A series of 1,2,4-triazole and 1,2,4- thiadiazole derivatives were prepared starting from ethyl
4-(3-methyl-5-oxo-1,5-dihydro-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)benzoate. Firstly, both ethyl ester groups were
simultaneously transformed into hydrazide groups, then into thiosemicarbazide groups using both microwave-
assisted and conventional methods. The latter products were interacted with NaOH and
H2SO4 to form ring assemblies containing two 1,2,4-triazole and 1,3,4-thiadiazole fragments, respectively.
Antioxidant activities of the synthesized compounds were determined with CUPRAC, ABTS,
and DPPH assays. Most of the compounds showed significant antioxidant activity and especially, compound
3 exhibited very good SC50 value for DPPH method and compound 3, 4a, 5a exhibited very high
scavenging activity to the ABTS method. In addition, the in silico analysis was carried out with the
synthesized derivatives to understand the mode of interaction with superoxide dismutase (SOD) and
human tyrosine kinase using docking protocols in order to find out the most active antioxidant drug
having high inhibitory activity in cancer.


BACKGROUND
Both prophylactic and early surfactant replacement therapy, compared with later selective surfactant administration, reduce mortality and pulmonary complications in ventilated infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). However, continued post-surfactant intubation and ventilation are risk factors for chronic lung disease. Whether prophylactic or early surfactant administration followed by prompt extubation, compared with later, selective use of surfactant followed by continued mechanical ventilation reduces the need for mechanical ventilation and the incidence of chronic lung disease is unknown.

OBJECTIVES
To compare two treatment strategies in preterm infants with, or at risk for, RDS: early surfactant administration with brief mechanical ventilation (less than one hour) followed by extubation, vs later, selective surfactant administration, continued mechanical ventilation and extubation from low respiratory support. Two populations of infants receiving early surfactant were considered: spontaneously breathing infants with signs of RDS (surfactant administration during evolution of RDS prior to requiring intubation for respiratory failure) and infants at high risk for RDS (prophylactic surfactant administration within 15 minutes after birth).

SEARCH STRATEGY
Searches were made of the Oxford Database of Perinatal trials, MEDLINE (1966-December 2003), CINAHL (1982-December 2003), EMBASE (1980-December 2003), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library, Issue 1, 2004), Pediatric Research (1990-2003), abstracts, expert informants and hand searching. No language restrictions were applied.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized or quasi-randomized controlled clinical trials comparing early surfactant administration with planned brief mechanical ventilation (less than one hour) followed by extubation, vs selective surfactant administration, continued mechanical ventilation and extubation from low respiratory support.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Data were sought regarding effects on incidence of mechanical ventilation (ventilation continued or initiated beyond one hour after surfactant administration), incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), chronic lung disease (CLD), mortality, duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of hospitalization, time in oxygen, duration of respiratory support (including CPAP and nasal cannula), number of patients receiving surfactant, number of surfactant doses administered per patient, incidence of air leak syndromes (pulmonary interstitial emphysema, pneumothorax), patent ductus arteriosus requiring treatment, pulmonary hemorrhage, and other complications of prematurity. Treatment effect was expressed as relative risk (RR) and risk difference (RD) for categorical variables, and weighted mean difference (WMD) for continuous variables.

MAIN RESULTS
Four randomized controlled clinical trials met selection criteria and were included in this review. In these studies of infants with signs of RDS, intubation and early surfactant therapy followed by extubation to nasal CPAP (NCPAP) compared with later selective surfactant administration was associated with a lower incidence of mechanical ventilation [typical RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.59, 0.84]. None of the trials reported a significant difference in the incidence of BPD or CLD; however, meta-analysis for this outcome cannot yet be performed because the primary data from three of the trials have not yet been published in full. A larger proportion of infants in the early surfactant group received surfactant than in the selective surfactant group [typical RR 1.59, 95% CI 1.35, 1.88]. The number of surfactant doses per patient was significantly greater among patients randomized to the early surfactant group [WMD 0.51 doses per patient, 95% CI 0.36, 0.65]. Trends towards a decreased incidence of air leak syndromes (two studies) and a higher incidence of patent ductus arteriosus requiring treatment (one study) were seen in the early surfactant group. There was no evidence of effect on time in oxygen or duration of mechanical ventilation.

REVIEWERS' CONCLUSIONS
Early surfactant replacement therapy with extubation to NCPAP compared with later, selective surfactant replacement and continued mechanical ventilation with extubation from low ventilator support is associated with a reduced need for mechanical ventilation and increased utilization of exogenous surfactant therapy. There is insufficient evidence at present to reliably evaluate effect on BPD or CLD.


This article deals with cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary virtual engagement aimed to match human-computer interaction design principles and contemporary integrated navigation information systems. As interaction design principles ten general principles - heuristics are used, and as examples of contemporary navigation information systems, chart Radio Detection (or Direction) and Ranging (RADAR) device and Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) are used. This cross-disciplinary research has been achieved through a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project by Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa and University of Colima (UoC) in Mexico. Namely, the students from both sides guided by their lecturers have been engaged in analyzing today's most frequently used marine navigational aids from the perspective of their reliability and user centeredness. The complexity of the systems and the lack of standards are observed as main problems when it comes to marine information systems effectiveness and their user centeredness.


Traditionally, the performance maps and emissions of a diesel engine are obtained empirically through many testes on the dynamometers because no exact mathematical engine model exists. In the current literature, many artificial-neural-network- (ANN-) based approaches have been developed for diesel engine modelling. However, the drawbacks of ANN would make itself difficult to be put into some practices including multiple local minima, user burden on selection of optimal network structure, large training data size, and overfitting risk. To overcome the drawbacks, this paper proposes to apply one emerging technique, relevance vector machine (RVM), to model the diesel engine, and to predict the emissions and engine performance. With RVM, only a few experimental data sets can train the model due to the property of global optimal solution. In this study, the engine speed, load, and coolant temperature are used as the input parameters, while the brake thermal efficiency, brake-specific fuel consumption, concentrations of nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter are used as the output parameters. Experimental results show the model accuracy is fairly good even the training data is scarce. Moreover, the model accuracy is compared with that using typical ANN. Evaluation results also show that RVM is superior to typical ANN approach.


The current status of the academic libraries in Greece is examined. A brief summary of each academic institution and its library is given. Collection development, staff, and the bibliographic organization of the materials are described. The bibliographic standards that libraries apply, automation and retrospective conversion are presented. General assessments, short presentation of automation systems and areas for development are also provided.


EP elections have so far been consistently characterized as "second-order". We hypothesize that key processes are emerging which undermine the appropriateness of this model. We argue that, as a consequence of EU policies trying to address the economic and financial crisis, a stronger politicization of Europe has emerged. Accordingly, the national consequences of EU policies have put Europe on the table of national electorates. Together, these processes may lead to an overall increase in saliency of EP elections, so we hypothesize, and to a homogenization of political competition across EU members. We explore this framework in the context of the 2009 and 2014 EP elections. In line with extant applications, we first attempt to assess the core predictions of the second-order model through tests on aggregate electoral results. We then investigate specific explanatory mechanisms for the 2014 EP elections, by relating party performance with party stance on political issues.


A planar, pyrrole-in macrocyclic geometry is favored for 2,7,18,23-tetramethyl-3,8,12,13,17,22-hexaethylsapphyrin (SapH3) at all levels of protonation. This stands in marked contrast to 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylsapphyrin (TPSH3) where two structures, planar and inverted are known. The 1H NMR studies provide evidence consistent with the existence of tautomeric equilibria involving the neutral form of decaalkylsapphyrin and up to ten specific tautomeric species ({25-NH, 26-N, 27-NH, 28-N, 29-NH}, {25-NH, 26-NH, 27-N, 28-NH, 29-N}, {25-NH, 26-N, 27-NH, 28-NH, 29-N}, {25-N, 26-NH, 27-NH, 28-N, 29-NH}, {25-NH, 26-NH, 27-NH, 28-N, 29-N}, {25-N, 26-N, 27-NH, 28-NH, 29-NH}, {25-NH, 26-NH, 27-N, 28-N, 29-NH}, {25-NH, 26-N, 27-N, 28-NH, 29-NH}, {25-N, 26-NH, 27-NH, 28-NH, 29-N}, {25-N, 26-NH, 27-N, 28-NH, 29-NH}). Changes in the dynamics of these equilibria, rather than dimerization effects, are invoked to account for the splitting of 1H NMR resonances observed at low temperature. 1H NMR studies also reveal that decaalkylsapphyrin acts as a water and methanol binding receptor as evidenced by the upfield shift of water- or methanol-derived resonances. Under conditions of complexation, the water or methanol molecules are bound to the N5 center of the sapphyrin molecule via a network of hydrogen bonds.


Evaluation of the alkaline/neutral comet assay combined with Ag staining and computer analysis were performed and afford good repeatability and reproducibility. The present study showed that if an appropriate number of comet results (N=100) is evaluated using LUCIA image analysis, there are no statistically significant differences among operators of various levels of experience. Using public domain software CASP, the results showed a consistent tendency to provide lower average values for the studied variable (% tail DNA) compared with LUCIA software. Yet, this tendency was shown to be statistically insignificant for a majority of comets. If limited to a subsample of less damaged comets, the software comparison was statistically significant. This together with the fact that CASP was unable to process heavily damaged comets (> 90 % tail DNA) may bring certain limitations to the use of CASP combined with presented protocol. In many respects, the results of analysis using CASP are comparable with the values obtained using the LUCIA software.


This dissertation project addresses three observations: the degree to which researchers routinely use data collected only on survivors, ignoring that who is included in samples is pre-determined by non-random mortality; that historical mortality gaps between blacks and whites have generated a cumulative demographic contraction among blacks that constitute a non-trivial vanishing electorate; and that differences in infant mortality rates (IMRs) between blacks and whites strongly correlate with the party that controls the presidency. I used data from several sources including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Multiple Causes of Death, MIDUS, and the U.S. Census Bureau among others.Because researchers are always dealing with samples truncated by non-random mortality, paradigms in social research like the relationship between age and participation are partially spurious. I find that the effect that age exerts on participation is mediated by mortality rates linked to differences in SES because, as time progresses, low-SES individuals (i.e., low-level participants) die younger than high-SES individuals (i.e., high-level participants). I also set forth a model for the impact of racial mortality gaps on the total vote lost among blacks (1970-2004). Because the dead cannot vote or voice opinions, excess deaths exacerbate the imbalance of socio-political power, especially between blacks and whites, where health differences are most pronounced. I show that the total number of excess deaths among blacks is large enough to affect the outcome of presidential elections. And, finally, I investigate the fluctuations of national and black and white IMRs associated with the political party in power. Party differences in policy preferences lead to different results in many aspects of social development, of which health is no exception. Results show that a good portion of the comparative international underperformance of the U.S. for IMR as well as of persistent black-white disparities in IMR is related to variations imparted under Republican presidents between 1965 and 2010.


This study focuses on the question whether heat treated sewage sludge ashes are more favourable as fertilizers than untreated sewage sludge ashes (USSA) and whether their fertilization effects are comparable with commercial tri ple superphosphate (TSP). In a pot experiment, maize was fertilized either with one of three heat treated and Na-, Ca- and Si-compounds amended sewage sludge ashes (two glown phosphates, steel mill slag + sewage sludge ash) or USSA or TSP as control. Fertilization with USSA did not increase the biomass yield and the P uptake of maize in comparison to the P0 treatment (7.25 resp. 8.35 g dry matter/pot). Fertilization with heat treated sewage sludge ashes and TSP resulted in significantly higher yields and plant P uptakes which are on average eight times higher than treatment with USSA and P0 control. Biomass yields and P uptake of maize after fertilization with heat treated sewage sludge ashes are not significantly different from those after TSP fertilization. The main P compound in USSA is Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 . By heat treatment and amendment with different sodium, calcium, sulphur and silicon contain ing additives or steel mill converter slag, Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 is converted to Ca- and Na-silico-phosphates, which have a higher water solubility than Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 . This increased solubility is responsible for the high plant availability of this phosphates.


The effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on glycogen metabolism and the binding of [125I]iodo-EGF to receptors in fetal rat hepatocytes have been examined. The actions of EGF have been compared with those of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and insulin. EGF (0.1-45 nM) stimulated dose-dependent increases in [14C]glucose incorporation into glycogen (8.8-31.1%, P less than 0.01) and total cellular glycogen content (5.6-21.4%, P less than 0.05). The concentration of EGF causing half-maximal stimulation of glycogen synthesis was 2 ng/ml, and maximal stimulation occurred at 1 h of incubation. EGF had no effect on the uptake of the nonmetabolizable monosaccharide [14C]O-methyl-D-glucose, suggesting that the glycogenic effect of EGF was not mediated through stimulation of glucose transport. Although IGF-I (1-100 nM) and insulin (14 nM to 10 microM) also stimulated glycogen synthesis in fetal liver, the maximal effects of these hormones occurred at 2 h incubation, and the dose-response curves of IGF-I and insulin were not parallel to that of EGF. In addition, the maximal glycogenic effect of EGF was only 40% that of insulin or IGF-I, and the effects of EGF and insulin on [14C]glucose incorporation were additive. These findings suggest that EGF stimulates glycogen synthesis through a mechanism distinct from that of IGF-I or insulin. The binding of [125I]iodo-EGF to fetal hepatocytes was specific, saturable, and time- and temperature-dependent. Maximal specific binding occurred at 1 h of incubation at 37 C or at 24 h of incubation at 4 C. Unlabeled EGF (0.05-250 ng/ml) caused a dose-dependent inhibition of the binding of [125I]iodo-EGF to fetal hepatocytes, with half-maximal displacement of [125I]iodo-EGF by 1.7 ng unlabeled EGF/ml. The specific binding of [125I] iodo-EGF was not inhibited by high concentrations of insulin or IGF-I, suggesting that the differences in the mechanisms by which EGF, insulin, and IGF-I stimulate glycogenesis may be explained in part by differences in the binding of these hormones to fetal liver receptors. In addition to having mitogenic effects in fetal tissue, EGF or other EGF-like growth factors may have acute effects on fetal hepatic intermediary metabolism and may contribute to the accumulation of liver glycogen in the mammalian fetus during late gestation.


A decision-making methodology is discussed for determining the optimal generation dispatch and environmental marginal cost for power system operation with multiple conflicting objectives. In this study, the generation dispatch problems are formulated as a multiple objective optimization problem with two noncommensurable objectives (economy and environmental impacts). Each objective is optimized by Powell's method in the light of the individual performance index. Goal programming, a powerful tool for multiple criteria decision-making, is quantitatively performed to identify trade-off relations among these conflicting objectives. After a trade-off relation has been determined, sensitivity analysis is applied to evaluate the environmental marginal cost which indicates the increased portion of the monetary cost of system operation while the impact on the environment is improved. Numerical examples on a sample power system consisting of 10 buses, 11 transmission lines and five generators are provided to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach. >


An amorphous carbon coating, approximately 1.7 μm thick, deposited onto a ductile steel substrate, was indented using a 5-μm radius spherical-tipped diamond indenter to a maximum load of 150 mN. Displacement discontinuities were observed during loading, indicative of crack formation in the system. After indentation, a focused ion beam instrument was used to prepare cross-sections, which revealed the presence of ring, radial, and lateral cracks. A three-dimensional reconstruction of the deformation zone beneath the indent was conducted using a dual ion/electron beam instrument, assisted by a commercial three-dimensional visualization software package. These three-dimensional images enabled a detailed analysis of indentation-induced cracking in this film at submicron resolution. In contrast to traditional understanding and modeling, it was observed that the development of ring cracks was asymmetric for this type of coating/substrate system. Based on this observation, it can be deduced that the strain energy release rate was different for the growth of the spiral ring crack compared with the traditional concentric-ring model. Consequently, the concentric ring-crack fracture model may not be appropriate for the evaluation of the fracture toughness of this type of coating. Hence, three-dimensional images have presented a requirement that the asymmetrical nature of ring and radial cracks should be addressed and carefully considered in the fracture mechanics analysis of this type of hard coating system.


The representative characterization of the tensile behavior of strain hardening Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composite (UHPFRC) remains a challenge. Currently, the uniaxial methods (direct tensile test and 4-point bending test) are commonly applied, although the biaxial tensile condition has been widely recognized in most of the UHPFRC applications, e.g. thin UHPFRC element as external reinforcement layer or bridge deck slab. In this paper, the ring-on-ring test on circular slab-like specimens has been developed to determine the equal-biaxial tensile response by means of inverse analysis using 3D finite element method (FEM) models. In addition, direct tensile test (DDT) using dumbbell specimens cut from large square plates and 4PBT (4-point-bending-test) cast in molds were carried out. The representative tensile response from 4PBT was derived through inverse analysis using 2D FEM models. Finally, the corresponding results from different tests under either uniaxial or biaxial stress condition were analyzed and compared in terms of tensile parameters, tensile material law, cracking pattern and energy absorption capacity. The main objective is to examine the tensile performance under uniaxial and biaxial stress conditions, and to propose the most appropriate test method for a given UHPFRC application.


Purpose – Islam is believed to provide guidance in every sphere of life. This guidance is not limited to the social aspects but also covers economic dimension of human life. Islamic economic system supports interest free financial system. This paper addresses insurance, a part and parcel of modern financial and economic system. We have compared prevailing insurance system with Islamic alternative, Takaful. We have attempted to highlight its main features and discussed its suitability. Methodology - Sources of Sharia (Islamic way of life) are sought to trace the roots of Takaful. A brief comparison between Islamic insurance and prevalent system is given to find out whether Islamic insurance can take over prevailing insurance system. Findings – After comparing Takaful with conventional insurance, it is indicated that Takaful is more suitable than insurance especially to the vast Muslim community of the world. Value – This article gives a comparative analysis of Islamic and conventional insurance system. In this way it is an addition to the scarce literature on the subject. It has a managerial implication in the shape of guidance to the potential buyer of the insurance.


Abstract This article presents some of the authors' perspectives on the past 20 years of work that applies the results of research in historical linguistics to the understanding of the histories and cultural practices of pre-Columbian Mesoamericans. It focuses on major cultural transformations to which both historical linguistic and archaeological data can contribute, such as the spread of agriculture, and migrations in Mesoamerican prehistory. It also addresses major culture-historical studies on narrower topics: on Nawa and its place in the prehistory of Mexico, in particular confirming standard views that Nawas were immigrants into Mesoamerica; on Archaic and Formative period interactions involving Oto-Mangeans, which is work that is largely still to be done; on the prospects for work on long-distance contacts between Mesoamerica and North America; on the contributions of historical linguistics in Mesoamerican epigraphy; and on the value and prospects of updating the methodology of glottochronology.


ABSTRACT This paper examined the relationships between family relations and life satisfaction between the two groups of older people with different hukous in Putian, Fujian, China. Five factors related to family relations: family support network, satisfaction with family support, family harmony, filial support and filial discrepancy, were included in the study. A total of 532 valid questionnaires, 263 and 269 being filled in by older people with agricultural and non-agricultural hukous, respectively, were obtained. Bivariate analyses indicated that five factors were correlated significantly with life satisfaction for both groups of older people. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that when controlling for socio-demographic variables, filial support was associated with life satisfaction for both groups of older people; satisfaction with family support and filial discrepancy was only associated with life satisfaction among older people with agricultural hukous; family harmony only contributed to explaining life satisfaction among older people with non-agricultural hukous. The present study confirmed some previous empirical findings, which indicated the importance of family relations to older people's lives, and extended our understanding about the correlates of life satisfaction for the two groups of older people with different hukous in China. Limitations and direction of future studies were also addressed. Meanwhile, the policy and practice implications of the study were discussed in the context of China's social and economic changes.


Since the 2016 presidential election, there has been the perception that politics has not only taken the forefront in news, but in sports as well. After then NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest social injustice, ESPN's protest coverage became a source of debate as various media outlets accused the network of exhibiting partisan coverage with a liberal bias. Sports journalism has historically suffered with issues of credibility, especially ESPN because of the blurring of the lines between information and entertainment. Through a content analysis of the sport site's Facebook comments, this study found that espn.com users were more likely to be uncivil towards other commenters and were less concerned with a perceived bias by the site. This, however, is not conclusive evidence that espn.com does not have some sort of bias but does indicate that the assumed commenters of sports sites are similar to those of hard news sites, often using its platform for their own political messaging and attacking other users who have different views.


The paper by Hellen and Coghill', while perhaps representative of clinical findings in Northampton, appears not to be significant in this hospital. Local gynaecologists apply a somewhat different technique in that the endometrial thickness is suppressed by goserelin, not danazol. After resection of the endometrium and myometrium the whole area is further ablated by roller-ball diathermy resulting in destruction of endometrial glands not reached by the initial resection. The mean weight of chippings received is in the region of 5 g, yet the clinical results are as good, if not better, than those reported by Hellen and Coghill'. J.M.Morgan, Leighton Hospital, Crewe C W l 4QJ, U K


Abstract Two new Mesozoic gastropod species, provisionally attributed to the minute (height < 5 mm) coiled neomphalid genus Retiskenea?, are described from three geographically isolated, Early Cretaceous, hydrocarbon seep-carbonate sites at Wilbur Springs, Rice Valley, and Cold Fork of Cottonwood Creek, northern California (USA). A fourth paleo-seep locality at Paskenta, of probable Upper Jurassic age, also yielded a single specimen of a morphologically similar microgastropod that may be a neomphalid with affinities to the Lower Cretaceous specimens described herein. The limestone lenses are ∼2–260 m in length, ∼1–5 m in diameter, and surrounded by forearc siliciclastics of bathyal turbidites or sedimentary serpentinites in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous (Tithonian–Albian) Great Valley Group and its equivalents. The Lower Cretaceous microgastropods are tentatively placed in Retiskenea? based on similar shell characters: size, globose shape, inflated reticulate protoconch, number and distinct inflation of the body whorls, and fine, prosocline sculpture of the final body whorl. The fossils occur in carbonate microbialites that formed in seafloor sediments during archaeal anaerobic oxidation of methane in the zone of bacterial sulfate reduction, associated with H2S- and CH4-rich fluid seepage. The California Retiskenea? fossils commonly are found in gregarious clusters, or closely affiliated with thin worm tubes or, in one case, a larger gastropod. These Mesozoic records increase the total known species attributable to this cold-seep endemic genus from two to four. Its spatial and temporal distribution thus may have spanned ∼9,000 km around the Pacific Rim from at least ∼133 m.y. to the present in 10 subduction-related seep sites from California (possibly Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous), Washington (middle Eocene–Upper Oligocene), and modern offshore Oregon, the eastern Aleutians, and the Japan Trench. If the generic placement of these microgastropod fossils is correct, the California records are the oldest-known occurrences of Retiskenea, consistent with an estimated minimum Mesozoic origin for the 'hot vent' Neomphalidae, as inferred from molecular analyses published on other living members of the family.


The global economy is nurturing an innovative class of polycentric urban configurations: network cities. A network city evolves when two or more previously independent cities, potentially complementary in function, strive to cooperate and achieve significant scope economies aided by fast and reliable corridors of transport and communications infrastructure. Creative network cities place a higher priority on knowledge-based activities like research, education and the creative arts. The cooperative mechanisms may resemble those of inter-firm networks in the sense that each urban player stands to benefit from the synergies of interactive growth via reciprocity, knowledge exchange and unexpected creativity. Two case studies are discussed briefly—Randstad Holland and Kansai, Japan. Since much of their future dynamism may rely upon transnational human resources, it is foreseen that more network cities will transcend national borders during the next millennium.


Petrochemical industrial (PTCI) sites may be considered a niche in the property market. Mainstream economics, industrial development and real estate studies related literatures treat it as the same as others. By prescribing the New Institutional Economics (NIE) approach, this research seeks to find a definitive line to divide between this sub-sector with other industrial activities. In particular, from the real estate perspective. The key research question is on the effect of formal institutions on industrial land supply.

The empirical research was carried out in Kerteh and Gebeng in the Malaysian East Coast region. Despite being isolated from nation's mainstream economic activities as well as politically distinctive, the tiny townships managed to be host to global petroleum, gas and chemical giants, believed to have received the highest concentration of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia. Data were gathered on the physical development on the industrial sites, through official records investigation at the government offices as well as interviews with key figures both in the government and firms. Qualitative and descriptive quantitative data analyses were applied.

Within the studied area, it was found that the two State Governments, Terengganu and Pahang are the only land suppliers for PTCI use. Results from the analyses indicate that formal institutions have a substantial influence on supply-side behavior. The key findings suggest that due to the complexity of the government decision making process, government supply of industrial sites for PTCI use is timely, uncertain, and not flexible according to demand. To arrive at a decision, on land in particular, the authorities have to consult a massive set of information, dozens of public offices, hundreds of standards and a wide range of expertises. In addition, a structured decision making process is strictly observed.

The findings indicate that in the PTCI sector, where the investment is vulnerable to various forms of risks, the property transaction mode is slightly distinctive. The deadliest threat is unexpected changes in prices and supply of the chemical feedstock. As natural gas derivatives, especially butane, ethane and propane, the supply is dictated by the global market. Anticipating a threat, new sites must be sought. The authority's inability to respond to the immediate firms' needs invites additional risks. In addition, where the risk is very high, land prices are not imperative in industrial locating.

The findings also signify that the government decision making process which is framed out by the social institutions which has been inherited since generations has hardly changed. The firms however, without touching the institutional arrangements, through a unique clustering process find ways on how to beat the red tape to secure a site together with the chemical feedstock.


Stocks and flows are basis of dynamics. Understanding of stock and flow is crucial in comprehending and managing problems such as global warming and national debt. Yet previous experimental studies have found that people perform poorly in simple stockflow tasks. However, many do have a notion of accumulation in terms of calculating running total, adding or subtracting items to keep track of a running tally. Here a pretest-treatment-post-test experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that people's understanding of stock and flow behaviours will improve after being asked to reflect on a cognitive conflict, generated by utilizing their running total calculation. Comparisons with a conventional approach to teach stock and flow dynamics and without teaching were also done. Results show that improvements were not significant; the hypothesis lacks support. On the other hand, the conventional approach produced significant improvement. Possible explanations of the results and their implications for education on dynamics, communication of complex dynamic problems and policy insights are discussed.


Background As with many UK Emergency Departments, we have a high turnover of medical and nursing staff.1 Consistently addressing the learning needs of this workforce is challenging, yet essential in improving patient safety, outcomes and experience.2 Interprofessional simulation fosters a collaborative approach to needs assessment and setting common goals.3 In situ simulated emergency medicine scenarios highlighted themes around the learning needs for the team. These themes were used to develop a series of ED shop floor teaching sessions (Pop-Ups). Methodology A training needs-assessment survey and patient safety questionnaire was circulated to all ED staff. A multidisciplinary faculty was established to deliver a program of fortnightly in-situ simulations in-line with the responses. Scenarios were based in the resuscitation room involving a multidisciplinary team, followed by a debrief, structured around the description, analysis and application (DAA) format.4 During the scenario a faculty member noted any observed latent safety threats on a template adapted from the NPSA contributory factors framework.5 Concurrently, noting any learning needs around equipment, preparation of medications and the working environment. Following debrief participants were asked to complete an evaluation questionnaire. Outcomes 25 ED staff responded to the simulation needs assessment survey. Simulations over a 5 month period show a spread of participation across the team: 48% junior doctors, 31% nursing staff, 15% registrars and 6% health-care assistants. Observed latent safety threats demonstrate the contribution of education and training factors (17%) and equipment skills (14%). Combined with the training needs assessment survey themes emerged to identify key clinical skills, scenarios and equipment requiring further training. These themes were used to form the focus and priorities for a series of evaluated ED shop floor teaching sessions. Impact Interprofessional in situ simulation is an important tool to identify the learning needs of the team. References Emergency Medicine taskforce – Royal College of Emergency Medicine, 2012 A framework for technology enhanced learning, DOH, 2011 Failla, et al. Interprofessional simulation: a concept analysis. Clin Simulat Nurs 2014 Courtesy of SaIL, Guys and St Thomas's Root cause analysis investigation tools. Contributory factors classification framework. National Patient Safety Agency, 2009


Abstract Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis worldwide. Although gout has been known for antiquity, many challenges still exist in gout management. It is vital to view gout as a chronic disease and not just treat the acute flare. There is a perception of gout as an acute disease requiring treatment only for acute flares. However, to combat the disease, chronic urate-lowering therapy, reducing the serum urate levels to below the saturation threshold of 6.8 mg/dL, and chronic anti-inflammatory prophylaxis, especially during urate-lowering therapy initiation, are needed. In this manuscript, we discuss some of the contentious issues in gout management. These include the timing of urate-lowering therapy initiation, which urate-lowering therapy to chose, should comorbidities influence our treatment, using genetic determinants, and patient perspectives to drive treatment and differences between gout treatment the American College of Physicians and Rheumatology guidelines for gout management: driving care.


developed and used in calculations of the formation energies of point and extended defects. We predict vacancies to be the most stable point defects. We show that they will exist in equilibrium with the shear planes that microscopy studies have detected in reduced rutile. We suggest that the stability of the extended defects is due predominantly to the occurrence of large stabilizing relaxations of the cations neighbouring the shear planes. The absence of appreciable binding for point defect clusters may also, however, be important. We show how both factors may be related to the exceptionally high static dielectric constant for the material.


Objective: Assessment of HIV prevalence and associated risk behaviours among female commercial sex workers (FCSW) across major cities in South America. Methods: Seroepidemiological, cross sectional studies of 13 600 FCSW were conducted in nine countries of South America during the years 1999–2002. Participants were recruited in brothels, massage parlours, hotels, and streets where anonymous questionnaires and blood samples were collected. HIV infection was determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) screening and western blot confirmatory tests. Results: The overall HIV seroprevalence was 1.2% (range 0.0%–4.5%). The highest HIV seroprevalences were reported in Argentina (4.5%) and Paraguay (2.6%); no HIV infected FCSW were detected in Venezuela and Chile. Consistent predictors of HIV seropositivity were: (1) a previous history of sexually transmitted infections (STI, AORs = 3.8–8.3), and (2) 10 years or more in commercial sex work (AORs = 2.2–24.8). In addition, multiple (⩾3) sexual contacts (AOR = 5.0), sex with foreigners (AOR = 6.9), use of illegal drugs (AOR = 3.2), and marijuana use (AOR = 8.2) were associated with HIV seropositivity in Southern Cone countries. Conclusions: Consistently low HIV seroprevalences were detected among FCSW in South America, particularly in the Andean region. Predictors of HIV infection across the continent were STI and length of commercial sex work; however, use of illegal drugs, especially marijuana, and sexual contacts with foreigners were also found to be associated risk factors in the Southern Cone region. Interventions for the control of HIV and other STI need to be region and country specific; drug use appears to have an ever increasing role in the spread of HIV among heterosexually active populations.


Construction problems have always been an important part in learning Geometry. Mastering construction helps students in logical reasoning. In this paper, we will take a look at traditional construction problems and create these constructions using GeoGebra. GeoGebra, as a software, has many functions. However, in this paper, we will only make use of functions that mimics the traditional compass and straightedge construction. We will start with simple construction such as constructing angles and triangles. We will discuss construction of angle bisectors. We also use construction in showing certain properties of geometric objects, such as triangles and circles. We look at properties of angle bisectors and side bisectors of triangles, as well as chords of a circle. Finally, we will build upon these basic construction techniques to eventually show and construct more complicated theorems.


As part of a test to determine its applicability to coaxial repeaters, a feedforward error-control system was applied to an L-4 coaxial system flat-gain amplifier operating in the frequency range of 0.5-20 MHz. The error amplifier was a duplicate to the main amplifier. With three test tones at 7.5 dBm output each applied within the last L-4 master group, modulation products in the uncompensated system were observed about 65 dB down from a single-tone level. With the error loop applied, modulation products dropped to greater than 100 dB over the range, often exceeding 110 dB. In particular, the third-order intermodulation product corresponding to A + B - C was reduced by 42 dB to - 108 dB.


Six mature Quarter Horse mares were used in a crossover design to assess the effect of dietary protein level on metabolic response to exercise. After a 2-wk adaptation period to either a 12.9% (control) or an 18.5% CP (high-protein) diet, each mare performed a standard exercise test. The test consisted of a 15-min exercise period at 4.5 m/sec on a 9% grade motorized treadmill. Exercise resulted in an increase in heart rate (P less than .001), but there was no difference (P less than .05) between dietary treatments. In the jugular vein, lactate increased (P less than .01) from 6.3 to 52.0 mg/100 ml in the control group and increased from 6.3 to 45.6 mg/100 ml in the high-protein group. There was an interaction (P less than .05) between diet and exercise for lactate. Plasma NH3 increased (P less than .001) during exercise, but not until the 15th min, at which time NH3 increased over fourfold in both groups. Dietary protein did not affect NH3; however, urea-N was higher (P less than .001) in horses receiving the high-protein diet. Plasma alanine increased from 13.6 to 30.3 mumol/100 ml and glutamine increased from 49.3 to 62.5 mumol/100 ml in the control group. In the high-protein group, alanine increased from 10.2 to 25.8 mumol/100 ml, whereas glutamine increased from 39.3 to 49.2 mumol/100 ml. Our study detected no metabolic evidence for a detrimental effect of excess dietary protein in horses exercising on a graded treadmill at 4.5 m/sec for 15 min.


Humans and wildlife are vulnerable to the toxicity of semi-volatile and persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Neither the distribution of these pollutants nor their seasonal variation has ever been determined in the Buffalo River. Thus, the occurrence and concentration of 19 PCBs was assessed in King William's Town (KWT), Izele (IZ), Zwelitsha (ZW), Maden (MD), Mdantsane (MSN) and Buffalo River estuary (BRE), all on the Buffalo River in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Water samples were subjected to liquid-liquid extraction for PCBs, after which the compounds were separated and quantified on gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The PCBs differ in concentration from below detection limit (BDL) to 482 ng·L−1 in summer and BDL to 2 383 ng·L−1 in autumn. While the order of congeners increases during the summer from KWT > IZ > ZW > MD > MSN > BRE, the distribution in autumn followed the order BRE > IZ > ZW > KWT > MSN > MD. The total levels of PCBs at all the sites during summer were below the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible level of 500 ng·L−1 recommended for humans, but were exceeded at all the sampling sites in autumn except at MD. The evaluated risk with respect to cancer was lower than the acceptable threshold (10-6), whereas hazard quotients were slightly higher than the maximum threshold (of 1) stated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The compounds are known to be toxic to humans and animals. The results appear to show that the exposure levels of the compounds were safe for humans and animals. Further studies are recommended in order to make a definitive conclusion.


This article presents the results of the study of the antimicrobial and antifungal properties among 1,2,4-triazole derivatives synthesized at the Department of Physical and Colloidal Chemistry of the Zaporizhzhia State Medical University. Previous studies have established the antimicrobial and antifungal activity of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives. Therefore, it was reasonable to investigate highly effective substances with antimicrobial and antifungal properties among synthesized compounds. In the first stage of our research, acute toxicity prediction was performed. The antimicrobial and antifungal properties were carried out by the method of "serial dilutions" on a liquid nutrient. Forty-seven compounds of the different classes were studied for these types of activities. According to our research, derivatives of 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole showed better performance than 3-thio-1,2.4-triazoles for Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. 5-(1Н-tetrazole-1-іl)methyl-4Н- -1,2,4-triazole-3-yl-1-(5-nitrofuran-2-yl)methanimin (11.6) was showed the greatest antimicrobial and antifungal activity. Deeper research for compound 11.6 was done by diffusion in agar (method of "wells"). Studies have shown that molecule 11.6 showed antimicrobial and antifungal action to the studied test strains at a concentration of 2 μg/ml. Hence, this compound can be developed as a helpful therapeutic agent after establishing its safety pharmacology and toxicity.


The characteristics of neurogenic thorasic outlet syndrome due to compressions at the interscalene triangle were evaluated in 17 patients. Sixteen of the patients were female, and the mean age of the group was 34,6 years. Eight cases had only osseous anomalies (Group 1). Another six had no bony variations, and the scalene musdes had caused the compression (Group II). The other 3 cases had both bony anomalies and muscular compression (Group III). The most common symptoms were painful myofascitis (88%) and paresthesia (77%), and the most frequent physical findings were motor deficits (82%) and positive Adson's tests (82%). In cases with osseous anomalies cervicocephalic symptoms were often seen but paresthesia was relatively rare (p<O.05). Also in these patients, a positive hyperadduction test was often accompanied by a fibrous band. Double crush or reverse double crush syndromes were detected in 7 of the 17 cases. Of the electrophysiological tests performed, electromyography gaye the most information. Twenty-one extremities in 17 patients were operated via a supradavicular appproach sparing the first rib, and no complications were encountered. Fibrous bands were found only in patients who had osseous anomalies (p<O.05). Satisfactory and tolerable results were achieved in nine (53%) and seven (41%) patients, respectively. Key Word s: Double crush syndrome, supradavicular approach, thoracic outlet syndrome.


Even when confronted with the same data, agents often disagree on a model of the real world. Here, we address the question of how interacting heterogeneous agents, who disagree on what model the real world follows, optimize their trading actions. The market has latent factors that drive prices, and agents account for the permanent impact they have on prices. This leads to a large stochastic game, where each agents performance criteria are computed under a different probability measure. We analyze the mean‐field game (MFG) limit of the stochastic game and show that the Nash equilibrium is given by the solution to a nonstandard vector‐valued forward–backward stochastic differential equation. Under some mild assumptions, we construct the solution in terms of expectations of the filtered states. Furthermore, we prove that the MFG strategy forms an ε‐Nash equilibrium for the finite player game. Finally, we present a least square Monte Carlo based algorithm for computing the equilibria and show through simulations that increasing disagreement may increase price volatility and trading activity.


A large part of disparities in Latin America derive from inequalities of opportunities in access and continuation to education. Public support to education is crucial to reduce personal and territorial inequalities,because talent is not linked to the socio-economic status and/or to the residence of families, while access to education is. Decentralization is credited to be a crucial component of an improving education national strategy. At the same time, decentralization of education, when not properly structured, can simply shift the same old problems to levels of government less capable of solving them. Similarly, decentralization of education finance can end up reinforcing preexisting inequities. Indications from actual experiences are extremely important and empirical analysis of reform strategies becomes crucial. At the same time, this assessment, particularly in the case of international comparisons, is constrained by analytical problems and information constraints about the effective outcomes of education. The paper provides a methodological approach to the comparative analysis of decentralized systems with a view also to extracting valid suggestions for reform.


Mediterranean mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis were experi~nentally cultured from 5 rafts located in 4 Galician Rias, following the established industrial procedure. Cultures were sampled monthly until mussels exceeded market slze. Observation of histological sections of sampled mussels by light microscopy demonstrated symbionts which could be classified into 3 groups according to their pathogenicity. The first group consisted of symbionts with unnoticeable pathogenic effects including: prokaryotic inclusion bodies (PlB) in digestive gland and gills, an unidentified protistan in digestive primary ducts, a kidney coccidian, intracytoplasmic ciliates in digestive tubules, gill ciliates and a turbellarian in the ~ntestinal lumen. The second group comprised syn~bionts that could damage the host, although unlikely to be lethal, including: the microsporidian Steinhausia mytilovum, the flatworm Urastoma cyprinae, and the copepod Mytilicola intestinahs. The third group included the protistan Marteilia refringens and the trematode Proctoeces rnaculatus, potentially lethal pathogens. In addition, mussels with haemocytic infiltration of tissues and granulocytomas and a few cases of disseminated neoplasia were detected. The qualitative composition of mussel symbiont community was similar at the 5 study sites, except for 3 symbionts which were not detected at some sites Quantitatively, symbiont loads were higher and histological signs of stress more abundant in Moana and Vilagarcia (the most inner sites in the Rias), intermediate in Illa de Arousa and Muros, and lower in Lorbe. Symbionts increased in prevalence as mussels grew. Some of the symbionts were detected in mussel seed at the beginning of the experimental cultures.


Probiotics are commercial products that contain healthy bacteriae normally found in the gut flora. Each person has billions of bacteriae living in their gut. Antibiotics are medications commonly prescribed for infections caused by pathogenic bacteriae. Each antibiotic function in a unique way to rid the body of a specific type of bacteriae; however, gut bacteriae are inadvertently destroyed by antibiotics. The initial step of this project was to test a number of probiotic products to confirm their ability to grow in a medium which will verify that these products do indeed deliver viable gut bacteriae to the person ingesting them. Probiotic products are available that contain single strains of bacteriae as well as up to thirty different strains in one product. This allows for testing of a cross-section of the gut bacteriae which are represented by the bacteriae in the probiotics. The second focus of my project was to treat gut bacteriae grown on a medium with different antibiotics to test whether any or all of the gut bacteriae are in fact destroyed by antibiotics. The human body is host to a vast array of healthy bacteriae in the gut. Using an assortment of antibiotics on each probiotic plate offers the opportunity to compare the devastation caused by each antibiotic on the various gut bacteriae made available by the probiotics.


Climate-change-induced disasters such as floods, heavy storms, tornadoes and extreme lightning are becoming more frequent in Africa generally and in South Africa specifically. Several factors contribute to Africa's high vulnerability to disasters, including the high rate of population growth, food insecurity, high levels of poverty, inappropriate use of natural resources and failures of policy and institutional frameworks. The study adopted an ecological systems theory as a theoretical framework to explain how social work in rural communities deals with climate-change-induced disasters. The aim was to explore and describe the role of social work in the assessment of climate change disaster predicaments. A qualitative approach, utilising an exploratory-descriptive design, was adopted for this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to select five social workers and two social auxiliary workers to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews were applied in the research as a tool for data collection. Data were analysed qualitatively using thematic content analysis. The research concluded that social workers should intervene in climate-change-induced disasters by conducting assessments and providing disaster intervention strategies.


The p34cdc2 protein kinase is a component of maturation-promoting factor, the master regulator of the cell cycle in all eukaryotes. The activity of p34cdc2 is itself tightly regulated by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. Predicted regulatory phosphorylation sites of Xenopus p34cdc2 were mutated in vitro, and in vitro-transcribed RNAs were injected into Xenopus oocytes. The cdc2 single mutants Thr-14----Ala and Tyr-15----Phe did not induce germinal vesicle breakdown (BVBD) upon microinjection into oocytes. In contrast, the cdc2 double mutant Ala-14/Phe-15 did induce GVBD. Both the Ala-14 and Ala-14/Phe-15p34cdc2 mutants were shown to coimmunoprecipitate cyclin B1 and to phosphorylate histone H1 in immune complex kinase assays. Microinjection of antisense oligonucleotides to c-mosXe was used to demonstrate the role of mos protein synthesis in the induction of GVBD by the Ala-14/Phe-15 cdc2 mutant. Thr-161 was also mutated. p34cdc2 single mutants Ala-161 and Glu-161 and triple mutants Ala-14/Phe-15/Ala-161 and Ala-14/Phe-15/Glu-161 failed to induce GVBD in oocytes and showed a decreased binding to cyclin B1 in coimmunoprecipitations. Each of the cdc2 mutants was also assayed by coinjection with cyclin B1 or c-mosXe RNA into oocytes. Several of the cdc2 mutants were found to affect the kinetics of cyclin B1 and/or mos-induced GVBD upon coinjection, although none affected the rate of progesterone-induced maturation. We demonstrate here the significance of Thr-14, Tyr-15, and Thr-161 of p34cdc2 in Xenopus oocyte maturation. In addition, these results suggest a regulatory role for mosXe in induction of oocyte maturation by the cdc2 mutant Ala-14/Phe-15.


The echolocation rate and behavior of wild harbor porpoises were studied using a harbor porpoise click detector (POD) deployed close to the bottom at 40 m depth in Scottish waters, UK, April—June 2001. Echolocation variables were compared among four diel phases; morning, day, evening, and night. The echolocation encounter rate, the minimum interclick interval per train, and the proportion of echolocation click trains with a minimum interclick interval below 10 msec were all significantly higher at night than during the day. The variation in echolocation rate implies that porpoises increased their echolocation rate and/or visited the depth of the POD more often at night than during the day. Further, the changes in minimum interclick interval per train suggest that they used their echolocation for foraging or investigating objects at a close range to a higher extent, and acoustically explored the environment at greater distances at night than during the day.


Combining nightlight data as a proxy for economic activity with remote sensing data typically used for natural hazard modeling, this paper constructs novel damage indices at the district level for Indonesia, for different disaster events such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the 2004 Christmas Tsunami. Ex ante, prior to the incidence of a disaster, district-level damage indices could be used to determine the size of the annual fiscal transfers from the central government to the subnational governments. Ex post, or after the incidence of a natural disaster, damage indices are useful for quickly assessing and estimating the damages caused and are especially useful for central and local governments, emergency services, and aid workers so that they can respond efficiently and deploy resources where they are most needed.


Mechanical stimulation of bone induces new bone formation in vivo and increases the metabolic activity and gene expression of osteoblasts in culture. We investigated the role of the actin cytoskeleton and actin-membrane interactions in the transmission of mechanical signals leading to altered gene expression in cultured MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts. Application of fluid shear to osteoblasts caused reorganization of actin filaments into contractile stress fibers and involved recruitment of beta1-integrins and alpha-actinin to focal adhesions. Fluid shear also increased expression of two proteins linked to mechanotransduction in vivo, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and the early response gene product c-fos. Inhibition of actin stress fiber development by treatment of cells with cytochalasin D, by expression of a dominant negative form of the small GTPase Rho, or by microinjection into cells of a proteolytic fragment of alpha-actinin that inhibits alpha-actinin-mediated anchoring of actin filaments to integrins at the plasma membrane each blocked fluid-shear-induced gene expression in osteoblasts. We conclude that fluid shear-induced mechanical signaling in osteoblasts leads to increased expression of COX-2 and c-Fos through a mechanism that involves reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. Thus Rho-mediated stress fiber formation and the alpha-actinin-dependent anchorage of stress fibers to integrins in focal adhesions may promote fluid shear-induced metabolic changes in bone cells.


Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) represent a major threat to health and primary prevention outstands as the most effective instrument to face this issue, addressing multiple risk factors at a time and influencing behavioral patterns. Community nurses have been involved in many interdisciplinary prevention activities, resulting in effective control of CV risk factors. We conducted a pilot study aiming at describing the impact on the CV risk profile of an 18-month interdisciplinary intervention on lifestyle habits. From September 2018 to May 2020, four general practitioners (GPs) working in the Roman neighborhood of Torresina recruited patients having a cardiovascular risk score (CRS) equal to or higher than 3% and lower than 20%; those patients were included in a nutritional, physical, and psychological counseling program. Assessments of patients' health status were led at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months by a nutritionist, a physiotherapist, a psychologist, their GPs, and a community nurse. The CRS was estimated at every examination, based on the Italian Progetto Cuore algorithm. A total of 76 patients were included (mean age of 54.6 years; 33 men and 43 women). Mean CRS showed a significant reduction between baseline and 12 months (from 4.9 to 3.8); both total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure (SBP) significantly decreased at 6 months of follow-up (respectively, from 211.1 to 192 and from 133.1 to 123.1). Nonetheless, the reduction was later maintained only for SBP. However, during the last 6 months of the intervention, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, thus, it is not possible to know how much the results achieved at 18 months were influenced by the restrictive measures introduced by the Italian government. When stratifying according to the presence of hypertension/diabetes and physical activity, no differences in the CRS could be highlighted between the two groups. Our pilot study proved that an interdisciplinary counseling intervention program can improve CV risk profile and could be further spread to people that, according to their CRS, would benefit more from changes in lifestyles.


High-performance kernel libraries are critical to exploiting accelerators and specialized instructions in many applications. Because compilers are difficult to extend to support diverse and rapidly-evolving hardware targets, and automatic optimization is often insufficient to guarantee state-of-the-art performance, these libraries are commonly still coded and optimized by hand, at great expense, in low-level C and assembly. To better support development of high-performance libraries for specialized hardware, we propose a new programming language, Exo, based on the principle of exocompilation: externalizing target-specific code generation support and optimization policies to user-level code. Exo allows custom hardware instructions, specialized memories, and accelerator configuration state to be defined in user libraries. It builds on the idea of user scheduling to externalize hardware mapping and optimization decisions. Schedules are defined as composable rewrites within the language, and we develop a set of effect analyses which guarantee program equivalence and memory safety through these transformations. We show that Exo enables rapid development of state-of-the-art matrix-matrix multiply and convolutional neural network kernels, for both an embedded neural accelerator and x86 with AVX-512 extensions, in a few dozen lines of code each.


Ascaris lumbricoides, the most frequent human intestinal nematode, is the causative agent of ascariasis, with an estimated worldwide prevalence of over one billion people, especially in moist tropical and subtropical regions, but also in cooler climates. Although characterised with low morbidity and mortality rates, the global prevalence of ascariasis still results in approximately 20,000 deaths annually, primarily as a consequence of intestinal obstruction. In humans, transmission usually occurs by hand-to-mouth route by way of contaminated agricultural products and food, or from dirty hands. Three phases of ascariasis may be present, namely, the pulmonary, intestinal and the complications stage. Although generally asymptomatic, heavy infestation may cause serious pulmonary disease, or partial or complete obstruction of biliary or intestinal tracts. Anthelminthic chemotherapy is required to eradicate the parasites and prevent potentially serious complications. Mebendazole, albendazole and pyrantel pamoate are the most widely used agents to treat ascariasis. Preventive chemotherapy delivered to communities in endemic regions may serve as an affordable and cost-effective strategy to reduce the prevalence and morbidity in endemic regions. Under unusual circumstances, Ascaris suum, the cause of helminthic infection in pigs, may also cause disease in humans.


Audiences have most likely always been subject to distraction and drift during all varieties of presentation. While these activities were often confined to solitary activities since inter-person distractions were limited by their visibility to the speaker (ever been caught passing notes in class?), in the current networked-enabled presentation room, multi-person off-task "distractions" are now possible (ever read your e-mail during a conference talk?). This paper explores the potential for positive effects of this ability; back-channel discussions that are on-topic and can even lead to a more involved audience and better interaction with the presenter.


The measured turn-off waveforms of 4.5 kV SiCGTs by using electron irradiation with various electron doses are reported. The turn-off time decreased with an increase in the electron dose. Furthermore, the turn-off characteristics of SiCGTs with p-type drift layer, which assumed the various trap concentrations, are simulated. The relation between the turn-off characteristics and the trap is also investigated. The simulated results show good correlation to measured data and the simulated turn-off times decrease with an increase in the electron dose as well as measured data.


Thiouracil for Hyperthyroidism SIR,-In his paper (Dec. 9, p. 745) Dr. Nussey ascribes to me the view that the bloated appearance and listlessness which follow overdosage with thiouracil, are not manifestations of mild myxoedema. If by myxoedema is to be understood hypothyroidism then Dr. Nussey has mistaken me. In my opinion these symptoms are probably due to early hypothyroidism. My hesitancy in making an outright statement that this is their nature is that I have noted-in such patients that, despite their clinical appearance of hypothyroidism, the B.M.R. may be within normal limits. Possibly the misconception of my views arose from the fact that the paper embodying them (Proc. roy. Soc. Med., 1944, 37, 693) has only just appeared, and that, prior to its appearance, statements concerning my opinions on this matter had to depend on recollections of the meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine on June 13, 1944, or on reporters' accounts of that meeting. Dr. Nussey's statement that an initial leucopenia is no contraindication to thiouracil therapy is of considerable importance. Personally I have avoided using thiouracil on such patients because I have feared that agranulocytosis might more easily be produced in them. If, as Dr. Nussey's results indicate, my fears were groundless' it is welcome news, but it would be very unfortunate if his results were to give rise to the impression that the white cell count can now be disregarded in thiouracil therapy, or that treatment can be safely continued if the neutrophils in the blood are falling. It should be stressed that Dr. Nussey's statement refers only to leucopenia before treatment, and, in view of the acknowledged danger of agranulocytosis during treatment with thiouracil, it would seem advisable to await confirmation of his findings before accepting them in ordinary clinical practice.-I am, etc.,


The structural and functional integrity of the epididymis, the acquisition of fertilizing ability by spermatozoa and their viability within the epididymis are androgen dependent phenomena. Although the precise mechanism by which sperm maturation and viability in the epididymis are brought about by androgen are not clearly understood, it is generally held that specific epididymal secretions produced under the influence of androgen affect these events. Though the spermatozoa appear to remain viable in a low androgen environment, sperm maturation requires a relatively high androgen environment. Against this background the potentiality of antiandrogens as extragonadal antifertility agents has been discussed. Studies with steroidal and nonsteroidal antiandrogens have revealed that in adult animals the secretory activity of the epididymis, as evidenced by the level of glycerylphosphorylcholine, either remains unaffected or is stimulated under their influence. These studies have further indicated that the extragonadal antifertility action of antiandrogens will depend upon their ability to (1) lower the testicular androgen synthesis and/or androgen binding protein, which possibly serves as a carrier of androgen from the testis to epididymis; (2) to lower local androgen synthesis as a result of reduced levels of circulating androgen, and (3) to inhibit 5 alpha-reduction of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone and/or to inhibit androgen binding to receptors. Success in the rational development of new antifertility agents for male which will act by controlling epididymal function will depend upon a clear understanding of the factors that regulate epididymal secretion and the role of epididymal secretions in sperm maturation and survival.


The first chapter of the thesis shows how the study was born in a local church where the preached message represented a difference from the beliefs of John Wesley. The second chapter shows how the doctrinal standards of Methodism are defined in terms of the Motes and Sermons o£ John Wesley. These works are examined, and detailed doctrines expounded of Jesus as judge, and the grounds for and nature and experience of his judgment as applied to the lives of men. The third chapter considers the Primitive Methodist Church and shows how a liberal Influence was felt at Hartley College, Manchester, through the dominant personality of A. S. Peake. Peak's doctrine is expounded and the securing of his position by the philanthropist, W. Hartley, is described. The fourth chapter considers Ranmoor College, Sheffield ' ,and Victoria Park College, Manchester, of the United Methodist Church and highlights the major influence of A. S. Peake in that denomination also. Chapters five and six treat the colleges of Wesleyan Methodism, namely Didsbury, Richmond, Headingley, Handsworth and Cambridge. For these the period is divided into pre- and post- 1918. The doctrinal stance is shown to be more complex than for the other denominations and for each college the doctrinal position of each senior member of staff is expounded and the changing tenor of each college traced. The final chapter shows how by 1932 the theological education of Methodist ministers was heavily biased to a liberal attitude, and relates the findings of the thesis to the state of Methodism generally.


In the wake of September 11, a classic European disdain for American sentiment became apparent. Even American intellectuals, like Susan Sontag and Gore Vidal, issued pronouncements that reflected a profoundly European sensibility, one embedded in notions of tradition and memory. Yet within the contemporary European critiques of America there frequently lurks a distinct affection. Note the ambivalence of many commentators (not, to be sure, just Europeans) in Gr anta 77: What We Think of America. This paradoxical embrace and withdrawal is hardly new and, in a sense, arises from the essential unknowability of America remarked upon by both John Gray and Hans Magnus Enzensberger in Gr anta. Many assessments of America from de Tocqueville on are laced with a dialectic of love and hate. Yet not all Europeans are or were ambivalent. Sigmund Freud's apparent anti-Americanism puzzled Max Eastman. Why, Eastman once asked him, do you hate America? Freud responded that he did not hate America but, rather, regretted it. The withering assessments of the American culture industry penned by Theodor Adorno were not counter-balanced by a passion for America. Adorno in exile was estranged from the culture of his adopted home. He perceived the political culture of America to be the embodiment of commodity fetishism. To a certain extent, so did the German sociologist Werner Sombart. Yet his classic and wrongly neglected Why is There no Socialism in the United States?, reverberates with a simultaneous suspicion of and admiration for the United States. The image of the anarchist Alexander Berkman kissing the American flag, having been tortured by vigilantes during an IWW struggle in San Diego, captures this ambivalence.


Scene graph generation (SGG) aims to abstract an image into a graph structure, by representing objects as graph nodes and their relations as labeled edges. However, two knotty obstacles limit the practicability of current SGG methods in real-world scenarios: 1) training SGG models requires time-consuming ground-truth annotations, and 2) the closed-set object categories make the SGG models limited in their ability to recognize novel objects outside of training corpora. To address these issues, we novelly exploit a powerful pre-trained visual-semantic space (VSS) to trigger language-supervised and open-vocabulary SGG in a simple yet effective manner. Specifically, cheap scene graph supervision data can be easily obtained by parsing image language descriptions into semantic graphs. Next, the noun phrases on such semantic graphs are directly grounded over image regions through region-word alignment in the pre-trained VSS. In this way, we enable open-vocabulary object detection by performing object category name grounding with a text prompt in this VSS. On the basis of visually-grounded objects, the relation representations are naturally built for relation recognition, pursuing open-vocabulary SGG. We validate our proposed approach with extensive experiments on the Visual Genome benchmark across various SGG scenarios (i.e., supervised / language-supervised, closed-set / open-vocabulary). Consistent superior performances are achieved compared with existing methods, demonstrating the potential of exploiting pre-trained VSS for SGG in more practical scenarios.


Recent advances in our understanding of the Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary sequence northeast of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya has allowed a revision of the lithostratigraphic nomenclature and a more complete description of the deposits. As redefined, the Koobi Fora Formation encompasses the entire Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary sequence, and is subdivided into eight members. These members are delineated using volcanic ash horizons, which can be identified uniquely on the basis of chemical composition. The revised stratigraphy resolves all earlier conflicts with the biostratigraphic zonations based on vertebrate and molluscan studies. The sedimentary sequence of the Koobi Fora Formation attains an aggregate thickness of 560 m and spans the period from about 4.3 to 0.6 Ma. Detailed correlations have now been established to relate this sequence to other deposits within the Turkana Basin and to those at Hadar and in the Gulf of Aden.


The present research is attributed to evaluate the genotoxic potential of two herbicides namely Sodium Bispyribac and Pinoxaden, at sublethal level, LC 20 using larval salivary gland polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. Standardization of exposure concentration was achieved by exposing second instars larvae of Drosophila to serial dilution concentration of the selected herbicides, for continuum of 24 hours. Thereafter, on the basic of observed mortality in treated and control groups, exact value of LC 20 was calculated by applying probit analysis and the corresponding values are 4.4 pl/ml for Sodium Bispyribac and 7.1pl/ml for Pinaxoden. Subsequently, exposure of standarized concentration was provided to second instar larvae, by mixing specified concentration in culture medium and, simultaneously negative control were also maintained. Third instar larvae were sacrificed for temporary squash preparation of polytene chromosomes and chromosomal complement were scrutinized for various types of structural chromosomal abnormities, in herbicide exposure group and natural population. Procured data indicated that the selected herbicides affected the structural integrity of polytene chromosomes, by inducing intrachromosomal, interchromosomal and telomeric fusions, paracentric inversions, inversion complexes, intrachromosomal and interchromosomal ectopic pairings due to induced homozygocity, chromatid breaks, chromosomal translocations and homologous chromosomal asynapses with respective value with respective number 45.66 ± 6.65 and 21 ± 3.60 in Sodium Bispyribac treated individuals and control, whereas in Pinoxaden treated and controls value 48.64 ± 8.6 and 25.32 ± 3.66 in control group. Subsequently, analysis of procured data, indicated that selected herbicides induced statistical significant genotoxicity in treated individuals in comparison to control groups (p<0.05).


Background. Clinical trials of mild cooling to 35°C or below in infants with early hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy are under way. The objective of this study was to systematically document cardiovascular changes associated with mild therapeutic hypothermia and rewarming in such infants. Patients and Methods. Nine infants with gestational ages of 36 to 42 weeks, with 10-minute Apgar scores of 5 or less, clinical encephalopathy, and an abnormal electroencephalogram before 6 hours were cooled by surface cooling the trunk (n = 3) or by applying a cap perfused with cooled water (n = 6) for a median of 72 hours. The target core temperature was 34.0°C to 35.0°C for head-cooled infants and 33.0°C to 34.0°C for surface-cooled infants. Maintenance heating and rewarming were provided by an overhead heater. Results. Mean arterial blood pressure increased by a median of 10 mm Hg during cooling and fell by a median of 8 mm Hg on rewarming. Heart rate decreased by a median of 34 beats/minute on cooling and increased by a median of 32 beats/minute on rewarming. A large increase in the output of the overhead heater decreased mean arterial blood pressure in 5 infants. Anticonvulsant drugs, sedatives, or intercurrent hypoxemia also produced falls in temperature. The inspired oxygen fraction had to be increased by a median of .14 to maintain oxygenation during cooling with 2 infants requiring 100% oxygen, an effect probably attributable to pulmonary hypertension, which was reversible with rewarming. Conclusions. Therapeutic cooling produces changes in heart rate and blood pressure that are not hazardous, but the combination of inadvertent overcooling and inappropriately rapid rewarming, together with sedative drugs that can impair normal thermoregulatory vasoconstriction, can cause hypotension in posthypoxic newborn infants. Infants who already require 50% oxygen should be cooled cautiously because pulmonary hypertension may develop. Knowledge of these cardiovascular changes, careful monitoring, anticipation, and correction should help to avoid potential adverse effects in the upcoming clinical trials.


We have argued that aerosols are probably the principal agents by which pollutants may affect weather and climate. They are most likely to act by influencing the structure and distribution of clouds. On the local scale, the effects of pollutants on some aspects of weather are unmistakable. The effects of man-made pollutants on global climate are a matter of debate, but they may already be significant.


In carefully selected patients with viral hepatitis B, C (and D?), alpha-interferon (IFN) treatment is associated with a reduction of active viral replication. In chronic hepatitis B, HBeAg clearance rates approximate 40%. About 25% of patients with chronic hepatitis C will profit from a long-lasting (six to twelve months) IFN therapy. Treatment of chronic hepatitis D remains unsatisfactory, since only a minority of patients (less than 10%) finally will clear the virus, even if IFN is administered for one year. Due to the lack of data, IFN therapy cannot be recommended in the moment for patients at special risks, e.g. in the post-transplant situation, during immunosuppressive or hemodialysis therapy.


Data mining is a constantly growing area. More and more domains of the daily life take advantage of the available tools (medicine, trade, meteorology, ...). However, such tools are confronted to a particular problem: the great number of characteristics that qualify data samples. They are more or less victims of the abundance of information. Sat domain benefits from the appearance of powerful solvers that can process huge amounts of data in short times. This paper proposes to solve supervised learning problems expressed as Sat ones. This is done to take advantage of an existing environment that allows experimenting different heuristics, such as: tabu search, genetic algorithm, ant colonies, etc., in order to extract solutions that satisfy a maximum number of clauses (Max-Sat problem). Finally, the best solutions are back-translated into rules that are applied to the data sets in order to verify that they really satisfy a maximum number of instances in the original learning problem.


Date Presented 04/05/19
 This quantitative study examined clinical reasoning development achieved through case-based learning during one year of an entry-level OT curriculum. Self-Assessment of Clinical Reflection and Reasoning identified statistically significant changes in clinical reasoning skills in total score and 10 individual items based on this instructional method. Results were supported by student feedback regarding the benefits of case formats that promoted reasoning and enriched the learning experience.
 Primary Author and Speaker: Lynne Murphy
 Additional Authors and Speakers: Jennifer Radloff


Dating sediments which have accumulated over the last few hundred years is critical to the calibration of longer-term paleoclimate records with instrumental climate data. We attempted to use wiggle-matched radiocarbon ages to date 2 peat profiles from northern England which have high-resolution records of paleomoisture variability over the last ∼300 yr. A total of 65 14C accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements were made on 33 macrofossil samples. A number of the age estimates were older than expected and some of the oldest ages occurred in the upper parts of the sequence, which had been dated to the late 19th and early 20th century using other techniques. We suggest that the older 14C ages are the result of contamination by industrial pollution. Based on counts of spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs), the potential aging effect for SCP carbon was calculated and shown to be appreciable for samples from the early 20th century. Ages corrected for this effect were still too old in some cases, which could be a result of fossil CO2 fixation, non-SCP particulate carbon, contamination due to imperfect cleaning of samples, or the "reservoir effect" from fixation of fossil carbon emanating from deeper peat layers. Wiggle matches based on the overall shape of the depth-14C relationship and the 14C minima in the calibration curve could still be identified. These were tested against other age estimates (210Pb, pollen, and SCPs) to provide new age-depth models for the profiles. New approaches are needed to measure the impact of industrially derived carbon on recent sediment ages to provide more secure chronologies over the last few hundred years.


Shrinking transistor sizes, increasing circuit complexities, and high clock frequencies bring new board-routing challenges that cannot be handled effectively by traditional routing algorithms. Many high-end designs in the industry today require manual routing efforts, which increases the design-cycle times considerably. In this paper, we propose an escape-routing algorithm to route nets within multiple dense components simultaneously so that the number of crossings in the intermediate area is minimized. We also show how to handle high-speed-design constraints within the framework of this algorithm. Experimental comparisons with a recently proposed algorithm show that our algorithm reduces the via requirements of industrial test cases on average by 39%.


The present study investigated the effects of misattributed physiological arousal on experienced anxiety and subjective arousal. Cantor, Zillmann, and Bryant (1975) and Zillmann, Johnson, and Day (1974) found that unperceived exercise- induced arousal led to increases in sexual excitement and anger and aggression, respectively. In the main experiment, 29 men and 27 women were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Subjects were tested individually. The first group of subjects viewed the four violent (frightening) film segments and rated them according to their self-perceived arousal, excitement, and anxiety induced after each segment. Measurements of pulse rate and blood pressure were taken after each segment. They then viewed a 10 minute neutral tape while seated on an exercise bicycle equipped with an ergonometer and then viewed the four frightening (violent) film segments and rated them as before. The subject pedaled the cycle for one minute while viewing the neutral tape. The subject in group 1 pedaled during the ninth minute of the neutral tape and was expected to be aware of his or her physiological arousal. Subjects in Groups 2 and 3 also did the above, but subjects in Group 2 pedaled the bicycle for one minute at four minutes into the tape and were not expected to be aware of their residual physiological arousal when viewing the second set of films, and subjects in Group 3 pedaled the cycle for one minute at the beginning of the tape and were not expected to be physiologically aroused when viewing the second set of films. Although it was expected that subjects in Group 2 would show significantly higher amounts of anxiety than Groups 1 and 3 and that Group 1 would show significantly higher amounts of anxiety than Group 3, this was not the case. While the predicted main effect for Group occurred (Wilk's [lambda] = .419, Approx. F (12,78) = 3.14, p < .001), this effect was not consistent, as the subjective measures of arousal did not approach significance. Further analyses showed that Group 2 was not different from Groups 1 and 3 (Wilk's [lambda] = .866, F (6,39) = 1.00 , p > .05). While Group 1 was significantly different from Group 3 (Wilk's [lambda] = .478, F (6,39) = 7.09, p < .001), this was due to differences in physiological arousal only. It was found that while male subjects displayed tendencies to misattribute unperceived physiological arousal, female subjects consistently categorized the films by type across the three groups, with the frightening segments rated higher on the subjective measures of arousal than the violent segments. A discussion of the obtained results was then undertaken.


THE SO-CALLED EXTRAPYRAMIDAL SYSTEM Symposium of the Sixteenth Congress of Scandinavian Neurologists. Edited by Sigvald Refsum, Hans M. Lorsius, and Pre Dietrichson. (Pp. 363; illustrated. 50s.) Oslo University Press. 1963. This volume, which is a report of the 16th Congress of Scandinavian Neurologists, contains 26 papers on the extrapyramidal system. There are an additional 15 papers on a variety of neurological subjects. The first paper by Brodal argues that a segregation of pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems is no longer valid anatomicaUy. Other papers are concerned with clinical syndromes, especially Parkinsonism, and discuss their pathogenesis, pathology, and medical and surgical treatment. It is interesting to note that successful surgical treatment seems to follow lesions involving the capsule, and that even when these seem relatively extensive they may not cause paresis. This confirms the views of other workers. Experimental work in animals, attempting to assign precise functions to the basal ganglia, is also reported. The rather striking conclusion of one worker is that memory and emotion, rather than motor mechanisms, seem to be functions of the corpus striatum. The book will be useful as a source of detailed information drawn from personal experience on the subject matter of individual papers. No attempt is made to draw together the arguments and conclusions of the different authors.


When evaluating the effects of vaccination programs, it is common to estimate changes in rates of disease before and after vaccine introduction. There are a number of related approaches that attempt to adjust for trends unrelated to the vaccine and to detect changes that coincide with introduction. However, characteristics of the data can influence the ability to estimate such a change. These include, but are not limited to, the number of years of available data prior to vaccine introduction, the expected strength of the effect of the intervention, the strength of underlying secular trends, and the amount of unexplained variability in the data. Sources of unexplained variability include model misspecification, epidemics due to unidentified pathogens, and changes in ascertainment or coding practice among others. In this study, we present a simple simulation framework for estimating the power to detect a decline and the precision of these estimates. We use real-world data from a pre-vaccine period to generate simulated time series where the vaccine effect is specified a priori. We present an interactive web-based tool to implement this approach. We also demonstrate the use of this approach using observed data on pneumonia hospitalization from the states in Brazil from a period prior to introduction of pneumococcal vaccines to generate the simulated time series. We relate the power of the hypothesis tests to the number of cases per year and the amount of unexplained variability in the data and demonstrate how fewer years of data influence the results.


In this paper, a 3D patch-based fully dense and fully convolutional network (FD-FCN) is proposed for fast and accurate segmentation of subcortical structures in T1-weighted magnetic resonance images. Developed from the seminal FCN with an end-to-end learning-based approach and constructed by newly designed dense blocks including a dense fully-connected layer, the proposed FD-FCN is different from other FCN-based methods and leads to an outperformance in the perspective of both efficiency and accuracy. Compared with the U-shaped architecture, FD-FCN discards the upsampling path for model fitness. To alleviate the problem of parameter explosion, the inputs of dense blocks are no longer directly passed to subsequent layers. This architecture of FD-FCN brings a great reduction on both memory and time consumption in training process. Although FD-FCN is slimmed down, in model competence it gains better capability of dense inference than other conventional networks. This benefits from the construction of network architecture and the incorporation of redesigned dense blocks. The multi-scale FD-FCN models both local and global context by embedding intermediate-layer outputs in the final prediction, which encourages consistency between features extracted at different scales and embeds fine-grained information directly in the segmentation process. In addition, dense blocks are rebuilt to enlarge the receptive fields without significantly increasing parameters, and spectral coordinates are exploited for spatial context of the original input patch. The experiments were performed over the IBSR dataset, and FD-FCN produced an accurate segmentation result of overall Dice overlap value of 89.81% for 11 brain structures in 53 seconds, with at least 3.66% absolute improvement of dice accuracy than state-of-the-art 3D FCN-based methods.


Flying Qualities is one of the very important aspects of helicopter design and operational use. The flight envelopes associated with flying qualities are to be clearly understood and established. The regulations and operational requirements are in many cases, no more than guidelines and essentially to be converted into engineering parameters. The establishment of helicopter limitations majorly depends on the theoretical analysis and component testing. These limitations are generally demonstrated during development and certification flights. The establishment of limitations also ensures the smooth extension of the flight envelope for the growth potential. The conversion of these limitations to engineering parameters is very important from the operation and safety point of view. During some flight regimes, it becomes vital to display these engineering parameters as guidance to indicate helicopter limitations. These indications also ensure safety of the helicopter by respecting the operational boundaries associated with environment. This paper examines the various levels of limitations associated with rotor stall. These flight limitations come from Engine/Transmission limits, control margins and rotor aerofoil characteristics. These limitations appear during the flight depending on the helicopter configuration and the environment. The maximum speed at low altitude is generally limited by the Transmission limit however it is limited by Engine limits at high altitudes. The Flying Qualities boundary comes into picture when the maximum speed and steady bank turn (without loss of altitude) is limited by the control margin and not by the Engine power. The flying qualities limitations are above the Engine limits at low altitude however it moves below the engine limits during high altitude operations. To achieve maximum level flight speed, pilot gets driven by engine limits. When the engines are new, the engine limits may be far from the flying qualities because of availability of higher power available from new engines. The pilot may get misguided by the power available and can still push for higher speeds. Pushing for speeds beyond flying qualities deterioration boundary results in loss of control margin and pitch, roll or yaw oscillations. The several level of limitations associated with rotor stall boundary are function of Blade loading and advance ratio. In turn, blade loading and advance ratio reflect the properties such as maximum lift coefficient, Mach number, drag divergence number and blade geometry. The prediction of flying qualities deterioration was based on the blade loading and advance ratio. The prediction of Flying Qualities (FQ) deterioration limit was also validated by availability of control margins. It was observed that the FQ deterioration limit was also related to loss of control margin. Flight tests were carried out with different All up weights and altitudes condition from low speed to maximum level flight speed. Flight tests data was gathered and stall area of the rotor disk was derived with the help of constant inflow downwash model and aerofoil data. The rotor capability was also compared for two different helicopters with same rotors. It was proved that the reduction in fuselage drag and employment of auxiliary lift source of lift such as wing improves the overall performance of the helicopter. Furthermore, a warning logic was developed to predict the flying qualities deterioration boundary for a helicopter.


Monotonic compression of two iso-structural hybrid metal–organic perovskites [DMA]M(HCOO)3 (M = Co, Ni) has been connected to their structural distortions. The strongest effects of pressure occur in the tilts of the MO6 octahedra, M–O bond compression, angular distortions within the MO6 octahedra and small folding between the octahedra and formate units. The anisotropic stronger compression along the trigonal axis is consistent with NH⋯O bonding nearly perpendicular to this direction. Raman spectra indicate a first order solid-state phase transition between 3–5 GPa in both formates, which can be associated with the symmetry breaking induced by the ordering of the Dma cation.


Collaboration has become an essential paradigm in sustainable development research and in strategies for meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study uses bibliometric methods and network analysis to examine research output and collaboration supporting the SDGs and explores means to detect and analyze research collaboration beyond the traditional definition of multiple, one-time co-authorship. We employed two additional lenses of collaboration: repeat collaboration and collaboration time point to quantify and visualize co-authorship data sourced from Microsoft Academic Graph. Our results show an increased collaboration rate over time at the author and institutional levels; however they also indicate that the majority of collaborations in SDG-related research only happened once. We also found out that on average, repeat collaboration happens more frequently, but after a longer duration, at the institutional level than at the author level. For this reason, we further analyzed institutions and identified core institutions that could help influence more consistent collaboration and sustain or grow the SDG-related research network. Our results have implications for understanding sustainable partnerships in research related to SDGs and other global challenges.


Apple, the well renowned technology company is acknowledged for an incredibly unique and successful business model, targeting consumers with its exclusive edge. The particularly exclusive ecosystem of the App Store may be threatened by an antitrust lawsuit filed with the Supreme Court, questioning the overall legality of antitrust laws for the future. The Apple Inc. v. Robert Pepper case argues that Apple is overcharging on its App Store, adding an extra fee to both the developer and consumer. The Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois case concluded that consumers cannot sue companies due to transactions made by intermediaries, much like Apple is an intermediary between the developer and consumer. In this paper, the ongoing case Apple Inc. v. Robert Pepper will be evaluated and analyzed in comparison to the precedential Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois case, where both cases together may impact the future of company business models as we currently know it.


To investigate time compression dis-economies (TCD), this study estimated time-cost elasticities using 459 oil and gas global investment projects (1997-2010). Results show that the average cost of accelerating investments is negative: a firm could cut $6.3 million in costs of a single project by accumulating asset stocks one month faster. About 88 percent of the projects exhibit negative time-cost elasticities with over 39 percent of unrealized economies of time compression. Only 12 percent of the projects are subject to TCD. These time inefficiencies or frictions do not negate the existence of TCD, but suggest they are less prevalent than assumed in the literature. Management experience, R&D investment, firm size, economic development and political stability are shown to be associated with greater time compression efficiency.