A Study was conducted to determine abundance of fish over two seasons (dry and wet) in Lagos lagoon. Fish sampling was carried out in four selected stations. Physico – chemical characteristics of Lagos lagoon and fish distribution was also studied. The results revealed that Cichlids contributed the highest number of fish in the two seasons. Fish species were more evenly distributed in the dry seasons than wet seasons. Species evenness for wet and dry seasons was 0.40 and 0.43 respectively. There is a positive correlation between fish abundance and biomass for wet and dry seasons (r = 0.60 and 0.76 respectively). There was no significant difference between fish abundance in the two seasons. Variations occurred between physico-chemical parameters of water samples. Analysis of the lagoon waters showed that oil and grease of 11.0 – 12.0 mg/l higher than the FEPA'S limit for effluent discharge. The oil and grease levels exhibited significant difference (p<0.05) between the dry and wet seasons in all the stations in all the zones and also there are significant relationship (p<0.05) among the stations. It is clear from the results that lagoon pollution can also be traceable to the effluent discharged from transportation and therefore there is a need to take appropriate measures to preserve the aquatic life. The information and observation in this study will be very useful in formulating management policies on the future use of Lagos lagoon especially multi-usage of fisheries with other sectors like oil and transportation. Key words : Fish distribution, seasonal variation, lagoon.


The microstructure of scaffold was one of key factors for tissue engineering. Porous polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds were fabricated by combination of porogen-leaching and freeze-drying process. Ice particulates were used as porogen material, and PCL solutions in chloroform were mixed with ice particulates for 5minuture at zero temperature. Then the mixture was freezed in liquid nitrogen, and porous scaffold was prepared by freeze - drying finally. The microstructure and properties of the scaffolds were investigated. Porous structure of the scaffolds showed that good 3D microstructure and no porogen remained in the scaffold; pore size and porosity were determined by the size and mass fraction of ice particulates. The results demonstrated that the Scaffolds possessed open and interconnected pores with sizes ranging from several μm to more than 300μm and porosities of 50~80%.


Background and aims: Nursing process is performance Standard for nursing cares. According to their conditions and facilities, various centers can choose and implement a nursing process that is more efficient for them. This study was aimed to determine the effect of nursing process the way "accessible care cards" on patients' satisfaction from care in intensive care units.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional interventional study with plan case-control study that was conducted in Golestan hospital in Ahwaz in 2014. Considering the inclusion criteria and available sampling method, a total of 38 controls and 38 cases were selected for the intervention group were evaluated. Data were collected questionnaire made by researcher, which was assess the scientific validity, the content validity method were used validated. As well as its reliability using Cronbach's alpha test (α= 0.9) was determined. Intervention was conducted by accessible care cards in nursing process for two weeks and its impact on patient satisfaction was measured. The control group was routine care. The collected data was analyzed by SPSS 19 and statistical tests. Descriptive statistics such as mean, and standard deviation was used. Chi-square test, Mann-whitney and t-test were used to compare groups.
Results: Results showed that 28.90% of patients in the control group had great satisfaction of care, while the 97.36% of patients in the intervention group reported nearly excellent satisfaction. The observed difference in patients' satisfaction with nursing care in both the experimental and control group was statistically significant (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Implementation of nursing process, in a manner of available cards led to an increase in patient satisfaction compared with the routine manner and the use of these cards makes the nursing process of a greater degree of mental state, to objectively state, that can help in saving a lot of time for nurses.


Context. Rosetta followed comet 67P at heliocentric distances from 1.25 to 3.6 au. The solar wind was observed for much of this time, but was significantly deflected and to some extent slowed down by the interaction with the coma. Aims. We use the different changes in the speed of H and He2+ when they interact with the coma to estimate the upstream speed of the solar wind. The different changes in the speed are due to the different mass per charge of the particles, while the electric force per charge due to the interaction is the same. A major assumption is that the speeds of H and He2+ were the same in the upstream region. This is investigated. Methods. We derived a method for reconstructing the upstream solar wind from H and He2+ observations. The method is based on the assumption that the interaction of the comet with the solar wind can be described by an electric potential that is the same for both H and He2+. This is compared to estimates from the Tao model and to OMNI and Mars Express data that we propagated to the observation point. Results. The reconstruction agrees well with the Tao model for most of the observations, in particular for the statistical distribution of the solar wind speed. The electrostatic potential relative to the upstream solar wind is derived and shows values from a few dozen volts at large heliocentric distances to about 1 kV during solar events and close to perihelion. The reconstructed values of the solar wind for periods of high electrostatic potential also agree well with propagated observations and model results. Conclusions. The reconstructed upstream solar wind speed during the Rosetta mission agrees well with the Tao model. The Tao model captures some slowing down of high-speed streams as compared to observations at Earth or Mars. At low solar wind speeds, below 400 km s−1, the agreement is better between our reconstruction and Mars observations than with the Tao model. The magnitude of the reconstructed electrostatic potential is a good measure of the slowing-down of the solar wind at the observation point.


The outcome of carbon disclosure, the importance of which has grown remarkably in recent years to become a strategic decision‐making issue for organisations in today's competitive environment, is a subject of lively debate but remains under‐researched in the environmental accounting literature. This study is motivated by this research gap and the growing interest in assessing the financial consequences of corporate involvement in climate change beyond regulatory compliance, as evidenced by firms' voluntary participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project. Using the resource‐based view of the firm as a theoretical framework and linking it to carbon disclosure through Carbon Disclosure Project, we conceptualise and empirically investigate the impact of adopting proactive carbon management policies and communicating them to stakeholders, focusing on the financial performance of the top FTSE350 companies between 2007 and 2015. By developing a comprehensive financial performance index and controlling for several firm characteristics, we find strong evidence that voluntary carbon disclosure is positively associated with firm financial performance. The findings in this paper provide new insights and policy implications for managers, financial stakeholders, and regulators.


There are several studies regarding polyacrylonitrile composite nanofibers with polyaniline doped with dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid and solved by N,N′-dimethyl formamide which were mostly performed to analyze the thermal and morphological properties. In this study, camphor sulfonic acid-doped polyaniline and polyacrylonitrile composite nanofibers were electrospun from solutions in dimethylsulfoxide and the effect of polyaniline content and the application of different dissolution methods on the morphology, chemical structure, conductivity, crystallinity, mechanical, and thermal properties of nanowebs were investigated. Morphology, nanofiber diameters, chemical structure, crystallinity, mechanical properties, and thermal properties of the nanofibers were all affected by the polyaniline addition. Compared to the conductivity of neat polyacrylonitrile nanofibers, the conductivity of the composite nanofibers was improved, reaching a value higher than 10−6 S/cm with 3 wt% polyaniline content which was in the range for electrostatic discharge applications (10−9 to 10−6 S/cm). Increase in dissolution time and application of ultrasonic homogenization affected the diameter, mechanical properties, crystallinity, and thermal properties of the nanofibers, while they had negligible effects on conductivity.


The objective of the study was to know the influence of missouri mathematic project model based open-ended questions toward students' mathematics communication ability. The population of the study was all seventh graders of SMP Negeri 8 Lubuklinggau in academic year of 2018/2019 meanwhile the sample of this study was selected randomly. The data collection used  two essay tests namely pre-test to know  students' mathematic ability before following learning process and post-test after following learning process. The data analysis used normality test, homogeneity test, and t-test. Based on t-test analysis result with α = 0.05, found that t-value>t-tabel (6,92> 1,67), so it can be concluded that there is influence of learning model of missouri mathematic project based on open-ended questions toward students' mathematic communication ability of seventh graders of SMPN 8 lubuklinggau.

Keywords: Missouri mathematic project, open-ended, communication ability


Dr. Bowerbank, in 1854, in the 'Annals of Natural History', gave a figure and description of the middle part of the shaft of a right tibia from the London Clay of Sheppey, which Prof. Quekett had found to have strong resemblances to that of the Emu. This specimen Dr. Bowerbank named Lithornis emuianus; though, as the genus Lithornis had previously been constituted by Prof. Owen for a Raptorial bird, this struthious animal must now be referred to some other genus. In the year 1865, when accompanying Prof. Sedgwick in his first and only visit to the Isle of Sheppey, it was our good fortune to obtain from a "copperas-picker" at Eastchurch a portion of a tibia which corresponds so exactly with Dr. Bowerbank's specimen as to leave no reasonable doubt that they are portions of the remains of the same individual bird, though an interval of so many years passed between the two findings. Our bone is less like the Ostrich's than the Emu's, is more robust than in the Emu, and shows distinctive characters which led me to institute for it the genus Megalornis. I do not strongly urge that it should be so named; for the specimen is not well preserved, and I think that some doubt may attach to its identification as a struthious skull, and that an exhaustive comparison would be required to prove that it is a bird's skull, and is not the skull of a fish. Such a comparison I have had no opportunity


Summary
Balb/c-3T3 mouse cells were found to be highly restricted non-permissive hosts for human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) strain Towne. These cells did not produce infectious progeny virions, did not permit virus DNA replication, and allowed expression of only a single, major, virus-specific, immediate-early polypeptide. Virus DNA synthesis was examined by three different experimental approaches. In infected Balb/c-3T3 cells, no 32P-labelled newly synthesized DNA was found at the virus density in CsCl gradients and no virus-specific fragments were detected after cleavage with restriction enzymes. Similarly, hybridization experiments revealed no net increase in total virus DNA over the amount of input virus-specific DNA sequences. In contrast, infected permissive human fibroblast cells synthesized 32P-labelled virus-specific DNA fragments and accumulated greatly increased amounts of total hybridizing virus DNA. Experiments with a cloned BamHI L-S joint fragment probe provided evidence for the formation of either circular or concatemeric replicative forms of HCMV DNA in which all half-molar terminal fragments were missing and the proportion of quarter-molar joint fragments increased. These forms were abundant in the first 48 h after infection of permissive human cells and mature linear monomeric forms accumulated thereafter. No detectable joining of the termini of input virus DNA occurred in either non-permissive Balb/c-3T3 cells or in human fibroblast cells in the presence of phosphonoacetic acid. In the infected Balb/c-3T3 cells a single major protein corresponding to the 68K immediate-early polypeptide could be detected within 2 h after cycloheximide reversal. Few, if any, other virus proteins were synthesized at later times or in the absence of inhibitors. The 68K protein was overproduced in Balb/c-3T3 cells to such an extent that it became a major component of the nuclear fraction and could be readily detected by direct staining procedures in polyacrylamide gels.


A mathematical model using an integral-equation/singularity-method approach is derived for determining the magnetic field and electromagnetic forces induced by current-carrying conductors in a region bounded by 3-D material-body surfaces which have complex configurations. Special analytical and numerical techniques that eliminate near-field computational difficulties and bypass the cumbersome matrix manipulations required by other integral-equation approaches are described. A comprehensive computer program package has been developed using this approach for obtaining the 3-D solutions in the end region of a turbine-generator due to armature end windings. Special computational techniques for handling the complex end-winding and surface geometry are described and detailed numerical results are presented for the 3-D field solution and the forces acting on the conductors.


An important synthetic route for the fluorinated organic compounds is electrochemical fluorination (ECF). This is a process taking place on a nickel anode immersed in anhydrous HF. Even though the mechanism is not fully resolved, it is believed that it involves higher valent nickel fluorides formed on the anode. One such compound could be NiF4. Its synthesis and existence have been reported in the literature. However, its crystal structure has so far remained unknown. In this paper, we present, for the first time, the theoretical study of the possible crystal structure of NiF4. We investigated six crystal structures of known metal tetrafluorides as possible candidates for NiF4 by periodic DFT, with the PBE+U method. Of the investigated structures, the most stable polymorph of NiF4 was found to be of the same crystal structure as RuF4. The unit cell parameters were calculated to be a = 4.80 Å, b = 5.14 Å, c = 5.18 Å and β = 105.26∘. All but one of the investigated structures feature octahedrally coordinated nickel centers with two non-bridging fluorine atoms. In the structure originating from ZrF4, all six fluorine atoms around the nickel centers are bridging and two are located in the vacancies around the nickel skeleton, not directly bound to nickel. The overall magnetic arrangement in all the investigated structures is antiferromagnetic. A comparison with other binary nickel fluorides supports the experimental findings that NiF4 is thermodynamically the least stable.


A RF co-simulation platform consisting PCB electromagnetic (EM) modeling and behavioral modeling has been proposed for the wireless handset application. Through integration of EM PCB pattern models, RF component models and RF transceiver behavioral models, complete RF co-simulation could be accomplished. Established simulation platform has been applied to 1800 MHz CDMA mobile phone (Korean PCS) and shows that simulation results are very close to measurement results. This co-simulation platform enables predicting RF performance before prototyping through analysis of S-parameter characteristics and overall RF functionalities such as ACPR, FER and STD.


OBJECTIVES/SCOPE: Please list the objectives and scope of the proposed paper. (25-75 words) PCP population in PDO fields is around 18% of the total Artificial Lift systems with an average runlife of around 360 days. The main cause of failure are tubing leak and sand resulting in parted rods & pump stuck. Continuous PCP surveillance/ monitoring are key to understand pump performance and hence increase their runlife. With this objective, PDO has installed a PCP Controller application / surveillance tool called Well Manager in number of wells on trial basis. METHODS PROCEDURES, PROCESS: Briefly explain your overall approach, including your methods, procedures and process. (75-100 words) In the current set up, PCPs are operated using speed mode and the fluid level checked occasionally using simple fluid shot apparatus whereas with Well Manager they can be operated using different function like production optimization mode, dynamic fluid level or speed control mode all of these modes can be associated with de-sanding function or torque limiting function. These modes to be functional require running downhole gauge, casing pressure, flow line pressure and surface flow rate meters. Surveillance data collected from these meters while these modes are activated has allowed PCPs to automatically optimize their operating conditions to prevent trip due to sand accumulation and pump stuck and therefore increase runlife time. RESULTS, OBSERVATIONS, CONCLUSIONS: Please describe the results, observations and conclusions of the proposed paper. (100-200 words) New PCP setup was installed in well No.1 aiming to reduce solids whilst keeping production rate as it was expected. Well Manager with automated flushing feature every 8 hours, and down hole gauge installed with ant-vibration sub has led for doubling the run life and eliminating FBU interventions. This has resulted in increasing run life from 113 to 239 days and still running. Moreover, compared to the old design in this well, the new set up managed to produce same flow rate using a smaller pump size with lower solids production rate. Another four units installed and showing positive results as well as stability with less well trips and increase in run life. Please explain how this paper will present novel (new) or additive information to the existing body of literature that can be of benefit to a practicing engineer. (25-75 words) The novelty and combination of the Well Manager set up can be replicated and implemented in all PCP wells in the oil industry helping to increase pumps runlife, reduce well intervention cost and oil deferment and therefore, reducing the life cycle cost.


Studies that focus on single predator-prey interactions can be inadequate for understanding antipredator responses in multi-predator systems. Yet there is still a general lack of information about the strategies of prey to minimize predation risk from multiple predators at the landscape level. Here we examined the distribution of seven African ungulate species in the fenced Karongwe Game Reserve (KGR), South Africa, as a function of predation risk from all large carnivore species (lion, leopard, cheetah, African wild dog, and spotted hyena). Using observed kill data, we generated ungulate-specific predictions of relative predation risk and of riskiness of habitats. To determine how ungulates minimize predation risk at the landscape level, we explicitly tested five hypotheses consisting of strategies that reduce the probability of encountering predators, and the probability of being killed. All ungulate species avoided risky habitats, and most selected safer habitats, thus reducing their probability of being killed. To reduce the probability of encountering predators, most of the smaller prey species (impala, warthog, waterbuck, kudu) avoided the space use of all predators, while the larger species (wildebeest, zebra, giraffe) only avoided areas where lion and leopard space use were high. The strength of avoidance for the space use of predators generally did not correspond to the relative predation threat from those predators. Instead, ungulates used a simpler behavioral rule of avoiding the activity areas of sit-and-pursue predators (lion and leopard), but not those of cursorial predators (cheetah and African wild dog). In general, selection and avoidance of habitats was stronger than avoidance of the predator activity areas. We expect similar decision rules to drive the distribution pattern of ungulates in other African savannas and in other multi-predator systems, especially where predators differ in their hunting modes.


Myocardin (Mycd) family members function as a transcriptional cofactor for serum response factor (SRF). Dimer formation is necessary to exhibit their function, and the coiled-coil domain (CC) plays a critical role in their dimerization. We have recently revealed a detailed molecular mechanism for their Crm1 (exportin1)-mediated nuclear export. Here, we found other unique significances of the dimerization of Mycd family members. Introduction of mutations in the CC of myocardin-related transcription factor A (MRTF-A) and truncated Mycd resulted in significant decreases in their cytoplasmic localization and increases in their nuclear localization. In accordance with such subcellular localization changes, their binding to Crm1 were reduced. These results indicate that the dimerization of Mycd family members is necessary for their Crm1-mediated nuclear export. We have recently found that the N-terminal region of Mycd consisting of 128 amino acids (Mycd N128) self-associates to Mycd via the central basic domain (CB), resulting in masking the Crm1-binding site. Such self-association of MRTF-A would be unlikely. In this study, we also revealed that the dimerization of Mycd was also necessary for this self-association. Wild-type Mycd activated SRF-mediated transcription more potently than Mycd lacking the Mycd N128 (Mycd ΔN128) did. These results suggest two possible functions of the Mycd N128: 1) stabilization of Mycd dimer to enhance SRF-mediated transcription and 2) positive regulation of the transactivation ability of Mycd. These findings provide a new insight into the functional regulation of Mycd family members.


The Hita-STT is a five-axis parallel kinematics machine-tool designed for machining and polishing complex parts for applications in medical, automotive components, watch industries. The kinematics of Hita-STT prototype presents an over-constrained design in order to have constant stiffness in the entire workspace. This over-constraining is one of the causes of the hysteresis measured on the machine. Solutions to avoid hysteresis without degrading rigidity are presented. The machine has to be calibrated before its industrialization. A repeatability of 5 microns and an accuracy of 10 microns have to be reached in the entire workspace. Several calibration methods are presented and compared for the case of the Hita-STT machine-tool.


Traditional computer programming is not well-aligned to the needs of constructionism. Orthodox programming principles are oriented towards prescribing processes that address clearly specified uses. Functional specification and optimised execution do not encourage interactive exploration and open-ended interpretation. We propose making construals by computer using Empirical Modelling principles as an alternative to conventional computer programming. The merits of this approach are discussed and illustrated using construals for Sudoku solving.

Our Sudoku solving construals are made up of definitions that express dependencies between observables. Many kinds of human agency can be expressed through modifying the current set of definitions. The construal serves as a shared artefact with which developers, teachers and pupils can all interact concurrently in essentially the same way, each according to their role and experience. Our preliminary experiments with schoolchildren highlight potential for rich and radically new kinds of learning experience and unprecedented scope for recording, monitoring and intervening in support of constructionist learning. Further empirical study is a vital next step.


Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS) is a rare congenital disorder characterized by a triad of capillary malformation with port-wine stain, varicose veins, or venous malformation of the lower limbs, and bony and soft tissue hypertrophy. In this case report, we present the case of a 47-year-old woman who was diagnosed with KTS in her left lower limb at the age of 22. She was admitted to the Hip Group Ambulatory at the Hospital das Clinicas of Sao Paulo, Brazil, due to osteoarthritis in her left hip joint caused by KTS. The patient suffered a Garden 4 left femoral neck fracture after falling from a standing position. Based on imaging, physical examination, and vascular evaluation, our initial surgical plan was Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) with bone graft and acetabular cage via the posterior approach. However, due to significant blood loss, hemodynamic instability, and the presence of large vessels close to the acetabulum, we decided to abort the initial plan of THA and instead opted for Resection Arthroplasty of Girdlestone. KTS is a challenge for orthopedic surgeons and requires a multidisciplinary evaluation. Patients with KTS who undergo THA require a radiologic study of malformations to choose an appropriate surgical approach, despite the high risk of bleeding.


The architecture and Quaternary history of the massive and highly structured Amazon Fan has been reconstructed using sediment recovered by Ocean Drilling Program Leg 155. Huge regional mass-transport deposits make up a significant component of the Amazon Fan. These massive mass-transport deposits each cover an area over 15,000 km{sup 2} (approximately the size of Jamaica), reach a maximum thickness of 200 m, and consist of {approx}50,000 Gt of sediment. Analysis of both benthic foraminiferal fauna and the sediments indicates that the mass-transport deposits originated at a water depth of between 200 and 600 m on the continental slope, which is at least 200 km lateral to and 1500 m above their present position. Each mass-failure event was formed by the catastrophic failure of the continental slope and has been dated and correlated with climate-induced changes in sea level. Two different mechanisms initiated these catastrophic slumps: (1) Rapid drops in sea level destabilized continental slope gas hydrate reservoirs, causing slope failure and the glacial mass-transport deposits, and (2) deglaciation of the Andes and the consequent flushing of Amazon River sediment to the continental slope caused over-burdening and the deglacial mass-transport deposits.


Iron oxide nanoparticles are formidable multifunctional systems capable of contrast enhancement in magnetic resonance imaging, guidance under remote fields, heat generation, and biodegradation. Yet, this potential is underutilized in that each function manifests at different nanoparticle sizes. Here, sub‐micrometer discoidal magnetic nanoconstructs are realized by confining 5 nm ultra‐small super‐paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (USPIOs) within two different mesoporous structures, made out of silicon and polymers. These nanoconstructs exhibit transversal relaxivities up to ≈10 times (r 2 ≈ 835 mm −1 s−1) higher than conventional USPIOs and, under external magnetic fields, collectively cooperate to amplify tumor accumulation. The boost in r 2 relaxivity arises from the formation of mesoscopic USPIO clusters within the porous matrix, inducing a local reduction in water molecule mobility as demonstrated via molecular dynamics simulations. The cooperative accumulation under static magnetic field derives from the large amount of iron that can be loaded per nanoconstuct (up to ≈65 fg) and the consequential generation of significant inter‐particle magnetic dipole interactions. In tumor bearing mice, the silicon‐based nanoconstructs provide MRI contrast enhancement at much smaller doses of iron (≈0.5 mg of Fe kg−1 animal) as compared to current practice.


Research in Australia has focused on using the combination of moderate (25-30 m) spatial resolution ALOS PALSAR, Landsat-derived persistent green fractional cover and ICESAT GLAS data to generate maps of the structure of forests as an intermediate step to mapping above ground biomass (AGB) and AGB change using combinations of JERS-1 SAR, ALOS PALSAR and ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data. The method involved a) segmentation of ALOS PALSAR and Landsat-derived persistent green fractional cover to produce objects across the landscape, b) subsequent assignment of objects to classes associated with different structural formations and c) combining cover and height metrics (derived from ICESAT data) to generate a classification of forest structural types. The approach was applied Australia-wide to produce a new forest structural classification. In future work, a series of algorithms are being compared to facilitate retrieval of AGB and detection of AGB change using combinations of these data, including the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2. Validation is being performed using a collation of field data and derived biomass estimates and airborne LiDAR acquired for a wide range of sites across Australia.


This paper investigates methods for dc fault current fast interruption in high-power dc networks. A four terminal 1.2 GW dc transmission grid is used as a test system. The study compares four semiconductor-based devices for dc fault isolation: series hybrid dc breaker, half bridge and full bridge dc chopper, and LCL thyristor converter. The study considers performance of devices, costs and losses, and also application with larger dc grids. A hybrid dc CB has lowest losses, but the component sizing crucially depends on the speed of fault detection. It is demonstrated that fast communication between various devices in the dc grid is mandatory but might be very challenging. On the other hand, dc choppers and LCL converter component sizing is not dependent on the speed of protection, and there is no need for communication across dc grids. Additionally, they offer the capability of voltage stepping and dc cable power regulation. The LCL converter provides inherent fault current interruption and needs no overrating for dc faults. It also gives better efficiency compared to dc choppers. The performance of these dc breakers is demonstrated using detailed transient PSCAD simulation for dc faults.


Modern holography is dealing mainly with the speckle noise and computational complexity. Reaching a compromise between the computational complexity (computing time) and quality of obtained images is required. This leads to a need to obtain a simple method of noise suppression with low computation complexity. An improved efficient projection of color images is presented. It uses a time averaging of intensity patterns reconstructed from the same Fourier hologram with lateral shifting in x and y direction. We try to establish the optimal step of shifting the Fourier spectra in both directions for each of the primary colors. Full Text: PDF References M. Makowski, "Minimized speckle noise in lens-less holographic projection by pixel separation," Opt. Express 21, 29205-29216 (2013). CrossRef M. Makowski, A. Siemion, I. Ducin, K. Kakarenko, M. Sypek, A.M Siemion, J. Suszek, D. Wojnowski, Z. Jaroszewicz, A. Kolodziejczyk, "Complex light modulation for lensless image projection", Chin. Opt. Lett. 9, 120008 (2011). CrossRef L. Golan and S. Shoham, "Speckle elimination using shift-averaging in high-rate holographic projection," Opt. Express 17, 1330-1339 (2009) CrossRef R. W. Gerchberg, and W. O. Saxton, "A practical algorithm for the determination of phase from image and diffraction plane pictures", Optik (Stuttg.) 35, 237–246 (1972). A. Czerwinski, K. Kakarenko, M. Sypek, M. Makowski, I. Ducin, J. Suszek, A. Kolodziejczyk, J. Bomba, "Modeling of the optical system illuminated by quasi-monochromatic spatially incoherent light: New numerical approach", Opt. Letters 37, 4723-4 (2012). CrossRef T. Shimobaba, T. Ito, N. Masuda, Y. Ichihashi, and N. Takada, "Fast calculation of computer-generated-hologram on AMD HD5000 series GPU and OpenCL," Opt. Express 18, 9955-9960 (2010). CrossRef T. Shimobaba, Y. Sato, J. Miura, M. Takenouchi, and T. Ito, "Real-time digital holographic microscopy using the graphic processing unit," Opt. Express 16, 11776-11781 (2008). CrossRef


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of frustration in online search endeavors. The research applies precepts from frustration theory to investigate the nature of search goals for hedonic vs. utilitarian product and the moderating influence of encountered frustration during online searches on attitude toward keyword search advertising (AAd), attitude toward searched brand (Abrand), purchase intention (PI), and attitude toward search engine effectiveness. An experiment with a pretest was conducted. The results of the pretest suggest that hedonic product searches associate with the goal of finding relevant search results, while utilitarian product searches relate to time saving. The findings of the experiment indicate that the influence of hedonic vs. utilitarian search on AAd and search engine effectiveness is moderated by the level of frustration. The present research contributes to the substantive and conceptual domains of frustration theory, Internet search advertisements, search engine effectiveness, and electronic commerce.


This research seeks to determine if Tina Rimmer is the 'last Colonial Painter or the
'New Sabahan Painter'. This is a biographical research and uses a historical approach
to acquire the data and information for the analysis of this research. The research
findings are obtained by analyzing her ideologies, characteristics and styles within
her artworks as well as comparing them with other artworks created in both the
colonial eras of British North Bomeo and post-colonial eras of current-day Sabah.
Also known as Mary Christina Rimmer nee Lewin, she is currently the oldest and
longest serving member of the Sabahan Visual Art Society (also known as PSVS or
Persatuan Seni VisualSabah) and the Sabah Society. Currently at the age of 98 she
has spent more than half of her lifetime in Sabah first as an education officer and
after her retirement which took place right after getting married to Albert Rimmer,
was offered Malaysian citizenship in Lahad Datu during Mustapha's time. After
moving in to Tamparuli, it encouraged her to draw more as the subject matters in
the local tamu (5) interests her. Originally a British but has decided to permanently
reside in Sabah, draws inspiration from the early colonial Sabahan lifestyle to produce
paintings and sketches that made her a leading figure in the history of Sabah art.
Besides finding the right classification for her and her artwork, readers need to
appreciate her artwork through her unique perspective of Sabahan native lives,
cultures, and traditions which will be further explained in tandem with samples of her
artwork. It is hoped that there will be greater appreciation and understanding of her
aesthetics and style in connection to Sabah art history where Tina Rimmer is
concerned. Her tremendous contribution to Sabah art will be the highlight of this
paper especially where her subjects, style and perspective in relation to her
philosophy that"" Art is Life"" is concemed.


2 Williams B, Fahy G. A critical appraisal of terminal ventriculostomy for syringomyelia. J Neurosurg 1983;58. In Press. Phillips TW, Kindt GW. Syringoperitoneal shunt for syringomyelia: a preliminary report. Surg Neurol 1981;16:462-6. Edgar RE. Surgical management of spinal cord cysts. Paraplegia 1976;14:21-7. -'Shannon N, Symon L, Logue V, Cull DK, Kang J, Kendall B. Clinical features, investigation and treatment of post-traumatic syringomyelia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiat 1981;44:35-42.


Introduction: Staphylococcus lugdunensis is a coagulase-negative staphylococci that is increasingly being reported as a human pathogen. Case presentation: Here, we describe a clinical case of urinary tract infection (UTI) due to S. lugdunensis in a 70-year-old woman with cystocele grade 3 who was successfully treated with cotrimoxazole. Although S. lugdunensis has rarely been reported to cause urinary tract infections and especially in immunosuppressed patients, we describe a case of UTI caused in an adult without the presence of an indwelling catheter or immunosuppression. Conclusion: S. lugdunensis can be a urinary tract pathogen in adults without the presence of indwelling catheters or other obvious medical problems. Urine cultures that show S. lugdunensis should not be attributed to skin contamination, especially when the clinical findings are compatible with cystitis or pyelonephritis.


Summary.  The paper develops a data augmentation method to estimate the distribution function of a variable, which is partially observed, under a non‐ignorable missing data mechanism, and where surrogate data are available. An application to the estimation of hourly pay distributions using UK Labour Force Survey data provides the main motivation. In addition to considering a standard parametric data augmentation method, we consider the use of hot deck imputation methods as part of the data augmentation procedure to improve the robustness of the method. The method proposed is compared with standard methods that are based on an ignorable missing data mechanism, both in a simulation study and in the Labour Force Survey application. The focus is on reducing bias in point estimation, but variance estimation using multiple imputation is also considered briefly.


Philosopher, Diderot is not an economist, but numerous remarks in his work, allow us to locate him amongst the different thinking streams of his time. The Prospectus as the Opening speech of Encyclopaedia locate economy into the knowlege tree. Branch of philosophy, and raising of ethic, economy is concerned, for its field, by the government of men as the administration of goods. Like the biology, economy is using an experimental method connecting together observation, hypothesis and verification. In his political struggle, Diderot assigns to economy and to the « Despote eclaire » precise objectives relating to numerous fields (agriculture, tax system, trade, markets, education, justice...).


Gauderman WJ, Vora H, McConnell R, et al. Lancet. 2007;369(9561):571–577 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY. To investigate the association between residential exposure to traffic and 8-year lung-function growth in children. STUDY POPULATION. Two cohorts of 4th-grade children with a mean age of 10 years were recruited from 12 southern California communities and were followed for 8 years. All eligible children were invited, and 3677 (82%) participated; 1445 children were followed for the full 8 years. METHODS. Yearly pulmonary-function data were obtained for each participant by trained technicians using standard equipment. Indicators of residential exposure to traffic were determined by proximity of the child's residence to the nearest freeway or major nonfreeway road and by dispersion-model estimates including residence distance to roadways, vehicle counts, vehicle emission rates, and meteorological conditions. Regional air pollution was monitored at a central site within each community. Baseline questionnaires were completed regarding demographic data, doctor-diagnosed asthma, in utero exposure to maternal cigarette smoke, and household exposure to air pollutants. Yearly questionnaires updated information on asthma and personal or environmental tobacco-smoke exposure. Regression models also included adjustment for height, BMI, and recent exercise and respiratory illness. RESULTS. Children living <500 m from a freeway had reduced 8-year lung-function growth compared with children living >1500 m from a freeway (forced expiratory volume in 1 second deficit: −81 mL [95% confidence interval: −143 to −18]). This effect was slightly greater after adjustment for socioeconomic status and indoor air pollution and after omission of children who changed residence within the study area and continued to participate. Reduced lung-function growth was independently associated with freeway distance and regional air pollutant levels, including nitrogen dioxide, acid vapor, elemental carbon, and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of <10 and 2.5 μm. At 18 years of age, lung function was decreased among children who lived <500 m from a freeway (forced expiratory volume in 1 second: 97.0% [95% confidence interval: 94.6 to 99.4]; P = .013). CONCLUSIONS. The adverse effects of local exposure to freeway traffic on children's lung development are independent of regional air quality and may result in lung-function deficits later in life. REVIEWER COMMENTS. This well-designed study suggests a causal association between residential traffic exposure and adverse effects on children's lung function, especially for children living closest to freeways. A number of other recent cohort studies in children have also suggested associations between traffic-pollution exposure and asthma, respiratory symptoms, and allergic sensitization. Future studies are needed to determine minimum safe distances from major roadways for homes and schools and to continue evaluation of the guidelines restricting levels of airborne pollutants. Concerns regarding the effects of traffic pollutants on children's respiratory health should continue to be a focus of asthma research.


The Pentagon has authorized the military to contract with private medical groups to supply board certified and board eligible physicians and support personnel to military hospitals to administer specialty medical services. The arrangement, known as a partnership agreement, provides volume to the civilian medical groups and reduces military medical outlays for expensive services at civilian hospitals. This professional paper addresses the initiation, procurement, and execution of a partnership agreement.


The flipped classroom, a teaching method that delivers lecture content to students at home through electronic means and uses class time for practical application activities, may be useful for information literacy instruction. This article describes many of the characteristics of the flipped classroom teaching model, illustrated with examples from current higher education and library instruction literature. Pedagogical benefits of the model are highlighted along with potential challenges to its use.


Broiler meat is the most consumed poultry product in Nepal. To increase the productivity and met the demand there is high use of antibiotics for prophylactic and as growth promoter in poultry industry. Continuous use of Antibiotic in broiler and supplying them in market before with-drawl period had led to development of Antibiotic Residue. This study aims for detection of antibiotic residue in marketed broiler meat of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. A total of 150 meat samples were taken (75 liver +75 breast muscle), and 300 tests performed for two group of antibiotics Group A(Tetracyclines) and Group B (macrolides, aminoglycosides and sulphonamides). Purposive and randomized sampling procedure was done and commercially available test kit was used. 74 tests were found to be positive for antibiotic residue and 53 of them were above the Minimum residue level. The true prevalence was found to be 28.25%. The presence of antibiotic residue in meat found to be statistically significant(p<0.05). Antibiotic residue was found higher in liver than in muscle. This study concluded that antibiotics residue was found higher than recommended in poultry meat of Kathmandu metropolitan city, which could expose serious human health hazard. Hence to mitigate the situation one health and multisectoral approach guiding for safe and rational use of antibiotics should be implemented.


Studies on the issues of the families with disabled children in Lithuania show that these families encounter various problems that are difficult to solve this transitional period, when the gap between what is desirable and what is possible is so great across a wide range of conditions. Professionals' role in family adaptation and effective functioning is critical. The aims of this study are: 1) to present the essential results of a study of parents' perceptions of their experience with professionals; 2) to develop the findings into research – based implications for valuable social work roles and ways to support these families. The negative experience concerning the relationships with physicians in the early period of disability was dominant in mothers' narratives. This experience involved mothers' perception about being not provided with information they needed, being ignored and devaluated by physicians. Mothers expect sympathetic, understanding and approachable manner from specialists. A social worker might be expected to fill missing elements of early interactions of parents and professionals, and to base their practice on main principals of social work: to "meet the client where the client is", to help maintain "hope – discomfort balance", to secure continuation of family support.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the high risk factors related to acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS) following serious thoracoabdominal injuries.

METHODS
The clinical data of 282 patients with serious thoracoabdominal injuries were retrospectively studied. Univariate and Cox multivariate regression analysis were used to determine the risk factors related to ARDS following serious thoracoabdominal injuries.

RESULTS
The incidence of ARDS was 31.9% (90/282) in patients with serious thoracoabdominal injuries. The mortality caused by ARDS was 37.8% (34/90). The univariate analysis and multivariate analysis demonstrated that the clinical conditions such as elder age, shock, dyspnea, abnormal arterial blood gas, hemopneumothorax, pulmonary contusion, flail chest, coexisting pulmonary diseases, multiple abdominal injury and high ISS score were the independent high risk factors related to ARDS.

CONCLUSION
There are many high risk factors related to ARDS following severe thoracoabdominal injuries, which should be detected early and treated timely to decrease the incidence and mortality of A RDS.


PCSK9 is the ninth member of the proprotein convertase (PC) family. Some of its natural mutations have been genetically associated with the development of a dominant form of familial hyper- or hypocholesterolemia. The exact mechanism of action of PCSK9 is not clear, although it is known to enhance the intracellular degradation of the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor in acidic compartments, likely the endosomes/lysosomes. We analyzed the post-translational modifications of PCSK9 and show that it is sulfated within its prosegment at Tyr38. We also examined the susceptibility of PCSK9 to proteolytic cleavage by the other members of the PC family. The data show that the natural gain-of-function mutations R218S, F216L, and D374Y associated with hypercholesterolemia result in total or partial loss of furin/PC5/6A processing at the motif RFHR218↓. In contrast, the loss-of-function mutations A443T and C679X lead either to the lack of trans-Golgi network/recycling endosome localization and an enhanced susceptibility to furin cleavage (A443T) or to the inability of PCSK9 to exit the endoplasmic reticulum (C679X). Furthermore, we report the presence of both native and furin-like cleaved forms of PCSK9 in circulating human plasma. Thus, we propose that PCSK9 levels are finely regulated by the basic amino acid convertases furin and PC5/6A. The latter may reduce the lifetime of this proteinase and its ability to degrade the cell-surface LDL receptor, thereby regulating the levels of circulating LDL cholesterol.


The Time Synchronized Mesh Protocol (TSMP) enables reliable, low power, secure communication in a managed wireless mesh network. TSMP is a medium access and networking protocol designed for the recently ratified Wireless HART standard in industrial automation. TSMP benefits from synchronization of nodes in a multi-hop network to within a few hundred microseconds, allowing scheduling of collision-free pair-wise and broadcast communication to meet the traffic needs of all nodes while cycling through all available channels. Latency and reliability guarantees can be traded off for energy use, though our focus has been on providing high reliability (>99.9%) networks at the lowest power possible. TSMP has been demonstrated in multi-hop networks exceeding 250 nodes per access point, thousands of nodes with multiple access points, radio duty cycles of 0.01%, and with devices at radically different temperatures and traffic levels. With the 802.15.4 physical layer and 10 ms time slots, TSMP can theoretically achieve a secure payload throughput of 76 kbps at a single egress point.


In this work, by using a comprehensive numerical model which rigorously describes the interaction between stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and four-wave mixing (FWM), we verify that FWM processes, including depletion and parametric gain, generate a redistribution of pump power in distributed fiber Raman amplifiers (DFRAs). As a consequence of pump–pump FWM, several FWM components can be generated, which act as new sources of SRS for Raman pumping. Due to new SRS–FWM interactions, a redistribution and exchange of pump power along the fiber also occurs, producing degradation in the performance of the amplifier. Numerical results show impairments in distributed amplified systems due to these interactions, such as loss of flatness on the spectral gain, reduction on the net Raman gain, and the presence of strong FWM products within the transmission band. We note that the localization of the zero dispersion wavelength (λZD) of the fiber is a critical factor in the occurrence of these impairments. A reduction of net Raman gain up to 3 dB and tilt up to 7 dB in the spectral gain profile have been found in different amplified systems as consequence of pump–pump FWM and parametric gain of Raman pumps.


Allelic variation in 9.7 kb of genomic DNA sequence from the human lipoprotein lipase gene (LPL) was scored in 71 healthy individuals (142 chromosomes) from three populations: African Americans (24) from Jackson, MS; Finns (24) from North Karelia, Finland; and non-Hispanic Whites (23) from Rochester, MN. The sequences had a total of 88 variable sites, with a nucleotide diversity (site-specific heterozygosity) of .002+/-.001 across this 9.7-kb region. The frequency spectrum of nucleotide variation exhibited a slight excess of heterozygosity, but, in general, the data fit expectations of the infinite-sites model of mutation and genetic drift. Allele-specific PCR helped resolve linkage phases, and a total of 88 distinct haplotypes were identified. For 1,410 (64%) of the 2,211 site pairs, all four possible gametes were present in these haplotypes, reflecting a rich history of past recombination. Despite the strong evidence for recombination, extensive linkage disequilibrium was observed. The number of haplotypes generally is much greater than the number expected under the infinite-sites model, but there was sufficient multisite linkage disequilibrium to reveal two major clades, which appear to be very old. Variation in this region of LPL may depart from the variation expected under a simple, neutral model, owing to complex historical patterns of population founding, drift, selection, and recombination. These data suggest that the design and interpretation of disease-association studies may not be as straightforward as often is assumed.


Users often leave feedback on a myriad of aspects of a product which, if leveraged successfully, can help yield useful insights that can lead to further improvements down the line. Detecting actionable insights can be challenging owing to large amounts of data as well as the absence of labels in real-world scenarios. In this work, we present an aggregation and graph-based ranking strategy for unsupervised detection of these insights from real-world, noisy, user-generated feedback. Our proposed approach significantly outperforms strong baselines on two real-world user feedback datasets and one academic dataset.


Monogenea is one of the most species-rich groups of parasitic flatworms worldwide, with many species described only recently, which is particularly true for African monogeneans. For example, Cichlidogyrus, a genus mostly occurring on African cichlids, comprises more than 100 nominal species. Twenty-two of these have been described from Lake Tanganyika, a famous biodiversity hotspot in which many vertebrate and invertebrate taxa, including monogeneans, underwent unique and spectacular radiations. Given their often high degrees of host specificity, parasitic monogeneans were also used as a potential tool to uncover host species relationships. This study presents the first investigation of the monogenean fauna occurring on the gills of endemic 'Gnathochromis' species along the Burundese coastline of Lake Tanganyika. We test whether their monogenean fauna reflects the different phylogenetic position and ecological niche of 'Gnathochromis' pfefferi and Gnathochromis permaxillaris. Worms collected from specimens of Limnochromis auritus, a cichlid belonging to the same cichlid tribe as G. permaxillaris, were used for comparison. Morphological as well as genetic characterisation was used for parasite identification. In total, all 73 Cichlidogyrus individuals collected from 'G.' pfefferi were identified as C. irenae. This is the only representative of Cichlidogyrus previously described from 'G.' pfefferi, its type host. Gnathochromis permaxillaris is infected by a species of Cichlidogyrus morphologically very similar to C. gillardinae. The monogenean species collected from L. auritus is considered as new for science, but sample size was insufficient for a formal description. Our results confirm previous suggestions that 'G.' pfefferi as a good disperser is infected by a single monogenean species across the entire Lake Tanganyika. Although G. permaxillaris and L. auritus are placed in the same tribe, Cichlidogyrus sp. occurring on G. permaxillaris is morphologically more similar to C. irenae from 'G.' pfefferi, than to the Cichlidogyrus species found on L. auritus. Various evolutionary processes, such as host-switching or duplication events, might underlie the pattern observed in this particular parasite-host system. Additional samples for the Cichlidogyrus species occuring on G. permaxillaris and L. auritus are needed to unravel their evolutionary history by means of (co-)phylogenetic analyses.


SIR,-Drs Susan M Benbow (4 October, p 883) and Neena Modi (p 888) are both right. If all women doctors with small children were prepared to work full time there would be no problem. If God had made us all men things might be even easier. Dr Modi accuses me ofunfairness to men. I promise her that this is not my intention. Of course, if men have reasons for wanting to work part time these should also be considered. Since my Personal View was published I have heard from the histopathologist I referred to that she has found a four session job, not in histopathology, which would have been her first choice, but in cytology, confirming my assertion that women are prepared to make reasonable compromises. I also had a letter from one of the organisations I criticised. The writer, who is responsible for careers advice, asked me for the histopathologist's name since he wanted to check whether he had really done all he could to help her. Unlike the knights of King Arthur, today's politicians and administrators do not ride out seeking wrongs to right. They deal only with those problems which they thinkwill causethemtrouble. At present we are producing too many doctors, and general practice is becoming increasingly popular. Trainee jobs in general practice are hard to obtain. It seems illogical to force some reluctant doctors to work full time while others are unemployed. In hospital practice, which is becoming less popular, it is now more difficult to fill jobs in "unpopular" specialties with full time staff, while part timers might-be happy to take them. The commitment to which Dr Benbow urges us often comes with involvement. I am much more -enthusiastic about my present specialty now than when I settled for it years ago. For these reasons I suggest that this is the time to prod our manpower decision makers into reconsidering their attitude to part time work.


The problem of the position and velocity tracking control of high-speed trains becomes interesting yet challenging when simultaneously considering inevitable factors such as the resistive friction and aerodynamic drag forces, the interactive impacts among the vehicles, and the nonlinear traction/braking notches inherent in train systems. In this paper, a multiple point mass with a single-coordinate dynamic model that reflects resistive and transient impacts is derived, and based on this, computationally inexpensive robust adaptive control designs with optimal task distribution for speed and position tracking are proposed under traction/braking nonlinearities and saturation limitations. It is shown that the proposed method is not only robust to external disturbances, aerodynamic resistance, mechanical resistance, and transient impacts but adaptive to unknown system parameters as well. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is also confirmed through numerical simulations.


Using soil survey data for simulation modeling of water regimes and crop growth requires characteristic expressions for hydraulic characteristics of major soil horizons and soil series. It is unclear at present whether: (i) hydraulic functions based on parameter estimation techniques are adequate for simulations in macroporous soils, and (ii) to what extent different soil horizons and series can be pooled to reduce input data in simulation models. These questions were examined using two methods of expressing measured hydraulic conductivity data in computer simulations with previously validated crop models. Both hydraulic conductivity expressions used parameterized equations derived from one-step outflow data for the −5.0 to −60.0 kPa pressure range. For the 0 to −5.0 kPa range, one method used hydraulic conductivities estimated by extrapolating the parameterized functions, whereas the second method used actual crust test data to account for macropore flow. Differences between the two methods were functionally tested by simulating maize (Zea mays L.) yields and fluxes below the root zone in three Costa Rican soil series, using the SWACROP model. Yields were significantly higher when considering structural porosity (Method 2), while fluxes were significantly lower. Thus, extrapolation of one-step outflow data to conditions near saturation seems to be questionable. Using Method 2, maize yields and fluxes below the root zone were compared for three representative soil series to test whether they could be considered as one functional group of soils. Yield data indicated that two rather than one functional group should be distinguished. Flux data were similar for all three series, indicating that only one functional group was necessary


21/06/2018 @ 11:00am - 3:00pm - Are you looking for office space for you business? Or know someone who is? We are holding an open day for businesses to come and view the centre and have a look at the spaces we have available at present. Its very much an informal event, turn up at any time, have a look around, pick up some literature, ask questions, no obligation.


Imazethapyr, sulfentrazone, clomazone, diclosulam, trifloxysulfuron-sodium and trifluralin are residual herbicides commonly used for weed control in soybean or sugarcane crops. The sorghum crop implanted succeeding sugarcane, can be affected by the carryover effect of these herbicides. In this context, we aim with this work to evaluate the minimum period between application of herbicides with residual effect (imazethapyr, sulfentrazone, clomazone, diclosulam, trifluralin and trifloxysulfuron-sodium) and the planting of sorghum so that there is no impairment in growth and establishment of this crop due to the herbicide carryover effect. The experiment was installed in randomized blocks design with four replications, under field conditions. The herbicides were applied to the previously tillaged soil, with sorghum being planted 0, 14, 28, 42, 56 and 70 days after herbicide application (DAA). The percentage of germination was evaluated daily from planting, and 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after emergence (DAE) of each planting, the phytotoxicity was evaluated. Thirty five DAE of each planting season, ten plants were collected per plot for measurement of leaf area, fresh and dry mass of plants, leaves and stems. The minimum time interval for planting sorghum after application of these herbicides varies, but imazethapyr is highlighted by causing high and durable toxicity to sorghum even when planting sorghum after 70 days of its application.


A combination of two major adaptive algorithms, the SMI (sample matrix inversion) method and the CMA (constant modulus algorithm), is presented. The idea is to use the SMI method to determine the initial weights for the CMA operation. Although the merit of the CMA, being a blind algorithm, is not fully taken advantage of, the good aspects of both the SMI and CMA can be introduced. By this approach, two major problems of the CMA can be solved, the ill convergence with false solution when the interfering signal is stronger than the desired signal and its slow convergence time. Simulation results are shown to confirm the theory.


This article reviews the application of pesticides in Gaza Strip, Palestine and discusses its associated  health risks. This study is based on data collection and analysis. Data showed that large quantities of pesticides are used in Gaza Strip and the quantities are increased annually. Analyzing the data indicates that large numbers of pesticides are used for controlling different types of pests. Some pesticides are restricted by law but are available in the local market. Classification of pesticides according to its biological activity indicates that insecticides are the largest uses among other pesticides. Reviewing the acute poisonous cases in health records indicates that the reported acute toxic cases were among local farmers in Gaza and the number of acute toxic cases increased annually indicating direct health risks associated with pesticide use. In addition, the increased number of congenital malformation among the newborns indicates indirect health risks. Moreover, the number of cancer cases in Khan Younis governorate indicates a positive association with pesticide use. Classification of pesticides according to WHO standards identified extreme toxic pesticides (e.g parathion), highly toxic (dichlorvos), moderately toxic (malathion) and less toxic ones. These Pesticides have a wide range of octanol-water partitioning coefficient (K ow , log P) values (-0.8 - 6.6), which results in a variety of storage and transport patterns in human bodies. They may move from the storage sites (e.g fat bodies) via partitioning to other parts of the human body. A pesticide with high K ow log P value (hydrophobic) such as Fenvalerate can be stored in fat containing particles and be released in milk secretion exposing fetus, mother, and infants to health risks. A satisfactory solution to these problems is the implementation of restriction measures and the performance of frequent pesticide residue analysis of food samples. Key words: Contamination, health risk, toxicology, log K ow value.


Different distributions of interior linings in an enclosure have been studied to reveal the influence on time to flashover. Two kinds of ceiling structures, flat ceiling and flat ceiling with beams, were used for enclosure. Six full‐scale experiments were performed to investigate the occurrence of flashover in large enclosures. Heat release rate, gas temperature, and surface temperature of the enclosure were measured and analyzed. Experimental results show that time to flashover is extended for enclosure with large surface areas and large doors. Whether lining the interior linings on the ceiling or beams has a significant effect on flashover. Considering that ceiling fires have effect on the progress of the spread of flame on the wall, time to flashover is reduced for the tests that are fitted with the interior linings on the wall of the enclosure. In the enclosure with beams, the direction of spread of flame on the ceiling is changed, resulting in the change of time to flashover. Additionally, the strength of ceiling jets that is affected by the heat release rate of fire source and the area of the interior linings mounted on the fire source influenced region affects flashover. It is observed that flashover occurs when flame fronts are throughout the upper part of the back wall and the flame‐covered area on the back wall exceeds 0.2 times the area of the back wall.


D. M. D. James writes: I congratulate the authors on a very clear and comprehensive account of a widespread and complex phenomenon of increasing economic importance. However, presumably for didactic ease, they have made some simplifications that I feel are counterproductive for full physical understanding.

It is not entirely clear from the paper that sand intrusions require a concatenation of source/seal properties that on the face of it are very rare. These are that the source sand bed must have a negligible grain cohesion typical of burial at very low vertical effective stress (not shallow depth, necessarily) and that the seal must have effectively negligible permeability, typical of burial at very high vertical effective stress (and often associated with high cohesion). In most basins sands that can be fluidized are interbedded with 'leaky' shales of high permeability (for shales) that do not sustain high overpressure during normal compaction. However, such high overpressure is vital because the intrusion is powered by a pressure decline at source that provides the mechanical energy to strain elastically the intrusion walls and to drive the ascent of the fluidized sand against frictional resistance. This cannot happen if fracture takes place when fluid pressure reaches a value merely equal to that of the horizontal stress (as illustrated by the authors in their figs 6 and 8) as this lies on the closure gradient of any fracture, not its inception gradient. How then can the requisite overpressure for fracture initiation and propagation be attained at the shallow depths normally associated with low vertical effective stress?

Of the obvious ways around this problem, the development of zero permeability diagenetic or clathrate seals seems unlikely to be a universal solution. More likely, and not mentioned in the paper, is that the source pressure builds up at such a high …


Fundamental changes are affecting the power transmission industry. Markets are being deregulated and liberalized, urbanization is continuing around the world accompanied by a constantly growing demand for energy and renewable energy sources are playing an increasingly important role. For these reasons, new and efficient solutions for power transmission are required. This paper will present the prospects and technology issues of the latest developments in Voltage-Sourced Converters (VSC) for advanced power transmission systems. A new technology Modular Multilevel Converters (MMC) will be described and all the benefits of the VSC for transmission systems enhancement will be highlighted.


The recent development of salt-concentrated electrolytes with fire-retarding solvents has paved the route to resolve the safety concerns of electrolytes in Li-ion batteries. However, these salt-concentrated electrolytes have an inherently high viscosity and low wettability on commercially dominant polymeric separators, which inhibits them from filling the pores of separators and electrodes leading to performance issues in the battery. Here we report electrode (cathode)-coated zeolite (silicalite) separators synthesized using a scalable blade-coating process. These separators show a much higher wettability and electrolyte uptake towards these electrolytes due to their higher surface energy and intra-particle micropores, resulting in a uniform Li-ion concentration gradient. The zeolite separator also has a much higher porosity (80%) than the PP (39%) separator resulting in a higher electrolyte loading and hence upgraded electrochemical performance. These coated zeolite separators when used in full cells with salt-concentrated electrolytes demonstrate a 15% higher charge retention in long-term cycling and lower charge transfer and SEI resistance compared to the PP separator, as a result of a more uniform lithium ion concentration profile. Moreover, with 1C-rate cycling, the silicalite separator realizes about 20% higher capacity than the PP separator, while losing about 11% of its capacity as compared to the 25% capacity lost by the PP separator, post 50 cycles. The combination of non-combustible, highly electrolyte wettable and industrially scalable zeolite separators combined with a fire-retarding electrolyte provides an effective approach for developing high performance and safe Li-ion batteries.


Background and Aim: Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is a phenomenon in which brief episodes of ischemia protect the brain from subsequent, severe ischemic insult. This study evaluated whether the neuroprotective effect of cerebral IPC is mediated by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition, using non-selective NOS inhibitor, and N-Nitro- L-Arginine-Methylester (L-NAME). Materials and Methods: Fifty adult male Wistar rats divided into five groups ten in each: (1) Sham-operated group (control), (2) ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) group; rats subjected to 30 min of left common carotid artery (CCA) occlusion followed by 24-h of reperfusion, (3) I/R with NOS inhibition group; rats infused with L-NAME intraperitoneally 15 min before the same I/R period, (4) IPC group; rats treated with three 5-min episodes of CCA occlusion (CCAO) with 10 min of reperfusion between stimuli, then 30 min of CCAO followed by 24 h reperfusion, and (5) IPC with NOS inhibition group: Rats were subjected to the same preconditioning stimuli as Group 4 with the infusion of NOS inhibitor (L-NAME) 15 mg/kg, 15 min before CCAO. Neurological assessments were evaluated, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay used to detect Rho-kinases (ROCK), and nitric oxide metabolites were measured colorimetrically. Results: IPC significantly reduces the neurological deficit and lowering the ROCK level with higher nitrite levels. While administration of L-NAME in IPC rats results in a significant enhancement in neurological scoring compared to IPC without NOS inhibition, with significant inhibition of nitrite and ROCK. Conclusion: Despite previous evidence that NO involves in neuroprotective mechanism of IPC, the current data suggest the potential ofL-NAME as a neuroprotective component of IPC.


This paper examines the development of the middle class in post-apartheid South Africa, using data from the 1993 Project for Statistics on Living Standards and Development, the 2000 Income and Expenditure Survey/Labour Force Survey and the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study. The affluent middle class are defined as individuals residing in a household with a per capita income of R1,400 – R10,000 per month in 2008 prices. The paper explores changes in the size of the middle class as well as the racial and gender profile of the middle class within the context of Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa. The affluent middle class experienced very modest growth over the period, only slightly ahead of population growth. There was however substantial churning in the racial composition of the middle class, with a large increase in the number of Africans accompanied by a fewer number of Whites. The gender profile of the middle class showed less conclusive evidence of transformation. The upper class similarly experienced significant racial transformation and more than doubled in size, and also accrued a higher share of total income (at the expense of the income shares of middle and lower classes).


In this paper, a novel structure of One-Third-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide Resonator (OTMSIWR) is first proposed, which reduces about 65% size. Based on the OTMSIWR, a single-band bandpass filter (BPF) operats at 4.55GHz is designed. The single-band BPF has a wide and deep upper stopband. Further, a dual-band BPF using high mode technology based on the single-band filter is designed. The fundamental mode (TM101 mode) and high mode (TM201 mode) are utilized to achieve the dual-band response. The center frequencies locate at the 4.2GHz and 6.15GHz, respectively. Two transmission zeros (TZs) are achieved in the dual-band BPF by adjusting the positions of the feeds. To further improve the selectivity of the upper stopband of the dual-band BPF, two pairs of Complementary Split-Ring Resonators (CSRRs) are introduced on the surface of the OTMSIWR, which obtain the desired results. Finally, a singleband BPF and a dual-band BPF are fabricated and tested. The measured results agreed well with the simulated ones, which proved that the proposed structure is a good candidate to design filters.


Swimming strategies at the microscopic scale involve different mechanisms to those at the human scale. At this scale, the flow is dominated by the viscosity effects of the water and becomes reversible. This feature, known as the scallop theorem needs to be circumvented in order to swim with strokes that produce a net motion of the swimmer. The talk proposes to give an overview of recent works on this topic by the author and collaborators [1-7]. In particular, we will show how these problems sit at the intersection between fluid mechanics, control theory, theory of PDE and geometry.


applied by the ward sister, the clinical observers being unaware of the disposition of the remedies. Response noted did not necessarily mean cure. In all, 33 patients have been treated: 8 of these were scarcely expected to improve-5 being chronic psoriasis rubra, 1 reticulosis, and 1 tinea pedis, in both of which the ointment was used to see if itch might be relieved, and finally a case of folliculitisto see frankly whether the condition might be aggravated, as indeed happened. The remaining 25 cases were made up of dermatitis in all its forms: infantile eczema, flexural eczema, seborrhoeic, infective, sensitization, contact, exfoliative and herpetiformis (in the last-named, itch was relieved when other local measures failed), and finally 2 cases of drug eruption. Of the 25, 16 showed improvement, a specific response, 2 a nonspecific response (did as well with base), 4 showed no response, and 3 were actually irritated. Of the 18 improved, 7 later relapsed, including the 2 which had shown non-specific improvement.


Almost half of all the coal produced in the United States is mined by companies that have recently gone bankrupt. This Article explains how those bankruptcy proceedings have undermined federal environmental and labor laws. In particular, coal companies have used the Bankruptcy Code to evade congressionally imposed liabilities requiring that they pay lifetime health benefits to coal miners and restore land degraded by surface mining. Using financial information reported in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission and in the companies' reorganization agreements, we show that between 2012 and 2017, four of the largest coal companies in the United States succeeded in shedding almost $5.2 billion of environmental and retiree liabilities. Most of these liabilities were backed by federal mandates. Coal companies disposed of these regulatory obligations by placing them in underfunded subsidiaries that they later spun off. When the underfunded successor companies liquidated, the coal companies managed to get rid of their regulatory obligations without defaulting on the pecuniary debts they owed to their creditors.

Our analysis of the coal industry also has implications for bankruptcy theory. First, we provide a novel reason for questioning the view that bankruptcy proceedings should prioritize Chapter 11 reorganization over Chapter 7 liquidation. Recent coal bankruptcies show that companies are using the Bankruptcy Code to externalize costs onto third parties, despite statutes designed to force coal companies to internalize those costs. We argue that reorganization should not undermine Congress's efforts to force firms to internalize the costs they impose on others. When a reorganization threatens to do so, liquidation is the better method for resolving bankruptcies. Second, our account poses challenges for scholars who argue that parties in bankruptcy proceedings should be able to contract around Chapter 11. While there are compelling reasons to allow parties to do this, some mandatory federal rules are necessary to prevent creditors and debtors from negotiating around federal regulatory programs. And third, the use of Chapter 11 to discharge regulatory obligations whose purpose is to further congressional policy impedes the government's ability to adopt certain efficient regulatory designs. Liabilities that can be discharged generally have to have been incurred before the bankruptcy petition. Such policies often take the form of market-based regulations or performance standards. Moreover, bankruptcy judges treat liabilities that can be converted to money judgments as ordinary contracts while giving injunctions what amounts to an effective priority claim. As a result, bankruptcy law creates incentives for regulators to adopt command-and-control regulations—a common regulatory design that is disfavored in scholarly circles for being less efficient than the alternatives. We conclude by arguing that many of the strategies coal companies have used to discharge these federal regulatory obligations are illegal.


The dissertation includes an analysis of the building and restoration activities in the city of Damascus as well as an examination on the impact of the 1173/1759 earthquakes on the buildings and reactions to the disaster.

For a long time the 18th century was considered an era of political-economic as well as intellectual and artistic decline but this assumption is not maintainable considering the transmission of several exclusive rights to the governor of Damascus that added to the stabilization of his authority and position as well as to the stabilization of the political circumstances in the entire province. One of the privileges assigned to the governor was the leadership of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in 1708. The assembly of pilgrims in Damascus from the entire Mashreq, Persia, Central Asia and even as far as China was the largest gathering after Cairo and added to the trade volume of the Syrian province as well as to the wealth of the authorities that now had gained the right of collecting taxes for the Sublime Porte themselves. Several still extant buildings of considerable prominence attest to the newly gained wealth and self-awareness of the local elite. Among these buildings are the Khan ar-Ruzz, Khan Asʿad Pasha, Madrasa Fathiyya, just to mention a few, and even private buildings such as the Qasr al-Azm gained public attention through their splendor that was transmitted via hearsay among people.
While in the 17th century Turkish governors were delegated to the Syrian province, now local families gained ground as state officials which enabled them to strengthen their local hierarchy. The most well known family were probably the ʿAzms who were originally landlords and traders from Hama. Between 1725 and 1807 they gained nine times the post of governor and contributed considerably to a certain economic prosperity that was expressed in several large-scale building projects within the city.

The history of economy and politics as well as of building activity can be reconstructed through local sources including Damascene chronicles (hawadith, tarajim, khitat), court registers and building inscriptions. The narrative sources give a lively picture of the daily life in the city and of the impression of the deeds – among them their building activity and the resulting monuments – of the ruling class.

Along with the political ongoings of the 18th century the two severe earthquakes in October and November of the year 1759 – one reaching VIII, the other X MMS (Modified Mercalli Scale) which corresponds to 6,5 and 7,2 on the Richter Scale – was perceived as an incisive event. Indeed it caused considerable damage to both people and material but in fact it coincided with several incidents: two years before the dramatic fall of the mightiest governor of that century, Asʿad Pasha, who was first deposed and than assassinated under obsure conditions is considered the big break in the authority of the ʿAzm family that lost power in the aftermath until in 1807 the last ʿAzm governor was displaced, followed by the heaviest earthquakes that hit the regions since more than 600 years – some of the sources still recall the 1171 earthquakes after which Nur ad-Din Zengi commissioned several major reconstructions and restorations.

The research is completed by a survey of all detectable building and restoration measures undertaken in the public sector during the 18th century (1708-1807), recorded in a comprehensive catalogue. It shows that the ʿAzm family was cross-linked within Damascene society to the extend that they were able to construct private and public buildings that reached the dimension of large-scale real estate investments. Since we have – apart from the building inscriptions – no written records of the ruling elite itself, their buildings constitute a major source of their actions and self-perception as they reflect the position – or what the patron thought to be his standing within urban structure as well as society – through their monuments. The monuments commissioned by the governor Asʿad Pasha and his administrator of finance Fathi Afandi for instance show – without words – their rivalry about acceptance and positioning within the social and economic order of Damascene society, and Fathi's aspiration after the post of governor.

Imperial Ottoman elements in architectural style and decoration are obvious – which was already the case shortly after the Ottoman conquest in the early 16th century – though never exactly copied but moreover adapted to the traditional Damascene style. At the same time local traditions were maintained. A close analysis reveals the definite diversity and the development of characteristic features for each type of building. The 18th century may be considered the last century of a predominant local architectural tradition. Yet in the first third of the century singular modern style architectural features find their way into local structures, announcing new European style decorations and structural elements introduced via the Ottoman capital Istanbul that would massively infiltrate 19th century Syrian architecture coming along with the central directed administrational reforms (tanzimat) of the Ottoman Empire.


Weconsider a two-component interacting bosonic condensate with dominating intra-species repulsive density–density interactions.We study the phase diagramof the system atfinite temperature with rotation, using large-scaleMonte Carlo simulations of a two-componentGinzburg–Landau model of the system. In the presence of rotation, the system features a competition between longrange vortex–vortex interactions and short-range density–density interactions. This leads to a rotation-driven 'mixing' phase transition in a spatially inhomogeneous state with a broken ( ) U 1 symmetry. Thermal fluctuations in this state lead to nematic two-component sheets of vortex liquids. At sufficiently strong inter-component interaction, we find that the superfluid and 2 phase transitions split. This results in the formation of an intermediate state which breaks only 2 symmetry. It represents two phase separated normal fluidswith a difference in their densities.


The inhomogenous electric field near the metal surface of plasmonic nanoparticles allows molecular orientation to be determined from surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). We illustrate this by simulating the effects of the field-gradient on the SERS spectrum of benzene and pyridine. To do this, we present an origin-independent formalism describing the effects of the local electric-field gradient in SERS. Using this formalism, we found that the field-gradient led to observation of Raman-inactive modes in benzene and allowed for extraction of orientation information from the SERS spectra of both benzene and pyridine. It was also observed that the SERS electromagnetic enhancement factor, when considering field-gradient effects, depends on the field-gradient magnitudes and is only approximately described by |E|4 for certain modes. The field-gradient mechanism may also lead to a weakening of intensities as compared to a homogeneous local field. Thus, inclusion of field-gradient effects are crucial in under...


The Municipal Sector Investment Project, partly financed by a $75 million World Bank loan made in 1992, marked the successful beginning of a decentralization effort in Tunisia to strengthen municipalities and transform them into effective agents for local urban development. The Tunisian government highlights this project as a catalyst and platform for the country's broader decentralization policy.


In the United States, sustainable nuclear power to promote energy security is a key national energy priority. Advanced small modular reactors (AdvSMR), which are based on modularization of advanced reactor concepts using non-light-water reactor (LWR) coolants such as liquid metal, helium, or liquid salt may provide a longer-term alternative to more conventional LWR-based concepts. The economics of AdvSMRs will be impacted by the reduced economy-of-scale savings when compared to traditional LWRs and the controllable day-to-day costs of AdvSMRs are expected to be dominated by operations and maintenance costs. Therefore, achieving the full benefits of AdvSMR deployment requires a new paradigm for plant design and management. In this context, prognostic health management of passive components in AdvSMRs can play a key role in enabling the economic deployment of AdvSMRs. In this paper, the background of AdvSMRs is discussed from which requirements for PHM systems are derived. The particle filter technique is proposed as a prognostics framework for AdvSMR passive components and the suitability of the particle filter technique is illustrated by using it to forecast thermal creep degradation using a physics-of-failure model and based on a combination of types of measurements conceived for passive AdvSMR components.


In China, large hydraulic engineering projects have made a great contribution to social economic development; at the same time, they also lead to social risks that affect social stability. The pluralism of stakeholders in large hydraulic engineering projects and the complex interrelationship among stakeholders are the important factors affecting social stability risk. Previous studies of social stability risk have mainly focused on risk identification and risk assessment, without considering the relationships among stakeholders and their linkages of risks. For large hydraulic engineering projects, this paper investigated the relevant risk factors and their interrelationships through a literature review and interviews that represented stakeholder perspectives. The key social stability risk factors were identified based on social network analysis. A multi-channel project financial system, a perfect interest compensation mechanism, an efficient prevention mechanism of group events, and a complete project schedule control system were proposed to mitigate the social stability risks. This study combined stakeholder management with risk management by using social network analysis, providing reference for the social stability risk management of large engineering projects in China.


To make a walking machine more active and practical, reducing its weight without reducing its working ability is the key issue of design. A robot with many actuators that produce a function of a real animal's joint-base kinematics tends to be too heavy for a light-step animal-like walking. In this paper we propose the concept of reducing the number of actuators, which is extremely effective for reducing the weight of a walker. Considering the essence of walking locomotion, absolutely indispensable functions are an arbitrary movement of a swinging leg and some translation of the center of gravity to maintain balance. Seven actuators for a biped, four for a quadruped, six for a hexapod are the minimum numbers for essential functions. A six-actuator hexapod is realized by trial manufacturing. Furthermore, as a practical solution, more reduction is available by restricting walking functions. A five-actuator biped and a three-actuator quadruped are introduced in the experiments.


Objective. The objective of this study was to evaluate the regression of temporomandibular pain as a result of intra-articular injections of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to patients with temporomandibular joint dysfunction previously subjected to prosthetic treatment. Materials and Methods. The baseline study material consisted of 10 patients, both males and females, aged 28 to 53 years, previously treated due to painful temporomandibular joint dysfunction using occlusal splints. All patients were carried out to a specialist functional assessment of the dysfunction using the Polish version of the RDC/TMD questionnaire axis I and II. Intra-articular injections were preceded by a preparation of PRP. The injection sites were determined by the method used during arthroscopic surgical procedures. Following aspiration, 0.5 mL of plasma was injected into each temporomandibular joint. Results. The comparison of the intensity of pain during all examinations suggests a beneficial effect of the procedure being performed as the mean VAS score was 6.5 at examination I, 2.8 at examination II, and 0.6 at examination III. Conclusion. Application of the intra-articular injections of platelet-rich plasma into the temporomandibular joints has a positive impact on the reduction of the intensity of pain experienced by patients treated for temporomandibular joint dysfunction.


Objective. To describe a feasibility study focused on a telemonitoring approach to self-managed kinesiotherapy sessions for the rehabilitation of hand function in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. Ten patients with SSc and 10 with RA were enrolled in a 3-month controlled trial (approval no. 9751/2012 – Italian Department of Health) to perform a home kinesiotherapy protocol, consisting of strengthening and mobility exercises, using a newly developed telemedicine system (a portable device and the related telemonitoring infrastructure). A further 10 patients with SSc and 10 with RA were enrolled as controls to perform a similar home kinesiotherapy protocol with the aid of common daily-life objects. Both groups were evaluated at baseline and at followup, after 6 and 12 weeks. The primary outcome of the trial was hand function measured by Dreiser's index (Functional Index for Hand OA, FIHOA), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and the Hand Mobility in Scleroderma (HAMIS) test (only for SSc). Results. Patients with SSc showed an improvement of FIHOA in both arms (p < 0.01) but the HAQ (p = 0.016) and the HAMIS test (right hand p = 0.016, left hand p = 0.075) improved significantly only in the experimental arm. Patients with RA showed a statistically significant improvement of FIHOA (p = 0.013) and HAQ (p = 0.015) in the experimental arm, while patients in the control arm did not significantly improve. However, no statistically significant differences in outcome measures between treatment methods were observed. Withdrawals were higher in control arms (SSc 20%; RA 30%) than in experimental arms (SSc 10%; RA 10%). Conclusion. Telemonitoring of self-administered kinesiotherapy programs is a promising approach to the rehabilitation of hand functions in patients with rheumatic disease.


We investigated the behavior of a new class of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) when exposed to 63 MeV protons. The EDFA is designed with a radiation hardened hole-assisted carbon coated (HACC) Er3 + -doped optical fiber. The particular structure of this HACC fiber allows to permanently incorporate an optimal amount of D2 or H2 gases into its core, reducing its radiation sensitivity without degrading the EDFA performances. Irradiations up to a fluence of 7.5 ×1011 p/cm2 confirm the excellent tolerance of this HACC-EDFA component. It exhibits a limited decrease of ~ 0.6 dB of its ~ 27 dB gain for this fluence corresponding to an ionization dose of 100 krad(Si). Such a device can then survive to the radiative environments associated with both today's space missions and future more challenging applications.


To support the instructional process, Knefelkamp advanced the developmental instruction model (DIM) to describe the aspects of academic environments that facilitate the epistemological development of college students, consistent with the Perry scheme. No related measurement tool has been developed for the DIM, which may account for the lack of research on it. Because the four DIM constructs (experiential, diversity, personalization, and structure) seemed consistent with the four dimensions found in environmental type theory (extraversion–introversion, sensing–intuition, thinking–feeling, and judging–perception), its related measure, the Salter Environmental Type Assessment, was used. The assertion that advanced learners begin to recognize these four dimensions was examined in this study of students' (N = 200) perceptions of classroom "fit" by class standing. As compared to first-year students, advanced undergraduate students in this sample indicated stronger preferences (toward environmental extraversion, intuition, and feeling) for the types of learning environments that would support epistemological development. Findings related to environmental judging–perceiving were mixed, however. The results also suggest that the Salter Environmental Type Assessment may be a workable measure of the basic constructs in the DIM. Implications to college teaching are discussed.


We present a deterministic operator on tree codes -- we call tree code product -- that allows one to deterministically combine two tree codes into a larger tree code. Moreover, if the original tree codes are efficiently encodable and decodable, then so is their product. This allows us to give the first deterministic subexponential-time construction of explicit tree codes: we are able to construct a tree code T of size n in time 2nε,. Moreover, T is also encodable and decodable in time 2nε,.
 We then apply our new construction to obtain a deterministic constant-rate error-correcting scheme for interactive computation over a noisy channel with random errors. If the length of the interactive computation is n, the amount of computation required is deterministically bounded by n1+o(1), and the probability of failure is n-ω(1).


To compare spherical and cylindrical equivalent, and pupillometry measurements between non-amblyopic myopic, emmetropic, and hyperopic children. The study was conducted prospectively and cross-sectionally in a single-centered eye clinic. Three non-amblyopic groups were included in the study: myopic (Myopia Group), emmetropic (Emmetropia Group), and hyperopic (Hyperopia Group) children. The groups were compared in terms of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), spherical equivalent (SE), and pupillometry measurements, including minimum dynamic pupillometry, maximum dynamic pupillometry, mesopic pupillometry, and photopic pupillometry. The correlation analysis was also performed between the measurements. We noted significant differences in mean SE values between the three groups and between the paired groups (p<0.001 for all). Similar mean cylindrical equivalent values were observed between the three groups and between the paired groups (p>0.05 for all). The hyperopia group had the lowest mean minimum dynamic pupillometry, maximum dynamic pupillometry, mesopic pupillometry, and photopic pupillometry values (1.97±0.57, 5.23±051, 4.96±0.41, and 3.30±0.54, respectively). We found significant differences in all pupillometry measurements between the three groups (p<0.05 for all). However, similar results were obtained in all pupillometry measurements between the paired comparison of emmetropia and hyperopia groups (p>0.05 for all). We also did not observe any correlation between the pupil diameter and age or gender (p>0.05 for both). Our study might be unique regarding the comparison of pupillometry measurements in non-amblyopic children with refractive errors. Myopia in the pediatric population may have potential pupillometric effects when compared to emmetropia and hyperopia. This should be considered in terms of the clinical relevance of pediatric refractive examination under different illumination conditions.