Abstract Metabolic activities such as breathing and digestion, resulting from natural functions of the body through oxidation, lead to the formation of free radicals that cause cancer, premature cardiac aging and some chronic diseases. Antioxidants are substances that remove free radicals and prevent cell damage. Seafood significantly contributes to the elimination of free radicals, especially owing to its high quality nutrient content. In this context, the objective of the study was to determine the radical antioxidant capacity and the total amount of carotenes in razor clams. The IC50 (mg g−1) value of the DPPH radical sweeping effect varied over the months (p < 0.05), showing the highest value in June, gradually decreasing from September and reaching the lowest level in February. The total amount of carotenoids also varied, with the highest value in September (p < 0.05). The total amount of chlorophyll ranged from 6.15 μg g−1 in August to 66.71 μg g−1 in December.


The formation behavior of γ″(Ni3Nb) precipitates in IN 718 alloy before and after ECAP(equal channel angular pressing) was investigated by microstructural observation and the hardness test. For the alloy examined before ECAP, the γ″ precipitates were formed only after aging treatment at 720, whereas after ECAP, the γ″ precipitates were formed at the aging temperatures of both 600 and 720. 600 is normally too low a temperature for γ″ precipitates to be formed in commercial IN 718 alloy, however, they were able to be formed due to severe plastic deformation by ECAP. It was found that the ECAP process changed the formation behavior of the γ″ precipitates in IN 718 alloy.


Photoinduced atom transfer radical polymerization with an Fe catalyst was successfully performed in aqueous media for the first time. Three water-soluble ligands [i.e., tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBABr), tris[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl]amine (TDA), and triphenylphosphine-3,3′,3′′-trisulfonic acid trisodium (TPPSA)] were screened for polymerization in aqueous media. Linear semilogarithmic plots, increasing molecular weights (Mn) with conversion, and low dispersity (Đ < 1.40) were achieved by using a new water-soluble phosphine ligand TPPSA, indicating a well-controlled polymerization. Subsequently, the polymerization kinetics of different catalyst concentrations and the targeted degree of polymerizations were investigated. The applicability of this system to the polymerization of different water-soluble monomers was examined. Furthermore, the polymerization can be regulated by switching the light on and off, which further confirmed its controlled and "living" nature. A successful experiment of chain extension suggested the retention of chain-end functionality. A study of the mechanism showed that the activator (FeIIX2/L) and the additional initiator were generated by the photochemical reduction of FeIIIX3/L in the presence of a monomer. This work provides an environmentally benign ATRP to synthesize well-defined water-soluble materials.


abstract:The cartographic history of Japan is remarkable for the sophistication, variety, and ingenuity of its maps. It is also remarkable for its many modes of spatial representation, which might not immediately seem cartographic but could very well be thought of as such. To understand the alterity of these cartographic modes and write Japanese map history for what it is, rather than what it is not, scholars need to be equipped with capacious definitions of maps not limited by modern Eurocentric expectations. This article explores such classificatory flexibility through an analysis of the mapping function of meisho zue, popular multivolume geographic encyclopedias published in Japan during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The article's central contention is that the illustrations in meisho zue function as pictorial maps, both as individual compositions and in the aggregate. The main example offered is Miyako meisho zue (1780), which is shown to function like a map on account of its instrumental pictorial representation of landscape, virtual wayfinding capacity, spatial layout as a book, and biased selection of sites that contribute to a vision of prosperity. This last claim about site selection exposes the depiction of meisho as a means by which the editors of meisho zue recorded a version of cultural geography that normalized this vision of prosperity.


For N hard-core bosons on an arbitrary lattice with d sites and independent of additional interaction terms we prove that the hard-core constraint itself already enforces a universal upper bound on the Bose-Einstein condensate given by Nmax=(N/d)(d-N+1). This bound can only be attained for one-particle states |φ) with equal amplitudes with respect to the hard-core basis (sites) and when the corresponding N-particle state |Ψ) is maximally delocalized. This result is generalized to the maximum condensate possible within a given sublattice. We observe that such maximal local condensation is only possible if the mode entanglement between the sublattice and its complement is minimal. We also show that the maximizing state |Ψ) is related to the ground state of a bosonic "Hubbard star" showing Bose-Einstein condensation.


The plethora of online services now available has led to a growing demand for practitioners to look beyond traditional face-to-face therapy and take advantage of the flexibility which email and the Internet can offer them and their clients. The guide gives up-to-the minute information and research, ethical and legal advice, on the practicalities of setting up or joining a service, and the essential therapeutic skills needed to be an effective online therapist. Writing for an international audience, the authors discuss the issues for practitioners using the Internet today, as well as in the future. Basing their study on published empirical research, they address: text-based therapeutic interventions such as email, Internet Relay Chat, forums and mobile phone texting, from the perspective of different theoretical orientations, illustrated with case studies; supervision and online research; and, other therapeutic uses of technology including use of video therapy, telephone therapy, Virtual Reality environments, gaming, and computerized CBT. The authoritative guide to all aspects of being an online therapist, this practical text is a vital addition to any therapist's library. It will also be valuable reading for anyone training to be a counselor or psychotherapist in our increasingly 'electronic' world.


This paper presents comparative performance of Buck Converter in both open as well as closed loop. With the help state equations Mathematical Model of Buck Converter is designed in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The obtained output response of open loop Buck Converter is sluggish, not optimum and consists of peak overshoots. PI Controller is used in closed loop model of Buck Converter. Output Voltage is compared with a reference signal, which then is processed through a controller (PI/Fuzzy). The obtained signal is superimposed with a carrier signal and given to switching device used. To further optimize the performance of Buck Converter and eliminate the peak overshoot present in output response, Fuzzy controller is used. Here Suguno type Fuzzy is used.


In this paper, Ni-Sn-P ternary alloy coating was prepared by the electroless depositing technique. Effects of tannic chloride, reductant and pH value of the bath on the coating were studied. And, erosion behavior of the coating in the 3.5g dm-1 sodium chloride solution was also investigated. The results show that the electroless deposited Ni-Sn-P ternary alloy is amorphous. The deposition rate and the tin content in the coating increase, but the phosphorus content in the coating decreases with increasing the stannic chloride and sodium hypophosphite contents in the bath. The deposition rate increases with the pH value of the bath in the range of 3 to 6. Mass loss of the coating increases with increasing the erosion time and the flow velocity of erosion solution, which has its maximum value as the coating impacted at an angle of 60°.


In Sweden, detailed development plans (DDPs) go through a screening process to decide whether their implementation could cause significant environmental impact or not. The criteria in the legislation were studied to see if an environmental impact assessment was needed. This study also investigated 26 DDPs from 12 out of 13 of the municipalities in Ostergotland and how they meet up to the demands in relevant legislation, for example the rules for Environmental Impact Assessments. Plans that concerned suburban communities and new housing were selected. The environmental issues highlighted in the plan documents were compared to selected topics from the GIS data base 'Ostgotakartan' to see if the assessments made by the municipalities were reasonable judged. The results showed that in 54% of the municipalities, the screening processes corresponded with the Environmental Impact Assessment criteria. The most common flaws were that neither the national environmental goals nor the motivation of the decision was given any significant attention. The results of the questions that were sent to the municipalities showed that the working procedures vary among the municipalities. 73% of the municipalities used checklists as a basis for their assessments, whereas the rest worked in workgroups. Further the results indicated that there was a correlation between screening processes which had large flaws, according to the legislation criteria, and the lack of a county ecologist. In Sweden there is no real monitoring of how the legislation is implanted in the screening processes in different municipalities, which means that the processes can have flaws.


In this paper, we present the results of the extensive computational experiments with the hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) for solving the grey pattern quadratic assignment problem (GP-QAP). The experiments are on the basis of the component-based methodology where the important algorithmic ingredients (features) of HGA are chosen and carefully examined. The following components were investigated: initial population, selection of parents, crossover procedures, number of offspring per generation, local improvement, replacement of population, population restart). The obtained results of the conducted experiments demonstrate how the methodical redesign (reconfiguration) of particular components improves the overall performance of the hybrid genetic algorithm.


In this paper we prove that, generically, a sampled data system is observable provided that the number of outputs is greater than the number of inputs plus one.


Ventricular remodeling of both geometry and fiber structure is a prominent feature of several cardiac pathologies. Advances in MRI and analytical methods now make it possible to measure changes of cardiac geometry, fiber, and sheet orientation at high spatial resolution. In this report, we use diffusion tensor imaging to measure the geometry, fiber, and sheet architecture of eight normal and five dyssynchronous failing canine hearts, which were explanted and fixed in an unloaded state. We apply novel computational methods to identify statistically significant changes of cardiac anatomic structure in the failing and control heart populations. The results demonstrate significant regional differences in geometric remodeling in the dyssynchronous failing heart versus control. Ventricular chamber dilatation and reduction in wall thickness in septal and some posterior and anterior regions are observed. Primary fiber orientation showed no significant change. However, this result coupled with the local wall thinning in the septum implies an altered transmural fiber gradient. Further, we observe that orientation of laminar sheets become more vertical in the early-activated septum, with no significant change of sheet orientation in the late-activated lateral wall. Measured changes in both fiber gradient and sheet structure will affect both the heterogeneity of passive myocardial properties as well as electrical activation of the ventricles.


Material adverse effect (MAE) provisions have taken center stage in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like with other crises, as the pandemic unfolds, two questions inevitably arise for dealmakers. First, in the short term, what grounds may parties use to exit pending transactions? And, second, in the long term, what impact will the crisis have on negotiating current and future deals and drafting related contractual provisions? In many M&A transactions, especially those involving publicly traded companies, the answers to both questions almost always involve MAEs. These provisions allow parties, typically the acquirer, to exit a transaction without penalty if the other party has suffered a MAE, as that term is defined in the agreement.

This Essay examines MAEs through the lens of transaction cost economics, a theory utilized to determine how to best structure transactions especially amidst uncertainty. Uncertainties are inherent in purchasing a highly specific asset, like a company, which are further compounded by external socioeconomic conditions. This, in turn, gives rise to higher transaction costs, such as due diligence, increased negotiations, and ex post enforcement. MAE provisions are one of the ways in which dealmakers attempt to control the transaction costs of ex post enforcement. As life in a pandemic becomes the new reality, dealmakers are adjusting to ensure that pandemic-related effects do not trigger MAEs. Consequently, this raises transaction costs and has an impact on whether a deal is signed and ultimately consummated, and on what terms.

This Essay discusses how dealmakers have dealt with the pandemic in terms of MAEs and argues that while revised MAEs may complicate dealmaking, they will not hinder it. This Essay attempts to look into the dealmaker's crystal ball to foresee changes both in deal process and deal terms. It argues that in place of the traditional role of a MAE, dealmakers instead will take other steps to compensate for uncertainty, including expanded due diligence, adjusted valuations, provisions to renegotiate terms, or reverse termination fees. If anything is clear as dealmakers look into their crystal ball, it is that hope creates opportunity but so does chaos.


Underwater sensor networks have become increasingly interesting in the past four decades. They can be used in a multitude of scenarios, commercial and military alike. Underwater networks can communicate in several ways, but when nodes are far apart, underwater acoustic communication is the only feasible way. The complex underwater acoustic channel puts high demands on the network protocols. The physical layer needs to contend with short coherence times, high intersymbol interference and significant Doppler spread. The routing protocol needs to handle intermittent connectivity and mobile network topologies, such as autonomous underwater vehicle networks. The medium access control protocol needs to manage medium access with high latency and potentially high packet loss ratios without congesting the network. The available acoustic modems are still rather expensive, which limits the size of a sensor network. Voices have also been raised from the academia for a paradigm shift, from hardware-defined, proprietary modems to software-defined, open-architecture modems, in order to accelerate research in the field and enable interoperability. This paper reviews the recent advancements in designing and implementing underwater networks on several levels and discusses some interesting approaches to underwater ad-hoc networking. The focus lies on acoustic communication.


Kudos to the editors for the September 1996 Managed Care Issue of theArchives. I would like to make 2 related points. How Will Dermatologists Prove Their Worth to the Health Care Industry? I am concerned that we have spent too much time attempting to prove our cost-effectiveness and inadequate time proving our quality-of-care effectiveness. As Lober 1 states, dermatologists can provide "the highest-quality skin care in a cost-efficient manner." We provide more cost-effective care than nonspecialized primary care physicians, if the goal is to provide excellent dermatological care. Dermatologists, however, deal with many chronic problems that are debilitating but not life-threatening. This leaves us vulnerable to another alternative: poor quality dermatological care. A managed care provider could, consciously or otherwise, elect to restrict patient access to dermatologists, relying solely on inadequately trained primary care physicians and accepting the resulting debilitating but rarely fatal impact of poor dermatological care


Many bioactive peptides have been described from marine sources and much marine biomass is still not explored or utilized in products. Marine peptides can be developed into a variety of products, and there is a significant interest in the use of bioactive peptides from marine sources towards nutraceuticals or functional foods. We present here a mini review collecting the knowledge about the value chain of bioactive peptides from marine sources used in nutraceuticals and functional foods. Many reports describe bioactive peptides from marine sources, but in order to make these available to the consumers in commercial products it is important to connect the bioactivities associated with these peptides to commercial opportunities and possibilities. In this mini review, we present challenges and opportunities for the commercial use of bioactive peptides in nutraceuticals and functional food products. We start the paper by introducing approaches for isolation and identification of bioactive peptides and candidates for functional food. We further discuss market driven innovation targeted to ensure that isolated peptides and suggested products are marketable and acceptable by targeted consumers. To increase the commercial potential and ensure sustainability of the identified bioactive peptides and products, we discuss scalability, regulatory frameworks, production possibilities and the shift towards greener technologies. Finally, we discuss some commercial products from marine peptides within the functional food market. We discuss around the placement these products within the larger picture of the commercial sphere of functional food products from bioactive peptides.


Objectives. This study is aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Cancer Stigma Scale for the Turkish population (CASS-T). Methods. The sample of the study consisted of 412 students of a foundation university located in Ankara, Turkey. The reliability of the CASS was evaluated using the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient and item-total score correlations. Exploratory factor analyses were applied to examine the factor structure of the scale and its construct validity. To test the time invariance of the scale, the relationships between the scores obtained from the first and second applications were examined using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results. The Cronbach ' s alpha coefficient of CASS-T was 0.83. In the factor analysis, it was confirmed that the scale has a six-dimensional structure in parallel to original version, namely Avoidance , Severity , Responsibility , Policy opposition , Awkwardness , and Discrimination . The ICC values all remained in the range that indicates the reliability of the 0.63 – 0.71 to be substantial. The contribution of the six factors of the CASS-T scale to the variance is 57.8. Significance in results. The Turkish version of the CASS was confirmed to have good reliability and validity for evaluating stigma toward cancer in Turkish society.


Country-of-origin labeling is now being considered as an alternative by the U.S. Senate. Research is still needed to determine what attributes consumers value in domestic versus imported beef, and to quantify the value that consumers place on country-of-origin labels. Preliminary results suggest that U.S. consumers perceived domestic beef as being safer than imported beef, and overall they are willing to pay a premium to obtain U.S. certified beef.


The construction of phylogenetic trees is important for the computational biology, especially for the development of biological taxonomies. UPGMA is one of the most popular heuristic algorithms for constructing ultrametric trees (UT). Although the UT constructed by the UPGMA often is not a true tree unless the molecular clock assumption holds, the UT is still useful for the clocklike data. However, a fundamental problem with the previous implementations of this method is its limitation to handle large tax a sets within a reasonable time. In this paper, we present GPU-UPGMA which can provide a fast construction of very large datasets for biologists. Experimental results show that GPU-UPGMA obtains about 95 times speedup on NVIDIA Tesla C2050 GPU over the 2.13 GHz CPU implementation.


: The level of volatile carcinogenic N-nitrosamines (NA) was studied in the air of various technological sites of tyre production. Reported total levels of NA in air exceeded MACs set in certain countries for the same enterprises. For example, German total MAC for 12 carcinogenic NA is 1 g/m3. N-nitrosomorpholine appeared to have the highest level (91 g/m3), probably, because its derivatives are used as raw material for technological process. Relative rate of volatile NA release from rubber samples containing 4-nitrosodiphenylamine (modifier) was studied. The parameter was reported to have no influence on NA outlet in conditions simulating technological process. NA was detected by means of gas chromatography with thermal energy detector TEA 502A provided by Thermo Electron Corporation, USA. The article necessitates regulation of NA in tyre production and better rubber mixtures to control the pollution of atmosphere.


This paper examines the impacts of disasters on dynamic human capital production using panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi. The empirical results show that the accumulation of biological human capital prior to disasters helps children maintain investments in the post-disaster period. Biological human capital formed in early childhood (long-term nutritional status) plays a role of insurance with resilience to disasters by protecting schooling investment and outcomes, although disasters have negative impacts on investment. In Bangladesh, children with more biological human capital are less affected by the adverse effects of floods, and the rate of investment increases with the initial human capital stock in the post-disaster recovery process. In Ethiopia and Malawi, where droughts are rather frequent, exposure to highly frequent droughts in some cases reduces schooling investment but the negative impacts are larger among children embodying less biological human capital. Asset holdings prior to the disasters, especially the household's stock of intellectual human capital, also helps maintain schooling investments at least to the same degree as the stock of human capital accumulated in children prior to the disasters.


Today, product developer face the challenge taking not only the requirements for mechanical properties of a product into account, but also other requirements like the acoustical properties, for instance. The problem is that important product properties like the acoustical properties are only revealed in the later development phases. Normally product developers elicit knowledge from experts to fulfil these additional requirements. In this contribution, an approach for a knowledge-based navigation for the development of noise-reduced machines is presented. Therefore the knowledge identification, acquisition, formalization and the implementation in an assistant system are described. This approach contributes to the improvement of knowledge transfer from expert to product developer vice versa.


This paper is devoted to the practical application of the medical criteria (MC) for the harm to health (HH) put into force on September 16, 2008. The authors undertook the analysis of procedures of forensic medical expertises for the estimation of the harm to health during the periods before and after putting MC into action (between 2007 and 2010). The results of this analysis were compared with the number of documented criminal actions that caused harm to health and the number of subjects convicted of such crimes. It is shown that the frequency of crimes leading to the serious harm to health has increased (by 22%) in parallel to the roughly similar decrease in the frequency of crimes responsible for the moderate harm. These trends are unrelated to the changes in the number of subjects convicted of such crimes. The frequency of intentional infliction of the serious harm to health decreased by 12% and the number of subjects convicted of the crimes that caused serious (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, parts 1-3, article 111) and moderate (Criminal Code, article 112) harm to health decreased in 2010 by 5% compared with 2007. The rise in the frequency of the crimes responsible for the serious harm to health (Medical Criteria, pp. 6.11.1-6.11.11) revealed during forensic medical expertises is unrelated to the number of documented crimes and subjects convicted of them under parts 1,2, article 264 of the Criminal Code. The number of documented crimes and subjects convicted of them after the new medical criteria had been put into force (2009 and 2010) decreased by 23% and 15% respectively. It is concluded that putting into effect the new regulations and medical criteria did not result in a substantial change in the relative frequency of the serious and moderate harm to health. Nor did the law enforcement practice gives evidence of any change in the relationship between cases of moderate and serious harm to health and in the number of grave crimes causing the harm to health. The new medical criteria allowed to put in order and present in a structured fashion the data on the harm to health depending on the degree of its severity.


Sympathoexcitatory neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) play a key role in the tonic maintenance of resting arterial pressure. Removal of tonically active inhibitory inputs to the RVLM provided by the caudal ventrolateral medulla (CVLM) elicits a large increase in arterial pressure. The present study addresses the hypothesis that excitatory amino acids (EAA) provide the excitation of the RVLM responsible for the increase in arterial pressure that occurs after withdrawal of CVLM-mediated inhibition of the RVLM. In rats anesthetized with either alpha-chloralose or urethan, inhibition of the CVLM by local injection of muscimol markedly elevated arterial pressure. Subsequent injection of the EAA receptor antagonist kynurenic acid into the RVLM caused arterial pressure to fall to levels comparable to those that occur-with total autonomic blockade. In contrast, injection of kynurenic acid into the RVLM of control rats had little effect on arterial pressure. These results indicate that the large increase in arterial pressure produced by inhibition of the CVLM is mediated by EAA excitation of RVLM neurons. Furthermore, these data suggest that EAA play a prominent role in the tonic excitation of RVLM neurons, but, in intact rats, inhibition of EAA in the RVLM elicits no change in arterial pressure because of removal of inhibitory as well as excitatory drives of the RVLM.


The timing of umbilical cord clamping in 38 women with preterm labour was randomly assigned. Ultrasonographic evidence of periventricular/intraventricular haemorrhage (PVH/IVH), assessed blindly, was found in 77% of the group clamped early compared with 35% of those in whom clamping of the cord was delayed for 1 minute. A hypothesis to explain the possible contribution of the haemodynamic events which accompany cord clamping to the development of PVH/IVH is presented.


and Implications This project examined the feasibility of producing USDA Choice beef—without grain-based finishing— through genetic selection and pasture management. Purebred Angus heifers with high-marbling potential and small/medium frame size were born spring 2011. Heifers were allotted to either pasture (grass-finishing) or feedlot (grain-fed) treatments based on liveweight and intramuscular fat content. When reaching market weight (±1,000 lb) heifers were harvested and carcass data was collected. Feedlot cattle were marketed on August 27, 2012. The grass-finished cattle were marketed on November 1, 2012. Starting and end weights were similar for both treatments but feedlot cattle reached market weight 50% faster (3.9 vs 2.1 lb/day). The average intramuscular fat percent was not different at the start of the trial but there was a trend of grain-fed cattle to have greater intramuscular fat. Rib eye area, yield grade, and number grading Choice were numerically higher for feedlot cattle. This project demonstrated that it is feasible to combine high marbling genetics with pasture management to produce Choice beef in Iowa. Grass-finished cattle were able to achieve 2.1 pounds of gain per day and 60% of the grass-finished cattle ultimately graded Choice. Selection of small-framed, highmarbling potential beef cattle is essential because of the relatively low-energy density of the grass-based diet and the limited grazing season. Efforts to improve pasture quality and extend the grazing season would be beneficial to meet this goal.


Background:Dog ownership has been associated with increased physical activity in the general adult population. Objective:The objective of this study was to examine dog ownership and dog walking and their relationship with home-based and phase II cardiac rehabilitation exercise, depression, and hopelessness in patients with ischemic heart disease. Methods:A total of 122 patients with ischemic heart disease were included in this prospective observational study. Patients completed dog ownership/walking questions during their hospitalization. The Cardiac Rehabilitation Exercise Participation Tool, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and State-Trait Hopelessness Scale were completed by mail at 3, 8, or 12 months later. Regression modeling was used to evaluate the significance of dog ownership/walking on exercise, depression and hopelessness. Results:The sample was 34.4% female and had a mean age of 64.7 ± 9.1 years. Forty-two patients (34.4%) reported owning a dog. Patients who owned but did not walk their dog reported significantly lower levels of home exercise compared with patients who walked their dogs at least 1 day per week (36.8% for non–dog walkers vs 73.9% for dog walkers, P = .019). The odds of participating in home exercise were significantly higher for dog walkers compared with non–dog walkers (odds ratio, 8.1 [1.7, 38.5] vs 1.0). There were no differences in phase II cardiac rehabilitation exercise, depression, or hopelessness between dog owners and non–dog owners or between dog walkers and non–dog walkers. Conclusions:These findings show a beneficial effect on home-based exercise for those who dog-walk at least 1 day per week. Healthcare professionals should encourage dog walking to increase dog owners' physical activity levels.


his paper presents a genre analysis of 73 letters of leniency, which were obtained in two United States
federal district courthouses. The primary objective of this type of genre is to persuade a judge to be
lenient during the sentencing of a defendant, such as by reducing or commuting the defendant's sentence.
This paper examines how writers of this genre structure their letters and use discursive features, in
particular linguistically-realized politeness and appeals to the judges' faith, to make a request for leniency.
The findings of this study show that the rhetorical and discursive features of letters of leniency follow the
conventions of the court, which demands the observance of the judge's face through the use of politeness.
This study also shows how the notion of faith is exploited in this type of genre to make a persuasive
request or, more often, to follow-up a request (post-request) for leniency.


The extremely high cost of clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems and potential safety hazards precludes their use in student laboratories. Consequently, radiography students have traditionally learnt MRI physics by textbook alone. We have developed a remote access benchtop MRI system that provides students with 24/7 access to experimental learning exercises. Students work their way at their own pace through a series of guided measurements and experiments that progress from basic magnetic resonance phenomena to imaging and contrast manipulation. Learning is assessed by formative barrier quizzes that ensure appropriate progression, contributions to guided online discussion of the experiments, interpretation of experimental results, evidence of exploration beyond the guided experiment, discussion of the relevance to clinical imaging, and critical reflection on the learning experience. Student feedback on the experimental MRI learning experience has been extremely positive and all claim to have achieved an understanding of MRI theory concepts that is difficult to grasp from textbook descriptions alone.


This paper addresses the fundamental principles of generalized Boltzmann physical kinetics, which introduces terms accounting for the variation of the distribution function over times of the order of the collision time into the Boltzmann equation. The paper is primarily aimed at clarifying the qualitative aspects of the theory whose mathematical formalism was developed in the author's earlier work. There is a detailed discussion of how the generalized Boltzmann equation obtained by the multiscale method relates to other alternative approaches used in the development of kinetic equations. The application of the generalized Boltzmann equation to certain classical transport processes is discussed.


Distribution of SGLT1 and GLUT2 hexose transporters as well as that of fibrillar actin and tight junction proteins in cultured Caco2 cells incubated in medium with different hexose concentrations has been considered. Glucose absorption by the cells from incubation medium has been determined. Fibrillar actin was concentrated in the microvilli and closely to tight junction. The actin distribution was not dependent on the glucose concentration. There was no SGLT1 association with brush border actin and the transporter localization was not dependent on the concentration of hexose. GLUT2 was localized in the basal part of Caco2 cells after low concentration hexose load (2.5 mM). The transporter was colocalized with microvilli actin in the apical part of the cells after high concentration hexose load (25 mM). The tight junction proteins, occludin and claudin 1, 3, 4 were not dependent on glucose concentration. Claudin 2 was not detected in Caco2 cells. Caco2 cell culture can be used as a model for studying of hexose transport in small intestine epithelium.


Oral malignant melanomas are extremely rare lesions and occur commonly in the maxillary gingiva more frequently on the palate with fewer incidences in the mandibular gingiva. Though these lesions are biologically aggressive, they often go unnoticed since they are clinically asymptomatic in the early stages and usually present merely as a hyperpigmented patch on the gingival surface. These lesions if diagnosed at an early in situ stage are potentially curable and definitely have a better prognosis, but unfortunately as they are clinically asymptomatic, it results in delayed diagnosis thus making the prognosis extremely poor. This paper presents the case of a patient who visited our department with the complaint of darkened patches on the gums and his concern was purely aesthetic. There were no symptoms associated with the hyperpigmented lesions and hence the patient did not approach us earlier. When the lesions grew larger and were unsightly, the patient has seeked dental advice. Histopathologic investigation confirmed the diagnosis as 'Oral Malignant Melanoma'. Though aggressive therapy was instilled immediately, unfortunately, the patient succumbed to death within a few months after diagnosis as the lesion was highly invasive. Due to the biologically aggressive but clinically silent nature of progression of the lesion, the importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion and early detection and diagnosis for any pigmented gingival lesions cannot be overemphasised. Diagnosis must be based on thorough detailed history and valid histologic evidence.


Bubbles in the manufacturing process are common. The bubbles often lead to the decrease of the product's surface quality and internal performance. This paper summarized the published researches and applications of the detection and processing for bubble images, of which the advantages and disadvantages were also presented. Based on the above mentioned results, this paper then proposed a new bubble image processing algorithm for vacuum casting process, in which the characteristics of the bubbles in vacuum casting process and the problems possibly caused in detail were analyzed. According to the characteristics of bubbles in vacuum casting process, an image processing algorithms was designed using Matlab. The simulation result showed the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.


We present an automatic segmentation method using the Maximum a posterior (MAP)-Markov random field (MRF) framework that possesses regional adaptive capability for the segmentation of MR brain images with the presence of noise and the intensity inhomogeneity. A spatial-varying Gaussian mixture (SVGM) is used to model the conditional probability distribution of each of the three brain tissues (WM, GM and CSF), and the MRF is used to represent prior probabilities. A three-component random vector consisting of spatial and intensity information is used in SVGM such that the model can represent more complex image characteristics, such as intensity inhomogeneity. The regional adaptive capability is achieved by imposing a similarity criterion that minimizes the intensity variation of the segmented tissues in local regions. Initial parameters of SVGM are estimated from a brain atlas using either the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm or modified k-mean (MKM) algorithm, and the iterated conditional modes (ICM) algorithm is used to perform the segmentation. The parameters estimation and the ICM algorithm are alternatively operated until a stopping criterion is reached. The implement of the method is validated by quantitatively comparing with other published classification methods on fifteen simulated and twenty in vivo brain volumes using the same evaluation criteria. Our algorithm demonstrates superior performance in all cases other than two, and is especially suitable for the volumes with higher noise and inhomogeneity. The complete experiments illustrate that the incorporations of the spatial information and the regional adaptive processing into MAP-MRF framework provide better solution to the segmentation of MR brain images.


The sustainability challenge requires experimentation with innovations, followed by an upscaling process towards a broader regime change in the long term. In Europe we observe various regional hotspots for sustainability experimentation which suggests that there are favorable spatial contexts. Little is known about why different kinds of experiments flourish or fail in various spatial contexts. In this paper we explore these contexts by using the habitat concept. A habitat is regarded as the configuration of favorable local and regional context factors for experimentation. To capture the diversity of these habitats we have constructed archetypical experimentation patterns. These patterns are built up of five dimensions: knowledge, governance, informal institutions, regional innovation advantages, and social learning. In a comparative case study in four city regions in Europe we find a large contrast in habitats. Countercultures play an important role, as they shape a beneficial context for experimentation through alternative ideas and lifestyles. We also find indications that it is important that a combination of several habitat factors is present, and that these factors have aligned and evolved over several years of experimentation, thus leading to a more mature habitat. The research suggests that regional stakeholders can positively influence most of the habitat factors shaping future upscaling. However, there are also some important factors, such as regional knowledge and skills, which have a path-dependent nature and are more difficult to improve in the short term.


The far-ultraviolet (FUV) diffuse emission is predominantly due to scattering of starlight from interstellar dust grains which shows a large regional variation depending on the relative orientations of dust and stars. The observations of the FUV (1000 -- 1150 \AA) diffuse radiation in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) using serendipitous observations made with the Far Ultraviolet {\em Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE)} are presented. The estimated contribution of FUV diffuse radiation to the total integrated FUV emission in the MCs is found to be typically 5% -- 20% in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 34% -- 44% in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) at the {\em FUSE} bands ($\lambda$ = 905 -- 1187 \AA) and it increases substantially towards the longer wavelength (e.g., 63% for the SMC at 1615 \AA). The less scattering of light in the FUV at the shorter wavelength than at the longer wavelength indicates that much of the stellar radiation at the shorter wavelength is going into heating the interstellar dust.
Five times ionized oxygen atom (O {\small VI}) is a tracer of hot gas (T $\sim 3\times 10^{5}$ K) in the interstellar medium (ISM). A wide survey of O {\small VI} column density measurements for the LMC is presented using the high resolution {\em FUSE} spectra. The column density varies from a minimum of log N(O {\small VI}) = 13.72 atoms cm$^{-2}$ to a maximum of log N(O {\small VI}) = 14.57 atoms cm$^{-2}$. A high abundance of O {\small VI} is observed in both active (superbubbles) and inactive regions of the LMC.


The study traces the evolution of illicit financial flows from Mexico over the 41-year period 1970-2010. While such outflows have increased throughout the four decades, the pace picked up in the post- compared with the pre-NAFTA period. Furthermore, in spite of the somewhat erratic nature of the outflows over time, there is a discernable pattern to these outflows in the years leading up to the macroeconomic crises and their aftermath. We develop a dynamic simulation model that examines the interactions between fiscal developments, monetary expansion, and the generation of inflation on the one hand and on the interactions between the underground economy and illicit financial flows on the other. The underground economy is first estimated using the currency demand approach and then its evolution is traced in terms of model-specific endogenous and exogenous variables. The results of model simulations show that unstable macroeconomic developments, weaknesses in overall governance (as captured by a growing underground economy) and structural factors like trade openness together drove illicit flows from Mexico in a complex process. The drivers and dynamics of the model help us to formulate a set of recommendations to curtail the cross-border transmission of illicit capital.


Elemental compositions of otoliths of young-of-the-year Atlantic croaker Micropogonias undulatus at stations along a pollution gradient in Galveston Bay, Texas, were compared with those of sediments and livers to establish the level of consonance between otolith and habitat chemistries. Both coupled and uncoupled trends were indicated, with the bulk of the results pointing to the need for additional research to test the working hypothesis that the otolith stores a temporal record of elemental chemistry of resident waters. Lack of simple correlations between elemental concentrations in sediment or liver and in otoliths indicate that other biological and geochemical factors influence otolith composition.


The seasonal occurrence of vegetative cells and cysts of the dinoflagellate Scrippsiella trochoidea in the water column was investigated in Yongil Bay (southeastern coast of Korea). To mea- sure germination ratios of cysts, cysts were isolated monthly from natural sediment samples and incu- bated in the laboratory. Vegetative cell numbers peaked in June to July, when the surface water tem- perature increased to over 18°C. Mass encystments were detected in the water column in August 1996 and July 1997, when the vegetative population flourished. Active germination was observed during the period of decreasing water temperature in September and October, when the vegetative population declined. Thus, there was an opposing pattern of seasonality in the potential germination of cysts and the proliferation of vegetative cells, whereby decreases in one paralleled increases in the other. The dormant period of cysts was ca 60 d, far longer than reported previously. Germination ratios increased in October 1996 and September 1997 after a 2 mo dormancy period following the mass encystments. Germination appears to be flexible with respect with length of dormancy and the age composition of cysts, both of which are based on the time and the scale of encystments as well as on conditions in the benthic environment.


Primary source of electric power for the International Space Station (ISS) is the photovoltaic (PV) module. At assembly complete stage, the ISS will be served by four PV modules. Each module contains two independent primary power channels such that one failure will result in loss of only one-half of the power generation capability. During the early stages of assembly, the ISS is served by only one PV module. Flight 12A brings one more module to the ISS and so on until the fourth module is installed during Flight 15A. Power channel components are arranged in orbit replaceable units (ORU) and repairs are accomplished by replacing the failed ORU. While a power channel is operating, all of its ORUs are maintained within their allowable temperature ranges by a balance between the heat generated and heat removed. Heat removal is accomplished either passively or by an active thermal control system (TCS), called photovoltaic thermal control system (PV TCS). The PV module P6 has been operating flawlessly since December 2000 with 100% power availability, as of this writing. This far exceeds the design goal and expectations. However, since a random failure may occur at anytime, the operators must be prepared to handle this situation. An ORU failure may result in dormancy of one or more ORUs; in the worst case, dormancy of all ORUs within one power channel and shutdown of the PV TCS for that power channel. Dormant ORUs may exceed their allowable temperature ranges and that may result in failure of additional ORUs. It is very important to ensure that all dormant, but otherwise operable ORUs remain within their allowable temperature ranges to prevent failure propagation. This describes how the dormant ORUs in the failed power channel will be thermally protected until replacement and restoration has been completed. These procedures use the following processes: (a) backfeed of primary power from another operating power channel, (b) supply of dc control power from the operating channel on the same PV module, and (c) perform thermal control based on the monitored parameters. These procedures have been thoroughly coordinated by all affected technical teams and approved by all required boards.


Objective: To describe the practice of intubation of the critically ill at a single academic institution, Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, and to report the incidence of immediate postintubation complications. Patients and Methods: Critically ill adult (≥18 years) patients admitted to a medical–surgical intensive care unit from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2014, who required endotracheal intubation included. Results: The final cohort included 420 patients. The mean age at intubation was 62.9 ± 16.3 years, with 58% (244) of the cohort as male. The most common reason for intubation was respiratory failure (282 [67%]). The most common airway device used was video laryngoscopy (204 [49%]). Paralysis was used in 264 (63%) patients, with ketamine as the most common sedative (194 [46%]). The most common complication was hypotension (170 [41%]; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 35.7-45.3) followed by hypoxemia (74 [17.6%]; 95% CI: 14.1-21.6), with difficult intubation occurring in 20 (5%; 95% CI: 2.9-7.3). Conclusion: We found a high success rate of first-pass intubation in critically ill patients (89.8%), despite the procedure being done primarily by trainees 92.6% of the time; video was the preferred method of laryngoscopy (48.6%). Although our difficult intubation (4.8%) and complication rates typically associated with the act of intubation such as aspiration (1.2%; 95% CI: 0.4-2.8) and esophageal intubation (0.2%; 95% CI: 0.01-1.3) are very low compared to other published rates (8.09%), postintubation hypotension (40.5%) and hypoxemia (17.6%) higher.


It is widely accepted that long-term changes in synapse structure and function are mediated by rapid activity-dependent gene transcription and new protein synthesis. A growing amount of evidence suggests that the microRNA (miRNA) pathway plays an important role in coordinating these processes. Despite recent advances in this field, there remains a critical need to identify specific activity-regulated miRNAs as well as their key messenger RNA (mRNA) targets. To address these questions, we used the larval Drosophila melanogaster neuromuscular junction (NMJ) as a model synapse in which to identify novel miRNA-mediated mechanisms that control activity-dependent synaptic growth. First, we developed a screen to identify miRNAs differentially regulated in the larval CNS following spaced synaptic stimulation. Surprisingly, we identified five miRNAs (miRs-1, -8, -289, -314, and -958) that were significantly downregulated by activity. Neuronal misexpression of three miRNAs (miRs-8, -289, and -958) suppressed activity-dependent synaptic growth suggesting that these miRNAs control the translation of biologically relevant target mRNAs. Functional annotation cluster analysis revealed that putative targets of miRs-8 and -289 are significantly enriched in clusters involved in the control of neuronal processes including axon development, pathfinding, and growth. In support of this, miR-8 regulated the expression of a wingless 3′UTR (wg 3′ untranslated region) reporter in vitro. Wg is an important presynaptic regulatory protein required for activity-dependent axon terminal growth at the fly NMJ. In conclusion, our results are consistent with a model where key activity-regulated miRNAs are required to coordinate the expression of genes involved in activity-dependent synaptogenesis.


Safety certification of GNSS-aided inertial navigation systems (INS) in civil aircraft requires thorough testing to ensure proper operation, even in worst-case conditions. One error that must be considered is that of gravity compensation on accelerometer measurements. Prior to the work described in this paper, no stochastic models existed with the Gaussian bounding of the tails required to ensure integrity performance. This paper describes a method to determine efficient stochastic models of the error of current high-order gravity models such as EGM2008. The stochastic and high-order models are combined to achieve a high-fidelity model suitable for use in testing systems designed for low-approach operations such as RNP-AR. This paper also describes a method to determine efficient stochastic models for low-order gravity models such as the WGS-84 ellipsoidal model. Such models may be used in testing systems designed for operations with less stringent lateral requirements.


In this paper we propose a novel network module, namely Robust Attentional Pooling (RAP), that potentially can be applied in an arbitrary network for generating single vector representations for classification. By taking a feature matrix for each data sample as the input, our RAP learns data-dependent weights that are used to generate a vector through linear transformations of the feature matrix. We utilize feature selection to control the sparsity in weights for compressing the data matrices as well as enhancing the robustness of attentional pooling. As exemplary applications, we plug RAP into PointNet and ResNet for point cloud and image recognition, respectively. We demonstrate that our RAP significantly improves the recognition performance for both networks whenever sparsity is high. For instance, in extreme cases where only one feature per matrix is selected for recognition, RAP achieves more than 60% improvement over PointNet in terms of accuracy on the ModelNet40 dataset.


The experimentation of nuclear reactor is perhaps one of the most expensive and may produce hazardous effects if not controlled properly but with the advancements of 3D graphics and high speed processing; the computational simulation gives almost same result that could be performed on physical experimentation. Once the software is written, countless experiments to examine the factors affecting a reactors performance can be carried out at little cost and with no dangerous side effects. Our simulation software is developed using C# & CsGL (An Open GL wrapper for C#). It provides a 3D environment of a Nuclear Reactor controlled by input parameters interacted with output result simulations. Its purpose is to helps students & engineers in education for understanding energy generation process. The implementation of Monte Carlo method for this simulation involves following lives of a large group of neutrons in the reactor, with each neutron taking it's own random walk from release; either absorption, exiting reactor, or causing further fission. From this it is possible to work out how enrichment level and fuel:moderator ratio affect the reactors performance. It also allows to vary control rods, f:m ratios, pump speed, along with its inner & outer components views.


Accession countries are bound by EU rules to enter the eurozone after they have fulfilled the Maastricht criteria. Yet for many years, the eurozone will not constitute an optimum currency area for the new members. There are additional risks connected with low relative economic levels - as well as low relative price levels - of the new candidates. Catch-up will require fast productivity growth and will entail inflation rates well above present eurozone targets. The shares of the new countries in the HCPI index will be relatively low but in sum, and together with present eurozone members with higher-than-average inflation, they could pose a threat for the ECB low-inflation policy. Restrictive steps by the ECB would, in turn, slow down growth in the new countries. For this reason, adoption of the euro should not be undertaken too hastily, without regard for the needs of the catch-up process.


Naturally acquired turbinate atrophy in rabbits was associated with Pasteurella multocida infection. Several in vitro and in vivo studies were conducted to document toxin production from P multocida isolates and to determine the relation of toxin to atrophic rhinitis in rabbits. Ten isolates of P multocida serotype A:12 were obtained from adult New Zealand White rabbits with noninduced atrophic rhinitis. Specific-pathogen-free rabbits inoculated intranasally with isolates of P multocida developed rhinitis and turbinate atrophy. However, inoculation with filtrates of the same bacteria failed to induce turbinate atrophy. Cytotoxicity was observed in assays, using bovine embryonic turbinate cell cultures with extracts of P multocida, but not in agar overlay cytotoxicity assays, using bovine embryonic turbinate, bovine embryonic lung, or Vero cell cultures, or in a sandwich ELISA, using monoclonal antibodies to purified P multocida toxin. Thus, turbinate atrophy was experimentally reproduced in rabbits with isolates of P multocida, but toxin was only detected in vitro by cell culture assay of P multocida extracts.


Logit Models for Estimating Urban Area Through Travel. (August 2010) Eric Talbot, B.S., Brigham Young University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Mark Burris Since through trips can be a significant portion of travel in a study area, estimating them is an important part of travel demand modeling. In the past, through trips have been estimated using external surveys. Recently, external surveys were suspended in Texas, so Texas transportation planners need a way to estimate through trips without using external surveys. Other research in the area has focused on study areas with a population of less than 200,000, but many Texas study areas have a population of more than 200,000. This research developed a set of two logit models to estimate through trips for a wide range of study area sizes, including larger study areas. The first model estimates the portion of all trips at an external station that are through trips. The second model distributes those through trips at one external station to the other external stations. The models produce separate results for commercial and noncommercial vehicles, and these results can be used to develop through trip tables. For predictor variables, the models use results from a very simple gravity model; the average daily traffic (ADT) at each external station as a proportion of the total ADT at all available external stations; the number of turns on the routes between external station pairs; and whether the route is valid, where a valid route is one that passes through the study area and does not pass through any other external stations. Evaluations of the performance of the models showed that the predictions fit the observations reasonably well; at least 68 percent of the absolute prediction errors for each model and for the


The 1980s and 1990s witnessed an extraordinary amount of police, legislative, judicial, scholarly, and community activity around hate crime. Such activity was attributable to a new "anti-hate-crime movement," conditions for which were created by the convergence in previous decades of two very different social movements - civil rights and victims' rights. This anti-hate-crime movement has been radiply assimilated into the institutions of criminal justice, with the result that anti-hate-crime measures now reflect the culture and priorities of those institutions. The civil rights and victims' rights movements created collective beliefs, structural resources, and political opportunities that facilitated the emergence of a social movement organized around hate crime and its victims. Hate crime laws were the most visible manifestation of the movement's legal impact, but represent but one aspect of a larger legal and societal response. Much of the success of the movement is attributable to the fact that anti-hate-crime measures fit easily into the values of the criminal justice system; however, that system remains weighted against hate crime victims and their communities. For target communities, the desire to be free from hate crime is inseparable from the desire to be free. Anti-hate-crime measures too frequently address the former but not the latter. To acheive its goal of systemic transformation of criminal justice, the anti-hate-crime movement must engage in critical self-reflection, invest in movement infrastructure, and recommit to challenging the very institutions of criminal justice with which it now cooperates.


Nonmonotonic formal systems have been proposed as an extension to classical first-order logic that will capture the process of human "default reasoning" or "plausible inference" through their inference mechanisms just as modus ponens provides a model for deductive reasoning. But although the technical properties of these logics have been studied in detail and many examples of human default reasoning have been identified, for the most part these logics have not actually been applied to practical problems to see whether they produce the expected results.

We provide axioms for a simple problem in temporal reasoning which has long been identified as a case of default reasoning, thus presumably amenable to representation in nonmonotonic logic. Upon examining the resulting nonmonotonic theories, however, we find that the inferences permitted by the logics are not those we had intended when we wrote the axioms, and in fact are much weaker. This problem is shown to be independent of the logic used; nor does it depend on any particular temporal representation. Upon analyzing the failure we find that the nonmonotonic logics we considered are inherently incapable of representing this kind of default reasoning. Finally we discuss two recent proposals for solving this problem.


The thermophilic and cellulolytic fungus Humicola sp. secretes amylase in the liquid culture medium. This activity is induced by starch, maltose and cellobiose. Glucose impairs accumulation of amylolytic activity in the culture medium. The enzyme hydrolyzes starch, maltose and pullulan to glucose as the end-product.


Second-harmonic generation and linear photomodulation are combined to study free-charge trapping mechanisms at ZnSe–GaAs(001) heterointerfaces. The variation of second-harmonic intensity as a function of charged-trap density at the buried junction is analyzed quantitatively and used with time-dependent measurements to determine interfacial charge-trap lifetimes.


The interaction between immune effector cells such as T lymphocytes and parenchymal cells in organspecific immune injury is dynamic. It is now appreciated that the specificity, intensity, and eventual destructive effects of such interactions can be greatly influenced by responses of the target issue. Renal tubular cells are particularly well suited to participate in such immune collaborations. ( 1) They are exposed to innumerable potentially immunogenic peptides from blood and glomerular filtrate and have pathways to further process these peptides; (2) they express surface molecules which facilitate their engagement to T cells; and (3) they can produce proinflammatory cytokines. In the models of immunemediated tubulointerstitial injury that are currently studied, there has been a great interest in defining the T lymphocytes that initiate, accelerate, or suppress disease. Surprisingly, there has been relatively little attention on defining the tubular cell responses that regulate these immune-mediated processes. This review will therefore focus on this intriguing aspect of immune tubular injury and relate what is known about antigen presentation by tubular cells in autoimmune renal disease.


Vibrio cholerae is a facultative human pathogen responsible for the cholera disease which infects millions of people worldwide each year. V. cholerae is a natural inhabitant of aquatic environments and the infection usually occurs after ingestion of contaminated water or food. The virulence factors of V. cholerae have been extensively studied in the last decades and include the cholera toxin and the coregulated pilus. Most of the virulence factors of V. cholerae belong to the secretome, which corresponds to all the molecules secreted in the extracellular environment such as proteins, exopolysaccharides, extracellular DNA or membrane vesicles. In this chapter, we review the current knowledge of the secretome of V. cholerae and its role in virulence, colonization and resistance. In the first section, we focus on the proteins secreted through conventional secretion systems. The second and third sections emphasize on the membrane vesicles and on the secretome associated with biofilms.


Bacteria occur ubiquitously in nature and are broadly relevant throughout the food supply chain, with diverse and variable tolerance levels depending on their origin, biological role, and impact on the quality and safety of the product as well as on the health of the consumer. With increasing knowledge of and accessibility to the microbial composition of our environments, food supply, and host-associated microbiota, our understanding of and appreciation for the ratio of beneficial to undesirable bacteria are rapidly evolving. Therefore, there is a need for tools and technologies that allow definite, accurate, and high-resolution identification and typing of various groups of bacteria that include beneficial microbes such as starter cultures and probiotics, innocuous commensals, and undesirable pathogens and spoilage organisms. During the transition from the current molecular biology-based PFGE (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) gold standard to the increasingly accessible omics-level whole-genome sequencing (WGS) N-gen standard, high-resolution technologies such as CRISPR-based genotyping constitute practical and powerful alternatives that provide valuable insights into genome microevolution and evolutionary trajectories. Indeed, several studies have shown potential for CRISPR-based typing of industrial starter cultures, health-promoting probiotic strains, animal commensal species, and problematic pathogens. Emerging CRISPR-based typing methods open new avenues for high-resolution typing of a broad range of bacteria and constitute a practical means for rapid tracking of a diversity of food-associated microbes.


The virtual simulation laboratory supplements the traditional ones with its extension of ideas and space. Nowadays many universities offer courses related to photography, however, students are furnished with enough chances to practice owing to the lack of finance, out-mode facilities, and depreciation of the equipment resulted from the increasing number of students. To solve this, we developed the experimental platform of simulation camera with the help of Adobe's Flash, thus lowering the rate of the equipment depreciation, increasing the teaching efficiency, economic benefit and teaching results.


This article is part of a larger report, 'Young Birds that Know Storm: Life Experiences of Boys of Ages 6–8 Years Living in Communities of Extreme Poverty and Violence'. Data from life histories of Jamaican inner city boys aged 6–8 suggest there is a deliberate attempt by politicians and some community members and parents to encourage boys to fear, hate and harm people who support the rival political party. The closer the boys lived to the headquarters of political gangs or garrisons, the more likely they were to have a close relationship with the MPs, councillors and political activists who oversee the 'corners' of the communities, and the more violent their behaviour, suggesting that training in political tribalism affects the boys' relationship with their peers. Only boys who received a high level of nurture and supervision seemed to absorb little of the training to harm supporters of the opposing party.


Jamestown' (Reg. No. CV-1041, PI 653731) soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was developed and released by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station in March 2007. Jamestown was derived from the cross 'Roane'/Pioneer Brand '2691' and was tested under the experimental number VA02W-370. Jamestown is an early heading, awned, short-stature, semidwarf (Rht2) cultivar possessing resistance to the predominant insect and disease pests in the eastern soft wheat region. Jamestown most notably has resistance to Hessian fl y (Mayetiola destructor (Say)), stripe rust (caused by Puccinia striiformis Westend.), and Fusarium head blight (caused by Fusarium graminearum (Schwabe)). In USDA-ARS Uniform Southern Soft Red Winter Wheat Nursery Trials conducted at 27 locations in 2005 and at 26 locations in 2006, Jamestown produced average grain yields of 5496 and 5563 kg ha -1 , respectively, compared with nursery mean yields of 4959 kg ha -1 in 2005 and 4878 kg ha -1 in 2006. Milling and baking quality of Jamestown exceeds that of 'USG 3209'. On an Allis Chalmers Mill, Jamestown has higher break fl our yield (305 vs. 283 g kg -1 ), softer fl our texture (softness equivalent score 57.4 vs. 54.1 g 100 g -1 ), lower sucrose solvent retention capacity (93.8 vs. 104 g 100 g -1 ), and larger cookie diameters (17.0 vs. 16.8 cm).


We solve the formation-tracking control problem for mobile robots via linear control. As in the classical tracking control problem for two nonholonomic systems, the swarm is driven by a fictitious robot which moves about freely. Only one "leader" robot communicates with the reference vehicle and in turn, acts as a leader to a second robot hence forming a fixed spanning tree. We show that a simple condition on the reference angular velocity (persistency of excitation) suffices to achieve consensus tracking.


This dissertation is concerned with surface representations which record surface properties as a function of surface orientation. The Extended Gaussian Image (EGI) of an object records the variation of surface area with surface orientation. When the object is polyhedral, the EGI takes the form of a set of vectors, one for each face, parallel to the outer surface normal of the face. The length of a vector is the area of the corresponding face.
The EGI uniquely represents convex objects and is easily derived from conventional models of an object. An iterative algorithm is described which converts an EGI into an object model in terms of coordinates of vertices, edges, and faces. The algorithm converges to a solution by constrained optimization. There are two aspects to describing shape for polyhedral objects: first, the way in which faces intersect each other, termed the adjacency structure, and, second, the location of the faces in space. The latter may change without altering the former, but not vice versa. The algorithm for shape recovery determines both elements of shape. The continuous support function is described in terms of the area function for curves, permitting a qualitative comparison of the smoothness of the two functions. The next Section describes a method of curve segmentation based on extrema of the support function. Because the support function varies with translation, its behaviour under translation is studied, leading to proposals for several candidate centres of support. The study of these ideas suggests some interesting problems in computational geometry.
The EGI has been applied to determine object attitude, the rotation in 3-space bringing a sample object into correspondence with a prototype. The methods developed for the inversion problem can be applied to attitude determination. Experiments show attitude determination using the new method to be more robust than area matching methods. The method given here can be applied at lower resolution of orientation, so that it is possible to sample the space of attitudes more densely, leading to increased accuracy in attitude determination.
The discussion finally is broadened to include non-convex objects, where surface orientation is not unique. The generalizations of the EGI do not support shape reconstruction for arbitrary non-convex objects. However, surfaces of revolution do allow a natural generalization of the EGI. The topological structure of regions of constant sign of curvature is invariant under Euclidean motion, and may be useful for recognition tasks.


BACKGROUND
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, with about 500,000 new cases and 270,000 deaths each year. Globally, it is estimated that over one million women currently have cervical cancer, most of whom have not been diagnosed, or have no access to treatment that could cure them or prolong their lives. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A population-based cross-sectional retrospective survey of cervical smear abnormalities was conducted in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE, from January 2013 to December 2013 by collecting consecutive liquid-based cytology samples from the Department of Pathology at the SKMC Hospital in Abu Dhabi city.

RESULTS
The total number of women screened for cervical cancer for the year 2013 at SKMC was 4,593, with 225 (4.89%) abnormal smears. The majority of the abnormal smear results were atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) 114 (2.48%). This study showed 60% increase in the rate of abnormal cervical smears in the UAE over the last 10 years. In this study the highest incidence of high grade abnormalities were seen in women above the age of 61 years (1.73%), this might be due to the fact that this group of women missed the chance of screening of cervical cancer earlier in their lives or could be explained by the well-known second peak of HPV infection seen in many prevalence studies.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that the rate of abnormal cervical smear in the screened Abu Dhabi women is not different from the rate in developed countries. A notable increase in both low and high grade abnormalities has occurred within the last decade.


As part of its 100th-anniversary celebration, the Pan American Health Organization has named 12 persons as "Public Health Heroes of the Americas" in recognition of their noteworthy contributions to public health in the Region of the Americas. Over the course of this year, the Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica/Pan American Journal of Public Health will be carrying pieces written by or about these heroes.


With a growing demand for computationally intensive applications with widely distributed data sources, there is an increased need for dispersed computing systems that can schedule computation on cloud nodes across a network. A key challenge in dispersed computing is the need to characterize the end to end network performance for data transfer between compute points and measure it at run-time so that optimized computation scheduling decisions can be made. To address this challenge, we empirically study file transfer times between geographically dispersed cloud computing points using SCP (secure copy). We show, to our knowledge for the first time, that the end to end file transfer latency experienced by this widely-used protocol is better modelled to have a quadratic dependency on the file size (instead of a simple linear dependency that would be expected if the network were treated as an bit-pipe with a deterministic average bandwidth). We incorporate this observation into the design of a real-time network profiler for dispersed computing that determines best fit quadratic regression parameters between each pair of nodes and reports them to the scheduler node. Our end to end network quadratic latency profiler has been released as a key part of an open source tool dispersed computing profiler called DRUPE, and also as part of a DAG-based dispersed computing scheduling tool called CIRCE.


The hysteretic performances of steel beam-to-column connections using martensite shape memory alloy (SMA) rods were studied by the experiments. Before the connection test, the material test of Ni-Ti SMA was carried out for the verification of shape memory effect. Meanwhile, the other two type connections (ANGLE and A3) were also tested for comparison. The results showed that connections with SMA rods have excellent energy dissipation capacity, and no strength degradation even subjected to relative rotation of 0.04 rad. It was found that connections with SMA rods possess the higher stiffness and strength than the ANGLE connection, and better ductility than the A3 connection by comparing their hysteretic curves. Large residual deformations of SMA rods can be recovered by application of heat. Retests were performed using heat-straightened rods in the connections, and nearly identical hysteretic behavior was observed as in the case of initial testing.


This is a recommended management algorithm from the Western Trauma Association addressing the diagnostic evaluation and management of blunt cerebrovascular injuries (BCVI) in adult patients. Because there are no published prospective randomized clinical trials that have generated class I data, the recommendations herein are based on published observational studies and expert opinion of Western Trauma Association members. The algorithm (Fig. 1) and accompanying comments represent a safe and sensible approach that could be followed at most trauma centers. We recognize that there will be patient, personnel, institutional, and situational factors that may warrant or require deviation from the recommended algorithm. We encourage institutions to use this guideline to formulate their own local protocols. The algorithm contains letters at decision points; the corresponding paragraphs in the text elaborate on the thought process and cite the pertinent literature. The annotated algorithm is intended to (a) serve as a quick bedside reference for clinicians; (b) foster more detailed patient care protocols that will allow for prospective data collection and analysis to identify best practices; and (c) generate research projects to answer specific questions concerning decision making in the management of adults with BCVI.


This review deals with three aspects of occupational health practices in Japan, i.e., working environment control, work practice management and health care, with an emphasis upon working environment control. Control of chemical hazards and physical agents in working environment is of prime importance to prevent workers from health impairments due to the hazardous agents. The Japanese legislative system for control of hazardous agents in working environment is characterized by "workplace control", and it is different from "control of personal exposure based on exposure limits of hazardous substances". Hazardousness of working environment contaminated with a toxic substance is assessed by screening air sampling at workplace designated as Measurement A and by fixed point air sampling designated as Measurement B. Working environment was categorized as Control Class I, II or III with both geometric mean and geometric standard deviation of concentrations of the hazardous agent with reference to an "administrative control level". The nationwide survey of air concentrations of dust and lead at workplaces revealed that the present Japanese system of working environment control had been effective to reduce the number of the harmful workplaces evaluated as Control Class III, the worst category, in the decade of 1984-1993 throughout Japan.


Agricultural extension is now backing on the development agenda. The acknowledged failure of the traditional extension model in India has stimulated debate on extension reforms and the introduction of new extension models. Further, Indian agriculture has recorded an al arming 'knowledge gap' where 'knowledge' became central to agricultural production. The role of extension functionaries today is more challenging and demands structural and functional changes to meet the holistic needs of farmers and they have to equip themselves to cope with the drastic chance and dire needs. Agricultural extension is not only about imparting knowledge and securing adoption of improved practices but it also aims at changing the outlook of farmers. Moreover, Indian agriculture is undergoing a rapid transformation under globalization from a simple making a living to complex endeavour. Information revolution leads to fundamental changes in economic, political, social and cultural relations. Information technology is the lifeblood of many other technologies. It is opined that there is direct relationship between communication and development of agricultural sector. New information technology provides the opportunity for innovation. The 'free flow of information' will help the farmers is to overcome the knowledge gap and the availability of the new technology lead farmers to make real choice. This paper emphasizes on the role of ICTs in contemporary agricultural context and critically understands the failure of traditional extension functionaries.


The semi-enclosed land-locked configuration makes the Mediterranean basin an ideal natural laboratory to study both, fundamental plate tectonic processes and astronomically induced variations in the climate and their influences on the marine and continental realms. The prime disruption of the Tethys seaway along the colliding African-Arabian and Eurasian plates disconnected the Mediterranean from the Indian Ocean. This disruption is believed to have triggered the Middle Miocene Climatic Transition. During the late Miocene, Mediterranean-Atlantic marine passage progressively closed leading to restricted conditions in the Mediterranean basins, and eventually to widespread deposition of thick evaporites. To accurate date discrete steps in the constriction of marine gateways and the associated environmental changes, high resolution time frameworks are required. In this PhD project a high resolution time framework was established by extending the astronomical polarity time scale into the middle Miocene in the Mediterranean. This time framework was then used to accurately date environmental changes in the Mediterranean basin, which are reflected in changes in the sediment colour, the internal build-up of basic sedimentary cycles and their patterns, and in geochemical and magnetic proxies. The astronomically dated environmental changes were correlated with geodynamic processes of the gateway closures in the eastern and western Mediterranean, global climatic changes and variations in Earth's orbital configuration. During the late Miocene, discrete steps in environmental changes at 8.017, 7.616, 7.168 and 6.719 Ma occurred remarkably synchronous in the Mediterranean basin and can be directly linked to steps in the progressive constriction of the marine gateway through northern Morocco and southern Spain. Commonly, the Betic Seaway through southern Spain is thought to have closed in the late Tortonian at ~7.8 Ma, whereas the Rifian Corridor through northern Morocco persisted at least until ~6.8 Ma. Our new chronology for a Neogene basin in southern Spain indicates a stratigraphic hiatus of at least 2 Myr between fully marine conditions at ~7.8 Ma and the first continental deposits. This suggests that a Messinian gateway though southern Spain cannot be completely ruled out. During the middle Miocene, discrete steps in environmental changes in the Mediterranean are for the first time astronomically dated at 15.007 and ~14.485 Ma. They coincide with a time of global climate variability but cannot be linked to processes related to the closure of the Mediterranean-Indian Ocean gateway because it lacks any high resolution and accurate age control. To improve the chronology of this marine passage, Neogene basins in SE Turkey were studied. The new results indicate that basins north of the suture zone emerged during the late Oligocene (~23 Ma), which must have severely constricted this gateway. On the southern side of the suture, foreland basins formed no longer a deep marine connection after ~11 Ma, giving an upper limit to the closure age. Surprisingly, all astronomically dated discrete steps in the Miocene environment occurred during ~400-kyr eccentricity minima. This suggests that the influence of the ~400-eccentrcity cycle occurred superimposed on long-term climatic or directional tectonic trends, such as gateway closures, exerting an additional control on passing certain thresholds at discrete steps in time.


This article opens up approaches and themes for a history of loneliness. It advocates handling of the subject by historians, and invites historical analysis of concepts, health issues, strategies from the past, theories of long-term loneliness change, "nuclear family hardship" and related demography. Topographies of isolation are raised. It then discusses one aspect of this: considering how living alone often seems to shape modern discussion of loneliness, and analysing the steep rise of sole living in Western societies over the past century.


The purposes of this study were to determine the dimensionality of the Postpartum Support Questionnaire adapted for mothers with multiple sclerosis through factor-analytic techniques and to provide construct validity for the factored dimensions. One hundred and seventy-four mothers with multiple sclerosis comprised the sample. Using a priori criteria, a three-factor structure, resulting from principal components analysis with an orthogonal rotation consisting of 24 of the 28 items, was found to best represent the dimensionality of the instrument. The three support factors-emotional, instrumental, and informational-showed acceptable coefficient alpha reliabilities at the 1-, 3-, and 6-month administrations. Evidence of construct validity was shown in that, as hypothesized, (a) mothers with comparatively lower emotional distress reported higher levels of emotional and instrumental support, and (b) mothers with one child reported receiving more informational support during the 6-month postpartum period than did mothers with more than one child. The results support the use of the 24-item Postpartum Support Questionnaire in assessing the adequacy of these specific dimensions of social support needed by mothers with multiple sclerosis during the postpartum period.


Recently AFM has been used to measure the interactions in aqueous media between a deformable oil drop attached onto an AFM cantilever and another drop on a substrate. In this study this method has been applied to oil droplets immersed in a solution of a polysaccharide extract having emulsifying properties, sugar beet pectin (SBP). In parallel with the force spectroscopy studies, images of the SBP interfacial films were obtained, in order to probe the effects of interfacial structures on the interactions between the drops. The influence of the SBP concentration in the bulk phase was studied: at a low bulk SBP concentration, where the adsorbed SBP layer is relatively flat, non-adsorbed SBP in the bulk solution gives rise to a depletion interaction between the drops. Upon increasing the SBP concentration, a hysteresis appears in the interactions between the drops. It is hypothesised that this effect is induced by the strong liquid structural correlations occurring within the liquid film separating the droplets. This conjecture is supported by a theoretical description which incorporates depletion interactions into a model for the interactions between deformable droplets. At high SBP concentration a strong repulsive force, attributed to steric repulsion between the thick SBP layers adsorbed onto the drops, is observed. Under different bulk conditions polymer bridges were observed to be formed between the SBP-coated droplets. The results demonstrate how AFM can be used to probe different types of interactions between deformable oil drops in aqueous media at the molecular level. When combined with theoretical models, this approach will advance the understanding of molecular mechanisms that govern the stability of emulsions.


A technology for the implementation of electrically tunable optical elements is presented. We illustrate, on the example of a transmission grating (TG), that dielectric elastomer actuators can be used to continuously adjust the properties of diffractive optical elements. The demonstrated TG operates with high transmission, low optical distortion (<lambda/20), high damage threshold (>93 kW/cm2), is polarization-independent, and achieves a very large tuning range (7.5% grating period compression). Extending the presented technology to other optical elements, including lenses, phase shifters, or intensity filters, is expected to result in a wide range of electrically tunable optical devices.


This paper is concerned with pressure welding, which has been known as a main bonding mechanism during the cold and warm formings such as clad extrusion or bundle extrusion/drawing. Bonding characteristics between the Cu and Al plates by pressure welding are investigated focusing on the weak bonding. Experiments are performed at the cold and warm temperatures ranging from the room temperature to 200°C. The important factors examined in this work are the welding pressure, pressure holding time, surface roughness, and temperature. A bonding map, which can identify the bonding criterion with a weak bonding strength of 1MPa , is proposed in terms of welding pressure and surface roughness for the cold and warm temperature ranges.


This paper introduces three possible approaches for synthesis of solutions in distributed expert systems (DESs) and demonstrates three different strategies which are a computational strategy, a neural network strategy, and a case-based strategy. Furthermore, these strategies are compared based on the design principles and performances. The aim of this paper is to study different approaches for designing synthesis strategies and offers guide lines for selecting a suitable method for solution synthesis in different synthesis cases.


The purpose of the paper is to examine the factors affecting pregnancy complications during antenatal period of mothers. The study uses data which have been repeated over time i.e., the nature of the data is longitudinal in type. Thus the generalized estimating equation (GEE) method has been employed to identify the factors associated with the pregnancy complications which constitute binary response. The study reveals important findings. Among others, education of mothers, taking special food during pregnancy and desired index pregnancy are found to be negatively associated with pregnancy related complications i.e., lower risk of complication. Patients visit to health workers during antenatal period is positively associated with identifying the causes of pregnancy related complications. Female literacy and maternal morbidity are intertwined in an inverse relationship i.e., improving the former will reduce the latter. Educated women take better care of themselves. It improves their economic power and ensures a better social and legal status. Pregnant women should take special food in order to get rid of pregnancy related complications.


Objective: To compare risk factors and progression free survival of type 1 & 2 endometrial cancers. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 149 patients with early stage endometrial carcinoma treated between 1997 and 2012 in Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi was performed. Results: A total of 149 patients were analyzed. Type I tumors accounted for 92% of cases in the study while 8% were type II tumors. The mean age, BMI, parity, co-morbidities (hypertension & Diabetes), family history and history of polycystic disease were comparable in both groups. Overall better survival (113 Vs 24 months) was observed for type I endometrial cancer. Conclusion: Both types of endometrial cancer may share common etiologic factors. Despite the limitation of small numbers in one group this study confirms better survival in type 1 endometrial cancer.


The study focused on the atmosphere and layout of the dining area of Focaccia Restaurant and its impact to the workflow of employees and level of customers' satisfaction. The study adopted descriptive method of research. The study used constructed questionnaires for employees and customers. The respondents were the four dining room staff and 100 customers which were selected through a quota sampling. Results showed that the ambience level of Focaccia as perceived by the customers is very satisfying. Also, an excellent rating on the ambience level was expressed by the employees. In terms of the level of efficiency of layout to the workflow of employees, an excellent rating was given. In terms of the impact of the atmosphere to the workflow of employees and customers' satisfaction, a positive response was given since employees were able to work well and customers were able to relax and enjoy the ambience of the dining area. Likewise, the impact of the layout to the workflow of employees and customers' satisfaction was found to be positive. Both were able to move freely and comfortably in the dining area. It was therefore concluded that customers perceived Focaccia Restaurant to exhibit high ambience level in the dining area while employees considered it to exhibit excellent ambience level. It was also found out that the restaurant exhibits a highly efficient layout. Both atmosphere and layout had shown positive impact to the workflow of employees and customers' satisfaction. The study recommended that Foccaccia Restaurant should continue innovating the restaurant's atmosphere to attract more customers and for the productivity of its employees.


This paper presents a new technique for achieving spectral accuracy and fast computational performance in a class of black hole perturbation and gravitational self-force calculations involving extreme mass ratios and generic orbits. Called \emph{spectral source integration} (SSI), this method should see widespread future use in problems that entail (i) point-particle description of the small compact object, (ii) frequency domain decomposition, and (iii) use of the background eccentric geodesic motion. Frequency domain approaches are widely used in both perturbation theory flux-balance calculations and in local gravitational self-force calculations. Recent self-force calculations in Lorenz gauge, using the frequency domain and method of extended homogeneous solutions, have been able to accurately reach eccentricities as high as $e \simeq 0.7$. We show here SSI successfully applied to Lorenz gauge. In a double precision Lorenz gauge code, SSI enhances the accuracy of results and makes a factor of three improvement in the overall speed. The primary initial application of SSI--for us its \emph{raison d'\^{e}tre}--is in an arbitrary precision \emph{Mathematica} code that computes perturbations of eccentric orbits in the Regge-Wheeler gauge to extraordinarily high accuracy (e.g., 200 decimal places). These high accuracy eccentric orbit calculations would not be possible without the exponential convergence of SSI. We believe the method will extend to work for inspirals on Kerr, and will be the subject of a later publication. SSI borrows concepts from discrete-time signal processing and is used to calculate the mode normalization coefficients in perturbation theory via sums over modest numbers of points around an orbit. A variant of the idea is used to obtain spectral accuracy in solution of the geodesic orbital motion.


Learning to embed data into a space where similar points are together and dissimilar points are far apart is a challenging machine learning problem. In this dissertation we study two learning scenarios that arise in the context of learning embeddings and one scenario in efficiently estimating an empirical expectation. We present novel algorithmic solutions and demonstrate their applications on a wide range of data-sets. The first scenario deals with learning from small data with large number of classes. This setting is common in computer vision problems such as person re-identification and face verification. To address this problem we present a new algorithm called Weighted Approximate Rank Component Analysis (WARCA), which is scalable, robust, non-linear and is independent of the number of classes. We empirically demonstrate the performance of our algorithm on 9 standard person re-identification data-sets where we obtain state of the art performance in terms of accuracy as well as computational speed. The second scenario we consider is learning embeddings from sequences. When it comes to learning from sequences, recurrent neural networks have proved to be an effective algorithm. However there are many problems with existing recurrent neural networks which makes them data hungry (high sample complexity) and difficult to train. We present a new recurrent neural network called Kronecker Recurrent Units (KRU), which addresses the issues of existing recurrent neural networks through Kronecker matrices. We show its performance on 7 applications, ranging from problems in computer vision, language modeling, music modeling and speech recognition. Most of the machine learning algorithms are formulated as minimizing an empirical expectation over a finite collection of samples. In this thesis we also investigate the problem of efficiently estimating a weighted average over large data-sets. We present a new data-structure called Importance Sampling Tree (IST), which permits fast estimation of weighted average without looking at all the samples. We show successfully the evaluation of our data-structure in the training of neural networks in order to efficiently find informative samples.


As a rule, interactive teaching is regarded as a characteristic of teaching acts practiced in the undergraduate system. When teaching children or teenagers, teachers need to more actively involve their learners in the teaching process itself.
Reforming and redesigning the higher educational system bring in the limelight the teacher-student interaction even in the university's auditorium.
The arguments in favor of the above-mentioned idea could be numerous:
v The reality of the knowledge-based society in which future graduates are to function;
v Students should develop transverse competence which could entail critical and creative thinking, debating skills, personal and professional autonomy, and team working skills.
v The university campus encompasses debating and exchanging ideas.
v Nowadays, knowledge teaching does not entail an end-product any more, but building it on an 'interest area' basis manner.
v Learning through projects at the level of the higher education.
v Increasing responsibility of the higher education towards its beneficiaries providing mass access to higher education and training future experts.
Starting with these premises, the given paper will focus on the need of promoting interactive teaching at the level of the higher education, on the benefits and concrete means of implementing it. At the same time, in the present paper we are willing to focus on the perception of our students of the interactive teaching employed at "The Psycho - Pedagogical Study Program of Teachers' Certification", implying that future teacher graduates of the course will be further using interactive teaching methods in the military environment.