1. Assistant Professor, Department of English, National University of Modern Languages, Multan Campus, Punjab, Pakistan 2. Assistant Professor, Department of English, The Women University, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan 3. Lecturer, Department of English, The Women University, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan PAPER INFO ABSTRACT Received: January 17, 2021 Accepted: March 15, 2021 Online: March 30, 2021 Diaspora, in Postcolonial context, refers to the notion of 'dispersion' which entails the connotations of a center or a locus from which the dispersion occurs. It takes into account the homing desire, which is not the same as the desire for 'homeland'. Hybridity, in conflation with diaspora studies, refers to dismantling cultures from their totalizing specificities of cultural situations. This cultural decolonization leads towards an ambivalent space called the 'Third Space of Enunciation'. The present study deals with Mohsin Hamid's "Exit West" (2017) as it attempts to reveal how colonial subjects are positioned not only in relation to the Colonizer but also in relation to one another. Hence, the colonial identity is always in a state of flux and anxiety due to multi-locationality, as the home is a slippery space in the diasporic imagination. Moreover, the study deals with Hamid's engagement with the arbitrariness of borders, as borders are discursive narratives, which further leads towards deterritorialization as dislocation and displacement of meanings and identities. Hamid, in the "Exit West", significantly maintains the ambivalence of diaspora space where binaries of exclusion/inclusion, belonging/otherness, us/them are contested in a global context.


We describe briefly the Palomar-Quest (PQ) digital synoptic sky survey, including its parameters, data processing, status, and plans. Exploration of the time domain is now the central scientific and technological focus of the survey. To this end, we have developed a real-time pipeline for detection of transient sources.We describe some of the early results, and lessons learned which may be useful for other, similar projects, and time-domain astronomy in general. Finally, we discuss some issues and challenges posed by the real-time analysis and scientific exploitation of massive data streams from modern synoptic sky surveys.


Abstract Australian exports of meat account for about 46 per cent of the total Australian production of meat, and 19 per cent of total world exports of meat. About 52 and 33 per cent of Australian meat exports are sold on Asian and the American markets, respectively. However, Australia is highly restricted in its access to world meat markets by the impact of export subsidies and other trade barriers. The economic and political problems including rigid import controls are barriers to maintaining export sales on some of Australia's traditional Asian markets. The improvement in tariff barriers in Asia, the Americas and other emerging markets is expected to provide improved market access and opportunities for Australian meat. Higher processing and transportation costs beyond the farm gate also contribute to Australia's less competitiveness on world export markets. Australia should, therefore, implement appropriate measures to increase productivity, improve cost efficiency beyond the farm gate and undertake market research and promotion in order to be more competitive in the long run and to capture a sizeable market share from its major global competitors.


Background: Bone metastasis with advance cancer stage forms approximately 85% of all cases. Breast cancer patients frequently suffer from bone pain, functional impairment due to bone metastasis which impacts negatively on their quality of life. Subjects and Methods: A retrospective study of breast cancer patients who have bone metastasis at diagnosis or developing bone metastasis during 5 years from breast cancer diagnosis (2011-2016) and who received zometa 4 mg monthly in radiotherapy department was included and conducted in 2017. We reviewed 107 female with breast cancer diagnosed by bone scan and/or PET scan as cases of bone metastasis enrolled. Questionnaire was designed to document all variables besides, demographic data which contain (age, histopathology reading invasive ductal carcinoma, invasive lobular carcinoma or others, ER status, PR status, Her2neu status and lymph node status & stage, Onset of metastasis, Menopausal Status & finally No. of metastasis site). Results: We noticed that the highest percentage of patients diagnosed as bone metastasis were 45 years and more, and 86% of them were invasive ductal carcinoma; regarding hormonal status we noticed that ER, PR status was positive in 90.7% and 82.2% of cases respectively, Her2neu receptors were amplified in 26.2% of them, positive lymph nodes were seen positive in 80.4% of cases and 31.8% of them were shown (N3) stage; we noticed that the only risk factor of bone metastasis is PR+ significantly associated with lesions multiplicity (0.049). There is no significant association between ER, PR, Her2neu, lymph nodes and menopausal status and onset of bone metastasis, also age, ER, Her2neu, lymph nodes and menopausal status are not associated significantly with No. of metastatic lesions. Conclusion: PR+ is significantly associated with lesions multiplicity (0.049), which is considered as a risk factor of bone metastasis in our study.


To study the conformational requirements of epitopes from a conserved antigenic area (area II) of respiratory syncytial (RS) virus fusion (F) glycoprotein, peptides of increasing length containing amino acids essential for these epitopes were synthesized. The synthetic peptides were tested for binding to a panel of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for this area as well as to rabbit hyperimmune and human convalescent antisera. Antibody binding was dependent on peptide length; thus, a 61-residue peptide spanning amino acids 215 to 275 of the F1 subunit (peptide F215-275) reacted with more antibodies than a shorter (41-residue) peptide F235-275, and this one with more than the (21-residue) peptide F255-275. Most human convalescent sera contained antibodies that reacted with peptides F215-275 and F235-275 but failed to react with F255-275. The results of antibody binding could be related to the structure adopted by the peptides in solution, as determined by circular dichroism spectroscopy and susceptibility of peptides to trypsin digestion. Pretreatment of peptide F215-275 with SDS abolished reactivity with certain MAbs, supporting the notion that higher order structures were needed for antibody binding. High titre anti-peptide antisera were induced in rabbits inoculated with the peptides; however, these sera failed to react with the native F molecule. In mice, only the largest F215-275 peptide induced an anti-peptide response, but their sera reacted poorly with the native F protein and the animals were not protected against an RS virus challenge. These results illustrate the potential use of synthetic peptides in studies of the F protein physical and antigenic structures as well as the problems in designing synthetic RS virus vaccines.


OFDM has become an important issue within the optical field during the last two decades. For this reason, for a better understanding of the impact from transmitter and receiver, the full system (modulator and demodulator) has been implemented using Matlab. The different components of the transmitter and receiver have been coded in a modular way. Thus, the different parts of the transmitter are the sequence generator, the amplitude and phase modulator (BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM), the OFDM modulator and the optical up-converter. While the parts of the receiver are the optical down-converter, the OFDM demodulator, the amplitude and phase demodulator (BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM) and the estimator of sequences. Besides, there are two modules to analyse the system, one to measure the EVM and another one to calculate the BER using the Monte Carlo method. Finally, the channel can be noiseless of with AWGN. The analysed factors that influence the modulation and demodulation are the constellation calculation (mainly 16QAM and 64QAM), the ADC of the receiver (number of quantization bits) and the optical up and down conversion (the rate between the input electrical signal to the optical up-converter and Vπ). These parameters introduce an error that affects the performance of the full modulation and demodulation. The simulations has been done with a bit sequence with a length around 262.000 bits. The results were analysed from multiple simulations, studying individually the different parameters. To summarize, the ADC is the parameter that affects most the system introducing errors. For a BPSK and QPSK modulation, 4 quantization bits are enough to get a very good result. For a 16QAM, 5 quantization bits are required. Finally, for a 64QAM, 6 quantization bits are necessary. In addition, the optical conversion practically doesn't affect to the BPSK and QPSK modulation, but the introduced error is more relevant for the 16QAM and very important for the 64QAM. The constellation calculation also affect the system (in a slighter way) due to the limited number of bits, with a longer sequence this error can be mitigated.


Psychology students often feel anxious about learning statistics, which can impact their performance. However, little research has explored statistics confidence, which may be an important way to reduce the negative connotations of associating statistics with anxiety. We aimed to explore whether modifying an existing measure of statistics anxiety (the STARS scale) and reframing the questions so students rated their confidence instead, would be associated with competence, prior knowledge and experience. A total of 104 undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire comprising these measures. The factor structure of the STARS scale was predominantly maintained when wording was changed to measure confidence instead of anxiety. Confidence was related to experience and competence, but not knowledge. Two aspects of confidence (interpretation of statistics and exam confidence) plus initial experiences were significant predictors of competence. Confidence was a mediator of the relationship between experience and competence. These findings suggest statistics confidence can be measured in a similar way to anxiety, and highlight areas that could be addressed to increase competence. Future research is needed to explore the relationship between statistics anxiety and statistics confidence, as well as to determine their individual impact on performance in assessments.


This paper examines the impacts of Japan's free trade agreements (FTAs) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on the locational choice of Japanese firms' foreign direct investment (FDI). Japan's FTAs have comprehensive coverage, as they cover not only trade liberalization in the form of tariff elimination/reduction but also FDI liberalization and facilitation in the forms of granting foreign firms national treatment, non-application of performance requirements, etc. In light of the inclusion of provisions concerning FDI liberalization/facilitation in Japan's FTAs, the paper analyzes whether Japan's FTAs have expected positive impacts on Japanese firms' decision of the location of FDI by applying the conditional logit model. The paper also examines the impacts of BITs. The analysis finds that both FTAs and BITs have positive impacts on Japan's FDI.


Growing cancer incidence in reproductive age goes hand in hand with a rising survival rate of patients who underwent anticancer therapy. This trend points to the necessity of discussion regarding the fertility maintenance. The patient´s future with respect to his reproductive ability has to be addressed properly to achieve a complex approach to cancer management. The germinal epithelium of the testes is highly susceptible to deleterious effects of chemotherapy. After the administration of gonadotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, a patient can develop oligospermia, or even azoospermia. Similarly, radiation exposure can damage spermatogenesis, while higher doses lead to azoospermia. This review brings an overview of the methods of assisted reproduction, which are currently in use for fertility maintenance in oncological patients, but also in those with non-malignant indications. Also, novel, yet still experimental, methods are discussed, which represent promising technologies applicable to prepubertal oncological patients. We also discuss historical milestones in the development of assisted reproduction, summarize the options of semen analysis, and we present a practical guide through the process of sperm cryopreservation and subsequent in vivo or in vitro fertilisation. We deem that fertility maintenance should be an integral part of the health care in oncological patients in reproductive age (Tab. 1, Ref. 85). Keywords: assisted reproduction technique, sperm cryopreservation, testicular tissue cryopreservation, spermatogenesis, sperm quality in oncological patients.


TEM is one of the most powerful experimental tools for the study of nanometer-sized particles. In the present work, the finite size effect on both the stability of two-phase microstructure and the solid solubility has been examined by in situ TEM using particles in the Au-Ge system. The size effect on the two-phase microstructure is rather small when the size of particles is larger than approximately 10 nm in diameter. However, the effect becomes strong in particles smaller than about 10 nm in diameter and an amorphous structure appears instead of the crystalline two-phase microstructure. The solid solubility in each solid solution in nanometer-sized alloy particles with a two-phase microstructure gradually increased as the particle size decreased. The enhancement of solid solubility was large in gold solid solution as compared with the in germanium solid solution.


Estimating the state-of-charge of a lead-acid battery at remote seismic nodes is a key factor in managing the available power. Optimal management enables the continuous acquisition of seismic data of an area. This paper presents the management of lead-acid batteries at remote seismic nodes, using the Neural Network model's historical data to estimate the battery's state-of-charge. Powersim (PSIM) simulation tool was used to implement photovoltaic energy harvesting system with a buck mode converter and maximum power point tracking algorithm to acquire historical data. A backpropagation neural network technique for training the historical dataset of hourly points in 500 days on the Matlab platform is adopted, and a feedforward neural network is employed due to the irregularities of the input data. The neural network model's hidden layer contains the transfer function of the Tansig Function to produce the model output of state-of-charge estimations. Besides, this paper is based on the management of estimating the state-of-charge of the lead-acid battery near-realtime instead of relying on the vendor's lifecycle information. The simulated results show the simplicity and optimal estimations of state-of-charge of the lead-acid battery with RMSE of 0.023%.


With the proliferation of Twitter as a source of data through its API and with the use of natural language processing, sentiment analysis has become an insightful way of understanding trends of public opinion and various subject matter. Twitter is used by millions daily thus providing an appropriate supply of relevant data for opinion mining. Techniques that have been developed with natural language processing provide the tools to analyse this data in a meaningful way.

In this paper, I investigate the relationship between Twitter feed content and stock market movement with respect to a specified stock. The specific aim is to identify if the sentiment information deduced from the Twitter feeds has a correlation with the stock price changes over a specified period of time and whether this could be used to predict future shifts in prices by analyzing and study different trends. To achieve this, a quantitative model is constructed to index the polarity of the sentiment of the data retrieved from the Twitter feed using Twitter's API. A numeric figure rating is assigned to the data so that an assessment can be made on any potential correlation. It is a time-series analysis and the data is sourced daily over a period of five days with a sentiment rating computed each day. The Yahoo API will be used to source the trade data for the stock over this period of time. The share price of the specified stock over this period of five days is graphed against the time-series sentiment rating of the stock, and inferences will then be made on the results of this.


Objective: To assess volumetric brain changes in migraineurs from the general population compared with controls. Methods: Structural brain changes in migraineurs from the general population-based MRI Cerebral Abnormalities in Migraine, an Epidemiologic Risk Analysis (CAMERA)-2 observational cohort study were assessed by state-of-the-art voxel-based morphometry. T1-weighted MRIs of 84 migraineurs (52 with aura, 32 without aura) and 35 headache-free controls were evaluated. Regional volumes were compared voxelwise, corrected for age, sex, and total intracranial volume, with region-of-interest and whole-brain analyses. Results: In region-of-interest analyses, migraineurs showed decreased gray matter volume in the visual areas V3 and V5 of the right occipital cortex compared to controls (p < 0.05, familywise error correction). Post hoc analyses revealed that similar changes were present regardless of migraine aura status, disease activity (>1 year attack-free [inactive] vs ≥1 attack within the last year [active] and attack frequency [≤1 (low) vs ≥1 attack per month [high]). In exploratory whole-brain analyses (p < 0.001, uncorrected for multiple comparisons), we identified additional structural differences in migraineurs in other cortical and subcortical areas, including white matter tracts, that are particularly involved in visual processing. Conclusions: Migraineurs from the general population showed small volumetric brain changes, mainly in cortical areas involved in visual motion processing, compared to controls. The presence of morphologic changes regardless of the presence of migraine aura or disease activity suggests that migraines with and without aura share common pathophysiologic pathways and suggests that these changes are (partially) irreversible or might have been present throughout life.


Crystallization coupled with gravity removal of depleted interstitial melt has long been recognized as a mechanism of magma differentiation. Similarly, heat released by synplutonic basaltic magma intrusions has long been recognized as capable of driving convection in granite chambers. Direct evidence of these processes has seldom been described in granites. In the Tavares pluton, we mapped a number of melt extraction structures from pores of a crystal-liquid mush (an effectively solid magma where crystals form an interconnected skeleton) and a variety of flow structures such as (1) meter-scale tear- or mushroom-shaped blobs representing within-chamber diapirs; (2) meter-scale ellipsoids representing frozen thermal plumes of granite, driven by heat released from disrupted diorite intrusions; and (3) ladder dikes and snail structures representing cross sections of several superposed cylindrical magma channels (possibly feeders of diapirs and plume heads). A fundamental feature of the structures in the Tavares pluton is that they are well delineated by mafic schlieren developed at active channel margins. We postulate a new model for the origin of marginal schlieren, which combines shear flow sorting and melt escape from the flowing magma into an effectively solid surrounding mush. Extraction structures (representing melt extraction from mush pores into melt pockets) and schlieren (representing regions where melt escaped into surrounding mush pores) are both favored by magmas that form an interconnected solid framework at low crystal fractions (∼50%), because these mushes are ductile and permeable. Favorable magmas are those with a high wetting angle between melt and solid (∼60°) and a propitious crystal size and shape distribution. We propose a model of compositional and thermal convection that accounts for all described structures.


Students' attitude to learn chemistry is a complex construct. Developing positive attitudes towards learning chemistry in particular, is one of the key goals for teaching and learning sciences. In this work, we made an attempt to identify factors that could positively influence the attitudes towards learning chemistry of a sample of 103 students (boys and girls) of 10 th grade, from five randomly selected private secondary schools in Jerusalem. Based on existing theoretical frameworks, the assessment tool was developed and tested for validity and reliability. Necessary data were collected and analyzed by calculating the means, standard deviations, and simple percentages. The results, showed negative attitudes of students towards the subject were due to inadequate teachers' approach to the material, and poor non-formal instructional materials. Moreover, the study showed no attitude differences related to gender. Some useful recommendations were profound in designing new curricula to guide and improve students' attitudes towards the study of chemistry.


We have recently reported that the sublingual (s.l.) mucosa is an efficient site for inducing systemic and mucosal immune responses. In this study, the potential of s.l. immunization to induce remote Ab responses and CD8+ cytotoxic responses in the female genital tract was examined in mice by using a nonreplicating Ag, OVA, and cholera toxin (CT) as an adjuvant. Sublingual administration of OVA and CT induced Ag-specific IgA and IgG Abs in blood and in cervicovaginal secretions. These responses were associated with large numbers of IgA Ab-secreting cells (ASCs) in the genital mucosa. Genital ASC responses were similar in magnitude and isotype distribution after s.l., intranasal, or vaginal immunization and were superior to those seen after intragastric immunization. Genital, but not blood or spleen, IgA ASC responses were inhibited by treatment with anti-CCL28 Abs, suggesting that the chemokine CCL28 plays a major role in the migration of IgA ASC progenitors to the reproductive tract mucosa. Furthermore, s.l. immunization with OVA induced OVA-specific effector CD8+ cytolytic T cells in the genital mucosa, and these responses required coadministration of the CT adjuvant. Furthermore, s.l. administration of human papillomavirus virus-like particles with or without the CT adjuvant conferred protection against genital challenge with human papillomavirus pseudovirions. Taken together, these findings underscore the potential of s.l. immunization as an efficient vaccination strategy for inducing genital immune responses and should impact on the development of vaccines against sexually transmitted diseases.


In August 2020, the Trump Administration issued twin executive orders banning tech platforms TikTok and WeChat from the United States. These were not the first actions taken against Chinese tech platforms, but more than any others, the ban on TikTok sparked immediate outrage, confusion, and criticism. This Article offers a framework for thinking about national security restrictions on foreign tech platforms. A growing body of important scholarship connects tech platforms to "regulated industries," "infrastructure industries," and "public utilities" and draws on principles from them to show how the regulation of tech platforms is not only viable but also has significant precedents and pedigree. Firms in these sectors — banking, communications, transportation, and energy — have long been subject to distinct and comprehensive regulatory regimes because they raise political economy concerns that are unlike those of ordinary tradable goods and services.

In many of these sectors, there has also been a long and continuing history of legal restrictions on the foreign ownership, control, and influence of platforms — something that may be surprising, given the contours of the contemporary debate on tech platforms. "Tech neoliberals" object to placing any restrictions on foreign tech platforms because regulations would threaten the open internet. "National security technocrats" advocate for a case-by-case assessment of dangers, narrowly tailored mitigation measures, and audits to ensure compliance. Both of these dominant paradigms suffer from a variety of conceptual and practical problems, and neither take foreign tech platforms seriously as platforms, akin to platforms in other sectors.

This Article tells the history of restrictions on foreign platforms in traditional regulated industries, critiques the dominant paradigms in the debate over foreign tech platforms, and offers an alternative — platform democracy. The platform democracy approach recognizes that democratic control of platforms is important and legitimate, given their distinctive political economy. Taking lessons and strategies from the history of platform restrictions, it suggests focusing on sectors before specific firms and applying structural separations rather than complex formulae for preventing national security harms. The platform democracy approach would also require efforts at international interconnection and domestic public investments.


The electric field uniformity imposes a significant effect on the breakdown mechanisms of dielectric liquids. In general, breakdown is dominated by streamer initiation under uniform field, while it is dominated by streamer propagation under non-uniform field. This paper presents a study on identifying and quantifying the transition field factor boundary, represented by the field enhancement factor $f$, between the two dominating breakdown mechanisms. The methods for deducing the transition field factor boundary are introduced. The first method from our previous study was developed by measuring and processing both the streamer initiation and breakdown voltages. In this paper, a new method is developed by only processing the breakdown voltage data. Based on the breakdown results reproduced from the literature, the transition field factor boundaries are derived for the mineral oil under both positive and negative lightning impulses. It is found that the negative transition field factor boundary is lower than the positive one. A four-region model is proposed to describe the effect of impulse polarity on breakdown mechanisms of dielectric liquids and to interpret the transition of breakdown mechanisms with respect to the field uniformity.


Methylselenocysteine (MSC), an organic selenium compound has significant anticarcinogenic activity against mammary tumorigenesis. Previous experiments have demonstrated that MSC and inorganic selenite inhibit mammary cell (TM6 cell line) growth through different pathways. The present investigation demonstrated that MSC arrested cells in S phase during the TM6 cell cycle, which was followed by cells entering apoptosis at 48 h. Methylselenocysteine specifically affected the cdk2 kinase activity of the TM6 cells (54% reduction) at 16 h after release from growth arrest. The cdk4 kinase activity did not change during the cell cycle, confirming that cells had passed the G1 checkpoint and had entered S phase. The amount of cyclin E associated with cdk2 was increased by MSC by the 12 h time point, thereby facilitating entry of cells into S phase. Afterwards, cyclin E and cyclin A associated with cdk2 did not change for the remainder of the cell cycle. The data demonstrate that inhibition of mammary cell growth by MSC is mediated by alterations in progression of cells through S phase. The decrease in cdk2 kinase activity is coincident with prolonged arrest in S phase. One consequence of prolonged arrest may be apoptosis.


This paper reports findings from a qualitative study undertaken with twenty-two young carers across Northern Ireland aged between eight and eighteen. It focuses on their experiences as informal care-givers in households where at least one family member was living with an illness and/or disability. While much has been written about the quantifiable aspects of informal care including the number of hours spent caring and the physical nature of caring tasks, this approach has tended to subsume individual experiences within the category 'young carer' and fails to differentiate between sub-populations of children and young people whose caring relationships may be very disparate. Whilst there has been a tendency to focus on the vulnerability of young carers, explanations as to why some experience greater physical, emotional and psycho-social difficulties than others are underdeveloped. It has been suggested that differential outcomes may be attributable to a capacity for resilience, which can lessen vulnerability. The study examined the protective and risk factors, which might help to promote or challenge the resilience of young carers. It was found that knowledge of and response to both the nature and trajectory of illness or disability contributed to young carers' capacity for resilience.


Identifying the intramolecular motions of proteins and nucleic acids is a major challenge in macromolecular X-ray crystallography. While Bragg diffraction describes the average positional distribution of crystalline atoms, many different models can fit this distribution equally well. Diffuse X-ray scattering can reduce this degeneracy by directly reporting on correlated atomic displacements. Although recent technological advances are increasing the potential to accurately measure diffuse scattering, computational modeling and validation tools are still needed to quantify the agreement between experimental data and different parameterizations of crystalline disorder. A new tool, phenix.diffuse, addresses this need by employing Guinier's equation to calculate diffuse scattering from Protein Data Bank (PDB)-formatted structural ensembles. As an example case, phenix.diffuse is applied to Translation-Libration-Screw (TLS) refinement, which models rigid body displacement for segments of the macromolecule. To enable calculation of diffuse scattering from TLS refined structures, phenix.tls_models builds multi-model PDB files that sample the underlying T, L and S tensors. In the glycerophosphodiesterase GpdQ, alternative TLS group partitioning and different motional correlations between groups yield markedly dissimilar diffuse scattering maps with distinct implications for molecular mechanism and allostery. These methods demonstrate how X-ray diffuse scattering can extend macromolecular structural refinement, validation, and analysis. Synopsis A method of simulating X-ray diffuse scattering from multi-model PDB files is presented. Despite similar agreement with Bragg data, different Translation-Libration-Screw refinement strategies produce unique diffuse intensity patterns.


The concept, legal support, significance and procedure of forensic examination in the investigation of fraud committed with the use of bank payment cards are analyzed. The value of the technical and forensic expert research of bank payment cards is determined. The knowledge of objects of forensic examination of bank payment cards is noted. The article notes the importance of the examination of electronic signature in these cases. The order of appointment of forensic accounting examinations in the investigation of fraud committed with the use of bank payment cards is analyzed. The objects of expertise here are the primary documents and financial statements. The importance of the expert's conclusion as a source of evidence in the investigation of fraudulent use of bank payment cards is analyzed.

Key words: fraud, bank payment cards, document, forensic accounting expertise, software and technical expertise.


The decision to pay money for a product or service is often based on more than just the product or service itself. Consumers care deeply about the overall experience of the buying process: They respond to the marketing message, the advertising, the sales approach, the website, the interaction with company personnel, and more. When all these elements come together to form a seamless experience, the customer is left with a feeling of satisfaction that ultimately builds loyalty. Jim Joseph calls this ideal combination the "experience effect," and in this book he shows how any business can create one for its brand. Filled with practical advice and real-life examples, The Experience Effect shows readers how to: Understand their brand's target audience • Conduct more effective market research • Connect with customers on an emotional level • Establish appropriate and engaging customer touchpoints • Link digital and nondigital media • Perform a gap analysis of their brand's marketing • And more Whatever the business, whatever the size, The Experience Effect will help companies create a simple yet powerful brand experience that resonates purpose fully, consistently, and continuously with customers.


Although the aims of prwedication may be disputed, whether they be anxiolytk, amnesic, sedative or 'narcotic', or indeed whether premeditation is necessary at all, a large body of clinical opinion recognises a 'well-premedicated' patient The possibility of repeated anaesthesia really necessitates that the '&ectiveness' of premedication be recorded objectively. The following Scoring system has been elaborated over the years and has been found to be most useful: 0, no effect; I , subjective effect only; 2, subjective and objective effect but awake; 3, sleeping but responds to normal conversation; 4, not responsive to normal conversation.


This study discusses " FPI Roles in election of The DKI Jakarta Governor in 2017". FPI is an Islamic mass organization better known as amar maruf nahi munkar activities, but in its development FPI has turned into a political movement. This study uses civil society theory to analyze the position of the FPI. In searching for information, this study uses interview techniques, observation and documentation studies. Because this research is descriptive, the data analysis used is qualitative analysis with a pattern of data triangulation. From the results of this study it was found that, the shift in the role of the FPI from the social sphere of society to the political realm indicated by the establishment of the Sharia Jakarta High Council which was tasked with forming the Governor of Moslem Jakarta (GMJ) to carry out the convention for the Moslem Governor of Jakarta. FPI also supports Moslem governor and deputy governor candidates who compete in the DKI Jakarta regional election. This support directed to Anies Rasyid Baswedan and Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno as the DKI Jakarta Governor in 2017. To achieve this, FPI carries out a strategy of communicating with supporting parties and socializing the importance of choosing Moslem leaders and forbidding non-Moslem leaders by making Tabligh and traveling lectures in 44 sub-districts throughout the DKI Jakarta area. In addition, FPI also organizes seminars, FGDs and disseminates information through social media. Disseminate the contents and meaning of the letter Al-Maidah verse 51. In the second round, FPI conducted a socialization of the letter of Al-Maidah, formed the movement of the morning prayer, held a grand prayer in the Thousand Islands and encouraged voters to elect Moslem governors and secure polling stations. FPI also invited all to attend the guarding with a movement called Al-Maidah Sightseeing.


The COMPASS collaboration has collected the currently largest data set on diffractively produced π-π-π+ final states using a negative pion beam of 190  GeV/c momentum impinging on a stationary proton target. This data set allows for a systematic partial-wave analysis in 100 bins of three-pion mass, 0.5<m3π<2.5  GeV/c2, and in 11 bins of the reduced four-momentum transfer squared, 0.1<t′<1.0  (GeV/c)2. This two-dimensional analysis offers sensitivity to genuine one-step resonance production, i.e. the production of a state followed by its decay, as well as to more complex dynamical effects in nonresonant 3π production. In this paper, we present detailed studies on selected 3π partial waves with JPC=0-+, 1++, 2-+, 2++, and 4++. In these waves, we observe the well-known ground-state mesons as well as a new narrow axial-vector meson a1(1420) decaying into f0(980)π. In addition, we present the results of a novel method to extract the amplitude of the π-π+ subsystem with IGJPC=0+0++ in various partial waves from the π-π-π+ data. Evidence is found for correlation of the f0(980) and f0(1500) appearing as intermediate π-π+ isobars in the decay of the known π(1800) and π2(1880).


Abstract The 1972 tropical cyclone season in the eastern North Pacific Ocean is discussed and compared with past hurricane seasons. Pictures from the Advanced Technology Satellite series (ATS 1 and 3) show five storms or developing storms at, one time. Storm tracks and a brief discussion of each storm are included.


This article presents a comprehensive review of the topic of placebos, with a special focus on placebo analgesia. It includes a discussion of how placebos work (the placebo effect) and how patients react to them (the placebo response). A literature search was performed to identify relevant literature and publications related to the topic, and a qualitative assessment of papers was undertaken based on accepted rules for scientific evidence. The major finding from this review was that concepts about placebo effects and responses have changed dramatically over the years, especially in more recent years. This has occurred primarily as a result of more sophisticated experimental protocols using placebos in clinical studies of patients in pain, as well as various studies involving normal subjects. Our understanding of the biological and psychological mechanisms underlying placebo effects has expanded significantly due to recent developments in the technology of brain imaging. Based on findings from brain-imaging analyses, we now know that placebo analgesia is definitely a real (i.e., biologically measurable) phenomenon. It can be pharmacologically blocked and behaviorally enhanced, and these responses have been demonstrated to be similar to those elicited by administration of "real" analgesic substances. Psychological mechanisms involved in placebo analgesia include expectancy, meaning response, and classical conditioning. This article concludes with an emphasis on understanding therapeutic responses to various treatments for temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Acupuncture and splint therapy can be good examples of powerful placebos in the field of TMD, and both of these are discussed in detail. Present knowledge suggests that every treatment for pain contains a placebo component, which sometimes is as powerful as the so-called "active" counterpart. While the deceptive use of placebos must be considered unethical, every health provider who is treating pain patients must be aware of this important phenomenon in order to harness its huge potential.


There are several types of firing tests of cannonballs. In ground firing tests, cannonballs without gunpowder charged are fired against sand heap. When a cannonball collides into sand, the cannonball's penetration depth, stress and sand temperature depend on the sand properties. Sand tends to become harder than before after plenty of cannonball firing. This is because kinetic energy of a cannonball is dissipated due to friction. Thus, analysis of temperature in sand is important. In this study, a method of sand temperature analysis is suggested.It is found that temperature rises by about 150°C, and the temperature risein sand depends highly on sand density. The results obtained in this study can be used in management of impact test sites. IndexTermsPenetration, Sand, Cannonball, Temperature.


Named entity recognition (NER) is a widely studied task in natural language processing. Recently, a growing number of studies have focused on the nested NER. The span-based methods, considering the entity recognition as a span classification task, can deal with nested entities naturally. But they suffer from the huge search space and the lack of interactions between entities. To address these issues, we propose a novel sequence-to-set neural network for nested NER. Instead of specifying candidate spans in advance, we provide a fixed set of learnable vectors to learn the patterns of the valuable spans. We utilize a non-autoregressive decoder to predict the final set of entities in one pass, in which we are able to capture dependencies between entities. Compared with the sequence-to-sequence method, our model is more suitable for such unordered recognition task as it is insensitive to the label order. In addition, we utilize the loss function based on bipartite matching to compute the overall training loss. Experimental results show that our proposed model achieves state-of-the-art on three nested NER corpora: ACE 2004, ACE 2005 and KBP 2017. The code is available at https://github.com/zqtan1024/sequence-to-set.


Immunometabolism and regulation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) control the immune effector phenotype of differentiated macrophages. Mitochondrial function requires dynamic fission and fusion, but whether effector function is coupled to altered dynamics during bacterial responses is unknown. We show that macrophage mitochondria undergo fission after 12 h of progressive ingestion of live Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococci), without evidence of Drp-1 phosphorylation at S616. Fission is associated with progressive reduction in oxidative phosphorylation but increased mROS generation. Fission is enhanced by mROS production, PI3Kγ signaling and by cathepsin B, but is independent of inflammasome activation or IL-1β generation. Inhibition of fission reduces bacterial killing. Fission is associated with Parkin recruitment to mitochondria, but not mitophagy. Fission occurs upstream of apoptosis induction and independently of caspase activation. During macrophage innate responses to bacteria mitochondria shift from oxidative phosphorylation and ATP generation to mROS production for microbicidal responses by undergoing fission.Changes in metabolism regulate function in immune cells, including macrophages which are key cells in pathogen clearance. Mitochondria are cellular organelles that generate energy during metabolism but also mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) that contribute to bacterial killing. Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that form complex networks with varying degrees of fragmentation or fusion, but the functional consequences of these processes on macrophage function during bacterial infection are unknown. We show that sustained ingestion of live bacteria triggers mitochondrial fragmentation, reducing metabolism but enhancing mROS generation. Mitochondrial fragmentation is not part of a clearance pathway for damaged mitochondria and is initiated before signs of cell death. Macrophage signalling pathways activated during infection, and mROS generation, enhance mitochondrial fragmentation, and inhibition of pathways promoting fragmentation reduces bacterial killing. Overall, these findings suggest that responses to ingested bacteria trigger mitochondrial fragmentation, allowing mitochondria to switch from energy generation during metabolism to organelles facilitating bacterial killing.


Abstract The role of empathy, the capacity to read someone else's emotions, in the legal context has previously been studied in relation to primarily judges' decision-making, often with a concern for objectivity. Our purpose is to study professional emotion management in the legal process through an analysis of Swedish prosecutors' use of empathy. An ethnographic data collection took place between 2012 and 2015, including shadowing, observations and interviews with 36 prosecutors from 3 prosecution offices. The analysis shows that during the investigation, empathy helps identify the prerequisites of a crime and deciding if and how to prosecute. When preparing for trial, empathy is used to anticipate the situation in court. During the trial, the empathic process includes management of the emotions of others in order to stage credible testimonies, convince the judge and calm victims. The empathic process is oriented and restricted by the emotive–cognitive judicial frame through which prosecutors are rewarded by emotions of comfort and pride in demonstrating expertise of legal coding. We conclude that empathy is integral to prosecutors' professional performance, including the requirement to be objective. The study points to the problems with silencing emotions and maintaining a positivist notion of objectivity in the legal system.


Developing engineers for a changing world presents a greater need for students to understand simulations. Understanding mathematical models and simulations are skills that all engineers need for industry and research, but many engineering students lack a conceptual understanding of how to develop them. This workshop facilitates conversations about the future of engineering education with an emphasis on the importance of mathematical modeling and simulations. The team will introduce pedagogy used in Purdue's First-Year Engineering Program that enables students to learn about mathematical modeling and simulation. The team will introduce model-eliciting activities (MEAs), which enable students to learn how to build mathematical models in an open-ended learning environment. The team will also introduce a well-developed design project that focuses on using mathematical models to build simulations. The team will also introduce nanoHUB.org, an online community that enables students to interact with expert-developed simulations and presents a platform for students to disseminate their own simulations in the future. We will facilitate conversations about how nanoHUB.org can be used in informal and formal learning environments. We will also discuss how nanoHUB.org presents a place for collaborative engineering education research. All of the materials from this workshop will also be incorporated on the Nano Education Research page on nanoHUB.org to further facilitate conversation after the conference. The context for all of the discussed content is connected to nanotechnology, which enables students from various STEM backgrounds to work together in a cross-disciplinary environment. Overall, our mini-workshop will compliment FIE objectives by looking forward to the future of STEM education through nanotechnology education and innovative, online learning environments.


In this paper, we present an algorithm for the coupling of magnetothermal and mechanical finite element models representing superconducting accelerator magnets. The mechanical models are used during the design of the mechanical structure as well as the optimization of the magnetic field quality under nominal conditions. The magnetothermal models allow for the analysis of transient phenomena occurring during quench initiation, propagation, and protection. Mechanical analysis of quenching magnets is of high importance considering the design of new protection systems and the study of new superconductor types. We use field/circuit coupling to determine temperature and electromagnetic force evolution during the magnet discharge. These quantities are provided as a load to existing mechanical models. The models are discretized with different meshes and, therefore, we employ a mesh-based interpolation method to exchange coupled quantities. The coupling algorithm is illustrated with a simulation of a mechanical response of a standalone high-field dipole magnet protected with Coupling-Loss Induced Quench Technology.


Non-human primates occasionally exhibit behaviours thought to occur only in captivity that are considered abnormal. In particular, hair-plucking behaviour occurs across many species of mammals and birds. This study was the first to assess the phenomenology, demography and aetiology of this behaviour in captive gorillas across the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) population. A survey was sent to 52 AZA institutions housing western lowland gorillas. Hair-plucking behaviour occurred in 15% of the surveyed population with 62% of institutions housing a hair plucker. Individuals were most likely to self-pluck using their fingers. Individuals that were exposed as youngsters to a hair-plucking group member were significantly more likely to develop the behaviour themselves. There was also a trend toward solitary individuals being more likely to perform this behaviour. Future research needs include identifying hormonal correlates to this behaviour, understanding its relationship to acute or chronic stressors, and examining what causes this behaviour to fluctuate in frequency once it has developed.


Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are widely distributed throughout the world's oceans, yet little has been documented about their stranding patterns. Knowledge of stranding patterns improves our ability to examine and sample carcasses and provides a foundation for understanding killer whale natural history, diet, reproduction, anthropogenic stressors, emerging diseases, and patterns of unusual mortality. We compiled published and unpublished killer whale stranding data to describe stranding patterns in the North Pacific Ocean. Between 1925 and 2011, 371 stranded killer whales were reported in Japan (20.4%), Russia (3.5%), Alaska (32.0%), British Columbia (27.4%), Washington (4.0%), Oregon (2.7%), California (5.1%), Mexico (3.8%), and Hawaii (0.8%). Strandings occurred at all times of year, but regionally specific seasonal differences were observed. Mortality and annual census data from Northern and Southern Resident populations were extrapolated to estimate that across the North Pacific, an average of 48 killer whales die annually. However, over the last two decades, an average of only 10 killer whale carcasses were recovered annually in this ocean, making each event a rare opportunity for study. Publication of a standardized killer whale necropsy protocol and dedicated funding facilitated the number of complete postmortem necropsies performed on stranded killer whales from 1.6% to 32.2% annually.


Lignin-related material found in wastewater from thermomechanical pulping resists conventional biological treatment, entailing the use of advanced removal methods. In this work, the use of adsorption for removing lignin-related material was investigated. Activated charcoal and fly ash were used to study the adsorption behavior of lignin and to determine the adsorption capacities of these two adsorbents. Experimental data were fitted to various isotherm equations to find the best description of the sorption systems, and the corresponding thermodynamic parameters were calculated. Fly ash exhibited good sorption properties, although its sorption capacity was inferior to that of activated charcoal. Both the Freundlich and Langmuir equations provided reasonable models of the sorption processes, and the thermodynamic parameters indicated that sorption onto activated charcoal is endothermic, whereas sorption onto fly ash appears to be exothermic. Fly ash is a low-cost material that is often available on-site and...


Intra-arterial injections of bradykinin into the hindlimb of the rabbit cause two types of cardiovascular reflex effects displayed in succession. The first-type effects appear early and are of inhibitory nature, being represented by systemic hypotension, contralateral hindlimb vasodilation and bradycardia; the second-type effects appear later and are excitatory in nature, consisting of hypertension, hindlimb vasoconstriction and tachycardia and occur closely associated with behavioral manifestations typical of the reaction to pain. Both the depressor and pressor effects are accompanied by hyperventilation. Analogous biphasic reflex responses may be caused by intraarterial injections of potassium ions. On the contrary, hypertonic solutions (NaCl, glucose) usually only produce second-type excitatory responses. No significant cardiocirculatory reflex effects are induced by even high doses of serotonin, nicotine, adenosine, adenosine triphosphate, adrenalin, noradrenalin, angiotensin, vasopressin and oxytocin. General anesthesia greatly inhibits the pressor reflexes and potentiates the depressor responses (to bradykinin and K ions) but does not appear to be a necessary condition for provoking depressor reflexes by chemical stimulation of somatic afferents. Both chemoreflex responses are prevented by sectioning the somatic nerves of the injected limb. Denervation of sinoaortic areas and of cardiopulmonary receptors by bilateral cervical vagotomy or complete removal of the skin from the injected limb does not prevent either type of chemoreflex response. These depressor and pressor chemoreflexes have been ascribed to activation of two functionally distinct types of sensory receptors in the skeletal muscle, differently sensitive to chemical substances and selectively concerned with different patterns of cardiocirculatory reflex response.


"Children of Divorce" features excerpts of stories collected from hundreds of young people. The narratives embrace such themes as despair, chaos in the family, and "missing" dads. The volume paints a picture of the pain, the hope, and the resiliency shown by young adults while in the throes of divorce and in the years to follow. These poignant narratives are framed by an analysis of the most recent divorce literature. The book clearly demonstrates the value of storytelling in helping people deal with major loss events in their lives. The authors' hope is that by examining these experiences, we will gain a greater understanding of the effects of divorce and ultimately strengthen relationships in the future. This book challenges the contention that most children will be irretrievably hurt by their parents' divorce. Presenting a mixture of young people's voices demonstrating the great variety of reactions to parental divorce, it shows the strength and resilience many of these young people have learned in surviving the pain surrounding divorce in their families. Emphasis is placed on how hope about the possibilities of having close relationships--as well as a willingness to try to have stronger families in their own adult lives--represent abiding motivations in this sample of young people. Providing an overarching theoretical emphasis on the value of storytelling for people dealing with major losses, the authors hope that this method of stressing the raw input of respondents will make the experiences more vivid and realistic to the reader.


Present sentencing law in criminal cases of financial reporting fraud is embarrassingly flawed. The problem is urgent given that courts are now regularly sentencing corporate offenders, sometimes (but sometimes not) to extremely punitive terms of imprisonment. Policing of fraud by multiple jurisdictions in a federal system means that principled sentencing law is necessary not only for first-order policy reasons but also for coordination of sanctioning efforts. Proportionality and rationality demand that sentencing law have an agreed scale for measuring cases of financial reporting fraud in relation to each other, a sound methodology for fixing a given case on that scale, and a reasoned calibration of that scale. Current federal law, which controls most such cases and is a focal point for non-federal cases and public debate, is close to sensible on the first score but far off the mark on the other two. In this contribution to a symposium on "Fraud and Federalism," I describe problems in present law and offer relatively uncontroversial reform measures that could substantially improve the law governing sentencing of financial reporting fraud.


SIR,-Two errors have crept into the last paragraph of your leading article (30 May, p 1735) "Yellow Fever-cause for concern?" Firstly, with reference to the lethal case in the Parisian area that you mentioned, the diagnosis of yellow fever was raised immediately after the paticnt's arrival in the hepatogastrocnterology department of our hospital.' The diagnosis was confirmed by the hepatic histology and serology. Secondly, contrary to what you suggest, it was from the two Parisian cases that the focus of Toubacouta was located. This has been achieved by my colleague Professor Christian Lafaix, head of the internal medicine and infectious and tropical diseases department in our hospital. D CATTAN


Despite the fact that digital technologies are more and more used in the learning and education process, there is still lack of professional evaluation tools capable of assessing the quality of used digital teaching aids in a comprehensive and objective manner. Construc- tion of the Comprehensive Evaluation of Electronic Learning Tools and Educational Software (CEELTES) tool was preceded by several surveys and knowledge obtained in the course of cre- ation of digital learning and teaching aids and implementation thereof in the teaching process. The evaluation tool as such consists of sets (catalogues) of criteria divided into four separately assessed areas - the area of technical, technological and user attributes; the area of criteria evaluating the content, operation, information structuring and processing; the area of criteria evaluating the information processing in terms of learning, recognition, and education needs; and, finally, the area of criteria evaluating the psychological and pedagogical aspects of a digital product. The specified areas are assessed independently, separately, by a specialist in the given science discipline. The final evaluation of the assessed digital product objectifies (quantifies) the overall rate of appropriateness of inclusion of a particular digital teaching aid in the teach- ing process.


The promotion of sensible sun protection behaviours is constrained by:
- The perception that skin cancer risk in the UK is low. The population is not sensitized to skin cancer as a major health risk in the same way as are Australasian populations
- The lack of central government support for and endorsement or funding of interventions
- Strong normative beliefs, particularly among young people about the social value of suntans and prevailing social norms regarding the attractiveness of suntans and acceptable behaviours modelled among peers
- A lack of integration of messages and behaviours among stakeholder groups (e.g. schools, where there is evidence that policies are inconsistent and, in some schools, children may actually be discouraged from bringing sunscreen to schools).

Additionally, recent media coverage hyping the benefits of Vitamin D as both a preventative and curative element (including cancers) will also impact on the way future interventions are received.

Insights that led to the recommendations that follow are:
- 'trigger' moments are very important – sun protection is not something that is of major concern / top of mind in the UK winter, so linking activities to moments when sun protection is high on people's agendas is important.
- there are two main tasks to be done: first, gaining a general awareness that too much sun is harmful, but understanding this on its own is unlikely to shift behaviour. Second, creating specific propositions that people will accept – these offerings leading to lower risk behaviours in an acceptable way.

In the short term, we recommend immediate implementation of:
- activities that can leverage off the existing SunSmart UK brand
- direct beach and other outdoor lifestyle face-to face-interventions
- highly targeted communications at parents, teachers, young adults and outdoor workers to continue the long term task of building sustained awareness of skin cancer risks and appropriate behaviours. Ideally, this would be best achieved nationally through high profile mass media such as television, however funding for this appears unlikely.

In the longer term, priority in developing and implementing interventions should be given to:
- obtaining government assistance in raising awareness of the link between unwise sun exposure and skin cancer in the UK, and in the South West region in particular
- ensuring integration of messages and actions among stakeholder groups and consistency with national, regional and local initiatives.
- gaining media buy-in and support in promoting sensible sun protection behaviour, clarifying the link between sun exposure and vitamin D (and claims made for the latter)
- addressing overall gaps in the population's knowledge and awareness of safe sun exposure practices
- focusing specifically tailored interventions on clearly identified segments, drawing on theoretical foundations and knowledge of the very different attitudes and beliefs held by each segment to develop appropriate messages
- raising awareness of the need for early detection and treatment, supported by appropriate infrastructure to facilitate screening and referrals to specialist services where appropriate
- utilising collaborative activity with appropriate organisations such as pharmacies, food retailers and sporting organisations to link with, and leverage off, their activity in this area and to ensur communication themes are consistent with 'best practice'
- setting benchmark measures ththe development of an on-going tracking prre intervention effectiveness and to enable intervee-tuned as necessary
imary research within each segment to deep insights and to enable programmes to be monitored over time.


Background Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have changed treatment strategies for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbouring mutations in EGFR gene. This retrospective analysis assessed efficacy and safety of TKIs in elderly compared to younger patients. Patients and methods 49 patients with advanced NSCLC and mutations in exon 19 or 21 receiving a first-line therapy with TKIs were included and divided into patients aged <70 years and patients aged ≥ 70 years. Primary endpoints were progression free survival (PFS), response rate (RR) and clinical benefit in terms of quality of life; secondary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Results Median PFS was significantly longer in elderly in comparison to younger patients (12.6 and 5.6 months, respectively; p=.008). RR was 64% in younger patients and 75% in elderly population. Eighteen out of 20(90%) elderly patients treated with gefitinib experienced symptoms relief and upgrading of performance status. No difference in terms of OS was found (p= .34). Conclusion TKIs seem more effective in elderly than in younger patients affected by NSCLC with an EGFR gene mutation. We hypothesize that the main difference between the two populations is the number of medications related to concomitant comorbidities that cause an increased plasma level of TKIs.


Samples of Lower Devonian vertebrate-bearing placoderm sandstones collected in a quarry at Podlazie Hill in the Holy Cross Mountains, central Poland, were found to contain numerous white and brownish aggregates of an unknown composition. Powder X-Ray Diffraction study has shown them to comprise plumbogummite group minerals (PGM). Gorceixite is most common, usually forming compact/porous aggregates. They are either found in voids within the quartz-rich zircon-, muscovite- and biotite-bearing matrix, or as a complete replacement after bone remnants. Goyazite aggregates are similar but rarer. Strontian crandallite is found as tiny zoned crystals closely associated with compact gorceixite (in the sandstone matrix) or as cores of fine-grained gorceixite aggregates (within the bones). All of the PGMs are enriched in Ce and La with two analyses marginally within the compositional field of florencite-(Ce). Ca enrichment, elevated F content and abundance of goyazite within the bone replacement suggest the primary bone apatite group as the source of these elements. Tuffites and claystones associated with the sandstones are probably the source of Ba and Sr, while Pb is possibly derived from local Devonian mineralisation.


[1] Short-period, small-scale gravity waves are frequently observed in nighttime airglow imaging experiments. These waves are often found to be ducted and may be confined to a thin region of altitude in the mesosphere or lower thermosphere. An apparent paradox of high-altitude ducted waves is the nature of the source; it is necessary that a ducted wave be excited in situ or have been able to tunnel into the duct from another atmospheric region. In this paper, analytical and numerical solutions are presented for simple thermally ducted gravity waves that are Doppler-shifted by constant background winds. Using a continuous analytical model, duct dispersion properties are calculated for three case studies. Using a fully nonlinear numerical model, several scenarios are explored by which a tropospheric source can excite these thermally ducted wave modes. First, we validate the analytical and numerical models for the classical case of linear wave tunneling. Second, we examine the nonlinear excitation of ducted waves due to resonant wave self-interactions associated with realistic propagation and small-scale wavebreaking, for propagation in the same direction as the wind flow. Third, we consider the case of ducted wave excitation and propagation opposite to the direction to wind flow. Specifically, where horizontal group and phase velocities exhibit opposite sign in the ground-relative frame. The results suggest that ducted waves of very short period can be excited in the lower thermosphere by tropospheric sources, via simple linear and nonlinear processes. These excitation mechanisms are likely to be robust for a range of realistic thermal and thermal-Doppler ducts.


Lithic fragments of precaldera basement rocks in the Plinian fallout deposit of the Bishop Tuff indicate that the eruption began in what is now the south-central part of Long Valley caldera, along or adjacent to the Hilton Creek fault. The earliest ash flows originated there as well, but contrasting lithic contents in several later ash flows indicate ring-fault propagation and incorporation of fragments of locally distinctive, caldera-margin lithologies into successive outflow sheets. The change from a single-vent Plinian mode of eruption to multiple vents along the ring fault took place after emplacement of as little as 20% of the total Bishop ejecta. Approximately two-thirds of the total eruptive volume was trapped within the subsiding caldera.


Since the discovery of mass independent fractionation of sulfur and oxygen isotopes (S- and O-MIF) on Earth, the study of sulfate isotopic composition opened a new and wide field of investigation on the evolution of the atmospheric composition and its consequences for the climate. Sulfate aerosols that have a negative forcing on the climate can therefore be studied via their isotopic composition and leads to better constraints on their formation, fate and sinks, which is essential for our understanding of the sulfur cycle on Earth.
In this study we focus on the interaction between anthropogenic and volcanic emissions that is necessary to figure out the climatic impact of volcanoes in large urban area. For the first time the O- composition of sulfate aerosols was monitored over the past 25 years in one of the world's largest megacities: Mexico City (MC). Sulfate aerosols from the megalopolis were sampled from 1989 to 2013 in different stations by high volume pumps and collected on glass filters. Additionally, fresh volcanic ash samples were collected during recent eruptions (from 1997 to 2013) of the Popocatepetl, which is only 70km from MC. After extraction and purification of sulfate from filters and volcanic ash, the isotopic composition is measured. The sulfate aerosols from MC show O-MIF composition with ∆17O of about 0.7% during the wet season and around 1.2% during the dry season and δ18O from-0.4% to17.5%.However, the volcanic sulfate aerosols from the Popocatepetl do not show O-MIF and δ18O vary from 7.0% to 12.2%
The dataset allows us to discuss the seasonal variations in the SO2 oxidation pathways that lead to sulfate aerosol formation in the troposphere above MC during the last 25 years. Furthermore, since 1997 we are able to trace and quantify the influence of volcanic sulfate aerosols on the megalopolis, which is important for the sulfur budget in the region.


Surface modification of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films was carried out via a novel photografting polymerization technique with acrylamide (AAm) as the monomer. The photografting polymerization can be achieved via one-step method and two-step method. The photografting polymerization reactivity of AAm was examined with benzophenone (BP) as the photoinitiator and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film as the substrate with "sandwich" assembly. Moreover, the occurrence and evolution of grafting polymerization of AAm on the substrate was demonstrated XPS analysis and SEM pictures.


Introduction: Burns are one of the leading causes of disability adjusted life years lost in low and middle income countries. The risk factors include gender, age, socio-economic conditions, occupational exposure, chronic disease, alcohol and smoking abuse, use of kerosene as fuel etc. Materials and Method: A descriptive observational study with cross sectional study design was conducted among burn patients admitted in burn units of IPGME&R, Sambhunath Pandit Hospital and M. R. Bangur Hospital of Kolkata during 2016. Result: It was seen that burn injuries were more prevalent in the age group "0-10" years (30%), females (60%), Hindus (78%) and people residing in rural areas (52.6%). More than 60% of the burn incidents had occurred either during morning or afternoon and the mostly in the kitchen (60.3%). Almost 95% of the cases were due to accidents. Bursting of kerosene stove (31%) emerged as the most prevalent cause of burn accidents. Anatomically Superior (65%) and inferior (67.9%) extremities were the most affected areas. The mean (±SD) TBSA affected by burn was 33.63 (13.43). On regression it was found that the total body surface area affected by burn was significantly associated with residence, marital status and socio-economic status of the study population. Conclusion: Health and safety education need to be dispersed among people. Low cost safer alternatives should be developed and LPG use should be encouraged.


Ant-lions are pit-building larvae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), which possess relatively large mandibles used for catching and consuming prey. Few studies involving terrestrial arthropod larva have investigated prey capture behavior and kinematics and no study has shown modulation of strike kinematics. We examined feeding kinematics of the ant-lion, Myrmeleon crudelis, using high-speed video to investigate whether larvae modulate strike behavior based on prey location relative to the mandible. Based on seven capture events from five M. crudelis, the strike took 17.60 ± 2.92 msec and was characterized by near-simultaneous contact of both mandibles with the prey. Modulation of the angular velocity of the mandibles based on prey location was clearly demonstrated. M. crudelis larvae attempted to simultaneously contact prey with both mandibles by increasing mean angular velocity of the far mandible (65 ± 21 rad sec(-1) ) compared with the near mandible (35 ± 14 rad sec(-1) ). Furthermore, kinematic results showed a significant difference for mean angular velocity between the two mandibles (P<0.005). Given the lengthy strike duration compared with other fast-striking arthropods, these data suggest that there is a tradeoff between the ability to modulate strike behavior for accurate simultaneous mandible contact and the overall velocity of the strike. The ability to modulate prey capture behavior may increase dietary breadth and capture success rate in these predatory larvae by allowing responsive adjustment to small-scale variations in prey size, presentation, and escape response.


This work was aimed at establishing a wobble friction coefficient (K) from records regarding some post-stressed bridges built in Colombia. Such records were arranged and analysed together with stress diagrams resulting from the corresponding plans, calculations and reports. Suitable records were produced from this review to make the analysis. Once the records had been selected, the probable wobble friction coefficient (K) was then calculated for each case and this coefficient was related to the length of the cable and the total area of the strands composing the cable. These records and their results were subsequently grouped according to the type of bridge to produce a wobble friction coefficient (K) for each specific structure. The study indicated that the wobble friction coefficient was lower than that indicated by the Colombian Seismic Bridge Design Code, Instituto Nacional De Vias, 1995]. The influence of tensioning equipment, materials and labour suggested a format for recording tensioning to reduce inaccuracy when readings are being taken. A reduction in the costs of tensioning would arise from taking the forgoing into account.


We present a theoretical and a numerical formalism for analysis and design of spintronic integrated circuits (SPINICs). The formalism encompasses a generalized circuit theory for spintronic integrated circuits based on nanomagnetic dynamics and spin transport. We propose an extension to the Modified Nodal Analysis technique for the analysis of spin circuits based on the recently developed spin conduction matrices. We demonstrate the applicability of the framework using an example spin logic circuit described using spin Netlists.


Data broadcast is an advanced technique to realize large scalability and bandwidth utilization in a mobile computing environment. In the heterogeneous data broadcast, the data size is variant with time in multiple broadcast channels. However, traditional indexing schemes do not consider variant data size to design indexing techniques in the multiple channels. Therefore, the above drawback leads to large power consumption in the heterogeneous data broadcast. In this paper, we remedy the problem of devising an indexing technique to index the data of variant size via the multiple channels. In view of the characteristics of variant data size in the multiple channels, we propose an indexing technique using an index tree to minimize average waiting time and average tuning time. Experimental results show that our approach is able to generate broadcast programs including data indices with high quality and is very efficient in the heterogeneous data broadcast.


Two dumbbell-shaped compounds (8 and 11), each composed of two polyether chains intercepted by a 1,4-dioxybenzene recognition site, terminated by tetraarylmethane-based stoppers, and emanating from a central 9,10- or a 2,6-dioxyanthracene unit, have been synthesized. Two [2]rotaxanes (9 · 4 PF6 and 12 · 4 PF6) have been prepared by interlocking these dumbbell-shaped compounds (8 and 11) with a bipyridinium-based tetracationic cyclophane (15 · 4 PF6) - namely, cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene). A [3]rotaxane (10 · 8 PF6) incorporating two cyclophane components (15 · 4 PF6) was also obtained when the 9,10-dioxyanthracene-containing dumbbell-shaped compound (8) incorporating two 1,4-dioxybenzene recognition sites was employed. The 1H-NMR spectroscopic investigation of the [2]rotaxanes (9 · 4 PF6 and 12 · 4PF6) revealed that the cyclophane component encircles one of the two 1,4-dioxybenzene recognition sites in the 9,10-dioxyanthracene-containing [2]rotaxane (9 · 4 PF6) and the 2,6-dioxyanthracene unit in the other [2]rotaxane (12 · 4 PF6). These structures have been confirmed by UV/Vis and electrochemical experiments. Comparison with the spectroscopic properties of simple model compounds shows the presence of electronic interactions which lead to (i) the occurrence of very efficient energy transfer processes in the dumbbell-shaped components and (ii) perturbations in the absorption spectra with appearance of two charge-transfer absorption bands and complete luminescence quenching in the [2]rotaxanes. For the 2,6-dioxyanthracene-containing [2]rotaxane (12 · 4 PF6), it has been demonstrated that the cyclophane can be displaced from the dioxyanthracene to the 1,4-dioxybenzene station upon electrochemical oxidation.


Researchers in sign language recognition customized different sensors to capture hand signs. Gloves, digital cameras, depth cameras and Kinect were used alternatively in most systems. Due to signs closeness, input accuracy is a very essential constraint to reach a high recognition accuracy. Although previous systems accomplished high recognition accuracy, they suffer from stability in realistic environment due to variance in signing speed, lighting, etc... In this paper, a recognition system for ArSL has been developed based on a new digital sensor called "Leap Motion". This sensor tackles the major issues in vision-based systems such as skin color, lighting etc... Leap motion captures hands and fingers movements in 3D digital format. The sensor throws 3D digital information in each frame of movement. These temporal and spatial features are fed into a Multi-layer perceptron Neural Network (MLP). The system was tested on 50 different dynamic signs (distinguishable without non-manual features) and the recognition accuracy reached 88% for two different persons. Although Leap motion tracks both hands accurately, unfortunately Leap motion does not track non-manual features. This system can be enhanced by adding other sensors to track other non-manual features such as facial expressions and body poses. The proposed sensor can work simultaneously with leap motion to capture all sign's features.


Advances in Neonatal Care • Vol. 20, No. 5 • pp. 374–383 ABSTRACT Background: Oral feeding is one of the most complex maturational skills of infancy. Difficulties with feeding require specialized attention, and if not well managed, may prolong the newborn's hospital length of stay. This is particularly true for prenatally opioid exposed (POE) infants. A paucity of literature exists characterizing feeding behaviors of POE infants, yet feeding problems are common. Purpose: The purpose of this integrative review was to synthesize and critically analyze the evidence that characterizes feeding behaviors in full-term, POE infants. Methods/Search Strategy: The electronic databases of CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO were used. Inclusion criteria were studies in English, conducted from 1970 to 2019, with participant samples consisting of infants with prenatal opioid exposure, born full-term, and between 38 and 40 weeks of gestation. Based on the inclusion criteria, our search yielded 557 articles. After further screening, only 4 studies met our full inclusion/exclusion criteria. These studies were analyzed for evidence of infant feeding behaviors, including characterization of problematic feeding behavior for POE infants. Findings/Results: Our findings revealed inconsistencies in characterization of feeding behaviors among POE infants. A synthesis of the most common evidence-based behaviors was constructed. Infant feeding behaviors were identified and grouped into 2 major behavior domains: (1) typical feeding behavior and (2) problematic feeding behavior. Implications for Practice and Research: Feeding behaviors related to sucking and behavioral states may be different in POE infants. Further examination of effective assessment methods and the categorization of infant feeding behaviors are warranted for use in the development of evidence-based, targeted intervention.


Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is a phosphotropic hormone that belongs to a subfamily of endocrine FGFs with evolutionarily conserved functions in C. elegans and fruit flies. FAM20C phosphorylates FGF23 post-translationally, targeting to proteolysis through subtilisin-like proprotein convertase FURIN, resulting in secretion of FGF23 fragments. O-glycosylation of FGF23 through GALNT3 appears to prevent proteolysis, resulting in secretion of biologically active intact FGF23. In the circulation, FGF23 may undergo further processing by plasminogen activators. Crystal structures show the ectodomain of the cognate FGF23 receptor FGFR1c binds with the ectodomain of the co-receptor alpha-KLOTHO. The KLOTHO-FGFR1c double heterodimer creates a high-affinity binding site for the FGF23 C-terminus. The topology of FGF23 deviates from that of paracrine FGFs, resulting in poor affinity for heparan sulfate, which may explain why FGF23 diffuses freely in the bone matrix to enter the bloodstream following its secretion by cells of osteoblastic lineage. Intact FGF23 signalling by this canonical pathway activates FRS2/RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK1/2. It reduces serum phosphate by inhibiting 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D synthesis, suppressing intestinal phosphate absorption, and by downregulating the transporters NPT2a and NPT2c, suppressing phosphate reabsorption in the proximal tubules. The physiological role of FGF23 fragments, which may be inhibitory, remains unclear. Pharmacological and genetic activation of canonical FGF23 signalling causes hypophosphatemic disorders, while its inhibition results in hyperphosphatemic disorders. Non-canonical FGF23 signalling through binding and activation of FGFR3/FGFR4/calcineurin/NFAT in an alpha-KLOTHO-independent fashion mainly occurs at extremely elevated circulating FGF23 levels and may contribute to mortality due to cardiovascular disease and left ventricular hypertrophy in chronic kidney disease.


The purpose of this book, as expressed within the Preface, is to give a modern treatment of the subject of mechanics of fluids. What the author means, precisely, by the modern approach is uncertain, although the book has the advantage of being written using SI units throughout. The author states that this modern treatment stems from the development of aircraft and the advances made in the study of aerodynamics, although this book is specifically concerned with hydraulics. As such its primary purpose is as a student textbook suitable for up to the intermediate years of an undergraduate course. The information is presented in thirteen chapters, each of which is appropriately sub-sectioned to allow improved access to specific items of information. To give some idea of the scope of the subject matter some of the chapters wil l be discussed. Following an excellent introduction to properties of fluids, the author then works through fluid statics together with related problems of measurement of pressure and stability of floating bodies. Chapter 5 is entitled Fluid Dynamics and provides a sound introduction to the transfer of mass, momentum and energy. Chapter 6, Resistance to Fluid Motion, is both inadequate and misnamed. It occupies only nine pages and is basically a short introduction to non-dimensional parameters. Following discussion of flow measurement, Chapters 8 and 9 provide a competent yet fairly standard discussion of flow of fluids through channels and closed and open-channel flow systems. Chapter 10 has the generalised title of Laminar Flow between Flat Surfaces but is specifically concerned with hydrodynamic problems. Chapter 11 is unusual in its position within the book, being an introduction to model analysis, a subject that could more efficiently have been included in Chapter 6. The final two chapters concern Hydraulic Turbines and Pumps respectively.


The parasitic diseases are among the most discussed diseases in underdeveloped countries and affect mainly school children. Such diseases reflect the precarious sanitary conditions of a region or population. Infections occur due to lack of proper hygiene habits, lack of basic sanitation and / or treated water. These enteroparasitoses can affect nutritional balance and also cause significant complications, contributing to low school performance. In this context, the objective of this study was to verify the occurrence of intestinal parasitoses in children aged one to six years, in Maceio, Alagoas state. The samples were collected in two municipal nurseries, both located in the urban area. The samples were collected in July and October of 2015 and then sent to the State University of Alagoas. Samples were analyzed using the Spontaneous Sedimentation technique. The research was approved by the Ethics Committee of CESMAC with protocol number 939.035. The present study found a frequency of different intestinal parasitoses in the 37 children from one to six years studied. Of the 37 children in the study, 20 (54.05%) had no parasites and 15 (40.54%) presented some type of intestinal parasitosis. Of the fifteen positive children, four of them had biparasitism and one presented a positive result for three types of parasitoses. The most common parasites were Entamoeba coli (13.5%), Endolimax nana (13.5%), Ascaris lumbricoides (10.8%), Entamoeba histolytica / E. dispar (10.8%), Giardia lamblia , 1%) and Hymenolepis nana (2.7%). Intestinal parasites continue to be a serious public health problem and are generally not actively worked by public authorities and society in general, allowing the infection and spread of such parasites.


In this paper, we apply hybrid seismic inversion on a three-dimensional (3D) seismic data set from Maria Ines Oeste, an oil and gas field in Argentina. The Maria Ines sandstones are Paleocene in age, the traps are mainly structural, and the reservoir is about 50 m thick, containing either oil or gas. These oil/gas-bearing sands usually cause anomalously high amplitude brightspots on the stacked seismic data. These brightspots were generally used as hydrocarbon indicators for this area. Drilling through these bright-spots has resulted in pay, as well as many dry wells. Hybrid seismic inversion, a combination of prestack waveform inversion and poststack inversions of some amplitude-variation-with-offset (AVO) attributes, allowed us to demonstrate that the Poisson's ratio, obtained from this hybrid inversion was effective in fluid discrimination and provided successful drilling locations. We also demonstrate that the Poisson's ratio contrast; obtainable from a standard AVO is not as effective in fluid discrimination as the one from hybrid inversion.


This paper is concerned with the recovery of temporally coherent estimates of 3D structure and motion of a dynamic scene from a sequence of binocular stereo images. A novel approach is presented based on matching of spatiotemporal quadric elements (stequels) between views, as this primitive encapsulates both spatial and temporal image structure for 3D estimation. Match constraints are developed for bringing stequels into correspondence across binocular views. With correspondence established, temporally coherent disparity estimates are obtained without explicit motion recovery. Further, the matched stequels also will be shown to support direct recovery of scene flow estimates. Extensive algorithmic evaluation with ground truth data incorporated in both local and global correspondence paradigms shows the considerable benefit of using stequels as a matching primitive and its advantages in comparison to alternative methods of enforcing temporal coherence in disparity estimation. Additional experiments document the usefulness of stequel matching for 3D scene flow estimation.


Mental health professionals should be attuned to the ideal of compassionate understanding even when faced with clinical and social questions of a large scope: What if the patient is a family rather than an individual? Or a small group, a large group, an organization, a community, or social institution? What if the patient is a whole culture? If all of these are cases in need, can psychiatric assessment of them provide the necessary understanding and devise appropriate and workable forms of help? What are the next evolutions of psychiatric diagnosis and what are the differences in human well-being they can make? The papers in this book are attempts to come to grips with these questions, one by one, cautiously or boldly, according to each author's outlook and temperament.


OBJECT
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a newly appointed neurointensivist on outcomes in head-injured patients in the neurological/neurosurgical intensive care unit (NICU).

METHODS
The mortality rate, length of stay (LOS), and discharge disposition of all patients with head trauma who had been admitted to a 10-bed tertiary care university hospital NICU were compared between two 19-month periods, before and after the appointment of a neurointensivist. Data regarding these patients were collected using the hospital database and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) database. Samples of medical records were reviewed for Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score documentation. The authors analyzed data pertaining to 328 patients before and 264 after the neurointensivist's appointment. The unadjusted mean in-hospital mortality rate increased 1.1% in the after period, but this increase was significantly lower compared with the UHC-based expected increase of 8.1% in the mortality rate during the same period (p < 0.0001). The unadjusted mean mortality rate in the NICU decreased from 13.4 to 12.9% (relative mortality rate reduction 4%) and the mean NICU LOS increased from 3.1 to 3.6 days (relative NICU LOS increase 16%), both nonsignificantly. A 51% reduction in the NICU-associated mortality rate (p = 0.01), a 12% shorter hospital LOS (p = 0.026), and 57% greater odds of being discharged to home or to rehabilitation (p = 0.009) were found in the after period in multivariate models after controlling for baseline differences between the two time periods. Better documentation of the GCS score by the NICU team was also found in the after period (from 60.4 to 82%, p = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS
The institution of a neurointensivist-led team model had an independent, positive impact on patient outcomes, including a lower NICU-associated mortality rate and hospital LOS, improved disposition, and better chart documentation.


Identification of human or nonhuman skeletal remains is important in assisting the police and law enforcement officers for the investigation of forensic cases. Identification of bone can be difficult, especially in fragmented remains. It has been reported that 25 to 30% of medicolegal cases, which involved nonhuman skeletal remains have been mistaken for human. In such cases, histomorphometric method was used to identify human and nonhuman skeletal remains. However, literature has shown that histomorphometric data for human and nonhuman bone were insufficient. Additionally, age estimation in bone may help in the identification of human individual, which can be done by using a histomorphometric method. Age estimation is based on bone remodeling process, where microstructural parameters have strong correlations with age. Literature showed that age estimation has been done on the American and European populations. However, little work has been done in the Asian population. The aims of this project were thus, to identify human and nonhuman bone, and to estimate age in human bones by using histomorphometric analysis. In this project, 64 human bones and 65 animal bones were collected from the mortuary of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre and the Zoos in Malaysia, respectively. A standard bone preparation was used to prepare human and nonhuman bone thin sections for histomorphometric assessment. Assessments were made on the microstructural parameters such as cortical thickness, medullary cavity diameter, osteon count, osteon diameter, osteon area, osteon perimeter, Haversian canal diameter, Haversian canal area, Haversian canal perimeter, and Haversian lamella count per osteon by using image analysis, and viewed under a transmitted light microscope. The microstructural measurements showed significant differences between human and nonhuman samples. The discriminant functions showed correct classification rates for 81.4% of cases, and the accuracy of identification was 96.9% for human and 66.2% for animal. Human age estimation showed a standard error of estimate of 10.41 years, comparable with those in the literature. This study project offers distinct advantages over currently available histomorphometric methods for human and nonhuman identification and human age estimation. This will have significant implications in the assessment of fragmentary skeletal and forensic population samples for identification purposes.


Competitive purgatory is the sorry state of too many formerly proud U.S. corporations. They are languishing from the devastating effects of seven familiar sins: inconsistent product quality; slow response to the marketplace; lack of innovative, competitive products; uncompetitive cost structure; inadequate employee involvement; unresponsive customer service; and inefficient resource allocation. To make matters worse, the maladies are mostly management-induced, and the remedies most managers are employing-shifting strategy, reallocating resources, focusing on operations--are proving ineffective. The cures don't address the cause of the disease: negative, risk-averse, bureaucratic work environments that flourished in decades of easy growth but today are undermining competitive performance. What's needed is a total reinvention of the soft side of the organization to produce a work environment that stresses speed, Spartanism, innovation, and marketplace focus. First, top managers must decide what their company stands for and convince their employees of this uniqueness. Second, they must set standards that drive their business to worldclass levels and be tough about enforcing and raising them. Third, they must push constantly to ensure that enough innovations take place to change the company's future significantly. Three other factors are crucial: the right talent, an effective reward system, and CEOs who can drive the desired changes personally. Creating a dynamic work environment is not easy: it takes perseverance, flexibility, and commitment. But these efforts will pay off: how people tackle problems, work together, and think about their jobs are the activities that make a company great.


The author presents her experiences of teaching several languages in Holland and Argentina.She observed that the person who is studying his first foreignlanguage finds himself psychologically in another situation than the student learning his second or third language.The former easily separates the components of a new languagesystem from those of his basic language. For the latter the separationof two or more systems is a difficult task.The more the foreign language systems have in common, the more cognitive separation is necessary. If this is not possible, the active use of one of the languages is likely to be blocked suddenly.Students at advanced levels of a foreign language state that earlier acquired skills in the active use of other foreign languages come back as suddenly as they disappeared.The separation of two or more foreign language systems in the student's mind can be stimulated by different environments for each language. Therefore it is desirable to recall in the class room the natural setting of the foreign country.The author offers six hypotheses which may be tested.