In this thesis, the results are reported of experimental studies in which oil, water and colloidal particles meet. Colloidal particles are particles that have at least one characteristic length scale in the range between a few nanometers (nm) and several micrometers (μm). Mixtures of oil and water, one finely dispersed in the other (called emulsions), are also colloidal systems. We have shown that monodisperse oil-in-water emulsions, with sub-10 μm droplet diameters, can be synthesized on a bulk scale using various methods, all based on a nucleation and growth process. These droplets were used as templates for the growth of elastic, partially permeable microcapsules that were fluorescently labelled. Because of the liquid nature of the template, the core could be easily exchanged after capsule synthesis. Specifically, we have shown that the oil core could be exchanged for a liquid surfactant that was sustained in the capsule interior after re-dispersing the particles in water. This surfactant cargo was spontaneously released from the capsules in the vicinity of an oil-water interface, because the surface active material prefers partitioning over the oil-water interface, and the oil phase, when compared to the aqueous phase. Applications in this direction are of potential interest for enhanced oil recovery because surfactant encapsulation prevents redundant surfactant loss in the oil reservoir, whereas the wetting behavior and the surface tension are favorably affected upon (controlled) release, facilitating emulsification. In addition to encapsulation studies, the as formed capsules are also of interest for self-assembly studies. The spherical capsules were converted into anisotropic, bowl-shaped particles by various buckling processes, affecting the amount of oil encapsulated in the core. When mixed with complementary (convex) shaped colloidal spheres, these (concave) bowl-shaped capsules were found to form lock-and-key composite particles in time after applying an electric field, a phenomenon generalized to both silica and polystyrene spheres. These electric-field-induced interactions were reversible and controllable on millisecond timescales but could also be made irreversible by playing with the force balance such that complex shaped colloids with mixed composition were synthesized. Moreover, by coating the flexible bowl-shaped capsules with an additional shell-layer, the configuration of the (partially) buckled capsules was preserved even upon drying and solvent exchange. This second shell growth generated particles not only of interest for self-assembly studies, because of the preserved anisotropic shape, but also for controlled encapsulation studies, because it enabled tuning of the shell permeability. Finally, this thesis describes a novel class of emulsions: non-touching Pickering emulsions. Typically surfactants or colloids are added which adsorb onto the interface and thereby prevent de-mixing of oil and water in emulsions. Because of their micron-sized dimensions, colloids become irreversibly trapped when touching both the oil and water. We examined experimentally an alternative scenario: non-touching (effectively non-wetting) particles that do not sit in the interface, but rather fully in the oil phase as a result of a force balance. Apart from the fundamental novelty, this new Pickering emulsion was reversible: the addition of salt enabled a triggered de-mixing of the two phases, which is promising for applications.


Developers neglect to update legacy software dependencies, resulting in buggy and insecure software. One explanation for this neglect is the difficulty of constantly checking for the availability of new software updates, verifying their safety, and addressing any migration efforts needed when upgrading a dependency. Emerging tools attempt to address this problem by introducing automated pull requests and project badges to inform the developer of stale dependencies. To understand whether these tools actually help developers, we analyzed 7,470 GitHub projects that used these notification mechanisms to identify any change in upgrade behavior. Our results find that, on average, projects that use pull request notifications upgraded 1.6× as often as projects that did not use any tools. Badge notifications were slightly less effective: users upgraded 1.4× more frequently. Unfortunately, although pull request notifications are useful, developers are often overwhelmed by notifications: only a third of pull requests were actually merged. Through a survey, 62 developers indicated that their most significant concerns are breaking changes, understanding the implications of changes, and migration effort. The implications of our work suggests ways in which notifications can be improved to better align with developers' expectations and the need for new mechanisms to reduce notification fatigue and improve confidence in automated pull requests.


This article analyses the relationship between the main antecedents of and imports/GNP ratio as a subtle reflector of macro-level consumer ethnocentrism (CE). We constructed a model that reflects the macro level ethnocentrism in a domestic country. This ratio expresses the economy openness of a domestic country. To this end, an original panel of EU15 countries' brand applications, tourists, direct investment on Turkey and technological gap between these countries and Turkey, competitiveness and media news about these countries has been constructed over the period 1998-2004. In order to examine this relationship, several econometric models for panel data are estimated. Pooled regression was chosen as the most appropriate model across the others. The main findings of the article, all antecedents have positive effects on imports/GNP ratio and all the parameters are found statistically significant. Panel data analysis suggests that registered brand name applications of EU15 countries on Turkey have a biggest effect and latter effect is media effect. This research shows, with its limitations, that granted brand names and media (newspaper) are important antecedents for macro level or economic-based CE.


Theranostics is an innovative research field that aims to develop high target specificity cancer treatments by administering small metal-based nanoparticles (NPs). This new generation of compounds exhibits diagnostic and therapeutic properties due to the high atomic number of their metal component. In the framework of a combined research program on low dose X-ray imaging and theranostic NPs, X-ray Phase Contrast Tomography (XPCT) was performed at ESRF using a 3 μm pixel optical system on two samples: a mouse brain bearing melanoma metastases injected with gadolinium NPs and, a mouse liver injected with gold NPs. XPCT is a non-destructive technique suitable to achieve the 3D reconstruction of a specimen and, widely used at micro-scale to detect abnormalities of the vessels, which are associated to the tumor growth or to the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, XPCT represents a promising and complementary tool to study the biodistribution of theranostic NPs in biological materials, thanks to the strong contrast with respect to soft tissues that metal-based NPs provide in radiological images. This work is relied on an original imaging approach based on the evaluation of the contrast differences between the images acquired below and above K-edge energies, as a proof of the certain localization of NPs. We will present different methods aiming to enhance the localization of NPs and a 3D map of their distribution in large volume of tissues.


In an attempt to identify the taxonomic relationship between CAR bacillus and other bacteria, the SSU rRNA gene sequences of two CAR bacillus strains, CBM and CBR isolated from mice and rats respectively were used in the present studies. The SSU rRNA gene sequences, approximately 1.5 kb in size amplified from genomic DNAs from both strains, were determined and 96.8% homologies were found to exist between them. Those sequences were aligned to most eubacteria with a computer search showing high homology with those of Flavobacter/Flexibacter species especially closed to Fx. sancti and Fv. ferrugineum. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that CAR bacillus belongs to a species close to Fx. sancti and Fv. ferrugineum subdivision.


1. Deep chlorophyll maxima (DCM) are common in deep, oligotrophic stratified lakes. The DCM refer to the maximal chlorophyll a concentration found at depth, and not at the lake surface. While control of the DCM is thought to be via physicochemical factors in many lakes, a role for zooplankton grazing in epilimnetic waters remains a possibility. The occurrence and dynamics of DCM are poorly documented in smaller lakes, where zooplankton grazing is likely to have a stronger structuring effect. In small, shallow stratified lakes, biological control by grazing may be magnified by the short vertical gradient and overall higher water temperature.
2. The respective contributions of several physical, chemical and biological parameters to the vertical distribution of phytoplankton biomass in a small stratified lake were examined. Associations between phytoplankton depth distribution and vertical gradients in temperature, light and nutrients and the density of herbivorous zooplankton were established through regressions and generalised linear models.
3. Colimitation of the DCM by light from above and nutrients from below was detected. A threshold was detected at 3% incident light (100 lmol photon m 2 s 1), below which the DCM disappeared. Epilimnetic biomass was related to nutrient availability, with a threshold concentration at 4 lg P L 1, below which the DCM dominated.
4. Greater stability of the water mass and more zooplankton were associated with higher phytoplankton biomass in the DCM. Stability is likely to have controlled vertical nutrient fluxes, which were intercepted by the metalimnetic phytoplankton. Zooplankton grazing of epilimnetic biomass could have increased incident light reaching the top of the metalimnion, thereby favouring proliferation of photosynthetic biomass in the DCM.
5. Wind mixing events, as detected by a reduction in Lake number (LN, a measure of the influence of wind forcing on vertical structure), induced vertical intrusions of metalimnetic water, rich in nutrients and phytoplankton, into the epilimnion. We can infer that dominance of phytoplankton in the epilimnion would have occurred earlier during the summer if grazing by zooplankton had not removed epilimnetic phytoplankton. Our results suggest that, while stable stratification is necessary for initial DCM formation, zooplankton grazing may promote the persistence of a DCM.


A clinical procedure is presented in which a maxillary removable partial denture (RPD) replacing anterior teeth was fabricated with a cast gold anterior occlusal platform. This treatment is indicated to correct abrasion caused by extruded mandibular anterior teeth on the maxillary RPD. The advantages compared with prosthetic teeth supported by an acrylic resin base or metal-backed facings are discussed. This technique allows for development of optimal esthetics, strength, and durability, while preventing further extrusion and excessive wear of the teeth occluding against prosthesis.


Based on a review of the excavation and research at the Erlitou site at Yanshi in Henan and the Xia Culture, this article explores the causes of dispute between Chinese and overseas scholars concerning the study of early Chinese states, in terms of epistemology, archaeological paradigms, utilization of historical records, reasoning method and normative versus ideographic approaches. The argument of this article is that this dispute occurs not only from the differences in academic traditions, but also the methodological backwardness caused by a lack of international exchange.


Biscuit and chocolate cookies are normally produced by industrial based processes and machinery using analog and IC gate-based Controllers. With the advent of Microcontrollers, Application Specic Integrated Circuits, Digital Signal Processors (DSP) and Programmable Logic Devices, complex industrial systems and con- trols can now be integrated into portable embedded household electronic systems. In this paper, the design and simulation of a Dough Mixer Controller (DMC) with Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) closed-loop motor feedback control, is undertaken for a home-based biscuit Cookie machine. DC motor behaviour is modelled and simulated with Matlab/Simulink. Synthesizable VHDL Design and Simulation is carried out with Quartus II Web-Edition 9.0 and ModelSIM EDA software tools, using an Altera Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development system to verify the PID algorithm applied. Simulation results show that the PID algorithm programmed into the FPGA-based controller, eectively maintained the Permanent Magnet (PM) DC motor of the mixer at constant torque over an operational 3-speed range. The mixer agitated the 10g dough ingredients fed into the mixing compartment. Subsequently, the mixture resulted in the formation of a proteinous and coherent viscoelastic dough structure, consistent with published works on dough mix-texture. The dough can subsequently be baked into biscuit cookies.


Aim: To study the magnitude of atrial fibrillation in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. Study Design: Prospective analytic cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study: Department of Cardiology of a Tertiary Cardiac Care Center of Pakistan from 1st June 2022 to 30th November 2022. Methodology: Two hundred and thirty-six patients were selected through non-probability, consecutive sampling technique. Patients were divided into Group 1 who did not develop AF while group 2 included the new cases of AF during in-hospital stay for STEMI. All patients underwent clinical examinations, echocardiography, angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention. Results: Forty five cases with an average age of 71±14 years developed atrial fibrillation. Female population 25(60%) was at higher risk than male 17(40%). In AF group, 22(53.3%) cases of dyslipidemia, 11(26.1%) cases of chronic renal disease, 4(8.8%) cases of prior myocardial infarction, 14(33.3%) cases of diabetes and a single case (2.2%) of implantable cardiac-defibrillator were observed when compared with the non-AF group. Practical Implication: In-hospital complications are also highly associated with AF which may result in high Incidents of mortality. Conclusion: Aging, comorbidities and inferior wall MI are the independent predictors of AF. In-hospital complications are associated with AF which may result in high incidents of mortality. Early diagnosis of STEMI patients with a high risk of developing AF is necessary to reduce the morbidity and mortality. Keywords: Atrial fibrillation, ST-segment elevation, Myocardial infarction


This paper presents modeling and simulation of Grid Connected Photovoltaic (PV) system by using improved mathematical model. The model is used to study different parameter variations and effects on the PV array including operating temperature and solar irradiation level. In this paper stepped P&O algorithm is proposed for MPPT control. This algorithm will identify the suitable duty ratio in which the DC-DC converter should be operated to maximize the power output. Photo voltaic array with proposed stepped P&O-MPPT controller can operate in the maximum power point for the whole range of solar data (irradiance and temperature). Keywords—Photovoltaic (PV), Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), Boost converter, Stepped Perturb & Observe method (Stepped P&O).


The defects created in GaAs and AlxGa1-xAs epitaxial layers by impurity-free disordering (IFD) were studied by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) and capacitance-voltage (C-V)measurements. IFD introduces three electron traps S1 (EC – 0.23 eV), S2* (EC – 0.53 eV), and S4 (EC – 0.74 eV) in n-type GaAs. We propose that S1 is a defect that may involve As-clustering or a complex of arsenic interstitials, Asi, and the arsenic-antisite, AsGa. S2* is the superposition of two defects, which may be VGa-related, while S4 is identified as the defect EL2. The same set of defects is created in impurity-free disordered n-type AlxGa1-xAs, but with the defects either pinned relative to the conduction band or the Fermi level. In contrast to disordering in n-type GaAs, IFD of p-type GaAs results in the pronounced atomic relocation of impurities, including Zn and Cu, in the nearsurface region of the disordered layer. The redistribution of these fast diffusers poses serious constraints regarding the application of IFD to the band gap engineering of doped GaAs-based heterostructures for optoelectronic devices application. However, we will demonstrate that this impurity segregation effect can be minimized. The discussion takes a critical look at the technological viability of impurity-free disordering for the integration of GaAs-based optoelectronic devices.


Heating fullerenes at 650°C under 3000 atmospheres of the noble gases helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon introduces these atoms into the fullerene cages in about one in 1000 molecules. A "window" mechanism in which one or more of the carbon-carbon bonds of the cage is broken has been proposed to explain the process. The amount of gas inside the fullerenes can be measured by heating to 1000°C to expel the gases, which can then be measured by mass spectroscopy. Information obtained from the nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of helium-3-labeled fullerenes indicates that the magnetic field inside the cage is altered by aromatic ring current effects. Each higher fullerene isomer and each chemical derivative of a fullerene that has been studied so far has given a distinct helium nuclear magnetic resonance peak.


The evidence suggests that alteration of the endometrial environment in women with previous failed in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) by inflicting endometrial injury improves the outcome of the subsequent treatment cycle. The selected population assessed in the studies supporting this statement prevents from generalizing this to all women undergoing IVF or ICSI treatment. The mechanisms responsible for alteration of the endometrial environment following biopsy remain still unclear. If proven effective, endometrial injury could serve as a beneficial adjunct for all couples undergoing assisted reproductive treatment (ART).

The hypothesis forming the basis of the work reported in this thesis was that endometrial injury in the cycle directly preceding an embryo transfer cycle, be it fresh or frozen, improves the outcome of that treatment irrespective of previous reproductive history.

In order to support or refute this hypothesis, a clinical trial of endometrial biopsy prior to IVF or ICSI treatment has been designed. Additional objectives that allow examining the mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects of the biopsy on the endometrium included utilization of two-dimensional, three- dimensional and Spatio-Temporal Image Correlation (STIC) ultrasound and assessment of the predictive value of any sonographic indices on ART outcome. Same sonographic modalities were used to determine the effect of endometrial injury on endometrial and subendometrial blood flow. Similarly, an examination of the value of uterine natural killer (uNK) cell numbers and expression of selected molecular markers of endometrial function as a predictors of ART outcome was explored.

In this work it was not possible to clearly demonstrate a benefit of routine endometrial biopsy in all women undergoing ART on treatment outcomes, though clues, as to which population might benefit from the procedure, were identified. Extensive sonographic analysis of endometrial factors did not produce results allowing for unequivocal non- invasive identification of a receptive endometrial milieu. Triple layer endometrial pattern at oocyte collection was correlated with positive outcome and endometrial biopsy. Spatio-Temporal Image Correlation did not fulfil expectations as a non-invasive marker of endometrial receptivity and was not able to identify women that would go on to have a successful ART outcome. In a small number of patients, STIC indices were able to predict first trimester miscarriage with relatively high sensitivity and specificity. uNK cell numbers were not associated nor predictive of ART outcome, and as such not useful as a routine diagnostic tests prior to ART. An observed significant decrease in uNK cell levels following endometrial biopsy indicates a possible mechanism of action of this intervention. Limited (3) molecular cues were not able to differentiate between a receptive and non-receptive endometrium. This work, however extensive, indicates that the endometrium is a complex microenvironment requiring further investigation in order to understand and influence the mechanisms related to pregnancy establishment and development.


According to character of resident building and engineering geological condition, method of digging and watering along horizontal direction is put forward, and used for building's rectification. Namely soil of horizontal hole is digged under one-floor ground and watered in superior subsidence side. Then subsidence is come into existence, and subsidence speed is controlled, the inclined building is forced to reverse step by step. Combining engineering examples, influence factors of building's rectification are analyzed by numerical simulation method, which includes hole spacing, hole diameter and hole depth, and influence law of relative settlement is obtained.


How do companies differentiate themselves when operating in industries where most, if not all firms offer high quality products and customer service at the time of sale? For many products, a customer's relationship with the product's manufacturer does not end with product purchase. In fact, this relationship can be significantly influenced by the activities that occur after purchase, during the entire period of product ownership. After sales services can encompass multiple activities, including: customer support through training; product warranties; maintenance and repair; product upgrades; sales of complementary products; and product disposal. Management of these service activities can form an important part of corporate strategy. These activities management calls as Reverse Logistics. Reverse logistics operations are one of the more interesting and significant trends in supply chain management. In this paper are described that the concept of reverse logistics, the strategic importance of the reverse logistics and reverse logistics in the supply chain


In order to make clear the relationship between ƒ¢KIIth and ƒ¢ KIIIth and theinfluence of the rolling texture, Mode II and Mode III fatigue crack growth tests werecarried out for annealed 0.47 % carbon steels (JIS S45C).The values of ƒ¢KIIth (9.5MPa m and 9.7 MPa m ) for crack growth normal to the rolling direction were higherthan the values of ƒ¢KIIth (8.8 MPa m and 8.1 MPa m ) for crack growth parallel to therolling direction. Mode II and Mode III fatigue crack growth produced darkly etchedmicrostructural layers in the vicinity of Mode II and Mode III fatigue crack. Vickershardness of the layers was much higher than that of the original matrix (Mode II: HV 164¨ HV 468. Mode III: HV 175 ¨ HV 678). The layers consisted of very fine grains withthe size ranging from 100 to 200 nm. The value of ƒ¢KIIth was approximately equal to ƒ¢KIIIth,i.e. ƒ¢KIIth . ƒ¢KIII th . 9.6 MPa m for crack growth perpendicular to rolling direction.Therefore, the mechanism of Mode II fatigue crack growth is presumed to be essentiallyidentical to that of Mode III fatigue crack growth.


Recent debates on climate change have increasingly focused on cities as a strategic spatial scale to implementss climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Within this context, green building and the way the built environment interfaces with urban structures and services have become significant levers of action for cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become climate change leaders (Bulkeley et al., 2011). Approximately 30% to 40% of final energy consumption is linked to buildings and, as a consequence, the building sector has been identified as one of the most relevant sectors to reduce CO

building is largely associated with technological innovations, building design and the way elements are embedded within the overall urban fabric, a shift towards green building in cities largely depends on modes of sustainable governance. Relevant dimensions include support of and for green policies and incentives, institutional support through resource centres, think tanks, certification bodies, and training, aspects of inclusivity both in the planning process as well as the later use of (and access to) buildings and to a considerable extent on lived sustainability (i.e. the ways individuals interact with and use buildings). This latter dimension of possibly changing user behaviour and consumer lifestyles seems to be absent from most of the energy scenario studies, as Samadi et al. (2016) revealed in their assessment of a series of internationally influential studies and policy programmes. Like other scholars (e.g. Sachs, 1999; Princen, 2003; Schneidewind & Zahrnt, 2014), they plead for a stronger conceptualization of sufficiency oriented policy approaches and differentiate persuasive instruments (e.g. through education and communication) from incentive based (price/tax policies) and more coercive approaches (limits, bans).


Resource based view (RBV) focuses on the concept of difficult-to-imitate attributes of the firm as sources of superior performance and competitive advantage. Resources that cannot be easily transferred or purchased, that require an extended learning curve or a major change in the organization climate and culture, are more likely to be unique to the organization and, therefore, more difficult to imitate by competitors. If the resource is not perfectly mobile (i.e., the resource is not free to move between firms, or if a firm without a resource faces a considerable cost burden in developing, acquiring or using it, that a firm already using it does not), then the resource is likely to be a source of sustained competitive advantage. If a resource is imitated or substituted then any advantages gained may be short lived. In short, the more mobile a resource is, the less sustained the advantage gained from that resource will be. In this current era of fast changing globalized world, if an organization is able to change swiftly and be more alert to changes in the competitive market, then they are more likely to gain and sustain competitive advantage.


Polyurethane fiber (PUF) can be used as self-adaptive material in the field of nuclear physics and its properties depended on the molecular structure. To explore the effect of side methyl on its degree of microphase separation (DPS) and morphology for PUF, ethanediamine and 1,2-propylene diamine with different molar ratio were used as mixed diamine chain extenders (MDCEs) to fabricate PUF. The effect of side methyl content on the H-bond, crystallinity, DPS and mechanical performance were investigated with FTIR, XRD, AFM, SAXS, universal tensile machine (UTM) and DMA, respectively. The results of FTIR and XRD revealed that the hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) and crystallinity increased with the decrease of side methyl content on account of the reduction effect of steric hindrance. Furthermore, due to the stronger H-bonds and higher crystallinity in hard segment domain (HD), the DPS of PUF was enhanced with the increasing molar ratio of MDCEs in the aspect of the ordered structure in soft segment domain and the enlarged HD. Therefore, PUF showed more excellent mechanical performances with the improved DPS. The elongation at break extended from 482% to 557%. Static stress relaxation rate V increased while static stress relaxation ratio R decreased. Furthermore, Tg,s of soft segment moved to the low temperature direction. These results demonstrated how the microstructure-to-properties of PUF could be influenced by side methyl from MDCEs.


When two separate and independent organizations must work together to accomplish a mutual task, difficulties often arise which remain poorly understood. The analysis of intergroup phenomena involves an exploration of interaction within and between groups; such relationships include problems arising from differences in tasks, structure, and culture of the two groups, definition of the intergroup task, choice of group representatives, and the possibilities and problems of dual group membership for the negotiators. While the literatures on group process and organization development contain some work on intergroup phenomena (e.g., Aldrich, 1971; Baker and O'Brien, 1971; Klein et al., 1971; Mills, 1975; Walton, 1972), much conceptual work remains to be done. We will focus upon one type of intergroup relationship--that between a traditional human service organization and a social movement group--in which dual membership is a particular problem, and in which conflict may be neutralized by the form of the negotiations. A case example of an interaction between a mental health center and a women's liberation group will provide one example of such negotiations. The analysis is presented within the framework of the open system model of Miller and Rice (1967) and Ric's general model of intergroup relations (1965, 1969).


In order to verify an inverse design concept for modern compressor bladings, a subsonic compressor front stage with IGV was investigated.One objective of the design was to survey the flow field in detail, with emphasis on 3D viscous and unsteady aspects of the flow. Therefore, the compressor was equipped with various steady and unsteady measurement techniques. Additionally, a compressor design was chosen that allows an extension up to three stages with regard to the investigation of multistage axial compressor flow behavior.Test results of the steady measurements are discussed for IGV, rotor, and stator flow at design conditions as well as the overall stage performance. The measurements of the steady flow behavior confirm the expected design performance and show the high potential of the controlled diffusion airfoil concept. Only at the side walls near hub and casing there are some differences between design and measurement due to the complex three dimensional flow.For the study of unsteady effects, detailed measurements using hot-wire probes, glue-on hot-films, and semiconductor pressure transducers were performed. All measurements are evaluated using the ensemble-average technique. The results show how the boundary layers of the inlet guide vanes and stator blades develop in a flow that is periodically disturbed by the rotor. Time-dependent pressure distributions at midspan of both stators are described. In addition, the unsteady pressure field at the casing above the rotor was investigated. The minimum wall pressure is located away from the blade suction surface. The effects of tip clearance flow on the performance are presented. The radial extent covers 15% span from the tip. At rotor exit, the unsteady pressure field and the time-dependent three-dimensional velocity vectors illustrate the salient features of the viscous flow associated with the rotor.© 1996 ASME


Patients without diabetic retinopathy (DR) represent a large proportion of the caseload seen by the DR screening service so reliable recognition of the absence of DR in digital fundus images (DFIs) is a prime focus of automated DR screening research. We investigate the use of a novel automated DR detection algorithm to assess retinal DFIs for absence of DR. A retrospective, masked, and controlled image-based study was undertaken. 17,850 DFIs of patients from six different countries were assessed for DR by the automated system and by human graders. The system's performance was compared across DFIs from the different countries/racial groups. The sensitivities for detection of DR by the automated system were Kenya 92.8%, Botswana 90.1%, Norway 93.5%, Mongolia 91.3%, China 91.9%, and UK 90.1%. The specificities were Kenya 82.7%, Botswana 83.2%, Norway 81.3%, Mongolia 82.5%, China 83.0%, and UK 79%. There was little variability in the calculated sensitivities and specificities across the six different countries involved in the study. These data suggest the possible scalability of an automated DR detection platform that enables rapid identification of patients without DR across a wide range of races.


Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of death in the United States. The conventional risk factor approach to primary prevention excludes many patients who could benefit from preventive therapies. A global risk approach allows more accurate estimates of risk to guide clinical primary prevention efforts. Global risk of coronary heart disease is a calculation of the absolute risk of having a coronary heart disease event (e.g., death, myocardial infarction) over a specified period. It is based on an empiric equation that combines major risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels. When physicians know a patient's global risk of coronary heart disease, they are more likely to prescribe risk-reducing therapies such as antihypertensives, statins, and aspirin. In addition, patients who know their risk level are more likely to initiate risk-reducing therapies. Many tools are available to estimate global risk, including several Web-based calculators. In the United States, tools based on the Framingham Heart Study are recommended.


This paper presents sliding mode control (SMC) design for a class of nonlinear systems in which the sliding surface is designed to be linear with time varying slope(s). The sliding surface design is based on the frozen-time approach. The nonlinear system is frozen at each operation step resulting in linear time invariant (LTI) model and the sliding surface is designed for the LTI model. The surface slope is updated at each frozen step which gives, in general, a moving sliding surface. The control term, on the other hand, is designed so that the moving sliding surface is reached in a finite time. Therefore sliding mode is achieved and the nonlinear system is restricted to stay on the moving sliding surface. We demonstrate the design methodology developed in this study on an inverted pendulum model. The simulation results show the success of the method.


We agree with Viget et al ( Gut 2008; 57 :549–58) with regard to the importance of preventing and diagnosing opportunistic pathogens in patients with inflammatory bowel disease who are receiving immunomodulatory drugs. We would like to point out another important pathogen worthy of mention, its treatment and prevention by illustration with a 20-year-old woman with Crohn's disease recently treated in our unit. She presented with a 7-day history of worsening diarrhoea, occurring up to 15 occasions per day. Her Crohn's disease was well controlled on azathioprine 125 mg daily. She was apyrexial, dehydrated and tachycardic. Abdominal examination revealed tenderness on deep palpation of the umbilical region but no guarding.

Blood tests revealed a neutrophil leucocytosis but abdominal x ray was unremarkable. Microscopy of a stool sample obtained revealed cysts of Cryptosporidium spp. confirmed as Cryptosporidium parvum by polymerase chain reaction. No other organisms were isolated and culture …


This article examines how a policy oriented toward a specific group within the population can have collateral effects on the economic decisions of other groups. In 1996, the Chilean government approved the extension of the school day from half- to full-day school. This article exploits the quasi-experimental nature of the reform's implementation by time, municipality, and age targeting of the program in order to examine how the maternal labor supply is affected by the childcare subsidy implicit in the lengthening of the school day. Using data from the Chilean socioeconomic household survey and administrative data from the Ministry of Education for 1990-2011, the authors estimate that, on average, there is a 5 percent increase in labor participation and employment rates of single mothers with eligible children (between 8 and 13 years old) with no younger children, who are the group that would be mainly affected by the policy. No significant labor supply responses are detected among others mothers with eligible children.


ackground: Escherichia coli is a frequent cause of urinary tract infections, however, its identity as pathogen in the cervico-vaginal area is required to be ascertained. In addition, source (s) for E.coli colonzing female vagina is needed to be confirmed, whether its fecal contamination or from urinary tract. Aim of the Study: To perform a comparative analysis of the E. coli clinical isolates from vagina versus those from urine in terms of molecular phylogeny, molecular determinants of virulence and antimicrobial susceptibility. Materials and methods: A total of 60 E. coli strains from high vaginal swabs (n=30) and urine (n=30) were analyzed. Identification of phylogenetic groups and detection of adhesive genes were conducted by 2 different multiplex PCR systems. Antibiograms for all isolates were performed by Kirby-Bauer method. Results and Discussion: Majority of vaginal E coli (VEC) isolates were belong to B2 phylogenetic group (n=20, 66.7%), whereas, majority of uro-pathogenic E. coli (UPEC) isolates were distributed between two phylogenetic groups, namely B2 12 (40%) and D 11 (36.7%). Therefore, most of the strains from both vagina and urine are belonging to pathogenic phylogenetic groups; however, they differ in prevalence of the groups. The pap gene has a higher frequency among UPEC (n= 13, 43.3%) than in VEC isolates (n=7, 23.3%). Similarly, sfa gene has a higher frequency in VEC isolates (n= 20, 66.7%) than in UPEC isolates 11 (36.4%). Consequently, adhesion genes playing roles in vaginal colonization may differ from that in urinary tract .VEC strains where highly susceptible to ciprofloxacin (100%) followed by nitrofurantoin (73.3%) and nalidixic acid (70%). Whereas UPEC strains were highly susceptible to nitrofurantoin (100%) followed by nalidixic acid. Thus, it seems that cirpofloxacin is appropriate for empirical therapy in vaginal infections, whereas nitrofurantoin is more appropriate for empirical therapy in UTI. Conclusion: Strains isolated from high vaginal swabs differ from strains isolated from urine in the prevalence of phyelogenetic groups andmolecular determinants of virulence as well as


Organic carbon (OC) burial and greenhouse gas emission of inland waters plays an increasingly evident role in the carbon balance of the continents, and particularly young reservoirs in the tropics emit methane (CH4) at high rates. Here we show that an old, temperate reservoir acts simultaneously as a strong OC sink and CH4 source, because the high sedimentation rate supplies reactive organic matter to deep, anoxic sediment strata, fuelling methanogenesis and gas bubble emission (ebullition) of CH4from the sediment. Damming of the river has resulted in the build‐up of highly methanogenic sediments under a shallow water column, facilitating the transformation of fixed CO2 to atmospheric CH4. Similar high OC burial and CH4 ebullition is expected in other reservoirs and natural river deltas.


Mitochondrial RNA biosynthesis was studied at different time after hydrocortisone administration. Hydrocortisone induced liver mitochondrial RNA biosynthesis in vivo and in isolated organellae 15 min., 1.5 and 4 h after hormone injection. As shown by means of molecular hybridization of RNA-DNA, an increase in liver mitochondrial RNA biosynthesis induced by hydrocortisone administration was due to an increase in the expression of all mitochondrial genes simultaneously rather than to selective enhancement of individual gene transcription. Hydrocortisone changed the biosynthesis and transport of cytoplasmic RNA in the liver of intact rats. The incorporation of 3H-UTP into RNA by isolated liver mitochondria of control and hydrocortisone-treated rats was inhibited by ethidium bromide. RNA biosynthesis in isolated rat liver mitochondria was unchanged in 15-300 min. of 0.9% NaCl administration.


In this paper, we demonstrate that reduction of Hg(II) to Hg0 under anaerobic conditions, followed by volatilization of Hg0 to the atmosphere, might be responsible for the removal of Hg from tropical hydromorphic soils. We conducted a series of kinetic batch experiments in which we added Hg(II) to anoxic suspensions of a soil clay fraction and haematite nanoparticles. The clay fraction came from three depths in a hydromorphic soil by the Leblond River in French Guiana, South America: close to the upper and lower boundaries (30–40 cm and 90–100 cm) and within the central part (60–70 cm) of the frequently water‐saturated clay horizon. We prepared a second set of soil clay fraction suspensions with Fe(III) citrate, whose reduction acted as a source of dissolved Fe(II) to investigate the influence of Fe(II) on the production of Hg0. Reduction of Hg(II) to Hg0 occurred with all samples amended with Fe(III) citrate. Laboratory experiments with haematite suspensions demonstrated that adsorption of Fe(II) to the haematite surface created very reactive sites for the reduction of Hg(II), while in the absence of haematite particles, no production of Hg0 occurred. The greatest production of Hg0 was found for the depth intervals 30–40 cm and 90–100 cm, where the total mercury concentration exhibits a local minimum. The observed pseudo‐first order rate constants for the 90–100 cm depth sample were close to rate constants reported for abiotic reduction of Hg(II) by Fe(II) adsorbed on mineral surfaces. Significant production of Hg0 was found for the 90–100 cm depth interval sample, both with and without Fe(III) citrate. A biotic pathway as well as abiotic reduction by Fe(II) might be involved in the reduction of Hg(II) to Hg0.


Progress towards large format, background limited detector arrays in and around the terahertz
or sub-millimetre region of the electromagnetic spectrum has – until recently – been
hampered by the complexities in fabrication and cryogenic electronic readout associated
with increasing pixel counts. Kinetic inductance detectors or KIDs are a superconducting
pair breaking detector technology designed to overcome these complexities.
Traditionally, KID arrays have been developed for imaging in astronomy. However,
the high sensitivities, broadband responses, fast time constants and high detector counts
that are achievable – along with the simplicity of fabrication and readout compared
to other contemporary technologies – make them suitable (and in fact desirable) for a
variety of applications.
This thesis documents the development of a concept instrument to demonstrate
KID technology for general purpose imaging applications. Specifically, I present the
design, construction and performance of a near background limited, quasi-video rate,
passive imaging system based on arrays of Aluminium lumped-element KIDs. The
camera operates in two atmospheric windows at 150 GHz (2 mm) and 350GHz (850 μm)
with 60 and 152 pixels, respectively. Array fabrication was achieved with a single
photolithographic cycle of thin film deposition, patterning and etching. Full array readout
is with a single cryogenic amplifier and room temperature FPGA based frequency domain
multiplexing electronics.
The camera is the first of its kind in applying KID arrays to imaging systems outside
of pure astrophysics research and is the result of efforts from the staff and students of the
Astronomy Instrumentation Group (AIG) in the School of Physics and Astronomy with
support from QMC Instruments Ltd. The system exemplifies the AIG's world-leading
expertise in the development of far-infrared/sub-mm instrumentation as well as QMCI's
vision to provide the highest quality terahertz optical components and detector systems
to the global marketplace.


Uniform growth of pristine two dimensional (2D) materials over large areas at lower temperatures without sacrifice of their unique physical properties is a critical pre-requisite for seamless integration of next-generation van der Waals heterostructures into functional devices. This Letter describes a vapor phase growth technique for precisely controlled synthesis of continuous, uniform molecular layers of MoS2 on silicon dioxide and highly oriented pyrolitic graphite substrates of over several square centimeters at 350 °C. Synthesis of few-layer MoS2 in this ultra-high vacuum physical vapor deposition process yields materials with key optical and electronic properties identical to exfoliated layers. The films are composed of nano-scale domains with strong chemical binding between domain boundaries, allowing lift-off from the substrate and electronic transport measurements from contacts with separation on the order of centimeters.


In order to address the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signal data rate increase challenge, as well as the GNSS signal data availability in urban environments issue, this paper proposes a new designed GNSS signal. Code-Shift Keying (CSK) modulation has been chosen as an alternative to current Binary PhaseShift Keying (BPSK) since it allows increased data rates and non-coherent demodulation. In addition, the new CSK-modulated signal is protected by a Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) channel code, as in the latest GNSS designed signal, GPS III L1C. Firstly, an asymptotic analysis is done via EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) charts in an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) propagation channel, to show that bitinterleaved iterative decoding for a CSK-modulated signal (consisting in adding a soft feedback between the LDPC decoder and the CSK demodulator) can significantly outperform non-iterative decoding. Based on this analysis, an asymptotic optimization is performed in order to design the optimized LDPC channel code profiles, for a CSK-modulated signal, in an AWGN propagation channel and for iterative decoding. From these results, finite length parity-check matrices have been generated thanks to state of the art algorithms such as the Progressive Edge Growth (PEG) algorithm, and simulation results are presented. Finally, in an AWGN context, the current GPS L1C subframe 2 (used as a benchmark) demodulation performance is compared to the demodulation performance obtained for CSK-modulated signals with 2 bits and 6 bits per CSK symbol, protected by different optimized LDPC channel codes and iteratively decoded. The results show that a CSK-modulated signal iteratively decoded and implementing the LDPC codes optimized in this work, exhibits a decoding gain of 0.6 dB for 2 bits per CSK symbol and of 1.2 dB for 6 bits per CSK symbol with respect to the current GPS L1C subframe 2 LDPC code. The study has been made in an AWGN propagation channel as a first step, but results are really promising for urban propagation channels.


This thesis presents theoretical results for stability and string stability
of formation control architectures for platooning. We consider
three important interconnection topologies for vehicles travelling in a
straight line as a string: leader following, cyclic and bidirectional.
For the leader following topology we discuss modifications that allow
reduced coordination requirements. In the first case we consider
the use of the leader velocity as the state to be broadcast to the followers,
rather than the standard use of the leader position. This selection
yields a formation control architecture that achieves string stability
even under time delays in the state broadcast, while reducing typical
coordination requirements of leader following architectures. For the
second modification we change the way in which the leader position
is sent across the string to every follower. This technique keeps some
of the good transient properties of the standard leader following architecture
but eliminates most of the coordination requirements for
the followers. However, we show that this technique does not provide
string stability when time delays are present in the communication.
The second topology that we discuss is a cyclic one, where the first
member of the platoon is forced to track the last one. We discuss two
strategies: one where the inter-vehicle spacings may follow a constanttime
headway spacing policy and one where an independent leader
broadcasts its position to every member of a cyclic platoon. For both
strategies we obtain closed form expressions for the transfer functions
from disturbances to inter-vehicle spacings. These expressions allow
us to show that if the design parameters are not properly chosen, the
vehicle platoon may become unstable when the string size is greater
than a critical number. On the contrary, if the design parameters are
well chosen, both architectures can be made stable and string stable
for any size of the platoon.
The final topology that we consider is bidirectional, where every
member of the platoon, with the exception of the first and last, use
measurements of the two nearest neighbours to control their position
within the string. Although the derivations are more complex than
in the two previous unidirectional cases, we obtain closed form epressions for the dynamics of the platoon. These expressions are in
the form of simple transfer functions from disturbances to vehicles.
They allow us to obtain stability results for any size of the platoon
and understand the behaviour of the least stable pole location as the
string size increases.
All of the results obtained are illustrated by numerical examples
and ad-hoc simulations.


In order to profound the function of stress wave in vibration turning and present the effectiveness of instant change of stress and strain in the workpiece under the shock load,put forward a simulation model of materials obeying Prandtl-Reuss flow principle with non-linear constitutive relation for vibration turning with low frequency.Related techniques have been stressed on criterion of chip separation from the workpiece, friction between the chip and the rake of the tool. Results of simulation for both conventional and vibratory turning show that the dynamic stress intension factor is 1.45 times or more in vibratory turning than that in conventional turning. It is the stress wave that leads to the accumulation and concentration of stress, the dislocation pile-up, facilitating the chip generation and development.


1954 13075 Moundville Archaeological Park (205) 371-2266 Moundville, AL 35474 Officers: Hunter Johnson (Pres.), 54 Stone Manor Dr. SE, Jacksonville, AL 36265; Linda Derry (Sec'y.), 719 Tremont St., Selma, AL 36701. Membership/Dues: Individuals Life/$500.00; Institutions Annual/ $30.00; Families Annual/$25.00; Students (annual associate) $14.00; Individuals (annual) $20.00; Life Joint $600.00. Publications: Journal of Alabama Archaeology (Biannual), edited by Eugene Futato, 13075 Moundville Archaeological Park, Moundville, AL 35474; Stones and Bones (Bi-monthly Newsletter), edited by McDonald Brooms, Troy University, 40 Eldridge Hall, Troy, AL 36082. Activities: Educational annual programs, bi-annual meetings, field trips, fieldwork, training, scholarships, Summer Field School, Alabama Paleoindian Point Survey. Chapters: Eight active chapters. BIRMINGHAM CHAPTER Bill Fowler 1308 Sumar Road Birmingham, AL 35213 COOSA VALLEY CHAPTER Dr. Philip E. Koerper P.O. Box 3093 Jacksonville, AL 36265 CULLMAN CHAPTER Robbie Camp 3175 Co. Rd. 702 Hanceville, AL 35077 !EAST ALABAMA CHAPTER Gary Mullen 2102 Longwood Drive Auburn, AL 36830-7108 HUNTSVILLE CHAPTER Richard Kilborn 1502 Rice Road SW Hartselle, AL 35640 MUSCLE SHOALS CHAPTER Gerald Hester 900 Spring Cove Road Florence, AL 35634 SOUTH WEST CHAPTER Louis Scott 8813 Dawes Lake Road Mobile, AL 36619 TROY CHAPTER Allison Chamblee Troy, AL 36082


The CadC protein from the cadA cadmium resistance operon of Staphylococcus aureus plasmid pI258 regulates transcription of this system in vitro. The CadC protein was overproduced in Escherichia coli cells and partially purified. Gel shift assays of the proposed cadA operator/promoter region DNA showed specific association with the CadC protein. Control arsenic resistance operator/promoter DNA from the same plasmid was not shifted by the CadC protein. Cd2+, Bi3+, and Pb2+ caused the release of CadC from DNA in gel retardation assays. DNase I footprinting measurements showed that the CadC protein specifically associated with and protected a region of operator/promoter DNA from nucleotide positions -7 to +14 relative to the start point of mRNA synthesis. Runoff transcription assays with the operator/promoter region of DNA (plus the first 69 nucleotides of the cadC gene) and purified E. coli RNA polymerase gave an mRNA product of the predicted size. Added CadC protein inhibited transcription in vitro.


Spacer grid assembly supporting the nuclear fuel rods is an important concern in the design of structural components of a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). The spacer grid is composed by springs and dimples which are formed from a strip sheet by means of blanking and stamping processes. In this paper, the blanking process and tooling parameters are evaluated by means of a 2D plane-strain finite element model in order to evaluate the punch load and quality of the sheared edges of Inconel 718 strips used for nuclear spacer grids. A 3D finite element model is also proposed to predict the tooling loads resulting from the stamping process of a preformed Inconel 718 strip and to analyse the residual stress effects upon the spring and dimple design geometries of a nuclear spacer grid. Keywords—Blanking process, damage model, finite element modelling, Inconel 718, spacer grids, stamping process.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous, non-coding RNAs that mediate post-transcriptional gene silencing by inhibiting mRNA translation and promoting mRNA decay. DICER1, an RNase III endonuclease encoded by Dicer1, is required for processing short 21–22 nucleotide miRNAs from longer double-stranded RNA precursors. Here, we investigate the loss of Dicer1 in mouse postnatal male germ cells to determine how disruptions in the miRNA biogenesis pathway may contribute to infertility. Reduced levels of Dicer1 transcripts and DICER1 were confirmed in germ cell knock-out (GCKO) testes by postnatal day 18 (P18). Compared to wild-type (WT) at 8 weeks, GCKO males had no change in body weight; yet showed significant reductions in testis mass and sperm number. Histology and fertility tests confirmed spermatogenic failure in GCKO males. Array analyses at P18 showed that in comparison to WT testes, 75% of miRNA genes and 37% of protein coding genes were differentially expressed in GCKO testes. Among these, 96% of miRNA genes were significantly down-regulated, while 4% miRNA genes were overexpressed. Interestingly, we observed preferential overexpression of genes encoded on the sex chromosomes in GCKO testes, including more than 80% of previously identified targets of meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI). Compared to WT, GCKO mice showed higher percentages of germ cells at early meiotic stages (leptotene and zygotene) but lower percentages at later stages (pachytene, diplotene and metaphase I) providing evidence that deletion of Dicer1 leads to disruptions in meiotic progression. Therefore, deleting Dicer1 in early postnatal germ cells resulted in deregulation of transcripts encoded by genes on the sex chromosomes, impaired meiotic progression and led to spermatogenic failure and infertility.


An influence of aggregation degree of alumina nanopowder and of radial magnetic pulsed compaction conditions on the powder densification and on the density distribution inside compacts has been investigated experimentally. The usage of radial magnetic pulsed compaction allows to compact alumina nanopowders up to high densities at low degree of aggregation. The compacts homogeneity is attained by appropriate compaction pulse duration and by the usage of powder packing prior to compaction until the condition with high local sound speed is achieved.


It seems clear that the New York Times' online paywall, which debuted in March 2011, was built to allow circumvention by those determined to circumvent it. The paywall is not really a mechanism for enforcing copyright. Rather, it is a mechanism for sorting and price discrimination. More than a year after its launch, to the surprise of many observers, the Times' paywall appears to be a great success. Why was this such a surprise? When people evaluate content and copyright issues, it is common for them to implicitly or explicitly rely on one of two extreme viewpoints about the nature of the content industry: (1) that you can't make money by giving your product away or (2) that any sort of paywall or access restriction to content is doomed to failure because of the unique properties of the world of bits. Both of these viewpoints are wrong. A moderate position is more nearly correct: The purpose of access controls should not be to try to exclude all nonpayers. Rather, the role of access controls should increasingly be to induce those users who are willing to pay for access to do so, and to pay no mind to those users who are willing to invest some effort in circumventing them. Times customers' patronage of content they enjoy is evidence that we don't need the state to promote the progress of science and the useful arts.


Most clustering algorithms need to describe the similarity of objects by a predefined distance function. Three distance functions which are widely used in two traditional clustering algorithms k-means and hierarchical clustering were investigated. Both theoretical analysis and detailed experimental results were given. It is shown that a distance function greatly affects clustering results and can be used to detect the outlier of a cluster by the comparison of such different results and give the shape information of clusters. In practice situation, it is suggested to use different distance function separately, compare the clustering results and pick out the 搒wing points? And such points may leak out more information for data analysts.


There has been an upsurge in tools for measuring resilience of the past decade. Despite this progress, we argue, there are few studies focusing on the spatial quantification of resilience in the context of multiple hazards, particularly in developing countries. Placing a particular emphasis on the contribution of geography to resilience studies, this paper examines the spatial variation of community resilience to disasters in Muzarabani, Zimbabwe. Place‐specific resilience variables are selected from the 2012 national census report to develop a disaster resilience index for Muzarabani district. A principal component analysis technique was used to analyse the overall and subcomponents of resilience to identify wards that needed policy intervention. Using the Geographical Information Systems tool to model the spatial variation of community resilience and its subcomponents, we found a geographic variation in community resilience across Muzarabani district, with the majority of the wards scoring low to below low levels of overall resilience. Although we view this study as being complementary to qualitative studies, it would appear quantifying and visualising resilience provide possible explanations and actions required for decision‐makers to address the resilience gaps and disaster risk reduction broadly.


By launching a modulated Raman pump along with a soliton, we can reduce the random walk of solitons caused by the amplifier noise. The pump injected at one amplifier is filtered out at the next amplifier position. The group-velocity mismatch plays the role of a sliding frequency under properly chosen parameter space.


Handwriting originates from a particular copybook style such as Palmer or Zaner-Bloser that one learns in childhood. Since questioned document examination plays an important investigative and forensic role in many types of crime, it is important to develop a system that helps objectively identify a questioned document's handwriting style. Here, we propose a computer vision system that can assist a document examiner in the identification of a writer's handwriting style and therefore the origin or nationality of an unknown writer of a questioned document. We collected 33 Roman alphabet copybook styles from 18 countries. Each character in a questioned document is segmented and matched against all of the 33 handwriting copybook styles. The more characters present in the questioned document, the higher the accuracy observed.


The concept of semi-sovereignty, a now obsolete category of international entities possessing limited sovereignty, remains hazily understood. However, the historical examination of how semi-sovereignty was defined and practised during the long nineteenth century can provide insights on the interplay between authority and control within the hierarchies of international relations. This paper examines one specific type of semi-sovereignty—namely, suzerainty—which is often used to describe China's traditional authority in Tibet and Mongolia. By examining the events that led to the acceptance of suzerainty as the legal framing for the China-Tibet and China-Mongolia relationships, I argue that suzerainty was a deliberately vague concept that could be used to create liminal international legal spaces to the advantage of Western states, and to mediate between competing claims of political authority. Finally, I point to the importance of semi-sovereignty as an arena of legal contestation between the Western and non-Western members of the "Family of Nations".


Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) has replaced oil-paper insulated systems as the primary solution for medium and high voltage AC cables decades ago, since they enable marginally higher operating temperatures and can be produced with high throughput and well-controlled extrusion technology [1]. The base for this insulation is polyethylene (PE), which can be crosslinked either with peroxide cure (involving thermal decomposition), or by grafting silane onto the polymer chains, and the use of moisture-based cure [2]. Cross-linking is deemed necessary, since commercially available, branched low-density PE (LDPE) has more significant melting at temperatures around 100°C and the material loses all of its mechanical stability. In contrast, linear high-density PE (HDPE) has a higher melting point and can achieve higher operating temperatures. But, although HDPE found some success in medium voltage cables, it has not managed to establish a foothold in the high voltage (HV) cable sector [3]. After decades of research, conventional XLPE is at the limit of its capabilities, as outlined below, and further development is bound to have diminishing returns. Further, the costs of large extrusion and catenary cross-linking manufacturing facilities and the costs and time of degassing larger cross-section HV and extrahigh voltage cables present significant sustainability issues for cable manufacturers.


Author(s): Bolden, Khalima Alicia | Advisor(s): Brown, Gregory G | Abstract: The neural substrate of interactions of working memory (WM) with socio-emotional processing is poorly understood in schizophrenia. This study builds on published papers using a delayed match to sample design to study the interaction of WM load with type of distracter (socially relevant faces vs. socially irrelevant geometric designs [FvG]) presented briefly during the WM maintenance period. Based on previously published findings, we hypothesize: (1) The FvG difference in brain activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the task maintenance period will be largest at the highest WM load. (2) Among schizophrenia/ schizoaffective patients and healthy controls the magnitude of the face vs. geometric design (FvG) contrast in brain activity in the amygdala during the task maintenance period will follow a quadratic pattern across WM load when averaged over face type. (3) Among schizophrenia patients, the magnitude of the FvG contrast in brain activity in the amygdala and DLPFC at the greatest WM load will be correlated with negative symptoms. Individuals between the ages of 18-55 diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (N = 12) and non-psychiatric controls (N = 20) matched with the patients on age, gender, paternal education and paternal socioeconomic status underwent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). To assess the effect of implicit socioemotional modulation on brain activity during WM, the effect of facial distraction on brain activation was assessed for WM of pseudowords at three syllable loads (1, 2, and 3) across several face valence types and contrasted with the effect of a geometric distracter. Results: Although patients performed significantly above chance, they were less accurate than controls with no difference in response latency. When the FvG contrast was tested for response latency, we observed a significant quadratic effect of WM load in healthy controls (F[1,19] = 6.108, p = .023, η2 = .24) but a linear effect among patients (F[1,10] = 4.012, p = .073, η2 = .29). Similar patterns were found for response accuracy but were not statistically significant. With regard to neural activity, we found a significant bilateral linear trend of percent signal change on WM load for the FvG contrast in the DLPFC (F[1,19] = 5.818, p = .026, MSE = .077, η2 = .23). among controls, with brain activation to faces greater than activation to designs only at the highest WM load. In the amygdala we observed a significant bilateral quadratic effect of percent signal change on WM load for the FvG contrast in the control group (F[1,19] = 10.423, p = .004, MSE = .121, η2 = .35). We observed a significant difference in neural activation patterns in patients compared to controls in the DLPFC and the amygdala. Specifically, in patients, we observed a quadratic instead of a linear trend in the DLPFC but only in the right hemisphere (hemisphere x quadratic: F[1,11] = 9.362, p = .011, η2 = .40). In the amygdala, the patients displayed a quadratic trend also only in the right hemisphere, (hemisphere x quadratic: F[1,11] = 10.442 p = .008, η2 = .49). In neither controls nor patients did individual differences in the quadratic effect of brain activity in the amygdala correlate with the quadratic effect in response time or accuracy. Although the correlation between the magnitude of the quadratic trend in the right amygdala at the highest WM load with general psychopathology was moderately large in patients, neither this effect nor any other brain activation effects were significantly correlated with psychopathology. Confirming hypothesis one, controls showed the largest difference in brain activity of the FvG contrast in the DLPFC during the maintenance period at the highest WM load. However, in patients we saw significantly decreased percent signal change in DLPFC at the highest WM load on the FvG contrast in the maintenance period. For hypothesis two we observed a quadratic pattern of WM load on the FvG contrast in the maintenance period for both controls and patients, although this effect was only present in the right hemisphere of patients. Furthermore, contrary to hypothesis 3 we did not observe significant correlations between symptom severity and the magnitude of the FvG contrast in brain activity in the amygdala and DLPFC at the greatest WM load. These results suggest a separate process of social-discrimination is taking place in controls. However, this process appears to be impaired in individuals with schizophrenia. This disruption may be due to poor integration of different brain areas and interhemispheric communication.


Computational scientists are grappling with increasingly complex, multi-rate applications that couple such physical phenomena as fluid dynamics, electromagnetics, radiation transport, chemical and nuclear reactions, and wave and material propagation in inhomogeneous media. Parallel computers with large storage capacities are paving the way for high-resolution simulations of coupled problems; however, hardware improvements alone will not prove enough to enable simulations based on brute-force algorithmic approaches. To accurately capture nonlinear couplings between dynamically relevant phenomena, often while stepping over rapid adjustments to quasi-equilibria, simulation scientists are increasingly turning to implicit formulations that require a discrete nonlinear system to be solved for each time step or steady state solution. Recent advances in iterative methods have made fully implicit formulations a viable option for solution of these large-scale problems. In this paper, we overview one of the most effective iterative methods, Newton-Krylov, for nonlinear systems and point to software packages with its implementation. We illustrate the method with an example from magnetically confined plasma fusion and briefly survey other areas in which implicit methods have bestowed important advantages, such as allowing high-order temporal integration and providing a pathway to sensitivity analyses and optimization. Lastly, we overview algorithm extensions under development motivated by current SciDAC applications.


The paper analyzes the efficiency of multimodal neuromonitoring (transcranial ultrasound Doppler study, cerebral oximetry, and electroencephalography) for the early intraoperative diagnosis of cerebral ischemia in patients during carotid reparative interventions. On the basis of the findings, the authors have developed a diagnostic algorithm of cerebral ischemia in this group of patients at surgery. Its basis is Doppler monitoring; the data of cerebral oximetry and EEG are taken into account with the borderline values of linear blood flow velocity. The diagnosis of cerebral ischemia during operation on the carotids is a direct indication for the usage of a temporary intraluminal shunt. During carotid reconstructive interventions made under general anesthesia, the application of multimodal neuromonitoring is a valid approach and it should make the most use.


A phenomenological approach to disability was utilised examining the ethical consideration attached to "quality of life" present within the UK Churches emplaced disability narratives captured from local and national leaders alongside specialists interests in disability. These acknowledged the significance of the human body's materiality. Ethical depictions of people living with impairments heralded from a utilitarian perspective, dominantly ableist. The disabled community was considered detached from humanity, their lives assumed to be "difficult" and "worthless" inhibiting their full spiritual potential and in some instances advocated for some lives to be terminated. These essentialist assumptions cast disabled people as the "other" and related socio-symbolic dialogues were diminished. Many felt the disabled communities were outside Churches' core concerns. An alternative minority perspective the "pluralist (relational)" argument challenged institutional ableism. The plurality of humanity was acknowledged, diverse ways of engagement explored, positive values attached to people living with impairments testimonies and lifestyles. Encouragement was given to building interdependent communities, developing friendships and embedding a sense of belonging. Analytically these "ethical" perspectives shaped the churches moral codes; observed to create tensions where discrimination is present, practiced, experienced, justified and/or challenged. Leaving the question "Do we see disabled people as God sees them?"


The proliferation of participatory sport events is attracting scholarly attention, with extant research primarily focusing on profiling participants, and understanding participants' experiences. The experiences and perspectives of those who travel to participatory sport events to support competing athletes, the 'non-participating entourage' (NPE), have largely been overlooked. This stakeholder group is arguably under-recognised by those staging participatory sport events. The purpose of this study was to explore NPE experiences at participatory sport events, adopting a phenomenological approach and employing stakeholder theory as an interpretive lens. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 NPE of amateur athletes in Australia. Findings highlighted that NPE provide emotional and logistical support to their athlete at events. However, while providing support, NPE also experienced positive and negative emotions arising from contextual factors including their relationship to the athlete, group composition, athlete performance, and event design and conditions. This research highlights a vexed, though crucial stakeholder relationship between NPE and event management organisations, requiring unique stakeholder management strategies.


Git is a widely used version control system that is powerful but complicated. Its complexity may not be an inevitable consequence of its power but rather evidence of flaws in its design. To explore this hypothesis, we analyzed the design of Git using a theory that identifies concepts, purposes, and misfits. Some well-known difficulties with Git are described, and explained as misfits in which underlying concepts fail to meet their intended purpose. Based on this analysis, we designed a reworking of Git (called Gitless) that attempts to remedy these flaws. To correlate misfits with issues reported by users, we conducted a study of Stack Overflow questions. And to determine whether users experienced fewer complications using Gitless in place of Git, we conducted a small user study. Results suggest our approach can be profitable in identifying, analyzing, and fixing design problems.


ABSTRACT Social media and the resulting tidal wave of the available data have changed the ways and methods researchers analyze communities at scale. But the full potential for social scientists (and others) is not yet achieved. Despite the popularity of social media analysis in the past decade, few researchers invest in cross-platform analyses. This is a major oversight as a majority of online social media users have multiple social media accounts. Missing are the models and tools necessary to undertake analysis at scale across multiple platforms. Especially promising in support of cross-platform analysis is the mixed-method approach (e.g., qualitative and quantitative methods) in order to better understand how users and society interact online. This special issue "Following User Pathways" addresses methodological, analytical, conceptual, and technological challenges and opportunities of cross-platform analysis in social media ecosystems.


Because of the disconnection between the Logistics services trading platform and the EDI customs clearance system, the logistics clearance data needed to be gathered manually, and the efficiency of customs clearance was rather low. In view of this problem, a logistics data exchange method based on the XML technology was proposed, which firstly achieved the batch extraction and conversion of the logistics clearance data that came from the Logistics services trading platform. Then, the data was transferred to the customs broker. Finally, the data was parsed by deserialization and submitted to the EDI customs clearance system automatically. The logistics data exchange method achieved the connection between the logistics services trading platform and the EDI customs clearance system, and raised the efficiency of customs clearance.


There is continued debate about the changing and varied nature of first year courses in American higher education institutions. Therefore more current research is needed to inform faculty and institutions as to the important areas of focus for teaching and learning in first year courses. This study is one possible approach to easily determine student "gains" as described by measured improvements in the selected areas. The purpose of this paper was to examine the observed gains of first year experience course students as measured by the College Student Success Factor Index (CSFI). The CSFI pretest and posttest was administered in the summer 2013 and summer 2014 semesters. The ten success indices of the CSFI were measured and gains were observed. The summer 2013 course taught as it had always been taught without focus on targeted factors of success. A curricular intervention was introduced into the summer 2014 course that includes the ten indices in the course learning assignments and outcomes. Possible differences or "gains" in learning will be described and includes implications for first year teaching and program design in colleges and universities.


This paper presents a novel adaptive cruise control (ACC) strategy that utilizes a command governor (CG) to enforce vehicle following constraints. The CG formulation relies on knowledge of the maximum possible braking deceleration of the lead vehicle and a tunable assumption regarding the lead vehicle velocity profile (offering different levels of conservatism) to modify wheel torque commands to ensure safe following. In particular, a safe following distance is defined as one in which the ego vehicle can avoid collision with the lead vehicle and maintain a sufficient following distance in the event that the lead vehicle exerts maximum braking deceleration. The CG seeks to adjust the wheel torque command such that the aforementioned constraint is satisfied at every step in a prediction horizon (i.e., at every step, if the lead vehicle exerts maximum braking deceleration, the ego vehicle can brake and remain outside of the aforementioned buffer zone), which requires an estimate of future lead vehicle behavior. In this work, we explore different levels of conservatism with regard to this assumption. Simulations are presented for a heavy-duty truck, using a stochastic lead vehicle model that has been calibrated with actual traffic data. Even for the most conservative lead vehicle prediction models, results show that this CG-based ACC strategy can reduce braking energy expended (used as a surrogate for fuel wasted) by up to 78%, while improving drivability and reducing total trip time.


ABSTRACT. Currently, the world is facing a severe pandemic caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Although the WHO has recommended preventive measures to limit its spread, Brazil has neglected most of these recommendations, and consequently, our country has the second largest number of deaths from COVID-19 worldwide. In addition, recent studies have shown the relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and the risk of severe COVID-19 infection. Herein, we aimed to assess the spatiotemporal distribution of mortality and lethality rates of COVID-19 in a region of high social vulnerability in Brazil (Northeast region) during the first year of the pandemic. A segmented log-linear regression model was applied to assess temporal trends of mortality and case fatality rate (CFR) and according to the social vulnerability index (SVI). The Local Empirical Bayesian Estimator and Global Moran Index were used for spatial analysis. We conducted a retrospective space–time scan to map clusters at high risk of death from COVID-19. A total of 66,358 COVID-19–related deaths were reported during this period. The mortality rate was 116.2/100,000 inhabitants, and the CFR was 2.3%. Nevertheless, CFR was > 7.5% in 27 municipalities (1.5%). We observed an increasing trend of deaths in this region (AMCP = 18.2; P = 0.001). Also, increasing trends were observed in municipalities with high (N = 859) and very high SVI (N = 587). We identified two significant spatiotemporal clusters of deaths by COVID-19 in this Brazilian region (P = 0.001), and most high-risk municipalities were on the coastal strip of the region. Taken together, our analyses demonstrate that the pandemic has been responsible for several deaths in Northeast Brazil, with clusters at high risk of mortality mainly in municipalities on the coastline and those with high SVI.


: A female infant with combined immune deficiency syndrome exhibited graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR) clinically during the nine weeks of her life. Pathologically, the first clue for GVHR was the lymphohistiocytic dermal and epidermal infiltrate with single cell necrobiosis seen on a skin biopsy specimen at 6 weeks of age. Two days before death, she received irradiated (3,500 rads) whole blood and plasma with specific antibodies against mother's lymphocytes, which was the first introduction of an allogenic hematopoietic substance. This suggests that the GVHR, which was confirmed at autopsy, occurred as the result of maternofetal cell transfer in utero or at time of delivery.


It is generally believed that the American model is not suitable for Europe, yet North America is the only large and working competitive gas market in the world. The paper shows how its model could be adapted as a target for market design within the European institutional framework. It starts from analysis of the main peculiar economic features of the gas transportation industry, which should underpin any efficient model. After the Third Package is properly implemented the EU will share several building blocks of the American model: effective unbundling of transportation and supply; regulated tariffs which, for long distance transportation, are in fact largely related to capacity and distance; investments based mostly on industry's initiative and resources, and the related decisions are increasingly made after open and public processes. Yet Europe needs to harmonize tariff regulation criteria, which could be achieved through a monitoring process. National separation of main investment decisions should be overcome, possibly by organising a common platform where market forces and public authorities interact with private suppliers to require existing and develop new capacity, whereas industry competitively offers its solutions. Such platform would allow for long term capacity reservation, subject to caps and congestion management provisions. Auctions and possibly market coupling would play an important role in the allocation of short term capacity but a limited one in long term. Market architecture and the organisation of hubs would also be developed mostly by market forces under regulatory oversight. The continental nature of the market suggests a likely concentration of trading in a very limited number of main markets, whereas minor markets would have a limited role and would be connected to major ones, with price differences reflecting transportation costs and market conditions. Excessive interference or pursuit of political goals in less than transparent ways involves the risk of slower liquidity development and higher market fragmentation. With this view as a background, regulatory work aimed at completing the European market should be based on ensuring the viability of interconnections between current markets and on the establishment of common platforms and co-ordinated tariff systems, fostering the conditions for upstream and transportation capacity development.


The Sirius Group comprises a suite of consolidated glacial deposits that are widespread in the Transantarctic Mountains; some of the deposits contain Pliocene marine diatoms. Because of the interpretation that the Sirius Group tills and the marine diatoms were deposited by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, it has been inferred that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was much reduced in area and volume during the Pliocene. These interpretations were evaluated by studying Sirius Group lodgment tills on Mount Fleming in the Dry Valleys sector of the Transantarctic Mountains. We infer that the Sirius Group lodgment tills at Mount Fleming do not support the hypothesis that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was much reduced during the Pliocene. We demonstrate that Sirius Group lodgment tills on Mount Fleming were deposited by alpine ice. This conclusion is founded on ice-flow directions inferred from rattails, gravel fabric, and the orientation of bullet boulders, as well as on sediment and gravel characteristics of the tills. Only a very few unidentifiable diatom fragments were recovered. Better preserved, identifiable, Pliocene marine diatoms occur in moderate abundances in a 5–10-cm-thick unconsolidated and discontinuous drift that caps the lodgment tills. On the basis of the decline in diatom preservation with depth into the till, we dismiss transport of the better preserved diatoms by the ice that deposited the underlying Sirius Group lodgment till. Instead, we attribute diatom presence to eolian deposition and recycling into lodgment tills at a later stage.


The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones, has in recent years seen explosive growth due to lower costs and technology advances in mobile computing, batteries, sensors, and control systems. Drones are now used in a multitude of applications, from natural resource exploration, the film and entertainment industry, to urban surveillance, and defense. The image processing demands of these applications requires higher powered computing capabilities than those available locally to the drone, prompting the offloading of these tasks to the cloud. However, the latency requirements of the cloud are beyond those acceptable for many applications. This paper proposed the use of a server on the network edge to optimize both processing capability as well as latency for applications requiring real-time communication between a drone and a cloud server. We propose to test the limits of this model by implementing a system for real-time tracking of golf drives on a golf course.


As the keystone of marketing, the market is both the expression of the needs of consumers and the actions of companies. But, how to analyze a market, how to detect its opportunities and threats? Only the perfect knowledge of the latter makes it possible to develop relevant strategies and better define their implementation. Designed from a managerial perspective, this book aims to provide the reader with a clear vision of the marketing analyst's approach as well as solid and rigorous achievements to carry out a market analysis and understand the issues. This book, supported by a large number of examples, proposes a constructed, pedagogical and comprehensive analysis approach. The new edition, in addition to numerous updated and recent examples, presents five new real case studies. The reader is projected in a quasi-professional situation and invited to reflect on the strategic and operational choices of companies operating in very different sectors of activity. In addition, the co-founder of Oskab, a company specializing in home furnishings, testifies to his approach to analysis and the importance of a good knowledge of his market.


This paper reviews the results achieved in murine and primate models of autoimmune disease and transplantation. These studies have attempted to clarify the nature and specificity of the response induced by reinfusion of phototreated immunoactive lymphocytes. Results obtained in murine lupus have demonstrated that some of the disease features related to the abnormal proliferation of inducer T cells can be inhibited both prophylactically and therapeutically by exposure to photoinactivated autoimmune splenocytes. Radiolabeling studies performed in normal syngeneic mice have shown that, if immunoactive cells are phototreated and injected, their recirculation pattern is altered, and increased sequestration in the spleen, bone marrow, and kidney is noted. These studies suggest that reinfused, phototreated, antigen-activated lymphocytes may localize in sites where they are available for induction of immune responses. Primate cardiac xenotransplantation models have demonstrated that reinfusion of phototreated autologous leukocytes, administered with cyclosporine A and steroids, mediates enhanced specific suppression of both the cellular and humoral host response to foreign tissue. Taken as a whole, the experimental models suggest that photopheresis may provide a means of inducing specific suppression of immunoactive T cells. This form of therapy may have a role as an immunosuppressive agent in both autoimmune disease and transplantation.


Body weights, blood glucose concentration, and therapeutic and clinical data were summarized by computer for each patient visit to our diabetes clinic between 1965 and 1970. Homeostasis of body weight was examined by plotting regression of body weight on time for patients making five or more visits to the clinic during the study period. A similar analysis was made of blood glucose values. Data from 131 patients treated with oral agents or by dietary regulation alone and forty-one patients treated with insulin were analyzed. Precision of regulation was assessed by calculating the coefficient of variation of body weight while the trend of body weight was assessed by calculating the slope of the linear regression equation relating body weight and time. In both treatment groups the individual slopes for body weight clustered closely around zero and the mean slopes did not differ significantly from zero. The coefficient of variation of body weight was also small, averaging 4.6 and 3.7 per cent of body weight in the oral agent and insulin treatment groups respectively. In contrast, blood glucose fluctuated widely in the two groups. Mean slopes for glucose versus time did not differ significantly from zero, however. The remarkable stability of body weight in this diabetic population despite widely varying modes of therapy, glucose concentrations, and degrees of body adiposity suggests that signals controlling long-term feeding behavior are either not related to these variables or, more likely, are multiple and sufficiently redundant to permit adaptation to perturbations of several metabolic variables.


SME sector is considered to be an engine growth for the India due to its contribution in income generation, GDP growth, and export of the products, which is very helpful in inclusive and sustainable growth of India. Small scale and cottage industry differs from large scales industry in terms of products, price, distribution and marketing of the product. The popularity of small scales and cottage industry is growing at a very high pace in India even through the current economic downturn. The opportunity to develop in this field is very high compared to large scale and has humongous opportunity to grow bigger and better in the future. This paper would look into the aspects of cottage industry*s contribution towards growth and employment resulting in economic development in India. The objective of the study is to understand, how to market small scales and cottage industry's products in India. In this field, while technological knowledge is a need, the skills are must, which is designed to remove the poverty and backwardness of the rural people . It is very important for the government to take a big Keywords: SME, Cottage Industry, Marketing, Branding, Employment, Growth. decision to provide financial support for SME . In this paper, the focus is on understanding marketing practices of the products from these industries and how they build their brand with the compared to large scale industry.


Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) as well as upper-abdominal ultrasonography were performed on 134 patients. Organ structure was optimally demonstrated by ultrasonography in 94 patients (70.2%) and partially in 29 (21.6%) Comparing the diagnostic assessment in 62 patients who had undergone 73 tests and had subsequently been operated on (57) or examined post-mortem (5) there was a statistically significant advantage of ERCP in diseases in which the choledochal duct had been involved. The method was successful in 95% of cases of choledocholithiasis (20 cases) compared with 45% by ultrasound and in 85% of cases of gall-bladder carcinoma which also involved the choledochal duct (38% by ultrasound). In clinically manifest carcinoma of the head of the pancreas (9 cases) and cholecystolithiasis (19 cases) ultrasonography provided the correct diagnosis in 89%, while the results for ERCP were 56% and 74%, respectively.


Stability constant of metal complexes of pyrimidine and sulphonamides drugs were determined using spectrophotometric method. Stability constants of the complexes were determined at 25o C. Ionic strength was maintained constant using 0.1M KNO3. .Stoichometry of the complexes by Job' s method showed that metal-drug ratio is 1 : 2. For the metal salts, the order of stability constant (β) was found to be Cu (II) > Fe (III) > Ni (II) > Co (II) > Zn (II) in accordance with lrving- Williams series. The overall stability constants (β) were found to be log 10.68, 5.5 and 4.8 for trimethoprim, sulphadiazine and sulphadimidine, respectively. The order of stability constant follows this trend: Trimethoprim > Sulphadiazine > Sulphadimidine. The stability constant data revealed that this ligand may be used as antidote or chelating agent for medical treatment of metals overload or poisoning.


Abstract In an increasingly specialized industry with strong demands from end users, product quality plays a key role in industrial manufacturing, where the quality impact highly depends on the final product and its application. An important parameter for quality control is the surface finish of objects, essential for determining their technical suitability. Therefore, measuring the surface levelness can be critical to ensure that the finished material meets the design specifications. In this work, we propose an effective yet low-cost solution using out-of-the-shelf components, which is based on the structured light principle for depth/3D measurements (line laser). By means of laser triangulation, this solution can provide rapid and accurate levelness measurements both in 1D profiles and 2D maps for a relatively wide range of sizes, materials and other conditions. The experimental evaluations show a satisfactory performance with a great trade-off between accuracy and cost, becoming not only a rapid but a cheap solution, making it ideal for quick inspections in diverse environments.


The current coronavirus pandemic is a serious public health emergency and has led to widespread damage globally. Although there are many coronaviruses, the particular that is responsible for this pandemic is the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).It has incubation period of around 2 to 7 days and most symptomatic patients can have fever, malaise, cough, or loss of taste or smell, with some cases developing into life threatening pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome with case fatality rates range from 1% to 2%. Pregnancy is considered as a vulnerable group for any infection and knowledge regarding the possible risk of vertical transmission of this virus is very limited but is important for counseling regarding COVID-19 related pregnancy risks and for further management. COVID 19 infection in mothers basically leads to hypoxia, inflammatory response & cytokine storm. It appears around 10% of SARS- Cov-2 infected pregnant women require hospitalization with respiratory support    COVID-19 can infect the placenta as confirmed by the presence of SARSCoV- 2 viral RNA in the placenta and evidence of virions found within the syncytiotrophoblast. The possible neonatal outcomes are increased risk of


We evaluate the influence of the thermally assisted tunneling (TAT) mechanism on charge trapping memory (CTM) cell performance by numerical simulation, and comprehensively analyse the effects of the temperature, trap depth, distribution of trapped charge, gate voltage and parameters of TAT on erasing/programming speed and retention performance. TAT is an indispensable mechanism in CTM that can increase the detrapping probability of trapped charge. Our results reveal that the TAT effect causes the sensitivity of cell performance to temperature and it could affect the operational speed, especially for the erasing operation. The results show that the retention performance degrades compared with when the TAT mechanism is ignored.


If $T_1$ and $T_2$ are continuous linear maps on locally convex spaces, we prove that $T_1\otimes T_2$ is almost $r$-summing if and only $T_1$ and $T_2$ so are. We also obtain a sufficient condition under which the unique extension of $T_1\otimes T_2$ to the complete $\epsilon$-tensor product is almost $r$-summing. \newline 1980 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary 46E40. Secondary 47B10.