This study analyzes the transmission mechanism for the increase in the skill premium caused by international outsourcing through skill-biased technological change (SBTC). Using 2000–2013 panel data from 27 manufacturing industries in China, this study conducts both probit and Tobit tests and shows that international outsourcing led to SBTC in China's manufacturing industries. A positive correlation is found between international outsourcing and the increase in the skill premium in both static and dynamic models. For each 1-percent increase in the international outsourcing index, the skill premium will rise approximately 10 percent. This finding indicates the existence of a mechanism through which the effect of international outsourcing on the skill premium is reinforced where SBTC is occurring. However, this may enlarge wage gaps within the same industry. Therefore, China should not only use the skill premium to promote the transformation and upgrading of industries benefiting from outsourcing and optimize the structure of employment but also prevent the negative effects of an increased skill premium.


In 2013 individuals in their prime working years (ages 25 to 55) removed at least $69 billion (+/- $3.5 billion) of their retirement savings early, according to GAO's analysis of 2013 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) data. Withdrawals from individual retirement accounts (IRA) — $39.5 billion (+/- $2.1 billion) — accounted for much of the money removed early, were equivalent to 3 percent (+/- 0.15 percent) of the age group's total IRA assets, and exceeded their IRA contributions in 2013. Participants in employer-sponsored plans, like 401(k) plans, withdrew at least $29.2 billion (+/- $2.8 billion) early as hardship withdrawals, lump sum payments made at job separation (known as cashouts), and loan balances that borrowers did not repay. Hardship withdrawals in 2013 were equivalent to about 0.5 percent (+/-0.06 percent) of the age group's total plan assets and about 8 percent (+/- 0.9 percent) of their contributions. However, the incidence and amount of certain unrepaid plan loans cannot be determined because the Form 5500 — the federal government's primary source of information on employee benefit plans — does not capture these data.

Stakeholders GAO interviewed identified flexibilities in plan rules and individuals' pressing financial needs, such as out-of-pocket medical costs, as factors affecting early withdrawals of retirement savings. Stakeholders said that certain plan rules, such as setting high minimum loan thresholds, may cause individuals to take out more of their savings than they need. Stakeholders also identified several elements of the job separation process affecting early withdrawals, such as difficulties transferring account balances to a new plan and plans requiring the immediate repayment of outstanding loans, as relevant factors.

Stakeholders GAO interviewed suggested strategies they believed could balance early access to accounts with the need to build long-term retirement savings. For example, plan sponsors said allowing individuals to continue to repay plan loans after job separation, restricting participant access to plan sponsor contributions, allowing partial distributions at job separation, and building emergency savings features into plan designs, could help preserve retirement savings (see figure). However, they noted, each strategy involves tradeoffs, and the strategies' broader implications require further study.


Atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation are the two most common arrhythmias which originate in the atrium and cause a narrow complex tachycardia which has throm‐ boembolic risk and coexist clinically. Atrial flutter has been traditionally defined as a supraventricular arrhythmia with an atrial rate of 240–360 beats per minute (bpm). It is due to a macro-reentrant atrial activation around an anatomical barrier. Atrial flutter can be described as typical and atypical. Due to recent innovations in technology, catheter ablation has emerged as the most viable option with a success rate of more than 90 %. Three-dimensional electroanatomical mapping is useful in the treatment of atypical atrial flutter.


We describe a patient, VSB, whose reading was impaired as a consequence of a left temporalparietal lesion, whereas writing was relatively preserved. At variance with other pure alexic patients described in the literature, VSB claimed to have become unable to mentally visualise letters and words. Indeed, his performance on a series of tests tapping visual mental imagery for orthographic material was severely impaired. However, performance on the same tests was dramatically ameliorated by allowing VSB to trace each item with his finger. Visual mental imagery for non-orthographic items was comparatively spared. The pattern of dissociation shown by VSB between impaired visual mental imagery and relatively preserved motor-based knowledge for orthographic material lends support to the view that separate codes, respectively based on visual appearance and on motor engrams, may be used to access knowledge of the visual form of letters and words.


Educational facilities and infrastructure planning is the initial stage and becomes the basic basis in the process of procurement, use, maintenance and elimination of infrastructure facilities in educational institutions. But not infrequently the existing planning in the school is not carried out optimally so that the management of educational facilities does not get effective and efficient results. To get maximum results, the education community should understand what infrastructure facilities are planning, the benefits and objectives, principles, conditions, stages and classification of educational facilities. Good planning that can answer 5W 1H in the design of infrastructure programs that will be implemented so that its existence can help achieve goals and avoid unwanted errors and failures. Where infrastructure planning is an intellectual program, a needs analysis is carried out in a comprehensive, realistic, clear and detailed manner. Educational facilities and infrastructure planning is classified into three, first, based on the depletion or not, which is divided into two wearable and durable parts. Both are based on moving or not moving, the three facilities and infrastructure related to the teaching and learning process. DS PAUD schools have implemented planning in managing educational infrastructure. The step of analyzing needs by accommodating all proposals of the school community and designing needs in accordance with the classification so that they can be integrated with the infrastructure that has been available before and determine how to procure it. The next step is budget analysis. The needs that have been arranged are adjusted to the budget so that the party responsible for infrastructure can determine the priority scale in the procurement of infrastructure


Precise genetic manipulation of specific cell types or tissues to pinpoint gene function requirement is a critical step in studies aimed at unraveling the intricacies of organismal physiology. Drosophila researchers heavily rely on the UAS/Gal4/Gal80 system for tissue-specific manipulations; however, it is often unclear whether the reported Gal4 expression patterns are indeed specific to the tissue of interest such that experimental results are not confounded by secondary sites of Gal4 expression. Here, we surveyed the expression patterns of commonly used Gal4 drivers in adult Drosophila female tissues under optimal conditions and found that multiple drivers have unreported secondary sites of expression beyond their published cell type/tissue expression pattern. These results underscore the importance of thoroughly characterizing Gal4 tools as part of a rigorous experimental design that avoids potential misinterpretation of results as we strive for understanding how the function of a specific gene/pathway in one tissue contributes to whole-body physiology.


Low circulating adiponectin levels may contribute to higher diabetes risk among Mexican Americans (MA) compared to non-Latino whites (NLW). Our objective was to determine if among young healthy adult MAs have lower adiponectin than NLWs, independent of differences in adiposity. In addition, we explored associations between adiponectin and diet. This was an observational, cross-sectional study of healthy MA and NLW adults living in Colorado (U.S.A.). We measured plasma total adiponectin, adiposity (BMI, and visceral adipose tissue), insulin sensitivity (IVGTT), and self-reported dietary intake in 43 MA and NLW adults. Mean adiponectin levels were 40% lower among MA than NLW (5.8 ± 3.3 vs. 10.7 ± 4.2 µg/mL, p = 0.0003), and this difference persisted after controlling for age, sex, BMI, and visceral adiposity. Lower adiponectin in MA was associated with lower insulin sensitivity (R2 = 0.42, p < 0.01). Lower adiponectin was also associated with higher dietary glycemic index, lower intake of vegetables, higher intake of trans fat, and higher intake of grains. Our findings confirm that ethnic differences in adiponectin reflect differences in insulin sensitivity, but suggest that these are not due to differences in adiposity. Observed associations between adiponectin and diet support the need for future studies exploring the regulation of adiponectin by diet and other environmental factors.


Purpose of this article: Income is the matter which every household needs, because it has a significant influence on the standard of living. In the European Union there is a common methodology for all EU members, which is used in this article to show the development of income situation and living condition in the Czech Republic.
Methodology/methods: The monitoring covers a period of 2005–2010, i.e. a period of a relatively high economic growth and a beginning economic crisis. The main data source is the survey EU SILC. The income situation of inhabitants has been evaluated from the perspectives of its level and its differentiation. The used indicators were the mean disposable income per a household member, a decile distribution of income, the Gini coefficient, the poverty threshold and the depth of poverty.
Scientific aim: The paper deals with the income situation and living conditions In the Czech republic. The research is oriented to confrontation of relation between the income situation of Czech households and economic growth.
Findings: In the years of economic growth, indicators of income situation displayed a positive trend. In 2008 the proportion of Czech households at risk of poverty achieved the lowest percentage of all EU countries. The changes in the income situation of households started to be more markedly manifested as late as in 2010, besides the decrease in the final consumption of households, there was a change in the interannual growth of the mean income of households and an increase in the number of households at risk of poverty.
Conclusion: There is a positive impact of economic growth on the dynamics of the social development. The conclusions prove an up to two-year delay of the impacts of the economic development of the society on the living conditions of households.


Future Prospectsfor the Middle East The Rise and Decline ofEmpires Faris Glubb Published by APS Group, PO Box 3896, Nicosia, Cyprus. $100 including postage. This report examines the present Middle East situation and world problems affecting it in the light ofthe laws of historical development. These laws are the key to understanding how political entities develop and the interaction between them. Two key points in the report are:


This paper addresses two measurement issues for mobile phones. First, we develop a new mobile phone price index using hedonic quality-adjusted prices for smartphones and a matched-model index for feature phones. Our index falls at an average annual rate of 17 percent during 2010-2018, close to the rate of decline in the price index used in the GDP Accounts. Given relatively flat average prices over this period, our index points to substantial quality improvement. Second, we propose a methodology to disentangle purchases of phones and wireless services when they are bundled together as part of a long-term service contract. Getting the allocation right is especially important for real PCE because the price deflators for phones and wireless services exhibit very different trends. Our adjusted estimates suggest that real PCE spending currently captured in the category Cellular Phone Services increased 4 percentage points faster than is reflected in published data.


Despite recent advances in smoking cessation outcomes, a significant number of people in the UK continue to smoke. Currently available psychological treatments for tobacco addiction include Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), with research evidence suggesting that both approaches may be effective treatments for tobacco addiction. Nevertheless, relapse rates remain high and there is scope for further improvements in clinical outcomes.
The present study examined the effectiveness of two psychological strategies (acceptance and reappraisal) primarily with regard to the regulation of tobacco cravings and secondarily with regard to increasing adult smokers' self-efficacy in abstaining from smoking. Reappraisal is hypothesised to be the mechanism of change within CBT, while acceptance is a key process associated with the ACT literature.
This research project was designed to include three inter-related components, all of which were carried out online. The principal component consisted of an experimental study of the effectiveness of reappraisal and acceptance in decreasing cravings to smoke and increasing abstinence self-efficacy. This component involved the online recruitment of adult smokers, their random allocation to one of four groups (control group, acceptance, reappraisal, both acceptance and reappraisal), provision of training to the three experimental groups in their respective strategy (or strategies) using videos embedded in an online survey, subjecting participants to an online craving induction lab, and testing the effectiveness of these strategies in relation to the examined variables. Results showed that reappraisal was associated with the greatest gains with regard to cravings and self-efficacy. Acceptance was associated with better outcomes compared to the control group in relation to self-efficacy, but not in relation to craving intensity. Training participants in both groups was not associated with improved outcomes compared to the single-strategy conditions.
1617, RPV, UofN: 4240578, UofL: 14500289, Thesis Portfolio_Volume _Ι 2
As part of the same online survey correlational data were collected pertinent to a secondary research aim. This collection of data aimed at providing an insight into how craving intensity and appraisals of cravings were related. Results showed that as craving intensity decreases, appraisals of cravings as intolerable and as threatening to one's well-being also diminish, while self-efficacy to cope with current cravings increases. These patterns of relationships were shown to be consistent across the acceptance and reappraisal groups. Implications in terms of mechanisms of change associated with reductions in cravings are discussed.
Another secondary, adjunct component consisted of a short Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) study that attempted to collect 'real-life' data from participants who had completed the online survey and who wished to put what they had learnt in use and engage in a 24-hour, 'practice attempt to quit smoking'. Low recruitment and high attrition rates rendered group comparisons impossible. However, useful learning points are discussed which may aid future attempts at conducting EMA designs following online recruitment.

Aim: This online study investigated the effectiveness of acceptance and reappraisal strategies in regulating tobacco cravings and their impact on other smoking-related processes. Method: Following random allocation to one of four conditions (control group, n = 34; acceptance, n = 35; reappraisal, n = 22; both acceptance and reappraisal, n = 19), adult smokers watched condition-specific intervention videos and took part in an online craving induction lab. Levels of cravings, self-efficacy to abstain from smoking and current affective states were assessed at baseline and post-intervention and craving induction. Baseline comparisons on key variables associated with smoking were performed. Results: Reappraisal was associated with greater reductions in cravings and increases in self-efficacy compared to the control group. Reappraisal was also associated with greater craving intensity reductions and self-efficacy increases compared to acceptance in a 'per protocol' analysis. In comparison to the control condition, acceptance was associated with greater increases in self-efficacy, but not with reductions in craving intensity. Teaching both strategies was not associated with additional benefits. Conclusions: Reappraisal was shown to be the most effective strategy for reducing cravings and increasing self-efficacy. Acceptance may be associated with better outcomes in relation to self-efficacy compared to habitually employed strategies. Future research recommendations are discussed.


: In this work the experimental model of hepatitis A on monkeys, adequate to human hepatitis A, was used. Ten monkeys (6 Macaca mulatta and 4 Cercopithecus aethiops) were reinfected with different doses of hepatitis A virus (HAV) a year after recovery from spontaneous and experimental hepatitis A. The monkeys were completely resistant to the inoculation of the virus in moderate doses (10(3) ID50). The inoculation of HAV in large doses (10(4)-10(5) ID50) induced a mild form of this infection in the animals with a transient rise in the level of serum alanin aminotransferase and HAV shedding in feces, but in the absence of morphological changes in the liver. It should be specially pointed out that after the reinfection of monkeys virus shedding in feces was observed, which may be of great epidemiological importance. After reinfection the absence of IgM and a pronounced rise in the titers of IgC antibodies were observed.


OBJECTIVE
To determine a preliminary profile of the variation in rehabilitation and home care services for patients with total joint arthroplasty (TJA) in Ontario in 2001.

METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was conducted of directors at the 43 regional community care access centers (CCAC).

RESULTS
One-third (36%) of CCAC had existing care pathways, 54% had defined discharge criteria, and 32% had predetermined the length of home care services. The intensity and frequency of services provided were variable.

CONCLUSION
There is a need to standardize rehabilitation protocols to maintain quality of care and contain costs.


Violence against women is a common issue that has existed in every time period regardless of education, age, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic condition and place. It is an important social and health issue that shakes the foundation of family, damages every member of the family. It has psychological, social and cultural layers and concerns every part of the society. According to the report published by WHO in 2013, one out of every three women is subjected to physical or sexual violence. Violence against women which maintains its importance globally is also one of the important health and social issues in Turkey. In a 2014 study conducted in Turkey, 38% of the women -in other words, 4 out of every 10 women- between the ages of 15-59 reported that they had been subjected to violence by their current or former spouse/fiancee/boyfriend or by their close circle of family or friends. Among these violence victims, 6 out of every 10 women reported that they got injured 3 or more times. The fact that nearly half of these injuries required medical treatment reveals that violence poses a great threat to the physical health of women. In addition to this, the physical and the psychological trauma caused by violence might continue for a long time. Health services is one of the fundamental and primary services from which women who are subjected to or under risk of violence can get "help". However, violence against women is not an issue that can be overcome just by the healthcare personnel. It can be prevented by the joint efforts of institutions such as healthcare, social services, security, justice and ministries and by their interdisciplinary collaboration while the multitude of its reasons is taken into consideration. In this study, the importance of team work and the role and the responsibilities of the dentist in the intervention of violence against women are dealt with.


Firefighters are required to carry out their responsibilities under a wide range of environmental conditions. For this reason, the physiological and psychological responses of firefighters while wearing their protective clothing should be analyzed to minimize their thermal or cold stress. Four environmental conditions were selected: hot and humid (HH, 34℃, 75% relative humidity (RH)), hot and dry (HD, 34℃, 30% RH), warm and dry (WD, 27℃, 30% RH), and slightly cold (SC, –3℃). Six professional firefighters served as subjects. The exercise was performed on a treadmill at the maximum speed of 8 km/h. The microclimate temperature and RH, skin temperature, heart rate, oxygen uptake, sweat loss, sweat evaporation, moisture accumulation within the outer shell, moisture barrier and thermal liner, and subjective sensations were measured. The microclimate wet-bulb globe temperatures (micro-WBGTs) were calculated. High microclimate measures, skin temperature, and heart rate, as well as low scored subjective sensations, were observed under the HH condition. A 45% difference in RH between HH and HD resulted in clearer differential responses compared with the 7℃ difference in air temperature between HD and WD. Under the SC condition, subjects had a cool to cold feeling. A quite different distribution of moisture accumulation in clothing layers was observed under the SC condition compared with other conditions. This moisture accumulation affected the comfort sensation. A linear relationship was found between the comfort sensation and the micro-WBGT. The micro-WBGT was a good indicator of the physiological status of the wearers. The microclimate, moisture accumulation and its distribution within firefighters' protective clothing should be extensively studied in the future.


Cultivation in the tropical mountainous regions by using hedgerow systems as erosion control measures is recommended due to its effectiveness in reducing soil erosion and in supplying N. However, competition for nutrients and water between crops and hedges reduces crop performance and yield response. 13C stable isotope signature in combination with data on N and water availability and uptake in soil and plants framework was used to assess whether N or water function as a main driving force for spatial variability of crop yield along the alleys. The leaf δ13C values of maize were significantly (p<0.05) less depleted close to the hedges, suggesting that water stress was not the main driving force for spatial variability along the alleys. In the opposite, significant (p<0.05) N concentration depleted in maize leaf of plot with L. Leucocephala hedges, in particular at the row closed to hedgerow, in combination with significant (p<0.05) increase in δ13C values of leaf of the corresponding plot indicating the influence of N stress on poor maize performance and yield decrease. In addition, the significant (p<0.05) negative correlation between leaf δ13C values of maize, leaf N concentration and yield confirmed that N plays as a major role in crop decline towards hedgerows. Therefore, increasing amount of N fertilization to cropped area close to the hedgerows should be recommended for farmers, in order to encourage the acceptance of hedges system in tropical mountainous regions.


The present work analyses the requirements related to the orbit and the effects
of the space radiation on Polosat, a toy-model satellite whose main goal is to
monitor and image the Earth Poles. Our main objective has been to work on
the so-called phase A of the design of a space mission, in which a preliminary
study of the viability and characteristics of the mission is made.
We present this project as a coordinated work due to the fact that its
competition required the use of two relatively complex software tools, as well as
the achievement of extra theoretical background on orbital mechanics, radiation
and its effects. One of the software tools was STK (Satellite Tool Kit). It allows
to compute with realism and high degree of accuracy the time evolution of the
kinematics of an object in orbit around the Earth. The other tool was SPENVIS
(Space Environment Information System). It also computes the time evolution
of the orbital parameters of an object -although with less option for realism and
accuracy than STK, and the characteristics of the incident radiation and its
effects of the orbiting object. Both software tools are used in professional and
academic environments and, therefore, becoming familiar with them and their
use has been an important and useful part of our work.
We compare the results that STK and SPENVIS yield for the computation of
the orbital kinematics in the cases where both tools are appropriate (cases with
negligible atmospheric drag and limited intervals of time). We check that in
such cases STK and SPENVIS results yield a very good agreement and, most
importantly, we have found the procedure in which results from STK can be
transferred to SPENVIS, in order to model the situations we are interested in.
As we show, by using both codes, we can take advantage of both the powerful
numerical tools of STK in order to study orbital mechanics, and the capabilities
of SPENVIS in order to model the incidence of radiation and its effects on the
spacecraft.
Finally, we have concluded that both STK and SPENVIS are convenient tools
for developing the proposed project and have determined the way in which we
can use them in order to accomplish our objectives.


We present the first records of fungi associated with feathers from seabirds and sea ducks in the Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic. Birds sampled in Nunavut and Newfoundland (Canada) included the Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), King Eider (S. spectabilis), Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus), Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle), and Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia). In total 19 fungal species were cultured from feathers, identified using ITS rDNA barcoding, and screened for their ability to degrade keratin using a keratin azure assay. Our results indicate that 1) of the 19 isolates, 74% were ascomycetes, while the remaining 26% were basidiomycetes (yeasts); 2) 21% of the ascomycete isolates demonstrated keratinolytic activity (a known pathogenicity factor for fungi that may potentially be harmful to birds); 3) the largest number of fungi were cultured from the sampled Thick-billed Murre; and 4) based on a multiple correspondence analysis, there is some indication that both the King Eider and the Thick-billed Murre collected in the low Arctic had distinct fungal communities that were different from each other and from the other birds sampled. Although our sample sizes were small, initial trends in point (4) do demonstrate that additional study is merited to assess whether the fungal community differences are influenced by variation in the known ecologies of the avian hosts and fungi identified.


This paper presents a new estimation approach for the battery residual capacity (BRC) indicator in electric vehicles (EVs). The key of this approach is to model the EV battery by using a neural network (NN) with a newly defined output and newly proposed inputs. The inputs are the discharged and regenerative capacity distribution and the temperature. The output is the state of available capacity (SOAC) which represents the BRC. Various SOACs of the nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery are experimentally investigated under different EV discharge current profiles and temperatures. The corresponding data are recorded to train and verify the proposed NN. The results indicate that the NN can provide an accurate and effective estimation of the BRC. Moreover, this NN can be easily implemented as the BRC indicator or estimator for EVs by using a low-cost microcontroller.


In digital radiography the image can be enhanced and thereby an incorrect exposed radiograph can appear to have optimal brightness but with limited information and possibility to diagnose e.g. caries.The primary aim of this study was to determine if different exposure times have an impact on the accuracy in diagnosis of approximal caries lesions in bitewing radiographs using a CMOS system. If so, what the optimal exposure time was.A total of 40 extracted human teeth were selected and evaluated with a digital CMOS system. The teeth were exposed with different exposure times. CBCT was used to validate the presence and degree of approximal caries lesions on every individual tooth surface. The radiographs were evaluated by 11 general dentists and 4 specialists in oral and maxillofacial radiology.The choice of exposure time did affect the diagnostic accuracy. A higher diagnostic accuracy was achieved when a longer exposure time (> 0.1 sec) was used when comparing kappa values and ROC curves among the observers. The radiologists had a higher diagnostic accuracy than the general dentists. A substantial variation in individual diagnostic accuracy between observers was found.In conclusion; approximal caries was found to be easier to diagnose when the evaluated longer exposure times were used in the studied digital CMOS system. There was some decline in the longest exposures of the time span. However, when selecting optimal exposure time the patient's age and size should also be taken into consideration.


In the past decade, research on long‐term persistence of phytoplankton resting stages has intensified. Simultaneously, insight into life‐cycle variability in the diverse groups of phytoplankton has also increased. Aquatic 'seed banks' have tremendous significance and show many interesting parallels to terrestrial seed beds of vascular plants, but are much less studied. It is therefore timely to review the phenomenon of long‐term persistence of aquatic resting stages in sediment seed banks. Herein we compare function, morphology and physiology of phytoplankton resting stages to factors central for persistence of terrestrial seeds. We review the types of resting stages found in different groups of phytoplankton and focus on the groups for which long‐term (multi‐decadal) persistence has been shown: dinoflagellates, diatoms, green algae and cyanobacteria. We discuss the metabolism of long‐term dormancy in phytoplankton resting stages and the ecological, evolutionary and management implications of this important trait. Phytoplankton resting stages exhibiting long‐term viability are characterized by thick, often multi‐layered walls and accumulation vesicles containing starch, lipids or other materials such as pigments, cyanophycin or unidentified granular materials. They are reported to play central roles in evolutionary resilience and survival of catastrophic events. Promising areas for future research include the role of hormones in mediating dormancy, elucidating the mechanisms behind metabolic shut‐down and testing bet‐hedging hypotheses.


Aims
To compare the diagnostic accuracy of stress computed tomography myocardial perfusion (CTP) for the detection of significant coronary artery disease with visual approach vs. quantitative analysis with transmural perfusion ratio (TPR) in consecutive symptomatic patients scheduled for invasive coronary angiography (ICA) plus invasive fractional flow reserve (FFR).

Methods and results
Eighty-eight consecutive symptomatic patients underwent rest coronary computed tomography angiography (cCTA) followed by static stress-CTP. Diagnostic accuracy of cCTA + stress-CTP with visual evaluation and with TPR measurement was calculated and compared with ICA and invasive FFR. Addition of stress-CTP with qualitative evaluation to rest-cCTA showed sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, and accuracy at a vessel and patient level of 92%, 92%, 97%, 82%, 92% and 98%, 80%, 97%, 82%, 89%, respectively indicating a significant improvement of specificity, positive predictive value, and accuracy values vs. rest-cCTA in both models. Similarly, addition of stress-CTP with TPR evaluation to rest-cCTA showed sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, and accuracy at a vessel and patient level of 84%, 90%, 93%, 76%, 88% and 91%, 71%, 89%, 75%, 81%, respectively indicating a significant improvement of specificity, positive predictive value values vs. rest-cCTA only in a vessel-based model and of positive predictive value in a patient-based model. When cCTA + stress-CTP with qualitative evaluation was compared with cCTA + stress-CTP with TPR estimation, no differences were found in terms of diagnostic performance.

Conclusion
The addition of stress-CTP with visual evaluation to cCTA imaging has similar diagnostic performance when compared with the quantitative analysis of myocardial perfusion based on TPR measurement.


Despite the significant technical advancements in mass spectrometry-based proteomics and bioinformatics resources, dynamic resolution of soybean seed proteome is still limited because of the high abundance of seed storage proteins (SSPs). These SSPs occupy a large proportion of the total seed protein and hinder the identification of low-abundance proteins. Here, we report a TMT-based quantitative proteome analysis of matured and filling stages seeds of high-protein (Saedanbaek) and low-protein (Daewon) soybean cultivars by application of a two-way pre-fractionation both at the levels of proteins (by PS) and peptides (by basic pH reverse phase chromatography). Interestingly, this approach led to the identification of more than 5900 proteins which is the highest number of proteins reported to date from soybean seeds. Comparative protein profiles of Saedanbaek and Daewon led to the identification of 2200 and 924 differential proteins in mature and filling stages seeds, respectively. Functional annotation of the differential proteins revealed enrichment of proteins related to major metabolism including amino acid, major carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism. In parallel, analysis of free amino acids and fatty acids in the filling stages showed higher contents of all the amino acids in the Saedanbaek while the fatty acids contents were found to be higher in the Daewon. Taken together, these results provide new insights into proteome changes during filling stages in soybean seeds. Moreover, results reported here also provide a framework for systemic and large-scale dissection of seed proteome for the seeds rich in SSPs by two-way pre-fractionation combined with TMT-based quantitative proteome analysis.


Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been illuminating human evolution for almost 20 years, but it is only now that complete mtDNA sequences are finally being published in substantial numbers. One of the great virtues of mtDNA—arising from its cytoplasmic inheritance, lack of recombination, and high mutation rate—is the opportunity it provides for detailed estimation of the human maternal genealogy. With the arrival of complete sequences, it is timely to make explicit the issue of genealogical resolution, since these data will give us as much information as we can expect ever to obtain on the shape of the mitochondrial gene tree. The issue of genealogical resolution has been a major, often unacknowledged factor from the very beginning, and has underlain many of the debates about demographic history that mtDNA has provoked


Collaborative and cross-disciplinary research by a group of artists and scientists in an Australian rural setting generates data and ideas that form the basis of a wider understanding of the ramifications of global warming and cooling within the local, regional and national community. The work is viewed as an initial educational platform that will allow the public to see and understand the complexities of climate-based research.


The Chromatape Processor performs up to 60 tests per hour. Chromatape is a 35-millimeter Mylar film; bonded on 5inch sections called Duograms are two strips of adsorbent and a sponge to hold the solvent supply. The tape, in 50-section reels, can be processed at speeds of from 1 to 6.4 inches per minute. All sequential steps of thinlayer analysis are performed as the tape is run through the processor. The sections are activated and coded for identification, they receive the sample and then the solvent. they are developed, dried, and either scanned by a densitometer or sprayed for visualization and dried again before scanning. Finally, the tape is taken up on another reel. The scanner records results and the sample identification code. The resulting spectra are recorded on chart paper. Simple push buttons control various modes such as tape speed, activation, drying and visualization times, and oven temperatures. J. T. Baker Chemical Company. Circle No. 130 on Readers' Service Card.


The aetiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which affects a large proportion of the aged population is unknown and the treatment unresolved. The role of beta amyloid protein (beta A4), derived from a larger amyloid precursor protein (APP) in AD is the subject of intense research. Here I report observations that in 14 autopsy cases with histopathologically confirmed AD, spirochetes were found in blood and cerebrospinal fluid and, moreover, could be isolated from brain tissue. Thirteen age-matched control cases were without spirochetes. Reference strains of spirochetes and those isolated from brains of AD patients, showed positive immunoreaction with monoclonal antibody against the beta amyloid precursor protein. These observations suggest that spirochetes may be one of the causes of AD and that they may be the source of the beta amyloid deposited in the AD brain.


Purpose: To investigate time trends in incidence of recorded memory concerns (MC) and cognitive decline (CD) in a UK older population presenting to primary care with no prior diagnosis of dementia. To determine the risk of developing dementia in people with recorded memory concern and cognitive decline. Patients and methods: We included individuals aged 65–99 years who contributed to data within the IQVIA medical research database from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2018. We reported crude incidence rates for MC (study population n=1,310,838) and CD (n=1,348,796). We conducted survival analysis to estimate the risk of developing dementia using fine-grey sub-distribution hazard model with competing risk of death. Results: We identified 55,941 individuals (4.3%) with a record of incident MC; rates were fairly stable over the decade of study. We identified 14,869 people (1.1%) with a record of incident CD, and these rates increased from 1.29/1000 PYAR (95% CI 1.21 to 1.38) in 2009 to 3.49/1000 PYAR (95% CI 3.30 to 3.68) in 2018. Within 3 years of follow up from the first record of MC, 45.5% of individuals received a diagnosis of dementia, while of those with a record of CD, 51.7% received a dementia diagnosis. Women, people in older age groups and those living in more deprived areas were more likely to have a record of MC or CD, and their symptoms were more likely to progress to a dementia diagnosis. Conclusion: Incidence rates of MC and CD estimated from routinely collected primary care data are lower than those reported in community surveys, suggesting that a minority of people who experience memory loss consult their GP and have it recorded. Our findings indicate that those who do report concerns to primary care, especially women, those in older age groups and those in more deprived areas, are at a higher risk for developing dementia.


In the field of minority entrepreneurship, sociologists and economists have written most of the influential studies, yet these groups typically ask different questions and base their analysis on different assumptions. The literature predictably lacks a single unifying focus and is quite diverse regarding issues explored and methodological approaches employed. Differing approaches and their outcomes are summarized and critically probed in this review article. My intent is to illuminate strengths and weaknesses -- along with patterns of common findings -- in this voluminous literature. Minority-owned businesses are collectively reflections of evolving constraints and opportunities operating in broader society. Minorities seeking to create viable business ventures have traditionally faced higher barriers than whites as they sought to exploit market opportunities, raise financing, and penetrate mainstream networks. Entrepreneurial dynamics are clarified by focusing upon specific contexts in which firms are being shaped by prevailing opportunity structures. Progress has been noteworthy overall for minority-owned businesses, in part because barriers impeding their collective development have been gradually declining. The dominant methodological approaches and findings of economists and sociologists in the minority entrepreneurship literature are, ultimately, highly complementary. Sociologists have posed bolder questions while economists have paid more attention to pinning down cause-and-effect relationships, yet their findings have been gradually moving towards convergence over the past two decades. It is possible -- and desirable -- that these respective bodies of work may someday merge, creating a minority entrepreneurship scholarly synthesis.


The manuscript: "Advanced sensitivity analysis of the impact of the temporal distribution and intensity in a rainfall event on hydrograph parameters in urban catchments: a case study" proposed by Fatone et al., introduces a sensitivity coefficient to study the impact of the variability of hydrodynamic model parameters depending on rainfall distribution and intensity. Results, determined for a SWMM model of an urban catchment in Kielce (Poland), show the influence of rainfall distribution and intensity on the sensitivity factors


In this paper, we investigate and compare three different possibilities to convert recurrent neural network language models (RNNLMs) into backoff language models (BNLM). While RNNLMs often outperform traditional n-gram approaches in the task of language modeling, their computational demands make them unsuitable for an efficient usage during decoding in an LVCSR system. It is, therefore, of interest to convert them into BNLMs in order to integrate their information into the decoding process. This paper compares three different approaches: a text based conversion, a probability based conversion and an iterative conversion. The resulting language models are evaluated in terms of perplexity and mixed error rate in the context of the Code-Switching data corpus SEAME. Although the best results are obtained by combining the results of all three approaches, the text based conversion approach alone leads to significant improvements on the SEAME corpus as well while offering the highest computational efficiency. In total, the perplexity can be reduced by 11.4% relative on the evaluation set and the mixed error rate by 3.0% relative on the same data set.


This article presents a two-stage fault detection and classification scheme specifically designed for rotating electrical machines. The approach involves the use of new condition indicators that are specific to the frequency domain. The paper proposes two distinct features: one based on the extraction of peaks by using the prominence measure, a technique originating from the topology of mountains, and other based on the calculation of the occupied band power ratio for specific characteristic fault frequencies. A linear based feature reduction technique, the principal component analysis (PCA) has been employed to represent all the data. Afterwards, shallow neural networks have been used to detect and classify the three-phase current signals online. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme has been validated experimentally by using signals obtained with grid and inverter fed induction motors.


It is the privilege as well as the duty of the President, at the termination of his year in office, to present an accounting of the current state of the Association. At the same time he is given an opportunity to reflect upon the past and to appraise future hopesand plans. This Association represented, in its beginnings more than ten years ago, the fulfillment of a dream of a small group of men who realized that diabetes was becoming an ever more urgent national health problem. By the end of its first decade, the Association's usefulness has become obvious to all. Everywhere one finds a growing awareness of the increasing number of known diabetics in our population and of the fact that there are still other hundreds of thousand of unknown diabetics awaiting diagnosis. This makes our Association a constantly more essential part of the nation's drive for good health and against disease.


A reliable model to analyze the dynamic behavior of two-phase switched-capacitor dc–dc converters in the slow-switching limit regime is proposed, taking into account both top and bottom parasitic capacitances as well as the charge reusing approach. This technique features significant improvements in both gain and efficiency with respect to existing solutions. We calculate the slow-switching limit boundary layer taking into account the parasitic capacitances of the flying capacitors and the dynamic and parasitic effects from the switches. The model is highly reliable into this region, featuring better accuracy in both time response and charge consumed than previous models in the literature. Also, as we will show that it can be used outside this region assuming a certain accuracy loss. The model is verified by experimental results and circuit-level simulations. The model has been implemented in an open-access web simulator, saving up to 10 000$\times$  in computation time when compared to well-known circuit-level simulators. The applicability of the model is illustrated through the optimization of charge efficiency and time response in a typical situation for light microenergy harvesting using Dickson, Fibonacci, and exponential solutions.


The utilization of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and nitrogen in 10 healthy pregnant women consuming self-selected diets was investigated. Seven-day balance experiments, conducted under ordinary home conditions, were spaced periodically throughout the duration of the pregnancy. A multiple vitamin-mineral supplement provided part of the calcium and iron intake of some subjects; others received their total mineral intake from food sources. Seven of the 10 subjects also completed a seven-day balance period within three to 11 weeks post partum. The calcium intake of pregnant women with a balanced diet including dairy products was sufficient without supplementation of calcium. The magnesium intake of all 10 subjects was below that recommended for pregnant women, and balances were generally negative. An adaptation of the fecal loss of calcium and iron was suggested during the latter half of pregnancy, but the increased retention was not significant. The retention of both calcium and phosphorus when calcium carbonate supplied 20% of the.calcium intake was usually less than the retention of the minerals when calcium was provided entirely by food sources. The retention of iron whether partially provided by ferrous fumerate or ferrous sulfate or provided entirely by food sources appeared to be more dependent on the iron intake than the source of the mineral.


A new class of self-powered acceleration event detection sensors are presented that are powered by electrical energy harvested during munitions launch by integrated piezoelectric elements. The sensors are provided with a novel safety electronic and logic circuitry that is used to differentiate the firing event from all accidental events such as accidental drops, transportation vibration, and the like. When the launch conditions are detected from the magnitude of the experienced acceleration as well as its duration, the remaining electronics and logics circuitry of the device is enabled. The developed self-powered sensors may also be used in place of G-switches in munitions and other industrial and commercial devices with the advantage of activating not only from the magnitude of the experienced acceleration but also from its duration. The latter capability is essential in many munitions and commercial applications to avoid false switching event. For example in some cases dropping of around over a hard surface may impart higher peak acceleration than actual firing. And in many industrial and commercial devices and equipment, high-G and very short duration shock loadings do not cause damage and G-switches used to deactivate the device may not be desired to trip.Prototypes of the developed piezoelectric-based self-powered event detection sensors as standalone sensors and as switches for detecting and opening or closing circuitry upon detection of shock or vibration loading with prescribed magnitude and duration thresholds with integrated electronics and logics circuitry have been designed, fabricated and successfully tested for a number of munitions and industrial applications. In this paper the design and operation of such devices and their testing are described.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


The nonlinear dynamics of fourth-order Silva-Young type chaotic oscillators with flat power spectrum recently introduced by Tamaseviciute and collaborators is considered. In this type of oscillators, a pair of semiconductor diodes in an anti-parallel connection acts as the nonlinear component necessary for generating chaotic oscillations. Based on the Shockley diode equation and an appropriate selection of the state variables, a smooth mathematical model (involving hyperbolic sine and cosine functions) is derived for a better description of both the regular and chaotic dynamics of the system. The complex behavior of the oscillator is characterized in terms of its parameters by using time series, bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents' plots, Poincaré sections, and frequency spectra. It is shown that the onset of chaos is achieved via the classical period-doubling and symmetry restoring crisis scenarios. Some PSPICE simulations of the nonlinear dynamics of the oscillator are presented in order to confirm the ability of the proposed mathematical model to accurately describe/predict both the regular and chaotic behaviors of the oscillator.


In the context of applied game theory in networking environments, a number of concepts have been proposed to measure both efficiency and optimality of resource allocations, the most famous certainly being the price of anarchy and the Jain index. Yet, very few have tried to question these measures and compare one to another, in a general framework, which is the aim of the present article.


This study sought to investigate the spatial and temporal variations of aerosols over Kenya based on Moderate Resolution Imaging  Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensor Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data for the period between 2001 and 2012. A Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model was used for trajectory analysis in order to reconstruct the origins of air masses and understand the Spatial and temporal variability of aerosol concentrations. Validation of MODIS AOD using Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) indicated that MODIS overestimated the aerosol loading over the study region. Space time variability of MODIS AOD measurements over Kenya showed a decreasing trend in aerosol loading with a long term mean of between 0.02 and 0.56. Mean monthly AOD values showed two peaks during the months of July and December while seasonal variations indicated high aerosol loading during the December – January –February (DJF) and June –July –August (JJA) season. Back trajectory analyses showed that aerosols mainly dust and sea salt reaching Kenya were transported from either Arabian or Indian sub continent or western parts of the Indian Ocean respectively. Therefore, long term and more comprehensive satellite AOD retrievals are necessary in order to achieve a better understanding of spatial and temporal  variations in aerosols over Kenya Key Words : Aerosol Optical Depth, MODIS, Kenya


The nEXO neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay experiment is designed to use a time projection chamber and 5000 kg of isotopically enriched liquid xenon to search for the decay in 136Xe. Progress in the detector design, paired with higher fidelity in its simulation and an advanced data analysis, based on the one used for the final results of EXO-200, produce a sensitivity prediction that exceeds the half-life of 1028 years. Specifically, improvements have been made in the understanding of production of scintillation photons and charge as well as of their transport and reconstruction in the detector. The more detailed knowledge of the detector construction has been paired with more assays for trace radioactivity in different materials. In particular, the use of custom electroformed copper is now incorporated in the design, leading to a substantial reduction in backgrounds from the intrinsic radioactivity of detector materials. Furthermore, a number of assumptions from previous sensitivity projections have gained further support from interim work validating the nEXO experiment concept. Together these improvements and updates suggest that the nEXO experiment will reach a half-life sensitivity of 1.35 × 1028 yr at 90% confidence level in 10 years of data taking, covering the parameter space associated with the inverted neutrino mass ordering, along with a significant portion of the parameter space for the normal ordering scenario, for almost all nuclear matrix elements. The effects of backgrounds deviating from the nominal values used for the projections are also illustrated, concluding that the nEXO design is robust against a number of imperfections of the model.


Both the composition of cell types and their spatial distribution in a tissue play a critical role in cellular function, organ development, and disease progression. For example, intratumor heterogeneity and the distribution of transcriptional and genetic events in single cells drive the genesis and development of cancer. However, it can be challenging to fully characterize the molecular profile of cells in a tissue with high spatial resolution because microscopy has limited ability to extract comprehensive genomic information, and the spatial resolution of genomic techniques tends to be limited by dissection. There is a growing need for tools that can be used to explore the relationship between histological features, gene expression patterns, and spatially correlated genomic alterations in healthy and diseased tissue samples. Here, we present a technique that combines label-free histology with spatially resolved multi-omics in un-fixed and unstained tissue sections. This approach leverages stimulated Raman scattering microscopy to provide chemical contrast that reveals histological tissue architecture, allowing for high-resolution in situ laser micro-dissection of regions of interests. These micro-tissue samples are then processed for DNA and RNA sequencing to identify unique genetic profiles that correspond to distinct anatomical regions. We demonstrate the capabilities of this technique by mapping gene expression and copy number alterations to histologically defined regions in human squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Our approach provides complementary insights in tumorigenesis and offers an integrative tool for macroscale cancer tissues with spatial multi-omics assessments.


This report identifies and examines 'sites' of interaction between the global football industry's recruitment network and the rights of the child as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). A 'global production network' (GPN) framework was used alongside the UNCRC to map and audit where children's rights may be at risk or impinged upon, because of their involvement with football. Overall, this report found that the regulatory system and governance structures concerning the recruitment of child players within the football industry, produce consequences that impinge upon the rights of children as expressed in the UNCRC and place children at risk of exploitation and abuse.


A statistical analysis of the rainfalls is carried out for detecting a possible trend in the observed data. The rainfall dataset refers to the historical series collected in the hydrographic basins of the Marche region. On the one hand, the annual maximum daily, hourly and sub-hourly rainfalls have been analysed, on the other hand Climate Change Indices by Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) (R1 mm, Rx1day, R20 mm, R95pTOT, PRCPTOT) have been computed to verify an eventual variation of the frequency of the rainfall regime in the Marche region. The time series, selected in the reference period 1951–2013, have been processed by using the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test. The results confirm that most of the series relating to the annual maximum rainfalls do not exhibit any trend. The absence of trend or the presence of negative trend prevail also in the analysis of the ETCCDI indices. The annual average anomalies of the same indices computed with respect to the climatological reference period 1961–1990 are negative since the mid-1980s, but they appear to show an increasing behaviour in the period 2009–2013.


Several environmental and seasonal factors are thought to be crucial in the risk of acute coronary syndromes (ACS), including temperature, latitude, longitude, atmospheric air pressure, wind velocity and circadian period. However differences in coronary plaque composition according to season variation is still poorly understood.

 Our study aims to analyse the characteristics of non-culprit coronary plaques in patients undergoing optical coherence tomography evaluation (OCT) evaluation of the left anterior descending artery.

 We included 1848 non-culprit coronary plaques from 1003 patients of the CLIMA registry. The season of OCT pullback acquisition was collected for each patient.

 Overall, median age was 66 years (56-74), with 24.6% of women and 53.4% of ACS. At patient-level analysis, patients admitted in summer were less frequently affected by hypertension (59.8% vs 69.4% in autumn, 68.5% in winter and 72% in spring; p=0.027) and chronic kidney disease (14.8% vs 15.9% in autumn, 10.3% in winter and 19.4% in spring; p=0.037) in. At lesion-level analysis, similar values of fibrous cap thickness, maximum lipid arc, length of plaques and presence of macrophages were observed (Table 1). Summer plaques had a smaller minimum lumen area than spring plaques (5.7±3.1 vs 5.1±239; p=0.044) and also a less frequent superficial macrophage infiltration (23% vs 36.1% in autumn, 30.5% in winter and 30.6% in spring; p=0.030) and presence of cholesterol crystals (16.7% vs 23.8% in autumn, 28.4% in winter and 22.1% in spring; p=0.037 than three other season).
 Table 1

 Coronary plaques during summer had less local sign of inflammation such superficial macrophage infiltration and cholesterol crystals. Further studies are needed to confirm these results and investigate clinical implications.


BACKGROUND: Although stroke rates are much higher in old age, recent data on geographic variation in stroke incidence in older American populations were rare. Moreover, geographic variation in stroke incidence and mortality remain unexplained in United States.OBJECTIVES: To compare stroke incidence rates and stroke risk factors and their control in four US communitiesMETHODS: Participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) who had no history of stroke at baseline (n=5639) were followed for 10 years for the development of stroke events. Site specific stroke incidence and mortality rates were calculated. Possible risk factors at baseline and their control across the visits were compared among the four CHS sites. RESULTS: Age and sex standardized total stroke incidence rates per 1000 person-years were 9.6 (CI 7.7, 11.5) in Allegheny, 19.2 (CI 15.6, 22.8) in Forsyth, 20.7 (CI 16.9, 24.5) in Sacramento, and 19.8 (CI 16.1, 23.5) in Washington Counties. Although Allegheny County had the lowest stroke incidence among the 4 sites, risk factor distributions at baseline were similar. After adjustment for age, hypertension, diabetes, education, BMI, LDL cholesterol and previous coronary heart disease, transient ischemic attack (TIA), and atrial fibrillation (AF), there was modest reduction of the excess hazard in the other 3 sites compared to Allegheny County (HR=1.52, CI 1.17, 1.98 compared to 1.74 CI 1.42, 2.14). Moreover, between baseline and year 9, control of hypertension, diabetes, lipids, smoking, AF, and TIA were similar across sites. White matter grade (WMG) 3 or more on the baseline brain MRI was less common in Allegheny County than the other 3 sites (25.8%and 36.3% respectively, p< 0.001) and accounted for 25% of the excess hazard in the other 3 sites compared to Allegheny County (HR=1.65, CI 1.20-2.26 compared to 1.87 CI 1.36-2.55) CONCLUSION: Site-differences in stroke risk factors at baseline and their subsequent control only partially explain site-differences in stroke incidence. PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE: White matter grade may be a marker of integrated exposure and control of stroke risk factors and its progression could be used as a marker of the efficacy of different stroke prevention strategies on a community level.


PUP, abbreviation to Protected Urban Planet, is the first tool developed for visualizing, mapping and contributing to information exchange on the evolution of protected urban areas worldwide. Besides locating them, it also provides communities with means to disseminate and raise awareness for their attributes and values of significance, while monitoring their threats and causes and sharing assessment methods and tools. It is an online platform for researchers and practitioners, national and local governments, students and lecturers, companies and organizations; in short, every professional interested on knowing more and/or willing to share and disseminate information about protected urban areas, their cultural values and attributes, as well as their protection challenges.


ABSTRACT Across the world, biomass smoke is a major source of air pollution and is linked with a variety of adverse health effects. This is particularly true in the western U.S. where wood smoke from wildland forest fires are a significant source of PM2.5. Wildland firefighters are impacted as they experience elevated PM2.5 concentrations over extended periods of time, often occurring during physical exertion. Various epidemiological studies have investigated wood smoke impacts on human health, including occupational field exposures experienced by wildland firefighters. As there are numerous challenges in carrying out these field studies, having the ability to research the potential health impacts to this occupational cohort in a controlled setting would provide important information that could be translated to the field setting. To this end, we have carried out a simulated wildland firefighter exposure study in a wood smoke inhalation facility. Utilizing a randomized crossover trial design, we exposed 10 participants once to clean filtered-air, 250 µg/m3, and 500 µg/m3 wood stove-generated wood smoke PM2.5. Participants exercised on a treadmill at an absolute intensity designed to simulate wildland firefighting for 1.5 hr. In addition to measured PM2.5 smoke concentrations, mean levels of CO2, CO, and % relative humidity were continuously monitored and recorded and were representative of occupational "real-world" exposures. Pulmonary function was measured at three time points: before, immediately after, and 1-hr post-exposure. Although there were some reductions in FVC, FEV1, and FVC:FEV1 measures, results of the spirometry testing did not show significant changes in lung function. The development of this wood smoke inhalational facility provides a platform to further address unique research questions related to wood smoke exposures and associated adverse health effects.


Cross correlation of ambient seismic noise is known to result in time series from which station-station travel-time measurements can be made. Part of the reason that these cross-correlation travel-time measurements are reliable is that there exists a theoretical framework that quantifies how these travel times depend on the features of the ambient noise. However, corresponding theoretical results do not currently exist to describe how the amplitudes of the cross correlation depend on such features. For example, currently it is not possible to take a given distribution of noise sources and calculate the cross correlation amplitudes one would expect from such a distribution. Here, we provide a ray-theoretical framework for calculating cross correlations. This framework differs from previous work in that it explicitly accounts for attenuation as well as the spatial distribution of sources and therefore can address the issue of quantifying amplitudes in noise correlation measurements. After introducing the general framework, we apply it to two specific problems. First, we show that we can quantify the amplitudes of coherency measurements, and find that the decay of coherency with station-station spacing depends crucially on the distribution of noise sources. We suggest that researchers interested in performing attenuation measurements from noise coherency should first determine how the dominant sources of noise are distributed. Second, we show that we can quantify the signal-to-noise ratio of noise correlations more precisely than previous work, and that these signal-to-noise ratios can be estimated for given situations prior to the deployment of seismometers. It is expected that there are applications of the theoretical framework beyond the two specific cases considered, but these applications await future work.


The mixed-potential electric-field integral equation is used in conjunction with the Galerkin's method and complex image theory for analyzing a transmission line with multiple strips embedded in different layers of a multilayered uniaxially anisotropic dielectric substrate. The two-dimensional Green's functions for the scalar and vector potentials are analytically obtained in the space domain due to the approximation of its spectral-domain version with complex images, thus avoiding lengthy numerical evaluations. Double integrals involved in the computation of Galerkin's matrix entries are quasi-analytically carried out for the chosen basis functions, which are well suited to the problem.


Radioactive wastes from processing irradiated uranium fuels have been stored as alkaline slurries in underground tanks at the Hanford Site. Single-shell tanks (SST) and double-shell tanks (DST) of various sizes were used for waste storage. Of the total 177 tanks, there are 28 DSTs. DSTs are located in AN, AP, AW, AY, AZ, and SY tank farms in the 200 East (200E) and 200-West (200W) Areas. The storage capacities of the DSTs vary from 980,000 to 1,140,000 gal. DSTs are designed and constructed as an integral steel structure, i.e., an inner shell within an outer shell, so that any leak from the inner shell is confined within the annulus without impacting the environment. The inner shell provides primary containment for the wastes and the outer shell provides secondary containment in the form of an annulus. The annulus of a DST is equipped with a pump pit, leak detection probes, and other accessories. The existing annulus pumps in the DSTs need to be revamped with a new system to reduce operating costs and reduce the time to deploy a pumping system. The new pumping system will minimize the likelihood of a release of waste into the environment; improve capability of waste removal to the maximum extent possible to comply with Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-303-640 and Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 40 CFR 265.193. This study addresses the time required to deploy an annulus pumping system designed to fit any DST after detection of a leak in the inner shell of the DST.


A well-exposed area representative of the Archean volcanic-plutonic assemblage centered on Kakagi Lake, northwestern Ontario, has been sampled for the determination of background gold content. The area lies toward the western end of the Wabigoon belt. One hundred sixty-six gold analyses by neutron activation methods show that the major rock groups including mafic volcanics, felsic volcanics, metasedimentary rocks, mafic-ultramafic intrusions, and felsic plutonic stocks contain average background gold levels of about 1 to 2 ppb. The maximum range in average values is from a low of 0.78 ppb in mafic-ultramafic intrusions to a high of 1.75 ppb in mafic volcanics.Several anomalous gold occurrences (greater than 10 ppb) associated with quartz veins, carbonate zones, shear zones, small felsic intrusions, and felsic stocks were investigated. Some analyses of separated sulfide minerals were also carried out.Primary gold abundance levels in igneous rocks do not correlate significantly with lithology. In particular, there is little if any correlation of gold with chemical differentiation indexes for the mafic and felsic volcanic rocks. Much of the secondary dispersion of gold occasionally leading to concentration to the ppm level cannot obviously be correlated with lithology of the host rock but appears more closely related to structures that permit fluid circulation, to hydrothermal alteration, and to the presence of sulfides. In general, process-related factors rather than background gold content of host rocks are apparently more important in the generation of anomalous gold levels.


of the cerebral veins and sinuses is a distinct cere-brovascular disorder that, unlike arterial stroke, most often affects young adults and children. The symptoms and clinical course are highly variable. A teenag-er who has had recent headaches after starting oral contraception, a woman who has had seizures after delivery in the obstetrical ward, and a comatose man with a dilated pupil in the emergency room all may have sinus thrombosis. The estimated annual in-cidence is 3 to 4 cases per 1 million population and up to 7 cases per 1 million among children. About 75 percent of the adult patients are women. During the past decade, increased awareness of the diagnosis, improved neuroimaging techniques, and more effective treatment have improved the prognosis. More than 80 percent of all patients now have a good neurologic outcome. This review summarizes recent insights into the pathogenesis of sinus thrombosis, risk factors, and clinical and radiologic diagnosis and discusses the current evidence and controversies about the best treatment.


ABSTRACT Samples of recent sediments may be analyzed directly for both carbonate carbon and organic carbon. To determine carbonate carbon, a mixture of sulfuric and phosphoric acids is added directly to the sediment sample. Adding a mixture of chromic and iodic acid and heating to 210°C causes the conversion of organic carbon to carbon dioxide. A carrier gas is employed to transfer evolved gases through a series of liquid- and solid-phase absorption elements. Hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide, and water vapor are removed sequentially before the carbon dioxide absorbs onto ascarite-magnesium perchlorate in a Schwartz-type tube. From the tube's increases in weight the carbonate carbon and the organic carbon are sequentially calculated. Each determination can be completed in less than 60 mi utes. The technique has the advantages of low cost for equipment, accuracy, and applicability to a diversity of sediments, including clay- and carbonate-rich materials.


PURPOSE
To investigate the physical imaging properties and detection of simulated microcalcifications of a new computed radiography (CR) system with a pixel size of 50 microm for digital mammography.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
New and conventional CR were employed in this study. The new CR system included a high-resolution imaging plate coupled with the FCR5000MA (50 microm pixel pitch) including transparent support and a dual-sided reader. The conventional CR system was coupled with the FCR9000 (100 microm pixel pitch). Modulation transfer functions (MTFs) and Wiener spectra (WS) of the new and conventional CR systems were measured. Observer performance tests were conducted to compare the effects of pixel size (50 microm vs. 100 microm) on the diagnostic accuracy of CR systems in the detection of simulated microcalcifications.

RESULTS
The presampling MTF of the new CR system was higher at high frequencies than the conventional CR system. The WS of the new CR system was comparable to that of the conventional CR system at all frequencies. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (Az) obtained with the new CR and the conventional CR systems were 0.84 and 0.79, respectively. Results showed that the detection of simulated clustered microcalcifications was significantly improved by use of the new CR system compared with the conventional CR system (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION
The new CR mammography system improved physical imaging properties and detection of simulated microcalcifications over conventional CR mammography.


OBJECTIVE: To describe the use of prescription drug therapy, especially polypharmacy, in an elderly general population; to relate that use to age, gender, and different types of healthcare utilization; and to investigate the influence of selection of different time windows on the result of the quantity as well as the categories of drugs used. METHODS: Data on a sample of 5000 patients aged 65–90 years in 1996 were derived from the General Practice Research Database (GPRD). The population covered by GPRD is broadly representative of the UK population treated in general practice. Drug use was assessed using 2 time windows — Current use of individual drugs on a random day (index date) and 1 month following the index date. Healthcare utilization was analyzed by use of information on visits to general practitioners (GPs), hospitalizations, and referrals to specialists. RESULTS: Women used more drugs than men; however, the prevalence of polypharmacy, defined as concomitant use of ≥5 drugs, was similar in both genders. The most frequently used therapeutic groups were cardiovascular, central nervous, and gastrointestinal system drugs. Almost 80% of both women and men visited a GP at least once a year. Overall, women used more ambulatory care services and men were hospitalized more often. Use of random date compared with 1-month period resulted in a significant underestimation of the amount of drugs used for acute conditions and, consequently, the risk of polypharmacy. CONCLUSIONS: The overall results confirm the findings in earlier studies suggesting that the GPRD might be a useful tool in further studies on prescription drug use among elderly persons. More information on the appropriateness of drug use is needed to prevent overuse as well as underuse of medications among the elderly.


The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) contains a prominent collection of varicose atriopeptin-like immunoreactive (APir) fibers. We have used immunohistochemistry and fluorescent retrograde tracers to investigate the origin of these fibers. All parts of the PVH contain APir fibers. The densest collections are found in the periventricular area and in the parvocellular components of the nucleus. Somewhat smaller numbers of fibers are found within the borders of the magnocellular part of the PVH. Following the injection of fluorescent retrograde tracers into the PVH and subsequent immunohistochemical staining, numerous retrogradely labeled APir neurons were observed in the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV), adjacent to the anteroventral tip of the third ventricle. Smaller groups of retrogradely labeled APir neurons were observed in the ventromedial part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the pedunculopontine and laterodorsal tegmental nuclei, and the medial part of the nucleus of the solitary tract. The APir projection from the AVPV to the PVH is of particular interest in view of the abundant evidence implicating both regions in the regulation of the fluid and electrolyte balance and blood pressure. AP may serve as a central neuromodulator as well as a circulating hormone in cardiovascular regulation.


In most past studies, passive PCM (phase change materials) systems have been tested for relatively small office spaces where the airflow is of minimal consequence in the overall energy consumption of the space. This paper on the other hand, reports on the application of PCM tiles on the floor of an Airport terminal space, similar to London Heathrow Terminal 5 departure hall, where in such large open spaces, the influence of airflow is crucial for the evaluation of the energy performance of AC units. In this paper, the evaluation of the energy performance of PCM tiles is obtained through a coupled simulation of TRNSYS and CFD. TRNSYS simulates the AC unit and PID control systems, while CFD is used to simulate the airflow and radiation inside the terminal space. The phase change process is simulated in CFD using an in-house developed model which considers hysteresis effects and the non-linear enthalpy-temperature relationship of PCMs. Although, a displacement ventilation (DV) system is actually employed at Heathrow Terminal 5, this study also compares the performance of the PCM tiles for a mixed ventilation (MV) system. Due to large computing times associated with CFD, discrete time-dependent scenarios under different UK weather conditions are used. The yearly energy demand is then determined through the heating/cooling degree day concept using base temperatures of 18 and 23 °C for HDD and CDD, respectively, similar to the comfort temperature range in the Terminal. The results show that the use of PCM tiles on the floor of the Terminal departure hall can lead to annual energy savings of around 3% for the DV system and 6% for the MV system, corresponding to 174 MWh/year and 379 MWh/year for the Terminal building.


Objective A multifactorial combination of predictors may increase anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk in athletes. The objective of this twin study was to examine these risk factors to identify commonalities in risk factors that predisposed female fraternal twins to ACL injury. Methods Female twins in high-risk sports were prospectively measured prior to an injury for neuromuscular control using three-dimensional motion analysis during landing, hamstrings and quadriceps muscular strength on a dynamometer and joint laxity using a modified Beighton–Horan index and a Compu-KT arthrometer. Intraoperative measures of femoral intercondylar notch width were recorded during ACL reconstruction. Results Abduction angles were increased at one knee in both of the twin sister athletes relative to uninjured controls at initial contact and at maximum displacement during landing. The twin female athletes that went on to ACL injury also demonstrated decreased peak knee flexion motion at both knees than uninjured females during landing. The twin athletes also had increased joint laxity and decreased hamstrings to quadriceps (H/Q) torque ratios compared to controls. Femoral intercondylar notch widths were also below the control mean in the twin siblings. Conclusions Prescreened mature female twins that subsequently experienced ACL injury demonstrated multiple potential risk factors including: increased knee abduction angles, decreased knee flexion angles, increased general joint laxity, decreased H/Q ratios and femoral intercondylar notch width.


Continuous improvement of urban water environment and overall control of black and odorous water body are not merely national strategic needs with the action plan for prevention and treatment of water pollution, but also the hot issues attracting the attention of people. Most previous researches concentrated on the study of cause, evaluation and treatment measures of this phenomenon, and there are few researches on the monitoring using remote sensing, which is often a strain to meet the national needs of operational monitoring. This paper mainly summarized the urgent research problems, mainly including the identification and classification standard, research on the key technologies, and the frame of remote sensing screening systems for the urban black and odorous water body. The main key technologies were concluded too, including the high spatial resolution image preprocessing and extraction technique for black and odorous water body, the extraction of water information in city zones, the classification of the black and odorous water, and the identification and classification technique based on satellite-sky-ground remote sensing. This paper summarized the research progress and put forward research ideas of monitoring and screening urban black and odorous water body via high spatial resolution remote sensing technology, which would be beneficial to having an overall grasp of spatial distribution and improvement progress of black and odorous water body, and provide strong technical support for controlling urban black and odorous water body.


In this project we have proposed a technique to design and optimize a bow-tie patch antenna with the help of various soft computation techniques such as Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and a hybrid technique consisting of both ANFIS and GA. The codes for the different soft computation techniquesare developed using the MATLAB software. All results of the antenna are tested on software platform. The software used is IE3D (Integral Equation in Three Dimension) software of Mentor Graphics. The aim of this work is to study and observe resonant frequency, directivity, gain and efficiency obtained by designing the bow-tie patch antenna with the help of the different optimization techniques and to determine which technique gives the most effective antenna. Optimum solutions of various antenna parameters such as length and width are obtained using the soft computation techniques and these are utilized to design the bow-tie antenna using the IE3D software. The design involves a bow-tie antenna being developed on a patch. The patch can take many configurations, the most popular being rectangular and circular configurations. Other configurations are much more complex in design and require heavy numerical computations. In this project a rectangular patch is used. Bow-tie antennas are miniaturized antennas i.e. they are physically small in size, low weight, low cost and they are highly reliable. Also, such a software controlled antenna presents an interesting option for next generation communication.


In a previous work, we presented the analysis and interpretation of geophysical data acquired at the Floridablanca archaeological site in Patagonia, Argentina. The electromagnetic induction method (EMI) was used to detect and localize the anomalous zone of interest quickly. Afterwards, a quantitative
characterization of the structure responsible for this anomaly was achieved by inverting geoelectrical data.
In this work, we re-analyse the EMI data to discover whether it could also provide us with quantitative
information about our target, which exhibits a resistive signature with respect to the host medium. First, an alternative visualization of the data is carried out; this allows us to detect some features of the anomaly that could not be distinguished before. It also makes clear which of the configurations used in the data acquisition exhibits the best sensitivity and resolution. The EMI data corresponding to the anomalous zone are then adjusted with a trial-and-error procedure, using a 2D forward modelling method based on a Raleigh–Fourier approach. The response of two adobe walls with a tile deposit in between them is calculated and the resulting model shows good agreement with the model obtained from the inversion of the geoelectrical data. Also, the synthetic response of two adobe walls without the tile deposit is calculated; we find that this response is different and the data cannot be adjusted with this model. We conclude that the EMI method is appropriate for discriminating different types of resistive structure and that it can be used to obtain quantitative information when 2D modelling is performed.


Heart Failure is a complex syndrome which continues to be a major health issue in the United States and worldwide. Strategies and educational interventions implemented by hospitals to reduce hospital admissions and readmissions for this costly chronic disease have not been consistently successful. Patient education is an important strategy for the management of HF to improve quality of life, optimize patient outcomes, and reduce the use of healthcare resources by reducing readmissions. The purpose of this program development was to increase nurses' knowledge regarding HF education to be provided to HF patients prior to discharge from the acute care setting. A quasi-experimental program design with a pre and post-test intervention was performed on a 38 bed medical telemetry unit at RI Hospital a Level 1 trauma center in Providence, RI. Registered nurses were asked to complete a pre and post-test survey, Nurse Knowledge of Heart Failure by Albert et al (2002). Nine RNs out of thirty two (28.8%) agreed to participate and completed the pre-test, attended one of the HF education classes followed by completion of the post-test. Pre-tests scores ranged from 60-90 out of possible 100, with a mean score of 73.3%. Post-test scores ranged from 70-95 out of possible 100, with a mean score of 86.1%, an increase of almost 13%. These findings suggest that providing HF education can be successful in increasing nurses' knowledge regarding HF education provided to HF patients prior to discharge from the acute care setting.


This study explores the use of shape memory alloys for self-post-tensioning concrete beams. SMAs have the ability to regain their original shape after being deformed up to 6–8% strain. This shape recovery is a result of an underlying reversible solid-solid phase transformation, which can be induced by either a stress (superelastic effect) or a temperature change (shape memory effect). The shape memory effect can be exploited to prestress concrete. The heat of hydration of grout can thermally activate SMA tendons to obtain self-post-tensioned (SPT) concrete. NiTi-based SMAs are promising due to their corrosion resistance and resistance against low frequency/cycle fatigue failure. NiTiNb alloys are a class of SMAs that exhibit a wide temperature hysteresis and transformation temperatures near the service temperatures required for practical application. Here, NiTiNb shape memory alloys are studied to design an optimized SMA that can be activated using hydration heat. The material design and characterization of the SMA tendons are discussed. The temperature increase due to the heat of hydration of four commercially available grouts is investigated. The bond behavior of SMA tendons is evaluated through pullout tests. Digital Image Correlation method is used for monitoring the slippage of the SMA tendons. The feasibility of developing SPT concrete is assessed through experimental studies. The use of SMAs, which possess high fatigue and corrosion resistance, as post-tensioning tendons in concrete members will increase the service life and provide life cycle cost savings for concrete bridges. The replacement of steel tendons with SMA prestressing tendons will prevent corrosion-induced deterioration of tendons in concrete structures. The use of heat of hydration of grout to activate the shape memory effect of SMA tendons will provide self-stressing capability. This will greatly simplify the tendon installation. The need for jacking equipment or electrical source will be eliminated.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Abstract:Responding to doubts expressed by contributors to the Common Knowledge symposium on xenophilia, this introduction to the seventh and final installment seeks to explain the critics' methodological concerns in a case study of strong affect in the Babylonian Talmud. Examining the story of Rav Rehumi and his wife in Ketubot 62b, the author inquires whether differences of culture and the passage of time make it impossible for us to determine whether love is the affect involved. The case is especially difficult to resolve, given that, while there may be two lovers in this narrative, there may be three objects of love: the rabbi, his wife, and the Torah. In the story, Rav Rehumi is so ravished by Torah that he forgets his wife. Since the narrative does not predicate that he chose not to visit her but, rather, that he was swept away, the author proposes that "studying Torah is sex, not like sex, but sex itself." The story describes not sublimation of libido but its desublimation. If so, the story confronts us with an unnamed affect in ancient Jewish culture that "encompasses both the joy of sex and the joy of text." It is not that, dourly, the Talmudic Rabbis cannot imagine, or that they ignore, corporeal pleasure; it is rather that the erotic experience of Torah is the same pleasure but, at least for them, even stronger. This piece concludes, therefore, that a term like xenophilia, which incorporates the word love (philia), is not universally applicable across cultures and epistemai. The concept of love is too various.


The purpose of this report is to elucidate the characteristics of elderly patients with tuberculosis (TB), based on 235 patients hospitalized in our institution from January 1999 to October 2001. The mean age of all patients was 60.8 years old and the male-to-female ratio was 2.1:1. The clinical features were compared between 121 patients aged 65 years old or more (elderly group) and 114 patients younger than 65 years old (non-elderly group). The time lag between onset of the symptoms and the first visit to a doctor was 19 days in the elderly and 49 days in the non-elderly (P < 0.01). Previous therapy, extrapulmonary TB, and underlying diseases were significantly frequent in the elderly (P < 0.05). Cavitation on chest X-ray film was found in 23% of the elderly and in 40% of the non-elderly (P < 0.01). The frequency of positive smear was similar in the two groups. Peripheral blood lymphocyte count, serum total protein, albumin and total cholesterol were lower in the elderly who died during admission than in the living elderly (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in mortality due to TB between the two groups, although deaths due to non-tuberculous diseases were more frequent in the elderly. Pneumonia and other infectious diseases accounted for 50% of deaths in the elderly. Nutrition and infection other than TB should be taken into consideration in treating elderly patients with TB.


This volume contains the proceedings of the Exploratory Workshop on Combinatorial Commutative Algebra and Computer Algebra, which took place in Mangalia, Romania on May 29-31, 2008. It includes research papers and surveys reflecting some of the current trends in the development of combinatorial commutative algebra and related fields. This volume focuses on the presentation of the newest research results in minimal resolutions of polynomial ideals (combinatorial techniques and applications), Stanley-Reisner theory and Alexander duality, and applications of commutative algebra and of combinatorial and computational techniques in algebraic geometry and topology. Both the algebraic and combinatorial perspectives are well represented and some open problems in the above directions have been included.


Long before the Montgomery bus boycott ushered in the modern civil rights movement, black and white southerners struggled to forge interracial democracy in America. This innovative book examines the most successful interracial coalition in the nineteenth-century South, Virginia's Readjuster Party, and uncovers a surprising degree of fluidity in postemancipation southern politics. Melding social, cultural, and political history, Jane Dailey chronicles the Readjusters' efforts to foster political cooperation across the color line. She demonstrates that the power of racial rhetoric, and the divisiveness of racial politics, derived from the everyday experiences of individual Virginians--from their local encounters on the sidewalk, before the magistrate's bench, in the schoolroom. In the process, she reveals the power of black and white southerners to both create and resist new systems of racial discrimination. The story of the Readjusters shows how hard white southerners had to work to establish racial domination after emancipation, and how passionately black southerners fought each and every infringement of their rights as Americans. |This innovative book examines the most successful interracial coalition in the nineteenth-century South, Virginia's Readjuster Party, and uncovers a surprising degree of fluidity in postemancipation southern politics.


ABSTRACT Purpose: The provision of conscientious nursing care is at the forefront of health quality. Unfortunately, a lack of standardization in the assignment of patients to nurses can lead to care inequities. Rehab MATRIX is a nursing-led tool that equitably assigns patients using select acuity variables. Design and Methods: In this initial study, we asked focus groups of 19 registered nurses and 8 patient care assistants to identify medical interventions that increase the effort of nursing care at a 24-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF). This IRF is affiliated with a comprehensive heart and vascular institute, a level I trauma center, and a The Joint Commission (TJC) Comprehensive Stroke Center. Findings: Thirteen acuity variables were included in the Rehab MATRIX patient assignment grid. High-acuity patients with greater than 6 variables were color-coded "red," medium-acuity patients with 3 to 5 variables were color-coded "yellow," and low-acuity patients with less than 3 variables were color-coded "green." Each registered nurse and patient care assistant were assigned an equitable number of red-, yellow-, and green-coded patients per shift. New admissions were Rehab MATRIX color-coded during nursing report and assigned objectively. Conclusions: Nursing staff at a wide-ranging IRF created Rehab MATRIX, an equitable patient assignment tool, representative of nursing effort needed to provide quality care. Clinical Relevance: Nursing-led patient assignment tools increase autonomy and provide the opportunity for all nursing staff to influence healthcare practice. These factors may lead to increased nursing satisfaction and decreased burnout.


: In 26 interposition mesocaval shunts using an internal jugular vein autograft which has been performed since 1970, four patients had important abnormalities in the superior mesenteric vein, making impossible the usual subduodenal position of the jugular vein graft. In these four patients, a small pancreatectomy was performed between the transverse portion of the duodenum and the right aspect of the superior mesenteric vein, placing the interposition mesocaval shunt in a transduodenopancreatic position. No patient has had any bleeding after the operation nor have esophageal varices been found at the time of the last examination. During this period, all patients showed a remarkable tolerance to proteins, so that no patient has been on a low protein diet.


An adaptive observer is developed for a class of nonlinear systems. Conditions for convergence of state and parameter estimates are presented. The developed theory is used for observer-based parameter identification in the active suspension system of an automobile. A realistic model of the suspension system incorporating the dynamics of the hydraulic actuator is used. The observer is used to adapt on dry friction which is usually present in significant magnitudes in hydraulic actuators. The observer can also be used to adapt on spring stiffnesses, viscous damping and hydraulic bulk modulus. A special adaptive observer is proposed for identification of the sprung mass of the automobile. Since the sprung mass depends on the number of passengers and the load on the automobile, it needs to be regularly updated. The adaptive observers use measurements from two accelerometers and an LVDT. They yield good experimental performance when implemented on a half-car suspension test rig. >


The medicinal plant Vernonia pauciflora (willd.) Less (Asteraceae) is known for its medicinal potential. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the sample of the herb showed positive test for Alkaloid, Carbohydrate, Triterpenes, Cardiac glycoside, Saponins, Tannins and Flavonoids. The antimicrobial activity of the plant extracts namely Methanol, Ethyl acetate and Hexane extracts were tested on gram positive bacteria (Methicillin Rest.Staph. aureus ,Staphylococus aureus, Stphylococcus pyogene, Staphylococcus pneumoniae), gram negative bacteria (Vancomycin Rest. Enterococci, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhii, Escherichia coli, Neisseria gonorrhoeae ,) using disc diffusion method while fungi (Candida albicans and Candida krusel,) tested using sabroiddextroxe broth were found to be effective on all the pathogen when compared with activity of the standard antimicrobial except Strep. pyogene,Vancomycin Rest. Staph. enterococci ,Shigella dysenteriae and Candidas.tropicalis that did not show activity. The plant exhibited significant antimicrobial potency. This study concluded that Vernonia pauciflora (Willd.) Less used as a traditional medicinal plant has antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms. To the best of our knowledge there is not any report on phytochemical and antimicrobial results on this plant.