A footing-to-reinforced concrete (RC) pier connection resists the lateral load induced by earthquakes as well as the gravity load. The footing-to-RC pier connection is the vulnerable part to strong earthquake loading. Several studies have been conducted on improving the seismic performance of the connection by using high-strength reinforcing bars and by adding special structural components, such as steel tube and fiber-reinforced polymer sheet. In this study, reinforcing bars made of high-manganese steel (HMSBs) with high strength and ductility were installed in the connection instead of conventional reinforcing bars to improve the seismic performance. Test specimens were fabricated with HMSBs, and the strength, ductility, and dissipated energy of the connection were evaluated through a cyclic loading test. Three-dimensional finite-element analysis was also performed to investigate the effects of various axial forces on the behavior of the connection with HMSBs. The results show that the connection with HMSBs exhibits better seismic performance, represented by flexural strength, ductility, and energy dissipation, than that with ordinary reinforcing bars.


Qatar: Evidence of the Palaeolithic Earliest People Revealed, with full text in both English and Arabic, tells the story of the long and difficult search to discover the identity of the first people to inhabit the sovereign State of Qatar, which is situated on a peninsula, that extends into the Arabian Gulf. The book synthesises the results of extensive fieldwork by the PADMAC Unit with the many diverse historical records and reports of investigations, beginning with Holgar Kapel's, in the early 1950s.

The archaeology of the State of Qatar is an important part of the cultural heritage of the world. The loss of archaeological sites to urban and industrial development since the 1950s has been inevitable but the loss of over 30 years of Palaeolithic research in Qatar, an area of prehistoric significance, as a result of academic dissension, is certainly regrettable. The work of the PADMAC Unit in Qatar now marks the end of this Palaeolithic research hiatus.


With the ever more stringent requirements of emissions and fuel economy imposed on the automotive industry, there is a need to understand more fully all aspects of the internal combustion engine to meet these requirements and at the same time the desire of the customer for acceptable performance. This research was aimed at investigating one part of the engine behaviour i.e. induction of the fresh charge to the engine cylinder. Conventionally, these measurements have been performed on a steady state flow rig, where bulk, integral measurements for mass flow rate and swirl or tumble ratio are performed. However, for some of the combustion strategies now being implemented on modern engines, the flow structure is becoming more important necessitating the use of techniques that can measure the flow field and its interaction with spray systems. This piece of work compares engine flow measurements on both a standard steady flow rig and in the cylinder of a motored engine. The flow bench measurements are both easier and cheaper to implement, but serve no real purpose unless there is a correspondence between the flow measured under steady state conditions and that measured in the transient environment of an engine cylinder.

On the steady flow bench, both conventional measurements and also measurements of the detailed flow using laser Doppler anemometry have been made. This allowed a direct comparison to be performed between these two sets of measurements. Laser Doppler anemometry measurements were than performed in the cylinder of a motored engine, allowing a direct comparison between the results from the steady flow rig and the engine. Additionally, particle image velocimetry was used to investigate the data on the steady flow bench.

It was found that the laser Doppler anemometry measurements were no substitute in terms of accuracy, when compared to the integral measurement of mass flow rate. They did however give some insight into the flow patterns being generated within the cylinder under these conditions. When compared to similar measurements in the engine, in most instances a high degree of correlation was found between the air velocity measurements, although the tumble ratio calculated from the engine was generally higher than that from the steady flow bench. A comparison of vector flows fields from the particle image velocimetry for the steady state and laser Doppler anemometry for the engine measurements, suggested that the influence of the piston on the flows, not present for steady state measurements, was only relevant in the neighbourhood of the piston itself. The transient nature of the flow in engine also seemed to show very little differences between the two sets of measurements.

It was concluded that ideally both sets of measurements are required, but that a lot of the detail, with some additional work, could be extracted from the steady flow measurements, but only by using laser diagnostics to measure the flow fields. It was also observed that more than one plane of measurements is required using laser diagnostics to fully characterise the tumble flow field, which is not uniform across the cylinder. This also led to a simple form of weighting of the data in different planes which could be improved with a more detailed set of measurements to gain better insight into the weighting factors required.


Measurements of transverse momentum fluctuations can be used to determine the shear viscosity [1]. We use current data to estimate the viscosity-to-entropy ratio in the range from 0.08 to 0.3, and discuss how future measurements can reduce this uncertainty.


: This paper examines the issue of capital punishment and whether a professional nurse has the right to choose to participate in it. Capital punishment is an extremely emotional ethical issue, and there is abundant literature to support both viewpoints. Professional nursing upholds values and special moral obligations, as expressed in its code. The American Nurses Association Code for Nurses guides conduct in carrying out nursing responsibilities consistent with the ethical obligations of the profession.


BACKGROUND
The Japanese Rhythm Management Trial for Atrial Fibrillation (J-RHYTHM) study showed rhythm control was associated with fewer changes in the assigned treatment strategy compared to rate control in atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim was to describe how antiarrhythmics (AAs) were altered in the rhythm control arm and whether altering AAs would impact long-term outcomes.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Of 390 enrolled patients, 23.5% altered their AAs (drug alteration [DA] group). The hard endpoint (HE) was defined as a composite of death, stroke, embolism, major bleeding or heart failure hospitalization; soft endpoint (SE) was defined physical/psychological disability requiring alteration of treatment strategy. The patients were followed for 1.7 years. No significant difference was noted in the occurrence of HE (4.0% vs 6.5%, P=0.31), but DA-group patients had higher rates of SE (9.3% vs 18.4%, P=0.017) compared to single AA patients. The DA group was also associated with the occurrence of SE after adjustment (HR 1.90, P=0.042). When the DA group was subdivided according to the use of class III drugs or change of drugs between classes, there were no differences in outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
The need to change AA was associated with physical/psychological disabilities that seemed not to be relieved simply by changing AAs, and this should be considered as a marker for refractory paroxysmal AF requiring other strategies.


Seven mouse monoclonal antibodies (IgGs) were produced against rat neurophysins (NPs). Three were specifically directed against vasopressin-associated NP (NP-AVP), and four were specific for oxytocin- associated NP (NP-OT). These specificities were observed in liquid phase assays, immunoblot, and immunoprecipitation experiments. Homozygous Brattleboro rat tissues and extracts, which do not contain vasopressin or NP-AVP, did not react with the anti-NP-AVP antibodies but reacted with high affinity to the anti-NP-OT antibodies. In immunoprecipitation assays the antibodies brought down the appropriate NPs as well as their precursor molecules synthesized in vivo with no detectable cross-reactivity. In solid phase assays where the antigens were presented in a different manner, there was a significant cross- reactivity of the anti-NP-AVP antibodies with NP-OT. The extent of this cross-reactivity in solid phase correlated with the cross-reactivities of the antibodies observed in immunocytochemical studies. These solid phase (and immunocytochemical) data demonstrated that liquid phase specificities and absorption controls of antibodies are inadequate to assess their immunocytochemical (solid phase) specificities. Posterior pituitary extracts from the mouse and frog, as well as purified NPs from the rat, cow, and human were studied for their cross-reactivities to two of the antibodies, PS 36 and PS 45. In liquid phase assays the anti-rat NP-OT antibody, PS 36, reacted only with rat and mouse NPs and did not cross-react with NPs from any of the other species. In contrast, the anti-rat NP-AVP antibody, PS 45, was cross-reactive across species lines including an NP-like antigen extracted from frog posterior pituitaries. Immunoblot staining with these antibodies showed heterogeneity of NP-AVP and NP-OT in the rat posterior pituitary. Analysis of the epitopes for PS 36 and PS 45 indicated the antigenic determinants were located near amino acid positions 80 to 81 in NP-OT and 75 to 86 in NP-AVP, respectively.


The purpose of this studyis to describe and analyze the values of education contained in the novel of Khrisna Pabichara, Sepatu Dahlan, include: (1)hard work, (2) compassion, (3) discipline, (4) patient, (5) sportsmanship and its implicationsin learning Indonesia Language. The data is novel elements that reveal aspects of values education, character education. The research method is descriptive qualitative. The found ofthe study is the values contained in then ovelis the value ofcharacter education, which includes:(1) 10 data on hard work, (2) 12 data about affection, (3) 10 data on discipline, (4) 8 data about thepatient, (5) 2 data on sportsmanship. The results ofthe study entitled "Values Educationin the Novel Sepatu Dahlan Khrisna Pabichara work and its implications in learning Indonesia Language" can be used for learning in class XI semester I of high school, on reading—aspect, SK (7), KD(2).


European countries are showing their willingness to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions in the coming years. For example, the Paris agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is one of the most crucial steps that countries have signed recently. The aim is to cause a lower global temperature increase, and thus, to reduce the resulting climate risks. North Sea countries are working on a greener future in a national level, as well; and these are in fact, the countries which are the most concerned about the climate change globally. Moreover, these are affluent in terms of opportunities for using greener energy sources, due to their climatic and geographic conditions. Clear examples are hydropower plants in the Nordic region or offshore-wind in the North Sea. Nevertheless, these countries need also of infrastructure to achieve their objectives, such as a Power System which will enable to integrate green generation sources properly and to satisfy the societies' energy needs successfully. Power Systems are in fact, needed key enablers of this energy transition. The topic of this Master Thesis is transmission expansion planning in the North Sea for the year 2030. PowerGIM and PowerGAMA are used. The objective is to find the socio-economically beneficial grid design which will help achieve these future ambitions that the North Sea countries have and at the same time, which will be robust w.r.t. renewable energy sources' development uncertainty. The main finding of this Master Thesis is that Dogger Bank hub is obtained as part of the most socio-economically beneficial offshore-grid layout for the year 2030, in all implemented scenarios. Each scenario refers to one implemented ENTSO-E Vision (Visions 1-4) with some additional assumptions. In short, in this Master Thesis, four different offshore-grid layouts are obtained, one per each implemented scenario; and all of them have the same core. The core is Dogger Bank hub's interconnection with Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Denmark. Nevertheless, there are some variations which depend on the implemented scenario and on the implemented assumptions. Overall, the obtained Dogger Bank hub could also integrate between 13-32 GW offshore-wind in the North Sea. Then, a reference grid layout is created, as well. This design embraces the previously mentioned four grid layouts in a conservative way, i.e. the repeated lines in all four obtained grid layouts are taken with the lowest capacity value among all four designs. The grid layout obtained after the implementation of the second scenario is the most robust grid layout w.r.t. different future energy prospects. Its operational cost saving throughout the lifetime of 30 years w.r.t. the reference grid layout is of 20-33 bn €, depending on the implemented future scenario; and the investment cost increase is of 5.5 bn € w.r.t. the reference grid layout.


The level of waste processing and utilization of the resultant products in a biological life support system largely determines the degree of system closure. Straw degradation in the humus and an inert substrate was studied when straw was introduced once a month during 3 years. Following 5-6 cycles of straw degradation in the humus, there developed a stable soil biocomplex that functioned as a self-regulation system. After adaptation and completion of the soil biocomplex formation straw degradation in the humus developed at a rate that provided its complete degradation within a certain green-house area.


Key words: mental development, pedagogical condition, preschool age, social environment, game activity, opportunity, educational process

Our study on the problem of the senior preschoolers' social activity formation showed that methodological and theoretical foundations for solving and improving this problem have now been developed.
The social activity of senior preschoolers can be considered a realized desire of children to participate in socially significant activities, in the space of a preschool educational institution, with the goal to solve social problems interesting for them while actively interacting with adults, peers and younger children.
The analysis revealed that senior preschoolers' social interaction functions as a complex integral education with a number of interconnected components. The study proved that the development of social activity of senior preschool children, within the educational space of the kindergarten, is successful in the staged construction of this process. The latter ensures the development of the main components of social activity and involves the gradual involvement of preschoolers in socially oriented activities with the opportunity to show independence, initiative and creativity.
During the course of our research, we found out that social activity in senior preschool age has its own characteristics reflected in the uneven mastery of the fundamentals of social interaction. This is manifested in the gap between the ideas of senior preschoolers about social activity and its real manifestation in behavior; between the desire of children to participate in socially significant activities and the ability to bring the matter to fruition.

https://new.vsu.am/grqer/2023/mank/+506-Քարմիլե Վիրաբյան, Արմինե Մանուկյան-Նախադպրոցական տարիքի երեխաների սոցիալական .pdf


A 0.6 V 45 nm dual-rail SRAM design utilizing an adaptive voltage regulator targeting for an SRAM compiler application is proposed for the first time. The proposed work describes an adaptive mechanism to generate a cell-Vdd (CVDD), which tracks a certain voltage offset with respect to logic-Vdd (VDD), and provides a mean to lower the VDD down to 0.6 V. To relax IR-drop constraints of CVDD power routings in P&R flow, shifting bite-line (BL) pre-charge power supply from CVDD to VDD is adopted in this work. This also avoids the congestion of the VDD and CVDD power mesh. A 45 nm test chip has demonstrated that these concepts successfully can push the VDD_min down to 0.6 V, which is > 250 mV lower than the conventional single-rail SRAMpsilas.


We are concerned with charging electric vehicles at home. The energy demand from electric vehicles can increase more rapidly than our ability to increase the generating capacity or the distribution facilities in the electric network. Our objective is to use a smart power distribution algorithm to reduce the inconvenience to electric vehicle owners. When there isn't sufficient capacity to charge all of the vehicles simultaneously, we will select different subsets of vehicles to charge in each 5 minute interval. The smart grid will control a switch on each charger. The order in which we charge the vehicles has a significant effect on the number of vehicles that are delayed when they would like to leave the charging station, and the amount of time that they are delayed. By reducing these measures, electric vehicles can be deployed more rapidly. We compare a weighted fair queuing algorithm for selecting the charging order and compare it with a first-come-first-served algorithm and a round robin charging rule. The weights are selected based on the battery level when vehicles arrive at their charging stations. We assume that there is a correlation between day-to-day driving distances, and charge vehicles that require more charge more rapidly. The three charging rules are evaluated using measured data on the power usage, commuting characteristics, and the distribution of commuting times.


Engine test results are presented for simulated altitude conditions. A displaced-piston combustion chamber on a 5- by 7-inch single cylinder compression-ignition engine operating at 2,000 r.p.m. was used. Inlet air temperature equivalent to standard altitudes up to 14,000 feet were obtained. Comparison between performance at altitude of the unsupercharged compression-ignition engine compared favorably with the carburetor engine. Analysis of the results for which the inlet air temperature, inlet air pressure, and inlet and exhaust pressure were varied indicates that engine performance cannot be reliably corrected on the basis of inlet air density or weight of air charge. Engine power increases with inlet air pressure and decreases with inlet air temperatures very nearly as straight line relations over a wide range of air-fuel ratios. Correction factors are given.


Dr Harney and Messrs Hart and Grey have produced a beautiful slide atlas of fluorescein angiography to help guide the general ophthalmologist. The goals, as stated in the preface, are to describe the indications and interpretation of fluorescein angiograms of common retinal disorders. The atlas style emphasizes the use of illustrations and maintains a concise text. The fundus photographs and angiograms demonstrated are of high quality and are excellent clinical examples of the conditions described. All photographs in the atlas have corresponding slides in an accompanying notebook, allowing one to possess a nice slide collection of these disorders as well. After a brief introduction, a highly informative and descriptive chapter on the basics of angiography is presented. Reviewed are the basic scientific principles of fluorescein angiography in a very understandable format, supported by helpful diagrams and charts. This chapter alone is worth reading by ophthalmologists, photographers, and even ophthalmic technicians


Direct experimentation with physical systems is slow, expensive, and must wait until the physical system is built. Simulations allow for the testing of different system configurations before hardware is built. This is useful when malfunctions are reliably expected, costs are high, or when the integrated systems are unavailable. Thus, it is important that such simulations are transient and integrate all major subsystems and activities. This paper describes a habitat model that is transient, discrete, stochastic, and nonstationary. It models most of the components of a life-support system including the crew, crops, water and air recovery systems, extravehicular activities, and power. Because the model accepts nonstationary input, it can be used to test habitat configurations and components before building an actual habitat. Malfunctions can be injected at any time. A genetic algorithm is used here to find an optimal habitat configuration for a 90-day mission to the moon. Approximately 20,000 system configurations were considered in a series of experiments considering several lunar scenarios. It has been shown that a tuned genetic algorithm is capable of preliminary sizing of several life-support components. In addition, the fitness function serves as proxy for equivalent system mass, a metric related to launch costs.


The effects of different spring defoliation managements on potential harvestable seed yield and seed yield components of three contrasting white clover cultivars were assessed. The small-leaved cv. S184 produced more but smaller inflorescences than the large-leaved cv. Olwen and Menna, a medium-leaved cultivar. Cultivar Olwen, however, produced more ripe and brown (nearly ripe) inflorescences with more florets, seeds per floret and a higher seed yield per ten inflorescences than the other cultivars. Potential harvestable seed yield and individual seed yield components were only influenced by defoliation after bud emergence, as defoliation before bud emergence had no effect on seed yield components. Defoliation after bud emergence had a similar effect on all cultivars: the number of ripe inflorescences was unaffected by defoliation but the number of brown and therefore harvestable (ripe + brown) inflorescences was highest following defoliation three weeks after bud emergence. Florets per inflorescence, seed per floret, 1000 seed weight, seed yield per ten inflorescences and potential harvestable seed yield were not influenced by defoliation after bud emergence. Season had a significant effect on seed yield components and influenced the effect of defoliation treatments, emphasizing the importance of climate in white clover seed production. The results are discussed in relation to the spring defoliation of white clover seed crops, harvesting techniques and the provision of guidelines for optimizing seed yield.


Abstract Nonnative plant invasions can have devastating effects on native plant communities; conversely, management efforts can have nontarget and deleterious impacts on desirable plants. In the arid sagebrush steppe rangelands of the western United States, nonnative winter annual species affect forage production and biodiversity. One method proposed to control these species is to suppress the soil seedbank using the preemergent herbicide indaziflam. Our goal was to evaluate the efficacy of indaziflam to control nonnative annual mustards (Alyssum spp.) and to understand potential nontarget effects of management on the diverse mountain sagebrush steppe plant communities within Yellowstone National Park. Six sites were established along an elevation gradient (1,615 to 2,437 m), each with high and low Alyssum spp. infestations. We applied 63g ai ha–1 of indaziflam in late summer of 2018 and evaluated plant community cover in situ for 2 yr after treatment and emergence of forb species from the soil seedbank ex situ. Indaziflam was highly effective at controlling emergence of Alyssum spp. for 2 yr. Richness and Shannon's diversity of the nontarget plant community were significantly lower in sprayed plots than in the control, and both decreased along the elevation gradient. These reductions were due to a decrease in perennial forbs and native annual forbs in the sprayed plots; perennial graminoids were not affected. Overall, the aboveground and seedbank community composition was negatively impacted by indaziflam, and these effects were strongest for the native annual forbs that rely on annual regeneration from the seedbank. The effects of this herbicide to the nontarget community should be evaluated beyond the length of our study time; however, we conclude that indaziflam should likely be reserved for use in areas that are severely invaded and have seedbanks that are composed of nondesirable species rather than diverse, native mountain sagebrush communities.


Layer 2 services (such as Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode, and
Ethernet) can be emulated over an MPLS backbone by encapsulating the
Layer 2 Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and then transmitting them over
pseudowires (PWs). It is also possible to use pseudowires to provide
low-rate Time-Division Multiplexed and Synchronous Optical NETworking
circuit emulation over an MPLS-enabled network. This document
specifies a protocol for establishing and maintaining the pseudowires,
using extensions to the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP). Procedures
for encapsulating Layer 2 PDUs are specified in other documents. This
document is a rewrite of RFC 4447 for publication as an Internet
Standard.


FULL, CONSCIOUS, AND ACTIVE PARTICIPATION: THE LAITY AS ECCLESIAL SUBJECTS IN AN ECCLESIOLOGY INFORMED BY BERNARD LONERGAN Mary Patricia Utzerath, B.S., M.S., M.Div. Marquette University, 2011 Unresolved problems and tensions regarding the status and role of the laity persist nearly a half-century following Vatican II. While the magisterium focuses on issues related to the appropriateness or ability of lay persons to carry out roles in the Church that have traditionally belonged to the ordained, sociological surveys indicate that the experience of lay members of the Church in the United States and in much of the Western world includes inadequate formation, confused Catholic identity, marginalization, low levels of commitment in young Catholics, and the steady exodus of Catholics. These problems of the laity are symptomatic of problems within the Church itself. This dissertation seeks to understand how the full realization of the laity as ecclesial subjects and the full realization of the Church might be possible. Working within the parameters of the ecclesial vision of Vatican II, it employs the thought of Canadian Jesuit theologian, Bernard Lonergan (1904−1984) to support a framework that both emphasizes the divine initiative in the genesis of the Church as well as the social reality of its existence. Lonergan's interiority analysis provides the means for transposing abstract notions of human nature and grace into existential categories. It thereby provides the tools by which the full becoming of the laity and of the Church can be described in terms of concrete possibilities. On the basis of Lonergan's work the author suggests that the full realization of the laity and of the Church are directly related to the achievement of authenticity of all its members. Such authenticity requires graced conversion. The author argues that graced conversion is not merely spiritual, but is also a social reality. As such, it flourishes best in an ecclesial atmosphere that provides opportunities for reciprocal sharing and collaboration between and among laity and clergy. The author concludes that graced dialogical collaborations between laity and clergy provide the condition of possibility for the full realization of both the laity and the Church.


Introduction. The risk of child and youth suicides has increased in Ukraine since the Russian-Ukrainian war began. There is a high probability of increasing suicides among all ages, genders, and social groups after the end of active hostilities and the commencement of peace. Thus, Ukrainian students and pupils require regular screening for suicidal and self-harm tendencies to receive timely preventive or therapeutic interventions. However, due to distance learning conditions, most have limited access to diagnostics and help.
Purpose. The article aims to observe the available screening techniques suitable/applicable for detecting suicidal tendencies and/or self-harm in school-aged children in online learning conditions.
Methodology. A scoping review was chosen as a method of identifying available literature. Inclusion criteria were defined in that all articles must have been published within the last five years, written or translated into English, and dealt with pupils aged 5-19. Search engine databases included Scopus and Web of Science. The "Pearl growing" method was also applied by reviewing the references of included articles.
Results. Ultimately 18 out of 996 identified articles were included in scoping review. Most of the studies utilized long-established, reliable and evidence based mental health diagnostic screening tools, or a combination of several. The two most widely used diagnostic screening tools were the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7). We have identified three settings of digital tools developed on this basis: for school, for clinical, for remote-only usage.
Conclusions. Emerging technologies can augment traditional approaches during virtual suicide assessment. This research can offer promising direction into the facilitation of screening adolescents electronically in distance learning conditions. With careful planning and research, it is possible to effectively accomplish screenings for Ukrainian pupils and students and ensure they receive the appropriate mental health care as soon as possible.


During the last few years, city labs have emerged as promising formats to address transformative change. The aim of these formats often is to create collaborative spaces in which different stakeholders can jointly experiment with novel solutions for certain problems. While city labs start to establish transdisciplinary research settings, evaluating the effects of a city lab still brings about several chal- lenges. In this contribution, we reflect on three main challenges that emerged in the course of evaluating a city lab in Mannheim's district Neckarstadt-West. The city lab was conducted as part of the research project SONNET (Social Innovation in Energy Transitions) and aimed to encourage social innovation in energy and thereby enable local energy transition. In the context of evaluating the city lab, we identified three main challenges that were related to a) evaluating an ongoing and open process, b) external shocks (especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic) and c) evaluating new forms of innovation under the concept of 'social innovation'. The main achievement of this evaluation was to trace the process of a city lab and identify changes in objectives as well as the engagement of different stakeholder groups. However, an evaluation of the city lab's outcomes remains challenging due to the openness of the process. This suggests rethinking linear evaluation models in favour of co-designing evaluation criteria in the course of the city lab process.


Abstract: Evidence is presented that the immune response to endotoxemia is under tonic control of the sympathetic nervous system. Adrenergic agents may influence the immune response both directly through α‐ and β‐adrenergic receptors expressed by immunologically competent cells and indirectly via alteration of the endogenous NA level by influencing the activity of release‐regulating presynaptic α2‐adrenoceptors located on the sympathetic nerve terminals. In the immunomodulatory effect of NA/adrenergic drugs, their action on β‐adrenoceptors was dominant, but the considerable role of α‐adrenoceptors on macrophages was also demonstrated. According to our findings, regulation of the ascending wing of the inflammatory response, that is, TNF‐α production, is more sensitive to the adrenoceptor effect, whereas modulation of its deregulation by IL‐10 production also involves some other determining factors.


Arteriosclerosis is a slowly progressing disease. It is important, therefore, to seek means of delaying its progress both in pre-symptomatic patients and in patients with circulatory disorders. Various features of the disease, among them the focal distribution of the lesions, imply that changes in blood composition cannot alone account for its occurrence and that a contribution must come from the arterial wall, possibly from its mass transport properties. We review recent findings concerning arterial wall mass transport. Movement of material occurs right across the arterial wall from the lumen to the adventitial lymph and it appears that the media may act as a barrier to the efflux of material from the wall. Work currently in progress suggests that among factors which influence arterial wall mass transport are the level of arterial blood pressure, endothelial permeability and the tone of the medial smooth muscle. Further fundamental study is needed but consideration would now seem justified as to whether the progression of arteriosclerosis might be influenced by pharmacological agents which affect the wall mass transport.


Five States, Puerto Rico, and the railroad industry have social insurance programs that partially compensate for the loss of wages caused by temporary nonoccupational disability or maternity. These programs are known as temporary disability insurance (TDI) because the duration of the payments is limited. Federal law does not provide for a Federal-State system of short-term disability comparable to the Federal-State system of unemployment insurance. However, the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) was amended in 1946 to permit States where employees made contributions under the unemployment insurance program to use some or all of these contributions for the payment of disability benefits (but not for administration). Three of the nine States that could have benefited by this provision for initial funding for temporary disability insurance took advantage of it: California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The first State law was enacted by Rhode Island in 1942, followed by legislation in California and the railroad industry in 1946, New Jersey in 1948, and New York in 1949. Then came a hiatus of two decades before Puerto Rico and Hawaii passed laws in 1968 and 1969, respectively. The five State temporary disability insurance laws and the Puerto Rico law cover most commercial and industrial wage-and-salary workers in private employment if the employer has at least one worker. In no State is coverage under TDI identical with that of the unemployment insurance program. Principal occupational groups excluded are domestic workers, family workers (parent, child, or spouse of the employer), government employees, and the self-employed. State and local government employees are included in Hawaii, and the other State programs generally provide elective coverage for some or all public employees. Agricultural workers are covered to varying degrees in California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, but they are not covered in other jurisdictions. The California law permits self-employed individuals to elect coverage on a voluntary basis. Workers employed by railroads, railroad associations, and railroad unions are covered by temporary disability insurance under the national system included in the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. The methods used for providing this protection vary. In Rhode Island, the coverage is provided through an exclusive. State-operated fund into which all contributions are paid and from which all benefits are disbursed. In addition, a covered employer may provide supplemental benefits in any manner he or she chooses. The railroad program is also exclusively publicly operated in conjunction with its unemployment insurance provisions. In California, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, coverage is provided through a State-operated fund, but employers are permitted to "contract out" of the State fund by purchasing group insurance from commercial insurance companies, by self-insuring, or by negotiating an agreement with a union or employees' association. Coverage by the State fund is automatic unless or until an employer or the employees take positive action by substituting a private plan that meets the standards prescribed in the law and is approved by the administering agency. Premiums (in lieu of contributions) are then paid directly to the private plan, and benefits are paid to the workers affected. The Hawaii and New York laws require employers to provide their own disability insurance plans for their workers--by setting up an approved self-insurance plan, by an agreement with employees or a union establishing a labor-management benefit plan, or by purchasing group insurance from a commercial carrier. In New York, the employer may also provide protection through the State Insurance Fund, which is a State operated competitive carrier. Both Hawaii and New York operate special funds to pay benefits to workers who become disabled while unemployed or whose employers have failed to provide the required protection. …


The main objective of this study was to investigate how the consultation rate and medication use in the treatment of cough symptoms in infants during their first 6 months of life varied by their mothers' education levels, ages and the presence of other children in the household. A prospective cohort of children were studied from birth. Data were collected by means of self-completion postal questionnaires. All 6682 children born between 1 July 1991 and 30 June 1992, inclusive within the three health districts of former Avon which are within the South-west Regional Health Authority were included in the study. The proportion of children ever having a cough during their first 6 months of life and of those with cough symptoms, the proportion receiving cough medicine and the proportion consulting a doctor was investigated. Some 61% of children were reported as having had a cough during their first 6 months of life and this proportion did not vary significantly across educational levels. The proportion of children with coughs who were taken to a doctor (60%) and the proportion with coughs who were given cough medicine (20%), however, did vary with education. The association between mother's education level and the treatment of her child's cough was much stronger than with either of the mother's age or number of other children. After controlling for confounding factors, the percentage of mothers who consulted a doctor for their children's coughs decreased progressively with increasing maternal education from 70% (95% confidence interval: 66%, 73%) of those with CSE or less to 50% (95% CI: 45%, 55%) of those with a degree. A similar pattern emerged with the use of cough medicine, 22% (95% CI: 19%, 25%) of children whose mothers were in the lowest education group received cough medicine compared with 12% (95% CI: 9%, 15%) in the highest group. A large proportion, 60%, of children under 6 months with coughs are taken to a doctor. Children of more highly educated mothers are less likely to see a doctor or to receive cough medicine.


Background Improving communication requires that clinicians and patients change their behaviors. Interventions might be more successful if they incorporate principles from behavioral change theories. We aimed to determine which behavioral domains are targeted by communication interventions in oncology. Methods Systematic search of literature indexed in Ovid Medline, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Clinicaltrials.gov (2000–October 2018) for intervention studies targeting communication behaviors of clinicians and/or patients in oncology. Two authors extracted the following information: population, number of participants, country, number of sites, intervention target, type and context, study design. All included studies were coded based on which behavioral domains were targeted, as defined by Theoretical Domains Framework. Findings Eighty-eight studies met inclusion criteria. Interventions varied widely in which behavioral domains were engaged. Knowledge and skills were engaged most frequently (85%, 75/88 and 73%, 64/88, respectively). Fewer than 5% of studies engaged social influences (3%, 3/88) or environmental context/resources (5%, 4/88). No studies engaged reinforcement. Overall, 7/12 behavioral domains were engaged by fewer than 30% of included studies. We identified methodological concerns in many studies. These 88 studies reported 188 different outcome measures, of which 156 measures were reported by individual studies. Conclusions Most communication interventions target few behavioral domains. Increased engagement of behavioral domains in future studies could support communication needs in feasible, specific, and sustainable ways. This study is limited by only including interventions that directly facilitated communication interactions, which excluded stand-alone educational interventions and decision-aids. Also, we applied stringent coding criteria to allow for reproducible, consistent coding, potentially leading to underrepresentation of behavioral domains.


This article was originally published in Encyclopedia of Food Safety published by Elsevier, and the copy attached is provided by Elsevier for the author's benefit and for the benefit of the author's institution, for non-commercial research and educational use including without limitation use in instruction at your institution, sending it to specific colleagues who you know, and providing a copy to your institution's administrator.


Abstract: This paper investigates the strategic monitoring behaviour within a group lending setting. We develop a theoretical model, showing that monitoring efforts of group members differ from each other in equilibrium, as a result of the asymmetry between these members in terms of the future profits they generate with their project. In particular, we show that the entrepreneur with the project that generates the highest future profits also puts in the highest monitoring effort. Moreover, monitoring efforts differ between group members due to free-riding: one member reduces her level of monitoring if the other increases her monitoring effort. This effect is also at play when we introduce a group leader in the model. The individual who becomes the group leader will supply more monitoring effort than in the benchmark case, because of the reduced per unit monitoring costs related to becoming the leader. We empirically test the model using data from a survey of microfinance in Eritrea and show that the group leader attaches more weight to future periods than non-leaders in group lending and that this may explain why a large part of total monitoring is put in by the leader.


 Abstract — The anti-corrosion performance of fatty acid coated mild steel samples is studied. Samples of structural steel coated with collector reagents deposited from surfactant in ethanol solution and overcoated with an epoxy barrier paint. A quantitative corrosion rate was determined by linear polarization resistance method using biopotentiostat/galvanostat 400. Coating morphology was determined by scanning electronic microscopy. A test for hydrophobic surface of steel by surfactant was done. From the samples, the main component or high content iron was determined by chemical method and other metal contents were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) method. Prior to measuring the corrosion rate, mechanical and chemical treatments were performed to prepare the test specimens. Overcoating the metal samples with epoxy barrier paint after exposing them with surfactant the corrosion rate can be inhibited by 34-35 µm/year.


Rheumatoid factor (RF) was assayed in 354 unaffected first degree relatives from 59 families with multicase rheumatoid arthritis (RA), using both the latex test and ELISA for different RF isotypes. The association between HLA and presence of RF was also analyzed. In all, 39% of the relatives were positive for at least one class of RF compared to 7% positive for latex. There were no differences between the sexes in these rates. There were significant excess rates of HLA-DR4 in RF positive when compared to the RF negative relatives. The HLA-DR4 frequency in these RF positive RA negative individuals is similar to that observed in series of RA positive patients. Thus HLA status did not usefully discriminate between RA positive and RA negative but RF positive individuals in these families.


In the present economic system, most of the money in circulation is in physical form (bills/notes). There are reported to be plenty of cases of lootings, robberies, homicides, extortions, ransoms, and bribes across the world in almost all nations because of this huge money in physical form. This physical money, in huge amounts, is being transferred from one hand to other eluding all tax nets in transactions of commodities/goods or services. The unaccounted GDP is said to be too heavy and varies from country to country depending upon the corruption level exists in that country. In addition to this black money there are also huge amounts of fake currency that has contaminated the genuine currency. The combined effect of the black money and fake currency is playing havoc with economies of many countries. In the present economic system money is being treated as an income generating asset and wealth instead of using it as medium for exchange of commodities, goods, physical and intellectual work. The huge accumulation of money in few pockets in the form of black money is making the cyclic circulation of money in the economic system to be erratic (some times more cycles per year and some times less cycles per year with stagnation/non usage of money) causing economic recession at times. The multiplier effect on the money in banking finance system is decreasing the real face value of the physical currency. Although the individual's earnings are increasing every year, the purchase value of the currency is decreasing and reached almost 1/10th of its face value. TOP Tax system tries to fix this problem by qualitative and quantitative supply of money in economic system so that the purchase value of physical currency at its face value remains high and same for longer period of time. The prices of commodities or services will remain same or even decrease enhancing the purchasing capacity of people every year with increase in earnings (per capita income) each year. In the suggested new monetary system, most of the money (96.6%) will be in dematerialised form in the accounts of citizens, Governments and companies. Only small portion of money (0.4%) will be in physical form (cash) i.e. coins or notes at low denomination. Money transfers will have to be carried through in dematerialised form from one account to another account towards all purcases of goods/commodities or services, donations and gifts in place of money transfers evading all tax nets in physical form in the present economic system. The parallel economy being run by black money almost equalling the accounted GDP of the country and an estimated Rs. 1, 60, 000crore fake currency will be totally eradicated with the demonetisation of higher value currency notes (Rs 1000, 500, 100, 50 notes) in the suggested TOP Tax system paving way for corruption free society. So there will be no generation of black money and fake currency, and accumulation and stacking of money in physical form (cash) will not be possible. Money will be constantly pumped back into the system so as to avoid Profit Tax. The circulation of money in the economic system will be at constant rate with more cycles while checking inflation even at higher growth rate. The more cycles or exchange of money more times means money is spread evenly reaching all people. TOP Tax system would also arrest illegal activities such as drug trafficking, and arms trafficking. Once launched into this TOP Tax system prices would continue to decline to reach a minimum level of ¾th and further up to half level of the present prices due to the following factors namely, low tax component (below 11%), low interest rates (3% per annum), no tax compliance costs and fully open market with more players in the business. Money will be purely utilised only for exchange of goods, commodities, assets, services, physical and intellectual work. When the TOP Tax system reaches its final destination, the prices of commodities/goods or services include only the value/cost of manpower (physical/intellectual) where abundant raw materials are available. In the present system the prices of commodities/goods or services include various components like raw materials cost, tax, profit, interest, corruption, tax compliance cost, man power (physical/intellectual), transport, power (fuel/electricity) and shelf life. The final result of TOP Tax system will be the achievement of perfect equilibrium between demand and supply; development and equality; growth and inflation; real money and credit money (loaned money); revenues and expenditure; The lopsided development among people and regions that is being witnessed in the present system will cease to exist. The natural resource and wealth of a country can be equally distributed among the people.


Spiders occurring in soils and fissured rocks were investigated using pipe traps. Four microphthalmic species, namely Hahnia microphthalma, Porrhomma egeria, P. microps and P. cambridgei were collected. Hahnia microphthalma is reported from the Czech Republic for the first time. The importance of collecting material by complex pipe traps (consisting of a perforated pipe and a set of removable cups) to record the depth distribution of spiders in subterranean habitats is stressed. The importance of the soil and fissure network formed by sandy marlite bedrock and of alluvial soils for the life of subterranean spiders is documented.


Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone tackles the hidden yet painful issue of colorism in the African American and Mexican American communities. Beginning with a historical discussion of slavery and colonization in the Americas, the book quickly moves forward to a contemporary analysis of how skin tone continues to plague people of color today. This is the first book to explore this well-known, yet rarely discussed phenomenon.


Significant changes in the corporate external reporting environment have led to proposals for fundamental changes in corporate reporting practices. Recent influential reports by major organisations have suggested that a variety of new information types be reported, in particular forward-looking, non-financial and soft information. This paper presents a review and synthesis of these reports and provides a framework for classifying and describing suggested information types. The existence of academic antecedents for certain current proposals are identified and the ambiguous relationship between research and practice is explored. The implications for future academic research are discussed and a research agenda is introduced.


Introduction Low birth weight (LBW, birth weight less than 2500 g) is associated with infant mortality and childhood morbidity. Poor maternal nutritional status is one of several contributing factors to LBW. We systematically reviewed the evidence for nutrition-specific (addressing the immediate determinants of nutrition) and nutrition-sensitive (addressing the underlying cause of undernutrition) interventions to reduce the risk of LBW and/or its components: preterm birth (PTB) and small-for-gestational age (SGA). Methods We conducted a comprehensive literature search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (September 2015). Systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials focusing on nutritional interventions before and during pregnancy to reduce LBW and its components were eligible for inclusion into the overview review. We assessed the methodological quality of the included reviews using A Measurement Tool to Assess Reviews (AMSTAR), PROSPERO: CRD42015024814. Results We included 23 systematic reviews which comprised 34 comparisons. Sixteen reviews were of high methodological quality, six of moderate and only one review of low quality. Six interventions were associated with a decreased risk of LBW: oral supplementation with (1) vitamin A, (2) low-dose calcium, (3) zinc, (4) multiple micronutrients (MMN), nutritional education and provision of preventive antimalarials. MMN and balanced protein/energy supplementation had a positive effect on SGA, while high protein supplementation increased the risk of SGA. High-dose calcium, zinc or long-chain n-3 fatty acid supplementation and nutritional education decreased the risk of PTB. Conclusion Improving women's nutritional status positively affected LBW, SGA and PTB. Based on current evidence, especially MMN supplementation and preventive antimalarial drugs during pregnancy may be considered for policy and practice. However, for most interventions evidence was derived from a small number of trials and/or participants. There is a need to further explore the evidence of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions in order to reach the WHO's goal of a 30% reduction in the global rate of LBW by 2025.


The aim of this thesis is to study the teaching methods that provide the greatest learning effect for children in grades 6 in the subject of physics. One class was divided into three equal groups, each group was educated in a specific way. The three teaching methods that have been investigated are: film with reflection, laboratory work and traditional lecture- teaching. The research question of the study is: "Which method of three selected, causes the greatest understanding of the properties of air?". To answer this question, the students performed a knowledge test, prior to and after the teaching sequences. The knowledge tests were compared between the groups and the result was that the film- and reflection group had learned significantly more than the other groups, in remarkably less time. This result differs from other research that shows that students get the most understanding through laboratory work in science. In general it probably requires a flexible teacher who sees each individual student and can adapt their teaching accordingly.


This paper is about one new approache to teaching in Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Russia, carring on now in the framework of the ERASMUS+ Capacity Building for Higher Education just starting a project (# 586060-EPP-1-2017-1-RO-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). The name of the project is "Excellence in Engineering Education through Teacher Training and New Pedagogic Approaches in Russia and Tajikistan". It concerns to Kolmogorov Complexity usage in PhD students curricula towards. Introduction is about the growth of massive amount of data generated by different sources at real time or near real time. Generally data is heterogeneous by its content and exists at every human sphere such as education, government, finance, medicine and so on. They cause fundamental issues in data storage, data security and high speed access to data. Such issues directly related to new research aims. The fierst part of the paper discribes an example of one PhD student's approach to her research using Kolmogorov complexity. The second part of the paper is about the managing immense volumes of data which was possible and was held only with help of supercomputers that lead to great expenses. Applying of distributed computing systems allow to assign and handle operations on homogeneous or heterogeneous nodes with less expenses compared to supercomputers. However data and operation partition and distribution among nodes could be a challenge by itself. Furthermore, nodes interaction can cause significant difficulties as generally distributed systems consist of great number of nodes which could be constant in quantity or constantly growing. In practice, most systems should be scalable due to incessant data growth and tasks for processing that means that any system needs to meet with such circumstances and not to be limited by constant number of nodes. The third part of the paper is about the possibility's analyses of Kolmogorov complexity usage for optimal way of data dividing and processing in distributed computing systems without quantity nodes limitations. The Conclusion show that the investigation is fundamental as distributed systems could be beneficial at any spheres and organizations including universities and business companies and could be used by PhD students as an investigation tools. Besides, this paper's aims is to describe the advantages, disadvantages of Kolmogorov complexity with criticism and arguments.


This paper investigates the nature of "discernment" as personally experienced and communicated by Paul regarding his discernment of the "wisdom of God" as revealed to him by the Spirit of God. It is the first part of two articles that explore Pauline discernment, specifically with reference to 1 Corinthians 2. It is one of the main themes in 1 Corinthians 2. The verb κρίνω (decided, 2:2) and its derivatives ἀνακρίνω (discern, 2:14, 15[2x]) and συγκρίνοντeς (interpreting, 2:13) occur five times in chapter two; this verb is used by Paul to explain how the spiritual person (πνeυματικὸς) discerns the wisdom of God as this wisdom is mediated by the Spirit of God. This research endeavours to point out the coherence and relatedness of the different components that are involved in the process of the discerning of the wisdom of God.


Digital near-threshold logic circuits have recently been proposed for applications in the ultra-low power end of the design spectrum, where the performance is of secondary importance. However, the characteristics of MOS transistors operating in the near-threshold region are very different from those in the strong-inversion region. This paper first derives the logical effort and parasitic delay values for logic gates in multiple voltage (sub/near/super-threshold) regimes based on the transregional model. The transregional model shows higher accuracy for both sub- and near-threshold regions compared with the subthreshold model. Furthermore, the derived near-threshold logical effort method is subsequently used for delay optimization of circuits operating in both near- and super-threshold regimes. In order to achieve this goal, a joint optimization of transistor sizing and adaptive body biasing is proposed and optimally solved using geometric programming. Experimental results show that our improved logical effort-based optimization framework provides a performance improvement of up to 40.1% over the conventional logical effort method.


Repair of craniofacial bone often requires autogenous or allogeneic bone. Natural materials deliver bone-inducing substances to wound beds and provide scaffolding for osteoconduction, but not without risk of morbidity. We are developing a synthetic material consisting of proteins which stimulate bone repair encased within a moldable, biodegradable delivery system. The stages of bone induction include chemoattraction of stem cells, proliferation and differentiation of these cells to competent chondrocytes and osteoblasts, angiogenesis, mineralization, and remodeling. Bovine osteogenin induces bone formation in soft tissue in rats, and accelerates bone repair in cranial defects. The protein has been purified and partially sequenced. Growth factors may augment the inductive effects of osteogenin by attracting preosteoblasts, accelerating their proliferation, and stimulating angiogenesis. A composite material of osteogenin and growth factors released from a biodegradable delivery system in a time-dependent fashion is proposed to decrease the necessity for autogenous and allogeneic bone implants.


Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common types of nosocomial infections encountered in the inpatient settings including intensive care unit (ICU). Amongst patients ix admitted to ICU, studies have revealed the incidence of nosocomial UTIs to range from 9% to 29%.1-3 The risk of patients acquiring a UTI in an ICU was approximately 2.5-fold higher than that of patients in a general hospital ward. Complicated nosocomial UTIs may lead to urosepsis, and increase patient morbidity and mortality.4 Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common infectious diseases encountered by clinicians and the second ranking after respiratory tract infection which involve about 250 million people in developing countries annually. Despite the extensive use of antimicrobial agents, UTI has become difficult to treat because of manifestation of pathogens with increasing resistance even to more potent antimicrobial agents. The study was a retrospective study aimed at identifying bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibility of organisms causing urinary tract infections in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients in KNH medical microbiology laboratory records during the period January 2013 to December 2013. Data were retrieved from the archives. A coded data collection form was used to collect information about the patient's age, sex, bacterial organisms isolated and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. The study was approved by the KNH/U.O.N Ethics and Research Commitee. Data was analysed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. In this study ,among both sexes tested the incidence of UTI infections was higher in males than females.The most common bacterial organism included Escherichia coli, Klebsiella and Enterococcos spp. Organisms showed high resistance to Augmentin and highest sensitivity to Meropenem.


Chaos behavior has many advantages in motor systems such as improving mixing efficiency and it involves with one kind of problem called chaos anti-control. This paper focused on chaos anti-control problem in permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) systems through chaos synchronization. By synchronizing PMSM system with a typical chaotic system, the chaos anti-control problem was studied, where a controller was derived to make the error dynamical system converge at origin point O(0, 0, 0). The theory foundation in point is Lyapunov stability theorem, and the study conclusion was verified by numerical simulations.


We derive lower bounds to the second-order coding rates for the wiretap channel. The decoding error probability and the information leakage measured in terms of the variational distance secrecy metric are fixed at some constants εr and εs respectively. We leverage on the connection between wiretap channel coding and channel resolvability to derive tighter secrecy bounds than those available in the literature. We then use central limit theorem-style analysis to evaluate these bounds for the discrete memoryless wiretap channel with cost constraints and the Gaussian wiretap channel.


ABSTRACT For the parties of the centre right, 2019 provided confirmation, at both the local and regional levels, that their alliance was solid. Although it is based entirely on strategic needs, it continues to bear fruit despite the fact that its internal distribution of power has completely changed. Matteo Salvini's League has become the new dominant force within the coalition at national level and, in many cases, at regional level also. The extreme right Fratelli d'Italia is growing strongly. Forza Italia is declining ever more rapidly. In Parliament, changes have been decidedly more complex. At the beginning of the year, the three parties were divided between the government and the opposition. However, at the end of the year, the old allies found themselves once again united in opposition to the new government formed by the Democratic Party and the Five-star Movement. In this article, we re-examine the events that distinguished the year in question in order to understand to what extent and how the centre-right coalition changed over time. We also consider how the three parties reacted to the new political circumstances, which, until the end of the summer, meant that they were governing allies at the municipal and regional levels and on opposing sides at the national level.


The number of young people in the UK with eating disorders is rapidly increasing, age of presentation is younger and hospital admissions are rising. Eating disorders are mental health conditions with serious health complications. Associated mortality is higher than in any other mental health disorder and than in most physical disorders treated on general paediatric wards. Managing eating disorders and their physical effects can be extremely challenging and many see it as beyond the scope of an acute general paediatric ward. However removing young adolescents from their family, school and local community into specialist eating disorder units for extended periods of time and at great expense to the health community has many negative effects and evidence is poor that long term outcome is improved. From 2008–2010 we had 7 admissions of young people with eating disorders to our general paediatric ward with an average length of stay 79.8 days, 3/9 required NGT feeding and 6/7 ultimately required tier 3 or 4 inpatient admission. Junior MARSIPAN guidelines recommend close working between paediatric medical and mental health services to maintain young people safely in the community. We report our experience of developing a paediatric inpatient service to support our CAMHS team and work within the resources of our general paediatric ward. In 2011 we introduced a structured 3 week refeeding admission with close working between medical and nursing staff, dietetics and CAMHS. 24 admissions since have all achieved physical stability with the average length of stay 18 days, reduced tier 3 or 4 admissions (9/24) and improved eating compliance (3/24 NGT). Qualitative feedback from nurses and medical staff show that these admissions are easier to manage and have improved their attitudes towards young people with eating disorders. CAMHS and dietetic colleagues will also present their views of the benefits to this way of working. We identified patient factors (comorbid mental health problems, family disruption) that were more common in those who still required more specialist services. We conclude that a brief, structured, general paediatric inpatient admission can achieve physical stability, safe refeeding, begin weight restoration and start the path to recovery for the majority of young people with typical anorexia nervosa.


With the roll out of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System in Europe the optimization of the capacity and the quality of service is becoming an issue. Therefore the task of the radio resource management to control these two aspects has become more important. This work deals with the effects of the admission control, which handles the acceptance of new calls. Since the UMTS specification leaves room for admission control algorithms, in this work three different admission control strategies have been extended, newly derived, and were implemented in a UMTS system-level software simulator. Using this simulator the effects of the admission control strategies are investigated in different scenarios, and the results are compared to the case disregarding radio resource management. The simulations show that all admission control strategies can decrease the number of dropped calls and overload situations. Therefore the quality of service is increased for the price of a smaller capacity. The best results are given by the newly derived interference based admission control.


abstract:In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the media publicized the response of conservative Christians such as John Hagee and Pat Robertson who suggested it was divine retribution for sinful activity in New Orleans. Following the Japanese Tsunami of 2011, the media broadcasted a statement from the Tokyo governor saying it was divine retribution for greed. Such retributive responses blame the victims, and they overlook the structural injustice and discrimination exposed by natural disasters. In both instances, government officials neglected infrastructure (levees in the case of the former; sea walls and floodgates in the case of the latter), which resulted in significant personal harm to African Americans in New Orleans and rural Japanese in northeastern Japan. This article examines Christian and Buddhist views of social responsibility exemplified in the idea of communal resilience, which appears in the theology of Michael Eric Dyson and the literature of Toni Morrison, and the notion of interdependence promoted by Thich Nhat Hanh and other Engaged Buddhists. Instead of justifying suffering, which is characteristic of retributive responses that blame the victims of natural disasters, they recognize and accept its universality. Resilience and interdependence have ethical implications: By being open to the suffering of others and engaging in deep listening with awareness, people can find their strength, will, and responsibility to ameliorate such suffering. Instead of placing themselves in opposition to victims through judgment and blame, they can respond by engaging with them and attending to their needs. They can acknowledge their responsibility for rectifying structural injustice and responding to suffering in the wake of natural disasters.


Personal data is ubiquitous in the digital world, can be highly valuable in aggregate, and can lead to unintended intrusions for the data creator. However, individuals' expressions of concern about exposure of their personal information are generally not matched by their behavioural caution. One reason for this mismatch could be the varied and intangible value of personal data. We present three studies investigating the potential association between personal data value and privacy behaviour, assessing both individual and cross-cultural differences in personal data valuation, comparing collectivist and individualistic cultures. Study 1a, using a representative UK sample, found no relationship between personal data value and privacy behaviour. However, Study 1b found Indian (collectivist) participants' privacy behaviour was sensitive to personal data value, unlike US (individualist) participants. Study 2 showed that in a UK sample, privacy behaviour was sensitive to personal data value but only for individuals who think of themselves as more similar to others (i.e., self-construe as similar, rather than different). We suggest those who prioritise group memberships are more sensitive to unintentional disclosure harm and therefore behave in accordance with personal data valuations—which informs the privacy concern-behaviour relationship. Our findings can suggest approaches to encourage privacy behaviours.


The Editors of Cardiovascular Surgery would like to inform potential authors that Case Reports are currently not being accepted for publication. The Case Reports below were accepted before this decision Was made. The decision reflects an increase in number and quality of original articles being submitted, resulting in a continuing constriction on the number of pages available for the publication of Case Reports, with the ultimate effect that no pages will be reserved for Case Reports in the future.


This article presents the cost analysis of mounting Grover's key search attack on the family of KATAN block cipher. Several designs of the reversible quantum circuit of KATAN are proposed. Owing to the National Insitute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) proposal for postquantum cryptography standardization, the circuits are designed focusing on minimizing the overall depth. We observe that the reversible quantum circuits designed using and gates and $T$-depth one Toffoli gate give more shallow circuits. Grover oracle for KATAN is designed based on the reversible circuits, which are used further to mount Grover's key search attack on KATAN. The designs are implemented using the software framework ProjectQ, which provides a resource estimation tool to perform an appropriate cost analysis in an automated way. While estimating the resources, NIST's depth restrictions are also respected.


Our systematic qualitative analysis advances the field of human development with an integrative review of sensory research in children's reading of books and e-books. Based on a systematic literature review of 35 papers, we qualitatively synthesise multi-disciplinary literature concerned with children's sensory development and the activity of reading. We map the studies' characteristics, including their methodological designs and primary theoretical concepts (embodiment and materiality). We highlight empirical research gaps and lack of literature attention particularly for critical engagement with sensorial research. We find notable terminological discrepancies across qualitative and quantitative studies and lack of attention to the developmental aspects of children's sensory reading and its dynamic interaction with books' affordances. Our theoretical contribution lies in identifying the emerging area of multisensory m(ai)cro research as a future agenda for studies of children's reading, which we support with a terminological guide and a conceptual framework.


Epidemiological studies clearly indicate that the risk of pancreatic cancer (PC) is increased in diabetic patients, but most studies focus on overall diabetes or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and there are few studies on the risks of type 1 and type 3c (secondary) diabetes. Possible mechanisms for increased cancer risk in diabetes include cellular proliferative effects of hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and abnormalities in insulin/IGF receptor pathways. Recently, insulin and insulin secretagogues have been observed to increase the PC risk, while metformin treatment reduces the cancer risk in diabetic subjects. In addition, anticancer drugs used to treat PC may either cause diabetes or worsen coexisting diabetes. T3cDM has emerged as a major subset of diabetes and may have the highest risk of pancreatic carcinoma especially in patients with chronic pancreatitis. T3cDM is also a consequence of PC in at least 30% of patients. Distinguishing T3cDM from the more prevalent T2DM among new-onset diabetic patients can be aided by an assessment of clinical features and confirmed by finding a deficiency in postprandial pancreatic polypeptide release. In conclusion, diabetes and PC have a complex relationship that requires more clinical attention. The risk of developing PC can be reduced by aggressive prevention and treatment of T2DM and obesity and the prompt diagnosis of T3cDM may allow detection of a tumor at a potentially curable stage. Endocrine-Related Cancer (2012) 19 F9–F26


Tattooing is a hidden and mysterious art that has been around for years shared by several different civilizations. It is an art unlike none other that I have dissected and would love to reveal to you.


One important issue affecting the continued growth and success of the aquaculture industry is risk management. Aquaculture producers face a number of production risks (e.g., weather, disease) that substantially affect their output quantity and quality. Crop insurance is one important potential mechanism for managing these risks, but aquaculture has historically had limited insurance availability in the United States, in part because of unique challenges associated with implementing crop insurance programs in aquatic settings. The Cultivated Clam Pilot Insurance Program, which began in 2000 in four Atlantic Coast states, is the first United States, federal crop insurance program for aquaculture. This program experienced relatively high loss ratios in the early years of the program, but substantial modifications beginning with the 2004 crop year resulted in a significant improvement in actuarial performance. Experiences with clam insurance can provide insight into the potential development and application of insurance programs for other aquaculture products.


The 2003 PISA Korea sample is used to examine the association between within-school ability tracking and mathematics achievement. Estimates of a variety of econometric models reveal that tracking is positively associated with mathematics achievement among females and that this association declines for higher achieving females. No evidence of an association between males and tracking is detected. While this association for females cannot be interpreted as a causal effect, the presence of a measurable association indicates the need for further research on tracking in Korea with a particular focus on gender differences.


Constraint programming is traditionally presented as the combination of two components: a constraint model and a search procedure. In this paper we show that tree search procedures can be fully internalized in the constraint model with a fixed enumeration strategy. This approach has several advantages: 1) it makes search strategies declarative, and modeled as constraint satisfaction problems; 2) it makes it possible to express search strategies in existing front-end modeling languages supporting reified constraints without any extension; 3) it opens up constraint propagation algorithms to search constraints and to the implementation of novel search procedures based on constraint propagation. We illustrate this approach with a Horn clause extension of the MiniZinc modeling language and the modeling in this language of a variety of search procedures, including dynamic symmetry breaking procedures and limited discrepancy search, as constraint satisfaction problems. We show that this generality does not come with a significant overhead, and can in fact exhibit exponential speedups over procedural implementations, thanks to the propagation of the search constraints.


Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) provide significant STEM degrees to African Americans. Initiatives toward increasing diversity in STEM fields have been implemented by government and industry leaders. HBCUs annually award over 20% of all African American baccalaureate chemical engineering degrees. This speaks volume to the contribution HBCUs are making towards workforce diversity. This paper discusses the current statistics and impacts HBCUs have and could have in chemical engineering.


Much operational reliability data available, e.g., in the nuclear industry, is heavily right-censored by preventive maintenance. The common methods for dealing with right-censored data (total time on test statistic, Kaplan-Meier estimator, adjusted rank methods) assume the s-independent competing-risk model for the underlying failure process and the censoring process, even though there are, many s-dependent competing-risk models that can also interpret the data. It is not possible to identify the "correct" competing risk model from censored data. A reasonable question is whether this model uncertainty is of practical importance. This paper considers the impact of this model-uncertainty on maintenance optimization, and shows that it can be substantial. Three competing-risk model classes are presented which can be used to model the data, and determine an optimal maintenance policy. Given these models, then consider the error that is made when optimizing costs using the wrong model. Model uncertainty can be expressed in terms of the "dependence between competing risks" which can be quantified by expert judgment. This enables reformulating the maintenance optimization problem to account for model uncertainty.


The concept of a knowledge triangle, i.e., the principle of strengthening the linkages between research, education and innovation, has emerged as a result of policymakers' expectations that universities to assume broader social responsibility. Yet, little is known about how these tasks and their interactions are orchestrated at universities. We explore how they are manifested in the organisation and strategy of three different Swedish universities, and how these manifestations are shaped by the policy landscape. The article highlights that although the knowledge triangle remains a priority, explicit national policies are lacking, with the responsibility of integration falling upon universities themselves. We observe great diversity in how the principles of knowledge production are implemented at the universities, e.g., through individuals' interpretations and attitudes, and through management strategies and incentive schemes. The three tasks have largely been handled separately, with weak coordination and generally limited ambition demonstrated by university management teams to forge new combinations of remits. At the individual and group levels, we observe weak task articulation, although some role models serve as inspiration. Tensions emerge as the responsibilities of operationalising the knowledge triangle falls on individuals who sometimes lack the appropriate mandate and resources. These findings raise questions for further research and implications for policy and university management.


Abstract. Recent research promotes implementing next-generation wind plant control methods to mitigate turbine-to-turbine wake effects. Numerical simulation and wind tunnel experiments have previously demonstrated the potential benefit of wind plant control for wind plant optimization, but full-scale validation of the wake-mitigating control strategies remains limited. As part of this study, the yaw and blade pitch of a utility-scale wind turbine were strategically modified for a limited time period to examine wind turbine wake response to first-order turbine control changes. Wind turbine wake response was measured using Texas Tech University's Ka-band Doppler radars and dual-Doppler scanning strategies. Results highlight some of the complexities associated with executing and analyzing wind plant control at full scale using brief experimental control periods. Some difficulties include (1) the ability to accurately implement the desired control changes, (2) identifying reliable data sources and methods to allow these control changes to be accurately quantified, and (3) attributing variations in wake structure to turbine control changes rather than a response to the underlying atmospheric conditions (e.g., boundary layer streak orientation, atmospheric stability). To better understand wake sensitivity to the underlying atmospheric conditions, wake evolution within the early-evening transition was also examined using a single-Doppler data collection approach. Analysis of both wake length and meandering during this period of transitioning atmospheric stability indicates the potential benefit and feasibility of wind plant control should be enhanced when the atmosphere is stable.


We inhabit an age in which economic progress in the European Union is equalized to more European research and better communication of that European research to the public. In highly developed Western democracies this implies an important role for the public as well as the mass media, both actors in a transforming public sphere. Beyond a call for more communication and more scientific literacy, the discourse has shifted to a call for more engagement and more participation on behalf of the citizen. There is a widespread sentiment however that the discipline of science communication is at a crossroads. In this paper it is argued that in a context of life politics and an increasing displacement of politics, one has to account for the trajectories of issue formation and the detours of public-ization to understand the dynamics of techno-scientific issues.


The healing process after inflicting silver nitrate burns, a type of injury in which a heavy loss of body wall tissues occurs, was studied in Hirudo medicinalis. Silver solution penetrates the body wall and silver precipitates in the tissues during infiltration. Vasocentral cells, do not penetrate the impregnated zone but accumulate just below it to form a pseudoblastema. The impregnated zone splits off entirely, leaving an area covered by pseudoblastema cells on the leech surface, which is progressively reepithelialized. There is no regeneration of the lost body region, and although some connective tissue matrix may be produced by pseudoblastema cells, there is no significant regeneration of the connective tissue and nor the muscular fibers of the body wall, resting an evident depression in the damaged zone. The amount of affected tissue, and possibly the inability of vasocentral cells to reach the infiltrated tissues are determinant factors in the development of the splitting process. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.


This article presents a macro stress-testing model for liquidity risks of banks, incorporating the proposed Basel III liquidity regulation, unconventional monetary policy and credit supply effects. First and second round (feedback) effects of shocks are simulated by a Monte Carlo approach. Banks react according to the Basel III standards, endogenizing liquidity risk. The model shows how banks' reactions interact with extended refinancing operations and asset purchases by the central bank. The results indicate that Basel III limits liquidity tail risk, in particular if it leads to a higher quality of liquid asset holdings. The flip side of increased bond holdings is that monetary policy conducted through asset purchases gets more influence on banks relative to refinancing operations.


Abstract. Understanding the behavior of the global climate system during extremely warm periods is one of the major themes of paleoclimatology. Proxy data demonstrate that the equator-to-pole temperature gradient was much lower during the mid-Cretaceous "supergreenhouse" period than at present, implying larger meridional heat transport by atmospheric and/or oceanic circulation. However, reconstructions of atmospheric circulation during the Cretaceous have been hampered by a lack of appropriate datasets based on reliable proxies. Desert distribution directly reflects the position of the subtropical high-pressure belt, and the prevailing surface-wind pattern preserved in desert deposits reveals the exact position of its divergence axis, which marks the poleward margin of the Hadley circulation. We reconstructed temporal changes in the latitude of the subtropical high-pressure belt and its divergence axis during the Cretaceous based on spatio-temporal changes in the latitudinal distribution of deserts and prevailing surface-wind patterns in the Asian interior. We found a poleward shift in the subtropical high-pressure belt during the early and late Cretaceous, suggesting a poleward expansion of the Hadley circulation. In contrast, an equatorward shift of the belt was found during the mid-Cretaceous "supergreenhouse" period, suggesting drastic shrinking of the Hadley circulation. These results, in conjunction with recent observations, suggest the existence of a threshold in atmospheric CO2 level and/or global temperature, beyond which the Hadley circulation shrinks drastically.


A series of V2O5/WO3/TiO2 plate catalysts were prepared via the incipient wetness impregnation method, with the V2O5 content of 0.68 wt%, 1.01 wt%, 1.19 wt%, 1.5 wt% and the WO3 loading of 4.8 wt%, 6.2 wt%, 7.9 wt%, 9.2 wt%, respectively. Selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide by ammonia (NH3-SCR) experiments were performed to investigate the effects of the several factors on the performance of the catalysts, including the V2O5, WO3 and MoO3 content in the catalysts and the O2 concentration in the flue gas. The results indicated that as the rising of the V2O5 content, the SCR activity of the V2O5/WO3/TiO2 catalysts was firstly increased and then slightly decreased, with the best activity obtained at the V2O5 content of 1.19 wt%. As the increasing of the WO3 content, the activity was firstly increased slightly and then almost kept constant. Furthermore, the loading of the MoO3 on the V2O5/WO3/TiO2 plate catalysts would bring negative effects to the catalytic activity. In addition, the capability of the catalysts would slightly increase as the O2 concentration rising up to 7%, and then became stable at higher O2 concentrations.


This research involves studying the effect of some different protection methods to increase electrochemical corrosion resistance of medium carbon steel (DIN CK50) in 3.5% NaCl by applying coating with Cr and Sn, with addition of inhibitors (No3 ¯ , PO4 , MnO4 = and SO4 = ) and application of cathodic protection by sacrificial anode using Zn anode. Evaluation of corrosion resistance after different protection methods were measuring performed by static potential test and measurement of corrosion parameters (potentional and current density) by Tafel extrapolation method. The surface of protection specimens was examined by using optical microscopes. The corrosion rate results show that using coating and inhibition methods give good results in increasing the corrosion resistance compared with the cathodic protection which gives an objective result depending on sacrificed pole.


Previous research provides evidence that much of the crosssectional variation in equity returns can be explained by firm characteristics or sectors. One popular money management technique is to construct a portfolio (fund) using other managed portfolios (funds). The resulting overall portfolio is generally referred to as a fund-of-funds portfolio. This study by Larsen and Resnick demonstrates the potential for performance enhancement in a fund of funds when portfolio optimization techniques are employed on sector funds in order to construct the overall fund. Notably, ex ante optimization over sector funds that are constructed on the basis of market capitalization, price-to-earnings ratios, change in operating earnings, and book-to-market ratios demonstrates the potential for enhancing an overall equity fund performance relative to value-weighted and equal-weighted benchmark portfolios that are constructed from the population of stocks from which the sector portfolios are formed.


Dracocephalum palmatum Stephan (DPS), a medicinal plant used by Russian nomads, has been known to exhibit antioxidant properties. However, to the best of our knowledge, its anticancer effect has not been elucidated. The present study aimed to evaluate the tumor‑suppressive effect of DPS extract (DPSE) in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and the underlying mechanism. MTS assays and Annexin V staining were performed to assess the anti‑proliferative and apoptotic effects of DPSE, respectively. To reveal the underlying mechanisms, the levels of pro‑ and anti‑apoptotic Bcl‑2 members were analyzed by western blotting. Rescue experiments were performed to investigate the potential involvement of Myc in DPSE‑induced tumor‑inhibitory effects. Additionally, high‑performance liquid chromatography analysis was performed to analyze the components with anticancer effects. Exposure of multiple DLBCL cell lines to DPSE significantly decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis, whereas it had no effect on the survival of normal cells in vitro and in vivo. This indicates that its cytotoxic effect may be specific to cancer cells. Mechanistically, cell death induced by DPSE was dependent on the activation of caspase‑3/7 and the disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. Treatment with the extract ameliorated the expression of anti‑apoptotic Bcl‑2 members Bcl‑xL and Mcl‑1, and upregulated that of pro‑apoptotic Bcl‑2 members Bax and Bak. These modulations led to the disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, which culminated in the activation of executioner caspases‑3 and ‑7. Notably, overexpression of Myc inhibited DPSE‑induced cell killing, indicating the involvement of Myc in this process. Given that dysregulation of Myc is strongly associated with the pathobiology of DLBCL, the present study highlights the potential therapeutic efficacy of DPSE in patients with DLBCL with aberrant Myc expression. Furthermore, fractionation of DPSE by thin layer chromatography and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry‑based investigation of the fraction with bioactive compounds demonstrated that flavonoids may be responsible for most, if not all, of the anti‑lymphoma effect. Efforts to identify the bioactive flavonoids is currently underway.


Current research on wood reinforcement has focused on the use of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) strips or fabrics bonded to wood members. Although significant increases in stiffness and strength have been achieved by thisreinforcing technique, there is a concern about the reliable performance of the wood-FRP interface bond, which can be susceptible to delamination. The objective of this study is to present a combined analytical/ experimental study to evaluate the effect of moisture on fracture toughness of composite/wood bonded interfaces under Mode I loading. A contoured double cantilever beam (CDCB) specimen is used to characterize the fracture toughness of both wood-wood and wood-FRP samples. The specimens are designed by the Rayleigh Ritz method to achieve a linear rate of compliance with respect to crack length and are calibrated experimentally and also analytically by the finite element method. Both wood-wood and wood-FRP samples are tested under dry and wet conditions, and bonded interface fracture toughness data under Mode I loading are obtained. The guidelines and procedures for the modeling and design of CDCB specimens for hybrid or dissimilar adherends using a Rayleigh-Ritz model are presented briefly, and a modified Rayleigh-Ritz method is further developed. The effect of moisture on fracture toughness is evaluated, and increases in interface fracture toughness are observed due to moisture absorption for wet wood-wood and wood-FRP samples; the toughening of the interface under moisture is due mainly to a much more plastic fracture failure mode of the interface.


How parents respond to changes in the price of childcare is an important, though not fully understood, public policy question. Our paper provides new comprehensive evidence on how a home care subsidy jointly affects maternal labour market outcomes, childcare choices, and children's development. We examine a German reform from 2013 which introduced a home care subsidy of initially 100 Euros per month for families who do not use subsidised childcare. Exploiting a date-of-birth cut-off in eligibility and using administrative data on employment and child development alongside survey data on childcare usage, we show that the reform reduced mothers' likelihood to return to work within three years by only 1.4 percentage points, but decreased childcare enrolment for one- and two-year olds by 5 percentage points. We find no effect on children's skill development at age six. Our findings imply that the subsidy accrued almost completely as windfall gains to families who would not have used formal childcare anyway.


SUMMARY This paper continues the discussion of an immersion method of refractometry of living cells, the basic principles of which were given in Part I (Barer and Joseph, 1954). A suitable immersion medium should be non-toxic, must not penetrate the cell, and must be in osmotic equilibrium with it so that no change in volume (and hence in concentration) occurs. These requirements are best met by solutions of substances of higTf molecular weight. The effects observed when cells become freely permeable to such substances are described. An account of tests with various immersion media is given. The main substances tried have been peptone, proteose, protein hydrolysate, dextran, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, acacia gum, egg albumin, bovine gamma globulins, carboxyhaemoglobin, and bovine plasma albumin. Of these, bovine plasma albumin has proved to be most generally useful though acacia gum may be a good inexpensive substitute for some cells, particularly fungi. The osmotic properties of the immersion medium are most important and must be carefully controlled if true determinations of solid concentration are to be made. Some of the many difficulties in denning an isotonic physiological medium are reviewed. It is suggested that the best practical definition is that such a medium should be innocuous and should not change the cell volume. A method of adjusting the salt content of the medium, based on this definition, is described, and the possibility that some cells may exhibit a degree of osmotic regulation is discussed. Finally, evidence is presented to demonstrate the harmlessness of the isotonic protein medium to many types of cells.-Photomicrographs of cell division over a period of 48 hours in a protein medium are shown.


As we are aware of the fact that the developments of multimedia technology and internet networks have contributed immensely to improvements in the standard of learning as well as distance learning in developed world, the developing world is still not in position to take advantage of these improvements because of limited spread of these technologies, lack of proper management and infrastructure problems. We have to strive hard to succeed in solving these problems to enable people of developing countries to take advantages of these technologies for distance learning Otherwise the vast majority of the world population will be falling behind. In this paper we explore how to use mobile technology to provide distance learning in an efficient way using advanced multimedia tools. We recommend the use of mobile and multimedia technology to reach this vast population of under-developed countries to introduce quality learning in an effective way.


Offering the option of organ and tissue donation to grieving families may seem stressful, but asking the question may provide a positive means to extend care to the bereaved family and help others in return. Many donor families have said donation was an opportunity to make some sense out of a senseless situation and to relieve some of the grief they experienced. This article presents a case that started with such a discussion by ICU nurses in one of our donor hospitals, and ended with successful organ and tissue recovery and transplantation. As "routine" as this may sound, it was anything but routine--it made history.