Notice The material in this document has been subjected to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) technical review and has been approved for publication as an EPA document. The information contained herein is offered to the reader as a review of the " state of the science " concerning wetland bioassessment and nutrient enrichment and is not intended to be prescriptive guidance or firm advice. Mention of trade names, products or services does not convey, and should not be interpreted as conveying official EPA approval, endorsement, or recommendation.


This report describes the use of time-resolved absorption spectroscopy to evaluate shock-induced changes in the {sup 1}La band of anthracene in hexane. The low-lying electronic levels of hexane are well separated from the {sup 1}La band of anthracene as long as the pertubations to the anthracene absorption band is minimal. 29 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.


Sexually transmitted urogenital virus infections have shown in recent decades a growing prevalence worldwide. In the industrial nations, human papilloma virus and herpes simplex virus infections occur more frequently than the typical venereal diseases (syphilis, gonorrhoea and ulcus molle). Molluscum caused by molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV), while frequently found in HIV-infected and AIDS patients (13%), are generally diagnosed decidedly less often than the previously mentioned virus infections. Considering the pathogenetic relationship of several HPV-subtypes with precancerosis and carcinomas in both genders, increasingly greater demands are placed upon the physician today regarding the diagnoses and treatment of virus-associated urogenital STDs. Discussed in this survey are the epidemiology, clinical symptoms, diagnostic and treatment of the three referred to virus infections.


This paper describes cellular compression seals and the do's and don'ts behind their use. Also, the paper attempts to give those interested parties a guide for the use of compressions seals as well as cover the most recent developments in design and application of compression gaskets.


Nowadays, food processing by-products, which have long raised serious environmental concerns, are recognized to be a cheap source of valuable compounds. In the present study, incorporation of phenolic-rich extracts (500 and 1000 mg kg−1) from olive leaves (OL) and olive mill wastewater (OMW) into conventional gluten-free formulations has been exploited as a potential strategy for developing nutritious and healthy breadsticks with extended shelf-life. To this end, moisture, water activity (aw), visual and textural properties, the composition of biologically active compounds (soluble, insoluble, and bio-accessible polyphenols), antioxidant activity, oxidation stability, and consumer preference of the resulting breadsticks were investigated. Fortified breadsticks had higher moisture and aw, lower hardness, and similar color in comparison to the control, especially in the case of OL extract supplementation. All enriched formulations significantly affected the phenolic composition, as evidenced by the decrease in insoluble/soluble polyphenols ratio (from 7 in the control up to 3.1 and 4.5 in OL and OMW, respectively), and a concomitant increase in polyphenol bio-accessibility (OL: 14.5–23% and OMW: 10.4–15% rise) and antioxidant activity (OL: 20–36% and OMW: 11–16% rise). Moreover, a significant shelf-life extension was observed in all fortified breadsticks (especially in case of OMW supplementation). Sensory evaluation evidenced that 61% of the assessors showed a marked, but not significant, tendency to consider the sample supplemented with high levels of OL as a more palatable choice.


Tremendous recent progress in the quantum simulation of the Hubbard model paves the way to controllably study doped antiferromagnetic Mott insulators. Motivated by these experimental advancements, we numerically study the real-time dynamics of a single hole created in an antiferromagnet on a square lattice, as described by the t–J model. Initially, the hole spreads ballistically with a velocity proportional to the hopping matrix element. At intermediate to long times, the dimensionality as well as the spin background determine the hole dynamics. A hole created in the ground state of a two dimensional (2D) quantum antiferromagnet propagates again ballistically at long times but with a velocity proportional to the spin exchange coupling, showing the formation of a magnetic polaron. We provide an intuitive explanation of this dynamics in terms of a parton construction, which leads to a good quantitative agreement with the numerical tensor network state simulations. In the limit of infinite temperature and no spin exchange couplings, the dynamics can be approximated by a quantum random walk on a Bethe lattice with coordination number z̃=4 . Adding Ising interactions corresponds to an effective disordered potential, which can dramatically slow down the hole propagation, consistent with subdiffusive dynamics. The study of the hole dynamics paves the way for understanding the microscopic constituents of this strongly correlated quantum state.


When a child is admitted to inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment it regularly becomes evident that the necessity of such a major change in the life of the family also constitutes a major shock for the parents. Based on experience gained in group psychotherapy with parents, the underlying narcississtic wounds are examined. Aside from aspects of social ostracism and the necessity--often experienced as discrimination--of accepting help from professionals, the most painful wound is related to the fact that through its illness--which is also an expression of family dynamics--the child also detaches itself from significant emotional needs of the parents. The admission to inpatient treatment repeats manifestly a separation which the child has already attained in part. Working through the shock experience can lead to further steps of separation and initiate a reciprocal individuation between parents and child.


Background: The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is an important phrase with big appeal in a field struggling to interpret quality of life (QOL) and other patient-reported outcomes (PRO), is also a bridge between statistics and clinical medicine. This paper is aimed to determine the MCID of esophageal cancer scale among Quality of Life Instruments system for Cancer Patients, QLICP-ES (V2.0). Methods: According to the scoring rule of QLICP-ES (V2.0), the scores of each domain and the overall of the scale were calculated. The MCID values of this scale were established by anchor-based and distribution-based methods. Two criteria A (improves one level after treatments) and B (at least improves one levels after treatments) were defined treatments effects in anchor-based methods, while methods of ES, SEM and RCI were used in distribution-based methods. Results: Using the anchor-based method, according to standard A, the MCID values of physical domain, psychological domain, social domain, common symptom and side-effects domain, the specific domain and the overall were 15.1, 4.4, 3.1, 6.7, 8.5 and 6.0 respectively. According to standard B, the MCID values of above domains and the overall were 19.3, 4.2, 4.8, 7.7, 9.5 and 7.5 respectively. Under the distribution-based methods, the MCID values above calculated by each method (ES, SEM and RCI) are in different ranges from 1.1 to 13.3. Conclusion: All methods have its own advantages and disadvantages to develop the MCID values, so it is necessary to develop the MCID values of QLICP-ES (V2.0) comprehensively with a variety of methods considering the actual situation.


Ginger (Zingiber officinale) has traditionally been used as a treatment for inflammatory diseases in the Asian region. Recently, anti-inflammatory effects of steamed ginger extract (GGE03) have been reported, but its association with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-induced gastritis has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to assess the anti-inflammatory activity of GGE03 in H. pylori-infected gastric epithelial cells. Our studies revealed that the GGE03 suppressed the growth of H. pylori. GGE03 markedly reduced the expression of the H. pylori-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-8, TNF-α, IL-6, inducible NOS (iNOS) and IFN-γ. We also demonstrated that GGE03 treatment inhibited the H. pylori-activated NF-κB signaling pathway. In addition, the treatment with GGE03 significantly attenuated nitric oxide production and myeloperoxidase activity in H. pylori-infected gastric epithelial cells. These anti-inflammatory effects of GGE03 were more effective than ginger extract. Finally, we investigated the minimum effective concentration of GGE03 to inhibit H. pylori-induced inflammation. Our findings suggest that GGE03 not only inhibits the growth of H. pylori, but also attenuates H. pylori-induced inflammation.


During embryonic development multipotent cells are specified to give rise to the different tissues of the body. This process depends on a tightly controlled network of signalling pathways. Importantly, tissues, which require differential activity of these pathways, can be induced in close proximity, thus suggesting an intricate spatial and temporal control of pathway activation. One of the pathways crucial for tissue specification is the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signalling pathway. Its role in the patterning of the ectoderm is well understood during gastrulation but unclear for later stages of development.
Using zebrafish and Xenopus as model organisms, I investigated the spatial and temporal control of BMP activity after gastrulation at the border of the neural plate as progenitor cells emerge that give rise to cell types such as melanocytes and smooth muscle cells, as well as the olfactory epithelium and the lens. I identified new players that regulate the formation of distinct domains of BMP signalling and thereby enable the specification of adjacent tissues with different requirements for BMP activity.
Previously, Snw1 was identified as a crucial factor for neural crest specification during development. Overexpression and depletion of Snw1 in Xenopus and zebrafish embryos leads to a loss of the neural crest cell population. Snw1 was identified as a regulator of BMP activity at the neural plate border, but not as a core component of the pathway downstream of the receptor. Snw1 is involved in a step between transcription and expression of the BMP ligands and since depletion of Snw1 in zebrafish increases bmp2b ligand transcription but prevents expression of the protein. I have further dissected the function of Snw1 and shown that Snw1 is in a complex with components of splicing machinery, as well as several chromatin remodeling and transcriptional elongation factors. I have used RNAseq to identify additional Snw1 targets.


Deciding which kind of visiting strategy accumulates high-quality pages more quickly is one of the most often debated issues in the design of web crawlers. This paper proposes a related, and previously overlooked, measure of effectiveness for crawl strategies: whether the graph obtained after a partial visit is in some sense representative of the underlying web graph as far as the computation of PageRank is concerned. More precisely, we are interested in determining how rapidly the computation of PageRank over the visited subgraph yields node orders that agree with the ones computed in the complete graph; orders are compared using Kendall's ô . We describe a number of large-scale experiments that show the following paradoxical effect: visits that gather PageRank more quickly (e.g., highest-quality first) are also those that tend to miscalculate PageRank. Finally, we perform the same kind of experimental analysis on some synthetic random graphs, generated using well-known web-graph models: the results are almost opposite to those obtained on real web graphs.


Overweight, obesity and associated diet-related chronic diseases are increasing worldwide. Diet constitutes a modifiable risk factor for these conditions. Whole-grain
consumption has been associated with health benefits, e.g. decreased risk of weight gain, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, whole-grain rye foods, rich in dietary fibres, have upon consumption shown increased satiety and lower postprandial glycaemia and insulinaemia compared with refined wheat.

The overall aim of the present thesis was to investigate how appetite and postprandial glycaemia and insulinaemia were affected by consumption of whole-grain rye porridge and crisp bread compared with isocaloric refined wheat bread, served as part of complete breakfasts. Effects of replacing part of the rye in whole-grain rye porridge with inulin and wheat gluten were evaluated on appetite, food intake, gut fermentation, postprandial glucose, insulin and GLP-1 during 8 h after intake. The effect of daily consumption of whole-grain rye porridge for three weeks was evaluated on appetite, food intake, gut fermentation and gut passage time during 8-12 h after intake. Moreover, the impact of unfermented and yeast-fermented whole-grain rye crisp bread on appetite, postprandial glucose and insulin responses was evaluated during 4 h after intake.

Whole-grain rye porridge reduced appetite during 4 h after intake compared with refined wheat bread, even after three weeks of daily consumption. The satiating effect of whole-grain rye porridge did not increase with added inulin and wheat gluten. The extensive gut fermentation of whole-grain rye porridge 4-8 h after intake was related to a lower second meal glucose response, but not to appetite, and no differences were observed in postprandial insulin and GLP-1 responses compared with refined wheat bread. Whole-grain rye crisp bread reduced appetite and postprandial insulin response during 4 h after intake compared with refined wheat crisp bread, with no differences in postprandial glucose, and the effect was larger for unfermented whole-grain rye crisp bread.

To conclude, whole-grain rye porridge and crisp bread have beneficial effects on appetite regulation and metabolic responses. Including whole-grain rye foods as part of a healthy diet may contribute to appetite control and decrease the risk of diet-related chronic diseases.


Abstract Construction industry involves the highest risk of occupational accidents and bodily injuries, which range from mild to very severe. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify the factors associated with accident severity rate (ASR) in the largest Iranian construction companies based on data about 500 occupational accidents recorded from 2009 to 2013. We also gathered data on safety and health risk management and training systems. Data were analysed using Pearson's chi-squared coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Median ASR (and the interquartile range) was 107.50 (57.24- 381.25). Fourteen of the 24 studied factors stood out as most affecting construction accident severity (p<0.05). These findings can be applied in the design and implementation of a comprehensive safety and health risk management system to reduce ASR.


I review progress on investigations concerning top quark physics and QCD at a future linear e+e collider that has been achieved since the presentation of the TESLA technical design report [1] in spring 2001. I concentrate on studies that have been presented during the workshop series of the Extended Joint ECFA/DESY Study on Physics and Detectors for a Linear Electron-Positron Collider.


Much work on the performance of Web proxy caching has focused on high-level metrics such as hit rates, but has ignored low level details such as "cookies", aborted connections, and persistent connections between clients and proxies as well as between proxies and servers. These details have a strong impact on performance, particularly in heterogeneous bandwidth environments where network speeds between clients and proxies are significantly different than speeds between proxies and servers. We evaluate through detailed simulations the latency and bandwidth effects of Web proxy caching in such environments. We drive our simulations with packet traces from two scenarios: clients connected through slow dialup modems to a commercial ISP, and clients on a fast LAN in an industrial research lab. We present three main results. First, caching persistent connections at the proxy can improve latency much more than simply caching Web data. Second, aborted connections can waste more bandwidth than that saved by caching data. Third, cookies can dramatically reduce hit rates by making many documents effectively uncacheable.


Introduction:Diabetic foot infections are a difficult problem to solve, often requiring hospitalization and exposing patients to the risk of amputations. Identification of the most prevalent pathogens is useful for administration of antibiotic therapy, and can reduce mutilations.Objective:To identify the microbiological profile and resistance to antimicrobial drugs in a series of patients with infected diabetic feet.Material and methods:an epidemiological, retrospective and descriptive study based on analysis of medical records from diabetic patients with plantar lesions who underwent surgical treatment over a 24-month period at a public hospital. Data were collected on age, sex, length of hospital stay, cultures from lesions, antibiotic therapy administered, bacterial resistance and surgeries conducted, with statistical analysis of means and standard deviations.Results:There were 66 admissions of diabetic patients, the majority elderly people (77%). Hospital stays ranged from 2 to 29 days, with a mean of 12.42. There were 91 surgical procedures, resulting in some kind of amputation in 65% of cases. The most common bacterial group was enterobacteria (47%), followed by staphylococci (27%). Three patients (4.5%) had multi-resistant organisms. Resistance to clindamycin was the most common at 39 admissions (59%), followed by resistance to cephalexin, seen in 24 admissions (36%).Conclusions:Diabetic foot infections were most often caused by germs found in the community, in particular the enterococci. Bacterial resistance was very widespread and was most commonly associated with drugs for oral administration, in particular clindamycin and cephalexin.


This article is a presentation of a clinical methodology aimed at minimizing binding in fixed orthodontic appliances. The dynforce archwire is explained. The dynforce archwire has a full size anterior segment (e.g. .021×.025) and undersized posterior segments with rectangular cross-section (e.g. .018×.025 or .018×.022), and is used in the orthodontic phase of space closure with or without TAD miniscrews. Two clinical cases are presented.


The axion particle, a consequence of an elegant hypothesis that resolves the strong-CP problem of quantum chromodynamics, is a plausible origin for cosmological dark matter. In searches for axionic dark matter that detect the conversion of axions to microwave photons, the quantum noise associated with microwave vacuum fluctuations will soon limit the rate at which parameter space is searched. Here we show that this noise can be partially overcome either by squeezing the quantum vacuum using recently developed Josephson parametric devices, or by using superconducting qubits to count microwave photons. The recently demonstrated ability of superconducting qubits to make QND measurements of microwave photons offers great advantages over destructive photon counting methods such as those using Rydberg atoms.


Abiotic stresses in plants have aroused great research interest, unceasingly seeking for more productive cultivars under unfavorable cultivation conditions. Water deficiency and soil salinity are the most studied aspects, due to their strong impact on the growth and productivity of plants. The objective of this study was to evaluate accessions of different sugarcane species (Saccharum spp., S. robustum, S. officinarum) regarding tolerance to in vitro salinity, from changes in physiological, anatomical, biochemical and biometric parameters, to assist in breeding programs. To this end, shoots were used, grown on Murashige and Skoog medium, supplemented with 2% of sucrose and 4 g.L Phytagel, in the presence of five concentrations 0, 50, 100, 150, 200 mM NaCl. Shoots length, roots length, shoots number, roots number, fresh weight, dry weight, proline content in leaves, total chlorophyll content, and morphological changes to the leaf tissue were analyzed. The in vitro growth of accessions Saccharum robustum, Saccharum spp. and Saccharum officinarum are affected by salinity induced by NaCl. The proline accumulation and chlorophyll decrease are intensified in Saccharum spp., in addition to changes in cell's anatomy, characterized as more sensitive to salt.


Background
Variable presentations manifesting outflow obstruction may lead to non-significant symptoms or produce symptoms linked to the degree of the left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. A patent ductus arteriosus is also an infrequent non-cyanotic congenital heart disease, which usually occurs as an isolated lesion, but in association with subaortic membrane, the prevalence is even lower. This combination affects the presentation, symptoms and management approach. Careful evaluation is important as the management strategy is based on the evaluation.

Case presentation
This is a case report, discussing a female patient in her middle-ages with subaortic membrane along with patent ductus arteriosus as a rare presentation. The electrocardiogram showed left ventricular hyper- trophy and strain pattern. The chest X-ray revealed cardiac enlargement with enlarged aorta. The echo- cardiography indicated a dilated left ventricle with mild left ventricular systolic dysfunction, a sub-aortic membrane with high gradient and moderate aortic regurgitation. There was also a PDA with a left to right shunt. The coronary angiogram indicated normal coronaries, and a large PDA. The right heart catheter pressure measurements revealed pulmonary hyper-tension. The patient infected with COVID-19 that had resulted in deterioration of her medical status and the planned management.

Conclusions
The combined lesion presents a challenging clinical presentation and diagnosis. Cardiac catheterization might be helpful. Management strategy might need modification. Exposure to COVID 19 infection compose a risk to such patient and influence the management strategy.


Background : with increasing demand for services that is further propagated by high population growth and by people's response to newly emerging pathologies, nations in sub-Saharan African are faced with insurmountable problems in sustaining their health systems. The decline in international assistance and the effects of structural adjustment programs have made the situation even worse. Realizing the inadequacy of solely relying on the public sector, these countries are thus seeking alternative mechanisms for health care financing. Methods : this is a synthetic literature review to describe the situation of health care financing in Ethiopia. In addition, the newly adopted health care financing strategy was looked at from the perspective of policy analysis. Results : Health financing has been a major challenge for Ethiopia. The prospect of relying solely on public resources seems impractical and the absolute total expenditure on health is quite a small fraction of the amount needed for purchasing a minimum essential health services package. This has led to the recent adoption of a health care financing strategy and initiation of implementing its specific components. The strategy encompasses alternatives that include: improving the efficiency of allocation and utilization of public resources, expanding the role of the private sector, and encouraging the development of risk sharing mechanisms. Conclusion : Looking at the adoption and implementation the health care financing strategy with a policy analysis approach is helpful for identifying its likely trajectory, and what needs to be done to avoid opposition, or to gain support.
(Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, 2001, 15(3): 153-164)


This article explores British newspaper descriptions of the impact of climate change across three time periods. It shows a reduction in representing the consequences of climate change as 'out of human control'. It also shows a decrease in adopting alarming and uncertain descriptions within the centre-left group, whereas mocking the effects of climate change is a peculiarity of right-leaning narratives. The complexity of climate narratives produces a variety of representations of the consequences of climate change, which in turn might increase 'uncertainty' in public understanding of climate change.


Research on planning in the task-based approach has become a niche of research in its own. The present study attempted to shed some light on the effects of peerplanning by comparing the oral performance of 16 learners of English as a foreign language attending the 7th semester of a Letras Program, who performed a monological task in either an individual or a peer planning condition. Learners" performance was quantitatively analyzed in terms of fluency, complexity, and accuracy, revealing no statistically significant differences between the groups. Besides that, post-task questionnaires were administered so as to unveil learners" impressions regarding the processes they embarked on while planning and their opinions about the conditions in which they planned. Overall, participants reported to embark on the processes of message organization and formulation, and perceived the planning condition, be it individual or collaborative, as beneficial.


Aim. The object of this study was to implement computer-aided design of the water-soluble analog of glycolipid β-galactosylceramide (β-GalCer), which presents a potential HIV-1 entry inhibitor, by the analysis of intermolecular interactions of β-GalCer with the central region of the virus envelope gp120 V3 loop followed by synthesis of this glycolipid derivative and testing for antiviral activity. Methods. To reach the object of view, computer modeling procedures, such as quantum chemical calculations, molecular docking, molecular dynamics and free energy simulations, were involved in the studies in conjunction with chemical synthesis and anti-HIV-1 assay methods. Results. As a result, the high probability of exhibiting of antiviral activity was predicted for the designed β-GalCer analog. The data of molecular modeling were confirmed by those of primary medical trials of the synthesized compound. Conclusions. In the light of the findings obtained, the designed analog of β-GalCer may be considered as the basic structure for simulation of its more potent structural forms and for posterior selection of drug candidates most promising for synthesis and anti-HIV-1 assays.


To date, there have been no curative drugs for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Conventional drugs and biologic agents are not always effective and may cause serious side effects. Therefore, it is still challenging to develop effective and safe novel drugs for IBD. Although the exact etiology of IBD remains elusive, it is generally accepted that the immune system of the gut plays a central role in the pathogenesis of IBD. Recently, the nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF‐κB) has been identified as the pivotal elements in the regulation of the increased inflammatory activity. Moreover, recent studies have shown that Cordyceps pruinosa extract is a inhibitor of NF‐ κB activation and can enhance weak immune functions. Based on these facts, I hypothes‐ ize that Cordyceps pruinosa extract may thus exert its therapeutic effect on IBD by regulating NF‐κB activity and improving impaired immune functions.


PURPOSE
To evaluate implant impression accuracy with a new tray design concept in comparison to nonsplinted and splinted impression techniques for a 2-implant situation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A reference bar titanium framework was fabricated to fit on 2 parallel implants. The framework was used to generate a resin master model with 2 implants that fit precisely against the framework. Three impression techniques were evaluated: (1) nonsplinted, (2) splinted, and (3) nonsplinted with modified tray impressions. All the trays were fabricated from light-cured acrylic resin material with openings that corresponded to the implant impression copings. Ten impressions were taken for each technique using poly(vinyl siloxane) impression material. The impressions were poured with type IV dental stone to generate the test casts. A rosette strain gauge was bonded to the middle of the framework. As the framework retaining screws were tightened on each test cast, the developed strains were recorded until the completion of the tightening to 35 Ncm. The generated strains of the rosette strain gauge were used to calculate the maximum principal strain.

RESULTS
A statistically significant difference was observed among the different impression techniques. The modified tray design impression technique was associated with the least framework strains, which indicates greater accuracy compared with the other techniques. There was no significant difference between the splinted and the nonsplinted impression techniques.

CONCLUSIONS
The new tray design concept appeared to produce more accurate implant impressions than the other techniques. Despite the statistical difference among the impression techniques, the clinical significance of this difference is yet to be determined.


BACKGROUND
The interaction between psychosis and violence in adults is an important area of research receiving attention. To date there is little available data examining this relationship in adolescence.

AIMS
To investigate the possible relationships between criminally violent types of behaviour, and psychopathology and social factors, among adolescents suffering from a psychotic disorder.

METHOD
A retrospective case note study of 39 in-patients diagnosed as having a psychotic disorder and admitted to one of two adolescent psychiatry units (one secure, one open). Cases were divided into a 'violent' and a 'non-violent' group, and these two groups were then compared for social and psychopathological variables.

RESULTS
There was no association between recorded psychopathology and criminally violent behaviour. Criminally violent behaviour was associated with a history of emotional or physical abuse, contact with social or mental health services, and previous criminal behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings fail to echo results of studies in adult schizophrenia; they suggest that violent behaviour in psychosis is associated more closely with social factors than with specific symptoms of the psychotic illness. Potential explanations are discussed.


To realize the aim that in 2020 the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in China dropped to 40% ∼ 45% of that in 2005, it's compulsory to take full advantage of the clean and renewable energy, develop distributed generation technology and realize low-carbon generation scheduling. According to the characteristics of photovoltaic and wind turbine, considering different generation cost and greenhouse gas emission level of various distributed generation, a novel model of low-carbon generation scheduling of distribution network containing Microgrid was presented. Considering different CO2 emission price and load level, the correctness and validity of the model was verified.


Background- The coronary sinus (CS) blood flow can be used as a non-invasive measure of cardiac perfusion. Besides transesophageal echocardiography, transthoracic echocardiography with Doppler flow measurement has been introduced as a feasible and reproducible method to determine the CS blood flow. The purpose of this study was to assess the coronary flow reserve (CFR) by transthoracic imaging of the CS flow in patients with coronary artery disease before and after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Methods- Twenty-nine patients with coronary artery disease who were candidates for CABG were evaluated in this study. CFR was measured using the CS flow profile. Twenty-one patients, comprised of 15 men and 6 women at a mean age of 56.7 ± 9.1 years, were evaluated. All the patients had a pre-operative increase in their coronary blood flow during the dipyridamole stress test (mean CFR/beat=1.38±0.2, mean CFR/min=1.54±0.18). Results- CFR was significantly higher in post-operativ e status (mean CFR/beat=2.25±0.45, mean CFR/min=2.55±0.43, p <0.001). Conclusion- Our study, in accordance with previous studies, denotes that a transthoracic measurement of CFR can be used as a feasible and reproducible method to monitor the changes in cardiac perfusion after revascularization (Iranian Heart Journal 2009; 10 (1):21-26).


This paper describes an AES smart card implementation highly tamper resistant to side channel attacks. Smart cards are gaining popularity in applications that require high security and store sensitive information. Modern smart cards, highly capable of complicated cryptology, provide a high assurance of tamper resistance and thus commonly used in payment application. Although advanced smart cards can not protect attackers from being defrauded by different side channel attacks. Small, embedded integrated circuits (ICs) such as smart cards are vulnerable to side-channel attacks (SCAs). We describe the development of differential power attacks and describe how to perform differential power kind of side-channel attack on an AES implementation, using simulated power traces. We also discusses the security prevention from such corresponding attacks, such as randomized masking techniques for software implementations.


CONTEXT
Histopathology, like other branches of medicine in West Africa, has suffered largely from economic, political, social, and infrastructural problems, becoming a shadow of the top quality that had been obtained in the past. To address the prevailing problems, one needs to attempt defining them.

OBJECTIVE
The existing structure of training and practice are discussed, highlighting the author's perception of the problems and suggesting practical ways to address these while identifying potential roles for North American pathology organizations.

DESIGN
The author's past and ongoing association with pathology practice in Nigeria forms the basis for this review.

RESULTS
Pathology practice is largely restricted to academic medical centers. The largest of academic centers each accession around 4000 or fewer surgical specimens per year to train 9 to 12 residents. Histopathology largely uses hematoxylin-eosin routine stains, sometimes with histochemistry but rarely immunohistochemistry. Pathologists depend largely on their skills in morphology (with its limitations) to classify and subclassify tumors on routine stains, including soft tissue and hematolymphoid malignancies. Immunofluorescence, intraoperative frozen section diagnosis, electronic laboratory system, and gross and microscopic imaging facilities are generally not available for clinical use.

CONCLUSION
The existing facilities and infrastructure can be augmented with provision of material and professional assistance from other pathology associations in more developed countries and should, among other things, focus on supplementing residency education. Virtual residency programs, short-visit observerships, development of simple but practical laboratory information systems, and closer ties with pathologists in these countries are some of the suggested steps in achieving this goal.


Introduction: Exacerbations of COPD impair health status and impose high costs. Action plans help individuals recognise exacerbations to initiate early treatment. Aims: To assess effects of a COPD action plan and brief patient education input only on health outcomes and healthcare utilisation. Methods: Major databases were searched for trials comparing action plan use to usual care in COPD. An educational component of up to one hour and monthly support for action plan use were permitted but comprehensive self-management programmes were not. Data collection and analysis followed standard Cochrane Collaboration procedures; quality of evidence was graded. Results: Seven RCTs with 6-12 months follow up were included. Participant characteristics (n=1550) were: 66% male, 27% current smokers, mean age 68 years, mean post-bronchodilator FEV1 54% predicted. Action plan use reduced the combined rate of hospitalisations and emergency department visits for COPD over 12-months (1RCT, n=743) [rate ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.44 to 0.79; high quality], and decreased the likelihood of a hospital admission [odds ratio 0.69, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.97; n=897; 2 RCTs, moderate quality]. Over 12-months, 19 (95% CI 11 to 201) participants would need to be treated to prevent one hospital admission. All-cause mortality did not differ during 12-months. Use of oral corticosteroids over 12 months was increased, mean difference 0.74 courses 95% CI 0.12 to 1.35; n=200; 2 RCTs, moderate quality. Conclusions: Action plans with brief patient education only for management of COPD exacerbations can be safely used and reduce hospital healthcare utilisation.


Background Trichomoniasis caused by Trichomonas vaginalis affects both men and women, although the clinical presentation differs. Infected women are more likely to have symptoms compared to infected men. Approximately 75% to 100% of men are asymptomatic in comparison to approximately 50% to 75% of women who are identified as asymptomatic. In South Africa, data on the prevalence and detection of T. vaginalis is well-documented; however, data on the molecular characterization of T. vaginalis is limited. The study aimed to detect and characterise T. vaginalis isolates from HIV positive women attending an anti-retroviral clinic. Methods Self-collected vaginal swabs from 380 HIV positive women were included in the study. Trichomonas vaginalis was detected using wet mount microscopy, culture and a commercial PCR kit. The genetic relatedness of 92 culture positive T. vaginalis isolates was determined. Five primers (TV1, TV2, TV3, TV5 and TV6) were used for the RAPD assay. The PCR-IGS-RFLP products were digested with five enzymes, namely: AluI , HinfI , RsaI , Sau3AI and Tsp509. Results A total of 8% (30/380) of specimens were positive for T. vaginalis using microscopy, 24% (92/380) of specimens were positive using culture and 31% (118/380) of the specimens were positive using the commercial PCR kit. RAPD assay analysis showed a high level of genetic diversity between the T. vaginalis isolates. The dendrogrammes obtained from the RAPD data grouped the 92 T.vaginalis isolates into between nine to 24 clusters with 70% similarity used to define clusters, while the PCR-IGS RFLP assay results for the isolates were genetically indistinguishable. Conclusion The PCR assay was the most sensitive diagnostic tool for the detection of T. vaginalis. A high prevalence of T. vaginalis, consisting of different strain types, was detected in the HIV positive women included in the study.


The progressive deterioration we cause to the environment by exhalation of pollutants into our atmosphere is not sustainable. The degradation of air quality and pollution, caused by human activity, is endangering the very life of our species and the planet. For this reason, research and application of photocatalytic products with decontamination purposes has exponentially increased in recent years. In this article, the research and study of the use of vehicles is developed not as pollutants, but as decontaminating substances through direct application to the bodywork of a product holding a Titanium Dioxide base, whose effectiveness has been demonstrated over asphalt pavements. The results show values with a proven effectiveness, higher than products currently being marketed and used in different means. Once completed the analysis, several lines of research are initiated to improve the uses proposed.


An efficient and accurate finite-element method is presented for computing transient as well as time-harmonic electromagnetic fields in three-dimensional configurations containing arbitrarily inhomogeneous media that may be anisotropic. To obtain accurate results with an optimum computational efficiency, both consistently linear edge and consistently linear nodal elements are used for approximating the spatial distribution of the field. Compared with earlier work, the formulation is generalized by adding a method for explicitly modeling the normal continuity along interfaces that are free of surface charge. In addition, the conditions for efficiently solving time-harmonic problems using a code designed for solving transient problems are discussed. A general and simple method for implementing arbitrary inhomogeneous absorbing boundary conditions for modeling arbitrary incident fields is introduced. >


: Plastic, an offer of modernity, has become one of the essential parts of our everyday life. However, it is presenting a massive threat in altered forms, to our health and environment. Plastic does not only pollute the surface environment, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, but toxic elements released from plastics also percolate down the surface and contaminate groundwater, which we often use as 'safe' drinking water. This probable future risk is deeply rooted in the entire governance infrastructure of plastic waste which could potentially lead to contamination of groundwater. Thus, a state-sponsored 'safe drinking water' initiative could contrarily produce a 'risk society'. A recent study finds 81% of tap water samples collected worldwide contained plastic pollutants, which means that annually we may be ingesting between 3000 and 4000 microparticles of plastic from tap water. Based on review, ethnographic observations and interviews, and lived experience in a plastic-wrapped city (Dhaka), this paper sheds light on the complex interface of plastic, water, and public health, on the relevance of Beck's 'risk society' to understand this complexity, and on replicating the idea of 'risk society' in the case of Bangladesh. Through understanding the plastic– groundwater–waste management nexus, this paper highlights and advocates for a new strategy of plastic governance in modern states.


Establishing nature reserves to protect species and their habitats, is the most direct and effective approach for biodiversity conservation. Conducting investigations of the important protected species and assessing their in situ conservation status are of important guiding significance for reasonable conservation and effective management within a region. In this paper, based on the literature and field investigations, we analyzed the distribution and protection status of the key protected wild plants in Shanxi Province. The results showed that there were 57 key protected wild plants in Shanxi, 49 of which were distributed in nature reserves, and the in situ conservation rate was 86%. The nature reserves in Jincheng, Yuncheng, Linfen, and Yangquan cities contained the most protected wild plant species. Cumulative screening was used to select the six nature reserves with the highest contributions. The cumulative protection contribution rate of these six reserves was 86%. In general, the key protected wild plants are under comprehensive protection in Shanxi. However, there are still some protection gaps, and these identified gap areas will provide a scientific basis for further planning and development of nature reserves in Shanxi Province.


Over the past few decades, while trade has contributed significantly to economic growth in various economies including India, openness has also exposed them to vagaries of external shocks. While recent global financial crisis (GFC) essentially originated in advanced economies, it got transmitted to emerging market economies through three main channels viz., financial, trade, and confidence channel. Relatively, while financial channel had a more dominant role in transmitting global shocks to Indian economy, its growing trade openness had led to decline in both exports and imports from the latter half of 2008 till 2009. Against this backdrop, this study primarily focuses on studying the impact of trade shock emanating from GFC on the Indian economy. In empirical analysis, it is found that the impact of recent trade shock on the economy remained minimal and short-lived. Under S-VAR framework (quarterly data from 1996-97 to 2009-10), impulse response analysis suggests that the impact of export demand on India's gross domestic product (GDP) persists for a short while, which is validated by recent strong rebound of the economy in the aftermath of global financial crisis. This is in line with our expectations as GDP growth in India is primarily driven by domestic consumption, while external demand plays a minimal role.


This paper describes the R package VSURF. Based on random forests, and for both regression and classification problems, it returns two subsets of variables. The first is a subset of important variables including some redundancy which can be relevant for interpretation, and the second one is a smaller subset corresponding to a model trying to avoid redundancy focusing more closely on the prediction objective. The two-stage strategy is based on a preliminary ranking of the explanatory variables using the random forests permutation-based score of importance and proceeds using a stepwise forward strategy for variable introduction. The two proposals can be obtained automatically using data-driven default values, good enough to provide interesting results, but strategy can also be tuned by the user. The algorithm is illustrated on a simulated example and its applications to real datasets are presented.


Asparagus species is recognized as a perennial herb with several valuable functional ingredients, and has been widely used as medicine and food since ancient times. Among its main chemical constituents, saponins play a vital role in the health benefits and biological activities including anti-cancer, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and hypoglycemic. This review summarizes the preparation methods, structure and classification, biological functions, as well as the food and non-food applications of asparagus saponins, with a special emphasis on its anti-cancer effects in vitro and in vivo. Further, the main challenges and limitations of the current research trends in asparagus saponins are highlighted after a detailed analysis of the recent research information. This review bridges the gap between bioactive components and human health and aids current research on functional and health-promoting foods and medicinal application of Asparagus saponins.


In this position paper we bring a new approach — Value-Sensitive Design — to understanding the value implications of augmented reality. We examine seven values: psychological well-being, physical well-being, privacy, deception, informed consent, ownership and property, and trust. In addition, we briefly describe our work where we apply a Value-Sensitive Design approach to augmented reality of the natural world.


Abstract:This article analyses the significance of Gianfranco Cabiddu's film La stoffa dei sogni [The Stuff of Dreams] (2016) as a transnational Shakespearean appropriation. A palimpsestuous Italian adaptation of The Tempest, La stoffa dei sogni transposes Shakespeare's story to a prison-island setting in 1950s Sardinia. The essay documents the film's literary and historical contexts, exploring its complex array of interwoven visual and literary intertexts – from iconic theatre productions by Giorgio Strehler and Peter Brook to Italian Shakespeare translations, particularly the Neapolitan Tempesta of Eduardo De Filippo. The film's distinctive spatial opposition between prison and theatre creates a carceral reading of The Tempest, focusing issues of power, freedom, and authority as they play out in the conflict between Prospero's hegemony and his subaltern opposites Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban. Further, the Sardinian setting assimilates the play to the postcolonial world of the Mediterranean basin and the complex politics of the area's local, regional, and national geographies. The film thus exemplifies the process by which Shakespeare's cultural authority is being radically reimagined in the global circulation of non-Anglophone appropriations.


Pneumothorax ex vacuo is a rare type of pneumothorax which forms adjacent to an atelectatic lobe. Pneumothorax ex vacuo occurs if the underlying lung is unable to expand, for example due to bronchial obstruction under severe pleuramesothelioma. In this situation, the pleural effusion was caused by lung collapse, leading to negative pressure in the pleura which gradually pulled in fluid. The primary problem is not the pleural effusion, but rather the fact that the lung cannot expand. Our patient has severe pleuramesothelioma. The palliative chemotherapy was already initiated. Due to progressive dyspnea, a thoracentesis with implication of pleurX-catheter was performed in this situation.


The guidance of axons to their proper targets is not only a crucial event in neurodevelopment, but also a potential therapeutic target for neural repair. Axon guidance is mediated by various chemo- and haptotactic cues, as well as the mechanical interactions between the cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Axonal growth cones, dynamic ends of growing axons, convert external stimuli to biochemical signals, which, in turn, are translated into behavior, e.g., turning or retraction, via cytoskeleton–matrix linkages. Despite the inherent mechanical nature of the problem, the role of mechanics in axon guidance is poorly understood. Recent years has witnessed the application of a range of microtechnologies in neurobiology, from microfluidic circuits to single molecule force spectroscopy. In this mini-review, we describe microtechnologies geared towards dissecting the mechanical aspects of axon guidance, divided into three categories: controlling the growth cone microenvironment, stimulating growth cones with externally applied forces, and measuring forces exerted by the growth cones. A particular emphasis is given to those studies that combine multiple techniques, as dictated by the complexity of the problem.


SUMMARY The effects of experimental alterations of aerial O2 partial pressure (PO2,air) on bimodal gas exchange and air-breathing behaviour were investigated in the aquatic air-breathing fish Trichogaster leeri in normoxic water. Fish responded to increasing PO2,air by decreasing air-breathing frequency, increasing aerial O2 consumption rate (V̇O2), increasing mean O2 uptake per breath (V̇O2/breath) and decreasing aquatic V̇O2 to maintain a constant total V̇O2. The rate of oxygen uptake from the air-breathing organ (ABO) during apnoea (V̇O2,ap) was derived on a breath-by-breath basis from VO2/breath and apnoea duration. V̇O2,ap and estimates of ABO volume were used to calculate the PO2 in the ABO at the end of apnoea. This increased with increasing PO2,air, suggesting that ABO-PO2 is not regulated at a constant level by internal chemoreceptors. Furthermore, mean V̇O2,ap increased with increasing PO2,air, indicating that the observed increase in V̇O2/breath with increasing PO2,air was facilitated not only by an increase in apnoea duration but also by an increase in the air–blood PO2 gradient.


A ceramic ferroelectric phase shifting device has been demonstrated using Ba(1-x)Sr(x)TiO3 (BSTO) ceramics. As a part of an effort to optimize the electronic device performance in the phase shifter, various composites of BSTO combined with other nonelectrically active oxide ceramics have been formulated. In general, the composites have reduced dielectric constants, epsilon`, where epsilon = epsilon` = i(epsilon)`, and loss tangents, tan delta. The low dielectric constant and low loss tangent reduce the overall impedance mismatch and the insertion loss of the device, In addition, the overall tunability, change in the dielectric constant with applied voltage, is maintained at a relatively high level. The combination of electronic properties of these materials offer substantially higher operating frequencies, 10 GHz and above. Another application for one of the composites is for use as a capacitor-varistor surge protector. The microstructures including grain size and phase analysis have been examined using SEM and X-ray diffraction. The analysis of the phase formation, compositional variations, and grain size will be related to the electronic properties of the materials.


Introduction: The antioxidant activity is the ability of a substance to inhibit the oxidative degradation and it acts primarily through its capacity to react with radical and non-radical species (e.g., singlet oxygen). In recent years, the interest to study the antioxidant capability of the natural occurring compounds due to their possible applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries by the scientific communities have been increased. Objective: To estimate the antioxidant capacity of the naringin against the singlet oxygen using the rubrene method. Methods: Naringin was isolated of the fruit peels from bitter orange ( Citrus aurantium ) and characterized by some spectroscopic techniques (UV-Vis and FT-IR analysis). The overall rate constant for the reaction of 1 O 2 with naringin was determined by means of a Stern–Volmer plot derived from steady state kinetic based on the competition reaction using rubrene. Results: The results showed that naringin acted as a quencher on the singlet oxygen with an overall rate constant of 2.1 x 10 7 M -1 s -1 (derived of the Stern-Volmer linear relationship) Conclusion: The kinetic study suggests that the naringin could be used as singlet oxygen quencher in biological systems and protect them from oxidative damage.


Intracellular synthesis of silver/silver chloride nanoparticles (Ag/AgCl-NPs) using Meyerozyma guilliermondii KX008616 is reported under aerobic and anaerobic conditions for the first time. The biogenic synthesis of Ag-NP types has been proposed as an easy and cost-effective alternative for various biomedical applications. The interaction of nanoparticles with ethanol production was mentioned. The purified biogenic Ag/AgCl-nanoparticles were characterized by different spectroscopic and microscopic approaches. The purified nanoparticles exhibited a surface plasmon resonance band at 419 and 415 nm, confirming the formation of Ag/AgCl-NPs under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively. The planes of the cubic crystalline phase of the Ag/AgCl-NPs were confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Fourier-transform infrared spectra showed the interactions between the yeast cell constituents and silver ions to form the biogenic Ag/AgCl-NPs. The intracellular Ag/AgCl-NPs synthesized under aerobic condition were homogenous and spherical in shape, with an approximate particle size of 2.5-30nm as denoted by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The reaction mixture was optimized by varying reaction parameters, including temperature and pH. Analysis of ultrathin sections of yeast cells by TEM indicated that the biogenic nanoparticles were formed as clusters, known as nanoaggregates, in the cytoplasm or in the inner and outer regions of the cell wall. The study recommends using the biomass of yeast that is used in industrial or fermentation purposes to produce Ag/AgCl-NPs as associated by-products to maximize benefit and to reduce the production cost.


cancer becomes inappropriate as our patients approach death, but realistic and optimistic hopes are to be encouraged. One of our patients recently stated that the most important thing for her morale was having realistic short term goals. Even when patients are too weak to achieve goals there are still appropriate hopes: hopes for their family and loved ones, hopes for a reconciliation, hopes about the memories they will leave behind, or hopes for some kind of existence after death. The cnanges that we see occurring in families around this time can often be described as full of hope.


Luminophores with persistent room-temperature phosphorescence (p-RTP) or effective phosphorescent mechanochromism features have significant potential applications in the field of optoelectronic materials. Until now, p-RTP and remarkable phosphorescent mechanochromism phenomena have been observed in some luminescent molecules with different molecular structures. However, separately realizing p-RTP and high-contrast phosphorescent mechanochromism in different polymorphs from a single luminophore is still a valuable and challenging topic. In this work, two polymorphs 1B and 1YG of a new gold(i) complex with blue and yellow-green luminescence, respectively, are reported. Interestingly, 1B exhibits high-contrast phosphorescent mechanochromic behavior, while 1YG exhibits a persistent room-temperature phosphorescence effect. This is the first example of simultaneously obtaining double-purpose crystalline materials with a high-contrast phosphorescent mechanochromism or persistent room-temperature phosphorescence feature from a single luminophore.


"Democracy is; when the majority vote more mainstream, and more important than truth of the word of God ". Democracy is a political process that not only promote or rely on what was a policy, the policy is not only supporting the political process in a democracy, but the policy could be a boomerang on democracy. Not necessarily people know, nor understand what democracy is, and also after the process was whether the majority of the people agree with democracy, although the notion of democracy is government by and for the people. Or most people are forced to accept democracy. Indeed, the idea of democracy that was born of the human mind, which at the time was not satisfied with the system at the time imperliasme theotracy western, democratic system that all countries are proud of the fact that the system has only transferred power from the hands of the church into the hands of the capitalist, not to the people. And very reasonable at all in fact when democracy remain state hands, not in the hands of the people, because we presume, are the state church, church is the master, and this process is not widely known by the public (us) as citizens. And in the 15th century also the creed of secularism was born. Keyword: Democracy, Indonesian Democracy, History of Democracy


The House passed H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, on April 21, 2005 (249-183). The legislation includes a "safe harbor" provision to protect methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) refiners from product liability suits, which was retained after a close vote on an amendment to drop the language (213-219). In the 108th Congress, there was opposition to this provision in the Senate. It is unclear how its inclusion may affect Senate passage of an energy bill in the 109th Congress. House Republicans have indicated that a compromise will be sought to satisfy the other body. Language in the House-passed bill would also authorize opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to exploration and development. An amendment to delete the ANWR provisions from H.R. 6 was defeated (200-231).


This essay, which introduces the fifth installment of the Common Knowledge symposium "Peace by Other Means," explores four ethnographically observed areas in which indigenous knowledge and practice hold insights for the prevention and reduction of enmity in the modern world. The four, very broadly, are values and norms (such as recoil from competition) that nurture peace, exceptional capacity for and recognition of the necessity of cooperation, exceptionally flexible and multilayered definitions of identity, and rituals that effect and strengthen peace. Neither this essay nor the symposium in which it appears advocates a simple application of conflict-prevention or -resolution mechanisms from particular cultures to other emic contexts. The point, rather, is to seek more general theoretical principles wherever they are to be found, given repeated failures of the modern peacemaking apparatus.


Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant hematopoietic disease and the most common type of acute leukemia in adults. Despite remarkable progress made in the therapy of AML, the mainstays of treatment have not significantly changed over the last 20 years. Technological advances have greatly accelerated genomic discovery and precision medicine holds promise to better tailor medications to AML with specific mutations. Importantly, one major obstacle to greater success with target therapy of leukemia is drug resistance. But the mechanisms underlying drug resistance in AML are poorly understood. The activating mutations of FLT3 are now recognized as the most common molecular abnormality in AML and FLT3ITD mutations are found in nearly 30% of AML patients. The poor prognosis of patients harboring FLT3 mutations renders FLT3 an obvious target of therapy. Quizartinib (AC220) is a potent and selective second-generation inhibitor of FLT3. It is in clinical trials for the treatment of relapsed or refractory FLT3ITD positive and negative AML patients and as a maintenance therapy. So far, those clinical trials have showed very promising result. However, drug resistance to AC220 has also been reported through the early clinical studies. To understand the underlying mechanisms of drug resistance to AC220, we undertook an unbiased approach with a novel CRISPR pooled library to screen new genes whose loss of function confer resistance to AC220. In our screen, we identified SPRY3 and GSK3 as positive hits and the related Wnt and FGF-Ras-ERK signaling activation as the major mechanisms to cause resistance to the FLT3 inhibitor AC220. In the next step, we will explore the detailed underlying mechanisms by which SPRY3 and GSK3 mutations lead to drug resistance to AC220. We will also confirm our findings in primary AML patient samples. Taken together, our study will provide new insight into signaling pathways that contribute to the acquired resistance in AML. The knowledge learned from this study may lead to the development of more efficient therapeutic avenues for AML. Citation Format: Jian Huang. A CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screen identify novel drug resistance genes in AML. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 5042.


ABSTRACT Shear strength of saturated, remolded clay mineral samples was measured in an attempt to relate strength to forces acting between clay particles. The fine fractions of the clays, purified when necessary, were consolidated to different void ratios and subjected to quick, translatory shear in a direct shear device. Relative values for shear strength were obtained in this way. Interparticle forces in the clays were altered and the effect on shear strength was observed. For a high-swelling, Na-saturated montmorillonite, strength at constant void ratio decreased with increasing salt concentration. To explain the decrease in strength with decrease in force of repulsion between particles a model is suggested where strength results from the force of repulsion resisting displacement of particles in the shear plane. Addition of small amounts of dispersing and of soil-conditioning chemicals had little effect on shear strength. Calcium montmorillonite had a lower strength than sodium montmorillonite when compared at the same void ratios. This is related to the lower surface area of interaction and lower repulsion found with divalent ions. Water content at the liquid limit showed the same dependence upon interparticle forces in the montmorillonite clays as did shear strength. In kaolinite, interparticle forces of attraction result in a structure or particle arrangement which has the major influence on shear strength. A clay at low pH which was flocculated in a network, edge-to-face structure owing to presence of positive edge-charge had higher strength than a dispersed clay, but a clay flocculated by electrolyte which produced a lamellar, face-to-face structure had a lower strength.


A crosscorrelation method of measuring the impulse response of linear systems is presented. The technique, implementation and limitations of this method are discussed. A simple system is designed and built using discrete components and the impulse response of a linear circuit is measured. Theoretical, software simulation, and experimental results are presented.<<ETX>>


This paper describes the development of a new optical system for accurate measurement of surface wave velocity and attenuation. A mode-locked Q-switch laser generates a Rayleigh wave tone burst which is detected with a two beam interferometer system. The resulting signals are then processed using a simple cross correlation algorithm. Results demonstrating the velocity resolution of the system are presented on both ceramic and metallic samples.


Tannins are soluble, astringent secondary phenolic metabolites generally obtained from renewable natural resources, and can be found in many plant parts, such as fruits, stems, leaves, seeds, roots, buds, and tree barks, where they have a protective function against bacterial, fungal, and insect attacks. In general, tannins can be extracted using hot water or organic solvents from the bark, leaves, and stems of plants. Industrially, tannins are applied to produce adhesives, wood coatings, and other applications in the wood and polymer industries. In addition, tannins can also be used as a renewable and environmentally friendly material to manufacture bio-based polyurethanes (bio-PUs) to reduce or eliminate the toxicity of isocyanates used in their manufacture. Tannin-based bio-PUs can improve the mechanical and thermal properties of polymers used in the automotive, wood, and construction industries. The various uses of tannins need to be put into perspective with regards to possible further advances and future potential for value-added applications. Tannins are employed in a wide range of industrial applications, including the production of leather and wood adhesives, accounting for almost 90% of the global commercial tannin output. The shortage of natural resources, as well as the growing environmental concerns related to the reduction of harmful emissions of formaldehyde or isocyanates used in the production of polyurethanes, have driven the industrial and academic interest towards the development of tannin-based bio-PUs as sustainable alternative materials with satisfactory characteristics. The aim of the present review is to comprehensively summarize the current state of research in the field of development, characterization, and application of tannin-derived, bio-based polyurethane resins. The successful synthesis process of the tannin-based bio-PUs was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analyses.


Scenarios of near future wind power are synthesized by considering the power spectral density (PSD), statistical characteristics, and the future capacity. The PSD of the wind power follows different power laws over different frequency ranges and is approximated by a piecewise function. A scaling exponent of the power law for a particular piece can be approximated by the slope of an affine function fitted to a logarithmic plot of the PSD. Each piece of the function has a different trend as the total capacity increases. Slope trends, the first PSD value, and the last PSD value are trained to forecast the PSD. Then, future wind power scenarios are synthesized from the forecasted PSD. In this process, phase angles are searched using a genetic algorithm while satisfying forecasted statistical characteristics for the given capacity. Our approach is simulated and validated for wind power for seven years in ERCOT and is used to synthesize a future wind power scenario at 10,000 MW capacity. Our approach could also be used to generate wind power scenarios at present capacity for many stochastic optimization problems in power systems.


Abstract While distribution-free procedures are often appropriate when testing statistical hypotheses, they may become complicated or involve loss of power when the data are grouped. For rank tests the ties caused by grouping are generally broken either by using a randomization procedure or averaging the tied ranks. In this paper the power loss due to equi-spaced grouping (in terms of Pitman asymptotic relative efficiency) is investigated for some commonly used tests, for each method of tie-breaking. The tests considered are Wilcoxon's and Mood's tests for the two-sample problem, Mann's test for randomness, and Pitman's independence test. It is shown how the power loss depends on the width of the grouping intervals and the distribution of the data, and some numerical studies are given. The results seem to indicate that the power loss is small even for a sizable group interval, and that it may be preferable to break ties by randomization than by averaging ranks.


The reagent of the title was found to promote the oxidation of alcohols to give the corresponding carbonyl compounds in good yields. The copper(II) oxidizing agent was easily prepared by the reaction of copper(II) bromide with lithium t-butoxide in THF


In this article, we describe electrically conductive nanoblends containing poly(aniline-co-3- aminobenzoic acid) (PANABA), poly(styrene-alt-maleic acid) (PSMAC), and polystyrene. PANABA copolymers on a nanoscale were prepared under ultrasonic irradiation by the oxidative copolymerization of aniline and 3-aminobenzoic acid at different molar ratios. PSMAC was also prepared in our laboratory. The obtained conductive nanoblends formed films with good homogeneity and flexibility. The conductivity of the obtained nanoblends was measured with a four-probe method. The maximum electrical conductivity obtained was 0.60 S/cm. The characterization of the obtained copolymers and nanoblends was carried out by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Scanning electron microscopic images were taken from the obtained nanoblends. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


Phase engineering of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has been the subject of considerable interest as it represents a promising strategy for a highly active hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, various types of active sites on the basal planes and edges of TMDs have shown complicated mechanisms of the HER in TMDs, hindering the systematic engineering of the catalytic activity of TMDs. Here, we report the intrinsic basal-plane activity of a series of TMDs, Mo1−xWxTe2, whose phases can be engineered from semiconducting to metallic states by adjusting the stoichiometric ratio of tungsten atoms (x). Three forms of 2H- (semiconducting) and 1T′-(metallic) Mo1−xWxTe2, bulk, powder, and exfoliated flakes, as well as microreactors, were used to investigate the HER process of the phase-engineered TMDs. The catalytic activity of Mo1−xWxTe2 exhibits the best performance at the phase-transition boundary (i.e., x = 0.09) with a hydrogen conversion rate of 0.692 s−1, which is 10–20 times higher than that of other 2H and 1T′ samples with different x values. Our study provides a novel approach, using the phase-transition boundary, to modify the catalytic activity of polymorphic nanomaterials.


Background Previous studies have shown an unmet need in the treatment of eating disorders. In the last decade, interest in technology-based interventions (TBIs) (including computer- and Internet-based interventions [CBIs] or mobile interventions) for providing evidence-based therapies to individuals with different mental disorders has increased. Objective The aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the potential of TBIs in the field of eating disorders, namely for anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), for both prevention and treatment, and also for carers of eating disorder patients. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted using Medline and PsycINFO. Bibliographies of retrieved articles were also reviewed without date or study type restrictions. Results Forty studies resulting in 45 publications reporting outcomes fulfilled the inclusion criteria: 22 randomized controlled trials, 2 controlled studies, and 16 uncontrolled studies. In total, 3646 patients were included. Overall, the studies provided evidence for the efficacy of guided CBIs, especially for BN patients and for compliant patients. Furthermore, videoconferencing also appeared to be a promising approach. Evaluation results of Internet-based prevention of eating disorders and Internet-based programs for carers of eating disorder patients were also encouraging. Finally, there was preliminary evidence for the efficacy of mobile interventions. Conclusions TBIs may be an additional way of delivering evidence-based treatments to eating disorder patients and their use is likely to increase in the near future. TBIs may also be considered for the prevention of eating disorders and to support carers of eating disorder patients. Areas of future research and important issues such as guidance, therapeutic alliance, and dissemination are discussed.


Background and Objective: Pregnancy and childbirth are periods of great joy and delicate, interesting, and exciting aspects of women's life. The study investigates whether sleep quality components will predict health-related quality of life (HRQOL) domains among primigravidas.
 Materials and Methods: The study employed descriptive research design. 768 primigravidas, attending antenatal care in nine purposively-selected government hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria, which fulfilled the inclusion criteria participated in the study. A questionnaire consisting of demographic information of primigravidas, World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) with reliability coefficient of 0.89 and 0.85, respectively, were used to collect data. Six hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis (MRA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
 Results: Sleep quality components had a statistical, joint influence on HRQOL domains (physical health domain, F = 4.526, P < 0.01; psychological domain, F = 2.931, P < 0.05; and environment domain, F = 2.788, P < 0.05) of primigravidas in Ibadan. In addition, domains of HRQOL were significantly influenced by primigravidas' marital status (F = 3.591, P < 0.05).
 Conclusion: Effective management of sleep quality components during pregnancy can improve HRQOL domains of primigravidas. Researchers recommended that antenatal care lectures for primigravidas should be reinforced with emphasis on the sleep quality and its influence on their HRQOL domains for better wellness of the primigravidas.


This research aiming at investigating the impact of principals' leadership styles on elementary school teacher's performance in Jeddah city in (KSA). The current research utilized a quantitative method approach. The main instruments used in this study are questionnaires, and the teacher's evaluation card. The population comprises all males and females at elementary school in KSA, particularly in Jeddah city. Thus, the researcher used a sample size of (200) female and male schoolteachers from elementary schools in Jeddah city. Collected data is entered and treated by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Based on data analysis and discussion of the collected data the researcher concluded with the following findings: Contingent reward leadership style is the top that practiced while individual consideration style has a strong positive impact on teachers' performance. Also, the study finds that gender as moderating factor has influenced on principal leadership style and vary due to gender differences. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommended to use transformational leadership style to enable principal to manage the rapid change and bring teacher on-board to the Saudi vision 2030. Furthermore, school principal should higher their level of education to motivate teachers toward creativity and innovation. JEL: I20, I21, H75 Article visualizations:


Organizational theory has long held that it is difficult to transfer organizations from one environment to another and that organizations that are transferred will take on characteristics of the new environment. We argue that organizations have the capabilities and the resources to transfer and to some degree replicate key capabilities in a new environment, and further to alter those environments in light of their functional requirements. We explore the question of organizational transfer and replication through the lens of a specific class of transplant organizations—Japanese automotive assembly plants and their suppliers in the United States. We believe that these transplant organizations provide an ideal case to explore such questions because they represent organizations which are being transferred from a supportive to a foreign environment. We find that these Japanese automotive transplants have effectively transferred and to some degree replicated key organizational forms and capabilities at both the intraand inter-organizational levels.


Resource sharing in a networked environment has been an evolved field of research in both industry and academia. In a dynamic, resource constrained environment, resource discovery plays a vital role in the resource sharing process. A distributed multi agent model for a dynamic, heterogeneous network has been proposed in this paper. Furthermore, three resource search algorithms have been investigated, namely: Random Walk, Directed Search and Directed Search with Self-Organisation. An approximate matching mechanism between resources and tasks descriptions has been proposed as a solution for the trade-off problem between the accuracy and speed. As performing random search might lead to traverse the whole network and increase the failing ratio, we have introduced a heuristic directed search to overcome this problem. Based on the agents' closeness, the Agents re-organise themselves by creating an overlay network of agents which are holding semantically close resources and then direct the search message accordingly. The proposed solution has been implemented in a simulated environment and simulation results have shown a significant improvement in the search time (calculated as a number of hops).


The detailed study of phase transition processes among various calcium sulfates is still insufficient in spite of its importance in artificial and natural processes. Here, the phase transformation γ-CaSO4 → β-CaSO4 → CaO is induced by electron beam irradiation and directly observed inside the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Relying on the real-time atomic-scale observation, the topological transition from γ-CaSO4 (hexagonal) to β-CaSO4 (orthorhombic) is investigated in detail, and the orientation relationship is determined: [0001]H//[001]O and (1010)H//(010)O. Furthermore, three β-CaSO4 variants related by 120° rotation are observed, which is theorized to occur during the transformation from hexagonal to orthorhombic structure. The possible transition mechanism is thus discussed. This work offers detailed information on the transition mechanism concerning the calcium sulfates, which might facilitate their industrial applications and possibly further understanding of rock deformation in the earth ...


Nonlinear interactions between different scales in turbulence result in both interscale and spatial transport of turbulent energy, and their role in the turbulent heat transfer mechanism is also of practical importance from an engineering viewpoint. In this study, we investigate a turbulent plane Couette flow with passive-scalar heat transfer at the Prandtl number of 0.71 to discuss the similarity/difference between scale interactions in velocity and temperature fields. The constant-temperature-difference boundary condition is used so that the mean velocity and temperature profiles are similar, and then, the roles of interscale and spatial transports are compared for the spectral transport budgets of turbulent energies and temperature-related statistics. We show that turbulent heat transfer occurs at relatively small streamwise length scales compared to momentum transfer, although molecular diffusion is more significant in the temperature field as the Prandtl number is less than 1. Detailed analysis on the transport budgets of temperature-related spectra shows that scale interactions in the temperature field supply more energy to small scales than those in the velocity field. This significant temperature cascade causes more energetic temperature fluctuation at small scales, resulting in the spectral dissimilarity between turbulent heat and momentum transfers.


Abstract Three concentrations (mg ml−1) of extracts of the medicinal plants Xysmalobium undulatum (XU) roots (0.125, 0.25, 0.50), leaves of Helichrysum caespititum (HC) (0.00625, 0.0125, 0.025) and ascorbic acid (AA) (0.125, 0.25, 0.50) were assessed for cytotoxicity (CT), genotoxicity (GT) and modulation of cyclophosphamide- and EMS-induced GT using the Allium cepa assay following 24 h treatment. CP (1.00 mg ml−1) and EMS (0.0375 mg ml−1) were not cytotoxic but genotoxic. CT was measured by the mitotic index (MI). GT was the number of aberrant cells per 100 mitotic cells. The MI and GT of test groups were compared with the negative control group using t-test. The modulatory effect (ME), calculated as (B – C) – (A – C)/(A – C) gave the number of times of the mutagen-induced GT by which the GT of the mutagen was reduced (anti-GT) or increased (synergism). One or more concentrations of AA, XU and HC and their mixtures with CP or EMS were cytotoxic and genotoxic. Mixtures of AA, XU and HC with CP were significantly more genotoxic than CP alone which indicated a synergistic interaction. Mixtures of AA with EMS were significantly more genotoxic than EMS alone. Mixtures of XU with EMS were less genotoxic than EMS, but not significantly, which made XU mildly anti-genotoxic to EMS GT. Mixtures of lower concentrations of HC with EMS were more genotoxic than EMS alone but not significantly. The most common aberrations among dividing cells were sticky chromosomes, c-metaphase, anaphase and telophase bridges, chromosome fragment and multipolar anaphase and telophase.


The antitumoral effects of oncolytic viruses have generally been limited by inefficient spread of the viruses within infected tumors and by inefficient systemic delivery, particularly in preimmunized hosts. Tumor-selective poxviruses have biological characteristics that may overcome these limitations. Nevertheless, physical barriers within the tumor microenvironment, including the extracellular matrix, can still limit intratumoral spread, and neutralizing antibodies can impede systemic delivery. To counter these limitations, we sought to take advantage of a naturally occurring poxvirus form known as extracellular enveloped virus (EEV). The EEV is shrouded by a host cell-derived lipid bilayer containing anticomplement proteins and is typically released from infected cells early during the infection cycle. Therefore, the EEV form evolved for rapid systemic spread within the host and for evasion of immune-mediated clearance. We compared the oncolytic potential of low versus high EEV-producing strains of vaccinia. EEV-enhanced vaccinia strains displayed improved spread within tumors after systemic delivery, resulting in significantly improved antitumor effects. The EEV-enhanced strains also displayed a greater ability to spread between injected and noninjected distant tumors through the blood and, importantly, displayed reduced clearance by neutralizing antibody. Safety was unaffected. The incorporation of EEV-enhancing mutations into next generation oncolytic vaccinia strains may improve the potency of these viruses without sacrificing safety.


Human β defensin type 3 (hBD-3) is a small cationic cysteine-rich peptide. It has a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities. However, at high concentrations, it also shows hemolytic activity by interrupting red blood cells. To understand the selectivity of hBD-3 disrupting cell membranes, investigating the capability of hBD-3 translocating through different membranes is important. Since hBD-3 in the analogue form in which all three pairs of disulfide bonds are broken has similar antibacterial activities to the wild-type, this project investigates the structure and dynamics of an hBD-3 analogue in monomer, dimer, and tetramer forms through both zwitterionic and negatively charged lipid bilayers using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. One tetramer structure of hBD-3 was predicted by running all-atom MD simulations on hBD-3 in water at a high concentration, which was found to be stable in water during 400 ns all-atom simulations based on root-mean-squared deviation, root-mean-squared fluctuation, buried surface area, and binding interaction energy calculations. After that, hBD-3 in different forms was placed inside different membranes, and then steered MD simulation was conducted to pull the hBD-3 out of the membrane along the z-direction to generate different configurational windows to set up umbrella-sampling (US) simulations. Because extensive sampling is important to obtain accurate free energy barriers, coarse-grained US MD simulations were performed in each window. Based on the long-term simulation result, membrane thinning was found near hBD-3 in different lipid bilayers and in different hBD-3 oligomer systems. By calculating the root-mean-squared deviation of the z-coordinate of hBD-3 molecules, rotation of the oligomer inside the bilayer and stretching of the oligomer structure along the z-direction were observed. Although reorientation of lipid heads toward the hBD-3 tetramer was observed based on the density profile calculation, the order parameter calculation shows that hBD-3 disrupts 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine (POPS) lipids more significantly and makes it less ordered than on 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) lipids. Calculating the free energy of hBD-3 through different lipid bilayers, it was found that generally hBD-3 encounters a lower energy barrier through negatively charged lipid membranes than the zwitterionic membrane. hBD-3 in different forms needs to overcome a lower energy barrier crossing the combined POPC+POPS bilayer through the POPS leaflet than through the POPC leaflet. Besides that, the potential of mean force result suggests that hBD-3 forms an oligomer translocating negatively charged lipid membranes at a low concentration. This study supplied new insight into the antibacterial mechanism of hBD-3 through different membranes.


Several pioneering studies have established that the effect of exchange rate exposure to corporate entities in periods of the financial crisis is no longer linear.  To this end, this study explores the position of this argument in a developing country like Nigeria and investigates if the phenomenon could lead to the escalation of corporate survival threats, particularly in crisis and non-crisis periods. In order to ensure this, we analyzed the data of 102 companies consisting of indigenous and multinationals entities' from 20 sectors of the Nigerian economy from1980-2011. The study employed the ARDL bounds test approach to cointegration and the "U" test methodologies in determining the linear and non-linearity effects of the exposural position of the selected entities' value. The findings of the study established the existence of non-monotonic relationships between the indigenous entities values and the exchange rate position. The "U" shape relationship was discovered to be the most aggravating agent to these entities survival threats.  Surprisingly the relationship between the corporate value of multinational companies in Nigeria and official exchange rate (ERS) is only having a linear relationship. This means that these entities are not heavily exposed to the vagaries of exchange rate changes, meaning they cannot be threatened by bankruptcy in both the crisis and non-crisis periods, which is in contrast to the findings on indigenous entities. As a result of these findings, we recommend to policy makers, the establishment of exchange rate frame-work that is feasible towards enhancing productivity in the real sector corporate entities of the country. Keywords: exposure; linear and non-linear; monotonic and non-monotonic; financial crisis. JEL Classifications: F3; F4; G3


Scatter from beryllium mirrors often seems to be higher than expected based on mirror surface foughness data. The paper verifies the effects and shows that in addition to surface topography scatter is caused by mirror defects that are non-topographic in nature (subsurface flaws, optical contant variations across grain boundaries, etc.). This effect is more severe in them id IR than the visible because non-topographical scatter tends to scale as inverse wavelengths for several materials is presented and analyzed. Beryllium is found to be especially prone to these problems. The conclusion is reached, that a profile (or roughness) requirement is not sufficent speciefication to achieve low scatter space mirrors.


Solid waste management, which includes collection, transportation, disposal and recycling, is a critical environmental issue increasing in severity due to industrialization, urban population growth and consumption. In this study, we present a vehicle routing approach based on the ant colony optimization algorithm. We work on the real-world data of Maltepe Municipality, Istanbul, Turkey. The experimental results show that we estimate the shortest route path with 13% efficiency compared to the existing route. We believe this would play an important role in solid waste management, help reduce costs as well as provide fast and efficient waste collection for local municipalities.


Counterion-mediated attractions between like-charged rods lead to macroscopic phase separation at equilibrium, but here we show that the unique kinetics of domain (bundle) growth in this system prevent it from reaching equilibrium. We find an energy barrier to bundle growth that increases linearly with the bundle diameter, which should lead to metastable bundles of a fairly well-defined size.


Transient stability assessment (TSA) has always been a fundamental and challenging problem for ensuring the security and operation of power systems. With more power electronic interface resources integrated into the grid and large renewable energies, the stability of the power system is jeopardized. Therefore, TSA of the power system should be considered in advance to keep the system running stable. In recent years, with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine (SVM), and Markov decision process, TSA has improved dramatically. In this study, a sparse dictionary learning approach is proposed to improve the precision of the classification accuracy of transient stability assessment in power systems. Case studies of TSA using multi-layer support vector machine (ML-SVM) and long short-term memory network–based recurrent neural network (LSTM-RNN) are discussed as benchmarks to validate the proposed method. The stable and unstable dictionary learnings are designed based on datasets obtained by simulating thousands of different time-domain simulation (TDS) scenarios performed on the New-England 39-bus system in the PSAT (power system analysis toolbox) toolbox. Stable and unstable dictionaries are developed based on the K-SVD approach. The testing dataset contains both stable and unstable samples which steps into the sparse coding process to obtain the indexes. Compared with the indexes, the system's final TSA is targeted. The proposed method exhibits satisfactory classification accuracy in transient stability prediction and provides the ability to reduce false alarms both in positives and negatives of the power system.


After the emergence of the term "walkability" in the 1990's, many metrics have been developed with the aim of evaluating the quality of the built environment for pedestrians. More recently, researchers have also sought an association of these metrics with pedestrian behavior: do better sidewalk conditions and their surroundings correspond with higher pedestrian activity? To study the association of the built environment with the share of pedestrian movements, two different indexes, one at the city level (macro) and one at the neighborhood level (micro), were proposed using georeferenced data from Sao Paulo (Brazil). Once the available built environment and transport-related data were incorporated in a linear regression model, the neighborhood-level index (micro) and the share of pedestrian movements presented a strong positive correlation (adjusted R² = 0.797). In addition to the contributions to the relationship of walkability scores with data from developing countries, the discussions presented in this paper intend to provide insights into the territorial disparities in pedestrian mobility, mainly those related to socio-spatial segregation .


Growth and atresia of the ovarian follicles of Miniopterus schreibersi natalensis (A. Smith, 1834) were studied from females collected on the southern Transvaal Highveld. In this hibernating subspecies no storage of sperm or delayed ovulation occur and females enter hibernation in a pregant condition. Only one Graafian follicle develops, which is characterized by a large antrum with the ovum-bearing mass of cells occupying only a relatively small portion of the antrum. Many follicles develop to a medium size before undergoing regression. Basically two types of regression occur; usually destruction of the stratum granulosum takes place before the oocyte is affected. The reverse condition was also observed but was very uncommon. Corpora lutea atretica resulting from the luteinization of medium-sized Graafian follicles were commonly found.


The 2-D spectrum estimation is divided into the two consecutive 1-D spectrum estimations: a multichannel spectrum estimation in the "time" domain, and a scalar spectrum estimation in the "frequency" domain. The first is a purely parametric estimation, while the second is a mixture of parametric and nonparametric estimation. The maximum entropy method is used in each estimation in order to utilize the high resolution performance of the maximum entropy method, on the one hand, and to avoid the highly nonlinear nature of the maximum entropy method for 2-D problems, on the other hand. The estimate obtained by this procedure satisfies the covariance matching property and exhibits remarkably high resolution. A simplified version of the multichannel Levinson-Durbin algorithm is derived based on the special structure of the covariance data of homogeneous random fields. The related extendibility of the covariance array is discussed. It is shown that this method is particularly suitable for a class of random fields having some shift invariance.


A series of 8-(trifluoromethyl)-substituted quinolones has been prepared and evaluated for in vitro and in vivo antibacterial activity, and phototolerance in a mouse phototolerance assay. These analogues were compared to the corresponding series of 6,8-difluoro- and 6-fluoro-8H-quinolones (ciprofloxacin type). Although their in vitro antibacterial activities are less than the 6,8-difluoro analogues, the 8-(trifluoromethyl)quinolones are generally equivalent to their 8H analogues. In vivo, they are comparable to the 6,8-difluoro series and show up to 10-fold improvement in efficacy when compared to their ciprofloxacin counterparts vs Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus pneumonia. In the phototolerance model, the 8-(trifluoromethyl)quinolones are comparable to the 8H-quinolones. Both of these series display much higher no effect doses (greater tolerance) than the corresponding 6,8-difluoroquinolones.


Microinsurance offers policies to cover four types of risk; life, health, accidental and property and is a key element for the financial inclusion of the poor. This study examined the influence of insurance literacy and demographics on the likely hood of having a micro-insurance policy. The survey was conducted in the National Capital Region (NCR), India. Micro-insurance literacy was measured using a Quiz. The demographic variables included in the study were gender, age, education, marital status, income and the type of employment. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis. Results show that insurance literacy score, income, employment and education increased the likely hood of owning an insurance policy. Furthermore, it was found that the average insurance literacy was only (36 .75 %). Microinsurance can provide risk coverage to the poor which are the most vulnerable section of the society but so far almost 90 percent of the Indian population is uninsured. This study is warranted by the need to create a model that identifies the sections of society which are unlikely to own microinsurance thus contributing to the low offtake of insurance. This study may be beneficial to the government in terms of regulations, the insurance providers in designing their products and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) so that they can reach out to the unlikely groups.


A 57-year-old man presented with persistent hyperparathyroidism following primary parathyroidectomy. A four-dimensional computed tomography scan with three-dimensional reconstruction showed two parathyroid glands (one right and one left) and anatomic variation from previous surgery. Revision surgery was performed revealing the parathyroid glands as expected from the preoperative three-dimensional reconstruction. After surgery, the patient recovered well, and preoperative symptoms resolved. The use of three-dimensional computed tomography reconstruction provided accurate localization of the parathyroid glands and surrounding anatomic structures. This resulted in decreased preoperative planning cost, operative time, and estimated blood loss typical for patients who have multiple preoperative imaging studies.