The yard is an open space that has potential to be developed as a garden area and pavement, but many people think garden is only a waste land that utilization and modest from the surrounding buildings. The study focused on the school yard with the main building serving as education. Generally students learn in the classroom until after receiving lessons, it sometimes leads to psychological pressure to students such as stress that impact on learning outcomes. One of the architectural healing functions is the provision of a functionally and aesthetically designed garden. The research started with Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with school committee of SD Lowokwaru 3 Malang which discussed the need of garden design. The garden is divided into certain zones such as esthetic, productive, and vertical garden zone with simple technology. The garden is not only a passive garden or consumed visually, but students can also be involved directly about the process of making, maintaining and managing it. The purpose of this research is to provide alternative model of recreational and educational garden design for students, while the specific target is to study problems in school garden, analyze, and produce educational garden concept. The research method is conducted qualitatively with architectural design which ends on the concept and follow Gold and Rustam Hakim's thinking, with adjustment to agricultural science and education. The result of the research is the division of zoning of garden space based on educational space and playing in the concept of architectural design along with the selection of vegetation. The conclusion of this research is the garden as outdoor education facility for school students. Keywords: garden, concept, recreative-educative, and outdoor learning


We consider a supremal functional of the form $$F(u)=\mathop{\rm ess\: sup }_{x \in \Omega} f(x,Du(x))$$ where $\Omega\subseteq \mathbf {R}^N$ is a regular bounded open set, $u\in W^{1,\infty}(\Omega)$ and $f$ is a Borel function. Assuming that the intrinsic distances $d^{\lambda}_F(x,y):= \sup \Big\{ u(x) - u(y): \, F(u)\leq \lambda \Big\}$ are locally equivalent to the euclidean one for every $\lambda>\inf_{W^{1,\infty}(\Omega)} F$, we give a description of the sublevel sets of the weak$^*$-lower semicontinuous envelope of $F$ in terms of the sub-level sets of the difference quotient functionals $R_{d^\lambda_F}(u):=\sup_{x\not =y} \frac{u(x)-u(y)}{d^\lambda_F(x,y)}. $ As a consequence we prove that the relaxed functional of positive $1$-homogeneous supremal functionals coincides with $R_{d^1_F}$. Moreover, for a more general supremal functional $F$ (a priori non coercive), we prove that the sublevel sets of its relaxed functionals with respect to the weak$^*$ topology, the weak$^*$ convergence and the uniform convergence are convex. The proof of these results relies both on a deep analysis of the intrinsic distances associated to $F$ and on a careful use of variational tools such as $\Gamma$-convergence.


High-resolution seawater δ18O records, derived from coupled Mg/Ca and benthic δ18O analyses, can be used to evaluate how global ice volume changed during the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT, ca. 1250–600 ka). However, such seawater δ18O records are also influenced by regional hydrographic signals (i.e., salinity) and changes in deep-ocean circulation across the MPT, making it difficult to isolate the timing and magnitude of the global ice volume change. To explore regional and global patterns in seawater δ18O records, we reconstruct seawater δ18O from coupled Mg/Ca and δ18O analyses of Uvigerina spp. at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1208 in the North Pacific Ocean. Comparison of individual seawater δ18O records suggests that deep-ocean circulation reorganized and the formation properties (i.e., salinity) of deep-ocean water masses changed at ca. 900 ka, likely related to the transition to marine-based ice sheets in Antarctica. We also find that an increase in ice volume likely accompanied the shift in glacial-interglacial periodicity observed in benthic carbonate δ18O across the MPT, with increases in ice volume observed during Marine Isotope Stages 22 and 16.


In this study, five different types of commercial table olive: Domat, Kalamata, Edremit (green), Edremit (black) and Gemlik, from Turkey, were investigated for the fatty acid composition and mineral content. Fatty acid analyses were performed by capillary gas chromatography. The fatty acid results showed that all table olives characterized by high level of were oleic acid (C18:1, 57.473-72.294%), linoleic acid (C18:2, 7.914-25.279%) and palmitic acid (C16:0, 9.735-16.441%). Moreover, in terms of the unsaturated oil content and a ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to saturated fatty acids (SFA) value, Kalamata olives were found to be more advantageous as compared to the other table olive types. The sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), iron (Fe) and potassium (K) content of table olives were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Na was the most concentrated mineral detected (6637.722-20613.666 mg/kg), followed by K (2814.296-3386.520 mg/kg) and Ca (342.595-742.894 mg/kg). Results showed that there are differences among the fatty acid and mineral content of the commercial table olives depending on type.


Dual-functional drug delivery system was developed by decorating c(RGDyK) (cyclic RGD [arginine-glycine-aspartic acid] peptide) with Pluronic polymeric micelles (c[RGDyK]-FP-DP) to overcome the drawbacks of low transport of chemotherapeutics across the blood–tumor barrier and poor multidrug-resistant (MDR) tumor therapy. c(RGDyK) that can bind to the integrin protein richly expressed at the site of tumor vascular endothelial cells and tumor cells with high affinity and specificity was conjugated to the N-hydroxysuccinimide-activated PEO terminus of the Pluronic F127 block copolymer. In this study, decreased tumor angiogenic and increased apoptotic activity in MDR cancer cells were observed after the treatment with c(RGDyK)-FP-DP. c(RGDyK)-FP-DP was fully characterized in terms of morphology, particle size, zeta potential, and drug release. Importantly, in vitro antiangiogenesis results demonstrated that c(RGDyK)-FP-DP had a significant inhibition effect on the tubular formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells and promoted cellular apoptotic activity in MDR KBv cells. In addition, the growth inhibition efficacy of KBv tumor spheroids after crossing the blood–tumor barrier was obviously increased by c(RGDyK)-FP-DP compared to other control groups. Results suggested that c(RGDyK)-decorated Pluronic polymeric micelles can take pharmacological action on both human umbilical vein endothelial cells and KBv MDR cancer cells, resulting in a dual-functional anticancer effect similar to that observed in our in vitro cellular studies.


The goal of this study was to examine whether looking away behaviour of ADHD children interferes with their test performance. ADHD and normal children carried out two continuous performance tests (CPTs): one with a regular interstimulus interval (ISI), and the other with an irregular ISI. Children were instructed to push a response button when a target stimulus was presented on the monitor. The children's visual behaviour was recorded and scored offline. A micro-analysis of the visual behaviour indicated that ADHD children timed their looking away behaviour in the regular CPT: i.e. they looked away from the monitor and back in the interval between two succeeding stimuli. As a result they did not miss stimuli. Timing of looking away was less possible in the CPT with the irregular ISI. In this condition, looking away interfered with the ADHD children's task accuracy. In sum, looking away behaviour had a negative effect on the accuracy of test performance of ADHD children when stimuli were unpredictable. Looking away behaviour was not associated with the slower reaction times of the ADHD children. Hence, the often reported slowness of ADHD children is not to be explained by their visual behaviour.


The current study evaluated Couple CARE, a flexible delivery relationship education program. Fifty-nine couples were randomly assigned to either Couple CARE or a control condition and assessed on relationship self-regulation, satisfaction and stability, and communication. Retention, engagement, and satisfaction with the program were all high. As predicted, Couple CARE increased relationship satisfaction and stability and increased report of relationship self-regulation, but did not have the predicted effect on communication.


Over the past several years, significant efforts have been made to improve the spatial resolution of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), aiming at better detecting subtle lesions and more reliably resolving white-matter fiber tracts. A major concern with high-resolution DWI is the limited signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which may significantly offset the advantages of high spatial resolution. Although the SNR of DWI data can be improved by denoising in post-processing, existing denoising procedures may potentially reduce the anatomic resolvability of high-resolution imaging data. Additionally, non-Gaussian noise induced signal bias in low-SNR DWI data may not always be corrected with existing denoising approaches. Here we report an improved denoising procedure, termed diffusion-matched principal component analysis (DM-PCA), which comprises 1) identifying a group of (not necessarily neighboring) voxels that demonstrate very similar magnitude signal variation patterns along the diffusion dimension, 2) correcting low-frequency phase variations in complex-valued DWI data, 3) performing PCA along the diffusion dimension for real- and imaginary-components (in two separate channels) of phase-corrected DWI voxels with matched diffusion properties, 4) suppressing the noisy PCA components in real- and imaginary-components, separately, of phase-corrected DWI data, and 5) combining real- and imaginary-components of denoised DWI data. Our data show that the new two-channel (i.e., for real- and imaginary-components) DM-PCA denoising procedure performs reliably without noticeably compromising anatomic resolvability. Non-Gaussian noise induced signal bias could also be reduced with the new denoising method. The DM-PCA based denoising procedure should prove highly valuable for high-resolution DWI studies in research and clinical uses.


A fascinating and often terrifying firsthand account of the 1982 war in Lebanon, Under Siege vividly reveals the complex negotiations and military maneuvers which ended with the evacuation of the P.L.O. from Beirut. Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian, lived with his family in Beirut during the siege and ensuing massacres. Using many usually inaccessible sources, such as P.L.O. telexes and government messages, and interviews with key military officials and diplomats, he tells the story from the compelling viewpoint of those living amid the fighting. Khalidi provides a carefully detailed picture of the P.L.O. from within, the local Lebanese environment, the military pressure on the P.L.O. and Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, and of U.S. diplomacy during the crisis. While focusing primarily on the inner workings of the P.L.O., the author also addresses various aspects of Lebanese and inter-Arab politics and examines the military and diplomatic behavior of involved outside parties such as the United States, France, and the former Soviet Union. Offering a totally new perspective on the longest Arab-Israeli war since 1948, Under Siege will have broad appeal to those in international relations, Middle East studies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the general reader interested in American foreign relations and the Middle East.


INTRODUCTION: As conventional treatments currently available for mucositis are not considerably effective,there is a need to implement an adjuvant protocol for the treatment of oral mucositis in patients undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy.PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of Low Level Laser Therapy and Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy mediated by curcumin and blue LED as an adjunct treatment of oral mucositis foroncology patients using chemotherapy and or radiotherapy.METHODS: Clinical, randomized study, in a single location, in an oncology service of a general hospital, with a total of 30 patients (over 18 years old) with stable oral mucosa lesions in the process of Chemotherapy and or Radiotherapy. The patients were divided into 3 groups: Control group (treated with nystatin), LLLT group (treated with Low Level Laser Therapy), and the aPDT group (treated with 450 nm blue LED and curcumin photosensitizer).RESULTS: The results showed, by means of intra-group comparisons, that the two experimental treatments promoted yeast reduction of the genus Candida in the last two evaluations (21 days and 30 days), but not in the first two evaluations (7 days and 14 days). The intra-group comparisons showed that the Control and aPDT group showed a significant difference in the degree of mucositis over the four evaluations performed, with the results pointing out that the mucositis worsened in the control group from the 14th day, while reduced in the aPDT group from the 21st day of treatment.CONCLUSION: A reduction in the degree of mucositis and pain score was observed in the LLLT and aPDT groups, with the aPDT group standing out when presenting early clinical improvement in relation to the LLLT group and the control group, thus emphasizing its effectiveness within the desired aspects. Regarding the antimicrobial effect, aPDT showed a greater reduction of yeasts of the genus Candida in the tested parameters.


SUMMARY Certain trypanosomatids co-evolve with an endosymbiotic bacterium in a mutualistic relationship that is characterized by intense metabolic exchanges. Symbionts were able to respire for up to 4 h after isolation from Angomonas deanei. FCCP (carbonyl cyanide-4-(trifluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone) similarly increased respiration in wild-type and aposymbiotic protozoa, though a higher maximal O2 consumption capacity was observed in the symbiont-containing cells. Rotenone, a complex I inhibitor, did not affect A. deanei respiration, whereas TTFA (thenoyltrifluoroacetone), a complex II activity inhibitor, completely blocked respiration in both strains. Antimycin A and cyanide, inhibitors of complexes III and IV, respectively, abolished O2 consumption, but the aposymbiotic protozoa were more sensitive to both compounds. Oligomycin did not affect cell respiration, whereas carboxyatractyloside (CAT), an inhibitor of the ADP-ATP translocator, slightly reduced O2 consumption. In the A. deanei genome, sequences encoding most proteins of the respiratory chain are present. The symbiont genome lost part of the electron transport system (ETS), but complex I, a cytochrome d oxidase, and FoF1-ATP synthase remain. In conclusion, this work suggests that the symbiont influences the mitochondrial respiration of the host protozoan.


Social networks refer to structures made of nodes that represent people or other entities embedded in a social context, and whose edges represent interaction between entities. Typical examples of social networks are collaboration networks in a research community, networks arising out of interaction between colleagues of large organization etc. Social networks are highly dynamic objects that evolve quickly over time with addition and deletion of nodes and edges. Understanding the evolution of a social network is helpful in inferring trends and patterns of social contacts in a particular social context. In this paper, we consider social networks that are derived from telephone call records, i.e, graphs in which the individual phone numbers (and hence its users) are the nodes and the edges correspond to a telephonic contact between the two nodes they connect. We study the problem of extracting dense communities from such telecom call graphs. The problem studied here is set in the context of a larger project. We motivate the problem studied by describing the context in which it is set. Our analysis is based on suitable algorithmic engineering of an approximation algorithm for the densest subgraph problem by Charikar. We present empirical results on massive graphs with millions of nodes and edges. We also discuss many open problems that are important in the context of analyzing telecom call graphs.


Seismic data collected during explosion experiments performed as part of the TAiwan Integrated GEodynamics Research (TAIGER) project provide an excellent opportunity to obtain high‐resolution images of the structure of the crust and upper mantle beneath Taiwan. The most significant feature observed at near‐source stations located on the western coastal plain in Taiwan is high‐energy later arrivals. These high‐amplitude multiples almost completely mask the lower‐amplitude signals (seismic refraction and wide‐angle reflection) from the deep crust. The later arrivals are identified as free‐surface‐reflected multiples. The nature and generation of these high‐energy, multiple diving waves are demonstrated using synthetic examples. Their generation requires the presence of a steep velocity gradient in the shallow crust. A detailed analysis of the observation data provided information on the velocity gradients in this region. An accurate layer‐velocity model, including the boundary orientation and its depth, and velocity gradient, was constructed based on a 1D waveform simulation and 2D seismic raytracing modeling for travel times. The present results indicate that the thick sediment in the survey area dips shallowly to the east, has a surface P ‐wave velocity of ![Graphic][1] , and an average velocity gradient of about 0.72/s from the surface to 3.0‐km depth. The thick sediment of the 2D model shows lateral variations in velocity gradient, increasing from west to east. This velocity model may provide useful information for future data processing to reduce multiple diving waves with the aim of enhancing the deep‐surface refraction/reflection signal. The velocity gradient calculated for the thick sediment of the western coastal plain may require a revision of the regional seismic velocity model developed for southwestern Taiwan, to improve the accuracy of regional hypocenter determinations, and to predict the strong ground motions produced by large earthquakes beneath this region.

 [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif


Objective: The objective of this in-vitro study was to evaluate and compare the antimicrobial activity of three endodontic herbal irrigating agents, Propolis, Azadirachtaindica (neem) and Morinda citrifiolia (MCJ) against Actinomyces adicidentis.
Methods: Disk diffusion method was used. After the preparation of herbal medicine, few colonies were transferred in Trypticase Soy Broth (Hope Bio China) medium contained in a test tube and kept for overnight growth. Culture was centrifuged at 3000 rpm (Cence China) for 10 minutes and 0.5 McFarland standard prepared until optical density of 600 nm was achieved. The samples were collected and 1:10 serial dilution was prepared with it. 100 µL of the suspension was added to Columbia blood agar (Oxoid) plates by using streak method. Primary culture plates were incubated at 37? in 5% CO2 incubator for 24 hours. After 24 hour zone of inhibition was achieved, sample that were analyzed by counting the colony forming units. The ANOVA test was used for statistical analysis of the data. The level of significance was set at 0.05.
Result: A quantitative and qualitative analysis showed complete inhibition. Neem showed the highest zone of inhibition against Actinomyces radicidentis followed by sodium hypochlorite, Propolis and MCJ. Neem, propolis, MCJ and NaOCl showed a significant reduction (p <0.05) in the mean CFU counts for bacteria reduction.
Conclusion: An in vitro observation of herbs seems promising and is highly satisfactory. It seems herbs have better efficacy, bio compatibility, economics and easily available. NaOCL have several undesirable characteristic.


Whole-blood and plasma viscosity with haematological and biochemical investigations were measured in 44 patients with retinal vein occlusion. The patients were subdivided on the basis of fluorescein angiographic findings into: 1. Those with large areas of capillary non-perfusion. 2. Those with small areas of capillary non-perfusion. 3. Those with an intact capillary pattern. Capillary non-perfusion in retinal vein occlusion is associated with a higher morbidity owing to the complications of retinal neovascularization. Significantly higher values of whole-blood viscosity, packed cell volume, and yield stress have been found in patients with capillary non-perfusion than in those without. These differences may be of critical importance during the episode of retinal vein occlusion and suggest an aetiological factor in the development of capillary non-perfusion. Higher whole-blood and plasma viscosity values and plasma fibrinogen levels have also been shown in the whole retinal vein occlusion group compared with a control group of 30 individuals. These differences may be a factor in the development of retinal vein occlusion but their precise role is difficult to evaluate. Further biochemical investigations in the vein occlusion group supported the strong association with arterial disease and suggested a higher incidence of biochemical abnormalities in those patients with capillary non-perfusion.


This review covers the current literature, since the completion of the Human Genome Project, on the cancer epigenome, including both cancer epigenetics and epigenomics. To that end, the transition from the human genome to the cancer genome is initially discussed, especially in terms of the hallmarks of cancer and its associated somatic mutation theory of cancer, along with the failure of this theory-based strictly on genetic mutations-to account for carcinogenesis and metastasis. The cancer epigenome (as well as both cancer epigenetics and epigenomics) is examined next, especially with respect to its role in tumorigenesis. The review's main goal is to address what constitutes the cancer epigenome vis-a-vis the cancer genome and what the relationship is between them.


In addition to the economic destabilization of academic labour markets in neoliberal times, intellectual labour also experiences ideologically motivated repressions in a number of countries. One of the most recent examples of the latter has been the AKP government's attack on dissident scholars, which started following the Academics for Peace Petition in January 2016 and escalated in the aftermath of the alleged coup attempt in July 2016. As a result, over the course of the past two years, a growing number of the signatories of the Peace Petition have been forced to leave Turkey to escape imprisonment and/or unemployment. In most cases, the emigrated academics are offered short-term scholarships contingent upon political risk factor which help them avoid immediate threats from the Turkish government for the time being. However, without a future prospect for a steady position and/or a settled life on the horizon, they are faced with the existential precariousness of a forced nomadic way of living. Against the backdrop of the occupational dismantling and geographic uprooting that the exiled Peace Academics are experiencing, this study seeks to explore the challenges but also the possibilities that this severe precarity bears for a new form of intellectual subjectivity. The main question of this paper is how the confrontation with existential insecurity transforms the way the academics perceive their profession and whether this experience might lead to a wider questioning of the institutional academia in general. For this purpose, it attempts to map out the shared expressions of insecurity, disillusionment, and hope, drawing on in-depth interviews with the signatories of Academics for Peace Petition in German exile.


In this letter, we propose a practical (low delay and low overhead) and simple (low complexity) network coding strategy for real time transmission over lossy line networks. We propose Systematic Random Coding (SRC) as outer code, which is performed at the transmitter node. The inner code is a combination of random coding and repetition coding (over innovative packets only) performed at the intermediate nodes. Our solution, which we term DARE (DoF Aided Random Encoding) minimizes overall processing complexity, delay, and overhead w.r.t. state-of-the art network coding proposals. We derive a theoretical lower bound on the achievable rates of DARE and validate it with simulations. Our simulation results show that DARE guarantees maximum achievable rates (up to 103.36%) higher than those achieved by routing. Furthermore, enabling DARE to be adaptive to the channel conditions allows trade off, whether to encode or not, since by not encoding (e.g., in some cases) up to 50% complexity reduction can be obtained with up to 0.2% loss in the maximum achievable rates.


The recent literature data about the antibacterial and antifungal activity of microbial surfactants (lipopeptides synthesized by representatives of genera Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas, Brevibacillus, rhamnolipids of bacteria Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Lysinibacillus sp., sophorolipids of yeasts Candida (Starmerella) and Rhodotorula), and our own experiments data concerning antimicrobial activity of surfactants synthesized by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus IMB B-7241, Rhodococcus erythropolis IMB Aс-5017 and Nocardia vaccini IMV B-7405 were presented. The analysis showed that lipopeptides were more effective antimicrobial agents compared to glycolipids. Thus, the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of lipopeptides, ramnolipids and sophorolipids are on average (μg/ml): 1–32, 50–500, and 10–200, respectively. The MIC of surfactants synthesized by the IMV B-7241, IMV Ac-5017 and IMV B-7405 strains are comparable to those of the known microbial lipopeptides and glycolipids. The advantages of glycolipids as antimicrobial agents compared with lipopeptides were the possibility of their synthesis on industrial waste and the high concentration of synthesized surfactants. The literature data and our own results indicate the need to study the influence of microbes' cultivation conditions on the antimicrobial activity of the final product.


Model studies of the large-scale oceanic variability are presented in this thesis. The North Atlantic Ocean is the basin under investigation and the tropical and mid-latitude regions are considered separately. The adopted model is based on the nonlinear primitive equations in the shallow water, reduced-gravity approximation in the presence of schematic coastlines that mimic with some degree of realism the real continental boundaries. This approach has the advantage of allowing for the identification of basic dynamical mechanisms and, to some extent, also for direct comparison with observational data. The studies of the low- and mid-latitude North Atlantic Ocean are aimed at analyzing the directly wind-driven and intrinsically generated variability, respectively. More precisely, in the tropical region, the model is forced by a time-dependent wind field obtained by ECMWF data, that will induce a variable oceanic signal due to both the local response to Ekman pumping and the non-local response associated with the activation of teleconnection mechanisms. On the other hand, in the mid-latitude model the forcing will be provided by a time-independent climatological wind stress field, so that one can be sure that all the low-frequency variability produced by the model is to be accounted for non-linear mechanisms internal to the ocean system.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this analysis was to describe patterns and determinants of cervical immunoglobulin A (IgA) and G (IgG) levels during the menstrual cycle.

METHODS
A total of 154 women who attended 3 visits coinciding with the follicular, periovulatory, and luteal phases of their menstrual cycle were studied. Cervical secretions were collected at each visit for determination of total IgA and IgG levels. Questionnaires administered at each visit inquired about demographic characteristics and behavioral practices.

RESULTS
Total IgA and IgG levels were higher among oral contraceptive (OC) users than among naturally cycling women (hereafter, "non-OC users"). IgA and IgG levels decreased at midcycle, particularly among non-OC users. After adjustment for phase of the current cycle, specimen weight, and detection of blood in the sample, report of a recent illness was associated with lower IgA and IgG levels and increased age with higher IgA and IgG levels among OC users and non-OC users. Increased lifetime number of pregnancies was associated with a higher IgA level among non-OC users and a higher IgG level among OC users. Change in immunoglobulin levels between visits was associated with sample weight and the presence of blood for both OC users and non-OC users.

CONCLUSIONS
Phase of the current menstrual cycle and OC use were significant determinants of cervical IgA and IgG levels. The impacts of endogenous and exogenous hormones on cervical immunoglobulin levels should be further investigated.


InN epitaxial films are directly grown on sapphire (0001) substrates by using Pressurised-Reactor metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (PR-MOVPE) system originally developed by ourselves. This system makes it possible to control the side wall of islands perpendicular to the substrate surface, which is important in the heteroepitaxial growth with large lattice-mismatch from the analogy of the GaN growth on sapphire substrates. This high pressure also leads to the growth at the higher temperature than that at the atmospheric pressure. In this paper, InN films are grown by PR-MOVPE at 2,400 Torr. Its polarity is nitrogen one, which has the superior efficiency to indium polarity in the capture of nitrogen at the growth front. To crystallographically identify films using the diffractions from sapphire (006), wurtzite (WZ) InN (002), zincblende (ZB) InN (111) and metallic indium (101), 2θ–ω scans and the pole figure measurements in X-ray diffraction are measured. From the pole figure measurements, the orientation and crystalline phases of grains in crystals are determined. The phase diagram between trimethylindium as an indium source flow rate and the growth temperature is drawn. The regions with pure WZ InN and with the incorporation of ZB phase and the metallic indium into WZ phase and the metal-indium are observed. It is also observed that the grains with WZ phase have c-axis normal to the (111) plane at the side wall of the ZB grains. Finally, the growth conditions for pure WZ InN make it clear by using PR-MOVPE. (© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


BACKGROUND
Secondary and tertiary hyperparathyroidism are features of chronic renal disease. Although pharmacological options are available, parathyroid surgery remains the treatment of choice in these patients with worsening renal osteodystrophy or hypercalcemia. The development of thyrotoxicosis after parathyroid surgery in these patients has been rarely reported.

CASE REPORT
We report a 33 years old woman who developed transient symptomatic thyrotoxicosis following parathyroid surgery for tertiary hyperparathyroidism. Laboratory and imaging studies were consistent with postoperative hyperthyroidism due to thyroiditis.

CONCLUSIONS
Transient hyperthyroidism may occur after parathyroidectomy presumably due to a traumatic thyroiditis as a result of manipulation of the thyroid gland during surgery. As it is transient, thyrostatic therapy is not indicated but patients may require short-term treatment with beta-blockers for symptomatic relief.


Human behavior is affected by various social cues. Studies have revealed that cues of being watched affect both social and non-social behavior. A subsequent question is whether one's own image in a mirror has a noticeable effect on behavior and decision-making. Previous studies suggest that people behave in accordance with social desirability in the presence of mirrors; however, the "mirror effect" is still controversial and researchers know little about the mechanism. To further investigate this effect, the current study examined whether mirrors influence impulsivity, a feature that is closely related to decision-making in both social and non-social situations. Participants completed a delay-discounting task in a mirror condition and a no-mirror control condition. We found that relative to the control condition, participant impulsivity increased in the mirror condition. This outcome may have been triggered when the participants' private self-awareness, contrary to public self-awareness, was activated by the mirrors. Thus, mirror-induced self-awareness might have influenced decision-making as a non-social cue in our experiment. Considering the inconsistent results among previous and present studies, the mirror effect might be influenced by the cultural difference or experimental setting. Further investigation is needed to identify how people change their behavior and which aspects of self-awareness are influenced by mirrors.


In this paper, a novel representation of the switch state of a three-phase to three-phase matrix converter is presented. This approach, based on space-vector notation, simplifies the study of the modulation strategies, leading to a complete general solution of the problem and providing a very useful unitary point of view. The already established strategies can be considered as particular cases of the proposed general solution. Using this approach, it can be verified that the space-vector modulation technique, owing to the intrinsic two degrees of freedom, represents the general solution of the modulation problem of matrix converters. This technique can be considered the best solution for the possibility to achieve the highest voltage transfer ratio and to optimize the switching pattern through a suitable use of the zero configurations.


Problem: Students who are registered for the computer science programs are having some difficulty in answering the questions in programming exams that they are supposed to write some code on paper. Students are accustomed to write codes into code editors. In paper-based tests, students cannot take advantages of code editors such as syntax highlighting, automatic indentation and code autocompleting. Students spent extra time to check codes and add the punctuations marks in the correct places. Students also face the difficulty of adding new codes between the lines already written. They also have difficulty in tracing the code since they do not take advantage of syntax highlighting. When students take CBT in a programming course, they are supposed to finish the test earlier because they take advantage of a code editor. Since they have extra time during the exam, students check their answer; thus, CBT might create significant exam score difference between students who take CBT and those who take PBT. To overcome problems that students face in paper-based programming exam, students are introduced with a computer-based test that allows students to write their answers to a code editor.
Method: The study is a mixed method study consisting of quantitative and qualitative parts. The qualitative part is used to clarify the result in the quantitative part. The quantitative part of this study consists of two exams taken by 44 students (28 male, 16 female) at the Middle East Technical University in an experimental setting. The quantitate part also includes data coming from a TAM questionnaire with variables Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived usefulness and Attitude towards use constructs. Quantitative part tries to find: Which group performs better in the tests and completes it earlier, and what are the correlations between TAM variables? It is also checked if exam score and time affect perceived ease of use of the computer-based test. The qualitative part of the study consists of semi-structured interviews conducted with four participants (three males and one female) at the University of Twente. The qualitative part aimed to find the factors affecting students' attitude toward the computer-based test. Attitude is measured to show in the literature whether students accept computer-based test or not.
Data analyses: Independent samples t–tests were used to compare the exam score and time spent in the exam between control and experimental group. Reliability of the exams was checked by improved Split-half reliability. Reliability of TAM questionnaire was checked by Cronbach's alpha value. Correlations between TAM variables were analyzed by Spearmen's Rho method. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed. Transcribed interviews were analyzed by finding the descriptive codes and finding themes from those codes.
Results: Based on the result of the quantitative analysis, there is no statistically significant exam score difference between students who took CBT and PBT. Students who took CBT completed the exam in significantly less time. Analyses of correlation among TAM variables show that perceived ease of use positively and significantly correlates to perceived usefulness and attitude towards; however; perceived usefulness does not significantly correlate to attitude towards the use of CBT. Exam score and time spent in the exam do not correlate to the perceived ease of use of the CBT. Results of the qualitative analysis show that code editor, the design of the software and pictures in questions are the factors that affect students' attitude towards CBT.


Abstract A deformation-controlled triaxial apparatus has been developed in order to investigate the mechanical behaviour of alpine snow. Cylindrical specimens (58 mm in diameter, 126 mm in height) can be axially deformed by applying tensile or compressive strain rates between 2.4 × 10−7 s−1 and 2.4 × 10−2 s−1. Compressed air is used to laterally load the snow specimens with pressures of up to 40 k Pa.The volumetric deformation is found by carefully encapsulating the snow samples in an airtight Mylar foil and measuring the expelled pore air during sample deformation. The multidimensional stress–strain behaviour can therefore be determined, and constitutive theories of snow advanced. The device is located in the cold rooms of the Weissfluhjoch research station of the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research. Some 180 tests have been performed over the last four winters. The density of the snow specimens varied between 190 and 435 kg m−3. Part I of this two-part paper discusses the development of the apparatus and the applied testing methodology. Qualitative results are provided. In Part II, a detailed analysis of the results is presented and the viscoelastic properties of snow quantified.


Breast cancer represents the most common cancer diagnosis among World Trade Center (WTC)-exposed community members, residents, and cleanup workers enrolled in the WTC Environmental Health Center (WTC EHC). The primary aims of this study were (1) to compare blood DNA methylation profiles of WTC-exposed community members with breast cancer and WTC-unexposed pre-diagnostic breast cancer blood samples, and (2) to compare the DNA methylation differences among the WTC EHC breast cancer cases and WTC-exposed cancer-free controls. Gene pathway enrichment analyses were further conducted. There were significant differences in DNA methylation between WTC-exposed breast cancer cases and unexposed prediagnostic breast cancer cases. The top differentially methylated genes were Intraflagellar Transport 74 (IFT74), WD repeat-containing protein 90 (WDR90), and Oncomodulin (OCM), which are commonly upregulated in tumors. Probes associated with established tumor suppressor genes (ATM, BRCA1, PALB2, and TP53) were hypermethylated among WTC-exposed breast cancer cases compared to the unexposed group. When comparing WTC EHC breast cancer cases vs. cancer-free controls, there appeared to be global hypomethylation among WTC-exposed breast cancer cases compared to exposed controls. Functional pathway analysis revealed enrichment of several gene pathways in WTC-exposed breast cancer cases including endocytosis, proteoglycans in cancer, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, axon guidance, focal adhesion, calcium signaling, cGMP-PKG signaling, mTOR, Hippo, and oxytocin signaling. The results suggest potential epigenetic links between WTC exposure and breast cancer in local community members enrolled in the WTC EHC program.


We report a case of blood-borne metastatic breast disease of small-cell lung cancer in a 44-year-old patient with no previous history of malignancy. The possibilities of MR in the early detection of breast metastases and their appearance on MR images are discussed. Metastases to the breast should be considered when MR mammography of the breast reveals multiple, bilateral, well-defined lesions with ring enhancement and wash-out pattern.


We present a single deep learning architecture that can both separate an audio recording of a musical mixture into constituent single-instrument recordings and transcribe these instruments into a human-readable format at the same time, learning a shared musical representation for both tasks. This novel architecture, which we call Cerberus, builds on the Chimera network for source separation by adding a third "head" for transcription. By training each head with different losses, we are able to jointly learn how to separate and transcribe up to five instruments with a single network. We show that separation and transcription are highly complementary with one another and when learned jointly, lead to Cerberus networks that are better at both separation and transcription and generalize better to unseen mixtures.


Polymeric nanoparticles have been the focus of several researches in the last three decades in diverse areas including the delivery of pharmaceutical, diagnostic and cosmetic agents. These nanocarriers are able to improve the bioavailability and intrinsic solubility of drugs, to target different agents to a specific location or to protect the agent against extrinsic factors, such as radiation and extreme pH conditions. Despite the high interest in the development of these formulations, they hold some disadvantages like the limited physicochemical stability, which hinders the scaling-up of the preparation methods. In this context, spray-drying techniques have been proposed to obtain powder compositions containing polymeric nanoparticles allowing this limited property to be circumvented. In this context, this review is focused on the latest patents related to obtaining spray-dried polymeric nanoparticles, which have been divided into three different groups, according to their approach: i) spray-drying solutions to obtain nanoparticles, ii) spray-drying emulsions/ dispersions to obtain nanoparticles, and iii) nanoparticles dried by spray-drying.


The paper deals with the impact of co-firing biomass with coal in boilers on the dew point of the flue gas. Co-firing of biomass may have twofold implications on corrosion and fouling, which are the processes that determine the lowest acceptable flue gas outlet temperature and as a result, boiler efficiency. Both phenomena may be reduced by co-firing of usually low sulphur biomasses or enhanced due to increased moisture content of biomass leading to increased water dew point. The present study concerns the problem of low-temperature corrosion in utility boilers. The paper gives (in the form of diagrams and equations) a relationship between water dew point and moisture content of fuel mixture when co-firing coal and various biomasses. The regression analysis shows that despite significant differences in the characteristics of coals and these of additional fuels, which are planned for co-firing in large-scale power boilers, the water dew point can be described by a function given with the accuracy, which shall be satisfactory for engineering purposes. The discussion of the properties of biofuels indicates that the acid dew point surplus over the water dew point (Δtr = tr - twr) is not likely to exceed 10 K when co-firing biomass. The concluding remarks give recommendations for the appropriate operation of boilers in order to reduce risks associated with biomass co-combustion.


Background Physiological studies have been determinant for the understanding of migraine pathophysiology and the screening of novel therapeutics. At present, there is no animal model that translates fully the clinical symptoms of migraine, and generally these studies are conducted on anesthetized animals. Methodology Pain as well as non-painful symptoms such as photophobia, need to have a conscious individual to be experienced; therefore, the new development and adaptation of behavioral assays assessing pain and other non-painful symptomatology in conscious animals represents a great opportunity for headache research and it is exciting that more and more researchers are using behavioral paradigms. Summary This review will describe the different behavioral models for the study of headache that are performed in non-anesthetized conscious animals. The pearls and challenges for measuring hypersensitivity in rodents such as the common tests for measuring mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia have been the landmark for the development of assays that measure hypersensitivity in the craniofacial region. Here we describe the different behavioral assays that measure hypersensitivity in the craniofacial region as well as the established behavioral models of trigeminovascular nociception and non-nociceptive migrainous symptoms.


Prevention of occupational injuries is an important task of Human Resource Management. Empiric research showed that risk perception, safety communication and worker's participation in safety programs may have a relevant role in reducing accident and injury occurrence - see for example (Conchie, 2013). These considerations lead us to this study to propose a new methodology which consists in an index aimed to assess the proactivity of worker participation in safety management systems. The innovation consists in defining a diagnostic measurement model to assess the degree of workforce proactivity, considering a specific kind of participatory contribute by workers for safety promotion in the workplace, like the spontaneous risk-reporting initiatives. The measurement tool has been defined and tested by an interdisciplinary team composed of four university researchers (human factor experts) and two site safety managers of a chemical site which is chosen with the purpose to apply for the first time the new tool. Preliminary results show that different levels of proactivity were adopted and that the highest levels of proactivity are relatively less frequent. The tool offers relevant diagnostic information for the industrial organizations which aim to achieve higher level of proactivity in risk management, offering practical indications for managerial interventions focused on stimulating and improving appropriate participation by the workforce. © Copyright 2014, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.


: Calcifying Epitheliomas of Malherbe (Pilomatrixomas) are benign tumors that have their origin in the hair matrix and clinically resemble a hard subcutaneous swelling. Most of these tumors are placed in the head and neck region, in our sample the Pilomatrixomas of this location were 49.6% of the total. The middle age of presentation of this tumor were 32.2 years, with two main peaks of incidence below 20 years and under 50. The most frequent locations were the auricular, cervical, ciliar, frontal, and temporal regions, with one case of multiple location. The middle size of the tumor in our sample was 1.2 cm. In this paper we review the main pathologic, clinic and therapeutic features of this lesion in the head and neck region.


Background: Decision support to facilitate informed consent is increasingly important for complicated medical tests. Here, we test a theoretical model of factors influencing decisional conflict in a study examining the effects of a decision support aid that was designed to assist patients at high risk for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (CRC) deciding whether to pursue the microsatellite instability (MSI) test. Methods: Participants were 239 CRC patients at high familial risk for a genetic mutation who completed surveys before and after exposure to the intervention. Half of the sample was assigned to the CD-ROM aid and half received a brief description of the test. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine associations among the intervention, knowledge, pros and cons to having MSI testing, self-efficacy, preparedness, and decisional conflict. Results: The goodness of fit for the model was acceptable [FIML, full information maximum likelihood, χ2 (df = 280) = 392.24; P = 0.00]. As expected, the paths to decisional conflict were significant for postintervention pros of MSI testing (t = −2.43; P < 0.05), cons of MSI testing (t = 2.78; P < 0.05), and preparedness (t = −7.27; P < 0.01). The intervention impacted decisional conflict by increasing knowledge about the MSI test and knowledge exerted its effects on decisional conflict by increasing preparedness to make a decision about the test and by increases in perceived benefits of having the test. Conclusion: Increasing knowledge, preparedness, and perceived benefits of undergoing the MSI test facilitate informed decision making for this test. Impact: Understanding mechanisms underlying health decisions is critical for improving decisional support. Individuals with Lynch syndrome have an elevated lifetime risk of CRC. Risk of Lynch syndrome may be assessed with a tumor-based screening test (MSI testing or immunohistochemical tissue staining). Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(2); 249–54. ©2011 AACR.


Treatment of metastatic gastric cancer typically involves chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies targeting HER2 (ERBB2) and VEGFR2 (KDR). However, reliable methods to identify patients who would benefit most from a combination of treatment modalities targeting the tumor stroma, including new immunotherapy approaches, are still lacking. Therefore, we integrated a mouse model of stromal activation and gastric cancer genomic information to identify gene expression signatures that may inform treatment strategies. We generated a mouse model in which VEGF-A is expressed via adenovirus, enabling a stromal response marked by immune infiltration and angiogenesis at the injection site, and identified distinct stromal gene expression signatures. With these data, we designed multiplexed IHC assays that were applied to human primary gastric tumors and classified each tumor to a dominant stromal phenotype representative of the vascular and immune diversity found in gastric cancer. We also refined the stromal gene signatures and explored their relation to the dominant patient phenotypes identified by recent large-scale studies of gastric cancer genomics (The Cancer Genome Atlas and Asian Cancer Research Group), revealing four distinct stromal phenotypes. Collectively, these findings suggest that a genomics-based systems approach focused on the tumor stroma can be used to discover putative predictive biomarkers of treatment response, especially to antiangiogenesis agents and immunotherapy, thus offering an opportunity to improve patient stratification. Cancer Res; 76(9); 2573-86. ©2016 AACR.


In this investigation, deionized water was used as base fluid. Two different types of nanoparticles, namely Al2O3 and Cu were used with 0.251% and 0.11% volumetric concentrations in the base fluid, respectively. Nanofluids cooling rate for flat heat sink used to cool a microprocessor was observed and compared with the cooling rate of pure water. An equivalent microprocessor heat generator i. e. a heated Cu cylinder was used for controlled experimentation. Two surface heaters, each of 130 W power, were responsible for heat generation. The experiment was performed at the flow rates of 0.45, 0.55, 0.65, 0.75, and 0.85 liter per minute. The main focus of this research was to minimize the base temperature and to increase the overall heat transfer coefficient. The lowest base temperature achieved was 79.45 oC by Al2O3 nanofluid at Reynolds number of 751. Although, Al2O3-water nanofluid showed superior performance in overall heat transfer coefficient enhancement and thermal resistance reduction as compared to other tested fluids. However, with the increase of Reynolds number, Cu-water nanofluid showed better trends of thermal enhancement than Al2O3-water nanofluid, particularly at high Reynolds number ranges.


The National Library of Albania (NLA) was founded in 1920. Its historic collection goes back to the very beginning of the year 1917. On 10 December, 1922 the Official Newsletter announced its inauguration. It is the primary national cultural institution and the oldest in the Albanian State. The NLA occupies two buildings and is organized and functions under the authority of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports. The NLA, located in Tirana, is charged as keeper of the national heritage with collecting, processing, restoring, preserving and making available to the public the written cultural heritage of the Albanian people. At the national level it organizes library education and continuing professional education, and is the study research centre in the field of librarianship, the cataloguing in publications centre, the national ISBN Agency, and the only preservation and restoration centre for special collections. Its collections comprise: books, periodicals, maps, atlases, microfilms and other library materials. The special collections are valuable for national as well as European culture. The library is open 72 hours a week to anyone over 16 years old. Users can borrow library materials or use them in the reading rooms. The library's website enables the users to search a directory as well as services, such as the OPAC, digitized catalogues, and the digital collections. The NLA organizes exhibitions, book promotions, conferences and so on. As a legal deposit institution the NLA publishes the National Bibliography. For the national library network it publishes the scientific-cultural review Bibliothecae, textbooks, professional guides, and manuals. It is a member of IFLA, LIBER, CENL, CDNL, The European Library and has been invited officially to become a partner in the World Digital Library.


In post-war situations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) feature highly in peace-building processes in their (perceived) capacities as both representatives of civil society and as grassroots agents to be employed in the reconstruction and transformation of society. As elsewhere, in Liberia, peace-building approaches include, first, international blueprints of representation that intend to empower groups generally perceived to be socially subordinate and, second, supporting traditional institutions considered social capital in reconciliation. Using the example of Liberia, this paper explores how in local conflict arenas, NGO workshops – the most popular mode of participatory intervention – are interpreted and appropriated by local actors; it highlights some fallacies and unintended consequences of inclusive procedures in practice and questions the support furnished to heads of gendered secret societies.


This study of a northern Spanish community shows how the residents of Santa MarAa del Monte have acted together at critical times to ensure the survival of their traditional forms of social organization. The survival of these forms has allowed the villagers, in turn, to weather demographic, political, and economic crises over the centuries.Originally published in 1991.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905."


Abstract : Measurements were conducted to determine the impedance of the electrochemical interface on rotating disk specimens of pure copper and commercial 90-10 and 70-30 copper-nickel alloys over a 28 day period while immersed in an aerated aqueous 3.4% sodium chloride solution. A sinusoidal voltage was applied to the specimen, and the in-phase and out-of-phase components of the current were measured as a function of frequency using a technique called Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy. Specimens were exposed at a rotation speed of 1000 RPM, although brief measurements were conducted from 500 to 2000 RPM at the end of the exposure period. Under circumstances where a cupric hydroxy-chloride corrosion product formed, copper experienced an increase in corrosion resistance with time which could not be correlated with a specific growth law. When the hydroxy-chloride was not present, the corrosion rate of copper was constant over time. Copper-nickel alloys also experienced increasing corrosion resistance with increased exposure time. On all of the alloys tested, the enhanced corrosion resistance was due to a process associated with the specimen surface, such as diffusion through the corrosion product layer or limited catalysis of the cathodic reaction, rather than by diffusion through a Nernst-like fluid boundary layer.


This paper presents a 9-bit subrange analog-to-digital converter (ADC) consisting of a 3.5-bit flash coarse ADC, a 6-bit successive-approximation-register (SAR) fine ADC, and a differential segmented capacitive digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The flash ADC controls the thermometer coarse capacitors of the DAC and the SAR ADC controls the binary fine ones. Both theoretical analysis and behavioral simulations show that the differential non-linearity (DNL) of a SAR ADC with a segmented DAC is better than that of a binary ADC. The merged switching of the coarse capacitors significantly enhances overall operation speed. At 150 MS/s, the ADC consumes 1.53 mW from a 1.2-V supply. The effective number of bits (ENOB) is 8.69 bits and the effective resolution bandwidth (ERBW) is 100 MHz. With a 1.3-V supply voltage, the sampling rate is 200 MS/s with 2.2-mW power consumption. The ENOB is 8.66 bits and the ERBW is 100 MHz. The FOMs at 1.3 V and 200 MS/s, 1.2 V and 150 MS/s and 1 V and 100 MS/s are 27.2, 24.7, and 17.7 fJ/conversion-step, respectively.


Globally, obesity is a leading cause of preventable death and is associated with >60 comorbid medical conditions, including 10 types of cancer that are strongly associated with body mass index. There are a number of traditional obesity treatments—for example, lifestyle management (eg, decreased caloric intake and increased expenditure), pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery. Recently, endoscopic approaches have emerged as a viable alternative for weight loss. Endoscopically placed intragastric balloons were introduced in the early 1980s for the treatment of medically complicated obesity but, unfortunately, had high rates of complications, such as premature deflation leading to obstruction. Despite these shortcomings, these devices have experienced a renewal, with a second generation of improved devices being approved for clinical use in 2015. In addition to the intragastric balloons, there are a number of other endoscopic approaches to weight loss that are either Food and Drug Administration approved or undergoing evaluation (aspiration therapy, duodenal jejunal bypass sleeve). The current review examines the literature available and discusses the practical clinical considerations involved.


As globalisation increases more families than ever are relocating from their passport countries for
periods of temporary employment overseas. This has resulted in an increasing number of young
people being raised in overseas locations. These young people are collectively referred to as Third
Culture Kids (TCK) their adult counterparts are Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs). They are
different from immigrants, as they do not expect to permanently settle in the location in which they
have been residing. This lack of permanence has been criticised for engendering a variety of
difficulties that TCKs and ATCKs must face. Of interest to this study was the observation that
TCKs experience various difficulties with their friend relationships. This is problematic, as
friendship has been found to be crucial to indicators of well-being such as happiness, and longevity.
An interpretative phenomenological analysis of Adult Third Culture Kids' experiences of friendship
was undertaken. Eight ATCKs from the UK, three men and five women, were interviewed using a
semi-structured interview schedule. Analysis revealed that participants' experience of friendship
was situated in various themes. These included: the challenges of friendship; multiple identities in
response to friendship; the psychological impact of friendship; and valued characteristics of
friendship. Each theme was comprised of various subordinate themes that facilitated further
understanding of the super ordinate theme.
The findings were discussed with reference to the TCK literature and a wider review of
psychological theory. Particular attention was given to the discussion of attachment theory, as this
underscored several of the findings related to the Superordinate theme, the psychological impact of
friendship; particularly the finding that ATCKs experience anxiety in friendships, report negative
views of self and others and reveal a lack of strong attachments to their peers. In addition identity
theory was also utilised in the discussion as the findings indicated a high salience of identity issues
for ATCKs in relation to their friendship experiences, reflected in the theme, multiple identities in
response to friendship.
The implications for clinical practice were considered. These included suggestions for working with
ATCKs who present with difficulties in their friend relationships, by exploring their history of loss,
their anxiety about friend relationships and the meaning attached to becoming involved in peer
relationships. Suggestions were also made for therapists to explore the ATCKs sense of self in
terms of negative thoughts about self and other, including being 'English/British' or forming
relationships with 'English/British' peers.


Background Chronic stress frequently manifests with anxiety and/or depressive symptomatology and may have detrimental cardiometabolic effects over time. As such, recognising the potential links between stress-related psychological disorders and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is becoming increasingly important in cardiovascular epidemiology research. The primary aim of this study was to explore prospectively potential associations between clinically relevant depressive symptomatology and anxiety levels and the 10-year CVD incidence among apparently healthy Greek adults. Design A population-based, health and nutrition prospective survey. Methods In the context of the ATTICA Study (2002–2012), 853 adult participants without previous CVD history (453 men (45 ± 13 years) and 400 women (44 ± 18 years)) underwent psychological evaluations through validated, self-reporting depression and anxiety questionnaires. Results After adjustment for multiple established CVD risk factors, both reported depression and anxiety levels were positively and independently associated with the 10-year CVD incidence, with depression markedly increasing the CVD risk by approximately fourfold (adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 3.6 (1.3, 11) for depression status; 1.03 (1.0, 1.1) for anxiety levels). Conclusions Our findings indicate that standardised psychological assessments focusing on depression and anxiety should be considered as an additional and distinct aspect in the context of CVD preventive strategies that are designed and implemented by health authorities at the general population level.


Pregnant Women at Work G Chamberlain (ed) pp 301 £32(H/bk) ISBN 0-333-36881-9 £15(P/bk) ISBN 0-333-37117-8 London: The Royal Society of Medicine & Macmillan Press 1984 If a pregnant woman continues in paid employment, does this have a bad effect on the pregnancy? The question is important. It affects not only the advice which doctors give but also industrial arrangements and the philosophies of feminist and natural childbirth movements. Not surprisingly, opinions on the matter are strong but, alas, facts are few. This book is based upon a conference sponsored by the Royal Society of Medicine involving experts in the field from Europe and America. Many contributions are not strictly related to the subject covering, for example, industrial hazards to reproduction in general and the influence of maternal employment after pregnancy. Ann Oakley's excellent contribution on the effect of the mother's work on rearing the child is in this category, so the diversification does not seriously detract from the book's value. All the subjects covered are closely related, so anyone wishing a review of this, or related fields, will find it of great use. A minor irritation is that only a selection, apparently random, of the contributors are identified in terms of the posts they hold and their professional addresses. Our natural instinct is to protect people from harm and pregnant women in particular, but sometimes the approach of looking for harmful effects is a wrong one. Sheila McKechnie, who gives a trade union view of the field, concludes that 'work will most likely improve pregnancy outcome'. J S SCOTT Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology University of Leeds


We report the isolation of Ewingella americana from the conjunctivae of a 38 year old female physician with keratoconjunctivitis associated with the use of soft contact lens. The patient was treated successfully with topical ciprofloxacin. The source of the infection remains unknown. All contact lens cleaning materials used by the patient were sterile. Since the patient was a physician, and this organism has been recorded as a cause of nosocomial infections, we checked whether cases of Ewingella americana had been reported, but none were identified. We have identified 39 bacterial species, 27 fungi, 4 viruses, 7 protozoa, 4 helminths, and 2 arthropods which rarely have been associated with keratitis or conjunctivitis. Infectious diseases specialists and ophthalmologists must be aware of the many different causes of this illness, including Ewingella americana. This organism is a rare bacterial cause of keratoconjunctivitis not previously reported in Brazil. It should be added to the list of unusual cases of external eye infections.


The in situ and systematic high-throughput investigation of the system Al3+/4,4'-benzophenonedicarboxylic acid (H2BPDC)/DMF/H2O in the presence of various additives was carried out, and a new Al-MOF of composition [Al(OH)(BPDC)], denoted as CAU-21-BPDC, was obtained. Its crystal structure was determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data (space group I422, a = b = 17.2528(7) Å, c = 23.864(1) Å). The structure is built up by octanuclear rings of cis corner-sharing AlO6 polyhedra forming the inorganic building unit (IBU). These {Al8O8} IBUs are arranged in a bcu packing and connected via BPDC2- ions in a way that each IBU is linked via two linker molecules to each of the eight adjacent IBUs. Thus, accessible, one-dimensional modulated pores with a diameter between 3.6 and 6.5 Å are formed. In addition, tetrahedral cavities are formed by the BPDC2- linker molecules. The framework of CAU-21-BPDC is polymorphous with that of CAU-8-BPDC, which contains one-dimensional chains of trans corner-sharing AlO6 polyhedra connected by BPDC2- ions. Replacing H2BPDC by 4,4'-oxydibenzoic acid (H2ODB), which contains an oxygen atom between the phenyl rings instead of a keto group, leads to the synthesis of Al-MOFs isoreticular with CAU-8-BPDC and CAU-21-BPDC. In addition, a coordination polymer, [Al(HODB)2(OH)], was discovered and structurally characterized. The structure of CAU-8-ODB was refined from powder X-ray diffraction data, while a Pawley refinement was carried out for CAU-21-ODB to determine the lattice parameters and confirm phase purity. The structure of CAU-21-ODB was confirmed using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A thorough characterization shows that the CAU-8 and CAU-21-type structures are stable up to 350 and 300 °C in air, respectively, almost independent of the linker molecules incorporated. The former MOFs are porous toward N2 and CO2, while the latter only adsorb CO2.


Several prominent philosophers have argued that the fact that depressed agents sometimes make moral judgments without being appropriately motivated supports Humean externalism – the view that moral motivation must be explained in terms of desires that are distinct from or "external" to an agent's motivationally inert moral judgments. This essay argues that such motivational failures do not, in fact, provide evidence for this view. I argue that, if the externalist argument from depression is to undermine a philo-sophically important version of internalism, it must make use of a general assumption about motivational states. However, at a reasonable level of abstraction, the needed assumption also implies that even desires could not be effective sources of motivation. For, just as depressed agents might sometimes lack motivation to act consistently with their moral judgments, they also sometimes lack motivation to pursue their desires. Moreover, the most plausible responses that Humeans can give to this general argument undermine the externalist case against internalism. Thus, there is a deep tension between the argument from depression for externalism and a fundamental Humean commitment.


identified before birth, in 2 cases the diagnosis was made after birth. In one case there was a spontaneous resolution during the pregnancy. The other 5 cases underwent a sequestrectomy postnatally. All the 6 cases had good outcome. Among the 25 cases of CAM, 21 were isolated and 4 were associated with pleural effusion. In 3/4 cases the diagnosis was made before 22 weeks of gestation and the parents opted for the termination of the pregnancy; the fourth case developed hydrops and the fetus died at 28 weeks. 8/21 isolated cases of CAM underwent a conservative management: the lesion resolved spontaneously antenatally; radiological exams (computerized axial tomography) confirmed the diagnosis postnatally; no surgical treatment was required. In the other 13 cases, the lesion persisted after birth and required lobectomy with good outcome. Conclusions: CHAOS is a condition with severe prognosis; however, if the obstruction is incomplete, it can be reversible. PS and CAM are the most common conditions associated with the finding of fetal hyperechogenic lung lesion. They have a better prognosis if they are isolated.


This study designed a specimen that simulates the deformation and failure behaviors of the piping components in nuclear power plants (NPPs) under excessive seismic loads beyond the design basis, and conducted ultimate-strength tests using this specimen at room temperature (RT) and 316 °C. SA312 TP316 stainless steel (SS) and SA508 Gr.3 Cl.1 low-alloy steel (LAS) were used in the experiments. Displacement-controlled cyclic loads with constant and random amplitudes of load-line displacement (LLD) were applied as input loads. A set of input cyclic loads consisted of 20 cycles, and the LLD amplitudes of the cyclic load were determined to induce the maximum membrane plus bending stress intensity of 6–42Sm on the specimen, where Sm is the allowable design stress intensity. Multiple sets of input cyclic loads, with increasing amplitude of LLD, were applied to the specimen until cracking initiated. The results demonstrate that the simulated specimen adequately showed the ratcheting deformation and fatigue-induced cracking of piping components under displacement-controlled excessive seismic loads. In addition, samples of both materials failed under displacement-controlled cyclic load levels that were several times higher than those of the design basis earthquake (DBE). The SA316 TP316 SS had greater resistance to failure under large-amplitude cyclic loads than did SA508 Gr.3 Cl.1 LAS. For both materials, resistance to failure was lower at 316 °C than at RT. This study confirmed that the evaluation procedure of the ASME design code predicted the fatigue failure of specimens very conservatively under large-amplitude cyclic loads simulating displacement-controlled excessive seismic loads.


Orf virus (ORFV), a species of the genus Parapoxvirus of the family Poxviridae, causes non-systemic, highly contagious, and eruptive disease in sheep, goat, and other wild and domestic ruminants. Our previous work shows orf to be ubiquitous in the Fujian Province of China, a region where there is considerable heterogeneity among ORFVs. In this study, we sequenced full genomes of four Fujian goat ORFV strains (OV-GO, OV-YX, OV-NP, and OV-SJ1). The four strains were 132–139 kb in length, with each containing 124–132 genes and about 64% G+C content. The most notable differences between the four strains were found near the genome termini. OV-NP lacked seven and OV-SJ1 lacked three genes near the right terminus when compared against other ORFVs. We also investigated the skin-virulence of the four Fujian ORFVs in goats. The ORFVs with gene deletions showed low virulence while the ORFVs without gene deletions showed high virulence in goats suggesting gene deletion possibly leads to attenuation of ORFVs. Gene 134 was disrupted in OV-NP genome due to the lack of initial code. The phylogenetic tree based on complete Parapoxviruse genomes showed that sheep originated and goat originated ORFVs formed distinctly separate branches with 100% bootstrap. Based on the single gene phylogenetic tree of 132 genes of ORFVs, 47 genes can be easily distinguished as having originated from sheep or goats. In order to further reveal genetic variation presented in goat ORFVs and sheep ORFVs, we analyzed the deduced amino acid sequences of gene 008, multiple alignment of amino acid sequences of gene 008 from the genome of five goat ORFVs and four sheep ORFVs revealed 33 unique amino acids differentiating it as having sheep or goats as host. The availability of genomic sequences of four Fujian goat ORFVs aids in our understanding of the diversity of orf virus isolates in this region and can assist in distinguishing between orf strains that originate in sheep and goats.


Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the most common pain condition with a lifetime prevalence of 70 %. One of the most investigated risk factor for LBP is sedentary lifestyle. This is of great interest as sitting is the more dominant occupational activity in today's society.Aim: The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate if the risk of chronic LBP is associated with time spent sitting, leisure time physical activity, and occupational activity. We also examined the combined effect of time spent sitting and physical activity and also for the combined effect of physical leisure activity and work activity on the risk of chronic LBP.Method: Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratio (OR) of LBP associated with the various activity measures. The precision of the estimates was assessed by 95 % confidence interval (Cl).Results: There was some evidence of an inverse association between time spent sitting and risk of chronic LBP, with a OR of 0.83 (0.71-0.97) among persons sitting more than eleven hours a day compared to persons sitting less than five hours a day. Hard physical labour increased the odds of chronic LBP (OR 1.19, 1.02-1.40) when compared to an occupation mostly involving sitting, whereas high levels of leisure time activity was associated with a OR of 0.79 (0.64 - 0.96) compared to being inactive. Combined analysis showed high level of leisure time physical activity to decrease the risk of chronic LBP regardless of occupation. The largest modification of leisure time physical activity on the risk of chronic LBP was found for persons having hard physical work demands.Conclusion: In this population-based longitudinal study, time spent sitting and leisure time physical activity was inversely associated with chronic LBP, whereas heavy physical work, such as walking, lifting and heavy labour, increased the risk. Moreover, analyses of combined effects suggest that the lowest risk was among persons who reported high leisure time physical activity and much sitting.


The development of high-throughput genome sequencing and protein structure determination techniques have provided researchers with a wealth of biological data. Integrated analysis of such data is difficult due to the disparate nature of the repositories used to store this biological data and of the software used for its analysis. This paper presents a framework based upon the use of semi-structured database management systems that would provide an integrated interface for the collection, storage and retrieval of biological data from existing repositories and of biological information generated by existing analysis programs. A simple implementation that integrates information from databases and analytical programs is presented as a proof of concept. In particular, this paper focuses on the data transformation, data integration, and the support of active rules for biological data.


Machine learning techniques have proved effective in recommender systems and other applications, yet teams working to deploy them lack many of the advantages that those in more established software disciplines today take for granted. The well-known Agile methodology advances projects in a chain of rapid development cycles, with subsequent steps often informed by production experiments. Support for such workflow in machine learning applications remains primitive. The platform developed at if(we) embodies a specific machine learning approach and a rigorous data architecture constraint, so allowing teams to work in rapid iterative cycles. We require models to consume data from a time-ordered event history, and we focus on facilitating creative feature engineering. We make it practical for data scientists to use the same model code in development and in production deployment, and make it practical for them to collaborate on complex models. We deliver real-time recommendations at scale, returning top results from among 10,000,000 candidates with sub-second response times and incorporating new updates in just a few seconds. Using the approach and architecture described here, our team can routinely go from ideas for new models to production-validated results within two weeks.


There have been considerable developments in the field of potentiometric sensors in recent years mainly with respect to lowering detection limits and making sensors smaller, solid-state, robust and less expensive.[1, 2] In potentiometric measurements two electrodes are needed, an indicator or ion-selective electrode (ISE) and a reference electrode. However, recent progress in the design and characteristics of the indicator electrodes cannot be exploited without similar progress in the design of the reference electrodes. In this paper we present development of chips with fully integrated solid-contact reference (SC-RE) and ion-selective (SC-ISEs) electrodes. In these electrodes, a conducting polymer (CP) (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)) is used as the solid contact ion-to-electron transducer[3]. The conducting polymer is deposited using galvanostatic electropolymerization.[4, 5]
The ability to produce reliable miniaturized reference electrodes, has given us the opportunity to develop several prototype versions of miniature, solid-contact sensor systems (i.e. with fully integrated ion-selective and reference electrodes) that can be further integrated into microfluidic platforms. We have prepared microchips using different designs to test for the best accommodation of the sensors and to optimise the sensor-chip platform characteristics.
Our initial goal is to prepare Pb-ISEs suitable for use as a chemo-sensing component in a widely distributed wireless sensor network (WSN) for monitoring the quality of a fresh water system, together with advanced diagnostics to evaluate the on-going functionality of the sensors using simple electronic signals.[5, 6]


Human anal cancers are associated with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) that cause other anogenital cancers and head and neck cancers. As with other cancers, HPV16 is the most common high-risk HPV in anal cancers. We describe the generation and characterization of a mouse model for human anal cancer. This model makes use of K14E6 and K14E7 transgenic mice in which the HPV16 E6 and E7 genes are directed in their expression to stratified squamous epithelia. HPV16 E6 and E7 possess oncogenic properties including, but not limited to, their capacity to inactivate the cellular tumor suppressors p53 and pRb, respectively. Both E6 and E7 were found to be functionally expressed in the anal epithelia of K14E6/K14E7 transgenic mice. To assess the susceptibility of these mice to anal cancer, mice were treated topically with dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), a chemical carcinogen that is known to induce squamous cell carcinomas in other sites. Nearly 50% of DMBA-treated HPV16 E6/E7 transgenic mice showed overt signs of tumors, whereas none of the like-treated nontransgenic mice showed tumors. Histopathologic analyses confirmed that the HPV16 transgenic mice were increased in their susceptibility to anal cancers and precancerous lesions. Biomarker analyses demonstrated that these mouse anal cancers exhibit properties that are similar to those observed in HPV-positive precursors to human anal cancer. This is the first mouse model for investigating the contributions of viral and cellular factors in anal carcinogenesis, and should provide a platform for assessing new therapeutic modalities for treating and/or preventing this type of cancer. Cancer Prev Res; 3(12); 1534–41. ©2010 AACR.


The Modal Strain Energy Method (MSEM) is widely used in practice for the prediction of damping levels in structures. MSEM is based on a fundamental assumption that the damped and the undamped mode shapes of a structure are identical. Therefore, when MSEM is to be used, it is essential to ensure that this assumption is an acceptable assumption. However, detailed information on the accuracy of the method as a function of the system parameters including modal (or mode shape) complexity is quite limited. In this paper, the performance of MSEM is assessed in terms of the damping levels of the structure, proportionality of damping distribution and/or the modal complexity. To do so, an effective finite element based MSE approach is proposed first. Then, a proportionally damped structure with different damping levels is modeled and the performance of MSEM is assessed as a function of the structural damping level. After that, a non-proportionally damped structure is studied in order to examine the performance of the method with respect to mode shape complexity. In all cases, a more accurate reference method, based on complex eigenvalue approach, is used for comparison purposes. Furthermore, a few definitions of mode shape complexity are utilized in order to quantify the mode shape complexity. The results show that as long as the mode shapes are real or close to being real, MSEM can predict the damping levels as well as the natural frequencies of a damped structure with good accuracy. However, the accuracy that can be achieved with MSEM decreases as mode shape complexity increases.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Abstract The compact torus/toroid (CT) as future fusion reactor is presented. The field reversed configuration (FRC) is alternative thermonuclear scheme with properties of compact tori as both open and closed systems. By plasma confinement method field reversed configuration is closed magnetic trap. Mathematical model of plasma core in the fusion reactor is shown. Power balance for the FRC confinement chamber is calculated. The formula for bremsstrahlung more accurate in the temperature range of advanced fuel is presented. D-3He-6Li fuel cycle is proposed and reactor schemes are discussed.


A set of factors and processes that have any kind of negative effect or impact on living organisms resulting from scientific and technological progress of mankind are said to be techno-pathogenic effect. The problem of the survival of humanity and the biotech protect all life on our planet is becoming one of the most important. The anthropogenic pollution of water, air and soil plays an essential role in the degradation of our environment, everyone agrees. We can also see the multiplication of installations linked to electricity: Mobile, telephone, wind, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, high voltage lines; all these technologies have improved our daily life, but they can have a negative impact, invisible. The article that we are about to read may surprise us because it looks at problems whose origin is not well known and which are rarely taken into account. Yet these problems are real and it is logical to think that the recent and large-scale multiplication of antennas and wind turbines with their grounding induces fields that alter the natural equilibrium of the soil and have effects on the biosphere. It should be noted that awareness of the reality of these phenomena is progressing, but more for human health than for animals. It was determined, that the installation of masts base stations and wind turbines at the intersection of the fault zones, which is a natural migration of groundwater or geopathogenic zone, causes the appearance of artificial radiation of these zones and the spread of radiation occurs along areas faults or discontinuities along the axial in the soil. Constant exposure to natural and artificial radiations can cause changes in behavior, the state of aggression or depression (sometimes to the point of suicide), constant fatigue, sleep problems, partial loss of memory, problems with concentration, stress, etc. All electronic devices generate like natural cosmogenic fields-technical torsion field. Large amount of free radicals are produced in the body under their influence. To prevent a negative impact on the living it is necessary to harmonize the physical vacuum. The action of these harmonization devices is based on the elimination of the asymmetry of physical vacuum components. The simple harmonizing device consists of several elements, which were recorded the left and the right torsion field, before we have developed the device of the physical vacuum harmonization. When the device is a plug in the powerline network the physical vacuum is harmonized. It is necessary to pay much attention to theoretical issues of influence of technical torsion field on the human body and alive and biomedical research, one of the main areas of studying natural and technical torsion fields must be brought to a new level. Scientists, medicines and governments must move immediately and aggressively with the goal of minimizing the impact of torsion fields on children, pregnant women and adults. Citation: A R Pavlenko. The channels of groundwater and river water as a torsion field waveguides, J Environ Sci. 2021; 17(4):190 © 2021 Trade Science Inc.


: The frequency of translocations, detected by FISH in lymphocytes of control donors increased with increasing age as quadratic function. This process is elevated in persons exposed to radiation at low-doses. It means that the level of translocations could be used as an indicator of biological age. Moreover the frequency of translocations should be taken into account when biological reconstruction of absorbed dose is carried out. The frequency of dicentrics, detected by FISH and FPG methods increased with age in both groups compared and in equal rate, the linear model being fit the data best. The rate of age-increase for translocations is much higher than for dicentrics. Chromosomal radiosensitivity of lymphocytes in vitro tends to increase with age in control group and significantly decrease--in exposed one, that is low-dose radiation exposure changes the character of age dependence of cytogenetic radiosensitivity.


Approximate computation has evolved recently as a viable alternative for maximizing energy efficiency. One aspect of approximate computing involves the design of hardware units that return a sufficiently accurate result for the examined occasion, rather than computing an accurate result. As long as the hardware units are allowed to compute approximately, they can be designed with multiple new ways. In this work, we focus on the synthesis of approximate parallel-prefix adders. Instead of exploring specific architectures, as done by state-of-the-art approaches, the introduced synthesizer can produce every solution that meets the designer's criteria, resulting in adders with various delay, area, and error tradeoffs. This automatic design space exploration allows approaching, in several cases, optimal solutions that could have not been designed with any other known parallel-prefix architecture. The synthesized adders, when compared with state-of-the-art adders, achieve 27%–36% better error frequency (EF) on average for random inputs and improve image quality metrics by 8%–42% for image filtering. These results are achieved with the proposed adders requiring the same or marginally more hardware area or energy. On the contrary, in split-accuracy configurations, more than 30% of hardware area/energy can be saved for the same classification accuracy for a neural network application.


Anticipating the strategic confluence between liberal ways of war and liberal ways of development, the ideas of Michel Foucault have increasingly resonated in the field of security studies. Foregrounding in particular the biopolitical imperative at the heart of liberal governance, critical attention has been given to the manner in which life itself becomes the principle referent object for security practices. In mapping out these key debates, this article will nuance our understanding of Foucault's relevance by explaining: how liberal security governance today operates within a globally inclusive imaginary to the defection of all meaningful Newtonian distinctions; how liberal biopolitics displaces the bare life of the sovereign encounter with the bare activity of species survival; how principally tasking security practitioners with sorting and adjudicating between different forms of species life reveals a distinct biopolitical aporia, in the sense that making life live demands the elimination of that which poses an internal cultural threat to its will to rule; how the rationalization of violence through doing what is necessary out of species necessity implies that humanity's most purposeful expression appears through the battles that are waged upon life, for life, on a planetary scale; how the liberal encounter has created conditions akin to a global state of civil war that offers a marked conceptual departure from traditional sovereign paradigms; and why the onto-theological dimensions that give moral sanction to liberal biopolitical rule now demand the most serious critical attention.


The adoption of energy technologies like solar panels, LED bulbs, hybrid and electric vehicles; and energy-related mobile apps will transform an entire energy sector and give energy consumers a more central role inside energy markets. To drive the adoption of these technologies, we must first address technology awareness and examine the determining factors. This paper assesses the awareness of the five technologies aforementioned in sixteen Latin American and Caribbean countries based on information collected at the individual level. We propose a logistic model to identify the socioeconomic factors that explain the level of awareness of energy technologies in the region. The results show that an effective public policy that aims to increase the technological awareness and promote the adoption of energyrelated technologies needs to consider variables such as gender, education, income level and energy-saving behavior and the use of social media.


Abstract. Contrary to most regions in the US, ozone in the northern Front Range metropolitan area (NFRMA) of Colorado was either stagnant or increasing between 2000 and 2015, despite substantial reductions in NOx emissions. We used available long-term ozone and NOx data in the NFRMA to investigate these trends. Ozone increased from weekdays to weekends for a number of sites in the NFRMA with weekend reductions in NO2 at two sites in downtown Denver, indicating that the region was in a NOx-saturated ozone production regime. The stagnation and increases in ozone in the NFRMA are likely due to a combination of decreasing NOx emissions in a NOx-saturated environment and increased anthropogenic volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in the NFRMA. Further investigation of the weekend–weekday effect showed that the region outside of the most heavily trafficked Denver area was transitioning to peak ozone production towards NOx-limited chemistry. This transition implies that continued NOx decreases will result in ozone being less sensitive to changes in either anthropogenic or biogenic VOC reactivity in the NFRMA. In contrast to anthropogenic VOCs, biogenic VOCs are unlikely to have increased in the NFRMA between 2000 and 2015, but are temperature dependent and likely vary by drought year. Ozone in the NFRMA has a temperature dependence, albeit smaller than many other US locations, consistent with biogenic VOC contributions to ozone production in the region. We show that while ozone increased with temperature in the NFRMA, which is consistent with a NOx-saturated regime coupled to temperature-dependent VOCs, this relationship is suppressed in drought years. We attribute this drought year suppression to decreased biogenic isoprene emissions due to long-term drought stress. Thus, while anthropogenic NOx and VOCs likely dominate ozone production regimes in the NFRMA, biogenic VOCs may also impact regional ozone and its temperature dependence.


Despite the widespread application of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) across a variety of tasks, a unified understanding of how RNNs solve these tasks remains elusive. In particular, it is unclear what dynamical patterns arise in trained RNNs, and how those patterns depend on the training dataset or task. This work addresses these questions in the context of a specific natural language processing task: text classification. Using tools from dynamical systems analysis, we study recurrent networks trained on a battery of both natural and synthetic text classification tasks. We find the dynamics of these trained RNNs to be both interpretable and low-dimensional. Specifically, across architectures and datasets, RNNs accumulate evidence for each class as they process the text, using a low-dimensional attractor manifold as the underlying mechanism. Moreover, the dimensionality and geometry of the attractor manifold are determined by the structure of the training dataset; in particular, we describe how simple word-count statistics computed on the training dataset can be used to predict these properties. Our observations span multiple architectures and datasets, reflecting a common mechanism RNNs employ to perform text classification. To the degree that integration of evidence towards a decision is a common computational primitive, this work lays the foundation for using dynamical systems techniques to study the inner workings of RNNs.


The purpose of this article is to present the key elements for best performance and profitability of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management in a low-income city. The research provides an overview of methods and models for integrated planning of a two-phase program: MSW collection and transportation, and MSW treatment. We present the case study of Matadi (the Democratic Republic of Congo) that has a low level of the MSW management compared to other African cities. We develop a spreadsheet model for collection and transportation of MSW which is relevant for low-income cities and enables determining the waste collection fee. A CDM decay model is used to predict the GHG emissions in disposal site. The MSW treatment plant in case of Matadi is evaluated. For the anaerobic digestion technology selected as appropriate for this plant, the key factors that ensure profitability of the plant are as follows: tipping fee from the municipality (19% of total revenue), amount of carbon credits which can sum up to 16% of the total revenue, expansion of waste collection range from 25 to 50 km. The methods of this study can be used for solving waste problem in other low-income cities where the budget for municipal services is scanty, particularly when starting from a very low level of MSW management.