.). The rats were housed singly for 10-min periods of behaviour recording, beginning 30 min after completing surgery. Recording was repeated at three time points every 2 h. The behaviour of controls was distinct from that of the analgesic-treated animals throughout recording; however, the major signs of pain (back-arching, staggering and writhing) were prominent during only the first 270 min in the saline group. This was followed by a period of more subtle differences between the saline- and drug-treated groups. It was concluded that the most acutely painful effects of surgery in this model lasted for between 270 and 390 min, and that this was alleviated throughout its duration by subcutaneously administered carprofen or buprenorphine, and also buprenorphine administered orally. The study demonstrates a clinically relevant and practically useful approach to assessing the duration of post-surgical abdominal pain and analgesic effects in rats.


Medical training therapy (MTT) to improve muscular strength and endurance follows evidence based guidelines and is increasingly recommended to patients suffering from subacute and chronic back pain (LBP). This study investigated whether MTT was effective in reducing pain and improving function in patients with subacute or chronic LBP. Data sources were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Pedro, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We included RCTs that examined exercise or MTT in adult patients with LBP compared to placebo, no intervention or other interventions. Study outcomes had to include at least one of the following: pain intensity; functional status, absenteeism. Two independent reviewers performed quality assessment. Visual analogue scale ratings ranging from 0-10 MTT quantified the MTT aspects of the intervention. Studies with rating scores >7.5 were included. We identified only 2 studies that examined the effectiveness of MTT. Both trials, one was of high quality, found MTT to decrease pain and improve function significantly better than therapy of uncertain effectiveness. There is moderate evidence that would support the effectiveness of MTT in the treatment chronic LBP. Future high quality RCT will have to clarify whether MTT is effective and would be superior to other forms of therapeutic exercise.


This article explores how Twitter was used by voters to participate in electoral campaigning during the Dutch election campaign of 2012. New social media networks like Twitter are believed to be efficient tools of communication between electoral candidates and voters during electoral campaign periods. Yet only few studies have been conducted so far to discover in what way the content of online discussions is being used for campaigning. In particular, there have been very few studies of electoral campaigning, which study the content of the social media messages sent by citizens. In order to understand the extent to which citizens utilize Twitter in different forms of electoral campaigning—that is, persuading followers about voting for a particular party or to conduct negative campaigning, we conducted an automated content analysis of a large corpus of tweets collected during the Dutch parliamentary election campaign of 2012. Our findings show that citizens participate significantly in online electoral campaigning on Twitter, whereas they differ from professional users in the style of campaigning. Persuasive campaigning is observed to a lesser extent among citizens than among politicians, while citizens more commonly use negative campaigning. Moreover, qualitative content analysis of campaigning tweets by citizens has revealed that expressions of emotions and opinions make up a large majority of negative tweets, indicating that citizens regard Twitter more as an outlet for expressing discontent than as a medium for negative campaigning.


Information complexity associated with visual displays is a bottleneck that limits their use. While automation tools are designed to bring new functions to users and increase their capacities, they also creates new tasks associated with acquiring and integrating information from displays. In particular, a complex display increases information load to human operators and reduces usability. Thus the efficiency of the tool largely depends on the complexity of displayed information. To evaluate the costs and benefits of an automation system, it is important to understand how much information is shown on the display, and whether the information is too complex for users to process. In this paper, we present a set of observable metrics to assess information complexity of visual displays. The metrics count information complexity as the combination of three basic factors: numeric size, variety, and relation; each factor is evaluated by the functions at three stages of brain information processing: perception, cognition, and action. Ideally, these measures provide an objective method to evaluate automation systems for acquisition and design prototypes.


Date Change: Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006 July 30–August 3, 2006 Chicago, Illinois, USA Sponsor: Microscopy Society of America (MSA), Microbeam Analysis Society (MAS), International Metallographic Society (IMS) URL: www.msa.microscopy.com Following is a list of microscopy-related meetings and courses. The editors would greatly appreciate input to this list via the electronic submission form found in the MSA World-Wide Web page at http://www.msa.microscopy.com. We will gladly add hypertext links to the notice on the web and insert a listing of the meeting in the next issue of the Journal. Send comments and questions to JoAn Hudson, firstname.lastname@example.com or Nestor Zaluzec, email@example.com.


Eu3+-doped tellurite glass of molar composition: TeO2 + K2O + Nb2O5 + Eu2O3 (TKN1Eu) has been prepared by quenching the oxidic melts. The emission spectra and the decay curves for the 5D0 level of Eu3+ ions in TKN1Eu glass have been measured and analyzed as a function of pressure up to 14.8 GPa at room temperature. In this pressure range, the observed red shifts for the band positions of 5D0 → 7F0, 1, 2 could be attributed to an expansion of the 4f electron wave functions with increasing covalency. There is also a considerable pressure effect on the magnitude of crystal-field (CF) splitting in the 5D0 → 7F1 band, which increases with pressure. Stark components of the 7F1 level have been used to evaluate the CF parameters, B20 and B22, which are in turn used to calculate the CF strength experienced by the Eu3+ ions in the TKN1Eu glass. The CF strength increases from 1062 to 1358 cm-1 from the ambient pressure to 14.8 GPa. Lifetime for the 5D0 level of Eu3+ is found to decrease from 0.76 ms (0 GPa) to 0.30 ms (14.8 GPa) with increase in pressure. The results of pressure induced energy shifts, CF strengths and lifetimes are well discussed both for increasing as well as decreasing pressures and are compared with those of Eu3+: phosphate and lithium borate glasses.


This paper proposes the principles of constructive alignment as foundation for course design within Interaction Design and Children (IDC). While the field has existed for over a decade, there is still no settled curriculum for teaching it. The paper demonstrates how intended learning outcomes in combination with related work and research on teaching IDC can be used to develop a course in IDC, and exemplify this with a brief description of the development of a recently completed course. The contribution of this paper is to support anyone who intends to start teaching in this area, to stimulate discussion in the community, and contribute to an emerging curriculum for Interaction Design and Children.


Since the invent of Napster an earlier version of peer–topeer [P2P] network , P2P has emerged as the most significant technique for sharing content across the network[1].The traffic volume exchanged among the peers and the number of member peers in a P2P network has risen to a significant level .The reason for this significant rise is a absence of a centralized authority and distributed nature of the network .However, these reasons for significant rise of P2P network also makes the P2P networks vulnerable to various pollution attacks such as denial of service attack, content poisoning, collusion sybil etc. Liang et. al [2] has discussed pollution attacks in the Fast Track file sharing network. This network has also been used for distributing copy-righted material illegally, and their legal owners thought that their assets are distributed illegally through P2P network. Since the file distribution through P2P network is very fast, the producers/developers of multimedia data like music, films, television etc are much concerned with the apprehension that their assets are distributed illegally through P2P network. For controlling the illegal distribution of their assets, they fought legal battles in courts, but could not succeed in it .Then they employed the same P2P network, using P2P pollution attack, to stop the illegal distribution of their data files. In this paper, an evaluation is done to measure the damage to the BitTorrent distributing pirated files under certain pollution attacks, specifically Index poisoning and Uncooperative peer attacks, and to assess whether this strategy is successful..


The management of indigenous pigs in rural villages of Busia and Kakamega district, Western Kenya, is discussed. Data on husbandry practices, challenges and farmers knowledge on T. solium taeniosis / cysticercosis were gathered using questionnaires administered in face-to-face interviews. Pigs were examined for cysticercosis using the lingual palpation method. Data were managed in Stata®. Majority of the farmers were aged 30-50 years (44%), and were mostly women (69%). Years of pig keeping experience was higher in Kakamega (11.4±8.7) than it was in Busia (6.3±5.6) (P<0.05). Pork (31%) and beef (51%) were the most preferred meat types in the villages. Families owned an average of 0.94±0.81 hectares of land. The mean number of pigs owned per farm was 5.0 (±3.4), 1.8 (±1.2) and 1.5 (±0.9) for the pre-weaned, growing and adult pig categories, respectively. Constraints faced by the farmers included feeding (65%), diseases (46%), fewer breeding boars (60 %), poor profits (61%) and conflicts with neighbours (53%). Parasite control was poor. The majority of farmers (73%) had no pig house. These farmers either lacked skills to build the houses (11%; 23/209) or had no money to purchase construction materials (45%; 93/209). Tethering of pigs was frequent (>50%) during the planting (91%; 263 / 290), growing (90%; 263 / 290) and crop harvesting seasons (78%; 227 / 290). Prevalence of pig cysticercosis was 4.5%. Piglets were significantly cheaper in Busia (Ksh 509±57) than in Kakamega (Ksh 777±174) (P<0.05). Indigenous pig management in Western Kenya is reportedly poor. Improved knowledge coupled with changes in local husbandry practices would improve productivity, increase family incomes and safeguard the community from potential health risks associated with pig rearing.


In order to simulate interaction of seismic waves with cavernous/fractured reservoirs the finite-difference technique based on locally refined in time and space grids is used. The need to use these grids is due to essentially different scales of heterogeneities in the reference medium and in the reservoir. Parallel computations are organized on the base of 3D Domain Decomposition into elementary subdomains in the both reference medium (coarse grid) and reservoir (fine grid). Each elementary subdomain is assigned to its specific Processor Unit forming two groups – for reference medium and for reservoir. The data exchange between PU within the same group is performed in a standard manner – by nonblocking iSend/iReceive commands. The data exchange between two groups is done simultaneously with coupling of coarse and fine grids and is controlled by specially designated master PU. Results of numerical simulation for a realistic model of the carbonate reservoir are presented and discussed.


BACKGROUND
Diabetic neuropathy is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus, of which it's most prevalent form is chronic sensorimotor neuropathy. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and its associated risk factors among diabetic patients who reside in Hamedan, Iran.

METHODS
A cross-sectional study of 600 types 1 and 2 diabetic patients was performed using the standard Neuropathy Symptom Score (NSS) and Neuropathy Disability Score (NDS) criteria for the diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy.

RESULTS
 Overall prevalence of DPN in this population was 45.7% (95% CI: 42.6%-48.8%). The prevalence of DPN in type 1 diabetic patients was 21.5%, whereas in type 2 diabetic patients it was 49.3% (P < 0.001). Duration of diabetes and education level were significantly associated with DPN in type 1 diabetic patients and a history of foot ulcer, age, duration of diabetes, weight, education level, and sex had a significant association with DPN in type 2 diabetic patients according to multiple logistic regression analysis.

CONCLUSION
The results of our study showed a relatively high prevalence of DPN in our diabetic population. A significant difference existed in the prevalence of DPN between types 1 and 2 diabetic patients.


This paper provides a new method for analyzing floating-point roundoff error for digital filters by using "finite signal-to-noise" models whose noise sources have variances proportional to the variance or power of the corrupted signals. With this model, a new expression for output error covariance of floating-point arithmetic is derived the in case of double or extended precision accumulation. The output error covariance shows that the optimal state space realization for floating point is the same as that of the fixed-point case, except for two cases: when the filter has poles extremely close to the unit circle or when final quantization to precisions shorter than single precision is employed. An explicit formula is found for determining the minimum number of mantissa bits for stable realization.


H, H2, and SiHx+ (x ≤ 4) ions coexist under plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) conditions. We have studied the kinetics of their interactions by high-level quantum chemical and statistical theory calculations, and compared the results with classical Langevin values (∼2 × 10−9 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 independent of temperature). The results indicate that, for H capturing by SiHx+ (x ≤ 4), both theories agree within a factor of 2–4, whereas for H2 capturing by SiHx+ (x ≤ 3), the modern theory gives higher and weakly temperature-dependent values by up to more than one order of magnitude, attributable to reaction path degeneracies and increased entropies of activation. The heats of formation and structural parameters of SiHx+ ions (x ≤ 5) in this work agree well with available experimental data. For practical applications, we have provided tables of rate constants for modeling various processes of relevance to the PECVD of a-Si:H films.


The human hand is used in virtually all aspects of everyday activities involving such tasks as selection, manipulation and communication. It is therefore important to study and understand how it works. However, a significant difficulty facing traditional hand researchers is acquiring accurate 3D data that describes actual human hand movements. To address this problem, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from kinesiology, computer science and engineering was formed to design and implement a Virtual Hand Laboratory to serve as a testbed for future studies of goal-directed human hand movements. The primary objective of the work described in this thesis is to provide a framework for the collection, estimation and display of hand postures from live 3D data. A fast lookup table-based inverse kinematic algorithm was developed and used to estimate hand postures from real-time 3D data supplied by the Optotrak system, a powerful motion capture device. The algorithm is executed in two stages: a calibration stage and a run-time stage. The former measures the characteristics of the subject's hand in order to customize the lookup table while the latter uses the table to estimate the subject's hand posture. A polygonal model of the human hand was developed for display of the estimated hand posture. A complete system integrating data collection with estimation and display of hand postures in real-time was designed and implemented to serve as the platform for real-time experiments in the study of goal-directed hand movements.


The purpose of this dissertation was: 1) to biochemically characterize how purified matrix Gla protein (MGP) functions as a calcification inhibitor using two novel in vitro calcification assays; 2) to characterize MGP's binding to apatite mineral; and 3) to characterize MGP purified from bone, cartilage, and serum using mass spectrometry. Previous genetic and biochemical studies of MGP have convincingly demonstrated that impaired MGP function results in extensive calcification of the elastic lamellae in the artery media of mice, rats, and humans. Very few studies of purified MGP have investigated its role as an inhibitor of calcification. In this dissertation different amounts of purified MGP were added to a serum-initiated calcification assay containing devitalized arteries and demineralized tibias incubated in 5% serum. These experiments showed that calcification was abolished at 30 micrograms/mL MGP, and significantly reduced at 10 micrograms/mL MGP. Additional experiments demonstrated that MGP inhibited the initial formation of crystal nuclei in the elastin or collagen matrix as well as the subsequent growth of these nuclei. The inhibitory effect of MGP was also investigated on mineral formation in vitro in a solution of high ionic calcium and phosphate, higher concentrations than what are typically found physiologically, at neutral pH. Concentrations as low as 10 micrograms/mL of MGP in solutions of 4 mM ionic calcium and phosphate were able to completely inhibit the formation of a calcium phosphate mineral phase over a week long incubation. Binding studies showed that MGP had a stronger affinity for nascent calcium phosphate mineral than for hydroxyapatite. MGP's stronger affinity for nascent mineral supports the hypothesis that this mineral may more closely resemble the apatite found in vivo. Finally, mass spectrometry studies revealed that the degree of phosphorylation in MGP depended upon the tissue from which the protein is purified from. The data presented in this dissertation provide for the first time evidence of how purified MGP acts as an inhibitor of calcification and establishes that MGP accomplishes this function through direct interaction with calcium phosphate mineral


Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a non‐invasive magnetic resonance imaging technique that, combined with fiber tracking algorithms, allows the characterization and visualization of white matter structures in the brain. The resulting fiber tracts are used, for example, in tumor surgery to evaluate the potential brain functional damage due to tumor resection. The DTI processing pipeline from image acquisition to the final visualization is rather complex generating undesirable uncertainties in the final results. Most DTI visualization techniques do not provide any information regarding the presence of uncertainty. When planning surgery, a fixed safety margin around the fiber tracts is often used; however, it cannot capture local variability and distribution of the uncertainty, thereby limiting the informed decision‐making process. Stochastic techniques are a possibility to estimate uncertainty for the DTI pipeline. However, it has high computational and memory requirements that make it infeasible in a clinical setting. The delay in the visualization of the results adds hindrance to the workflow. We propose a progressive approach that relies on a combination of wild‐bootstrapping and fiber tracking to be used within the progressive visual analytics paradigm. We present a local bootstrapping strategy, which reduces the computational and memory costs, and provides fiber‐tracking results in a progressive manner. We have also implemented a progressive aggregation technique that computes the distances in the fiber ensemble during progressive bootstrap computations. We present experiments with different scenarios to highlight the benefits of using our progressive visual analytic pipeline in a clinical workflow along with a use case and analysis obtained by discussions with our collaborators.


The Fast Neutron/Gamma-ray Radiography (FNGR) technique developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) provides a new way to screen consolidated air freight for contraband such as illicit drugs and explosives. The combination of density and composition information from the FNGR technique improves discrimination of suspect materials. A full-scale prototype FNGR air cargo scanner has been installed at Brisbane International Airport and is undergoing extensive trials by Australian Customs. In this paper, the technical challenges in developing image processing and display systems for the FNGR scanner are discussed. Image processing techniques have been developed that combine physically motivated corrections and preprocessing steps with modern, non-linear filter techniques. The design of the image display and analysis software is driven by the short time available to study each scanned image, necessitating a powerful, clean, and easy-to-use interface. The CSIRO Air Cargo Scanner is a very promising new technology for bulk cargo screening.


X-ray diffraction measurements and analysis were carried out on ball-milled Mo powder. During the ball milling of Mo powder, several stages of deformation could be identified. After short durations of ball milling, still undeformed starting powder was present and the volume fraction of this was determined. The initial aggregates of deformed powder particles exhibited a deformation texture. On prolonged ball milling, the particle size decreased, the deformation texture disappeared and internal strains built up. By simulation and matching of the corresponding line profiles using a Monte Carlo type of line-profile simulation based on a simple three-dimensional model of the distribution of straight dislocations, an estimate of the dislocation density in the ball-milled particles was obtained.


This study set out, using a prospective design, to examine the health-promoting lifestyle factors for cancer survivors. A questionnaire, based on the health promotion model, was used to collect self-reported data during clinical visits on the health-promoting lifestyle factors related to cancer and the health locus of control. A total of 57 cancer patients were followed up from the date of their interview to the date of their death from the disease. After controlling for age, sex, type of cancer, operation, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and the number of months since cancer diagnosis, the external control and chance locus were identified as statistically significant preventive factors for these cancer patients. Although self-efficacy, social support, and health promotion lifestyle were all found to have no significant influences on the survival of these cancer patients, the survivors were found to be more likely to have higher scores on health promotion lifestyle factors and lower scores on self-efficacy. These results contribute to the information required for consideration of the cultural variables aimed at caring for cancer patients.


A channel estimation scheme for interleave-division multiple access (IDMA) systems is presented. Training and data are superimposed, i.e., no bandwidth expansion compared to a system without any training is necessary. A semi-blind linear minimum mean squared error (MMSE) channel estimator is derived. Monte Carlo simulation results are presented showing that the derived channel estimator in combination with the proposed training scheme is able to track fast-fading frequency-selective channels. As opposed to conventional channel estimation techniques, the BER performance even improves with increasing Doppler spread. An error performance close to the case of perfect channel knowledge can be achieved with high power efficiency


Here we use low-temperature and variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy to study the pnictide superconductor, Ba1-xSrxNi2As2. In the low-temperature phase (triclinic phase) of BaNi2As2, we observe the unidirectional charge density wave (CDW) with Q = 1/3 on both the Ba and NiAs surfaces. On the NiAs surface of the triclinic BaNi2As2, there are structural-modulation-induced chain-like superstructures with distinct periodicities. In the high-temperature phase (tetragonal phase) of BaNi2As2, the NiAs surface appears as the periodic 1 × 2 superstructure. Interestingly, in the triclinic phase of Ba0.5Sr0.5Ni2As2, the unidirectional CDW is suppressed on both the Ba/Sr and NiAs surfaces, and the Sr substitution stabilizes the periodic 1 × 2 superstructure on the NiAs surface, which enhance the superconductivity in Ba0.5Sr0.5Ni2As2. Our results provide important microscopic insights for the interplay among the unidirectional CDW, structural modulation, and superconductivity in this class of pnictide superconductors.


In the early decades of the twentieth century, a heated debate over the legitimacy of Jewish mystical texts, foremost among them the Zohar , divided the Jews of Sanā, the Yemeni capital, into two camps. In 1914, one Jewish faction took the other to a Muslim court. There, a Muslim jurist heard arguments for and against Jews' study of the Zohar . The resulting fatwā sheds light on this fascinating moment of inter-religious dialogue. At issue here is the extent to which the Jewish litigants framed their arguments in Islamic terms and the ways in which the Muslim jurist and his employer, Imām Yahyā Hamīd al-Dīn, the theocratic ruler of Yemen, understood Judaism in terms borrowed from contemporary debates on Islamic sectarianism. The centrality of this fatwā in later permutations of the schism within Yemeni Judaism will be addressed as well.


The Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis) is a social, subterranean rodent that occurs in the red Kalahari sands. This species exhibits extreme reproductive skew with a single breeding female whereas reproduction in subordinate group members is completely blocked. Rainfall, as it greatly facilitates burrowing, provides the opportunity for individuals to disperse from their natal colony and hence, to overcome reproductive suppression. However, because rainfall is scarce, optimal conditions for burrow system construction are restricted to very short periods of the year. In order to observe the construction of a new burrow system of dispersing individuals, I released a small group (two females, one male) following heavy rains, and monitored their burrowing activity in the form of mound production during the following weeks. Recapture revealed that a new male had joined the group. Over a period of one month the four individuals extruded 127 mole hills and constructed a tunnel system with a total length of approximately 100 metres. Mound production ceased after 30 days due to the lack of subsequent rain. The study provides an example of dispersal in Damaraland mole-rats and gives new insights into the method of burrow system construction of this species. It further highlights the high costs associated with dispersal.


Abstract Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most frequent causes of motor disability in children. According to the up-to-date definition, CP is a group of permanent disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitations that are attributed to non-progressive disturbances that occurred in the developing foetal or infant brain. The CP definition has evolved over time; the problem is aetiologically and clinically very heterogeneous. According to European data, the average frequency of CP is 2.08 per 1000 live births, but in the group of children born with a body weight below 1500 g, the frequency is 70 times higher when compared with the group of children with a body weight over 2500 g at birth. The risk factors for CP can be divided into pre-conception, prenatal, perinatal and postnatal ones. CP commonly co-exists with epilepsy, in particular drug-resistant epilepsy, but also with mental retardation, visual and hearing impairment, as well as feeding and behavioral disorders. The degree of motor problem varies from mild to very severe making the child totally dependent on caregivers. Cerebral palsy is divided into forms depending on the type of motor disorders which dominate the clinical presentation; the traditional classifications by Ingram and Hagberg have now been replaced by the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe classification which divides CP into spastic, dyskinetic and ataxic forms. Although cerebral palsy is a clinical diagnosis, modern diagnostic imaging provides information that allows the division of the results of magnetic resonance imaging in children with cerebral palsy into five groups according to the magnetic resonance imaging classification system. Just as the clinical presentation and the factors predisposing for CP are very diverse, treatment is also a very complex problem. Modern treatment of spasticity includes both botulinum toxin therapies and surgical techniques, eg, rhizotomy. The authors present current views on definitions, risk factors, diagnostics and treatment of CP as well as comorbid problems, eg, drug-resistant epilepsy.


Immunometabolism as therapeutic target Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an immunomodulatory compound used to treat multiple sclerosis and psoriasis whose mechanisms of action remain only partially understood. Kornberg et al. found that DMF and its metabolite, monomethyl fumarate, succinate the glycolytic enzyme GAPDH (see the Perspective by Matsushita and Pearce). After DMF treatment, GAPDH was inactivated, and aerobic glycolysis was down-regulated in both myeloid and lymphoid cells. This resulted in down-modulated immune responses because inflammatory immune-cell subsets require aerobic glycolysis. Thus, metabolism can serve as a viable therapeutic target in autoimmune disease. Science, this issue p. 449; see also p. 377 An immunomodulatory drug suppresses immune responses by modulating metabolism in activated immune cells. Activated immune cells undergo a metabolic switch to aerobic glycolysis akin to the Warburg effect, thereby presenting a potential therapeutic target in autoimmune disease. Dimethyl fumarate (DMF), a derivative of the Krebs cycle intermediate fumarate, is an immunomodulatory drug used to treat multiple sclerosis and psoriasis. Although its therapeutic mechanism remains uncertain, DMF covalently modifies cysteine residues in a process termed succination. We found that DMF succinates and inactivates the catalytic cysteine of the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) in mice and humans, both in vitro and in vivo. It thereby down-regulates aerobic glycolysis in activated myeloid and lymphoid cells, which mediates its anti-inflammatory effects. Our results provide mechanistic insight into immune modulation by DMF and represent a proof of concept that aerobic glycolysis is a therapeutic target in autoimmunity.


Ultra-dense network (UDN) is considered as one of the most promising techniques in achieving the increasingly explosive growth of data rates for future 5G system. However, a large number of small cells lead to the increased cell edges and the rugged inter-cell interference, which cause frequent handover events and more radio link failure. In this paper, a local anchor-based dual connectivity (DC) architecture is proposed for a user-centric network based on the analysis of mobility management challenges of UDN. Under the proposed architecture, the local anchor acts as the master eNodeB (MeNB) with neighboring small cells acting as slave eNodeBs (SeNBs) to provide DC transmission for user-centric service following each user's movement. Key procedures for mobility management are correspondingly provided and both the MeNBs and SeNBs are selected from the small cells to investigate the potential of them, which are different from the mobility management methods under the traditional cellular architecture. Performance evaluations are conducted under different parameter configurations to evaluate the maximum potential of the proposed scheme. Simulation results show that in our proposed scheme, the handover failure rate shows a maximum decrease of more than 53% and the average user spectrum efficiency achieves an increase of 5% gains over the current LTE system when the user equipment speed is 3 km/h.


Serum mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) and pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) are novel biomarkers for acute heart failure (AHF). Like other AFH biomarkers, the performance of these tests are affected by the presence of clinical variables such as renal failure and obesity. In a substudy of the Biomarkers from Acute Heart Failure Study, we show that diabetes did not influence the performance of these markers with regards to AHF diagnosis or 90-day all cause death. However, in patients without AHF, increased MR-proADM alone was associated with the presence of diabetes.


Tensile fatigue specimen of G20Mn5 and G22NiMoCr5-6 were tested to quantify the influence of internal defects on the fatigue resistance of cast steel components. Defects with varying sizes, geometric shapes and distribution were enforced by influencing the solidification and recorded by computer tomography (CT). Besides the characteristics of the detected cavities, the surrounding fungoid microstructure is classified and evaluated. Later the specimens were tested under cyclic tension and S/N-curves are derived. These data form the basis for extensive numerical simulations of the damage process and the crack growth of every individual specimen. Both processes are affected by the local multiaxial stress states and have their origin in the inside of the specimen. For validation, knowledge of the crack initiation time and propagation properties are essential. Therefore, all specimens respectively the properties of the internal defects are monitored during testing with three different state-of-the-art non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. Background and application of these NDT techniques are described within this paper. Finally, fracture surface analyses show different failure modes and provide further information for model validation.


This paper presents a feedback steering control strategy for a vehicle in an automatic driving context. Two main contributions in terms of control are highlighted. On the one hand, the automatic reference trajectories generation from geometric path constraints (obstacles). Thanks to the flatness property of the considered model, the longitudinal velocity will be controlled around a quasi-constant value while lateral and yaw dynamics targets will allow to avoid obstacles. On the other hand, a sensitivity-based methodology will be presented to choose the best possible gains parameterization in a state Riccati dependent equation (SDRE) feedback controller. Both direct and adjoint sensitivity methods are used, together with a dynamic inversion of the system, in order to optimize the performances of the controller. Obstacle avoiding simulation results will be validated and compared with other nonlinear optimal feedback controllers, from a realistic industrial simulator environment for vehicle dynamics


It is well known that the intracranial pulse wave amplitude increases with rising intracranial pressure (ICP). However, little is known about how the form of the pulse wave changes with variation in ICP. One or two peaks were observed in the descending slope of the pulse wave, synchronous with the heart beat in dogs. As ICP increased, the amplitude as well as the peak of the pulse wave became more prominent and the shape finally became monotonous. These changes can be used as a diagnostic tool to assess the intracranial volume-pressure relationships. In dogs where the vasotonicity was strengthened by a hypertensive drug (noradrenalin), alteration of the pulse wave occurred with ICP elevation. However, when the systemic blood pressure was elevated by inflation of an aortic balloon, ICP elevation resulted in the monotonous form of the pulse wave. On the contrary, when the vasotonicity was weakened by a hypotensive drug (regitine), the form of the pulse wave became monotonous. However, exsanguination did not change the form of the wave under ICP elevation. These results suggest that the cerebrovascular tone contributes to the form of the pulse wave under increased ICP.


Introduction
Localised swelling at sites of filler injections has been reported in the Moderna mRNA-1273 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine trial.

Methods
We conducted a review of the existing data and literature on the potential pathophysiology for this adverse event and its potential management.

Results
Data from the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Phase 3 trial and one case series were available. Three out of 30,400 subjects developed possible filler reaction in the Moderna trial. Two other cases were reported after emergency use authorisation. Reactions occurred at a mean of 1.4 days post-vaccination. Fillers were injected at a mean of 14.1 months before vaccination. Areas involved included lips, infraorbital areas and tear troughs. Treatment included observation, corticosteroids, antihistamine, hyaluronidase and 5-fluorouracil.

Conclusion
Rare, self-limiting adverse reactions to dermal fillers have been reported following COVID-19 vaccination. Clinicians should be aware of this clinical phenomenon and its management, as vaccination is carried out globally.


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for encoding and decoding a multi-channel signal by discarding duplicate information among multiple channels and encoding and decoding the residual signal, without using a downmix signal. The present invention encodes and decodes: a reference signal from multiple channel signals constituting a multi-channel signal; a phase difference between each of the multiple channel signals and the reference signal; a gain which is a ratio of each of the multiple channel signals to the reference signal; and a residual signal which is an error between an actual channel signal and a channel signal predicted by applying the phase difference and the gain to the reference signal.


As a result of both the size of the audience and the very high response rates from all the sites, the overall rate being approximately 93 per cent, this evaluation provides a good basis for reflecting upon Bug Breakfast and suggesting ways that it might be improved. The session evaluated coincided with school holidays in New South Wales and when it was not possible to move the evaluation to another date there were concerns that the audience would be small. However, the combination of a topic that was of current concern, meningococcal disease, and the commitment of the remote facilitators to advertise the session ensured a large audience.


A 26-year-old female patient under albendazole treatment because of multiple liver and lung hydatid cysts was admitted with headache and convulsions. Bilateral papilloedema and slight right hemiparesis were observed in neurological examination. Neuroradiological evaluation revealed a cystic lesion causing midline shift and oedema in the left frontal lobe. The cyst was removed unruptured using Dowling's technique and postoperative outcome was uneventful. Albendazole therapy was continued due to systemic infection. In her second month of follow-up, she suffered from severe headache and abundant haemoptysis. Control cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a ring-shaped slightly contrast-enhancing lesion including heterogeneous fibrillary ingredient with surrounding oedema in the left frontal lobe. The further follow-up cranial MRI suggested brain abscess.We present a complicated case of brain hydatid cyst and its management with a successful outcome.


In examining the relationship between the political theology of Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and the socio-political cultural attempts of British and North American Muslim performing artists to cope with the power structures they experience, the influence of Malcolm X appears to be mediated, personalized, and expressed in manifold ways. Besides the liberating and normalizing effects of Malcolm X and his political theology by externally directed expressions towards societies and states, I found transformative, emancipative effects among expressions directed towards Muslims and Islamic currents. On the meta- level, specific Muslim artists may have become part of the informal Anglophone network of interdependent Islamic teachers and institutions that is focussed to re-explain the most powerful mainstream of Islam and its cultural standards in the world by incorporating the inclusive symbol that Malcolm X is.


Background UN decade of Action for Road safety was launched in Nepal on same day 11 May 2011 along with 80 nations in world. Seven years down the line, with just 3 years to go, time has come to review the situation to know where stand and way forward. Method and material Traffic police Accident data since launch till this day were reviewed. These annual date were labeled as first year of launch, then subsequent years as 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th,6th, and 7th years. Annual records are kept in Nepalese fiscal year corresponding from July to July next year of English calendar. Result Annual data on No. of Accidents, deaths, Serious Injuries, Minor Injuries in First year, 8892, 1837, 4018, 7183 Second year 6172, 1344, 2844, 5607 Third year 4672, 143, 229, 3481 Fourth year 4999, 133, 233, 3642 Fifth year 5668, 166, 275, 3901 Sixth year 5530, 182, 201, 3914 Seventh year 3062, 87, 98, 2071 respectively were found. Road accidents and death toll were declining. From 3rd to 6th year it increased though in lower number. Possible reason is public buses accidents. Serious and Minor Injuries also declined. it can be attributed to several national programs, and Interventional programs by agencies, Traffic police. Yet, lot of actions are pending in National Road safety Action plan to meet the goal. Devastating Earthquake in Nepal 2 years ago and National election, transformation of Government system into Federalism are setbacks. Conclusion Despite setbacks, challenges, implementation of remaining actions of Nepal Road Safety action Plan must go on.


Neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the medial amygdala (AMe) coexpress vasopressin and galanin (GAL) in the adult male rat. Here, we have asked whether GAL gene expression, like vasopressin gene expression in these same neurons, exhibits sexual dimorphism and whether GAL pathways in the BNST and AMe are activated with puberty in female rats as we have previously observed in male rats. In Exp 1, in situ hybridization histochemistry and quantitative autoradiography were used to compare GAL gene expression in the BNST and AMe of prepubertal (24-day-old) and adult (90-day-old) male and female rats. In the BNST, both the number of GAL mRNA-expressing neurons (F = 41.98; P < or = 0.0001; males, P < or = 0.007; females, P < or = 0.001) and the intensity of labeling (F = 40.35; P < or = 0.0001; males, P < or = 0.004; females, P < or = 0.002) were significantly increased in adult compared to prepubertal animals of both sexes. In the AMe of both males (P < or = 0.001) and females (P < or = 0.001), the intensity of labeling was significantly enhanced across puberty (F = 66.29; P < or = 0.0001); however, the number of GAL mRNA-expressing neurons in this region did not change. We found no evidence for sexual dimorphism of GAL gene expression in either brain region. In Exp 2, we replicated our observations of a lack of sexual dimorphism of GAL gene expression in the BNST of adult male and female rats. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that GAL neurons in the BNST and AMe are steroid sensitive in both sexes. However, our failure to detect any differences in either the number of GAL mRNA-expressing neurons or the level of expression between male and female rats at either age indicates that these pathways do not exhibit sexual dimorphism.


Real-time photorealistic rendering requires a lot of computational power. Foveated rendering reduces the work by focusing the effort to where the user is looking, but the very sparse sampling in the periphery requires fast reconstruction algorithms with good quality. The problem is even more complicated in the field of foveated path tracing where the sparse samples are also noisy. In this position paper we argue that machine learning and data-driven methods play an important role in the future of real-time foveated rendering. In order to show initial proofs to support this opinion, we propose a preliminary machine learning based method which is able to improve the reconstruction quality of foveated path traced image by using spatio-temporal input data. Moreover, the method is able to run in the same reduced foveated resolution as the path tracing setup. The reconstruction using the preliminary network is about 2.9ms per 658×960 frame on a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti


In March 1997, a transition occurred in the health service support of the intermediate staging base of Operation Joint Guard in Taszar, Hungary, by which a level III, 32-bed Deployable Medical Systems facility staffed by 178 personnel was replaced by a level II+ clinic staffed by 48 personnel with no organic surgical or blood transfusion capabilities. This was achieved by the use of local host nation facilities for surgery, sophisticated diagnostics, and medical specialty hospitalization. In the ensuing 7 months, 34 American patients were admitted to Hungarian hospitals for a total of 100 inpatient days, and 8 of them underwent surgery. This successful use of host nation facilities as medical force multipliers allowed great savings in cost and personnel and should be considered in future operations other than war that involve low-intensity conflict.


We investigate the causal relationship between the growth rate of top income shares and economic growth in 12 OECD economies for the period 1950–2010. To analyze patterns of short‐ and long‐run causality, we build upon recent advances in structural‐vector autoregressive modeling of non‐Gaussian systems. This framework allows us to discriminate between rival transmission channels by means of dependence tests, since independent shocks are unique for a particular causation pattern. We consider the share of income accruing to the top 1 percent (T1), to the next 9 percent (T9), and to the top decile (T10). While structural models display considerable heterogeneity across countries, mean group and pooled results strongly favor a specific transmission pattern. In particular, T1 has a long‐run positive impact on economic development. This result, which is also confirmed by identified impulse‐response functions, is particularly evident for the post‐1980 period.


The purpose of this study was to explore early-career registered nurses' perceptions of high-quality nursing care in hospitals. The study findings contribute to ongoing work intended to explore and define what quality nursing care is and how it ultimately impacts patients. The final sample analyzed for this article consisted of 171 narrative responses from hospital-based registered nurses. We used Krippendorff's technique for qualitative content analysis to identify themes. Three themes emerged as integral to high quality nursing care: registered nurse presence, developing relationships, and facilitating the flow of knowledge and information. Development of nursing quality indicators should focus on nursing processes in addition to patient outcomes. Such a focus would better capture the complexity of hospital nursing care.


We propose to deliberate the hypothesis alignment of a streaming RNN-T model with the previously proposed Align-Refine non-autoregressive decoding method and its improved versions. The method performs a few refinement steps, where each step shares a transformer decoder that attends to both text features (extracted from alignments) and audio features, and outputs complete updated alignments. The transformer decoder is trained with the CTC loss which facilitates parallel greedy decoding, and performs full-context attention to capture label dependencies. We improve Align-Refine by introducing cascaded encoder that captures more audio context before refinement, and alignment augmentation which enforces learning label dependency. We show that, conditioned on hypothesis alignments of a streaming RNN-T model, our method obtains significantly more accurate recognition results than the first-pass RNN-T, with only small amount of model parameters.


In this paper, two methods of generating minimally persistent circle formation are presented. The proposed methods adopt a leader-follower strategy and all followers are firstly motivated to move into the leader's interaction range. Based on the information about relative angle and relative distance, two numbering schemes are proposed to generate minimally persistent circle formation. Distributed control laws are also designed to maintain the desired relative distance between agents. The distinctive features of the proposed methods are as follows. First, only 2n − 3 unilateral communication links for n agents are needed during the circle formation process and thus the communication complexity can be reduced. In addition, the formation topology is kept fixed for the whole motion and achieves a self-stability property. Finally, each follower keeps a regualr interval with its neighbors and the formation converges to a uniform circle formation. Simulation results are also provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


Apoplastic peroxidase distribution in transmitting tissue of the stylar 'neck' was investigated using the DAB cytochemical reaction applied to electron microscopy in non-, self- and cross-pollinated pistils of Primula acaulis ('pin' morph) exposed or not to ultraviolet (u.v.) irradiation. In non-irradiated flowers, apoplastic peroxidase activity, which is present in non-pollinated pistils, is increased by self-pollination, whereas cross-pollination causes its disappearance from the central portion of the transmitting tissue. Apoplastic peroxidases localized in the central portion of the transmitting tissue are supposed to play a role in the predisposition of the pistil to reject incompatible pollen tubes and in the rejection mechanism itself. Pistil irradiation with u.v., which induces pseudo-self-compatibility, modified the aforementioned apoplastic peroxidase distribution. Shortly after u.v. irradiation of nonpollinated styles, apoplastic peroxidase activity was absent from the central portion of the transmitting tissue; some hours later peroxidase activity was restored, and 40 h after treatment, the 'normal' peroxidase distribution was observed. Our data suggest an u.v.-induced temporary removal of the 'predisposition for incompatible pollen tube rejection. Moreover, soon after irradiation, the usually observed peroxidase production due to self-pollination was inhibited. Pseudo-self-compatibility, observed when self-pollination was carried out immediately after u.v. irradiation, was due to incompatible pollen tube elongation in a transmitting tissue devoid of apoplastic peroxidases and hindered in the rejection mechanism. However, pseudo-self-compatible pollen tube growth was not accompanied by the dramatic changes in transmitting tissue ultrastructure observed after compatible cross-pollination. The data indicate that, even if incompatible pollen tubes are not 'rejected', they are still 'recognized' and hindered in their absorption of cellular reserves from the transmitting tissue.


Swinging involves consensual mutual involvement in extra-dyadic sex. Jealousy in swinging couples is an interesting topic for social psychological research, because it is a common and acceptable response to a romantic partner's real or imagined infidelity. This qualitative study examined the management of jealousy among four active heterosexual swinging couples living in southern England. Participants highlighted the importance of discussion and negotiation to develop a shared couple identity and shared rules and boundaries that allowed them to manage jealousy so that they could better enjoy swinging. Rather than seeking to eliminate jealousy, swingers may manage their feelings of jealousy in order to increase sexual excitement and arousal. This study adds to our understanding of jealousy among swingers and the broader issue of jealousy in intimate relationships.


Metal–support interactions have been widely utilized for optimizing the catalytic reactivity of oxide-supported Au nanoparticles. Optimized reactivity was mainly detected with small (1–5 nm) oxide-supported Au nanoparticles and correlated to highly reactive sites at the oxide–metal interface. However, catalytically active sites are not necessarily restricted to the interface but reside as well on the Au surface. Uncovering the interconnection between reactive sites located at the interface and those situated at the metal surface is of crucial importance for understanding the reaction mechanism on Au nanoparticles. Herein, high-spatial-resolution IR nanospectroscopy measurements were conducted to map the localized reactivity in hydrogenation reactions on oxide-supported Au particles while using nitro-functionalized ligands as probes molecules. Comparative analysis of the reactivity pattern on single particles supported on various oxides revealed that oxide-dependent reactivity enhancement was not limited to the oxide–metal interface but was detected throughout the Au particle, leading to site-independent reactivity. These results indicate that reactive Au sites on both the oxide–metal interface and metal surface can activate the nitro groups toward hydrogenation reactions. The observed influence of oxide support (TiO2 > SiO2 > Al2O3) on the overall reactivity pattern specified that hydrogen dissociation occurred at the oxide–metal interface, followed by highly efficient intraparticle hydrogen atom diffusion to the interior parts of the Au particle. In contrast to Au particles, the oxide–metal interface had only a minor impact on the reactivity of supported Pt particles in which hydrogen dissociation and nitro group reduction were effectively activated on Pt sites. Single-particle measurements provided insights into the relative reactivity pattern of oxide-supported Au particles, revealing that the less-reactive Au metal sites can activate hydrogenation reactions in the presence of hydrogen atoms that diffuse from the Au/oxide boundary.


As an important part of entrepreneurial environment, Culture directly or indirectly affects individual entrepreneurial intention. Taking young students as the survey object, this paper uses empirical research methods to explore the relationship between Confucian filial piety culture and Chinese youth's entrepreneurial intention. The results show that there is a positive correlation between Confucian filial piety culture and Chinese youth's entrepreneurial intention, achievement motivation, risk-taking tendency and self-efficacy; Confucian filial piety culture has not only a direct effect on Chinese youth's entrepreneurial intention, but also an indirect effect with achievement motivation, self-efficacy and risk-taking tendency as intermediary variables.


Poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSS) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) are flexible polyelectrolytes, whereas sulfated chitosan (SC) and cationic guar gum (CGG) are semiflexible polyelectrolytes. By use of a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), a zeta potential analyzer (ZPA), and atomic force microscopy (AFM), we have investigated the growth of PSS/PDDA, PSS/CGG, SC/PDDA, and SC/CGG multilayers as a function of NaCl concentration (C(NaCl)). For the same layer number, the changes of frequency (-Δf) and dissipation (ΔD) regarding PSS/PDDA multilayer increase with C(NaCl), whereas -Δf and ΔD for SC/CGG multilayer increase at C(NaCl) < 0.1 M and decrease at C(NaCl) > 0.1 M as C(NaCl) increases. In the cases of PSS/CGG and SC/PDDA multilayer, for the same layer number, -Δf and ΔD increase with C(NaCl) in the range of C(NaCl) < 0.5 M, and they decrease with the increasing C(NaCl) in the case of SC/PDDA multilayer but slightly change for the PSS/CGG multilayer at C(NaCl) > 0.5 M. QCM-D studies indicate that the growth of multilayers as a function of salt concentration is determined by the delicate balance between the weakening of electrostatic repulsion between identically charged groups and the decrease of electrostatic attraction between neighboring layers. ZPA and AFM measurements demonstrate that the extent of surface charge overcompensation and the surface morphology of the multilayers are controlled by the chain conformation.


Sexual harassment and sexists behaviors are pervasive issues in the workplace. Around 12% of women in France have been subjected to toxic behaviors at work in the last year, including sexist comments, moral, sexual or physical harassment, or violence. Such toxic behaviors can not only deter women from entering the labor market, but can also lead them to leave toxic workplaces at their own expense. This article is one of the first to examine the relationship between toxic behaviors and worker flows. We use the #MeToo movement as an exogenous shock to France's workplace norms regarding toxic behaviors. We combine survey data on reported toxic behaviors in firms with exhaustive administrative data to create a measure of toxic behaviors risk for all French establishments. We use a tripledifference strategy comparing female and male worker flows in high-risk versus low-risk firms before and after #MeToo. We find that #MeToo increased women's relative quit rates in higher-risk workplaces, while men's worker flows remained unaffected. This demonstrates the existence of a double penalty for women working in high-risk environments, as they are not only more frequently the victims of toxic behaviors, but are also forced to quit their jobs in order to avoid them. JEL codes: J16, J81, J24, J52.


Gangliogliomas and focal cortical dysplasias (FCDs) constitute glioneuronal lesions, which are frequently encountered in biopsy specimens of patients with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy and relate to impaired differentiation and migration of neural precursors. However, their molecular pathogenesis and relationship are still largely enigmatic. Recent data suggest several components of the insulin‐pathway, including TSC1 and TSC2 mutated in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), to be altered in gangliogliomas and FCD with Taylor type balloon cells (FCDIIb). The proteins tuberin (TSC2) and hamartin (TSC1) constitute a tumour suppressor mechanism involved in cell‐cycle control. Hamartin and/or tuberin were reported to colocalize and/or interact with CDK1, cyclinB1 and cyclinA2 that are critically involved in cell‐size and cell‐growth control. Here, we have carried out mutational and expression analyses of CDK1, cyclinB1 and cyclinA2 in gangliogliomas and FCDIIb. Mutational screening was performed by single‐strand conformation polymorphism analysis in gangliogliomas (n = 20), FCDIIb (n = 35) and controls. CyclinB1 revealed a polymorphism (G to A, cDNA Position 966, GenBank: NM_031966) in exon 7 with similar frequencies in FCDIIb, gangliogliomas and control specimens (FCD n = 9/35; gangliogliomas n = 5/20; control n = 20/100). We used real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to determine expression levels of CDK1, cyclinB1 and cyclinA2 in 10 FCDIIb and nine gangliogliomas compared with unaffected adjacent control tissue of the same patients. We observed significantly lower expression of CDK1 and cyclinA2 in FCDIIb vs. controls whereas no significant expression differences were present for CDK1, cyclinB1 and cyclinA2 in gangliogliomas. Our data strongly argue against mutational events of CDK1, cyclinB1 and cyclinA2 to play a role in gangliogliomas or FCDIIb. However, a potential functional significance of lower expression for the cell‐size and cell‐cycle regulators CDK1 and cyclinA2 in FCDIIb composed of large dysplastic neurones and balloon cells needs to be further resolved.


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Background: We examined the influence of rectal distention on the spinal micturition reflex and the mechanism underlying its inhibition of bladder contraction. Methods: Fourteen conscious female Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study after transection of the lower thoracic cord. Isovolumetric cystometry was performed before and after distention of the rectum by inflation of a rectal balloon, followed by intrathecal injection of strychnine (a selective glycine receptor antagonist) or bicuculline (a GABAA receptor antagonist) into the lumbosacral cord. Results: Rectal distention (1.0–3.0 cm3) prolonged the interval, decreased the amplitude, and shortened the duration of bladder contraction, and eventually almost abolished bladder activity. After intrathecal injection of strychnine (0.001–10 µg) or bicuculline (0.001–1 µg) in animals with inhibition of bladder activity by rectal distention, the interval, amplitude, and duration of bladder contraction returned to baseline. Conclusion: These results suggest that there is an inhibitory rectovesical reflex in the lumbosacral cord of rats with spinal cord injury, which modulates the spinal micturition reflex via glycinergic or GABAergic mechanisms.