Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) in the infant are severe symptoms from opioid exposure in utero. These symptoms include: "central nervous system irritability, autonomic overreactivity, and gastrointestinal tract dysfunction" (Ko et al., 2016). The treatment for NAS can be a combination of drug therapy and non-pharmacological interventions, but a standardized treatment is lacking. A review of this literature aims to evaluate the available interventions that lead to decreased symptom severity, reduction of length of hospital stay, and a reduction in the use of drug therapy. As a result of the literature review, the nurse researcher supports the standardization of treatment and consistent use of non-pharmacological interventions by nurses to reduce withdrawal symptoms and as an adjunct to drug therapy. This author recommends future research to be used to understand how consistently NICU nurses use non-pharmacological interventions. A question arose from the literature review: What are the most common non-pharmacological interventions used by NICU nurses as part of their institutional protocols? A pilot study with a mixed-methods approach will analyze how NICU nurses around the San Francisco (S.F.)Bay Area implement their facility's NAS protocols. The nurse research will create a survey with open-ended and closed-ended questions. Furthermore, it will be analyzed using descriptive and content analysis. The study will intend to help nurses in three ways: practice effective and consistent non-pharmacological interventions, increase confidence in caring for newborns affected by NAS and be acquainted with protocols among Bay Area hospitals.


The present study refers to the results obtained in four experiments carried out in the 2015/2016 crop: Toledo/PR; Palotina/PR; Cascavel/PR; and Sao Miguel do Iguacu/PR. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the agronomic efficiency of Azospirillum brasilense (pest strains Ab-V5 and Ab-V6) in four distinct rice culture regions (Oryza sativa L.). The tests were performed to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply regarding the registration of the product. The experiments were conducted in a randomized block design with seven treatments and four replications, totaling 28 plots each. Rice cultivar IAC 201 was used in all four experiments. At stage R7, 10 plants were collected to measure morphobiometric variables and nitrogen content in grains (N grains). The results showed that in all evaluated sites the use of liquid inoculation with A. brasilense increased rice crop development as well as productivity. Thus, inoculation of rice seeds with A. brasilense strains Ab-V5 and Ab-V6 based inoculant in the liquid formulations increased the yield and yield components of rice crop in different regions. The inoculant based on A. brasilense strains Ab-V5 and Ab-V6, using the liquid vehicle, presented higher agronomic efficiency for rice cultivation. The inoculant based on A. brasilense strains Ab-V5 and Ab-V6 using the peat medium has good agronomic efficiency similar to the standard inoculant. These results were satisfactory contributing also to the sustainability in the agriculture.

 Key words: Diazotrophic bacteria, plant growth promoting bacteria, nitrogen fertilization, seed inoculation, Oryza sativa L.


From the perspective of the social functioning of a family, single mothers are amongst the most vulnerable social groups in terms of interconnected economic, social and psychological burdens (Van Lancker, Ghysels, & Cantillon, 2015). Women in the situation of lone motherhood are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of meeting too many requirements and an excess of daily tasks. The aim of the study was to clarify whether resilience as an attribute and resilient coping can be a significant resource of their job satisfaction, taking into account the role of single motherhood as a difficult situation. The study involved 435 mothers, among whom 204 (47%) were in a formal or informal relationship, and 231 (53%) were lone mothers. For the measurement of resilient coping, the Brief Resilience Coping Scale – BRCS was used (Piórowska, Basińska, Piórowski, & Janicka, 2017), trait resilience was measured by the Resiliency Assessment Scale (SPP-25) (Ogińska-Bulik & Juczyński, 2008) and job satisfaction was rated by The Satisfaction with Job Scale (Zalewska, 2003b). The analysis showed no significant differences between mothers in terms of the level of job satisfaction, resilient coping and resilience as an attribute – with the exception of one dimension, openness to new experiences and sense of humour, which in the group of lone mothers scored significantly lower than in the group of mothers in relationships. The results also showed a significant differentiating role of marital status and resilient coping as well as trait resilience on job satisfaction.


Existing methods for 3D-aware image synthesis largely depend on the 3D pose distribution pre-estimated on the training set. An inaccurate estimation may mislead the model into learning faulty geometry. This work proposes PoF3D that frees generative radiance fields from the requirements of 3D pose priors. We first equip the generator with an efficient pose learner, which is able to infer a pose from a latent code, to approximate the underlying true pose distribution automatically. We then assign the discriminator a task to learn pose distribution under the supervision of the generator and to differentiate real and synthesized images with the predicted pose as the condition. The pose-free generator and the pose-aware discriminator are jointly trained in an adversarial manner. Extensive results on a couple of datasets confirm that the performance of our approach, regarding both image quality and geometry quality, is on par with state of the art. To our best knowledge, PoF3D demonstrates the feasibility of learning high-quality 3D-aware image synthesis without using 3D pose priors for the first time. Project page can be found here.


Through the lenses of cognitive science of religion, successful god concepts must possess a number of features. God concepts must be (1) counterintuitive, (2) an intentional agent, (3) possessing strategic information, (4) able to act in the human world in detectable ways and (5) capable of motivating behaviors that reinforce belief. That Santa Claus appears to be only inconsistently represented as having all five requisite features Santa has failed to develop a community of true believers and cult. Nevertheless, Santa concepts approximate a successful god concept more closely than other widespread cultural characters such as Mickey Mouse and the Tooth Fairy, in part explaining Santa's relative cultural prominence.


For long, a lot of accidents related to goods transportation proved the need of hazards identification. International regulations are in existence for air, ground (road, rail), sea and waterways transportation. For about 25 years, a committee of experts has been dealing at United Nations level on Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) and recently (beginning 2001) extended its work to Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling for Chemicals. In this lecture, will be presented first some typical accidents occurred with different types of goods : explosives, flammable substances (sinking of Ievoli Sun transporting chemicals and Erika transporting oil), toxic and corrosive, unclassified goods (Channel Tunnel in 1995, Mont-Blanc and Tauern tunnels in 1999). Then, a brief description of international regulations and of dangerous goods will be presented. Comments will be given on classification methods and procedures.


This paper makes an experimental study of mechanical properties of high-strength pumpcrete under fire, and the effects of heating rate, heating temperature and cooling mode on the residual compressive strength(RCS) of high-strength pumpcrete are investigated. The results show that under air cooling, the strength deterioration speed of high-strength concrete after high temperature increases with the increase of concrete strength grade. Also, the higher heating temperature is, the lower residual compressive strength value is. At the same heating rate (10°C/min), the residual compressive strength of C45 concrete after water cooling is a little higher than that after air cooling; but the test results are just the opposite for C55 and C65 concrete. The strength deterioration speed of high-strength concrete after high temperature increases with the increase of heating rate, but not in proportion. And when the heating temperature rises up between 200°C and 500°C, heating rate has the most remarkable effect on the residual compressive strength of concrete. These test results provide scientific proofs for further evaluation and analysis of mechanical properties of reinforced-concrete after exposure to high temperatures.


In 1886, Goldstein observed that when the cathode in a vacuum tube was pierced with holes, the electrical discharge did not stop at the cathode; behind the cathode, beams of light could be seen streaming through the holes in the way represented in fig. 1. He ascribed these pencils of light to rays passing through the holes into the gas behind the cathode; and from their association with the channels through the cathode he called these rays Kanalstrahlen. The colour of the light behind the cathode depends upon the gas in the tube: with air the light is yellowish, with hydrogen rose colour, with neon the gorgeous neon red, the effects with this gas being exceedingly striking. The rays produce phosphorescence when they strike against the walls of the tube; they also affect a photographic plate. Goldstein could not detect any deflection when a permanent magnet was held near the rays. In 1898, however, W. Wien, by the use of very powerful magnetic fields, deflected these rays and showed that some of them were positively charged; by measuring the electric and magnetic deflections he proved that the masses of the particles in these rays were comparable with the masses of atoms of hydrogen, and thus were more than a thousand times the mass of a particle in the cathode ray. The composition of these positive rays is much more complex than that of the cathode rays, for whereas the particles in the cathode rays are all of the same kind, there are in the positive rays many different kinds of particles. We can, however, by the following method sort these particles out, determine what kind of particles are present, and the velocities with which they are moving. Suppose that a pencil of these rays is moving parallel to the axis of x , striking a plane at right angles to their path at the point O; if before they reach the plane they are acted on by an electric force parallel to the axis of y , the spot where a particle strikes the plane will be deflected parallel to y through a distance y given by the equation y = e / mv 2 A, where e, m, v , are respectively the charge, mass, and velocity of the particle, and A a constant depending upon the strength of the electric field and the length of path of the particle, but quite independent of e, m , or v .


Statistical analysis is presented for 108 groups of fatigue test data of concrete, including tests of abnormal value, variance and distribution-fitted with fuzzy optimization; analysis of variance, sample size and error. It is chiefly concluded that effect of stress level of repeated loading on the fatigue life of concrete is much more significant than that of stress rate and relative stress amplitude, and effect of stress rate and relative stress amplitude are of the same significance; Relationship of sample size, relative error and significant level is also presented; fatigue life of concrete is more fitted for lognormal distribution than Weibull distribution. Suggestion for relevant code, standard and regulation are presented.


Detecting semantic concept of columns in tabular data is of particular interest to many applications ranging from data integration, cleaning, search to feature engineering and model building in machine learning. Recently, several works have proposed supervised learning-based or heuristic pattern-based approaches to semantic type annotation. Both have shortcomings that prevent them from generalizing over a large number of concepts or examples. Many neural network based methods also present scalability issues. Additionally, none of the known methods works well for numerical data. We propose $C^2$, a column to concept mapper that is based on a maximum likelihood estimation approach through ensembles. It is able to effectively utilize vast amounts of, albeit somewhat noisy, openly available table corpora in addition to two popular knowledge graphs to perform effective and efficient concept prediction for structured data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of $C^2$ over available techniques on 9 datasets, the most comprehensive comparison on this topic so far.


Cash flow analysis from pine and spruce stands on I and II site index was made
basing on data collected from three Polish forestry districts. Data obtained from districts
allowed to calculate NPV, IRR and FR economical indicators for the years 2001 and
2006. Economic outcomes were calculated by discounting costs and incomes with 3%
discount rate. Additionally, calculations with administration costs were made.
Furthermore, a part of the report compares Polish and Lithuanian economical outcomes in
2006 from pine and spruce stands of the same productivity. The following criteria were
defined for all pine and spruce stands: the height of the pines reaches 24 meters and
spruce 28 meters at the age of 100 years. Only state owned productive forests were
investigated. The next accepted step was making the forest management programme as
similar as possible to the forestry practice in both countries.
Project investigations revealed that pine stands in Poland on most common site
index are not profitable according to NPV and IRR criterion with and without adding
administration costs. However spruce profitability reaches more than 4 percent without
taking into account administration costs. After adding administration costs it went down
into 2.5 percent. For Polish pine and spruce stands forest rent remains positive with and
without administration costs. Despite increasing prices for timber assortments,
profitability did not increase significantly between years 2001 and 2006 due to increase of
labour costs.
Comparison of Polish and Lithuanian silviculture regimes revealed that Polish
pine stands are much less profitable than Lithuanian. The reason behind this lies in a
higher number of treatments required and implemented during rotation. However Polish
spruce stands with more treatments implemented but a 25 years longer rotation have a
higher profitability in Poland. The main reason for this is a much higher spruce
productivity in Poland than in Lithuania and higher wood prices.
Furthermore administration costs are more severe in Poland, which decreases
profitability as compared to Lithuania.
In general, the report results lead to the conclusion that only those entrepreneurs
which are willing to freeze their capital for a long time in bringing low interest rate
investments can invest money in Polish and Lithuanian forestry.


Male-biased genes have drawn considerable attention due to their relatively rapid rates of interspecies diversification. These genes are often involved in processes related to reproductive behavior, sexual competition, and gametogenesis. Despite this trend toward rapid evolutionary change, many core molecular pathways underlying spermatogenesis are conserved between Drosophila melanogaster and several mammalian species. Using BLAST search in the database, 22 testis-specific mammalian orthologues of 174 known D. melanogaster male-biased proteins were identified. They are related to a variety of molecular processes. Several also showed association with human male-factor infertility. These genes/proteins may find applications in the diagnosis and treatment of male infertility and the development of novel contraceptives.


The concentration of over 20 biochemicals in bovine aqueous humor was determined by conventional means, and the contribution of each to the observed optical rotation was estimated. Of those studied, only glucose and the total proteins made a significant contribution. However, other unidentified chemicals apparently also contribute to the optical activity since it was not possible to reconstruct the actual aqueous humor optical rotation based on the chemicals included. Alternative experimental approaches that may yield more complete results are discussed. With further work, optical rotation might be used as the basis of a noninvasive sensor for measuring the glucose concentration of aqueous humor in the intact eye.


This study explored parental involvement in the education of their children as a conflict resolution strategy in the Kafue district of Lusaka province in Zambia. 28 participants were purposively engaged within a qualitative research methodology to generate evidence. Key among the findings revealed that factors that affected parents' involvement in education of their children at school were negative attitude, lack of understanding and financial constraints. Similarly, when school authorities are not communicating effectively with parents, it created a vacuum of information which all stakeholders needed. A challenge in some situation was distance, sometimes distance becomes a hindrance for parents to participate in the affairs of the school. Distance to the school was one other contributing factor that affected parents' involvement in education of their school going children. Thus, the study recommends among others that, Parents should provide their children with basic needs such as food, shelter and clothes, learning materials like exercises books adequate academic and moral attention, unconditional love and the opportunity to develop responsible citizenship. Equally, Teacher should demonstrate friendliness, respect and recognition of parents of students registered in secondary schools in order to encourage them to get involved in school activities. Further, Education policy makers are urged to develop a parental involvement policy in secondary schools to guide practice.


Abstract In this study, p-tert-butyl at position 2 and acetamide bridged 4-substituted piperazine/piperidine at position 5 bearing benzoxazole derivatives were evaluated for their in vitro inhibitory activity against AChE, BChE and Tyrosinase, which are important targets in reducing the adverse effects of Alzheimer's disease. The most active 1 g inhibited the BChE at a concentration of 50 µM by 54 ± 0.75%. Molecular docking studies of the compounds against BChE (PDB: 4BDS) were performed with Schrödinger and AutoDock Vina and the results were compared. Schrödinger docking scores were found to be more consistent. Estimated ADME profiles and bioactivity scores of the compounds were calculated and found to be compatible with Lipinski and other limiting rules. Geometric optimization parameters, MEP analysis and HUMO and LUMO quantum parameters of the most active 1 g were calculated by using DFT/B3LYP theory and 6-311 G (d,p) base set and results was viewed. Graphical Abstract


This study proposes a computer cryptographic system through performing the chaotic modulation on the intrinsic mode functions with a non-dyadic number of the encrypted signals. First, the empirical mode decomposition is applied to an input signal to generate a set of intrinsic mode functions. Then, these intrinsic mode functions are categorised into two groups of signals. Next, a type 1 polyphase is employed to represent each group of signals. These polyphase components are combined to generate a non-dyadic number of polyphase components. Second, the chaotic modulation is applied to these combined polyphase components for performing the encryption in the time frequency domain. To reconstruct the original signal, first, the chaotic demodulation is applied to the encrypt components to reconstruct the combined polyphase components. Then, the original groups of intrinsic mode functions are reconstructed through the type 2 polyphase representation and the original signal is reconstructed. Compared with the chaotic filter bank system, the proposed approach enjoys the nonlinear and adaptive property of the empirical mode decomposition. Therefore, a better security performance can be achieved particularly for the non-stationary signals. Compared with the conventional chaotic modulation approach, the proposed system allows performing the cryptography in the time frequency domain.


ABSTRACT Current prescriptions for welfare reform and increased reliance on the voluntary sector often base their appeal on the lessons of history, in particular the apparent successes of Victorian philanthropy in combating 'pauperism'. This article looks at how this message has become influential in the USA and the UK among the ruling parties of right and left through the particular prism of the neo-conservative appreciation of the work of Thomas Chalmers, the early nineteenth-century Scottish churchman and authority on poverty. The attraction of Chalmers, both to the Charity Organization Society then and neo-conservatives today, lies in the practical application of his idea of the 'godly commonwealth' in Glasgow and Edinburgh where voluntary effort, organized through the church, replaced the statutory obligations of the poor law. While Chalmers, and his followers, declared his 'experiments' to be great successes, modern Scottish historians have revealed these claims to be false and his efforts failures. Only by completely ignoring the evidence presented by this historiography and continuing to rely on Chalmers's own writings and earlier hagiographies can the neo-conservative approbation of Chalmers be sustained. Such wilful neglect raises questions both about their approach to history and their proposed remedies for tackling poverty today.


The pulsed-laser polymerization technique in combination with size exclusion chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance is used to study the influences of solvent choice and monomer structure on the copolymerization propagation kinetics of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) and 2-methoxyethyl acrylate (MEA). The similarity in the monomer structures provides a means to isolate the influence of H-bonding, which increases the incorporation of HEA into copolymer relative to that of butyl acrylate (BA) dependent on solvent choice. The copolymer-averaged propagation rate coefficient, kcopp, for HEA/BA is also increased over that of BA homopropagation, and is highly influenced by solvent choice. In contrast, MEA copolymerized with butyl acrylate (BA) and butyl methacrylate (BMA) in multiple solvents revealed classic behaviour, with no solvent effects exerted on kcopp or reactivity ratios other than the increase of kcopp in n-butanol (BuOH). The value of kMEAp was determined to be 35 000 L mol−1 s−1 at 50 °C, 30% higher than the value for BA. In a simplified modelling approach, penultimate-unit parameters for BMA/BA were used to represent the evolution of kcopp for BMA/MEA in bulk.


The concept of environmental capital is thoroughly entrenched in policy dicussions but largely missing from mainstream economic curriculums. This article argues environmental externalities, climate change, and constraints on natural resources will constantly and deeply affect humankind's future. The teaching of economics, especially growth economics, should stop ignoring them.


Even with the affordable healthcare act, as of May 2014, 13.4% of US adults do not have healthcare coverage. In addition to this, of the 7 million illegal immigrants, more than half do not have health insurance. These two numbers mean that there are millions who rely on free health care in order to take care of themselves. Though some doctors take on patients "pro-bono", the majority of these people are treated in free clinics often staffed by volunteers. The need for volunteers in these free clinics is well known, but what motivates these volunteers to give their time? This study aims to answer that question. To identify these motivations, volunteers in free clinics were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Participants answered questions regarding what motivated them to volunteer in the free clinic environment. The interviews were coded using open-coding and grounded theory. Preliminary data indicates that there was a high frequency recurring things including: community, social rewards, and beliefs regarding access to healthcare. Results included a 57% occurrence of "intrinsic" rewards as a motivation for volunteering. Additionally, 72% of people interviewed said that volunteering was a way for them to feel a part of a community. Based on these results, next steps will include distributing an already developed survey instrument (Volunteer Functions Inventory) to further explore themes found in the interviews.


!! The purposes of this research were to study the effects of using Know–Want–Learn Strategy on students' mathematics learning achievement and to assess students' attitude towards using Know–Want–Learn (KWL) Strategy in mathematics learning. The sample group consisted of 40 students studying in Grade 10 in the second semester, academic Year 2014 at Horwang School, Bangkok, Thailand. The researcher examined students' understanding of mathematical concepts and their ability to solve mathematical problems from writing solution in KWL chart. The researcher used the Know–Want–Learn Strategy as an instructional tool and as a model to solve mathematical problems. The research instruments were lesson plans, paper test and questionnaire. Statistical analysis was accomplished by percentage, mean and t-test for one sample. Based on the research findings, KWL Strategy was effective in developing the understanding of mathematical concepts, improving the students' abilities to solve mathematical problems and promoting students' mathematics achievement and positive attitudes for the students. !


This study is a part of the social science program on Linnaeus University. The purpose of this study is to understand how Somali women in Sweden look upon their cultural identity. We also aim to understand how their cultural identity is affected by living there life with an influence from two different cultures. In this perspective we are focusing on how media in Sweden is presenting Somalia and Somali people. The data in this study has been collected through qualitative interviews with 7 Somali women. These women have been identified through a contact person or by the women that has participated in the interviews. The number of women in this survey has been limited by the possibility to find candidates that fitted with the defined research criteria's. One essential part in our findings is that the women's view on their cultural identity tends to be dynamic and depending on the situation. Though there might also be a conflict in the women's feelings towards their cultural identity and ambivalent emotions might be present. We have also concluded that the women see the media picture as one dimensional and negative. The media reflection might have an impact on the identity for the individuals since the self-identity must relate to the stereotyped reflection.


We present a tool that is specifically designed to support a writer in revising a draft version of a document. In addition to showing which paragraphs and sentences are difficult to read and understand, we assist the reader in understanding why this is the case. This requires features that are expressive predictors of readability, and are also semantically understandable. In the first part of the paper, we, therefore, discuss a semiautomatic feature selection approach that is used to choose appropriate measures from a collection of 141 candidate readability features. In the second part, we present the visual analysis tool VisRA, which allows the user to analyze the feature values across the text and within single sentences. Users can choose between different visual representations accounting for differences in the size of the documents and the availability of information about the physical and logical layout of the documents. We put special emphasis on providing as much transparency as possible to ensure that the user can purposefully improve the readability of a sentence. Several case studies are presented that show the wide range of applicability of our tool. Furthermore, an in-depth evaluation assesses the quality of the measure and investigates how well users do in revising a text with the help of the tool.


Metallothionein (MT) is a small sulfydryl-rich protein that binds to and is inducible by heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, zinc, and copper. However, little is known about the induction of MT by trivalent metals except for bismuth. In this study, we examined the induction of MT synthesis by cerium, a trivalent lanthanoid metal. Administration of cerium chloride (CeCl3) to mice resulted in accumulation of cerium and induction of MT in the liver in a dose-dependent manner. Distribution profiles of metals in the soluble fraction of the liver of CeCl3-treated mice analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography/inductively coupled argon plasma-mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP-MS) demonstrated that the metal bound to MT-I and MT-II was zinc, but not cerium. Administration of CeCl3 caused increases in the activities of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and the levels of serum amyloid A (SAA), an acute phase protein. Among inflammatory cytokines examined, interleukin 6 (IL-6) exhibited a marked increase in the serum at 3 h after the CeCl3 administration. In order to evaluate the involvement of IL-6 in the induction of MT by cerium, we examined MT induction by CeCl3 in IL-6 null mice. Both the induction of hepatic MT and the increases in SAA levels were markedly suppressed in IL-6 null mice. These results suggest that IL-6 plays an important role in the induction of hepatic MT by cerium.


When scaling to low resource languages for speech synthesis or speech recognition in an industrial setting, a common challenge is the absence of a readily available pronunciation lexicon. Common alternatives are handwritten letter-to-sound rules and data-driven grapheme-to-phoneme (G2P) models, but without a pronunciation lexicon it is hard to even determine their quality. We identify properties of a good quality metric and note drawbacks of naı̈ve estimates of G2P quality in the domain of small test sets. We demonstrate a novel method for reliable evaluation of G2P accuracy with minimal human effort. We also compare behavior of known state-of-the-art approaches for training with limited data. Finally we evaluate a new active learning approach for training G2P models in the low resource setting.


Abstract Background and Aims. Several factors are associated with a heightened risk of subsequent events, morbidity and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Improving the management of these patients is a challenge that requires urgent attention. We aimed to study the long-term effect of the change in treatment strategy depending on the HbA1c level detected during the hospitalization for ACS. Material and methods. The primary endpoints of this study were the major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 12 months. From the originally included 221 patients 15 were lost (no response to follow-up phone calls). The suboptimal glycaemic control group (HbA1c>7.0%, n=84) was divided in two subgroups: patients who completed a diabetological consult with further treatment changes (intervention group) and patients without this referral (control group). Results. No significant differences in baseline characteristics were found between the 2 subgroups. The second subgroup had a triple risk for a MACE in 1 year (HR=2.8704, 95% CI: 1.109-7.423, p=0.0296) compared to the intervention group. No significant differences were found in secondary endpoints. Conclusion. This study suggests that, after hospitalization for an ACS, diabetologist referral and treatment strategy changes are recommended for all T2DM patients whose HbA1c level is over 7% before discharge.


This paper reports on the effects of varying the concentration of seawater dosed at a rate of 10% of body mass on the hand ling of fluid and solutes by jackass penguins (Spheniscus demersus). The salt gland only secreted when the seawater dosed was hypertonic to the plasma and caused a rise in plasma osmotic concentration of at least 7,5%. The gland reacts to different marginal osmotic loads (equivalent to 40 and 50% seawater) by varying the flow rate and total concentration to match the degree of osmotic stress. High osmotic loads resulted in maximum flow rates and concentration from the onset of secretion. The relative composition of the ions was not affected by flow rate. Cloacal excretion decreased with a decreasing osmotic load, especially at those seawater concentrations that failed to stimulate the salt gland. This cloacal control is interpreted as a graded mechanism to dispose of osmotic loads. The cloacal system is stimulated to excrete by the same stimuli as the salt gland. Apparent selective Na+ absorption by the cloaca was also noted.


Objective:To determine the safety of a vaginal microbicide, COL-1492, containing 52.5 mg nonoxynol-9, applied once daily for 14 days among healthy volunteers. Methods:A randomized, double-blind controlled trial with three arms, COL-1492 gel versus placebo gel versus no-treatment controls, was conducted. Outcomes of interest were reported genital symptoms, incidence of gynaecological signs, and incidence of genital lesions revealed by colposcopy. Participants were enrolled in four centres (Belgium, The Netherlands, and two in Thailand). Results:A total of 534 women participated in the study: 179 used COL-1492, 178 used placebo, and 177 were no-treatment controls. Study visits were scheduled 1 week prior to enrolment (day −7), day 0 (enrolment), day 8 and day 14. The most frequently reported genital symptom was vaginal discharge in both the COL-1492 and placebo groups. This appeared to be related to leakage of the product out of the vagina. The incidence of lesions associated with epithelial disruption (ulcers and abrasions) was very low (< 2%) and there was no statistically significant difference between the three groups. Of the lesions observed by colposcopy that did not involve epithelial disruption, petechial haemorrhage was the most frequently detected, with an incidence of 20.1, 9.0 and 7.3% in the COL-1492, placebo and control groups, respectively. COL-1492 users had a higher incidence of erythema (8.4 versus 2% in the other groups). Conclusion:COL-1492 showed minimal toxicity when applied once daily. A Phase III trial to assess the product's effectiveness in HIV prevention is currently ongoing.


We investigate judicial election's impact on criminal case handling. Data from appeals of felony convictions in New York state are used to measure the accuracy of lower court outcomes. We also account for judicial election pressures and career paths. A theoretical model is developed where to guide the empirical analysis judges face a trade-off between exerting time and effort in criminal and civil cases. We show that during a re-election campaign, when the importance of good decision making in both types of cases is heightened, if the civil case outcomes are sufficiently more important, then error rates in criminal cases can increase. This effect is reversed for those who have a greater intrinsic interest in criminal justice. Results from the empirical analysis conform to the hypotheses derived from the theoretical model. Convictions that occur during the judge's re-election campaign are less likely to be upheld if appealed. The effect is concentrated in those who did not previously work in a prosecutor's office. In fact, judges who are former prosecutors experience higher affirmation rates with an additional escalation in success when up for re-election. We also differentiate judges who handle more civil cases and show that re-election distortions are greater. Finally, we also consider those who receive greater campaign support from special interest groups. Those who receive financial support have reduced accuracy. These additional results are consistent with the theory that it is the trade-off between criminal and civil cases that is driving decision making. Our results suggest that the criminal justice system is impacted by the interaction between a judge's characteristics and re-election incentives.


When preparing for a full ethnographic study during the school year 08/09 within the project "Active Citizenship? On Democratic Education in the Upper Secondary School", I carried out a pilot study, during which I observed class meetings and lessons. In this paper presentation, I will show how teacher instructions lead to regulation during these meetings. When analysing interviews and observations, I have used Connell's theories about masculinities and comparisons with Willis's lads to show how gender norms and social class traditions are reproduced. This research shows that teachers' regulation of topics and time enable the boys at the vehicle programme in an upper secondary school to openly show resistance. Although the students distrust the school system and teachers distrust the students' ability to take democratic responsibility, it is difficult for the students to resistant in a fruitful way. They regard upper secondary school like a transport to the age when they are old enough to get a job and earn their own money. Yet, this transport is in conflict. The world around the boys is changing, and competence in academic skills, e.g. English or Maths, are now desired on the labour market.


Arming at the characteristics of shrapnel multi-type and variable batch, developing tools Visual C++ 6.0 and Pro/Toolkit are used, the CNC system based on SmarTeam Data Model is put forward. Effective management and utilization are carried out which are in the fields of the processing parameter inquiring, experience inquiring and G code of numerical control cutting, milling, drilling, boring and so on by SmarTeam, and then the process and results of the system is demonstrated by taking some shrapnel body cutting for example.


Targeting STAT pathways may offer previously unidentified approaches in the management of fibrotic disorders. Fibrotic disorders represent common complex disease pathologies that are therapeutically challenging. Inflammation is associated with numerous fibrotic pathogeneses; however, its role in the multifaceted mechanisms of fibrosis remains unclear. IL-13 is implicated in aberrant responses involved in fibrotic disease, and we aimed to understand its role in the inflammatory processes of a common fibrotic disorder, Dupuytren's disease. We demonstrated T-cells produced IFN-g, which induced IL-13 secretion from mast cells and up-regulated IL-13Ra1 on fibroblasts, rendering them more reactive to IL-13. Consequently, diseased myofibroblasts demonstrated enhanced fibroproliferative effects upon IL-13 stimulation. We established IFN-g and IL-13 responses involved STAT dependent pathways, and STAT targeting (tofacitinib) could inhibit IL-13 production from mast cells, IL-13Ra1 up-regulation in fibroblasts and fibroproliferative effects of IL-13 on diseased myofibroblasts. Accordingly, utilizing Dupuytren's as an accessible human model of fibrosis, we propose targeting STAT pathways may offer previously unidentified therapeutic approaches in the management of fibrotic disease.


The cell entry of SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as an attractive drug development target. We previously reported that the entry of SARS-CoV-2 depends on the cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) and the cortex actin, which can be targeted by therapeutic agents identified by conventional drug repurposing screens. However, this drug identification strategy requires laborious library screening, which is time-consuming and often limited number of compounds can be screened. As an alternative approach, we developed and trained a graph convolutional network (GCN)-based classification model using information extracted from experimentally identified HSPG and actin inhibitors. This method allowed us to virtually screen 170,000 compounds, resulting in ∼2000 potential hits. A hit confirmation assay with the uptake of a fluorescently labeled HSPG cargo further shortlisted 256 active compounds. Among them, 16 compounds had modest to strong inhibitory activities against the entry of SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped particles into Vero E6 cells. These results establish a GCN-based virtual screen workflow for rapid identification of new small molecule inhibitors against validated drug targets. Graphical TOC Entry


Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) plays a critical role in the metabolism of lipoproteins because this enzyme hydrolyzes the triacylglycerides in chylomicrons and very low density lipoproteins. This process influences the production of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which takes up tissue cholesterol for transport to the liver for excretion. Accordingly, LPL qualifies as a candidate gene for understanding lipid metabolic disorders and atherosclerosis. Studies on the relationship between genetic variation at the LPL locus and lipid phenotypes have produced equivocal results to date. To help clarify this issue, we investigated 144 outwardly healthy male Mediterranean migrants (from Italy and Greece), age between 40 and 70 years and resident in Australia, for associations between two common LPL restriction site polymorphisms and the following lipid and lipoprotein phenotypes: total plasma cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and triacylglycerides. A series of analysis of variance tests, controlling for age, body mass index, and ethnicity, showed that the HindIII polymorphism at the LPL locus is significantly associated with both triacylglyceride and HDL cholesterol concentrations in this sample. The PvUII polymorphism, however, showed no association with any lipid. Kruskal-Wallis tests confirmed the significance of the associations between the HindIII RFLP and both HDL (p = 0.008) and triacylglycerides (p = 0.03). When the sample was subdivided into subjects who exhibited primary hypertriacylglyceridemia and normolipidemics, a significant difference was observed in the frequency of HindIII (p < 0.05) but not PvuII genotypes. HindIII heterozygotes (H1,H2) were least and H2,H2 individuals were most at risk for triacylglyceridemia. Examination of the normolipidemic sample revealed some evidence for an independent effect of the PvuII polymorphism on both LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels.


One hundred and twelve wells having drillers' logs were studied in Pope and Faulkner counties. Sixty-six of the wells produced water from shales and siltstones of the Atoka Formation while 46 produced from interbedded Atoka sandstones. Drillers' estimated well yields ranged from 1 to 100 gpm, but the median yield was only 9 gpm. Well depths ranged from 30 to337 feet with a median depth of 100 feet. Ground-water is usually obtained from a series of low-producing confined aquifers of low artesian pressure. Pressure head and production were shown, statistically (a = .01 ), to decrease with increasing well depth. This indicates that fractures and bedding-plane partings become more tight with depth associated with the increasing lithostatic pressure. Ground-water flow directions are generally to the south towards the Arkansas River with static water levels strongly conforming to the topography (a = 0.001). A resistivity study was performed near Guy in Faulkner County to investigate the hypothesis that production is largely controlled by fracture porosity. The tri-potential resistivity technique was utilized to verify the presence of suspected fractures delinated from aerial photographs. Existing wells inthe area produce estimated yields of 1 to 20 gpm. The well located inthis study on verified fractures produced 120 gpm.


Abstract It is suggested that the rock-suite, characteristic of the discordant bathyliths and ranging in composition from ultrabasic to ultra-acid, is formed from two magmas, a basaltic and a granodioritic, that the basic rocks are emplaced among the geosynclinal sediments before the introduction of the acid magma, and that intermediate rocks are hybrids. Further, it is suggested that hybridization takes place in two stages: first, by reaction between basic rocks and water and carbon dioxide, released from sediments as a result of deep-seated metamorphism, and rising in advance of the acid magma; and secondly, by the magma itself. The first intrusions carry shattered country rocks and are stock-like bodies, and these are followed by successive emplacements of granodiorite, the earliest of which envelop most of the stocks and are, thereby hybridized to form tonalites. Only those stocks near the margins of the later intrusions are preserved, and hence occur as satellites about the larger more acid bodies. The order of intrusion, the grainsize of the basic hybrids, and the occurrence of hornblende is discussed and it is concluded that dioritic rocks and dioritic magmas originate at a high level in the geosynclinal pile.


The interaction between the clinical isolate of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) SBANU8 and pea sprouts was compared with avirulent K 12. E. coli. This was carried out by repeated co-incubation with pea sprouts for 5 days, and the protein profile of the culture supernatant was analyzed by single and two-dimensional electrophoresis. Mass spectrometry analysis led to the identification of two serine protease inhibitors including a Bowman-Birk-type protein secreted by pea sprouts in response to clinical isolate. Expression of the E. coli intimin gene involved in animal host colonization and virulence was studied by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Expression of this gene was high in SBANU8 when co-incubated with pea sprouts. The present study gives baseline data on the molecular level interactions of EPEC and pea sprouts, which are needed to design the outbreak control strategies.


The objective of this work is to investigate the potential benefits of using social media in education. A thorough examination of a large set of these online tools has revealed that social media have many educational advantages. In fact, it has been found out that these web-based applications can improve communication among students and between teachers and students. Thanks to these technologies, both teachers and students can interact with each other in a matter of seconds. Social media can also be used to promote studentsâ?? engagement. Students who often complain of being intimidated or bored in the classroom may feel comfortable to express their creativity and voice their opinion on a social network website. Another finding of this study is that social media applications foster collaboration as they allow students to work together to achieve a common goal. Given these educational benefits, we recommend that these online social tools should be used in learning environments.


The objective of this study was to quantitatively measure the nature of concurrent sex partnering in two samples of drug users having large numbers of sex partners. The purpose of this study was to measure concurrent sex partnering and overlap in concurrent sex partners in two samples of drug users in which some or all participants were trading sex-for-money. Two samples having large numbers of sex partners were used to conduct the analyses: drug-using male sex workers (MSW) and male and female crack cocaine smokers (CS) having vaginal sex. To reflect the quality of concurrent partnering, three measures were used: the proportion of the samples having concurrent partners; the proportions of the samples having intimate, casual, and sex-for-money of partners; and overlap in concurrent partners. Proportions of each sample having concurrent partners were essentially the same. However, the kinds of concurrent partners and overlap in concurrent partners were significantly different. Concurrent partners in the MSW sample were mostly sex-for-money or sex-for-drugs partners. Most concurrent partners in the CS sample were initimate or casual sex partners. Overlap in concurrent partners was also significantly different. The measure of overlap for the CS sample was three times higher than that of the MSW sample. These data suggest that concurrent sex partnering in the two samples, beyond the proportion having concurrent partners, was different. The patterns of concurrent sex partners in each sample may reflect different reasons for engaging in concurrent partnering. Different reasons for engaging in concurrent partnering may also be reflected in different overlap scores between the two samples. Efforts should be made in future studies to better capture the complexities of concurrent partnering and to examine the implications of these for disease spread and control.


Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is a type of common surface damages during the ultra-precision machining of monocrystalline Si. However, it is difficult to identify the amorphous damage of several nanometers by traditional detection methods, which severely hinders the performance improvement of Si-based products. In this study, ultrathin a-Si was found to act as a mask against etching in HF/HNO3 mixtures, resulting in the formation of protrusive hillocks. Reciprocating sliding on an atomic force microscope (AFM) was employed to simulate a material removal event in surface manufacturing. The effects of normal load, etching time and etchant concentration on selective etching were investigated to optimize the parameters for amorphous damage detection. The mechanisms for selective etching were further addressed based on high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) detection and comparative etching of different surface structures. Further analysis demonstrated that a lower dangling bond density of a-Si could result in the reduction of the dissolution rate, while deformed Si lattices, including stacking faults, dislocations and microcracks, could facilitate rapid selective etching. By the proposed selective etching, ultrathin amorphous damage and its spatial distributions can be rapidly identified with high resolution and low destruction. This study sheds new light on achieving a high-quality Si surface in ultra-precision machining.


INTRODUCTION Textualism preaches two unalterable truths regarding statutory interpretation. First, the judge's proper focus is the statute's text.1 Second, the judge shall not consult legislative history in interpreting that text.2 The textualist method largely rests upon these two pillars. This Article argues that textualists ignore an equally fundamental aspect of the interpretive enterprise: the inseparability of text and context. That is, a text's meaning becomes determinate only when paired with a specific context.3 For example, consider a sign that admonishes, "Keep off the grass."4 Hanging on the wall of a drug rehabilitation clinic, the sign implores abstention from drugs,5 but when planted in a well-manicured lawn, the sign enjoins passersby from stepping on the turf.6 Pairing the same text with different contexts changes the text's meaning. The text-context link is so fundamental that, even when words appear in isolation, we must hypothesize a context to make sense of those words. Consider a professor who receives an anonymous note that simply reads, "Drop dead."7 To fix meaning on these words, the professor must pair them with a hypothetical context.8 For example, perhaps a colleague with a sense of humor wrote the note after a fight-hearted disagreement.9 Or, perhaps the note is from a disgruntled former student who received a failing grade.10 Paired with the former context, the note is a joke; paired with the latter context, the note is more ominous. Selecting a hypothetical context selects meaning. Similarly, changing context can alter meaning just as radically as changing text, as every text-context pairing potentially has a different meaning. Yet, the constitutional argument for textualism drives a wedge between text and context. Consider the view of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, whose extensive judicial and other writings defend the practice.11 He argues from the Constitution's lawmaking process, noting that only a statute's text passes through the constitutionally-prescribed lawmaking steps of bicameralism (passage by both chambers of Congress) and presentment (delivery of the bill for the President's signature or veto).12 Conversely, legislative history materials, such as committee reports and floor debates, do not pass through bicameralism and presentment. Consequently, only the statute's text, and not its legislative history, is constitutionally enacted "law" entitled to interpretive weight. This bicameralism and presentment argument is both incoherent and incomplete. It is incoherent because statutory interpretation cannot proceed on text alone - text must be paired with a context. The argument is incomplete because it is silent on the proper context with which to pair statutory text. And this silence is ironic. While textualists like Justice Scalia invoke the Constitution to prohibit consideration of legislative history,13 faithful adherence to constitutional text and structure actually requires such consideration. This disconnect derives from textualism' s misdirected, laser-like focus on the result of the bicameralism and presentment process - statutory text - to the exclusion of the process itself. Yet, the Constitution's text and structure treat bicameralism and presentment as important for its process as well as its result. Thus, legislative deliberation, as reflected in legislative history, is not like so much chafe to be discarded after the final vote. This Article has two parts. Part I describes the textualist constitutional argument against legislative history in statutory interpretation, focusing on the judicial and other writings of Justice Scalia. Part ? then critiques the textualist constitutional argument and explains how constitutional text and structure actually require judges to consider legislative history when interpreting federal statutes. I. THE TEXTUALIST ARGUMENT AGAINST LEGISLATIVE HISTORY Justice Scalia' s rejection of legislative history and corresponding embrace of textualism is most extensively defended in his essay Common-Law Courts in a Civil-Law System: The Role of United States Federal Courts in Interpreting the Constitution and Laws. …


This paper addresses the task of handling unknown terms in SMT. We propose using source-language monolingual models and resources to paraphrase the source text prior to translation. We further present a conceptual extension to prior work by allowing translations of entailed texts rather than paraphrases only. A method for performing this process efficiently is presented and applied to some 2500 sentences with unknown terms. Our experiments show that the proposed approach substantially increases the number of properly translated texts.


Pulmonary embolism is a frequent cardiovascular disease which in recent years has shown a reduction in the mortality but an increase in the incidence. Due to the optimization of clinical probability scores and the interpretation of the D‑dimer test, unnecessary examinations using computed tomography with respect to the exclusion of an acute pulmonary embolism can be avoided, also in pregnant women. The evaluation of the right ventricle contributes to a risk-adapted treatment. Treatment consists of anticoagulation, alone or in combination with reperfusion treatment, such as systemic thrombolysis and also catheter-assisted or surgical treatment. In addition to acute treatment of pulmonary embolisms, an adequate aftercare is important, particularly for the early detection of long-term sequelae. This review article summarizes the current recommendations of international guidelines for patients with pulmonary embolism, accompanied by clinical case examples and a critical discussion.


Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) is one of the most promising approaches for the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). With the rapid increase in the amount of traffic data, deep learning based algorithms have been used extensively in VANETs. The recently proposed federated learning is an attractive candidate for collaborative machine learning where instead of transferring a plethora of data to a centralized server, all clients train their respective local models and upload them to the server for model aggregation. Model quantization is an effective approach to address the communication efficiency issue in federated learning, and yet existing studies largely assume homogeneous quantization for all clients. However, in reality, clients are predominantly heterogeneous, where they support different quantization precision levels. In this work, we propose FedDO – Federated Learning with Double Optimization. Minimizing the drift term in the convergence analysis, which is a weighted sum of squared quantization errors (SQE) over all clients, leads to a double optimization at both clients and server sides. In particular, each client adopts a fully distributed, instantaneous (per learning round) and individualized (per client) quantization scheme that minimizes its own squared quantization error, and the server computes the aggregation weights that minimize the weighted sum of squared quantization errors over all clients. We show via numerical experiments that the minimal-SQE quantizer has a better performance than a widely adopted linear quantizer for federated learning. We also demonstrate the performance advantages of FedDO over the vanilla FedAvg with standard equal weights and linear quantization.


Effects of long-acting contraceptives on mammary glands of patients with diffuse fibrocystic mastopathy were under study. A total of 206 women aged 17 to 38 were examined. In 50 of them fibrocystic mastopathy was detected by palpation, non-contrast mammography, and ultrasonic examination. On days 5-7 of the cycle the patients were injected 1 ml of depot provera or noristerate or subcutaneously implanted norplant. Injections of the two former agents were repeated in 3 months if necessary. Control examinations were carried out 3 months to 5 years after the contraceptives were started. The results indicate that long-acting contraceptives did not cause any negative changes in the course of mastopathy in 32 of 50 women. In 18 women the general status improved (pain and induration in the mammary glands disappeared), mammographic, thermographic, and ultrasonic data improved, this prompting us to continue our research.


Background/Aims: We aimed to study whether there are differences between dementia disorders and the use of anti-dementia drugs and antipsychotics (neuroleptics) in a large population of dementia patients. Methods: Information about dementia disorders was obtained from the national Swedish Dementia Registry (SveDem) 2007-2010 (n = 7,570). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between dementia disorders and the use of anti-dementia drugs and antipsychotics, after adjustment for age, sex, residential setting, living alone, MMSE score and number of other drugs (a proxy for overall co-morbidity). Results: More than 80% of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 86% of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) patients used anti-dementia drugs. Women were more likely than men to be treated with cholinesterase inhibitors. A higher MMSE score was positively associated with the use of cholinesterase inhibitors, but negatively associated with NMDA receptor antagonists and antipsychotics. Use of antipsychotics was 6% overall; however, it was 16% in DLB patients with an adjusted odds ratio of 4.2 compared to AD patients. Conclusion: Use of anti-dementia drugs in AD was in agreement with Swedish guidelines. However, use of antipsychotics in DLB patients was high, which might be worrying given the susceptibility of DLB patients to antipsychotics.


"Editions Alecto" takes its title from the pioneering print publishers who produced contemporary artists' prints in Britain during the 1960s and 1970s, and promoted the idea of painters and sculptors being given the freedom to originate and realize ideas in multiple form. The book brings together for the over 20 years' worth of 2- and 3-D graphic art, and puts into context the ideas and mechanisms that helped make the graphic medium a central force for a generation of British, American and European artists. Comprising over 190 images, 118 of which are in colour, the works of such significant figures as David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton and Gillian Ayres feature.


Despite major advances in medical, catheter-based or surgical treatment, cardiovascular diseases such as peripheral artery disease and coronary artery disease still cause significant morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, many patients do not qualify for catheter-based treatment or bypass surgery because of advanced disease or surgical risk. There is therefore an urgent need for novel treatment strategies. Therapeutic angiogenesis aims to restore blood flow to ischaemic tissue by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels through the local delivery of angiogenic factors, and may thus be an attractive treatment alternative for these patients. Angiogenesis is a complex process and the growth of normal, stable and functional vasculature depends on the coordinated interplay of different cell types and growth factors. Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF) is the fundamental regulator of vascular growth and the key target of therapeutic angiogenesis approaches. However, first-generation clinical trials of VEGF gene therapy have been disappointing, and a clear clinical benefit has yet to be established. In particular, VEGF delivery (a) appears to have a very limited therapeutic window in vivo: low doses are safe but mostly inefficient, whereas higher doses become rapidly unsafe; and (b) requires a sustained expression in vivo of at least about four weeks to achieve stable vessels that persist after cessation of the angiogenic stimulus. Here we will review the current understanding of how VEGF induces the growth of normal or pathological blood vessels, what limitations for the controlled induction of safe and efficient angiogenesis are intrinsically linked to the biological properties of VEGF, and how this knowledge can guide the design of more effective strategies for therapeutic angiogenesis.


Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) arise in Kasar cheese, an artisanal pasta filata cheese produced in Turkey from raw milk without starter addition or pasteurized milk  with starter culture. In this study, 13 samples of Kasar cheese that were produced from raw milk were used as reference materials. LAB were characterized by using phenotypic, API and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy methods. One hundred and fifty-seven (157) strains were isolated from 13 cheese  samples, and identification test was performed for 83 strains. At the end of the study, a total of 22 Lactococcus sp ., 36 Enterecoccus sp. and 25 Lactobacillus sp . were determined in the isolated strains by phenotypic identification. After identification with FTIR spectroscopy and statistical analysis, expected results were not taken by FTIR spectroscopy due to higher correlation (> % 99) obtained with more than one reference culture. Fewer number of reference strains was a limitation of the analysis. Therefore, identification should be made with more reference bacteria in the FTIR analysis and should also be supported with molecular techniques. Key words : Kasar cheese, lactic acid bacteria, identification, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR).


The long-term use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with a decreased risk for colorectal cancer. A major molecular target for cancer chemoprevention by these agents is the cyclooxygenase- 2 (COX-2) isoenzyme, although other molecular pathways can not be excluded. Data from both human and animal studies suggest that COX-2 is an early event of colorectal carcinogenesis. The NSAIDs, in the particular the newly developed COX-2 selective inhibitors, suppress colorectal tumor development in rodents and significantly reduce the number of colorectal polyps in patients suffering from familial adenomatous polyposis coli. In this paper current opinions regarding the role of COX inhibitors in colorectal cancer prevention are reviewed. Some perspectives derived from experimental and clinical studies, that might improve future approaches in the prevention of this malignancy, are also considered.


Nitrogen is the most important element for higher plants, and plant productivity is to a large extend determined by nitrogen nutrition. Effects of nitrogen nutrition on levels of polyamines in leaves and grappes of two vines (Semillon and Sauvignon) are studied at different stages of their development (flowering, fruit set process, veraison and maturity). Two N-fertilizations are compared : N0 (0 kgN/ha/year) and N90 (90 kgN/ha/year). Analysis concerned the total level of nitrogen and polyamines (free and conjugates). Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, spermine and diaminopropane) were derived by dansylation and analysed by CLHP. The results show that N-nutrition induces major changes in the total level of nitrogen and polyamines in various parts of plants. In all organs, excess of N-nutrition increases the total level of nitrogen. Concerning polyamines, these changes differe according to tissue and stage of development. In flowers and green berries, N-excess increases free polyamines whereas in berries during maturation N-excess increases total level of polyamines and particularly free and wall-bound polyamines. In opposite, in leaves, total level of polyamines increases under N-deficiency. These results reflect different rates of metabolism of polyamines between tissues. They suggest that in berries a restricted polyamines synthesis induced by nitrogen deficiency; whereas in leaves, N-deprivation can induce an accumulation of putrescine as do many others stress. The roles of polyamines in berries and in leaves are discussed.


In this paper the declining habitat of flower-rich grassland on neutral soil (MG5a) is used as an example to show how non-classical ecological experiments set in a real-life situations can provide answers to practical questions and thus contribute directly to achieving biodiversity targets. Such biodiverse grassland is vanishing at an alarming rate from the farming sector, but remains as small areas within many community sites. Here it is unlikely to be managed appropriately unless the effect of different management treatments can be demonstrated to the local community and to those responsible for management decisions.

This paper describes such a demonstration set up on a community site in Sussex. Three different treatments were imposed on the field in a way that was practical to apply and easily understood, but since this precluded replication of treatments the demonstration should be regarded as an example of pro-active conservation monitoring rather than a field trial. Discriminant analysis was used to show pre-treatment similarities between areas together with change of direction following treatments, supporting conclusions drawn from unreplicated analysis of variance models. Aftermath grazing led to a higher percentage cover of wildflowers in the sward and an annual application of organic fertiliser led to a lower percentage cover of wildflowers. Varying the timing of the hay cut made no significant difference


Introduction: Although doll therapy was introduced in the 1990s, long-term care institutions aimed at reducing behavioral and psychological disorders in people with dementia, however, interest in this approach is growing today. Purpose: To explore Doll Therapy in patients with dementia. Material and Method: A bibliographic search was carried out in the electronic database "PubMed" with the keywords: "doll therapy, dementia, elderly", for the period 2014-2019. Results: According to the literature, patients with dementia who have moderate or severe cognitive impairment may participate in a doll therapy program. However, the vast majority of participants in these programs are women. The treatment is based on a specific protocol and is completed in 3 weeks to 6 months with daily sessions lasting 30-60 minutes. Although the outcome of each benefit varies, it usually occurs after 3 weeks of sessions. More specifically, dolls serve as a tool for the patient with dementia to regain older memories and behaviors, such as social life, emotional bond development with other people, and personal care. Also, doll therapy contributes significantly to the promotion of communication, to the reduction of depression, irritability, aggression, unnecessary wandering while is also strength-ening the motivation for daily activity of patients. Conclusions: Doll therapy is an intervention that requires a multi-disciplinary team in which the nurse has a dominant role.


Networks are commonly used to define underlying interaction structures where infections, information, or other quantities may spread. Although the standard approach has been to aggregate all links into a static structure, some studies have shown that the time order in which the links are established may alter the dynamics of spreading. In this paper, we study the impact of the time ordering in the limits of flow on various empirical temporal networks. By using a random walk dynamics, we estimate the flow on links and convert the original undirected network (temporal and static) into a directed flow network. We then introduce the concept of flow motifs and quantify the divergence in the representativity of motifs when using the temporal and static frameworks. We find that the regularity of contacts and persistence of vertices (common in email communication and face-to-face interactions) result on little differences in the limits of flow for both frameworks. On the other hand, in the case of communication within a dating site and of a sexual network, the flow between vertices changes significantly in the temporal framework such that the static approximation poorly represents the structure of contacts. We have also observed that cliques with 3 and 4 vertices containing only low-flow links are more represented than the same cliques with all high-flow links. The representativity of these low-flow cliques is higher in the temporal framework. Our results suggest that the flow between vertices connected in cliques depend on the topological context in which they are placed and in the time sequence in which the links are established. The structure of the clique alone does not completely characterize the potential of flow between the vertices.


Development of landscape connectivity and spatial population models is challenging, given the uncertainty of parameters and the sensitivity of models to factors and their interactions over time. Using spatially and temporally explicit simulations, we evaluate the sensitivity of population distribution, abundance and connectivity of tigers in Southeast Asia to variations of resistance surface, dispersal ability, population density and mortality. Utilizing a temporally dynamic cumulative resistant kernel approach, we tested (1) effects and interactions of parameters on predicted population size, distribution and connectivity, and (2) displacement and divergence in scenarios across timesteps. We evaluated the effect of varying levels of factors on simulated population, cumulative resistance kernel extent, and kernel sum across nine timesteps, producing 24,300 simulations. We demonstrate that predicted population, range shifts, and landscape connectivity are highly sensitive to parameter values with significant interactions and relative strength of effects varying by timestep. Dispersal ability, mortality risk and their interaction dominated predictions. Further, population density had intermediate effects, landscape resistance had relatively low impacts, and mitigation of linear barriers (highways) via lowered resistance had little relative effect. Results are relevant to regional, long-term tiger population management, providing insight into potential population growth and range expansion across a landscape of global conservation priority.


The sub-symbolic approach on Natural Language Processing (NLP) is one of the mainstreams in Artificial Intelligence. Indeed, we have plenty of algorithms for variations of NLP such as syntactic structure representation or lexicon classification theoretically. The goal of these researches is obviously for developing a hybrid architecture which can process natural language as what human does. Thus, we propose an online intelligent system to extract the semantics (utterance interpretation) by applying a 3-layer back propagation neural network to classify the encoded syntactic structures into corresponding semantic frame types (e.g. AGENT_ACTION_PATIENT). The results are generated dynamically according to training sets and user inputs in webpage-form. It can diminish the manipulating time while using extra tools and share the statistical results with colleagues in clear and standard forms.


This paper describes the results of experiments performed in a high-recovery system to elucidate the silica scaling phenomenon and characterize the scaling. In this research, cation exchange pretreatment is used to reduce Ca2+, Ba2+, and Mg2+ levels to prevent scaling during subsequent nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) filtration, in which RO is fed with NF concentrate. In a pilot plant, a series of experiments were carried out at a total (NF + RO) recovery of 91, 94, 96 and 98% with locally available tap water as feed water. Autopsy studies were performed with the RO membranes after each experiment. The fouling layer was studied using SEM-EDX, ATR-FTIR and fouling extraction to determine the structure and the composition of the fouling deposits. A thin dense fouling layer was observed, which covered approximately half of the membrane surface, after operating for 20 days at 91 and 94% recovery. At 96 and 98% recovery, the fouling layer was thicker and completely covered the membrane surface. The scaling layer was mainly composed of Si, Al, Fe and O. The amount of Si increased with increasing recovery. To work at these high recoveries for an extended period, further measures need to be taken to prevent silica scaling.


This paper presents a modern, e-learning method designed for the study of the ring spinning frame for processing cotton fibers, blends of cotton and chemical fibers or chemical fibers cotton types.
 It envisages a new teaching and learning approach for the laboratory of subject Processes and Machines in Cotton Spinning Mill comprised in the academic curricula of the 3rd year students, specialization Technology and Design Textile Products, by combination of text based learning with audio-visual support.
 The ring spinning frame is placed at the end of the technological flowchart for processing of cotton and cotton blends for manufacturing of classic yarns. Within this machine the roving resulted from the roving frame is transformed into yarn.
 The main operations carried out in the spinning process comprise: drawing of roving, twisting of the fibrous and winding of yarn on the pirn.
 The work is done in Power Point aiming to capture the attention of the students. Besides, the transition from chapter to chapter or to additional relevant aspects within a chapter is accomplished by means of hyperlinks.
 The kinematic and technological schemes developed on AutoCAD serve to calculus (kinematic and technological) and facilitate a better understanding of the machine functioning, part of the machine or different mechanisms. Supplementary, several images, audio and video files support the learning and understanding process. The video material derive from personal records or from processing films available in the public space, www.youtube.com, using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 software.
 For each kinematic or technological parameter to be calculated, the respective kinematic chains are revealed by changing the properties of the respective entities (kind, thickness or color of gears).
 The paper can be accessed from the official website of the university, http://www.uav.ro/, in the platform https://core.uav.ro/ containing all the bibliographic materials uploaded for students. The access requires a username and password, both for teachers who publish information and for students as users.


Recently the globalization of competition has caused many firms in the financial services industry to integrate their information systems. Based on a selective review of literature from strategic and information management disciplines, a model is developed to study the firms' strategic response to Europe 1992 and Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreements. According to a survey of 213 managers, this study finds that competitive strategy, information technology (IT) maturity and size influence firms' perceived increase in IT investment. Further, this study finds that the degree of IT integration within firms is a primary determinant of firms' willingness to use IT as part of their strategic response to globalization. It suggests that the new competitive strategies will be increasingly technology-based global initiatives that are affected by the firms' IT maturity.


Grain refinement and high temperature deformation in two kinds of magnesium alloys subjected to friction stir processing (FSP) have been investigated. One was a rolled sheet of LA141Mg and another was a cast plate of AZ91Mg. FSP was developed by adapting the concepts of friction stir welding to obtain a fine grain size in a stirred zone. Grain refinement was achieved by FSP to give fine grain sizes of 11.4μm and 8.4μm for LA141 and AZ91 alloys, respectively. For LA141 alloy, the maximum stress of the FSPed sample was higher than that of the as-received one in the range of 300K to 523K while the elongation to failure of the former was considerably smaller than that of the latter. On the other hand, the elongation for the FSPed sample of AZ91Mg showed three times larger elongation with a lower maximum stress than the as-received cast one at 523K and 2.8×10-3s-1. Further difference in high temperature deformation for both magnesium alloys was discussed based on microstructural change and stress-strain curves.


The content of pancreatic enzymes in the duodenum was studied in two patients with pancreatic achylia after a standard meal supplemented with commercial pancreatic extract. Gastric transit of the enzymes, with appearance of near-normal amounts in the duodenal contents, occurred only after inhibition of gastric secretion and buffering of residual gastric acid with antacids. Gastric inhibition and neutralisation of acid are therefore necessary for the satisfactory treatment of patients with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency but normal gastric function.


This paper describes the use of computer-aided analysis for the design and development of an integrated financial management system by the Navy Material Command Support Activity (NMCSA). Computer-aided analysis consists of a set of procedures and computer programs specifically designed to aid in the process of applications software design, computer selection and performance evaluation. There are four major components: Problem Statement Language, Problem Statement Analyzer, Generator of Alternative Designs, and Performance Evaluator. The statement of requirements was written in ADS (Accurately Defined Systems) and analyzed by a Problem Statement Analyzer for ADS. The ADS problem definition was supplemented with additional information in order to create a complete problem definition. The analyzed problem statement was translated to the form necessary for use by the SODA (Systems Optimization and Design Algorithm) program for the generation of alternative specifications of program modules and logical database structures.


In his brief public career, Piero Gobetti was one of the most outspoken and original voices of early Italian antifascism. Before his sudden death in 1926, he founded and edited three periodicals, including the fiercely antifascist La Rivoluzione Liberale and the literary journal Il Baretti. While much has been written about his antifascism and his theories of 'liberal revolution', this book considers him primarily as an 'organiser of culture' and situates him both in the context of his lived experience in Turin after the First World War and in a wider European panorama. Although politically marginal by 1918, Turin was one of Italy's most modern cities, with its futuristic Fiat factories, vocal working class and militant socialist intellectuals such as Antonio Gramsci. The book explores Gobetti's encounters with Turin – both its history and the modern, urban landscape of Gobetti's own day – as central to his thinking. Historically and geographically, Turin was also the Italian city closest to France and northern Europe. If Gobetti's immediate surroundings inspired much of his thinking, his sensibilities were – in true Piedmontese style – more European than Italian, and his ultimate impact far from only local. Finally, Gobetti's bitter disillusionment with liberal and fascist Italy, as well as his refusal to fit any of the conventional political labels, means that his memory has remained contentious right up to the present day. This groundbreaking new study explores the roots of Gobetti's thinking, his impact on Italian culture and his controversial legacy.


To investigate the mechanism of spermatogenesis arrest derived from heat treatment and to screen temperature-related genes involved in spermatogenesis, the authors analyzed the differences in gene expression between cryptorchid and scrotal testes in rats, and cloned a full-length cDNA named TRS1. In situ hybridization showed that TRS1 mRNA was mainly expressed in spermatocyte and round spermatids in testis. The expression level decreased in cryptorchid testis, suggesting that the lower scrotal temperature is a key factor in keeping the normal expression of TRS1. At the N-terminal of TRS1, there was a plecstrin homology (PH) domain signature. This PH domain has high similarity to that in PEPP2, a homosapien protein, which has a characteristic of binding phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate via its PH domain in vitro. These findings suggest that TRS1 may be important in spermatogenesis and give clues for further research on the function of TRS1.


Sauropod dinosaurs were quadrupedal herbivores with a highly specialized body plan that attained the largest masses of any terrestrial vertebrates. Recent discoveries have shown that key traits associated with sauropod gigantism appeared stepwise during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic in evolutionary 'cascades' of associated changes, in which a 'head and neck' cascade has been suggested as an important module. Here, we investigate the evolutionary transformation of the sauropodomorph braincase, using discrete anatomical characters, prompted by the reanalysis of a Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) sauropodiform braincase from England. Our analysis shows that sauropod braincases are highly distinct, and occupy a different region of morphospace than their evolutionary relatives. This resulted from anatomical transformations including a set of changes in the surface attachments of craniocervical musculature, which may indicate integrated evolution between neck elongation and transformation in braincase anatomy. Neck elongation in Late Triassic and Early or Middle Jurassic taxa is potentially associated with episodes of skull reduction, indicating that the 'head and neck' cascade was activated more than once in the evolutionary history of Sauropodomorpha. The re‐activation of this cascade in the Jurassic may have impacted on the differential survival of sauropodomorph lineages through the Early and Middle Jurassic.


The process of generating reservoir models that consistently honors static and dynamic data is currently a time consuming process that can take several years to complete. This follows since the modelling and data-conditioning work is frequently done in a stepwise manner, with a high degree of customization in the different parts of the process. As a result, these models are difficult to update when new data arrives, which in practice means that business critical decisions have to be made based on outdated models. In this paper, we discuss the flaws of the current established best practices in reservoir modelling and data conditioning, and discuss how to solve these challenges in an efficient manner.


The risk of sudden cardiac death may be increased up to 2.8 times in competitive athletes compared with nonathletes. The majority of sudden cardiac death cases are caused by an underlying abnormality that potentially may be identified on cardiovascular screening, depending on the specific abnormality and the content of the cardiovascular screening applied. Indeed, today, cardiac screening is universally recommended by the cardiac societies [European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and American Heart Association (AHA)] and required by the sporting bodies [Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)]. Pre-participation examination is by consensus understood to include personal history and physical examination; controversy exists regarding the usefulness and appropriateness of screening using resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), with an apparent transatlantic difference. The ESC recommends screening consisting of personal history, physical examination, and 12-lead resting ECG, whereas recommendations from the AHA includes only personal history and physical examination. There is firm scientific ground to state that the sensitivity of screening with ECG is vastly superior to, and the cost-effectiveness significantly better than, screening without ECG. Cardiac screening of elite athletes with personal history, physical examination, and ECG is cost-effective also in comparison with other well-accepted procedures of modern health care, such as dialysis and implantable cardiac defibrillators. Newly published recommendations for the interpretation of the ECG in athletes (ESC) and future studies on ECGs in athletes of different ethnicity, gender, and age may further increase the specificity of ECG in cardiac screening, refining the screening procedure and lowering the costs for additional follow-up testing. Cardiac screening without ECG is not cost-effective and may be only marginally better than no screening at all and at a considerable higher cost. The difficulties in feasibility and liability issues for recommending ECGs in some countries need to be acknowledged but must be dealt with within those countries/systems. On ethical grounds, the reasons (logistical, legal, economic) for not screening individual athletes should be clearly stated. Alas, the current evidence, as presented here, suggests that the ECG should be mandatory in pre-participation screening of athletes.


This article is about the syrup derived from the Bengali date palm tree, Phoenix sylvestris , which is processed for use as a sweetener. This sweetener, called khejur gur , is an important item in Bengali gastronomy because of its distinctive aroma and flavor. References to the use of khejur gur and the date palm tree can be found in ancient Sanskrit texts. The trees are tapped in winter, between December and February, a process that requires considerable expertise. The harvested syrup (collected in clay pots suspended from notches cut in the trunk) is boiled down to achieve different consistencies ranging from liquid to solid. Most Bengali confectioners substitute khejur gur for cane sugar in making sweets during the winter months. The undying popularity of khejur gur has also given it a notable presence in the literature and culture of the Bengal region, including the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh.


In this thesis we evaluate the use of Wii, Kinect and Move for use in physical rehabilitation. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the feasibility of these low-cost commercially available motion-sensing devices for rehabilitation and to explore what strengths, weaknesses and challenges exist in that use. This is guided by two perspectives, the technical feasibility and the feasibility as viewed by physical therapists, on this basis we construct some high level guidelines for the implementation of games for physical rehabilitation. This thesis uses the interpretive approach and qualitative methods, this is instantiated with the use of Research Through Design. Some qualitative methods applied were a focus group, interviews, questionnaire and prototyping. The prototype artifacts are used to provide concrete embodiments of theory and technical opportunities, these artifacts also serve as a conduit for transfer of the research. The prototypes are used to evaluate the technical feasibility of the Wii, Kinect and Move based upon specified requirements in physical rehabilitation. The author presents a set of high level quality attributes for evaluating the capabilities of the various sensors and libraries in the context of two games developed for physical rehabilitation. The Wii, Kinect and Move all have different strengths and weaknesses for the usage scenarios specified. Next, the prototypes are used as starting point for evaluation by the expert panel in a focus group, the focus group consisted of three physiotherapists. The physiotherapists found the motion-sensing technology very promising but could not determine on a general basis which device is the most suitable since each patient have very different individual requirements to his therapy depending on the level of injury. The experts also stated some of the most promising areas of this augmented rehabilitation was the motivational, social and tactile facets. The experts found some of the typical commercial games to be too focused on the fun aspect, lacking in concise direction of exercises, and, lacks the needed adjust-ability to the difficulty. Based upon the technical evaluation and the expert panels feedback, the author suggest a list of guidelines for aiding construction of serious games for rehabilitation.


The central problem considered in this book is the determination of rational parametrizability of an algebraic curve, and, in the positive case, the computation of a good rational parametrization. This amounts to determining the genus of a curve, i.e. its complete singularity structure, computing regular points of the curve in small coordinate fields, and constructing linear systems of curves with prescribed intersection multiplicities. Various optimality criteria for rational parametrizations of algebraic curves are discussed. This book is mainly intended for graduate students and researchers in constructive algebraic curve geometry.


Molecular farming is an experimental application of biotechnology that involves the genetic modification of crops for the production of proteins and chemicals for medicinal and commercial purposes. The vast majority in the developing world cannot afford the high cost of therapeutics produced by existing methods. We need to produce not only new therapeutics but also cheaper versions of the existing ones. Molecular farming could offer a viable option for this growing need for biopharmaceuticals. Plant made therapeutics are cheaper, safer, can be abundantly produced and easily stored. Here, strategies and approaches utilized in plant molecular farming are discussed. Furthermore, the bio-safety considerations related to this emerging field are also discussed.


Abstract. That there is great potential for remote sensing in development cannot be denied. As has often been said, "everything happens somewhere," and remote sensing provides a very useful picture of everywhere. However, the use of remote sensing is often at a far lower level in broad development activities than one would expect, given its potential importance for meeting the Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals, or the targets identified for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Remote sensing can and should play a role in the 3 major stages of development assistance: identification of the need, program development and execution, and postcompletion program assessment and evaluation. This is so for almost all development activities involving resources, land, water, or the environment. There are a number of considerations and factors that, when taken together, explain the relatively low use of remote sensing in development. This study examines these considerations and factors drawing on the work, experience, and observations of the authors in more than 40 developing countries over the past 30 years. The authors have worked in the area of remote sensing and development in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Pacific. With better understanding of these factors it is hoped that the benefits that have long been promised by the remote sensing community will be delivered.


Advances in film growth techniques have sparked a renewed interest in thermoelectric (TE) devices. A previous study suggested that a drastic improvement in the figure of merit can be achieved for superlattices and quantum wells by exploiting phonon scattering/reflection at interfaces [1] or carrier pocket engineering [2]. Thin-film devices are also of great significance because of their capability to handle considerably higher heat flux than conventional bulk modules [3].
 Microrefrigerators consist of a single or multiple thin-film thermoelement(s). The use of thin films introduces the full complexity of solid-solid interfaces into any complete discussion of these refrigerators. Many investigators noted that the electrical contact resistance has adverse effects on TE cooling. Less attention has been paid to thermal interface resistance and the boundary Seebeck effects. While previous studies [4] have indicated that the interface effects are related to each other via boundary forms of the Wiedemann-Franz-Lorenz law and the Kelvin-Onsager relation, the impact of their mutual interactions on thermoelectric cooling has remained relatively unexplored.


Our ltsa package implements the Durbin-Levinson and Trench algorithms and provides a general approach to the problems of fitting, forecasting and simulating linear time series models as well as fitting regression models with linear time series errors. For computational efficiency both algorithms are implemented in C and interfaced to R. Examples are given which illustrate the efficiency and accuracy of the algorithms. We provide a second package FGN which illustrates the use of the ltsa package with fractional Gaussian noise (FGN). It is hoped that the ltsa will provide a base for further time series software.


In this work, we study the causal relations among German regions in terms of the spread of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, taking into account the restriction policies that were applied by the different federal states. We propose and prove a new theorem for a causal feature selection method for time series data, robust to latent confounders, which we subsequently apply on Covid-19 case numbers. We present findings about the spread of the virus in Germany and the causal impact of restriction measures, discussing the role of various policies in containing the spread. Since our results are based on rather limited target time series (only the numbers of reported cases), care should be exercised in interpreting them. However, it is encouraging that already such limited data seems to contain causal signals. This suggests that as more data becomes available, our causal approach may contribute towards meaningful causal analysis of political interventions on the development of Covid-19, and thus also towards the development of rational and data-driven methodologies for choosing interventions.


Chronic diseases are one of the most challenging health problems in the world, and their burden on society is increasing. Managing these diseases using eHealth solutions could prove very beneficial, both in terms of economic costs and quality of life for patients. However, reaching these goals require knowledge in how to create distributed disease management systems for chronic diseases.

In the project Care@Distance the aim is to acquire knowledge on how to use eHealth in order to improve treatment compliance in chronic diseases, improve possibilities for personalized care, alert about deteriorating health on an individual patient level, obtain acceptance among users (both care providers and patients), and finally introduce eHealth-based disease management systems into standard treatment procedures. This thesis covers one of these aims; designing for acceptance among users, mainly patients, but also care personnel. As a first step, the user group has been limited to only include patients with chronic heart failure, and the nurses connected to them. However, expanding general findings and experiences to other disorders should not cause any difficulties.

Both the design process and the evaluation of two prototype systems will be covered in this thesis. The intention of the prototype systems was not to create a technically advanced and innovative system, but to produce a tool for attaining new knowledge about the issues related to introduction of eHealth-based disease management systems in Swedish health care. Both systems are described, the evaluations of the first prototype system are presented, and the results are discussed.

Two patient related evaluations and one nurse survey have been performed, and the results indicate that the simple prototype system could be possible to transform into a solution suitable for use in the home of patients. Both the patient evaluations and the nurse survey also give insight into important issues to consider when designing an eHealth-based disease management system for chronic diseases. Especially important is the knowledge that one of the largest challenges will be handling of the information overflow related to regular collection of patient data.

Future work includes evaluation and development of the second prototype system. The development of the prototype includes decision support for managing large amounts of patient data, and also increasing mobility of the system. Furthermore, additional measurement methods could be included in the prototype system in order to include special cases of patients, or other disorders.