Forensic science plays a vital role in the work of judicial bodies. The contents, knowledge, and specialized expertise permit the identification of facts essential to law enforcement and judicial disputes. Hydrography is an applied science that concerns the physical description, measurement, mapping, and predictions of marine and terrestrial water features (ocean, seas, rivers, lakes, and coastal areas). A variety of economic and other activities take place in water resources. In order to reduce incidents and losses, it is extremely important to operate with accurate hydrographic data. In addition to its standard analytical role, forensics may serve in the prevention of adverse events and /or conditions. This paper aims at contributing towards the development of the new multidisciplinary field of forensic hydrography. The specific objectives are to provide a framework for the establishment of a model of forensic hydrography. A model of forensic hydrography is developed based on eleven modules (elements) relevant to fields in the marine, terrestrial, and coastal water domains. Forensic hydrography should serve the analysis and prevention of unwanted and other events and conditions to increase safety of navigation and security of water resources and in support of all other marine activities, including economic development, defence, safety and security, scientific research, social cohesion, as well as environmental management and conservation.


Abstract. New dinocyst analyses were conducted on core MD99-2339 retrieved from the central Gulf of Cadiz. Dinocyst and foraminiferal assemblages from this core are combined with existing data off SW Portugal and NW Morocco to investigate past hydrological and primary productivity regimes in the subtropical NE Atlantic Ocean over the last 30 ka. Our results have revealed highest upwelling intensity during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS 1) and the Younger Dryas and weaker upwelling cells during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and HS 2, off the SW Iberian and NW Moroccan margins. Similar assemblages between the Gulf of Cadiz and the NW Moroccan margin, and distinct species off Portugal, were observed during the cold climatic extremes that punctuated the last 30 ka. This pattern has been linked to the occurrence of a hydrological structure between SW Iberia and Cadiz during the last glacial period, perhaps similar to the modern Azores Front. This front was probably responsible locally for heterotrophic dinocysts found in the Gulf of Cadiz during the last glacial period, even if this sector is not conductive to upwelling phenomena by Ekman transport. Regional reconstructions of paleo-sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) using dinocyst and foraminiferal transfer functions, as well as alkenones, are also discussed and depict coherent scenarios over the last 30 ka. Seasonal reconstructions of LGM SSTs obtained with this multi-proxy panel are discussed jointly with model outputs in order to contribute to ongoing efforts in model-data comparison.


ABSTRACT: Falconi F.M. dos S. de M., Martins M.S.S., Marcelino L.C., Avelar B.R. de, Madureira A.P., Martins I.V.F. & Brambila E.Z. [Bovine cysticercosis in the state of the Espirito Santo in the period 2009 to 2012: analysis of records of slaughter houses.] Cisticercose bovina no Estado do Espirito Santo no periodo de 2009 a 2012: analise de registros de matadouros frigorificos. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinaria, 35(Supl.2):131-135, 2013. Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Ciencias Veterina- rias, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Alto Universitario s/ n, Caixa Postal 16, Alegre, ES 29500-000 Brasil. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Bovine cysticercosis is a zoonosis found in most post-mortem inspection of slaughtered cattle in Brazil, transmitted to humans by eating raw or undercooked meat containing viable cysts. The aim of this study was to conduct an analysis of records of bovine cysticercosis in slaughterhouses of the State of Espirito Santo in the period 2009-2012. The data relating to convictions carcass and organs were obtained from the Servico de Inspecao Federal (SIF) and Estadual (SIE) of the state of ES. A total of 1,340,751 cattle during the study period and an average prevalence of 0.84% were slaughtered. The data recorded at the SIF mean prevalence was 0.87 % and the anatomical regions affected were heart, tongue, head and liver, respectively. The data from the SIE, the prevalence was 0.83 % and the most affected organs were the heart, head, liver and tongue, respectively. In every year overall survival of cysts was higher than the number of calcified cysts. Losses for cysticercosis in the period was R$ 9,092,834.97 to pay 1,518,256.8 kg meat. The cases of cysticercosis increased between the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 (p≤0.001), showing an increasing trend of the disease and a significant difference between the seasons (p = 0.01), with the rainy season featuring a number most cases of cysticercosis.


This paper proposes a modified Kelvin model for high mechanical property open-cell metal foams and investigates its application in thermal simulations. The thermal conductivity is simulated based on the steady state method and the results are consistent with experimental values. The melting process of phase change materials (PCMs) in Kelvin model and its modified model is numerically investigated under a temperature constant heat resource. By detecting the temperature variations, it shows that the metal foam greatly improves the heat transfer in energy storage systems. Besides, the comparison of the melting process in two foam models indicates that the systems based on high mechanical property metal foams have a shorter melting time. The melting process of paraffin in modified Kelvin metal foam models with three different porosities (65%, 70% and 75%) are numerically analyzed and compared.


. Ipraglifl ozin is a selective sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor that reduce plasma glucose concentrations by inhibiting glucose reabsorption by the kidney through inhibiting SGLT2 sodium-glucose cotransporter and induce glycosuria. SGLT2 inhibitors are a new class of glucose lowering drugs most recently approved for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Unlike other antidiabetic agents, SGLT2 provide multiple additional benefi ts, including decreased body weight, blood pressure, and other multiple pleiotropic eff ects. Th e completed clinical trials and real world data have provided evidence that including of SGLT2 inhibitors in the treatment of T2DM has benefi ts of reduction of cardiovascular and renal outcomes. Goal . Th e aim of the study was to conduct a clinical and economic examination of ipraglifl ozin in comparison with other regimens of glucose-lowering therapy with other SGLT2 inhibitors. Methods . In carrying out the pharmacoeconomic analysis itself, a cost-eff ectiveness analysis (CEA) was applied with the calculation of the corresponding cost-eff ectiveness ratio (CER), incremental cost-eff ectiveness ratio (ICER) according to the formula, as well as an a «budget impact analysis». Multiple one-way sensitivity analysis, check the robustness of the results of the main scenario results to changes in key parameters such as the cost of drugs and complications of diabetes. Th e time horizon for analyzing the dynamics of economic consequences when using ipraglifl ozin as a glucose-lowering therapy for T2DM was 5 years. Results. Th e weighted average cost per patient per year when using the ipraglifl ozin treatment strategy is 31,182 rubles. Th e costs of the empaglifl ozin strategy are 61,291 rubles per patient. In the case of using dapaglifl ozin, the weighted average costs are 30,032 rubles per patient per year, the total direct medical costs for the current drug therapy option, calculated on the initial number of target practice in 72,143 patients with type 2 diabetes, amounted to 3,068,642,442 rubles. Analysis of the trend of changes in weighted average costs showed that the broader use of ipraglifl ozin for the treatment of T2DM in the target population leads to reducing in diabetes related direct medical costs by 6.7 %, while the total economic eff ect of ipraglifl ozin introduction over fi ve years will be 501,539,327 rubles. Conclusions . Use of ipraglifl ozin + metformin in T2DM treatment is a cost-eff ective strategy compared to empaglifl ozin + metformin. Th e combination of ipraglifl ozin with metformin versus dapaglifl ozin + metformin is economically feasible in terms of cost-eff ectiveness.


Network swapping systems allow individual cluster nodes with over-committed memory to use the idle memory of remote nodes as their backing store, and to swap their pages over the network. As the number of nodes in a cluster increases, it becomes more likely that a node will fail or become unreachable, making it important that such a system provide reliability support. Without reliability , a single node crash can affect programs running on other cluster nodes by losing remotely swapped page data that was stored on the crashed node. Our network swapping system, Nswap, has design features that complicate reliability: swapped pages can migrate from one node to another in response to changes in a node's local memory needs. As a result, reliability schemes that rely on fixed placement of page and reliability data are not applicable to our system. Our reliability solutions solve the unique challenge of providing reliability to network swapping systems that both support dynamic changes to the size of remote RAM swap space and support migration of remotely swapped page data. Results show that even though our Mirroring reliability scheme adds time and space overhead to Nswap, it still outperforms swapping to disk by a factor of up to 8.2. Our dynamic Parity scheme will provide reliability with minimal time and space overhead.


Wheat is one of the most important crops in Turkey. Production of this crop is constrained by the disease Septoria leaf blotch, which is a major bottleneck in wheat production in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey. In this study, 260 different wheat fields were surveyed for the estimation of prevalence and severity of Septoria leaf blotch. Out of 100% of the total wheat crop fields, 58.91% were infected with this disease. The mean value of Septoria leaf blotch virulence was 11.62%. Out of 142 diseased wheat crop samples, 74 isolates were used for the pathogenicity test. Forty-seven isolates from Adana, 3 isolates from Mersin, 3 isolates from Osmaniye, 14 isolates from Hatay, and 7 isolates from Kahramanmaras provinces were cultured on PDA plates. The cause of disease agent was identified based on microscopic observation of morphological structure and molecular analysis methods. Consequently, total 15 virulent isolates, 3 isolates from each province were sequenced for 5? and 3? ends of ITS of rDNA and nBLAST of the ITS sequences revealed that Zymoseptoria tritici was the agent of Septoria leaf blotch. The highest disease prevalence (87.99%) was recorded at Adana and followed by Osmaniye with 87.44%, Kahramanmaras (43.59%), Mersin (42.68%), and Hatay (26.03%).


ABSTRACT Determining and continuously monitoring the quality parameters (proximate and calorific value analysis) of coal is crucial for mining, power generation, and trading purposes. Although proximate and calorific analyses are compulsory for monitoring, on-line methods continuously determine these parameters using expensive, detached equipment. Few studies predict the coal quality parameters using image analysis of the optical changes of coal surfaces. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the surface color of coal samples might be an indicator for coal quality parameters. A novel method is proposed to estimate the ash content, fixed carbon, and gross calorific value of the given coals by analyzing the colored images of coal samples. Thirty-five coal samples from seven lower-rank coalfields in Turkey were examined through proximate and calorific analyses. For this preliminary study, they were photographed to obtain digital images, processed to calculate each pixel's RGB codes as 8-bit values and normalized RGB codes, i.e., chromaticity values. The analyses showed that blue and red chromaticity values are highly correlated with ash content, fixed carbon content, and calorific values.


SREBF are a family of transcription factors structurally related that play an important role in the lipid homeostasis adjusting the expression of genes involved in cholesterol, fat acids, triglycerides and phospholipides synthesis. Nowadays 3 SREBP isoforms have been discovered: 1a, 1c and 2. 1c isoform is involved in the fat acids synthesis and in the insulin-induced metabolism, 2 isoform is specific in the cholesterol biosynthesis while 1a is involved in both way. The aim of this research was to characterize the entire coding sequence of SREBP-1 gene in Sarda breed sheep and to evaluate the association between SREBP-1 gene polymorphism and production traits. We used 80 Sarda breed sheep of 2 farm located in north Sardinia with the same food and management condition. Daily milk yield for each animal was determined and also milk samples (50 ml each) were collected to laboratory analysis. 10 ml of blood were collected from each animal to extract DNA genomic. 19 couple of primers were used to amplify the entire coding sequence. SSCP analysis (Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism) was used to resolve the PCR products. We discovered 8 SNPs. The polymorphism localization are as follow: G980T, G981T, C1686T, C5448T, G5657A, G5688A and C6872T. 12 haplotypes were found but only 7 showed a frequency over 0,02. No correlation was found between SNPs and milk traits. None significant association between 7 haplotypes and milk traits were detected.


The spatial domain of Molecular Dynamics simulations is usually a regular box that be easily divided in subdomains for parallel processing. Recent efforts aimed at simulating complex biological systems, like the blood flow inside arteries, require the execution of Parallel Molecular Dynamics (PMD) in vessels that have, by nature, an irregular shape. In those cases, the geometry of the domain becomes an additional input parameter that directly influences the outcome of the simulation. In this paper we discuss the problems due to the parallelization of MD in complex geometries and show an efficient and general method to perform MD in irregular domains.


Esophageal varices develop in half of cirrhotic patients. Endoscopic variceal band ligation is the current treatment for acute bleeding and applicable for primary and secondary prophylaxis. However, there is a risk of complications, including ligationinduced ulcer bleeding. The aim of this study is to review the current diagnosis, management and prophylaxis of bleeding related to post-esophageal variceal band-ligation ulcers in cirrhotic patients. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for English language articles about the theme. The main findings were that Child-Pugh class C, higher model of end-stage liver disease, emergency ligation, presence of hepatocellular carcinoma, peptic esophagitis and bacterial infection were reported as the most important risk factors for post-banding ulcer hemorrhage. There are few studies with proton pump inhibitors and sucralfate showing size reduction of post-banding ulcers. Many treatment modalities have been used to control post band ulcer bleeding, such as band local injection of epinephrine or cyanoacrylate, balloon tamponade, stent placement and ligation of the ulcerated bleeding site. However, the optimal management remains uncertain. The principal conclusions of the study were that post-banding ulcer bleeding is potentially life-threatening and must be suspected in the presence of hematemesis, melena or anemia after endoscopic variceal band ligation (EVL). Predictors of rebleeding must be assessed and controlled as much as possible before band ligation. The post-banding treatment with proton pump inhibitors or sucralfate seems advisable, in particular for high-risk patients. Further investigation and new approaches are still required to achieve optimal management of this complication.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing maternal identity of Korean primiparas.

METHODS
The data were collected by a self-report questionnaire in 2006. The participants were 210 healthy primiparous women who delivered at one of three medical centers and revisited the outpatient department for follow up between 4 to 6 weeks after childbirth. Data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 17.0 program with descriptive statistics, t-test, one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression.

RESULTS
Maternal identity was significantly correlated with Taekyo accomplishment, the culturally based prenatal preparation (p<.001). Transitional gratification to motherhood (p<.001), postpartum depression (p<.001), childcare stress (p<.001), infant temperament (p<.001), and social support (p<.001) were also significantly correlated with maternal identity. The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that maternal identity was significantly predicted by transitional gratification to motherhood, infant temperament, childcare stress, and Taekyo accomplishment. These variables explained 31.0% of the variance of maternal identity.

CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that postpartum nursing interventions to promote maternal identity should focus on reinforcing education and support for reducing childcare stress and infant difficulty, and increasing transitional gratification to motherhood. Also, prenatal encouragement and education for improving Taekyo accomplishment may be helpful to promote maternal identity after birth.


A series of short videos with tips on how to study, manage your time, take notes, and more! There is also a handy guide on what your University Library offers.


The concept of a perspective class of vehicles - quantomobiles realizing draught (thrust) of the quantum engine (QE) - demands consideration of energetics of vehicle motion. In the Simulink-model of near-ground quantomobile acceleration (MNGQA) developed by the author, there has been worked out a scheme of the two-parameter control by force of the thrust: according to the size of the thrust vector and to the vector slope angle. The subsystem MNGQA Energetics allows to investigate formation of performance and power inputs at quantomobile motion simulation. On the basis of the hypothetical quantomobile model (analogue of the lorry KamAZ-4326), there are realized numerical examples of the vehicle motion acceleration, which allows to estimate the role of the scheme of controlling thrust in formation of the acceleration efficiency and to reveal the features of calculation of power inputs on longitudinal motion of the vehicle with its vertical lifting. MNGQA is considered as a basis for development of quantomobile motion modeling in random conditions.


The reformation of public and judicial management has become an important challenge nowadays with the development of the Information and Communication Technologies and also with the rapid development of the geospatial and remote sensing technologies. This paper presents a decision support system that was developed based on Artificial Intelligence, Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing for implementing Sustainable decision-making strategies. Several indicators were defined in order to build a decision-making system that will help the authorities to apply the adequate public management strategies. Geographic Information Systems were used in order to process and visualize spatial data that are important in public decision making, such as environmental data, infrastructure data and crime data. Remote sensing was used regarding the manipulation of satellite images that would facilitate public decision making. Artificial intelligence was used to build neural network models important in the decision making. The developed system provides a more holistic view of the factors that affect public and judicial management and aims at improving the framework of public decision making and spatial planning and also at supporting the application of the most adequate public management policies. Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Decision Support System; Environmental information; Geographic information systems; Public management; Remote sensing; Sustainable development.


Accompanied by the frontloading efforts in product development, toler-ancing becomes more and more important in early design stages. Motivated by the lack of methods for early phases of the design process, three ap-proaches for considering tolerances in conceptual and preliminary design stages are presented in this paper. The first allows assessing the robustness of concepts with the help of a tolerance-specific FMEA. A subsequent method enables a tolerance specification and analysis based on a graphical visualiza-tion of the product structure. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis for skeleton models is presented. By using these methods the design and tolerancing pro-cess runs simultaneously. Hence, a robust design and reliable tolerances al-ready exist at the beginning of the detail design.


Increasingly decentralized communication networks, including power solutions, are driving the need for smarter products. For example, from fewer 10,000 amps central offices systems towards multiples of more radio base stations handling 3G networks and 48 V/13 W power-over-Ethernet. These products should take a minimum amount of time to install and configure, and should have co-operation functionality, should adapt to the environment, and provide self-diagnoses and employ troubleshooting techniques to fix problems automatically. More equipment (due to decentralization); more mixing of different technologies such as 2G-3G wireless, cable, DSL, Wi-Fi and WiMAX; tougher competition; and shorter economic life makes calculations like total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) even more important. Solutions for lowering TCO include simplified and automatic business processes - lean operations, use of technologies such as standardized element management and controller area networking, radio frequency identification (RFID), global positioning system (GPS), wireless sensors and mesh networks, and zero configuration networking - intelligent infrastructure. Various alternative technologies - e.g. Bluetooth vs. ZigBee, proprietary vs. standards (SNMP and XML) have their strengths and weaknesses and require evaluation. XML for instance, has great advantages but due to space inefficiencies this technology is not yet suitable for embedded applications (e.g. power controllers). Inefficiency issues are addressed by new proposals like SOAP message transmission optimization mechanism (MTOM) and XML-binary optimized packaging (XOP). Along with decentralization, more automatic functionality and with progressively more wireless technologies, there is also an increased need for, and focus on, security. Wireless networks are great due to ease of deployment and use, but also pose security challenges because they are easier to breach, including unnoticed entry. Accordingly, security in authentication, data integrity, data confidentiality, and access control needs to be addressed in designing power controllers and power components


The aim of this paper is to investigate a class of boundary value problems for fractional differential equations involving nonlinear integral conditions. The main tool used in our considerations is the technique associated with measures of weak noncompactness.


If the operating system could be specialized for every application, many applications would run faster. For example, Java virtual machines (JVMs) provide their own threading model and memory protection, so general-purpose operating system implementations of these abstractions are redundant. However, traditional means of transforming existing systems into specialized systems are difficult to adopt because they require replacing the entire operating system. This paper describes Libra, an execution environment specialized for IBM's J9 JVM. Libra does not replace the entire operating system. Instead, Libra and J9 form a single statically-linked image that runs in a hypervisor partition. Libra provides the services necessary to achieve good performance for the Java workloads of interest but relies on an instance of Linux in another hypervisor partition to provide a networking stack, a filesystem, and other services. The expense of remote calls is offset by the fact that Libra's services can be customized for a particular workload; for example, on the Nutch search engine, we show that two simple customizations improve application throughput by a factor of 2.7.


The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between marital satisfaction (as measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale; Spanier, 1976) and the independent variables of age, education level, and courtship length (parsed into preand post-engagement periods). Respondents (N = 60) were required to complete surveys online regarding their experiences in their marriages. Results indicate that there was not a statistically significant relationship between marital satisfaction, age, education level, and courtship length. However, there was a negative correlation between postengagement courtship and dyadic adjustment, indicating that, as length of engagement increases, marital adjustment decreases. Future research is needed to explore the nature of this relationship. Degree Type Thesis Degree Name Master of Science in Clinical Psychology (MSCP)


The incidence of primary varicella zoster virus infection (VZV) in young adults and pregnant women has risen in recent years and is accompanied by a greater risk of serious complications. VZV disease in the elderly usually presents as shingles, as a result of secondary reactivation of latent infection, and can be treated successfully with early antiviral therapy. We report a case of fatal primary infection in an elderly man. A 66 year old Bangladeshi man with fibrosing alveolitis and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus was admitted to hospital with increasing shortness of breath for one week. He was a smoker and had been well controlled on 25 mg of prednisolone daily for the previous two months. On admission he was febrile (38.5°C), tachypnoeic (50 breaths/minute), and hypotensive (blood pressure, 85/60 mm Hg), with severe mucosal candidiasis. An extensive maculopapular rash, present for three days, was noted and thought to be consistent with amoxicillin treatment, which had been started before admission. Coarse crepitations were heard throughout the chest, oxygen saturation was 80% on air, and blood gases showed type I respiratory failure (pH 7.3; partial CO2 pressure, 4.8 kPa; partial O2 pressure, 8.39 kPa; HCO3 19.4 mmol/litre). Haemoglobin was 180 g/litre, white blood cell count was 8.5 × 10/litre, serum creatinine was 180 mmol/litre, and blood glucose was 22.2 mmol/litre. Chest x ray showed right mid zone confluent consolidation (fig 1). Bronchopneumonia was diagnosed; intravenous cefuroxime, clarithromycin, and fluconazole were commenced. After consultation with the virologists the patient also received aciclovir (10 mg/kg) intravenously. He required intubation, ventilation, and inotropic support within 14 hours of admission. He remained persistently hypoxic despite 100% oxygen, positive end expiratory pressure, inverse ratio ventilation, and nebulised prostacyclin. Oxygenation improved dramatically with prone ventilation. Renal replacement treatment was started on day 3. On day 4 the rash was noted to be vesicular. Skin scrapings and respiratory secretions were then examined for herpes simplex virus (HSV) and VZV by immunofluorescence (Dako, Ely, UK) and were positive for VZV. Subsequent enquiry did not reveal a chickenpox contact. VZV serology (Dade Behring, Deerfield, Illinois, USA) was positive for VZV IgM and negative for VZV IgG antibodies and a diagnosis of chickenpox was made. He received a single dose of normal immunoglobulin (Sandoglobulin; Novartis, Camberley, Surrey, UK; 200 mg/kg) and the aciclovir was continued for 14 days. Respiratory function gradually deteriorated despite 16 hours of prone ventilation each day and he died 23 days after admission. VZV pneumonitis after primary infection is a severe disease with high mortality, especially in non-immune pregnant women, neonates, and the immunosuppressed. Smoking and previous treatment with steroids have been identified as independent risk factors. In the UK, primary disease in the elderly is a very unusual occurrence because there is almost universal seroconversion by early adulthood. In the tropics, seroconversion occurs at a later age, with seronegativity as high as 42% being found in rural Bangladeshi adults. It is interesting that although this patient had been resident in the UK for over 20 years he remained susceptible. Intensive therapy unit (ITU) management of respiratory failure with ventilatory support is essential in varicella pneumonitis. Retrospective analysis of patients treated with aciclovir has shown some benefit of treatment, 5 especially when instigated early, but there has been no large randomised trial to date. High doses (10 mg/kg) are essential to obtain serum titres that are inhibitory to VZV (0.08–1.2 mg/litre). The use of steroids in varicella pneumonia is controversial, with one small trial showing a reduction in ITU and hospital stay, but no eVect on overall mortality. Normal immunoglobulin (100– 300 mg/kg) has also been given, with variable results. Prophylaxis using varicella zoster immunoglobulin (VZIG) has been successful in preventing or attenuating disease in non-immune contacts of primary cases after exposure. A live attenuated vaccine (Oka strain) has been licensed in some countries, but is available on a named patient basis only in the UK. This is the fourth fatal case of adult varicella pneumonitis we have seen in six years, and the second in an elderly Bangladeshi man taking steroids for lung disease. Although a characteristic chickenpox rash can precede the onset of pneumonitis by three to five days, our experience in these patients is that it may not be present or may be atypical. Diagnosis is often delayed and initial treatment may sometimes be inappropriate. Varicella is a preventable disease and consideration should now be given to the identification and vaccination of seronegative individuals at risk of severe infection.


Chondrules have been observed in several breccia samples returned by the Apollo 14 mission. These lunar chondrules are believed to have formed during a large impact event, perhaps the one that formed the Imbrian Basin. This suggests that some meteoritic chondrules are also formed by impact processes such as crystallization after shock melting and abrasion and diffusion in base-surge and fall-back deposits generated by impacts on planetary surfaces.


Distance internship rises as global pandemic Covid-19 starts in the beginning of 2020. It forces the higher education institution to re-manage the rules of internship for second year students. As part of the regulation, the internship for Polban students was suggested to be done through distance methods. One of the NGOs that provide distance internships for English Department students is IQR Foundation. This study then investigates the enactment of students' copywriting skills and the challenges during distance internship. The data were collected by combining observation and study literature. The results show this distance internship enables students to apply copywriting skills through three enactments: composing script, creating English subtitles, and collaborating in news writing. Compared to the conventional one, distance internship leads to three main challenges: deciding concepts, using English as the language of communication, and handling the timeline. Distance internship, in many ways, has created many chances for students to grow up and to implement their knowledge in a new paradigm despite the pandemic as the boundary.


Working Memory (WM) processing is central for human cognitive behavior. Using neurofeedback training to enhance the individual WM capacity is a promising technique but requires careful consideration when choosing the feedback signal. Feedback in terms of univariate spectral power (specifically theta and alpha power) has yielded questionable behavioral effects. However, a promising new direction for WM neurofeedback training is by using a measure of WM that is extracted by multivariate pattern classification. This study recorded EEG oscillatory activity from 15 healthy participants while they were engaged in the n-back task, n∈[1,2]. Univariate measures of the theta, alpha, and theta-over-alpha power ratio and a measure of WM extracted from multivariate pattern classification (of n-back task load conditions) was compared in relation to individual n-back task performance. Results show that classification performance is positively correlated to individual 2-back task performance while theta, alpha and thetaover-alpha power ratio is not. These results suggest that the discriminability of multivariate EEG oscillatory patterns between two WM load conditions reflects individual WM capacity.


Summary
Direct, indirect and double antibody sandwich methods of ELISA were examined for their ability to detect and discriminate between granulosis viruses from Pieris brassicae, Agrotis segetum and Cydia pomonella and for their specificity in the presence of host material. The indirect method was the most sensitive, capable of detecting down to about 1 ng of dissolved capsules/ml compared with 10 ng/ml for the double antibody sandwich method and 25 ng/ml for the direct method. The double antibody sandwich method showed greatest discrimination between different granulosis viruses; the direct method was not quite so specific and the indirect method varied considerably depending upon the antibody concentration used although even with this latter method cross-reactions were restricted to baculo-viruses and did not occur with occluded insect viruses in other taxonomic groups. All three methods were highly specific in the presence of large amounts of host material and could be used to assay virus in diseased larvae, although at very high levels of contamination, equivalent to adding 100 healthy larvae to one diseased larva, only the double antibody sandwich method could still reliably detect virus though with reduced absorbance readings. Possible reasons why the ELISA shows much greater discrimination between different Baculovirus inclusion bodies than other serological techniques are discussed.


We present 1D numerical simulations aimed at studying the hot-flasher scenario for the formation of He-rich subdwarf stars. Sequences were calculated for a wide range of metallicities and physical assumptions, such as the stellar mass at the moment of the helium core flash. This allows us to study the two previously proposed flavors of the hot-flasher scenario ("deep" and "shallow" mixing cases) and to identify a third transition type. Our sequences are calculated by solving simultaneously the mixing and burning equations within a diffusive convection picture, and in the context of standard mixing length theory. We are able to follow chemical evolution during deep-mixing events in which hydrogen is burned violently, and therefore able to present a homogeneous set of abundances for different metallicities and varieties of hot-flashers. We extend the scope of our work by analyzing the effects of non-standard assumptions, such as the effect of chemical gradients, extra-mixing at convective boundaries, possible reduction in convective velocities, or the interplay between difussion and mass loss. Particular emphasis is placed on the predicted surface properties of the models.
We find that the hot-flasher scenario is a viable explanation for the formation and surface properties of He-sdO stars. Our results also show that, during the early He-core burning stage, element diffusion may produce the transformation of (post hot-flasher) He-rich atmospheres into He-deficient ones. If this is so, then we find that He-sdO stars should be the progenitors of some of the hottest sdB stars.


: This case report discusses one of the unusual complications of nasoendotracheal intubation, amputation of the inferior turbinate with its subsequent impaction of the nasoendotracheal tube. A healthy 19-year-old male underwent surgery for an open reduction and internal fixation of a fractured mandible. Several minutes after nasoendotracheal intubation, airway pressures increased, end-tidal carbon dioxide levels increased, and the patient became difficult to ventilate. The patient was extubated and then reintubated with a smaller-diameter nasoendotracheal tube through the same naris without further sequelae. After examination the tube was found to be occluded with an inferior turbinate. The increased airway pressure and elevated carbon dioxide levels were early signs of partial airway obstruction. Capnography was an important early warning device to provide information prior to changes in other vital signs. It allowed rapid detection of a potentially disastrous obstruction of the airway before the patient experienced severe cardiopulmonary complications. These facts should assist the anesthetist in focusing attention on the possible obstruction of the airway with a foreign body after nasoendotracheal intubation.


Jung's concept of the shadow is explored in this paper through his writings on its realization and assimilation in which he says the shadow may be experienced as the regressed and denied 'other self' in each individual. However, this is not the whole picture, and he also points to the fact that the shadow contains more than something merely negative. While in no way treating them as 'patients', the paper will also touch on the experience of the anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski, and the writer, Joseph Conrad, in their personal encounters with the shadow. All three encountered the shadow whilst going through rites of passage of their own and each owes much to the Romantic Movement. In this context, attention is directed to the writings of the philosopher and theologian, Johann Gottfried von Herder, who discovered a deeper understanding of his destiny in the course of a sea voyage.


In order to study the influence of expansive agent on the performance of CFST column with the creep due to dead load of the practical construction, in this paper, based on the simulation phase of construction, a series of experiments were conducted to study effect of the expansive agent dosage on the ultimate bearing capacity of CFST columns and the creep deformation in the longitudinal direction. Also the experiments were completed to comparative study on the problem of the recycled aggregate concrete -filled steel tube (RACFST) column. It is found that the ultimate bearing capacity of the CFST column is increased a lot when using the expansive agent, while for the RACFST column it has just a little increase. In contrast, for the RACFST column, there is a greatly increase on the creep deformation in the longitudinal direction, and the more expansive agent dosage the larger deformation, but it is not so obvious effect for general CFST column.


Objective: To investigate whether the magnitude of presynaptic dopamine depletion is a risk factor for the development of levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in Parkinson disease (PD) by quantitatively analyzing 18F-FP-CIT PET data. Methods: This retrospective cohort study enrolled a total of 127 drug-naive de novo patients with PD who completed 18F-FP-CIT PET scanning at their initial evaluation. The patients visited our outpatient clinic every 3–6 months and had been followed for a minimum of 2 years since beginning dopaminergic medication. The predictive power of the quantitatively analyzed 18F-FP-CIT uptake of striatal subregions and other clinical factors for the development of LID was evaluated using Cox proportional hazard models. Results: During a mean follow-up period of 3.4 years, 35 patients with PD (27.6%) developed LID. Patients with LID showed less dopamine transporter (DAT) activity in the putamen than did those without LID. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models revealed that the DAT uptakes of the anterior putamen (hazard ratio [HR] 0.530; p = 0.032), posterior putamen (HR 0.302; p = 0.024), and whole putamen (HR 0.386; p = 0.022) were significant predictors of the development of LID, whereas DAT activities in the caudate and ventral striatum were not significantly correlated with the development of LID. In addition, younger age at onset of PD and higher dose of levodopa were also significant predictors of the development of LID. Conclusions: The present results provide convincing evidence that presynaptic dopaminergic denervation in PD plays a crucial role in the development of LID.


The Activity Report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania for 2017 declares that Lithuania's foreign policy is effective and claims that public opinion is the most important criteria for measuring its effectiveness. The article analyses Lithuania's foreign public policy cycle, with the focus on its formation and evaluation peculiarities. It argues that the cycle of Lithuanian foreign public policy is stagnating since its evaluation stage lacks efficiency and misses critical evaluations. The lack of strategic documents does not allow defining core foreign policy goals and in this matter to evaluate their achievement. The ambiguous goals in lower level documents prevent critical evaluation because of political interests. Lithuanian foreign policy is the outcome of close cooperation between President's Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs which limits criticism between institutions. The Seimas provides greater criticism only when initiative is showed by the opposition. Foreign policy remains the sphere of responsibility of the political elite which has broad consensus and has differences in their views on a tactical level. Media and experts, for the most part, avoid critical evaluations of foreign policy as they want to remain in the dominating discourse and keep close contacts with state institutions. The current evaluation environment and tools are not sufficient to make changes at the agenda-setting stage of foreign policy. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.18.1.23125


The Islamic banking industry in Indonesia had experienced rapid growth since the government passed the Islamic banking law in 2008. Although growing fast but the market share of Islamic banking was still low. To increase the market share of Islamic banking, it was necessary to encourage Islamic banking performance. One of the performances of Islamic banking investigated in this study was profitability. We examined the profitability of Islamic banking using both internal and external factors. The method used to estimate the profitability of Islamic banking was the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) method with monthly data. The estimation results showed that both internal and external factors affect the profit of Islamic banking. Asset, FDR, efficiency, and NPL affect profitability. An important variable affecting profitability were the bad financing (NPF). While the external factor influencing the profit of Islamic banking was the exchange rate and inflation. The implication of this result was that Islamic banking must be able to manage well the bad financing. Since NPF also depends on macroeconomic conditions, the government must be able to manage macroeconomic performance well such as stabilizing the exchange rate.


Electrodeionization(EDI) is an electro-membrane process with high efficiency for deep desalinating, where water dissociation mechanism occurring on the surface of ion exchange membranes and resins typically exsits and acts. But when used to treat heavy metal-containing solutions such as effluents from the electronic industry, the EDI will suffer from metal-hydroxides precipitation which would destroy the separation process irreversible. With the primary aim to solve that problem, an electrodeionization process coupled with bipolar membrane (BMEDI) was developed together with a preacidification method. The effects of separating and concentrating heavy metal ions by the BMEDI were studied with NiSO4 solution containing 24 mg×L-1 Ni2+ ions. The results suggested that, the nickel-concentration in the dilute products were both below the analysis limit at constant current densities of 40 mA·cm-2 and 10 mA·cm-2, while a concentration factor of 31 was achieved at 40 mA·cm-2. In addition, no Ni(OH)2 precipitation was found in all the compartments throughout the experiments, which provide a guarantee of good stability for long-time operation.


Halo currents generated during unmitigated tokamak disruptions are known to develop rotating asymmetric features that are of great concern to ITER because they can dynamically amplify the mechanical stresses on the machine. This paper presents a multi-machine analysis of these phenomena. More specifically, data from C-Mod, NSTX, ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D, and JET are used to develop empirical scalings of three key quantities: (1) the machine-specific minimum current quench time, τCQ; (2) the halo current rotation duration, trot; and (3) the average halo current rotation frequency, 〈fh〉. These data reveal that the normalized rotation duration, trot/τCQ, and the average rotation velocity, 〈vh〉, are surprisingly consistent from machine to machine. Furthermore, comparisons between carbon and metal wall machines show that metal walls have minimal impact on the behavior of rotating halo currents. Finally, upon projecting to ITER, the empirical scalings indicate that substantial halo current rotation above 〈fh〉=20 Hz is to be expected. More importantly, depending on the projected value of τCQ in ITER, substantial rotation could also occur in the resonant frequency range of 6–20 Hz. As such, the possibility of damaging halo current rotation during unmitigated disruptions in ITER cannot be ruled out.


Three main cell types were found in the coelomic fluid (CF) of intact starfishes: agranulocytes (55-80%) varying in size and form (spherical and ovoid) and with occasional pseudopodia, granulocytes (15-45%), and small cells (up to 2 %) with a high nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio. The starfish response to injury depends on the degree of coelomic fluid loss. After a slight wounding, when only insignificant portion of CF is lost, the cellular composition of circulating fluid changed only slightly. Unlike, a significant injury resulted in rising the share of small cells, regarded presumably as young cells. Besides, after injury the functional characteristics of SF also changed: the proportion of cells with decondensed chromatin and stained nucleoli increased, and coelomocytes acquired ability to form nets at adhesion. Moreover, some new cell types can be found (fusiform cells), with granulocyte proportion in nets increasing. We suppose that after slight wounding circulating coelomocytes may restore from the existing store of differentiated cells beyond the circulation, whereas after significant injury young undifferentiated coelomocytes are involved in the process of restoration.


Abstract This study examined the generalizability of systematic direct observation across setting and time. Participants included 14 students from an intact inclusionary fifth grade classroom. On-task/off-task behavior was directly observed using momentary time-sampling recording, twice a day, for 10 school days. Using Generalizability (G) theory, results suggested that of the total amount of variance present, individual variation among participants accounted for 62% of the observed variance and unexplained error 24%. Although adequate levels of interobserver agreement were attained, resulting reliability coefficients of the observational procedures were in the low.60s. Results are discussed in terms of both behavioral and classic measurement theory and implications for practice.


In vision detection system of mobile phone keyboard, images coming from product line are often slant. Those images have to be corrected in order to facilitate match and recognition in further image processing. This paper proposes an effective slant correction method based on the characteristics of mobile phone keyboard image. In this method, straight line edge detection is done only by horizontal Sobel operator. The angle parameter of straight line is tested by multiresolution Hough transform. Then the angle relation is deduced between the tested line and slant mobile phone keyboard image. The slant image is corrected by rotation algorithm which combines the fast rotation algorithm with bilinear interpolation algorithm. The results of experiment indicates that the method and its algorithm are effective and accurate.


Mastitis caused by the colourless alga Prototheca zopfii was diagnosed in 17 of 120 cows in a dairy herd. Infection occurred in animals varying from 3-14 years old and was present in one to four quarters of each cow. Nine cases were associated with clinical mastitis characterised by the presence in milk of flakes or small clots. Somatic cell counts consistent with subclinical mastitis (>500 x 10(3) cells/ml) were recorded in five of the eight remaining cows. Histological examination of udder tissue showed the presence of granulomatous lesions associated with the presence of Prototheca. The problem was identified and controlled by repeated microbiological examination of milk samples from all lactating cows and immediate culling of infected animals. P. zopfii was also recovered from environmental water samples on this farm. It is suggested that infection may have occurred as a result of teat sores caused by trauma from a milking machine, and the tendency for cows to lay down on a race, the surface of which was sometimes flooded by drain water in which Prototheca were present.


The FrameNet lexical database yields information about collocations and multiword expressions in various ways. In some cases phrasal units have been entered from the start as lexical entries (write down). In other cases headword+preposition pairs can be recognized as special collocations where the preposition in question is a necessary and lexically specified marker of an argument of the headword tfond of, hostile to). Nominal compounds are annotated with respect to noun or (pertinative) adjective modifiers, some of which are analyzable but also entrenched (wheel chair, fiscal year). Nouns that name aggregates, portions, types, etc., sometimes hold lexically specified relations to their dependents (flock of geese). And event nouns frequently select the support verbs which permit them to enter into predications (file an objection, enter a plea). A subproject aims at extracting, as structured clusters of lexical items, the minimal semantically central kernel dependency graphs from the set of annotations. Such research will yield not only commonplace groupings (eat: dog, bone) but will also yield hitherto unnoticed collocations within such graphs (answer: you, door) where certain dependency links within them are idiomatic or otherwise lexically special, here answer > door. Collocational information can also be retrieved by various types of queries within our MySQL search tool.


: In summary I would encourage the continued development of a variety of model systems with maximum characterization and with careful definition of questions to be asked. At the same time it is imperative that the biology of the prostate, and of BPH and prostatic carcinoma in particular, be kept clearly in mind so that appropriate questions can be asked and valid conclusions drawn.


A case of a secondary carcinoma of the umbilicus is presented, for which no cause could be found. At laparotomy a stenosing adenocarcinoma of the ileum was resected. This is believed to be one of the first recorded cases of Sister Joseph's nodule being associated with carcinoma of the small bowell.


In the production of syngas from biomass gasification the resulting raw gas needs to be low in both tar and particulates but also optimized in its composition. Different bed materials have been studied in the purpose of catalytically reducing tars. The set-up has been in lab-scale and naphtalene has been used as a model substance. One problem that can occur when using porous and active bed materials is abrasion of the solids which causes formation of fine particles that can not be recirculated in the process cyclone. Other limiting factors are poor catalytic effectiveness and high costs for the new materials. The objective of this study is to investigate potentially cost-efficient, mechanically stable and catalytically active bed-materials.


Deep learning models have been at the forefront of facial recognition because they deliver improved classification accuracy over traditional ones. Regardless, deep learning models require an extensive dataset for training. To significantly cut down on its training time and dataset volume, pretrained models, have been used although, they are still required to undergo the usual training process for custom facial recognition tasks. This research focuses on an improved facial recognition system that lacks the training and retraining requirements. The system uses an existing deep learning feature extraction model. First, a user stands before a camera-enabled system. After that, the user supplies a unique identification number to fetch a corresponding face image from the database. This process generates two face feature vectors. One from the camera and that retrieved from the database. The cosine distance function determines the similarity value of these vectors. When the cosine distance value falls below a set threshold, the face is recognized and access granted. If the cosine distance of the two vectors gives a value above this threshold, access is denied. The proposed model performs satisfactorily on publicly available datasets.


Originally published in Theâtre International (1, 1981. 19-22) by the English actor, director and scholar Clive Barker (Rose Bruford College, UK). In the article, Barker welcomes the new proposal of theatre anthropology launched by Barba and offers historical and theoretical keys of reflection inspired by the work conducted at ISTA. Barker also addresses the possibility of coexistence between practical research and its theoretical output.


Donggo is an ethnic community living in Mbawa Village, District Donggo, Bima, West Nusa Tenggara. This Ethnic consists of various monotheism religions, such as Islam, Catholic, and Protestant. Despite having a plural society background from various religions, Donggo's community in Mbawa village have capability in maintaining the harmony among their community. This study aims to analyze how the community in Mbawa village with various religions can avoid religious-based conflict. In addition, it analyzes what strategies are used to achieve the harmony among the community of Mbawa village. Observation was used as the main method of this study. The results of this study shows that in maintaining harmony among religious people in their community, people of Mbawa village apply their local knowledge as a cultural strategy to avoid religious conflict. In summary, local wisdom in Mbawa Village can bridge the community members of different religious


Abstract The results of studying efficiency of water detritiation by "hydrogen – water" chemical isotope exchange in laboratory-scale facility with membrane contact devices including perfluorosulfonic cationite Nafion-type membranes and platinum hydrophobic catalyst RCTU-3SM are presented. It has been shown that a decrease of detritiation efficiency caused by poisoning membranes with metal ions coming from equipment materials due to their corrosion after long-time operating the facility can be observed. It has been shown as well that modification of a membrane by metal ions followed by its regeneration allows not only to restore but also to increase significantly the efficiency of mass-transfer in membrane contact devices. For example, replacing membranes in contact devices of the laboratory-scale facility resulted in increasing the column separation degree by a factor of more than 7 in comparison to initial value obtained at similar conditions.


Indication of Ventricular assistance is advanced cardiac failure with maximal medical and surgical treatment has been used. The ventricular assistance has two main purposes: first, to maintain circulation by discharging the ventricle (s) untill to recovery, or to ensure patient survival by replacing cardiac function permanently or transitionally for patients waiting for heart Transplantation. The encouraging results of the partial or total artificial heart and the miniaturization of these devices allow their use in permanent implantation for patients with heart failure that is not eligible for heart transplantation. In left mono-ventricular assistance, blood is taken from the apex of the left ventricle (LV) and reinjected in the ascending aorta. The classic surgical approach is a total median sternotomy. Other minimally invasive approaches for the implantation or explanation of left ventricular assist devices have been published and have shown encouraging results. These alternatives currently play an important role in certain indications and in patients with heavy medical history. Nevertheless, the complications of the ventricular assistance even by minimally invasive approaches might be serious and represent a turning point in the life of the patients. In this chapter, we describe the implantation technique of left ventricular assistance device (LVAD) and we discuss its advantages and disadvantages including possible complications.


Background Of the putative psychopathological endophenotypes in major depressive disorder (MDD), the anhedonic subtype is particularly well supported. Anhedonia is generally assumed to reflect aberrant motivation and reward responsivity. However, research has been limited by a lack of objective measures of reward motivation. We present the Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT or "effort"), a novel behavioral paradigm as a means of exploring effort-based decision-making in humans. Using the EEfRT, we test the hypothesis that effort-based decision-making is related to trait anhedonia. Methods/Results 61 undergraduate students participated in the experiment. Subjects completed self-report measures of mood and trait anhedonia, and completed the EEfRT. Across multiple analyses, we found a significant inverse relationship between anhedonia and willingness to expend effort for rewards. Conclusions These findings suggest that anhedonia is specifically associated with decreased motivation for rewards, and provide initial validation for the EEfRT as a laboratory-based behavioral measure of reward motivation and effort-based decision-making in humans.


In this study,we showthat the traditionally defined Bouguer gravity anomaly needs a correction to become 'the no-topography gravity anomaly' and that the isostatic gravity anomaly is better defined by the latter anomaly plus a gravity anomaly compensation effect than by the Bouguer gravity anomaly plus a gravitational compensation effect. This is because only the newisostatic gravity anomaly completely removes and compensates for the topographic effect. F. A. Vening Meinesz' inverse problem in isostasy deals with solving for the Moho depth from the known external gravity field and mean Moho depth (known, e.g. from seismic reflection data) by a regional isostatic compensation using a flat Earth approximation. H. Moritz generalized the problem to that of a global compensation with a spherical mean Earth approximation. The problem can be formulated mathematically as that of solving a non-linear Fredholm integral equation. The solutions to these problems are based on the condition of isostatic balance of the isostatic gravity anomaly, and, theoretically, this assumption cannot be met by the old definition of the isostatic gravity anomaly. We show how the Moho geometry can be solved for the gravity anomaly, gravity disturbance and disturbing potential, etc., and, from a theoretical point of view, all these solutions are the same.


There is general agreement that most people should have some programming ability, whether
to investigate the vast amount of data around them or for professional purposes. Visual
Programming Languages comprise two broad categories: Flow-based, functional programming
or Block-based, imperative programming. However, there has been a lack of empirical studies
in the visual programming domain to evaluate the relative benefits of the two categories. This
research provides an empirical study to analyze the effects of the comparison between Flowbased
and Block-based paradigm, to determine which of the two representations is easier for
non-programmers or novice programmers. Each user is given a random, simple problem to
program in a random environment. Both of the environments, Flow-based and Block-based
are designed to be as similar as possible to make the comparison useful. The results indicate
that Flow and Block are equivalent environments for non-programmers or novice programmers
in terms of usability and effectiveness.


The hygroscopicity and thermodynamic properties of Pinus sylvestris L. wood from a coffin allegedly holding the remains of famous Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616) were studied using the 15 °C and 35 °C isotherms fitted to the Guggenheim–Anderson–de Boer model and comparing them with the isotherms of recently felled wood of the same species. In addition, using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) and X-ray diffractograms, the functional groups were determined and the crystallinity and organization of the cell wall components were analyzed. The absence of the 1740 cm−1 group indicates hemicellulose degradation in the archaeological wood, and the X-ray diffractograms show a considerable decrease in cellulose crystallinity and disorganization of the cellulose crystallites. The greater availability of active –OH groups means that the archaeological wood isotherms are above the juvenile and mature wood isotherms, and therefore the thermodynamic balance in the sorption of the archaeological wood is greater.


A new linear motor based on the Sawyer principle is firstly introduced. Some important features of the linear actuator are discussed for better understanding of its performances and functions with absolute positioning. We investigated the static characteristics of the linear motor such as the relationship between the current and the maximum thrust force (I-F curve), the relationship between the displacement and the thrust force (D-F curve), and the positioning accuracy. The measuring methods for these characteristics are explained in detail. We analyzed the experimental data and evaluated the characteristics. We obtained that the suitable working current is 1A and the maximum thrust force is 15N for the linear motor. The positioning accuracy is ±12µm.


We focus on decentralized navigation among multiple non-communicating rational agents at \emph{uncontrolled} intersections, i.e., street intersections without traffic signs or signals. Avoiding collisions in such domains relies on the ability of agents to predict each others' intentions reliably, and react quickly. Multiagent trajectory prediction is NP-hard whereas the sample complexity of existing data-driven approaches limits their applicability. Our key insight is that the geometric structure of the intersection and the incentive of agents to move efficiently and avoid collisions (rationality) reduces the space of likely behaviors, effectively relaxing the problem of trajectory prediction. In this paper, we collapse the space of multiagent trajectories at an intersection into a set of modes representing different classes of multiagent behavior, formalized using a notion of topological invariance. Based on this formalism, we design Multiple Topologies Prediction (MTP), a data-driven trajectory-prediction mechanism that reconstructs trajectory representations of high-likelihood modes in multiagent intersection scenes. We show that MTP outperforms a state-of-the-art multimodal trajectory prediction baseline (MFP) in terms of prediction accuracy by 78.24% on a challenging simulated dataset. Finally, we show that MTP enables our optimization-based planner, MTPnav, to achieve collision-free and time-efficient navigation across a variety of challenging intersection scenarios on the CARLA simulator.


Pulses of x-rays 300 femtoseconds in duration at a wavelength of 0.4 angstroms (30,000 electron volts) have been generated by 90° Thomson scattering between infrared terawatt laser pulses and highly relativistic electrons from an accelerator. In the right-angle scattering geometry, the duration of the x-ray burst is determined by the transit time of the laser pulse across the ∼ 90-micrometer waist of the focused electron beam. The x-rays are highly directed (∼ 0.6° divergence) and can be tuned in energy. This source of femtosecond x-rays will make it possible to combine x-ray techniques with ultrafast time resolution to investigate structural dynamics in condensed matter.


A novel calibration method for non-overlapping cameras is proposed in this paper. A LCD screen is used as a phase target to display two groups of orthogonal phase-shifted sinusoidal patterns during the calibration process. Through a mirror reflection, the phase target is captured by the cameras respectively. The relations between each camera and the phase target can be obtained according the proposed algorithm. Then the relation between the cameras can be calculated by treating the phase target as an intermediate value. The proposed method is more flexible than conventional mirror-based approach, because it do not require the common identification points and is robust to out-of-focus images. Both simulation work and experimental results show the proposed calibration method has a good result in calibrating a non-overlapping cameras system.


CISSP Practice Questions Exam Cram, Fourth Edition CISSP Practice Questions Exam Cram, Fourth Edition complements any CISSP study plan with 1,038 practice test questions in the book and on the companion siteall supported by complete explanations of every answer. This packages highly realistic questions cover every area of knowledge for the new CISSP exam. Covers the critical information youll need to know to help you pass the CISSP exam! Features 1,038 questions, organized to reflect the current CISSP exam objectives so you can easily assess your knowledge of every topic. Each question includes a detailed answer explanation. Provides complete coverage of the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK). Use our innovative Quick Check Answer Key to quickly find answers as you work your way through the questions. Companion Website Your purchase includes access to 1,038 unique practice exam questions in multiple test modes and 75 electronic flash cards. Make sure youre 100% ready for the real exam! Detailed explanations of correct and incorrect answers Random questions and order of answers Coverage of each current CISSP exam objective Pearson IT Certification Practice Test minimum system requirements: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, or Vista (SP2), Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 Client; Pentium-class 1 GHz processor (or equivalent); 512 MB RAM; 650 MB disk space plus 50 MB for each downloaded practice exam; access to the Internet to register and download exam databases


Summary. Glycerol‐impregnated chromic catgut and untreated chromic catgut were compared in a randomized controlled trial involving 737 consecutive women who required repair of perineal trauma following spontaneous vaginal delivery. Medical staff preference was equally divided between the two materials. More untreated chromic catgut sutures required removal both by 10 days and by 3 months postpartum. Women whose perineal trauma was repaired with glycerol‐impregnated chromic catgut were 10% more likely to have perineal pain at 10 days and 33% more likely to suffer from dyspareunia in the 3 months following delivery. The high rates of maternal morbidity associated with glycerol‐impregnated chromic catgut appear to preclude its use for perineal repair.


The USDA estimated that 30% of the US corn planted in 1999 was of the Bt variety (USDA, 2000), which leads to a high probability that transgenic Bt corn is finding its way into swine diets. Limited research has been conducted as to the effects of using Bt corn and other transgenic-derived feed ingredients on livestock growth performance and carcass quality. Research in poultry has shown that feeding diets containing transgenic Bt corn had no deleterious effects on performance or carcass yield of broilers (Brake and Vlachos, 1998). This is the first trial in which Bt corn has been evaluated as an ingredient in grower-finisher swine diets.


The paper focuses on the computer-aided modeling of keratoscopes. A computer-aided model of a conic keratoscope designed by the authors is under discussion. The model was elaborated on the basis of object-oriented programming and is a soft-tool modeling the keratoscope operation. Besides, the offered model provides for constructing a realistic image of the measuring equipment type, which, in its turn, enables the designer to analyze visually the influence of various misalignments in the optic system elements produced on the quality of registered keratograms and to assess quantitatively the lateral and axial tolerances of the equipment targeting.


ABSTRACT Rumikiru, n. gen., a new bothriurid scorpion genus from the coastal Atacama Desert, Chile, is described. This is the first scorpion genus endemic to northern Chile. It is most closely related to Pachakutej Ochoa, 2004, from the inter-Andean valleys of Peru. Orobothriurus lourencoi Ojanguren-Affilastro, 2003, is transferred to the new genus and redescribed, creating Rumikiru lourencoi (Ojanguren-Affilastro, 2003), n. comb., and a second species of the genus, Rumikiru atacama, n. sp., is described.


We consider the exploration-exploitation dilemma in finite-horizon reinforcement learning problems whose state-action space is endowed with a metric. We introduce Kernel-UCBVI, a model-based optimistic algorithm that leverages the smoothness of the MDP and a non-parametric kernel estimator of the rewards and transitions to efficiently balance exploration and exploitation. Unlike existing approaches with regret guarantees, it does not use any kind of partitioning of the state-action space. For problems with K episodes and horizon H, we provide a regret bound of O H 3 K max(1 2 , 2d 2d+1) , where d is the covering dimension of the joint state-action space. We empirically validate Kernel-UCBVI on discrete and continuous MDPs.


Background: Cleaners constitute a job group with poor health and low socioeconomic resources. Therefore, there is a great need for scientifically documented health promoting initiatives for cleaners. However, both workplace initiatives and high quality intervention studies are lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 3month workplace trial with interventions to improve physical or cognitive behavioural resources among cleaners. Methods: A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted among 294 female cleaners from 9 workplaces. The participants were allocated to three groups: Physical coordination training (PCT, n = 95), Cognitive behavioural theory-based training (CBTr, n = 99) and Reference group (REF, n = 100). Interventions were conducted during work hours for an average of 1 hour/week. Muscle strength was measured by maximal voluntary contractions in trunk/extension, and shoulder abduction/elevation. Postural balance was measured on a force platform. Kinesiophobia was measured with Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia. Test and questionnaires were completed at baseline and at 3-month follow-up and analyses followed the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle with last observation carried forward in case of missing data at follow-up. Reports and analyses are given on true observations as well. Results: ITT-analyses revealed that PCT improved strength of the trunk (p < .05) and postural balance (p < .05) compared to CBTr and REF. Based on true observations the strength and balance improvements corresponded to ~20% and ~16%, respectively. ITT-analyses showed that CBTr reduced kinesiophobia compared to PCT and REF (p < .05). Based on true observations, the improvement corresponded to a ~16% improvement. Conclusion: This workplace-based intervention study including PCT and CBTr among cleaners improved strength and postural balance from PCT, and kinesiophobia from CBTr. The improved strength, postural balance and kinesiophobia may improve the cleaners' tolerance for high physical work demands. Future studies should investigate the potential in the combination of PCT and CBTr in a workplace intervention. Trial registration: Current controlled trials ISRCTN96241850


Real-time degradation studies of bioresorbable polymers can take weeks, months, and even years to conduct. For this reason, developing and validating mathematical models that describe and predict degradation can provide a means to accelerate the development of materials and devices for controlled drug release. This study aims to develop and experimentally validate a computer-aided model that simulates the hydrolytic degradation kinetics of bioresorbable polymeric micropatterned membranes for tissue engineering applications. Specifically, the model applies to circumstances that are conducive for the polymer to undergo surface erosion. The developed model provides a simulation tool enabling the prediction and visualization of the dynamic geometry of the degrading membrane. In order to validate the model, micropatterned polymeric membranes were hydrolytically degraded in vitro and the morphological changes were analyzed using optical microscopy. The model is then extended to predict spatiotemporal degradation kinetics of variational micropatterned architectures.


For most developing countries positive growth rates should be maintained in order to make sure that
all the development plans could be implemented successfully. Malaysia is able to sustain the
economic growth due to the well planning system of the country. The development planning of the
country started with the First Outline Perspective Plan (OPP 1) until the Third Outline Perspective
Plan (OPP 3) which encompass the main national development policies such as the New Economic
Policy (DEB), National Development Policy (DPN) and National Vision Policy (DWN). To date all
the policies as itemized in the five year development plans have succeeded in maintaining the growth
rates of the country. After the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the education structure has changed
whereby the education planning is associated with strengthening the national education system and
building social, economic and political unity. Before 1970 majority of the bumiputras were weak in their educational level, leaving only very few to be able to enter the more professional jobs. Education
and human resource development is the key to increasing the country's competitiveness. This paper
analyzed the importance of education in the development planning of the education sector and
empirical study was also done to show its contribution towards Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It
was found that in each of the Malaysia Plan starting from the First Malaysia Plan up to the current
Malaysia Plan, the aspect of education and human resource development has always been
emphasized. The human resource development policy especially the education and training sectors
have grown in great importance with the shift in the Malaysian economy from capital intensive to
labor intensive and to the more technology intensive economy. A high proportion of the government
expenditure is allocated to the education sector and this has contributed some positive effects in
reducing poverty and the restructuring of the Malaysian societies to upheld the DEB, DPN and DWN


It is hard to test autonomous robot (AR) software because of the range and diversity of external situations (terrain, obstacles, humans, peer robots) that AR must deal with. Common measures of testing adequacy may not address this diversity. Explicit situation coverage has been proposed as a solution, but there has been little empirical study of its effectiveness. In this paper, we describe an implementation of situation coverage for testing a simple simulated autonomous road vehicle, and evaluate its ability to find seeded faults compared to a random test generation approach. In our experiments, the performance of the two methods is similar, with situation coverage having a very slight advantage. We conclude that situation coverage probably does not have a significant benefit over random generation for the type of simple, research-grade AR software used here. It will likely be valuable when applied to more complex and mature software.


This research project was motivated by the question of how a Slow perspective may relate to and impact upon theories of information behaviour and upon everyday information practices. Two related qualitative studies were undertaken to explore the relevance of Slow principles to the notion of the information society. The task-based, fixed end-points of existing theories of information behaviour and information literacy are shown to inadequately reflect the complexity of life in a social landscape characterised by the acceleration, and subsequent proliferation, of information channels.

The project progressed through three distinct but related phases which are reported here. First, the conceptual foundations of a Slow perspective were hypothesised during reviews of the literature and existing conceptions of the information society. A Delphi study was then executed to facilitate discussion of the issues between experts in information behaviour. Thirdly, a focus group session was held to engage Slow experts in similar discussion of the issues from a practice perspective. Each phase was guided by a social constructivist methodology which encouraged participants and moderator to engage in conscious consideration of their perspective by connecting and discussing with others, echoing the Slow principles that the project sought to explore.

A Slow perspective is shown to challenge received notions of information behaviour in three ways. The first two relate to fixed causal processes wherein the temporal progression of information behaviour and, relatedly, information literacy, is disrupted by a focus on tempo. The third challenge disrupts what 'information' is when society itself is perceived as information-based, shifting from an instrumental to an experiential view.

Elements of a Slow approach were reported in practice as a means of attaining 'informational balance', which in turn can be seen to encourage everyday information literacy. Specifically Slow attitudes were reported in some withdrawal and avoidance behaviours, and were also rejected when the pressure of informational speed and scale proved too beneficial, or indeed, too addictive.

The project concludes with an illustration of the implications of a Slow perspective of information behaviour, and recommendations for further research with this illustration in mind.


Field observations of pseudotachylites, and experimental studies of high-speed friction indicate that melting on a slipping interface may sig- nificantly affect the magnitude of shear stresses resisting slip. We investigate the effects of rock melting on the dynamic friction using theoretical models of shear heating that couple heat transfer, thermodynamics of phase transitions, and fluid mechanics. Results of laboratory experiments conducted at high (order of m/s) slip velocities but low (order of MPa) normal stresses suggest that the onset of frictional melting may give rise to substantial increases in the effective fault strength, presumably due to viscous effects. However, extrapolation of the modeling results to in situ conditions suggests that the efficiency of viscous braking is significantly reduced under high normal and shear stresses. When transient increases in the dynamic fault strength due to fusion are not sufficient to inhibit slip, decreases in the effective melt viscosity due to shear heating and melting of clasts drastically decrease the dynamic friction, resulting in a nearly complete stress drop ("thermal runaway"). The amount of energy dissipation associated with the formation of pseudo- tachylites is governed by the temperature dependence of melt viscosity, and the average clast size in the fault gouge prior to melting. Clasts from a coarse- grained gouge have lower chances of survival in a pseudotachylite due to a higher likelihood of non-equilibrium overheating. The maximum temperature and energy dissipation attainable on the fault surface are ultimately limited by either the rock solidus (via viscous braking, and slip arrest), or liquidus (via thermal runaway, and vanishing resistance to sliding). Our modeling results indicate that the thermally-activated fault strengthening and rupture arrest are unlikely to occur in most mafic protoliths, but might be relevant for quartz-rich rocks, especially at shallow (< 5-7 km) depths where the driving shear stress is relatively low.


In days of growing competitiveness, notions of efficiency, productivity and innovation are central inquiries of organizations. In order to meet those challenges, a special attention has to be made to the way the organization is leading its workforce. Leadership is the key component holding together organizations and connecting it to its goal. However, this Leadership should take into account all the internal and external demands of the organizations in order to adapt to it. By looking into a way to match Leadership to its demands, we have developed our model of Distributed Leadership. Detaching the lead from a singular individual and empowering people are solving the main issues that organizations are facing these days. Moreover, it is a unique way of valuing the workforce and capturing its potential. Distributed leadership can be seen as a probable trend in the next decade, because it has already proven its benefits in many organizations.In this thesis, we develop our own model of Distributed Leadership that emerged from our research. We collected secondary data through an extended literature review, and we combined it with empirical data collected through case studies realized by the mean of interviews. We focused on illustrating the potential of Distributed Leadership and developing its process of implementation in order for organizations to meet its benefits.


In recent years there has been a proliferation of international meetings and publications with themes such as 'Frontier Areas for Exploration', 'Future Petroleum Provinces' and 'Future Potential for Exploration in Frontier Basins' in the hope that new exploitable hydrocarbon reserves will be discovered. Many of these geologically interesting areas, usually with limited hydrocarbon potential, have been promoted and often over emphasized in efforts to obtain investment monies into the regions. With the 1986 oil-price crash, there has been and will continue to be only limited funds available to explore in these frontier areas: deep water, jungles, mountain terrain, ice-covered lands and remote continental interiors. The oil industry's present and likely future existence will continue to be focussed in the classic petroleum provinces of the world. Which company would choose not to explore in the mature petroleum provinces (Middle East, North and off-shore West Africa, West and East Texas, Mexico, Venezuela, Siberia, Western Canada, Gulf Coast, Niger Delta, North Sea) if they had the opportunity? The concept of a petroleum province, composed of one or several sedimentary basins having common geological features and a comparable history was first suggested by Perrodon (1980). It generally includes several petroleum zones. The classic petroleum provinces are still the world's major producers of hydrocarbons and will continue to be so well into, and through, the 21st century. The world's hydrocarbon supplies, oil company profits and major exploration and production activities will continue to be principally from these mature provinces. In recent years much new data, new understandings, new interpretations


This study investigates which variables most effectively influence the positioning strategy of a brand. In addition, we test the connection between the positioning strategy of the brand and loyalty. Finally, we explore how brand experience effects the relationship between brand position and brand loyalty. To this end, this study employs the street-intercept method to collect data on consumers' perception of home appliances in Japan and conducts structural equation modeling analysis to test our hypotheses. Specifically, we find that assessments of product, service, and image have a significant impact on a brand's position which, in turn, drives brand loyalty. In addition, brand experience seems to moderate the relationship between service and brand positioning effectiveness. We also find that price promotions negatively affect brand loyalty. The research provides a consumer-centered, experiential view of how firms can develop strategies to more effectively position brands and increase loyalty among their customers. These results help both academics and practitioners to better understand how consumers assess a brand's position in the marketplace.


A functional polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) with eight vinyl groups was used to fabricate a POSS/bismaleimide (BMI) nanocomposite as a potential matrix for RTM processing, and its blend with a thermoplastic polyether-ether ketone (PEK-C) was prepared. A self-designed optical microscope with a hot stage has been performed to monitor phase separation process of the thermoplastic-thermoset blend. The phase separation and final morphology of POSS/PEK-C/BMI system were characterized in the research. SEM pictures of POSS/BMI nanocomposite exhibit that the vinyl POSS has significant improvement in toughness of the materials, and its eight vinyl groups lead to chemical bonding interface with BMI resin in the nanocomposite. Results of optical microscope indicate that the corporation of POSS in PEK-C/BMI blend postponed phase separation process. The morphologies show that POSS/PEK-C/BMI systems have a similar phase separation structure with PEK-C/BMI blend.


A Scandinavian study challenges the efficacy of endocrine treatment alone, compared to endocrine treatment plus radiotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer. All patients in the study receive neoadjuvant total androgen blockade for 3 months and then continue with antiandrogens alone. After 3 months, radiotherapy will be started in one arm of the study. The primary end point of the study is survival, with secondary end points of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression, clinical progression, and quality of life. [Oncol News Int 6(Suppl 3):18-19, 1997]


Nano technology is a new technology and begun in 1980's. The paper firstly overviews the development of cermet cutter and its general situation in research, and then introduces the inherent properties owned by nano-technology and nano-material. In the end the nano-TiN modified TiC-based cermet cutter is fabricated and the mechanical properties of the developed cutter are also tested and analyzed. In order to study nano-modification effect, both nano-modified cermet and general cermet have been made. The mechanical properties of two kinds of materials are also measured. By comparing the measured datum, it has been indicated that the nano-modified cermet has better mechanical properties and the nano-modification technology is effective. This presents a new way to increase the toughness of cermet cutter.


Despite the substantial financial commitment budgeted for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems; organizations continue to express dissatisfaction with the flexibility, reusability and agility of ERP systems. The changes that are taking place in business and technology today are accelerating with increase in competition putting pressure on organizations and management. To enhance business performance, organizations need an effectual planning and control system that synchronize all business procedures across the organization and adopt both technological and business changes. This paper present a theory-grounded SOA-based ERP system development framework. One of the potential strengths of the framework is the ability to deploy ERP systems in form of Software as a Service (SaaS) which can easily be deployed in the cloud to enable the concept of IT as a service that can solve issues such as application integration over heterogeneous platforms, protocols, and devices. Keywords— Aluminium ERP system, Service Oriented Architecture, SOA-based ERP system, SOA-based Framework.


The present article is analysed the causes the reform of non–contentious proceedings in Lithuania. It is stated that the reform of non–contentious proceedings under the new Code of Civil Proceedings results in: – the criterion of expediency and the presence of public interest is given priority in ascribing cases falling under non–contentious proceedings to court. – consolidation of an inquisitorial procedure model in non–contentious proceedings with relevant principles of formality, imperativeness (obligation), limited oral procedure and publicity. The article concludes that the regulation of non–contentious proceedings in the new Code of Civil Procedure should result in an effective and concentrated process and establish conditions for the optimum realization of goals set out for non–contentious proceedings.


Site-selectively array of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is one of the key points for the fabrication and application of nanodevices. This research is focused on developing a technology to assemble site-selective high density SWCNTs on flexible substrate. Patterned SWCNTs were assembled on flexible poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate via inducing directed charge (DC) field. In this process, the modification of hydrophilic or hydrophobic substrate surface is accomplished by selective ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, and which is very important to the self-assemble behavior and accurately site-selective location of SWCNTs. This method, a composition of "Top-Down" approach and "Bottom-Up" approach, is expected to give a way for the fabrication of nanodeivces and nanosystems.


An ad-hoc network is a collection of mobile nodes, which communicate over radio. These networks have an important advantage; they do not require any existing infrastructure or central administration. Therefore, mobile ad-hoc networks are suitable for temporary communication links. This flexibility, however, comes at a price: communication is difficult to organize due to frequent topology changes. Routing in such networks can be viewed as a distributed optimization problem. A new class of algorithms, inspired by swarm intelligence, is currently being developed that can potentially solve numerous problems of modern communications networks. These algorithms rely on the interaction of a multitude of simultaneously interacting agents. A survey of few such algorithms for ad hoc networks is presented here. © 2015 Elixir All rights reserved


Climate for technical innovation has been improving in the past few years in China. This Paper describes a case research related to technical innovation in three Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the manufacturing industry, by applying a Western technical audit tool. The data and findings reveal that the investigated Chinese SOEs have already some mechanisms for innovation in place but there is room for improvement and enhancement with respect to the effect on innovation success. It is also concluded that benchmarking (through the application of the audit tool) may not guarantee improved innovation performance, but it does guide management toward deciding which innovation mechanisms to adopt so as to provide the basics for innovation success. Last but not least we draw the interesting conclusion that in the economy in transition in China, companies with less openness to the market (i.e. with high government involvement), there was a more widespread use of innovation mechanisms. This finding seems to contradict the positive relationship between market focus and innovativeness as suggested in 'Western' innovation management theories, and it enriches to a certain extent the theory of transition.


INTRODUCTION: Bile leaks are typical complications following LCHE. By ERC localisation and nature of the leak can be documented and therapy is possible in the same session. The aim is reduction of intraluminal bile pressure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 1799 LCHE were followed by 34 bile leaks. 2 common duct injuries and a duodenal perforation had surgical revisions. 31 patients had endoscopic therapy only (stent +/- EST). Bile secretion stopped 3.2 days later. Stentextraction/documentation of closure of the fistula 7 weeks later. COMPLICATION/LETHALITY: 1 Stentdislocation. Lethality: 0. CONCLUSION: ERC allows diagnosis and therapy of bile leaks by common duct stenting. Laparoscopic or surgical reintervention is not necessary.


Few aspects of public life are scrutinized and debated as intensely as leadership. It is crucial to the welfare of nations, the survival of political parties, and the functioning of interest groups and public corporations. And, as this volume demonstrates, political leadership is both a complex and elusive quality. In twelve provocative, state-of-the-art essays, leading scholars in political science explore the meaning of political leadership from the shifting, kaleidoscopic perspectives of the leaders, institutions, goals, procedures, problems, and traditions involved. The approaches, as varied as the subject itself, coalesce around the central question of how leaders interact with, transform, or are controlled by the organizations they lead. Whether it's Erwin Hargrove writing on leadership in the TVA, Aaron Wildavsky on the relation between leadership and regime type, Clarence Stone on urban leadership, Morris Fiorina and Kenneth Shepsle on leadership and public choice theory, Robert Harmel on oligarchy in West Germany's Green Party, or George Edwards on presidential leadership in Congress, the authors provide perceptive analyses and suggest new directions for the discipline. For anyone concerned with the problems and potential of leadership in public life in the U.S. and Europe, these essays are certain to spark further debate on the question of political leadership.


Introduction Healthcare workers (HCWs) have a higher risks of contracting tuberculosis (TB) than general population. International and national policies recommend routine screening of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) as an essential component in the control and prevention of TB in healthcare facilities. Methods From January 2008 to December 2016, 1759 hospital employees were screened for LTBI. Symptom assessment and chest X-ray were conducted to exclude active TB, and tuberculin skin test (TST) and/or QuantiFERON-TB Gold test (QFT) were performed to diagnose LTBI. Results At the end of 2016, 1054 active workers were screened one or more times, totalizing 1810 screenings; 81.5% were female and 18.5% were male; mean age was 42 years. None were found to have active TB. LTBI prevalence in the screened population was 17.7% (n=187): 101 individuals had a QTF positive test and 86 didn't perform QTF test but had a TST ≥15 mm. The majority were positive for LTBI at the first screening (n=110; 58.8%). Among the screened HCWs, medical aid assistants had the highest prevalence of LTBI (21.7%), followed by nurses (19.4%), administrative and supportive staff (14.4%), while physicians had the lowest prevalence (12.4%) of LTBI. QFT was negative in 47.3% of the individuals with TST ≥15 mm (n=61, which 41 submitted to repetitive TST testing), and in 76.5% of the cases with TST ≥10 mm but <15 mm (n=65, which 37 submitted to repetitive TST testing). Discussion Since 2015, Portugal has been a low-incidence country regarding TB. The prevalence of LTBI in HCWs is relatively high as far as 17,7%. As a result, active screening for TB and LTBI is needed for these workers. Screening with TST and QTF is a cost-effective approach as high numbers of discordant TST positive/QTF negative results are probably caused by BCG vaccination or boosting due to repetitive TST testing.


Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic with severe consequences for afflicted individuals and the society as a whole. The biology and infectivity of the virus has been intensively studied in order to gain a better understanding of the molecular basis of virus-host cell interactions during infection. It is known that SARS-CoV-2 binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) via its spike protein. Priming of the virus by specific proteases leads to viral entry via endocytosis and to the subsequent steps in the life cycle of SARS-CoV-2. Sphingosine and ceramide belong to the sphingolipid family and are abundantly present in cell membranes. These lipids were recently shown to interfere with the uptake of virus particles of SARS-CoV-2 into epithelial cell lines and primary human nasal cells in culture. The mechanisms of action were partly different, as sphingosine blocked, whilst ceramide facilitated viral entry. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) is vital for the generation of ceramide and functional inhibition of ASM by drugs like amitriptyline reduced SARS-CoV-2 entry into the epithelial cells. Recent data indicates that serum level of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a prognostic factor for COVID-2 severity. Further, stimulation of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1) might also constrain the hyper-inflammatory conditions linked to SARS-CoV-2. Here, we review recent exciting findings regarding sphingolipids in the uptake of SARS-CoV-2 and in the course of COVID-19 disease. More studies are required on the mechanisms of action and the potential use of antidepressant drugs and sphingolipid modifiers in SARS-CoV-2 infections and in the treatment of the more serious and fatal consequences of the disease.