Maternal obesity is a chronic inflammatory state, which has been shown to induce increased levels of free fatty acids, reactive oxygen species and inflammatory cells. Recent evidence reveals increased levels of lipid peroxidation products in the plasma of obese women during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that maternal overweight or obesity is associated with increased oxidative stress (OS) in offspring. Two hundred and forty-five pregnant women and their newborns were prospectively enrolled. Mothers were divided in two groups: lean control - LC (n=175, Group I); overweight or obese (n=70, Group II) according to BMI ≥ 25 before pregnancy. Cord blood F2-isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs), as reliable markers of OS, were measured in all newborns. Lower 1 minute APGAR score and higher weight at discharge were found in Group II neonates, compared to those of Group I (p less than 0.05). Small for gestational age (SGA) newborns of both groups showed increased levels of F2-IsoPs than appropriate (AGA) or large (LGA) for gestational age (GA) (p less than 0.01). SGA newborns of Group II had higher F2-IsoPs levels compared to SGA of Group I (p less than 0.01), which were significantly correlated to maternal BMI at the end of pregnancy (r=0.451, p less than 0.01). Multivariate regression analysis corrected for confounding factors, showed that maternal overweight or obesity was significantly associated with high F2-IsoPs levels in SGA offspring (p less than 0.01). Maternal overweight or obesity is associated with increased OS in their SGA newborns. Data suggest the need of antioxidant protection for both mothers during pregnancy and infants soon after birth.


The design of infinite impulse response (IIR) digital transmitter and receiver filters of class I is described. The filters are designed to be quasi-matched; each has a maximally flat delay polynomial as the denominator. Each filter is designed to have an equiripple stopband attenuation as well as low, uncontrolled intersymbol interference (ISI) when cascaded. In order to get low ISI and high stopband attenuation, it is necessary for the band-edge frequency to be slightly larger than the ideal value. A brief comparison with finite impulse response filter design is made. By IIR design, the filter order and group delay are reduced about 20% and 30% respectively, but the ISI is somewhat increased. >


Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an important gastrointestinal pathogen associated with gastritis as well as gastric or duodenal ulcers and gastric cancer. The oral cavity has been considered as a potential reservoir for the gastric infection and reinfection. The objective of our studies was to evaluate the influence of oral H. pylori for the stomach infection and the release of gut hormones affecting food intake such as ghrelin and gastric secretion such as gastrin. Additionally, the contribution of H. pylori in the periodontal disease has been examined. H. pylori infection in stomach was assessed by (13)C- Urease Breath Test and presence of the bacteria in oral cavity by culture. The periodontal status was measured by pockets depth with the periodontal probe. We estimated the serum level of IgG anti-H. pylori, anti-VacA, anti-CagA, ghrelin, gastrin, TNF-alpha and IL-8 in blood and the level of IgA anti-H. pylori in saliva. The presence of H. pylori in oral cavity was detected in 54.1% of examined individuals, whereas the H. pylori gastric infection in tested group was found in 51% cases. However, the correlation analysis between those two groups of patients involving together about 100 subjects showed that within the group of patients with positive gastric H. pylori infection only 45.1% did not show the presence of H. pylori in saliva and 43.1% showed no H. pylori in supragingival plaque. In line of these findings patients who did not have gastric H. pylori infection, 53.2% showed presence of H. pylori in saliva and 42.9% in supragingival plaques. Serum level of ghrelin and gastrin in subjects with oral H. pylori inoculation but without gastric H. pylori infection were not significantly different from those without the presence of this germ in oral cavity. In contrast, gastric H. pylori infection resulted in significant reduction in serum ghrelin levels and significant elevation of gastrin as compared to those who were gastric H. pylori negative. We concluded that oral H. pylori alone does not seem to serve as bacterium sanctuary for gastric H. pylori infection and, unlike gastric infection, it fails to affect serum levels of hormones stimulating appetitive behaviour such as ghrelin and gastric acid secretion such as gastrin.


The 'Raising Poor and Marginalised Women's Voices in Liberia' project is part Oxfam's global Raising Her Voice (RHV) programme, which seeks to promote the rights and capacity of poor women to engage effectively in governance at all levels through increased voice and influence and more effective institutional accountability. Oxfam Liberia, with two local partners, Women of Liberia Peace Network (WOLPNET) and Women NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL), has been working to support the establishment of a vibrant coalition for poor and marginalised women in eight counties and encourage more responsive governance through greater compliance with the African Women's Rights Protocol. This report documents the findings of a qualitative impact evaluation, completed in April 2012, which used process tracing to assess the effectiveness of the project at increasing government's responsiveness to women's concerns, and decreasing incidence of gender based violence (GBV) and rape.


ABSTRACT This work describes the diversity and evolution of Tn5801 among enterococci, staphylococci, and streptococci based on analysis of the 5,073 genomes of these bacterial groups available in gene databases. We also examined 610 isolates of Enterococcus (from 10 countries, 1987 to 2010) for the presence of this and other known CTn-tet(M) elements due to the scarcity of data about Tn5801 among enterococci. Genome location (by ICeu-I–pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE] hybridization/integration site identification), conjugation and fitness (by standard methods), Tn5801 characterization (by long-PCR mapping/sequencing), and clonality (by PFGE/multilocus sequence typing [MLST]) were studied. Twenty-three Tn5801 variants (17 unpublished) clustered in two groups, designated "A" (25 kb; n = 14; predominant in Staphylococcus aureus) and "B" (20 kb; n = 9; predominant in Streptococcus agalactiae). The percent GC content of the common backbone suggests a streptococcal origin of Tn5801 group B, with further acquisition of a 5-kb fragment that resulted in group A. Deep sequence analysis allowed identification of variants associated with clonal lineages of S. aureus (clonal complex 8 [CC8], sequence type 239 [ST239]), S. agalactiae (CC17), Enterococcus faecium (ST17/ST18), or Enterococcus faecalis (ST8), local variants, or variants located in different species and geographical areas. All Tn5801 elements were chromosomally located upstream of the guaA gene, which serves as an integration hot spot. Transferability was demonstrated only for Tn5801 type B among E. faecalis clonal backgrounds, which eventually harbored another Tn5801 copy. The study documents early acquisition of Tn5801 by Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus. Clonal waves of these pathogens seem to have contributed to the geographical spread and local evolution of the transposon. Horizontal transfer, also demonstrated, could explain the variability observed, with the isolates often containing sequences of different origins.


There is a recent surge of interest in single-chip parallel processors. In such machines, it is crucial to implement a high-throughput low-latency interconnection network to connect the on-chip components, especially the processing units and the memory units. In this paper, we propose a new mesh of trees (MoT) implementation of the interconnection network and evaluate it relative to metrics such as wire area, total switch delay and maximum throughput taking into account latencythroughput trade-offs. We show that on-chip interconnection networks can provide higher bandwidth between processors and shared first-level cache than previously considered possible, facilitating greater scalability of memory architectures that require that. MoT is also compared, both analytically and experimentally, to some other traditional network topologies, such as hypercube, butterfly, fat trees and butterfly fat trees. When we evaluate a 64-terminal MoT network at 65nm technology, concrete results show that MoT provides higher throughput and lower latency especially when the input traffic (or the on-chip parallelism) is high, at the cost of larger area. A recurring problem in networking and communication is that of achieving good sustained throughput in contrast to just high theoretical peak performance that does not materialize for typical work loads. Our quantitative results demonstrate a clear advantage of the proposed MoT network in the context of single-chip parallel processing.


Purpose: To evaluate cognitive and academic functioning in survivors of pediatric bone marrow transplants (BMTs) at 1 and 3 years after a BMT. Patients and Methods: In a prospective, longitudinal design, patients underwent a comprehensive battery of neurocognitive measures before admission for transplantation and at 1, 3, and 5 years after a BMT. This article describes a cohort of 102 survivors with follow-up data available for 1 year after a BMT, including 54 survivors with follow-up available for 3 years. This represents the largest cohort of pediatric BMT survivors yet reported in a prospective study. Results: In the cohort as a whole, there were no significant changes on global measures of intelligence (intelligence quotient [IQ]) and academic achievement at either 1 or 3 years after a BMT, despite adequate power to detect an IQ change of three points or greater. Likewise, performance on specific tests of neuropsychologic function remained stable. No significant differences were observed between patients whose conditioning regimen included total-body irradiation (TBI) and those whose did not. The primary predictor of neurocognitive outcome was patient age, with younger patients more likely to show declines over time. The subset of patients who were less than 3 years of age at the time of transplantation seemed to be particularly vulnerable to cognitive sequelae. Conclusion: The use of BMTs with or without TBI entails minimal risk of late neurocognitive sequelae in patients who are 6 years of age or older at the time of transplantation. However, patients who are less than 6 years of age at the time of transplantation, and particularly those less than 3 years of age, seem to be at some risk of cognitive declines. J Clin Oncol 18:1004-1011. © 2000 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.


Antitumor activity of spleen cells from BALB/c mice bearing RL male 1 lymphoma was studied. In the Winn assay spleen cells of the tumor-bearing mice inhibited the growth of RL male 1 lymphoma. This antitumor activity of spleen cells was not detected by the in vitro cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay (4-h 51Cr release assay). The effector cells in spleen cells were T-cells which manifested asialo GM1 on their cell surfaces and were radiosensitive (1000 rads). The analysis of T-cell subsets using Lyt markers showed that the effector cells expressed the Lyt-2 antigen with a small amount of the Lyt-1 antigen on their cell surfaces. In addition antitumor activity of spleen cells of the tumor-bearing mice was weak in the early stage of tumor growth, strong in the mid-stage, and disappeared in the late stage. The mechanisms of antitumor activity of spleen cells of the tumor-bearing mice are discussed.


The use of Finite Element Simulation allows accurate predictions of stress and strain distributions in complex stamped parts. The onset of necking is strongly dependent on the strain paths imposed to the parts and therefore the prediction of localized necking can be a difficult task. Numerical models of plastic instability have been used to predict such behavior and recent and more accurate constitutive models have been applied in these calculations. In many manufacturing areas such as automotive, aerospace, building, packaging and electronic industries, the optimization of sheet metal processes, through the use of numerical simulations, has become a key factor to a continuously increasing requirement for time and cost efficiency, for quality improvement and materials saving. This paper makes an analysis of the evolution of strain gradients in stamped parts. The combination of Finite Element Analysis with a Plastic Instability Model, developed to predict localized necking under complex strain paths, shows that it is possible to predict failure with precision. Several constitutive laws are used and comparisons are made with experiments in stamped benchmark parts. Considering non linear strain paths, as detected in stamped parts, more accurate failure predictions are achieved. The work described in this paper shows the need to include a post processor analysis of failure, capable of predicting the behavior of the material under non linear strain paths. Taking this phenomenon into account, it is shown that it is possible to increase the accuracy of the onset of localized necking prediction.


--- The information age, or the age of information revolution, is the result of a leap in communications and a breakthrough in information technology, resulting in traditional criminal activities taking a new form in terms of the illegal exploitation of this technology, which is termed as the information crimes, and this became a significant threat especially when it comes to children. The special nature of these new crimes and the difficulty of determining their legal nature makes it the subject of special attention directed at protecting children from the threat of this type of crime. The recent criminal phenomena, which poses a significant threat to children, especially in its sophisticated methods, became a security concern not only in Western countries but also in Arab countries. This has necessitated a scientific research about this phenomenon, its causes and how to address it to save this special segment of society. Therefore, the rapid and dramatic development of communication technology has led to the production of modern means of social communication, which have greatly affected the category of children, due to the universal attraction of the Internet, which comes at the forefront of these developments without a competitor.


Cytogenetic analysis was performed on short‐term cultures of primary ovarian carcinomas from 62 patients. Cytogenetic analysis was successful in 59 cases. Clonal chromosome aberrations were detected in 35 tumors. Only numerical changes or a single structural change were found in five carcinomas: trisomy 12 was the sole anomaly in two tumors, one tumor had the karyotype 50,XX, + 5, + 7, + 12, + 14, a fourth tumor had a balanced t(l;5), and the fifth tumor had an unbalanced t(8; 15). The fact that four of these five carcinomas were well differentiated suggests that simple karyotypic changes are generally characteristic of these less aggressive ovarian tumors. The majority of the cytogenetically abnormal tumors (n = 30) had complex karyotypes, with both numerical and structural aberrations and often hypodiploid or near‐triploid stemlines. The numerical imbalances (comparison with the nearest euploid number) were mostly losses, in order of decreasing frequency – 17, – 22, – 13, –8, – X, and – 14. The structural aberrations were mostly deletions and unbalanced translocations. Recurrent loss of genetic material affected chromosome arms 1p, 3p, 6q, and 11p. The breakpoints of the clonal structural abnormalities clustered to several chromosome bands and segments: 19p13, 11p13–15, 1q21–23, 1p36, 19q13, 3p12–13, and 6q21–23. The most consistent change (16 tumors) was a 19p + marker, and in 12 of the tumors the 19p + markers looked alike.


This paper investigates the impact of individuals' social ties at organizational entry on the formation of intraorganizational networks. When individuals enter organizations with one or more preentry relationships in place, I argue they form more extensive networks post entry than their untied counterparts. However, it is also suggested that under some conditions---i.e., when quality is more certain---the relationship between pre-and postentry social structure is contingent on individuals' quality attributes. I test and find support for these hypotheses in a study of new business and law professionals. The results indicate that individuals with an initial advantage in social ties form more extensive networks post entry than those without such an advantage, and that when certainty about quality is high, this effect depends on the quality attributes of the new entrants. Implications of this study for research on social networks, resource accumulation, and inequality are discussed.


A genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to optimise train movements using appropriate coast control that can be integrated within automatic train operation (ATO) systems. The coast control output for a train changes with the interstation distances and gradient profiles, and the current operating conditions of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system, namely: (i) train schedules; (ii) expected passenger loads; and (iii) expected track voltages. The algorithm generates an optimum coast control based on evaluation of the punctuality, riding comfort and energy consumption. Before the train sets off to the designated station, a coast control table is generated that will be referenced by the train at runtime for deciding when to initiate coasting or resume motoring control. Each coast control table is encoded into variable length chromosomes with each gene representing the relative position between stations where coasting should be initiated or terminated. Each generation is evolved from mating of the paired equal-length chromosomes with possibilities of crossover, mutations, gene duplications and gene deletions. The key feature of this method is that it has a solid mathematical foundation. Effectively, the implementation provides good, credible and reasonably fast solutions for this variable dimensional and multiobjective optimisation problem. The algorithm has the potential for online implementation for producing a coast control lookup table for each interstation run before the train sets off. The results, although preliminary, suggest that the method is promising.


An edited version is given of the text of G\"odel's unpublished manuscript of the notes for a course in basic logic he delivered at the University of Notre Dame in 1939. G\"odel's notes deal with what is today considered as important logical problems par excellence, completeness, decidability, independence of axioms, and with natural deduction too, which was all still a novelty at the time the course was delivered. Full of regards towards beginners, the notes are not excessively formalistic. G\"odel presumably intended them just for himself, and they are full of abbreviations. This together with some other matters (like two versions of the same topic, and guessing the right order of the pages) required additional effort to obtain a readable edited version. Because of the quality of the material provided by G\"odel, including also important philosophical points, this effort should however be worthwhile. The edited version of the text is accompanied by another version, called the source version, which is quite close to G\"odel's manuscript. It is meant to be a record of the editorial interventions involved in producing the edited version (in particular, how the abbreviations were disabridged), and a justification of that later version.


We construct a classically verifiable succinct interactive argument for quantum computation (BQP) with communication complexity and verifier runtime that are poly-logarithmic in the runtime of the BQP computation (and polynomial in the security parameter). Our protocol is secure assuming the post-quantum security of indistinguishability obfuscation (iO) and Learning with Errors (LWE). This is the first succinct argument for quantum computation in the plain model; prior work (Chia-Chung-Yamakawa, TCC '20) requires both a long common reference string and non-black-box use of a hash function modeled as a random oracle. At a technical level, we revisit the framework for constructing classically verifiable quantum computation (Mahadev, FOCS '18). We give a self-contained, modular proof of security for Mahadev's protocol, which we believe is of independent interest. Our proof readily generalizes to a setting in which the verifier's first message (which consists of many public keys) is compressed. Next, we formalize this notion of compressed public keys; we view the object as a generalization of constrained/programmable PRFs and instantiate it based on indistinguishability obfuscation. Finally, we compile the above protocol into a fully succinct argument using a (sufficiently composable) succinct argument of knowledge for NP. Using our framework, we achieve several additional results, including - Succinct arguments for QMA (given multiple copies of the witness), - Succinct non-interactive arguments for BQP (or QMA) in the quantum random oracle model, and - Succinct batch arguments for BQP (or QMA) assuming post-quantum LWE (without iO).


The effect of aqueous extract of Basella alba (puishak) leaves on blood cell count of rats was studied. Forty rats of both sexes weighing between 100-150 gm were used. The rats were divided into four groups (7 rats in each group), with group A as the control group and experimental groups were denoted as B, C and D. With all aseptic precautions, aqueous extract of Basella alba (Puishak) leaves was administered into the three different doses (For group B: 60 mg/kg bw, group C: 80 mg/kg bw and group D: 100 mg/kg bw). Control group A also received distilled water as a placebo at the dose of 10 mg/kg bw for 14 days. At day 15, blood samples were collected and sent for haematological analysis. Data analysis of blood count profile of 28 rats revealed that there is an increased number of RBC, WBC and platelet count in experimental groups than in control group. ANOVA test revealed that increased blood cell counts following administration of aqueous leaves extract of keeves of B. alba were statistically significant (p value for each case was .0001<.05) than control group. Paired samples t test was performed to compare between baseline hematological parameters and parameters after 14 days of intervention. Then comparison between Group A & Group B, between Group A & Group C and between Group A & Group D were done. In all cases, probability (p) value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.This it is clearly evident that aqueous extract of B.alba has positive stimulant effect on blood cells count of rats. Moreover, it was found that increment of doses also increases the cell count that is positively correlated with the hypothesis.
Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 22(1): 73-78, 2019


Podosomes mediate cell migration and invasion by coordinating the reorganization of actin cytoskeleton and focal matrix degradation. MMP and serine proteases have been found to function at podosomes. The lysosomal cysteine cathepsins, a third major class of matrix-degrading enzymes involved in tumor invasion and tissue remodeling, have yet to be linked to podosomes with the exception of cathepsin K in osteoclasts. Using inhibitors and shRNA-mediated depletion, we show that cathepsin B participates in podosomes-mediated focal matrix degradation and invasion in v-Src-transformed fibroblasts. We observed that lysosomal marker LAMP-1 localized at the center of podosome rosettes protruding into extracellular matrix using confocal microscopy. Time-lapse live-cell imaging revealed that lysosomal vesicles moved to and fused with podosomes. Disruption of lysosomal pH gradient with Bafilomycin A1, chloroquine, or ammonium chloride greatly enhanced the formation of podosomes and increased the matrix degradation. Live-cell imaging showed that actin structures, induced shortly after Bafilomycin A1 treatment, were closely associated with lysosomes. Overall, our results suggest that cathepsin B, delivered by lysosomal vesicles, is involved in the matrix degradtion of podosomes.


The distribution and some immunohistochemical aspects of the taste buds and free neuromasts of the blind cave fish Astyanax jordani were investigated using serial sections of whole fish. Taste buds are restricted to the skin of the lips and the lower jaw. Neuromasts are widely distributed over the whole epidermis except the lips and are particularly numerous in the opercular region and the caudal fin; they are absent from all other fins. The histological structure of the taste buds and the free neuromasts is similar to that described in other fish. The former are composed of two types of cells. The free neuromast, as seen under the electron microscope, is also constituted by two types of cell: dark supporting cells and clear sensory cells whose basal cytoplasm contains presynaptic bodies. Immunohistochemical results obtained with the peroxidase antiperoxidase method revealed the presence of different peptides in the taste buds and the free neuromasts. The former contain substance P (SP) and enkephalins (leu‐ and metenkephalin); the latter contain SP and leuenkephalin, but no metenkephalin. These peptides are localized in the cytoplasm of the accessory and sensory cells but not in the nervous fibres. None of these peptides occur in the olfactory epithelium of A.jordani. These immunohistochemical results raise the question of whether SP, leuenkephalin or metenkephalin play a role in transmission between the sensory cells and the afferent fibre.


The problem of proving whether or not a loop computes a given function is investigated. We consider loops which have a certain "closure" property and derive necessary and sufficient conditions for such a loop to compute a given function. It is argued that closure is a fundamental concept in program proving. Extensions of the basic result to proofs involving relations other than functional relations, which typically arise in nondeterministic loops, are explored. Several applications of these results are given, particularly in showing that certain classes of programs may be directly proven (their loop invariants generated) given only their input-output relationships. Implications of these results are discussed.


A field experiment was carried out during 2012/2013 on acidic soil of Tsegede highlands, Northern Ethiopia to evaluate wheat crop response to different Fertilizers and Liming with four treatments: (1) (No fertilizer), (2) 64 kg/ha Nitrogen+ 150 kg/ha Minjingu organic hyper phosphate fertilizer, (3) 64 kg/ha Nitrogen and 20 kg/ha Phosphorus, and (4) 64 kg/ha Nitrogen and 20 kg/ha Phosphorus + 4.17 t/ha lime were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) deign with three replications. Soil samples were collected before planting and analyzed for selected physicochemical properties, which revealed that textural class was sandy loam and the pH, Exchangeable aluminum and Exchangeable Acid as very strong acid and toxic for plant growth. The total percentage of organic matter, Nitrogen and Cation Exchange capacity (CEC) were as high; while very low in available phosphorus. Results indicated soil that received 64 kg/ha Nitrogen from urea+150 kg/ha Minjingu organic hyper phosphate, 64 kg/ha Nitrogen and 20 Phosphorus and 64 kg/ha Nitrogen and 20 kg/ha Phosphorus + 4.17 t/ha lime gave additional grain yield increment by about 191, 211 and 413% over the control, respectively. While the straw yield improved by 226, 248 and 422% respectively. The highest yield was recorded on soils with 64 kg/ha Nitrogen and 20 kg/ha Phosphorus along with lime followed by the 64 kg/ha Nitrogen and 20 kg/ha Phosphorus, and soil with application of 64 kg/ha Nitrogen from urea+150 kg/ha Minjingu organic hyper phosphate. The recorded plant height was significantly affected only at 64 kg/ha Nitrogen and 20 kg/ha Phosphorus + 4.17 t/ha lime (21.2%) over the control.  Hence uncontrolled land encroachment in the low land areas can minimize to make these farmlands productive. The rate of these fertilizers and marginal rate of return was not studied.

 Key words:  HAR-604, lime, Minjingu organic hyper phosphate, nitrogen, phosphorus.


Spirulina platensis is a photosynthetic, single-cell microalgae. Microalgae could be utilized for the production of several chemicals which are either unique to the algae or found at relatively high concentrations and command a high market value. In this respect, Spirulina is one of the more promising microalgae. It is especially rich, relative to other sources, in the polyunsaturated fatty acid γ-linolenic acid (GLA) and in pigments such as phycocyanin, myxoxanthophyl and zeaxanthin. Spirulina containing 5-6% total lipid ratio, 1.5-2% polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), contains 36% of α-linoleic acid as total PUFAs. It also contains precious fatty acids such as Linoleic Acid, Stearidonic Acid, Eicosapentaenoic Acid, Dodosahexaenoic Acid, Arachidonic Acid. The present study was conducted to evaluate whether dietary Spirulina would affect egg cholesterol level and fatty acid composition of ATAK-S. Seventy two similar weight layer hens at the 38 weeks age were randomly divided to four groups comprising 18 birds each. The hens were fed with standard layer diets containing %0, %0.5, %1, %2 Spirulina for 8 weeks. The hens were housed in individual cages. 16:8 hours light:dark photoperiod was employed. Feed and water were given ad libitum. Egg cholesterol was assessed by weekly and the fatty acid composition of the egg yolk was analyzed at the end of experimental period. The results showed that dietary supplemental Spirulina did not have significant effect on egg yolk cholesterol level, but the fatty acid composition is significant affected by the ratio of linolenic acids.


The self-field ac loss of a monofilamentary Bi-2223/Ag tape has been measured using an improved lock-in amplifier technique. To investigate the dependence of the ac power loss on the phase-angle error of the lock-in amplifier, theoretical calculations of the ac power loss of a flat superconducting strip in a perpendicular ac magnetic field were performed. The expressions derived also predict the dependence of the apparent loss on the size of the lead extension of the voltage contacts. For zero phase-angle error and an infinite lead extension the Norris formula is obtained. The voltage wave-form for ac current amplitudes greater than the tape's critical current has been measured and calculated. Theoretical predictions agree well with the experimental data.


Rare diseases, although individually rare, collectively affect one in ten Americans. Because of their rarity, patients with rare diseases are typically left misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, which leads to a prolonged medical journey. The diagnosis pathway of a rare disease is highly dependent on the associated clinical phenotypes, i.e., the observable characteristics, at the physical, morphologic, or biochemical level, of an individual. In our previous study, we applied a collaborative filtering model on clinical data generated at Mayo Clinic to stratify patients into subgroups of rare diseases. Information mined from clinical data, however, usually contains a certain level of noise, such as occurrences of comorbidities, which could impact the accuracy of differential diagnosis. In this study, we sought to incorporate a knowledge-driven approach into collaborative filtering to optimize results learned from clinical data. Our results demonstrated an improvement in performance over pure data-driven approaches with the potential to facilitate the differential diagnosis of rare diseases.


In this study I applied Spherical Cap Harmonic Analyses, SCHA, with physical regularization (Korte and Holme, 2003) to synthetic series obtained from the Comprehensive model CM4 (Sabaka et al., 2004), at 46 European observatory locations and additionally 11 'virtual observatories' chosen to improve the initial data distribution. The main purpose was to find an approach for minimising the known drawbacks of SCHA, and to test different effects on the model results, in order to get a tool which allows a better representation of the geomagnetic main field and its secular variation over restricted areas, as Europe is. I also show that an adequate selection of model parametrisation (spherical cap angle, maximal spherical cap harmonics order, number of splines, norms) and a physical regularization allow that model smoothness and misfit are those required by the data themselves. The misfit of the final model was tested using different criteria: the rms values, the time evolution of the coefficients and the behaviour of the original versus modeled time series at each location. Models computed for different epochs satisfy the proposed validation criteria, underlining the reliability to compute stable models over the whole considered time span. This study opens a way to describe in detail regional geomagnetic main field and its secular variation.


Early adolescence represents a critical developmental period for the identification, prevention, and early intervention of mental health concerns. The Early Identification System-Student Report (EIS-SR) was developed as a user-friendly, accessible, and cost-efficient method for identifying youth at risk for mental health concerns. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the EIS-SR in a sample of middle school students in the Midwest. Two confirmatory factor analyses (N₁ = 2,404, N₂ = 2,404) supported the hypothesized seven correlated factor model showing adequate model fit and subscale reliability (range = .68-.90). Subsequent analyses found that many of the EIS-SR subscales predicted office discipline referrals, suspensions, and standardized academic achievement performance. Additionally, the subscales correlated in expected ways with subscales of the Behavior Assessment Scales for Children (3rd edition). These findings suggest that the EIS-SR is promising for identifying youth in early adolescence who are at risk for mental health concerns in addition to being a free and efficient universal screening tool. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).


The control of cooperative formations of vehicles can be based on parallel estimation, where each vehicle determines its control action from a locally maintained estimate of the entire observable formation state. Vehicles may communicate with one another allowing the local estimates to incorporate information from other estimators in the formation. This paper studies the dynamics that arise in this situation and provides a complete analysis of the formation stability for this class of decentralized control problems. In the absence of communication, the local estimator-controllers' open-loop dynamics necessarily appear in the closed-loop system dynamics, giving a more stringent closed-loop stability condition than in the single controller case. The estimators achieve consensus if and only if the controllers' open-loop dynamics are stable. Communication amongst the estimators can be used to specify the complete system dynamics and we present a framework for the analysis and design of communicated information links in the formation. We relate the complete closed-loop system poles to the transmitter and receiver gains, and the spectral properties of the Laplacian of the graph describing the communication links within the formation. These results also apply to parallel estimation problems in other applications including power system control and redundant channel control architectures.


Atypical hyperplasia is a high-risk premalignant lesion of the breast, but its biology is poorly understood. Many believe that atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) is a direct precursor for low-grade ductal breast cancer, whereas atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH) serves as a risk indicator. These assumptions underlie current clinical recommendations. We tested these assumptions by studying the characteristics of the breast cancers that develop in women with ADH or ALH. Using the Mayo Benign Breast Disease Cohort, we identified all women with ADH or ALH from 1967 to 2001 and followed them for later breast cancers, characterizing side of breast cancer versus side of atypia; time to breast cancer; type, histology, and grade of breast cancer, looking for patterns consistent with precursors versus risk indicators. A total of 698 women with atypical hyperplasia were followed a mean of 12.5 years; 143 developed breast cancer. For both ADH and ALH, there is a 2:1 ratio of ipsilateral to contralateral breast cancer. The ipsilateral predominance is marked in the first 5 years, consistent with a precursor phenotype for both ADH and ALH. For both, there is a predominance of invasive ductal cancers with 69% of moderate or high grade. Twenty-five percent are node positive. Both ADH and ALH portend risk for ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancers, predominantly ductal, with two thirds moderate or high grade. The ipsilateral breast is at especially high risk for breast cancer in the first 5 years after atypia, with risk remaining elevated in both breasts long term. ADH and ALH behave similarly in terms of later breast cancer endpoints. Cancer Prev Res; 7(2); 211–7. ©2014 AACR.


Capital accumulation in Argentina was slow in the 1990s, despite high total factor productivity (TFP) growth and low international interest rates. A possible explanation for the ?missing capital? is that foreign investors were reluctant to take advantage of the high returns to investment seemingly offered by that small open economy under such favorable conditions, on the grounds that previous historical developments had led them to perceive Argentina as a country prone to external debt ?opportunistic defaults.? The paper examines this conjecture from the perspective of an optimal contract between foreign lenders and a small open economy subject to limited commitment constraints. Numerical experiments for a deterministic version of that analytical framework show that limited commitment constraints introduce an asymmetry to the capital accumulation process of small open economies: the responses of investment to positive TFP shocks are muted and shortlived, while those to negative TFP shocks are large and persistent. Furthermore, under some circumstances, a lower international interest rate environment can magnify the asymmetry. A quantitative implementation of the model economy to data from Argentina accounts, in line with asymmetry just described, for the rapid decline that that country?s capital stock experienced, along with a falling TFP during the 1980s, as well as for the lack of any visible recovery of that stock during the significant surges of TFP observed between 1992-1998 and 2002-2008. In the absence of the limited commitment constraint, Argentina?s capital stock in 2008 would have been 50% higher than it actually was.


This paper proposes a three-layer model for estimating the expressed emotions in a speech signal based on a dimensional approach. Most of the previous studies using the dimensional approach mainly focused on the direct relationship between acoustic features and emotion dimensions (valence, activation, and dominance). However, the acoustic features that correlate to valence dimension are less numerous, less strong, and the valence dimension has being particularly difficult to be predicted. The ultimate goal of this study is to improve the dimensional approach in order to precisely predict the valence dimension. The proposed model consists of three layers: acoustic features, semantic primitives, and emotion dimensions. We aimed to construct a three-layer model in imitation of the process of how human perceive and recognize emotions. In this study, we first investigated the correlations between the elements of the two-layered model and elements of the three-layered model. In addition, we compared the two models by applying a fuzzy inference system (FIS) to estimate emotion dimensions. In our model FIS was used to estimate semantic primitives from acoustic features, then to estimate emotion dimensions from the estimated semantic primitives. The experimental results show that the proposed three-layered model outperforms the traditional two-layered model.


Background/Context Throughout schooling, English learners (ELs) perform well below their monolingual English-speaking peers on literacy assessments, and Hispanics make up the majority of EL students in the United States. There is a strong consensus about the importance of early English oral language skills for ELs' literacy development, yet teachers are not adequately prepared to meet the needs of these young learners. Historically, policy has not provided incentives for educators to focus on oral language development in the classroom. However, the recently adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) emphasize oral language skills. Purpose/Objective This study examines a professional development program that equipped early elementary teachers in five urban schools with arts-based strategies to promote the oral English development of ELs. A second line of inquiry looked at the extent to which the creative drama and dance activities were aligned with CCSS. Participants There were 3,792 K–2 Hispanic ELs (treatment: N = 497; control: N = 3,295) from Title I schools in a large school district in California. Intervention The Teaching Artist Project (TAP) was a two-year K–2 arts and literacy professional development program consisting of 28 weekly 50-minute lessons (14 theater and 14 dance). The project provided classroom teachers with in-service training on utilizing movement, gesture, and expression to promote stimulating English verbal interactions. TAP was specifically intended to engage non-native English speakers in classroom dialogues, facilitating their oral English development. Research Design This study utilized a mixed methods design. To address the first research question, schools were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Multiple regressions were run on data from the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to investigate the impact of the program on the English speaking abilities of K–2 Hispanic English learners. To address the second research question, document review was used to compare the K–2 CCSS speaking and listening standards and the TAP lesson plans. Findings The treatment group was found to significantly outperform the control group (β = 0.13; p < 0.05) on CELDT speaking scores. Additional review suggested that the performing arts activities corresponded well to the CCSS speaking and listening standards. Conclusions/Recommendations Creative drama and dance activities provide rich verbal classroom interactions, boost English oral language skills of ELs, and align with the CCSS. Yet concerns are raised about the lack of speaking assessments on tests created by the Smarter Balanced and PARCC consortiums and the potential subsequent distortion of K–2 instruction.


During the last decades software process improvement (SPI) has been recognized as a usable possibility to increase the quality of software development. Implemented SPI investments have often indicated increased process capabilities as well. Recently more attention has been focused on the costs of SPI as well as on the cost-effectiveness and productivity of software development, although the roots of economic-driven software engineering originate from the very early days of software engineering research. This research combines Value Engineering and capability assessment into usable new method in order to better respond to the challenges that cost-effectiveness and productivity has brought to software companies. This is done in part by defining the concepts of value, worth and cost and in part by defining the Value Engineering process and different enhancements it has seen to offer to software assessment. The practical industrial cases show that proposed twodimensional method works in practise and is useful to assessed companies.


Abstract:The making of the international system from c. 1500 reflected distinctively maritime dynamics, especially "gunboat diplomacy," or the use of naval force for commercial gain. Comparisons between civilizations and across time show, first, that gunboat diplomacy was peculiarly European and, second, that it evolved through stages. For the majority of the modern era, violence was central to the commercial strategies of European state, private, and hybrid actors alike in the wider world. In contrast, large and small non-Western polities almost never sought to advance mercantile aims through naval coercion. European exceptionalism reflected a structural trade deficit, regional systemic dynamics favoring armed trade, and mercantilist beliefs. Changes in international norms later restricted the practice of gunboat diplomacy to states, as private navies became illegitimate. More generally, a maritime perspective suggests the need for a reappraisal of fundamental conceptual divisions and shows how the capital- and technology-intensive nature of naval war allowed relatively small European powers to be global players. It also explains how European expansion and the creation of the first global international system was built on dominance at sea centuries before Europeans' general military superiority on land.


In a previous work, we proposed an integrated approach for a rather general shop scheduling problem, with multiresource, flexibility, and nonlinear routings. In this paper, we want to overcome some of the limitations of the approach. In particular, an operation that needs several resources might not need all the resources during its entire processing time. Our first extension allows a resource to be released before the end of the operation. The second extension considers the fact that, for a given operation, one might have to prevent a set of incompatible resources to be chosen.


Two cases of canine cutaneous histiocytosis are described. Diagnosis depended on overall consideration of clinical and histopathological features of the disease, as well as its response to anti-inflammatory therapy. No aetiological agent was visible using light and electron microscopy.


BACKGROUND
Home parenteral nutrition (PN) is a lifesaving therapy for children with intestinal failure (IF). Our aims were to describe the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies (vitamin D, zinc, copper, iron, selenium) in a diverse population of children with IF receiving PN and to identify and characterize risk factors associated with micronutrient deficiencies, including hematologic abnormalities.

METHODS
Data were collected on 60 eligible patients through retrospective chart review between May 2012 and February 2015. Descriptive statistics included frequencies, medians, interquartile ranges (IQRs), and odds ratios (ORs). Statistical analyses included χ2 , Fisher's exact, t tests, and logistic, univariate, and multivariate regressions.

RESULTS
Patients were primarily young (median age, 3.3 years; IQR, 0.7-8.4), Latino (62%), and male (56%), with short bowel syndrome (70%). Of 60 study patients, 88% had ≥1 deficiency and 90% were anemic for age. Of 51 patients who had all 5 markers checked, 59% had multiple deficiencies (defined as ≥3). Multivariate analysis shows multiple deficiencies were associated with nonwhite race (OR, 9.4; P = .012) and higher body mass index z score (OR, 2.2; P = .016). Children with severe anemia (hemoglobin <8.5 g/dL) made up 50% of the cohort. Nonwhite race (OR, 6.6; P = .037) and zinc deficiency (OR, 11; P = .003) were multivariate predictors of severe anemia.

CONCLUSIONS
Micronutrient deficiency and anemia are overwhelmingly prevalent in children with IF using chronic PN. This emphasizes the importance of universal surveillance and supplementation to potentially improve quality of life and developmental outcomes. Future research should investigate how racial disparities might contribute to nutrition outcomes for children using chronic PN.


Abstract Background Post-dilutional haemodiafiltration (HDF) with high convection volumes (HCVs) could improve survival. HCV-HDF requires a significant pressure to be applied to the dialyser membrane. The aim of this study was to assess the pressure applied to the dialysers in HCV-HDF, evaluate the influence of transmembrane pressure (TMP) calculation methods on TMP values and check how they relate to the safety limits proposed by guidelines. Methods Nine stable dialysis patients were treated with post-dilutional HCV-HDF with three different convection volumes [including haemodialysis (HD)]. The pressures at blood inlet (Bi), blood outlet (Bo) and dialysate outlet (Do) were continuously recorded. TMP was calculated using two pressures (TMP2: Bo, Do) or three pressures (TMP3: Bo, Do, Bi). Dialysis parameters were analysed at the start of the session and at the end of treatment or at the first occurrence of a manual intervention to decrease convection due to TMP alarms. Results During HD sessions, TMP2 and TMP3 remained stable. During HCV-HDF, TMP2 remained stable while TMP3 clearly increased. For the same condition, TMP3 could be 3-fold greater than TMP2. This shows that the TMP limit of 300 mmHg as recommended by guidelines could have different effects according to the TMP calculation method. In HCV-HDF, the pressure at the Bi increased over time and exceeded the safety limits of 600 mmHg provided by the manufacturer, even when respecting TMP safety limits. Conclusions This study draws our attention to the dangers of using a two-pressure points TMP calculation, particularly when performing HCV-HDF.


The use of abciximab in conjunction with infrainguinal angioplasty in 16 patients over an 18-month period in 1999 was investigated. Abciximab was given to patients thought to be at high risk for a thrombotic or embolic complication. Ten patients had high-grade stenoses or occlusions in the popliteal artery and superficial femoral artery; six patients had stenoses or occlusions below the popliteal artery. After arterial access was achieved, all patients received a bolus of heparin. A weight-based nomogram, consisting of an initial bolus followed by an overnight infusion, was used to administer the abciximab. A less than 30% residual stenosis after angioplasty was considered a technical success. Patients were monitored for complications following the procedure and platelet counts were monitored for 24 hours. Technical success occurred in 94% (15/16) of the patients. No significant effect on platelet count was noted. Two minor complications occurred. The major complication was a groin hematoma in a patient who was also undergoing chronic antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel. Abciximab has promise as an adjunct during complex infrainguinal arterial interventions but further study is needed.


Wadler and Thiemann unified type-and-effect systems with monadic semantics via a syntactic correspondence and soundness results with respect to an operational semantics. They conjecture that a general, "coherent" denotational semantics can be given to unify effect systems with a monadic-style semantics. We provide such a semantics based on the novel structure of an indexed monad, which we introduce. We redefine the semantics of Moggi's computational ?-calculus in terms of (strong) indexed monads which gives a oneto-one correspondence between indices of the denotations and the effect annotations of traditional effect systems. Dually, this approach yields indexed comonads which gives a unified semantics and effect system to contextual notions of effect (called coeffects), which we have previously described


This research is a classroom action research that aims to describe whether there is an increase in the activity of learning biology after the teacher applies a think pair share learning model. The subjects in this study were students of class VIII-A SMPN 18 Ambon with 28 students consisting of 15 male students and 13 female students. The research procedure was a series of stages of research from beginning to end. The design or design in this class action research is a model developed by Stephen Kemmis and Robbin Mc Taggart .. The stages in this study there are four components, namely planning, implementation, observation and reflection. Data in the study were collected through observation sheets, student worksheets, and documentation. From the observations using observation sheets the level of student learning activeness in learning science biology before the action as much as 32% with a low category. In the first cycle the level of student learning activeness with the application of the think pair share model increased to 62.2% in the medium category and in the second cycle increased to 82.6% with a high category.


Aim and Objectives: This in vitro study was designed to comparatively evaluate the effect of five commercial mouth rinses on the micro hardness of a nanofilled resin based restorative material. Materials and Methods: Fifty specimens of resin composite material (Filtek Z350XT, 3M ESPE, St.Paul, MN USA) were prepared and immersed in artificial saliva for 24 h. The base line micro hardness of specimens was recorded using Vicker's micro hardness tester (MMT – X7 Matsuzawa, Japan). The specimens were randomly distributed into five groups, each containing 10 specimens (n=10) as follows – Group I Listerine (alcohol based), Group II Periogard (alcohol based), Group III Colgate plax (alcohol based), Group IV C- prev (alcohol free), Group V Hiora(alcohol free). The specimens were immersed in 20 ml of mouth rinses and incubated for 24 h at 37°C. The post immersion micro hardness values of the specimens were recorded and the data was tabulated for statistical analysis. Kruskal–Wallis test was used for inter group comparison followed by pair wise comparison of groups using Mann–Whitney U test. The level of significance was set at P=0.05. Results: Significant reduction in the mean VHN (Vicker's micro hardness number) was observed in all the groups after exposure to the tested mouth rinses (P<0.01) and the reduction in mean VHN values were as follows: Group I 12.09, Group II 3.42, Group II 1.51, Group IV 1.03, Group V 0.57. Inter group comparison showed statistically significant reduction in micro hardness in Groups I and II compared to all other groups with P<0.001. There was no significant difference between Groups III, IV and V. Conclusion: All the mouth rinses showed a reduction in the microhardness of nanofilled resin composite material with listerine (Group I) containing maximum amount of alcohol, showing highest reduction in micro hardness value.


AbstractINTRODUCTION: In an era of dwindling hospital resources and increasing medical costs, safe reduction in postoperative stay has become a major focus to optimize utilization of healthcare resources. Although several protocols have been reported to reduce postoperative stay, no Level I evidence exists for their use in routine clinical practice.
METHODS: Sixty-four patients undergoing laparotomy and intestinal or rectal resection were randomly assigned to a pathway of controlled rehabilitation with early ambulation and diet or to traditional postoperative care. Time to discharge from hospital, complication and readmission rates, pain level, quality of life, and patient satisfaction scores were determined at the time of discharge and at 10 and 30 days after surgery. Subgroups were defined to evaluate those who derived the optimal benefit from the protocol.
RESULTS: Pathway patients spent less total time in the hospital after surgery (5.4 vs. 7.1 days; P = 0.02) and less time in the hospital during the primary admission than traditional patients. Patients younger than 70 years old had greater benefits than the overall study group (5 vs. 7.1 days; P = 0.01). Patients treated by surgeons with the most experience with the pathway spent significantly less time in the hospital than did those whose surgeons were less experienced with the pathway (P = 0.01). There was no difference between pathway and traditional patients for readmission or complication rates, pain score, quality of life after surgery, or overall satisfaction with the hospital stay.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients scheduled for a laparotomy and major intestinal or rectal resection are suitable for management by a pathway of controlled rehabilitation with early ambulation and diet. Pathway patients have a shorter hospital stay, with no adverse effect on patient satisfaction, pain scores, or complication rates. Patients younger than 70 years of age derive the optimal benefit, and increased surgeon experience improves outcome.


This dissertation analyzes the change in the representation of women in Iranian cinema since the 1990s and investigates the motives behind it by looking at the overall history of Iranian cinema and those active in its production. Iranian cinema, both before and after the Islamic Revolution, has been closely watched by the ruling powers and one way or another has been utilized to relay messages that comply with the dominant order. But this has not completely shut down all the efforts of the filmmakers striving to convey a more meaningful message. The Iranian cinema industry has been the arena of an elite intellectual group of people; only following the 1979 Revolution and the "legitimization of cinema" by the Islamic order did it become a widely accessible industry to the general public, who tended to ignore or oppose it prior to the Islamic Revolution. This thesis pays close attention to the changing roles of women in film production and representation. Although aspects of women's lives become stricter after the Revolution, it is in this period—from the late 1980s into the 1990s—that women for the first time took a prominent role both behind and in front of the camera. This dissertation argues that such shifts are due to "factionalism" within the Islamic Republic, shifts internal to the film industry and the emergence of a group of highly educated film production teams, in addition to the variety of ways in which women were able to exercise more agency in the film industry. One trope around which this shift occurs is that of the "veil" as a technique and metaphor for social practice in representation. Employing feminist film theory tools, a number of representative female-centric films from this period are analyzed, focusing on their cultural, political, and cinematic contexts. Examining the films with respect to the representation of women, the research relies on textual analysis as its basic methodology. Along with the textual analysis, interviews conducted with filmmakers and people active in the industry also help to map the films in the socio-political context in which they were produced.


Red blood cells (RBCs) are generated from haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) through the step‐wise process of differentiation known as erythropoiesis. In this review, we discuss our current understanding of erythropoiesis and highlight recent advances in this field. During embryonic development, erythropoiesis occurs in three distinct waves comprising first, the yolk sac‐derived primitive RBCs, followed sequentially by the erythro‐myeloid progenitor (EMP) and HSPC‐derived definitive RBCs. Recent work has highlighted the complexity and variability that may exist in the hierarchical arrangement of progenitors responsible for erythropoiesis. Using recently defined cell surface markers, it is now possible to enrich for erythroid progenitors and precursors to a much greater extent than has been possible before. While a great deal of knowledge has been gained on erythropoiesis from model organisms, our understanding of this process is currently being refined through human genetic studies. Genes mutated in erythroid disorders can now be identified more rapidly by the use of next‐generation sequencing techniques. Genome‐wide association studies on erythroid traits in healthy populations have also revealed new modulators of erythropoiesis. All of these recent developments have significant promise not only for increasing our understanding of erythropoiesis, but also for improving our ability to intervene when RBC production is perturbed in disease.


Purpose

Multiple challenges remain in achieving sustainability of digital health innovations, with many failing to realise their potential due to barriers to research, development and implementation. Finding an approach that overcomes these challenges is important if society is to derive benefit from these new approaches to healthcare. Having been commissioned by local authorities, NHS Trusts, prisons, charities, and third sector providers across the UK, Breaking Free Group, who in 2010 launched Breaking Free Online (BFO), a computer-assisted therapy programme for substance misuse, have overcome many of these challenges. This has been possible through close collaborative working with partner organisations, to overcome barriers to implementation and sustainability. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper synthesises findings from a series of qualitative studies conducted by Breaking Free Group in collaboration with health and social care charity, Change, Grow, Live (CGL), which explore barriers and facilitators of implementation and sustainability of BFO at CGL. Data are analysed using thematic analyses with findings conceptualised using behavioural science theory.

Findings

This partnership has resulted in UK wide implementation of BFO at CGL, enhanced focus on digital technologies in substance misuse recovery, and a growing body of published collaborative research.

Originality/value

Valuable lessons have been learnt through the partnership between Breaking Free Group and CGL, which will be of interest to the wider digital health community. This paper outlines those lessons, in the hope that they will provide guidance to other digital health developers and their partners, to contribute to the continued evolution of a sustainable digital health sector.


Determining the origin of eroded soil is essential to design effective soil erosion control strategies which preserve the soil resource, enhance agricultural productivity, and reduce the negative impacts of soil erosion, in-field and off-field. Magnetic properties have been widely used in temperate environments to identify sediment sources, pathways and links, but there have been very few applications in tropical and subtropical environments. Therefore, in this paper we investigated reservoir sediment sources in the Upper Grande River Basin, Southeastern Brazil, using sediment tracing techniques based on magnetic parameters (low and high frequency magnetic susceptibility, frequency dependent susceptibility). The different parent materials and subtropical weathering conditions resulted in soils having different Fe oxide minerals and Fe oxide contents, promoting magnetic variability that allowed comparison and identification of possible sources of reservoir sediments in order to reduce water erosion impacts. The results indicate the suitability of magnetic properties as a tracer for soil erosion studies in tropical environments.


The implementation of a classical control infrastructure for large-scale quantum computers is challenging due to the need for integration and processing time, which is constrained by coherence time. We propose a cryogenic reconfigurable platform as the heart of the control infrastructure implementing the digital error-correction control loop. The platform is implemented on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) that supports the functionality required by several qubit technologies and that can operate close to the physical qubits over a temperature range from 4 K to 300 K. This work focuses on the extensive characterization of the electronic platform over this temperature range. All major FPGA building blocks (such as look-up tables (LUTs), carry chains (CARRY4), mixed-mode clock manager (MMCM), phase-locked loop (PLL), block random access memory, and IDELAY2 (programmable delay element)) operate correctly and the logic speed is very stable. The logic speed of LUTs and CARRY4 changes less then 5%, whereas the jitter of MMCM and PLL clock managers is reduced by 20%. The stability is finally demonstrated by operating an integrated 1.2 GSa/s analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a relatively stable performance over temperature. The ADCs effective number of bits drops from 6 to 4.5 bits when operating at 15 K.


Abstract Objective To determine whether primary trabeculectomy or primary medical treatment produces better outcomes in term of quality of life, clinical effectiveness, and safety in patients presenting with advanced glaucoma. Design Pragmatic multicentre randomised controlled trial. Setting 27 secondary care glaucoma departments in the UK. Participants 453 adults presenting with newly diagnosed advanced open angle glaucoma in at least one eye (Hodapp classification) between 3 June 2014 and 31 May 2017. Interventions Mitomycin C augmented trabeculectomy (n=227) and escalating medical management with intraocular pressure reducing drops (n=226) Main outcome measures Primary outcome: vision specific quality of life measured with Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (VFQ-25) at 24 months. Secondary outcomes: general health status, glaucoma related quality of life, clinical effectiveness (intraocular pressure, visual field, visual acuity), and safety. Results At 24 months, the mean VFQ-25 scores in the trabeculectomy and medical arms were 85.4 (SD 13.8) and 84.5 (16.3), respectively (mean difference 1.06, 95% confidence interval −1.32 to 3.43; P=0.38). Mean intraocular pressure was 12.4 (SD 4.7) mm Hg for trabeculectomy and 15.1 (4.8) mm Hg for medical management (mean difference −2.8 (−3.8 to −1.7) mm Hg; P<0.001). Adverse events occurred in 88 (39%) patients in the trabeculectomy arm and 100 (44%) in the medical management arm (relative risk 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.66 to 1.17; P=0.37). Serious side effects were rare. Conclusion Primary trabeculectomy had similar quality of life and safety outcomes and achieved a lower intraocular pressure compared with primary medication. Trial registration Health Technology Assessment (NIHR-HTA) Programme (project number: 12/35/38). ISRCTN registry: ISRCTN56878850.


The complex and networked nature of sustainable procurement is evoked through confronting two conceptual models, the triple bottom line-inspired parallel-type "interlocking circles model" with the more systems-oriented series-type "concentric circles model". This endeavor is integrated with a developed application of contingency theory rooted in network thinking. Two subcase narratives from Ghana, one in the upstream portion of the supply chain associated with exploration and platform-based production, and the other an oil refinery in the downstream part are provided. Interaction, interdependency, and integration, all associated with value, conceptually ground the analyses. A developed empirically grounded conceptual model depicts sustainability as systemically intertwined with value and networked in an immediate business, network, and wider noncontextual natural and social environment. Sustainable procurement is networked, a value creating managerial process rather than, as the triple bottom line posits, a norm "out there" directing managerial action. Sustainability is inherently complex. Rather than guiding action through deterministic ethical norms, it emerges as emergent practices primarily through purposeful interaction within the supply network that instead may be interpreted and developed in a long-term sense through using the two discussed conceptual models on sustainable production.


The protein adsorption behavior was investigated for highly (001) oriented hydroxypatatite coatings (HACs). Highly (001) oriented (HO-) HACs and HAC with low orientation (LO-HAC) were prepared on titanium (Ti) substrates through a radio-frequency thermal plasma spraying method. Sintered HA pellets (S-HA) was also prepared as a control. The solution of 22 'g/100 'l PBS of the fluorescein-isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled bovine serum albumin (FITC-BSA), immunoglobulin G (FITC-IgG) and cytochrom c (FITC-CCC) was separately dropped on the surface of HACs and was incubated for 30 min. After the incubation, such HACs were washed with the PBS additionally supplemented with 125mM NaCl and observed using a fluorescence microscope. Fluorescence microscopic examination indicates that FITC labeled proteins somewhat adsorbed on the HACs, while proteins adsorbed little on S-HA surface. In particular, it can be seen that FITC-CCC adsorbed more prominently on the HO-HAC.


: Bone-marrow transplantations were performed in 71 patients, 11 with panmyelopathy, 17 with recurrence of acute leukaemia, 25 with acute leukaemia and remission, 18 with chronic myeloid leukaemia. The transplantation was allogenic in 67, autologous in 2, isologous in 2. Eight patients each survived in the panmyelopathy and chronic myeloid leukaemia groups. In the group of patients with acute leukaemia only one patient of those in a recurrence survived the transplantation for several years, but after 6 years there was another recurrence. Of the 20 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia who received the transplantation during their first remission, 11 are still alive. Retransplantation because of the recurrence was employed in one case each of acute and chronic myeloid leukaemia. Main cause of death was interstitial pneumonia with an overall risk of 23%. Only 5% of patients developed severe acute graft-versus-host reaction, grades III-IV. The low incidence of this reaction is possibly due to the strict gnotobiotic measures which in most of the patients led to decontamination of the intestinal tract.


In 2010, the United States Tax Court upheld a taxpayer's deduction for medical expenses arising from gender-reassignment surgery. This article discusses the facts of the O'Donnabhain case and the Tax Court's holding in light of relevant legislative history, and finds that a new layer of understanding now exists in the context of deductible cosmetic surgery: in a post-O'Donnabhain world, mental (not just physical) diseases may be treated through physical alterations to the body which constitute deductible cosmetic surgery. Based on the Tax Court's opinion, we posit an algorithm for application of what we consider a fourth case-law created exception to the disallowance of deductions for cosmetic surgery.


With the advent of adequate adrenal replacement and the development of a simplified anterior operative approach to the adrenals, total or subtotal adrenalectomy should rapidly become a standard procedure for many of the endocrine disorders resulting from hyperfunction or tumor of the adrenal gland. In turn, the modern surgeon will find it necessary to add the terminology of the adrenal physiologist and the endocrinologist to his fund of knowledge and to become familiar with a variety of adrenal hormones, including their mechanism of action and associated clinical phenomena. This report is based upon cases reported in the literature and upon 12 cases in which operation was performed at Ohio State University Hospital from July, 1950, to August, 1957. The adrenocortical hyper-function problems treated by total or subtotal adrenalectomy include eight cases of primary Cushing's syndrome, two cases of Cushing's syndrome secondary to pituitary tumor, one case of primary aldosteronism, and


In distributed systems and networks, such as the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, peformance goals can only be reached if all actors cooperate. In Air Traffic Management (ATM), in order to satisfy future performance- and capacity-demands, increasingly sophisticated coordination procedures and resource allocation mechanisms are currently under development. These new mechanisms rely on extended data exchange as well as the communication of user-preferences and -constraints between actors and entirely new negotiation protocols.

If the new mechanisms are designed properly, they ensure that Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) benefits can be realized and emergent system performance is indeed increased. However, the new mechanisms are, more than conventional centralized systems, more vulnerable to agents' selfish, uncooperative behavior and manipulation. That kind of behavior can impair system performance.

To make sure that CDM benefits can in fact be realized, system design has to take care that incentives established by the system are correctly aligned (i.e. compatible) with the design goals. The assumption of cooperative behavior becomes much more credible, if it can be proven that cooperative interaction with a given mechanism is actually in the best interest of each participating agent.

The central contribution of this dissertation is the development of the framework DAVIC (Design and Verification of Incentive-Compatible Systems) which supports the modeling and realization of incentive-compatible systems. The framework is based on decision-theoretic, game-theoretic and system-theoretic analysis approaches as well as the net-based modeling of distributed agent systems with Coloured Petri Nets (CPN). Exploiting the CPN potential of a state space generation, extensive decision spaces are represented and agent- and system-reactions are explored. Through formal state space analysis, the explicit confrontation of overall system view and local agent view is realized. Based on the state space analysis techniques, DAVIC supports a systematic process of mechanism optimization and refinement. It enables the designer to select, based on decision-theoretic criteria and performance criteria, the optimal mechanism out of a pre-defined mechanism design space. The framework DAVIC consists of eight generic components whose functionality and interaction is explained in detail in this dissertation. The practical realization and implementation of the approach is demonstrated on the application example of an arrival planning mechanism from the domain of air traffic control.


EDITOR,-In a consecutive series of 1300 patients with uveal melanomas treated with brachytherapy ('"Ru/'MRh plaques),' three patients developed unusual echographic findings following radiation. Pretreatment echographic evaluation showed homogeneous tumour echoes with low inner reflectivity. The patients were a 48-year-old woman, a 63-year-old man, and a 73-year-old woman. Before treatment the maximum tumour heights were 6-9 mm, 7-7 mm, and 6-2 mm respectively. The first patient received two courses of radiation with 1360 and 1000 Gy scleral contact dose within 15 months and an additional laser coagulation 6 months later. The other patients were treated once with scleral contact doses of 700 and 1000 Gy respectively. Highly reflective echoes with posterior shadowing were detected 5, 7, and 2 years after radiation in regressive residual tumours with a height of 2-7 mm, 1-2 mm, and 1-7 mm respectively (Figs 1, 2). An increase of reflectivity usually occurs in melanomas following radiation therapy.23 However, very high reflectivity and marked posterior shadowing are very characteristic signs of calcification and have not been described previously. Histological findings following radiation therapy include tumour


Within the framework of a research project launched to assess the feasibility of seismic monitoring of underground growing cavities, this specific work focus on the analysis of the induced microseismicity generated by a controlled pressure experiment recently carried out in a salt mine environment. A local seismic array has been installed over a stable underground cavity within a salt layer located in the Lorraine basin (north-east France). The array includes four 3D components and three 1D component geophones deployed at depths between 30 m to 125 m in cemented boreholes drilled in the vicinity of the study area. The underground cavity under monitoring is located within a salt layer at 180 m depth and it presents a rather irregular shape that can be approximated by a cylindrical volume of 50 m height and 180 m diameter. Presently, the cavity fully saturated with brine inducing a significant pressure on its walls (~2.5 MPa) to keep the overburden mechanically stable. Nevertheless some small microsesimic events were recorded by the array and analysed (~500 events in two years of recording). In October 2005, a controlled pressure transient experiment has been carried out in the cavity in order to analyse the mechanical response of the overburden by tracking the induced microseismicity. The recorded events are mainly grouped in clusters of 3 to 30 seconds of signal duration with non-emergent first arrivals and rather low frequency content (between 20 to 120 Hz). Some of these events have been spatially located by travel-time picking close to the actual cavity and its immediate roof. Preliminary spectral analysis suggests sources possibly related to resonant fluid-filled cracks, and/or cavitations due to the dynamic excitation of the brine-filled cavity. Rock-debris falling into the cavity from delamination of clayey marls in the immediate roof is possibly another source of seismic excitation. No clear evidence of classical brittle ruptures in the competent layers of the overburden has been observed up to now. Current work is focused on the discrimination of all these possible mechanisms to better understand the damage processes within the rock mass.


The rod-shaped bulk composites consisting of Al-10Ni-6Ce and Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V- 0.3Zr alloy (mixing ratio; 0.7:0.3, 0.5:0.5 and 0.3:0.7) and corresponding monolithic alloys were produced to a full density via powder forging process. The process involved pre-compaction of rapidly solidified alloy powders and subsequent isothermal forging at 673K. The forged Al-10Ni- 6Ce alloy exhibited nano-scaled crystalline particles, such as fcc-Al, Al3Ni, Al4Ce and Al11Ce3 phase, coexisting with an amorphous phase. In the case of the forged Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V-0.3Zr alloy, an equiaxed grain structure was observed to exist with uniformly distributed nano-scaled Al- Fe based intermetallics. The monolithic Al-10Ni-6Ce alloy had a considerably high maximum compressive strength (MCS) of 1.35 GPa without showing any compressive plastic strain (CPS). In contrast, the monolithic Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V-0.3Zr alloy possessed noticeably high CPS of 25% with the MCS of 0.71GPa. The composites acquired the CPS varying from 1 to 5.8 % and the MCS from 1.26 to 0.74 GPa, with increment of the volume fraction of Al-4Fe-0.6Mo-1.1V-0.3Zr alloy from 0.3 to 0.7.


Two years after the world economy suffered a nervous breakdown in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, global financial markets remain unsettled, and the recovery that started so vigorously in 2009 seems to be stalling. In this Commentary, CEPS Director Daniel Gros considers the reasons for this slowdown and the mismatch between the skills available in the existing work force and the requirements of a modern export-oriented manufacturing sector.


If blood moves too slowly through your veins, it can cause a clump of blood cells called a clot. When a blood clot forms in a vein deep inside your body, it causes what doctors call deep vein thrombosis (DVT). This is most likely to happen in your lower leg, thigh, or pelvis. But it can occur in other parts of your body, too. DVT can lead to major health problems. In some cases, it can be fatal. That's why if you think you have one, you must see a doctor right away.


The present work is an attempt to develop design data for an Iraqi roof and wall constructions using the latest ASHRAE Radiant Time Series (RTS) cooling load calculation method. The work involves calculation of cooling load theoretically by introducing the design data for Iraq, and verifies the results experimentally by field measurements. Technical specifications of Iraqi construction materials are used to derive the conduction time factors that needed in RTS method calculations. Special software published by Oklahoma state university is used to extract the conduction factors according to the technical specifications of Iraqi construction materials.  Good agreement between the average theoretical and measured cooling load is obtained and the difference between them does not exceed 9.3%.


Objective: An increased risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) has been reported in children with asthma before the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines (PVs). However, the evidence is limited after PV entered the routine immunization schedule. We aimed to investigate whether pediatric allergists recommend additional PV (aPV) to asthmatic children and if so whether there are any asthma-specific risk factors they consider. We also wanted to determine any changes in their recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was e-mailed to all members of the Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Asthma in Turkey. The questionnaire was filled online and consisted of 14 questions. Results: The questionnaire was e-mailed to 220 members. The response rate was 56.3% and 60.5% of PA recommended aPV. The most frequent asthma specific factors for aPV were severe asthma (70.2%), long term oral corticosteroid use (65.3%) and frequent exacerbations / hospitalizations (62.9%). COVID-19 pandemic increased the rate of questions asked to PA about aPV for asthmatic children compared to previous periods (75.8 vs 33.9%) (p<0.001) and %27 of PA changed their recommendations in favor of aPV during pandemic.Conclusion: Asthmatic children is not infrequent. Severe asthma and related factors seem to be the leading reasons to recommend aPV for asthmatic children. The aPV recommendation by PA is increased during COVID-19 pandemic.


: We compared endoscopic findings in 243 Nigerian and 1867 British patients undergoing endoscopy for similar indications. The Nigerian patients were much younger, 46.5% of them being less than 35 years old whereas the British patients were older, with only 36.2% being less than 35 years old (P = 0.001). Duodenal ulcers were commoner in the Nigerian patients (P = 0.03) and gastric ulcers were also commoner in the Nigerian patients who were less than 35 years old (P = 0.01). There was no difference in the prevalence of gastric nor oesophageal carcinoma in the two groups.


Aim Current resuscitation guidelines recommend waveform capnography as an indirect indicator of perfusion during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Chest compressions (CCs) and ventilations during CPR have opposing effects on the exhaled carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, which need to be better characterized. The purpose of this study was to model the impact of ventilations in the exhaled CO2 measured from capnograms collected during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) resuscitation. Methods We retrospectively analyzed OHCA monitor-defibrillator files with concurrent capnogram, compression depth, transthoracic impedance and ECG signals. Segments with CC pauses, two or more ventilations, and with no pulse-generating rhythm were selected. Thus, only ventilations should have caused the decrease in CO2 concentration. The variation in the exhaled CO2 concentration with each ventilation was modeled with an exponential decay function using non-linear-least-squares curve fitting. Results Out of the original 1002 OHCA dataset (one per patient), 377 episodes had the required signals, and 196 segments from 96 patients met the inclusion criteria. Airway type was endotracheal tube in 64.8% of the segments, supraglottic King LT-D™ in 30.1%, and unknown in 5.1%. Median (IQR) decay factor of the exhaled CO2 concentration was 10.0% (7.8 − 12.9) with R2 = 0.98(0.95 − 0.99). Differences in decay factor with airway type were not statistically significant (p = 0.17). From these results, we propose a model for estimating the contribution of CCs to the end-tidal CO2 level between consecutive ventilations and for estimating the end-tidal CO2 variation as a function of ventilation rate. Conclusion We have modeled the decrease in exhaled CO2 concentration with ventilations during chest compression pauses in CPR. This finding allowed us to hypothesize a mathematical model for explaining the effect of chest compressions on ETCO2 compensating for the influence of ventilation rate during CPR. However, further work is required to confirm the validity of this model during ongoing chest compressions.


Background: Currently, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is continuously and rapidly circulating, resulting in serious and extensive impact on human health. Due to the absence of antiviral medicine for COVID-19 thus far, it is desperately need to develop the effective medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely applied in the treatment of epidemic diseases in China, hoping to produce clinical efficacy and decrease the use of antibiotics and glucocorticoid. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Baidu Jieduan Granule in curing COVID-19. Methods/design: This multicenter, open-label randomized controlled trial is conducted 300 cases with COVID-19. The patients will be randomly (1:1) divided into treatment group or control group. All cases will receive standard therapy at the same time. The experiment group will receive Baidu Jieduan Granule treatment twice a day for 14 days. The outcomes are assessed at baseline and at 3, 5, 7, 14 days after treatment initiation. The primary outcome is the rate of symptom (fever, fatigue, and coughing) recovery. Adverse events will be monitored throughout the trial.Discussion: The study will provide a high-quality clinical evidence to support the efficacy and safety of Baidu Jieduan Granule in treatment of severe COVID-19, and also enrich the theory and practice of TCM in treating COVID-19. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2000029869. Registered on 15 February 2020


Objective: Adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder is often a debilitating and long-lasting condition even with traditional treatment.  The purpose of this case report is to discuss examination, intervention and clinical outcomes of a patient with pain that closely resembled adhesive capsulitis.  Case Description: The patient was a 59-year-old retired female with history of multiple hereditary exostoses (MHE).  She had a 1-month history of insidious onset right shoulder pain that had been worsening.  At the initial visit, she reported pain (5-9/10 on the numerical pain rating scale), limitations with range of motion and decreased daily functions (Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder Hand score was 57.5%).  Examination revealed severely limited active and passive range of motions in all directions of her right shoulder. Treatment included utilization of the McKenzie Method of mechanical diagnosis and therapy (MDT), thoracic manipulation, and instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization over the shoulder. Outcomes:  After 5 visits in a 2-week period, she reported no pain or limitations.  Examination revealed right shoulder motion to be pain-free and equal to the left shoulder. On a follow-up phone call 2 weeks later, her DASH score was 0%.  Conclusion: This patient demonstrated rapid improvement in pain, function and range of motion following examination and treatment utilizing MDT, IASTM and chiropractic manipulation. While a single case is not enough to warrant cause-effect relationships, it seems this treatment approach may be beneficial for shoulder pain presenting as adhesive capsulitis.


The People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded on October 1, 1949, and the Central People's Government under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) became the sole legitimate government of China. This government immediately won extensive recognition from many countries, and won the natural qualification to exercise sovereignty over the whole of the Chinese territory. From the winter of 1949 to the spring of 1950, the Central People's Government planned the peaceful liberation of Tibet. In the spring and summer of 1950, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) marched toward Tibet. After having overcome foreign obstructions, put to rout the resistance by Tibetan separatists and beaten the harsh highland environment, the PLA advance troops arrived in Lhasa and various major towns and border areas in 1951. China's five-star red flag fluttered over the Himalayas. China thus succeeded in the peaceful liberation of Tibet, completing the holy task of unifying the mainland. From then on, Tibet no longer operated under the yoke of foreign forces, and returned to the big family of the motherland known for its national unity and fraternity.


We compared cycle thresholds from mpox skin lesions with other specimen sites and over time from onset of clinical signs among 104 patients in Sweden. Cycle thresholds differed by anatomic site. We identified 2 early mpox cases from anorectal swab specimens after skin samples were negative, indicating necessity of sampling multiple sites.


Abstract:This essay topic models Shakespeare's Sonnets as an act of computational deformance in order to propose that word clouds are poems. The Sonnets have never been topic modeled: while there are legitimate mathematical objections to doing so, yet there are good reasons to bring together a highly useful tool and a canonical text, both to learn what the tool can offer and because close reading the products of distant reading demonstrates the socially embedded nature of critical process. As an author steeped in the humanist educational system of late sixteenth-century England, Shakespeare relies on the forms of his poetry to perform communicative functions, and in fact, early modern conceptions of shaped language help us understand word clouds. What unites humanist poems and digital humanities word clouds is an abiding concern with form, and particularly form as endowed with social meaning. Taken together, theories of early modern poetic form and modern digital humanities topic modeling practices emphasize that digital humanities products are not transparent keys to the text: they are generative and are best when read like poems, a shaped remediation of language. As generative products, they further illuminate the constructed nature of the processes behind both computational and traditional literary criticism.


This paper will report on findings from work which explores how to promote and teach discrimination to students studying employment law by distance learning. The module at the centre of this paper is a compulsory module on a distance learning professional Masters programme. Typically, the cohort comprises professionals with differing study skills, experience and technological ability. A particular aim of the teaching is to enable students to become active inquirers, viewing problems of discrimination law holistically with an informed contextual understanding of the issues.
The paper aims to identify how assessment and curriculum design can be used to promote and improve inquiry based learning for students studying by distance learning on a topic area which is traditionally taught face to face. This traditional model would typically offer a range of opportunities for debate and questioning, something it is difficult to replicate in distance learning. Existing discourse on moving towards students as participants, assessment, curriculum design and distance learning is thus engaged.
The research was conducted by the module tutor as a participative using action research as a model to inform outcomes. Accordingly, it was necessary to gather information on the student experience. Students were invited to join a focus group, complete a questionnaire or engage in a semi-structured interview on completion of the module. The focus of these enquiries was to determine how the students progressed on their learning journey and for all participants, including the tutor to reflect on it and consider if any views on discrimination were changed or existing views strengthened or reinforced.
The data will be explored and reported in terms of how the assessment and curriculum design can be utilised, developed and improved to promote the distance learner as an inquirer, holistic thinker and to improve the student experience. Consideration will also be given to incorporating research requirements in the module to continue informing and improving learning by distance.


This paper addresses the development of a dynamics simulator that for a biped robot on loose soil. Especially, the paper focuses on the method of sinkage calculation which is one of the characteristics for walking on loose soil. The calculation algorithm is changed dynamically according to the support condition of the legs. Considering ground projection of center of mass (GCoM) as a center of rotation of a robot, angle of trim is also estimated. Additionally, to describe the dynamical variation of sinkage, a filtering method is proposed for the calculation result. By applying the proposed method, sinkage phenomenon of a biped robot during stepping is simulated realistically.


Background: This systematic review and meta-analysis assesses the efficacy of regular, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: RCTs including children and adolescents with clinically diagnosed ADHD, implementing regular MVPA, and assessing ADHD core-symptoms on a valid rating scale post-intervention (primary outcome) were included. Outcomes were pooled through random-effects meta-analysis. Prospero registration: CRD42019142166. Results: MVPA had a small effect on total ADHD core symptoms (n = 11; g = −0.33; 95% CI [−0.63; −0.02]; p = .037). Conclusions: MVPA could serve as an alternative treatment for ADHD. New RCTs are necessary to increase the understanding of the effect regarding frequency, intensity, type of MVPA interventions, and differential effects on age groups.


The basic concepts and theories of Hilbert-Huang-Transformation (HHT) for signal analysis is introduced and its implementation procedure is programmed. For the collected three orthogonal directions wind speed signals at a measuring point at Sutong Bridge site, Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is conducted to extract the Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). Hilbert transformation is performed on IMFs and its marginal amplitude spectra and amplitude spectra are achieved. The orthogonal exponential matrix that reflects the orthogonalities between the IMFs is obtained, and eigenvalue decomposition is carried out. The results show that the measured wind speed appears non-stationary nature, even for the same measuring point, for the wind speed at different directions, the dominant frequencies are distinct.


Improving robotic manipulation is critical for robots to be actively useful in real-world factories and homes. While some success has been shown in simulation and controlled environments, robots are slow, clumsy, and not general or robust enough when interacting with their environment. By contrast, humans effortlessly manipulate objects. One possible reason for this discrepancy is that humans have had years of experience to collect data to have good internal models of what happens when they manipulate objects. If robots could learn models from a large amount of real data, they could become more capable manipulators. In this thesis, we propose to improve robotic manipulation by solving two problems. First, we look at how robots can collect a large amount of manipulation data without human intervention. Second, we study how to build statistical models of robotic manipulation from the collected data. These data-driven models can then be used for planning more robust manipulation actions. To solve the first problem of enabling large data collection, we perform several different robotic manipulation experiments and use these as case studies. We study bin-picking, post-grasp manipulation, pushing, regrasping, and planar grasping. These case studies allow us to gain insights on how robots can collect a large amount of accurate data with minimal human intervention. To solve the second problem of statistically modeling manipulation actions, we propose models for different parts of various manipulation actions. First, we look at how to model post-grasp manipulation actions by modeling the probability distribution of where an object ends up in a robot's hand, and how this affects its success rate at various tasks such as placing or insertion. Second, we model how robots can change the pose of an object in their hand with regrasp actions. These learned data-driven models can then be used for planning more robust and accurate manipulation actions.


This paper aims to highlight some of the main issues and challenges raised by developing and implementing the most appropriate and efficient approach for water pricing, to induce a sustainable water management (in its both edges of demand and supply). Therefore, we analyse some of the most important theoretical or mathematical models of water pricing developed so far. We follow with a review of opinions, approaches and some personal judgement and recommendations on the actual opportunity, principles, effectiveness and role of an efficient water pricing in fulfilling the multiple goals of sustainabilty.