This paper investigates the efficiency of several acoustic features in classifying pervasive developmental disorders, pervasive developmental disorders not-otherwise specified, dyspha-sia, and a group of control patients. One of the main char-acteristics of these disorders is the misuse and misrecognition of prosody in daily conversations. To capture this behaviour pitch, energy, and formants are modelled in long-term intervals, and the interval duration, shifted-delta cepstral coefficients, AM modulation index, and speaking rate complete our acoustic information. The concept of total variability space, or iVector space, is introduced as feature extractor for autism classification. This work is framed in the Interspeech 2013 Computational Paralinguistics Challenge as part of the Autism Subchallenge. Results are given on the Child Pathological Speech Database (CPSD), and an 87.6% and 45.1% unweighted average recall are obtained for the typicality (typical vs. atypical developing children) and diagnosis (classification into the 4 groups) tasks, respectively, on the development dataset. In addi-tion, the combination of the new and the baseline features offers promising improvements.


The development of micro engineering is highly dependent on the machining processes that support it. Micro Electrical Discharge Machining (uEDM) is one of the key enabling technologies for the fabrication of micro tools and micro components. The capabilities of this machining technology have to be studied to determine the process capabilities and constraints. The present work investigates factors that influence the process of uEDM and the components that can be produced by applying this technology. Chapter 2 reviews the current state of the art in this field. In addition, different aspects related to the process capabilities are discussed, especially, the factors that affect the quality of electrodes produced on-the-machine, surface roughness optimisation/prediction and the effect of material micro structure on resultant surface integrity. In Chapter 3 factors affecting the quality of electrodes produced on the machine through the process of Wire Electro-Discharge Grinding (WEDG) are investigated. The effects that electrode material, machining strategy and machine accuracy have on the electrode re-generation are studied. Then, in Chapter 4, the effects of process parameters on the resulting surface finish after performing WEDG are investigated in order to identify an optimum processing window. In addition, a method for predicting the resulting surface finish is proposed. In Chapter 5 a comparative study is carried out to investigate the effects of material microstructure refinement on the resulting surface integrity of samples machined by Micro Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (uWEDM). In particular, the process- material interactions on the resulting micro hardness, phase content changes, Heat Affected Zone (HAZ), surface roughness, micro cracks, recast layers formation, Material Removal Rate (MRR) and element spectrum after both rough and finishing uWEDM cuts are studied. Finally, in Chapter 6 the main contributions to knowledge as a result of the carried out research are presented. They can be summarised as follows: The choice of electrode material used when applying the process of WEDG has a significant effect on achievable aspect ratio and surface roughness. The application of specially developed dressing strategies has a major impact on the quality of the electrode. Due to the inherent process errors related to machine accuracy and repeatability of the WEDG process, specialised "adaptive control" systems need to be developed and implemented to increase the process accuracy. Technological parameters that are optimised for conventional juWEDM are not directly applicable for use with the WEDG process as they do not provide comparable results in respect to surface finish. The application of inductive learning algorithms is a simple and cost-effective method for identifying patterns in the process behaviour and thus to create models for on-the-machine prediction of the surface roughness. Material microstructure refinement does not only provide superior mechanical properties to workpiece materials but also leads to favourable machining "footprints" during uWEDM machining and a lower surface roughness. Surface contamination due to the alloying of the tool electrode with the workpiece material is always present regardless of material microstructure, and thus can limit the application areas of this technology.


In this essay I suggest that paying attention to nineteenth century transnational Indian women performers as temporary, cultural laborers in the US reveals the ambiguities of immigration law and citizenship. I take the crucial performances and experiences of the 1881 Indian Nautch Dancers who arrived on New York Stages to perform in Augustin Daly's show "Zanina" to examine discrimination, anti-Asian sentiment, and exclusion laws long before the oft-cited 1923 court case that de-naturalized Indians from US citizenship. I argue that attending to Indian women's performances in the nineteenth century offers gendered insight into exclusion laws and demonstrates their ambiguity in ways that focusing on Asian male laborers (as has been the predominant focus of nineteenth and early twentieth century research on Asian labor) alone occludes.


Geotechnical engineering is a relatively new discipline that has developed rapidly over the past 30 years. It deals with a wide spectrum of natural geological materials ranging from low strength soils to high strength rocks. Earth movements are common in many parts of the world and, as a result, present serious safety and mortality risk to humans in addition to affecting construction activities. Earth movement can be classified into different categories with landslides as being one of those categories. In order to assess the stability of landslides, different geo-technical parameters are required such as the strike and dip of the discontinuity planes in the potential area. Areas affected by landslides are often inaccessible which makes manual compass and inclinometer measurements challenging because of the danger involved in this operation. Preventing large natural landslides is difficult; however some mitigation is possible and can help to minimize the hazards. Nowadays, 3D modeling of objects can be achieved through either passive or active remote sensing systems. Active sensors, such as Terrestrial Laser Scanning systems (TLS) have been used extensively for quick acquisition of highly accurate three-dimensional point cloud data with high resolution. However, the TLS in some cases has limitations during the data collection due to occlusions, orientation bias and truncation. This research addresses those issues by investigating the possibility of augmenting TLS in the occluded regions through close-range photogrammetry to generate high resolution and dense point cloud using the Semi-Global Matching (SGM) algorithm. By augmenting the two data acquisition methods and registering to a common coordinate system to provide a complete point cloud for the area of interest, any limitations and exposed gaps in the data are filled. Planar segmentation is then carried out to extract the required geotechnical parameters automatically. Four sets of geotechnical parameters have been compared in this research: 1) a set of manual measurements, 2) a set extracted from the TLS data only, 3) a set extracted from the SGM algorithm only, 4) and finally a set extracted from the fused TLS and SGM data. The results showed that the data fusion method provided more accurate results when compared to the results coming from the TLS data and those coming from SGM only. This reveals that the impact of the occluded regions on the calculations of the geotechnical parameters must be considered to achieve the required quality of the estimation process. The proposed method of this research provided high quality measurements for the geotechnical parameters required to assess the landslide hazard, ensured safety, and saved cost and time.


This article brings a fresh perspective to the ongoing conversation about legal citation format: By highlighting the costs that the fetishization of "perfect" citation format imposes on legal education, the legal profession, and our system of justice, this article encourages us to seize the opportunity that technology presents to implement a more just, sane philosophy of legal citation. Tracing the history of legal citation from its origins in Rome, this article thoroughly debunks any notions of one citation manual's inherent superiority as a citation tool and instead suggests a return to first principles: an approach to citation that ensures accuracy, brevity, clarity, and efficiency.This article does not simply criticize The Bluebook: Many have trod that ground before. Nor does it advocate for a particular alternative citation manual. Rather, it urges that educators and the profession adopt a real-world approach to citation that embraces the opportunities technology offers. It then goes on to offer concrete steps that law schools, the legal profession, and The Bluebook's editors themselves can take to create a saner, more cost-effective philosophy of legal citation.


The goal of this review was to systematize empirical research that was published in peerreviewed English-language journals between 1995 and 2015 on the prevalence, predictors, and implications of adolescents' use of pornography. This research showed that adolescents use pornography, but prevalence rates varied greatly. Adolescents who used pornography more frequently were male, at a more advanced pubertal stage, sensation seekers, and had weak or troubled family relations. Pornography use was associated with more permissive sexual attitudes and tended to be linked with stronger gender-stereotypical sexual beliefs. It also seemed to be related to the occurrence of sexual intercourse, greater experience with casual sex behavior, and more sexual aggression, both in terms of perpetration and victimization. The findings of this review need to be seen against the background of various methodological and theoretical shortcomings, as well as several biases in the literature, which currently precludes internally valid causal conclusions about effects of pornography on adolescents.


Globalization is a broad and complex phenomenon: with both positives, negatives and not a little confusion in the areas of economics, culture and politics. Financially, globalization claims to foster the capital growth invested by richer states in favour of poorer ones. Culturally, it requires an homogenization of different cultures and lifestyles. Politics and political life are strongly influenced and conditioned by globalization: common good and social justice depending on the criteria of productivity and commerce. Clearly, then, theologians and pastors need to carefully study this complex phenomenon. The Church, itself, offers many markers-- in the areas of social justice, the common good, ecology, etc. -- that are important ingredients to and for the whole globalization issue. Much is a stake in the areas of moral philosophy and theology. More is a stake as all of this deeply concerns our future and that of the world itself.


Language performs the most complex communicative function of exchanging thoughts between people. At the same time, it is a self-sufficient, flexible, highly structured, internally self-organising, synergisic system consisting of sounds, words, and sentences. The purpose of the study is to compare words in two languages – Spanish and Ukrainian – at morphological and lexical levels. Using the method of empirical research, comparison, typological and taxonomic comparison, multy-paradigmal analysis, the Ukrainian and Spanish languages, which are far related, were compared. Non-related languages are also involved in the analysis, which allows identifying linguistic universals and establishing common features either for all languages or for individual groups of languages. When using multy-paradigmal analysis, it is necessary to consider the fact that the verbalisation of the concept by linguistic means and its symbolisation of national identity in the compared languages occurs in different ways due to the specific historical, cultural, and linguistic influence inherent in it, which each ethnic group receives. To eliminate linguistic and cultural barriers between speakers of different linguistic cultures, a multi-level analysis is necessary, in which the leading role belongs to the multy-paradigmal and comparative-typological study of linguistic units. There are a lot of languages in the world, the number of which varies according to the principles by which they are classified. Nevertheless, regardless of the accepted principles of classification, a number of languages exhibit some structural similarities, regardless of their genetic relationship, and vice versa, being closely related, languages can detect differences at any level.


The TcZFPs are a family of small zinc finger proteins harboring WW domains or Proline rich motifs. In Trypanosoma brucei, ZFPs are involved during stage specific differentiation. TcZFPs interact with each other using the WW domain (ZFP2 and ZFP3) and the proline rich motif (ZFP1). The tcZFP1b member is exclusive to Trypanosoma cruzi and it is only expressed in trypomastigote stage. We used a tetracycline inducible vector to express ectopically tcZFP1b in the epimastigote stage. Upon induction of tcZFP1b, the parasites stopped dividing completely after five days. Visual inspection showed abnormal distorted-morphology (monster) cells with multiple flagella and increased DNA contents. We were interested in investigate global transcription changes occurred during the generation of this abnormal phenotype. Thus, we performed RNA-seq transcriptome profiling with a 454 pyrosequencer to analyze the global changes after ectopic expression of tcZFP1b. The total mRNAs sequenced from induced and non-induced control epimastigotes showed, after filtering the data, a set of 70 genes having equal or more than 3X fold change upregulation, while 35 genes showed equal or more than 3X fold downregulation. Interestingly, several trans-sialidase-like genes and pseudogenes were upregulated along with several genes in the categories of amino acid catabolism and carbohydrate metabolism. On the other hand, hypothetical proteins, fatty acid biosynthesis and mitochondrial functions dominated the group of downregulated genes. Our data showed that several mRNAs sharing related functions and pathways changed their levels in a concerted pattern resembling post-transcriptional regulons. We also found two different motifs in the 3′UTRs of the majority of mRNAs, one for upregulated and other for downregulated genes


The aim of this study was to identify genetic markers and morphological characters to distinguish Synodontis species, because certain species are extremely difficult to identify due to the taxonomically unreliable nature of prominent morphological features. Fixed allele mobility differences were obtained at eight of the 17 loci studied. Unique alleles were found at EST(B) in S. zambezensis and LGG(B) in S. nigromaculatus, whereas the outgroup species Parauchenoglanis ngamensis had private alleles at SDH(A), MPI(C) and LGG(A). The species boundaries were tested using controlled breeding studies between S. nigromaculatus and S. zambezensis. A preliminary DNA sequence (781 base pairs) analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was done. Synodontis zambezensis, S. nigromaculatus, S. njassae and S. petricola, all with convex humeral processes, were grouped in one clade. The species S. macrostoma, S. macrostigma, S. woosnami and S. leopardinus were grouped together, but with poor resolution. Morphological characters to identify southern African Synodontis species are listed. A more detailed study is required to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of some of the species studied.


This article examines the Full Range Leadership Development Theory (FRLD) by Sosoik and Jung (2018). The theory purports a framework that allows leaders to fully develop their leadership aptitude and competencies by understanding leaders' and followers' behaviors and characteristics brought to a contextual environment, time orientation, and various situations. This article examines the cultural and racial implications mitigating the FRLD and the Total Leadership System (TLS) that the system the theory operates in, as outlined by Sosik and Jung. Examples of culture remediation in South Africa, Australia, China, the U.S., and Indigenous populations provide examples to support cultural remediation. Current literature is silent regarding the cultural and racial implications on the theory providing originality to this article. The term cultural remediation introduced by the author is used to describe the overarching effect that culture and race impute on the success of the FRLD and additional challenges caused by the remediation and redaction of culture. This article provides an examination of the transformational leadership theory, the presumed end-state of the FRLD. It offers some counterproductive attributes of transformational leadership in addition to how FRLD fares against other leadership theories. This article's results yield that leaders must not underestimate culture and race remediation and redaction in the FRLD and TLS. Leaders must have the ability to navigate culture and race effectively because it influences every theory aspect.


We have synthesized and characterized a new type of emissive nanocomposite material consisting of a 3D inorganic–organic phosphazene-based polymer and CdSe quantum dots (QDs). The materials uniquely combine and inherit the polymers 3D character and the QD fluorescence properties. Furthermore, we have proven that benzidine molecules are suitable surface-modifiers of QDs resulting in fluorescent, nearly spherical QDs arranged into the unique nanowire-like structure. Moreover, the benzidine-to-CdSe energy transfer has been observed which can be further exploited. Characterization of the as-synthesized materials has been performed by using UV-visible and FT-IR absorption spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence measurements.


Recent advances in periodontics have altered our understanding of the disease process and thus its management. Its diagnosis is still not well defined, but treatment can arrest further breakdown. Surgery as a final solution in treatment is losing favour universally, particularly as research has proved that non-surgical treatment provides an equal result. The maintenance phase of the patient's care is a crucial factor in the long-term success of periodontal disease control. This paper provides a broad review of the major advances in periodontal philosophy and clinical management.


Based on a study of fourteen families in which a child had contracted paralytic poliomyelitis. Passage Through Crisis: Polio Victims and Their Families, first published in 1963, was widely praised for its penetrating--and, for its time, innovative--analyses of doctor-patient communications, and for its interpreta-tion of the meaning of physical disability in American society. In his new opening essay, Davis reflects on the enduring sources of this profound problem in human relations as well as on those changes in the culture of American health care that are helping to restructure doctor-patient relations along more open, less authoritarian lines. The emergence of patient self-help groups, the political militancy of the Gay community in regard to AIDS, and the fading of the early post-World War II naive faith in the humanitarian efficacy of science are some of the developments dealt with. A parallel discussion of the importation into medical sociology of such concepts as the reality-structuring power of professional discourse and of the meta-phoric significance of different diseases for different historical eras seeks to relate developments in the culture of health care to sociology's study. Passage Through Crisis retains for today's readers that essential quality that most engaged readers of a quarter century ago: its vivid and probing ethno-graphic account of the impact of serious illness on the family, the difficult processes of adjustment that ensue and, in these connections, the role played (and toll exacted) by American values.


American legal education is predicated upon the assumption that legal meaning is found within the opinions that accompany judicial rulings.  The history of the United States Supreme Court's desegregation decision suggests that reality is more complicated than the conventional wisdom suggests.  Indeed, the iconic status of  Brown v. Board of Education  (1954) was in significant measure a function of scholarly efforts to substitute a rationale – that the ruling was an attack upon white supremacy – for the Court's controversial social science-based opinion.  Subsequent to  Brown , scholars have contested the import of the ruling for constitutional controversies involving race.  Conservative scholars contend that a proper interpretation of this decision is one that is grounded in the color-blindness principle.  By contrast, liberal intellectuals attempt to square  Brown  with the racial subordination principle – that government may not reinforce the subordinate status of a racial group but may employ racial classifications to aid the victims of discrimination.  Certain considerations, however, reveal that the nature of this dispute is ideological rather than legal.  The group terms in which  Brown  characterized the psychological harms of segregation contravened the individualistic premises of the color-blindness principle, while the narrow context of the judicial process prevented the justices from acknowledging the complex notion of social reality that informs the racial subordination principle.  The upshot of these considerations is that the meaning of Supreme Court decisions is related to the efforts of scholars and political actors to use those decisions – especially iconic rulings – as powerful symbols in partisan battles.


The concept of quantum computing has inspired a whole new generation of scientists, including physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, to fundamentally change the landscape of information technology. With experimental demonstrations stretching back more than two decades, the quantum computing community has achieved a major milestone over the past few years: the ability to build systems that are stretching the limits of what can be classically simulated, and which enable cloud-based research for a wide range of scientists, thus increasing the pool of talent exploring early quantum systems. While such noisy near-term quantum computing systems fall far short of the requirements for fault-tolerant systems, they provide unique test beds for exploring the opportunities for quantum applications. Here, we highlight an IBM-specific perspective of the facets associated with these systems, including quantum software, cloud access, benchmarking quantum systems, error correction and mitigation in such systems, understanding the complexity of quantum circuits, and how early quantum applications can run on near-term quantum computers.


The role of genotype in the durability of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood against decay by brown rot fungus (Coniophora puteana (Schum. ex Fr.) Karst. (strain Bam EBW 15)) was studied in a laboratory test. The wood material was obtained from 32-year-old half-sib progenies of Scots pine. The increment core samples of sapwood and juvenile heartwood were decayed using a modification of the standardized EN 113 method. The mean densities of the sapwood and heartwood samples were 391 and 337 mg·cm–3, respectively, and the mean mass losses were 114 and 80 mg·cm–3, respectively. The additive genetic components were small compared with the total phenotypic variance, which resulted in small narrow-sense heritabilities in mass loss. The most marked feature was the wide phenotypic variation in mass loss observed in heartwood (range 199 mg·cm–3) compared with sapwood (range 72 mg·cm–3) samples. Low heritability, together with the relatively high coefficient of additive genetic variation (CVA) in heartwood mass l...


Introduction
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A (MEN2A) is characterized by the association of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) with pheochromocytoma and hyperparathyroidism. MEN2A represents 60% of MEN2 which is also subdivided into MEN2B (5%) and medullary thyroid cancer of the family (FMTC) which represents 35%. MEN2A is a rare hereditary disease, with autosomal dominant inheritance. Specific mutations of the RET protooncogene are associated with this disease.

Case Presentation and methods

The index case was an 18-year-old female patient with medullary thyroid cancer, without other clinical abnormalities. A blood sample taken from an EDTA tube was sent to the molecular biology laboratory accompanied by a request for genotypic analysis of the RET gene. A family pedigree was established and a consent form for DNA analysis was signed by the index case, his parents and his sister. DNA extraction was performed by the salt method. The genetic study concerned exon 11. It was carried out by amplification of the exon by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by sequencing on ABI 3130 Applied Biosystems®. After finding the mutation in the index case; this mutation has been searched in relatives, including father, mother and sister.

Results and Discussion

The index case carried a mutation in exon 11 of the RET protooncogene. This mutation causes the replacement of cysteine at codon 634 with an arginine (C634R). The apparently healthy father; mother and only sister did not carry the mutation. C634R mutation has been described and found specifically in cases of MEN2A. This is why; the search for a pheochromocytoma should be carried out as well as a biological and medical monitoring. Only the clinically affected patient is a carrier of the RET gene mutation. Neither the father, the mother, nor the sister are carriers of it. This means that this C634R mutation is de novo.

Conclusion

Our work found a de novo mutation specific to MEN2A, which allows us to reassure parents and to provide a clinical and biological care and genetic counseling for the index case. The genetic study will be done only for his children.


The authors examine how the valuation multiples assigned to the equity of Canadian-listed firms compare with the equity of comparable firms listed in the United States. They find that Canadian-listed firms trade at a discount to U.S.-listed firms across a range of valuation measures. Differences in accounting do not explain this discount, based on a comparison of Canadian interlisted firms that report under both Canadian and U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. This discount exists despite Canadian-listed firms having a lower cost of equity and higher profitability than comparable U.S-listed firms. Consistent with theory, part of the differences in valuation are explained by company-specific factors, such as industry, firm size, cost of equity, or profitability. The authors also find that characteristics of the stock market where the share is listed affect valuation, such as secondary market liquidity and the relative performance of the overall equity market. They find that a country discount persists after controlling for these company-specific and market-specific factors, which suggests that Canadian and U.S. financial markets remain segmented.


The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is an important policy response to the current deep recession. State and local governments have suffered significant declines in their revenues and, for states in particular, a significant increase in the demand for services, particularly Medicaid funding, unemployment compensation, and welfare spending. ARRA will provide over $200 billion in fiscal relief to state and local governments over three years. The hope is that this relief will encourage state spending and discourage state tax increases, thereby adding to national aggregate demand. This paper uses the U.S. experience of prior changes in federal aid to examine the likely consequences of this stimulus package for state unemployment rates, state net migration, state employment, and aggregate GDP. In an SVAR analysis we explicitly incorporate federal transfers to the state and local sector as part of federal fiscal policies. We find the response of GDP to federal aid shocks to be very small over the first two years after the receipt of aid. From a panel analysis of state budgetary behavior, we find that a potential reason for the weak response of GDP to aid is the propensity of state governments to save most of their new assistance. They do so by replenishing their rainy day funds and by paying down their long-term debt positions. Such behaviors are potentially rational responses to debt-financed temporary assistance.


This study is aimed to assess the level of knowledge and identify the level of practice of Kangaroo care among mothers with preterm and low birth weight babies in health facilities in Calabar Metropolis. The study was a quantitative, descriptive survey design study. Four objectives and four corresponding research questions guided the study. A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect information and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 24 was used to analyse the data. Demographic data revealed that 30.5% of the respondents were between 18 – 30years, 53.4% were between 31 – 40years, 10% were between 41 – 50years while 6.1% were between 50years and above, 16% had no formal education, 10.8% had primary school education, 20% had secondary school education while 53.2% had tertiary education. The result of the study revealed that 72.5% of the total respondents has little or no knowledge of Kangaroo mother care while only 27.5% has knowledge of Kangaroo mother care, 24.1% of the respondents had practiced Kangaroo mother care while 75.9% had not practiced Kangaroo mother care, lack of assistance from husband and family member in home chores is part of the factors that limited the practice of Kangaroo mother care among women with preterm and low birth weight babies in health facilities and that assistance from husband and family member in home chores enabled them practice Kangaroo mother care. The study concludes that the level of knowledge and practice is low among women in health facilities in Calabar Metropolis. Therefore, the study recommends that training and education about Kangaroo Mother Care practice should be carried out on a regular basis.


A fiber-coupled transmission spectroscopy setup using a pulsed external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL, 1200-900 cm−1 ) has been developed and demonstrated for measurements of aqueous solutions. The system has been characterised with regard to the laser noise and optimal optical pathlength. Solutions with glucose were used to further test the setup, and glucose concentrations down to physiologically relevant levels (0-600 mg/dl) were investigated. Albumin, lactate, urea, and fructose in various concentrations were added as interfering substances as their absorption bands overlap with those of glucose, and because they may be of interest in a clinical setting. Analyte concentrations were predicted using partial least-squares (PLS) regression, and the root-mean-square error of cross-validation for glucose was 10.7 mg/dl. The advantages of using a convolutional neural network (CNN) for regression analysis in comparison to the PLS regression were also shown. The application of a CNN gave an improved prediction error (8.3 mg/dl), and was used to identify important spectral regions. These results are comparable to state-of-the-art enzymatic glucose sensors, and are encouraging for further research on optics-based glucose sensors.


The measuring af previous of firm's performances is one of the best ways for all parties that are interesting to the firm to predict its performance. The case of this study is Board Effectiveness and ownership structure, in point of view corporate governance, of Islamic Banks in Indonesia. This research use book value approach to measure firm's performance that is influenced by board composition, where board composition of the firms consist of number of board of commissioners, independent commissioners, ond differences between majority and non majority shareholders. Firm's performance is represented by Return on Asset (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), BOPO, and Net Interest Margin (NIM). This research is designed as descriptive analysis for sample 2004 - 2007. The analysis output validity tested by using coefficient of correlation and ANOVA model. The result of the analysis: 1) The number of board commissioners have significant influence to the Islamic BAnk's performance toward ROA, ROE and BOPO, except in NIM indicators 2) Proportion of Independent Commissioners have significant influence towards ROA, ROE, BOPO, except NIM indicators, 3) There is significant differences between majority shareholders toward non-majority shareholders towards ROA, ROE, except in BOPO and NIM indicators. Keywords: Corporate Governance, board efectiveness, independent commissioners, board size, Islamic Banking


Soft power is the power to persuade whereby one actor in a non-coercive manner convinces another to want the same things he/she wants. Sport can be used as tool of soft power both internationally and domestically. Peace-building and nation-building can be achieved through four mechanisms of sport diplomacy and politics: image-building; building a platform for dialogue; trust-building; and reconciliation, integration and anti-racism. These mechanisms are not deterministically controllable and can have unintended consequences. On the one hand, sporting events can be used as a means of building trust between adversaries. On the other, the hostilities between peoples can be mirrored on playing fields. This article examines the intended and unintended consequences of each mechanism. It also examines the role of confounding economic factors. Each article comprising this Special Issue explores a different mechanism of sport politics and public diplomacy.


Congenital heart disease (CHD) groups a number of structural malformations of the heart and associated blood vessels present at birth. CHD is the most common birth defect, arise from defective cardiogenesis, and can be due to genetic and/or environmental factors that affect cellular processes such as proliferation during heart formation. The highly conserved serine-threonine kinase, CK2α, has been implicated in proliferative processes, including cancer, and it is a target of environmental toxins. To test whether CK2α plays a role in cardiogenesis, we used a CK2α deficient mouse. CK2α-/- mice die around embryonic day (E)11 and showed dysmorphic outflow tracts (OFT), hypoplastic right ventricles (RV) and poorly developed ventricular trabeculations. These defects, the probable cause of the lethality, could be due to deficient proliferation. Thus, we tested whether reduced CK2α expression leads to proliferative signal defects during cardiogenesis. We used three or more pairs of somite-matched wild-type and CK2α-/- embryos for the analysis of proteins by immunofluorescence and immunoblot, and of transcript expression by RT-qPCR and in situ hybridization. At E9.5 and E10.5, the number of Isl1+ cells in the OFT and the levels of Isl1 transcript in the heart of CK2α-/- embryos was no different from wild-type. These data suggest that the mechanism underlying the OFT and RV defects is different from progenitor incorporation defects. CK2α deficient hearts expressed pan-cardiac gene and protein markers normally at E9.5 and E10.5; and apoptosis was not affected, indicating that the heart malformations may be due to proliferative defects. Indeed, mitotic rates were decreased throughout the heart in CK2α mutants compared to wild-type embryos at E9.5 and E10.5; but a mitotic defect was not apparent at E8.5. The observed decrease in proliferation correlated with decreased expression of cardiac proliferative markers such as n-myc and decrease in proliferative signal pathways in the heart tube. In conclusion, these data show that, from E9.5 on, CK2α is necessary for proliferation and proliferative signal pathway activation in the heart tube; and that cellular mechanisms other than progenitor incorporation may play a key role in OFT and RV defects.


Introduction. COVID-19 infection is common in the pediatric population, presenting a variety of respiratory manifestations and complications.
Material and methods. The study included 64 children from the COVID-19 section, IMSP IMC, with a mean age of 2,04±0,4 years (variations 1 day-17 years), divided into 5 age groups: 0-1 month, 1-12 months, 1-3 years, 3-7 years, >7 years. The methodology of the study is expected to assess the significance of clinical manifestations in the COVID-19 infection episode.
Results. With 21 cases, this study discovered a higher frequency of the disease in infants. The nosological expression of the infection was dominated by pneumonia and unique cases of infection in four children with upper respiratory infections. Every evolution was presented by 11 children, the moderate form being the dominant one. An almost constant sign in the children in the study was a febrile syndrome, which in 31 cases was > 38,0oC. Every second child showed catarrhal respiratory signs, cough, and cyanosis in 66,1% of the children, chest circulation in 32,1% of the cases, wheezing in 6. COVID-19 infection in hospitalized children resulted in respiratory complications in 81,3% of cases and toxic infections – 23,4%.
Conclusions. COVID-19 infection in hospitalized children occurs mainly with pneumonia and only in unique cases of nasopharyngitis, with the constant presence of catarrhal respiratory signs, dyspnea, and fever, but also a susceptibility to develop severe forms and complications.


The term amyloidosis refers to a group of disorders in which protein fibrils accumulate in certain organs, disrupt their tissue architecture, and impair the function of the effected organ. The clinical manifestations and prognosis vary widely depending on the specific type of the affected protein. Immunoglobulin light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is the most common form of systemic amyloidosis, characterized by deposition of a misfolded monoclonal light-chain that is secreted from a plasma cell clone. Demonstrating amyloid deposits in a tissue biopsy stained with Congo red is mandatory for the diagnosis. Novel agents (proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, monoclonal antibodies, venetoclax) and autologous stem cell transplantation, used for eliminating the underlying plasma cell clone, have improved the outcome for low- and intermediate-risk patients, but the prognosis for high-risk patients is still grave. Randomized studies evaluating antibodies that target the amyloid deposits (PRONTO, VITAL) were recently stopped due to futility and currently there is an intensive search for novel treatment approaches to AL amyloidosis. Early diagnosis is of paramount importance for effective treatment and prognosis, due to the progressive nature of this disease.


Background The human intestinal microbiota contains a vast community of microorganisms increasingly studied using high-throughput DNA sequencing. Standardized protocols for storage and DNA extraction from fecal samples have been established mostly for bacterial microbiota analysis. Here, we investigated the impact of storage and DNA extraction on bacterial and fungal community structures detected concomitantly. Methods Fecal samples from healthy adults were stored at -80°C as such or diluted in RNAlater® and subjected to 2 extraction protocols with mechanical lysis: the Powersoil® MoBio kit or the International Human Microbiota Standard (IHMS) Protocol Q. Libraries of the 12 samples targeting the V3-V4 16S and the ITS1 regions were prepared using Metabiote® (Genoscreen) and sequenced on GS-FLX-454. Sequencing data were analysed using SHAMAN (http://shaman.pasteur.fr/). The bacterial and fungal microbiota were compared in terms of diversity and relative abundance. Results We obtained 171869 and 199089 quality-controlled reads for 16S and ITS, respectively. All 16S reads were assigned to 41 bacterial genera; only 52% of ITS reads were assigned to 40 fungal genera/section. Rarefaction curves were satisfactory in 3/3 and 2/3 subjects for 16S and ITS, respectively. PCoA showed important inter-individual variability of intestinal microbiota largely overweighing the effect of storage or extraction. Storage in RNAlater® impacted (downward trend) the relative abundances of 7/41 bacterial and 6/40 fungal taxa, while extraction impacted randomly 18/41 bacterial taxa and 1/40 fungal taxon. Conclusion Our results showed that RNAlater® moderately impacts bacterial or fungal community structures, while extraction significantly influences the bacterial composition. For combined bacterial and fungal intestinal microbiota analysis, immediate sample freezing should be preferred when feasible, but storage in RNAlater® remains an option under unfavourable conditions or for concomitant metatranscriptomic analysis; and extraction should rely on protocols validated for bacterial analysis, such as IHMS Protocol Q, and including a powerful mechanical lysis, essential for fungal extraction.


This research is aimed at radiocarbon dating organic inclusions and lime-binder powders of mortar layers of mosaic pavements in four churches of arguable archaeological date located in northern Jordan. One mortar sample from each mosaic pavement of each church was collected, examined by thin section microscopy, and then physically pretreated by gentle crushing and dry sieving to collect lime-binder powders of different grain sizes. Charcoal samples uncovered from three samples and the CO2 gases, collected by hydrochloric acid (HCl) hydrolysis of the powders, were 14C dated using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Four powders of 63–45 μm from the four samples and two powders of 45–38 μm from two samples were analyzed in order to get more precise dates and examine previous proposed models for the interpretation of the results. 14C determinations showed agreement between charcoal ages and archaeological data, while the fine lime-binder's powders, especially from the mosaic's bedding layer, produced more precise dates. Results suggest that 14C date profiles produced by HCl hydrolysis of the lime-binder powders can be clearly interpreted by the existing models.


INTRODUCTION
Analysing variance from care pathways in situations when adverse health outcomes have occurred may identify missed opportunities for healthcare improvement.

METHODS
We developed a computational model for contrasting observed with expected care in pathway searches of coded electronic health records (EHRs). The model was applied in Salford, UK, looking at blood pressure (BP) control and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. BP was summarised as the integral of serial measurements.

RESULTS
A missed opportunities mapping (MOM) model consisting of a collection of disease Events and pathophysiologic States was used to articulate all CVD scenarios conceived. In 3718 patients suffering CVD events in Salford (2007-2012), 1186 (32%) had suboptimal BP control. This missed opportunity detection rose to 36% using the integral instead of the most recent BP record.

CONCLUSIONS
MOM provides a useful, computable model for encoding care pathways and searching EHRs to detect variations from expected care. Further research is needed in other disease areas. The indications however, are that this model could be used to embed healthcare quality improvement at both patient and population levels.


In historical sources the Karelians appear in the 12th century although archaeological excavations suggest that the amalgamation of groups of Baltic Finns, centered on the Karelian Isthmus, that came together from east and west respectively to form them originated in the late Iron Age and early Viking Age. Accordingly they were from the start recipients of impulses from both east and west, a phenomenon that continued throughout the medieval period and ended with their physical division between what became a politico-religious division of Europe between east and west, lasting until today. The article concentrates on the role played by the landscape, situated on an important passageway of international trade and close to two growing neighbouring powers, Sweden and Novgorod, that profited from this trade route but at the same time became ever more opposed to one another as result of the crusading movement of the Latin Church.


The production of Cu-Zn from volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits in the eastern Pontides began in the early 1900s, with the exploitation of high-grade ores scattered across the district. The district still possesses economically important blind VMS and associated sulfide deposits. Careful descriptive documentation of the typical features of these VMS ores illustrated the geological characteristics that are important in identifying ore localities and can be used to define exploration targets. The eastern Pontide VMS deposits are examples of volcanic-hosted massive sulfide deposits that exhibit many of the characteristics typical of bimodal-felsic- type VMS mineralization. Nearly all known VMS deposits in the region are hosted by the Kızılkaya Formation, which is characterized by Late Cretaceous dacitic/rhyolitic volcanic rocks that are typically located at the top contact of the dacitic/rhyolitic pile or within the lower part of the overlying polymodal sequence containing various proportions of volcanic and sedimentary facies. Most VMS deposits are composed of a mound of high-grade massive sulfides formed above a zone of lower-grade stringer veins and disseminated mineralization. The dominant sulfide minerals in most deposits are pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. Au also occurs in some deposits. The hydrothermal ore facies are diagnostic of subaqueous emplacement of the Pontide massive sulfide deposits that were deposited on the Cretaceous ocean floor. The immediate host lithologies associated with VMS mineralization have typically experienced intense and widespread alteration. The trace element geochemical signatures of the host rocks indicated that the Pontide VMS deposits likely formed in an extensional tectonic regime during subduction. Major lineaments and circular structures exerted fundamental controls on the locations of the VMS deposits in the eastern Pontide district. Age determinations indicated that almost all of the deposits in this region formed in a restricted time interval between ca. 91.1 and 82 Ma. The sulfur isotope compositions of the ore-forming fluids were consistent with those of fluids derived from modified seawater.


Some electrocardiographic variables, including the degree of maximal ST-segment depression (STD), may not necessarily indicate the severity of exercise-induced myocardial ischemia. The present study examined whether maximal STD correlates with the severity and extent of exercise-induced myocardial ischemia, as assessed by thallium-201 (201Tl) imaging, and which parameter of exercise testing reflects scintigraphic severity and extent in 270 patients who had a 1 mm or greater horizontal or down-sloping STD on exercise 201Tl imaging. The scintigraphic severity and extent of exercise-induced ischemia was assessed and correlated with maximal STD, number of positive leads, workload, peak heart rate, peak systolic blood pressure (SBP), rate-pressure product, chest pain and the Duke treadmill score. Most of the scintigraphic markers of the severity and extent of ischemia had significant but weak correlation with all of those parameters. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that peak SBP and the Duke treadmill score (chest pain in only simple variables model) correlated independently with scintigraphic severity and extent of ischemia. Furthermore, most of the patients with a peak SBP of 200 mmHg or more had milder and less extensive ischemia. In patients with exercise-induced STD, the scintigraphic severity and extent of ischemia may be estimated by peak SBP and the Duke treadmill score.


To improve the disease resistance of adapted rice genotypes, fourteen rice genotypes selected from previous field screening and four controls (two resistant and two susceptible) were screened in greenhouse trials against ten Beninese and four East African pathogenic isolates at rice seedling and tillering stages. Results show that across isolates, no significant difference was observed between disease severity on tested genotypes at both growth stages while a significant difference at P ˂0.05 was observed between disease severity on tested genotypes and susceptible controls. In fact, among tested genotypes, twelve previously resistant under field conditions were also resistant under greenhouse conditions, and more resistant ones were OU244, ARICA 5, IRAT 104, and PiN°4. In addition, among all tested genotypes that were resistant, two (OU244 and RIL249 MORO) with R genes, Piz and Pi5t , were particularly promising. Besides, at the seedling stage and across isolates, genotype OU244 and IRBLZ-Fu harboring the same R-gene Piz displayed resistance and susceptibility reactions and the same results were observed between genotypes RIL249 MORO and IRBL5-M harboring the same R gene Pi5t but only with Beninese isolates. Also, an incompatibility reaction was observed between susceptible controls and some Beninese isolates. In conclusion, screening for resistance at the rice tillering stage appears a suitable protocol for the reliable selection of rice breeding material for improved rice production in Africa. Also, results lead to first selecting rice genotype OU244 as the most stable and promising that could be used for rice improvement against rice blast in Africa; and to further initiate identification of R gene (s) involved in the resistance of the tested genotypes and avirulence (Avr) genes in the isolates used in the current study.


The serial subtraction of seven beginning with the number 100 is a conventional part of mental status evaluation of patients. My observations of its administration by medical students and residents clearly indicates they do not administer it as originally described, eg, not done as a timed test, nor do they know how to interpret the results obtained. Hayman 1 proposed the test in 1942 as a "two minute clinical test for measurement of intellectual impairment in psychiatric disorders," stating the following: The test is administered orally, the subject being asked to take 7 away from 100, to take 7 away from the answer obtained, and so on. The subjects are placed as much at ease as possible and encouragement is freely given, but no assistance. Each subtraction is considered as a unit and calculations are made on the basis of the 14 possible correct subtractions, that is 93-86-79-72-65-58-51-44-37-30-23-16-9-2. Answers more


The practice of medical and surgical measures in the management of urological ailments prevailed in ancient India from the Vedic era around 3000 BC. Subsequently in the Samhita period, the two stalwarts - Charaka in medicine and Susruta in surgery elevated the art of medicine in India to unprecedented heights. Their elaboration of the etiopathological hypothesis and the medical and surgical treatments of various urological disorders of unparalleled ingenuity still remain valid to some extent in our contemporary understanding. The new generation of accomplished Indian urologists should humbly venerate the legacy of the illustrious pioneers in urology of our motherland.


In this paper, we address the challenges faced in the fabrication process of nanostructured fiber. We show that a slight nonuniformity of holes of the preform results in a difference in the added pressure in the holes of the fiber during the fabrication process. It may not be a notable problem for the microstructured fiber, but it can result in serious deformation or even collapse for nanostructured fiber. By using a model, we propose a distortion factor that indicates the distortion degree of the geometry of fiber compared with the geometry of preform. The hole size of preform is the most important variable to the distortion factor. A large hole size in the preform is of great significance in decreasing the distortion. We also show that when the temperature is increased, the surface tension is decreased, but the viscosity is decreased much more quickly, so the distortion becomes severe. For minimum distortion in the nanostructured fibers we demonstrate, preforms with comparatively large and uniform inner holes are fabricated by inflating with inert gas. By using such preforms, we fabricate hexagonal core and triangular core nanostructured fibers with the smallest size recorded. Supercontinuum generation from the nanostructured fiber is demonstrated. In this paper, the glass we use for the demonstration is a soft glass. By using polymer or silica glass, which is more suitable for nanostructure fabrication, and by controlling the uniformity of holes in the original cane more accurately, various nanostructured fibers with even smaller size and more complex structure, or nanowire array, should be able to be fabricated by the inflation method.


Automobile gasoline demand can be expressed as a multiplicative function of fuel efficiency, mileage per car and car ownership. This implies a linear relationship between the price elasticity of total fuel demand and the price elasticities of fuel efficiency, mileage per car and car ownership. In this meta-analytical study we aim to investigate and explain the variation in empirical estimates of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. A methodological novelty is that we use the linear relationship between the elasticities to develop a meta-analytical estimation approach based on a system of equations. This approach enables us to combine observations of different elasticities and thus increase our sample size. Furthermore it allows for a more detailed interpretation of our meta-regression results. The empirical results of the study demonstrate that the system of equations approach leads to more precise results (i.e., lower standard errors) than a standard! meta-analytical approach. We find that, with a mean price elasticity of -0.53, the demand for gasoline is not very price sensitive. The impact a change in the gasoline price on demand is mainly driven by a response in fuel efficiency and car ownership and to a lesser degree by changes in the mileage per car. Furthermore, we find that study characteristics relating to the geographic area studied, the year of the study, the type of data used, the time horizon and the functional specification of the demand equation have a significant impact on the estimated value of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. See 'A meta-analysis of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. A SUR approach' in Energy Economics (2008). Volume 30, pages 2105-2122.


N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a widely used antioxidant with therapeutic potential. However, the cancer-promoting effect of NAC observed in some preclinical studies has raised concerns regarding its clinical use. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can mediate signaling that results in both cancer-promoting and cancer-suppressing effects. The beneficial effect of NAC may depend on whether the type of cancer relies on ROS signaling for its survival and metastasis. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has aggressive phenotypes and is currently treated with standard chemotherapy as the main systemic treatment option. Particularly, basal-like TNBC cells characterized by inactivated BRCA1 and mutated TP53 produce high ROS levels and rely on ROS signaling for their survival and malignant progression. In addition, the high ROS levels in TNBC cells can mediate the interplay between cancer cells and the tissue microenvironment (TME) to trigger the recruitment and conversion of stromal cells and induce hypoxic responses, thus leading to the creation of cancer-supportive TMEs and increased cancer aggressiveness. However, NAC treatment effectively reduces the ROS production and ROS-mediated signaling that contribute to cell survival, metastasis, and drug resistance in TNBC cells. Therefore, the inclusion of NAC in standard chemotherapy could probably provide additional benefits for TNBC patients.


Understanding and measuring functional connectivity for animals with habitats that have been fragmented by human activity requires that the biology and movement of the species be considered. We used least cost paths in GIS to test hypotheses regarding how different species of longhorned beetles likely connect habitats with dispersal. We predicted that there would be differences in the functional connectivity of landscapes depending on species larval niche breadth, adult feeding habits, and the potential for use of non-forest habitats. For the species with very specialized larvae, we developed a classification tree to determine areas likely to contain the appropriate species of host tree. Connectivity calculated using least cost paths did not out-perform Euclidean distances for three generalist beetles. This was also the case for the specialist beetle species when all forest was considered habitat. However, when we delineated habitat based on areas likely to support the host tree the functional connectivity incorporating least cost paths was a much better predictor than that using Euclidean distances. Generalists may respond to fragmented habitat in a binary habitat-matrix way while more specialized species may respond to a mosaic. These trends are obscured if habitat is defined by human perceptions rather than species biology.


This article presents an algorithm for decentralized (in-network) data mining of the movement pattern flock among mobile geosensor nodes. The algorithm DDIG (Deferred Decentralized Information Grazing) allows roaming sensor nodes to 'graze' over time more information than they could access through their spatially limited perception range alone. The algorithm requires an intrinsic temporal deferral for pattern mining, as sensor nodes must be enabled to collect, memorize, exchange, and integrate their own and their neighbors' most current movement history before reasoning about patterns. A first set of experiments with trajectories of simulated agents showed that the algorithm accuracy increases with growing deferral. A second set of experiments with trajectories of actual tracked livestock reveals some of the shortcomings of the conceptual flocking model underlying DDIG in the context of a smart farming application. Finally, the experiments underline the general conclusion that decentralization in spatial computing can result in imperfect, yet useful knowledge.


Two children with congenital chronic relapsing thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) have episodes every 3 weeks. These relapses can be prevented by the infusion of normal fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) without concurrent plasmapheresis. We conducted a study to determine whether the exposure of normal plasma to agents that inactivate human immunodeficiency virus and other viruses destroys the component necessary for the effective treatment of this type of TTP that requires only plasma infusion to prevent or reverse relapses. Clinical responsiveness and von Willebrand factor (vWF)-mediated fluid shear stress-induced platelet aggregation were evaluated before and after the infusion of 10 mL/kg FFP or solvent [tri(n-butyl)phosphate]/detergent (Triton X-100)-treated plasma (S/D plasma). Platelet aggregation at shear stresses of 90 to 180 dyne/cm2 (similar to those in the partially occluded microcirculation) imposed for 30 seconds was excessive using the citrated platelet-rich plasma of both patients, and was associated with the presence of unusually large vWF forms in patient platelet-poor plasma. Infusion with either FFP or S/D plasma at 3-week intervals caused the platelet count to increase to (or above) normal within 1 week (on 12 of 12 occasions); the disappearance or diminution of unusually large vWF forms within 1 hour (on 6 of 10 occasions studied); and the reversal within 1 to 4 hours of excessive shear-induced platelet aggregation (on 8 of 9 occasions studied). We conclude that a component in normal plasma resistant to S/D treatment is responsible for preventing thrombocytopenia and TTP episodes, and for controlling excessive shear-induced aggregation in these patients. Our results suggest that excessive in vivo platelet aggregation in chronic relapsing TTP and excessive in vitro vWF-mediated shear-induced aggregation may be similar phenomena.


The increased digitalisation of society and recent developments in AI is laying the ground for surveillance capabilities of a magnitude we have not seen before. Surveillance can be conducted by several different actors in society, this project focuses on the Swedish police currently using a large ensemble of surveillance technologies. Earlier this year, significant legislative changes governing the police authorities use of digital surveillance were enacted. These changes mean that the police now have been given an extended mandate to use digital surveillance as part of their professional practice, which places demands on balanced decisions and informed responsibility. On the one hand, the police have an interest to use digital surveillance to increase efficiency and security in society; on the other hand, the police must balance their interests with citizen's so-called integrity-interests and right to privacy. This study will therefore examine to what extent the Swedish Police Authority pay attention to questions such as integrity and privacy when introducing digital surveillance. The study is guided by the following questions: (i) What opportunities can be related to the implementation and use of digital surveillance in police work? (ii) What kind of challenges do the increasing use of digital surveillance create between organisational governance, police officers' work practice, and the integrity of citizens - and how do the police tackle these challenges? Theoretically, we draw on the established research fields on surveillance and privacy and empirically this study is designed as a qualitative study of the Swedish Police as our main case.


This paper presents a method for reducing the effort of transcribing user utterances to develop language models for conversational speech recognition when a small number of transcribed and a large number of untranscribed utterances are available. The recognition hypotheses for untranscribed utterances are classified according to their confidence scores such that hypotheses with high confidence are used to enhance language model training. The utterances that receive low confidence can be scheduled to be manually transcribed first to improve the language model. The results of experiments using automatic transcription of the untranscribed user utterances show the proposed methods are effective in achieving improvements in recognition accuracy while reducing the effort required from manual transcription.


The paper investigates the meaning of, and the role played by equity in the continental European legal tradition. In this perspective, the article outlines the historical origins of the Western notion of equity in the Greek and Roman world, and examines how equity became a core instrument of law-making in the age of ius commune. Through the survey of French, German, and Italian law, the paper then clarifies the place of equity in the private law codes. In particular, this comparative analysis shows that, in spite of the wave of legal positivism affecting European legal thought in the XIXth-XXth centuries, equity was, and still is a powerful technical tool in the hands of jurists to instill flexibility into legal rules when the circumstances of the case so require.


will allow you to continue to perform these operations no less carefully, but more quickly. And the fatigue of the surgical team is an important factor in the safety of the workflow, which can be improved through robotic surgery


This article examines the impact that state rate regulatory programs have had on the financial position of hospitals. The findings indicate that state rate regulatory programs have had a negative influence on hospital financial position. State rate regulatory programs, as well as Medicare with its system of prospectively determined prices, should consider the possible impact of their decisions on hospital financial viability. Cost control should not be the only concern in public policy decisions of this type.


This paper is a case study that describes the methods used by a radiology practice in Southern California to address the specific security requirements for providing teleradiology service to multiple hospitals and clinics. The context of the case study revolves around the organization's goal to achieve maximum efficiency in the usage of human capital for generating radiology reports while radiologists are geographically scattered across numerous locations. As background, this paper starts by describing how a radiology practice transitioned from the conventional transcription-based reporting method to one that allows the radiologists to create reports directly through the use of a hybrid speech recognition and structured reporting system. With HIPAA, healthcare providers are concerned about securing their patients' health data. Healthcare providers are especially concerned when their patient health data are being stored outside their premise. The security challenges for this radiology practice stem from an environment where radiologists are doing interpretation from disperse locations and each radiologist can interpret for any of the healthcare providers under contract. The "efficient use human capital" by this radiology practice, hinges on how well they can mitigate the security concerns of the healthcare providers.


Three different extraction techniques were used to determine the suitability and efficiency of the roselle extraction techniques for the development of roselle concentrate. These extraction techniques were 1) hot water extraction (HWE), 2) puree extraction (PE) and 3) osmotic extraction (OE). Data from preliminary comparative studies suggested that the osmotic solution (OS) from the OE technique can be used for the development of roselle
concentrate as it has a significantly (p<0.05) higher anthocyanin content, Dmalic and L-malic acid with the value of 100.00 ± 0.43 mg/L as expressed in delphinidin-3-glucoside, 4043.60 ± 11.17 and 2946.90 ± 16.69 (ppm/L);
respectively, compared to HWE and PE. Further studies were conducted using response surface methodology (RSM) in order to determine the optimal processing parameters of the OE technique. The parameters affecting the roselle extraction process were optimized for the color of the roselle
concentrate (red purplish), a taste with minimum sharpness and a high anthocyanin content. A central composite design (CCD) with a quadratic model consisted of three independent variables: extraction time, osmotic solution concentration and extraction temperature. The response variables were used to determine the Hunter lab color index – L*, a*, b*, acidity percentage, total anthocyanin content, color density, color degradation index and sensory attributes, which included the color, grassy (odor), fruity (taste),
sharpness (taste) and overall acceptability of all of the roselle concentrates and juices. A total of 20 different combinations (including six replicates of the center point each with coded value 0) were chosen at random according to a Central Composite Design (CCD) configuration for three factors. The results suggested that for the production of red to purple color of roselle concentrate, the extraction should be carried under the following conditions: 70 °C (extraction temperature), 205 minutes (extraction time) and 62.5 °Brix of sucrose solution (as a medium of extraction). Meanwhile, the storage temperature yielded significant (p<0.05) negative effects on the total quality of the roselle concentrate when compared to the duration of storage. High temperatures during storage may cause dramatic changes in anthocyanin content and the color of the osmotic solution due to the degradation of anthocyanins. Roselle concentrate stored for 8 weeks at 5 °C retains up to 74.8% of its total anthocyanin content (compared to the initial value; 4334.15 mg/L); these values are significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of roselle
concentrate that were stored at 25 °C and 45 °C (31.1% and 6.5% of its initial anthocyanin content at the end of storage, respectively). This research shows that the osmotic solution, which is normally not reused and is considered as industrial waste in the fruit osmotic dehydration (OD) process, exhibits the highest amount of total anthocyanin (p<0.05). The osmotic solution may be
used as an ingredient as a healthy roselle concentrate. Proper storage at low temperature can ensure its appearance and taste qualities, and the functional properties of the concentrate will be stabilized, which will allow roselle juice to be accepted as a functional drink.


This paper identifies and addresses some of the complex and emerging ethical aspects of elearning.

At a time when developing technologies offer increasing opportunities for creative applications to learning, ethical aspects merit attention. The author is an experienced teacher of ethics in health and social care at university level. She has also successfully developed blended learning for social work students.

The paper discusses a range of ethical issues in connection with newer modes of teaching and learning. These include resourcing, protection from harm, intent/motivation in implementing elearning, and the efficacy of new technology in education.

Framing pedagogical ethical dilemmas in deontological and consequentialist terms, the author argues that traditional ethical theory does not offer tools to consider these adequately, let alone resolve them.

The paper argues that searching questions should be asked about the ethical implications of elearning to ensure that new technologies benefit students.


Background: There is need to understand the nature of sports-related traumatic injuries to the oro-facial region in an environment due to increasing popularity of sports. Objective: To report the prevalence, characteristics, treatment approach and outcome of mandibular fractures sustained through sports. Patients and Methods: This is a descriptive clinical study that evaluated mandibular fractures sustained during sports over 10 years. The data analyzed were age, sex, occupation, mechanism of injury, site, concomitant injuries, and monthly/yearly distribution of patients, treatment and complications. Results: The prevalence of sports related mandibular fractures over the 10 year period was 72 (7.4%) patients who had 79 (5.7%) different fractures. This prevalence was optimum in the month of July and in the year, 2012. The male to female ratio was 11:1. Their ages ranged from 16-31 years but majority (76.4%) were between 20 to 27 years (P=0.001). The frequency of patients was less in the first five years (43.1%) when compared with the subsequent five years (56.9%) of the ten-year study period (P=0.03). Football related injuries in patients (87.5%, P=0.000) were the most common cause. Concomitant injuries occurred in 23 (32.0%) subjects, and these were mostly cerebral concussion (n=13, 18.1%). The methods of treatment utilized to manage the patients were conservative (n=10, 13.9%) and closed reduction (n=62, 86.1%). Limitation of mouth opening was complication in 3 (4.2%) patients treated by inter-maxillary fixation and these were corrected during follow-up. Conclusion: Although the treatment outcome was good, this study has shown an increasing trend in the occurrence of mandibular fractures.


A full-term newborn developed oliguric renal failure at 24 hr of life, which persisted for several days. Her mother ingested therapeutic doses of nimesulide, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitor) drug, during the last 2 weeks of pregnancy. She was found at delivery to have developed oligohydramnion, esophagitis, and a bleeding peptic ulcer. The infant's fractional excretion of sodium was very low (0.5%) pointing for a severe vasoconstrictive mechanism involved. Renal sonogram showed hyperechogenic medullary papillae, which resolved during convalescence. This case emphasizes the importance of renal prostagandins in the control of vascular tone and sodium homeostasis. This is the first report of an adverse effect of fetal renal circulation by maternal ingestion of nimesulide.


INTRODUCTION
Sternal fractures in the context of high velocity trauma are commonly referred to as impact injuries. In general, these are considered to be treated conservatively. In the literature, there are only a few studies and a small number of cases. We know that not only high velocity accidents cause combined trauma of sternum and spine, but also low velocity traumas in the elderly are relatively common. How should such combinations of injuries be treated?

MATERIAL AND METHOD
Based on 11 patients from the years 2005 to 2013 with different combinations of sternal and spinal injuries, we distinguish the therapeutic approach of ventral, dorsal or combined stabilisation, with the help of a four-column classification of these injuries.

RESULTS
We classify sternovertebral injury into 4 types. First the descendant type with an injury from C I to C VII and sternum, second the horizontal type (T I to T XII and sternum), third the ascendant type (L I to L V and sternum) and fourth a dissociative type. The recommended therapy of the descendant type is dorsoventral stabilisation of the spinal column plus stabilisation of the sternum. The horizontal type should be treated with dorsal stabilisation of the spine and stabilisation of the sternum. The ascendant type should be supplied with dorsoventral stabilisation of the spinal column and conservative therapy of the sternum. In case of the dissociative type one should supply each injury independently.

CONCLUSION
The literature on sternal injuries and their treatment is low. Combinations of sternum and spine injuries have not yet been processed systematically in literature. Thus, there is no concerted standard of therapeutic options. The very rare occurrence of this injury combination often leads to this injury type being forgotten in the primary evaluation of casualties.


This paper describes about an algorithm, which can efficiently characterize a process-induced random failure distribution and a design-induced systematic failure distribution from unknown-induced failure distributions of a memory LSI to predict a reason for yield degradation in it. Our developed algorithm analyzes a function "T(f) isn't greater than 1 or not" related kind and the content of the mathematics measure "f" comes from a histogram of all pair of failure distances to distinguish between a random distribution and a systematic distribution. The cause specification using this algorithm is based on the fact that process induced failure caused by particles or contamination results in a random distribution and design-induced failures have some kind of distribution shape or period depending on circuit layout. Memory LSI failure analysis with our algorithm is able to distinguish between an almost random (process-induced) distribution in one direction, and a systematic (design induced) distribution in the other. This algorithm is effective for a device containing an array of cells.


Volume-controlled ventilation (VCV) has always been considered as protective ventilation, in particular during spontaneous breathing, being able to avoid the administration of injurious tidal volumes (V t ) to the patient. In fact, spontaneous efforts increase transpulmonary pressure (P l ) only during pressure-regulated ventilations (1). Despite this difference in terms of P l , the conditions of lung parenchyma determine the damage to the lung tissue and the onset of ventilator induced lung injury (VILI).


The SiC/Cu composite was prepared by the method, which is patented in China, casting the metal into the SiC skeleton in a special furnace at 1160°C by pressure, caused by pressure difference between pressured gas and vacuum. During the preparation, the SiC decomposed. The carbon precipitated and the silicon, which has well affinity with the metal, formed silicon-copper compounds as Cu4Si, gathering in the silicon-copper interface area, identified by means of EDS and XRD. The mechanism of the solid reaction was discussed and the microstructure and morphology was studied by means of optical devices, SEM, EDS and XRD as well. And the diffusion coefficient was calculated.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Approximately 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson disease (PD) each year, with more than half a million persons affected. This chronic progressive disease causes limitations across the model of disablement for this population of individuals. Because of the disease pathology and concomitant impairments, postural instability is present and gait is typically slow with high variability of spatial/temporal gait kinematics. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a hinged orthosis with a Tamarack joint and adjustable check strap (TCS) ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) on functional gait capacity, electromyography (EMG), and quality of life (QOL) in select individuals with PD. Materials and Methods: Participants in this study were three men, all diagnosed with PD more than 5 years ago. Each participant was fitted with custom bilateral TCS-AFOs and trained in proper gait kinematics while wearing the orthoses. The study was 10 weeks long with three 45-minute gait training sessions. Each participant had an individual home walking program that used 30 minutes of daily focused walking as a target goal. Outcomes tested initially, at week 5, and at week 10 included gait endurance (6-minute walk test), computerized gait analysis (GAITRite; CIR Systems, Havertown, PA, USA), functional balance (Dynamic Gait Index [DGI]), lower-limb muscle activity (EMG), and QOL (Parkinson Disease Questionnaire 8 [PDQ-8]). Results: All three participants demonstrated improvements in gait velocity, endurance, dynamic balance, and QOL. Conclusions: This case series reported a novel use of AFOs in addressing gait dysfunction in persons with PD. Considering the progressive nature of PD and the need for interventions that can create a long-term impact, lower-limb bracing may be an intervention with potential. The persons in this case report were all trained with a TCS-AFO that was designed to facilitate gait and provide beneficial somatosensory feedback. Each of the participants demonstrated improvements in gait velocity, endurance, dynamic balance, and QOL.


A novel three-dimensional (3D) microtubular NO2 field effect transistor (FET) sensor has been fabricated from 2D reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets decorated with Ag nanoparticles, by applying the self-roll-up technique. The electrical properties of 2D and 3D Ag NP/rGO FET sensors have been investigated and compared. Finally, the performance of the 3D sensors has been demonstrated, where the preliminary results show that our 3D Ag NP/rGO FET NO2 sensor exhibits a relatively fast response (response time of 116 s) to 20 parts per million NO2 with a response of 4.92% at room temperature at zero bias voltage and 2 V source–drain bias voltage. Moreover, characteristics of our 3D Ag NP/rGO FET sensors, e.g. response, response and recovery times, have been demonstrated to be tuned by adjusting the applied source–drain and gate biases. Compared to the 2D geometry, our 3D geometry occupies less device area, but with the same sensing area. This study provides a new way to optimize sensing device performance, and promotes its development for miniaturized and integrated gas-sensing applications for indoor health and safety detection, outdoor environmental monitoring, industrial pollution monitoring and beyond.


Hydrogen energy became the most significant energy as the current demand gradually starts to increase. Hydrogen energy is an important key solution to tackle the global temperature rise. The key important factor of hydrogen production is the hydrogen economy. Hydrogen production technologies are commercially available, while some of these technologies are still under development. This paper reviews the hydrogen production technologies from both fossil and non-fossil fuels such as (steam reforming, partial oxidation, auto thermal, pyrolysis, and plasma technology). Additionally, water electrolysis technology was reviewed. Water electrolysis can be combined with the renewable energy to get eco-friendly technology. Currently, the maximum hydrogen fuel productions were registered from the steam reforming, gasification, and partial oxidation technologies using fossil fuels. These technologies have different challenges such as the total energy consumption and carbon emissions to the environment are still too high. A novel non-fossil fuel method [ammonia NH3] for hydrogen production using plasma technology was reviewed. Ammonia decomposition using plasma technology without and with a catalyst to produce pure hydrogen was considered as compared case studies. It was showed that the efficiency of ammonia decomposition using the catalyst was higher than ammonia decomposition without the catalyst. The maximum hydrogen energy efficiency obtained from the developed ammonia decomposition system was 28.3% with a hydrogen purity of 99.99%. The development of ammonia decomposition processes is continues for hydrogen production, and it will likely become commercial and be used as a pure hydrogen energy source.Hydrogen energy became the most significant energy as the current demand gradually starts to increase. Hydrogen energy is an important key solution to tackle the global temperature rise. The key important factor of hydrogen production is the hydrogen economy. Hydrogen production technologies are commercially available, while some of these technologies are still under de-velopment. This paper reviews the hydrogen production technologies from both fossil and non-fossil fuels such as (steam reforming, partial oxidation, auto thermal, pyrolysis, and plasma technology). Additionally, water elec-trolysis technology was reviewed. Water electrolysis can be combined with the renewable energy to get eco-friendly technology. Currently, the maximum hydrogen fuel productions were registered from the steam reforming, gasification, and partial oxidation technologies using fossil fuels. These technologies have different challenges such as the total energy consumption and carbon emissions to the environment are still too high. A novel non-fossil fuel method [ammonia NH3] for hydrogen production using plas-ma technology was reviewed. Ammonia decomposition using plasma tech-nology without and with a catalyst to produce pure hydrogen was considered as compared case studies. It was showed that the efficiency of ammonia decomposition using the catalyst was higher than ammonia decomposition without the catalyst. The maximum hydrogen energy efficiency obtained from the developed ammonia decomposition system was 28.3% with a hy-drogen purity of 99.99%. The development of ammonia decomposition pro-cesses is continues for hydrogen production, and it will likely become com-mercial and be used as a pure hydrogen energy source.


Over the past few years, hyperspectral data exploitation aimed at detecting spectral anomalies within remotely sensed images has been of growing interest in many applications. In this letter, we are interested in an anomaly detection (AD) scheme for hyperspectral images in which spectral anomalies are defined with respect to a statistical model of the background probability density function (PDF). Among the multitude of PDF estimators discussed in statistics literature, Parzen windowing (PW) has always attracted much attention. However, its ability to estimate the PDF of global background in order to detect anomalies in hyperspectral images has not been investigated yet. Here, we propose the use of PW to provide reliable background PDF estimation. As is widely recognized, PW performance is primarily affected by the choice of the bandwidth matrix, which controls the degree of smoothing for the resulting PDF approximation. In this letter, the bandwidth selection problem is approached, resorting to an unsupervised method based on a Bayesian approach. Once the background PDF is approximated through PW, it is employed to detect anomalous objects within the scene by using the likelihood ratio test.


The Traveling Tournament Problem (TTP) is a well-known NP-complete problem in sports scheduling that was inspired by the application of optimizing schedules for Major League Baseball to reduce total team travel. The techniques and heuristics from the n-team TTP can be extended to optimize the scheduling of other sports leagues, such as the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league in Japan. In this paper, we describe the additional scheduling constraints required by the NPB league, such as the requirement that each team play the same number of weekend home games, weekday home games, weekend road games, and weekday road games. We fully solve this TTP-variant for the case n = 6, and conclude the paper by presenting the official 2013 NPB Central League Schedule, where we helped this Japanese baseball league reduce total team travel by over six thousand kilometres.


The research assesses the challenges of building in wetlands to meet housing demand. The City of Harare has been in the limelight owing to the reclamation of wetlands for urban development as a remedy to rapid urbanization. There is an increase in the number of people living in wetlands and the inhabitants of wetlands encounter a number of problems that include structural failure of their housing units and they are prone to waterborne diseases. The research recommends that the government and local authorities increase residential development in satellite towns to avoid reclamation of wetlands, and wetlands have to be restored and rehabilitated. There is need to develop effective urban policies and plans concerned with protection and restoration of wetlands. Consultation and participation of all the relevant stakeholders must be treated as a matter of urgency before the utilization of wetlands. Essentially wetlands need to be strictly reserved for recreational purposes.


an epidemic of intimate-partner violence against women, and general agreement that women should be screened for it, few assessment and intervention protocols have been evaluated in controlled studies. To test a telephone intervention intended to increase the "safety-promoting behavior" of abused women, 75 women received six telephone calls over a period of eight weeks in which safety-promoting behaviors were discussed. A control group of 75 women received usual care. Women in both groups received follow-up calls to assess safety-promoting behaviors at three, six, 12, and 18 months after intake. Analysis showed that the women in the intervention group practiced significantly ( P < 0.01) more safety-promoting behaviors than women in the con-trol group at each assessment. On average, women in the intervention group practiced almost two more safety-promoting behaviors than they had at time of intake and nearly two more than women in the control group; the additional behaviors were practiced for 18 months. This nursing intervention requires only 54 minutes to complete (six nine-minute telephone calls) and can be integrated into any health care setting. Because less than one hour of professional nursing time is involved, the cost of the intervention is minimal. Future research should determine whether the adoption of safety-promoting behaviors by abused women averts trauma and its subsequent health care costs


As medical imaging datasets grow, we are approaching the era of big data for radiologic decision support systems. This requires renewed efforts in dataset curation and labeling. We propose a methodology for weak labeling of medical images for attributes such as anatomy and disease that relies on image to sentence transformation. The methodology consists of three models, a convolutional neural network that is trained on a coarse classification task and acts as an image feature generator, a language model to map sentences to a fixed length space, and a multi-layer perceptron that acts as a function approximator to map images to the sentence space. The transform model is trained on matched image-sentence pairs on a dataset of echocardiography studies. For a given image, labels are extracted from the closest sentences to the output of the image-sentence transform. We show that the resulting solution has an 78.2% accuracy in labeling Doppler images with aortic stenosis. We also show that the retrieved sentences are consistent with the true sentences in terms of meaning with an average BLEU score of 0.34, matching the current highly performing machine translation solutions.


Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) has been extensively used in petroleum, geology, common household chemicals, food, medicine and other industries, owing to its excellent water-soluble, emulsifying, water retention and film forming properties. It is known as 'industrial monosodium glutamate'. However, the research of the test method on CMC is far behind the research of its actual application value. This study showed that, weak acid or weak basic medium, the carboxyl groups dissociated from CMC, existing as a big negative ion, which can form ion-association complexes with some quaternary ammonium cations through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. The absorption spectrum changes and Triton-X100 can increase the sensitivity of the system. The maximum absorption wavelengths are, respectively, about 256 nm for dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (LTAB), 244 nm for tetradecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (TTAB) and 240 nm for cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) with CMC. The reactions show very high sensitivities and the maximum molar absorption coefficients are 1.10 × 10(4) L/(mol·cm) for LTAB system, 1.24 × 10(6) L/(mol·cm) for TTAB system and 1.78 × 10(6) L/(mol·cm) for CTAB system. This method is simple and rapid, and can be applied for the spectrophotometric determination of trace CMC in the supernatant of centrifuged drilling mud.


The article deals with the recommendations for the detection of isoniazid in meat products, using the example of minced meat using physicochemical methods. This study does not lose its relevance over the years, due to the use of drugs for tuberculosis for poisoning homeless and domestic animals, in particular dogs, in different regions of Ukraine, the main active ingredient of which is isoniazid. The article describes a method for the extraction of isoniazid in food products of meat origin (minced meat, sausage), which presumably could or may be used to poison domestic animals, in particular dogs. Isoniazid was identified by the methods of qualitative color reactions, thin-layer chromatography, and gas chromatography with a mass-selective detector.
The process of qualitative identification of isoniazid in foodstuffs that could or may be used to poison domestic animals, in particular dogs, includes:
-the method of extraction and separation of interfering impurities, primarily fats, preliminary research by the method of qualitative analytical reactions;
-studies by thin layer chromatography;
-research by instrumental methods, in particular, gas chromatography with mass-selective detection.
The method for extracting isoniazid from meat products described in the article is effective and allows you to get rid of interfering substances, especially fats. In addition, the method of gas chromatography with mass-selective detection has sufficient sensitivity and selectivity. It allows with a minimum number of interfering peaks of low intensity, determine the composition of isoniazid accurately.
The specified list of instrumental base, methods and research techniques is not exhaustive. The examiner should be guided by the availability of relevant literature and the availability of appropriate analytical equipment (gas chromatograph, gas chromatograph with mass-selective detector, liquid chromatograph, liquid chromatograph with mass-selective detector, etc.). In accordance with this, it is necessary to use certain methods for studying substances. These methods are subject to mandatory verification before being used in the laboratory.
The obtained research results allow us to recommend this technique for implementation in expert practice.


This chapter centers on the late 1230s through the 1240s and examines the early activities of Eison and his most famous disciple, Ninshō. The two monks met in 1239, when Ninshō discussed with Eison his plans to compose seven Manjuśrī images and enshrine them at seven outcast communities as a memorial to his deceased mother. The introduction of the Manjuśrī cult and social welfare practices to the Saidaiji order's activities is directly tied to this meeting. Yet despite the master-disciple relationship and close collaboration between the two monks from this time, contrasts in their monastic and cultic orientations deserve greater recognition. This chapter addresses the contrasts in their involvement in the Manjuśrī cult, the closely connected cult of the itinerant saint Gyōki (668-749), and social welfare activities. I argue that while Ninshō's social welfare activities show close emulation of Gyōki, Eison's literary and ritual efforts point toward a simultaneous emulation of the deity (Manjuśrī) and "erasure" of the saint believed to have incarnated that deity (Gyōki).


This paper addresses the coding and storage of information in neural architectures with bifurcating recursive nodes that exhibit chaotic dynamics. It describes architectures of coupled recursive processing elements (RPEs) used to store binary strings, discusses the choices of network parameters related to the coding of zeros and ones, and analyzes several aspects of the network operation in implementing associative memories through populations of logistic maps. Experiments for the performance evaluation of these memories are described, and results addressing the operation under digital noise (flipped bits) and analog noise added to the prompting pattern are presented and analyzed. In the initial sections of the paper, several quantitative aspects related to the representation of binary strings in terms of cyclic states of the network are equated, and then related to the planning and analysis of the experiments discussed in the following sections. A simple pre-processing procedure useful in situations of prompting conditions with analog noise is discussed and the resultant improvements in recovery performance are presented. Finally the performance of the associative network based in RPEs is contrasted with the performance of traditional Hopfield associative networks, and the situations where the RPEs network presents significant superiority are identified.


Theoretical analysis and some experiments have shown that the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) 4-gate transistors known as G4-FETs can be used as building blocks of four-quadrant analog voltage multiplier circuits. Whereas a typical prior analog voltage multiplier contains between six and 10 transistors, it is possible to construct a superior voltage multiplier using only four G4-FETs. A G4-FET is a combination of a junction field-effect transistor (JFET) and a metal oxide/semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). It can be regarded as a single transistor having four gates, which are parts of a structure that affords high functionality by enabling the utilization of independently biased multiple inputs. The structure of a G4-FET of the type of interest here (see Figure 1) is that of a partially-depleted SOI MOSFET with two independent body contacts, one on each side of the channel. The drain current comprises of majority charge carriers flowing from one body contact to the other that is, what would otherwise be the side body contacts of the SOI MOSFET are used here as the end contacts [the drain (D) and the source (S)] of the G4-FET. What would otherwise be the source and drain of the SOI MOSFET serve, in the G4-FET, as two junction-based extra gates (JG1 and JG2), which are used to squeeze the channel via reverse-biased junctions as in a JFET. The G4-FET also includes a polysilicon top gate (G1), which plays the same role as does the gate in an accumulation-mode MOSFET. The substrate emulates a fourth MOS gate (G2). By making proper choices of G4-FET device parameters in conjunction with bias voltages and currents, one can design a circuit in which two input gate voltages (Vin1,Vin2) control the conduction characteristics of G4-FETs such that the output voltage (Vout) closely approximates a value proportional to the product of the input voltages. Figure 2 depicts two such analog multiplier circuits. In each circuit, there is the following: The input and output voltages are differential, The multiplier core consists of four G4- FETs (M1 through M4) biased by a constant current sink (Ibias), and The G4-FETs in two pairs are loaded by two identical resistors (RL), which convert a differential output current to a differential output voltage. The difference between the two circuits stems from their input and bias configurations. In each case, provided that the input voltages remain within their design ranges as determined by considerations of bias, saturation, and cutoff, then the output voltage is nominally given by Vout = kVin1Vin2, where k is a constant gain factor that depends on the design parameters and is different for the two circuits. In experimental versions of these circuits constructed using discrete G4- FETs and resistors, multiplication of voltages in all four quadrants (that is, in all four combinations of input polarities) was demonstrated, and deviations of the output voltages from linear dependence on the input voltages were found to amount to no more than a few percent. It is anticipated that in fully integrated versions of these circuits, the deviations from linearity will be made considerably smaller through better matching of devices.