BACKGROUND: Programming Lego Mindstorms robots is used for problem-based learning in science. Children with physical disabilities and complex communication needs may be limited in their ability to participate. OBJECTIVES: To involve a 12 year old student with cerebral palsy in programming Lego robots in the classroom by using her speech generating device (SGD). To evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of using the two-switch scanning mode on the SGD for programming. METHODS: The participant tested classmates' robot programs using infrared on her SGD, and she accessed the programming software via a customized mouse manipulation page. Her participation in programming activities was measured with Goal Attainment Scaling, descriptive observations, and measures of effectiveness and efficiency. RESULTS: The participant progressed from observing classmates to independently testing robot programs in the classroom. In individualized sessions she wrote a simple program, with support. Limitations in scanning led to unwanted cursor movements and long task times. CONCLUSIONS: The participant actively participated in the robot programming activity. Actually programming was better suited to individual instruction because of her scanning inefficiency. Using the SGD for robot control affords the potential to also discuss concepts, but this novice user did not yet have the skills to utilize this aspect.


The consistency of the meaning of data in data warehouse is a key factor that affects the applications based on the data warehouse. In this paper, a system of cleaning and quality control of data in investment research system was built after investigating the estimation system, TA and other business systems of fund management company and analyzing the requirement of users. The system consists of an ETL program, and other products such as oracle, oracle stored procedures. This design approach can meet business requirements, ensure system scalability, simplify the complexity of the development of ETL program and improve the maintainability of the system. The method used in this paper has a high reference value for design and development of application systems that had the same characteristics.


Phishing is an online crime that aims to create genuine looking websites to attract users and let them releasing their sensitive information on that fraud websites. Website phishing is one of the major attacks by which most of internet users are being fooled by the phisher. The best way to protect from phishing is to recognize a phish. Phishing emails usually appear to come from well-known organization and ask your personal information such as credit card number, security number, account number or passwords. What actually attacker does? The attacker creates the no of replicas of authenticate sites , and users are forced to direct to that websites by attracting them with offers. As standard mentioned in W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), I am proposing a system which can easily recognize the difference between authenticate site and phishing site. There are certain standards which are given by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), based on these standards I am choosing some features which can easily describe the difference between legit site and phish site. To protect you from phishing, I am proposing a model to determine the fraud sites. To determine the phishing attack, URL features and HTML features of web page are considered. Clustering algorithm such as K-Means clustering is applied on the database and prediction techniques such as Naive Bayes Classifier is applied. By applying this, probability of the web site as valid Phish or Invalid Phish. To check the validity of URL, if still we are not able decide the validity of web page then Naive Bayes Classifier is applied . Also training model is applied for the extraction of HTML tag features of site and probability.


The 'Building Resilience in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Northern Kenya' project was implemented in Turkana County, in Northern Kenya, between July 2012 and April 2015. The project was designed to build the resilience of project participants to a number of shocks and stresses: droughts – which threaten the area annually – floods and outbreaks of human and animal diseases on the one hand, and anthropocentric risks on the other hand, such as fire, livestock theft, and conflicts. The project worked at different levels to try and reduce households' vulnerability to these risks, through Community-Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) and integration of community-level plans and committees into the work of the county government. This Effectiveness Review used a quasi-experimental evaluation design to assess the impact of the project activities, at the household- and community-level. The results provide evidence that the project had had a positive impact on households' resilience capacities. This report is part of Oxfam's Effectiveness Review series.


Using respirometry, we examined the hypoxia tolerance of 31 teleost fish species (seven families) inhabiting coral reefs at a 2–5 m depth in the lagoon at Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef, Australia). All fishes studied maintained their rate of oxygen consumption down to relatively severe hypoxia (20–30% air saturation). Indeed, most fishes appeared unaffected by hypoxia until the oxygen level fell below 10% of air saturation. This, hitherto unrecognized, hypoxia tolerance among coral reef fishes could reflect adaptations to nocturnal hypoxia in tide pools. It may also be needed to enable fishes to reside deep within branching coral at night to avoid predation. Widespread hypoxia tolerance in a habitat with such an extreme biodiversity as coral reefs indicate that there is a wealth of hypoxia related adaptations to be discovered in reef fishes.


Background

Essential hypertension remains a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHO) and stroke, and its prevalence is greater, more severe, occurs earlier, and is less well controlled among black individuals than among white individuals, at all ages after young adult hood (Comoni-Huntley et al, 1989).

In Caucasians, studies have shown that β2-adrenoceptor polymorphism accounts for the variability in the vascular responsiveness to the agonist isoprenaline (Cockcroft et al, 1994 and Lang et al, 1995). Individuals homozygous for Gln 27 β2-adrenoceptor showed reduced responses due to chronic down regulation of β2-adrenoceptor in the vasculature. Therefore, variability in response to isoprenaline was determined by β2-adrenoceptor gene polymorphism.

Aim and Objectives

This study investigated whether there is a relationship between the ArglGly16 and Gln/Glu 27 β2-adrenoceptor polymorphisms by examining whether the incidence of occurrence is prevalent in African Trinidadians. In addition, comparison data of vascular responses with arterial compliance using pulse wave analysis (PWA) was correlated. The study aimed to give evidence if these polymorphisms contributed fully or in part, to determine the disease severity, or response to therapy in hypertensive individuals. It also aimed to prove that PWA is a reliable and therapeutic tool, in diagnosing and treating blood pressure, as reliance on brachial artery recording of blood pressure, alone, is becoming a poor indicator and predictor of risk.

Methods

The study genotyped 408 African Trinidadian subjects for the β2-adrenoceptor polymorphism and used the technique of applanation tonometry to analyse the central pulse wave, generating information on arterial compliance, left ventricular function and coronary perfusion. Blood pressure was measured in triplicate using a semiautomatic blood pressure meter after 15 minutes of supine rest and bloods lipids assessed using a validated portable lipid cartridge. This was achieved by subjects attending a nurse-led cardiovascular risk clinic.

Results

There is no significant association between the Arg-Glyl6 polymorphism and the Gln-Glu27 polymorphism and hypertension in African Trinidadians. Interestingly, the appearance of the Glu27 polymorphism was very uncommon in African Trinidadians and this is constant with findings by Candy et al, 2000.

Conclusion

There is no difference in the frequency of β2-polymorphisms between normotensive and hypertensive African Trinidadians, and are unlikely to be a contributing factor for essential hypertension. Therefore, hypertension would indicate that it is polygenic with complex gene to gene and gene environmental interactions, through multiple, indirect and intermediate phenotypes and interactions.


In East Asian countries, oriental medicine (OM) has been used for thousands of years to manage a wide variety of chronic wounds, but in western countries the role of OM in wound care remains to be established. To summarize current practices and available evidence of OM in the management of chronic wounds, a search of Chinese and English databases was conducted and summarized with an emphasis on randomized controlled trials, clinical trials, and meta-analyses of topical and systemic OM treatments. Hundreds of reports were identified, mostly in the Chinese literature, but few randomized controlled clinical studies have been conducted. Available preclinical and clinical evidence suggests there may be a role for OM modalities, especially herbal medicine, in the management of chronic wounds. Before conducting the needed rigorous clinical studies, wound care experts should agree on and help standardize herbal formulations — a unique challenge for the usually individualized OM approach to care. However, the literature suggests uncovering pathways for future research may help patients all over the world benefit from the thousands of years of documented experience managing chronic wounds


computing has pioneered the area of On-demand services. The customer can choose the resources according to the current needs with the facility of incrementing and decrementing the resources in the future. It generally follows a pay-as-you-use model which has proven beneficial for enterprises and individual users alike. Since the services are hosted over the internet, one of the recent concerns that are rising among the users is about the location of their data. Sometimes it is necessary for the data to stay in a particular jurisdiction. Therefore, it may be required for the organization to verify the location of their data from time to time. Here in this paper we propose a mechanism based on remote attestation technology of trusted platform module. Remote attestation technique is used to validate the current location of the data, and the generated result is passed to the user/verifier. The very fact that the trusted platform module is tamper proof provides the basis for the accuracy of the result.


OBJECTIVE To evaluate interobserver agreement for features used in presumptive diagnosis of acute noncompressive nucleus pulposus extrusion (ANNPE) or ischemic myelopathy by MRI, compare findings on postcontrast T1-weighted (T1W) MRI sequences with fat saturation (FS) for the 2 conditions, and determine whether length and directional patterns of hyperintensity of the intramedullary spinal cord on T2-weighted (T2W) fast spin echo (FSE) MRI sequences differ between dogs with these diseases. DESIGN Retrospective, observational study. ANIMALS 20 dogs with clinical signs compatible with ANNPE (n = 14) or ischemic myelopathy (6). PROCEDURES 3 observers evaluated MRI data (including T2W FSE, T2W single-shot FSE, and T1W FS sequences) for dogs with a presumptive diagnosis of ischemic myelopathy or ANNPE. Interobserver agreement for variables of interest including presumptive diagnosis was assessed by κ statistic calculations. Associations between diagnosis and variables of interest were assessed with Fisher exact or Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests. RESULTS Perfect interobserver agreement (κ = 1 for all comparisons) was found for the presumptive diagnosis of ischemic myelopathy versus ANNPE. Meningeal enhancement on postcontrast T1W FS MRI images and nonlongitudinal directional pattern of intramedullary hyperintensity on T2W FSE images were significantly associated with a diagnosis of ANNPE. Greater length of intramedullary hyperintensity was significantly associated with a diagnosis of ischemic myelopathy. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Directional pattern and length of intramedullary hyperintensity on T2W FSE MRI images and enhancement patterns in postcontrast T1W FS sequences may provide important contributions to the criteria currently used in the presumptive diagnosis of ischemic myelopathy versus ANNPE.


Background/Aims Pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) is widely performed in patients with idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM) to improve vision. Postoperative visual field defects (VFDs) have been previously reported. However, whether they occur when using the most recent PPV system, and the frequency of VFDs as measured by standard automated perimetry, remain poorly documented and were examined in this study. Methods Data of 30 eyes (30 patients; mean age, 66.1 years; 15 men) who underwent PPV for iERM during February 2016–June 2019 and had preoperative and postoperative visual field measurements using standard automated perimetry (Humphrey visual field analyser 30-2 program) were retrospectively analysed. Eyes with diseases other than iERM, including moderate-to-severe cataract or preoperative VFDs were excluded. Results VFD, defined by the Anderson and Patella's criteria, was found in 73.3% of the eyes 1 month after PPV. After age adjustment, internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling was identified as a risk factor for postoperative VFD (p=0.035; 95% CI 1.173 to 92.8). Postoperative VFD was frequently observed nasally (86.4%, p=0.002), and on optical coherence tomography measurements, ganglion cell layer (GCL) thinning was found temporal to the fovea (p=0.008). Thinning of the superior and inferior retinal nerve fibre layers and of the GCL temporal to the fovea were significant in eyes after ILM peeling (all p<0.05). Conclusion ILM peeling may cause inner retinal degeneration and lead to the development of VFDs after PPV, which should be further examined.


Online support groups (OSGs) are gaining more influence in the self-therapy of diseases and
distresses. Mainly, two kinds of helping mechanisms are to be found in OSGs: socioemotional
and task-oriented helping mechanisms. Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder in
which it is of great importance for the patients to follow a gluten-free diet (GFD), which is
difficult. Therefore, participation in an OSG could be meaningful for CD patients. But how do
CD patients who are active on Facebook participate in an OSG and is there a difference
between the participation on workdays and weekends? The question was answered by
analyzing 930 messages of 12 days in the German Facebook-group "Zoliakie Austausch". For
the analysis, the coding scheme by Finn (1999) served as a basis, because it includes
socioemotional and task-oriented codes, which he used to analyze an OSG for people with
disabilities. The members of "Zoliakie Austausch" participate by writing socioemotional and
task-oriented messages, of which the task-oriented messages are written more frequently. In
their messages, the group members provide and ask information about gluten-free products,
places to go to, recipes and medical topics. But the group members also share personal stories
and express feelings. In addition, differences were found between participation on workdays
and weekends: more negative feelings and seeking support is expressed on workdays and
more positive feelings on the weekend. Especially the aspect that task-oriented messages were
written more frequently, underlines that there are deficiencies in the health-care system
regarding the information that patients get about this disease. In addition, the group seems to
be a place for the members to share their own stories and feelings because they know that they
are among like-minded. The difference between participation on workdays and weekends
shows that real life has an influence on OSG-usage as well as the other way round. These
results can serve as a basis for many further research opportunities, for example to analyze the
effect of participation on the quality of life of the members or the adherence to the GFD. If
positive effects of participating will be proven, such a group could help every CD patient.


Abstract. A coupled biogeochemical-physical ocean model is used to study the seasonal and long–term variations of surface pCO2 in the North Atlantic Ocean. The model agrees well with recent underway pCO2 observations from the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) in various locations in the North Atlantic. Some of the distinct seasonal cycles observed in different parts of the North Atlantic are well reproduced by the model. In most regions except the subpolar domain, recent observed trends in pCO2 and air–sea carbon fluxes are also simulated by the model. Over the longer period between 1960–2008, the primary mode of surface pCO2 variability is dominated by the increasing trend associated with the invasion of anthropogenic CO2 into the ocean. We show that the spatial variability of this dominant increasing trend, to first order, can be explained by the surface ocean circulation and air–sea heat flux patterns. Regions with large surface mass transport and negative air–sea heat flux have the tendency to maintain lower surface pCO2. Regions of surface convergence and mean positive air–sea heat flux such as the subtropical gyre and the western subpolar gyre have a higher long–term surface pCO2 mean. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) plays a major role in controlling the variability occurring at interannual to decadal time scales. The NAO predominantly influences surface pCO2 in the North Atlantic by changing the physical properties of the North Atlantic water masses, particularly by perturbing the temperature and dissolved inorganic carbon in the surface ocean. We show that present underway sea surface pCO2 observations are valuable for both calibrating the model, as well as for improving our understanding of the regionally heterogeneous variability of surface pCO2. In addition, they can be important for detecting any long term change in the regional carbon cycle due to ongoing climate change.


The Wang Chao and Three Pagodas fault zones cut the western part of the Indochina block and run parallel to the Red River Fault. Evidence of intense ductile left- lateral shear is found in the Lansang gneisses, which form a 5 km wide elongated core along the Wang Chao fault zone. Dating by 4oAr/39Ar shows that such deformation probably termi- nated around 30.5 Ma. The Wang Chao and Three Pagodas faults offset the north striking lower Mesozoic metamorphic and magmatic belt of northern Thailand. 4oAr/39Ar results sug- gest that this belt suffered rapid cooling in the Tertiary, probably around 23 Ma. These results imply that the extrusion of the southwestern part of Indochina occurred in the upper Eocene- lower Oligocene. It probably induced rifting in some basins of the Gulf of Thailand and in the Malay and Mekong basins. In the Oligo-Miocene, the continuing penetration of India into Asia culminated with the extrusion of all of Indochina along the Ailao Shan- Red River fault. This occurred concurrently with the onset of E-W extension more to the south. Plotting in a geographical reference frame the diachronic time spans of movement on left-lateral faults east and southeast of Tibet implies that the northward movement of the Indian indenter successively initiated new strike-slip faults located farther and farther north along its path.


Short-form MMPI profiles of cerebrovascular accident and head injury patients with evidence of predominantly lateralized (N = 94) or diffuse (N = 59) cerebral damage were examined in conjunction with quantified computed axial tomographic and neuropsychological data. Results indicated that all groups tended to produce similar overall MMPI profiles, with primary elevations on Scales 8 (Sc) and 2 (D). Across the sample as a whole, patients with left hemisphere damage displayed somewhat more frequent Scale 2 elevations, although this finding was influenced by etiology effects. Left frontal lesion size among patients with left hemisphere damage was negatively associated with Scale 2 scores, and right posterior lesion size was positively associated with Scale 2 scores among patients with right hemisphere damage. Longer lesion durations generally were associated with increased MMPI scores. Results underscore the complex and multidimensional nature of the interrelationships between affective processes and localized cerebral damage.


Current dental implant research aims at understanding the biological basis for successful implant therapy. The aim of the study was to perform a full characterization of the effect of two commercial titanium (Ti) surfaces, OsseoSpeed and TiOblast, on the behaviour of mouse preosteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells. The effect of these Ti surfaces was compared with tissue culture plastic (TCP). In vitro experiments were performed to evaluate cytotoxicity, cell morphology and proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity, gene expression, and release of a wide array of osteoblast markers. No differences were observed on cell viability and cell proliferation. However, changes were observed in cell shape after 2 days, with a more branched morphology on OsseoSpeed compared to TiOblast. Moreover, OsseoSpeed surface increased BMP-2 secretion after 2 days, and this was followed by increased IGF-I, BSP, and osterix gene expression and mineralization compared to TiOblast after 14 days. As compared to the gold standard TCP, both Ti surfaces induced higher osteocalcin and OPG release than TCP and differential temporal gene expression of osteogenic markers. The results demonstrate that the gain of using OsseoSpeed surface is an improved osteoblast differentiation and mineralization, without additional effects on cell viability or proliferation.


Aim To evaluate the prevalence of autoimmune gastritis in children with celiac disease, according to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence reaction (IIFR). Methods 155 children of both sexes at the age of 3 to 17 years were examined. The study involved 78 children with different clinical forms of celiac disease (CD). The diagnosis was confirmed according to ESPGHAN criteria: was biopsy-proven, was based on clinical manifestation, positive serological and genetic data. 72 children with chronic gastritis and excluded celiac disease were a control group. All patients underwent a same examination: histological examination of gastric biopsies, histological verification of H. pylori infection and biopsy urease test. The biopsies were evaluated by a single pathologist who was blinded to all clinical data. Identification of anti-parietal cell antibodies (APCA), anti-Intrinsic Factor (ELISA) was carried out in 76 patient and anti- H+/K+ ATPase (ELISA) in 66. APCA, using indirect immunofluorescence reaction, were determined in 62 children. Results In both groups of children chronic gastritis was diagnosed. Helicobacter pylori infection was verified in the majority of patients in both groups (53,7% and 55,9% p>0,05). Anti- H+/K+ ATPase antibodies were common in both groups with no statistically significant difference (8.8% and 6.25%, p>0.05), but only in the group with celiac antibodies combined with gastric atrophy (2.9% and 0%, p<0.01). Anti-Intrinsic Factor antibodies were presented only in the control group (0% and 6.8%, p<0.01) and weren't combined with atrophy. APCA identified with IIFR were detected only in patients with celiac disease (4.54% and 0%, p<0.01) and were associated with gastric atrophy. Conclusion Thus, the ELISA detected APCA with no evidence of gastric atrophy in both groups. This requires additional examination to confirm or to exclude the diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis. IIFR displayed complete concurrence of immunological and histological criteria of autoimmune atrophic gastritis, including the lack of association with H. pylori infection. This may indicate a systemic autoimmune process in celiac disease.


Hierarchical structure is a useful tool for providing the necessary scalability in adapting to the variety of channel environments. For schemes involving hierarchical picture structures, bit allocation, and rate control algorithms are vital components for improving video codec performance. Since conventional bit allocation schemes do not efficiently consider the hierarchical structure characteristics, it is difficult to optimize the video quality at an arbitrary bitrate. Similarly, conventional quantization parameter decision methods are not appropriate for controlling the bitrate generated by a codec using a hierarchical encoding structure. In this paper, we propose an effective bit allocation scheme that assigns the target number of bits to pictures or macroblocks (MBs) and improves the overall quality of images encoded by a hierarchical-based encoder. A rate control scheme is also proposed to ensure that the generated bitrate is equal to the assigned target bitrate. From the simulation results, the proposed schemes outperformed conventional methods from a rate-distortion perspective, by efficiently controlling the bitrate of the MB unit. The algorithms regulated the generated bits to achieve the target bits by using the proposed linear R-Q model.


This thesis presents the research works on design, development and analysis of
variable fiber optic coupler.
The fiber couplers are devices that distribute light from a main fiber into one or more
branches of fibers which can be used as a power divider, wavelength-division
multiplexer (WDM) and optical switches. These couplers are important in all fiber
optic networks as they are used in long haul, metro, distribution and access fiber
networks. With the widely increasing deployment of metropolitan area network, fiberto-
the-home (FTTH) and cable TV networks, the market potential for the fiber
couplers is becoming larger.
However, most of the fiber couplers can only provide a fixed optical coupling ratio
which is unable to provide flexibility, reliability and scalability. The evolution of the
telecommunications networks has created an increasing demand for the variable fiber couplers, but there are some limitations of the existing variable fiber couplers such as
unstable, small tuning range of coupling ratio, high in loss and costly. Hence, this
gives rise to the need for searching new design of developing better performance
variable fiber couplers. The new design utilize a fix coupling ratio Fused Biconical
Tapered (FBT) coupler that is involved low loss coupling process and low in cost.
This coupler is known as a Variable Fiber Optic Coupler (VFOC).
There are two approaches used in this thesis that are simulation and experimentation.
The simulation is important in designing the VFOCs, as through the simulation
process, the characteristic of the design VFOCs can be determined. The successful
simulation is then realized through the experimentation, which is included the
fabrication of the VFOCs. However, the results obtained from the experiments are
slightly different from the simulation results. These are due to the losses in the
experiments and the ideal environment in the simulation.
In the experiment, the variable coupling ratio is achieved by applying deflection to the
fabricated FBT couplers. The dependency of the variable coupling ratio on the
deflection is elaborated. It is found that in the range of 0.8 mm deflection, the coupling
ratio can be varied from 11% to 92% with the excess loss less than 0.1 dB.


INTRODUCTION
Erosion of the reservoir into surrounding tissues is a rare complication after inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) implantation.

AIM
To present a new case and a review of the literature including discussion of pathogenesis, risk factors, and management options.

METHODS
We present the case of a 75-year-old male who underwent placement of an IPP for postoperative erectile dysfunction with a history of bladder cancer requiring radical cystoprostatectomy and Studer neobladder. Six years after IPP placement, he presented with recurrent febrile urinary tract infection that seemed to be precipitated by cycling of his penile prosthesis. Cystoscopy and cross-sectional computed tomography imaging demonstrated erosion of the inflatable penile prosthesis reservoir into the neobladder.

RESULTS
Patient underwent open removal of the IPP reservoir and cystorrhaphy with a plan for future prefascial reimplantation of an IPP reservoir.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with a history of abdomino-pelvic surgery or radiation therapy, the retroperitoneal space may be extremely fibrotic and the transversalis fascia may have thickened. Potential intraoperative complications as well as reservoir erosion may be avoided by using a two-piece device or ectopic reservoir placement. Management options for reservoir erosion include explantation of the entire device as well as reservoir removal with salvage of remaining components.


The accumulation of transuranic inventories in spent nuclear fuel depends on both deployment of advanced reactors that can be loaded with recycled transuranics (TRU), and on availability of the facilities that separate and reprocess spent fuel. Three recycling strategies are explored in this study: (1) Recycling in thermal Light 'Water Reactors (LWR) using CONFU technology (CQOmbined Non-Fertile and UO2 fuel), (2) recycling of TRU in fast cores of Actinide Burner Reactors (ABR), and (3) recycling of TRU with UO2 in self-sustaining Gas-cooled Fast Reactors (GFR). Choosing one fuel cycle strategy over the others involves trade-offs that need to be quantified. The CONFU, ABR, and GFR strategies differ from each other in terms of TRU loading in the reactor, net TRU incineration, capacities of recycling facilities needed, technology option availability, and flexibility. The CONFU and GFR are assumed to achieve zero net TRU incineration, while the ABR is a net consumer of TRU. The TRU loading is greatest in GFR and lowest in CONFU. While both CONFU and ABR require separation (of TRU from U) and reprocessing (recycling of TRUs from fertile-free fuel), the GFR is designed to, in equilibrium, recycle TRU+U after extraction of fission products only. It is assumed that thermal recycling is available in the short-term (2015), as opposed to recycling in fast reactors (2040). Finally, thermal recycling is the most flexible as either CONFU batches or regular LWR uranium batches can be loaded; the issue of running out of TRU fuel is therefore irrelevant for this option. A fuel cycle simulation tool, CAFCA II Code for Advanced Fuel Cycles Assessment has been developed. The CAFCA II code tracks the mass distribution of TRU in the system and the cost of all operations. The code includes a specific model for recycling plants deployment; as an industrial process occurring in facilities with given capacities and investment requirements. These facilities may operate with a minimum target capacity factor during the lifetime of the plant. The deployment of these facilities is also constrained by a user-specified ability to add recycling capacity within a given time interval. Finally, the CAFCA II code includes a specific model for recycling prices as a function of plants nominal capacities, which reflects the economies of scale that go with increasing the nominal capacity of recycling plants. Our first case-study identifies the optimal choice of fuel cycle option and recycling plants capacities as a function of the deployment of advanced fuel cycle technologies over the next hundred years and under the assumption of the US demand for nuclear energy growing at a 2.4% annual rate. Key figures of merit for comparison of the strategies are the reduction of TRU interim storage requirements, the maximization of TRU incineration, the minimization of the size of the fleets of recycling plants and fast reactors, and the fuel cycle cost. We found that it is not possible to minimize simultaneously (1) the construction rate of advanced reactors and advanced spent fuel recycling facilities, and (2) the construction rate of U0 2 spent fuel separation facilities. The latter was found to be more constraining than the first for purposes of TRU inventories reduction. We found also that reactor technologies with zero net TRU destruction rate can achieve total depletion of TRU inventories is spent fuel interim storage at a lower fuel cycle cost and with fewer recycling facilities than reactor technologies that incinerate TRU; the lower fuel cycle cost is achieved at the expense of a lesser reduction of total TRU inventories. Finally, we found that, if the construction rate of advanced nuclear technologies is large enough, the later introduction date of fast recycling schemes compared to thermal recycling schemes is not discriminatory, with regards to the reduction of TRU inventories in interim storage by 2100. The potential of multi-lateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle has recently been widely acknowledged. Cited benefits include cost attractiveness following from economies of scale, proliferation resistance and collaborative and more efficient nuclear waste treatment strategy. CAFCA II has been developed to quantify these trade implications for the back-end of the fuel cycle Three bi-lateral scenarios of partnerships have been examined between two regions: first a scenario where the "Fuel-leasing/fuel takeback" concept is implemented, second a scenario with "Limited Collaboration" at the back-end fuel cycle, where spent fuel recycling and advanced fuel fabrication are externalized in countries that have these technologies, and third a scenario of "Full Collaboration", under which two regions fully collaborate at the fuel cycle back-end: spent fuel inventories and advanced fuel cycle facilities are co-owned and comanaged. Our second case-study concentrates on optimizing the choice of (1) fuel cycle option, (2) spent fuel recycling plant capacities, and (3) partnership scenario by analyzing the implications of these choices for the LWR-CONFU, LWR/ABR, and LWR/GFR strategies. The nuclear fuel cycle is simulated in a tworegion context from 2005 to 2100 under the assumption that one region represents the US growing at a 2.4% annual rate and the other region represents Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico growing at a 7.4% annual rate until 2080, and at 2.4% afterwards. We found that a US partnership with Brazil, Mexico, and Indonesia, could be advantageous to the reduction of TRU storage in both regions if the construction rate of UO2 spent fuel separation plants would be larger than one 1,000 MT/yr plant every two years after 2050. We found also that, from the point of view of the spent fuel recycling industry, use of largest recycling plants with the lowest construction cost per unit of installed capacity becomes optimal only with multi-national approaches to the fuel cycle back-end. Thesis Supervisors: Mujid S. Kazimi, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering Ernest J. Moniz, Co-Director, Laboratory for Energy and the Environment


The strict complementary slackness condition (SCSC) is an important concept in the duality theory of linear programming (LP). The current study aims at extending this concept to the framework of linear fractional programming (LFP). First, we define this concept in this framework and demonstrate the existence of a strict complementary solution - a pair of primal and dual optimal solutions satisfying the SCSC. Second, we show that the problem of finding such a solution reduces to that of identifying a relative interior point of a polyhedron. More recently, Mehdiloozad et al. (2016) have addressed the latter problem by proposing an LP problem. Using their proposed LP problem, we finally develop two procedures for finding a strict complementary solution.


The name of our business is Florvision Enterprise. Our business type that we generate is partnership which is the partner has limited liability restricted to the percentages of amount capital invested. The profit or loss will incurred by each partner depend on how much amount capital invested by the partners. The relation among business partner is dictated by the agreement. E-photo is a concept of technological based-graphic photograph that have potential to be positioned as one of the successful photograph business throughout the country with our creative innovation. E-photo providing a photo services business with addition of graphic design and colorful photo editing. Besides that, our E-photo machine has advance function which can snap passport photo using visual and audio instruction. E-photo provides high quality photograph with unique graphic design at value pricing that affordable for our target market. Our business provides efficient service in term of processing the photo in short period of time and based on the customer preferences. Our overview for this industry is complex and fast growing due to the advance of technology. Nowadays, the photography industry becomes more evolve with the addition of graphic design. There are many educational institutions located in Malacca such as private and government educational institutions. Besides, there are many of shopping complexes such as AEON, Tesco, Mahkota Parade and others. Our services are open to all people especially teenagers and family.

In today's highly competitive environment, it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete with photo shop that provides manual service. Malacca is a city state, which expanding in its development and those people who love to snap pictures and keep sweet memory. Therefore, this situation provide good opportunities for us to expand our business and gain more profit by proper manipulating this situation. E-photo is a technological concept photo machine which comes up with a touch screen-graphic design with visual and audio features installment. It is a fast, efficient and modem way of conducting a business. Customer will feel more convenience to use our machine because they have the privacy in snapping the photo and design the photo as their wish. Our main priority for this business is about distribution our machine to another potential location whereby, it is a hotspot area for many people.


Vascular lesions of the vertebrobasilar junction (VBJ) are challenging in neurosurgical practice, and their gold-standard therapy is still under debate. We describe the operative strategies currently in use for the management of these complex vascular lesions and discuss their rationale in a literature meta-analysis and single centre blinded retrospective study. The single centre study included a review of initial presentation, angiographic features and clinical outcome (with modified Rankin Scale [mRS] scores) over a long-term follow-up. In our series, small aneurysms were effectively treated by endosaccular coil embolization, whereas a strategy including flow-diverter devices combined with endosaccular coil embolization was the option of choice in large and giant aneurysms, leading to satisfactory outcomes in most cases. Our Medline review showed that endovascular treatment was chosen in most VBJ cases, whereas the microsurgical option was assigned to only a few cases. Among the endovascular treatments, the most common techniques used for the treatment of VBJ aneurysms were: coiling, stent-assisted coiling and flow diversion. Our study highlights that aneurysm morphology, location and patient-specific angio-architecture are key factors to be considered in the management of VBJ aneurysms. Most case series, including our own, show that parent artery reconstruction using a flow-diverter device is a feasible and successful technique in some cases of giant and complex aneurysms (especially those involving the lower third of the basilar artery) while a "sit back, wait and see" approach may represent the safest and most reasonable option.


An important resource for mental health patients is their nearest hospital, and this is especially true in rural regions where outpatient mental health services may be lacking. In the United States, policies are in place which limit the ability of small, rural hospitals to provide inpatient psychiatric services cost effectively, leading many hospitals to forgo offering the services at all. This project compares the situation in the United States with that of Canada—where similar policies are not present under a vastly different healthcare system—to see if inpatient psychiatric services are more or less prevalent in rural Canadian hospitals and whether this is associated with different mental health outcomes. To study this relationship, Maine and New Brunswick are used as a case study due to their close comparability in terms of demographic, socio-economic and geographic characteristics. This project focuses on rural hospitals in Maine and New Brunswick, the provision of inpatient psychiatric services therein, and mental health outcomes in the surrounding regions. The results of this project may help policy makers and healthcare administrators looking to better understand the implications of policies on the provision of rural inpatient psychiatric services, in addition to providing a base for future research on this topic.


Objective To examine associations between lifetime sexual and physical abuse, and the likelihood of injury within and outside sport in athletes involved in competitive athletics. Methods A cross sectional study was performed among the top 10 Swedish athletics athletes using 1 year prevalence of sports and non-sports injuries as the primary outcome measure. Associations with sociodemographic characteristics, lifetime abuse history and training load were investigated. Data were analysed using simple and multiple logistic regression models. Results 11% of 197 participating athletes reported lifetime sexual abuse; there was a higher proportion of women (16.2%) than men (4.3%) (P=0.005). 18% reported lifetime physical abuse; there was a higher proportion of men (22.8%) than women (14.3%) (P=0.050). For women, lifetime sexual abuse was associated with an increased likelihood of a non-sports injury (OR 8.78, CI 2.76 to 27.93; P<0.001). Among men, increased likelihood of a non-sports injury was associated with more frequent use of alcoholic beverages (OR 6.47, CI 1.49 to 28.07; P=0.013), while commencing athletics training at >13 years of age was associated with a lower likelihood of non-sports injury (OR 0.09, CI 0.01 to 0.81; P=0.032). Lifetime physical abuse was associated with a higher likelihood of sports injury in women (OR 12.37, CI 1.52 to 100.37; P=0.019). Among men, athletes with each parents with ≤12 years formal education had a lower likelihood of sustaining an injury during their sports practice (OR 0.37, CI 0.14 to 0.96; P=0.040). Conclusions Lifetime sexual and physical abuse were associated with an increased likelihood of injury among female athletes. Emotional factors should be included in the comprehension of injuries sustained by athletes.


The aim of this study is to introduce the meaning of quality and to show how customers recognize the quality what companies offer. Quality – and recently ethics, too – are main points during shopping and consumption therefore they should be considered while creating the right marketing mix for a product or service. The aims of the researches in Germany and Austria were, to figure out why customers might become disappointed concerning quality and promises and what consumers think about quality and ethics. The results of these researches - made about furniture in Germany and about organically, handmade chocolate in Austria - are useful for all companies; giving hints how they can improve their performance to reach target customers easier and to meet the customers´ needs the best possible way.


Herein, the UiO-66-NH2 metal–organic framework (MOF) is initially modified with melamine via a post-synthetic approach. CuO nanoparticles (NPs) are then anchored via the available functional groups (amine groups and π–electron interactions of melamine and ligand) on the surface of the modified MOF. The as-synthesized UiO-66-NH2-Mlm/CuO NPs are characterized using different techniques including XRD, TGA, TEM, EDX, and XPS. The CuO-supported MOF is successfully used as a heterogeneous catalyst for C–O coupling in Ullmann condensation. A catalytic amount of the supported catalyst (5% CuO) promotes the condensation reaction for various aryl chlorides, bromides, and iodides under mild reaction conditions (100 °C with KOH serving as a base) in good yield (30–95%) within 18–24 h. Even in the absence of KOH, the reaction is enabled with 55% yield in 24 h by grafting melamine with amine groups to create base active sites on the MOF, which indicates the additional role of the support as a base active site. The supported catalyst is easily recycled and reused several times with negligible loss in its activity. Furthermore, the copper leaching from the catalyst is as low as 1.2 wt% after being reused four times.


Protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT)-mediated arginine methylation is an important post-transcriptional modification that regulates various cellular processes including epigenetic gene regulation, genome stability maintenance, RNA metabolism, and stress-responsive signal transduction. The varying substrates and biological functions of arginine methylation in cancer and neurological diseases have been extensively discussed, providing a rationale for targeting PRMTs in clinical applications. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated an interplay between arginine methylation and viral infections. PRMTs have been found to methylate and regulate several host cell proteins and different functional types of viral proteins, such as viral capsids, mRNA exporters, transcription factors, and latency regulators. This modulation affects their activity, subcellular localization, protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein interactions, ultimately impacting their roles in various virus-associated processes. In this review, we discuss the classification, structure, and regulation of PRMTs and their pleiotropic biological functions through the methylation of histones and non-histones. Additionally, we summarize the broad spectrum of PRMT substrates and explore their intricate effects on various viral infection processes and antiviral innate immunity. Thus, comprehending the regulation of arginine methylation provides a critical foundation for understanding the pathogenesis of viral diseases and uncovering opportunities for antiviral therapy.


The model in this paper integrates the possibility of misinformation into consumer utility theory. If the utility realized from a good differs from the utility anticipated at time of purchase, shifts in demand would occur, and thus changes in consumer surplus. These changes provide a measure of the cost of misinformation or value of improved information. The empirical analysis yields estimates of the private and social cost of inaccuracies in automobile buyers; pre-purchase mileage estimates. If automobile purchases are based on imperfect gasoline mileage information, a discrepancy results between expected and actual fuel-efficiency. The data source is a survey of 1980 model car buyers conducted by the authors.


Detection of design pattern occurrences is part of several solutions to software engineering problems, and high accuracy of detection is important to help solve the actual problems. The improvement in accuracy of design pattern occurrence detection requires some way of evaluating various approaches. Currently, there are several different methods used in the community to evaluate accuracy. We show that these differences may greatly influence the accuracy results, which makes it nearly impossible to compare the quality of different techniques. We propose a benchmark suite to improve the situation and a community effort to contribute to, and evolve, the benchmark suite. Also, we propose fine-grained metrics assessing the accuracy of various approaches in the benchmark suite. This allows comparing the detection techniques and helps improve the accuracy of detecting design pattern occurrences.


BACKGROUND: Majority of lower limb amputations performed in the African setting have been reported to be mainly due to trauma and neoplasms. These affect mainly young
and therefore, fit individuals with lower risks of complications. Recent local studies show an increase in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases including peripheral vascular diseases.
These are associated with higher rates of both systemic and amputation stump-related complications. There is however little published data in Africa on the outcomes of vascular lower
limb amputations.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the early outcome of vascular lower limb amputations.
DESIGN: Descriptive prospective study, conducted between July 2003 and June 2004.
SETTING: The Kenyatta National Hospital, the largest referral and teaching hospital in Kenya.
SUBJECTS: All patients with gangrene of the lower limb due to occlusive peripheral vascular disease not caused by trauma or inappropriate limb splintage who were amputated at Kenyatta
National Hospital during the study period were included.
OUTCOME MEASURES: These included the wound healing time, number of stump revisions, number of conversions to a higher
amputation level, the thirty-day post-operative mortality and the hospitalization period.
CONCLUSION: While the findings of this study compare with other series, the prolonged hospital stay is of concern considering the younger average age of the patients.


Transportation Management Centers (TMCs) are focal points for monitoring and operating traffic management systems. As new technologies are developed through research in Intelligent-Vehicle- Highway Systems (IVHS), these TMCs will assume increasingly more importance as command and control centers for transportation operations. This study is aimed at developing visions for how the TMC of the future will exploit the capabilities of IVHS. Part 1 of this study, reported herein, is an assessment of existing TMC capabilities in the State of California. Part 2, to be reported later, will develop the future visions, considering present capabilities, ongoing research and transportation needs. The Part 1 report includes a brief overview of TMC development efforts, and results of in-depth interviews with personnel at all seven Caltrans TMCs, as well as interviews with three city TMCs (Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose). The interviews assessed: existing TMC functions, coordination among TMCs, coordination with other agencies, facilities, software and databases, and communication media. Detailed survey results are provided in Appendix B, on a site by site basis. Major study conclusions include: (1) California has made great strides in developing its TMCs, especially through the close coordination of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and Caltrans. These efforts have laid the groundwork for major advances in traffic management. (2) Despite California's accomplishments, the TMCs have not yet fulfilled their potential for being the nerve centers for the vast array of trafpic management functions. Effort is needed to determine the best way to integrate a greater scope of advanced IVHS functions into TMC operations. (3) Effort is needed to develop California's TMCs into a distributed network of closely coordinated agencies, to ensure that their combined talents can be applied in the most effective manner.


Abstract
An ad hoc network is a group of wireless mobile computers (or nodes), in which individual nodes cooperate by forwarding packets for each other to allow nodes to communicate beyond direct wireless transmission range. Prior research in ad hoc networking has generally studied the routing problem in a non-adversarial setting, assuming a trusted environment. In this paper, we present attacks against routing in ad hoc networks, and we present the design and performance evaluation of a new secure on-demand ad hoc network routing protocol, called Ariadne. Ariadne prevents attackers or compromised nodes from tampering with uncompromised routes consisting of uncompromised nodes, and also prevents many types of Denial-of-Service attacks. In addition, Ariadne is efficient, using only highly efficient symmetric cryptographic primitives.


With dose-intensification the quantity of administered chemotherapy is increased per time unit to achieve the best possible anti-tumour effect. This dissertation describes three methods of dose-intensification in breast cancer patients: 1/ standard dosage of chemotherapy where the cure interval is shortened (densification), 2/ standard cure interval where the dosage of the chemotherapy is increased (dose-escalation) and 3/ high dose chemotherapy with autologous (own) bone marrow transplantation (AuBMT). Compared to dose-escalation, densification results in a higher dose-intensity, a shorter total duration of treatment, a more favourable side-effect profile, a lower total dose of chemotherapy, and an equivalent anti-tumour effect. The results of high dose chemotherapy with AuBMT were disappointing. A study into the use of bone marrow transplantation (of sister or brother) as an anti-tumour treatment of metastasized breast cancer shows that this technique is applicable, but the effectiveness is for now limited.


The research aimed in the direction of five different medicinal plants (hydro alcoholics extract) to evaluate anticancer
activity and cytotoxcity. The most important purpose of this study is to evaluate cytotoxicity of these medicinal plants with
facilitate of MTT assay. Concentrations are prepared of each plant extracts which are 100 μg/ml, 10 μg/ml, 0.1 μg/ml, 0.01
μg/ml and 5-10×103
cells/ml are taken into each well which are exposed to different Concentrations of plant extracts crude
and elute of column chromatography [CC] for 96 hrs and then treated with MTT and take absorbance at 570 nm. Standard
drug was used for IC50 of Doxorubicin MCF-7 500nm, A549- 550nm, PA-1- 580nm.


Background: In the Caribbean in particular Ja-maica, no study has been done to examine married respondents in order to understand reasons for their greater health status. The ob-jectives of the current study are: 1) examine the sociodemographic characteristics of married people in Jamaica; 2) evaluate self-rated health status of married people in Jamaica; 3) deter-mine factors that account for good health status of married people and 4) provide public health practitioners with empirical studies that can be used to formulate policies for men in particular non-married men in Jamaica. Materials and me- thods: Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 6,783 respondents. It was a nationally representative sample. Logistic re-gression analysis was used to ascertain the correlates of health status. Results: The mean age for women in marriage in Jamaica was 6 years lower than that of men. The correlates of good health status (including moderate health) of respondents in descending order were self- reported illness (OR = 0.12, 95%CI = 0.01- 0.17); age (OR = 0.94, 95%CI = 0.93-0.96); income (OR = 1.32, 95%CI = 1.05-1.66) and sex of respon-dents (Or = 1.14-2.32)—χ2(df = 4) = 383.2, P < 0.05. The four variables accounted for 44.4% of the explanatory power of the model; with self-reported illness accounting for 32.5% of the explanatory power. Conclusion: Marriage pro-vides greater access to more socioeconomic resources for its participants as well as increase men's unwillingness to visit medical care prac-titioners.


Recently, nanocomposite magnets which consist of magnetically hard and soft phases had much attention because of their high remanence and maximum energy products. Many investigations of these magnets had been reported, but generally their coercivity is not sufficient for practical usage. Isotropic Sm-Zr-Fe-N nanocomposite magnets with high remanence and coercivity were developed by authors through rapidly quenching method including heat treatment and nitrogenation. These magnetic materials consist of (Sm,Zr)Fe7N, (TbCu, type structure) hard phase and a-Fe soft phase. These hard phases have Tb site rich composition to stoichiometry, which means content of (Sm+Zr) is larger than 12.5 at.%. Grain size range of these magnets is 20-40nm by TEM observation. We prepared magnetic powder samples with various volume of a-Fe soft phase and examined their magnetic properties. Consequently as soft phase increases, remanence and maximum energy products increase and reach peaks while coercivity decrease monotonously. In nanocomposite magnets, these phenomena are predicted theoretically. So the strong magnetic exchange coupling between hard and soft phases could be shown. And also we prepared compaction-molded bonded magnet made by 2wt% epoxy resin and magnetic powders with magnetic properties of Br=9.9kG, HJ= 8.2kOe. (BH )mx= 17.5 MGOe. Bonded magnet with a density of 5.91g/cm3 showed high magnetic properties as follows: B,= 7.6kG. H,J= 8.4kOe. (BH),,= 12MGOe.


Peroxynitrite is a prominent biological reactive nitrogen species from radical combination of nitric oxide and superoxide and fundamentally involved in broad spectrum physiological and pathological processes. Though redox-inert itself, peroxynitrite anion (OONO(-)) attacks various biological electrophiles to generate an array of potent 2-e(-) or 1-e(-) oxidants, which result in cell injuries. Development of fluorescent probes for peroxynitrite, free from interference from hypochlorite, has been an active endeavor of the chemical community. We previously reported a peroxynitrite probe (PN600), which could differentiate hypochlorite from peroxynitrite through a multichannel signaling mechanism. Herein, this intriguing selectivity was accounted for through a structure-reactivity relationship study. Also, this work, together with rich literature contributions, has allowed a qualitative guideline in the use of electron-rich aromatic moieties to design probes against peroxynitrite and/or hypochlorite. The viability of this guideline was further testified by development of another list of peroxynitrite selective probes.


SummaryDeveloped at NASA, the rotary cell culture system (RCCS) allows the creation of unique microgravity environment of low shear force, high-mass transfer, and enables three-dimensional (3D) cell culture of dissimilar cell types. Recently we demonstrated that a simulated microgravity is conductive for maintaining long-term cultures of functional hepatocytes and promote 3D cell assembly. Using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) microarray technology, it is now possible to measure the levels of thousands of different messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) in a single hybridization step. This technique is particularly powerful for comparing gene expression in the same tissue under different environmental conditions. The aim of this research was to analyze gene expression of hepatoblastoma cell line (HepG2) during early stage of 3D-cell assembly in simulated microgravity. For this, mRNA from HepG2 cultured in the RCCS was analyzed by deoxyribonucleic acid microarray. Analyses of HepG2 mRNA by using 6K glass DNA microarray revealed changes in expression of 95 genes (overexpression of 85 genes and downregulation of 10 genes). Our preliminary results indicated that simulated microgravity modifies the expression of several genes and that microarray technology may provide new understanding of the fundamental biological questions of how gravity affects the development and function of individual cells.


A method based on concurrent neuro-fuzzy system (CNFS) is presented to calculate simultaneously the resonant frequencies of the rectangular, circular, and triangular microstrip antennas (MSAs). The CNFS comprises an artificial neural network (ANN) and an adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). In a CNFS, neural network assists the fuzzy system continuously (or vice versa) to compute the resonant frequency. The resonant frequency results of CNFS for the rectangular, circular, and triangular MSAs are in very good agreement with the experimental results available in the literature.


INTRODUCTION
Despite the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, the information about its development in pediatrics is still limited. This report describes the characteristics of patients admitted to a children's hospital due to COVID-19 during the first three months of the pandemic.

METHOD
Descriptive study including all patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 between 4/1/2020 and 6/30/2020.

RESULTS
A total of 191 patients were hospitalized due to COVID-19; their median age was 7.7 years; 89% had a history of close contact. Of them, 35.6 % were considered asymptomatic; 61.2 %, mild cases; and 3.2 %, moderate cases (no severe cases). None of them received a specific treatment for the disease. The most common symptoms were fever, sore throat, and cough. The median length of stay was 6 days.

CONCLUSION
A total of 191 cases of children and adolescents admitted due to COVID-19 are reported. Most were asymptomatic or presented with a mild disease.


After the description of the flora from the La Valle (Wengen) Formation (Ladinian) in the Dolomites (Wachtler & van Konijnenburg ‐ van Cittert, 2000a, b), some new material was found and an extensive search of the old collections in various museums and universities in Europe also unearthed many additional specimens. Moreover, there appeared to be nomenclatorial problems with some taxa as well. For these reasons we are describing a few taxa that have not been described from the La Valle Formation before, and are revising some of the taxa that were described previously, resulting in a description and discussion of the following taxa: the lycopsid Annalepis zeilleri Fliche, the fern Neuropteridium elegans (Brongniart) Schimper together with a fragment of its fertile frond Scolopendrites sp., a fern indet. (formerly Anomopteris mougeotii), the cycadophyte taxa Dioonitocarpidium moroderi (Leonardi) nov. comb. and Sphenozamites sp. cf. S. bronnii, and the conifer Pelourdea vogesiaca (Schimper et Mougeot) Seward. A short general discussion of the flora is presented as well.


Faced with the serious pollution problems of blasting smoke after blasting with the ventilation method based on pressure, using single transformation ejector auxiliary ventilation was raised in the paper, namely ventilation based on pressure was put into use when it was normal, but ejector auxiliary ventilation was used after blasting. The simulation of the condition by fluid analysis software when ejector auxiliary ventilation and ventilation method based on pressure were conducted, and a inclusion was presented that ejector auxiliary ventilation had a good effect on exhausting smoke for the long tunnel with small section, and it has an advantage of shortening exhausting smoke time and less pollution to the roadway, Ventilation can be divided into two phases, when the ejector inlet is submerged in the smoke, smoke is suck out mainly through ventiduct. when the ejector inlet is exposed to fresh air flow, the ejetor assist smoke get out through ventiduct.


Pennsylvanian and Early Permian paleogeographic features in east-central California include a southeast-trending carbonate shelf edge and turbidite basin that we infer paralleled a segment of the western margin of the North American continent. This segment of the continental margin was oblique to an adjoining segment on the north that trended southwestward across Nevada into easternmost California. We propose that the southeast-trending segment of the margin originated by tectonic truncation of the originally longer southwest-trending segment in Early or Middle Pennsylvanian to late Early Permian time, significantly earlier than a previously hypothesized Late Permian or Early Triassic continental truncation event. We interpret the truncating structure to have been a sinistral transform fault zone along which a continental fragment was removed and carried southeastward into the Caborca-Hermosillo region of northern Mexico, where it is now represented by exposures of Late Proterozoic and Paleozoic miogeoclinal rocks.


We can efficiently collect crops or minerals by operating multi-robot foraging. As foraging spaces become wider, control algorithms demand scalability and reliability. Swarm robotics is a state-of-the-art algorithm on wide foraging spaces due to its advantages, such as self-organization, robustness, and flexibility. However, high initial and operating cost are main barriers in operating multi-robot foraging system. In this paper, we propose a novel method to improve the energy efficiency of the system to reduce operating costs. The idea is to employ a new behavior model regarding role division in concert with the search space division.


CONTEXT
Gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is clearly associated with Helicobacter pylori gastritis and can be cured with anti- H pylori therapy alone. The presence of t(11;18)(q21;q21) translocation is thought to predict a lower response rate to anti- H pylori treatment.

OBJECTIVES
To study the presence of t(11;18)(q21;q21) genetic translocation and its clinical impact in low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma Brazilian patients.

METHODS
A consecutive series of eight patients with gastric MALT lymphoma were submitted to gastroscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, histopathological examination, H pylori search and RT-PCR-based methodology. All patients received anti-H pylori treatment. Eradicated patients were followed-up every 3-6 months for 2 years.

RESULTS
Eight patients were studied. All patients had tumor involvement restricted to the mucosa or submucosa and seven patients had low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma. All infected patients achieved H pylori eradication. Histological tumor regression was observed in 5/7 (71%) of the low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma patients. The presence of t(11;18)(q21;q21) translocation was found in 4 (57%) of these patients; among them only two had histological tumor regression following H pylori eradication.

CONCLUSIONS
RT-PCR is a feasible and efficient method to detect t(11;18)(q21;q21) translocation, being carried out in routine molecular biology laboratories. The early detection of such translocation can be very helpful for better targeting the therapy to be applied to gastric MALT lymphoma patients.


Aims: Rapid Slide Culture (RSC) was compared with the standard diagnostic strategy of simultaneous culture in Lowenstein-Jensen medium (L-J) and Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tubes (MGIT™) with regard to diagnostic accuracy, turnaround time and cost, for isolating M. tuberculosis (MTB) from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens.
Materials and Method: Centrifuged deposits of 75 consecutive smear-positive and 75 randomly selected smear-negative BAL specimens were subjected to RSC as well as culture in both L-J and MGIT. Isolates were identified as MTB by standard methods.
Results: One hundred and ten (73.3%) specimens were culture-positive by L-J and / or MGIT; 99 (90%) of these were RSC-positive too. No RSC-positive specimen was culture-negative on both L-J and MGIT. Thus, RSC demonstrated an overall sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of 90%, 100%, 100% and 78% respectively. Significantly, 25 (33%) smear-negative specimens were RSC-positive, indicating the ability of RSC to isolate MTB from specimens with low bacillary loads. The mean time to positivity was seven, 35 and 24 days for RSC, L-J, and MGIT respectively. The cost per test was the equivalent of USD 1.82, 1.34, and 10.42 for RSC, L-J and MGIT respectively.
Conclusion: Rapid Slide Culture proved to be a rapid, effective and low-cost method for culturing MTB from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, when compared with conventional culture in L-J medium and MGIT.

Keywords: Tuberculosis; Bronchoalveolar lavage; Diagnosis; Culture


This paper addresses the problem of how a group of agents cooperating on a complex plan with interdependent actions can coordinate their scheduling and execution of those actions, particularly in domains where actions may fail or have uncertain durations.  If actions fail (or fail to meet their deadlines), the repercussions for the rest of the team's plan can be dramatic.  This paper presents a pro-active strategy, called Just-in-Time Backfilling (JIT-BF), that agents can use to increase the fault tolerance of their interdependent schedules by identifying actions in danger of failing and inserting redundant (or back-up) actions into their schedules.  The insertion of redundant actions can be done locally (i.e., by the agent whose action is in danger of failing) or through negotiations with the rest of the team. The computations performed by agents following the JIT-BF strategy depend on probabilistic models of action durations and the ``quality'' achieved by successfully executing actions.  The paper presents an experimental evaluation of the JIT-BF strategy within a simulated real-time dynamic environment that demonstrates that teams using the pro-active JIT-BF strategy significantly out-perform teams that rely solely on reactive strategies.


Inflammasomes are essential complexes of innate immune system, which form the first line of host defense against pathogens. Mounting evidence accumulates that inflammasome signaling is highly correlated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of the regulatory mechanism of inflammasome signaling. Combining mathematical modeling with experimental analysis of NLRP1b inflammasome signaling, we found that only the expression levels of caspase-1 and GSDMD have the potential to individually switch cell death modes. Reduction of caspase-1 or GSDMD switches cell death from pyroptosis to apoptosis. Caspase-1 and GSDMD present different thresholds and exert distinct pathway choices in switching death modes. Pyroptosis switches to apoptosis with an extremely low threshold level of caspase-1, but with a high threshold of GSDMD. Caspase-1-impaired cells employ ASC-caspase-8-dependent pathway for apoptosis, while GSDMD-impaired cells primarily utilize caspase-1-dependent pathway. Additionally, caspase-1 and GSDMD can severally ignite the cooccurrence of pyroptosis and apoptosis. Landscape topography unravels that the cooccurrence is dramatically different in caspase-1- and GSDMD-impaired cells. Besides pyroptosis state and apoptosis state, a potential new "coexisting" state in single cells is proposed when GSDMD acts as the driving force of the landscape. The "seesaw model" is therefore proposed, which can well describe the death states that are controlled by caspase-1 or GSDMD in single cells. Our study sheds new light on NLRP1b inflammasome signaling and uncovers the switching mechanisms among various death modes, providing potential clues to guide the development of more rational control strategies for diseases.


The effect of partial chest wall resection on subsequent production of spinal deformity was studied in six pediatric patients. The following observations are made: Scoliosis secondary to chest wall resection in the pediatric age group is progressive. The degree of curvature is related to the number of ribs resected. Anterior resection of ribs does not produce significant scoliosis, whereas resection of the posterior aspect of the ribs promptly produces scoliosis. Scoliosis associated with marked pleural thickening secondary to recurrent tumor, irradiation scarring, and underlying pulmonary metastases is always convex toward the normal side. Scoliosis associated with empyema and chest wall osteomyelitis is likewise convex toward the normal side and may respond to removal of this thether in the growing child.


This paper examines China's optimal fiscal policy in a general equilibrium model, in which the government finances its budget through both a special instrument, an implicit tax on the residential land, and a typical conventional instrument, the value-added tax (VAT). By solving a Ramsey problem, we find that (i) the optimal policy suggests a much lower land tax rate than the existing rate in China, and (ii) a substantial part of debt stabilization should come through an adjustment in the VAT rate, instead of relying on land financing. Switching from the existing policy to the Ramsey policy generates significant welfare gains.


A two stage high gain small signal amplifier for GPS based receiver application is designed and realised using SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT). The measured gain and noise figure is 33.5 dB and 2.9 d B respectively at Vce of 2 V, and total current of 10 mA. The circuit is fabricated on microstrip configuration using RT duroid substrate of dielectric constant 10.5 and height 50 mils. This circuit is being used in satellite based GPS receiver.


This chapter gives a brief critical history of three phases of linguistic research into gender and language: an essentialist phase, a constructionist phase and a post-structuralist phase. It pays particular attention to the post-structuralist phase, which focuses on how meaning is actively constructed by both parties to a speech event such as a conversation, and the consequences of particular judgements by the more powerful participants, especially in 'gate-keeping' conversations such as job interviews. We pay particular attention to research into naturally occurring conversations, which employs conversation analysis (CA), an interactional sociolinguistics technique. Campbell and Roberts's (2007) CAbased study of intercultural employment interviews yielded complex, detailed understandings about how candidates' speech led to favourable or unfavourable assessments of them during the employment interview. In this chapter we re-analyse Campbell and Roberts's data from a gender perspective and find that some aspects of what is often stereotypically considered 'women's language' aspects that conflict with the 'rules' of interview performance are likely to lead to unfavourable assessments of women as potential employees. This strongly suggests that some types of interview interaction that are normative for women, for example, high levels of frankness, high levels of personal disclosure and narrativized speech, are likely to act to women's disadvantage when they attempt to 'get in' to organizations. The chapter concludes with a summary of the implications of the re-analysis for women's entry into the world of paid work, including suggestions about how interviewees and interviewers can overcome these unfavourable and unfounded judgements.


Lahaul valley of Himachal Pradesh is inhabited by the tribal communities who believe in Amchi system of medicine which is being practiced in this region from a long time. The Amchi system of medicine is similar to the Ayurvedic medicine as this system involves the use of plants as the main source of drug or treatment strategy. Considering the importance of this system of medicine, an extensive field work was conducted in 8 different villages of Lahaul valley to explore the information on usage of ethnomedicinal plants by tribal communities and traditional healers. Questionnaire based interviews of 150 informants were conducted. The data generated were analysed using quantitative tools, i.e., use-value (UV), factor informant consensus (F ic ) and fidelity level (Fl). Information related to 64 plants was collected which possess effectiveness against 35 ailment categories. The maximum number of medicinal plants were recorded from the family Compositae followed by Lamiaceae, Apiaceae and Rosaceae. On the basis of use value, the most important medicinal plants were Arnebia euchroma , Artemisia maritima , Asparagus filicinus , Picrorhiza kurrooa , Podophyllum hexandrum , Taraxacum officinale and Thymus linearis. On the basis of factor informant consensus, important ailment categories of this region were related to respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders. This research involves the documentation of medicinal and aromatic plants used by tribal communities and traditional healers of the Lahaul valley. However, further phytochemical and pharmacological research is required for scientific validation of this information so as to determine the efficacy and safety of these ethnomedicinal plants for curing various ailments.


No one knew how stringently the SEC would apply regulation FD, which requires public companies to share earnings data and related information equally with all interested parties. But last November the commission instituted its first enforcement actions against a number of companies and, in the process, gave many others a wake-up call. Here's how several CPAs, drawing on their own experiences and those of companies caught violating regulation FD, say you can help keep your clients or your employer--if you work for an SEC registrant--in compliance. (Also, see "After Regulation FD: Talking to Your Constituents," JofA, Feb.01, page 28.) THE SEC FOLLOWS UP This article examines the cases of four companies (referred to below as A, B, C and D) the SEC cited for inequitable disclosure practices. While three were the SEC's first regulation FD enforcement actions, the agency's regional offices have been actively monitoring potential violations. Boris Feldman, a partner and securities litigator in law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Palo Alto, California, office, advises publicly traded companies on regulation FD. He reports the SEC contacted a number of his clients with disclosure-related questions since the regulation became effective. "Several of our clients received calls from, for example, the SEC's San Francisco regional office saying, 'We noticed such and such a comment triggering a stock reaction,'" Feldman says. "'Would you mind bringing the CFO in? We want to talk to her about what happened.'" By making such inquiries, the commission sought to determine whether a sudden movement in the price of a company's stock was precipitated by the actions of a small group of investors to whom the company--intentionally or not--had selectively disclosed nonpublic material information about itself. In instances where this happened, a privileged few had acted on their exclusive knowledge and bought the company's stock before its price rose or sold the stock short before its price fell. In either case the "insiders" profited when the information became public and the stock's price moved in the direction they had anticipated, producing the profits they had expected. When a company releases such information to everyone simultaneously, however, the playing field is level and no one has an advantage. Since that was the SEC's goal in issuing regulation FD, companies actually or seemingly not complying may attract the attention of the commission's enforcement division. So how do you avoid regulation FD violations? Feldman and the CPAs interviewed for this article recommend companies create a compliance program that * Establishes clear disclosure guidelines. * Follows a stringent communications review procedure. * Uses multiple channels to disseminate information. * Ensures the company responds quickly and effectively after nonpublic disclosures. The next four sections of the article explain how to implement these compliance objectives. DECIDE WHAT TO SAY Feldman urges his clients to adopt bright-line rules--precise limits--that provide clear guidance to staff members on what they safely can disclose. Such procedures help prevent errors in judgment that can lead to inadvertent violations during, for instance, an unscripted conference call or presentation. "You don't want to have to weigh different factors when you're on a call with an analyst or a reporter," he says. "Instead, you need red-light and green-light rules," meaning unambiguous instructions that indicate whether releasing information in a given situation is forbidden or permitted under regulation FD. "For example, after you give your outlook in an earnings release or in a conference call, you could make it a standard practice that you don't update it during the quarter unless you find your estimate was so far off that you have to put out another release preannouncing a quarterly miss. …


: Serum concentrations of conjugated cholic acid determined radioimmunologically were investigated for 3 hours after a test meal in 62 patients with fatty liver, 70 patients with chronic hepatitis and 30 patients with liver cirrhosis. Values were compared with results of further data from chemical pathology. Increased fasting bile acid values were found in 18% of patients with fatty liver, 13% with chronic hepatitis and in 70% with cirrhosis. Following the test meal maximum concentration increase of cholic acid conjugates was obtained after one hour. 70.5% of patients with fatty liver, 80% of patients with chronic hepatitis and 97% of patients with cirrhosis were identifiable by increased bile acid levels. Postprandial serum bile acid levels therefore have a higher sensitivity for diagnosis of liver disease than bilirubin, glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase, alkaline phosphatase or gamma-glutamyl transferase.


This essay investigates the challenges facing Caucasus philology, by which I mean the institutional capacity to conduct deep research into the literary cultures of Azerbaijan Republic, Georgia, Daghestan, and Chechnya. I argue that the philological approach to the literary cultures of the Caucasus has been a casualty of the rise of areas studies in the North American academy during the Cold War, and that Cold War legacies continue to shape Caucasus Studies to this day. I conclude by offering three proposals for opening exchanges between the humanities and the social sciences within Caucasus Studies. More broadly, this essay argues for a rapprochement between the social sciences and philological inquiry vis-a-vis the Caucasus.


Authors'reply: Sue Kemsley has raised some important issues regarding ECT. The use of ECT without consent has not declined in absolute numbers since 1985 but, as discussed in our editorial (Eranti & McLoughlin, 2003), the total number of patients receiving ECT has substantially fallen during this period. Little research has been directed at understanding this change in the pattern of ECT use. One possibility is that there exists a core group of patients with severe depressive illness and possible psychosis that requires treatment with ECT, while the decline in use predominantly occurs in people with less severe illness. So why has the use of ECT declined in this latter group? As we have already suggested, we believe that this is due to historical changes in general psychiatry, especially psychopharmacology. One has to bear in mind that, following its introduction in 1938, ECT was one of the first truly effective treatments for severe debilitating psychiatric disorders and thus its use rapidly became widespread (Fink, 2001). We are currently investigating trends in ECT practice over the past 50 years in the Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals in south London. Its use peaked in 1956 when 34% of admissions were treated with ECT. This rate fell steadily thereafter to 30% in 1959, 21% in 1968 and 5% in 1987. It is interesting to note here that imipramine was introduced in 1958, coinciding with the beginning of this decline in use of ECT. Similarly, ECT use further declined after the introduction of fluoxetine, the first of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, in 1988, such that by 1991 2% of admissions received ECT. Currently, less than 1% of admissions are treated with ECT and nearly 90% of these have a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, which is wellestablished as being the main indication for contemporary ECT (Carney et al, 2003).


This report provides an expert appraisal of the Canadian Para Report Card on physical activity (PA) for children and adolescents with disabilities. Thirteen indicators were graded by a panel of researchers, representatives from disability and PA organizations, and parents of children and adolescents with disabilities using benchmarks of the Global Matrix 4.0 and previous Canadian PA Report Cards. Facilitated panel discussions were used to appraise the available evidence based on data gaps, opportunities, and recommendations. The available data sources included four nationally generalizable or representative data sets. Grades were assigned to 8/13 indicators and ranged from B+ to F. Data gaps in measurement and national surveillance systems were identified. Ableism was an issue identified within some of the reporting benchmarks. The absence of PA from existing accessibility legislation in Canada was a policy gap of concern. Recommendations related to research, surveillance, and policy are provided to enhance PA among children and adolescents with disabilities in Canada.


The initiation of deep convection during the warm season is a forecast challenge in the relative high instability and low wind shear environment of the U.S. Deep South. Despite improved knowledge of the character of well known mesoscale features such as local sea-, bay- and land-breezes, observations show the evolution of these features fall well short in fully describing the location of first initiates. A joint collaborative modeling effort among the NWS offices in Mobile, AL, and Houston, TX, and NASA s Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center was undertaken during the 2012 warm season to examine the impact of certain NASA produced products on the Weather Research and Forecasting Environmental Modeling System. The NASA products were: a 4-km Land Information System data, a 1-km sea surface temperature analysis, and a 4-km greenness vegetation fraction analysis. Similar domains were established over the southeast Texas and Alabama coastlines, each with a 9 km outer grid spacing and a 3 km inner nest spacing. The model was run at each NWS office once per day out to 24 hours from 0600 UTC, using the NCEP Global Forecast System for initial and boundary conditions. Control runs without the NASA products were made at the NASA SPoRT Center. The NCAR Model Evaluation Tools verification package was used to evaluate both the forecast timing and location of the first initiates, with a focus on the impacts of the NASA products on the model forecasts. Select case studies will be presented to highlight the influence of the products.


Ocimum sanctum L. (Lamiaceae) is therapeutically important medicinal plant used in traditional systems of medicine. Present study was undertaken to determine the optimum growth stage in terms of total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant capacity (TAC) of leaf and bark extracts of hydroponically and field grown plants of O. sanctum in three different maturity stages. Alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and steroid glycosides were qualitatively screened through established protocols. TPC, TFC and TAC were determined by colorimetric Folin-Ciocalteu method, aluminum nitrate method and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay respectively. Leaf and bark extracts of O. sanctum grown under both field and hydroponic conditions, at all three maturity stages exhibited the presence of all phytochemicals tested. TPC, TFC and TAC were increased with the maturity. Significantly higher TPC (8.34 ± 0.14 mg GAE /g DW), TFC (132.29 ± 1.45 mg RE /g DW) and TAC (120.02 ± 4.06 mg TE /g DW) were observed in leaf extracts taken from field grown plants at fully maturity stage. The order of increase was just before flowering< just after flowering< fully maturity stage. Presence of higher content of TPC, TFC and TAC in O. sanctum leaves at fully maturity stage, scientifically validate the traditional claims of harvesting of O. sanctum leaves at fully maturity stage for better therapeutic value. Moreover, presence of all tested phytochemicals in hydroponically grown plants is positive sign of use of hydroponic system as an alternative growing system for O. sanctum.


This paper deals with the process of human resource management in small and medium-sized enterprises of the South Bohemian region. The most valuable asset holdings of these enterprises are undoubtedly human resources, whose development is increasingly considered as the key competitive advantage that ensures long-term survival of business in the new global environment. The aim of this research is to find out the actual status of human resource management in the analyzed small and medium-sized enterprises by assessing the current situation of the key human resources' indicators, which are important for small and medium-sized enterprises. The issue is a part of the research project titled GAJU 068/2010/S "Process Management and its possible implementation in small and medium-sized enterprises". Primary data was obtained through questionnaire method from 81 small-sized enterprises and 42 medium-sized enterprises of the South Bohemian region. The results imply that in terms of human resources management are for small and medium-sized enterprises most important indicators of labour productivity, recruitment and qualification growth.


Reporting one case of bilateral thrombosis of internal jugular vein in absence of neck's space handling or other systemic elements justifying the pathology. Clinical description, evolutive course and treatment performed. Review of corresponding literature what allowed us to classify the case between the idiopathic thrombosis jugularis after neck's surgery, surely brought about for the forced position of the neck for long time.


The geology of the Channel Western Approaches is a key to understand the post-rift evolution of the NW European continental margin in relation with the Europe/Africa collision. Despite considerable evidence of Tertiary tectonic inversion throughout the Channel basin, the structures and amplitudes of the tectonic movements remain poorly documented across the French sector of the Western Approaches. The effect of the tectonic inversion for the evolution of the "Channel River", the major system that flowed into the English Channel during the Plio-Quaternary eustatic lowstands, also needs to be clarified. Its drainage basin was larger than the present-day English Channel and constituted the source of terrigenous fluxes of the Armorican and Celtic deep sea fans. A lack of high-resolution seismic data motivated the implementation of the GEOMOC and GEOBREST cruises, whose main results are presented in this paper. The new observations highlight the diachronism and the contrast in amplitudes of the deformations involved in the inversion of the French Western Approaches. The tectonic inversion can be described in two stages: a paroxysmal Paleogene stage including two episodes, Eocene (probably Ypresian) and Oligocene, and a more moderate Neogene stage subdivided into Miocene and Pliocene episodes, driven by the reactivation of the same faults. The deformations along the North Iroise fault (NIF) located at the termination of the Medio-Manche fault produced forced folds in the sedimentary cover above the deeper faults. The tectonic inversion generated uplift of about 700 m of the mid-continental shelf south of the NIF. The isochron map of the reflectors bounding the identified seismic sequences clearly demonstrates a major structural control on the geometry of the Neogene deposits. First, the uplift of the eastern part of the Iroise basin during the upper Miocene favoured the onset of a broad submarine delta system that developed towards the subsiding NW outer shelf. The later evolution of the 'palaeovalley' network corresponding to the western termination of the "Channel River" exhibits a 'bayonet' pattern marked by a zigzagging pattern of valleys, with alternating segments orientated N040oE and N070oE, controlled by Neogene faulting. The palaeovalley network could have begun during Reurevian or Pre-Tiglian sea-level lowstands, which exposed the entire shelf below the shelf edge. The amplitude of the sea-level fall is assumed to have been magnified by uplift of the Iroise basin, followed by later tilting of the outer shelf, as observed in many other examples documented along the North Atlantic margins.


A complex hyperbolic triangle group is the group of complex hyperbolic isometries generated by complex involutions fixing three complex lines in complex hyperbolic space. Such a group is called equilateral if there is an isometry of order three that cyclically permutes the three complex lines. We consider equilateral triangle groups for which the product of each pair of involutions and the product of all three involutions are all nonloxodromic. We classify all such groups that are discrete.


Dynamic anti-plane characteristic is investigated theoretically on two dissimilar piezoelectric media with an interfacial crack subjected to time-harmonic incident anti-plane shearing in this paper. The formulations are based on the method of complex variable and Green's function. Dynamic stress intensity factors at the crack's tip are obtained by solving boundary value problems with the methods of conjunction and crack-division technique. The calculating results are plotted to show how the frequencies of incident wave, all kinds physical parameters of two dissimilar piezoelectric materials, applied electric loads and the dimension of the interfacial crack influence upon the dynamic stress intensity factor (DSIF). And some of the calculating results are compared with other published documents.


The cytology of joint exudates from patients with rheumatoid arthritis was examined by preparation of air-dried smears; a procedure that involved cytocentrifuga- tion of synovial fluids following dilution in a balanced salt solution containing albumin. This procedure provided a monolayer of homogeneously distributed exudate cells with excellent preservation of morphological details. The domi- nant cell type in the exudates was polymorphonuclear leu- kocytes, often with signs of necrohiosis. The small and medium-sized mononuclear cells were lymphocyte-like and vital-looking. The large mononuclear cells displayed signs of extensive phagocytosis, especially phagocytosis of polymor- phonuclear leukocytes. It is suggested that the granulocytes of the synovial fluid are cells which have reached their function compartment, where they work and die.


Modern high-energy physics experiments rely on the extensive usage of computing resources, both for the reconstruction of measured events as well as for Monte-Carlo simulation. The Institut fur Experimentelle Kernphysik (EKP) at KIT is participating in both the CMS and Belle experiments with computing and storage resources. In the upcoming years, these requirements are expected to increase due to growing amount of recorded data and the rise in complexity of the simulated events. It is therefore essential to increase the available computing capabilities by tapping into all resource pools. At the EKP institute, powerful desktop machines are available to users. Due to the multi-core nature of modern CPUs, vast amounts of CPU time are not utilized by common desktop usage patterns. Other important providers of compute capabilities are classical HPC data centers at universities or national research centers. Due to the shared nature of these installations, the standardized software stack required by HEP applications cannot be installed. A viable way to overcome this constraint and offer a standardized software environment in a transparent manner is the usage of virtualization technologies. The OpenStack project has become a widely adopted solution to virtualize hardware and offer additional services like storage and virtual machine management. This contribution will report on the incorporation of the institute's desktop machines into a private OpenStack Cloud. The additional compute resources provisioned via the virtual machines have been used for Monte-Carlo simulation and data analysis. Furthermore, a concept to integrate shared, remote HPC centers into regular HEP job workflows will be presented. In this approach, local and remote resources are merged to form a uniform, virtual compute cluster with a single point-of-entry for the user. Evaluations of the performance and stability of this setup and operational experiences will be discussed.


Monte Carlo collision generators describing the multiple production of secondaries in very high energy interactions can be updated taking into account the LHC data available now up to √ s = 8TeV (3.2 · 10 16 eV). The energy range of the so-called knee energy region in cosmic ray physics (2 · 10 15 -10 17 eV) for proton primaries will soon be completely covered by the LHC data. An extension of the model HDPM of CORSIKA has been developed on a base of the recent measurements by LHCb, CMS, TOTEM... The new model GHOST involving a 4-source production is presented here. It correctly reproduces the pseudo-rapidity distributions of charged secondaries and can help the approach of the data in the mid and forward rapidity region, especially in the complex case of TOTEM. In parallel, simulations of cascades and EAS are also carried out in order to understand unexplained results in energy distributions of very high energy γ's.