To reduce emissions of air traffic, future aircraft will install hybrid-electric propulsion systems. We require the load conditions over the time in service, to design these aircraft. In this paper, we propose a mission profile for a regional aircraft with a hybrid-electric propulsion system. We focused on regional aircraft, which are in service in Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK). The reference aircraft ATR72-600 is a turboprop aircraft with a capacity of 70 passengers. To propose a mission profile, we have analyzed more than 6000 flights of four different aircraft of the same type. Input data is provided by online databases, which collect flight data. We are able to show that the maximum available power is needed for about 52 seconds during takeoff and climb phase of the flight. The median flight time is 59 minutes and 30 seconds. The average required power is 53% of the maximum power. The average traveled distance is 407km, which is less than one third of the aircraft's maximum reach. These findings are needed for calculating the lifetime of drivetrain components of a hybrid or all electric aircraft. In our further work, we will design an electric machine for regional aircraft. This mission profile will be used to design different power train components.


A number of special purpose vessels in the world carried or carry the name of Alexander von Humboldt, who had substantial interests in oceanography. However, most of his marine texts are scattered over his major works, and he never finished his manuscript on ocean circulation. But there is a general agreement that A. v. Humboldt was one of the pioneers of marine sciences. He made his own observations on the sailing vessels he used on his expedition to the Neotropics, mainly concerning sea surface temperatures.

In 2002 there was a discussion in Germany about the name of a new research vessel which is going to be commissioned in the summer of 2004. It was suggested by the science community to take the name of "Alexander von Humboldt" again, as the new vessel is replacing a medium-sized ship with this name operated now by the Baltic Sea Research Institute in Rostock-Warnemunde.

This vessel has been in service from 1970 to 1990 for the Academy of Sciences of the former German Democratic Republic. The first German research vessel "Alexander von Humboldt" was a fishing trawler (1939). Furthermore, Peru and Mexico operate research vessels bearing Humboldt's name.

The best known "Alexander von Humboldt" is an ocean going sailing ship of the International Sail Training Association, based in Bremen. She is engaged in educational programmes and went the South America in 1999 following Humboldt's route. Thus, Humboldt's marine legacy is preserved. The proposal to use the undisputed name of this great all-round scientist for the new German vessel under construction now was not successful. A high-ranking jury decided to prefer "Maria Sibylla Merian" (1647-1717), which was suggested by a young student in a nation-wide competition to find a name. As Humboldt 100 years later, she went to South America to study plants and other fields of natural history.


Recent advances in the area of plane segmentation from single RGB images show strong accuracy improvements and now allow a reliable segmentation of many indoor scenes into planes. Nonetheless, fine-grained details of these segmentation masks are still lacking accuracy, thus restricting the usability of such techniques on a larger scale in numerous applications, such as inpainting for Augmented Reality use cases. We propose to enhance deep learning based methods with classical model-based approaches by aligning the segmented plane masks with edges detected in the image. This allows us to increase the accuracy of state-of-the-art approaches, while limiting ourselves to cuboid-shaped objects. Our approach is motivated by logistics, where this assumption is valid and refined planes can be used to perform robust object detection without the need for supervised learning. Results for two baselines and our approach are reported on our own dataset, which we made publicly available. The results show a consistent improvement over the state-of-the-art. The influence of the prior segmentation and the edge detection is investigated and finally, areas for future research are proposed.


Deep Learning technologies show promise for dramatic advances in fields such as image classification and speech recognition. Deep Learning (DL) is a class of Machine Learning algorithms that involves learning of multiple levels of features from data to build a model. One of the open questions in DL is whether up-to-date models can be built and provide dealing with dynamic and large volumes of new data created. This requires addressing how models can be consistently constructed and updated (incremental learning) in a scalable manner. Current research and practices of DL do not fully support these important features, such as distributed learning or incremental learning to an extent that is required. The objective of this thesis is to provide a solution to this problem by building a framework that is distributed and incremental in nature. In the DL-DI framework, a learning problem is composed of two stages: Local Learning and Global Learning. In the local learning stage, a learning problem is divided into several smaller problems. These smaller problems are solved using an optimized original solution for a better local performance. The learning outcomes from the local learning stage, such as predictions and activations, will feed into the global learning. A feed forward deep neural network is used in global learning. The presented framework focuses mainly on image classification problems, but this can be applied to several other learning problems. The proposed framework is implemented in TensorFlow, an open source machine learning library developed by Google, with the capability of building deep neural networks using parallel GPU computations. To support the effectiveness of the DL-DI framework, we have iv evaluated the DL-DI framework on image classification using Softmax Regression and Convolutional Neural Networks on MNIST, CIFAR10 datasets. The evaluation results have verified that the DL-DIS framework supports distributed incremental Deep Learning while achieving a reasonably high rate of prediction accuracy.


AIMS
Superior sinus venosus atrial septal defect (SVASD) is commonly associated with partial anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (PAPVD). We aimed to describe the first series of percutaneous SVASD and PAPVD correction using a two-step simulation for procedural planning.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Patients with SVASD and right PAPVD with a clinical indication for correction were selected. They underwent an ex vivo procedural simulation on a 3D-printed model followed by an in vivo simulation using balloon inflation in the targeted stent landing zone. The percutaneous procedure consisted in deploying a 10-zig custom-made covered stent in the SVC-RA junction. Five patients were referred for preprocedural evaluation and were deemed suitable for percutaneous correction. The procedure was successful in all patients with no residual interatrial shunt and successful redirection of the pulmonary venous drainage to the left atrium. At a median clinical follow-up of 8.1 months (2.6-19.8), no adverse events were noted, and all patients showed clinical improvement. During follow-up, transthoracic echocardiography and multidetector cardiac tomography in four patients or invasive angiography in one patient demonstrated a patent SVC stent, and no residual SVASD and unobstructed PV drainage in all patients.

CONCLUSIONS
In selected patients using a two-stage simulation strategy, percutaneous correction of SVASD with PAPVD is feasible and safe, and led to favourable short-term outcomes.


In this project, performance analysis of IMC (Internal Model Control) based Cascade Control and comparative study of 1DF (One-Degree of Freedom) and 2DF (Two-Degree of Freedom) IMC controller has been discussed. Based on considerations about the expected operational modes of the inner loop as well as outer loop controller are selected from the 1DF and 2DF IMC control system. A design method for both 1DF and 2DF IMC systems have been designed with ideal models which provide the greatest probable performance compatible with noisy measurement for intrinsically stable processes. An important thing is that for designing of IMC controllers is the capability to show the time response of the loop transmission. The MATLAB and SIMULINK software has been used for designing of the 1FD and 2DF controllers, where the controllers and processes has been performed in the blocks. The 1DF control systems present the IMC design methods for intrinsically stable linear processes where the disturbance arrives directly into the process output. The 2DF control systems are used for stable processes or for inherently unstable processes where the disturbances proceeds over a lag or over a lag the process whose process time constants are in the order of lag time constants of the process or greater than the process lag time constant . In IMC cascade systems, to obtain the best set-point tracking and disturbance rejection the cascade control inner loop must be designed and tuned such as a 2DF controller


Research has shown that athletes who sustain injury often experience negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, and depressed mood, and that a negative psychological state can have a detrimental effect on injury rehabilitation and return to sport. For the most part, researchers have focused on athletes who have experienced short to moderate term injuries. Few have addressed long-term injury rehabilitation (LTIR). This thesis focuses on athletes who had experienced season ending injuries. Each athlete (3) was interviewed (four times) and invited to participate in psychological interventions (e.g., psycho-educational and cognitive behavioural) throughout LTIR lasting at least nine months. Athletes' experiences are reported as long, narrative case studies. While the case studies explore four broad themes (affect, coping, social support, and psychological interventions) the overall narratives articulate the coherence and discord among athletes' LTIR experiences (e.g., the positive and negative consequences of social support, life stress, pain, affect; the value of psychological interventions; the therapeutic aspect of 'just' talking to someone; etc.). The intimate issues identified and lived by each participant are examined and discussed in relation to the pre-existing athletic injury literature. Complex and dynamic relationships among the variables (e.g., emotional and behavioural responses, social factors, and physiological aspects) proposed in integrated models of injury rehabilitation (e.g., biopsychosocial) emerged in these narratives. These integrated models outline the dynamic and interrelated responses athletes have in response to injury and are the maps that practitioners treating these athletes may use. The athletes' stories presented here, therefore, express some of the common ground injured athletes travel and are also rich and full of unique personal experiences. In both senses, though, they depict the actual, dynamic, rough, and often lonely process of LTIR—they are the real-life territory that those maps only partially describe.


Within the Global Basins Research Network, we have developed 4-D volume processing and attribute analysis algorithms to identify significant seismic amplitude interconnectivity and changes over time that result from active fluid migration. To accomplish this 4-D imaging, we use multiple 3-D seismic surveys done several years apart over the same blocks. We have applied these 4-D analysis techniques to known production from the most prolific Pleistocene oil field in the world, the Eugene Island 330 field of offshore Louisiana, central Gulf of Mexico. Three main producing reservoirs were examined at 4500, 5400, and 7200 ft. Dim-outs were detected where production depleted oil and gas during the interval of investigation, and amplitude increases were observed where gas/oil ratios increased during production. The {open_quotes}oil/water contact{close_quotes} movement was detected by the 4-D technique. When combined with active pressure and temperature monitoring, repeated 3-D seismic imaging of producing fields promises to identify missed hydrocarbon zones, and to provide the critical production management information of the future. In addition, we have imaged fluid flow pathways that are actively recharging shallower reservoirs in the field from fluid sources that appear to be turbidite stacks within salt withdrawal mini-basins buried deep within geopressure. Fault zone conduits providemore » the migration pathways out of geopressure. If correct, large reserves remain untapped with the deep shelf of the northern Gulf of Mexico.« less


In 1897 and 1898 the Philadelphia Inquirer published a series of bicycle routes. Each route had a map and a narrative describing the trip. Most also had a route coupon, providing information on road conditions and hotels or restaurants along the way.


: Control campaigns against Triatoma infestans, the principal vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, have relied on the application of residual insecticides and have regarded the system as homogeneous. Reinfestation generally starts in peri-domestic residual foci or in preexisting foci that escaped spraying for diverse reasons. From these foci T. infestans adults actively invade other sites, or they are transported passively within objects or goods from infested communities. In the absence of additional spraying of insecticides after the attack phase, domiciliary reinfestation expanded exponentially to return to pre-spraying levels in 3-4 years in Amama, Santiago del Estero. However, the rate of recovery of T. infestans abundance was much lower than that predicted by a simple mathematical model or in experimental field studies. Reinfestation did not progress homogeneously within the village. Two longitudinal studies in Santiago del Estero revealed that the presence of T. infestans-infested peri-domestic sites increased the risk of domiciliary reinfestation. "Key" sites where reinfestation started early were goat or sheep corrals, pig corrals, chicken houses, and store-rooms. Peri-domestic reinfestation is likely the result of multiple factors, such as insecticide breakdown by climatic agents, and the greater surface and availability of refuge and hosts in peri-domestic rather than domiciliary sites. Such environmental heterogeneity generates insecticidal effects heterogeneity and increases the probability of persistence of T. infestans even under control pressures. Several studies showed that sustained surveillance after the attack phase decreased sharply the domiciliary colonization by T. infestans and the percentage of bugs infected with T. cruzi, and the local incidence of infected children. The sustained elimination of T. infestans demands a scientific approach that is not only centered in insecticide use but that also includes the environment and house-holders in their specific social and political scenario.


Abstract Introduction Cigarettes and little cigars and cigarillos (LCCs) are the most prevalent dual-use tobacco combination; one-third of cigarette smokers use LCCs. Risk factors for multiple tobacco product use have been reported; however, there is little understanding of why some individuals transition to and maintain multiple product use. In this study, we examine narratives of tobacco product initiation and decision-making among LCC-only and LCC-cigarette smokers. Methods We audio-recorded in-depth interviews with 60 individuals, aged 14–28, who reported smoking more than or equal to 1 cigarillo per week; half also smoked cigarettes. Transcribed interviews were coded using a phenomenological approach to examine themes about smoking initiation, motivation, and product decision-making. Results Among dual users, 60% began smoking LCCs before or at the same time as cigarettes, and 40% began smoking cigarettes first. Reasons for smoking cigarettes in addition to LCCs included easier access when experiencing craving and less time to smoke the product. Cigarette smokers reported first smoking LCCs in social contexts when sharing LCCs with other smokers, or when they could afford a single LCC but not a pack of cigarettes. LCC-only smokers reported not smoking cigarettes because of their expense, unpleasant taste and/or smell, and fear of becoming addicted. Conclusions In this sample of current LCC users, half also used cigarettes. Product initiation order was almost evenly split, but reasons for initiating the second product differed, with immediacy of reducing cravings as a key reason for LCC users to smoke a cigarette and social and financial reasons for cigarette users to smoke an LCC. Implications Understanding how and why dual use is initiated and sustained can inform policies to help prevent increased nicotine dependence and initiation of additional tobacco products. This study demonstrates that the beliefs, perceptions, and practices of LCC-only and dual users inform their product selection. Our findings point to the need to apply the strategies that have been effective at decreasing cigarette consumption to LCCs.


Cats which received one- or two-stage bilateral ablations of auditory cortex were compared to unoperated cats on a test involving the discrimination of increases (1.2 kHz) from decreases (0.8 kHZ) in the frequency of ongoing 1.0-kHz tone pulses. Whereas two-stage cats exhibited more evidence of postoperative retention for the original task than did one-stage cats, both groups relearned the discrimination in approximately the same number of trials as normal cats. Individual differences in difficulty of relearning apparently reflected the degree of undercutting of the polysensory association areas of the suprasylvian and lateral gyri. Following retraining, all cats received two discrimination transfer tests. The first test was identical to the original dis crimination problem in all respects except that different frequency values were substituted for the original set (i.e., 1.6-kHz tones alternating with either 2.0- or 1.2-kHz signals). Whereas both unoperated and two-stage cats had difficulty discriminating the new positive from negative trials, the one-stage cats exhibited a significant tendency to continue responding to changes invoving 1.2-kHz tones in the same manner as in the original discrimination task. In the second test the cats were asked to discriminate the original 1.2- and 0.8-kHz tones against a silent background. Both operated and unoperated cats performed significantly above chance on this test. These results suggest that the cats solved the original discrimination on the basis of absolute frequency cues rather than the directionality of frequency changes. The significance of these findings are discussed in relation to current concepts of the functional capacity of auditory decorticate animals.


OBJECTIVE
Helicobacter pylori infects at least 50% of the world's human population. The current study aimed to assess and compare the efficacy of triple versus quadruple therapy.

METHODS
Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) consisting of triple and quadruple therapy were identified through electronic and manual searches in the national and international online databases (IsI, Magiran, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus). The random-effects model was applied to pool analysis. Funnel plots and the Egger test were used to examine publication bias.

RESULTS
After a detailed review of the selected articles, 79 RCTs were included in the meta-analysis; it was based on using triple and quadruple therapy as the first and second-line treatment. The results showed that quadruple therapy in the first-line treatment had a higher eradication rate than triple therapy. Overall, the eradication rate with triple therapy was 74% (95% CI, 71%-77%) for intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis and 80% (95% CI, 77%-82%) for per-protocol (PP) analysis. Generally, the eradication rate with quadruple therapy was 82% (95% CI, 78.0%-86.0%) for ITT analysis and 85% (95% CI, 82.0%-89.0%) for PP analysis. The analysis also revealed that quadruple therapy was more effective for 7 or 10 days.

CONCLUSION
The current study results demonstrated that quadruple therapy has better effectiveness than triple therapy as the first-line treatment; however, in the second-line treatment, the effectiveness of quadruple and triple regimens is almost similar. The effectiveness of quadruple therapy in the Asian population was found to be slightly higher than that of triple therapy, while this difference was considerably higher in the European population.


Abuse of fluorinated hydrocarbons is on the rise, especially among the adolescent population. These products are potentially hazardous and pose substantial risks when abused. The psychosocial aspects related to inhalant abuse, and the treatment of adolescents with inhalant injuries is unique. We retrospectively reviewed our experience with burns from these products. We present a case of a 12-year-old girl who suffered first- and second-degree burns to her face, neck, shoulder, and chest during an episode of recreational inhalant abuse with 1,1-difluoroethane from an aerosolized computer cleaner. This is one of the youngest cases reported in literature with such burns from questionable fluorinated hydrocarbon abuse. Because of the accessible nature of these compounds around homes, schools, and offices, it is critical for health care providers to have an awareness of the potential hazards and devastating consequences of their abuse. We propose an approach to the care of these patients that provides a focus on both prevention and attention to mental health.


The last three recessions in the United States were followed by jobless recoveries: while labor productivity recovered, unemployment remained high. In this paper, we show that countercyclical unemployment benefit extensions lead to jobless recoveries. We augment the standard Mortensen-Pissarides model to incorporate unemployment benefit expiration and state-dependent extensions of unemployment benefits. In the model, an extension of unemployment benefits slows down the recovery of vacancy creation in the aftermath of a recession. We calibrate the model to US data and show that it is quantitatively consistent with observed labor market dynamics, in particular the emergence of jobless recoveries after 1990. Furthermore, counterfactual experiments indicate that unemployment benefits are quantitatively important in explaining jobless recoveries.


Uncertainties in image registration may be a significant source of errors in anatomy mapping as well as dose accumulation in radiotherapy. It is, therefore, essential to validate the accuracy of image registration. Here, we propose a method to detect areas where mono modal B-spline registration performs well and to distinguish those from areas of the same image, where the registration is likely to be less accurate. It is a stochastic approach to automatically estimate the uncertainty of the resulting displacement vector field. The coefficients resulting from the B-spline registration are subject to moderate and randomly performed variations. A quantity is proposed to characterize the local sensitivity of the similarity measure to these variations. We demonstrate the statistical dependence between the local image registration error and this quantity by calculating their mutual information. We show the significance of the statistical dependence with an approach based on random redistributions. The proposed method has the potential to divide an image into subregions which differ in the magnitude of their average registration error.


In order to obtain the high performance cement-based consistent materials,the enhancement effect of basalt fiber was studied to develop the building mortar with a high flexural strength . Three factors such as basalt fibers fraction,water-cement ratio and sand-lime ratio are studied on compressive and flexural strength on 7 days and 28 days through the orthogonal experimental design and statistical analysis. According to project needs, the best combination of flexural strength is optimized. The enhancement mechanism and damage features are analyzed and evaluated by SEM, the result shows that the basalt fiber as enhanced component have a very good flexural strength enhancement effect, the maximum increased rate will reach 2.91 times. The effect on the strength of different age period is remarkable with different fiber fraction which is far greater than the water-cement ratio and sand-lime ratio. Basalt fiber have better physical and mechanical properties and better alkali resistance, some performance are second only to carbon fiber, and the cost of basalt fiber is far lower than carbon fiber, So the basalt fiber have a broad application prospects in the field of cement-based composite materials.


Electrical characteristics of zinc oxide nanowire (ZNW) FETs are investigated by nondestructive surface cleaning, ultraviolet irradiation treatment at high temperature and vacuum. UV-light-stimulated oxygen desorption from the active channel improves the device performance of ZNW-FETs. Results show that charge transport in single ZNW strongly depends on its surface environmental conditions and can be explained by formation of depletion layer at the surface by various surface states present on it. The nondestructive surface cleaning removes these absorbed surface states from the nanowire and the current values increase upto ~ 7 muA from ~ 0.4 muA at a bias voltage of 3 V. ZNW-FETs fabricated in this study exhibit mobility of ~ 28 cm2/Vmiddots and a high I ON ne I OFF ratio of ~ 106.


Objective A systematic review was performed to estimate the accuracy of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) assay in the diagnosis of ovarian tumors. Methods A comprehensive search of the MEDLINE (PubMed), EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, IBECS, BIOSIS, Web of Science, SCOPUS, congress abstracts, and Grey literature (Google scholar; British Library) from January 1990 to April 2013 was conducted. Studies that evaluated HE4 levels for the diagnosis of ovarian tumors and compared them with paraffin-embedded sections as the diagnostic standard were included. Results Forty-five studies were analyzed, which included 10,671 women and 3946 ovarian cancer cases. The pooled sensitivity for the diagnosis of borderline tumors or ovarian cancer was 78% (95% confidence interval, 77%–79%), and the specificity was 86% (95% confidence interval, 85%–87%). Summary receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed. For malignant and borderline ovarian tumors versus benign lesions, the area under the curve was 0.916. Besides the overall analysis, stratification was performed in premenopause and postmenopause, early and late stages, and for accuracy by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and chemiluminescence microparticle immuno assay. Conclusions A HE4 level is a useful preoperative test for predicting the benign or malignant nature of pelvic masses.


In this paper we introduce SODES (Step-wise Ordinary Differential Equations Solver) which is a new solver for Ordinary Differential Equations (ODE). SODES can be used not only as a solver but also as a tutorial for the teaching and learning process of ODE, since it provides the solution displaying all the the steps needed to obtain it. In [1] we introduced SFOPDES (Step-wise First Order Partial Differential Equations Solver) developed in Derive, a Computer Algebra System (CAS). Two of the future works related considered in [1] were the development of new step-wise solvers for different math topics and the use of other CAS and programming with Python. This way, it is possible to develop web applications, freely available, providing different step-wise solvers. In this sense, SODES is the first work related with both ideas. Therefore, SODES is a web solver for ODE, developed in Python (using its CAS module SymPy). SODES increases the types of ODE that SFOPDES can deal with. Specifically, it provides, step by step, the solution of the following types of ODE: 1. First-order ODE: separable equations and equations reducible to them, homogeneous equations and equations reducible to them, exact differential equations and equations reducible to them (integrating factor technique), linear equations, the Bernoulli equation, the Riccati equation, First-order differential equations and nth degree in y', Generic programs to solve first order differential equations. 2. Higher-order ODE: higher order linear equations with constant coefficients. As a final remark, actually, SODES can be used in English, French or Spanish, but it can be easily extendable to other languages.


Pancreatic transplantation (PT) is a therapeutical procedure which is being currently assessed for the treatment of insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus. Organ PT is a real alternative, whereas islets PT is a method still in its clinic and animal experimental stages. Different surgical methods of drainage, preservation, selection of donor, complications and immunosuppressive therapy are analyzed.


Theories of metrical structure postulate the existence of several degrees of beat strength. While previous work has clearly established that humans are sensitive to the distinction between strong beats and weak ones, there is little evidence for a more fine grained distinction between intermediate levels. Here, we present experimental data showing that attention can be allocated to an intermediate level of beat strength. Comparing the effects of short exposures to 6/8 and 3/4 metrical structures on a tone detection task, we observe that subjects respond differently to beats of intermediate strength than to weak beats.


Massive stars form on different scales, ranging from large, dispersed OB associations to compact, dense starburst clusters. The question whether one single star formation mechanism is responsible for this wide range of properties is not answered yet. The complex structure of regions of massive star formation, and the involved short timescales provide a challenge for our understanding of their birth and early evolution. In this thesis, I study the formation process of the massive stellar content in two of the most massive and luminous star forming regions in our Galaxy: W49 and W51. I analyse near-infrared (NIR) observations obtained with state-of-the-art ground based telescopes. NIR spectroscopic observations provide reliable classification on the nature of massive stars still heavily embedded in Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs). With the derived physical properties of the massive stars, we aim to investigate and determine the star formation history of the star forming regions.
A very massive star (VMS) (M > 100 M⊙) is discovered in the central cluster of W49. It is classified as an O2-3.5If* star based on its K-band spectrum. By comparing with Geneva stellar evolutionary models, the initial mass of this star is estimated as between 100 M⊙ and 180 M⊙. With the complete spectroscopic observations of W49, thirteen O type stars as well as two Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) are identified. The age of the cluster is estimated as ~1.5 Myr, with star formation still ongoing in different parts of the region. The stellar content of W51 is also studied in this thesis. Evidence has been found that the star formation in W51 has started ~5 Myr ago and still active until now. The distinct environments and properties of sub-clusters are discussed. Despite the fact that the W51 and W49 GMCs have similar mass, we find very different massive stellar population and star formation history. W51 does not contain any VMS, while W49 has 3-4 stars more massive than 100 M⊙. This might be related to differences in the star formation process between these two regions.


Pedographic systems are now in use in many research centers and hospitals throughout the world.The platform system permits rapid and accurate static and dynamic measurement of the local pressure loading on the plantar surface of the foot, and also permits a functional assessment of the roll-over processin the bare foot. The in-shoe system employing an insole measures the pressure distribution within an orthopedic shoe and enables an accurate comparison of the loading situation before and after fitting. As an additional diagnostic tool, pedography improves preventive measures and the quality of the orthopedic treatment of the diabetic foot.


Observers of the Internal Revenue Service's administration of the earned income tax credit (EITC) have leveled one main criticism, that the Service has been unable to reduce stubbornly high error rates. Congress has generally focused attention on this problem with many legislative initiatives, including unprecedented (for the tax system) penalties for improper claims, special due diligence rules for preparers submitting returns with EITC claims, and a lessening of pre-assessment right to judicial review of Service rejections of EITC claims. In this Article I wish to shift attention to the Service's poor service to EITC claimants. In particular, I wish to broaden the inquiry to reflect the insights of nontax scholars who have looked at the ways that administrative agencies interact with low-income individuals who rely on benefits that agencies administer. The underlying theme behind this Article is that in fashioning its approach to administering the EITC (or any other provision that is directed to lower-income individuals) the Service should learn from and apply insights from those who have studied how agencies tend to mistreat individuals, or as Professor Edward Rubin frames the discussion, engage in bureaucratic oppression. The Service and Congress can best ensure improvements to administering the EITC when policymakers understand both the specific functions that are associated with delivering benefits and the common barriers that low-income individuals face when interacting with government agencies. This Article applies insights from scholars outside the tax perspective who have examined functions associated with benefits programs and barriers associated with successful benefit delivery. Those perspectives reveal that the Service faces many challenges if it wishes to administer the program well. The Article suggests possible ways to counter agency mistreatment. By isolating the functions and barriers in the context of the delivery of benefits, this Article takes the small but important step of highlighting the Service's role in the nation's efforts to combat poverty and provide incentives to the working poor.


We designed a phase II study to determine whether induction chemotherapy (CT) consisting of leucovorin, vincristine, methotrexate, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (LOMAC) followed by high-dose intensification chemotherapy (ICT) with cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, and autologous stem cell rescue (ASCR) could increase the complete response (CR) rate and survival in women with stage IV breast cancer. Twenty-nine women were enrolled on study; 16 patients had received prior adjuvant chemotherapy and no patient had received chemotherapy for stage IV disease. Two patients were found to be ineligible and excluded from further analysis. Of the 27 patients treated, four (15%) obtained a CR and 15 (56%) a partial response (PR) after LOMAC induction, for an overall response rate of 70%. Of the 22 patients treated with ICT, 12 patients had a CR, and nine were in PR after induction and converted to CR after ICT. The toxicities included nausea/vomiting, mucositis, diarrhea, dermatitis, alopecia, and infections secondary to neutropenia. The 1-year survival is 60%; the median has not yet been reached. The time to treatment failure for patients on study is 10 months. The treatment approach of ICT and ASCR following induction chemotherapy can lead to an improved CR rate in stage IV breast cancer. How this increased CR rate leads to a prolonged disease-free survival requires further follow-up.


From consideration of available information on boundary-layer behavior, a relation among profile thickness, maximum surface velocity, Reynolds number, velocity diagram, and solidity is established for a cascade of airfoils immersed in a two-dimensional incompressible fluid flow. Several cascades are computed to show the effect of various cascade design parameters on minimum required cascade solidity. Comparisons with experimentally determined blade performance show that the derived blade loadings are equal or higher for moderate flow deceleration and somewhat lower for large deceleration. Blades with completely laminar flow appear practical for impulse or reaction blading.


IZA DP No. 14900 NOVEMBER 2021 Green Infrastructure and Air Pollution: Evidence from Highways Connecting Two Megacities in China* Following market liberalisation, the vehicle population in China has increased dramatically over the past few decades. This paper examines the causal impact of the opening of a heavily used high speed rail line connecting two megacities in China in 2015, Chengdu and Chongqing, on air pollution. We use high-frequency and high spatial resolution data to track pollution along major highways linking the two cities. Our approach involves the use of an augmented regression discontinuity in time approach applied on data that have been through a meteorological normalisation process. This deweathering process involves applying machine learning techniques to account for change in meteorology in air quality time series data. Our estimates show that air pollution is reduced by 7.6% along the main affected highway. We simultaneously find increased levels of ozone pollution which is likely due to the reduction in nitrogen dioxide levels that occurred. These findings are supported using a difference-in-difference approach. JEL Classification: L92, O18, Q53, Q54, R41


Alpha methyltyrosine (alpha-MPT) was administered to 52 patients from 4 days to 10 months; 22 patients were cases of pheochromocytoma and 20 had essential hypertension. Inhibition of catecholamine synthesis in the range of 50-80% was achieved with divided daily drug dosage of from 1.0 to 4.0 g. Striking clinical benefit was noted in patients with pheochromocytoma in whom the drug was used in preparation for surgery and during chronic medical management. The drug appeared to have limited usefulness when used in essential hypertension, unless added to existing therapy with conventional agents. No beneficial effects were noted in thyrotoxicosis, glaucoma, and Raynaud's phenomenon. Untoward effects in order of decreasing incidence were: sedation (with insomnia on withdrawal), anxiety, tremor, diarrhea, and galactorrhea. Drug crystalluria, which has been observed in animals and is currently restrictive of clinical trials, was not observed in these studies. Evidence is presented that the minor conversion of alpha-MPT to methyldopa probably does not contribute significantly to the central and peripheral effects of the drug.


Background and aims Dermatomyositis (DM) is characterised by chronic inflammation of striated muscle and characteristic cutaneous manifestations. Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is a rare life-threatening condition caused by uncontrolled activation of histiocytes resulting in prominent hemophagocytosis. Particularly, occurrence of HPS in the patients with DM is extremely rare. Methods We report the first case of HPS in a patient with DM successfully treated in Korea. Results A 56-year-old female visited our hospital, complaining of general weakness with whole body skin rash for 2 months. She had symmetric proximal muscle weakness and characteristic skin lesions including heliotrope rash, gottron's papules and V sign. She also had swallowing difficulty proven by abnormal videofluoroscopic swallowing test. Laboratory findings showed anaemia, thrombocytopenia, elevated muscle enzymes, hyperferritinemia and hypertriglyceridemia. The autoimmune profile revealed positive antinuclear antibody (1:160, homogenous pattern) and negative anti-Jo-1 antibody. In addition to electromyography and skeletal muscle biopsy, bone marrow biopsy was performed to find the cause of microangiopathic hemolytic anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Numerous CD68-positive macrophages engulfing erythrocytes and platelets were revealed in bone marrow study. She was finally diagnosed as DM with secondary HPS. After steroid pulse therapy for 3 days, we continued high dose steroid therapy for 1 month. Thereafter, we gradually tapered the steroid and started methotrexate. After 1 year of treatment, she was completely recovered from muscle weakness, swallowing difficulty, skin lesions and cytopenia. Conclusions With this unique case, we would like to assert that HPS should be considered when cytopenia is observed in the patients with DM and that early aggressive therapy is needed.


This paper presents the design of an algorithm to provide end-to-end multichannel load balancing and failover for generic SANs. A virtual channel is formed by the aggregation of multiple subchannels. This provides scalability as sub-channels can be added or removed when required. Multiple sub-channels also improve the reliability of-storage network. By exchanging information between 2 hosts, the algorithm is also able to balance both the transmission and reception load. Additional information can be added to transmitted packets by lowering the MTU value of a virtual network interface. This additional information can be used to identify the network storage protocol used so as to provide end-to-end multichannel functionality independent of the network storage protocol used. Results have shown that the implementation is able to provide higher throughput with the added benefits of end-to-end load balancing and failover to both hyperSCSI and iSCSI


The Imperial College test site at Whitchester consists of a group of four near-vertical boreholes of approximately 250 metres depth. These have been extensively logged and are now cased. A crosshole seismic dataset has be collected between boreholes 1 and 2 over a depth range of 50 to 120 metres. The holes are 25 metres apart. The sources were detonator caps fired at 2 metre intervals, and the signals were recorded with a twelve-component hydrophone streamer. The data contain frequencies in excess of 1.5kHz, with peak energy around 800Hz in the early arrivals. Despite severe contamination by tube waves the data are suitable for use in a variety of imaging algorithms.


Fatigue crack growth associated with cyclic (secondary) plastic flow near a crack front is modelled using an incremental formulation. A new description of threshold behaviour under small load cycles is included. Quasi-static crack extension under high load excursions is described using an incremental formulation of the R-(crack growth resistance)- curve concept.
The integration of the equations is discussed. For constant amplitude load cycles the results will
be compared with existing crack growth laws. It will be shown that the model also properly
describes interaction effects of fatigue crack growth and quasi-static crack extension.
To evaluate the more general applicability the model is included in the NASGRO computer code
for damage tolerance analysis. For tiiis purpose the NASGRO programme was provided with the CORPUS and the STRIP-YIELD models for computation of the crack opening load levels. The implementation is discussed and recent results of the verification are presented


Energy usage evaluation and condition monitoring for electric machines are important in industry for overall energy savings. They are often expected to be implemented in an integrated product because of many common requirements such as data collection. Because of the uninterrupted characteristic of industrial processes, traditional methods defined in IEEE Standard 112 cannot be used for these in-service motors. This paper proposes a truly nonintrusive method for in-service motor efficiency estimation based on air-gap torque using only motor terminal quantities and nameplate information, with special considerations of motor condition monitoring requirements. Rotor speed and stator resistance, the stumbling blocks of most in-service testing methods, are extracted from motor input currents instead of being measured. The no-load test, which is required for calculating the rotational loss and core loss, is eliminated by using empirical values. Stray-load loss is assumed according to the motor horse power as suggested in IEEE Standard 112. Finally, the proposed method is validated by testing three induction motors with different configurations. Experimental results show that the proposed method can estimate motor efficiencies with less than 2% errors under normal load conditions


Operating directly from raw high dimensional sensory inputs like images is still a challenge for robotic control. Recently, Reinforcement Learning methods have been proposed to solve specific tasks end-to-end, from pixels to torques. However, these approaches assume the access to a specified reward which may require specialized instrumentation of the environment. Furthermore, the obtained policy and representations tend to be task specific and may not transfer well. In this work we investigate completely self-supervised learning of a general image embedding and control primitives, based on finding the shortest time to reach any state. We also introduce a new structure for the state-action value function that builds a connection between model-free and model-based methods, and improves the performance of the learning algorithm. We experimentally demonstrate these findings in three simulated robotic tasks.


The article assumes that the expression "comparative relativism"—the title of the Common Knowledge symposium in which the essay appears—is neither tautological nor oxymoronic. Rather, the author construes the term as an apt synthetic characterization of anthropology and illustrates that idea by means of four quotations, taken from authors as different as Richard Rorty and David Schneider, Marcel Mauss and Henri Michaux. The quotations can be said to "exemplify" anthropology in terms that are interestingly (and diversely) restrictive: some of them amount to extrinsic negations of anthropology that would paralyze it; others suggest intrinsic negativities that would propel it. All of the passages chosen evoke the idea of belief, which is profoundly implicated, in all possible senses (and especially the worse ones), in the majority of arguments that connect the themes of anthropology, comparison, and relativism.


As the wind energy sector evolves, blade manufacturers have started to produce
larger blades in an effort to maximise power production. As the blades are amongst
the most important and most expensive constituents of the wind turbines, it is benefi-
cial to monitor their structural integrity, which would aid in minimising downtime due
to periodic maintenance, and/or damage. The work carried out in this paper is based
on real data obtained from a Siemens Wind Power wind turbine using sensors on the
blades. During normal operation, the blade sensors capture a range of frequency content
aside from the blade frequency modes. These include the vibration contents of the
turbine rotation speeds (which are the most dominant), the harmonics, and that of the
tower. To add to the complexity, since wind speed fluctuations affect the rotor speed,
wind turbine operations are nonstationary, making structural health monitoring (SHM)
a difficult task. Therefore, this present work aims to develop an SHM technique, which
utilises machine learning techniques, to reliably determine the structural integrity of the
blades with respect to certain damage modes.


Even with the rise of the World Wide Web, TV has remained the most pervasive entertainment medium and is nowadays often used together with other media, which allow for active participation. The idea of connecting non-collocated TV viewers via telecommunication technologies, referred to as Social TV, has recently received considerable attention. Such systems typically include set-top boxes for supporting collaboration. In this research we investigate if real-time opinion sharing about TV shows through a nonverbal (non-textual) iconic UI on mobile phones is reasonable. For this purpose we developed a mobile app, made it available to a large number of users through the Android Market, and conducted an uncontrolled user study in the wild during the soccer world cup 2010. The results of the study indicate that TV viewers who used the app had more fun and felt more connected to other viewers. We also show that by monitoring this channel it is possible to collect sentiments relevant to the broadcasted content in real-time. The collected data exemplify that the aggregated sentiments correspond to important moments, and hence can be used to generate a summary of the event.


Background: Eosinophils dysregulate immune responses associated with malignancies, allergic and parasitic diseases especially helminthic infections, though it is infrequently observed with protozoan diseases. Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare the percentage of eosinophils in different parasitic diseases at Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: One hundred and 72 samples were obtained from 74 and 98 patients with helminthic and protozoan diseases respectively and evaluated. Direct wet mount and formalin ether concentration were used for intestinal parasites identification. Scotch tape test and serological methods were utilized for diagnosis of Enterobius vermicularis and tissue parasites respectively. Eosinophils were counted and six or more percentages were considered as eosinophilia. Results: In general, in 34 out of 74 helminthic infections (45.9%) and 5 out of 98 protozoan infections (5.1%), an eosinophil level equal or more than 6% was observed. The rate of eosinophilia in helminthic infections were 13/18 (72.2%), 7/11 (63.6%), 3/10 (30%), 2/3 (66.7%), 1/9 (11.11%), 5/13 (38.5%), 3/4 (75%) in the patients with fasciolosis, strongyloidiasis, hymenolepiasis, hookworm infection, enterobiasis, echinococcosis, and trichostrongyliasis, respectively. Concerning the protozoan infections, 3/26(11.5%) and 2/20(10%) of the individuals suffering from giardiasis and blastocystosis showed an eosinophil level higher than normal range, respectively. Conclusion: As expected, helminthic infections especially fasciolosis and strongyloidiasis were the most important infections correlated with eosinophilia. According to available reports, eosinophilia higher than normal range in giardiasis and blastocystosis is not unexpected.


As a kind of supergene geological phenomenon, ground fissure has brought great inconvenience to human life. In addition, it also has a close relationship with earthquake. However, it is very difficult to ascertain the extension depth of ground fissure since its concealment and uncertainty. In this paper, 3D seismic exploration is used to detect ground fissure in Shanxi Province of China. Specific parameters for seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation are analysed. Firstly, seismic data acquisition method and its corresponding parameters are discussed. Small dose explosive sources and high frequency geophones are used. Small trace interval and appropriate fold are also adopted. Secondly, seismic data processing is processed from shot record to seismic profile. Multi-domain loop iteration de-noising is used to get high signal-to-noise ratio data. Accurate near surface model, interactive iteration and residual static correction are used to eliminate the impact of low velocity zone and the static correction problem. Large common middle point bin and small velocity analysis interval are used for high accuracy velocity spectrum analysis. The mute parameter of stretching distortion and the migration aperture are researched for shallow ground fissure detection. Thirdly, seismic data interpretation is processed to get ground fissure distribution. Fault enhanced filter is used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio effectively and the chimney cube is used to identify ground fissure automatically. Thus, the specific 3D seismic exploration method used in this paper is suitable for ground fissure detection. Cited as :  Shi, S., Liu, Z., Feng, J., Feng, G., Li, M. Using 3D seismic exploration to detect ground fissure. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2020, 4(1): 13-19, doi: 10.26804/ager.2020.01.02.


In this article, the Brier score is used to investigate the importance of clustering for the frailty survival model. For this purpose, two versions of the Brier score are constructed, i.e., a "conditional Brier score" and a "marginal Brier score." Both versions of the Brier score show how the clustering effects and the covariate effects affect the predictive ability of the frailty model separately. Using a Bayesian and a likelihood approach, point estimates and 95% credible/confidence intervals are computed. The estimation properties of both procedures are evaluated in an extensive simulation study for both versions of the Brier score. Further, a validation strategy is developed to calculate an internally validated point estimate and credible/confidence interval. The ensemble of the developments is applied to a dental dataset.


Abstract The effects of chronic coffee consumption on the cardiovascular system are still under debate. Aortic stiffness, wave reflections, and central and peripheral blood pressure (BP) are milestone indicators of cardiovascular-risk. We sought to investigate the association between coffee and caffeine consumption, arterial stiffness, and central/peripheral BP. Aortic stiffness was evaluated via pulse wave velocity (PWV); wave reflections with the augmentation index (AIx);peripheral systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), and central BP (cSBP/cDBP) were non-invasively assessed. Coffee and caffeine consumption was ascertained using a questionnaire. A linear inverse relationship between coffee and caffeine consumption and arterial stiffness and central and peripheral BP was found.Light coffee and caffeine consumers showed β-coefficients for PWV–0.15, SBP–3.61, DBP–2.48, cSBP–3.21, and cDBP-2.18 (all p values < 0.05).Present findings suggest that coffee and caffeine consumption is inversely associated with arterial stiffness and central and peripheral BP in a large population sample. Interventional prospective studies are needed to demonstrate the causal association


This paper analyses two case-studies of specialised nineteenth-century business letter-writing manuals (Anderson 1836 and Williams – Lafont 1860). The investigation initially focuses on the dynamics of transnational export of British epistolary guides both to continental Europe and across the Atlantic. The analysis of the three American editions of the first manual (Anderson 1836) offers an insight into the strategies of adaptation performed by different publishing houses. The second step of the investigation is represented by the analysis of specific linguistic strategies of politeness employed in the model letters. The examples clearly show the preference accorded to the strategies of negative politeness, a finding which supports the hypothesis on the ongoing nineteenth-century codification of new negative politeness culture in the British context (Jucker 2012). In summary, this paper discusses the role of specialised business epistolary guides in establishing, maintaining and strengthening transnational commercial networks by imparting rigid sociocultural norms of proper business conduct.


A sample blood test has recently become an important tool to help identify false-positive/false-negative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) tests. Importantly, this is mainly because it is an inexpensive and handy option to detect the potential COVID-19 patients. However, this test should be conducted by certified laboratories, expensive equipment, and trained personnel, and 3–4 h are needed to deliver results. Furthermore, it has relatively large false-negative rates around 15%–20%. Consequently, an alternative and more accessible solution, quicker and less costly, is needed. This article introduces flexible and unsupervised data-driven approaches to detect the COVID-19 infection based on blood test samples. In other words, we address the problem of COVID-19 infection detection using a blood test as an anomaly detection problem through an unsupervised deep hybrid model. Essentially, we amalgamate the features extraction capability of the variational autoencoder (VAE) and the detection sensitivity of the one-class support vector machine (1SVM) algorithm. Two sets of routine blood tests samples from the Albert Einstein Hospital, S ao Paulo, Brazil, and the San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy, are used to assess the performance of the investigated deep learning models. Here, missing values have been imputed based on a random forest regressor. Compared to generative adversarial networks (GANs), deep belief network (DBN), and restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM)-based 1SVM, the traditional VAE, GAN, DBN, and RBM with softmax layer as discriminator layer, and the standalone 1SVM, the proposed VAE-based 1SVM detector offers superior discrimination performance of potential COVID-19 infections. Results also revealed that the deep learning-driven 1SVM detection approaches provide promising detection performance compared to the conventional deep learning models.


Total knee replacement is one of the most successful procedures in orthopaedic surgery. Although originally limited to more elderly and less active individuals, the inclusion criteria for TKA have changed, with ever younger, more active and heavier patients receiving TKA. Initially, tibial components were cemented all polyethylene monoblock constructs. Subsequent long-term follow-up studies of these implants have demonstrated excellent durability in survivorship studies out to twenty years. Aseptic loosening of the tibial component was one of the main causes of failure in these implants. Polyethylene wear with osteolysis around well fixed implants was rarely (if ever) observed. Cemented metal-backed nonmodular tibial components were subsequently introduced to allow for improved tibial load distribution and to protect osteoporotic bone. Long-term studies have established that many one-piece nonmodular tibial components have maintained excellent durability. Eventually, modularity between the polyethylene tibial component and the metal-backed tray was introduced in the mid-80s mainly to facilitate screw fixation for cementless implants. These designs also provided intraoperative versatility by allowing interchange of various polyethylene thicknesses, and to also aided the addition of stems and wedges. Other advantages included the reduction of inventory, and the potential for isolated tibial polyethylene exchanges as a simpler revision procedure. However several studies have documented the high failure rate of isolated polyethylene exchange procedures, probably because technical problems related to the original components are left uncorrected. Since the late 19809s, the phenomena of polyethylene wear and osteolysis has been observed much more frequently when compared with earlier eras. The reasons for this increased prevalence of synovitis, progressive osteolysis, and severe polyethylene wear remain unclear, but there is no question that it was associated with the widespread use of both cementless and cemented modular tibial designs. Mayo Data: Modular versus All Polyethylene Tibial Components in Primary TKA. The study population included 10,601 adult (>18 years) patients with 14,524 primary TKA procedures performed at our institution between 1/1/1988 and 12/31/2005. Mean age was 68.7 years and 55% were female. Overall revision rates and revisions for loosening, wear/osteolysis were compared across different designs using Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusting for age, sex, calendar year and body mass index (BMI). Over an average 9 years follow-up, a total of 865 revisions, including 252 tibia revisions were performed, corresponding to overall survival of 89% (Confidence intervals (CI): 88%, 90%) at 15 years. In comparison to metal modular designs, risk of tibial revision was significantly lower with all-poly tibias (HR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.2, 0.5). Overall, posterior cruciate-retaining (CR) designs performed better than the posterior-stabilised (PS) designs (p=0.002). With any revision as the endpoint, there were no significant differences across the 18 designs examined. Similarly, there were no significant differences across the 18 designs when we considered revisions for aseptic loosening, wear, osteolysis. Among patient characteristics, male gender, younger age, higher BMI were all significantly associated with higher risk of revisions (p Available data support the use of nonmodular tibial designs in TKA in order to prevent or reduce the chance of backside wear, third body particles from resulting metallic debris and associated polyethylene induced osteolysis. In most patients, but particularly in older patients use of an all polyethylene tibial component is not only more cost effective, but is associated with the best survivorship and lowest risk of revision.


BACKGROUND
In uraemia there is a reduction in the total number of T lymphocytes and an imbalance in the ratio of Th1/Th2 T-helper (Th) lymphocytes. A higher rate of apoptosis in T lymphocytes has been reported in haemodialysis patients. The aims of the present study were to assess the Th1/Th2 pattern in uraemia and to evaluate whether a relative increase in Th1 apoptosis may explain the Th1/Th2 imbalance observed in uraemic patients.

METHODS
Seventeen non-dialysed uraemic patients were evaluated; eight healthy volunteers served as controls. Intracellular interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) were measured by direct intracellular immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. Apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry using annexin V or TUNEL. Mechanisms of apoptosis were assessed by determination of Fas and Bcl-2 expression.

RESULTS
Cell production of cytokines is significantly higher in uraemic patients than in controls. In addition, in uraemic patients only 5.1+/-2.1% of the T lymphocytes contained IFN-gamma (Th1 cells) while 61.9 +/- 14.8% contained IL-4 (Th2 cells) (P < 0.0001). The percentage of apoptosis was 29.6 +/- 6.3% and 4.7 +/- 1.6% in Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes, respectively (P < 0.001). Fas expression was higher in Th1 than in Th2 cells and the expression of Bcl-2 was lower in Th1 than in Th2 cells. The apoptosis induced by anti-Fas antibodies was similar in both types of lymphocytes.

CONCLUSIONS
In uraemia there is a reduction in the proportion of Th1 lymphocytes due to a higher rate of apoptosis in this subset of lymphocytes. Th1 from uraemic patients show a higher expression of Fas and a lower expression of Bcl-2 than Th2. This makes uraemic Th1 cells more susceptible to apoptosis. The Th1/Th2 imbalance may contribute to alterations in cellular immunity observed in chronic kidney disease patients.


We study the effects of modifying the expansions history of the Universe on dark matter freeze-out. We derived a modified Boltzmann equation for freeze-out for an arbitrary energy density in the early Universe and provide an analytic approach using some approximations. We then look at the required thermally averaged cross sections needed to obtain the correct relic density for the specific case where the energy density consists of radiation plus one extra component which cools faster. We compare our analytic approximation to numerical solutions. We find that it gives reasonable results for most of the parameter space explored, being at most a factor of order 1 away from the measured value. We find that if the new contribution to the energy density is comparable to the radiation density, then a much smaller cross section for dark matter annihilation is required. This would lead to weak scale dark matter being much more difficult to detect and opens up the possibility that much heavier dark matter could undergo freeze-out without violating perturbative unitarity.


This study presents a damage detection method based on modal responses for building structures using convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The modal responses used in the method are obtained from the dynamic responses, which are measured in a building structure under ambient excitations; these are then transformed to a modal participation ratio (MPR) value for a measuring point and mode. As modal responses vary after damages in the structures, the MPR for a specific location and mode also changes. Thus, in this study, MPR variations, which can be obtained by comparing the MPRs of damaged and healthy structures, are utilized for damage detection without the need for identification of modal parameters. Since MPRs are derived for the number of measuring points (N) in the structure as well as the same number of modes (N), the MPRs and MPR variations can be arranged as an N × N matrix. This low-dimensional MPR variations set is used as the input map of the presented CNN architecture and information about damage locations and severities of the target structure is set as the output of the CNN. The presented CNN is trained for establishing the relationship between MPR variations and damage information and utilized to estimate the damage. The presented damage detection method is applied to numerical examples for two multiple degrees of freedoms and a three-dimensional ASCE benchmark numerical model. Training datasets created from damage scenarios assuming changes in the stiffness are used to train the CNN and the performance of this CNN is verified. Finally, this study examines how variations in the operator size and number of layers in the CNN architecture affect the damage detection performance of CNNs.


The advance appointment has been proposed as one of the mechanisms to be implemented in the health care centers to shorten the long delays inherent to the "old model" from long ago, thus improving the accessibility of these services to the user and optimizing the time of health staff on the basis of the patients' needs. The present study describes the behavior of the users of a health center in Valencia regarding the advance appointment in a program for the control of hypertensives seen in the nursing clinic. The monthly and yearly rates are also reported. In the particular case of the patients who complied with the appointment and of those who were late or did not attend (with or without previous notice), results by sex are also reported. A reduction in compliance was found during the summer months. In males the compliance was lower throughout the year. There was 81.25% of correct attendance during the study period. In 14.74% the attendance failed without known motive, 3.3% of appointments were fulfilled later than established, and 0.6% gave notice cancelling their appointment.


As a developing country, Malaysian is currently driving for implementing a
new or modern construction method, the Industrialised Building System (IBS),
as an alternative towards enhancing construction performance. Currently, most
of the IBS project developments in Malaysia are still conducted by using the
traditional construction process approach. This traditional construction process
has been widely criticised for its fragmented approach to project delivery and its
failure to form effective teams thus created a number of issues such as reworks,
time delay, rising costs, lack of communication and coordination, and wastages.
This paper through literature review aims to highlight this fragmentation issue
and clarify how far it affects the process of IBS implementation. Suggestions on
how an integrated approach in design and construction in order to minimise the
fragmentation gaps will be concluded.


THIS PAPER PROVIDES DETAILS OF AN INTERESTING LARGE GROUND IMPROVEMENT PROJECT WHERE VIBRATED STONE COLUMNS ARE BEING CONSTRUCTED THROUGH SOFT SILTS, CLAY, AND ORGANIC SOILS AND LOOSE SAND (SABKHA), TO SUPPORT AN EMBANKMENT FOR AN AIRPORT RUNWAY AND TAXIWAYS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE GROUND IMPROVEMENT ARE TO IMPROVE THE STABILITY OF THE EMBANKMENT, REDUCE LONG TERM SETTLEMENT, TO INCREASE THE RATE OF CONSOLIDATION OF FINE GRAINED SOILS, AND TO MITIGATE THE RISK OF SEISMIC INDUCED LIQUEFACTION. THE PAPER SUMMARIZES TESTS UNDERTAKEN TO DEMONSTRATE THAT PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED, AND PRESENTS DETAILS OF THE PERFORMANCE OF A LONG TERM LOADING TRIAL.


The well known aggressive space mapping technique has been widely used for the design of complex microwave circuits. Many extensions of ASM have been developed in recent times. These methods improve ASM either at the cost of increasing the number of fine model evaluations, or at the cost of decreasing the accuracy of the fine model. In this work, we present a new extension of ASM, the multimodel ASM (MASM) that uses several fine models of increasing accuracy. Following an iterative procedure, it gradually maps the coarse and the finest model, thus reducing the risk of divergence, and improving the overall efficiency and robustness of the design process, without reducing the accuracy of the results. The new MASM has been tested with the design of a six-pole H plane coupled cavities filter with rounded corners in the coupling windows due to die casting fabrication.


Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of dictionary learning for painter style analysis. The main idea behind these approaches is to train a dictionary of image atoms on a set of drawings/paintings of the same artist and to test how well this dictionary can represent a painting with disputed authorship, by evaluating the sparsity of representation. We extend this approach such that it can evaluate the goodness of fit between the trained dictionary and the test image both in the synthesis direction (similar to existing approaches) and in the opposite, analysis direction. We evaluate these approaches on oil paintings, focusing on a case study on the Ghent Altarpiece. The results give new insights into the potential of dictionary learning for painter style characterisation and suggest advantages of the proposed analysis based approach irrespective of the scale and redundancy of trained dictionaries.


Backgrounds: Neospora caninum is an Apicomplexan parasite. It causes paralysis and neuromuscular disorders in dogs and abortion in cattle. Although contamination with N. caninum is common in stray dogs, most of the dogs are infected with subclinical neosporosis. Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of N. caninum in multiple tissues and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) using Nested-PCR technique. Furthermore, the N. caninum specific antibody was detected in serum of examined dogs by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Methods: Forty two stray dogs of mixed breeds captured from districts of Tehran, Iran, were examined physically and euthanized. A commercially indirect ELISA kit was used to detect the anti-N. caninum antibodies in serum. Nested PCR was applied to analyze the extracted DNA from brain, skeletal muscle, CSF, liver, spleen and mandibular lymph nodes for Nc5 gene. Results: Indirect ELISA assay for N. caninum antibody was positive in a seven years old male dog (2.22%). Out of 42 stray dogs whose multiple organs were examined using Nested PCR, 15 samples (35%) were positive. The highest presence of N. caninum was found in skeletal muscle with 30% (13/42) frequency, followed by CSF (26.2%) (11/42), brain (19%) (8/42), liver (7.14%) (3/42), lymph node (4.62%) (2/42) and spleen samples (0/42). Conclusions: These results suggest that serology tests can underestimate the carrier of N. caninum in dogs compared to PCR test which directly detect the presence of the parasite. Nested-PCR might be a potential alternative for the histological methods to detect N. caninum in dog's tissues.


Islamabad, the new Capital of Pakistan, planned by Constantinos A. Doxiadis and Doxiadis Associates in the late 1950s, is now a fast-growing city of about 1.5 million inhabitants, forming, together with the adjacent old city of Rawalpindi and a National Park, a Metropolitan Area (Greater Islamabad/Rawalpindi Area) of about 4.5 million inhabitants. This paper presents the combined land use–transportation planning of Islamabad, within the broader framework of the C.A. Doxiadis Ekistics theory. An evaluation of the results follows, based on a visit by the author and on more recent information. The advantages of the clear hierarchy of residential communities, of the related functions and of the transport system are apparent in the segregation of the various categories of movements (i.e. high/low speed Road Traffic, Public Transport, Bicycles, Pedestrians, etc.) and in the reduction of trip lengths. They will be more and more apparent as the urban area expands and the population and car ownership increase. With proper management of traffic and demand, the road network will not be subject to the capacity and related serious environmental problems observed in almost all large cities of the world. The present quality of life in Islamabad is made apparent from the satisfaction expressed by the people who live and work there and by the wish of others to reside in the new city. Islamabad is a "unique" example of a large new city "planned for the future and built for the present", fully respecting the long-term planning.


Museums seek a pragmatic compromise between lighting which causes minimal damage to objects and lighting which allows maximal visitor enjoyment. One way to reduce damage is to choose illumination of a lower Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT), since this contains less short-wavelength radiation, which is generally more damaging. Colour appearance models suggest that a change in CCT alone should not affect visual experience, but there is a long history of studies which aim to find a `preferred' CCT for museum environments. These experiments have often had conflicting findings. One potential cause for this would be if the spectral sensitivity for adaptation differed from the spectral sensitivity for vision, as generally only the chromaticity (not the spectrum) is controlled in such experiments. Such a situation might arise if the recently discovered intrinsically photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells (ipRGCs), which express melanopsin, were involved in colour constancy. Two psychophysical experiments were performed whereby observers were adapted to different spectra whilst performing an achromatic matching task. The first experiment used sixteen narrow-band light sources as adapting fields, and the second used two perceptually indistinguishable sources which differed in melanopic power. Neither experiment found evidence for a role of melanopsin in colour constancy, but it was noted that the model of colour constancy implicitly under examination was under-developed and did not produce clear predictions. Regarding this, an exploratory computational study was performed, to explore whether, and in what way, a melanopsin signal might contribute to an observer's ability to achieve colour constancy. It was found that a normalised melanopic signal provided a means by which colour constancy could be roughly achieved, without the need for scene-level regularities which other algorithms rely upon. Additionally, a novel method for performing colour constancy experiments upon a tablet computer was developed, so that experiments could be run more easily within real world environments.


Author(s): Jafar, Syed A | Abstract: We identify the role of equal strength interference links as bottlenecks on the ergodic sum capacity of a K user interference network with the fading process restricted primarily to inde- pendent and uniform phase variations while the channel magnitudes are held fixed across time. It is shown that even though there are K(K − 1) cross-links, only about K/2 disjoint and equal strength interference links suffice to determine the capacity of the network regardless of the strengths of the rest of the cross channels. This scenario is called a minimal bottleneck state. It is shown that ergodic interference alignment is capacity optimal for a network in a minimal bottleneck state. The results are applied to large networks. It is shown that large networks are close to bottleneck states with a high probability, so that ergodic interference alignment is close to optimal for large networks. Limitations of the notion of bottleneck states are also high- lighted for channels where both the phase and the magnitudes are allowed to vary with time. It is shown through an example that for these channels, joint coding across different bottleneck states makes it possible to circumvent the capacity bottlenecks.


Maps, however symbolically, indicate the materiality of empires as physical space measured in degrees of latitude and longitude. Materiality is also experienced, often brutally, by the colonized as physical force exerted by armies of invasion and occupation. The constant interaction between periphery and centre on which empires depend is also expressed materially, through the exchange of trade commodities or the regular movement of colonial administrators to and from the centre, but symbol and metaphor are equally important. If nations are, in Benedict Anderson's words, 'imagined communities', then empires require still more abundant imagination to maintain disparate races and cultures as part of a cohesive whole. Consequently, texts of empire are continually fabricated and refabricated by colonisers and colonised alike, while images of cloth and weaving, with their associated imagery of narrative construction, can play an important part both in asserting bonds of empire and in challenging them. This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol16/iss3/3 Fabricating Texts of Empire 1


In the absence of surviving casework, this article draws on the recollections of women who lived in a racially segregated orphanage in Oakland, California, during the Great Depression and World War II. The women, who were not orphans, came from white working-class families in need of emergency child care. After explaining the place of woman-run institutions in California's mixed economy of social welfare, the article draws on memories of the Children's Home to argue that physical settings made clear the intentions of orphanage founders but were invested with other meanings by children. Spatial evidence is used to direct attention to the ability of children to act on their own behalf. This evidence shows that, with Progressive reforms driving social changes, U.S. cities lost institutions that represented the needs of dependent children to a larger urban public when orphanages were closed down.


Background: Obesity remains a significant public health priority despite ongoing efforts, with few notable advances made in recent years. Individual behaviour change mechanisms, or 'active ingredients', can only partially explain and predict successful weight loss. In addition, maintenance following a period of initial weight loss is rare and relies upon unique combinations of interrelated and overlapping factors. Whilst the outcome of weight loss and its maintenance has been the focus of much research, the individual weight loss journey as a process has been largely overlooked. By looking through the lens of the lived experience, there lies an opportunity to sequence the temporal and contextual dimensions of the weight journey and gain greater insight into this process.

Aims: The current study aimed to examine the temporal and contextual dynamics of the weight loss journey by listening to the personal narratives of people who had attended a psychologically-led weight loss intervention, in this way revealing the barriers and enablers to their initial weight loss and maintenance over time.

Methods: The study adopted a qualitative approach, using a combination of focus groups and 1-1 interviews with participants who had previously attended a psychologically-based weight management intervention.

Results: The study recruited a total of 46 individuals who took part in either a focus group (n=40) or 1-1 interview (n=6). A conceptual linear framework was devised which highlighted three core superordinate themes; Alienation, Connectedness and The Future (Abandonment or Autonomy), representing distinct stages of the weight journey. In exploring the conditions under which individuals migrate across stages results indicated a role for the development of a self-identity which assumes personal responsibility for meeting psychological and emotional needs beyond the physical realm of weight loss. Although most personal narratives reflected a sense of abandonment post intervention and associated weight relapse, a small minority engendered a sense of autonomy and a focus upon psychological and emotional capacities as a metric for their weight loss journey.

Conclusions: Bringing into view temporal and contextual dimensions involved in managing weight over time, the findings have implications for addressing the issue of weight as a symptom rather than as a cause and centralise the importance of meeting psychological and emotional needs over and above a unilateral focus on weight loss.


The level of unemployment, poverty, hunger and disease is growing at an alarming rate in developing countries despite global technological and entrepreneurship development. Fish is known to be the most important food commodity handled by rural women in Katcha Local Government area of Niger State because of abundant water from River Niger and streams. This study examined the socio-economic characteristics of rural women involved in marketing; the problems and constraints associated with fish marketing, as well as its socio-economic benefits and profitability. Four markets randomly selected were used for data collection. Structured questionnaire was designed to elicit information from twenty (20) respondents in each selected market. Analytical tools used were simple descriptive statistics such as percentages and benefit cost ratio. The results showed that 32.5% of the respondents were within the age range of 36 to 45 years. The percentage profits margin were 10.33, 9.77, 8.48 and 7.26% for Katcha, Chapo, Dibbo and Ndalada markets while percentage of total profit were 32.23, 26.74, 22.34 and 18.68% respectively. Similarly, benefits/cost ratio for Katcha, Chapo, Dibbo and Ndalada markets were 1.10, 1.09, 1.08 and 1.07 respectively; indicating that fish marketing is a profitable venture. This index can be used as a tool for economic empowerment and poverty reduction among rural women.

 Key words: Rural women, fish marketing, poverty reduction, economic empowerment.


Research on flexible and wearable electronics has been gaining momentum in recent years, ranging in use from medical to military and everyday consumer applications. Yet to date, textile electronics still lack integrated energy storage solutions. This paper provides an overview and perspective on the field of textile energy storage with a specific emphasis on devices made from textiles or made as a fabric themselves. While other types of flexible energy storage devices are discussed, the focus is on coated, fibre, woven as well as knitted supercapacitors and batteries.


The development of kenotic ideas was one of the most important advances in theological thinking in the late twentieth century. In The Work of Love eleven foremost theologians and scientists discuss the kenotic view of creation, exploring the implications of this controverial perspective for Christian doctrine and the scientific enterprise generally. The authors' backgrounds are diverse-ranging from systematic theology to neuropsychology-yet each agrees in seeing creation as God's loving act of divine self-restriction. The key concept, kenosis ("self-emptying"), refers to God's voluntary limitation of his divine infinity in order to allow room for finite creatures who are truly free to be themselves. This engaging formulation of God's creative work challenges the common conception of God as a divine dictator and provides a more satisfying response to the perplexing problem of evil and suffering in the world. The fruit of discussions sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, these stimulating chapters bring a needed interdisciplinary approach to this weighty new trajectory in Christian thought. Contributors: Ian G. Barbour Sarah Coakley George F. R. Ellis Paul S. Fiddes Malcolm Jeeves Jurgen Moltmann Arthur Peacocke John Polkinghorne Holmes Rolston III Keith Ward Michael Welker


Physical education requirements in the United States vary and are often left to local districts in each state to decide. Considering the relationship between physical activity and obesity and physical fitness with mortality, requirements relating to national recommendations appear important. Long term implications of participation in physical education are contradictory at best with the limited studies performed concluding conflicting results. PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between years of participation in physical education at a high school level and levels of physical activity and fitness in college students and adults. METHODS: Forty-one participants ranging in age from 18-65 (mean age 33.6) were recruited utilizing an inter-collegiate mailing system. Participants completed a self-administered IPAQ long-form questionnaire as well as additional physical education related questions. Participants also completed a YMCA Step Test. RESULTS: When comparing participant results to national recommendations for physical activity 6 of 41 met vigorous physical activity guidelines (14.6%), and 0 met guidelines for moderate physical activity. When adding in vigorous outdoor housework those meeting vigorous guidelines went up to 11 of 41 participants (26.8%), and when adding in moderate outdoor and indoor housework those meeting moderate guidelines went up to 4 of 41 (9.7%). Mean score of 4.5 on the YMCA Step Test for all participants was between below average and poor with a standard deviation of nearly two scoring levels. No significant relationships were found when comparing time spent in physical education classes (required or total) to recalled moderate physical activity and fitness levels in college students and adults, while a significant relationship was seen when comparing the time spent in physical education classes (required and total) to recalled vigorous physical activity and fitness levels in college students and adults (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: Further study to examine the relationship between physical education and long-term physical activity is needed with particular attention being paid to physical education requirements and their variances.


This article aims to explain the effects of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs on central government's budget balance, expenditure, and revenue. Previous works in the literature largely ignored the mechanisms by which IMF programs have effects on economic outcomes. Furthermore, earlier studies on the relationship between IMF programs and budget balance suffer from inaccurate measures of budget balance and do not control for the selection bias that is commonly associated with the studies of program participation. This article employs improved measures of budget balance and methods that correct for selection bias in order to analyze the micro-level policy impacts of the IMF through conditionality. Using the data of 93 developing countries from 1951 to 2000, this article finds that IMF programs are effective in reducing government expenditure but fail to increase revenue. Therefore, IMF program participation does not influence overall budget deficits.


Reperfusion therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a rational therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Properly titrated use of tPA improves clinical outcomes. However, there is also an associated risk of hemorrhagic transformation after tPA therapy. Emerging data now suggest that some of these potentially neurotoxic side effects of tPA may be due to its signaling actions in the neurovascular unit. Besides its intended role in clot lysis, tPA is also an extracellular protease and signaling molecule in brain. tPA mediates matrix remodeling during brain development and plasticity. By interacting with the NMDA-type glutamate receptor, tPA may amplify potentially excitotoxic calcium currents. At selected concentrations, tPA may be vasoactive. Finally, by augmenting matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) dysregulation after stroke, tPA may degrade extracellular matrix integrity and increase risks of neurovascular cell death, blood–brain barrier leakage, edema, and hemorrhage. Understanding these pleiotropic actions of tPA may reveal new therapeutic opportunities for combination stroke therapy.


Resampling is a process often used in geophysical applications. Especially in the field of seismic
and radar data processing it is applied mainly to time series. In most cases the resampling process
influences the contents of time series both, in the time domain and in the frequency domain. If a
time series is resampled to a larger sampling interval the frequency spectrum will vary since the
Nyquist frequency ifN) decreases and the frequency components higher then the new Nyquist
frequency fold into the area below. Vice versa, by resampling to a smaller sampling interval, fNy
is increasing and usually an unknown spectrum, depending on the used method will be added.
Resampling is performed by interpolation. The simplest way is to use a linear function. On the
other hand polynomial functions or cubic or rational splines lead to more satisfying results, but
all of these methods influence the frequency spectrum. If the interpolation is performed in the
frequency domain, the spectrum of the resampled data set can be controlled in such a way that it
is unchanged. The principle of this method is based on the fact that the sampling interval of a
time series in the time domain automatically defines the Nyquist frequency. But vice versa, in the
frequency domain full control over the sampling interval is given by alteration Of/Ny'
This work presents the above method and demonstrates that a discrete time series can be
transformed into a continuous time series by moving/Ny to infinity and that it is very easy for that
reason to resample to larger or smaller sampling intervals which are not integral multiples of the
original sampling interval. The problem of aliasing is also discussed and practical examples for
application of this method to GPR data are mentioned.


Mitochondrial function in saponin-permeabilized muscle fibres can be studied by high-resolution respirometry, laser-excited fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy. We applied these techniques to study metabolic effects of changes in the pattern of mitochondrial enzymes in skeletal muscle of patients with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia or Kearns-Sayre syndrome harbouring large-scale deletions of mitchondrial DNA (mtDNA). In all patients combined deficiencies of respiratory chain enzymes containing mitochondrially encoded subunits were observed. The citrate synthase-normalized activity ratios of these enzymes decreased linearly with increasing mtDNA heteroplasmy. This indicates the absence of any well-defined mutation thresholds for mitochondrial enzyme activities in the entire skeletal muscle. We applied metabolic control analysis to perform a quantitative estimation of the metabolic influence of the observed enzyme deficiencies. For patients with degrees of mtDNA heteroplasmy below about 60% we observed at almost normal maximal rates of respiration an increase in flux control coefficients of complexes I and IV. Permeabilized skeletal-muscle fibres of patients with higher degrees of mtDNA heteroplasmy and severe enzyme deficiencies exhibited additionally decreased maximal rates of respiration. This finding indicates the presence of a 'metabolic threshold' which can be assessed by functional studies of muscle fibres providing the link to the phenotypic expression of the mtDNA mutation in skeletal muscle.


This paper compares the performance of four load side heat exchange units that could be used with storage tanks in solar heating systems to make domestic hot water (DHW). The unit consists of a flat plate heat exchanger and a controller that regulates the primary (tank side) flow in a predetermined way. Several tests were carried out in order to determine the static and dynamic performance of the units. The two best units were connected in turn to a standard solar heating system and the thermal performance of the whole system was measured using a six-day test sequence. In addition simulation models of these two units were constructed and their parameters identified. The results show that not all of the units are suitable for use in solar heating systems. Two completely different control strategies achieve reasonable thermal performance. When used in a standard high flow Swedish solar system instead of the usual internal load side heat exchangers, the solar fraction of the whole system is improved by over 10%.


Controlled release fertilizers The efficiency of nitrogen assimilation by plants is rather low and this is a serious problem in view of environmental protection. Improvement of nitrogen absorption can be carried out through the developing, producing and applying the controlled release fertilizers. Biodegradable chitosan has been proposed as an alternative material in the production of controlled release fertilizers.


The paper presents the results of the research focused on crisis management, which is based on the process of change management by the author-formulated methodology of the creation, implementation and changes of business strategies and requirements for their improvement due to the incidence of a turbulent management environment and other essential factors. The main factors of crisis and methods of their analysis are formulated. Thereinafter, the strategies of solving crisis situations are formulated. The company Bioveta, inc. is analysed in detail. The research has proved that companies with modern management need a well-made and working system of crisis management due to their complexity and


Billions of poultry are slaughtered globally each year to provide protein for a rapidly expanding human population. The large number of birds produced in conventional systems presents animal welfare issues during production, transport, and at the time of slaughter. While we recognise the significance of welfare issues during rearing and transport, this paper highlights the welfare of poultry at the time of slaughter. The impacts of manual handling, inversion and shackling, use of inappropriate electrical stunning parameters, and the use of aversive gas mixtures during controlled atmosphere stunning are some of the evident welfare lapses; if the entrance to the water bath is wet and not isolated, bird welfare can also be compromised during water bath stunning because of pre-stun shocks. We also highlight the use of aversive stunning methods such as carbon dioxide gas at high concentrations, which has been shown to compromise bird welfare. In conclusion, we offer some reflections on ways to improve the welfare of birds during pre-slaughter handling, stunning, and neck cutting.


True education when imparted to dynamic human resource leads the nation towards attaining greatness. True education implies to a state when economic prosperity is gained through value based social system and baton of glorious cultural heritage is passed to younger generation with honour and confidence. This dream can not be cherished in absence of professionally qualified and competent teachers. Expectations from teachers are high. In view of this, pressing need of the hour is to acknowledge and develop such competencies in teachers which help them in achieving this endeavour. What standards should be displayed by practitioners of this job? To probe this, many researchers have studied various aspects of teaching as a profession and as a process. Objective of this paper is to review opinions/findings expressed by educationists and researchers and make a list of competencies considered salient for this committed profession.


Rapid and simple methods for determination diclofenac (DF) in both chitosan films and microsphere formulations using HPLC and UV-visible spectrophotometer were developed and validated. The HPLC assay was performed using a reversed phase ACE® C8 column (150 mm x 4.6 mm) with a mobile phase system consisting of methanol : phosphate buffer pH = 2.5 (66: 34 by volume). The flow rate was set at 1 mL/min and the UV detection at 254 nm. The Hewlett Packard 8452A, Diode Array Spectrophotometer set at 278 nm was used for method comparison. The accuracies reported as % recovery were found to be 98.84-100.91% and 92.61-99.64% for the UV-vis spectrophotometer and HPLC, respectively. Inter-day precisions (reproducibility) were 0.23–0.55%RSD (UV-vis) and 1.91-2.66–0.55%RSD (HPLC), while intra-day precisions (repeatability) were 0.23–0.55%RSD (UV-vis) and 0.34–1.62%RSD (HPLC). The calibration curve was found to be linear with the equations of y = 0.0445x + 0.006 and y = 57694x - 10767 with correlation coefficients of 0.9996 and 0.9994 (r2) over a concentration range of 5–25 μg/mL for the UV-vis and HPLC, respectively with a low LOD and LOQ. The method can be applied for the quantitative analysis of diclofenac in both chitosan film and microsphere formulations without any complexity for sample preparations.


The employment of IEEE 802.11p compliant devices in the automotive environment is considered a crucial factor to leverage traffic safety and efficiency, which makes it critical to evaluate this standard before it is fully integrated with real systems. However, due to the high cost and the low supply of commercial devices, most of the work involving VANETs (Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks) is still carried out only with simulations. In order to investigate possible equivalences, this work investigates the results of real measurements involving V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) and V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) scenarios. For this, results obtained using OBUs (On-Board Units) and RSUs (Road-Side Units) were compared with those obtained by the NS-3 simulator. Three metrics were evaluated: the maximum reach, the packet delivery rate and the packet inter-reception time. The influence of different types of modulation allowed in the IEEE 802.11p standard and of several mobility patterns were also analyzed. This work represents a reference for the complete integration of this standard, and contributes to the validation and evolution of the current simulation models.