Graphene and graphene-based materials, owing to their unique physical and chemical properties, have attracted considerable attention across the scientific communities worldwide. It has heralded a revolution in almost all the branches of materials science and chemistry. The attractive properties of graphene have led the extensive investigations to design and develop low-cost and high yield preparation protocols for chemically-derived graphene (graphene oxide). Graphene oxide (GO), a two-dimensional sheet of sp2 hybridized carbon, has received increasing attention as it possesses similar properties to that of graphene, as well as the availability of polar functional groups i.e. hydroxyl, carboxyl, etc. on its planar surface. Because of its high surface area, thermal stability, mechanical and electrical properties, it can be used as a potential supporting material and has already shown many promising applications.

Keeping this in mind, the overall objectives of this PhD thesis is broadly focused on two main objectives; (1) synthesis of GO based nanocomposite such as GO–SnO2 ,GO-CuFe2O4 and GO-MnO2 for catalytic application and (2) Synthesis of GO based GO-SnO2-TiO2 and GO-CuFe2O4-ZnO ternary nanocomposite for photocatalytic application. In the heterogeneous catalysis part, emphasis was given on using graphene oxide based binary nanocomposite for the synthesis of biologically active molecules. As there was no significant literature(s) available at the start of my PhD work demonstrating the use of graphene oxide-based heterogeneous catalyst for biologically active molecules syntheses, it gave us a possible scope to explore and investigate towards the objective. In the first major project, a graphene oxide–SnO2 nanocomposite was utilized as potential nanocatalyst for biologically active molecules synthesis. For the first time, we have demonstrated the use of a GO–based nanocomposite as an extremely efficient catalyst for the synthesis of β-enaminones and β–enaminoesters biologically active molecules (RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 39193). The GO–SnO2 nanocomposites exhibited synergistically more superior catalytic efficiency compared to pure graphene oxide and SnO2 nanoparticles. Highlighting the importance of recyclability, in the next project, graphene oxide based magnetic nanocomposite was explored as novel recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for xanthenes synthesis. Magnetic graphene oxide based nanocomposites are important in catalysis as they can minimize the amount of catalyst loss during recyclability study and make the catalyst separation easy. In the second objective, a facile, efficient and environmentally-friendly protocol for the synthesis of xanthenes by graphene oxide-based
GO-CuFe2O4 nanocomposite was developed by one-pot condensation route. (Sci. Rep.7, 2017: 42975). This approach offers several advantages such asshort reaction times, high yields, easy purification, a cleaner production and superior recovery and reusability of the catalyst by a magnetic field. Continuing this narrative, in the next objective, emphasis was given for the synthesis of a simple magnetic graphene oxide-MnO2 binary nanocomposite as an efficient nanocatalyst for other biologically active molecule synthesis. GO-MnO2 nanocomposite was used as an efficient catalyst for chalcones synthesis (Manuscript Submitted).The superior catalytic activity of this GO-based nanocomposite can be attributed to the synergistic interaction between GO and metal oxide nanoparticles, high surface area and presence of small sized metal oxide nanoparticles.

In the next two projects, the focus was given to design GO-based ternary nanocomposite photocatalyst to degrade the toxic organic dyes present in water via solar light driven photocatalysis. Towards this objective, a, GO-SnO2-TiO2 ternary nanocomposite was designed as an efficient photocatalyst to degrade toxic organic dyes (RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 39193). This ternary (GO-SnO2-TiO2) nanocomposite have shown enhanced photocatalytic performance due to the stepwise structure of conduction band-edge (CB) levels of the individual component, TiO2 (CB)> SnO2(CB)> GO. It was found that such energy levels are beneficial for photo-induced electrons to transfer from TiO2 CB via SnO2 CB to GO, which can efficiently separate the photo-induced electrons and hinder the charge recombination in electron-transfer process, thus, enhancing its photocatalytic performance. In the last objective, emphasis was given to design magnetic GO-CuFe2O4-ZnO ternary nanocomposite as an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of a series of toxic phenol and organic dyes under sunlight (New J. Chem., 2017, 41, 10568–10583.). In this work, attempts were made for efficient separation and recyclability process and to increase the photocatalytic efficiency under sunlight. The ternary nanocomposite was found to be more active as compared to their binary composite. The improved photocatalytic activity of the ternary nanocomposite can be ascribed due to the superior light assimilation, proficient charge transfer process, synergistic effect, high surface area, as well as superior durability of the composite. Solution combustion route was used to synthesize the GO based ternary photocatalyst which holds great promise for the synthesis of other GO-based nanocomposites.


Background The effect of environmental parameters on drugs stability is a very important piece of information in pharmaceutical field. It often requires a detailed kinetic investigation to have quantitative data on the dependence of the reaction rate constant on a physical parameter (temperature, pH, ionic strength, metal ions concentration, etc.). The common way consists in following many times the reaction, by a suitable analytical instrument for different values of a parameter and for each required parameter with a considerable expense of time and chemicals. The continuous introduction of new drugs made it necessary to develop faster analytical methods for the evaluation of their stability. Purpose In this contribution the authors show a variable parameter method for the determination of drug stability based on a generalisation of non-isothermal analysis that takes advantage of the capabilities of modern data collecting and processing system. Materials and methods The used method consists in carrying out kinetic experiments while varying, in a known way, the value of a physical parameter and in obtaining, trough a single experiment run, the entire dependence of the rate constants on that parameter. The experimental apparatus was made up of routine instruments and data were automatically collected and processed using commercially available software. Results Many drugs, in solution, were analysed: acetylsalicylic acid, indomethacin, rolitetracycline, diltiazem, piroxicam and cinnoxicam following the reacting species using various analytical instruments: UV-vis spectrophotometer, fluorimeter, conductometer, polarimeter and HPLC. Validation was performed, in the same lab, by comparison to results obtained from traditional method experiments with measurements of accuracy, precision, linearity and detection limit. The results are in good agreement with those obtained using constant-parameter kinetic runs, moreover, being the results obtained in a fast way, through a simple mathematical treatment, are subjected to a minor statistical uncertainly. Conclusions Variable parameter kinetics was an important method for the studied drugs and it can be easily used for all drugs when drug stability investigation is required.


Polymers have more complicated properties since they display both elastic and viscous type responses at different strain rates. As the application of polymers increase, a thorough understanding of the mechanical behavior of these materials becomes vital in order to perform innovative and economical designs of various components. The main objective of this paper is to develop an effective method with the use of Laplace integral transform to describe the creep and relaxation properties of viscoelastic polymers. This general approach is on the basis of the integral constitutive functions for viscoelastic polymers, avoiding the use of differential stress-strain relations. Using this method, the time domain stress-stain relation can be easily obtained. As its application, the creep and relaxation properties of the materials are exhibited in the numerical examples.


Background & objectives: Most studies on the clinical presentation with influenza viruses have been conducted in outpatient or inpatient medical facilities with only a few studies in community settings. Clinical differences between influenza A (H1N1) pdm 09 and influenza B virus infections have importance for community-based public health surveillance. An active community surveillance at the time of emergence of pandemic influenza provided us with an opportunity to compare the clinical features among patients infected with influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 virus and those with influenza B virus co-circulating in an active community-based weekly surveillance in three villages in Faridabad, Haryana, north India. Methods: Active surveillance for febrile acute respiratory infection (FARI) was carried out in a rural community (n=16,182) in the context of an inactivated trivalent influenza vaccine trial (among children <11 yr). Individuals with FARI were assessed clinically by nurses and respiratory samples collected and tested for influenza viruses by real time RT-PCR from November 2009 to August 2010. Clinical symptoms of patients with influenza A (H1N1) pdm 09 and influenza B infection were compared. Results: Of the 4796 samples tested, 822 (17%) were positive for influenza virus. Of these, 443 (54%) were influenza A (H1N1) pdm09, 373 (45%) were influenza B and six were other subtypes/mixed infections. The mean age was lower for patients with influenza B (16.4 yr) than influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 infection (18.7 yr; P=0.04). Among children aged 5-18 yr, chills/rigours (OR 4.0; CI 2.2, 7.4), sore throat (OR 6.8; CI 2.3, 27.3) and headache (OR2.0; CI 1.3, 3.3) were more common in influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 infection than in influenza B cases. Chills/rigours (OR 2.4; CI 1.4, 4.0) and headache (OR 1.7; CI 1.0, 2.7) were associated with influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 infection in those >18 yr. No significant differences were seen in children <5 yr. Conclusion: Our findings show that the differences in the clinical presentation of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and influenza B infections are not likely to be of clinical or public health significance.


Communities in social networks form with different purposes and play a significant role in interpersonal interactions. Analysis of virtual communities indicates a more precise understanding of the behaviours and desires of individuals in social networks. In this paper, new measures have been proposed for analyzing implicit and explicit communities in Online Social Networks (OSNs). The measures of "potential value of the community members" and "value of the community messages", which are used for calculating the measure of "community value" are among the most important measures introduced in this paper. Another measure introduced is "user influence rate" in a community, which represents the contribution of a person in creating value in a community. To provide a sound dataset, we collected the information from several real implicit communities in Twitter based on different hashtags. Finally, the suggested measures have been analyzed and compared statistically and behaviourally across different communities. The results of this research well indicate the importance and practicality of the measures introduced in Community analysis of Twitter.


We address the challenging open problem of learning an effective latent space for symbolic music data in generative music modeling. We focus on leveraging adversarial regularization as a flexible and natural mean to imbue variational autoencoders with context information concerning music genre and style. Through the paper, we show how Gaussian mixtures taking into account music metadata information can be used as an effective prior for the autoencoder latent space, introducing the first Music Adversarial Autoencoder (MusAE). The empirical analysis on a large scale benchmark shows that our model has a higher reconstruction accuracy than state-of-the-art models based on standard variational autoencoders. It is also able to create realistic interpolations between two musical sequences, smoothly changing the dynamics of the different tracks. Experiments show that the model can organise its latent space accordingly to low-level properties of the musical pieces, as well as to embed into the latent variables the high-level genre information injected from the prior distribution to increase its overall performance. This allows us to perform changes to the generated pieces in a principled way.


The fodder beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. crassa) is cultivated presently in almost all European countries, and in Romania on large surfaces in West Plain. Vest. This crop is used as a valuate source of cattle food. Due to its high content of water and sugar, it increases the milk production and is an appropriate fodder for the dairy cows (ALBAYRAK S. and NECDET C., 2007, LAUWERS T., 2009). Usually, the fodder beet is administrated chopped and mixed with straws. The goal of this paper is to find a mathematical model which will allow to analyze the studied varieties of fodder beet under aspect of some quantitative characteristics (by correlation method) and then to classify them considering the similitude degree (in this case considering the first two factors). The biological material that was studied is represented by 16 varieties of fodder beet and it represents a valuable and highly diversified material from ecological viewpoint (Belgium, Germany, Poland, Romania), reason why there was considered useful to see what is their behaviour in conditions of Banat. The variability study of the root characteristics (root weight, root length, maximum diameter of the root) and of the leaf characteristics (leaf number, green leaf number and foliar surface) was made basing on biometric determinations. There were determined the linear correlations between the morphological characters up mentioned and then, basing on these correlations, there was realised an analysis of the main components and a cluster analysis (using the Euclidian distance and Ward method) which revealed that the varieties Angoba, Troya, Feldher and Ketil; Monro, Polifuraj 2, Beta Rosa and Ursus; Gonda, Tamara and Kyros I; Brigadier and Marshal; Fumona, Zentaur and respectively Tamon formed clusters, showing a strong similarity between them. The values of the genetic potential in fodder beet are manifested only if the variety is maintained in genetic equilibrium and whether it will receive appropriate condition of cultivation.


The current source inverter-fed induction motor drive (hereafter referred to as CSIM drive) is one of the widely used drives in the industry. Of the many strategies employed for the control of CSIM drive, angle control is the simplest scheme to incorporate the aspect of "frequency compensation," thus paving the way for a fast response CSIM drive. A step-by-step design of the angle-controlled CSIM drive is described. A systematic design of inner current loop, slip speed loop, outer speed loop, and frequency compensation loop is given. The design incorporates a linear relationship between the reference input and output of electromagnetic torque and a strategy to obtain maximum torque per ampere. The commutation delay in the current source inverter is taken care of in the design of the frequency compensator. Experimental results are given in support of the design procedure.


Auditory-display research has had a largely unsolved challenge of balancing functional and aesthetic considerations. While functional designs tend to reduce musical expressivity for the fidelity of data, aesthetic or musical sound organization arguably has a potential for representing multi-dimensional or hierarchical data structure with enhanced perceptibility. Existing musical designs, however, generally employ nonlinear or interpretive mappings that hinder the assessment of functionality. The authors propose a framework for designing expressive and complex sonification using small timescale musical hierarchies, such as the harmony and timbral structures, while maintaining data integrity by ensuring a closeto-the-original recovery of the encoded data utilizing descriptive analysis by a machine listener.


Many factors underlie the growing popularity of herbal treatments for a variety of chronic conditions. Interestingly, people who use alternative therapies are not necessarily uninformed. If anything, they are more "culturally creative" (i.e., comfortable with cultural changes) and more highly educated. Many people using herbal medicines find the health care alternatives are more congruent with their own values, beliefs and philosophical orientations toward health and life. Similarly, it seems likely that many people feel that herbal medicines are empowering by allowing them to treat themselves without seeing a physician. (This same attitude may be behind the growing popularity of patient-initiated diagnostic scanning procedures such as whole body scans). The danger is that, many people believe that herbal medicines have no toxicity problems or even side effects. In addition, they are not aware of many possible interactions of herbal medicine with concurrent prescribed medications. In this review we focus on Avicenna's evidence based medicine approaches in herbal medicine.


Switchable, organic microporous networks were synthesized by Sonogashira coupling of tetrabromophenolphthalein with 1,4-diethynylenebenzene using optimized reaction conditions. The resulting networks are microporous and have specific surface areas exceeding 800 m2 g–1. The microporosity and the pore polarity are sensitive to the pH value as evidenced by nitrogen and carbon dioxide physisorption experiments. The switching between the open and closed form of the lactone ring is reversible, but some porosity is lost throughout the process. The colored, alkaline salts of these networks are photochemically active, as shown by the effective heterogeneous photosensitization of the photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate with visible light.


Although there is currently no doubt that regulatory lymphocytes represent a master player in the immune system, a major unresolved problem is the accurate quantitation of these cells among unfractionated cell populations. This difficulty mainly arises because there are no specific immunophenotypic markers that can reliably discriminate between effector and regulatory lymphocytes. To face this problem, we have developed computational models of limiting dilution analyses addressing the question of the accurate estimation of the frequencies of effector and regulatory cells functionally engaged in an immune response. A set of generic equations were provided to form a framework for modeling limiting dilution data, enabling discrimination between qualitatively different models of suppression. These models include either one or two subpopulations of regulatory cells, featured by either low or potent regulatory activity. The potential of this modeling approach was illustrated by the accurate determination of the frequencies of effector and regulatory T lymphocytes in one real limiting dilution experiment of CD4+CD25+ T lymphocytes performed in the context of an allogeneic response in the human system. The crucial advantage of the limiting dilution method over the "static, phenotype-based" method is the dynamic evaluation of effector and regulatory T cell biology through their actual functional activity.


A series of twenty heterocyclic chalcones 3(a-t) were synthesized by using conventional and microwave irradiation methods in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate as an safe, inexpensive and efficient basic catalyst. Synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against variety of microbial strains and it was characterized by IR, NMR (1H & 13C) and mass spectral analysis. The biological screening results indicated that some of the compounds showed significant antibacterial and antifungal activities. Compound 3s was displayed excellent antimicrobial activity against various microbial strains. The newly synthesized high potent compound 3s was subjected to Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and single crystal XRD


This article deals with the dramatic art of stand-up comedy. It locates Arab American stand-up comedy within a broader American humorous tradition and investigates the way Arab American performers use this art to negotiate and (re)construct their identity. The main question in this article is the way Arab American stand-up comedians define their relationship to the Arab and the western worlds in the process of establishing their Arab American identity. Three humor theories – the relief theory, the incongruity theory, and the superiority theory – are deployed in the study to examine the representation of Arabness in selected Arab American performances. The study argues that Arab American comics minstrelize their own diasporic origin through reinscribing a range of orientalizing practices in order to claim their Americanness.


Growth hormone (GH) participates in the regulation of its own secretion by acting through a short-loop feedback mechanism to regulate the synthesis and secretion of somatostatin (SS) and growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). The mechanism of GH's action in certain peripheral targets involves the induction of c-fos. Similarly, we hypothesized that GH induces the expression of c-fos mRNA in SS and GHRH neurons in the hypothalamus. Using in situ hybridization, we observed a significant induction of c-fos mRNA in the arcuate nucleus of human GH-treated compared with control animals. Contrary to our hypothesis, only 11% of GHRH mRNA-containing and 5% of SS mRNA-containing neurons colabeled for c-fos mRNA. These findings indicate that GH feedback on the hypothalamus includes the induction of c-fos mRNA primarily in neurons other than GHRH and SS in the arcuate nucleus and suggest that these unidentified neurons located in the arcuate nucleus are directly involved in transducing the effects of GH in the brain.


The vanishing ideal is a set of polynomials that takes zero value on the given data points. Originally proposed in computer algebra, the vanishing ideal has been recently exploited for extracting the nonlinear structures of data in many applications. To avoid overfitting to noisy data, the polynomials are often designed to approximately rather than exactly equal zero on the designated data. Although such approximations empirically demonstrate high performance, the sound algebraic structure of the vanishing ideal is lost. The present paper proposes a vanishing ideal that is tolerant to noisy data and also pursued to have a better algebraic structure. As a new problem, we simultaneously find a set of polynomials and data points for which the polynomials approximately vanish on the input data points, and almost exactly vanish on the discovered data points. In experimental classification tests, our method discovered much fewer and lower-degree polynomials than an existing state-of-the-art method. Consequently, our method accelerated the runtime of the classification tasks without degrading the classification accuracy.


Chairman Langford: In the personality and physical growth of the individual there are some periods when the task of adjustment is a little more difficult than others. We see it at weaning, when the child starts school, at adolescence, on his first job, later when he gets married and—one of the most severe trials of all—when the individual becomes a parent. About 90% could be called normal disturbances in this area of adolescence and psychologic disturbances.
 Dr. Cornelia M. Carithers, Jacksonville, Fla.: When you see a marked problem such as rivalry between children, how do you convince the parent it is a real problem?
 Chairman Langford: One of the more common instances is the jealousy of the younger child for the older child. This may enter the picture with the obese child. Often it is the younger child who will become obese for the satisfaction he gets out of the tremendous body size. The problem of obesity may be of particular significance in the adolescent period. It may be a phase that many children go through as part of this gradual growth process but it also may be related to other factors; this suggests that when dealing with a child who is heavier than he or she should be, one ought to individualize each child who presents the problem. Therefore, it is necessary for those of us who deal with these children to determine what is a normal gain in weight for a period of time and what is outside the range of normal.


Most patients are non-adherent with their medication sometimes, i.e. that they do not always use their medicines as prescribed. This might result in both under- and overuse and can lead to therapy failure, resulting in both unnecessary suffering and high costs. Therefore, medication adherence should be as high as possible. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the refill adherence to long-term drug treatment, especially for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to study treatment gaps for patients with undersupply and drug costs for patients with oversupply. Further aims were to compare different methods for assessing refill adherence and analyse whether the same patient has the same refill adherence pattern to two different chronic drug treatments, i.e. diabetes and asthma/COPD. The thesis shows that satisfactory refill adherence (80-120% of the prescribed dose) was 57% for repeat prescriptions with long-term drug treatment; undersupply was 21% and oversupply 22%. Patients with undersupply were without drugs more than half of the prescribed treatment time and the median oversupply for 90-100 days dispensation interval was 28 days. Patients who were exempt from charges had significantly higher oversupply than non-exempt patients and that leads to unnecessary cost for society. The level of satisfactory refill adherence for repeat prescriptions dispensed for asthma/COPD was on average 30%. The same low level was displayed for the elderly, where undersupply was more common than oversupply. Assessments of refill adherence during a one-year period gave the same results irrespective of whether the repeat prescriptions were from an individual pharmacy record database or were manually collected at a pharmacy.Patients with concomitant use of diabetes and asthma/COPD drugs do not have the same dispensation pattern for both drug types. The introduction of patient profiles as a new approach to complement the calculated refill adherence needs to be further studied in larger and more divergent populations. In the future, the new national pharmacy record database in Sweden has opened up for larger studies and will be valuable when studying patterns of drug utilization.


Sleep difficulties are common in children and young people presenting with features of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Sleep problems may be both an effect of and a contributor to ADHD symptomatology, as well as having a significant impact on both individual and family functioning and well-being. There are often complex interacting contributing factors. Assessment of children presenting with symptoms suggestive of possible ADHD should include routine enquiry about sleep. Ongoing management of children with diagnosed ADHD should include regular reassessment and review of sleep. When sleep difficulties are present, we discuss how to further assess these, including the role of investigations, and a structured management strategy.


Angela Jurdak Khoury was born in 1915 in Lebanon and died in 2011 in Washington D.C. She was the first woman who studied in the Department of Sociology at the American University of Beirut, and the first to graduate with an M.A degree from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1938. She was also the first woman to teach and be involved in social services at the university. In 1945, Khoury joined diplomatic affairs to become the first woman diplomat in Lebanon, representing her country in the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN between 1946 and 1951. Unfortunately, her story is not really included in the history of Lebanon. For that reason, this paper contributes to "herstory," to shed light on the role of women in social sciences through the study of individual experiences. It focuses on the status of Arab Protestant women in Lebanon under the mandate between the 1930s and 1940s, when they were considered to be subaltern citizens. From a subaltern subject during the mandate to a diplomat, Khoury has a very interesting path worth studying. As such, this article examines the place of women in colonial societies, using an institutionalist and poststructuralist feminist approach and network theory. Biographical tools help to draw the portrayal of an emancipated woman who braved the social biases of her time. Using the American University of Beirut archives and documents written by Angela Jurdak Khoury from 1935 to 1968, I aim to contribute to the feminization of the writing of history in the 21 st century.


The tremendous success of large models trained on extensive datasets demonstrates that scale is a key ingredient in achieving superior results. Therefore, the reflection on the rationality of designing knowledge distillation (KD) approaches for limited-capacity architectures solely based on small-scale datasets is now deemed imperative. In this paper, we identify the \emph{small data pitfall} that presents in previous KD methods, which results in the underestimation of the power of vanilla KD framework on large-scale datasets such as ImageNet-1K. Specifically, we show that employing stronger data augmentation techniques and using larger datasets can directly decrease the gap between vanilla KD and other meticulously designed KD variants. This highlights the necessity of designing and evaluating KD approaches in the context of practical scenarios, casting off the limitations of small-scale datasets. Our investigation of the vanilla KD and its variants in more complex schemes, including stronger training strategies and different model capacities, demonstrates that vanilla KD is elegantly simple but astonishingly effective in large-scale scenarios. Without bells and whistles, we obtain state-of-the-art ResNet-50, ViT-S, and ConvNeXtV2-T models for ImageNet, which achieve 83.1\%, 84.3\%, and 85.0\% top-1 accuracy, respectively. PyTorch code and checkpoints can be found at https://github.com/Hao840/vanillaKD.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disorder characterized by oxidative stress, inflammation and cartilage destruction. Withania somnifera (WS) is used in Indian folk medicine for the treatment of various musculoskeletal disorders. WS is considered to possess potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possible mechanism of action of methanolic extract of Withania somnifera roots (WSMe) against collagen induced arthritic (CIA) rats. Arthritis in rats was induced by subcutaneous injection of bovine type II collagen and was treated with WSMe at the dose of 200 mg/kg BW for 20 days after arthritis was induced. Number of biochemical, molecular and histological changes was observed in CIA rats. In CIA rats we found an imbalance in antioxidant and oxidant status as level of MDA was increased while GST, GSH and FRAP was found to be decreased. Administration of WSMe200 significantly ameliorates the level of antioxidant and oxidant to near normal. Serum concentration of transcription factor NF-kB, inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-10 were altered in CIA rats. In consistent to this mRNA expression of NF-kB, TNF-α and MMP-8 were also found to be Up-regulated, which were significantly inhibited by WSMe200 treatment. These findings are positively correlated with the results of histological examinations of joints, which showed reduced inflammation and bone erosion in the treated group. The ability to inhibit the production of oxidative stress and subsequent modulation of the inflammatory cytokines shows the protective effect of WSMe and its potential use for the treatment of arthritis.


Character segmentation, which is a fundamental preliminary step for character recognition, is particularly critical in the case of ancient printed documents, where several degradation processes may cause the characters to touch and merge one another. In the paper the problem of character segmentation is formulated as the minimization of a cost function which accounts for data consistency and expresses both radiometric constraints on the image gray levels and geometrical constraints on the character boundaries. Since the degradation operator, which derives from several and diverse factors, is also unknown, it must be estimated along with the segmented image. Hence, we propose a solution strategy where steps of image estimation iteratively alternate with steps of estimation for the degradation operator. Results of both simulated and real experiments are shown to validate the method.


In the Google Spain and Google Case the CJEU ruled that Directive 95/46/EC applies to Internet search engines having their seat outside the EU if they set up a subsidiary in a Member State to promote and sell advertising space. Furthermore, the court made search engines liable for links to information published or placed on the Internet by third parties. Finally, the Grand Chamber even recognized a fundamental "right to be forgotten", obliging the search engine operators to remove search results that contain private data. The authors critically analyze the ruling, especially with regard to the envisaged European data protection reform package.


Abstract In the paper, the surface layers formed on nickel-titanium alloy during Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO), known also as Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO), are described. The mixture of phosphoric acid and copper nitrate as the electrolyte for all plasma electrochemical processes was used. Nitinol biomaterial was used for the studies. All the experiments were performed under the voltage of 450 V and current density of 0.3 A/dm2. The main purpose of the studies was to achieve the highest amount of copper in the surface layer versus amount of the copper nitrate in phosphoric acid. The highest copper concentration was found in the surface layer after the PEO treatment in the electrolyte consisting of 150g Cu(NO3)2 in 0.5 dm3 H3PO4. The worst results, in case of the amount of copper in the NiTi surface layer, were recorded after oxidizing in the solution with 5 g Cu(NO3)2.


The war on gangs in Aotearoa New Zealand seems to be a never-ending battle. Sensationalist rhetoric in the media and anti-gang political discourse fosters a range of negative stereotypes about gangs and those within them, presenting them as fundamentally criminal organisations. This thesis challenges the dominant narrative on gangs by instead exploring their evolving social movement potential. Drawing on participatory action research and collaborative partnerships established within the Black Power rōpū – one of the most well-known 'gangs' in the country – it shows members taking up important roles as agents of social change. The research found members reinterpreting in a localised context the anti-racist symbolism of the global Black Power movement, along with adopting practices and techniques more commonly associated with social movements. Through the kōrero of members themselves, this research shows how the rōpū are actively redefining the very meaning of the terms 'gang' and 'gangster'. The research not only challenges prevailing public stereotypes within Aotearoa New Zealand, but contributes to the wider field of gang research by developing a collaborative methodology that works with not on the community that is 'the gang' and by demonstrating the roles these collectives play in grassroots projects of social transformation.


Evolving team members to act cohesively is a complex and challenging problem. To allow the greatest range of solutions in team problem solving, heterogeneous agents are desirable. To produce highly specialized agents, team members should be evolved in separate populations. Co-evolution in separate populations requires a system for selecting suitable partners for evaluation at trial time. Selecting too many partners for evaluation drives computation time to unreasonable levels, while selecting too few partners blinds the GA from recognizing highly fit individuals. In previous work, we employed a method based on punctuated anytime learning which periodically tests a number of partner combinations to select a single individual from each population to be used at trail time. We began testing our method in simulation using a two-agent box pushing task. We then expanded our research by simulating a predator-prey scenario in which all the agents had the exact same capabilities. In this paper, we report the expansion of our work by applying this method of team learning to five dissimilar robots.


Named a top 10 medical title in 2009 by the "Wall Street Journal", the 2009-2010 edition of the "CDC Health Information for International Travel" (The Yellow Book) presents dependable advice on any travel health issue, including vaccinations, essential trip planning and safety tips, prevention of an expanded list of travel-related infectious diseases, altitude illness, motion sickness, sunburn, medical tourism, and much more. The expert narrative explains the most common health issues and practical day-to-day information for nine popular destinations and travel itineraries. This official publication of the "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" is filled with valuable information not only for health-care providers and travelers, but also for anyone interested in travel health. It's your trusted travel medicine desktop reference, with a fresh look and feel!


Hemophilia B (factor IX deficiency) is an X-linked recessive clotting disorder similar to hemophilia A. In both diseases, phenotypic expression of the disorder may occur in significant numbers of heterozygous carriers. This is presumably due to random inactivation of one of the two X chromosomes of the female carrier as described by the Lyon hypothesis. Described herein is the obstetric care of a severely affected heterozygous carrier of hemophilia B. Predelivery automated plasma exchange was used to raise factor IX levels successfully. Commercial factor concentrates were avoided. The Lyon hypothesis is discussed in detail, and recommendations are made for the care of the clotting factor-deficient gravid woman.


New studies suggest that the teratogenicity of phenytoin (PHT) is linked to its membrane-stabilizing pharmacological action via the rapid component of the delayed rectified potassium channel (lkr), resulting in embryonic cardiac dysrhythmia during a restricted sensitive period. In order to further elucidate this theory, PHT was administered to Sprague-Dawley rats on gestation day (GD) 11 with either a single dose of 150 or 100 mg/kg ip or 150 mg/kg po and developmental toxicity at term (GD 21) was studied. In satellite animals blood samples were withdrawn (0.5-24 h after dose) and total and free maternal plasma concentrations of PHT were measured. Pharmacokinetic data correlated well with pregnancy outcome data. At 150 mg/kg ip high concentrations of long duration (C(max) 240 microM and AUC 5300 microMhl(-1) - total) and marked developmental toxicity (embryonic death, decreased fetal weights, and orofacial clefts) were observed. After 100 mg/kg ip (C(max) 150 microM, AUC 2600 microMhl(-1) - total) only slight developmental toxicity (decreased fetal weights) was recorded and after 150 mg/kg po the plasma concentrations were even lower (C(max) 63 microM and AUC 1100 microMhl(-1) - total) and no adverse effects at all were observed. In separate experiments the effect of different concentrations of PHT on the embryonic heart was studied by adding PHT to GD 11 rat embryos cultured in vitro or by culturing GD 11 embryos from exposed dams. The decrease in heart rates was 3, 16, and 32% after culture with 50, 100, and 200 microM of PHT, respectively. After maternal administration of 150 mg/kg ip or po, the embryonic heart rate in vitro decreased by 25 and 7%, respectively, compared to controls. Altogether the results suggest that the development toxicity of PHT is caused by concentration-dependent induction of embryonic dysrhythmia and hypoxia related damage.


Anthropologists have worked in legal arenas as experts on civil, criminal, and asylum cases throughout the history of the discipline. Today expert witnesses give opinions on the conditions of countries where immigrants flee, and that work includes ethnographic interviewing, research into the causes of political and social violence, and appearing in court through written affidavits and personal testimony. Expert testimony today includes helping in the defense of people fleeing intimate partner violence, persecution based on sexual orientation, threats and violence by gangs, and those whose political opinions put them at risk. Immigrants in the United States face institutional culture shock, structural violence, and criminalization of their lives. Case studies of immigration, civil, and criminal cases illustrate how theory and practice intersect in the harsh light of court cases.


Price impact models are important for devising trade execution strategies. However, a proper characterization of price impacts is still lacking. This study models the price impact using an agent-based modeling approach. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether agent intelligence is a necessary condition when seeking to construct realistic price impact with an artificial market simulation. We build a zero-intelligence based artificial limit order market model. Our model distinguishes limit orders according to their order aggressiveness and takes into account some observed facts including log-normal distributed order sizes and power-law distributed limit order placements. The model is calibrated using trades and orders data from the London Stock Exchange. The results indicate that agent intelligence is needed when simulating an artificial market where replicating price impact is a concern.


Background: Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot in a blood vessel that prevents blood flow in the blood circulatory system. Nowadays thrombosis is one of the causes of mortality in human societies. Thrombosis can be caused by genetic disorders or environmental factors that help the formation of clots. Two common mutations of methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene known as C677T and A1298C are realized as the effective factors for thrombophilia. The purpose of this study is to design a proper ARMS-PCR method for the diagnosis of these two mutations of MTHFR gene and the evaluation of its relationship with people suspected of thrombosis. Methods: first 50 samples suspected of thrombosis were collected from cases that had gone to laboratories for coagulation tests, then the genomic DNA of the samples was extracted using the proper commercial kit. Proper ARMS-PCR primers for C677T and A1298C mutations were designed and then synthesized. After the optimization of the ARMS-PCR reaction on the positive control sample, the reaction was carried out for all 50 samples. A number of mutated and non-mutated samples were studied for confirmation by the PCR-Sequencing method.Results: the results from the reaction showed that from 50 samples under study, after the optimization, 13 people had the C677T mutation (26%) from which 5 people had the homozygous genotype and 8 people had the Heterozygous genotype and for the A1298C mutation, 12 positive sample were found (24%) from which 7 people had the Heterozygous genotype and 5 people had the homozygous genotype.


We formulate and solve a control problem where data are sent over a communication network that introduces random time delays. Past time delays are assumed known by the use of timestamps and the probability distribution of future delays are modeled with a Markov chain with continuous observation densities. We generalize previous results on LQG control of jump linear systems to cover this situation.


The authors investigate a hybrid radio over fiber system for the generation and distribution of UWB signals. This system is based on gain-switched laser, which is used to generate short optical pulses. The position of these pulses is modulated using electrical data before transmitting them to the remote antenna unit (RAU). At the RAU, the optical signal is detected and undergoes spectral shaping (according to UWB requirements). The resulting pulse position modulated (PPM) electrical impulses are then down-converted to baseband using an electrical mixer. After strong low pass filtering, bit error rate measurements are carried out in order to verify the performance of the system. Error free operation is achieved for optical power levels as low as -16 dBm falling at the detector in RAU. The impact of fiber transmission on the generated UWB signal is also investigated via a simulation model. The evolution of the pulse- and spectral width of the UWB pulses, as the signal travels over different lengths of fiber, is recorded. Results achieved show that the pulse- and spectral width are strongly affected by chromatic dispersion of the fiber. However, these changes can be easily reverted using standard dispersion compensation techniques.


Background. Despite widespread introduction of minimally invasive resection techniques into thoracic surgery, pleurodesis remains the only determining method of radical surgical correction in a number of cases. This is especially true in patients with advanced forms of bullous emphysema. At the same time, existing types of pleurodesis cause serious accompanying complications. Taking this into account, a method of blood patch pleurodesis was developed based on the pathophysiology of the processes occurring in the pleural cavity after the blood entering it, which was based on the processes characteristic for the development and transformation of the coagulated hemothorax. The aim of the study was to study the pathophysiology of the pleural cavity with the artificial creation of hemothorax in it. Materials and methods. The control group consisted of 36 patients, in whom hemothorax was caused by penetrating stab-cut wounds of the chest. Of these, 21 patients had small or medium hemothorax, and 15 patients underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) evacuation due to the coagulated hemothorax. The main group consisted of 40 patients who had hemothorax due to the performance of VATS resection of the lung and pleurodesis due to bullous emphysema, 24 of them had coagulation "staircase" pleurodesis, in 16 — blood patch pleurodesis according to the developed technique. As the main indicator reflecting the formation of fibrin and fibrinolysis in the pleural cavity, plasminogen was studied, the percentage of activity of which was determined three times in the blood serum and pleural exudate: 1 hour and 24 hours after the operation, and also on the 5 th postoperative day. Results. In the first hours after the surgery, the blood plasminogen level decreased in all patients, except those who underwent VATS resection with "staircase" pleurodesis. A day after the operation in the group of patients with small and medium hemothorax, a slow recovery of plasminogen level began, after 5 days its concentration in the blood was completely restored. In patients who underwent evacuation of a coagulated hemothorax, a standard decrease in plasminogen was noted 1 h after the surgery. On the 5th day, the level of plasminogen in the blood recovered only by half. The same values of plasminogen in the time intervals of 1 hour and 5 days were also in the group of patients who underwent blood patch pleurodesis after VATS resection, and 24 hours after blood patch pleurodesis, recovery of the plasminogen level already started. In pleural exudate, there was a moderate decrease in plasminogen in patients who underwent VATS resection with "staircase" pleurodesis and primary surgical treatment with drainage of the pleural cavity 1 hour after the operation, and then its uniform recovery by the 5 th day. Patients with coagulated hemothorax had a deeper plasminogen level decrease 1 hour after the surgery and a uniform but not definitive recovery to the 5 th day. Blood patch pleurodesis led to a sharp decrease in plasminogen in pleural exudate 1 hour after the operation, and its level did not increase by the 5 th day. Conclusions. The decrease in plasminogen in pleural exudate was a direct reflection of the exhausting effect of autoblood. Blood patch pleurodesis is an intervention that simulates the processes occurring in the pleural cavity with coagulated hemothorax in a more "soft" version. With it, there is an inhibition of liquor fibrinolysis, similar to that of in coagulated hemothorax.


Can the Muslim Ummah contribute to the international community? Muslims all around the world take part to contribute to the world in many ways as display of the great character and value of Islam. However, the international world is a world of state politics and international law. It is a reality that the ummah barely exists on this plane except the recent military alliances and diplomatic tensions. Despite the necessities behind all this, is this really all there is to the Islamic world? This paper examines how role of the Islamic world is minimum (conflict-response at best), while the United Nations in maintaining international peace and security would also facilitate the law making a platform from which to conduct peaceful international relations. An overwhelming part of international law is consistent with Islamic law –albeit some friction—,Muslim nations individually ratify international conventions because 'they are compatible with Islam' leaving no trace of Islamic identity in their participation in this largely secularized making of international law. It may seem that Islamic identity only becomes a highlight when Muslim nations make reservations to certain provisions against the Shari'a which triggers negative reaction from other nations (see the CEDAW declarations and reservations). Is this the best that the ummah can do? This paper proposes to promote an Islamic version of International Law through 'Soft Law' like the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, optimizing the role of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Being more practical, soft laws are preferred over treaties. While binding rules are already there in existing international conventions, it is argued that this proposal will help unite, distinguish and emphasize Islam's role and position in the making of international law.


Church planting, the establishing of new churches, is a significant feature of the modern Church of England, but has received little theological and historical analysis. This study undertakes such an analysis, using Scripture and Anglican historical tradition, placing church planting in a historical context and examining it in the light of the Apostle Paul's ministry. There is a practical need for church planting, and Anglican missiology has always been committed both to evangelism and to the establishment of the church as its end result, which can be shown historically, both at home and overseas. Anglican history also suggests two further factors: the priority of local, voluntary initiative in evangelism, and the gradual breakdown of Anglican consensus on doctrinal fundamentals, adding further to pressure on the parish system. Reflecting on these findings in the light of Paul's ministry, Paul felt compelled to preach the gospel, which led inevitably to the founding of churches. These churches were involved themselves in mission as a result of being gripped by God's dynamic purposes in and through the gospel. Paul saw his authority and continuing relationship with them as always governed by the gospel, ideally allowing flexibility and independence within a framework of authority and unity unless the gospel itself was at stake. For Anglican church planting, these findings argue for its place within the life of the church, meeting the need for a flexible accompaniment to the parish system. This calls for flexible and creative thinking by both parishes and diocesan authorities. Church planting has much life to offer the Church, but if this life is stifled then there is a risk of a breakdown of church order.


In this paper we present SECTOR, a set of mechanisms for the secure verification of the time of encounters between nodes in multi-hop wireless networks. This information can be used notably to prevent wormhole attacks (without requiring any clock synchronization), to secure routing protocols based on last encounters (with only loose clock synchronization), and to control the topology of the network. SECTOR is based primarily on distance-bounding techniques, on one-way hash chains and on Merkle hash trees. We analyze the communication, computation and storage complexity of the proposed mechanisms and we show that, due to their efficiency and simplicity, they are compliant with the limited resources of most mobile devices.


Recently, advanced technologies in the semiconductor process have a great developed with nano technology. It enabled cost effective solutions to directly integrate wireless network connectivity with embedded processors and sensors. From the improved technology, IoT lead to great interest in the the field of inforamtion and communication technology, It is defined as integrated, fused and networked interconnection with objects. Security challenges in IoT include privacy, authentication and secure end-to-end connection. In addition, with the presence of multiple smart home standards currently used in market, any security scheme needs to consider inter-compatibility among the multiple standards. We analyzed and surveyed critical issues for technologies and securities of IoT, and discussed the applications and challenges of smart home network and related to IoT systems. Finally, to provide secure authentication procedure, we proposed the security protocol in IoT service in this paper.


The purpose of the study. Show the possibility of additional evaluation of functional operability of patients with progressive pulmonary tuberculosis (PPT) at pneumonectomy using the transpulmonary thermodilution (TPT).

Material and methods . The study included 88 patients aged 38.8 ± 1.8 years in need of PE over PPT. Preoperative evaluation included spirometry, lung perfusion scintigraphy, the use of the TPT (series instruments PICCO, Pulsion MedSys, Germany) with an estimate of the absolute and indexed values of extravascular fluid in the lung (EVLW), blood gas (RaO2/FiO2 ) .

Results. PPT patients before surgery, depending on the volume of lung tissue destruction, determined a direct correlation between the decrease in VC and FEV1 (R = 0.78, p <0.0000001). EVLW content correlated with the values of VC (R = 0.53, p <0.0000001). It was calculated the ratio VC (ml) to EVLW (ml). Under normal' values , it is 10-24 1/1, with PPT it declined. It was found correlation between VC / EVLW and pulmonary vascular permeability index (R = - 0.36, p = 0.001), and between the index values and RaO2/FiO2 (R = 0.38, p = 0.0002). In response to a fluid therapy in patients with low values of VC / EVLW increase EVLW index (Δ EVLWI, ml / kg) was greater (R = -0.47, p = 0.00001).

Conclusions: The ratio of VC / EVLW, based on an assessment of the absolute values of EVLW, can be considered as an additional criterion of functional operability with extensive lung resection in patients with PPT.


Today, clothing factories have to strictly control their costs to survive and provide the continuity of their success. Fabric cost constitutes about half of a garment cost. For this reason, it is important to calculate the fabric cost of a garment precisely. This study aims at developing the software that will calculate the fabric consumption of a garment in clothing factories. It is not possible to cross-examine the fabric consumption rapidly with regard to garment models in the existing computer-aided design systems because these programs are not flexible enough to satisfy the needs of the customers. This study has been planned to eliminate this imperfection. Denim trouser models are selected as the material, and inputs of a factory producing denim trousers are used. The software developed enables the estimation of fabric consumptions of different trouser models in a speedy way.


Using firm-level balance-sheet data comparable across EU countries, we consider firms active in generation, distribution and transmission of electricity and their ownership structure to empirically investigate the interaction of public versus private ownership and the quality of institutions as determinants of productivity. While earlier literature has traditionally focused on ownership as an internal governance mechanism, and has suggested that public ownership is associated with lower productivity than under private ownership, here we focus on the role of institutions as an external governance mechanism. After controlling for size, wages, countries and sectors, we confirm that government-owned tend to be less productive than their private counterparts (a result robust to different productivity measures), but we also discover two new facts. First, when the control of the firm by government is indirect, i.e. when government ownership is at the top of the control chain, the negative productive effect is weaker. Second, this effect is smaller in countries with high-quality institutions and public enterprises are more efficient than in countries with a poor institutional environment.


Background and Aim: SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of Coronavirus 2019 or COVID-19 in the world. Novel coronavirus disease is a respiratory disease. To date, there have been challenges in the treatment for COVID-19 and emerged new variants like UK B1.1.7. Accordingly, an effective prevention regime is needed for this infection, which covers most variants. The purpose of this research was to predict the conserved epitopes of Spike and Nucleocapsid proteins from SARS-CoV-2 for the design of a novel coronavirus 2019 multi-epitope vaccine using in silico tools. Materials and Methods: Computational analysis and immunoinformatics approaches include identification of potential conserve epitopes and selection of epitopes based on allergenicity, toxicity, antigenicity, and molecular docking were used for epitope prediction and screening. In the next step, selected segments of the epitopes were attached by the suitable linkers. Finally, Maltese-bound protein (MBP) as an adjuvant was added to the novel vaccine structure. The secondary and third structures of the designed multi-epitope vaccine were predicted via immunoinformatics algorithms. Predicted structure refined and validated for attaining best stability. In the end, immunoinformatics evaluation, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics were performed to confirm vaccine efficiency. Codon optimization and in silico cloning were done to ensure the expression yield of the novel multi-epitope vaccine in the target host. Results: This study showed that our data support the suggestion that the designed vaccine could induce immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Conclusion: The structure designed had acceptable quality with software reviews. Further in vitro and in vivo experiments are needed to confirm the safety and immunogenicity of the candidate vaccine. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.


The question posed in the title of this paper is raised by a reexamination of Cantor''s diagonal argument. Cantor used the argument in its most general form to prove that no mapping of the natural numbers into the reals could have all the reals as its range. It has subsequently been used in a more specific form to prove, for example, that the computable reals cannot be enumerated by a Turing machine. The distinction between these two forms of the argument can be expressed within a formal logic as a distinction between using the argument with a parameter F, denoting an arbitrary map from the natural numbers to the reals, and with a defined term F, representing a particular defined map. \nThe setting for the reexamination is a natural deduction based set theory, NaDSet, presented within a Gentzen sequent calculus. The elementary and logical syntax of NaDSet, as well as its semantics, is described in the paper. The logic extends an earlier form by removing a restriction on abstraction, and by replacing first and second order quantifiers by a single quantifier. The logic remains second order, however; this is necessary to avoid an abuse of use and mention that would otherwise arise from the interpretation of atomic sentences. \nThat there can be doubt about the number of reals is suggested by the failure of the general form of Cantor''s diagonal argument in NaDSet. To provide a basis for discussion, a formalization of Godel-Bernays set theory is provided within NaDSet. The subsequent discussion reinforces Skolem''s relativistic answer to the question posed. \nAlthough the general form of Cantor''s argument fails in NaDSet, a rule of deduction which formalizes the argument for defined maps is derived. A simple application of the rule is provided. \nFeferman has argued that a type-free logic is required for the formalization of category theory since no existing logic or set theory permits self-reference of the kind required by the theory. A demonstration is provided elsewhere that category theory can be formalized within NaDSet. An elementary form of the demonstration is provided in the paper by proving a theorem suggested by _{A}<$ for which $\oplus $ is a binary, commutative. and associative _{A},$ is itself such a structure under cartesian product and isomorphism.


France's oldest relationship in sub-Saharan Africa is with Senegal. The French presence in Senegal dates from the 17th century. In the 19th century the Four Communes of Senegal, along with France's other former colonies, gained the right to send a member of parliament to Paris. Since that time Senegal has occupied a special place in French relations with sub-Saharan Africa. Its first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, maintained close and largely exclusive relations with France after Senegal achieved political independence in 1960. Since Senghor's standing down in 1980, Senegal has slowly diversified its foreign relations. At the same time, French African policy has undergone significant changes following the end of the Cold War. While Senegal maintains its special place in French relations with sub-Saharan Africa, France has also diversified its relations with the region, so that non-Francophone countries such as South Africa, Nigeria and Angola now occupy a prominent place in France's African relations. In addition, since the turn of the century French African policy has undergone a significant process of Europeanisation, although France remains Senegal's largest bilateral donor and largest foreign investor. The paper sets out the historic, economic, cultural, military and political dimensions of the relationship, charts the ebb and flow of the relationship since the turn of the millennium and concludes that, despite substantial changes in recent years in the context of accelerating globalisation, the France–Senegal relationship remains an important one for both countries. Indeed, after a period of turbulence from 2000, the election of Macky Sall and Francois Hollande as presidents of their respective countries in 2012 may herald a new era of relative serenity in the relationship and a strengthening of co-operation between the two countries.


Using immunocytochemical methods, we analyzed the localization of the HSP70 protein constitutively expressed during embryogenesis in the amphibian Pleurodeles waltl. Our results provide evidence for nuclear transfer of the protein during gastrulation, and particularly for predominant nuclear labeling in gastrula internalized cells. Using two inhibitors of DNA replication -hydroxyurea (HUA) and aphidicolin- or/and an inhibitor of transcription -actinomycin D- applied to embryos, we demonstrated that nuclear transfer of HSP70 is related to the transcriptional activity of the cells during the early S phase of the cell cycle.


This article presents the evaluation of the thermal behavior of three solar dryers in a passive flow regime designed for the environmental conditions of the Colombian Caribbean Coast. Field experiments were conducted to obtain thermal efficiency results that were compared with those supplied by a computer simulation. The latter was based on energy balances in each component of the dryers. Atmospheric data of the location on the days the field tests were carried out were used as input for a simulation created using specific open-source software. Consistency is observed between the results from the simulation and those obtained from direct measurement.


The pipeline industry strives for continuous improvement and reaching zero incidents. The risks associated with below grade pipelines are typically assessed in detail as part of operators' pipeline integrity management program. However, the level of risk associated with above grade facilities and equipment is often not investigated to the same level. As part of an effort, with an anonymous pipeline operator, to refine the calculated risks associated with these facilities and valve sites, a focus was made on enhancing the consequence calculations with more accurate site-specific information. An approach was developed to assess whether smaller volume releases from these locations may impact nearby waterways following a release.
 The operator identified 150 sites throughout North America where releases had the potential to contaminate a waterbody. In order to confirm/disprove this potential impact to water, hypothetical releases of multiple hydrocarbon products were simulated using oil spill modeling tools to assess the potential overland and downstream transport and fates of the released products. Hypothetical release scenarios were simulated until all of the modeled oil had been released and had either adhered to the land surface, filled a depression in the land surface, and/or evaporated to the atmosphere; or when oil was predicted to enter a perennial waterbody (stream or lake). The goal was to assess the potential for each release to reach a waterbody. A single release was simulated for each site based on a historical maximum volume for a release associated with the specific equipment type (e.g. valves) that could be released over a 24-hour period. Releases were simulated using conditions selected to produce reasonable, conservative results to maximize the potential for the largest volume of oil to enter a waterbody. These conditions were based on the spring season, where rivers and streams would be under some of the highest flow conditions, intermittent streams and waterbodies would contain water feeding larger water bodies, cool air temperatures would reduce evaporative losses, and no snow cover maximize overland transport.
 This screening level analysis allowed for identification of each location's potential to reach a nearby waterbody under the conservative set of conditions and assumptions. By eliminating sites where oil would not reach a waterbody, the operator was able to focus efforts on the highest consequence areas in order to complete more detailed field-level analysis. In regard to spill modeling, more detailed analyses could be conducted in the future to predict the range of possible outcomes from other types of releases and using more site-specific and season-specific data. As an example, slower releases/leak rates, enhanced evaporative losses, a range of environmental conditions, and/or losses to infiltration could be assessed to bound the range of potential impacts.


The Triboindenter present many advantages for the measurement of friction and wear at the nanoscale. A reciprocating multi-cycle linear test can be programmed, from where it is possible to obtain simultaneously the friction force and wear rate from the lateral force and vertical displacement sensors, respectively. The friction values have high precision but the wear data is usually wrong in long duration tests because the drift rate is only measured just before the test start. Alternatively, one can program the SPM scanning mode of the instrument with a high load in order to produce the wear of the surface. At the end of the experiment, a squared hole is produced which can be measured using the SPM facility of the system. However, this wear experiment does not allow the simultaneous measurement of the friction coefficient.In this talk I will present a new methodology to measure in-situ the friction and wear of thin films using a Triboindenter TI-950 from Hysitron. I will show how the possible changes of drift rate during long-time tests can be overcome, obtaining simultaneous precise values of friction and wear rate as a function of time. I will discuss how the Triboimage® software can be adapted to this methodology in order to get realistic values of friction and wear. Finally I will show some results for soft (H < 1GPa) Pb films and very hard (H ~ 35 GPa) nitride coatings


This paper solves the contingencies by object-oriented programming (OOP) for the distribution automation system (DAS) in Taiwan Power Company. The binary integer programming is applied to derive the proper switching operation to be executed to solve the system contingencies. To represent the load behavior of distribution systems more precisely, the load patterns of various customer classes are applied to find the daily loading profiles of each service zone defined by the line switches. The hourly current flows of line switches are then solved by three-phase load flow analysis based on the actual loading of distribution feeders. The current flows of line switches and feeder configuration are updated according to the switching operation for the overload problems, fault isolation and service restoration. A Taipower distribution system with six feeders is selected for computer simulation to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. It is found that the loading of the overload feeder can be released and the service restoration of the distribution system for a permanent fault can be obtained very efficiently by applying the object-oriented programming.


This fascinating study of women in postrevolutionary Mexico brings to life the multiple forms of struggle that women engaged in during the late 1920s and the 1930s. Based on extensive research, it both offers telling examples of women's local activism and shows the connections between it and the larger political context in which it occurred. Thus, this book illustrates the dynamic interplay that existed between women's efforts to improve their conditions on the local and national level and the political forces that supported or opposed them on the regional, national, and international levels.


Neutrophils assure rapid removal of bacteria by a variety of processes. They crawl out of the vessels, phagocytose the bacteria and kill them by secretion of bactericidal substances and production of oxidative metabolites. The aims of this study were to investigate the signalling pathways during these processes, in particular i) how complement receptors mediate phagocytosis and NADPH~oxidase activity ii) the role of Ca2+ in secretion and the role of a Ca2+-dependent, actin-binding protein, _gelsolin, in neutrophil phagocytosis and secretion. Conventional biochemical methods, capacitance measurements of secretion with the patchclamp technique and visualisation with fluorescence microscopy techniques were used. We found that phospholipase D (PLD) is an early Ca2+-independent signal in complementmediated phagocytosis, preceding cytoskeletal rearrangements. We also demonstrated'that the NADPH-oxidase could be activated in situ to generate oxidative metabolites intracellularly after particle stimulation of complement receptors in the absence of phagocytosis. This permits cells to use oxidative metabolites for signalling and not only to kill bacteria. This activation involved the cytoskeleton and PLD. Whereas signalling during pha~ocytosis can occur independently of Ca2+, other neutrophil functions are highly Ca +-dependent. Investigating the relative importance of Ca2+-release from intracellular stores versus Ca2+ influx over the plasma membrane, we found that secretion of primary granules induced by fMLP is dependent on Ca2+ -influx. ci+-influx alone is not sufficient to induce secretion in neutrophils. A second synergistic signal is required. This missing signal was not PLD, PLC or tyrosine kinases, but involved a pertussis-sensitive 0-protein and PI3-kinase. When further investigating the role of Ca2+ in secretion, we found that secretion of different granules is regulated by different [Ca2+:J. Primary granules are secreted at 100 ~ Ca2+ whereas the other granules are secreted at 1.5-5 ~ ci+, suggesting two mechanisms involving different Ca2+ activated systems/sensor proteins. One sensor protein could be the Ca2+-dependent, actinbinding protein, gelsolin, which has earlier been shown to stimulate secretion in different celltypes. Secretion from gelsolin-deficient mouse neutrophils was nevertheless nonnal. Gelsolin was however found to be essential for !gO-mediated-, but not complement-induced phagocytosis. Activation of the oxidase and phagolysosorne-fusion was unaffected in gelsolin-deficient neutrophils. This suggests gelsolin to be a Ca2+ -sensor specifically for !gOmediated phagocytosis. !gO-mediated phagocytosis often leads to more efficient killing than complement-mediated phagocytosis. Gelsolin seems to be part of the machinery that distinguishes the two pathways of phagocytosis. The present data show that receptor mediated activation of neutrophil functions involves several signalling pathways. This allows selective modulation of the inflammatory response.


: The records of 54 consecutive patients with Wilson's disease seen at the Mayo Clinic from 1952 through early 1977 were reviewed to determine the frequency fo hematologic abnormalaties in their evaluation. Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia sometimes have been ascribed to treatment with D-penicillamine and its toxicity; however, we have found cytopenia to be a frequent finding in the presenting laboratory data of patients with Wilson's disease. Twenty-eight patients (52%) had thrombocytopenia and 16 of these patients (30% of the total) also had leukopenia. Severe, acute, intermittent hemolytic episodes were the initial and only presenting complaint of one patient. Six of the patients with significant cytopenias had splenectomy, and in all cases the peripheral blood counts returned to normal values. Long-term treatment with D-penicillamine improved the hepatic and neurologic dysfunction in most patients; however, the cytopenias remained unchanged except in three patients (treated 2, 5, and 10 years).


Alfvénic waves are believed to be fundamentally important in magnetic reconnection. Kinetic dynamics of particles can break the Alfvén speed limit in the evolution and propagation of perturbations during reconnection. In this paper, the generation and signatures of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) associated with magnetic reconnection in a current sheet is investigated using a three‐dimensional (3‐D) hybrid code under a zero or finite guide field. In order to understand the wave structures in the general cases of multiple X line reconnection, cases with a single X line of various lengths are examined. The KAWs are identified using the wave dispersion relation, electromagnetic polarization relations, as well as spectral analysis. In the cases in which the X line is so long to extend through the entire simulation domain in the current direction, quasi 2‐D configurations of reconnection are developed behind a leading flux/plasma bulge. KAWs with perpendicular wave number k⊥ρi∼1 (with ρi being the ion Larmor radius) are found throughout the transient plasma bulge region and propagate outward along magnetic field lines with a slightly super‐Alfvénic velocity. These KAWs are generated from the X line and coexist with the whistler structure of the ion diffusion region under a small guide field. In the cases in which the X line has a finite length 2ξ ∼ 10di, with ξ being the half length of the X line and di the ion inertial length, the KAWs originated from the X line are of 3‐D nature. Under a finite guide field, KAWs propagate along the oblique magnetic field lines into the unperturbed regions in the current direction, carrying parallel electric field and Poynting fluxes. The critical X line length for the generation of 3‐D‐like structures is found to be 2ξc≤30di. The structure, propagation, energy, spectrum, and damping of the KAWs are examined. Dependence of the structure of KAWs on the guide field is also investigated.


In-roadway warning lights or "flashing crosswalks" are a currently-accepted treatment in MUTCD for use at uncontrolled crosswalks. This review of nine before-after evaluation studies including surrogate measures of safety effectiveness indicates that the treatment is not a panacea for all problem crosswalk locations. While motorist yielding to pedestrians has improved to varying degrees at most locations examined, the evidence is relatively weak, and yielding has also decreased or remained at low levels at some locations. Effects on traffic speeds, and on pedestrian use of the crosswalks have also varied, even in direction. Positive effects observed may also degrade over time. While there is suggestive evidence, it is not clear from the evaluation studies to date, under what conditions flashing crosswalk treatments may be most beneficial over the longer term, and not recommended for others.


This article provide a critical review of the ongoing scenario in the Italian water industry starting from a pivotal point, the definition of water as an economic resource. Considering the industrial complexity and the huge financial needs that clearly open a question on the financing of the sector, it points out the long-lasting weakness of the water industry, especially on the infrastructure side, and the fallouts of an efficient management of it due to the absence of a clear regulatory framework that ask for an adequate industrial policy design of this industry as a whole.


Structured light sensors are popular due to their robustness to untextured scenes and multipath. These systems triangulate depth by solving a correspondence problem between each camera and projector pixel. This is often framed as a local stereo matching task, correlating patches of pixels in the observed and reference image. However, this is computationally intensive, leading to reduced depth accuracy and framerate. We contribute an algorithm for solving this correspondence problem efficiently, without compromising depth accuracy. For the first time, this problem is cast as a classification-regression task, which we solve extremely efficiently using an ensemble of cascaded random forests. Our algorithm scales in number of disparities, and each pixel can be processed independently, and in parallel. No matching or even access to the corresponding reference pattern is required at runtime, and regressed labels are directly mapped to depth. Our GPU-based algorithm runs at a 1KHz for 1.3MP input/output images, with disparity error of 0.1 subpixels. We show a prototype high framerate depth camera running at 375Hz, useful for solving tracking-related problems. We demonstrate our algorithmic performance, creating high resolution real-time depth maps that surpass the quality of current state of the art depth technologies, highlighting quantization-free results with reduced holes, edge fattening and other stereo-based depth artifacts.


The regulation of transcription of the gene for the tryptophan-specific permease, mtr, was evaluated in several genetically marked Escherichia coli strains through the use of a single-copy lacZ reporter system. The expression of mtr was repressed 97-fold by tryptophan via the Trp repressor and induced 10-fold by phenylalanine or tyrosine via the Tyr repressor. By primer extension analysis two distinct mtr transcripts and their corresponding promoters were identified. One transcript was induced by the Tyr repressor. The tryptophan-dependent interaction of Trp repressor with an operator target within the mtr promoter was demonstrated by means of a restriction endonuclease protection assay.


Amine and membrane based process are commonly used to treat acid gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. Carbon dioxide adversely affect the environment therefore, its utilization and storage are critical. In this work, a simplistic approach of single stage membrane unit combine with amine absorption processes with different commercial amines were investigated. Increase in CO2 concentration in the feed gas, results in substantial increase in the thermal energy consumption of the stripper reboiler, where using hybrid amine-membrane setup can effectively reduce energy consumed in reboiler. Both amine absorption process and membrane process are simulated using Aspen HYSYS V10. Since, membrane is not available in Aspen HYSYS V10 unit operation package, it is programmed and added as custom user operation. Moreover, a new acid/ amine based fluid package builds in combination of Peng-Robinson equation of state for vapor phase and electrolyte non-random two liquid based activity model for liquid phase were used in this study. Furthermore, energy consumption in CO2 capture using different alkanolamine such as N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA), monethanolamine (MEA), deithanolamine (DEA), piperazine (PZ), triethanolamine (TEA) are also studied. As membrane unit help in CO2 reduction in feed to amine absorption process in hybrid amine-membrane setup. This significantly reduces the energy requirement as compared to the conventional standalone alkanolamine process. In comparison with various amines used in amine absorption process, MEA offers the lowest total energy consumed, whereas, MDEA considered to be the highest in terms of energy consumption.


Injection molding visualization is the experimental method of direct observation on the melt filling behavior in the mold cavity. By using developed visualization system, the influence of mold structure design on the injection molding product's defects, such as jetting and weld were studied in this paper. The forming process of jetting was observed by the visual method, and results show that it is useful to avoid jetting by locating gate correctly. According to the generation of weld line in single gate cavity, an improved measure to adjust the weld locations by adding overflow traps was proposed. The result indicates that the overflow trap is good for adjusting weld location and makes the defects appear in the unimportant points of surface. Another experiment on the forming process of weld line in two-gate cavity with setting different distance parameters were carried out. The result shows that increasing of gates distance may significantly affect the performance of weld line.


Endochondral ossification takes place with calcified cartilage cores providing a rigid scaffold for new bone formation. Intramembranous ossification begins in connective tissue and new bone formed by a process of static ossification (SO) followed by dynamic ossification (DO) as previously described. The aim of the present study was to determine if the process of endochondral ossification is similar to that of intramembranous ossification with both a static and a dynamic phase of osteogenesis. Endochondral ossification centers of the tibiae and humeri of newborn and young growing rabbits were studied by light and transmission electron microscopy. The observations clearly showed that in endochondral ossification, the calcified trabeculae appeared to be lined first by osteoclasts. The osteoclasts were then replaced by flattened cells (likely cells of the reversal phase) and finally by irregularly arranged osteoblastic laminae, typical of DO. This cellular sequence did not include osteoblasts seen in the phase of SO. These findings clearly support our working hypothesis that SO only forms in soft tissues to provide a rigid framework for DO, and that DO requires a rigid mineralized surface. The presence of osteocytes in contact with the calcified cartilage also suggests the existence of stationary osteoblasts in endochondral ossification. Stationary osteoblasts did not appear to be a unique feature of SO. The presence of stationary osteoblasts may appear to provide the initial osteocytes during osteogenesis that may function as mechanosensors throughout the bone tissue. If this is the case, then bone would be capable of sensing mechanical strains from its inception.


This thesis is a comprehensive study on how corporate governance structure and quality affect the corporate policies. First of all, I examine the effects of female directors on corporate debt maturity structures, using a dataset of S&P 1500 firms with 10,285 firm–year observations during 1997–2016. I find that firms with a higher ratio of female directors tend to have a larger proportion of short-maturity debt. This effect is more pronounced with female independent directors but insignificant with female inside directors. Then, I study the association between both the age of compensation committee members and the age dissimilarity between the CEO and compensation committee members and CEO compensation, using a dataset of FTSE 350 firms with 3,420 firm–year observations during 2002–2013. I find that both the age of committee members and the age dissimilarity from the CEO have negative impacts on the level of CEO total compensation and cash compensation. On the issue of how CEO's human capital influences corporate policies, I find that CEOs with general managerial skills can account for corporate investment inefficiency. CEOs who possess general managerial skills over broad work experience (generalist CEOs) have different risk-taking incentives compared with their counterpart CEOs, whose skills are only valuable within a specific organization (specialist CEOs). They may thus overinvest when there is a lack of efficient monitoring. Finally, I study the effect of firm-level tournament incentives on the level and value of firm cash holding, using a sample of 20,993 US firm–year observations over the 1992–2014 period. This paper investigates the impact of tournament incentives of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on the level and valuation of firm cash holdings. I document the higher propensities to keep larger cash holdings for firms with strong tournament incentives.


A new calcareous Arctic foraminiferal species, Glomulina oculus n. sp., belonging to the suborder Miliolina has been observed in surface samples from northern Nares Strait and Petermann Fjord, NW Greenland, and off Zachariae Isbrae, NE Greenland, as well as in early Holocene sediments from the northern Baffin Bay region and on the NE Greenland shelf. In some samples, this new porcelaneous species makes up a significant fraction of the foraminiferal assemblage, particularly in samples with a relatively large sand content, and we suggest that this species is indicative of an Arctic environment with marine-terminating glaciers. Yet, further studies are needed to ascertain its full habitat range.


With the release in September 2009 of the Stiglitz report commissioned by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as the OECD's project on Measuring the Progress of Societies, public discourse on the appropriate measurement of economic performance and social progress has intensified. This paper contributes by proposing a new framework and summary index for measuring social progress – Good Life Time (GLT). The GLT framework is analogous to and complements the System of National Accounts, but uses time rather than money as the fundamental metric. It brings together three major life domains or attributes – the confluence of good health, adequate income, and the time to enjoy them. The GLT framework builds on the ideas of Sir Richard Stone's proposed System of Social and Demographic Statistics, multi-state life tables from demography, time based accounting ideas from Thomas Juster, time use diary survey data, and computer microsimulation methods. The result is a decomposition of the widely used life expectancy indicator into portions of the life cycle at various levels of GLT. A principal conclusion is that for most people, the periods of the life course when they have the most leisure time, for example, they typically have either lower incomes or poorer health (e.g. the elderly). This kind of result points to possibly important gains in social welfare from a more fundamental re-examination of the way societies structure work and leisure over the life course.


abstract:In this article, I "read against the grain" of a monument to post-WWII immigration and migrant communities. I am concerned with how such monuments, locally situated, might be used in more progressive and transformative histories, ones that harbor the potential to challenge existing public and collective memories of postwar migration and multiculturalism that occur on a national stage and within the ambit of Australia's heritage industry. This is a study in how discursively marginalized migrant groups, with subaltern narratives about mobility and settlement, claim space for alternative histories in the context of a restrictive official heritage.


This thesis aims to add to the qualitative understanding of the nature of community based voluntary action. It does so through a close investigation of the organisation and impact of community-based voluntary sector projects which seek to tackle disadvantage in rural areas. This exploration illustrates some of the challenges faced by community groups, and supporting voluntary sector agencies, as they aim to address different forms of disadvantage. The thesis examines the contextual background in which community-based projects operate. This includes debates over the nature, extent and measurement of disadvantage in rural areas, but also the increasing interest amongst policy-makers and practitioners towards community-based approaches to tackling disadvantage. This is argued to amount to a 'community turn' in public policy. The empirical research undertaken for the thesis involved a collaborative link with a non-academic voluntary organisation, the Durham Rural Community Council. Research took the form of an intensive and extended ethnographic interaction with several case study projects operating in different rural areas of County Durham. Analysis of the case studies highlights three qualitative dimensions of the dynamic process of organising community-based voluntary action. Firstly projects operate within a semi-enclosed, and deeply contested 'field' in which individuals, groups and organisations act as differentially-positioned and insecurely-resourced participants in pursuit of scarce resources to preserve or advance their position. Increasingly at stake in this 'field' is how resources are allocated over time, and how long it should take to make a difference' in relation to disadvantage. The temporality associated with community-based projects thus forms an illuminating second dimension examined in the thesis. Finally, the scale at which projects are organised provides a third dimension explored through the case studies, illustrating the challenge in rural areas of remaining 'close' to users and participants whilst generating a viable scale of activities over large areas with dispersed populations.


In essence, the statistical overview (or meta-analysis) does little more than many medical scientists and practising clinicians have been attempting for years: estimating the average size of an effect from an apparently disparate medical literature. The statistical overview provides a method of pooling the results of comparable trials (or observational studies) which, on their own, may be too small to demonstrate a 'statistically significant' effect. The role for the overview is obvious, the method is relatively simple, but the findings have to be interpreted cautiously, since joining the hypothesis post hoc contravenes one of the essential principles of scientific enquiry. The use of the statistical overview and some of its pros and cons are illustrated in four clinical examples.


We consider the applications of the Frank-Wolfe (FW) algorithm for Apprenticeship Learning (AL). In this setting, we are given a Markov Decision Process (MDP) without an explicit reward function. Instead, we observe an expert that acts according to some policy, and the goal is to find a policy whose feature expectations are closest to those of the expert policy. We formulate this problem as finding the projection of the feature expectations of the expert on the feature expectations polytope – the convex hull of the feature expectations of all the deterministic policies in the MDP. We show that this formulation is equivalent to the AL objective and that solving this problem using the FW algorithm is equivalent well-known Projection method of Abbeel and Ng (2004). This insight allows us to analyze AL with tools from convex optimization literature and derive tighter convergence bounds on AL. Specifically, we show that a variation of the FW method that is based on taking "away steps" achieves a linear rate of convergence when applied to AL and that a stochastic version of the FW algorithm can be used to avoid precise estimation of feature expectations. We also experimentally show that this version outperforms the FW baseline. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that shows linear convergence rates for AL.


In this paper, we present the characterization of Ge-induced crystallization of amorphous Si (a-Si) films deposited by magnetron sputtering. The film structures of a-Si films were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, Atomic Force microscope (AFM), and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The result show that 60% of a-si film with a layer of 400 nm Ge buried is crystallized at growth temperature of 800 °C. The surface roughness and average surface grain size obtained by AFM is 2.39 nm and 60 nm for the crystallized film, respectively. The films growth at temperature of 500°C and 650 °C shows a PL spectrum band from 1.6 eV to 1.8 eV, and the PL peak shifts to lower energy as the growth temperature increased. As for the film grown at 800 °C, the PL spectrum is nearly extinguished. The crystallization of a-Si film induced by buried Ge might be a useful technology to develop high quality poly-Si film without annealing.


Operations of various experiments during the reporting period are summarized. Orbital elements, data availability times, anomalies in the data, geographic location, and time of data are tabulated. Montages obtained by infrared and microwave radiometers are included.


ABSTRACT Understanding how local attitudes toward commercial-scale renewable energy change over time should provide insight into how to engage communities and influence public acceptance during the energy transition. To augment the scarcity of longitudinal research on social acceptance of renewable energy, we use a mixed methods approach to explore how opinions regarding the Block Island Offshore Wind Project changed over time. We analyze two-year panel data from a survey of Block Island and coastal RI residents with a regression model and interviews to observe how opinions were influenced by attitude strength attributes, esthetics, general attitude towards wind power, process fairness, and demographics. Using the multi-layered results, we produce recommendations for stakeholders to better foster community relations from planning to operation. Abbreviations: Block Island Offshore Wind Project (BIOWP): Block Island; (BI): Rhode Island; (RI): Relative risk ratio; (RRR): Power purchase agreement (PPA)


This Hamilton's Drug Store menu includes sodas, fruit juices, soups, sandwiches, and salads. The menu also includes some information about the drug store. Hamilton's Drug Store grand opening was on a Tuesday morning, June 15, 1941. It was located on the corner of Fry and Hickory Street. The owners were W. P. Hamilton and E. C. Perryman. The business had a pharmacy, a complete soda fountain, a cosmetics area, and an assortment of sporting goods, picnic supplies, cigarettes, tobacco, candy, gum, stationary, cards, magazines, first aid supplies, baby foods and accessories.


Adults with congenital heart disease are a growing population. One of the major challenges in the care of these patients is to prevent thromboembolic episodes. Despite relative young age and no typical cardiovascular risk factors, this cohort has a high prevalence of thrombotic events. It is difficult to use treatment algorithms from the general adult population with acquired heart disease in this heterogeneous population due to special conditions such as myocardial scarring after previous surgery, atypical atrial flutter, prothrombotic conditions and the presence of interatrial shunts. Furthermore, there is a lack of scientific evidence regarding how to prevent thromboembolic events with anticoagulation in adults with congenital heart disease. The aim of this paper is to review the current literature pertaining to anticoagulation in adults with congenital heart disease and hence enable recommendations for which patients are likely to benefit from which anticoagulation treatments, when they should be considered and how these would be carried out.