Physical abuse of infants at the hand of a parent or carer is a significant and growing issue worldwide. In particular, rib fractures in the absence of major accidental trauma are highly specific for physical abuse. Despite the serious implications of physical abuse in infants, definitive knowledge regarding the hierarchical structure of the immature rib and how this influences the mechanical failure is lacking. Moreover, the diagnosis of physical abuse is often disputed in a legal setting, and as a consequence there is a need to model such injuries ex vivo in order to characterise the forces required to inflict rib fractures. In this study, a novel method of producing fractures in immature ribs, having established porcine ribs as the most suitable alternative to infant human ribs, was developed and utilised for assessing the mechanical behaviour and fracture properties of immature ribs. Multiscale, correlative imaging using microscale X-ray-CT (micro-CT), histology and atomic force microscopy (AFM) was performed to investigate the hierarchical structure and the toughening mechanisms that occur during the fracture of immature ribs at multiple length scales. Porcine and human infant ribs were shown to share a number of macro- and micro-structural features, including comparable amounts of woven and lamellar bone. A method of inducing fractures in porcine ribs was developed. Individual ribs (n=96) were loaded in axial compression at a range of loading rates (1, 30, 60 and 90 mm/s) in order to assess the mechanical performance of the ribs. Incomplete fractures around the midpoint of the rib were typically produced (87%), with higher loads and less deformation required for ribs to fracture completely. Loading rate, within this range, did not have a significant influence on the mechanical performance of the ribs. Load?displacement curves displaying characteristic and quantifiable features were produced for 90% of the ribs tested, and multiple regression analyses indicated that, in addition to the geometrical variables, there were other factors such as the micro-and nano-structure of the bone that influenced the measured mechanical data.Following this, correlative, multi-scale imaging techniques were employed in combination with mechanical loading of individual ribs in order to identify structural mechanisms that occur during the process of failure through the length scales. Micro-CT demonstrated the general appearance and location of the fracture in three-dimensions, highlighting the difference in porosity of the outer and inner rib cortices. Histology provided evidence of a number of fracture toughening mechanisms such as osteon crack deflection and crack bridging of microcracks, in addition to the influence of the heterogeneous distribution of woven and lamellar bone on the fracture path. AFM of demineralised, paraffin-embedded sections revealed no significant difference in the periodicity of woven and lamellar regions, nor in regions adjacent to microcracks. The results of the large-scale loading study indicated that the histological appearance and the type of the fracture may be indicative of the amount of load and deformation required to induce fractures. Moreover, the identification of fracture toughening mechanisms suggests that the intrinsic structure of the developing bone will influence the amount of load required to cause the propagation of a catastrophic fracture. Addressing the clinical context, the study has shed light on the link between structure and mechanical failure of immature ribs, suggesting a vital role for the multi-scale structural elements in determining the amount of force required to fracture.


This thesis project analyzes the Pamela Harris Spence Bay Collection, held at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). It is comprised of photographic work produced by Harris while in the Inuit community of Spence Bay, in 1972 and 1973, as well as photographs and documents pertaining to the community darkroom Harris initiated. Harris's photographs capture an Inuit community in transition, encompassing both Northern and Southern ways of being, and analyzed within the historical context of photographic representation of Indigenous communities. The community darkroom is examined through a feminist pedagogical framework, and illustrates how community members utilized photography as a tool of empowerment. This project is analyzed within the political and social contexts of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and explores the themes of community engagement, the politics of representation, and empowerment, and argues that Harris's social consciousness contributed to a shift in Indigenous visual discourse.


Investors, Policy makers, Governments etc. are all consumers of exchange rates data and thus exchange rate volatility is of great interest to them. Modeling foreign exchange (FOREX) rates is one of the most challenging research areas in modern time series prediction. Neural Network (NNs) are an alternative powerful data modeling  tool that has ability to capture and represent complex input/output relationships.
This study describes application of neural networks in modeling of the Kenyan currency (KES) exchange rates volatility against four foreign currencies namely; USA dollar (USD), European currency (EUR), Great Britain Pound (GBP) and Japanese Yen (JPY) foreign currencies. The general objective of the proposed study is to model the Kenyan exchange rate volatility and confirm applicability of neural network model in the forecasting of foreign exchange rates volatility. In our case the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural networks with back-propagation learning algorithm will be employed. The specific objectives of the study is to build the neural network for the Kenyan exchange rate volatility and examine the properties of the network, finally to forecast the volatility against four other major currencies. The proposed study will use secondary data of the mean daily exchange rates between the major currencies quoted against the Kenyan shilling. The data will be acquired from the central bank of Kenya's (CBK) website collected for ten years of trading period between the years 2005 to 2017. The data will be analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, with the aid of R's neuralnet package. A number of performance metrics will be employed to evaluate the model. Conclusion and recommendations will be made at the end of the study.


PURPOSE
This paper aims to explore the role of facial expression in pediatric pain assessment. A comparison of tools employing facial expression methodology is presented. The concept of the primal face of pain (PFP) is introduced.

CONCLUSION
The PFP offers an explanation to the utility and deficiency of facial pain scales and facial expression in pain assessment.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
The complexities of pain measurement should preclude the clinical application of untested instruments. For reported tools, a careful evaluation of the psychometric properties and the clinical context must precede application. The concept of the PFP warns against the application of facial pain scales as proxy measures in their intended population. Reliance on facial expression to assess pain in the school-age child is imprecise.


Chromium consists of four stable isotopes (50Cr, 52Cr, 53Cr and 54Cr) with natural abundances of 4.35%, 83.79%, 9.50% and 2.36%, respectively (Rossman and Taylor 1998). Among these four isotopes, 50Cr, 52Cr and 54Cr are non-radiogenic, whereas 53Cr is a radiogenic product of the extinct nuclide 53Mn, which has a half-life of 3.7 Myr (Honda and Imamura 1971). Chromium isotope systems have a wide range of applications in geochemistry and cosmochemistry. They have been used to study early solar system processes (e.g., Rotaru et al. 1992); the oxidation/reduction (redox) potential of underground systems, which governs the transport and fate of many contaminants (e.g., Ellis et al. 2002); and more recently, the redox evolution of Earth's early ocean-atmosphere system, which is intimately linked to the evolution of life (Frei et al. 2009; Crowe et al. 2013; Planavsky et al. 2014; Cole et al. 2016).

### Chemical properties of Cr

Chromium is redox-sensitive. In Earth's near-surface environments, Cr has two main valence states, +3 and + 6, which are expressed as Cr(III) and Cr(VI), respectively. The valence state of Cr is controlled by the prevailing redox potential (Eh) and pH conditions (Fig. 1). Cr(VI) is always bound with O2− to form the oxyanion species CrO42− (chromate), HCrO4− (bichromate), and Cr2O72−(dichromate), all of which are water-soluble. In contrast, Cr3+ usually forms oxyhydroxides or oxides, which are insoluble and immobile in the natural pH range. During oxidative weathering, Cr(III) in minerals can be oxidized by O2 to Cr(VI), a process that is catalyzed by manganese oxides (Fendorf and Zasoski 1992; Economou-Eliopoulos et al. 2014). The Cr(VI) migrates to rivers and eventually to the ocean. In the modern ocean, Cr occurs as both Cr(VI) and …


OBJECTIVE
Major depression is a frequent and disabling psychiatric disorder in the United States. This report examines the prevalence and risk factor profile of both pure and comorbid major depression according to data from the National Comorbidity Survey.

METHOD
To estimate the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity in the United States, a national sample of 8,098 persons 15-54 years of age from the 48 conterminous states was surveyed with a modified version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

RESULTS
From the survey data the prevalence of current (30-day) major depression was estimated to be 4.9%, with a relatively higher prevalence in females, young adults, and persons with less than a college education. The prevalence estimate for lifetime major depression was 17.1%, with a similar demographic distribution. Both 30-day and lifetime prevalence estimates were higher than estimates from the earlier Epidemiologic Catchment Area study. When pure major depression was compared with major depression co-occurring with other psychiatric disorders, the risk factor profiles exhibited clear differences.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest a greater burden of major depression in community-dwelling persons than has been estimated from previous community samples. The risk factor profile showed significant differences between persons with pure and combined major depression.


A stamped coin exhibited visible discolored areas, seen as a tan haze on the surface. The discoloration was considered merely cosmetic. The nonstained and stained regions were studied using SEM/EDS. Greater amounts of aluminum and magnesium were found in the stained area as compared with the nonstained region. Some carbon and oxygen were detected in both areas, which may be suggestive of organic substances. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed traces of hydrocarbons and ether/alcohol materials in the stained area, suggesting that the stain was associated with a cellulose or carbohydrates (sugars). These findings, along with the appearance, suggest that a sugar-containing substance, such as coffee or a soft drink, dried onto the surface of this coin and caused the observed discoloration.


This study analyses the relationship between ownership structure and board of director composition and their influences on the total factor productivity (TFP) of Taiwan's firms. The empirical results show that the curvilinear specification is better to capture the relationship between inside ownership and firm productivity. Meanwhile, the ownership structure in a firm indeed affects differences in TFP between conglomerate firms and non-conglomerate firms, high-tech firms and non-high-tech firms, and family-owned firms and non-family-owned firms. Additionally, a smaller board may be less encumbered by bureaucratic problems and more functional and CEO duality may be able to improve productivity. Furthermore, productivity deteriorates with increasing proportion of collateralised shares. More institutional holdings, however, are an effective way to alleviate the negative impact of collateralised shares on TFP.


The mining industry is ever striving to comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations through innovations in mine waste management. In recent years, innovative technologies have rapidly developed to effectively store and manage mine waste as a means of reducing environmental impacts through the entire life cycle of the mine development, from start-up, operations to closure. These technologies include tailings thickening/dewatering and co-disposal/co-mingling with problematic waste rock. This paper presents development of a co-disposal technique for the Cerro de Maimon Mine located in the Dominican Republic, where both tailings and waste rock are acid generating. The conventional slurry tailings were thickened to a non-segregating consistency to facilitate co-disposal of the tailings and waste rock. A large scale field experiment was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of different co-disposal methods through two stages of the investigation. Stage 1 involved deposition of acid generating waste rock on an existing tailings beach and Stage 2 involved deposition of waste rock and tailings in layers of different thicknesses. Two test cells were constructed at the site: one cell for tailings and waste rock deposition in approximately 1 m thick layers; and the other cell for deposition in approximately 2 m thick layers. Tailings samples were taken prior to and after waste rock placement using thin walled samplers. Field instrumentation included moisture sensors and settlement plates. The in-situ properties of the tailings were characterized through both field and laboratory testing programs including field vane tests, self-consolidation tests, soil water characteristic tests, suction measurements and moisture content profile determinations. The results of the field experiment indicate that codisposal represents a feasible means to increase storage efficiency and reduce environmental impact of the mine wastes.


This study examines Chinese imperial polygamy under two aspects, as institution and actual practice. Institution refers to its existence as a set of rules and expectations, practice to the actual ways in which imperial people carried out polygamy as recorded in both historical and fictional sources. The key to the institutionalization of polygamy had to do with the idea that a ruler did not engage in polygamy because he wanted to, but because he had to in order to fulfill his role as Son of Heaven. He was obligated to extend the patriline and was as if following a hallowed directive. Practice had to do with what rules and expectations could not control or predict, including how a man justified his role as polygamist, his polygamous transgressions, and how he dealt with the main challenge to polygamous harmony, women's jealousy and rivalry.


Robot audition by its own ears (microphones) is essential for natural human-robot communication and interface. Since a microphone is embedded in the head of a robot, the head-related transfer function (HRTF) plays an important role in sound source localization and extraction. Usually, from binaural input, the interaural phase difference (IPD) and interaural intensity difference (IID) are calculated, and then the direction is determined by using IPD and IID with HRTF. The problem of HRTF-based sound source localization is that a HRTF should be measured for each robot in an anechoic chamber, because it depends on the shape of robot's head; HRTF should be interpolated to manipulate a moving talker, because it is available only for discrete azimuth and elevation. To cope with these problems of HRTF, we proposed the auditory epipolar geometry as a continuous function of IPD and IID to dispense with HRTF and have developed a real-time multiple-talker tracking system. This auditory epipolar geometry, however, does not give a good approximation to IID of all range and IPD of peripheral areas. In this paper, the scattering theory in physics is employed to take into consideration the diffraction of sounds around robot's head for better approximation of IID and IPD. The resulting system shows that it is efficient for localization and extraction of sound at higher frequency and from side directions.


We consider the setting in which an electric power utility seeks to curtail its peak electricity demand by offering a fixed group of customers a uniform price for reductions in consumption relative to their predetermined baselines. The underlying demand curve, which describes the aggregate reduction in consumption in response to the offered price, is assumed to be affine and subject to unobservable random shocks. Assuming that both the parameters of the demand curve and the distribution of the random shocks are initially unknown to the utility, we investigate the extent to which the utility might dynamically adjust its offered prices to maximize its cumulative risk-sensitive payoff over a finite number of T days. In order to do so effectively, the utility must design its pricing policy to balance the tradeoff between the need to learn the unknown demand model (exploration) and maximize its payoff (exploitation) over time. In this paper, we propose such a pricing policy, which is shown to exhibit an expected payoff loss over T days that is at most O(√T), relative to an oracle who knows the underlying demand model. Moreover, the proposed pricing policy is shown to yield a sequence of prices that converge to the oracle optimal prices in the mean square sense.


Human visual object recognition is typically rapid and seemingly effortless, as well as largely independent of viewpoint and object orientation. Until very recently, animate visual systems were the only ones capable of this remarkable computational feat. This has changed with the rise of a class of computer vision algorithms called deep neural networks (DNNs) that achieve human-level classification performance on object recognition tasks. Furthermore, a growing number of studies report similarities in the way DNNs and the human visual system process objects, suggesting that current DNNs may be good models of human visual object recognition. Yet there clearly exist important architectural and processing differences between state-of-the-art DNNs and the primate visual system. The potential behavioural consequences of these differences are not well understood. We aim to address this issue by comparing human and DNN generalisation abilities towards image degradations. We find the human visual system to be more robust to image manipulations like contrast reduction, additive noise or novel eidolon-distortions. In addition, we find progressively diverging classification error-patterns between humans and DNNs when the signal gets weaker, indicating that there may still be marked differences in the way humans and current DNNs perform visual object recognition. We envision that our findings as well as our carefully measured and freely available behavioural datasets provide a new useful benchmark for the computer vision community to improve the robustness of DNNs and a motivation for neuroscientists to search for mechanisms in the brain that could facilitate this robustness.


We develop a quantum model of a traveling-wave electro-optical phase modulator by considering a parametric interaction of the optical and radiofrequency waves in the modulator medium by means of the electro-optic effect. The model includes a possible dispersion of the modulator medium in the optical domain. In the case of negligible dispersion, we derive a simple analytic expression for the evolution operator of the optical field, which has been proposed previously in the literature on the basis of an analogy to classical field transformation. We study by means of a perturbative approach the influence of small dispersion on the field evolution operator and formulate conditions of negligibility of modulator dispersion. We demonstrate the signature of dispersion in phase modulation: breaking the symmetry of sidebands with respect to the mean photon number. We obtain the law of transformation of a multimode coherent state by a phase modulator, which is important for understanding the structure of signal states in quantum cryptographic schemes utilizing phase modulation of coherent optical beams.


Social scientists and commentators disagree on how much of the association between parental divorce and child well-being is causal. This paper reexamines the claim that parental divorce is detrimental to children's emotional well-being, measured in terms of behavior problems. The author analyzed panel data from the 1986-2002 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979, and found that parental divorce is associated with a higher level of behavior problems in children. However, after controlling for unobserved factors that are either constant over time or change at a constant rate over time, the effect of parents' divorce substantially declines and its influence on their children's emotional well-being is not statistically significant.


This paper presents a new Class-E power amplifier (PA) with a π-matching output network. The PA is targeted at low output power wireless applications. Analytical formulae are derived to aid the PA design, characterization and optimization. A fully integrated 2.4-GHz PA for short distance communications has been implemented in 0.13 μm CMOS technology to verify the proposed design method. The measured output power levels vary from - 3.2 to 5.7 dBm while achieving maximum overall efficiency of 55%.


Abstract : An account is given of the development of a process for using superplasticity in forming. Its focus is necessarily specific, but there is general value in its findings. The actual parts were examples of hollow ware that had once been produced by conventional methods. The material was the Zn-Al eutectoid alloy, which can be made highly superplastic and should give adequate service behavior for a variety of applications, including this one. The development proceeded by first separating the total process into two largely dissimilar components: stretching, to establish general shape (macroforming), and another, more related to coining, to generate surface detail (microforming). The results of the separate studies were finally combined to allow predictions of the outcome of practical forming. These, in turn, were tested experimentally with good success. Of the two components, microforming is more often likely to be pressure- and rate-controlling. An analysis is presented for the bulging by lateral pressure of superplastic alloy sheet that has a flow equation in uniaxial tension or compression. Two cases are dealt with: (1) the bulging of a flat circular sheet clamped at its perimeter and (2) the bulging of a sheet into 90 degree-V grooves. The latter process is pertinent to the problem of molding a sheet to a die contour so as to achieve detail. Bulge profile and sheet-thickness distribution are predicted as a function of the variables, pressure, geometry, time, K and m. (Author)


A possible causal association between chromosome structural change and neoplastic transformation has long been mooted, particularly since chromosomal changes occur frequently in the cells of a variety of malignancies. Only in recent years, however, has the evidence in support of this contention begun to appear convincing, and this has followed from the application of developments in cytogenetic techniques. The advent of methods for revealing specific bands in the human metaphase complement has enabled all the chromosomes and many chromosomal regions to be unambiguously identified, and the recent application of prophase banding methods gives further improvements in resolution. With these techniques, specific constitutional chromosomal deletions or translocations have been discovered in inherited cases of retinoblastoma (del.13q14), Wilms' tumour with aniridia (del.11p13) and renal-cell carcinoma (t(3:8) (p21:q24)), in which each of the chromosomal changes appears to be a dominant factor in inheriting a predisposition to a tissue-specific tumour. A heritability for cancer predisposition is also associated with the inherited chromosomal instability syndromes of Bloom's, Fanconi's anaemia and ataxia telangiectasia, although specific chromosomal changes have not been reported to be associated with the neoplasms in such individuals, except in some cases of lymphoma and leukaemia in ataxia telangiectasia. Specific chromosomal translocations have, however, been recorded in a variety of malignancies, with a particular involvement of chromosomes 22, 14, 8, 15, 17 and 21. However, although many hundreds of patients with the specific 9/22 rearrangement seen in chronic myeloid leukaemia and also those with the 14/8 rearrangement in Burkitt's, and other, lymphomas have been described, no single case in which these rearrangements were present as constitutional changes has been reported. The possible nature of the changes seen at the cytogenetic level in terms of gene content of the chromosomes involved is discussed.


ABSTRACT Spline smoothing is a widely used nonparametric method that allows data to speak for themselves. Due to its complexity and flexibility, fitting smoothing spline models is usually computationally intensive which may become prohibitive with large datasets. To overcome memory and CPU limitations, we propose four divide and recombine (D&R) approaches for fitting cubic splines with large datasets. We consider two approaches to divide the data: random and sequential. For each approach of division, we consider two approaches to recombine. These D&R approaches are implemented in parallel without communication. Extensive simulations show that these D&R approaches are scalable and have comparable performance as the method that uses the whole data. The sequential D&R approaches are spatially adaptive which lead to better performance than the method that uses the whole data when the underlying function is spatially inhomogeneous.


The emergence of alternative trading systems—often collectively referred to as "dark pools"—has added another node to the trader9s decision tree. On the positive side, the increased competition in the market is a benefit to investors: more competition means more opportunities for better execution. Further, the ability to cross orders outside of the traditional displayed markets has offered traders the opportunity to maintain greater anonymity, and thus, reduce their orders9 risks related to market impact. On the downside, the existence of multiple liquidity pools creates fragmentation in the market. Accessing liquidity is more complex, and the trader9s job is more labor and time-intensive. Liquidity-seeking algorithms offer the ability to execute orders in a fragmented market with greater efficiency and effectiveness. But as we9ve seen, not all algorithms are the same. This article draws from our experience with algorithms accessing the non-displayed liquidity offered by the UBS internal liquidity pool, called "PIN."


Recent reports suggest that IGF (insulin-like growth factor)-I and IGFBP-3 (IGF-binding protein-3) have independent and opposing mechanistic effects on insulin. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio and the metabolic syndrome. We examined 3281 subjects (1463 men and 1818 women, aged 20-49 years), otherwise healthy adults, who participated in NHANES III (Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), which has released measurements of IGF-I and IGFBP-3. Insulin resistance was estimated using the computer HOMA2 (homoeostatic model assessment 2) model. The updated ATP-III (Adult Treatment Panel III) definition of the metabolic syndrome was used. We applied adjusted logistic and linear regression models. After adjusting for age and race, men and women in the lowest quartile of the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio were 3-fold more likely to meet the ATP-III definition of the metabolic syndrome and twice as likely to be insulin-resistant. Mean values of the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio decreased significantly as the number of metabolic syndrome components increased (P<0.0001, as determined by ANOVA). The area under the ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve for detecting insulin resistance using the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio was 0.760, significantly improving upon either protein alone (P=0.01). In conclusion, the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio is significantly associated with the metabolic syndrome. Calculating the ratio of these two proteins may provide insight into the metabolic syndrome clustering phenomenon.


We endogenize the market risk (at given technical risk) in firms' R&D decisions by introducing stochastic R&D in the Hotelling model. It is shown that if the technical risk is sufficiently high, the market risk remains low even if firms pursue similar projects. This leads firms to focus on the most valuable market segment. We then also endogenize technical risk by allowing firms to choose their R&D technology. In equilibrium, firms either pursue similar (different) R&D projects with risky (safe) technologies or they choose the same project but apply different R&D technologies. We show that R&D spillovers lead to more differentiated R&D efforts and patent protection to less. Project coordination within a RJV implies more differentiation, and may, or may not be welfare-improving.


This paper presents a methodology for the geometric design of those closed-kinematic chain mechanisms consisting of two platforms connected by six linear actuators. The methodology provides a guideline for the placement of the linear actuator joints which can maximize the mechanism workspace and forces/torques. The paper explains how the presented methodology was applied in the design of two real-world robotic systems, a force reflecting hand controller of a teleoperation system and a fine motion mechanism of a munition loading system.


Transport of charge carriers in PrBa2Cu3O7-I´ (PBCO) is often described by variable-range hopping (VRH). Until now the VRH mechanism was confirmed merely on the basis of a temperature dependence of the resistivity following Mott's law. In this article we show a positive magnetoresistance in PBCO thin films, depending exponentially on the applied magnetic field. This provides substantial additional evidence for a variable-range hopping transport mechanism. Both a strong-field and a weak-field magnetoresistance can be identified. At temperatures above 30 K we observe weak-field magnetoresistance, at 4.2 K we detect a transition from weak-field to strong-field magnetoresistance at a magnetic field of approximately 4.5 T. In the weak-field regime the radius of the localized wave function is only affected marginally by the applied magnetic field. In the strong-field regime the radius of the localized wave function decreases with increasing magnetic field. From the measurements in the strong-field regime we obtain an estimate for the two-dimensional density of localized states in the PBCO thin film of approximately 2A�1013 1/eVm2.


This paper analyzes how fossil fuel-producing countries can counteract climate policy. We analyze the exhaustion of oil resources and the subsequent transition to a backstop technology as a strategic game between the consumers and producers of oil, which we refer to simply as 'OECD' and 'OPEC', respectively. The consumers, OECD, derive benefits from oil, but worry about climate effects from carbon dioxide emissions. OECD has two instruments to manage this: it can tax fuel consumption and decide when to switch to a carbon-neutral backstop technology. The tax reduces climate damage and also appropriates some of the resource rent. OPEC retaliates by choosing a strategy of price discrimination, subsidizing oil in its domestic markets. The results show that price discrimination enables OPEC to avoid some of the adverse consequences of OECD's fuel tax and its switch to the backstop technology by consuming a larger share of the oil in its own domestic markets. Our results suggest that persuading fossil exporters to stop subsidizing domestic consumption will be difficult.


Retrosynthetic planning plays an important role in the field of organic chemistry, which could generate a synthetic route for the target product. The synthetic route is a series of reactions which are started from the available molecules. The most challenging problem in the generation of the synthetic route is the large search space of the candidate reactions. Estimating the cost of candidate reactions has been proved effectively to prune the search space, which could achieve a higher accuracy with the same search iteration. And the estimation of one reaction is comprised of the estimations of all its reactants. So, how to estimate the cost of these reactants will directly influence the quality of results. To get a better performance, we propose a new framework, named GNN-Retro, for retrosynthetic planning problem by combining graph neural networks(GNN) and the latest search algorithm. The structure of GNN in our framework could incorporate the information of neighboring molecules, which will improve the estimation accuracy of our framework. The experiments on the USPTO dataset show that our framework could outperform the state-of-the-art methods with a large margin under the same settings.


The performance of a bulk-heterojunction organic solar cell critically depends on the morphology of the active layer. The solution temperature-dependent aggregation characteristics of a series of polymer donors have been recently exploited as an effective protocol for morphology control in high-efficiency devices. Here, we use an approach combining molecular dynamics simulations and long-range corrected density functional theory calculations to investigate the impact of solution temperature-dependent aggregation on the polymer solid-state packing and electronic properties. We consider two representative polymer systems: (i) PffBT4T-2OD (poly[(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3′′′-di(2-octyldodecyl)-2,2′;5′,2′′;5′′,2′′′-quaterthiophen-5,5′′′-diyl)]), and (ii) PBT4T-2OD (poly[(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3′′′-di(2-octyldodecyl)-2.2′;5′,2′′;5′′,2′′′-quarterthiophen-5,5′′′-diyl)]), where the fluorine atoms on the benzothiadiazole moieties of PffBT4T-2OD are replaced with hydrogen atoms. We find that both temperature-dependent aggregation and the presence of fluorine atoms are important in determining the nature of the solid-state packing and the electronic properties in the polymer phases. Our results are consistent with the experimental data that show that PffBT4T-2OD aggregates at lower temperatures and leads to higher OPV efficiency.


BACKGROUND
Transient bacteremia associated with burn wound manipulation is considered a frequent occurrence and is commonly cited as an indication for perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis in burn patients.

METHODS
In a prospective clinical setting, blood cultures (BC) were obtained from 19 burn patients at the following intervals: 30 minutes before wound cleansing (WC) or wound excision (WE), 30 minutes after the start of WC or WE, hourly until procedure completion, and 1 hour after completion. Burn wound biopsy for histologic grading and microbial culture was performed after the first BC.

RESULTS
Twenty-two WC and 20 WE episodes were evaluated by 67 and 76 BC sets, respectively. Patients had a mean age of 42.8 years and mean burn size of 50% of the body surface area. Three WC episodes (13.6%) and four WE procedures (20.0%) were associated with postprocedure bacteremia. Two patients had both preprocedure and postprocedure bacteremia later attributed to nonburn wound infections. Excluding these cases, the bacteremia rate was 12.5% (9.5% from WC and 15% from WE). Wound biopsy culture and histologic analysis did not predict the occurrence of bacteremia.

CONCLUSION
Current therapy is associated with a lesser incidence of burn wound manipulation-induced bacteremia than reported in prior series. The discordance between wound biopsy and BC results, the absence of positive histology, and the similarity of bacteremia occurrence rates with WC and WE confirm the effectiveness of current techniques of microbial control in burn wounds and question the need for perioperative antibiotic therapy in patients with burns involving less than 40% of the total body surface during the first 10 postburn days.


We evaluated how regulatory support services provided by University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Clinical and Translational Science may reduce Institutional Review Board (IRB) turnaround times. IRB applications were categorized by receipt of any regulatory support and amount of support received. Turnaround time included total turnaround time, time for IRB review, and time for investigators to modify protocols. There were no differences in any turnaround times for supported versus nonsupported applications. However, for supported applications, those receiving more intensive support had total turnaround times 16.0 days (SE 7.62, p < .05) faster than those receiving less intensive support. Receiving higher regulatory support may be associated with faster approval of IRB submissions.


During the acute febrile phase of dengue virus (DENV) infection, viremia can cause severe systemic immune responses accompanied by hematologic disorders. This study investigated the potential induction and mechanism of the cytopathic effects of DENV on peripheral blood cells ex vivo. At one day postinfection, there was viral nonstructural protein NS1 but no further virus replication measured in the whole blood culture. Notably, DENV exposure caused significant vacuolization in monocytic phagocytes. With a minor change in the complete blood cell count, except for a minor increase in neutrophils and a significant decrease in monocytes, the immune profiling assay identified several changes, particularly a significant reduction in CD14-positive monocytes as well as CD11c-positive dendritic cells. Abnormal production of TNF-α was highly associated with the induction of vacuolization. Manipulating TNF-α expression resulted in cytopathogenic effects. These results demonstrate the potential hematological damage caused by ex vivo DENV-induced TNF-α.


The paper presents a 3 tank thermal energy storage system. The system consists of cold oil reservoir, heat storage tank, and a residual drainage tank. Cold oil flows by gravity into a heating chamber and after being heated to the required temperature, a mechanical thermostat opens allowing the hot oil to flow into a heat storage tank. The storage tank was discharged through the cooking unit by boiling 0.5 litres of water. The used oil flowed by gravity to the drainage tank. The discharge flow rates of 0.5, 2.1, 2.8 and 6.5 g/s were considered. A charging efficiency of 51.3% and overall discharging efficiency range of 15.3 34.7% were achieved. Charging efficiency increased when the source was embedded in the storage tank. The instantaneous discharge power had a peak value for each flow rate. The adopted cooking unit had a thermal transfer efficiency range of 34.7 57.6%. A method for sizing oil based TES systems was proposed and illustrated based on the obtained discharge results.
Keywords:     3-tank, sizing, discharging, efficiency, thermal energy


BACKGROUND
Patients undergoing bariatric surgery present unique analgesic challenges, including poorly controlled pain, increased prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea, and opioid-induced respiratory depression. The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) has been demonstrated to be a safe and effective component of multimodal analgesia for a variety of abdominal surgeries.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the benefits of the TAP block on postoperative analgesia and recovery in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

STUDY DESIGN
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized studies.

METHODS
We conducted a comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases from inception to April 2020 for studies using TAP block in bariatric surgeries and reporting postoperative pain, opioid consumption, and recovery-related outcomes. Primary outcomes included postoperative pain scores, opioid consumption, and recovery-related outcomes (e.g., length of stay, time to ambulation). Outcomes were pooled using random effects model and reported as relative risks (RR) or mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS
Twenty-one studies (15 RCTs [n = 1410] and 6 nonrandomized studies [n = 1959]) were included. Among RCTs, the TAP block group required fewer opioid rescues (RR 0.28; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.42, P < 0.001) (moderate quality); reduced total opioid use over 24 hours (MD -8.33; 95% CI -14.78 to -1.89, P = 0.01); decreased time to ambulation (MD -1.12 hours; 95% CI -1.50 to -0.73, P < 0.001) (high quality); and had significantly lower pain scores at 6 hours (MD -1.52; 95% CI -1.90 to -1.13, P < 0.01) and 12 hours (MD -0.95; 95% CI -1.34 to -0.56, P < 0.001) on a 0-10 pain scale (moderate quality). No difference was observed for nausea and vomiting, or hospital length of stay. Meta-analyzed outcomes from observational studies supported these results, suggesting decreased postoperative pain and opioid consumption.

LIMITATIONS
Studies varied with respect to type of surgery and components of comparator multimodal analgesia, likely contributing to heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses by type of comparator group were conducted to address these differences. We were unable to extract data from all trials included due to variability in outcomes reporting, such as non-opioid drugs for postoperative pain management or invalid dosages. Pain-related outcomes may be affected by operative differences leading to variation in visceral pain. Observational studies have their inherent limitations, such as confounding due to lack of participant randomization and intervention blinding, potentially affecting subjective outcomes, such as pain scores, as well as provider-dependent outcomes, such as hospital length of stay. Lastly, there was significant variation of TAP block technique across all studies.

CONCLUSION
TAP block is an effective, safe modality that can be performed under anesthesia. It decreases pain, opioid use, and time to ambulation after bariatric surgeries and should be considered in multimodal analgesia for enhanced recovery in this high-risk surgical population.


This paper examines the long- and short-run determinants of the demand for money in six countries in the Asian-Pacific region using panel data (1975-2002). Various country-specific coefficients are allowed to capture inter-country heterogeneities. Consistent with theoretical postulates, it is found that (a) the demand for money in the long-run positively responds to real income and inversely to the interest rate spread, inflation, the real effective exchange rate, and the US real interest rate; (b) the long-run income elasticity is greater than unity; and (c) both the currency substitution and capital mobility hypotheses hold only in the long run.


Blame is an unpopular and neglected notion: it goes against the grain of a therapeutically-oriented culture and has been far less discussed by philosophers than such related notions as responsibility and punishment. This book seeks to show that neither the opposition nor the neglect is justified. The book's most important conclusion is that blame is inseperable from morality itself - that any considerations that justify us in accepting a set of moral principles must also call for the condemnation of those who violate the principles. Properly understood, blame and morality must stand or fall together.


Background A therapeutic patient education programme was created in our hospital for lung transplant recipients. Educational tools (including 'problem situation cards') and informative leaflets about immunosuppressive treatments were elaborated for patients and their community healthcare professionals. Purpose The first aim of this study was to evaluate patients and healthcare professionals' satisfaction regarding the created tools. The second aim was to assess the effectiveness of these tools in terms of improvement in patient knowledge. Material and methods Patients transplanted for more than 1 year who had a medical consultation between 25 April and 26 May 2016 were called to obtain oral consent for enrolment in this study. The created tools were presented and used by the patients during a pharmaceutical interview, after their consultation. Patient satisfaction was evaluated with a satisfaction survey, and their knowledge about their treatments was assessed with an educational tool (number of correct answers to the problem situations presented). If gaps were found, another interview was scheduled 1 month later to reassess patient knowledge. All patients and referring healthcare professionals were contacted and asked to evaluate the leaflets aimed at community pharmacists and general practitioners with a satisfaction survey. Results 21 patients with an average age of 53 years (25–67) and transplanted for 4 years (1–10) were included. 95% of the patients were satisfied with the information delivered during the interview and thought it was useful in their daily life. They all found the educational tools interactive and useful. 85.7% of the community pharmacists and half of the general practitioners considered that the information given on the leaflets aimed at healthcare professionals was helpful in answering patient questions during drug dispensing or consultation. During the first interview, patients' average knowledge score was 8.3/10. 12 patients with a score equal to or lower than 8/10 had another interview to reassess their knowledge. These patients' average score increased from 7.5 to 8.6 (p<0.0083) at M1. Conclusion Both patients and healthcare professionals were satisfied with the tools created. Conducting a pharmaceutical interview improved patients' knowledge of their treatments, which highlights the importance of the pharmacist intervention in their care pathway, together with community healthcare professionals. No conflict of interest


The term mobile computing typically evokes images of a laptop, handheld, or wearable computer. However, the plummeting cost of hardware suggests that pervasive computing infrastructure could minimize the need to carry such devices in the near future. Personal computing will be available anywhere on demand, like light at the flip of a switch. Only when a user starts to use a computer will it acquire unique customization and state. When the user finishes using the computer, this customization and state will disappear from it. Thus, a user could travel hands-free yet be confident of making productive use of slivers of free time anywhere. For this to be a compelling vision from a user's viewpoint, the customization and state acquisition process must be accurate and nearly instantaneous. For it to be a viable business model, the management and system administration costs of pervasive deployments of machines must be low. Internet Suspend/Resume is a thick-client approach to mobility in which hardware virtualization and file caching are the keys to rapid personalization of anonymous hardware for transient use.


Effect of strong electrolytes on the viscosity of canola oil in 1,4 dioxane was undertaken. The viscosity of oil in 1,4 dioxane was found to increase with the concentration of oil and decrease with rise in temperature. Strong electrolytes reduce the rate of flow of oil in 1,4 dioxane. It was noted that amongst these electrolytes, NaOH is more efficient reducing electrolyte than HCl and NaCl. The study was also extended in terms of ion-ion and ion-solvent interactions. The values of Jones-Dole coefficients (A and B) were evaluated graphically. The increase in negative values of A-cefficient with temperature is due to agitation of the molecules at higher temperature, dissociation and partial association of electrolytes in 1,4 dioxane. The positive values of B-cefficient show that these electrolytes behave as structure breaker in 1,4 dioxane. Distortion of the solvent structure is not appreciable (small), which resulted in the positive values of B-coefficient. Fluidity parameters were also evaluated and the change in these values with temperature and concentration of oil shows that the electrolytes behave as structure breaker. The energy of activation, latent heat of vaporization and molar volume of oil were also evaluated and discussed. Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management Vol. 10(1) 2006: 47-54


Variation in reproductive status in response to photoperiods has been observed in laboratory rats. We investigated the effects of photoperiod on testicular activity in Sprague-Dawley rats (Rattus norvigicus) maintained in experimental photoperiodic condition. Twenty four adult male rats weighing 170±10g were conditioned to different lighting conditions of Light/Dark (LD) Cycle for 6 weeks. Group 1, Control group (LD12:12, light on from 07:00hr to 19:00hr). Group 2, Short Photoperiod group (LD 8:16hr, light on from 09:00hr to 17:00hr). Group 3, Long Photoperiod group (LD 16:8hr, light on from 05:00hr to 21:00hr). A significant influence of different lighting conditions on the testicular parameters was observed. Short photoperiod showed a suppressing effect (P<0.001) on testicular weight, sperm motility sperm viability and sperm counts, while long photoperiod had an inducing, though insignificant, effect on the measured parameters. The results confirmed that Sprague- Dawley rats are photoresponsive and changes in the photoperiod could influence their reproductive functions.


The relative influences of parent lithology and anthropogenic effects on the soil geochemistry of Cyprus have been evaluated using a high density soil survey. Cyprus contains a number of lithologically distinct terranes, including the ultramafic–mafic Troodos Ophiolite Complex, which hosts a number of Cyprus-type Cu deposits, and the surrounding carbonate-rich marine sedimentary units. Cyprus also has a long history of human settlement and resource exploitation. Top-soils (0–25 cm depth) and sub-soils (50–75 cm) were grid-sampled across the southern two-thirds of the island at a density of 1 site per c. 1 km2. The aqua regia-extractable and total element contents of the <2-mm fraction were determined using a range of analytical techniques. For most elements the soil geochemistry is dominated by parent lithology and subsequent regolith processes. Major urban areas, industrial zones, Cu mines and some other locations display elevated contents of Pb, Cu, Hg, Sn and Zn, especially in top-soil. The northern Polis Valley displays elevated Hg in sub-soil which appears unrelated to either geological features or modern anthropogenic influences. Contaminated areas are typified by significant differences between top-soil and sub-soil element concentrations as well as changes in multivariate geochemical patterns.


The isolation of the Pilbara population of the orange leaf-nosed bat, Rhinonicteris aurantius, from the Kimberley and the Northern Territory populations by the Great Sandy Desert, and the differences in climate and landscape between these regions, prompted a study of morphological divergence. Skull, noseleaf, ear and wing characters were used in a morphometric analysis of museum specimens. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed subtle differences in the size of some snout and noseleaf measurements (condylocanine length, nasal breadth, rostral height, anterior leaf height and total noseleaf width) between the Pilbara and the northern populations, with smaller measurements in Pilbara animals. The species was otherwise morphologically conserved. Size differences may be indicative of a functional relationship with echolocation call frequency. Sexual dimorphism was identified in some skull measurements only (larger in males). Further study might confirm the subtle differences detected here in the snout and noseleaf and provide a functional basis for them. The isolation of R. aurantius in the Pilbara is part of a general pattern of allopatry, evolution and endemism in north-western Australia that resulted from the formation of the Great Sandy Desert.


Bionic systems are artifical systems which have the "type" of biological systems. This paper describes conception of bionic systems and a methodology to develop these new systems. After the procedure of the metaphor from biological world to artificial world is indicated, a metaphorical model for the artificial systems is constructed as a metaphor of the biological systems. Models of the bionic systems, i. e., metaphorical models of artificial systems have the following special features; (1) Set structure which consists of autonomous modeling elements. (2) Set of Input/Output functions which constructs the modeling element. (3) Existence of cyclic loops which are obtained by Input/Output chain. (4) Automatic decision making of the systems which is based on stability of the cyclic loops. (5) Self-organization for system design and system control.


BACKGROUND
Diet is associated with onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Up to half of IBD patients believe that diet contributes to flares. However, studies on this topic are sparse and merely focus on specific nutrients, food items or food groups. We aimed to analyze the association between dietary patterns and flare occurrence in two geographically distinct Dutch cohorts.

METHODS
In this longitudinal study, 724 IBD patients (Northern cohort: n=486, Southern cohort: n=238) were included and followed for two years. Habitual dietary intake was obtained via semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires at baseline. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on 22 food groups to identify dietary patterns. Flare occurrence was analyzed in 427 patients in remission at baseline, using multivariable COX proportional hazards.

RESULTS
Compared to the Southern cohort, patients in the Northern cohort were younger at diagnosis, comprised more females, and had lower overall energy intakes (all p<0.05). PCA revealed three dietary patterns explaining 28.8% of the total variance. The most pronounced pattern (explaining 11.6%) was characterized by intake of grain products, oils, potatoes, processed meat, red meat, condiments and sauces, and sugar, cakes and confectionery. Of the 427 patients, 106 (24.8%) developed an exacerbation during follow-up. The above dietary pattern was associated with flare occurrence (HR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.04-2.18, p=0.029), as was female sex (HR: 1.63, 95% CI 1.04-2.55, p=0.032).

CONCLUSIONS
A dietary pattern, which can be seen as a "traditional (Dutch)" or "Western" pattern was associated with flare occurrence. Confirmation in prospective studies is needed.


It seems strange when accurate knowledge is so easily accessible on the subject of appendicitis, that bad methods in the management of the disease still persist. I will briefly review some of these, and approximately in the order of their importance. The worst method is that which treats the patients by various medical means. Many of these recover without further attacks, many die and a larger number have recurrent attacks and suffer more or less invalidism for months or for years. It is impossible to determine in advance which course will be followed by any one case. That is always determined afterward. Consequently the cases that are going to recover without further attacks, recover; the ones that are going to get into dangerous complications, get into dangerous complications; the ones that are going to have recurrent attacks, have recurrent attacks, under medical treatment. There is no way for determining in advance


Information systems infrastructure (ISI) was ranked as the most important issue in a 1994-1995 study of key issues in IS management (Brancheau et al. 1996). Yet, to date, little theoretical and empirical work has been done in this area. This study attempts to reconceptualize the ISI construct and its measures. Drawing from the literature, this study envisions ISI as a base of shared technological, human, and organizational capabilities that provide the foundation for business application systems in the form of services to a range of users. A measure of ISI capability was developed and operationalized through a self-administered mail survey sent to IS executives across the country. A factor analysis revealed that ISI was a multidimensional construct consisting of three underlying dimensions: technological, human, and organizational. A research model was proposed to assess the main impact of ISI on business effectiveness and the moderating effect of information intensity. Five selected business effectiveness variables were time and cost reduction in systems development, system availability, user satisfaction, improved financial performance, and outstanding financial performance. The results of hypotheses testing revealed that human capability was significantly related to system availability and user satisfaction, and organizational capability significantly influenced all business effectiveness, except system availability. Surprisingly, no significant impact of technological capability on any business effectiveness variables was detected. For the moderating effect, the more information intensive the organization, the greater the impact of ISI on time and cost reduction in systems development and outstanding financial performance. This study concluded that ISI capabilities contribute to business effectiveness. Future research should focus on refining the proposed research model using additional data or different data collection techniques.


The production of activin by Sertoli cells isolated from 21-day-old rats was studied using the mesoderm-inducing activity of activin on Xenopus laeuis animal cap explants, immunoprecipitation and Western blotting. Furthermore, the effects of recombinant bovine activin-A on rat Sertoli cell aromatase activity and FSH and androgen receptor gene expression were examined. Animal cap explants from Xenopus laevis blastulas elongated after culture in conditioned medium of Sertoli cells cultured with or without ovine FSH or conditioned medium of the mouse Sertoli cell-derived TM4 cell line. Animal cap explants cultured in control medium remained spherical. This elongation was also found in the more than lokilodalton fraction of the conditioned medium and after heating for 10 min at 95 C, indicating that heat-stable activin-like bioactivity is present in the culture medium. Immunoprecipitation of [35S]methionine-labeled proteins and Western blotting of Sertoli cell-conditioned medium with polyclonal antisera against the inhibin b-subunits indicated the presence of 24- to 25-kilodalton activin-like immunoreactive material. Sertoli cell aromatase activity was dose-dependently stimulated by ovine FSH after 72 h of culture. Recombinant bovine activin-A partly inhibited this stimulation in a dose-dependent way. This inhibition was also found after 24 h of culture. Furthermore, basal and FSHstimulated androgen receptor mRNA expression in Sertoli cells and binding of the synthetic androgen R1881 to Sertoli cells were decreased after 24 h of culture in the presence of recombinant bovine activin-A. In the same experiments, FSH receptor mRNA expression was not significantly affected. These results indicate that activin can act as an autocrine regulator of Sertoli cell function. (Endocrinology 132: 975982, 1993)


Various ideal structures such as small resistors, shorts, and transmission lines are used to verify the calibration of the measurement instrument at the probe tip. Typical measurements of package and interconnect performance are demonstrated, and sample measurements are made, including time domain reflectometry, propagation delay, isolation, and bypassing of power lines. Measurement results are shown.<<ETX>>


The sustainable development of water resources is a multi-dimensional way of thinking about the connections or interdependencies among natural, social, and economic systems in the use of water. The purpose of environmental impact assessment is to guarantee a sustainable development that is in harmony with human welfare and the conservation of ecosystems and hence it should be clearly understood by all concerned. The main purpose of this paper is to review the current level of understanding of environmental impact assessment of water resources development; to assess the major challenges to sustainable environmental systems from water resources development perspectives, and to identify major environmental issues that need to be considered in sustainable water resources planning and development. During project study and design, major environmental impacts of water resources development should be identified and made available for decision makers and the public. In the arena of Integrated Water Resources Management, the environment should be considered as one of the legitimate users of water, and allotted reasonable amount of water for its sustainability. Hence, environmental flows assessment should be a mandatory condition for granting permission for project construction. Besides, as catastrophic flood events resulting from dam breaches are enormous, performing dam breach flood wave propagation and inundation mapping during the design phase of the project would support timely decision on the fate of the project or identifying mitigating measures to be taken. In the instances of shortage of geographic data, remotely sensed data can be analysed in GIS environment to generate data and map the information. Simulation models, coupled to GIS, would add GIS layers to provide clarity of impacts. To bring about environmental integrity of water resources development, the major challenges like population pressure, climate change, lack of proper planning and integration, policies and institutional arrangements should be properly addressed. Keywords : Environmental impact; assessment; Sustainability; Integration; Water resources; Development; Environmental flows; Dam breach


Background The sterile multidose anaesthetic Lidocaine HCl 2% gel that is extently applied in the most of our hospital wards is a galenic preparation from our hospital pharmacy. The authors have formulated our own prescription and producing process and proved that the extemporaneous preparation met the requirements regarding pH, content of the active substance and sterility. With determination of the microbiological integrity and shelf live of this preparation The authors wanted to ensure safe use of this preparation. Purpose To correctly determine microbiological integrity and expiring date of the preparation. Materials and methods On the samples of 13 series of prepared and kept at the room temperature (cca. 25°C) one, two and three years, of sterile multidose anaesthetic Lidocaine HCl 2% gel The authors performed quantitative analysis tests-1. extraction with chlorophorm and 2. anhydrouse titration with perchloric acid. On the same samples The authors performed sterility tests. Of each serial 3 samples were examined and the average value were analysed. Tests (according USP 31.Ed, Chemical tests and assays) of the content of lidocaine HCl for shelf life examinations were done at Control and analytical laboratory at the Department for infusion solutions production in our hospital. Sterility tests were performed in the microbiological department of Centre for public health, Bitola. Ingredients used for this preparation were: powder Lidocaine HCl (Sigma – Aldrich, USA, USP),Carboxymethylcellulose Na, high viscosity (Sigma-Aldrich, USA, USP), Aqua sterillisata (our hospital Department for infusion solutions production, Ph.Eur). Results Quantitative examinations of lidocaine HCl in the series of samples indicated that the average content of the active substance meets the pharmacopoeial requirements within an one year period. The numeric results of all examinations will be presented on the poster at the congress. Average pH=6.7 and meets the pharmacopoeal requirements too. Sterility control tests confirmed the sterility for one year too. Conclusions The authors formulated our own prescription and producing process for sterile multidose anaesthetic Lidocaine HCl 2% gel with expiring date of one year in the hospital pharmacy of the Clinical hospital in Bitola and The authors ensured safe use of this preparation.


Considering the toxic action of P. aquilinumbracken for vertebrates, its insecticidal activity and potential use in agricultural pest control was verified, testing its effects on S. frugiperda. Crude ethanolic extract was made with the aerial part of P. aquilinum, being incorporated into artificialdiet (control or extract-free, 1% and 2%) with 50 replicates (caterpillars). There was significant mortality (34% and 86%) at concentrations of 1% and 2%, respectively, compared to control (10%). In treatments at 1% (20.03 days) and 2% (20.42 days), larval stage prolongation (13.51 days) was observed in the control treatment. On the 3rd, 6th, 9thand 12thdays after treatment, there was weight reduction, and the 2% treatment resulted in larvae 73% lighter than the control did at day 12. The pupae of the 2%treatment were lighter than the others. In conclusion, 1% and 2% of P. aquilinum ethanolic extract extended the larval cycle, decreased the larvae's and pupae's weight, and, at a concentration of 2%, caused effective mortality of S. frugiperda.


Recent developments have led to a lot of emphasis being placed on early childhood education. Massive growth has also occurred in this segment of the education sector. Emphasis continues to be placed not just on growth but also on quality of the educational experiences that children are exposed to. In Kenya reports continue to emerge of pupils in primary school who lack numeracy and literacy competencies expected at their level. This inevitably shines the spotlight on the quality of educational experiences at the preschool level, which lays the foundation for all future learning and later success in school. One of the parameters of quality is parental involvement. In Kenya this parameter happens to be amongst the least understood. This paper sought to shed some light on the contribution of this aspect of quality to primary school readiness in preschool pupils in Nairobi. Parental involvement at six levels of involvement was measured for a sample of 150 parents of preschool pupils, while primary school readiness was assessed for a sample of 156 pupils. The results indicate that four of the six levels of parental involvement have a positive correlation to primary school readiness, while two are negatively correlated. The researcher recommends that schools and educators explore ways of creating and enhancing parental involvement so as to tap into the associated and recognized benefits of such cooperation.


Some applications of wireless sensor networks (WSN) require long-term deployments and vanishingly-small unit volumes to make them cost effective and unobtrusive. Energyand area-efficient circuits, as well as eliminating offchip components, are critical to meeting these objectives. A conventional WSN node can be fully integrated in CMOS except for the battery, crystal reference, and antenna. Typically, a PLL and a crystal reference are used for RF synchronization and to position the wireless signal in a desired band for FCC compliance. Crystals, however, require custom packaging that currently prohibits scaling to mm sizes. Moreover, an off-chip antenna increases the size of the node and raises the cost. In this paper, a fully integrated 60GHz frequency-locked loop (FLL) in 0.13μm CMOS is presented using an on-chip patch antenna as both the radiator and reference for frequency generation. The proposed technique efficiently integrates the antenna, eliminates the need for a crystal reference, is FCC compliant, and ensures the node transmits at the antenna's peak efficiency. The substrate beneath the antenna is shielded by an intermediate metal layer ground plane, freeing up space for active circuits and routing beneath the patch. By integrating circuits in CMOS underneath the patch, and stacking the die on e.g. a thin-film battery, a fully integrated WSN node in mm scale is feasible.


This study focuses on ethnic classification among secondary school teachers and Roma and non-Roma Hungarian secondary school students. It is expected that students living under better socio-economic circumstances are less likely to be classified as Roma by their classmates and teachers than students with a poorer socio-economic background. It is also assumed that students having more Roma friends are more likely to be classified as Roma than students having fewer Roma friends. First-wave data from a Hungarian panel study were analyzed. To test the hypotheses, cross-sectional logistic and fractional regression analyses were conducted in 17 classes (N=559). Results suggest that, consistent with the hypotheses, students from low-status families and students having more incoming friendship nominations from Roma classmates are more likely to be classified as Roma by their teachers and peers than high-status students and students having fewer Roma friends, even after controlling for the students' ethnic self-identification.


Hybrid perovskites occupy a prominent position within solid-state materials chemistry due to their (e.g.) ionic transport, ferroelectric and multiferroic properties. Here we show that a series of [TPrA][M(Dca)3] perovskites (TPrA = tetrapropylammonium cation; Dca = dicyanamide anion; M = Mn, Fe, Co) melt below 300 °C. A combined experimental-computational approach reveal the melting mechanism, and demonstrates that the hybrid perovskites form glasses upon melt quenching which largely retain the inorganic-organic bonding of the crystalline phase. The very low thermal conductivities of these glasses (~ 0.2 W m-1 K-1), moderate electrical conductivities (10-2 – 10-4 S m-1) and thermo-mechanical properties reminiscent of polymeric materials identify them as a new family of functional glass-formers.


Purpose: The purpose was to determine intra-session and inter-session reproducibility of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements with the spectral-domain Cirrus optical coherence tomography (OCT)® (SD-OCT) in normal and glaucomatous eyes, including a subset of advanced glaucoma. Materials and Methods: RNFL measurements of 40 eyes of 40 normal subjects and 40 eyes of 40 glaucomatous patients including 14 with advanced glaucoma were obtained on the Cirrus OCT® (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA) five times on 1-day (intra-session) and on five separate days (inter-session). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), coefficient of variation (COV), and test-retest variability (TRT) values were calculated for mean and quadrant RNFL in each group separately. Reproducibility values were correlated with age and stage of glaucoma. Results: For intra-session reproducibility, the ICC, COV, and TRT values for mean RNFL thickness in normal eyes were 0.993, 1.96%, and 4.02 µm, respectively, 0.996, 2.39%, and 3.84 µm in glaucomatous eyes, and 0.996, 2.41%, and 3.70 µm in advanced glaucoma. The corresponding inter-session values in normal eyes were 0.992, 2.16%, and 4.09 µm, 0.995, 2.62%, and 3.98 µm in glaucoma and 0.990, 2.70%, and 4.16 µm in advanced glaucoma. The mean RNFL thickness measurements were the most reproducible while the temporal quadrant had the lowest reproducibility values in all groups. There was no correlation between reproducibility and age or mean deviation on visual fields. Conclusions: Peripapillary RNFL thickness measurements using Cirrus OCT® demonstrated excellent reproducibility in normal and glaucomatous eyes, including eyes with advanced glaucoma. Mean RNFL thickness measurements appear to be the most reproducible and probably represent the best parameter to use for longitudinal follow-up.


Aim. The aim of this study was to see the clinical, pathological, and demographic profile of young patients with stomach carcinoma besides association with p53. Patients and Methods. Prospective study of young patients with stomach carcinoma from January 2005 to December 2009. A total of 50 patients with age less than 40 years were studied. Results. Male female ratio was 1 : 1.08 in young patients and 2.5 : 1 in older patients. A positive family history of stomach cancer in the first degree relatives was present in 10% of young patients. Resection was possible only in 50% young patients. 26% young patients underwent only palliative gastrojejunostomy. The most common operation was lower partial gastrectomy in 68%. Amongst the intraoperative findings peritoneal metastasis was seen in 17.4% in young patients. 50% young patients presented in stage IV as per AJCC classification (P value .004; sig.). None of the patients presented as stage 1 disease in young group. Conclusion. Early detection of stomach carcinoma is very important in all patients but in young patients it is of paramount importance.


The process of binding information from different modalities and sources into an object is ubiquitous in cognition and has been a problem for research and modelling efforts in psychology. This process has been considered by most researchers as necessarily always beneficial to memory. In the present study we provide evidence that binding can be detrimental through the propagation of vulnerabilities to interference. Phonologically similar and dissimilar letters were presented sequentially at different locations on a computer monitor. Participants had to recall either the letters in their order of presentation or the spatial locations at which the letters had appeared. Whether binding was encouraged or not—providing prior knowledge of which dimension to remember—phonological similarity had a detrimental effect on recall of locations. Such a finding poses a challenge to the view that binding is the panacea in enhancing memory capacity.


Background To determine if exogenously injected bone marrow derived platelet-rich plasma (PRP) plus bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 could accelerate the healing of bone-tendon junction injuries and increase the junction holding strength during the early regeneration period. Methods A direct injury model of the bone-tendon junction was made using an Achilles tendon-calcaneus bone junction in a rabbit. In the PRP/BMP-2/fibrin group, 0.05 mL of bone marrow derived PRP and 100 ng/mL of BMP-2 both incorporated into 0.1 mL of fibrin glue were injected into Achilles tendon-calcaneus bone junctions. The effect of the intervention was tested by comparing the results of an intervention group to a control group. The results of biomechanical testing, and histological and gross analyses were compared between the 2 groups at the following time points after surgery: 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks. Results Histologic examinations showed that woven bone developed in tendon-bone junctions at 2 weeks after surgery in the PRP/BMP-2/fibrin group. Mechanical test results showed no significant difference between the PRP/BMP-2/fibrin and control groups at 2 and 4 weeks after surgery, but the mean maximal load in the PRP/BMP-2/fibrin group was significantly higher than in the control group (p < 0.05) at 8 weeks after surgery. Conclusions Bone marrow derived PRP and BMP-2 in fibrin glue accelerated healing in a rabbit model of tendon-bone junction injury.


In patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) lymphocyte responses to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) are abnormal (27.2 +/- 3.5 X 10(-3) counts per minute (cpm) versus 69.8 +/- 4.4 X 10(-3) for normal persons, p less than 0.005). Removal of adherent peripheral blood mononuclear cells improves the response of PSS lymphocytes (42.3 +/- 3.4 X 10(-3) cpm, 155% of control) but diminishes the response of normal lymphocytes (60.3 +/- 5.9 +/- 10(-3), 86% of control). Supernatant fluids from cultures of PSS unfractionated and adherent cells depress normal T cell response to PHA (64% and 55% of control respectively), but supernatant fluids from normal unfractionated and adherent cells do not (104% and 101% of control). Supernatant fluids of PSS and normal adherent cells, cultured in the presence of indomethacin, are not inhibitory to normal T cells (109 +/- 15% and 124 +/- 14% of control respectively). Supernatant fluids from PSS patients are more inhibitory than comparable fluids from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (60 +/- 8% of control versus 80 +/- 5% of control). These data support the hypothesis that cellular immunity is abnormal in patients with PSS and indicate that adherent mononuclear cells mediate at least one component of the abnormality via an indomethacin-sensitive mechanism.


The large numberof application domains, increasedcomputationalpower and the possibility to have massive databases have directed many researchers to the area of image retrieval. The remarkable research effort on this particular area has produced a lot of image retrieval algorithms. However, there have not been freely distributed and portable platforms where to easily embed these algorithms. We have made effort to facilitate the work of these researchers by offering a framework system for image retrieval. Earlier, we have introduced a portable, extendible and freely available framework system which can be used with local databases. In this paper we introduce a client-server extension to that PICSearch system. We give an overview to the architectural solution of the client-server system and we present some key ideas of our data communication protocol to minimize the communication rate.


Although still just a glimmer in the gas man's eye, the prospect of shale hydrocarbon (oil and gas) development in the UK has many companies thinking about the industrial minerals it will require. Chief amongst these is silica sand which is used as a 'proppant' in the hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking', of shales to help release the gas. The UK has large resources of sand and sandstone, of which only a small proportion have the necessary technical properties that classify them as 'silica sand'. Silica sand is high purity quartz sand that is used for glass production, as foundry sand, in horticulture, leisure and other industrial uses. When used as a proppant to enhance oil and gas recovery it is commonly known as 'frac sand'.

The UK is virtually self-sufficient in meeting its silica sand needs and extracts approximately 4 million tonnes per year from 40 quarries. The resources are varied but most production comes from Carboniferous age sandstones in central Scotland, early Cretaceous marine sands in Norfolk and glaciofluvial sands in Cheshire. As there is currently no production of frac sand in the UK, and the prospect of shale gas recovery becoming a possibility, it is timely to consider where 'frac sand' could be produced. Will supply of silica 'frac sand' be able to meet demand? Will it compete with other applications for silica sand? This presentation will consider those silica sand resources in the UK that may be suitable for 'frac sand' production. It will draw parallels with other industrial applications, notably foundry sand, which shares some common technical requirements such as particle shape and size distribution.


The social and cultural practices prevalent in various parts of [India] resulted in the neglect of the female child...[in general and] probably more so in the Punjab. Moreover female mortality significantly exceeded male mortality in years of epidemics and famines. This paper tries to examine the socio-cultural and economic factors namely the system of land holdings and inheritance strategies structured customs in different parts of the province and notions of honour and status which probably have been at the back of neglect of the girl child. Among certain caste groups even female infanticide might not have been uncommon. (EXCERPT)


Service discovery is a fundamental aspect of many services oriented applications; however, it cannot be directly applied to mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) due to their dynamic nature. The lack of central manager nodes results in the need of specific discovery solutions for this kind of networks. In this paper, we present a solution for the discovery of services in MANETs that is based on the classification of service's parameters according to a shared domain ontology. Our proposed discovery protocol encompasses two main processes: dissemination and search. The search process defines a pruning mechanism that enables to detect if search messages must be propagated or not, reducing the number of messages communicated through the network. The dissemination and search processes are integrated within the route management mechanism that enables to reduce the number of propagated messages. We have implemented and tested our discovery solution using the ns-2 network simulator. Experiments have been performed using rigorously constructed scenarios for testing the characteristics of the proposed solution. The obtained results show how the inclusion of the ontology not only increments the expressiveness of the search and discovery process, but also enables to reduce the number of propagated messages due to the grouping and pruning processes.


Abstract The creation of an International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute war crimes poses a real puzzle. Why was it created, and more importantly, why do states agree to join this institution? The ICC represents a serious intrusion into a traditional arena of state sovereignty: the right to administer justice to one's one nationals. Yet more than one hundred states have joined. Social scientists are hardly of one mind about this institution, arguing that it is (alternately) dangerous or irrelevant to achieving its main purposes: justice, peace, and stability. By contrast, we theorize that the ICC is a mechanism to assist states in self-binding, and draw on credible commitments theory to understand who commits to the ICC, and the early consequences of such commitments. This approach explains a counterintuitive finding: the states that are both the least and the most vulnerable to the possibility of an ICC case affecting their citizens have committed most readily to the ICC, while potentially vulnerable states with credible alternative means to hold leaders accountable do not. Similarly, ratification of the ICC is associated with tentative steps toward violence reduction and peace in those countries precisely least likely to be able to commit credibly to foreswear atrocities. These findings support the potential usefulness of the ICC as a mechanism for some governments to commit to ratchet down violence and get on the road to peaceful negotiations.


Rutin was isolated from dried leaves and flowers of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench.). The effects of rutin on angiotensin II–induced hypertrophy of cultured cardiac myocytes and proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts of neonatal rats were evaluated by analyzing the cell surface area, measuring the protein synthesis rate through 3H-leucine incorporation, and the MTT method. Rutin (0.8 to 8.0 mg/l) exhibited a strong inhibition on the hypertrophy and proliferation. The results suggested that rutin from buckwheat flowers and leaves might have protective effects on cardiac hypertrophy.


Abstract Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important cereal crop for its high demand for grain feed and forage/grazing for the animals as well as for human food in the WANA region under the low rainfall situations and thus creating an urgent need for developing high yielding barley genotypes. A total of 542 hulled and hulless genotypes with seven checks were evaluated at three locations with diverse agro-ecological conditions, Terbol in Lebanon and Marchouch and Allal Tazi in Morocco. The aim of this study was to understand the nature of genotype × environment interaction (GEI), quantify the genotypic variability and identify high yielding genotypes. The mixed models were fitted to evaluate heritability and predicted means to identify genotypes with specific adaptation to the locations using GGE-biplot. GEI across locations was significant for days to heading, days to maturity, plant height, spike length and grain yield. On a trial-wise analysis, days to maturity was most heritable (49 – 50% broad sense heritability on mean basis) while the grain yield was the least (5 – 13%). The genotype G427 (4812 kg/ha) at Marchouch, the check VMorales (4889 kg/ha) at Allal Tazi and G528 (6995 kg/ha) at Terbol were the highest yielding genotypes. Several hulled and hulless genotypes with higher grain yield and early flowering time in the three environments were identified for utilization by the national programs globally. The test locations, Marchouch and Allal Tazi, were found comprising one mega environment while Terbol showed maximum discrimination of genotypes for grain yield.


Introduction: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are chronic health conditions that do not spread from person to person. Once considered the epidemic of the affluent, now they are gripping low- and middle-income countries. Disability caused by NCDs has risen from 21% of the total disease burden in 1990 to 34% by 2019. Major causes include poor nutrition, physical inactivity, unregulated usage of tobacco and alcohol, inaccessible healthcare, and unhealthy environment. Therefore, giving the correct information about the long-term effects of adopting unhealthy habits should be emphasized among adolescents. Objectives: The objective is to study the impact of awareness session on knowledge and attitude regarding NCDs among school-going girls in Ghaziabad city. Materials and Methods: A School-based intervention study was conducted in a selected Government School in Ghaziabad city. A predesigned, semi-structured questionnaire was administered to the students to assess their baseline knowledge and attitude. After the awareness session, the same questionnaire was administered again. The data were compiled and analyzed using MS Excel 2016, and appropriate statistical method like McNemar's test was applied. Results: Among the 216 study participants, 75.9% could differentiate between Communicable and NCDs correctly which increased to 89.8% after the session. Regarding the identification of major NCDs pre- and post-session proportions were 59% and 68%, respectively. The attitude of majority of the students (99%) remained positive from the starting. They believed that these diseases are preventable and lifestyle modifications are protective. Conclusion: Considerable improvement was observed in the awareness levels of the school students regarding NCDs after attending the health awareness session. When correct information is imparted, students develop a positive attitude and are encouraged to develop a healthy lifestyle. Hence, it is recommended that regular awareness sessions should be organized in schools to build a healthy nation.


Security plays a vital role in enabling future integration of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) with the Internet. Although security in WSNs is a mature field of research and many proposals currently exist that can address particular security threats, how to guarantee end-to-end security at the network layer for IPv6-enabled WSNs remains an open research issue. Security should be addressed at the network layer, as sensor nodes will evolve to become IPv6 aware and new applications are adapted or designed that depend on IPv6 connectivity to sensor nodes. We propose and evaluate new compressed AH and ESP 6lowpan security headers that allow the protection of IPv6 communications on IEEE 802.15.4 WSNs. As the security headers are designed to work side-by-side with other extension headers of the 6lowpan adaptation layer, they allow also the establishment of end-to-end secure communications between Internet hosts and wireless sensor nodes. The usage of IPv6 on WSNs has the potential of enabling the integration of sensing applications with the Internet and, if end to end security is properly addressed, can represent a major contribution towards the "internet of things".


Discrete convex Sobolev inequalities and Beckner inequalities are derived for time-continuous Markov chains on finite state spaces. Beckner inequalities interpolate between the modified logarithmic Sobolev inequality and the Poincaré inequality. Their proof is based on the Bakry–Emery approach and on discrete Bochner-type inequalities established by Caputo, Dai Pra and Posta and recently extended by Fathi and Maas for logarithmic entropies. The abstract result for convex entropies is applied to sev-eral Markov chains, including birth-death processes, zero-range processes, Bernoulli–Laplace models, and random transposition models, and to a finite-volume discretization of a one-dimensional Fokker–Planck equation, applying results by Mielke.


As the field of main-group chemistry generates compounds containing unusual structural motifs, novel bonds, and non-trivial oxidation states, computational methods are required to gain an in-depth understanding of these systems. This thesis describes the use of these methods on five experimental investigations, leading to the rationalisation of products formed through multiple theoretical techniques. Additionally, reaction profiles are generated to elucidate mechanisms and highlight key intermediates and transition states. Finally, driving forces for product formation are investigated through aromaticity calculations, resulting in the observation of multiple main-group complexes displaying aromaticity – a feature usually seen in organic systems.


We consider the initial boundary value problem for the spherically symmetric isentropic compressible Navier-Stokes equations with density-dependent viscosity coefficients and discontinuous initial data in this paper. For piecewise regular initial density with bounded jump discontinuity, we show that there exists a unique global piecewise regular solution. In particular, the jump of density decays exponentially in time and the piecewise regular solution tends to the equilibrium state exponentially as .


Inherent multipath diffuse channel characteristics inhibit visible light communications (VLC) system to provide uniform and satisfactory communication performance within the room domain. An evolutionary algorithm based optimization scheme is proposed to modify the optical intensity of LED transmitters for reducing the signal power fluctuation extent. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can efficiently reduce the signal power dynamic range up to 26.5% while the SNR is still sufficient for keeping BER<;10-6 (using OOK-NRZ modulation format).


We consider a joint sensor and controller design problem for linear Gaussian stochastic systems in which a weighted sum of quadratic control cost and the amount of information acquired by the sensor is minimized. This problem formulation is motivated by situations where a control law must be designed in the presence of sensing, communication, and privacy constraints. We show that an optimal linear joint sensor-controller policy is comprised of a linear sensor, Kalman filter, and a certainty equivalence controller, and can be synthesized by a numerically efficient algorithm based on semidefinite programming (SDP).


Many different treatments are available for pancreatic cancer (PC), including surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, but these treatments are often ineffective at curing PC. Hence, identifying new and effective agents or strategies to improve therapeutic effects is critical. This study focused on the efficacy of dictamnine (DTM), a furan quinoline alkaloid extracted from Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz., in treating PC. Our in vitro results showed that DTM can mitigate cell proliferation and induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in two different human PC cell lines. Moreover, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was prevented during DTM treatment, reflected by reduced cell migration and invasion abilities. In vivo studies demonstrated that DTM treatment led to a remarkable inhibition of tumor growth in a xenograft nude mouse model. Mechanistic investigation showed that DTM might act by restraining constitutive and induced PI3K/AKT activity. In summary, our results demonstrated that DTM slows PC progression by inhibiting the activity of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and its downstream effectors and that DTM is effective as a pathway-specific cancer therapy. These findings could provide a greater understanding of the function of anticancer drugs and new options for PC treatment.


Traditional methods of human motion analysis assume that fluctuations in cycles (e.g. gait motion) and repetitions (e.g. tennis shots) arise solely from noise. However, the fluctuations may have enough information to describe the properties of motion. Recently, the fluctuations in motion have been analysed based on the concepts of variability and stability, but they are not used uniformly. On the one hand, these concepts are often mixed in the existing literature, while on the other hand, these concepts have been related to different methods for non-linear and chaotic time series analysis. After the clarification of these concepts, this dissertation presents the analysis of the evidence for chaos in cycling motion. Further, new algorithms are described for the analysis of the variability of the observed variables from the gait motion by means of a novel curve registration method. Finally, a novel approach for the estimation of torque variation from pedal motion during cycling ergometry is introduced and validated. This thesis includes three main parts. In the first part, a case study of knee motion during cycling ergometry is presented using the state-of-the-art tools. Non-linear methods and hypothesis testing based on surrogate data were used to analyse whether the aperiodic behaviour of noisy data captured from knee motion data originating from a low-dimensional deterministic (possibly chaotic) process or whether it was governed by stochastic ones. The critical sensitivity of chaotic systems to both the initial conditions and perturbations may explain the irregular behaviour of pedalling motion. However, the time series recorded from knee motion did not show a clear scaling region typical in chaotic time series. Further, evidence of chaos based on surrogate data could not be found for all time series. In addition, an improvement of the statistical criterion for hypothesis testing based on surrogate data is discussed. In the second part, a novel tool for curve registration that facilitates the analysis of cycles in cyclic motion is presented and validated using gait acceleration data. The equalized DBA (eDBA) method calculates the average of a set of cycles based on dynamic time warping (DTW) and a modification of DTW barycentric averaging (DBA). The eDBA algorithm allows the study of the kinematic variables in cyclic motion depending on the phase using the eDBA average cycle as the reference for phase registration. A novel quality definition is given which provides a criterion for the selection of the best phase angle for further analysis. Further, the effects of phase registration using the eDBA method on Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs) are described. The quality of the SOMs and the classification rate improved when the registration was applied in the preprocessing step. In the third part, a novel approach for the estimation of torque variation from pedal motion in cycling ergometry is presented and validated. For an ergometer with almost constant brake torque, we may assume that variations in the net torque can be extracted from the pedal motion alone. The key problem is to reliably estimate the angular pedal acceleration from measurements of pedal motion, which can be made in the laboratory using motion-capturing with two light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or a plain commercial video camera with two light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The results from video were close to motion capturing data (MoCap) results when a novel method for the correction of the marker position was applied.


Mobile phone coverage has grown, particularly within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), presenting an opportunity to augment routine health surveillance programs. Several LMICs and global health partners are seeking opportunities to launch basic mobile phone–based surveys of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The increasing use of such technology in LMICs brings forth a cluster of ethical challenges; however, much of the existing literature regarding the ethics of mobile or digital health focuses on the use of technologies in high-income countries and does not consider directly the specific ethical issues associated with the conduct of mobile phone surveys (MPS) for NCD risk factor surveillance in LMICs. In this paper, we explore conceptually several of the central ethics issues in this domain, which mainly track the three phases of the MPS process: predata collection, during data collection, and postdata collection. These include identifying the nature of the activity; stakeholder engagement; appropriate design; anticipating and managing potential harms and benefits; consent; reaching intended respondents; data ownership, access and use; and ensuring LMIC sustainability. We call for future work to develop an ethics framework and guidance for the use of mobile phones for disease surveillance globally.


This article examines the role of the Supreme Court in the development of the Mexican political system. The judiciary provided an important source of regime legitimation, as it allowed for the consolidation of a state of legality and a claim to constitutional rule of law, at least in discourse. However, the judiciary was in effect politically subordinated to the logic of dominant party rule through both specific constitutional reforms since 1917 that weakened the possibility of judicial independence and a politics of institutional and political co-optation. The constitutional reform of 1994 has significantly altered the nature of the relationship between the executive and the Supreme Court.