This paper discusses the design and implementation of a microcomputer system that functions as the central processing unit for performing servo system control, tracking mode determination, operator interface, switching, and logic operations. The computer hardware consists of VMEbus compatible boards that include a Motorola 32-bit MC68020 microprocessor-based CPU board, and a variety of interface boards. The computer is connected to the Radio Frequency system, Antenna Control Unit, azimuth and elevation servo systems, and other systems of the Advanced Transportable Telemetry Acquisition System (TTAS-A) through extensive serial, analog, and digital input/output interfacing. The software platform consists of a commercially-acquired real-time multi-tasking operating system, and in-house developed device drivers and tracking system software. The operating system kernel is written in assembly language, while the application software is written using the C programming language. To enhance the operation of the TTAS-A, software was also developed to provide color graphics, CRT menus, printer listings, interactive real-time hardware/software diagnostics, and a GPIB (IEEE-488 bus) interface for Automated Testing System support.


Thresholds were measured for detecting amplitude modulation of a single tonal carrier in the presence of modulated maskers. The masker modulator contained either one or two sinusoidal components. As found in previous studies, there was a detrimental effect of masker modulation on the detection of probe modulation. Interference was obtained with a 4-Hz separation between the two components of the masker modulator with the probe modulated at the 4-Hz beat rate. The amount of interference obtained with the two-component masker modulator was greater than that produced by the individual components of the masker modulator. The amount of interference increased with the depth of the masker-modulator beating and the number of masker carriers. The interference due to beating of the masker-modulator components was reduced when the beat rate was increased from 4 to 10 Hz. Results obtained with two-component masker modulators indicate a masking effect not predicted by a spectral representation of the probe and masker envelopes.


Background

Outcomes with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, vindesine, and prednisone) or CHOP-like regimens are poor in most types of peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs). In this study, we investigated whether the combination of chidamide with CHOEP (cyclophosphamide, epirubicin, vindesine, etoposide, and prednisone) regimen (C-CHOEP) was superior to CHOEP and GDP-ML (gemcitabine, cisplatin, dexamethasone, methotrexate, and pegaspargase) regimen for previously untreated PTCL patients.
Methods

Between January 2012 and August 2019, a total of 94 newly diagnosed PTCL patients were included in this study, including 34 patients from the C-CHOEP phase 2 trial, 34 patients treated with CHOEP regimen matched to those in the C-CHOEP group, and 26 patients from a previous phase 2 trial of GDP-ML therapy.
Results

The complete remission rate of patients in the C-CHOEP group was significantly higher than that of GDP-ML and CHOEP group (55.9% vs. 32.0% and 29.4%, p = 0.047), with an overall response rate of 82.4 vs. 64.7%, and 72.0%, respectively (p = 0.244). The overall survival of patients in the C-CHOEP group was significantly superior than that of the GDP-ML and CHOEP group, with 1- and 3- year OS rates of 80.9% and 73.5% in the C-CHOEP group vs. 67.4% and 36.9% in the GDP-ML group, and 64.6% and 48.9% in the CHOEP group (p = 0.048). Progression-free survival (PFS) was also improved with median PFS of 19.8 months in the C-CHOEP group vs. 6.6 and 8.1 months in the GDP-ML and CHOEP group. The most common adverse events were hematologic toxicities. Grade 3–4 neutropenia and febrile neutropenia occurred in 58.8% and 20.6% of patients in the C-CHOEP group with no significant difference compared with the CHOEP group.
Conclusion

Our study suggested that C-CHOEP therapy was superior to CHOEP and GDP-ML therapy for newly diagnosed PTCL patients as shown by a significant improvement of CR rate and OS with a favorable safety profile.
Trial registration:

The study of C-CHOEP regimen is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov on December 2nd 2016 (NCT02987244). The study of GDP-ML regimen is registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on March 30th 2012 (ChiCTR-ONC-12002055).


Functionalization of semiconductors constitutes a crucial step in using these materials for various electronic, photonic, biomedical, and sensing applications. Within the various possible approaches, selection of material-binding biomolecules from a random biological library, based on the natural recognition of proteins or peptides toward specific material, offers many advantages, most notably biocompatibility. Here we report on the selective functionalization of GaN, an important semiconductor that has found broad uses in the past decade due to its efficient electroluminescence and pronounced chemical stability. A 12-mer peptide ("GaN_probe") with specific recognition for GaN has evolved. The subtle interplay of mostly nonpolar hydrophobic and some polar amino acidic residues defines the high affinity adhesion properties of the peptide. The interaction forces between the peptide and GaN are quantified, and the hydrophobic domain of the GaN_probe is identified as primordial for the binding specificity. These nanosized binding blocks are further used for controlled placement of biotin-streptavidin complexes on the GaN surface. Thus, the controlled grow of a new, patterned inorganic-organic hybrid material is achieved. Tailoring of GaN by biological molecules can lead to a new class of nanostructured semiconductor-based devices.


This article argues that the hacker is constructed as an information deviant and that this image is helpful in providing rules for appropriate behavior in an information society. The hacker accounts in this article are designed to give the reader an understanding of the types of things being said about hackers. What is more important, however, is how these narratives are used to support a specific notion of property ownership and government secrecy. In making this argument, this article traces the development of the narrative about the hacker from harmless computer nerd to terrorist.


This pioneering study of two-dimensional wiring patterns develops powerful algorithms for the physical design of VLSI circuits. Its homotopic approach to circuit layout advances the state of the art in wire routing and layout compaction, and will inspire future research. By viewing wires as flexible connections with fixed topology, the author obtains simple and efficient algorithms for CAD problems whose previous solutions employed, unreliable or inefficient heuristics."Single-Layer Wire Routing and Compaction" is the first rigorous treatment of homotopic layouts and the techniques for optimizing them. In a novel application of classical mathematics to computer science, Maley characterizes the ideal routing of a layout in terms of simple topological invariants. He derives practical algorithms from this theoretical insight. The algorithms and their underlying ideas are intuitive, widely applicable, and presented in a highly readable style.F. Miller Maley is a Research Associate in the Computer Science Department at Princeton University. "Single-Layer Wire Routing and Compaction" is included in the series Foundations of Computing, edited by Michael Garey and Albert Meyer.


Recently we found that certain antibiotics which are markedly concentrated by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) failed to kill susceptible, intraphagocytic Staphylococcus aureus, even though cellular drug levels were quite high. The possibility that specific antibiotics might adversely affect phagocyte antibacterial function was considered. Thus, we studied the effects of multiple antibiotics and adenosine, a known modulator of the PMN respiratory burst response, on neutrophil antibacterial function. At nontoxic concentrations, these drugs had no effect on degranulation in stimulated PMN. Adenosine was a potent inhibitor of formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMPL)-stimulated superoxide and hydrogen peroxide generation in PMN but produced less inhibition of microbial particle-induced respiratory burst activity. Three of the tested antibiotics, all of which reach high concentrations in phagocytic cells, had a marked modulatory effect on the PMN respiratory burst. Clindamycin, which enters phagocytes by the cell membrane adenosine (nucleoside) transport system, had only a modest effect on FMLP-mediated superoxide production but inhibited the microbial particle-induced response by approximately 50%. Roxithromycin and trimethoprim were efficient inhibitors of PMN superoxide generation stimulated by FMLP and concanavalin A (also inhibited by erythromycin) but had less effect on zymosan-mediated respiratory burst activity. Antibiotics which entered phagocytes less readily had no effect on the respiratory burst response in PMN. These results, as well as those of experiments with inhibitors of cell membrane nucleoside receptors, indicated that the antibiotic effect is mediated through intraphagocytic pathways. The possibility that antibiotic-associated inhibition of the PMN respiratory burst response might alter leukocyte antimicrobial and inflammatory function deserves further evaluation.


Product or service quality has become the driving force of global firms. Customers have becoming more enlightened with products and services that they consume due to access of information. However, it is observed from literature that the concept of quality has continued to evolve due to different attitudinal and perceptional nature of customers. Issues of quality among public organizations and more especially public hospitals in Kenya have continued to raise mixed reactions from different stakeholders such as the members of the public, public benefit organizations and management of County Governments in general. For public hospitals in Kenya to meet the changing needs and wants of their customers, they need to adopt effective quality management strategies in order to surpass customer expectations. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of quality management strategies on customer satisfaction among public hospitals in Embu County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were; to establish the influence of employee training, research and development and employee motivation on customer satisfaction in public hospitals in Embu County, Kenya. The study was informed by the Total Quality Management Theory and supported by the SERVQUAL model and the Open System Theory. The study employed the descriptive research design to investigate the problem that was under study. Target population comprised of 239 respondents. The respondents of the study constituted employees of the six level four public hospitals in Embu County which included Siakago, Runyenjes, Kiritiri, Kianjokoma, Ishiara and Kairuri. Respondents were stratified into four strata and simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents from each strata. The units of analysis were level four public hospitals and unit of observation were employees of public hospitals in Embu County. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. Secondary data was obtained from internal management health reports, related articles and minutes of the organization. Validity of the instrument was tested using lecturers and quality management experts working in public hospitals in Kenya and reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha formula. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as regression analysis. Regression analysis was carried out at 95% confidence level and 5% significance level to establish the statistical relationship between variables of the study. The analyzed data was tabulated and presented in the form of means, standard deviation and percentages. The study established that there was a positive statistical relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable because all the independent variables significance values were less than the critical value 0.05. The study concludes that employee training, research and development and employee motivation are key determinants of customer satisfaction in public hospitals in Kenya. The study recommends that unless public hospitals in Kenya recognize the aspect of employee motivation, research and development and employee training, achieving organizational goals will be a difficult task to achieve in the dynamic business environment.


BACKGROUND
The prevalence of molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH) varies considerably around the world; however, few studies have examined MIH in South American countries.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence, severity, and clinical consequences of MIH in Brazilian children residing in rural and urban areas of the municipality of Botelhos, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

METHODS
Children aged 6 to 12 years (n = 918) with all four-first permanent molars erupted had these teeth evaluated according to the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (EAPD) criteria. The examinations were conducted by two previously trained examiners, and the dental impact caused by MIH was evaluated with the Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index (WHO).

RESULTS
Molar incisor hypomineralization was present in 19.8% of the 918 children, with a higher prevalence in rural areas. The majority of the defects presented were demarcated opacities without post-eruptive structural loss, which has been considered as mild defects. Children with MIH had higher DMFT values.

CONCLUSION
Despite the high prevalence of MIH, the severity of the defects was mild. The results indicate a positive association between MIH and the presence of dental caries.


Aspect Term Extraction (ATE) identifies opinionated aspect terms in texts and is one of the tasks in the SemEval Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA) contest. The small amount of available datasets for supervised ATE and the costly human annotation for aspect term labelling give rise to the need for unsupervised ATE. In this paper, we introduce an architecture that achieves top-ranking performance for supervised ATE. Moreover, it can be used efficiently as feature extractor and classifier for unsupervised ATE. Our second contribution is a method to automatically construct datasets for ATE. We train a classifier on our automatically labelled datasets and evaluate it on the human annotated SemEval ABSA test sets. Compared to a strong rule-based baseline, we obtain a dramatically higher F-score and attain precision values above 80%. Our unsupervised method beats the supervised ABSA baseline from SemEval, while preserving high precision scores.


Outbreaks of foodborne illness caused by Listeria monocytogenes in or on fresh produce have been reported. Several contamination routes have been proposed and the cultivation process is one of the suspected routes. Leaf lettuce is one of the most important fresh produce products. In the present paper, we investigated the possible routes of L. monocytogenes contamination in leaf lettuce during cultivation. Leaf lettuce was cultivated in soils inoculated with cocktails of three isolates of L. monocytogenes belonging to different serotypes (1/2a, 1/2b, and 4b). The viability and injury state of L. monocytogenes in soils, and bacteria survival in or on leaf lettuce were investigated during 10 weeks of cultivation. Soils were artificially contaminated with L. monocytogenes at levels of 4, 6 or 8 log CFU/g, followed by cultivation of leaf lettuce in the contaminated soils. Populations of L. monocytogenes in the soil decreased to less than the detection limit (< 2 log CFU/g) at 8 ‒ 10 weeks after the start of cultivation. L. monocytogenes was detected in some harvested leaf lettuce leaves at low levels, almost equivalent to the detection limit. As L. monocytogenes was not detected in the leaves of leaf lettuce plants cultivated in highly-contaminated soils after surface disinfection, the possibility of internalization of L. monocytogenes into leaf lettuce plants was considered low. Spraying of water contaminated with bacteria at greater than 3.2 log CFU/plant led to the survival of bacteria on the leaf lettuce leaves even after seven days. Furthermore, leaf damage prolonged the survival period of bacteria on the leaves.


Indonesia is a country that not only applied the rule of audit partner rotation, but also audit firm rotation with aim to improve the audit quality. This research tries to investigate the impact of audit firm audit rotation and audit tenure to the audit quality. The audit quality is measured by four earning quality (predictive value, timeliness, representational faithfulness and neutrality perspective). The sample data are the public listed companies from period before the regulation (1999-2001) to period after the regulation (2004-2008). This research finds that in the pre-regulation period, generally there is no impact of audit firm tenure to audit quality. In the after regulation period, audit firm tenure has convex relationship with audit quality from neutrality and timeliness perspectives with minimum point at 10 and 8.3 years (decrease for 10 years and 8.3 years and then increase). As the decrease period is quite long, we can conclude that the relationship between audit firm tenure and audit quality is negative. This research also found that generally no impact of audit rotation on audit quality, but 2 from 8 regression found that audit rotation decrease the audit quality in the pre and after regulation period. Specializations have positive impact to audit quality. Mandatory audit firm rotation may not be the most efficient way to enhance audit quality.


As is well known, Symbolism showed a considerable overlap with Western esotericism, and artists often genuinely considered themselves occult mystics pursuing an esoteric quest in their art. Many also displayed a special fascination for darkly tinged occultism, a fact that is too often discussed only in a very superficial manner. Aiming to rectify this negligence somewhat, this paper explores a practice in Symbolist literature and art that can be termed imitatio satanae. This etiquette paraphrases the term for the Christian practice of trying to emulate Christ's example (imitatio christi), but instead seeks to capture the sympathy for the Devil evinced by some Symbolists.Symbolists and Decadents like Stanislaw Przybyszewski and Felicien Rops depicted themselves with demonic attributes, and hereby "followed the example of Satan", viewed through the lens of the old Romantic re-interpretation of Milton's Lucifer. This also fits in with a general tendency to sacralize symbols of sinfulness, typically in a manner part playful and part serious, that we find in artists as diverse as Franz von Stuck and Edvard Munch. None of these artists were, of course, Satanists in any strict sense. There is, however, one exception: the Pole Przybyszewski, who openly confessed such an allegiance. The paper therefore pays special attention to his philosophy of art, which both embraces typical Symbolist ideas and points forward to Expressionism. In Przybysewski's texts from the 1890's, the artist-superman is celebrated as a symbolic Satan, who critiques bourgeoisie values and rises above the "mediocre lambs of God". Artists like Gustav Vigeland are portrayed in Przybyszewski's art criticism as Promethean, demonic figures who practice imitatio satanae, something that is to a great extent a projection of the Pole's own endeavors.The paper connects these ideas to practices in non-Satanist esoteric groups during the time period, such as The Golden Dawn in England and their assuming of "god-forms" in a ritual context. It also relates imitatio satanae, as a specifically Symbolist artistic concept, to the re-molding of the universe from a subjective position that the Romantics identified as a core theme in Milton's Paradise Lost.


We present the results of a comprehensive investigation of the dc magnetization, ac susceptibility, and magnetotransport properties of the glassy ferromagnet La 1 - x Sr x CoO 3 . The compositions studied span the range fromthe end-member LaCoO 3 (x=0.0) through to x=0.7. These materials have attracted attention recently, primarily due to the spin-state transition phenomena in LaCoO 3 and the unusual nature of the magnetic ground state for finite x. In this paper we present a consistent picture of the magnetic behavior of La 1 - x Sr x CoO 3 in terms of short-range ferromagnetic ordering and intrinsic phase separation. At high Sr doping (x>0.2) the system exhibits unconventional ferromagnetism (with a Curie temperature up to 250 K), which is interpreted in terms of the coalescence of short-range-ordered ferromagnetic clusters. Brillouin function fits to the temperature dependence of the magnetization as well as high-temperature Curie-Weiss behavior suggest that the Co 3 + and Co 4 + ions are both in the intermediate spin state. At lower Sr doping (x<0.18) the system enters a mixed phase that displays the characteristics of both a spin glass and a ferromagnet. A cusp in the zero-field-cooled dc magnetization, a frequency-dependent peak in the ac susceptibility and time-dependent effects in both dc and ac magnetic properties all point towards glassy behavior. On the other hand, field cooling results in a relatively large ferromagneticlike moment, with zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetizations bifurcating at an irreversibility point. Even in the region above x=0.2 the out-of-phase component of the ac susceptibility shows frequency-dependent peaks below the Curie temperature (indicative of glassy behavior) which have previously been interpreted in terms of the freezing of clusters. All of the results are consistent with the existence of a strong tendency towards magnetic phase separation in this material, a conclusion which is further reinforced by consideration of the electronic properties. The metal-insulator transition is observed to be coincident with the onset of ferromagnetic ordering (x=0.18) and has a behavior in the doping dependence of the low-temperature conductivity which is strongly suggestive of percolation. This can be interpreted as a percolation transition within the simple ferromagnetic cluster model. On the metallic side of the transition the system exhibits colossal magnetoresistance-type behavior with a peak in the negative magnetoresistance (∼10% in 90 kOe) in the vicinity of the Curie temperature. As the transition is approached from the metallic side we observe the onset of a negative magnetoresistance that increases in magnitude with decreasing temperature, reaching values as large as 90% in a 90-kOe field. This magnetoresistance is enhanced at the metal-insulator transition, where it persists even to room temperature.


An excellent resource for new or seasoned NPs and PAs! The Nurse Practitioner in Long-Term Care addresses the growing trend to utilize the nurse practitioner in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) to manage patients in long-term care and serves as a practical resource for managing those conditions commonly encountered in the geriatric patient. It includes an introduction to nursing homes, medication management, practical health promotion/disease prevention, and management of common clinical conditions specific to the skilled and long term care nursing home settings. It will also address important topics such as elder abuse, legal issues, reimbursement, and regulatory issues. Subjects covered are pertinent to everyday practice and this text is useful in graduate programs for nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists as well as for physician's assistant (PA) students.


Mexico has followed global trends in emphasising the need for its citizens to learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Unfortunately, the percentage of students who reach desired levels of English in the public education system is currently far from satisfactory. One way in which the Mexican government has tried to address such poor results has been to encourage new teaching approaches. There are certain similarities and differences between these approaches, but arguably the majority of them fall into the general bracket of "student-centred learning". However, despite several of these approaches being introduced over the last few decades, many Mexican EFL classrooms remain largely teacher-centred. When both beliefs and behaviours are required to change as part of an educational reform, a process called "reculturing" is said to be necessary. This paper suggests that Mexican educational leaders should consider how this reculturing process might be better supported for those teachers who currently believe in more teacher-centred approaches. However, it also strongly emphasises that some form of reculturing must also take place for all the other participants who have a stake in this educational change. These people might include students, parents, teachers of other subjects, school leaders, teacher trainers, educational leaders, designers of high-stakes examinations, employers, and admissions personnel at local and foreign universities.


There is an urgent need for an accessible and low-cost COVID-19 vaccine suitable for low- and middle-income countries. Here we report on the development of a SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein, expressed at high levels in yeast (Pichia pastoris), as a suitable vaccine candidate against COVID-19. After introducing two modifications into the wild-type RBD gene to reduce yeast-derived hyperglycosylation and improve stability during protein expression, we show that the recombinant protein, RBD219-N1C1, is equivalent to the wild-type RBD recombinant protein (RBD219-WT) in an in vitro ACE-2 binding assay. Immunogenicity studies of RBD219-N1C1 and RBD219-WT proteins formulated with Alhydrogel® were conducted in mice, and, after two doses, both the RBD219-WT and RBD219-N1C1 vaccines induced high levels of binding IgG antibodies. Using a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, we further showed that sera obtained after a two-dose immunization schedule of the vaccines were sufficient to elicit strong neutralizing antibody titers in the 1:1,000 to 1:10,000 range, for both antigens tested. The vaccines induced IFN-γ, IL-6, and IL-10 secretion, among other cytokines. Overall, these data suggest that the RBD219-N1C1 recombinant protein, produced in yeast, is suitable for further evaluation as a human COVID-19 vaccine, in particular, in an Alhydrogel® containing formulation and possibly in combination with other immunostimulants.


Summary Beans and bananas were grown in sole crop and intercrop systems for three seasons in 1989 and 1990 to determine the effects of cropping system on diseases, insects and land-use efficiency and the roles of certain bean plant physiological traits on bean yield in the two systems. Bean yield in the intercrop system was 52% of bean sole crop yield. Shading reduced yield, but stem starch levels, chlorophyll content and the chlorophyll a:b ratio were not related to seed yield in either system. Leaf area index was linearly related to yield in the intercrop system, suggesting that a higher plant density may result in higher yields. Nutrient concentration levels in the foliar tissues indicated that low potassium and high manganese availability constrained intercrop bean yield. Leaf manganese levels were higher in beans grown under bananas, reaching levels normally considered toxic for beans. Competition for other nutrients did not appear to affect bean yield. Apparently, interspecies competition for soil moisture did not much reduce bean yields as moisture levels did not differ with cropping system. Disease and insect pest levels were similar for the two bean production systems. Banana yields were associated with potassium levels in the soil. Bananas appeared to be more competitive than beans in the intercrop system. The land equivalent ratio of the banana and bean intercropping system over the three seasons was 1.60.


This study focuses on the preparation of nitrocellulose-based flexographic inks suitable for printing on biaxially- oriented polypropylene (BOPP), for which the adhesion of the manufactured ink to the BOPP substrate is an essential property of importance. The choice of BOPP as the main substrate in this study follows from its position as one of the more commonly used substrates for printing worldwide.
The importance of using fumaric rosin UCH150H in preparation of flexographic inks resulted from the experience of using this resin in preparing flexographic polyamide inks, where the adhesion results were very good, when this resin was added to flexographic nitrocellulose inks, the adhesion was improved remarkebly. Two polymers are used in this study: fumaric rosin (UCH150H) and a polyurethane (Surkopak 5323) and many formulations were tested. The use of fumaric rosin to form flexographic inks instead of polyurethane was novel. When used in combination with polyurethane as an additive in nitrocellulose flexographic inks rather than titanium acetyl-acetonates (TAA,) this offers benefits, as (TAA,) has many disadvantages when used to prepare flexographic inks for printing on BOPP. Comparative tests of the adhesion of the inks to the substrate are carried out by tape test after printing the two prepared inks on BOPP and subjecting these to Corona treatment. The principal factor influencing the adhesion is found to be the polymer structure, and it is found that the inks prepared by using UCH150H exhibited better adhesion to the BOPP substrate than those prepared from Surkopak 5323.
Analytical techniques were employed to provide information as to why the adhesion was superior when using the ink prepared from UCH150H, including wetting contact angle measurements, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron diffractive X-ray (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM), electronic scanning for chemical analysis (ESCA), Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR)
spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and inverse gas chromatography (IGC). The novelty in using IGC to study BOPP coated separately with UCH150H and Surkopak 5323 facilitates the comparison of physical properties associated with the polymer before and after printing on BOPP. Furthermore, the substitution of Surkopak 5323 by UCH150H is better for the environment as the latter is derived primarily from natural products (e.g. colophony
from pine trees), while Surkopak 5323 is based on an isocyanate precursor which is no longer used in the UK for health and safety considerations, although still used in
other countries such as middle east (Leach and Pierce, 1999). On this basis, polyurethanes were replaced by amine-cured epoxy systems in the UK, but both these and the polyurethanes are more expensive than UCH150H,which is another attraction of using UCH150H in flexographic inks.
The implementation of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy confirms that UCH150H had better adhesion on BOPP when incorporated in flexographic ink than Surkopak 5323. The results gained from EDX also confirm that
the oxygen content increased by increasing the UCH150H and Surkopak 5323 composition in the flexographic ink printed on BOPP. Application of the tape test confirms that the remaining ink layer on the BOPP surface after applying the test, is the residue of adhered polymer layer which is greater in the case of UCH150H than Surkopak 5323.
AFM confirms that the surface of BOPP coated with UCH150H was positively charged and the surface of BOPP coated with Surkopak 5323 was negatively charged.
Other techniques such as IR, NMR and ESCA confirm the chemical structure of UCH150H and Surkopak 5323; the presence of un-reacted carboxylic acid in the UCH150H, is found to play an important role in adhesion according to IGC studies. These data suggest that the superior adhesion is the result of interacting acidic groups with BOPP surface by hydrogen bonds, where the basicity increases after adhesion of UCH150H and Surkopak 5323 to BOPP substrate. The flexographic inks prepared by using fumaric rosin UCH150H were tried in many print houses and the results of the print were acceptable, especially the
adhesion. On the other hand, the ink was commercially competitive compared to the available flexographic inks in the market, besides, the safety of using fumaric rosin
UCH150H for food substrates because of its natural source.
It should be noted that flexographic ink preparation, printing substrates, tape test, viscosity measurements, colour density of print, wetting measurements and optical
microscopy were done in the lab of ink factory (TOPINKS) in Aleppo-Syria. SEM, thermal analysis, FTIR, particle size testing were done in Leeds University, colour chemistry department. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was done in Leeds
University (Institute of practical science and engineering), ESCA) was done in Leeds University (Physical department), NMR was done in Homs university-Syria and IGC in Aleppo university-Syria.


Flexibility is a cornerstone of adaptive behavior and is made possible by a family of processes referred to collectively as executive functions. Executive functions vary in efficacy from individual to individual and also across developmental time. Infants and young children, for example, have difficulty flexibly adapting their behavior, and often repeat actions that are no longer appropriate. And although older children do not typically make such striking errors, they have more difficulty exercising control than adolescents and adults. Such developmental variability parallels (at least in some respects) inter-individual variability in executive functions. Individuals who suffer damage or dysfunction in regions of the prefrontal cortex, for example, often experience difficulty in flexibly adapting their behavior to changes in context. As well, genetic differences between individuals are strongly associated with differences in executive control. Parallels between developmental and inter-individual variability suggest hypotheses about possible mechanisms underlying the development of executive functions but carry risks when interpreted improperly. Overcoming these pitfalls will require mechanistic characterizations of executive functioning that are more deeply rooted in developmental principles. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.


The full potential of competitive marketplace incentives and governmental regulatory incentives in the health field will be achieved only in effective interaction with voluntary incentives. This article examines the relationships among regulation, competition, and voluntary discipline and the implications of a balanced approach in health planning.


The vegetal pole cytoplasm represents a critical source of maternal signals for patterning the primary dorsoventral axis of the early embryo. Vegetally localized dorsal determinants are essential for the formation of the Spemann organizer, which expresses both bone morphogenetic proteins and their antagonists. The extracellular regulation of BMP signalling activity has been well characterized, however, transcriptional regulation of bmp genes along the dorsoventral axis remains largely unknown. Here, we report a novel mode of maternal regulation of BMP signalling in the lateral and ventral regions by analyzing the unexpected dorsalizing effect following vegetal yolk ablation experiment. We identified Vrtn as a novel vegetally localized maternal factor displaying dorsalizing activity. It functions as a novel transcriptional repressor to regulate bmp2b expression in the marginal region. Mechanistically, Vrtn binds bmp2b upstream sequence and inhibits its transcription independently of maternal Wnt/ß-catenin signalling. By creating vrtn loss-of-function mutation and analyzing maternal-zygotic mutant embryos, we further showed that Vrtn is required for the formation of dorsoventral axis. Our work thus unveils a novel maternal mechanism regulating BMP gradient during dorsoventral specification.


Prior to 1969 the pioneering work carried out by Backofen and Fields in the USA and Johnson and Hundy in the UK demonstrated the 'promise' of Superplastic Forming. Using fine grained dual phase alloys, typically of eutectic or eutectoid compositions, they produced some of the very first superplastically formed prototype components. Although not always 'practical', these dual phase alloys were stable when heated and if appropriately processed often proved to be very superplastic. At that time 'dilute' alloys, including the majority of commercial aluminum alloys, having only a small volume fraction of alloying additions, were thought not to be capable of superplastic behavior due to their propensity to grain coarsen when heated. Breakthrough came in 1969 when at the research labs of Tube Investments, Hinxton Hall Nr Cambridge UK; the first 'SUPRAL' type dilute superplastic aluminum alloys were created. This paper describes the events and 'science' that led up to this development and the remarkable technology that has emerged since the authors began their superplasticity careers more than forty years ago. The future direction that this intriguing technology is likely to take is also explored.


We present a legged motion planning approach for quadrupedal locomotion over challenging terrain. We decompose the problem into body action planning and footstep planning. We use a lattice representation together with a set of defined body movement primitives for computing a body action plan. The lattice representation allows us to plan versatile movements that ensure feasibility for every possible plan. To this end, we propose a set of rules that define the footstep search regions and footstep sequence given a body action. We use Anytime Repairing A* (ARA*) search that guarantees bounded suboptimal plans. Our main contribution is a planning approach that generates on-line versatile movements. Experimental trials demonstrate the performance of our planning approach in a set of challenging terrain conditions. The terrain information and plans are computed on-line and on-board.


Testing whether items fit the assumptions of an item response theory model is an important step in evaluating a test. In the literature, numerous item fit statistics exist, many of which show severe limitations. The current study investigates the root mean squared deviation (RMSD) item fit statistic, which is used for evaluating item fit in various large-scale assessment studies. The three research questions of this study are (1) whether the empirical RMSD is an unbiased estimator of the population RMSD; (2) if this is not the case, whether this bias can be corrected; and (3) whether the test statistic provides an adequate significance test to detect misfitting items. Using simulation studies, it was found that the empirical RMSD is not an unbiased estimator of the population RMSD, and nonparametric bootstrapping falls short of entirely eliminating this bias. Using parametric bootstrapping, however, the RMSD can be used as a test statistic that outperforms the other approaches—infit and outfit, S (cid:2) X 2 —with respect to both Type I error rate and power. The empirical application showed that parametric bootstrapping of the RMSD results in rather conservative item fit decisions, which suggests more lenient cut-off criteria.


Recipient responses to primary graft dysfunction (PGD) after lung transplantation may have important implications to the fate of the allograft. We therefore evaluated longitudinal differences in peripheral blood gene expression in subjects with PGD. RNA expression was measured throughout the first transplant year in 106 subjects enrolled in the Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation‐03 study using a panel of 100 hypothesis‐driven genes. PGD was defined as grade 3 in the first 72 posttransplant hours. Eighteen genes were differentially expressed over the first year based on PGD development, with significant representation from innate and adaptive immunity genes, with most differences identified very early after transplant. Sixteen genes were overexpressed in the blood of patients with PGD compared to those without PGD within 7 days of allograft reperfusion, with most transcripts encoding innate immune/inflammasome‐related proteins, including genes previously associated with PGD. Thirteen genes were underexpressed in patients with PGD compared to those without PGD within 7 days of transplant, highlighted by T cell and adaptive immune regulation genes. Differences in gene expression present within 2 h of reperfusion and persist for days after transplant. Future investigation will focus on the long‐term implications of these gene expression differences on the outcome of the allograft.


Purpose: The selective MET inhibitor capmatinib is being investigated in multiple clinical trials, both as a single agent and in combination. Here, we describe the preclinical data of capmatinib, which supported the clinical biomarker strategy for rational patient selection. Experimental Design: The selectivity and cellular activity of capmatinib were assessed in large cellular screening panels. Antitumor efficacy was quantified in a large set of cell line– or patient-derived xenograft models, testing single-agent or combination treatment depending on the genomic profile of the respective models. Results: Capmatinib was found to be highly selective for MET over other kinases. It was active against cancer models that are characterized by MET amplification, marked MET overexpression, MET exon 14 skipping mutations, or MET activation via expression of the ligand hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). In cancer models where MET is the dominant oncogenic driver, anticancer activity could be further enhanced by combination treatments, for example, by the addition of apoptosis-inducing BH3 mimetics. The combinations of capmatinib and other kinase inhibitors resulted in enhanced anticancer activity against models where MET activation co-occurred with other oncogenic drivers, for example EGFR activating mutations. Conclusions: Activity of capmatinib in preclinical models is associated with a small number of plausible genomic features. The low fraction of cancer models that respond to capmatinib as a single agent suggests that the implementation of patient selection strategies based on these biomarkers is critical for clinical development. Capmatinib is also a rational combination partner for other kinase inhibitors to combat MET-driven resistance.


Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common sarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract and arises from the interstitial cells of Cajal. It is characterized by expression of the receptor tyrosine kinase CD117 (KIT). In 70–80% of GIST cases, oncogenic mutations in KIT are present, leading to constitutive activation of the receptor, which drives the proliferation of these tumors. Treatment of GIST with imatinib, a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, inhibits KIT-mediated signaling and initially results in disease control in 70–85% of patients with KIT-positive GIST. However, the vast majority of patients eventually develop resistance to imatinib treatment, leading to disease progression and posing a significant challenge in the clinical management of these tumors. Here, we show that an anti-KIT monoclonal antibody (mAb), SR1, is able to slow the growth of three human GIST cell lines in vitro. Importantly, these reductions in cell growth were equivalent between imatinib-resistant and imatinib-sensitive GIST cell lines. Treatment of GIST cell lines with SR1 reduces cell-surface KIT expression, suggesting that mAb-induced KIT down-regulation may be a mechanism by which SR1 inhibits GIST growth. Furthermore, we also show that SR1 treatment enhances phagocytosis of GIST cells by macrophages, indicating that treatment with SR1 may enhance immune cell-mediated tumor clearance. Finally, using two xenotransplantation models of imatinib-sensitive and imatinib-resistant GIST, we demonstrate that SR1 is able to strongly inhibit tumor growth in vivo. These results suggest that treatment with mAbs targeting KIT may represent an alternative, or complementary, approach for treating GIST.


How did the telegraph improve market integration in late imperial China? We exploit differences in the exogenous timing of telegraph construction in different prefectures from 1870 to 1911. The empirical results show that the arrival of the telegraph within a prefecture pair reduced the ratio of the two prefectures' monthly high-grade rice prices by 6.6 percentage points in 9 southern Chinese provinces, or 17.2% of the mean of the dependent variable. The main results are robust to controlling for institutional or transportation changes occurring during the same period, to using an alternative measure of market integration, to using prices of mid-grade and low-grade rice, and to excluding outliers with low data quality. In addition, the effect of the telegraph was stronger for prefecture pairs in which information transmission was more costly, and traditional long-distance traders played an important role in the telegraph's promotion of market integration. In conclusion, our findings help us understand how a new information technology enhanced market integration in a premodern agrarian society with an established commercial network.


In this paper, we present a new methodology for managing power consumption of networks-on-chips (NOCs). A power management problem is formulated for the first time using closed-loop control concepts. We introduce an estimator and a controller that implement our power management methodology. The estimator is capable of very fast and accurate tracking of changes in the system parameters. Parameters estimated are used to form the system model. Our system model combines node and network centric power management decisions. Node centric power management assumes no a priori knowledge of requests coming in from outside the core. Thus, it implements a more traditional dynamic voltage scaling and power management control algorithms. Network-centric power management utilizes interaction with the other system cores regarding the power and the quality of service (QoS) needs. The overall system model is based on Renewal theory and, thus, guarantees globally optimal results. We introduce a fast optimization method that runs multiple orders of magnitude faster than the previous optimization approaches while still having the same accuracy in obtaining the power management control. Finally, our controller implements the results of optimization in either hardware or software. The new methodology for power management of NOCs is tested on a system consisting of four satellite units, each implementing an estimator and a controller capable of both node and network centric power management. Our results show large savings in power with good QoS.


This paper describes briefly a mathematical model that relates the parameters of celestial bodies motion in the spheres of activity of the Sun and the Earth with mass-energy characteristics of these celestial bodies and their explosion modes during destruction in the Earth atmosphere, that in turn are linked with phenomena observed on the underlying surface. This model was used to calculate the characteristics of the objects which are causes of Chelyabinsk and Tunguska incidents. Thus, the basic data characterizing these two outstanding phenomena were obtained with using a regular physical-mathematical procedure without any speculative hypotheses and/or assumptions.


It is well known that aging influences several functional and structural features of peripheral nerves (Verdu et al., 2000; Ceballos et al., 1999; Jeronimo et al., 2008). However, the role of these changes in the damage/repair mechanisms occurring in acquired peripheral neuropathies is still unclear. To this aim, a multimodal, long-term assessment in a mice model would represent an optimal tool to perform experimental neuropathy studies designed to evaluate the role of aging in relationship with a given nerve injury. In this study we used 40 females one-month-old C57B1/6 mice and we followed-up them for fifteen months. Digital and caudal nerve conduction velocity (NCV) studies were performed monthly to evaluate changes in electrophysiological features; moreover, four animals were sacrificed every two months in order to collect caudal nerve, sciatic nerve, dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and skin for morphological and morphometric analysis. The neurophysiological assessments showed a remarkable increase of caudal NCV until the age of 9 months and then it remained unchanged until the end of the observation period; in the same period, digital NCV increase was also present although less marked. At the pathological level, both caudal and sciatic nerves showed a decrease in fibres density related with age, whereas axon and fibres diameters tended to increase. These preliminary data can be considered a first step aiming at creating a background for future studies on the relationship between aging and peripheral nervous system induced damage.


Recent emotion recognition models, most of them being based on strongly supervised deep learning solutions, are rather successful in recognizing instantaneous emotion expressions. However, when applied to continuous interactions, these models show a weaker adaptation to a person-specific and long-term emotion appraisal. In this article, we present an unsupervised neural framework that improves emotion recognition by learning how to describe continuous affective behavior of individual persons. Our framework is composed of three self-organizing mechanisms: (1) a recurrent growing layer to cluster general emotion expressions, (2) a set of associative layers, acting as affective memories to model specific emotional behavior of individual persons, (3) and an online learning layer which provides contextual modeling of continuous emotion expressions. We propose different learning strategies to integrate all three mechanisms and to improve the performance on arousal and valence recognition of the OMG-Emotion dataset. We evaluate our model with a series of experiments ranging from ablation studies assessing the different contributions of each neural component to an objective comparison with state-of-the-art solutions. The results from the evaluations show a good performance on emotion recognition of continuous emotions on monologue videos. Furthermore, we discuss how the model self-regulates the interplay between generalized and personalized emotion perception and how this influences the model's reliability when recognizing unseen emotion expressions.


Abstract Nesting activity of a depleted population of the eastern Malay Peninsula river terrapin, Batagur affinis edwardmolli, in the Setiu River, Terengganu, Malaysia, is documented for the first time over a 6-year period (2004–2009). The number of clutches deposited per year ranged from 17 to 30 with annual average clutch sizes ranging from 23 to 30 eggs per clutch. The nesting season is brief, beginning at the end of January and continuing through March.


Author(s): Buehler, Eddie | Advisor(s): Mesbah, Ali | Abstract: As the complexity and scale of chemical processes has increased, engineers have desired a process control strategy that can successfully and safely regulate modern processes. These processes are often subject to random noise and uncertainties in parameters or model structure which make regulation and control difficult. Stochastic model predictive control (SMPC) is an advanced process control strategy that can systematically seek tradeoffs between multiple (possibly competing) control objectives in the presence of constraints for multi-input multi-output systems. Furthermore, SMPC explicitly considers the stochasticity of system states and parameters, allowing for the systematic trade off of robustness and performance. Another key advantage of SMPC is the ability to implement chance constraints, which can be violated with a specified probability, instead of hard constraints which must be satisfied in all conditions. Because SMPC employs a probabilistic description of states and parameters, uncertainty propagation techniques are needed to determine the time evolution of these probability distributions. Monte Carlo methods are a widely used uncertainty propagation technique, but are too computationally expensive for real time optimization and control. Three approaches to efficient SMPC implementations are investigated in this dissertation. A SMPC algorithm with hard input constraints and joint chance constraints in the presence of (possibly) unbounded noise is presented. By recasting the nonlinear SMPC optimal control problem as a convex iterative deterministic program, the computational cost of determining the optimal control policy is significantly decreased. Two uncertainty propagation methods, the Fokker-Planck equation and adaptive polynomial chaos, are presented in the context of optimal control. The Fokker-Planck equation is a partial differential equation that can propagate the full probability distribution of uncertainties. This allows for shaping of the probability distribution function of states to desired distributions in an open loop sense as well as eliminating the need for conservative approximations when evaluating chance constraint violation. Closed-loop simulations of a SMPC controller regulating a bioreactor demonstrate the ability to shape the product probability distribution function when using the Fokker-Planck equation as an uncertainty propagation technique. Adaptive polynomial chaos (aPC) is an efficient technique that propagates the moments of (possibly) cross-correlated distributions. Unlike similar techniques, aPC only requires knowledge of the statistical moments of uncertain states and parameters, which can be readily estimated from experimental data. The error convergence properties of aPC are investigated in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) with correlated reaction kinetic parameters. All three approaches to uncertainty propagation and constraint handling in the context of SMPC discussed in this dissertation demonstrate promise for decreasing computational cost and reducing reliance on conservative approximations.


Compressed sensing (CS) theory promises one can recover real-valued sparse signal from a small number of linear measurements. Motivated by network monitoring with link failures, we for the first time consider the problem of recovering signals that contain both real-valued entries and corruptions, where the real entries represent transmission delays on normal links and the corruptions represent failed links. Unlike conventional CS, here a measurement is real-valued only if it does not include a failed link, and it is corrupted otherwise. We prove that O((d + 1)max(d, k) log n) nonadaptive measurements are enough to recover all n-dimensional signals that contain k nonzero real entries and d corruptions. We provide explicit constructions of measurements and recovery algorithms. We also analyze the performance of signal recovery when the measurements contain errors.


The past decades have witnessed an increasing number of studies documenting native English teachers' (NETs') challenges in professional development and collaboration with nonnative English teachers' (NNETs') across multiple educational contexts. There are also debates in TESOL regarding the essentialized dichotomy of NETs and NNETs with insufficient recognition of the educational and cultural experiences of teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) / English as a second language (ESL). Little research has been conducted on the lived experiences of transnational multilingual NETs who work in heritage contexts; and how they position themselves when they conduct their teacher identity work and negotiate between heritage identity and NET identity. This study, drawing on the notion of ethical self-formation and its application in teacher identity research as a theoretical lens, addresses the gap by investigating the identity construction of two transnational NETs of Chinese ethnicity returning to their home context in Hong Kong to teach. The findings indicate that (1) the participants negotiated their multilingual identity and the monolingual NET identity ascribed in the workplace, (2) they developed counter-strategies to turn the knowledge of the local language and culture into resources in teaching, and (3) they agentively expanded the definition of NET and situated them in the full institutional and social context to consider their identity conflict and self-empowerment. The findings have implications for education policy to accommodate and value the plural-competences of NETs and NNETs.


Basaltic fissure eruptions, which are characteristic of Icelandic volcanism, are extremely hazardous due to the large quantities of gases and aerosols they release into the atmosphere. The 1783–1784 CE Laki eruption was one of the most significant high‐latitude eruptions in the last millennium and had substantial environmental and climatic impacts. Contemporary observations recorded the presence of a sulfuric haze over Iceland and Europe, which caused famine from vegetation damage and resulted in a high occurrence of respiratory illnesses and related mortality. Historical records in northern Europe show that the summer of 1783 was anomalously warm, but regional tree‐ring maximum latewood density (MXD) data from that year are low and lead to erroneously colder reconstructed summer temperatures. Here, we measure wood anatomical characteristics of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) from Jämtland, Sweden in order to identify the cause of this discrepancy. We show that the presence of intraannual density fluctuations in the majority of 1783 growth rings, a sudden reduction in lumen and cell wall area, and the measurement resolution of traditional X‐ray densitometry led to the observed reduced annual MXD value. Multiple independent lines of evidence suggest these anatomical anomalies were most likely the result of direct acidic damage to trees in Northern Europe and that the normal relationship between summer temperature and MXD can be disrupted by this damage. Our study also demonstrates that quantitative wood anatomy offers a high‐resolution approach to identifying anomalous years and extreme events in the tree‐ring record.


The human capital of a firm as manifested by employee knowledge and experience represents a key resource of a firm's capabilities. Prior empirical studies have found that firms composed of high levels of human capital experience superior firm performance. Human capital theory proposes that an individual's general or firm-specific human capital is positively related to compensation. However, empirical studies examining firm-specific human capital's association with higher employee compensation have been inconclusive. The current study proposes that firm-specific human capital be categorized as task-specific and non-task-specific. Employees accumulate task-specific human capital through duties conducted in their current position. Non-task-specific human capital represents experiences gained in prior positions to an employee's current job within the firm. Utilizing human capital data from 38,390 employees representing 76 firms in the IT sector, this study examines the association between forms of human capital and employee compensation at different levels of firm productivity. Results show that task-specific human capital is associated with higher employee compensation. In addition, firm productivity moderates this association.


This study investigates whether stochastic properties of the unemployment rate in ten Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE) countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia can be explained by the nonaccelerating inflation rate of unemployment or the hysteresis hypotheses. We primarily show the cross-sectional dependence in unemployment rates, and then apply panel-based unit root tests that take cross-section dependence into account. The empirical findings indicate that there is no mean-reverting process in unemployment rates for ten CEE countries. Thus the results provide evidences for validity of the hysteresis hypothesis—unemployment persistence—in related CEE countries.


The adaption of combinatorial duality to infinite graphs has been hampered by the fact that while cuts (or cocycles) can be infinite, cycles are finite. We show that these obstructions fall away when duality is reinterpreted on the basis of a 'singular' approach to graph homology, whose cycles are defined topologically in a space formed by the graph together with its ends and can be infinite. Our approach enables us to complete Thomassen's results about 'finitary' duality for infinite graphs to full duality, including his extensions of Whitney's theorem.


The individual components of the environment are significantly influenced by agricultural activities carried out in the agricultural landscape. The objective of this study was to evaluate the selected agri-environmental indicators, such as the use of fertilizers, the use of chemicals, and the consumption of water in agriculture. Measures of Axis 2 of the Rural Development Programme of the Slovak Republic for the period of 2007-2013 helped to mitigate the negative impact of agricultural practices and activities on the selected individual components of the environment and landscape. The study is focused on the selected measures of the Axis 2: agro-environmental NATURA 2000 payments on agricultural land and animal welfare payments. The most important measure, agri-environmental payment is divided into three groups of the sub measures: environmentally friendly practices, soil conservation measures and conservation of biodiversity. The purpose of the implementation of such measures is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the environment, for example to improve the biodiversity, soil quality and animal welfare, etc. The most widely used measure; agri-environmental payment also aims to maintain the ecosystem, species and genetic diversity by maintaining the prescribed methods of land management. Especially activities within the area-related measures have contributed to improvement of the quality of agricultural land and water by limitation of fertilizers and pesticides use. Most of the selected measures contributed to the better adaptation of agriculture to climate change and emission of GHG. Agri-environment payments play a prominent role in supporting the sustainable development of rural areas and in responding to society ́s increasing demands for environmental services. They encourage farmers and land managers to serve society by introducing or continuing to apply agricultural practices that contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation and that are compatible with the protection and improvement of the environment, the landscape and its features, natural resources, and the soil and genetic diversity.


This research have character of descriptively, this thesis done at Islam Hospital of Hasanah
Muhammadiyah Town of Mojokerto with title Formulation Of Marketing Strategy at Islam
Hospital of Hasanah Muhammadiyah Town of Mojokerto.
The objective of this research is know weakness and strength and know threat and opportunity at
hospital so can be determine appropriate marketing strategy at Hospital Islam of Hasanah.
Analyzer the used is analyzer of EFAS (Eksternal Factory Analysis Summary) and IFAS
(Internal Factor Analysis Summary) then entered in SWOT matrix to obtain and know what
strategy is appropriate and can be applied at hospital.
Result from analysis of EFAS show factor of eksternal hospital opportunity is demography,
technological, government and supplier. While factor becoming threat is economics, cultural
social and competitor. Total for score by analysis of EFAS equal to 2,34 indicating that factor of
eksternal have influence is to hospital. While result of analysis of IFAS show internal factor of
hospital strength is price, customer service, product/service and people. While factor becoming
weakness that is process, promotion, physical evidence and place. Total for score by analysis of
IFAS equal to 2,28 indicating internal factor of RSI Hasanah mean compared to competitor.
Pursuant to research result can be concluded that appropriate strategy for the RSI Hasanah is
Market Penetrating Strategy, with aim to maintain customer which have used hospital service
and draw competitor consumer. This strategy improve productivity of marketing mix element by
improve marketing mix application developed service type and improve activity of promotion on
the chance of hospital can draw new consumer. Through policy of competitive price and also
correction of system of service hence RSI Hasanah can compete between hospital which
progressively moun.


While the field of marketing science has long been interested in the effects of promotional efforts, public policy issues involving illegal marketer fraud and deception have generally not been addressed in this body of work. One key exception to this generalization is a Marketing Science article suggesting that the practice of "bait and switch" may be beneficial to consumers and, furthermore, that the Federal Trade Commission should investigate revising its standards to legitimize this practice Gerstner and Hess 1990. This finding and recommendation seemed so significant that it is surprising that the recommendation has not, to date, been explored in greater detail.

In this paper we further explore the impact of the two components of bait and switch: out of stock and upselling. We do this by using Moorthy's 1993 theoretical modeling framework to systematically extend and assess the Gerstner and Hess model. We find that the previously reported increase in consumer welfare that arises from allowing out-of-stock conditions at retailers is actually due to the utility created by salespersons' explaining product features and benefits, not by the out of stock. Thus, the ramifications of both our legal and modeling analyses are that deceptive bait-and-switch practices result in harm to consumers and should not be legalized.

Our paper concludes by proposing worthwhile modeling issues for further exploration. In addition, we suggest that our procedure for analyzing public policy issues by exploring the confluence of law, consumer behavior, and marketing models can serve as a useful exemplar for further contributions to public policy by marketing scientists.


This paper investigates the relationship between political instability and labor market institutions. We develop a theoretical model in which some features of the political process, by reducing the future yields of policy interventions, induce an incumbent government to choose labor market institutions that create wage rents and divert resources from public good provision and social insurance. We test these predictions empirically using panel data for 21 OECD countries for the period 1985-2006. We find strong evidence that political turnover and political polarization – our measures of political instability – are associated with a more regulated labor market, lower unemployment benefit replacement rates, and a smaller tax wedge on labor. We show also that there are strong complementarities between different dimensions of political instability, and evaluate their impact on labour market institutions across countries.


Nonvisual arrestins are regulated by direct post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and nitrosylation. However, whether arrestins are regulated by other post-translational modifications remains unknown. Here we show that nonvisual arrestins are modified by small ubiquitin-like modifier 1 (SUMO-1) upon activation of β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR). Lysine residues 295 and 400 in arrestin-3 fall within canonical SUMO consensus sites, and mutagenic analysis reveals that Lys-400 represents the main SUMOylation site. Depletion of the SUMO E2 modifying enzyme Ubc9 blocks arrestin-3 SUMOylation and attenuates β2AR internalization, suggesting that arrestin SUMOylation mediates G protein-coupled receptor endocytosis. Consistent with this, expression of a SUMO-deficient arrestin mutant failed to promote β2AR internalization as compared with wild-type arrestin-3. Our data reveal an unprecedented role for SUMOylation in mediating GPCR endocytosis and provide novel mechanistic insight into arrestin function and regulation.


The work is devoted to analysis of an actual problem – the problem of relation between geometry and natural sciences. Methodological basis of the analysis is the unity of formal logic and of rational dialectics. It is shown within the framework of this basis that geometry represents field of natural sciences. Definitions of the basic concepts "point", "line", "straight line", "surface", "plane surface", and "triangle" of the elementary (Euclidean) geometry are formulated. The natural-scientific proof of the parallel axiom ( Euclid 's fifth postulate), classification of triangles on the basis of a qualitative (essential) sign, and also material interpretation of Euclid 's, Lobachevski's, and Riemann's geometries are proposed.


Corporation tax is an inefficient way to raise state revenue. It has a negative impact on growth, investment, and entrepreneurship. A 2014 review of the literature found that 57.6% of the amount raised by corporation tax is born by workers. Since 1981, the average corporate tax rate in key OECD countries has dropped from 47% to 29%. However, corporate tax revenues as a share of all taxation have remained stable during this time and even increased as a share of GDP. Economic developments, such as globalisation and the growing importance of intangible assets, underscore the need for reform of the way in which capital income is taxed. The only radical reform that would improve on the status quo without introducing new distortions would be to replace corporation tax with a tax on the income distributed to shareholders. Such a system would overcome the weaknesses of the current system, while reducing incentives for avoidance and raising revenue in a growth-friendly way. This reform could be implemented in stages to ensure the UK's international tax treaties are updated. Once fully implemented, the new system would see UK shareholders taxed on their worldwide capital income, while foreign shareholders in UK firms would be exempt.


Describes a study designed to assess the health effect of the agricultural reuse of urban wastewater in a peri‐urban area of Marrakesh, by evaluating the impact of this practice on the transmission of two pathogenic protozoan infections – giardiasis and amoebiasis. The study was carried out on two child populations (608 individuals). The exposed group (321 children) came from the wastewater spreading area, while the non‐exposed group (287 children) came from a control peri‐urban area where surface water is used in irrigation. Results showed that, of the exposed group, 67 per cent of the examined persons were infected by giardiasis and/or amoebiasis, versus 26 per cent in the control zone. Concludes that the risk of infection rate attributable to reuse of waste water is about 41 per cent. This excess of parasitic infestation in the spreading zone may be related to wastewater reuse in agriculture, which creates a polluted environment.


Chapter one systematically reviews the literature on the psychological impact of
breastfeeding on mothers. Whilst breastfeeding is indicated as the superior
feeding choice for infants, the full impact on mothers is under-reported. Results
show that breastfeeding and weaning have a varied psychological impact on
maternal wellbeing, identity and perceptions of role. Where incompatibilities
between mothers" expectations and lived experiences occur, or where
disagreement between self and others is perceived, dissonance, distress and
division result. Discussion is made of the implications of these findings for clinical
service provision, training and research.
Chapter two presents a grounded theory analysis of fathers" experiences of
attending traumatic childbirth. Despite an increasing trend over recent decades
for fathers to attend their children"s births, relatively little is still known about the
potential impact of having been present during a traumatic labour or delivery
upon them. In response to this gap in the literature, the current study reports
theoretical concepts generated from interviews with fathers. A model of the
experiences recounted is also presented, showing that, within the context of their
past experiences, antenatal preparation and confidence in the care provided,
fathers cycled between seeking control, passive observing, and helplessness.
Findings are discussed in relation to the existing literature and the implications of
this novel contribution to the subject area for future research and service
provision are highlighted.
Chapter three discusses the candidate"s personal observations and reflections on
the research process. The impact of parenthood and gender upon research into
the perinatal period is considered and effects are noted on the researcher,
participants and the research itself. Reflections are discussed with reference to
previous research into gender and motherhood in qualitative research, and a call
is made for researchers to acknowledge their epistemological positions within
their subject fields as a matter of routine.


No alpha(1)-antitrypsin could be detected in the serum of a 24-year-old man with advanced pulmonary emphysema by agarose electrophoresis, immnuno-electrophoresis, double diffusion in agarose gel, or alpha(1)-antitrypsin genetic typing by a combination of starch-gel electrophoresis and crossed antigen-antibody electrophoresis. A circulating alpha(1)-antitrypsin inactivator could not be demonstrated. Evidence was obtained in family members of genetic transmission of this new alpha(1)-antitrypsin variant.


Acoustic emission (AE) is an emerging technique for the condition monitoring of rotating machinery components, including both rolling element bearings and gears. Due to the high frequency range over which AE is sensitive to, AE potentially offers advantages for detection of incipient damage at an early stage of failure when compared to traditional techniques such as vibration. This thesis first investigates the effects of increased speed and load on the generation of AE within cylindrical roller bearings, and determines similarities and differences between AE and vibrational data. A traditional AE sensor was used in conjunction with a Dual Function Sensor (DFS) capable of recording both low frequency AE and vibration. It was shown that increasing speed has the greatest influence on the AE signals produced whereas the effect of load was limited. Order analysis of both AE and vibrational data also demonstrated that characteristic bearing defect frequencies are visible in the AE spectrum but not in the vibrational spectrum. Bearings with seeded defects upon the outer raceway were investigated under a fixed speed and it was found that load increased the energy within the signal frequency spectrum as the damaged increased. Two bearing life tests were also conducted, one accelerated to 12 hours and the second extended to over 2800 hours however as damage detection only occurred after significant damage had developed, it is concluded that AE of seeded defects indicate a false sensitivity. Both life tests were able to demonstrate that signal levels increase as damage propagates over the bearing raceway however it was not possible to determine any advantage of using AE over vibration. AE sensors were also applied to test rigs of increased complexity, including the monitoring a wind turbine planet bearing and a helical gear pair. AE was able to detect cracking of the shaft surface within the wind turbine bearing test rig which was mistaken for being an inner raceway failure, highlighting the difficulty in damage location. A tooth failure occurred during the testing of the helical gear pair however AE was not able to detect growing damage, instead only increasing in amplitude after the tooth had sheared off, similar to the detection from vibrational signals.


Adverse side effects of chemotherapy during cancer treatment have shifted considerable focus towards therapies that are not only targeted but are also devoid of toxic side effects. We evaluated the antitumorigenic activity of sulphur, and delineated the molecular mechanisms underlying sulphurinduced apoptosis in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cells. A search for the underlying mechanism revealed that the choice between the two cellular processes, NFκBp65-mediated survival and p53-mediated apoptosis, was decided by the competition for a limited pool of transcriptional coactivator protein p300 in NSCLC cells. In contrast, sulphur inhibited otherwise upregulated survival signaling in NSCLC cells by perturbing the nuclear translocation of p65NFκB, its association with p300 histone acetylase, and subsequent transcription of Bcl-2. Under such anti-survival condition, induction of p53-p300 cross-talk enhanced the transcriptional activity of p53 and intrinsic mitochondrial death cascade. Overall, the findings of this preclinical study clearly delineated the molecular mechanism underlying the apoptogenic effect of the non-toxic homeopathic remedy, sulphur, in NSCLC cells.


In the modern economic era, Intellectual capital (IC) is a key competitive advantage for a company. Thereby, this study is conducted to investigate the impact of Intellectual Capital and its components on the firm value in Consumer Service Sector and Capital Goods Sector companies listed in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in Sri Lanka. The study is done as a comparison between these two sectors. It examined the data for the period from 2015 to 2020 based on the sample of 25 companies in Consumer Service Sector and 20 companies in Capital Goods Sector by usingtwo regression models in random effect. Dependent variable for the study is Firm value and independent variables are Intellectual capital, capital employed efficiency, human capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency. The measurement of the Intellectual capital is Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) andmarketto book value (MB) is used as the measurement of the firm value of the companies in both sectors. The data gathered from both sectors is analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis. The results and findings of the study evident that, the intellectual capital has a positive impact on the firm value in both the consumer service sector and capital goods sector companies. However, when consider the component wise impact of intellectual capital, capital employed efficiency (CEE) has a positive impact on the firm value and human capital efficiency (HCE) and structural capital efficiency (SCE) have not a positive impact on firm value in both sectors. The findings of the study contribute to identify the impact of intellectual capital on the firm value in two sectors in the Sri Lanka economy. The results are significant for shareholders, owners, managers, employees, and all stakeholders. Especially, it is significant for the investors for their decisions on investments. In addition, companies could make investment decisions on Intellectual Capital to get competitive advantages and face market challenges and competition.


Thermal and electrical transport characterization in devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials have great implications in many areas such as nano- and optoelectronics, and energy generation, conversion, and storage systems. In many of these applications, the performance of the 2D-based devices is hindered by the heterogeneities such as grain boundaries (GBs) and interfaces. In the case of graphene, the effects of GBs on its electrical properties are well investigated. One of the goals of this dissertation is to establish an understanding on how individual graphene GBs affect the overall thermal properties of graphene films. Measurements on individual GBs are performed to identify the correlations between the thermal resistance imposed by the GBs and the crystallographic mismatch across the GB. Benchmarking the experimental results against theoretical predictions allows us to identify the governing mechanisms of the phonon scattering across GBs with different mismatch angles and morphological details. Next, the thermal transport in the through-plane direction is investigated which accounts for a major fraction of power dissipation from hot-spots in 2D-based devices. First, the interfacial thermal transport in graphene and MoS2 monolayers is characterized which may serve as the bottle-neck of dissipation in the through-plane direction. The effects of interface coupling and metal encapsulation are explored on thermal boundary conductance (TBC) across MoS2 and graphene monolayers. A system-level analysis of heat transport in the through-plane direction is also carried out to quantify the thermal dissipation limits in 2D-material-based structures on different technologically-viable substrates, e.g., diamond, aluminum nitride (AlN), sapphire, and silicon with different oxide types/thicknesses. The results highlight the importance of simultaneous optimization of the interfaces and the substrate and provides a route to maximize the heat removal capability of 2D-material-based devices. Another goal of this thesis was to develop a method for reliable fabrication of high-quality lateral interfaces between graphene and MoS2 monolayers for all-2D circuitry applications. The results show that the MoS2-graphene devices exhibit an order of magnitude higher mobility and lower noise metrics compared to the conventional MoS2-metal devices as a result of energy band rearrangement and smaller Schottky barrier height at the contacts.


This study focuses on studying the asymptotical stability analysis problem for discrete-time systems with time-varying delay. By utilising the S-procedure and an inequality technique, a novel delay-dependent stability criterion is derived in terms of two linear matrix inequalities. Since no slack variable is introduced, less decision variables are involved in the stability condition and the burden of numerical computation is thus reduced. It is also rigorously proved that the authors' result is less conservative than some recent ones. Furthermore, the developed approach is extended to address the stability analysis problem of delayed discrete-time systems with norm-bounded uncertainties. Finally, numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.


The collaboration of the various distributed generation (DG) units is required to meet the increasing electricity demand. To run parallel-connected inverters for microgrid load sharing, several control strategies have been developed. Among these methods, the droop control method was widely accepted in the research community due to the lack of important communication links between parallel-connected inverters to control the DG units within a microgrid. To help to solve the power-sharing process, keep to frequency and voltage constrained limits in islanded mode microgrid system. The parameter values must therefore be chosen accurately by using the optimization technique. Optimization techniques are a hot topic of researchers; hence This paper discusses the microgrid droop controller during islanding using the salp swarm inspired algorithm (SSIA). To obtain a better fine microgrid output reaction during islanding, SSIA-based droop control is used to optimally determine the PI gain and the coefficients of the prolapse control. The results of the simulation show that the SSIA-based droop control can control the power quality of the microgrid by ensuring that the keep to frequency and voltage constrained limits and deviation and proper power-sharing occurs during the microgrid island mode during a load change.


This text presents a set of reflections about the use of electronic publishing in African countries, as a means of access to scientific information. It includes brief remarks about electronic publishing, their advantages and benefits. The text continues with a discussion about the need to find solutions to the problem of the different degrees of access to scientific and technological information between African and developed countries. This includes greater ease in obtaining online information that can aid in the diffusion of scientific data through electronic publishing, in order to support the development of communities, government and particularly the scientific and academic communities of African countries. Attention is given to the matter of the improved circulation of the results of research projects conducted in African countries. The text also focuses on the attitudes and initiatives related to the improvement of the current status of science and technology in African countries. It also examines existing African electronic publishing, which illustrate the degree of concern about this issue among African leaders and office holders. Finally, a brief discussion about the situation of Angola in the access to electronic information is presented.


INTRODUCTION
Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) is an effective but underutilized option for the surgical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). With low adoption, questions arise surrounding patients access to care. It is unclear whether patients undergoing HoLEP are local or specifically seek care from afar. We looked to determine the proportion of patients who traveled out-of-state for HoLEP treatment and the impact of travel on peri and postoperative metrics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed a retrospective cohort study evaluating patients that underwent HoLEP at a single institution from 2007-2019. Patient demographic, perioperative data, postoperative outcomes, travel distance and income data were compared between those who traveled and did not travel out-of-state for care.

RESULTS
From 2007-2019, 1565 patients underwent HoLEP at our institution. The mean age was 70.0 years, average body mass index (BMI) of 27.9 kg/m2, and 91.6% identified as Caucasian; 44.2% of patients traveled from out-of-state for HoLEP care, traveling a median of 597 miles. Patients who came from out-of-state had larger prostates (p = 0.005) and worse preoperative International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) total and bother scores (p = 0.002). There was no difference in immediate, 30 or 90 day complications rates. In- and out-of-state patients had similar postoperative urinary and functional outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
A large proportion of patients specifically seek out HoLEP and travel out-of-state for care. The reasons are likely multifactorial -including advanced disease, lack of local care and healthcare consumerism. These results have implications both for those currently providing HoLEP as a treatment option as well as those motivated to start a HoLEP practice.


Image quality has been studied almost exclusively as a global image property. It is common practice for IQA databases and metrics to quantify this abstract concept with a single number per image. We propose an approach to blind IQA based on a convolutional neural network (patchnet) that was trained on a novel set of 32,000 individually annotated patches of 64×64 pixel. We use this model to generate spatially small local quality maps of images taken from KonIQ-10k, a large and diverse in-the-wild database of authentically distorted images. We show that our local quality indicator correlates well with global MOS, going beyond the predictive ability of quality related attributes such as sharpness. Averaging of patchnet predictions already outperforms classical approaches to global MOS prediction that were trained to include global image features. We additionally experiment with a generic second-stage aggregation CNN to estimate mean opinion scores. Our latter model performs comparable to the state of the art with a PLCC of 0.81 on KonIQ-10k.


Whether general patterns of signal evolution can be explained by selection for signal efficacy (detectability) has yet to be established. To establish the importance of signal efficacy requires evidence that both signals and their detectability to receivers have evolved in response to habitat shifts in a predictable fashion. Here, we test whether habitat structure has predictable effects on the evolution of male and female display coloration in 21 lineages of African dwarf chameleon (Bradypodion), based on a phylogenetic comparative analysis. We used quantitative measures of display coloration and estimated signal detectability as the contrast of those colors among body regions or against the background vegetation as perceived by the chameleon visual system. Both male and female display colors varied predictably with different aspects of habitat structure. In several (but not all) instances, habitat‐associated shifts in display coloration resulted in habitat‐associated variation in detectability. While males exhibit a remarkable variety of colors and patterns, female display coloration is highly conserved, consisting in all populations of contrasting dark and light elements. This color pattern may maximize detectability across all habitat types, potentially explaining female conservatism. Overall, our results support the view that selection for signal efficacy plays an important role in the evolution of animal signals.


Abstract: The Scott-Knott cluster analysis is an alternative approach to mean comparisons with high power and no subset overlapping. It is well suited for the statistical challenges in agronomy associated with testing new cultivars, crop treatments, or methods. The original Scott-Knott test was developed to be used under balanced designs; therefore, the loss of a single plot can signifi-cantly increase the rate of type I error. In order to avoid type I error inflation from missing plots, we propose an adjustment that maintains power similar to the original test while adding error protection. The proposed adjustment was validated from more than 40 million simulated experiments following the Monte Carlo method. The results indicate a minimal loss of power with a satisfactory type I error control, while keeping the features of the original procedure. A user-friendly SAS macro is provided for this analysis. Key words : Type I error rate, unequal number of observations, Monte Carlo simulations, means clustering procedures, SAS macro.


Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are more powerful than Deep Neural Networks (DNN), as they are able to better reduce spectral variation in the input signal. This has also been confirmed experimentally, with CNNs showing improvements in word error rate (WER) between 4-12% relative compared to DNNs across a variety of LVCSR tasks. In this paper, we describe different methods to further improve CNN performance. First, we conduct a deep analysis comparing limited weight sharing and full weight sharing with state-of-the-art features. Second, we apply various pooling strategies that have shown improvements in computer vision to an LVCSR speech task. Third, we introduce a method to effectively incorporate speaker adaptation, namely fMLLR, into log-mel features. Fourth, we introduce an effective strategy to use dropout during Hessian-free sequence training. We find that with these improvements, particularly with fMLLR and dropout, we are able to achieve an additional 2-3% relative improvement in WER on a 50-hour Broadcast News task over our previous best CNN baseline. On a larger 400-hour BN task, we find an additional 4-5% relative improvement over our previous best CNN baseline.


This study explored school-wide technology integration at two sites where traditional barriers to technology were minimized. Traditional barriers include access to technology and support to integrate technology. A school-wide technology integration model was introduced at both sites ten years ago. Now, ten years later, what is being sustained? In particular, what were the stories of sustainability concerning school-wide technology integration. What afforded and constrained technology integration over the course of ten years? Data were collected via interviews, observations, and document analysis at two sites within the same southern state over periods of five and four days. Participants were purposively sampled based on the number of years employed at each site. I interviewed faculty members who were present during initial implementation to the extent possible. Additionally I interviewed school-level administration and the media coordinator, regardless of number of years at the sites as they were key stakeholders within the model being implemented. Looking at each site independently and then looking across sites yielded much information. The first site, Basking Elementary, was having a difficult time sustaining implementation. While there were literally signs stating the model was at the school, in practice it was much harder to see evidence. Faculty members interviewed spoke of difficulties implementing the model but also of the benefits of the model. At the second site, implementation was strong and had in fact spread to other schools within the district. Teachers spoke of frustrations with the model, but integration was continuing. Adequate funding is crucial as is professional development geared toward new faculty, including new leadership, and explaining the how and why of the model is important to sustain the work begun ten years ago. Teacher-buy in, generated by engaged leadership, and developing a cohesive school culture is also important to sustaining technology integration over time.


The prevalence of both nutritional as well as lifestyle disorders is common among children as quoted by the World Health Organization (2010) and we studied this in both urban and rural areas of Coimbatore city. The students were selected from 5 schools each of Matriculation, Corporation and Panchayat in the age group of 6-15 years. Background information of the 2180 students from Matriculation schools, 2122 students from Corporation and 1870 from Panchayat schools was obtained using an interview schedule. Nutritional deficiencies among children were recorded using the physical signs and symptoms. Lifestyle disorders, particularly the prevalence of hypertension was observed among the students by measurement of systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Anthropometric measurements like height, weight, mid upper arm circumference were done using standardized procedures. It could be deciphered from the anthropometric measurements that 8.44% of boys and 7.43% of girls from Matriculation schools were obese, while in Corporation schools, 5.73% boys and 4.45 % girls and in Panchayat schools 2.65% boys and 1.59% girls were found to be obese. Common nutritional deficiencies identified among the students include anemia prevalent among 24.22% boys and 21.54% girls in Matriculation schools while it was 35.43% boys and 46% girls in the Corporation schools and 34.4% boys and 41.92% girls from Panchayat schools among the pre-adolescent group. Among the adolescents, 47.11% boys and 66.82% girls in Matriculation schools, 64.65% boys and 69.52% girls in Corporation schools and 58.67% boys and 67.5% girls in Panchayat schools had anemia. Other common nutritional deficiencies identified were vitamin A and skin infections. Thus, the extremities of obesity as well as underweight and nutritional deficiencies are prevalent among the school going children. The common lifestyle disorders prevalent among the children were obesity and hypertension.


Feasibility of dissolution of post-etch residues (PERs) formed on copper in formulations containing a mixture of urea (U)-choline chloride (CC) deep eutectic solvent (DES) and water (W) has been investigated. PER films were formed on copper surface by spin coating deep ultraviolet photoresist film, followed by CF4/O2 plasma etching. The residue removal process was characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Effective removal of PER was obtained in water-DES solutions containing as high as 90% water in the temperature range of 20-40 °C. Additionally, the etch rates of copper and siloxane-based low-k dielectric material in water-DES solutions were found to be lower than that in deaerated 250:1 [H2O: hydrofluoric acid (HF) (49%) volume ratio] dilute HF solutions.


The paper examines the impact of export promotion on aggregate unemployment. We findnd that increases in the share of Export Promotion Agencies' (EPAs) budgets on total exports lead to small decreases in aggregate unemployment. This effect is amplifi ed when export promotion efforts are concentrated in sectors in which the country has a comparative advantage. On the other hand, when EPAs aim at reducing aggregate unemployment by focusing their efforts in sectors with high levels of unemployment, then aggregate unemployment increases. These results suggest that even if EPAs' pri- orities were to shift towards reducing unemployment, this would be better addressed by focusing on sectors in which the country has a comparative advantage rather than sectors with high labor market frictions.


The acceptor specificity of recombinant full-length, membrane-bound fucosyltransferases, expressed in COS-7 cells, and soluble, protein-A chimeric forms of alpha 1,3-fucosyltransferase (Fuc-T) III, Fuc-TIV, and Fuc-TV was analyzed toward a broad panel of oligosaccharide, glycolipid, and glycoprotein substrates. Our results on the full-length enzymes confirm and extend previous studies. However, chimeric Fuc-Ts showed increased activity toward glycoproteins, whereas chimeric Fuc-TIII and Fuc-TV had a decreased activity with glycosphingolipids, compared to the full-length enzymes. Unexpectedly, chimeric Fuc-TV exhibited a GDP-fucose hydrolyzing activity. In substrates with multiple acceptor sites, the preferred site of fucosylation was identified. Fuc-TIII and Fuc-TV catalyzed fucose transfer exclusively to OH-3 of glucose in lacto-N-neotetraose and lacto-N-tetraose, respectively, as was demonstrated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Thin layer chromatography immunostaining revealed that FucT-IV preferred the distal GlcNAc residue in nLc6Cer, whereas Fuc-TV preferred the proximal Gl-cNAc residue. Incubation of Fuc-TIV or Fuc-TV with VI3NeuAcnLc6Cer resulted in products with the sialyl-LewisX epitope as well as the VIM-2 structure. To identify polar groups on acceptors that function in enzyme binding, deoxygenated substrate analogs were tested as acceptors. All three Fuc-Ts had an absolute requirement for a hydroxyl at C-6 of galactose in addition to the accepting hydroxyl at C-3 or C-4 of GlcNAc.