Objectives The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to health systems and populations, particularly in India. Comprehensive, population-level studies of the burden of disease could inform planning, preparedness and policy, but are lacking in India. In West Bengal, India, we conducted a detailed analysis of the burden caused by COVID-19 from its onset to 7 January 2022. Setting Open-access, population-level and administrative data sets for West Bengal were used. Primary and secondary outcome measures Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of potential productive life lost (YPPLL), cost of productivity lost (CPL: premature mortality and absenteeism), years of potential life lost (YPLL), premature years of potential life lost, working years of potential life lost (WYPLL) and value of statistical life (VSL) were estimated across scenarios (21 for DALY and 3 each for YPLL and VSL) to evaluate the effects of different factors. Results COVID-19 had a higher impact on the elderly population with 90.2% of deaths arising from people aged above 45. In males and females, respectively, DALYs were 190 568.1 and 117 310.0 years, YPPLL of the productive population was 28 714.7 and 16 355.4 years, CPL due to premature mortality was INR3 198 259 615.6 and INR583 397 335.1 and CPL due to morbidity was INR2 505 568 048.4 and INR763 720 886.1. For males and females, YPLL ranged from 189 103.2 to 272 787.5 years and 117 925.5 to 169 712.0 years for lower to higher age limits, and WYPLL was 54 333.9 and 30 942.2 years. VSL (INR million) for the lower, midpoint and upper life expectancies was 883 330.8; 882 936.4; and 880 631.3, respectively. Vaccination was associated with reduced mortality. Conclusions The losses incurred due to COVID-19 in terms of the computed estimates in West Bengal revealed a disproportionately higher impact on the elderly and males. Analysis of various age-gender subgroups enhances localised and targeted policymaking to minimise the losses for future pandemics.


in sydney, late in 1932, Joachim Tavlaridis — known as Mick adams — opened australia's first modern "american-style" milk bar: the Black & white 4d. Milk Bar. indeed, adams' milk bar was the world's first. within five years, there were some four thousand milk bars operating in australia. Most were Greek-run. By the mid-1930s, Greeks had taken the concept to new zealand. at the same time, Great Britain also quickly imported the idea, and attempts were made to introduce it to the United states; although influenced by food-catering enterprises in america, "milk bars" did not exist there. Milk bars even appear to have reached fiji not long after their initial success in australia. adams' refreshment revolution became both an australian and international food-catering icon. This paper provides an insight into the milk bar's international cross-cultural origins, its development within australia, its subsequent distribution overseas, and its role as a vehicle for americanisation.


BACKGROUND Although combustible cigarette use is an established risk factor for severe COVID-19 disease, there is conflicting evidence for the association of electronic cigarette use with SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease severity. METHODS Study participants were from the Kaiser Permanente Research Bank (KPRB), a biorepository that includes adult Kaiser Permanente members from across the United States. Starting in April 2020, electronic surveys were sent to KPRB members to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These surveys collected information on self-report of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-related risk factors, including electronic cigarette and combustible cigarette smoking history. We also used electronic health records data to assess COVID-19 diagnoses, positive PCR lab tests, hospitalizations, and death. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection between individuals by e-cigarette use categories (never, former, and current). Among those with SARS-CoV-2 infection, we used multivariable logistic regression to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs comparing the odds of hospitalization or death within 30 days of infection between individuals by e-cigarette use categories. RESULTS There were 126,475 individuals who responded to the survey and completed questions on e-cigarette and combustible cigarette use (48% response rate). Among survey respondents, 819 (1%) currently used e-cigarettes, 3,691 (3%) formerly used e-cigarettes, and 121,965 (96%) had never used e-cigarettes. After adjustment for demographic, behavioral, and clinical factors, there was no association with SARS-CoV-2 infection and former e-cigarette use (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.99; CI: 0.83–1.18) or current e-cigarette use (HR = 1.08; CI: 0.76–1.52). Among those with SARS-CoV-2 infection, there was no association with hospitalization or death within 30 days of infection and former e-cigarette use (odds ratio (OR) = 1.19; CI: 0.59–2.43) or current e-cigarette use (OR = 1.02; CI: 0.22–4.74). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that e-cigarette use is not associated with an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection or severe COVID-19 illness.


Every business owner, if he is not the head of a company, faces the key managerial task - to find the right top-manager who will efficiently administer the company's assets. The article shows that the productivity of the hired CEO (Chief Executive Officer) depends on two basic candidate's qualities: level of proficiency and loyalty. A model description of the introduced relation is proposed. The author introduces a concept of the indifference curve of the manager's efficiency and illustrates the requirements of different kinds of owners to the productivity curve for the vacant executive position. A selection algorithm to choose the candidates for the position of top-manager and an example how it works are proposed.


Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the role of homocysteine (Hcy) in patients with hepatorenal syndrome (HRS). Background Hcy increases in cirrhosis than in noncirrhotic liver diseases. Hyperhomocysteinemia is correlated with the clinical course of liver disease and is characteristically detected at late stages of cirrhosis. Patients and methods A total of 78 patients and 20 controls were divided into four groups. Group 1 included 28 cirrhotic patients without ascites. Group 2 included 25 cirrhotic patients with ascites. Group 3 included 25 patients with HRS. Group 4 included 20 healthy participants as a control group. Liver and kidney function tests, complete blood count, viral marker analysis, evaluation of serum Hcy using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and renal duplex ultrasonography were carried out. Results Patients with liver cirrhosis showed significantly higher serum Hcy levels in comparison with controls. Positive correlations were found between Hcy and age, child classification, model for end-stage liver disease score, creatinine level, and renal resistive index (RRI), whereas serum Hcy was negatively correlated with creatinine clearance. Hcy at a cutoff value of more than 17 micromol/l could predict patients with HRS with 89% sensitivity and 80% specificity.RRI at cutoff value of more than 0.75 could predict patients with HRS with 85% sensitivity and 80% specificity. The sensitivity was 94%, and accuracy was 87%, when Hcy and RRI were estimated together in patients with HRS. Conclusion Hcy can be considered as a predictive marker for patients with HRS.


In this project, an automatic design tool for a solar energy harvesting IC and system is developed with visual basic software, and the synthesis tool employed in this approach can be used to shorten the design time to market. In addition, a smart meter system is developed to measure the solar energy harvesting system's information with an online system. Users can thus get the proposed system's information at any time and from anywhere. Finally, good agreement has been found between the analytic and experimental results.


A Lyapunov approach to the characterization of forced vibration for continuous-time systems was recently proposed in. The objective of this paper is to derive counterpart results for discrete-time systems. The class of oscillatory input signals to be considered include sinusoidal signals, multitone signals, and periodic signals which can be described as the output of an autonomous system. The Lyapunov approach is developed for linear systems, homogeneous systems (difference inclusions), and nonlinear systems (difference inclusions), respectively. It is established that the steady-state gain can be arbitrarily closely characterized with Lyapunov functions if the output response converges exponentially to the steady state. We also evaluate other output measures such as the peak of the transient response and the convergence rate. Applying the results to linear difference inclusions, optimization problems with linear matrix inequality constraints can be formulated for the purpose of estimating the output measures. This paper's results can be readily applied to the evaluation of frequency responses of general nonlinear and uncertain systems by restricting the inputs to sinusoidal signals. Similar to continuous-time systems, it is observed that the peak of the frequency response can be strictly larger than the gain for a linear difference inclusion.


Organic semiconductors tend to self-assemble into highly ordered and oriented morphologies with anisotropic optical properties. Studying these optical anisotropies provides insight into processing-dependent structural properties and informs the photonic design of organic photovoltaic and light-emitting devices. Here we measure the anisotropic optical properties of spin-cast films of the $n$-type polymer P(NDI2OD-T2) using momentum-resolved absorption and emission spectroscopies. We quantify differences in the optical anisotropies of films deposited with distinct face-on and edge-on morphologies. In particular, we infer a substantially larger out-of-plane tilt angle of the optical transition dipole moment in high temperature annealed, edge-on films. Measurements of spectral differences between in-plane and out-of-plane dipoles, further indicate regions of disordered polymers in low temperature annealed face-on films that are otherwise obscured in traditional x-ray and optical characterization techniques. The methods and analysis developed in this work provide a way to identify and quantify subtle optical and structural anisotropies in organic semiconductors that are important for understanding and designing highly efficient thin film devices.


When engineers diagnose system failures, they often use models to confirm system operation. This concept has produced a class of advanced expert systems that perform model-based diagnosis. A model-based diagnostic expert system for the Space Station Freedom electrical power distribution test bed is currently being developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The objective of this expert system is to autonomously detect and isolate electrical fault conditions. Marple, a software package developed at TRW, provides a model-based environment utilizing constraint suspension. Originally, constraint suspension techniques were developed for digital systems. However, Marple provides the mechanisms for applying this approach to analog systems such as the test bed, as well. The expert system was developed using Marple and Lucid Common Lisp running on a Sun Sparc-2 workstation. The Marple modeling environment has proved to be a useful tool for investigating the various aspects of model-based diagnostics. This report describes work completed to date and lessons learned while employing model-based diagnostics using constraint suspension within an analog system.


In this paper, we demonstrate postprocessing techniques to adjust the threshold voltage (Vt) and on-off ratio (ION/IOFF) of multiple-tube carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNFETs). These postprocessing techniques open up an additional degree of freedom to further tune individual CNFETs in addition to various device synthesis and processing techniques. We demonstrate proof-of-concept experiments and fully characterize their design spaces and tradeoffs. The techniques, threshold voltage setting and on-off ratio tuning, were able to adjust the threshold by as much as 2 V and tune the on-off ratio across 5times103 to times105. In addition,Vt setting could be used as an analysis tool to infer the Vt distribution of grown carbon nanotubes (CNTs). These tuning techniques, combined with processes such as doping, will enable high-performance multiple-nanotube devices.


Abstract Education technologies (EdTech) are becoming pervasive due to their cost-effectiveness, accessibility, and scalability. They also experienced accelerated market growth during the recent pandemic. EdTech collects massive amounts of students' behavioral and (sensitive) demographic data, often justified by the potential to help students by personalizing education. Researchers voiced concerns regarding privacy and data abuses (e.g., targeted advertising) in the absence of clearly defined data collection and sharing policies. However, technical contributions to alleviating students' privacy risks have been scarce. In this paper, we argue against collecting demographic data by showing that gender—a widely used demographic feature—does not causally affect students' course performance: arguably the most popular target of predictive models. Then, we show that gender can be inferred from behavioral data; thus, simply leaving them out does not protect students' privacy. Combining a feature selection mechanism with an adversarial censoring technique, we propose a novel approach to create a 'private' version of a dataset comprising of fewer features that predict the target without revealing the gender, and are interpretive. We conduct comprehensive experiments on a public dataset to demonstrate the robustness and generalizability of our mechanism.


A new procedure of microencapsulation was studied with regard to substance release and quantification of diffusion processes on the capsule membrane. The permeability behaviour on the capsule membrane was especially studied in metabolites, which are essential for immobilized biological objects (i.g. preimplantative mammal embryos). Peptide and proteohormones, cyanmethemoglobin and proteins were enclosed in simple and multiple Symplex Capsules. All substances examined are able to pass the Symplex membrane. The speed of release is influenced by the size of the capsule, the ion force, temperature, concentration of immobilized substances as well as their linear and globular structur. Compared with simple capsules the release of substances from multiple capsules was delayed. Corresponding to the results found under the experimental design described the Symplex membrane can be considered as coating for the compartmentation of cells, that allows the passage of essential substances for the immobilized objects. The method of microencapsulation used and described has various ways of application.


This paper summarises a study in which the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was used as a theoretical framework to study adolescents' pedestrian behaviour and to inform the development of remedial measures that aim to improve adolescents' road safety. The TPB was applied to three specific examples of pedestrian behaviour: crossing between parked cars, using nearby crossings and challenging traffic (a behaviour that involved making car drivers slow down when crossing a road). One thousand, eight hundred and ninety one adolescents between the ages of 11 and 16 years completed questionnaires designed to measure demographic and exposure variables, TPB variables (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control and behavioural intentions) and reported behaviour. The results provided strong support for the TPB's application to each of the three pedestrian behaviours that were studied. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that, for each behaviour, the TPB variables led to large and statistically significant increments to explained variance in intentions and reported behaviour, over and above that accounted for by the demographic and exposure variables. In each case, attitude, subjective norm and perceived control were strongly and positively associated with intentions, and intentions were strongly and positively associated with reported behaviour. TPB variables also mediated most of the effects of demographic and exposure variables on behaviour. Specific beliefs underpinning adolescents' attitudes (and subjective norms and perceived control) were identified in the study. This provided detailed information about the factors underlying adolescents' motivation to perform each of the behaviours. Effectively targeting these beliefs in interventions (e.g. publicity and education) might lead to corresponding and desirable changes in adolescents' attitudes, intentions and ultimately their pedestrian behaviour.


<italic>Objective:</italic> Oscillogram modeling is a powerful tool for understanding and advancing popular oscillometric blood pressure (BP) measurement. A reduced oscillogram model relating cuff pressure oscillation amplitude (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta O$</tex-math></inline-formula>) to external cuff pressure of the artery (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${P}_e$</tex-math></inline-formula>) is: <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta O\ ({{P}_e}) = k\mathop \int \nolimits_{{P}_d - {P}_e}^{{P}_s - {P}_e} g(P)dP$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$g(P)$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the arterial compliance versus transmural pressure (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P$</tex-math></inline-formula>) curve, <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${P}_s$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${P}_d$</tex-math></inline-formula> are systolic and diastolic BP, and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the reciprocal of the cuff compliance. The objective was to determine an optimal functional form for the arterial compliance curve. <italic>Methods:</italic> Eight prospective, three-parameter functions of the brachial artery compliance curve were compared. The study data included oscillometric arm cuff pressure waveforms and invasive brachial BP from 122 patients covering a 20-120 mmHg pulse pressure range. The oscillogram measurements were constructed from the cuff pressure waveforms. Reduced oscillogram models, inputted with measured systolic and diastolic BP and each parametric brachial artery compliance curve function, were optimally fitted to the oscillogram measurements in the least squares sense. <italic>Results:</italic> An exponential-linear function yielded as good or better model fits compared to the other functions, with errors of 7.9±0.3 and 5.1±0.2% for tail-trimmed and lower half-trimmed oscillogram measurements. Importantly, this function was also the most tractable mathematically. <italic>Conclusion:</italic> A three-parameter exponential-linear function is an optimal form for the arterial compliance curve in the reduced oscillogram model and may thus serve as the standard function for this model henceforth. <italic>Significance:</italic> The complete, reduced oscillogram model determined herein can potentially improve oscillometric BP measurement accuracy while advancing foundational knowledge.


Abstract In many developing countries, national legislative seats are considered less valuable than (subnational) executive positions. Even then, ambitious politicians may seek a legislative seat either (a) as a window of opportunity for jumping to an executive office; or (b) as a consolation prize when no better option is available. Using a regression discontinuity design adapted to a pr setting, we examine these possibilities in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies between 1983 and 2011. In line with the consolation prize story, we find that marginal candidates from the Peronist party—which controls most provincial governorships—are more likely to be renominated and serve an additional term in the legislature, but not necessarily to jump to an executive office. The effect is stronger in small provinces.


This paper describes a practical dry etching process for PZT. Results are presented that demonstrate a high rate, fence-free process that can be applied to thick PZT layers such as those used in pyroelectric detector arrays. The process relies upon the use of a MORI high density plasma system. When used in combination with a subsequent wet etch, it is possible to significantly improve the capacitor definition and maintain selectivity to the Pt electrode. The combined process results in an improvement in the reliability of the top electrode contact of such devices.


We present new classes of positive definite kernels on non-standard spaces that are integrally strictly positive definite or characteristic. In particular, we discuss radial kernels on separable Hilbert spaces, and introduce broad classes of kernels on Banach spaces and on metric spaces of strong negative type. The general results are used to give explicit classes of kernels on separable L p spaces and on sets of measures.


Research examining the quality of local planning often treats planning problems as isolated incidents occurring in public decision making. Comprehensive plans and policy statements are evolving instruments, undergoing continual revisions. This article examines the degree to which the quality of local plans changes over an eight-year period with respect to natural hazards mitigation. Jurisdictions in Florida and Washington were sampled in 1991 and in 1999 to determine the extent to which their plans' hazard mitigation components changed and to identify factors driving communities to adopt stronger policies. Results indicate the plans of local jurisdictions improved and that legal reform, repetitive damage to property, and citizen participation can facilitate an adaptive learning process. This article discusses policy implications and provides recommendations for improving learning capabilities to prepare plans that prevent natural hazards.


This paper presents a telemedicine system capable of remote monitoring cardiac patients. It includes a device which transmits the patient ECG to a monitoring center using the short message service (SMS) and data service of a TDMA cellular network. The device works in conjunction with a cellular phone handset, allowing mobility to the patient.


We propose a novel cooperative positioning algorithm that fuses information from satellites and terrestrial wireless systems, suitable for GPS-challenged scenarios. The algorithm is fully distributed over an unstructured network, does not require a fusion center, does not rely on fixed terrestrial infrastructure, and is thus suitable for ad-hoc deployment. The proposed message passing algorithm, named hybrid sum-product algorithm over a wireless network (H-SPAWN), is described and analyzed. A novel parametric message representation is introduced, to reduce computational and communication overhead. Through simulation, we show that H-SPAWN improves positioning availability and accuracy, and outperforms hybrid positioning algorithms based on conventional estimation techniques.


China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 not only revealed to the world the weakness of the Celestial Empire, but also raised a number of critical problems for the Imperial government, none more complicated than that of protecting foreign missionaries. The missionary problem had already become a diplomatic headache in the latter part of the nineteenth century, after the Treaty Powers had forced the Chinese government to recognize the right of Christian missionaries to establish missions far in the interior of China where they were exposed to attacks by hostile Chinese. As greater numbers of missionaries penetrated the interior, antimissionary outrages occurred with disturbing and increasing frequency, bringing forth bitter complaints from the foreign community in China about the inability of the Powers to force the Imperial government to provide protection. The customary demand of the Powers when outrages occurred had been for protection of their nationals, reparations for lives lost and property destroyed, and punishment of provincial officials who had been unable or unwilling to prevent outrages. Frequently there had been a resort to "gunboat diplomacy," when the Powers rushed naval vessels to cities where riots threatened or occurred to protect foreigners and overawe local officials.


Specimens of the Neotropical dog-faced bats of the genus Cynomops Thomas, 1920 are poorly represented in museum collections, and the geographical distributions of the eight species are not well known. We report voucher specimens that confirm the presence of C. greenhalli Goodwin, 1958 in the Tropical Wet Forest of Costa Rica. These specimens represent an extension of the distribution into the Caribbean Central America.


Abstract The criminal justice system in Pakistan operates imperfectly, although the aim of the Pakistan's Criminal Law system is that no person is being convicted without all the elements but our System is not speedy and fast in disposal of cases then automatically innocent suffers. A failure of the justice system leaves people free but uncompensated. When a case has been decided after a lengthy trial and an individual acquit on merit by the judgment of concerned Court than upon release he did not receive any thing as compensation by the Criminal Justice System of Pakistan because System offers no mechanism for compensation. This article will discuss about wrongfully convicted persons in Pakistan's Criminal Justice System and the reasons for their wrongful imprisonment and mechanism for compensation. In the end, conclusions and recommendations will be given on the same.


In many works in the fields of computational complexity, algorithmic number theory and mathematical cryptology as well as in related areas, claims on the running times of algorithms are made. However, often no computational model is given and the analysis is performed in a more or less ad hoc way, counting in an intuitive way "bit operations". On the other hand, the computational model of a successor RAM with logarithmic cost function provides an adequate and formal basis for the analysis of the complexity of algorithms from a "bit oriented" point of view. This motivates the search for a result on the simulation of machines in a suitably defined general model by successor RAMs. In this work, a very general RAM model is defined, and then a "quasi-optimal" result on the simulation of such machines by successor RAMs is given.


In the development of new electronic materials and devices, laser ablation deposition offers a quick and relatively easy technique to realise complicated material compositions and multilayer structures. This paper presents laser ablation deposition of different types of thin film materials, each having potential use in electronic applications. The materials are: YBa2Cu3O7-δ superconducting films and YBa2Cu3O7-δ/PrBa2O7-δ superlattices; piezoelectric lead zirconium titanate (PZT) and PZT/YBa2Cu3O7-δ heterostructures; Cu(In,Ga)Se2 semiconductor photovoltaic materials and amorphous diamond-like carbon films. The deposition of these materials was carried out mostly using a pulsed XeCl excimer laser, either in an in situ process on a heated substrate or by post deposition annealing.


A scheme for generating continuous beams of atoms in nonclassical or entangled quantum states is proposed and analyzed. For this the recently suggested transfer technique of quantum states from light fields to collective atomic excitation by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage [M. Fleischhauer and M. D. Lukin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5094 (2000)] is employed and extended to matter waves.


An agricultural formulation candidate was developed with the aid of triangular co-ordinate plots. It was found that when a candidate formulation must satisfy many requirements, a plot is useful for managing the large number of variables involved. A plot was produced which showed how emulsion stability varies with formula composition. Each point in the plot was shown to carry a large amount of information. The point describes the complete composition of the recipe it represents and by its coding it also describes the emulsion stability of the recipe. From the coding of the first group of points produced for the plot, it was possible to predict what composition regions would most likely produce the best emulsion stability. Subsequent groups of points were added to more closely define the boundaries of the best emulsion stability region. The preparation of triangular co-ordinate plots show promise for automation. Data for one example given were obtained by laboratory robotics. This capability makes the design of formulations with the aid of triangular co-ordinate plots quite attractive, because the numerous points required can be obtained with a laboratory robotic arm [1].


The research examines the play partners and friendship patterns of a sample of children (N= 409) from four separate clusters (lonely, rejected, lonely and rejected, and nonlonely/nonrejected controls). Controls were more likely than rejected, lonely and lonely/rejected children to have a best friend. Control and rejected children differ from lonely and lonely/rejected children by reporting significantly more support from a close friend. Observations of play showed that lonely, lonely/rejected and rejected children are not isolated and dyadic interactions between children in these three clusters were likely to be positive in nature, involving pro-social acts, and acts that were positively received by others. We note that there are discrepancies between children's reports of friendships and observations of play partner choice and we consider why this might be the case.


Recent experiments designed to probe polymer transport in the bulk and in the vicinity of surfaces have examined the interdiffusion of multilayer sandwiches of isotopically labeled polymers. The measured time dependent concentration profiles normal to the surface are typically fit to Fick's law, with a single fitting parameter, the mutual binary diffusion coefficient (MBDC). The resulting MBDCs are found to vary over a broad range of film thicknesses and time, with the time dependence being viewed as a unique signature of the reptation mechanism of long chain motion, and the thickness dependence being attributed to the slowing down of chain dynamics near surfaces. Since the experiments are conducted at finite concentration, the MBDC, which is a product of the bare mobility and the concentration derivative of the chemical potential, could be dominated by the time and thickness dependence of this second term (which is ignored in Fick's law). To quantify this conjecture we consider the more rigorous Cahn formulation of the diffusion problem in terms of chemical potential gradients. We use square gradient theory to evaluate chemical potentials, and fit the resulting time dependent concentration profiles to the analytical solution of Fick's law. By thus mimicking the experimental analysis we find that the apparent MBDCs vary with time as t(-1/2) at short times, in good agreement with existing experiments. We show that this time dependence reflects the system's desire to minimize concentration gradients, a fact ignored in Fick's law. Since these arguments make no reference to the mechanism of chain motion, we argue that the time dependence of MBDC derived from interdiffusion experiments does not provide unequivocal support for the reptation mechanism of long chain transport. The MBDC values, which also vary with the degree of confinement, are predicted to increase with decreasing thickness for model parameters corresponding to experimental systems. In contrast, since the experimental fits yield an opposite trend, we suggest that the bare mobility of the chains decreases strongly with decreasing thickness. These findings strongly support the idea that the chains are "pinned" irreversibly to the surfaces, in good agreement with other, independent experiments.


The typical undergraduate science laboratory session requires students to arrive prepared with an understanding of the methods and underlying theory of the experiment. In order to maximize the time-constrained nature of laboratories, Teaching Assistants (TAs) may expect students to have reviewed important key concepts, study questions, or lab methods prior to the session. A growing body of literature suggests students at all levels benefit from a curriculum that fosters 'deep understanding' and 'deep learning' in which students acquire the ability to make cognitive connections between concepts and to integrate new knowledge accurately (e.g., Leithwood, McAdie, Bascia, & Rodrigue, 2006; Hermida, 2014). The following workshop offers some tools to enhance student understanding and comprehension toward deep understanding in science laboratory sessions using lesson-planning strategies, including activating prior learning, incorporating applied examples and conceptual linkages, and checking for understanding.


Numerous intangibles can affect corporate value; for example, human assets, organizational assets, information assets, and corporate reputation. As discussions about intangibles have intensified, the number of empirical studies focused on the relationship between intangibles and corporate value has increased. Previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between intangibles and corporate value as individual or combined elements; however, no previous empirical study has incorporated strategies into the analysis of the relationship between intangibles and corporate value. The present study analyzes how different strategies and management control systems impact intangibles, the source of corporate value. Three discoveries were made. The first reveals that intangibles consist of corporate reputation, innovation, information assets, and organizational assets, but not human assets, which turn out to be linked to innovation. This result indicates that the skills and creativity of employees play a major role in innovation. The second discovery shows that corporate value consists of economic value, social value, and organizational value. This result agrees with the view of others who have asserted that all stakeholders are in an equal relationship. Therefore, it can be said that companies take various stakeholders into consideration when creating value. The third discovery shows that when different strategies and management control systems are adopted, different intangibles affect corporate values. For instance, in prospector companies, reputation does not impact corporate value; these firms aim to create new markets through innovation, and are less concerned with reducing reputational risk. By contrast, in defender companies, innovation does not affect corporate value; these firms place emphasis on preserving their reputation to retain existing markets and customers.


From 2011 to 2015, in the Alexander hospital, enrolled 656 patients with diverticular disease of the colon. 23 (3.5%) people were admitted as planned, in an emergency 633 (96.5%). Diverticulitis was detected in 504 (79.6%) patients. Of these, 124 (24.6%) were operated on urgently. Primary laparoscopy was performed in 73 (58.9%) patients, 24 (32.9%) of them were operated on in a delayed manner. 380 (75.4%) patients received conservative therapy, 16 of them (4.2%) after relief of acute diverticulitis were also operated on in a delayed manner. 23 patients were operated on as planned for diverticular colon disease. During the study, two equal groups of patients were formed. The results of treatment of patients with delayed surgical interventions (n=40) and planned operations (n=23) were compared. The duration of treatment, the frequency of complications and the number of observations were analyzed, when it was possible to complete a radical treatment without colostomy. According to the results of the study, we concluded that the implementation of delayed operations in diverticulitis of the colon allows to perform radical treatment during one hospitalization. At the same time, the results of delayed interventions are comparable to the results of planned operations with uncomplicated diverticulosis.


Study Design. A review was conducted. Objective. To determine the safety profiles of human recombinant bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) and osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1) used clinically in spine applications. Summary of Background Data. Safety issues associated with the use of bone morphogenetic proteins in spine applications include the possibility of bony overgrowth, interaction with exposed dura, cancer risk, systemic toxicity, reproductive toxicity, immunogenicity, local toxicity, osteoclastic activation, and effects on distal organs. These issues have been given detailed examination in both human and animal studies, and safety data are available for both rhBMP-2 and OP-1. The safety data available for OP-1 are less detailed. Methods. The study involved reviews of published reports and the safety data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (rhBMP-2 and OP-1) and to the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (OP-1), as well as personal communication with the manufacturers of rhBMP-2 (Medtronic Sofamore Danek, Memphis, TN) and OP-1 (Stryker Biotech, Hopkinton, MA). Results. Application of either rhBMP-2 or OP-1 to raw decorticated bony surfaces leads to new bone formation, which is desirable in the intertransverse or interbody regions. However, new bone formation also may occur if rhBMP-2 or OP-1 comes in contact with laminectomy sites or decompressed neuroforamina, and may lead to restenosis. Inadvertent placement of either rhBMP-2 or OP-1 in the spinal canal leads to formation of bone. Leakage of rhBMP-2 or OP-1 outside the fusion area may lead to adjacent-level fusion. Accurate placement of these factors and adequate retention by their carrier are highly important factors in minimizing these problems. Subdural bone formation occurs if OP-1 is implanted directly beneath the dura. Osteoclastic overstimulation does not appear to be a significant problem with rhBMP-2. However, bone resorption has been associated with OP-1 used in the setting of thoracolumbar fractures. Findings show that RhBMP-2 has an antiproliferative effect on many cancer cells, and no evidence exists that it is carcinogenic. It is unlikely that OP-1 has carcinogenic potential, although fewer data are available. Systemic and local toxicity, significant adverse effects, and harmful effects on distant organs have not been observed in either human or animal studies on rhBMP-2 and OP-1. The benign safety profile of rhBMP-2 may result from its rapid systemic clearance, which results in very little systemic exposure. Systemic exposure to OP-1 also is low. No reproductive toxicity has been observed with either rhBMP-2 or OP-1. However, there is no human safety data. Subclinical immune responses in human subjects to collagen carriers have been reported. Antibody responses to rhBMP-2 have been detected in less than 1% of spine patients. Low titer immune responses have been observed in 38% of patients treated with OP-1. There were no associated clinical adverse effects. Conclusions. Given the available data, both rhBMP-2 and OP-1 appear to be safe provided they are used appropriately, placed accurately, not allowed to come into contact with decompressed areas, and contained in the region of fusion. They must be used with caution in the presence of dural defects.


Performance appraisal is a widely recognized process, yet in Pakistan efforts to study and examine its effect on attitudinal outcomes and firm performance are scarce. The present study addresses this research gap. Researchers explored the relationship between PA satisfaction, job satisfaction and turnover intentions in semi-governmental organizations in Pakistan. Using responses collected from 123 respondents, we find statistically significant relationships between studied variables. The results have significant policy implications for improving the process of performance appraisal in semi-governmental organizations in Pakistan as well as other developing countries. Further the study enriches the body of knowledge on performance appraisal and its impact on organizational performance in developing countries.


An expanded series of π-bound molybdenum-quinonoid complexes supported by pendant phosphines has been synthesized. These compounds formally span three protonation-oxidation states of the quinonoid fragment (catechol, semiquinone, quinone) and two different oxidation states of the metal (Mo(0), Mo(II)), notably demonstrating a total of two protons and four electrons accessible in the system. Previously, the reduced Mo(0)-catechol complex 1 and its reaction with dioxygen to yield the two-proton/two-electron oxidized Mo(0)-quinone compound 4 was explored, while, herein, the expansion of the series to include the two-electron oxidized Mo(II)-catechol complex 2, the one-proton/two-electron oxidized Mo-semiquinone complex 3, and the two-proton/four-electron oxidized Mo(II)-quinone complexes 5 and 6 is reported. Transfer of multiple equivalents of protons and electrons from the Mo(0) and Mo(II) catechol complexes, 1 and 2, to H atom acceptor TEMPO suggests the presence of weak O-H bonds. Although thermochemical analyses are hindered by the irreversibility of the electrochemistry of the present compounds, the reactivity observed suggests weaker O-H bonds compared to the free catechol, indicating that proton-coupled electron transfer can be facilitated significantly by the π-bound metal center.


The Ochrobactrum genus consists of an extensive repertoire of biotechnologically valuable bacterial strains but also opportunistic pathogens. In our previous study, a novel strain, Ochrobactrum sp. POC9, which enhances biogas production in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was identified and thoroughly characterized. Despite an insightful analysis of that bacterium, its susceptibility to bacteriophages present in WWTPs has not been evaluated. Using raw sewage sample from WWTP and applying the enrichment method, two virulent phages, vB_OspM_OC and vB_OspP_OH, which infect the POC9 strain, were isolated. These are the first virulent phages infecting Ochrobactrum spp. identified so far. Both phages were subjected to thorough functional and genomic analyses, which allowed classification of the vB_OspM_OC virus as a novel jumbo phage, with a genome size of over 227 kb. This phage encodes DNA methyltransferase, which mimics the specificity of cell cycle regulated CcrM methylase, a component of the epigenetic regulatory circuits in Alphaproteobacteria. In this study, an analysis of the overall diversity of Ochrobactrum-specific (pro)phages retrieved from databases and extracted in silico from bacterial genomes was also performed. Complex genome mining allowed us to build similarity networks to compare 281 Ochrobactrum-specific viruses. Analyses of the obtained networks revealed a high diversity of Ochrobactrum phages and their dissimilarity to the viruses infecting other bacteria.


Program-level accreditation ensures that students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in a career that is based on industry standards. Numerous researchers have reported the cost and benefits of pursuing specialized accreditation in different disciplines. There is a dearth of research related to specialized accreditation at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in general and none specifically for sport management accreditation. Therefore, this study aims to fill the void of research on the perception of the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) by faculty and administrators at HBCUs. The researchers were given permission to utilize an existing survey. Results of this study found that the top benefits of accreditation were accountability for program improvements and recognition as a superior (elite) program/institution. Cost and redundancy were reported as major barriers to COSMA. Although HBCUs must deal with fewer resources and a lower budget than most predominantly White institutions (PWI), they are evaluated using the same accreditation standards as PWIs. Therefore, if HBCU sport management programs are going to seek accreditation with COSMA, they must be understood within the context in which they are operating—and how that may be different from PWIs.


An electret fiber with a dipole charge distribution was used to capture charged ultrafine particles in this study. Brownian diffusion and Coulombic force are the dominant collection mechanisms in the electret filtration of charged ultrafine particles. The interaction between Brownian diffusion and Coulombic force for the deposition of ultrafine particles onto a dipolarly charged fiber is studied by solving the convective diffusion equation including Coulombic force as an external force, and the numerical results are compared with the experimental data. As a result, it is shown that there is a negative interaction between Brownian diffusion and Coulombic force, i.e., Coulombic capture efficiency is reduced with decreasing Pe. These results suggest that Brownian diffusion and Coulombic capture efficiency, is not a simple sum of Brownian diffusion efficiency, and Coulombic capture efficiency,


Cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 2E1 is the major ethanol-oxidizing enzyme of the nonalcohol dehydrogenase metabolic pathway in the liver. Recently, the presence of genetic polymorphisms of this enzyme was confirmed. In this study, to clarify the influence of CYP2E1 genotype on alcohol metabolism, we analyzed acetaminophen metabolism in subjects with different CYP2E1 genotypes. In normal subjects, a half-life of acetaminophen from blood was the longest in type A (c1/c1) and was the shortest in type C (c2/c2). The elimination rate in type C was more than twice that of type A and type B (c1/c2). In type A, both half-life and elimination rate of acetaminophen were not different between patients with noncirrhotic alcoholic liver disease within 1 week after abstinence and in normal subjects. In one patient with minimal change, there were no differences in both half-life and elimination rate within 1 and 6 weeks after abstinence. On the other hand, in type B, half-life was shorter and the elimination rate was greater in alcoholic noncirrhotic patients within 1 week after abstinence than in alcoholic patients with type A and in normal subjects with type B. In type B, half-lives were shorter, and the elimination rates were greater in patients with alcoholic liver disease within 1 week after abstinence than 4 to 6 weeks after abstinence. These results suggest the possibility that alcohol metabolism in individuals with the c2 gene may be greater than those with the c1 gene, and that the induction of CYP2E1 by ethanol in type B may occur more markedly than that in type A, although the sample number is too small to obtain final conclusions.


Steady state crypt cell kinetics have been simulated using matrix algebra. The model crypt cell population is distributed through two proliferation compartments (P1 and P2) and a quiescent state (Q). Under steady state conditions half the daughter cells produced on completion of P1 enter G1 of P2 and half enter G1 of P1. Both P2 daughter cells enter Q. Cells in Q are non‐dividing but retain the potential to divide. On completion of Q, cells lose the potential to divide and move up onto the villi. The model has been developed by simultaneously simulating the following biological data: (1) the per cent labeled mitosis (PML) curve, (2) the number of labeled cells per crypt as a function of time following an injection of 3H‐thymidine, and (3) the total number of cells per crypt.


BACKGROUND
Occupational exposure to sharps and splashes pose a major hazard among health care workers (HCWs); so knowledge and awareness regarding sharps/splashes by blood and potentially infectious body fluids (BBF) is a must. Hence, the study was done to assess the extent of knowledge of the staff and using awareness classes and hands on practice as a model to increase awareness as well as prevention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This prospective interventional cohort study, using before - after trial, was conducted in a Level I trauma care centre. All cadres of HCWs were enrolled randomly into 5 different groups of 15 each. This study was conducted in 2 phases - interactive classes and hands on practice (Phase I) and questionnaire assessment and work area observation (phase II). This was repeated twice and the final outcome was analysed. A systematic level of grading was used to assess the improvement.

RESULTS
It was observed that Group 1 (doctors) and group 2 (nurses) had the maximum knowledge about such exposures and its prevention compared to the other groups (groups 3, 4 and 5) during the initial assessment (Phase I). The remaining groups showed a major improvement after the 2(nd) assessment, though their knowledge was poor in the beginning. Groups 1and 2 showed 32% and remaining groups showed a 25% improvement in voluntary reporting after the second assessment (Phase II).

CONCLUSION
Awareness classes and hands on practice are indeed useful in generating knowledge about sharps/ splashes. Certain incentives given at right time can improve it further.


This paper addresses two main questions. First, it examines the implications of financial frictions, embedded in a New Keynesian DSGE model with a banking sector, for the conduct of welfare-optimal monetary policy. Assuming only one monetary instrument, we analyse how financial frictions affect the gains from commitment and how different are the optimized simple rules with and without financial frictions, when monetary policy responds only to non-financial variables. Then we proceed to investigate whether there is a welfare benefit from monetary policy responding to financial variables, such as spreads, leverage or Tobin Q. Second, this paper studies the role of a macro-prudential instrument, a subsidy for net worth financed by a tax on loans, for improving welfare outcomes. Assuming both monetary and macroprudential instruments, we study the welfare gains from using the macro-prudential instrument and whether there are additional gains from commitment. Moreover, we examine if monetary policy and macro-prudential regulation should jointly target financial and non-financial variables, rules that may need to be implemented within one policy institution. JEL Classification: C11, C52, E12, E32.


Optical imagery provides a powerful means of autonomous navigation for spacecraft in the vicinity of Solar system bodies, where the communication delay may be much longer than the dynamical timescales. Cameras are now routinely included among the suite of sensors used to guide exploratory spacecraft, with information extracted from the images fused with that of other sensors to estimate the spacecraft state and plan orbital maneuvers. The information content of a typical image is orders of magnitude larger than that supplied by other sensors, and sophisticated processing algorithms are required to extract navigation information and reduce the raw pixel data to a manageable size. It is common to offload this task to a separate image processing system rather than integrate this directly with the GNC system. We have developed an image processing algorithm that identifies and tracks surface features through a sequence of images, in a manner robust to changes in the viewing angle, illumination and scale such as might occur during descent and landing onto a planetary surface or orbit around a small body. It does not rely on the presence of any particular type of morphological feature, and may be used for absolute navigation provided a suitable map of the terrain is available. We will describe the operation of this algorithm, present results based on simulated image data generated by the PANGU tool, and discuss further ways in which imaging data can be used to support navigation.


The cell membrane provides a functional link between the external environment and the replicating DNA genome by using ligand-gated receptors and chemical signals to activate signaling transduction pathways. However, increasing evidence has also indicated that the phospholipid bilayer itself by altering various physical parameters serves as a sensor that regulate membrane proteins in a specific manner. Changes in thickness and/or curvature of the membrane have been shown to be induced by mechanical forces and transmitted through the transmembrane helices of several types of mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels underlying functions such as osmoregulation in bacteria and sensory processing in mammalian cells. This review focus on recent protein functional and structural data indicating that the activation of bacterial and yeast osmosensors is consistent with thickness-induced tilting changes of the transmembrane domains of these proteins. Membrane thinning in combination with curvature changes may also lead to the lateral transfer of the small lipid-anchored GTPases Ras1 and H-Ras out of lipid rafts for clustering and signaling. The modulation of signaling pathways by amphiphilic peptides and the membrane-active antibiotics colistin and Amphotericin B is also discussed.


The performance of many firms are exposed to the changes in weather. The industry sectors exposed to 'weather risk' are basic materials, consumer durables and agricultural industries. Amongst these the basic materials has mainly triggered the demand for the weather derivatives market and the rapid growth in the weather risk assessment industry. With this as the backdrop, this book formulates a pricing model for the weather derivatives, whose payoffs depend on surface air temperature. Daily temperature data for the last thirty years is closely analyzed for four cities in U.K. to model a temperature process which captures the daily temperature fluctuations including the seasonal patterns and the year-on- year up-ward trend behaviour of the temperature.This work further evaluates an arbitrage-free option pricing using a Gaussian Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model. Keeping in mind that temperature, the underlying variable of the weather derivative, is non-tradable we consider a risk premium estimator to find the price of a weather derivatives contract. Further, the book provides results based on these models as well as based on Monte Carlo Simulations.


Generally the geostatistical simulation methods are used to generate several realizations of physical properties in the sub-surface, these methods are based on the variogram analysis and limited to measures correlation between variables at two locations only. In this paper, we propose a simulation of properties based on supervised Neural network training at the existing drilling data set. The major advantage is that this method does not require a preliminary geostatistical study and takes into account several points. As a result, the geological information and the diverse geophysical data can be combined easily. To do this, we used a neural network with multi-layer perceptron architecture like feed-forward, then we used the back-propagation algorithm with conjugate gradient technique to minimize the error of the network output. The learning process can create links between different variables, this relationship can be used for interpolation of the properties on the one hand, or to generate several possible distribution of physical properties on the other hand, changing at each time and a random value of the input neurons, which was kept constant until the period of learning. This method was tested on real data to simulate multiple realizations of the density and the magnetic susceptibility in three-dimensions at the mining camp of Val d'Or, Quebec (Canada).


A compact high-efficiency four-way divider/combiner based on quadruple-ridged waveguide is presented. This divider/combiner designed at 31-38GHz is mainly composed of the quadruple-ridged transition, which features four-way power divider/combiner as well as transition from waveguide to microstrip. The measured power-combining efficiency of this circuit at 34GHz is up to 91%, and the combining efficiency is higher than 80% at 31-38GHz.


PURPOSE
Recently, several attempts were conducted to transfer deep learning to medical image reconstruction. An increasingly number of publications follow the concept of embedding the CT reconstruction as a known operator into a neural network. However, most of the approaches presented lack an efficient CT reconstruction framework fully integrated into deep learning environments. As a result, many approaches use workarounds for mathematically unambiguously solvable problems.

METHODS
PYRO-NN is a generalized framework to embed known operators into the prevalent deep learning framework Tensorflow. The current status includes state-of-the-art parallel-, fan- and cone-beam projectors and back-projectors accelerated with CUDA provided as Tensorflow layers. On top, the framework provides a high level Python API to conduct FBP and iterative reconstruction experiments with data from real CT systems.

RESULTS
The framework provides all necessary algorithms and tools to design end-to-end neural network pipelines with integrated CT reconstruction algorithms. The high level Python API allows a simple use of the layers as known from Tensorflow. All algorithms and tools are referenced to a scientific publication and are compared to existing non deep learning reconstruction frameworks. To demonstrate the capabilities of the layers, the framework comes with baseline experiments, which are described in the supplementary material. The framework is available as open-source software under the Apache 2.0 licence at http://github.com/csyben/PYRO-NN.

CONCLUSIONS
PYRO-NN comes with the prevalent deep learning framework Tensorflow and allows to setup end-to-end trainable neural networks in the medical image reconstruction context. We believe that the framework will be a step towards reproducible research and give the medical physics community a toolkit to elevate medical image reconstruction with new deep learning techniques. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Distributed Peer to peer systems such as Chord allow peers to perform efficient searches using object identifiers rather than keywords. More specifically, they use a specific structure with some hashing scheme that allows peers to perform object lookup operations getting in return the address of the node storing the object. Lookups are achieved by following a path that increasingly progresses to the destination. These systems have been designed to optimize object retrieval by minimizing the number of messages and hops required to retrieve the object. The disadvantage is that they consider only the problem of searching for keys, and thus cannot capture the relevance of the documents stored in the system. This common problem with existing traditional distributed hash table (DHT) is done because they usually ignore the information retrieval algorithms, and thereby rely on keyword based searches. In this paper, we first propose to augment the P2P DHT system Chord with mechanisms for locating data using the information retrieval system LSI to facilitate content-based full-text search in large distributed information systems. Chord-LSI uses latent semantic indexing (LSI) to guide content placement in a Chord such that documents relevant to a query are likely be collocated on a small number of nodes. During a search, Chord-LSI transmit a small amount of data and search a small number of nodes. Simulation results show that Chord-LSI model is 17% more effective than Chord models.


This article addresses the transition of a fundamentalist confrontational religious ideology into an assertive, religio-nationalist ideology by the case of the ethno-Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Shas party in Israel. Alongside the haredi proclivity towards insularity, we also detect, in recent decades, two new trends within the haredi mainstream. First, we see increasing numbers of haredim (Ultra-Orthodox Jews) integrating into different frameworks that are situated outside of the haredi enclave: the job market, the army, welfare and charity organizations, and more. A second trend, which I will elaborate upon here, is a fundamentalist religious interpretation of elements of Israeli national identity. This trend seeks to view Jewish law, in its orthodox interpretation, as a source for the conservation and maintenance of Jewish identity in Israel: firstly, through the turning of haredism into a dominant factor in the religio-communal arena in Israel; and secondly, through assuming responsibility for demarcating the boundaries of the Jewish collective.


Each year, five million senior citizens are the victims of abuse in our country-and that figure is a likely underestimate. In California alone, it is estimated that over 225,000 seniors are abused annually. Nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable to abuse, with one-fifth to one-third of these institutions cited for abusive activities that result in actual harm. Regular violations of minimum care regulations by nursing homes have been documented in every state. Despite legal protections, as a practical matter, the review, assessment, and investigation of nursing home care and potential senior abuse is the primary responsibility of voluntary ombudsmen. These volunteers are responsible for regular visits and determination of nursing home quality and resident treatment. This Article contends that, despite their commitment to the cause, voluntary ombudsmen are not a sufficient cure for the scourge of elder abuse. Rather, clinically-trained personnel with legal knowledge must assume the role that lay volunteer ombudsmen are inappropriately expected to play. Use of clinical case managers, who have expertise in assessing clinical factors and can be trained in legal matters, offers significant potential to assist in the detection, and, further, reporting and prosecution of elder abuse. The author concludes that only through use of those with appropriate training and knowledge can the epidemic of elder abuse be effectively addressed.


The open Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the Ukrainian society to defend its right to a unique and consolidated national identity. The aspiration of Ukrainians to preserve their own identity implied, later, the establishment of a new Ukrainian nation. The aim of the study was to analyze the factors influencing the establishment of the Ukrainian political nation in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The method of comparative analysis was used to identify a high level of legal awareness of the constitutional military duty to defend the Fatherland and preserve the Ukrainian nation. It is concluded that in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, a new Ukrainian political nation is being established under the influence of ensuring equal rights to culture, language, territory, religion, justice, economy and ethnicity. It was found that Russia's military aggression against Ukraine forced Ukrainians to unite for the sake of their own preservation as a single Ukrainian political nation. A new Ukrainian political nation, which was established during the Russo-Ukrainian war, is a sovereign community of citizens who have the political subjectivity to put up national resistance to the occupiers.


The purpose of article is to analyze the prospects for granting the status of the second state language to the English language, taking into account the peculiarities of state policy in the sphere of culture. Research methodology is to disclose main problematic aspects associated with provision to the English language the status of official state lan- guage in Ukraine. The methodology of the research is based on the integrated use of the systemic and structural ap- proach, logical-legal and dialectical methods as well as method of analysis and synthesis. The scientific novelty of the work is that it develops logical and structural evidential base of expediency and necessity of giving the English language the status of the state language in Ukraine. The research proves the need for studying the English language by public officers. It justifies the necessity of spreading English as an instrument of optimization of international political and foreign economic relations. Conclusions. The work has established the importance of the problem of giving to the English language the status of the state language in terms of continuation of Ukraine's integration into the world community, expan- sion of its economic and diplomatic ties and creation of conditions for free exchange of experience in various spheres of social relations. It has made a conclusion about the expediency of introducing the status of the state language into English language because of a number of arguments, concerning the need for studying it by different categories of citizens.


The expression of type 1 fimbriae is dependent on the intracellular levels of ppGpp through stimulation of fimB transcription. Here we show that in contrast to the previously described decreased fimbriation observed in a ppGpp‐deficient strain, DksA deficiency results in a hyperfimbriated state. In vivo assays show that the effect of DksA deficiency on the type 1 fimbriae occurs at the phase variation level because of elevated transcription from the fimB P2 promoter. In contrast, our in vitro transcription studies demonstrate that ppGpp and DksA can stimulate transcription from the fimB P2 promoter both independently and codependently. We provide evidences that the apparently contradictory results from the in vivo and in vitro transcriptional studies are at least in part a consequence of the increased association of the anti‐pausing factors (GreA and GreB) to the RNA polymerase in the absence of DksA in vivo.


A new structure is proposed for localizing electromagnetic waves and energies with a left-handed-medium (LHM) slab and a perfectly electrically conducting (PEC) plane. When a current source is placed in front of a perfectly matched LHM slab with negative permittivity -epsilon0 and negative permeability -mu0 and a PEC plane is placed at the image point, we show rigorously that all the electromagnetic waves are confined in a region between the source and the PEC plane, and the fields outside the region are completely zero. Such an energy-localization system would be useful in medical treatments that use concentrated optical and microwave energies. However, a perfectly matched LHM is unphysical and does not exist in nature. Hence we further study the loss and retardation effects of LHM on the energy localization. Numerical results are presented for the lossy LHM structure to demonstrate the energy localization.


In 'Transatlanticism Now,' Laura Stevens suggests that scholars should construct a taxonomy of the field. This article takes its cue from Stevens and classifies existing research as well as outlines categories for future scholarship, based on where knowledge of the field runs threadbare and where there is the most pressing need for scholarly study. Future work on transatlantic romanticism must incorporate more studies of women and people of color as well as interdisciplinary and intra-disciplinary connections (especially to transnational, transpacific, transoceanic, and postcolonial studies). The article seeks to provide the most complete survey and definition of transatlantic romanticism to date as well as a good starting point for all researching and teaching in the field. Based on a firm belief that further scholarship is needed to define this field, this article is an open call for more work on transatlantic romanticism(s) and the development of existing categories as well as new ones. The following categories are interdependent, not hierarchical; they do not seek to differentiate between, say, British and American Romanticism, but to set up comparatist frameworks that link, rather than separate, transatlantic romanticisms: 'Imag-I-Nations: race, gender, colonialism, notions of national identity and the self'; 'Circum-Atlantic sisterhood and brotherhood: Atlantic constructs of femininity and masculinity'; 'Revolution, Rebellion, and Reform: communities of interpreters and literary history'; 'Transatlantic Greenery: nature, ecology, and the politics and poetics of preservation and pastoral'; 'Trans(atlantic) migration of souls: conversations with other wor(l)ds'; 'Transatlantic romanticisms and science: the physical and the mind'; 'Emotion and sensibility: transatlantic discourses of sympathy, sentiment, and feeling'; 'Transatlantic travel writing: the ethnocentric Atlantic and international interventions'; 'Literary and cultural aesthetics and genres: influence, confluence, and difference'; and 'Transatlantic Translation: language, diction, linguistics, and stylistics.'


INTRODUCTIONAs in Newton's first law of motion, De Jager (2004) suggests that people do not change unless they have a convincing reason (p. 16). De Jager posits that people do not act randomly and need a compelling reason to change from their current state or their state of inertia. In a similar vein, both organizatio ns and individuals are prone to the old adage, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it." There are numerous examples that support this. For example, Morgan (2008, p. 27) states that "organizations tend to find a groove and stay in the groove," and Tidd and Bessa nt (2009) argue that a major change requires energy to overcome the organizational inertia that tends to keep the firm from changing. While there has not been an impetus for paradigm shift in recent years, the green energy movement might be the spark that propels individuals and organizations to change.Not surprisingly, the current organizational climate is clamoring for change with respect to the usage of energy and going green is increasingly becoming a necessity. Organizations are considering initiatives to incorporate reusable energy sources primarily to save money and as a side-effect have reduced environmental impact. From a global perspective, it is imperative for organizations to begin making necessary changes to go green and decrease their carbon footprint (Chapman, 2007). In a majority of organizations there are tangible and intangible benefits to going green and decreasing usage of fossil fuels. Moreover, monetary benefits are available to organizations that show changes in how they work with the environment (McGinnis, 2009). While it may not be easy, organizational change is something that happens often and will continue to as long as changes are needed and are a viable part of their evolution.Recently, President Barrack Obama has develope d initiatives supporting solar and wind energy, with plans to 'go green' with the goal of obtaining 10% of the United States' energy from renewable sources over the next 10 years. This clearly signifies the criticality of alternative sources of energy for the U.S. (Green, 2008). Regardless, moving towards alternative sources of energy, as suggest by President Obama, It is prudent to expect stakeholders inside and outside organizations to resist any change to existing processes. As Yuki (2006) notes, individuals and organizations resist change for different reasons with lack of trust, fear, and threats their values being the most prominent. Clearly, switching to alternative sources to energy signifies a major change as fossil fuels are substituted with renewable energy sources (Yuki, 2006).The utilization of alternative sources of energy for potential competitive advantage is desirable today due to the benefits afforded to all living creatures including the reduction of global warming and public health benefits. The main source of global warming is the release of carbon compounds originating from energy created from combustion of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal into the air. There are numerous perspectives on possible alternatives depending on suggested solutions. For example, Kandlikar, Sergi, LaManna, and Daino, (2009, p. 32) argue that the rate of petroleum production will likely remain flat or even fall in the coming decades due to geological, economic, political, and ecological reaso ns with hydrogen being the most widely anticipated alternative fuel. Therefore, to combat global warming there is a need to lessen dependency on the use of fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy sources and conservation (Pollin, 2008).For organizations in the U.S. to be able to adopt alternative energy sources, they would do well to research how disruptive technologies are being embraced globally. Gupta, Kanungo, Kumar, and Sahu (2007) studied the dynamics of information technology (IT) in Indian government and came to the following conclusions: 1. user desire user-friendly technology and their satisfaction determines the level of IT success, 2. …


Introduction: Several epidemiologic studies in humans have shown a relationship between pregestational obesity and congenital malformations in offsprings. However, there are no experimental evidence in animal models of obesity and pregnancy that reproduce the teratogenesis induced by this pathological condition. Objective: To evaluate the effect of monosodium glutamate-induced obesity on embryonic development. Methods: Female rats received subcutaneously (4 mg/g body weight) monosodium glutamate (MSG) solution or saline solution 0.9% (vehicle control) at days 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 of life. At 90 days of age, all animals were mated, and on day 11 of pregnancy, the animals were killed. Biochemical variables (glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and insulin) were determined in plasma of dams and embryo homogenates (DNA and protein content, advanced oxidation protein products). Embryos were evaluated for malformations, crown-rump length, and somite number. Results: Obese rats presented higher triglyceride levels as compared to nonobese rats. Increased proportion of malformed embryos, decreased crown-rump length, somite number, DNA, and protein content were observed in offspring of obese rats. Conclusion: The model of obesity induced with MSG reproduces the maternal obesity-induced teratogenesis. The hypertriglyceridemia observed in MSG obese pregnant rats could be related to increased birth defect.


PT. Carrefour Citra Garden Medan engaged in the retail market various products, such as fresh, bazaar, textile, and grocery applane. The number of customers who shop from January to December 2010 fluctuates every month and long lines occurred in August when the feast of Eid al-Fitr and December when the Christmas and New Year's Eve. From the description, formulated the following research problem: "Why is the gap between the queuing system raises expectations with actual service time at the PT. Carrefour Citra Garden Field ".The research objective was to determine and analyze the queuing system on PT. Carrefour Citra Garden Medan. Benefits of the research is to provide information material to the company in the form of advice regarding the analysis of queuing systems. The study population is the number of customers of PT. Carrefour Citra Garden Field from 2009 until 2010. The samples taken months from January to December 2010. Required data are collected through observation and documentation techniques.
Data analysis technique used is descriptive method. From the results of the discussion was concluded that the long queues at the PT. Carrefour Citra Garden Medan often occur on Saturday at 17.00 pm - 20.00 pm, and on a Sunday or holiday queues at 12.00 am - 14.00 pm and at 17.00 pm - 20.00 pm. Standard service time for each customer at the PT. Carrefour Citra Garden Medan maximum of 1 minute, yet customers have to wait up to 20 minutes at the feast of Eid al-Fitr and Christmas Day at 9 minutes. Customer arrival rate at PT. Carrefour Citra Garden Medan is not constant, the time required to serve every customer is different, Kassa served on a first come, first served basis and unlimited customer population. The probability of unemployed workers pads reach 4%. The number of customers in the queuing system at 43 people. The probability of the whole staff busy pads reach 94.91%. Customer in the queue system to 33 people.
The time spent waiting and served customers to reach 26 minutes. Time spent waiting for customers to be served up to 20 minutes. This shows that the waiting time to be served is still too high. Suggestions are given for consideration to the management company is the best, firms pay more attention to the system queue by adding pads officers to serve customers at the time of school entry, the feast of Eid al-Fitr and Christmas celebrations and other holidays to reduce the long queues . To avoid the presence of officers who are unemployed pads, the company should provide to an officer other duties such as checking and making gauze packin


The period of lactation is a relatively brief and very special time in a women's life that is fondly remembered with a measure of pride. A lactating mother will need to take some extra care to assure that she produces and provides to her infant abundant, high-quality milk. Lactating mothers who eat a nutritious diet ensure good health for themselves and optimal growth pattern for their babies. In India it is observed from various nutritional surveys that the nutritional status of lactating mothers and infants is not satisfactory. Keeping this in mind this present study was carried out with the objective to find out the food consumption pattern among lactating mothers of Digboi, Assam with a total sample of 100 lactating women from rural areas of Digboi. An interview schedule was used as a tool. Majority (75%) of women had up to secondary level education and rest 25 per cent had up to primary level education. None of the mothers was working. Majority (72%) had knowledge that diet should be changed by increasing, adding or avoiding some special food items in the diet during lactation, but only 11 per cent practiced them. The reasons for this deficient knowledge and practice of dietary intake are lack of nutritional knowledge and poor economy. However, this can be overcome by improving nutritional knowledge and dietary practices of population in general and vulnerable groups on the use of locally available low cost nutritious foods and to avoid undue food restrictions.


While studies have been conducted to examine how to decrease the incidence of osteitis and secondary infections following the removal of third molars, these complications still remain the two most prominent complications after third molar extractions. The findings from this study, however, shed some light on issues that have not been widely supported by previous research. This study was designed to explore the effects of antibiotics on the incidence rates of osteitis and secondary infections, with the expectation that antibiotics would lower the incidence of both osteitis and infections. For this double-blinded, randomized study, data was collected on 254 patients, but the sample population was based on the number of teeth extracted (n=508). Four different interventions were used in this study: 1) placebo on tooth 17; 2) placebo on tooth 32; 3) antibiotic on tooth 17; and 4) antibiotic on tooth 32. Each patient received one of those four interventions in one extraction site, and the other extraction site was the control site. To analyze the effects of interventions on postoperative complications, I created two regression models in which various intrinsic and extrinsic factors were controlled for. The intrinsic variables included gender, age, level of tooth impaction, and tooth number. The extrinsic variables consisted of doctor, location, number of medications, birth control, allergy medications, and nutrition. While the results show that antibiotics significantly decrease the rates of osteitis compared to the placebo intervention and the control site, I find no evidence to support the benefits of antibiotics in preventing infection. Moreover, it is worthy of note that the results suggest that males have significantly higher rates of osteitis when controlling for the use of birth control among women. These findings differ from previous studies. They may suggest that antibiotics are not as useful as they were previously thought to be for combating infections, perhaps due to increased antibiotic resistance, and that there is a gender difference in favor of females, which counters prior studies and prevailing wisdom in the industry.


The project CHEMOL (CHEMistry in Oldenburg) has developed a structure that integrates laboratories for primary-school children into the university education of teachers, both as in-service and teacher training programmes. The CHEMOL lab is visited once or twice a week by different classes. Supported by members of the team and teacher-training students, the children investigate phenomena about fire, water, air, and solids in small groups and they develop and carry out simple experiments themselves. For the visiting children, CHEMOL aims to develop a general understanding of basic concepts of science (with a special focus on chemistry) and basic experimental skills. For student teachers, the project offers the possibility to plan and carry out experimental work with young children and to observe and discuss the children's ideas. Thus, the CHEMOL project gives the students a chance to transfer their theoretical knowledge about teaching and learning science into practice already during their study time at university. The conceptual approach and results of a small accompanying interview study is discussed in this paper. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2007, 8 (2), 120-129]


Under Prime Minister John Howard, Australia today appears to have turned away from Asia, returning to a Western oriantation. Has racial invasion fear, once expressed in the 'White Australia' policy, been the determinant of relations with Asia? I argue, in contrast, first, that invasion fear preceded race fear and, second, that Australia was unlucky, in coming to nationhood during the eras of Social Darwinism and New Imperialism, scaling ideas of race citizenship into its national formation. It was unlucky to associate national 'manhood' with Gallipoli and war, making the national tradition expeditionary nationalism, or ANZAC. War is central in national memory and public patriotism, primarily because war has been carried out overseas rather than through fighting on Australian soil, and the devastation of Australian cities. Even after the retreat of Western empires in Asia, and of racial ideology, why has this romantic and foolish view of war as an expression of the nation persisted? Paradoxically, Australians romanticise war even though, after 1788, there has been no other invasion of a continent which is harder to invade than it is to defend.


I had a chance to visit northern Iraq, as a member of a medical support program for Sulaimany Teaching Hospital in northern Iraq. Medical equipment and supply to the hospital had improved, comparing to the condition ten years before just after the Gulf War. What Iraqi doctors need now is to obtain new medical information or technique, which they could not absorb during the last ten years under economic sanctions. In anesthetic field, my activity was mainly to teach regional anesthesia or regional block, because Iraqi anesthetists have enough knowledge in anesthesiology. Similar support is necessary for all of Iraq.


We studied noise properties of microwave signals transmitted through the cryogenic resonator. The experiments were performed with the 11.342 GHz sapphire loaded cavity resonator cooled to 6.2 K. Based on the measured transmission coefficient of the cryogenic resonator we computed its noise suppression function. This was done via Monte-Carlo simulations some details of which are discussed in this Letter. Next, we measured technical fluctuations of a signal incident on the cryogenic resonator. Having processed these data with the previously computed noise filtering "template" we inferred noise spectra of the transmitted signal. We found that spectral densities of both phase and amplitude fluctuations of the transmitted signal were close to the thermal noise limit of 180 dB/Hz at Fourier frequencies F3 10 kHz. Such thermal noise limited microwaves allow more precise tests of special relativity and could be useful at some stages of quantum signal processing.


This work performs a paraxial analysis of the double-sided telecentric zoom lens consisting of four tunable lenses with fixed distance between the object and image plane. Equations enabling calculation of paraxial parameters of such optical systems are derived and the calculation is presented on examples. To our knowledge the presented analysis is novel and such optical systems have not been investigated yet.


Introduction: Orthodontic elastics are a very significant tool in orthodontics, as it is the most commonly used force delivering unit. Temperature plays a key role in the amount of force that elastics are able to produce. Hence, there is a need to evaluate the influence of storage temperature on the properties of orthodontic elastics before its clinical use. Aim: To evaluate the influence of different storage temperature of latex orthodontic elastics. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Sathyabama Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, in November 2019. Sample of 40 latex orthodontic elastics (TP Orthodontics, medium force, standard size of 3/16′′) were divided into four groups with 10 elastics each, based on their storage temperature and stored in closed plastic packages. Group 1 was kept as a Control group and Group 2, Group 3 and Group 4 were stored in three Incubators under the specified storage temperatures such as 26-28°C, 4-8°C, 37°C respectively. The elastics were stretched and their forces measured in six progressive increases of 100% of their inner diameter, starting at a level of 100% stretching, with the Universal Testing Machine, Instron. The samples were also tested for Maximum Stress (MPa), Maximum Force (N), Maximum Elongation (%) and Break Distance (mm). Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software version 16.0, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc test. Results: On evaluating the stress at 100%, 200%, 300%, 400%, 500%, 600% of strain, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. Maximum Stress MPa was found to be 24.12±3.32, 25.12±3.42, 23.3±3.41, 23.97±3.50 for group1, group 2, group 3 and group 4 respectively. Maximum Elongation (%) was found to be 1369.0±25.108, 1364.0±23.190, 1359.0±35.103, 1363.0±34.657 for group 1, group 2, group 3 and group 4, respectively. Break Distance (mm) was found to be 68.48±1.267, 68.28±1.267, 67.87±1.77 and 68.19±1.727 for group1, group 2, group 3 and group 4, respectively. And none of the parameters tested showed statistical significance between the four groups. Conclusion: Latex elastics may be stored under any of the conditions tested in the present study over a period of one month, since different storage temperatures over a period of one month did not interfere in their mechanical properties.


To avoid premature convergence and stagnation problems in classical ant colony system, a novel multi-behavior based multi-colony ant algorithm (MBMCAA) is proposed. The ant colony is divided into several sub-colonies; the sub-colonies have their own population evolved independently and in parallel according to four different behavior options, and update their local pheromone and global pheromone level respectively according to immigrant operator. This parallel and cooperating optimization scheme by using different behavioral characteristics and inter-colonies migration strategies can help the algorithm skip from local optimum effectively. The experimental results for TSP show the validity of this algorithm.


Systematic review and meta-analysis of four randomised controlled trials suggest that prophylactic fluconazole reduces the incidence of invasive fungal infection in very low birthweight infants. Further trials are needed to provide more precise estimates of effect size, and to assess the effect on mortality, neurodevelopment and the emergence of antifungal resistance.


Abstract Field learning is fundamental in geoscience, but cost, accessibility, and other constraints limit equal access to these experiences. As technological advances afford ever more immersive and student-centered virtual field experiences, they are likely to have a growing role across geoscience education. They also serve as an important tool for providing high-quality online instruction, whether to fully online degree students, students in hybrid in-person/remote programs, or students experiencing disruptions to in-person learning, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. This mixed-methods study compared learning outcomes of an in-person (ipFT) and a virtual (iVFT) geoscience field trip to Grand Canyon National Park, each of which highlighted the Great Unconformity. Participants included introductory and advanced geology students. In the ipFT, students collectively explored the Canyon through the interpretive Trail of Time along the Canyon rim, guided by the course instructor. In the iVFT, students individually explored the Canyon and studied its geology at river level. 360° spherical images anchor the iVFTs and serve as a framework for programmed overlays that enable active learning and allow for adaptive feedback. We assessed cognitive and affective outcomes in both trips using common measures. Regression analysis showed the iVFT to be associated with significantly greater learning gains. The ipFT students had significantly higher positive affect scores pre-trip, reflecting their excitement for the trip. Overall, our results provide clear evidence that high-quality iVFTs can lead to better learning gains than ipFTs. Although field trips are employed for more than just content learning, this finding may encourage greater use of iVFTs in coursework.


Many colleges and universities utilized wastewater surveillance testing for SARS-CoV-2 RNA as a tool to help monitor and mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic on campuses across the United States during the 2020-2021 academic year. We sought to assess the efficacy of one such program by analyzing wastewater RNA load data in relation to SARS-CoV-2 cases identified through individual surveillance testing. Almost 80% of the cases on campus were associated with positive wastewater tests, resulting in an overall positive predictive value of ~79% (Chi square 48.1, Df = 1, p < 0.001). However, half of the positive wastewater samples occurred in the two weeks following the return of a student to the residence hall following isolation, and therefore were not useful in predicting new infections. When these samples were excluded, the positive predictive value of a positive wastewater sample was ~54%. Overall, we conclude that the continued shedding of viral RNA by patients past the time of potential transmission confounds the identification of new cases using wastewater surveillance, and decreases its effectiveness in managing SARS-CoV-2 infections on a residential college campus.


Objectives Hospital emergency departments (EDs) are a place where many Americans seek treatment of dental conditions. Racial and ethnic minorities consistently have higher rates of ED utilization than whites for dental conditions. The reasons for these disparities and significant public health concerns are investigated less often. In this paper, we measure trends in racial disparities in ED discharges for dental conditions in Maryland from 2010 to 2013. To understand these disparities, we also describe differences between racial groups in age, gender, income, location, payer, comorbidities, and the availability of dental care. Methods 2010–2013 State Emergency Department Data for Maryland were used in the analysis. Rates per 100,000 of the population are calculated using information from census population estimates. Cost-to-charge ratios are used to estimate the costs of ED discharges. Dental/oral health-related conditions (DOHRC) are defined as discharge diagnoses of ICD-9-CM codes 520.0 through 529.9. Descriptive statistics and fixed effects logistic regression models with a rare event correction are used to analyze the data. Results Blacks, especially females aged 25–34, have larger proportions of total ED discharges due to DOHRC, and higher population rates of DOHRC, than any other racial or ethnic group. In 2013, Blacks represented 30% of Maryland's population and accounted for 52% of ED costs for DOHRC. Hispanics and those of other races have much lower rates of DOHRC discharges. The regression results show that the high proportion of DOHRC discharges among Blacks may be explained by the concentration of Blacks in low-income central cities with less access to dental care. Conclusion There are significant racial disparities in the ED utilization for DOHRC in Maryland. These disparities reflect the lack of access to dental care due to both cost and geographic limitations. This results in high healthcare costs and ineffective solutions for patients. Addressing oral health disparities will require policy solutions that are targeted to the populations most at need, and action plans that combine community and state level efforts.


Photon arrival-time interval distribution (PAID) analysis is a new method for monitoring macromolecular interactions. PAID uses fluorescence fluctuations to extract simultaneously coincidence, brightness in multiple channels, diffusion time, and concentration of fluorescently labeled molecules diffusing in a confocal detection volume. PAID is based on recording arrival times of photons detected on one or more detection channels and plotting two-dimensional histograms of photon pairs, where one axis is the time interval between each pair of photons 1 and 2 (in general not consecutive or detected in the same channel) and the second axis is the number of other photons detected (not necessarily detected in the same channels as photons 1 and 2) in the time interval between detection of photons 1 and 2. PAID is related to fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) by a collapse of the PAID histogram onto the time interval axis. PAID extends auto- and crosscorrelation FCS by measuring the brightness of fluorescent species. Studies of fluorescently labeled DNA demonstrate the capabilities of PAID to analyze interactions: PAID detected that DNA carrying two copies of the fluorophore Cy3B is twice as bright as DNA carrying only one copy (simulating dimer vs monomer). PAID also distinguished well between DNA carrying only one fluorophore (Cy3 or Cy5) and DNA carrying both Cy3 and Cy5 (simulating complex vs free components). Solutions containing mixtures of these DNA fragments were successfully analyzed. Studies of Escherichia coli RNA-polymerase-DNA interactions demonstrate the ability of PAID to analyze the complex mixtures expected in studies of macromolecular interactions. The statistical accuracy of PAID matches the accuracy of other fluorescence fluctuation methods while providing additional information.


Strategic alliance is one of the most important strategic activities in the present business environment. Alliance stability remains a big challenge both from academic and managerial perspectives. With the development of modern logistics and big demand for steel in China, the author use Analytic Hierarchy Process to investigates factors influencing strategic alliance between steel company and logistics service provider. Then, Delphi method is used and alliance stability score is calculated. Finally, suggestions for alliance stability are discussed and recommended.


Cement is the most-used construction material worldwide. Research for sustainable cement production has focused on including nanomaterials as additives to enhance cement performance (strength and durability) in recent decades. In this concern, graphene is considered one of the most promising additives for cement composites. Here, we propose a novel technique for producing few-layer graphene (FLG) that can fulfil the material demand for the construction industry. We produced specimens with different FLG loadings (from 0.05% to 1% by weight of cement) and curing processes (water and saturated air). The addition of FLG at 0.10% by weight of cement improved the flexural strength by 24% compared to the reference (bare) sample. Similarly, a 0.15% FLG loading by weight of cement led to an improvement in compressive strength of 29% compared to the reference specimen. The FLG flakes produced by our proposed methodology can open the door to their full exploitation in several cement mortar applications, such as cementitious composites with high durability, mechanical performance and high electrical conductivity for electrothermal applications.


Abstract. The photogrammetry enables to getting high accuracy measurement with low-cost and easy application in documentation of historical structures. The object details are signified with lines in cultural heritage documentation by photogrammetry. The combination of all the lines create 3D wireframe model of the measurement object. In addition, patch surfaces of the wireframe are mapped with the texture from the images for more realistic visualization. On the other hand, the progress on computer vision and image processing techniques is allowing automatically perform the photogrammetric process. A large number of points that are called dense point cloud can be measured from coverage area of multi view images. The dense point cloud represents the object shape with small space measured points while the wireframe photogrammetry is representing the object with lines. In this study these two photogrammetric methods were evaluated with respect to visualization, cost, labour and measurement time through 3D modelling of historical structures of Sultan Selim Mosque and Yusuf Aga Library.