The study was focused on the assessment of effects of herbicide preparation Gardoprim Plus Gold 500 SC (terbuthylazine and S-metolachlor as active substances) on haematological and biochemical indices as well as tissue histopathological changes in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). Forty eight one- to two-year-old fish were divided into two groups, i.e. 24 fish were treated with 13.0 mg·l -1 of Gardoprim Plus Gold 500 SC and 24 fish were used in control. The experiment was conducted according to OECD method No. 203 Fish, Acute Toxicity Test. Experimental carp showed a significant decrease in leukocyte and lymphocyte counts (P < 0.01) and haematocrit value (P < 0.05) in haematological profile. In biochemical indices, a significant increase in glucose, aspartate aminotransferase, ammonia (P < 0.01), and lactate dehydrogenase (P < 0.05) and a significant decrease in inorganic phosphorus, triglycerides (P < 0.01), and chlorides (P < 0.05) were found in exposed carp compared to control. Histopathological examination revealed lesions in gills and liver. The decline in both leukocyte and lymphocyte counts indicates decreased nonspecific immunity of treated common carp. Increase in ammonia and glucose concentrations, and in catalytic activities of lactate dehydrogenase and aspartate aminotransferase can be related to stress burden, and alteration of liver cell function, respectively, in experimental carp compared to control fish. The study uniquely contributes to the evaluation of the effect of two-component herbicide preparation on common carp. Terbuthylazine, S-metolachlor, fish, acute toxicity


Pile installation is recognized to significantly disturb the surrounding clay and cause changes in total and effective stresses around the pile. In this thesis, a numerical model is used to simulate pile installation and subsequent pore pressure dissipation. Pile installation is modelled in Plaxis 2D by the expansion of a cylindrical cavity. The Modified Cam-Clay model is used as a constitutive model. Four different cases are studied, with soil parameters for normal and overconsolidated clay with low and high plasticity. The resulting effective stresses at the pile shaft, normalized by the undrained shear strength from Direct Simple Shear test, are similar for the four cases studied. The predicted consolidation time is shortest for the overconsolidated low-plastic case, and longest for the normally consolidated case with high plasticity. Close to the pile, the soil experience primary loading during dissipation of the excess pore pressure. Outside this zone, the soil experience unloading/reloading type stress changes and behave much stiffer. The radial effective stress at the pile surface decrease with increasing difference in stiffness in these two zones.


Background. The emergence of COVID-19 in March 2020 challenged Zimbabwe to mount a response with limited medical facilities and therapeutic options. Ivermectin (IVM) had by then been safely used to treat a variety of human diseases affecting millions, as noted by the Nobel Committee in awarding its 2015 prize for medicine. Based upon early clinical indications of efficacy against COVID-19, IVM-based combination treatments were deployed to treat this infection in Zimbabwe.Methods. Data were retrospectively analyzed for 34 severe COVID-19 patients treated with IVM-based combination therapy between August 2020 and May 2021, for whom pre- and post-treatment SpO2 values were all recorded on room air. Mortality and deterioration outcomes were also analyzed for a larger set of 92 severe COVID-19 patients receiving IVM-based treatment.Results: For the 34-patient SpO2 tracking series, all but two patients had significantly increased SpO2 values after the first IVM dose, and all patients recovered. Mean increases in SpO2 as percentages of full normalization to SpO2=97 were 55.1% at +12 hours and 62.3% at +24 hours post-treatment. These results paralleled similar sharp increases in SpO2, all on room air, for a series of 24 RT-qPCR confirmed, mostly severe COVID-19 patients in the USA (California) who were given IVM combination treatment, all of whom recovered. For 19 of those patients having SpO2 ≤ 90 prior to IVM, the mean SpO2 normalization at +24 hours post-treatment was 65.2% as calculated from the SpO2 values reported. For our larger series of 92 severe COVID-19 patients in Zimbabwe, median age 53, only two died and two more deteriorated prior to recovery, far less than a predicted 7 deaths and 17 deteriorations for the demographics and risk factors of these patients.Conclusions. The rapid, marked increases in SpO2 for both the Zimbabwe and California patients stand in sharp contrast to the decline in SpO2 and associated pulmonary function following onset of moderate or severe COVID-19 symptoms under standard care. These rapid SpO2 increases and low mortality rates support extended deployment of IVM treatment for COVID-19, complementary to immunizations for prevention.


Abstract. Hydroxylated glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (OH-GDGTs)
produced by both marine and freshwater thaumarchaea are increasingly used
for the reconstruction of past sea surface temperature (SST). They occur
throughout the modern Baltic Sea, but it is unknown if OH-GDGTs can be used for assessing past SST in this area, where salinity has changed
considerably over the Holocene. Three commonly applied OH-GDGT proxies for
SST reconstruction, i.e., the OH-GDGT%, RI-OH, and RI-OH′ indices, were tested using a thaumarchaeotal culture enriched from the Baltic Sea grown at 4 and 22 ∘C, as well as 12 surface sediments from the Baltic Sea and the adjacent Skagerrak. In the culture experiments all three proxies showed the expected response with the rise in temperature, but their absolute values were not always in line with existing marine core-top
calibrations, especially for the OH-GDGT% index. Of the two proxies based on the distribution of OH-GDGTs, the RI-OH index shows no increase with increasing mean annual SST, whilst the RI-OH′ index shows only
a linear correlation with SST when the sediments from the Bothnian Sea and
Bothnian Bay area, with a reduced salinity and increased lateral sediment influx, are omitted from the dataset. Two sedimentary Holocene records from the Arkona and Gotland basins were studied, the latter in high resolution. In the brackish phase of the Baltic Sea (the Littorina Sea stage), the
RI-OH′ index shows a good correlation with the TEX86L, an established temperature proxy in the Baltic Sea, and can be used to identify important climatic events. However, during the preceding Ancylus Lake phase the RI-OH′ (and RI-OH) index records values that are far too high, resulting in anomalously high SST estimates. This is probably because freshwater thaumarchaea adjust their OH-GDGTs differently, as has been shown for thaumarchaea in Lake Lugano's water column. In the Littorina Sea, Ancylus Lake, and Yoldia Lake phases of the Baltic basin, the record of the RI-OH′ index thus most likely reflects changes in both temperature and salinity. Overall, our study indicates that a reduced salinity increases the values of the RI-OH′ (and RI-OH) indices substantially, and this should be considered when applying these proxies in other settings.


One of the most important challenges involved in the formation flight of satellites is that of state estimation in terms of relative and inertial estimates. In near earth spacecraft GPS measurements are commonly used to solve this problem and for deep space missions the DSN is used. The objective of this paper is to determine sensitivities of relative state estimation errors to varying sensor quality in a GPS-denied environment. This paper considers a Chief-Deputy architecture that will travel in an elliptical orbit with a perigee in Low-Earth Orbit and an apogee in Mid-Earth orbit (MEO). While in the GPS-available zone, the Chief satellite will process GPS measurements to determine its state relative to the Earth-Centered Inertial (ECI) frame. Measurements are taken of range and range-rate of the Deputy relative to the Chief throughout the orbit and processed using an Indirect, Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The states being estimated are the position and velocity of each satellite, along with sensor biases. A Monte-Carlo simulation is developed to validate the consistency of the EKF covariance estimates. Only two satellites are considered for simplicity, though the formation can be expanded to include an arbitrary number of satellites. Following validation of the EKF, the covariance estimates are used to identify trends in relative state estimation for the two-satellite formation as a function of sensor parameters. Specifically, the sensitivity of state estimation to range and range-rate sensor quality is assessed by analyzing covariance as a function of range and range-rate bias. The resulting analysis provides a preliminary estimate of system performance, enabling the selection of system components to meet future mission requirements.


This work describes the fabrication of gas sensors using inkjet printing. Sensors were constructed by building up a film of sensing material, such as polyaniline, from aqueous nanoparticulate dispersions. These films were printed over patterned silver interdigitated array designs for the purposes of conductimetric analysis. Unlike screen printing or lithography, inkjet printing does not require stencils or masks, therefore allowing rapid design and prototyping. For this study, polyaniline and modified polyaniline sensors were inkjet printed and assessed for the purposes of gas sensing applications, specifically hydrogen sulfide monitoring.


The objective of this paper is to develop a self-learning cooperative strategy for robot soccer systems. The strategy enables robots to cooperate and coordinate with each other to achieve the objectives of offense and defense. Through the mechanism of learning, the robots can learn from experiences in either successes or failures, and utilize these experiences to improve the performance gradually. The cooperative strategy is built using a hierarchical architecture. The first layer of the structure is responsible for assigning each role, that is, how many defenders and sidekicks should be played according to the positional states. The second layer is for the role assignment related to the decision from the previous layer. We develop two algorithms for assignment of the roles, the attacker, the defenders, and the sidekicks. The last layer is the behavior layer in which robots execute their behavior commands and tasks based on their roles. The attacker is responsible for chasing the ball and attacking. The sidekicks are responsible for finding good positions, and the defenders are responsible for defending competitor scoring. The robots' roles are not fixed. They can dynamically exchange their roles with each other. In the aspect of learning, we develop an adaptive Q-learning method which is modified form the traditional Q-learning. A simple ant experiment shows that Q-learning is more effective than the traditional techniques, and it is also successfully applied to the learning of the cooperative strategy.


In this study, the natural and anthropogenic heavy metal (Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, and Co) pollution in coastal sediments near the city Trabzon which exhibits an increasing population and industrial activity in the Southeastern Black Sea Region, were investigated spatially and temporally. The sediment along the coast of Trabzon is influenced by three rivers, Degirmendere, Yanbolu, and Solakli, resulting in a spatial separation. The highest heavy metal sediment concentrations were measured in the section influenced by Solakli and the lowest at the sites affected by Yanbolu. Furthermore, a strong temporal trend was observed displaying the highest metal concentrations in autumn. With the purpose for determining the level of pollution, the methods of the factor of sediment enrichment factor, the index of pollution load, the index of geoaccumulation and sediment quality guideline were applied. Three research areas were heavily polluted by Cu, Pb, and Zn. These metals concentration in Solakli coastal region were found significant enrichment. Current concentration of these metals would be expected to frequently be associated with toxic effects on biota of coastal regions.


Introduction Harmful effects of medicines should be reviewed with similar rigour as therapeutic benefits. Most evidence on harms is obtained from post marketing surveillance, so the use of meta-analysis to pool safety information presents challenges of inherent biases and differences in study designs. Yet, it's crucial to provide an accurate safety profile of pharmacological interventions. We aimed to describe the data sources of published meta-analysis of adverse drug effects. Method We searched meta-analysis published in the last 5 years in six medical journals with the highest impact factor. All the meta-analysis focussing primarily on adverse effects of pharmacological interventions, with pooled results, were included and the characteristics assessed. Results A total of 61 meta-analysis were included, 16 were published in JAMA, 13 in Lancet, 11 in BMJ, 10 in Ann Intern Med, nine in Arch Intern Med and two in NEJM. Of these 90.2% (n=55) included only experimental studies, two included only observational studies and four meta-analysis comprised both type of studies. Less than half (47.5%; n=29) of the meta-analysis assessed the quality of the included studies according to specified recommendation statements, and only 18 (29.5%) considered unpublished studies. Conclusion The majority of meta-analysis of adverse drug effects included only experimental studies, less than half assessed their quality and few considered unpublished studies. These results reinforce the need for methodological research to clarify the role of meta-analysis in Pharmacovigilance and evaluate how to pool safety information from different surveillance methods, to provide an accurate safety profile of pharmacological interventions.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are highly suitable for target tracking. In such networks, node scheduling is critical in terms of energy consumption and tracking accuracy. A WSN consisting of nodes with multiple bearings-only sensing units is considered in this study and an adaptive approach for the scheduling of such a network is presented. The proposed method continually determines the minimum number of measurements each node should perform in order to keep the tracking error below a certain limit. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is utilized for target tracking. Tracking accuracy is formulated based on the nonlinear A-optimality measure. The node scheduling problem is reformulated as a linear binary mixed integer programming problem and solved in an online manner. Simulation results show that the proposed method results in less rms position error than the nearest node selection method, especially at the beginning of tracking when there is more uncertainty about the target state. With the same amount of energy consumption, the number of divergent tracks in this method is much fewer in comparison with those of the nearest node selection method.


It has been customary to explain the dentally beneficial effects of xylitol and certain other polyols in terms of microbiological effects only. The almost complete nonfermentability of xylitol in human dental plaque does contribute to the promising clinical findings that have been obtained both in human and animal trials. The nonfermentability or very low fermentability of xylitol by dental plaque leads to a number of consequential phenomena of possible significance in oral biology. The following are associated with the consumption of xylitol: a decrease in the production of lactic acid; the formation of soluble extracellular polysaccharides which make plaque less adhesive; an increase in the general nitrogen metabolism of dental plaque, this resulting in increased transamination and proteolysis with enhancement of the pool of free amino acids and the possibility of ammonia formation. When these effects are combined with the saliva-stimulating properties of xylitol (common to all sweet carbohydrates), the mechanism of the xylitol effect may be more adequately explained. A number of physicochemical facts have, however, received very little attention. They include the following: xylitol and other polyols strongly protect proteins and enzymes from denaturation; xylitol and other polyols seem to govern the precipitation reactions that occur in saliva or in saturated calcium phosphate solutions. The former reactions may play a role in carbohydrate-induced wound healing and the maintenance of the integrity of the oral defence mechanisms. The latter reactions may manifest themselves in the inhibition of spontaneous precipitation of calcium phosphate; thus these polyols may mimic the function of innate inhibitors, statherin, for example. The total explanation of the xylitol effect may thus comprise aspects that are related both to microbiology and to physical chemistry.


Stunting is a silent killer. It deprives a child of its right to grow, to thrive and to prosper. Today, stunting snatches away the opportunity of 156 million children to reach their full potential worldwide. It holds back the development of children, communities and countries. The price of stunting can be measured in cents and centimeters. The inexcusably high rates of childhood stunting in middle-and-low-income countries are one of the most serious threats to humankind that has escaped the world's attention for far too long. How will countries compete in what will certainly be a more digitalized global economy in the future when one out of four of their children do not have as many neuronal connections in their brains as children in other countries that they must compete with? Peru has shown to the world that the reduction in stunting can be accelerated through a country-wide engagement. And accelerating the reduction in stunting globally is what we need to ensure a bright future for all children. This report details how Peru's strong political commitment and good policies, coupled with economic growth, were the recipe behind breaking the cycle of poverty perpetuated by stunting. This experience demonstrates that investing in nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child is critical to crack the world's stunting crisis.


Amongst other features, it is the scaled design of this new DC servomotor, gearbox and encoder combination that contribute to this motor combinations particular suitability for Aviation applications. For a high torque DC motor requirement first we start at the load and work backwards with the shaft, gearing, motor, encoder and then the control method to create a servo gearmotor that is unique and most suited to the application. The newest range of DC motors from maxon motor, the DCX, allows the design engineer to individually configure the components in this fashion. For Aviation, especially for an application within a propeller or engine bay the motor is exposed to high vibration that requires a significantly robust shaft and bearing system. But the strength of the drive system often comes at the expense of the servo gear motors mass. With the new DCX configuration the gearhead shaft and bearing are optimised for high torque and vibration requirements at the output stage, while the input stage is stepped down in diameter as it only has to transmit lower torque levels – reducing the mass. Similarly the encoder is smaller at only 10mm in diameter and weighs less than 5 grams. Producing the most torque passible from the lightest motor system possible. Further reliability is achieved with Laser welding being used throughout the assembly process, at the bearing system, between the gearhead stages and even to assemble the motor and gearhead together.


In the continuing redefinition of the American West, few recent writers have left a mark as indelible as Cormac McCarthy. A favorite subject of critics and fans alike despite--or perhaps because of--his avoidance of public appearances, the man is known solely through his writing. Thanks to his early work, he is most often associated with a bleak vision of humanity grounded in a belief in man's primordial aggressiveness. McCarthy scholar Barcley Owens has written the first book to concentrate exclusively on McCarthy's acclaimed western novels: Blood Meridian, National Book Award winner All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain. In a thought-provoking analysis, he explores the differences between Blood Meridian and the Border Trilogy novels and shows how those differences reflect changing conditions in contemporary American culture. Owens captures both Blood Meridian's wanton violence and the Border Trilogy's fond remembrance of the Old West. He shows how this dramatic shift from atavistic brutality to nostalgic Americana suggests that McCarthy has finally given his readers what they most want--the stuff of their mythic dreams. Owens's study is both an incisive look at one of our most important and demanding authors and a penetrating analysis of violence and myth in American culture. Fans of McCarthy's work will find much to consider for ongoing discussions of this influential body of work.


RNA helicases play important roles in cellular processes such as pre-mRNA splicing, rRNA processing, ribosomal biogenesis, and translation. A full-length DEAD box RNA helicase cDNA (CfrHlc113) was isolated from the spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana. CfrHlc113 contained the eight functional motifs, which are highly conserved in the DEAD box RNA helicase family, and an arginine-serine-aspartate (RSD) domain at its N-terminal end. CfrHlc113 was highly homologous to Rattus norvegicus HEL117 and human prp5 genes, both of which are suggested to be involved in RNA splicing. The results of Northern and Western blotting showed that expression of the CfrHlc113 gene was low or undetectable in eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. High levels of expression were, however, detected in the three in vitro cultured cell lines, CF-203, CF-124T, and CF-70, which were developed from the midgut, ovaries, and neonate larvae, respectively. Immunocytochemistry revealed that CfrHlc113 protein was present exclusively in the nuclei of these cell lines.


For advanced imaging systems, e.g., projection systems for optical lithography, spatially varying aberration calibration is of utmost importance to achieve uniform imaging performance over the entire field-of-view (FOV). Here we present an efficient, accurate, and robust spatially varying aberration calibration method using a pair of 2-dimensional periodic pinhole array masks: the first mask in the object plane and the second mask in the image plane. Our method divides the entire FOV of the imaging system into partially overlapping subregions by using a measurement system consisting of an additional imaging system and a camera sensor. Each subregion, which covers several mask periods, is imaged onto a distinct camera pixel by the measurement system. Our method measures "Airy disc"-like patterns simultaneously in all subregions by scanning the second mask relative to the first mask over one mask p eriod. The number of subregions is equal to the number of camera pixels, and the sampling number of the measured patterns is equal to the scanning step number. The aberrations can be retrieved from the patterns measured in through-focus planes using an iterative optimization algorithm. In this paper, we performed experimental validation on a realistic lithography machine and demonstrate that our method is capable of retrieving the coefficients of 37 aberration terms, expressed as Zernike polynomials, with a sensitivity at nanometer scale. © 2019 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement


The article reveals the concepts and features of science parks as participants in civil legal relationships according to Ukrainian legal system. The article presents Ukrainian scientists who study the problems of functioning of scientific parks in the system of civil legal relations. The set of general theoretical concepts of understanding of the science park in Ukraine is also given in the article. The conclusion of the concept is summarized in the research and the science park is defined. The author proposes the following recognition of the concept that is studied: a science park is a legal entity created at the initiative of a higher education institution, a scientific institution and / or a partner of a science park by pooling contributions from founders to organize, coordinate, control the process of designing and executing science park projects. Particular attention is paid by author to the diversity of approaches to understanding the concept of science parks and the specific features of science parks. The researcher investigates the characteristics of the above legal entity in the legislation of Ukraine, as well as characterizes each of the features. The concept of understanding the science park as an entrepreneurial entity is also outlined in the research. The author is making a conclusion that these features according to Ukrainian law are: creation and registration in accordance with the procedure established by law; the ability to have civil rights and legal capacity; the right to be a plaintiff and defendant in court; the presence of organizational unity the opportunity to be independently responsible for property; the ability to speak on your own behalf in a civil circulation.


To explore the mechanical effects of the wing subjected to the aerodynamic loads and turbulence during the flight, this paper presents a finite element analysis of wing flexure deformation. Firstly, a large-aspect-ratio wing model is established. Taking material characteristics, wing structure and design principle into account, the assembly wing model consists of the thin skin, two spars and multi ribs. NACA2412 is chosen as the airfoil, because it shows a better aerodynamic performance according to the calculation. Two spars mainly bear the bending moment and shear force, which are made of titanium alloy to ensure sufficient rigidity. The skin and wing ribs are made of aluminum alloy in order to lighten the structural weight. Then, a modal analysis is applied. The natural frequencies and modal shapes of the first four orders are obtained through the pre-stress modal analysis, which provides data for further studies, especially the harmonic response analysis. The results of the modal analysis help designers to minimize excitation on the natural frequencies and prevent the wing from the flutter. Finally, a transient structural dynamic analysis is carried out. During the flight, the wing is mainly subjected to the structural gravity, component's point force and aerodynamic loads. By simulating multiple load distributions in ANSYS, the deformation, stress and strain of the wing are calculated. According to the results, designers can put emphasis on strengthening and testing the stress concentration area and large deformation area. The obtained deformation angle benefits the modeling of the wing flexure deformation to decrease the influence of wing flexure in transfer alignment. Overall, the simulation results show that the scheme is feasible and improve the informationization degree of the wing.


Two strains of C. neoformans var. gattii serotype B were isolated from a park in Buenos Aires city, Argentina. Samples were collected in spring, rubbing with swabs on the inner hollow of Eucalyptus spp. and other trees, which were not identified at the collection moment. Samples were swabbed directly onto cafeic acid with antibiotic agar, then incubated at 28 degrees C and observed daily for a week. Isolates were recovered from cafeic acid medium showing characteristic colonies of the species that allowed differentiation from other microorganisms of the sample. Identification was performed using carbohydrate fermentation, assimilation of nitrogen and carbon sources, and urease and phenoloxidase detection. Strain variety was determined with canavanine-glicine-bromotimol blue agar medium (CGB). Genotypic characterization using AP-PCR with (GACA)4 aleatory primer showed that both band profiles could be differentiated by only one band. These two strains were isolated from tree species different from Eucalyptus spp. These isolates from natural sources demonstrate that C. neoformans var. gattii efosts in Buenos Aires city environment and that it is not necessarily associated with Eucalyptus spp. The presence of C. neoformansvar. gattii in the environment, detected for the first time in Argentina, may explain its sporadic association with human infections in the local population.


Abstract: The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a simple eukaryote and an excellent model organism for molecular biology. In this study, a NaCl-resistant S. cerevisiae mutant obtained by inverse metabolic engineering was used as a model to investigate responses and resistance behavior to NaCl, LiCl, KCl, TMA, spermine and sorbitol stresses., at physiological and genetic levels. The physiological spot test results revealed that the NaCl-resistant yeast mutant showed higher resistance to LiCl and NaCl. Gene expression analysis by qRT-PCR revealed that ENA6 and NHA1 genes of the mutant were induced in the absence and presence of LiCl and NaCl. The dysfunction of Na+/H+ antiporters are related to several diseases such as hypertension, epilepsy, postischemic myocardial arrhythmia, gastric and kidney disease, diarrhea, and glaucoma. Thus, the NaCl-resistant yeast mutant could be used to understand cellular sodium and lithium resistance mechanisms and the function of Na+/H+ antiporters also in higher eukaryotic organisms, including humans. Key words: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, stress resistance, salt-resistance , lithium resistance, NHA1


Teaching and learning are never static processes, and in the sciences we are increasingly mindful of the constructivist learning paradigm. We accept that science education needs to change from teacher-centred teaching to student-centred learning, from passive learning to active learning and towards a blended learning situation that relies heavily on research-led teaching. Lately we have been asking how the newest developments on the Web can be used to achieve these goals. Direct publishing to the web and content aggregation tools such as blogs, wikis and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) are having a powerful effect on publishing. These are excellent tools for promoting ongoing dialogue. Because of their ability to provide thoughtful dialogue within a short time frame, they provide a platform within science education for discussion on current theories and recent discoveries and development. One excellent example of a blog being used in this way is Real Climate (http://www.realclimate.org/) with its ongoing discussion of global dimming and other issues of climate change. This paper aims to explore the various forms of direct publishing and content aggregation tools currently available to educators and the range of educational activities to which they are being applied. However, our search for examples of how blogs are being used in science research, science education and research into science education has not been very rewarding.


SIR,-The recent report of Drs P D McSorley and D J Warren (9 December, p 1598) raises an important question that has received too little investigation-namely, what is the role of the adrenergic beta-receptors in the peripheral circulation? The authors imply that the cardioselective beta-blocking drugs are preferable to the non-selective ones because they produce less vasoconstriction as a result of their lack of effect on peripheral vascular beta-receptors, and that this is undesirable in patients with peripheral vascular disease. I would like to propose some qualifications to their suggestions. One of the main reasons for thinking that beta-receptors are tonically active in man is the well-known observation that propranolol produces an increase in total peripheral resistence, for which the traditional explanation has been blockade of the betaadrenergic vasodilator effect. An objection to this interpretation, however, is the finding that the majority of reports on the acute haemodynamic effects of beta-blockers indicate that both selective and non-selective blockers share this property. Only during exercise is there a clear difference between the effects of the two types of beta-blockers on peripheral resistance. An alternative explanation for the vasoconstriction is that it is mediated reflexly by the alpha-adrenergic system; that sympathetic discharge is increased by acute beta-blockade is suggested by the finding that plasma norepinephrine rises.' Other lines of evidence pointing to a relatively minor role for the peripheral vascular betareceptors are, firstly, that direct intra-arterial infusion ofpropranolol has little effect on blood flow2; and, secondly, that non-selective and selective beta-blockers are equally good antihypertensive agents-if beta-adrenergic tone was of consequence one would expect that the cardio-selective blockers would be more effective. The next question is the role of vascular beta-receptors in peripheral vascular disease. In this context we are dealing with a fixed stenosis that produces a diminution of flow distally, resulting in ischaemia, particularly during exercise. Most of the available evidence indicates that maximal vasodilatation during exercise will occur regardless of the level of sympathetic stimulation,3 and that local metabolic changes are of paramount importance. Reactive hyperaemia in skin and muscle is largely independent of sympathetic tone.4 Thus sympathectomy and alphaadrenergic blockers have been found to be of little benefit in patients with intermittent claudication,5 and there is no reason to suppose that beta-adrenergic tone is more important than alpha-adrenergic tone in this regard. Furthermore, both selective and non-selective blockers appear to be equally effective in the treatment of angina6; only in some patients with Prinzmetal's angina does propranolol have an adverse effect as a result of its effect on vascular beta-receptors.7 If it is accepted that autoregulation is of greater importance than neural regulation of vascular tone in most ischaemic tissues, the adverse effects of beta-blockers in patients with peripheral vascular disease may be not so much because of their effect on vascular beta-receptors as their effect on cardiac output. If flow is already limited vasodilatation of ischaemic tissue is less likely to help.


REFERENCES 1. US Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General: Executive Summary. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, 2006. 2. Muller T. Breaking the Cycle of Children's Exposure to Tobacco Smoke. London: British Medical Association, 2007. 3. McNabola A, Gill LW. The control of secondhand smoke: a policy review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2009;6:741e58. 4. Brownson RC, Figgs LW, Caisley LE. Epidemiology of secondhand smoke exposure. Oncogene 2002;21:7341e8. 5. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Tobacco Smoke and Involuntary Smoking. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. vol. 83. Lyon, France: IARC, 2004. 6. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Some Industrial Chemicals and Dyestuffs. Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. vol. 29. Lyon, France: IARC, 1982. 7. Chang JS. Parental smoking and childhood leukemia. Methods Mol Biol 2009;472:103e37. 8. US Environmental Protection Agency. Toxicity and Exposure Assessments for Children's Health. Benzene TEACH Chemical Summary. http://www.epa.gov/teach/ chem_summ/BENZ_summary.pdf (accessed 31 Mar 2010). 9. Fustinoni S, Consonni D, Campo L, et al. Monitoring low benzene exposure: comparative evaluation of urinary biomarkers, influence of cigarette smoking, and genetic polymorphisms. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005;14:2237e44. 10. Lovreglio P, Barbieri A, Carrieri M, et al. Validity of new biomarkers of internal dose for use in the biological monitoring of occupational and environmental exposure to low concentrations of benzene and toluene. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 2010;83:341e56. 11. Protano C, Guidotti M, Manini P, et al. Benzene exposure in childhood: role of living environments and assessment of available tools. Environ Int 2010;36:779e87. 12. Haufroid V, Lison D. Urinary cotinine as a tobacco-smoke exposure index: a minireview. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 1998;71:162e8. 13. Vitali M, Ensabella F, Stella D, et al. Exposure to organic solvents among handicraft car painters: a pilot study in Italy. Ind Health 2006;44:310e17. 14. Manini P, De Palma G, Andreoli R, et al. Biological monitoring of low benzene exposure in Italian traffic policemen. Toxicol Lett 2008;181:25e30. 15. Henry RJ. Clinical chemistry principle and techniques (2nd edn). New York: Harper & Row, 1974. 16. International Agency for Research on Cancer. IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention, Tobacco Control: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Smoke-Free Policies. vol. 13. Lyon, France: IARC, 2009. 17. Kabir Z, Manning PJ, Holohan J, et al. Active smoking and secondhandsmoke exposure at home among Irish children, 1995e2007. Arch Dis Child 2010;95:42e5. 18. Borland R, Yong HH, Cummings KM, et al. Determinants and consequences of smoke-free homes: findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey. Tob Control 2006;15(Suppl 3):iii42e50. 19. Soliman S, Pollack HA, Warner KE. Decrease in the prevalence of secondhand smoke exposure in the home during the 1990s in families with children. Am J Public Health 2004;94:314e20. 20. Matt GE, Quintana PJ, Hovell MF, et al. Households contaminated by secondhand smoke: sources of infant exposures. Tob Control 2004;13:29e37. 21. Winickoff JP, Friebely J, Tanski SE, et al. Beliefs about the health effects of "thirdhand" smoke and home smoking bans. Pediatrics 2009;123:e74e9. 22. Invernizzi G, Ruprecht A, De Marco C, et al. Residual tobacco smoke: measurement of its washout time in the lung and of its contribution to secondhand smoke. Tob Control 2007;16:29e33. 23. Jarvis MJ, Mindell J, Gilmore A, et al. Smoke-free homes in England: prevalence, trends and validation by cotinine in children. Tob Control 2009;18:491e5.


Increased reticulospinal (RS) function has been observed to cause both positive and negative outcomes in the recovery of motor function after corticospinal lesions such as stroke. Current knowledge of RF function is limited by the lack of accurate, noninvasive methods for measuring RS function. Recent studies suggest that the RS tract may be involved in processing and generating Long Latency Responses (LLRs). LLRs, elicited by applying precisely controlled perturbations, can act as a reliable stimulus to measure LLR-related brainstem function using fMRI with high signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, we present StretchfMRI, a new technique that enables simultaneous recording of neural and muscular activity during motor responses conditioned by velocity-controlled robotic perturbations, which allows for direct investigation of the neural correlates of LLRs using fMRI. Via preliminary validation experiments, we demonstrate that our technique can reliably elicit and identify LLRs in two wrist muscles–FCR and ECU. Moreover, via a single-subject pilot experiment, we show that the occurrence of an LLR in a flexor and extensor muscle modulates neural activity in distinct regions of the brainstem. The observed somatotopic organization is in agreement with the double reciprocal model of RS function observed in animal models, in which the right medullary and left pontine reticular formation are responsible for control of the motor activity in flexors and extensors, respectively.


In the Master Thesis research is carried out into the influence of national culture on the implementation of knowledge management (KM) systems, as well as providing the actions which should be carried out for successful implementation. Research was conducted in the Ukraine and the Czech Republic.The Master thesis starts with an explanation of the problem area, a review of the main definitions necessary for understanding the studied field: foundation of national culture and knowledge management are reviewed. Relevance of the topic is explained by the fact that usually more attention is paid to knowledge sharing than its creation, and if we ignore the fact of national culture, the used theories may lead to a collapse of the system of knowledge management, as they should be modified from country to country.Theoretical framework contains a literature review with information about the concept of knowledge and how to create it within an organization, properties of the knowledge base from which stems knowledge management system and its development. Aspects of national culture and organizational models are also described.Typology of culture proposed by Geert Hofstede, is presented, which is taken as a basis for conducting the research. Individualism and Collectivism dimension from his typology are descried in detail. Because of widespread criticism of Hofstede's work, the main arguments "against" it were provided. Typologies of such researchers as Triandis, Kim, Kagitcibasi and Berry were reviewed to explain why they are not applicable to this study.Soft System Methodology, rich picture, is used to describe the process of implementing Knowledge Management Systems, as well as the processes required for solving problems and eliminating the identified barriers. Through Kotter's 8-Step Change Model reflected actions for implementing of Knowledge Management System and they are showing in rich picture what in addition with concomitant actions creates complete model for KM system implementation.As a philosophical worldview of the research, Social Constructivism was selected. For data collection, it was decided to create a survey which gave qualitative and quantitative data. Steps of survey creation and how it was delivered to respondents are explained, as well as data analysis and sampling methods. Paper provides practical application of gained knowledge. It explains identified barriers to the implementation of KM system, comparison of Ukrainian and Czech Republic companies in the context of KM, as well as KM on a national level. Described in detail is the creation of rich pictures which reflects the model of implementing KM System.While conducting the research it was proved that national culture affects the style of doing business and the process of implementing a knowledge management system in particular. In order to go deeper into the details of the differences that can exist between countries, the discussion talks about features of the national cultures in Europe, where research has been conducted, and Asia, as Chinese culture is one of the most influential countries.In conclusion, different levels of individualism are found in the studied countries. According to the results of the study and received data, it is safe to say that the question of the influence of national culture on the process of implementing a KM System exists and plays an important role. Opportunities for further research are given.


The aimed of this research was to know the role of gender on poultry farms. The location of this research was in Sidrap Regency, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The research was conducted in 2016. The sample were consisted of 15 of poultry farms, which were choosed through random sampling. The data were collected through observation and facetoface interview by using questionnaires. Socio economics of respondents and the role of gender, access, control, and benefit from poultry farms were explored. The data were analysed descriptively by using frequently distribution table. The results of this research showed that the role of gender on poultry farms majority was done together by both men and women, except building warehouse which was done by men. Keywordsgender, poultry farms, role,


CONTEXT
The United States has one of the highest fire fatality rates in the developed world, and three quarters of these deaths are in residential fires.

OBJECTIVE
To compare characteristics of those who die and those who survive in the same residential fire.

DESIGN
Data on fatal residential fires were collected from the medical examiner and interviews with local fire officials.

SETTING
North Carolina.

SUBJECTS
Persons in residential fires with at least 1 fatality in a 1-year period.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Dying vs surviving a fatal residential fire that occurred with more than 1 person at home.

RESULTS
Of the 190 decedents, 124 (65%) were male, 78 (41%) were home alone, and 69 (53%) of 130 adults who had blood alcohol measured were intoxicated (blood alcohol content >22 mmol/L [100 mg/dL]). Of the 254 persons present during fires in which more than 1 person was at home, 112 died. Individuals more likely to die (high-vulnerability group) were younger than 5 years or 64 years or older, had a physical or cognitive disability, or were impaired by alcohol or other drugs (risk of death for group, odds ratio [OR], 4.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.29-7.03). The presence of an adult with no physical or cognitive disabilities who was unimpaired by alcohol or other drugs (a potential rescuer) reduced the risk of death in the high-vulnerability group (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.24-0.99) but not the low-vulnerability group. Overall, a functioning smoke detector lowered the risk of death (OR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.18-0.83).

CONCLUSIONS
Smoke detectors were equally effective in both low- and high-vulnerability populations. The high-vulnerability group was more likely to survive if, in addition to a smoke detector, a potential rescuer was present. Further research should seek to identify prompts that facilitate speedy egress from a burning structure and that can be incorporated into residential fire alarm systems.


An empirical study investigated the association between testosterone and aggression in a sample of young male medical students: 101 volunteers completed the Aggression Questionnaire [Buss et al, (1992) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 63:452-459] and the Conflict Tactics Scales [Straus (1979) Journal of Marriage and the Family 41:75-88] and gave a blood sample to measure testosterone levels, Neither total testosterone nor the free androgen index correlated significantly with any of the aggression subscales (physical, verbal, anger, and hostility) or with the Conflict Tactics Scales measure, This finding applied to both Caucasian and Asian respondents. Since this was one of several null results among an overall finding of a positive association, a meta-analysis of previous studies involving student samples and those from aggression-prone populations was undertaken. A weighted mean of d =.40 was obtained from 18 studies, but no differences were found between the magnitude of effect in the two types of sample. Of several other study characteristics, only the source of the testosterone assay influenced effect size magnitude, those from salivary samples being higher than those from plasma samples.


Using the luminescent-histochemical methods, placenta was studied in 50 normal women with physiological pregnancy and in 35 patients in which the pregnancy progression was complicated by an antiphospholipid syndrome. The following bioamine-positive structures were identified in placenta: decidua, connective tissue and the blood vessels of chorionic plate, terminal villi containing capillaries, and syncytiotrophoblast. In antiphospholipid syndrome, the increase in histamine, catecholamine and serotonin luminescence intensity was detected in these structures. This increase was especially pronounced in histamine luminescence intensity.


We study the entanglement dynamics of discrete time quantum walks acting on bounded finite sized graphs. We demonstrate that, depending on system parameters, the dynamics may be monotonic, oscillatory but highly regular, or quasi-periodic. While the dynamics of the system are not chaotic since the system comprises linear evolution, the dynamics often exhibit some features similar to chaos such as high sensitivity to the system's parameters, irregularity and infinite periodicity. Our observations are of interest for entanglement generation, which is one primary use for the quantum walk formalism. Furthermore, we show that the systems we model can easily be mapped to optical beamsplitter networks, rendering experimental observation of quasi-periodic dynamics within reach.


: In previous studies racemic bucindolol was found to reverse the effects of pentobarbital-induced heart failure in anesthetized dogs. Reductions of right ventricular contractile force (RVCF), left ventricular (LV) dp/dt, and aortic blood flow (ABF) serve as indicators of depressed cardiac function in this model. In this study, racemic bucindolol (0.25 mumol/kg +0.25 mumol/kg/hr) again evoked pronounced and sustained stimulant effects on these depressed parameters. l-Bucindolol (0.125 mumol/kg +0.125 mumol/kg/hr) was a more effective stimulator of cardiac function than d-bucindolol in this model. l-Bucindolol elicited maximal increases in RVCF, ABF, LV dp/dt and heart rate of 66, 19, 30 and 11%, respectively. In comparison, d-bucindolol maximally increased these parameters only 20, 14, 12 and 4%, respectively. Total peripheral resistance was reduced 29% by l-bucindolol and 19% by d-bucindolol. The responses to l-bucindolol and racemic bucindolol were essentially the same. The myocardial stimulation and vasodilation profile derived from l-bucindolol (at one-half the molar dose of bucindolol) suggests the possible preference for its use in clinical management of congestive heart failure over bucindolol, the racemic compound. The results further suggest that l-bucindolol could also be used to treat hypertensive patients with depressed cardiac function.


Inflammatory cytokines initiate and sustain the perpetuation of processes leading to chronic inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Research into the cytokine biology of IBD has nurtured the dogmatic view that distinct immunotypes characterize different IBD subtypes. Recently, many biologics have emerged as the treatment options for IBD patients. Still, it is challenging to establish biomarkers for predicting their effectiveness because the cytokines that determine the IBD clinical phenotype vary in individual patients. Therefore, this study aims to explore critical molecules for optimizing treatment by analyzing inflammatory cytokines in the intestinal mucosa of IBD patients.

 From September 2019, to February 2020, patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) who underwent colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy, and the control group, patients who received colorectal polypectomy at our institution, were enrolled in the study. We took biopsies from inflamed ileal or colonic mucosa. We analyzed the gene expression of various inflammatory cytokines by real-time PCR using RT2 Profiler PCR Array (96-Well Format) Human Inflammatory Cytokines & Receptors (QIAGEN). Cytokines not included in this array were subjected to real-time PCR separately. Based on these data, we investigated the relationship between mucosal cytokines and clinical characteristics.

 The total number of patients was 23 (control 5, UC 12, CD 6) cases, the median age was 51 years (18–78), genders were fifteen males and eight females. Disease phenotype was divided into extensive colitis/ left-sided colitis/proctitis (10/1/1) in UC patients, and A1/A2/A3 (2/3/1), L1/L3 (2/4), B1/B1+p/B2/B3 (3/1/1/1) in CD patients. Seven patients were steroid-dependent, and six patients were refractory to the anti-TNFα agent. The higher gene expressions of CCR2/CXCL1/CXCL3/CXCL13, IL-8, IL-33, and SPP1 in inflamed mucosa of UC compared to those of CD (p<0.05). The positive correlation between Mayo score and IL-1R1 expression in intestinal mucosa was observed (r=0.68, p=0.028). The expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and oncostatin M (OSM) was higher in steroid-dependent UC patients, and the primary non-responders to anti-TNFα therapies had higher expressions of IL-7 in colonic mucosa than the secondary non-responders in UC.

 Our results suggest that UC exhibits different cytokine patterns in the intestinal mucosa from CD as reported previously. Exploration of cytokine expressions in the intestinal mucosa may lead to predicting refractory IBD. The identification of molecules that can predict therapeutic effectiveness helps to optimize IBD treatment in the future.


A quartz crystal microbalance with a dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) sensor was developed for highly sensitive and specific detection of adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP) by using an aptamer. The binding of ATP molecules on the aptamer films could be calculated as accurate mass changes using multiple frequency and dissipation measurements. The detection is achieved by calculating the mass changes from conformational rearrangements of the sensor surface upon interaction with the target. The sensor was demonstrated to respond to changes in ATP concentrations in real time suitable for continuous monitoring applications. This sensor showed excellent selectivity toward ATP compared with other chemically similar nucleotide GTP. The feasibility of the sensor was demonstrated by analyzing ATP concentrations in cell culture media with serum. The maximum frequency change was about −2 Hz after injection of 500 μM ATP. The affinity constant of the aptamer was determined to be 49 ± 7.59 μM. The proposed sensor can extend the application of the QCM-D system in medical diagnosis, and could be adopted for the detection of other small molecules with the use of specific aptamers.


Molecular adducts (1a–1e) of 4,4′-bipyridine N,N′-dioxide, 1, respectively with cyanuric acid, trithiocyanuric acid, 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene (phloroglucinol), 1,3-dihydroxybenzene (resorcinol) and 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid have been reported. The major interactions observed in the structures 1a–1e are N–H⋯O, N–H⋯S, O–H⋯O and C–H⋯O, in the form of homomeric and heteromeric patterns of the constituents, either as a single or cyclic hydrogen-bonded motifs. While in the adduct 1a, both homomeric and heteromeric units of both the constituents were observed, no heteromeric interactions were observed in 1b and 1c. In addition, in 1b, homomeric aggregation of molecules of 1 occurred in association with water molecules. However, while heteromeric interactions prevail between the constituents in 1d and 1e, only one of the co-crystallizing species gave homomeric interactions (4,4′-bipyridine N,N′-dioxide in 1d; 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid in 1e). Further, in either type of the patterns, the cyclic motifs are formed as a pair-wise hydrogen bonds comprising of strong and weak hydrogen bonds (N–H⋯O/C–H⋯O or O–H⋯O/C–H⋯O). In three-dimensions, the ensembles of molecules yield planar sheets, ladders and pseudorotaxane type assemblies.


Aiming at the difficult question of flaw qualitative analysis during industrial ultrasonic testing, a method of flaw classification based on the combination of wavelet packet transform (WPT) with artificial neural network (ANN) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, WPT is applied to feature extraction of ultrasonic flaw echo signals, and then BP neural network (BPNN), RBF neural network (RBFNN) and probabilistic neural network (PNN) are respectively used to perform flaw classification by means of the features. To validate the method above, some experiments of feature extraction and flaw classification are performed utilizing a series sample of butt girth welds of seamless steel tube with four types of welding flaws, such as crack, stomata, incomplete penetration and slag inclusion. The results show that the accuracy of flaw classification by three kinds of neural networks respectively reached to 91.25%, 92.50% and 93.75%, and the better classification effect is obtained.


In recent years, not only governance, but also civil society has been a veritable growth industry both in politics and academia. Depending on the author, organised civil society was associated with expectations of increasing input or output legitimacy. With regard to the EU, participation of civil society organisations are officially seen as a means of bridging the gap between the EU and its citizens, as materialised in the EU-discourse of participatory democracy. On the basis of an extensive literature review, the article examines the place of organised civil society in EU policy-making processes, in particular in the following policy fields: social affairs, health, consumer protection, environment, and trade as well as in the Convention process. It does so by evaluating the democratic core norms of participation, representation and accountability and comes to disillusioning conclusions. The inclusion of organised civil society contributes little to the democratic legitimacy of the EU and is instrumental to institutional power games of the European Commission and the European Parliament. Worse, the Commission, through its consultation practices, may be contributing to an aggravation of the democratic deficit. Furthermore, there is little empirical evidence that would confirm the normative expectations of deliberative democracy.


The Roxbury conglomerate is a heterogeneous formation composed of conglomerate, sandstone, shale, and interbedded volcanic rocks. The coarseness of the conglomerate and the occurrence of tillite in the overlying Squantum formation have suggested considerable relief in the regions from which the sediments were derived. New data indicate that the Roxbury conglomerate was deposited on a surface of high relief. In the Nantasket area the relief was not less than 565 feet, and was presumably at least 845 feet. In the Hingham area the Roxbury conglomerate increases in thickness within less than a mile from 1340 feet in the southern part to 3440 feet or more in the northern part. This is interpreted to mean that in Carboniferous time there was a relief of not less than 2100 feet, with slopes of fourteen degrees or more.


In 1987, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission funded a two-year project designed to improve religious archives in the New York metropolitan area. The Archivists of Religious Institutions, a regional group responsible for administering the grant, developed a coordinated program of workshops, consultation reports, and cooperative endeavors in order to address the peculiar problems of smaller repositories. The results illustrate the difficulties of interinstitutional cooperation, weaknesses in traditional archival training methods, and the profession's failure to address realistically the nature, role, importance, and uniqueness of smaller archives.


ABSTRACT The aim of the study is to explore outdoor play activities and outdoor environment of early childhood education in Turkey by presenting findings from a qualitative metasynthesis of research. The data was derived from 20 studies done in Turkey. Content analysis was performed to examine how outdoor play and activities in Turkish preschools were conceptualized and justified by teachers, parents, and children. The result showed three themes: (1) A prominent theme is the main actors of the studies' subjects, namely the teachers, parents, and children. (2) The studies are based on different dimensions of theoretical perspectives which can be grounded in developmental, pedagogical, sociological, and ecological dimensions. (3) Finally, an emerging theme is related to the accessibility of outdoor spaces, the quality, and adequacy of these existing spaces.


Under the analytical framework of sustainable livelihoods, we establish the evaluation indicator system for farmers' livelihood capital, to evaluate the current livelihood capital and livelihood diversification for different farmers in the Dai nationality region of Xinping County in the Yuanjiang dry-hot river valley area, and discuss the relationship between livelihood capital and livelihood diversification. Studies have shown that the mode dominated by agriculture, supplemented by non-agricultural activities, combined with breeding, is the commonly used livelihood strategy for farmers in this region. As farmers change from pure agriculture to non-agriculture, their total livelihood capital and non-agriculture livelihood diversification index will increase, while agricultural livelihood diversification index will increase. In the meantime, their livelihood activities gradually shift from agricultural to non-agricultural ones, which is mainly reflected in the combination of both agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Regression analysis on livelihood capital and livelihood diversification shows that natural and physical capital is the basis of realizing agricultural livelihood diversification. Farmers with rich natural and physical capital will prefer agricultural livelihood strategies. While financial and human capital is driving force for farmers' transition from pure agriculture to non-agriculture.


Objective To determine long-term vascular outcomes of Asian patients who experienced TIA or minor ischemic stroke and to compare the outcomes of Asian patients with those of non-Asian patients, in the context of modern guideline-based prevention strategies. Methods This is a subanalysis of the TIAregistry.org project, in which 3,847 patients (882 from Asian and 2,965 from non-Asian countries) with a recent TIA or minor ischemic stroke were assessed and treated by specialists at 42 dedicated units from 14 countries and followed for 5 years. The primary outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal stroke, and nonfatal acute coronary syndrome. Results No differences were observed in the 5-year risk of the primary outcome (14.0% vs 11.7%; hazard ratio [HR], 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88–1.37; p = 0.41) and stroke (10.7% vs 8.5%; HR, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.90–1.51; p = 0.24) between Asian and non-Asian patients. Asian participants were at higher risk of intracranial hemorrhage (1.8% vs 0.8%; HR, 2.23; 95% CI, 1.09–4.57; p = 0.029). Multivariable analysis showed that the presence of multiple acute infarctions on initial brain imaging was an independent predictor of primary outcome and modified Rankin Scale score of >1 in both Asian (HR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.11–3.29; p = 0.020) and non-Asian (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.02–1.90; p = 0.037) patients. Conclusion The long-term risk of vascular events in Asian patients was as low as that in non-Asian patients, while Asian participants had a 2.2-fold higher intracranial hemorrhage risk. Multiple acute infarctions were independently associated with future disability in both groups. Classification of Evidence This study provides Class I evidence that among people who experienced TIA or minor stroke, Asian patients have a similar 5-year risk of cardiovascular death, stroke, and acute coronary syndrome as non-Asian patients.


Visual analogue scales (VAS) for overall and individual joint pain at rest and on movement were completed by 105 patients with polyarthritis as part of a study of the relationship between overall pain and pain in individual joints. Not all subjects recorded pain on a conventional VAS although all had at least 2 painful joints on movement. At best only 25% of the variance in overall pain was explained by pain in individual joints. Our findings suggest that conventional overall measures of pain in arthritis may neglect aspects of pain experience which relate to individual joints and to pain on movement.


The topic of human activity modeling and recognition still provides many challenges, despite receiving considerable attention. These challenges include the large number of sensors often required for accurate activity recognition, and the need for user-specific training samples. In this paper, an approach is presented for recognition of activities of daily living (ADL) using only a single camera and microphone as sensors. Scene analysis techniques are used to classify audio and video events, which are used to model a set of activities using hidden Markov models. Data was obtained through recordings of 8 participants. The events generated by scene analysis algorithms are compared to events obtained through manual annotation. In addition, several model parameter estimation techniques are compared. In a number of experiments, it is shown that if activities are fully observed these models yield a class accuracy of 97% on annotated data, and 94% on scene analysis data. Using a sliding window approach to classify activities in progress yields a class accuracy of 79% on annotated data, and 73% on scene analysis data. It is also shown that a multi-modal approach yields superior results compared to either individual modality on scene analysis data. Finally, it can be concluded the created models perform well even across participants.


An alternative configuration of the laser wake-field accelerator is proposed in which enhanced acceleration is achieved via resonant self-modulation of the laser pulse. This requires laser power in excess of the critical power for relativistic guiding and a plasma wavelength short compared to the laser pulse length. Relativistic and density wake effects strongly modulate the laser pulse at the plasma wavelength, resonantly exciting the plasma wave and leading to enhanced acceleration.


Business management and, more generally, decision makers, are increasingly aware of the importance of corporate social responsibility and ethical choices within the strategic business vision. The number of tools (e.g., board of directors, organization actions), levers (e.g., cultural, social example of direct boss) and rules (e.g., protocols, certifications, law decrees) available, however, makes it difficult for management to identify the set of best practices to be adopted within its own organization. Further, the task is even more difficult when management is called upon to choose these tools for life-long learning programs intended for company staff as well as for new hires. The Italian Association for Managerial Training has promoted a survey that pays particular attention to the «ethical choices» and «behaviors» to be adopted in the organization's management and their training programs. The results of the survey have been modelled through «Carroll's conceptual framework» that, as known, is made of two parts: the most cited CSR pyramid and the least mentioned, but equally important, descriptive types of management. In this work, it has been employed a two steps multivariate analysis, employing an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). EFA has been used to identify Carroll's descriptive types (or profiles), while SEMs were employed to verify the plausibility of the causal models that represent, in turn, thought experiments simulating «ethical dilemmas» useful for the company's management during its decision making. The models identified, readable in the form of simple «heuristics», are interpreted in the light of Carroll's «descriptive types» of management (i.e., moral, immoral and amoral). Thereby, any organization, even of a small size, interested in adopting «sustainable policies», can make use of the identified models to establish which guidelines can be adopted by the management during her/his decision making, and, according to Carroll, «to isolate the ethical or moral component of CSR and relate it to perspectives that reflect the three major ethical approaches to management», with the overall objective of managing with «stakeholders in an ethical or moral fashion».


This paper studies the economic assimilation of North Korean refugees settled in the South. Do the North Korean refugees get assimilated into the labor market in the South at all? If yes, how fast is the assimilation? More specifically, what is the initial wage gap at the entry between refugees and native workers with identical observable characteristics? How does the gap change as time passes? For the purpose, we analyze the unique survey data set constructed for this study. The cross section survey has detailed retrospective information not just on labor market activities of the refugees, but also on their economic life while still in the North. The survey covers about 700 adult refugees. For the comparison of the refugee workers with the natives, the survey data set are combined with the 2002 wave of the Korea Labor Institute Panel Study (KLIPS). In comparison to the assimilation of immigrant workers in the US, initial wage gap seems much larger for the North Korean refugee workers, but also closes at a higher rate than is the case in the US. The disconcerting finding is that the gap in employment probabilities is also large in the Korean context, and takes a long time to close, especially for female refugee workers.


Given that risk perception has been found to be both a vulnerability and a protective factor with respect to consumption, the objectives of this study were to find out whether there exist specific patterns of risk perception associated with cannabis use and, if so, how they relate to cannabis consumption and to the sources of information on drugs accessed by young people. An ex post facto study was carried out with 1851 young Andalusians aged 18 to 29, using an adaptation of the Andalusian Government "Andalusian Population versus Drugs" survey. For the first objective, a cluster analysis was carried out in which three perceptual style groups were formed: "Strict", "Permissive-Awareness" and "Lax". Cannabis use in the "lax" group was found to be 14.31 times more frequent than in the "strict" group and 2.75 times more frequent than in the "permissive-awareness" group. A logistic regression analysis was also performed, which correctly predicted 80.4% of users and non-consumers. Correlation was found between perceptual styles and the sources of information used about drugs. This study identified three different risk perception styles that heavily correlated to cannabis consumption and to the type of sources young Andalusians use to obtain information about drugs, suggesting the need for a change in preventive policy.


Evaluations of different technologies and solutions for indoor localization exist but only a few are aimed at the industrial context. In this paper, we compare and analyze two prominent solutions based on Ultra Wide Band Radio (Pozyx) and Ultrasound (GoT), both installed in an industrial manufacturing laboratory. The comparison comprises a static and a dynamic case. The static case evaluates average localization errors over 90 s intervals for 100 ground-truth points at three different heights, corresponding to different relevant objects in an industrial environment: mobile robots, pallets, forklifts and worker helmets. The average error obtained across the laboratory is similar for both systems and is between 0.3 m and 0.6 m, with higher errors for low altitudes. The dynamic case is performed with a mobile robot travelling with an average speed of 0.5 m/s at a height of 0.3 m. In this case, low frequency error components are filtered out to focus the comparison on dynamic errors. Average dynamic errors are within 0.3–0.4 m for Pozyx and within 0.1–0.2 m for GoT. Results show an acceptable accuracy required for tracking people or objects and could serve as a guideline for the least achievable accuracy when applied for mobile robotics in conjunction with other elements of a robotic navigation stack.


The idea of teacher growth and development as a continuum that spans a teaching career offers a framework to guide the creation of new standards and assessments, Mr. Wise and Ms. Leibbrand maintain. Looking ahead to the 21st century - what will the school, the teacher, and the student be like? Linda Darling-Hammond provides a glimpse of what is possible in her vignette describing "Elena." What policies do we need to put in place and what strategies should we use to bring this transformation about? States have been implementing reforms in teaching and teacher preparation during the 13 years since the release of A Nation at Risk. Thousands of pieces of legislation have been passed, often producing little of the intended effect. Legislators and policy makers now realize that piecemeal attempts at reform will not provide a cure for a system that was designed for America's past. They recognize that the expertise of the teacher is the most important school-based factor in determining student achievement. In looking at teacher development as part of a continuum, preservice preparation is the beginning point. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), as the accrediting organization for schools of education, functions as the profession's quality-assurance vehicle in this first phase of the continuum. What reforms are taking place in teacher preparation that are fundamentally changing its traditional structure? How do these changes support changes in licensing and the advent of board certification? The state also plays a clear role through its process of program approval. NCATE's partnership program with 40 states strengthens the rigor of its review of schools of education. How might partnerships between NCATE and the states eventually alter the processes of program approval and accreditation? The next step is a prolonged clinical phase of preparation, during which the teacher is granted a beginner (or conditional) license and receives extensive clinical assistance. This proposed phase would continue teacher preparation at least through the first year of teaching, during which the beginning teacher is evaluated for competence to practice independently. This proposal, now in various stages of development in school districts and states, will require a change in the traditional paradigm of teacher preparation. Once that model is amended to include extended clinical preparation, policy makers will develop new rules and regulations to govern state licensing. Such an extension will expand teachers' roles, as experienced teachers serve as mentors and evaluators of beginning teachers. Professional development schools or yearlong internships in which the beginner is mentored extensively may start to function as settings in which beginning teachers are evaluated continually during the year as they move toward professional licensure. Looking at the third phase of the continuum, National Board certification will be an important form of recognition for many teachers, including those who wish to enlarge their roles by becoming mentors to beginning teachers. The National Board has developed performance-oriented standards and assessments in various content areas. It has thus focused attention on teacher performance. How does certification through the National Board alter the education needs of teachers? How might teacher preparation change as a result of the existence of National Board certification? In the following pages, we explore these issues. Accreditation Standards As a Lever for Reform, 1987-96 The public and policy makers are demanding performance-oriented standards and assessments to determine what teachers (and students) know and are able to do. As the states move ahead in developing performance-oriented licensing systems, teacher preparation will be profoundly affected. How can we expect new teachers to perform well on meaningful, performance-oriented licensing examinations if they have not had adequate preparation? …


Brightness distribution of variable stars was investigated based on good Hipparcos parallaxes of semiregular variables (SRVs) in the solar neighborhood, and it is shown that the order of the variability types Lb, SR, SRb, SRa, and Mira is, statistically, an order of increasing brightness along the red giant branch and asymptotic giant branch. In addition, it is also shown that the majority of Miras are above and majority of SRVs are below the tip of the red giant branch. The periods of SRVs that fall in Wood's sequence C (fundamental mode) of large Magellanic clouds were identified. Statistically, the order of SR, SRb, and Mira variables with increasing period and increasing absolute magnitude is the same in six infrared (IR) band wavelengths. The slope of the P-L relation for SR $+$ SRb variables in sequence C increases systematically with wavelength in the near IR. This indicates that circumstellar IR emission increases with increasing period from the shorter period SRVs to Miras, which is consistent with the high mass loss rate found in long period Miras. (J-K)-M$_{K}$ diagram suggests that the sequence Lb, SR, SRb, SRab (emission), and Mira may be an evolutionary sequence.


The Colombian health system has two main types of agents: the insurers and the service providers, which interact with each other through bilateral contracts. The types of contracts that these agents can write is restricted to a limited menu established by the regulator. The two most prevalent types of contract in the data are, by far, capitation contracts and fee-for-service contracts, which distribute risk and incentives differentially across both parties. We use a detailed data set of services and payments of all insurers and service providers at the individual user level to study the determinants of contract choice and their effect on health outcomes of a large sample of patients with chronic diseases. We focus on patients who are identical at the type of diagnosis, except for the contract type under which they are served, and show that capitation contracts are strongly correlated with lower rates of return to emergency care and lower rates of reincidence, compared with fee-for-service contracts. Both types of contracts lead to statistically different treatment paths. These results are consistent with contract theory and the economics of asymmetric information. Moreover, we show that the contract type depends on the market power of insurers and providers as predicted by a bargaining model. More generally, the results highlight the relevance of vertical contracts for the performance of health systems.


Connexin (Cx) protein forms hemichannels and gap junctional channels, which play diverse and profound roles in human physiology and diseases. Gap junctions are arrays of intercellular channels formed by the docking of two hemichannels from adjacent cells. Each hexameric hemichannel contains the same or different Cx isoform. Although homomeric Cxs forms have been largely described functionally and structurally, the stoichiometry and arrangement of heteromeric Cx channels remain unknown. The latter, however, are widely expressed in human tissues and variation might have important implications on channel function. Investigating properties of heteromeric Cx channels is challenging considering the high number of potential subunit arrangements and stoichiometries, even when only combining two Cx isoforms. To tackle this problem, we engineered an HA tag onto Cx26 or Cx30 subunits and imaged hemichannels that were liganded by Fab-epitope antibody fragments via atomic force microscopy. For Cx26-HA/Cx30 or Cx30-HA/Cx26 heteromeric channels, the Fab-HA binding distribution was binomial with a maximum of three Fab-HA bound. Furthermore, imaged Cx26/Cx30-HA triple liganded by Fab-HA showed multiple arrangements that can be derived from the law of total probabilities. Atomic force microscopy imaging of ringlike structures of Cx26/Cx30-HA hemichannels confirmed these findings and also detected a polydisperse distribution of stoichiometries. Our results indicate a dominant subunit stoichiometry of 3Cx26:3Cx30 with the most abundant subunit arrangement of Cx26-Cx26-Cx30-Cx26-Cx30-Cx30. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the molecular architecture of heteromeric Cx channels has been revealed, thus providing the basis to explore the functional effect of these channels in biology.


COordinated Responsive Arrays of Surface-Linked polymer islands (CORALS) allow for the creation of molecular surfaces with novel and switchable properties. Critical components of CORALs are the uniformly distributed islands of densely grafted polymer chains (nanoislands) separated by regions of bare surface. The grafting footprint and separation distances of nanoislands are comparable to that of the constituent polymer chains themselves. Herein, we characterize the structural features of the nanoislands and semiflexible polymers within to better understand this critical constituent of CORALs. We observe different characteristics of grafted semiflexible polymers depending on the polymer island's size and distance from the center of the island. Specifically, the characteristics of the chains at the island periphery are similar to isolated tethered polymer chains (full flexible chains), while chains in the center of the island experience the neighbor effect such as chains in the classic polymer brush. Chains close to the edge of the islands exhibit unique structural features between these two regimes. These results can be used in the rational design of CORALs with specific interfacial characteristics and predictable responses to external stimuli. It is hoped that this the discussion of the different morphologies of the polymers as a function of distance from the edge of the polymer will find applications in a wide variety of systems.


This paper aims to put forward a financial risk early warning model for quoted company, which is an important for modern company management. Firstly, the index system for financial risk early warning is given, which includes 1) Macro-economy, 2) Governmental capabilities, 3) Foreign trade, 4) Currency risk, 5) Financial institutions liquidity risk, and 6) Financial institutions operational risk. Secondly, financial risk early warning model based on radial basis function neural network is illustrated. For the radial basis function neural network, widths and centroids should be fixed, and then weights are obtained through solving a linear equation. Particularly, in our proposed model, nearest neighbor clustering algorithm is exploited to choose the centroids of clusters. Finally, experiments are conducted to make performance evaluation. Compared with other methods, we can see that the proposed is effective to tackle the problem of financial risk early warning for quoted company.


: Scientific and productional experiments and complex investigations were carried out on breeding eggs, chick embryos, newly hatched birds, and ecologic habitats of two broiler dressing combines. It was found that the basic reasons for the morbidity and mortality of chicks in the first days following hatching were: the eggs chosen for hatching were of a lower biologic value due to deficient feeding (1); the veterinary, sanitary, and hygiene requirements with regard to the production, shipping, storing, and hatching of breeding eggs were overlooked (2); the little birds were offered feed mixtures of low value, along with admission of other drawback in their feeding (3); during the first days of raising the birds were kept at lower temperatures and lower relative humidity on the premises.


ABSTRACT
Purpose-Assertive communication skill is the ability to express feelings and
thoughts clearly and honestly without offending others.Students' behavior such as
being afraid of disappointing others, liked or accepted, or hurting someone else's
feeling make students difficult to express their thoughts and feelings. This
research aims to enhance students' skills in assertive communication.
Method-This research applied Research and Development approach.The sample
of this study were of20 students of grade XI IPA 3 SMA Al Islam 1 Surakarta.
The subjects wereselected purposively from 40 students with low average scores
of assertive communication skills.
Findings-From the results of pretest-posttest, the students' assertive
communication skills improved. It was indicated by the results of quantitative
analysis by Mann-Whitney U test showing the z values -2.981 and probability (p)
0.003 (α <0.05) and Wilcoxon T test showing the z values -3.922 and probability
(p) 0.000 (α <0.05). It meant that Assertivensess Training was effective to
enhance students' assertive communication skills.


"Caravan" was the second �folkmusic fanzine� created by the novelist Lee (Hoffman) Shaw in the Greenwich Village section of New York City in 1957. Like her original effort called "Chooog 2-5", "Caravan" was originally produced on typewriter and mimeograph (on the cheapest paper imaginable), then distributed "FREE FOR THE ASKING" at Izzy Young's Folklore Center on MacDougal Street and during Sunday afternoon picking parties in Washington Square. It quickly became the paper of record for the burgeoning folk music revival.


Objective To establish a simple and accurate method for rapid detection of lamivudine related mutations in hepatitis B virus (HBV) polymerase gene. Methods HBV polymerase gene fragments of covering B and C active region were amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) or nested mismatched PCR. The PCR products were digested with Nde Ⅰor NIa Ⅲ and subjected to electrophoresis on agarose gel,respectively. The patterns of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were distinguished. Using this method,thirty patients with chronic hepatitis B and treated with lamivudine for at least one year were analysed for the lamivudine related mutations in polymerase gene. Sixteen cases without lamivudine therapy were used as controls. Some of the patients were also analysed by clone sequencing. Results The nested mismatched PCR-RFLP method was simple,accurate and rapid. The whole experiments could be finished in eleven hours. The least titers of HBV DNA which could be detected was 10 3 copies/ml. The wild or mutant strains judged by RFLP were identified by clone sequencing. Mutation in the tyrosine-methionine-aspartic-aspartic acid (YMDD) motif of HBV polymerase gene was found in eight patients and mutations of YMDD motif associated with L526M were found in another three patients. However,there were no such mutations in the control cases. Conclusions The nested PCR-RFLP is considered as a simple and accurate method for rapid detecion of lamivudine related mutations in HBV polymerase gene. It is suitable for larger number of sample detection.


Overwintering legume-based catch crops (LBCCs) may play an important role in ecological intensification of agricultural production, especially in low-input systems like organic farming. The emerging concept of ecological intensification (or sustainable intensification) calls for new approaches to produce sufficient food with little environmental impact. Aimed at environment-friendly food production, organic farming may be a good candidate approach to meet the challenges of ecological intensification. Nitrogen (N) is a major constraint of crop yield in organic cropping systems due to restrictions of inorganic fertiliser input. LBCCs are capable to take up N from both the soil and the atmosphere (i.e., via biological N fixation (BNF)), and thus may act as an important source of N in crop rotations, enhancing crop yields but maybe also emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O, a potent greenhouse gas), in particular after soil incorporation of residues, which needs further evaluation.

The main focus of this thesis was to investigate the effects of contrasting catch crops (i.e., legume-based vs. non-legume-based) on N2O emissions and N availability to succeeding organic spring barley. Therefore, a one-year field plot study was performed to monitor the N2O fluxes and to investigate the N supply as influenced by three LBCCs compared with two non-LBCCs and a bare fallow control on a loamy sand soil in Denmark. Catch crops may be harvested before winter for other purposes, e.g., used as winter fodder or in anaerobic digestion, which may emphasise the importance of root residues in N supply. Hence, the consequences on N supply and N2O emissions of autumn harvest of catch crops were also compared with incorporation of whole-plants by spring tillage in this study. Along with the field study, an in-situ 15N labelling experiment in microplots was conducted to quantify the biological N fixation (BNF) in LBCCs and the recovery of the labelled residue N in spring barley with separate manipulation of top and root residues. Moreover, the period after residue incorporation is a "hot moment" for N2O emissions from the soil. In a laboratory incubation study, N2O evolution from simulated incorporation of catch crop residues was studied under controlled environment with addition of 15N-enriched nitrate. By this way, the contributions of denitrification and nitrification to N2O fluxes were estimated, which is necessary to better understand the underlying processes of N2O emission and to develop specific mitigation strategies.

Compared to non-LBCCs, LBCCs accumulated significantly more N, of which more than half was derived from BNF as shown by 15N dilution. The higher amounts of N accumulation in LBCCs increased the yield of the following spring barley markedly, which was negatively affected by autumn harvest of catch crops. The macro-roots at 0–18cm of the five catch crops tested accounted for 31–50 % of the total plant N, which was a substantial source of N and usually underestimated. The results of separate turnover of 15N-labelled tops and roots indicated that the root of LBCCs alone increased N supply of the following spring barley by ca. 20 kg N ha–1 compared with non-LBCCs or bare fallow, and a similar effect can be expected with the top residues of LBCCs.

With respect to the annual emission of N2O, it was comparable among all catch crop treatments, of which the highest emission was from fodder radish with 74–84 % of the annual emissions observed during winter in this treatment. In comparison with spring incorporation, autumn harvest of catch crops did not influence the annual emissions of N2O, but tended to induce greater emissions in winter and lower emissions after spring tillage. These results highlight the importance to monitor N2O fluxes over extended time periods to cover seasonal variations, in particular when including winter catch crops in a crop sequence. Although the 28-day laboratory study clearly showed a faster and greater release of N and N2O after incorporation of LBCC residues than that of perennial ryegrass, we did not observe greater annual emissions from LBCCs in the field. With addition of 15N-enriched nitrate, the incubation study revealed that denitrification was the dominant source of N2O after residue amendment at water-filled pore space of 40–60 %, and the emissions were affected by the interaction between residue quality and soil inorganic N status.

In summary, LBCCs have the potential to replace partly the effect of manure application in organic rotations to promote crop production without increased environmental impact in terms of N2O emissions, and thus contribute to ecological intensification in organic farming. The 15N-labelling study in microplots showed similar or even higher capacity of soil N extraction by LBCCs than non-LBCCs, indicating potential effectiveness on reduction of N leaching loss. However, direct evidence needs to be documented. Moreover, further studies of the complex underlying processes and controlling factors of N2O emissions after incorporation of organic residues are important. Researches on different soil types and over longer periods are also necessary before a wider adoption of using LBCCs. Species selection and management of catch crops would affect the N availability and N2O emissions, which also relies on smart decisions by farm managers to suit local conditions of soil, climate and resources.


A testing system is constructed by connecting two parallel mechanisms in series to assess the performance of the 6-DOF parallel stabilized platform. In addition, a conception, the kinematic isolation factor, is proposed to describe the capability of the parallel stabilized platform and is combined with the kinematic influence coefficient method to form the first and second order influence coefficient matrixes as well as the velocity and acceleration expressions. The definition of the kinematic isolation factor simplifies the establishment of the kinematic equations, and the acceleration formula especially appears a concise format. These kinematic equations are solved according to a certain turbulence signal of a moving carrier, and the results indicate that the kinematic isolation factor describes the parallel stabilized platform's capability that it correctly compensates the motion of the carrier and evince that the testing system effectively evaluates the performance of the parallel stabilized platform.


Existing temporal action detection (TAD) methods rely on a large number of training data with segment-level annotations. Collecting and annotating such a training set is thus highly expensive and unscalable. Semi-supervised TAD (SS-TAD) alleviates this problem by leveraging unlabeled videos freely available at scale. However, SS-TAD is also a much more challenging problem than supervised TAD, and consequently much under-studied. Prior SS-TAD methods directly combine an existing proposal-based TAD method and a SSL method. Due to their sequential localization (e.g, proposal generation) and classification design, they are prone to proposal error propagation. To overcome this limitation, in this work we propose a novel Semi-supervised Temporal action detection model based on PropOsal-free Temporal mask (SPOT) with a parallel localization (mask generation) and classification architecture. Such a novel design effectively eliminates the dependence between localization and classification by cutting off the route for error propagation in-between. We further introduce an interaction mechanism between classification and localization for prediction refinement, and a new pretext task for self-supervised model pre-training. Extensive experiments on two standard benchmarks show that our SPOT outperforms state-of-the-art alternatives, often by a large margin. The PyTorch implementation of SPOT is available at https://github.com/sauradip/SPOT


Activity of ammonia synthesis catalyst in the Haber-Bosch process is studied for the case of feeding the process with intermittent and impurity containing hydrogen stream from water electrolysis. Hydrogen deficiency due to low availability of renewable energy is offset by increased flow rate of nitrogen, argon, or ammonia, leading to off-design operation of the Haber-Bosch process. Catalyst poisoning by ppm levels of water and oxygen is considered as the main deactivation mechanism and is evaluated with a microkinetic model. Simulation results show that catalyst activity changes considerably with feed gas composition, even at exceptionally low water contents below 10ppm. A decreased hydrogen content always leads to lower poisoning of the catalyst. It is shown that ammonia offers less flexibility to the operation of Haber-Bosch process under fluctuating hydrogen production compared to nitrogen and argon. Transient and significant changes of catalyst activity are expected in electrolysis coupled Haber-Bosch process.


Abstract Various experimental and theoretical methods have been employed to study the effectiveness of two pyrazoline derivatives namely, 2-(4-(5-(p-tolyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)phenoxy)acetic acid (P1) and 2-(4-(5-(4-nitrophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)phenoxy)acetic acid (P2) as corrosion inhibitors for mild steel in 1.0 M HCl at 303 K. The inhibitors show high inhibition efficiency and their adsorption on mild steel surface was found to obey Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Potentiodynamic polarization results revealed that both compounds behaved as mixed-type inhibitors. The results from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies reveal an increase in polarization resistance. Density Functional Theory calculations and molecular dynamic simulations were used to give basic insights into the action mode of inhibitors as well as to substantiate the experimental results. The surface morphology of the mild steel surface was examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy.


Taking its cue from the rather strange book by the Protestant Minister Mumma Albert Camus and the Minister, which claims that shortly before he died Camus wished to be baptised, this paper reopens the case of Camus and Christianity. All Camus' public pronouncements on Christianity indicate he had more differences with Christians than common interests – although there had always been Christians who saw a fellow spirit in Camus, not least in his depiction of Christian fanatics. Moreover, Camus himself insisted upon the need for a pagan revival, and he tended to represent Christians, along with Marxists, as metaphysically obsessed with the future at the expense of life here and now. This paper argues that Camus' representation of paganism was more mythic than real, and that his writing is far more in keeping with what the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig, picking up on Schelling's term, called Johannine Christianity. Such a form of Christianity, whose founding father is Goethe, is a post-Protestant, 'wall-less', non-institutional, symbol-less faith in hope that remains true to the command to love the neighbour.


Since the thirteenth century, longstanding connections between tariqa (Sufi Orders) and Malay Sultanates brought new Islamic knowledge and practices which were fused with local traditions. The coming of Islam also brought the nobat musical ensemble and religious-related musical practices. From the court of Pasai, North Sumatera, the ensemble later spread to other parts of the Malay world and was still played in the succeeding Aceh sultanate in the early seventeenth century. Evidence for this exists in the court manual, Adat Aceh, which details the use of music in royal religious processions and the practice zikir by the Sultan and his subjects. The Sufi spiritual performativity continued in the 1980s at the court of Perak with the introduction of the Naqshbandi Haqqani tariqa, where certain devotional-musical practices such as zikir, qasida, and mawlid were occasionally performed. However, the nobat was not used in these Sufi practices but replaced by percussion-based musical ensembles. Both these Naqshbandi Sufi tariqa were theologically contested, and their esoteric doctrines were considered blasphemous by those with religious power. This article examines the parallel existence of two Malay sultanates in different times, their connections to branches of Sufi tariqa, musical practices and the contestations that ensued.