Many children with speech and language disorders are silently affected academically and psychologically as they articulate words wrongly when they try to communicate verbally to their peers. Academically, they do not perform well since speech and language problems in most cases affect their reading and writing abilities. At times, they shy off as other children laugh at them. It is worth noting that, since the establishment of educational assessment centres in Kenya in September, 1984, many children with speech and language problems have been identified and placed in schools. Studies carried out in other, countries such as Finland, the United States, Canada, among others show that specific speech articulation problems have been identified and effective intervention procedures carried out in children with communication disorders. However, a study to identify speech sound disorders has never been done in Kenya. This prompted a study of this magnitude to identify speech sound disorders in children with speech and language disorders and ultimately recommend intervention measures. The research designs used were ex-post facto and ethnographic which were quantitative and qualitative. The population from which the study sample was drawn came from schoolgoing children in Nairobi Province aged between 6 to 13 years 11 months. The institutions included units, special schools, integrated special schools, and regular schools. The sample comprised children who had hearing impairments, mental handicap, stutterers, cerebral palsy and learning disabilities. The researcher in identifying the sample, used purposive sampling for piloting and for the actual study. From confirmed cases of 320 children with speech and language disorders, the researcher sampled 30% using purposive sampling. The actual sample came to 96 out of which 48 were females and the other 48 were males with ages ranging from 6 to 13 years 11 months. The data were collected using three different instruments namely: speech sound disorders assessment tool; speech mechanism observation tool and a home background information tool. When using the speech sound disorders assessment tool, the researcher listened to how the respondents pronounced targeted phonemes in the different names representing pictures displayed to them; while in speech mechanism observation instrument, the researcher looked at observable oral structures which if abnormal, would affect speech such as abnormalities as cleft palate or thick tongue. The background information tool was a questionnaire to find out the socio-economic status of the respondents, where the researcher was trying to find out whether the misarticulations were due to one being from a poor or rich family. Research questions and hypotheses were used for collecting and analyzing data. The collected data were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed. To achieve this, the data were crosstabulated. The results were analysed by use of pie charts, frequencies and tables. Anova was also used in testing the hypotheses. The study revealed that, the most highly ranked speech sound disorders were omissions, distortions and substitutions. The most highly omitted speech sound was phoneme /h/, with most respondents not able to pronounce the words "hoho" and "hema." /t/ as in thin was the most highly misarticulated phoneme of all 22 phonemes tested. Phonemes /r/, /s/, /z/ and /f/ were either highly substituted or distorted. Majority of children with communication disorders were those who had mentally handicapping conditions, hearing impairment and learning disabilities. The study found that children with communication disorders were also known as speech and language disorders found in all communities regardless of socio-economic status Full text: https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/357


In this paper, we propose a domain adaptation framework to address the device mismatch issue in acoustic scene classification leveraging upon neural label embedding (NLE) and relational teacher student learning (RTSL). Taking into account the structural relationships between acoustic scene classes, our proposed framework captures such relationships which are intrinsically device-independent. In the training stage, transferable knowledge is condensed in NLE from the source domain. Next in the adaptation stage, a novel RTSL strategy is adopted to learn adapted target models without using paired source-target data often required in conventional teacher student learning. The proposed framework is evaluated on the DCASE 2018 Task1b data set. Experimental results based on AlexNet-L deep classification models confirm the effectiveness of our proposed approach for mismatch situations. NLE-alone adaptation compares favourably with the conventional device adaptation and teacher student based adaptation techniques. NLE with RTSL further improves the classification accuracy.


The behaviour of adolescents in our society often results in unhealthy or dangerous consequences. Professional practitioners often are ineffective in guiding our youngsters toward positive and healthy behavioural choices because they attempt to address the problem behaviours themselves, rather than the processes through which teens are motivated to make such behavioural choices. Previous research has defined "teenagerhood" as a discrete cultural stage through which many teens pass, and has suggested that their behavioural choices are often motivated by perceptions of "coolness", defined as social attractiveness. This thesis advances these notions, further suggesting they comprise a viable foundation on which to develop further research and practice in our school system, particularly with respect to preventing problems among teens. Written from the stance of an integrative-interpretive review, this paper attempts to bridge the gap between research and practice through developing an ecological overview of teenagerhood and middle-level education. This study examines a wide variety of academic and popular literature pertaining to the culture of coolness, and middle school practice. This paper draws five broad and interrelated conclusions: (a) that there is a need for innovative and appropriate research methods for integrating research and practice in education, particularly concerning ecologically complex issues such as teenagerhood, coolness, and risky behavour; (b) that the problem of youth at risk is both real and serious; (c) that many youngsters need to be cool, and adults working with young adolescents need to understand, respect, and work with that knowledge; (d) that the function and structure of schools must accommodate youngsters' real characteristics, needs, and the contextual imperatives of teenagerhood and coolness; and (e) that the roles and practices of professionals in schools must fit youngsters' real characteristics, needs, and the contextual imperatives of teenager hood and coolness.


Problem statement: Optical flow inter-frame enhancement is one of the techniques to improve the quality of ultrasound images by reducing the speckle noise. The performance depends on accuracy of the optical flow inter-frame reconstruction which is a part of the technique. The speckle noise of an ultrasound image forms certain pattern, of which size of the speckle varies depends on the distance from the transducer. Approach: This study proposed that the use of warping technique prior to as well as after the optical flow to improve the accuracy of the optical flow calculation. The warping function was derived to transform the image from circular grid to rectangular grid. Results: The technique was applied to a series of synthetic moving frames generated from actual ultrasound image taken from a patient heart. The technique improved the accuracy of motion vectors generated from the optical flow. The MSE of the reconstructed frame was also smaller using warped technique compared to that of the non-warped technique. Conclusion: The proposed warping operation was shown to be successful in increasing the accuracy of the frame reconstruction for the optical flow inter-frame enhancement technique.


We study a federated learning (FL) framework to effectively train models from scarce and skewly distributed labeled data. We consider a challenging yet practical scenario: a few data sources own a small amount of labeled data, while the rest mass sources own purely unlabeled data. Classical FL requires each client to have enough labeled data for local training, thus is not applicable in this scenario. In this work, we design an effective federated semi-supervised learning framework (FedSSL) to fully leverage both labeled and unlabeled data sources. We establish a unified data space across all participating agents, so that each agent can generate mixed data samples to boost semi-supervised learning (SSL), while keeping data locality. We further show that FedSSL can integrate differential privacy protection techniques to prevent labeled data leakage at the cost of minimum performance degradation. On SSL tasks with as small as 0.17% and 1% of MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets as labeled data, respectively, our approach can achieve 5-20% performance boost over the state-of-the-art methods.


Paper is emerging as a promising flexible, high surface-area substrate for various new applications such as printed electronics, energy storage, and paper-based diagnostics. Many applications, however, require paper that reaches metallic conductivity levels, ideally at low cost. Here, an aqueous electroless copper-plating method is presented, which forms a conducting thin film of fused copper nanoparticles on the surface of the cellulose fibers. This paper can be used as a current collector for anodes of lithium-ion batteries. Owing to the porous structure and the large surface area of cellulose fibers, the copper-plated paper-based half-cell of the lithium-ion battery exhibits excellent rate performance and cycling stability, and even outperforms commercially available planar copper foil-based anode at ultra-high charge/discharge rates of 100 C and 200 C. This mechanically robust metallic-paper composite has promising applications as the current collector for light-weight, flexible, and foldable paper-based 3D Li-ion battery anodes.


Uganda's impressive levels of economic growth over most of the past three decades have often been linked to the performance of its economic technocracy, particularly the government's high-powered Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development (MFPED). This paper argues that MFPED (or parts thereof) can indeed be seen as 'pockets of effectiveness', with the Ministry often managing to deliver effectively on its mandate, in a context in which this is not the norm. This can be explained in part by the functional and legally mandated nature of some of the tasks that MFPED delivers and in part by the strong levels of international support and oversight. However, we also find that MFPED's performance has varied considerably over time, despite these favourable factors, particularly in terms of its capacity to control the budgetary process and public expenditure. This variation can be traced to shifts within Uganda's political settlement, which moved from being broadly 'dominant-developmental' to 'vulnerable-populist' in character from the early 2000s onwards. This shift profoundly altered the 'embedded autonomy' that MFPED had previously enjoyed with regards its relationship with State House, in ways that have undermined MFPED's capacity to deliver on its mandate. Despite efforts to regain both power and autonomy in recent years, MFPED remains subject to the politics of regime survival in Uganda, in ways that undermine its effectiveness. Whilst this may loosen the hold of neoliberal economic governance in Uganda and enable alternative perspectives to emerge, the more immediate effects have been to damage prospects for policy coherence and economic growth in the country.


Network congestion, one of the challenging tasks in communication networks, leads to queuing delays, packet loss, or the blocking of new connections. In this study, a data portal is considered as an application-based network, and a cognitive method is proposed to deal with congestion in this kind of network. Unlike previous methods for congestion control, the proposed method is an effective approach for congestion control when the link capacity and information inquiries are unknown or variable. Using sufficient training samples and the current value of the network parameters, available bandwidth is adjusted to distribute the bandwidth among the active flows. The proposed cognitive method was tested under such situations as unexpected variations in link capacity and oscillatory behavior of the bandwidth. Based on simulation results, the proposed method is capable of adjusting the available bandwidth by tuning the queue length, and provides a stable queue in the network.


the first paper to demonstrate that estrogen given at the appropriate time does prevent ovulation in women. I would also point out that their primary goal of discovering a method for control of. dysmenorrhea, while explained in terms of the absence of ovulation, is still unexplained in terms of what we know of the physiology of the uterus. S. R. M. REYNOLDS Department of Anatomy, University of Illinois Medical Center, P.O. Box 6998, Chicago 60680


The sensorimotor system of saccadic scene analysis is investigated in a multi-disciplinary research project. Eye-movements of human observers are recorded for a variety of scenes. Our statistical evaluations indicate that fixations are selected on the basis of higher-order statistical properties. The structure of the polyspectra suggests that nonlinear operators with a selectivity for intrinsically two-dimensional image features serve as "saliency detectors". The bottom-up feature extraction is combined with a knowledge-based system into an integrated architecture. in which a saccadic fixation corresponds to the "best question to ask" given the internal state and the recent experience of the system.


Introduction: Poisoning due to pesticides is an important public health problem worldwide due its morbidity and mortality. In Colombia, there are no exact data on mortality due to pesticide poisoning. Objective: To estimate the trend of mortality rate due to pesticide poisoning in Colombia between 1998 and 2011. Materials and methods: We carried out a descriptive analysis with the database reports of death as unintentional poisoning, self-inflicted intentional poisoning, aggression with pesticides, and poisoning with non-identified intentionality, population projections between 1998 and 2011, and rurality indexes. Crude and age-adjusted mortality rates were estimated and trends and Spearman coefficients were evaluated. Results: A total of 4,835 deaths were registered (age-adjusted mortality rate of 2.38 deaths per 100,000 people). Mortality rates were higher in rural areas, for self-inflicted intentional poisoning, in men and in age groups between 15 and 39 years old. The trend has been decreasing since 2002. Municipality mortality rates due to unintentional poisoning and aggression correlated significantly with the rurality index in less rural municipalities. Conclusions: Mortality rates due to pesticide poisoning presented a mild decrease between 1998 and 2011. It is necessary to adjust and reinforce the measures conducive to reducing pesticide exposure in order to avoid poisoning and reduce mortality.


This work has investigated the performance of Single-walled carbon nanotube bundle as futuristic interconnect material under process constraints and compared its suitability as IC interconnect material as per ITRS predictions. It also analyzes variance of each parasitic effect along with the variations in process parameters. This paper pinpoints the variables causing bottlenecks in realizing optimum performance and improving reliability. It also evaluates the effect of diameter variations of CNTs in an SWCNT bundle and metallic tube ratio on the performance and reliability for 22nm technological node. The results demonstrate that the relative variations in the resistance are critically effected by the variations in metallic tube ratios rather than diameter variations. The diameter variation introduces its critical effect only at global level.


From recent whole genome shotgun data of 48 mammalian species, we have used our software VgenExtractor to obtain the functional V-gene sequence repertoire in order to conduct comparative phylogenetic studies. These studies reveal a large variation in the number of V-genes across mammalian species, ranging from a mere 36 V-genes in dolphins to nearly 600 V-genes in rats. Monotremes and marsupials are the only mammals possessing an additional locus, the TRMV, apart from the seven common loci found in mammals. Also, we show evidence for the loss of the light chain loci, specifically the Vκ chain in one microbat, and the Vλ chain in one rodent species. Finally, we suggest different features related to the evolution of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor loci, where frequent sequence duplications are seen in the former, while preserved and undiversified lineages are observed in the latter. All the V-gene sequences described in this study are available in the public database repository vgenerepertoire.org.


This paper endeavors to explore sexual harassment encountered by women leaders in Pakistani academia. An in-depth interview method was used to gain insight from women academic administrators working in coeducational universities in two cities of Pakistan. The interviews were analyzed using Foucauldian discourse analysis. The findings highlight that women leaders were sexually harassed by men at positions of power as well as co-workers and subordinates. The acts of harassment were expressed mostly through the use of inappropriate language such as jokes, demeaning comments and sexual remarks, undue offers of promotion for exchange of favors, and use of traditional words instead of their official titles as in the case of men. The subordinates often took advantage of their old age to defy women's positions of power. Young and single women were more likely to experience sexual harassment and were considered 'available.' The participants perceived such acts as a means of control through which men strengthen the genderbased power relations in the academia. The fact that women are discouraged to report acts of harassment shows that the dominant masculine discourses legitimize and defend the acts of male harassment at the workplace. Since women are aware of this normalization of harassment, they engaged in culturally appropriate strategies to cope with the violence such as keeping their distance, and through loud and harsh tones in response. The paper recommends the need for nonhierarchical, consultative, and gender-sensitive approaches in universities to combat sexual harassment and increase the representation of women at top leadership positions.


Abstract The scenarios of the size effects which may account for the difference in the switching properties of ferroelectric thin films and bulk ferroelectrics are critically reviewed. It is shown that the two often used models (the Janovec-Kay-Dunn surface nucleation size effect and the dielectric layer model) are irrelevant to the experimentally observed thickness dependence of the coercive field in the films. The surface pinning model and the depletion-assisted nearby electrode nucleation model are shown to be consistent with the experimental observations. It is shown that the Miller-Weinreih law for wall velocity cannot be expected in thin films.


A cornerstone of next generation intelligent transportation systems (ITS) is a seamless integration of in-vehicle networking with existing wireless telephony infrastructure. Remote access to on-board diagnostics and performance data is a crucial requirement for ITS. In this paper, we present an extensible vehicle performance monitoring system that exploits data transmission capabilities of GSM, and is based on existing in-vehicle automotive standards. Though many systems currently integrate position tracking and wireless networking to allow for remote position tracking, few systems provide the capability to monitor vehicle performance over the web. Our design is based on a popular new standard for wireless communications — GSM/GPRS. An in-vehicle standard for diagnostic information, ODB-II, is used to gather performance data. We also exploit GPS technology to provide vehicle location. Data is integrated and transmitted to a web server using Apache's Tomcat extensions to provide Internet access via a vehicle tracking web site. The overall system has been in use for several months on a trial basis at Mississippi State, and will soon be tracking the entire campus bus system. The data collected from this pilot study will form the basis for a research initiative in prediction and optimization of vehicle performance.


Rapid global economic development has resulted in a corresponding intensification of urbanization, which has in turn impacted the ecology of vast regions of the world. A series of problems have thus been introduced, such as changes in land-use/land-cover (LULC) and changes in local climate. The process of urbanization predominantly represents changes in land-use, and is deemed by researchers to be the chief cause of climate change and ecological change. One of the principal purposes of the research in this field is to find ways to mitigate the influence of land-use change on local or global environments. In the study presented in this article, satellite images were utilized to extract information regarding land-use in Beijing City, and to develop maps of land surface temperature (LST) during two different periods of time: 2 August 1999 and 8 August 2010. A supervised classification scheme, a support vector machine, was used to derive the land-use change map for the above periods. Maps of surface temperature are derived from the thermal band of Landsat images using the mono-window algorithm. Results from post-classification comparison indicated that an increase in impervious surface areas was found to be dramatic, while the area of farmland decreased rapidly. The changes in LULC were found to have led to a variation in surface temperature, as well as a spatial distribution pattern of the urban heat island phenomenon. This research revealed that the hotspots were mainly located in areas dominated by three kinds of material: bare soil, rooftops, and marble surfaces. Results from the local Moran's I index indicated that the use of lower surface temperature materials will help to mitigate the influence of the urban heat island phenomenon. The results of this research study provide a reference for government departments involved in the process of designing residential regions. Such a reference should enable the development of areas sympathetic to environmental changes and hence mitigate the effects of the growing intensity of urbanization.


Conventional Proportional Integral (PI) controller of A.C drives are widely used in industry and many other applications, because of its simplicity, but it does not give high degree of speed control of induction motor. There are many types of controller: Proportional (P), Proportional Integral (PI), Proportional Integral Derivative (PID), and Intelligent controllers. The intelligent controller becomes a powerful tool for control nonlinear system in present time. This paper proposes the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System as an intelligent controller of the induction motor. In addition, the PI controller is presented in this paper as a conventional controller. The mathematical representation and simulation of the 3-phase induction motor is represented too. Also, a 3-phase voltage-fed Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) inverter is demonstrated and simulated. The overall system for both PI and ANFIS controllers are simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK program. The comparison of simulation results between the conventional PI and the proposed ANFIS performances shows that: the ANFIS controller gives superior performance than the conventional PI controller for wide range of speed variation.


In this study, amphiphilic polyoxanorbornene with different alkyl and aromatic phosphonium side chains was synthesized. The biological activities of these polymers were determined by the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) against E. coli, S. aureus, M. tuberculosis and the yeast C. albicans, and cytotoxicity studies on red blood cells were performed. A series of polymers with different alkyl and aromatic substituents (methyl, ethyl, tripropyl, tert-butyl, phenyl, and tris 4-methoxyphenyl) and two types different molecular weight, 3000 g mol−1 and 10000 g mol−1, were prepared. It was observed that the biological activity of the polymers with aromatic group substituents had an MIC of 16, 8, 64 and 128 μg mL−1 against E. coli, S. aureus, M. tuberculosis and C. albicans, respectively, while those with non-aromatic carbons had a higher MIC compared to those with aromatic carbons. The aromaticity of the repeat unit had impressive effects on hemolytic activities as well. Zeta potential measurements of E. coli incubated with active and inactive polymer concentration revealed a relationship between the MIC and membrane surface charge density. Polymers bearing aromatic groups killed the bacteria with widespread damage after the polymers, holding the threshold concentration, were added to the bacteria.


Abstract. Fluorine-containing species can be extremely effective atmospheric greenhouse gases. We present fluorine budgets using organic and inorganic species retrieved by the ACE-FTS satellite instrument supplemented with output from the SLIMCAT 3-D chemical transport model. The budgets are calculated between 2004 and 2009 for a number of latitude bands: 70–30° N, 30–00° N, 00° N–30° S, and 30–70° S. At lower altitudes total fluorine profiles are dominated by the contribution from CFC-12, up to an altitude of 20 km in the extra-tropics and 29 km in the tropics; above these altitudes the profiles are dominated by hydrogen fluoride (HF). Our data show that total fluorine profiles at all locations have a negative slope with altitude, providing evidence that overall fluorine emissions (measured by their F content) have been increasing with time. Total stratospheric fluorine is increasing at a similar rate in the tropics: 32.5 ± 4.9 ppt yr−1 (1.31 ± 0.20% per year) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and 29.8 ± 5.3 ppt yr−1 (1.21 ± 0.22% per year) in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). Extra-tropical total stratospheric fluorine is also increasing at a similar rate in both the NH and SH: 28.3 ± 2.7 ppt per year (1.12 ± 0.11% per year) in the NH and 24.3 ± 3.1 ppt per year (0.96 ± 0.12% per year) in the SH. The calculation of radiative efficiency-weighted total fluorine allows the changes in radiative forcing between 2004 and 2009 to be calculated. These results show an increase in radiative forcing of between 0.23 ± 0.11% per year and 0.45 ± 0.11% per year, due to the increase in fluorine-containing species during this time. The decreasing trends in the mixing ratios of halons and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), due to their prohibition under the Montreal Protocol, have suppressed an increase in total fluorine caused by increasing mixing ratios of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). This has reduced the impact of fluorine-containing species on global warming.


The abundance of different SSU rRNA ("16S") gene sequences in environmental samples is widely used in studies of microbial ecology as a measure of microbial community structure and diversity. However, the genomic copy number of the 16S gene varies greatly – from one in many species to up to 15 in some bacteria and to hundreds in some microbial eukaryotes. As a result of this variation the relative abundance of 16S genes in environmental samples can be attributed both to variation in the relative abundance of different organisms, and to variation in genomic 16S copy number among those organisms. Despite this fact, many studies assume that the abundance of 16S gene sequences is a surrogate measure of the relative abundance of the organisms containing those sequences. Here we present a method that uses data on sequences and genomic copy number of 16S genes along with phylogenetic placement and ancestral state estimation to estimate organismal abundances from environmental DNA sequence data. We use theory and simulations to demonstrate that 16S genomic copy number can be accurately estimated from the short reads typically obtained from high-throughput environmental sequencing of the 16S gene, and that organismal abundances in microbial communities are more strongly correlated with estimated abundances obtained from our method than with gene abundances. We re-analyze several published empirical data sets and demonstrate that the use of gene abundance versus estimated organismal abundance can lead to different inferences about community diversity and structure and the identity of the dominant taxa in microbial communities. Our approach will allow microbial ecologists to make more accurate inferences about microbial diversity and abundance based on 16S sequence data.


Interfacial hole transfer between n-SrTiO3 and OH(-) was investigated by surface sensitive transient optical spectroscopy of an in situ photoelectrochemical cell during water oxidation. The kinetics reveal a single rate constant with an exponential dependence on the surface hole potential, spanning time scales from 3 ns to 8 ps over a ≈1 V increase. A voltage- and laser illumination-induced process moves the valence band edge at the n-type semiconductor/water interface to continuously change the surface hole potential. This single step of the water oxidation reaction is assigned to the first hole transfer h(+) + OH(-) → OH(•). The kinetics quantify how much a change in the free energy difference driving this first hole transfer reduces the activation barrier. They are also used to extrapolate the kinetic rate due to the activation barrier when that free energy difference is zero, or the Nernstian potential. This is the first time transient spectroscopy has enabled the separation of the first hole transfer from the full four hole transfer cycle and a direct determination of these two quantities. The Nernstian potential for OH(-)/OH(•) is also suggested, in rough agreement with gas-phase studies. The observation of a distinct, much longer time scale upon picosecond hole transfer to OH(-) suggests that a dominant, more stable intermediate of the water oxidation reaction, possibly a surface bound oxo, may result.


Since the formal paper of Can (1992), several attention have been paid to correction of spatial pattern among residuals in hedonic pricing model. Recent development of the spatial econometric have facilitate the correction of such pattern. However such applications are usually based on strictly spatial context, ignoring that real estate data are in fact a collection of spatial data pooled over time. Such mechanical applications can introduce bias on estimated coefficients since temporal dimension is unidirectional effect as opposed to the multidirectional spatial effect. The paper addresses the possible bias generated on estimated coefficient when spatial weights matrix, as opposed to the spatio-temporal weights matrix, is used in hedonic applications. The results suggest that ignoring the temporal dimension and applying strictly spatial econometric tools can generate bias in estimated autoregressive coefficients while potentially generating other important problems.


This Article examines the metaphorical and metonymical framing of corporate money in Supreme Court decisions about campaign finance regulation. Metaphorical influences (corporation as a person, spending money as speech, marketplace of ideas as the model for First Amendment analysis) affected early decisions about the regulation of corporate spending in election campaigns. Later, a metonymical move to isolate corporate money and then to focus on its malevolent tendencies displaced the earlier view of corporate money as speech. This movement was best depicted in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, 540 U.S. 93 (2003), the Supreme Court's 2003 decision on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). In McConnell, a majority of the Court severed corporate money from the concepts of corporate speech and political participation in election campaigns and focused instead on corporate money's potential to corrupt lawmakers, buy influence, flood the market, and distort the election process. Since McConnell, another shift in perspective has occurred. In June 2007, the Supreme Court upheld an as-applied challenge to BCRA, casting doubt on the eventual fate of the holding in McConnell that a pre-election prohibition on electioneering communications funded by corporations and unions did not violate the First Amendment. In McConnell, the Court upheld the ban against a facial challenge, but Wisconsin Right to Life later challenged the provision as applied to the anti-abortion group. The three-judge panel authorized to hear constitutional challenges to BCRA eventually held (2-1) that the ban on electioneering communications violated the First Amendment as applied to the advertisements sponsored by a nonprofit ideological advocacy corporation, and in Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, 127 S. Ct. 2652 (2007), the Supreme Court agreed (5-4), with Chief Justice John Roberts., Jr., and Justice Samuel Alito, Jr., in the majority. In McConnell, Justice O'Connor, since replaced by Chief Justice Roberts, had supported the ban; Chief Justice William Rehnquist, since replaced by Justice Alito, did not. This Article illustrates and assesses the rhetorical choices in the debate about how to view corporate participation in election campaigns. Choices among different ways of portraying the target of governmental action affect judicial, lawyerly, and public understanding, reasoning, and evaluation. Competing rhetorical moves appear to lead to different results: the marketplace of ideas in which corporations speak goes unregulated for First Amendment purposes, while the corporate money from which potential evils flow must be regulated to protect the election process. Courts may find it useful to behave as if these outcomes are determined by neutral principles, but it may be only the frame selected that makes it appear to be so.


By studying primary isogenic murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), we have shown that PLK3 null MEFs contain a reduced level of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and increased Akt1 activation coupled with decreased GSK3β activation under normoxia and hypoxia. Purified recombinant Plk3, but not a kinase-defective mutant, efficiently phosphorylates PTEN in vitro. Mass spectrometry identifies threonine 366 and serine 370 as two putative residues that are phosphorylated by Plk3. Immunoblotting using a phosphospecific antibody confirms these sites as Plk3 phosphorylation sites. Moreover, treatment of MEFs with LiCl, an inhibitor of GSK3β and CK2, only partially suppresses the phosphorylation, suggesting Plk3 as an additional kinase that phosphorylates these sites in vivo. Plk3-targeting mutants of PTEN are expressed at a reduced level in comparison with the wild-type counterpart, which is associated with an enhanced activity of PDK1, an upstream activator of Akt1. Furthermore, the reduced level of PTEN in PLK3 null MEFs is stabilized by treatment with MG132, a proteosome inhibitor. Combined, our study identifies Plk3 as a new player in the regulation of the PI3K/PDK1/Akt signaling axis by phosphorylation and stabilization of PTEN.


Introduction: Labor pain is experienced and endured by every childbearing woman, and pain relief measures are often neglected. Thus, this study aimed to identify the effect of back massage on pain perception during the first stage of labor among primi mothers at Patan Hospital.
Method: A quasi experimental study was conducted among 56 primi mothers (28 experimental and 28 control groups) selected purposively in the active room of the maternity ward. Mothers who met the inclusion criteria were assigned non-randomly into experimental (received usual labor care and mustard oil back massage) and control groups (received usual labor care). The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to assess labor pain before and after 15 minutes of intervention in both groups, and the data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 16 software.
Result: The mean score of pain perceived by mothers before intervention in the experimental group was 68.21 mm, and the control group was 69.39 mm. There was a significant difference in pain perception before and after back massage in the experimental group (p<0.001). Similarly, a significant difference was found after intervention in the experimental and control groups (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Back massage was effective in reducing labor pain. The findings of the study might be helpful to those planning to include labor pain relief measures in maternity wards.


Background: Patients with acromegaly have a high risk of difficult laryngoscopy. However, clinical predictors, such as upper lip bite test or modified Mallampati class, show limited predictive performance for difficult laryngoscopy in such patients. In this retrospective study, we evaluated radiographic indices obtained from skull lateral x-ray and ostiomeatal unit computed tomography images to predict difficult laryngoscopy in acromegaly patients. Materials and Methods: Data on demographics, preoperative serum levels of pituitary hormones, and radiographic indices were collected from 90 acromegaly patients that underwent transsphenoidal removal for pituitary tumor from January 2010 to December 2016. Difficult laryngoscopy was defined as Cormack-Lehane grade ≥III. Results: Difficult laryngoscopy occurred in 21 (23%) patients. In univariate analysis, age and radiographic indices indicating tongue size, such as tongue area (TA) on ostiomeatal unit computed tomography, linear distance from the alveolar line of the mandible to the hyoid bone, and linear distance from the interior border of the mandible to the hyoid bone on skull lateral x-ray, were associated with difficult laryngoscopy. In multivariate analysis, age (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.084 [1.037-1.190]; P=0.002) and TA (1.002 [1.000-1.003], P=0.014) were independent risk factors for difficult laryngoscopy. The area under the curve of the combined model of age and TA was 0.80. Conclusions: Old age and radiographic predictors indicating large tongue size (large TA, long alveolar line of the mandible to the hyoid bone and mandible to the hyoid bone) were associated with an increased rate of difficult laryngoscopy in acromegaly patients. Preoperative radiographic measurements of tongue size can be helpful for safe airway management in such patients.


Immunotherapy and radiation therapy (RT) have each demonstrated clinical success in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) when utilized independently. Several characteristics of NPC make it particularly well suited for immunotherapeutic strategies, such as the association with viral infections like EBV and human papilloma virus (HPV), upregulation of PD-L1 expression, and the high number of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. Immune checkpoint blockade is one such immunotherapeutic strategy that is gaining popularity rapidly. However, clinical benefit of immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors has been limited to only a small subset of patients with existing T cell responses. Additionally, they are frequently associated with dose-limiting immune-related toxicities. On the other hand, RT is a conventional strategy for NPC treatment, which has demonstrated high efficacy in local tumor control and has also been reported to exhibit immune modulatory effects. However, the abscopal effect of RT alone, i.e., the regression of distant metastases outside of the irradiation field, remains a rare phenomenon. Furthermore, RT treatment efficacy is also limited by radioresistance and radiation-related toxicities. Hence, the combination of RT and immunotherapy has the potential to improve treatment efficacy over either individual therapies alone. Here, we reviewed the clinical problem in locally advanced and recurrent/metastatic NPC, and discussed how combinatorial RT and immunotherapeutic strategies can be relevant to NPC treatment in each clinical scenario by examining the underlying mechanisms involved in the different strategies.


The majority of the Lesser Antilles islands are characterized by andesitic volcanism. However, their hydrogeological functioning and associated structures are little known and little studied, while water needs are obvious. Indeed, at the end of dry seasons, water cuts mark the daily routine of the population, although,significant volumes of water could be collected through water boreholes. Volcanic aquifers are complex in terms of geological structure (geometry) and spatial distribution of hydrodynamic parameters. Indeed, only basaltic islands have hydrogeological schemes: the Hawaiian model (low-lying basal aquifer and perched aquifer) and the Canary Island model (continuous basal aquifer). The objective of this presentation is to summarize the results of geological, hydrogeological and geophysical prospecting conducted in Martinique since 2006. Dozens of electrical profilings were conducted to characterize the geological structure. Boreholes were then carried out firstly to calibrate the electrical profiles and also to identify the aquifers. Finally, pumping tests were conducted to determine the hydrodynamic parameters of the encountered aquifers. These researchs have provided new evidence showing that the hydrogeological scheme of the Martinique aquifers is different from the two previously mentioned: Martinique is not marked by lava flows of large extension with high permeability and has not any basal aquifer. The Martinique aquifers are on the contrary very heterogeneous. Their structure and groundwater flow are mainly controlled by embricated and tight paleo-valleys and, for lavas, fissures resulting from cooling stress. Thus, the aquifers are often characterized by a high spatial variation in hydraulic properties, a low storage coefficient and bounded by several no-flow boundaries. Some low permeable layers, resulting from weathering processes (which transforms primary minerals into clay-rich materials) also play an important role as capacitive layers. In some conditions, they can be drained by underlying lavas groundwaters, thus increasing the sustained yield of water boreholes.


Building a suitable credit risk evaluation model is very important, that is because loan business is one of the most important assets of commercial Banks. In this paper, we introduce a kind of learning algorithm which contains small sample learning and construct a new method which is called support vector machine (SVM). SVM is developed based on a new theory that is popular used in the field of intelligent learning system in recent years. The credit risk assessment model of commercial bank is established finally. By multiple discriminate analyses and the comparison of neural network model, confirms the validity and superiority of the method when be used in risk assessment.


In the development of oil fields, many parameters have to be selected in optimization procedures, demanding large computational effort, especially when uncertainties are considered. Therefore, it is common to separate design variables (G1) and well control variables (G2) optimization in a hierarchical process, but this may yield suboptimal results. We propose a well control analysis under uncertainties to verify whether G2 can be optimized separately in the development phase of petroleum fields. We also investigate the impact of G2 optimization on economic returns when platforms limit the production and for more pessimistic production costs. We perform reactive and proactive G2 optimization under uncertainties on a Benchmark Model (UNISIM-I-D, based on Namorado field) in three cases. In Case I, we use previously optimized strategies for G1, while G2 were controlled in a simplified way considering geological and economic uncertainties. In Case II we investigate the G2 optimization based on expected monetary value (EMV) for a restricted platform. Case III adopts the same restriction of Case II, but considers a pessimistic economic scenario. We consider five procedures for G2 optimization: (P1) longterm bottom-hole pressure control; (P2) short-term rates control; (P4) long-term rates control; (P4) well shut-in time control; and (P5) a combination of these procedures. In Case I, the EMV low percentage increase after G2 optimization indicates that a hierarchical process can be used in similar problems. Yet, G2 should be optimized during the lifetime of the field to increase EMV without additional cost. Depending on the representative model (RM) that best characterizes the field, there are potential further gains of almost 200 million USD for one of the scenarios studied. We achieved an increase of EMV around 8% for Case II. This suggests that G2 have a greater economic return when the platform restricts the production and injection for the field and G1 were not previously optimized. Case III showed even higher EMV gain (34%) indicating the importance of considering the economic scenario when defining the G2 strategy for the field. To reduce the search space in optimization problems, conventional techniques focus on optimizing design variables, underestimating the influence of well control management on G1. Moreover, some works do not include uncertainties and operational constraints. The results of this work indicate that G1 and G2 can be optimized hierarchically for a situation in which This template is provided to give authors a basic shell for preparing your manuscript for submittal to an SPE meeting or event. Styles have been included to give you a basic idea of how your finalized paper will look before it is published by SPE. All manuscripts submitted to SPE will be extracted from this template and tagged into an XML format; SPE's standardized styles and fonts will be used when laying out the final manuscript. Links will be added to your manuscript for references, tables, and equations. Figures and tables should be placed directly after the first paragraph they are mentioned in. The content of your paper WILL NOT be changed.


This research comprises a series of researches on protein Growth Differentiation Factor-9 (GDF-9) fraction in in vitro maturation process to improve the quality of oocytes as oocyte bank for in vitro embryo production. The research is aimed at identification and characterization of protein Growth Differentiation Factor-9 (GDF-9) isolated from oocytes dominant follicles of bovine ovum. Bovine ovary obtained from a slaughterhouse was aspired in its ovary follicles then extracted by sonication technique. Identification of protein Growth Differentiation Factor-9 (GDF-9) fraction was carried out by means of Sodium Dodecyl Sulphonate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). From the results of research, several protein fractions were obtained. Based on the calculation of regression equation resulting from protein marker to determine the molecular weight of Growth Differentiation Factor-9 (GDF-9) protein, 8 protein fractions were determined, they are : 146.46 kDa, 116.12 kDa, 101.02 kDa, 51.06 kDa, 39.94 kDa, 34.75 kDa, 31.67kDa, 15.07kDa. Protein appearing in the protein band the molecular weight of 51.06 kDa was identified as Growth Differentiation Factor-9 (GDF-9) protein fraction playing a role in follicle development.


This paper reports the preliminary findings from the final phase of a study designed to examine the use of small in-class group workshops in large first year psychology modules. The aim of this study is to develop, manualise and evaluate the workshops for use as both formative and summative assessment in large modules. The overall study includes three distinct phases. Phase 1 involved the development of a manual describing the delivery of in-class workshops in large first year modules. Drawing on a review of existing literature, as well as documentary analysis, observation and reflection the manual details the rationale for and implementation of this approach. The aim of this paper is to describe the workshops as a module of engagement and assessment and to report the findings of Phase 3, which examines the contribution of this approach as summative assessment and students' experiences of the task.


Antibiotic‐resistant bacterial infection (ARBI) is one of the most serious global public health threats. Antiinfective peptides (AIPs) have been recognized as a promising alternative to traditional antibiotics, which can effectively combat the ARBI in a distinct mechanism. In the current study, we attempt to discover new and potent AIPs from the natural antibacterial protein repertoire. Hundreds of antibacterial proteins with sequence length > 50 amino acids are manually curated from literatures and databases, which are then broken into a large pool of 12‐mer peptide fragments. In the procedure, a high‐throughput statistical screening strategy that integrates machine learning, chemometic prediction, and molecular modeling is employed to computationally identify 8 promising AIP hits from the fragment pool, of which 5 are determined by susceptibility test to possess a moderate or high potency against human pathogenic bacteria (20 μg/mL < minimum inhibitory concentration < 90 μg/mL), while the other 3 have only a low or no antibacterial activity (minimum inhibitory concentration > 100 μg/mL). Conformational analysis characterizes that the active AIPs are almost α‐helical (helical rate > 50%), carry many positive charges (net charge > +3), and exhibit an amphipathic profile. Dynamic simulation of a representative membrane‐AIP interaction reveals that the peptide can fluctuate nearby the membrane surface and use its cationic side chains to directly interact with and tightly bind to the anionic hydrophilic layer of bacterial outer membrane.


Mutualism and health care presents the first comprehensive account of a major innovation in hospital funding before the NHS. The voluntary hospitals, which provided the bulk of Britain's acute hospital services, diversified their financial base by establishing hospital contributory schemes. Through these, working people subscribed small, regular amounts to their local hospitals, in return for which they were eligible for free hospital care. Mutualism and health care evaluates the extent to which the schemes were successful in achieving comprehensive coverage of the population, funding hospital services, and broadening opportunities for participation in the governance of health care and for the expression of consumer views. The book then explores why the option of funding the post-war NHS through mass contribution was rejected, and traces the transformation of the surviving schemes into health cash plans. This is a substantial investigation into the attractions and limitations of mutualism in health care. It is highly relevant to debates about organisational innovations in the delivery of welfare services


IDU which stands at room temperature, although decomposing extremely slowly, loses antiviral activity fairly rapidly as measured by tissue culture assay. Similarly, miniscule amounts of Us major degradation product, iodouracil, inhibit the antiviral activity of IDU, and, iodouracil appears toxic to the human cornea. This loss of effectiveness of IDU with age, although documented in tissue culture, tvas not observed in vivo in experimental keratitis in the rabbit. Although the tissue culture results and the finding of minimal toxicitij in man support our clinical impression of biologic instability of IDU, the clinical significance of these findings is not yet certain.


The system STAVEK-02 described in the contribution is concentrated on yielding supplemental information (besides parsing/tagging of words) for text understanding through the clustering of nouns and/or verbs according to their meanings and common features. The system consists of two word processing blocks. The first block is a vocabulary of 149,000 Slovenian word-roots and 3,100 endings and assigns the grammatical feature to the words by the grammatical rules without any link to pre-tagged lexical corpora. The second block is a Network of meanings of Slovenian words which in principle is a graph connecting 45,000 and 15,000 noun and verb lexemes, respectively, all of them hierarchically clustered into larger and larger groups having /exhibiting specific features and/or common properties of the words encompassed Such formations are in a similar lexical systems usually called synsets. Due to the complete connectivity between the synsets (groups) in the graph it is possible to find all possible property/feature paths between any pair of two words (nouns and/or verbs) in the network. Because clustering of words according to their meanings is made during the parsing of one, a pair, or several consecutive sentences, the features and properties that appear on the closest path between the particular words within the sentence are quite informative for their interpretation of the text. Clustering of the words according to their meanings during the parsing of text is a novel concept of the text interpretation. Ob the basis of a simple example of parsing a sentence and clustering of the nouns within it the concept using the network of meanings in the program STAVEK-02 is described and discussed.


In this paper we present and compare two different approaches to the notion of relational role and connected issues. Both approaches are based on the introduction of the notion of qua-individual and on the reification of relations. We use a classical problem in the literature on roles, namely the counting problem, as testbed, and we show how the two approaches deal with it in a similar way. We nevertheless show that they are to be distinguished, examining several aspects emerging from their relation with the notion of trope.


Abstract. The relation between the air-sea heat fluxes in the Aegean Sea and the total precipitable water (TPW) over Europe and North Africa is investigated. An one-point linear correlation between the components of surface heat exchange and TPW is employed. During winter and for the shortwave radiation, a dipole of opposite correlation (see-saw teleconnection), is observed between the northeast Europe and the East Mediterranean Sea. This pattern is inverted for the longwave radiation and especially during the summer is limited to a strong positive south pole. Both spatial correlation patterns underline the influence of cloudiness during the winter season and the specific humidity during summer on the radiative fluxes behavior. Regarding the turbulent air-sea heat flux components – latent and sensible heat – the correlation pattern is enhanced. The winter pattern exhibits positive correlation over Europe with the highest values (r>0.75) over the Balkan Peninsula. The identified correlation patterns, although they remain dominant, weaken during the summer. The herein findings suggest that the stronger relation between the TPW and the turbulent fluxes is regulated by the wind regime.


Background: High calcium intake is consistently associated with increased prostate cancer risk in epidemiologic studies. We previously reported that the positive association between calcium intake and risk of aggressive prostate cancer was modified by the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the CDX-2 binding site of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene, among African American men. Methods: We expanded our previous study to include White men, a population with a higher calcium intake and a higher prevalence of the low absorption allele. We also examined VDR polymorphisms at other loci unrelated to calcium absorption. The study included 1,857 prostate cancer cases (1,140 with advanced stage at diagnosis, 717 with localized stage) and 1,096 controls. OR were estimated using conditional logistic regression. Results: Among both Blacks and Whites, we observed a threshold for calcium intake (604 mg/d) below which prostate cancer risk declined sharply. Low calcium intake was most strongly associated with decreased risk among men with the VDR Cdx2 low calcium absorption genotype (P for interaction = 0.001 and P = 0.06 for Whites and African Americans, respectively). Among all men with this genotype, those in the lowest quartile of calcium intake (≤604 mg/d) had a 50% reduction in risk as compared with those in the upper three quartiles [OR = 0.49; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.36–0.67]. The association between calcium intake and prostate cancer risk was not modified by genotype at other VDR loci. Conclusions: Our findings support the hypothesis that genetic determinants of calcium absorption influence prostate cancer risk. Impact: The differences between African Americans and Whites in calcium absorption and dietary calcium intake may contribute to racial disparities in prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 22(1); 16–24. ©2012 AACR.


: The author shows that surgery with craniocerebral injuries should be fully performed at the stage of specialized medical care. Wounded have to be evacuated not earlier than 5-7 days after surgery with the mandatory use of a special air transport ("Scalpel" or "Spasatel"), accompanied by Anaesthetist. In the absence of the possibility of surgery in 5-7 days at this stage the wounded have to be evacuated by air to the center hospitals. On the stage there are only patients requiring specialized care because of health reasons. Wounded with gunshot wounds of the soft tissues of the head, and those with mild forms of brain damage during the explosive and combat injury (concussion, mild brain contusion) can be evacuated by air transport accompanied by a doctor or paramedic at any period of time after the injury (trauma).


Owing to the strong position of traditional marketing communications (especially advertising) research and consumer marketing related theories in the general field of marketing, the prevailing concepts of communication can be labeled as "mass communicative" in current marketing discourse as a whole. However, along with the rise of various "relational approaches" in marketing, the focus of marketing research seems to shift from products and firms as a central unit of analysis to people, organizations and the social processes that bind actors together in ongoing relationships. In these interactive relationship/network contexts, the nature of communication is hardly mass communicative. This article aims at presenting a theoretical framework on the role of communication in business relationships and networks. The interaction/network approach to marketing means moving from the current perspective of marketing's mass‐communicative effects and consequent communicative behaviors of organizations to the "lower level" of interpersonal communication processes occurring within business relationships and networks.


Scheduling applications efficiently on a network of computing systems is crucial for high performance. This problem is known to be NP-Hard and is further complicated when applied to a CPU-GPU heterogeneous environment. Heuristic algorithms like Heterogeneous Earliest Finish Time (HEFT) have shown to produce good results for other heterogeneous environments like Grids and Clusters. In this paper, we propose a novel optimization of this algorithm that takes advantage of dissimilar execution times of the processors in the chosen environment. We optimize both the task ranking as well as the processor selection steps of the HEFT algorithm. By balancing the locally optimal result with the globally optimal result, we show that performance can be improved significantly without any change in the complexity of the algorithm (as compared to HEFT). Using randomly generated Directed A cyclic Graphs (DAGs), the new algorithm HEFT-NC (No-Cross) is compared with HEFT both in terms of speedup and schedule length. We show that the HEFT-NC outperforms HEFT algorithm and is consistent across different graph shapes and task sizes.


Discrete Fourier transforms and other related Fourier methods have been practically implementable due to the fast Fourier transform (FFT). However there are many situations where doing fast Fourier transforms without complete data would be desirable. In this paper it is recognised that formulating the FFT algorithm as a belief network allows suitable priors to be set for the Fourier coefficients. Furthermore efficient generalised belief propagation methods between clusters of four nodes enable the Fourier coefficients to be inferred and the missing data to be estimated in near to O(n log n) time, where n is the total of the given and missing data points. This method is compared with a number of common approaches such as setting missing data to zero or to interpolation. It is tested on generated data and for a Fourier analysis of a damaged audio signal.


This article analyses the portrayal of education in European cinema from the perspective of their systems of education and the behaviour of teachers and pupils in the classroom. Since its very beginnings, cinema has played a significant role in forming the collective European memory, and has cast a critical eye over pedagogy and didactics, especially with regard to young outcasts. The article reviews a number of films whose subject is education, the classroom and the role of parents and teachers in educating children. Education and children is a recurrent theme in European cinema, which examines its subject from a critical viewpoint that is sometimes satirical and occasionally savage. The exclusion, marginalization, neglect and manipulation of children and adolescents, and the abuse and merciless severity of certain educational systems are all part of the collective European memory thanks to the condemnation of some of the best films ever made in the continent. They ask pointed questions about educational systems, the behaviour of teachers and inadequate didactics, as well as tackling the conflicts in a multiethnic society. PALABRAS CLAVE /


More than 28, 000 aftershocks have occurred since the 05/12/2008 Wenchuan earthquake, with dozens of them stronger than M 5. Since July, 2008, all the M > 5 earthquakes have occurred only in the northern segment of the rupture zone, suggesting obvious seismicity segmentation. We applied the double difference method to relocate all of the M > 3 aftershocks. After relocation, the aftershocks show a compact zone of seismicity, with a length of about 300 km and average width of 30 km, supporting that the hypothesis that the Beichuan-Yingxiu and Chaping-Linjiaan faults are the faults that ruptured in the earthquake. With the Cut and Paste (CAP) waveform inversion algorithm, we determined the source mechanism and focal depth of all the > M 5 aftershocks in the northern segments. The number of thrust events is close to the number of strike-slip events, but almost all of the events with thrust mechanism are distributed over the northern segment, while the aftershocks with strike-slip mechanism only occurred at the north-easternmost end, contrasting with field observations of a substantial strike-slip component of surface rupture over the northern segment. The events with strike-slip mechanism occurred at depths up to 18 km, consistent with the lack of surface rupture in the north-easternmost section. However, since early August, very shallow events (2 km) with thrust mechanism have occurred, probably releasing the strain energy of the unruptured fault in the north-easternmost section. It seems that the seismic hazard potential of the northern segment is still quite high, and more studies are needed to resolve some of the discrepancy suggested by aftershock patterns and other observations.


This paper documents the initial test results of a locomotive diesel particulate filter (DPF) retrofit project. The locomotive used for this project was BNSF1284, a 1,566 kW National Railway Equipment Company (NREC) model 3GS21B, originally manufactured in April, 2008, and designed to be an Ultra-Low Emissions Locomotive (ULEL). This genset switcher locomotive uses three Cummins QSK19 Cummins 522 kW diesel-engine driven generator sets (Genset 1, 2, and 3) to provide the power needed to drive the traction motors.The GT Exhaust Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) retrofit system, installed on BNSF1284, uses catalyzed DPF elements. The DPF, and its catalyzed coating, offered significant hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate (PM) emissions reduction. Additionally, the catalyzed coating should allow the diesel particulate filters to passively regenerate at moderate exhaust temperatures, thus keeping the engine back pressure within allowable limits of the manufacture.The GT Exhaust DPF's were installed in place of the standard mufflers on each of the three engines. The GT Exhaust DPF's are roughly the same size as the stock muffler. The only locomotive modification needed to install the GT Exhaust DPF's was to the muffler mounting platform, directly above the engine, where the exhaust pipe opening needed to be enlarged. There are no external modifications to the locomotive car body needed to install the GT Exhaust DPF's.After installation of the DPF's, they were degreened by operating the engines at rated power for 20 hours. After degreening testing was performed according to Title 40 of the U. S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 92, Subpart B. The addition of the DPF reduced the PM emissions to 0.016 g/kW-hr or 60 percent below the locomotive Tier 4 PM limits.BNSF1284 was returned to revenue service in Richmond, California in March 2012, where the DPF performance will be tracked for 3,000 hours of operation as part of a California Air Resources Board (CARB) verification program.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Circumplanetary discs can be found around forming giant planets, regardless of whether core accretion or gravitational instability built the planet. We carried out state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations of the circumplanetary discs for both formation scenarios, using as similar initial conditions as possible to unveil possible intrinsic differences in the circumplanetary disc mass and temperature between the two formation mechanisms. We found that the circumplanetary discs' mass linearly scales with the circumstellar disc mass. Therefore, in an equally massive protoplanetary disc, the circumplanetary discs formed in the disc instability model can be only a factor of 8 more massive than their core-accretion counterparts. On the other hand, the bulk circumplanetary disc temperature differs by more than an order of magnitude between the two cases. The subdiscs around planets formed by gravitational instability have a characteristic temperature below 100 K, while the core-accretion circumplanetary discs are hot, with temperatures even greater than 1000 K when embedded in massive, optically thick protoplanetary discs. We explain how this difference can be understood as the natural result of the different formation mechanisms. We argue that the different temperatures should persist up to the point when a full-fledged gas giant forms via disc instability; hence, our result provides a convenient criterion for observations to distinguish between the two main formation scenarios by measuring the bulk temperature in the planet vicinity.


The regulation of the inflammatory response is essential to maintaining homeostasis. Several studies have investigated new drugs that may contribute to avoiding or minimizing excessive inflammatory process. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of extracts of green algae Caulerpa mexicana on models inflammation. In mice, the inflammatory peritonitis model is induced by zymosan. Previous treatment of mice with aqueous and methanolic extracts of C. mexicana was able to suppress the cell migration to the peritoneal cavity, in a time-dependent but not in a dose-dependent manner. The treatment of mice with C. mexicana extracts also decreased the xylene-induced ear edema, exerting strong inhibitory leukocyte migration elicited by zymosan into the air pouch. We concluded that administration of the extracts resulted in a reduction of cell migration to different sites as well as a decrease in edema formation induced by chemical irritants. This study demonstrates for the first time the anti-inflammatory effect of aqueous and methanolic extracts from the green marine algae Caulerpa mexicana.


This paper provides an overview of the broader contemporary arts system in Fiji and enablers for the creative industries and establishes the entry point for the national gallery of contemporary art.

The contemporary art system is an important subsector of the Creative Industries. It includes the public sector, private sector, Universities and Art Schools, Art Suppliers, Art NGOs, Local Galleries and Art Spaces, Artist Groups and Collectives, Art Companies and Agents, The Media, Art Critics and Writers, Tourists, Expatriates and Local Consumers and the General Public. This system is currently incomplete in Fiji and will require arts funding and investment for growth and development. Other factors for consideration include growing a literate art society and creative industry statistics as well as growing the art market and exploring linkages with the tourism sector.

The National Gallery of Contemporary Arts (NGCA) will be a central institution for the creative industries and will play a critical role in the contemporary arts system. As a public gallery NGCA can and will provide a much needed national emphasis on the contemporary arts which will also create an interest in other commercial galleries and spaces.

There are a small number of art galleries in Fiji at the moment catering for contemporary visual arts. These include the USP Gallery of Oceanian Art, Tagimaucia Art and Craft Gallery, the China Cultural Centre Gallery and two resort based galleries – the Leleuvia Resort Waisiliva Gallery and the Gallery Gondwana at Denarau. Over the years, while there have been other commercial galleries, these have not been able to sustain operations in a high rent and low-art literate environment.

The Arts continue to be marginalized in education in Fiji. Basic Education does not currently provide for meaningful arts teaching and learning opportunities. The Fiji National University offers the most number of art programmes ranging from teacher education courses to certificate and diploma courses in applied arts such as graphic design, printing, music, film/ TV production and fashion. The University of the South Pacific also offers teacher education courses and has a new degree programme which will allow potential students to undertake studies in visual arts, dance and music. Limited understanding of arts related career opportunities and lack of non-formal and tertiary programmes on offer, potential arts students are not able to make informed study choices.

The arts have continued to function in Fiji as a result of the efforts of a number of primary institutions. These include the Department of Heritage and Arts, Fiji Arts Council, Fiji Museum, Fiji Arts Club and the Alliance Francaise. The establishment of the NGCA will necessitate clear demarcations of roles between the DHA, FAC and NGCA to prevent overlaps in roles and function and to ensure appropriate resource allocation across these national institutions.

The economic benefits of the creative industries are globally recognized. In Fiji, the lack of comprehensive data does not permit for considered analytics. Data that is available shows that there is considerable income estimated at FJD $100M or 1.6% in 2016. Dated employment sector statistics further show that around 9.4% or 33, 292 workers were involved in craft and related sectors over the 2010 – 2011 period. With many arts transactions occurring in the grey economy that is untaxed or monitored, it is not possible to trace the actual contribution to GNP or GDP. Improved creative industry statistics will help formulate a clearer picture of the industries and the contributions of the arts.

It will be important to establish legislative and tax policy frameworks for Fiji. Important legislature include an NGCA Act; the National Culture Policy; Fiji Culture and Education Strategy, Cultural Statistics Framework; Heritage Bill and TKEC Bill. These will set the national focus for culture and the arts in Fiji and will determine national investment. All of these with the exception of the TKEC Bill are prioritized within the 5-year and 20-year national development plan. The TKEC Bill is important as it will provide for cover of intellectual property and copyright for collective cultural knowledge and will be a reference point for the protection of creative practices and production of creative works in Fiji.

A possible tax policy framework may include artist-based tax-incentives, place-based incentives and industry-based incentives. These incentives on tax deductibles, exemptions and on custom duty will not only assist artists and creative producers, but will also encourage related art sector stakeholders such as art suppliers who will be able to import art materials at a lower cost. It will also encourage philanthropic support from individuals and the private sector including smaller business houses and corporate industry. At the moment, there is tax incentives for the film industry but this does not extend to other art genres.

Arts Funding is critical to stimulating the creative industries and for development of the arts. While there are art events and competitions such as the Kula Awards and the National Arts Exhibition each year, these are dependent on funding sponsorship. Private sector funding from local business houses were once common but have declined in recent years. Tax rebates would help encourage future sponsorship from business sector.

Government funding provides the main inflow of financial support for the culture sector. Positively, there is recorded increases in national funding to culture and the arts but there is still very little investment in the creative industries themselves. In 2014, of the FJD $3.1M allocated to the Culture Sector, FJD $100K was allocated for the cultural industries. The Fiji Budget Report and Budget Estimates 2018 – 2019 show an allocation of FJD $3M for the establishment of NGCA and FJD 5.6M towards DHA. The latter includes an FAC grant of FJD $532K and FJD $160K for the cultural industries. More funding is needed for the cultural industries but a etter understanding of the needs of the arts sector is needed for increased targeted funding in those specific areas of need.

Ultimately, the sustainability of NGCA will be dependent on establishing a clear definition of contemporary arts and legislature which will mandate the scope and governance of the gallery. Strategic stakeholder relationships will need to be explored, in particular with government, Private sector and businesses, Universities, Art Schools and NGOs, Media, Art Market and the General Public. Staffing of the gallery will need to be determined and relevant qualified individuals recruited both locally and internationally. Resource needs of the gallery will need to be established and a funding framework drawn up to ensure that the gallery is operational and able to fulfil its multiple roles.


Condition monitoring and fault diagnosis are of great interest to the manufacturing industry. Deep learning algorithms have shown promising results in equipment prognostics and health management. However, their success has been hindered by excessive training time. In addition, deep learning algorithms face the domain adaptation dilemma encountered in dynamic application environments. The emerging concept of broad learning addresses the training time and the domain adaptation issue. In this paper, a broad transfer learning algorithm is proposed for the classification of bearing faults. Data of the same frequency is used to construct one- and two-dimensional training data sets to analyze performance of the broad transfer and deep learning algorithms. A broad learning algorithm contains two main layers, an augmented feature layer and a classification layer. The broad learning algorithm with a sparse auto-encoder is employed to extract features. The optimal solution of a redefined cost function with a limited sample size to ten per class in the target domain offers the classifier of broad learning domain adaptation capability. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been demonstrated on a benchmark dataset. Computational experiments have demonstrated superior efficiency and accuracy of the proposed algorithm over the deep learning algorithms tested.


The paper work is the new maximum power point tracking method using in voltage controller in photo-voltaic system for Stand-Alone industry Applications with battery energy storage. The output of the PV array is unregulated DC supply due to change in weather conditions. The maximum power is tracked with respect to temperature and irradiance levels by using DC-DC converter. The perturbation and observes algorithm is applied for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) purpose. This algorithm is selected due to its ability to withstand against any parameter variation and having high efficiency.  The solar cell array powers the steady state energy and the battery compensates the dynamic energy in the system. The aim of the control strategy is to control the SEPIC converter and bi-direction DC-DC converter to operate in suitable modes according to the condition of solar cell and battery. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijpeds.v3i4.4549


Mucking around in the messy terrain of American trash, Jani Scandura tells the story of the United States during the Great Depression through evocative and photo-rich portraits of four locales: Reno, Key West, Harlem, and Hollywood. In investigating these Depression-era "dumps," places that she claims contained and reclaimed the cultural, ideological, and material refuse of modern America, Scandura introduces the concept of "depressive modernity," an enduring affective component of American culture that exposes itself at those moments when the foundational myths of America and progressive modernity—capitalism, democracy, individualism, secularism, utopian aspiration—are thrown into question. Depressive modernity is modernity at a standstill . Such a modernity is not stagnant or fixed, nor immobile, but is constituted by an instantaneous unstaging of desire, territory, language, and memory that reveals itself in the shimmering of place.

An interpretive bricolage that draws on an unlikely archive of 1930s detritus—office memos, scribbled manuscripts, scrapbooks, ruined photographs, newspaper clippings, glass eyes, incinerated stage sets, pulp novels, and junk washed ashore— Down in the Dumps escorts its readers through Reno's divorce factory of the 1930s, where couples from across the United States came to quickly dissolve matrimonial bonds; Key West's multilingual salvage economy and its status as the island that became the center of an ideological tug-of-war between the American New Deal government and a politically fraught Caribbean; post-Renaissance Harlem, in the process of memorializing, remembering, grieving, and rewriting a modernity that had already passed; and Studio-era Hollywood, Nathanael West's "dump of dreams," in which the introduction of sound in film and shifts in art direction began to transform how Americans understood place-making and even being itself. A coda on Alcatraz and the Pentagon brings the book into the present, exploring how American Depression comes to bear on post-9/11 America.


The Study Group on Occupational Exposure to Inhalation Anaesthetics of the Lombardy Association of Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene prepared a document that was discussed during the Congress "Occupational Risks due to Inhalation Anaesthetics", held in Brescia, Italy, on May 12, 1992. The same document was then approved by the Directory Council of the Lombardy Association of Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene. Data on environmental concentrations of Nitrous Oxide collected from 1989 to 1991 in 269 operating rooms of 47 hospitals in Lombardy are reported. The measured levels are considerably lower than those collected from the same Study Group from 1985 to 1987 in 111 operating rooms. The methodologies for exposure control are discussed, regarding both environmental and biological monitoring. These two techniques are complementary and can be used with standardized methods. The review of the literature on the early effects showed, even with some uncertainty at the current exposure levels, effects on liver and Central Nervous System. Still controversial are the data regarding the reproductive toxicity. Health surveillance programs have been organized in the last 5 years in 18 Lombardy hospitals and they indicate no cases of pathologies due to inhalation anesthetics on 1498 subjects. Operative proposals are suggested on the methodology and the frequency of environmental/biological monitoring and health surveillance. The "technical limit values" reported in the document from the Italian Ministry of Health are also discussed. Finally, research topics are suggested in order to assess the early effects of exposure.


Methods to individually mark and identify free-ranging wildlife without trapping and handling would be useful for a variety of research and management purposes. The use of Passive Integrated Transponder technology could be an efficient method for collecting data for mark-recapture analysis and other strategies for assessing characteristics about populations of various wildlife species. Passive Integrated Transponder tags (PIT) have unique numbered frequencies and have been used to successfully mark and identify mammals. We tested for successful injection of PIT and subsequent functioning of PIT into gelatin blocks using 4 variations of a prototype dart. We then selected the prototype dart that resulted in the least depth of penetration in the gelatin block to assess the ability of PIT to be successfully implanted into muscle tissue of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) post-mortem and long-term in live, captive Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus). The prototype dart with a 12.7 mm (0.5 inch) needle length and no powder charge resulted in the shallowest mean (± SD) penetration depth into gelatin blocks of 27.0 mm (±5.6 mm) with 2.0 psi setting on the Dan-Inject CO2-pressured rifle. Eighty percent of PIT were successfully injected in the muscle mass of white-tailed deer post-mortem with a mean (± SD) penetration depth of 22.2 mm (±3.8 mm; n = 6). We injected PIT successfully into 13 live, captive elk by remote delivery at about 20 m that remained functional for 7 months. We successfully demonstrated that PIT could be remotely delivered in darts into muscle mass of large mammals and remain functional for >6 months. Although further research is warranted to fully develop the technique, remote delivery of PIT technology to large mammals is possible using prototype implant darts.


Background: Success and academic achievement are among the most important goals of both students and educational systems. Researchers have examined the impact of different factors such as intelligence, personality, attitude, study habits, thinking skills and academic motivation on students' academic performance. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of motivational beliefs and cognitive and metacognitive strategies with students' academic achievement. Methods: In this descriptive analytic cross-sectional study, the statistical population included all medical and health students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (1405 students), 250 of whom were selected according to the Levy and Lemeshow's formula. After estimating the sample size, the stratified random sampling method was used. To collect data, Pintrich and de Groot's motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ) was employed. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation and independent t-test. Results: Among the components of cognitive learning strategies, comprehension (r = 0.1266, P < 0.10), and among the components of metacognitive learning strategies, the regulation component (r = 0.049, P < 0.05) had a significant positive correlation with academic performance. Among the components of motivational beliefs, the self-efficacy component (r = 0.173, P < 0.10) showed a significant positive correlation with academic performance. Based on the results of multiple regression analysis, only metacognitive learning strategies had the ability to predict the academic performance of the students. There was no significant difference between male and female students in any of the studied variables. Conclusions: Based on the results, students who use more diverse cognitive strategies show better performance than others. Performance is more desirable among those who evaluate their understanding of the content of the course and make more efforts and have more perseverance (regulation) in the learning process. Students who believe in their abilities (self-efficacy) and reinforce these beliefs will have a better academic performance.


This chapter provides an overview of the major contemporary trends driving adult, non-native language acquisition and processing research from a formal linguistic theory perspective. In doing so, we contextualize for the reader what formal linguistics is, inclusive of the main tenets of generative grammar. We provide an overview of the formative questions of generative second language acquisition (GenSLA), focusing on how they have been recast/refocused over time in accord with: (a) the evolution of formal linguistic theory, (b) insights from GenSLA's own research over three decades and other paradigms of SLA, as well as (c) the expansion of empirical testing methods to include psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic processing measures. All of the aforementioned is done with the backdrop of adult language learning in mind; that is, what do formal linguistic studies on adult non-native language acquisition and processing contribute to our understanding of how L2ers typically learn/process language?


The article deals with the problems of the evolution of the idea of a law-based state during the antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the New Ages. In the antiquity this idea was bound up with the Aristotle"s attempt to separate the "just and unjust" state forms while taking the state"s orientation on the welfare of all citizens as the main criterion of the justice of the state system. In the Middle Ages this direction of the idea was developed while the temporal power was emancipating from the Church, and in the time of the Renaissance – while propagating the liberal ideology: relation between the nation and the state was based on the agreement presuming the equality of the parties of contract, the autonomy of an individual, the individual criminal responsibility, the tolerance of religion. In the New Ages these ideas were developed by J. Locke, I. Kant and etc. The recognition of the legal equality of all members of the society independently from their social position had a large significance for the evolution of the idea of a law-based state. Later this whole ideological West orientation was described by "the law-based state" term. It is also consolidated in the Constitution of Ukraine, which 1 article establishes that Ukraine is the social law-based state. This statement is valuated more in the ideological than legal aspect in the article. The evolution of the self-dependence of the Ukrainian state system is analysed from the point of a law-based state emphasizing that "the union" of the law and the state has no historical support in the history of the self–dependence of the Ukrainian state system. It is one of the cultural, psychologic reasons which complicates the creation of the law–based state in Ukraine at present. Besides, it is emphasized that the uncritical reception of the model of the Western state, which was created in the different sociocultural environment, can cause the other and undesirable consequences in that country, which historical experience was developed in the other direction. The ideals of a law–based state and open society don"t correspond with such cultural, historical experience of the state which was based on the tradition of the hierarchic structure of the society. The exploitation of the concept of the liberty, while not corresponding with the concept of the responsibility, stimulates more destructive than creative tendencies. The general conclusion is done that the conception of the law-based state in Ukraine can be accepted so far not as the programme of the practical activity, but only as the programme of the state legal education.


During laparoscopy for diagnosis or sterilization a small series of ovarian cysts was managed by aspiration only or by aspiration, biopsy and fenestration. If the enumerated criteria for cyst selection are followed, the technique described safely permits aspiration and provides data for a therapeutic plan. This method suggests a lower incidence of cyst recurrence.


Transcriptional dysregulation has emerged as a pathogenic process that appears early in Huntington's disease (HD) progression and has been recapitulated across multiple HD models. We have been studying the involvement of the Mitogen and Stress-activated Kinase-1 (MSK-1) in transcriptional dysregulation in HD. This striatum-enriched protein kinase acts on chromatin remodelling through histone H3 phosphorylation leading to transcriptional activation. MSK-1 plays a dual role in gene transcription since it also activates the transcription factor cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) in the striatum. We have previously shown that MSK-1 expression is reduced in the striatum of HD patients and model mice. Its overexpression in primary striatal cells as well as in a rat model of HD prevents neuronal dysfunction and death induced by Exp-HTT. To understand the mechanism by which MSK-1 exerts its neuroprotective effect in the striatum it is important to identify its molecular targets. For this purpose we compared the expression of striatal genes between MSK-1 knock-out and wild type mice using a whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing. Among the genes dysregulated in MSK-1 KO mice, we identified genes involved in several cellular processes including oxidative or excitotoxic stress protection. Expression study of a set of these genes by quantitative RT-PCR showed that most of them are dysregulated in a cellular model (STHdh-Q111) and a mouse model (R6/2) of HD. These results suggest that MSK-1 down-regulation in HD is responsible for part of the transcription dysregulation observed in this disease and that restoring its expression could lead to reversion of these dysregulations.


Over the past few decades there have been many breakthroughs in the development of smart materials and miniaturisation of sensors. Furthermore a number of nano technologies have underpinned the present rapid development of smart structures. The innovations and advancement of micro and nano-scale sensor technologies have brought the development of smart structures closer to reality, attracting enormous research attention. Increased usage of fibre reinforced composites in advanced engineering fields such as Space, Aerospace, Energy, Automobile and Civil infrastructures has created an emerging need for smart/intelligent structures in next generation designs. The focus of this technology is to bring to fruition self-prognosis/diagnosis and self-healing capabilities within composite structures. The complex nature of damage mechanics and unresolved issues, such as progressive damage accumulation durability/residual-life, remain and there has been rising concern with composite material failures, leading to this demand intelligent and live diagnostics within so-called "smart" composite structures. This is especially important for aerospace vehicles such as helicopters that need to perform close to optimum for all its constituent parts. The detection of structural damage such as cracks and delamination in fibre composite structures remains an important issue for damage identification - it is an important, basic building block within the development of smart/intelligent structures in aerospace application.
Global awareness of structural health monitoring systems (SHM), smart structures & materials significantly changing design, manufacturing and maintenance management systems of multi billion dollars worth defence and critical infrastructures in the world. Due to this reason, aerospace, defence, chemical, automobile, and civil engineering fields have been engaged in an extremely difficult task of finding SHM systems and smart structure for the new generation products and structures. Each engineering fields have distinct limitations and challenges at various levels of difficulties in adopting principles of SHM and the replacement of traditional materials with smart materials. In this context exchange of specific information related to SHM systems and smart structures seems to be bounded by IP issues and commercially confidential environments. Due to this reason, advancements of SHM systems and smart structures are facing serious drawbacks.
Globally SHM systems and smart structures are developed by using fundamental physical phenomenon/properties inherited by the materials. The stress/strain, acoustic emission and wave propagation, vibration and damping of material are some of the physical phenomenon/properties that widely use in SHM field. Furthermore the smart materials developed with the advancement of new materials development field has contributed in development of smart structures. The use of electrically activated polymers and shape memory alloys are good examples of advanced smart materials. Though there has been a significant involvement in smart materials, smart structures are not limited to use of materials and integrated SHM. The smart structures are developed with innovative design concepts using the materials inherent physical and mechanical properties. As such the SHM and smart structures are not only depending on sensors and smart materials along but also innovative design and manufacturing methods.
This book mainly intends to collect the advancements of unbound applied research in SHM and smart structures fields. The collection of the advances research work on generic SHM and smart structures will be expanded with the potentially applicable research in the field.


In this study a new carbon equivalency metric was developed in order to quantify the compound carbon emissions that buildings are responsible in the built environment. This metric first analyses the rationale about the management of exergy balance among supply and demand involved in satisfying building power and energy loads. Then using the degree of the rationale found, direct carbon emissions from the building and avoidable secondary carbon emissions that the building is responsible due to exergy mismatches are calculated. Based on this metric a net-zero carbon building definition was introduced and its advantages for quantifying the actual impact of buildings on global sustainability were discussed in comparison to net-zero energy building and carbon neutral building concepts. A case study for an example net-zero energy building is presented, which reveals that the new carbon equivalency metric can indicate whether the building is actually environmentally neutral or not. Results show that the example building has negative impact on environment and global sustainability in terms of carbon emissions even though it is rated a net-zero building. This paper also discusses that although another new net-zero exergy building definition may reduce the shortcomings of the net-zero building definition, only the net-zero carbon building metric may accurately rate the environmental impact of buildings. Beyond carbon emissions from buildings, the same metric can be used for any variety of greenhouse emissions and sectors.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has a growing incidence and prevalence in the United States and throughout the world, much of which is contributed to increased awareness of the condition and solidified diagnostic criteria. Substance use disorder (SUD) similarly has seen a sharp increase, particularly with the rising cases of opioid abuse. Management of ADHD is done primarily with pharmacologic therapy, often stimulants and with psychosocial interventions (i.e., exercise, meditation, peer-to-peer intervention, etc.) for adjunctive management. Management of SUD involves cessation and treatment based on the underlying drug of abuse. Many clinicians are uncomfortable treating ADHD in patients with SUD based on concerns the intervention may lead to an adverse event, including drug relapse, and the development of other psychiatric comorbidities. Concerns also arise about stimulants acting as a gateway drug in adolescents leading to the onset of SUD. Thus, in this narrative review, we aim to shed light on ADHD in relation to SUD and to provide clinical insight based on the current scientific literature on the topic. ADHD causes lesions in subcortical structures in the basal ganglia and limbic system. Treatment of ADHD with stimulants has been shown to normalize malformed neuroanatomical variations and lead to improved long-term outcomes compared to non-treatment of ADHD. Based on current scientific literature, it is recommended to treat ADHD with guideline-directed pharmacologic agents including stimulants along with non-pharmacologic interventions primarily exercise. There may be some improvement in reducing risky behavior, such as substance abuse, and may even help prevent the development of SUD.