Ikh bylo tol'ko dvadtsat' vosem', A za spinoi byla Moskva! [There were only 28 of them, But they had their backs to Moscow!] -- Song of the 28 Panfilov Soldiers (1) Every Soviet citizen got to hear about the feat of the 28 men from the 316th Rifle Division commanded by General Ivan Panfilov. The first Soviet multi-volume academic history of the war presented their endeavor of 16 November 1941 in the following terms: A group of tank destroyers from the 1077th Rifle Regiment of the 316th Rifle Division accomplished an unprecedented feat at Dubosekovo Station: 28 heroes fought 50 enemy tanks. The enemy hoped to break through our defenses at this sector to the Volokolamsk Highway and [then] advance on Moscow.... The enemy employed 20 tanks.... At that moment, Company Commissar V. G. Klochkov came to the trenches of tank destroyers. "It is not that scary," he told the soldiers. "There is less than one tank per person." The courageous Panfilov men destroyed 14 tanks with hand grenades, Molotov cocktails, and anti-tank rifles. The remaining tanks retreated. The soldiers barely had time to bandage their wounds before 30 more tanks attacked their position.... Commissar Klochkov told his soldiers the words that were later to become the slogan of all Moscow defenders: "Russia is vast, but there is nowhere to retreat--we have our backs to Moscow!" Severely wounded, the commissar threw himself under an enemy tank with several hand grenades and blew it up. This heroic battle lasted for four hours. The enemy lost 18 tanks and dozens of soldiers but failed to break through. (2) As a Russian author observed, "the news about the unprecedented feat at Dubosekovo Station spread all across the country; dozens of articles, brochures, songs, verses and poems were written about the courage and valor of the 28, and their famous story entered high-school and university textbooks." (3) Most of the information in this story is false. The described unit was regular infantry rather than tank destroyers. They belonged to the 1075th rather than the 1077th Rifle Regiment. The Germans did not consider the Volokolamsk Highway as a shortcut to Moscow; in fact they advanced across the highway because they planned no direct assault on Moscow. Instead they intended to envelop the Soviet capital from the north. There is no hard evidence that the famous 28 destroyed any German tanks. The units that opposed the German tank attack that day were far larger than a 28-man platoon: two companies of the 316th Rifle Division defended positions around Dubosekovo and Shiriaevo with about 120-40 soldiers each. It was a sergeant, rather than Commissar Klochkov, who commanded the majority of the 28 for most of the engagement. Klochkov never said the flamboyant phrases attributed to him, and it is unknown how and where he died during that day. Finally, 2 of the 28 had died two days before this action, and 1 did not participate in it. It is unknown how many of the 28 were killed or taken prisoner in this particular action, although it is clear that at least 6 of them survived the war, contrary to the Stalinist official version of this event, which claimed that all 28 died. These soldiers failed to stop the German offensive, and in the afternoon of 16 November, German units reached the positions they had intended when they compiled their schedule several days earlier. In 1948, the Military Prosecutor's Office conducted an investigation of the action at Dubosekovo and proved the falsity of the canonized account. The prosecutors summarized the outcome of their work: "The feat of the 28 Panfilov Guards described in the media is the invention of the reporter Koroteev, [and of] Ortenberg, editor of the Krasnaia zvezda newspaper, and especially of Krivitskii, literary secretary of the newspaper." (4) When the prosecutors passed this conclusion on to the Politburo, however, the Politburo chose to ignore it and kept the verdict classified, thus perpetuating the myth, which has survived until the present. …


iContainers is an on-line maritime freight forwarder firm that offers real time prices on its website for container freight transportation services. This business model has allowed to keep a record of historical rates, although until now it has been never used with analysis purposes. This master thesis aims to change that, using rates data in order to build models with the ultimate objective of forecasting. It covers all the stages in a typical data-based project: data collection and reliability check, data exploration, modelling, forecasting and finally implementation of the results. Transportation rates data are not trivial, since they have both a time and a space dimension. In this context, statistical techniques that are able to deal with both have been used. Amongst them, it has been of utmost importance the use of multinomial bayesian generalised mixed models which, inspired by Markov chains, act as transition models that allow to infer how likely it is for a rate to go up, down or remain stable in the future.


Past measurements of precorneal tear film thickness in rabbits and humans gave values of 4-7 microns. These have been the accepted values. However, measurements presented in this report are much higher. Earlier techniques may have changed film thickness or not have fully included the layer containing mucus. Little is known about the mucus component. Thickness was measured in freshly killed animals of 10 species using two independent optical techniques. Coherent light was reflected from eyes and thickness was determined from spacing of interference fringes. Clear images of tissue structure were obtained with confocal microscopy, the tear film was visually identified, and thickness measured. Measurements by the two methods were closely correlated in each animal. No film was detected in trout or carp. In other species, thickness ranged from 9 microns in frogs to 15 microns in gerbils. Values are significantly larger than earlier estimates. Film thickness in three living rabbits was not significantly different from that measured shortly after death. There was no variation in thickness at five positions across the cornea in three species. Mucus content of rat tear film was examined by measuring thinning after application of 4, 8, and 20% (weight/volume) acetylcysteine, a mucolytic agent. Thickness was considerably reduced compared to controls, and the film almost completely removed by the highest concentration. The authors propose that the film is largely composed of mucus, not free aqueous solution. Our methods include such layers, and measurements are correspondingly larger than earlier ones.


The EU's new trade strategy promises to advance open strategic autonomy that is to balance the benefits of economic interdependence with growing demands to manage Europe's exposure to the risks it entails. What explains these shifting priorities? This article situates open strategic autonomy in the theoretical debates of International Political Economy (IPE) literature on economic interdependence and geoeconomics to aid our understanding of the debates ensnaring economic strategy in the EU, but also related debates in the United States, China and elsewhere. This framework, the article argues, helps us understand changing strategic priorities in economic policy by reference to wider structural shifts engulfing the global economy. It then identifies four priority targets of EU economic policy in which (new) autonomous policies are forthcoming: (i) tackle economic distortions; (ii) defend against economic coercion; (iii) link with values and sustainability; and (iv) protect critical assets and supply chains. These observations build towards addressing the main research question: Has open strategic autonomy turned a corner on EU principles of openness, liberalization and international cooperation?
trade and investment, European Union, geoeconomics, International Political Economy


Three major technical issues can be identified in th e design of the digital part of the audiovisual library of Bibliotheque Nationale de France : digitizing policies, end-user interface issues for time-base d media and real-time media impact on network an d software design. Two specific factors have to be considered with special care in the research library environment: one has to deal with large existin g collections of documents stored on various analo g carriers, and technical systems have to be designe d in such a way that they will be able to evolve in order to adapt to future technological trends in a context of limited funding and human resources. Scholar work on printed texts in the research library is based on the ability to do analytical and critical work on documents. In the full paper, particular emphasis is put on the cultural and scientifi c benefits of end-user software enabling the sam e type of analytical and critical work for time-base d documents. which provides the Navy with an in-house researc h capability, occupies as its principal site a 130-acr e campus of 152 buildings located on the Potoma c River in Southwest Washington, D .C. The Library facilitates end-user access to a range of scientifi c and technical information resources through the development and implementation of networked information systems and the conversion of print-based information to digital formats. The Library' s networked information capabilities extend to othe r Three library initiatives that lay the foundatio n for the "digital library" are discussed. The first tw o of these, the InfoNet Campus-Wide Informatio n System and the Research Reports Imaging System , are fully mature and operational. The InfoNet, introduced in August 1992, allows users to query local and remote information systems and enable s them to request Library materials and service s without leaving their offices ; from a single men u users can select a wide variety of information resources including : library-mounted CD-ROM databases ; "electronic books" downloaded from th e Internet; other Laboratory databases including th e Library catalog ; and resources located throughou t the world through pre-programmed access to selected Internet hosts. The Research Reports Imaging System store s major portions of the Library's collection electronically as page images ; almost 100,000 reports , about 5 million pages, are seamlessly linked to a n on-line catalog, enabling users, seated at in-library …


This paper evaluates the position of women in a patriarch society as depicted by Khalid Hosseini in A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007). The paper unfolds various stereotypes of a patriarchal society and social constructionism as means of exploitation, discrimination, extermination, suppression, oppression, marginalization, dislocation and sabotage of female characters in the novel. The paper applies Textual Analysis Method and Close Reading Method to evaluate the selected work from feminist perspective. The paper studies the female characters, Mariam and Laila, in context with the social, political, biological and religious discrimination faced in a patriarch society of Afghanistan. Furthermore, this study aims to analyze the biological differences cherished in a patriarch society making women powerless, subaltern, undermined, irrational, emotional and innate inferior; while men projected as powerful, dominant, privileged, rational, sensible, and innate superior in context with the selected work. The psychological oppression as a result of atrocities on women in patriarch society of Afghanistan would be highlighted through the female characters in the novel. The paper also exposes the significant position of female characters and their struggle and endeavor against the patriarchal society. The paper would be a meaningful study of female characters' struggle for freedom and equality as a firm stand against patriarch society and gender discrimination as depicted in the selected work.


On the increase is the utilization of electronic discharge summaries (EDS) for clinical perspective as well as for research; but rarely studies have been made in recent years which look at the perspectives of medical students regarding usage of EDS. Medical students are a critical stakeholder in the hospital operations and they can provide useful analysis on everyday processes that impact patient care throughout the process of discharge summary. The objectives of the present study are to know the perception of medical students about electronic discharge summary in a tertiary care teaching hospital of Southern India, to assess the level of satisfaction about electronic discharge summary among the medical students and to understand the barriers, if any, about electronic discharge summary. The methodology adopted for the purpose involved a cross-sectional study involving 224 medical students and medical transcriptionists in a tertiary care teaching hospital of southern India, who actually dealt with EDS on a day-to-day basis, by using a validated and pre-tested questionnaire having three point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics was used to interpret the result. The results obtained as per the study showed that most of the respondents agreed to the positive role of EDS in documentation and reporting. They also had very positive perception about the role of EDS in clinical practice as well. Only area where they still have doubt seems to be in ensuring confidentiality of patient's information; where only 44% agreed and 30% chose to remain neutral. The satisfaction level of the respondents was found to be high with EDS usage. When probed about the barriers in EDS usage, almost 40% of the participants reported facing problem during data entry. The reasons were attributed to as 66% had not received initial training in using EDS and about 73% had encountered some problem related to screen layout, result, menus etc. More than 76% of the respondents wanted a National Standard for EDS which they thought will go a long way in standardizing the EDS and making it more acceptable. There is an overall satisfaction about the usage of EDS and also the overall perception about the usefulness of EDS is good among the respondents, but majority of them felt the need to have a National Standard for EDS.


A B S T RA C T Potential difference, resistance, cation content, and S6Rb efflux were measured in frog lenses maintained in normal or calcium-free EGTA Ringer's solution. Exposure of the lens to calcium-free solution resulted in a rapid fall in potential and resistance, together with a twofold increase in ~Rb efflux rate. These rapid changes were not due to an alteration in cation distribution between the lens and its environment. However, the alteration in SORb efflux rate could be explained on the basis of the fall in potential. These findings suggested that removal of calcium from the bathing medium caused a rapid increase in sodium permeability alone. This suggestion was substantiated by the results of experiments where the response of the lens to low calcium solution was determined in a medium in which 90% of the sodium had been replaced by sucrose.


We compared 2 methods of collecting fish larvae in inshore temperate waters near the Kaikoura Peninsula, New Zealand: night collection with light traps and with a plankton net. The sampling design incorporated seasons (summer anti autumn), moon phases (full and new) and habitats (reef and beach). The 2 methods were simultaneously deployed over 2 nights in replicates of 3 within each factor. The resulting 96 samples captured 8086 larvae from 14 families. The plankton net captured twice as many taxa from twice as many families as the light traps. No taxa were caught exclusively by the light traps. For all taxa, the fish larvae collected by the light traps were larger than those in the plankton net samples. Most taxa were more abundant in the summer and new moon samples taken by both methods. The 2 methods indicated different abundance patterns between habitats for most taxa. The light traps collected more of most taxa in the reef habitat, while the plankton net collected more in the beach habitat, The light trap samples complemented those taken by the plankton net. Both sampling methods could be combined in a sampling procedure to provide a more comprehensive picture of inshore ichthyoplankton assemblages.


The rapid growth of computer networks has made the process of understanding the interaction among network components more challenging than ever. The increase in the size of networks is accompanied by the more demanding use of networks by distributed applications that critically rely on the system to function well. Consequently, monitoring the health and stability of networks has become crucial. Tools and probes to measure the performance of networks for the purpose of management, fault diagnosis, or performance evaluation have been developed by several research groups. There is not yet, however, a measurement infrastructure which offers systematic control and management of measurement efforts and performance data focused on supporting distributed network-aware applications. This work addresses the implementation of a scalable and extensible network measurement infrastructure used to capture network state to improve the performance of a distributed application.


With the increasing prominence of many-core architectures and decreasing per-core resources on large supercomputers, a number of applications developers are investigating the use of hybrid MPI+threads programming to utilize computational units while sharing memory. An MPI-only model that uses one MPI process per system core is capable of effectively utilizing the processing units, but it fails to fully utilize the memory hierarchy and relies on fine-grained internodes communication. Hybrid MPI+threads models, on the other hand, can handle internodes parallelism more effectively and alleviate some of the overheads associated with internodes communication by allowing more coarse-grained data movement between address spaces. The hybrid model, however, can suffer from locking and memory consistency overheads associated with data sharing. In this paper, we use a distributed implementation of the breadth-first search algorithm in order to understand the performance characteristics of MPI-only and MPI+threads models at scale. We start with a baseline MPI-only implementation and propose MPI+threads extensions where threads independently communicate with remote processes while cooperating for local computation. We demonstrate how the coarse-grained communication of MPI+threads considerably reduces time and space overheads that grow with the number of processes. At large scale, however, these overheads constitute performance barriers for both models and require fixing the root causes, such as the excessive polling for communication progress and inefficient global synchronizations. To this end, we demonstrate various techniques to reduce such overheads and show performance improvements on up to 512K cores of a Blue Gene/Q system.


Among various industries, the construction sector has one of the greatest impacts on the environment. Minimizing the resource use and the waste outputs in this sector could be fulfilled by applying circular economy (CE) strategies. Although research on CE in the construction sector has increased in recent years, there have not been remarkable adjustments by applying these strategies to the construction industry. The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of using CE strategies in the construction sector. A framework was adapted to guide the application of different CE strategies at the end-of-life of buildings. The framework was assessed by a case study of a residential building in mass timber. This study evaluated the application of CE strategies from the environmental aspect with the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The results confirmed that circular strategies can deliver lower environmental impacts.


Abstract In the German-speaking part of Switzerland, people use Swiss German and High German side by side in their daily life. This situation gives rise to various attitudes towards both of these two varieties. Interestingly, some of these attitudes seem to be partly in conflict. The aim of this paper is to show that these attitudes are not necessarily conflicted but rather that such attitudes normally have a multidimensional character. Multidimensional attitudes can be traced back to multidimensional mental models on which people naturally draw. In applying Berthele's (2010) cluster model, which combines Geeraerts's (2003) rationalist and romantic models for standardization, the paper illustrates, based on a recent study, which mental models have to be operative to conceptualize the complex frames of the two varieties in use. Additionally, recent shifts in the attitudinal climate in Switzerland indicate that these cognitive cultural models are not static but are subject to dynamic processes.


The paper presents the findings of an evaluation of the total economic value (TEV) of marine ecosystems of a planned marine reserve in "Le Precheur", North of Martinique, Caribbean. Almost 95% of the TEV, estimated at EUR 58 million annually, derives from non-use values, while about 5% are from Direct use values with a predominance of leisure values, and less than 1% percent comes from the Indirect use values despite the high biodiversity interest of the location. In that regards, estimates made in the context of this study are to be considered as orders of magnitude intended to feed the strategic dialogue for the development of the future marine reserve on one hand, and budgetary decisions of public policy guidelines on the other. It is therefore essential to adopt a collaborative approach between all actors involved on the coast. Moreover, public policies must take into account the protection of marine ecosystems and even more of their enhancement in a perspective that combines economic utilitarianism and selflessness. The marine ecosystems of Le Precheur have indeed emerged as elements of the identity of the coastal population of Le Precheur but also of Martinique as a whole and, as such, must be highlighted.


The recent works on integration of large database systems distributed over wide-area networks concentrate on the adaptive and online techniques. Online property of data integration means continuous integration of transmitted data with the already available results. Adaptivity materializes in a form of dynamic adjustments to the data integration plans in a response to the recent characteristics of data transmission. Implementation of adaptive and online data integration needs the specialized systems of operations and transformations of integration plans. This paper describes a new class of elementary operations on increments and/or decrements of data and shows how to express data integration plans as sequences of elementary operations. We demonstrate that class of operations proposed in the paper is sufficient for implementation of online and adaptive data integration systems and we discuss the operational properties of such systems.


The electrospinning technique allows the preparation of fiber matrices in a controlled and
easy way with diameters ranging from micron to nanoscale. It can produce electrospun fibers
through the action of an external electric field to create an electrically charged jet of polymer
solution with simultaneous rapid evaporation of the solvent which leaves a polymer fiber. Due
to electrospun fibers having a large specific surface area, light weight and high porosity, they
are of interests in a wide variety of applications including nanocomposites and biomedical
applications such as tissue templates, medical prosthesis, and drug delivery systems.
Regenerative medicine has gained recognition in the last decades because different
biotechnological innovations have been introduced in the field of human medicine. Many
research groups and companies invest in the production of new paradigms to cure degenerated
tissue illnesses. These approaches are based on the use of biomimetic tissues to replace
damaged organs. Thus, the fiber matrices have the potential to use as a scaffold for tissue
engineering, also being suitable for loading and localized administration of drugs directly into
the body.
In the present work, it is shown a new experimental method to avoid the cellular oxidative
stress provoked during the tissue replacement leading to biomaterial rejection. The objective
of this research was to prepare fiber matrices by electrospinning of poly(lactide) incorporating
drugs with antioxidative activity as a template for the growth of tissue. These new materials
have biomedical applications, such as therapeutic treatment. The obtained fibers were well
characterized by optical, scanning and transmission electronic microscopy to evaluate their
morphology. Fiber structure and crystallinity were studied by X-ray diffraction and DSC
techniques. Antioxidants release was carried out and analyzed in hydrophobic and hydrophilic
media. Cells were attached on the loaded scaffolds, which resulted unaffected by the
incorporation of the antioxidants. in the fibers. However, cells proliferation increased in fiber
matrices loaded with high antioxidative activity against free radicals responsible for cell
damage. These new electrospun scaffolds provide high protection of the cells against
oxidative stress and resulting in innovative 3D fibrous platforms for tissue growth and
proliferation.


Tissue factor (TF), a small transmembrane receptor, binds factor VIIa (FVIIa), and the formed complex initiates blood coagulation by proteolytic activation of substrate factors IX and X. A naturally occurring mutation in the human TF gene was recently reported, where a single-base substitution results in an R200W mutation in the TF extracellular domain [Zawadzki, C., Preudhomme, C., Gaveriaux, V., Amouyel, P., and Jude, B. (2002) Thromb. Haemost. 87, 540-541]. This mutation appears to be associated with low monocyte TF expression and may protect against thrombosis but has not been associated with any pathological condition, and individuals who present the heterozygous trait appear healthy. Here, we report the activity, folding, and aggregation behavior of the R200W mutant of the 219-residue soluble extracellular domain of TF (sTF(R200W)) compared to that of the wild-type protein (sTF(wt)). No differences in stability or FVIIa cofactor activity but an impaired ability to promote FX activation at physiological conditions between the sTF(R200W) mutant and sTF(wt) were evident. Increased binding of 1-anilino-8-naphthalene-sulfonic acid (ANS) to sTF(R200W) indicated a population of partially folded intermediates during denaturation. sTF(R200W) showed a dramatically increased propensity for aggregate formation compared to sTF(wt) at mildly acidic pHs, with an increased rate of aggregation during conditions, promoting the intermediate state. The lowered pH resistance could explain the loss of sTF(R200W) in vivo because of aggregation of the mutant. The intrinsic structure of the sTF aggregates appears reminiscent of amyloid fibrils, as revealed by thioflavin T fluorescence, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. We conclude that the lowered activity for FX activation and the propensity of the mutant protein to misfold and aggregate will both contribute to decreased coagulation activity in TF(R200W) carriers, which could protect from thrombotic disease.


The main clinical varieties of spinal cord and equine tail tumors are reviewed. Of 221 cases, the progressive course of the disease was recorded in 76,9%, slow-progressive course was observed in 68,1% and rapid-progressive in 8,8% of cases. It is stressed that in the presence of the progressive course of the disease there may occur different manifestations of the tumorous process of the spinal cord, the examination of which makes it possible to improve the diagnosis, particularly in the early stage of the spinal oncological process.


Objectives: Endothelial injury during a surgical intervention can significantly affect the
functional status of the vein. The endothelial layer plays a vital role in the long saphenous
vein for ensuring smooth blood flow and the prevention of vasoconstriction and thrombi
formation within the blood vessels. There are few histological studies comparing the
different vein harvesting techniques that have studied endothelial layer integrity using
CD31 and CD34 on human long saphenous veins.
Methods: Non-distended vein samples measuring 1cm were obtained from ten
consecutive traditional open vein harvesting patients and were automatically processed
and stained using immunohistochemistry for CD31 and CD34. The colour, intensity and
distribution of the staining on the tissues was scored blindly by five independent
scientists and an expert histopathologist for this study.
Results: The CD34 antibody demonstrated greater colour (p<0.007), intensity (p<0.019)
and distribution (p<0.007) compared to CD31.
Conclusion: Our study indicates that CD34 provides a more reliable endothelial marker
in the long saphenous vein than CD31. The results of this study can be translate into
other immunohistochemistry studies looking at the quality of the endothelium on the
vein in cardiac and vascular surgical studies.


Normal-based confidence intervals for a parameter of interest are inaccurate when the sampling distribution of the estimate is nonnormal. The technique known as profile likelihood can produce confidence intervals with better coverage. It may be used when the model includes only the variable of interest or several other variables in addition. Profile-likelihood confidence intervals are particularly useful in nonlinear models. The command pllf computes and plots the maximum likelihood estimate and profile likelihood–based confidence interval for one parameter in a wide variety of regression models.


Creativity is a developing topic in philosophy in recent years, and it raises a series of challenging questions both in theory and practice for us. In this paper, I will explore creativity with the lateral thinking techniques which aim to solve problems in a creative and lateral way. I will examine the meaning of lateral thinking and its three kinds, the conceptual lateral thinking, the emotive lateral thinking, and the diagrammatic lateral thinking, trying to find out how the space of possible solutions is affected by lateral thinking, which separates the creative from the problem-solver.


We investigate and compare the equalization performance of various apodization functions in linearly chirped fiber gratings, with a view of determining an optimum profile for the design and fabrication of chromatic dispersion compensators. A discussion concerning the relation of these apodization functions with the group delay characteristic of the equalizer is presented yielding important results connected with the grating design. The analysis has been extended to consider nonideal effects such as nonconstant averaged index and a realistic optical source.


This paper explores how frontline workers contribute to an organization's realized strategy. Using a workplace studies approach, we analyse the work of museum tour guides as a salient example of workers engaged in frontline work. Our findings demonstrate the subtle and intricate nature of the embodied work of frontline workers as they 'bring into being' the strategic aims of an organization. We identified five elements as central to this process: (1) the situated physical context; (2) audience composition; (3) the moral order; (4) the talk, actions and gestures of the guide; and (5) the corresponding talk, actions and gestures of the audience. Drawing on these categories, we find frontline workers to demonstrate 'interactional competence': assessing and making use of the physical, spatial and material specifics of the context and those they are interacting with, and enlisting interactional resources to uphold a moral order that brings these others in as a working audience, encouraging them to respond in particular ways. Frontline workers thus skilfully combine language, material and bodily expressions in the flow of their work. Demonstrating these dynamics gives a more central role to material in the realization of strategy than previously recognized; demonstrates that 'outsiders' have an important part to play in realizing strategy; and highlights the importance of frontline workers and their skilled work in bringing strategy into being.


This is the second part of a research report on the evolution and magnitude of poverty in Mexico. Application of the Integrated Poverty Measurement Method, explained in the first part of this report, shows a poverty headcount ratio (H) of 70.6% and an extreme poverty H of 44.7%. H turns out higher by the UBN (Unsatisfied Basic Needs) method than by the PLT (Poverty Line plus working time) approach. The poverty gap or poverty intensity (I), is for all poor 0.44 but reaches 0.58 for the extremely poor. Both H and I are substantially higher in the rural than in the urban areas. UBN poverty gap is bigger than the PLT gap. When UBN is disaggregated into its components, deprivation turns out the highest in health care and social security. Degree of poverty calculations (HI), the product of H and I, which constitute a good basis for anti-poverty expenditures allocation, show that despite the fact that a larger number of poor persons live in the urban areas, the number of equivalent poor people is higher in the rural areas.


Introduction WHS is a preventive periodical strategy to monitor the work-relevant aspects of health in specific groups of workers. The idea is that occupational health professionals could signal individual problems that could lead to a decrease in work ability, and intervene timely on those aspects. In the Netherlands, specific guidelines exist for occupational physicians on this topic. Examples will be provided to give more insight in the relevance and effects of this strategy. Methods For four specific jobs (doctors, nurses, construction workers, ambulance workers), job-specific WHS was developed and implemented in research and/or practice. The prevalence of signalled problems and workers' experiences with the WHS were researched, calculated and will be reported upon in detail. Result The WHS for hospital doctors was developed, feasibility was tested and the doctors were satisfied with the process, would participate again and had the impression the WHS could improve their future work ability. In nurses, two strategies of WHS were studied in an RCT and effects on work-functioning was tested: the WHS performed by occupational physicians was cost-effective on work-functioning compared to an e-WHS. In construction workers, a controlled study compared a job-specific WHS with the classic form and it was shown that workers more often undertook action or sought for specific after the job-specific WHS. The WHS for ambulance workers was implemented on a national level and high prevalence of job-specific health problems were found. Discussion The positive and negative experiences with job-specific WHS as preventive strategy will be shown.


Herein, we propose a facile method for the synthesis of functionalised mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) via the polymerisation of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) monomer with vinyl functional mesoporous silica nanoparticles (VMSN). The structural and functional properties of the materials are analysed using various characterisation techniques. Additionally, a transparent hydrophobic glass substrate is fabricated by dispersing a certain amount of the synthesised nanoparticles in ethyl acetate (EA) followed by spin-coating on a glass substrate and drying overnight at 80 °C. In summary, the functionalised mesoporous materials can be used for multiple applications such as the preparation of stable hydrophobic, transparent, and temperature-sensitive surfaces, as well as for the adsorption of Rhodamine B dye.


GHleukemia occurs at all ages ALTHOUGH leukemia occurs at all ages of life, chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL) is predominantly a disease of young adult life and early middle age1-3(Fig 1). The usual case of CGL is that of a 20- to 50-year-old patient who complains of fatigue, a mass in the left subcostal region, or a sensation of fullness after eating. The spleen and liver are large and may half-fill the abdominal cavity. Laboratory studies usually reveal a leukocyte count that is greater than 100,000 cells/cu mm, with a predominance of granulocytes, including immature forms, and increased numbers of basophils. The cytoplasm of mature granulocytes contains a low concentration of alkaline phosphatase.4,5Serum vitamin B12levels are increased,6and recently a chromosomal abnormality was described which may precede the clinical onset of leukemia.7-9Treatment with radiation or chemotherapy usually produces improvement which lasts for months or years.10Then the


We report a rare case of trilateral retinoblastoma with uniocular involvement and spinal metastases. Trilateral retinoblastoma is a syndrome consisting of bilateral (rarely unilateral) hereditary retinoblastoma in association with an intracranial neuroblastic tumour arising usually in the pineal region, infrequently at the suprasellar or parasellar region. It can arise from either hereditary or sporadic forms of retinoblastoma. This article reports a child with uniocular retinoblastoma in association with suprasellar tumour and spinal metastases.


Objectives: Patients' adherence to enteral administration of nutrients is influenced by their feeling during administration. The present study compared the taste of commercially prepared ice cream with that of enteral nutrient ice cream, using a sensory test. Additionally, the factors influencing the comprehensive evaluation of enteral nutrient ice cream and commercially prepared ice cream were identified.
Methods: A sensory test was performed by 30 pharmacists, on commercially prepared ice cream and enteral nutrient ice cream using the Semantic Differential Method. The factors related to comprehensive evaluation were extracted, and those influencing the comprehensive evaluation of ice cream were analyzed by Covariance structure analysis.
Results: No significant differences were observed in the comprehensive evaluation of enteral nutrient ice cream and commercially prepared ice cream (p = 0.08, 95% CI = −0.78 to 0.04). Covariance structure analysis identified five factors related to Easy-to-intake (i.e., Taste, Ease to ingest, Continuity, Peculiar flavor, and Familiarity), which strongly influenced Comprehensive evaluation (standardized estimated value: 0.88). In addition, four factors related to discomfort factor (i.e., Feeling of heaviness, Concentration of taste, Greasiness, and Milky smell) were found not to influence Comprehensive evaluation directly but were correlated with Ease-to-intake (standardized estimate: 0.64).
Conclusion: It is important for healthcare professionals to understand the factors involved in the comprehensive evaluation of enteral nutrients, and they should provide appropriate information about it.


Social innovation is an interdisciplinary area, where many professionals work collaboratively towards public good. In the last decade, design practitioners in the UK have shown increasing interest in social innovation projects and much of the existing literature on design for social innovation (DfSI) is influenced by studies that draw from these practices. Theory to support practice-based studies is yet to be fully developed. The research informing this paper regards DfSI as a discourse; the flow of knowledge, which determines individual and collective doing and formative action that shapes society, thus exercising power (J{uml}ager and Maier 2016). It focuses on the political agency of design in supporting social innovation process and is informed by concepts from Foucault (e.g. power, discourse). We present a methodology based on dispositive analysis (a particular approach within critical discourse studies) to aid the examination of DfSI's political nature. This methodology builds on J{uml}ager and Maier's (2016:113) three-part model of dispositive, and is useful to reveal any assumptions, contradictions, and limitations of what can be said and done within the DfSI discourse. The resulting awareness from this process enriches the design methodologies, and can support theoretical developments to underpin the practice. The paper explains how the dispositive model can be employed in the design field, and offers emerging insights from a select set of texts, as an example of the discursive approach. These texts are a heterogeneous selection from design literature that traces the influences of different local and temporal discursive contexts on the global DfSI discourse.


Empirical research investigating the effect of Federal Reserve policy on equity markets has produced mixed results. Practitioners and some academics assert that an expansive policy by the Federal Reserve will positively affect expected market returns while restrictive action will adversely affect market return, while others assert that Federal Reserve action is ineffective in influencing equity returns. In addition, other researchers have attempted to identify a relation between yield spreads and equity risk premiums. While these researchers typically have found a positive relation between yield spread and equity risk premiums, they have not addressed the changing temporal influence of yield spreads on equity returns, nor have they incorporated Fed policy or varying interest rate or monetary environments in their analysis. Likewise, research focusing on Fed policy has not incorporated yield spreads or the concurrent interest rate environment. The primary purpose of this research is to examine the combined effects of Fed policy, yield spreads, and concurrent level of interest rates on future equity returns. The authors find that (1) Fed policy continues to be relevant, but only when considered in conjunction with the yield, (2) the explanatory power of the yield curve is enhanced by the identification of Fed policy, (3) the influence of Fed policy and the yield spread changes over time and over varying economic and monetary environments, and (4) incorporating the concurrent level of interest rates into a relative yield spread increases the robustness of the relationship between Fed policy, yield spread, and future equity returns.


Background: Dupuytren's disease is a benign yet disabling, irreversible, progressive fibroproliferative condition affecting the palm and fingers, leading to flection contracture of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints.Objective: To evaluate results of selective fasciectomy to correct the deformity of MCP and PIP joints and observe the complications.Methods: This crosssectional study was done on 30 patients of Dupuytren's contracture treated by selective fasciectomy, between January 2015 and December 2018, in Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Selective fasciectomy was done under brachial plexus block, tourniquet control and loupe magnification. Brunner zigzag incision was used. Indications for surgery was MCP flection contracture more than 30⁰ and any degree of PIP flection contracture. Postoperatively hand was immobilised in extension of MCP and PIP joints for 2 weeks and then active and passive movements were encouraged and intermittent splinting for 10 weeks (only at night in last 6 weeks).Results: Among 30 patients, 24 (80%) patients were male, 6 (20%) were female; mean age was 62 years (56-74 years). 12 (40%) cases were bilateral, ring and little fingers involvement were seen in most cases (92%). Mean MCP correction was 53⁰ and mean PIP correction was 34⁰ (p<0.001). There were 3 digital nerve injuries peroperatively which were repaired/reconstructed and protective sensation regained in repaired nerve area at 1 year and 3 (10%) marginal skin loss postoperatively which healed secondarily. Superficial wound infection developed in 3 (10%) patients which healed on dressing and antibiotics. Complex regional pain syndrome developed in 2 (6.66%) patients which were mild and resolved on conservative management. 3 (10%) patients developed scar sequilae which were mild and resolved on conservative treatment. Radial digital artery injury was observed in 1 (3.33%); however, no ischaemic insult was observed postoperatively. 2 (6.66%) patients developed recurrence of the disease who were more than 70 years old; however, they declined further intervention.Conclusion: Selective fasciectomy is an easy and effective procedure with less complication to correct the deformities and improve the gripstrength significantly in Dupuytren's contracture patients.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 06 No. 01 January'22 Page: 41-46


Abstract Despite a significant period of strong economic and jobs growth nationally, there is well-established evidence in Australia that the proceeds of this growth have not been shared equally, either between places or between individuals. Empirically, it is well known that particular socioeconomic groups have a higher risk of unemployment and it has become equally well established that there are particular geographic patterns of labour market disadvantage that suggest that local geographic context is also important. What is not well understood are the ways in which phenomena at the geographic level are associated with individual-level characteristics and other social contexts in ways that negatively impact on a range of social outcomes, including unemployment. The present paper specifically addresses this issue by using a multi-scalar approach and using survey data from the Housing, Income and Labour Force Dynamics Australia (HILDA) survey and aggregate level census data to model unemployment risk. The paper argues that to better understand unemployment and to add to sound policy development, approaches that incorporate a variety of contexts, including the impact of local geographies, are important.


ABSTRACT DIPOVA, N and OKUDAN, E.S., 2011. Sea Caves, Flank Margin Caves and Tufa Caves Observed on Antalya Coastal Cliffs. In: Micallef, A. (ed.), MCRR3-2010 Conference Proceedings, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 61, pp. 382–386. Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, ISSN 0749-0208. The caves on Antalya cliffs are of three origin; sea caves, tufa caves and flank margin caves. Sea caves are formed due to wave action on weak parts of the rock. Because the rocks of the Antalya cliffs are heterogeneous and strength varies in a wide range, weak parts of the cliffs are susceptible to cave formation. Tufa caves occurred as blind holes behind tufa curtains which deposited on tufa cascade environment of deposition. The obvious distinguishing features of tufa caves are primary sedimentary structures instead of corrosion morphologies. The flank margin caves occurred due to mixing corrosion at sea and groundwater interface. In this study more attention has been paid on porosity development and related cave formation due to mixing corrosion. Mixing corrosion is a process in which mixed water dissolves calcium carbonate rock, where groundwater and sea water interfere. Cavities which occur in this process can join together and form big chambers. When rock load on this chambers exceeds rocks strength, the roof may collapse and fall into the chamber. This fallen block is also subject to further dissolution resulting in enlargement of the cave. Entrances of the caves on the cliffs are concentrated between present sea level and 5 m below this level. Similarly, on the sea level caves depth of the caves is around 5 m. Starting from a time of constant sea level in the past, and following sea level rise, mixing corrosion and flank margin cave development should have been continued.


There are few studies about different types of chocolate and their chemical characterization by Fourier transform (FT)-Raman spectroscopy and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). The aim of this study was to evaluate the lipid profile of different types of Brazilian chocolate through characterization by FT-Raman spectroscopy and identification and quantification of major fatty acids (FAs) by CZE to confirm FT-Raman spectrometry results. It was found that the main spectroscopic profile difference of the chocolate samples analyzed was related to the presence of saturated or unsaturated FAs. Well defined bands at approximately 1660, 1267, and 1274 cm(-1) corresponding to vibrational modes of unsaturated FAs (UnFAs) were found only in the spectra of samples with cocoa butter in their composition according to label specifications, mainly in dark chocolate samples. The FA identification and quantification by CZE found the presence of stearic (18:0) and palmitic (16:0) acids as the major saturated FAs in all chocolate samples. Dark chocolate samples showed the highest levels of oleic (cis-9 18:1) and linoleic (cis, cis -9,12 18:2) UnFAs monitored and the lowest levels of 14:0 in their chemical composition. Samples coded as 02 (with not only cocoa butter in their composition according to label) had the highest levels of 14:0 (FA not present in cocoa butter composition) corresponding to label information and inferring the presence of other fat sources, called cocoa butter substitutes, mainly for milk and white chocolate samples. This study suggests FT-Raman spectroscopy is a powerful technique that can be used to chemically characterize the chocolate lipid fraction, and CZE is a tool able to confirm Raman spectroscopy results and identify and quantify the major FAs in chocolate samples.


Polynomial cutting plane methods based on the logarithmic barrier function and on the volumetric center are surveyed. These algorithms construct a linear programing relaxation of the feasible region, find an appropriate approximate center of the region, and call a separation oracle at this approximate center to determine whether additional constraints should be added to the relaxation. Typically, these cutting plane methods can be developed so as to exhibit polynomial convergence. The volumetric cutting plane algorithm achieves the theoretical minimum number of calls to a separation oracle. Long-step versions of the algorithms for solving convex optimization problems are presented.


Prediction of professional success of an individual on the basis of measurement of his abilities often happens to be unsatisfactory, first of all, in the domain of social professions. «Resources» is the notion which integrates individual's own characteristics as well as states and conditions of environment including characteristics of other people which are potentially accessible for an individual. Abilities as «functional systems» and as a kind of subject's resources (exclusively subject's own characteristics or internal resources) manifest themselves most effectively in an artificial environment (diagnostics, training etc.). The notion «resources» is naturally connected with an activity which takes place in real environment and reflects an ecological approach towards success. Historically first paradigm which explains success by abilities, i.e. subject's characteristics, can have «subject's relations» etc. as a complimentary factors. It is demonstrated by representative empirical data that important determinants of judo players efficiency are the correspondence between psychophysiological characteristics of a coach and a sportsman (strength of excitation in the nervous system), the correspondence between the coach's and the sportsman's styles of fighting, the correspondence between the couch's tutorial concept (his attitudes towards different fighting styles and their efficiency, preferences for various methods of training and the like) with the sportsman's individuality. At the same time a wider and more positive effect is provided by «weak» coaches' styles of work. The pupils of «weak» coaches by typology are more effective in all age groups but fighters who are «weak» in terms of strength of their nervous system achieve success more often. Determinants of a successful career of civil servants are constituents of social microenvironment which reflect subject's social relations, such as authority and role of parents (especially father), friends, other men, immediate superiors, role of circumstances.


Several models of evolution from primary cancers to metastases have been proposed; but the most widely accepted is the clonal evolution model proposed for colorectal cancer in which tumors develop by a process of linear clonal evolution driven by the accumulation of somatic genetic alterations. Various other models of cancer progression and metastasis have been proposed, including parallel evolution and the same gene model. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of metastases from primary cancer in 22 patients diagnosed with high‐grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer. We established somatic genetic profiles based on the pattern of loss of heterozygosity, in several different regions of tumor tissue within the primary tumor and metastatic deposits from each case. Maximum parsimony tree analysis was used to examine the evolutionary relationship between the primary and metastatic samples for each patient. In addition, we investigated the extent of genetic heterogeneity within and between metastatic tumors compared with primary ovarian tumors. Our data suggest that most, if not all, metastases are clonally related to the primary tumors. However, the data oppose a single model of linear‐clonal evolution whereby a late stage clone within the primary tumor acquires additional genetic changes that enable metastatic progression. Instead, the data support a model in which primary ovarian cancers have a common clonal origin, but become polyclonal, with different clones at both early and late stages of genetic divergence acquiring the ability to progress to metastasis. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract New regulatory functions in plant development and environmental stress responses have recently emerged for a number of apocarotenoids produced by enzymatic or nonenzymatic oxidation of carotenoids. β-Cyclocitric acid (β-CCA) is one such compound derived from β-carotene, which triggers defense mechanisms leading to a marked enhancement of plant tolerance to drought stress. We show here that this response is associated with an inhibition of root growth affecting both root cell elongation and division. Remarkably, β-CCA selectively induced cell cycle inhibitors of the SIAMESE-RELATED (SMR) family, especially SMR5, in root tip cells. Overexpression of the SMR5 gene in Arabidopsis induced molecular and physiological changes that mimicked in large part the effects of β-CCA. In particular, the SMR5 overexpressors exhibited an inhibition of root development and a marked increase in drought tolerance which is not related to stomatal closure. SMR5 up-regulation induced changes in gene expression that strongly overlapped with the β-CCA–induced transcriptomic changes. Both β-CCA and SMR5 led to a down-regulation of many cell cycle activators (cyclins, cyclin-dependent kinases) and a concomitant up-regulation of genes related to water deprivation, cellular detoxification, and biosynthesis of lipid biopolymers such as suberin and lignin. This was correlated with an accumulation of suberin lipid polyesters in the roots and a decrease in nonstomatal leaf transpiration. Taken together, our results identify the β-CCA–inducible and drought-inducible SMR5 gene as a key component of a stress-signaling pathway that reorients root metabolism from growth to multiple defense mechanisms leading to drought tolerance.


A 70-year-old woman underwent Balloon-Occluded Retrograde Transvenous Obliteration (BRTO) for bleeding gastric varices, which was unsuccessful. Then, she underwent Percutaneous Transhepatic Obliteration (PTO) to block the main blood supply route. On the 5th postoperative day, the white blood cell and platelet counts suddenly fell markedly, and CT showed that the splenomegaly had worsened rapidly after PTO. Since blood flow to the gastric varices was still present, Partial Splenic Embolization (PSE) was performed in an attempt to reduce portal venous blood flow. However, rebleeding from the gastric varices occurred, and so embolization with Histoacryl was performed. Although portal hypertension after PTO is a relatively common event, we report this case because no case has been reported in which massive splenomegaly with leukocytopenia developed within a short period of time.


An intravenous antibiotic, administered just before skin incision, effectively reduces the prevalence of deep wound infection. The optimal antimicrobial agent has not been determined definitively; however, a short duration of prophylaxis is recommended. Institutional compliance strategies are cost-effective and improve the timing of antibiotic administration. Also, published antimicrobial restriction recommendations are warranted because of the concern of emerging antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Specifically, restriction of vancomycin in orthopaedic surgery should be targeted critically. Supplemental antibiotic administration includes additional intra-operative antibiotic dosing, use of antibiotic-irrigant solutions, and admixture of antibiotics into acrylic bone cement or bone graft. There are no established standards or clinical guidelines for these supplemental antibiotic applications. Post-operatively, antimicrobial agents frequently are overused for various clinical scenarios and this pattern of antibiotic usage is potentially detrimental. A prophylaxis strategy for prevention of early and late hematogenous infection requires consideration of host risk factors, wound environment variables, and sources of potential bacteremia. This strategy should include deliberation of the cost-effectiveness, efficacy, and complications associated with routine use of antibiotics. Advisory statements for elective procedures, which potentially may cause bacteremia, are being developed and additional research is required for this area of antimicrobial agent prophylaxis.


This volume contains a stimulating collection of analytical studies focusing on taxation in Mozambique. It tells a compelling story about tax systems in a low income economy increasingly integrated into the world trading system, but very much dependent on foreign trade taxes and international development assistance. Key issues covered include: •A better understanding of the historical background of tax reforms in a representative African economy (Mozambique) along with an assessment of taxation performance in a comparative perspective.•Insights into the practice and implications of tax policy, both from the perspective of the consumer and the firm level. •Discussion of the existing institutional set up in which tax policy and its enforcement operate and analyses of current tax practices. •Taxation themes at the border and at domestic level, which are typical for low-income economies, characterized by a high degree of reliance on foreign trade taxes. This volume is meant as a guide for developing country government officials and professional aid practitioners as well as academics, researchers and tax policy analysts working in the development field. It will also be of interest to students of development with a special interest in public finance issues in poor countries and how to improve policy-effectiveness, including tax policy, in a developing country setting.


ABSTRACT Approximately 12.4 kb of the genome of a mealybug-transmissible, North American isolate of Little cherry virus (LChV-3, previously designated LChV-LC5) has been cloned and sequenced. The sequenced portion of the genome contains 10 open reading frames (ORFs) and, based on sequence comparisons, encodes a putative RNA helicase (HEL), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (POL), two coat proteins (CPs), a homologue of HSP70, a 53K protein (p53) that is similar to an equivalent-size protein in other closteroviruses, and a 22K (p22) protein of unknown function. The genome also potentially encodes two small proteins (p5 and p6), one of which is similar to the small hydrophobic proteins of other closteroviruses. Phylogenetic analyses utilizing sequences of the HEL, POL, and HSP70 homologue suggest that LChV-3 is most similar to other mealybug-transmitted closteroviruses. Further comparisons between LChV-3 and a 4.7-kb region of the recently described Little cherry virus-2 (LChV-2) reveals 77% nucleotide sequence identity. Based on this low sequence identity, we propose that LChV-3 be considered a separate species, designated LChV-3. Unexpectedly, the LChV-3 CP duplicate ORF was found to lie upstream of the HSP70 ORF; therefore, the genome organization of LChV-3 is distinct from that of other closteroviruses. Polyclonal antiserum raised to bacterially expressed LChV-3 CP was useful for detection of LChV-diseased trees in the cherry-growing districts of British Columbia, Canada.


This article shows, firstly, one way in which discrimination in discourse, that is, discrimination performed through the use of language, can be studied with the help of a set of concepts: exclusion from discourse; negative other‐presentation; objectification; and proposals pointing towards unfavourable treatment. The concept of othering is also used. Secondly, an empirical study of the discursive treatment of people labelled 'mentally deficient' in interwar Sweden is presented. The parliamentary debate on a new sterilisation law, encyclopaedic entries and medical descriptions are focused. The results reveal that the group in question was blatantly discriminated against, by means of all of the forms of discursive discrimination mentioned, and was also othered. It is suggested that the set of concepts could be useful for comparative studies of discursive treatment of people categorised as 'mentally deficient' in other countries during the same period and for studies of possible contemporary discrimination.


We study the problem of estimating the coefficients in an elliptic partial differential equation using noisy measurements of a solution to the equation. Although the unknown coefficients may vary on many scales, we aim only at estimating their slowly varying parts, thus reducing the complexity of the inverse problem. However, ignoring the fine-scale fluctuations altogether introduces uncertainty in the estimates, even in the absence of measurement noise. We propose a strategy for quantifying the uncertainty due to the fine-scale fluctuations in the coefficients by modeling their effect on the solution of the forward problem using the central limit theorem. When this is possible, the Bayesian estimation of the coefficients reduces to a weighted least-squares problem with a covariance matrix whose rank is low regardless of the number of measurements and does not depend on the details of the coefficient fluctuations.


The ROER4D project endeavours to cover at least three regions in the
Global South, namely, South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South and
South East Asia. However, background information on OER projects,
policies and research and information on infrastructural, legal,
socio-cultural and/or economic factors that might influence the adoption
 of OER in post-secondary education in these regions is incomplete
despite the work of current projects. The project will provide
background information on infrastructural, legal, socio-cultural and/or
economic factors that might influence the adoption of OER in
post-secondary education for the researchers involved in the ROER4D
sub-projects and the final ROER4D meta-analysis. This desktop review
aims to provide an overview of OER projects, policies and research in
Colombia as of the period 2013-2014.


To assist educators in detecting the occurrence, understanding the dynamics, and effectively facilitating a difficult dialogue on race, we conducted a qualitative study to systematically examine the perceptions, interpretations, and reactions of 14 White trainees in counseling psychology graduate classes. In our focus groups, we identified 3 major domains: (a) global perspectives associated with race and racial dialogue, (b) specific reactions to racial disclosures, and (c) classroom strategies or conditions that proved helpful and unhelpful in facilitating dialogues. Participants appeared to have difficulty understanding how and why difficult dialogues on race occur. In addition, preexisting attitudes/beliefs/feelings seemed to serve as major barriers to discussing race honestly and openly. They reported powerful feelings of anxiety, helplessness, and fear of being misunderstood that evoked defensive maneuvers to avoid race topics. Implications for education and training are discussed.


There are not many exhaustive works emphasizing the amount of genetic diversity among the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) genotypes in Morocco. This work aims to assess the biochemical composition of strawberry tree fruits, as well as to establish the variation of this composition among them. In this study, total phenols (TP), total flavonoids (TF), condensed tannins (CT) and hydrolyzable tannins (HT), total anthocyanins (TA), and free radical scavenging activity through ABTS were investigated in strawberry tree fruits. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative analyses of individual phenolic compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were carried out. Color parameters such as lightness (L*), Chroma (c*), and hue angle (h°) were also investigated. All studied variables showed highly significant differences among all samples with the exception of hydrolyzable tannins and chromatic coordinates. TP varied from 22.63 ± 1.74 to 39.06 ± 2.44 mg GAE/g DW, TF varied from 3.30 ± 0.60 to 8.62 ± 1.10 mg RE/g DW, and TA ranged between 0.12 ± 0.06 and 0.66 ± 0.15 mg cya-3-glu/100 g DW. In addition, CT and HT amounts were in the range of 10.41 ± 1.07–16.08 ± 1.50 mg TAE/g DW and 4.08 ± 2.43–6.34 ± 3.47 TAE/g DW, respectively. Moreover, the IC50 value (ABTS) ranged between 1.75 and 19.58 mg AAE/g DW. 17 phenolic compounds were detected in strawberry tree fruits. Gallocatechol and catechin were the most abundant phenolic compounds. Matrix of correlations revealed significant positive and negative correlations among variables particularly c*, a*, and b*. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the first three components formed than 68% of the total inertia. The following variables gallic acid, protocatechuic, gallocatechin, gallic acid derivative, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, ellagic acid derivative II, L*, and h* were the most involved in the total variance explained. Hierarchical clustering classified samples into one main cluster, with a single branch. The results highlight a high biochemical diversity within studied strawberry genotypes, which is probably more genetically related.


: Covid-19, which emerged in China in December 2019 and spread to the whole world in a short time, has been a serious public health problem threatening humanity. In this study, we aimed to reveal demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological features of patients diagnosed with Covid-19. The study is a retrospective cross-sectional study consisting of patients who were hospitalized in health institutions in Bolu, Turkey between 11.03.2020 and 19.04.2020 with a definitive or probable diagnosis of Covid-19. The number of patients in the study was 262. The mean age of the patients participating in the study was 57.39 ± 19.85, the youngest patient was 19 and the oldest was 94 years old. Of the patients, 40.1% was between the ages of 18-50, 59.9% were over 50 years old. 55.3% of the patients were women and 44.7% were men. Most common symptoms were fever (75.6%), cough (71.8%) and dyspnea (46.9%). Elevated CRP (in 71.3%), elevated LDH (in 56.9%), elevated D-DIMER (in 56.4%) and lymphopenia (in 30.5) were most detected laboratory abnormalities. The result of the real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was positive in 35.5% of 262 patients. 88.5% of the patients had chest CT findings compatible with Covid-19. Additionally, 24% had both positive RT-PCR results and CT findings compatible with Covid-19. Expected findings were found to be in older patients more than younger ones. We suggest that clinical features, laboratory abnormalities and radiological findings can be used to provide an early diagnosis and treatment of Covid-19.


– The composition of mixed-species flocks was studied in four sites within northwestern Ecuadorean cloud forest between November 2006 and October 2008. A total of 112 species and 878 individuals were recorded participating in 53 mixed-species flocks. Mean numbers of individuals and species per flock were 16.6 (± 10.1) and 10.3 (± 4.8) respectively and flock size and species diversity were correlated. Thraupidae was the most frequent and abundant family within flocks as well as the most diverse. Fourteen species were recorded regularly participating in flocks and the Blue-winged Mountain tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus) and the Hooded Mountain-Tanager (Buthraupis montana) were regarded as nuclear species. Individuals foraging in different vertical strata were recorded in the same flock. Some patterns such as the relationship between number of individuals and species seemed to be consistent with previous studies whereas other factors such as species composition exhibited differences. Accepted


In public discourse, meaning is constantly renegotiated. Frames and other semantic structures are co-constructed in the public debate based on the contributions of many discourse participants. Over time, they incorporate new information and interpretations. As a result, time-dependent changes occur both on the level of manifest contributions and on the level of latent structures organizing discourse into meaningful frames. This article introduces a technique capable of analyzing the changing patterns of meaning in a genuinely dynamic fashion. It applies Evolutionary Factor Analysis (EFA), a recently developed technique for treating high-dimensional data with time-changing latent structure. Using EFA, we uncover evolving patterns on different levels of abstraction within our data, which represent discourse as a detailed semantic network. We investigate specific dynamics expected within dynamic discourse (e.g., emergence, evolution, consolidation, crisis) and analyze the time-changing structure and content of meaning. The methodological innovation presented in this paper allows a detailed analysis of micro-level changes organized by latent higher-level structures: It can be transferred to a variety of social phenomena organized by structures that evolve over time (e.g., public opinion, social interaction). Rendering their dynamic behavior accessible to statistical analysis, it offers new theoretical insights into their mechanics and underlying structure.


An experiment examined how visual scene and platform motion variations affected a pilot's ability to perform altitude changes. Pilots controlled a helicopter model in the vertical axis and moved between two points 32-ft apart in a specified time. Four factors were varied: visual-scene spatial frequency, visual-scene background, motion-filter gain, and motion-filter natural frequency. Drawing alternating black and white stripes of varying widths between the two extreme altitude points varied visual-scene spatial frequency. The visual-scene background varied by either drawing the stripes to fill the entire field of view or by placing the stripes on a narrow pole with a natural sky and ground plane behind the pole. Both the motion-filter gain and natural frequency were varied in the motion platform command software. Five pilots evaluated all combinations of the visual and motion variations. The results showed that only the motion-filter natural frequency and visual-scene background affected pilot performance and their subjective ratings. No significant effects of spatial frequency or motion system gain were found for the values examined in this tracking task. A previous motion fidelity criterion was found to still be a reasonable predictor of motion fidelity.


Academic institutions as community members, creators of knowledge, and educators of current and future citizens and practitioners have the potential to play a significant role in establishing sustainable environments. This article examines the role of community as the learning context for colleges and universities and as co-creators for complex change processes. Collaborative educational models are presented that link environmental sustainability to community engagement and the enhancement of social and economic justice. Through interdisciplinary, community-based education students gain an awareness of and learn to make an investment in sustainable communities. As teams of students work in the local community, they are meaningfully involved with the community, each other, and the environment. Examples of collaborations designed to engage in interactive learning and development are outlined. Research from the areas of social work, environmental science, social justice, and social entrepreneurship are used to support this curricular approach.


Background Evidence-base practice needs to be supported by guidelines and decision-making protocols. This study aimed to look into the barriers and facilitators of adherence to national protocols in Ethiopia. Methods Exploratory qualitative method was implemented to explore adherence to protocol. The national COVID-19 case management guideline was used as this study's prototype reference. A total of five FGDS were conducted among 26 healthcare providers. A total of 14 physicians and 12 nurses participated in the FGDs. Semi-structured focus group discussions guides were used to facilitate the discussion among healthcare workers involved in COVID-19 case management. The FGDs were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed thematically. Results Three broad themes have emerged from the content analysis. These include individual factors, environmental factors and system factors. System factors barriers to utilization include unclear guidelines, discordant guidelines and a lack of live national guidelines, while the main facilitator was supportive management. The environmental factors that were barriers to adherence included limited infrastructure and shortages of drugs suggested in the protocols. Conclusion Outdated and discordant guidelines and a shortage of suggested managements were barriers. Future similar works should consider the identified barriers and need regular updates to facilitate effective implementation.


Through an evolutionary process of plate tectonics, the Wenlockian physical world was composed of an oceanic northern hemisphere and a mainly continental southern hemisphere dominated by the giant continent of Gondwana. The high-latitude position of Gondwana placed much of its extensive margin in the middle latitudes. Laurentia and Baltica occupied an equatorial position; Siberia and Kazakh were to the north. The global paleoclimate was created and driven by the diverse paleogeography of the two hemispheres. In the model, the northern hemisphere is dominated by strong zonality in all seasons. In contrast, the continental southern hemisphere reacts to wide temperature ranges of summer heating and winter cooling of Gondwana. The extensively flooded, ∼28000 km margin of Gondwana occupied the zone of the southern hemisphere westerlies. These westerlies produced intense surface upwelling and, by extension of present analogies, high primary biologic productivity. Gondwana's northern margin extended far enough toward the equator that significant winter sea ice did not form in the southern hemisphere: this allowed a vertically stratified sea to develop, as well as probable dysaerobic and anoxic conditions. A high organic flux of marine plankton accumulated on the sea floor, where it was subsequently buried and preserved. A strong positive correlation exists between upwelling generated by a general circulation model (GCM) on Gondwana's northern margin and the distribution of southern hemisphere basins with source rocks containing types I and II kerogens.


OBJECTIVE
To compare magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), conventional radiography, and ultrasonography in identifying bone erosions in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and to determine the validity and reliability of an MRI scale in detecting and grading joint damage.

METHODS
In 26 JIA patients, the clinically more affected wrist was studied with MRI, radiography, and ultrasonography, coupled with standard clinical assessment and biochemical analysis. MR images were assessed independently by 2 readers according to an apposite devised scoring system.

RESULTS
Of 26 patients, 25 (96.1%) had 1 or more erosions as detected by MRI, whereas conventional radiography and ultrasonography revealed erosions in 13 (50%) of 26 and 12 (50%) of 24 patients, respectively. The ability of MRI to detect erosive changes was significantly higher with respect to conventional radiography (P = 0.002 with Bonferroni correction [P(B)]) and ultrasonography (P(B) = 0.0002) in the group of patients with <3 years' disease duration. Ultrasonography and conventional radiography were of equivalent value for the detection of destructive changes. Wrist MRI score correlated highly with radiographic erosion score (r(s) = 0.82) and with wrist limited range of motion score (r(s) = 0.69). The interreader intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for MRI score was excellent (0.97); intrareader ICCs were good for both investigators (0.97 and 0.79).

CONCLUSION
MRI seems to be a powerful tool to detect early structural damage in JIA. The proposed MRI scale for bone erosions appears promising in terms of reliability and construct validity. The pathophysiologic meaning and the prognostic value of bone erosions revealed only by MRI remain to be established in longitudinal studies.


The present study compared the acute dose effects of the benzodiazepine triazolam and the anticholinergic scopolamine on metamemory (knowledge and awareness of one's own memory) in a two-phase paradigm designed to assess effects on both monitoring and control components of metamemory in both semantic (general knowledge) and episodic memory (cued-recall) tasks. Placebo and 2 doses each of triazolam (0.125, 0.25 mg/70 kg, oral) and scopolamine (0.25, 0.50 mg/70 kg, subcutaneous) were administered to 80 healthy volunteers (16 per group) in a double-blind, double-dummy, independent groups design. Both triazolam and scopolamine impaired episodic memory (quantity and accuracy) but not semantic memory. Results suggested that both drugs impaired monitoring as reflected in absolute accuracy measures (impaired calibration in the direction of overconfidence) and control sensitivity (the relationship between confidence and behavior). Overall, the results did not provide evidence for differences between triazolam and scopolamine in memory or metamemory. In addition to the clinical relevance of the observed effects, this study adds to the accumulating body of cognitive psychopharmacological research illustrating the usefulness of drug-induced amnesia as a vehicle to explore memory and metamemory.


Postlarvae of tiger prawns, P. monodon , were fed with various protein levels of 0; 30; 40 and 50%, fish meal and rice bran were combined and pelletized for 16 wks. Prawns used had an average mean length of 1.2 mm and an average mean weight of 5.5 mg. Nitrite, ammonia, dissolved oxygen content, temperature and pH were monitored. After one month of feeding, growth increments of postlarvae fed with 30% protein diet were significantly different from those given 0; 40 and 50%. Survival rate of the group fed 40% protein was higher (81.7%) but was not significantly different from those fed 30% (68.0%). The highest feed efficiency was obtained from the 30% protein pellets (4.6). At the end of 16 weeks, growth increment of 40% protein level was significantly different from the 30% and 50% protein levels, but the survival rate was not signficantly different from the 30% protein level. Feed conversion for the 40% protein diet was 2.8.


effusion gradually receded to a minimum and was barely visible in 36 week. The mother delivered spontaneously after preterm labour in 39 week and the baby did not have any respiratory distress. A planned resection was cancelled after complete postpartal remission. Apical ventricular diverticula is part of the Cantrell syndrome and seems to arise from an abnormal fusion of the cardiac loop to the yolk sac in embryologic development. Congenital ventricular aneurysms are different entities, the etiology remains conjectural, intrauterine infection, trauma or ischemia are discussed. The outcome of congenital ventricular aneurysm in childhood is defined: 40% are asymptomatic. Complications do occur in 60%.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a multifaceted and recurrent immune disorder that occurs in the gastrointestinal tract. Betaine is a natural compound that exerts beneficial anti-inflammatory effects. However, the role of betaine in protecting IBD is still unclear. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of betaine in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. The results showed that betaine greatly increased the body weight and decreased the disease activity index score of DSS-treated mice. Furthermore, betaine effectively downregulated the protein levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα) and upregulated tight junction proteins (occludin and ZO-1) in the mice. Additionally, betaine exposure remarkably restricted the DSS-induced phosphorylation of IκB and NF-κB p65 in mice. Similarly, betaine pretreatment improved the inflammatory response and intestinal barrier of Caco-2 cells. Betaine altered the gut microbiota composition, markedly decreasing the relative abundance of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria and considerably increasing the relative abundance of Bacteroidota and Campylobacterota in DSS-induced mice. In conclusion, betaine could attenuate colitis via regulating the inflammatory response, enhancing the intestinal barrier, and altering gut microbiota and is conducive to developing new drugs for treating human diseases.


Abstract Most studies that examined effects of caudal autotomy on lizards focused on adults and largely neglected the potential for contrasting effects in newborns and juveniles. We examined the impact of tail autotomy on locomotor performance and growth in newborn Metallic Skinks, Niveoscincus metallicus. Two siblings were randomly selected from each of 12 litters, with one assigned to a control group (tail intact) and the other to an experimental group (tail removed). Removal of the tail at the base 24 h after birth resulted in a significant decrease in sprint speed 72 h after birth (approximately 50% reduction compared to speed within 24 h of birth). This impairment is substantially greater than that observed previously in adults of this species (35%). However, caudal autotomy at birth did not inhibit growth, measured as the increase in snout–vent length, during the first eight weeks of life. Despite maintaining growth rate, newborns were still able to regenerate at least one-third of their tail over the eight weeks of the study. We discuss how the absence of the tail, the presumed energetic cost of tail replacement, and the lack of caudal fat stores, may influence the ability of newborn N. metallicus to survive their first winter.


We performed a study with a 1:3 ratio of case patients (n = 11) to control patients (n = 33) to evaluate risk factors for postoperative endophthalmitis in a Thai tertiary care center. Multivariate analysis revealed that diabetes mellitus and surgeon A were associated risk factors. Preoperative diabetes mellitus control and the improvement of infection control practices led to the termination of the outbreak.


BACKGROUND
The effects of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) for IVF in terms of breast cancer risk remain controversial, despite the hormone-dependent nature of the latter.

METHODS
Eligible studies up to 15 February 2013 were identified and pooled effect estimates for relative risk (RR) were calculated separately for the investigations using the general population and those using infertile women, as a reference group. Fixed- or random-effects models were implemented and subgroup analyses were performed, as appropriate.

RESULTS
Eight cohort studies were synthesized, yielding a total cohort size of 1,554,332 women among whom 14,961 incident breast cancer cases occurred, encompassing 576 incident breast cancer cases among women exposed to IVF. No significant association between IVF and breast cancer was observed either in the group of studies treating the general population (RR = 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74-1.11) or infertile women (RR = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.88-1.18), as a reference group. Of note were the marginal associations, protective for pregnant and/or parous women after IVF (pooled effect estimate = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.73-1.01) and adverse for women <30 years at first IVF treatment (pooled effect estimate = 1.64, 95% CI: 0.96-2.80).

CONCLUSIONS
At present, COH for IVF does not seem to impart increased breast cancer risk. Longer follow-up periods, comparisons versus infertile women, subgroup analyses aiming to trace vulnerable subgroups, adjustment for various confounders and larger informative data sets are needed before conclusive statements for the safety of the procedure are reached.


The secondary cultures of chick embryo cells were suspended and transferred to homologous cell cultures. Cell adhesion and proliferation were studied in these superinoculated cultures. It was shown that added cells soon adhered to the underlying cell layer which results in a prompt increase in culture density followed by the activation of DNA synthesis and cell division. Stimulation of cell proliferation involved both cell subpopulations composing the superinoculated culture: cells seeded on the built-up cell layer and cells of the layer. The contact nature of added cell mitogenic action on overlaid cell proliferation was evidenced. The cell system described can be used to investigate the adhesive properties of the cell layer apical surface, the relationship between cell growth rate and culture density, and the contact stimulation of cell proliferation.


Herbal plants are found abundant in all parts of the world with various uses for its medicinal, pharmaceutical, and nutritional value as well as the ordinary spice in our culinary. Nature is a principal source of herbal medicines .The increasing use of herbal medicine around the globe requires new scientific approaches for their standardization. Evaluation of Physical and chemical parameters are the most common parameters for standardization. Now days, a number of method exists, but not satisfying everyone all over the globe. With the use of newer technique such as omics, (proteomics, metabonomics, transcriptomics etc.), we can easily have depth knowledge of pharmacodyanamics, pharmacokinetics and toxicological characterization of active constituent of an herbal plant. These techniques have made one standard approach for the standardization and modernization of herbal medicine. The modernization of herbal medicine is the need of hour to cater the global demand by means of patient compatibility. The omic  technique can also play an important role for the conservation of knowledge of ancient plant species. Moreover omic technique is an important tool for fingerprinting and quality control of herbal medicine. In this review, an emphasis has been made on different techniques of omics and their use in standardization and modernization of herbal plant. Key words: Metabomics, Omics, Prteomics, Standardization, Transcriptomics.


Cytoscape is the premiere platform for interactive analysis, integration and visualization of network data. While Cytoscape itself delivers much basic functionality, it relies on community-written apps to deliver specialized functions and analyses. To date, Cytoscape's CyREST feature has allowed researchers to write workflows that call basic Cytoscape functions, but provides no access to its high value app-based functions. With Cytoscape Automation, workflows can now call apps that have been upgraded to expose their functionality. This article collection is a resource to assist readers in quickly and economically leveraging such apps in reproducible workflows that scale independently to large data sets and production runs.


Autonomic dysfunction may contribute to the hemodynamic disturbances in cirrhosis. Tests of autonomic function were performed in 20 patients with cirrhosis and 20 healthy subjects. The patients with severe cirrhosis (Child's grade B or C) had significant reductions in the Valsalva ratio, the heart rate variation during both facial immersion in water and deep breathing, the pressor response to forearm isometric exercise, and the heart rate response to dynamic exercise. The cold pressor test and the heart rate response to lying down were unaffected. These results indicate impairment of both sympathetic and parasympathetic reflexes in severe cirrhosis which may contribute to the hemodynamic disturbances of cirrhosis. Further studies are required to define the site of these defects.


This paper deals with the likelihood ratio test (LRT) for testing hypotheses on the mixing measure in mixture models with or without structural parameter. The main result gives the asymptotic distribution of the LRT statistics under some conditions that are proved to be almost necessary. A detailed solution is given for two testing problems: the test of a single distribution against any mixture, with application to Gaussian, Poisson and binomial distributions; the test of the number of populations in a finite mixture with or without structural parameter.


The Memorandum of Understanding between the ministries of agriculture of Mexico and the Netherlands is aimed at strengthening cooperation in the field of research and development between the two countries. Within this framework CONPAPA, Sabritas, INIFAP and Wageningen University established contacts and set an agenda for sustainable potato production in Mexico that builds on experience in potato and other commodities in the Netherlands and other countries. During three meetings in Mexico in 2007 major sustainability issues were identified and means of addressing them were established as well as a working plan for 2008 and beyond. The three main issues to be addressed are 1) optimized use of the resources water and minerals, 2) improvement of the seed supply chain and 3) improved control of psyllids responsible for purple top. Pilots are planned to start in 2008 on these three themes. Moreover in 2008 a major national potato seminar is planned on sustainable production and organized within the framework of the United Nations International Year of the Potato (UN-IYP


This study investigated (1) the effects of salinity and temperature on the bacterial community composition of developing biofilms, and (2) the responses of marine invertebrate larvae (the polychaete Hydroides elegans and the barnacles Balanus amphitrite and B. trigonus) to these biofilms during settlement (i.e. attachment to a surface and metamorphosis into juveniles). Biofilms developed in a 3 × 3 array of salinity and temperature treatments resulted in different bacterial community compositions (revealed by DGGE and T-RFLP), bacterial densities and total biomasses. Larval settlement of B. amphitrite and B. trigonus was induced by biofilms developed at high temperatures (23 and 30°C), but was unaffected (B. amphitrite) or inhibited (B. trigonus) by those developed at a low temperature (16°C). The settlement response of these barnacles did not correlate with the biomass or the bacterial density of the biofilms, but did coincide with the marked differences in bacterial community composition between the biofilms developed at different temperatures. In contrast, larval settlement of H. elegans differed slightly among biofilms developed in different salinities, but not among those developed at different temperatures. This settlement response was moderately correlated with bacterial density but had no apparent relationship with bacterial community composition of the biofilms. Our results implied that the community composition and cell density of bacteria in biofilms, which can vary with local environmental conditions, may allow larvae of the 2 barnacles and H. elegans, respectively, to distinguish between habitats with different environmental conditions.


Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is one of independent dangerous factors for cardiovascular disease including heart failure. Recent studies demonstrated that left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) are early signs for development of heart failure. The objective of our study was to estimate the relation between OSA severity and LVDD and PTX-3. Methods: Sixty-six OSA patients and 25 healthy people who underwent polysomnography to diagnose OSA were enrolled. Ninety-one participants were divided into three groups as per apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), including mild (5 ≤ AHI < 15) and moderate-severe OSA (AHI ≥ 15) and control group (AHI < 5). Left ventricular diastolic function was evaluated by the ratio of early diastolic peak transmitral flow velocity (E)/peak early diastolic mitral annular velocity (Em) (E/Em) and maximal left atrial volume index (LAVI). Peripheral blood levels of PTX-3 were measured. Results: Our results showed that levels of PTX-3 increased significantly, and the ratio of E/Em and maximal LAVI increased obviously with the increase of OSA severity. There was a remarkable positive correlation between the E/ Em ratio, maximal LAVI and AHI. Levels of PTX-3 in serum were positively correlated with the E/Em ratio. Levels of PTX-3 were also positively related with maximal LAVI. Conclusion: OSA patients showed significant enhancement of PTX-3 levels and LVDD. Furthermore, both PTX-3 and LVDD were independently correlated with severity of OSA defined by AHI. Serum PTX-3 levels were positively correlated with LVDD in OSA patients.


The purpose of this article is to illustrate empirically how HR practices are configured to manage multidimensional knowledge assets. It contributes directly to the configurational approaches to HRM by identifying HRM systems that are used to manage various types of knowledge assets. First, we develop a framework from theory to categorise knowledge assets into human (industry and firm specific), social (entrepreneurial and co-operative) and organisational capital (mechanistic and organic). Within this framework, we draw on data gathered in the 12 professional services firms to understand how HR practices enable the management of each knowledge asset. We identify two configurations of HR practices (organisationally and professionally focused). These configurations do not exist in isolation but are used simultaneously by organisations via either a targeted (different practices in different parts of the organisation) or a temporally segregated way (different practices for the same group of employees over time).


Apology has been mostly studied from a pragmatics standpoint and as a frequent speech act, especially in Persian language. This paper, however, aims at a discourse analysis of apology, taking as its framework, the interdisciplinary approach introduced in Lakoff (2015). The data are collected form official apologies in the Iranian media between 20152018. The results show that firstly, without taking an interdisciplinary stance many interactional aspects of this speech act is neglected. This is because apology is one of the facesaving speech acts in the representation of which contextual and interpersonal factors, and the speaker's and addressee's perspective play an important role in the ways preferred by the speaker to apologize. Moreover the nature of public and political discourse multiplies the complexities and forces the speakers get the benefit of all linguistic and extralinguistic means at different levels to achieve their communicative goals. Secondly, the prototypical explicit apologies in public discourse are rare, so that most of the cases studied are instances of nonapology rather than apology. The reason behind this fact can be traced back to the nature of public and political discourses in which apology would bring about negative consequences for the apologizer. Also, one of the main presuppositions of this speech act is that the apologizer implicitly accepts the responsibility of the wrongdoing and her reluctance to apologize explicitly in public and political discourse is a conscious or unconscious attempt to avoid the negative consequences of shouldering the responsibilities in these formal settings. Accordingly, different representations of apology can be placed somewhere on a continuum with prototypical apology at one end and nonapology at the other one. This paves the way for considering apology as a radial category at the level of discourse and for adding a cognitive level of analysis to the framework at hand.


Precise reconstruction of the built environment is very useful for the management of the construction site. As far as the reconstruction of large-scale built environments is concerned, the reconstruction effect still needs to be further improved. Considering that most of the structures are piece-wise planar/linear in the built environment, this paper proposes a method for reconstructing the geometric structure of the scene that display its appearance precisely. This method focuses on reconstructing objects with plane and edge structures, such as buildings, to achieve the reproduction of their geometry. The paper introduces a new dense reconstruction algorithm, the patch based stereo matching algorithm to refine a sparse point cloud to produce a dense point cloud. This method further merges three-dimensional (3D) line into the dense point cloud to optimize the geometric line of the model. The experiment demonstrates that the improved method has a flawless reconstruction effect on the geometric primitives of buildings.