Background: One of the main symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as an anxiety disorder, is a disability to forget the traumatic event. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of estradiol on different stages of conditioned fear memory extinction in PTSD. Materials and Methods: For PTSD induction, combination of Shock and Single Prolonged Stress model (S+SPS) was used. In order to assess conditioned fear memory extinction, 7 days after PTSD induction, animals were placed back into the shock chamber for 9 minutes without receiving any electric shock and their freezing behavior was measured in this time (3 sections, each section 3 min). The first test is an index of extinction learning. The second test, as same as the first one, was performed one day after the first test. During the second test, retrieval and reconsolidation of memory extinction were occurred. Estradiol injection (90, 180 and 360 mg/kg) in treated groups or vehicle injection (the control group) was done half an hour before the tests. Results: Results showed that estradiol administration, at the dose of 180 mg/kg, significantly decreased the freezing behaviors in all three sections of the two tests. Conclusion: Estradiol has a dose-dependent effect on acquisition, retrieval and consolidation of fear memory extinction in PTSD animals. Subcutaneous injection of 180mg/kg estradiol can enhance all three phases, acquisition, consolidation and retrieval of fear memory extinction.


We report on the effect of oxygen disorder in the CuO chains on the superconducting properties of oxygen depleted YBa_(2)Cu_(3)O_(x)(YBCO). While moderate disorder, induced thermally, depresses the critical temperature as a result of a reduced carrier concentration, strong oxygen disorder and chain fragmentation induced by low energy (80 keV) He^(+) irradiation suppresses the critical temperature beyond the values expected from the reduction of the carrier density. This provides an experimental evidence of pair breaking by chain disorder and outlines the importance of chain states in the pairing mechanism in the YBCO family.


1. Elucidating the full eco-evolutionary consequences of climate change requires quantifying the impact of extreme climatic events (ECEs) on selective landscapes of key phenotypic traits that mediate responses to changing environments. Episodes of strong ECE-induced selection could directly alter population composition, and potentially drive micro-evolution. However, to date, few studies have quantified ECE-induced selection on key traits, meaning that immediate and longer-term eco-evolutionary implications cannot yet be considered. 2. One widely-expressed trait that allows individuals to respond to changing seasonal environments, and directly shapes spatio-seasonal population dynamics, is seasonal migration versus residence. Many populations show considerable among-individual phenotypic variation, resulting in 'partial migration'. However, variation in the magnitude of direct survival selection on migration versus residence has not been rigorously quantified, and empirical evidence of whether seasonal ECEs induce, intensify, weaken or reverse such selection is lacking. 3. We designed full-annual-cycle multi-state capture-recapture models that allow estimation of seasonal survival probabilities of migrants and residents from spatio-temporally heterogeneous individual resightings. We fitted these models to nine years of geographically extensive year-round resighting data from partially migratory European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis). We thereby quantified seasonal and annual survival selection on migration versus residence across benign and historically extreme non-breeding season (winter) conditions, and tested whether selection differed between females and males. 4. We show that two of four observed ECEs, defined as severe winter storms causing overall low survival, were associated with very strong seasonal survival selection against residence. These episodes dwarfed the weak selection or neutrality evident otherwise, and hence caused selection through overall annual survival. The ECE that caused highest overall mortality and strongest selection also caused sex-biased mortality, but there was little overall evidence of sex-biased selection on migration versus residence. 5. Our results imply that seasonal ECEs and associated mortality can substantially shape the landscape of survival selection on migration versus residence. Such ECE-induced phenotypic selection will directly alter migrant and resident frequencies, and thereby alter immediate spatio-seasonal population dynamics. Given underlying additive genetic variation, such ECEs could potentially cause micro-evolutionary changes in seasonal migration, and thereby cause complex eco-evolutionary population responses to changing seasonal environments.


Examinations were made of three sections of trachea obtained from eight dogs. The sections examined were at the regions of the second ring caudal to the larynx, the thoracic inlet, and the origin of the brachiocephalic trunk. Measurements were made of the lateral and ventrodorsal diameters, the lumen area of the trachea, the width and thickness of the tracheal cartilages, and the thickness of the trachealis muscle. Cell counts-per-square-micrometer of the cartilage and trachealis muscle were made. The results of these measurements were subjected to statistical analyses by means of one-way and two-way analyses of variance. The tracheal diameters, cartialge thickness, muscle thickness, and tracheal lumen area had significantly different measurements among the areas compared with both statistical methods. Ventrodorsal tracheal diameter and lumen area were not found to have significantly different measurements between the levels of the thoracic inlet and the brachiocephalic trunk. The cell counts did not have significantly different values among the areas considered when body weight was not a factor, but the values were significant when weight was a factor.


The aim of this research is to determine the relationship among yield and some yield components of dry bean using correlation and path coefficient analysis. The experiment was carried out in irrigated conditions during 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 at the East of Turkey (Van-Gevas ecological conditions). In this study, 12 dry bean cultivars were used. The experiment was designed in a complete randomized block design with three replications. Positively significant relationships were found among seed yield and biological yield per unit and seed yield per plant, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant. According to path coefficient analysis, there were strong direct effects of the biological yield, 1000-seed weight, seed yield per plant, plant height and number of seeds per plant respectively.


Sweet majoram (Majorana hortensis L.) is one of the native Iranian medicinal plants, which due to its aromatic secondary metabolites is used in traditional medicine. In production of medicinal plants, application of organic inputs has especial role in sustainable agriculture. Organic inputs, such as manures and compost, other than providing the necessary elements for plant growth, could improve the physiochemical structure of soil. This research was conducted to evaluate the growth traits, quantitative and qualitative yield, and constituents of essential oil of sweet majoram under the application of compost extract and inoculation of biofertilizers. The experiment was performed as split plot in time with three replications at Research Greenhouse of Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran, in 2012. Main plots were 16 fertilizer combinations (Azotobacter (Azotobacter paspali), (B1), Azospirillum (Azospirillum brasilense) (B2), mycorrhiza (Glomus intraradaices) (B3), 10% compost extract (C1), 20% compost extract (C2), 30% compost extract (C3), B1C1, B1C2, B1C3, B2C1, B2C2, B2C3, B3C1, B3C2, B3C3 and control) and subplots were three cutting stages during the growing season. Results showed that height of main stem, dry and fresh weight of sweet majoram was significantly affected by single and combined application of biofertilizer inoculation and compost extract at the first cutting and were higher than the second and third cuttings. Also, the most significant increase in height of main stem, fresh and dry weight and essential oil content of sweet majoram (43.3 cm, 46.07 g/m, 27.11 g/m and 0.89%, respectively) was observed in C1B3 treatmeent. Constituents of essential oil were significantly affected by single and combined applications of biofertilizer inoculation and compost extract. Among the constituents, terpinen-4-ol (18.01%) and cissabinene hydrate (15.4%) allocated the highest and ledene (15.4%) and camphene (0.01%) the lowest amount.


Power control based on signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) is more preferable than signal strength-based power control since the former's quality of service (QoS) is guaranteed. However, power control based on SIR alone usually causes the vicious circle problem, due to which every mobile station (MS) continuously increases its transmitted power (Tx/spl I.bar/power) to achieve the desired SIR (SIRd). The vicious circle problem leads to an infeasible power control problem, due to which the MS transmits with maximum power but fails to achieve the desired SIR. In this paper, power transmitted by each MS is used to individually weight its SIR-based power control adjusting factors, outputted from a fuzzy proportional-plus-integral controller (FPIC) in order to prevent each MS from the infeasible power control problem. In direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) cellular systems, QoS enhancement basically reduces the system capacity. By solving the infeasible power control problem by the proposed algorithm, the average outage probability, the average infeasible outage probability, and the average transmitted power of each mobile station, as shown in simulation results, are reduced. These show that the proposed power control algorithm can simultaneously enhance QoS and the capacity of the system.


To implement the Strategic development plan for the Republic of Kazakhstan in accordance with the codes and standards of the International Labor Organization, it became necessary to develop the Concept of Safe Work. Review of the international labor codes and standards in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows various approaches of the current system of public administration. Development of the international practice in the field of occupational safety and health is moving from compensatory to preventive measures. When developing the Concept of Safe Work in the Republic of Kazakhstan, it is required to consider the international labor codes and standards, and the experience of the Great Britain, Germany, Finland, France, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, the United States, and Japan. Tripartite and risk-oriented approaches are of particular interest. It is also necessary to study and adapt the efficient international experience: monitoring based on the assessment of occupational risks at the enterprises; participation of the state inspectors in the work of the centralized committee for monitoring and control over the observance of labor legislation; control and verification of the use of allocated funds; participation of insurance organizations in the financial measures for occupational safety and health, subsidization for the modernization of the outdated equipment; the program to assist and support small and medium-sized enterprises in risk assessment; system and culture of safe work with personal responsibility of the manager; laboratories for checking the classification of personal protective equipment by purpose depending on the protective properties. Scientific research, adaptation, and development of the scientific and methodological foundations for ensuring safe work in the priority sectors of the country economy, as well as bringing the safety and health management system of the Republic of Kazakhstan in line with the codes and standards of the International Labor Organization, are of great importance.


Few question the benefits technology provides for learners, teachers and administrators. Yet, few touch on what undesirable effects it may have on individuals' educational and social wellbeing. Based on this premise, this study aims to provide a fair picture of a group of English Language Teaching (ELT) students reflecting on their experience drawn from a blogging facility used as a platform for sharing and commenting on peer performance in classroom setting. The participants consisted of prospective teachers of English who were being educated at the ELT Department of University of Cukurova, and received a two-term (eight months) course of Teaching Language Skills in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years. Following each course session, participants were invited to make comments on a blogging platform; at the end of each term, all expressed individual perceptions on this experience, both on the blog and in face to face interviews, some coming up with positive and some with negative views. The study may have significant implications for courses aiming to make use of this facility as part of the syllabus.


Computers are now involved in many economic transactions and can capture data associated with these transactions, which can then be manipulated and analyzed. Conventional statistical and econometric techniques such as regression often work well, but there are issues unique to big datasets that may require different tools. First, the sheer size of the data involved may require more powerful data manipulation tools. Second, we may have more potential predictors than appropriate for estimation, so we need to do some kind of variable selection. Third, large datasets may allow for more flexible relationships than simple linear models. Machine learning techniques such as decision trees, support vector machines, neural nets, deep learning, and so on may allow for more effective ways to model complex relationships. In this essay, I will describe a few of these tools for manipulating and analyzing big data. I believe that these methods have a lot to offer and should be more widely known and used by economists.


•ôGH•ô Abstract•ôGS•ô We studied the effects of body segment inertia parameters (BSPs) on the results of biomechanical analyses of human movement. The vertical jump was taken as an example. A subject was asked to perform 15 vertical jumps. He was measured using an automatic coordinate acquisition system and a force platform. Kinematic and kinetic variables were computed using five BSP sets: 1) Average for three-year-old Japanese children reported by Yokoi and others (1986), 2) Regression equation for young adult Japanese athletes reported by Ae and others (1992), 3) Average for young adult Japanese athletes reported by Ae and others (1992), 4) Average for young Japanese adults reported by Matsui (1956), and 5) Average for aged Caucasian cadavers reported by Chandler and others (1975). Vertical displacement and velocity for body segments and for the whole body exhibit few differences among the five sets. In time-series curves for each joint torque, the variance shown by a single subject was more pronounced than the variance due to differences in BSPs. These results suggest that selection of BSPs apparently has little effect on the results of kinetic analyses of human movement and on conclusions based on these results.


It is expected that solute dispersivity is determined by the physical properties of the transport medium. However, experimental investigations to date have not identified such a relationship. In this work, we examine the relation between soil physical parameters, experimental parameters and dispersivity. Experimental data were compiled for 291 repacked, saturated homogeneous laboratory column experiments reported in the literature. Using multiple stepwise regression and classification and regression tree analysis, the relationships between soil physical parameters (sand, silt and clay content, bulk density, water content), experimental parameters (pore‐water velocity, column length and diameter), and transport parameters (dispersion coefficient and dispersivity) were examined. Regression tree analysis showed that clay content was the most important factor controlling dispersivity, followed by column diameter. Columns of length less than approximately 10 cm generally resulted in greater dispersivities than longer columns. A scale effect appeared significant with increasing column diameter, but was not apparent with column length. These results suggest that it may only be possible to relate dispersivity to intrinsic soil properties by explicitly accounting for the experimental design, including column geometry, inlet dead volume and soil packing.


This paper describes an obstacle detection and tracking algorithm applied to multibeam forward-looking sonar images. It is used by an obstacle avoidance system to be fitted in a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV). The real-time data flow from the sonar output is represented as an image and pre-processed (smoothing filters, region-based segmentation and feature extraction) by the system to identify possible obstacles. Region-based segmentation has been chosen due to the noisy nature of sonar images, where line and point features are difficult to detect. The obstacles are then tracked by applying a Kalman filter to each one. We use a nearest neighbour algorithm to associate new predictions to new obstacles in the scene. In subsequent frames the preprocessing phase is optimised by limiting the amount of processed data to those parts of the images where the obstacles are predicted to appear. New obstacles are also constantly being detected by less cumbersome segmentation methods (subsampled images, smaller window smoothing, and simple thresholding). The algorithm performs consistently well using real data sets from two different sonar sensors. A major constraint for the system was to perform in real-time. Indeed, previous work in the Ocean Systems Laboratory, Heriot-Watt University, based in standard vision optical flow techniques proved to be too costly in terms of processing power. These problems have now been solved without jeopardising the quality of the results. We present results of tracking using real data sets and discuss possible implementations.


Specific transcription factors and co-regulatory proteins cooperate to regulate the expression of phenotypic genes involved in driving the specific cell lineage. Epigenetic mechanisms such as histone and DNA CpG-methylation that are controlled by regulatory complexes, also contribute in regulating cell fate decisions by regulating cellular transcription. During cancer a transformed cell faces cascade of external and internal signaling events that cause disruption of regulatory complexes and lead to failure of transcriptional machinery to run microenvironment. In general, together perturbation of transcriptional and epigenetic events in a cancer cell results in abnormal regulation of cell proliferation, growth and differentiation. These major biological mechanisms regulate tumor growth and progression during cancer. Recent findings have explored the existence of cancer "stem-like" cells in the tumor that are resistant to chemo-therapy and radio-therapy. These "stem-like" cells can be identified in the tumor due to the expression of marker genes and epigenetic modifications. Many specific post-translational epigenetic modifications such as, acetylation, methylation and phosphorylation of the histones are linked to transcriptional regulation of cancer "stem-like" phenotype. The current review briefly summarizes the importance of transcriptional regulatory complexes, epigenetic markings and molecular events involved in "stem-like" cell fate determination during cancer.


1. The activity of single units was recorded from the striate cortex (area 17) of anaesthetized, paralysed cats. Responses to stimuli moving at different velocities were examined. 2. Peak evoked firing frequency, rather than fotal evoked spikes, is used throughout as a measure of response. The former mea‐ure gives curves of response vs. velocity that correlate well with curves of contrast sensitivity vs. velocity, wheras the latter does not. 3. Cortical receptive fields were classified according to the criteria of Hubel & Wiesel. Simple cells were found to prefer lower velocities (mean 2‐2 deg sec‐1) than complex cells (mean 18–8 deg sec‐1). The response of simple cells to stimuli moving faster than 20 deg sec‐1 is generally poor; complex cells usually discharge briskly to these speeds. 4. Cells classified as hypercomplex by the end‐inhibition criterion were further chara‐terized as type I or type II, according to the suggestion of Dreher (1972). Type I units are indistinguishable from simple cells in their velocity tuning, and type II units equally clearly resemble complex cells. These results are therefor consistent with Dreher's sbudivision. 5. Teh selectivity of cells for velocity is variable but can be quite marked. The average selectivities of simple and complex cells are not significantly different. There is an inverse correlation between preferred velocity and the sharpness of velocity selectivity for simple cells; no trend is apparent for other cell types. 6. No clear correlation is observed between the velocity preferances of units and their degree of direction selectivity, or receptive field arrangement. Simple cells with 'sustainef' temporal responses to flashed stimuli tend to prefer slower rates of movement than 'transient' ones, and to be less selective for velocity. 7. The results for different cortical cell‐types are compared with the velocity tuning of X‐ and Y‐cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus.


Three dimensional galaxy clustering measurements provide a wealth of cosmological information. However, obtaining spectra of galaxies is expensive, and surveys often only measure redshifts for a subsample of a target galaxy population. Provided that the spectroscopic data is representative, we argue that angular pair upweighting should be used in these situations to improve the 3D clustering measurements. We present a toy model showing mathematically how such a weighting can improve measurements, and provide a practical example of its application using mocks created for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Our analysis of mocks suggests that, if an angular clustering measurement is available over twice the area covered spectroscopically, weighting gives a $\sim$10-20% reduction of the variance of the monopole correlation function on the BAO scale.


The first-order (in v/c) vector wave equation for electromagnetic waves in moving media is solved for radially moving media. Two modes of flow are considered, the two-dimensional case of media flowing radially, symmetrically with respect to the z axis, and the three-dimensional case where the flow is symmetrical with respect to the origin. It is shown that the solution differs from the case of media at rest by a scalar multiplicative factor, involving the radius and the velocity. Propagation of a plane wave is discussed, and the local behavior is interpreted in terms of a ray propagating in the moving medium. It is shown that for an outgoing flow, the ray moves away from the origin in the finite domain. At large distances the ray enters and emerges from the medium in the same direction. Scattering by a cylinder and by a sphere, symmetrical with respect to the two-, and three-dimensional flow, respectively, are discussed. It is shown that the scattering amplitude is velocity-independent. This result is contrasted with former cases of scattering in moving media.


This work describes the synthesis as well as the photophysical and mesomorphic properties of new luminescent liquid crystals able to emit narrow bands in the visible range, and featuring lanthanide ions incorporated into pro-mesogenic coronands. In order to induce liquid crystalline phases, polar pendent arms with benzoate or benzamide groups have been attached onto the macrocyclic core of the ligands. These arms are further fitted with long aliphatic chains with the purpose of increasing the anisotropy of the system and of generating selective intermolecular interactions pertaining to the formation of the mesophases. Aromatic rings inserted into the receptor function as chromophoric groups for sensitizing the luminescence of lanthanide ions. The first part of this work deals with the study of dibenzo-18-crown-6 derivatives. However, the complexes formed with these ligands do not show any mesomorphic properties and their luminescence in the solid state is low, which led us to improve the design of the receptors. In the second part, ligands from the (2.2) coronand family have been synthesized. The latter are pro-mesogenic since they are able to self-organize into hexagonal columnar superstructures after complexation of a lanthanide ion. This change of state represents the macroscopic expression of the host-guest interaction. In other words, the complexation induces a change in the information coding of the receptor enabling it to self-associate with neighbours, leading to the formation of the mesophase. This is a kind of information transcription, from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale. Moreover, the mesomorphic properties of the complexes have been investigated in terms of the structure of the ligand, the nature of the metal ion and the counter-ion. Photophysical properties of the ligands and the complexes have also been studied. Time-resolved luminescence showed emission of the lanthanide ions in the solid state as well as in the liquid crystalline state. Finally, it was shown how the europium ion can be used as a probe to accurately determine a crystalline-to-liquid crystalline phase transition in Eu-containing liquid crystals. The luminescence changes around the phase transition do not simply arise from common factors, such as the increase in temperature-dependant deactivating processes, and the intensity decrease due to the lower value of the refractive index in the mesophase. There is an additive contribution intrinsic to the phase change and which is the manifestation of the macroscopic effect onto the non-radiative deactivating processes of the metal.


Expansion of global networks and storing the extensive amount of information in various websites, create a serious needs for flltering the irrelevant information in a personalized way. Collaborative filtering or recommender system is a filtering technique that allows incorporation of the profiles which can be implicitly learned from previous activities [1]. We have proposed the CoCo-CF1 as an effective method suitable for collaborating filtering running in a Jini-grid computing2 platform and operational in a distributed environment. The CoCo-CF generates representative records from stored preferences and seeks for the answer with the best fitness in the recommender system. We have considered the user satisfaction rate, feasibility of available results, user familiarity and average response time as the evaluation factors. Also we have focused on mean absolute deviation, mean square error and ranked evaluation as the performance evaluation parameters. The obtained results confirm that the CoCo-CF is a successful method for collaborative filtering.


Aim: To establish the epidemiology of the grey crescent in a white population within the age range most susceptible to glaucoma. Methods: Bruce Shields was first to use this term to describe a localised, physiological pigmentation of the optic nerve neuroretinal rim tissue that is distinct from peripapillary pigmentation. An experienced glaucomatologist (KFD) evaluated stereofundus photographs of the participants of the Reykjavik Eye Study (RES)—a random sample from the national population census including people 50 years and older. 1012 right eyes could be evaluated for grey crescent. Results: The prevalence of grey crescent in the right eyes was 22.0% (95% CI 10 to 25). It was more commonly found in women (27.0%: 95% CI 23 to 30) than in men (17.0%: 95% CI 14 to 21), and was most often located temporally (36.9%), 360° (15.9%), or nasally (15.4%). The spherical equivalent was +1.30 dioptres (D) for those with and +0.80 D for those without grey crescent (p = 0.002), respectively. Vertical optic disc diameters were 0.203 v 0.195 units (p<0.001). There was no difference in the prevalence of grey crescent in glaucomatous or non-glaucomatous eyes (OR = 1.05, 95% CI 0.49 to 2.26). The prevalence of a grey crescent was inversely related to the prevalence of peripapillary atrophy (p = 0.001). Conclusions: The grey crescent needs to be recognised as a physiological variant in order to avoid falsely labelling eyes as having glaucomatous optic nerve damage.


: Inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) has proved to be an effective corticosteroid in the treatment of asthma, acting as if it were equivalent to about 5 to 10 mg of prednisolone per day but without the systemic side effects that may accompany oral treatment. The effectiveness of inhaled BDP is not associated with significant local side effects, the most common of which has proved to be oral candidiasis. There is no evidence to date that inhaled BDP promotes lung infection or damages the bronchial epithelium.


We consider a setting where agents are subject to two types of collective action problems, any group user's individual extraction inducing an externality on others in the same group (intra-group problem), while aggregate extraction in one group induces an externality on each agent in other groups (intergroup problem). One illustrative example of such a setting corresponds to a case where a common-pool resource is jointly extracted in local areas, which are managed by separate groups of individuals extracting the resource in their respective location. The interplay between both types of externality is shown to affect the results obtained in classical models of common-pool resources. We show how the fundamentals affect the individual strategies and welfare compared to the benchmark commons problems. Finally, different initiatives (local cooperation, inter-area agreements) are analyzed to assess whether they may alleviate the problems, and to understand the conditions under which they do so.


Evidence based on a survey of professional firms and in-depth interviews with decision-makers responsible for selection examines the most frequently used and valued methods for hiring qualified professional staff in a sample of Scottish accountancy, architecture, law, and surveying practices. The survey suggests an emphasis on personality, work experience and general attributes for senior posts, and that high value is placed on interviews and informal sources of information in assessing these qualities. Firm characteristics and context, particularly size of practice, the role of the partner in the selection process, labour supply, and perception of recruitment difficulties are shown to be related to the type of selection method used. Consistent with the view of selection as a social process, the case study evidence suggests that 'informality' may play an important role when partners responsible for selection have long tenure with their firm and when firms experience recruitment difficulties. More generally, informal networks and interview processes may act as effective information and communication vehicles for small and medium-sized professional practices.


From nitrogen-15 spin-lattice relaxation times and nuclear Overhauser enhancements, the rotational correlation time &T;c for 15NH4+ was determined in a series of solvents. Values of &T;c range from 0.46 to 20 picoseconds. The solvent dependence of &T;c cannot be explained in terms of solvent polarity, molecular dipole moment, solvent basicity, solvent dielectric relaxation, or solvent viscosity. The rapid rotation and the variation with solvent can be accounted for by a model that involves hydrogen bonding of an NH proton to more than one solvent molecule in a disordered solvation environment.


AIM : Childhood obesity has become a global public health crisis. This study aims to determine the prevalence of obesity and related factors in primary school students in Istanbul. Methods: This research was conducted between May 2015 and January 2018. A school was selected from each of the districts of Istanbul and research was conducted in 39 primary schools. The study was conducted with a total of 5620 students aged 8–12. The students' descriptive characteristics, eating habits, and activity levels were questioned using the Student Information Form. Subsequently, anthropometric measurements (height–weight) were performed for body mass index assessment. Results: The prevalence of childhood obesity was found to be 15.7%. This rate was 14.1% for female students and 17.3% for male students. Body mass index of students was related to durations of time spent on watching TV (r = .064, p < .05) and computer (r = .037, p < .05). In addition, the body mass index was differentiated by gender (p = .004); male students had a higher body mass index compared to female students, and body mass index was higher in those who skipped main meals (p = .001) and those who did not eat regular breakfast (p = .001). Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity in children was found to be quite high. It may easily be stated that obesity prevalence is rapidly increasing in Turkey; therefore, it should be done through regular screening programs, and preventive interventions should be planned.


BACKGROUND
Aedes aegypti mosquito-borne viruses including Zika (ZIKV), dengue (DENV), yellow fever (YFV), and chikungunya (CHIKV) have emerged and re-emerged globally, resulting in an elevated burden of human disease. Aedes aegypti is found worldwide in tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate areas. The characterization of mosquito blood meals is essential to understand the transmission dynamics of mosquito-vectored pathogens.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Here, we report Ae. aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus host feeding patterns and arbovirus transmission in Northern Mexico using a metabarcoding-like approach with next-generation deep sequencing technology. A total of 145 Ae. aegypti yielded a blood meal analysis result with 107 (73.8%) for a single vertebrate species and 38 (26.2%) for two or more. Among the single host blood meals for Ae. aegypti, 28.0% were from humans, 54.2% from dogs, 16.8% from cats, and 1.0% from tortoises. Among those with more than one species present, 65.9% were from humans and dogs. For Cx. quinquefasciatus, 388 individuals yielded information with 326 (84%) being from a single host and 63 (16.2%) being from two or more hosts. Of the single species blood meals, 77.9% were from dogs, 6.1% from chickens, 3.1% from house sparrows, 2.4% from humans, while the remaining 10.5% derived from other 12 host species. Among those which had fed on more than one species, 11% were from dogs and humans, and 89% of other host species combinations. Forage ratio analysis revealed dog as the most over-utilized host by Ae. aegypti (= 4.3) and Cx. quinquefasciatus (= 5.6) and the human blood index at 39% and 4%, respectively. A total of 2,941 host-seeking female Ae. aegypti and 3,536 Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes were collected in the surveyed area. Of these, 118 Ae. aegypti pools and 37 Cx. quinquefasciatus pools were screened for seven arboviruses (ZIKV, DENV 1-4, CHIKV, and West Nile virus (WNV)) using qRT-PCR and none were positive (point prevalence = 0%). The 95%-exact upper limit confidence interval was 0.07% and 0.17% for Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE
The low human blood feeding rate in Ae. aegypti, high rate of feeding on mammals by Cx. quinquefasciatus, and the potential risk to transmission dynamics of arboviruses in highly urbanized areas of Northern Mexico is discussed.


Stress can cause anxiety that creates imbalances in the autonomic nervous system and internal secretions leading to mental and somatic disease. Purpose in life (PIL) and ikigai (two social attitudes) help individuals to integrate psychological events and effectively cope with stress. PIL/ikigai provides an intrinsic motivation and is thought to develop primarily during adolescence. There is a correlation with such positive experiences as spending time in beautiful natural surroundings and exposure to warm human relationships at various developmental stages. PIL/ikigai is a physiological frontal lobe function. Adolescence is a critical period of development for PIL/ikigai and neuronal connections are strengthened by secretion of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and β-endorphin. We propose that there is an important physiologic role of PIL/ikigai and that critical periods of brain development influence development of PIL/ikigai.


Multiple pterygium syndrome is characterized by a number of phenotypic features, small stature, webbing of the neck, elbows, and/or knees, and joint contractures. In this report, we present an 11-year-old boy who had the classical findings of multiple pterygium syndrome, and his chromosomal analysis revealed a 47,XXY karyotype. Interestingly, he did not show any of the main clinical signs of Klinefelter syndrome. This patient appears to be the first reported case in the literature in which a non-mosaic 47,XXY karyotype has been found in a patient with multiple pterygium syndrome. The aim of the present report is to describe a non-classic Klinefelter syndrome associated with multiple pterygium syndrome and to emphasize the importance of karyotype analysis in patients with multiple pterygium syndrome.


Aim: Evaluate the efficacy and safety of intraoperative sono-photodynamic therapy (iSPDT) with photosensitizer photolon in rats with orthotopic C6 glioma and then to test this therapy in patients with recurrent malignant gliomas.
Materials and methods: The experimental study was performed on 5 groups of rats bearing C6 glioma: untreated control, tumor resection (TR) only, TR+intraoperative sonodynamic therapy (iSDT), TR+intraoperative photodynamic therapy (iPDT) and TR+iSPDT. Photolon was injected intravenously shortly before TR that was followed by iSDT and iPDT. The criterium of treatment effeicacy was median overall survival (OS) of the animals. The clinical Phase I study comprised 15 patients with recurrent malignant gliomas. The first stage of the treatment was total/subtotal TR followed by intravenous administration of photolon; then the tumor bed was consequtively exposed to ultrasound (1.04 MHz; 1 W/cm2; 10 min.) and laser irradiation (50-100 J/cm2) 0.5 h after the start of photolon infusion. Within 4 weeks after discharge from hospital all patients underwent chemotherapy. The toxicity of anticancer therapies was evaluated on the basis of frequency and severity of adverse reactions accounted in accordance with CTCAE (Version 4.0). The criteria for assessing antitumor efficacy were: MRI images at 3 and 6 months after iSPDT treatment, median OS and post-iSPDT median times.
Results: TR+iSPDT of orthotopic C6 glioma increased the median OS of rats to 38 days in comparison with 18 days in the TR group (p=0.001); the combined effect of iSDT and iPDT was approximately additive. In the human patients, treatmentrelated toxicities were of grade I/II only. The median OS of died patients from first diagnosis was 23.9 months in iSPDT and 12.1 months in control group, respective (p=0.004). The post-iSPDT median survival was 8.2 month, while in the control group (without iSPDT) it was 5.8 month (p=0.012).
Conclusions: iSPDT with photolon may be considered as a fairly safe and potentially effective option for the adjuvant management of malignant brain tumors.


Training for the Severely Handicapped Child. By Milan Morgenstern, Helen L\l=o"\w-Beer,and Franz Morgenstern. Translated by Franz Morgenstern. Preface by Jack Tizard. Price, 21s. Pp 134. Spastics Society Medical Education and Information Unit in Association with William Heinemann Medical Books, Ltd., The Press at Kingswood, Tadworth, Surrey, England, 1966. The most encouraging aspect of the book, to this reviewer, is already implicit in the title. "Practical Training" is surely the aspect of therapy which seems likely in the present state of our knowledge to offer most promise for the amelioration of the lot and the useful function of the severely handicapped child. As was amply demonstrated at the most recent meeting of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy in November 1966, regimes of "therapy" which claim to be capable of a fundamental alteration of the natural processes underlying established mental defect and cerebral palsy as yet merit merely the verdict of "not proven". This little book, as indeed is true for all publications from the Spastics Society, is stimulating and provocative. This is, however, not to say that the theories and practices it invokes should automatically be accepted


Abstract : Too many students are graduating from colleges and universities without taking a single course in information assurance. The need for students to receive more and better education in information assurance is undisputed. For those educational institutions already requiring and/or teaching such courses, the educational experience can be greatly enhanced with a supportive laboratory environment where carefully chosen hands-on tutorials or exercises can be assigned to support the material being presented in the classroom. This paper describes the experiences of supporting information assurance exercises and tutorials at the Naval Postgraduate School. Recommendations are provided so that others may learn from the experience.


Abstract. The term "Environmental Flows (EF)" may be defined as "the quantity, timing and quality of water flows required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems and the human livelihoods and well-being that depend on these ecosystems". It may be regarded as "water for nature" or "environmental demand" similar to crop water requirements, industrial or domestic water demand. The practice of EF is still limited to a few developed countries such as Australia, South Africa and the UK. In many developing countries EF is rarely considered in water resources planning and is often deemed "unimportant". Sri Lanka, being a developing country, is no exception to this general rule. Although the country underwent an extensive irrigation/water resources development phase during the 1960s through to the 1980s, the concept of EF was hardly considered. However, as Sri Lanka's water resources are being exploited more and more for human usage, ecologists, water practitioners and policymakers alike have realized the importance of EF in sustaining not only freshwater and estuarine ecosystems, but also their services to humans. Hence estimation of EF has been made mandatory in environmental impact assessments (EIAs) of all large development projects involving river regulation/water abstraction. Considering EF is especially vital under the rapid urbanization and infrastructure development phase that dawned after the end of the war in the North and the East of the country in 2009. This paper details simple tools (including a software package which is under development) and methods that may be used for coarse scale estimation of EF at/near monitored locations on major rivers of Sri Lanka, along with example applications to two locations on River Mahaweli. It is hoped that these tools will help bridge the gap between EF science and its practice in Sri Lanka and other developing countries.


A model for the service capacity at link layer, for a wireless, link-adaptive system is presented. The model includes imperfections in the adaptation chain (estimation error, estimation delay, acquisition error), and implementation implications (switching hysteresis). Transceiver characteristics and imperfections are independently represented by separate matrices. The dependence of effective capacity Rmacrc on the impairments is discussed using analytical, numerical, and simulation results. Examples show that the above effects should not be neglected in realistic performance analysis at upper layers


Abstract The aim of this study was to examine the nematicidal properties of two defence inducers against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. A direct-contact bioassay was applied to evaluate the nematicidal effects of acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM) and methyl jasmonate (MEJA) on second-stage juveniles (J2). Nematodes were incubated in different concentrations of these compounds, and the numbers of immobile nematodes were counted after 24 and 48 h post incubation. Tap water was then added to verify whether the nematodes recovered or remained dead at 72 h. The percentage of dead nematodes was used as indicator for the toxicity of the different solutions. Our results show that ASM, in the formulation of Bion®, and MEJA have nematicidal properties.


Disease-free survival is increasingly being used as the primary endpoint of most trials testing adjuvant treatments in cancer. Other frequently used endpoints include overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and time to recurrence. These endpoints are often defined differently in different trials in the same type of cancer, leading to a lack of comparability among trials. In this Commentary, we used adjuvant studies in colon cancer as a model to address this issue. In a systematic review of the literature, we identified 52 studies of adjuvant treatment in colon cancer published in 1997-2006 that used eight other endpoints in addition to overall survival. Both the definition of these endpoints and the starting point for measuring time to the events that constituted these endpoints varied widely. A panel of experts on clinical research on colorectal cancer then reached consensus on the definition of each endpoint. Disease-free survival--defined as the time from randomization to any event, irrespective of cause--was considered to be the most informative endpoint for assessing the effect of treatment and therefore the most relevant to clinical practice. The proposed guidelines may add to the quality and cross-comparability of future studies of adjuvant treatments for cancer.


We studied karyotype and chromosomal characteristics of 3 species of five-toed jerboa from central Iran, including Allactaga firouzi, A. williamsi, and A. elater. This study revealed that the 3 species possessed a diploid number of 48 chromosomes. The first pair of chromosomes was significantly larger than other chromosomes in all 3 species. The total length of the haploid genome of Allactaga elater was longer than those of the other 2 species, and most of the chromosomes of the 3 species were metacentric. Based on total form percentage, interchromosomal asymmetry index, and centromeric index, Allactaga elater had the highest interchromosomal asymmetry. Allactaga firouzi showed the highest between-chromosomal symmetry based on the difference of range of relative length, coefficient of variability, and intrachromosomal asymmetry index. Cluster analysis showed that A. firouzi and A. williamsi have more affinity than previously thought.


The authors developed a micromachining process for the fabrication of highly sensitive capacitor probes to be used for displacement measurement of an atomic force cantilever. The capacitive structure consists of two adjacent single-crystal silicon beams, one carrying a sharp tip for the force interaction, the other being the counter-electrode. The air gap of 1.5 mu m separating the two electrodes is obtained by removal of the oxide in between by selective etching. The capacitance has a typical value of approximately=0.2 pF. Forces acting on the tip induce a bending of the cantilever and change the capacitance which can be detected by electronic circuits.


Unfavourable environmental factors of industry in the cities can cause changes in male reproductive system leading to infertility. The majority of chemical substances revealed in the atmosphere and in the ground of cities and regions are reprotoxicants with damaging effects on different stages of germinal cells maturation. Besides the environmental factors some occupational pollutants can have gonadotropic activity and also result in the disturbances of spermatogenesis. High incidence of male infertility dictates the necessity of wide-scale nature-conservative measures to protect environment and men from aggressive environmental factors.


The estimation problem for uncertain time-delay systems is addressed. A design method of reduced-order interval observers is proposed. The observer estimates the set of admissible values (the interval) for the state at each instant of time. The cases of known fixed delays and uncertain time-varying delays are analysed. The proposed approach can be applied to linear delay systems and nonlinear time-delay systems in the output canonical form. It involves the properties of quasi-monotone/Metzler/cooperative systems. In this framework, it is shown that if under a suitable coordinate transformation the delay-free subsystem is cooperative, then the delayed estimation error dynamics inherits this property. The conditions to find the observer gains are formulated in the form of LMI. The framework efficiency is demonstrated on examples of nonlinear systems.


Abstract:Progress has been limited in understanding the nature of Information Systems (is) planning and accomplishing its goals. Two problems which contribute fundamentally are the dynamism of is and the difficulty of integrating multiple perspectives on IS planning. Automated environments which support the is planning process must address these two issues, dynamism and integration. In this paper, three perspectives on the is planning process are reviewed. Knowledge-based techniques using Semantic Inheritance Nets are described as useful for view integration and for providing a flexible, dynamic, automated model of the is planning environment which is accessible to is tools. The use of scripting in IS planning models is examined as a way to address the issue of is dynamism. Implementation of these techniques is described in plexplan, a knowledge-based environment for is planning. Application of knowledge integration and model scripting in an instance of plexplan use is described.


Objective: Exposure to physical workplace violence is one of the most serious threats to employee safety. The aim of the present study was to examine whether physical violence at work increases the risk of health-related absence from work and is associated with a greater risk of health-related absence from work in certain subgroups defined by gender, age, and educational level. Method: The study draws on data from a health and morbidity survey from 2006 merged with register data for each year in the period from 2006 to 2015 (n = 14,250). Rare event logistic regression models were used to examine physical violence at work as a predictor of health-related absence from work. Results: Physical violence at work predicted health-related absence from work several years after being exposed. In the 10-year follow-up period, individuals who had been exposed to physical workplace violence had 1.67 times higher odds of health-related absence than nonexposed individuals. The study also showed that exposed women, persons above 40 years of age, and individuals with a higher educational level had higher odds of health-related absence from work than their nonexposed counterparts. Conclusion: Employers and workers' organizations should take action to support and help victims of physical workplace violence so that they may avoid future absence from the labor market. Victims of physical workplace violence are not affected by the incident only in the exposure year; they remain affected up to 8 years after.


To discover knowledge form the available volumes of learning objects, the tasks to manage, analyze, search, filter, and summarize them should be automated. This requires understanding of the objects' contents. The main objective of our work is to advance the state-of-the-art techniques in learning objects mining by developing and demonstrating the use of semantic understanding as basis of its mechanisms. The approach is based on semantic notions to represent text, and to estimate distances between the represented text contents of the objects. The representation reflects existing relations between concepts and facilitates accurate similarity judgments that results in better mining performance. Mining processes are carried out by the developed models and algorithms. In this paper, the application of the semantic understanding-based approach in clustering learning objects is presented. Experimental work is reported, and its results are presented and analyzed


Evidence for past basal melting of young (late Amazonian-aged), debris-covered glaciers in Mars ' mid-latitudes is extremely rare. Thus, it is widely thought that these viscous fl ow features (VFFs) have been perennially frozen to their beds. We identify an instance of recent, localized wet-based mid-latitude glaciation, evidenced by a candidate esker emerging from a VFF in a tectonic rift in Tempe Terra. Eskers are sedimentary ridges deposited in ice-walled meltwater conduits and are indicative of glacial melting. We compare the candidate esker to terrestrial analogues, present a geomorphic map of landforms in the rift, and develop a landsystem model to explain their formation. We propose that the candidate esker formed during a transient phase of wet-based glaciation. We then consider the similarity between the geologic setting of the new candidate esker and that of the only other candidate esker to be identi fi ed in association with an existing mid-latitude VFF; both are within tectonic graben/rifts proximal to volcanic provinces. Finally, we calculate potential basal temperatures for a range of VFF thicknesses, driving stresses, mean annual surface temperatures, and geothermal heat fl uxes, which unlike previous studies, include the possible role of internal strain heating. Strain heating can form an important additional heat source, especially in fl ow convergence zones, or where ice is warmer due to elevated surface temperatures or geothermal heat fl ux. Elevated geothermal heat fl ux within rifts, perhaps combined with locally-elevated strain heating, may have permitted


From a linear program and its asymmetric dual, invariant primal and dual problems are constructed. Regular mappings are defined between the solution spaces of the original and invariant problems. The notion of centrality is introduced and subsets of regular mappings are shown to be inversely related surjections of central elements, thus representing the original problems as invariant problems. A fixed-point problem involving an idempotent symmetric matrix is constructed from the invariant problems and the notion of centrality carried over to it; the non-negative central fixed-points are shown to map one-to-one to the central solutions to the invariant problems, thus representing the invariant problems as a fixed-point problem and, by transitivity, the original problems as a fixed-point problem.


Although location-based information systems can now be accessed from mobile devices, searching for information from an outdoor environment requires a significant amount of effort given the time-consuming manipulations that need to be made. Augmented-Reality (AR) based systems can help resolve these issues by reducing the physical effort required to input keywords onto a small keyboard, and the mental effort necessary to review the search results. But most AR systems do not consider media sharing environments where individual systems are not interoperable in respect of their media and browsing abilities. In this paper, we focus on a media environment for interoperable augmented-reality systems, making the assumption that such devices will become more wide spread and that many people will share individual media in a real-world space. Furthermore, we describe such emerging scenarios and new research issues. We also present a model to manage the futuristic data, making it similar to existing physical media, and show a practical example using the system we have developed.


OBJECTIVE. Efforts are under way to articulate environmental, psychosocial, and biological conditions that may predispose the development and maintenance of obesity. There is increasing evidence that adverse childhood experiences such as childhood abuse may be implicated in the development of obesity. Given the dearth of prospective evidence for this link, the objective of this study was to track body mass across development (from childhood, through adolescence, and into young adulthood [ie, ages 6–27]) in a prospective, longitudinal study of abused and nonabused female subjects. METHODS. Height and weight were obtained for 84 female subjects with substantiated childhood sexual abuse and 89 demographically similar comparison female subjects at 6 points during development. Obesity status was examined at various stages during development, and body-mass growth trajectories were contrasted across the 2 groups. It was hypothesized that, in comparison with their nonabused peers, abused female subjects would be more likely to (1) manifest obesity by early adulthood and (2) manifest high-risk growth trajectories throughout development. RESULTS. Obesity rates were not different across groups in childhood or adolescence. By young adulthood (ages 20–27), abused female subjects were significantly more likely to be obese (42.25%) than were comparison female subjects (28.40%). Hierarchical linear modeling growth-trajectory analyses indicated that abused female subjects, on average, acquired body mass at a significantly steeper rate from childhood through young adulthood than did comparison female subjects after controlling for minority status and parity. CONCLUSIONS. Psychosocial difficulties (eg, depression) and psychobiological conditions (eg, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation) that have been shown to be related to both childhood abuse and obesity may help to explain these results. The identification of high-risk growth trajectories may improve health outcomes for victims. Systematic study of the mechanistic pathways and mediating processes that would help to explain the connection between childhood sexual abuse and later obesity is encouraged.


Evaluation of toxicity in the cyanoacrylate adhesives and their homologs was undertaken in conventional and germ free guinea pigs. Adhesive was applied to the denuded cornea centrally and peripherally and injected intrastromally; all experimental models demonstrated in vivo toxicity. Intrastromal injection and surface application to the central cornea produced the severe inflammatory response in both species.


This paper examines the causal effect of computer-aided instruction (CAI) on children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Closely working with the Cambodian government, we ran clustered-randomized controlled trials at five elementary schools near Phnom Penn for three months. Students were randomly assigned into 20 treatment classes which were allowed to use an app based on CAI instead of regular math classes during the intervention, or 20 control classes. Our empirical results drawn from these experiments suggest that average treatment effect on cognitive skills measured using several types of math achievement tests and IQ tests is positive and statistically significant. The effect is significantly large, especially as compared with prior literature examined in developing countries: the estimated coefficients on student achievements are 0.56-0.67 standard deviations and IQ scores 0.70 standard deviations even after controlling for demographic factors. Furthermore, it is found that that CAI-based app can increase the students' subjective expectation of being able to attend tertiary education in the future. However, there is no significant effect on non-cognitive skills, such as motivation.


A growing body of evidence suggests a role for platelets in sickle cell disease (SCD). Despite the proinflammatory, occlusive nature of platelets, a role for platelets in acute chest syndrome (ACS), however, remains understudied. To provide evidence and potentially describe contributory factors for a putative link between ACS and platelets, we performed an autopsy study of 20 SCD cases—10 of whom died from ACS and 10 whose deaths were not ACS‐related. Pulmonary histopathology and case history were collected. We discovered that disseminated pulmonary platelet thrombi were present in 3 out of 10 of cases with ACS, but none of the matched cases without ACS. Those cases with detected thrombi were associated with significant deposition of endothelial vWF and detection of large vWF aggregates adhered to endothelium. Potential clinical risk factors were younger age and higher platelet count at presentation. However, we also noted a sharp and significant decline in platelet count prior to death in each case with platelet thrombi in the lungs. In this study, neither hydroxyurea use nor perimortem transfusion was associated with platelet thrombi. Surprisingly, in all cases, there was profound pulmonary artery remodeling with both thrombotic and proliferative pulmonary plexiform lesions. The severity of remodeling was not associated with a severe history of ACS, or hydroxyurea use, but was inversely correlated with age. We thus provide evidence of undocumented presence of platelet thrombi in cases of fatal ACS and describe clinical correlates. We also provide novel correlates of pulmonary remodeling in SCD. Am. J. Hematol. 91:173–178, 2016. © 2015 The Authors. American Journal of Hematology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Ethanol is present in more than 700 pharmaceutical liquid preparations, ostensibly as an "inert" solvent on diluent.1 Despite recent voluntary efforts by several pharmaceutical companies to replace alcohol or reduce its content, there remain on the market an excessive number of liquid medications containing alcohol in concentrations ranging from 0.3% to 68%, eg, teething preparations, decongestants, and cough medicines. The presence of ethanol in children's medication is of major toxicologic interest with respect to both acute ingestion and passive exposure that occurs during therapy with ethanol-containing products. This commentary focuses upon the toxicology of ethanol in children and the determination of acceptable alcohol concentrations in children's medication.
 INTERACTION WITH OTHER DRUGS
 When taken in conjunction with other drugs, medicines containing alcohol may produce undesirable interactions. Acute ethanol administration may alter drug absorption2 or impair the degradation of other drugs.3 When taken with sedating drugs, it may result in enhanced psychomotor impairment.4,5 Chronic ethanol administration, which induces drug-metabolizing enzymes (such as P-450), may be of clinical importance by altering the clearance of several drugs (phenobarbital, phenytoin, meprobamate, and warfarin).3 Disulfiram (Antabuse) reactions, symptoms of which include flushing, tachycardia, nausea, vomiting, and, in severe forms, cardiac arrythmias, cardiovascular collapse, respiratory depression, and convulsions, may also be induced by alcohol-containing medicines. Of more direct importance to pediatricians are recent reports of disulfiram-like reactions that occur in some individuals after the simultaneous use of antibacterial drugs such as moxalactam, metronidazole, sulfonamides, chloramphenicol on cefamandole, and alcoholic beverages or medicinal elixirs.6-9
 ESTABLISHING CRITERIA FOR ALCOHOL CONTENT IN CHILDREN'S MEDICATION


We analyze the effect of a quantum error correcting code on the entanglement of encoded logical qubits in the presence of a dephasing interaction with a correlated environment. Such correlated reservoir introduces entanglement between physical qubits. We show that for short times the quantum error correction interprets such entanglement as errors and suppresses it. However, for longer time, although quantum error correction is no longer able to correct errors, it enhances the rate of entanglement production due to the interaction with the environment.


The present study covers 10,223 km2 of the Ganges, Jamuna and Meghna river's delta, at the head of the Bay of Bengal, which was deposited in a geosynclinal environment. The morphometry of the delta was controlled by three geomorphological units, recognised as geological formations. The main aquifer comprises primarily the sandy Dupitila Formation, of Pliocene age, which is composed of unconsolidated sands showing a gradation of grain size. Finer sands are at the top with the sequence coarsening downwards; the coarse sand at the bottom is usually associated with gravels and pebbles. The thickness of the aquifer ranges from 30 m to 120 m. The aquifer is almost entirely covered by a clay/silt aquiclude of thickness ranging from 300 m. The loss of ground water storage during the dry season is restored rapidly and regularly by the rising water table reflecting monsoon conditions. The complicated flow behaviour suggests that all the perennial rivers maintain direct hydraulic continuity with the ground water. The flow-net analysis also reveals uniform distribution of water resource potential. Borehole pumping tests indicate a true confined condition for the smaller eastern part while leaky confined conditions prevail elsewhere. The maximum and minimum transmissivity range from >1400 m2/d to <400 m2/d while the storativity ranges from 4.1 x 10-3 to 3.7 x 10-4 and the maximum leakage (BL= 368 m) is recorded around Burichong. The values of well loss factor (Ct) and aquifer loss factor (Bt suggest highly efficient well conditions as deduced from the calculation of well efficiency and the analysis of yield-drawdown curves. The ground water towards the outcrop appears to have been an essentially NaHCO3 type in nature but, as it moves, hydrochemical evolution modifies the ground water into a mixed NaHCO3/CI type. Three major and two minor ion exchange fields were identified. The expanded Durov plot was most successful in identifying the existence of two different types of water, the dominant type being the ion-exchanged water and the less dominant but equally well defined type being old brackish water accompanied by some reverse ion exchange water. The existence of reverse ion exchange water is further suggested by the changing chemistry along flow (flow line 2 and 3). The brackish waters are segregated in few locations and are not linked to one another. Other than the brackish water, the ground water is found to be suitable both as potable as well as irrigation sources. The saturation indices calculated by means of the PHREEQE hydro-chemical model for Calcite and Dolomite establishes a unique linear relationship emphasising that the older and deeper waters are mainly super-saturated and the young waters are under-saturated with respect to these minerals, with few exceptions. The water balance computation and the present rate of withdrawal indicates a huge recharge surplus so that the aquifer may be regarded as in a youthful state of development. The perennial yield is estimated to be about 5.7 x 109 m3/year and the present rate of ground water withdrawal is about 37 percent of the perennial yield, suggesting a huge ground water potential yet to be exploited.


We present an adaptive approach for valuing the European call option on assets with stochastic volatility. The essential feature of the method is a reduction of uncertainty in latent volatility due to a Bayesian learning procedure. Starting from a discrete-time stochastic volatility model, we derive a recurrence equation for the variance of the innovation term in latent volatility equation. This equation describes a reduction of uncertainty in volatility which is crucial for option pricing. To implement the idea of adaptive control, we use the risk-minimization procedure involving random volatility with uncertainty. By using stochastic dynamic programming and a Bayesian approach, we derive a recurrence equation for the risk inherent in writing the option. This equation allows us to find the fair price of the European call option. We illustrate numerically that the adaptive procedure leads to a decrease in option price.


The Social Security system has two distinct goals: first, to provide insurance provisions such as disability benefits and survivor benefits for children and widow(er)s and, second, to provide retirement income to workers. There are good reasons to separate the insurance portion of the system from the retirement-income portion. In this article, suggestions are made pertaining to the insurance portion of the system, and recommendations are then made pertaining to the retirement-income portion of the system. The key principle behind reforms of the retirement-income portion of the system is that it should be primarily a required-savings program, and not primarily an income-redistribution program. Reform proposals are then evaluated with this guiding principle in mind. TOPICS: Retirement, legal/regulatory/public policy


This research is purpose to know relation the using of moving class with studentmotivation and the impact to satisfaction to the economic lesson of student MAN 2Model Pekanbaru. This ressearch method is using descriptive researching withquality closing. This research population is used of students in grade eleventh andtwelveth social about onw hundred and two peoples,by types about 80 peoples thatchoosed randomly by using minimum types. Taking the data is done by analisymand spreading (angket) research to the respondent. This data analys with twiceanalisysm regration.Facing research instrument used an analisym uses testing thevalidity and reliability with using the formula of "alpha cronbach ". This researchshown where : (1) There are have significant relationship with studying facilities thatused inmoving class to the satisfication studying by studying motivation. (2)There isno significant relationship the quality of the teachers in studying process by movingclass system with satisfication of students by studying motivation. (3) There is nosignificant relationship the studying source with satisfication of students. By theresearch above we can solve that the studying satisfication by studying motivationcan get if the teachers really done the lesson process by moving class, and shouldbe looked the studying source that usefull. And in this case should be increase sothe studying purpose by using moving class system done goodly.


Introduction: Obestatin is a gastrointestinal-peptide hormone which influences glucose and lipid metabolism, body weight and energy homeostasis. Very little is known about the association between gut peptides and thyroid diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between serum concentrations of obestatin and thyroid function in subclinical hypothyroid and hyperthyroid subjects. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 35 hypothyroid, 35 hyperthyroid and 35 euthyroid subjects (controls) who referred to the Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. In all participants, serum levels of obestatin, TSH, FT3, FT4, insulin, glucose as well as BMI were assessed. Serum obestatin, FT3, FT4 and TSH were measured by ELISA, Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) and Immunoradiometric assay (IRMA), respectively. Data were analyzed by T-test, One-Way ANOVA and Pearson correlation using SPSS 16. Results: Serum concentrations of obestatin in both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism (0.04±0.01 and 0.05±0.02 ng/ml respectively) were significantly lower than in the control group (0.09±0.01 ng/ml), (P-value < 0.001). No significant correlations were observed between serum levels of obestatin and FT3, FT4, and TSH. Conclusion: Our results indicated obestatin concentrations were significantly associated with thyroid function.


The aim of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of fashion events marketing from a sponsor's perspective and its influence on customers and society. We firstly seek to investigate what are the main marketing objectives of brands when they decide to sponsor fashion events; secondly, what are the main factors to enhance customer engagement with sponsoring brands; and finally, what are the most effective pathways to generate e-WOM in this context of fashion events. In order to answer these research questions, we conducted four studies: two Online Focus Groups, in-depth interviews and a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Main findings show that the chief objectives of brands in sponsoring fashion events are: a) customer engagement with the sponsoring firm and, in particular, e-WOM, b) brand presence and c) brand positioning with fashion industry values. The conditions that enhance customer engagement are a) enjoyment, b) fashion values, c) sustainability and d) product knowledge. Fashion values are found to be a necessary condition to generate e-WOM. There are two conditions sufficient to produce e-WOM: a) the lack of enjoyment and fashion values or b) fashion values and sustainability.


Microbiota of termites is crucial for nitrogen cycle activities and degradation of recalcitrant components of plant biomass that influence soil structure and carbon mineralization in tropical and subtropical regions. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize gut bacteria that may be potentially associated with nitrogen metabolism from two fungus-feeding termites (Macrotermes and Odontotermes spp.). Twenty termites from the intact colony of each termite species were aseptically degutted. Gut homogenate was inoculated and cultured on selective media for the isolation of pure bacteria. Pure bacterial isolates were characterized using their morphological, biochemical and molecular characters. DNA was extracted from the isolates, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified and sequenced. The 16S rDNA gene sequences were blastn analyzed against the Genbank database and phylogenetic analysis was performed using MEGA 5 software. All forty-six isolates reacted positive for the ammonifying, nitrate, catalase and nitrogenase tests. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the isolates into three phyla: Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. Isolates were affiliated with the genera Pseudomonas, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Proteus, Klebssiella, Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Rhodococcus and Micrococcus. The results confirm that termites harbor diverse gut bacterial groups that have different physiological/enzymatic activities and might have functional implications in the termite-microbe symbiotic association.

 Key words: Termites, symbiosis, mutualistic interactions, termite gut bacterial diversity, nitrogen fixation


Visual Abstract Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) demonstrates lower conspicuity on 18F-FDG PET than the more common invasive ductal carcinoma. Other molecular imaging methods may be needed for evaluation of this malignancy. As ILC is nearly always (95%) estrogen receptor (ER)–positive, ER-targeting PET tracers such as 16α-18F-fluoroestradiol (18F-FES) may have value. We reviewed prospective trials at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center using 18F-FES PET/CT to evaluate metastatic ILC patients with synchronous 18F-FDG and 18F-FES PET/CT imaging, which allowed a head-to-head comparison of these 2 PET tracers. Methods: Six prospective clinical trials using 18F-FES PET/CT in patients with metastatic breast cancer were performed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2008 to 2019. These trials included 92 patients, of whom 14 (15%) were of ILC histology. Seven of 14 patients with ILC had 18F-FDG PET/CT performed within 5 wk of the research 18F-FES PET/CT and no intervening change in management. For these 7 patients, the 18F-FES and 18F-FDG PET/CT studies were analyzed to determine the total number of tracer–avid lesions, organ systems of involvement, and SUVmax of each organ system for both tracers. Results: In the 7 comparable pairs of scans, there were a total of 254 18F-FES–avid lesions (SUVmax, 2.6–17.9) and 111 18F-FDG–avid lesions (SUVmax, 3.3–9.9) suggestive of malignancy. For 5 of 7 (71%) ILC patients, 18F-FES PET/CT detected more metastatic lesions than 18F-FDG PET/CT. In the same 5 of 7 patients, the SUVmax of 18F-FES–avid lesions was greater than the SUVmax of 18F-FDG–avid lesions. One patient had 18F-FES–avid metastases with no corresponding 18F-FDG–avid metastases. There were no patients with 18F-FDG–avid distant metastases without 18F-FES–avid distant metastases, although in one patient liver metastases were evident on 18F-FDG but not on 18F-FES PET. Conclusion: 18F-FES PET/CT compared favorably with 18F-FDG PET/CT for detection of metastases in patients with metastatic ILC. Larger prospective trials of 18F-FES PET/CT in ILC should be considered to evaluate ER-targeted imaging for clinical value in patients with this histology of breast cancer.


We investigate the cooperation among energy prosumers (unified energy provider and consumer) through the energy packet network (EPN) paradigm, which represents both the flow of work that requires energy, and the flow of energy itself, in terms of discrete units. This paper details a stochastic model of EPNs, which is inspired from a branch of queuing theory called G-networks. The model allows us to compute the equilibrium state of a system that includes energy storage units, energy transmission networks, and energy consumers, together with the intermittent energy sources. The model is then used to show how the flow of work and energy in the system can be optimized for certain utility functions that consider both the needs of the consumers, and the desire to maintain some reserve energy for potential future needs.


Melanoma is a devastating disease frequently encountered within both veterinary and human medicine. Molecular changes linked with neoplastic transformation of melanocytes include mutations in genes that encode proteins intrinsic to the regulatory pathways of two tumor suppressor proteins (retinoblastoma protein and p53), proto-oncogene mutation to oncogenes, altered expression of epithelial cadherin and CD44 adhesion molecules, and upregulation of angiogenic factors and other growth factors. Histologic evaluation of the primary mass is the most common means of diagnosis, with cytology used more frequently to document metastasis. Melanoma's highly variable histologic and cytologic patterns can make diagnosis by either method problematic. Adherent epithelioid morphology, including signet ring forms, and nonadherent round and spindle forms are recognized, with pigmentation an inconsistent finding. The site of the tumor, the thickness of the primary tumor or depth of invasion, and the number of mitotic figures per high-power field or per millimeter are used histologically to predict biologic behavior, whereas site and degree of pleomorphism are typically used for cytologic preparations. Diagnosis of amelanotic melanoma can be aided by ancillary diagnostic techniques. Tumor cells are usually positive for vimentin, S100, neuron-specific enolase, and Melan-A, and negative for cytokeratin. Melan-A as a positive marker is not as sensitive as the others are but is likely more specific. Monoclonal antibodies to human melanosome-specific antigens 1 and 5 cross-react with canine antigens for a combined sensitivity rate of 83%. Mouse monoclonal antibody IBF9 specifically recognizes canine melanoma antigen and also has good sensitivity. Serologic markers, including cytokines, cell adhesion molecules, and melanoma-inhibitory activity, are being investigated as potential sentinels of melanoma. Currently, there is no single diagnostic technique capable of differentiating benign from malignant melanocytic neoplasms or predicting survival time.


By appearing to offer a legal justification of torture, attorneys at the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel stand accused of facilitating the government's mistreatment of prisoners held in the war against terrorism. This article seeks to place attorneys' complicity in the prisoner abuse scandal into a broader professional context, exploring the purported amorality that serves as the foundation for the infamous "torture memorandum" and, more broadly, for the ethical paradigms under which American lawyers operate every day. Specifically, the article argues that attorneys' own moral convictions are inexorably part of the interpretive dynamic that makes the attorney-client dialogue possible, whether acknowledged by the attorney or not. When the attorney's advice is pitched in exclusively legal terms - as was the torture memorandum - the moral component is not erased, but rather is forced into the background, where it is not susceptible to exploration by the client. As such, the lawyer's interpretive morality is neither challenged nor endorsed by the client; it simply holds sway over the course of representation. In this regard, the amorality of legal advice is a fiction, but not a harmless fiction, for it facilitates the tendency of clients to equate legality with permissibility. This article traces the paths by which attorneys' own moral convictions can be brought to the surface of the attorney-client dialogue.


Corporate bankruptcies often involve complicated, fragmented capital structures with many layers of debt and legal entity structures with many subsidiaries. Why do capital structures evolve this way, given that they make distress more costly to resolve? I suggest an answer based in investor disagreement about the value of assets that back loans. When investors disagree, firms have the incentive to exploit the disagreement by issuing asset-backed claims to optimists about those assets. This capital structure fragmentation minimizes the borrower's cost of funds ex ante by maximizing creditors' perceived recoveries, but it also creates costly valuation disputes in bankruptcy. I show that disagreement about collateral values can cause inefficient liquidations. Reorganization, in which prebankruptcy creditors receive securities in the ongoing firm, allows parties to agree to disagree about the value of their entitlements. This promotes settlement and reduces costly litigation over valuation relative to a going-concern sale for cash.


Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) can drive large current densities through electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD). ECCD is expected to be crucial for high-performance plasmas in future fusion reactors like ITER and DEMO, making the current drive efficiency of ECCD a critical design parameter for future reactors. In present-day devices, good agreement between measured and predicted current drive efficiency has been found. However, to ensure the reliability in future machines, a direct validation of the electron momentum distribution function is needed. As a first step towards this goal, we present in this paper oblique electron cyclotron emission (ECE) measurements of a low-density plasma in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. Two oblique ECE diagnostics are used to allow the simultaneous measurements of electrons streaming co- and counter-directionally with the plasma current. Predictions for the distribution function are computed with the bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck code RELAX. 9 9 E Westerhof et al, Rijnhuizen report,1992. To allow direct comparison with the measurements, synthetic radiation temperatures are computed with the code ECRad. 10 10 S Denk et al, Computer Physics Communications, p. 107175, 2020. Good agreement is found if radial transport occurring predominantly at low electron energies is included. E Westerhof et al, Rijnhuizen report,1992. S Denk et al, Computer Physics Communications, p. 107175, 2020. We demonstrate that oblique ECE diagnostics measure the electron distribution function directly at the ECRH deposition site in phase space. Furthermore, they are sensitive to the abundance of pitch-angle scattered electrons that reduce the ECCD efficiency. Limitations and uncertainties of the measurements and the modeling are discussed.


We present an enhanced segmentation method to reduce the interference of shadows for vehicle detection. The main advantage of the proposed method is its low-complexity. We use only the luminance of an image for shadow removal and keep the chrominance components of the image intact. The luminance of the current image is enhanced and each pixel is compared with a pixel-dependent threshold for locating shadow regions. With that, the shadow regions can be located more accurately and the moving objects can be extracted more completely. Experimental results verify the proposed approach and show that it is helpful for vehicle detection.


Disappearance of 15 volatile and semivolatile organic compounds was determined in a mixture added to two different soil types, a Captina silt loam (Typic Fragiudult) and McLaurin sandy loam (Typic Paleudults), using experimental procedures to distinguish abiotic losses from biological degradation over a 7-d period. Losses due to volatilization were quantified and mass balances were calculated for each compound. Standard USEPA and National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOHS) methods were used for sample handling, storage, and analysis. The compounds (methyl ethyl ketone; tetrahydrofuran; chlorobenzene; benzene; chloroform; carbon tetrachloride; p-xylene; 1,2-dichlorobenzene; cis-1,4-dichloro-2-butene; 1,2,3-trichloropropane; 2-chloronaphthalene; ethylene dibromide; hexachlorobenzene; nitrobenzene; and toluene) were applied to the soil in a mixture such that the concentration of each chemical was 100 mg/kg soil (dry wt.). The headspace of the soil samples and matched sterile (autoclaved) controls, which were incubated in the dark at 20 °C in stoppered jars fitted with charcoal traps, was flushed daily to maintain aerobic conditions and to trap vapors. Apparent half-lives for the 15 organic compounds ranged from < 2 to 11.3 d and showed good agreement with published values in the few instances where they were available. Rapid disappearance due to abiotic factors was observed for all chemicals during the 7-d period. Although short-term spike and recovery analyses yielded consistently reproducible recovery for all compounds, careful attempts to account for all losses, including the use of ¹⁴C-toluene, were unsuccessful. Nonreversible sorption and preanalysis storage conditions were considered as contributors to this inability to achieve a mass balance. On the basis of these results, we strongly advise positive accounting for all test compounds and degradation products at the conclusion of studies involving volatile and semivolatile compounds.


The Middle Jurassic Dhruma Formation of Saudi Arabia is of economic importance because it contains three hydrocarbon reservoirs. We report the first record of physically extracted benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the Middle Jurassic D5 and D6 member outcrops near Riyadh, Central Saudi Arabia, using the acetic acid method. This study of Middle Jurassic limestone units is intended to improve our understanding about the depositional environments of the area and related bio-events. Microfossils such as foraminifera are important in this aspect in that they can be recovered from core samples where entiremacrofossils such as ammonites are rare. This study focuses on the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of the foraminifera and examines their contribution to the previously established Jurassic biozonation.Atotal of 35 species belonging to 19 genera are identified. Ten sedimentological facies showing depositional energy variations from deep marine muds to shallow high-energy oolitic grainstones are identified. The extracted foraminifera are tied to the stratigraphic and sedimentological columns of the D5–D6 member outcrop. The depositional environment model of this portion of the formation is interpreted to be an open marine ramp setting.


Summary.  According to the hypothesis of configural encoding, the spatial relationships between the parts of the face function as an additional source of information in the facial perception of emotions. The paper analyses experimental data on the perception of emotion to investigate whether there is evidence for configural encoding in the processing of facial expressions. It is argued that analysis with a probabilistic feature model has several advantages that are not implied by, for example, a generalized linear modelling approach. First, the probabilistic feature model allows us to extract empirically the facial features that are relevant in processing the face, rather than focusing on the features that were manipulated in the experiment. Second, the probabilistic feature model allows a direct test of the hypothesis of configural encoding as it explicitly formalizes a mechanism for the way in which information about separate facial features is combined in processing the face. Third, the model allows us to account for a complex data structure while still yielding parameters that have a straightforward interpretation.


In this paper we investigate the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility performance (CSP) and firms' financial standing – corporate financial performance (CFP) in ten Global Industry Classification System (GICS) sectors. The analysis of each sector provides unique opportunity of finding these CSR actions which nowadays play the most important role. We use Thomson Reuters ASSET4 ratings in order to proxy the CSR behaviour of 7942 companies from all over the world. We find CSR actions' effects measured by value increase as well as transitory effect on earnings conditional upon the company's sector. Firstly, we prove that eco-efficiency investments are value destructors in 8 out 10 sectors. For corporate governance we find significant results only in three  sectors with ambiguous characteristic. Despite of adding the third, Social dimension we observe relatively lesser  impact of CSR actions on firms' financial performance in case of four sectors. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.27.2.13480


The energy dependence of multiplicity fluctuations was studied for the most central Pb+Pb collisions at 20A, 30A, 40A, 80A and 158A GeV by the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS. The multiplicity distribution for negatively and positively charged hadrons is significantly narrower than Poisson one for all energies. No significant structure in energy dependence of the scaled variance of multiplicity fluctuations is observed. The measured scaled variance is lower than the one predicted by the grand-canonical formulation of the hadron-resonance gas model. The results for scaled variance are in approximate agreement with the string-hadronic model UrQMD.


The capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) evolve rapidly and affect almost all sectors of society. AI has been increasingly integrated into criminal and harmful activities, expanding existing vulnerabilities, and introducing new threats. This article reviews the relevant literature, reports, and representative incidents which allows to construct a typology of the malicious use and abuse of systems with AI capabilities. The main objective is to clarify the types of activities and corresponding risks. Our starting point is to identify the vulnerabilities of AI models and outline how malicious actors can abuse them. Subsequently, we explore AI-enabled and AI-enhanced attacks. While we present a comprehensive overview, we do not aim for a conclusive and exhaustive classification. Rather, we provide an overview of the risks of enhanced AI application, that contributes to the growing body of knowledge on the issue. Specifically, we suggest four types of malicious abuse of AI (integrity attacks, unintended AI outcomes, algorithmic trading, membership inference attacks) and four types of malicious use of AI (social engineering, misinformation/fake news, hacking, autonomous weapon systems). Mapping these threats enables advanced reflection of governance strategies, policies, and activities that can be developed or improved to minimize risks and avoid harmful consequences. Enhanced collaboration among governments, industries, and civil society actors is vital to increase preparedness and resilience against malicious use and abuse of AI.


Permeable friction course (PFC) mixtures are a special type of hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures characterized by high total air voids (AV) content values to provide high permeability and noise reduction effectiveness, while high surface texture conditions can be ensured. Recent advancements in materials and HMA mixture evaluation led to increase the use of PFC mixtures over the last two decades as an alternative to improve highway safety and noise reduction. However, these developments on PFC mixtures generate the need for a comprehensive review to facilitate corresponding practical implementation. Consequently, the main objective of this paper is to provide a summary of research findings on PFC mixtures to improve the conception, design, and use of these HMA mixtures. In this context, the paper includes aspects related to advantages and limitations, volumetric properties, structural life, mixture distresses, and functionality of PFC mixtures. The aspects summarized provide a baseline for improvement of the current design and conception of PFC mixtures and offer guidelines for some future research developments.


We examine the impact of transmit antenna selection with receive generalized selection combining (TAS/GSC) for cognitive decode-and-forward (DF) relaying in Nakagami-m fading channels. We select a single transmit antenna at the secondary transmitter which maximizes the receive signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and combine a subset of receive antennas with the largest SNRs at the secondary receiver. In an effort to assess the performance, we first derive the probability density function and cumulative distribution function of the end-to-end SNR using the moment generating function. We then derive new exact closed-form expression for the ergodic capacity. More importantly, by deriving the asymptotic expression for the high SNR approximation of the ergodic capacity, we gather deep insights into the high SNR slope and the power offset. Our results show that the high SNR slope is 1/2 under the proportional interference power constraint. Under the fixed interference power constraint, the high SNR slope is zero.


The movement of a man depends on his morphological data. Geometrical and inertial data are the most important. In these investigations they were obtained for 15 male patients 20..40 years old with the help of computerised tomography. The trunk was divided onto three portions. Only one portion of a trunk was scanned for each group of five patients. The trunk was also divided onto five parts: A. .Real trunk i.e. 1) thorax, 2) abdomen, 3) pelvis, and B. Shoulder girdle, i.e. 4) right shoulder, and 5) left shoulder. Every part was then divided onto proximal and distal segments. The picture of every layer (8 mm of height) was divided onto finite number of elements (columns and rows). Each element of known volume (0.1 cm3) which belonged to the particular tissue was given its density value. The density was obtained during2separate investigations, where 50 trunk tissues taken from fresh cadavers were analysed. . The layer included two groups of tissues: A. Unchangeable - bone as support tissue, tissues of feeding system (digestion, breathing, vessel), nervous tissues, and others, and B. Changeable - muscle tissue, fat tissue, and skin. From the analysed trunks following geometrical and inertial quantities were obtained: 1) Linear - straight- and curve-linear, 2) Plane - area of surface of the whole layer and its main tissues, area of surface of trunk's portions projection on the sagittal and frontal planes and radius of center of surface's area, area of surface of skin. 3) Volume and mass of trunk's segments and their main tissues - basic, lung, digestion. muscle, fat, and skin, and also centers of volume and centers of mass. By dividing portions onto subportions there was the possibility of presenting them for new investigated subjects as geometrical figures (a set of frustums), so the calculation of their geometrical data was possible. The same was achieved for unchangeable tissues. For calculation of fat tissue regression equations were given based on skinfolds' measurements. Volume of muscle tissue for an investigated subject can be calculated by subtracting volume of unchangeable tissues, fat tissues and skin from the whole volume of the portion. Applications: 1) Anthropology. 2) Biomechanics, 3) Hygiene of nourishment. 4) Aeronautics and space, 5) Pathology, 6) Theory of training. 7) Safety of transportation, 8) Bioenergetics.


An ovule passes through various contiguous phases during its development into a seed (Fig. 1). The first phase, histodifferentiation (or initial morphogenesis) (27), begins with fertilization and rapid cell division, leading to formation of the embryonic axis and of tissues that eventually accumulate reserve materials (3). Following this is the maturation or seed expansion phase, during which there is a marked increase in seed mass; cell expansion occurs as reserve deposition takes place. The 3rd and final phase, maturation drying (or desiccation), is characterized by a general reduction in metabolism as water is lost from the seed, which then passes into a quiescent, and sometimes dormant, state. This last phase is characteristic of temperate zone crops, but does not necessarily occur in tropical plants.


Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) has been employed for the synthesis of a novel amphiphilic fluorinated triblock copolymer PEG-b-PS-b-PFHEM for anti-fouling coatings. The macroinitiator based on poly(ethylene oxide) monomethyl ether was used to prepare an amphiphilic diblock copolymer PEG-b-PSt-Br, which was then utilized to initiate the ATRP of fluorinated monomer perfluorohexylethyl acrylate (FHEA), resulting in an amphiphilic triblock copolymer. These copolymers were characterized by means of 1H NMR and GPC. The amphiphilic triblock copolymer surface composes of fluorinated and PEGylated blocks, and the fluorinated surface has critical surface energy, while the PEGylated surface is expected to have a relatively low interfacial energy when in contact with water. Microphase-separation of both blocks could take place and result in the reduction of protein adsorption and cell adhesion. The amphiphilic fluoropolymer has the potential application as excellent antifouling coatings and antifouling membranes.