The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially among health-care workers. One of the most important preventive measures is vaccination. This study examined factors associated with the incidence rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection after mRNA-1273 booster vaccination (preceded by the CoronaVac primary vaccination) and the antibody profile of health-care workers at one of the tertiary hospitals in Indonesia. This was a combined retrospective cohort and cross-sectional study. Three hundred health-care workers who were given the mRNA-1273 booster vaccine a minimum of 5 months prior to this study were randomly selected. Participants were then interviewed about their history of COVID-19 vaccination, history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and comorbidities. Blood samples were taken to assess IgG sRBD antibody levels. The median antibody level was found to be 659 BAU/mL (min 37 BAU/mL, max 5680 BAU/mL, QIR 822 BAU/mL) after the booster, and this was not related to age, sex, comorbidities, or adverse events following immunization (AEFI) after the booster. SARS-CoV-2 infection after the booster was correlated with higher antibody levels. In sum, 56 participants (18.6%) experienced SARS-CoV-2 infection after the mRNA-1273 booster vaccination within 5 months. Incidence per person per month was 3.2%. Age, sex, diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, obesity, and post-booster AEFI were not related to COVID-19 incidence after the booster. History of SARS-CoV-2 infection before the booster vaccination was significantly associated with a reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection after booster vaccination, with a relative risk (RR) of 0.21 (95% CI 0.09–0.45, p < 0.001).


This paper presents and evaluates a lost thrust method for analysis of thermodynamic performance in gas turbine engines. This method is based on the definition of a hypothetical ideal engine that is used as a point of comparison to evaluate performance of the real engine. Specifically, component loss is quantified in terms of decrements in thrust of the real engine relative to the ideal engine having the same design point cycle. These lost thrust decrements provide a basis for accurately evaluating the performance cost of component losses while simultaneously accounting for all component interactions. The analysis algorithm is formally developed in detail and is then demonstrated for a typical separate flow turbofan engine. Various scenarios are examined and the results of these exercises are used to draw conclusions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of this approach to gas turbine performance analysis.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


At a time when politics and virtue seem less compatible than oil and water, "Democracy and Moral Development" shows how to bring the two together. Philosopher David Norton applies classical concepts of virtue to the premises of modern democracy. The centerpiece of the book is a model of organizational management applicable to the state, business, the professions, and voluntary communities.


Relay communications has attracted a growing interest in wireless communications with application to various enhanced technologies. This thesis considers a number of issues related to data throughput in various wireless relay network models. Particularly, new implementations of network coding (NC) and space-time coding (STC) techniques are investigated to offer various means of achieving high-throughput relay communications.

Firstly, this thesis investigates different practical automatic repeat request (ARQ) retransmission protocols based on NC for two-way wireless relay networks to improve throughput efficiency. Two improved NC-based ARQ schemes are designed based on go-back-N and selective-repeat (SR) protocols. Addressing ARQ issues in multisource multidestination relay networks, a new NC-based ARQ protocol is proposed and two packet-combination algorithms are developed for retransmissions at relay and sources to significantly improve the throughput.

In relation to the concept of channel quality indicator (CQI) reporting in two-way relay networks, two new efficient CQI reporting schemes are designed based on NC to improve the system throughput by allowing two terminals to simultaneously estimate the CQI of the distant terminal-relay link without incurring additional overhead. The transmission time for CQI feedback at the relays is reduced by half while the increase in complexity and the loss of performance are shown to be negligible. Furthermore, a low-complexity relay selection scheme is suggested to reduce the relay searching complexity.

For the acknowledgment (ACK) process, this thesis proposes a new block ACK scheme based on NC to significantly reduce the ACK overheads and therefore produce an enhanced throughput. The proposed scheme is also shown to improve the reliability of block ACK transmission and reduce the number of data retransmissions for a higher system throughput. Additionally, this thesis presents a new cooperative retransmission scheme based on relay cooperation and NC to considerably reduce the number of retransmission packets and im- prove the reliability of retransmissions for a more power efficient and higher throughput system with non-overlapped retransmissions. Moreover, two relay selection schemes are recommended to determine the optimised number of relays for the retransmission.

Finally, with respect to cognitive wireless relay networks (CWRNs), this thesis proposes a new cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) scheme to improve the spectrum sensing performance and design a new CSS scheme based on NC for three-hop CWRNs to improve system throughput. Furthermore, a new distributed space-time-frequency block code (DSTFBC) is designed for a two- hop nonregenerative CWRN over frequency-selective fading channels. The proposed DSTFBC design achieves higher data rate, spatial diversity gain, and decoupling detection of data blocks at all destination nodes with a low-complexity receiver structure.


ABSTRACT The quantification of snow transport, both in wind tunnels and the field, apply particle counting methods limited to punctual sampling of relatively small volumes. Particle counting can only capture horizontal mass fluxes, failing to measure snow erosion or deposition. Herein, we present a novel low-cost sensor tool, based on a Microsoft Kinect, adapted to capture snow surface changes during snow drifting at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. In the wind tunnel setting of these experiments we observe a balance between erosion and deposition at low wind speeds, while erosion is dominant at higher wind speeds. Significant differences in power spectral densities of surface mass flux and horizontal particle mass flux are observed. We show that for the saltation-length-scale parameter λ = 1, the integrated particle flux can be used to estimate the total surface mass flux in the wind tunnel. This provides an important basis to interpret mass flux measurements in the field.


Recent studies revealed that the training process of deep neural networks (DNNs) is vulnerable to backdoor attacks if third-party training resources are adopted. Among all different types of existing attacks, sample-specific backdoor attacks (SSBAs) are probably the most advanced and malicious methods, since they can easily bypass most of the existing defenses. In this paper, we reveal that SSBAs are not stealthy enough due to their poisoned-label nature, where users can discover anomalies if they check the image-label relationship. Besides, we also show that extending existing SSBAs to the ones under the clean-label setting based on poisoning samples from only the target class has minor effects. Inspired by the decision process of humans, we propose to adopt attribute as the trigger to design the sample-specific backdoor attack with clean labels (dubbed BAAT). Experimental results on benchmark datasets verify the effectiveness and stealthiness of BAAT.


Floppy Disk Drive: FD360 microperipheral drive operates under directions from Intel or National Smiconductor microprocessor system. Hardware interfaces and FDOS (Floppy Disk Operating Systems) available for lntellec-8, Intellec-8/Mod-80, IMP-16P, 16L, 8P. Features include format compatibility with IBM 3741, 3742, 3540 systems, built-in hardware track seek and seek verification, automatic head load/unload, operation with programmed I/O or DMA interfaces, sector buffering to enable asynchronous programmed I/O. Eight input, 16 output lines provide interfacing. Single drive configuration, $2350 (unit); 2 drives, $3000. Special interfaces available. -iCOM, Canoga Park, CA.


This article aims to investigate the role of waste management in the development of modern green and smart cities and to determine the existence of several key points in programs transforming cities into green cities with smart technologies. The relevance of the research is determined by the need to develop a theoretical and methodological basis for the green and smart city concepts. The research process involved the following methods: Scientific analysis, comparison, and synthesis. The research results of the case study of Russia determined that for urban territories with great distances between urban districts, waste sorting stations should be located as parts of so-called waste recycling complexes at intermunicipal landfills. This will allow a more fully implementation of the concept of recycling economy not only in Russian cities, but also in other cities with sparse populations across the world. Further, the authors conclude that the effectiveness of green technologies in modern cities, especially in waste management, depends on the level of participation of citizens. People are active participants in the life processes of cities and have a direct impact on the urban environment. Consequently, the introduction of green technologies can only be achieved in harmony with the well-established behavioral attitudes of city residents together with the implementation of green and smart urban technologies.


The objective of the present study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) assay for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in HIV-infected patients. MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, African Index Medicus, ResearchGate, SciELO, and the abstracts of the main conferences on infectious diseases and tropical medicine were searched, and other sources investigated. Only studies including HIV-infected patients evaluating MODS for the diagnosis of TB and using culture-based diagnostic tests as a gold standard were analysed. Summary sensitivity and specificity were calculated with a bivariate model. 3259 citations were found, 29 were selected for full-text review and 10 studies including 3075 samples were finally analysed. Overall diagnostic accuracy of MODS for the diagnosis of TB was a sensitivity of 88.3% (95% CI 86.18–90.2%) and specificity 98.2% (95% CI 97.75–98.55%). For multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB, sensitivity was 89% (95% CI 66.07–97%) and specificity was 100% (95 CI 94.81–100%). For smear-negative pulmonary TB, a sensitivity of 88.2% (95% CI 86.1–89.9%) and specificity of 98.2% (95% CI 96.8–98.9%) were found. Costs varied between USD 0.72 and 7.31 per sample. Mean time to positivity was 8.24 days. MODS was found to have a good accuracy for the diagnosis of TB and MDR-TB in HIV-infected patients with low cost and fast results. MODS is an accurate, cheap and fast, culture-based technique for diagnosis of TB and MDR-TB in HIV-infected patients http://ow.ly/zEySF


Minimally invasive procedures are considered to be safe and effective approaches to the management of surgical liver disease. However, this indication remains controversial for living donor hepatectomy. Between 2000 and 2011, living donor right hepatectomy (LDRH) was performed 58 times. Standard right hepatectomy was performed in 30 patients via a subcostal incision with a midline extension. Minimally invasive procedures began to be used for LDRH in 2008. A hybrid technique (hand‐assisted laparoscopic liver mobilization and minilaparotomy for parenchymal dissection) was developed and used in 19 patients. In 2010, an upper midline incision (10 cm) without laparoscopic assistance for LDRH was innovated, and this technique was used in 9 patients. The perioperative factors were compared, and the indications for minimally invasive LDRH were investigated. The operative blood loss was significantly less for the patients undergoing a minimally invasive procedure versus the patients undergoing the standard procedure (212 versus 316 mL, P = 0.001), and the operative times were comparable. The length of the hospital stay was significantly shorter for the minimally invasive technique group (5.9 versus 7.8 days, P < 0.001). The complication rates were 23% and 25% for the standard technique and minimally invasive technique groups, respectively (P = 0.88). Patients undergoing minilaparotomy LDRH had a body mass index (24.0 kg/m2) similar to that of the hybrid technique patients (25.8 kg/m2, P = 0.36), but the graft size was smaller (780 versus 948 mL, P = 0.22). In conclusion, minimally invasive LDRH can be performed without safety being impaired. LDRH with a 10‐cm upper midline incision and without laparoscopic assistance may be appropriate for donors with a smaller body mass. Laparoscopic assistance can be added as needed for larger donors. This type of LDRH with a 10‐cm incision is innovative and is recommended for experienced centers. Liver Transpl 18:1188–1197, 2012. © 2012 AASLD.


Praise for Building Clustered Linux Systems"The author does an outstanding job of presenting a very complicated subject. I very much commend this work. The author sets the pace and provides vital resources and tips along the way. He also has a very good sense of humor that is crafted in the text in such a way that makes the reading enjoyable just when the subject may demand a break. This book should be a requirement for those that are clustering or considering clustering and especially those considering investing a great deal of financial resource toward that goal."i¾–Joe Brazeal, Information Technician III, Southwest Power Pool"This book is for Beginner and Intermediate level system administrators, engineers, and researchers, who want to learn how to build Linux clusters. The book covers everything very well."i¾–Ibrahim Haddad, Senior Researcher, Ericsson Corporate Unit of Research"Nothing that I know of exists yet that covers this subject in as much depth and detail. The practical 'hands-on' approach of this book on how to build a Linux cluster makes this a very valuable reference for a very popular, highly demanded technology."i¾–George Vish, II, Linux Curriculum Program Manager and Senior Education Consultant, HP"In my opinion there is a significant lack of literature on this subject. Most of the currently available books are either dated or do not address the complete picture of the range of decisions that must go into building a Linux cluster. I feel comfortable recommending this to anyone interested in building a Linux cluster to better understand both the technical aspects of building and designing a Linux cluster, but also the business aspects of the same."i¾–Randall Splinter Ph.D., Senior Solution Architect, HP"The author has set a precedent in the cluster design and integration process that is lacking in the industry today."--Stephen Gray, Senior Applications Engineer, Altair Engineering, Inc.The Practical, Step-by-Step Guide to Building and Running Linux ClustersLow-cost, high-performance Linux clusters are the best solution for an increasingly wide range of technical and business problems. Until now, however, building and managing Linux clusters has required more specialized knowledge than most IT organizations possess. This book dramatically lowers the learning curve, bringing together all the hands-on knowledge and step-by-step techniques you'll need to get the job done.Using practical examples, Robert Lucke simplifies every facet of cluster design and integration: networking, hardware, architecture, operating environments, data sharing, applications, and more. Lucke, who helped prototype and implement one of the world's largest Linux clusters, systematically addresses the key issues you'll encounter and the key decisions you'll have to make. Coverage includes: Basic clustering concepts, hardware components, and architectural models A step-by-step cluster creation process: design, installation, and testing Choosing and implementing the optimal hardware configuration for your environment Life in the fast LAN: high-speed cluster interconnects Software issues: distributions, bootup, disks, partitioning, file systems, middleware, and more


AT A glance the literature on the behavioral antecedents of adult schizophrenia appears to be hopelessly contradictory, first suggesting that most preschizophrenics are withdrawn during childhood, then indicating that aggressive antisocial children are at high risk for serious psychiatric problems including schizophrenia as adults, and finally demonstrating that children of all behavioral types may become schizophrenics. The central issue is whether certain behavior patterns in childhood identify children who are at high risk for adult schizophrenia. If this were the case, it possibly would give us some clue about the etiology of the disorder and would allow us to identify and study groups of children with a high expectancy for adult schizophrenia before the overt onset of the disease. This paper will review the literature on the behavioral antecedents of adult schizophrenia. While anterospective studies starting with a group of children


With the advancements in nanotechnology, studies on the synthesis, modification, application, and toxicology evaluation of nanomaterials are gaining increased attention. In particular, the applications of nanomaterials in biological systems are attracting considerable interest because of their unique, tunable, and versatile physicochemical properties. Artificially engineered nanomaterials can be well controlled for appropriate usage, and the tuned physicochemical properties directly influence the interactions between nanomaterials and cells. This review summarizes recently synthesized major nanomaterials that have potential biomedical applications. Focus is given on the interactions, including cellular uptake, intracellular trafficking, and toxic response, while changing the physicochemical properties of versatile materials. The importance of physicochemical properties such as the size, shape, and surface modifications of the nanomaterials in their biological effects is also highlighted in detail. The challenges of recent studies and future prospects are presented as well. This review benefits relatively new researchers in this area and gives them a systematic overview of nano-bio interaction, hopefully for further experimental design.


Since 1983, after the participation of Greece in the European Union (EU), IGME has carried out many research projects relevant to earth sciences funded by the European Commission (EC). Especially in the sector of Marine Sciences, a number of projects have been funded in cooperation with other European Institutes. The main targets of the research projects were relevant to the tasks described in the various framework programs (FP) evaluated by the EC, with the tasks changing according to the decision of the European Parliament. The marine projects became gradually larger in terms of the number of the participating Institutes while their target focused more toward to the society needs such as the sustainable energy resources and environmental problems. In this presentation we will describe the research projects relevant to the above targets that were carried out in the last 10 years partly or entirely in the Greek seas.


The study aims to evaluate the effect of essential service quality on Junior Non-Commissioned Officers' satisfaction and morale in Navy Town, Lagos, to suggest measures of improvement. The study covers junior non-commissioned officers Quarters of Navy Town, Lagos. A quantitative method was adopted for this study. The population size in this study comprises about 1,000 apartments and the sample size is 400. The respondents were selected by the systematic sample method. The study employed a questionnaire as an instrument for the data collection. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). A total number of 372 questionnaires were retrieved from the respondents and 365 were used in the analyses after data screening. Bureaucracy and under-costing mostly influence the quality of essential service, with a delivery method such as contract contributing less. It is also recommended that Barrack Maintenance Unit (BMU) as well as the Nigerian Naval Headquarters should incorporate policies that would encourage the efficient use of services provided as it will help to increase the life span of the facilities. The barrack maintenance and services provided be carried out through direct labour to ensure effectiveness. The above recommendations are hopefully expected to reverse the current trend of junior non-commissioned officers' satisfaction, consequently improve to better sustainable improvement on barrack accommodation and facilities.


This paper describes the integration of WS-RF functionality into the graphical workflow enactment engine Triana. The motivation for our work is the belief that standardized communication models as represented by the numerous Web services related specifications will enrich the semantic content of service intercommunication and are likely to achieve widespread adoption. These two features will help to facilitate the kind of dynamic binding of services advocated by Service Oriented Architectures. Furthermore we maintain that exposing the capabilities offered by these specifications to the end user in a simple and intuitive manner is essential if they are to be used intelligently and flexibly, particularly when the specifications do not address the functional semantics of a service as is the case with WS-RF. We examine the possibilities that WS-RF offers to workflow creation and execution, particularly how it enables a number of optimizations which are useful in scientific workflows to be performed in a standardized manner, and describe the visual interpretation of WS-RF, the underlying technologies that enable this interpretation as well as issues arising from the integration of WS-RF into Triana.


On tens of thousands of occasions each year, state court judges wrongly separate children from their families and place them in foster care. And while a child is in foster care, judges are called on to render hundreds of decisions affecting every aspect of the child's life. This Article uses insights from social psychology research to analyze the environment of dependency court and to recommend changes that will improve decisions. Research indicates that decision makers aware at the time they make a decision that they will be called upon later to explain it may engage in a systematic, deliberate decision-making process. On the other hand, decision makers given an opportunity to justify a decision after making it reflexively may defend the decision, ignoring or distorting information that would undercut its rationale. This Article argues that decisions in dependency court are harmed by a shortage of predecisional accountability and an abundance of post-decisional opportunities to self-defensively bolster decisions previously made. The Article draws from social psychology research to recommend concrete changes to promote effective decisionmaking processes in dependency court. Recommendations include opening dependency courts, expanding appeal rights, dispersing decision making authority from a single judge to multiple judges, and using "case rounds," drawn from medical school and law school clinical education programs, to provide judges with diverse perspectives on decisions with which they are faced. Finally, I recommend directions for empirical research in the unique environment of dependency court.


The author describes a small series of interpractice visits in Perth, Western Australia, motivated by the growing need for quality assurance standards in general practice. He reviews the strengths and failures of the experience from the point of view of doctors equally inexperienced in such ventures.


Alongside exponential rises in global prices for gold, there has been a concurrent rise in the geographical scope of the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. This poverty-driven activity has been associated with elevated levels of environmental degradation, a high degree of informality, poor health and safety practices and below market prices for their gold. Despite these putatively conceived problems, there has been a historical and widespread failure by policy makers to significantly improve thesocio-economic and environmental conditions facing ASM?s operators. Recently, however, there has been a noticeable shift in the ways in which the governance of the sector is enacted. This thesis critically analyses the emergence of one such example, namely the Fairtrade Labelling Organistion and the Alliance for Responsible Mining?s dual launch of ?Fairtrade? and ?Fairmined? (FT/FM) certified gold. Inspired by the past successes for the movement in a range of agrifood products and grounded in the discourse of ?fairness?, its application to ASM promises better prices in exchange for the fulfilment of standards relating to environmental stewardship,a commitment to democratic structures and responsible mining practices. Following the experiences of Fairtrade gold in nine pilot projects in Latin America, its expansion into gold producing countries in sub-Saharan African countries seems inevitable. However, there has been a lack of academic research into its efficacy, a gap that this thesis fills by examining the potential of both the discursive and material ways that Fairtrade and Fairmined gold may operate in Tanzania. It is revealed that ASM operators are negatively represented by conventional thinking as variously criminal, irresponsible and irrational. Against this background, it is argued that the intervention of FT/FM gold can be read through an environmental and social justice framework, one that presents a counter-narrative of ASM as a valued livelihood strategy marked by environmental responsibility. The struggles for greater recognition and more equitable distribution for ASM operators are premised, most critically on a movetowards a new, ?fair? way of mining. Building upon a critical examination of the politics of these discursiveconstructs, the thesis presents a critical examination of ?fairness? in practice through a case study. Indeed, a private company, African Precious Metals (APM), has constructed four ?Fair Trade Gold Centres? that offer ASM operators in the Mwanza and Shinyanga regions of Tanzania a new means of selling gold. Ideologically separate to the FT/FM model outlined above, their presence in local marketing arrangements for ASM gold has served to obscure the way that ?fairness? is conceptualised by ASM operators in the area. Moreover, their substantive failure in policy terms, allied to their close rhetorical association with FT/FM, has served to damage the moral ballast of ?fairness? found in the ?Fairtrade? gold discourse.Through the critical analysis of life histories narrated by ASM operators in Tanzania, this thesis reveals that there is a substantive gap between the ways in which ?fairness? in discursively conceptualised and how it is practically realised. Notable findings that compromise FT/FM?s potential efficacy include the fact that the ?Fair Trade? price is significantly lower than local market conditions and that, in the light of their historical failure, there is a deeply-rooted mistrust of development intervention more broadly. In struggling for a ?fair? future for ASM?s operators, the Fairtrade movement must also remain careful to avoid the paternalism that has defined erstwhile ASM policy that has promoted partnership. John Childs, The University of Manchester, PhD, 20th September 2011


In this paper a new approach for the estimation of oligopsony market power along a supply chain is developed. The theoretical framework relies on NEIO theory. Two subsequent markets with oligopsony power are modeled. Price equations, farm-processor and processor-retailer, are embedded in a price transmission framework. The reduced error correction representation is estimated via the Kalman-Filter to allow for time-variation in the long-run cointegration parameters. A dynamic factor model is applied to extract common factors from the time-varying coefficients and with the estimated results the processing industry's and retail sector's average input conjectural variations are calculated. The framework is applied to the German dairy supply chain over the time period January 2000 to March 2011. Results indicate lower levels of market imperfections on the raw milk and dairy output market.


1. Extracellular field potential and intracellular recordings were made in the CA3 subfield of hippocampal slices obtained from 10- to 24-day-old rats during perfusion with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) containing the convulsant 4-aminopyridine (4-AP, 50 microM). 2. Three types of spontaneous, synchronous activity were recorded in the presence of 4-AP by employing extracellular microelectrodes positioned in the CA3 stratum (s.) radiatum: first, inter-ictal-like discharges that lasted 0.2-1.2 s and had an occurrence rate of 0.3-1.3 Hz; second, ictal-like events (duration: 3-40 s) that occurred at 4-38 x 10(-3) Hz; and third, large-amplitude (up to 8 mV) negative-going potentials that preceded the onset of the ictal-like events and thus appeared to initiate them. 3. None of these synchronous activities was consistently modified by addition of antagonists of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor to the ACSF. In contrast, the non-NMDA receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX, 2-10 microM) reversibly blocked interictal- and ictallike discharges. The only synchronous, spontaneous activity recorded in this type of medium consisted of the negative-going potentials that were abolished by the GABAA receptor antagonists bicuculline methiodide (5-20 microM) or picrotoxin (50 microM). Hence they were mediated through the activation of the GABAA receptor. 4. Profile analysis of the 4-AP-induced synchronous activity revealed that the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-mediated field potential had maximal negative amplitude in s. lacunosum-moleculare, attained equipotentiality at the border between s. radiatum and s. pyramidale, and became positive-going in s. oriens. These findings indicated that the GABA-mediated field potential presumably represented a depolarization occurring in the dendrites of CA3 pyramidal cells. 5. This conclusion was supported by intracellular analysis of the 4-AP-induced activity. The GABA-mediated potential was reflected by a depolarization of the membrane of CA3 pyramidal cells that triggered a few variable-amplitude, fractionated spikes or fast action potentials. By contrast, the ictal-like discharge was associated with a prolonged depolarization during which repetitive bursts of action potentials occurred. Short-lasting depolarizations with bursts of action potentials occurred during each interictal-like discharge. 6. The GABA-mediated potential recorded intracellularly in the presence of CNQX consisted of a prolonged depolarization (up to 12 s) that was still capable of triggering a few fast action potentials and/or fractionated spikes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


A new type of Coronavirus (SARS CoV2) which was identified on January 7th, 2020; which caused disease named COVID 19 caused by this virus. The first confirmed COVID 19 (+) case in Turkey was detected on March 11th, 2020. The first COVID-19 case in Antalya was detected on March 14th, 2020 and transferred by an Antalya 112 emergency ambulance to hospital. The aim of this descriptive, retrospective and cross-sectional study which is conducted between the dates of March 14th, 2020 and May 31st, 2020, is to evaluate the level of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) usage, the risk analysis results and follow up measures of Antalya 112 ambulance teams during COVID-19 outbreak. There were 5344 possible and 787 confirmed COVID-19 (+) positive ambulance cases between the dates of study conducted. The majority of these cases were male (62%) and over the age of 65 (47%). The majority of cases were result in transferred to healthcare facilities (75.48%). The total 2361 ambulance team workers were taken to risk analysis measurements and then followed-up procedures. The majority of ambulance team members were assessed with no risk available. The Level 4 PPE (N95/FPP, Goggle/face protection, Gloves, Apron/coverall) were used most commonly (84.50%). The HCWs who use Level-4 PPE for confirmed COVID-19 (+) cases, were assessed no risk exposed. The using mask on patient and the level of PPE usage showed negative correlation with risk level of HCWs. There are only 2 HCWs diagnosed with COVID 19 by CT scan. The follow up procedures of two HCWs has been finalized, and both of them cured, follow ups ended. The studies about easy use, hightech PPE with maximum protection, are recommended for further investigations. Keywords: COVID 19, Ambulance Services, Personal Protective Equipment


Agriculture is crucially dependent on the timely availability of adequate amount of water and a conducive climate. Temperature and rainfall patterns impact the availability of water for agricultural uses. Therefore, temperature and rainfall are twin important environmental factors in agricultural activities such as tillage, planting, irrigation and mechanization. The characteristics of the Vaal-Harts temperature data for year 1996 to 2010 and rainfall data for year 1983 to 2010 were examined in this study using statistical techniques. Basic statistical properties of the data were determined using the mean, variance, coefficient of variation and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Temperature and rainfall observations with the average of about 17.44 were used. The minimum and maximum temperatures recorded were 9.72 0 C and 23.52 0 C. The Coefficient of variation (CV) was found to be about 29.59. Variance is a measure of how far a set of numbers is spread out; and the variance of this set of observations is 26.625. The average yearly temperature increases insignificantly by a constant of about 0.117 (p = 0.163; 95% CI: -0.054 – 0.288), while rainfall shows decreasing trend annually which means that the dry season will be drier. The involvement of non-zero values in the serial correlation indicated the significance of the deterministic component in the data. The results of this analysis enhance our understanding of the characteristics of air temperature and rainfall in the study area for effective planning of farming operations.


Abstract Aims The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationship between high‐involvement human resource management, autonomy, affective organisational commitment and innovative behaviours of nursing staff who care for elderly clients. Background Nursing teams are increasingly required to demonstrate innovative behaviours that enhance care quality. Nursing leaders need to create environments where nursing staff have sufficient autonomy and feel a sense of commitment to support these behaviours. The appropriate implementation of these processes and practices may lead to greater involvement. Methods A cross‐sectional survey‐based research design was employed to explore the experiences of involvement practices, autonomy, affective organisational commitment and innovative behaviours of 567 nursing staff workers from four elderly care organisations in the Netherlands. Results The results demonstrate that a bundle of high‐involvement practices positively influences innovative behaviour and that affective commitment and autonomy fully mediate this relationship. Conclusions The study highlights the role of autonomy and commitment as routes towards translating involvement practices into nurses' innovativeness. Implications for Nursing Management To create an innovative environment, leaders need to create a positive climate by providing nurses with opportunities to enhance their competence, relatedness and autonomy through active involvement. Leaders should, therefore, encourage involvement as a mechanism to promote innovation.


The β-globin gene mutation in sickle cell anemia results in anemia and repeated bouts of vascular occlusion. The cumulative effect of these vasocclusive events is progressive damage to many organs including the kidneys, lungs, and brain. The transfusion of red blood cells (RBC) can ameliorate many of these complications, but can be associated with both acute and chronic complications, including iron overload. The objective of the Best Practices in Transfusion Medicine for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Conference was to review the available published evidence and clinical experience surrounding the use of RBC transfusions for sickle cell disease by a panel of experts. The expert panel developed explicit clinical guidelines for the use of RBC in SCD patients. The panel also made recommendations for further research. A set of guidelines were produced for dissemination to pertinent stakeholders. If implemented, these clinical pathways have the potential to optimize the use of red blood cell transfusions in SCD.


Background Acute pesticide intoxication has an important public health significance in Ethiopia, but there is limited information about the risk factors of API. Flower farm and small-scale farm workers may have increased risk of pesticide exposure from pesticides used at their work place. This study investigates the risk factors of API among flower farm workers and small-scale farmers, in Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional survey involving 516 persons was conducted. Participants were grouped according to their jobs; flower farm workers and small-scale farmers. In a structured interview, participants were asked about possible work-related risk factors of API defined as at least two health symptoms within 48 hours of pesticide exposure the last year. Prevalence ratio was calculated using binomial regression model, adjusted for age; Fishers exact test was used to compare dichotomous variables having small numbers; and Mantel-Haenszel statistics was used to compare the association between the respective risk factors and API between flower farm and small-scale farmers. Results The mean age of the study participants was 30 years. Flower farm workers had higher risk of API than small-scale farmers (PR = 4.5, 95% CI: 3.20, 6.35). Among small-scale farmers none of the risk factors were significantly associated with API. Lack of safety training, not following pesticide lable instruction and bathing after pesticide use were significant risk factors for API among flower farm workers. The association between these risk factors and API was significantly different between flower farm and small-scale farmers (p < 0.05). Conclusion Work at flower farm was a significant predictor of API. Lack of pesticide safety training, not following pesticide labels and poor hygiene measures were the risk factors associated with API among flower farm workers, but not among small-scale farmers.


In traditional project management, knowledge integration assumes upfront plans as explicit knowledge. For complex projects that cannot be fully specified in advance, however, knowledge integration requires emergent learning in situated contexts (Lindkvist), which involves explicit knowledge (know-that) and experiential knowledge (know-how). To expand the knowledge boundaries of traditional project management, the root-metaphor perspectives of American philosopher Stephen Pepper (1942) are interpreted as a project management framework, focusing on Mechanism for traditional project management and Contextualism for situated approaches. Using this root-metaphor framework, explicit knowledge and experiential knowledge are mutually complementary when projects are viewed as modes of organizing and learning for temporary undertakings, which encompasses process and task. The implications for research and practice include using the framework for situated research, where Contextualism has greater explanatory power, and for the management of project diversity—traditional, complex, portfolio, and program projects.


Understanding the fundamental limits of gas deliverable capacity in porous materials is of critical importance as it informs whether technical targets (e.g., for on-board vehicular storage) are feasible. High-throughput screening studies of rigid materials, for example, have shown they are not able to achieve the original ARPA-E methane storage targets, yet an interesting question remains: what is the upper limit of deliverable capacity in flexible materials? In this work we develop a statistical adsorption model that specifically probes the limit of deliverable capacity in intrinsically flexible materials. The resulting adsorption thermodynamics indicate that a perfectly engineered, intrinsically flexible nanoporous material could achieve higher methane deliverable capacity than the best benchmark systems known to date with little to no total volume change. Density functional theory and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations identify a known metal-organic framework (MOF) that validates key features of the model. Therefore, this work (1) motivates a continued, extensive effort to rationally design a porous material analogous to the adsorption model and (2) calls for continued discovery of additional high deliverable capacity materials that remain hidden from rigid structure screening studies due to nominal non-porosity.


In this paper, a promising class of optical filters is introduced, based on Al2O3/PS/Si structure. The filters consist of thin layer of aluminium electrochemically oxidized in different aqueous solution, on porous silicon. The spectral sensitivity can be easily varied by Al2O3 thickness. This result is a consequence of refractive index variation of Al2O3 and PS layers, confirmed by ellipsometry measurements.


The notion of anyonic Wick algebras is introduced and the corresponding second quantisation procedure is discussed. Applications to the physics of 2D anyonic matter are presented. In particular the existence of thermodynamics in the in nite volume for the case of Leinaas-Myrheim potentials is presented. Additionally a new class of states corresponding to quasifree thermal states on some Wick algebras is described.


Whereas many techniques exist to detect HLA antibodies in the sera of immunized individuals, assays to detect and quantify HLA-specific B cells are only just emerging. The need for such assays is becoming clear, as in some patients, HLA-specific memory B cells have been shown to be present in the absence of the accompanying serum HLA antibodies. Because HLA-specific B cells in the peripheral blood of immunized individuals are present at only a very low frequency, assays with high sensitivity are required. In this review, we discuss the currently available methods to detect and/or quantify HLA-specific B cells, as well as their promises and limitations. We also discuss scenarios in which quantification of HLA-specific B cells may be of additional value, besides classical serum HLA antibody detection.


The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002 amended campaign finance law by banning unlimited soft money contributions to political parties and reforming the financing of advertising close to an election. In this ruling the Court is clearly concerned with the amount of money being donated to political candidates, which leads to the appearance of impropriety in gaining access to elected officials that in turn may influence legislation. In ruling on the constitutionality of this legislation, the Supreme Court also provided insight into its view of mass media effects. In applying the principles of cultivation theory and the media framing paradigm, the groups that can fund more commercials have an advantage with voters who may believe these repeated advertisements and vote for that particular candidate. This Article posits what might be the Supreme Court's view of the media effects debate by examining its ruling in McConnell v. FEC.


With the ever increasing growth in population water quality monitoring has become a critical issue in the recent years. Water quality monitoring is very important for aquaculture, waste water management, drinking water treatment, water distribution system, and other environmental applications. Recently numerous researchers have been initiated to build wireless system for water quality monitoring (WSWQM). The two fold objectives of WSWQM are (a) monitoring of water quality from a remote location with minimum supervision, and (b) initiating immediate corrective actions to maintain the required water quality standard. In this paper we present a system model for WSWQM. In this system we integrate a number of sensors, transmitters, receiver, myRIO microcontroller, and IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi technology. The sensors generate water quality data including pH, conductivity, and temperature. The real-time data are then sent wirelessly to a local control unit for analyzing, recording, and displaying. The system is also able to send alarm messages automatically to a remote management center when water quality fails to meet the required standard. In order to ensure high accuracy and reliability we use industry standard sensors and instruments to implement this system.


Recent speed-ups for training large-scale models like those found in statistical NLP exploit distributed computing (either on multicore or "cloud" architectures) and rapidly converging online learning algorithms. Here we aim to combine the two. We focus on distributed, "mini-batch" learners that make frequent updates asynchronously (Nedic et al., 2001; Langford et al., 2009). We generalize existing asynchronous algorithms and experiment extensively with structured prediction problems from NLP, including discriminative, unsupervised, and non-convex learning scenarios. Our results show asynchronous learning can provide substantial speedups compared to distributed and single-processor mini-batch algorithms with no signs of error arising from the approximate nature of the technique.


Security for Serverless Systems is looked at from two perspectives, the server-level security managed by the infrastructure company and the Application level Security managed by the tenants.The Trusted computing base for cloud systems is enormous as it encompasses all the functions running on a system. Authentication for systems is mostly done using ACL. Most Serverless Systems share data and thus, ACL isn't sufficient. IFC using appropriate label design can enforce continuously throughout the application. IFC can be used to increase confidence between functions with other functions and cloud provider and also mitigate security vulnerabilities making the system safer. A survey of the present IFC implementations for Serverless Systems is presented and system designs which are relevant to Serverless Systems and could be added to Serverless Systems Architecture and, an idea of an IFC model that could be effectively applied in a decentralised model like serverless systems. Keywords—Information flow control; serverless systems; language based security; cloud computing


The objective of this study was to investigate the adsorption/desorption behavior of oleuropein on different types of silk fibroin matrices including silk fibroin microfibers (MF), regenerated silk fibroin (RSF), and silk fibroin nanofibers (NF). Nanofibers with an average diameter of ranging between 24 and 326 nm were successfully prepared using the electrospinning technique. The effects of the silk fibroin concentration, the voltage applied and the distance between needle tip and collector plate on the morphology of the NF were investigated. The adsorption capacities of MF, RSF and NF were determined as 104.92, 163.07 and 228.34 mg oleuropein per gram of material, respectively. The percentage of initially adsorbed oleuropein that was desorbed was 86.08, 91.29 and 96.67% for MF, RSF and NF, respectively. NF and RSF discs loaded with oleuropein were subjected to disc diffusion assays to determine their antibacterial activity against test microorganisms Staphylococcus epidermidis ( Gram + ) and Escherichia coli ( Gram – ). The results showed that both biomaterials possessed antibacterial properties after loading with oleuropein. Wound scratch assays using oleuropein released from NF revealed an enhancement of cell migration, indicating a wound healing property of the material. In conclusion, the NF can be utilized as a biofunctional polymeric material with better performance for the adsorption and desorption of oleuropein compared with MF and RSF.


Indoor climate technologies are studied by TNO's research group 'Energy and Comfort Systems'. The researchers investigate the technical aspects of the dual purpose of the systems: save energy and improve comfort. Problematic is that these systems should reduce energy at home; however calculated energy use in research setting differs from actual energy consumption in housing. Within ECS grows awareness that users and their behavior play an important role in saving energy at home. Yet, social and technical considerations of energy savings are studied separately within TNO institute. An exploratory study into users' behavior at home with a socio-technical perspective toward the problem was desirable.
The following research question is addressed in this thesis: What underlying dynamics can be identified behind the differences between calculated energy use in research and actual energy consumption in housing by comparing (a) how users shape a comfortable indoor climate at home and (b) how researchers anticipate users, their behavior and comfort in research on indoor climate systems?
This thesis follows Elisabeth Shove's perspective, if energy efficiency is the focus, and the goal to stimulate energy saving use behavior of indoor climate systems, what matters is the meaning and realization of comfort that climatic systems provide. These are studied empirically from an STS point of view. The theoretical framework builds upon actor-network, scripting and appropriation theory and is extended with the concepts 'design logic' and 'use logics' of Jaap Jelsma and 'everyday practices' of Elisabeth Shove. These concepts help to place the meaning, realization and underlying reasons of a comfortable indoor climate at the center, and understand indoor climatic technologies, people and the further socio-material environment as part of the practice that they make possible.
This framework has been used to analyze the research setting and six case studies of users at home. Within the research setting were user representations, constructions of comfort and design logics behind the research process identified. The cases demonstrated a variety of users' meanings and realizations of a comfort in relation to the indoor climate, which were analyzed for common dimensions. It was difficult to explain the indoor climate practice only from the logics of the users; also 'household logics' and the material home environment were recognized as influencing climatic behavior. The findings were compared to deduce clues for deviation of actual from calculated energy consumption.
The main underlying dynamic is the mismatch that researchers understand the shaping of comfortable indoor climate as a technical achievement of technology, but at home this turns out to be a socio-technical achievement. This and further conclusion are translated into recommendations for ECS research.


Objective To quantify the lagged effects of mean temperature on deaths from cardiovascular diseases in Brisbane, Australia. Design Polynomial distributed lag models were used to assess the percentage increase in mortality up to 30 days associated with an increase (or decrease) of 1°C above (or below) the threshold temperature. Setting Brisbane, Australia. Patients 22 805 cardiovascular deaths registered between 1996 and 2004. Main outcome measures Deaths from cardiovascular diseases. Results The results show a longer lagged effect in cold days and a shorter lagged effect in hot days. For the hot effect, a statistically significant association was observed only for lag 0–1 days. The percentage increase in mortality was found to be 3.7% (95% CI 0.4% to 7.1%) for people aged ≥65 years and 3.5% (95% CI 0.4% to 6.7%) for all ages associated with an increase of 1°C above the threshold temperature of 24°C. For the cold effect, a significant effect of temperature was found for 10–15 lag days. The percentage estimates for older people and all ages were 3.1% (95% CI 0.7% to 5.7%) and 2.8% (95% CI 0.5% to 5.1%), respectively, with a decrease of 1°C below the threshold temperature of 24°C. Conclusions The lagged effects lasted longer for cold temperatures but were apparently shorter for hot temperatures. There was no substantial difference in the lag effect of temperature on mortality between all ages and those aged ≥65 years in Brisbane, Australia.


Objectives
This study assessed MDR invasive isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae, in relation to serotype evolution in Canada between 2011 and 2015 as part of the annual SAVE study.

Methods
As part of a collaboration between the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance and Public Health Agency of Canada-National Microbiology Laboratory, 6207 invasive isolates of S. pneumoniae were evaluated. All isolates were serotyped and had antimicrobial susceptibility testing performed, in accordance with CLSI guidelines (M07-A10, 2015). Complete susceptibility profiles were available for 6001 isolates. MDR was defined as resistance to three or more classes of antimicrobial agents (with penicillin MIC ≥2 mg/L defined as resistant).

Results
The overall rate of MDR S. pneumoniae was 6.2% (372/6001) in SAVE, decreasing significantly from 8.5% in 2011 to 5.6% in 2015 (P = 0.0041). MDR was observed in 32 serotypes, with serotypes 15A and 19A predominating (26.6% and 41.7% of the MDR isolates, respectively). The overall proportion of serotypes 19A, 7F and 33A decreased significantly (P < 0.0001) throughout the study. The annual proportion of serotypes 7C, 8, 9N, 10A, 20, 24F, 29, 31, 33F, 35B and 38 increased throughout the study; however, among these increasing serotypes, MDR was only notable (>5%) for 24F and 33F.

Conclusions
In 2015, 56.3% of invasive MDR S. pneumoniae were serotypes included in the PCV-13 vaccine. PCV-13 includes the most commonly identified serotype, 19A; however, other increasingly important MDR serotypes, such as 15A, 24F and 33F, are notably not in the currently used vaccines.


First of all, one of the applications of artificial intelligence is the prediction of diseases, including hepatitis. Hepatitis has been a recurring disease over the years as it seriously affects the population, increasing by 125,000 deaths per year. This process of inflammation and damage to the organ affects its performance, as well as the functioning of the other organs in the body. In this work, an analysis of variables and their influence on the objective variable is made, in addition, results are presented from a predictive model.We propose a predictive analysis model that incorporates artificial neural networks and we have compared this prediction method with other classification-oriented models such as support vector machines (SVM) and genetic algorithms. We have conducted our method as a classification problem. This method requires a prior process of data processing and exploratory analysis to identify the variables or factors that directly influence this type of disease. In this way, we will be able to identify the variables that intervene in the development of this disease and that affect the liver or the correct functioning of this organ, presenting discomfort to the human body, as well as complications such as liver failure or liver cancer. Our model is structured in the following steps: first, data extraction is performed, which was collected from the machine learning repository of the University of California at Irvine (UCI). Then these data go through a variable transformation process. Subsequently, it is processed with learning and optimization through a neural network. The optimization (fine-tuning) is performed in three phases: complication hyperparameter optimization, neural network layer density optimization, and finally dropout regularization optimization. Finally, the visualization and analysis of results is carried out. We have used a data set of patient medical records, among the variables are: age, sex, gender, hemoglobin, etc. We have found factors related either indirectly or directly to the disease. The results of the model are presented according to the quality measures: Recall, Precision and MAE.We can say that this research leaves the doors open to new challenges such as new implementations within the field of medicine, not only focused on the liver, but also being able to extend the development environment to other applications and organs of the human body in order to avoid risks possible, or future complications. It should be noted that the future of applications with the use of artificial neural networks is constantly evolving, the application of improved models such as the use of random forests, assembly algorithms show a great capacity for application both in biomedical engineering and in focused areas to the analysis of different types of medical images.


The enigmatic nonlocal quantum correlation that was famously derided by Einstein as "spooky action at a distance" has now been experimentally demonstrated to be authentic. The quantum entanglement and nonlocal correlations emerged as inevitable consequences of John Bell's epochal paper on Bell's inequality. However, in spite of some extraordinary applications as well as attempts to explain the reason for quantum nonlocality, a satisfactory account of how Nature accomplishes this astounding phenomenon is yet to emerge. A cogent mechanism for the occurrence of this incredible event is presented in terms of a plausible quantum mechanical Einstein–Rosen bridge.Quanta 2018; 7: 111–117.


The temperature and humidity profiles in spatial and temporal field inside the greenhouse are coupled to outside climates. Took a typical soil-walled passive greenhouse located in Jinan, Shandong, China as an example, an unsteady tri-dimensional numerical simulation was applied to solve the temperature and humidity profiles under natural ventilation conditions inside the greenhouse, based on the CFD program. The measurement was carried out to validate the CFD model, the results showed that the special temperature and humidity gradient were obvious inside the greenhouse, a homogeneous temperature and humidity field was obtained at crop level. The simulation results agree well with test values about the temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse with fitting degree of 99.8% and 99.7%, respectively. With high reliability, the model can be used as the basis to predict and control the environment inside the greenhouse. Greenhouse with natural ventilation under different wind conditions was simulated on a typical sunny day to predict the distribution of air flow, temperature and humidity field. By analyzing, some useful conclusions which can provide certain basis about the influence of natural ventilation on the thermal and moisture environment are deduced.


Abstract: The 'feeling theory of emotion' holds that emotions are to be identified with feelings. An objection commonly made to that theory of emotion has it that emotions cannot be feelings only, as emotions have intentional objects. Jack does not just feel fear, but he feels fear-of-something. To explain this property of emotion we will have to ascribe to emotion a representational structure, and feelings do not have the sought after representational structure. In this paper I seek to defend the feeling theory of emotion against the challenge from the object-directed emotions.


Since the early 1990s, competition in the Olympic Winter Games has changed notably in terms of events contested and nations taking part. Despite, these changes, which are overseen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the number of medal-winning nations has remained relatively stable. As a first attempt to illustrate this issue on a discipline by discipline basis, economic techniques are used to examine the outcome of competition between 1992 and 2014. The purpose of this paper is to measure: market size; the number of competing nations; and the balance between competitive nations in six disciplines. Focusing on competitive balance, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index is applied to measure the concentration of domination; while the Przeworski Index is used to quantify instability over time. Important changes are identified in biathlon (2010) and short track (2014). While the change in the former is consistent with the IOC's substantial increase in biathlon events, the latter can be attributed to athletes changing their nationality. IOC policy-makers can benefit from this research as it provides a method by which to monitor competition in a discipline. This method provides the potential for evaluating the likely effects of governing the Olympic Games by increasing the number of events.


The Bowman Lake batholith intrudes the pre-Upper Devonian Shoo Fly Complex in the northern Sierra Nevada. The eastern margin of the batholith extends to within 1.5 km of the base of a thick sequence of Paleozoic island-arc rocks that rests unconformably on the Shoo Fly Complex. Hypabyssal silicic intrusions associated with the batholith penetrate the Upper Devonian Sierra Buttes Formation, the lowest volcanic unit of the arc sequence, but do not extend to higher stratigraphic levels. The intrusions in the Sierra Buttes Formation possess marginal peperites and show other evidence of their injection into wet, unconsolidated sediments. On the basis of these field relations, the batholith is interpreted to represent a subvolcanic magma chamber emplaced concurrently with deposition of Sierra Buttes arc rocks.

The batholith is composite and consists of trondhjemite, granodiorite, biotite granite, and hornblende tonalite, formed from discrete batches of magma injected into a common plutonic chamber. Mingling of tonalitic and trondhjemitic magmas produced abundant rounded inclusions of tonalite dispersed within trondhjemite and led to hybridization of the two magmas by fine-scale intermixing.

Zircons from the trondhjemitic, granodioritic, and granitic phases of the batholith and an associated Sierra Buttes rhyolite sill show complex U-Pb isotopic systematics. A multistage history is suggested, involving the incorporation of earliest Paleozoic and/or Proterozoic zircons during magma generation or ascent in Devonian time and one or more stages of disturbance in Mesozoic-Cenozoic(?) time. Consideration of these different discordance mechanisms results in a model U-Pb igneous age for the batholith of 364 to 385 Ma (Middle to Late Devonian); on the basis of the field relations, a Late Devonian age for the batholith is adopted. Zircon characteristics and isotopic systematics suggest that petrogenesis of the granite involved mixing of trondhjemitic and/or granodioritic magmas with partial melt from a separate, large-ion-lithophile-enriched source.


Abstract. We describe an airborne lidar for the characterization of atmospheric aerosol. The system has been set up in response to the need to monitor extended regions where the air traffic may be posed at risk by the presence of potentially harmful volcanic ash, and to study the characteristics of volcanic emissions both near the source region and when transported over large distances. The lidar provides backscatter and linear depolarization profiles at 532 nm, from which aerosol and cloud properties can be derived. The paper presents the characteristics and capabilities of the lidar system and gives examples of its airborne deployment. Observations from three flights, aimed at assessing the system capabilities in unperturbed atmospheric conditions, and at characterizing the emissions near a volcanic ash source (Mt. Etna) and transported far away from the source, are presented and discussed.


Health and safety (H&S) management has traditionally been the responsibility of the contractor. Most often, contractors are blamed for the accidents and other ill health that occur on their construction sites. H&S performance is, however, enhanced when there is effective collaboration between those involved in the construction process. This paper therefore explores the role of stakeholders in promoting construction H&S in Ghana through public works procurement. The four main stakeholders identified and evaluated in this study are the government, the client (employer), the contractor and the employee(s). Seven interviewees (comprising procurement managers, consultants and quantity surveyors) from public institutions in Ghana participated in the research. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and were thematically analysed. Results indicate a conflict in the perceived functions and relation of these stakeholders in the construction process. To address the constraint to improving construction H&S, certain recommendations are offered. These include the identification of specific individuals responsible for supervision and employee training, the development of H&S policies by the government and contracts that clearly outline the contractual obligations of all parties involved. Additionally, the specific roles and involvements of other stakeholders in the procurement process in improving construction H&S are also outlined.


ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on organisations that work with economically disadvantaged youth such as Rebonds! [Pick yourself up!], an association that provides educational rugby programmes to underprivileged young people in Toulouse, France. During the pandemic, this association experienced social change in the form of a double movement. First, its actors sought to preserve the fundamentals of the socialisation process that structures their work, which encourages young people to open up to the world and engage their bodies, while also introducing a new range of socialisation activities to address precarity and social inequality in healthcare. Second, because it was able to adapt its programmes to environmental constraints and remain strongly connected to all its partners, the association came to be perceived as a strong, stable, and seasoned community resource. At the same time, Rebonds! was able, during this period, to strengthen its legitimacy and the recognition it received from public institutions.


The essays in this symposium on the work of Dirk Hartog encompass meditations on legal positivism and the histories of slavery, civil rights, and women's rights as well as contemporary analyses of spousal abuse and the dependency of adult children. That wide range of subjects, approaches, and concerns might be puzzling were it not for the wide substantive, methodological, and theoretical range in Hartog's own oeuvre. Hartog's work has been so generative for other scholars because of his simultaneous engagement with history and law, with fact and theory, with the whole sweep of the nineteenth century and the most minute detail of a person's life. In describing in this introduction what makes Hartog Hartog, I emphasize the unique blend of professional commitments and personal sensibilities he brings to his work: the sensitivity with which he approaches history; the humanity with which he treats his historical subjects; the dexterity with which he analyzes the law; and the sophistication with which his human and legal stories yield up jurisprudential insights. I also, respectfully, disagree with Hartog himself on the essence of his work. Where he laments that he exists in a "muddle in the middle"—writing histories of a problematic "inbetweenness"—I see him as making the messy lived reality of legal history cognizable to modern reader. His work reveals the simultaneity of multiple and overlapping legal regimes as they shaped and were shaped by the human needs of real people.


The ASU Library is actively building relationships around and increasing its expertise in research data services. We have established a collaboration with our university's research administration in order to coordinate our distinct areas of expertise in research data services so that both entities can better support researchers all the way through the research data lifecycle. The Library embedded itself into research administration's learning management system and works with their research advancement officers to engage with researchers and staff we have not traditionally reached. Forging this new collaboration increased expectations that the Library will expand existing research data services to more investigators, so we have grown Library professionals' internal competencies by providing research data management training opportunities to meet these demands. In addition, the Library's Research Services Working Group established data competencies, workflows, and trainings so more librarians gain skills necessary to answer and assist patrons with data needs. Greater expertise throughout the Library enables us to authentically and confidently scale our research data services and form new collaborations. Correspondence: Matthew Harp: email@example.com


Abstract This paper reviews the range of discourses associated with the emergent policies and practices associated with the development of micro hydropower in north East Scotland. It reviews the historic context in which water power was instrumental in providing power for a wide range of agricultural and wider rural processing activities, the explores the consequences of nationalised electric power production which led to the demise of small-scale hydropower from the 1950s and explains the resurgent interest in small-scale hydropower production. It argues that potential practitioners are confronted by a range of competing discourses and that the future development of small-scale hydropower will be mediated by the relative strength of the different discourses.


Iron silicon oxide nanowire has been synthesized by putting single crystalline Si(100) wafer into ammonium iron sulfate, hydrogen peroxide, and triethylamine solution heated to from 70 to 100 degree in the air. The prepared iron silicon oxide nanowires with diameters of about 10nm (onto non etched Si(100) wafer) and about 75nm(onto etched Si(100) wafer) and their self assembles were characterized. The possible mechanism that accounted for the formation of iron silicon oxide nanowire is suggested based on experimental evidence.


A research study with a mixture of exploratory methods was conducted to investigate why the digitization of zakat can improve people's welfare. This study explains how the role of digital zakat technology in the National Amil Zakat Agency (BAZNAS) in Indonesia through the Islamic economic approach includes the relationship between humans and the social environment. This study also explains how the relationship between the values of faith, sharia, and morals can influence perspectives on (1) acceptance of digital zakat technology; (2) zakat education; (3) the socio-economic environment. Zakat digital technology is formed by the development of multidimensional digitalization where people tend to use the internet for various economic activities. There is an assumption that technology has a negative impact on society, but other facts prove that technology can also have a positive impact on economic development. Zakat as an obligation for Muslims has a positive impact on the welfare of the community based on the value of justice in the distribution of wealth. Digital zakat is present as an efficient step to facilitate the management of zakat. Studies prove that digital zakat can increase the potential for receiving zakat significantly and the public also supports the implementation of digital zakat technology as an alternative management of zakat.


The sensitivity of optical properties of mineral dust aerosol to its direct radiative effect was investigated using four dust optical datasets (ADEC-1, ADEC-2, OPAC-MD and Dust-Like) with a global aerosol transport model. The annual and global mean direct aerosol radiative perturbation (DARP) by dust at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) can be positive or negative (-0.52 to +0.11 W m -2) depending on the absorptive property of dust aerosol dataset. The annual and global mean DARP at the surface is negative for all the dust optical datasets (-1.25 to -0.27 W m -2). If dust is strongly absorptive, DARP at the TOA over oceans at high latitude (> 40°) is positive due to the vertical configuration of dust and clouds. The longwave heating at the surface is strong and can exceed the shortwave cooling over desert regions if the absorption of dust is weak. Over a surface with high dust loading, the annual mean shortwave (longwave) DARP can reach -28 W m -2 (+16 W m -2). The global mean DARP values both at the TOA and surface are almost proportional to the imaginary part of the refractive index of dust. Seasonal variations of global mean DARP at the TOA significantly depend on the optical properties of dust.


A number of Greek feature films in the 1990s and early 2000s – from End of an Era to Uranya – created a standard depiction of the Colonels' dictatorship as an era filled with bittersweet adolescent memories. The Comedy of the Junta: The Light Side of a Dark Era , a recent documentary produced in April 2010 by Elias Kanellis, presented it as a laughable farce. More importantly, even, this period was treated as distant and definitely over. Almost from the onset of the economic crisis, we may say that there is a change of paradigm regarding the use of the junta and a radical departure from both the grotesque and the nostalgic view. Rather, its more brutal aspects began to be stressed in a thinly veiled attempt to highlight the continuities between past and present, the police violence and authoritarian practices of the 1967–74 era and that of the 2010–12 one – best encompassed in the popular slogan of the Indignados "The Junta did not end in '73". Typical examples are Fotos Lambrinos' television documentary series It's just a junta, will it pass? and Alinda Dimitrious's documentary The Girls of the Rain (2011). This article traces this shift and its poetics, focusing on various representative examples of both tendencies and the ways in which they sought to create a certain form of public memory.


PURPOSE
To analyze the bacterial microbiota colonizing the ocular surface of patients with Boston type 1 keratoprostheses (K-Pros) for antibacterial resistance patterns and capacity to form biofilms.

METHODS
Twenty-seven eyes with a Boston type 1 K-Pro and 16 fellow control eyes from 26 patients were enrolled. The surface of the K-Pro optic and/or the inferior conjunctival fornix was swabbed and plated separately on culture media. Positive cultures were processed to assess for biofilm-forming capability. Microtiter plate adherence assay and polymerase chain reaction for ica and atlE genes were used. An in vitro assay of vancomycin tolerance was performed on isolated strains and compared to standard controls with and without biofilm-forming capability.

RESULTS
Eighty-five percent of K-Pro eyes and 69% of control eyes had positive cultures (P = 0.20). All Gram-positive strains exhibited susceptibility to vancomycin by standard testing. Biofilm-forming bacterial isolates were detected in 57.7% of K-Pro eyes and 53.3% of control eyes. A vancomycin tolerance assay showed that the antibiotic susceptibility of coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CNS) within biofilms was significant in only three of five biofilm-forming strains (P < 0.05). In all strains, bacterial cells in planktonic form were more susceptible to vancomycin than in biofilm form (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Coagulase-negative staphylococcus can be isolated from K-Pro surfaces despite the use of vancomycin prophylaxis. In this study, the majority of isolated strains had biofilm-forming capability. In vitro vancomycin tolerance assays suggest that biofilm formation decreases susceptibility to vancomycin. This may contribute to higher rates of infectious complications observed in these patients.


One potential explanation for low formal credit use is that poor entrepreneurs generate returns to capital below borrowing costs and cannot afford the loans. I test this using a new, nationally representative data from Ecuador, focusing on entrepreneurs that say credit constraints are a major problem. I estimate returns to capital and find monthly returns between 3.5% and 21%, well above prevailing interest rates. Despite this, one third of the finance constrained sample expresses no demand for a hypothetical loan. I estimate the determinants of demand for this loan, focusing on the role profitability may play. I find that measures of profitability are positively and significantly associated with demand, and that perceptions of profitability are among the strongest determinants. Meanwhile, assets, employees, duration, formality and past credit use have no predictive power. This suggests that some microentrepreneurs cannot afford prevailing interest rates and rationally eschew formal credit as a result.


Non-uniform shortening of the action potential duration (APD90) in different myocardial regions upon heart rate acceleration can set abnormal repolarization gradients and promote arrhythmia. This study examined whether spatial heterogeneities in APD90 restitution can be amplified by drugs with clinically proved proarrhythmic potential (dofetilide, quinidine, procainamide, and flecainide) and, if so, whether these effects can translate to the appropriate changes of the ECG metrics of ventricular repolarization, such as JT intervals. In isolated, perfused guinea-pig heart preparations, monophasic action potentials and volumeconducted ECG were recorded at progressively increased pacing rates. The APD90 measured at distinct ventricular sites, as well as the JTpeak and JTend values were plotted as a function of preceding diastolic interval, and the maximum slopes of the restitution curves were determined at baseline and upon drug administration. Dofetilide, quinidine, and procainamide reverse rate-dependently prolonged APD90 and steepened the restitution curve, with effects being greater at the endocardium than epicardium, and in the right ventricular (RV) vs. the left ventricular (LV) chamber. The restitution slope was increased to a greater extent for the JTend vs. the JTpeak interval. In contrast, flecainide reduced the APD90 restitution slope at LV epicardium without producing effect at LV endocardium and RV epicardium, and reduced the JTpeak restitution slope without changing the JTend restitution. Nevertheless, with all agents, these effects translated to the amplified epicardial-to-endocardial and the LV-to-RV non-uniformities in APD90 restitution, paralleled by the increased JTend vs. JTpeak difference in the restitution slope. In summary, these findings suggest that arrhythmic drug profiles are partly attributable to the accentuated regional heterogeneities in APD90 restitution, which can be indirectly determined through ECG assessments of the JTend vs. JTpeak dynamics at variable pacing rates. PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191514 January 19, 2018 1 / 20 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111


This article describes the emergence of a prized labor market in sectors that policymakers have designated as the creative industries. Statistics generated about these sectors have been legion. By contrast, there has been precious little attention to the quality of work life with which such livelihoods are associated. The article considers several features of creative work that have a qualitative dimension and recommends a policy-minded approach to each. The second half of the article examines the case for a cross-class coalition of the sort proposed by the anti-precarity movement. Though they occupy opposite ends of the labor market hierarchy, workers in retail and low-end services and the `creative class' temping in high-end knowledge sectors share certain elements of precarious, or nonstandard employment. While these different segments have existential conditions in common, is there any reason to imagine that they interpret or experience them in similar ways? And, even if they do, is there enough commonality to forge a political coalition of interest against the class polarization associated with economic liberalization?


The localization of delta-5 -3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3 beta-HSD) has been examined in ovarian follicles in vivo and in vitro, and related to oestrogen and progesterone production. In vivo, during the oestrous cycle, enzyme activity was restricted to the theca interna of the one or two most advanced follicles in each animal, but was present only between Day 2 and 5 and between Day 13 and ovulation. High levels of oestrogen were found in the ovarian venous blood only when follicles containing 3 beta-HSD were present. When sheep were injected with PMSG, the theca interna in a number ofsmall follicles acquired 3 beta-HSD activity and began to secrete oestrogen within 12 hr of the injection. The enzyme was not detected in the membrana granulosa of any follicles before ovulation but within a few hours of ovulation, 3 beta-HSD activity was present in the granulosa lutein cells. In vitro, large activated follicles exhibited 3 beta-HSD activity in the theca interna and secreted high levels of oestrogen into the culture medium. When LH was added to the medium oestrogen secretion was inhibited; within 48 hr, the follicles were secreting high levels of progesterone, and 3 beta-HSD activity was present in both the membrana granulosa and the theca interna. Dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate mimicked the effect of LH in suppressing oestrogen secretiion, but did not induce production of progesterone; the distribution of 3 beta-HSD activity infollicles treated with this nucleotide was the same as in those cultured in control medium.


The U.S. first sale doctrine guarantees the right to resell purchased, copyrighted, durables, but does not apply, for all intents and purposes, to information goods when they are distributed via digital download. iTunes and the Kindle store are just two of many examples showing that information good industries are moving towards a digital download distribution model. Because information goods are perfectly durable, exhibit owner-specific depreciation, and have zero marginal cost, firms prefer to curtail resale. The impact on consumers is ambiguous. The effect of prohibiting resale is analyzed empirically in the context of video games. First, using a novel dataset including new and used game sales, demand parameters are estimated using a dynamic structural model. Simulations can then be used to determine the impact of shutting down resale markets.


Orange- fl eshed sweet potato (OFSP) can contribute to combating vitamin A de fi ciency and establishing more resilient cropping systems in sub-Saharan Africa. There is limited understanding of the factors that a ff ect yield and quality of OFSP on smallholder farmers ' fi elds. This study aimed to assess the performance of six OFSP varieties, identify factors limiting productivity and explore options to close the gap between actual and attainable OFSP yields on fi elds of smallholder farmers. Data were collected in the 2015/16 growing season from 221 on-farm variety demonstrations in seven districts in Central and Southern Malawi. Dependent variables of interest included crop establishment, vine yields, storage root formation, root yields, percentage of marketable root yield, and weevil infestation. Using linear mixed models, a range of biophysical, climatic, management and socio-economic factors and variables was used to identify associations with these dependent variables. The root yield gap was explored using a multivariate boundary line model to identify the most yield limiting factors. Results show a large variability across farmers ' fi elds and a wide range of interacting factors a ff ecting the variables of interest. Varieties Chipika and Kadyaubwerere attained good yields and were preferred by farmers in terms of taste. Varieties Zondeni and Anaakwanire gave a poor root yield, but a good vine yield. Timely planting is crucial to attain good root yields by making better use of the available rainfall. There was a varietal e ff ect on weevil infestation and Kaphulira was most a ff ected. Weevil control is required for market-oriented producers to enhance the percentage of marketable roots. The average attainable fresh root yield ranged from 18 t ha − 1 for Zondeni to 32 t ha − 1 for Mathuthu, against actual yields of 5 – 9 t ha − 1 . Elevation, planting date, rainfall and crop establishment could explain only 28 percent of the average yield gap, while 49 percent was explained for Mathuthu. Other factors that may explain the yield gap, but were not included in the model are: tillage methods and soil nutrient limitations. Male host farmers received better quality cuttings and planted in better soil moisture conditions, resulting in better establishment and vine yields. OFSP productivity can be enhanced through gender-sensitive extension, by ensuring male and female farmers can plant clean planting material of a suitable variety early in the rainy season. This requires additional e ff orts in vine multiplication of the required variety prior to the onset of the rains.


Threatened reactions to news about the approach of a racial majority-minority society have profoundly influenced Americans' political attitudes and electoral choices. Existing research casts these reactions as responses to changing demographic context. We argue instead that they are driven in large part by the dominant majority-minority narrative framing of most public discussion about rising racial diversity. This narrative assumes the long-run persistence of a white-nonwhite binary in which the growing number of Americans with both white and non-white parents are classified exclusively as non-white, irrespective of how they identify themselves. Alternative narratives that take stock of trends toward mixed-race marriage and multiracial identification also reflect demographic fundamentals projected by the Census Bureau and more realistically depict the country's twenty-first century racial landscape. Using three survey experiments, we examine public reactions to alternative narratives about rising diversity. The standard majority-minority narrative evokes far more threat among whites than any other narrative. Alternative accounts that highlight multiracialism elicit decidedly positive reactions regardless of whether they foretell the persistence of a more diverse white majority. Non-white groups respond favorably to all narratives about rising diversity, irrespective of whether they include the conventional majority-minority framing.


We propose an approach for detecting localized heterogeneities from surface-wave phase-velocity and attenuation using conventional multichannel seismic data. In most surface-wave analysis, only phase information of seismic data is used to obtain nearsurface S-wave velocity profiles. However, we further utilize surface-wave attenuation extracted from amplitude information of seismic data. We focus on the sensitivity difference between local phase velocities and attenuation coefficients to localized heterogeneities such as lithological boundaries and localized fractures. To characterize such heterogeneities from lateral variation of attenuation coefficients and phase velocities, we perform numerical experiments for laterally heterogeneous models with a lithological boundary and a fracture zone. We observe lateral variation of attenuation coefficients near the lateral heterogeneities. As a result, the lithological boundary can be characterized by lateral variations of local phase velocities and attenuation coefficients near the boundary. On the other hand, the fracture zone can be characterized by low lateral variation in phase velocities and increase of attenuation coefficients near the fracture. Therefore, our propose method has the possibility to distinguish lithological boundaries from localized fractures. In fluid-injection experiments (e.g., CO2 geological storage), our approach has high potential in evaluating possible existence of localized fractures, which may serve as leakage path of injected fluid.


Abstract Our previous studies demonstrated distant/abscopal bystander effects in A. thaliana seeds and embryos; the postembryonic development of bystander tissues, such as root hair differentiation, primary root elongation, lateral root initiation and survival, were inhibited significantly by localized irradiation with microbeam protons and low-energy ions. In the present study, we further investigated radiation-induced bystander mutagenic effects in vivo in A. thaliana plants using homologous recombination (HR) and the expression level of the HR-related AtRAD54 gene as mutagenic end points. We found that α-particle irradiation of distal primary roots of young seedlings resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of HR in the aerial plants; the increased induction of HR occurred in every true leaf over the course of rosette development. Moreover, we also found that localized α-particle irradiation of roots induced a short-term up-regulated expression of the HR-related AtRAD54 gene in the nonirradiated aerial plants. These results suggested the existence of bystander mutagenic effects in vivo in plants. Treatment with the ROS scavenger DMSO dramatically reduced the effects of localized root irradiation on the induction of HR and expression of the AtRAD54 gene in bystander tissues, suggesting that ROS play a critical role in mediating the bystander mutagenic effects in plants.


Pulmonary embolism in an old patient with a history of coagulation disorder, any recent major surgeries or in a chronic heart or lung diseases is widely reported. Also, a recent history of travel by air with flight distance of more than 5000km or BMI greater than 35 kg/m2 increase risk. However, we report here, a suggestive case of acute pulmonary embolism in a previously well male of 38 years, with a BMI of 25.71kg/m2 without any history of chronic illness or acute exacerbations.
The patient presented in health facility with sudden onset of radiating chest pain and some other nonspecific symptoms. Neither any other significant personal risk factors except smoking, nor any family history of heart/lung diseases were ruled out during initial assessments. On investigations, other routine examinations were normal but T-wave inversion was noticed in lead V1-4 in ECG, Troponin-I was positive and CPK-MB was slightly elevated (27 U/L). Furthermore, no any remarkable changes were noticed in Chest X-ray. Then, the patient was referred to higher center with cardiac facility with provisional diagnosis of Acute Coronary Syndrome for further evaluation and management.
Thereupon, Coronary Angiogram (CAG) was done and the report was normal but echocardiography findings were suggestive of pulmonary Embolism. D-dimer was also elevated (8279.05 ng/ml) but venous doppler study of bilateral lower limb was normal. Finally, CT-PA showed partially occluding thrombus in main pulmonary bifurcation extending into left and right pulmonary artery, its bilateral segmental branches and calcified granuloma was seen in right lobe of liver. Patient was under inj. LMWH and other supportive management during hospitalization. After an uneventful hospital stay for 12 days, general condition was improved and eventually, patient was discharged, with oral warfarin.
Keywords: chest pain; Nepal; pulmonary embolism; risk factors.


The fat embolism syndrome is a symptom complex of acute respiratory failure after long-bone fractures. It is thought to be caused by deposition of embolic fat within the pulmonary capillaries, resulting in a capillary leak within the lung. The source of the embolic fat appears to be marrow fat. Alterations in circulating free fatty acids, increases in fibrin split products, and increases in platelet adhesiveness have been observed to occur in this syndrome and probably play an important part in the production of the pulmonary lesion. The signs and symptoms of the syndrome are hypoxemia, tachypnea, petechiae, fever, altered sensorium, and chest roentgenograms similar to signs of the adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Early recognition is facilitated by monitoring of arterial blood gas levels for hypoxemia. Treatment is directed at ARDS using graduated oxygen therapy and steroids.


This presentation refers to an interdisciplinary project for the production of the first illustrated bilingual glossary produced for Greek and Italian language users. The interlingual management of medical terminology of anatomy arises from educational and social needs and requires the adoption of collaborative interdisciplinary approaches where the documentation of the terms is wide [i.e. derived from a variety of valid text corpora, a wide variety of sources, options of specialists concerning additional available sources required for an illustrated lexicographic product]. The diversity and complexity of medical terminology users, in our project, leads not only to the choice of pictorial representation of the terms - entries introduced in the lexicographic product, but also to a linguistic and extralinguistic framework of each pictorial section of the glossary. We shall describe the illustrations as the inter-language paths to follow when attempting to translate for example Italian > Greek texts of anatomy and vice versa. We shall also describe strategies of iconographic imports and encyclopedic support for non-medical users such as: 1. The same image for the introduction of Greek and Italian entries: The choice is linked to the need to underscore convergences and divergences with images [e.g. the order of substantives and adjectives in Greek and Italian, (κeντρική αύλακα-scissura central as in Greek the adjective precedes) / assymetry between the Greek and Italian multi-words and singleword equivalent terms (οπίσθιος eγκέφαλος-ponte which in Greek is a multi-word term)]. 2. Information given regarding the medical subsection where the term can be used.


Microscopic imaging aided with fluorescent probes has revolutionized our understanding of biological systems. Organic fluorophores and probes thus continue to evolve for bioimaging applications. Fluorophores such as cyanines and hemicyanines emit in the near-infrared (NIR) region and thus allow deeper imaging with minimal autofluorescence; however, they show limited photo- and chemo-stability, demanding new robust NIR fluorophores. Such photo- and chemo-stable NIR fluorophores, linear-shape π-extended rosol and rosamine analogues, are disclosed here which provide bright fluorescence images in cells as well as in tissues by confocal laser-scanning microscopy. Furthermore, they offer unique ratiometric imaging platforms for activatable probes with dual excitation and dual emission capability, as demonstrated with a 2,4-dinitrophenyl ether derivative of benzo-rosol.


In this experiment lung carcinoma was induced by crocidolite plus benzo(a)pyrene in rat. From the cancer models, we observed that the incidence (16.0%) of lung carcinomas was lower, and the survival time (376 days) of the first case of carcinoma and the mean survival time (758 days) of the rats with carcinoma were higher in the group of rats drinking 2% green tea extract for life than in the positive group (without drinking green tea extract). The mortality ratio (0.5047) was smaller in the experimental group than in the positive control group, and the survival curve of the experimental group significantly raised up, in comparison with the positive group.


QR code system is presently most popular encoding system. A QR code encodes the data by standardized encoding modes for storing the data efficiently. In this paper, a new 3-dimensional QR code generator for improving storage capacity of the encoded data is proposed. This 3-dimensional QR(Quick Response) code generator encodes three different data vectors simultaneously. When compared to the traditional greyscale QR code, the proposed QR code increases the storage capacity. In this method, for each data set a greyscale QR code is generated such a way that the three greyscale QR codes are generated. By combining these three greyscale QR codes, a new 3-dimensional QR code is generated.


Risk assessment, known coronary and other atherosclerotic disease, and lipid levels determine the potential need for drug therapy. Specific lifestyle objectives are strongly emphasized. Indications and regimens for newer and older drugs are offered.