Introduction: Background: Teachers struggle communicating ideas to students (Moreno et al, 2001). One of the aspects of teaching that's most concerning is when students experience cognitive overload: the total effort exerted by working memory to grasp new information (Mayer, et al, 2002). The educational community found that introducing multimedia in learning minimizes cognitive overload (Mayer, et al, 2002). Little research has related to undergraduate chemistry classes, specifically the relationship between organic chemistry pre-laboratory multimedia and student learning. Purpose: The purpose of this capstone is to investigate the subjective efficacy of integrating pre-laboratory videos for lab preparation in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory setting. Research Questions: Do organic chemistry students find pre-laboratory videos with corresponding questions to be useful in a laboratory setting? Methods: All undergraduate students enrolled in Organic Chemistry II who attended class the day the investigator arrived to class listened to a verbal announcement and were provided an informed consent form. Students were categorized into four laboratory sections. Sections A and B were given the first pre-lab video with 5 pre-lab questions for the first lab experiment, while sections C and E didn't receive anything. For the second consecutive lab experiment, sections C and E were given the second pre-lab video with 5 pre-lab questions while sections A and B didn't receive anything. Consenting students were then provided an anonymous survey asking for their subjective feedback on how effective they thought the MM treatment was. Collected data was organized and analyzed by looking at the number and percentage of students who responded "Highly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Highly Disagree" to the survey questions. Results: The data shows that 34 of the 44 students enrolled in Organic Chemistry II (77%) consented to take part in the study, and 24 students responded to the survey, representing 54.5% of the total RUNNING HEAD: CAPSTONE FINAL PAPER 2017 3 population and 70.6% of the consenting students. 4-11 students answered "Highly Agree" to questions in the survey, 10-16 students answered "Agree", 1-7 students answered "Neutral", and 1 student answered "Disagree". The average scores of the questions ranged from 4-4.39, with the standard deviation ranging from 0.59-0.83. Discussion: The data supported and added to past research in that multimedia is effective using narration, text, pictures, and videos together, using an appropriate level of educational and entertaining components can be effective in a learning environment, multimedia is helpful with instructional type tasks and in science environments, students liked the videos/question combinations, and multimedia seems to lower cognitive load. This research suggests multimedia should be used in teaching/academia, and undergraduate science students benefit from using multimedia. Limitations included time constraints, as student academic performance wasn't collected, students may have received videos on procedures they're already familiar with, the survey wasn't validated, and cognitive load wasn't directly measured. Conclusion: Science undergraduate level educators are encouraged to utilize MM in their teaching methods. Future research should focus on extending the time frame of the study, and studying the effects multimedia plays on students in different subjects and in different levels of classes. RUNNING HEAD: CAPSTONE FINAL PAPER 2017 4 Literature Review/Introduction


We establish a robust FLOWSORT-based tool to sort mutual funds with respect to process-oriented social responsibility and recommend the use of limiting profiles with open classes. The tool provides an alternative for the limited dichotomous classification of funds, i.e. socially responsible investing (SRI) versus conventional funds. By allowing for more heterogeneity in social responsibility the sorting tool is promising for scholars to improve fund performance measurements, and useful for governments to better regulate the supply of SRI products.


Different modalities for imaging cancer-bearing breast tissue samples are described and compared. The images include clinical mammograms and computed tomography (CT) images, CT images with partly coherent synchrotron radiation (SR), and CT and radiography images taken with SR using the diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) method. The images are evaluated by a radiologist and compared with histopathological examination of the samples. Two cases of lobular carcinoma are studied in detail. The indications of cancer are very weak or invisible in the conventional images, but the morphological changes due to invasion of cancer become pronounced in the images taken by the DEI method. The strands penetrating adipose tissue are seen clearly in the DEI-CT images, and the histopathology confirms that some strands contain the so-called 'Indian file' formations of cancer cells. The radiation dose is carefully measured for each of the imaging modalities. The mean glandular dose (MGD) for 50% glandular breast tissue is about 1 mGy in conventional mammography and less than 0.25 mGy in projection DEI, while in the clinical CT imaging the MGD is very high, about 45 mGy. The entrance dose of 95 mGy in DEI-CT imaging gives rise to an MGD of 40 mGy, but the dose may be reduced by an order of magnitude, because the contrast is very large in most images.


A 53 year old male with symptoms of coughing for 6 months presented with bilateral multiple pulmonary nodules suggestive of metastatic disease. By surgical resection 4 out of 6 nodules were removed. Histopathological examination showed granulomatous necrotizing inflammation with growth of Corynebacterium ulcerans, which did not produce diphtheria toxin. The patient was treated with penicillin for 1 week. Follow-up for 2 yrs showed no sign of recurrence.


We derive the optimal monetary policy in a sticky price model when private agents follow adaptive learning. We show that this slight departure from rationality has important implications for policy design. The central bank faces a new intertemporal trade-off, not present under rational expectations: it is optimal to forego stabilizing the economy in the present in order to facilitate private sector learning and thus ease the future intratemporal inflation-output gap trade-offs. The policy recommendation is robust: the welfare loss entailed by the optimal policy under learning if the private sector actually has rational expectations is much smaller than if the central bank mistakenly assumes rational expectations when in fact agents are learning.


Abstract Authenticity has been described as a hallmark of alternative pornographies, reframing porn producers as documentarians and professing an increased investment in 'real' bodies, unscripted sex and genuine pleasures. In this article I examine what authenticity means to pornography producers and performers via autoethnography and 20 qualitative interviews. Fantasies of authenticity among producers often reflected particular iterations of white, middle class femininity and conventionalised signifiers of 'naturalness' that were presumed intelligible to audiences. Authenticity was often staged, imagined and projected by producers, who in some cases assessed the authenticity of their performers' orgasms. In contrast, performers, who worked across genres, strategically navigated producer requirements and were more concerned with transparency, expectation management and contractual obligations. I argue that authenticity narratives form part of a wider cultural imperative for sex workers to describe their work as personal identity or sexual expression. They also manifest in a context of income precarity and job insecurity where performers need to maintain open avenues of potential work. Where authenticity becomes an aesthetic regime of its own, it produces new hierarchies of representation. Instead of undoing binaries between "fake" versus "real" sex, authenticity narratives can serve to construct and repudiate narratives of artifice as a means to displace stigma and obscure the gendered, aspirational and relational labour of porn performers. Keywords: authenticity, feminist pornography,labour, gig economy, sex work.


In April 2017, the Trump Administration initiated an investigation with regard to the effects of steel imports on United States (hereinafter "U.S.") national security under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. If the investigation does lead to a trade restrictive measure, the U.S. is likely to invoke national security as one of the justification for the potential violation of the nation's obligations under the World Trade Organization (hereinafter "WTO"). Article XXI(b)(iii) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereinafter "GATT") provides that "Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed . . . to prevent any contracting party from taking any action which it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests . . . taken in time of war or other emergency in international relations . . . ." This provision has not been formerly adjudicated under the WTO, and how the WTO adjudicating bodies should review an invocation of this Article is highly controversial. The national security exception under the GATT has often been considered "self-judging". Many writers have provided analysis on the interpretation of the Article XXI and its practice with regard to the extent of the "self-judging" clause. It seems, however, that one critical issue in resolving this dispute—the standard of judicial review developed by the WTO adjudicating bodies—has not been adequately addressed by scholarly attention. This article discusses how a panel should review the invocation of a national security exception from the perspectives of the standard of review analysis developed under the WTO jurisprudence. This paper argues that based on the jurisprudence, the term "self-judging" is a misleading one. The analytical framework of the standard of review should be utilized to judge the "self-judging" invocation of the clause. Under the framework, the Member invoking the national security under Article XXI(b)(iii) is entitled to a high level of deference, but this deference is not absolute. The necessity consideration is still subject to panel review consisting of both formal and substantive aspect. In addition, the timing element is subject to full panel review. There is, however, still the need for the WTO adjudicating bodies to further develop the margin of discretion with regard to the national security exceptions. This paper suggests that a standard of abuse of discretion should be adopted for the review of the necessity consideration under Article XXI(b)(iii). The legal provisions of Section 232 do not contain sufficient procedural safeguard to meet the requirements of panel review under Article XXI(b)(iii) of GATT. It is therefore important for the United States to ensure the conditions of the security exception under the GATT is satisfied before an action pursuant to Section 232 is adopted.


We have studied the electronic and optical properties of wurtzite ZnS colloidal quantum dots by means of atomistic empirical pseudopotential method complemented by configuration interaction calculations. For this purpose, we have developed a new set of reliable pseudopotentials (for Zn and S) which give an accurate and balanced description of ZnS bulk properties. Our results for the size-dependent optical gap are found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental measurements, offering valuable information with regard to the nature of the near-band-edge excitons. In particular, it is found that not only the first optically allowed exciton is an A-exciton for the full range of dot sizes but also all the pronounced emission peaks exhibit an in-plane polarization (i.e., A or B excitons). Under normal conditions, the C-exciton emissions which are common in the ZnO analogues are found to be inactive in the lower part of the excitonic spectrum of ZnS colloidal quantum dots.


Background/aims The primary objective is to quantify the lens nuclear opacity using swept-source anterior segment optical coherence tomography (SS-ASOCT) and to evaluate its correlations with Lens Opacities Classification System III (LOCS-III) system and surgical parameters. The secondary objective is to assess the diagnostic performance for hard nuclear cataract. Methods This cross-sectional study included 1222 patients eligible for cataract surgery (1222 eyes). The latest SS-ASOCT (CASIA-2) was used to obtain high-resolution lens images, and the average nuclear density (AND) and maximum nuclear density (MND) were measured by a custom ImageJ software. Spearman's correlations analysis was used to assess associations of AND/MND with LOCS-III nuclear scores, visual acuity and surgical parameters. The subjects were then split randomly (9:1) into the training dataset and validating dataset. Receiver operating characteristic curves and calibration curves were constructed for the classification on hard nuclear cataract. Results The AND and MND from SS-ASOCT images were significantly correlated with nuclear colour scores (AND: r=0.716; MND: r=0.660; p<0.001) and nuclear opalescence scores (AND: r=0.712; MND: r=0.655; p<0.001). The AND by SS-ASOCT images had the highest values of Spearman's r for preoperative corrected distance visual acuity (r=0.3131), total ultrasonic time (r=0.3481) and cumulative dissipated energy (r=0.4265). The nuclear density had good performance in classifying hard nuclear cataract, with area under the curves of 0.859 (0.831–0.886) for AND and 0.796 (0.768–0.823) for MND. Conclusion Objective and quantitative evaluation of the lens nuclear density using SS-ASOCT images enable accurate diagnosis of hard nuclear cataract.


Oncolytic herpes simplex virus (oHSV) can potentially spread throughout the tumor, reach isolated infiltrating cells, kill them, and deliver anticancer agents. However, the host responds to oHSV by inducing intratumoral infiltration of macrophages that can engulf the virus, limiting the potential of this therapeutic strategy. Hypervascularity is a pathognomonic feature of glioblastoma (GBM) and is a promising therapeutic target. Antiangiogenic treatments have multiple benefits, including the capacity to increase oHSV efficacy by suppressing macrophage extravasation and infiltration into the tumor. Angiostatin is an antiangiogenic polypeptide, and interleukin-12 (IL-12) is an immunostimulatory cytokine with strong antiangiogenic effects. Clinical use of each has been limited by delivery issues and systemic toxicity. We tested a combination treatment strategy using oHSVs expressing angiostatin (G47Δ-mAngio) and IL-12 (G47Δ-mIL12) in two orthotopic human GBM models. Intratumoral injection of G47Δ-mAngio and G47Δ-mIL12 in mice bearing intracranial U87 or tumors derived from glioblastoma stem cells significantly prolonged survival compared to each armed oHSV alone. This was associated with increased antiangiogenesis and virus spread and decreased macrophages. These data support the paradigm of using oHSV expressing different antiangiogenic agents and show for the first time that oHSVs expressing angiostatin and IL-12 can improve efficacy in human GBM models.


Abstract Research on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) with ethnic minorities in the U.S. is limited. Because Latinxs constitute 18% of the U.S. population and are the second largest ethnic group in the country, the current study replicated the aforementioned study and examined the BAI factor structure with a Spanish-speaking Latinx sample in the United States. We investigated the original two-factor structure of the BAI with 149 Spanish-speaking Latinx primary care patients. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the previous factor structures of the BAI did not represent an adequate fit for our sample. An exploratory factor analysis indicated that possibly an alternate two-factor model of anxiety was the best fit for the data. Cultural considerations are discussed including the possibility of utilizing cultural idioms of distress as a way to assess anxiety among Latinxs.


In the recent past years, micropollutants that are pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) have been used extensively and have been discovered in raw sewage, wastewater treatment plants, effluents, surface, and groundwater with concentrations from ng/L to several μg/L. Even though many of these compounds are still not determined online, monitoring technology improvements progressed. Today's wastewater treatment plants are not constructed to remove these micropollutants yet. Conventional activated sludge processes are used in the treatment of municipal wastewater but are not specifically designed for the removal of micropollutants. The remaining pharmaceuticals mix into surface waters. At that stage, they can adversely affect the aquatic environment and may cause issues for drinking water production. As the conventional methods are insufficient for removing the micropollutants, other alternative treatment methods can be applied such as coagulation-flocculation, activated carbon adsorption (powdered activated carbon and granular activated carbon), advanced oxidation processes, membrane processes, and membrane bioreactor. It has been observed that membrane bioreactor (MBR) can achieve higher and more consistent micropollutants removal. The removal of micropollutants is based on physicochemical properties of micropollutants and the conditions of treatment. Due to recent technical innovations and cost reductions of the actual membranes, the membrane bioreactor takes attention. In this study, membrane bioreactor experiments for micropollutants in drinking use, wastewater, and surface waters were investigated in detail based on literature investigations, and the feasibility of this method was evaluated.


BACKGROUND
Due to the heterogeneity of low-grade gliomas (LGGs), the lack of randomized control trials, and strong clinical evidence, the effect of the extent of resection (EOR) is currently controversial.

AIM
To determine the best choice between subtotal resection (STR) and gross-total resection (GTR) for individual patients and to identify features that are potentially relevant to treatment heterogeneity.

METHODS
Patients were enrolled from the SEER database. We used a novel DL approach to make treatment recommendations for patients with LGG. We also made causal inference of the average treatment effect (ATE) of GTR compared with STR.

RESULTS
The patients were divided into the Consis. and In-consis. groups based on whether their actual treatment and model recommendations were consistent. Better brain cancer-specific survival (BCSS) outcomes in the Consis. group was observed. Overall, we also identified two subgroups that showed strong heterogeneity in response to GTR. By interpreting the models, we identified numerous variables that may be related to treatment heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to infer the individual treatment effect, make treatment recommendation, and guide surgical options through deep learning approach in LGG research. Through causal inference, we found that heterogeneous responses to STR and GTR exist in patients with LGG. Visualization of the model yielded several factors that contribute to treatment heterogeneity, which are worthy of further discussion.


Thorium-232-lead-208 and uranium-238-lead-206 radiometric ages for ore-stage calcite show that Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) ore deposits can form in distinct tectonic settings. An age of 251 ± 11 million years for the Jumbo Mine in Kansas, United States, is in agreement with other ages for MVT deposits in the midcontinent of North America. The similarity of ages of these deposits supports the concept that they formed in response to fluid flow during the late Paleozoic Alleghenian-Ouachita orogeny. An age of 351 ± 15 million years for Twelve Mile Bore and Bloodwood-Kapok deposits in Australia indicates that these MVT ores were deposited in a rifting environment.


Genetic studies in model organisms and humans have revealed pivotal roles for transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family members in cardiovascular development and maintenance. In vitro studies demonstrate that some TGF-β family members, signaling via their type I and type II receptors (Chapter 6) and intracellular Smads (Chapter 9), potently regulate the proliferation, differentiation, and migration of endothelial cells that line the entire vasculature and mural cells (vascular smooth muscle cells and pericytes) that surround the endothelial cells and aid in processes such as contraction. However, the context-dependent activities of TGF-β family members and their interactions with many cell types other than vascular cells, for example, epithelial and immune cells, have made the in vivo interpretation of the roles of TGF-β family members in vascular biology difficult. Here, we review the roles of TGF-β family members in cardiovascular development and function, and we discuss a model in which TGF-β signals via two distinct type I receptors in vascular cells. These receptors are the broadly expressed TGF-β type I receptor (TβRI, also termed ALK-5) acting via Smad2 and Smad3, and, the endothelial cell-restricted ALK-1 acting via Smad1 and Smad5. The roles of TGF-β family receptors in the development of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), primary pulmonary hypertension, and Marfan and Loeys-Dietz syndromes are also discussed. CARDIOVASCULAR DEVELOPMENT Vasculogenesis and Angiogenesis The first functional organ system to form in the embryo is the cardiovascular system. Shortly after gastrulation, when cells from the epiblast invaginate to become mesoderm, a vascular plexus develops in the visceral...


Purpose: To study the attitude of working and homemaker mothers towards TV advertising and its effect on their children. Methodology: Self structured questionnaire and convenience sampling technique was used for data collection. The Sample comprises of 400 mothers (age: 25 to 45 years) of children (age: 8 to 16 years). The response was generated regarding 32 statements related to different aspects of TV advertising measured on a five point Likert Scale. Findings: Factor Analysis of working mothers revealed 8 dimensions while homemaker mothers revealed 7 dimensions. Both mothers find TV ads informative for their children. The attitude of working mothers is more liberal and favorable towards TV ads than homemaker mothers. While, working mothers are bothered about ads being persuasive and materialistic; homemakers find TV ads featuring adult content and unhealthy eating habits worrisome. Research limitations: Although there is a possibility of applicability of the conclusions about attitude towards TV ads to other parts of the country, no such general applicability beyond the respondents of Punjab is claimed. The sample selected comprises of urban and economically stronger population. Value of Paper: This study is useful for both ad-makers and policy-makers. TV ads have indelible influence on children as they are the most impressionable segment of the TV viewing population. So, ads should be such that they achieve higher sales but also leave a positive impact on young minds.


This final report is written to complete the second of a planned five-year study that has the goal to determine the importance of freshwater inflow in maintaining benthic productivity in minor bays and river dominated systems. Minor bays are defined as those small bays that do not have direct freshwater inflow via a major river, but do have inflow from runoff or other indirect sources. Only a few rivers in Texas flow directly into the Gulf of Mexico, and these are also part of the subject study. The current project follows successful completion of a long-term study of large, or major open bays in Texas. The focus of the current final report is on South Bay Coastal Preserve. An assessment report for that ecosystem is planned within the current fiscal year. Hydrological and biological data are compiled to assess that system. Sampling was also continued for a long-term study of two river-dominated systems, the Rio Grande and Brazos River. Sampling was begun for a 2-year study of Christmas Bay Coastal Preserve. The current report goes into lesser detail for these continuing data sets because they will be subject to a fuller treatment in future.


Surviving Extinction is an interactive, adaptive, digital learning experience through which students learn about the history of vertebrate evolution over the last 350 million years. This experience is self-contained, providing students with immediate feedback. It is designed to be used in a wide range of educational settings from junior high school (∼12 years old) to university level. Surviving Extinction's design draws on effective aspects of existing virtual field trip-based learning experiences. Most important among these is the capacity for students to learn through self-directed virtual explorations of simulated historical ecosystems and significant modern-day geologic field sites. Surviving Extinction also makes significant innovations beyond what has previously been done in this area, including extensive use of gamified elements such as collectibles and hidden locations. Additionally, it blends scientifically accurate animations with captured media via a user interface that presents an attractive, engaging, and immersive experience. Surviving Extinction has been field-tested with students at the undergraduate, high school, and pre-high school levels to assess how well it achieves the intended learning outcomes. In all settings we found significant gains pre- to post-activity on a knowledge survey with medium to large effect sizes. This evidence of learning is further supported with data from the gamified elements such as the number of locations discovered and total points earned. Surviving Extinction is freely available for use and detailed resources for educators are provided. It is appropriate for a range of undergraduate courses that cover the history of life on Earth, including ones from a biology, ecology, or geology perspective and courses for either majors or non-majors. Additionally, at the high school level, Surviving Extinction is directly appropriate to teaching adaptation, one of the disciplinary core ideas in the Next Generation Science Standards. Beyond providing this resource to the educational community, we hope that the design ideas demonstrated in Surviving Extinction will influence future development of interactive digital learning experiences.


Despite the absence of vasopressin, Brattleboro homozygous (DI) rats can concentrate their urine to hypertonic levels when deprived of drinking water. When DI rats are infused with vasopressin, freeze-fracture electron microscopy has revealed increases in intramembranous particle clusters (IPC) in papillary collecting duct luminal membrane that parallel the rise in urine osmolality. In the present study, we examined whether the increase in concentrating ability of DI rats dehydrated for 24 h was associated with a change in IPC. For comparison, oral water loading and 24-hour dehydration were used to suppress and stimulate endogenous vasopressin secretion in Long-Evans (LE) rats, and the effects on urine osmolality and IPC were examined. In LE rats, the induced changes in water balance resulted in alterations in IPC frequency that paralleled urine osmolality, whereas, in DI rats, frequency of IPC remained low under all conditions, even when urine osmolality rose to almost 1,000 mosm/kg H2O as a result of 24-hour dehydration. These results suggest that the increased concentrating ability of dehydrated DI does not depend upon increased water permeability of the papillary collecting ducts.


ABSTRACT This article draws on data from a survey of U.S. arts and design graduates (N = 26,672) to analyse the prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of multi-disciplinary artistic careers. We propose that the practice of multiple artforms is a common, albeit under-acknowledged, component of nimbly navigating artistic labour markets, alongside other strategies such as multiple jobholding and self-employment. While there are undoubtedly benefits to specialization, overall, we find that generalist arts alumni are more likely to continue working in the arts well after graduation. Being a multi-disciplinary artist is significantly associated with a range of entrepreneurial career activities, such as self-employment or freelancing, teaching in the arts, or managing an arts-related organization. Working across multiple artforms is connected to feeling satisfied with one's education and career pathways, however multi-disciplinary artists are significantly less satisfied with the levels of job security and income that their current work provides. We conclude with implications for future research.


Basic research has demonstrated that homocysteine enhances both arteriosclerosis and thrombosis - the principal cause of CVD. Although studies demonstrate that patients with elevated homocysteine levels have small to moderate increased risk of CVD it remains unclear whether lowering plasma homocysteine levels will decrease risks of CVD. The study was aimed to detect reliability of homocysteine lowering on risk of CVD. We studied 256 patients (56 stenocardia; 96 myocardial infarction; 104 post infarction period). Besides we investigated the influence of blood homocysteine concentration on coronary vessels of patients suffering ischemic heart disease, acute heart disease and those in post infarct period. The majority of coronary vessels demonstrated occlusion and stenosis. The investigation showed the connection between body reactivity and homocysteine level. The higher body reactivity was associated with the higher homocysteine concentration in the blood. It stimulated the development of the mild form of ischemic heart disease -- stenocardia. The increase of homocysteine concentration up to the normal top level points to the danger of development of acute ischemic myocardial disease rather than stenocardia. The investigation showed that the homocysteine blood levels are among the reliable diagnostic markers of CVD. The results of the investigation would permit rational clinical decision making for individual patients and policy decisions for the health of the general population.


Abstract Little is known about actual mating systems in natural populations of parasites or about what constitutes the limits of a parasite deme. These parameters are interesting because they affect levels of genetic diversity, opportunities for local adaptation, and other evolutionary processes. We expect that transmission dynamics and the distribution of parasites among hosts should have a large effect on mating systems and demic structure, but currently we have mostly speculation and very few data. For example, infrapopulations (all the parasites in a single host) should behave as demes if parasite offspring are transmitted as a clump from host to host over several generations. However, if offspring are well mixed, then the parasite component population (all the parasites among a host population) would function as the deme. Similarly, low mean intensities or a high proportion of worms in single infections should increase the selfing rate. For species having an asexual amplification stage, transmission between intermediate and definitive (final) hosts will control the variance in clonal reproductive success, which in turn could have a large influence on effective sizes and rates of inbreeding. We examined demic structure, selfing rates, and the variance in clonal reproductive success in natural populations of Plagioporus shawi, a hermaphroditic trematode that parasitizes salmon. Overall levels of genetic diversity were very high. An a posteriori inference of population structure overwhelmingly supports the component population as the deme, rather than individual infrapopulations. Only a single pair of 597 adult individuals was identified as clones. Thus, the variance in clonal reproductive success was almost zero. Despite being hermaphroditic, P. shawi appears to be almost entirely outcrossing. Genetic estimates of selfing (<5%) were in accordance with the proportion of parasites from single infections. Thus, it appears that individual flukes outcross whenever possible and only resort to selfing when alone. Finally, our data support the hypothesis that aquatic transmission and the use of several intermediate hosts promotes high genetic diversity and well-mixed infrapopulations.


In order to address the question of oil-induced microfracturing, we propose under specific assumptions (plane circular kerogen flake surrounded by an homogeneous microfractured porous medium) an analytical method for the determination of the oil pressure increase. It is based on a mechanical modelling of the kerogen-oil-rock interaction at the microscopicscale of a kerogen particle. It is shown that the oil pressure tends towards an asymptotic value when the chemical transformation of kerogen is completed. The effect of the macroscopic stress variation during oil formation process proves to be negligible. However, this effect must be taken into account for describing the evolution of oil pressure at earlier stages of oil formation process. The increase in burial depth induces an increase of oil pressure as well as a variation of the macroscopic stress which both determine the microscopic stress field. The possibility of microfracturing depends on the position of the microscopic stress state with respect to the fracture criterion. If the duration of the oil formation process is short enough, so that the macroscopic stress change associated with the corresponding (small) burial depth increase can be neglected, it is found that microfracturing is likely for the usual values of rock tensile strength. However, in the general case, neglecting the macroscopic stress change can significantly overestimate the possibility of fracture initiation due to oil-pressure increase. Considering now the macroscopicscale of the source bed, the evolution equation of the oil pressure are derived within the framework of Biot's poroelasticity theory. The oil pressure rate proves to be the sum of a diffusion term which accounts for oil migration within the source bed, and of two source terms respectively associated with the volume expansion tendency of the kerogen - oil transformation and the overburden pressure increase.


Background and Purpose: This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge that people with epilepsy (PWE) have regarding the nature of epilepsy and its management, and also to identify the factors contributing to their knowledge of epilepsy. Met h ods: We studied 79 consecutive PWE who visited the outpatient clinic of Seoul National University Hospital using a structured questionnaire consisting of 27 questions in 3 categories. The mean correct response rate was 61%, with 81% believing that brain cells die during a seizure, 29% considering it dangerous to take a bath or shower alone, and more than 70% believing that taking antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) will impair memory and damage the liver and kidneys. Resul t s: The mean overall correct-answer rate was significantly related to gender, length of education, type of seizures, and regularity of hospital visits (all p<0.05). Concl usi ons: The level of knowledge deviated significantly from the scientific data, especially in the causes of epilepsy, safety issues, and side effects of AEDs. A large-scale study should identify those PWE with the lowest knowledge of epilepsy, and then develop and implement suitable educational intervention programs to improve their knowledge. J Clin Neurol 2(3):186-193, 2006


A study was conducted to determine whether the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction to killed Staphylococcus aureus antigen in chickens could be induced through multiple intratracheal inoculations. Three criteria were used to assess DTH: 1) delayed footpad reaction (DFR) with a peak response at 24 to 48 h postchallenge, 2) inhibition of monocyte/macrophage migration, and 3) mononuclear cell infiltration at the challenge site. Broilers were sensitized three times with a s.c. injection in the neck or intratracheal inoculation of killed S. aureus in polyethylene glycol at 2, 3, and 4 wk of age. Controls were given polyethylene glycol with a s.c. injection in the neck or intratracheal inoculation. Migration inhibition tests were conducted at 6 wk of age. At 7 wk of age, all birds were challenged intradermally with S. aureus antigen in PBS in the right footpad. The left footpad was injected with PBS. The thickness of the footpad was measured at 0, 4, 24, and 48 h postchallenge to evaluate the DFR. Birds were euthanatized, and both footpads were removed for histopathological examination. Subcutaneously or intratracheally sensitized birds showed significant DFR compared with nonsensitized birds (P < 0.0001), which reached maximum response at 24 h postchallenge. The s.c. sensitization resulted in an inhibition of the in vitro migration of monocytes/macrophages (P < 0.0001), whereas intratracheally sensitized birds did not show migration inhibition of monocytes/macrophages. Histological examination showed typical perivascular infiltration of small lymphocytes in S. aureus-injected footpads from s.c. and intratracheally sensitized birds. These results indicate that multiple intratracheal inoculation, as well as s.c. injection of killed S. aureus antigen, can be used to induce a cell-mediated DTH reaction in chickens.


Background and Aims: The most important goal of education, is helping students promote spiritual health, and bring up innate talents and spiritual training for their human perfection. This study aimed to introduce, professors, spiritual characteristics for role- modeling education from the perspective of Islam. Methods: In the qualitative study, a systematic review, focused on the question "What is spiritual indicators of perfect human" articles published in the years 1990 to 2016 with the keyword: human, spiritual needs, spiritual health, in databases: PubMed, science direct, google scholar, SID, Cochrane were investigated. Commentaries of Shiite, reliable hadiths related to the characteristics of the owners of sound heart, were analyzed by Walker Avant content analysis method. Spiritual indicators of role- model professors were determined Results: Role-model professors (The owners of sound heart) have spiritual health, they failed to nurture their innate talents, with self-purification, Journey to the much faith, Daily Self -care, adherence to spiritual lifestyle prophets as perfect humans, recognition in religion, to achieve moral virtues: Wisdom, Chastity, Courage, , justice, Generosity Kindness, Dignity of soul, Mahmoud position. They play an important role, as a part of hidden curriculum, in pastoral self- care training to their students. Conclusion: Due to the students search for meaning and their spiritual needs, professor should help them to achieve natural talents and spiritual health, by being as memes (Mentor, Guide, and role model).They should educate them based on


BACKGROUND
Pulmonary complications of connective tissue disease are being identified more frequently with the advent of more sophisticated radiological investigations. Limited previous studies have suggested Rituximab (RTX), a chimeric monoclonal antibody with activity against CD-20, may benefit connective tissue disease patients with pulmonary complications. We performed a retrospective analysis of the efficacy and safety of RTX in patients attending a tertiary referral centre.

METHODS
Ten patients treated with RTX for pulmonary complications of CTD in our institution were identified. Baseline demographics, pre- and post-treatment investigations and adverse events were documented with an average follow up time-frame of 12.3 months (range: 3 - 27). Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxan Signed-Rank test in SPSS.

RESULTS
There was a statistically significant improvement in pulmonary function, with a mean increase of 19% in DLCO (median DLCO (ml/min/mmHg) pre-treatment vs. post-treatment: 13.94 vs. 19.34, p=0.028) and a mean increase of 13% in FVC (median FVC (L) pre-treatment vs. post-treatment: 3.47 vs.3.6, p=0.28). For patients with pulmonary fibrosis (n=7), CT severity was improved on post-treatment scan, though this did not reach statistical significance. There was a reduction in the number of nodules seen on the follow-up scans of two patients without fibrosis. No patient had a severe adverse reaction to RTX.

CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with RTX resulted in an objective, measurable improvement in pulmonary function and/or radiological severity for the majority of patients included in the series. This was statistically significant despite the small numbers included. These results indicate a positive response to RTX with few complications of treatment.


Background The increased use of cosmetics has lead to an increased prevalence of allergic contact dermatitis to cosmetics, with an estimated 1–5.4% of the general population suffering from allergic sensitivity to one or more cosmetic components. As beauticians and hairdressers have recurrent exposure to several cosmetics as a part of their occupation, the incidence of cosmetic dermatitis among this group is bound to be high. Objectives The aim of this study was to study the patterns of cosmetic dermatitis among beauticians and hairdressers and to identify the most common allergens and cosmetic products causing dermatitis using patch testing. Patients and methods Thirty consecutive patients (beauticians and hairdressers) (M : F=11 : 19) with suspected cosmetic dermatitis were examined, detailed history regarding the use of different cosmetics was taken, and the pattern of dermatitis was noted. All of them were subjected to patch testing using the Indian Cosmetic Series and eight antigens of the Indian Standard Series. Results The study included 11 (36.67%) men aged between 23 and 54 years and 19 (63.33%) women aged between 28 and 49 years. The majority of the patients were in the 21–40 (86.67%; n=26) years age group. The most common sites of cosmetic dermatitis observed were hands in 18, face and neck in nine, and disseminated dermatitis in three patients. The most frequently used cosmetics were hair dyes (76.66%), soaps (76.66%), face creams (70%), shampoos (63.33%), perfumes (53.33%), and shaving creams (30%). Patch test positivity was seen in 22 (73.33%) patients, and the most common allergens were paraphenylenediamine in 13 (43.33%), fragrance mix in six (20%), thiomersal in four (13.33%), and cetrimide in two (6.66%) patients. Conclusion The incidence of cosmetic dermatitis is high among beauticians and hairdressers, with hands and face being the most commonly affected sites. Hair dyes and creams are the most commonly implicated agents, whereas paraphenylenediamine, fragrance mix, thiomersal, and cetrimide are the most common causative allergens.


Recently there has been a lot of interest in geometrically motivated approaches to data analysis in high dimensional spaces. We consider the case where data is drawn from sampling a probability distribution that has support on or near a submanifold of Euclidean space. In this paper, we propose a novel subspace learning algorithm called neighborhood preserving embedding (NPE). Different from principal component analysis (PCA) which aims at preserving the global Euclidean structure, NPE aims at preserving the local neighborhood structure on the data manifold. Therefore, NPE is less sensitive to outliers than PCA. Also, comparing to the recently proposed manifold learning algorithms such as Isomap and locally linear embedding, NPE is defined everywhere, rather than only on the training data points. Furthermore, NPE may be conducted in the original space or in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space into which data points are mapped. This gives rise to kernel NPE. Several experiments on face database demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm


Microscopic examination of individual mammalian cells embedded in agarose, subjected to electrophoresis, and stained with a fluorescent DNA-binding dye provides a novel way of measuring DNA damage and more importantly, of assessing heterogeneity in DNA damage within a mixed population of cells. With this method, DNA double-strand breaks can be detected in populations of cells exposed to X-ray doses as low as 5 Gy. The radiation dose-response relationship for initial formation of double-strand breaks was identical for cell lines irradiated in G1, regardless of their sensitivity to killing by ionizing radiation. However, for cells irradiated in S phase, DNA migration was significantly reduced. For Chinese hamster V79 cells, Chinese hamster ovary cells, WiDr human colon carcinoma cells, and L5178Y-R mouse lymphoblastoid cells, S-phase DNA appeared to be about 3 times less sensitive to X-ray damage than DNA from other phases of the cell cycle. However, for the very radiosensitive L5178Y-S cells, the migration of replicating DNA was reduced only slightly. For Chinese hamster V79 and Chinese hamster ovary cells, damage was repaired at a similar rate in all cells of the population, and 85% of the breaks were rejoined within 2 h after irradiation. The radiosensitive L5178Y-S cells repaired damage more slowly than V79 or Chinese hamster ovary cells; 2 h after exposure to 50 Gy, approximately 50% of the damage was still present.


Mangroves are considered a highly productive blue forests resource providing services that are important to the community both locally and globally. In recent times there has been an increase in studies on valuation of ecosystem services provided by mangroves. However, there is need to provide a simplified approach to identify, assess and quantify ecosystem services. In this study the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-based Assessment (TESSA) was used to assess the value of harvested goods provided by the mangroves of Mida Creek in the current state and under plausible alternative scenarios. Spatial methods (GIS) were used to collect data for the period 1985-2019, and household interviews were used to collect data on harvested goods. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize quantitative data. Results show that the estimated current annual value of harvested goods in Mida Creek is US$ 11.2 million. This value increased to US$ 14.3 million under the conservation scenario and reduced to US$ 10.9 million under the business as usual scenario (BAU). These findings add to the growing literature on ecosystem service valuation and the need to use site-specific non-modelling tools like TESSA.


Mike Erbrick, Director of Restaurant Information Systems at Chick-fil-A, was given the responsibility of converting the restaurant?s point of sales (POS) systems from a proprietary EPROM based system to a newer system. This changeover had an investment impact of approximately $3.29 million based on the differences in the costs required to implement the various POS systems being considered, which could be as high as $15,000 per outlet depending on the system chosen and store layout. Within its more than 700 outlets, Chick-fil-A averaged about 8 POS systems per store compared to the two or three systems per store used by other quick-service restaurant chains. The number of POS systems gave rise to additional confusion for the kitchen staff because they could have six to eight orders arriving simultaneously on the Kitchen Display System (KDS) screens. Thus, the new system had to be extremely efficient and scalable to meet the needs of individual stores. Perhaps most importantly to the store owners using the system, who are compensated based on their sales figures and net income, the sales data should be relayed to Chick-fil-A?s corporate headquarters accurately and reported back to each store in a timely manner.


The pieces of the hypernuclear strangeness violating potential due to the pseudoscalar meson exchanges are derived using methods which were successfully applied to hyperon nonleptonic decays. The estimates are tested by comparison with measured hyperon nonleptonic decay amplitudes. All isospin changes $\Delta I=1/2$ and $\Delta I=3/2$ are included in the derived potential. All calculational methods used are reviewed and described in detail.


Abstract Empirical evidence suggests that firms which have experienced fast growth, through increased external funding and by making capital investments and acquisitions, tend to show bad operating performance and lower stock returns, whereas firms that have experienced contraction, through divestiture, share repurchase and debt retirement, tend to show good operating performance and higher stock returns. So, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between asset growth and stock return in the Brazilian stock market, and it tested the hypothesis that asset growth is negatively related to future stock return. To do this, the methodology was divided into 3 steps: verifying 1) if asset growth anomaly exists; 2) if this relation may be explained by the investment friction hypothesis and/or by the limits-to-arbitrage hypothesis; and 3) if asset growth is a risk factor or mispricing. In addition, the analysis was carried out both at a portfolio level and an individual assets level. The sample included all the non-financial firms listed at B3 from June 1997 to June 2014. As for the main results, this study found that the asset growth effect exists, both at the portfolio level and the individual assets level, although it is sensitive to the proxy. About the effect's materiality, this study concluded that the asset growth effect is not economically relevant, since it is not observed in big firms, regardless of the proxy used, a fact that makes it difficult to explore this effect. Another finding is that the asset growth effect may not be related to the limits-to-arbitrage hypothesis and to the financial constraint hypothesis; also, this effect may be considered a risk factor, suggesting that the investment effect documented in the Brazilian stock market may be explained by the rational asset pricing perspective. Therefore, capital market professionals should take into account the asset growth factor in asset pricing models for better investment risk assessment.


Abstract: The immunoreactivity of the high‐molecular‐weight neurofilament (NF) subunit toward antibodies that react with phosphorylation‐related epitopes was determined at different anatomic sites in the PNS of rats during normal maturation and after intoxication with β,β′‐iminodipropionitriIe (IDPN). A maturational increase in the relative binding of phosphor‐ylation‐dependent antibodies compared to phosphorylation‐inhibited antibodies occurred from age 3 to 12 weeks. An increase in phosphorylation‐related immunoreactivity with increasing distance from the cell bodies was present in ventral and dorsal roots at all ages. The degree of phosphorylation‐related immunoreactivity was greater for centrally directed axons in the dorsal roots of the L5 ganglion than for peripherally directed axons. IDPN, a toxin that impairs NF transport, caused a marked increase in reactivity toward the phos‐phorylation‐dependent antibody. NFs from IDPN‐treated rats also bound less of an antibody that is normally phosphorylation independent and this inhibition of binding was sensitive to phosphatase digestion. In each instance, greater degrees of phosphorylation‐dependent immunoreactivity correlate with conditions known to exhibit slower net rates of axonal tran; port of NF proteins


Drying behavior of green apples in a laboratory dryer was examined. Prior to drying, the apples were cut in 8 mm thick slices, which were then treated with citric acid solution and blanched hot water at 80°C. Next, they were dried at 65°C with an air velocity of 2.0 m/s. The shortest drying time (270 min) was obtained with apples pretreated with citric acid solution. The drying data were fitted with 11 mathematical models available in the literature. Selection of the best model was investigated by comparing the determination of coefficient (R 2), reduced chi-square (χ2), root means square error ( RMSE ), and mean relative percentage error (P) between the experimental and predicted values. The results showed that the Wang and Singh, logarithmic, and Verma et al. models gave the best results in describing thin-layer drying of apple slices. The effective moisture diffusivity of pretreated samples with citric acid solution was higher than the other samples.


Abstract Merrillite, Ca18(Ca,⃞)Mg2(PO4)14-Ca18 Na2Mg2(PO4)14-Ca16REE2(Mg,Fe)2(PO4)14 occurs as a primary phosphate along with apatite, in lunar and martian rocks, and in meteorites. It is nominally anhydrous, but attempts to directly measure H in this mineral have not previously been reported. Because of the occurrence on Earth of whitlockite, Ca18(Mg,Fe2+)2(PO4)12[HPO4]2, and the apparent incorporation in whitlockite of a merrillite component, the lack of a whitlockite component in extraterrestrial merrillite could be taken as an indicator of low hydrogen fugacity, and this implication has been applied to lunar merrillite. On the other hand, for martian rocks, where magmatic OH or H2O contents were likely higher, apatite accordingly contains higher OH contents, yet coexists with anhydrous, Na-rich merrillite. With direct measurements by SIMS, McCubbin et al. (2014), which is in the July issue of American Mineralogist (p. 1347-1354), show that Shergotty merrillite is anhydrous and infer that the high T of crystallization of Shergotty precluded incorporation of a whitlockite component. The mineral pair apatitemerrillite in extraterrestrial rocks constitutes a powerful pair for recording magmatic conditions; however, as McCubbin et al. show, the implications of these minerals and their compositions must be interpreted in light of careful and complete analyses and crystal chemical constraints.


A complex clinical-instrumental study included 138 patients with discirculatory encephalopathy (DE) who received cavinton perorally in dose 30 mg/day during 90 days (2 courses in a year) in addition to the basic therapy (hypotensive and antithrombotic drugs, neuroprotector glycine). A control group comprised 98 patients clinically matched with the main group. They received only basic therapy. Neurological status and results of neuropsychological tests were assessed before treatment and to the end of 3, 6 and 12 months. The improvement of all neurological syndromes studied was seen in the main group to the end of 12 months as compared to controls. The complex treatment using cavinton led to the significant decrease of risk of DE progression, development of transitory ischemic attacks and strokes compared to controls (relative risks were 0,01 and 0,14, respectively).


The objective of the present study was to control the release of freely water-soluble salbutamol sulphate (SS) over a prolonged period of time by embedding the drug into slowly eroding waxy matrix materials such as Precirol® ATO5, Compritol® 888 ATO, beeswax, paraffin wax, carnauba wax, and stearyl alcohol. The matrices were prepared by either direct compression or hot fusion techniques. The compatibility of the drug with the various excipients was examined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A factorial design was employed to study the effect of polymer type, polymer concentration (15% and 35%), and filler type (Avicel® PH101 and dibasic calcium phosphate dehydrate (DCP) on the in vitro drug release at 6 h. Results of DSC confirmed drugexcipient compatibility. Increasing the polymer ratio resulted in a significant retardation of drug release. The use of DCP resulted in significant retardation and incomplete drug release while the use of Avicel did not. The hot fusion method was found to be more effective than the direct compression method in retarding SS release. A Precirol formulation, prepared using the hot fusion technique, had the slowest drug release, releasing about 31.3% of SS over 6 h. In contrast, Compritol, prepared using the direct compression technique, had the greatest retardation, providing sustained release of 59.3% within 6 h. A hydrophobic matrix system is thus a useful technique for prolonging the release of freely water-soluble drugs such as salbutamol sulphate.


The effects of 3 brush cover proportions (Low Brush pasture: 52% brush/32% herbage, Medium Brush pasture: 62% brush/20% herbage, and High Brush pasture: 66% brush/12% herbage) on dietary selection of goats in northern Greece were investigated. Diet samples were collected from esophageally fistulated goats during 14 grazing periods at monthly intervals from June 1987 to July 1988. Kermes oak foliage (Quercus coccifera L.) was the main component of the available forage in all pastures during all grazing periods. The herbaceous component contributed more than 50% for the goats' diet during spring for Low Brush pasture, 46% for Medium Brush pasture, and 40% for High Brush pasture. In the remaining grazing periods, goats selected larger quantities of browse. For Low Brush pasture browse contribution ranged from 48% to 66%, for Medium Brush from 54% to 77%, and for High Brush from 66% to 80%. Leaves of all forage species contributed more than 56% during all test periods. The quantities of twigs from shrubs and stems from herbaceous species were low but constant during all test periods. Fruits and flowers, despite representing low percentages of the overall production, were important for the animals' nutrition, since they provided a high percentage of nutrients. Our results indicated that goats adapted diets to forage class availability.


Intelligent dual-interactive power community system has been put forward to meet the requirement of intelligent power. As the vital part of smart grid, the system accomplishes the dual-interactivity between smart grid and users, which builds a solid fundament for intelligent power, community energy reduction and diminishing emission. This paper proposes a scheme of intelligent dual-interactive power community system based on PLC and micro-power wireless communication technology, which accomplishes a series of functions such as home facilities controlling, the tri-meter collection, property management and home anti-theft system etc. In addition, it has great practical significance and its social and economical benefits brought about are very significant.


Standard qualification testing for semiconductors typically involves stressing devices at-or-near the limits specified in their data sheets for a prolonged period of time, or for a certain number of cycles. The goal of qualification testing is to have zero failures out of a large group of parts tested. By testing parts to the point of failure, an understanding of the amount of margin between the data sheet limits can be developed, but more importantly, an understanding of the intrinsic failure mechanisms of the semiconductor can be found.


Author: Soa-Jin Catherine Sher Title: Luminescent CuInSe2–Based Core/Shell Nanocrystals: Characterizing Defects in CuInSe2 Nanocrystals Supervising Professor: Brian Korgel, Ph.D. As interest continues to grow in new materials for next-generation photovoltaic (PV) devices (i.e. solar cells), it is important to understand the mechanisms and limitations of promising materials. Many researchers are focused on the use of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) in PV devices because of their potential to be deposited in thin films via solution, which is more cost-effective than traditional methods. This study focuses on CuInSe2 (CISe) NCs, which are part of a larger class of materials known as CuInxGa1-xSe2 (CIGS). CIGS is well-known in the PV industry, especially for its use on flexible substrate materials, which have significant cost and processing advantages over traditional, bulky, glass-based solar cells. However, defects within or on the surface of the CIGS NCs limit the movement of holes and electrons, affecting the ability of the NCs to extract charge carriers; these defects ultimately result in lowerefficiency PV devices. The purpose of this study is to better understand the defects within CISe NCs by coating them with ZnS shells. A Zn-based shell was successfully formed around a CISe NC without compromising the integrity of the CISe NC. The shell also successfully passivated the surface defects and increased the efficiency of the CISe NCs. By creating luminescent CISebased core/shell NCs, this study examines the nature of CISe NC defects and the implications of these defects on the future of CISe in the PV industry.


SUMMARY Host castration represents a mechanism used by parasites to exploit energy resources from their hosts by interfering with their reproductive development or to extend host lifespan by removing risks associated with reproductive activity. One of the most intriguing groups of parasitic castrators is represented by the insects belonging to the order Strepsiptera. The macroparasite Xenos vesparum can produce dramatic phenotypic alterations in its host, the paper wasp Polistes dominula. Parasitized female wasps have undeveloped ovaries and desert the colony without performing any social task. However, very little attention has been given to the parasitic impact of X. vesparum on the male phenotype. Here, we investigated the effects of this parasite on the sexual behaviour and the morpho-physiology of P. dominula males. We found that, differently from female wasps, parasitized males are not heavily affected by Xenos: they maintain their sexual behaviour and ability to discriminate between female castes. Furthermore, the structure of their reproductive apparatus is not compromised by the parasite. We think that our results, demonstrating that the definition of X. vesparum as a parasitoid does not apply to infected males of P. dominula, provide a new perspective to discuss and maybe reconsider the traditional view of strepsipteran parasites.


Background: A large number of Indians travel to yellow fever endemic countries for job opportunities. However, till date, little is known about their knowledge and attitude about yellow fever vaccine. This study was, therefore, carried out to determine the traveller's knowledge and attitude regarding yellow fever vaccination. Method: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was carried out at an outpatient clinic for travellers. A total of 307 responses were collected from the travellers who visited the clinic for yellow fever vaccination, in a pre-designed standardized self-administered questionnaire. Result: The average age of travellers was 37.3±4.5 years. Most of the travellers (77%) were not aware of yellow fever before being advised for the vaccination. The most common reason for travelling abroad was a business trip (46%). Half of the travellers did not know about duration of protection from yellow fever vaccine. Approximately 90% of the travellers did not know about the etiology of yellow fever. Close to 40% of the travellers thought that yellow fever vaccine was effective in providing protection, while the rest didn't possess adequate knowledge about its efficacy. Conclusion: Over three-fourths of the travellers were unaware of yellow fever infection and the vaccination. There is need of creating awareness regarding yellow fever among travellers.


This study examines the role of glucagon in the pathogenesis of the obese hyperglycaemic (ob/ob) syndrome in mice. Plasma C-terminal immunoreactive glucagon concentrations were measured in fed and fasted ob/ob mice at different ages between 5-40 weeks, and in 20-week-old mice after the administration of established stimulators and inhibitors of glucagon secretion. Plasma glucagon concentrations were inappropriately raised irrespective of age, nutritional status and the accompanying prominent changes in plasma glucose and insulin concentrations. Glucose suppressed plasma glucagon in the fed but not the fasted state, suggesting a dependence on the marked hyperinsulinaemia associated with feeding. Administration of 0.25 units insulin/kg to fasted mice failed to affect plasma glucagon and glucose concentrations. Increasing the dose to 100 units/kg restored the normal suppressive actions of insulin. Fasted mice showed an exaggerated glucagon response to arginine but not to the parasympathomimetic agent pilocarpine. Fed mice displayed normal plasma glucagon responses to the sympathomimetic agents noradrenaline and adrenaline. Administration of insulin antiserum or 2-deoxy-D-glucose raised plasma glucagon concentrations of fed mice. Contrary to the lack of suppression by glucose in the fasted state, heparin-induced increase in free fatty acids reduced plasma glucagon concentrations. This study demonstrates inappropriate hyperglucagonaemia and defective A-cell function in ob/ob mice. The extent of the abnormality is exacerbated by fasting and appears to result from insensitivity of the A-cell to the normal suppressive action of insulin.


Background and Aim: The prevalence of children's obesity, and thus cardiovascular diseases, is rapidly increasing and it is known that exercises have beneficial effects on losing weight and accordingly decreases of cardiovascular system. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of eight weeks of High Intensity Training (HIT) on TNFα in obese children. Materials and method: A total of 34 obese children were randomly divided into two groups of experimental, with the mean age of 9.58±0.35 and Body Mass Index (BMI) 30.89±0.95 and control, with the mean age of 9.51±0.48 and BMI 29.89±0.81. For 8 weeks, 3 sessions a week, participants performed HIT, including bouts of 30s with maximal speed and 1.5 min active rest between them. The number of bouts increased from 6 in the first week to 10 in the latter week. Blood samples were obtained 48 hours before and after performing the protocol and serum was separated and then levels of serum TNFα were measured and quantified using ELISA. SPSS, version 20, was used to analyse the data. Results: Data analysis revealed a significant decrease in serum TNFα and BMI before and after doing HIT. Conclusion: High intensity training results in the reduction of BMI and body weight. Due to the strong relationship between BMI and selected TNFα, HIT, via reduced fat mass, causes decrease of serum TNFα in children, and this reduction can effectively prevent, control, and reduce the number of cardiovascular diseases. So, doing HIT cautiously can bring about benefits in obese children.


Workers in the field of development aid, particularly those involved in capacity development projects, have for some time recognized the importance of understanding the psychology of aid beneficiaries. However, there have been very few psychological studies on development aid, possibly because there are yet few tested theoretical frameworks that allow empirical research. The aim of this paper is to present a theoretical framework that would be applicable to aiding, assessing, and researching the psychology of people facing difficulties such as extreme poverty. The framework is based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and also draws from behavior modification approaches. It is argued that for such people, as a prerequisite for supporting the need for autonomy, it is necessary to support the needs for competence and relatedness. Based on the modified SDT framework, aid paradigms such as conditional cash transfers (CCTs), the life improvement approach (LIA), the smallholder horticultural empowerment project (SHEP), and the freedom for enhancing empowerment (FrEE) approaches are examined, and future research directions are discussed.


Individual discrimination is likely a prerequisite for most primate social interactions. Olfactory cues are one set of stimuli used by primates to discriminate between individuals. Despite the importance of these olfactory signatures, there is little published research assessing the existence or function of individually unique odors among primates. This review systematically assesses behavioral and biochemical aspects of individual odors in a New World primate, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). There are three objectives to this review: First, behavioral evidence for odors unique to the individual is evaluated in the context of results demonstrating that marmosets are able to discriminate between the scents from a familiar and a novel individual conspecific in behavioral bioassays under a variety of conditions. Second, biochemical evidence for individual scent signatures is debated with reference to studies examining qualitative and quantitative differences between the chemical compositions of scent‐mark pools from adult females. A combined gas chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis demonstrated that each female had a unique ratio of highly volatile chemicals in the scent mark that could affect individual discrimination. Finally, the possible adaptive significance of individual odors in marmosets is debated. Individual odors may play a key role in regulating both female intrasexual competition and intersexual communication by providing a basis for the assessment of individual quality. Am. J. Primatol. 68:585–604, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


[1] Seismic quiescence has attracted attention as a possible precursor to a large earthquake. However, sensitive detection of quiescence requires accurate modeling of normal aftershock activity. We apply the epidemic-type aftershock sequence (ETAS) model that is a natural extension of the modified Omori formula for aftershock decay, allowing further clusters (secondary aftershocks) within an aftershock sequence. The Hector Mine aftershock activity has been normal, relative to the decay predicted by the ETAS model during the 14 months of available data. In contrast, although the aftershock sequence of the 1992 Landers earthquake (M = 7.3), including the 1992 Big Bear earthquake (M = 6.4) and its aftershocks, fits very well to the ETAS up until about 6 months after the main shock, the activity showed clear lowering relative to the modeled rate (relative quiescence) and lasted nearly 7 years, leading up to the Hector Mine earthquake (M = 7.1) in 1999. Specifically, the relative quiescence occurred only in the shallow aftershock activity, down to depths of 5–6 km. The sequence of deeper events showed clear, normal aftershock activity well fitted to the ETAS throughout the whole period. We argue several physical explanations for these results. Among them, we strongly suspect aseismic slips within the Hector Mine rupture source that could inhibit the crustal relaxation process within "shadow zones" of the Coulomb's failure stress change. Furthermore, the aftershock activity of the 1992 Joshua Tree earthquake (M = 6.1) sharply lowered in the same day of the main shock, which can be explained by a similar scenario.


800 samples of pharyngeal exudate were taken from healthy children and 28 healthy intrafamilial contacts of children with meningitis caused by H. influenzae type b. H. influenzae type be was isolated in 8.7 per cent of nursery children, H. influenzae type e in 0.12 per cent and non typifiable H. influenzae in 5.8 per cent. On intrafamilial contacts, 32 per cent had H. influenzae type b and non typifiable in 3.5 per cent. Percent age of ampicillin resistant H. influenzae type b was 14 per cent. No strains were found resistant to chloramphenicol. S. pneumoniae was isolated in 37 per cent of pharyngeal exudate samples. 25.5 per cent of strains tested were penicillin sensitive; 74.5 per cent has a decrease sensitivity. Based on these results we consider chloramphenicol to the the first drug of choice for treatment of severe H. influenzae infections and penicillin for S. pneumoniae infections recommending in the latter higher doses when dealing with central nervous system infections.


The survival of many languages is endangered as the speakers die out or are absorbed into larger communities. Probably over half the 8000 languages in the world will not be spoken by the end of the next century. Their disappearance will result in a permanent loss of data for future phonetic investigations. Given the magnitude of the loss, there is a research problem in deciding which languages should be documented phonetically, and what is the best way of describing their phonetic structures. It was decided to investigate endangered languages that (1) are still actively spoke by a sizable community; (2) are sufficiently well studied so that their phonological structure is known; (3) have features that are of phonetic interest. At least five speakers were recorded saying sets of words and phrases that illustrate the phonological constrasts. Then standardized descriptions were made in quantified form using a set of basic phonetic measures, designed to characterize both specific and universal phonetic featur...


Even though auto-encoders (AEs) have the desirable property of learning compact representations without labels and have been widely applied to out-of-distribution (OoD) detection, they are generally still poorly understood and are used incorrectly in detecting outliers where the normal and abnormal distributions are strongly overlapping. In general, the learned manifold is assumed to contain key information that is only important for describing samples within the training distribution, and that the reconstruction of outliers leads to high residual errors. However, recent work suggests that AEs are likely to be even better at reconstructing some types of OoD samples. In this work, we challenge this assumption and investigate what auto-encoders actually learn when they are posed to solve two different tasks. First, we propose two metrics based on the Fr\'echet inception distance (FID) and confidence scores of a trained classifier to assess whether AEs can learn the training distribution and reliably recognize samples from other domains. Second, we investigate whether AEs are able to synthesize normal images from samples with abnormal regions, on a more challenging lung pathology detection task. We have found that state-of-the-art (SOTA) AEs are either unable to constrain the latent manifold and allow reconstruction of abnormal patterns, or they are failing to accurately restore the inputs from their latent distribution, resulting in blurred or misaligned reconstructions. We propose novel deformable auto-encoders (MorphAEus) to learn perceptually aware global image priors and locally adapt their morphometry based on estimated dense deformation fields. We demonstrate superior performance over unsupervised methods in detecting OoD and pathology.


20wt% bioactive glass was added to the pure titanium power by means of subsonic flame spraying. Soak test in vitro was performed with the sprayed samples after heat treatment, and the polarization curve was determined. The result shows that pH of the solution varied during the 60 h immersion of the coating in the simulated body fluid. This related to the fact that TiO2.CaTi4O9.NaTiO2 etc were dissolved and precipitated in the coating. With different immersion time, the coating weight increased first, and then decreased. The self-corrosion potential and morphology of the coating were influenced by different polarization corrosion rate. When the polarization corrosion rate was low, it contributed to the growth of bone-like apatite, and then the corrosion was restrained. In simulated body fluid, absorption, dissolution, and the formation and growth of new phases took place in the coating. Bone-like apatite may form on the coating surface, which indicates the excellent biocompatibility of 8Ti2G bio-composite coating.


Nanostructured CdTe films were electrodeposited on CdS substrates from lyotropic liquid crystalline phases of non-ionic surfactants using citric acid. The deposition mechanism was studied using cyclic voltammetry. The effect of citric acid on the deposition properties of CdTe was investigated. The CdTe films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, polarized optical microscopy, and UV–vis spectroscopy. In addition quartz crystal microbalance studies were carried out to provide further evidence for the mesoporosity of the CdTe films. The results indicated that the films exhibited a mesoporous structure and good optical properties.


This conference presentation was prepared for the Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation V conference at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022.


Advanced 3D packaging of a Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) chip and a CMOS/ASIC Chip was studied. We successfully introduced redistribution process applying two spin coated polybenzoxazole (PBO) polymer layers and two metal layers on 200 mm ASIC wafer. Both MEMS and ASIC bump pad openings were set to 60 μm in diameter. Sputtering and electrochemical plating (ECP) techniques were utilized for metallization. On the Al pads of the sensor Au stud bumps were created. The redistributed ASIC pads were coated with sputtered Au on top of the ECP nickel metal layer and thus Au-Au flip chip bonding was accomplished. The MEMS sensor element in this study was capacitive pressure sensing diaphragm. The diaphragm was made of poly-Si. The pressure range tested was typical barometric range from 35 kPa to 115 kPa. The device operating temperature range from - 40 °C to + 85 °C was tested. Along with the packaging process, solder ball transfer jig was fabricated using bulk silicon wafer. It enabled transfer of eight solder balls to the Chip Scale Packaging (CSP) at one time. The solder ball landing pad was sputtered Au as well. The solder ball pad openings were 300 μm in diameter. Two different size of solder balls were used, 310 μm and 410 μm to ensure enough clearance between CSP and Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Solder balls were consisted of polymer core ball with SnAgCu (SAC) solder metal layers. Several thermo compression bondings were carried out and fine-tune solder ball connections. Functionality was verified by electrical device measurements. To improve productivity, replacement of the Au stud bumps was demonstrated using wafer level ECP to make SnAg μbumps. The plating quality attained within 1 μm height uniformity inside a bonding chip area. SEM observation showed that connection of SnAg micro bump to Au-pad metal was realized.


In recent years, the mobile computing sector has been having quite a revolution.Mobile computing devices have shed loads of weight, gone slim, achieved mass popularityand a great market penetration. But one of the challenges that has been part ofmobile computing is technology and device fragmentation leaving application developersfor mobile phones bewildered. Platform developers, device manufacturers comewith so many features and functionalities that it has been dicult to provide developerswith an easier means of developing applications and running the application onevery mobile device.To solve that, cross platform tools have been investigated and was found to solvedevice functionality features, platform and device coverage problems. It was alsonoted that cross platform development was found to be cheaper and takes less time.Even though tool selection in cross platform development was dicult, it wassuggested that Appcelerator Titanium and Xamarin were picked as a preliminarystarting point.


Fish belonging to the Family Mugilidae, commonly known as grey mullet, are important in coastal water habitats by value of their unique role as detritivores feeding on resources not eaten by other competing fish groups and their importance in artisanal subsistence fisheries and aquaculture. This thesis contributes towards our understanding of the mugilid biology by studying the population biology of two species of grey mullet, the sub-tropical water abu mullet Liza abu (Heckel, 1843) in Central Iraq (the first study since 1996) and the temperate water thick-lip grey mullet, Chelon labrosus (Risso, 1827) in Northwest Wales (the first study in the UK since 1970).
During the period between October 2014 and November 2015, 609 abu mullet were collected from three locations (Al-Najaf, Babylon and Karbala) in Central Iraq. Fish ranged between 85-220 mm total length, 13-110g wet weight and 0-5 years of age. Growth was negatively allometric (increase in length more than increase in weight), (b=2.35) and described by: Lt=25.4(1–e-0.24(t+1.57)). Monthly changes in condition factor (CF) and gonadosomatic index (GSI) indicated peak values occur in April-June coincident with the timing of the spawning period and confirmed by visual examination of gonad maturity status. During the period between January 2014 and December 2015, 373 thick-lip grey mullet were collected from various locations in Northwest Wales. Fish ranged between 373 – 680 mm total length, 555 g and 4.35 kg wet weight and 6-14 years of age. Growth was positively allometric (increase in weight more than increase in length), (b=3.32) and described by: Lt=83.9(1–e-0.08(t+0.79)). Monthly changes in condition factor (CF), body depth (BD) and gonadosomatic index (GSI) indicated peak values occur in October-December coincident with the timing of the spawning period and confirmed by visual examination of the gonad maturity status. Examination of gut contents for both species indicated a mixed diet, dominated by organic matter, algae and plant material.
The suitability of various calcified structures (vertebrae, pectoral arch bones and opercular bones) as alternative ageing structures to scales/otoliths were examined. For both species, the best readabilities in all hard parts were obtained following simple cleaning, burning and coating with cedarwood oil. Statistical analyses indicated close similarity in ages in both species when aged using scales, otoliths or vertebrae and significant underestimation of age using pectoral arch and opercular bones.


Background: Smoking is a significant health risk and the leading cause of premature death. Passive smoke causes the same negative effects on health as smoking, albeit to a lesser extent. The reduction of tobacco consumption and the protection against passive smoke are thus important health objectives. Methods: The study German Health Update (GEDA 2019/2020-EHIS) is a cross-sectional telephone survey (04/2019 to 09/2020) of the resident population in Germany with questions relating to the current smoking behaviour and relating to the passive smoke exposure. The analysis sample comprises 22,708 persons from 18 years of age. Results: 24.0% of women and 33.9% of men from 18 years of age smoke currently, at least occasionally. Among both sexes, adults from 65 years of age smoke significantly more rarely than adults in the younger age groups. 4.1% of adults, who do not smoke themselves, are subjected daily to passive smoke exposure indoors. This affects in particular young adults and men. There are educational differences in tobacco consumption and in passive smoke exposure to the disadvantage of adults from lower educational groups. Conclusions: In Germany, there is still a need for action for effective measures for tobacco prevention, smoking cessation and tobacco control policy, which are effective in all population groups and which take into account the concerns of socially disadvantaged groups. SMOKING · PASSIVE SMOKING · ADULTS · EDUCATION · GEDA 2019/2020-EHIS


Introduction and Objectives: Chagasic myocardiopathy is a severe health problem in Latin America. It is the first cause of dilated cardiopathy of infectious origin in Colombia.The changes described in the evaluation of the diastolic function of patients with cardiopathy are precocious and generally precede symptoms and changes in systolic function. The objective of this study is to understand the behavior of the different variables, to evaluate the diastolic function in patients at different stages of Chagas disease, and to establish whether there are early alterations that can be predictive of the progression rate of the disease. Methods: We evaluated systolic and diastolic ventricular functions in 600 patients distributed as follows: 165 (27.5%) asymptomatic patients, seronegative for Chagas disease (group 0); 277 (46.2%) seropositive asymptomatic patients (group I); 116 (19.3%) seropositive with right bundle branch block (group II); and 42 (7%) seropositive with heart failure (group III). Mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary vein flows, Doppler of mitral and tricuspid rings, color-M mode Doppler flow propagation velocity and Tei index were measured. For the descriptive analysis, the type of variable was taken into account. To establish the frequencies behavior, the Shapiro-Wilk test was used. The difference between the clinical groups was estimated by using group 0 as a baseline through Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney, depending on the distribution. Statistical analysis was realized using the Stata 8.0 with a <0.05 significant difference. Results: 62.5% of the subjects were men with mean age 41.61 ± 9.38 years. The distribution among the groups was 27.5% group 0; 46.2% group I; 19.3% group II; 7% group III. For the diameter variables,, ventricular volumes and ejection fraction, a clinical deterioration among the groups was observed. Decrease of E/A relation, ,prolongation of deceleration time, A duration and isometric relaxation time (p= 0.0054; p=0.0001; p=0.0001) respectively was evidenced up to group III with a change in the measures tendency between the different groups. In the pulmonary veins the velocity of A and its duration increased in group III (p=0.007; p=0.02 respectively). There was an increment in mitral ring E/E' relation only in group III (p=0.0001). A decrease in mitral ring E and S velocities and of the tricuspid ring E velocity and prolongation of right ventricular isovolumetric contraction time starting from group III, was noticed. The velocity of color-M mitral flow propagation presented a constant diminution from group I to group III (p=0.01; p=0.005; p=0.0002). The E velocity of the tricuspid ring also diminished in the same way (p=0.08; p=0.03; p=0.0001). The Tei index did not show significant changes between the groups. Conclusion: The diminution of the color-M mitral flow propagation velocity under 72 cm/s was the most sensible variable for the detection of left diastolic ventricular dysfunction in patients with Chagas myocardiopathy.


Summary Immigrant-native wage differentials are observed in many countries, so in Germany. However, the available empirical literature for Germany defined the groups in consideration, immigrants and natives, by citizenship. This limits the explanatory power of the estimates since citizenship distinguishes foreigners and German nationals, but assigns naturalised immigrants (including the large group of ethnic Germans) to the latter group. Providing a more adequate definition based on the concept of origin we analyse the immigrant-native wage gap. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study,we decompose the wage gap between native Germans, foreigners, and naturalised immigrants, and consider further subgroups in the analysis. In the literature, time of residence has been proven to be a relevant determinant of immigrants' wages. For the natives, time of residence is perfectly collinear with age, and unequal sets of variables have to be considered.We therefore suggest an extension of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique. Our results show a substantial gap in earnings for all immigrants' groups compared to natives. Discarding immigrants who completed education abroad reduces much of the immigrants' wage gap. Hence, educational attainment in Germany is an important component of economic integration of immigrants, and degrees obtained abroad are valued less.


Evolving nature of network traffic challenges existing models to fit and predict its behavior. In particular, real traffic modeling requires more flexible design that can adapt to long-range and short-range dependent traffic with dynamic patterns. Unfortunately, existing models cannot handle such requirements because various traffic behaviors such as periodic and self-similar are not taken into account. In this paper, Gaussian process regression (GPR) is adapted for traffic modeling and prediction. The connection between self-similarity as a traffic characteristic and GPR parameters has been driven and exerted to build of a new Hurst estimation method based on machine learning techniques. This led to propose self-similar covariance functions for enhancing prediction accuracy of GPR. The proposed GPR model has been applied for Hurst estimation as well as for traffic prediction on real traffic traces at different time-scales. The experimental results show the employment of self-similar covariance functions increases generalization ability of GPR for traffic modeling and prediction.


For successful design of a nanoparticulate drug delivery system, the fate of the carrier and cargo need to be followed. In this work, we fluorescently labeled poly(n-butylcyanoacrylate) (PBCA) nanocapsules as a shell and separately an oligonucleotide (20 mer) as a payload. The nanocapsules were formed by interfacial anionic polymerization on aqueous droplets generated by an inverse miniemulsion process. After uptake, the PBCA capsules were shown to be round-shaped, endosomal structures and the payload was successfully released. Cy5-labeled oligonucleotides accumulated at the mitochondrial membrane due to a combination of the high mitochondrial membrane potential and the specific molecular structure of Cy5. The specificity of this accumulation at the mitochondria was shown as the uncoupler dinitrophenol rapidly diminished the accumulation of the Cy5-labeled oligonucleotide. Importantly, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer investigation showed that the dye-labeled cargo (Cy3/Cy5-labeled oligonucleotides) reached its target site without degradation during escape from an endosomal compartment to the cytoplasm. The time course of accumulation of fluorescent signals at the mitochondria was determined by evaluating the colocalization of Cy5-labeled oligonucleotides and mitochondrial markers for up to 48 hours. As oligonucleotides are an ideal model system for small interfering RNA PBCA nanocapsules demonstrate to be a versatile delivery platform for small interfering RNA to treat a variety of diseases.


We examine the puzzling displacement in various Spanish dialects of a plural suffix from a verb where it is motivated semantically, syntactically, and morphologically onto a following clitic. We present previously unreported data and a new analysis of this material that succeeds where earlier efforts fail to provide a unified account of related phenomena. Our solution, which employs recent work on reduplication and metathesis, allows us to account for seemingly disparate phenomena as special cases of a single general framework and demonstrates that these operations are more versatile than previously thought. Directions for future research are indicated.


To download this paper, please, click here . My essay explores the impact the blockade of Leningrad had on childhood experience and development. I argue that the blockade had a profound effect on the mental and physical development of children. Many children were forced to grow up ahead of their years and take on adult responsibilities. Family roles were reversed as children worked in order to support their family and became caregivers for their parents. In other words, children were thrust into the unknown world of adulthood ahead of their time, skipping a vital developmental stage. Starvation affected the physical development of children by delaying puberty and stunting growth. For my research, I relied heavily on the diaries and memoirs of children who lived through the siege of Leningrad. In total I used 26 diaries and ten memoirs, as well as a large number of secondary sources. Diaries provide an interesting and personal take on the blockade.


In situations of uncertainty, people often make decisions with heuristic shortcuts or decision rules, rather than using computational or logical methods such as optimizing their behavior based on specific goals. The high level of uncertainty and complexity involved in adapting to climate change suggests that heuristics would be commonly used in this context rather than more structured decision methods. Through a systematic review of 137 articles, from 2007–2017 we explore the behavioral and cognitive assumptions used to examine agricultural decision-making related to climate change among farmers in developing countries. We find a strong orientation toward modeling behavior and decision making as a rational utility-maximizing process, despite decades of research demonstrating the prevalence of simpler heuristic choice when facing uncertainty and real-world constraints. Behavioral and cognitive approaches can increase our ability to predict or explain decisions being made in this realm, particularly in terms of how we understand decision making around information processing and risk assessment. In the following review, we highlight articles that have contributed to developing a more realistic decision-making framework for studying this problem on the ground. While there is a burgeoning literature using psychological insights to examine decision making under climate uncertainty, few studies consider the prevalence of simple heuristics, the presence of cognitive biases, and the salience of climate relative to other risk factors.


Alternate fuels have been used to fulfill the demand of fuel for engines used at various fields and also due to the decreasin g petroleum fuel resources. Moreover the very low emissions norms have led to the experimentation, analysis and optimization of operating parameters of the engines run with these alternate fuels. Optimization of operating parameters to suit these alternate fuels have led to various new combustion techniques and one of these is HCCI. HCCI technique is a promising combustion mode with high efficiency and low emissions of NOx and PM. This experiment's objective is to analyses the working of a single cylinder diesel engine under HCCI combustion mode using CNG, renewable fuel widely available from the agricultural wastes. The engine is run at its conventional mode and at HCCI mode with both Diesel HCCI and also CNG HCCI.


This paper presents results out of investigations of the DEBRA-25 wind turbine blades. Almost unique in the history of modern wind energy, these blades were in operation for 18 years next to a weather station and were investigated afterward. Therefore, the loads experienced in the operational life could be post-processed accurately with the measured data of the weather station and the turbine. The blades are made of materials that are similar with today's wind turbines. Furthermore, intensive laboratory tests and free field tests have been carried out, and all load assumptions and data and results are still available today. The results include experimental investigations on the moisture content of the load-carrying material, static and fatigue behavior of the material, the relaxation of the coupling joints, the natural frequencies of the blade and a full scale static blade test. It is shown that the structural performance of the DEBRA-25 service blades is comparable with modern wind turbine blades. Although some damage was found by visual inspection, the service blade of the DEBRA-25 showed excellent mechanical behavior in the full scale blade test. Only small changes of the edgewise eigenfrequencies were detected. The pre-tensioning forces of the IKEA bolts, where the two blade parts are connected, were measured and were still adequate. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


— The goal of this work is to accurately detect and localize boundaries in natural scenes using local image measurements. We formulate features that respond to characteristic changes in brightness, color, and texture associated with natural boundaries. In order to combine the information from these features in an optimal way, we train a classifier using human labeled images as ground truth. The output of this classifier provides the posterior probability of a boundary at each image location and orientation. We present precision-recall curves showing that the resulting detector significantly outperforms existing approaches. Our two main results are (1) that cue combination can be performed adequately with a simple linear model, and (2) that a proper, explicit treatment of texture is required to detect boundaries in natural images.


The hero of Rafi Zabor's first novel is an alto saxophone virtuoso trying to evolve a personal style out of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman. He also happens to be a walking, talking, Shakespeare-and Blake-quoting bear whose keen sense of irony protects him from the double loneliness of the artist and animal in an underappreciative metropolis.The scion of a long line of European circus bears (and the product of an amazing roll of the genetic dice), the Bear, when we first meet him, is eking out a living doing a routinely humiliating street dancing art with his friend and keeper, Jones. But what the Bear is really best at -- besides making himself cosmically miserable -- is playing the alto with his world-calls set of chops. One day he makes a bold foray from their apartment to jam with Arthur Blythe and Lester Bowie -- real-life musicians rub elbows with fictional counterparts throughout the novel -- at a New York club, thus beginning a musical and romantic odyssey. A nightclub bust followed by long dark nights of the soul in New York City's dankest jail. Freedom, a recording contract, underground fame, a road tour that is alternately hilarious, scary, ridiculous, and inspiring. A vexed, physically passionate, and anatomically correct interspecies love affair with a beautiful woman named Iris. And, finally, a triumphant return to a jazz club inside the Brooklyn Bridge, where the Bear plays a solo where it all comes together for him, and blows him all the way back home.