The authors investigated on the electrical property and the photo-catalytic activity of TiO2 thin films deposited in Ar+O2 atmosphere by RF magnetron sputtering. From the result of x-ray diffraction, the anatase phase was formed in TiO2 thin films. In TiO2 thin film deposited under a gas pressure of 3.0Pa, the contact angle of water showed 9 ゚, and the decomposition rate of Methylene Blue (measuring the absorbance of the reference light) showed -0.067 with UV light irradiation. Moreover, it revealed that the electric resistivity of TiO2 thin film deposited under the same conditions decreased from 8.0×103Ω・m to 1.4×10-2Ω・m with UV light irradiation.


Weed management in perennial strawberries is essential for long-term productivity. Particularly, management during the planting year is especially important to maximize stand establishment and minimize pressure in years to come. Reduction in weed populations can reduce disease and insect pressure and drastically reduce costly hand-weeding. Different studies have evaluated chemical, mechanical, and biological control measures separately. Whereas commercial growers integrate these tools into a program approach. This project evaluated seven different weed management systems for strawberries. Treatments included the use of broadcast and banded herbicides, cultivation equipment, and inter-seeding of fescue grass in a variety of combinations. A banded herbicide, which results in a 50% reduction in herbicide use, plus cultivation treatment and use of inter-seeded fescue with broadcast herbicide treatment both had the greatest reductions in weeds. Results suggest that cultivation equipment did not have a detrimental impact on plant development and establishment. In 2007, yield data will be collected to determine differences between 2006 treatments.


SUMMARY In this paper, the kinematic accuracy problem caused by geometric errors of a 2(3HUS+S) parallel manipulator is described. The kinematic equation of the manipulator is obtained by establishing a D–H (Denavit–Hartenberg) coordinate system. A D–H transformation matrix is used as the error-modeling tool, and the kinematic error model of the manipulator integrating manufacturing and assembly errors is established based on the perturbation theory. The iterative Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm is used to identify the geometric errors in the error model. According to the experimentally measured attitudes, the kinematic calibration process is simulated using MATLAB software. The simulation and experiment results show that the attitude errors of the moving platforms after calibration are reduced compared with before the calibration, and the kinematic accuracy of the manipulator is significantly improved. The correctness and effectiveness of the error model and the kinematic calibration method of the 2(3HUS+S) parallel manipulator for simulation of hip joint motion are verified.


[Purpose] This study was designed as a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing effectiveness of altitude/hypoxic training (experimental) versus sea-level training (control) on oxygen delivery capacity of the blood and aerobic exercise capacity of elite athletes in Korea. [Methods] Databases (Research Information Service System, Korean studies Information Service System, National Assembly Library) were for randomized controlled trials comparing altitude/hypoxic training versus sea-level training in elite athletes. Studies published in Korea up to December 2015 were eligible for inclusion. Oxygen delivery capacity of the blood was quantified by red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), erythropoietin (EPO); and aerobic exercise capacity was quantified by maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max). RBC, Hb, Hct, VO2max represented heterogeneity and compared post-intervention between altitude/hypoxic training and sea-level training in elite athletes by a random effect model meta-analysis. EPO represented homogeneity and meta-analysis performed by a fixed effect model. Eight independent studies with 156 elite athletes (experimental: n = 82, control: n = 74) were included in the metaanalysis. [Results] RBC (4.499×105 cell/ul, 95 % CI: 2.469 to 6.529), Hb (5.447 g/dl, 95 % CI: 3.028 to 7.866), Hct (3.639 %, 95 % CI: 1.687 to 5.591), EPO (0.711 mU/mL, 95% CI: 0.282 to 1.140), VO2max (1.637 ml/kg/min, 95% CI: 0.599 to 1.400) showed significantly greater increase following altitude/hypoxic training, as compared with sea-level training. [Conclusion] For elite athletes in Korea, altitude/ hypoxic training appears more effective than sea-level training for improvement of oxygen delivery capacity of the blood and aerobic exercise capacity.


Modern societies have by nature a corrosive effect on traditional forms of religious life and lead to decline in the scope and influence of religious institutions and in the popularity of religious beliefs. This article argues that prophecies of traditional secularization theory failed to predict the future of religion in the contemporary world. Although modernity caused a degree of rupture between religion and society, there has also been a global revival of religion in the last two or three decades. In order to understand the transformation of religion and its comeback, various manifestations and expressions of religion must be analyzed. This article shows that religion is a multidimensional phenomenon. One s acceptance of and position towards a supernatural being, towards an ultimate reality and its manifestations involve a multidimensional process that includes attitudes, beliefs, emotions, experiences, rituals, and community and belonging. This article concludes that a multidimensional approach to religion, if revised and re-developed by taking into account the varieties and specificities of Islam, can help us better understand the Muslim world, enable us to make cross-cultural comparisons about the status of religions, and finally to equip us to make better predictions about the future of religion.


Boron-10 concentrations in the brain of live rabbits were measured by prompt gamma ray spectrometry at intervals over a 24-hour period. Boron-10 concentrations in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were also measured. Animals were killed at each interval to obtain brain tissues to measure the boron-10 concentration in the brainstem, cerebral cortex, cerebellar cortex, and basal ganglia, as well as the whole brain. Boron-10 concentrations in the live brain did not differ significantly from those measured in whole brain tissue. Boron-10 concentrations in the blood were much higher than in the brain at each interval after injection. These boron-10 concentrations showed a similar pattern of initial rapid decrease, followed by a more gradual decrease. There was little boron-10 present in the CSF. The brainstem contained a significantly larger concentration of boron-10 than the other tissues. Prompt gamma ray spectrometry has the potential for direct measurement of boron-10 concentrations in the brain of patients undergoing boron neutron capture therapy.


It is recognized that combining a thorough orientation to academic life and its expectations with intensive training in conceptualising research can accelerate the careers of early career academics. Unique to the structured support programme for research productivity and publication at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, was ongoing internal coaching of participants. In the study reported here in-depth interviews of participants and coaches were used to collect data. Internal coaches are academics without being experts in the participants' disciplines. Goal alignment linked to both individual and organisational objectives resulted in tangible outcomes for research, publication and career changes. Less tangible outcomes concern the value of coaching; coaching during career or personal critical incidents and the important shifts in thinking which occurred. The outcomes have drawn additional funding to the University, and there is ongoing wider implementation across faculties of the programme with internal coaching.


Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent and progressive airflow obstruction. It is a lung disease with systemic manifestations, which contributes to an increase in morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The greater the severity of the disease, more muscle loss occurs, especially the quadriceps muscle, leading to decreased resistance to exercise, increased fatigue, and dyspnea to small efforts. The presence of COPD is associated with an increased risk of falls, and patients with COPD have a greater imbalance when compared with subjects of the same age without the disease.  To investigate whether the different degrees of severity of COPD interfere in the balance, muscle strength, and functional capacity of the patients. Methods: 25 individuals diagnosed with COPD (COPD-G) and 32 individuals without pulmonary disease (CG - Control Group) were assessed. Both groups were submitted to anamnesis, spirometry, dynamometry, manovacuometry, Incremental Shuttle WaIking Test (ISWT), load testing for one repetition maximum (1RM), balance platform assessment, Stair-Climbing Test (SCT) and 6 Minutes Walk Test (6MWT). The variables obtained were compared using the t-test. For comparison between groups, a one-way ANOVA was used. Results: The comparison between the two groups showed a difference in the result of the ISWT, 6MWT and SCT. When compared between groups in different degrees of severity, there was a difference only in SCT between CG and severe COPD-G. There was no significant difference in strength and postural balance. Conclusion: Cardiorespiratory functional capacity is impaired in individuals with COPD and is more evident in the severe stage of the disease. The balance, the strength of the respiratory muscles, upper and lower limbs are similar in the mild, moderate, and severe stages.


The maximum entropy principle advocates to evaluate events' probabilities using a distribution that maximizes entropy among those that satisfy certain expectations' constraints. Such principle can be generalized for arbitrary decision problems where it corresponds to minimax approaches. This paper establishes a framework for supervised classification based on the generalized maximum entropy principle that leads to minimax risk classifiers (MRCs). We develop learning techniques that determine MRCs for general entropy functions and provide performance guarantees by means of convex optimization. In addition, we describe the relationship of the presented techniques with existing classification methods, and quantify MRCs performance in comparison with the proposed bounds and conventional methods.


The purpose with the study is to see how middle managers in communal elderly care looks at the implementation of the salutogenic way of working in their operations. And how it affects the middle managers working situation. We studied which scope of actions middle managers has in the salutogenic way of working. We had previous knowledge that the salutogenic working way is an ongoing work of development in several communes, and therefore we chose to study in a profound way how this work of development affects the middle managers working situation. To reach a deeper knowledge about how the salutogenic way of working affects the middle managers working situation we conducted a qualitative study with been seven semi-structured interviews with middle managers in different geographical communes. The result is overall performed in four different themes: job assignments, demands, control and social support. The first theme focuses on the middle managers versatile job assignments and the theme demands define several of stresses on the middle managers profession in form of high workload and time pressure. The theme control describes different strategies to cope with the requirements that is contained in the middle managers job assignments the theme support describes what social support the middle managers have access to, among other things it is stated that middle managers support each other and there are opportunities to ask questions to each other and other competent persons from the communes. The majority of middle managers expressed that they felt that they could cope with their work situation despite the requirements with the salutogenic work of change. Keywords: middle manager, elderly care, demand, control, scope of actions, social support, salutogenic work of change.


We characterize by different spectroscopic techniques the radiation effects on ytterbium- (Yb) and ytterbium/erbium (Yb/Er)-doped optical fibers. Their vulnerability to the environment of outer space is evaluated through passive radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) measurements during and after exposure to 10 keV X-rays, 1 MeV ¿-rays, and 105 MeV protons. These fibers present higher levels of RIA (1000×) than telecommunication-type fibers. Measured RIA is comparable for ¿-rays and protons and is on the order of 1 dB/m at 1.55 ¿ m after a few tenths of a kilorad. Their host matrix codoped with aluminum (Al) and/or phosphorus (P) is mainly responsible for their enhanced radiation sensitivity. Thanks to the major improvements of the Er-doped glass spectroscopic properties in case of Yb-codoping, Yb/Er-doped fibers appear as very promising candidates for outer space applications. In the infrared part of the spectrum, losses in P-codoped Yb-doped fibers are due to the P1 center that absorbs around 1.6 ¿ m and are very detrimental for the operation of Er-codoped devices in a harsh environment. The negative impact of this defect seems reduced in the case of Al and P-codoping.


The increasing incorporation of renewable energy sources and the emergence of new forms and patterns of electricity consumption are contributing to the upsurge in the complexity of power grids. A bottom-up-agent-based approach is able to handle the new environment, such that the system reliability can be maintained and costs reduced. However, this approach leads to possible conflicting interests between maintaining secure grid operation and the market requirements. This paper proposes a strategy to solve the conflicting interests in order to achieve overall optimal performance in the electricity supply system. The method is based on a cooperative game theory to optimally allocate resources from all (local) actors, i.e., network operators, active producers, and consumers. Via this approach, agent-based functions, for facilitating both network services and energy markets, can be integrated and coordinated. Simulations are performed to verify the proposed concept on a medium voltage 30-bus test network. Results show the effectiveness of the approach in optimally harmonizing functions of power routing and matching.


Elemental distribution and ultrastructure of the submandibular gland, the parotid gland and the pancreas were investigated in three suggested animal models of the disease cystic fibrosis: the chronically reserpinized rat, the chronically isoproterenol-treated rat, and the chronically pilocarpine-treated rat. To elucidate the cellular mechanism underlying the effects of these treatments, chronic effects of specific alpha - and beta -adrenergic agonists, as well as acute effects of reserpine and various agonists were also investigated. Reserpine, isoproterenol, and pilocarpine cause an increase in the calcium concentration in submandibular gland acinar cells, due to an increased calcium content of the intracellular mucus. In the parotid gland, reserpine and isoproterenol cause a decrease of the calcium concentration in acinar cells, due to a lower calcium content of the zymogen granules. In the submandibular gland, a decreased cellular Na concentration was noted after chronic treatment with isoproterenol or pilocarpine, and after a single dose of reserpine or isoproterenol. Ultrastructural changes in the exocrine glands investigated included excessive accumulation of intracellular secretory material and formation of abnormal uncondensed secretion granules. A common pattern in the animal models appears to be (1) inhibition of secretion resulting in intracellular accumulation of secretory material, (2) synthesis of secretory macromoleculesmore » with altered cation-binding properties.« less


Abstract Indonesian Studies as a field is strongly influenced by its own social character as a community of competing and cooperating scholars. Outside individual universities, the dominant social form is not the powerful professor, but rather the "circle of esteem," a cluster of scholars who respect each other, cite each other's work, push each other's ideas into the academic marketplace, and, occasionally, rise to each other's defense. Circles of esteem arise because academic work has less to do with the industrial production of knowledge than with a constant search for novelty, which may arise from new sources or new uses of sources. Although novelty is prized, the value of new work is hard to judge, and it will be more easily accepted when backed by a circle of esteem. There are two effective ways to gain academic prestige outside a circle of esteem. The first is to write a standard work, a conservative strategy to create a work that will become citation fodder for others. The second way is to coin a "euphoric couplet," which is an unexpected adjective-noun combination encapsulating a previously elusive analytical truth. Euphoric couplets are easy to remember, dissociated from theory, and intriguingly ambiguous.


Four experiments evaluated AMLA temporal version accuracy to measure relative luminosity in people with and without color blindness and, consequently, to provide the essential information to avoid poor figurebackground combinations in any possible "specific screen-specific observer" pair. Experiment 1 showed that two very different apparatus, a sophisticated photometer and a common luxometer, provide equivalent measurements to compute: (1) screen gamma exponents and (2) relative luminance (Y/Yn) of achromatic but not of chromatic stimuli. Experiments 2, 3 and 4 showed that the psychophysical task of AMLA temporal version provided, for any stimulus type, accurate relative luminance measurements. They were: equivalent to standardised photometric measurements for common observers (Experiment 2); similar to the expected distortions for simulated (Experiment 2) and real (Experiment 3) aged tritanomalous observers; concordant with the expected distortions of protanope observers (Experiment 4). Maps, web pages or any type of visual display frequently use chromatic


The extracellular haemolysin produced by Vibrio vulnificus strain FCC was partially purified from the culture supernate by sequential ammonium sulphate precipitation, gel filtration with Sepharose 4B, and DEAE-Sephacel ion-exchange column chromatography. Using this semi-purified haemolysin as the antigen, several monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were established; they were all of the IgG2b class with lambda light chains. One representative MAb, 6F8D, completely neutralized the haemolytic activity and mouse lethal activity of extracellular toxin(s). In immunoblotting analysis of the peptides of the semi-purified haemolysin separated by SDS-PAGE, this MAb reacted, in particular, with a 36 kDa peptide. These findings suggest that the haemolysin is probably identical to the lethal toxin in the culture supernate of V. vulnificus strain FCC, which contained the 36 kDa peptide.


Acupressure is one of the emerging alternative therapies for the management of the pain, anxiety and other physiological indexes. The present study was conducted at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Whitefield, Bangalore. A total of twenty male and female patients those who undergo open heart surgery via median sternotomy were part of the study after obtaining the written informed consent. After recording the demographic data, the participants were randomly grouped into control and intervention groups using random numbers generated by computer with 10 participants in each group. The intervention was provided at PC6 acupressure point, situated on the inner side of forearm, three fingers below the wrist joint, three times a day (5-6am, 12 noon-1pm, 5-6pm) for four days. There was a significant decrease in the heart rate and blood pressure and significant increase in the partial pressure of oxygen. Further, there was decrease in the serum troponin T levels. The study support implementation of the acupressure.


Modern complete SAT solvers almost uniformly implement variations of the clause learning framework introduced by Grasp and Chaff. The success of these solvers has been theoretically explained by showing that the clause learning framework is an implementation of a proof system which is as poweful as resolution. However, exponential lower bounds are known for resolution, which suggests that significant advances in SAT solving must come from implementations of more powerful proof systems. ∗Ce travail est supporté par l'ANR « UNLOC », ANR 08-BLAN0289-01. We present a clause learning SAT solver that uses extended resolution. It is based on a restriction of the application of the extension rule. This solver outperforms existing solvers on application instances from recent SAT competitions as well as on instances that are provably hard for resolution, such as XOR-SAT instances.


PURPOSE
We performed a qualitative assessment of fixation behaviour in relation to the fovea in patients with strabismic amblyopia.

METHODS
The fixation of 25 patients with strabismic amblyopia was examined using a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). A digital frame grabber board was programmed to scan onto the patient's retina single solid black discs of 5, 10 and 15 degrees in diameter and Landolt Cs in different orientations and corresponding to a visual acuity (VA) of 0.01-0.2 in European decimals. The relative position of the fovea was video-recorded. Fifty video fields per second were plotted as x/y (fixational positions in relation to the fovea) and x/t (motion over time) graphs.

RESULTS
Three main groups of patients were seen. Group 1 (n = 6), with a VA of < 0.1, showed a grossly eccentric and unstable locus of fixation independent of size/type of test stimulus used. Group 2 (n = 15), with VA of 0.1-0.8, initially used an eccentric retinal area for fixation that, however, shifted to the fovea with decreasing size and increasing detail of the target for fixation. Group 3 (n = 4), with VA of 0.3-0.8, had stable central fixation throughout.

CONCLUSIONS
We speculate that the reduced VA associated with strabismic amblyopia is due to a defective motor control of fixation that can be modulated by recognitional effort.


The paper presents a neural network method to explore the relationship between the systematic risk and long term investing activities for Taiwan's companies in the fiber industry and electronics industry. In general, diversification from long-term investment may reduce a firm's systematic risk, but the empirical results in some literature are controversial. For years regression methods have been used to analyze the possible impact of long-term investment activities on systematic risk. Since their relationship may not be linear, we thus propose a neural network based sensitivity analysis for the possible non-linear relationships. We adapt five years of data (1994-1998) from the TEJ financial database to conduct the proposed analysis. The results show that the systematic risk is reduced with investment activities for the fiber industry. But for the electronics industry, the systematic risk is higher as firms increase the long-term investment ratio. The difference is even more significant when we only consider the companies with a higher portion of long term investment in assets. This diverse effect between industries may be one of the reasons why the empirical results are inconsistent. Our study can clarify the controversy between the systematic risk and long-term investment activities, and offer some possible explanations.


An unsymmetrical diarylethene derivative bearing both benzothienyl and thienyl moieties, in which a malononitrile group was substituted at the 5-position of the thienyl ring, was synthesized. This compound undergo a reversible electrocyclic rearrangement, generating strongly colored closed-ring isomer upon irradiation with UV-light which show nonfluorescence, while exposure to light in the visible range triggers the cycloreversion to the colorless open-ring form that exhibits strong fluorescence properties. This properties of molecular photochromism were developed that showed both photo switches and fluorescence switches. The erasable and rewritable photo-images on this photochromic diarylethene were successfully demonstrated. This developments are crucial for fundamental research and eventual technical application for high-density optical data storage.


Background: Patients with the major depressive disorder have prominently been reported with subnormal omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) levels, including importantly low eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in cell plasma and dietary intake. However, more randomized controlled trials are needed to support its importance in the management of depression. Objective: To explore the role of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid in the management of the major depressive disorder. Materials and methods: Total 70 patients of aged 20 to 40 years old, who were already diagnosed with depression and taking antidepressant treatment, were selected at Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, King Edward Medical University Lahore, and were assigned into 2 groups, i.e. intervention and control, by simple random lottery method. For 12 weeks, the intervention group was advised to take one omega-3 (300 mg EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid and 200 mg DHA docosahexaenoic acid), or placebo (500 mg corn oil) capsules once daily with a meal. Beck depression inventory (BDI) scale was used to assess the depression. Demographic information was collected using a structured questionnaire. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Chi-square test was used to check the association between depression and risk factors. Paired t-test was applied to measure the mean difference before and after the intervention. Results: Statistically significant role of omega-3 PUFAs 15.46 ± 4.98 (p=0.000) was found. And mean was found insignificant in the placebo group as 2.32 ± 4.43 (p=0.007). Conclusion: It is concluded that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid has a statistically obvious role in reducing depression as an add-on treatment with anti-depressants in the intervention group as compared to the placebo group.


Object and purpose of an international treaty appear frequently as word pair in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) where the word pair is often understood to form a fixed expression with an interchangeable meaning of the two words. Most relevant for questions of interpretation of uniform law conventions in general is Art. 31 VCLT . The author submits that object has a separate meaning from purpose and that the object of a treaty in particular can be used as a powerful tool for the interpretation and justification of uniform law. An outline of the intricate interplay between the notion of contract and treaty interpretation is given and the meaning of both terms analysed in detail. The use of object and purpose can open up new avenues for putting the existing codified uniform law to best use as well as developing guidelines for future legislation.


The aim of our research is to prove the fact that the gender of Romanian nouns cannot and should not be considered a grammatical category, but a lexical-semantic category, since this part of speech has gender even at a lexical level, a category that also ascends to the immediately superior level: the grammatical one. In contemporary grammar treatises, numerous linguists argue that gender belongs to the axis of grammatical categories that are specific to the Romanian noun, along with number, case and determination. At the same time, it is not a novelty that the gender of nouns, at the level of this entire class in the Romanian language, even where the phenomenon of gender suffixation is involved, does not represent a flectional criterion for this lexical-grammatical class, which does not have distinct opposable forms that mark out the class in question, unlike in the case of pronouns, adjectives or numerals. The actualization of the gender category in nouns, compared to its materialization in the other parts of speech that feature it and in which its status is undoubtedly that of a grammar category, should be discussed in entirely different terms. The grammaticalization of gender that has three components – masculine, feminine and neuter – in the other parts of speech from the nominal group confirms the existence of this category in nouns, but does not entail its grammaticalization in this lexical-grammatical class. Asserting that the gender of nouns is a fixed, given category pertains to the semantics of the part of speech in question. The oppositions between the category members are achieved between different lexemes, hence, outside the flective, and not between different flectional units and/or subunits.


Banking Union, even in its current incomplete form, is the single biggest structural policy success of the EU since the start of the financial crisis. This essay presents the sequence of events that led to its inception in late June 2012 and takes stock on its current status of implementation and prospects. The essay argues forcefully that the political decision to initiate banking union was the decisive factor behind the ECB's OMT programme, which put an end to the most acute phase of the euro area crisis, and that it also enabled the shift in the European approach to banking crisis resolution from bail-out to bail-in, which was prevented by the earlier policy framework of national banking supervision. In this sense, the banking union decision of mid-2012 was the crucial and largely unrecognized turning point of the entire euro area crisis. The transfer of supervisory authority over all euro-area banks to the ECB, effective since last November, marks a profound change and is already resulting in more rigorous and consistent supervision.After a few years of transition, the banking union framework can be expected to lead to a better integrated, more diverse and more resilient European financial system. It will also enhance European influence in shaping global banking regulatory standards and policies.


This indicator, share of food consumed away from home of total food consumed, provides a glimpse into individual and household dietary quality at the population level and can highlight dietary trends over time and across countries. Food prepared or purchased outside of the home is becoming an increasingly important component of the diet in many countries, especially in urban area (Smith and Subandoro 2007 [1], Bezerra et al., 2013 [2]). The quality and nutrient content of foods purchased or consumed outside of the home can vary significantly from food consumed in the home. Foods consumed outside of the home are more likely to be processed and higher in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats (Vandevijvere et al., 2013 [3] ), and studies have found that consuming food away from home is associated with higher energy and fat intake and lower micronutrient intake (Lachat et al., 2012 [4]).


Histoplasma capsulatum can rarely affect the trachea. We report the case of a 68‐year‐old woman with rheumatoid arthritis on immunosuppressive therapy who presented with fevers, worsening shortness of breath, nonproductive cough and subjective throat hoarseness and fullness. Chest computed tomography demonstrated no tracheal findings. Bronchoscopy found mucosal irregularity, nodularity and vesicular regions in the proximal trachea extending seven centimeters distal to the vocal cords. Also seen was an edematous, exudative left vocal cord with polyps and an ulcerative lesion. Silver staining and culture and wash of the tracheal biopsy revealed Histoplasma capsulatum. She was treated with oral itraconazole then briefly on intravenous amphotericin for rising Histoplasma urinary antigen levels. She continued treatment 24 months following diagnosis with minimal dyspnea. Histoplasma tracheitis has been proposed as an indicator of disseminated infection. However, our patient did not demonstrate other organ manifestations. Histoplasma tracheitis should be considered in a differential diagnosis of tracheal lesions even in the absence of systemic involvement.


China has a long tradition of using deception and psychological tactics. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China displayed extensive perception management, aiming at showing a better picture of China. The purpose of this study is to examine if China has continued to display a distorted image since the Olympics and if it could be classified as attempts on deception directed towards a western audience. By combining case studies with descriptive, comparative and a qualitative content analysis method, three cases are researched in order to establish how they are portrayed in the Chinese newspaper China Daily and the BBC News. The differences discovered are matched with the six different kinds of deception presented in Barton Whaley's general deception theory. In all three cases, numerous examples can be found which indicates that China attempts to deceive their western audience through the media. Both passive and active types of deception are discovered. The results are discussed concerning whether the differences are examples of deception, perception management or both. Numerous suggestions for future studies conclude the paper.


The role of biodiversity in mediating ecosystem processes has been the subject of focused theoretical and empirical attention since the mid-1990s. Theory predicts that the balance between species richness and identity effects will critically depend on the degree of environmental heterogeneity, which dictates the extent to which differences between species in patterns of resource use can be expressed. We conducted a mesocosm experiment to explicitly test this hypothesis. We manipulated the richness and identity of intertidal molluscan grazers, as well as the spatial heterogeneity of the substrate upon which they grazed. The magnitude of algal consumption was used as our focal ecosystem process. The grazer treatments consisted of three monocultures and a single polyculture including all three species; heterogeneity was represented as the proportion of topographically complex and flat substrate. Species identity had strong effects on homogeneous substrates, with the identity of the best-performing species dependent on the substrate. On the heterogeneous substrate, suitable conditions for all three species were represented, allowing the expression of spatial complementarity of resource use and the enhancement of total algal consumption. Our findings provide the first explicit experimental evidence that spatial heterogeneity of the physical environment can play a key role in mediating effects of species diversity.


With the shortage of fuel in the world, wind power becomes one of the most potential energy today. For the demand for more energy from wind turbine, the tower is tending to be designed much higher than before to capture the wind with faster speed. However, the higher the tower is the more possible the catastrophe of a whole wind turbine structure will occur when hurricanes come. This paper proposes a foldable tower for wind turbine to avoid the disasters brought about by strong wind in the high-level sky. The tower can be folded when hurricanes come and can be deployed fully to acquire more wind power in high sky in the normal cases. Firstly, the geometry design of a deployable structure is presented in details by discussing the deployable ratio. Then, it focuses on the statics, stiffness analysis of this structure. The equivalent stiffness of the foldable tower is expressed as a function of the primary design parameters and the deployable angle. What must be pointed out is that the result comprehensively expresses the dependence of the stiffness on the deployable angle and the stiffness of the fully deployed case. This is particularly useful for the applications in wind turbine.


The neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has been commonly used in breast cancer treatment, especially for advanced staged patients. NAC lets alteration of inoperable cancer to operable, and reduces the size of tumor eventually allowing mastectomy cases to receive breast conserving surgery (1). Furthermore, recent studies suggested the predictive role of NAC for prognosis. Tumors with pathologic complete response (pCR) to NAC showed a more favorable prognosis than the tumors with no pCR, although its correlation varies among molecular subtypes. Among these subtypes, hormone receptor positive and HER-2 negative tumors (HR+/HER2−) shows about 8.3% (6.7–10.2%) pCR rate, which is the relatively low rate compared to other subtype tumors (2). This reflects the resistance of HR+/HER2− tumors against chemotherapeutic agents and suggests the needs to select HR+/HER2− tumors which are sensitive to chemotherapy for the improvement of NAC effect.


Consecutive case records of 142 patients (55 males and 87 females) who fulfilled stringent criteria for schizophrenia, and attended the psychiatric facilities at the Ibadan teaching hospital for at least 7 consecutive years were studied in detail in order to determine outcome in a period of follow-up that ranged from 7 to 26 years (mean ± SD, 13.3 ± 4.6 years). A unique history of stability of staff and research record keeping, as well as the fact that relatives frequently accompany patients to hospital, enhanced the reliability and validity of documents. Using outcome criteria that included the presence of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and social adjustment in the past 12 months, it was found that 72 (50.7%) patients were in the good outcome group, while 34 (23.9%) and 36 (25.4%) had moderate and poor outcome, respectively. The social and clinical characteristics of the patients were similar to those of participants in World Health Organization prospective studies in this country. Whereas there was a nonsignificant trend for more females to be without psychotic symptoms, the males performed significantly better in social adjustment outcome measures. In contrast with reports from the Western world, patients with acute onset and episodic course were a common feature of the cohort. The results support previous reports indicating fairly good outcome of schizophrenia in developing countries.


A large number of neuropeptides have been found in cortical neurons. They are therefore of interest in attempting to demonstrate selective vulnerability of different populations of neurons in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The most consistent neuropeptide deficit in AD is reductions in cortical concentrations of somatostatin. Lesser reductions in corticotropin-releasing factor, neuropeptide Y and substance P have been reported. Concentrations of both vasoactive intestinal polypeptide and cholecystokinin are relatively preserve. The morphologic correlate of reduced somatostatin concentrations in AD appears to be markedly distorted and reduced terminal fiber plexuses, rather than reduced numbers of neuronal perikarya. A large number of neuropeptides have been localized in senile plaques.


Classification after J. Wolfe is the most popular classification of mammographic images of the breast to date. It distinguishes four (N1, P1, P2 and DY) types of breast parenchyma according to size of a shadow observed. P2 (subtotal) and DY (total involvement) types imply the highest risk of cancer. The study showed that criteria of the types distinguished are indistinct making it difficult to identify true high risk conditions. It is suggested that J. Wolfe's classification be detailed further, viz. conditions with and without nodular structures (N+ and N0) should be distinguished as well as types with homogeneous and nonhomogeneous non-nodular structures (P1a, P1b, P2a, P2b, etc.). The analysis of 167 mammograms of verified cancer and precancer showed the modified classification to more clearly identify various types of breast parenchyma and to more reliably define those carrying the highest risk for cancer.


Twenty-five examples of ptosis occuring with an acute stroke are analysed. Thirteen of these patients had hemispheral infarctions in which ptosis could not be explained by third nerve or sympathetic dysfunction. The ptosis in these `cerebral' cases was bilateral, with other factors such as pyramidal tract damage determining the asymmetry of the ptosis. In some patients, the eyelid was ptosed on the side of a hemiparesis, narrowing the palpebral fissure. The anatomical basis for this is probably damage to pyramidal neurones or their fibres. The 10 cases of ptosis in relationship to brain-stem infarction included two patients with isolated complete ptosis in one eye in association with a contralateral third nerve palsy.


The effect of gamma radiation were studied in cellular components of blood within the human body for patient with breast cancer, who receive radiation therapy as part of the final stage requirement treatment for cancer.The current study (5-8) mm.of the venous blood have been drawn from the patient before starting their radiation treatment which considerd as control sample (zero Gray) .These sample used in order to compare with blood sample drawn from the same patient after every three sessions; mean every six gray dose of the gamma rays. The rang of gamma doses which recived by patients were (6,12,18,24,30,36,42,48,54,60) GY. Also the effect of gamma radiation measured to the total of hemoglobin (Hb), Mithamoglubin derivative (Met Hb%) ,the percentage of white blood cells (W.B.C%) and platlets (PL%) before and after radiation. The result appeared changes in these ratio as the total hemoglobin has been increased with radiation till dose (18) GY, this increases attributed to cross‒linking phenomenom in polypeptide chain for protein in hemoglobin as aresult of affecting to low doses of gamma rays, but when the dose increased to (30) GY, an opposite behavior occurred, means that the total hemoglobin decreased with increasing dose till (36)GY then stable. The change in the percentage of Mithamoglupin derivative shown direct proportion with increasing radiation dose and this behavior attributed to the effecting of hem part in hemoglobin, which turn lead to asignificant decrease in the efficiency of the molecules that transfer oxgen. Our research explained the inverse relasionship between the percentage of white blood cells and platlets with radiation doses up to (36) GY . Also the decrement attributed to generation toxic chemical compounds which reach bone marrow, laded to discourage efficiency in the production of (W.B.C) and (PL).


In West Africa, tree preferences of wintering migratory birds (and African residents) were quantified in order to assess the importance of wintering conditions on distribution, abundance and trends of insectivorous woodland birds. This study encompassed 2000 plots between 10–18°N and 0–17°W, visited in October-March 2007–2015, and covered 183 woody species and 59 bird species. Canopy surface (measured in a horizontal plane) and birds present were determined in 308,000 trees and shrubs. Absolute bird density amounted to 13 birds/ha canopy, on average, varying for the different woody species between 0 and 130 birds/ha canopy. Birds were highly selective in their tree choice, with no insectivorous birds at all in 65% of the woody species. Bird density was four times higher in acacias and other thorny species than in non-thorny trees, and seven times higher in trees with leaves having a low crude fibre content than in trees with high crude fibre foliage. Salvadora persica shrubs, but only when carrying berries, were even more attractive. Overall, densities of migratory woodland birds were highest in the (thorny) trees of the Sahelian vegetation zone. This counterintuitive finding, with highest numbers of wintering birds in the driest and most desiccated parts of West Africa (short of the Sahara), also known as Moreau's Paradox, can be explained by the foliage palatability hypothesis. The Sahelian vegetation zone has always been subject to heavy grazing from large herbivores, and as a consequence woody species have evolved mechanical defences (thorns) to withstand grazing of large herbivores, at the expense of chemical defence against arthropods. South of the Sahel, with a much lower grazing pressure, thorny trees (rich in arthropods) are replaced by (usually non-thorny) trees with less palatable foliage and a higher crude fibre content, and hence with less arthropod food for insectivorous birds.


This paper reports on an analysis of technical efficiency and varietal differences in pistachio production in Iran. A random sample of 475 farmers was selected from the province of Kerman in 2003 and 2004. In this study, farmers are classified into three groups according to the variety of tree they planted. The three main varieties of pistachio trees planted are Kalleh- Ghuchi, Fandoghi and Akbari. The technical efficiency indices are computed using three approaches. First, a standard stochastic production frontier was employed using pooled data. Secondly, stochastic frontier production functions were estimated for each variety (separately). Lastly, the meta-frontier approach was used because production varieties and technologies are expected to differ between the three varieties. Use of this method enabled technical efficiency scores to be corrected by the coefficient of the variety-technology gap ratio (VTGR). Estimates of the frontier were obtained assuming a translog functional form. Results indicate that the mean values of technical efficiency in 2003 and 2004 for the pooled frontier, variety group frontiers and meta-frontier across all data are 54 per cent, 55 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively. The mean value of VTGR in 2003 and 2004 varies from 0.58 for the Kalleh-Ghuchi variety to 0.68 for the Fandoghi variety. These results show the importance of taking into account the differences in frontiers imposed by different tree varieties.


Network of things is expanding day by day, with that security, flexibility and ease of use became concern of the user. We do have a different technique to full fill user's demands. Some of them are: Single Sign On (SSO), Cryptography techniques like RSA-VES, Serpent etc. In this paper an effort is made to provide all mentioned facilities to the user. Single Sign On (SSO) authorizes user only once and allow user to access multiple services and make the system very easy to use and also provides flexibility to use multiple programs or applications. The combination of cryptographic algorithms: Serpent (symmetric encryption) and RSA-VES (asymmetric encryption) which are known as one of the secured cryptographic algorithms are used with "session time" which makes communication very secure and reliable.


Whether adultery should be considered as an offence against public morality or left to the operation of the civil laws has been the subject of much discussion. Adultery as a crime can be constituted by even a single act of sexual intercourse of a married woman with a married man other than her husband, if it is by consent and does not come within the category of rape. The explanation seems simple but there are several issues debatable connected with it and the problem is much bigger than a sexual act. First of all the said law of adultery was enacted way back in 1860 during the British rule of India. What is most significant is that even at that time the law criminalizing adultery did not exist at all. The main person involved in drafting the said law himself was not in a favour of criminalizing the act. However the law was still enacted and enforced taking into regard the unequal and pitiable position of woman in India at that time when they were considered as a property of man. The said provision has been challenged before the courts and criticized widely on several occasions but the Courts in India have let the provision stand in total disregard of the fact that the position of woman has drastically changed with time in the country and now woman are not only considered socially equal to men but even in some instances above them. Secondly the language of the Section 497 of IPC, 1860 or Section 198 (2) of Cr, P. C., 1973 and its applicability itself spells gender inequality and prejudice and seems to be against the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India. Theprovision calls for prosecution of only the adulterer man and not the adulteress wife. All these factors definitely render the relevant provisions under Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code as unconstitutional discriminatory to men and women both and themselves promote gender inequality. It is significant and noteworthy that while in Britain itself the law on adultery has been abolished even as a tort way back in 1857, the law was also abolished in Japan in 1947, in South Korea in 2015 and by most of the countries except countries like Philippines, United States and Islamic States like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq etc. Most of the European countries like Malta, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Turkey, Romania etc., and the earlier laws of adultery as a crime have been abolished long back. Even some states of US like West Virginia, Colorado and New Hampshire have abolished the law. Even the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and the United Nations Working Group on Discrimination Against Women in Law and Practice have called for abolition of criminalization of adultery saying it leads to discrimination and violence against women. In some Islamic countries punishments like stoning and flogging have been assigned for adultery and many cases of honour killing have been noticed. The issue of adultery and the act is more or less a moral crime and an issue to be decided between the families themselves rather than making it public and thereby making the whole issue more complex to resolve between a husband and wife within their four walls.


The electrical and optical properties of MoO3/Ag/MoO3 multilayer structures have been studied using the Ag deposition rate and layer thicknesses as parameters. When the silver film is deposited at 0.20 nm/s rate, the silver layer thickness necessary to achieve the percolation threshold of the resistivity ρ towards conductive structures is 10 nm. Below 10 nm, the films are semiconductor and above the films are conductors. In the present work, the variation of the thicknesses of top and bottom MoO3 layers is shown to strongly modify the optical properties of the multilayer structures. By using a Ag thickness of 10 nm, we demonstrate an increasing of the transmittance of the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 structures by optimizing the MoO3 layers thicknesses. When the MoO3 bottom layer is 20 nm thick, and the MoO3 top layer is 35 nm, the maximum transmission is 86% at the wavelength of 465 nm, while the averaged transmission in the visible range (350 nm-800 nm) is 70%. The best measured conductivity, σ = 1.1 × 105 (Ω cm)-1, corresponds also to this MoO3 (20 nm)/Ag (10 nm)/MoO3 (35 nm) structure. A good qualitative agreement between the theoretical calculations of the variation of the optical transmittance and reflectance of the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 structures is also highlighted.


Several mutant mouse models for human diseases such as diabetes mellitus have been generated in the large-scale Munich ENU (N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea) mouse mutagenesis project. The aim of this study was to identify the causal mutation of one of these strains and to characterize the resulting diabetic phenotype. Mutants exhibit a T to G transversion mutation at nt 629 in the glucokinase (Gck) gene, leading to an amino acid exchange from methionine to arginine at position 210. Adult Munich Gck(M210R) mutant mice demonstrated a significant reduction of hepatic glucokinase enzyme activity but equal glucokinase mRNA and protein abundances. While homozygous mutant mice exhibited growth retardation and died soon after birth in consequence of severe hyperglycemia, heterozygous mutant mice displayed only slightly elevated blood glucose levels, present from birth, with development of disturbed glucose tolerance and glucose-induced insulin secretion. Additionally, insulin sensitivity and fasting serum insulin levels were slightly reduced in male mutant mice from an age of 90 days onward. While beta-cell mass was unaltered in neonate heterozygous and homozygous mutant mice, the total islet and beta-cell volumes and the total volume of isolated beta-cells were significantly decreased in 210-day-old male, but not female heterozygous mutant mice despite undetectable apoptosis. These findings indicate that reduced total islet and beta-cell volumes of male mutants might emerge from disturbed postnatal islet neogenesis. Considering the lack of knowledge about the pathomorphology of maturity-onset diabetes of the young type 2 (MODY 2), this glucokinase mutant model of reduced total islet and total beta-cell volume provides the opportunity to elucidate the impact of a defective glucokinase on development and maintenance of beta-cell mass and its relevance in MODY 2 patients.


The hot sub-Saturn-mass exoplanet HAT-P-12b is an ideal target for transmission spectroscopy because of its inflated radius. We observed one transit of the planet with the multi-object double spectrograph (MODS) on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) with the binocular mode and obtained an atmosphere transmission spectrum with a wavelength coverage of $\sim$ 0.4 -- 0.9 $\mathrm{\mu}$m. The spectrum is relatively flat and does not show any significant sodium or potassium absorption features. Our result is consistent with the revised Hubble Space Telescope (HST) transmission spectrum of a previous work, except that the HST result indicates a tentative detection of potassium. The potassium discrepancy could be the result of statistical fluctuation of the HST dataset. We fit the planetary transmission spectrum with an extensive grid of cloudy models and confirm the presence of high-altitude clouds in the planetary atmosphere. The fit was performed on the combined LBT and HST spectrum, which has an overall wavelength range of 0.4 -- 1.6 $\mathrm{\mu}$m. The LBT/MODS spectrograph has unique advantages in transmission spectroscopy observations because it can cover a wide wavelength range with a single exposure and acquire two sets of independent spectra simultaneously.


In the present essay, we consider the origin of the dark energy, cosmological constant and the dark matter. The dark energy, is consequence of the annihilation of the matter antimatter at the very biginning of the big bang.This dark energy was the origin and cause of the cosmological expansion and the past and present creation of the whole space. We consider the presence of the call "dark" matter as consequence of highly exited hydrogen and helium Ridberg's atoms in perfect equilibrium with the CMB radiation. The cosmological constant is considered as an arbitrary ad hoc anti gravitational entity. Finally, we consider the Casimir effect, as a suitable and truly efficient physical method and a reliable resource in the experimental determination of the dark energy.


This paper describes a set of experiments on training and search techniques for development of a neural-network based continuous digits recognizer. When the best techniques from these experiments were combined to train a final recognizer, there was a 56% reduction in word-level error on the continuous digits recognition task. The best system had word accuracy of 97.67% on a test set of the OGI 30K Numbers corpus; this corpus contains naturally-produced continuous digit strings recorded over telephone channels. Experiments investigated the effects of the feature set, the amount of data used for training, the type of context-dependent categories to be recognized, the values for duration limits, and the type of grammar. The experiments indicate that the grammar and duration limits had a greater effect on recognition accuracy than the output categories, cepstral features, or a doubling of the amount of training data. In addition, the forwardbackward method of training neural networks was employed in developing the final network.


Scientific applications that involve simulation ensembles can be accelerated greatly by using experiment design methods to select the best simulations to perform. Methods that use machine learning (ML) to create proxy models of simulations show particular promise for guiding ensembles but are challenging to deploy because of the need to coordinate dynamic mixes of simulation and learning tasks. We present Colmena, an open-source Python framework that allows users to steer campaigns by providing just the implementations of individual tasks plus the logic used to choose which tasks to execute when. Colmena handles task dispatch, results collation, ML model invocation, and ML model (re)training, using Parsl to execute tasks on HPC systems. We describe the design of Colmena and illustrate its capabilities by applying it to electrolyte design, where it both scales to 65536 CPUs and accelerates the discovery rate for high-performance molecules by a factor of 100 over unguided searches.


Recent publications have shown that clock jitter can improve timing margin through the compensation effect between the clock cycle and the datapath delay under the influence of resonant supply noise. This paper presents a comprehensive study of this beneficial clock-data compensation effect including an analysis of its dependency on various design parameters and a new phase-shifted clock buffer design that can enhance the effect. Measurement result from a 1.2 V, 65 nm test chip shows an 8-27% increase in the maximum operating frequency while saving 85% of the clock buffer area compared to prior art. An accurate timing model is derived to estimate the beneficial jitter effect.


OBJECTIVES
We investigated whether oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer (OPC) incidence and mortality statistics among Hispanics in New York State differed from those among Hispanics in the United States as a whole.

METHODS
OPC incidence and mortality statistics for 1996-2002 were obtained from the New York State Cancer Registry and compared with national statistics released by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program for the same period.

RESULTS
Among Hispanic men, OPC incidence rates were approximately 75% and 89% higher in New York State and New York City, respectively, than national rates reported by the SEER program. No notable differences were identified among Hispanic women. Incidence rates among New York State Hispanic men were 16% higher than those of their non-Hispanic White counterparts. The difference was twice as high (32%) among Hispanic men in New York City. Mortality rates among both men and women exhibited patterns similar to the incidence patterns.

CONCLUSIONS
Ethnoregional differences exist in the incidence and mortality rates of OPC in the United States. New York State Hispanic men exhibit much higher incidence and mortality rates than US Hispanics as reported by the SEER program.


Unoccupied aerial systems (UASs) are frequently used in the field of fluvial geomorphology due to their capabilities for observing the continuum rather than single sample points. We introduce a (semi‐)automatic workflow to measure river bathymetry and surface flow velocities of entire river reaches at high resolution, based on UAS videos and imagery. Video frame filtering improved the visibility of the riverbed using frame co‐registration and averaging with a median filter. Subsequently, these video frames were incorporated with still images acquired by UASs into a structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry approach to reconstruct the camera poses (i.e. positions and orientations) and the 3D point cloud of the river reach. The heights of submerged points were further processed using small‐angle and multi‐view refraction correction approaches to account for the refraction impact. The flow velocity pattern of the river surface was measured using the estimated camera pose from SfM, the reconstructed bathymetric point cloud and the co‐registered video frames in combination with image velocimetry analysis. Finally, discharge was estimated at selected cross‐sections, considering the average surface velocity and the bathymetry. Three case studies were considered to assess the performance of the workflow under different environmental conditions. The studied river reaches spanned a length between 0.15 and 1 km. The bathymetry was reconstructed with average deviations to RTK‐GNSS point measurements as low as 1 cm with a standard deviation of 6 cm. If frames were processed with the median filter, the number of underwater points increased by up to 21%. The image‐based surface velocities revealed an average deviation to reference measurements between 0.05 and 0.08 m s−1. The image‐based discharge was estimated with deviations to ADCP references of up to 5%, however this was sensitive to errors in water‐level retrieval. The output of our workflow can provide a valuable input to hydro‐morphological models.


Empowering women through trade has been an objective of African regional economic communities since their creation. Yet, women across Africa are disproportionately more likely than men to feel the negative effects of trade liberalisation. This article offers a critical intervention into the debate on women and trade and examines the gendered and gendering nature of trade law and policy in historical and contemporary contexts. Women are situated as the central subject of inquiry and a comprehensive mapping of gender clauses in the constitutional legal texts of the RECs is presented to illustrate synergies and divergences in African gender-sensitive trade policies. A significant challenge facing Africa's future development strategies relates to the data gaps of women in their diverse roles, and especially as informal cross-border traders, and how these gaps contribute to the ongoing invisibility of women in trade policy. However, there are examples of progressive gendersensitive trade strategies in Africa, including the East African Community's Simplified Trade Regime and the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement's Non-Tariff Barrier Reporting, Monitoring and Eliminating Mechanism, that demonstrate how pragmatic responses to gender inequality can be formulated at the regional level. It is argued that an intersectional and multidimensional understanding of how women's experiences may converge and diverge in the context of trade policy is key to our understanding of how gender-sensitive trade can and should be framed. To conclude, this article submits that inclusive trade policies, which should incorporate both legally binding commitments and 'soft law' instruments, at the pan-African level must build on the progressive steps taken by some of the RECS and follow other innovations that are emergent at the multilateral level.


Electronic commerce (EC) has the potential to improve efficiency and productivity in many areas and, therefore, has received significant attention in many countries. However, there has been some doubt about the relevance of ecommerce for developing countries. The absence of adequate basic infrastructural, socio-economic and the lack of government national ICT strategies have created a significant barrier in the adoption and growth of e-commerce in developing countries. The study shows that, in order to understand the adoption and diffusion of e-commerce in developing countries, cultural issues need to be considered. In this paper, we present and discuss these issues hindering e-commerce adoption in developing countries.


Heterotrophic bacteria play a key role in the degradation of organic matter and carbon cycling in river sediments. These bacterial communities are directly influenced by environmental variables that differ spatially and temporally in rivers. Here, we studied the longitudinal patterns of sediment bacterial community composition and dissolved organic matter utilization under base flow and drought conditions in a Mediterranean river. Our results indicated that sediment microbial communities were affected by dissolved organic matter quality and origin along the river continuum. In headwaters the potential degradation of cellulose and hemicellulose was greater (i.e., higher β‐glucosidase and β‐xylosidase activities), suggesting higher microbial utilization of allochthonous detritus from terrestrial origin. Conversely, the accumulation and transport of more recalcitrant compounds (i.e., decrease in the recalcitrant index) became potentially relevant downstream. Furthermore, discharge fluctuations had clear effects on bacterial community composition and dissolved organic matter use. The hydrological fragmentation of the river continuum during drought period generated sediment microhabitats dominated by gamma and delta‐Proteobacteria, with a greater potential capacity to degrade a wide range of compounds, particularly nitrogen containing moieties. During base flow conditions, we observed a higher occurrence of alpha‐Proteobacteria and a greater potential use of more recalcitrant carbon compounds, mostly of terrestrial origin. Overall, our findings suggest an upstream‐downstream longitudinal transition of sediment microbial communities that rely on allochthonous to autochthonous dissolved organic matter, and a shift toward autochthonous dissolved organic matter reliance during drought.


This paper addresses the issue of transmission error (TE) evaluation. The motivation for writing this paper is the research on TE measurement and calculation, which focuses on finding a correlation between TE and the noise performance of spur gears. In the context of the study a research of an accurate description of the procedure for evaluating the TE waveform was carried out, but only incomplete descriptions were found. Therefore, the author tries to describe this problema according to the available sources and his own experience. The beginning of this article includes a description of what transmission error is and how it can be determined. The main part of this article, however, concerns developing a method for evaluating transmission error and introducing some new ideas on how to evaluate this magnitude more accurately.


Teaching models common to Australasia can be antithetical to those of its Asian neighbours. Australasian andragogy is a bottom-up student-centred mode of knowledge transmission promoting extroverted learning styles, whilst in Asia andragogy is commonly a top-down teacher centred model promoting introspective learning. Yet these teaching styles are in opposition to the cultural-systems attributed to Asia and the West. Such socio-cultural differences are recognised in this research as contributing to the difficulties international Built Environment undergraduates experience when asked to learn in multi-disciplinary collaborative teams. This paper presents the initial stages of a study currently running as a reflexive research program aimed at resolving these learning difficulties. The primary aim of this program is to inform a new culturally inclusive andragogy for design teaching. The outcome of the research questions are addressed through a triangulated analysis including: the formative appraisal of student satisfaction through questionnaires; the summative evaluation of student achievement through the analysis of grades and the assessment of knowledge and skills gained through the measure of student design projects; and illuminative evaluation through focus group discussions and the observation of tutorials.


Recently, the Frank-Wolfe optimization algorithm was suggested as a procedure to obtain adaptive quadrature rules for integrals of functions in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) with a potentially faster rate of convergence than Monte Carlo integration (and "kernel herding" was shown to be a special case of this procedure). In this paper, we propose to replace the random sampling step in a particle filter by Frank-Wolfe optimization. By optimizing the position of the particles, we can obtain better accuracy than random or quasi-Monte Carlo sampling. In applications where the evaluation of the emission probabilities is expensive (such as in robot localization), the additional computational cost to generate the particles through optimization can be justified. Experiments on standard synthetic examples as well as on a robot localization task indicate indeed an improvement of accuracy over random and quasi-Monte Carlo sampling.


Abstract : Handheld mobile technology is reaching first responders, disaster relief workers, and soldiers in the field to aid in various tasks, such as speech and image recognition, natural language processing, decision making, and mission planning. However, these applications are computation intensive, so it is necessary to consider that (1) mobile devices offer less computational power than conventional desktop or server computers, (2) computation-intensive tasks consume large amounts of battery power, and (3) networks in hostile environments, such as those experienced by first responders and soldiers in the field, are often unreliable, and bandwidth is limited and inconsistent. While there has been considerable research in code offload to the cloud to enhance computation and battery life, most of this work assumes reliable connectivity between the mobile device and the cloud an invalid assumption in hostile environments. This technical note presents a reference architecture for mobile devices that exploits cloudlets?virtual-machine-based, code-offload elements?that are in single-hop proximity to the mobile devices that they serve. Two implementations of this reference architecture are presented, along with an analysis of architecture tradeoffs.


This research examines the impact of macroeconomic shocks and political measures, including sanctions, imposed by western countries on trade flows, commodity compositions, and import-export flows to the Russian Federation. To this end, we use 2012-2016 panel date to produce gravity equations containing the determining features of Russia's import-export volumes of agricultural, raw material, and industrial goods. Our results confirm that macroeconomic shocks led to a significant reduction in trade. A conservative estimate of the marginal impact ranges between 9% and 34%, depending on the sector and the direction of trade. This study also shows that trade-restrictive measures made a significant contribution to trade reductions. Open diplomatic conflicts had a particularly negatively strong impact on Russia's trade with Ukraine and Turkey, and the marginal effect was in the range of 30%-50%. The introduction of a food embargo by Russia resulted in a significant reduction in agricultural imports from developed countries, although the decrease in Russian trade with this group in other sectors can largely be explained by the negative impact of macroeconomic shocks. These findings demonstrate that Russia's trade in some product groups has been reoriented to countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Eurasian Economic Union.


Typhoid fever and gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella enterica species are increasing globally. Pregnancy poses a high risk, but it is unclear how maternal immunity to infection is altered. In mice, susceptible strains die of S. enterica serovar typhimurium (ST) infection within 7 days whereas resistant mice (129 (cid:1) 1/SvJ) develop a chronic infection. We found that virulent ST infection during pregnancy, in normally resistant 129 (cid:1) 1/SvJ mice, evoked (cid:1) 100% fetal loss and surprisingly > 60% host fatality, with a median survival of 6 days. Splenic bacterial load was 1000-fold higher in pregnant mice. This correlated to a diminished splenic recruitment/expansion of innate immune cells: dendritic cells, neutrophils, and NK cells. In particular, the splenic expansion and activation of NK cells postinfection seen in nonpregnant mice was lacking in pregnancy. Most notably, pregnant-infected mice had decreased production of serum IL-12 and increased IL-6 levels. Moreover, uteroplacental tissue of pregnant-infected mice exhibited an (cid:1) 40-fold increase in IL-6 mRNA expression relative to noninfected placenta, whereas IL-12p40 was not increased. In vivo blocking of IL-6 significantly reduced the splenic bacterial burden in pregnant mice yet failed to prevent fetal loss. Fetal demise correlated to the rapidity of infection; by 14 h, ST expanded to > 10 5 in the placenta and had reached the fetus. Therefore, the preferential placental expansion of ST plausibly altered the inflammatory response toward IL-6 and away from IL-12, reducing the recruitment/activation of splenic innate immune cells. Thus, highly virulent pathogens may use placental invasion to alter systemic host resistance to infection. The Journal of Immunology, 2007, 179: 6088–6096.


In China, promotion of home purchase has since 1979 been one of the major housing policies. Guangzhou is in the vanguard of housing reform. In 1997 the Guangzhou government announced an innovative housing initiative - the Housing Allowance Scheme (HAS). To enhance home ownership, this scheme endeavours to eliminate completely the existing welfare 'in-kind' allocation system. Civil servants appointed after 30 September 1997 no longer receive state housing. Instead they are provided monthly housing allowances 'in cash'. This paper examines the feasibility of the HAS against its objective of 'home purchase'. It reviews welfare housing development in Guangzhou in the context of policy development, housing need, and housing investment and provision. It then gives a systematic account of the key features of the HAS in Guangzhou and discusses its possible shortcomings as well as offering recommendations. The concluding section gives further suggestions for policy change.


The novel idea of using rotifers Lecane inermis (Rotifera, Monogononta) as a tool to overcome activated sludge bulking generates an on-going need to study rotifer biology. The results of biological research on rotifers can serve to improve the method so that it can be most effective when applied in treatment plants. The aim of this study was to test the effect of temperature on four selected rotifer clones originating from different treatment plants. The rate of population development from a single individual (parthenogenetic female) during a 10-day experiment was measured at three temperatures: 8, 15 and 20 degrees C. The temperatures used reflect the annual temperature distribution in the majority of municipal wastewater treatment plants in the temperate zone. The growth rate coefficient (r) and doubling time (tD) were calculated for each clone. Under the most favourable conditions (20 degrees C), rvalues varied between 0.41 and 0.47 d and doubling time between 1.5 and 1.7 d. At a temperature of 15 degrees C, the doubling time was approximately two times longer (2.5-3.4 d). The strongest intraspecific variations were observed at the lowest temperature of 8 degrees C. At this temperature, one of the clones almost failed to proliferate, and another exhibited a doubling time of 7.9 d. The doubling times were a few times greater for the remaining two clones (60 d for Lk1, 33.3 d for Lk4). These results could be very useful in predicting the chances that the rotifers would survive in a biological reactor in a wastewater treatment plant at the temperatures used in these reactors.


Seroprevalence of Natural Rubella Antibodies among Antenatal Attendees at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya
Rubella is of public health importance because infection acquired during early pregnancy, often results in foetal abnormalities that are classified as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Congenital rubella syndrome occurs in up to 90% of infants born to women who are infected with rubella, during their first trimester of pregnancy.


Abstract Transfusional iron overload is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in thalassemia, sickle-cell disease and other chronic anemias. To overcome these problems, orally bioavailable iron chelators, deferiprone and deferasirox, were used for the treatment of patients suffering from thalassemia. The interactions between deferiprone and deferasirox with the carrier protein, β-thalassemia hemoglobin (Hb), were investigated using fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD) and UV-visible measurements at physiological condition. Strong fluorescence quenching on interactions of the above drugs with β-thalassemia Hb were observed. Fluorescence quenching data of thalassemia Hb in the presence of deferasirox have shown greater affinity of binding. The number of binding sites to Hb for deferasirox was found to be more relative to those of the deferiprone. The effects of these drugs on the oxygen affinity of the thalassemia Hb were studied by spectroscopic methods using sodium dithionite. Results indicated that deferiprone reduces oxygen affinity (increases oxygen releasing ability) of Hb, while in the presence of deferasirox, oxygen affinity of Hb has significantly increased by dose-dependent manner. As such, deferasirox exhibited opposite effect relative to deferiprone on the function of thalassemia Hb. In clinical dose of deferiprone, CD results showed that, the a-helical content of thalassemia Hb significantly increased. By use of the clinical dose of deferasirox, however, a decrease in α-helical content of protein was observed, which resulted in decreasing stability of thalassemia Hb. Our study showed that reduction in stability of thalassemia Hb in the presence of deferasirox induced higher conformational changes in protein.


Linking individuals to community resources in order to help meet health-related social needs, such as food, medications, or transportation, may improve clinical outcomes. However, little is known about the mechanisms whereby such linkage interventions might improve health. The authors conducted a mixed-methods analysis consisting of outcomes from a prospective cohort study of a linkage intervention and a qualitative analysis of case records from participants. The cohort study included intervention participants who first enrolled between December 2014 and March 2015. Participants were excluded if they could not complete the assessment because of illness or language. The authors examined changes in cost-related medication underuse (CRMU), transportation barriers, and food insecurity (FI). For the qualitative analysis, a random sample of 80 participants was selected for electronic health record review - 40 cases who showed clinical improvement (responders) and 40 cases who did not (nonresponders). Themes were extracted by 3 reviewers guided by the immersion/crystallization approach. For the cohort study, 141 individuals were included; 138 (97.9%) completed follow-up. Comparing baseline to follow-up, there were significant reductions in the prevalence of CRMU (from 44.2% to 39.1%, P = .003) and transportation barriers (from 46.3% to 30.2%, P = .001), but not FI (from 40.4% to 38.2%, P = .73). For the qualitative study, emergent themes that helped differentiate responders and nonresponders included acuity of need, resource availability/access, and adequacy of the resource utilized. CRMU and transportation barriers may be important mechanisms by which linkage interventions improve health-related social needs. Patient-centered themes can help guide intervention improvements.


Abstract Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a well-known declarative formalism in logic programming. Efficient implementations made it possible to apply ASP in many scenarios, ranging from deductive databases applications to the solution of hard combinatorial problems. State-of-the-art ASP systems are based on the traditional ground&solve approach and are general-purpose implementations, i.e., they are essentially built once for any kind of input program. In this paper, we propose an extended architecture for ASP systems, in which parts of the input program are compiled into an ad-hoc evaluation algorithm (i.e., we obtain a specific binary for a given program), and might not be subject to the grounding step. To this end, we identify a condition that allows the compilation of a sub-program, and present the related partial compilation technique. Importantly, we have implemented the new approach on top of a well-known ASP solver and conducted an experimental analysis on publicly-available benchmarks. Results show that our compilation-based approach improves on the state of the art in various scenarios, including cases in which the input program is stratified or the grounding blow-up makes the evaluation unpractical with traditional ASP systems.


Abstract. Chemical ionization (CI) mass spectrometers are used to study atmospheric nucleation by detecting clusters produced by reactions of sulfuric acid and various basic gases. These instruments typically use nitrate to deprotonate and thus chemically ionize the clusters. In this study, we compare cluster concentrations measured using either nitrate or acetate. Clusters were formed in a flow reactor from vapors of sulfuric acid and dimethylamine, ethylene diamine, tetramethylethylene diamine, or butanediamine (also known as putrescine). These comparisons show that nitrate is unable to chemically ionize clusters with high base content. In addition, we vary the ion–molecule reaction time to probe ion processes which include proton-transfer, ion–molecule clustering, and decomposition of ions. Ion decomposition upon deprotonation by acetate/nitrate was observed. More studies are needed to quantify to what extent ion decomposition affects observed cluster content and concentrations, especially those chemically ionized with acetate since it deprotonates more types of clusters than nitrate. Model calculations of the neutral and ion cluster formation pathways are also presented to better identify the cluster types that are not efficiently deprotonated by nitrate. Comparison of model and measured clusters indicate that sulfuric acid dimers with two diamines and sulfuric acid trimers with two or more base molecules are not efficiently chemical ionized by nitrate. We conclude that acetate CI provides better information on cluster abundancies and their base content than nitrate CI.


Extreme weather events are experienced more frequently across the earth due to the effects of climate change. The high frequency of extreme weather events increases vulnerability in sensitive areas. In the Mediterranean Basin, which is one of the most sensitive areas, many countries have experienced wildfires in recent years. Turkey is one of the countries where forest fires occur frequently in the Mediterranean basin. Although the causes of the fire vary over the years, the problems caused by forest fires draw attention every year. Since 1990, there have been many forest fires across the country and the most areal losses caused by the Fires occurred in 1994, 2000 and 2008. The largest forest fires after these dates occurred in the summer of 2021. The area where Turkey is most sensitive to fire is the Mediterranean climate region. Most of the fires, especially in this area, occur in an unnatural way such as negligence-accident, unsolved and intentional. The control mechanism in the spatial expansion of fires mostly depends on atmospheric conditions. Within the scope of the study, it was aimed to draw attention to the atmospheric conditions during the period of wildfires in many parts of Turkey in the summer of 2021 for various reasons. According to the calculations, the air temperatures before the start of the fire in the provinces of Antalya and Muğla are above the long-term averages of the stations here. In addition, the effects of the heat wave were observed at many stations before the fire.


This article puts forward "digital sexual publics" as an interpretive framework through which to understand do-it-yourself porn production and consumption practices that have recently proliferated on domestic and international digital platforms in China. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 12 Chinese porn producers and consumers, we explore the relationship between digital media use and lived experiences of sexuality. We identify three characteristics of digital sexual publics. The first is a hybridity of media, where "old" and "new" digital technologies coexist to produce an array of sexual representations that creatively negotiate with censorship. The second is the emergence of a truly "digital" intimacy that produces flexible public spaces to embody queer desires. The third is the digital sexual publics' ambivalent politics that at once transform sexual identities and constrain sexual imaginaries. Through these discussions, we direct attention to the situatedness of lived experiences of sexuality and advance the agenda of Asian porn studies by changing the focus from the existence and political significance of sexually explicit media to the transformations they bring to individual lives.


Since the first attempt to indict a corporation for gross negligence manslaughter in the 1920's, legal reform surrounding corporate manslaughter has been discussed in political and legal arenas. This research answers the question of whether missed opportunities of corporate manslaughter reform in England and Wales were inhibited by the same factors between 1912 and 1999.

This will be achieved using a legal research strategy that embraces doctrinal law, legal history and archival research which will in turn establish seven junctures of corporate manslaughter reform. By addressing the events and disasters that occurred around these seven corporate manslaughter reform opportunities, it will be shown that there are consistent factors which inhibited corporate manslaughter reform in the twentieth century.

The outcome of these findings is used to set out the methodological and epistemological stance associated with corporate manslaughter reform. Consequently, judicial reasoning and the use of post-disaster reactive legislation inhibited the type of legal reform considered at the expense of other opportunities which would have reflected the changing corporate structure of the twenty-first century.

The impact of those same features on preferred change resulted in the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 in April 2008.
Consequently, by evidencing the impact of judicial reasoning and post-disaster reactive legislation at particular of corporate manslaughter reform crossroads between 1912 and 1999, the research argues that the law will remain defective due to the lack of successful prosecutions against large corporations, despite the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Until the inhibiting impact of judicial reasoning and the use of post-disaster reactive legislation – which prevent corporate manslaughter reform – are addressed and overcome, it will not be possible to attain the ideal doctrine of corporate manslaughter reform and there will be no successful prosecution for the offence of corporate manslaughter regardless of the size, structure and type of corporation involved.


Cox, Matthew L. Miller, and Jeffrey A. Bloom. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2002, 576 pp. $69.96 (hardbound). A key ingredient to copyright protection, digital watermarking provides a solution to the illegal copying of material. It also has broader uses in recording and electronic transaction tracking. This book explains "the principles underlying digital watermarking technologies, describes the requirements that have given rise to them, and discusses the diverse ends to which these technologies are being applied." [book notes] The authors are extensively experienced in digital watermarking technologies. Cox recently joined the NEC Research Institute after a five-year stint at AT&T Bell Labs. Miller's interest began at AT&T Bell Labs in 1979. He also is employed at NEC. Bloom is a researcher in digital watermarking at the Sarnoff Corporation. His acquaintance with the field began at Signafy, Inc. and continued through his employment at NEC Research Institute. The book features the following: Review of the underlying principles of watermarking relevant for image, video, and audio; Discussion of a wide variety of applications, theoretical principles, detection and embedding concepts, and key properties; Examination of copyright protection and other applications; Presentation of a series of detailed examples that illustrate watermarking concepts and practices; Appendix, in print and on the Web, containing the source code for the examples; Comprehensive glossary of terms. "The authors provide a comprehensive overview of digital watermarking, rife with detailed examples and grounded within strong theoretical framework. Digital Watermarking will serve as a valuable introduction as well as a useful reference for those engaged in the field."—Walter Bender, Director, M.I.T. Media Lab


Abstract Objective: Asthma is usually misdiagnosed and under-treated in the elderly population, resulting in complications and increased severity to the patient. In this review, we describe some of the most important serum markers of asthma studied so far, reporting their outcomes and possible prediction of asthma in the elderly population. Methods: The PubMed electronic database was used to search for promising serum biomarkers of asthma studied in original articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to January 2013. Results: A total of 13 relevant serum biomarkers were selected, including IgE, CRP, high sensitive CRP, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17, TNF-α, neopterin, serum amyloid A, eosinophil cationic protein, leukolysin, YKL-40 and soluble CD86. Conclusions: Although the major focus of treatment and research has been on allergic asthma, several forms of the disease are recognized, such as neutrophilic asthma, which is characteristic of older patients. Different phenotypes imply different treatments and so it becomes important to correctly determine which type of asthma the patient is suffering from. Serum markers capable of supporting a diagnosis of asthma are needed in order to counter mistreatment and misdiagnosis with other obstructive airways disease (OAD) in elderly patients. As convenient as serum markers may seem to be, a marker capable of accurately identifying asthma with sufficient specificity is yet to be found.


An analytical surface potential model for the single material double work function gate(SMDWG) MOSFET is developed based on the exact resultant solution of the two-dimensional Poisson equation. The model includes the effects of drain biases, gate oxide thickness, different combinations of S-gate and D-gate length and values of substrate doping concentration. More attention has been paid to seeking to explain the attributes of the SMDWG MOSFET, such as suppressing drain-induced barrier lowering(DIBL), accelerating carrier drift velocity and device speed. The model is verified by comparison to the simulated results using the device simulator MEDICI. The accuracy of the results obtained using our analytical model is verified using numerical simulations. The model not only offers the physical insight into device physics but also provides the basic designing guideline for the device.


This study compared the responses of three proprietary chemically cured hybrid glass ionomer luting cements to compressive loading. These cements bear the trade names Advance, Fuji DUET and Vitremer Luting Cement, and are distributed and sold through ordinary domestic and international channels of dental commerce. The findings are as follows: 1. Advance, and Fuji DUET were stronger and stiffer than Vitremer Luting Cement. On the other hand, Vitremer exhibited the highest toughness. 2. The compressive properties of Advance were not affected significantly by increasing the specimen aging period to 28 days from seven days. 3. Prolonged aging of Fuji DUET and Vitremer specimens in a humid environment elicited significant changes in compressive strength and modulus of elasticity. Whereas the strength and elastic modulus changes for Fuji DUET were negative, the changes experienced by Vitremer were positive. 4. Extending the specimen aging period to 28 days from seven days did not affect significantly the toughness of either Fuji DUET or Vitremer Luting Cement. Relatively low elastic moduli limit the application of the chemically cured hybrid glass ionomers to the cementation of one- to three-unit cast fixed restorations.


This study describes the creation of a scale to measure standardization for service encounter process. Measuring standardization of service encounter process is devided into manual level and action level. We inves-tigate the relative impact of process standardization about service quality, job satisfaction and labor productivity. Our findings indicate that action level of service encounter process standardization is more important than manual level, and its process standardization positively affects service quality, job satisfaction and labor pro-ductivity positively.


Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most abundant neurotrophin, which contributes to the neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity. This study investigated the associations of BDNF polymorphisms at the 3 ʹ -untranslated region with risk and outcome of ischemic stroke in a Chinese Han population. Methods: 500 patients and 520 controls were enrolled for BDNF rs7124442 genotyping. The binding of miR-922 to BDNF rs7124442 was examined by luciferase assay; BDNF expression was assessed using qRT-PCR. Results: Alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, diabetes, hypertension (all P < 0.001) and higher serum triglycerides concentration (P = 0.009) were associated with an increased risk of developing ischemic stroke. After adjusted for age and sex, logistic regression analysis showed that IS patients harbored with rs7124442 TC genotype had a milder initial stroke (Dominant model: OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.25 – 0.81, P = 0.015), and also showed a better short-term recovery (Dominant model: OR = 0.39, 95% CI =0.24 – 0.68, P = 0.003). Furthermore, we found that co-transfection of hsa-miR-922 mimics with BDNF 3 ʹ -UTR containing the mutated allele C changed luciferase activity when compared to co-transfection with BDNF 3 ʹ -UTR containing the wild-type allele. Besides, patients carrying BDNF rs712444 TC or CC genotype had an increased level of BDNF compared with patients with the TT genotype. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that the SNP rs7124442 in BDNF 3 ʹ -UTR, through affecting the regulatory role of miR-922 in BDNF expression, might act as a protective factor for the outcome of patients with ischemic stroke.


Purpose To explore the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and retinochoroidal microcirculation in the Chinese population. Methods This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among the residents of Guangzhou, southern China. A commercially available optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) device was used to obtain the superficial vessel density (SVD) and deep vessel density in the retina and the choriocapillaris flow deficit (CFD) in the macular region. Univariable and multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the association of hyperuricemia and SUA levels with OCTA parameters. Results A total of 638 participants with normal SUA and 296 participants with hyperuricemia were included in the study. Parafoveal SVD was significantly reduced among the participants with hyperuricemia compared to participants with normal SUA (P < 0.001), while the parafoveal CFD was higher in hyperuricemic participants than those of normal SUA levels (P = 0.007). After adjusting for potential confounders, greater SUA levels was associated with lower SVD (β = −0.078; P < 0.001) and greater CFD (β = 0.015; P = 0.011). Gender difference analysis indicated that a 10-µmol/L increase in SUA levels among the female participants led to a 0.144 decrease in SVD (P < 0.001), but it was not statistically significant for the male participants (P = 0.653). Conclusions An elevated uric acid level and its fluctuations were independently associated with impaired retinal and choroidal microcirculation using OCTA in the study population. Women appear to be more sensitive to high SUA levels than men. Translational Relevance Elevating uric acid concentration may play a role in the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases through microvascular alteration, as demonstrated by OCTA parameters.