: After the description of the most important differential diagnoses of leukocoria in childhood, their ultrasonographical findings in both A- and B-mode are discussed. Ultrasound proofs to be a useful aid in the evaluation of leukocoria.


This talk presents an approach for providing Spontaneous Virtual Networks (SpoVNets) that enable flexible, adaptive, and spontaneous provisioning of application-oriented and network-oriented services on top of heterogeneous networks. SpoVNets supply new and uniform communication abstractions for future Internet applications so applications can make use of advanced services not supported by today's Internet. We expect that many functions, which are currently provided by SpoVNet on the application layer will become an integral part of future networks. Thus, SpoVNet will transparently use advanced services from the underlying network infrastructure as they become available (e.g., QoS-support in access networks or multicast in certain ISPs), enabling a seamless transition from current to future generation networks without modifying the applications.


The technical report presents a simple probabilistic analysis of the energy consumption in preamble sampling MAC protocols. We validate the analytical results with simulations. We compare the classical MAC protocols (B-MAC and X-MAC) with LAMAC, a method proposed in a companion paper. Our analysis highlights the energy savings achievable with LA-MAC with respect to B-MAC and X-MAC. It also shows that LA-MAC provides the best performance in the considered case of high density networks under traffic congestion.


The abundance of mobile wireless devices is giving rise to a new paradigm known as Internet of Things. In this paradigm, wireless devices will be everywhere and communicating with each other. Since they will be oriented randomly in the environment, they should be able to communicate equally in all directions in order to have stable communication link. Hence, compact near isotropic antennas are required, which can enable orientation insensitive communication. In this paper, we propose a simple design methodology to design a compact near-isotropic wire antenna based on equal vector potentials. As a proof of concept, a quarter wavelength monopole antennas has been designed that is wrapped on a 3D-printed box keeping the vector potentials in three orthogonal different directions equal. By optimizing the dimension of the antenna arms, a nearly isotropic radiation pattern is thus achieved. The results show that the antenna has a maximum gain of 2.2dBi at 900 MHz with gain derivation of 9.4dB.


The objective of the current research is the experimental investigation of the pulsating flow effects on the combustion performance in terms of the flame temperature distribution, the heat transfer rate, the combustion efficiency and the exhaust gas analysis. The flow pulsation provided through a rotary ball valve in accordance with a variable speed motor arrangement increased the flame temperature fluctuation and the magnitude of heat release. The flow pulsation provides a highly turbulent flame wherein the vortices are enlarged. Increasing Strouhal number [St] of the LPG fuel and air flow increases the time-averaged flame temperature of the pulsating flame up to a saturation level that is dictated by the heat transfer rate enhancement. The maximum average flame temperature is 1263C at St= 0.041, r= 0 mm and 100 mm from the burner inlet. In addition, increasing the pulsating flow amplitude increases the convection and radiation heat fluxes from the pulsating flame. While increasing the pulsation decreases the exhaust UHC due to increasing the turbulent kinetic energy across the pulsating flame, the exhaust NOx slightly increases due to increasing the heat release rate and the flame temperatures. Pulsation thus enhances the combustion efficiency inside the industrial combustors.


We have analyzed at both low and high resolution the distribution of nucleosomes over the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ADH2 promoter region in its chromosomal location, both under repressing (high-glucose) conditions and during derepression. Enzymatic treatments (micrococcal nuclease and restriction endonucleases) were used to probe the in vivo chromatin structure during ADH2 gene activation. Under glucose-repressed conditions, the ADH2 promoter was bound by a precise array of nucleosomes, the principal ones positioned at the RNA initiation sites (nucleosome +1), at the TATA box (nucleosome -1), and upstream of the ADR1-binding site (UAS1) (nucleosome -2). The UAS1 sequence and the adjacent UAS2 sequence constituted a nucleosome-free region. Nucleosomes -1 and +1 were destabilized soon after depletion of glucose and had become so before the appearance of ADH2 mRNA. When the transcription rate was high, nucleosomes -2 and +2 also underwent rearrangement. When spheroplasts were prepared from cells grown in minimal medium, detection of this chromatin remodeling required the addition of a small amount of glucose. Cells lacking the ADR1 protein did not display any of these chromatin modifications upon glucose depletion. Since the UAS1 sequence to which Adr1p binds is located immediately upstream of nucleosome -1, Adr1p is presumably required for destabilization of this nucleosome and for aiding the TATA-box accessibility to the transcription machinery.


Background FRCS exit examination success may be interpreted as a surrogate marker for UK Deanery-related training quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate relative FRCS examination pass rates related to Deanery and Surgical Specialty. Methods Joint Committee on Surgical Training-published examination first attempt pass rates were scrutinised for type I higher surgical trainees and outcomes compared related to Deanery and Surgical Specialty. Results Of 9363 FRCS first attempts, 3974 were successful (42.4%). Median and mean pass rates related to Deanery were 42.1% and 30.7%, respectively, and ranged from 26.7% to 45.6%. Median (range) pass rates by specialty were urology 76.3% (60%–100%), trauma and orthopaedic surgery 74.7% (58.2%–100%), general surgery 70.0% (63.1%–86%), ENT 62.5% (50%–100%), cardiothoracic surgery 50.0% (25%–100%), oral and maxillofacial surgery 50% (40.0%–100%), neurosurgery 50% (22.7%–100%), plastic surgery 47.6% (30.0%–100%) and paediatric surgery 25% (16.7%–100%). Significant variance was observed across all specialties and deaneries (p=0.001). Conclusion As much as threefold variance exists related to FRCS examination first attempt success, trainees should be aware of this spectrum when preferencing deaneries during national selection.


Phytoplankton distribution and structure in the estuary of Cantabria, Northern coast of Spain, Bay of Biscay, was studied. Samples were taken monthly at three stations situated between the upper reaches or the tide (st-3) and the mouth of the estuary (st-1), and included near - shore and middle points. The stations are characterized as: Station 1 (st-1) - the most saline, with a low concentration of nutrients, high temperatures; Station 2 (st-2) - less saline but has elevated contents in nutrients, low temperature; and Station 3 (st-3) - the least saline but with higher nutrient content, low temperature. The phytoplankton communities did not vary among stations (they were euryhaline species in most cases). However, the response of the community to the different environments varied as follows: Station 1- elevated productivity and low biomass; Station 2- elevated productivity, low diversity and biomass ; and Station 3 - low productivity and diversity and the highest biomass.


This paper designs a measurement system of energy consumption for clothes model controlled by robot technology, the system uses DC motor regulated by PWM regulator to drive the worm wheel reducer and the sinusoidal mechanism, then to drive the robot legs to swing forward and backward in sinusoidal step. The sensors detect the rotation speed and torque of the sinusoidal mechanism, the power and energy consumption. The experiments show the system is high in accuracy, excellent in repetition, and suitable for the further research on the principle and evaluation system of the clothes energy consumption.


Before issuing a new or revised authorization to discharge liquid radioactive waste to a river, past and current practice has been to assess the impact of each discharge on a site-by-site basis. This paper reports an assessment of the combined impact of all the (year 1999) authorized discharges in the upper River Thames (UK) catchment. A modification of the PC-CREAM model, using parameters specific to the upper River Thames, was used to estimate "potential doses" to the population, using the authorized discharge activity for each of the discharges as the main driving variable. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in doses between single and multiple discharges in the Thames. A partial validation of the model against measurements was also carried out as a secondary investigation. The source term of the upper Thames consisted of 90 authorized discharges for 86 sites, made up of three nuclear licensed sites, 36 industrial discharges, 25 research organizations, 20 hospitals and two miscellaneous organizations. Of the authorized discharges, nuclear sites constituted 67% of the total activity in authorizations to discharge; hospitals 16%, research organizations 13%, and industry only 3%. Three radionuclides made up 96% of the total authorized discharge activity: tritium—74%; 99mTc—15%, and 14C—7%. No other single radionuclide constituted more than 1.5% of the total activity. All of the discharges from non-nuclear sites were via a sewage works so that, in total, only 39 discrete discharges to the river were included in the model. For the purposes of the assessments, it was assumed that all discharges were at the authorized limits (rather than using actual discharge). Even with this maximizing assumption, all the calculated potential doses from the combined source terms were significantly less than the radiation dose limit of 1 mSv y−1 for a member of the public. The highest estimated potential doses were investigated further to identify the major pathways. Ingestion of fish was the main pathway in several river stretches and in the highest case constituted 97% of the dose. In a few stretches, external irradiation from the riverbank or ingestion of drinking water were the main pathways, but the potential contribution was a very small percentage (<1%) of the dose limit for members of the public. An investigation of the reasons for the relatively high potential doses resulting from fish showed that the radionuclide with the largest contribution was 32P. Three factors had a major effect on potential dose estimations in these circumstances: the fish consumption rate, the 32P concentration factor and the use of 32P in some cases to represent radionuclides authorized for discharge as "any other radionuclide, except alpha emitters." Using the precautionary principle, all authorized activity in the latter designation was modeled as the radionuclide which would produce the highest dose to humans.


It is possible to grow defect-free strained layers on patterned substrates (mesas or grooves) up to thicknesses far exceeding the critical thickness. Defect nucleation and propagation are inhibited in such growth. We have exploited this property to propose a novel InP-based 1.55-/spl mu/m vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL's). Careful photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies have confirmed that there are no propagating defects in the GaAs/Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) grown on the patterned InP-based heterostructures, specifically in the multiquantum-well (MQW) region. Lasers were designed with InP/InGaAsP bottom mirrors, InAlAs-oxide current confinement and short-stack GaAs/Al/sub x/O/sub y/ top DBR mirrors. An optimal reflectivity and a maximum wall plug efficiency are determined analytically for this structure. In addition, a theoretical analysis of the modulation response of this device is performed using a rate equation model. Both analyzes show the potential of such a device for implementation in practical designs where high power and modulation bandwidth are required. Lasers with 8-40 /spl mu/m diameter have been fabricated and characterized. A threshold current of 5 mA is observed at 15/spl deg/C for an 8 /spl mu/m diameter device; and up to 60 /spl mu/W of light output is recorded.


The carboxy-terminal 28 amino acids of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcriptional activator protein GAL4 execute two functions--transcriptional activation and interaction with the negative regulatory protein, GAL80. Here we demonstrate that these two functions are separable by single amino acid changes within this region. We determined the sequences of four GAL4C-mutations, and characterized the abilities of the encoded GAL4C proteins to activate transcription of the galactose/melibiose regulon in the presence of GAL80 and superrepressible GAL80S alleles. One of the GAL4C mutations can be compensated by a specific GAL80S mutation, resulting in a wild-type phenotype. These results support the idea that while the GAL4 activation function tolerates at least minor alterations in the GAL4 carboxyl terminus, the GAL80-interactive function is highly sequence-specific and sensitive even to single amino acid alterations. They also argue that the GAL80S mutations affect the affinity of GAL80 for GAL4, and not the ability of GAL80 to bind inducer.


The Corrosion Task Force of the Automotive/Steel Partnership has developed the SAE J2334 cyclic laboratory test for evaluating the cosmetic corrosion resistance of auto body steel sheet. [Ref. 1] Since the publishing of this test in 1997, further work has improved the precision of J2334. In this paper, the results of this work along with the revisions to the J2334 test will be discussed.


This paper describes the design and development of a rope climbing robot using four bar mechanism, which enables the robot to climb over an inclined ropeway. In this research, our main aim is to achieve a desired coupler curve using a four bar mechanism. The robot uses a pair of identical four bar mechanisms, with 180° phase shift. The robot has two inverted L-shaped legs on the front side and a supporting pulley on the rear, using these it traverses across the rope. Hence, the design structure and complexity is less than the four-legged robots. Kinematic modeling is done using "Linkage" software and the desired coupler curve is obtained after simulation. The robot's mechanism is built using customized acrylic linkages and the body by using foam board. The input crank in the four bar mechanism is driven by a geared DC motor. The Robot's movement is controlled wirelessly by TX2/RX2 radio frequency module. The design, modeling and prototyping of the proposed rope climbing robot using the above principle are discussed in this paper.


Taking as a starting point one of Maurice Gross's work on the construction be Prep X, we present the classes we have established for the Greek language.We have retained the classes established by M. Gross for French. For the Greek study, our point of departure is a selection of 2200 frozen expressions. But we have gone beyond this to study not only frozen expression but also productive phrases. The aim of this analysis was to establish the similarities or differences which exist between Greek and French. By studying the elements of these syntactic strings in both languages, we observe that the area of greatest difference occurs in the selection of prepositions, We have also studied the relationship between the support verb to be in Modern Greek and French and its relations with other support verbs.This study will serve as a basis for future comparative studies which will ultimately serve to support automatic translation.


Background The epidemiology of intellectual disability co-occurring with schizophrenia and other psychiatric illness is poorly understood. The separation of mental health from intellectual disability services has led to a serious underestimation of the prevalence of dual diagnosis, with clinicians ill-equipped to treat affected individuals. Aims To estimate the prevalence of dual diagnosis and describe its clinical profile. Method The Western Australian population-based psychiatric and intellectual disability registers were cross-linked (total n=245 749). Results Overall, 31.7% of people with an intellectual disability had a psychiatric disorder; 1.8% of people with a psychiatric illness had an intellectual disability. Schizophrenia, but not bipolar disorder and unipolar depression, was greatly overrepresented among individuals with a dual diagnosis: depending on birth cohort, 3.7–5.2% of those with intellectual disability had co-occurring schizophrenia. Pervasive developmental disorder was identified through the Intellectual Disability Register and is therefore limited to individuals with intellectual impairment. None the less, pervasive developmental disorder was more common among people with a dual diagnosis than among individuals with intellectual disability alone. Down syndrome was much less prevalent among individuals with a dual diagnosis despite being the most predominant cause of intellectual disability. Individuals with a dual diagnosis had higher mortality rates and were more disabled than those with psychiatric illness alone. Conclusions The facility to combine records across administrative jurisdictions has enhanced our understanding of the epidemiology of dual diagnosis, its clinical manifestations and aetiological implications. In particular, our results are suggestive of a common pathogenesis in intellectual disability co-occurring with schizophrenia.


Within the last few decades, a shift has taken place in FDA's approach to drug development, with greater emphasis put on postmarketing data collection and less on the traditional premarketing scheme. The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) is the primary system for collecting Adverse Events, but has been criticized for years for the low reporting rate into the system and the poor quality of the information submitted. This paper argues that physicians need to be required to submit adverse event reports to FAERS, because such a requirement (1) would produce a greater number of the high quality reports necessary to better determine causality; (2) is merely an extension of physicians' ethical obligations; and (3) aligns with the approach in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Furthermore, advances in electronic health records can aid in reporting efficiency.


ABSTRACT Audio-Visual On Line (AVOL) is an interactive audio-visual project for the Web, installation and performance by Video Jack (a duo composed of the author and André Carrilho). AVOL was one of the four winners of a competition by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture to develop artworks for their net art portal. Further to the launch of this portal, AVOL has been presented as installation and as performance. In AVOL, users manipulate seven 'objects' composed of different elements: a sound loop, an animated visualization of that sound, and graphical user interface elements that facilitate the integrated manipulation of sound and image. Each of the objects has four main variations, allowing for multiple audio-visual combinations. The objects may interact with each other, creating additional diversity. The main research question that the project addresses is: how to develop a project that allows for an integrated musical and visual expression, in a way that is playful to use and engaging to experience. The methodology used for the evaluation of the project is practice-based research. In this article, the project and its motivations are presented, as well as prior work from the same authors in the field of interactive audio-visual art. A short discussion of the state of the art follows. The development of the project and the different modes of presentation (Web, installation and performance) are discussed, as well as feedback gathered. Conclusions are then reached, and possible future developments are outlined.


Four environmental and biological monitoring sites were strategically established to evaluate benzene and lead exposure assessment at various traffic zones of Bangkok Metropolitan Region(BMR). Biological measurement of 48 non air-conditioned, male bus drivers was carried to study the relationship between individual exposure levels and exposure biomarkers. The study group was further subdivided into four age groups( 16-25, 26-35, 36-45 and 46-55 years old) to monitor the age-related exposure effects. A total of 12unexposed persons were deliberately chosen as the control group. Measurement of unmetobolized benzene in blood and analysis of urinary tt-Muconic acid urine and urinary creatinine are recommended as biomarkers of benzene exposure. Measurement of lead in blood and urine is also recommended for the biological monitoring of lead exposure.During the monitoring period, benzene and lead levels at Yaowarat Road was C6H6: 42.46 + 3.88 μg/m3 , Pb: 0.29 + 0.03 μg/m3 and decreased to C6 H6: 33.5 ± 1.35 μg/m3 , Pb: O. 13 + 0.01 μg/m3 at Phahonyothin Road. Significant difference was established between the nonsmoking exposed group and nonsmoking control group for blood benzene concentrations ( P < 0.001, two-tailed, Mann-Whiteney U test). Strong correlations were also found between trans-trans-Muconic acid concentrations in post shift samples and atmospheric benzene concentrations. Similarly, good correlation between all of biomarkers and lead level in air is established from automobile emissions.The analysis revealed that among the occupational population in the urban sites, the driver groups were found to have the highest risk of benzene and lead exposures derived from automobile emission.


Although human gesture is typically considered to occur at frequencies below 30 Hz, interactions with the environment involve exchange of mechanical energy into the frequency range of sound. These non-linear dynamic situations lend themselves to subtle control over sound-producing phenomena. An example of this is the bowed string. We propose that high-frequency forces experienced during bowing are important factors for accurate control of bowing, providing critical information about the vibration state of the string. To test this hypothesis, we have developed a simulator which, using force-feedback hardware, enables synthesis of both sound and friction forces at audio rates. This real-time simulator allows experimentation not only with acoustic parameters, but the presence of haptic feedback also allows examination of how human gestural interaction is affected by model parameters. We have implemented string models based on two major paradigms: modal synthesis, and the digital waveguide. These are interfaced with the excitation block through a non-linear force-velocity table. These models may be modified to change their fundamental frequency, spectral response, friction characteristics, and body resonance. Using observations of interaction with modified parameters, we plan to develop a sound basis for comparison of different synthesis techniques and their parameters in reference to human gesture.


Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important outcome measure among HIV-infected patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), but has not been studied extensively in resource-limited settings. Insight in the predictors or correlates of poor HRQoL may be helpful to identify patients most in need of additional support and to design appropriate interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2012 and April 2013 in 10 healthcare facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Patients who were at least 6 months on cART were randomly selected and individual patient data were retrieved from medical records. HRQoL was measured by the WHOQoL-HIVBREF, depressive-symptoms by the Kessler-6 scale, and stigma by the Kalichman internalized AIDS-related stigma scale. Multivariate linear regression analysis was carried-out to examine associations between HRQoL and the other variables. A total of 664 patients (response-rate 95%) participated in the study. A higher level of depressive-symptoms was most strongly and consistently associated with a lower HRQoL, both in terms of the magnitude of the relationship and in the number of HRQoL domains associated with it. Also, a higher level of HIV-stigma was associated with a lower HRQoL except for the physical domain, while obtaining sufficient nutritious food and job opportunity were associated with a better HRQoL except for the spiritual and social domains, respectively. Demographics, clinical, and treatment characteristics yielded few significant associations with HRQoL. Our study findings suggest that interventions to improve HRQoL should focus on reducing depressive-symptoms and HIV-stigma, and on enhancing food security and job opportunity.


A new, momentum preserving fast Poisson solver for N-body systems sharing effective O(N) computational complexity, has been recently developed by Dehnen (2000, 2002). We have implemented the proposed algorithms in a Fortran-90 code, and parallelized it by a domain decomposition using the MPI routines. The code has been applied to intensive numerical investigations of galaxy mergers, in particular focusing on the possible origin of some of the observed scaling relations of elliptical galaxies. We found that the Fundamental Plane is preserved by an equal mass merging hierarchy, while it is not in a scenario where galaxies grow by accretion of smaller stellar systems. In addition, both the Faber-Jackson and Kormendy relations are not reproduced by our simulations.


Background: Oesophageal atresia (OA) and mandibulofacial dysostosis (MFD) are two congenital malformations for which the molecular bases of syndromic forms are being identified at a rapid rate. In particular, the EFTUD2 gene encoding a protein of the spliceosome complex has been found mutated in patients with MFD and microcephaly (MIM610536). Until now, no syndrome featuring both MFD and OA has been clearly delineated. Results: We report on 10 cases presenting with MFD, eight of whom had OA, either due to de novo 17q21.31 deletions encompassing EFTUD2 and neighbouring genes or de novo heterozygous EFTUD2 loss-of-function mutations. No EFTUD2 deletions or mutations were found in a series of patients with isolated OA or isolated oculoauriculovertebral spectrum (OAVS). Conclusions: These data exclude a contiguous gene syndrome for the association of MFD and OA, broaden the spectrum of clinical features ascribed to EFTUD2 haploinsufficiency, define a novel syndromic OA entity, and emphasise the necessity of mRNA maturation through the spliceosome complex for global growth and within specific regions of the embryo during development. Importantly, the majority of patients reported here with EFTUD2 lesions were previously diagnosed with Feingold or CHARGE syndromes or presented with OAVS plus OA, highlighting the variability of expression and the wide range of differential diagnoses.


The effect of accelerator type on the vulcanization process and mechanical properties of nitrile rubber (NBR) compounds was investigated. Three commercial accelerators were selected, N-N-t-butyl-2benzothiazole sulfenamide (TBBS), tetramethylthiuram disulfide (TMTD) and bis(dimethyldithiocarbamato)zinc (II) (ZDMC) and compared with the compound bis(4methylphenylsulfonyldithiocarbimato)zincate (II) (ZNIBU). Surprisingly, it was found that the optimum vulcanization time for ZNIBU showed better results than for TBBS.


Risk of suicide in people who have perpetrated specific forms of violent or sexual criminal offenses has not been quantified accurately or precisely. Also, gender comparisons have not been possible due to sparse data problems in the smaller studies that have been conducted to date. We therefore aimed to estimate these effects in the whole Danish population over a 26-year period. By completely interlinking national criminal, psychiatric, sociodemographic and cause-specific mortality registers, we conducted a nested case-control study of more than 27,000 adult suicides, during 1981-2006, and more than half a million age and gender-matched living controls. Elevated suicide risk was found in male sexual offenders. Risk was even higher among violent offenders, with greater effect sizes seen in females. It was markedly raised with serious violence, reaching a peak in relation to homicide or attempted homicide: male odds ratio (OR) 12.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) [8.3, 17.3]; female OR 30.9, CI [11.9, 80.6]. Following adjustment for psychiatric and social risk factors, relative risk in violent offenders was comparable to that seen among nonviolent offenders. These findings underline the importance of understanding why some people are violent toward themselves as well as other people, and why suicide risk is so much higher in people who have perpetrated serious acts of violence. They also indicate a clear need for developing effective multiagency interventions that effectively tackle both forms of destructive behavior.


Objective. To investigate the effect of maternal undernutrition (MUN) during pregnancy on fetal and placental weight, amniotic fluid (AF) volume, AF osmolality and ion concentrations at gestational ages E16 and E20. We also quantified protein expression of water channels (aquaporins; AQPs). Methods. Pregnant rat dams were fed an ad libitum diet (AdLib; n = 6) or were 50% MUN (n = 6) beginning at E10 of gestation. At E16 and E20, we assessed the effect of MUN on fetal and placental weights, AF volume and osmolality, and placental expression of AQP1, 8 and 9. We focused on two uterine positions (proximal and mid-horns) with the extremes of nutrient/oxygen supply. We also separately studied the basal zone (hormone production) and the labyrinth zone (feto-maternal exchange). Results. We showed that at E16, MUN fetal, and placental weights were unchanged and that, similarly, MUN AF volume, osmolality were comparable to AdLib. At E20, however, MUN fetal and placental zonal weights were significantly decreased. Inversely, due to MUN, maternal and fetal plasma osmolality and Na+ concentrations were significantly increased. Further, MUN AF volume was significantly reduced, while AF osmolality and Na+ concentration were increased at E20. Conclusion. Placental basal zone showed variable changes in AQP expression unrelated to position in the uterus or the gestational age (and thus severity of the fetal/placental growth restriction). In the labyrinth zone, MUN placental AQP1 was significantly decreased, whereas AQP8 and 9 expressions were significantly increased at E16 and E20. Dysregulation of AQPs' expression prior to the occurrence of oligohydramnios may represent a compensatory mechanism under conditions of early MUN.


Cownose rays Rhinoptera bonasus typify the K-selected life history strategy that makes their population dynamics susceptible to variation in natural and anthropogenic factors. We used an individual-based bioenergetics model, coupled to a matrix projection model, to predict how water temperatures warmer and cooler than current conditions would affect the individual growth and the population dynamics of cownose rays. The bioenergetics model simulated the daily growth, survival, and reproductive output of a cohort of female individuals from birth over their lifetime. Warmer and cooler temperature scenarios under alternative assumptions about ray movement were simulated. Under warmer conditions, daily consumption rate would have to increase by about 12% or weights- at-age would decrease by 10 to 17%, while under cooler conditions, daily consumption would have to decrease by about 14% or weights-at-age would increase by about 15%. Slowed individual growth under warmer water temperatures translated into slowed population growth rate, decreased net reproductive rate, longer generation time, and higher but delayed age-specific reproductive val- ues. For example, under the scenario that resulted in the slowest individual growth rates, the popu- lation growth rate would decrease from 0.027 to 0.005 yr -1 . Population growth rates were more sen- sitive to variation in survival rates, especially those of mature age-classes, than to fertility rates. Our coupling of an individual-based bioenergetics model with a matrix projection model offers a poten- tially powerful approach for relating how, with limited to moderate information, changes in environ- mental variables and habitat that affect individual growth can be expressed as population-level responses.


A localized portion of the western New York Great Lakes aquatic environment is being examined for the presence of carcinogenic and mutagenic substances. Several approaches are being utilized, including a survey of tumors and contaminant analysis of tissue in fish collected from a heavily industrialized freshwater estuary. Chemical characterization studies of contaminants present in bottom sediments were carried out using reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) applied to fractions derived by routine organic extraction and separation methods. Correlations between the polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) composition of the contaminated sediments and that found in the biota were sought. The HPLC analysis of fractions isolated from sediments, tubifex worms, aquatic snails, and fish tissues indicated the presence of a PAH "fingerprint" in all segments of the aquatic food chain. Of the limited biota analyzed, only the annelids accumulated relatively high levels of PAH compounds. Selected ion monitoring (MS) of the HPLC eluate was used to confirm the results of the HPLC analysis of fractions derived from fish and sediments. These data indicate the presence of a series of compounds having mass units consistent with empirical HPLC identifications of PAH compounds.


The thesis gives us a review of beliefs and attitudes of young families in Tallinn
district towards eco food. The research investigates on what ecological food strategies
are based on; what are the main and reliable sources of information; what are widely
spread mistaken ideas and on what field there is a lack of information.
The graduation thesis has 2 main chapters: theoretical basis and empirical research.
Theoretical part describes the progress of modern hazard society and individualization
through the changes of food strategies based on researches of U.Beck. The
problematic of beliefs and attitudes in modern societies has been analysed according
to the theories of Fishbein and Ajzen.
Section 1.4 includes a survey connected with eco food strategies and choices. The
survey is based on investigations conducted Eurobarometer Risk Issues and Estonian
Institute of Economic Research.
The empirical research includes 10 interviews, their analysis and summaries. The aim
of the data analysis was to find out the answer to the statement set up in the
hypothesis – the knowledge of eco food is episodic and with undefined starting point
mainly because of the minimal information. The research declared the hypothesis.
Discussion and references are written in the last part of graduation thesis. There is a
debate about the information lack of eco food and suggestions how to enlarge the
topic area by including supporting arrangements into the change of communication
programme.


We present a measurement of D 0 - (cid:1) D 0 mixing and CP violation using the ratio of lifetimes simultaneously extracted from a sample of D 0 mesons produced through the flavor-tagged process D (cid:1)þ ! D 0 (cid:1) þ , where D 0 decays to K (cid:2) (cid:1) (cid:3) , K (cid:4) K þ , or (cid:1) (cid:4) (cid:1) þ , along with the untagged decays D 0 ! K (cid:2) (cid:1) (cid:3) and D 0 ! K (cid:4) K þ . The lifetimesof the CP -even, Cabibbo-suppressed modes K (cid:4) K þ and (cid:1) (cid:4) (cid:1) þ arecompared to thatof the CP -mixed mode K (cid:2) (cid:1) (cid:3) in order to measure y CP and (cid:2) Y . We obtain y CP ¼ ½ 0 : 72 (cid:3) 0 : 18 ð stat Þ (cid:3) 0 : 12 ð syst Þ(cid:5) % and (cid:2) Y ¼ ½ 0 : 09 (cid:3) 0 : 26 ð stat Þ (cid:3) 0 : 06 ð syst Þ(cid:5) % , where (cid:2) Y constrains possible CP violation. The y CP result excludes the null mixing hypothesis at 3 : 3 (cid:2) significance. This analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 468 fb (cid:4) 1 collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e þ e (cid:4) collider.


E-Commerce is deploying computer and communications technologies to support an organization's sales process (Capozzoli, True, & Pritchett, 2000). It can be dichotomized as Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B), is increasing at a rapid rate, and is expected to continue although estimates vary substantially. For example, Marketer.com (2001) estimates that B2C activity will grow from $60 billion in 2000 to $428 billion in 2005, and Goldman Sachs (Marketer.com, 2001) is estimating $2.1 trillion for the same period. In 2000, worldwide B2B Internet commerce surpassed $433 billion. That total is projected to reach $919 billion in 2001 and $8.5 trillion by 2005 (Gartner Corporation, 2001). The requirement of systems integration is being driven by this growth. The success of E-Commerce activity is directly affected by system integration efforts associated with traditional back office and web-based systems. The potential benefits of enterprise-wide E-Commerce activities (e.g., customer relationship, inventory, and process management) to an organization emphasize the need for system integration beyond individual sales transactions. Indeed, the range of business processes that represent a more complex and dynamic business arrangement in which advancing technologies should be effectively integrated into the planning process is broad. Unfortunately, many organizations are not capitalizing on the synergistic advantages of integrated systems (Maruca, 1999). Fewer than one-third of Internet retailers have integrated their back office inventory databases with their front-end web systems (Spieler, 2001). Despite the apparent lack of integration, some organizations are attempting to coordinate such customer activities. Wal-Mart has established a goods returns policy that allows a customer the option to return merchandise purchased on-line to any WalMart store (Wal-Mart, 2001). Planning for and integrating ECommerce technologies are essential to an organization's survival. The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well and integrating those activities (Porter, 1996). According to Mintzberg (1994), an organization must do three things better than the competition: it must know itself, have robust business systems, and have both an internal and external focus. Following these guidelines is made more difficult by a rapidly changing and advancing technological environment. E-Commerce capabilities have enabled both buyers and sellers of products to obtain more and better information faster. This shifting of the channel power structure is creating chaos in traditional business processes and in the development and maintenance of internal (e.g., employee) and external (e.g., customer and supplier) relationships. The goals of these systems are to improve financial performance and to create and sustain competitive advantages. Thus, organizations need to better understand the system as a whole. One means of accomplishing this is via planned periodic reviews of ECommerce activities as they relate to existing business processes and systems. Capozzoli, True, and Pritchett (2000) set forth an initial framework for describing the relationship between E-Commerce activity and systems integration that is categorized in five levels. A Level-1 company makes little or no use of computers and/or communications technology, and a Level-5 firm makes extensive, cutting-edge use of these tools (see Figure 1). The purpose of this paper is to further develop this framework for positioning organizational business processes and technological capabilities consistent with Mintzberg's and Porter's guidelines. Framework Discussion E-Commerce activities, both B2C and 13213, can address different requirements and must be identified, managed, and measured as such. Understanding these distinctions is crucial because they can influence system integration requirements, but current measurement indicators are incomplete and may give erroneous and unreliable output. …


: The paper is concerned with the results of studying the concentration of circulating immune complexes and immune system (the number of lymphocyte populations and subpopulations in the peripheral blood, the level of serum immunoglobulins) in 45 patients aged 10 to 72 years with hemorrhagic vasculitis depending on the disease pattern and course before and after the treatment. The patients suffering from hemorrhagic vasculitis manifested appreciable changes in humoral immunity and negligible derangement of cellular immunity associated with dramatic enhancement of complex formation. The intensity of the alterations was discovered to be dependent on the pattern and course of the disease.


While Indian village lands held in common have received some attention there is little knowledge of lands held by Indian individuals, or by groups within Indian society, such as confraternities. The purpose of this article is to examine these little-known landholdings and to assess why Indians pieced them together and the uses to which they were put. There is evidence that they were used for subsistence, for evasion of colonial authorities, as a bank for religious expenditure, as bases for rustling, and as yet another way for parish clergy to extract village surpluses.


We suggest a scenario where the three light quark flavors are sequentially deconfined under increasing pressure in cold asymmetric nuclear matter as, e.g., in neutron stars. The basis for our analysis is a chiral quark matter model of Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) type with diquark pairing in the single flavor color-spin-locking (CSL), 2-flavor (2SC) and 3-flavor color-flavor locking (CFL) channels, and a Dirac–Brueckner–Hartree–Fock (DBHF) approach in the nuclear matter sector. We find that nucleon dissociation sets in at about the saturation density, n0, when the down-quark Fermi sea is populated (d-quark dripline) due to the flavor asymmetry imposed by β-equilibrium and charge neutrality. At about 3n0 u-quarks appear forming a 2-flavor color superconducting (2SC) phase, while the s-quark Fermi sea is populated only at still higher baryon density. The hybrid star sequence has a maximum mass of 2.1 M⊙. Two- and 3-flavor quark matter phases are found only in gravitationally unstable hybrid star solutions.


Determination of the cellular profile of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) appeared to be useful in monitoring pulmonary damage. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the cellular profile, LDH, its isoenzyme pattern and/or ALP in BALF are useful in the diagnostic work-up of patients with suspected pneumonia. The BALF specimens of 80 patients were studied. Group I consisted of patients with a pulmonary infection (n=33) and group II of patients without signs of a pulmonary infection (n=47). Differentiation between these two groups was based upon the results of microscopy and quantitative cultures. The absolute as well as relative numbers of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) was significantly higher in group I compared to group II (p<0.0001). The absolute number of PMNs showed a sensitivity of predicting the correct group of 95.7% and a specificity of 84.8%. The LDH activity in BALF was significantly higher in group I than in group II (p<0.0001). The LDH4/LDH5 ratio in BALF was lower in group I compared to group II (p<0.0001) and appeared to be the best discriminator between the two groups with a sensitivity of 93.6% and a specificity of 93.9%. In conclusion, the number of polymorphonuclear neutrophils as well as the lactate dehydrogenase activity, particularly its isoenzymes, in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid appeared to be of potential practical value to distinguish between infectious and noninfectious pulmonary disorders.


Summary OCSANA+ is a Cytoscape app for identifying driver nodes that control non-linear systems' long-term dynamics, prioritizing combinations of interventions in large scale complex networks, and estimating the effects of node perturbations in signaling networks, all based on the analysis of the network's structure. OCSANA+ includes an update to the previously introduced OCSANA (optimal combinations of interventions from network analysis) software tool with cutting-edge and rigorously tested algorithms, together with recently-developed structure-based control algorithms for non-linear systems and an algorithm for estimating the signal flow. All these algorithms are based on the network's topology. OCSANA+ is implemented as a Cytoscape app to enable a straightforward user interface for running analyses and visualizing results. Availability and Implementation OCSANA+ app and its tutorial can be downloaded from https://veraliconaresearchgroup.github.io/OCSANA-Plus/. The source code is available in https://github.com/VeraLiconaResearchGroup/OCSANA-Plus SourceCode.


Engineering, for much of the twentieth century, was mainly about artifacts and inventions. Now, it's increasingly about complex systems. As the airplane taxis to the gate, you access the Internet and check email with your PDA, linking the communication and transportation systems. At home, you recharge your plug-in hybrid vehicle, linking transportation to the electricity grid. Today's large-scale, highly complex sociotechnical systems converge, interact, and depend on each other in ways engineers of old could barely have imagined. As scale, scope, and complexity increase, engineers consider technical and social issues together in a highly integrated way as they design flexible, adaptable, robust systems that can be easily modified and reconfigured to satisfy changing requirements and new technological opportunities. Engineering Systems offers a comprehensive examination of such systems and the associated emerging field of study. Through scholarly discussion, concrete examples, and history, the authors consider the engineer's changing role, new ways to model and analyze these systems, the impacts on engineering education, and the future challenges of meeting human needs through the technologically enabled systems of today and tomorrow.


This paper attempts to provide an explanation of the short-run monetary non-neutrality in an economy where agents have full current information and no nominal prices are set in advance. This non-neutrality arises due to the government's setting of nominal target bands. If the current money supply is near the upper bound of the band, any increase in money supply will require the monetary authority to take immediate action to reduce it. This serves to decrease the expected rate of inflation, thus increasing the demand for real balances and production. This paper also shows that if readjustments of nominal target bands are likely to occur, then the positive effect of money on output becomes attenuated. [E32, E52]


Well-aligned organic single-crystalline semiconductors are essential for practical applications in electronic devices. Here, we demonstrated dioctylbenzothienobenzothiophene (C8-BTBT) single crystals via an ultrasound concussion-assisted solution-processing method. Organic crystalline semiconductors with a fence-like shape were achieved, where rod-like crystals were joined together along a crystalline backbone up to millimeter length, which can allow the deposited crystals to combine the features of well-aligned orientation and desirable deposition. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) were fabricated using the C8-BTBT single crystals, yielding a high field-effect hole mobility up to 6.0 cm2 V−1 s−1. Therefore, the ultrasound-assisted solution process can provide a general guide for the integration of functional materials into high performance devices.


Lead-isotopic compositions of feldspars in plutons of the coastal lithotectonic block (Avalonian basement), central Maine (Merrimack) synclinorium, and Connecticut Valley-Gaspe synclinorium in northern Maine (Granville basement) indicate the presence of three fundamentally different sources of Devonian granitic rocks in Maine. Plutons in the coastal lithotectonic block have the most radiogenic values ( 206 Pb/ 204 Pb: 18.25–19.25; 207 Pb/ 204 Pb: 15.59–15.67; 208 Pb/ 204 Pb: 38.00–38.60); plutons in northern Maine are the least radiogenic ( 206 Pb/ 204 Pb: 18.00–18.50; 207 Pb/ 204 Pb: 15.51–15.55; and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb: 37.80–38.38). Intermediate lead-isotope values characterize the plutons in central Maine ( 206 Pb/ 204 Pb: 18.20–18.40; 207 Pb/ 204 Pb: 15.56–15.60; and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb: 38.00–38.30). All plutons show relatively radiogenic lead values for their ages and suggest the imprint of continental crustal sources especially in the coastal block and in central Maine. Plutons from the Connecticut Valley–Gaspe synclinorium allow for a more significant isotopic input from the subcontinental mantle. The three distinct lead-isotope groups probably identify plutons formed in different crustal fragments in a continental collisional environment that were juxtaposed after emplacement of the granites.


A series of heat treatments were preformed to study the evolution of microstructure in an austenitic nickel-base Alloy 690 using optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that the pre-existed chromium carbides of cold-rolled Alloy 690 were dissolved into the austenitic matrix after high temperature mill annealing (MA) at 1353K for 5min. Mill-annealed and thermally treated Alloy 690 had intergranular M23C6-type carbides. The morphology of intergranular M23C6 varied from continuous, semi-continuous to discrete with the temperature of thermal-treatment (TT) increasing from 873K to 1073K. The holding time at temperature of 988K had less influence on the intergranular carbide appearance than that of temperature. The minimum chromium concentration in the vicinity of intergranular carbides was 22.3 wt% in the sample thermally treated at 715°C for 2h. With the holding time of TT increasing from 2h to 27h, Cr concentration increased gradually and the chromium depletion became wider.


The assessment of rehabilitation effectiveness in the post-stroke hemiparetic population has primarily focused on walking speed. Walking speed, however, may be improved through a number of mechanisms; increased speed can be achieved through a combination of increased propulsion (propelling the center of mass forward) and swing initiation (resulting in longer and faster steps) in either the paretic or nonparetic leg. Therefore the objective of this study was to use a detailed musculoskeletal model and forward dynamics simulations to identify the individual muscle contributions to forward propulsion and swing initiation following locomotor training in two post-stroke hemiparetic patients who had similar speed increases following training, one utilizing an "ankle strategy" (increases in ankle power generation to accelerate the trunk forward) and one a "hip strategy" (increases in hip flexor generation of the swing leg to accelerate the leg forward) to increase speed. Each subject participated in locomotor therapy training using a body weight supported treadmill modality. Strategy classification was based on inverse dynamics analysis pre- and post-training. The simulation analyses revealed that forward propulsion was achieved primarily through the uniarticular plantarflexors and the contralateral knee extensors in both subjects. The main difference between the two strategies occurred primarily in the hip muscle contributions to swing initiation. The "hip strategy" subject, in addition to using the hip flexors to accelerate the leg forward, had higher contributions from the contralateral non-sagittal plane hip muscles to generate energy to the leg to initiate swing. These results suggest that using either the "ankle strategy" or the "hip strategy" to increase speed post-training results in similar muscle function post-training walking with differences primarily occurring in the hip muscle contributions to swing initiation. Future studies analyzing both pre- and post-training may reveal changes in muscle function that correspond more with the strategy classifications.


This paper mainly focus on vibration friction and discuss the dynamic characteristics of the friction under the vibration working condition. It is rather valuable to study such a special kind of friction vibration in engineering. Many practical projects have already proved that under the vibration working condition, the friction force between workpieces can be reduced obviously. Wear and damage of the machine parts can be obviously decreaed.The work efficiency can be improved greatly. The Characteristic of friction under the vibration working condition is described in the paper firstly. Two fundamental experiments illustrate the basic features of vibration friction. With the nonlinear dynamics and tribology of vibration friction, some key machinery is introduced in the paper briefly. The study of vibration tribology is attracting more and more interest of investigators.


Most contemporary discussions on African development since independence forty years ago emphasize the notion that Africa is still "mal parti". Many show discontent for what has been achieved in this time, despite that "Africa works" as is suggested by Chabal and Daloz in their widely discussed book (1999). I will focus on the issue of sustainable development in Africa. This will be illustrated by the presentation of a common property resource management research project (on fisheries, pastures, wildlife, water for irrigation, and forests). The question of why the overuse of natural resources and conflicts over resources are occurring in modern day Africa is addressed here. This research project is called "Common Property Institutions and Power Relations: Resource Management, Change and Conflicts in African Floodplain Wetlands". It focuses on six African floodplain wetlands in semi-arid zones (Internal Niger Delta in Mali, Hadejia-Jama'ara in Northern Nigeria, Logone Floodplain in Northern Cameroon, Pangani Floodplain in Tanzania, Okavango Delta in Botswana and Kafue Flats in Zambia (Haller 2001)). This work will be conducted by students from the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Zurich and by local students in these wetland areas, and will be under my supervision. The aim is to make a comparative analysis of these wetland areas, which should lead to a better understanding of the processes of resource use responsible for environmental problems and conflicts in these areas. The project is integrated in the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) with the title "NCCR North-South: Research Partnerships for Mitigation Syndromes of Global Change". In this competence centre, research for mitigation of diverse problems concerning development in the Third World will be done over the next 10 years by a large group of Swiss research institutions who will conduct this research in partnership with local scientists in Third World Countries (SARPI 2000). The competence centre consists of different subprojects, one of them being the IP6 "Institutional Change and Livelihood Strategies", in which the presented research project on African floodplain wetlands is integrated. To illustrate the aim of the project and to give some reflections on institutional change and conflicts, two cases from Northern Nigeria and Mali will be presented. These two cases show how common property resources (CPR) such as fisheries were institutionally managed in former times, and how the traditional institutions have changed over the last forty years.

The aim of the wetlands project is to test the validity of the New Institutionalism theories on CPR Resource Management in a specific ecological and political setting. Firstly, the design principles by Elinor Ostrom on robust institutions for the sustainable use of CPR-resources (Ostrom 1990, Becker and Ostrom 1995) are compared with local CPR-institutions in the selected wetlands areas. Secondly, theories and approaches of the New Institutional Economics and Anthropology (North 1990, Ensminger 1992) will be tested. Finally, Jean Ensminger's explanations concerning institutional change and bargaining power are looked at in particular.
(African Anthropologist: 2002 9(1): 25-35)


A two-dimensional natural convection flow of a viscous incompressible and electrically conducting fluid past a vertical impermeable flat plate is considered in presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field. Here the viscosity is taken as dependent on temperature whereas the thermal conductivity is assumed constant. We also investigate the effect of magnetic field on the natural convection flow of a viscous incompressible and electrically conducting fluid. The effect of variable viscosity and magnetic field on local skin friction, the rate of heat transfer and the profiles for velocity as well as viscosity in the entire free convection regime are presented and discussed. Keywords: Natural convection; Magnethydrodynamics (MHD); Viscosity; Prandtl number. © 2010 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved. DOI: 10.3329/jsr.v2i3.4776 J. Sci. Res. 2 (3), 453-463 (2010)


type="main" xml:id="smj2237-abs-0001"> This study draws on strategic factor market theory and argues that acquirers' decisions regarding whether to bid for a firm reflect their expectations about employee departure from the firm post-acquisition, suggesting a negative relationship between the anticipated employee departure from a firm and the likelihood of the firm becoming an acquisition target. Using a natural experiment and a difference-in-differences approach, we find causal evidence that constraints on employee mobility raise the likelihood of a firm becoming an acquisition target. The causal effect is stronger when a firm employs more knowledge workers in its workforce and when it faces greater in-state competition; by contrast, the effect is weaker when a firm is protected by a stronger intellectual property regime that mitigates the consequences of employee mobility . Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


OF DISSERTATION DEVELOPMENT OF A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR CAPACITY PLANNING FROM GRAIN HARVEST TO STORAGE This dissertation investigated issues surrounding grain harvest and transportation logistics. A discrete event simulation model of grain transportation from the field to an on-farm storage facility was developed to evaluate how truck and driver resource constraints impact material flow efficiency, resource utilization, and system throughput. Harvest rate and in-field transportation were represented as a stochastic entity generation process, and service times associated with various material handling steps were represented by a combination of deterministic times and statistical distributions. The model was applied to data collected for three distinct harvest scenarios (18 total days). The observed number of deliveries was within ± 2 standard deviations of the simulation mean for 15 of the 18 input conditions examined, and on a daily basis, the median error between the simulated and observed deliveries was -4.1%. The model was expanded to simulate the whole harvest season and include temporary wet storage capacity and grain drying. Moisture content changes due to field dry down was modeled using weather data and grain equilibrium moisture content relationships and resulted in an RMSE of 0.73 pts. Dryer capacity and performance were accounted for by adjusting the specified dryer performance to the observed level of moisture removal and drying temperature. Dryer capacity was generally underpredicted, and large variations were found in the observed data. The expanded model matched the observed cumulative mass of grain delivered well and estimated the harvest would take one partial day longer than was observed. Usefulness of the model to evaluate both costs and system performance was demonstrated by conducting a sensitivity analysis and examining system changes for a hypothetical operation. A dry year and a slow drying crop had the largest impact on the system's operating and drying costs (12.7% decrease and 10.8% increase, respectively). The impact of reducing the drying temperature to maintain quality in drying white corn had no impact on the combined drying and operating cost, but harvest took six days longer. The reduced drying capacity at lower temperatures resulted in more field drying which counteracted the reduced drying efficiency and increased field time. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated varied benefits of increased drying and transportation capacity based on how often these systems created a bottleneck in the operation. For some combinations of longer transportation times and higher harvest rates, increasing hauling and drying capacity could shorten the harvest window by a week or more at an increase in costs of less than $12 ha-1. An additional field study was conducted to examine corn harvest losses in Kentucky. Total losses for cooperator combines were found to be between 0.8%-2.4% of total yield (86 to 222 kg ha-1). On average, the combine head accounted for 66% of the measured losses, and the total losses were highly variable, with coefficients of variation ranging from 21.7% to 77.2%. Yield and harvest losses were monitored in a single field as the grain dried from 33.9% to 14.6%. There was no significant difference in the potential yield at any moisture level, and the observed yield and losses displayed little variation for moisture levels from 33.9% to 19.8%, with total losses less than 1% (82 to 130 kg dry matter ha-1). Large amounts of lodging occurred while the grain dried from 19.8% to 14.6%, which resulted in an 18.9% reduction in yield, and harvest losses in excess of 9%. Allowing the grain to field dry generally improved test weight and reduced mechanical damage, however, there was a trend of increased mold and other damage in prolonged field drying.


A novel superstructure-based approach for synthesizing sustainable trigeneration systems (i.e., heating, cooling, and power generation cycles) integrated with heat exchanger networks is presented in this paper. The trigeneration system accounts for steam and organic Rankine cycles and an absorption refrigeration cycle. The steam Rankine cycle can be driven by multiple primary energy sources (i.e., solar, biofuels, and fossil fuels) for sustainable generation of power and process heating. The waste energy from the steam Rankine cycle and/or the excess of process heat can be used to drive both the organic Rankine cycle and the absorption refrigeration cycle to produce power and process cooling below the ambient temperature, respectively. The synthesis problem is formulated as a multiobjective mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem for the simultaneous consideration of the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability. Two example problems are presented to show the applicability of th...


Place of residence is heavily shaped by social position, indicating that neighborhood characteristics can be important contributing factors to health iniquities. The objectives were to construct indicators of the physical and social environment in an urban context based on variables obtained with the Systematic Social Observation method (SSO) and to analyze them according to the Health Vulnerability Index (HVI). The instrument was developed to determine the characteristics of the physical and social neighborhood in two health districts in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Data were collected from April to June 2011. To develop the simple indicators, ratios were calculated for the number of observed items per residence in each segment. Composite indicators were built using principal components analysis via covariance matrix. The final sample consisted of 1,295 street segments nested in 147 neighborhoods. Indicators referring to street conditions and transit items, mobility, appearance, housing and property, physical disorder, safety/security, and services showed a dose-response behavior in relation to HVI (p < 0.05). Indicators pertaining to place to practice physical activity and leisure did not show significant differences. The indicators displayed coherent behavior towards different HVI strata and proved adequate within each respective domain and subdomain.


How well can hate speech concept be abstracted in order to inform automatic classification in codeswitched texts by machine learning classifiers? We explore different representations and empirically evaluate their predictiveness using both conventional and deep learning algorithms in identifying hate speech in a ~48k human-annotated dataset that contain mixed languages, a phenomenon common among multilingual speakers. This paper espouses a novel approach to handle this challenge by introducing a hierarchical approach that employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation to generate topic models that feed into another high-level feature set that we acronym PDC. PDC groups similar meaning words in word families during the preprocessing stage for supervised learning models. The high-level PDC features generated are based on Ombui et al, (2019) hate speech annotation framework that is informed by the triangular theory of hate (Stanberg,2003). Results obtained from frequency-based models using the PDC feature on the annotated dataset of ~48k short messages comprising of tweets generated during the 2012 and 2017 Kenyan presidential elections indicate an improvement on classification accuracy in identifying hate speech as compared to the baseline


Introduction: COPD patients commonly present with multi-morbidity, including vascular disease. Atherosclerosis is known as the main driver of vascular disease. One of its clinical manifestations is peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which mainly affects the lower limb arteries. Little is known about the association between COPD and PAD in the general population. Our aim was to study the association between COPD and PAD in a population-based setting. Methods: In 3,459 participants of the Rotterdam study (mean age ± standard deviation 65.4 ± 6.7, 57.4% females), PAD (an Ankle Brachial Index (ABI) ≤ 0.9) and COPD (based on obstructive spirometry or clinical presentation) was assessed. The association between COPD and PAD was tested by means of a cox regression analysis. Results: In this study, 13 (13.3%) of individuals with COPD had PAD compared to 323 (9.6%) of individuals without COPD. The incidence of PAD in individuals with COPD was 32.0/1000 person years (PY), compared to 18.4/1000 PY in individuals without COPD. A statistically significant association was found between COPD and PAD, with an Hazard Ratio of 1.78 (95% Confidence Interval 1.13-2.), adjusted for age, sex, smoking history, body mass index, hypertension, statin use, serum HDL to cholesterol ratio and ethnicity. Conclusion: Individuals with COPD have higher risk of developing PAD. This emphasizes the importance of determining ABI for the diagnosis of PAD in the management of patients with COPD.


Corresponding author: Ahmed H. Elmaasrawy firstname.lastname@example.com ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this work to evaluate the efficacy of temporary balloon occlusion of the internal iliac arteries in reducing intraoperative blood loss and blood transfusion requirements in caesarean hysterectomy in pregnant women with prenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta. Methods: Thirty patients who were admitted in high risk pregnancy unit, obstetric department, Zagazig university hospitals with prenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta had been included in this one step random assignment control trial over the period from June 2015 to June 2017.All cases were diagnosed by ultrasonography, color Doppler imaging and supplemented with MRI where necessary. The patients included in the study were divided randomly into two groups; Group A (case): In this group prophylactic temporary balloon occlusion of internal iliac arteries was done followed by CS hysterectomy. Group B (control): In this group CS hysterectomy was done and internal iliac artery ligation was done in selected cases. Intraoperative blood loss, Volume of blood transfused (ml), perioperative hemoglobin change (g/dl), Duration of surgery (min), Length of hospitalization (d), Duration of ICU admission (d) were recorded and compared in both groups ; Fluoroscopy, balloon occlusion time, any complication arisen during the procedure of balloon occlusion also were recorded. Results: The mean intraoperative blood loss in the balloon group (A) (1315 mL; range, 800–2500 mL) was significantly less than in the control group (B) (1766.7 mL; range, 850–3500 mL) (p = 0.04). The mean volume of blood transfused was significantly less in the balloon group than in the control group (p = 0.03). There was also significant difference in the perioperative change in hemoglobin levels (p = 0.04).There were no significant differences regarding operation time (p=0.83), length of hospitalization (p = 0.27), or ICU admission (p = 0.64). Mean fluoroscopy time was 9.20 min; balloon occlusion time was 116.30 min with no reported maternal or fetal complications related to balloon procedure. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that prophylactic balloon occlusion of internal iliac artery is a safe method and appears to reduce blood loss and transfusion requirements in patients diagnosed with placenta accreta who undergo cesarean hysterectomy. Antenatal imaging diagnosis of placenta accreta enables preoperative planning.


The research was carried out to determine the influence of the chemical composition and moisture content in seeds from selected soybean cultivars on their mechanical properties. The individual seeds were investigated at five moisture contents in the conditions of quasi-static loads with the use of a Zwick universal testing machine. Mechanical properties of the soybean seeds from the analyzed cultivars depended on their chemical composition and moisture content. The seeds of the cv. 'Herta PZO' ruptured when the significantly smallest amount of the rupture force (105.6 N) was applied and were most prone to deformation (29.2%). The seeds of the cv. KS-40 were significantly less prone to deformation (16.7%) and ruptured with the smallest amount of energy (71.5 mJ) applied. The cv. 'Petrina' required the significantly highest amount of force (140.6 N) necessary for seed rupture, while the significantly highest modulus of elasticity (1721 MPa) was observed in the cv. SP-16. The cv. 'Aligator' required application of the significantly highest amount of energy (142.7 mJ). An increase in the moisture content in seeds caused a significant decrease in the rupture force and modulus and an increase in deformation and energy. Soybean seeds with higher protein and ash content ruptured when higher force was applied and were characterised by a higher modulus of elasticity, smaller extent of deformation and lower energy, being therefore more resistant to damage. Soybean seeds containing more fat and fibre were more prone to damage. Together with the increase in the moisture content (7–19%), we observed a decrease in the impact of the chemical components analyzed on the rupture force and the modulus of elasticity. At the same time we observed an increase in the influence of the tested components on deformation and energy.


Trepanobiopsies from 62 patients are studied and histological features of hairy-cell leukemia in the bone marrow are characterized; the criteria of its differentiation from other lymphoproliferative diseases are given. Morphological changes in the spleen, liver, lymph nodes are described on the basis of clinical and post-mortem data. An important role of trepanobiopsy in hairy-cell leukemia diagnosis is shown.


This beautiful field guide offers orchid enthusiasts everything they need to know about what, where, and when to find wild orchids in the southeastern United States. With 285 color photos and detailed original drawings, it will delight both the new admirer and the long-time lover of these seductive flowering plants. Covering a region that includes eastern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and northern Florida, as well as southeastern North Carolina, and southern Arkansas, the book presents all the information necessary to correctly identify 76 species of orchids, 4 varieties, 61 forms, and 13 hybrids. It includes some of the rarest species found in the United States as well as several new species and subspecific taxa that recently have been documented in this area but have never been described in book format. No existing field guide provides all available information for these states. Orchid identification presents even experienced botanists with a challenge. Paul Martin Brown, author of several successful orchid books for other U.S. regions, undertakes this task in a logical, easy-to-understand manner. The guide is designed for locating information easily while one foot is in the proverbial bog. Brown's approach to the complex vocabulary of botanical taxonomy is clear and his explanation of botanical keys will aid the novice orchid hunter as well as the trained orchid professional. Created for identification in the field or anywhere live specimens are found, the key is not strictly technical. Its dependence on color and measurements has been kept to a minimum, allowing readers to use it without removing orchids from the wild. Supporting material addresses common questions about habitat, color forms, and hybrids and also clarifies the taxonomically confusing genera Spiranthes and Platanthera.


Exfoliative cytology is a relatively sensitive, highly specific technique for the detection and diagnosis of bladder cancer, and for monitoring conservative treatment. Cytologic diagnosis is based on cellular changes in DNA content, chromatin structure, and metabolic activities which are characteristic of cancer cells and can be recognized in desquamated isolated cells or cell clusters. The cytologic techniques are most effective in identifying low stage flat or papillary carcinoma, but not cytologically benign papillomas or ulcerating invasive cancers that do not easily shed cancer cells. With the growing number of pathologists who, in recent years, have become skilled cytopathologists, urinary tract cytology has developed into an essential diagnostic tool for the urologist.


Glycoproteins are well represented among biomarkers for inflammatory and cancer diseases. Secreted and membrane-associated glycoproteins make excellent targets for noninvasive detection. In this review, we discuss clinically applicable markers of cancer diseases and methods for their analysis. High throughput discovery continues to supply marker candidates with unusual glycan structures, altered glycoprotein abundance, or distribution of site-specific glycoforms. Improved analytical methods are needed to unlock the potential of these discoveries in validated clinical assays. A new generation of targeted quantitative assays is expected to advance the use of glycoproteins in early detection of diseases, molecular disease classification, and monitoring of therapeutic interventions.


This project investigates how the actors in a transportation chain are expected to act when different types of governmental control policies are applied. A simulation-based tool is being developed for use in analyzing the effects of different control policies. The simulator is based on agent technology and include some intelligence with respect to how the transport operators act in different situations. The simulator will be used for analyzing the total costs and environmental effects and in this way provide guidance in decision making regarding control policies. Also, cost-effective strategies for companies can be determined with the simulator.


Doping with transition metals is an effective method to enhance visible-light absorption in TiO2 nanoparticles and to improve the efficiency of many photocatalytic processes under solar radiation. A determination of the incorporation site of the dopant and an understanding of the local bonding arrangement and electronic structure is a necessary step for knowledge-based materials design. In this paper, we report an in-depth X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of V dopants in TiO2 nanoparticles deposited by gas-phase condensation with a local structure similar to anatase, rutile, or intermediate. The combination of K- and L-edge spectra in the pre-edge, edge, and extended energy regions with full potential ab initio spectral simulations shows that V ions occupy substitutional cationic sites in the TiO2 structure, irrespective of whether it is similar to rutile, anatase, or mixed.


PURPOSE
Math Resolutions, LLC, has extended their Dosimetry Check quality assurance software to include TomoTherapy treatments. Data collected from TomoTherapy's MVCT detectors is processed and compared to the planned treatment dose allowing for pre-treatment QA without the use of phantoms and other detectors. This study presents an overview of our experience at the University of Virginia developing, implementing, and verifying this novel QA strategy.

METHODS
Low modulation and high modulation cheese phantom plans as well as patient plans (prostate, GYN, and vertebra) were used to test the Dosimetry Check in-air software. For all evaluations the treatment table was removed from the XML file of each plan using software provided by Accuray and the resulting in-air calibration plan was delivered. The exit detector sinogram was extracted from the machine and imported into Dosimetry Check along with the TomoTherapy calculated planned dose. The fluence maps were reconstructed and used to recalculate the dose.

RESULTS
The percent difference between the planned dose and the dose calculated from the exit detectors by Dosimetry Check ranged between 0.62% for a simple low modulation cheese phantom plan with a cylindrical target to 7.3% for a high modulation 2.5cm prostate plan. The gamma indices reported range from 94.7% to 97.8% <1 over the overall calculation area for the plans tested using a gamma of 3% and 3mm. For the area receiving over 80% of the prescribed dose, the gamma ranged from 80.7% to 92.9% <1.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of our investigation of Math Resolutions' new product in development, Dosimetry Check's pre-treatment in-air QA software, demonstrate that it has the potential be a very useful and practical tool for TomoTherapy QA. Further testing is being performed in which various errors are intentionally introduced in the delivered dose to test the limits of Dosimetry Check's sensitivity. Research Grant from Math Resolutions LLC 01/12/2012-01/11/2013 Math Resolutions' Dosimetry Check software was given to UVa to assist with evaluating the precision of the product in reconstructing dose from the TomoTherapy exit detector data.


In order to better reproduction of the information that is as close as possible to reality, we have established a procedure for analyzing images based on visual interpretation and digital processing. In digital processing, supervised classification by maximum likelihood, based on a fieldwork allowed to discriminate elements of land. Recovery of geometric shapes by scanning fallow and bare soil from panchromatic Spot image yielded the map of agrarian structures. Different queries and statistical operations performed were used to assess the areas of agrarian structures. The analysis of the dynamics of agrarian structures showed that the period 1986 - 2000 was marked by environmental degradation, while the period 2000 - 2004 has seen a regeneration of the natural environment. Treatments applied to images and ensuing results indicate the feasibility of monitoring by remote sensing of agricultural structures in northeastern area of Cote d'Ivoire. This research shows that the Geographic Information System is an effective tool for the evaluation of agrarian structures. However, manual scanning of elements in the environment requires careful attention to avoid skewing the results.


The effect of interferon on the health-related quality of life in multiple myeloma was assessed in two trials carried out by the Nordic Myeloma Study Group (NMSG). In both trials, the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, supplemented with I 1 items relating to interferon toxicity, was used. The first was a randomized controlled trial (NMSG 4/90) evaluating the addition of interferon α-2b to melphalan and prednisone during induction, maintenance and relapse. During the first 12 months, patients on interferon reported more chills, fever, fatigue, pain, nausea vomiting, appetite loss and dry skin than the control patients, and a slight reduction of global health and quality of life. From 12 months onward there were no significant differences in any score between the two groups. In a later trial (NMSG 5/94) evaluating the effect of high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support in patients under 60 years of age with newly diagnosed myeloma. interferon was used as maintenance. During the maintenance phase, symptom and toxicity scores were not significantly different from those in control patients under 60 years of age in the previous trial. Thus, interferon appeared to be well tolerated after high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell support.


In this paper, we suggest a non-parametric way to improve the intelligibility of speech in noise. The signal is enhanced before presented in a noisy environment, under the constraint of equal global signal power before and after modifications. Two systems are combined in a cascade form to enhance the quality of the signal first in frequency (spectral shaping) and then in time (dynamic range compression). Experiments with speech shaped (SSN) and competing speaker (CS) types of noise at various low SNR values, show that the suggested approach outperforms state-of-the art methods in terms of the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII). In terms of SNR gain there is an improvement of 7 dB (SSN) and 8 dB (CS) over these methods. A formal listening test confirm the efficiency of the suggested system in enhancing speech intelligibility in noise.


Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the role of showcasing a product with its cast shadow (formed in the ad's background by the advertised product) on consumer product perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach

Three experimentally designed studies, incorporating two product categories, demonstrate the impact of visual presentation of a product with its shadow on consumer evaluations. A total of 203 participants (MTurkers, and student respondents at a southern university) provided data for these studies through questionnaires (online as well as paper-pencil formats).

Findings

Findings reveal that the presence of a product's cast shadow in the ad frame increases its visual acuity, which in turn enhances its luxury perceptions. Downstream, a product shadow's presence positively impacts its overall evaluations, through enhanced product luxury perceptions. Also, consumers with high Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics (CVPA) demonstrate a stronger liking for such product presentations.

Research limitations/implications

The current findings not only demonstrate the positive impact of product shadows on consumer perceptions, but also enrich the luxury and aesthetics literature streams.

Practical implications

Advertisers often subjectively use product shadows as stylistic tools in marketing communications. This research offers some practical guidelines to use shadows in fostering product luxury perceptions and better target aesthetically-sensitive consumers.

Originality/value

Advertising research suggests that visual styling and presentation of products significantly impacts consumer perceptions. However, the role of product shadows has not yet been empirically examined. This paper makes an attempt to test whether and how product shadows impact consumer perceptions.


The interactive effects of upper airway negative pressure and hypercapnia on the pattern of breathing were assessed in pentobarbital-anesthetized cats. At any given level of pressure in the upper airway, hypercapnia increased respiratory rate, reduced inspiratory time, and augmented tidal volume, inspiratory airflow, and the peak and rate of rise of diaphragm electrical activity. Conversely, at any given level of CO2, upper airway negative pressure decreased respiratory rate, prolonged inspiratory time, and depressed inspiratory airflow and diaphragm electromyogram (EMG) rate of rise. Application of negative pressure to the upper airway shifted the relationship between tidal volume and inspiratory time upward and rightward. The relationship between inspiratory and expiratory times, however, was linearly correlated over a wide range of chemical drives and levels of upper airway pressure. These results suggest that in the anesthetized cat upper airway negative pressure afferent inputs 1) interact in an additive fashion with hypercapnia to alter the pattern of breathing, 2) interact multiplicatively with CO2 to influence mean inspiratory airflow and diaphragm EMG rate of rise, 3) depress the generation of central inspiratory activity, 4) increase the time-dependent volume threshold for inspiratory termination, and 5) affect the ratio between inspiratory and expiratory times in a similar manner as alterations in PCO2.


We propose a new method to incorporate statistical priors on the solution of the nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) for single-channel source separation (SCSS) applications. The Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is used as a log-normalized gain prior model for the NMF solution. The normalization makes the prior models energy independent. In NMF based SCSS, NMF is used to decompose the spectra of the observed mixed signal as a weighted linear combination of a set of trained basis vectors. In this work, the NMF decomposition weights are enforced to consider statistical prior information on the weight combination patterns that the trained basis vectors can jointly receive for each source in the observed mixed signal. The NMF solutions for the weights are encouraged to increase the loglikelihood with the trained gain prior GMMs while reducing the NMF reconstruction error at the same time.


The new realities of the world, of society and of the state make it necessary to reform the education system by taking into account newly emerging values. Kazakhstan has an objective necessity and a prerequisite for the further development of the national education system, the needs of the labor market and its integration into the world educational space. At the same time, the higher education system in Kazakhstan contains sufficient requirements for international education. The new approach to organizing the educational process into global practice is embodied in a competency-based teaching model. The need for its development in Kazakhstan in the context of profound organizational, structural and ideological transformations, updates the content of education, imposes increasing demands on the quality of training according to the stage of socio-economic and political development of the country. country and globalization. integration phenomena in the global educational space. A key figure in the field of education has always been and remains a teacher: - a competent specialist, who has all the arsenal of funds, a creative personality, who aspires to professional perfection and professional growth. The new conceptions of higher education are based on the targeted development of the creative potential of the future specialist. The most important social function of higher education is to train creative professionals capable of developing professional activities, to improve and not only to replicate the social experience in order to create new knowledge and values


People with mental retardation (MR) and psychiatric disabilities (PD) represent a special and diverse population among people with developmental disabilities. This is a group for which rehabilitation practice has only recently begun to be well articulated in the professional literature. Despite at least 15 years of research and concern that these people, as a whole, are inconsistently identified and that their needs for rehabilitation supports and services are inadequately addressed (Jacobson, 1982a; Jacobson & Ackerman, 1988; Reiss, Levitan, & McNally, 1982), coherent public policy regarding these people and tertiary care services for them has remained elusive. Generally, the public policy issues include the questions: * What are the dimensions and characteristics of the population in need? * How can they be effectively identified and assessed to guide clinical service? * What rehabilitative services and supports are beneficial and required in order to enhance their functioning, individually and socially? * What organization structures, management frameworks, program approaches, and financing means are conducive to effective service? Although a detailed review of the literature on MRPD relevant to policy is beyond the scope of a single article, some generalizations can be set forth. First, the principal emphases in research and evaluation have been on epidemiology, assessment, and to a lesser degree, programmatic responses. In the realms of epidemiology and assessment substantial progress has been made and there has been an emerging picture of the population and a small number of useful screening and assessment measures have been developed and reported in the international literature. Unfortunately, program evaluation efforts and applied research on the organization of services have remained embodied by isolated or singular models (e.g., Fletcher, 1988; Reiss, 1988a), which are not linked by common themes (such as by normalization issues, integration concerns, or enhanced functioning, e.g., as discussed by Davidson & Adams, 1989; Jacobson, 1992; Jacobson & Ackerman, 1993) and there are no multi-site cross-sectional or longitudinal studies that sample the diversity of clinical activities or organizational approaches that are now used somewhat speculatively. At the same time it is not evident that effective rehabilitative practices for these people are consistently present in the local mental health sector and can be readily adopted by rehabilitation providers or accessed directly by people with MRPD (Jacobson & Ackerman, 1988). Thus, policy formulation and pragmatic rehabilitation efforts both appear to be hindered at this time by our limited knowledge of effective intervention practices, impacting on the ability of rehabilitation practitioners to directly intervene to support people with MRPD and the ability of specialists and consultants to contribute to these efforts. However, this may be more a matter of appearance than substance, and this issue will be considered in some detail in this article. Rather than reviewing current progress in assessment and program description, this article will also focus on policy dilemmas stemming from the historical, system, and professional practice context within which MRPD issues are being addressed. These policy dilemmas impact on opportunities available to rehabilitation professionals and other clinicians to address MRPD service and support needs through treatment or program development. A first issue is that people with MRPD represent a diverse subset of the population with developmental disabilities and the profile of this population has considerable overlap with that of other participants in vocational rehabilitation services. Data on the rehabilitation services population with developmental disabilities are presented first, to help provide a policy context. Next, historical, system, and professional practice factors that have affected the articulation and development of MRPD policy and programs are considered. …


This paper makes an attempt to explore the echoes of the vision of Hindu philosophy in the selected works of T. S. Eliot. The works of Eliot such as his primary essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent," and his primary poems such as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Gerontion," The Waste Land, "Ash Wednesday," "A Song for Simeon" and Four Quartets are under scrutiny in this paper. Eliot's primary texts echo the vision of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Patanjali Yoga Sutras of the Hindu (Vedic) philosophy. The vision is that rebirth is conditioned by one's karma (actions). No one can escape from the fruits of his karma. One needs to undergo the self-realization to know the Essence (Brahman). When one knows the Essence, he is liberated from the wheel of life and death. Man himself is Brahman. The soul is immortal. The basic essence of Hindu philosophy is non-dual, which says that all the living beings and non-living objects are the manifestations of the same Ultimate Reality (Brahman). Eliot suggests that the knowledge of this essence can help humanity to promote equality and justice by ignoring discrimination and duality, to end human sorrows and to achieve real peace and happiness. This finding can assist humanity in the quest for understanding the meaning of human existence and the true spiritual nature of life to address the human sorrows resulted from the gross materialistic thinking.


Body mass index (BMI) of 149 male and female children, classified into three age groups (5-9, 10- 14 and 15-18 years) having four different blood groups (A, B, AB and O), was estimated from different schools situated in Sargodha district. The highest BMI was found in boys of age 15-18 years, whereas the lowest BMI was observed in the students with 5-9 years age. Many male and female subjects from all age groups were found underweight but BMI values of group A and O subjects were found close to the normal values. Female subjects having AB blood group were found to have the highest BMI whereas subjects from blood group "A" exhibited the lowest BMI values. Female subjects with others two blood group (B and O) were found to have normal BMI values. Overall, the students of 5-18 years (male and female) belonging to different blood groups were found to have low BMI than the recommended values. It has been found that BMI of "O" subjects was better as compared to blood group A and B.


Fibrin is a natural substrate for growth, adhesion, and migration of mature endothelial cells (ECs) and a candidate coating material in approaches to graft endothelialization. Adipose tissue represents an abundant, practical source of donor tissue for stem cells which may be a useful source for engineering of vascular grafts. However, the optimal substrates that promote differentiation of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs) into ECs remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we investigated whether fibrin can be used as a substratum to support in vitro ECs differentiation of ASCs and whether fibrinogen concentration can be affect on ECs differentiation of ASCs. For determination of phenotypic characteristics of ASCs used in this experiment, we performed flow cytometry analysis. ASCs were plated on fibrin composed of varying concentrations of fibrinogen and induced into ECs differentiation in presence of VEGF. Before inducing into ECs, ASCs did not express any markers of hematopoietic cells (CD34, CD45), ECs (CD31, CD34), and endothelial progenitor cells (CD34, CD133, Flk-1). The degree of ECs differentiation was determined by capillary network formation, ECs-specific gene expression, and F-actin assembly. During the first 12 h after seeding, cells spread randomly, moved and formed small interconnected clusters. These clusters decreased in size and formed a capillary tube at 48 h. During the further incubation in presence of VEGF for 7 days, ASCs expressed mRNA and protein of von Willebrand factor (vWF). The degree of ECs differentiation of ASCs was consistently decreased as fibrinogen concentration increase. Fibrin may be used as biomatrix to promote differentiation of ASCs into ECs for tissue engineering.


Mid-infrared (MIR) coherent light generated by nonlinear optical (NLO) materials is crucial for military and civilian applications. Among the MIR optical crystal family, the LiInSe2 (LISe) single crystal is a promising candidate due to its remarkable physical properties. Herein, a high-quality LISe crystal with the largest diameter of 31 mm was successfully grown by the Bridgman growth method using an oriented seed. The crystalline quality and optical homogeneity of LISe were demonstrated by high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), Laue diffraction, and optical interferometry measurements, respectively. Additionally, a complete survey of the transmittance spectra, absorption coefficients, and refractive indices was systematically performed. Furthermore, we found that the absorption coefficients of LISe at 1.064 μm can be obviously decreased after thermal annealing under LISe atmospheric conditions. More generally, our results will contribute significantly to the practical applications of LISe in the MIR technology field.


A stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) chronology for the past 100 years was developed from larch tree rings in eastern Siberia (near Yakutsk, 62°14′N, 129°37′E), to reconstruct past soil moisture water equivalent (SWE). Based on the correlation analyses between SWE and tree ring δ13C, we developed a linear regression model for SWE in the late growing period (LGP: 15 July to 31 August) using annual tree ring δ13C, which was calculated from the combination of latewood in a current year and earlywood in the following year, and then reconstructed SWE (LGP) for 1908–2007. Reconstructed SWE was compared with factors such as the output of the land surface model, annual precipitation, and Palmer Drought Severity Index for July. From the results, the reconstructed SWE appears reasonable and shows a large variation, including repeated occurrences of severe drought and an unprecedented high soil moisture event in 2006–2007 during the past 100 years. The reconstruction also captured a past documented record of severe drought in the 1940s. Despite the generally good performance of the reconstruction, by the 1930s the estimated SWE was higher than that expected from the annual precipitation. Tree ring width and δ13C were negatively correlated in most periods. However, the negative correlation was weaker for the period from 1919 to 1925, when relatively low air temperature was observed. This result suggests that the rate of photosynthesis, together with the degree of stomata opening, also affected the tree ring δ13C during cool periods.