Two cases of hypochromic anemia with erythronormoblastic marrows and giant stab-cells are reported. Both cases deteriorated when only on iron treatment; the first responded to pyridoxine therapy and the second to nicotinic acid.

Neither of the patients had diarrhea or steatorrhea and all were on the normal tropical hospital diet, similar to that given to the other patients who responded to iron therapy alone. The patients were under our constant control and were in the hospital from three to four weeks and had no other treatment. The diet of these two patients before they entered hospital did not appear to differ from that of other Africans with whom we have been dealing.

The presence of G.S.C. in the marrow is in our opinion associated with a deficiency of folic acid, due either to malabsorption following the anemia or low intake associated with poor appetite. In many cases G.S.C. disappear during treatment with iron alone, perhaps due to improvement in absorption or appetite. In others supplementary folic acid is necessary.31,32,34

Bone marrow biopsy done in eight other cases of pellagra showed no giant stab-cells and the marrow was normal except for an increase in plasma cells and eosinophils.

We do not think that pyridoxine or nicotinic acid were responsible for their presence in these cases, since giant stab-cells are found in all megaloblastic anemias and in some cases of hypochromic anemia, as well as in other conditions where there is no evidence of either pyridoxine or nicotinic acid deficiency.

There was nothing significant about the serum proteins which were within normal range; the albumin globulin ratio was, however, reversed in both patients (tables 1 and 2) and remained so on discharge from hospital. This reversed A/G ratio is common in many Africans and Indians, is not related to anemia and may be associated with diet or be genetically determined.31-32,35,36

Until the exhibition of pyridoxine and nicotinic acid the patients were making no progress, but afterwards they made an uninterrupted cure and were discharged from the hospital feeling well.

The reticulocytosis was the expected one for the blood count and hemoglobin level, and as will be seen from figures 1 and 2 did not occur until after either pyridoxine or nicotinic acid had been given.

As in Dinning's and Day's pyridoxine deficient rats we also found in our pyridoxine-treated patients that there were increased R.B.C. counts and low hemoglobins with the mean corposcular hemoglobin of 20γγg. and 17 γγg.

In eight other cases of typical pellagra there was, however, no sign of anemia at all, the hemoglobin range being between 15 to 16 Gm. per 100 ml.

At this altitude (6,000 feet) "pure" iron deficient anemia is rather rare32 and it was no surprise to us that these two cases failed to respond to iron therapy alone and that they needed other factors.

Pyridoxine appears in some way to be associated with hemopoiesis. Its absence does not in all cases give rise to anemia but sometimes produces abnormalites in red and white cell maturation and hemoglobin production in man and animals.

The role of nicotinic acid in hemopoiesis is obscure.

We realize that two swallows do not make a summer, and we have no idea how important a part pyridoxine and nicotinic acid play in hemopoiesis. Since, however, such pyridoxine and nicotinic acid-responding cases are rather infrequent we thought it worthwhile to record these two cases.


Backgrond and the purpose of the study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of solvents used in the spray drying and the aerodynamic properties of the rifampicin microparticles and pulmonary absorption of the microparticles. Methods: Different mixtures of dichloromethane and water were used as solvents for spray drying of rifampicin microparticles. The water to dichloromethane ratios were 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, 80:20, 90:10 and 100:0. The solutions were dried at inlet temperature of 70 °C. The powder properties of the samples were examined by laser diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), helium densitometer and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The aerosolization performance of these formulations was investigated using an Andersen cascade impactor. Pulmonary absorptions of formulations were examined by the in situ pulmonary absorption described by Enna and Schanker method. The plasma concentration time profiles of rifampicin were constructed 8 hours following the intravenous and the intrapulmonary administrations. The pharmacokinetics parameters, Cmax, Tmax, t1/2, AUC, mean residence time (MRT), Ka and Ke were determined for each formulations. Results and major conclusions: The Tmax values for the samples decreased by increase in the amount of water in the initial feed. The Tmax values for the spray dried samples from the different mixtures of dichloromethane and water were 60(min) and 30(min) respectively. The solvent mixture as the spray drying vehicle played an important role in the in vitro and in vivo lung deposition. The type of spray drying vehicle showed significant effect on the aerodynamic behavior and pharmacokinetic parameters of the particles. The pulmonary absorption of drug revealed the possibility of achieving the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the antibiotics. The spray drying vehicle only affected absorption patterns of the formulations and it did not have any effect on the elimination rat of particle.


A novel dual-frequency circularly polarized shorted ring-slot rectenna (rectifying antenna) for wireless power transmission at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz is proposed. The rectenna is composed of two nested microstrip-fed shorted annular ring-slot antennas and two rectifier circuits. Output DC voltage of over 2 V at the lower frequency band and over 1 V at the higher frequency band is achieved at a transmission distance of 2 m.


Abstract: In Flaubert's literary universe, intellectual pretensions are often derided as stupidity in disguise. With a mix of fascination and rejection, Flaubert explores the many facets of stupidity and lays bare its key symptoms: vanity, literality, automatism, and animality. By attacking bourgeois stupidity and valorizing idiocy as genuine simplicity, Flaubert reassesses the powers of the mind. In contrast to contemporary metaphysical conceptions of the mind as sovereign, he develops a continuist and immanent approach that links intelligence and idiocy. At the same time, he asserts the mind's ability to counter the inertia of stupidity through the practice of irony and aesthetic transfiguration.


Electronic portfolios, also known as e-Portfolios, are commonplace in language education. While e-Portfolio research has evolved over the past two decades, not much is done to evaluate how this scholarship can inform effective language teaching and learning, especially in second language and English as a Foreign Language classroom contexts. This review study intends to fill this much-needed gap by thematically analyzing (1) work done extensively; (2) work done inadequately; and (3) work to be done in the area of e-Portfolio pedagogy and assessment. The review then discusses four thought-provoking pedagogical implications, which attempt to empower teachers to be assessment-capable and technology-literate when e-Portfolios are utilized in authentic classroom settings.


Thanks to many novel coding tools, H.264/AVC has become the most efficient video compression standard providing much better performance than previous standards. However, this standard comes with an extraordinary computational complexity and a huge memory access requirement, which make the hardware architecture design much more difficult and costly, especially for realtime applications. In the framework of H.264 codec hardware architecture project, this paper presents an efficient architecture of Forward Transform and Quantization (FTQ) for H.264/AVC codecs in mobile applications. To reduce the hardware implementation overhead, the proposed design uses only one unified architecture of 1-D transform engine to perform all required transform processes, including discrete cosine transform and Walsh Hadamard transform. This design also enables to share the common parts among multipliers that have the same multiplicands. The performance of the design is taken into consideration and improved by using a fast architecture of the multiplier in the quantizer, the most critical component in the design. Experimental results show that our architecture can completely finish transform and quantization processes for a 4:2:0 macroblock in 228 clock cycles and the achieved throughput is 445Msamples/s at 250MHz operating frequency while the area overhead is very small, 147755mm 2 (approximate 15KGates), with the 130nm TSMC CMOS technology.


Abstract Ketoconazole was administered in a case of hirsutismus over a period of 4 months with high doses of 800 mg/day, and bilateral papilledema developed. After cessation of the drug the condition disappeared. As far as we know this is the first reported papilledema complication due to Ketoconazole.


There is an increasing need of synchronization and clock frequency distribution in core and access networks. Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) is a technology that is able to distribute clock frequency over Ethernet networks, while keeping scalability and reduced costs. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is another emerging technology that is changing the landscape of network management by separating the control and data planes and introducing a centralized management architecture, with the goal of optimizing network operations. OpenFlow is currently the most popular southbound interface between the control and data planes in SDN networks. In order to operate SyncE networks under the new SDN paradigm and exploit its advantages, an extension of OpenFlow messages and operations is needed. This paper discusses how SDN and SyncE can interoperate, proposes a set of OpenFlow extensions that are backwards compatible with SyncE equipment, and presents results from a an implementation.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the magnitude of the decrease in the risk of retinopathy progression observed with intensive treatment and its relationship to baseline retinopathy severity and duration of follow-up.

DESIGN
Randomized clinical trial, with 3 to 9 years of follow-up.

SETTING AND PATIENTS
Between 1983 and 1989, 29 centers enrolled 1441 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus aged 13 to 39 years, including 726 patients with no retinopathy and a duration of diabetes of 1 to 5 years (primary prevention cohort) and 715 patients with very mild to moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy and a duration of diabetes of 1 to 15 years (secondary intervention cohort). Ninety-five percent of all scheduled examinations were completed.

INTERVENTIONS
Intensive treatment consisted of the administration of insulin at least three times a day by injection or pump, with doses adjusted based on self-blood glucose monitoring and with the goal of normoglycemia. Conventional treatment consisted of one or two daily insulin injections.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Change between baseline and follow-up visits on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study retinopathy severity scale, assessed with masked gradings of stereoscopic color fundus photographs obtained every 6 months.

RESULTS
Cumulative 8.5-year rates of retinopathy progression by three or more steps at two consecutive visits were 54.1% with conventional treatment and 11.5% with intensive treatment in the primary prevention cohort and 49.2% and 17.1% in the secondary intervention cohort. At the 6- and 12-month visits, a small adverse effect of intensive treatment was noted ("early worsening"), followed by a beneficial effect that increased in magnitude with time. Beyond 3.5 years of follow-up, the risk of progression was five or more times lower with intensive treatment than with conventional treatment. Once progression occurred, subsequent recovery was at least two times more likely with intensive treatment than with conventional treatment. Treatment effects were similar in all baseline retinopathy severity subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial strongly support the recommendation that most patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus use intensive treatment, aiming for levels of glycemia as close to the nondiabetic range as is safely possible.


Quality improvement of ramie leaves silage by the addition of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) sources as many as 20% W/W fresh substance (FS) prior to 42 days of ensiling time was conducted in two experiments. First experiment examined three carbohydrate sources (cassava meal, pollard and coarse grinding corn) for their capacities to improve physical (color, odor, texture and spoilage), fermentative (pH, protein degradation, organic acid profiles), and utilities characteristics of the silages for ruminants (rumen fermentabilities and digestibilities) in vitro . The silages had bright greenish brown of color, lactic acid odor, and firm textures, categorized as highly fermentable and digestible feeds (dry matter digestibility >72%). Compare to other additives, cassava meal produced better silage. However, high butyric acid and protein degradation proportions in the silage were not seem in line to these data. Coarse grinding corn failed to do its function therefore produced poor silage quality. Second experiment was designed to confirm the previous results. Five carbohydrate sources (cassava meal, pollard, fine grinding corn, rice bran, and cassava extract meal) of the same functions were examined. The results confirmed that cassava meal produced very good ramie leave silages (Fleigh number >80) while the others produced quite good ramie leaves silage qualities (Fleigh number 40-60). All additives used in the second experiment successed to serve their functions in improving ramie leave silage qualities.


This article aims to investigate the validity of criticism of what is known as psychologist-transmission communication  theory. It is accepted that theories which support the idea that communication is a process of conveying  (transmitting) psychological content of the mental states between participants (e.g. theories of Jakobson, Hovland, Newcomb et al.) are examples of the approach. There are doubts about such views, which arise from the assumptions of anti-psychologism and anti-mentalism (such as Frege, Husserl), as well as the rejection of traditional notions of subjectivity in philosophy after the linguistic turn. In order to justify the criticism the position of the "late" Wittgenstein is invoked, according to which communication activities (as well as thinking, understanding etc.) need not be considered as correlated to mental acts.


Ferrite stainless steel has been widely used in foreign automobile vent pipe. During the production of domestic automobile vent pipe, because the crystal grains of welding Joint heat-affected zone are not refined by heat treatment and become very big, forming properties of cold machining of ferrite stainless steel become bad. In order to optimize welding technology, the temperature field of laser welding joint of stainless steel automobile vent pipe is simulated. The temperature field model of laser welding joint of 409 L stainless steel pipe is built based on the pair heat source model. At the same time, the affecting factors are considered, such as thermal radiation, phase change latent heat, thermophysical properties of materials with temperature changes and the spread of convective heat in the liquid metal in the model. The temperature field in different welding parameters are simulated. The impact of process parameters on the temperature distribution is acquired. The experimental results can help works, such as accurately understanding laser welding thermal process, predictive control of welding stress and deformation, and improving cold forming quality of automobile vent pipe.


We present the case of a 40-year-old man with rapidly deteriorating acute meningoencephalitis, finally diagnosed as eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). The course and timing in this patient are quite characteristic. EEE is an arthropod borneviral illness in which the mosquito serves as the vector. It is amongst the most severe of the arbovirus encephalitides and has a high mortality and morbidity. In nonfatal cases, residual neurological deficits are often severe and permanent. North American lineage of EEE is mainly found in the northeast especially along the coastal areas. EEE is primarily found in horses and other domestic mammals that remain outdoors nocturnally. In humans, symptoms range from nonspecific constitutional features to catastrophic neurological sequelae including death. Hyponatremia and increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) white blood cell count are independent predictors of poor outcomes. Diagnosis is suggestive by demonstrating IgM antibody in blood or CSF samples and can be confirmed by other serologic assay including immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Measures recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for prevention include using repellents, protective clothing, screens, and eradication of mosquito breeding areas. EEE remains without cure and prevention is the best medicine.


Bit-interleaved coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (BIC-OFDM) is a popular transmission format for high and also some low data rate power line communication (PLC) systems. In this paper, we consider the problem of optimizing the BIC-OFDM transmitter based on channel information feedback from the receiver side. In particular, the problem of adaptive bit-loading, power allocation, and code (rate) selection for bit-error rate (BER) minimization is addressed. To this end, we first derive BER approximations for BIC-OFDM. The main difference between this analysis and many previous works on adaptive OFDM for PLC is that we include the effect of coding on BER. In the next step, we use the derived expression to formulate adaptive BIC-OFDM for BER minimization and show that the optimization problem can be solved efficiently using greedy-type algorithms. Finally, we propose a simple formula to predict the performance of the optimized system.


Visual servo control uses images that are obtained by a camera for robotic control. This study focuses on the problem of positioning a target object using a robotic manipulator with image-based visual servo (IBVS) control. To perform the positioning task, the image-based visual servoing requires visual features that can be extracted from the appearance of the target object. Therefore, a positioning error tends to increase especially for textureless objects, such as industrial parts. Since it is difficult to extract differences of the visual features between current and goal images. To solve these problems, this paper presents a novel visual servoing named ``Active Visual Servoing." Active Visual Servoing (AVS) projects patterned light onto the target object using a projector. The design of the projection pattern affects the positioning error. AVS uses an optimal pattern which is theoretically derived and maximizes differences between current and goal images. The experimental results show that the proposed active visual servoing method reduces the positioning error by more than 97% compared to conventional image-based visual servoing.


The recent advances in experimental petrography together with the information derived from the super-deep drilling projects have provided additional constraints for the interpretation of refraction and reflection seismic data. These constraints can also be used in the interpretation of magnetic and gravity data to resolve nonuniqueness. In this study, we re-interpret the magnetic and gravity data of the Italian peninsula and neighbouring areas. In view of the constraints mentioned above, it is now possible to find an agreement between the seismic and gravity models of the Central Alps. By taking into account the overall crustal thickness, we have recognized the existence of three types of Moho: 1) European which extends to the north and west of the peninsula and in the Corsican-Sardinian block. Its margin was the foreland in the Alpine Orogeny and it was the ramp on which European and Adriatic mantle and crustal slices were overthrusted. This additional load caused bending and deepening and the Moho which now lies beneath the Adriatic plate reaching a maximum depth of approximately 75 km. 2) Adriatic (or African) which lies beneath the Po plain, the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea. The average depth of the Moho is about 30-35 km below the Po plain and the Adriatic Sea and it increases toward the Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea (acting as foreland along this margin). The maximum depth (50 km) is reached in Calabria. 3) Pery-Tyrrhenian. This is an oceanic or thinned continental crust type of Moho. It borders the oceanic Moho of the Tyrrhenian Sea and it acquires a transitional character in the Ligurian and Provencal basins (<15 km thickness) while further thickening occurs toward the East where the Adriatic plate is overthrusted. In addition, the interpretation of the heat flow data appears to confirm the origin of this Moho and its geodynamic allocation.


Deciphering the diversity of the banana complex needs a joint characterization and analysis of the original wild species and their relatives, primitive diploid forms and triploid derived varieties. Sexuality, the primary source of diversity, is strongly disrupted in the cultivated varieties (sterility, parthenocarpy and vegetative propagation) by human selection of vegetatively maintained punctuated mutations. Many biological tools are available for characterizing this diversity, each one illustrating some peculiar facets, and we show that their joint analysis enables an evolutionary reading of this diversity. We propose various scenarios regarding the structure of wild species, on the domestication of the edible diploids from hybrids between wild forms, on the direct ancestry of triploids from cultivated diploids, and on the ancient migrations dispersing cultivated forms around the world. The comparison with data from archaeology, linguistics and human genetics will enable the validation, refinement and dating of the proposed domestication process.


Outpatients with cancer have an increased risk of venous thrombosis, especially during chemotherapy. Clinical trials have shown that thromboprophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin reduces the incidence of symptomatic venous thrombosis in these patients. An increase in major bleeding events was suggested but not confirmed in most recent trials. However, as the incidence of venous thrombosis is relatively low in the general cancer population, thromboprophylaxis should not be recommended for all cancer outpatients. Instead, to optimize the risk/benefit ratio, targeted thromboprophylaxis for patients deemed at high risk is recommended. Risk prediction models may be used to identify these high risk patients. Until results of clinical trials based on these models are published, thromboprophylaxis can be considered in patients with advanced or metastatic high risk cancers (e.g. pancreatic and lung cancer) who are receiving chemotherapy and have no increased risk of bleeding. Because of the many uncertainties, the decision to start thromboprophylaxis should always be discussed with the patient.


In recent years numerous position papers (Visscher, 2001; Wang, Shieh, & Wang, 2008) have been written about the need for ensuring the efficient and effective performance of educational institutions and an increasing number of policy makers are advocating that educational institutions be held accountable for their performance. Our purpose in this study was to construct performance indicators (PIs) for comprehensive high schools (CHSs), which provide general and occupational education programs. A literature review was completed, a panel discussion held, and field interviews were conducted. An analytical hierarchy process was used to make decisions on a framework of PIs for CHSs in Taiwan. The 2 main conclusions were that the most important indicator of performance in CHSs is the domain of "student and development" and that the difference between the experts' and practitioners' viewpoints on those schools' performances should be addressed in the near future.


The Country of Origin (COO) and branded product are concepts that have been studied widely in social science. This is manifested in the movement and progress of studies related to these concepts from simple to sophisticated and in-depth ones. However, previous studies still have many limitations and have recommended further research in this field. Among these limitations is the restricted geographical spread of study areas, as most of the previous COO studies have been conducted in the United States, Canada, and other developed countries. Another gap in the extant COO literature is the scarcity of food product studies, as most of the COO studies have concerned durable goods such as cars, T.V. sets, appliances, etc.
The food product studies found are rarely related to the effect of COO on buying intention or consumer perception; hence, a study of the effect of COO and branded product on food products is an addition to the literature.
Moreover, previous COO research suffers from an inadequate assessment of the reliability and validity of the widely used measurement scales. Adapted scales for COO, branded product and brand parity that fit the culture and the research product have been developed specifically for this research. These scales are reasonably valid and reliable. A process for scale adaptation has been developed using a qualitative approach; this process can be followed in any similar studies in future.
An attempt is made to address these limitations in this study, which examines how Saudis, as Muslim consumers, use the Country of Origin (COO) and branded product cues in their buying intention decisions and how their socioeconomic characteristics, ethnocentrism and perceptions about brand parity affect their perception of COO and branded product. Based on a thorough literature review, an analytical model that depicts the different relationships between the research constructs and the research hypotheses has been developed.
A complementary qualitative and quantitive approach has been used in this research, and the outcome of combining the two methods has strengthened the reliability of the research findings. The process of combining the two methods has been proven to be a prudent decision, as the use of only one of these methods may have resulted in misleading findings.
A qualitative approach, including an exploratory study and focus groups, has been used to gain an in-depth understanding of the different dimensions of the theoretical concepts of the research and to discover which of the variables can conceptualize each of them in the Saudi setting. This process has assisted in adapting the construct scales that were developed in a different setting, as using the scales in the Saudi culture without adaptation was inappropriate. Therefore, the qualitative approach was a prerequisite for this research.
A quantitative approach (survey) has been used as the research approach after developing appropriate scales for each construct and putting them together in a well-designed questionnaire. The instrument was pre-tested and found to be appropriate. The data was collected in Saudi Arabia from two purposive quota sub-samples of 400 women in each sub-sample; the respondents were women who regularly buy the research product (chicken).
A wide range of statistical analysis techniques was used. These techniques include descriptive statistics, correlation, regression and ANOVA.
Regarding the overall objective of this study to explore the effects of Saudi consumers' perception about country of origin and branded product on their buying intention, the study results reveal that the political, cultural, and religious dimensions have a significant effect on consumers' buying intention for chicken from most of the countries under consideration, whereas the economic and technological dimensions play a very minor role in influencing consumers' chicken buying intention. This is exactly opposite to the situation with durable goods, such as automobiles, where the technological and economical dimensions play an important role in influencing consumers' buying intention. These findings prove the importance of the effect of the product category, as different product categories will have different effects on how consumers perceive the COO. This study mainly focues on consumers' perceptions towards whole chicken , as it is normal form of purchase in the Saudi market.
Furthermore, the study results show that the respondents' perception about all the dimensions of the branded product have no effect on their buying intention of those brands in the case of seven out of the eight countries under consideration. The weak effect of the different dimensions of the branded product concept on the consumers' buying intention of chicken branded product might be attributed to the minor emphasis on and limited use of the branded product as information cue in the consumers' buying decision in the case of the chicken as a fast-moving food product. The product category again proves its importance in this research; the weak effect of brands on the buying intention of chicken as the research product shows that the brand effect may be high or low depending on the product category.
It has been found that brand parity does not exist in the case of branded chicken and is not significally correlated with branded product construct, which may explain the scarcity of such studies in the literature.
Ethnocentrism was proven to have an effect on the Saudi female consumers' buying intention, which means that Saudi women may buy a local product even if they perceive that an imported product is of better quality. In addition, it has been proven that various demographic factors may explain the differences in consumer perception of COO.
Thus, the conclusion is reached that the importance of each of the COO dimensions and the branded product as an information cue in influencing buying decision depends on the type of product.
The research has conceptualisation and methodological contributions that reflect the importance of this study. The conceptualisation contributions are, firstly, the COO conceptualisation, which has been adapted to include the cultural and religious dimensions in order to be appropriate to the study area (Saudi Arabia) and the research product and, secondly, the branded product, which has been conceptualised to include the brand as a person and the brand as a product. The third contribution is that the research has studied the joint effect of COO and brand simultaneously. The final contribution is the conceptualisation of brand parity, which has been dealt with in this study in a different manner than in previous studies.
The methodological contributions are: a) the use of the focus group data collection technique in a conservative society, in this case Saudi Arabia, and b) the process of adapting the scales for this study, which represents a significant contribution that may be useful to other researchers.
The study's main policy and empirical implication is the recognition of the differing effects of COO of different countries for Saudi consumers, and the differing effects of COO dimensions. This proves the importance of studying different countries and different products in order to find the real effect of the COO and its implication for policy makers' decisions.
Nevertheless, the study has certain limitations. Among these is the fact that the scales used for COO have relatively low reliability and the conceptualisation of COO requires improvement. The scarcity of food product studies in Saudi Arabia restricted the arguments that could be used to compare and support the study findings. The limited study of the religious effect is another limitation. The difficulty the researcher experienced in gaining access to the executives during the preliminary exploratory study also placed certain limitations on the results. The final limitation was related to the difficulty of conducting the focus group in such a conservative country, particularly when the participants were women, as was the case in this research.
 Suggestions are made for further studies that could enrich the literature in this area. These are, firstly, that the differential relevance and importance of the different dimensions of the COO and branded product constructs for different products and different consumers' require further examination. Secondly, methodologically, more comprehensive analytical models could be used and, lastly, a full re-modelling of the research model utilised in this study is suggested.


I Warren JR. Unidentified curved bacilli on gastric epithelium in active chronic gastritis. Lancet 1983;i: 1273. 2 Marshall B. Unidentified curved bacilli on gastric epithelium in active chronic gastritis. Lancet 1983;i: 1273-5. 3 Langenberg M-L, Tytgat GNJ, Schipper MEl, Rietra PJGM, Zanen HC. Campylobacter-like organisms in the stomach of patients and healthy individuals. Lancet 1984;i: 1348. 4 Marshall BJ, Armstrong JA, McGechie DB, Glancy RJ. Attempt to fulfil Koch's postulates for pyloric campylobacter. Med J7 Aust 1985;142:436-9. 5 Rathbone BJ, Wyatt JI, Worslev BW, Trejdosiewicz LK, Heatley RV, Losowsky MS. Immune response to Campylobacter pyloridis. Lancet 1985;i: 1217.


Determination of genetic diversity is useful for plant breeding and hence production of more efficient plant varieties under different conditions. Accordingly, a collection of 74 accessions of landraces and cultivated varieties of barley from different countries, mainly from the Fertile Crescent were selected, grown and analyzed for phenotypic diversity. The field experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, An-Najah National University, Tulkarm (Khadouri), Palestine in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Initially, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to test for significant differences among barley accessions in measured traits. A twostep cluster analysis was performed using the eleven measured traits to determine the optimal number of clusters based on Shwarz's Bayesian Criterion (BIC) then, a dendrogram was constructed using the Hierarchical Cluster analysis with Ward's clustering method based on Squared Euclidean Distances. ANOVA revealed highly significant differences among barley accessions in all studied traits. Based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the first four extracted components explained 76.1% of the total variation in the 11 studied traits. The clustering analyses revealed two main clusters each can be further divided into two sub-clusters. The first cluster included 41 accessions and the second cluster included 33 accessions. Such variation among studied accessions can be utilized in designing new breeding programs and crossing nurseries for barley improvement.


[1] Because of the depth attenuation of wave orbital velocity, wave-induced bed shear stress is much more sensitive to changes in total water depth than tidal-induced bed shear stress. The ratio between wave- and tidal-induced bed shear stress in many shelf sea regions has varied considerably over the recent geological past because of combined eustatic changes in sea level and isostatic adjustment. In order to capture the high-frequency nature of wind events, a two-dimensional spectral wave model is here applied at high temporal resolution to time slices from 12 ka BP to present using paleobathymetries of the NW European shelf seas. By contrasting paleowave climates and bed shear stress distributions with present-day conditions, the model results demonstrate that, in regions of the shelf seas that remained wet continuously over the last 12,000 years, annual root-mean-square (rms) and peak wave heights increased from 12 ka BP to present. This increase in wave height was accompanied by a large reduction in the annual rms wave-induced bed shear stress, primarily caused by a reduction in the magnitude of wave orbital velocity penetrating to the bed for increasing relative sea level. In regions of the shelf seas which remained wet over the last 12,000 years, the annual mean ratio of wave- to (M2) tidal-induced bed shear stress decreased from 1 (at 12 ka BP) to its present-day value of 0.5. Therefore compared to present-day conditions, waves had a more important contribution to large-scale sediment transport processes in the Celtic Sea and the northwestern North Sea at 12 ka BP.


With the rapid development of Internet, how to find useful information rapidly is becoming more and more important. General search engines somewhat satisfy users' search needs. However, they do not consider users' interests or background. Search engine will be more personal, intelligent and professional. It is necessary that personalized search engines come to reality. This paper designed and realized personalized search engines system by learning user feedback information. System can be able to optimize searching results and return the results that user is most interested in, also can tell users about other users' interested modes, in order to make users share searching results with each other and improve the efficiency of searching.


Given Russia's leading position in the world wheat trade, how well its grain markets function becomes very important question to evaluate the state of future global food security. We use a threshold vector error correction model to explicitly account for the influence of trade costs on price relationships in the grain markets of Russia and the USA. In addition, we study impact of market characteristics on regional wheat market integration. Empirical evaluation shows that distance between markets, interregional trade flows, export orientation, export tax and export ban all have a significant impact on the magnitude of wheat market integration.


The formation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by the enzyme L-alpha-glycerophosphate oxidase(MpGlpO) is essential for the pathogenesis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae. M. pneumoniae is apathogen that targets the human respiratory tract, causing at least 40% of all pneumoniaeinfections, with the most common symptom being tracheobronchitis in children. MpGlpO relayselectrons from L-alpha-glycerophosphate to molecular oxygen to form the productsdihydroxyacetone phosphate and hydrogen peroxide. Because the formation of hydrogenperoxide is essential for M. pneumoniae pathogenesis, the MpGlpO enzyme has emerged as apotential therapeutic target for pneumoniae infections. Recently an X-ray crystal structure of theapo form MpGlpO was determined. Based on features of the proposed active site, a model ofglycerophosphate binding was proposed. This study is focused on mutating amino acids that arepredicted from the model to bind the glycerophosphate substrate to confirm their role in thecatalytic cycle. We were especially interested in investigating the hypothesis that a catalyticbase is required for deprotonation of the glycerophosphate substrate, in particular if the histidineresidue was essential for catalysis. MpGlpO wild-type and mutants H51A, H51Q, and S348A proteins were expressed and purified from E. coli resulting in 22, 2, 11 and 21 mg of proteinrespectively from 4.8 liters of Terrific Broth. The activity of the purified enzymes weredetermined by a ABTS-HRP coupled assay to be 34.7 +/- 4.6 U*mg-1, 0.45 +/- 0.18 U*mg-1,2.22 +/- 0.34 U*mg-1 and 0.62 +/- 0.22 U*mg-1 for wild-type, H51A, H51Q, and S348Arespectively. Our results, and the results of our collaborators, indicate that the reaction can stillproceed without a catalytic base, but we have identified histidine 51 and serine 348 as havingimportant roles in hydrogen bonding the glycerophosphate substrate in the MpGlpO reaction.Reactivity of the mutants indicates that neither residue acts as the essential base. Future workwill focus on understanding the contribution of other residues in the active site that are predictedto bind the substrate.


Background: It is imperative to identify drugs that allow treating symptoms of severe COVID-19. Respiratory failure is the main cause of death in severe COVID-19 patients, and the host inflammatory response at the lungs remains poorly understood. Methods: Therefore, we retrieved data from post-mortem lungs from COVID-19 patients and performed in-depth in silico analyses of single-nucleus RNA sequencing data, inflammatory protein interactome network, and shortest pathways to physiological phenotypes to reveal potential therapeutic targets and drugs in advanced-stage COVID-19 clinical trials. Results: Herein, we analyzed transcriptomics data of 719 inflammatory response genes across 19 cell types (116,313 nuclei) from lung autopsies. The functional enrichment analysis of the 233 significantly expressed genes showed that the most relevant biological annotations were inflammatory response, innate immune response, cytokine production, interferon production, macrophage activation, blood coagulation, NLRP3 inflammasome complex, and the TLR, JAK-STAT, NF-κB, TNF, oncostatin M signaling pathways. Subsequently, we identified 34 essential inflammatory proteins with both high-confidence protein interactions and shortest pathways to inflammation, cell death, glycolysis, and angiogenesis. Conclusion: We propose three small molecules (baricitinib, eritoran, and montelukast) that can be considered for treating severe COVID-19 symptoms after being thoroughly evaluated in COVID-19 clinical trials.


A free-floating planet (FFP) is a planetary-mass object that orbits around a non-stellar massive object (e.g. a brown dwarf) or around the Galactic Centre. The presence of exomoons orbiting FFPs has been theoretically predicted by several models. Under specific conditions, these moons are able to retain an atmosphere capable of ensuring the long-term thermal stability of liquid water on their surface. We model this environment with a one-dimensional radiative-convective code coupled to a gas-phase chemical network including cosmic rays and ion-neutral reactions. We find that, under specific conditions and assuming stable orbital parameters over time, liquid water can be formed on the surface of the exomoon. The final amount of water for an Earth-mass exomoon is smaller than the amount of water in Earth oceans, but enough to host the potential development of primordial life. The chemical equilibrium time-scale is controlled by cosmic rays, the main ionization driver in our model of the exomoon atmosphere.


This paper proposes a new framework for linear active circuits that can encompass both circuit analysis and synthesis. The framework is based on a definition of port equivalence for admittance matrices. This is extended to cover circuits with ideal active elements through the introduction of a special type of limit-variable called the infinity-variable (infin-variable). A theorem is developed for matrices containing infin-variables that may be utilized in both circuit analysis and synthesis. The notation developed in this framework can describe nonideal elements as well as ideal elements and therefore the framework encompasses systematic circuit modeling


A convergent and operationally simple method for the preparation of N-linked glycopeptides was highlighted in the preparation of three glycopeptide fragments of erythropoietin. These fragments were assembled by ligation chemistry in the first total synthesis of erythropoietin bearing four glycans. This methodology should find far-reaching applications in the synthesis of a whole range of glycoproteins for biological study.


The natural grasslands play a significant but poorly recognized role in the global carbon cycle. Research on NPP of grassland ecosystems is and will continue to be important. In this respect, climate–vegetation models have been drawing much attention and widely applied internationally owing to its simplicity. Grassland types and their distribution pattern could be corresponded with certain climatic types in a series of mathematical forms. Thus, the climate could be used to predict grassland types and their distribution. But there is not a NPP model based on a grassland classification system until now. This paper is to introduce a new model based on the Integrated Orderly Classification System of Grassland (IOCSG), named the classification indices model. The analysis demonstrates that use of the IOCSG and the model to study grassland succession and NPP associated with global climate change is a new research approach.


Eutrophication is reported as the most important water quality issue around the world. The potential death of Lake Winnipeg, the world's ninth largest lake, is a dramatic exampe of this ecological disater in Canda. Property price devaluation, tourist repulsion, and toxicity due to eutrophication cause the annual economic losses over $3 billion in Europe, South and North America. The objective of this thesis is to develop an efficient biological nutrient removal reactor to be commercialized and used in the water/wastewater treatment industry. This bioreactor has a unique configuration which is filed as a US patent technology called "Compact Upright Bioreactor for the Elimination of Nutrients", invented by M. Alvarez Cuenca and M. Reza. It consists of four stages including Deaeration, Anoxic, Anaerobic and Aerobic where Do removal, denitrification and phosphorus removal processes take place respectively. The bioreactor performs very well obtaining 100% Do removal and 98% nitrate removal efficiency. The phosphorus removal process requires much longer operational period to reach steady state. The phosphorus removal process shows variable results having a maximum of 60% removal success.


With rising fuel prices and limited budgets, transportation providers are more frequently being asked to work cooperatively with other agencies to ensure the most cost-effective service delivery. This situation is particularly true for transportation for human services needs: public transportation providers and human services agencies are being asked to coordinate their efforts to ensure maximum productivity at minimum cost. Over the years, one commonly reported hindrance to coordination efforts is the lack of a common, systematic approach to documentation of transportation services and their costs. Many studies found that agencies that provide transportation services need better cost and service accounting to support coordination efforts. This paper results from work conducted for TCRP that described how costs should be allocated and shared among all stakeholders. The results of this project include a common framework for recording and reporting of transportation costs and services, whether they are provided by transit agencies or human services transportation providers and whether the transportation providers are large or small operations. Other products of the TCRP project include a transportation services cost-sharing model (developed in Excel format) and instructions on how to apply that model to community transportation services.


The run by run controller provides a framework for controlling a process which is subject to disturbances such as shifts and drifts as a normal part of its operation. The run by run controller combines the advantages of both statistical process control (SPC) and feedback control. It has three components: rapid mode, gradual mode, and generalized SPC. Rapid mode adapts to sudden shifts in the process such as those caused by maintenance operations. Gradual mode adapts to gradual drifts in the process such as those caused by build-up of deposition inside a reactor. The choice between the two modes is determined by the outcome from generalized SPC which allows SPC to be applied to a process while it is being tuned. The run by run controller has been applied to the control of a silicon epitaxy process in a barrel reactor. Rapid mode recovered the process within 3 runs after a disturbance. Gradual mode reduced the variation of the process by a factor of 2.7 as compared to historical data. >


Abstract The law makes provision for further evidence to be adduced even after the completion of the trial. However, the courts only allow such further evidence in exceptional circumstances and have repeatedly stated that such power should be exercised sparingly. This entrenched approach, based on an approach established in S v de Jager, starts with a pre-disposition against the adducing of further evidence. The constitutional imperatives of a fair trial, which in turn also guide a court of appeal in determining its own processes, should be interpreted to give content to substance over processes. It is the need to give effect to these constitutional imperatives that belies the core argument of this article that the de Jager test be modified so that the inquiry starts from a premise that enquires whether the evidence will affect the outcome of the case with the other two requirements serving a subordinate role.


Foeniculum vulgare (Fennel), generally known as Saunf belonging to Apiacae family is one of the most popular and widely used medicinal plants in traditional medicine. Fennel contains volatile compounds, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, fatty acids, and amino acids. There is no documented report on utility of Fennel in psychiatric disorders in literature. Therefore, this study was undertaken to explore antipsychotic potential of Fennel using Ketamine- induced stereotypic behaviour in mice, pole climbing avoidance in rats and swim induced grooming in mice. Fennel, when administered orally to rodents in two different concentrations of 500mg/kg and 1000mg/kg for 21 days, inhibited Ketamine -induced stereotypic behaviour, reduced swim -induced grooming behaviour and decreased pole - climb avoidance behaviour. In our biochemical estimations both, brain dopamine level and acetyl cholinesterase activity were significantly reduced by Fennel whereas, brain glutathione levels were remarkably increased by Fennel. These findings taken together reveal anti-psychotic potential of Fennel.


Jock Lewis died in the Paddington train crash. His fiancee Minty even received a letter from Great Western. But she never heard from the police, and Jock had left with all her savings. When a mysterious dark-haired man appears at Minty's home, at work, even in the cinema, she knows it must be Jock's ghost. But ghosts are grey and don't wear leather jackets...Five women, all unknown to each other, are the simultaneous unwilling victims of one man, a morally corrupt criminal who exploits them all and then suddenly, suspiciously, disappears. As this mystery man of shadows returns, and five women are haunted by a living nightmare, Minty begins to wonder...Can you kill a ghost?


We study the relationship between the political connections of Chinese firms and workplace fatalities. In our preferred specification, we find that the worker death rate for connected companies is two to three times that of unconnected firms (depending on the sample employed), a pattern that holds for withinfirm estimations. The connections–mortality relationship is attenuated in provinces where safety regulators' promotion is contingent on meeting safety targets. In the absence of fatalities, connected firms receive fewer reports of major violations for safety compliance, whereas in years of fatal accidents the rate of reported violations is identical. Moreover, fatal accidents produce negative returns at connected companies and are associated with the subsequent departure of well-connected executives. These results provide suggestive evidence that connections enable firms to avoid (potentially costly) compliance measures, rather than using connections to avoid regulatory response after accidents occur. Our findings emphasize the social costs of political connections, and suggest that appropriate regulatory incentives may be useful in mitigating these costs.


Introduction: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation resulting in damage to articular cartilage and the underlying bone. The formation of anti-citrullinated proteins (ACPAs) is a hallmark of RA. ACPAs target proteins which have been citrullinated by Peptidyl-Arginine Deiminase (PAD), such as PAD4 in neutrophils. Periodontitis (PD) is caused by periodontal pathogens, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis (PG). PG is the only known bacterium to possess its own PAD enzyme; PPAD. Furthermore, neutrophils attracted to the inflamed periodontium can perform a process named Neutrophil Extracellular Trap formation; (NET)osis. During NETosis, neutrophils eject intracellular compartments, which are citrullinated by their own PAD. It is hypothesized that PPAD in the periodontium is able to hypercitrullinate these excreted extracellular components. Due to this hypercitrullination, susceptible individuals initiate a loss of tolerance to citrullinated proteins and begin to generate ACPAs. This ACPA formation can result in the induction of RA. The aim of this study was to assess the role of neutrophils when they come into contact with PG and PPAD in terms of inducing NETosis and citrullinating NET-constituents.
Methods: NETosis of stimulated or unstimulated healthy donor neutrophils was quantified using a SYTOX assay which measures extracellular DNA. PAD4 protein production has been visualized
using the Western Blot method. Immunofluorescence Microscopy has been performed on coverslips to visualize NETosis and citrullination of histone H3. After optimization of these methods, co-cultures of neutrophils with several PG strains (PG-ATCC, PG-W83) and their PPAD mutants (ΔPG-ATCC, ΔPG-W83) have been performed. An in-house made PAD-assay was used to measure PAD4 activity. During these experiments, the effects of Cl-Amidine (CLA), a pan-PAD
inhibitor, have been assessed.
Results: Neutrophil PAD4 protein production is upregulated after stimulation. CLA inhibits this effect and is also able to inhibit direct PAD-enzyme activity, but not NETosis itself. When PG-ATCC or ΔPG-ATCC is co-cultured with neutrophils, it gets phagocytosed. However, when neutrophils were pre-stimulated with PMA to form NETs and subsequently addition of PG-ATCC or ΔPG-ATCC occurred, PG-ATCC – but not ΔPG-ATCC – would hypercitrullinate histone H3 within NETs. PG-W83 and ΔPG-W83 induced NETosis – and possibly hypercitrullination – when co-cultured with neutrophils.
Discussion & Conclusion: A clear difference in interaction between different PG strains and neutrophils is observed in vitro. PG-ATCC and its mutant were both phagocytosed by neutrophils, whereas both PG-W83 strains induced NETosis and supposedly hypercitrullination of histone H3. After pre-stimulation of neutrophils, even clearer hypercitrullination of histone H3 was observed. However, a larger diversity of PG strains should be used in these experiments to determine more differences in virulence. Moreover, if NETs – and preferably hypercitrullination – could be shown in periodontal tissue of PD/RA patients, the hypothesis would become more plausible. Even
though no clear conclusion could be drawn due to inconsistency of the data, it can be stated that PG is probably able to citrullinate human proteins and is highly likely to be capable of hypercitrullinating NETs and could therefore very well be the causative pathogen of the
pathogenesis of RA.


Character identification plays a vital role in the contemporary world of Image processing. It can solve many composite problems and makes humans work easier. An instance is Handwritten Character detection. Handwritten recognition is not a novel expertise, but it has not gained community notice until Now. The eventual aim of designing Handwritten Character recognition structure with an accurateness rate of 100% is pretty illusionary. Tamil Handwritten Character recognition system uses the Neural Networks to distinguish them. Neural Network and structural characteristics are used to instruct and recognize written characters. After training and testing the exactness rate reached 99%. This correctness rate is extremely high. In this paper we are exploring image processing through the Hilditch algorithm foundation and structural characteristics of a character in the image. And we recognized some character of the Tamil language, and we are trying to identify all the character of Tamil In our future works.


"-We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants", John of Salisbury's famous quote, later made even more famous by Newton, is often used to explain how researchers, artists, or whoever, uses previous knowledge to build upon when exploring the new. Those impressive giants of fashion, Poiret, Vionnet, Balenciaga, Yamamoto, just to mention a few, how do we get up on their shoulders and how can we be able to see what they saw and possibly even further? This paper will highlight that educating designers only differs slightly from training athletes. When teaching new techniques the area of training is broken down to graspable components and focus is on one muscle or move at a time. One first needs to get every individual step right, then our performance might improve. Copying is needed for developing creativity, repeating the past is one of the corner stones within fashion design. If I would need to put forward one formula for making a successful fashion collection I would say that the collection should be perceived as totally new and groundbreaking while at the same time being familiar and recognizable to the viewer. To achieving this one will need to bring in aspects already familiar to the audience but we need to bring copying further than that. I will show that imitation is not only a fundamental activity when learning practical skills but also has an essential part in teaching creativity.


This review article documents how Amoris Laetitia has been received and implemented, five years after the post-synodal exhortation on family life was promulgated by Pope Francis. Theological engagement with and pastoral applications of Amoris Laetitia have already proven life giving as we celebrate the Year of the Family in local contexts, even as questions remain about how best to interpret the document. Many of those questions center on how chapter 8 should be read vis-à-vis the tradition—whether it is a corruption of the tradition, a restating of the tradition, or a coherent development of the tradition.


High-performance data-intensive query processing tasks like OLAP, data mining or scientific data analysis can be severely I/O bound, even when high-end RAID storage systems are used. Compression can alleviate this bottleneck only if encoding and decoding speeds significantly exceed RAID I/O bandwidth. For this purpose, we propose three new versatile compression schemes (PDICT, PFOR, and PFOR-DELTA) that are specifically designed to extract maximum IPC from modern CPUs. We compare these algorithms with compression techniques used in (commercial) database and information retrieval systems. Our experiments on the MonetDB/X100 database system, using both DSM and PAX disk storage, show that these techniques strongly accelerate TPC-H performance to the point that the I/O bottleneck is eliminated.


Background The purpose of the present study was to introduce a new device specifically designed to evaluate the cutting efficiency of mechanically driven endodontic instruments. Material/Methods Twenty new Reciproc R25 (VDW, Munich, Germany) files were used to be investigated in the new device developed to test the cutting ability of endodontic instruments. The device consists of a main frame to which a mobile plastic support for the hand-piece is connected and a stainless-steel block containing a Plexiglas block against which the cutting efficiency of the instruments was tested. The length of the block cut in 1 minute was measured in a computerized program with a precision of 0.1mm. The instruments were activated by using a torque-controlled motor (Silver Reciproc; VDW, Munich, Germany) in a reciprocating movement by the "Reciproc ALL" program (Group 1) and in counter-clockwise rotation at 300 rpm (Group 2). Mean and standard deviations of each group were calculated and data were statistically analyzed with a one-way ANOVA test (P<0.05). Results Reciproc in reciprocation (Group 1) mean cut in the Plexiglas block was 8.6 mm (SD=0.6 mm), while Reciproc in rotation mean cut was 8.9 mm (SD=0.7 mm). There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups investigated (P>0.05). Conclusions The cutting testing device evaluated in the present study was reliable and easy to use and may be effectively used to test cutting efficiency of both rotary and reciprocating mechanical endodontic instruments.


Customs administrations, worldwide, are adopting the trend towards risk-based processing of international cargoes as a means of facilitating trade. This has lead to the introduction of innovative processes ably supported by technology to realize improvements in customs effectiveness and overall efficiency. Widespread use of e-commerce in trade-customs transactions and exchanges, likewise necessitates complimentary technical support where Customs has need to intervene in a specific import, export or transit consignment. South African Revenue Service (SARS) is presently developing and enhancing its core competencies through training of its personnel in the disciplines of risk management, anti-smuggling and post clearance audit. It therefore becomes essential that these capacity building initiatives be complimented with the most appropriate tools for conducting cargo examination. The current physical examination process and inspection techniques are both time consuming and costly for business and render the goods liable to damage and theft. Recent historical events, specifically the 9/11 tragedy in New York, has caused international organizations such as the G8 and World Customs Organization (WCO) to consider the implications and effects of terrorism on international maritime transportation. The G8 adopted a Co-operative Action Plan on Security covering all aspects of transportation security and the WCO adopted a Resolution on Security and Facilitation of the International Supply Chain. Both initiatives aim to ensure safer and more secure maritime trade on the global scale. Fundamental to SARS Customs ability to successfully implement such measures are the following: Availability of advance electronic customs data Automated risk profiling and targeting capability Availability of non-intrusion inspectional devices (X-ray cargo scanners) to examine cargo. These three criteria are essential for SARS to participate in supply chain security initiatives and to facilitate the transportation of international consignment. Accordingly this research project explores how the external and internal environment impacts on SARS. It further critically analyses the core competencies and resource strengths of SARS. To support SARS in its effort and in its process of starting a project to improve controls and facilitation of goods at ports of entry within the Republic, this study explores and expounds on infrastructure and business application needs of SARS. Finally the research project concludes with a recommendation of the most effective approach towards the implementation of cargo scanner 'shared, outsourced service."


The Province of Cavite, generally regarded as the "heartland of the Revolution" – "pugad ng kagitingan," in the words of Teodora A. Agoncillo – has played an important role in the history of the country. The province is strategically located, in proximity to the center of power and influence, with the highland and lowland areas that have influenced the nature and character of its growth and development, and a waterfront that played a significant role in the commerce and defense, first of Spanish Manila, and then in the later periods of the nation's history. Who/what is a Caviteno? The Caviteno takes extreme pride in being a Caviteno. Cavitenos are identifiable by their accent, their Tagalog/Chabacano vocabulary, their well-known fiery temper and fearless reputation, their violent temper which can explode like an angry volcano, and their readiness to redness any grievance or upload honor and name (the Batanguenos also share this reputation, as well other ethnic groups). I am inclined to think that there is something about the society and culture of Cavitenos that distinguish them from other Filipinos, even among other Tagalog groups. This is a subject that probably needs study to validate. This paper will survey the historiography of Cavite Province, examining what has been done in the field of its history and culture, and then will look into the gaps that should be filled in the study of the local history of Cavite. More importantly the paper will look at the history of Cavite in the context of national history in order that we may situate the historical developments in the Philippines in totally of Philippine history. I will look only at he works on the history of Cavite Province as local history, similar to the local histories of other provinces already completed and published. Given the ethno-linguistic-cultural communities that comprise the Philippine nation, and given the archipelagic character of its physical landscape, it is not possible to think in terms of a monolithic history of the Philippines. Hence there is probably a need to write the local history of the many regions of the Philippines. In writing the "national history," which should be ultimate goal of Filipino historians, it is important to take into considerations the "histories" of various component groups that need to be woven into whole tapestry of national history and culture.


Polymers are the compounds that includes platics, artificial fibers, rubber, cellulose, and many other materials, including coatings and adhesives. This book presents key data on approximately 200 important polymers currently in industrial use or under study in industrial or academic research. No other single source covers so many polymers or offers such a depth of data. The book standardizes and makes accessible a wealth of essential data for students, teachers, researchers, and other professionals in chemistry and chemical engineering.


Hans Kelsen's (1881-1973) teaching in law covers studies in such topics as the general theory of law, legal philosophy, the general teaching of law, constitutional, administrative and international law. He was also the author of the Austrian Constitution, designed in 1920. Among many of his publications is the Comment of the Charter of the United Nations, published in 1950 in New York City. Among numerous Hans Kelsen's publications, translated into many languages, the best known, which has made the greatest impact, is his book 'Pure Theory of Law', first published in 1934, and the second edition appeared in 1960 together with attachment 'The Justice Problem'. In particular, a comprehensive legal and policy issue in 1929 appears in Kelsen's work 'On the Nature and Value of Democracy'. Pure Theory of Law is a theory of positive law, the science that reads positive law only into normative sense. Kelsen eliminates any non-normative approach. His science of law is based on the legal positivism and leads to the neutrality of government valuables and indifferent provisions of individual. Kelsen disclaims any 'over-positive law' (Recht prapositives), as well as from the natural law. Therefore, the Pure Theory of Law fits for totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Kelsen looks at the legal validity of the justification as the anatomy of positive law. He derives the basis for the validity of norms from a hypothetical, separated from the content The Underlying Rule (Grundnorm). The Underlying Rule, as a formal legal point of accountability for positivity (Zurechnungspunkt), ensures the constitution, which in its turn points out the leading steps of legal procedures. This training was taken by Kelsen from his student and later his colleague Adolf Merkl (1890-1970), and thus through Merkl static interpretation of the law became a dynamic one. Steps of legal procedures assert themselves in hierarchically organised, concretising constitution legislation, such as constitutional law, common law, judicial decisions, administrative regulations and executive acts. The durability of the validity of these rules and their effectiveness is always ensured through legislation, application and obeying the law. In fact, the validity of legal norms terminates when there is no effectiveness mentioned above. Therefore, Merkl demanded for supplementing teaching in legal forms, which relied on Kelsen's Pure Theory of Law, with ideas on the content of the law (Rechtsinhaltsbetrachtung). Kelsen called 'relativity' in his work 'The Essence of Democracy and the Value' as the democratic worldview (Weltanschauung der Democrats). Kelsen's merit is the explanation of possibilities and limitations of law through normative terms, offering to link a fair understanding of the right with its application.


A review dealing with the use of screen-printing technology to manufacture disposable electrodes is presented, covering in details virtually all the publications in the area up to early 1997 and including 206 references. The elements and different strategies on constructing modified electrodes are highlighted. Commercial and Home-made ink recipes are discussed. Microelectrode arrays, built by the combination of photostructuring and screen-printing technologies to the mass production of advanced disposable sensors, are also discussed. Future research trends are predicted.


This paper uses rich data of 79,418 elementary teachers from 5,521 schools in Chile to study the extent of teacher sorting and its association with teacher career paths. A complete analysis of ten measures of teacher quality shows that highly qualified teachers are unequally distributed across schools. Some schools present a large concentration of highly qualified teachers while others do not even have a single one. Schools with a low concentration of highly qualified teachers are more likely to be public and rural, & have a bigger enrollment of low-income and low-performance students. Thus, it is precisely those schools that are most in need. This paper combines the analysis of teacher sorting with teacher career decisions and finds that teacher career paths are associated with the unequal distribution of teachers. At the start of their careers, less qualified teachers are more likely to teach in rural, public, low-income and low-performance schools. These teachers are then more likely to stay in those schools, while less qualified teachers who start working in high-income and high-performing schools are less likely to stay there compared with highly qualified teachers. Education reforms have recognized the key role of teachers. However, efforts have focused on increasing the quality of the teaching workforce and do not target any specific types of schools. This study discusses the lack of targeted policies and educational inequality, & proposes the need for an educational reform.


Cap and trade programs have historically been designed to achieve annual or seasonal reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide from power plants. Emissions reductions may not be temporally coincident with meteorological conditions conducive to the formation of peak ozone and fine particulate matter concentrations. Integrated power system and air quality modeling methods were developed to evaluate time-differentiated emissions price signals on high ozone days in the Mid-Atlantic portion of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grids. Sufficient flexibility exists in the two grids with marked differences in demand and fuel generation mix to accommodate time-differentiated emissions pricing alone or in combination with a season-wide program. System-wide emissions reductions and production costs from time-differentiated pricing are shown to be competitive with those of a season-wide program on high ozone days and would be more cost-effective if the primary policy goal was to target emissions reductions on these days. Time-differentiated pricing layered as a complement to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule had particularly pronounced benefits for the Mid-Atlantic PJM system that relies heavily on coal-fired generation. Time-differentiated pricing aimed at reducing ozone concentrations had particulate matter reduction co-benefits, but if particulate matter reductions are the primary objective, other approaches to time-differentiated pricing may lead to greater benefits.


Slicing technique has been proposed as a mechanism for protecting privacy in microdata publishing. To hide certain customer specific information while releasing the transaction data to a third party. Several anonymization techniques have been used for data publishing. Generalization technique loses considerable amount of information, especially for high dimensional data. Bucketization technique does not have a clear separation between quasi-identifying attributes and sensitive attributes. Slicing preserves better data utility than generalization and bucketization. This technique partitions the data both horizontally and vertically. Slicing can handle high dimensional data.


Volcanoes in Old Norse Mythology details how Viking Age Icelanders, migrating from Scandinavia to a new and volcanically active environment, used Old Norse mythology to understand and negotiate the hazards of the island. These pre-Christian myths recorded in medieval Iceland expound an indigenous Icelandic theory on volcanism that revolves around the activities of supernatural beings, such as the fire-demon Surtr and the gods Odin and Thor. Before the Icelanders were introduced to Christianity and its teachings, they formulated an indigenous theory of volcanism on basis of their traditional mythology much like other indigenous peoples across the world.


In order to explore the influence of the surrounding tropical oceans on the Central American Pacific coast, a Transfer Function Model was fixed to Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies (SSTA) of the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Papagayo, Panama and Quepos time series. As independent variables the following were used: Niño 3.4, Tropical North and South Atlantic indices. These models show that Niño 3.4 has the most important influence over the region when compared with the influence of the other indices, having positive correlation with all the SSTA series. It shows an influence of this index on the relative termocline's depth in front of the Central American Pacific Coast.


Hope lacks an obvious conceptual clarity. Yet, as a defining feature of utopian thought, it suggests a potential for new social relations (Levitas, 2010). To explore such potentiality, this chapter conceptualises "hope-full purpose"—a construction that suggests prefigurative acts which realise new social relations and, thus, reinvigorate organizing. This chapter also draws on the commons— not in Hardin's (1968) tragic terms, but as per Ostrom (1990): full of hope and purpose. The argument is advanced with empirical work carried out online at Medium—a commoning community of social journalism (www.medium.com). Analysis focuses on the hope and purpose found in individual members' contributions. Through an exploration of "hope-full purpose", the chapter argues that hope must remain a shared construct—one which facilitates the transition (as observed in acts of organizing) from individual to collective, and which renders it so potent in the pursuit of new social relations.


The objective of this study was to investigate the utilization of tea mill waste fibers (TMWF) in thermoplastic composites. For this purpose, two plastic types: polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethylene (HDPE), were used as thermoplastic material while TMWF was utilized as a lignocellulosic filler. HDPE or PP and up to 50% TMWF were compounded in the single screw extruder and extrudates were compression molded into thermoplastic composite panels. The effects of plastic type and fiber loading rate on mechanical (flexural, tensile, and impact properties), physical (water absorption and thickness swelling), thermal properties, and morphological of the produced composites were determined. Tensile modulus, flexural modulus, water absorption, and thickness swelling of the produced composites were increased with the rise of the TMWF amount in the thermoplastic matrix. On the other hand, TMWF increase in the thermoplastic matrix reduced the tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength of the produced composites. It should also be noted that both flexural strength and flexural modulus have satisfied the requirements of ASTM D 6662. In the case of thermal properties, addition of TMWF into the thermoplastic matrix did not change the initial degradation significantly. However, the char rate of the composites increased. It appears that tea mill waste fibers may have a potential usage as filler in the PP- and HDPE-based thermoplastic composites.


ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) is a global pandemic requiring sustained therapy to facilitate curing and to prevent the emergence of drug resistance. There are few adequate tools to evaluate drug dynamics within infected tissues in vivo. In this report, we evaluated a fluorinated analog of isoniazid (INH), 2-[18F]fluoroisonicotinic acid hydrazide (2-[18F]-INH), as a probe for imaging Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected mice by dynamic positron emission tomography (PET). We developed a tail vein catheter system to safely deliver drugs to M. tuberculosis aerosol-infected mice inside sealed biocontainment devices. Imaging was rapid and noninvasive, and it could simultaneously visualize multiple tissues. Dynamic PET imaging demonstrated that 2-[18F]-INH was extensively distributed and rapidly accumulated at the sites of infection, including necrotic pulmonary TB lesions. Compared to uninfected animals, M. tuberculosis-infected mice had a significantly higher PET signal within the lungs (P < 0.05) despite similar PET activity in the liver (P > 0.85), suggesting that 2-[18F]-INH accumulated at the site of the pulmonary infection. Furthermore, our data indicated that similar to INH, 2-[18F]-INH required specific activation and accumulated within the bacterium. Pathogen-specific metabolism makes positron-emitting INH analogs attractive candidates for development into imaging probes with the potential to both detect bacteria and yield pharmacokinetic data in situ. Since PET imaging is currently used clinically, this approach could be translated from preclinical studies to use in humans.


Abstract Strict alphabetical ordering of lemmata in a dictionary may be interrupted by the nesting of derivatives as run-ons at the end of the entry for the lemma. This practice can also be found in most monolingual dictionaries. The focus of this article is, therefore, on the presentation of word-formations, or more precisely on adverbs. For the purpose of our research, a database was compiled consisting of all the adverbs regardless of their status that can be found in OALD8 in random stretches from the letters C and S. One hundred and twenty-eight adverbs included in OALD8 were then checked in LDOCE5, MED2, CALD3 and COBUILD5 to see whether the same adverbs are also dealt with in these dictionaries and to establish the similarities and differences in the treatment of these adverbs in all five dictionaries. As is evident from the results, less than half the adverbs are included as entries, the others being undefined run-ons. The latter are hidden within the microstructure and consequently more difficult to spot, which means that the dictionary user must either be trained in dictionary use or retrieve this information from the front matter of the dictionary s/he is using.


Platelet function tests, a group of assays that measure the ability of platelets to aggregate and promote clotting in a sample of blood, are performed in various medical fields to assess inherited platelet function disorders and monitor antiplatelet therapies. Light transmission aggregometry (LTA) is considered the gold standard for platelet function assessment. However, the lack of a standardized protocol is a major drawback when applied at the point of care. Moreover, it is a time-consuming and labor-intensive assay that requires a large volume of blood. Here, we describe the design, fabrication, and operation of a centrifugal microfluidic disc that can perform a fully automated LTA assay from a small volume of a whole blood sample (<1 mL), achieving highly reproducible results (3.2% coefficient of variation) within a short period (<25 min). The assays performed with this device yield more precise and accurate results than traditional LTA because of the automation of the reaction steps, minimal human operation, robust detection strategy via the distinctive structure of the microfluidic chamber, and quick analysis that minimizes the adverse effects of platelet instability.


Low back pain is a prevalent problem afflicting approximately 80% of the population during their lives. Subjects with back pain demonstrate deficits in trunk proprioception. Spinal manipulation is a treatment with known effects in pain control, increased motion and other neurophysiological effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment effects of spinal manipulation on trunk proprioception in subjects with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and to determine if those effects lasted one week.Thirty-three subjects with CLBP, aged 24-54 years participated in this unbalanced, randomized controlled crossover design. Subjects presented for two or three testing sessions and agreed to a general physical examination followed by proprioception testing with joint position sense (JPS), threshold to detect passive motion (TTDPM), direction of motion (DM) and force reproduction (FR). After proprioception testing, each subject received either a lumbar manipulation or a sham procedure followed by retesting of proprioception. This procedure was repeated the following week using the opposite treatment. Those subjects receiving spinal manipulation in the second session returned for a third session and received the sham procedure a second time.Spinal manipulation produced a significant effect for TTDPM in the Manip 1st Group, the sham procedure produced a significant immediate effect for JPS in the Sham 1st Group, and manipulation resulted in a significant one-week residual effect for the Manip 1st Group. All other time comparisons were not significant. The results of this study minimally support the proposed hypotheses. The results of this study suggest that spinal manipulation has minimal effect on trunk proprioception in subjects with CLBP who are painfree at the time of testing. Subjects in this study did not demonstrate as large a deficit in proprioception as previously reported. This study might suggest that a lack of demonstrable deficit in painfree subjects at the time of testing is the result of diminished pain level. Strong conclusions cannot be made from these results but suggest further testing comparing manipulation with no intervention or other interventions while controlling for pain level, may be important for understanding the functional implications of the neurophysiological effect of spinal manipulation.


This study presents a collaborative new product development (NPD) process model that accommodates different perspectives of stakeholders in an apparel value chain and expedites robust new product outcomes. Advanced technologies are demanded to establish such collaborative NPD process models. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies have become prominent in product realisation during this process, to evaluate multiple alternatives. The study proposes a twofold approach where, in the first phase, a qualitative study was carried out to evaluate the viewpoint of value stream collaborators to study the potential opportunities and limitations of applying VR and AR in NPD process. In the second phase, a quantitative study was carried out to assess the apparel consumers' awareness on VR or AR applications, perceptions on such technologies, and intention to use such technologies in the context of apparel business. Data collection consisted of 10 in-depth interviews with experts in the industry and 94 survey responses from apparel consumers in the United Kingdom. It is concluded that VR and AR technologies will be enablers for NPD's success in the apparel industry in providing quick responses to consumers to enhance the performance of the new products. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 3 January 2018 Accepted 1 April 2018


Meditation: Bible based or a mix of religion? A Pastoral investigation. The influence of other religions on the Christian community was a perceptible trend that cannot be ignored in the realm of spirituality. Meditation was one such example and consequently requires thoughtful investigation. Some Christians found meditation a valuable spiritual discipline that aids their spiritual growth but, in my opinion, also opened up the door for them to become victims of a subtle spiritual deception. The question posed was: how can Christians distinguish between the many and often-conflicting views on meditation found in easily accessible literature? A need therefore exists to define meditation as a possible Christian spiritual expression by distinguishing its uniqueness from the influences of other non-Christian religions and popular opinion.


Our work concerns visualizing the information space of hypermedia systems using multiple hierarchical views. Although overview diagrams are useful for helping the user to navigate in a hypermedia system, for any real-world system they become too complicated and large to be really useful. This is because these diagrams represent complex network structures which are very difficult to visualize and comprehend. On the other hand, effective visualizations of hierarchies have been developed. Our strategy is to provide the user with different hierarchies, each giving a different perspective to the underlying information space, to help the user better comprehend the information. We propose an algorithm based on content and structural analysis to form hierarchies from hypermedia networks. The algorithm is automatic but can be guided by the user. The multiple hierarchies can be visualized in various ways. We give examples of the implementation of the algorithm on two hypermedia systems.


Abstract : Essentially all spinal cord injured patients receive stretching therapies beginning within the first few weeks post-injury. Despite this fact, almost nothing is known about how stretching might influence the neural circuitry in the spinal cord that is responsible for controlling the motor and locomotor activities of the legs. Recently, while studying activity-based rehabilitation in a rat model of spinal cord injury, we observed that stretching actually worsened locomotor recovery. The goal of this project is to investigate how the timing and intensity of a stretch-based therapy influences locomotor recovery after moderate and severe spinal cord injuries. In this, the first year of this award, we have found that stretching negatively influences locomotor function in animals with both acute (within days) and chronic (after 3 months) spinal cord injuries. We have also determined that stretching for short periods of time (4-5 weeks) allows substantial recovery to occur once stretching is stopped, and both acute and chronic animals show a similar time course of recovery. Finally, in very preliminary studies, we have found that the torque being applied during stretching of the rat hindlimb is roughly similar to that applied to human lower extremities relative to body weight.


The article is a review of the philosophical problems of introspection as a method of cognition that are actively discussed in the contemporary analytic philosophy of mind. The article is the result of discussions that were held during the Summer School "Consciousness and Introspection" organized in July 2020 by the Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies and led by Professor D. Stoljar, one of the top experts in this field. The purpose of the article is to describe to readers the current state of affairs in the English language research in this area. Modern theories of introspection have been formed as a result of discussions in the philosophy of mind and epistemology in the XX century. One of them is S. Shoemaker's critique of the perceptual model of introspection and the related problem of self-blindness. Another topic is the transparency of experience (G.E. Moore, G. Evans). Finally, D. Dretske offered an influential critique of introspection in general. The discussion of these topics led to the arising of various modern theories: rationalistic (A. Byrne, D. Stoljar), acquaintance theories (B. Gertler, D. Chalmers), constitutive (S. Shoemaker), simple (D. Smithies), and others. An important area in which introspection finds their application is the philosophy of consciousness. The article considers the thesis of revelation, according to which the conscious state reveals its essence in introspection: the relation of this thesis to folk psychology is analyzed (D. Lewis, D. Stoljar), arguments against physicalism based on it are considered (P. Goff). Finally, the authors consider illusionist approaches to introspection based on the understanding of introspection as a representative system (D. Dennett, K. Frankish). Proponents of these approaches suggest the most acute criticism of introspection, pointing out its unreliability as a method of cognition, and, accordingly, the inapplicability of introspection in the philosophy of consciousness. Objections to this position are represented by M. Nida-Rumelin. This work does not pretend to consider all the existing theories of introspection and related problems. However, this review can give an idea of the main positions and problems in this area and assess the prospects for its development.


Optical transmittance and surface damage threshold of cerium-doped (2, 9, and 33 ppm) KTP crystals were investigated with dependence on cerium concentration and polarization directions with respect to the fundamental crystal axes. Although transmittance from ultra-violet to mid-infrared region was gradually decreased with increase of cerium concentration, even transmittance at 532 nm in 33 ppm cerium-doped KTP, which showed the lowest transmittance, was 7 % higher than that of undoped KTP reported in Ref.[6]. On the other hand, surface damage threshold at 1064 nm was raised with increase of cerium concentration and the maximum damage threshold was measured to be 8 GW/cm2 using 33-ppm cerium-doped KTP, when b-axis polarized beam was input to surface of the crystal. The threshold was a factor of 2.4 larger compared with that of undoped KTP.


Abstract
 This paper examines local partnerships involved in the New Opportunities for PE and Sport programme, a national programme funding improvements in PE and sport facilities in the United Kingdom. Policy network frameworks, developed by Marsh & Rhodes (1992) and Marsh & Smith (2000), were used to analyse the form of partnerships and their associated policy processes. In doing so, the paper attempts to both demonstrate the utility of the concept of policy networks in analysing partnerships and further understanding of the effect of partnerships on policy development. Empirically, three types of partnership were identified in the ten local authority cases that comprised this study. Each type of partnership enacted a specific type of policy process and the resultant policy outcomes reflected these different processes. The resulting analysis examines the relationships between policy and factors internal and external to the partnerships examined. In turn, suggestions are made for future development of the policy network concept.


Thin amorphous films of ZrB3 grown on Si(111) substrates by chemical-vapor deposition are, upon annealing at 960 °C, transformed to films composed of nanocrystallites (6–10 nm extent) with a nominal composition of Zr0.9Si0.3B3. The independent elastic constants of the layers are determined from the dispersion of the surface and pseudo-Sezawa acoustic excitations and reveal large enhancements in the C11 and C44 constants accompanying the conversion of ZrB3 to the nanocrystalline phase. Since the transverse sound velocities of the binary and Zr0.9Si0.3B3 are in near resonance with the sound velocity of Si (VTSi=4.8 km/s), only the Rayleigh surface wave is localized to the film while all higher-order acoustic modes are evanescent. Despite the strong decay channels, high-lying excitations with velocities as large as 25 km/s (≫VTSi) are observed in Brillouin light scattering. Insight into these acoustic properties is provided by evaluating the elastodynamic Green's functions and associated acoustic-mode densities.


There has been growing interest in the application of fractal geometry to observe spatial complexity of natural features at different scales. This study utilized three different fractal approaches--isarithm, triangular prism, and variogram--to characterize texture features of urban land-cover classes in high-resolution image data. For comparison purpose and to better evaluate the efficiency of fractal approaches in image classification, spatial autocorrelation techniques (Moran's I and Geary's C ), simple standard deviation, and mean of the selected features were also examined in this study. The discriminant analysis was carried out to discriminate between classes of urban land cover on the basis of texture measures (variables). This study demonstrated that the spatial autocorrelation approach was superior to the fractal approaches. In some cases, simple standard deviation and mean value of the samples gave better accuracy than all or some of the fractal approaches. The results obtained from this analysis suggest that fractal-based textural discrimination methods are applicable but these methods alone may be ineffective in extracting texture features or identifying different land-use and land-cover classes in remotely sensed images.